Leah Ashby

2245

- Born on Earth on Oct 10th (Nashville, Tennesse)

2263

- Enters Starfleet Academy - Joins Academy Soccer Squad

2264

- Declares Diplomacy Major - Joins Academy Swim Team

2265

- Joins Academy Flight Squadron (Yeagher Squadron flight team) - Switches Major to Flight Control while keeping Diplomacy as a Minor.

2267

- With enough credits to graduate earns Pre Graduation Commission with the rank of Ensign. Decides to stay at Starfleet Academy another year for more advanced training and delays official graduation.

2268

- Graduates Starfleet Academy (Magna cum laude) Major: Flight Control/Minor: Diplomacy - Graduated as the #2 ranked pilot at the Academy - Assigned to USS Hannibal as Senior Helmsman with the rank of Lieutenant - Promoted to Lieutenant Commander reassigned to USS Endurance as Chief Navigator

Early life
Her early childhood was spent as a tomboy. Even though her mother would put Leah in the most feminine of dresses, Leah would rather play in the mud with her 4 older brothers. She took an active interest in sports and tried to compete with her older brothers. This upset her mother, who wanted a daughter and when she was finally able to have one the daughter turned out to be a tomboy! Outside of Leah's early rebellion against her mother's wishes she was a rather well behaved child. She did well in school and never got into trouble.

As Leah began to enter her adolescence, she grew more interested in athletics. She joined her school's Field Hockey, Gymnastics, Soccer, Swimming and Tennis teams. She also started to become more interested in boys, and maybe as a result of that began to accept and embraced her femininity. As a result, she formed a bond with her mother that lasts until this day.

Her decision to join Starfleet was a shock to her parents. She had never expressed any interest in Starfleet and one day, which seemed out of nowhere, she informed them she would be joining. This caused quite a stir at the dinner table but Leah stood her ground and her parents eventually came to reluctantly live with her decision. Her brothers were also shocked, but sort of expected it. Leah was always the energetic bubbly one of the family who had high ideals and goals, and what better place to explore those than Starfleet.

Academy Years
Life at the Academy was quite an eye opener for Leah. Before she arrived at the academy her contact with aliens had been rather limited. Sure there was that family vacation to Vulcan that one year but she mostly remembered how hot it was there and the constant fighting of her parents. And while the Academy at Earth was still rather human dominated, there was still a lot of new species Leah had never encountered before. While at first she felt uncomfortable, she began to enjoy learning about their species and cultures. Her mind began to open and she really enjoyed the idea of one day being on a first contact mission.

At the Academy she was an excellent student. While most cadets do a normal four year stint at the Academy Leah decided to do five. It allowed her to focus more on her sports commitments, flying and her minor of diplomacy. Due to the extra year, and her good standing academically, she was given a pre graduation commission with the rank of ensign.

Leah's natural talent at flying was obvious from the start of her Academy career. Her talent, however, was not refined until much later and lacked the polish other, more experienced, cadets had. She worked hard and managed to get a good ranking and eventually rose to as high as #7 out of all Cadets. That changed, however, when a month before graduation a group of cadets were practicing formations for the Graduation ceremony. The group was planning on doing a Kolvoord Starburst. An accident left all five cadets dead and the move was banned from all future Academy events. The aftermath of the accident left Leah as the #2 ranked cadet pilot at the Academy. Her new ranking opened up many more opportunities post graduation.

Leah graduated from Starfleet Academy in 2268 as a Magna cum laude graduate. Due to her pre commission rank of ensign, along with her class standing she was offered a position as Senior Helmsman on board the USS Hannibal.

Starfleet career
She showed her ability to think under pressure on the Hannibal during the the Starbase 11 Comet crisis. Her strong helm skills saved the Hannibal from destruction numerous times and she was able to take over Navigation while still performing her helm duties. This led to her promotion to Lt. Commander and her current assignment on the USS Endurance as the Chief Navigation Officer. She has made Lt. Commander faster than anyone else in the fleet.