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Sandra Pickens (The War of the Masters Continuity}[]
Captain Sandra Pickens was a Starfleet Officer in the late 24th and early 25th Centuries, a veteran of the Dominion War, Romulan Emergency, and Klingon/Federation War. Her final command was the USS Wilson, a vessel lost with all hands during the battle to close an artificial dimensional rift during the outbreak of the "War of the Masters", a conflict that would cost the lives of millions.
Stat Card:[]
Name: PIckens, Sandra Church
Species: Human (Earth Descended)
Gender: Female
Sex: Cis Female
Orientation: Heterosexual, unmarried
Born: July 11, 2348, Beaumonde Colony, Pi Canis Sector. (3rd Generation colonist)
Died: (Classified), 2411
Ethnic Derivation: Caucasian North American
Starfleet Class of 2373, Cycle 2, Fall quarter
Engineering Major, Minor in Operations.
Height: 1.76 Meters
Weight: 176 Kilograms
Build: Dense/Athletic
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Brown/Hazel
Overview:[]
Sandra Pickens was a third generation 'primitive conditions' colonist from the Class 3 Colonial settlement on Beaumonde in the Pi Canis region of the Beta Quadrant. The Beaumonde Colony was settled by idealists seeking to prove an 'organic harmony' hypothesis that included domestication of native wildlife and primitive, almost neolithic, farming methods hearkening back to 'back to the land' movements of the mid 20th century. The Colonial Charter under United Earth's branch of Colonial Development permitted this when the first settlers arrived in 2331, but the colony nearly failed entirely, requiring direct intervention by Starfleet in 2351, when an unexpected crop failure, combined with what can only be described as 'Optimistic mismanagement' nearly wiped them out. Beaumonde Colony was moved to supervision by the larger United Federation Of Planets Colonial Development Office, who tossed most of the sections banning technical and technological education, and infrastructure development in order to prevent a second catastrophic tragedy.
This is the world into which Sandra Pickens was born, struggling with the aftermath of elders who chose a suicidal ideology on an unknown world...It influenced her as a little girl, and while her parents clung to their luddite beliefs and struggled as 'Dirt Farmers' she worked, and studied her ass off to make the attempt to be good enough, to get into Starfleet and get away from her homeworld and its closed-minded culture.
She took the Admissions test at Starbase 24 after lobbying the Administrator of her home colony with essays, letters, running away from home four times to personally deliver applications, and finally catching the attention of a Starfleet Captain from the USS Gray's Harbor, a Starfleet routine patrol vessel doing anti-piracy and Colony support in the region.
Her entry exam's scores placed her in the top 99.994% of Applicants to Starfleet Academy-that is, dead average for acceptance in 2367. She failed the Oral due to a severe speech distortion-that is, her native accent was so severe that even the Universal Translator at first needed to be adjusted before she was intelligible to the examiners, Captain Thylla Sh'Therril (andorian) saw something in this girl, and let her re-take the orals, this time, using a pen, and paper to answer the questions.
Sandra aced this second try at the oral boards by writing every answer long-hand, in cursive, with a pen, on a pad of paper.
Instead of a four year program, she was sent to Starfleet Academy Prep for Elocution and Speech Therapy (this added one year to her academic career at the very start). This also got her in at roughly the same age as the majority of her peers. Her performance at Starfleet Academy itself, (minus some demerits when speaking) placed her easily in the top fifteen percent of graduates, and her cadet advisor noted she could have climbed higher, had she been born and educated on Earth or in the Sol system.
But Sandra was from a dirtbox colony that was still living on charity from the Federation because they refused to let go of a primitivist ideal that nearly killed them off once.
Her post-Academy career was not the stuff of legends. Beginning in the Engineering department as an Ensign, she soon displayed a wider curiosity and an ability to gel with some races, including developing a rapport with Tellarites that many of her fellow humans aboard could only envy, an understanding of Andorian psychology and priorities that let Andorian personnel feel 'relaxed' around her instead of softening their manners to avoid shocking or upsetting the human, and a firm grasp of logic that made her one of the easier humans for Vulcan personnel to deal with. Part of that, in turn was because she didn't have to struggle with the expectations of Earthborn Humans in those situations to nearly the same extent.
she promoted right in her zone, serving on several Starfleet vessels, from Second-Contact crew on California class vessels, to a five year deep range mission on the USS Samuel Nicholas (Excelsior Block 7 Refit) First as Ops, and then XO. She became the acting Captain after a Dominion ship rammed the bridge of the Sammy Nick, which she managed to bring back with most of the crew still alive.
Post-Traumatic Stress forced her off the line and into a reserve role in 2383, where she would spend the next twenty years as a Freight Jockey and part-time Reservist, and that would have been where her career ended...but, then the Hromi Cluster broke out into a shooting war...with the Klingons. Sandra was hauling freight from Bismarck to New London when KDF's Second Fleet hit during a stopover at Xin Peng (Hromi 22). Unarmed and full of passengers, she surrendered to the Klingons, who then proceeded to push MORE passengers-civilians from the Xin Peng colony, into her cargo bays, gave her three pallets of Disaster Rations, and a Raptor Escort to the Sherman's Planet system. Colonel B'Sanos also gave her a stack of Darseks and demanded a promise she would do everything possible to get the Civilians to the Starbase alive, whole, and intact.
The Convoy she was placed in, made the trip with very little fuss, stopping and adding additional cargo and passenger vessels from other worlds the Klingon Second Fleet had already overcome and taken.
She was met at K-7 by Admiral Gordon Menninger, who informed her that her reserve status had been activated. She was assigned as Executive Officer under a man twenty years her junior, on an Excelsior Block 8 refit, the U.S.S. Wilson.
Then, the Borg hit Vega 9, and Sandra Pickens was a captain again, because Captain Dieter Wagner got assimilated and she had to kill him.
The ship didn't enjoy that much either. She brought her ship back, just like she had the Sammy Nick, but in slightly better condition. Better enough, to be repaired. By then, Menninger was gone, and a peer from 'The old days', Admiral Stephen Dragovich Alcott, was the Admiral in Command in the Hromi Cluster.
Her command was confirmed, but Starfleet PersCom refused, initially, to give her the fourth pip.
Instead, she was recalled for a Board to investigate her actions during the Vega 9 battle, including killing her Captain and retreating.
She was cleared, by some miracle, and returned to K-7 at Admiral Alcott's request.
Her new assignment, and her ship's, was in support of a new series of 'small offensives', mostly focused on the Klingon 3rd Fleet's area of occupation. It would be December of 2406 before Sandra's fourth pip arrived.
It would be during the Cursa raid, that she participated with the rest of the Fleet Task Forces in the recapture and Liberation of New London, acting as Admiral Alcott's 'Flag captain'. ("For We Should Grow Too Fond of it"-StarswordC, Knightraider6, Patrickngo, STO forums fanfic)
Death (2411)[]
Sandra Pickens would be the first casualty as her vessel was destroyed over 'Objective K', the first confirmed attempt by the Orions to build a dimensional gateway to summon their "Good Masters". Presumably her demise was, at least somewhat, painless, as the entire saucer section structure of her command, the USS Rutherford was converted to high-energy subatomic particles and distributed across a five dimensional space by the frantic defenses of the Shanuuk-Gallau gateway station. (STO Forums, "Season One: The Chase", Patrickngo, Sander_233, Takeshiyamato, Knightraider6). Her service, like the services for her crew, was held without a body, as there was no mortal remains to recover. her personal items were forwarded to her family on Beaumonde, though the specific events of her death were kept concealed due to an ongoing investigation and inquest into the conduct of Rear Admiral David Huntington and the crew and staff of the USS Suharto.
The inquest took a bizarre turn as Stephen Alcott's replacement, Admiral Vivian Lorus Gorton Kingsley III was brought up on charges of gross negligence and possible Treason over the same matter after Huntington's charges were placed in Abeyance at the request of high level Federation officials citing an unspecified covert operation and Federation Security. Notably, Admiral Kingsley's testimony is redacted, though how he ended it was not-the man committed suicide using a Security officer's Phaser right in front of the Courts Martial board. (STO, "The Chase")
Sandra Pickens' career was mostly quite typical for a Starfleet officer. Most of the remarkable things she did, would never interest any but the most compulsive historian or researcher. She fought in two wars, possibly three, and died as just another casualty in the starting guns of a third war.
References:
https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline#/discussion/1122404/the-chase-story
Writing Notes: Advice to anyone who wants to use Sandra in their story;[]
Captain Pickens speaks with an Appalachian/West Virginia (back country) influenced accent. This is due to her colonial upbringing on Beaumonde and it's only an approximation to show lingual drift, but it's a major part of the character's presentation. Because of her background and accent, she tends to be underestimated by allies and superiors, many of whom subconsciously view her as less intelligent or capable than she really is.
She is aware of this, and uses it to her advantage shamelessly, particularly when dealing with Earth-born Flag officers or senior Civil Servants. Early in her career, she didn't, and struggled to try and gain respect from peers despite her proven ability. If you're using the character, keep in mind this acid and steel in her core, versus her placid hillbilly demeanor.