Francis Lee Knox

Personnel File
Name:	Francis Lee Knox “Knox”
Rank:	Petty Officer Second Class
Position:	Combat Engineer
Species:	Changeling
Age:	Uncertain “old as fuck”
Gender:	Fluid…literally
Orientation:	Fluid…anything goes
Birthplace:	M-class rogue planet located within the Omarion Nebula in the Gamma Quadrant
Height:	Male: 5ft 9in / 1.75m Female: 5ft 9in / 1.75m
Weight:	Male: 165lbs / 75kg Female: 140lbs / 64kg
Hair:	Dark Brown
Eye color:	Brown Hazel
Played by:	Male: Javier Rey Female: Lorrisa Julianus
Writer:	Hans Applegate
Interests
Demolitions and Explosions Weapons Shit, like things that go stabby stabby or things that go kablooey and pew-pew Engineering Shit, like a well-made ambush booby-trap, the beautiful click-click of an ancient black powder weapon Aeronautical Shit, like anything that goes up high and goes fast as fuck Nautical Shit, like stuff that goes on the water, not in it, tired as fuck of being in liquids tbh Trying out new solid forms and pranking fuckers Experiencing the new and often absurd Solid’s History
Education
”Knox”: It’s a complicated thing to explain and, well, yeah Real Knox 2365: Starfleet Enlisted Bootcamp, Earth Real Knox 2366: Starfleet Intelligence Training, Earth Real Knox 2368: Starfleet NCO Bootcamp Real Knox 2370: Advanced Combat School
Service Record
Decorations
NA

PO2 Francis Lee Knox was a Starfleet Intelligence Operative formerly assigned to an ongoing mission to the USS Griffin during the Dominion War – details redacted (because the solid got her ass killed). In 2378, the new and improved Knox (bias noted) was personally recruited by Admiral Anderson for assignment and was later placed under CPO Dominic Lau’s direction. In 2381, Anderson dispatched CPO Lau's team to rendezvous with a mission in progress launched by the supposedly renegade USS Theurgy. Having learned the truth of the Infested threat, while PO2 Knox could give nay a fuck about the Infested, he nonetheless aided in the opposition against the parasites that compromised Starfleet Command at the end of the 24th century because he had nothing better to do.

Biography

The female human P02 Francis Lee Knox was born on Earth and experienced a stereotypical upbringing within a family who, for generations, had volunteered their time and expertise to the military and to Star Fleet. Both her parents eventually died in the line of duty. However, neither Knox nor her younger brother much felt their absence from their lives due to the nature of their work. Knox was well-liked by her peers and appreciated by her trainers for her voracious appetite to be the best she could be and outperform her old top marks. Despite her amiability, Knox never developed strong relationships outside the professional environment. When her ship went missing in 2374, she had only one brother back on Earth who would take note of her absence, and even then, he barely noticed.

The Changeling who took on Knox’s identity had a very different background. Changelings were shapeshifting lifeforms native to the Gamma Quadrant of the Milky Way Galaxy. They were the creators and rulers of the Dominion Empire, whose subject races knew them as the semi-mythical Founders. Most Changelings existed as an amalgamated mass known as the Great Link and primarily existed in a liquid state, though they could take virtually any corporeal form.

Centuries before, the Founders sent the Hundred Changelings throughout the galaxy to gauge other species by how they treated the weak and vulnerable. Seldek lived under many names, genders, and innumerable forms as one of these Hundred Changelings. In their liquid state, Changelings did not have much structure to many things, including education. They learned by sensation and experience, observing what they couldn’t absorb, and for much of his early existence, this was Seldek. It was not until he was sent beyond his planet’s borders that Seldek could pinpoint something even remotely close to formal education (or even glean a name as this was his first chosen name once he was outside his planet’s influence as prior to that, he had no name as a solid would understand it).

Before the Dominion War, the Changeling Seldek explored much of the Gamma Quadrant in various solid states before “hitching a ride” into the Alpha Quadrant once the Dominion War began. For the duration of the War, Seldek continued to experience solid life on both sides, caring not a whit for the rallying cry of “order and control” his fellow Changelings exerted. His hundreds of years in solid forms had increased his innate love of individuality and independence within Seldek, and living out the consequences of this War as both a member of the Dominion and Federation forces further pounded into the Changeling’s fluid skull that idiots can be in any form, even your own.

While Seldek was serving as a prisoner of war to the Dominion (because why the hell not, eh?), he encountered the much-weakened PO2 Francis Lee Knox and the remains of her crew from the USS Griffin. Being in the guise of a Bajoran prisoner, Seldek was quickly targeted by his Cardassian captors and, as a result, was often cared for and somewhat protected by the human Knox and the remains of the Griffin crew. He was given the “privilege” of sharing a cell with Knox and two other Griffin crewmates and, as a result, was given intimate insight and ample time to observe them.

Working alongside these Federation prisoners and observing how they looked out for one another intrigued the Changeling in a way that few other species and interpersonal complexities did. He had no personal love for them, just as he had no personal hatred towards the Cardassians, who seemed to take pleasure in torturing Seldek and others “like” him in the camp. Yet, as time ticked on, Seldek came to appreciate the intricacies of behavior exhibited by the Federation crew and decided that his next guise would be as a Federation crew member. The opportunity to assume that guise came sooner rather than later, as during the liberation of the POW camp, Knox and a few others of her crew sacrificed themselves to save the likes of Seldek and other strangers from the murderous fire of the fleeing Cardassian captors. Further impressed and intrigued by this last show of unnecessary compassion, the Changeling decided to take on Knox’s identity in 2375.

While Seldek understood he could have easily walked into Knox’s old identity, he personally balked at the concept of taking orders from an assumed leader almost as much as he balked at the concept of taking orders from his own back with the Great Link. As such, the Changeling Knox traveled through the underbelly of polite society in the Alpha Quadrant for the next three years under his new identity. His assumed ties with Star Fleet sometimes brought him near-death experiences, and sometimes, it got him huge rewards. Either way, Knox enjoyed his freedoms and experiences within this identity. He would have likely continued in the same haphazard, devil-may-care way if it had not been for Admiral Anderson.

While Knox was operating a thieve’s guild near the Badlands in the sector of DS9, Admiral Anderson discovered him. As the real Knox had been a member of Intelligence and previously known by Anderson, the Admiral was quickly cued into there being something off about this Knox when the former operative failed to acknowledge Anderson. Through a series of (for Knox, unfortunate) events that left Knox cornered by Anderson, the Changeling was given an ultimatum: either surrender to Anderson and work for him as a true Star Fleet Intelligence officer again or be handed over to the remaining Changelings.

Far more interested in continuing life well outside the confines of the Great Link, Knox accepted the terms, and from 2378 - 2381, he acted as Anderson’s personal trump card. This turned out to be far more fun than Knox expected and as such, when Anderson assigned Knox to Chief Petty Officer Dominic Lau’s infiltration team in 2381, Knox found the sudden change in events intriguing but didn’t bother questioning. He’d been entertained enough so far, and as long as Anderson didn’t try to send him back to the goody two-shoe hypocrites back on his homeworld, acting as an explosive problem-solver suited Knox just fine in whatever form it took.

Personality Profile

Even when among his own kind, Knox perpetuated a sense of curiosity and a certain cavalier openness that set more than a few on edge. This tenacious, inquisitive boldness had him selected as one of the 100 sent out to investigate life among the solids (probably to make him someone else’s problem). Knox was always a chaotic neutral. Solids, to him, were an interesting oddity. Stuck in one form. Unable to merge with one another. Living short lives in cages, they call bodies. Knox had been living for some time among many different species of solids, making his thinking and problem more flexible – or chaotic or barbaric, depending on how one might look at things. That made sense, considering he was a liquid entity that could take on any shape he could conceive within reason. This led him, and most of his kind, to view the world in unpredictable ways compared to those with bodies to consider.

To Knox, a shape was more like a toy to be played with. Unfortunately, humanoids break more easily than Knox does. Living so many lives among so many different species had built up a certain callousness about the Changeling. Though he had since developed a type of… kind of sorta loyalty towards his present team members, he still thought of himself first and struggled to value solid life. He derived amusement from things that most humanoids, at least those with a strong sense of morality, would deem horrific.

Hard to kill and very mischievous. Diabolically playful. Solids die so easily, but if you leave them alone, their lives were short anyway. Knowing this, he felt about as sad as a parent does when the child’s hamster or goldfish dies when he lost a crew mate. However, recent events have prompted a strange set of emotions within Knox, close to being soft and squishy, which had been most interesting. Knox was here to learn. He learned most in high-stakes environments. Whatever stressful, out-of-the-ordinary situation or crazy activity gave him a better show. So he tended to create chaos. He has begun to learn that his crew mates cannot survive the things he wants to experience. Good thing there are so many solids around. This was his main character flaw. A disregard for solid life. His relentless press to experience things was likewise a major flaw as it proved detrimental to those around him.

Physical Profile

The natural form of Knox was a viscous orange liquid containing a structure known as a morphogenic matrix where the morphogenic enzymes were responsible for his shapeshifting ability. Changelings (or at least young and inexperienced ones) had to revert to their natural liquid state to regenerate every sixteen to eighteen hours. Preventing them from doing so would cause severe physical distress and their forms to begin to deteriorate and "flake" away. Being not old by any sense of the word, Knox does not require as many hours in liquid state or as frequent a regeneration unless he over-extends himself.

Knox, like other Changelings, also had the ability to closely mimic humanoid personalities to the point where even close friends and family often could not distinguish them from the originals. He could transform parts of himself into smaller electrical devices, like a combadge, and make them operational. He was also capable of at least mimicking the shape and operation of a computer. Changelings could also mimic the form of fire and clouds and Knox had more than a few fun stories to share of his times of sending folks running for cover from him in the guise of some fucked up version of a fiery storm cloud or another.

Changelings had no sense of smell, and even when in humanoid form, Changelings did not need to take in sustenance. This made it easier for Knox to choke down rations or deal with the stench of combat training in the field.

The thoughts and emotions of Changelings could not be read by Betazoids. However, a Guardian could telepathically transfer memories to one in the Trill Zhian'tara ritual, making it possible for Knox to participate as a Trill host, albeit, a temporary one. Changelings had the ability to sense, in most cases, the presence of other Changelings and operate on a type of hive mind when in the Great Link. Knox has grown to appreciate independent existence to such a degree he loathes the thought of the Great Link.

Changelings preferred to think of themselves as a drop (the individual) in the larger ocean (what they called the Great Link). A Changeling, therefore, typically had little sense of individual identity. Being a liquid-based lifeform, in order to link with other Changelings, they simply reverted to this state, and the liquid blended together, creating a link between them. Shapeshifting gave Changelings physical empathy with other lifeforms, allowing them to gain knowledge of them, though they spent most of their existence in the Great Link. Knox, having spent almost as much time in one solid form or another as he had in a liquid state before being sent out to explore, no longer relishes the concept of shared identities and resents the Founders for fucking up a good party with their shifty war.

It was suggested that Changelings were biologically immortal and, therefore, never died of old age. However, it was possible to kill Changelings by a number of means. Severe cases of radiation poisoning could prove fatal. Changelings were also killed by phaser or disruptor fire, at sufficiently high settings.

When in male form, Knox had a well-muscled svelte form with brownish hazel eyes and dark brown hair. A fan of constant change, Knox happily sported various facial hair styles and was known to likewise change the length and texture of his hair on a whim as well.

When in female more, Knox had a well-muscled svelte form with brownish hazel eyes and dark brown hair. In this form, Knox preferred to keep mid-length to long hair (and never tried to combine facial hair with it…yet).

Special Notes

Having abandoned all desires to return to his homeworld and given to a strong constitution in ignoring that homing call his kind instilled within him due to his instinctive officiousness, Knox has been primarily motivated to move from one stolen identity to another out of a driving inquisitorial instinct that battles against any other instinct. Effectively immortal, possibly living longer than humans have existed if one counts his time as an ooze on his home planet, Knox’s driving ambition and arguably his greatest flaw was to know things. To experience things. All existence, in the various forms he has taken and may yet take, was a type of game for him, and in each life he lived, Knox gleaned more tactics and insight on how to play the next game more effectively.

Having taken on the identity of the missing PO2 Francis Lee Knox, he’s been thrust into a new type of game and has been discovering a new set of tactics, namely, connections, with his fellow playmates. Until something else proves more interesting, he intends to keep on with this game in this form, especially now that his playmates know he is a Changeling and have not yet decided to try to kill him.

Relationships

Begrudging respect toward Admiral Anderson Burgeoning respect toward Chief Petty Officer Dominic Lau

Personal Quarters

TBD

Appearances

Season Two

• Day 18 [1630 hrs Out from the dark, and into the murk] Knox and his team are thoroughly fucked and have to skidaddle.
• C01: S [D01|[0940 - Shipping Outl ] Knox’s team picks up a new “friend” and go to fuck shit up elsewhere.