Marija Ferik (KIA)

Personnel File
Name:	Marija Ferik
Rank:	Ensign
Position:	Security Officer
Species:	Human
Age:	26
Gender:	Female
Orientation:	Heterosexual
Birthplace:	The SS Inspiration
Height:	5ft 8in / 1.73m
Weight:	121lbs / 55kg
Hair:	Blonde
Eye color:	Blue
Played by:	Melissa Benoist
Writer:	Character Deceased
Interests
Boxing Wrestling Romance novels and holonovels
Education
Starfleet Academy, class of 2377.
Service Record
2373-2377: Starfleet Academy 2377-2381: Security Officer, USS Evangeline 2381-Present: Security Officer, USS Theurgy
Decorations
N/A

Before dying in the Battle of the Houses, Ensign Marija Ferik was a Security Officer serving aboard the USS Theurgy. She aided in the opposition against the parasites that compromised Starfleet Command during the end of the 24^th century.

Biography

Marija (pronounced Mar-ee-yuh) was born on October 4th 2355 aboard the SS Inspiration, a small private trading vessel owned by her father Antun and her mother Danira. Both had decided a long time ago that the Federation and Earth were simply not the lives for them, so scrimping and saving they had managed to save up for their own small ship and ran a cargo vessel. They traded in a number of goods; food supplies, medical supplies, but never anything illegal.

Marija grew up as a happy child. She learned every bulk and screw of their ship by the time she was six becoming quite the engineer and enjoyed the many odd and wondrous locations they visited throughout her life. From space stations to exotic planets, Marija had come to know a number of new places by the time she was eight years old.

It was when she was eight however that everything changed. Business had been lacking for the small family for some time, forcing Antun and Danira to start trading at darker establishments than they normally would have just to make ends meet. They stopped off to drop some cargo and undertake new freight at a particularly seedy little space station that made all of them wary. Antun felt uncomfortable leaving his young daughter by herself on a ship that could far too easily be broken into, so instead he decided the family would stay close together as they finished their business. But as the crowd overwhelmed the small group, he was accidentally separated from his wife and daughter.

At least that's what he thought, but it was no accident. The two had been spotted the moment they came to dock and they were pulled from Antun, sedated and swept away into the terrible underground rings of slavery.

Marija never saw her mother again. The next four years were a living hell for the young girl who suffered unfathomable horrors that no person should ever have to endure. Horrors that to this day she never speaks of. In that time her father wasn't complacent with the authorities' nonchalant manner in which they dealt with missing persons and spent the next four years diving into the slaving rings, diligently acting as a patron and spending every last bit of latinum he had to try and seek out and buy back his wife and daughter.

He was only able to find his daughter when she was twelve. She was battered, beaten and broken, both emotionally and physically to the point that it was almost impossible for Antun to keep up the façade of 'just another patron'. When he was finally able to scrounge up his last bits of latinum to buy her back, he took the first shuttle he could find back to the safety of Earth.

For the next two years Marija didn't say a word, too traumatised to speak to anyone and afraid of everyone around her. The Federation however were quick to lend a hand, providing her counselling and rehabilitation. Throughout the years she underwent therapy until she finally began to pull from her shell a little. But Marija was never the same. Any sign of that happy child had disappeared to be replaced by a cold, emotionless being. The only thing she seemed to have interest in was physical sports and survival techniques, fully in the mindset that she would never allow herself to be caught unawares by malicious strangers and taken advantage of ever again.

Over the years she would slowly become a little more social, engaging in conversation with people albeit only those she knew and even then, only when in small groups, where she always had her personnel space and room to break free from the group if it became too uncomfortable for her. Despite these small improvements however, she had little to no purpose in life beyond focusing on recovering from her ordeal until the Dominion War broke out when she was eighteen. This was where her rather useless life suddenly gained purpose; to help stop this menace that threatened to ruin the very fabric of every society they knew of.

Marija enlisted in Starfleet when she had finally made her decision. Getting through the door however was the part that proved the most difficult. While she had spent her time recovering, it didn't stop the fact that her mental stability was in constant question during her time at the Academy. She barely managed to scrape by her evaluations with the counsellors to join and was only allowed to do so if she continued regular counselling sessions whilst training to join the ranks.

It was while at the Academy however that she would slowly start to socialize more, starting with her roommate, a Betazoid her age called Aeryn who over the years help the young woman open up a little more. Although Marija remained a somewhat closed individual, she would still attend social gatherings and interact with others.

Over the course of her four years at the Academy however, Marija would gradually, thanks to the small group of friends she had as well as her continued counselling grow to be more confidant and social in larger groups, despite a few moments when things would get a little too much for her. Marija also remained a somewhat guarded person when it came to her personnel life, while she was a more friendly person, she would never let anybody get too close to form any type of relationship beyond friendship. Avoiding discussing her younger life and whatever she had been through whenever the topic came up, either avoiding it outright or making up a lie to hide the abuse she had suffered. She also avoided any physical or romantic relationships, having tried once with a cadet in her second year only to have flashbacks of some of the events she'd had to endure as a child. As a result of her experience with the cadet, she simply decided to avoid any and all sexual or romantic relationships entirely.

Marija would graduate the academy after four years in 2377 at the rank of Ensign in the Security department with a particular emphasis shown in ground tactics and warfare.

Despite her training she saw little combat after graduation, for by then the Dominion War was over. She was assigned to the USS Evangeline, a Steamrunner class starship tasked with safeguarding Cardassian space until the Cardassian Union recovered enough to police and defend itself. During the last year Marija was aboard the Evangeline the majority of its time was spent on border patrol.

Marija's exemplary performance aboard the vessel kept her there for some years until she felt the need for a change of pace. The USS Theurgy became her new home in which she weathered the odd events that occurred with the same air she always did; continued diligence to her job and general disinterest in everything else.

But one of their first upsets proved to be one of the hardest for her to handle. Like most of the crew she was unaware of the virus, sleeping through most of the time it was spreading. When she awoke, she was accosted by the first crewman that saw her. Marija managed to fight off two of the attackers, but when several more joined and banded together she had no chance. Marija was transformed like the others into a sex-crazed fiend, but luckily most of the events remained nothing more than a blurry haze. Most except for the initial infection. This experience combined with her previous traumas undid some of the progress Marija had made over the years as she processed the more recent event; growing quieter than usual and spending most of her spare time distracting herself from the horrendous moment, keeping herself as busy as possible by over-exercising, boxing and working her stress out in every physical activity she could think of.

However, after a few weeks of reflection and remembering how strong a person she had become, Marija would decide to book an appointment with one of the ships councillors, not wanting to let her attackers, albeit unwilling attackers beat her and undo all the hard work and progress she had made over the years.

Unfortunately for the security officer she would be mortally wounded during the crew’s battle with the USS Calamity, when her neck was violently broken. Somehow managing to survive the gruesome attack, the crew managed to get her to sickbay where it was discovered that both her neck and vertebrae had been severely damaged beyond repair and would need to be replaced with an artificial one, which at the time the Theurgy did not have on hand. To preserve her life until such time that replacements could be found Marija was placed into stasis.

Even after the Theurgy replenished their medical supplies it would not be until the ship arrived at Aleda that Marija could be removed from stasis and undergo the operation to replace her broken neck and vertebrae.

After a long operation, Marija would find herself waking up on the Theurgy with the ship in orbit of the planet Aldea, finding herself with a lot of physical and mental therapy ahead of her and yet a newfound determination to get back to work and make herself a better person than she had been now that she had been given what some might have said was a third shot at life after her injury.

Personality Profile

Marija's name means bitter, a somewhat perfect word to describe her outward appearance after her trauma. She was anything but approachable, as one could almost always tell by the cold expression that generally painted her face on a day to day basis. The woman avoided idle conversation and small talk, staying away from socializing areas and keeping to herself almost all of the time. She disregarded all small things that might draw her closer to others, often giving her the appearance of a woman with a thorny exterior and sharp tongue to most for the first few years of her life after her father rescued her.

During her academy years, with help from her friends and counselling however she would gradually open up and become a more friendly and approachable person, getting along with most people and expanding her social circle somewhat, something that would improve during her active duty as she developed friendships with her fellow security officers that she served with.

However when it came to her personal history and life, Marija remained a very private individual, the walls that she had built up during her traumatic years firmly in place to protect herself both mentally and physically, and while those walls had been brought down enough over the years to allow people to become friends with her, she had yet to lower them enough to allow for anything beyond that. As a result of her experiences and her trauma she avoided all romantic relationships and shut down anybody that tried to court her.

After the Niga incident however, Marija withdrew into herself somewhat forcing those walls to rise again, albeit slightly. While still being able to maintain a friendly conversation with people, Marija was far more aware of herself and her surroundings, occasionally tensing up and eyeing people carefully if they got too close to her personal space. This is however something she would hope to fix in time with therapy.

Physical Profile

Marija stood relatively tall at 5 feet 8 inches, with beautiful blue eyes and long blonde hair. She was soft, poised and delicate with the outward appearance of a fine beauty that many women could only hope for. Lightly tanned skin accented every fine, luscious curve that her body had to offer, of which she had plenty. Her pert, strong breasts always seemed to rest perfectly in place, helping to accentuate the slimmed sides of her waist. Hips flared only slightly, yet just enough to draw attention to the feminine characteristic. Her real appeal however was her legs, stretching on for a mile before ending in light, dainty feet.