Shara Calloway

Authored by Lindsay B

Biographic Information

• Position: Executive Officer on USS Asimov
• Rank: Commander
• Species: Human
• Weight: 156 lbs
• Height: 5'10
• Age: 68

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Character Biography

Full Name: Shara Elaine (Conner) Calloway

Hair: Brown
Eyes: Grey-blue

Family:

Mother: Tanis Costa (2303-2346, deceased)
Father: Lucien Conner (2298- )
Brother: Captain Gavin Conner (2336-)

Spouse: Edward Calloway (2330-2373, deceased) [Image, 2373]
Micah Pikelsimer (2335-)

Offspring:
Nadine Wells (2349-) *Given up for adoption and adopted by Kennedy & Preston Wells
Lieutenant Faye Calloway (2358-)

Description: Though ‘middle-aged’, the only evidence to that are the lines around her eyes and smaller ones around her face. Her hair, a nondescript brown, shows no greys and her lean body is very fit from years of hard physical conditioning. Her foggy grey-blue eyes are often described as ‘assessing’.

Timeline:

*Starfleet Official Personnel Record-Commander Calloway, Shara- Service Number 28756Gamma94***

Codename: Peregrine

Known Names:

• Shara Conner
• Shara Costa (her name on the USS Voyager until she changed her surname to Calloway in honour of her late husband and daughter)
• Shara Calloway
• Shara Grearson (Alias)
• Elaine Costa (Alias)

Awards

Starfleet Medal of Commendation- 2380, 2388
Star Cross (2392)
Starfleet Extended Tour Ribbon (with Cluster) (2393)
TriStar Cluster (2400) [a medal presented by Starfleet for great acts of courage during extreme circumstances. On the medal were three stars that represented honour, pride and courage]

Background:
[Note: Due to the classification of most of Shara’s record, this information is available only to the CO, XO, CNS and CMO. Details of her classified work are limited to CO (on a need to know basis) and upper level Starfleet Intelligence and Federation Security personnel. The classified record can be provided upon request]

Shara was born just outside of Riseen, a large city on Midos V to Tanis and Lucien Conner. Tanis was an administrator at the Midos V Satellite City Spaceport by day, and a concert pianist by night. Lucien, a skilled tradesperson, had briefly enlisted with Starfleet as an engineer in 2318, but was discharged after his first tour of duty due to his tendency to start conflicts with others and on more than one occasion negligence that led to fellow crewmembers being injured. It was “mutually decided” that Starfleet and he were not a good fit. He ended up getting a job on Midos, where he met Tanis. Though he did well for himself as an engineer on the colony, he carried a grudge (and a lot of anger) against Starfleet. He was prone to bouts of deep depression but he always managed to keep going and his relationship with Tanis seemed to help.

The couple married and had two children, Shara (in 2332) and Gavin (in 2336). Both children were exceptionally bright and were raised to make the best use of that intelligence. Around the time that Shara was 8, Lucien was fired from yet another job and began to drink heavily. Though he didn’t lash out physically, his verbal outbursts were rather spectacular at times.

Throughout her childhood, Shara focused on her studies, showing herself to be a gifted student. Whatever was happening at home, she seemed to brush it off so she could focus on her two loves: Mathematics and music.

Things took a turn for the worst when Shara was 14 and Tanis died very suddenly of the Terrellian plague, which had swept through part of the colony and killed 18 people before it could be contained. Gavin and Shara both had a mild bout of it, but received treatment before it could do any permanent damage.

After Tanis’ death, Lucien’s drinking increased and he became more violent. Shara would often provoke him in order to shift her father’s attention away from Gavin and more than once Shara intentionally stood between him and her brother, and once actually struck back.

Shara left home at the age of 16, no longer able to cope with her father’s behaviour. One of her deep regrets was leaving her younger brother there alone with him, but Lucien seemed fonder of Gavin and less likely to harm him. As best Shara could figure it, Shara reminded Lucien too much of Tanis and that coupled with Shara’s ability to outthink her father and plans to “leave the hellhole of a colony and do big things without him getting in the way” just pushed every button her father had. Shara moved to Alpha Centauri where she was pregnant and on her own. Her boyfriend, Curtis Allen, wasn’t ready to be a father, so she decided she’d raise the babe on her own. A month after Nadine was born, Shara tearfully gave the baby up for adoption, knowing it was the right thing to do. It was a closed adoption and the two were finally reunited in 2397, though Shara has kept this information mostly to herself.

Shara fended for herself and though she didn’t finish school, she found herself continually learning and soaking up knowledge. While bartending by day and taking night classes to finish up her secondary education, Shara met a charismatic but troubled young man by the name of Edward Calloway. They seemed to understand each other’s issues and balanced out each other’s flaws. After six months together, they married and settled on Tracken II, which promised them a quiet life they could craft for themselves.

To this day, Shara will say the best thing that ever happened to her was their daughter Faye. Channelling her own mother’s kind but firm ways, Shara and Edward sought to give their daughter a life both of them wished they had had. This of course changed drastically when the Federation signed the treaty with the Cardassians and Tracken now found itself in the DMZ. Though they were not one of the colonies forced to relocate many others were and the residents of Tracken knew that they were in as much danger as the rest. Appalled by the forced relocations, the colonists invited the newly formed resistance group, called the Maquis, to use their planet as a base. Most of the colonists joined the fight, including Shara and Edward who had skills of great use to the Maquis. Her relationship with her brother had been strained to this point, but after learning that his sister and brother-in-law had joined with the Maquis, Gavin (a Starfleet officer) cut all ties with Shara. The two have not spoken until recently, when they were reunited at Faye’s wedding (2398).

In 2371, while on loan to another Maquis cell, Shara suddenly found herself in the Delta Quadrant and due to the events that unfolded, a crewmember of the Starfleet vessel the USS Voyager. The next 7 years would be spent integrating with that crew and building her skills while trying to get home. But in 2376, once regular communications were established with the Alpha Quadrant, the former Maquis crewmembers learned of the devastating fate of their friends and loved ones. For Shara, it meant grieving the loss of both Edward and Faye once she accepted their fate. She would not learn of her daughter’s survival until many years later.

After Voyager returned to the Alpha Quadrant, and like the other former-Maquis, she found her former crimes being forgiven and Shara was offered a full commission with Starfleet. Given her computer and math skills, plus her previous reconnaissance work with the Maquis, Shara was subsequently recruited by Starfleet intelligence where she excelled as a field agent doing mostly covert reconnaissance work, earning a reputation in her circles as being one of the best at what she did.

In 2392, while deep undercover in the fragmented former Romulan Empire, a prisoner was brought in to the Tal Shiar facility: her daughter Faye. While Shara had known Faye was alive, they both disappeared at different times and that meant their paths never crossed. Faye loosely knew her mother might be alive but had no confirmation until their recent reunion on the USS Manhattan. Shara opted to keep her career and life a secret from Faye a little bit longer while she slowly coped with aftereffects of bearing witness to Faye’s torture, leaving Shara with PTSD. To date, Shara’s symptoms flare when Faye’s own mental health struggles cause significant distress, or those she cares for are in danger.

Shara’s assignment to the USS Asimov signified a full retirement from covert work and is the first time Shara has worked with an actual crew since Voyager. She is navigating how to not only be a part of a crew, but how to exist outside of the shadows she lived in for so long and be herself.

Hobbies/Talents

Gifted with data processing and encryption, mathematics and programming. Fast learner with a exceptional memory and high IQ. Plays the Terran guitar and piano, Vulcan lute and Bajoran lyre. Terrible cook.

Languages:

Federation Standard (Fluent)
Vulcan (Fluent in 3/4 Dialects)
Bajoran (Fluent)
tlhIngan Hol (Fluent)
Cardassian (Fluent)
Ferengi (Fluent)
Orion (Partially Fluent)
Rihannsu (fluent in all three dialects)
Tholian (Fluent)
Andorian (partial fluent, can read and write)
Gorn (Conversational, cannot read and write well)

Medical Record:

Shara is a generally healthy individual and not prone to minor ailments. The bulk of her major injuries have occurred in the line of duty.

Psychological Record:

IQ Rating as of 2395: 134

Shara is a resilient individual who has overcome signifiant trauma throughout her life. Her high intellect and quick mind make her adaptable to many situations, especially those that many others will shy away from. She has a profound sense of loyalty and will stick with her chosen cause at her own peril if she still believes it to be worthwhile. Though she can be difficult to get to know on a deeper level, she can present as a friendly and warm person and if she lets down her guard this becomes more true than just an affected personality.

The skills that make Shara an exceptional undercover field agent (her ability to gather information while hiding in plain sight) also makes her seem impenetrable when it comes to friendships and deeper relationships. Her inability to commit long term in romantic relationship is not unexpected, and in her own words “necessary until I stop wanting the men I care for to be Edward”. Despite her thick personal walls, Shara is highly self-aware. She understands her trauma and its affect on her and seems to simply go along with it, though it can be hard to tell how much of that is her being adaptable and how much she is hiding under the surface.

Calloway was diagnosed with PTSD after bearing witness to the torture and experimentation inflicted upon her daughter after Faye was captured while on her own undercover mission. Shara had infiltrated a Tal Shiar facility and was posing a low ranking medic. During the nine months her daughter was at the facility, Shara intervened to lessen the torment inflicted upon Faye but was able to do so only rarely without compromising both of them. With help from some of Faye’s friends in the Reunification Movement, Shara was able to help Faye escape. Shara disappeared for several weeks while she initiated one of recall plans in place. Upon her return to Federation space, Shara exhibited many PTSD symptoms that persisted despite counselling. Her diagnosis of PTSD persists, though was well controlled by therapy and medication.

Shara herself made the recent request for a shipboard assignment citing her daughter whom she recently reunited with after 25 years apart and a desire to be where Faye can find her if she is needed. The pair are slowly working through a lot of old feelings and letting each other be a part of the other’s life once again. Her PTSD symptoms have flared and her medication dosage was increased along with more frequent counselling sessions. As usual, Shara does not dismiss her condition and tackles treatment with the same tenacity and determination she shows in the rest of her life.

Important Threads

Alpha Quadrant- Sonatas and Serendipity: https://www.star-fleet.com/core/stf1/asimov/posts/141647/