Carmen Luisa Parker-Cawlyns

Authored by Anna Ricks

Character Biography

Carmen Luisa is a second generation half Betazoid, born to Maryea Parker and Aaron Cawlyns (both first generation half Betazoids) on [stardate####.###].

Early Life:
Carmen spent her early years on the colony of Alpha 5(the colony referenced in TOS: Charlie X, not to be confused with Ceti Alpha V, where Captain Kirk sent Khan and the SS Botany Bay) . Her mother worked in food safety and regulations, and her father was a pediatric doctor. She was an only child, although she was with the other children on the base often enough that she sometimes forgot they weren’t really siblings.
Carmen’s parents split up when she was seven. Her mother moved back to Earth six months later. Carmen spent the next seven years of her life between Earth and Alpha 5, and then later between Earth and Betazed.
Both Maryea and Carmen were born deaf, so Carmen uses hearing aids. She also is fluent in Federation Standard Sign Language.
Ever since Carmen was a child, she was good with people. Few people guessed that she was part Betazoid– it had taken Carmen herself many years before she realized she was sensing other people’s emotions. She always tried to help people, and had been a bit of a people-pleaser her whole life.
Carmen hadn’t been very interested in her mother’s work–enforcing regulations never made anybody happy–but she was endlessly fascinated with her father’s work. She was pretty good at it too, she had a keen sense of what people needed, and, due to her ancestry, almost always could tell when there was something off with someone close to her.

Education:
Carmen entered Star Fleet Academy at the age of sixteen, studying to be a doctor. Her father had been a private practitioner, and although wasn’t necessarily against Star Fleet, had wished that his daughter had gone to a private school instead. Carmen, however, had her mother’s sense of exploration, and she knew that she would be well-suited to a starship. The more she was around somebody, the easier it was to tell if something was off.
Carmen is currently serving as a Cadet on the USS Challenger.