Ellie Kleinhoffer

Authored by Tyra Schroll

Character Biography

Born on July 1, 2362, Elizabeth Teresa Kleinhoffer’s life was a mess. She was born 3 months premature to her 16 year old mother, Teresa Hooper, who had serious issues with drugs and alcohol throughout the pregnancy. Ellie as she would be called, was born addicted to methamphetamines and cocaine. Her first three months were spent in the neo natal ICU at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, IL for withdrawals and monitoring.
Ellie’s father, Marshall Kleinhoffer left them soon after Ellie was born, he couldn’t deal with Teresa’s drug and alcohol use any more. He did provide financial support for Ellie but rarely saw her.
When she was discharged in October 2362, Ellie and Teresa went to live with her maternal grandparents, Wilhelm and Roberta Hooper. Ellie’s grandparents had their own issues with drugs and alcohol and had no control over Teresa. Teresa would leave Ellie in their care for days at a time without saying that she was leaving. This bred resentment in Wilhelm and Roberta, causing them to be neglectful of baby Ellie. Leaving her lie in her crib all day with no formula or diaper changes. Somehow Ellie managed to survive her first months of life in the care of her mother and grandparents.
As she got older, Ellie continued to have medical problems resulting from her birth. She had developed asthma and ADHD, she was given medication for both conditions that neither her mother or grandparents bothered to give her as a result Ellie was often fussy and sick. It was during these times that Roberta and Wilhelm started putting the small girl in a locked closet to keep her out of the way. Teresa was rarely around and when she was she was intoxicated. Ellie had no one that she could trust and fell into a serious state of neglect.
When she was 5 years old, Teresa had taken Ellie with her to someone’s home. There was a fight and Teresa was shot and killed in front of Ellie. Ellie was old enough to know what had happened and repressed the memories of this event. Returned to Wilhelm and Roberta, she was held responsible for her mother’s death. The abuse and neglect became increasingly worse until Ellie was finally removed from her maternal grandparents and given to her Father and his family.
When she arrived at the home of Albert and Beatrice Kleinhoffer, she was malnourished, sick, injured and deathly afraid of anyone who tried to touch her. Marshall took his daughter to see a counselor after Ellie had been suspended from school for stabbing another child with a stylus. The counselor had read the court transcripts of Ellie’s treatment at the hands of her mother and maternal grandparents, yet Ellie refused to talk about it. Even at such a young age, Ellie was diagnosed with PTSD and Oppositional Definant Disorder and ADHD. The only visible reminder of the abuse she had suffered in the other home was a long scar on her right forearm from Roberta holding her down and burning her with a curling iron.
Throughout school, Ellie struggled with her studies and behavior issues. She would experience panic attacks when in an enclosed room, she developed OCD tendancies and was her own worst critic. She feared displeasing her father and paternal grandparents. It was also noted that she would back away or hide anytime voices were raised or there was a disagreement of some sort.
In High School, Ellie found that she enjoyed engineering and took as many vocational classes as she could. Finally finding something that she excelled at helped her to become a bit more outgoing. She still remained withdrawn and isolated from her peers, but was working on it. Graduating from High School in 2379 in the top 20% of her class, Ellie announced that she wanted to attend Star Fleet Academy and study warp theory and computer systems. Her father and grandparents agreed and in the fall of 2379, Ellie moved to San Francisco and began attending the Academy.
At the Academy, Ellie made the choice to deal with the disorders without medication. This caused her time there to be a roller coaster, she was nearly expelled on two occasions, however managed to pull herself together enough to graduate in the top 15% of her class. She continued to have panic attacks and anxiety attacks as well as outbursts of anger. Using various methods of relaxation and meditation, Ellie has slowly lowered the number of attacks and episodes, however they are always lying just below the surface. Ellie continues to not remember what happened to her or why she is prone to these attacks.
After graduating, Ellie was assigned to the Excalibur as an engineering officer and after three years she was transferred to the USS Dresden as an engineering officer.
After being transferred to the USS Dresden, Ellie climbed through the ranks and met and married her now ex husband who was the chief engineer. Approximately one year after their marriage, Ellie delivered a daughter, Amy, who is her pride and joy. When Amy was six months old, Ellie was critically injured in a plasma explosion in the port nacelle while effecting repairs to the warp coils there. She sustained a significant brain injury, that still causes problems today with speech and memory. Ellie had fractures to C4, T8, L4 and L5, resulting in permanent paralysis below the waist.
It was shortly after th is incident that Ellie and Paul separated and eventually divorced. Paul returned to Earth and Ellie and Amy remained aboard the Dresden. Amy goes to visit Paul when they can, otherwise she has very little to do with her Father, by his choice not theirs.
Ellie has been working on a suit that will send impulses to the damaged nerves, it works well but currently needs repaired and needs to be upgraded to prevent the electrodes from burning out so quickly. The details of her injury are explained in detail in her personnel file.