Mason, Sophia

[Grizz]

Name: Sophia Mason
Rank: Captain
Current Assignment: Pioneer Station Commanding Officer
Additional Positions: Head of Diplomatic & Accobar Research Mission

Gender: Female
Species: Human-Telosian
Age: 37

Mother: Leona Eve Mason [born London, England]
Father: [Unidentified Telosian Father]
Siblings: [1 Unidentified Brother]

Place of Birth: Lunar Spire, Telos
Education: [Classified]
Advanced Studies: [Classified]

Analysis: In early 2387, Commodore Leona Mason visited Pioneer Station to assist with an investigation in to a Klingon group known as Red Dawn. During this time, she indicated that she had no intention of taking James Wright's place as Head of Starfleet Operations in the Tyrella Section. However, shortly afterwards, she was promoted to the position. Taking her place in the Red Dawn investigation, was - to much speculation - her daughter, Sophia. It is unknown how much influence runs in the family, but Sophia's education, training and subsequent rise through the ranks has understandably been monitored closely. Her appointment to Pioneer Station has been the first instance where favouritism and undisclosed agendas have been considered.as reasoning. Though the official line is that she quickly became the most qualified to head up the facility under the shadow of Red Dawn.

Upon her first visit to Pioneer, Mason attempted to advise Acting Station Commander Michael Barnes without stepping on his toes for the day-to-day running of station operations. However during a tense stand-off with a Red Dawn cruiser, demanding Pioneer surrender Ambassador Ka'teth to them, Mason briefly took command in order to pull off an elaborate ruse. To make it appear as though Ka'teth was taking matters in to his own hands, Mason instructed him to shoot her during a visual communications link. Ka'teth himself was then incapacitated and his life-sign was masked to make it appear as though he had been killed. It was established that Mason was prone to spontaneous moments of recklessness - regardless of the outcome. It was remarked that she played 'dangerous games' to outmanoeuvre opponents in an internal game of chess. Details of previous situations which arose during her brief command of the Starship Randall have yet to surface.

Sophia's family history is a story of two-halves. On her mother's side, the Mason clan is long since embedded in Starfleet admiralty, while there is little to no public record of her Telosian father. The Telosians are heavily invested in religion and royalty - despite their backing of numerous technological advancements. Despite being contacts of the Federation, they mostly remain secluded and have not main any open allegiance to other races and factions. With an outward familiarity to Humans, Mason shows no discernible appearance unique to Telosians. To date, there is no evidence of any attempt to contact or locate the father of Leona Mason's only child - though notable information has been expunged from all records.

Eager to please, Mason will be looking to prove her ability to stand on her own two feet at the head of Pioneer Station. Determined to prove to any doubters that her Mother has not been the wings on her career, Sophia arrived in the Accobar System upbeat and ready to set to work. Unfortunately the Hobus Star had other plans for her.



Notes: Following on from Amber Munro and Renee Hampton in quick succession was a point of contention for me. I tried for quite some time to come up with excuses to either put Munro on Pioneer permanently or keep Hampton aboard. At one point in our plans when Griffiths was still active, Hampton was to leave the Taylor administration to follow her scientist's dream. But that didn't come to pass. Bringing in a new CO at the start of a major, series-defining crisis, is nothing short of ridiculous. It's going to be fast and relentless, with a set period of time until there's going to be some breathing room. But this in itself presents opportunities.

Munro was comfortable and in command of the Accobar System from before the series began. She knew the rules and how to bend them. She had her own personal history tied up in Asteroid Base: Alpha. She knew where to hit her two main adversaries. Hampton came on board to perform an extension of her day-to-day duties in a faraway place, while living out a fantasy in the process. But she was there with both Munro and Chaplain to back her up and lead the Starfleet crew - when both of those pillars were gone, Hampton knew it was time to leave. Now we have Sophia. Brand new assignment. First day on the job. Fairly easy ride up to this point and then what goes and happens? The Hobus star explodes, Asteroid Base: Alpha is destroyed and the Star Empire is thrown in to chaos with Pioneer on the front-lines.

This is not a leading lady cut from the same cloth as the previous two. I'm looking forward to getting to grips with her and getting the proper time and space to interact with her new crew - starting in the most desperate of circumstances. I hope you come to accept her, too! As ever, most of her details will be filled in as the series goes on. I have plans. A few plans. But I'm not telling you what they are.



Early Pioneer Service:



"Is this your first day, too? Welcome to the after-party."

As word spread of Romulus' destruction, Starfleet forces were sent across the Neutral Zone to provide whatever aid could be delivered.  The crew of Pioneer Station became part of the initial aid effort. A convoy of supplies and medical frigates assembled in the Accobar System and were escorted by the Hera across the Zone. However, within an hour's travel time, the convoy came under attack by the Romulan Mining Vessel, Narada - heavily augmented with Borg technology - which had already attacked a second convoy of ships. Shortly in to the battle, the Narada destroyed one of the medical frigates under the Hera's protection, prompting Mason's new Strategic Operations Officer, Klaw, to recommend retreat - a decision which was backed by many of the senior staff. With the intention of ordering the convoy to retreat to Accobar, Mason mistakenly gave the order for all ships to scatter - prompting the aid frigates to break away from each-other. Now as lone targets, the Narada was able to pick off a second frigate. Realising her mistake, Mason recalled the convoy through Klaw and the group warped out of the battle zone. However, Klaw reported that one of the ships did not warp out - despite not reporting any problems with their warp engines. It was too late to return.

When the convoy reached Pioneer, Mason had Klaw work with the senior staff to devise new routes for future attempts while she attempted to write up a mission report. However, to the acknowledgement of the staff, she was openly struggling to do so - holding on to the possibility that the missing medical frigate could have survived the attack. During this time, she kept tabs on the science team's progress with analysing the Narada's upgraded systems - and also repeatedly checked in on Jemma Etis' state of mind following the recent crisis. She also completed a long overdue medical with Doctor Rogan, who referred to her Telosian biology - at which point, Mason became quickly uncomfortable and exclaimed that she would not be able to provide Rogan with any more information than he already has.

During station repairs, Mason overheard new Chief Engineer McClintock's inability to prioritise sensor systems at the request of Lieutenant Thrace. Mason instructed McClintock to focus on the sensors (in a roundabout way) and delivered the news to Thrace - feigning un-involvement. When Klaw eventually delivered his proposal for a second convoy, Mason quickly accepted and had him brief the staff - still distracted by her looming mission report. However, it was quickly put to bed when Pioneer received a long range distress call. The missing medical frigate was reporting in.



"What's expected of me?!"

Thirty minutes in to the rescue mission, the medical frigate stopped broadcasting it's distress signal. On arrival at it's source, the frigate was gone. Mason kept the Hera patrolling the surrounding area as Lieutenant Thrace performed thorough scans of the area. This did not go to waste as a disappearing drone and an increase in tachyon emmisions prompted speculation on one or more cloaked ships. However, once revealed by a deflector pulse, two objects were uncovered. The missing sensor drone, and the device generating the field. Nothing of value seemed to be hidden. Mason ensured that scans continued and grew increasingly frustrated that the frigate had simply vanished.

Prior to their next breakthrough, Mason toured the ship while the medical staff began handing out stim-packs to combat their fatigue - which were stubbed by many on the senior staff, including herself. She checked in with McClintock on the matter of ship repairs, given the unexpected departure from Pioneer ahead of time. Mason also put Klaw on the look out for passing ships, attempting to keep their mission something of a clandestine affair. It was then that the Hera picked up a Ferengi distress call. On their arrival, Mason encounter former promenade figure - Gaila - for the first time, who had gotten his ship stranded in the centre of a cloaked minefield. Thrace, Costello and McClintock got to work on analysing and disabling the mines - starting off by locating one and bringing it on board. But other than supervise their efforts, Mason retreated to the ready room with Michael Barnes - with the intention of allowing Jemma Etis and Lucas Perry some time alone on the Bridge.

However, this allowed Barnes an opportunity to reveal all about Walter Peirce's surrender aboard Pioneer. Mason was unsure as to how to respond - asking Barnes himself what she was expected to do now that she had been made aware of this information. However, their deliberations were interrupted by the attempt to clear a path to Gaila's ship, using what was simply described as a 'magnetic probe.' Mason's attraction to risk led her to promptly approve the plan and the crew once again set to work - and sure enough, Gaila was freed. He revealed his secret leverage - which was the possible location of the medical frigate. When the Hera arrived, the frigate was located - powered down and lifeless. As they approached, a Klingon armada was detected on approach at high speed. Thinking fast for the first time since Hobus collapsed, Mason had the Hera moved quickly away from the frigate and powered down in to gray mode - leaving the restless crew waiting in the dark.




"Am I sure about this? Well, that rather depends on the outcome."



Recent Events:

With her confidence initially shaken, the Hobus crisis and it's aftermath soon threw the safety wheels off Pioneer's new Commanding Officer. However, this wasn't the largest obstacle for Mason to overcome between 2387 and 2388. Believing that her Chief of Security, Alicia Costello, was somehow involved in the Red Dawn situation that she was overseeing - she launched her own private investigation after Costello fell off the grid during a leave of absence. Edging closer to the truth, she worked on earning Costello's trust up until the point that she would confess her involvement in an intelligence operation on Qo'noS leading to the assassination of a senior Red Dawn officer. When Costello was abducted in a direct response to this act, Mason led an off-the-books rescue operation to recover her - vowing to destroy the Klingon facility where she was being kept, should any harm come to her. Fortunately, Costello was recovered, and the pair's bond of trust was strengthened further. Mason has since buried her knowledge of the operation.

Both in the lead up to and the breaking out of the Halkonian conflict, Mason had also ensured Jemma Etis' promotion to Chief Science Officer as Daniel Thrace was declared Absent Without Leave. The Captain set herself the task of getting to know her half-Romulan science officer's background and interests - making frequent trips to the Science Laboratory. During the Halkonian / Accobi crisis, Mason relied increasingly heavily on Etis' abilities and dedication to both Pioneer and Accobar's safety.

When Denara Clarke orchestrated a siege on the station, Mason and Etis were both in the shuttlebay when a Halkonian controlled shuttlecraft careered in to the deck. The bay sustained heavy damage and Etis was seen to be trapped and unconscious within the burning wreckage. With fire suppression systems damaged and the engineering team trying to gain access, Mason attempted to fight the flames herself to reach Etis. Although she was able to recover her, Etis was dead-on-arrival to Sickbay. A furious Mason prepped the station for a heated conflict against a Halkonian cruiser which had jumped in to the system. However, it was soon revealed that Jemma Etis had been transported off the station moments before the shuttle hit the station - and the body Mason recovered from the shuttlebay was the disguised corpse of a Halkonian officer who Clarke had executed aboard her ship.

This siege led to Jemma Etis, Michael Barnes and Tim Rogan being abducted by the Halkonian fleet. Denara had agreed to trade them for the Accobi interface which Daniel Thrace and David Rush had designed. However, Starfleet had a plan to cripple Denara's ship and take the fleet by surprise. Believing that this would lead to the deaths of all three hostages, Mason sabotaged Starfleet's plan (in part by incapacitating a supervising officer - James Menden) and tried to both capture Clarke along with saving the hostages. This plan backfired when Clarke caught on to the trap. Although she was captured and both Etis and Rogan recovered - Michael Barnes was killed in the moments before the away team could be beamed away from the site of the exchange. Mason was haunted by Barnes' death for weeks to come and can only place blame with herself - despite the alternative.



Once again she fell back on her budding friendship with Jemma Etis, who proved to be a continuously reassuring presence on the staff. As of 2390, Mason has found herself trying to reboot Pioneer's Promenade and civilian businesses. However, her efforts were derailed on Federation Day as Jemma's father appeared in the Accobar System - pleading for the crew to rescue his wife, citing potential information on a Romulan operation involving the station as further persuasion. Although Mason agreed to help Henry Etis rescue his wfe (Jemma's mother), she remained wary of the situation - ultimately choosing to replace Menden on the away team to infiltrate the Romulan facility on Yddris. Although Jemma's mother was recovered - the crew were too late to prevent an attack on Pioneer. Upon their return to the station - Mason has once again found herself facing a hostage crisis, with disgraced Romulan Ambassador Taval having somehow bypassed station security to hold the remaining crew - and their friends and family - under Romulan guard.

How she reacts to being faced with a similar dilemma which resulted in the death of Michael Barnes remains to be seen....

[Grizz]

Updated 09/02/14

[Grizz]

Partially Updated 04/03/15