Mary Daniel
- This article is about the fictional holonovel character. For the deceased Human Starfleet officer whose body is now inhabited by Daniel's consciousness, see Tina Kuppasoop.
Mary Daniel is a fictional holonovel character whose consciousness was switched with that of Tina Kuppasoop, a Human Starfleet officer, in late 2398.
Historical person
The holonovel character of Mary Daniel is based upon a real person of the same name. The historical Mary Daniel was born on Earth in c. 1673 and lived in the English colony of Massachusetts Bay. Not much is known of her life except that she was a convert to Puritanism, having been baptized in 1691, and was possibly the servant of Edward Payson, the minister of the town of Rowley, Massachusetts. In August 1692, during the Salem witch trials, Daniel gave testimony accusing Margaret Scott of witchcraft. Daniel claimed that Scott appeared to her as an apparition, pinched her "very much," and caused her to temporarily lose the ability to speak. Scott was found guilty of witchcraft and executed by hanging on 22 September 1692. Mary Daniel disappears from the historical record after the trials.
Fictional character
The fictional Mary Daniel appeared as a central character in the historical fiction holonovel Terrifying Secrets of the Salem Witch Trials by Human novelist Augusta Freckling-Doot. The book was published in 2396 and was the third installment of Freckling-Doot's Terrifying Secrets historical fiction series, in which she reinterprets historical events as psychological thrillers. At the time of its publication, the novel claimed to be "the most shocking and thrilling work of fiction" based on the Salem trials ever published, and promised to "shed compelling new light" on some of the lesser known historical characters, including Mary Daniel. It received negative reviews, and as of April 2399, has a 1.6/10 rating on FedReads.
In Terrifying Secrets of the Salem Witch Trials, Mary Daniel is cast in the role of a psychopathic, murderous antagonist, who intentionally accuses people of witchcraft to settle scores and exact revenge for perceived injustices. Daniel is cunning, clever, and completely without empathy or remorse.
Sentience and co-existence with Tina Kuppasoop
In late 2398, the USS Excalibur-A was on a mission to Cytaris V when a race of unknown aliens swapped the minds and bodies of the crew. Lieutenant JG Tina Kuppasoop, a security officer from Deep Space 224 on temporary assignment to Excalibur, was playing Terrifying Secrets of the Salem Witch Trials when the swaps began. Kuppasoop's mind was swapped with Daniel's, and Daniel, now empowered to leave the holodeck, left Kuppasoop trapped in a holographic body. Shortly after, Ensign Kirky Bean (himself in the body of Vitor Silveira) deactivated the holodeck, leaving the crew to think that Kuppasoop's consciousness had been erased.
The crew of Excalibur made contact with the aliens and persuaded them to return everyone to their proper bodies. For some unknown reason, the holographic consciousness of Mary Daniel remained inside the mind of Tina Kuppasoop even after the swaps were resolved. Daniel continued to coexist inside the mind of Kuppasoop for several months, during which she exerted increasing influence over Kuppasoop's actions.
In early 2399, Kuppasoop (under the influence of Daniel) applied for a permanent transfer from Deep Space 224 to Excalibur and ended her relationship with her longtime partner, Sauerkreemin ch'Yves. Their last meeting included a romantic congress, during which Kuppasoop/Daniel became pregnant by ch'Yves.
Demes II and aftermath
In early 2399, Kuppasoop/Daniel was part of an undercover mission to Demes II, during which Daniel's influence over Kuppasoop reached its zenith. On Stardate 239903.09, Daniel forcibly and irrecovably overpowered Kuppasoop's consciousness, essentially killing the latter and cementing the former as the sole consciousness extant within Kuppasoop's mind and body. Daniel then betrayed the members of her Starfleet team and attempted to flee with a cache of Starfleet technology. The attempt was unsuccessful and resulted Cmdrs. Addison MacKenzie and Karrod Niac, Lieutenant Etan Iljor, and Lieutenant JG Vitor Silveira to return to Demes II to rescue her. Upon her return to Excalibur, Daniel was placed in insolation in Sickbay for medical and psychological evaluation.
OOC
Mary Daniel is a PNPC of Yogan Yalu.