CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY
- 233403.05 - Born at Shenlona on the southern Attraxan Isles
- 235007.12 - Explosion on freighter sets Karise on path to become a doctor
- 237706.20 - Falls hard for and rejected by Melissanya (date reflects date of rejection)
- 238209.01 - Begins education at The Rodulan School of Medicine - Attraxia
- 238606.01 - Graduated Medical School (The Rodulan School of Medicine - Attraxia)
- 238807.31 - Leaves Basul Rodul II for Starfleet Academy
- 239206.01 - Graduated from Starfleet Academy
- 239606.01 - Graduated from Starfleet Medical School; begins one-year internship in Emergency Medicine
- 239704.20 - Posted to first deep space assignment - USS Juneau
BACKGROUND
Born the third of four children, Karise was always something of an adventurous spirit. Her parents owned and operated a mid-sized shipping company based in their hometown of Shelona, and Karise frequently traveled on her father’s ships whenever he himself made a voyage, as he often did so as to “keep his feet wet” as he liked to put it. Her brother, Dhad, usually came along as well and as a result, he is the sibling Karise is closest too. Her sisters just never could understand her desire to roam.
Not that her roaming made her any less feminine. On the contrary, her roaming only heightened her appreciation for such things as fashion, cosmetics, and gossip. She also found herself drawn to physical activities such as jogging, swimming and cave diving. But for all her hobbies, Karise had always had an interest in helping others.
Karise had been born near the end of the Cardassian occupation, and had always hated how they treated her people. Even her father’s company was strictly controlled by them. She would learn later that the acts the Cardassians had done on her world, while cruel, were not nearly as severe as the sufferings the Bajorans had endured. But as a child and a young woman, she had no knowledge of those events, and a strong dislike of their gray-skinned oppressors took seat in her heart. A prejudice she fights even to this day.
After an explosion caused a serious fire on one ship she was sailing with, she found herself assisting the ship’s corpsman in tending the wounded and that was when she found her calling. After that experience, she began to devote herself to the study of medicine in the hopes that she would be able to save more lives as the doctors had that day. That event also increased her prejudice against the Cardassians as it was learned the explosion was the result of their sabotage. Retribution, they claimed for disobedience. What kind, she never knew since her people made no resistance against their oppressors.
On one trip to the Phon Coast at the age of 43 (which is about the equivalent of an 18 year old human woman), she met a beautiful Tikani woman named Melissanya. It didn’t take her long to realize she had some rather strong and intense feelings for this woman, but those feelings would not be returned and once again, Karise found herself crushed by a lost dream. It took her a long time to recover from that heartbreak, but she eventually did recover.
When she was finally old enough, Karise applied to The Krzexxi University of Science and Medicine, Rodul’s top school for such studies. Unfortunately, she was rejected by the school. Devastated by their rejection, Karise almost gave up her dream, but after a conversation with Dhad one night on one of their father’s ships, she decided to continue the pursuit of that dream. Applying to The Rodulan School of Medicine - Attraxia, a branch of the school located on the Atraxxan Isles, she was granted admission and began her studies with renewed fervor.
To say that she graduated with top honors would be a gross exaggeration of the truth. In fact, while she did graduate in the top one-third of her graduating class, it was not with honors. Upon completion of Medical School, she then faced a decision. Continue her education to focus on a specialty, or begin her internship at a hospital. Not sure what field she wanted to specialize in, she chose to do her internship and spent a little over a year at the local hospital learning the various fields. As her internship neared its completion and she was expected to choose a field, even if it was just general practice, she was left with a dilemma. One that was settled when on a brief vacation to Toprera, the capital city of Krzexxi.
While there, and doing a fair amount of shopping amongst the shops of the various offworlders allowed to set up stores, she had a chance encounter with a doctor from Starfleet who was himself on vacation on their planet. She got into a friendly discussion and after several hours of talking, she inquired as to the possibilities of her becoming a Starfleet doctor. He told her how to apply, but warned her that since Rodul was not a member world of the Federation, her acceptance would be even harder than it would be for someone from a member world. Forearmed with that knowledge, and remembering her disappointment following her rejection from Krzexxi USM, she did not allow her hopes to be raised even while she found herself filling out an application. To her great delight, she was accepted, though Starfleet did stipulate that despite her education, she would need to attend their school as well so as to broaden her medical knowledge and skills to suit their needs.
Karise agreed, and a few months later, after a tearful farewell with her family, Karise once again found herself in Toprera, this time to board a ship which would take her on the first leg of her journey to Earth and an exciting new life.
Upon her completion of the Academy, as agreed, she attended the Starfleet Medical Academy where her skills were made relevant to service in Starfleet, and where she finally settled upon a specialty: Emergency Medicine. Now, her education is complete, and after a year of additional internship at Starfleet Medical, Karise has been finally assigned to her first starship for duty.
