Arlo Thornton
Arlo Adrienne Thornton is a Starfleet Science Officer, formerly assigned to the USS Gorkon where she rose to the position of Assistant Chief Science Officer before taking an extended leave of absence in order to deal with repressed trauma.
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| Arlo Thornton | ||||||||||
| Position | Assistant Chief Science Officer | |||||||||
| Rank | Lieutenant Commander | |||||||||
| Species | Human | |||||||||
| Gender | Female | |||||||||
| DOB | 237107.23 | |||||||||
| Age | 30 | |||||||||
| Birthplace | Brisbane, Earth | |||||||||
| Writer ID | C239203TW0 | |||||||||
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Appearance
- Height: 1.7m (5"7').
- Weight: 60kgs (132lbs).
- Hair: Auburn.
- Eyes: Blue-Green.
- Build: Slim
- Handedness: Right.
Personality
Arlo’s voice can be best described as having a slightly raspy quality. Although born on the island of Australia she does not possess the local accent having grown up in the multi-cultural city of Brisbane. Additionally, her parents never developed the accent despite having lived in Brisbane for twenty years. However, she does have a tendency to slip into ‘strine twang’- an ancient tendency amongst Australians to adopt a nasal way of speaking that often makes statements sound like questions.
She was noted for her prickly demeanour and for the fact that she kept people at arm's length. She speaks her mind and is always honest with her opinions. As a teen, this often got her into trouble. Over the years, however, she learnt to only offer opinions and blunt assessments when she is asked for them. Some value these traits and she is usually the person that somebody turns to when they need to hear the truth and not be mollycoddled.
Starfleet Statistics
- Training Facility: Starfleet Academy, Earth.
- School of Study: School of Arts & Sciences
- Specialisations: Astronomy and Xenology
- Minor: Subspace Mechanics
- Starfleet Serial Number: JW - 391 - 883
- Current Rank: Lieutenant Commander
- Current Assignment: N/A
Relationships
Family
- Mother: Rowena Thornton - Cafe Owner.
- Father: Liam Thornton - Cafe Owner.
- Elder Sister: Rebecca Thornton - Investigative Journalist, Cestus Herald
Arlo's parents are café owners and still reside in Brisbane while her older sister- Rebecca- is an investigative journalist for the Cestus III Herald. Additionally, Arlo is named for her paternal grandfather with whom the family were particularly close to before his passing when Arlo was 3 years old. She only has hazy memories of him as a result, but cherishes them greatly. She is close with her both of her parents as well as her sister. Her parents forbade the use of replicators in their house and even refused to allow their daughters to eat anywhere that had them. They wanted them to appreciate the value of home cooked meals. Arlo did not sample replicated food until her first year at Starfleet Academy- and instantly disliked it.
Background
Hobbies & Interests
- Hobbies: Theatre and Xenobotany.
- Favourite Colour: Navy Blue.
- Favourite Scent: Lavender.
- Favourite Musical Style: Trill fado.
Diet
- Restrictions: Caffeine intolerant, vegetarian.
- Favourite Beverage: Apple tea (decaffeinated).
- Favourite Food: Hasperat.
Background
Childhood & Teenage Years
Arlo Adrienne Thornton was born on stardate 237107.23 at the Our Lady Of Mercy Hospital, Brisbane on Earth to Rowena and Liam Thornton. The youngest of two daughters, she has an older sister- Rebecca- who is an investigative reporter for The Cestus III Herald. Arlo attended public school until the age of 18 and was noted for her interest in the sciences, most notably astronomy. As a small child, she developed a significant fear of the dark which she eventually overcame. As a teen, she worked part-time in her parents’ café which overlooked the scenic Brisbane River in the city centre. Part of her responsibilities involved ensuring that the café’s plants were watered, which triggered her interest in Xenobotany which became her hobby. Although she originally intended to attend university and begin a career as a civilian astronomer, she was convinced to apply to Starfleet by her secondary school astronomy professor- a retired officer- who believed she would thrive better within the organisation.
Starfleet Career
Starfleet Academy
Arlo took the entrance exam for Starfleet Academy shortly after graduating from secondary school and passed on her first attempt. Enrolling as a Science Major she chose to specialise in Astronomy as well as Xenology with a minor in Subspace Mechanics. Many of her professors noted that Arlo was an eager and engaged student but one who struggled with balancing deadlines. In her second year she was cajoled by her roommate in to auditioning for a role in a performance of the Gilbert & Sullivan opera Iolanthe that was put on by the Academy’s Drama Society. She enjoyed the experience so much that she joined the society and it became something of a hobby for her. She graduated 21st in her class- although she barely scraped a pass on her Subspace Mechanics minor. During her final year, she was involved in an accident during a training mission aboard the USS Temecula. She was later questioned as a suspect in the explosion and later discovered that two of her friends framed her as the culprit. When she discovered the truth, she closed herself off from friendships.
Helaspont Station
Upon graduating from Starfleet Academy, Arlo was assigned to Helaspont Station as a science officer. During her three years there she helped to conduct several deep range surveys of the nearby Helaspont Nebula and participated in a number of investigations of protoplanetary masses within its boundaries. Although her poor grasp of advanced subspace mechanics was highlighted as an area of improvement by her superiors, Arlo was commended a number of times for her diligence and her willingness to take point during group projects. Her department chief recommended her for the Assistant Chief position on the basis of her burgeoning leadership skills, although she was unsuccessful at that time.
She was promoted to Lieutenant (J.G.) upon completion of a mapping expedition of a previously uncharted protoplanetary cloud within the Helaspont Nebula on stardate 239403.22.
Assignment to the USS Gorkon
Though largely happy during her time assigned to Helaspont Station, Arlo felt herself becoming complacent with her role and therefore she chose to challenge herself. Applying for a transfer to starship duty, she was assigned to the USS Gorkon as Assistant Chief Science Officer for which she was promoted to Lieutenant before her arrival.
Shortly after reporting for duty she was involved in an "experiment" involving a member of the Q Continuum and found herself in an alternate reality where she was an Maquis insurgent aboard the Skarbek. After being returned to the proper time and place, Q offered no explanation as to the nature of the "experiment". (GORKON: Together In Electric Dreams).
Arlo's first assignment as a member of the Gorkon's crew was to assist in aiding a team of terraforming scientists at the Giáng Sinh colony deal with an unexpected winter, the after effects of an unexplained solar flare. Having grown up in a sub-tropical climate, she was initially unenthused by the the arctic conditions but grew to appreciate the beauty of the planet to the point where she remarked she would miss the planet when Gorkon was reassigned elsewhere.
Shortly after Gorkon's assignment was complete, the ship was tasked with investigating a string of strange occurrences on the strategically important Romulan colony of Vaeron. Arlo was assigned to lead an away team to investigate a strange sensor 'dead zone' that had appeared at the lowest levels of a Federation-administrated mine known as Calrich's Overhang. It was during this mission that her childhood fear of the dark came back with a vengeance- which was only compounded by the presence of mutated Denebian Slime Devils and strange fungal aliens. Her team eventually discovered a secret 'duckblind' which appeared to link all the strange occurrences and encountered a kidnapped Starfleet officer- Rachel Flores- who had been subjected to alien experimentation. They identified that the aliens used a species of mycelia as a power source and shut down the duckblind by inducing a metre on cascade in the power systems which destroyed the mycelial spores. (GORKON: Serpent Heart, Flowering Face).
When the Gorkon crew were tasked with assessing the safety and viability of a privately owned palaeontological reserve/theme park, Arlo was assigned to assist in evaluating the scientific aspects of the endeavour, which used revolutionary but mysterious cloning technology to create a wide variety of dinosaurs. She was suspicious of the technology and believed that the park's Chief Scientist- Doctor Bertrand Hankins- was less interested in scientific progress and more in the acclaim that would come with his discoveries. Nevertheless, she helped to save the life of an infant dinosaur by recognising that it had an extreme sensitivity to light and arranging for it's pen to be shrouded in darkness. During the tour, a series of malfunctions put everybody's lives in dangers as did an ion storm. After numerous encounters- and escapes- from carnivorous dinsoaurs, the away team plus Doctor Hankins fled from the science complex to the park's weather control centre where they discovered an infestation of GS54- a bioluminescent swarm that were preventing any changes to the asteroid's weather systems. Arlo's devised a backfeed to 'sour' the electromagnetic variance of the EPS system to, which forced GS54 out the electrical systems and into several battieries provided by Doctor Hankins. With the infestation removed, Arlo was able to reboot the weather modification network and dissipate the ion storm. They were rescued a short time later by the USS Triumphant (GORKON: Welcome to Dinosauria). For her efforts during the Trueno crisis she received a Silver Lifesaving Ribbon, an Innovation Award, a Good Conduct Ribbon and a promotion to Lieutenant Commander.
Leave Of Absence
She revealed the truth of the events aboard the Tecmecula to Counsellor Corliss Fortune and then took an extended leave of absence in order to fully process what had happened and the effects that it had upon her.
Alternate Realities & Timelines
- Arlo was present in an alternate reality created by Q where members of the crew of the USS Gorkon were members of a Maquis cell in 2371. In this reality she was a hard-drinking sensor analyst whose aboard a Maquis interceptor called the Skarbek who had never attended Starfleet Academy. After the vessel was boarded by Cardassians, Quinn “Spooks” Reynolds secured Arlo in the ship’s engineering compartment and tasked with her finding a medkit. When Reynolds returned for her, she found Arlo asleep- having found the medkit and a bottle of tequila that had been stashed with it. The two made plans to board the Cardassian vessel to rescue captured members of the Skarbek’s crew. She helped Reynolds to engineer a warp core break aboard the Cardassian vessel and subsequently rescued the captured insurgents. Before the warp core breach could occur, Q appeared and returned Thornton and Reynolds to their correct time and place. (GORKON: Together In Electric Dreams)
Service History
| Service History | ||||
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| Insignia | Rank | Dates | Posting | Assignment |
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Cadet First Class | 238912.01 - 239212.28 | Graduated Starfleet Academy | Science Officer |
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Ensign | 239301.10 - 239408.22 | Helaspont Station. | Science Officer. |
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Lieutenant JG | 239408.22 - 239610.31 | Helaspont Station. | Science Officer |
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Lieutenant | 239611.10 - 239709.28 | USS Gorkon. | Assistant Chief Science Officer |
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Lieutenant Commander | 239709.28 - 239712.20. | USS Gorkon. | Assistant Chief Science Officer |