Hsina Amman
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| Hsina Amman |
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Character Information
- Full Name: Hsina Amman
- Race: Human
- DoB: 2286.02.25
- Age: 107 Chronological, 47 years lived (not counting stasis), 37 physiologically
- Gender: Female
Family
- Father: Hussein Amman (Iraqi)
- Mother: Sopho Dedru (Greek)
- Siblings: Brother Uday Amman (Boxer, drunkard, deceased - would be 118), Sister Nuri Malaki (115 – police detective, deceased), sister Samira Amman (suicide at age 15 when mother died would be 109)
- Religion: Atheist
Appearance
- Height: 6'1"
- Weight: 220
- Hair: Black
- Eyes: Brown
- Skin: Tanned
- Build: Muscular/Strong (very)
History
Hsina was born 107-years-ago in Iraq to an Iraqi father and a Greek mother, the youngest of four children. Hsina's farther was a police officer in Baghdad, and was killed in the line of duty when Hsina was only 6-years-old. Her mother, a medical doctor, raised Hsina and her siblings until Hsina was 13, at which time she literally slipped and fell down a flight of stairs, to her death. At that time, Hsina was the only minor child, her sister Nuri the next youngest was already 23-years-old, and a police officer like their father. Her other sister, Samira, took her own life days after the death of their mother.
Hsina was taken in by brother Uday, who was something of a nut-job, but a very tough nut-job who made his living as a professional boxer and an amateur drunk.
Civilian Education and Career
While Hsina's upbringing was disjointed and unconventional, she remained very close to her two surviving siblings as she grew up and while always a social misfit, was also always an exceptional student. She graduated from high school at age 16 and college at age 19, receiving a full scholarship to USC for her masters, and a full scholarship to Oxford for her doctorate, where she then served for 17 years as a professor and later department chair and assistant dean. Like most archaeology professors, she was always very active on digs, and is one of the leading scholars on the poorly understood ancient race known as the Preservers. Her claim to fame was deciphering the mysterious Preserver written language by finding its "Rosetta Stone", the discovery made in all places in a previously undiscovered temple in ancient Iraq, barely 160 miles from her birthplace.
Hsina's achievements in her field are due in no small part to her exceptional memory, which allowed her to recall clues from books read years before and piece them together for that "a-ha" moment in which she realized that an ancient sumerian poem was actually coordinates on an equally ancient Sumerian map. One of those mysteries who's answer had been staring scholars in the face for centuries.
Since completing her doctoral studies, Hsina has spent most of her life in academia. Much like the fictional 20th movie character Indiana Jones, Hsina spent the years following her studies teaching classes on archaeology, history and anthropology while also participating in and often leading archaeological digs both on Earth and in deep space.
It was on one such dig, a classified mission by the Starfleet vessel USS Curiosity to recover a Preserver artifact of incredible age found drifting intact near Romulan space, that Hsina was lost and presumed dead. USS Curiosity recovered the artifact, but before they could return it to Starfleet for study, the ship was attacked and lost with all hands.
What really happened was that a Romulan team infiltrated and boarded Curiosity, and made a play to capture the ship and the precious Preserver artifact. By the time the fighting was over, only five of Curiosity's crew and Dr. Hsina Amman, who was on board as a civilian mission specialist remained alive, and the Curiosity herself was dead in space, venting atmosphere. The Romulan survivors escaped with the Preserver artifact.
THAT WAS SIXTY-THREE-YEARS-AGO. The six survivors went into stasis, certain that someone would find the drifting, derelict starship. They did, 60-years-later, but only one of the six stasis chambers remained active, that of Dr. Hsina Amman. Hsina woke up at Starbase 118 OPS, then spent a few weeks at Star Fleet Academy for a direct commission course (she did not attend a regular academy) and finally posting as an ensign on the USS Discovery-C.
Personality, Skills and Traits
Contrary to what her resume might suggest, Hsina is no bookworm. The combination of her tumultuous childhood, extreme height and being raised by a brother who was a professional boxer and an amateur drunk, Hsina couldn't help but come out slightly odd, 51-50, playing slightly short of a full deck, etc. She is beyond fanatically fit, with her exercise routine more masochistic than merely fanatical. At 6'1" she is extremely tall, a trait she got from her mother and shares with her brother, who is 6'5". She is proportional for her height, with a definitely feminine build, but one subjected to masochistic workouts to produce a body that would make most Klingons jealous. Also like her mother and brother, she is freakishly strong, easily out-muscling the vast majority of men. Her height, massive build and stern countenance are often intimidating to people who do not know her well, and even to some who do (the whole she's crazy thing).
Hsina has no fear. This is not a heroic, courageous kind of no fear, but more a mentally defective, "death is merely the end" and of the "she likes pain" kind of no fear. The kind of no fear that put her in the hospital when she was mugged at knife point in London and attacked the mugger with her fists, breaking the muggers arm, jaw and four ribs, but getting stabbed three times in the process.
In addition to her unhealthy lack of fear, Hsina also has a very unhealthy prejudice against certain professions and generally dislikes regulations that she sees as silly or unnecessary. Its not that they are silly or unnecessary, just that she sees them that way, and quickly decides that they don't particularly matter to her. Thus far she has been reasonably lucky and nothing has gotten her into too much trouble, as very few men complained when she would use the men's restroom 50% of the time, just using whichever is closer rather than caring for what she considered stupid segregation. Her disdain for rules extends to a disdain for bureaucracy and bureaucratic professions, which she considers one step above a prison sentence and wonders what kind of spineless insectoid weasel would ever consider a career as a file clerk, secretary or what-not. She's smart enough not to outright insult such people when they are in a position to cause trouble, but its always quite a struggle.
Hsina frequently takes unnecessary risks and participates in extreme sports to center herself. When such activities are not available she tends to drink heavily, and never that synth nonsense.
Finally, while Hsina is unbalanced and not quite right, she is very good at hiding it. She actually suffers from a genetic disorder that makes her completely psi-null. She has absolutely zero psionic potential where most humans have some, and while that means she can never learn some of the mental disciplines like walking on hot coals and the like, it also prevents empaths and telepaths from getting any reading at all, though a Vulcan mind-meld, which is a direct physical connection, will get a reading, but only if done intrusively as she is incapable of consenting as that involves opening up a part of the brain that simply doesn't work. There have been two instances, however, when somehow (Hsina doesn't yet understand it) two telepathic/empathic individuals were able to get something of a fuzzy-peripheral read on Hsina, while at the same time Hsina heard their thoughts as well. Defective hardware is Hsina's best guess.
Medical and Psychogical
Last Physical:
Right hand and wrist crushed. Muscle and bone regenerated though significant nerve damage remains causing constant, intense pain. Patient was offered amputation and an advanced prosthetic, but refused.
Non-linear aging. Patient underwent cryogenic stasis for 60 years, which halted her aging for that time. She also aged in reverse roughly 10 years on a visit to the planet Kjenta II, which has a metaphysic radiation much like that of the better known planet of Ba’ku (see Star Trek: Insurrection). Her current chronological age is 107, her experiential age is 47, while her physiological and medical age is 37.
Three-years-ago patient was injected with the Daris II virus, which is nearly always fatal. Luckily a shipmate who had survived the virus was nearby, and a live anti-biotic was synthesized in time to save her life. She carries the Daris II cells in her blood, however no ill effects remain.
Despite the constant pain in her right hand and wrist, patient is in exceptionally good health and has strength and endurance that measures exceptionally high for a human. Patient is medically cleared for active duty.
Dr. Michael Glenn Medical Retention Board physician, Starfleet Headquarters
Last Psych Eval:
As always, Commander Amman is a most uncomfortable officer to evaluate on account of her being completely psi-null. While I am sure that a physical mind-meld would be successful, the officer continues to refuse to consent and as such it is absolutely impossible to know what she is thinking.
Also as always, Commander Amman has passed the standard oral and written psych eval without triggering any red flags. A part of me believes that she has simply studied the testing methodology and knows how to answer rather than answering honestly, but without an empathic or telepathic connection it is impossible to know. Polygraph, retinal flux and void-comp lie-detector tests have also returned inconclusive results.
Lack of verifiable testing aside, Commander Amman is a most unusual person, though nothing in her past history or current demeanor suggests that she is in any way unstable. When I inquired about the constant pain from her right hand and wrist, she indicated that it does not bother her. I’ve conferred with Dr. Glenn and he assures me that such a pain level is highly intrusive and that it is impossible that she does not feel it, which leads me to believe that she has some sort of pain fetish or at the very least an exceptionally high pain tolerance. While unusual, it is insufficient to restrict the officer from active duty.
Finally, Commander Amman consistently displays behavior that can only be described as odd. We’ve discussed the fact that in the 60 years she was in stasis most of the people she knew have grown old and died, but none of the expected signs of depression were present. If anything, she displays a Vulcan-like detachment from most normal human emotional responses, at least to the extent that I am able to determine through standard oral questioning.
Commander Amman is cleared for active duty.
Erica Klein, Ph.D Medical Retention Board Psychiatrist, Starfleet Headquarters
Relationships
Hsina's older brother died 19-years-ago while she was in stasis on the Curiosity. Her older sister lived until the age of 115, and did get to meet with Hsina once when USS Discovery took shore leave. Hsina's only surviving relatives are an 84-year-old nephew and his three children, whom she has only met twice.
Hsina has never been married, but has had two committed romantic relationships. The first with Dr. Alexander Martin, another professor at Oxford. Hsina and Alex parted romantically after being together for 12 years, and remained close friends. When Hsina dissappeared, Dr. Martin eventually married one of his female students (Hsina was also once one of his students), had a family and died 25-years-ago at the age of 108. Hsina's other long-term relationship was with one of her under-graduate and later graduate students, who died in her arms on USS Curiosity.
Since waking up, Hsina has been promoted quickly through the ranks on USS Discovery despite her rather abrasive personality, eventually serving as the chief science officer and more recently the chief of security. In her months on board she has almost caught up with the last 60 years of technology, at least when it comes to operating modern computer systems, and has earned a reputation as an unfeeling b!tch, but one who gets results and will go to extremes to protect her shipmates.
Starfleet Officer
Soon after being revived from stasis, Hsina was invited to join Starfleet. As she already possessed a doctoral degree and despite the passage of 60 years she remained perhaps the most knowledgeable person in the Federation when it came to the mythical preservers and other ancient spacefaring races, she was sped through a "Direct Commission" course. This course was basically a "Knife and Fork" school designed to introduce people with highly critical skills to Starfleet customs in a quick and cursory manner in order to get them on assignment as quickly as possible. Hsina's assignment was the USS Discovery-C, a front-line starship operating in a region of space with known Preserver ruins.
For her penultimate mission on board the Discovery C, Hsina and her shipmates spent some time on the planet Kjenta II, a high-gravity planet with similar physiological effects to Ba'ku inside the Briar Patch. While the effects varied by individual, the older one was physically, the more their physical age reverted while on Kjenta II. The effect is such that the longer one spends on the planet and more one exerts oneself while there, the more pronounced the effect, which in its end state would have a person age backwards (or forwards normally if very young) until they reached their physiological prime. To make Hsina's age more complex, she essentially got ten-years-younger in her time on Kjenta II, and while she was born 107-years-ago and has lived for 47 years, she is physiologically 37-years-old.
Starfleet Officer, Gone Native
After her tenure on the Discovery-C, Hsina was assigned as lead archaeologist of the Preserver-Iconian-Yeltan Project, with her base at the planet Pisces 4, a Preserver seed world with near-identical Earth cultures and an accurate Earth parallel timeline, only 3,019 years behind the progression of Earth (current Pisces 4 year is 626 BCE). While she had access to the Runabout Thebes and made frequent use of it to investigate leads uncovered at Pisces 4, most of her time was spent covertly integrated in Assyrian society's priestly caste where she had direct access to the temples of Nina and Assure. Her imposing stature, impressive build and ability to read and write not only the local Sumerian cuneiform, but also the languages of the Egyptian pharaohs, Persians, Greeks, Hebrews and even the distant Shang Chinese made it easy for her to gain access to the all-important inner sanctums of the temple of the goddess Nina, which was in fact a Preserver library that also contained Iconian and Yeltan archives.
While she never displayed any technology or modern knowledge to the people of Pisces 4, rumor quickly spread of her and many began to fear her, while others worshipped her thinking she was an incarnation of Nina herself, descended to judge them. Hsina did nothing to encourage or discourage such rumors as they served her purpose of allowing easy and unfettered access to the library.
Hsina's most recent departure from Pisces 4 was to investigate a Yeltan ruin she learned of in the library. The planet was inhabited by similarly primitive people to those of Pisces 4, however when Hsina touched the surface of the obelisk she went to see, she learned very quickly and the hard way that the device was not a mere ruin, but a spatial gate that transported her instantly to a strange and very distant space station in the previously uncharted Danubae system.
On Ship
Hsina was rescued from space station L39 by the crew of the USS Athena.
Family History
2286.02.25 Born in Mosul, Iraq
2292.09.30 Father killed in action
2299.03.04 Accidental death of mother
Education, Civilian and Starfleet Career
2300.06.10 Graduated Nineveh College Preparatory High School two-years early
2303.06.21 Graduated Baghdad University, BS Major Physical Anthropology, Minor Geology
2304.12.13 Graduated University of Southern California, MA Archaeology/History dual major
2305.12.11 Graduated Oxford University, Ph.D Archaeology – Dissertation on the Preserver Language, which Hsina decoded for the first time
2305.22.20 – 2308.02.23 Staff Archaeologist, London Museum of Natural History
2308.02.04 – 2319.01.23 Oxford University Professor of Archaeology
2319.01.23 – 2325.08.30 Oxford University Assistant Dean of Ancient Studies, Department Chair of Archaeology
2325.09.01 – 2327.08.13 University Dig, Planet 892-IV (ST: TOS, Bread and Circuses)
2327.09.01 - 2329.01.15 Oxford University, Professor of Archaeology / Civilian Dig, Ur, Iraq, Earth
2329.01.15 - 2329.09.28 Classified Federation Dig, Deep Space, Preserver Artififact
2329.09.28 - 2389.08.13 Derelict USS Curiosity, in stasis
2389.08.13 -2390.02.13 Chief Science Officer, USS Discovery-C
2390.02.13 - 2391.01.31 Chief of Security, USS Discovery-C
2391.02.03 - 2393.12.01 Lead Archaeologist, Pisces 4 Dig Site
2393.12.05 - Present Science Officer, USS Athena
Career History
Starfleet Service Record
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Professional History:
- 238908.13 - Assigned to USS Discovery-C
- 2391.02.03 - Assigned Lead Archaeologist Pisces 4 dig site
- 2393.12.03 - Assigned to USS Athena
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