Sinda Essen/History

Full Timeline

1. 2311-2316: – Essen's Grandparents born
2. 2319: – The Occupation of Bajor begins
3. 234101.30: – Sinda Lo born
4. 236203.03: – Sinda Tor born
5. 236511.05: – Sinda Essen born
6. 2369: – The Occupation of Bajor ends
7. 238012.10: – Reunited with Sinda Lo
8. 238309.01: – Sinda Essen enters Starfleet Academy
9. 238708.29: – Graduates Academy
10. 238910.10: – Sinda Lo dies

Childhood & Teenage Years

Sinda Essen is very much a child of the Occupation of Bajor.

Her grandparents were just children when the Cardassians invaded and her mother, Sinda Lo, was born in 2341 after more than twenty years of occupation. As the Cardassian Union began to take control of Bajoran production, Lo’s parents were forced to work on their own farm in Musilla Province as labourers, a role which Lo had no choice but to take up once she was old enough. Working in the fields, Lo met a fellow labourer called Opran Kalem and over several years the two began a relationship. Lo fell pregnant in 2361 but the joy was short lived as Kalem was accused by the Cardassians of supplying grain to the Militia, arrested and interred in Musilla Labour Camp. He was killed during an escape attempt several months later. Lo gave birth to a son, Tor, the following year.

During one of her visits to the maternity hospital in Tamulna, Sinda Lo caught the eye of a young Cardassian Gul named Oded, an officer with the Cardassian Central Command. Oded arranged for Lo to be moved to the city to work in a tavern close to the headquarters of the province's Cardassian administration. She had no choice but to leave her young son behind with her parents.

In early 2365 Sinda Lo fell pregnant once again but this time the child had a Cardassian father. Although Gul Oded had remained involved in her life since she’d arrived in the city, Lo never revealed the name of the father, or the details of the encounter. As there were a good many Cardassians who frequented that tavern it may be that she never knew.

Knowing the stigma that was attached to a hybrid child during the Occupation, Sinda Lo avoided the hospital and instead made her way to an orphanage on the banks of the Holana River where all the children were hybrids. There she gave birth to Sinda Essen. Leaving the baby at the orphanage, Lo returned to Tamulna and eventually to her parent’s farm.

Sinda Essen grew up in Holana Orphanage, surrounded by other children like her and taught the ways of the Prophets by the orphanage’s Bajoran Vedeks. And as she grew older she learned the truth of her heritage. The Occupation ended when she was four years old and once the Cardassians were gone, Bajor did its best to rid itself of all trace of them. Hybrids like the orphans were seen as a constant reminder and the hatred and fear which had previously been reserved for the Cardassians was often turned on them. Despite this, many families did come forward to claim their children and sometimes even Cardassians arrived to take their offspring away. But it would be another eleven years, when Essen was 15, before Sinda Lo came seeking for her daughter.

Essen spent three years living on the outskirts of Tamulna city with her mother and half-brother Sinda Tor. It was a very unhappy period. Distrusted and shunned by most Bajorans, Essen was frequently in trouble with the law as fights and theft became common. Tor, although not violent, disliked her immensely and did much to make her life miserable. Lo tried to be a mother, but fifteen years of guilt had already given rise to the alcohol addiction which would eventually have dire consequences.

As Essen turned 18 it was clear to her that she needed to leave, one way or another. With very few options available she turned to Starfleet, reasoning that their renowned tolerance for all races would at least see her safe from further persecution. Thankful for the education the orphanage had been able to provide, she passed the entry exams and left for Starfleet Academy in 2383.