Carla Franks

Carla Franks was born on the fifth of May, 2358 in Manchester, England. Her formative years were relatively normal. Though the young girl was infatuated with military life, due to her family's extensive background in the British armed forces. Notably the Special Boat Service, and Special Air Service, her father's side for the former, and mother's for the latter. She was accepted into Harvard University at age 18, but dropped out in her second semester, perhaps due to her family's history. She enrolled in Starfleet and showed promise in several areas, and was finally accepted into the Starfleet Marine Corps at age 22.

She was assigned to the New Orleans-class USS Thomas Paine NCC-6553 as part of the security detail. She served well for four years during her tour under Captain Rixx.

However, in the fourth year of her tour the Paine was performing orbital operations around a hitherto unnamed planet, allowing the 101st some time off the ship for field work. The majority of the marine's compliment were planetside when the Breen attacked. Luckily, the ship had partial shielding, due to radiation exposure from the star. The three Breen cruisers opened fire, crippling the frigate's engines, and ripping out the main bridge section, killing everyone inside. The captain had been on his way to engineering on his rounds, and was injured when the turbolift shaft superheated for an instant with the weapon impacts.

Carla was caught in an EPS blow-out, but was lucky, in some regards. The panel didn't explode, but came flying off, covering her from the superhot plasma discharge, but shattering her left arm from the impact. Even so, she limped to engineering and made a call that saved the ship. She set a course away from the planet, much to the objection of the rest of the crew, though she was the only remaining ranked officer aboard. But, instead of abandoning the marines on the surface, the Lieutenant ordered 75% of the Paine's warp plasma to be dumped into the path of the pursuing cruisers.

The gambit paid off, the Breen didn't have time to evade the high energy cloud, and plowed right into it. The heat from the impulse exhaust ignited the cloud, vaporising one, and tearing large chunks out of the remaining two. The blast did more damage to the already crippled frigate, but after retrieving the rest of the crew, and a few Breen prisoners who had transported down to the surface to ambush the marines there, she limped back to the nearest starbase at Warp 3, the maximum tenable speed given the damage to structural integrity, and the loss of warp plasma.

As a result of the skirmish, called "Zero Hour" by the survivors, Carla obtained a shattered left arm, a promotion to the rank of Major and the Christopher Pike Medal of Valor, which she keeps to this day in a display case on her bedside table. She opted for a bioprosthesis, as the surgery to fix her own arm would have taken too long for her tastes and resulted in impaired function. It took her a few weeks of counseling before she was allowed back into active duty, but she was eventually released with a clean bill of health.

Major Franks spent five years teaching in the Academy as a marksmanship and tactics instructor before being sent to supervise security on the highly-sensitive Heisenberg Transwarp Project. She was presumed lost along with the rest of the crew when she departed aboard the ill-fated USS Heisenberg NX-2401, serving as chief of security.

Physical Appearance
A fairly standard representation of a human female, Carla stands at an average 5'9" tall, with medium length brown hair kept in a military bun when on duty and hazel eyes. She's slenderly built, belying the trained strength from Marines Basic and the years spent in service aboard the Thomas Paine, as well as at the Academy. If one could take a close look at her left arm - a very close look - that can see the minor inconsistencies inherent in bioprosthetics. They're hard to spot, but are there in any case.

Carla speaks with a softened Mancunian accent, tempered with a mild affectation of Harvard, giving a muddled vibe. This worsens when she becomes agitated, or is put under enough stress.

Quirks
Carla has one notable quirk. As well as keeping the medal she earned for the 'Zero Hour' skirmish, she keeps a vintage revolver of indeterminate origin in her bed-side cabinet. She never talks about it, but everyone who knows her knows about the gun.