Lieutenant Jessika Brandt

Character Information

Gender		Female
Species		Human
Age		37

Physical Appearance

Height		5'8
Weight		134 lbs
Hair Color		Black
Eye Color		Green
Physical Description		Jessika has a fighter’s build from intensive, regular, physical exercise. She typically wears her black hair long with the sides of her head shaved. This combined with her fair skin and high cheekbones gives her an exotic if not harsh appearance. It is rare that Jessika doesn’t have dark eye makeup, a type of Kohl. When she’s not in uniform — which is as often as she can get away with — Jessika prefers klingon styles of clothing. She has a few piercings; one in her septum, both ear lobes are pierced twice, both stretched to 00 gauge.

Family

Spouse		None
Children		None
Father		Unknown
Mother		Annika Brandt (Deceased)
Brother(s)		None
Sister(s)		None
Other Family		None

Personality & Traits

General Overview		Jessika is a warrior through and through. Over the years she has been on the front lines or well behind them in two of the Federation’s biggest conflicts. Tough and forged in fire, Jessika is a professional when she needs to be. She can come across as harsh at times and she has a resting facial expression with an unfortunate nickname. She is fiercely independent and strong willed. She intuitively looks at people as potential targets or assets both because of her upbringing as well as a result of years of deep cover and reconnaissance work. Beyond that, she can actually be quite warm and friendly with those she chooses to befriend. It takes a great deal to earn Jessika’s trust as she is highly suspicious of people’s motives, but once someone has proven themselves her loyalty is unwavering. As an SI agent she learned that the best op was one that no one new happened and so she’s not afraid to operate in the shadows and without credit. As a result of her childhood, Jessika can be a bit of a troublemaker. Her tastes reflect her humble beginnings as well as years spent infiltrating the Federation’s enemies and working with freedom fighters and scoundrels.
Strengths & Weaknesses		Jessika is an expert saboteur, soldier, and spy. She has practical experience in training indigenous personnel to act as guerrilla fighters and insurgents as well as protecting soft targets from such activities. She also has a great deal of experience in deep cover operations, surveillance, and reconnaissance. Thanks to her youth spent around nefarious types, she also is quite adept at lock picking, pick pocketing, and running small cons. Jessika at times can be a bit too pragmatic and struggles with a “end justifies the means” mentality that has come from years of clandestine activity. There is a brutal efficiency in how she processes most problems and while she almost always sticks to the ethics of the Federation, she is far from perfect. She’s also had less oversight from superiors wild in the field and is nervous about getting herself into trouble serving on a starship.
Ambitions		At the moment, Jessika is just trying to get through her day to day responsibilities and adjusting to life on board a starship. Aware that she needs to progress in rank just based on her time in Starfleet, Jessika just can’t bring herself to focus on rank progression at the moment. Beyond that, Jessika has given little thought to what her life might be like after Starfleet. When she has thought about it, Jessika has worried that many of her skills wouldn’t translate to a peaceful, law abiding retirement. She hopes to stay with Starfleet for as long as they’ll continue to have her.
Hobbies & Interests		Jessika loves to study warrior cultures of all kinds including but not limited to the Klingons. Often, Jessika can be found reading during her downtime and she enjoys a variety of topics from game theory to philosophy and even some fiction. Her physical activity is intensive and helps her stay fit for possible field activities. From Klingon calisthenics programs on the holodeck to weight training and heavy endurance training, Jessika rarely stops pushing herself. Over the years, Jessika has also trained in a variety of martial arts and is not a purist in any way. She believes firmly in learning everything she can, keeping what works, and discarding the rest. Jessika does not like sparring with real partners as she all but refuses to hold back when fighting and would never want to hurt a peer. Every time she’s been challenged on this, Jessika has always responded with one phrase; You fight like you train.

Personal History		Jessika was born in 2352 aboard the Orion Syndicate vessel Divara. She was the only child of human slaves owned by a pirate named Vano. Annika, Jessika’s mother had been a slave her entire life but had proven useful enough to serve as a junior member of the Divara’s crew. Her father had been a gladiator slave owned by another cartel. Growing up, Jessika’s mother rarely spoke of her father and to this day she knows little about him. Annika would only ever tell her daughter that her father had been a popular fighter, savage, and their time together had been short. Technically the property of Vano, Jessika grew up working on the ship. She was expected to carry her weight either crawling through ducts to help with repairs, hunting vermin that had gotten onto the ship along with cargo, and so on. Her mother was very protective of her and thus the abuse she suffered wasn’t nearly as bad as it was for others in her situation. It was still a hard life and Annika made sure that her daughter learned the skills she would need to be useful to the Syndicate. Better to live as a pirate than be relegated to certain other jobs. As a result her mother trained her in fighting hand to hand, small arms, ship mechanics, among other skills. Jessika was a fast learner and eager to impress her mother. Their relationship was one where Jessika only saw affection as a reward for advancement in her skills. Failure usually resulted in brutality. To put Jessika to the test, she was first tasked with picking pockets at the various ports the Divara would stop at. When Jessika got good at that, her mother started using her daughter to help with small scams and side hustles to earn a modest side income. Eventually, Jessika’s mother informed Vano of her daughter’s talent. Annika gave her daughter to Vano and soon, he was teaching the now teenaged Jessika the skills he thought were important. Vano wanted someone who could infiltrate ports and tell him which ships had the best cargo. Soon Jessika was traveling with one or two handlers as she acted as a spy for the Syndicate. In 2370 Jessika was attempting to infiltrate a Federation operation on Capella IV. She had managed to get a civilian security job with the Capellans and worked closely with a Starfleet officer, Commander William Marion. While she was believed to be loyal to the Syndicate, she still had handlers who kept a close eye on her. Jessika had become fascinated by the life and ideals of the officer she’d been working with. Up to that point she’d only been exposed to other shady characters, klingons, ferengi, and so on. She’d grown up with the belief that life was harsh and something to be endured rather than enjoyed. Yet Commander Marion didn’t seem to be living that way at all. After a few months of continuing to gather information for the Syndicate, Jessika approached Commander Marion one night after sneaking out of her quarters and told him everything, asking for asylum. Commander Marion attempted to have her handlers arrested but they were able to escape. A few months later, with encouragement from Commander Marion, Jessika joined the Academy and was on her way to becoming a Starfleet officer. Jessika excelled academically and received a great deal of praise from her instructors. Cadets were welcoming enough but Jessika never felt like she fit in with any of them. Their perspectives always came across as naive and idealistic. While it was that idealism that had pulled her out of the life of a pirate and a slave, it was difficult for her to adopt. During her second year at the Academy Jessika received word that Commander Marrion had died when a suspicious multi-system failure resulted in his death while traveling in a shuttlecraft. Jessika took it as a sign that even in the Federation, life was far from perfect. Jessica graduated in 2374, having majored in command and control while also receiving academic degrees in xenolinguistics and engineering. The day Jessika graduated she was approached and recruited by Starfleet Intelligence. The Dominion war was waging and they needed agents with her unique skill set. Jessika agreed, recognizing that this role would play to her strengths and surround her with people who thought more like her. After that she was assigned to Primus Operations in the Gamma Quadrant. There, Jessika along with a team of four others were sent to do long range reconnaissance missions. The dangerous nature of what they were doing and the fact that she was nearly constantly in the field meant that Jessika had a number of opportunities to earn decorations. After the Dominion war ended, she was a Lieutenant JG and was looking ahead to her next assignment. She was quickly assigned to Task Force 21 gathering intelligence on the C’hakilan Empire after they successfully managed to capture a number of outposts in the Raeyan Sector. This was a big opportunity for Jessika to shine as she did operations damaging supply lines and attacking infrastructure in the Raeyan Sector. Sabotage, guerrilla warfare, and insurgency were her tools while behind enemy lines. During the Armistice Crisis she was a part of the counter operation to secure Starbase 611. Afterwards she found herself promoted to Lieutenant and given all new responsibilities. Jessika remaned with Task Force 21 until it was disbanded in 2385. Her advancement stalled during this time largely due to the lack of a hot war. Most of Jessika’s promotions had come as a result of her actions during conflict and not from sitting for tests or meeting peace time requirements. As a result, when the task force disbanded, she requested a leave of absence to train on the Klingon homeworld. When it was granted she packed her things and left for Klingon space. For four years she trained in the ways of the klingon warriors she had looked up to as a kid. It was a time of a great deal of danger for Jessika as well. The Syndicate had a bounty on her head and she was forced to sleep with one eye open and avoid capture and even outright assassination by members of the cartel. Jessika had made a few friends on Qo'noS who helped her stay safe until it was time to return to her duties with the Federation. While there, she had occasionally taken contracts doing security consults for merchants passing through klingon space to pay her way on Qo'noS. Jessika returned to the Federation in early 2389, assuming that Starfleet Intelligence would put her back into the field where she had thrived for years. Much to her dismay, she found out that instead she was being assigned as an Intelligence Officer aboard a starship. Jessika had never been in a position that felt more like a desk job than anything else and worried about assimilation into that kind of life. It would also mark the first time she’d been in uniform since her days as a cadet. Within weeks she was told that she would be assigned to the USS Magellan as their Chief Intelligence Officer. Jessika made her concerns known to Starfleet Intelligence but they ultimately were dismissed.
Service Record		2374-2375: Covert Agent, Primus Operations: Gamma Quadrant, Starfleet Intelligence - Ensign/Lieutenant JG 2375-2385: Covert Agent, Gemini Operations, Special Reconnaissance and Irregular Warfare Group - Lieutenant 2385-2389: Leave of absence from Starfleet, contract work and combat studies on Qo'noS Present: Chief Intelligence Officer, USS Magellan - Lieutenant