Lieutenant Zara Ghemora
Name Zara Ghemora
Position Chief Intelligence Officer
Rank Lieutenant
Character Information
| Gender | Female | |
| Species | Cardassian | |
| Age | 37 |
Physical Appearance
| Height | 1.73m | |
| Weight | 66kg | |
| Hair Color | Jet-Black | |
| Eye Color | Blue-Green | |
| Physical Description | Considered quite pale for a Cardassian, Ghemora is slightly taller and leaner than an average Cardassian woman but makes up for it with a lithe, muscular build that causes her to be deceptively strong. Among both Cardassians, but especially Non-Cardassians that can look past her reptilian-like ridges, she is actually considered to have a quite attractive, angular face. Her traditional jet-black hair is usually kept either tied or braided in a single, thick braid when in uniform. When not, much like usual Cardassian women, she will spend the time to shape her hair into tall, elaborate styles and cosmetics, including accentuating the dip of the skin between her forehead ridges with a light blue colorization, indicative of her 'unbetrothed' status. Normally, she only dons minimal makeup, seeing no purpose for it while serving. She is renowned for her piercing blue-green eyes; a fairly uncommon color among Cardassians. Ghemora's gaze has been referred to as 'being able to stare into one's very soul'. |
Family
| Father | Gul Bilal Ghemora (Deceased) | |
| Mother | Fairuz Ghemora (Assumed Deceased) | |
| Brother(s) | Glinn Khalil Ghemora (Deceased) | |
| Sister(s) | Adalet Ghemora (Chief of Staff to Cardassian Politician) |
Personality & Traits
| General Overview | Most would consider Ghemora rather mysterious or elusive. While she has been raised with a strong sense of family and loyalty, especially to service, her Cardassian arrogance is only displayed in the moments where she is truly embracing her heritage; when involved in deep conversation. Otherwise, she tends to be very brief with her words, choosing to watch and listen but never seeks to be the center of attention unless it is needed to fulfill whatever goal or mission she is seeking to achieve. This quality gives her the tendency to inadvertently sneak up on people, causing many a peer to nearly jump out of her skin when they finally take notice of her. | |
| Strengths & Weaknesses | Ghemora's strengths are in the expected ways of Cardassians and of being a Cardassian woman. With a strong sense of duty, she will sacrifice anything to complete her mission and tends to put superiors on a pedestal to aspire to become. As with most Cardassian women, she was directed towards technological and engineering studies as opposed to serving in the military like her brother. She has adequate skill at both breaching computer systems to gain intel as well as modifying or building various devices for surveillance purposes. Had it not been for the collapse of the Cardassian Union, she probably would have followed in her mother's footsteps and become a member of the Obsidian Order, much like her sister had. The Cardassian's weakness lies in her inability to feel as if she can develop true connections with her peers, despite the limitless respect she has for them. Having been raised to be deceptive by nature, she's never sure whether she's showing her true self to others or the mask she was raised to wear. She does seek genuine connection, but carries a deep anxiety that everyone only sees her as a threat; as someone looking to extract their secrets from them. Trust, or more so her giving it so freely and completely, is another of the weaknesses that have bitten her in the past. |
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| Ambitions | Having found a renewed sense of service within Starfleet, Ghemora wishes to not only gain the respect and renown of her peers and superiors but also rise through the ranks through the work and effort she provides. Feeling as if she always had to work twice as hard as others, she accomplished several accolades that led her to the assignment she now holds, despite the time it took to prove that she was loyal to Starfleet and Starfleet alone. | |
| Hobbies & Interests | Beyond her work, Ghemora has a strong artistic streak in her. She was taught young how to craft numerous Cardassian cuisines but has gone on to study the cuisines of various other cultures, and makes sure to cook to the tastes of any guests she entertains. Ghemora is also a mediocre artist, and can often be found doodling or sketching. Charcoals on heavy parchment-style paper are her favorite medium, with a particular focus on portraits and realism, but she still has a way to go before she would be willing to display her art to others. |
| Personal History | Zara Ghemora's birth and childhood were all years of terrible strife for the planet of Cardassia. Despite the official collapse of the Obsidian Order, as the youngest of three children, she was often accompanying her mother as she continued to do the same work she had already spent years of her life doing as part of the Order. Zara saw a great deal of pain, loss, and death from even a very young age, all while still being subject to the rigorous training and schooling all Cardassian children were put through. She was still quite young when her Father and Brother were killed as a result of the seemingly endless times of war, leaving only faint memories of them in her mind. She was only thirteen when Cardassia fell into darkness and destruction. Having been forced to start even younger than her mother had, Zara had been forced to learn how to lie, cheat, steal, and deceive to survive. While she proved to be quite adept at the skills needed to keep her stomach full and find a safe place to sleep each night, she didn't last long before a fellow Cardassian took advantage of her trust and youth to leave her the scapegoat for a theft. Even in those times, Guilt was the presumption even before a formal trial, which had mostly stopped taking place. Having to risk her life to escape her captors, she stowed aboard a fleeing aid vessel to end up at Deep Space Nine, where she applied for Refugee Status. Given her age and lack of any records or evidence of her involvement with the Dominion Alliance, she spent nearly two years being shuffled between various Starfleet and UFOP stations, being interrogated more times than she or any Cardassian could possibly remember before she was permitted official Refugee Status and, later, conditional citizenship within the United Federation of Planets. Finally settling on Earth, Ghemora lived and worked wherever she could as she sought and went through the rigorous Naturalization process, gaining her Official Citizenship to Earth at the age of twenty. After five years of consistent citizenship, she was initially denied entry into Starfleet based on coming up just short on the Starfleet Entrance Exam but was recommended to the Starfleet Academy Preparatory Program which would ensure she had the skills and knowledge to handle the pressures and expectations of the Academy. Initially it was believed Ghemora would most naturally fall into the Engineering Officer Program, but, much to the dismay of her fellow cadets of Bajoran descent, the Cardassian seemed to find the Security Officer Program the most natural to her, even though she'd often acted on the other side of such ethological lines. Entirely due to the unfocused nature of her studies, Ghemora choose to extend her time at the Academy by an extra year to achieve graduation with two degrees: Criminology and Sociology, instead of being a few courses short of gaining either. It was an unexpected choice, especially since she'd already completed all of the requirements to earn her commission as a Security Officer, but the woman was sure it was what she wanted to do. The extra also allowed the Cardassian to act as Team Captain of her Velocity team, having not started in the sport until almost the end of her second year. The extra time also allowed Ghemora to further her studies of Psychology and Cryptography, which she'd only seen as extension of her previous studies, not knowing it would be the key to her yet unrealized future. The Ensign's first assignment was relatively boring in her opinion, serving aboard a support cruiser that would deliver supplies and provide aid to the numerous smaller colonies and stations Starfleet supported. While she didn't prove herself outstanding as a Security Officer, she did show a knack for reading the people and situations the ship encountered. It was towards the middle of what should have been her tour when she was approached by Starfleet Intelligence and offered the lowest-level opportunity they had, as a method to prove her worth. Being an analyst sitting out in the Alpha Quadrant was not all it was cracked up to be, but there was no doubting Ghemora's proficiency. After a year spent reading reports just to make analysis reports that would be further analyzed up the chain, her Chief suggested she petition for a slot in the annual ATT Course offered. The Cardassian was sure she'd gotten help in being offered the slot, but wasn't going to question it or allow anyone to say she hadn't earned it. While she was unable to be best in her course's class, taking second when nearly seventy percent of the class had dropped was a testament to the officer's grit. Becoming a fully fledged Intelligence Officer by both promotion and title, Ghemora spent three years serving aboard a heavy cruiser, accompanying on numerous away missions, before being transferred to serve as a specialist in a speedy escourt looking to root out the rumors of renegade factions forming in the pockets of neutral space at the Federation's borders. After three years of keeping space safe by infiltrating and dismantaling a number of coalitions, the Cardassian was granted yet another promotion, albeit one that resulted in her ending up in a rather boring position. Having proved herself as an exceptional Intelligence Officer, which everyone else but her found unsurprising, the new Lieutenant spent three, grueling years working and learning under an elder and very respected Intelligence Chief. With her former superior taking on a much lofty position, and rank, given the shakeup as a result of the discovery of the Tal Shiar/Zhat Vash infiltration into Starfleet, Ghemora found herself being offered a new position; a position in which she wouldn't be working at the behest of a Chief, but as the lead in her own department. While the Cardassian refugee could never have imagined herself rising to such a standing in such an organization twenty years prior, she couldn't refuse. With a new title and a shuttle to take her there, Ghemora was set to join one of Starfleet's newest revolutions christened with a legendary name; a Bellerophon-Class long-range explorer, the USS Missouri. |
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| Service Record | 2378-2380: Processed as a Refugee, Gaining UFOP Conditional Citizenship. 2382: Became a Naturalized Citizen of Earth 2385: Completed Starfleet Academy Preparatory Program 2385-2390: Cadet, Starfleet Academy, Security Officer Track 2390: Graduated from Starfleet Academy with Dual Degrees in Criminology and Sociology, with minor accolades in Forensic Psychology and Cryptography. 2390-2392: Ensign, Security Officer, USS Mendel 2392-2393: Ensign, Intelligence Analyst, USS Aldebaren 2393: Graduated Second in her Class in the Advanced Tactical Training Course 2393-2395: Lieutenant JG, Intelligence Officer, USS Kashima 2395-2397: Lieutenant JG, Infiltration Specialist, USS Sentry 2397-2400: Lieutenant, Assistant Chief Intelligence Officer, USS Cheron 2400-Current: Lieutenant, Chief Intelligence Officer, USS Missouri |