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Lieutenant Commander Kirche Zerbst
Name Kirche Zerbst
Position Chief Engineering Officer
Rank Lieutenant Commander
Character Information
| Gender | Female | |
| Species | Terran | |
| Age | 34 |
Physical Appearance
| Height | 5'7" | |
| Weight | 130 IBS | |
| Hair Color | Red | |
| Eye Color | Brownish-Gold | |
| Physical Description | Lieutenant Zerbst is a tall, well-built woman with long, red hair, a generous endowment, and brownish-gold eyes. An increasing rarity for Germans, she also sports a darker skin complexion, alluding to her family’s predominantly Tanzanian heritage. |
Family
| Spouse | Gul Zedam Praill (Betrothed- refused to marry, likely perished during Terran Rebellion) | |
| Father | Baron Heinrich Zerbst | |
| Mother | Lady Ermine Zerbst |
Personality & Traits
| General Overview | Lieutenant Zerbst is a cunning, self-conceited woman whose level of investment in any given assignment is directly proportionate to what she would stand to benefit from it. She is not above using methods such as bribery and seduction to achieve her ends, though her “relationships” (if you can call them that) are strictly for personal gain. Despite her devious nature, Lieutenant Zerbst is a mechanical genius- an intellectual discipline that she inherited from her family’s defense contracting business. When it comes down to the technical nitty-gritty, she often possesses a keen eye for detail, and should she happen to observe even the slightest design oversight that could be exploited, she’s often quick to set about rectifying it… or exploiting it herself, if she knows there’s a very specific way that she can benefit from it. |
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| Strengths & Weaknesses | + High Intellect + A keen eye for detail + Mechanical Intelligence +/- Free-Spirited - A predispositioned narcissist through-and-through. - Only puts in the effort if she stands to benefit from it. - Not above bribing and seducing to get what she wants. |
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| Ambitions | Lieutenant Zerbst serves in the interests of one person and one person only- herself. She’ll go along with her current assignment on board the Anubis so long as it suits her, but will not hesitate to leave her crew for dead if a better opportunity presents itself. |
| Personal History | Like Louise, Kirche Zerbst was born into slavery under the Klingon/Cardassian Alliance. She had a similarly fortunate upbringing, in that prior to Klingon/Cardassian occupation, the Zerbsts were a highly influential family, having accumulated their wealth through Zerbst Heavy Industries, GmbH, a leading defense contractor that had long sourced navigational equipment for the Terran Empire. After the Alliance officially annexed Kirche’s home world of Terra in 2280, an agreement was reached where the Zerbst family would retain ownership the family estate, as well as all ZHI foundries, R&D facilities, and their corporate offices based out of Rostock, Germany, in return for two conditions: first, all manufacturing under ZHI would pivot exclusively towards the production of navigational equipment for Klingon and Cardassian warships; and second, the Alliance would maintain at least 60% of all profits made from the sale of their product. As the decades passed and slave labor within Germany was outsourced to other worlds where the Klingons and Cardassians exerted greater control over their operations, the number of wealthy families who had managed to subsist through this agreement had greatly dwindled, to the point that when Kirche was born on December 7, 2346, the Zerbsts were considered to be part of “Die Dreizehn”, also known as the last Thirteen wealthy families who maintained some limited degree of freedom within Germany. Growing up, Kirche was quick to catch onto the fact that her family’s “fortunes” were only getting them so far; with the Alliance maintaining a majority of the profits, most of their manufacturing operations were run down, with ZHI barely making enough to turn even, let alone update their facilities. The corporate offices in Rostock were half-abandoned, having been downsized as part of drastic cost-cutting measures (the other half quickly fell into ruin after being overrun by the local delinquents, which were very rarely curbed by their Klingon/Cardassian overlords, despite their repeated promises to do so); even the slaves provided to them for upkeep of the family estate were often too old or crippled to be of much use, so Kirche learned very on in her life how to do most of the housework herself. As Kirche entered adolescence, the Zerbst family found themselves in dire straits, as the Alliance believed it would be more profitable of them to outsource the manufacture of their navigational equipment to an Alliance-owned facility on Mordek V, effectively rendering Zerbst Heavy Industries obsolete and putting the family in danger of losing what little freedoms they still retained. During an inspection of the Corporate Offices in 2361, Kirche’s father attempted to appeal to the Cardassians for an extension of their pre-ordained agreement; the Cardassian tasked with the inspection at the time, a Gul by the name of Zedam Praill, decided that he would be open to arrange for an extension, under the condition that he be compensated by taking Kirche as his “lawful” bride. Naturally, Kirche was vehemently opposed to the arrangement, and made her displeasure known to both her parents and her fiancé. In spite of her protests, however, her parents remained firm in their decision. This led to something of a rift forming between Kirche and her parents forming- one that Kirche did not fully recover from. In 2364, with her arranged wedding looming on the horizon, Kirche Zerbst made the reluctant decision to sever all ties with her parents and strike out on her own. She managed to bribe her way on board an Inuto Merchant Vessel, where she would put some of the engineering skills she had accumulated over the years to good use. It was during this time she lost her virginity to an Inuto Engineer who had offered to sweep her mistake of leaving the circuit to the atomic piles open under the rug in return for sexual favors. She was deeply ashamed to give away her innocence over such a menial mistake, and from thence forward she vowed to abstain from personal relationships- the only person in this galaxy that was even remotely worth serving was herself. Kirche spent the next seven years of her life gradually working her way up through the Inuto Merchant Marines- sometimes through bribery, sometimes in exchange for sexual favors- and by 2371, she had “persuaded” her way into a Chief Engineer position. That year, however, Regent Worf was defeated in an uprising at Terrok Nor and was subsequently assassinated by his own council; this, in turn, created a power vacuum which saw both the Klingons and Cardassians vying for supremacy, all the while a Terran-led Rebellion was quickly gaining steam. Recognizing that a major galactic shakeup was on the horizon, Kirche seized upon the chaos that was almost guaranteed to ensue and move up in life, and thus she ditched her old “friends” in the Merchant Marines and bribed her way aboard the ISS Batan (NCC-1056), an Akyazi-Class Destroyer that had been “requisitioned” by the Terran Rebellion. While initially assigned as a propulsion specialist, after “persuading” the Batan’s XO of her talents, she was “promoted” to Assistant Chief Engineer. Of course, her now-subordinates recognized Kirche’s “promotion” for what it was, and quickly grew to hate her for it - not that their resentment of her seemed to phase her, as she was already well past that point in her life. With her team working around the clock, Kirche managed to get the Batan combat ready at least three days earlier than was initially forecast, allowing for the Batan to participate in the pivotal “Battle Of Terra’s Liberation” against their former subjugators. Sufficed to say, with both Klingon and Cardassian fleets in complete disarray thanks to internal strife, the battle was completely one-sided, with Rebel forces overwhelming them within a matter of hours and forcing them to cut a hasty retreat. With their home world now liberated for the first time in nearly a century, there was some back-and-forth discussion as to what sort of government the Terrans should establish in the absence of their subjugators. Some factions articulated the idea of establishing a democracy, and learning from the mistakes of their “barbaric” predecessors. Others, however, argued that their ancestors had tried peace and paid the price for it; only the strong stood to thrive in this galaxy. Tensions quickly simmered, and just when it seemed that talks would break down completely, a compromise was reached- Terra and its allies would consolidated under an Imperial Government once more, but rather than being ruled over by a single, unopposed Emperor like they had been in the past, this new Empire would instead be presided over by a Council of elected officials. Thus, in late 2372, a charter was signed that officially re-established the Terran Empire, with Imperial Starfleet re-established shortly thereafter. The Batan, along with several other aging vessels, were pushed back into service, and for her contributions in the Battle Of Terra’s Liberation, Kirche was officially instated with the rank of Lieutenant. Kirche would continue to serve as Assistant Chief Engineer of the Batan until 2376, when the long-abandoned Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards were re-established. Seeing as the Chief Engineer of the Batan was a fierce loyalist to his Captain and impervious to Kirche’s bribes, Kirche decided that it was time to seek out work elsewhere and found a new “toy” who was far more gullible to her “favors” and was appointed as a Supervisor for Yard 3. It was here that she presided over one of the Empire’s first significant Naval Contracts in over a century; rumors were abound that the Empire’s counterpart from a parallel universe- an “enlightened” civilization referring to itself as the “United Federation Of Planets”- had been waging a war against an army of genetically-engineered lizard men, and- depending on which source you were getting the information from- were solidly getting their asses handed to them. Such was the price to pay for being a bunch of Goody-Two-Shoes, but it appeared that the Federation had at some point pulled the sticks out of their asses and had actually started developing some serious combat vessels to fight back. One such project that had been brought to the Empire’s attention was a design proposal for an “advanced escort,” which boasted impressive assault and defensive capabilities, most predominant of which was a complex mechanism that allowed the vessel to split into three separate, warp-capable, combat-ready sections- in essence, the proposed design would function like a mini-armada. Perhaps not surprisingly, once word of this vessel reached the Imperial High Council, they were at once intrigued by its combat potential; an elite strike force had been dispatched to the mirror universe to “acquire” a set of schematics from the Federation (they didn’t expect a thing- as far as those losers were concerned, the Terrans had learned their lesson and became a bunch of hippies), and once the schematics had been successfully retrieved, it then fell on the Fleet Yards- and subsequently Kirche- to “interpolate” the schematics to suit their needs. Having honed in on her engineering skills for over twelve years now, Kirche was honestly surprised- and somewhat disappointed- to find that the schematics were riddled with flaws- the locking mechanisms that were intended to hold the sections in place were concerningly fragile, to the point that Kirche was concerned it would fly apart at higher speeds; additionally, security measures were bafflingly under-baked, to the point where Kirche reckoned that a Romulan with the IQ of a fence post could hack their way in and fly off with it. Thus, Kirche had to make several sweeping revisions to the design- to the point that when the first prototype was finally assembled in 2377, it was virtually unrecognizable from its source material. Nonetheless, the end result proved to be very favorable with the Imperial Council, and was subsequently greenlit for mass production the following year. The next two years saw Kirche hard at work overseeing the construction of the Empire’s new Battleship- dubbed the “Hestia”-Class, after the ancient Terran Goddess of the Eternal Winter. For perhaps the first time in her 34 years of living, Kirche felt a sense of self-fulfillment, where she was the one in control of her own destiny- not her father, not her “fiancé,” and certainly not the dozens of men who had used her for their own self-satisfaction. That sense of contentment, however, was short-lived, as come 2380, she was abruptly recalled from her position and reassigned as Chief Engineer aboard one of her own ships- the ISS Anubis (NCC-93310). |
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| Service Record | 2364-2372: Inuto Merchant Marines- Engineer (joined at Age 18) 2372: ISS Batan- Propulsion specialist 2372: ISS Batan- (Slept with XO for promotion)- Assistant Chief Engineer 2372-2376: ISS Batan- (Rank granted of Lieutenant by new Imperial Starfleet)- Assistant Chief Engineer 2376-2380: Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards- (Slept with Chief Shipyard Engineer for promotion)- Yard 3 Supervisor 2380-????: ISS Anubis- (involuntarily assigned on orders of Captain Louise Valiere)- Chief Engineer |