Citizen Min Zhao   
[ On Extended Leave of Absence ]

Character Information
Name		Min Li Zhao
Rank		Citizen
Position		Civilian
Gender		Female
Species		Human
Age		26
Physical Appearance
Height		5’ 8”
Weight		160 lbs.
Eye Color		Brown
Hair Color		Brown
Physical Description		Min is on the slimmer side. She keeps herself in shape through regular exercise though her body doesn't display much tone or muscle. While she wouldn't win any strength contests she is surprisingly strong given her stature, a fact she feels she owes to time spent in her various pursuits.

Personality & Traits
General Overview
Min is inquisitive and outgoing though a bit on the shy side. She prefers working with people she knows so may seem a bit quiet at first but once she's had time to size up a person, she easily opens up. Despite her shyness, she also enjoys flirting with guys, usually the geek type finding them to be the most interesting to chat with.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths: -Knack for technical systems. -Quite dependable. Weaknesses: -Get's bored/distracted easily. -Short temper.
Ambitions
Min want's to acquire a small vessel so she can travel from system to system as her whims allow.
Hobbies & Interests
Min enjoys many out of doors pursuits, tending to spend what free time she has on the Holodeck.
Languages		Federation Standard
Family
Father		Wei Shan Zhao
Mother		Elisabet Ramsey
Brother(s)		Yu Zhen
Sister(s)		Jun, Rose, Yi Zhen
Spouse		n/a
Children		none
Other Family		Shen Zhao (Yu Zhen's wife) Lian Zhao (niece)

Min was born to Wei Shan Zhao & Elisabet Ramsey on the morning of Dec 11, 2364. She is the second of five, having an older brother, Yu Zhen, and three younger sisters, Jun, Rose & Yi. Her brother Yu Zhen was about seven when she was born.

Min's early years were spent living on various federation worlds as her father's diplomatic work moved them around. Given the frequency of the moves, she never really developed any close friends in those early years, tending to spend most of her time with her sisters & brother.

In her early teens her father was rotated back to earth on a permanent basis and the family was able to start settling down. They acquired a small property on an island just off the west coast of Canada and settled in. With her father now in a stable position and the children in school full time, Min's mother rejoined the company she'd worked for before Yu Zhen was born. Yu Zhen by this time had already left home and was working for the Federation Cultural & Historical Agency examining evidence from various ancient star-faring races known to have colonized planets within Federation Space.

Min and her oldest sister both to an interest in the sciences, Min preferring Engineering and Jun leaning towards the biological sciences. Their parent's were supportive of their choices though they secretly wished the girls had chosen to follow in their footsteps.

When they graduated school, Min & Jun went separate ways. Min was accepted into the T'Sal Academy of Sciences and Jun went straight into Starfleet Academy.

The first couple of years of University were easy for Min. She had a knack for the material being presented and was able to apply it quite readily on exams. The ease with which she recalled material would come back to bite her later though as she began to develop a bad habit of not completing her assigned work preferring to spend time with friends and compensating for the lost marks by scoring high on the exams.

One particularly difficult course in her fourth year nearly spelled disaster for her degree. The course had a large project component and she didn't find out until near the end of the course that the material she'd been neglecting to complete was worth a lot more then she'd been led to believe. As it was a critical course, Min had to complete the modules on time and the sequence was such a single failure anywhere along the line could jeopardize the entire project.

The final semester came to a close and Min gave a sigh of relief. She'd qualified for her degree though it'd been touch & go for a while. She found out later that what tipped the scales in her favor was a Vulcan academic who'd been following her progress since she entered her third year. He'd noted her ability to apply her knowledge to solving practical problems and approached her at her graduation ceremony with a proposal to join Starfleet. Min accepted the proposal and transferred back to earth for a six month transition program. Graduating the transition program, Min was assigned to the USS Orion as a Engineer.

Several months into her first tour, Min got romantically involved with a young operations officer on the same shift. Their romance blossomed quickly, almost too quickly and several weeks later the two of them were caught together by a shift supervisor while they were both supposed to be on duty. They were both reprimanded and moved to separate shifts. A month later Min again snuck away from her duties in engineering to spend time with her love.

That would prove to be the undoing of her career. While she'd snuck away, a runaway began in a system she was supposed to be monitoring. With noone to notice the cascade, the system ruptured damaging several compartments and injuring several crew members. In the ensuing investigation it became clear that the accident had been her fault. With the choice between facing the inquiry, she chose to resign her position and leave Starfleet. She justified the decision to herself that she wasn't cut out for life in such a rigid and structured environment.

Unwilling to face her family, Min struck out on her own, working odd jobs on various starbase's and planets as she wandered aimlessly through the galaxy trying to find her place. Eventually her travels took her to DS5, where rumors of some work had surfaced.

Setting foot on the starbase, she was soon lost in the crowd...

 

USS Orion - Engineer
Civilian - Various