Lieutenant Zara Ghemora
Name Zara Ghemora
Position Assistant Chief Intelligence Officer
Rank Lieutenant
Character Information
| Gender | Female | |
| Species | Cardassian | |
| Age | 26 |
Physical Appearance
| Height | 5' 8" | |
| Weight | 145 | |
| 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
| Spouse | N/A | |
| Children | N/A | |
| Father | Gul Bilal Ghemora (Deceased) | |
| Mother | Fairuz Ghemora | |
| Brother(s) | Glinn Khalil Ghemora (Deceased) | |
| Sister(s) | Adalet Ghemora | |
| Other Family | N/A |
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 wanting 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 relegated to 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. That trait led her to become a traitor to her people, and her family, and resulted in her being considered a traitor, causing her exile from Cardassia. |
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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 is her favorite medium, with a particular focus on portraits and realism, but she still has a long 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 sixteen when the 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 Cardasssian 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 that she or any Cardassian could possibly remember before she was permitted official Refugee Status and, later, conditional citizenship within the United Federation of Planets. Ghemora is sure the only thing that cemented her status was testing well and attending the Starfleet Academy Prepatory Program, after basically swearing to join the peacekeeping organization when permitted. Ghemora was a rather unfocused student while at the Academy. Not in her studies, but in settling on any particular department of study. She had primarily begun to study as an Operations Officer, but quickly found Psychology and Linguistics to be much more enthralling. Branching the three fields of study to varying degrees, what could have taken her three years had she focused on just one resulted in the Cardassian requiring an extra year to achieve either of her two degrees, on top of a bevy of skills and aptitudes that left her fitting if not slightly underqualified for various departments on a Starship. While either Security or Operations may have been a decent fit, Ghemora was approached by Starfleet's Intelligence Corps given her unique background and set of skills. Her first assignment was aboard a small, reconnaissance and monitoring vessel that patrolled the numerous borders of whatever ongoing conflict was taking place at the time. While her skills proved to be useful in various ways, it was the combination of the three that allowed her to succeed within the Intelligence Department. Whether it was Signals Intelligence, Covert Surveillance, or Capture and Interrogation, Ghemora showed she had almost an expected knack for the job. After two years of service, in which she was promoted twice to the rank of Lieutenant, she was given the assignment to serve as the Assistant Chief aboard the USS Lionheart, with the strict understanding that her duties required the highest of discretion. The freshly-pinned Lieutenant didn't understand until she finally boarded and spent her first week reading past reports and realizing just how complicated her role on the unique ship would be. |
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| Service Record | 2378-2380: Processed as a Refugee to gain UFOP Citizenship Status. Attended Starfleet Academy Preparatory Program 2380-2384: Attended Starfleet Academy, Graduating with Dual Majors in Psychology and Xenolinguistics, with a minor in Cryptology. 2384-2386: Served aboard the USS Velora as an Intelligence Officer/Analyst, Earning the Rank of Lieutenant during Service. 2386: Assigned to the USS Lionheart as the Assistant Chief Intelligence Officer |