Lieutenant Ashton Cornell
Name Ashton Cornell Ph.D.
Position Chief Science Officer
Rank Lieutenant
Character Information
| Gender | Male | |
| Species | Human | |
| Age | 32 |
Physical Appearance
| Height | 191 cm | |
| Weight | 85 Kg | |
| Hair Color | Dark Brown | |
| Eye Color | Dark Brown | |
| Physical Description | Ashton has a strong athletic build. His dark brown hair is almost always cut short and he usually sports a minimal amount of scruff when it comes to facial hair, but never more than that. He has two scars on his chest from where his lungs were replaced due to a shuttle accident. He opted to keep the scars. |
Family
| Spouse | None | |
| Children | None | |
| Father | Commander Amos Cornell, Starfleet Corps of Engineers | |
| Mother | Commander Elsie Cornell, M.D. Starfleet Medical | |
| Brother(s) | Lieutenant Jackson Cornell, Tactical Officer, USS Keston, (28) Cadet Elijah Cornell, Starfleet Academy, (20) |
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| Sister(s) | Lieutenant JG Amelia Sanders, Botanist, USS Persia, (24) | |
| Other Family | Captain Amanda Henley, Commanding Officer USS Persia, Maternal Grandmother |
Personality & Traits
| General Overview | Being born into a Starfleet family, words like honor, loyalty, and duty describe Ashton to his core. As the eldest of four children, Ashton felt that he had a lot to live up to when it came to his future. While Starfleet may not have been his first choice, he couldn’t deny the opportunity of scientific discovery, nor the innate sense of exploration. Ashton is an academic, through and through. Though he often fell under the category of “nerd” when he was younger, he found that the pursuit of knowledge was a popular aspect of life when he entered the Academy. The unpopular boy who had few friends turned into the academic social butterfly. He found friends in all sorts of disciplines, which reinforced his long standing belief that we all work together better as part of a team than we do working alone. He’ll always be a team player because of that. |
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| Strengths & Weaknesses | Ashton has a very analytical mind and is also a very organized person, both personally and professionally. While not obsessive compulsive, he prefers to have things in their proper place, mainly so he knows where they are when he needs them. He has a working knowledge of several scientific disciplines, but outside of his expertise, he would yield to a proper expert. From an administrative perspective, his level of detail and organization has afforded him a lot of leadership opportunity within the Science community. He has the ability to make certain “hard” decisions, but as all Officers know, a hard decision in the science lab and a hard decision on the bridge are two very different things. Ashton, as with all Starfleet Officers, has a standardized set of training in how to be a Starfleet Officer. He has basic piloting skills, understands how to handle a phaser, and has at least a working knowledge of all ship’s systems. That said, outside of his science equipment, he tends to not keep up with remedial training. For instance, he’s a pacifist and is most likely not going to be much use in a fight, hand to hand or otherwise. Ashton is a qualified bridge officer, though much of his career has been spent more in the lab than on the bridge. |
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| Ambitions | As a scientist, one of Ashton’s lifelong ambitions goes hand in hand with exploration, to make new discoveries. He hopes to be at the forefront of scientific advancement. | |
| Hobbies & Interests | Ashton likes to jog both before and after a long day’s work. It helps keep his mind focused and also helps him to wind down. |
| Personal History | Ashton Cornell was born in 2354 aboard the USS Persia. Babies are born all over the quadrant on all sorts of different ships, but the Persia was special to Ashton’s family. There always seemed to be someone from his family serving on her at every point in time since its christening. In this case, the Persia served as the assignment for his newlywed parents, then Lieutenant Elsie Cornell, a surgeon, and Lieutenant Amos Cornell, the Chief Engineer. They were happy to bring little Ashton into the universe and they hoped he wasn’t going to be the only one. Sure enough, like clockwork, another Cornell baby was born every four years, continuing with Jack in 2358, Amelia in 2362, and ending in 2366, with the birth of his youngest brother Eli. In 2360, two years after Jack was born, the family moved to Earth, where his mother was assigned to Starfleet Medical and his father was assigned to the Utopia Plantia Fleet Yards. As the family grew, Ashton, easily the most studious of the kids, took a particular interest in the natural sciences. Mathematics and most of the introductory sciences came quite naturally to him. He did well in his other school work as well, but it was much more difficult. He had little interest in subjects such as history or cultural studies outside of what related directly the sciences. Nevertheless, he worked hard whether he liked the subjects or not. At an early age, Ashton had that natural spark of discovery in whatever he did, a spark that his maternal grandmother would say reminded her of herself. He spent a lot of time communicating with his grandmother, also a scientist and as it happened, the new CO of the Persia as of 2364. Captain Henley inspired in him that same sense of exploration that she did for his mother all those years ago. She had a knack for inspiration. That inspiration led Ashton to the decision that he wanted to take a shot and take the entrance exam for Starfleet Academy. When the time came, he enrolled in the offered prep program at the pushing of his parents and the day came. From an academic standpoint, Ashton swooped in and nailed the examinations. It was expected, given how studious he was, but academia was only part of the entrance process. He had to pass a psych evaluation and the cultures and species test. The latter was what concerned his family. Ashton had not spent much time, as they thought, dealing with or at least researching any other species. When it was all said and done, he awaited the results. He did not have the highest scores overall, but they were high enough for him to be granted entrance to Starfleet Academy. A new era was about to begin! Ashton found out really quickly that academics was only part of what it took to become a Starfleet Officer. All around him, he listened to inspiration stories and how everyone wanted to captain their own ship. His ambitions were much different. He loved the idea of exploration, but his idea of ambition was being at the forefront of scientific discovery. Making those hotshot calls in the middle of battle was not even on his radar. Wormholes in a nebula, that was where he was. Ashton’s Academy years were spent in various locations. His first year, he was assigned to the San Francisco campus, to complete his general education course work and begin his science coursework. It was rigorous, to say the least, but Ashton was up to the challenge. Not only did he succeed in his science coursework, as one would expect given it was his intended degree, he also found new interest in other subject areas that he, in previous years, would have all but dismissed. He wasn’t trying to be an expert in all things, but he felt it important to have at the very least a working knowledge of whatever he came across, since as a Starfleet Officer, one never knew when they were going to need it. Ashton was also assigned to his first cadet squadron (22), but that was short lived, because on the first day of his second year, he was transferred to Blue Squadron, the elite science squadron. After declaring his major and scoring in the 99th percentile in all of his science courses, Ashton seemed an obvious shoe-in for the new candidates. There were eleven other second years who joined the lowest ranks of Blue Squadron with him. During this year, Blue Squadron had been assigned on a project basis, meaning they were station at several campuses and stations. While they kept up with their second year courseload, they were assigned other duties within the research projects that gave them training on how to be a general science officer, including being a lab assistant and technician, all basic skills any good science officer would know. Ashton’s third and fourth years at the academy followed much the same track. The only difference: the courses were harder and the projects had much more responsibilities to them. It was to be expected, of course, and by the fourth year, the cadets should be function as fully trained officers, under supervision. Not all of his class of Blue Squadron classmates made it to the end. Some transferred out to other disciplines and some did not make it entirely. Only three of the original twelve remained. The were the bright spot of science at the Academy. All three had plans to continue their education at the graduate level, which Ashton did for the next four years. In 2380, he graduated with a Ph.D. in Astrophysics and earned the commission of Lieutenant. Upon graduation from the Academy, Ashton was sent on his first assignment, Starbase 646. He spent six years on 646, dubbed Astral Station by its many inhabitants. The station was a commerce hub to its surrounding sector and had a very large research community. As a senior astrophysicist, Ashton participated in a large number of projects. Over the years, some of the projects required nothing more than some extra calculations. Others required significant time, including over fifty excursions in the surrounding sector. This included many trips using the Station’s Runabout collection (and yes, Ashton called it a collection after all of them were named for twentieth century land vehicle models, a hobby of the station commander). While he didn’t have the same interest in old modes of transportation, for whatever reason, he was partial to the USS Charger and it was in this Runabout in which he commanded the research team as project leader on ten different occasions. He was also a frequent guest on the USS Belfast, one of the garrison vessels of 646. Though not typically used as a freighter, the Belfast was commonly tasked with ferrying supplies to other outposts, but with its advanced scanning system and other science related systems, Ashton frequently found himself doing fly-by scans of all sorts of stellar phenomena. He also held the bridge twice during minor skirmishes due to frequently being one of the senior bridge officers. Over the years, Ashton attended many conferences and symposiums on a variety of different scientific ventures. He was twice awarded the Cochrane Medal of Excellence, once in 2381 and again in 2384, for his contributions to the field of astronomy and astrophysics. Tragedy unfortunately struck in the form of a shuttle accident when the runabout USS Charger was caught in an electrokinetic storm. The crew crash landed on a nearby planet, however, one of Ashton’s lungs was pierced by a piece of debris. By the time help arrived, he’d lost both of his lungs and was on a respirator. The doctors were able to give him artificial lungs, but it was a long recovery process. He mostly maintained a positive attitude during the ordeal, but it was taxing to say the least. Time went on, however, as did all the projects. He was elevated to Assistant Chief Science officer in 2383 and spent the next three years in the position. In 2386, an opportunity came up. He’d heard through his department head that a Chief spot had opened up on an exploratory ship. Ashton was great at what he did, and was a huge asset to the station, but his immediate superior, Commander Bridgerton, knew where his ambitions were. He wanted to be on the forefront of discovery. He wanted to literally seek out new life, which for a Science Officer, is the top prize. There was, of course, convincing him to take on the extra administrative work, but that only took a bottle of scotch and a kick in the pants. Therefore, in 2386, Ashton was transferred to the USS Washington, to serve as their Chief Science Officer. It would certainly be a new experience, given the fact that he’d pretty much stayed in one general area his entire career, but he was up to the challenge. And when it was all said and done, he would finally be able to hand out project assignments instead of fight for them. Silver linings and all…. |
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| Service Record | 2372: Enlisted in Starfleet Academy 2380: Graduate Starfleet Academy, earning a Ph.D. in Astrophysics and a commission of Lieutenant. 2380: Assigned to Starbase 646, Senior Astrophysicist 2383: Promoted to Assistant Chief Science Officer 2386: Transferred to USS Washington, Chief Science Officer |