Lizabeth Forrester

Beautiful, stubborn and friendly, Lizabeth (Liz) Elmaria Forrester is a spitfire. Half-Human, half-Orion, she was born with charm and good looks, but she's given all that up to work as a greasemonkey on starships. Despite her aversion to serious relationships, you couldn't get any better in engineering, and she likes to sleep in the Jefferies Tubes.

Early Life
Liz's parents met on an off-world mining colony, when the Orion Slave Trade was still going strong. Her father, Donovan Forrester, was a miner from Ireland, and his tour wasn't too far along when he bought and married Liz's mother, a low-born Orion woman named Raxala Kesh. They conceived Liz on-planet, and were in-transit back to Earth when she was born.

Over the years Liz was mostly raised by her mother in New Mexico while her father worked off-world. Donovan often resented his wife, blaming the well-known Orion seduction for his obsession with her. Liz was 16 when her mother died, and her father washed his hands of them both, refusing even to come to the funeral. (He was later killed in a mining accident.)

Instead of entering the system, Liz went to Ireland to enter into the tutelage of her grandfather, McMillan Forrester, who taught her all he knew about mechanics and engineering. She learned quickly and competently, and received a grant to study at Starfleet when she was 22, after several of her hovercar designs were purchased and manufactured.

At first Liz stuck to the purely mechanical side of the Academy, greasing it up and working on shuttles. After four years, her grandfather convinced her to enter for deployment, and she even took several command courses in her spare time. Graduating at 30 with honors, she worked under several big names (even Mr. Scott) on the as-yet-unfinished U.S.S. Enterprise, and later was a key designer and engineer on the Constellation Class. When the prototype, Venture, was built, Liz was assigned to watch it, study how it worked in-field, and be Chief Engineer.

Family
Although she loved her mother, Liz doesn't think about her previous life in terms of family. Her Grandfather is all the family she has ever needed, and convinces herself all the family she ever wanted. He was always ashamed of the way his son acted, and never was able to get over the fact that he died without ever getting to really know Lizabeth. Still, McMillan poured everything he had into her upbringing and teachings, and was extremely proud when she got into Starfleet. They'd lived near some old Irish ruins in a cottage overlooking a small valley where they usually worked together. Liz can speak some Gaelic and some Spanish, neither with any real fluency.

Personality
Although, after all she had been through, Liz would have had the right to be bitter, she learned to take things in stride. Still, after the rejection of her father, she swore never to get deeply involved with men. This means that despite her gorgeous looks and easy personality, love of parties and enjoyment of going out, she doesn't do relationships. Grown-up, occasional hook-ups sometimes, when she needs to scratch the itch, but nothing deeper. (For now.)

Liz might seem teasing or superficial, yet she's anything but. She likes to have a good time, but much of her life is spent working on ships and engines, right where she loves to be. She's a good, loyal friend, and easy to talk to. (As long as you follow her while she works.)

She has a head like a rock, though, and she doesn't give up a fight easily.

As a hobby, she likes to collect old tools, and has a ridiculously large collection of old wrenches that she enjoys immensely.

Tantomus
Tantomus Hiren was a member of the Fast Track Starfleet Academy Program Liz took part in, and became a Security officer about the Charlemagne. After Kirk saw potential for Engineering in him, the Romulan Ensign was placed under Liz's command. Both Tantomus and Liz were surprised at the strength of their attraction for one another, although they managed to avoid acting on this for some time because of issues varying from rank to age. Eventually, however, they entered into a relationship, which Liz finds incredibly alluring despite her aversion to monogamous, long-term relationships.

The program lasted about a year, after which Tantomus had been promoted to Commander and given the position of Chief of Security aboard a vessel of the members of the Fast Track Program, the U.S.S. Legacy. Liz was called back to Earth to continue working on the construction of the ship she would serve on a few years later, the U.S.S. Venture. Although they tried to keep in touch, Liz was the one to essentially break it off, citing separate careers, but is still emotionally attached during Venture.

Telek
After a few surprising events, Liz finds herself paying more attention to Telek, the head nurse in Sick Bay on the Venture. Although she often saw him for superficial (and more severe) injuries on the job, she hadn't pegged him for anything but a casual acquaintance.

In later seasons Telek is promoted to Chief Medical Officer when DeVos retires, and he and Liz become involved, and it's a tie between who is more surprised.