Shelly Marsden

Shelly Marsden was the Chief Engineer of the USS Anomaly.

Marsden was the only child of Harold Marsden and Ann Marsden, two xeno-archaeologists who specialized in ancient alien technology. When she was a toddler, the Marsdens were working at a dig site on Pyadall when they were attacked by Whurakan raiders. They were saved by a ship commanded by Reginald Bain, a fact that Marsden never shared with her future captain (Primary Sources [BG]). After a few such incidents, her parents decided it would be safer for her to live on Earth, so she went to live with her great-grandparents in Eastern Ohio. She saw her parents whenever they got back to Earth, which was actually quite often. Marsden's great-grandmother had been a Starfleet Engineer, so she showed Marsden a lot while she was growing up. Her great-grandfather was used a hoverchair due to a transwarp racer accident, so Marsden learned to helped her great-grandmother with chair maintenance and eventually most other things around the house. In her teen years, she attended the Federation Magnet High School, where she became friends with Natalia Kasyov. Marsden's great-grandmother was friends with a couple of Starfleet admirals, who sponsored Marsden's application to Starfleet Academy.

After the Academy, Marsden worked in Starfleet Special Projects, where she developed the anti-singularity drive. This drive combined elements of Federation and Romulan technologies to achieve incredible speeds. She was unable to stabilize the system, though, until she took the unorthodox step of funneling the drive energies through a piece of space debris that was discovered by the USS Secondprize over a century earlier. This debris was actually part of an advanced culture's starship and served as the housing for the sphere-encased brains they used to regulate their engine systems. Marsden's use of housing attracted Cabral, who phased through the hull of the Hermes-7 prototype containing the housing and took over control of the ship, taking Marsden and Hector Arroyo along for the ride. Once Captain Reginald Bain was able to intercept the Hermes-7 and befriend Cabral. Cabral elected to remain aboard the ship, which was renamed the USS Anomaly. Bain was made Captain and Marsden ordered to serve as his Chief Engineer. (If I Only Had a Brain [BG])

Marsden was upset that Bain took command of the Anomaly away from her (and also that he changed the name to the Anomaly), so she attempted to get a transfer rather than serve as Bain’s chief engineer. Admiral Kristen Larkin denied the request and threatened to bill Marsden for all of the destroyed prototypes if she resigned from Starfleet. (One Track Mind [BG])

After the Anomaly was damaged in the Andromeda Galaxy, Marsden signed up for a credit account at Gyjik's Galaxy Gateway and used it to get parts for repairs, narrowly avoiding being killed by a particularly angry clerk droid in the process. (Yes, We Do Indeed Have Something To Declare! [BG]) After making repairs and getting the Anomaly moving again, she pretended to be Bain's wife as the pair went to look at renting a condominium while really trying to determine the locations of Kasyov and Lieutenant Commander Tovar, who had been taken by the Associates. (Domestic Tranquility [BG])

When the Anomaly and its crew were taken into protective care by the Nabusari, an older race that considered Bain too young to be running a starship and quite irresponsible to have taken a bunch of children out into space, Marsden led a small group in escaping the day care facility that all of the crew except Bain were taken to. She was able to establish contact with Bain and later pretended to be him to pass a pilot's exam in order to get the Anomaly back. (Respect Your Elders [BG])

Upon returning to Earth from Andromeda, Marsden helped Arroyo investigate the disappearance of his fiancee, Janie, who used to work with them in Starfleet R&D. Arroyo revealed to her that he and Janie were only pretending to be engaged in order to get Arroyo's parents off his back about his dating life and marriage prospects. In return, Janie had gotten a recommendation from Senator Arroyo that allowed her to get her position with Admiral Okawa's office in Starfleet Sciences. Arroyo and Marsden took the USS Navigator to investigate and discovered that Okawa and Janie had been captured by the Serellan artist Veraxe', who was working on a massive unauthorized space painting. They were briefly captured as well, but Arroyo was able to escape Veraxe', destroying multiple robots in the process, then free Marsden, Janie, and Okawa. They fled Veraxe's ship only to find that he had completed the painting, which was absolutely gorgeous. They decided not to destroy it. (The Ties That Bind [BG])

After learning that the several bits of debris survived the destruction of the Hermes 5 prototype ship two years earlier, Marsden was sent to Carsullis to retrieve it before it could affect the development of the planet's pre-industrial population. She discovered that the ship's backup computer core had also survived and that the Carsullans were now worshipping as The Oracle. Additionally, Cole Anfibon was on Carsullis looking to get the core and sell it to a group interested in replicating the anti-singularity drive. Marsden took Anfibon into custody, but, after a banter-filled dinner, let him go as long as he left the planet. He didn't leave. Instead, he gathered up all of the explosives Marsden had placed around the Oracle's shrine with the intention of blowing the structure up and beaming out the core. Before she could actually arrest him for interfering in her mission, Marsden and Anfibon were beamed up along with the computer core to a Breen ship commander by Thot-Phul. The Anomaly arrived soon after this. While Phul and Commander Prosak exchanged demands and threats, Marsden and Anfibon were able to set off their explosives, severely damaging the DRAAT, and escape. Lieutenant Commander Tovar finished the Breen ship off with a torpedo volley and beamed the Hermes 5 computer core back to the Anomaly. Phul and his crew abandoned ship before the DRAAT exploded. Captain Reginald Bain decided to let Anfibon go, since he helped Marsden escape the Breen, and returned him to his ship. Before he left the Anomaly, Anfibon told Marsden that he hoped to see her again and commed her later that same day, beginning a long distance relationship between the two. (Scrap Metal Of The Gods [BG])

A couple years after the Anomaly's return from Andromeda, Gyjik's Galaxy Gateway sent Marsden a final notice about the large debt she and the crew racked up in the Andromeda Galaxy, then after getting no response (the message bounced off of the Great Barrier surrounding the Milky Way), turned her over to Associates Acquisitions to collect what she owed. The Associates ship traveled to the Milky Way looking for the Anomaly. With no way to pay them back, Marsden beamed over to their ship with Lieutenant Commander Tovar to work off her debt. The Anomaly crew realized that the Associates shuttle they brought back from Andromeda might be worth enough to pay off what Marsden owed, so they got it from Earth and, thanks to Cole Anfibon preventing the Associates from leaving the galaxy by crashing a microshuttle into their engines, were able to catch up to the Associates and give them the shuttle plus some engine repairs to satisfy Gyjik's debt. Back on the Anomaly, Marsden and Anfibon were actually able to spend a night together in person. (Past Due [BG])

Anifbon was actually a clone of Bain that Dr. Lenik created and sent to get close to Marsden as part of a plan to get revenge on Bain for destroying her research. While Anfibon was aboard the Anomaly, FOBBER set off an explosive on Dulcolax Three in the Federation/Romulan Neutral Zone containing transmetaquantaprotophasic radiation. The Anomaly and a Romulan warhawk were both sent to investigate the source of the illegal weapon. Anfibon attempted to murder Marsden before transporting himself and Bain to Gridloo and Pridloo's freighter. The Anomaly crew realized what was happening and de-escalated the situation with the Romulans before then chasing down the Pakleds' freighter and rescuing Bain. Marsden, despite her injuries, confronted Anfibon, who attempted to convince her that he really did love her and that he was forced by Lenik to do what he had done. Really, Anifbon was just trying to get close enough to stab Marsden again. Marsden stunned him before he could strike. He and Lenik were killed when the Pakleds' freighter exploded. (Good Fences Make Good Neighbors - Part One, Good Fences Make Good Neighbors - Part Two [BG])

During the Lucinda incident, Marsden and Tovar acknowledged their attraction to each other and ended up engaging in a heavy makeout session in the Anomaly's Jefferies tubes. Tovar, however, was dating Lieutenant Jamie Torgerson and did not want to end that relationship. Marsden knew that he was trying to do the right thing. Marsden also lost her friend Hector Arroyo during this, when he gave up his physical form and merged with Lucinda. Marsden couldn't understand why Arroyo had never told her about Lucinda. (Bold Faced Lies [BG])

While were representing Starfleet at a high school career night, Prosak caught Tovar by surprise with a kiss and told him that she would be a better match for him than Torgerson. Tovar pulled her aside to talk about the kiss, but they were overheard by Marsden. This revelation resulted in a argument between the three of them right in the middle of the gym holding the career night. Both Prosak and Marsden stormed away from Tovar, with Marsden telling him to stay away from her until he figured out what he wanted. While the verbal pummeling was not fun for Tovar, it did get a lot of students interested in checking out the Starfleet table. (The Future Of Starfleet [BG])

Much to Marsden's horror, rumors of what happened between her and Tovar started spreading around the Anomaly. She eventually found out that Ensign Yonk was responsible, but she was not able to get him to remove the posts about it that he put on the shipwide messaging system before Torgerson read them. (Rumor Control [BG])

Marsden plays golf in her holopod to relax. Despite 15 years of playing, she is terrible and spends a lot of the game yelling.