Lieutenant Lydia Whitlock
Name Lydia Alana Whitlock M.D.
Position Assistant Chief Medical Officer
Rank Lieutenant
Character Information
| Gender | Female | |
| Species | Human | |
| Age | 41 |
Physical Appearance
| Height | 5'8" | |
| Weight | 140 lbs. | |
| Hair Color | Brown | |
| Eye Color | Blue | |
| Physical Description | Lydia is tall and slender, but not at all athletic, and prefers to watch what she eats rather than engage in regular physical exercise. She’ll occasionally swim to clear her head, but her pale complexion reflects a preference for indoor activities over those outdoors. |
Family
| Spouse | None | |
| Children | None | |
| Father | David Whitlock, Civilian Cargo Hauler (deceased) | |
| Mother | Joy Whitlock, Civilian Cargo Hauler (deceased) | |
| Brother(s) | None | |
| Sister(s) | None | |
| Other Family | None |
Personality & Traits
| General Overview | Growing up, Lydia learned “doing” was prized far more than “talking.” Consequently, at times, she is quite reserved, preferring to simply observe and speak when spoken to. With friends, or when speaking of her work, however, she can be much more outgoing and speaks with far more candor than people expect. She uses sarcasm and humor to put people at ease, and is cool under pressure. |
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| Strengths & Weaknesses | Lydia is a skilled diagnostician and practitioner who has the experience and skill to excel in whatever position she is called to serve. She is not the type to rest on her laurels, however, and makes it a priority to stay informed of the latest research and precedents. Whitlock is not easily intimidated, but doesn’t like to throw her weight around, unless she thinks it will get her what she needs for her clients. She will pursue what is best for those she works with, no matter the consequence. She is well-regarded as a supervisor and is respected by experienced and inexperienced clinicians alike. Over the years, Whitlock’s anger over her parents’ deaths has remained, though she still believes strongly in Starfleet’s ideals and principles. She is a team player, but considers herself an advocate first and foremost. |
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| Ambitions | Ambitions: Having grown up in a family where she didn’t feel as though she quite fit in, Lydia’s greatest desire is to find a man to share her life with and to have children. However, she is equally passionate about her career and understands the two desires aren’t very compatible. She is proud of her accomplishments, primarily because with them came greater power to help alleviate suffering, but as long as she is free to make a difference and permitted her independence, she is happy. |
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| Hobbies & Interests | Whitlock primarily enjoys intellectual pursuits over physical ones, including reading and conducting her own research, but she isn’t afraid of a good run on occasion. Her guilty pleasure is watching twenty-first century North American court shows. |
| Personal History | Lydia’s life, or rather, what she knows of her life, began at age four. She was adopted by Suzanne and Scott Whitlock of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Earth after she was reportedly abandoned by her birth parents in a park on a winter day. Lydia has no real memory of her life before age four, only a vague recollection of losing her teddy bear when she was taken into the custody of social services. However, the story’s been told so many times, it feels as real and as vivid as an actual memory. Suzanne and Scott were civilian cargo haulers, full of love, and content to just scrape by. They doted on Lydia and always provided for her needs, but devalued material possessions and higher learning, believing after a certain point, education and possessions were simply a way for people to look down upon others. Growing up with free-spirits like David and Joy was a dream come true for a curious and outgoing girl like Lydia. They encouraged her to explore their world freely, and as she matured, she learned the cargo trade with ease. Although her parents had their own disagreements with Starfleet and its hierarchal nature, they found her curiosity about Starfleet endearing, and so they introduced her to the personnel they interacted with at most every opportunity. Lydia was particularly drawn to the healers she interacted with, in part because of her curiosity about the nature and purpose of the medical supplies her parents transported. On those rare occasions when they were called upon to ferry people here and there, Lydia was often praised for being easy to talk to, despite the cramped conditions. As a young child, Lydia thought nothing of it, convinced she would follow in her parents’ footsteps. In school, she did well, but was always afraid to excel too well, out of fear of becoming the dreaded “elitist” her parents always railed against. Lydia’s internal struggles came to a head when she announced she wanted to pursue a career in Starfleet. Though her parents refused to turn their backs on her, the resentment was always there. After several nasty arguments, her parents asked Lydia not to bring it up again, and thus, it became the “elephant” in the room between them. From that point on, her parents were cordial, but always not quite warm with her. Feeling she had nothing to lose at that point, Lydia threw herself into her studies. She wasn’t the most outgoing of students, but she did develop a close circle of friends, and managed to excel in her classes. No longer frowned upon for excelling beyond her beginnings, Lydia allowed her interest in a variety of subjects to flourish, most prominently medicine and mental health, but also law and diplomacy. A professor took note of her natural interests and suggested she consider law school as a way to increase her diverse skillset. The professor pointed out all Starfleet Officers needed to be skilled in matters of law and diplomacy, particularly doctors, who found themselves trying to build relationships under challenging legal and ethical circumstances. Whitlock agreed to consider it, but fully intended to focus on becoming a physician after graduating Starfleet Academy. By the time she entered her residency in Emergency Medicine and Forensic Psychiatry, however, the Dominion War was in full swing, and they were inundated with stories of personnel returning in desperate need of proper medical and mental health care. Deciding she simply wanted to serve where she could be of most use, Lydia decided to focus on her residency and to delay any further education to focus on helping people who needed it most. Upon completion of her residency, and perhaps in part because she was war weary, Lydia decided to enter Starfleet’s School of Law. She loved helping people heal and knew she would never give that up completely, but she also believed she could be of greater use to the Fleet if she had a better understanding of the disciplines she would be expected to navigate. A forensic psychiatrist with her own knowledge of the law would not be easily duped by either the prosecution or defense, and a mental health professional familiar with a variety of aspects of interstellar law would be better prepared to serve in the mission advisory role counselors typically assumed. Law school taught her how to strike a balance between her emotional and analytical tendencies, and at the same time, Lydia learned how to find creative solutions to legal problems that still required real world compassion. Her first posting, the USS White Dove, turned out to be a memorable one. There, she met and befriended then acting Chief Medical Officer, Melanie Steele. Though Whitlock was too young to have served in the Dominion War directly, the two bonded over their efforts to treat the psychological wounds from the conflict. Whitlock knew Steele was still reeling from her own experiences, and Lydia became a close friend and confidante. Lydia remained on the White Dove with Steele for the next eight years. Shortly after Steele was transferred to the USS Calypso, however, Whitlock received devastating news: her adoptive parents had been murdered after being caught in the middle of what apparently was a dispute between Starfleet and some less than reputable pirates, who claimed Whitlock’s parents as collateral damage for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Grief-stricken, Lydia decided she needed a break from working with trauma survivors directly, and she took a position teaching and supervising other counselors. This assignment gave her a chance to re-discover her love for counseling others again and also helped her reach out for her own help before burn-out set in. The supervisory position also restored her confidence in her leadership abilities, and with some encouragement from others, she decided to look for other areas in which she could apply her psychological expertise. Searching for meaning and purpose, she agreed to take a job as a psychiatrist with the Starfleet Bureau of Prisons based out of Corcoran Penal Colony. Lydia knew it wasn’t exactly a prestigious assignment, but it would allow her a chance to get back to her legal and forensic roots, and perhaps more importantly, she would have ample opportunity to explore the criminal mind first hand. Her parents’ deaths had hit her hard, and in getting to know other criminals like her parents’ killers, a part of her hoped to make sense of their deaths. Her work for the Bureau of Prisons turned out to be beneficial in other unexpected ways. While much of her work focused on keeping inmate behavior in check and correctly evaluating inmates to ensure the safety of all concerned, she was also routinely asked to assist Corcoran’s intelligence unit in gathering information regarding inmate on inmate crimes as well as criminal activity on the outside. These activities frequently required her to work alongside investigators, inside the prison and out, looking to get to the truth. Corcoran was the perfect place for her to hone her interrogation, profiling, and crisis management skills in an environment where the staff was expected to use more than force and tactical skill to accomplish their jobs. Still, as challenging as her work could be, it was also heart-breaking. By the time she came in contact with the vast majority of inmates, the time for rehabilitation had long past. The best she could hope for was to keep these inmates from becoming any more damaged than they already were, and in many cases, she was limited to keeping their aggressions contained. Also troubling to her was the vast number of inmates who suffered psychologically at the time of the crime, who lacked someone skilled in psychology who could help juries and judges make sense of psychological complexities within the legal system. After sharing her frustrations, a colleague in the Starfleet Criminal Investigative Service encouraged her to apply for a position within his organization. At first, Whitlock thought he was kidding. She was decent with a phaser, but was hardly an expert in hand to hand combat or physically imposing. She soon discovered she could use her legal, forensic, and counseling skills just as she had before, except instead of simply keeping criminals who’d already done damage contained, she could actually play a more proactive role in preventing and responding to crime. As more details of her parents’ murders came to light – including the fact Starfleet knew the area her parents were asked to travel was known disputed territory for pirates who didn’t care who got hurt- Lydia’s passion for justice and advocacy grew stronger. Taking into account Lydia’s diverse experience as a physician, psychiatrist, and advisor, the brass tapped her to be a Starfleet Medical Representative, travelling to ships and bases providing expertise and support to crews in need. She is currently assigned to the USS Gladiator. |
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| Service Record | 2364-2368: Starfleet Academy 2368-2372: Starfleet Medical Academy 2372 – 2374: Starfleet Medical Academy Residency (Emergency Medicine and Forensic Psychiatry) 2374- 2377: Starfleet Academy School of Law (Specializing in criminal and interstellar law) 2377-2379: Counselor/Medical Officer, USS White Dove 2380 – 2382: Assistant Chief Counselor/Assistant Chief Medical Officer, USS White Dove 2382 – 2386: Chief Counselor, USS White Dove 2386 – 2388: Emergency Medicine Instructor and Counselor Supervisor, Starfleet Medical Academy 2388- 2389: Psychiatrist, Starfleet Bureau of Prisons 2389 – 2391: Forensic/Trauma Psychiatrist, Starfleet Criminal Investigative Service Present: Assistant Chief Medical Officer/Counselor, USS Gladiator |