Lieutenant Ileana Cortez

Misc

Permission Level

Crew

Character Information

Gender		Female
Species		Klingon/Human Hybrid
Age		26

Physical Appearance

Height		5'10"
Weight		180 lbs
Hair Color		Sable
Eye Color		Black
Physical Description		Denser in bone and musculature than the average human female, Ila is nowhere near the standard weight or stature of the average Klingon woman. She is curvy and fit, but decidedly small in comparison. Ila skin is termed 'caramel colored by her description and quite literally speckled with tattoos in places. She has over 35 star tattoos of various size and design scattered from behind her left ear to the base of her hips along her spinal ridge. Her ears are pierced several times in both ears. Ila’s ridges are very subtle. She bears a six inch horizontal scar across her right clavicle

Family

Spouse		N/A
Children		N/A
Father		Marco Heimi Cortez
Mother		Tmora (Deceased)
Brother(s)		N/A
Sister(s)		N/A
Other Family		Ramona Cortez (Paternal Grandmother, deceased) Dr. Leslie Berry (no relation, prior legal guardian) Healer T’Reea (no relation, prior legal guardian) Jeffrey Berry (no relation, ‘brother’) Camden Berry (no relation, ‘brother’) Elliot Michael Kasey (fiancé)

Personality & Traits

General Overview		Moody is a good word to describe Ila. She rolls with her emotions and she doesn’t hide them. What is simply is and you can deal with it point blank. She’s opinionated, loud, brassy and passionate: all of which adds up to a very volatile combination if taken the wrong way. Luckily for everyone around her, Ila has a good sense of humor (most of the time) and some serious PR skills to balance out the occasional foot in mouth faux pas. The subject of being half-klingon is touchy on the best of days. If asked, Ila will point out that her father is human and she was born on Earth. If pushed or badgered she responds- eventually- as she has a very long memory for who to hit the first time the uniforms are off. Despite the tendency towards carefully plotted violence, Ila is rather bright, specifically when it comes to crunching numbers and organizing. She is terribly loyal to her family and friends as they are very sacred to her. Ila adores canids. Her father keeps her 6 mutt dogs at home in Mexico, (save for ‘Meatloaf’ who isn’t exactly safe to be with anyone else). When it comes to children, Ila is a little standoffish as their delicacy is frightening. Everything else is entirely collectible: especially if it’s a stray or an outcast. As far as relationships go, Ila considers her father, the Berrys and T’Reea all to be family regardless of their blood relations. She gets terribly angry with them (especially when Leslie calls to notify her that her father is in jail again), but even then will tell them that she loves them still. Ila’s relationship with Elliot has grown over nearly seven years of companionship into a very odd long distance relationship. Elliot only recently accepted Ila’s proposal of marriage, which will probably be another long term ordeal before fruition.
Strengths & Weaknesses		Strengths/Talents: Organization, mathematics on the fly, bartending, astronomy, fairly sturdy, hits *hard* for a woman, great balance in heels, high alcohol tolerance, thick skinned socially, stalwart Limitations/Weaknesses: Poor swimmer, low tolerance for extreme cold, tends to internalize conflict, moody, very protective of her privacy, tends to be aloof of personal relationships until she’s comfortable with the notion of whether they’re ‘one of hers’.
Ambitions		She has no intention of ever having children (as it would make them yet another step out from having any society to belong to), yet looks forward to settling down with Elliot to raise pooches and stargaze somewhere with a painted desert and lots of open sky.
Hobbies & Interests		Likes: Kickboxing, 20th century rock, high heels, sunbathing, dogs, the desert, cryptography, emotional tokens, fresh fruit, stargazing, acoustic guitar Dislikes: Klingon food, playing coy, puzzles, disorder, confinement, small places, being scrutinized

Personal History		Personal History: Ileana’s birth was a bit of a miracle as by every right she should have been dead. On arrival at San Francisco spaceport her mother, TMora, had already succumbed to hypoxia and severe hypothermia. Her father, Marco Cortez, suffered similarly though was in much better conditions. Post deliver Ila was immediately flown to a special neonatal hospital in San Diego, CA where she remained until she was 4 months old. During that time there was a drawn out, dirty battle over exactly what would happen to Ila and whether or not Marco would be allowed to keep her. Being her biological father wasn’t enough of a determining factor when paired with the man’s missing status over the last 4 years, his mental state, financial state and the fact that he was smuggling himself and his unsanctioned wife and child on planet to begin with. A jail sentence was enacted, though retracted after three months and a retrial. With the help of rights lobbyists and a lot of pro bono law help, Marco was able to take custody of his daughter after a year and return to his home city of Tijuana, Mexico. There were addendums to this freedom though: two custodial guardians were appointed to keep an eye on the family: Dr. Leslie Ann Berry and Healer T’Reena (AKA Tia). This was how Ileana remembered her early life: ‘So a Vulcan, a mutt and two Humans walk into a bar in Tijuana..’ Irony was very much the punch line. Ila spent a great deal of her time set on her grandmothers hip while she did various chores and ran a small grocery. At that point her father was still not ‘in the green’ by any meaning of the word. Tia Leslie and Tia Tia were very much parental figures instead of xenosociologists until Marco crawled out of the bottom of his bottle about her 7th year. Until about eight Ila’s life was a clamor of social functions. Dr. Berry ran a constant script of integration tactics and emotional problem solving. Healer T’Reea was the ever present observer/non-obtrusive guiding hand. And then there was Ramona who insisted that Ila be involved in every ounce of cultural immersion that involved crinolines, heels and lacquered hair combs. Anyone that interfered with the three of them working semi in conjunction was routinely chased down with a stick or put in a wristlock. Ila, for the most part, was very social until puberty struck rather suddenly her 10th year. At nearly twice the size and strength of most of her peers- not to mention a whole different emotional level- Ila began to segregate herself. She turned her interest to collecting stray dogs and chickens when not utterly wrapped around her father’s little finger. By then he had fairly successfully conquered enough of his issues to balance regular work and a home life. Staying up late to listen to her father play guitar and howl at the dogs were some of Ila’s favorite memories. Ramona Cortez passed rather suddenly of a heart attack late in Ila’s sixteenth year. It always stuck with Ila how T’Reea had said that if they’d stayed in San Diego instead of Tijuana that Ramona would have lived. Marco leaned heavily on Ila for support, though there was little that could be done to pull Marco out of his grief this time. Between the return to heavy drinking and constant brawling, Marco lost custodial rights to Ila, who was whisked away back to San Diego to live in a more ‘suitable’ suburban environment with Dr. Berry and her children. Ileana never did integrate with the Berry children as it was hoped that she would. Once T’Reea returned to Vulcan, Ila tried twice to hitchhike back to Mexico with no luck. Her father eventually contacted her at T’Reea’s request and told Ila rather solemnly that he couldn’t let her squander her potential by coming home. Ila took that a personal betrayal and withdrew even further into herself. By eighteen it was glaringly obvious that Ila was only going to continue going downhill if something drastic wasn’t done, therefore T’Reea took it upon herself to impress upon Ila the importance of social service and drug Ila to San Francisco to do entry exams at the Academy ‘or else’ (in this case or else was going to live with her on Vulcan). That was all the motivation (RE: threat) that Ila needed to try asserting herself again. Academy/SF Years: Time away was good for the heart, prompting Ila to reaccept the ‘trifecta of evil’ back into her life again long distance. This was on large part due to the tight knit group of friends that she developed in her first year. There was a great many behavioral issues until the general boundaries were worked out about where she was on the general pecking order while on her own, most of which were defiance related. Only a few resulted in mutual pummeling and a few littered citations. Initial classes (again RE: T’Reea) were putting Ila on a track severely pointed towards diplomatic corps regardless of how many times she botched linguistics. Eventually she rather willfully had her schedules switched to a security intensive course load that she excelled in. While in her second year Ila met Elliot Kasey in an antique store on winter break (he attended SFSU). This was the beginning of a long term friendship and occasional research partnership. Ila’s first station was aboard the USS Raleigh. It was a difficult time adjusting to the personalities more than the minutia- that she took to like a duck in water. It was gauging when to hold back and when to let loose that was a problem. The Academy just wasn’t enough to gauge the scope of life on a small, closed community trailing off into the middle of nowhere. More than once she found herself terribly homesick for the desert. Her second ship was the USS Tenmei. Up until then Ila’s career within Starfleet had shuffled along slow and steady- not because of conflicts or acts of valor- but dependable service and an eye for detail. She didn’t participate in any great wars or anything of that sort, no. Ila micromanaged her way up the ranks efficiently and reliably. While that looked great on her resume, it really wasn’t the sort of thing that made one memorable. Her appearance and her heritage were still the main reason why she stood out. While aboard her third post, the USS Calyx, Ila found herself acting as Security Chief after her previous department head passed away. The captain was happy enough with her performance for well over a year until an incident with one of the medical officers. Despite the significance of Ensign Danner’s attack being a hate crime, counter suits were filed as she put him in a body cast. Immediately post-case Ila was demoted and given transfer papers. Notes: Marco Cortez is habitually in lock up, usually for public drunkenness. T’Reea is also known more fondly as Tia Tia which annoys her to great lengths. Leslie Berry’s sons both serve in Starfleet and are considered brothers to her, much to their chagrin at times. The six inch scar caused by Ensign Danner with a laser scalpel has healed very well. Her right hand occasionally tingles still.
Service Record		2375 - 2379, Starfleet Academy 2380 - 2383, USS Raleigh, Security Officer 2384 - 2387, USS Tenmei, Security Officer 2388 - 2390, USS Calyx, Assistant Chief Security Officer 2391 - 2392, USS Calyx, Chief Security Officer 2392 - SB 80, Assistant Chief Security Officer