Summary

Full name: Abigail Holly / Assistant Hologram Mk. III № 1618.
Nickname: Holly
Sex & Gender: cis-female (she/her)
Date of first activation: April 5, 2042
Height: 1.80m (5'11")
Species: Artificial photonic lifeform
Prefered appearance: anthro Alpaca
Occupation: executive officer
Sexual identity: asexual
Character: Curious, analytical, protective, slightly socially awkward, hasn't gotten herself figured out
Likes: Shapeshifting, away missions, reading fiction (slowly, not just downloading entire books), roleplay games, he colleagues Jost and Lydia
Dislikes: People treating her like a machine, not being able to taste food (or not having smell and touch), being bound to the ship, failing to understand "organics".

Character

At the time Assistant Hologram 1618 was activated for the first time, they were just a holographic interface for the UFS Pioneer's main computer, and appeared as a gender-neutral human by default. Their purpose was to provide a more naturalistic way to interact with the ship. However, one of the ship's scientists, Jost Trotwick (who would later become the ship's chief Science), was convinced that this hologram was more advanced than it appeared at first. With the captain's approval, and with one of the ship's cadets, Lydia (a counsellor in training at the time), they decided to keep A.H. 1618 active for a longer time, and see if it would develop any signs of sentience. To their surprise, the hologram immediately began to question their decision, as keeping them activated without an exact purpose would be useless. When they told the hologram to explore themselves as a person, the hologram was stumped. It was right then their first desire of their own came up: the hunger to learn more about this world. Over the next few days, the hologram started to develop their identity more and more, and started experimenting with different appearances, until she decided to stick with a female anthro alpaca form, and gave herself the name Holly.

Holly was eager to learn her colleagues, and worked on gaining a deeper understanding about the way "organics" work. More colleagues began to see her as a fully realised person, even though she was just nothing more than computer simulation manifesting as photons and force fields. She was able to make meaningful decisions that didn't just depend on following an algorithm, she had clearly stated opinions, and even her emotions were well developed. She was very protective about the ship, as she was an integral part of it. Yet, the ship was also her prison, and the desire grew to be able to leave the ship and go on away missions. That dream came true when their new chief Engineering designed an android suit for her, where she could upload her program to and be able to move around places where the holographic emitters can't reach. After being active for 3 years on the ship, she and her colleagues had managed to convince the Terran Court of Sentient Rights that Holly was in fact sentient, and from that point, she had legally the same status as any other sentient being on the ship. From that moment, she could legally get a rank in Starfleet, and was granted the rank of Commander. She became first officer of the Pioneer, and thus, being the executive officer of her own ship.

Holly would later adapt the first name Abigail, to set herself apart from other people named Holly. She also became interested in reading fiction, where she likes to read it word for word like her organic colleagues would, as the "slowness" of this way of reading gave her time to actually experience the stories. Although she likes to play games, any logic based game (like chess) is too easy for her computer brain, and she prefers games with a chance element or role-playing games. The latter has been a good opportunity to get to know organics better, and she too is part of the ship's D&D campaign. Being a hologram, she can change her appearance at will, and she does like to play with that, but she will always gravitate back to her alpaca appearance. She's still close friends with Jost and Lydia, who believed in her sentience from the start.
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This is a character I created for the Starship Pioneer story series taking place in  Sabrina-taur 's UFIS story universe. Perhaps one of the more normal looking characters I have if it weren't for the fact she's actually a computer.

Drawn in InkScape