Maria Chan comes from a family that never quite made ends meet. No-one was starving - the social safety net on Mars won't allow that - but there was definitely not much available for luxuries. Since post-secondary schooling can be expensive, Maria had to find another way to pay it.

The solution, like so many others, was Star Fleet - trading service for schooling. Maria finished her BSc in Nursing two years ago, and was posted to the Surya shortly thereafter. Her tour aboard this ship is drawing to a close, though; under normal circumstances she would expect to be reassigned unless she requested to stay, and she has been unable to decide what she wants to do.