Odd Jobs interview: Commander Ash MacKenna, USS Khitomer

In “Odd Jobs,” we examine some less traditional posts and the characters and writers behind them to inspire you to investigate potential for your own character.

Today we have the pleasure of speaking to Commander Ash MacKenna playing a human female Intelligence Chief assigned to the USS Khitomer.

Fianna: Greetings, and thank you for joining us!  Would you please tell us a little about the writer behind the character — where in the world do you hail from?  What sort of hobbies do you have?  What would you like to share about yourself?

MacKenna: If you’ve ever read any interviews on Kali Nicholotti, you know I’m in North Carolina, the southeast of the US. I’ve been with 118 for about a decade and a half (yep, getting old I guess) and I don’t know that there is too much I can say that I have not said before. Hobbies include writing, training dogs, reading, and chilling with my Doberman, Pandora. I successfully got my twin small humans to adulthood, and now I rescue dogs from euthanasia and help get them trained so they have a good chance at forever homes.

Currently, MacKenna is a Chief Intelligence Officer.  Why that particular duty post?

Ash is very much the type to hide, even in plain sight. She’s strange in pretty much any social setting or situation, but brilliant when it comes to finding patterns in places others might miss. She prefers the dark, the shadows, and being as far away from the limelight as possible, and it seemed like a great way to bring her back after an LOA I took a while ago. The duty post stuck and she’s been in the black collar ever since.

How does this position differ from other Officers? How does it affect your capacity on your ship?

The intel post isn’t as clear cut as what you might normally see in the core positions on a ship. We didn’t see too much of this sort of thing on screen, and the stuff we did see isn’t exactly what you would want to bring into the post you play anyways. There isn’t always something to do, and when there is, it’s often not some flashy, superstar, spectacular stuff, but that goes with dancing in the shadows. How does it impact my capacity? I think it actually gives me more freedom to focus on the details and take the sims of my whole crew and weave their small details together into a tapestry that includes a bit of everything. It allows me to highlight little things that might otherwise get missed in the bigger tides of the story, while tying it all back in. Ultimately it is literally like writing in the shadows – less about putting in the big plot twists that everyone is looking for and more about making sure everyone has a stake in the story.

What is the most interesting thing about serving in this capacity?

I love being able to shine that light on the little things. It is the details, the looks, the interpersonal conflicts and relationships, the frowns, the stomps, the way someone taps their console or expresses some small discovery – the story, like life, does not happen in the big moments, but in the moments in between. Weaving in and out of these ‘in between’ moments and pulling them to the surface is quite fun.

How have you brought realism into your role and your simming as a Chief Intelligence Officer?

I guess the best way to inject realism into a character is to reflect a piece of yourself in them. None of us are perfect, and our characters should not be either. Ash may be a spook, but she’s always striving to figure out the “human” connection. She is autistic and struggles, like I do, with the social aspect of things. Comfort and peace lay in the patterns that no one sees, the seemingly inconsequential beats of the everyday world that signify the inevitable changes that others seem to take in stride and expect. Ash reflects this struggle and yet is able to offer something to her crewmates anyways. There is good with bad and bad with good and the universe ultimately finds balance. This is “real”, and that’s how it is with the role I play.

If someone else wanted to serve in this capacity, what advice would you give them?

Scrap the ideas of James Bond and the overpowered “spook” trope. Intel officers don’t have all the answers, nor do they have an unlimited ‘get out of jail free’ card. At the same time, they can be a fundamental game changer for a mission and how others can write, so don’t be afraid to reach out, interact, show the character’s flaws, and be part of the whole even from the shadows.

Thanks for your time, Commander Ash MacKenna!

You can read more about Commander Ash MacKenna on the wiki here.