Elizabeth Sherwood

Elizabeth Sherwood was a 23rd century Human woman who joined Federation Starfleet in the 2280s.

History
Sherwood was a young child when her parents were killed by a Gorn attack on Cestus III, an event that motivated her to join Starfleet in an attempt to protect others from such tragedy. Enrolled in Starfleet Academy in the early 2280s, Sherwood was among a group of officer-cadets who were instructed by Captain Spock.

By 2285, Sherwood had been awarded an officer's position on Spock's training vessel, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701). In that year, the starship was attacked by Khan Noonien Singh on the USS Reliant (NCC-1864). After Rear Admiral James T. Kirk took command of the situation, Sherwood remained a navigator on the Admiral's senior staff after the event. In particular, Sherwood benefited from observations of Kirk's command style of extreme confidence, a trait that had eluded her under Spock's tutelage, as his instruction stressed technical brilliance. Kirk gave Sherwood opportunities to join landing parties to further her experience, with noted improvement in her performance. 

Sherwood was manning the helm station on the bridge in 2285 when Admiral Kirk ordered the Enterprise to Organia to investigate the causes of the Federation-Klingon War of 2285. Sherwood commented that the planet had disappeared, a comment that Kirk dismissed as being a statement of the extremely obvious. 

Sherwood was a member of the landing party to Beta Epsilon VI on stardate 8163.5, where she correctly ascertained that the civilization had been influenced in violation of the Prime Directive, when she noticed refined metal agricultural equipment that would have been impossible given the Beta Epsilon inhabitants had only a "B" rating on the Richter Scale of Culture. The cultural contamination became worse as the natives had seen phasers in operation and knew of their effectiveness. A native military leader, General Decton, slugged Sherwood and took her phaser pistol, using it to reignite the planet's recently stalled war. Kirk and crew were able to rectify the situation by recovering the contaminator, Captain Philip Hodges, and using his knowledge of the natives' religion to transmit a message telling them to disregard some of the advanced technology they had seen. 

When a shapeshifter was loose aboard the Enterprise, Sherwood was assigned to shadow Lieutenant Saavik, as all crewmembers were paired off in a "buddy system". Kirk and Doctor McCoy found the impostor in a corridor, disguised as Saavik. Under questioning, the faux Saavik claimed that Sherwood had run some errands, leaving Saavik alone only to obtain food. 

On stardate 8180, Kirk ordered Sherwood to key into the helm of the stolen Vulcan starship Konga with a prefix code, but Sherwood's attempt failed, as the Konga pilot, Saavik, had changed the code. As part of a ruse, Kirk ordered power cut to make the ship appear to be adrift, and then had Sherwood restore power after Saavik had fled. 

After the Enterprise returned to Spacedock, Sherwood and the rest of the junior cadet staff were temporarily assigned to Starbase 13 to await replacement. After Admiral Kirk stole the Enterprise to return to the Mutara sector, the junior officers were curious what had happened to their former ship and senior crew. The situation took a turn for the worse when the starbase was attacked by the mirror universe ISS. Sherwood assumed a post in the space station's operations center, and reported to Commodore Garrett when Captain Lawrence Styles was found adrift in the shuttlecraft Genghis. When Kirk returned to the starbase on the USS Excelsior (NCC-2000), Sherwood joined several other former Enterprise crew in offering their services helping him use Excelsior to retaliate against the mirror invaders. Sherwood took Excelsior'snavigation station, plotting a course for the ship to intercept the HMS, which had been commandeered by the mirror $𝜇$. The Excelsior succeeded in disabling the Imperial Starfleet's ability to invade the counterpart universe by instigating a conflict with the Terran Empire confronted on three fronts by a Terran Rebellion, the Klingon Alliance and the Romulan Republic. Upon arriving home, the Excelsior surrenders to a fleet led by Styles, and Grand Admiral Stephen Turner confirm's Kirk's continued command of Excelsior, with Sherwood remaining aboard as navigator. 

Background
Who's Who in Star Trek incorrectly lists Sherwood's first appearance as "The Wormhole Connection" in DC's first series Star Trek #1. In actuality, her first Star Trek comic appearance was issue #3, "Errand of War!". In the first three issues she appeared in or was mentioned in, she was referred to as "lieutenant", but she remained an ensign for the rest of the series.