Been doing some thinking, particularly based on some details revealed in the latest episode, and I think I've put together a rough idea of Mariner's background A lot of this is based on presumptions and theories, and could very well be proven wrong in future episodes.
First, I'm assuming she was born in 2351, which makes her 30 as of season 2. I know there's a reference in season 1 where Boimler (who was 23 at the time) says "we're the same age." Rather than take that literally, I'm going to take it to mean they're both in their twenties, since assuming Mariner were born in 2351 she'd be 29 in season 1, set in 2380.
Now I'm going to incorporate the popular fan theory that she spent her childhood on board the Enterprise D, as she does seem to know a lot of specific details about that ship. She would have been 13 in 2364, TNG's first season. That means that she would have turned 18 in 2369, TNG's 6th season, meaning she'd have been aboard the Enterprise D for a good percentage of TNG's run so far. This could also have been when she left to enter Starfleet Academy, at which point she would have graduated in 2372, DS9's fourth season.
Now we know Mariner's been on five ships during her Starfleet career, presumably including the Cerritos. And we know know one of her prior assignments was on DS9 while Worf was there, which conveniently it was during the fourth season when he joined that show. So we can assume DS9 could have been Mariner's first assignment after graduating, and maybe she stayed there until the end of 2373 when the Dominion War started and DS9 was abandoned. After that, over the course of the Dominion War rapid transfers would have been a thing, meaning Mariner could easily have ended up on two other ships before she ended up on the Quito, which we know she was on as recently as a year prior to season 1, given she was still on the Quito when they made first contact with the aliens from the premiere episode. At some point after that first contact mission, she got transferred to the Cerritos.
Thoughts?
First, I'm assuming she was born in 2351, which makes her 30 as of season 2. I know there's a reference in season 1 where Boimler (who was 23 at the time) says "we're the same age." Rather than take that literally, I'm going to take it to mean they're both in their twenties, since assuming Mariner were born in 2351 she'd be 29 in season 1, set in 2380.
Now I'm going to incorporate the popular fan theory that she spent her childhood on board the Enterprise D, as she does seem to know a lot of specific details about that ship. She would have been 13 in 2364, TNG's first season. That means that she would have turned 18 in 2369, TNG's 6th season, meaning she'd have been aboard the Enterprise D for a good percentage of TNG's run so far. This could also have been when she left to enter Starfleet Academy, at which point she would have graduated in 2372, DS9's fourth season.
Now we know Mariner's been on five ships during her Starfleet career, presumably including the Cerritos. And we know know one of her prior assignments was on DS9 while Worf was there, which conveniently it was during the fourth season when he joined that show. So we can assume DS9 could have been Mariner's first assignment after graduating, and maybe she stayed there until the end of 2373 when the Dominion War started and DS9 was abandoned. After that, over the course of the Dominion War rapid transfers would have been a thing, meaning Mariner could easily have ended up on two other ships before she ended up on the Quito, which we know she was on as recently as a year prior to season 1, given she was still on the Quito when they made first contact with the aliens from the premiere episode. At some point after that first contact mission, she got transferred to the Cerritos.
Thoughts?
