Shelby was a Human Starfleet officer. She was noted to be a highly ambitious officer, on the fast track to promotion to the captaincy of a starship.
History
In 2366, Lieutenant Commander Shelby was placed in charge of Starfleet's defensive planning for a potential Borg invasion. When the Federation colony on Jouret IV was destroyed, Shelby was dispatched to determine whether or not the Borg were responsible. Following confirmation of a Borg presence in Federation space, she stayed aboard the USS Enterprise-D to develop strategies for facing the imminent attack.
Borg invasion
Upon hearing that Enterprise First Officer William T. Riker had been offered command of the USS Melbourne, Shelby assumed Riker would accept and set her sights on gaining the appointment as Captain Picard's new first officer. However, when she arrived on the Enterprise, she got off on the wrong foot with Riker when she said she intended to become his replacement. She remained at odds with Riker because her fast and loose style clashed strongly with his safe and by-the-book tendencies; for example, she led an unauthorized away team to Jouret's surface (hoping to get an early start on locating evidence of the Borg attack) without receiving approval from Riker first, and she went over Riker's head to propose combat strategies to Captain Picard himself. Shelby also demonstrated her keen senses when she beat Riker in a poker game by calling his bluff.
Once the Borg attack came, Shelby proved herself to be an extremely capable officer. When Captain Picard was kidnapped by the Borg, she led several away teams that attempted to rescue him. When Riker was granted a temporary promotion to captain, he appointed Shelby to be his first officer and promoted her to commander despite their differences; he later noted that they made a good team.
Following the destruction of the Borg cube and Picard's return as captain of the Enterprise, Shelby returned to Starfleet Command to lead the task force that would rebuild the fleet following the disastrous Battle of Wolf 359. (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds", "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II")
Captain Shelby of the Sutherland
In 2374, Shelby now a Captain, was the commanding officer of the Federation starship USS Sutherland.
During a resupply visit to Deep Space 9 that same year, Captain Shelby returned a favor to her friend, Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax, by granting Lieutenant Manuele Atoa some free time so he could perform his Samoan firedance at Dax's wedding party. (DS9: "You Are Cordially Invited")
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Appendices
Background information
Shelby was played by Elizabeth Dennehy. The character has also been featured as the first officer of the USS Excalibur in the Star Trek: New Frontier series of novels, where her full name is revealed to be Elizabeth Paula Shelby. Later in the New Frontier series, she becomes captain of the USS Exeter for six months before taking command of the USS Trident (NCC-31347).
- For more information, please see her New Frontier character entry.
Regarding the reference to a "Captain Shelby" in DS9: "You Are Cordially Invited", Ronald D. Moore commented:
- "My intent when I wrote the line was that this was indeed the same Shelby from BOBW. I thought it was a cool reference to throw in for the fans, but I had completely forgotten that John Ordover and Co. had very specifically and very politely asked us if we had any intention of ever using this character again and we (including me) had said, "No way – do what you want with her." This very salient fact was pointed out to me after the show had aired and I had a rather sheepish conversation with Paula Block over in licensing and with John via e-mail explaining what had happened. Since I only used Shelby's last name in the episode, you're free to look at this either way – it's really her or it's someone else with the same last name (it's a big fleet, after all)." (AOL chat, 1997)
Peter David later wrote passages into a New Frontier novel explaining that there were two unrelated Shelbys in Starfleet.
External links
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