Benedict "Max" Maxwell was born on 11 September, 2351 to proud parents Gloria Benoit-Maxwell, a Starfleet Commander and Instructor at Starfleet Medical and Horatio Maxwell, an Envoy with the Federation Diplomatic Corps. He is preceded by his older sister by 8 years, Lucinda Benoit.
Max did not have a charmed childhood. His parents were divorced by the time he was 5, which led to shared custody with his summers spent with his mother in San Francisco and the rest of the school year with his father in New York. He frequently got himself into some troublesome situations due to his ADHD (Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder). He did show signs of being a great student and thinker in his school years, but preferred to spend his time daydreaming of traveling the stars and originally harbored a dream of serving on a starship in the Federation's Starfleet.
Everything changed at the beginning of his senior terms in High School. He was critically injured in a shuttlecraft accident coming back to NY after a visit from to his mother. Flight Paramedics arrived quickly, removed him from the shuttlecraft and saved his shattered legs as well as his life. He was so thankful and awed at what these medical warriors could do that he decided that he wanted to become a Paramedic and make a difference in people's health.
On graduation day from high school, he was treated to a sight that he longed for throughout his adolescence: His mother and father standing side by side holding hands and smiling, proud of their little boy who has grown up. His older sister was also present, showing no emotion and saying nothing. Max and Lucinda rarely spoke to one another. Lucinda always blamed Max for their parents getting divorced on account of his ADHD making him a strain on the family. Max nodded to his sister, already an Ensign in Starfleet as a Registered nurse in the Medical Corps.
Max entered The School of Paramedicine at the Allied Health institute and excelled in the program, earning his Associates Degree and graduating 5th in a class of 94. While at a local pub celebrating with his classmates, a young woman named Darla sitting alone nursing a drink caught his attention. He struck up a conversation which led to them spending the next week together in Venice, Italy. Upon their return, they were married.
Working as a Paramedic on Earth in New York was satisfying for Benedict Maxwell. He was very happy with his new wife, a great job and glad to be in New York. But soon thereafter in the mid winter of 2371 his wife, Darla DiSalvo, greeted him with a surprise upon his return from a long night at work. She held up his spare medical tricorder which showed readings that made his eyes widen and the biggest cheshire cat grin cross his face: He was going to be a father. 8 months later, Connor Disalvo-Maxwell was born a healthy baby boy.
Towards the end of 2371, Max went back to school to complete his bachelor's degree in Advanced Paramedicine and complete his pre-med requirements. He had decided (grudgingly after an argument with his mother during the summer before Connor was born) to go to medical school. His mother also wanted him to join Starfleet, to which Darla was adamantly against, citing how she barely saw her husband as it were because of his work schedule.
The next few years were quite turbulent in the marriage, with Darla becoming discontent with the lack of attention and Max's continued long absences from home, balancing work and school. Max even took a year off to try and work on the marriage. When Maxi finished his bachelor's in 2375 (finishing a lowly 55th in a class of 71), he came home one day to an empty house and found that his wife and son had left. Darla left a holomessage on the household messaging system that she was going to her mother's on Mars Colony for a while to "think things through". A week later, he received the inevitable and what he dreaded: divorce papers. The divorce was quick, but devastatingly painful for Max. Darla wanted no contact between Max and Connor as to not damage the child's psyche due to Max's prolonged absences and lack of quality time between them.
Devastated, Max threw himself into two things: concentrating on medical school, which had begun by this point, and trying not to get thrown out of bars while getting hammered on a weekly basis.
By the end of the first term of medical school, Max had had enough. He needed to get off Earth. He withdrew from medical school (to the shock and resultant fury of his mother), and signed up for a Medics-Without-Borders program which deployed Paramedics and other medical providers to areas of the known galaxy which needed medical assistance.
3 Years later, filled with some new found resolve, Benedict Maxwell Enlisted in Starfleet and attended the fast tracked Medical Equivalency Training Program, which acknowledges those who have had advanced training/education as well as experience prior to enlistment. This also granted Max with a fast track promotion to Petty Officer 3rd Class, which was standard for enlistees who had a minimum of a baccalaureate education.
November 9th, 2349 saw "Max" Maxwell assigned as a Medical Technician on board the Medical Vessel U.S.S. Nobel, where he performed as well as he could, providing medical aid to combatants and refugees as well as physical exams.
Not satisfied with simply staying in the background waiting for the sick and injured to come to him, in 2382 Max applied for a transfer to the U.S.S. Miranda, whose reputation had intrigued him. His supervisor, Dr. Lander Urleich, told him that there was only a position for a Petty Officer 2nd Class on board the Miranda. Feeling defeated, Max simply nodded. But the good doctor wasn't done with him yet. He leaned over, opened his left hand, and presented Max with his new stripes.
One week later, Petty Officer 2nd Class Benedict "Max" Maxwell was on his way to his new home: The U.S.S. Miranda, where he created a new unit called the Emergency Medical Response Unit, which was a dedicated team of responders that would enter “hot zones” and provide advanced field-level medical care and treatment.
In 2384, Benedict was transferred to the USS Galaxy to establish its emergency medical response unit.
Family:
Commander Gloria Benoit-Maxwell, MD (mother),
Envoy Horatio Maxwell, Federation Diplomatic Corps (father),
Lieutenant j.g. Lucinda Benoit, RN (sister - Deceased),
Connor DiSalvo (son, lives with Max's ex-wife), Darla DiSalvo (ex-wife)
Max often longs to see his son, but agreed not to disrupt Connor's life anymore. It is a source of great frustration with him, and not a subject he really wishes to discuss with many people.
Has a tattoo of the Earth Star of Life on the back of his right shoulder.
