Kimberly was born on her parents Java Class Freighter, the 'Unknown Express'. She was born early, and unfortunately, there were complications during the delivery which resulted in her mother passing away. The Express did not have a qualified doctor onboard at the time, and though a distress call had been sent out, by the time help arrived it was too late. The complications also caused a small amount of brain damage to Kimberly due to oxygen deprivation at birth, though this went unnoticed at the time.

Over the next year, Kimberly's father became more erratic, the shock of loosing his beloved wife of over 40 years had taken a toll on him, and the day to day running of the family owned freighter fell more on Jack, Kimberly's older brother, who was already 18. Just before Kimberly's 1st birthday, her father died in a freak transporter accident. A micro quantum fissure impacted the transporter emitter array just as he was being beamed to a starbase. Patrick Burton's transporter signature was scrambled so badly the operator at the receiving end had no idea what had just beamed in, as it had spread itself all around the transporter bay.

Jack took over the running of the Express, and the raising of Kimberly. By the time she was four, he was married himself, and had his own wife and child onboard. As Kimberly was growing up though, Jack began to notice there was a problem. At times she would just sit and stare, completely unresponsive, or uncaring as to her surroundings, and yet at other times she would raise merry hell, screaming, yelling and attacking anyone in sight. The Express had a full time doctor on board now, so Jack had him check Kimberly. It was then the damage done at birth was finally discovered. The doctor, not a Federation citizen, suggested several options to Jack, one of these was genetic resequencing. Though Federation law allows for birth defects to be corrected, usually it is only allowed under circumstances where the condition being repaired would be life threatening. The doctor informed Jack he could petition for resequencing, but would likely be refused as Kimberly was in no immediate danger. After thinking it over, Jack decided to go outside of the Federation for help. Though he didn't know if he would be refused or not, he didn't want to take the chance. He sought out a planet with less stringent laws than the Federation, and the capability to do what he needed, and arranged for a cargo to give him a reason to go there.

3 months later he returned to Federation space, with Kimberly now a normal healthy four year old. He didn't want to give her advantages too above and beyond a normal human, so he had the doctors repair the damage done at birth, and increase her capabilities slightly. Hand/eye co-ordination were increased slightly, as was memory and recall. Nothing too above normal, but Jack wanted to give her the capabilities he felt she was deprived of at birth. Kimberly is unaware of this, all she remembers is she was sick, and saw doctors when she was young. She still has no idea what happened, and the only people who know are Jack and his wife (Gracie). Since then, Kimberly has grown up much as any other spacer's brat. Attending school via subspace, crawling about access tubes, playing with equipment she shouldn't and generally having fun on a freighter as only a child can.

When Kimberly was 15, she announced her desire to join Starfleet. Travelling on the Express and seeing so many different places and peoples, she couldn't imagine any other life, and she saw Starfleet as a great way to carry on doing just that. Jack and Gracie were more than happy at her career choice, and helped her as much as they could. She applied and took the various entry exams, and was accepted. She started at the Academy late in 2372.

Kimberly enjoyed the Academy immensely. A cheerful and sociable person, she got on well with many people there. She made many friends, especially due to Jacks parting gift. While she was taking her entrance exams. Jack purchased a fairly new Aeroshuttle from Starfleet. A non classified design, similar to the type carried by the Intrepid class starship. He then had his engineering crew work on it to install a few extras on it. Including a warp drive. This was Kimberly's going away present. She is a qualified small vessel pilot, and was ecstatic at the present, as it gave her the freedom she has always enjoyed to go places. (The Shuttle is named the KittyKat, after the pet she always wanted, but never really got because she didn't want to keep a cat on the Express)

While at the Academy, Kimberly spent a lot of time chatting and talking to just about anyone, enjoying learning about their homes and their people. It was then that one of her student advisors asked her what she wanted to do in Starfleet. Kimberly had originally put on her application she was interested in Engineering or Operations, but had not committed to either path as she just wasn't sure. Her student advisor sat her down one day and talked to her about counselling. Her aptitude with engineering and shipboard operations were good, but the advisor felt she should at least explore this option. Her open personality and cheerful nature would both be an asset to a counsellor. After a couple of weeks of debating, and looking into what was required of a counsellor, Kimberly applied for a counselling training, and was accepted on her advisors recommendation.

During her time at the Academy, Kimberly watched the Klingon and Dominion conflicts escalate, but both seemed remote to her as Earth was never really in any danger. She focused on her studies, and learned all she could, wanting to do he duties as best she could. While many cadets were accelerated through the academy, and out into the field, medical and counselling cadets weren't rushed out. This was mainly because those professions are not the sort of duties that training can be rushed for. So Kimberly was not placed on the front at all. During her training, there were a couple of notable events though.

The first occurred when Kimberly and a couple of friends took the KittyKat out to study the effect a micro singularity was going to have as it passed through a small class 3 nebulae. Although the effects of such a passage are well documented, Kimberly requested permission to undertake a field study to gather first hand data. Her tutors gave their permission and Kimberly and two friends were given leave to perform their observations for a week. The problem arose during their third day, when the micro singularity suddenly decayed and created a local rupture in subspace. Normally this would not have been an issue for the KittyKat, but the energy release reacted with a previously uncharted pocket of Dark Matter in the nebula. What happened next various departments in Starfleet are still trying to analyze. The KittyKat suddenly found itself literally stuck in the mud, as it nose-dived (fortunately, very slowly), into a swamp. The three extracted the KittyKat, and tried to call for help, but soon realized they had not only been thrown through space, but also through time.

They were in 1969, Earth, Upstate New York, and Woodstock was starting in a week. Unable to scuttle the KittyKat (and Kimberly was unwilling to as well), and due to the current political climate between the USA & the USSR, they were unprepared to fly the ship into orbit, they landed it in the deepest part of the swamp, and used to transporters to enter and exit the ship. Following the Temporal Prime Directive, Kimberly devised a means of signalling the future. She buried a communications unit, power cells & micro computer [complete with auto destruct unit in case it was discovered] beneath a monument they knew would remain undisturbed until their own time and then they sat back, mingled with the crowds of Woodstock, enjoyed the show and waited to be picked up. The message was received in their own time, and a Starfleet Timeship (USS Thucydides) was dispatched to pick them up. The timeship arrived after they had been stranded for about a month, and both the cadets and the KittyKat were successfully recovered. Kimberly and her friends received a notation in their service jackets from Starfleet and the DTI for their actions and were returned to their class a day earlier than originally expected.

The next notable event of her cadet years occurred when the Breen attacked Earth. Kimberly, and over two dozen officer and cadets were beamed up to one of the Breen ships while they were bombarding Earth. They were immediately tagged with Dominion transporter transponders, and were beamed away by a Dominion vessel over two light years away. They were beamed from ship to ship, being transported two to three light years at a time, until they were unceremoniously dumped in the brig on a Galor class vessel on the Cardassian border. Each of the kidnapped officers were given the typical Cardassian prison treatment. Stripped, scanned, a little dental work, then shoved in a small cell to await a dominion interrogator.

The Vorta in charge interrogated all the prisoners personally. It only took him a little while to realise Kimberly was only a cadet, and really of no use whatsoever to him. However, he decided to put her, and those he didn't want or need, on a penal labour camp as they were passing it, on the off chance one day they would be useful. Kimberly and the 8 other prisoners dumped there, spent over six months on the planet, working as labour for a Cardassian mining operation with their other prisoners. During that time, Kimberly refused to admit that there was no hope. Each day, she'd start out by looking at the sky & say to her fellow prisoners that someone would be here soon to get them. To some, it became a source of irritation, especially since some of them had been there a couple of years. But to others, it was a small piece of hope, and each day someone different would agree with her. The conditions at the camp were, to put it mildly, atrocious, but somehow, Kimberly managed to stay cheerful. She was determined to get out, and one day, no matter how long it took. Go home.

Ironically, it was Jack, Kimberly's older brother who rescued them. When he heard about the attack on Earth, he tried to contact Kimberly, and when he failed, he headed straight for Earth. During the aftermath and confusion, it took Jack a while to realise Kimberly was actually missing, and not just lost in the confusion. Starfleet were aware of the transporter activity, but were unable to follow as it would have taken a fleet action to enter dominion space to rescue the kidnapped officers. Unwilling to leave his little sister in the hands of the Dominion, Jack headed out to contact a few friends. He left on Earth his own family, and any crew or their children who had to remain. What happened next Jack doesn't speak of. He has erased the ships logs, and his crew don't speak about it either. But what Kimberly has pieced together is as follows. Jack took the Express to a shipyard he knew, one outside federation space, and with a slightly unsavoury reputation. There he had some modifications done. Additional weapons, shields, power. He had the unwieldy freighter transformed into a combat vessel. Even with the modifications though, the freighter would still have been overwhelmed by two or three Jem'hadar fighters, but this didn't deter Jack. Once the upgrades were completed, Jack followed the course the Cardassian ship had taken into Cardassian space. How he was not detected Kimberly doesn't know, but she has her suspicions, especially since she noticed a chroniton build-up on the freighters hull.

It was one morning, when everyone was out digging away under the freezing sky, that Jack arrived. He started out by targeting and destroying the orbital comm relays, and then doing the same to any ground based units. While he was levelling the compound, he beamed up any non Cardassian or Jem'hadar life signs, then ran as fast as he could for the Federation lines. Pushing his engines for all they were worth, he screamed a distress call over subspace as he ran like hell at warp 6.9 for the border, two Cardassian ships in hot pursuit. Fortunately, there was a contingent of Klingon Birds of Prey nearby, and they altered course to assist. Seeing the Klingons advancing, the Cardassians halted their pursuit, and the Express made it back to Starbase 357 protected by two Klingon warbirds.

Kimberly was returned to Earth, along with the other rescued Starfleet personnel, while Jack remained behind at Starbase 357 to answer a few questions. Kimberly has never been so proud of anyone as she was of her brother that day, and she told him so before she left. Typically, she calls him now at least once or twice a week, even if only to say hello.

Once she returned to Earth, Kimberly spent more than a month recovering, and on leave. She saw numerous counsellors, including several of her own teachers, and continued to see then right up until she graduated. Once she graduated, she was asked to remain on staff at the Academy to start her counselling internship there. There were numerous cadets who had experienced hardships during the war, those who would be returning would be needing counselling & she was assigned to the campus to begin their healing. Kimberly spent almost two years working on staff at the Academy, and during this time finished her internship and was assigned as a counsellor.

It was also during this time at the Academy that Kimberly started studying basic medicine and Xeno surgery. During her time in the Cardassian prison she had several incidents where a lack of any sort of medical training had prevented her from helping any of the injured prisoners, and several died due to lack of proper care and treatment. To try and ensure she was better prepared in future Kimberly had resolved to study at least basic first aid on her escape, however, once she started learning, she realized just how much there was to learn and so she undertook a course that would require many years, but would giver her (she hoped) some skills that would be of value in similar situations. Over the following years Kimberly has worked slowly toward a full medical doctorate, though she does not know it, her enhanced memory and IQ have been an asset here enabling her to easily retain and recall facts, letting her progress through the theory side of the doctorate with relative ease and speed.

Her next posting was to Jupiter Station, in orbit of the Jovian moon Io. She was posted there as a counsellor and enjoyed the view from the station all the while she was there, she also enjoyed the freedom it gave her to go flying when she wanted. Being on Jupiter station, a posting that had minimal need for an additional counsellor also gave her ample opportunities to continue her studies as well.

The USS Arizona, a Concord class star carrier, was Kimberly’ s fir st starship posting, up until then she had been posted to Sol system duties only, under the guidance of senior counsellors. Her enthusiasm for seeing new places and exploring had never gone away though, and so she made her own way to the Arizona.

Not long after being posted to the Arizona though, the ship was attacked and destroyed by pirates of all things, utilizing a new type of energy dissipater that destabilized the warp core. Having been on board less than two months, Kimberly wasn't even settled, and had her firsthand experience with the dangers the universe has to offer. During the mandatory 'cooling off' period after a ship is lost, she spent most of her time working with the crew to help those who needed someone to talk to.

Kimberly was then assigned to the USS Arizona-A, a Hyperion class starship once she was launched, with many of the officers from the old Arizona, and was pleased when the assignment came with a promotion to Lieutenant (J.G.), and the position of Assistant Chief Counsellor. Almost a year on the new Arizona taught Kimberly a lot, especially when she found herself as the Acting Chief Counsellor when the Chief was injured and unconscious for almost a month. This made her painfully aware that while she might know a lot about counselling she needed to learn more about being a leader. Kimberly continued her studies aboard since leaving the Academy, and was working slowly towards getting her Masters in counselling and completing her medical doctorate, she intended to achieve both sometime in the next few years.

Her time on the Arizona also found her entering her first relationship since the war when she fell in love with the ships Chief Engineer, T'Prala Marquez. The two of them grew close not long after they first met, and were soon living together. Kimberly was surprised when she realized she was in love with T'Prala, not only because she hadn't really been looking for a relationship, but also because she never thought she could feel so passionately about another woman.

It was during this time on the Arizona that a new first officer, Commander Kol, a Klingon, was assigned to the Arizona, and Kimberly received her first official reprimands. Since the Dominion war Kimberly has avoided combat and any combat training with a passion. She has managed to skip phaser and hand-to-hand recertification since the Academy. The new XO, being a Klingon warrior picked up on this when he reviewed the senior staff files and the two had a rather memorable argument about this, with Kimberly citing Starfleet as a peaceful exploration force, and her personal dislike of anything combat related and Kol citing the rules and regs at her. Suffice to say, Kimberly lost, and was not only reprimanded, but ordered to rectify the lack of certification as soon as possible. As of her transfer to the Relentless and subsequently to the Galaxy, she failed to correct this until Commander Kol was assigned to the Galaxy, at which point he saw to it personally that the oversight was corrected, and that it would not be over looked again.

When her transfer orders to the Relentless came through Kimberly was more than upset, she felt like her whole life had just been upended. She and T'Prala had been living happily together for over half a year, she was happy and was just starting to feel like she had gained not just the trust, but the confidence of the crew. The thought of starting over again was daunting, but not as daunting as the thought of leaving T'Prala. She actually considered resigning her commission and signing on as a civilian counsellor so they could remain together, after several long talks though, T'Prala persuaded Kimberly otherwise. Being half Vulcan T'Prala saw the logic in a diversified career, if Kimberly stayed in one place too long, especially at this point in her career, she wouldn't get all the experience she would need. Leaving T'Prala and the Arizona was hard for Kimberly, but she was determined to do her best despite her feelings.

Kimberly’ s posting to the Relentless also came with the added responsibility of a full Lieutenancy and the position of Chief Counsellor. Though she was only aboard for a couple of months she was eager and determined to do her best in her new job. Her transfer to the Relentless also had one extra responsibility with it. En-route to the Relentless she had picked up a distress call from a civilian passenger liner, and after investigating found an apparently abandoned ship. She found one survivor, Sara-Jayne Agathon, the daughter of the Captain who had been stored in Transporter stasis. The ship later disappeared after Kimberly had left to rendezvous with more help, and the disappearance of the ship and its six hundred souls is still on going. Sara-Jayne was for a while Kimberly’s ward, at the request of Sara-Jayne who had no other family and expressed a desire to remain with Kimberly. In 2385 Sara-Jayne applied for and successfully entered Starfleet Academy where she is an engineering cadet.

After a few short months on the Relentless Kimberly requested a six month hiatus to do a full internship at the Medical Academy complex on Thera, this was granted and she travelled to Thera to do the final portion of her Medical Doctorate that she had been working on for several years now since before she graduated. Successfully completing her studies she requested a return to her posting on the Relentless, but was instead informed that she was to assume another duty assignment. As a newly qualified doctor she was informed she was to spend some time practicing her new skills, and that her counselling qualifications would also prove an asset in her new posting.

Never one to turn down an opportunity or a challenge Kimberly was eager and ready for her new assignment. She was well aware that she was a junior doctor, and had expected to be posted to a medical starship or facility somewhere that needed a multi talented officer as Assistant Chief at most. She saw the posting to the Galaxy as an invaluable learning opportunity, there is a large staff on the Galaxy for her to lean on and learn from. The last thing she expected though was to be assigned as Chief Medical Officer, let alone to one of the highest profile ships in the fleet, so she is determined to do her best.

Cheerful and outgoing, Kimberly has been known to strike up a conversation with anyone who will listen to her, she can also be a voracious listener as well as very talkative, and will sit and listen to someone talk for as long as they are prepared to talk. She has been mistaken for an El-Aurian more than once. Since the start of the Triad war though she has become more focussed on her work and somewhat less social, spending more time healing the wounded instead of discovering new life.

Kimberly loves to see new places, meet new people, and go somewhere she hasn't been before. Even if she's been somewhere, she'll still have another look, just in case she missed something the first time.

She prefers to be called Kimberly, or Kimberly Ann, not Kim and definitely not Kimmie. She will correct anyone who shortens her name, she is very fond of her name as it was her mother’s name.

She still has nightmares about her time at the Cardassian labour camp. She keeps in touch with a few people she was trapped there with and they talk occasionally. She still shudders at the thought of being trapped somewhere like that again.

Eyes: Left eye is Sky Blue, Right eye is Jade Green
Hair: Reddish Brown
Religion: Wicca
Family: Father: Patrick Burton (dec. Transporter Accident), Trading Vessel Captain
Mother: Kimberly Burton (dec. Childbirth)
Brother: Jack Burton, Captain, Free Trader 'Unknown Express'
Nephew: Bobby Burton, Ensign, ASDB
Niece: Cynthia Burton.

Qualifications:
Advanced Diploma In Counselling Studies (Academy Certificate – 2376)
Advanced Certificate Xenopsychology (Academy Certificate – 2376)
Advanced Certificate Xenosociology (Academy Certificate – 2376)
Paediatric Counselling (Advanced Course – 2378)
Trauma Therapy (Personal Study – 2379)
General Medicine (Xenosurgery & Field Trauma)
Field Study and Training since Graduation (Academy/Io/USS Arizona/USS Relentless/Final Internship at Thera Medical Academy – 2382 )

Kimberly has no pets, though she has always wanted a cat. However, she doesn't want to keep a cat on a starship where it cannot wander around as it wants to. She's been bugging an engineer she met at the Academy to build her an artificial cat for years, one that will mimic a real cat. She knows he'll relent one day.

Kimberly also has her own shuttle, The KittyKat. Originally an Aeroshuttle designed for the Intrepid class starship, it was purchased by her older brother Jack for her. Jack had it retrofitted with warp engines & basically has made it into a medium range warp shuttle. It has many similarities with a standard runabout. Though it isn't armed, it's shields have been modified so they provide better protection, but it lacks weapons and the versatility of a runabout, though it is slightly faster and has a better range. Kimberly also has an old Earth Harley Davidson. She has replaced its engine with something a little more environmentally friendly, but still has the old engine. She enjoys taking it out when she's on a planet with roads.