Acel'a was born, Elizabeth Rand in Jersey City, New Jersey, to Edward and Barbara Rand, in Earth's 20th Century. Shortly thereafter, they moved to a town named River Vale. Elizabeth had 5 other siblings, Scott, Kim, Donna and Patrick, each approximately 5-6 years apart, with Elizabeth being the oldest. Elizabeth stayed in River Vale for about 24 years, when she moved to Chicago and soon began working for the national passenger rail service, Amtrak, until one fateful day, when she was transformed, through an infusion, initiated by an unknown species, called Thalaxians.
That day started out normally, with Ms Rand, now aged 34, beginning her day at Union Station in downtown Chicago. Everything went smoothly, until about 3:30 pm, when, as Rand's Acela Express trainset was heading east, a large, cloaked, Thalaxian "science vessel" settled into a geosynchonous orbit, undetected by the world's atmospheric sensor systems. The vessel, settled over Chicago, and seemed to follow Ra'u's train, which was at the time, heading to the city of New York. Elizabeth had no idea what was about to transpire.
Suddenly, an enormous, intense blue bolt of energy, streaked downward and struck the power car's raised pantograph, as it glided along the cantenary wire. The bolt traveled down the pantograph, through the power car's roof and straight to the top of Elizabeth's head! The sheer force of the beam's impact, stunned Ra'u, causing her to release the train's "throttle" lever. The beam settled, formed a small "vortex", then retreated back up, through the pantograph, up to the vessel. The retreating beam left something behind - a miniature, bright red, retracted pantograph, exactly like the one on the power car! Not only that, Rand had grown a foot taller! She was now 6'6", instead of 5'6".
When Elizabeth came to, a tall, blue-skinned, robed man stood across from her, in the power car's cab, startling her. The man identified himself as Zo'lan of Thalax and proceeded to explain his presence and what was done to her. He then gave her a transparent container, carrying an isolinear chip. This contained all the information need to confirm what had been done to Elizabeth.
This infusion, which was a type of DNA transfer/blending is what triggered the appearance of the miniature pantograph. That was the byproduct of the "source-beam" passing through the power car's pantograph, which acted as the beam's conductor/conduit. As a result of the DNA's infusion, Elizabeth now had many of the same attributes of the Thalaxian race. the only two major differences were retention of original skin/hair/eye color and the "addition" of the pantograph, which also consisted of living tissue, despite it looking and feeling like a pantograph. One of the attributes acquired was an extended lifespan - aging one Thalaxian year, for every one HUNDRED Earth years.
Another "change" was that, upon infusion, the individual takes on a name, denoting the outward sign of the infusion. Elizabeth was given the single name, "Acel'a", for the pantograph was part of the Acela Express train set's power car! The family, friends and co-workers had to address her by that new name. As Acel'a discovered the full potential of her abilities, some of which manifested, only when she raised her pantograph, by her will. Acel'a began to explore new possibilities, such as becoming a peace officer, or act independently, yet within the parameters of State and Federal Law. By the time Starfleet was formed, Acel'a was already centuries old, yet appeared to be in her early 20s. She still hesitated to join as she felt there was more to do.
Finally, one year, after a particularly uneventful year, Acel'a, became restless and disillusioned with life as a enforcement officer. She had thought about Starfleet Academy, and subsequently, Acel'a applied for and was accepted to the Academy, majoring in Ship and Planetary Security. Her Academy years were a challenge, both to Acel'a and the staff, for whenever she raised her pantograph, she would become as fast and powerful as the high-speed train she used to operate! Acel'a eventually graduated with a grade point average equivalent of 3.5. Upon graduation, Acel'a was assigned to a small, Streamrunner-class vessel, until she received transfer orders to her new assignment.
Notes: Acel'a is NOT immortal, despite her special abilities. She still needs to raise her pantograph to use them. One way to prevent access to special abilities, is to physically restrict the raising of her pantograph. Plus, Acel'a can be hurt, just like anyone else, but she is able to "heal", by auto-regenerating her pantograph, if damaged or destroyed, or through modified regenerators "tuned" to her pantograph's "DNA".
