Carol Freeman
Captain Carol Freeman was a female Human Starfleet officer who lived during the 2380s, and served as the commanding officer of the , which specialized in second contact missions.

Starfleet career

Pre-Cerritos
In her early days as an officer, Freeman was close friends with William T. Riker, and often got into trouble with him. Before commanding the Cerritos, she served aboard the  with a Tellarite named . ()

USS Cerritos

2380
During a second contact mission on Galardonian homeworld Galardon, Freeman appointed Ensign Brad Boimler to monitor Ensign Beckett Mariner and report any breach of protocol. Boimler accepted the assignment. Freeman told Boimler to keep this assignment secret and dismissed him. During the away mission, the Cerritos became infected by a rage virus brought back by Commander Jack Ransom, who was bitten by a Galardonian insect. This quickly resulted in an outbreak that consumed much of the ship. Freeman became infected during the struggle but was soon cured after Dr. T'Ana synthesize a cure from some slime that Boimler was covered in after being suckled by a Galardonian spider cow.

Freeman met up with Boimler again in her ready room, and when she asked about Mariner's behavior on the mission, he reported that Mariner did not breach protocol. Freeman doubted his claims, and Boimler simply blamed the slime for having an effect on his memory. Frustrated, Freeman dismissed him, and then put in a call to Starfleet, and was answered by her admiral husband. She told him that she was fed up with Mariner's behavior and wanted her transferred back to the , but before she could say anymore, the admiral tried to excuse himself. ()

On Stardate 57501.4, the Cerritos was on a mission to Cardassia Prime, only to be informed by Starfleet that the mission had been scrapped. The Cerritos was instead ordered to Gelrak V to deliver "diplomatic trinkets" to the inhabitants. This angered Freeman and believed Starfleet did not take her ship and crew seriously because they don't do enough to get their respect. Freeman started scolding every crew member she saw not working. After learning about buffer time trough Boimler, she assigned her crew on strict deadlines. In about a week, the crew became overworked and stressed due to the deadlines and lack of buffer time. Freeman even started following the deadlines, which was taking a toll on her as well. She eventually found herself running the whole bridge by herself.

Things got worse when the Gelrakians started attacking the Cerritos when the away team insulted them with the wrong gift. Despite the attack on her ship, Freeman still had her crew continue their tasks as Gelrakian boarding parties consumed the ship. Freeman eventually came to her senses when Boimler urged her to terminate the deadlines and give the crew back their buffer time. She was at first unsure, but Boimler argued that buffer time gave them time to do their jobs properly. He told Freeman that she was a great captain, and asked for her to let crew be a great crew. Inspired by his words, Freeman immediately terminated the deadlines and order the crew to do whatever they needed to take back the Cerritos. With buffer time back, the crew was able to fight back against the Gelrakians.

Later on, Freeman commended Boimler for opening her eyes and revealed that they were instituting a new ship-wide mandate known as the Boimler Effect, which encouraged shortcuts and preventing people from just blindly following the rules, and that the crew would be able to build in buffer time when they desire. She even had the rule carved into a plaque. ()

During a salvage mission of a generation ship, Freeman became fed up with Mariner's antics, especially after she disrespected her in front of Captain Durango. Commander Ransom suggested assigning her to all the worst jobs on the Cerritos to potentially influence Mariner to request a transfer off the ship. However, the plan backfires when Mariner found ways to enjoy her tasks, despite their odious nature. Seeing that assigning her to worse jobs would not work, Freeman came up with an idea that would certainly work. She knew Mariner hated moving up in rank, so she took advantage of this by promoting her two ranks to lieutenant and making her miserable by constantly calling her to multiple trivial tasks. Freeman offered to find Mariner another post on a different ship if she felt like she did not fit in.

At some point, the generation ship suffered a hull breach when the  moved position without realizing that the position was affecting the strength of the tractor beam. A molecular fluid that generates life leaked from the ship and drawn into the tractor beams. The fluid consumed both ships, terraforming their exterior and interiors. Freeman and Mariner worked together to get to the ship's environmental controls where Mariner was able to neutralizing the terraforming effect by venting the affected areas with Parizene gas. The Cerritos was saved, but the Merced had suffered beyond repair. So, Freeman and Mariner transported the crew directly into the stasis chamber aboard the generation ship.

Freeman commended on her daughter's performance and expressed that she was happy that they were able to work together. She hoped they could continue working together as mother and daughter, but after Mariner disrespected her again in front of Admiral Vassery while being awarded medals, Freeman demoted her back to ensign. ()

On a mission to Mixtus III to assist the  in a controlled demolition of the planet’s moon, Freeman was tasked with negotiating with the planet's inhabitants and bringing them to agreement to allow the moon to be destroyed, as it was on a trajectory to fall into their atmosphere and cause a catastrophic planetwide event. They had mostly selfish individual reasons for blocking the demolition, and Freeman was able to come to agreements with most of the factions to allow the demolition by offering alternative arrangements, technology and compensations. There was only one delegate that was holding out. He was from the neighboring planet Mixtus II, and Freeman tried to accommodate him as best as she could, with much thought and consideration. However, when it was revealed that he and his wife were the only two people on the planet and that they were trying to throw their weight around because of their wealth, Freeman immediately, calmly and deliberately ordered the moon imploded. ()

The Cerritos was involved in a standoff with Drookmani salvagers intent on scavenging older Federation equipment from a salvage yard and Freeman was trying a diplomatic approach with the Drookmani captain to prevent them from obtaining it as some of it was still sensitive technology. While she went back and forth with him, she tried to show restraint and calm as far as she could and insisted on trying to negotiate with the Drookmani captain, despite showing visible frustration. Unbeknownst to her, the lower deckers had accidentally disabled the ship's defenses, and when it came time for Freeman to show some force, she found the shields and phasers were not operational at a critical moment. In the end, the Lower Deckers disabled the Drookmani ship unintentionally, as they were dealing with their own crisis at the time. ()

On Stardate 57818.4, the Cerritos rendezvoused with a Clicket ship which delivered Freeman after she had obtained from them a map of the Romulan Neutral Zone. The two ships then exchanged brief phaser fire after Freeman showed gratitude for their help, as Clickets interpreted gratitude as hostility. The whole incident was part of an overall rescue mission to recover Imperium Magistrate Clar, an official from K'Tuevon Prime, from Romulan captivity. The mission resulted in Clar holding a thank-you party masquerading as a trial, where the events of his rescue were recounted. After the 'party', Freeman caught some flak from the crew for allowing the masquerade to happen as it did without their knowledge, as they assumed it was a real trial. They wanted the senior bridge crew to be more open to keeping them informed for future missions. Freeman initially agreed but then was evasive when they questioned other aspects of the Clar rescue mission. ()

Freeman, at one point, had to interfere in her daughter's attempt to ‘liberate’ an oppressed species on a planet where they were being routinely bred and eaten by a more dominant species. Though Mariner saw it as correcting an injustice and expected praise from her mother, Freeman instead had to try and repair the misunderstanding, stating that Starfleet had no right to interfere in their planet's politics. Freeman tried to remind her daughter of certain rules and regulations and declared her daughter a ‘loose cannon’. Mariner had expected to be thrown in the brig for her actions, but instead Freeman told her she was sending her to therapy with the ship's counselor Migleemo. After an unproductive first meeting with the doctor, Mariner instead turned her therapy into a holonovel based on the crew's logs and dealt with her feelings about her mother that way. When it ended, Mariner realized her mother was actually an important force in her life and was protecting her as best she could, not just from Starfleet but from herself. Mariner met Freeman in a corridor and apologized for the incident on the planet. This caused Freeman to ask Migleemo at her own next therapy session what Mariner told her, which of course he couldn’t disclose, but it made her no less suspicious of her daughter's motives. She got so agitated that Migleemo, in his style of using food references, said Freeman was being a 'pineapple', a metaphor for being prickly and difficult to deal with. Freeman wasn't pleased with that, either. ()

Freeman and the Cerritos answered a distress call from the , a new California-class ship under the command of Captain Dayton. The Solvang had been attacked by a Pakled ship while in the Kalla system. Freeman at first dismissed the implied seriousness of the call as she thought that, knowing Dayton, she probably had overreacted to a minor systems problem, but when they arrived at the Solvangs location, they found the ship destroyed and Dayton and her whole crew killed. The Pakleds then began attacking the Cerritos, incapacitating Freeman and the rest of the bridge crew. With the Cerritos outmatched and herself seriously injured and out of other options, Freeman allowed Mariner, Boimler and Samanthan Rutherford to find a solution to stop the Pakled attack. While doing this, Pakled boarding parties had begun to hack the ship apart and attack the crew. Freeman joined her daughter and others in hand-to-hand combat but was knocked almost unconscious by one of the Pakleds. Lt. Shaxs rushed Freeman to sick bay with a worried Mariner behind them. The Pakled ship was eventually destroyed, and their threat neutralized with the help of a late-arriving Riker and his ship, the . Freeman eventually made a full recovery and was able to oversee repairs to her Cerritos. ()

The Battle of the Kalla System showed Freeman and Mariner's mutual disdain for one of Starfleet's secrets: the organization's inability to maintain relationships with legacy civilizations and allowing threats to materialize from sources they thought they could ignore. It caused both mother and daughter to agree to work together ‘under the table’ to get things done where Starfleet might not approve so easily, as Mariner was already good at doing that. The event also raised Freeman's profile among 'important people' as her admiral husband put it, amplifying her hopes of finally being recognized for her accomplishments and advancing her career. ()

2381

Eight months after the Battle of the Kalla System, Freeman and Mariner had been working together doing side missions where Mariner had her mom’s approval to do things Starfleet might not approve of but which they both thought were necessary to their second contact missions. Freeman thought she was starting to give her daughter too much freedom and wanted to find a way to reel her back in without regressing their relationship to their old animosity. During a second contact mission to Apergos, Mariner’s side mission inadvertently triggered an ancient device on the planet that gave Ransom supernatural powers. Ransom began to attack the Cerritos in orbit, confessing that the reason for it was his displeasure at being unofficially displaced from the command structure by Mariner and their arrangement. He also said he knew that both Mom and Daughter disliked the arrangement secretly. In response, both confessed to wanting out of it, feeling like it was more difficult to work together than they thought. Freeman and Mariner's efforts managed to pacify and subdue Ransom, who returned to normal. Freeman apologized to a recovering Jack and promised to start taking him more seriously as her XO. In addition, Freeman and Mariner agreed to start doing only some side missions together, apparently realizing that a less structured approach to their arrangement would be better for them both. ()

During a mission to Frylon IV to investigate the sighting of a Mugato and deal with Ferengi Gumato poachers, Freeman got involved in a scam run by an alien named  who destroyed his ships and then blamed it on Starfleet. Since Freeman had inadvertently destroyed his shuttle with the Cerritos' tractor beam, she tried to show her ability to make amends and live up to Starfleet ideals by taking responsibility. She gave Hyde one of the Cerritos’ shuttlecraft but was also conned into giving him all of the belongings in her ready room. Annoyed, Freeman agreed to the deal. Then, during a call with her admiral husband, he told her of the scam that Hyde was running in that area, and Freeman tried not to look like she had just fallen for it. Before Hyde could escape, Freeman caught him with a tractor beam and gave him a choice: Either spend time for his crimes in a Federation prison, or work on the newly established Mugato Preserve on the planet below as penance, now run by the Ferengi for a profit. The last scene shows Hyde about to shovel Mugato dung, to everyone’s satisfaction. () 

While escorting the Doopler ambassador to a starbase for negotiations, Freeman was also hoping to attend a Starfleet Command Party at the same installation with her senior staff. During transit, Freeman accidentally triggered the sensitive ambassador’s natural duplicating ability to the point where the ship was nearly overrun with kvetching Doopler ambassadors, threatening to overwhelm it entirely. Freeman figured out that the way to cause them to 're-dooplercate', or recombine, was to be nasty to them. Having solved that problem, Freeman and her staff went to the party on the starbase, only to be turned away for being California-class officers. Incensed, Freeman tried to force her way into the party by stating to the bouncer that she was proud of her lowly ship and its crew. Although that failed, she, the rest of the senior crew and some other lower deckers did manage to find their way to a local bar that Mariner and Boimler were already at, and it was there that Freeman realized that not getting into the big party didn’t matter; she was now with the people that mattered most to her. Of course, she had also beamed the Doopler ambassador into the Starfleet party in an act of quite understandable pettiness, with predictable results. ()

After completing a mission to a planet devastated by a hundred-year war started by an evil supercomputer named AGIMUS, Freeman then answered a distress call by a ship from her chief engineer Andarithio Billups' homeworld. The ship, the Monaveen, was the royal yacht of Billups’ mother, Queen Paolana. Freeman had been acquainted previously with the Queen and did not think highly of her. Sure enough, Paolana’s ulterior motive in asking the Cerritos for help was to try and get her son to resign from Starfleet, where he wanted to remain, and ascend to the throne of their planet by tricking him into losing his virginity. It was this manipulative situation that confirmed Freeman’s attitude towards Paolana and she became protective of Billups and understanding of his situation. An apparent accident on the Monaveen caused what appeared to be the death of Paolana and it almost got Billups to the throne through their unusual process of ascension. Thanks to the efforts of Rutherford and Tendi, this was exposed as a ruse, and Billups remained the Cerritos’ chief engineer. ()

Freeman and the Cerritos were hosting a Starfleet drill instructor consultant intent on testing the ship’s company through a series of drills and role reversals. Before this, Mariner, Tendi, Boimler and Rutherford had been inadvertently left on a satellite for six hours after an EVA mission while the Cerritos answered a distress call. They were only in their spacesuits and had nearly frozen to death before the Cerritos realized and retrieved them. Mariner was understandably upset with her mother about this and accused her mom of considering the lower deckers ‘expendable’ after this incident. Freeman said she had to make life and death decisions all the time and their status didn’t enter into her thinking. She told Mariner and the others to report to the cargo bay where the drills were being conducted with the rest of the crew.

The drills consisted of each crew member entering a simulator holopod and experiencing different situations and scenarios based on previous Starfleet missions and encounters. Freeman and the rest of the senior bridge crew were sent down to the lower decks to experience their duties while the lower deckers became the bridge crew. Freeman initially thought the lower deckers had it easy and thought they were treating them just fine. That view changed when the bridge crew were put through lower deck scenarios of their own.

Freeman herself appeared (apparently without her knowledge) in one of the scenarios as a simulated holographic version of herself in a compromising sexual position with a simulated holographic Dr. Migleemo.  This particular drill scenario was intended for her daughter Mariner, who failed the test upon seeing the two naked together, in addition to seeing many other simulated friends and crewmates in similar, over-the-top lewd activities. 

During a group drill on the Bridge, Freeman and Mariner started bickering and failed the drill in record time as a result. Freeman had revealed that the drills were publicly viewable, so she saw some of the things Mariner had failed at and was teasing her about it. In fact, it turned out that all the drills were rigged so that all the crew members would fail. When Freeman and Mariner found this out, they confronted the instructor, a Pandronian named Shari yn Yem. She told them that it was a plot by her to keep her job, as Starfleet didn’t consider her services essential anymore as more important ships always passed her drills. She thought the Cerritos an easy target since her captain had just left four ensigns to freeze to death.

Freeman and Mariner banded together and showed Shari how tough the ship was and what they dealt with daily, which scared Shari enough to convince her to pass the whole ship and crew. In the process, Boimler was actually the one crewman doing well with his Borg drill simulation and Freeman recognized him directly, calling him one of the best officers on the ship. Freeman also showed she had learned from the experience to better appreciate the lower deckers by giving them one of their better food replicators. Freeman and Mariner also enjoyed the mutual feeling of 'ruining a jerk's career' as they had caused Shari to resign from Starfleet. ()

Freeman and the Cerritos were on a twelve-hour warp to the Kontaran system for a planetary survey. Since this was a largely empty stretch of space, Freeman was able to give the crew some time off to pursue their own interests. She herself spent some mother-daughter time together with Mariner, playing board games and getting things off their chests during phaser target practice on the holodeck. While both of them enjoyed their time together, the trip was cut short by unusual energy readings detected near their warp path. Freeman ordered the Cerritos out of warp to investigate. They found a Pakled ship apparently threatening a Klingon Bird of Prey, but when both ships opened fire on the Cerritos, Freeman realized she had uncovered collusion between them. The Cerritos returned fire but was outmatched by the two alien ships. Fortunately, a Vulcan cruiser, the Sh'vhal, warped in and joined the battle, having detected the same anomalous readings. The Cerritos and the Sh’Val together were able to force the Pakled ship to retreat, but the Klingon ship had left the battle early, causing Freeman to wonder whether or not they even considered it to be their fight. She thanked the Vulcan captain and reported the incident and its implications to Starfleet. ()

When the Cerritos was recalled to starbase to rendezvous with the  to assist in a first contact mission by the latter, Freeman was reunited with both her admiral husband and her old friend, the Archimedes captain, Sonya Gomez. Freeman was briefed on the mission and also was surprised by her husband with news of a long-awaited pending promotion. After both the Archimedes and Cerritos had left for the Laap system for the mission, it was revealed that Mariner had accidentally learned of her mother's promotion and had told the senior bridge crew, who showed their displeasure at not being informed. When Freeman told them that the promotion wasn’t yet official, she also told them that she would not be able to take any of them with her, which upset them further. Freeman was visibly upset with Mariner, who had told the bridge crew to try and sabotage her mother's promotion because she secretly didn’t want her to leave the Cerritos.

At that moment, the Archimedes was disabled by an exploding planetoid nearby and was sent hurtling towards Lapeeria, the planet scheduled for first contact. The circumstances did not allow for normal procedures for the Cerritos to rescue the Archimedes, and when options on the bridge were exhausted, Freeman turned to Mariner, hoping to repeat the success at the Battle of the Kalla System and find a rule-breaking option. This time, however, her daughter was at a loss. Freeman threw up her hands in disgust, and headed for her Captain's yacht, thinking she would have to rescue the ship herself. Mariner followed and a discussion ensued with Freeman telling her daughter she needed to start becoming more trusting of people. Their argument was interrupted by Tendi and Rutherford, who emerged from hiding in the yacht to offer an unusual solution that would involve removing the ship's hull panels but they needed to accomplish this in less than a day. Freeman discussed the unorthodox idea with Rutherford and the others and accepted it immediately. After Billups confirmed to Freeman that the plan had a great chance of succeeding, she set the whole ship to work removing the outer hull panels and rigging the ship's interior for the dangerous run through the asteroid field towards the stricken Archimedes.

During this process, Freeman and Mariner had another argument where Mariner told Freeman she was glad she was leaving and never wanted to work with her again, which saddened her mother. Fortunately, they were able to apologize to each other and make up, with Freeman admitting she had been a jerk to her daughter. Under Freeman's charge, the Cerritos' crew successfully navigated the asteroid field and rescued the Archimedes, preventing the ship from crashing into Lapeeria, and without a single loss of life.

After the rescue, a recovering Captain Gomez offered Freeman the opportunity to finish the First Contact mission in her stead. Freeman accepted, and although nervous, successfully opened Lapeeria to the Federation, with the help of their hosts' custom of drinking to excess when welcoming new visitors. Mariner was by her side and showed her confidence and pride in her mother's recent accomplishments.

An intoxicated Freeman then informed the Cerritos crew that she was turning down the promotion to remain on the ship as Captain. She said she had finally learned that it was her home, and her place was there, with her crew. This celebration was cut short by news that a Starfleet delegation was coming aboard. While Freeman and her staff greeted them with the news that she was turning down the promotion and wanted to stay, they immediately put handcuffs on her and told her she was under arrest for collaborating with Klingon extremists in the destruction of Pakled Planet. Freeman and the others protested, but she did not resist arrest and told them not to tell the rest of the crew. She spoke too soon, as the rest of the crew, anticipating she had changed her mind about leaving, had lined up for her departure, and were surprised and dismayed when they instead saw Freeman being led away in handcuffs, and the ship with her aboard warping away. ()

2382

Several months later, Freeman had been facing a military tribunal for allegedly conspiring to blow up Pakled Planet. Some of the evidence presented against her included video footage of her in a cloak, handling the Varuvian bomb. Mariner, Tendi, Rutherford and Boimler decided to mount their own rescue mission to free and exonerate Freeman. They stole the Cerritos from its spacedock impound and took it to Earth, where they were stopped by Starfleet Security. While trying to evade security, Freeman, her husband Alonzo Freeman and the rest of the senior crew suddenly appeared on the Cerritos. Freeman stated she was there because the trial was over, and the result was that she was found not guilty. The Pakleds were found to have framed her through an elaborate scheme to blow up their own planet to force the Federation into helping them relocate to a more resource-rich planet, and it was determined with the help of Morgan Bateson and Tuvok that they had blown up their own planet themselves. Carol credited Starfleet for making the right decision and both she and her husband reminded Beckett about 'trusting in the system'. Freeman again took command of the Cerritos where she, Beckett and Alonzo appeared for the first time as a family and discussed Beckett's future in Starfleet, particularly after she had just stolen a Federation starship. While acknowledging her daughter's good intentions, Carol lamented the fact that she and her husband had covered for their daughter and excused her behavior for long enough. Carol told Beckett she still loved her and recognized her immense potential but also said that, as her mother, she couldn't be the one that made the final decision on whether or not her daughter remained in Starfleet because Beckett didn't see her parents as authority figures. Alonzo agreed, and both parents decided to give Beckett one last chance to decide if she really wanted to remain in Starfleet. Carol elected to give her first officer Ransom the job of overseeing and evaluating Beckett's conduct and behavior and he would decide her future in Starfleet. ()

While being 'hunted' aboard the Cerritos by the Kromsapiod K'ranch, Boimler ran into Freeman, and begged her to stop the hunt. Initially, she contacted security to stop it, but when she found out it was K'ranch that was hunting him, she allowed it to continue. Carol remarked, fondly and with a little thrill in her voice, that earlier in the day she had shared a 'lovely brunch' with K'ranch, noting that he was 'quite the charmer', and even had shared Mimosas with him (which he thanked her for). It was at that brunch that she learned of his species' customs and was glad that he had found someone to participate in his Venarix hunt. She reminded Boimler of his duty to respect other cultures and also about keeping his word. ()

On a mission to Jengus IV with the  to determine why Federation scientists were being turned to  statues by the indigenous Scrubble, a silicon-based race, Freeman and the Carlsbads Captain Maier were tasked with relocating the science outpost and finalizing a peace treaty between the two parties. Freeman, in a small bout of California-class competitiveness, was eager to impress the crew of the Carlsbad. At the same time, Tendi was assigned to be Freeman's trainee for the day as part of her own science officer training. Dr. Migleemo had advised Tendi to learn to stand up to Freeman and her starship captain ego. While waiting for the Scrubble delegation to arrive on the Cerritos to finalize the peace treaty between them and the Federation scientists, Freeman met with Captain Maier, a bold, fresh faced young man who made the mistake of calling Freeman's negotiating tactics 'old school'. The Scrubble delegate attempted to give Freeman a token of their appreciation, a sacred Scrubble totem, which was a small pyramid-shaped rock. Freeman, annoyed by Maier's comment, tried to pawn it off on him for his collection, but he refused it, citing Freeman being the senior captain. In reality, neither wanted it, so tension ensued. Tendi scanned the rock at Freeman's request, and said she was getting unusual readings from it, but Freeman and Maier were too busy arguing to notice. The Scrubble threatened not to sign the treaty if their rock was not accepted. While trying to get Freeman's attention in the confusion, Tendi smashed the rock, exposing a spy device and a plot of collusion between the scientists and the Scrubble to learn Federation secrets and sell them. In Freeman's words, the scientists wanted to purchase better equipment and the Scrubble wanted more rocks, which baffled her. Maier later apologized to Freeman, who said she was impressed with his ship's performance. Freeman gave Maier a neutralized piece of the rock for his collection, noting that she had kept the larger section for herself. ()

While being accidentally possessed by the spirit of Minooki and flying around the ship wearing a Masaka mask, Freeman transformed the Cerritos into their ancient temple several times.  Fearing the ship's engineering crew was being overworked by the job of repairing the damage she caused (or rather, the damage that Minooki caused, she claimed), she arranged for herself and the engineering crew to spend time on the Dove, a Starfleet-affiliated spa and rest therapy ship, for some mandatory rest, relaxation and stress relief therapy. Activities included massages and sand gardens. Freeman and all the engineers were dressed only in short bathrobes and terry slippers for their time on the ship, and also all wore wristbands that indicated their stress levels by color. After a schedule that included a mud bath for her, Freeman discovered the engineers were trying to sneak work on their own little engineering projects during their own activities in which they were supposed to be relaxing. The thought of them still working and not taking part in her relaxation scheme began to frustrate Freeman. During a mani-pedi session, Freeman discovered that the engineers were trying to subvert the activities and they revealed they were only doing it to satisfy Freeman. This made her angry, saying that she thought her crew respected her enough to try her vacation plan. They said they did respect her and that they only didn't want their stress to affect her. When her anger turned to hysteria (to the point where veins were visibly bulging on her forehead and her wristband turned black), the resort staff realized it was her that needed the treatment instead of her crew. She had been repressing months' worth of stress and this was exacerbated by the Minooki possessions, and her stress levels were higher than normal.  The staff took extreme measures and put her in the puppy playpen, expecting their cuteness factor to cure her, but it had no effect. They were going to send Freeman to Starfleet Medical on Earth for more thorough treatment but the engineers didn't want this to take her off the Cerritos. She was ultimately saved by the engineers, who refitted a turbolift into a machine that removed stress.  They stated that it was working on their engineering projects and coming up with solutions to problems that naturally relieved their stress.  They put Freeman in the turbolift, and it quickly de-stressed her to a very happy, renewed woman with normal stress levels. She praised the Cerritos engineers for their efforts to the Dove staff. Freeman's faith in her engineering team was also renewed, and they were all eager to get back to work. ()

Personality

She kept belongings such as models of the Cerritos, an ancient sailing ship, and a Gorn, an encased tattered flag of California, a sword, sextant, a baseball, a fossil, various boxed bottles, a replica of a pineapple and a Samurai helmet in her ready room.

She and her husband often experienced frustration in trying to keep their daughter, Beckett Mariner, in line; a struggle that continued when Mariner was transferred under Freeman's command. Freeman brought in Ensign Brad Boimler to keep close watch on Mariner, without revealing their relationship as mother and daughter, in an effort to transfer Mariner off the ship. ()

It was not unlike Freeman to take any mission she had perhaps a little too seriously, often making things seem more important than they actually were or hoping that Starfleet would give her some accommodation for her efforts. When working with Captain Durango in towing the ancient generation ship, she was so confident in her work that she thought that Starfleet should just put her name in a plaque right then. She also saw her job of planting rulot seeds as volatile in nature, much to the amusement of Captain Amina Ramsey. This behavior often resulted in frustration when she believed Starfleet wouldn't take her ship or her crew seriously. ()

According to Boimler's holographic duplicate of Jack Ransom, Captain Freeman had a notable sweet-tooth, and could be manipulated via cookies, but died before warning of her allergy to chocolate. ()

Freeman was a skilled and capable Starfleet captain but did not often conduct herself the same as other well-known Starfleet captains. She was more quick to temper and rash decisions, even when invoking Starfleet's ethical, peaceful and noble values. However, this still ended up serving her well in finding solutions and resolving conflicts. ()  

One of Freeman's Starfleet evaluations characterized her as a ‘micromanager’ and that she had to learn to better trust in her crew's abilities to do their jobs and contribute to the success of their missions according to their skills and training. This led her to begin to recognize and appreciate her crew and become more sensitive to their needs, and it in turn inspired more loyalty in her from them. It also made her more protective of her crew in an almost motherly way and made her take more pride in her ship and its mission. () 

Freeman's difficult personality likely earned her the pet name ‘Carol Bear’ from her husband. ()

Freeman's go-to-warp phrase was "Warp Me".

She was right-handed. ()

She wore her braids tied back with a command-red hairband that changed color depending on her uniform (it was gold when she wore her white and gold dress uniform). ()

Holds the Starfleet Academy record for hydroscooting. ()

She felt insulted whenever her methods were considered out of date by younger officers, as when the Carlsbad's young hotshot Captain Maier called her negotiating tactics 'old school'.  This caused Freeman to argue with Maier and nearly derailed a mission. ()

Freeman was not above still feeling relaxed, pampered and a little girly when she got a mani-pedi. ()

Personal relationships

Friendships

William T. Riker

Riker was one of Freeman's old friends and was close enough for Riker to consider Freeman his cha'DIch and reminisce with her about the trouble they got into together. Upon reuniting at Douglas Station, Freeman was slightly annoyed when they met again. ()

Family

Beckett Mariner
Freeman served with her daughter, Ensign Beckett Mariner, aboard the Cerritos. Their relationship was strained due to Beckett's conduct in Starfleet and her mother's overprotectiveness of her. Freeman had been hard on her daughter since the latter was at least 8 years old. It resulted in Mariner being rebellious against Starfleet and her mother, which sometimes made serving together difficult. Even so, there were times when despite their differences they worked very well together against mutual threats when the situation demanded it, and those events also showed that mother and daughter were far more alike than they were different. As time went on, both mother and daughter began to learn to respect and appreciate each other more. () 

Despite Freeman being exasperated by her daughter stealing the Cerritos to rescue her from the trial, she still loved her for thinking of her. ()

Alonzo Freeman
Admiral Alonzo Freeman was a four-star admiral who was also Carol Freeman's husband. He often called to check on his wife's missions, sometimes to her visible annoyance or surprise. Part of his job appeared to be making sure his wife stayed on track towards her goal of advancing her career. She calls him 'Zo for short. ()

Memorable quotes
"You're a great captain; let them be a great crew!"
"You're right. I am a great captain!"
 - Boimler and Freeman, on repealing the Temporal Edict ()

"If you ever disrespect me like that again, I'll skip the court martial and blow you out the airlock!"
"Cool. Well, live long and prosper."
"Don't you give me that sarcastic Vulcan salute! BECKETT!"
 - Freeman and Mariner, after the latter embarassed her in front of Captain  ()

"I just hate seeing a perfectly good society get destroyed by a Gamester of Triskelion because Starfleet has a policy of some interference!"
 - Freeman, after discovering Beta III had returned to worshipping  ()

"Our ship might not be the biggest, and we might do the missions nobody else wants, but we are still Starfleet. My crew deals with just as much  as Picard's or any other. We might be , but we are the best at what we do. I'm Captain Carol Freeman, this is my crew, and you are letting us into that party!"
 - Freeman to a bouncer who wouldn't let her and her senior officers into the Command Conference ()

"Humanity has a complicated relationship with organized religion."
-Freeman to T'Ana during Ransom's transformation into a Gary Mitchell-like super being () 

"Ugh. I don't know why I keep giving alien street food a chance. It's always such a gamble."
-Freeman experiencing visible discomfort after retrieving the AGIMUS computer and sampling the planet's local cuisine ()

"Mm, Time to take this puppy off its leash! Warp Me!"
-A simulated Freeman ordering the newly undocked Cerritos to warp speed in Mariner's holomovie in () 

"There are two  people on your whole  planet?!"
"Well, yes, we're, uh, we're rich."
"......Implode the moon."
-Freeman and an alien inhabitant of Mixtus II during negotiations over the controlled demolition of their moon in ()

"Attention all hands, report to your commanding officers. The Archimedes needs our help, so we have to remove our hull one panel at a time. I'm calling on every officer, no matter what your usual duties are. We have to work together. It'll be close, people; our lives will be on the line. But we are Starfleet, and we never back down from a challenge. Now, get to work. Cerritos strong! Oh, and the ballroom dancing competition will have to be postponed."
 - Freeman, to the crew of the Cerritos ()

"Doctor T'Ana has raised some concerns, Lieutenant Commander. Her medical opinion is that you are a  pile of stress."
-Freeman, to Billups ()

"Oh, engineers, all of them, ALL of them, they're all goddamned Geordi LaForges!"
-Freeman, while being taken away by the staff of the spa ship Dove  ()

Appendices
Appearances
 Every episode

 Background information 
Freeman was voiced by Dawnn Lewis.

In developing Freeman, Mike McMahan considered her a typical Star Trek'' captain but needed a reason why the repeated butting of heads between the captain and Mariner wouldn't result in Mariner being "drummed out of Starfleet." This led him to base some of their argumentative relationship on his own sister and mother's arguments.

External link
 

Humans
Starfleet captains
Starfleet command personnel
USS Cerritos personnel