Born to a large, lower class family in Caprica City in the year 1989, Maria Mia Helena Garcia was the seventh of eight kids but arguably the toughest. Both her parents were laborers with low-paying jobs: her father Paolo was a warehouse worker for Graystone Industries, and mother Maria Rosa was janitorial staff at a local school; both had to work hard to provide for the family, but despite their best efforts wealth and even food were chronically lacking.
With five brothers and two sisters, Mia had to be tough to establish herself in the pecking order. She took this same attitude to the streets, where she spent most of her formative years. The consummate tomboy, Mia wasnt afraid to get her hands dirty, and rarely would a week go by without her getting into some sort of fight or scrap. She didnt always win her fights, but as Mia grew older and tougher, her win-loss ratios continued to improve.
Needless to say, such a hellion was a nightmare in school. Much to her teachers chagrin, Mias studies have never been good, but she did excel in sports. Mia quickly proved to be so talented that the school began to cut her deals on her testing scores in order to allow her to remain a star player on the Pyramid team. More troublesome was the fact that Mia was very aggressive; coupled with her athletic prowess it was entirely predictable that she became a bully at school.
Juvenile delinquency was the next stage of Mias evolution. By age 16 she was on the verge of being kicked out of school and losing her prospects of pursuing a profession as a pyramid player. She started dating a guy from a gang called Cerberus's Kennel, and he tried to get her to run with them. She might have, but a wakeup call came in the form of her fathers death Paolo died in an industrial accident at work. By then most of her older siblings had left home, but those who remained including Mia herself and two brothers - now had to share the burden of providing for the family. She tried to clean up her act, but it was already too late. No one at the school was sympathetic when the kids she used to hang with- or abuse- turned on her.
A few more fist fights and a handful of lies later Mia lost her Pyramid scholarship. With no prospects on a reliable income Mia then turned to the only option left for someone like her the military. At age 17, she enlisted to support her family.
Marine boot camp didnt faze Mia much. At least, not the physical parts of it; Mia was physically fit and accustomed to hardships, it wasnt anything she couldnt handle. But the mental conditioning for raw recruits to accept commands was a hard pill to swallow. Mia struggled with taking orders at first, but with determination and dedication she started to succeed. Then she slowly realized she actually liked her new job, having structure, and people to rely on. She stopped fighting as often and did her best to keep her nose clean on duty.
Her first assignment out of boot camp was at CMF Alastor, and she didnt like that one bit. She disliked the officer in command of her platoon, Commander Singh. She considered him a simpering coward and his orders were like fingernails against a chalkboard. She followed them- albeit, grudgingly- and was one of the first people to complain behind his back as soon as she was off duty. One of the poor folks who bore the brunt of it was Dell, one of her bunkmates; although Dell has been a marine for longer, the other womans sarcasm grated on Mias nerves. At one point Mia threatened to pulp Dell unless shut up. Dell shrugged and asked her if she planned to make paper.
But as these things were bound to happen, living in close quarters and sharing in the misery of everyday life gradually turned annoyance into acceptance. Arguments and sniping turned into conversations. Threats became jokes. And during one particular evening of Triad, Mia realized that she actually liked Dell. From that point on their relationship grew; Mia never figured out what made them click, but perhaps it was the simple fact that opposites attracted.
The two of them rarely worked closely together other than on a handful of field exercises; Dell was an engineer NCO and Mia a rifleman, so the closest they typically got while working was when Mia would be ordered to dig ditches. When Maria was assigned to a demolition detail as part of a combat escort Dell showed her a few basics on how to handle a demo charge without losing your "head". She didn't need to use it, but the lesson stuck with her throughout her various assignments.
The relationship was jeopardized by one of Mias fellow marines, Ramon Sandoval. He was something of a braggart and a loudmouth, but Mia never minded him because she would simply give him a thrashing if he ever got out of hand. One evening the squad went out on the town for entertainment, and everyone got roaring drunk. Mia and Ramon ended up in a strange womans apartment, and upon awakening, Ramon was convinced he has had sex with both the woman and Mia. And he proceeded to brag about it.
Mia corrected Ramon's mistake soon after at a bar (with her fists), but not before Dell caught wind of the lie. She left without a word, leaving behind a shocked and angry Mia. Having no way to find Dell to explain or to demand an answer, that was the last time they saw each other for almost two years.
Putting the past behind her, Mia was reassigned to the Battlestar Scylla for her next tour of duty. With a commander who could command her respect, and the fact that she was older and less inclined to be rebellious, Mia found the new assignment to be far more palatable. She actually began to excel, making up for the handful of marks on her service record from her teenage years with exemplary service and dedication. She qualified as a sharpshooter and went on another combat tour. After being held back slightly due to her past and tendency to get into fights Mia made Corporal after four and a half years of service. During this time she grew close to a fellow marine, Heracles Sanders- a bear of a man, a heavy weapons expert and the first guy to beat her fair-and-square in a brawl since her first tour a sure way to win Mias heart.By chance Mia came across the information that Dell had gone home to Delphi to go to college. Being a stubborn mule, Mia tracked down Dell and was soon talking to her former lover again, albeit on a very periodic basis.
Even so, it rekindled the question in Mias mind: what might have been?
Things came to a head when Heracles proposed to Mia. Even though Mia thought he was the right man for her she was surprised to realize that she still had feelings for Dell. Determined to find out once and for all, she went to Dell's dormitory in the university in Delphi, and demanded to have a long overdue talk with her. As it turned out, they patched things up that very night and got married immediately.
Not long thereafter, the opportunity to volunteer for Task Force Nomad came up, and as Mia suggested it might be a good opportunity for them to start a new life she convinced Dell to reenlist, and they both ended up stationed on the Battlestar Orion over Piraeus. Her record was good without being stellar, but Dell's expertise were needed and she had been solid for several years, so they decided to accept her.
