Susan Subu

Susan Shimmiam Subu is the youngest of the four children of Maha and Uquiel Subu, born on the colony world of Thukdamo, one of the oldest human colonies in existence, having been established prior to the founding of United Earth. The original settlers were primarily refugees coming from the areas of Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia and the Philippines, though there were also individuals from New Zealand, Japan and Australia as well. Susan’s name comes from family lore stating one of their ancestors was from New Zealand, and thus the name Susan is given to a girl in the family each generation. The family surname speaks to the family having at least one Japanese ancestor.

The native language of Thukdamo (which shares the same name as the colony) is a hybridized version of English and Esperanto, with words and phrases borrowed from the various cultures that initially settled on the planet. Most individuals on Thukdamo also speak a ‘home’ language, which in the case of the Subus is Japanese.

Thukdamo is a temperate world, reminiscent in its flora and fauna of the Oregon/Washington/British Columbia area of Earth. The world has mild seasonal changes, with a gravity that is approximately ten percenter greater than Earth, and whose atmospheric density at the sea level planetary capital city of Toravu is equivalent to that of Denver on Earth. Thus, individuals born and raised on Thukdamo tend to feel lighter, stronger and more energetic when on Earth.

Of the various grains the colonists brought with them to Thukdamo, it was the Mesoamerican leafy grain plant Amaranth that adapted itself to the environment, and which is the staple plant of the Thukdamo diet. Rice, on the other hand, only survived in various greenhouses, and is only served on holidays and special occasions.

Though the culture on Thukdamo is a conservative one, they are generally tolerant and accepting of other societies. Thus the University of Toravu has a fairly high number of offworld students, and even has an annex of the Daystrom Institute on its campus.

Susan’s father Maha is a professor in ecological engineering and has served as a consultant from time to time for the Federation’s Terraform Command. It was through this consulting that he met then Lieutenant Commander Uquiel Ahnuri, a Haliian Operations officer. The two “clicked”, and Uquiel resigned her commission to marry Maha and start a family with him.

Of the four children born to Maha and Uquiel, only Susan was to follow in her mother’s footsteps. This might be due in large part to a mild genetic mutation that Susan was born with.

Like their mother, the three older children of Uquiel were born with telepathic abilities although, like their mother and other Haliians, the ability was limited to person to person empathy. A special crystal called a canar, when held by an Haliian (or, in this case, the hybrid offspring of a Haliian) had the potential to greatly increase their telepathic abilities and allow them to “bond” with others and share their thoughts.

Susan, however, was born with a recessive gene made dominant because of her father’s human genetic contribution to her. Susan was unable to establish either a telepathic or an empathic with another person.

(On a side note, during her first group recreational experience at the Academy, she was actually mistaken for a holographic projection by a telepathic cadet, since the cadet in question couldn’t mentally ‘see’ Susan. Fortunately, the incident had a humorous ending)

It was this lack of ability on Susan’s part that made her mother make a more concerted effort in emotionally bonding with her youngest child and which, in turn, made Susan want to emulate her mother.

The other physical manifestation of the recessive gene was that Susan was born with blonde hair.

The majority of the original inhabitants of Thukmado were of Eastern Asian descent and, after several generations, the denizens of Thukmado still looked East Asian, with dark hair and eyes. There was a subculture on the planet, referred to by local sociologists as Kungmo, though each generation gave it its own name. For the most part, Thukmado was a very traditional, conservative society, with extended families taking great care to protect their cultural heritage and continue it on to the next generation. However, the Kungmo usually rejected being tied into their traditions, and expressed this rejection through various methods. The present manifestation of Kungmo did so by dying their hair.

Since none of Uquiel’s children shared her facial features (a slight bulge and indentation above each eyebrow and a crevice between the brows, on the bridge of the nose), including Susan, the casual observer would assume that ‘dying’ her youngest daughter’s hair was some type of “message” to Thukdano society at large. So, until her sixteenth birthday, Susan’s hair was periodically dyed black, so that she would not appear to be Kungmo.

On her sixteenth birthday, Uquiel allowed Susan to make the choice about what to do with her hair. Susan chose to allow it to return to its natural color.

Not that Susan desired to become Kungmo. Mind you, when compared to other rebellious youth subculture on other worlds, Kungmo adherents were positively conformists. Still, Susan felt very comfortable in the traditions of her family, traditions that were reinforced by the Haliian traditions her mother introduced.

Besides, Susan had enough on her plate without following the latest Kungmo fashion and music trends.

For one thing, her family was very sports centered. Ever since Thukdamo first reestablished contact with Earth, and then become a member of the the expanding Federation, Thukdamo had become a mecca for winter sports. The oldest Subu child had set records in speed skating, Susan’s other brother was a figure skating icon, and her sister was a champion without peer when it came to any boarding event.

Not that Susan was clumsy on the slopes or ice. It was just that even a talented amateur such as herself tended to be outshined in a family of Olympic caliber athletes.

Not that it bothered Susan. Much. She had her own accomplishments. She excelled at school. By the age of sixteen, she had a degree in Mathematics from the University of Toravu. By the age of eighteen, she had earned her Master’s, with an emphasis in Number Theory.

And then there was Kunoichi. Kunoichi could be described as an annual woman’s obstacle course, in the same way that the Mona Lisa could be described as a painting of a smiling woman. Almost since the colony of Thukdamo had been founded, there had been sporting events to draw the colonists together. And possibly the longest running competition was Kunoichi. It had sprung various leagues across the planet, all of which fed into the yearly event that was Kunoichi.

There was a men’s obstacle course that was the equivalent of Kunoichi, but it had nowhere near the following. Kunoichi was always changing, always exciting, always innovative. Each year provided something for everyone to discuss. Tavern trivia centered around Kunoichi questions such as, what was the first year an offworlder qualified to compete in Kunoichi (2247), how many offworlders have actually won (four), how many Klingons have lost participating in Kunoichi (six)…

Kunoichi trivia was almost as popular as the subject of Kunoichi itself.

One of the hotly debated Kunoichi questions (and one, when officially asked, is loaded with qualifiers) is “How many years have there not been a Kunoichi winner?” Because modern Kunoichi allowed for there to be no winners. The obstacle course has to be completed in a certain amount of time.

In addition, in the event that more than one participant completed the course, there was a fight between the winners, with whoever won the bout being declared that year’s Kunoichi champion. If the bout involved an offworlder, it was made emphatically clear to the offworlder that killing her opponent automatically disqualified her.

Sometimes you have to be very specific with Klingons.

In the year 2345, the fourth Klingon to date to have qualified for the Kunoichi, Nl’argh, daughter of Qurgh-ngup of House Ghew’-tIy, failed to complete the obstacle course in the allotted time. That year’s winner was also the third offworlder to win the Kunoichi, Lt. Chelsea Gore of Starfleet.

Nl’argh felt it unfair that, since Lt. Gore had been the only competitor to complete the Kunoichi in the allotted time, she had not had to fight anyone directly. Nl’argh decided to address this oversight by issuing a challenge to Lt. Gore.

Lt. Gore accepted and entered combat before the Kunoichi governing board could intervene. Lt. Gore promptly kicked Nl’argh’s butt.

But it gave the governing board an idea. Beginning in 2346, in the event only one individual completed the course in the time limit, in order to be crowned champion of Kunoichi, they would have to defeat the individual with the best time who did not complete the course.

As can be imagined, this increased the number of years that a Kunoichi had no winner. Great for trivia buffs, not so much for Kunoichi participants,

Then in the year 2383, Susan Subu would become one of the youngest individuals ever to participate in the Kunoichi.

When her daughter demonstrated herself to be a mathematical prodigy, Uquiel wanted to make sure that her daughter’s ability didn’t isolate her. Uquiel had seen more than her fair share of quirky behavior while serving in Starfleet. A certain engineer on the Zhukov immediately came to mind…

And although she loved all her children, even with her mathematical ability, Uquiel was afraid of her youngest being lost in the shadow of her other three children.

So Uquiel enrolled a young Susan into the local Bujinkan school. Part of it was because she wanted Susan involved in a sport where her siblings wouldn’t eclipse her. Part of it was because Bujinkan was one of the accepted martial forms in the extended community the Subu family was part of.

And, Uquiel wryly admitted to herself, it was because, transplant though she was, she had become a Kunoichi fan, and the Bujinkan school had a reputation of producing Kunoichi contestants. It might be fun to watch one of her children running in a small, local obstacle course.

So no one was more surprised (or proud) than Uquiel when her youngest became the youngest participant in the history of modern Kunoichi.

Susan’s father was less than thrilled. For one, there was the decision of his youngest daughter to let her hair become its natural color. Then there was her being a contestant on the planetwide broadcasted Kunoichi. In her father’s eyes, Kunoichi lacked the inherent dignity of the sports her other siblings excelled in.

Susan might have backed down in light of her father’s lack of support. But her mother was fervently in her corner.

So in 2383, Susan would be the only contestant to successfully complete the Kunoichi. The contestant who would end up facing her in combat was twice her size and was the sort whose every waking moment, thought and pursuit was dedicated to “combat.” Susan’s opponent tried to spread a rumor on social media that Susan had somehow “cheated” to win, and that she was planning to absolutely crush the little “Kungmo Lamunlupa” (roughly translated “Blond gnome”).

Susan kicked her butt, and became the youngest winner in modern Kunoichi (thus adding to the trove of tavern trivia).

Susan’s father was less than pleased when his youngest announced she would be applying for Starfleet Academy. Not that he had anything against Starfleet graduates. He had married one, after all. But Thukdamo did not have a tradition of supplying Starfleet with officers and crewmembers. Most of those who lived on Thukdamo had migrated from other worlds.

Susan’s mother couldn’t have been prouder of her daughter, especially when Susan was accepted.

While at the Academy, Susan became both an accomplished Parrises Squares player and an oboist.

In her junior year, her final paper for her class in Temporal Philosophy was uploaded into the Academy research database.

In her senior year, she was appointed Cadet adjutant. She was a member of the first Academy Team to win the Bletchley Park Invitational. She also had an opportunity to play with the Vienna Volksoper Orchestra and Vienna Youth Choir in a performance of Handel’s oratorio, Solomon.