Thalissa Zheen

Thalissa grew up on the Andorian moon of her homeworld, the only daughter in her household among three younger brothers.  She was the older protective sister, the responsible one.  This mindset was certainly an early influence that contributed to her choice in career as it had her playing the role of stern disciplinarian, mediator, and protector as she helped her parents raise up her younger siblings.  Hearing tales of unknown and long-dead relatives who served in the old pre-Federation Imperial Guard reinforced the sort of reverent view for military service that was so standard of her people.  The combination of all these elements led her to choose the more militant path of security when she was old enough to apply for Starfleet.

She put her head to the grindstone and excelled at her studies at the Academy.  Once she graduated and took the rank of ensign, she rapidly climbed the ranks until she made lieutenant commander and inherited the posting of chief tactical and security officer.  She was content to allow this climb to plateau for a while.  Her ship wasn’t a significant one, the Vendetta was a Freedom-class scout that focused largely on patrolling minor spacelanes enforcing customs regulations and rendering assistance to traveling vessels within the scope of her patrol route.  But the crew was an extended family, and the nature of Vendetta’s assignment gave her role a large scope of responsibility.

It wasn’t until her final year as Chief of Security aboard the Vendetta that she gave any real thought of transferring to command.  She had built up her reputation as a steely hardliner, iron-fisted in ensuring that everything and everyone operated to the letter of regulations and gave their peak performance.  But the captain of the Vendetta also recognized her protectiveness of the officers under her command and saw the lengths she would go through to help them along the path of their own careers despite the way she kept her subordinates at an arms length when it came to forming friendships.  It was he who pointed out that her approach with her people were qualities that basically defined what it meant to be in command.  He eventually convinced her to pursue the path, and was instrumental in helping her secure her current position as Fresno’s first officer.  Now that she has this new goalpost set in her career, she plans on using her time aboard the Fresno to eventually leverage a command of her own.