Aki Nogura

Aki Nogura was born into the influential Nogura family. Her grandfather, Heihachiro Nogura, eventually became Commander Starfleet.

Aki was raised on Luna in Tycho City, where her mother was an environmental engineer for the colony. Between the oboe lessons and lacrosse practices, she developed a keen interest in engineering, thanks to her mother’s influence. In high school she became the lead engineering technician for the school’s competitive flight team, the Tycho City Shooting Stars. During one harrowing incident, she talked a pilot through an engine restart procedure when that pilot’s craft lost power. That courageous story, along with her family connections, helped secure her an appointment to Starfleet Academy.

At the academy, Aki threw herself into her studies, which limited opportunities to have a social life. If it weren’t for her service as a tutor in the academy’s school of engineering, she might not have made friends at all.

For her cadet cruise in 2268, she was assigned to the U.S.S. Lexington for the M-5 wargames. It was during this time she met Lieutenants Jack Conrad and Tybas Ato, whom she adopted as mentors. Following that ill-fated exercise, in which Richard Daystrom’s M-5 computer took over control of the U.S.S. Enterprise from its captain and officers and attacked the Lexington and several other starships, she returned to Starfleet Academy, traumatized from the incident.

Upon graduation, Aki, with a little help from family connections, received a posting on the engineering staff of the U.S.S. Endurance under the command of Captain Samuel Mattox. In her time on the Endurance she rose to the position of assistant chief engineer, and helped see the ship through it’s refit as a Miranda-class starship.

After six years aboard the Endurance, Aki received a posting as assistant chief engineer of the Constitution-class U.S.S. Yorktown, under the command of Joel Randolph. She was part of the team that, during the Whalesong Crisis of 2286, helped construct a solar sail in an attempt to generate power for the disabled vessel following contact with the mysterious Whale Probe.

Aki’s next assignment was planetside, as her contributions to the emergency solar sail brought her to the attention of the engineers at the Advanced Starship Design Bureau who were putting together a team to dismantle the transwarp drive from the U.S.S. Excelsior and refit the vessel with a conventional warp propulsion system. Aki’s work on that team helped identify several deficiencies in the Excelsior’s design, leading to several changes that were incorporated into the Excelsior spaceframe and each subsequent starship in that class.

Blessed with the Nogura ambition, Aki found leadership to be a natural fit for her, and she earned the respect of her fellow engineers. At the urging of her former mentor Jack Conrad, Aki applied for command school and, upon completion, found herself back on the Endurance as first officer, this time under the command of Captain T’Vol.

Less than a year later, fortune smiled upon Aki. Her own professional ambition, combined with her work retrofitting the Excelsior, propelled her into the center seat of the newest Excelsior-class starship, the U.S.S. Columbia.