Bravo Fleet
Summary
Lt. JG Prun is the Assistant Chief Counselor aboard the Cardinal. His work includes helping to manage the department as well as providing mental health care for the crew. Sohjeg incorporates plant tending, soil contact, and botanical study into recovery plans for patients experiencing chronic stress, grief, or isolation. His therapy sessions on the USS Cardinal often involve work in the hydroponics lab, botany bay or arboretum. His quarters have been converted into a miniature greenhouse. The Trill lives in a humid, leafy jungle of soothing scent and color.
Sohjeg is introspective and deeply perceptive. He sometimes stumbles to find the right word but never misses an emotional nuance in conversation. He is humble and defers to others when speaking. When a peer or patient needs grounding, he won’t hesitate to speak up decisively. He is another set of eyes to watch over the crew’s health. Captain Raku sees him as a trusted advisor, even if he lacks the telepathic gifts of Betazoids like Counselor Ikstrul Zaa. A career spent training and working alongside telepaths has taught the spotted man how to read others well.
Appearance
Lt. JG Sohjeg Prun carries the look of a rugged bookworm rather than a polished Starfleet officer. This fact is reinforced by the way he ambles down corridors with his head slightly bowed and his shoulders sloped back. His uniform always appears a little too big for him. Standing at 5’9″, Sohjeg is built with a wiry frame. Long, thin limbs sway alongside a gangly gait. His gaze constantly studies his surroundings, often looking for someone new to greet.
His olive-tan complexion is marked by the distinctive trails of brown spots that run from his ankles up along his flanks. Two thick rows of spots form behind each of his fleshy ears before reappearing to climb his temples. The tiny brown circles taper off upwards past his hairline. Obsidian hair is always brushed down and to the side. Bushy brows frame his dark grey eyes. Warmth is reflected in the way he looks at people.
Sohjeg’s jaw comes to a distinct point with a slight cleft marked at center. Angular cheeks build a heart shaped face. A wide, toothy grin is what many people notice first about the Trill. Prominent front teeth lend a slightly cartoonish charm. He uses his smile as a disarming tool in tense conversations. Large, fleshy ears flush slightly when he’s flustered or aroused. His voice is gentle but he speaks quickly. Sohjeg’s presence is comforting in a way that makes many stay around him longer than they mean to.
Personality
Lieutenant JG Prun thrives when surrounded by others. He loves watching how others move, or how they laugh to themselves when they think no one’s looking. People-watching is his favorite silent pastime. Sohjeg is often found in crew lounges or arboretums where masks fall away. Sohjeg sometimes shares his inner thoughts with the same ease others share berries. His self-disclosures tumble out mid-conversation, sometimes startling those not used to his open nature. He’ll tell you his fears, dreams, and what poem reminds him of your current mood. More private people may not appreciate his open nature, yet he doesn’t seem to mind their discomfort.
He is emotionally available and fiercely supportive of others. Lt. JG Prun is quick to offer comfort to others, but is harsh towards himself. Where he offers others patience, he judges his own failures severely. There’s an aching fear of failure that follows him. Sohjeg is driven to succeed only by his need to help others. He knows if he does his job well, it makes life better for the crew.
Sohjeg’s quarters on the Cardinal are his leafy refuge. The place is bursting with plant life from half a dozen worlds. Vines curl across his walls, flowering pods hang from fixtures, and the scent of fresh soil always lingers. Horticulture is more than therapy. It’s his way of finding balance when his emotions run tangled. He sometimes jokes that his plants know more about him than anybody else aboard.
Though he loves being around people, Sohjeg is cautious with romance. A deep relationship unraveled at his last posting when his partner was reassigned across the quadrant. He still keeps a holophoto of her tucked inside a worn book of poetry. He hasn’t opened the book in months. A part of him remains quietly haunted by the idea that his devotion to others might always cost him personal relationships.
His ultimate ambition is to return to where his career began: Mellstoxx III. He dreams of teaching counseling at Starfleet Academy’s branch there. It was here in the lush, Betazoid-dominated colony that Sohjeg earned his degree in Horticultural Therapy. Traditions there shaped him more than he could ever admit.
He has a shellfish allergy that makes his Trill spots itch. Sohjeg grumbles about this when he’s forced to check food replicator details. Itchy spots do remind him of his family. His grandmother always had the right salve to soothe him.
Lt. JG Prun is somebody who believes in people. Their capacity to grow is like his plants. Even after they are cut back by trauma, they can recover and bloom again.
History
Lieutenant (JG) Sohjeg Prun was born in Grumgora. The mist-veiled town was nestled in one of the more remote, agrarian regions of Trill. Life here was slow and grounded. Days passed with the rhythm of shared chores and the warm hush of neighborly gossip. Children ran barefoot across wet stone. Families shared whatever they grew. Light came from fire jars. Food was grown from the soil. Starships passed above, but the little town of Grumgora felt like the center of the Galaxy to Sohjeg.
2373–2382: Early Childhood
Sohjeg was the third-born of six. He had two brothers and three sisters. Everything had to be shared with his siblings. This could range from a blanket, a pot of stew, to the one holoprojector that worked after dark. He learned early that kindness was a currency. Laughter worked better than shouting. He spent most of his mornings outside. If the fog hadn’t lifted, it meant he could slip into the forest unnoticed. Mushrooms grew there in the wet earth. Rows of enormous trees blocked out the sunlight on brighter days. Sometimes he’d just look at the different types of moss. Other days he would run through the market and point out every kind of fruit he could name. Young Sohjeg once said he could tell how sweet something was just by the shape of its peel.
2383–2390: School Years
He wasn’t the brightest in class. Teachers said he was often distracted. If anyone cried, he was first to notice. When classmates argued, he sat between them. When the school garden wilted on a hot summer day, Sohjeg brought clippings from home to restart it. Empathy came to him like drawing breath. Despite his gifts, his father was hard on him. He wasn’t cruel, just sharp and terse. Only results mattered. His father thought only grades mattered. Sohjeg tried harder and judged himself more. He wondered why he wasn’t like the others who could memorize classwork through a quick study. Sohjeg prided himself on making good friends. Many stayed in contact with him many years later. They were all important to him, even after distance and time separated them.
Sohjeg wanted to heal people. His secondary school grades weren’t good enough for Starfleet’s Medical track. The counselors at school told him to be practical. Two teachers and a former Starfleet counselor wrote glowing letters on his behalf. They spoke of the way he helped his blind aunt keep her house clean after a flood. They mentioned how he organized a sleepover for a boy who’d lost his father. His essay to Starfleet Academy’s Counseling Division was raw and honest. They sent him an offer for their prestigious program on Mellstoxx III.
2391–2395: Starfleet Academy – Mellstoxx III
Cadet Prun arrived starstruck. The campus on Mellstoxx III featured main buildings centered around four large greenspaces. The Betazoid-dominant Counseling program didn’t just teach therapy. They lived it. Empathy wasn’t just kindness. It was science. He learned how memory shaped cognition and how trauma grew roots. He entered the horticultural therapy program during his second year. Plants seemed to speak his language. They were silent, yet always vibrant. They were a form of life that always seemed calm. Techniques taught were rooted in Bajoran spirituality and rituals. The Betazoids refined these ideas alongside old human therapeutic methods. There was no separation between mind and body here. Sohjeg took botany classes alongside neurobiology lectures. Dirt caked under his nails as he tapped through lessons on his PADD.
He earned his certification in horticultural therapy just before graduation. Instructors called him intuitive. His classmates called him a sponge. Sohjeg had not yet learned how to protect his own heart, but he seemed to know how to heal others’.
2396–2398: Ensign
His first assignment was aboard Starbase 21. Life was a chaotic mix of treating officers, civilians, traders and refugees. People passed through as quickly as a planet’s weather changes. He taught grounding techniques to engineers dealing with long hours and mental fatigue. One of his big ideas was to plant a corridor garden where an old storage alcove used to be. It quickly flourished. His superiors noted his insight. The Trill worked to stay out of trouble and managed to earn a commendation for the amount of patients he treated. Ensign Prun took on a heavy workload at an intake center while running several therapeutic groups.
2399–2401: Establishing Career
The Aspera was different. The Grissom-class science vessel was assigned to long journeys deep into space. This forced the crew into a tight bond. Sohjeg knew almost everyone by name. Being one of only two counselors meant the setting was even more intimate. He lost two patients he’d grown close to. One was lost in a spatial anomaly’s collapse. Another fell during a skirmish. He started keeping his distance but remained professional and friendly.
He fell in love despite his hesitations. There were over two amazing years with the charming woman who swept him off his feet. He still remembers their laughter in the mess hall. They loved botany dates where they got their hands in the soil. They built plans for when shore leave would arrive. She was reassigned to a Gamma Quadrant assignment before then. The distance was too great to stay together. Too long. He never fully recovered from the fact that he lost someone he cared about for his job.
He took leave and returned to Mellstoxx III. Sohjeg audited classes in xenobotany, learning more about exotic flora. He even studied an elective in Klingon psychological frameworks. Sohjeg tried to rediscover his footing. Being on the beautiful planet he loved helped.
2402–Present
Sohjeg was assigned to the Nebula-class USS Cardinal in March of 2402. It was supposed to be a temporary skeleton crew posting. A team of scientists conducted long-term observation of a Class K planet near Bolarus IX. Then the Blackout hit. There was no contact from the world outside. They drifted for weeks, with only each other to rely on.
When subspace travel was restored, the Cardinal was reassigned. Lt. JG Prun was there as the ship received its full crew manifest. The ship was rotated into full duty on an Intelligence focused assignment. Sohjeg stayed and was promoted to Assistant Chief Counselor. Now he’s not just a caretaker, he’s a leader. The Unjoined Trill is the embodiment of resilience, always bouncing back like a thirsty plant.
Service Record
| Date | Position | Posting | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2391 - 2395 | Cadet - Counseling, Horticultural Therapy | Starfleet Academy at Mellstoxx III |
 Cadet |
| 2396 - 2398 | Counselor | Starbase 21 |
 Ensign |
| 2399 - 2401 | USS Aspera | Counselor |
 Lieutenant Junior Grade |
| 2402 - Present | Assistant Chief Counselor | USS Cardinal |
Lieutenant Junior Grade |