Jaya Thorne

Early Life (2366-2384):

Born on Centauri Station to human parents. She grew up amongst scientists, freighter crews, alien dignitaries and Starfleet detachments with her mother, Dr. Kamala Rao, a xenoecologist that specializes in the symbiotic relationships found in asteroid belts, and her father, Commander Arthur Thorne, a former Federation fighter pilot turned docking controller.

She learned adaptability, curiosity and independence from growing up in such a diverse place as Centauri Station. From and early age, she was fascinated by small craft piloting, and routinely took place in civilian training courses and simulations before she was old enough to join Starfleet. By the time she left Centuri Station at 17, she was already an experienced flyer.

Starfleet Academy (2384-2388):

At the academy, Jaya stood out for her piloting ability and her willingness to challenge conventional thinking. Her instructors praised her creativity, but flagged her file as ‘resistant to leadership’ and ‘reliant on improvisation’.

During a live-fire atmospheric flight exercise above Mimas, one of Jaya’s squadmates experienced a thruster malfunction. Flight control requested an abort, but the lead hesitated for too long. Jaya was flying their wing, and broke formation against protocol to attempt a manual intercept and tow maneuver, hoping to stabilize her squadmates descent.

Her maneuver almost worked, but they got caught in a crosswind at the worst possible time, sending both fighters into a tumble. At under 5,000 feet, Jaya ordered an ejection, but her wingman was still trying to recover their spin, and did not hear her. He died on impact when his fighter hit the ground.

Jaya’s emergency cockpit malfunctioned, so she triggered a manual explosive release, which ejected her just in time to avoid slamming into the ground. Shrapnel from the detonation caused a deep laceration on her jaw, and the impact of the seat on the ground knocked her unconscious, and she woke several days later in a medical ward.

The incident report cleared her of any wrongdoing, but she never saw it that way.

Despite this, she graduated near the top of her class, although narrowly avoiding censure for bending the rules of a third year live simulation in order to produce an unauthorized, but arguably more effective, outcome, in the shades of early Kirk.

Early Career (2389-2395):

The USS Aerie was her first posting, a Steamrunner Class vessel which was assigned to rapid-response missions near the Tzenkethi border. This was where she made a name for herself as a hotshot at the helm, with a talent for threading ships through places they shouldn’t go.

After a few years, and a few talkings-to by the Captain, she was transferred to the USS Koriander, an Akira Class vessel that patrolled the border near The Triangle. During her time aboard that ship, she was simultaneously promoted to Lieutenant Commander, and handed a formal reprimand for violating neutral zone protocol to save a stranded away team from a decaying space station near the Klingon Border, without orders.

Command (2395-2402):

She was finally granted the position of Executive Officer aboard the USS Halifax, a Parliament Class ship that handled border-monitoring operations near Orion Syndicate routes. She cemented her skills as a balanced commander that still leans into her edge-of-the-blade instincts.

During a routine comms buoy calibration, the Halifax became aware of a rogue Klingon Bird-of-Prey that had decloaked and intercepted a civilian freighter on the Federation side of the border, and began locking weapons. The Halifax’s Captain was off-ship overseeing an away team, so Jaya took command. She recalled the Captain and the away team, but did not wait for his return before moving the Halifax in between the freighter and the Bird-of-Prey.

She opened a channel and directed the Klingon Captain to stand down. He laughed and called her a coward, so she cut the visual feed and ordered a recalibration of the main deflector to emit a resonant graviton burst to destabilize the cloaking system. She then bluffed by arming photon torpedoes and broadcasting a false warp signature buildup to make it look like she was receiving reinforcements, and began transmitting real-time sensor log data to the nearest klingon outpost, invoking the terms of the Khitomer Accords and warning that if the rogue vessel fired, it would be considered an act of war.

The rogue captain hesitated, then ordered a retreat. Before he left, he fired a disruptor barrage at the civilian vessel, with the intent to kill the civilians out of sheer spite. Without clearance, Jaya ordered the Halifax into an intercept course of the barrage, taking a direct hit and sustaining heavy damage to the ship, but the civilian crew survived. Jaya was commended for acting “with tactical boldness and diplomatic precision”, but some of the senior staff questioned her risk-taking, in particular ordering her ship into harm’s way without proper clearance.

Within the year, she was promoted to Captain and transferred to Starbase 86, to serve as the Task Force’s Executive Officer.