Tavana Kolan

Tavana’s mother Aryenne Kolan served as the Chief Diplomatic Officer on the USS Xanadu, when her father, Kretorg joined the crew as a Diplomatic Officer. There was an instant attraction between the two and despite regulations, they had a brief affair. Aryenne was determined to stop it, but knowing that she would not be able to, she requested a transfer. Before she could transfer, she woke up one morning and felt very ill. The CMO confirmed that she was pregnant and wisely gave her an extended LOA. Due to the sensitive circumstances, he helped her to get to Betazed quickly and discretely as possible, so she could be with family and better support structures. Kretorg never knew the reason for her illness or why she left so suddenly.

Aryenne’s health continued to deteriorate and after a very challenging pregnancy, Tavana was born in 2366 on Betazed. Her parents, who were stationed at DS8 at the time, went to assist their daughter. Aryenne’s health was so severly compromised from the pregnancy that she passed away one month after Tavana was born. There was very little knowledge about how Tavana would develop, given that she was the first Klingon Betazoid baby born on Betazed. Young Tavana developed faster than Betazoid children and her grandparents realized quickly that she could not remain on Betazed.. They decided to take the infant with them to DS8 where Tavana could socialize with a variety of people, including Klingons, and also go to school in the relative stability of a space station.

Though there were Klingons, Tavana remained the odd one out, not really fitting in with any group. She got into trouble often and pushed boundaries as far as she could. The Klingons thought her to be not Klingon enough and children of other races stereotyped her. They expected her to be rude, belligerent and aggressive. The conflicting emotions inside, erratic development of her psionic abilities as well as pressure from the outside, was very hard for Tavana to cope with. It often erupted exactly in the way she was expected to behave, which just distanced her even more from her peers and made it difficult for teachers. Her grandparents tried to help Tavana control her instincts, but an old Klingon warrior, Maltor intervened, advising them to allow Tavana to find an outlet for her aggressive energy. They agreed eventually and Maltor introduced Tavana into the world of combat fighting. Not only did she thrive, she excelled. The combination of Klingon inherent ability and Betazoid flexibility made Tavana into a formidable combatant. She soon starting fighting competitively and at long last found her niche. She won competition after competition and when she was 12, she advanced to championships which took place on Deep Space 5.

Enter her father. He was assigned to the USS Berlin, attached to DS5 and was eager to see the championships. The young girl drew his attention and he followed her fights over the next few days. Tavana noticed the Klingon warrior, and for some reason, she wanted to impress him. She was taken aback when he also wore a Starfleet uniform at times. When she asked Maltor who accompanied her as her trainer, about him, he explained that Kretorg was well known in the Empire as well as the Federation and then elaborated on the role Kretorg played during the Dominion war. After begging Maltor, he arranged for her to meet this Kretorg, son of M’urgh of the House of M’urgh. The man was intimidating, yet somehow easy to talk to too. At the time they had no idea that they were father and daughter.

However, she was intrigued by him as he seemed to be what she was yearning for. Kretorg’s career inspired her to set her sights on entering Starfleet academy for the next few years she focused on her academic work to gain entrance.

At 16 she started at Starfleet academy. She trained as a Diplomatic officer and here again she experienced prejudice. She was asked if she didn’t want to train rather in security, which brought back old memories and for a time she struggled and had difficulties to cope. Though she was physically matured since she was 14, she had a long way to go emotionally. She challenged her lecturers and class mates and got into trouble a few times. In her second year, she was approached by Starfleet Intelligence and recruited to train as an Intelligence officer. It suited her better, and she graduated 3 years later. But then she could not find a posting. Her perception was that no one wanted her. Who in his right mind would want a half Klingon intelligence officer?

Kretorg had just been given the IKS D’ama, a Vorcha class vessel that would serve as a flag ship of the alliance between the Federation and the Empire, with both Starfleet and KDF crew. Tavana saw a post opening and took a chance to apply for a posting as an intelligence officer on the IKS D’ama. Kre was alerted when looking through the crew applications. Not only did her recognise her from years ago and that she also became a intelligence officer, but more so that Aryenne was the mother of Tavana. He accepted her application and she started her first posting as an Ensign on a Klingon vessel. Kretorg did not reveal anything to her at that time.

It was harder than she ever thought. It was not long before the D’ama was drawn into a deadly battle with a renewed and unexpected attack from the Kzinti, a catlike and cruel race that attacked Federation space for the first time over a 100 years earlier.

The D’ama was lost, but not the crew and she remained with the crew to serve on the IKC VaQbach, a Negh’Var class cruiser, still under Kretorg as CO. The mission as a joint Federation and KDF operation remained, only the ship changed. Before a long term mission into the Beta Quadrant, the VaQbach stopped at Q’uvat el TigH, the home planet of the House of Torath, Kretorg’s home. It was here that he revealed to Tavana that he was her father. She met her Klingon family for the first time also felt some sense of belonging.

The next mission of the VaQbach took them deep into the Beta Quadrant and Tavana was promoted to Assistant CIO. The Chief Intelligence Officer had to leave suddenly, and through a field promotion she became Chief Intelligence Officer. This was quite a shock to her, but it also gave Tavana the opportunity of a life time. Due to the nature of their mission, Intelligence and the Diplomatic services worked very closely together. Her prior training now helped her a lot. As CIO, she was able to work with X’aedell, the CDO and join her at the development of their mission, which involved months of negotiation between top level representatives of both Federation and the Klingon Empire. The experience she gained was invaluable and prepared her for further exploration into the Beta Quadrant. While the VaQ’bach also had to seek and do recon on suspected Kzinti activity in the region, the actual mission of the VaQ’bach and at the same time make contact with new races and establish trade and information exchange with those who were willing. This exposed her to first contact meetings, trade and information exchange as well as being the liaison between Intelligence departments of the KDF and Starfleet and the Diplomatic Office.

Tavana, and a few others were on an away mission and because she needed to get back urgently to the VaQ’bach, she hitched a ride on the IKS Dar on it’s way back, earlier than planned. As they approached the VaQ’bach, they saw it was in a battle and a bubble forming around it. In an instant the massive ship disappeared, but before they could react, they too were enveloped by the pinkish looking field.