Sindari t'Khev

No records from Inxtis exist anymore, so the pieces preceding her enlistment are from Sindari t’Khev’s own claims.

Sindari t’Khev was born on Inxtis, an agricultural world near the Federation Neutral Zone. Her mother was some minor Centurion of little note and her father was a simple farmer. She never has said what their names were. When a genetic illness led to Sindari losing her hearing at a young age, her parents did what any good Romulan family would. They cast her loose, viewing the disability as a liability and a waste of resources. Fortunately for her, the town of Sordsol on the planet included a convent of the Qowat Milant, and the group of truth seekers were all too willing to take in and care for the helpless.

The Qowat Milant might have helped raise her to adulthood, but Sindari made a terrible nun. Imaginative, rude, and all too willing to lie when it suited her, many of the Qowat Milant’s teachings were completely lost on her, but nonetheless in them she found a home among them for a time. They gave her her name, taught her how to sign, how to fight, and how to think. Still, no one expected her to pledge herself to the order.

So it wasn’t much of a surprise when Sindari left at the age of 16, catching a ride on the first ship she could charm her way onto. She spent the next three years of her life bouncing between the quadrants, finding herself in every den of thieves, pirate port, and dive bar she could. She impersonated Vulcans, Starfleet Officers, Tal’Shiar Agents, and even once managed to make a convincing male Ferengi. Working off the grid, she discovered an aptitude and love for technology and learned to care for and repair many of the old cargo and transport ships she served on.

Then everything changed in 2387. Sindari, like most Romulans, had been kept in the dark about Romulus’s plight. She had been dimly aware of some large relief effort over the neutral zone but paid it little mind until she heard about Romulan refugees arriving in Federation space. Then the Romulan star went supernova, the massive explosion encapsulating dozens of worlds.

Inxtis among them.

But not her people. Starfleet had managed to relocate them to the Romulan Relocation Hub on the planet Vashti. Sindari visited for a time, saw the new lives her people were creating, the assistance Starfleet had rendered, the lives they had saved. Sindari hadn’t given up her love for exploration, but she realized there was a way to do it with more meaning than swindling latinum.

Her first application to the Academy was rejected but after attending three separate meetings about it, was allowed to enlist. Romulan insights were invaluable to Starfleet as they continued to work with refugees and the aftermath of the supernova, especially insights that weren’t filtered through the lens of the Tal’Shiar. So Crewman t’Khev passed boot camp and joined the USS Magellan, an old Constellation class starship, as it provided support to refugee colonies. It was dull, hard, but satisfying work with no end.

Sindari proved a hardworking, loyal, if irritating officer. What she lacked in discipline she made up for in skill and found a place as an integral member of the Magellan’s machinist team, responsible for designing and manufacturing structures and equipment to suit the colonies’ and the ship’s needs in addition to working on Magellan‘s own systems.

When Magellan finished her tour in 2388, Sindari was transferred to the USS Nagato, a Steamrunner class vessel whose patrols along the former neutral zone were more a matter of security than refugee support. The ship was cramped and overworked, with few creature comforts, but it was home and Sindari cared for the aging vessel like it was her own child. And it was here that Nagato’s captain, Captain Vida, took her under his wing. He saw her potential as a Starfleet officer and helped groom her to be a well rounded officer, an invaluable away team member, and a world-class engineer.

Although she never did reapply for the Academy, Sindari’s 12 years of service has spanned four starships, a starbase, and a colony. She’s spent her whole career along the Neutral Zone, learning about the relief planets, their people, and helping to care for them. She would be an invaluable member of any team patrolling or working along the former neutral zone. [Will expand section over time.]

After reaching the rank of Chief Petty Officer and completed a six month leadership course on Earth, Sindari was transferred to first a starbase and later a Romulan Free State base to put those new leadership skills to the test. She has experience working with large teams largely outside of a crisis situation. She requested the transfer to Reliant herself, citing a desire to get back out into space. While originally supposed to serve as enlisted support, after Lieutenant Vivanco was pulled to serve on the Drake, Sindari became the next best thing to a Chief Engineering officer.

Medical Note

We have no records for Chief t’Khev for the first nineteen years of her life, which unfortunately includes a lot of vital moments from a medical standpoint. Federation information on Romulan genetic conditions are extremely limited. The best we’ve been able to determine, the Chief has a variant of Ralash Syndrome, a genetic abnormality where the autoimmune system turns on parts of the body. Namely one’s hearing and sight. Chief t’Khev is deaf, with severe and almost complete hearing loss that she reports having had since childhood. She has a set of auditory implants that increases her hearing range back to an average human to Romulan range. No damage to her vision has been detected, but it’s something she needs to have regularly checked (and knows it!) Regular injections of Trambisome has shown effective signs of controlling the illness, although the Chief is not so dependent to render her ineligible for away team responsibilities.

Chief t’Khev is transgender, but besides work maintaining hormones and care, the Chief hasn’t pursued any medical care since joining Starfleet and becoming a Federation citizen.

And to any of the Chief’s future physicians, keep her away from that damn skii holocourse! She’s had her left knee operated on twice from it already and is on the fast track to a replacement if she keeps this up. (Update from Dr. Sharpe, USS Avarak. Left knee replaced in 2397)

-Dr. Kyr ch’Rhiallel, USS Nagato