Tharia sh'Elas

Tharia sh’Elas was born in the earth year 2354 at the Tormoria Encampment on the inhospitable moon of Andoria. Growing up in the freezing climate, Tharia developed many Andorian traits such as a high metabolic rate and a resistance to different environments. Whilst being able to stay warm and comfortable on the cold Andorian homeworld, like other Andorians, she could indeed stay cool and thrive on planets where temperatures could reach near to boiling point. Like others, she could survive fluctuations in her body weight, needing to lose more than ten percent of her body weight before feeling adverse effects. However, her Andorian physiology made medical treatment more difficult. Unlike in humans, Tharia (and all other Andorians) had to have medicines administered via intramuscular injections via the tongue or other such muscles rather than intravenously through the use of hyposprays to the neck or arm.

Throughout her childhood, Tharia grew up in a mixed population area of Andorian and Aenar people. Tolerance, a trait not associated with her people in the past, was now something that was encouraged among the populace and the days when the Aenar were considered inferior were long gone. As she grew, so too did her antennae until she reached the earth age of 12 and they stopped at just short of five inches in length, relatively short for most Andorians.

In her early teens, Tharia met Thalek, a young man who was three years older than her. Bullied by other children in the encampment, the older Thalek stuck up for the younger girl and protected her against her bullies. He took the youngster under his own wing and taught her to protect herself, just as he had been taught by his father. He showed compassion in a way he hadn’t before, his normal abrasive attitude inexplicably warmed by the young girl.

The pairs friendship grew exponentially until she dropped a bombshell in 2370. The man would have to survive on his own, without his close friend, who had applied and been successful at gaining entry to Starfleet Academy on the nearby planet of Earth. It would be some 20 years before the two would meet again.

Arriving at Earth in mid 2370, Tharia lived in Cadet quarters near to the Marseille Starfleet Base, an annex of Starfleet Academy and the place she would train for most of her career.

During her time at Starfleet Academy, her Andorian background made her perfect for the Academy Wrestling Team. In 2371, Tharia challenged the captain of the team to a wrestling match for the right to Captain the team during the next academic year. Unfortunately, after a close fought bout, Tharia came off second best to the Betazoid and suffered the humiliation of having her left antennae damaged. This affected her health for several weeks until it was properly healed. After the injury and the subsequent humiliation, Tharia withdrew from the team and all other social activities and threw himself in to his studies.

During most of her time at the Academy, Starfleet was in the midst of what many called “the Golden Age”. Exploration was at the forefront of everyone’s minds and many new ships were out exploring the frontier. That changed midway through her third year when war was declared with a species from the Gamma Quadrant called The Dominion. As Starfleet took heavy losses, Cadet’s from the Academy transferred to postings to make up for the loss of manpower. Joining the USS Polaris, an Excelsior-class cruiser as a junior science officer, Tharia was made an Acting Ensign. She served the science team well and earned her first commendation from her department head during the rescue of the starship Triton’s crew. The Akira-class vessel found itself stranded in a dangerous nebula cloud following an attack by the Dominion. Thanks to her expertise in quantum chemistry, Tharia was able to design a quick solution for getting the Triton out of the nebula and back to safety.

Tharia served the Polaris with distinction throughout the duration of the Dominion War which saw her put her credentials as a Starfleet officer to the test on a regular basis. In the final weeks of the war, Tharia was made a full Ensign, with the rest of her training at the Academy written off thanks to her service during the conflict.

Following the signing of the Treaty of Bajor, and with the war finally over, Tharia transferred to the USS Kensington which was one of several dozen Starships that remained in Cardassian space as an Occupation force to oversee relief efforts. As part of several different search teams, Tharia searched for survivors and rendered aide and assistance on Cardassia itself for days. For Ensign sh’Elas, like many, the war had been costly and had left her without a family after the deaths of her parents but the one thing she did have was a renewed sense of purpose.

Tharia served out her tour on the Nebula-class Kensington until late 2379 when, for her service to the Kensington, Tharia was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade and her career really started to take off. With the rebuilding effort well underway within Cardassian space and several new re-exploration Initiatives created to explore far off territories, Tharia was transferred to the starship Roehampton just a matter of weeks later. Tasked with travelling beyond the borders of Cardassian space, the Galaxy-class vessel would begin a five-year mission of exploration in unchartered space. During their time in the wilderness, the Roehampton would encounter dozens of new species and over sixty-five different scientific phenomena that allowed Tharia to really get her hands dirty. When the ship returned to Federation space in 2386, Tharia (who was now a Lieutenant Commander), was approached by the Captain of the USS Odysseus, Captain Vasoch Gor, for a posting as Executive Officer. Before she could take the posting, she spent nearly three months at Starfleet Academy, undergoing the new Advanced Command Training Program, which allowed her to learn the intricacies of command before she took the active role under Gor’s command.

Sh’Elas learnt a lot from her new commanding officer, a veteran commander of the Dominion War and several other conflicts, and the Commander really began to come in to her own as she developed a reputation for being a talented tactician, capable of reading many a situation.

In mid ’87, the Hobus Star, located deep into Romulan Territory went supernova, causing a massive shockwave that destroyed several key planets, effectively decimating the entire Empire. The Odysseus was involved in several early relief missions thanks to her speed and worked in the area until she was ordered to put back to Deep Space 10 for re-assignment. Once there, the ship was ordered to escort a cargo of supplies to the new Romulan homeworld of Rator III. Once their mission to the newly designated Romulan homeworld was complete, the Odysseus arrived in the Raeyan sector to begin her own mission of exploration. Tharia served with distinction, as always, and earned the respect of those serving under her with relative ease, so it was no surprise that she was eventually offered a much more prestigious posting in 2393. Keen to utilise her experience as a scientist, Starfleet offered the Commander the role of executive officer aboard the starship Trieste, a Luna-class exploration vessel which was slated to travel to the Northern Frontier and beyond, all in the name of scientific discovery. After a five year tour of duty, and a short break, Tharia answered the call of her close friend, Sebastian Farrell and joined him for an interesting project aboard the USS Santa Fe, deep in the depths of the Gamma Quadrant.

Just a few short weeks into her time as executive, an epic storm, known as the Century Storm, engulfed the Paulson Nebula. With countless Federation worlds in its path, a massive humanitarian response was authorised by Starfleet. Among those tasked with responding, the Santa Fe was recalled from Deep Space Nine to head up a small task group headed to the planet Sathea on the nebula’s westernmost edge.

Directly in the path of the storm, the Federation science station on Sathea IV was home to a team working on a classified project. When the scientists refused to leave their posts, citing their desire to survey the phenomenon from inside and gather a wealth of invaluable information, Captain Farrell reluctantly agreed to render assistance. In doing so, Tharia and an away team travelled to the planet, only to come across a dire situation – members of the House Mo’Kai had taken the scientists hostage, and upon the away team’s arrival, they too became prisoners. Tharia was bloodied and beaten in the Klingon’s quest for knowledge, but unable to give them answers, she was returned to the rest of the hostages, unconscious and unable to help. When she awoke a short while later, tended to by her colleagues, the Andorian was distraught to learn of the death of Lieutenant Commander Javorian Travis, the ship’s Chief Science Officer and Second Officer. Upon returning to the ship, the Commander was ordered to rest, only returning to duty once truly able to.

Unfortunately for the Commander, she had little time to rest on her laurels. Shortly after the funeral for Commander Travis, Captain Farrell informed the crew that he would be moving on to a new assignment. His loss was to the Andorian’s gain, as Farrell put Tharia forward for command of the Santa Fe, a suggestion that was quickly acted upon by Starfleet Command, resulting in promotion for the Andorian. Her first mission on command saw the Captain lead her crew on a mission to locate the missing Inquiry-class USS Thesis, a vessel they had had dealings with previously, and which had gone missing on maneuvers near the FreeCloud system. A short investigation later, and the crew of Santa Fe not only located the missing ship, but helped the crew of the Thesis identify some sources of sabotage that had taken place aboard the ship. Putting back to Starbase 211, an official inquiry into the sabotage aboard the Thesis resulted in her commanding officer being stripped of command, and instead, Tharia and her command crew were transferred from the Santa Fe to serve the Thesis.

Whilst undergoing a complete overhaul, the ship had all traces of the controversial MARS system removed, and was recommissioned with a new name. Redesignated as the USS Temeraire, the ship’s technological advancements and experienced personnel made her a perfect candidate for a new mission. Before she could take on that mission though, Captain Tharia sh’Elas had to unite the two crews and settle any animosity among the backdrop of what was to be an unexpected trip to the Romulan border. A visit from Commodore Uzoma Ekwueme, the commander of the Fourth Fleet Expeditionary Group, presented sh’Elas with both orders, and a warning: something is stirring across the border.

In the heart of the Psi Velorum sector of Romulan space, the Kunhri system was a heavily industrialised system, long-reliant on food shipments from beyond the sector to feed its large workforce populace. On the eve of a catastrophic coup on Rator, Romulan overseers stripped the planet’s refineries of key technologies that caused all infrastructure to shutdown, and leaving them needing more than just supplies; they needed a path to self-sufficiency.

In response to a call for aid from the new government on Psi Velorum, Starfleet dispatched a small task group to the Kunhri system. On the face of it, the task group was a kitbash of random vessels, but each has been specifically chosen with a purpose to fulfil. The Inquiry-class ‘pocket battleship’ known as the Temeraire provided the muscle for the task group, serving as the strategic operations command center for the expedition, making sh’Elas the defacto Task Group commander.

During the initial days of their presence, the Temeraire crew would work with Mister Kasik, a Reman observer, to help establish a security net around the Kunhri system, but sh’Elas and her crew soon found themselves moving ship again, this time at the behest of Commodore Farrell himself, who travelled to Kunhri aboard the Galaxy-class USS Ulysses. Tasked with a diplomatic mission to the Opra system to secure further supplies for the Kunhri system, Starfleet felt that Tharia stood greater chance of succeeding aboard a vessel with prestige such as that of the Ulysses. Ultimately, their mission was a success and the necessary supplies were delivered to the Kunhri system. As a reward for yet another job well done, Commodore Farrell offered Captain sh’Elas command of the Ulysses, a ship far more suited to her talents and her growing reputation. A child of the Galaxy lineage, having spent nineteen years aboard different vessels of the family group, the Andorian jumped at the chance to command such a prestigious posting.

With her command crew joining her, the ship returned to Federation space upon the completion of her mission and spent the next few weeks above Trill, until a development would occur, one that would shake the crew to their core.

Unfortunately, most of the last year had not actually occurred, not to her anyway. Unbeknownst to the fleet, until the crew of the USS Hathaway stumbled upon some intelligence, Tharia had actually been captured by changelings infiltrating the Alpha Quadrant whilst on Sathea IV. The officer posting as her, who took command of ships from Santa Fe to the Ulysses, was actually an imposter. Upon being discovered by the Hathaway crew in April of 2401, Commander sh’Elas was returned to Avalon Fleetyards for recuperation and rehabilitation. It was not easy finding out a doppelgänger had not only taken over your life, but enjoyed your successes whilst you were held prisoner. Command allowed Tharia to return to duty in a limited capacity during her rehabilitation, overseeing the Arimathea Refit Project at Avalon Fleetyards.