Riandri Nalam

Early Life – pre-Star Fleet (2230 – 2367)

El-Auria (2230 – 2265)

Born on El-Auria, the El-Aurian homeworld Riandri mother and father were professors at one of the prominent universities on the planet. She spent her youth as most children and young adults would, learning about the world around them and determining who they want to be when they grow up. For her 35 birthday, she left El-Auria to visit several nearby star systems as she had rarely been off-planet and hadn’t felt the urge much. This decision ultimately saved her life as the same day her ship left the Borg arrived and left her world in ruins. She watched as Cube appeared around her world and began to assimilate everyone and everything she knew.

The Lost Years (2265 – 2295)

After the Borg attack on her homeworld, Riandri tried to gather as much information as possible from other survivors to determine if her family and friends had been able to escape. Sadly after many years of this, she found no evidence that anyone she knew survived and it was impossible to return home to confirm. During this time she wandered aimlessly with a very small group of El-Aurian refugees as they tried to find a place they were welcome and bring meaning to their ruined lives. This all changed in 2293 after they met up with a larger group of refugees on the SS Lakul; it was further thrown into chaos when the refugee ship they were on, the SS Lakul was caught in the Nexus event. She was one of the few survivors that of the incident and arrived on Earth shortly thereafter. The memories of the event were added to the traumas she already had experienced and sometimes wondered if she would have been better off if she wasn’t reduced and stayed in the Nexus like so many others. After several years on Earth, she began to feel like maybe she had found a place where she was welcome and would be safe from the dreams that haunted her.

A New Beginning (2295 – 2330)

After settling on Earth in a small cabin in the Rocky Mountains in Northern British Columbia, as they reminded her of her childhood home, Riandri spend 10 years mourning those who were lost, focusing on herself and recovering from 30 years of wandering through space. By the early 24th century, she decided that she had spent enough time looking inwards and mourning. She spent the next 25 years travelling between the various planets of the federation and neighouring powers (when possible), starting on Vulcan, and then moving to the other planets that founded the Federation before moving onwards. She spent several years on each planet learning their cultures, languages and customs as she always had a desire to understand why people were who they were. This resulted in her getting several degrees in archaeology, anthropology and sociology from various universities. She was particularly fond of her time on Vulcan but the knowledge of what happened to her people continued to sit in the back of her head nagging at her; pushing her forward.

The Period of Travel (2330 – 2350)

In 2330, she began to feel restless possibly due to her reaching her first centennial. As a result she decided to sign onto a Tellarite deep space exploration vessel; the SS Khonsh instead of travelling to a new planet or back to Earth. The vessel spent the next 5 years travelling beyond the edges of the federation and other known powers looking for rare materials and resource-rich systems that could be used for mining. She did four tours on this ship acting as their culture advisor for the Tellarite owners. During this time she always kept her ears open to rumours about the Borg but everything she heard was nothing but hearsay with no evidence to back it up.  She enjoyed aspects of the job especially the first contacts and people they met and threw herself into fully but the long hours/weeks of boredom and frustration at not being able to get out on her own made her leave the SS Khonsh in 2350.

Quiet Years (2350 – 2367)

She debated joining Star Fleet for a time after she returned to Earth but ultimately decided it wasn’t for her and spend the next decade and a half publishing several books about the people and cultures she had met while on the SS Khonsh as well as about her time travelling in the federation. For the first time in almost a century, she also allowed herself to form a deeper personal and romantic attachment to the people around her as the perceived safety of the Federation and Earth meant those close to her wouldn’t be taken away from her like her parents.

In 2362 she meet an ensign named James O’Connell who was on shore leave on Earth. This was the first person Riandri had allowed herself to open up to beyond a couple of other El-Aurians she kept in contact with on Earth. He was assigned to the USS Firebrand, a Freedom-class frigate that was often around the Sol system which meant they were able to regularly see each other which lead to James proposing to her in late 2366. They got married in early 2367 in a small ceremony. He had put in for a transfer to a larger vessel to allow for Riandri to join him, for the first time in a century she felt truly happy and optimistic for the future.

Wolf 359 (2367)

Riandri’s worst fear came to pass when the Federation News Network began broadcasting the images that haunted her dreams, the Borg had found earth. She watched along with most of the population as Star Fleet pulled together a fleet to attempt to stop the vessel.  As reports began to come in and reach the population her world shattered when the USS Firebrand, the ship her husband, now Lieutenant Commander James O’Connell, was on was reported as lost with all hands.

The shock of the loss, both of James and the safety she felt on Earth lit a fire in Riandri and she swore to herself to never have that happen again. Three days after the attack she enrolled at the academy with the desire to see that she never felt helpless like that again.

Starfleet (2367 – Current)

Academy (2367 – 2370)

Riandri threw herself, body and soul into her work at the academy. She built what connections she felt were needed with professors, senior staff and other cadets but her focus never wavered on her new goal. To ensure that she never was again on the sideline during events like Wolf 359 and the destruction of her planet. Due to her multiple degrees, her professors wanted her to join the scientific specialist track but during her years aboard the SS Khonsh and travelling taught her that knowledge was power and she instead focused on the command track with an aim to get into intelligence to ensure the federation was never again caught flat-footed as they had been at Wolf 359.  She graduated in 2370 with distinction.

Starfleet Headquarters (2370 – 2373)

Due to the leg work, she put in the four years prior, and a ruthless streak that had developed in her since Wolf 359 when it can’t to getting whatever information she was after, she was assigned as an Ensign in the Strategic Operations Office at Star fleet Command with a focus on intelligence. She spent the next year and a half doing every bit of work she could proving herself which resulted in her being promoted to Lieutenant JG in the SIGINT Office (Signals Intelligence Section) where she was responsible for deep space monitoring and analysis of signals from across the federation. She was part of the team that detected the second Borg incursion into the federation in 2373 which allowed the federation fleet to gather in sufficient numbers leading to the destruction of the cube in the Battle of Sector 001. Following the formation of the Fourth Fleet, she was reassigned from Star fleet HQ to the intelligence division in the Fourth Fleet. With the outbreak of the Dominion war, her superiors felt she needed to gain some experience aboard starships after working with several POWs.

USS Dawnbringer (2373 – 2374)

She was assigned to the USS Dawnbringer, a Sabre class escort commissioned in 2371, as their intelligence officer. Due to the speed and small size of the vessel they were assigned as a forward scout with the goal of slipping past dominion lines to get as much information as possible. This led to the capture of several middle valued POWs being captured when the Dawnbringer was able to catch enemy ships and outposts off guard. The deployment was short as after 4 successful intelligence-gathering missions the Dawnbriger was ambushed by a wing of Jem’hadar fighters when returning. The vessel was able to destroy two before escaping but not before sustaining heavy damage and needing in-depth repairs. Following this Riandri was promoted to full Lieutenant and reassigned.

USS Denver (2374 – Current)

Following her work on the USS Dawnbringer and its withdrawal from combat for repair, she was reassigned to the USS Denver as one of their Intelligence Officers. She arrived onboard the ship and was thrown right into the deep end as the vessel had just survived a Dominion ambush and she was set to work minutes after arriving on board.

• See USS Denver for Missions and Stories

Following the Battle of Betazed she took over as acting XO for the Denver and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander.