T'Rai

T’Rai was born in the suburbs of Jaleyl on Vulcan in 2369 to a surgical nurse and a therapist. Her father was killed in a shuttlecraft accident while enroute to visit a patient at a mental hospital when she was only six, leaving T’Rai to largely be raised by her now-single mother.

Thanks to her hometown’s proximity to the Varoth Sea, T’Rai often entertained herself by walking along the beach and collecting shells and remains of whatever life forms happened to wash ashore. She would frequently bring these “samples” with her to the Learning Center to ask her instructors to help analyze them, though this was put to a stop when she brought and accidentally released a pair of k’karee vipers into the skill domes. This would be only the beginning of a pattern of behavior that would often see T’Rai find herself subject to disciplinary action due to the obsessive interests, which created sensations of alienation within the young Vulcan that led to floundering academic performance.

Before T’Rai’s grades could too negatively affect her future, one of her instructors, a former Starfleet science officer named Sorath, decided to have an “intervention” of sorts and introduce her to the possibility of a future at Starfleet Academy, as long as she could get her grades up. T’Rai’s interest was piqued, and after learning about Starfleet’s planetary surveying activities, she dedicated herself 100% to getting accepted into the Academy. While her grades in liberal arts and physical sciences never reached truly exceptional levels, they were able to be raised high enough that her stellar performance in life sciences could outweigh them, and after her 18th Birthday, she set out for San Francisco.

As with her primary education, T’Rai made it abundantly clear that her mission was to be a biologist on a planetary surveyor and nothing more, hyper-focusing to such a degree that some of her superiors worried that it may effect her eligibility for future promotions. T’Rai ignored much of these worries, as she had no desire to advance her career beyond a position where she could peacefully study animals. Upon graduation in 2391 with a degree in xenobiology, T’Rai got exactly what she wanted: an assignment of junior science officer on the Nova-class surveyor USS Gregor Mendel.

Shortly after beginning her work on the Mendel, T’Rai became close friends with a coworker named Vic Travers, who shared her passion for exotic life. The two would often work as partners on expeditions, and they were responsible for the discovery and taxonomical classification of dozens of alien animals. Her work quickly caught the attention of her superiors, and she was promoted to LTJG in 2393.

Eventually, her friend Travers would move on to bigger and better things, receiving promotion to full Lieutenant and a posting as Chief Xenobiologist on a California-class. T’Rai, meanwhile, was more than happy to stay where she was, even if it meant not receiving a promotion. Travers’ role on the team was replaced by a Horta named Chakkan, who became T’Rai’s personal assistant and eventually closest friend. T’Rai became the Mendel’s Chief Xenobiologist in 2398, but was not given a promotion to full Lieutenant thanks to her personal eccentricities.

After two years in this position and over eight as a LTGJ, Starfleet Science Command was eager to promote a very skilled xenobiologist who had personally catalogued over three hundred previously unknown species, but others were reluctant to promote T’Rai beyond her abilities. Eventually, a compromise was chosen: T’Rai would be promoted to Lieutenant and stationed as a Chief Science Officer at the newly-established Outpost Houtman, where her eccentricities would cause few problems and her skills could truly shine. T’Rai accepted on the condition that her friend Chakkan be allowed to accompany her as her assistant.