Rio Canção

Political Information

• Affiliation: Starfleet, United Federation of Planets

Family

• Mother: Aimeian (deceased)
• Father: Rorilian (deceased)
• Husband: Jamiest (deceased)
• Husband: Santiago Canção (deceased)

Biography

Early Life

Rio was born on an unknown world in the Delta Quadrant. Her parents were merchants that visited a range of worlds, and this was the life she would know growing up as a child. She never visited her homeworld, El-Auria, but heard many stories about it from her parents. By the time she was in her twenties, she was helping her parents onboard their vessel and knew it like the back of her hand. Her father, an engineer by training, taught her everything she needed to know about engineering. She became a good pilot, thanks to her mother sharing the tricks she had learnt over the years. By the time she was in her thirties, she was flying their vessel and as their business became profitable that they were able to trade their vessel in for an upgrade. They were also able to bring in more crew, other El-Aurians who were interested in not just trading opportunities but exploring the galaxy. Joining them was a young archaeologist, Jamiest, a fellow El-Aurian who exposed Rio to the wonders of historical findings and ancient civilisations. Though she was old enough to make her own choices, with her parents’ blessings, she left their ship with her own craft and with Jamiest to explore the galaxy to find out what they can about ancient civilisations, with one race in mind: the Iconians.

In 2283, the two had married but were on their way to rendezvous with her parents’ ship when they found it under attack by the Borg. Attempting to flee the scene, her vessel was attacked, and in the middle of implementing their escape, Jamiest was injured while trying to restart their warp core. He was successful and got them out of harm’s way, but died from radiation poisoning sometime later. Now without anyone, she piloted her vessel and joined a caravan of escaping refugee ships. A decade later, they made their way into the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. Rescued by Starfleet in 2293, the refugees were on their way to Earth on board the SS Lakul. She was one of the forty-seven individuals saved by the USS Enterprise-B when their ship got trapped in the Nexus. She experienced being in the Nexus, and for a moment, she found herself back with Jamiest and her parents before being pulled away from it. This was quite a traumatic experience for her, one that would fill her nightmares for many years to come.

Eventually, she became a Federation citizen and lived on Earth. She attended a university to get a degree before earning a doctorate in archaeology. Though she started to join various digs across the Federation, she eventually decided to join Starfleet. She passed the entrance exam without any issues and was offered the chance to go through a fast-track course to gain her commission, but she politely declined.

Starfleet Career

Starfleet Academy

Joining Starfleet at the height of the golden era of exploration, Rio whizzed through the four years at the academy. While there, she studied the fields of astronomy and cosmology. Being a mature student had its bonuses, but Rio found herself not always involved in the social aspect. Nevertheless, this did not stop her from trying as well as working hard. She graduated in 2308 and was eager to start her long career.

USS Cornwall (NCC-2017)

Assigned to the USS Cornwall, an Excelsior-class starship, Rio would serve on it until 2345. Initially, she started as the ship’s archaeology and anthropology officer. Rarely did she find herself involved in the ship’s primary mission, but when they were exploring and came across a new civilisation, she was involved in studying it. While on the Cornwall, she became romantically involved with one of the ship’s doctors, Santiago Canção. They married in 2321, a year after she was made a lieutenant commander and second officer. Rising through the ranks at a steady pace, Rio finished her time on the Cornwall as its Executive Officer in 2345 when she was offered command of a brand new ship. Santiago agreed to leave with her and join her as her new chief medical officer.

USS Harmony (NCC-2993)

The Harmony was a Constellation-class ship and was launched from the shipyards in orbit of Andoria. Undertaking deep space exploration assignments and patrol border duties, Rio came into her own as one of Starfleet’s many finest captains. Her career became distinguished by the ship’s involvement in helping the Klingon outpost on Khitomer after the attack by the Romulans in 2346. The Harmony had remained in the system to help those who were trapped under collapsed buildings; even when Klingon Defence Forces arrived and insisted the Harmony left the system (along with other Federation ships), Rio was able to convince them to give them another day to help. The following year, she commanded the Harmony into battle against a Cardassian warship while on their way to Setlik III. Though the ship was victorious in the battle, their delay to Setlik was one of the causing factors towards the Setlik III massacre. The Harmony remained in the Setlik system for some time to provide aid and prevent a second attack by the Cardassians.

USS Astrid (NCC-26538)

Remaining on the Harmony for another few more years until 2351, Starfleet decided to reassign Rio to another new ship, the Ambassador-class ship USS Astrid. The Astrid was sent to patrol the Alpha Quadrant frontier on the edge of Federation space. Her husband, Santiago, was assigned to a starbase near the Tholian border. Two years later, he sadly died when the starbase was attacked by the Tholians. The Astrid was too far away to help, and the news of the attack reached Rio several days later. Devastated at the news, she took a six-month leave of absence. She eventually returned, determined to do her best in her career to honour her husband. Several years later, the Astrid was ordered to defend Federation territory along the border with the Talarian Republic. The ship was heavily damaged and the crew lost many souls when the ship attempted to defend the Galen colony. The sacrifice of so many enrages Rio, who was also injured during the conflict. The ship was towed back to the nearest starbase for extensive repairs while the crew recuperate from the battle.

Rio would remain in command of the Astrid until Starfleet decided to decommission her after twenty-one years of service. However, a few weeks before she was meant to be scrapped, the vessel was assigned to the fleet to defend the Federation against the second Borg incursion in 2372. Though her return home was meant to be a celebration, the vessel engaged the Borg cube with the rest of Admiral Hayes’ task force. Determined not to let the Borg do what they did to her race, Rio was firm with her convictions during the battle. Sadly though, the ship acquired too much damage, and just as the Borg approached Earth, Rio ordered her crew to abandon the ship after setting the auto-pilot to ram the enemy vessel. The Astrid went out in a ball flame as it caused massive damage to the exterior hull of the Cube. Rio and her senior staff would end up watching from escape pods the moment the cube was destroyed after the arrival of the Enterprise-E.

USS Oxford (NCC-73817)

Not wanting to stop, Rio agreed to take command of the Sovereign-class starship, USS Oxford, several months later. The possibility of war looming with the Dominion on the horizon required everyone in Starfleet to become ready for the upcoming conflict. Though the Oxford was kept close to the core territories of the Federation when war was eventually declared, the Oxford was sent to the frontlines and, for the entire duration of the war, finds itself in almost every major battle. The ship endured many losses, but as a captain, Rio became quite the tactician. The Oxford would participate in the final battle against the Dominion and would survive the final assault that forces the Dominion to surrender.

Rio remained captain of the Oxford for another nine years, and after attending the signing ceremony of another world joining the Federation, she decided to leave active starship duty. It was her victory lap and one she was happy to end her time on the Oxford. 

Starfleet Academy

Returning to Starfleet Academy on Earth in 2381 and becoming a professor of archaeology, Rio found her work as a teacher one of the most rewarding in a long time. Not only did she teach archaeology, but she also was engaged in coaching the younger cadets and being responsible for small units during the field training. Up until 2390, she enjoyed her work and found herself catching the eye of other divisions within Starfleet that wanted to use her expertise and experience as a well-decorated officer. When Starfleet Academy was expanding one of its orbital campuses, she was offered the chance to become the head of one of its faculties, which she agreed to. Leaving Earth, she moved to Mellstoxx III, where she led and managed the archaeology department there. While there, she was able to contribute to a number of research articles and be involved in many digs. Something she loved. The break from having so many souls to be responsible for was the fresh start she badly needed.

USS Triton (NCC-80106)

In 2399, Starfleet sent one of her friends, James Preston McCallister, to convince her to return to active starship duty after almost two decades away from the centre seat. He asked if she would take command of his former command, the Luna-class starship USS Triton. Triton had just finished a massive overhaul and needed a new captain as it was preparing to be sent to the Delta Quadrant. Eager to return to her former home territories, Rio didn’t need much convincing from James. She agreed and assumed command of the Triton ahead of it, leaving for the Delta Quadrant. Over the next three years, she enjoyed her time commanding the Triton and its highly diverse crew.

By 2401, the Triton was assigned to the Odyssey Squadron under the leadership of Fleet Captain James McCallister. Happy to be with her friend, Rio was a strong ally for McCallister in the squadron’s early days of development. The squadron was sent off to explore more parts of the Delta Quadrant beyond the Gradin Belt. However, when the ship was ordered back to the Alpha Quadrant to participate in the Frontier Day celebrations, Rio (like every other captain in the squadron) was disappointed with the orders. Upon their return, the Triton was ordered to the Black Cluster, initially to patrol the Kzinti-Federation. This change in location would lead to the Triton and the rest of the squadron being involved in the Dominion Lost Fleet incursion into the Deneb Sector. When the squadron answered a distress call from a Federation colony, Rio would lead her crew to investigate what happened to the colonists when they all disappeared. Though it was originally feared the colonists were the victims of a powerful weapon the Dominion fleet deployed, it would be the Triton that ended up tracking the actual location of the colonists. During a daring away mission, Rio led the away team that boarded a Dominion ship to rescue the colonists; regardless, during the battle, she gave the ship the time it needed to rescue everyone and ended up sacrificing herself.

Her loss hit so many hard, but she ended up saving over a billion souls who would have become prisoners of war if she had not acted when she had. To mark their gratitude and respect, the colonists raised a memorial in her honour.