Elena Reis

— Early Life —

While it isn’t discussed often, or common knowledge, Elena’s birth was the result of an instance of rape. This caused a lot of early issues that Elodia simply did not reveal to the girl until much later in life. The first was the attempt by her biological father to get rid of her. However, Elodia kept her safe, at great danger to herself, though she admitted it was for selfish reasons later in life. As long as Elena was safe, so was she. When the two were eventually rescued, Elena was nearly two years old. She was born in 2366 by best estimate, but the exact day is unknown.

Elodia and Elena were rescued from a smuggling vessel that tried to break orbit in the Quirinus Sector after being stopped by the USS Kopesh, a Saber Class on patrol. After it refused to halt, and made a jump to warp, the Kopesh pursued. The ship, operating under the name Kit Fox, was disabled. Two away teams were beamed over, and a firefight followed, leaving a number of crewmen wounded. Lieutenant Commander Sofia Parish stumbled upon a hidden compartment, where Elodia had been hidden, along with a young child – both malnourished and mistreated. This rescue took place on August 14th, 2368. Elena was granted her citizenship in the United Federation of Planets nearly a week later, on August 20th, at Starbase 29.

— Childhood —

After their rescue, Elodia and Elena spent some time on Starbase 29 recovering from their ordeals, and finding a place to stay. During this, not a lot happened. There was quite a bit of paper work to do, as Elodia had been missing for some time and Elena had not been in the Federation when born. So, for a few months, the two lived on the Starbase and received the care they needed. A few planets were offered up as options, but places like Coridan and Rigel. A few argued quite heavily for these areas, as they would likely be more willing to accommodate a part Orion. However, Elodia was worried about staying at the border, and thus a more inward planet was chosen.

The two eventually moved to the Kilana Colony, a small agricultural and mining colony near the Betazed System. They were successfully settled in 2369, in a small town called Ayalia, named after the ship that had founded it. The two struggled to acclimate those first few months, but in late 2370, Elena had begun schooling and Elodia had found work. Elena, who couldn’t remember the circumstance of her birth or early life, was a rather well-adjusted child at this time. She was friendly, outgoing, and curious. This caught the attention of one of her classmates, Ashley Reis.

As Ashley and Elena grew up together, their parents also became friends. While the children did not know it, their parents had grown quite fond of one another, and had begun dating. Elodia eventually married Moises Reis, and the family became a family of four. Elena and Elodia had found a place for themselves on this little colony. They couldn’t have hoped for more. Moises became a father to Elena, and Ashley became her brother. In these years, she only really remembered good times. Of course, there were bad things that happened, but even when they did, she had a family to come home too.

— The Dominion Wars —

In 2373, the Dominion Wars began. At the time, Ashley and Elena were both seven years old. Elena remembered the change in tone, but was too young to really understand what was going on. Being relatively deep in Federation Space, though, the colony was expected to be safe. Elena would watch the news with her parents at night, and there wasn’t any real worry about what was going on in the larger world.

In 2374, though, she began to have a bit of trouble at school. One of the other students had begun to pick on her for her species. Mostly, this was the students a bit older than her, and she was bullied somewhat. Unfortunately, she was afraid to tell this to her parents, and chose to hide out her room at home. This habit ended up separating her from her family at the worst possible time. During the major offensive against Betazed by the Dominion, the small colony found itself in the path of conflict. A small invading force touched down on the planet shortly after signal had been lost with Betazed.

Due to the colonies resource yield, it was occupied and used to bolster the supplies of the Dominion during their occupation of Betazed and in battles in nearby regions. During this time, many of the colonists were put to work in the mines, or kept under rather intense watch. Once the Resistance on Betazed began fighting, there were murmurs of resistance on the colony, and as such, Betazoids were quickly found to be hostile to the Dominion, and rounded up. Moises, along with a number of other colonists, began to hide and protect the Betazoids among them. The Jem’Hadar did not take kindly to this affront, and the city was stormed one night to find any hidden Betazoids. Elena and her family were one home that attacked. Moises bought them, and the Betazoids they had harbored, time to escape by fighting the squad of Jem’Hadar. It was not a contest that could be won, and Moises was killed, but the group did escape from the city. The Dominion War would end not long after this.

— Middle Years —

After the Dominion War, there was an adjustment period to say the least. She had lost friends, and a father, and her brother had changed for the worse. Then, in early 2377, his birth mother was finally able to secure the transports to bring him back home to the Sol System. She was suddenly alone again, with just her mother. That had never been a particularly calm relationship, but it got much worse after the two were on their own for the second time. Elodia tried to do well for her daughter, but they struggled quite a lot, and as Elena began to grow up, more problems began to arise.

Elodia was made very temperamental by Elena’s pheromones when they first arrived, and neither really expected problems of the sort. For a time, Elodia was unfortunately very honest with her daughter, saying things that the young girl was not prepared for, and it caused her to withdraw from her mother and school quite heavily. At school, this just made her an easier target, and one fellow student, in 2378 (when Elena was age 12), was affected poorly by her pheromones and a general dislike of her, and the two got into a fight. Elena was hurt, but more emotionally than physically. It began a cycle though, and while the realization of what had happened was able to help Elodia and Elena mend their relationship.

— Teenage Years —

At age 15, in 2381, Elena was removed from public schools. After a series of fights with girls in her class, and a number of incidents with boys, she was deemed unable to control her emotions and a danger to the others in the school. She was given a private tutor, who was removed from the position shortly after. She was placed in a private school that specialized in troublesome youths. This went predictably, unfortunately.

At 16, in 2382, Elena was arrested by Federation Police after stealing a shuttle from a Starfleet Officer. She was caught by a retired Starfleet Fighter Pilot Commander Gabriel Ely, who described her as “a hell of a blockade runner”. Lieutenant Commander Sophie Parish was able to secure funding for counsel and get the girl out of a holding cell. Elena was charged with reckless endangerment, operating a shuttle without certification, and misuse of Federation Property, but the other charges were dropped and redacted from her record after investigation into the incident. She spent a season in a Federation Youth Detention Facility on Betazed, before being released on house arrest.

In this time, though, she was followed very closely by the Federation. Her studies were monitored, and she was given a tutor through the Detention Program, who noticed that she was behind and troubled, but intelligent. By seventeen she was caught up, and even excelling, and she decided that if she couldn’t fly without Starfleet, then she would join Starfleet. For a year, she fought for acceptance in Starfleet, which was challenging due to her criminal record. However, due to her scores at the end of her school year, and personal recommendations from Parish, Ely, her Tutor, and the Judge that prosecuted her case, she was given a probationary acceptance.

— Starfleet Academy —

Elena enrolled in Starfleet Academy in 2384. She would become a pilot, or that was her plan. Early on she had trouble with a few students. Being on Probation, she was almost expelled in her first year after a fight with another student. However, it was discovered that she fought solely defensively, weaving in and out of the other student’s attacks without ever throwing a punch (or in her case, kick). When asked why she didn’t defend herself by fighting back, she simply said she wanted to fly – and worried that even one hit might get her expelled. When Elena would take on Tactical in addition to Piloting, this would become a common sparring occurrence, with martial artists in the Tactical and Security branches just trying to hit her.

By 2385, Elena had found herself unexpectedly accepted by her classmates. This gave her a burst of energy she hadn’t expected, and she proved herself over and over again in the theory classes she took, well on her way to being one of the top in her class. It was also this year in which she chose to work on a dual specialization, working towards her credentials as both a Flight Officer and a Tactical Officer.

In 2386, she took the Kobayashi Maru for the first time. She, like so many students, did not do terribly well. She would go on to try a second and third time. On her second attempt she fared somewhat better, but still did not pass the test to the satisfaction of her instructors. It was her third test that she was able to earn her marks. She did so in a way marked as “wildly inappropriate” and “disgraceful” but “surprisingly in line with every tenet defined [by the test]” by her instructors.

After this, her Academy career was rather lackluster. She did well, and likely would have been very high within her class rankings, but minor issues and conduct seemed to plague her. Light faults in form in flying, for instance, or exceeding safe speeds. Still, her instructors and commanders in her cadet cruise spoke very highly of her, and after her graduation she didn’t have to wait long for an assignment. During the small wait, though, she did get the chance to spend some time with her mother – something she hadn’t done in a few years.

Her time aboard the USS Tornado was not a long one, and while she tried to do her best and handle herself well. She served as Tactical Officer for a time, before two rapid departures made her the Acting Chief. And with a shake up in the Command Crew she ended up being a sort of interim Second Officer. Neither were things she was prepared for, and with the conflict with the Sovereignty spiraling, she could only do her best – though she’ll always doubt it was enough. After the Tornado’s last mission, she was removed from duty and placed on Administrative Leave for a time, and once she was able, she reapplied for any position that would have her.