Ozu Saya - reporting for duty (15 December 2017)

[Ozu Saya]

Character Details

Character Name: Ozu Saya (follows Bajoran naming practices)
Character Age: 20
Character DOB: 17 July 2375
Character Image:
Character Species: Bajoran and Vulcan
Gender: Female
Character Family: Parents: Ozu Taydo and T'Lira
Character Bio:
Ozu Saya was born on 17 July 2375 to Ozu Taydo, a Bajoran, and T'Lira, a Vulcan. They met during the Dominion War and married soon after. Taydo had been a young Resistance fighter turned jewelry-maker after the Occupation. When the Dominion War started, he helped out by secretly shuttling supplies between the Federation and its allies while attending trade shows and selling his wares.

He met T'Lira on one such trip to Aldebaran where she was attending the music academy. Her parents did not support this decision, preferring that she attend the Vulcan Science Academy, or even Starfleet Academy. They considered a career in music to be frivolous. She also abandoned her intended mate, a much more egregious sin as far as her parents were concerned.

The night Saya's parents met, T'Lira had reluctantly joined some of her classmates at a bar to celebrate the start of their final year. Taydo was sitting at a table near the group of music students when a fight began nearby. One of the combatants was going to fall on top of T'Lira, but Taydo saw and quickly pulled her out of the way. They ended up talking for the rest of the night before Taydo had to leave again.

He began visiting T'Lira every chance he could throughout her last year. She was hesitant to pursue a relationship with him, having hope that she would be able to reconcile with her parents at some point. She feared that becoming involved with someone who was not Vulcan would be more than they could forgive.

When T'Lira graduated and gave her final performance, Taydo was in the audience and her most enthusiastic supporter. Unbeknownst to T'Lira, her parents were also in the audience and they had noticed the enthusiastic young Bajoran. T'Lira found the three of them talking together when she came down from the stage. Taydo was praising T'Lira's music skills and making his case for marrying her.

While not convinced that their daughter was making the right choice, T'Lira's parents did officially dissolve her engagement when they returned to Vulcan. They were even less convinced when she started using her new concert career to help her new husband with his smuggling. They were able to help a number of unfortunate, small planets by arranging concerts and craft shows and bringing needed medical and food supplies.

After a couple of years, they realized they would probably not be able to conceive a child without medical intervention, so they took some time to visit a geneticist. After a small amount of genetic modification, the doctor was able to implant a fertilized egg. They stayed until Saya was born, the doctor wanting to ensure nothing went wrong - Bajoran and Vulcan DNA blend only reluctantly.

Saya shares many characteristics of both her races. She has slightly pointed ears and slanted eyebrows and small ridges on her nose. She is 5'5" and has short, almost-black hair (not as severe as most Vulcans) and violet eyes. She wears a Bajoran earring (made by her father, with a small IDIC symbol to represent both her cultures). She made the choice to wear it in her left ear, recognizing that she could never fully be part of the culture.

Her internal physiology is mostly VulcanÁ¢â,¬"-blood and arrangement of internal organs. Her body temperature is higher than a Bajoran's but not as high as a Vulcan's. She cannot tolerate the heat or thin air of Vulcan as well as a full Vulcan can. She lacks the increased lung capacity and internal eyelids. She has mild touch-telepathy, really more empathy, but can't perform a mind-meld.

As she grew, Saya traveled with her parents, occasionally singing with her mother and learning to make jewelry with her father. She found, while proficient, she didn't really enjoy either. She did take up the cello and enjoyed playing it, but rarely for an audience.

When Saya was ten, they made one trip to visit her mother's parents on Vulcan. It did not go well. Most Vulcans were not sure what to make of her. The children were the worst. Saya was raised sharing the beliefs and behavior of both of her parents' cultures, and her control over her emotions was not as good as most Vulcan children's.

As Vulcan is generally a very safe place, Saya was allowed to go about alone, as long as she stayed within a given radius and kept a communicator on her. She was exploring an area with some shows when she noticed a domesticated Earth puppy. A human male held it on a leash, but it was doing its own exploring while the man spoke with a vendor. The puppy had sniffed out the den of a small rodent, but when it stuck its head inside the den, it got a nip that sent it reeling backwards head over feet. Saya burst out laughing, not realizing anyone was close enough to observe her.

A voice spoke behind her. Á¢â,¬ËœThe half-breed's mother is doing a poor job of teaching it appropriate behavior. But then, she does not know how to behave herself. She broke her engagement with my mother's brother in favor of that Bajoran.'

Saya turned, realizing this was not going to be pleasant, to see a young Vulcan male, looking about her own age, surrounded by several other young Vulcans. In her most logical voice, Saya responded, Á¢â,¬ËœI am acting in accordance with what my parents have taught me - that all beings have value, and I have the right to choose the degree to which I follow any path. I maintain Vulcan control most of the time, but I chose to allow myself a small emotional reaction to a humorous situation. In addition, is it not antithetical to the Vulcan philosophy of Kol-Ut-Shan (IDIC) to mock a person for their heritage? Perhaps I should inform your parents that you need to return to primary school to review those principles.'

The boy left without saying anything else. That evening, when Saya relayed the incident to her parents, T'Lira wanted to speak to the boy's mother, but her father convinced her that it would do no good to contact the family and give them more reason to dislike them. That was the end of that trip and Saya did not return to Vulcan until she was an adult.

The family continued to travel and Saya began taking an interest in learning about engineering. She began tinkering with the engines of her father's ship, quickly learning its quirks and devising ways to make it run better. She had decided to attend Starfleet Academy.

When Saya was 17, they were on Trill for a concert when her life changed forever. One evening, after they had retired (Saya had her own quarters next door to her parents), someone entered her parents' quarters and murdered them. Saya found them the next morning. The Trill authorities investigated, but never found anything useful. Saya informed her mother's family of her death, but proceeded to Earth in her father's ship, where she decided to attend the Starfleet Technical Services Academy rather than taking the Academy entrance exam.

After arriving on Mars, Saya threw herself into her classes, taking several more than strictly necessary, but not always making it to class on time. She was struggling more with her emotions, having difficulty meditating or sleeping. She did not play her cello or listen to music and she could often be seen rubbing the IDIC on her earring. It took her some time to realize that she was experiencing grief and didn't know how to handle it. Her roommate reported to the administration that she was crying at night and having nightmares, so she was sent to a Starfleet counselor. The counselor referred her to a Vulcan who was able to help her improve meditation techniques. Between the two, Saya slowly worked through her grief and was better able to function, but still struggled at times.

Your Details

Previous Role-Playing Experience: Tabletop D&D - 3.4, 4.0, 5E; D20 Modern; Star Trek RPG - Slightly pre-TNG playing a race from the book Uhura's Song (the GM and I both read the book and gleaned all the info we could about the race, then built it in-game based on a similar species); just recently started with online RPG, so I'm still getting used to it. I enjoy writing backstories for my characters and sometimes in-game correspondence and journals.
Department Preference: Engineering
Secondary Department Preference: Operations
Commissioned, Enlisted or Civilian: Enlisted

Sample post:
Saya was leaving the classroom after her last exam when her human roommate, Casey, stepped right in front of her. She pulled up short before hitting Casey head-on and looked at her in surprise.
'Come out with us. We're celebrating! Me and a few of mates are going to get drunk.' Casey grinned as she said, 'I know, I know. You don't get drunk. You can still come have fun with us.'

Saya sighed. She'd much prefer to go back to their room and catch up on sleep. She'd studied obsessively for all of her final exams and was exhausted.

"I will go for one drink. Then I am going to sleep. I leave early tomorrow for Vulcan.'

Additional information: Overall, Saya is pretty average. She's a good engineer, but works best when given a list of tasks to accomplish and allowed to do them on her own. She is occasionally late because of not sleeping well. She looks a little sad most of the time, but will occasionally laugh or smile if something amuses her. Even she doesn't know most of the time what she might find amusing.

How did you find Shadow Fleet? Searching for online RPGs

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

Good afternoon Ms. Saya,

This is a wonderful application. I approve it.

How would you like to join the USS Athena? They need an engineer.

If this is agreeable, please send a private message to James Carter and/or Naira via the website OR log onto our Skype and do so there. You can add me on there and I'll get you started: spiritsrhigh.

Welcome to Shadow Fleet!

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

Also: we are going down for site maintenance SOON! Please hit me up via Skype.

[Jada]

Welcome to the fleet!

I'm the Enlisted Persons Course (EPC) instructor. Because you're new here, you are required to pass the EPC to demonstrate your Trek knowledge, RP skills, and understanding of posting requirements. It helps you get familiar with Shadow Fleet style and be eligible for promotions, and gives you something to do until you get active in a game. It's pretty simple, you can write what you like for it within the prompts, and work at your own pace, but it's better to do it quickly.

Your Level One EPC starts here:
http://www.shadowfleet.org/forum/index.php?topic=8752.0