Oddas Aria
| Embassy/USS Thunder-A | ||||||||||||||||
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| Oddas Aria | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Chief Engineer | |||||||||||||||
| Rank | Lieutenant Commander | |||||||||||||||
| Species | Bajoran | |||||||||||||||
| Gender | Female | |||||||||||||||
| DOB | 237003.25 | |||||||||||||||
| Age | 31 | |||||||||||||||
| Birthplace | Hathon, Bajor | |||||||||||||||
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Lieutenant Commander Oddas Aria is currently serving as the Chief Engineering Officer at the Embassy and the USS Thunder-A.
Appearance
Physical
- Height: 1.67M
- Hair: Blonde, Shoulder Length
- Eyes: Brown
Clothing
No matter what she is wearing she continues to wear her Grandmother's blue and silver earring on her right ear.
She has also taken to wearing a watch given to her by Irina on her left wrist.
On Duty
Aria takes great pride in her uniform and tries to wear it with distinction. She passed every uniform inspection as a cadet and continues to hold herself to the same exacting standards now that she is in the field.
Off Duty
Aria wears clothing that is comfortable, but feminine. Skirts with jackets and sensible shoes in a variety of colors. Her clothes tend to have pockets where she keeps a PADD or two so she can pull out a book or other work for when she gets bored.
Background
Aria was born on Bajor in the city of Hathon. She grew up hearing stories of how her extended family were executed by Gul Pirak during for not showing loyalty. Growing up she continued to hear more and more stories from friends and remaining family of heroes, ordinary people who fought for the survival of her planet. Her father and mother both were members of the Resistance and, later, the Bajoran Militia. It was assumed Aria would follow their footsteps.
Aria was always interested in mechanics, math, and engineering, to the annoyance of her parents who were expert marksmen, logisticians, strategists, and could not understand Engineering as anything more than a 'maintenance' function. Aria's interest was brought to a head at the age of 10 when she found a Replicator that seemed beyond repair, and everyone told her it never would be.
Aria lived in a neighborhood where people did not worry about where their next meal came from, their replicators were working and fresh food was available as needed. When Aria looked around she realized there were boroughs in her own city where people still went hungry and went without. She realized an easy way to help would be to begin repairing things, starting with the scavenged replicator. Despite her family's insistence it could not be done she searched high and low for replicator parts, taught herself how the machine should operate, and eventually got it functional well enough to feed one of the poorer areas of the city for three years before it eventually had to be replaced.
The people around her, most of her classmates, friends, and all of her family, were interested in picking up phasers so they could go and become 'Heros of the Resistance', but during her scavenging efforts she met the Resistance's engineers who kept the ships running, their weapons repaired, and kept a low profile. It was during this time she began to realize there more than one way to serve a cause. The same engineers spoke of engineering works helping entire planets and species. They spoke of learning things to help the entire galaxy, and the older ones spoke as if Starfleet was the way to help as many people as possible for as little effort expended.
When Aria decided to break the family tradition and join Starfleet it was not a popular choice in the Oddas house. Aria tried to explain it in Engineering terms: do the most good for the most people with the least effort. As she was leaving her parents insisted she not come back, her sister told her to never come home in a Starfleet uniform.
As an adult Aria will admit she was not an easy child to parent. She would often disappear for a day or more at a time scavenging for parts for one project or another and would often discard rules she felt served no purpose. She often would make little to no attempt to try and reconcile with her parents after such infractions, leaving her parents feeling helpless. She never considered herself a rebel, but never understood the need to conform to what others were doing, especially when what they are doing was dumb.
Family
The Oddas family is of the ancient D'jarra, the Va'tello, consisting of Sailors, Pilots, and similar professions.
Parents:
- Oddas Gura, Father
- Often described as more at home with the higher ranks of military and intelligence officers. Behind his back he is sometimes called the politician's soldier, something he regrets and sometimes tries to make up for by being 'more soldier than soldier'.
- General Oddas Umize, Mother
- A front-line solder through and through. She never wanted Federation membership for Bajor and has earned the respect of every soldier around her.
Siblings:
- Oddas Ushow, Older Sister
Other Important Relationships
- Ijo Alea
- A girlfriend, Bajoran, who had planned to attend Starfleet at the same time as Aria. During a hike the year before they were scheduled to leave for the academy Alea as crushed under a rock slide during a hike. Aria's family had hoped, not secretly, that Ijo's death would weaken Aria's desire to go to Starfleet, but the opposite happened. Alea had planned to go to the academy alongside Aria and unbeknownst to Aria's parents the couple had exchanged betrothal bracelets in the days leading up to Ijo's death. When her parents pressured to stay on Bajor after the death, Aria realized that her desire to go was stronger than ever.
- Ijo Cada
- The mother of Ijo Alea, and someone who had stepped in as sort of a 'surrogate' mother figure to Aria after the death of Alea. Aria calls her 'Mother Cada' and is more likely to write her or visit her when thinking of home.
- Cole Melchor
- One of the few close friends made during her years at the academy due to her studies. Cole had never been off Earth before joining the academy. Theirs is a true friendship despite being different species, world experiences, study disciplines. He teases her about being stuck in books and engines, she teases him about only pushing buttons. They stay in touch as often as they can.
- Irina Pavlova
- Irina and Aria began at their Commanding Officer's wedding. Neither expected the relationship to occur or was looking for any sort of romantic situation, but it happened. Since the beginning their feelings have gotten stronger and Aria is constantly surprised when she finds new feelings for Irina and those are reciprocated.
- Roshanara Rahman
- An Engineer, and Aria's final exam proctor, the two have remained in contact since Aria's graduation. Aria considers Dr. Rahman a friend and mentor, someone who she can send ideas to no matter how crazy they are without them getting ignored. Dr. Rahman serves as an inspiration for Aria.
Personality
Aria is driven to success, but she is not overtly aggressive. When studying a problem her eyes light up as if she is considering all ramifications. She is extremely loyal to a close knit group of friends. The quickest way to her her heart is through a puzzle, sometimes literally.
People describe her as more likely to be interested in the others around her, some engineering puzzle, or just some challenge recently faced. She will talk about herself, if people pry, but she is almost always embarrassed to do so. She is kind and caring, hopeful for the future, and brave even if she doesn't always show it immediately.
When on Bajor she mostly relied on friends to get her 'out of the house', but with the death of Alea and going to the academy, she became more reclusive. She is awkward around people, sometimes speaks before thinking fully and often babbles when nervous. She will socialize when pushed, either by friends or duty, but will not generally go out of her way to do so on her own.
Does not typically like the outdoors, but will make exceptions for places like junkyards and other places she can go to scrounge for parts.
Religion
An apparent contradiction to her dedication to engineering is her dedication to the Prophets of Bajor. In her quarters, wherever those may be, will be a small table dedicated for prayer to the Prophets . Despite her falling out with her parents and sister she still prays for the Prophets to guide them, to watch over them, and for their eventual reconciliation.
Quarters
Bajor Sailing Ship
Betrothal Bracelets
Janirian Puzzle Box
While not messy, some would consider her quarters cluttered. Aria has picked up a variety of tchotchkes, gadgets, and other seemingly useless flotsam. Some she keeps as an example of things to do, some has dubious sentimental value, and others keeps as inspiration for solutions to various engineering problems.
In addition to the normal living areas she tends to have a cluttered workbench with one or more side projects in various states of completion. At the moment the bench contains the plans and model of a streamlined Bajoran Light Sailer and several parts from an antique motorcycle belonging to Irina Pavlova.
A spot of prominence is a Janirian Puzzle box given to her by Ijo Alea, never solved by another soul, containing the set of betrothal bracelets exchanged by Aria and Alea. Alongside the box is a Bajoran Shrine where she regularly prays.
Career History
Academic History
Aria entered Starfleet on 239008.15 and graduated 230405.05, majoring in Engineering. While there she was drawn to all things dealing with Propulsion systems, and Subspace Theory. Along the way towards graduation she found herself also drawn towards pure Mathematics and Programming as each seemed to be required to solve harder problems.
Aria was once ordered to retake ENG121: Colossal Failures in Engineering, when she submitted a paper during a seminar (ENGSEM: Subspace Telemetry and Improvements over the Past Century) in which she argued the Argus Array could be upgraded to outperform newer equipment. She fought the decision and ultimately prevailed, but the visiting professor never accepted her premise or conclusions.
- Specializations
- Propulsion Systems
- Programming
- Minors
- Operations
- Mathematics
Postings
Aria was first posted to the Embassy on Duronis II Stardate 239305.03 and found herself taking charge of the Engineering Department. With no time to get acquainted with her new staff or surroundings she was immediately sent out on her first mission, finding herself aboard a Betazoid freighter in need of being brought out of warp with a comatose crew and deadly Terran-Betzoid telepathic cats.
Due to her handling of the mission she was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade and assumed an acting role of Chief Engineer and during the subsequent invasion of Embassy by Zalkonian and Romulan Empire forces, bringing the USS Bronwyn into battle ready shape in order to defend the embassy. During the battle and the aftermath she earned a subsequent promotion to Full Lieutenant and the post of Chief Engineer.
During following missions she proved herself capable of keeping the Embassy engineering systems running, improved, and finding time to repair and maintain both the Bronwyn and Thunder. This work, as well as research and other activities with various members of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers earned her a promotion to Lieutenant Commander on 239402.09.
Other Important Events
Loss of Arm
On Stardate 239403.13 Aria was in the Typhon Expanse assisting in the testing of the new TSD. During the mission her ship and crew came under attack by several Borg drones and during the ensuing confrontation Aria was shot in the arm while protecting a Laudean scientist. The shot caused extensive damage to her right arm and the normal course of treatment would have been the replacement of her right arm and shoulder. Due to a rare genetic marker in her body she is unable to accept cloned tissue and she was fitted with a prosthetic by Dr Boris Hendon. As of the current stardate faux skin and other aesthetics have not been fitted over the prosthetic.
The confrontation and subsequent replacement has reminded Aria of the assimilation process, which causes her problems.
Service History
| Service History | ||||
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| Insignia | Rank | Dates | Posting | Assignment |
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Cadet First Class | 239305.03 | Graduated Starfleet Academy | Engineering |
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Ensign | 239305.03 | Embassy/USS Thunder-A | Engineering Officer |
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Lieutenant (JG) | 239306.28 - 239309.04 | Embassy/USS Thunder-A | Engineering Officer |
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Lieutenant | 239309.04 - 239402.09 | Embassy/USS Thunder-A | Chief Engineer |
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Lieutenant Commander | 239402.09 - Present | Embassy/USS Thunder-A | Chief Engineer |
Awards & Service Ribbons
- For award descriptions, see: Awards and Service Ribbons
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Publications
- Oddas A. Vulnerability of Veliko Memory Sentinels on Betazoid Freighters. JSCE, 2393; 23(2).
SIM Archive
- Be My Friend (239305)
- The USS Thunder-A tries to stop a runnaway freighter from crashing on Duronis II and the Embassy 'Shadow Team' try to uncover a mole at the Embassy who has been feeding intel to the Orion Syndicate.
- Crises of Identity (239307)
- The Crew of the Embassy on Duronis II uncovers and Orion plot that would destablize the beta quadrant and works to put a stop to it.
- Turner-Waltas Wedding (239309)
- Toni Turner weds Tyr Waltas in huge celebration on Duonis II with attendees from all over the galaxy.
- Family Troubles (239312)
- Captain Waltas' son uses his telepathic abilities to take control over Toni to exact revenge.
NPC Listing · Embassy/USS Thor Crew Manifest · Crew History
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