T'Lar: Difference between revisions

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T'Lar is the youngest of 11 children, conceived after an unexpected Pon Farr on the part of her mother at the age of 85. All of her siblings were already adults with families of their own. Her name in Vulcan means "she who is a surprise", and was given that name by her mother upon learning she was pregnant with a daughter. T'Lar brought just a touch of chaos into her parents comfortable and somewhat pedantic lives, causing her father to remark that with her birth, he'd grown 25 years younger. A bright child, she brought honor to her family by excelling in science and musical achievements. Her father was a retired Starfleet Officer, having served on numerous starships as a chief science officer. T'Lar, having her father's attention solely to herself, would sit on his lap for hours as he recounted the tales of his journeys amongst the stars and with the fascinating and illogical aliens that inhabited the Federation and beyond. He recounted the fact that her family had always had at least one member serving in Starfleet since before the Federation was even formed. He was bitterly disapointed that thus far none of his other children had seen fit to answer the call of duty and take his place, and always told T'Lar "Little one, you will be the one who restores the honor of your family by maintaining the tradition. You are the brightest and most gifted of all of your siblings, because you listen to your father...."  

T'Lar's affection for her father was as deep as it could be considering Vulcan sensibilities. Although she learned to moderate her expression of it, she and her father had a highly developed non verbal system for communicating their affection through seemingly innocuous gestures. Even at a young age T'Lar's academic achievements guaranteed her an opportunity to apply to the Vulcan Science Academy, but Salak was steadfast in proclaiming that his daughter would attend Starfleet Academy. At age 7 she was bonded with a Vulcan boy named Sunok. At first it seemed an agreeable match, but as the two got older T'Lar found Sunok to be less and less compatible with her personality wise. Sunok did not share T'Lar's unconventional fascination and curiosity about other races and planetary civilizations and cultures. Her interests were inspired at a young age by her father's stories of his travels while a member of Starfleet. Sunok was the son of a civil engineer and had no time for such pursuits.  

While taking the psychological battery assessment portion of the Starfleet Academy Entrance Examination, T'Lar became intrigued by the questions that were asked, and wondered just how one could draw inferences from such random and seemingly meaningless pronouncements. By the time she entered Starfleet Academy at the age of 30, she had decided to pursue a career in psychological counseling.

One cold Saturday morning in late September during her first year at Starfleet Academy she was jogging on the Academy track when she met a second year cadet named Brian Kernan. Although she preferred to run alone, and indicated such to Kernan verbally, he shockingly, by her Vulcan sensibilities, insisted on not only running with her, but chatting her up. Reluctantly she acquiesced to his continued presence and they began a frank discussion about T'Lar's admitted difficulty in understanding human psychological expression and emotionalism. Kernan further surprised her by making the assertion that when trying to understand human relations it was important to remember that for Humans, most things revolved around sex and greed.  

Several days later she awoke with Brian's parents by her bedside. She received the sad news from them that not only had Brian died, but that she had lost the baby as well. A few days later she was well enough to attend Kernan's wake and funeral. Classes for the Academy were canceled until the following fall semester, and T'Lar, alone in her grief, sought refuge and balance amongst the dunes and rocks of her homeworld. While on nomadic treks through the Forge, she often found that she could almost hear Brian's voice, speaking to her from what the Vulcans called "other memory", the memory of the Katra. Was it truly his consciousness living on, or her subconscious randomly dislodging remembered sayings or extrapolations of his philosophy or mannerisms. She didn't know for sure, nor could she share the information for fear of being labeled a heretic or worse. So she made peace with not knowing and took comfort in the familiar presence within her mind.

Two years later T'Lar graduated with honors, and elected to serve her internship "afloat" as opposed to serving at Starfleet Medical. She served on two ships prior to being assigned to the USS Ronin, where she served as chief of staff to the SC, Lt. (jg) Iolo Madoc Llewelyn. When a tragedy befell her supervisor, she found herself, not for the first time in her career serving as acting ship's counselor. Ironically this time was the fact that the cadet who had so bitterly opposed her relationship with Kernan, Sular, was himself now her subordinate in the Counseling department. Already their was tension brewing with him. Add to that the challenges inherent to the Ithassa region and T'Lar knew that she would rise to the occasion and make both Brian and her father proud.