Akia
Cetacean Male

Place of Origin: Starbase 118 (Regalt)

Small for a dolphin, only 2.1 meters in length. A hybrid of L. cruciger and L. obliquidens. Sharply defined white-on-black hourglass markings. Fins strongly falcate. Bullet-shaped upper body. Tends to give a distinct impression of motion even when at rest. Dataport implanted behind left eye. Family insignia tattooed in white on pectoral fins, left dorsal fin, right fluke.

For some 120 years, Tasiger Institute, a pod based out of Starbase 118, has been churning out a steady stream of high-quality officers for Starfleet, one of the largest and best-known examples of military families in Federation space. Some 200 members currently serve on active duty throughout the Federation. The young are raised together and given an education steeped in Federation ideals, heavily influenced by Vulcan philosophy, emphasizing a service-based view of life. Some individuals reject the family calling, but most answer it. Akia’s generation, born under the shadow of Wolf 359 and the Dominion War, tend to be even more duty-conscious than the rest, and Akia is no exception to that rule.

Strengths:

• Born to do it: Akia was trained from an early age for the life of a starship officer. Not only the operational knowledge, but also the interpersonal skills and the psychological resilience, even the way he moves and speaks, were all instilled in him from birth by the constant example of those around him, so that to all appearances, he moves through shipboard challenges as effortlessly as through water, and his aura of innate competence can be a source of morale to those around him in a stressful situation.
• Present in the moment: Akia has a finely honed ability to keep his full attention where he wants it, whether it be a task, a conversation, or simply taking in his surroundings. In conversation, his gaze can be so strong as to be palpable, even without his use of sonar. Others can feel very clearly, when speaking to him, that he is truly listening—which can be either a good or a bad feeling, depending on the circumstances.
• Sense of humor: One of the two invincible virtues, capable of getting you through almost anything the universe can throw at you.
• Compassion: One of the Vulcan gifts Akia’s family have retained for generations and incorporated into their education is the rite of Tal’oth, a survival ritual in which, traditionally, one must survive for four months alone in the harsh Vulcan desert, with a ritual blade as one’s only possession. His clan substitute the polar oceans of Regalt for the deserts of Vulcan, and natural weapons for the knife, but the concept is the same. Akia completed his first tal’oth at the traditional age of 10, circumnavigating Regalt’s southern ice cap alone and unarmed against its predators. But he had to do it in a unique way, because he had no wish to take the life of any sea creature just to prove a point. Although time has dulled the edge of his earlier convictions, active empathy for other life-forms is a factor of his personality that has remained to the present day.

Faults:

• Can’t let it go: One of the negative side-effects of his upbringing that he still grapples with is a demanding inability to let himself off the hook for things he could do (or have done) better. He habitually blames himself for the actions of others, whether they are subordinates or not. Aside from the effects on him, it can be harmful to others by causing him to meddle in things that really shouldn’t be his concern.
• Hot-tempered: This is a failing that can’t be blamed on his upbringing, but is simply his own. He learned early in his life to generally keep it under control, or when that fails, to isolate himself rather than chew someone’s tail. Unless they really deserve it.

Akia was born in 2361, a product of his family’s centralized breeding program, at their shore facilities on Regalt, where he lived with his mother until old enough to begin education. Regalt is a cold, inhospitable oceanic world, with large ice caps, largely uninhabited despite its orbiting starbase—perfect for the educational needs of his clan, who, incorporating Vulcan teachings, believe in survival training as a preventative against the softening effects of civilization. The world impressed on him a love of natural beauty that has never left. But that was nothing compared to the lure of space travel. From early life, Akia had no ambition except to be a starship pilot, and was much happier when in space, on one of the family’s two training cruisers, than he ever was planetside. He entered Starfleet Academy at the usual age of fifteen with no reservations.

2374-2378: Starfleet Academy, Conn track
2378-2381: Flight Officer USS Sevaath, CO Iryn Zhi’less
2380: Starfleet Decoration for Gallantry
2381-2384: Chief Flight Control USS Waijuna, CO Tarjn Savo
2384-2395: Chief Flight Control USS Alcyone, CO Clara Cunningham
2392: Palm Leaf of Axanar (group commendation)
2392-2395: XO, USS Alcyone, CO Clara Cunningham
2394: Starfleet Extended Tour Ribbon
2395: Trasferred to medical custody, Tyken’s World
2395: (Temporary) CO USS Bombus
2395-2398: CO USS Reclaimer
2398: CO USS Hou Yi