Aarfa Barakzay
Female

Place of Origin: Kaina

Height1.8m (5’11”)
Weight72.5kg (160lbs)
Hair Colortawny brown
Eye Color brown

Physical Description
Strong, lean and powerful but with a luxurious coat of soft fur and an long elegant nose. She has the longer fur of northern Kainans but the slimmer build and whip-like tail typical of Kainans from the southern and desert regions. She is normally warm, enthusiastic, and out-going – even showing fang tips in a canid smile she usually reminds people of a giant friendly dog – but when angry or keen on a pursuit, an impression of her wolf-like distant ancestors can come through, especially when all her teeth are bared in a snarl.

Keen, intuitive, and capable of intense focus, but with a tendency to switch that focus abruptly to the next most interesting thing. Like most of her kind, she is trustworthy, brave and loyal to a fault, especially to those she considers pack. Also like most of her kind, her personality can be described as the Federation First Contact survey put it: ‘digital’. ‘On-duty’, she’s extremely focused, dedicated and on-task. ‘Off-duty’ she’s fun-loving, friendly and generous, and can sometimes be a bit of a ‘party hound’. Moreover, she can switch from off-duty to on-duty mode in a heartbeat.

Strengths & Weaknesses
+ loyal, determined, enthusiastic
+ keen sense of smell – with a sense of smell 40 times greater than a human’s, she’s a good tracker and can detect approaching or hiding intruders unless they have disguised their scent extremely well
+ very fast both in reaction/reflex and land speed, especially for short bursts
+ acute hearing and due to the ability to orient their ears can pinpoint the origin of a noise with a high degree of accuracy
+/- tendency toward protectiveness and can ‘go wolf’ on those who threaten anyone she feels a need/responsibility to protect
– sometimes silly/goofy, doesn’t always get human humor or how to express her own to them
– somewhat far-sighted and less likely than most humanoids to pick up on a static detail or grades of color.
– visual cortex highly attuned to motion, resulting in reactions that can seem ADHD to humans and a near compulsion to chase anything small and fast-moving
– naturally communal, she does not do well when isolated (extended solitary confinement is considered cruel and unusual punishment on Kaina)

Hobbies & Interestshunting and camping, Dalraw (Kainan grappling), snowboarding

Kainan society is organized primarily on family groups, known as dens, and extended family, known as packs – although that term is often stretched to include whole communities, or even the whole of Kainan society. Females typically birth 2-3 pups at a time and it is common for the children of littermates to be raised together and for unmarried aunts and uncles to help in raising them. Despite, or perhaps because of, the importance of family, Kainans view marriage as an arrangement strictly for producing offspring and it is contracted for the span of time necessary to raise them to a certain stage, usually 5 – 7 years, with options for renewal. Aarfa was born from a mating contract between Ulf and Ruda Barakzay, the second for both, but the first for them together, so she comes from a large family with several older half-brothers and sisters. As a result she is somewhat precocious from trying to compete with much more mature half-siblings and always trying to prove she can keep up and be equal to anyone.
Given their intense pack affiliations, most Kainans remain on their home world or stay with primarily Kainan crewed ships, but after the Borg assault on the UFP in 2380, large numbers of Kainan answered the call against an existential threat, either sending their own ships into the fight or enlisting in Starfleet. While most who took the latter path joined the Marines (widely regarded as the most pack-like of the services), and number joined Starfleet proper. After the Borg threat was neutralized, most stayed and younger members of their families followed. In Aarfa’s case, she was inspired by her uncle Rufus who disappeared with the USS Vesta in 2392 after suddenly reappearing 3 years later, was given a heroes welcome back home. However, though Aarfa also loves flying, she is more inclined to guarding and hunting, so has entered the Academy on a security/tactical track.

2396 – 1st year cadet at Academy branch on SB621
2397 – after SB621’s destruction, reassigned to security internship pending openings available at other Academy sites