Starfleet Profile: Lt. Grace



Name of Officer: February Valentine Guinevere Grace
Position: Senior Flight Controller (Helm)
Rank: Lieutenant, Senior Grade
Age: 26 Standard Years
Species: (Joined) Trill
Marital Status: Married (Recently; to Dabin Reece, Stardate 71008.)
Birthworld: Earth
Homeworld: Earth
Current Assignment: Retired

Physical Description:
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 140 lbs.
Hair: Platinum Blonde/Dark Brown (streaked)
Eyes: Silver Blue

Distinguishing physical characteristics:(Scars, injuries, etc) February's eyesight was compromised following complications after her Joining and February needed, for a time, to wear thick, heavy glasses.

Her vision issues only compounded her natural tendency to be klutzy- something she has since outgrown. Her eyes still bother her occasionally especially when she's exhausted. (More information below)

Childhood:

February or "Bru" (yes, even though the "r" in February is silent) as she is called by her friends, is the only child of two Trill, (one joined; mother, and one unjoined father,) both Starfleet officers stationed on Earth at the time of her birth.

Lilam and Beviny Dai chose to christen their only child with the name of the month in which she was born. Bru figured she was lucky: their original choice would have been to call her Valentine, because she was born on February 14th, when the human holiday of Valentine's Day is observed. They went with it as one of her middle names instead. Her parents often commented that they had planned on, and wished for, a son instead of a daughter.

February moved almost constantly when she was growing up and as a result didn't have time to form many lasting friendships.

She became most comfortable with solitude, which solidified her natural in-born temperment as a book worm and her voracious appetite for learning.

The longest period of time she spent in one place was during her early teens, during which she lived in Michigan, which had winters so cold that she still shudders thinking of them.

Due to her excellent academic skills and the results of extensive psychological testing, she was accepted as a Trill Initiate at the tender age of fourteen, (one of the youngest initiates on record) and began studying even harder, preparing for her future as a Host.

She always wanted to be a pilot after Joining, and has the ability to learn how to fly any vessel, very quickly.

Bru's greatest ambition is to experience flying every class of ship in the fleet before the age of thirty; also to someday help train other pilots and/or help Starfleet take apart and learn about the ships used by other species.

Psychological Profile: February's parents were always very unhappy, and shouting in the house was a daily event. This caused February to withdraw into herself, as she tried to make herself blend into the woodwork, wishing that she could turn invisible so that she could escape their rages.

Her father especially had a quick temper and a quicker backhand, specifically during the years when she was very small, and she promised herself that she would learn to be a better parent than hers had been, if she ever had any children of her own.

It takes a lot to make February get really angry, but anyone who refers to her as "Feb" quickly finds that this will do it, and that they should never call her by that name. It was the nickname her father used to scream at her and she swore she would never go by it as an adult. Bru now considers it a part of the dark past she has tried to leave behind her.

February was once told in a mind-meld by Salvek that she 'had a habit of seeking affection from emotionally unavailable men,' something that he attributed to her tortured relationship with her father.

Denying it at first, February quickly realized that he was right, and that it was something that she was determined to let go of. Bru was finally able to put this tendency behind her when she fell in love with Dabin Reece. This was because Reece gave her his heart completely and trusted her without hesitation, though he had plenty of reason to be afraid to do it based on his past experiences not only with Grace (the Symbiont) and with women in general.

February is not religious but she has a custom of lighting candles for fallen comrades, something that Wen Grace picked up while living on Earth and attending church services repeatedly with a friend. She also likes the idea of guardian angels and she placed a small sculpture of one in Vedek Jariel's arboretum in an attempt to comfort him and in remembrance after the Takesian Plains Disaster of 2387.

Things she likes: February is obsessed with books, her favorite being the classic Douglas Adams novel The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy though she usually reads heavier fare, like Bronte and Hugo. She lives for music- especially since her Joining- something that is very much a carry over from at least two past Grace hosts. She also loves to eat Thai food, and drinks nothing stronger than club soda with lime.

She spends her free time singing and playing the guitar, (Daisy Rock Heartbreaker short scale electric: pink) reading or crocheting; and she belongs to a small gray and white cat called Sparrow (for the pirate, not the bird- though that would be ironic in its own way) whom she rescued just before shipping out on her previous assignment.



Eccentricities: Almost every article of off-duty clothing February owns is in various shades of the color pink. Wears the same pair of Converse All Star high tops all the time when off duty.

She commonly speaks one word sentences, utilizing words such as "Way." "Dude." and of course, her personal favorite when it comes to adjectives; "Cool."

She has recently discovered that she has limited telepathic abilities, where one particular person is concerned. (more below)

Things she hates: Being cold, wet, and in pain top the list. Bad memories and judgemental people are on that list too. Those things are followed by crowds and noise, rude people, Klingon food, and greed.

February was painfully shy before her joining and tried to speak 'only when spoken to' . She avoided conversation as often as she could and believed that the 80/20 rule makes perfect sense (Listen 80 percent of the time, talk 20 percent of the time). She has become much more vocal since Joining though as Grace itself is a shameless extrovert.

As stated previously, Bru suffered serious visual impairments following complications after the joining procedure, though those turned out to be the least of her problems as time went on.

She was finally forced to return to Trill for treatment when her Isoboromine levels began to drop, signaling Symbiont rejection was already in progress.

It was on this journey (and while completely blind) that she met Dabin Reece. Rather, when she met Reece again, in its newest host.

Reece and Grace had been involved when their Symbionts were joined to other hosts; when Grace was male and Reece, female.

Now roles were reversed and Reece, who at first flew at February in a rage over what her past host had done, took great delight in telling her that his previous host Tuli had conceived a child during her affair with Grace's host, Deveral, (a famous musician who left many a broken heart in his drunken wake).

That child, Jazen Deveral Reece, was said to now be a "guitarist in a alternative rock tribute band on Risa" and February has not had any contact with him- other than to later anonymously send him a large sum of money from Deveral's left over accounts to be sure that he was set for life.

February's friends (which now included a contrite and contemplative Dabin Reece) and crew mates got to the bottom of what had really happened to Grace, and discovered was causing February's illness, (as well as having caused the suicide of Grace's previous host, Wen).

In the end they uncovered a plot to hide manipulation of the Symbiont that went to the top levels of the Trill Symbiosis Commission and beyond.

For five hours at the darkest point during her ordeal, Grace and February had to be separated for treatment and both lives were nearly lost.

Finally, the Symbiont was rejoined to Bru and both are still recovering from the experience. The Symbiosis Commission did not want her to leave Trill again, and her crew mates had to kidnap her from the Commission hospital to bring her home.

This action nearly cost them all their commissions- in the end it costed Reece most dearly and he was demoted back to Lieutenant as the 'target' of the Trill government's wrath over the situation.

Following the temporary separation, February woke to discover she could not remember Grace's previous hosts at all. Rigin, the Trill Guardian who had been consulted about her situation, suggested a radical approach, that they try performing her Zhian'tara ritual in reverse, from most recent host to first, to try to encourage reconnection of the neural pathways between host and symbiont.

February had her Zhian'tara in 2387, and several of her crew mates including Lair Kellyn, Vedek Jariel, and TC Blane participated, taking on personalities of previous hosts.

Fortunately, Rigin's experiment was a success. In fact it was so successful that she found she had memories from the previous hosts afterward that she had never had to begin with after originally being joined to Grace and finally began the process of properly bonding emotionally to the symbiont.

Dabin Reece asked to embody Deveral during the Zhian'tara (The Rite of Closure) ritual, and the Guardian allowed it not realizing how strongly Reece still felt about Grace.

After a very intense and at times highly amusing encounter between the two personalities while Reece had Deveral's memories, Dabin prepared to leave the ship and go his way, believing he was finally at peace with the past.

However, when the time came for him to actually leave, February and Dabin both discovered that the Zhian'tara had lasting effects on them both- as Dabin now possessed February's musical ability, and she, his talent for art- specifically, drawing.

When he came to say goodbye to her, they also both realized that somewhere during all they had gone through on Trill and the Zhian'tara, they had developed feelings for eachother as individuals, not based on the experiences of their past hosts.

This both shocked and terrified them, as they realized that if they wanted to be together they would be guilty of "Reassociation," the last cultural taboo in Trill society. Reassociation is considered so serious a transgression that it is grounds for banishment from the homeworld, with their Symbionts destined to die with them, never to be joined to another host because Reassociation is considered 'unnatural'.

Knowing how serious the consequences would be for them both, Reece tried to walk away, determined to protect February from the consequences of what they were both tempted to do, even if she was willing to give everything up for the chance to be with him.

Another shock came in the sudden realization that they now shared a telepathic link, and could hear each other's thoughts with crystal clarity, especially when in close physical proximity.

Reece asked Rigin how this could be possible, as telepathic activity between Joined Trills was undocumented and considered unheard of.

Usually only Trill Guardians (who were unjoined) could communicate telepathically with the Symbionts. Rigin could only conclude that it had to do with Reece and Grace's strong connection, and Dabin's unique experience during Bru's Zhian'tara.

The link, when combined with their intense feelings for each other, made it all but impossible for the two of them to walk away, and despite the sacrifices involved and the risk to their symbionts, Grace and Reece simply could not be kept apart.

Their relationship (February's first, as she had been previously too terribly shy to date) took off at lightning speed and within days, she (perhaps channeling the courage of previous hosts) spontaneously proposed to Reece, after they had crashed on a barren world called Yensul V. Reece accepted without a moment's hesitation.

Unsure if they would ever be rescued, Reece and Grace opted to have a quick, quiet ceremony in the snow on the planet. The ceremony was performed by Commander Salvek, and Lair Kellyn acted as Reece's "best man".

The couple chose to keep their marriage a secret when they first returned to the Independence, not wanting anyone to make a fuss over it and just wanting to just quietly settle into married life after all they had been through.

This is the first marriage for both Dabin and February personally even though both symbionts were married previously multiple times while joined to other hosts.

February's strengths lie in her honesty, dedication to duty, loyalty, and dependability.

She also understands the need for well-timed humor, and that wins the hearts of many of her crew mates. She is also handy to have around because she carries the professional experiences and expertise of all of Grace's previous hosts.

February emerged from her Zhian'tara a new person, and observed that while she "May not have gone from ugly duckling to swan she did get to 'adult duck' and that was pretty freaking cool."

Crew-mate (and her 'adopted' big brother) TC Blane would refer to her transformation this way, "Gone was the quiet, mousey little girl that had entered a cocoon, and a beautiful butterfly had emerged."

February may never see herself as beautiful by any means, but as long as Dabin does, that's okay by her.

Complete Host History for the Grace Symbiont:

To read the posts about Grace's Zhian'tara, click here.

1. Gentry (male) (previous surname: Suln) A Firefighter and first responder.

2. Sachel (male) (previous surname: Aan) An artist and musician. Extremely shy. In fact, Sachal is responsible for the musical ability of every following Grace host (no matter what Deveral may have said or thought).

3. Jevin (male) (previous surname Gos): An archivist/librarian at Starfleet Academy.

4. Kimare (female) (previous surname: Ziru) An architect and engineer for Starfleet.

5. Deveral (male) (middle name: Jazen. Previous surname: Brell) Rock and Roll musician, womanizer and all-around scoundrel. His life of excess did him in eventually and he died relatively young for a Trill (after injuries suffered falling out of a coconut tree on Risa in a drunken stupor) His substance abuse very nearly killed the Grace symbiont. His poor judgement and hard living caused serious health problems for both hosts who have come after him (including February).

6.Wendolyn "Wen" (female) (previous surname: Letelle) Scientist, Starfleet. Died by her own hand in 2385- and February receieved the symbiont immediately following.

7:February Valentine Guinevere (female)(previous surname: Dai) Current Host: Flight Controller; Starfleet

Future Grace Hosts:

8. Aidran: (male) as written in Prologue parts one and two, Aidran receives the Grace symbiont in the summer of 2468 and has his Zhian'tara six months later.

Songs that define February:

February Song by Josh Groban

Look After You by The Fray