Rank: Captain
Age: 38 Standard Years
Species: Bajoran
Birthworld: Bajor
Homeworld:Earth
Current Assignment: Classified
Previous Assignment: Commanding Officer, USS Serendipity NCC- 2012 as part of The Alchemy Project
Physical Description:
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 140 lbs.
Hair:Black
Eyes: Blue
Marital Status: Married
To Commander Keiran O'Sullivan
Stardate 81020
This Bio is currently undergoing comprehensive revisions; please stand by.
Age: 38 Standard Years
Species: Bajoran
Birthworld: Bajor
Homeworld:Earth
Current Assignment: Classified
Previous Assignment: Commanding Officer, USS Serendipity NCC- 2012 as part of The Alchemy Project
Physical Description:
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 140 lbs.
Hair:Black
Eyes: Blue
Marital Status: Married
To Commander Keiran O'Sullivan
Stardate 81020
This Bio is currently undergoing comprehensive revisions; please stand by.
Distinguishing physical characteristics:
Due to a critical combat injury suffered during the Dominion War, several of the vertebrae in her spine have been replaced not once but twice, with tritanium implants. She still suffers chronic pain from the sustained nerve damage.
She also has a small scar on her left chest from a self-inflicted knife wound.
Permanent Starfleet Record:
Zanh Liis' grew up as an orphan of war.
Her parents were killed by the Cardassians shortly after her birth and she was raised by her maternal grandmother until the woman's death when she was four.
She was raised at the children's home at the monastery in the Altaan province and remained there until the age of seventeen, when she left to join Starfleet.
She was accepted into Advanced Tactical Training after graduation and also exhibited above average piloting skills, which were honed with advanced training as well.
She spent her first years out of the Academy flying as a test pilot, then as a fighter pilot during the Dominion War.
Something happened during that time which devastated her so greatly that she was able to be recruited by the shadowy entity within Starfleet known as Temporal Investigations.
She accepted a position in the Timeline Control Division and became a "Jumper"; the term used to describe agents who travel through time to correct fractures in the way that history was supposed to proceed.
After making what she believed to be her final Jump, Liis served side by side with Salvek for a time aboard the USS Independence.
When Salvek was reassigned for the purpose of continuing his parents' work on transwarp technology, it became necessary for Liis to return to TI and resume her role as his Temporal Guardian.
Liis accepted this fate knowing that not only must Salvek and his work survive, but that the fate of the man she had loved since her childhood, Vedek Jariel Camen, was intricately woven through time and history itself with that of Salvek and his family.
After working for several years in obscurity aboard a deep space station (and creating a prototype transwarp engine for Starfleet) Salvek was recalled to service aboard the Flagship. Liis once again followed, serving as Chief of Operations and finally as Acting Captain.
Twists and Turns of Fate
Toward the end of 2387 in the current timeline, Zanh Liis was abducted right before the eyes of her senior staff. Starfleet sent Salvek, (the shoe now on the other foot so to speak) to find and rescue her from her Ferengi captors before they sold her into slavery, or worse.
Back against the wall and believing her chances of rescue were slim to none, Zanh felt she had no choice but to end her own life in order to protect the sensitive information that she carried. She survived- only because the Ferengi intervened out of fear of what the Romulans would do if they were denied their promised prize.
She was rescued shortly after they were forced to put her into stasis, because they knew she would not survive until their Romulan buyers showed up to claim her.
After her rescue, Zanh was taken to Bajor where she underwent reconstructive surgery on her aorta, as well as her spine for the second time to replace her worn vertebral implants.
During her recovery and before leaving the planet, Zanh Liis visited the orphanage at the Altaan Monastery where she'd been raised to try to make peace with her past one last time.
The weary Alchemy crew, meanwhile, was transported back to Earth.
After returning to Earth for debriefing and while still recovering from her injuries, Zanh was informed that her next assignment had already been decided upon by Starfleet- and she would be taking on a new ship with a new, covert assignment: the USS Serendipity.
Alternate Timelines/The Temporal Investigations Years
In an alternate version of the year 2377, Zanh Liis became romantically involved with her Temporal Jump partner, Keiran O'Sullivan, and the resulting disciplinary action and reassignment ended up costing her dearly.
In another alternate version of 2380, after discovering that Vedek Jariel had become Kai and taken another as his wife, Zanh once again acted in defiance of the code of conduct. She retired from Temporal Investigations to marry O'Sullivan.
Again, their romance would only end in tragedy.
O'Sullivan was forced to make another Jump alone to restore Liis to her proper place so that she could accomplish the vital tasks yet to come.
Over the course of the years that she spent working with O'Sullivan, Liis was subjected to many memory resequencing procedures -with varying degrees of success.
She would have no memory of the man- or of their past relationship in alternate times- when he was first assigned to the Sera as Chief of Security.
Liis remained in the dark, even as O'Sullivan's own resequencing broke down and he was tormented by memories of what had once existed between them.
Later in 2388 (current timeline) her own memories were reignited and others were transferred to her directly from O'Sullivan's mind by an interfering race of telepathic beings who meant to 'heal their pain.'
Remembering what had been would nearly cost Liis her life- and in the end cause her to call everything she knew about her life and herself into question; forcing her to redefine both completely in her own eyes.
Liis concealed from TI officials that she retained not only her own memories of their life in past timelines but also the memories from Keiran's perspective that she had been given by the Sylph.
There was, however, one person that she could not keep this truth from.
She confessed to O'Sullivan on Earth, hours after the meeting with TI during which she had led him to believe she had no memory of him.
They knew they must part, but could not say goodbye.
Liis was shaken to her core, left uncertain of her feelings about everything in her life after all she'd seen.
Keiran was certain of his love for her, but just as sure that if he tried to win her in the current time, that again it would cost her everything. Refusing to risk it, he left her side to return to his own command within Temporal Investigations- though it was the hardest thing he had ever done.
Liis quickly began to realize the truth of her own feelings, and grieved for all she had lost.
Later, Fate would intervene; trumping Time and History to reunite Zanh and O'Sullivan and give them one last chance.
Keiran immediately declared that he loved her still, and wanted nothing more than to give her the life that history had denied them.
Liis knew that there was no other life she wanted, and immediately accepted his proposal. Wasting no more time, they were married days later on Earth, surrounded by his family, and their crew.
Liis is still finding her footing in her new reality, but is doing so with deep gratitude and a revitalized sense of purpose. She feels she has truly found her place; serving with this crew, aboard this ship, with Keiran as the steady hand at her side.
She continues on her journey of discovery as she strives to be worthy of the position given her-considering it both a sacred charge and the greatest possible honor to serve as Commanding Officer of Sera's crew; without a doubt the finest in the fleet.
Personal Notes
Though Bajorans are not telepathic or empathic, Liis has an uncanny ability to read people's intentions, for good or ill, before others have any idea that something is going on beneath the surface.
Zanh wears a Bajoran earring as a testament to surviving her childhood; but is not religious in any sense, as most Bajorans are. She keeps the tradition of her husband's homeworld by wearing the wedding rings he gave her: a diamond band and a white gold signet ring bearing the O'Sullivan family crest, a scaled-down version of the ring that he himself wears.
Things she likes: Coffee- She has been practically existing on this beverage alone for the past ten linear years. Hot, strong, double cream.
Liis has a long established love of music- especially late twentieth and twenty-first century music of Earth with compositions by U2, Coldplay, and Keane her all-time favorites.
This, like certain other facets of her personality, made little sense to anyone who met her or to Liis herself for years. After she regained the memories of the years she spent working as Jump partner to O'Sullivan, suddenly the last missing piece of the puzzle fell into place and she found that not only did she make sense, but her life made sense.
He had been not just her partner but her mentor, and during those years had fostered her love of music, taught her how to fence, and in fact, talked her into tasting the very first cup of coffee she ever drank.
Liis loves poetry; The Poetical Works of Tennyson is a favorite, especially Locksley Hall.
In the past, she enjoyed unwinding by rebuilding bi-plane engines and flying such craft on the holodeck. The more responsibility she has taken on over the years, however, the more she has found she prefers quieter pursuits.
She has recently re-discovered the allure of time alone spent driving a vintage "automobile" over winding holographic roads. She much prefers, however, to drive the real thing when visiting the home Keiran built for her in Ireland. Her vehicle of choice, a red covertible which was a belated wedding gift from William Lindsay.
Her very favorite holodeck program continues to be one of the annual, Terran Perseids meteor shower.
Only recently would Liis come to remember, and understand why this specific celestial event evokes such a deep emotional response in her.
Liis has very few 'prized' personal possessions- a side effect of her time working for Temporal during which she had to travel light. Everything she considers truly important to her can fit into one duffel and one small, vintage, brown leather suitcase.
Those items include her wedding rings, a journal and ink pen, her grandmother's earring, several handwritten letters, a wax seal bearing the initial 'Z' and a small sailors spyglass given to her in 2387 by her friend and crewmate, TC Blane. The last item is on display on the desk in her Ready Room and she fidgets with when she's thinking.
Things she hates: Disloyalty, injustice and politics head up the list. Incompetence, or "Just plain stupid" as she puts it, follows closely behind. She was once quoted as having said that "Stupidity should be an offense punishable by death."
Zanh Liis does not drink alcohol- not even a little, not even socially. When asked why, she is known to answer, "There are reasons." She does not object if others around her imbibe, she will simply toast them with her coffee cup instead of champagne.
Official Record of Assignments in the Current, Established Timeline:
2372: Graduated Starfleet Academy. Her grades were decent, but not exceptional. Finished in the middle of her class.
2373:Received certification in Advanced Tactical Training and also special flight certifications.
2373-74: Was assigned as a test pilot to Starfleet Research and Development. Became a fighter pilot during the time leading up to the Dominion War and served several tours of duty during the war.
2375: Was not allowed to return to her squadron after suffering nearly fatal injuries in combat.Was recruited by Temporal Investigations
2376: Was partnered with Commander Keiran O'Sullivan by Temporal Investigations
2376-2379: Classified: Department of Temporal Investigations Timeline Control Division
2379: Liis was sent alone on a Jump back (to 2375) to correct historical events occurring at the end of the Dominion War- and joined the crew of the USS Independence in order to accomplish the task.
2380: Returned to TI to once again serve as Salvek's Guardian, following him across the quadrant as he continued his vital work.
She has spent most of the past decade in one timeline, working to protect Salvek of Vulcan, his brother Sacul, and Vedek Jariel Camen who all had integral parts to play in the recovery of Starfleet after the Dominion War.
These duties once took her to the space station in the heart of the Klingon Outback (Deep Space 23) aboard her small, TI issued ship Stella Polaris.
She was later removed from her position as Captain of the Stella Polaris after her current partner, Temporal Investigations Agent Ashton Ledbetter, was murdered and she was framed for it. The Polaris was destroyed shortly after due to sabotage.
Zanh was pardoned from court-martial after proof obtained by colleagues past and present was presented as evidence of her innocence to Starfleet Command. (Her partner had been replaced by a Romulan operative, who was later murdered by his own superiors.)
(early)2387: Followed Salvek as he returned to regular Starfleet duties and was again assigned to the flagship. Liis would serve there first as Chief of Operations and ultimately as Acting Captain.
(late)2387-Current: Commanding Officer of the USS Serendipity NCC-2012, as part of The Alchemy Project
Notable Quotes: "Go!"
("Go" is the only reply Zanh is in the habit of giving as her endorsement of someone's plan or ideas. It means "get to work," or "engage," or "perform a miracle," depending on the context in which she utters the deceptively simple, one syllable command.
"Buffer this, you son of a bitch," Zanh Liis, to the transporter pattern buffers on the dying USS Executor
-=/\=-
Songs associated with this character:
Viva la Vida by Coldplay
Can't Let It Go and Black Balloon by the Goo Goo Dolls
Where the Streets Have No Name by U2
My Shadow and Somewhere Only We Know by Keane
Two Lights by Five for Fighting
The song that defines Zanh Liis: The Night Sky, by Keane
Keiran and Liis' song: Walk Forever by My Side (acoustic)by The Alarm
