Name: Lara Valera Ryn
Rank: Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Age: 24
Marital status: Single
Species: Very unhappily joined Trill/Human
Birthworld: Vulcan
Homeworld: Where ever she happens to be settled at the moment
Current position: Science Officer
Physical Characteristics
Height: 5’6
Weight: 120lbs
Hair: blond
Eyes: blue
Rank: Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Age: 24
Marital status: Single
Species: Very unhappily joined Trill/Human
Birthworld: Vulcan
Homeworld: Where ever she happens to be settled at the moment
Current position: Science Officer
Physical Characteristics
Height: 5’6
Weight: 120lbs
Hair: blond
Eyes: blue
Personal History
Lara Valera was born on June 6, 2365, the only child of Cope and Annalise Valera, both of whom serve as ambassadors for the Federation. At the time her mother conceived Lara, no one believed that it was feasible for her unjoined Trill father and her human mother to be able to procreate, and everyone, most especially her parents, were surprised by the news. As both Trill and human doctors found themselves perplexed by Lara’s very conception and development, especially when they saw that Lara was physically more like her mother, but physiologically more like her father, her parents chose to spend the majority of Annalise’s pregnancy on Vulcan, where the doctors were immediately able to proclaim Lara, upon her birth, a healthy baby girl.
Because of their work as ambassadors, Lara’s childhood was spent bouncing around from system to system and planet to planet, which gave her a wide variety of cultural experiences and allowed her to develop a tolerance for just about any type of food or drink placed in front of her.
Growing up, Lara had a very happy go-lucky and fun loving personality. She was a dare devil and a risk taker, and for a time she defined herself as an adrenaline junky. In an attempt to give their energetic daughter a more constructive focus, her parents shipped Lara off at age fifteen to spend a season working on an archaeological dig. To their pleasure and dismay, they created an even bigger monster, as when Lara came back she wanted to do nothing but learn more about archaeology.
Catering to this whim led them to send Lara to study with different archaeologists. The final archaeologist whom she apprenticed under was Julian Ryn, a joined Trill whose previous host had been a close, lifelong friend of Lara’s father Cope. It was Julian who convinced Lara to attend Starfleet Academy and train as an archeologist, promising her that if she succeeded he would permanently attach her to his expeditions.
Career History
Lara enrolled in Starfleet Academy in 2383, at age 18. She excelled in her archeology work and even developed a secondary passion for anthropology. Her excellent work in these sciences saved her academically many times in the academy, for while she could do the rest of her work quite competently, she generally cared less for her other subjects. The sole exceptions were her navigation and piloting classes, where her wild, adrenaline-junky streak found an outlet, often to the frequent chagrin of her instructors.
Upon her graduation in 2387, Julian held true to his promise and got Lara assigned to his archeology team, where she spent the next 18 months working on digs. During the last dig on Kobheeria, however, there was an “accident” while Lara and Julian were scouting ahead of their expedition, leading to a fatal injury for Julian. The Kobheerian medical team that rescued them only knew enough about Trills to understand that if Julian died with the Ryn symbiont still inside of him, the symbiont would die too. So, the Kobheerian doctors transplanted the symbiont into the Lara, not knowing that the procedure was irreversible after 93 hours.
The Kobherrian government promptly handed Lara over to a Federation recovery team, whose own medical officials immediately placed her under 24 hour medical and psychiatric care, which eventually led to her internment at a psychiatric clinic, where she spent the next six months trying rather unsuccessfully to learn how to cope with the experiences on Kobheeria and having a symbiont in her body for which she was unqualified and unprepared to handle. The most evident trait of this problem is the subduing of her own personality to that of her previous hosts. Lara also feels a linger loathing for both the symbiont and the circumstances that led to it being placed in her body, which manifested itself in her refusal to give up her last name.
