Val'ri Raiajh

Vice Admiral Val’ri Raiajh was the commanding officer of Starbase 719.



Early life
Born to Delta IV's ambassador to the Federation, she spent the first 14 years of her life living at the Deltan Embassy in Sausalito, California. Val'ri has the major abilities of both the Vulcan and Deltan races. Outwardly she appears Vulcan.

As the daughter of the Deltan Ambassador to the Federation, Karinara Raiajh, it was expected that Val'ri would be Deltan. It was a shock even to her mother who had spent over a year on Nisus in an attempt to become pregnant with a girl through artificial means.

While there, unknown to her doctor's she ended up becoming romantically involved with Tolek, a Vulcan male, who was on sabatical at the Vulcan science colony from his teaching position at the Vulcan Science Academy, unaware of the possibility that the two may have been genetically compatible.

When Val'ri was born, her maternal grandmother, Ishara Raiajh, noticed something else beside shock in her daughter's eyes; and realized what had happened.

Ishara contacted the science colony and found a scientist, for a very large donation, willing to help Ishara create the 'official' story. Knowing how much Karinara Raiajh wanted to serve her people and succeed her mother in the position of Ambassador, Tolek agreed to stand by the 'official' version and keep silent about his relation to the child, in exchange for updates and that the girl be allowed to attend the Vulcan Science Academy when she was academically ready to do so.

The 'official' story became that Val'ri was born as the result of an experiment in genetics, where said scientist said he was working on an experiment to see if Vulcan and Deltan DNA were compatible and his assistant 'accidently' disposed of the all-Deltan embryos that were supposed to be implanted. It was the story that Raiajh had grown up believing, and continued to believe until the late 2380's.

Education
She spent her formative years living at the Deltan Embassy and was schooled by private tutors in a setting similar to the Terran Montessori teaching style; allowing the girl to learn at her own pace, completing her primary education at age 13. She also spent some time at the Vulcan embassy in San Francisco learning about her Vulcan heritage.

At 14, she headed to Vulcan and spent 4 years at the Vulcan Science Academy where she earned advanced degrees in two different disciplines of physics.

She entered Starfleet Academy at the age of 19 in 2280 and graduated in the top quarter in 2284. She was assigned to the Services Division of USS Arcturus, after an 18 month stint at Starfleet Command.

Temporal accident
In 2288, the Arcturus was assigned a special mission of historical research. Using the slingshot time warp method, the starship was supposed to return to late 1960s Earth. An unexpected accident caused the starship to shoot forward in time instead, emerging in 2367, only several months after the Battle of Wolf 359. Unlike the majority of the Arcturus crew, then-Lieutenant Raiajh decided to retire from full-time Starfleet for a brief time. She re-trained as a civilian primary school teacher. She married Sylvan Xaran, a Betazoid, in 2367. Shortly after the ceremony, they acquired custody of Jonathan and Charissa, the children of Sylvan’s brother who, along with said brother's wife, was killed in a rock climbing accident. As a result of the accident, Jonathan suffered from telepathic-induced shock. The incident left him unwilling to speak verbally and he became withdrawn. He spent many years in the care of medical doctors on Betazed in an extended care facility.

In 2369, the Arcturus crew were reassigned once again, this time to the large Arcturus Class exploration cruiser, USS Arcturus, NCC 1807-A, where she served as a primary school teacher.

Gamma exploration mission
In early 2370, Raiajh's shipmate, Kalin Kale, was promoted to captain and assigned command of the Galaxy Class USS Sarek, which was assigned to chart and explore the Gamma Quadrant through the recently discovered Bajoran wormhole. Val'ri Raiajh was one of the several members of the Arcturus crew Captain Kale requested transferred to the Sarek. Raiajh was assigned to the civilian crew aboard Sarek and served as a liaison between the civilian and Starfleet personnel. While aboard Sarek, she was reactivated, first to reservist status, and placed in charge of the Academy Annex. Later, she was assigned to full time Starfleet under Captain T'Veer and placed on the command track, with a promotion to commander. After two years exploring the Gamma Quadrant, the Sarek was recalled to the Alpha Quadrant and its mission canceled in light of the rising tensions with the Klingon Empire and the advent of the Dominion War.

USS Besiege
Shortly after the return of the Sarek in 2372, Raiajh was transferred to Starfleet's new Leviathan-class Starship USS Besiege, where she was promoted to captain and assigned as the vessel's first commanding officer.

She remained as commanding officer of the USS Besiege for slightly over one year before being promoted to Fleet Captain and being placed in charged of the Beta Sector Fleet. She was called back to Starfleet HQ on Earth in 2373 and promoted to the rank of Commodore at that time and helped with strategic planning during the Dominion War.

With the war behind them, Val'ri was promoted to Rear Admiral as of Stardate 53001.

She was promoted to Vice Admiral at the end of earth year 2387.

Personal life and talents
She was a strong (non-touch) telepath in her own right: a gift she kept hidden until the Orthid IX crisis.

In the Qualen incident of Stardate 48808, both she and Sylvan were badly injured. Sylvan suffered from a severe form of amnesia after the incident. It was unclear if he would ever regain his memories. Because of this, Sylvan's parents challenged custody of Charissa. The Betazed Court system ruled in Val'ri's favor, and on that day both Val'ri and Sylvan became the parents and permanent legal guardians of Charissa and Jonathan. Jonathan remained in the care of Betazoid doctors on Betazed to this day. By 2386 Jonathan had recovered enough to attend art classes at a local university on Betazed, where he learned to interact with others around him, and by 2387, married a fellow university student, Anya Valerin, who studied voice.

Sylvan did regain his memories with the help of friend and colleague Dr. Julian Bashir of Deep Space 9. With Dr. Bashir’s help, the pair went on to have 4 children by 2386. Due to a holodeck accident which was meant as a message from the Orion Syndicate for Raiajh's brother, former Deltan Ambassador Ja'al Raiajh to remind him of the consequences of crossing them, they couple lost their third daughter, Elayne when she suffered a subdural hematoma that couldn't be repaired in time. Unfortunately the message was lost on its intended recipient and it wasn't until 2389 when he paid for his transgressions. Brought before the Deltan Council of Equals, he was tried and convicted of the crimes of treason, extortion, murder (for his role in the incident that brought his niece's demise) and others. He was found guilty, stripped of his possessions and his family name, and cast into the jungles of Delta IV to meet his fate (death). He ended up escaping his punishment and made his way to 719 where he perished in a transporter accident during exchange.

A fifth child, this time a son, was born to Raiajh and Xaran in 2387. The two remained together until Xaran's presumed death in the middle of 2391.

Aboard Starbase 719
With her posting in 2385 to Starbase 719, she served in two capacities: first and foremost as commanding officer of Starbase 719 and as Typhon sector commander. During the years she was there she slowly increased the duties of 719's First Officer Cathryn Elisabeth Pearson in preparation to split the two roles by 2392. She presided over the base during the brief war with the Kairn as well as an attempt on the lives of both the Federation President as well as the recognized Romulan Praetor

Ambassador
After her tour at Starbase 719 ended, she was slated to retire. After a stop at Earth she was summoned to a meeting with the new Federation Secretary of State about an Ambassadorial role to a colony world whose status was in dispute. The Federation claimed Bel-Terra as a protectorate and the Bel-Terrans saw themselves as an independent colony. Raiajh accepted the position with caveat that she is there strictly as a representative of the United Federation of Planets and not as a thorn in the side of the Bel-Terrans.