Syrezeaju

Captain Syrezeaju was a Starfleet officer who served as the captain of the Yorktown-class USS Phoenix until its destruction and her death, having taken the position in the late October of 2477. She was active within the fleet from 2447 until 2478, serving within both the Security and Command divisions and having worked alongside FedSec in the civilian sector.

Early Life
Rigellians, unknown to most unless they have studied the people and their homeworlds, have always seemed to be a rather elusive people. It is not well known that the term ‘Rigellian’ encompasses three different species, all of which make the different planets their home. Being one of the Jelna it should have meant that Syrezeaju was born upon Rigel V, but due to the occupations of her parents it meant that she was raised upon the planet of Rigel III instead.

Rigel III is a planet that is inconspicuous to most. The Federation views it as just another place on their list of territories which encompasses arid jungles and swampland alike. The reason for this planet being brushed aside is largely political - the planet is effectively a resort world, similar to Risa, and the United Federation do not like to admit that they own a world in which currency is still used. It is a strange place, housing Federation citizens and those from other worlds such as the KDF despite them all being aware that the place comes under the UFP’s banner. How strange it is that the prospect of profit and a life of luxury could bring so many people together despite their differences.

It was in the capital city that Syrezeaju was raised, living amidst high-rise buildings, palm trees, and sweeping spotlights alike. With one parent working in one of the capital’s most renowned museums of Federation history and another working aboard a cruise liner which sailed across the sea before quite literally taking flight to planet-hop to the next world, it truly was a life of entertainment from the off.

You would have thought that living amidst such luxury and entertainment would have been ideal for a young Rigellian. In the years of her youth it was all fair and well; parades out on the street were magical and there was always something to see or do. It was in her early teenage years that Syrezeaju began to grow bored of the status quo, though. There were only so many times you could see the sights or watch performances before it became boring. Things were all the same and there was a reason why this was viewed as a luxury destination for holiday-makers but not for people who wanted to properly live.

Seeing everything over and over again led to boredom, and boredom led to rebellion. It was with a small group of classmates that Syrezeaju would sneak out at night. It was unsurprising that a world of relaxation would mean that drugs were readily available, but in order to make the place feel safe it was still very tightly policed. Meeting different people and making connections turned into the young Rigellian running drugs for one of the local dealers - a well known business tycoon who ran the endeavour in order to create more income. You had to cater to all clients after all. By the age of fourteen she was slinking through the streets at night and headed through the back-doors of different clubs to make deliveries. This worked out in her favour - it was a form of rebellion plus there was the added benefit of getting paid in GPL, cash-in-hand. Despite knowing that the trade was highly illegal it was something that Syrezeaju relished.

You would think that sampling the merchandise would not be appreciated by the dealers and those who led the drug rings. Being rebellious teenagers, though, it meant that when they were taking a cut of the profit they would also take a small portion of the merchandise for themselves. For the teenagers it was deemed to be harmless fun; sitting underneath the bridge down at the pier, engaging in the latest trip or total high. They had no idea that the more invested in it they became, the closer to total addiction they grew. Unbeknownst to them, it was actually what was intended of the dealers. If you could have someone addicted to the product then you could ensure their continued work.

It was not as if this sort of activity was going to go unspotted, though. Upon one delivery to a well-known and luxurious club, Syrezeaju found that the patrons waiting were actually undercover officers who had caught wind of the operation here. The young Rigellian had never considered being put into stasis cuffs and dragged away but here she was, being walked unceremoniously out the back door and into a police transport. Following that it was being booked into the cells - with officers being thoroughly unimpressed considering her age - and a call being put out to her family to inform them of what she had been doing.

It felt like ages ticked by as she sat there in that cell awaiting word of what would become of her. Eventually she was released into her parents’ care, confined to home and not allowed to leave for anything other than schooling. The wrath of her family was one thing in itself between being confined to her room and constantly shouted at with claims that she had brought complete and utter shame upon their family. The next was having to face the court. It was surprising that the court themselves were legitimate people and not corrupted by the luxurious way of life here - Syrezeaju had almost felt as if she would get away with it, only to find them ruling against her. All of the GPL that she had amassed would be handed over in order to account for ‘damages’ conducted against society - and worst of all, she was being sent to a boarding school for children who had also broken the law.

Juvenile Detention School
Packing her bags was horrid. While she had always rebelled against the norm she never thought that it would result in her being taken away from her family. Hell, she had never been away from them before for any extended length of time. She even feared that they would not miss her, but as she departed on that shuttlecraft there were a couple of tears shed. Despite what she had done it seemed as though they still viewed her as their child.

Next came the fear about this boarding school. A ‘correctional’ facility sounded horrifying in itself but it turned out that it was not too bad. Upon arriving at the facility she found that it was rather pleasant. People were roomed according to age and it was tailored to who they were and what they had done; two people who had conducted vandalism would not be put together so as to not encourage each other. There was no harsh concept of whipping them into shape and getting them all in line. however. Instead it was all about changing their perception of the world around them and understanding why and where they had gone wrong. Instead of harsh judgement it surrounded improvement, and even though she tried to rebel against it at first and fight the system here, Syrezeaju soon found that there was no point and instead opted to reluctantly listen to their teachings.

It seemed as if applying herself here was just as much an outlet as endorsing crime was. The counselling sessions she went through were rigorous and highly emotional and while she hated them, she did come to enjoy some of the classes. Pouring herself into her work instead of into crime offered something better than GPL in return. It offered qualifications and experience, and it was drilled into the pupils from the start that in order to turn their life around then they were going to require both. Despite not being particularly good at scientific or mathematical subjects, she enjoyed the work - it felt as if she were putting together a puzzle. Physical exercise was easily her favoured subject. Orienteering, hiking, and football were only a few favourites out of many. It was almost as if she could run off her pent-up frustrations.

The only issue now was what would happen next. Everybody at this school was set to become part of society once more, slowly being trained for it again by going out on community outreach programmes or volunteering and the likes. Most spoke to career advisors to find out where they would be best suited. Having been torn due to her criminal record and uncertainty of exactly what she was supposed to do with herself, Syrezeaju was rather stuck. The solution, rather typically, came in the form of Starfleet. Just like the military of old the organisation was well-known for recruiting people who had fewer choices or chances in life. They were regaled by the school as the ultimate way of turning your life around and doing something better with your talents. Attempting to join the famed organisation was something that Syrezeaju set her mind to on that day.

Starfleet Academy
Getting into Starfleet Academy was not an easy task. The examination process depended highly on a person’s intellect - something that she thought a little bit unfair, considering how everybody should have the chance to get into the fleet and experience that way of life. With a good enough physical prowess due to an enjoyment of sports she easily conquered the likes of the physical fitness exam. Some of the more academic subjects were a bit more difficult, considering how these were not taught in school, and unfortunately as a result she failed to get in the first time around. It was a year later (sticking out until the final year of the correctional school, much to her displeasure,) that she took the test again and managed to get in that time around.

Moving away to attend Starfleet Academy on Earth was not too big of a jump for the Rigellian. Having lived away from home for so long she had no reservations about heading out to somewhere new - and this would be somewhere she could start afresh. Nobody would have any knowledge of her previous schooling or what she had done in the past. It was a chance to have a clean slate, as it were, and she was delighted to find that her roommates welcomed her in without an issue. With them she became fast friends and delighted in the sensation that she was not being monitored by strict teachers any more and left to find her own path.

One of the highlights about Earth was the way of life there. While it was a ‘paradise’ as Rigel III had been this was applied in a completely different sense. Earth was the Federation’s political capital. It was not show-offish like Rigel, it was not dire like Freecloud. You had a different sense of true freedom here. It was one that Syrezeaju came to relish. In her free time from studying she delved into as much extra-curricular activity that she could. One of the things she loved so much was the geography and terrain of the planet. Rigel III was hot and humid no matter where you went but on Earth there was something different every time you crossed an ocean. Weekend trips to different cities across the world became one of her favourite pastimes and she soon found herself enthralled by hillwalking, orienteering, and mountain climbing. Having always found delight in the sport of football (soccer), getting onto one of the Academy’s teams was a relatively easy feat.

In classes she was nowhere near the smartest in the room and at times struggled to keep up, but it was with the assistance of roommates that she managed to get through the courses without falling into an entire world of stress. Standard Starfleet education was actually alright - and while some people despised the physical training or learning about Federation history, she thought it was all quite fun. When third year came around and she found herself having to focus into one division she found herself rather stuck. This had been her issue back in secondary school; she never knew where exactly her skills would be best. Tactical seemed to be the obvious option because it was all about defending the ship, but at the same time… Something about it just felt rather wrong. She had spent all of those years learning to steer away from crime and aggression but in tactical they seemed to be all about firing phasers or working out the best way to destroy a ship. It was all necessary work, of course, but it just did not seem to suit her.

After one heck of a lot of contemplation and nearing the deadline to submit their choices, Syrezeaju eventually settled on Security. It made sense to her. It had the physical aspect, considering how you could end up chasing people throughout the ship. You still trained with Tactical here and there, but most of the time, you found that your phaser was set to stun. Security seemed to offer quite a bit of cross-departmental work. Training in forensics for use at a crime scene meant that she came to know numerous science officers, watching over mock (and on one occasion, real) post-mortems was conducted alongside medical. People seemed to think that security was nothing more than overrated guards but they did everything from tackling fires to launching investigations. It was under this line of work that she mostly studied,  The division was far more interesting than a lot of people thought.

USS Yabrud
Upon graduating her first posting was to the USS Yabrud. It was a Cerebus-class escort designed to provide reinforcements to other vessels if required. It held a noble cause if any; designed to respond swiftly to distress calls, it always felt as if they were doing their best job in order to assist. It was aboard this ship that she learned for the first time what being a security officer entailed. Going through the ropes at the Academy was one thing but then applying that aboard a ship was another. Starfleet Academy seemed to prioritise knowing the ins and outs of multiple different facets of the department. You could be escorting people through dangerous terrain one second to diffusing an incendiary device the next. Aboard the Yabrud things seemed far more… Well. Boring. There was a lot of checking and double-checking equipment lockers and the function of EV suits and not many bombs to diffuse at all.

Life aboard was not entirely boring, though. Out of working hours she found herself enthralled by the holodeck. Even if you weren’t on Earth it seemed as if you could still experience what life was like there. Every month she would organise an expedition to conquer the Federation’s highest mountains - it may not have been real life but it definitely felt real with the amount of programming she put in. It was when people started to become hypoxic from the altitude that she realised that perhaps it should be toned down until people became used to climbing so high. It was a rewarding feat and she became well-known for her dedication to pursuing sports both on the holodeck and in clubs - gathering people from different duty shifts to form different football teams and play against each other was definitely enjoyable.

A benefit of serving aboard the Yabrud was the ability to head out on away teams. During response to distress calls they were often found to be in need of an away team to beam aboard and extract stranded crew. While this job usually fell to tactical, because of their response training aboard their own vessels it meant that security also fitted the bill. It was together that they would beam aboard and fight their way through the corridors to retrieve their targets. This was the first indication of cross-department interaction - and it was something that she always appreciated as it gave her insight into the work of the other departments.

Starbase 154
Syrezeaju felt as if her service aboard the Yabrud went quite well. While it could be quiet at times the nature of their work always came back to her during those away teams. It was with disgruntlement, then, that after two years there she found herself rather suddenly being posted to Starbase 154. It was without warning and entirely unplanned. With no time to say goodbye to friends it left the Rigellian with quite a bit of resentment. It was only when she arrived to find Starbase 154 practically cordoned off and only allowing certain people aboard that she found out exactly why she had been summoned there.

A string of crimes had occurred aboard the Starbase - and despite them putting it on lockdown and only admitting certain people to help, it seemed as if the crimes kept continuing. Syrezeaju had been requested due to her specialisation in crime-scene investigation at the Academy. Her knowledge of forensics to be applied at a crime scene and work with medical examiners meant that she was aware of protocol - and besides, Starfleet knew of her history. They were quite certain that somebody who had invested such time and effort into changing their old ways would be swayed and tempted to undertake such crime by themselves.

Starfleet had hoped that with the arrival of these new officers from different disciplines that it would only take a matter of days to find their culprit. Instead it took months, and during that time everybody continued to live in a sense of fear. Power shut off at random points in the day, environmental control shorted out and people were found frozen. There was no way that anybody would even go near an airlock - there was no way of surviving if it suddenly opened with you beside it. Despite every section of the station being monitored 24/7 it seemed as if their killer was entirely invisible - until it was found that they had worked out how to loop the cameras.

With this knowledge the officers managed to start watching what was actually going on. Small robots were being used, identical to the cleaning droids and hiding amongst them. The only difference was that while the cleaning robots would go about their task and whisk up dirt from the floor, these modified ones would stalk a person in order to eventually electrocute them. Between that and the fact that the systems were being tampered with it was quite clear that this had to be conducted by somebody with quite the ability, likely a sort of computer programmer turned hacker.

Working alongside the team, Syrezeaju was one of the first to get her hands on one of these robots. Engineering had it swiftly disabled and together they ran an analysis, managing to find biological traces on it in the form of what seemed to be cat hair. This would not have been strange considering how it was disguised to be a cleaning bot - it might well have just been doing its pretend job - but with quarters on lockdown the droids had only been cleaning the halls. Pets were not allowed unless they were a service animal, and only a single pet in the form of a cat was registered aboard the Starbase. Ensign Alkair - a highly emotional officer who had recently been declined a promotion - was arrested swiftly after this revelation. With this, life aboard Starbase 154 went back to normal.

USS Haphaeostos | SCIS
Following her work in assisting the team aboard Starbase 154, Syrezeaju had expected to be posted back to the USS Yabrud. Instead, she found herself - and two other young security officers who had worked aboard the station - being offered positions aboard the USS Haphaeostos. The Ross-class cruiser was known for its immense firepower - and also for being the home of the SCIS, Starfleet’s Criminal Investigation Service. Working from a starship due to its ability to warp directly to where there was a crisis and holding the Ross’s firepower which was capable of disbanding the likes of smuggling ships without any assistance, Haphaeostos was a powerful vessel.

The majority of her days were spent reading over information compiled by officers on the scene of major crimes; murders, contraband smuggling, and terrorism. Due to Starfleet spanning so many ships and countless more starbases it was unsurprising that they would end up analysing information collected by someone else, but from time to time, if capable, the Haphaeostos themselves would convey the officers to the scene. Their system seemed to work perfectly. Syrezeaju and her fellow SCIS officers would spend their time investigating. A shuttlecraft could be deployed and, due to their security training, the team were more than capable of conducting an arrest on a person by themselves. It was on multiple occasions that Syrezeaju found herself shipping out aboard a shuttlecraft to a different planet each time, scouring locations and investigating the scenes of previous crimes to track a person down. The job was simultaneously exhilarating and exhausting.

For seven years the Rigellian worked as part of the SCIS team. The job was continually varied and it always seemed to be something new that they were tackling. In between times the team were also encouraged to keep up work as standard security officers, and as such it did not stop her from undertaking the usual physical training or patrols. It more than definitely bridged the gap that the Yabrud had provided. Instead of being bored out of their mind due to the lack of things to do, here that gap was filled. It seemed like the perfect balance between the two. Team-building exercises seemed to be a constant and it was outside of work too that she continued to pursue this. Nothing could keep her from going through all of her sports holodeck programmes - and when she found that there was a distinct lack of groups pursuing different sports, Syrezeaju found herself organising them for others.

One of the more major cases she worked on was in order to prevent a contraband smuggling ring which had begun utilising Starfleet vessels. To begin with it was unclear whether it was officers or civilians conducting this, given how multiple fleet ships had started allowing civilians aboard at the time. Being tipped off by one officer who had been rather perplexed at their colleague suddenly procuring Romulan Ale, the search began and interrogations had to be conducted. It was from ship to ship that Syrezeaju and her latest work partner - a newly-graduated officer named Niwira Vann - travelled in order to interrogate and investigate wherever their leads took them.

For months they continued to follow the trail back, speaking with different officers, checking cargo and transporter logs, and eventually it led them directly into the path of one of Starfleet’s own admiralty. Rear Admiral Lisiur Aceius Wakalth was a Romulan by birth and had ended up within Starfleet as a liaison from the Romulan Republic. Of course he would be behind the procurement of Romulan Ale - but the issue was that he had been importing and distributing more than that. Confronting him was the issue. With Starfleet’s alliance with the Romulan Republic being of the utmost importance to them, the admiralty quickly acted to stop Syrezeaju and Niwira from taking the investigation any further. They were informed that Walkalth would stop his importation of contraband but he would not be serving time for his crimes. To ensure that the two did not keep pushing for his arrest they were suddenly re-deployed away from the Haphaeostos. You might have considered it to be a promotion but only the two of them knew the truth.

USS Nascence | FedSec
Syrezeaju wanted to be happy with her new position. Having been in a position aboard the Haphaeostos where she was trusted to help junior members but nothing more, it had felt as if her career progression had ground to a halt. According to the others this seemed to be the norm; because older members of the service refused to retire or move onwards to a different posting, it meant that no form of progression ever opened up for the younger members of the team. The USS Nascence was designated as a vessel that co-ordinated with Federation Security - an extension of the SCIS. This change in posting meant that she was finally in position to begin assisting in the oversight of a team - and it also meant that their scope had extended. Where the SCIS was solely dedicated to working within the confines of Starfleet, Federation Security went beyond. This was a chance to cover all of Federation space and help to target those who were set to do it harm, all while still providing service as a security officer. It would have been the perfect posting had it not been for the guilt and distaste at her previous posting being ended so abruptly and without the correct conclusion.

Nascence functioned in the same way that Haphaeostos did, but this time, they were capable of taking action further. Their Captain had diplomatic jurisdiction to report back and then enact what he felt was necessary, and it was as such that the vessel, partnered with Federation Security, were capable of carrying out work outside of the realms of Starfleet. Quite often it seemed to cross over. The smuggling of contraband was one that broke down those barriers the majority of times as some sort of civilian had to be providing said contraband to a vessel. It was deep into the world of investigation that they delved. Syrezeaju was happy to serve as a liaison between the SCIS and the officers of Federation Security who worked from elsewhere. Once again in the meanwhile she kept her standard posting as a security officer, giving her the experience of both. It was undeniable that she preferred the investigatory side of things, though.

Strings of murders were looked into, leading the team back to Ferenginar of all places (in a move that almost knocked the Khitomer Alliance off course). There were major efforts to defund and prevent the activity of the Cardassian True Way who had continued to plague the Union and their new way of life. On New Romulus the Reman Resistance continued to seem to make a resurgence - and, no longer willing to stay to political protests, they had turned violent. Countless efforts were made against lines of work such as these. Preventing terrorism and attacks throughout the Federation before they could be launched was of the utmost importance, and Federation Security’s job, after all, was to ensure that everyone was kept safe.

The Reman Resistance proved to be more of an issue than anyone had originally anticipated them to be. Considering how Starfleet’s stance was very firm and they supported the Romulan Republic, it was unsurprising that the Resistance movement would find an issue with the United Federation of Planets too. It was when Intelligence caught word that a Reman starship Captain had been sending encrypted transmissions back to Mol’Rihan that they began to become suspicious of him. FedSec and Intelligence opted to ally on the matter, considering how they wanted to keep showing a good face to both the Republic and the Resistance, and it was as such that Syrezeaju found herself being sent over to the USS Clarke in an attempt to discern whether the Reman captain was loyal to Starfleet or not.

Conversation with the crew led to the discovery that he had been acting strange recently - taking risks and becoming withdrawn. It was uncertain whether his goal had been to infiltrate Starfleet from the start or if he had been swayed and now wanted to make a statement. With the Captain having become suspicious, given the presence of Federation Security on his ship he decided to act swiftly. His plan had always been a physical statement against the Federation and their allies in the Romulan Republic; a show that the Resistance movement would not stop at any lengths until they had their independence from Romulan society. With Syrezeaju on the bridge ready to confront him, the Captain opted to detonate the incendiary devices that he had stowed away on the ship.

One of those devices had been on the bridge. It was with the crew injured, distraught, and downright panicking at their captain’s betrayal that Syrezeaju ended up instinctively taking charge. She had led her own team for FedSec for some time but this - this was entirely different. It seemed to be on autopilot that she began to bark out orders; medical to the detonation locations  for the injured officers (herself included considering parts of her legs had been gouged out from shrapnel,) operations to handle fire suppressants, engineering for damage control, science to scan for further devices, security to ensure that the captain was correctly detained. She had never considered before that her law enforcement training within Security would lend itself to commanding upon the bridge. When the vessel’s captain died on-scene from injuries he created it did feel like some sort of failure - but getting that ship under control again had, strangely enough, been exhilarating and rewarding despite the danger they had all been in.

It was while the case was being concluded - everything rounded up, talks with the Romulans held to inform them of the actions that had been taken against the fleet - that Syrezeaju received a message from Command. Having picked up on her efforts to keep the crew in line (and her efforts to lead her own team plus coordinating with the likes of Science and Medical), it appeared she had been put forward for the Command Training Programme. It left her in a bit of a pinch. Syrezeaju was perfectly happy working within Federation Security. She hadn’t even considered the possibility of being sent anywhere else - progression within the division was the only thing that she imagined, really. She enjoyed her job, enjoyed the work that she did… But, at the same time, there had been something that felt inherent about the way she had taken Command. She did it with her own team within FedSec - and if she did it for them, then perhaps she could provide the same to a crew as well. There had been something about commanding that day - like an adrenaline rush. There was part of her that was put-together and organised. There was part of her that was, perhaps, a little bit of a thrill seeker. How could she say no to the offer?

USS Sunchaser
Previous experience of running a team within Federation Security proved to be a relatively good basis for what Syrezeaju learned in the Command Training Programme. The candidate officers started off with small teams, taking it in turn to lead, and it was a pleasant surprise that there was not much competition between them - everyone seemed to be supportive of one another instead. With Syrezeaju’s background having been founded in law enforcement she felt as if there was a little bit of a hardship in keeping up at times. At points it felt like being back in the Academy - enjoying what was learned but never fully understanding it, never possessing the same intellect that other officers had. Somehow, however, she managed to make it through the training and found herself donning a red uniform instead of a golden one. The feeling like it didn’t suit her may well have come from nerves.

Syrezeaju was lucky that her first post within the Command division was not a difficult one. The USS Sunchaser was a relatively small Tempest-class escort, largely utilised for ensuring that frigates and other vessels made it to their destination safely. With their XO set to retire in a month’s time they had felt it prudent that the new one join their ranks sooner rather than later so they could all get acquainted. It was a very good opportunity - Syrezeaju was not being thrust into Command directly from the training programme. Instead she had the chance to observe and settle in before having to assist in actually taking charge.

It was far different to what she had done within FedSec. As a result the work could be a little bit stressful - but it was also rewarding. Syrezeaju had always tried to promote the importance of interdepartmental communications and here she found herself in charge of it. However, she also found herself taking charge a little too often. When the old XO left and she found herself falling into the division of Command more, Syrezeaju found that she was very much a person who liked things her way or no way at all. It quite possibly could have stemmed from her time within the SCIS and FedSec; having been in charge of teams meant they followed her routines, her rules, and what she wanted done. There were numerous times that she butted heads with the ship’s Commanding Officer due to their differences in opinions when it came to how things should be done.

With Syrezeaju being so stubborn and finding it difficult to properly connect with people instead of just barking orders at them it led to one heck of a lot of doubting her abilities. The work still got done - and it got done perfectly, because she wouldn’t have anything other than top-tier standard - but Syrezeaju always worried that she wasn’t doing the rest right. Even with her SCIS and FedSec teams she had hardly been the life of the party. She seemed to be better at remaining the distanced and elusive boss instead of being one who could connect on some sort of emotional level. Talks with other people from her year in the Academy who had wound up heading into Command revealed the issue - that she had been acting less like a first officer and more like a commanding officer.

The efforts paid off, however. Her own stubborn morality outweighed her captain’s orders and when he felt as if it was too dangerous to proceed when a group of medical frigates were being attacked, Syrezeaju avidly protested against him. It was to the extent that the rest of the bridge crew ended up being swayed to her side - and while it could have been classed as mutiny, the captain knew when to stand down. With careful planning and coordination between the departments (engineering to continually boost the shields, tactical to target weapons of their opponents, operations to share shields with the frigates and so on,) the crew successfully rescued the frigates from the attack. Syrezeaju had thought not particularly much of it (other than that she had become dangerously close to punching their commanding officer,) but Starfleet Command thought it as ample opportunity to have her move onwards to become the commanding officer of a ship of her own.

USS La Salle
Taking the first step to join the crew of the La Salle was a relatively difficult one considering how their previous captain had been made to remove himself from duty, having taken ill. The man was beloved to them, having treated them well all of those years, and there was no question about it that they did not want a new captain. All that Syrezeaju could do was try her hardest to show them that she would do her best to follow in the man’s footsteps. It took awhile but people began to warm up to her. Syrezeaju’s approach was different and she knew that she could not change to act exactly the same as their previous commanding officer did, but what mattered was that her approach got the job done. Over time they came to know her reputation of admittedly being stern, a little snippy, but always doing so because she wanted the ship to run as smoothly as possible for the safety of the crew.

It was aboard the La Salle that Syrezeaju served for over seven years - far longer than she had expected, and far longer than she had expected to last, considering how different her approach was. Her time aboard the vessel was not all smooth sailing, of course. One of the ways in which she proved herself to her crew was managing the situation when the first officer and away team were kidnapped during an away team. You might have expected a former security officer to be entirely violent and start firing, but instead Syrezeaju took the diplomatic approach. They soon found that she was someone willing to take everybody’s suggestions on board - and even if it wouldn’t work, she would consider it along the way. The Rigellian had always known her own limits and weaknesses when it came to working things out. She didn’t just listen to her crew upon the bridge; she relied upon them.

Of course, managing a crew with such a large number of people aboard was not an easy feat. The Concorde-class was well known for its physical prowess but also how much crew it required to keep the thing afloat. There were countless officers below her who could assist with tasks and after a fair bout of time where she felt that everything had to be handled by herself, she started to utilise that instead. Every Monday and Thursday herself and the first officer would meet up first thing, either for breakfast or a quick session at the gym. Senior staff meetings were held now and again even if just to check in. Constant communication between him and the department heads ensured the ship’s status to be upheld, but she would be lying if she said that it did not take one heck of a lot of work.

While things settled down eventually there were still tragedies that befell the ship. They went through battles and distress calls, only making it out because of a knowledge of maneuvering and the perfect work of the crew. As a battlecruiser they often found themselves on the frontline, trying to ensure the defence of smaller vessels so they could retreat to safety. On one occasion while in the defence of a group of freighters it was thought that the La Salle would not make it, being attacked and plundered by Orion ships - the sheer number of them seemed enough to overwhelm the Starfleet vessel. With warp nacelles having taken heavy damage and the La Salle seeming to be dragged closer to a nearby planet it was thought that they might not make it through the atmosphere - but with engineering managing to divert power to their impulse engines and get them going again, the ship managed to take to the skies once more - arising from the planet’s atmosphere and trailing clouds behind it, immediately firing upon the Orion vessels to dispatch them.

Too much damage did eventually wear a starship down, though, and 2477 seemed to be the year for continuous battle. Serving in the rallied fleet against Admiral Nazar at the beginning of the year was one thing, but perhaps worse than that was when one of his followers rose up again. The rise to power of Admiral Woystusyu not only highlighted just how corrupt the admiralty had become over time, and it also hit close to home for Syrezeaju. Meeting other Rigellians within the fleet was a rarity and now one who could have been a role model was serving as the opposite and trying to instigate the genocide of an entire race. While the crew of the La Salle did not know the details all of them were highly confused when the orders came out and stated that they were to wage war on the Breen.

Having followed the law so closely before and almost always abided by the orders of the fleet, it was expected that La Salle would warp in to assist the fleet in the battle. Syrezeaju had them do the opposite, refusing to take part in what was going to be an unlawful act of genocide. Instead they remained waiting, on alert, and when they received news that a resistance movement had arisen it was to the tail-end of that they joined. Fighting through the Klingon battle which emerged afterwards was difficult - the crew were worn out, Syrezeaju was frustrated at what one of her own people had tried to do - but as always they served as the front line of defence for the other vessels. It was in an attempt to defend the Romulan reinforcements that they found themselves being hit directly. The vessel was damaged, but at the end of the fight they were still in one piece.

From then on it seemed like every action that Syrezeaju undertook was an attempt to make up for what Admiral Woystusyu had done. A lot of scrutiny fell upon the different Rigellian kinds and a fair amount of distrust was thrown about, well aware that they had often allied with the KDF and felt as if they had betrayed the UFP. Determined to prove that one person did not determine the actions of an entire species, Syrezeaju spent countless hours trying to convey Rigellian culture (of the Jelna and others) to try to prove that they were not violent people. Any hatred towards her or her fellow kind was diminished, though, when the La Salle put itself directly in the line of fire during the battle for Mol’Rihan. Taking a direct hit instead of one designated for a hospital ship (almost in a direct reflection of how she had wound up becoming a commanding officer,) it served to highlight just how dedicated they could be - and how dedicated Syrezeaju was, despite being a Rigellian.

The vessel had been heavily damaged after the fight. While all organic life might have been restored as best as possible all ships still remained fractured, and it was as a result that her ship was hauled away to Utopia Planitia for mass repairs. The poor crew of the La Salle were dejected but banded together, finding strength in one another and going forth to take on other jobs around the Sol System while they awaited the repairs on their ship to be finished. Syrezeaju herself opted to spend her time waiting to relax, somewhat, and also to conduct recruitment for the fleet on the side. A firm believer that Starfleet could offer a better way of life like it did to her, she was willing to help other people take their first steps into the fleet.

USS Phoenix
With repairs to the La Salle taking time and Starfleet having a lack of officers, it was decided that they could not wait around with officers sitting idle. Syrezeaju felt a little guilty that she was having to leave the crew in a time where they needed the support, but there was no ignoring the summons of Command. It was as such that she set out for the USS Phoenix - and found things getting off to a rather abysmal start. She immediately clashed with the first officer, despised the way things were run - and then, only about a month in and headed for a meeting with Command, found herself being snatched up and tortured by the Iconians.

The damage was extensive; gouges out of her face, right arm dislocated at the shoulder and elbow, a stab-wound straight to her lower abdomen, brain damage from continuous electrocution - and finally, a deep slit across her throat, one that should have killed her. It was only due to the Phoenix finding her shuttlecraft with swiftness and the work of the Medical team that she survived. A month off duty was spent, firstly in the confines of the Phoenix’s own medical bay and then Starfleet Medical itself.

Recovery took far more time than Syrezeaju would have liked. In fact, recovery seemed to be an ongoing process that did not want to just be finished. There always seemed to be something between the mood swings and the seizures, and all Syrezeaju could do was wait and keep working, endorsing it as one of the few coping strategies that she had.

Syrezeaju continued to work amongst the crew and try to get to know them as best as possible. It got to the stage where she felt comfortable working with them - and felt as if they were a cohesive crew. It was during a boarding drill which turned into a real boarding that she died, having been impaled by shrapnel during the fight. After calling for the crew to evacuate in an attempt to save them, it was in a last-ditch-effort that she altered the helm's course to send the Phoenix plummeting down into the planet below, trying to ensure that it did not fall into Iconian hands. When she had been tortured before she had felt the guilt at not getting to know the crew -- this time, there was no guilt, and only the feeling that she had done right.