Lellauh Taas

Lellauh Taas is a general physician and Starfleet officer currently serving aboard the USS Phoenix-C as a counselor.

Early Life
The Bedar household on Trill was often a serious one, and it was in this household that Lellauh Bedar was born in 2448. With her father Karjan, a historian, and her mother Tiadi, a diplomat, Lellauh always had a special appreciation for the exploration of other cultures. However, this appreciation came in tandem with an expectation to excel. Tiadi especially had high standards for her children, wanting them to succeed in all aspects of life.

Lellauh also had an older brother, Nolur, who was much more interested in the political aspect their mother brought to their upbringing-- he had aspirations to become a well-known political figure on Trill. While neither of their parents were joined with a symbiont, both Lellauh and Nolur were interested in becoming so, and with Nolur being nearly a decade older than his sister he was able to apply long before she was. He worked hard during the selection program but was eventually rejected, causing a tensioned rift between himself and Lellauh when she was eventually chosen to be a host herself.

Due to Tiadi’s career as a diplomat, she was often away. However, when Lellauh was seven and her brother sixteen, her father took them to join their mother on a diplomatic trip. It was her first time away from Trill, and was incredibly exciting until her parents pulled her and Nolur aside for a “talk”. The talk turned out to be mostly an apology, because Tiadi was going to take an extended stay on the planet, and Karjan would be staying alongside her. At first, Lellauh and Nolur assumed they would be staying as well, but their parents soon explained this was not to be. They would be sending Lellauh and Nolur back to Trill for a few years— not because there weren’t accommodations for them on the trip, but because their parents had an idea of what they wanted for their children. They didn’t want Lellauh and Nolur to be away from their home world any longer than they had to, and an additional bonus was the certain relative they would be living with.

Sorjor Nuis, Tiadi’s brother, was to be the adopted guardian of the children. Sorjor was a joined Trill himself, and as such Tiadi and Karjan had already considered going to see him when this opportunity occurred. They thought some time with Sorjor would assist Lellauh and Nolur in their lifelong pursuit to be joined themselves. Sorjor was also a retired engineer who had worked in Starfleet, and while Sorjor’s former career implanted the idea of joining the organization into Lellauh when she was very young, it remained on the backburner for her until several years later.

Sorjor’s home was a warm and happy one compared to what Lellauh and Nolur were used to. He lived alone on a sprawling acreage of farmland, far away from the city life the two children had grown up in. While Lellauh loved this lifestyle, Nolur hated it. He was much older than Lellauh, and as a teenager he wished to be back to what he considered his home with his friends. Lellauh, on the other hand, was perfectly content to take a break from the overbearing attitude of her parents (and the rapidly growing pain that was her brother).

She spent the next three years living with Sorjor; Nolur, on the other hand, only lived with his uncle and his sister for the next two. The moment he turned eighteen, he moved back to the Bedar’s home city to live with a family friend and pursue higher education. When Tiadi and Karjan finally returned from the trip, Lellauh was also made to move back home with them. By this time, she was ten and Nolur was nineteen-- he wanted nothing to do with his much younger sister, and as such only stuck around long enough to welcome his parents back home before finally moving into his own home. Lellauh continued her schooling rather uneventfully for the next several years, though she was rapidly proving herself to be one of the brightest and most promising students her teachers had seen.

However, during the eight years that passed between moving back in with her parents and finishing her schooling, her brother finished his degree alongside several academic distinctions. He was an accomplished scholar and on his way to becoming an important political contender on Trill, and as such the entire Bedar family (Lellauh included) expected him to do wonderfully in the initiate program. This was not the case.

Nolur was rejected near the end of his training. His docent cited it as “an unfortunate lack of a dominant personality”, though he just saw it as a failure. Soon after his rejection, he moved far, far away-- across the planet-- from the rest of his family. Lellauh saw the effect this all had on Nolur and their parents, and firmly decided from then on that she had to become joined.

Joining
Lellauh had her mind made up. She knew she had to work to become joined, and as such she pursued higher education. At first, she was unsure of which road to take, but it soon became increasingly clear what she was born to do-- help people. She attended a medical academy on Trill and a few years later, graduated with her own degree and list of accomplishments.

It was after this she applied to the initiate program. The notification from the Symbiosis Commission that she’d been accepted into the initial stages of the program was met with an amount of glee that was not be understated-- she dove into her training from then on, remaining focused and determined throughout it all.

Lellauh was a perfect host for a symbiont. As she made her way through the initiate program, that fact only became more clear-- she was intelligent, capable, and possessed a strong enough personality that indicated she would be able to withstand the joining process. She eventually reached the end trials of her training, near the mark where Nolur had been rejected so many years before. Her field docent was a woman by the name of Haulle Lezad.

Lezad was a strict woman, but not unkind. She had a reputation for her impeccable sense of judgement, and as such Lellauh ensured she was at the top of her game while being evaluated by the older woman. The trials Lezad put her through were difficult, but not impossible, and it was not so soon after that Lellauh found herself one of the few initiates left. It was then, by now a few years into training in the program, that Lellauh received the news: she had been chosen to become a host.

Her parents were over the moon. They could not be prouder of their daughter-- and in some convoluted way, themselves. Lellauh had no specific request for which symbiont she received, and as such she was assigned one when the time came-- the Taas symbiont.

Her joining ceremony is fondly remembered as one of the most special days of her life. For Lellauh, it was a culmination of everything she’d worked for-- she had achieved what she desired by becoming a host to a symbiont. It was, however, a bittersweet day-- her brother, Nolur, was nowhere to be found when she returned home, transitioned from Lellauh Bedar to Lellauh Taas. Nolur, it seemed, was still sour over his own rejection, and as such could not find it within him to help his sister celebrate her own achievement.

The summer after she became joined, she went on an extended visit to Sorjor’s home. She was in a bit of a rut, career wise. She’d already achieved so much at her age-- her degree coupled with becoming joined were achievement enough for many. But Lellauh was always looking for more; as such, Sorjor urged her to consider Starfleet; he proposed that it would give her a purpose that didn’t revolve around her brother or her parents’ expectations and chance to explore the further galaxy. Lellauh liked that idea very much-- so much that she was still staying with Sorjor when she sent in her application to the Academy.

Starfleet Academy
Lellauh passed her entrance exams with no issues. She had always found that academic pursuits came fairly easily to her, and though she would be the last to flaunt it, it made the transition much easier for her. She was set to attend the Beta Aquilae II branch of the Academy-- her parents were as proud as they could be (her father especially), but they urged her to choose a less popular campus to attend. It wasn’t that they weren’t fond of Earth, it was simply that in their minds, attending a less well-known branch gave Lellauh a better chance of standing out. They knew she was already an exceptional student, but after she became joined, their standards for her only increased.

The Academy was like a breath of fresh air for Lellauh. She had always had no trouble making friends, and she dabbled in a few different sports and activities, but where she really found her niche was within some of the community-based extracurriculars. She offered her help for any student who needed tutoring, and was always willing to help out among the general public around the planet as well. It wasn’t soon after that she decided exactly which track she wanted to pursue within the Medical division-- counseling. She had already obtained her degree in general medicine, and as such supplementing her education with the necessary courses came relatively easily.

The next years were spent poring over medical texts and assisting her fellow classmates. She made sure to make time for social activities, and she still considers herself close to many of the friends she made during this time, but it was a long ingrained habit that academics came first. Her parents had made sure she knew that, and he brother had reinforced it long before she was even able to grasp the concept of education. She was a diligent student, and she made sure her work was done to the best of her abilities up until her graduation.

USS Inglis-B
Lellauh’s first official posting was aboard the USS Inglis-B. She was now 28, and felt beyond prepared to finally serve, and did so happily for several years. Her first ship was akin to a second home for her; while none of her friends from the Academy were assigned the same posting, she grew to love the Medical department onboard and became fast friends with many of its officers. As a purely medical ship, the Inglis-B saw much of the kind of action Lellauh had trained for. She was a part of many joint missions with other ships, often being forced to use the more practical side of her medical education in tandem with her counseling skills. Lellauh’s reputation only grew and grew, and in the best possible way. She was known around the ship for being overly kind and friendly, always willing to lend an ear. Being a medical officer was not only her job, but her calling-- she truly enjoyed helping others work through their problems, and her office door was always open.

It was during a particularly long-haul mission to a fresh-off-the-boat Federation colony that her skills were really put to the test-- she and a moderately-sized away team were left on the planet for a month while the Inglis-B returned to Earth to pick up supplies. She spent the month assisting the adjustment the colonists were having to make, holding sessions with the members who needed them and leading classes on basic first aid to prepare them for their new lives. She still maintains contact with a few of the colonists, writing back to them periodically as they continue to inform her of how their lives are going.

Another event of note was her assistance in diagnosing the infection afflicting a returning away team-- they had just assisted in a First Contact mission, and as such were ecstatic upon their return, but it soon came to light that something was off (‘soon’ meaning the moment they stepped into the decon chamber). A particularly stubborn infection had seemed to attach itself to two members of the team, and though Lellauh was not a pathologist by trade, she worked herself to her core to assist the rest of the medical staff in diagnosing the cause of the infection and finding its cure. Not only did she provide insights into the eventual cure, she kept the infected members of the team calm and assured them they would return safely to the crew at large.

Zhian'tara
It was while still aboard the Inglis-B that Lellauh underwent the mandatory Zhian’tara. Utilizing her closest friends and superior officers as hosts for the memories of the Taas symbiont’s previous hosts, it was during a stopover on Trill that this process was assisted. Never had Lellauh felt more in tune with her species and the joining process as during her Zhian’tara-- she truly understood the humanity of the Taas symbiont’s previous hosts, and she was immensely grateful to her colleagues for undergoing the process with her.

Then the news of the Iconian war broke. It was devastating, with all of the news of the destroyed ships and the like. Then Captain Enga and an entire away team were captured, leaving Lellauh, for the first time in a long time, unsure of what to do next. Assisting among the crew became her utmost priority; ensuring the mental and physical well being of her fellow officers was in its best shape-- helping them out while continuing the important work the ship as a whole had to be doing during wartime-- was certainly a task, but one she was determined to take head on.

It was upon the return of Captain Enga and Ensign Hensley, along with the remaining crew of the USS Phoenix, that Lellauh left the Inglis-B for a remarkably short stint at Starfleet Medical. She helped get everything situated upon the mass return from the prison, assisting with physicals and walking the halls as a friendly face should anyone need it.

Her transfer to the USS Phoenix was a voluntary one; there wasn’t a ship in the fleet she felt more compelled to serve on, especially after all they had been through.