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| Tamlyn Sakai, First Officer |
Lieutenant Commander Tamlyn Sakai was born on a Federation colony along the Cardassian border. Finding life as a farmer unfulfilling, she left her home for Starfleet Academy. Completing Command training, her career was unremarkable until she was recruited by Starfleet Intelligence. Sakai found covert operations to her liking. She heard rumors of some secret group interested in her, but news from home was taking all of her attention. The trading of colonies and the creation of the Demilitarized Zone between the Federation and Cardassian Union didn't sit well with Sakai. It came to a head when she learned of the Maquis. At first, she leaked a few intelligence reports to former Starfleet officers she knew in the Maquis. It quickly escalated to her grabbing what she could and making for the Badlands with Starfleet Security hot on her heels.
It all went well, at first. With the Obsidian Order destroyed, the Cardassians didn't have the means to effectively counter an interstellar insurgency. The Maquis were running rings around them. With the Klingon invasion of the Cardassian Union came a fresh source of support. Some spoke of a Maquis nation forming in the DMZ.
Then the Dominion came. Sakai was returning from a raid when she found out the hard way that Jem'Hadar attack ships had sensors that could peer through the murk of the Badlands. Worse, those ships were also small enough to navigate plasma storms. It took everything in Sakai's bag of tricks to get her ship and crew back to base. There they found that the bombardments had caught anyone out in the open. The Jem'Hadar went into the tunnel and had killed everyone else. There was nothing but bodies around her, panic on the Maquis communications network, and Dominion ships on the sensors. Sakai had no options. The Dominion was giving no quarter. She loaded her ship with every survivor who would go with her, escaped the Badlands, and found someone wearing a Starfleet uniform she could surrender to.
Sakai spent some time being rehabilitated before Starfleet came to her with an offer. Return to Starfleet and fight the Dominion in exchange for a pardon. Starfleet's causalities in the Dominion War left it short of experienced officers. It was willing to overlook "past misunderstandings" in redeemable former officers. Sakai thought the pardon was nice, but she would've accepted any deal for a shot at the Dominion.
To her own surprise, Sakai not only survived the Dominion War, but stayed in Starfleet. It was more than not having a home to return to. She liked being back. Still, her more "practical" approach to problems marks her as different. Some believe that it is a result of being a Maquis. They're wrong - it was the reason she joined.
Captain Sulok doesn't seem to mind. Although he is encouraging Sakai to embrace the idealism of Starfleet again. A nice, quiet exploration cruise sounds like a pretty good chance for that. Still, Sakai has a feeling that something's off with the ship's counselor. She's spoken to the security chief about it, but neither of them have anything solid to bring to the captain. In the meantime, Sakai is avoiding Counselor Benoit's attempts to speak with her in private until she can put her finger on what's bothering her.
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