Keena Vahl

Authored by Katherine Dedul

Character Biography

Background:

Keena originally started as a security officer with a specialty in tactical. She is also a gifted fighter pilot and an excellent shot. She was joined with the Vahl symbiont in 2385 on the death of Vahl’s previous host Meerin. She is the first non-scientist host of Vahl, the hope is to provide a diversity to the symbiont and as Meerin noted in her memoirs, Keena’s tactical aptitude was really just another type of science.

Her career was relatively uneventful, though during her service on the USS Kananaskis, she distinguished herself as a keen tactical mind under the command of Captain Asani Anraelin, who later recommended Keena for Advanced Tactical Training at the Academy. After graduating fourth in her class, Keena was reassigned to the USS Berlin, taking a brief leave of absence to receive Vahl. Eventually she was assigned to the USS Oslo, distinguishing herself during the attack on the ship after a Nausicaan attack on a civilian ship that the Oslo intervened upon. Captain Julian Wood’s refusal to walk away from the fight led to his death and that of his first officer Commander Talia Goldstein, leaving Keena in command as acting captain. She made the order to abandon the civilian ship, effectively saving the crew who survived the attack. Command’s investigation of the incident declared that Vahl had done the best course to create the most favorable number of survivors from the attack and had she ordered the ship to remain engaged in combat, it was likely all hands on board both the civilian ship and the Oslo would have perished. The ship was decommissioned due to heavy damage after limping the survivors back to space dock.

After the Oslo, she was promoted to full Commander for her actions and assigned to the USS Lancer as her first officer.

After two years of service on the Lancer, she was transferred to the USS Endeavor to be her first officer.

Medical History:

Most of Keena’s injuries have been minor. She received three broken ribs during the attack and near destruction of the Oslo. She dislocated her shoulder blade during tactical training, but still managed to pass her test.

Psychological Evaluation:

Keena struggled slightly with a bit of survivor’s guilt after the events of the Oslo, wisely consulting with a counselor during the time. Commander Andralyn Montgomery was responsible for administering the grief counseling for the Oslo survivors and described Lt. Commander Vahl’s reaction as somewhat expected all things considered. It took some time for Keena to accept that she could not have done things different and that some of the events during that incident were far beyond her control. In Montgomery’s expert opinion, she worked through the issues well enough and became a better commander for it.

For a time she had the most trouble accepting Captain Wood’s death, due to unresolved romantic feelings. It didn’t help that Wood had arranged in his will for a letter admitting the same feelings to her to be delivered in the event of this death. She’d been relatively blind to Wood’s flaws prior to the incident and it was like it all came to a massive gut wrenching wave of pain.

Commander Andralyn Montgomery helped Keena come to terms by focusing on letting go of things she could not change, Keena came to accept that focusing on elements beyond her control was counter productive and would only lead to further issues down the road. Keena credits Montgomery with helping her become stronger, wiser.