La'an Noonien-Singh

Lieutenant La'an Noonien-Singh was a female Human Starfleet officer who lived during the 23rd century. ()
==Early life==
La'an Noonien-Singh was born December 8, 2228 on Alpha I to Sa'an and Ronu Noonien-Singh. She also had a brother named Manu. () La'an and her family were descendants of Khan Noonien Singh, the Augment tyrant who once ruled a quarter of Earth's population during the Eugenics Wars. She made herself something of an expert on Khan when she was a child, but also suffered bullying from other children due to her infamous family name, being called "Augment" and "monster", among other things. () She carried her family’s augmentations and worried that, because of them, she might become dangerous. ()
As a child, Noonien-Singh lived aboard the colony ship , which was attacked by the Gorn. The population of the colony ship was captured and placed on a Gorn planetary nursery, where the entire population of the ship except La'an were subsequently either eaten alive or had their bodies slit open and used as breeding sacks. During that time, her brother Manu would sacrifice himself so she could live.
La'an, the sole survivor, was then sent into space on a "raft" as part of a ritual. She was eventually rescued by the crew of the , including Ensign Una Chin-Riley. ()
==Starfleet career==
===Starfleet Academy===
Chin-Riley sponsored La'an Noonien-Singh's application and she was able to attend Starfleet Academy where she graduated at the top of her class. Following her commission as a Starfleet officer, she was promoted each subsequent year during her tenure in Starfleet. ()
===USS Enterprise===
In 2259, Lieutenant Noonien-Singh was assigned to the as acting first officer following Chin-Riley's disappearance. She didn't tell Captain Pike she knew Una, fearing he wouldn't accept her for the mission. He nonetheless offered her a position on his ship after Una's rescue and La'an became permanent chief of security of the Enterprise. ()
Like most of the crew, La'an was infected with the light virus, in her case to the point of nearly causing a warp core breach as La'an attempted to throw herself into the ship's warp core. When Commander Una Chin-Riley saved her life, La'an was exposed to chimeric antibodies from Una which allowed Nurse Christine Chapel to develop a cure to the virus. After learning that her friend was hiding her status as an Illyrian, La'an expressed frustration that Una hadn't told her as La'an had shared her frustrations and past history of being bullied and ostracized as an Augment and a descendant of Khan Noonien Singh with her. However, the two made up with Una pointing out that, unlike La'an, her status made Una being a part of Starfleet illegal and something that she had no choice but to hide or to risk facing prison time if it ever came out. ()
During a routine supply mission to a colony, La'an was the first to realize they had ran into a trap by the Gorn. Enterprise was subsequently ambushed by Gorn ships and forced to hide in a gas giant which was being sucked into a nearby black hole. La'an was made acting first officer again, and she advised Captain Pike on the severity of the threat posed by the Gorn. La'an asked Spock to perform a mind meld on her and relive her time on the breeding planet. This helped her remember the code of the light signals Gorn ships used to communicate with each other. La'an was able to employ this knowledge to destroy one of the Gorn ships. ()
La'an was also hesitant to wear a commemoration pin of the Puget Sound for Starfleet Remembrance Day because she didn't want to remember the painful memories of her childhood, leaving the past in the past. After the encounter with the Gorn, she changed her mind. ()
When an alien consciousness from the Jonisian Nebula brought the fairy tale The Kingdom of Elysian to life on the Enterprise, La'an was used for the character of Princess Thalia. La'an didn't remember the events after the ship was returned to normal. ()
Later, La'an came face to face with the Gorn again, when she was part of a mission to the , which had made a crash landing on Valeo Beta V after they brought someone on board who was infected with Gorn eggs that hatched and hunted the crew and then the Enterprises landing party. She managed to keep her anger in check and help her comrades to survive the encounter. Then, she requested a leave of absence to help a survivor, a young girl named Oriana, find her family. Captain Pike granted her request and asked her to return afterwards, no matter how long it took. ()
===Finding Oriana's parents and stopping the Broken Circle===
La'an found Oriana's parents on Cajitar IV, a dilithium mining planet shared by the Federation and the Klingon Empire. By this time, La'an had been on voluntary leave for months and Admiral Robert April expressed doubt over whether or not she ever intended to return. However, La'an discovered an anti-Federation plot by the Broken Circle, a cabal of former Federation and Klingon soldiers who sought to reignite the . La'an sent a distress call to the Enterprise with the command crew under acting captain Spock stealing the ship to help her after April refused to give them permission to investigate. With the help of the Enterprise, La’an was able to help stop the plot and prevent a further war.
===Return to Enterprise===
With Oriana safe, La'an returned to her duties aboard Enterprise. ()
La'an appeared at Una Chin-Riley's court-martial as a character witness, with her stating her belief that without Una, she would not only not be in Starfleet, but not be alive at all, telling the court that Una was both a mentor and family to her. ()
===Time-travel to Toronto===
In her capacity as chief of security, La'an was required to intercede in personal arguments aboard Enterprise, as well as deal with noise complaints and inspections of personal property, to the chagrin of her colleagues.
While on her routine security rounds, La'an encountered a grey-suited man who had been shot, with a bullet rather than a phaser. He warned of an attack in the past, and handed her a device, and told her to "get to the bridge" before he died and vanished. Upon reaching the bridge, La'an was stunned to find a different captain in the chair, who identified himself as James T. Kirk, captain of the . She surmises with Kirk that the attack in the past has created an alternate timeline and erased her own, and needs to prevent this attack in order to restore 'her reality'. When Kirk tries to confiscate the device he accidentally activates it, transporting them both to Toronto in the year 2022.
Realizing that this must be the time and location of the attack in question, La'an and Kirk acquire period clothing, currency and food to aid their survival. They witness the explosion of the Lake Ontario Bridge; as they both remember this from their own versions of history, they realize this cannot be the attack they are to prevent. La'an recognizes the charring of a piece of wreckage as being that of a photonic bomb, a weapon at least a century beyond the technology of this time. They befriend Sera, a conspiracy theorist who has nonetheless stumbled on more evidence than she has realized, including a photo depicting a Romulan Bird-of-Prey, pointing to Romulan involvement in slowing or preventing Human advancement into space. Kirk remembers the destruction of a cold fusion reactor in Toronto at this time, which wipes out the city in his timeline.
Needing a way to detect this reactor and find it before the Romulans, La'an remembers an earlier conversation with Pelia and heads to Vermont, where she currently resides. Together they improvise a tritium detector using an old diver's wristatch, whose uncovered face would glow when near the reactor. They find the building where the reactor was being housed, the Noonien-Singh Institute for Cultural Advancement, and La'an was able to gain access to the building by her DNA. They are surprised by Sera at gunpoint, who reveals herself as an undercover Romulan agent with a mission to destroy the reactor. When they refuse to take Sera into the building, she fatally shoots Kirk and takes La'an hostage.
With security alerted, Sera improvises a new plan: to kill a young Khan Noonien Singh, one of several children kept at the institute, as a way of preventing Humanity's eventual enlightenment. La'an overpowered Sera despite being at a disadvantage in strength and speed, and cannot resist entering Khan's room to check on him, coming face-to-face with her own tyrannical ancestor. She assures the young Khan that he was where he needed to be, coming to terms with her own lineage and its role in Human history. Doing so allows La'an to return to her own timeline aboard Enterprise, where she was warned by another Department of Temporal Investigations agent not to discuss her experiences with anyone.
During these events La'an formed an emotional attachment to Kirk, culminating in the two sharing a kiss in the past. Following her mission, La'an contrived a reason to contact the James T. Kirk of her timeline, who was still a lieutenant on the , breaking down in tears thereafter. ()
==Alternate timeline==
In an alternate timeline created after Christopher Pike prevented the death of several Starfleet cadets and his own exposure to delta radiation, La'an would transfer from the Operations division to the Command division and reached the rank of Commander by 2266. She was assigned to the under the command of Captain James T. Kirk. ()
==Personality and abilities==
La'an had a spotless Starfleet record, although she had trouble working in teams and found other people "challenging". ()
La'an was a fan of ; at one point, she noted that she "loves the grapplers" on the ship. ()
She was used to enduring pain and maintaining her composure when in pain. She actually preferred not to be sedated and remain fully aware even during a very painful gene therapy. ()
La'an preferred work and her duties over recreational activities, even in her spare time. She credited her lack of enjoyment in childish activities to her painful childhood. ()
She was a strict teacher when it came to tactical and combat training, especially with cadets. La'an's "Lessons of Security" included the following:
*Lesson 1: "A Rigelian tiger pounces with no warning."
*Lesson 2: "There are no breaks in security because threats never take breaks."
*Lesson 3: "Let your tricorder do the investigating."
*Lesson 6: "Know when to bend the rules."
*Lesson 7: "Leave no stone unturned."
Lesson 7 required Cadets to look under Mugatan breathing stones to reinforce the lesson, a rather unpleasant task. ()
La'an's hand-to-hand combat experience made her a valuable member of away teams to less advanced civilizations where Starfleet technology was not to be used. ()
==Relationships==
===Joseph M'Benga===
La'an and Dr. Joseph M'Benga conducted regular sparring matches, training in hand-to-hand combat. As M'Benga was former Starfleet special forces and La'an was the security chief, it was a way for them to both practice their skills and blow off steam. Joseph saw that La'an was troubled by something, and tried to reach her, not as her doctor, but as her sparring partner. ()
===Una Chin-Riley===
La'an first met Una when she was rescued by the on which Una served as an Ensign. Una was involved in La'an's rescue, helped her recover from the incident, and inspired her to join Starfleet. La'an occasionally called Una "Chief". () When La'an was infected by the light virus, her anger towards augments came to the forefront when she realized Una was genetically engineered. Una later made amends, apologized for keeping secrets from her and the two continued their friendship. In addition, Una was widely seen as Noonien-Singh's mentor and La'an identified her as such, asserting that Una was family during the other woman's trial. ()
==Key dates==
*2228: Born on December 8 to Ronu and Sa'an Noonien-Singh on Alpha I
*2259:
**Assigned to the as acting first officer, then later offered permanent position as chief of security
**Takes a leave of absence from Starfleet to find Oriana's family
**Returns to active duty aboard the Enterprise
**Participates in Una Chin-Riley's court-martial
==Appendices==
===Appearances===
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===Background information===
La'an Noonien-Singh was played by Christina Chong. Ava Cheung played La'an as a child in and .
===External link===
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Category:Humans
Category:Starfleet operations personnel
Category:USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) personnel
Category:USS Farragut (NCC-1647) personnel
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