Nedras

## Early Life

Nedras 3 emerged into being through the will of the founders after Nedras 2 was sadly killed, having been ejected out of an airlock in a horrible accident - but no matter! Nedras 3 was, in all respects, better. Unlike his predecessor, he didn’t worry about the little things in life like ‘the wealth of different forms of life out there in the universe’ or ‘ensuring their prolonged survival’ or ‘considering the possibility that the Founders may not be the most glorious species in the known galaxy’. Ridiculous, really. It is better that Nedras 2 is gone now. From the moment Nedras 3 was born, he has known, yes, that there is all manner of life out there, waiting to be discovered. He has known that there, yes, may be things that surpass even the abilities of the Founders, Founders forbid. But that is no great obstacle! Why - it only means those things must be *brought back*. Savored, even!

But, to get to the specifics of the matter. Nedras started out as a commander of a group of Jem’hadar, and though it was the will of the Founders, it was so, so very boring. No Ketracel, no way to keep the rabble from rising up and attempting to butt heads - and worse, virtually no combat. The occasional drill with a few Federation vessels on the outskirts of their territory, but the rest of the time it was just… journeying. Some Vorta were created to be scientists, but Nedras was not one of them, which is why it was so very *taxing* to be on what eventually turned out to be little more than a science vessel. Their main area of focus: seeking out new life and new civilizations in the Gamma quadrant. Species encountered: something that looked like a sheep, but was not. Something that looked like a scarab beetle, but with stingers. A plant that could create a chemical similar to ketracel, but no, that was banned, meaning all there was to do was sit around and wait for something to sharpen the blade of this tactician's mind. So, Nedras had sent a petition to the Founders to be blessed with… not a higher calling, but one more… busy, perhaps? It was rejected. Ten months later, following mind-numbing staring at an endless starscape as a colleague collected data on a dying sun? Another petition. Rejected. Tragic. Two years later, following a first contact with a species that had just fumbled their way to making fire, another petition. Rejected summarily. Four and a half years went by in total before finally, at long last, the great Founders answered his plea with an offer that he could not possibly refuse! Through a contact of a contact of a contact, and so on and so forth, the glorious Founders had managed to, through great persistence, convince an inferior species - a Trill named Captain Masren Praanor to write a *glowing* letter of recommendation, focusing primarily on the scientific exploits that had happened under his command and the skirmishes he’d participated in against pirates and the like during the rare times the science vessel became a patrol vessel. (The best times of his life, he’d say.) That letter of recommendation paved the way for Nedras, a mere ape uplifted by the wisdom of the founders, to enter Starfleet Academy. His mission? Learn all he can, and when at last he had his own Command, deliver that information back to the Dominion.

## Starfleet Academy

The entrance exam hardly merited thought - one of the perks of being born a clone was effectively being born with a childhood’s worth of schooling already in one’s head, which for a Vorta was a great deal of tactical information. There were some hard segments. Needing to study for the first time in his life had been exceedingly difficult, and if one tracked down the Jem’hadar First Nedras had worked with during the time he’d still been aboard his old ship, but been studying for the entrance exam, that First would have described him as irritable and hyperfocused in private, but a bit of a chatterbox in public, and completely, irritatingly over eager to teach any poor, random passing Jem’hadar everything he’d learned on a given day. (Yigud’natan, did you know that the Vulcan heart is located in the lower abdomen? Did you know that the earrings Bajorans wear have religious significance? I bet you didn’t. Yigud’natan, can you tell how this pattern of dots can be completed? I bet you can’t.) Taking the actual test had almost been fun as a result. The first step into an entirely new world. The very possibility that he, a Vorta, could ever fail had never even entered his mind. The psychological test had been less of a focus - after all, Nedras didn’t particularly care about the outcome on his own, he just went with whatever choice seemed consistent with Starfleet ideology. Simple, if disingenuous.

When Nedras finally reached Earth, he found it… green. Disorganized. Overwhelmingly optimistic. Full of strange things. He’d known children had existed, for example, but seeing an infant bawling in the arms of their parents was still… oh, so unsettling. Thank the Founders he’d skipped that! He never fully got used to the oddity of it all, and while it was easy to determine what niceties should be used for a ‘roommate’ or ‘friend’ and so on none of his friendships were entirely genuine. That didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy himself. He dove into coursework with the fervor of a beached fish being returned to water.

As for selecting a division, that was straightforward. He wasn’t about to lower himself to doing Operations or Engineering work, and his interest in Science was less practical and more academic. Reading about a thing and researching it were two entirely different animals, and the latter had no immediate practical use. Medical… seemed like a waste of time. Advanced medical technology could take a soldier - or crewman - from being on the point of death to being ready for combat in a mere handful of hours with the right hands guiding the equipment, which presented a certain tactical advantage, and it would help him insinuate himself amongst whatever crew he wound up becoming a part of, but his ‘bedside manner’ was much too unsettling. He knew that to be true. Tactical was what he’d been made for, and tactical was what he chose, with eyes on Command, of course. It would be a long, long time, if ever, before he’d be the one making the big decisions, speaking with leaders of newly discovered planets, and so on, but it would be worth the wait. Besides - a Vorta? Shooting a phaser? Engaging in hand-to-hand combat? Hurling torpedo after torpedo after an enemy with very little thought? That was the purview of the Jem’hadar, and that was hilarious, not to mention an essential skill. Given this was the first time in his life he had to learn something slowly, besides that, a massive change in specialty was too risky.

The knowledge of tactics the Founders had was of course unparalleled, but Starfleet tactics were an entirely different animal, and Nedras just had to learn all of it. His social life didn’t suffer just because of his apathy and dedication to coursework. Actually, he was quite the party animal, a function aided by the fact that he could not actually get poisoned, was thus unaffected by alcohol or synthehol, and so leveraged that as a tool for bonding. He had a human roommate, with whom he got along very well, save for a large handful of invasive questions about the experience of having a childhood and so on and so forth.

The closest he ever came to thinking that anything he knew could possibly have been wrong was after the Kobayashi Maru. He’d done fine himself, more or less. His solution had been to more or less open all hailing frequencies as his ship had approached the border, broadcast a very detailed explanation of the scenario to anyone in the vicinity, cross the border, get drawn into a silly little bout of combat, and ultimately deride the enemy vessel for wasting resources on such a petty little target, leaning heavily on the fact that both the Kobayashi Maru and his own vessel were of no great importance and would bring no meaningful glory in battle nor physical reward. It was meant to make them give up. They did not, and a pretty little firefight ensued during which half of the crew of the Kobayashi Maru was beamed aboard… right before the simulated ship was destroyed. Alas. Nedras had been… well, privately furious. What he’d done should have by all rights worked (at least, in his mind.) His roommate had been a different story. Heartbroken. Bawling, even though it was just a simulation. Something about leaving that vessel to die in the unforgiving vacuum of space, hostile territory, no recovering the bodies, and so on. Nedras realized, for just a moment, that if he’d died as a soldier of the Dominion, nobody would have particularly cared what happened to his body. Not the Jem’hadar, not the other Vorta, and no, certainly not the Founders…

But who was he to question their will? A body was just a body, to be replaced with a new body and keep the great machine of the Dominion moving ever towards glory. He put all thoughts of that time aside, and his loyalty is quite intact.

## Dominion Career and Personality - Nedras 1

### 04-Gamma-N-00245248, First Valat'klosan

The Furu'Bosho was a Jem'Hadar fighter manufactured after the Dominion War. It was originally used to patrol the Coladri, Kurill, Baen, and Callinon sectors of the Gamma Quadrant. In 2410, after the Dominion agreed to join the Galactic Alliance, it joined the Dominion War during the Battle of Sol. It survived the battle, albeit just barely. This gave Nedras 1 distinction as a field supervisor and got him promoted to field supervisor of a battle cruiser.

### 09-Gamma-N-03640937, Firsts Nila'marog, Sitid'iyar, Rasag'azor, Vela'dakal, Rakara'zin, Lasad'talar

The Tchem'Karava was a Jem'Hadar battle cruiser manufactured after the Dominion War. In this lifetime, it was primarily used for alternately patrolling the Coladri, Kurill, Baen, and Callinon sectors. During this time he picked up an interest in shield technology.

## Dominion Career and Personality - Nedras 2

‘Diplomat’. Defective. More subdued and nihilistic than his predecessor. Very conflicted, but identified that conflict as a defect and struggled for a time between going with the defective instincts and doing his duty. Eventually tried to go with the former, even while knowing it would probably fail and kill him. Killed in an airlock ‘accident’ that was organized by Yigud’natan to keep the entire crew from getting killed by this decision. Memories not preserved. Still responsible for several war crimes. Friends with crew. Would deny being friends with crew. Crew would also deny being friends with him. During this time he picked up an interest in xenolinguistics and interstellar ethnology.

### 09-Gamma-N-03640937, Firsts Lasad'talar, Ikzit'uxal

The Tchem'Karava conducted surveys of territories past the Gavara Sector, conducted orbital surveys of planets, and occasionally participated in first contacts. On occasion they were assigned to conduct negotiations between the Dominion and member planets in the Gavara and Kendari sectors.

### 09-Gamma-N-03640937, First Yigud'natan

Following an unsuccessful negotiation on Struna 3, a planet some distance away from the Gavara sector, Nedras 2 experienced an airlock malfunction that may have been organized by First Yigud'natan following signs of irregular behavior that could have unnecessarily endangered the Dominion. Memories retained, but not transferred.

## Dominion Career and Personality- Nedras 3

As Field Supervisor, Nedras 3 was more dramatic, sycophantic, and inquisitive than his predecessor, but less serious than his progenitor, as much as he sought to emulate him. To prevent the errors of Nedras 2 from recurring, Nedras 3's loyalty to the Founders was adjusted to reach new heights. During this time he picked up an interest in intergalactic politics.

### 09-Gamma-N-03640937, First Yigud'natan

The Tchem'Karava conducted surveys of territories past the Gavara Sector, conducted orbital surveys of planets, and occasionally participated in first contacts. However, with new inhabited planets being few and far between, the vast majority of their work consisted of analysis of unusual spatial phenomena.

## Dominion Career and Personality - Nedras 4

The current Field Supervisor of the Tchem’Karava. Much more detached, haughty, and apathetic than his predecessor. He would happily spend a whole day watching paint dry. Whoever altered his genes this round to prevent the overeagerness of Nedras 2 from recurring really overcompensated. Nedras 4 is interested in cartography.

### 09-Gamma-N-03640937, Firsts Yigud'natan, Azag'udur

The Tchem'Karava continues its survey of territories past the Gavara sector, slowly approaching the Galactic Rim. They do not make first contact, but conduct surveys from orbit and mark planets for first contact by other vessels.