Cas Yardi

**Cas Yardi** is a Starfleet Officer currently serving as a geologist onboard the USS Phoenix.

## Background

### Early Life

Found wandering around at a small cargo station in 2458, four year old Cas Yardi was taken in by the crew of the *Ottawa*, a Federation long haul cargo freighter. Though she does not remember much of it, she is told that she was discovered hiding near a recent drop of cargo, leading the crew of the *Ottawa* to the conclusion that her parents also worked on a cargo ship and had abandoned her at the first place of convenience. Upon approach from members of the *Ottawa*, Cas could recall her name, her age, and that her parents “would be back soon”. The latter statement was of course, not true, so she was taken in by the crew of the *Ottawa* and spent her childhood onboard the ship helping the crew and trying to find her place in the universe.

During her time onboard the *Ottawa*, she formed a close bond with Nicolai O'Donnell, a human who abandoned his passion for history in exchange for a job on the *Ottawa* in order to support his family back on Earth. He took in Cas as one of his own, eventually adopting her so she could obtain Federation citizenship. He taught her basic knowledge and tried to pass on as much of his knowledge of Bajoran history and culture on to her as possible. Cas clung to him for all of her knowledge about her species, and in turn formed a hybrid-like faith. She considers herself spiritual, though she acknowledges that she is not as educated or devoted as many other Bajorans.

As Cas grew older, she devoted much of her time to independent studies instead, becoming particularly fascinated by geology and archaeology. After fourteen years on the *Ottawa* and an immense amount of studying to get the required prerequisite education, she took the big step of applying for Starfleet. This was an idea first suggested to her by Nicolai, after Cas expressed her desire to explore a world beyond *Ottawa* and the space stations they delivered cargo to.

### Starfleet Academy

At the age of 18, Cas embarked from the *Ottawa* (with a tearful goodbye to Nicolai) and headed to the Academy. Once there, she was overwhelmed by the hugeness and overall culture shock of the environment. She had never been somewhere so free and with so many… *trees*. She quickly adapted, however, and grew to love San Francisco and the Academy as her home. Her roommate, a human named Amelia, was friendly to her, though they never became overly close. She instead bonded with some of her fellow science students, forming a particularly close bond with an Andorian named Rys Th’kovas. Rhys, who had been raised on a space station, was sympathetic to Cas’s “fish out of water” feelings; he confided in her and she did the same in him. To the surprise of many of their friends, nothing romantic ever came of Rhys and Cas’s close relationship. They remained strictly platonic, even attempting to set the other up on blind dates every so often (it was a source of many jokes that Cas was utterly inept at the art of flirting, especially flirting *discreetly*).

Cas’s time at the Academy was spent focused on geology; her courses included Geology, Geophysics, Archaeology, Organic Chemistry, and Anthropology. She was also persistent in her attempts at the Academy marathon, finally culminating in a win her final year attending. It is one of her favorite moments, ranking just slightly above the bone-crushing hug she received from Rhys (who was notorious for his aversion to hugs) soon after her win.

## USS Phoenix

After graduating from the Academy, Cas was assigned a position on the USS Phoenix. She is the ship's geologist.

## Other Information

* She celebrates her birthday on September 19th, as it is the day she was found by the crew of the *Ottawa*.
* She had a pet cat named Cork when she was young.
* She has a particular fondness for Human breakfast foods.
* She is the emergency guardian of Pebbles, a cat onboard the *Phoenix* belonging to Lieutenant Junior Grade Nedras.