Claudia Nevala

Basics

Name: Claudia Nevala

Age/Date of Birth: 48, 1/1/37

Race: Human/Romulan

Gender: Female

Department: Command

Appearance

Skin Complexion: Has a Mediterranean looking tan over flawlessly smooth skin with only a hint of a scar across her jaw line. In the right light, the green tint which flows through her blood can be seen in her skin tone however it isn’t immediately obvious.

Hair: Naturally a deeply dark brown, Claudia regularly adds hints of red and plum to soften it. Usually kept long, at least below shoulder level, it falls in soft waves ending in curls. She tends to have some sort of fringe to hide the unmistakable ridge across her brow.

Eyes: In true Romulan fashion, they’re a pure inky onyx and give nothing way.

Weight: 54kg/120 lbs – her just under 9 stone figure is kept up by a strict Yoga and running routine.

Height: 170cm/5'6

Distinctive features: It can be seen that Claudia isn’t fully human, even with her hair down to hide the point of her ears and ridge across her brow for she has the sharp features and impossibly dark eyes of another race. Most mistake her for Vulcan as it is so unusual to meet someone in the Federation with a Romulan heritage.

Claudia has three tattoos. One is a set of wings on her lower back in dedication of the Hermes which she got at nineteen when she entered the Academy. A yin and yang is on the inside of her wrist, her ex husband has the same. Lastly, she has the Indian proverb: “The way to overcome the angry man is with gentleness, the evil man with goodness, the miser with generosity and the liar with truth.” In Hindi script down her right hand side ribcage.

Personality: Claudia is a very personable and approachable woman who gives everyone a fair chance. This comes into her command style with patience and understanding when nurturing new talent. She is decisive and highly organised. Under this persona there is an undercurrent of torment and shadows still linger from a life of hardships. She has had spates of depression which on one occasion was so severe she was practically bedridden, unable to function.

History/Background

Parents:
Father: Tal Nevala, 88, Romulan defector and former biochemist.
Mother: Eva Schreiber, 78, retired Starfleet doctor.

Siblings:
Tala Jane Nevala, 43, a civilian archaeologist married to a historian with a ten year old son and often in some backwater place on studies.

Marital Status: Divorced from Rear Admiral Alexander Wood (2359-2372)

Children:
Ensign Katherine Wood (b. 24/12/2359) currrently assigned to the Zephyr as a helmswoman.
Cadet Matthew Wood (b. 1/6/2361) studying at Starfleet Medical.
Ashok Nevala (b. 13/7/2372) onboard with his mother.

Personal History: Born during a time when tensions between the Federation and Romulan Empire were reaching their limit, Claudia was an unusual result of the political strain. Her father, Talek Nevala, defected to the Federation after being employed by the Praetor to design a biological weapon capable of sterilising a planet’s population when dispersed in the atmosphere. Although a proud Romulan, he couldn’t allow this and thus defected knowing he would never be able to return.

Once found, he was delivered to Starbase 139 and was granted Federation protection for the intelligence. At first he only gave the minimum amount of information needed which frustrated Starfleet to no end for he was still a proud Romulan unable to give all that Starfleet wanted. During his time on the Starbase, which would total seven years in the end, he met Lieutenant Eva Schreiber, a doctor with who he immediately hit it off with. Despite all objections, they married two years after Tal’s arrival and Claudia was born a few months later.

Claudia’s first years on the Starbase were happy and secure, as far as she was concerned anyway. The truth was the Tal Shiar was hunting Nevala down and had located him. The Empire wanted the betrayer to pay. Starfleet swore to protect the family but Nevala didn’t want to cause an incident over it and soand after the birth of Tala they decided to leave the base. Believing staying moving was the best option, the family boarded a small transport ship, the Hermes, and this is where they ended up living for the next eight years.

These were wondrous years for Claudia. They paid their keep through work; Eva looked after the medical needs while Tal was an odd job man. The permanent crew of the civilian ship weren’t bothered about having a Romulan on board as long as he paid his keep and was loyal however this wasn’t the case of workers who rotated in and out or the travellers they picked up on the way. Tal raised his daughters with pride for the great and glorious Empire but secretly Claudia began to resent it, especially into her teens, for making her an outsider. She always hid this from her father for fear of offending him.

It was while on board the Hermes that the engineer in Claudia was nurtured. Her free time was spent tinkering and playing in the engine room and she loved it. It was what she missed most when the family settled in India, Earth, when she was thirteen which was followed by troubled and turbulent teenage years. Despite being among one of the most tolerant species in the galaxy, fourteen year old Claudia wanted blue eyes, light brown hair, rounded ears and a flat brow. She believed being human was simply easier. She had many friends of different species who fitted in nicely and so she assumed it must be the fact that she was a decedent of the Federation’s enemy. Thus she regularly lied, stating she had Vulcan blood. Humans weren’t used to having a Romulan living with them and thus there was an underlining hint of prejudice toward her father, Claudia was very sensitive to this.

Fuelling this with incredible vigour was the fact that the space baby was stuck on a planet, living in the same city which never really changed and the people remained as ordinary as always. This started Claudia’s attention seeking misbehaving. She didn’t want to be on Earth and she was going to make her parents regret the choice. Unruly behaviour dominated her personality, she was angry, frustrated and generally pissed off. The relationship with her parents and sister deteriorated quickly.

When a friend suggested she go for Starfleet Academy, a way to get back into space, Claudia was at first unsure. Her grades weren’t good enough and she thought she wasn’t good enough. She was sixteen and at a loss. This idea, the possibility was enough however to give her something to focus on. Although failing to get in at eighteen, she did enter the Academy at nineteen.

Just because she was the Academy it didn’t mean her wayward ways were over. In fact it was almost encouraged by the other students, most of who were away from home for the first time and ready for a party and Claudia’s were those of legend. She was often hung over or asleep in lectures and her Academy disciplinary reports could be stacked two inches high. Despite this, she scraped through, worked hard when needed and instructors took pity on her.

A disaster happened in her third year. Just before the summer break, she discovered she was pregnant by her boyfriend, Alexander Wood, who she had met during litter pick, one of the Academy’s nicer punishments. She was twenty-two and about to enter her final year. She had forgotten to update her contraceptive for she had missed her physical. Stuck and panicked, she contacted her parents who, since entering the Academy, she’d only seen a handful of times. Over the course of that summer wounds were healed and on the 24th December 2359, Katherine Wood was born, three weeks after her parent’s marriage. Claudia graduated 53nd in her class and with a baby in tow, went to work at Utopia Planetia where she helped to develop the new Sovereign class ship design while Alex pursued his tactical career.

Here Claudia excelled finally. Eighteen months after Katherine, Claudia had a son they called Matthew who was born at the shipyards without Alex. After five years a change was needed, newly promoted to Lieutenant, she took a position as a junior engineering onboard the USS Galaxy which had only been launched two years previously. The family spent six years onboard while seeing Alex irregularly, the marriage was breaking down. Claudia was offered a risky assignment by Starfleet Intelligence to go into Romulan Space to spy on another suspected operation to harm the Federation, she accepted against her husband’s wishes and left the children in her parents care. Believing this was her big break she probably accepted it before thoroughly thinking about it. To Starfleet she was the obvious choice for she knew their customs and had a grip of the language.

The mission went wrong almost immediately. They were captured and spent six days in a holding cell before they were rescued, two of the team of five returned alive. Claudia was never the same after this. The Romulans peeled away the genetic manipulation to discover her real heritage and thus the torture was stepped up with her for they wanted to know why she had Romulan blood through her veins. On the sixth day of practically no sleep and starvation she admitted her father’s defection.

Claudia took medical leave and went back to India. Having previously hated it, returning with her children it suddenly felt like home. She spent the next three years here while considering whether to leave Starfleet altogether. Her first few weeks there were marred with depression. Unknowing of how the mission went, Alex had sent her a message suggesting a divorce, this along with the guilt of how the mission went, the lives lost and her own mental and physical recovery it just became too much. Months after she returned, she and Tala went to blow off steam at Risa and in true Nevala fashion, she got into trouble. Having met a charismatic Commander Luka Kznevic on shore leave in a bar, she was feeling reckless and slept with him that night. Neither wanted a commitment and so they left it as that. Six weeks later Claudia once again found herself unexpectedly pregnant. She told Luka who stated explicitly that it was her decision whether she wanted help with the child or not, she decided on not and ever since they stay in sporadic contact. Ashok Nevala was born during a particularly hot summer in 2372 and heralded a new beginning with her divorce being finalised a month before his birth.

2374 was the year Nevala re-entered Starfleet with the new rank of Lieutenant Commander and the position of Assistant Chief Engineer onboard the Sovereign class ship the USS Aeon. A position she held until 2377 when the position of Chief opened up which she got. Happy and comfortable in this position, she remained in it for the next six years while her eldest children went off to the academy leaving her with Ashok. Deciding to stretch herself now with only one child in tow, she completed the bridge officer’s test and promoted to Commander. She served as First Officer on the ageing USS Hawk for two years until it was decommissioned and thus now First Officer of the Janeway.

Hobbies: Yoga is her way of dissipating all the tensions and worries which burrow into her subconscious. Running is another stress reliever and runs marathons as often as she can.

Career Highlights/Medals:

2356-2360 Starfleet Academy
2360-2365 Utopia Planetia, promotion to Lieutenant
2365-2371 USS Galaxy, engineer
2371 Mission into Romulan Space
2371-2374 Medical leave
2374-2377 USS Aeon, Assistant Chief Engineer
2377-2383 USS Aeon, Chief Engineer
2383-2385 USS Hawk, First Officer

Out of Character

Player Name:
Gemma

Instant Messenger addresses:
farscape_mad@hotmail.com

Play-by Avatar:
Michelle Forbes