Arkin, Jora

A year after she was born, Arkin Jora's parents disappeared when the Cardassians arrested them for being part of the Bajoran resistance movement, and soon after Jora was smuggled off Bajor by her aunt and uncle to the refugee camp on Valo II. Life on Valo II was hard and Jora grew up dreaming of escaping the colony, until the arrival of a Starfleet away team in 2367 changed everything.

The sudden appearance of two Starfleet officers in the camp was the subject of great curiosity, not least to Jora, but of special interest to her was not the bald commander but his companion, a Bajoran. For as long as she could remember, Jora had only ever seen her people down-trodden and suffering, yet here was someone who had risen above that pain and made a life for herself. Jora even heard rumours that this officer had once lived in the camp herself! When it also emerged that they had brought aid with them, Jora finally knew how she would get out off Valo II and what she would do when she did. Arkin became focused on the single goal of entering Starfleet Academy , and studied every material available to her on Valo II - but it was still far from enough. Then the unthinkable happened; the Cardassians abandoned Bajor and within a month Arkin returned to the homeworld with her uncle.

She began her studies anew and applied to join the Academy in the following semester, gaining entry despite her low grades. As she expected, Arkin found the Academy hard at first, especially as she found it a completely alien environment compared to Valo II or Bajor. Fortunately, she was paired with an equally lost roommate, a green-skinned Orion named Vaerth Parihn who she soon became fast friends with and with whom she spent most of her time. Her piloting skills came to the attention of her instructors when both she and Parihn were awarded the Gold Palm with Cluster after they abandoned a training mission to rescue the passengers and crew from a doomed transport ship caught in Jupiter's gravity well. Under her instructors' careful tutelage, her natural skills were honed until she eventually graduated top of her class and came to the attention of Captain sh'Shean, who requested her for the position of Argus' flight control officer.

Focused and determined are the two words best used when defining Arkin Jora. These qualities are the result of her struggle to lift herself out of the refugee camps to find a better life in Starfleet's service, and it is this effort that has defined her life to this point. The concern now is that having discovered that she possesses a talent for navigation and piloting she will become comfortable and simply stagnate, so the challenge for any commanding officer will be to challenge her further and force additional progression towards the exceptional officer that she promises to become.

Stardate 47115.6: Awarded Gold Palm with Cluster for the rescue of a transport ship from Jupiter's gravity well.

Stardate 50513.9: Graduated Starfleet Academy.

Stardate 50677.4: Assigned to the USS Argus as Flight Control Officer.