Tajem Aofi

Tajem Aofi is a joined Trill and the first host of the Aofi symbiont. He is a Starfleet non-commissioned officer who, following his service aboard Adalaska Station and the U.S.S. Fenita, currently serves as a stellar cartography and astrometrics specialist with the rank of petty officer first class aboard the U.S.S. Arcadia.

Appearance
Tajem has ash brown hair that deepens to a more chestnut colour when he does not have it cut short according to enlisted regulations. The telltale spotted pigmentation of Trill host species comes down from his hairline in a medium amber brown, a neutral tone that nevertheless still stands in contrast to his pale skin..

His sea-green eyes, with a bluish outer ring, sit below satin blond eyebrows and are magnified slightly by the thin-frame glasses that he wears, due to his body’s autoimmune rejection of medical treatments for vision correction. An overly large nose dominates the middle of his face and is set between half-full cheeks, separated by significant laugh lines. His low jawline is straight but soft and does little to hide a faint underbite.

The uniform of a sciences division enlistee hides all the rest except the rough shape of his body - a sturdy back, broad shoulders, built triceps but thin forearms and wrists, large square hands with long fingers, a thin chest and what the 21st century Terrans called a “dad gut”.

Personality
Tajem is a man who values his personal time to wind down, and who tends to stress out when things don’t go according to plan. The best way to prevent him from panicking is to give him a clear goal that he can focus on. Where Tajem Pygex (the host body prior to joining) was fairly distractible and aimless in the pursuit of his interests, Tajem Aofi demonstrates significant focus and investment in his work, almost to the point of tunnel vision. In spite of this, Tajem is a fan of blurring the line between work and play, making sure that whatever tasks he is assigned to do are also done enjoyably. He also does not hesitate to question orders - with respect and deference - and voice his opinions about ways to accomplish tasks more efficiently.

On a personal level, Tajem is an ex-romantic, changed in the last two years from seeking long-term partnership to seeking the occasional attachment-free intimacy, and has trouble trusting people with details of his private life. When he makes friends, it takes some significant time, but then he is extremely loyal to them, and extremely wounded by betrayal of any kind. As he gets older he is less inclined to give people second chances. He is perfectly capable of working side-by-side with people that he does not like, but will stubbornly keep all conversation at a professional level and not rise to any topics that are not work-related.

Early Life
Tajem Pygex was born on stardate 30859.64 (Earth date November 10, 2353) to Jehan Pygex and Lirua Pygex née Teruhl on Trillius Prime. He had only one sibling whom he never knew, a sister named Niassel born three cycles earlier who perished of the Aneunian Flu at only fourteen days old.

Tajem demonstrated an early interest in learning, so his parents enrolled him in the primary education system on Trillius when he was still only four (a few months before his fifth birthday). He was a social child, easily making friends, but also philosophical and interested in learning more about the world, and the universe. Well before he completed his native schooling, Tajem had already decided that he wanted to explore the stars, and he applied to Starfleet Academy.

Starfleet Academy
Tajem enrolled in Starfleet Academy on stardate 48665.53. He had a fair aptitude for languages and alphabets, but his main interest was in mathematical and scientific logic and modes. He took a major in astrometrics and a minor in molecular biology.

After completing three years of his Academy education, on stardate 51591.11, his father Jehan passed away unexpectedly and at the fairly young age of forty-eight. With permission from the Academy staff, Tajem took a one-year leave of absence and returned to Trill within a fortnight. He spent the time helping his mother Lirua adapt to life as a widow, and taking care of his late father’s final business.

Once assured that his mother was secure and stable again, Tajem returned to Earth to finish his last two and a half years of education. He graduated from Starfleet Academy in the Winter Class of 2378, on stardate 55116.16 (February 12), as a crewman third class, and was told to report immediately back home to the Trill sector.

Adalaska Station
Pygex’s initial posting was on the Adalaska Space Station in the Trill sector. As a crewman third class his job responsibilities were to assist with grunt jobs for any research, study, projections, or analyses that were being done by higher-rank enlisted crewmates or sciences officers, as well as occasional escort work for any civilian visitors to the station.

Pygex was promoted to second class on regular schedule after nine months - on his 25th birthday - and made an application to the Symbiosis Commission. Many of his Trill classmates had made their applications immediately after either finishing their Academy training or graduating a Trill higher institute, and as far as he was aware all of them were either denied entry or failed initiation. He hoped his slightly higher rank would improve his chances while not being willing to wait for more of his life to pass before he could share his experience with a symbiont.

His application was accepted a month later, and after six months he was fortunate enough to be selected as the first host of a new symbiont when it reached maturity soon. Two months later he was promoted to crewman first class again on regular schedule; then a mere two weeks after his promotion, he met and joined with the symbiont Aofi, on stardate 56641.74, taking its name as his own.

After a year at crewman first class - Tajem and Aofi becoming acquainted with one another and forming the new identity that they shared, as well as fulfilling duties aboard Adalaska Station, and completing Petty Officer Indoctrination and focusing on his rating - the young Trill applied for advancement. Despite passing his rating examinations, the promotion board deemed it too soon to promote Crewman Aofi again, citing the joining as a significant life change that merited more observation before awarding more responsibility. However, when Aofi reapplied six months later, he was approved and awarded the rank of Petty Officer third class and made a sciences Specialist on Adalaska.

Specialist Aofi received PNA points from the promotion board three times before being selected for promotion to second class at 29 years of age, two years after first reaching Petty Officer. By this point he had distinguished himself with not only accurate practical maps of real-spacetime astrometrical orbits and synodic patterns, but also a strong understanding and ability to present theoretical astrometrics and astrophysics as well.

U.S.S. Fenita
With his promotion to second class came a transfer to the Federation starship, the U.S.S. Fenita, under the command of Captain Anika Holmes. The Fenita was an expeditionary mobile base and technical research Yosemite-class ship which the primary responsibilities of predicting, monitoring, and preventing astronomical disasters - and if necessary, rescue work.

Aboard the Fenita, Specialist Aofi was part of the prediction team and was responsible for making astrophysical forecasts for a different sector every month. Although most of the work was simply routine reporting of “normal” astrophysical circumstances, the ship’s astrometrics team was responsible for seven early warnings, two preventions, and three evacuations during his tenure under Captain Holmes. During all of the evacuations Aofi was additionally utilised on-planet as a beta team medical assistant, given his knowledge of molecular biology.

While serving aboard the Fenita, Aofi also allowed himself to indulge in a first real relationship, with a fellow (unjoined) Trill crewmember named Ahjaa Verehl, a botany petty officer third class. A colonial Trill from Nu Ceti I, Verehl was as eager for physical intimacy as Aofi was, though they maintained professionalism and neutrality in their duties in the few instances where they worked together. Seven months into their relationship, Verehl came down with Makezitian Rhume and was put in quarantine for two weeks. Aofi tried to speak with him every day through the quarantine comm, but Verehl became less receptive to these visits and asked to be left to rest, and after being released from quarantine was granted confinement to quarters, and Aofi was first asked and then demanded not to visit.

In another week Verehl abruptly was transferred to another ship. It eventually came out that Verehl had been in communication with another man on the sly during the latter half of the relationship, and his sickness had given him an opportunity to push Aofi away. Devastated, Aofi’s once-romantic attitude turned cynical and he flat-out refused to look for intimacy anymore, preferring to indulge in disconnected trysts instead, and focusing even more on his duties aboard the ship.

At the end of his time on the Fenita, his team’s Commander Callum Maines recommended Aofi for promotion to specialist first class, and his accrued PNA points put him at the top of the list.

U.S.S. Arcadia
Upon his promotion to specialist first class on stardate 62905.50, Aofi was also offered a selection of postings, and he selected the U.S.S. Arcadia under the command of Captain Toshinori Yagi. It took fourteen standard days for Aofi to be delivered to the Arcadia.

Less than 24 hours after Aofi’s arrival, before he had even been processed to begin duty, the Arcadia encountered a Borg force in the Reegurnion system and were subsequently pulled through a temporal transwarp gate, catapaulted halfway across the galaxy to the border between the Gamma and Delta Quadrants, as well as eight hundred years forward in time to the 32nd century (stardate 862967.01). Due to the chaos of the spatial and temporal traverse, it was some time before Aofi was able to be added to the duty roster. By the time he was deemed fit for duty, Captain Yagi had been killed in an encounter with the Vaadwaur, and Acting Captain Robert Graves had saved and brought on officers from an alternate Arcadia while in slipstream.

Aofi assimilated into the chaotic culture of the Arcadia as best he could, helping to trace the origin of a mass delta wave broadcast being received by psychically receptive crew members, which led to first contact with the Pil’Tridon species. The Pil’Tridons were subsequently able to resolve a quantum fluctuation condition within the crew members from the parallel timeline. Later on, the crew of the Arcadia were beset by a force of Jem’Hadar and Vorta apparently long claiming independence from the Dominion, but were rescued by what seemed to be none other than Captain Benjamin Sisko of Deep Space Nine and the crew of the U.S.S. Defiant-Z.

Given his astrometrics and quantum mechanics knowledge, Aofi was drafted into a “Time Team” by Acting Chief Operations Officer Ensign Kerran Rall, with the goal of returning the Arcadia back to the 24th century after three months trapped in the future. On stardate 863205.06 the entire crew was eventually led by the Time Team to a planetary sanctuary populated by the Disciples of O’Brien, apparent descendants of the crew of the Defiant who had deified Miles Edward O’Brien of Deep Space Nine. During initial contact with this group, Aofi and Crewman Catena were the first to volunteer for tests of worthiness, and using a time crystal, Aofi subsequently saw the end of his most likely future, a peaceful death and the transference of the Aofi symbiont to a new female Trill host, Hahlia.

With the assistance of the Disciples of O’Brien, the Arcadia was outfitted with futuristic technology and returned to stardate 62928.32 – a week before their initial contact with the Borg scout ship at Reegurnion III. While Aofi was manning the secondary science station on the bridge, Captain Dija Zera ordered an ambush of the initial Borg ship, its destruction, and the destruction of the temporal transwarp gate. Aofi was therefore among those on the Arcadia when the subsequent chroniton wave rewrote the future, although thanks to the machinations of the Disciples of O’Brien, the ship retained all its modifications from the now defunct timeline and all crew members retained their knowledge of the original timeline.

A Federation fleet arrived just after the chroniton wave dissipated and escorted the ship back to Deep Space Nine, where the original Arcadia was confiscated by Starfleet and reclassified NX for the future technology incorporated in it, while Temporal Investigations questioned all crew members. Most of the official report was redacted and the crew’s records all changed to show them serving aboard the U.S.S. Raging Bull. In the meantime, a new Luna-class ship was sent to Deep Space Nine with the name and registration of their true original ship, U.S.S. Arcadia NCC-85311. This new version of the Arcadia included a temporal science lab, and Aofi was informed he would be splitting his time between there and astrometrics moving forward.

Aofi found an opportunity that closer fit his specialty and transferred off of the USS Arcadia.

Core Courses:

 * ADMIN101: Star Fleet Operations
 * ADMIN110: Chain of Command and General Protocol
 * DIPL101: General
 * ENG221: LCARS Programming 1
 * ENG231: Computer Memory and Personnel Interfaces
 * ENG232: Replicators, Transporters, and Holodecks
 * ENG233: Sensors, Communications, and Helm Systems
 * HIST101: Birth of the Federation
 * LANG101: Federation Standard
 * LANG110: Major Species (Elementary) - Cadet's Choice
 * LAW101: Federation, General
 * MATH101: Concepts
 * MED101: First Aid and Field Medicine
 * PHYS101: Concepts
 * PILOT101: Runabouts and Shuttles
 * SURV101: Starship Emergencies
 * SURV110: Environmental Suits and Zero-G Training
 * TAC101: Combat, Unarmed
 * TAC110: Combat, Small Weapons
 * BIO101: Concepts
 * XEN101: General

Majors

 * AST101: General Astrophysics
 * AST102: Advanced Astrophysics
 * AST110: Stellar Cartography I (Alpha and Beta Quadrants)
 * AST111: Stellar Cartography II (Gamma and Delta Quadrants)
 * AST210: Stellar Cartography III (Non-Federation Aligned Space)
 * AST211: Observation and Data Reduction Techniques
 * AST300: Starship Astronavigation (Sublight)
 * AST301: Starship Astronavigation (Warp Speed)
 * AST402: Interstellar Medium
 * AST412: Heliophysics
 * AST490: Advanced Stellar Drafting I
 * AST491: Advanced Stellar Drafting II
 * MET101: Weather and Climate
 * MET202: Weather Observation & Analysis
 * MET335: Atmospheric Thermodynamics
 * MET435: Synoptic-Dynamic Meteorology
 * PHY131: Particles and Waves
 * PHY141: Particles and Waves II
 * PHY201: Electricity and Magnetism
 * PHY202: Waves and Optics
 * PHY301: Introductory Quantum Physics
 * PHY302: Statistical Physics
 * PHY402: Applications of Quantum Mechanics
 * SBS101: Intro to Subspace Phenomena
 * SBS102: Subspace Navigation
 * SBS201: Advanced Subspace Anomalies

Minors

 * BIO102: Micro Biology
 * BIO201: Advanced Biology
 * BIO331: Molecular Biology I
 * BIO332: Molecular Biology II
 * CEM101: General Chemistry
 * CEM111: Advanced General Chemistry
 * CEM231: Organic Chemistry I
 * CEM232: Organic Chemistry II
 * CEM325: Analytical Chemistry I
 * CEM326: Analytical Chemistry II
 * CSC102: Information and Retrieval Systems
 * CSC103: LCARS Database Management
 * CSC201: Virus Creation and Counter Measures
 * CSC202: Computer Core Maintenance
 * MOL342: Molecular Genetics
 * MOL345: Biochemistry
 * MOL348: Cell & Developmental Biology
 * MOL350: Laboratory in Molecular Biology
 * PHY405: Condense-Matter Physics
 * PHY406: Nuclear and Elementary Particle Physics

Trivia

 * Tajem considered himself homosexual prior to joining; thanks to the Aofi symbiont, which had no gender preference for intimacy or attachment, Tajem is now pansexual but still gravitates more toward male-presenting individuals.
 * Additionally, Tajem suffers from refractive ocular imprecision, or astigmatism, but his immune system has an intolerance to both laser and drug treatments to correct it. His left eye has a small burn scar on it below the iris, from the first attempt to use laser correction, when it was discovered he had a poor reaction to even minute amounts of laser radiation.
 * Almost every day, Tajem has the same breakfast: spring-leaf grakizh, galzak with raspberry preserves, and decaf Vulcan mocha with limon peel shavings.

Likes
Completing projects, reading books especially works of fantasy and fiction from almost any species or culture, the smell of the ocean, sunsets and civil twilights, arboretums, holosuite reenactments, anything (edible and palatable) with raspberries in it.

Dislikes
Invasion of personal space (off-duty), extremely bright lights, willful ignorance, people with no imagination, chemical smells, the Borg, insects of any kind, food that contains fungal species.

Ambitions
Very few ambitions except to have lived a life worth recollecting and passing on to the next host of the Aofi symbiont. Likes the idea of contributing even marginally to making a difference in, and even saving, the lives of others.

Morals
Neutral in most regards, abiding by the Prime Directive in practically every case but willing to weigh the wellbeing of his few close friends against one of the Prime Directive facets if the other party will not be harmed. Does not believe his off-duty, private life is subject to the Prime Directive but his personal directives are not much different from it.