Crew Biography For Nira, Kilana Aria

Full Name:	Kilana Aria Nira
Current Rank	Senior Chief Petty Officer
Position(s) held	Chief Engineering Officer Chief of the Boat
Species	Human-Bajoran
Gender	Female
Birthdate	32
Height	5'7
Weight	128lbs
Appearance	Kilana has long, straight dark hair that complements her piercing green eyes. As is typical of Bajorans, Kilana has a ridged nose, though it is less pronounced due to her partial human heritage.
Personality	Kilana is bright and friendly. She has a tendency to hold back at first with people until she finds her niche, but adapts well. The unknown status of her sister continues to haunt her, and she hopes to learn what became of her someday. Kilana pays close attention to her work, taking her job to heart, although she's still able to loosen up and have fun. Very sentimental, Kilana is also a good listener. Firmly believing in relaxation to calm and clear her mind, she enjoys meditation. Kilana loves stories and history, primarily due to her sentimentality. To express some of her creativity, she writes, sings, and draws.
Family	Mother: Biral Sirne Father: Doran Nira Siblings: Lirana (sister, 4 years older), Jiran (brother, 2 years older)
Background	Kilana was born on July 22, 2350 on Bajor, to Sirne and Doran. Doran had been an Engineering Officer aboard the USS Dreamseeker, meeting Sirne while on shoreleave on Loridia III. The two fell in love; marrying shortly after returning to Sirne's home planet of Bajor. Doran was an open-minded man, and seeing how important the Bajoran religion was to his wife, he suggested they stay on her home planet and even offered to convert to her religion. Not long after, she was found to be pregnant with the first of their three children, Lirana. Two years later, their son Jiran was born, and two years after that, Kilana. The entire family practiced the Bajoran religion devoutly, praying to the Prophets and hoping for deliverence from the Cardassians once they occupied Bajor. As time passed, the three siblings could see no end to the rule of the Cardassians. Lirana, the more tenacious of the three children, decided to join the Bajoran Resistance, and was supposedly captured during an operation with her Resistance cell - a supposed fact relayed to them by another member of the Resistance cell, who had located them just before he died. Thus far it is still uncertain as to her fate. This fact continued to haunt the entire Nira family since. Though they tried to find out what happened to Lirana, their efforts were in vain. Jiran and Kilana took a more moderate approach to helping their people - helping Bajorans to escape from Bajor. As Kilana was still fairly young, she began by simply delivering messages and helping to escort the families to the launch areas. Planning and organization were some of her strong points, which she used to her advantage in her responsibilities. Her brother Jiran was in charge of masking the signals to prevent the refugees from being noticed by Cardassian scans. Kilana watched him closely, learning what he did until one day he decided to actually teach her. A quick learner, Kilana was soon very proficient at her new duties, even coming up with new innovative ideas for when the Cardassian scans adapted to their old techniques. It was during this time that a young Resistance fighter came to Kilana and Jiran, needing their help to escape. Her name was Fala Awen - she had been captured by the Cardassians during one of the Resistance operations along with her own brother and Lirana. Lirana had been held in a separate area, and therefore Awen did not know what happened to her. Before escaping, Awen had looked for Lirana, but was unable to locate her. Awen's brother was killed when the Cardassians found them and she fled. Having heard of Kilana and Jiran, Awen went to them for help. Given renewed hope that their sister could still be alive, the siblings helped Awen escape. Continuing their efforts, Jiran and Kilana tried asking others that were leaving about their sister, but to no avail. A year later, Kilana received a subspace transmission from Awen, telling her about StarFleet. Growing restless on Bajor, Kilana decided to follow Awen into StarFleet, as did her brother.
Service Record	While Jiran went directly to the Academy, enrolling in Operations, Kilana decided to work on her talents outside the Academy, then join as an enlisted officer. Though she wouldn't be attending the Academy, she still decided to relocate to Earth with her brother while going to college. She attended the Nyria University of Engineering and Sciences in California. She excelled in her studies, even becoming Professor Thomas Rico's research assistant. Thomas was the head of the Engineering department at NU, a man of great intelligence, sarcasm, and a quick temper. Luckily Kilana's warm-hearted nature was usually able to soothe the middle-aged man's temperment; so much so that the two engaged in a relationship after working together for 6 months. The two remained together for nearly a year and had been discussing marriage. Unfortunately Thomas' unwillingness to compromise on various issues led to the parting of the couple. After the break-up, Kilana decided it was time to finish what she had started out to do when moving to Earth - apply to a starship. Professor Rico's work was well known in the Engineering community; in fact, he had helped design improvements to damage identification programs, along with other starship technology. The fact that Kilana had helped him in his research, was near the top of her class at NU, and a few other factors allowed her application to stand out among the others. Kilana's first assignment was to the USS Phantom as Engineer's Mate. Kilana got along well with the crew and did her job well, but tried to stay in the background as she got used to life on a ship. Her efforts did not go unnoticed as Engineering became one of the most efficient departments on the ship. She was able to implement the technology Professor Rico and she had designed, also working on quality and efficiency in the department. Though she was not an officer, her expertise impressed the others. It was there that Kilana first met Mikaela Breland, a young Engineering Officer. Though Kilana was several years older than Mika, the two became close friends. Kilana's more soft-spoken nature and Mikaela's friendly, more outgoing natured complimented each other well. When Mikaela learned that her brother had been captured by Orions, Kilana was the first to support her. She understood what it was like to have a sibling missing, having experienced the same thing with her older sister. Like her friend, Kilana developed a distrust and dislike of Orions, and offered to help Mika find her brother. Seeing Kilana's skills in Engineering, Captain Gorman asked her to become his Yeoman. Though hesitant at first, Kilana accepted with the condition that she could still assist in Engineering from time to time. Once again, the young woman performed well, now impressing her captain. This was an unfortunately short assignment, as Captain Gorman took ill with an unknown disease. The Phantom returned to Earth, where he was admitted into one of the best hospitals. As the Phantom was scheduled for shoreleave anyway, the crew merely remained on Earth, anxiously awaiting news of their commanding officer. A week later, Captain Gorman died. The crew was understandably shaken, and looked to each other for comfort. As StarFleet did not feel the Executive Officer was quite ready to take command, and since the Phantom was undergoing a refit anyway, it was decided that the crew would be reassigned. Three days later, Kilana received her orders to report to the USS Sentinel to take on the position of Captain's Yeoman.
Member Since	27 February 2006