Imaru

Imaru came to this plane in the underground city of Kal’Ten of the central continent on the Andorian homeworld of Andoria. Imaru was born to a proud pair of mothers and fathers, as was tradition. Imaru had a birthing ritual with her twin sister, Amaru, called the Nutak, which is a four day welcome into the world. She showed a natural athletic ability from an early age. The Imperial Guard also learned of her talents and she was quickly enlisted in their youth cantonment at age 10. It was here that Imaru began learning the warrior spirit and passion of her people. Martial arts were daily practice as well as being issued her first bladed weapon.

When Imaru turned 16, she underwent the Remali’y ritual; a test of physical and mental prowess available only to youth cantonment cadets. Imaru was taken to one of the most barren and dangerous places on Andor; the Enessi Mountains. Upon arrival, there was a quick prayer and then she was ordered to relinquish her clothing, weapons and equipment. She was left with a Remali’y knife and was told that if she could survive for fourteen days, she would pass the test. The first few days were fairly reasonable for Imaru to deal with. She secured a shelter, in the form of the mouth of a cave, and she was able to consume some of the scare plant life. She was forced to endure the lack of clothing in the beginning. Her choice of shelter was eventually deemed a poor one as the cave turned out to be occupied by several Tandoks, Andorian wolves. She was forced into a confrontation with the trio of Tandoks that resulted in several battle scars and moderate injuries. Imaru used Tandok fur as a garment to cover the core of her body. By the seventh day, food was very difficult to come by and she had spent a fair amount of time running from Tandoks packs. The confrontation that she had had made her quite the target. She was forced to go higher and higher into the mountains as the Tandoks could not deal with the altitude. By the thirteenth day, Imaru lay motionless. Her breathing was shallow and she felt herself falling into and out of consciousness. Upon the final sunrise was she found by her people, nursed back to health and declared eligible to enter the War College.

War College lasted four years and her sister Amaru was with her every step of the way. Imaru focused on tactical and combat operations and minored in anthropologic studies. Upon college completion, she was declared a tactical officer and assigned to the Andorian Kumari-Class vessel named Akai Zayin.

Within two years, Imaru and Amaru were promoted to 3rd Lieutenant.

The Imperial Guard was nowhere near its former glory in size but still patrolled Andorian space. Starfleet vessels were used to cover the area that the guard could not and this was when Imaru noticed the fondness her sister had for the fleet. Amaru wanted to join Starfleet one day and go beyond the reaches of Andor. Over the next several years, the Akai-Zayin regularly encountered pirates and the like and worked with several Starfleet ships.

Imaru dealt with emergency evacuations of Andorian colonies, pirate raids, criminal cargo trafficking and a border skirmish with a rogue Gorn vessel. Her most grueling and memorable mission to date is also the one she still mourns.

Imaru and Amaru were assigned to lead a security team for the meeting between the Andorian President and a Federation Ambassador. All things checked out to be superb until a very well coordinated team of Nauscians equipped with Jem’Hadar cloaking technology invaded the meeting. It was an assassination attempt. Several members of the Andorian government were wounded but Imaru and her team were able to thwart the enemy. Imaru and Amaru managed to corner the trio of Nauscians in a meeting chamber with the Andorian President. Imaru protected the President and defeated one of the assassins. Amaru managed to wound one of the assassins but was killed by the third. Imaru was immediately grief stricken and charged the remaining Nauscians but they retreated as reinforcements arrived.

Imaru went on extended leave and mourned the loss of Amaru for months. Andorian priests met with Imaru several times to help her through this very trying time; for an Andorian to lose a sibling is highly incapacitating. While going through her sister’s belongings, she discovered a letter that Amaru had been accepted into Starfleet. Imaru remembered her sister’s words and their conversations about how the Imperial Guard was becoming obsolete, that the real way to protect and defend Andoria was to join Starfleet. It was what Amaru always wanted. Imaru was approached by the Imperial Guard to be given command of a small Andorian cutter-ship. Imaru very politely declined.

After smoothing over some logistics, Imaru had decided to take her sister’s place in what Starfleet had to offer. Her background in the Imperial Guard was considered and Imaru was forwarded onto a two year track for foreign officers with Academy training and field experience. The basis of the program was to get Imaru acclimated with Starfleet book knowledge, technology and operations. By the end of the two years, Imaru had completed the training and would soon be assigned as the Chief Security/Tactical Officer of a Starfleet vessel.