Kestra J'Naya

Lieutenant Commander Kestra J'Naya was chief engineer of USS Excelsior (NCC-2000-C), From 2383 onwards. (Star Trek: Excelsior)

Starfleet career

Kestra J'Naya was born on Earth in Dublin, Ireland. Her father was Terran, her mother was from Risa. After graduating from Starfleet Academy, Kestra worked her way through the ranks in engineering, eventually coming to the Steamrunner-class USS Totallic, home to future fellow shipmate Neeva. Kestra finally achieved the position of assistant chief engineer before being reassigned to the USS Excelsior as chief engineer.

Relationships

With Her Subordinates

Master Chief Petty Officer Jack Meyers

The love story of Kestra Jenaya and Master Chief Petty Officer John Meyers began when the Chief Engineer had her first team meeting. Kestra had yet to arrive, and as usual Adow was gossiping about their new boss. Meyers chimed in with; "I looked up her dossier. She looks alright. Lots of experience, a few decorations, beautiful smile..." Adow tried to stop him in his tracks. "Meyers, stop right there. I have two words for you: Ice. Queen." While totally professional and skilled as an engineer, Jack was totally awkward when it came to women on a social level. "No! I mean, maybe – I don’t – not gonna – sure, she’s a fine-looking woman, but that’s [not –]" (Guards GET THEM!!) While Meyers was totally smitten, He wasn't even within Kestra's sensor range, despite the majority of the senior staff nudging her in his direction. (Better Angels) All of that began to change at a Themed party on the holodeck set in 18th century Portugal, Earth. Kestra's date was the ship's esthetician, a tall male-model-type named Curly. Their date was short-lived, as Kestra realized that all the warnings from her friends about Curly were well-founded. Curly disappeared into the party searching for other company, leaving Kestra alone in her period gown, and an empty dance card. Summoning his resolve, Meyers approached the chief engineer. J'NAYA: Jack. Something wrong in Engineering? You need me down there? MEYERS: Uh, no, I just... J'NAYA: Then why're you so pale? Ye look half-dead of fright! MEYERS: I just, uh... (deep breath) I overheard that you might have a little extra space on your dance card. And I was wondering... well, Boss-Lady, I was wondering if I might have the honor of a dance. J'NAYA: You, uh, you don't think it'd be weird tomorrow at scrum? MEYERS: If it's already going to be weird, I might as well ask you on a date. We could make Risian pumpkin bread. J'NAYA: Trying to impress a girl who bakes by replicating baked goods from her mother's planet? MEYERS: Who said anything about replicating? J'NAYA: You bake? You're yanking my chain! MEYERS: Cupcakes from the Temtibi Lagoon don't lie. J'NAYA: All men lie. MEYERS: Now that's not a sentiment I expected to hear in the Twenty-Fourth Century. J'NAYA: Everybody lies. Y'know, if they're...amorously minded. They, you... we're all just a bunch of Turelian peacocks, ornamenting ourselves with fake feathers. MEYERS: That sounds like someone who doesn't expect people to treat her as well as she treats them. J'NAYA: If you met my last couple of dates... Jack, I mentioned my dance card a long time before you came over to the table. What really happened? MEYERS: I was screwing up every ounce of pluck in my body to ask you out. And I have officially used it all up, so now I'm going to go stand where I'm less nervous. Realizing that Jack was sincere, Kestra went after him, offering a compromise. "One dance. We'll see about the baking some night when I'm not feeling quite so cynical." "Delighted. May I initial your programme du bal, Dona Kestra?" "But of course. I'll try not to step on your feet." "Not worries, I wore reinforced shoes." "Jack"? "Yes?" "There is such a thing as too much honesty". And with that, their romance began. By the time of Excelsior's return to Starbase 911, they were exclusive to one another. When the Excelsior was quarantined, and an investigation began over the loss of the 50 tricorders over Divitia. The first suspect was Master Chief Myers. Kestra and Neeva had been seized by the Divitians who had accused them of aiding the Tulian Island League, precipitating 'The Licensing Wars'. The Divitians planned on executing them unless Dovan could return data stolen by the Tulians during a raid in which Dovan and first officer Lorhrok participated in. Desperate to save Kestra, Meyers forged an isolinear chip encoded with Captain Dovan's access codes to give to the Tulians in exchange for saving Kestra and Neeva. After reconsidering, destroyed the chip by dissolving it in molecular acid, then flushing the remains down the toilet. However, the quantum filaments survived the process, and were recovered by the starbase investigation team. Meyers was arrested, and charged with violation of the Prime Directive. Later, he confessed to Dovan that he had indeed programmed the chip, but had reconsidered before he used it, explaining, "Once I thought it through, how could I? What was happening to the Islanders was terrible, but I can't go playing God with a whole civilization, just little old Jack Meyers making that decision by himself." "Kestra visited him in the Starbase brig. "What are you doing here, Kestra?" "That's a pretty dumb question, Jack. You promised me a date on the starbase. Well... this is the starbase!" "It's the brig." "The starbase brig!" "Kes, I appreciate it, but, if you're seen with me now it . . . . ." " Mister Meyers, I understand you almost committed a galactic felony for me!" "Is that, uh... are you saying that as a good thing?" "Oh, well, if you'd actually done it, who knows? Tough choice then. But almost? Almost is perfect." (And Bear Witness)

Ensign Kinash Adow

Kestra got her first warning about the willful and temperamental Kinash Adow from her predecessor When she first reported aboard Excelsior as her new Chief Engineer. " Don’t get me wrong, Miss J’Naya, welcome aboard – but I’m here to warn you. Chief Engineer is a tough job. You can still get out of this." Kestra cheerfully replied, "Respectfully, sir, the only thing that could keep me out of your engineering bay is a cascading coolant leak. I spent six years as assistant chief on the Totallic, and I’m ready for the big pool table and anything else this ship can throw at me." "Well, we’ll see what you think after you’ve met Ensign Adow." Up until now, Adow had the run of the place, insubordinate, openly showing disrespect towards superiors, throwing tantrums though minor acts of sabotage when things didn't go her way, or when she had been disciplined in the past. Up until this point Her behavior had been tolerated because of her unparalleled expertise in the field of warp theory and engineering. All that changed with arrival of Kestra J'Naya. Unlike Alex Lorhrok, Kestra was a very by the numbers type of supervisor. Her first goal was to build a solid command team. The inevitable clash occurred while Excelsior was in orbit over Mantua. The away team had been captured, and Doctor Sharp was facing execution in the morning. Engineering had until then to find a way to punch through the disruption field and beam them out. Adow had been assigned to bring the transceiver assembly online. Instead, she dropped her assignment and worked on something else. She then reported to Kestra with her ideas. "Ensign Adow. I didn’t expect to find you up here. The transceiver assembly’s online, then?" "Don’t know, don’t care, and, as of this moment, neither do you. Take a look at this. Everything you’d want to know about the energy field and more, all through subspace echolocation." "You’ve even found the variance frequency. But the subspace distortion..." "I compensated." "This is... excellent work, Ensign. The energy field won’t stand a chance with this new data. I see that I underestimated your technical skills." Adow arrogantly replied, "You sure did." After Kestra ordered Master Chief Meyers to stop repairs on the transceiver assembly. They had a new direction to take. She then turned on the triumphant Adow. "As for you, Ensign..." "Yes?" "You’re relieved of duty and restricted from engineering systems, effective immediately. You disobeyed my direct orders, jeopardizing our mission and the Away Team. You may be a technical genius, but if you can’t follow my lead, I can’t work with you. Report to your quarters and think about it. We don’t need you for the rest of this assignment." Adow was apoplectic. "I just helped you get to the Away Team! How dare you?" Kestra would not be swayed. " Ensign, see these pips? I’m not some junior-grade lieutenant wandering in here to prove myself. I’ve been running engineering teams since you were in junior high. And the one thing I’ve seen that’s true at every posting, everywhere in the galaxy, is that a team that can’t work like one is – sooner or later – going to get a lot of people killed. You’re relieved. Adow stormed off, threatening, "This isn’t over." Not taking the bait, Kestra replied, "I certainly hope not. After this mission, I’ll make us some tea. We’ll talk then." True to form, Adow responded by hacking into Kestra's comm system, paging junior officers to report to her quarters at all hours, raising the temperature in her quarters to 28 degrees centigrade, raising all sorts of havoc. She couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, and was sweating through her uniform, which shouldn't be possible. It wasn't until commanding officer Alcar Dovan came by and tried to explain Adow's shenanigans that J'Naya finally understood what was going on. "Then – with all due respect, sir – why is she still on Excelsior?" "If I fired every officer with a personality disorder, the Excelsior wouldn’t have much of a crew. Or a captain, for that matter. Ensign Adow is a handful, but she is also a genius. In my office, I have a PADD where I keep tally of how many stunts like this she’s pulled, plus a tally of how many times she’s saved the ship and the lives of every person aboard. As long as the second outnumbers the first, she’ll stay. "Then what do you suggest I do, sir?" "For tonight? Sleep in my quarters. I have work to catch up on anyway, and we can just cut power to yours until after Mantua. In the morning? Put Adow back on duty. Apologize. Use her, and get those transporters working. Then, tomorrow or the day after, get revenge. Beam her bed into the marine mess hall while she’s sleeping or something." "I can’t do that! It’d undermine my authority, it’d hurt the team’s morale, it’d destroy my relationship with Ensign Adow –" Dovan persisted, "Kinash Adow has never made an engineering mistake under my command. Not one. Her instincts are always right. Her skills are incomparable. As far as I’m concerned, she’s the pope of main engineering – an infallible oracle of the gods. My doctor is going to be killed in a few hours if we don’t get those transporters. I’ve been waiting all day for them. Like my friend Skipper Sam Cox says, “You can’t kill it yourself, you find a bigger gun.” You need Adow." Kestra refused to budge. "I need a team. If I give her a pass on what happened today – especially tonight – then the trust in that team will be broken, and engineering will be under her thumb again. At that point, I may as well go home to the Totallic. Are you ordering me to reinstate Ensign Adow, captain?" "No. It’s up to you to run your own department. I just want those transporters. Don’t let me down. (pause) Speaking of which, it looks like you’re back on shift in two hours. I'll tell my room to let you in. Pleasure meeting you." In the end, Kestra went to Adow's cabin to explain her position. Adow was convinced she had, once again put the senior staff in their place. ADOW: You’re putting me back on duty. J’NAYA: When you’ve served out your week’s suspension, yes. ADOW: I’m still suspended? But... (pause) Oh, I get it. You can’t afford to bargain, so you’re here to threaten. J’NAYA: Pardon? ADOW: (imitating J'naya) “I have three pips and watch how fast I make you a base monkey again and have fun staffing waste reclamation until then.” (pause) Sorry, senior officers don’t scare me. Kestra reminded her that she was still part of the team, but her suspension stood. Adow handed over a PADD with some notes. She had been working on the problem on her own. She offered, "The second one's the best." After that, Adow made an effort to be more of a team player. There was still plenty of room for improvement. (Guards, GET THEM!!)

With Her Peers

Lieutenant Commander Neeva

Aside from Jack Meyers, Neeva's closest friendship was with her former shipmate from the Totallic. Neeva helped out with a scan of the Excelsior's Starboard Nacelle, affectionately named 'Sulu' in honor of an earlier Excelsior Captain. Kestra was so grateful, she handmade her a cake from scratch. When they were both held hostage on Divitia, awaiting execution, It was Neeva that suggested Jack Meyers as a romantic partner. (Better Angels)

Doctor Melissa Sharp

Kestra was curious about the 'Big Secret' being kept by the senior staff. When she broached the subject with Commander Dovan, he promised to tell her everything after she completed her annual physical. Kestra insisted she had done it weeks ago, but Dovan claimed she either forgot, or it was lost. After Kestra left to redo her exam, Dovan asked Melissa to give her the once over to check for Bluegill infestation. Finding none, the senior staff filled her in on 'The Sword of Damocles'. (The Mapstone)

Agent Isaac Brahms

Kestra's first encounter with former (and previously deceased) Starfleet General at Centaurus Foods, a massive corporate facility located on a planet within the Perenalthorias Consortium. She was part of a three person away team that included the first officer, and Lieutenant Commander Neeva. It was purely a diplomatic observation mission. Things took a sinister turn when Kestra wanted meet again with an employee named Pendara Q'Lek. When she along with her Centaurus Foods escort, Donna, arrived at Penny's cubicle, it was closed off, Kestra then went after her fellow away team members. Both Neeva and Lorhrok seemed extremely distracted and ill-tempered, and to her surprise, both signed contracts to work for Centaurus Foods. Desperate to get their attention, Kestra short-circuited Lorhrok's cubicle, which not only enraged him, but brought down Centaurus security on her. Kestra was moments away from surrender when a smoke bomb burst in front of her, and a male human reached out to guide her to safety. It was none other than the resurrected Isaac Brahms. When Kestra introduced herself, Brahms, He quipped, "We keep tabs on the Excelsior, of course. You, you're the boring one." "Excuse me, what?" "You have a better description? Your only established personality trait is that you're a butterfingers." "I'm... I'm... the engineering one!" "Eh. Not really. Kinash Adow's twice the engineer you are." Brahms explained that Penny had been killed earlier, and that he had been dispatched by the Psions to investigate, and put a stop to the deaths and disappearances occurring. Kestra joined Brahms in his investigation, and together they determined that all 30,000 employees were no more cattle for a species that fed off of Neural energy then consuming their victims bodies when the usefulness had ended. They were able to free all 30,000 employees at once, some having been enslaved for nearly a decade. (Nuturing Life)

With Her Superiors

Commander Alcar Dovan

If anything could be said about Kestra's relationship with Excelsior's former commanding officer, it could be best described as 'polite disagreement'. It began with Kinash Adow. When Kestra fell victim to one of Adow's malicious pranks that happened following her being relieved of duty after disobeying orders, Captain Dovan came to visit. He explained about Adow's malicious retaliatory pranks. Her first question to the Captain was, "Then – with all due respect, sir – why is she still on Excelsior?" Dovan was Adow's staunchest enabler, his reasoning was that as long as the times her expertise saved the ship and crew exceeded the number of malicious pranks she performed, she stayed. He offered a solution. If she returned Adow to duty and apologized, after resolving the current crisis, she could prank her back. Kestra vehemently disagreed. "I need a team. If I give her a pass on what happened today – especially tonight – then the trust in that team will be broken, and engineering will be under her thumb again. At that point, I may as well go home to the Totallic." She offered Dovan an out, asking if he was ordering her to reinstate Adow. Dovan replied simply, "No. It’s up to you to run your own department. I just want those transporters. Don’t let me down." In the end, after Dovan was relieved of command and arrested, Kestra joined the rest of the senior staff to remember him. ": Ah, see, when people start taking their principles and ranking them, that's how I know politics is about to start happening to me. Sure, I'll miss the captain. I liked him... and me and Jack, we owe him one, now." (And Bear Witness)

Memorable quotes

" Ensign, see these pips? I’m not some junior-grade lieutenant wandering in here to prove myself. I’ve been running engineering teams since you were in junior high. And the one thing I’ve seen that’s true at every posting, everywhere in the galaxy, is that a team that can’t work like one is – sooner or later – going to get a lot of people killed. You’re relieved. Ensign?"

— (Guards GET THEM!!)

" You disobeyed my direct orders, jeopardizing our mission and the Away Team. You may be a technical genius, but if you can’t follow my lead, I can’t work with you. Report to your quarters and think about it. We don’t need you for the rest of this assignment."

— (Guards GET THEM!!)

" I need a team. If I give her a pass on what happened today – especially tonight – then the trust in that team will be broken, and engineering will be under her thumb again. At that point, I may as well go home to the Totallic."

— (Guards GET THEM!!)

" Mister Meyers, I understand you almost committed a galactic felony for me! Oh, well, if you'd actually done it, who knows? Tough choice then. But almost? Almost is perfect."

— (And Bear Witness)

Background

• Kestra J'Naya is played by Jacqueline Lucca in all her appearances in Star Trek: Excelsior.