Nora Laas

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Nora Laas was the chief of security on the USS Eagle. As a former resistance fighter and member of the Starfleet Marines Corps, she was a natural fighter. Nora was a pure security specialist with only limited background in tactical operations. She did not serve as a bridge officer. (The Star Eagle Adventures)

Early life

Nora Laas was born on December 19, 2343 in Rakantha Province on Bajor. She was separated from her parents shortly after she was born when she was smuggled out of a forced labor camp to which her parents had been confined. Instead Laas was raised by her older sister Nora Leena who at the age of thirteen was already involved with the Bajoran resistance movement and fighting the Cardassian occupation force. Laas joined the fight as soon as she was old enough to hold a weapon. Over the years she distinguished herself as an exceptional fighter, survival specialist as well as a natural leader. At the age of fifteen she was already a leader of a resistance cell made up of adolescents. She had great success causing damage to Cardassian institutions and became instrumental in saving many Bajoran lives from the Cardassian onslaughts.

Fighting the Cardassians made her a tough warrior but she found no time to practice religious beliefs. Like many freedom fighters she did not have a typical childhood or much time for a social life. She was shortly attracted to a young man, also a member of the resistance but this infatuation ended prematurely when he was killed in a Cardassian raid. This experience would leave Laas psychologically scarred and she shied away from romantic relationships in the future.

At seventeen her sister convinced her to help her attempt to leave Bajor in hope of being able to live a life away from war. Laas agreed after a number of devastating attacks killed many of her friends and cell members.

While Laas and Leena tried to get off Bajor their transport was intercepted by a Cardassian ship. A fire fight ensued, killing all of the Bajorans on the transport vessel, including Leena. Laas managed to escape as the sole survivor.

For the next few months she drifted from one refugee camp to the next but quickly became frustrated with the bad conditions and the resigned attitudes of the refugees. While visiting the Bajoran refugee camp on Valo II, Nora came across a Starfleet away team from the starship of Farragut led by Krystine Leone. After assisting the away team to capture a wanted Cardassian criminal she followed Leone's invitation to join Starfleet. Thanks to Leone's sponsorship, Nora Laas was accepted into Starfleet Academy in 2361.

Starfleet Academy

After escaping Bajor Laas eventually learned of the United Federation of Planets and Starfleet and decided to attempt to enroll at Starfleet Academy. She surprised the admissions committee with her survival skills and her persistence. She secured sponsorship and was accepted in 2361.

At the Academy she met fellow cadet Louise Hopkins who was assigned as her roommate. Officials teamed them up on purpose, hoping that the shy Hopkins would have a positive effect on the often hot-headed Laas. The gamble paid off, the two became close friends and remained so even after graduation.

Physically the Academy did not challenge Laas. It was the academic part of her training that proved to be difficult at first. She had to learn new concepts she had never encounter while fighting the Cardassians such as moral responsibility and unquestioned value of all life. She managed to graduate in 2365.

Starfleet career

Nora Laas' first assignment was as a security officer on the light frigate USS Mustang. After only a few weeks on the Mustang she realized that she was not challenged enough on a starship. She needed little extra motivation when she learned that the Starfleet Marine Corps was looking for new recruits to fight the Cardassians in ongoing border clashes with the Union. She swiftly signed up to train at the Starfleet Marines Command Academy on Andoria and graduated near the top of her class in 2366, acquiring the marine rank of Second Lieutenant.

Laas was assigned to the 22nd Expeditionary Marine Regiment and was swiftly dispatched to the Naturra system in which Federation and Cardassian forces were involved in a conflict for a number of border worlds.

She excelled as a fighter during the campaign. She received the Medal of Valor in 2366 after rescuing the crew of a crashed support vessel from Cardassian forces and lead a special forces unit to destroy an enemy weapons depot.

Her courage remained unquestioned when a few days later she led her unit against a Cardassian outfit of superior numbers and prevailed, taking numerous prisoners. Her actions saved a vulnerable Marines outpost from destruction. The Federation rewarded her yet again, this time with the Medal for Outstanding Courage Under Fire. Marine Command also recognized her accomplishments by awarding her a field promotion to the rank of captain.

The Naturra Campaign came to an end a few months later with the Federation forces victorious and soon after a new truce was signed.

With no more immediate need for the Marines, Laas returned to Starfleet, accepting a posting as security officer on Deep Space Two. While serving on the space station she met So'Dan Leva and found that they had much in common. They became close friends.

In 2369 Laas transferred to the cruiser USS Magellan to become the ship's deputy chief of security. She excelled at her new position but was nevertheless looking for ways to further her career.

In 2371 Captain Owens of the newly commissioned USS Eagle asked her to become chief security officer on his ship, following a recommendation by his new tactical officer, So'Dan Leva. She gladly accepted his offer.

On Eagle she eventually lost her inhibitions concerning intimate relationships and became romantically involved with the ship's first officer Eugene Edison.

Psychological profile

Nora Laas's life has been shaped by her violent childhood which she spent as a member of the Bajoran resistance movement, fighting the Cardassians, occupiers of her homeworld. She learned to be a deadly guerrilla fighter and how to lead a cadre of soldiers into battle before even reaching adulthood.

She does not speak much about her time in the resistance movement nor is she known to make references to her homeworld even after the occupation had ended. Nora has not provided many details about possible family ties on Bajor and has not visited the world since she escaped at an age of seventeen.

The emotional toll that her war experiences might have had on her psyche have not been fully established due to her reluctance to open up to counselors and advisers. Nora passed all mandatory psychological tests and evaluations and was cleared for duty but further observations and follow-up evaluations were recommended.

The information that Nora did provide about her family states that she never met her birth parents as they gave birth to her in a Cardassian forced labor camp and managed to smuggle her out of the compound shortly after her birth. She was raised and taken care of by her sister who was also a member of the resistance movement. Leena was killed when she and her younger sister attempted to escape from Bajor, leaving the seventeen-year-old Nora to fend for herself in an unfamiliar galaxy.

Her early disconnect from her home and the loss of everyone she knew forced her into the role of a loner whose survival depended on being able to take care of herself. This independence might have been admired by many, it in fact has to be assumed that it put an enormous toll on the young woman's psyche.

While she managed to begin and create lasting friendships when joining Starfleet Academy she found the challenge of living and working a Starfleet life too jarring from her previous experience and swiftly enlisted with the Marines instead which promised a more demanding lifestyle in light of the ongoing border skirmishes with the Cardassians. Nora once again returned to what she was best at. Fighting the Cardassians.

Only after that conflict ended did her life settle down. She slowly adapted to her new assignments as a security officer in Starfleet and maintained her friendships with like-minded individuals like the half-Romulan So'Dan Leva but also with her polar opposite, the young and shy engineer Louise Hopkins who she had met at the Academy.

As fate would have it she ended up serving with both her closest companions on Eagle where she managed for the first time since leaving Bajor to find a place she could call home. Never giving up her vigilance or her conviction that it was her burden to stand up and fight when necessary she nevertheless had a chance for the first time in her life to also become a more social individual, going so far as to enter into a serious relationship with a man, something she had never deemed important or even necessary before.

Her feelings for the handsome British-born first officer Eugene Edison were too intense to ignore and while the relationship misfired on plenty of occasions when it finally became serious it proved to be an intense albeit short romance.

External link

• StarEagleAdventures.com