Samantha Hayashi

Samantha "Sam" Hayashi was a human serving in Starfleet in the early 25th century. A gifted pilot, Sam served as flight controller aboard both the USS Endurance and the USS Nautilus. (Star Trek Online: Valkyries)

History

Early Life

Sam was born in 2382 to Hideo Hayashi and Morello Belo on Risa, where her father was conducting business while the rest of the family vacationed. Her father was ethnically Japanese and the majority owner and chairman of the Hayashi Industrial Group, one of the six largest corporate conglomerates in the quadrant and the only one still controlled by humans. Her mother was ethnically Portuguese-American and a famous model and holo-actress. Sam was the youngest of six children, with one older brother and four older sisters. ("Airborne")

Sam's birth into such a celebrity family made her immediately famous and fantastically wealthy. In 2400, at the age of 18, she was able to purchase an Aerie-class vessel for her private use. As of 2407, she was among the 100 richest people in the Federation with an annual income of 67 thousand bars of gold-pressed latinum, which was said to be slightly less than the value of a Miranda-class starship. ("Survivors of Yamatai")

However her birth did not guarantee her a stable or loving home environment. Instead Sam often found herself lost in the shuffle of a family always on the move and in the limelight, and pressured into pursuing a career in acting or modeling. As a result, she rebelled, acting out in a variety of ways, among them "streaking" on Recara II. A video of the event became widely publicized but Hideo Hayashi was able to use his influence to prevent Sam's name from being connected with it.

Among Sam's less objectionable forms of rebellion was her refusal to become a celebrity and adopt her mother's last name at the age of 18, instead choosing to pursue a career in piloting. The result of this decision was that fans of her sisters' careers came to know her as the "fifth" or "lost Belo girl," a title Sam personally hated. ("Airborne")

While growing up, Sam spent as much time as possible in the company of her paternal grandmother, Iku Hayashi, from whom Sam learned kyudo (traditional Japanese archery), Christianity, and an appreciation for Japanese history and legends. ("Survivors of Yamatai") Sam also learned to speak Japanese and developed a fondness for 20th and early 21st century anime, considering them better than entertainment on the holodeck. ("Airborne")

Starfleet Academy

Sam joined Starfleet and graduated from Starfleet Academy in 2405 with degrees in Tactical Navigation and Xenoarcheology. The latter she studied in no small part because of her fascination with Japanese history and legend. While at the Academy, she took Basic Ground Combat and Survival under Commander Conrad Saganami.

One of her closest friends while at the Academy was her Trill roommate, Carlin Agran. They were complete opposites in many ways, but helped to balance out each others extremes. While Carlin got Sam to buckle down and do her homework, Sam got Carlin to relax by forcing her to watch anime and dragging her down to the Quantum Café to check out cute guys. Despite her influence however, Sam managed to rack up an impressive disciplinary record while at the Academy for various pranks, causing Carlin to remark later that at the time Sam had been doing good to stay off report for an entire week. ("Survivors of Yamatai")

Aboard the Endurance

After her graduation, Sam's first posting was the USS Endurance, where she served as junior flight controller. However, her mischievous ways and lack of discipline continued to cause problems. During her first six months aboard, she was put on report nearly a dozen times. Once in late 2405 she modified the molecular imaging scanners of the ship's transporter in order to beam the chief medical officer, Doctor Lenaris, down to a Jutean medical symposium without his pants. Lenaris attempted to press an exaggerated list of charges, but Captain Ramsey dismissed all but one--"misuse of Federation equipment"--for which he confined her to quarters, hoping to teach her a lesson in discipline.

Subsequently Ramsey found it necessary to release Sam and order her to pilot a shuttle into the Sigma Hydra system in order to rescue the crew of a trapped shuttle and retrieve the Orion defector they'd brought onboard. In the process of conducting the rescue Sam and the rest of the shuttle crew became exposed to an engineered airborne strain of polywater intoxication, causing their behavior to become increasingly erratic. Sam managed to maintain sufficient self control to keep the shuttle from coming into contact with the Endurance and infecting its crew while using her previous modification to the molecular imaging scanners to separate the shuttle's crew from the polywater during beam-out. In the process, she nearly shot her copilot, stunned Doctor Lenaris, fired on the Endurance's tractor emitter, and deliberately crashed the shuttle into a Class Y planet. Afterwards, Sam voluntarily drew up a list of potential charges related to the event and presented it to Captain Ramsey, determined to no longer avoid facing the consequences of her actions. Due to extenuating circumstances, Ramsey dismissed the charges and promoted Sam to lieutenant. ("Airborne")

Aboard the Nautilus

In 2407, Sam was transferred to the USS Nautilus, where she served as senior flight controller, reuniting with her friend Carlin, who served as senior science officer.

Soon after she came aboard, Sam was assigned to an away team (together with Carlin) to explore the newly-discovered Class M planet inside the Dragon's Head Nebula, which was believed to be the source of Japanese artifacts relating to Yamatai which had been left on Earth over 2,000 years ago. Their shuttle crashed on the planet when an ion storm suddenly changed course and strength to intercept them. While everyone survived the crash, Sam became separated from the others. She was briefly held by a Bolian scavenger in a cave, but managed to escape, injuring herself in the process. After treating her own injury and surviving for a day in the wilderness, she managed to meet up with Carlin who gave her proper medical care.

However, while she was recovering, Sam was beamed away by the head of a violent cult of previous crash survivors, known as the Solarii. The Solarii forced Sam to give them all the information she had on Himiko, legendary ruler of Yamatai. Sam was briefly allowed to escape in hopes of luring in the other Starfleet survivors, but the plan backfired when Sam and Carlin defeated their ambushers and returned to the Solarii main base to rescue the crew of a second shuttle, who had also been captured by the Solarii. During the rescue attempt, Sam was recaptured and subjected to ritual sacrifice by burning at the stake. She was saved at the last minute by a sudden wind that blew out the flames, which the Solarii held to be a sign from Himiko. The Solarii dubbed her the Chosen One and believed that she would help them escape the planet by undergoing the Ascension Ritual.

Sam subsequently escaped with the other Starfleet survivors and was captured by the Orion crew of the OSS Cluros. When the Cluros was going down Sam attempted to organize an emergency beam-out for the Starfleet personnel but was unsuccessful and as a result of her actions, Ensign Alex McKensey became trapped in the engineering section of the Cluros. Antori Drel also died in the crash, prompting Carlin to volunteer to take his Symbiont. Sam expressed her concern at this, afraid that joining would cause her to lose her friendship with Carlin, but Carlin assured her that she wanted this and that she would always be Sam's friend.

After Carlin Drel's joining, Sam participated in the rescue of Alex McKensey from the engineering section of the downed Cluros. Sam found him trapped under a metal, and as rescue seemed impossible, Alex volunteered to stay behind and give his life to free his shipmates. Sam was unwilling to let another shipmate die and was able to beam him out with a modified transporter. Thereafter Sam and the other Starfleet survivors joined forces with the surviving command crew of the Cluros, Atria D'blae and Ursan. Sam was initially hostile toward the Orions, but gradually grew to trust them.

The group's search for a way off the planet led Sam in particular to believe that the storms were controlled by the Sun Queen Himiko, who was somehow still alive. Sam was able to confirm this when she discovered the tomb of the ancient general mentioned in the legend of Hoshi, which chronicled Himiko's downfall and supernatural nature as a koh, a face-stealing demon. The discovery caused Sam to believe that the legend was true and she became determined to kill Himiko once and for all by destroying the Star of Yamatai, her source of power in the legends.

Moments later, Matan, leader of the Solarii ambushed the survivors and Sam surrendered herself in exchange for the Solarii allowing her friends to go free, even though she knew Matan intended to make her the next host for the Sun Queen. Sam concealed a dagger she'd found in the tomb of the general on her person and was taken into the monastery on the main island by Matan. There she confronted Himiko herself in a decaying body. She tried to destroy the Star of Yamatai with the dagger, but Matan disarmed her and Himiko immediately began transferring herself into Sam's body. She tried to overawe Sam with memories of her ancient past, confirming that she was a non-corporeal Polaric ion energy being created when her homeworld was destroyed in a polaric energy explosion, and that she had traveled to Earth in the distant past and ruled it by inhabiting the bodies of a succession of priestesses. Sam was able to resist being similarly possessed and she and Himiko struggled over control of the Sun Queen's powers until Carlin arrived and destroyed the Star of Yamatai, ending the transference and killing Himiko.

With Himiko dead, Sam immediately realized that the polaric ion energy Himiko had possessed would soon be catastrophically released. She was able to use Himiko's memories to beam herself and the other survivors to Himiko's starship and fly it off the planet and through the nebula, where she and the others were rescued by the timely arrival of the USS Nautilus.

One month after the events of Yamatai, Sam went down to the brig and freed Atria and Ursan in gratitude for what they'd done for her on Yamatai. She made no promises about how things would be if they met again, though, and attempted to cover up the incident by claiming the two had escaped on their own and overpowered her. ("Survivors of Yamatai")

Personality

Sam was irreverent, sarcastic, flirtatious, and mischievous. She had an extroverted personality and would occasionally say things without thinking them through first. She often tried to downplay her wealth and family connections and was easily annoyed by comparisons to her more famous sisters. She was also very nostalgic, especially regarding various aspects of Japanese culture, such as anime, and deeply spiritual.

Quotes

"You did remove his pants."

"With. a. transporter! Like I said, no touching involved. I wouldn't even have seen the end result if he hadn't insisted on me beaming him right back up."

"You put him down in the middle of the Juetean medical symposium without his pants. That wasn't at all what he had in mind, and he was understandably upset, young lady."

"It's not like he wasn't wearing underwear—at least, I hope not!...What? I know you think it's funny too!"

— Sam and Captain Ramsey discuss her latest prank

"I will not be seduced by your flashy technological tricks from the simplicity that is anime."

— Sam to her sister, Marla Belo

"It's way too hot in here."

"You're way too hot in here."

"Thanks, you're cute…you know, if you like blue."

— Sam to Bratxal, her Bolian copilot

"Warning, self-destruct system has been disabled."

"You're welcome."

— Sam to the computer, after aborting an auto-destruct

"What can I say? The ghosts of Starfleet past, present, and future visited me in a shuttlecraft one night and taught me the true meaning of Christmas."

— Sam's tongue-in-cheek summary of the episode "Airborne"

"I've only crashed a shuttle once, and that was on purpose."

— Sam on her flight record, shortly before crashing on Yamatai

"Yeah, about that...have I mentioned I'm severely allergic to being on fire?"

— Sam to Matan, regarding the Ritual of Fire

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Carlin, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

— Sam quoting Shakespeare

"When I face death, I prepare to meet a God who cares how I've lived my life. While I freely admit I'm a screw-up in a lot of ways, I hope not to be a total disappointment, mostly because I know that there's always forgiveness."

— Sam, in a rare serious moment

"Unacceptable! You do not get to die a hero on my watch. <kisses him>"

"Why did you do that?"

"To give you something to live for."

— Sam before rescuing Alex

"Please, Sam! I...I am ordering you not to do this!"

"Sorry, Carlin, but you and I are the same rank...and I have more seniority. I'm ordering you to let me do this."

— Sam and Carlin debate her decision to surrender herself to the Solarii

"This is my mind, and I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

— Sam to Himiko, while the latter tries to take over her body