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Captain Thekla Lawless was the commanding officer of the USS Cantabrian(NCC-607) from 2266 until 2311 and the USS Cantabrian(NCC-24705) from 2314 until 2330.

History

Aboard the USS Cantabrian (NCC-607)

When she took command of the USS Cantabrian, Thekla Lawless was slightly older than James Kirk was when he took his first command. In 2266, she was made the commanding officer of the Cantabrian, and, in 2271, a major refit and upgrade started on the Cantabrian (which saw its class reassigned).

Her command of the upgraded Cantabrian started in 2274.

In 2293, she attended the memorial service for James Kirk, where she spoke the words, "Jim was a close friend who always seemed to be a knight in shining armor when a young woman needed one."

Lawless remained in command of the Cantabrian (NCC-607) until its near-destruction during the Tomed Incident in 2311. During this time, she served with the then-host of the Jonar symbiont, Marjal Jonar, who also survived the Tomed Incident.

Aboard the USS Cantabrian (NCC-24705)

Thekla Lawless was also the first commanding officer of the Excelsior-class Cantabrian, launched in 2314. Then-Commander Marjal Jonar joined her as her first officer.

During both these missions, Lawless proved herself to be one of the most influential Starfleet captains in the history of the United Federation of Planets.

Lawless was responsible for making first contact with several important races, including the Kaartali in 2315. Throughout her further 15 years as Cantabrian's commanding officer, she maintained regular contact with the Kaartali, who highly regarded her.

In 2330, at 98 years old and after 77 years in Starfleet, Lawless retired, moving to a small Kaartali colony and serving as an unofficial ambassador to their people. According to Jonar, she lived out the rest of her days peacefully and content. (Star Trek: The Cantabrian Expeditions: "The Fire In Which We Burn")

It's not clear how Lawless was influential or what brought about this status, but her survival during the bloody Tomed Incident would be one of many incidents that may have shaped this.

Service Jacket

Previous Assignments

Last Assignment

Background information

  • Thekla Lawless, like Noah Wrightson, is from New Zealand.
  • The character is named after a combination of Lucy Lawless (Xena) and a woman named Thekla who was the first New Zealander the author of the series befriended whilst studying at university in the USA.
  • Part of Lawless's planned backstory is that Kirk gave her the same advice he gave Picard in Star Trek Generations: to never accept promotion to admiral (and a desk job).


Preceded by:
Unknown
Commanding officer
USS Cantabrian (NCC-607)
Succeeded by:
None


Preceded by:
None
Commanding officer
USS Cantabrian (NCC-24705)
Succeeded by:
Jack Annand
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