Species: Human-Cetanoid hybrid
Age: 26
Posting: Navigator/Pilot on the Excelsior Advance, on long- term assignment to frontier territories, Orion sector Command.
Skrish is a rare lady indeed.
She’s a genetic hybrid of human and a race of hyper-intelligent aquatic mammals called Kheet, which are native to the planet Saphir. Centuries ago, the Imperator’s scientists began experimenting with Kheet DNA, trying to isolate their ability to detect minute variations in the inter-dimensional fabric of the universe.
The experiments were successful, but with severe limitations. The resultant beings, Cetanoids, appeared nearly human while still keeping the Kheet’s abilities. They could track their position anywhere in the galaxy, and could even map the local ether-fields of a given star system. But Cetanoids also had to remain in an aquatic environment and were terribly vulnerable to infection. However, an additional introduction compatible human DNA, could result in children who could function for longer periods away from water.
There are perhaps a thousand such beings in the entire galaxy, and Skrish is one of them.
She entered the Rangers to see the galaxy, to explore unknown places. Skrish has always been curious, always sought the new, the unusual.
While she can be away from water for most of a day, she still requires submersion for at least a few hours each day. So instead of entering the cadet barracks, Skrish was going to be given her own highly customized room. She was disappointed to be kept so aloof from her fellow cadets, but then she received a roommate, Lena Vargas.
Lena was the daughter of a Ranger legend. But as much as Skrish was the darling of the teachers, Lena admitted that several of the instructors were trying to make her quit, despite her rock star status with the others and the students. Eventually, Lena told Skrish the truth about her famous father, and they bonded over the adversity. The pair were deeply in love with each other by the end of their first year.
It was inevitable, given her talents and situation, that Skrish would be highly valuable to Ranger Command. As she neared the end of her time at the Academy, she earned her choice of assignments, and no less than Fleet Admirals courted her. But she was going with her girl, and became the navigator of Lena’s ship, the Excelsior Advance - of which she is extremely possessive.
Now, Skrish is living her best life, out on the frontier, seeing new worlds and exploring the mystery that is the galaxy. Her mother and father had been deeply religious and brought her up in the faith as well. To Skrish, the ether that makes up the universe is the physical manifestation of God, and she holds it sacred.
Skrish will always be there for her wife, and for her crew. Charting their course and forging their path.