B'Elanna Torres



B'Elanna Torres is a female half-Klingon, half-Human Starfleet officer in the 24th century.

Childhood
B'Elanna Torres was born in 2349 to John Torres, a Human, and Miral, a Klingon, on the Federation colony Kessik IV, where she spent much of her early life. Because hostilities existed between the Klingon Empire and the Federation at that time, Torres and her mother were the only Klingons on Kessik IV. Although none of the other colonists voiced any negative opinions of Torres, she perceived that she and her mother were different, a feeling that she did not enjoy. While Torres was still young and living on Qo'noS, her mother took her to visit the Sea of Gatan, where she almost drowned. After her mother resuscitated her, she told Torres about the Klingon beliefs of the afterlife, Sto-vo-kor, and Gre'thor. In 2354, when Torres was five years old, her father left the Kessik IV and traveled back to Earth, never to return again. Torres and her mother, Miral, found it hard to cope. After her parents' marriage ended, her mother pulled Torres out of the Federation school she was attending and took her to a Klingon monastery in order to teach her honor and discipline.

Starfleet Academy Life
Beginning in 2366, Torres attended Starfleet Academy where she participated on the Academy decathlon team. During her time in the Academy, she had four disciplinary hearings and one suspension. She also had to dodge several punches in the lab. Torres also dated fellow Cadet Maxwell Burke during those times, however, their relationship did not last long. After a brilliant but troubled two years leading toward an engineering specialty, she dropped out of the Academy at age 19. Her teachers included Commander Zakarian and Professor Chapman. Torres and Chapman argued constantly, so she was later surprised to learn that Chapman thought she was one of the finest students he had ever taught and was disappointed when she dropped out. He had placed a note in her permanent record saying he would support her if she ever reapplied.

The Maquis
Two years after leaving the Acadamy, an angry young Torres eventually joined the Maquis in 2370, after former Starfleet officer Chakotay saved her life. From then on she formed a close friendship with Chakotay and she became one of his most trusted friends. At that point in her life, the Maquis became the closest thing to family she had ever had. Fighting Cardassians gave her the outlet she needed in dealing with her violent emotions. To help deal with her explosive and often violent temper, Chakotay taught her many Native American and spiritual techniques to help calm her emotions, he even trained her to speak to her "animal guide". The first time Torres took a leadership role in the Maquis, she led her people into a cave that she thought was a Cardassian military installation, but she mistook unstable mineral deposits for weapons signatures. There was a rock slide and she and her team were stuck there for three days. They finally dug themselves out with their bare hands before being rescued.

The Delta Quadrant
In 2371, when Torres' ship was being chased into the Badlands by Cardassians, their ship was mysteriously transported to the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker-entity. The newly commissioned Intrepid-class USS Voyager under the command of Captain Kathryn Janeway soon went in search for them and were likewise transported to that part of the galaxy. After being subjected to a painful examination by the Caretaker, the crews of Voyager and the Maquis vessel were returned to their ships, with the exception of Torres and Ensign Harry Kim. Those two were sent by the Caretaker to an Ocampa settlement beneath the surface of a planet, where they were told that they were dying and needed medical care. Torres refused to cooperate and attempted to escape. Both Torres and Kim were rescued by the crews of Voyager and the Maquis. The Maquis ship was later destroyed, and its crew, including Torres, joined the USS Voyager.

Chief Engineer, USS Voyager
Since the two crews were stranded together in the Delta Quadrant, they were forced to work together as a single crew. Torres was initially assigned the provisional rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade. Torres had difficulty getting along with the temporary Chief Engineer, Joe Carey. She was later recommended as a replacement Chief Engineer by the new First Officer of 'Voyager, Chakotay. However, Kathryn Janeway opposed this decision. After Voyager became trapped in a quantum singularity, Torres proved her skills to Janeway and earned her respect. Janeway then gave Torres the provisional rank of full Lieutenant (giving her rank parity with Carey) and made her Chief Engineer over Carey.

Tom Paris
Torres had her first romantic flirtation in 2373 during an away mission on a shuttlecraft. Tom Paris asked her out on a date in the holodeck once he found out that she was not interested in the attentions of Ensign Freddy Bristow. Torres, aware of Paris' reputation as a ladies' man, turned him down flat. In 2377, Torres eventually married Tom Paris. She initially thought he proposed because the Delta Flyer II was about to blow up, but he replied that he was "still alive and still asking." Soon thereafter, they had their first child, Miral, as they arrived in the Alpha Quadrant in 2377.

Life After Voyager
Upon return to the Alpha Quadrant, Torres was promoted to Lieutenant Commander. Torres served on the Galaxy class starship USS Intrepid and the USS Intrepid-A after coming back to the Alpha Quadrant after the mission in that quadrant. She then went to the planet Boreth to find her mother, Miral. She eventually found her, and the two began rapprochement, when Miral was mortally wounded by a wild animal. This animal was the mother of a younger animal B'Elanna had hunted for food. The mother had stalked B'Elanna for some time until it eventually attacked the two women. After killing the animal, Miral then asked her daughter to perform the hegh'bat. Knowing that the only other outcome was her mother suffering a slow, painful death, a heartbroken B'Elanna carried out her wishes. After reuniting with her husband and daughter, the family moved to Boreth to pursue prophecies about the infant. At last report, B'Elanna had made what she considered a significant discovery in the scrolls and received a warning of a threat against Miral's life. Miral was eventually kidnapped by a Klingon religious group that considered her to be the eventual savior of the Klingon people and believed that only they could protect her until it was time to fulfill her destiny. B'Elanna convinced this group that she could protect her daughter, but Miral was still at risk from another Klingon group that wanted her dead. To escape them, Torres and Paris developed a plan where the two would pretend to separate and B'Elanna and Miral would fake their deaths. As a result, in 2381, Torres and Miral Paris' names were appended to a casualty list sent to Starfleet Command in Sector 22093 of those confirmed dead as a result of the Borg attacks in the Alpha Quadrant. In reality B'Elanna and Miral journeyed into the Delta Quadrant where they rendezvoused with the Project Full Circle fleet. Shortly after new fleet commander, Afsarah Eden, offered B'Elanna a chance to return to active duty, creating for her a the position of Fleet Chief Engineer, which she accepted. Torres served on the USS Intrepid-A after coming back to the Alpha Quadrant after the mission in that quadrant.