Commander T'Ana, MD, was a female Caitian Starfleet sciences division officer who lived during the late 24th century. (LD: "Second Contact")
By 2380, Dr. T'Ana was the chief medical officer of the USS Cerritos. As a doctor, T'Ana had a rather acerbic bedside manner, and was prone to using profanity quite casually. (LD: "Temporal Edict")
Quick Answers
What incident led to Dr. T'Ana losing her tail during her Starfleet career?
What is notable about Dr. T'Ana's bedside manner as the chief medical officer of the USS Cerritos?
What species is Dr. T'Ana from the Starfleet sciences division?
How does Dr. T'Ana's personality reflect in her use of language?
What role does Dr. T'Ana play on the USS Cerritos in the late 24th century?
Starfleet career
Pre-Cerritos
Early in her Starfleet career, T'Ana lost her tail in an incident aboard the Algonquin. She never shared this story with anyone except Shaxs years later. (LD: "Room for Growth")
T'Ana once served for seven years on an Oberth-class starship; an experience that she did not enjoy. (LD: "The Stars At Night")
USS Cerritos
Dr. T'Ana managing the rage virus outbreak aboard the Cerritos
During a second contact mission with the Galardonians in 2380, many of the Cerritos' crew became infected by a rage virus brought back by Commander Jack Ransom, who was bitten by a Galardonian insect. This quickly resulted in an outbreak that consumed much of the ship. When the away team returned from the second contact mission, T'Ana noticed that Ensign Brad Boimler was covered in slime that he got from being suckled by a Galardonian spider cow. T'Ana discovered that the slime was able to completely neutralize the rage virus and was able to synthesize a cure from the substance, returning everyone to normal. (LD: "Second Contact")
T'Ana briefly tutored Ensign Sam Rutherford, who was exploring the medical division. Initially, she was impressed with his performance in working on a patient's endocrine system but was disappointed with his bedside manner after he failed to keep a patient distracted. T'Ana dismissed Rutherford, recommending trying out the security division. (LD: "Envoys")
T'Ana playing poker
On stardate 57538.9, T'Ana and the other senior officers were gathered in the conference room to witness Ensign Beckett Mariner's promotion to lieutenant, before moving on to debates over new conference chairs. She later joined the senior staff, including Mariner, in a game of poker. (LD: "Moist Vessel")
During a salvage mission of the wrecked cargo ship, NCC-502, T'Ana was in the mess hall eating nachos when Mariner accidentally bumped into her, causing her to fall face-first into her food. T'Ana furiously scolded Mariner, noting how difficult it was to clean nacho cheese out of her fur in a sonic shower. Mariner tried to apologize, but T'Ana remained angry with her. She started noting her past insubordinate behavior and said she should work at Starbase 80 if she wanted to goof around. Before the situation escalated any further, Ensign Fletcher intervened and was able to calm things down by giving T'Ana a warm towel and a new platter of nachos.
When the Cerritos was on the verge of destruction during a standoff with Drookmani scavengers, T'Ana advised the crew to be evacuated before they noticed the Drookmani ship was being dismantled by a corrupted isolinear core. In the heat of their victory, Lieutenant Shaxs pulled T'Ana in for a kiss, which she seemingly enjoyed. (LD: "Terminal Provocations")
Personal interests
T'Ana enjoyed rock climbing in her spare time, stating that it made her feel alive. While she used climbing gear, she chose to forgo wearing shoes, opting to use her natural claws instead.
She once had Ensign D'Vana Tendi join her on the holodeck to climb a mountain face that was visually very similar to Yosemite National Park's El Capitan. (LD: "wej Duj")
She ran her own book club. (LD: "Of Gods and Angles")
In 2382, T'Ana's lack of pain management, through her minimal use of anesthesia, was called into question. When Nurse Westlake pointed out that most patients did not share her her personal high pain tolerance, T'Ana decided to adjust the pain scale by having herself subjected to extreme levels of pain. Though most attempts to provoke pain in her were ineffective, hot liquid on her chest was painful enough for her to update her pain scale. (LD: "Upper Decks")
Personal relationships
D'Vana Tendi
While Tendi worked in medical, T'Ana's relationship with her could at times be tumultuous. As Tendi was not very assertive when first coming aboard the Cerritos, T'Ana paid little attention to her and her deeds, and often assigned Tendi tasks that she figured she would just give up on, or even small personal errands. Tendi would also find T'Ana intimidating to work for, and often felt nervous about letting T'Ana down in her work. It wasn't until 2381 that Tendi started to get the attention of T'Ana in better ways, and respect was given. (LD: "We'll Always Have Tom Paris", "Mugato, Gumato")
Eventually, Tendi made a sufficient impression in her work and accomplishments that T'Ana decided that Tendi wasn't a right fit for medical, and instead recommended her for senior science officer training. This recommendation shocked Tendi, but, while this ended their time working together, it cemented their friendship with one another. When her training started, despite being assigned to ship counselor Dr. Migleemo as a mentor, Tendi actually received far better advice from T'Ana when she was scared that she wouldn't be capable of becoming senior science officer, and Tendi looked to her as her true mentor. (LD: "First First Contact", "Mining The Mind's Mines")
Shaxs
Shaxs gives T'Ana a kiss.
T'Ana and Shaxs shared some feelings for one another while they served together. When the Cerritos defeated a Drookmani scavenger ship, Shaxs celebrated on the bridge by giving her a kiss at his station, which she enjoyed. Later, after she found out that Mariner was Captain Carol Freeman's daughter, she asked Mariner if she thought that Freeman would be okay with her starting a relationship with Shaxs. Unfortunately, a short time later, Shaxs sacrificed his life to save the Cerritos, and this relationship never came to pass. Following Shaxs' resurrection, T'Ana made advances towards Shaxs while he was recovering from mugato venom in sickbay. She even shared with Shaxs the story of how she lost her tail, which she never shared with anyone else. (LD: "Terminal Provocations", "No Small Parts", "We'll Always Have Tom Paris", "Mugato, Gumato", "Room for Growth")
The two often engaged in thrilling, and sometimes even dangerous activities on the holodeck prior to sexual relations. In one instance, both engaged in a black/white movie style bank robbery simulation wherein they said "they would make the customers watch" In the same instance, Shaxs held concerns that T'Ana didn't always take his feelings or dreams into consideration. However, when he expressed this concern to her, she told him a secret of how she lost her tail; a secret she'd refused to tell anyone before, offering reassurance. (LD: "Room for Growth")
They were still together in 2382, planning on a date on the holodeck in Sexy Treasure Island. The two later kissed on the bridge after the universe was saved from a catastrophe. (LD: "The New Next Generation")
Brad Boimler
When T'Ana first met Brad Boimler, she only saw him as important because the slime covering the young ensign was the key to curing the rage virus, subsequently not giving Boimler any credit for his role in the save. (LD: "Second Contact")
For the most part, their subsequent relationship was professional. However, in 2382, Boimler discovered that his alternate reality counterpart was friends with the foul mouthed doctor who gave Beard Boimler the affectionate nickname of Flip and invited him to join her book club. As a result, Boimler decided to befriend his own T'Ana as a part of his efforts to emulate his alternate self. However, Boimler at first only succeeded in annoying the doctor with his antics, once to the point of physical violence on her part. After Boimler attempted to help her during a shipwide crisis and got a lightning bolt up his butt in the process, T'Ana finally warmed up to him, inviting Boimler to join her book club and giving him the nickname of Fuck-o. (LD: "Of Gods and Angles")
Nurse Westlake
Nurse Westlake was the one T'Ana confided in when she asserted that Tendi did not belong in sickbay. Westlake was comfortable enough to speak up regarding T'Ana's lack of pain management. T'Ana felt comfortable enough around Westlake that she purred in satisfaction when he patted her on the head and called her a "good kitty." (LD: "No Small Parts", "Upper Decks")
Memorable quotes
"The anesthetic is useless, we have to work through the pain. Your hands clean?"
"Uhhh…"
"Pump this, don't pass out. Nobody's authorized to pass out!"
- - T'Ana and Ensign D'Vana Tendi, during a surgery on Lieutenant Commander Stevens. (LD: "Second Contact")
"Listen kid, you're great at digging around in a body; but if you can't muster up some bedside manner, you may as well be with the grunts in security."
"You'll be fine. Want me to clean up those disgusting scars?"
"Uh, no way. No. These are my trophies."
"Congratulations, you look like a *bleep* scratching post."
- - T'Ana and Beckett Mariner, after the latter declined the former's offer of eliminating her scars. (LD: "Temporal Edict")
"Do you know how hard it is to get cheese out of fur in a sonic shower?!"
- - T'Ana, after Mariner accidentally causes her to spill her nachos (LD: "Terminal Provocations")
"We could do uh evasive maneuver eighty...eight?"
"Is he *bleep* serious?"
"You think your mom would be okay with me and Shaxs making a little love connection? I'd love to snag that Bajoran beefsteak with my coital hooks."
- - T'Ana, asking Mariner if Freeman would be okay with her and Shaxs starting a relationship. (LD: "No Small Parts")
"I'm a doctor, not whatever the bleep this is."
- - T'Ana transforming Mariner, Tendi and T'Lyn
Alternate realities and timelines
In a parallel reality encountered by the prime universe's Cerritos in 2382, T'Ana encountered an alternate version of herself under the command of Captain Becky Freeman. When both counterparts were brought face-to-face, they sniffed each other, after which they backed away and hissed at one another. When they left the meeting room, one of them appeared to start chasing the other. Brad Boimler later discovered that his counterpart and T'Ana's were friends in the parallel universe. (LD: "Dos Cerritos", "Of Gods and Angles", "Fully Dilated")
Appendices
Appearances
- LD:
- "Second Contact"
- "Envoys"
- "Temporal Edict"
- "Moist Vessel"
- "Cupid's Errant Arrow" (fantasy; background only)
- "Terminal Provocations"
- "Much Ado About Boimler"
- "Veritas"
- "No Small Parts"
- "Strange Energies"
- "Kayshon, His Eyes Open"
- "We'll Always Have Tom Paris"
- "Mugato, Gumato"
- "An Embarrassment Of Dooplers"
- "The Spy Humongous"
- "Where Pleasant Fountains Lie"
- "I, Excretus"
- "wej Duj"
- "First First Contact"
- "Grounded"
- "Mining The Mind's Mines"
- "Room for Growth"
- "Reflections"
- "Hear All, Trust Nothing" (background only)
- "A Mathematically Perfect Redemption" (background only)
- "Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus"
- "Trusted Sources"
- "The Stars At Night"
- "Twovix"
- "I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee"
- "In the Cradle of Vexilon"
- "Empathological Fallacies"
- "Caves"
- "The Inner Fight" (background only)
- "Old Friends, New Planets"
- "Dos Cerritos" (background only)
- "Starbase 80?!"
- "Of Gods and Angles"
- "Fully Dilated"
- "Upper Decks"
- "The New Next Generation"
- VST: "Walk, Don't Run" (background hologram; archive footage)
Background information
T'Ana was voiced by Gillian Vigman, as were her holographic and parallel universe counterparts.
Concept art by Miranda Dressler shows that her name started out as Mir'tana, and that her fur was less pointy. (citation needed • edit)
External links
- T'Ana at StarTrek.com
- T'Ana at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works