Jhael Onika

Jhael Zhyron Onika (/jæl &#712;&#658;i&#716;ron &#333;&#712;n&#275;k&#601;/) was a Starfleet officer active in the 25th century. His life was cut tragically short in 2409 by an explosion in the USS Leviathan (NCC-93151)'s during a battle with several  vessels. He saved the ship in the process, however, by successfully erecting a force field to protect the Leviathan's warp core.

Early Life
Jhael Onika was born on, 2386 on.

Aboard the USS Leviathan
Shortly upon graduating in 2408, he was assigned to the USS Leviathan (NCC-93151), along with fellow cadets Jason Fredricks, Ernie Hauser, Hannah Freeman and Vance L'eher. He served as an until 2409, when the Leviathan's current chief engineer was killed by a Klingon boarding party from the. After fighting off the boarders, he told Fredricks that the engine room was "well looked after".

As Chief Engineer
With the Leviathan now under the command of newly-promoted Fredricks, Onika was placed in the position of chief engineer. Having responded to a distress call from the freighter, Fredricks led an away team over to assist, with Onika joining them at the last minute, insisting that they may need an engineer on the team. He sealed several plasma leaks on the Azura, but was unable to prevent their warp core from breaching, causing the Azura's captain,, to stay behind so Fredricks' team and Brott's crew could escape. While the away team was still on the Azura, an overloaded on the Leviathan, leaving the ship dead in the water, and without a chief engineer. Luckily, operations officer Charlie Morgan was successful in repairing the damage in Onika's absence, and transported them back just before the Azura's core breached.

Later in 2409, Hannah Freeman began to show interest in switching to the engineering crew. Onika was initially puzzled by her idea to join, and perhaps even slightly opposed to it, but soon he came to accept her as a valuable member of the team. After asking her several technical questions and being moderately impressed by her proficiency, he put her to work doing various tasks in engineering, including having her assist him with integrating into the Leviathan's impulse engines. The decalithium was successfully integrated into the engines, and the Leviathan used the speed boost given by the decalithium to help them enter the.

During a diplomatic mission to, it came to Onika's attention that several malfunctions had occurred across the ship, mostly minor. He assigned Freeman, along with fellow engineers and Phil Schrader to solve the issue. Freeman, Anderson and Schrader were able to determine that the ship's s had been sabotaged, to which Onika promptly informed Ernie Hauser, who had been left in command while Lieutenant Fredricks and his away team were down on Regulus IV. Main power soon failed, confirming Freeman and her team's conclusion that a saboteur was infecting the gel packs. Sensing a growing danger, Hauser ordered Onika to lockout the ship's command functions, in case the saboteur attempted to gain control of the ship. Onika then locked the computer so only he could access it from engineering, using his personal access code.

Onika and his engineering staff began troubleshooting a way to disinfect the gel packs, initially to no avail. Freeman then suggested heating the gel packs, essentially giving them a fever. Onika felt the idea was sound, and commended Freeman for thinking of it. The "treatment" worked, and soon, the gel packs returned to normal. Schrader then successfully restored main power, and Onika informed the transporter room that they could begin beaming up Fredricks' away team. After it was revealed that was the saboteur, the senior staff had a private meeting in the. Freeman wondered how, as a security officer, Lædon had known enough about biological systems to infect the gel packs. Onika told her that he didn't, and that was why Lædon hadn't been able to take control of the main computer by the time they discovered the sabotage. He then told all present that "war changes people... and not for the better".

Legacy and Death
While the Leviathan was under the command of Commander, following Jason Fredricks' unofficial resignation, the Leviathan tracked the Ferengi vessel SS Nandi into a nebula in the Celes system. The Nandi's captain had stolen a shipment of from Starbase 114, and was intending on selling it to  pirates. The Nausicaans had several vessels stationed in the nebula, likely to protect their investment. Davis then ordered the Leviathan to open fire, without hailing the Nausicaans first. The Leviathan took severe damage during the ensuing conflict, causing hull breaches on Decks 5 and 6, and killing six people in engineering, including Onika, who had stayed at his post to erect an emergency force field around the warp core, saving the ship.

Phil Schrader was quickly chosen as Onika's replacement by Commander Davis, as Schrader had the most experience with the ship's systems. The stress of his new-found position quickly led him to be indecisive and blame himself for Onika's death. Schrader's condition quickly worsened, and he began to have nightmares about the moments leading up to Onika's death. He blamed himself for not being quicker to save Onika, who had stayed in engineering to erect a force field to protect the warp core, while everyone else evacuated. Schrader would have stayed as well, but dragged him out of the room. As soon as the force field was activated, he fled the room, but an explosion from one of the walls sent debris flying at him, killing him almost instantly. Schrader, not realizing this, climbed back into the room, attempting to save Onika. He reached him and managed to pull him out, breaking his ankle in the process. Onika had already been lost, however. The Levaithan's bartender,, tried to convince Schrader that it was not his fault that Onika was lost, and told him he could honor Onika's sacrifice by taking up his fallen comrade's position. Schrader continued to blame himself for Onika's death, eventually causing him to commit suicide in his own quarters.

Mental Acuity
Jhael had a very adept mind, easily reciting various stats for the USS Leviathan, entirely from memory, while on the shuttlecraft , which was headed for the Leviathan.

Background

 * Jhael Onika did not originally appear in the first two episodes of Federation Legacy, making his debut appearance in, but later being added to the rewritten first episode,.
 * No information has been revealed about Jhael's early life or family. His birthdate was given by, though it has never been mentioned in the series.