Nella Daren

Lieutenant Commander Nella Daren (also spelled Neela Daren) was a Starfleet officer who served aboard the USS Enterprise-D for a brief time in 2369.

Early Career
Daren, the daughter of Dr. Aura and Vernis Daren, was born on Evadne IV in 2328. In 2349, she graduated from Starfleet Academy in the 95th percentile, and was posted to the astrophysics department aboard the USS Constellation. In 2355, Daren was promoted to lieutenant and continued to serve aboard the Constellation.

She finally transferred to the USS Bellerophon in 2357 when an opening became available in their stellar cartography department. In 2362, Daren earned a promotion to lieutenant commander, after she developed a new star-mapping system which used nadion pulses to echo-locate varying densities of matter. This new system allowed the Bellerophon to perform a preliminary mapping mission in the Drago Cluster.

In 2365, Daren was appointed head of the Bellerophon 's stellar cartography section. One of her first assignments as department head was a star-mapping mission of Sector 1608 and Sector 1609, in which an uncharted asteroid field was discovered.

In 2366, Daren transferred to Starbase 218 to head a project to update the official star-charts for Sector 1509 so that they could be used by Starfleet. After three years heading up the project, she transferred to the USS Enterprise-D in 2369, to become head of the stellar cartography department.

Aboard the Enterprise-D
Soon after coming aboard the Enterprise, she met Captain Jean-Luc Picard. A friendship quickly formed between the two which was based on their love of music. Daren was a skilled piano player who accompanied Picard on a portable piano while he played the Ressikan flute. Their friendship soon blossomed into love.

When a firestorm threatened the Federation outpost on Bersallis III, Daren suggested cross-connecting several thermal deflector units to create a protective shield against the heat while the Enterprise evacuated the colonists. Eight crewmen lost their lives, but Daren survived. Afterwards, it became obvious to Picard and Daren that it would be extremely difficult to continue their relationship while serving on the same ship. Daren requested a transfer. As they said goodbye, they promised to keep seeing each other, but even then they knew that their relationship would never be the same.

After the Enterprise
After transferring off the Enterprise she accepted a position as head of the stellar cartography department aboard the Oberth-class science vessel, USS Yosemite. In 2372, a Changeling infiltrator boarded the USS Enterprise-E and studied Picard's personal logs. It then used this information during negotiations to state it could assume the form of any of Picard's female acquaintances, including Daren.