Saru

Commander Saru was a male Kelpien Starfleet officer who lived during the mid-23rd century. The first of his species to enter Starfleet service, Saru served aboard at least two Federation starships, the USS Shenzhou and the USS Discovery, and served through much of the Federation-Klingon War of 2256-57. On more than one occasion, he took commandof the Discovery in place of the captain, Gabriel Lorca. Saru eventually took command permanently, albeit as acting captain, after Lorca surreptitiously took the Discovery into the mirror universe, where it was discovered that Lorca was in fact his mirror counterpart.

Following Discovery's escape from the mirror universe and Lorca's death, Saru commanded the vessel's mission to Qo'noS in mid-2257, where it successfully forced a truce with the Klingons. For his part in ending the war, Saru was awarded the Starfleet Medal of Honor, the first Kelpien to be so honored.

Starfleet career
Saru was the first Kelpien to join Starfleet. He had a first contact specialist qualification.

Science officer of the USS Shenzhou
In 2249, Saru had obtained the rank of lieutenant and was serving in the sciences division aboard the USS Shenzhou under Captain Philippa Georgiou as a bridge officer. He was present when Michael Burnham arrived on the starship. By 2256, he had been promoted to lieutenant commander and worked as the ship's chief science officer. That year, Saru participated in the Battle of the Binary Stars, and later evacuated the Shenzhou with the remaining crew after the death of Captain Georgiou.

First officer of the USS Discovery
About six months later, Saru had been promoted to commander, transferred to the command division, and made first officer of the USS Discovery under Gabriel Lorca. When the prison transport shuttle carrying the disgraced former Starfleet officer Michael Burnham was brought aboard the USS Discovery for repairs, Saru escorted the former officer to engineering so that she would work as a "data cruncher" under Lieutenant Paul Stamets. When the USS Glenn, the Discovery 's sister ship, suffered a catastrophe, Saru spoke up in Burnham's defense, describing her as the "smartest Starfleet officer [he] had ever met."

Fear and Pahvo
According to Saru, Kelpiens live in a state of constant fear from the moment of birth. Saru may be the first of his species to have this alleviated, as after encountering the native energy life forms of Pahvo, he briefly experienced relief from this state while on the planet. He became so desperate to continue experiencing this lack of fear that he proceeded to first deceive, and then attack his fellow officers in an attempt to keep the planet out of the Federation-Klingon war. These actions eventually led to the Pahvans withdrawing their influence on him, as they came to believe it was generating disharmony among their Starfleet guests.

Mirror universe and Captain of USS Discovery
Following the victory over General Kol and the Sarcophagus 's destruction, Saru then confirmed that the spore drive had dropped Discovery into unknown space. After learning that they were in parallel universe, Saru then helped Cadet Tilly in posing as her counterpart after Lorca decided to have Discovery pose as the ISS Discovery. After Lorca and Burnham boarded the ISS Shenzhou, Saru was left in command of the Discovery.

Saru, along with Tilly, then found Dr. Culber dead and in the arms of Lieutenant Stamets. With Tilly, Saru agreed to use the Mycelium spores to treat and heal him. Saru then had Tyler (who had been revealed to be Klingon sleeper agent Voq) beamed back aboard the Discovery with information on the USS Defiant 's arrival to the mirror universe. Saru was able to decrypt the information on the Defiant, but much much of the information was redacted. When Dr. Pollard and her medical team were unable to hepl Tyler/Voq, Saru then allowed L'Rell in helping Tyler/Voq in easing his pain. Saru was then contacted by Burnham to come to the ISS Charon.

Enroute to the Charon, Lt. Stamets came to and told Saru of his counterpart's damage to the Mycelial networkand its eventual destruction of the entire multiverse. Saru was then contacted by Burnham, who told them that Lorca was really a Terran posing as his counterpart. After this revelation, Saru decided to take command and destroy the Charon before it destroys the entire multiverse. Following Discovery 's arrival at the Charon 's coordinates, Saru then spoke with Lorca, who offered to spare him and Discovery 's crew in exchange for Burnham. At first, Saru agreed. However, when Burnham and Georgiou attacked Lorca, Saru ordered Discoveryto open fire.

Discovery was successful in disabling the Charon 's shields. Saru then ordered Burnham to beamed aboard prior to destroying the Charon. Following the Charon 's desctruction, Saru and the crew then used the destruction's shockwave to return to their universe.

Return to the War
Unfortunately, Saru, Stamets, and the crew then discovered that they overshot their return by nine months, by which time the war was going badly. Saru also discovered that Burnham had saved Emperor Georgiou and lied about the mirror universe Kelpiens. Discovery was then boarded by Admirals Shukar, Gorch, Cornwell, and Ambassador Sarek. At first Saru demanded to know the reason as to why they boarded. Saru then had mind-meld with the Ambassdor who learned about Discovery 's trip to a parallel universe and Lorca's true colors and death. Saru was debriefed on the specifics of the disastrous turn the war had taken since Discovery was seemingly destroyed, and subsequently relinquished command to Cornwell for Discovery 's trip to Starbase 1. However, he sensed danger on approach, and Starbase 1 immediately turned out to be occupied by the House of D'Ghor. With several Birds of Prey converging on Discovery and Cornwell too shocked by this turn of events to give orders, Saru was forced to order a retreat.

Saru became first officer under Emperor Georgiou, posing as her prime counterpart, during a mission that was supposedly to map Qo'noS's volcanic system for a future military strike. However, the mission turned out to be the military strike; rather than a mapping drone, Georgiou had brought a hydro bomb which she intended to detonate in a volcanic vent, which would have catastrophic results. After Burnham alerted him to the true mission, Saru contacted Cornwell and threatened to mutiny with Burnham if Starfleet Command did not back down. Burnham was authorized to prevent Georgiou from detonating the bomb, and handed the detonator to L'Rell, who took leadership of the Klingon High Council and rapidly enacted a cease fire. Saru was awarded the Starfleet Medal of Honor for his actions, the first received by a Kelpien. Soon after, Saru led the ship on a voyage to Vulcan to pick up the Discovery 's new commanding officer, but was sidetracked along the way to respond to a distress call from the USS Enterprise.