Chalasheva Hy'Qiin

Chalasheva Hy'Qiin (prefers to be called Sheva - pronounced with a short sounding 'e' in the name) is a genetically engineered clone created by a small cooperative of Human and Andorian scientists at the Setil Biotechnology Institute on the Federation colony world Weytahn (once known as Paan Mokar to the Vulcans). The scientist in charge of the project was Joveleth Hy'Qiin who spearheaded the expensive endeavor as part of his "Imaginary Numbers" initiative aimed at restoring the lost history of his clan. Sheva was cloned from the mumified remains of Andorian Queen Xerela of Qiin, wife to ancient Andorian despot, King Hylanvahr (the king's remains served as the genetic basis for former Starfleet captain Kizlev Hy'Qiin, the most famous of Joveleth's few surviving clones who now serves in the Andorian Imperial Guard with the rank of General). Sirta Hy'Qiin, a former Starfleet engineer and the last Chief Executive Officer of Setil Enterprises, was the first successful clone of Queen Xerela, and some of her genetic material was implemented to ensure Sheva was a more perfect clone of Xerela. When Sirta had assumed leadership of Setil Biotech on behalf of her clan cousin, Kizlev, she treated Sheva more like a daughter than a little sister. Due to genetic degredation related to Joveleth's algorithmic cloning process, Sirta aged faster than normal Andorians (by age 40, she physically became closer to 70; the same happened to Kizlev by the time he reached 50, but not as dramatically). A Kelpien researcher named Arka helped correct the flaws of Joveleth's cloning techniques after the latter died from an apparent suicide. This, along with medical consult from a kindly young Aenar doctor named Yurichent ch'Thrysou, helped Sirta to ensure that Sheva would not suffer the same rapid-aging fate, and would age about the same as a natural Andorian.

Thirijin "Jin" Athrun, an Andorian trader and mercenary who had worked as a contractor for Sirta, was entrusted to raise Sheva as his own daughter just before Setil dissolved following extensive financial difficulties and criminal investigations by Federation authorities. Jin, being the rough and tumble working man with a heart of gold that he was, tried his best to teach Sheva the Andorian traditions of geology, dueling with an ushaan-tor blade, and mixing the best drinks in the known galaxy. While Sheva enjoyed exploring the wilderness of Weytahn and learning survival techniques with Jin as the only father she knew early in life, she was ultimately an introverted girl, rather shy, and took the greatest joy in plunging her focus into scientific journals and fostering a fascination with mysticism and the occult. Jin had married three other Andorians and became an actual father to two sons around this time, and Sheva took it upon herself to give back to Jin by learning all she could about child-rearing and helped care for the infants in a big sister capacity. After some years living with the Athrun clan, Jin and his bondmates decided Sheva deserved to know about her heritage, and so he brought her to live with relatives in clan Hy'Qiin on Andoria.

Years later, there was an attempted hack of Andoria's orbital defense grid in which the planetary authorities had discovered Sheva was the ringleader behind the incident. For just fifteen seconds, she held the power to devastate the entirety of Andoria's surface, but instead released her control and celebrated the major security breach with close friends that helped make the hack possible until armed government officials swooped in and arrested them all. Starfleet Security quickly heard of Sheva's arrest the day after, and arrived to learn that she was not only a gifted computer hacker, but had fashioned custom makeshift tricorders and developed a crude (and illegal) portable hyperonic radiation emitter all from scavenged and stolen scrap and second-hand equipment. When asked why she built the devices, she replied, "I had no intention of hurting anyone. I just think that if something is useful, then use it, don't waste it. I don't like taking things for granted." And as for the hack, she explained, "We did it partly just for the fun of it...but we wanted the Imperial Guard to know that it needs to up its cybersecurity game, not to mention updating those rusty old long-range sensor suites. We sent formal petitions to them for months, but nobody listened. We decided to wake them up the only way we knew how and make them do something about it." Nearly all of Sheva's network security suggestions were implemented by the Guard the following week. Starfleet saw an opportunity for recruitment and convinced the Imperial Guard to drop the charges. Sheva was released and was sent to Earth after accepting an offer to take the Starfleet Academy entrance exam.

During her junior year as a Starfleet cadet, Sheva volunteered for a cultural enrichment visit to Betazed that would forever change her life. It was there that Sheva met a female Betazoid scientist named Ibis Xeri who had served with Sirta in Starfleet and they quickly became fast friends. After attending a Betazoid wedding of those who were close friends to Ibis' family, Sheva quickly fell in love with the culture of the Betazoid people. Sheva fell so completely into their ways that she openly accepted the Four Dieties as her divine matrons, in particular Altha, the Betazoid feminine aspect of peace and stability.

Following a mostly uneventful planetary survey tour on the Nova-class USS Siranna during her senior Academy year, Sheva received an urgent transfer notice on the night before her graduation to report for immediate assignment aboard the USS Claymore as a science officer. Due to the urgency of the orders, Sheva was unceremoniously handed her ensign's pip by the Academy Commandant and was forced to leave in the middle of the San Francisco night without being able to attend her graduation or celebrate with her classmates. Little did she know the trials and challenges she would yet face...