Joann Owosekun

Lieutenant Commander Joann Owosekun, nicknamed "Owo", was a female Human Starfleet officer who served during the mid-23rd century and the late 32nd century.

Early life[]

Owosekun was raised in a Luddite collective on Earth. Her family held no religious beliefs. (DIS: "New Eden") They lived near the Ogbunike Caves in southeastern Nigeria in Africa, where they practiced freediving for abalone as a traditional activity. As a result, she acquired the ability to hold her breath for extended periods of time. (DIS: "That Hope Is You, Part 2") She felt that she scared her parents when she decided to choose her own path, but hoped that they would forgive her one day. (DIS: "Such Sweet Sorrow") She watched her best friend die due to not being able to help her. (DIS: "Stormy Weather") Not being able to save her friend at the age of fifteen led her to join Starfleet. (DIS: "Face the Strange")

Starfleet career[]

Owosekun attended Starfleet Academy in San Francisco, and had fond memories of a particular tree. (DIS: "People of Earth")

USS Discovery[]

The Federation-Klingon War[]

By 2256, Owosekun served on the bridge of the USS Discovery as operations officer, with the rank of lieutenant junior grade. (DIS: "The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry")

When Harry Mudd attempted to take over the Discovery in 2256 using a time loop, she was present on the bridge at the operations officer post. (DIS: "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad")

In 2257, in recognition for her role in ending the Federation-Klingon War, Owosekun was awarded the Starfleet Medal of Honor. (DIS: "Will You Take My Hand?")

Post-war[]

Owosekun was present when Captain Christopher Pike took command of the Discovery to investigate strange signals. Later, she assisted with the rescue of the USS Hiawatha. (DIS: "Brother")

Because of her experience living in a community without technology, Owosekun was recommended by Michael Burnham to accompany her and Captain Christopher Pike as part of the landing party sent to the New Eden town on Terralysium, a primitive Human settlement. When the team were attacked by Jacob, she was able to free them from captivity by using a magnet to release a slide bolt on a trap door. (DIS: "New Eden")

Owosekun was friends with Sylvia Tilly, Airiam, and Keyla Detmer, and often shared a meal with them. Later, she attended Airiam's funeral. (DIS: "Project Daedalus", "The Red Angel")

When Burnham decided to take the Discovery forward in time to the 32nd century to elude Control, with no chance to return, Owosekun was among the officers who volunteered to accompany her, leaving behind her former life. (DIS: "Such Sweet Sorrow")

Afterwards, Owosekun, along with the rest of the volunteering Discovery crew, was presumed dead by Starfleet, based on the testimonies of the USS Enterprise senior officers. (DIS: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2")

32nd century[]

Owosekun was one of the Starfleet officers who were held as hostages aboard Discovery by Osyraa and the Emerald Chain. With the other bridge officers, she broke out of captivity and went to retake the ship. (DIS: "There Is A Tide...")

When the Emerald Chain forces terminated life support to the lower decks, and the other crew members were being incapacitated by oxygen deprivation, Owosekun's ability to hold her breath made it possible for her to carry out the mission to force the ship out of warp by using a bomb to deactivate the superconductor connections between the ship and its nacelles. She accepted to continue despite knowing that it was a suicide mission. However, after delivering the payload, she was rescued at the last minute by a DOT-23 drone and survived. After the Discovery was retaken and returned to Federation Headquarters, Owosekun returned to duty. (DIS: "That Hope Is You, Part 2").

Five months after the Emerald Chain's fracturing, Owesekun was promoted to Lieutenant commander and helped distribute dilithium to Alshain IV's satellite network. During a rescue mission to Deep Space Repair Beta Six, Owesekun and the of discovery's discovered a gravitational anomaly that destroyed the station. She discovered that Kwejian was not at it's previous coordinates and was destroyed by the same anomaly. She also welcomed Captain Saru back from Kaminar when he accepted his former first officer position. She then helped the crew examine the anomaly's subspace gravity waves.(DIS: "Kobayashi Maru", "Anomaly (DIS)")

When Discovery entered a subspace rift created by the DMA, Owosekun wanted to reinforce the engineering area until Saru ordered her to stay at her station. She apologized for her actions before going into Transporter suspension. Following Booker and Dr. Ruon Tarka's theft of the prototype spore drive unit, Owesekun accompanied Burnham to Haz Mazaro's Karma Barge on Porathia to acquire Stilph stellar charts. On the barge, Owesekun learned that Booker was there as well to acquire Isolynium for Tarka's Isolytic weapon. She latered talked with Mazaro about entering the fight ring against Ato Kurr to get latinum for the isolynium. At first, Kurr was able to knock her down several times until she was able to knock him down and win.(DIS: "Stormy Weather", "All In")

Personal relationships[]

She was good friends with Detmer and the two would work out together from time to time.(DIS: "Stormy Weather")

Appendices[]

Appearances[]

Background information[]

Joann Owosekun is portrayed by Oyin Oladejo.

Her name was mentioned only in the credits of "Context Is for Kings" and she can only be seen briefly in the episode. She appeared more prominently with a speaking role in the following episode, "The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry", and her last name was first spoken on screen in "Choose Your Pain", while her first name was first mentioned in "Brother".

Her surname has been pronounced in several different ways in canon. Saru emphasizes the third syllable in "Choose Your Pain" although it is usually pronounced with emphasis on the second syllable.

External links[]

• Joann Owosekun at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works