D. Nhan

Commander D. Nhan was a female Barzan who served as a Federation Starfleet officer in the 23rd century. Aboard the USS Discovery, she traveled to the 32nd century and subsequently assumed responsibility for the USS Tikhov before joining Federation Security.

Early life[]

When Nhan chose to leave her homeworld to join Starfleet, her family was devastated. She never imagined Barzan II would join the Federation. (DIS: "Die Trying")

Starfleet career[]

Serving on the Enterprise[]

By the late 2250s, Nhan was serving as an engineer aboard the USS Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike, holding the rank of Commander. Being Barzan, Nhan relied on an augmentation to be able to breathe in the atmosphere maintained aboard Starfleet ships. (DIS: "Brother", "Project Daedalus")

Serving on the Discovery[]

Along with Evan Connolly, she accompanied Captain Pike onto the USS Discovery when the Enterprise suffered a malfunction. She was also a part of the team that investigated the crashed wreckage of the USS Hiawatha. (DIS: "Brother")

Nhan later transferred to the Discovery and served on the bridge crew, later assigned as chief of security. (DIS: "An Obol for Charon", "Saints of Imperfection")

Nhan became suspicious of Airiam when she asked about the Barzan's breathing apparatus. Nhan continued to observe Airiam as Discovery approached Section 31 Headquarters. When Airiam requested to join the away team, Nhan told Pike that she would "look after" Airiam. While Nhan, Airiam, and Michael Burnham were aboard the space station, the Discovery crew learned that Airiam's cybernetic components had been corrupted by Section 31's threat assessment system, Control, in an effort to access the Sphere's data. Nhan and Burnham confronted Airiam, who ripped one of Nhan's breathing augmentations off, leaving her gasping to breathe. Burnham trapped Airiam in an airlock, but hesitated to blow her into space, despite pleas from Airiam and an order from Pike. Nhan ultimately regained consciousness and ejected Airiam into space, killing her. (DIS: "Project Daedalus")

She attended Airiam's funeral afterwards, and later apologized to Burnham for her actions. Burnham assured Nhan that she did the right thing. (DIS: "The Red Angel")

When it was decided that Burnham would take Discovery forward to the 32nd century to prevent Control from seizing the Sphere data, Nhan volunteered to stay on board Discovery. Despite knowing that there would be little chance of return, she believed that she owed it to Airiam for the latter's sacrifice. (DIS: "Such Sweet Sorrow", "Far From Home")

Nhan helped Philippa Georgiou in neutralizing Leland (who had been reanimated by Control), when Leland boarded the Discovery to take the Sphere data. After the Discovery disappeared from its original timeframe, Nhan, along with the rest of the volunteering crew, was presumed dead by Starfleet, based on the testimonies of the USS Enterprise senior officers. (DIS: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2")

USS Tikhov[]

Upon Discovery tracking down Federation Headquarters in the 32nd century, they needed to locate a seed sample from the seed vault ship USS Tikhov. Nhan learned that the Barzan joined the Federation in the 25th century, and was responsible in a member rotation for crewing the Tikhov. Nhan, Burnham and Dr. Hugh Culber beamed aboard, allowing Nhan to breathe a Barzan atmosphere, hear the Barzan language, and see a Barzan for the first time since she had joined Starfleet. When the sole surviving Barzan aboard, Dr. Attis, needed to be taken for treatment, Nhan volunteered to serve as her world's representative and crew the Tikhov, with the intention of seeing that Attis' family receive a proper burial on their homeworld. (DIS: "Die Trying")

Federation Security[]

Nhan remained on Barzan only briefly after completing the mission on the Tikhov, finding members of her family line but feeling unable to connect with them, due to her coming from centuries in the past. By 3190, she had joined Federation Security, which appealed to the Barzan sense of duty above all. She was deployed with a covert task force to contend with the remnants of the Emerald Chain, resulting in several particularly bloody skirmishes. During one mission, she lost half of her team because she hesitated to make what she later felt was the correct decision, but was able to save 115 people.

Following this mission, she was approached by Fleet Admiral Charles Vance, Starfleet's commander in chief, to return to Discovery to oversee the pursuit of wanted fugitives Cleveland Booker and Dr. Ruon Tarka, who stole the prototype for the next-generation spore drive in order to deploy an isolytic weapon to destroy the Dark Matter Anomaly. Due to Captain Burnham's close relationship with Booker, Vance's orders gave Nhan the backing of his full authority to relieve Burnham and stop Booker and Tarka if she believed the captain unable to do so. This led to some tension between the two, particularly after Nhan offered a "last resort" plan to destroy Booker's ship to prevent the use of the isolytic weapon, and became emphatic about using it during the confrontation with Booker within the DMA. Despite her typical black-and-white approach, she was convinced by Burnham to accept a compromise that they both agreed to take to Vance, who approved it. Though the effort failed, Nhan gained a greater appreciation for finding middle ground. (DIS: "Rubicon")

In 3191, Vance sent Nhan to Discovery with a team to help provide security after the capture of Moll and L'ak. Nhan treated Booker -- who had seen the error of his ways and was working to make amends -- coldly despite his personal connection to Moll, although she went easy on him for Burnham's sake. During the negotiations with Breen Primarch Ruhn, Nhan and her team continued to guard Moll and L'ak, only to have Moll escape after L'ak injected himself with an overdose of tricordrazine as a distraction. Moll managed to overpower Nhan and her team and attempted to reach a shuttle to beam L'ak out and escape. Admitting that she had been wrong about Booker after he alerted her as to where Moll had gone, Nhan teamed up with him to recapture Moll. The two revealed that L'ak had accidentally injected himself with too much of the stimulant and might not survive, convincing Moll to surrender peacefully.

After L'ak's death, Nhan took part in the discussions about whether or not to turn Moll over to Ruhn. Having given Doctor Vellek's diary over to a Romulan member of her team for translation, Nhan revealed that Vellek believed that the Progenitors' technology might be capable of resurrection which meant that Moll was likely going to use the Breen to find it in order to bring her husband back. It was ultimately decided to give Moll over to Ruhn to ensure a peaceful end to the standoff while Discovery continued the search for the Progenitors' technology, now in a race with the Breen. (DIS: "Erigah")

Nhan was later chosen to join Saru on a mission using the Federation's new pathway drive to delay Primarch Tahal who was on her way to the location of the Progenitors' technology. Although Vance was reluctant to order Nhan on a possible suicide mission, she immediately volunteered as the Discovery crew were her family too. Nhan was impressed with Saru's aggressive handling of the situation which got Tahal to back off and the two lured Tahal's scout ship into position for Discovery to jump both it and Ruhn's dreadnaught to the galactic barrier. After the mission, Nhan took custody of Moll, but revealed that Doctor Kovich had expressed an interest in her once Moll's prison sentence was up.

Several weeks later, Nhan attended Saru and T'Rina's wedding. (DIS: "Life, Itself")

Key dates[]

• Prior to 2257: Assigned to USS Enterprise as an engineer
• 2257:
  • Assigned to USS Discovery as chief of security
• 2258: Along with Discovery's crew, travels to the 32nd century
• 3189:
  • Arrives with Discovery's crew
  • Takes responsibility for USS Tikhov
• 3190: Joins Federation Security

Memorable quotes[]

"I see where the Federation puts its pennies."
"Do not covet thy neighbor's starship, commander. Besides, we've got the new uniforms."
"And lovely uniforms, they are. Captain."
"Very colorful."

- Nhan, Christopher Pike, Saru, and Michael Burnham, on the Discovery and new Starfleet uniforms (DIS: "Brother")

"Nhan. Security officer, USS Discovery. SFB534-0679."
"Failure to comply is insubordination."
"I'm sorry."
"Now, how long was the durat–"
"Nhan, D. Security officer, USS Discovery. Throw me in the brig, hologram."

- Nhan and a holographic interrogation officer, on Nhan's refusal to cooperate (DIS: "Die Trying")

"Beaming right into a biobed, not a good sign."
"Well, L'ak is in bad shape. It's a miracle he's even still alive."
"And Moll?"
"The Locherer reports she's dehydrated, half-starved, but still kicking."
"Literally. When we tried to separate them, she went ballistic."
"I'm not surprised."

- Burnham, Culber, and Nhan, as Moll and L'ak prepare to beam over (DIS: "Erigah")

"Thank you for alerting me. I may have misjudged you."
"Making things right is a process."

- Nhan and Booker make peace (DIS: "Erigah")

"What you did back in sickbay to get out backfired. L'ak misjudged the dose. He may not make it."
"Yeah, nice try. Sell me a goat farm on Bopak III while you're at it."
[Nhan gives Booker a grim nod]
"Let me try. Moll? Hey, it's Book. Look, I'm coming out."
"Not another step."
"She isn't lying. L'ak is your world. I know that. I also know what it's like to lose one. Don't miss you chance to be there with him. For him."

- Nhan convinces Moll to surrender with Booker's help (DIS: "Erigah")

Appendices[]

Appearances[]

Background information[]

Nhan was portrayed by actress Rachael Ancheril.

When Nhan was aboard the USS Enterprise, she wore a red shirt uniform. However, after joining the USS Discovery's crew she began wearing their signature blue uniform but with a skirt, though her skirt uniform differed from that of Star Trek: The Original Series by not showing her legs. She wore black boots that went up past her knees and any time skin between the boots and the end of skirt was seen, that skin was covered by thick black leggings to make it appear like she was wearing pants underneath the skirt.

External links[]

• Nhan at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Nhan at StarTrek.com