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Lieutenant Akira Kogami
Name Akira Kogami
Position Chief Security/Tactical Officer
Rank Lieutenant
Character Information
| Gender | Female | |
| Species | Human | |
| Age | 32 |
Physical Appearance
| Height | 5'2" | |
| Weight | 113 IBS | |
| Hair Color | Brown, but prefers to dye it salmon | |
| Eye Color | Amber | |
| Physical Description | "Petite" and "childlike" are words that best describe Lieutenant Kogami's physical appearance; her short stature and soft facial features make it easy for her to be confused for an adolescent- a fact that, while often a flashpoint for her insecurities, can also be used to her occasional advantage, as she finds that people tend to loosen up around her when they're not aware she's actually in her early 30s. She tends to grow her hair to shoulder length, with a large cowlick protruding from the right side of her head. |
Family
| Spouse | None | |
| Children | None | |
| Father | Ichiro Kogami | |
| Mother | Mei Kogami | |
| Brother(s) | None | |
| Sister(s) | None | |
| Other Family | None Of Note |
Personality & Traits
| General Overview | A former child star who believes her glory days are long past her, Lieutenant Kogami's childlike appearance undercuts a cynical, disenchanted celebrity has-been. While she still loves being at the center of attention from time-to-time (a carry-over from her days in the entertainment industry), she has been known to irrationally snap whenever she feels someone might be trying to show her up. She has been working to keep her temper in check, but nonetheless there's been many an incident where just the right buttons have been pushed in order to set her off. In spite of her short fuse, her time in the entertainment industry means that she knows her way around charming others to earn their favor. Though she often uses these skills for personal gain, they can occasionally have a practical application in the field, such as in situations where it might be useful for gathering intel. As a long time friend of Commander Cooke, Lieutenant Kogami is comfortable with dropping rank when interacting with Patricia off-duty. Also because of her friendship with Patricia, Lieutenant Kogami isn't afraid to provide corrections on Japanese culture when Patricia makes a generalization about it. While Lieutenant Kogami understands and respects Commander Cooke's idolization of Kagami Izumi, she remains skeptical of Patricia's fascination with Rear Admiral Izumi's late husband, Athrun. As far as she can tell with the information regarding Athrun that was made public knowledge, he appeared to be somewhat of a gigolo who tended to use his relationship with the Rear Admiral for personal gain. |
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| Strengths & Weaknesses | +Sociable. +A skilled actor and passionate entertainer. -Competitive. -Occasionally short-tempered. -Cynical and self-loathing. |
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| Ambitions | Upon discovering that her old Academy buddy Patricia Cooke has moved up the ladder faster than she has (despite her being younger), Lieutenant Kogami has set her sights on a command position; Though she understands it may be a while before she gets there, she is hoping that by setting a good example as a department head, she'll have a better shot at a Second Officer referral. | |
| Hobbies & Interests | - "Old-School" Rhythm & Blues - Magical Girl anime and holo-novels; one of her favorites is "Dream Catchers," which she provided a major voiceover role for when she was younger. |
| Personal History | Akira Kogami was born on February 14, 2368, Kasukabe, a city in the Saitama prefecture of Japan. As an only child with no prospect of having a younger sibling, one of her earliest aspirations was to have others look up to her, and to that end she taught herself a couple of children's joke-books, which she would then recite to the other children at her local daycare. Her passion to entertain others quickly garnered the attention of one of the daycare organizers, whose brother was a talent scout for Eternal Smile Productions, an entertainment company aimed primarily towards young girls ages 4-15. With the expressed permission of her parents, Akira was referred to an agent affiliated with ESP, who helped her through the auditioning process and landed her in a minor breakout role in a commercial for the company's in-house toy brand, Eternal Dolls & Accessories. Her first major break came in 2374, when, at the tender age of six, she scored a supporting role in the Holo-anime "Magical Guardian Lala," where she played the title character's energetic, virtuous younger sister, Lola. The anime was a major success for Eternal Smile, and, keen to capitalize on the momentum, Akira soon found herself in more and more center roles, such as "The Little Atelier," "An Idol's Star Burns Brightly," and "Dream Catchers," where she played the sweet, energetic, and pure-hearted Asuna Inoue. For a time, she was also a member of the in-house idol group Dream Melody, together with two of her closest friends working in Eternal Smile Productions, Saki Ogawa and Mai Endo. While her time in the entertainment industry was practically a dream come true for Akira, as she blossomed into puberty, she found that she wasn't growing as quickly as the other girls. Her childish looks, once part of her charm, quickly became a point of relentless teasing at her school. She put up with the jeering for a time, but things eventually came to a head in 2384, when, at the age of 16, her temper boiled over and she punched a bully in the face, breaking his nose. The incident was caught on camera, and once word of it reached Eternal Smile Productions, and her agent soon took her aside and informed her that they would not be renewing her contract by year's end. Akira was understandably crushed by the fact that Eternal Smile Productions had essentially sacked her, as up to that point she'd been a role model for the company; she got along well with everyone, and always put her best effort into whatever the company asked of her. After taking a few weeks to recuperate, Akira began looking for new lines of work. She briefly scored an acting gig at 740 Productions, but it was only a month before she was sacked from that company as well, allegedly for failing to mention the earlier incident in her audition. Crushed once again- even more so because she felt the incident was fully behind her- Akira started mentioning the incident whenever she attempted to apply for a prospective employer. Every time she did, however, she was met with the same response: They didn't want to employ someone who couldn't keep their temper in check. By 2386, Akira was still out of work, and her father warned that if she couldn't get a job by the time she was 19, she would have to begin paying rent. In a last-ditch act of desperation, Akira submitted an application to Starfleet Academy, for while it wasn't her preferred line of work, it was work nonetheless. She was surprised when a few weeks later, she received a notice that her application had been accepted. When Akira arrived at Starfleet Academy, she was assigned to share quarters with fellow freshman Patricia Martin Cooke, a cadet from the Chicago area whom Akira quickly took to calling "Patty." Though Patricia told Akira that she was also 18, in reality, Patricia was only 16, having lied about her age to the recruiter to get in. In the Academy, Akira was still carrying with her a lot of anger from her two years of unemployment and the entertainment industry's all but abandonment of her, and when curious fellow cadets questioned her to verify who she was, she had a bad habit of snapping at them in her frustration. Something Patricia became an unfortunate witness to on multiple occasions. Though Akira was seeing an on-campus counselor for her anger management issues, Patricia also decided to help out by sharing with Akira some of her methods of relieving stress, such as watching anime (which only served to remind Akira of the life she'd had) or listening to old time blues music like what her grandmother used to put on. For the former J-Pop star, blues music was an entirely new sound to Akira, and an interest quickly developed into a fascination. Soon, Patricia and Akira roped in several of their fellow musically-inclined cadets and formed a blues band called the Soul Sisters, and they began to play at local bars and restaurants in the San Francisco area. The Soul Sisters peaked when the band played at an Academy talent show, performing their rendition of Robert Johnson's "Sweet Home Chicago" (at that point fast becoming known as the band's signature song) to a packed Academy auditorium. The Soul Sisters were voted one of the best performances that night, and Patricia, Akira, and the other band members were awarded some well-earned luxury replicator rations. In Akira's sophomore year, news had started to emerge regarding an incident that had transpired in the Epsilon Star System a few months prior. According to court documents, Rear Admiral Mark Pollock, commanding officer of a small shipbuilding facility based out of Epsilon V, had been conducting unauthorized experiments with phase-cloaking technology. However, due to his lack of expertise in the field, several officers involved with the project became trapped in an uncontrollable phase cloaking field. Pollock, fearing the legal repercussions of his actions, was allegedly in the process of covering his tracks when the USS Missouri (NCC-72641), an Intrepid II-Class cruiser that had incurred heavy damages while attempting to chart the mysterious energy ribbon known as The Nexus, docked at Epsilon V for repairs. With the Missouri's appointed Commanding Officer, Commander Michael Chase, officially listed as "missing in action," Pollock officially deferred command of the Missouri to his executive officer, Lieutenant Commander Kagami Izumi, under the presumption that she and her crew were exhausted from their latest ordeal and would be too preoccupied with conducting repairs to look too closely into his illegal experiments. He hadn't accounted for the trapped officers to manifest themselves long enough for the crew of the Missouri to take notice and begin an investigation. Rear Admiral Pollock's web of lies quickly unraveled, and he was eventually placed under arrest under now-Commander Izumi's orders. Coverage surrounding Rear Admiral Pollock's ensuing trial was immense, as up to the point of his arrest, he was considered to be an outstanding officer. Even at his initial court hearings, Pollock contended that- despite being fully aware of the risks- he was of the belief that phase-cloaking technology could eventually be perfected to a point where it would be beneficial for the Federation at large. He was ultimately found guilty for his actions, and relieved of his Starfleet commission. For her part in the incident, Kagami Izumi became something of an overnight sensation; while she was evidently not accustomed to the presses hounding her 24/7 (and, on at least one occasion, frustratedly told a reporter where he could stick it), her unwavering dedication to her line of work, in spite of her young age, set something of a golden standard for many an aspiring young Cadet, Patricia included. When Akira eventually asked Patricia why she was so invested in both Commander Izumi- and, by extension, the Missouri- Patricia explained how much the Missouri name meant to her, as Patricia's grandmother, Francine (whom Akira had met at a Christmas party the year prior) had served aboard the previous, Excelsior-class Missouri (NCC-1810) during the Dominion War; furthermore, her ancestor had been a plank owner of the famous Iowa-class battleship (BB-63) from Earth's Second World War. Akira felt that Patricia's admiration for the Missouri and her crew bordered on obsession, but she could certainly respect the fact that she held her family lineage in high regard, and thus held her peace on the matter. In 2390, Akira graduated from Starfleet Academy at the rank of Ensign and was assigned to the USS LeSharo (NCC-34443), a Steamrunner-Class Light Cruiser. Her time aboard the LeSharo was relatively uneventful, as it was primarily confined to domestic patrols within Federation space. However, not one to deferred from pursuing her lifelong passions, she began entertaining at the ships' lounge during her off-hours, occasionally interjecting her performances with some humorous accounts from her time in both Dream Melody and the Soul Sisters. While she was a modest success with the crew, she knew that she was nowhere close to being as successful as she had been during her time in ESP; if anything, she was just becoming another part of the background. In 2392, while the LeSharo was in layover at Earth Spacedock for a resupply, Akira received news that Francine Cooke had unexpectedly passed away from a fluid buildup in her lungs. Knowing that Patty had been quite close with her Grandmother, Akira immediately requested a leave of absence, knowing that Patty was going to need all the emotional support she could get. Her request was miraculously granted, and Akira boarded the first available shuttle down to Earth. When Akira met up with a grief-stricken Patricia, the latter informed her of the funeral dates; with a wake and memorial service being held locally in the Chicagoland area (specifically a church in Elk Grove Village) with Francine being laid to rest the next day at the Jonathan Archer Federation Cemetery in Upstate New York. Patricia informed Akira that the burial was likely only to be attended by Patricia's family, and advised against her attending, but told Akira that she was welcome to attend the wake and memorial service. Since Akira had a couple days to kill before the wake, she decided to ask Patricia for a tour of Chicagoland. Patricia decided to indulge Akira, and took her to all the sights of the area, eating at all the best local food places along the way. And while Akira did see some of the old Patty come out during this time, it was still evident that grief was on the forefront of the now-junior Lieutenant's mind. At Francine's wake, Akira met Patricia's boss, a Bajoran man named Shishod Libir who was the Chief of Security aboard the USS Joliet (NCC-72325), the Nova class starship Patricia had been assigned to out of the Academy. Shishod had taken a leave of absence to show support for his department personnel, and after meeting him, Akira felt that Patricia was in good hands aboard the Joliet. After the memorial service, Akira joined the Cookes for the open invite to the Repast at the Rose Garden, which had been touted as Francine's favorite restaurant. |
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| Service Record | 2386-2390: Starfleet Academy (Cadet - Security) 2390-2392: USS LeSharo (Ensign- Security Officer) 239?-2399: USS Juan Valdez (Lieutenant- Assistant Chief Of Security) 2400-????: USS Missouri (Lieutenant- Chief Of Security) |