Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax™
Science Officer

Starfleet Career Summary

2369 -- As lieutenant, posted to DS9 as science officer

2372 -- Won promotion to lieutenant commander

2374 -- Combat promotion to commander, U.S.S. Defiant, during DS9 occupation

Psychological Profile: Report of Starfleet Counselor Telnorri, Bajoran Sector

The eighth eventual Trill host of the symbiont Dax is the discover of the Bajoran wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant, which catapulted the area into the galactic hotseat. The perspective of seven previous lifetimes has left her with an extremely broad view of life which surprisingly skews to the unpredictable and even mischievous rather than the staid and conservative, while symbiosis itself at times has proved to be problematic in her off-world career.

Jadzia has two parents and one sister, all still alive by 2372. Although she was not above breaking windows at night as a crack shot with rocks when younger, the quiet, shy and naive young woman had worked hard since childhood to qualify for the Trill hosting program and received academic degrees in exobiology, zoology, astrophysics and exo-archaeology at Starfleet Academy, although at the time of her DS9 posting at age 28 as a lieutenant she has never served on a starship.

In 2367 at age 26, Jadzia made history as the only rejected Trill initiate to return successfully and pass the program. She had spent three years in all as an initiate and hardly ever left its complex; she didn't receive basic flight experience certification of Level 3 until her last year of training.

Ironically, after acceptance she chose the Dax symbiont previously hosted by Curzon, her harsh field docent. He had rejected her in the first place after only two weeks of field training as unmotivated and unfocused -- an act which dogged Jadzia for years, despite her success; she had studied his infamous record and was already nauseated with the pressure, crying herself to sleep each night until she was dropped. It was only later, after she redoubled her efforts and passed the training with his approval, that she learned he had really rejected her only out of misplaced guilt due to his sexual attraction to the attractive young woman. The Joining was completed as Curzon neared the end of a slow, lingering death in mid-year.

Such a turbulent relationship with the previous host of the symbiont she now carries has haunted Jadzia, who has found herself in a love-hate relationship with his legacy that at times has bordered on sheer competiion. In addition, due to her off-world posting Dax has probably endured more conflict due to symbiosis than the typical Joined Trill.

Accused of Curzon's alleged murder of Klaestron IV's General Tandro by the general's zealous son, she had preferred a death sentence rather than expose Tandro's role as a rebel collaborator and Curzon's affair with his wife, both eventually revealed. In 2370 she supervised her own first initiate trainee, Arjin, only three years younger than she, and came to grips with some suppressed bitterness about Curzon's treatment of her. Curzon figured again weeks later when she swore to uphold a blood oath of his on an unauthorized quest with Klingons Kor, Kang and Koloth that could have cost her life, much less her Starfleet career.

Dax has also been forced to reintegrate memories from two unexpected hosts. One, in 2370, was the once-rejected host candidate Verad who hijacked the symbiont from Jadzia. The other came a year later, when a failing memory block revealed in series of nightmares the onetime murderer Joran Belar and the yet-unrevealed Symbiosis Commission cover-up of the error 85 years earlier.

After years of procrastination due to her uneasiness at confronting Curzon again, she underwent her first Trill zhian'tara Rite of Closure to meet all previous hosts; ironically, the uniquely melded Odo/Curzon reincarnation almost decided to stay in that form permanently. The eventual return of Curzon's memories to Jadzia allowed her the additional experience of a changeling's perspective.

Dax's personal as well as professional reunion with Curzon's old protege Ben Sisko at DS9 is unique in some ways in light of the Trill taboo against reassociation. Even more so, in 2372 she had considered remating with former host Torias' widow's symbiont Kahn in its current host, Lenara -until Lenara succumbed to the social pressure and broke it off. Earlier, her only romantic encounter since ca. 2270 had been a bittersweet encounter with a resident of planet Meridian, a dimension-shifting world destined to appear in solid form in this universe once every 60 years.

Despite this rarity of outward sexual intimacy, Dax's long life as both genders has if anything broadened her perspective on romance, sex, and multiculturalism, not diminished it. She generally enjoys the attention shown her by men overall and is tolerantly amused by the crushes of Bashir and Quark, actually enjoying the Ferengi oddities that turn Kira off. She's been studying up on the Rules of Acquisition and had always wanted to see a Ferengi in Starfleet but like Sisko was skeptical of Nog's Academy application. Dax even thinks Morn was cute, but once turned down his dinner invitation; she later accepted one from the clear-skulled Gallamite Capt. Boday. Still, her longevity has fostered a cavalier attitude about others' privacy and secrets: she is somewhat jealous that Sisko willnot share his personal side as much as he did with Curzon.

Actually, her relationship with Bashir has matured from his puppy love to a deep friendship. She submitted Bashir's Carrington nomination through an old friend of Curzon's and throws him a surprise birthday party each year; he, in turn, has risked his life and career on more than one occasion to save hers, usually due to a quirk of her symbiotic state. Thanks to Lwaxana Troi's Zanthi fever - which only acts in case of latent relationships already perceived - Bareil pursued her and she Sisko during the 2381 Gratitude Festival.

Dax remains in superior physical condition, enjoying Galeo-Manada style wrestling as well as the more well-known Klingon marital arts, which she began studying after her Joining thanks to Curzon's extensive contact with the culture. A nea- match in combat expertise for Worf, she became his unexpected confidant when the Klingon signed aboard the station in early 2372, searching with he and Kor for the Sword of Kahless and intercepting his brother Kurn's Mauk-to'Vor ritual suicide.

Personally, Dax is a self-professed a "night owl" and hates to be "appropriate" - thus explaining her interest in forgotten composers like the Romulan Frenchotte, Yridian symphonies and Klingon opera as well as interstellar gourmet and Klingon food. She is better at poker and Tongo than Curzon ever was, but she and Sisko are an even match at traditional 2-D chess. She also inherited a love of steamed azna from prior hosts, along with the Altonian brain teaser puzzle some 140 years before her Joining - when either Emony or Audrid were Dax's host. A Black Hole is one favorite drink, although on duty she usually prefers an iced raktajino with extra cream. Her quarters are heavily decorated with small sculptures, knick-knacks, and scientific antique tools; circa SD 48212 she briefly coifed her hair in a more matronly style before returning to her former look.

Performance Review: Report of Starfleet Science Division

In her Starfleet career she was decorated on her first mission, aided Kira and Sisko in the put-down of Jaro's would-be Bajoran coup, but was at odds with the late Capt. Keogh over "mutual arrogance" in a well-known and unresolved spat. Despite their dissimilar services, she is second in command to Major Kira on DS9 and has had command in Ops on the night shift, while on the U.S.S. Defiant she usually crews the helm and has served admirably in its combat and exploratory missions, per Captain Sisko's reports.

Actions by Dax also figured prominently in restoring the damaged time-line regarding Earth history's Bell Riots, caused by the accidental temporal displacement of the Defiant. In securing a public access for the aggrieved residents at the heart of the riots, she had explained that her name was Dutch while her Trill markings were tattoos applied in Japan.

Psycho-Medical File Update:
SD 50500, CMO J. Bashir reporting

I have assumed responsibility for this task for the first time since my posting at this station.

The past year has been one of relatively quiet jeopardy for Jadzia Dax, which may explain why she now seeks her bumps and bruises as Lt. Cmdr. Worf's Par'machkai. I have watched as their mutual affection grew into full-blown romance, thanks to Worf's one-time attraction to Grilka, and consider it a new twist and a challenge on all the more mundane romances Dax has seen in its prior six lifetimes as Telnorri has noted above. While her abandon seems to run counter to his renowned Klingon conservatism, the formula seems to be a perfect yin-yang match of opposites, with Worf showing only occasional bouts of jealousy over past lovers, such as Risa's facilitator Arnadis (with Curzon) and Capt. Boday, the Gallamite. One wonders, though, how long her Trill superstructure can withstand the ongoing punishment of Klingon passion.

Officially, so far the relationship has not affected their job review -- aside from a small amount of duty time missed for recuperation. Dax returned safely from both the mission to retrieve the downed Jem'Hadar ship and her experiences in the past aboard Kirk's 23rd century Enterprise.

Although Jadzia speaks rarely of her family and homeworld, I understand she regularly writes to her mother back on Trill; she still is a night owl and often runs anomaly scans in Ops at night to relax. With her longevity, saving and acquiring do not register with her, so it is not surprising she has no more than two bars of gold-pressed latinum when three-time Tongo champion Capt. Ramirez beats her in a no-limit game at Starbase 63.

FINAL ENTRY
Capt. Benjamin Sisko

I am always steeled to the possibility that at any time I will be compelled to make a final entry into the personnel files of those under my command, especially in the midst of war. Somehow, with her having survived seven lifetimes, I just thought it would not be for Jadzia Dax -- at least not so soon.

In hindsight, I knew the eighth Dax host for only a fraction of the time I knew Curzon Dax, her predecessor. But this is different -- perhaps because that was a mentoring relationship for me and this was one of near-equals, even my subordinate when it comes to rank.

She was so happy with her marriage to Worf. She was so happy at the prospect of having children. I know he grieves, as do I in an odd way, that she did not meet her fate in "glorious battle." Somehow,ending this life in the Promenade's Bajoran shrine as the victim of a pah-wraith -- a cast-out Bajoran Prophet -- inhabiting a humanoid form (Dukat, of all things) is so .... unfair. Unsatisfying. Useless. And not to mention troubling, especially for one supposed to be cast in the role as Bajor's Emissary from its Prophets. Very troubling, in fact -- it is part of a situation that has my soul in a death grip I fear I may not shed for some time.

Commendations -- personal if not official -- to my CMO Julian Bashir for saving the Dax symbiont, who is already en route to Trill on life support. Whomever its new host will be is a matter for the Symbiosis Commission, but I find myself wondering if I shall ever see Dax again. It is not a thought I ever pondered after Curzon's passing, but after working alongside two of these Daxes -- one Joined for nearly a century, one all too brief -- I am struck by the fact that the symbiotic Trill are supposed to outlive their more pedestrian humanoid companions -- and not the other way around. I do not know if I could bear to go through this again.