View source for El'Shar Blackhorse

{{Character
|Department=Civilian
|Last name=Blackhorse
|First name=El'Shar
|Image=[[File:Blackhorse.jpg|200px]]
|Homeworld=Earth
|Species=Human/Vulcan
|Gender=Female
|Birth=2325
|Age=62
|Height=6' 0"
|Weight=142 lbs.
|Hair=Black, long and thick, usually in a long braid
|Eyes=Emerald Green
|Affiliation=Starfleet
|Posting=Starfleet HQ, Earth
|Rank=[[File:R-o6.png]], retired
|Played By=[[User:Blackbriar|Blackbriar]]
}}


==Family==
*'''Father:''' Jay Blackhorse -- Deceased
*'''Mother:''' El'Renn of Vulcan
*'''Brother:''' Jarrod Blackhorse -- Full brother, currently the Chief of the family's Mohawk tribe in Quebec, Canada, Earth. Also a civilian police detective.
*'''Sister:'''Lorraine Roberts (nee Blackhorse) -- Full sister, currently a civilian contractor (land surveyor) for the Federation.
*'''Other Family:''' Vulcan Grandfather - Solev<br>
Vulcan Grandmother - T'Lenx<br>
Uncle - John Ridge, aka "Mankiller". Lives in Quebec and is an elder in the tribe. Keeps in contact with El'Shar regularly.


==General Description & Personality Overview==
Tall and athletic. She has tribal tattoos from her Mohawk tribe and tattoos of Vulcan symbols, all of which are covered by her uniform.
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Very serious about her work in the Temporal Division and extremely thorough. She acts more human than Vulcan in that she'll joke, smile, laugh, tell jokes and display emotion. She's very attuned to her Mohawk tribe's ways and beliefs but she also keeps her Vulcan ancestry close as well. She is very close to her mother who understands that she is not full Vulcan and does not discourage her human ways.


==Strengths & Weaknesses==
'''Strengths''' - Her beliefs, which include her Mohawk and Vulcan ways as well as her belief in [[Starfleet]] and the [[Federation]]. Despite taking her job seriously she likes to inject humor into it. It usually takes most by surprise who only think she is Vulcan but it also make it easier to communicate with someone who will be more at ease after that point. It seems a funny Vulcan is unique enough to break the ice.
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'''Weaknesses''' - As a child from two very diverse backgrounds it can be hard, at times, knowing from which side to respond with to varying situations. Despite growing up in a very open and social family, she still has moments of wanting to clam up like her mother's full Vulcan side which can put her at odds with the situation she's in.


==Ambitions==
She wants to retire soon from Starfleet and find a good man to raise a family with. She's been serving for almost 45 years and would like to be a civilian again, being able to go where she wants, when she wants.


==Hobbies & Interests==
She enjoys working with her hands. Pottery, wood carving, leather work, crochet and needle-point are all things you'll find that she's had her hand in and has excelled at. She also makes musical instruments by hand, usually flutes, recorders or drums but she's made dulcimers, a guitar or two, whistles and kazoos. Her handmade tobacco pipes are received as precious gifts from members of her tribe. She also carves totems, big and small, along with figurines and has even made some jewelry.
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She enjoys singing and music. She'll normally be humming, whistling or singing softly while working at her desk or on assignments. Most say that she's very good and don't mind it. At one point she and a few other crew from a previous assignment sang together for the ship's amusement.
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Other hobbies are reading, especially historical books from Earth and Vulcan (she's always striving to learn more about her ancestry), hiking, horseback riding, swimming (especially in places with waterfalls) and keeping in practice with her tribe's songs, dances and beliefs.


==Personal History==
El'Shar was born in 2325 to Jay Blackhorse, a Mohawk tribal Chieftan and civilian diplomat, and El'Renn, a former [[Vulcan]] diplomat, in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada on Earth. Jay and El'Renn had met on numerous occasions during diplomatic functions at Federation HQ. El'Renn had always been the perfect Vulcan at home and around her peers, but she found it acceptable to loosen up around Jay. He seemed to bring something out in her that she found non-threatening and seemed to make her life easier. 
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After having known each other for six years Jay travelled to Vulcan and asked for El'Renn's hand in marriage from her father. After spending several days with Jay, finding out more and more about him, her father finally agreed that it was a good match and allowed the two to marry. The two were married on Earth in a mixed Vulcan and Mohawk ceremony, combining the best of both traditions. El'Renn's parents found the ceremony agreeable in that they paid homage to their daughter's Vulcan heritage with honor as well as to Jay's heritage. One year later, El'Shar was born.
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Since her mother enjoyed a loosening of the strict ways of her own upbringing, El'Shar to explore her emotions as long as they did not run wild. She had a father and mother who loved her very much and, despite her mother's strict upbringing when it came to emotions, she was shown expressions of love every day from both parents and from her human relatives. Upon meeting her Vulcan grandparents for the first time, and despite warnings from her mother and father not to be too emotional around them, the very first thing that El'Shar did was to hug both her grandfather and grandmother. She spoke in perfect Vulcan of how close she felt to both her sa'mekh'al and ko'mekh-il, grandfather and grandmother and her immense interest in her Vulcan ancestry pleased them both, although they would never tell anyone that. El'Shar enjoys telling a story of how her mother always warned her of how stoic and strict her parents were, but that around the age of twelve, El'Shar had them both smirking when she came around--as close to a smile as any Vulcan she'd ever heard of, and that her sa'mekh'al (grandfather) had told her that he truly loved his daughter's daughter.
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With such a secure family unit, El'Shar worked hard to come to know both sides of her family and their history. She also excelled in her schooling on Earth but after graduating from a civilian university with a dual bachelor's degree in quantum mechanics and history, and a master's degree in psychology, she refused to go to the Vulcan Science Academy and opted to go to Starfleet Academy in 2347. Despite the emotion, if one could call it that, that her Vulcan grandparents had for her they were a bit let down that their granddaughter, who was so inquisitive about her Vulcan heritage, would not pursue knowledge from one of the best sources of said heritage. She still made sure to visit them as often as she could and did manage to impress them with her knowledge.
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In 2351, upon graduation from the Academy with the rank of [[Lieutenant (j.g.)]], El'Shar was posted to Starbase 12 as a science officer. Her skills in astrometrics and theoretical studies in temporal activities got her noticed by Starfleet's Temporal Affairs unit. It wasn't very big, and was mostly kept a secret due to the type of work they did, but she was honored to be selected out a group of four thousand for the single position. In 2353 she was promoted to [[Lieutenant]] and moved to [[Starfleet Headquarters]] back on Earth. She enjoyed this posting because it gave her quite a bit of time back with her parents and her new siblings, Lorraine and Jarrod, who were 5 and 2 years old, respectively. She made sure to tell them of all of her exploits and made sure to fill them in on how to break through the solid wall of non-emotion with their Vulcan grandparents. 
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The Temporal Affairs unit didn't have its own ship for permanent assignment so it's officers were based at HQ on Earth, or temporarily assigned to stations or ships as needed for investigations. While she did find herself deployed to other areas for a time, she always returned to Earth so that she could see her family. She was happy to see her brother and sister grow up and was more than willing to instruct them in the Mohawk or Vulcan ways. She was also very pleased to see how smart they had both become. After sharing with them her experiences in Starfleet, telling them of where all she'd traveled and the exciting things she'd seen, she was a bit disheartened when neither of them showed any inclination to follow in her footsteps.
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In 2361, just after having been promoted to [[Lieutenant Commander]], El'Shar received word from her uncle, John "Mankiller" Ridge, that her father had fallen ill and died suddenly. He implored her to return as quickly as possible from her most recent deployment due to the fact that her mother was not handling it well. She hadn't lost her composure but he could tell that emotions were bubbling under the surface that she had not yet had to contend with and El'Shar might be the best person to help. It took four days to return to Quebec, but once she arrived she found her mother at their home carrying on as if nothing had happened. She let it go for the time being, knowing that her mother had taken refuge behind that old wall that she used to keep up before she met Jay.
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One day later, the entire tribe arrived for a ceremony for Jay Blackhorse, the Chief of their tribe. El'Shar, Lorraine and Jarrod all dressed in ancient, traditional attire of deerskin, multiple ear piercings adorned by shell earrings, shell necklaces and puckered seam ankle wrap moccasins. El'Renn dressed in traditional Vulcan attire. For almost ten hours the chants and songs of her people were heard, ensuring the safe passage of their fallen chief and prayers for the already dead. Once completed, his body was placed on a funeral pyre.
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El'Shar sent Jarrod and Lorraine away while she spoke to their mother, asking them contact their grandparents and have them come to Earth as soon as they could. She had a feeling that the conversation with her mother was not going to go well, and she soon found out that she was right. When she asked why her mother had sought refuge in her old ways and had not shown the proper emotional response that she should have for her husband, her mother exploded in rage and despair. She screamed, wailed and threw things. At first, El'Shar didn't know how to react but after listening to her mother's outburst she determined the cause of her volatile reaction--she was confused and didn't know how to react. El'Shar held her mother and, using touch telepathy, helped calm her and shared with her mother her own emotions to her father's death. For several days she and her mother were in a state of meditation until Jarrod arrived with his grandparents. They were shocked to see that El'Renn was sobbing upon their arrival.
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Doing her best to tell her mother that the sorrow and deep sadness she felt was natural, and that she felt it as well, El'Shar consoled her mother as she left with her parents back to Vulcan. When she last saw her, she implored with her that she not lose that bit of Humanity that she learned from Jay and that the few emotions she'd shown to her, Jarrod, Lorraine and especially Jay should not be lost because of this. El'Shar also vowed to her grandparents that if they took all of that away from her mother that she would whisk her away and do everything within her power to return it. 
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In the days that followed she returned to work but kept going back and forth from her parents' home and her own helping her brother and sister clean up after their mother's day of destruction. The three became much closer due to this event and both Jarrod and Lorraine promised to keep tabs on their mother since El'Shar was much busier than they. 
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In 2371 she was promoted to [[Commander]] and had the joy of being the maid of honor in Lorraine's wedding in France. This made her question why she had not found a mate and seriously began questioning her position in Starfleet and if there had been something wrong with her that drove potential mates away. She spoke at length with her sister and even sought advice from her mother, who had come to terms with Jay's death, and her grandmother. They all advised her that it meant nothing and that she would eventually find the right person to be with and that she should not be in a hurry. Lorraine advised her to finish her career in Starfleet as a Captain and then retire to go on a grand adventure to anywhere she wanted. As far back as she could remember, Lorraine had always seen El'Shar at their family home even when she was in Starfleet. She saw her big sister spend every free bit of time with the family and never knew of her spending time for herself. El'Renn warned her not to fall for the first man to come along and to find the one that is to be her soul mate, like she had found with her late husband. "It seems, my daughter," El'Renn said, "that love has the strangest way of introducing you to the one that you are meant to be with. But when you meet them there will be no denying it, just as it was with your father and I."
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She continued her career, keeping her eyes, and her heart, open to potential love. She dated here and there, testing the waters, but found that going through random men, and the occasional woman, trying to find someone that she connected with didn't appeal to her. She had enjoyed lovemaking but felt that it should be reserved only for the one that you truly love. 
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As her promotion to [[Captain]] came ever closer, she began preparing for her big adventure as suggested by her sister. She wasn't sure what she would do...live on Vulcan for a while to study it's history? Go planet hopping to see the sites? Treasure hunting in the far reaches of the galaxy? Whatever it was, she thought, it would come to her when the time was right. In mid-2387 she was promoted to Captain. Two months after her promotion she told her CO that she wanted to resign from Starfleet, that her goals had been met. Her CO made a counter offer: take one final case in the Delta Quadrant, then retire. El'Shar refused. She had no desire to go the Delta Quadrant or do anything else but retire and follow the winds of change. She was given 48 hours to reconsider before her CO would authorize her resignation letter. During that time she read the case file about a starbase CO and XO, along with a criminal, who had fallen through some sort of 'hole' in space possibly caused by a faulty, and ancient, disruptor. Since it didn't sound like a real temporal incident, and the trio would likely be presumed dead, this would be a slam dunk, open and shut case. 30 hours later, she returned to her CO's office and took the case, booking a flight on the fastest transport to [[Starbase 900]].

El'Shar helped investigate the disappearances and determined that this was not a true TA matter.  Once SB900 staff had managed to open another portal to the alternate universe to rescue the CO, XO and other personnel, she made a full report to Temporal Affairs regarding the incident, to include all of the scientific data and the means by which the USS Hammond was sent through an artificially generated portal to rescue the crew and return to their universe.  

Like many of the 900 crew, El had an encounter with someone she knew could not possibly be present on the base.  While [[Vice Admiral]] [[Ricky Wegener]] was still in the alternate universe, he somehow showed up in her quarters acting as if they had been in some sort of long-term relationship--his walking around nude in her quarters a testament to that.  After questioning him, speaking to him and feeling him touch her (not sexually...), it was determined that he, like the other "sightings", was potentially caused by the tear between the universes and wasn't actually there.  Upon Wegener's return to his own universe, her first meeting with him was a bit awkward.  Her first meeting with him notwithstanding, she and Wegener almost immediately fell for each other and began dating seriously.  They both described their feelings toward each other as something that just felt right, like it always should have been so.


==Service Record==
2347 - Starfleet Academy<br>

2351 - Lieutenant (j.g.), Starbase 12, Science Officer<br>

2353 - Lieutenant, Starfleet HQ, Temporal Affairs Officer<br>

2360 - Lieutenant Commander<br>

2371 - Commander<br>

2387 - Captain<br>

2387 - Captain (ret.), Separation from service.


[[Category:Character]]