Shiya Imani nee Kestrel is the only surviving daughter of the Ninth House and Guardian of the Crystal Key. Her parents, Kes and Illyana Imani were survivors of medical experimentation by Crell Moset during the Dominion War. Their experiences at Moset's hands left them with profound opinions about the role and nature of medicine, which they, in turn, passed on to their daughter, albiet somewhat unintentionally. Shiya was something of an early bloomer telepathically, though not telepathic from birth. She began developing her telepathy around age eight, and often picked up on her parents nightmares. During an outbreak of Zanthi fever when she was ten, Shiya basically relived their experiences during the Dominion War, including their roles in the Battle of Betazed after they were freed from Moset's camp.

She does not talk about this part of her childhood to anyone, but it has helped her to understand why she's something of an outcast among Betazoid society. She realizes that other Betazoids fear what Moset might have created in her parents, and fear what sort of abomination Shiya herself might actually be. There is some mythology surrounding the Crystal Key, suggesting that it was some sort of focus for an ancient telepathic weapon, which probably fuels some of the unease surrounding Shiya, particularly given that her parents were both subject to telepathic experimentation and they both helped in freeing Betazed through the use of invasive telepathy.

For her own part, Shiya downplays any differences between herself and other Betazoids. To the contrary, she does her very best to present herself as ordinary. She also distances herself from other Betazoids, to help maintain that illusion.

Shiya's explanation of her family's standing in the complex Betazoid hereditary nobility, "Well, I suppose it's better than being holder of the remains of a shattered old pot and heir to a holy vaporized relic, but it's still hardly worth mentioning outside of Betazoid company, particularly since no one was interested in giving up their son for genetic bonding after they saw my eyes."

Paul Kestrel's first assignment was as a runabout pilot with the 24th Utility Squadron, operating out of Starbase Betazed. It was an easy, low-key assignment in a support role for Starfleet, usually attached to Betazed's planetary defenses or performing cargo-runs and basic law-enforcement activities. It was during this first assignment that Paul distinguished himself, when the out of the way posting suddenly took center stage. There had been a sudden and violent transition of states in a nearby nebula, turning the once trodden and docile area of space into a violent, turbulent region. The Defiant Class starship Comanche, which had been conducting normal policing and patrolling exercises in the area, had been caught unaware dead center in the anomaly. With full sized starships being too large to risk, and Paul's runabout coincidentally already launched, then Ensign Kestrel took his runabout Manifest Destiny into the anomaly. In an amazing display of navigation (and luck), the Danube class Runabout was able to make it's way to the stricken starship. Paul managed to transport over to the bridge, and in a full EVA suit restored manual flight-control systems and piloted both the Commanche and his runabout (through remote access) out of the turbulence. Of the crew of 50, 36 had survived, and the success had earned him the prestigious Distinguished Flying Cross medal.

It was during this incident that Shiya Imani met an enigmatic man. He dragged her along to one of the safe pockets of the Commanche and told her that this was her lucky day because not only was she going to live, she was going to meet her future husband and that amongst other things, he was going to be the captain of the USS Prospero. Shiya is uncertain whether this incident was real or the product of oxygen deprivation, but either way, somehow she made it to safety. It was on this day that she first met Paul Kestrel, though Paul has no specific memory of meeting her that day.

It was also on this day that she decided to apply to Starfleet Academy, despite her general distrust of Starfleet. She did not make it in at that time, so applied to the Vulcan Science Academy instead. She was well accepted among the diverse population of the VSA and both her love of Astrophysics and her gift for it pushed her into the top 10 percent of her classmates. She easily found sponsorship for Masters and PhD studies and earned a great deal of respect for both her work ethic and her enthusiasm. Her innovative way of looking at things, particularly in the areas of the interplay between astrophysics and temporal physics, was almost seen as a secondary attribute.

It seemed this was the life meant for her, and Shiya gave up on Starfleet Academy until they came looking for her in 2408. There was a shortage of scientists and other specialists at that time. Starfleet "requested" she join their Advanced Officer Training Program. She could hardly say no.

At the same time, Paul had the rare opportunity to attend Starfleet's Command School in San Francisco. It was a stepping stone to eventually receiving an individual command, and one he wasn't about to pass up. For once he did exceptionally well, proving himself an 'original' thinker when it came to solving the wide variety of problems likely to be encountered by a Starfleet Captain. It was at the year spent at the Command School that he met, and fell in love with his wife Shiya Imani. The two had a whirl-wind romance, one that continued onto their next posting aboard the Challenger.

The Galaxy Class starship Challenger was dispatched to the Beta Quadrant. Starfleet's growing demands in the new realities of the Alpha Quadrant coupled with increasing difficulty in meeting deployment goals had left the Beta Quadrant territories of the Federation undermanned and poorly defended. Piracy, raids, and criminal behavior were on the rise, so the Challenger's arrival was fortuitous. She, and her accompanying task force of starships, 20 vessels in total, managed to solidify Federation control over the border areas and provide significant material and technical assistance to member worlds at a time where it was probably most needed. The assignment was also the beginning of a new life, through marriage. (And yes, it was a traditional Betazoid ceremony since you're undoubtedly wondering.)

Although the Challenger had been home for almost 3 years, all good things eventually come to an end. In 2411 she returned to the Antares shipyards for a critically needed refitting, and most of her crew (senior staff included) were dispersed to other ships in the fleet. Paul and Shiya found their way to the Prospero, which had convenient openings for both.

Their original posting to the Prospero quickly turned into the disaster that Shiya feared. Within months of transferring to the ship, it was captured by terrorists who beamed the crew to what basically amounted to death camps on a nearby hostile planet. Shiya, who had been swimming with the dolphin navigators at the time, fell from a height of six feet, breaking several bones when she landed. The worst of the breaks was a compound fracture of ulna on her left arm. With no medical care available, infection set in quickly. By the time Paul was able to make good the escape of their camp by stealing one of their guards transports and and trying to make their way to something less remote to get more help, Shiya was clinically dead.

Only the timely arrival of the USS Legacy on the scene saved her life. She was revived several times aboard the Legacy and then transferred to Starfleet Medical facilities in San Francisco for further care. Shiya remained on medical leave while she slowly recovered and Paul transferred to teaching duties at the academy to remain close to his wife.

Her recovery was everything she feared of invasive medicine and more. The chemotherapy required to take care of the systemic infection ravaging her body made her hair fall out. Several of her breaks healed badly and they had to be broken again and reset before the bone knitters could do there work. The amount of scar tissue in her body was such that the knitting was slow going. To top it off, she turned out to be one of the people sensitive to the electronic stimulation used to reknit the bone, so the sessions were excruciating and there was little Starfleet Medical could do to relieve the pain while the knitters were working. While they were at it, Starfleet Medical saw fit to rebuild Shiya's joints, which were damaged by juvenile onset arthritis, which only lengthened the time of her recovery.

Shiya was returned to active duty a little under a year ago, but she came out of her ordeal a changed woman. While the physical signs of her trauma are gone, the mental signs remain. Her long verbal silences are now accompanied by mental ones as well. When Starfleet approached Paul about accepting command of the newly refitted USS Prospero, Shiya pushed Paul to take the posting despite his reservations.

What is yet to come remains to be seen. . .

Shiya suffers from a rare, Betazoid genetic defect which causes her eyes to lack the characteristic black pigmentation noted in Betazoids. It causes her to be light sensitive, but has no noteworthy affects on her vision and is considered medically benign.

Shiya suffered from juvenile arthritis, which her parents refused to treat due to their own fears about invasive medical procedures. It's effects have been recently corrected.

Shiya has a pronounced dislike of invasive medical techniques. While she does not avoid sickbay or medical, she sets firm limits about what she will and will not allow to be done to her body.