Saru's History
Captain Saru was a male Kelpien Starfleet officer from Kaminar who lived during the mid-23rd century. The first Kelpien to have voluntarily left his homeworld, and the first of his species to enter Starfleet service, Saru served aboard at least two Federation starships, the USS Shenzhou and the USS Discovery, and served through much of the Federation-Klingon War of 2256-57. On more than one occasion, he took command of the Discovery in place of the captain, Gabriel Lorca. Saru eventually took command permanently, albeit as acting captain, after Lorca surreptitiously took the Discovery into the mirror universe, where it was discovered that Lorca was in fact his mirror counterpart.
In his youth, Saru lived an agrarian life on his home planet Kaminar, with his sister, Siranna, and father, Aradar. Saru and his family were scared of the Ba'ul's watchful eye, as it took Kelpiens as they experienced the vahar'ai. Though discouraged by his father, Saru contemplated his people's place in the universe and questioned the ritual sacrifice of his people to the Ba'ul. On one occasion, Aradar instructed Saru to dispose of debris fallen from the Ba'ul ship. Saru instead built an interstellar communications device, identified by Lieutenant Philippa Georgiou as the first of his species to show the technical capability of doing so.
After corresponding with Saru, Georgiou was given special permission by Starfleet to retrieve Saru. As his people were a pre-warp civilization, Saru accepted the caveat that he could never return (and potentially contaminate his culture), and departed with Georgiou for the USS Archimedes. He took with him a handful of seeds and a knife that had belonged to his sister. After being granted refugee status by the Federation, Saru was processed at Starbase 7, where he saw for the first time a diversity of lifeforms. Listening to their stories and aspirations, Saru resolved to join Starfleet to help those in need, as he had been helped.
In 2249, Saru had obtained the rank of lieutenant and was serving in the sciences division aboard the USS Shenzhou under Captain Philippa Georgiou as a bridge officer. He was present when Michael Burnham arrived on the starship. By 2256, he had been promoted to lieutenant commander and worked as the ship's chief science officer. That year, Saru participated in the Battle of the Binary Stars, and later evacuated the Shenzhou with the remaining crew after the death of Captain Georgiou.
About six months later, Saru had been promoted to commander, transferred to the command division, and made first officer of the USS Discovery under Gabriel Lorca. When the prison transport shuttle carrying the disgraced former Starfleet officer Michael Burnham was brought aboard the USS Discovery for repairs, Saru escorted the former officer to engineering so that she would work as a "data cruncher" under Lieutenant Paul Stamets.
According to Saru, Kelpiens lived in a state of constant fear from the moment of birth. Saru may have been the first of his species to have this alleviated, as after encountering the native energy lifeforms of Pahvo, he briefly experienced relief from this state while on the planet. He became so desperate to continue experiencing this lack of fear that he proceeded to first deceive, and then attack his fellow officers in an attempt to keep the planet out of the Federation-Klingon war. These actions eventually led to the Pahvans withdrawing their influence on him, as they came to believe it was generating disharmony among their Starfleet guests.
Following the victory over General Kol and the Sarcophagus's destruction, Saru confirmed that the spore drive had dropped Discovery into unknown space. After learning that they were in a parallel universe, Saru then helped Cadet Tilly to pose as her counterpart after Lorca decided to have Discovery pose as the ISS Discovery. After Lorca and Burnham boarded the ISS Shenzhou, Saru was left in command of the Discovery.
Saru, along with Tilly, then found Dr. Culber dead and in the arms of Lieutenant Stamets. With Tilly, Saru agreed to use the mycelium spores to treat and heal him. Saru then had Tyler (who had been revealed to be Klingon sleeper agent Voq) beamed back aboard the Discovery with information on the USS Defiant's arrival to the mirror universe. Saru was able to decrypt the information on the Defiant, but much of the information was redacted. When Dr. Pollard and her medical team were unable to help Tyler/Voq, Saru then allowed L'Rell in helping Tyler/Voq in easing his pain. Saru was then contacted by Burnham to come to the ISS Charon.
En route to the Charon, Lt. Stamets came to and told Saru of his counterpart's damage to the mycelial network and the eventual destruction of the entire multiverse. Saru was then contacted by Burnham, who told them that Lorca was really a Terran posing as his counterpart. After this revelation, Saru decided to take command and destroy the Charon before it destroys the entire multiverse. Following Discovery's arrival at the Charon's coordinates, Saru then spoke with Lorca, who offered to spare him and Discovery's crew in exchange for Burnham. At first, Saru agreed. However, when Burnham and Georgiou attacked Lorca, Saru ordered Discovery to open fire.
Discovery was successful in disabling the Charon's shields. Saru then ordered Burnham beamed aboard prior to destroying the Charon. Following the Charon's destruction, Saru and the crew then used the destruction's shock wave to return to their universe.
Unfortunately, Saru, Stamets, and the crew then discovered that they overshot their return by nine months, by which time the war was going badly. Saru also discovered that Burnham had saved Emperor Georgiou and lied about the mirror universe Kelpiens. Discovery was then boarded by Admirals Shukar, Gorch, and Cornwell, and Ambassador Sarek. At first Saru demanded to know the reason as to why they boarded. Saru then had mind-meld with the Ambassador who learned about Discovery's trip to a parallel universe, Lorca's true colors and apparent demise. Saru was debriefed on the specifics of the disastrous turn the war had taken since Discovery was seemingly destroyed, and subsequently relinquished command to Cornwell for Discovery's trip to Starbase 1. However, he sensed danger on approach, and Starbase 1 immediately turned out to be occupied by the House of D'Ghor. With several Birds-of-Prey converging on Discovery and Cornwell too shocked by this turn of events to give orders, Saru was forced to order a retreat.
Saru became first officer under Emperor Georgiou, posing as her prime counterpart, during a mission that was supposed to map Qo'noS' volcanic system for a future military strike. However, the mission turned out to be the military strike; rather than a mapping drone, Georgiou had brought a hydro bomb, which she intended to detonate in a volcanic vent, producing catastrophic results. After Burnham alerted him to the true mission, Saru contacted Cornwell and threatened to mutiny with Burnham if Starfleet Command did not back down. Burnham was authorized to prevent Georgiou from detonating the bomb, and handed the detonator to L'Rell, who took leadership of the Klingon High Council and rapidly enacted a cease fire. Saru was awarded the Starfleet Medal of Honor for his actions, the first received by a Kelpien. Soon after, Saru led the ship on a voyage to Vulcan to pick up the Discovery's new commanding officer, but was sidetracked along the way to respond to a distress call from the USS Enterprise.
Saru met with the Enterprise's CO, Captain Christopher Pike, along with Commander Nhan and Lieutenant Evan Connolly. He was told that Pike would be taking command of Discovery under Starfleet Regulation 19, Section C in order to investigate seven red bursts that had appeared. Saru believed the red bursts could be either temporal anomalies or black holes. As the Discovery investigated the first red burst, they found the USS Hiawatha on a interstellar asteroid. Saru kept Discovery's shields down to ensure that the landing party and the Hiawatha's crew were able to beam back. After Burnham was beamed back, Saru had piece of the asteroid brought into Discovery's shuttle bay and Discovery left the system. Saru and Captain Pike agreed to a "joint custody" of Discovery for duration of the investigation.
Saru convinced Pike to use the spore drive to reach the second burst, knowing Starfleet would allow it. Saru was left in command of Discovery as Pike and his landing party investigated a distress signal from a white church at the New Eden colony on Terralysium. During this time, Saru warned Ensign Tilly that her reckless behavior could endanger her position in the Command Training program.
As Discovery tracked down Lt. Spock's shuttle, Saru began to feel early effects of Vahar'ai. Saru believed he would need to be killed due to the madness brought on by Vahar'ai. However, after the Sphere died, Saru and Burnham discovered that his threat ganglia had fallen off on its own and that he was not dying. He realized that the Ba'ul had been lying to his people for centures.
When a third red burst was found at Kaminar, Saru was eager to tell his people the truth about Vahar'ai, despite Captain Pike's concerns. Saru and Burnham went to the surface to speak with his village priest. Upon his return, Saru found out that his father had died and his sister Siranna had becom their village priest. However, Siranna was upset that he had lived and that he was only interested in finding the Red Angel. When Saru returned to Discovery, the Ba'ul contacted the ship and demanded that Saru be returned in order to maintain the Great Balance. Saru, angered by the Ba'ul's actions, refused to be returned until the Ba'ul threatened his village. Saru, over Burnham and Pike's objections beamed himself down to Kaminar.
Saru was then taken to the Ba'ul's stronghold along with his sister. There, Saru tried to convince the Ba'ul let his sister go to no avail. As the Ba'ul attempted to study and dissect him and his sister, Saru was able to free himself and his sister. This convinced his sister that he had truly survived vahar'ai. Saru was able to contact Discovery, who told him that the Kelpiens were once the Ba'ul's predators. After hearing this, Saru and sister decided to initiate Vahar'ai in all the Kelpiens. Using the Ba'ul's own technology as he did when he contacted Captain Georgiou, Sa'ru and Discovery were able to initiate Vahar'ai in the Kelpiens. However, the Ba'ul attempted to activate their pylon in Kelpien villages in order to stop the Kelpiens from experiencing Vahar'ai. However, the pylons and the Ba'ul's stronghold's shield were de-activated by the Red Angel. Saru and his sister saw that the Angel was a humanoid equiped with advanced suit way beyond current technology. Saru said good bye to his sister, as she chose to create a new balance with the Ba'ul on Kaminar.
Following the Battle near Xahea, Saru and 88 crewmembers took Discovery through the wormhole. Discovery was able to exit the wormhole in 3189 and crash-landed on The Colony. With Tilly, he was able to get help from the Colonists despite his encounter with the courier Zareh. With Burnham's and the crew's support, he became Discovery's captain. In that capacity as Captain, Saru was able to help negotiate a truce between United Earth's Defense Force and Titan's raiders under Wen. He also allowed Inspector Adira Tal to remain onboard to help them find Federation Headquarters.
When Discovery arrived at Trill, Saru had dinner party for his senior officers. However, dinner was cut short by some harsh remarks by Detmer, Tilly, and Stamets. Despite this, Saru then initiated movie night for the crew in shuttle bay. With Tal's memories, Saru and Discovery were able find Federation Headquarters. Saru, Burnahm and Tal were then brought aboard the USS Federation and met with Starfleet's C-in-C, Fleet admiral Charles Vance. Following his debriefing about Discovery's jump from 2258 to 3189, Vance told Saru that despite Kaminar's joining, the Federation went from 350 to 38 member worlds.
In 3190, Saru, known as "Great Elder" became a member of his village council. He later spoke with the Ba'ul and Kelpien High Council about returning to the stars to assist the Federation. Following this and the destruction of Kwejian, Saru returned to Discovery to resume the role of first officer under Captain Michael Burnham, remaining a member of his village council in absentia. He retained the rank of captain but asked to be addressed as simply "Saru," though he acquiesced to Burnham's suggestion of "Mr. Saru."
Saru worked with Commander Stamets and Dr. Ruon Tarka in studying the Dark Matter Anomaly during Discovery's evacuation of Radvek V. He allowed Tark to recreate a small version of the DMA but stopped the experiment.
