We’re here with another interview with a newer member of our community. The title of this column is “Lower Decks,” hearkening back to the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode titled “Lower Decks,” in which junior officers aboard the Enterprise-D speculate on the reasons for recent unusual actions taken by the command crew near the Cardassian border.
This month’s interview is with the writer behind Lieutenant JG Jehe Saja playing a Female Bajoran Intelligence Officer assigned to the USS Thor.
DeVeau: First of, would you be willing to share a little about your real self? Where you’re from and anything else you’d like to share?
Jehe: Right well, Around the interwebs I go by Brutus, and as I jokingly like to say, I live just outside the nuclear fallout radius for Washington DC (the western suburbs of Virginia). I’m a glorified IT middle man who’s been a fan of Star Trek since he was about 9 months old. (Yes, really: there’s a photo of me in my Dad’s lap, both of us watching the tv just out of the frame, enraptured. It was the primer of Encounter at Farpoint, back in Sep. 87).
What first got you into roleplaying and writing?
Unsurprisingly, Star Trek. I branched out very quickly but the first concentrated RP effort I can remember was a Star Trek RP back when I was in High School on some messaging boards. I was doing this sort of thing before I even got into DND.
What is it about Star Trek that inspires you?
Aside from a childhood addiction? Even in the darkest of Trek stories and episodes, there is this underlying theme of hope for the future. Treks consistent reflection of the times that we live in, the social commentary, that’s what draws me in. Plus I just love a good sci-fi story, and Trek does that very well.
What made you decide to join Starbase 118?
Alieth. It’s their fault. All their fault. We used to write together on another SIMM and I missed that so I decided to check this place out on her recommendation.
Why did you choose to write a Bajoran character?
I’ve had the character of Jehe Saja for a while now, and tried to play them on three other boards that all fell apart fairly early on. So part of it was sheer stubbornness. As for a Bajoran specifically, I like the respectful way the species was portrayed in Trek, while being very religious. I thought that was very well done and I wanted to see if I could explore that in my writing.
Intelligence is one of those duty posts I personally find very challenging. What are your thoughts on this particular duty post? How do you bring it to life?
Honestly I put in for it on a whim expecting to get slotted into Security, and was super pleased when I got the go ahead for intel. It’s a very neat little position, and I’m trying to approach it from the point of view of someone that feels like they might be in over their head but doing better than they thought. A lot of intel work is analysis, not super secret spy stuff, and Saja is having to adjust to that.
How do you hope to see your character grow in the future?
I hope to see her come into her own. She recently got a surprise in that area (and so did I!) by getting a bump up in rank. At some point I would like to drop her into one of those James Bond/Tom Clancy novel type scenarios, where she actually has to do some behind the lines super secret spy stuff, and sweat through all of that, but for the moment, she’s still sowing her oats at running a department on a starship 🙂
Thanks for your time, Lieutenant JG Jehe!
You can read more about Lieutenant JG Jehe on the wiki.
