Each month, we interview a captain or first officer of the fleet to gain more insight on what it takes to command a ship and learn more about how each of these staff members found their way into these roles.
This month, we’re interviewing the Commanding Officer of the starship USS Octavia E. Butler, Captain Lia Rouiancet, a Human female.
DeVeau: The last time we interviewed you, you gave us a bit more information about yourself. This time, would you recommend some poets and authors for us to read in our free time?
Rouiancet: Sure thing! Some of my favorite poets of the moment are Sam Sax, Donika Kelly, Chen Chen, Justin Phillip Reed, Fatimah Asghar, Benjamin Garcia, and Eduardo C. Corral. They’re all great contemporary poets with at least one book out (and most of them have more than a single book).
As far as fiction goes, a few of my “I’ll buy anything you write” authors at the moment are Martha Wells, T. Kingfisher, Rebecca Roanhorse, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Becky Chambers, and N.K. Jemisin. My favorite scifi of this year includes Seth Dickinson’s Exordia, Robin Sloan’s Moonbound, and Alien Clay by the aforementioned Tchaikovsky. All highly recommended!
You also had a different character last interview! Would you tell us a bit about Lia Rouiancet, why you chose to switch her, and how she and V’Airu are both alike and different?
I change characters like hats, partly because I enjoy exploring specific developments and career moments with them and then moving on to others. For V’Airu, I knew that I wanted to have Starfleet establish a permanent mission in the Gamma Quadrant, and I knew that a character with trauma to explore from the Dominion War would be the best way to do that. None of my existing characters fit the bill, so I invented an emotional but laconic Vulcan who would be an obvious choice for such an assignment but had a lot of baggage.
Once the Gamma Quadrant mission was established, though, and once V’Airu had worked through a lot of that trauma – with the regular assistance of her crew, often unexpectedly, thanks to the usual shenanigans Starfleet gets up to – I was happy to promote her upstairs and bring in another character. I’ve written Rouiancet as a PNPC on and off for years, and as the Gamma Quadrant mission expanded, I wanted to switch to a new PC to launch a new ship and explore the establishment of her command style. That’s something I haven’t done for over a decade now, since all the new CO characters I’ve chosen have been experienced COs.
The experience with command is the largest difference between V’Airu and Rouiancet, I think, although their styles are pretty different. V’Airu is terse and, even though she embraces her emotions, she’s still fairly spare in her interactions with others. Rouiancet is more clearly an officer of the line, and she calls nearly everyone by their given name rather than by their surname (which is what V’Airu did, specifically as a respectful alternative to their rank – but it takes a while for officers to realize that). They both have histories with the Dominion War, though, and while Rouiancet was much younger for the war (she actually went back to the Academy when the war broke out to respecialize in medicine, whereas V’Airu earned her first captaincy during the war), they were both affected strongly and negatively by Starfleet’s pivot to war.
You have also switched ships! Why did you decide to change to the Sagan-class and why did you choose the name Octavia E. Butler?
If there’s one thing I like changing more than characters, it’s ships!
I love that we’re spoiled by so much modern Trek! I knew that I wanted to choose a new ship design, and my staff and I considered all the options that the (period-appropriate) Picard and Lower Decks have provided. The Sagan was the democratic choice, which I was happy with because I really like the classic Constellation (the original Stargazer) and I was very happy with the updated design.
As far as the name goes, Sagan partially inspired the choice (since Carl Sagan was not only a scientist and science communicator but also a scifi writer – Contact is one of my favorite books and movies), but also Discovery’s choice of Le Guin and Liu Cixin for some ship names. Honestly I would have chosen Le Guin myself, since she’s probably my favorite writer of all time, but given that she was taken, I thought about who else I wanted to pay particular homage to, both in terms of their work having potentially profound influences on Star Trek’s future and (not to be too self-centered about it!) on me. Once I thought about it for a while, Octavia E. Butler was the clear and obvious choice.
Like the Delta Quadrant, the Gamma Quadrant is largely unexplored. What are the advantages and disadvantages to having this as your ship’s campaign region?
The lack of exploration is both an advantage and a disadvantage, truly, because there’s so much opportunity – but when everything is wide open, how do you choose? Our answer has been to choose a particular (and largely arbitrary) volume of space in the Gamma Quadrant, establish a Starfleet presence, and explore one of the groups that’s risen to power in the aftermath of the Dominion’s collapse. Even then, we’re pushing the boundaries all the time and asking endless questions about the region: What would have happened after the Dominion’s defeat in the Alpha Quadrant and the Founders’ withdrawal to their home world? What became of the worlds in the Gamma Quadrant the Dominion conquered and suborned? Most intriguingly and recently, what powers did the Dominion contend with – and who were they afraid of?
What are the most memorable things from the past year, and what do you hope to accomplish in the upcoming year?
I’ve been very proud of the core of talented simmers the Octavia E. Butler (and the ‘Oumuamua before it) has brought together, and I’m just as proud that we’ll close out this year with the conclusion of a mission run by Brent (Avander Promontory) as a part of his commander promotion process – and, hopefully, his promotion to commander! I’m proud of how much we’ve been able to establish of our little corner of the Gamma Quadrant, too. As your previous question noted, the Gamma Quadrant is a big place. It’s a quarter of the galaxy! Establishing a few new peoples and catching up with the familiar ones is a good goal for any adventure in the Star Trek universe, and it’s one we’re thoroughly familiar with.
You’ve been a CO for a very long time. What words of wisdom could you share with those who look to this as a possible option for them in the future?
I don’t think this is a requirement, necessarily, but a large part of the enjoyment I find in continuing to be a CO is in seeing new folks join the group and work their way through the ranks as they explore their characters. I have the privilege of simming with an extraordinarily talented group, and that’s complemented by an enormously thoughtful, experienced group of captains-and-above who manage the affairs of the whole group. I’ve seen some very tumultuous times in my twenty-years-on-and-off with 118, and I’m very grateful for what we have now.
Thanks for your time, Captain Rouiancnet!
You can read more about Captain Lia Rouiancet on the wiki.
