Val Kostantin

Valentine Kostantin grew up on starships. Since childhood she has been keenly interested in studying other star systems, with a particular focus on planetary geology. During her studies at the Federation Sciences Academy, she became interested in gas giants and decided to focus her studies on those types of planets. She gained the nickname “Gas Bag,” which she hates vehemently. After leaving the FSA she worked a variety of assignments for the Federation, rejecting numerous offers from her father to help her win a commission with Star Fleet.

Career

The first years of her career passed without much distinction. She was relieved of duties with the Jupiter Program when she took a research shuttle without permission and flew it into the lower regions of the planet’s atmosphere. The craft was lost and Val barely escaped with her life. She then took a two-year deep space assignment, where she studied a variety of systems and expanded her skills to their current level. It was with her study of the gas giants of Rigel that she made her name in the sciences. Her paper on the evolution of gas giants brought her some acclaim.

However, her following research focus denied her the respect she seeks. During her study of the Rigel gas giants, she observed what she interpreted as “intelligent behavior” from a strange cloud formation. She tracked the formation for over two weeks and found that it invariably migrated to the same points as it drifted through the atmosphere. Other scientists dismissed the cloud as a gaseous anomaly, particularly since no other researcher was able to locate or observe this phenomenon. Val became convinced that such planets could support very basic and peculiar forms of life. This has been the focus of her research for the last three years.

Family

Her father is Fleet Admiral Miles Kostantin, a very admired and well-known Star Fleet officer, whose service career is quite distinguished. Admiral Kostantin pulled a few strings to have this mission arranged for his daughter. She is his only child and only surviving relative, his wife having died several years ago.

Though she loves and respects her father, Val has little love for Star Fleet. Her childhood years were spent at home with her mother, waiting for her father to return from some mission or other. After her mother’s death, Val lived aboard various starships and space stations with her father. His devotion to his career did not leave him much time for fathering; for the most part, Val grew up on her own, making a number of friends aboard each vessel and learning a variety of tricks and practices.

Val is headstrong and temperamental. She is quite obsessed with surveying the systems in the Aurora sector, certain that she will achieve great things with these studies.