La'an Noonien-Singh
Lieutenant La'an Noonien-Singh was a female Human Starfleet officer who lived during the 23rd century. ()

Early life 
La'an Noonien-Singh was born December 8, 2228 on Alpha I to Sa'an and Ronu Noonien-Singh. She also had a brother named Manu. () La'an and her family were descendants of Khan Noonien Singh, the Augment tyrant who once ruled a quarter of Earth's population during the Eugenics Wars. She made herself something of an expert on Khan when she was a child, but also suffered bullying from other children due to her name, being called "Augment" and "monster", among other things. ()

As a child, Noonien-Singh lived aboard the colony ship , which was attacked by the Gorn. The population of the colony ship was captured and placed on a Gorn planetary nursery, where the entire population of the ship except La'an were subsequently either eaten alive or had their bodies slit open and used as breeding sacks. During that time, her brother Manu would sacrifice himself so she could live.

La'an, the only survivor, was then sent into space on a "raft" as part of a ritual. She was eventually rescued by the crew of the , including Ensign Una Chin-Riley. ()

Starfleet career 
In 2259, Lieutenant Noonien-Singh was assigned to the  as acting first officer following Chin-Riley's disappearance. She didn't tell Captain Pike she knew Una, fearing he wouldn't accept her for the mission. He nonetheless offered her a position on his ship after Una's rescue and La'an became permanent chief of security of the Enterprise. ()

During a routine supply mission to a colony La'an was the first to realize they had ran into a trap by the Gorn. Enterprise was subsequently ambushed by Gorn ships and forced to hide in a gas giant which was being sucked into a nearby black hole. La'an asked Spock to perform a mind meld on her and relive her time on the breeding planet. This helped her remember the code of the light signals Gorn ships used to communicate with each other. La'an was able to employ this knowledge to destroy one of the Gorn ships. ()

La'an was also hesitant to wear a commemoration pin of the Puget Sound for Starfleet Remembrance Day because she didn't want to remember the painful memories of her childhood, leaving the past in the past. After the encounter with the Gorn, she changed her mind. ()

When an alien consciousness from the Jonisian Nebula brought the fairy tale The Kingdom of Elysian to life on the Enterprise, La'an was used for the character of Princess Thalia. La'an didn't remember the events after the ship was returned to normal. ()

Later, La'an came face to face with the Gorn again, when she was part of a mission to the USS Peregrine, which had made a crash landing on Valeo Beta V after they brought someone on board who was infected with Gorn eggs that hatched and hunted the crew and then the Enterprise's landing party. She managed to keep her anger in check and help her comrades to survive the encounter. Then, she requested a leave of absence to help a survivor, a young girl, find her family. Captain Pike granted her request and asked her to return afterwards, no matter how long it took. ()

Alternate timeline 

In an alternate timeline created after Christopher Pike prevented the death of several Starfleet cadets and his own exposure to delta radiation, La'an would transfer from the Operations division to the Command division and reached the rank of Commander by 2266. She was assigned to the  under the command of Captain James T. Kirk. ()

Personality and abilities 
La'an had a spotless Starfleet record, although she had trouble working in teams and found other people "challenging". ()

She was used to enduring pain and maintaining her composure when in pain. She actually preferred not to be sedated and remain fully aware even during a very painful gene therapy. ()

La'an preferred work and her duties over recreational activities, even in her spare time. She had the reputation to be someone "where fun goes to die" with her shipmates. She herself credited her painful childhood for not enjoying childish activities. ()

She was a strict teacher when it came to tactical and combat training, especially with cadets. La'an's "Lessons of Security" included the following:

 Lesson One of Security was "A Rigelian tiger pounces with no warning." 
 Lesson Two of Security was "There are no breaks in security because threats never take breaks."
 Lesson Three of Security was "Let your tricorder do the investigating."
 Lesson Six of Security was "Know when to bend the rules."
 Lesson Seven of Security was "Leave no stone unturned."

Lesson Seven required Cadets to look under Mugatan breathing stones to reinforce the lesson, a rather unpleasant task. ()

Relationships

Friendships

Una Chin-Riley 
La'an first met Una when she was rescued by the  on which Una served as an Ensign. Una was involved in La'an's rescue, helped her recover from the incident, and inspired her to join Starfleet. La'an occasionally called Una "Chief". () When La'an was infected by the light virus, her anger towards augments came to the forefront when she realized Una was genetically engineered. Una later made amends, apologized  for keeping secrets from her and the two continued their friendship. ()

Appendices

Appearances

Background information 
La'an Noonien-Singh was played by Christina Chong. 

Even though she wore the rank insignia of lieutenant commander, this is likely a costuming error, since La'an was always addressed as "lieutenant".

External link 
 

Humans
Starfleet operations personnel
USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) personnel