Hoshi Sato

Hoshi Sato was a Human female who lived during the 22nd century. She was famous for her role in the historic voyages of the United Earth Starfleet starship Enterprise (NX-01) as communications officer and protocol officer, and as the mind behind critical breakthroughs in the development of the universal translator.

Early Life
Hoshi Sato was born on July 9, 2129, in Kyoto, Japan, on Earth. She was the second of three children. Growing up, she discovered that she had an uncanny ability, almost an instinct, with translating languages.

In her fourth year at the Training Institute she attended an advanced seminar taught by Doctor Teodoro called Toward a Universal Translator: Alien Grammars and the Limits of the Possible in which she was one of only five students. In this class, Hoshi learned of both the near-impossibility and the absolute necessity of developing a functional Universal Translator if humanity was to travel the stars. 

Training
During Starfleet training, Sato held a poker game for new recruits. Regulations at the time stated that gambling was only an honor violation if it was held while school was actually in session, so she held the game on weekends. However, her CO still tried to break up the game, at which point the two got into an argument and she broke his arm. Sato was discharged, but owing to Starfleet's need for language experts, Sato was allowed to rejoin on probation, and she successfully completed the three-year training. 

Enterprise
Sato was on leave from Starfleet and working at a language school in Brazil in 2151, when she was approached by Captain Jonathan Archer, who wanted her to cut short her leave and journey with the Enterprise to Qo'noS, the Klingon homeworld, and return an injured man to them. Sato initially refused, but changed her mind after Archer played a sample of the Klingon language for her. Her attempts to communicate with the Klingon, Klaang, were largely successful, and Sato was later able to translate what the Klingon High Council was saying to Archer without the use of a translator. 

After the mission to Qo'noS, Sato agreed to remain aboard the Enterprise, but she soon found the life in space to be difficult for her, and experienced space sickness. At one point she considered leaving Enterprise, but first contact with the Axanarri a few weeks later convinced her to stay. Despite teething problems, Sato became an essential part of Enterprise 's crew. Sato served as communications and protocol officer aboard the Enterprise throughout its voyages. (Star Trek: Enterprise)

Sato faced a huge problem when trying to decipher the Fazi language a few weeks later. The Fazi's highly structured language meant that she was not completely happy with the translation, but Archer had no problem communicating with Councilman Draa, despite offending him several times. 

In 2154, while assisting the Thelasian Trading Confederacy in translating the language of the mysterious Antianna, Sato made the initial breakthrough that eventually resulted her invention of the linguacode translation matrix. 

Earth-Romulan War
In 2155, at the beginning of the Earth-Romulan War, Sato considered transferring off the Enterprise as she no longer felt useful, but Captain Archer was able to change her mind. After the crew rotations, she quickly befriended the new helmsman, Ensign Elrene Leydon. 

In 2156, she was promoted to lieutenant and begun a romantic relationship with Enterprise's new MACO detachment commander Major Takashit Kimura. She served aboard Enterprise until her decommissioning following the Battle of Cheron. 

Later Life
Holding the rank of lieutenant commander, Hoshi Sato retired from Starfleet in her late thirties. Afterwards, she perfected the linguacode translation matrix, which became the most critical element of universal translator technology and used for centuries to come. 


 * According to a computer image (seen here) created for the, Hoshi Sato later lived on Tarsus IV, married Takashi Kimura and raised a family, until she and her family were executed in the Tarsus IV Massacre in 2246, and buried in Kyoto. However, an alternative image not mentioning Hoshi Sato's death was used instead (seen here), rendering these events as apocryphal.
 * According to this version of events, the character of Aki Kimura in the may be Hoshi and Takashi's great-grandson, but their names are not given in the novel.

Alternate timeline
In an alternate timeline in which John Frederick Paxton destroyed Starfleet Command and ended the talks for the Coalition of Planets in 2155, Hoshi died at some point before 2199. Her former Enterprise colleagues, T'Pol and her husband Charles Tucker III, were among those in attendance at her funeral.