- This page details Saru in the primary universe; for the Saru in the mirror universe see Saru (mirror).
Saru was a male Kelpien Starfleet officer who lived in the 23rd century. In the 2250s decade, he served as a lieutenant commander and chief science officer aboard the USS Shenzhou, under Captain Philippa Georgiou in 2256. (DSC episodes: "The Vulcan Hello", "Battle at the Binary Stars")
Biography[]
In his youth, Saru lived in an agrarian village on Kelpien homeworld of Kaminar with his father Aradar and sister Siranna. During this time, Saru questioned his people's role as prey for the Ba'ul. Using debris from a Ba'ul ship, Saru was able to build a primitive communicator and was able to contact Starfleet officer, Lieutenant Philippa Georgiou of the USS Archimedes who agreed to rescue Saru from Kaminar. (DSC novel: Desperate Hours; Short Treks episode: "The Brightest Star"; DSC episode: "The Sound of Thunder")
Saru was taken to Starbase 7 as a refugee, where he decided to become the first Kelpien to join Starfleet. He was also a first contact specialist and learned 94 Federation languages. (DSC episodes: "The Vulcan Hello", "Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum", "New Eden", "An Obol for Charon")
USS Shenzhou[]
Prior to 2249, Saru was a lieutenant and science officer aboard the USS Shenzhou under Captain Philippa Georgiou as her chief science officer. In 2152, Saru and Chief Engineer Johar lead a away mission in a buffer zone between Tholian and Peliar space to investigate a Peliar ship. (DSC episode: "Battle at the Binary Stars"; DSC novel: Fear Itself)
In 2255, Saru was appointed as the Shenzhou's second officer. He discovered that the leaders of Sirsa III's colonists had hidden evidence about the planet's extinct civilization. (DSC novel: Desperate Hours)
USS Discovery[]
Six months after the Battle of the Binary Stars, Saru was promoted to first officer aboard the USS Discovery under Captain Gabriel Lorca during the Federation-Klingon War. (DSC episode: "Context Is for Kings") After Lorca's death, Saru became the acting captain of Discovery. Following the end of the War, Saru was then given Starfleet Medal of Honor, becoming the first Kelpien to receive it. (DSC episodes: "What's Past Is Prologue", "Will You Take My Hand?")
Following the peace accord in Paris, Saru was brought to the Louvre by Burnham to discuss the possibility of becoming Discovery's new captain. Saru and Discovery were then ordered by Admiral Katrina Cornwell to investigate the USS Dorothy Garrod near a migratory pocket nebula. Upon Discovery's arrival at the nebula, Saru was contacted by Ensign Tilly, who warned them to leave. After sending a away team to the Garrod, Saru was contacted by an Orion, Virra who had taken the Garrod's crew hostage. (DSC comic: "Captain Saru")
Under Pike[]
En route to Vulcan, the Discovery received a distress call from the USS Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike. Under orders from Starfleet and regulation 19, Section 3, Saru agreed to serve under Pike as his XO aboard the Discovery to investigate a series of seven red bursts. (DSC episode: "Brother")
Captain of the Discovery[]
After entering into a wormhole, Saru, Discovery's crew, and the ship were sent into the future into the year 3189. There, the Discovery crashed landed on The Colony. Saru and Tilly asked for help from the Coridanite colonists. However, they ran into the courier Zareh and his group who demanded dilithium from Discovery. With help from Georgiou, Saru was able to subdue Zareh and kill his group. Saru denied Georgiou her chance to kill Zareh, but allowed the Coridanites to decide his fate. Saru, Tilly, and Georgiou were able to return to Discovery and attempted to leave the Colony. They were then rescued by Burnham, using Cleveland Booker's ship's tractor beam. Burnham told Saru about how she landed in 3188 and about The Burn. (DSC episodes: "Far From Home", "People of Earth")
Search for and return to the Federation[]
Saru and Discovery's crew decided to return to Earth to find Admiral Senna Tal. However, upon their arrival, Discovery was approached by several of United Earth's Defense Force ships. Saru was able to convince Captain Ndoye that they had no dealings with the dilithium raiders under Wen. Saru was able to convince both Ndoye and Wen, who was revealed as a human colonist from Titan, to help each other and work together. Saru also took on Earth inspector, Adira, who claimed to possess Admiral Tal's memories due to hosting the Trill symbiont, Tal. (DSC episode: "People of Earth")
Saru allowed Adira and Burnham to go to Trill to help them retrieve their memories. Thanks to Tal, Saru, his crew and Discovery were able to find Federation Headquarters under Starfleet's Commander-in-Chief, Fleet Admiral Charles Vance. (DSC episodes: "Forget Me Not", "Die Trying")
In 3190, Saru, known as "Great Elder" of his village, spoke with Kaminar's Council about returning to the stars to assist the Federation. Saru assured the council that Su'Kal would not be able to cause another burn and that they should assist the Federation other worlds. Saru decided to return to Starfleet and continue as his village's council member. Instead accepting the captaincy of USS Sojourner, Saru decided to assist Discovery and Burnham in investigating the DMA that destroyed Kwejian. Burnham accepted him as her XO. (DSC episodes: "Kobayashi Maru", "Anomaly")
Alternate realities[]
Saru.
In a version of the Kelvin timeline, Saru (or a version of Saru) was an officer in the Federation Starfleet and a commander of the USS Discovery in that milieu. (ST video game: Fleet Command)
Service record[]
| Location | Assignment | Dates | Rank or rate | Assignment/rank insignia |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| USS Shenzhou | science officer | c.2249-2255 | Lieutenant | 
|
| science officer/second officer | 2255–2256 | lieutenant commander | 
| |
| USS Discovery | XO (later acting CO) | 2256–3189 | commander | 
|
| commanding officer | from 3189 | captain | 
| |
| Village/Kaminar High Council Member | Great Elder | 3190 | 
| |
| USS Discovery | XO |
- Personal log, Saru
Appendices[]
Connections[]
| USS Shenzhou (NCC-1227) personnel | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Burnham • Connor • Detmer • Fan • Gant • García • Georgiou • Januzzi • Johar • Nambue • Narwani • Oliveira • Saru • Spyropoulos • ch'Theloh • Troke • Weeton | 
|
| Discovery personnel | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Earth, Earth Starfleet | Discovery (NX-class) | Brent • Carpenter • Curtis • T. Mayweather • Shea • R. Tallarico |  
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Federation Starfleet | USS Discovery (Crossfield-class) | Airiam • R.A. Bryce • M. Burnham • Chiefowitz • Collins • P. Georgiou • H. Culber • Decker • K. Detmer • Gotthelf • Harrington • Kowski • E. Landry • Linus • Logan • G. Lorca • Magnus • Molina • D. Nhan • E. Nilsson • J. Owosekun • C. Pike • T. Pollard • Rause • Rayner • J. Reno • G. Rhys • M. Richter • Saru • P. Stamets • A. Tal • S. Tilly • A. Tyler • Webb • Wells • Wilson • Zora |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| USS Discovery (Nebula-class) | M. Dayrit • Grazna • A. Portikos | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personnel roster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Appearances[]
External link[]
- Saru article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
- Saru article at the Star Trek Timelines Wiki.