Trekipedia

Sato, Hoshi

Whereas other crew members were chomping at the bit for alien contact and to explore strange new worlds, Hoshi was gradually becoming accustomed to the challenges, unusual experiences and potential dangers of space exploration. Still, her courage and confidence grew over the Enterprise NX-01‘s voyage. Beginning with her very first mission, Hoshi discovered that being a linguist involved quick thinking on one’s feet in situations where the safety of the crew was at stake. When the Klingon courier Klaang regained consciousness aboard the Enterprise en route to the Klingon homeworld of Qo’noS, it was her job to not only glean any information that might help the mission, but to calm him down and let him know he was not among enemies. Later, once Klaang was rescued from the Suliban and returned to Qo’noS, Hoshi was able to facilitate enough communication between the Klingons and Captain Archer to complete the mission without incident.^[1]

Not long after, the Enterprise made the grisly discovery of a ship filled with alien corpses, drained of fluids. Hoshi’s immediate reaction was terror, which disturbed her in terms of her own professionalism. She considered the possibility that she simply wasn’t cut out for deep space exploration, but was able to overcome her own fears and insecurities enough to re-board the eerie ship and decipher the controls to send out a distress call to the victims’ fellow beings. When they arrived, she was able to break the language barrier and make first contact with this new race, the Axanar, and communicate that Humans were not responsible for the massacre, aiding in establishing favorable relations with another new race.^[2]

Along with her communications duties, Hoshi was also able to keep an eye on other vital systems. For example, when the Suliban Silik infiltrated the Enterprise disguised as a religious pilgrim, it was Hoshi who noticed when he attempted to bypass the lockout codes in Shuttlepod Launch Bay One.^[3]

Implicitly trusted by Captain Archer, Hoshi was entrusted to do some research into the private life of Malcolm Reed, specifically his favorite foods for a planned surprise birthday celebration. She methodically approached the task like a detective, discreetly contacting his loved ones and even subtly trying to get information directly out of Reed, which led to a temporary misunderstanding, as Reed misinterpreted her inquiries as romantic overtures. In the end, thanks to help from Dr. Phlox, she was able to successfully deduce Reed’s favorite food, pineapple, and satisfy Archer’s request.^[4]

As her first year in deep space progressed, Hoshi’s initial trepidation ebbed substantially. For example, when she was stranded along with Reed and T’Pol aboard a derelict Klingon vessel sinking slowly into a Class-I gas giant, she was rattled, but able to maintain her cool enough to focus on the task at hand: deciphering the ship’s logs, controls and readouts so that they could get the ship running under its own power.^[6]

In another unusual circumstance, Hoshi’s skills were applied to communicating with a strange creature that had taken up residence in a Cargo Bay and had trapped several crew members, including Captain Archer. In addition to attempting to learn a new language, the organism communicated almost telepathically, forcing Hoshi to improvise a solution, saving not only the crew members, but the creature as well.^[7]

Hoshi also contributed to Starfleet missions in other ways, such as selflessly donating use of her personal quarters to a visiting Vulcan ambassador during her first year aboard the Enterprise.^[8] She viewed new languages as a challenge—and on her visit to Risa, she discovered some additional benefits to learning new languages.^[9]

Though she had an undeniable facility with languages, that’s not all there was to Hoshi. She demonstrated a willingness to pitch in wherever needed time and time again. She filled in for an ailing Chef once, preparing her grandmother’s family recipe of oden from scratch.^[10] She also confronted her fear of the transporter when Reed had trouble re-integrating her matter stream—during the few seconds that it took for Hoshi to re-materialize, she had a vision in which she saved the ship from invading aliens by overcoming her transporter phobia.^[11]

Hoshi also formed bonds with several of her crewmates, particularly Dr. Phlox, who she said took care of her on many occasions. Phlox taught her Denobulan^[5]—according to his wife Feezal, Hoshi’s accent was very good.^[12] When Phlox was infected by the nanoprobes from hostile cybernetic beings, Hoshi offered to keep him company while he worked on a cure.^[13]

As Hoshi continued her tenure aboard Enterprise, she almost mirrored humankind in taking the initial steps into the intergalactic community: tentative and concerned at first, but more and more sure of herself as time went on. While ready to take whatever action was necessary to help the crew and Starfleet, her accomplishments in communication also provided an example of how tense situations could be diffused through diplomatic means.

Portrayed by Linda Park.