Ka'ina doesn't remember much about her parents. She remembers her mother was beautiful and kind, and constantly irritated how often her father was away. He was a mid-level operative with the Tal Shiar, and his state duties called him all around the galaxy.
She was eight years old when her home planet of Romulus died. She remembers the mass exodus of the evacuation only as a chaotic blur, and the years afterward a sinusoidal oscillation between utter boredom and deep anxiety.
Sometime before her evacuation group settled on Virunat, her mother was killed in a raid. Pirates, she heard later, thought she never learned what species of alien spacefairers to hate.
Alone at the age of 9 or 10, Ka?ina was taken in by an old engineer named D'vex. He owned an ancient T'liss-class warbird that he'd cobbled together and kept running out of ingenuity and shear force of will. A relic of the 23rd Century, the former warship now served as D'vex's home, his passion, his distraction, and, in his own words, the love of his life. She was named Irixidon, though whether she'd come with that name or been named by D'vex, she never knew. She'd asked him, of course, and his answer was always the same: "What does it matter? She is Irixidon just as you are Ka'ina. Where she got the name is irrelevant."
Ka'ina was preadolescent when the Virunat colony was founded. There were no schools - there was barely anything - so D'vex took to instructing her in what he knew best: engineering. She was a good student and became quite adept. She even helped him fine tune Irixidon and kept her running.
When the Tal Shiar and their alien lackeys attacked Virunat. Ka?ina found herself evacuating yet again. She and her friend Tovan Khev and D'vex escaped with a handful of others on the Irixidon. Though still a talented and skilled engineer, D'vex wanted no part of commanding a warship, and so he gladly placed that mantle on Ka'ina.
It was a mantle she wore well. Ka'ina served the Romulan Republic with distinction for many years. Commanding several ships that had been stolen found, or taken out of mothballs during the Exodus. She commanded everything from raiders to support cruisers, and even a Scimitar-class dreadnought. When D'Tan, proconsul of the Republic, determined she was worthy to be promoted to Admiral, Ka'ina was given the pick of the fleet to command.
Ka'ina decided, though, that she wanted her little T'liss escort, but she had been retired. Instead, the newly-minted admiral chose a brand new T'varo-class escort, designed after the old T'liss class but with modern technology and weaponry. She had it christened the Irixidon B, out of nostalgia for D'vex's old relic. The relic that had saved her from the Tal Shiar and kickstarted her command career.
Irixidon B served her as well as - in fact, better than - expected until the Jenolan Dyson Sphere was discovered. After exploring that wonder and defending it from so-called "Species 8472," the Irixidon B was showing the wear and tear. Having achieved the highest naval rank in the Republic, Fleet Admiral Ka'ina had the clout to put her in for a complete overhaul.
The ship came out of that refit the Irixidon C, now technically a Malem-class warbird. She was once again a state-of-the-art warship, quick and lithe with a devastating cannon array and more armor than her poor little 200 year old T'liss-class could ever have dreamed of. With luck, this new incarnation of the venerable Irixidon would serve the Replublic another two centuries.