| “ | 'Discovery is no longer Lorca's. She is ours. And today will be her maiden voyage. | „ |
| ~ Saru, learning of the Mirror Lorca's deception. |
Saru is a major character in the television series Star Trek: Discovery.
He was portrayed by Doug Jones.
A Kelpian, Saru was the son of Aradar and brother of Siranna. His early life was spent growing up as a member of a primitive pre-warp society on Kaminar, living in a constant state of fear under the watchful eye of the Ba'ul, a predator species that had subjugated the Kelpians for thousands of years. Even so Saru contemplated his and his people's place in the galaxy, much to the displeasure of his father, who served as village priest.
Salvaging some of the Ba'ul's technology, Saru was able to construct a radio and made contact with Starfkeet Lieutenant Philippa Georgiou of the USS Archimedes. Realizing his potential, Georgiou convinced Starfleet to allow her to land on Kaminar and offer asylum to the young Kelpian. Agreeing to come with her even though it meant he could never return home, Saru left Kaminar and entered Federation society.
Saru entered Starfleet Academy. In addition to Federation Standard, he learned 93 other languages. He also focused on science, and after graduation was posted to the USS Shenzhou as a science officer. In 2249 Georgiou welcomed a young woman named Michael Burnham to join the Shenzhou as an officer as she graduated from the Vulcan Science Academy - the first human to do so. By 2256 he had reached the rank of Lieutenant.
After Burnham's attempted mutiny and the destruction of the Shenzhou at the hands of the Klingons, Saru was promoted to Commander and named first officer of the USS Discovery under the command of a man who appeared to be Captain Gabriel Lorca. When former officer Michael Burnham was rescued by Discovery when her prison shuttle was disabled Saru warned Burnham that while she had failed her Captain, Saru would not fail his.
Over the next year Burnham and Saru managed to patch their relationship up as the Discovery fought the war with the Klingons, with their roles of subordinate and superior officer now reversed. Saru also began developing as an individual and leader, working hard to overcome his ingrained fear response and timidity. After Lorca used the spore drive to transport them into the Mirror Universe, Saru took command of the Discovery when Lorca boarded the ISS Charon under the guise of being Burnham's prisoner.
Learning from Burnham that the man who appeared to be Captain Gabriel Lorca was not the man he seemed to be, but his Mirror Universe counterpart Saru was forced to take command of Discovery to keep her from being used any further by Lorca in his plans to take over the Terran Empire.
After the destruction of the ISS Charon and the mycellial reactor that was destroying the mycellial network, Discovery managed to return home to the primary universe. Learning that the Federation had not fared well during the time they were away in the war with the Klingons, Saru yielded command of the Discovery to Admiral Katrina Cornwell, then to the Mirror Universe version of Philippa Georgiou as Starfleet granted her command to undertake a desperate mission to end the Klingon war.
Learning that Georgiou was planning to commit genocide against the Klingons, Saru stood with his friend Burnham and the remainder of the Discovery crew as they threatened to mutiny against Cornwell and Starfleet for supporting genocide. Seeing that the Discovery crew under Saru was united in refusing to sacrifice their principals, Cornwell backed down. The war ended a short time later when Burnham gave the detonator to the bomb Georgiou was going to use to T'Kuvma's disciple L'Rell, who used the leverage she gained to take control of the Empire and bring the war to an end.
Returning to Earth, Saru, Burnham (who was pardoned and restored to the rank of Commander), and the senior staff of the Discovery were honored for ending the war. Saru was given the Starfleet Metal of Honor for his actions along with Burnham and several other Discovery crew members.
After the war Saru continued as Acting Captain of Discovery. En route to Vulcan to pick up the ship's new Captain, the ship picked up a distress call from Captain Chistopher Pike of the USS Enterprise. With the Enterprise disabled, Pike took temporary command of Discovery to investigate a number of mysterious red bursts that had appeared throughout the galaxy after the war. With the Enterprise far more damaged than initially thought, Pike remained in temporary command, with Saru serving as first officer.