J'Vini was a Romulan Qowat Milat sister who lived in the 32nd century.
When Gabrielle Burnham arrived in the future from 2257, J'Vini adopted her as a "lost cause" and spent over a year nursing her back to health. Burnham would later recall that she owed J'Vini "everything".
In the 3180s, J'Vini was traveling through a star system when she sensed a telepathic distress call sent by Taglonen, an Abronian whose people were under attack by grave robbers. J'Vini traced the call to the Abronians' ship, built from the moon of their lost homeworld, where the last survivors of the Abronian species lay in cryostasis. Taglonen died as she slew the grave robbers, and in his honor J'Vini took up his cause as her own, swearing an oath as a qalankhkai to protect the Abronians until they woke and claimed their new homeworld.
J'Vini's criminal record
By 3190, J'Vini had been out of contact with the Qowat Milat for several years. The appearance of the Dark Matter Anomaly that year posed a potential threat to the Abronians. J'Vini needed dilithium to reactivate the warp drive of the Abronian ship, but could not request supplies from the Federation directly as she was unwilling to risk revealing the Abronians' existence. Instead, she hired a pair of mercenaries and stole dilithium shipments from the USS Song, USS Cuyahoga, and USS Le Guin. During her fourth theft, from the USS Credence, she also killed the first officer, Commander Patrick Fickett, when he attempted to stop her.
Following the first three thefts, Starfleet had hidden a tracker in the dilithium shipment on the Credence. A joint mission consisting of Captain Michael Burnham, Lieutenant Sylvia Tilly, Gabrielle Burnham, and another Qowat Milat sister was authorized to apprehend J'Vini. The team tracked the stolen dilithium to the Abronian ship, where J'Vini attacked them and took Gabrielle hostage. Analyzing the situation, Captain Burnham suggested that the Abronians were still in cryostasis due to a technical fault. J'Vini permitted her to attempt to repair the cryo system; this succeeded and the Abronians began reviving en masse shortly after.
With her oath fulfilled, J'Vini surrendered herself to Starfleet custody. Although her crimes had been committed on Starfleet vessels, in the interests of furthering relations with the Ni'Var Government, Federation President Laira Rillak had her extradited to Ni'Var to face Qowat Milat justice. J'Vini was sent to the monastic world of Pijar, where she was to devote herself to deep rehabilitative meditation under Gabrielle's guidance. In time, she would also make amends to Fickett's family. (DIS: "Choose to Live", "All Is Possible")
J'Vini was played by Ayesha Mansur Gonsalves.