You ignored a judgment handed down by your superiors and committed an act of outright disobedience, thereby jeopardizing an alliance that is one of our only barriers against annihilation from an outside force!— Admiral Howland to Captain Mercer and Commander Grayson[1]
Howland was a Human Admiral within the Planetary Union, based at Planetary Union Central on Earth.
She is portrayed by Andi Chapman.
History[]
Topa's Surgery[]
In 2422, Captain Ed Mercer and Commander Kelly Grayson of the USS Orville contacted Planetary Union Central, explaining the intent of Commander Bortus and his son Topa for Topa to undergo a sex-change operation to once again become female after having undergone a procedure shortly after being hatched to become male. She and the other admirals forbade the procedure, explaining that such a move would likely place the Moclans on war-footing with the Planetary Union at a time when they had already lost their alliance with the Krill against the Kaylon threat. Both Ed and Kelly tried to appeal to her on the basis that she herself had children. She, however, told them that while she empathized with them, her hands were tied.
Despite this directive, the two ultimately found a loophole around it, having Isaac, a Kaylon himself, perform the procedure, as he was not actually a commissioned officer and therefore not a member of the Union, but officially an "observer." Shortly afterwards, however, they were informed that Howland would be paying them a visit, having arrived aboard the USS Newton. She then met both Ed and Kelly in Ed's office and proceeded to give the both of them a stern dressing down.
She asked them both if they had difficulty understanding simple speech, stating that her crystal clear orders had been flagrantly disobeyed. She criticized them both for taking a staggeringly arrogant point of view, having ignored orders and jeopardized an alliance. When Ed claimed they were unaware of the procedure at the time, she replied that this made him both insubordinate and incompetent. She told them they had gotten lucky, as the Moclans had chosen not to withdraw Union membership and that the fact that it was a Kaylon who had performed the procedure had actually strengthened their resolve to vanquish the Kaylon. She warned them, however, that they were both finished if they ever stepped out of line again; Ed and Kelly assured the Admiral that she has made herself clear. As she left, she told them to extend her best wishes to Topa.[2]
The Sanctuary[]
Admiral Howland was present during the Planetary Union Council meeting regarding the disappearance of Topa and Heveena's violation of the rules for the Sanctuary planet for Moclan females that the Council had established. When the Council ordered an investigation into Topa's disappearance, the Moclans refused. Howland told them that, with respect, every member of the Union was required to abide by the Council's rulings. The Moclan delegate, however, questioned whether the Union really respected them at all, stating that they chastised and demeaned their culture at every opportunity. Later, when Bortus and Kelly arrived and revealed that Topa had been tortured by the Moclans, Howland stood along with everyone else as a show of solidarity, prior to the Union voting to expel the Moclans.[3]