Later, with her aunt's family, at the age of 15, she moved to a remote colony of Utrecht III in order to evade the potential fallout resulting from her mother's line of work. For their safety, it was better to fly under the radar.

However, they underestimated the reach of Cardassian intelligence. When tensions reached their peak in the Dominion War, Janu was quick to express her desire to pull out, her fading beauty ensuring that she would soon outlive her usefulness. In this business though, escape was rare. There was only one kind of retirement, and it was nothing close to a holiday in the Bahamas. She was covertly terminated by the Cardassians, and for security's sake, they also pursued people who had recent communications with her, namely her sister. The entire family was brutally murdered in cold blood when Ember was only 17, her narrow escape managed only because of a desperate warning sent out by her mother before she died.

After the tragedy, she underwent a cycle of self-destruction, eking a living on the streets through petty crimes like theft. It took her almost a year to recover from her dazed, emotionally drained state, finally awakening to the vengeance inside her that provided her a direction in life. She quickly pieced together the cause of the massacre and found her enemies, enlisting herself in the Bajoran resistance, and making two failed attempts to assassinate her mother's Cardassian handler before she killed him in a chaotic riot on one of his off world diplomatic assignments.

With the Dominion War over, she signed up for Starfleet Academy, but it was hardly smooth sailing with her rebellious nature and defiance against authority. She received two formal reprimands in her cadet years, one for stirring up a fight in the Academy Cantina, and the second for inciting a strike to abolish the elite Nova Squadron. Upon her graduation, she was posted to USS Regent for a two year stint as a fighter pilot. She was seriously wounded in the line of duty defending her ship from an attack, putting her out of action for 2 months.

Despite her display of courage, a personality clash with her too-authoritarian superior officer who had no claims to her respect, resulted in her refusing to obey a direct order. She was transferred off the ship to USS Galaxy.