Dovan was a J'naii scientist in the 24th century. An expert in techno-organics, Dovan created the Starfly One Bioprobe, a deep-space scientific exploratory probe. Unfortunately, Starfly malfunctioned and caused significant damage to planet Damiano, in part due to shortcuts taken by Dovan, whose own DNA was used in the probe's creation. This was particularly upsetting to Dovan, who had a strong pacifist philosophy. Dovan eventually risked hir own life in order to stop the probe. (NF short story: "Oil and Water")