Xana is a very emotional person—she's become better though at covering this. She is a very generous and caring person--once she trusts and likes someone, she does so fully and without reserve.
Additionally, she's quite charming and generally enjoys having a good time. There is a streak of stubbornness and a bit of a temper, and she’s not one to suffer fools and will happily tell you so. She's also active in the Bolian religion and holds the title “Avatar” for the Goddess Serendipity (Goddess of Love) and the God Design (God of Pain). It's something she takes seriously but she's very respectful of everyone's beliefs.
Personal History:
Xana’s first memory is of being taught to fly her maternal grandfather's freighter which has led her to a lifetime love of flying. The desire to fly, and a lack of direction in her life in general, lead her to apply for the Academy. She did well enough to get in but once she was there, she relished the freedom from responsibilities and had a good time partying and doing just enough work to get by. However, during her ACT mission, she was given the assignment of Chief Security Officer, to which she admitted the only thing she knew about Security was "point and shoot the bad guys". She also admitted that the reason why she didn't take many Security courses in the Academy was that they started too early in the morning and she preferred to sleep in when she could. Having 4 children, and a lifetime serving the Federation, has made the goal of sleeping in near impossible.
Despite not taking herself seriously (or because of it depending upon who you ask) Xana has performed her duty well enough to graduate first in her ACT class. Xana served on the USS AVALON, then the GATEWAY STATION, first as Security then Operations, learning the ropes of Starfleet. Eventually she was promoted to Executive Officer of **Classified Information** USS PROPHECY **Classified Information**.
After her classified assignment Xana was promoted to Commanding Officer of the GATEWAY STATION-1 as it made the transition to GATEWAY STATION - 2. Nonetheless, she came to the station (bringing 3 flag officers and the media with her) to throw a press conference establishing her as CO (while passing out homemade cookies). While not the same as from the first time she stepped on the station, she was still in many ways the same warm, open-hearted, chatty, romantic woman she always was.
Her tenure as CO of the only (at the time) station in the Gamma Quadrant was marked by political, and military, instability. In response, Bonviva would give a series of policy speeches (“GATEWAY Lumens” and “Pax Federatio”) that did not earn her the respect of the brass but did inspire the (most) of the crew and get her notice of the various Corps. It also earned her the ire of various factions that the GATEWAY crew had to fight off including Illuminati and neo-Essentialists.
During this time, Xana and Gene McInnis eloped as she was pregnant with their child (Dahlia Bonviva-McInnis) and she looked to transition to a career that would not get her arrested and declared dead. So ultimately after a distinguished, if very bumpy, career Bonviva retired from Starfleet and became the Ambassador from EARTH to Starfleet. Although she served well, she still managed to get on the wrong side of her political party’s platform, so she accepted a lateral move as Ambassador from the Federation on the GATEWAY-2, a station she once commanded but has always called home.
Two years into her stint as Ambassador, the Wormhole closed which started off a series of events that impacted Xana deeply. The first was the Dominion declared war on the Federation via GS-2. During the war Xana agreed to go over to the Dominion battleship to establish the rules of warfare and to buy the GATEWAY time during the fight. However, during this time, she was imprisoned the Dominion sent over a Changeling that looked and sounded like her. Her husband, Gene McInnis, sacrificed his life in killing the Changeling that looked like his wife. The second time an older-out of timeline-Dahlia appeared (again with a representative of the Q Continuum), and sat in the back of Gene McInnis' funeral service on BAJOR.
The events after the Wormhole closing lead to the next event that’s radically affected Xana – the death of the love of her life and reentry in Starfleet, as the CO of the USS MCINNIS, to avenge her husband. However, less than a year into her tenure she realized it was a mistake and quit. Looking for a job, and a break from politics and military life, she invested her savings into opening her own restaurant on the GS-2, “The Angel's Angst”.
Once back on the GATEWAY STATION, Xana agreed to go into a Durali Abyss to help guide Jake Crichton back. After she guided him back, they realized that they had feelings for each other. Despite the War going on, they pursued a relationship with each other, realizing time was short. For awhile Xana was happy running the “Angel's Angst” but with the Second Dominion War at the GATEWAY's doorstep, she returned to diplomacy to help broker a deal with the Dominion. Although unpopular with Admiral Ordway (one of the lead Essentialist forces behind the Second Dominion War) Xana was deeply proud of the role she and others played. During this time she also grew close to the CO of the GATEWAY, Daisy Wangel Byrne.
After the war, Xana went to BAJOR to have an oxderlinjk ceremony (Bolian joining of two families) with her close friend, Daisy Bonviva so they could bond their families. Immediately after the oxderlinjk, Daisy surprised Xana by having arranged a wedding for Xana and Jake Crichton. Not too long after the weddings Xana and Jake settled on EARTH while trying to balance their work and home lives. Not long after the wedding, they were delighted to discover Xana was pregnant with Ben.
Unfortunately, not long after Benito was born, Jake accepted a position on the USS SHERWOOD and Xana stayed on EARTH with the kids. While Jake was gone, Daisy went on a mission was declared MIA and assumed to be dead; Xana (by previous arrangement) assumed full guardianship of her children, Gavi and Erika.
On EARTH Xana worked her way through various political positions until she was tapped to become Secretary to Starfleet. She stayed in that position for a few years until her children were kidnapped as retribution for her policies. Once they were safely returned, Xana stepped down and along with the entire family followed Jake into space on the PHOENIX. That lasted until the siege of BOLARUS IX, when she felt compelled to help. Leaving her family, Xana went to BOLARUS IX she took on the position of Director of BOLARUS Office of Protection to fight in the war. Once the siege was over, she was reunited with her family. Happiness was short-lived as she separated from Jake Crichton, thereby upsetting their young children. This time Xana took custody of the children and went to VULCAN to work on the campaign for Hussein Karimi and his campaign for the Federation Assembly and then the Council.
Around the time of her divorce from Jake Crichton two items of note happened. The first is that Xana became Councilwoman from BOLARUS IX, and her and the children assumed a planet-hopping life until BOLARUS IX decided to withdraw from the Council. The second was that she was diagnosed with a progressive, degenerative, genetic disease one that appears very similar to Spinocerebellar Ataxia although this one appears to be attacking your Bolian genetic structure. Xana stayed on EARTH until she was re-drafted into the Ambassadorial Corp.