Lt. Commander Yogan Yalu — Two households, both alike in dignity [Start of Act 2]
Yogan Yalu
(( OOC: Welcome to Act 2, everyone! For this stage of the story, our Shint War characters remain our primaries. Our Starfleet characters will fill secondary roles for the time being. Feel free to introduce the groups to each other in “Below” sims as this act takes off. ))
(( Yogan Yalu’s quarters, Deck 2, USS Artemis ))
(( Time index: Three days after Desdemona appears in the Borderlands ))
Yogan had avoided updating his log for as long as he possibly could. So much transpired during the last 72 hours that he struggled to articulate any of it lest he become fully entangled in the entire mess. Each time he’d sat down to put on record his actions, decisions, and thoughts, he came up speechless.
It’s not like there weren’t a million other things to do now, anyway. Far from the tranquil, almost tedious scanning mission, the crew of the USS Artemis now had a far more complicated task.
Computer: Lieutenant Commander Yalu, a log entry is overdue.
Yogan leaned back in his desk chair and stretched. He thought back to where it all began: the anomaly that appeared out of nowhere, the flash of blinding white light, and the familiar-yet-strange call to action from another Addison MacKenzie.
(( Flashback — Bridge, Deck 1, USS Artemis — 3 days ago ))
Silveira: Who jinxed it and said he was bored with the mission? I have… Multiple unknown contacts. ::He furrowed his brow.:: None of these ships register. ::he turned to the others.:: First Contact?
Yalu: I’m afraid it was me, Lieutenant. ::beat:: Two weeks of scanning space dust got me antsy. But this isn’t like any first contact I’ve ever seen. What’s the status of the… ::ponders for a moment:: the “MacKenzie” ship?
Silveira: They appear to be on minimal power. The small craft are drifting, I read what appears to be battle damage. I recommend we raise our shields and ready weapons. That big one feels like a dreadnought and it looks bigger than an Odyssey class.
(( OOC: I'll move things forward and not leave new tags in this scene. ))
(( End flashback ))
Yogan stood up from his desk and crossed to the replicator. Having ordered and received a coffee—this was no time for glurtch—he let the mug warm his hands and paced a figure eight into the carpet while he spoke his thoughts to the computer.
=/\=
First Officer’s Log — Stardate 240010.08 — Lieutenant Commander Yogan Yalu recording
It has been three days since the appearance of the most familiar group of “aliens” any of us has ever encountered. The CIC Desdemona comes from an alternate universe where an Interstellar Commonwealth seems to have developed along a parallel trajectory to our United Federation of Planets. At one point, their Commonwealth was a major force for exploration, diplomacy, and peaceful coexistence in their galaxy. Until a mysterious enemy arrived and changed everything. From what little I've heard, three decades of war with the Shint have all but destroyed their Commonwealth. Only a handful of ships and planets remain. The rest of what we know as the Alpha and Beta Quadrants have fallen. Most of the planets and peoples we recognize have been conquered or destroyed altogether.
Desdemona arrived in our universe mid-battle with their enemy. I was reluctant to get Artemis involved until I heard the voice of Addison MacKenzie, Desdemona’s commanding officer, requesting our assistance. ::chuckles:: I’m sure the framers of the Prime Directive didn’t foresee this situation when they spoke about staying out of foreign conflicts. How could we refuse a request for assistance… from ourselves?
Desdemona was in imminent threat of destruction, but the enemy warship was also severely damaged. As it turns out, one of the main differences between our two universes was the development of starship weapons technology. Aside from a devastating so-called “reality weapon,” about which we’ve learned very little at present, neither ship was a match for Artemis’ phasers and torpedoes. The Shint ship refused our orders to stand down and we had no choice but to destroy it.
We evacuated the Desdemona survivors and our medical staff have worked overtime to treat injuries both new and old. It's clear that these people have been through a living hell. In addition to an alternate version of Addison MacKenzie, there appear to be alternate counterparts of Talos, Genkos, Sil, Hallia, Hiro, Jovenan, Kader, Savel, Sadar, Kuva, and even our newest arrival, Ensign Chevalier, among Desdemona’s ragtag crew of freedom-fighters. As sickbay treats and releases the survivors, I’m sure Artemis’ senior staff will handle the situation professionally and set a good example for those who serve under them, even if their natural curiosity about their doppelgängers threatens to get the better of them.
On a personal note, I was disappointed to hear that the alternate version of me, a Major Yogan Yannick, was killed shortly before Desdemona arrived in our universe. I would have liked to get to know him, and I am sad that he was a casualty of a galactic war that appears to have devastated countless civilizations.
Artemis’ boring space dust mission is now on hold. Our crew is currently tasked with understanding the causes of Desdemona’s arrival in our universe, repairing their ship and, if possible, repatriating them. Although, from what I’ve heard, there’s not much left for them to go home to.
End log.
=/\=
TBC
Lieutenant Commander Yogan Yalu
First Officer
USS Artemis NCC-81287
D238804DS0