01-28-2026, 05:49 AM
Personal Log
Lt Cdr Arwen Qi Recording
I asked the captain if I could include a few words about Mika when she sends the letter to her family. I’ve been a department head for long enough, so I knew that I’d have to write one of these someday, and I convinced myself that I was prepared. Words usually come easily for me, but this loss is hard to describe. Maybe if I talk through it, I can start to understand.
Mika was… I was her commanding officer, and one of the first people she met on the ship. She was brilliant. I liked her right away. She reminded me of myself, fresh from the academy, still barely able to find my quarters. My first assignment felt like being dropped into a vast, beautiful ocean of stars. I wanted to see it all, but I didn’t know where to start. That’s what I saw in her.
Mika was brilliant. I knew right away that she would have an incredible career as a scientist. I wanted her to find her passion and chase it relentlessly. That’s why I recommended her to race for the away team. It was dangerous, just like every mission is dangerous. The shuttle crew would be relying on her quick calculations to keep everyone safe. It’s the kind of mission that I would have wanted for myself.
Things changed so quickly. Somebody sabotaged our shuttle. We were forced to enter the race in the Yeager itself. Mika was up on the Bridge with me. We went through some kind of temporal anomaly. The Cardassians, our competitors, started firing at us. The ship had already been battered by all manner of exotic particles. We were hit hard, and she went over the rail. I wasn’t even sure what happened at first. Even now, it’s hard to believe that I’ll never get a chance to see what she does with her talent. She doesn’t even know that we won the race.
[There is a brief pause in the recording, during which only the gentle hum of the warp engine can be heard.]
As I say this, I realize that I saw her as a project, or a mirror of myself. I didn’t know Mika very well at all. I wish I did.
Braggins said that she’d written enough of these letters. I wonder how many that is.
Lt Cdr Arwen Qi Recording
I asked the captain if I could include a few words about Mika when she sends the letter to her family. I’ve been a department head for long enough, so I knew that I’d have to write one of these someday, and I convinced myself that I was prepared. Words usually come easily for me, but this loss is hard to describe. Maybe if I talk through it, I can start to understand.
Mika was… I was her commanding officer, and one of the first people she met on the ship. She was brilliant. I liked her right away. She reminded me of myself, fresh from the academy, still barely able to find my quarters. My first assignment felt like being dropped into a vast, beautiful ocean of stars. I wanted to see it all, but I didn’t know where to start. That’s what I saw in her.
Mika was brilliant. I knew right away that she would have an incredible career as a scientist. I wanted her to find her passion and chase it relentlessly. That’s why I recommended her to race for the away team. It was dangerous, just like every mission is dangerous. The shuttle crew would be relying on her quick calculations to keep everyone safe. It’s the kind of mission that I would have wanted for myself.
Things changed so quickly. Somebody sabotaged our shuttle. We were forced to enter the race in the Yeager itself. Mika was up on the Bridge with me. We went through some kind of temporal anomaly. The Cardassians, our competitors, started firing at us. The ship had already been battered by all manner of exotic particles. We were hit hard, and she went over the rail. I wasn’t even sure what happened at first. Even now, it’s hard to believe that I’ll never get a chance to see what she does with her talent. She doesn’t even know that we won the race.
[There is a brief pause in the recording, during which only the gentle hum of the warp engine can be heard.]
As I say this, I realize that I saw her as a project, or a mirror of myself. I didn’t know Mika very well at all. I wish I did.
Braggins said that she’d written enough of these letters. I wonder how many that is.