what you leave behind

Posted on Tue Nov 24th, 2020 @ 3:57am by Colonel Ellis Ijaan & Commander Jazin Ijaan

3,454 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: USS Ottawa (2385)
Location: USS Ottawa and Alternate Ottawa
Timeline: MD185 1230 hrs

-----Alternate Ottawa 6 months later, 2 days before the arrival of the Ottawa----
After months of being terrorized by the entity called Umbra, Ellie was feeling a bit hopeless, and they were no closer to a solution. This entity was also playing around with the ship. Most decks had strange power fluctuations, 3/4 of the decks were covered in darkness. Engineering managed to keep lights on on the bridge, sickbay and engineering. And lights were low in the crew lounge. And there was minimum lightning in crew quarters. Most vital systems were working. But the darkness was dangerous. It was where Umbra likes to be the most. Almost a quarter of the crew was dead. Either killed by Umbra, or by their own hand. Weapons were now only given to on duty Security officers and marines. And senior staff.

Ellie was walking with two security officers to sickbay. Walking alone was no longer an option either. Specially through the darkened decks, it was best to with 3 or more people. Looking around with her flash light, they suddenly heard a sound. She looked to one of the security officers. It was a young ensign. He looked around quickly with his flashlight, shaking a little. Ellie already implored starfleet not to send such young and inexperienced officers with a special unit like the Ottawa. But because of the ongoing war, it was hard to get their hands on good people.

Suddenly the other security officer was pulled down. Ellie grabbed her weapon and turned around only to see the officer being pulled back on his ankles. Then he heard the ensign scream. She turned around and he was gone. She carefully moved on as she looked around. The dark shadow figure appeared. Ellie looked calmly at her.

Then she heard the whisper in her head. "Ellissss Ssssheppard, I will release your crew if you come to me."

Ellie turned around and ran towards the doors to sickbay. The lights were on on this deck. She looked around but didn't see the shadow. She then continued walking in the light. It was only a few meters to sickbay. Suddenly she heard something behind her and she turned around. From the other end of the lit deck she saw the lights turn off and she saw the shadow move around and closer to her. She ran the last meters as the darkness gained up on her. She came in to sickbay. Jazin was there. As soon as the doors closed behind her the lights turned off. Only the work stations and the biobeds gave off light. She turned around and then to Jazin. Her heart was racing as she saw the dark figure slowly come in from behind her.

Jazin had been on patrol. Such was the life of security officer on a haunted ship. So it wasn't that unusual when he heard a commotion in sickbay. A good three quarters of him didn't wanna go in there. But duty called. Phaser drawn he cautiously entered. What he found was frightening.

Biobeds were off their foundations. Medical staff lie lifeless,. pools of blood forming under them. Then he hit the ground. A dark figure formed at his feet. Jazin fired his phaser, to no avail. The figure came closer, Jazin kept firing. "S..stay bbback.!"

Ellie saw Umbra move closer to Jazin. "Umbra...no!" She wanted to go over to him, but somehow she couldn't move.

Umbra was now real close Jazin's face. She moved her hand up And then hit the phaser out of his hand and swing her other hand around his neck then pushed him up against the wall. "Thisss isss her fault." She whispered coldly in his head.

"N..no!" Jazin spat . He struggled as best we could, but Umbra wasn't about to let go. He saw Ellie. His face lost color as he gasped for air. "Ellie?"

Ellie could finally move and she moved towards Umbra and Jazin. "Umbra please let him go!" She pleaded as she was now crying.

Umbra turned to Ellie as she was still holding him up against the wall. "Now you will be mine!" He voice was cooland dark. She then reached her other hand up as she looked to Jazin. Her long fingers moved towards his chest.

Ellie lunged forward, but as a shadow figure she was able to take on many forms and so Umbra grabbed her from behind and held her down. "Noooooo...." She screamed as she struggled to get loose. "Let him go, take me. I am the the commanding officer. It is me you want!"

Umbra seemed to ignore her and plunged her hand in to his chest. "Jazin, say good bye to her." She whispered in his head, holding his heart waiting for him to say it.

"I.Im sorry." He said, barely audible. He glared at Umbra, with a look that could kill. He knew his end was near. He wouldn't give Umbra the satisfaction of saying goodbye. "Beat her.." he got out.

Umbra then pulled his heart out and dropped his lifeless body. She then threw his bloody heart in front of her feet. "Thissss isss your fault." She then disappeared.

Ellie looked to the heart and then ran to his dead body. "Jazin." She was crying. I promise I will beat her or die trying. She put her arms around him. She kept on crying as the scene faded.

---

****2 days later***

The USS Ottawa arrived at the location of the alternate Ottawa. It looked eerie and certain decks were dark and it didn't move. Other than the markings on the ship, it was the exact same steamrunner class.

Ellie got up from her chair. "Helm take us in closer. Slowly." She ordered. "Tactical?" She turned to Jazin. "Scan the vessel, any life signs on board?"

"Yes, Captan, but that's weird." He began

She put her hands behind her back. "What is? And it's skipper, remember or colonel."

"Well. I'm not detecting much damage or anything like that, but a quarter of the crew compliment seems to be gone somehow. Mutiple power fluctuations" The Trill scratched his head

Ellie turned to the vessel on the main viewer. "Something bad must have happened. How is there communication status? Can we hail them?"

"On it, Cap...Skipper." Jazin said. "Channel open."

"This is Lieutenant Colonel Ellis Sheppard of the USS Ottawa hailing the FSS Ottawa, Please respond!" Ellie said. She stared at the screen, which suddenly flared on, and it was almost like she was looking in to a mirror. But her reflection looked back tired and beaten down.

"I am Major Ellis Sheppard of the FSS Ottawa," The reflection replied. The light on her bridge was dim. "Did you say USS Ottawa?" She looked around the bridge. Her heart almost skipped a beat when she looked to Jazin. "Jazin?"

Ellie looked over her shoulder and then said, "We are from an alternate reality. While we were waiting to find a way back we were drafted by General O'Donnaghue to come get you back."

The Major looked to Ellie. "He should not have send you. He send you to your doom." She rubbed her eyes. "But since you are here, may I come on board, and is there room for my crew. Some of them could use some medical attention."


"Of course, Major..." Ellie responded, but before she could continue the Major had already hit a band on her wrist and she appeared on the bridge.

The Major smiled. "Thank you, colonel." She gave a nervous look to Jazin.

"Are you alright, Major?" Ellie asked.

She shook her head. "Yes, fine, colonel, its just...my Jazin, I mean commander Ijaan... Maybe we should talk in private." She looked to the captain's readyroom, almost expecting Captain Culbertson to come out.

Ellie nodded. "Of course." She got up and walked to the ready room. "Commander, you have the bridge."

"Aye, Colonel." Jazin said

As they walked in, alternate Ellie broke down and cried. Ellie put an arm around her shoulder. "What's wrong, Major?" she found it confusing talking to herself.

"My commander Ijaan died two days ago. And Captain Culbertson...and his wife. A quarter of my crew. Gone." She put her head in her hands. "I can't beat her. I can't beat her, she is just too strong."

"Her?" Ellie asked.

"Her name is Umbra, the entity we have been battling. It is more than we can handle. I don't know if we can win this." She looked defeated.

Ellie was unsure what to do in this situation. She thought a moment and then said, "I can provide medical help for your crew and help with repairs. I could look at your scans and logs to provide some fresh eyes." It was all she could offer.

Her counterpart just nodded. "I see no other alternative."

Ellie walked back on the bridge. "Commander, please assemble the senior staff in the lounge as soon as possible."

Jazin nodded. "I'll get on it." He tapped his commbadge. "This is Commander Ijaan. Senior staff report to the ready room in ten minutes. Repeat ten minutes. This is a good one folks." He said.

Before Ellie could walk out, her alternate counterpart pulled her back in. The doors close giving them privacy again. Alternate Ellie looked her in the eyes. "Do you love him?" She asked her a bit nervous.

Ellie shook her head and looked weird at her. "Excuse me, Major? I don't believe it is any of your business."

"Look," Alternate Ellie said, "I have seen how you looked at Commander Ijaan and if he is anything like mine and you are as me, which seems to be the case as I look at you, and even though our lives are different in a way, you are a marine, like me, and you serve or served under Captain Culbertson." She turned to the desk in the ready room noting the belongings of the former captain of the ship. One was a frame of the Captain's wife. "We're the same, though the circumstances of our lives, our careers and our worlds for that matter. At this moment you feel something for him and you don't know yet what that is, nor do you wish to know, and protocol dictates you are in command of this vessel and you can't be distracted from that. Will that fact change if you allow yourself to have those feelings, Colonel?"


Ellie froze as her counter part spoke like that. She didn't know how to respond to that.

Alternate Ellie just continued, "I know I worked much batter with him at my side, not only as my first officer, but also as my partner. And I know you will too. He will complete you in ways you can't imagine." She put her hand's on Ellie's shoulder. "Don't let your duty come in the way of this. I may have lost my Jazin, but I never regret every moment we were together." She let her go.

Ellie sighed and then said, "I will consider your words." She walked out of the ready room and headed to the lounge. "Major, I would like those scans and reports, please, she continued."

"You will have it, Colonel," came the reply.

They both continued to the lounge and waited for all senior staff to enter and be seated. Most of them weren't on the bridge and it was weird to see the colonel's doppelganger.

Ellie then spoke and said, "This is Major Sheppard, my doppelganger from this universe. She will explain the situation here." She then took a seat at the table.

Alternate Ellie looked around the table. Some of the crew were replaced by the people from this timeline to assist Ellie no doubt. But most of them she didn't know. Their crews weren't all the same as hers. She took a deep breath and then said, "6 months ago we came here for a reconnaissance mission. Unfortunately we encountered a para normal creature, more powerful than any other creature we came across. It killed our captain and his wife and it killed our commander Ijaan. I can show you footage of these attacks, but I must warn you, these images aren't for the faint of heart." She looked around to see the respond of the staff. When no one said anything she started the footage.

Jazin looked on, a million emotions going through his head as he watched the footage. His jaw fell open. He winced as he saw the deaths of Cubertson, and his wife. And then himself. It was a weird experience seeing his own death

Ellie was a trained marine, but she hadn't seen anything like this either. This creature was capable of a lot of stuff. Including ripping out the heart of a living and breathing person. She leaned over a bit. "So, Major, what does this creature want? I saw you were pleading to the creature. What were you willing to give to save the commander, your crew?"

Alternate Ellie swallowed and sighed. "Myself!" She walked to the table where everyone was seated. "The creature calls herself, I think it is a female as she presented herself in the shape of a female. She wanted me. Commander Ijaan, my Commander Ijaan, and I found out, Umbra did the same thing 5000 years ago, when there was a civilization down on the planet. Umbra killed a chieftain and his wife, bringing a young girl up to lead her people. Torturing them to no end. In order to safe her people and her the one she loved, she sacrificed herself. But I....I couldn't safe Jazin." She hid her hand on the table.

Ellie looked to her counterpart. "Major, Commander Ijaan gave his life to protect you. And I don't think it was just because he loved you, but because he swore an oath as an officer in starfleet. You are the commanding officer of that ship. His first duty was to that ship and her captain. Even if that meant laying down his life." She looked to her other self leaning over the table. Defeated and beaten down. She could only imagine what she was going through. She wouldn't know what she would if she were in her shoes.

Alternate Ellie was crying softly and then wiped her tears away. And turned to Ellie. "My crew is still being tortured. And I can't beat Umbra. It's almost like...almost like I met up with the mother of all Paranormal things in this universe. I still hear his voice in my head. I keep seeing him die in my dreams. Over and over again. And even now that your universe Jazin is sitting, can I still see him, die. That creature, thrusting her hand in his chest and pulling out...pulling out..." She put her hand in her mouth and bit it as to hold back the flood of emotions. She then pulled it away again. "Don't pretend you wouldn't feel the same way if it happened to him." She pointed to Jazin.

Ellie jumped up. "Major, you are out of line!" She said.

"No you are, Colonel," Alternate Ellie bit back. "This is not your world. You don't know how to deal with this stuff. You are probably used to fighting real enemies like the Dominion or the Crescent. Enemies you can touch, that have weaknesses, that you can kill or eliminate. What Umbra did to Jazin, there is no Crescent, Jem'Hadar or Vor'Ta that can. I couldn't beat her, and between you and me, I have been dealing with this stuff for years now. And I can't defeat Umbra. What makes you think you can?" The fury was really heard and felt in her tone.

Ellie looked shocked at her alternate counterpart. She wasn't shocked by her words, but what she was actually saying. Ellie couldn't read minds, but she finally realized that even though their lives were different and the circumstances and their worlds, but they were basically the same. The same personality. She was talking around something. She wasn't here to brief them on a mission. She was here to take her ship and her crew and not judge her on her decisions. As she kept looking at Ellie she said, "Everyone, but commander Ijaan and Major Sheppard, get out now. That's an order!" She waited for everyone to leave the room. Then she said softly but strong, "Don't come on my ship and lecture me about my feelings, while you are being crumbled by your own, Major. You promised that Jazin you would beat her." She pointed to the screen that has showed the footage of two days ago, showing Alternate Jazin being murdered in front of Alternate Ellies eyes. "And here you are giving up. You are a, Major. We don't give up. Only cowards giver up."

Alternate Ellie took off her rank pips, her combadge and her personal transporter and dropped it on the table. "Then I am a coward. But I am also a starfleet officer. And my duty is to my crew. And I have failed them. At least I can do is deliver them from this creature, the only way I know how.

Jazin spoke up, clearly unnerved. "I can only imagine what it must've felt to watch..me..die." he began. "But my..his..last words were to beat her. I get how you feel. I watched the footage. And I'm sure I'll be having nightmares for a good while. But that's another matter..." He began to ramble

Alternate Ellie looked to Jazin. It was hard to look at him and not see her Jazin. He did ask her to do that. She couldn't safe him. She still punishes herself for that. She grabbed his hand and looked him in the eyes. "She wants me, I am doing this to safe my crew. She is unbeatable. She is unlike anything we ever faces. The Ottawa and her crew are important now.As well as your Ottawa and crew. If I give myself, you can safe them. One day maybe she can be beaten, but it is not today." She pulled him close. "If you are anything like he was, listen to me. Don't let duty come before what you feel. You two make a perfect team. Love her, don't fear to show it. I would feel much better knowing, somewhere there is a universe where an Ellie Sheppard and a Jazin Ijaan are together, proving starfleet and the universe they can be together."

Jazin slowly nodded.

Alternate Ellie let go of his hand and then walked out of the door leaving her counterpart and Jazin behind. Ellie watched her leave. She knew where her counterpart was heading. To the planet. She rubbed her eyes and then she walked out of the senior staff lounge to go after her. She turned around looking to Jazin. "You have the bridge, commander." Then she left the lounge.

Jazin went right after her as he said, "Lieutenant Omar, you have the bridge."

Ellie looked at him and said, "What are you doing, I gave you a direct order, Commander?"

Jazin seemed unfazed as he said, "Where you go I go. I sworn an oath too and I sure as hell intend to keep it."

Ellie kept looking at him intense before finally sighing and saying, "Fine." She walked over to the lift and they both left the bridge to go after her counterpart.

She was already in the temple and Ellie could see her moving up the alter. A strange, sandy wind was blowing around the planet. She ran quickly with towards the temple with Jazin on her tail. As she entered the ruins up to the alter she saw alternate Ellie standing there with her hands raised in the air. A second she looked back and whispered, "Save them, colonel." The storm that was now raging even harder closed around and took her away.

Ellie jumped forward but Jazin grabbed her. It was too late, she was already gone. Never in her life had Ellie felt so powerless. She fell in Jazin's arms as he broke down and cried. Jazin had trouble holding down his own emotions as well. He looked at the alter and saw the ancient letters carved in the stone. He took out his phaser, set it and then burned in his own words saying, "Once again." Then he helped Ellie back to the ship.

Umbra's rage was finally over. Or is it....

------

Lieutenant Colonel Ellis Sheppard
USS Ottawa 2385

Lieutenant Commander Jazin Ijaan
USS Ottawa 2385

Major Ellis Sheppard
USS Ottawa 2385, Paranormal Universe

 

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