Yesterday's Aegis

The remains of Starbase Olympus

## Origin Event

After a routine anti-Chimaera mission, the Aegis is recalled to Olympus at best speed to support the efforts of the Brazzaville in its next mission. On the way, the Aegis encounters a mysterious spatial anomaly and what appear to be a Breen and Reman ship making repairs. The ships turn hostile and fire on the Aegis, forcing them into a confrontation. As the Reman warbird's warp core goes critical, the anomaly expands and pulls the Aegis inside.....

## Catalyst

* The USS Aegis is listed as MIA, and the mystery is never solved

### Involved Personnel (JTFB)

* Markus Brookfield
* Cassandra Ladon
* Catarina Claes (Severely Injured)
* Karius
* Shelly Piper
* Calliope "Clover" Rath
* Hunter Munro
* Adami
* Kagi
* Alice Kamiguwa

### Involved Personnel (alternate)

* Keres
* Arisa Val'ina
* Holo
* Julia Amiga
* Valeria Stokour (the original and her daughter of the same name)
* Shego

## Episode Synopsis

The Aegis, after suffering moderate damage from the nearby warp core breach and unknowingly being pulled through a temporal anomaly, signals Olympus for help. They manage to repair their major systems and warp to Olympus...only to find a battle-scarred hulk where Olympus once stood, the corpses of its defense force littering the surrounding space. An away team is deployed to find answers. Cass is able to sense them telepathically, but their sensors cannot pick them up due to some form of personal dampening device. The two 'intruders' in question are an older version of Arisa (accompanied by Sienae) and a Trill woman with silver hair and artificial eyes who identifies herself as Keres. Shortly after introductions are made, the duo is forced to take refuge on the Aegis as hostile Starfleet ships--flying the flag of the "Alpha Protectorate"--demand the unconditional surrender of Markus and his crew.

With the failure of the secondary systems, the Aegis does not announce the new personnel upon transport, but more importantly, the self-destruct and remote piloting capabilities are inaccessible. Using a few old tricks (and with the sacrifice of Arisa's nearby cloaked T'Liss), the Aegis makes a valiant stand, but they are clearly outgunned. Keres sheds light on another advantage the Aegis has over the attackers: speed. The Alpha Protectorate ships do not rely on warp and can only manage warp 5.

Making their way away from the battlefield at Warp 6, Keres and Arisa use Kami's Borg implants to decode the location of their final remaining safehouse. Arisa is able to repair the Aegis's cloak and give a short, sterile version of the events that have taken place over the last 84 years. Most of JTFB is dead or gone. Starfleet has been overtaken by ruthless militant ideals. The Mercury Project bore fruit in the form of new jump technology, and was used to deadly effect. Most powers that could challenge what used to be Starfleet now share a nonaggression pact.

Before too a full-on history lesson can be given, an AP contact is registered on the Aegis sensors. Their pursuer is now in *front* of them...and they have friends.

Arisa manages to make sense of the message, convincing Keres of the only way to get where they need to go. After a moment of hesitation, Keres peels away a prosthetic cover from her arm, plugging herself into the Aegis's borrowed nav module and jumping them to Maxia...revealing she's actually an older, broken, exiled Valerie.

After a brief re-introduction to Holo, the Aegis is taken in for repairs. Arisa and Markus begin preparations and planning for a final push to the anomaly that will return them home. After an impassioned speech and reminder of what family means to her, Keres finally comes to her senses and realizes there's one more way she can help. Re-embracing her old self, she realizes Julia is still an ally, and though she's denied every call from Keres, she never refused a call from *Valerie*....

Arrangements are made to stage a march on DS9. Markus will lay traps and scan for the required data to get them home while Val and Julia bait Valeria II into a grudge match. The ensuing battle is brutal, as the rebel ships are outclassed and outgunned. Reinforcements come for both sides: Valeria I reinforces her daughter, while Shego and the Viridian Corsairs come to the aid of Val (courtesy of Maka). Julia is able to take out Valeria I, while Val (with the Boudicca) is able to dance around the bigger ship and cause mayhem. Arisa is able to board DS9 and take it out of the fight, lending its scientific capability to the Aegis. In a final effort to clear the way for the Aegis, Val bids Arisa a final farewell and jumps herself and a good deal of the defending force into the star of Bajor.

The Aegis, path and skies relatively clear, manages to finalize its adjustments and sail through the anomaly. The Gekka awaits on the other side, investigating the last known location of the Aegis. A final message from Keres lets Markus know that the Aegis has quite a fight ahead...but she still has a duty to protect the space-time continuum.

## Meta Datapoints

*The following are brief outlines of specific meta points, events, and ideas from the timeline*

### History Breakdown

* USS Aegis goes missing, disappearance is used as fuel for Ad Populum's push to consolidate home forces
* Anti-Chimaera/Anti-Cain strike force has their numbers reduced
* Val's strike/rescue team only consists of herself and her other selves; only the Prime Val survives.
* Admiral Possible is severely injured making a run on Cain's flagship. She later dies from these wounds and is unable to help against the rise of Ad Populum. She is posthumously lauded as a hero, with a battleship commissioned and named after her.
* The rescue of Hana Stoppable is successful. Cain Carter is killed once and for all.
	+ However, the lengthy battle takes its toll on those supporting JTFB from afar. The Einstein and its sister ships are destroyed by the temporal damage inflicted by Cain's weaponry, and the resulting damage slowly spreads across subspace.
* Ad Populum continues to gain strength among the people, taking credit for JTFB's work in destroying Chimaera and blaming JTFB for the subspace damage inflicted by Cain's weaponry. Warp travel is limited to Warp 7 while the 'safe areas' are mapped.
* Albion falls under AP control
* Ad Populum marches on Olympus Station, demanding the surrender of all classified materiel, the Boudicca (and her spore pilot), and all forces to AP-loyal forces.
	+ Without Admiral Possible to anticipate or counter this move by AP, Valerie offers her surrender to buy the others time to mount a resistance. Though this was authorized by JTFB brass, this move later sees her vilified as a traitor--especially in her own eyes.
	+ Val is officially promoted to Admiral and quietly relegated to the ethically-dubious labs of Project Mercury once more as a test subject. Von Papen is brought in as a subject expert to ensure her...cooperation.
* As Ad Populum tightens their grip on the worlds of the Federation, the location of the new Project Mercury base is leaked. A rescue mission for Val is mounted, for fear of AP being able to create their own Spore-capable ships. Many of those close to Val are part of the team, including Hana and Kaan. All lose their lives in seeing Val safely rescued.
* News of the 'botched' rescue reaches the AP propaganda machine. The Callahan symbiont is exiled for these crimes, as are any symbionts/hosts who refuse the new order (under the banner of "The League of Allied Nations").
* AP marches in force on Olympus, demanding their unconditional surrender. They resist, causing the destruction of every defending ship. No quarter is given, and no prisoners were taken. The only survivors were those of the Resistance who fled.
	+ Val's rescue capsule is recovered by Arisa, who is barely able to console her mentor as Val grapples with the scale of pointless death...the worst of it on her behalf.
* The people of Albion launch a full-scale riot against AP and are put down hard by Valeria Stokour and her special forces.
* The subspace damage is deemed too extensive to fix. Warp is unstable and unreliable around stars and areas of heavy gravitational forces. Newer ship designs are limited to Warp 5.
	+ In the wake of this news, the League announces its new proprietary travel method: Jump Beacons.
* The next 80 years see the rise of the "Alpha Protectorate" as it chips away at the Resistance. Val and Arisa try to take up the slack that Admirals Possible and Vex left behind, but the lack of planning and overt support cause them to struggle.

### Alternate Tech

* **Subdermal Biodampener -** A small device implanted under the skin (usually near the base of the skull under the ear) that serves to dampen personal biosigns and prevent unwanted transport. Developed by Doctor Samus Aran, before her death at the hands of the Alpha Protectorate.
* **Jump Beacon -** A device stationed at points throughout the galaxy with a small cluster of the 'P. stellaviatori' fungus housed within its confines. A partner module aboard ships allowed limited use of pre-calculated jumps without an organic pilot.
* **"Pan" -** A telepathically bonded Metroid/Eel hybrid bred by Doctor Aran specifically for Valerie. Its unique biology inherited from its Metroid parent allowed it to help filter the spores from Valerie's blood before they reached corrupting levels. As an organic being, however, Pan had limits to how much it could filter at once.
* **Pilot Implant**