Join us for another in a series of interviews with winners of awards from our [YEAR] Awards Ceremony. Our goal is to give you insight into how our fleet’s best simmers write, and imagine their characters as well as their out of character contributions and achievements.
This month we’re interviewing the writer behind Lieutenant Hallia Yellir playing a Yelikan female assigned to the USS Artemis-A. She won the Prestigious Service Award: “Awarded to members in the fleet who are steady and unwavering from their chosen Duty Post.” for her continued excellence as an Engineer.
DeVeau: In our last interview, which was when you were recognised for your simming as an Engineer for the first time, you shared a little about yourself. Would you be willing to share a little more, perhaps how you got into costume design, or anything else you’d like to tell us about?
Yellir: For sure! I originally started out back when I was in high school. I got into design in general because of my textiles class, I just found the activity to be something I really liked because of how much control I had over the finished product. Around that time I got super into cosplay and seeing all these really intricate costumes, I would try (and fail) to replicate the stuff I’d see all these pros doing. Since then I’ve gotten really deep in the hobby of drag, I still do cosplay as I have a lot of connections in the hobby over here. But I’ve gone from struggling to put together something super basic to being able to style these gorgeous wigs, carve out my own little style of makeup and better execute my creative vision. I’ve also been able to create an aesthetic that feels like an extension of myself as an artist.
It’s been another year of adventures and you have steadfastly remained in engineering. How would you say Hallia has grown since last we chatted, especially within her abilities as an engineer?
I think all in all there’s a competency she hasn’t had until now. Going into Engineering now, she’s been in the position long enough to where she feels comfortable in her spot not only as a leader but as an engineer. But compared to when I first started writing for the duty post, I wanted to communicate as much as possible about her lack of comfort within the post, as well as the lack of competency. It was essentially apples and oranges when Hallia first started in the department, having to fall back on the scientific method to diagnose the ship’s problems. But now, there is more of a perspective from both the science and engineering departments with how she approaches problem-solving. I’ve tried to relate it back to my own life experiences. That feeling when you approach something you don’t have as much of an affinity for and you essentially have to work overtime to get yourself up to everyone else’s level. Back when I first started I was so terrified of her instantly becoming an expert in the field, and at all costs, I wanted to avoid her just instantly being good at the job. I wanted to create a journey that made her knowledge feel earned.
How has Hallia’s experience in other specialties either hindered or helped her as an engineer?
A bit of both in this case. I think in moments of crisis it’s a bit of a dice roll where she’ll land. Hallia has a bad habit of being far too ambitious with her plans where she bases a solution on purely theoretical evidence, trying to throw stuff at a wall to see what sticks. Or, she can go in a completely other direction and get in her head and overthink the problem entirely. There are moments where I feel she falls back on her time as a science officer when it’s not exactly applicable to a situation and I think it’s a natural thing in times of stress to seek methods of thinking that are familiar. That being said though, I think working in science has been a massively helpful thing from an organizational standpoint. She knows how to stick to a routine, and understands the consequences of a lack of organization and how that can really throw a department through the wringer if not properly managed. I think as well, Hallia’s experience has caused her to be more cautious than anything, given the occupational hazard that comes with biological material and harmful chemicals.
Since our last interview, have there been any new conflicts or challenges that Hallia has had to face?
Goodness, when haven’t there been? In the past few missions alone, Hallia has been punted so far out of her comfort zone that I don’t think she’s even surprised anymore when things start going wrong. The biggest challenge though? Was probably from the mission very simply titled “Drill”. In the space of a combat drill, Hallia went from commanding a department to being an acting captain mid-ship combat. It was a very fun experience to write for, and it was one of those missions where I really could just get lost in writing my little descriptions for whatever was going on. Post after post for everyone was just pure literary gold and it was so exciting to see what everyone was going to add to the scene. For the longest time, I’ve seen her as someone who looks up to her CO’s and command staff, and it felt like a very full circle moment for her to sit in the captain’s chair and fight alongside the Artemis instead of coordinating everything from engineering.
What has been the most interesting engineering feat she’s had to perform?
Any time where I get to apply Hallia’s engineering/science expertise in an unconventional way instantly makes fireworks go off in my brain. But it’s a tie between two— the first one being managing to quite literally melt the face off of Talos Dakora’s evil twin. The Artemis was under siege, and she had been held at phaser-point for a good chunk of the final act. But the climax it built to, where I was given the chance to have her put her knowledge of the Artemis to the test was absolutely iconic. She ended up causing a plasma overload in engineering while working under the guise of disabling shipwide comms which gave her just enough of an upper hand to escape.
The second has to be in the mission “Impact”, where Hallia ended up working with Hiro Jones to create a stasis device that shielded the minds of telepaths. The atmosphere had been polluted by a meteorite that had struck the surface, which caused telepathic species to go berserk upon exposure. Hands down one of my favourite experiences techno babbling my way out of a situation.
Where would you like to see Hallia in the future?
I like where she is now, she’s definitely the character I’ve had the most fun writing for. But I wanna try and go for at least another rank up. Lieutenant Commander Hallia Yellir has a nice ring to it. Plus I think it’d be very fitting for her to move up just a smidge seeing how she has grown since I joined up with this crew so long ago. It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve hopped along this journey, yet her future has never looked brighter, and I honestly couldn’t have asked for better people to have written with.
Thanks for your time, Lieutenant Yellier!
You can read more about Lieutenant Hallia Yellir on the wiki.
