"Star Trek" Universe - "Y" Characters Quiz

Answer: Natasha Yar

Lieutenant Natasha "Tasha" Yar was the security chief aboard the newly-commissioned USS Enterprise-D. She had grown up on Turkana IV, a former Federation colony whose government had broken down and a civil war began. The government had given police powers to two factions of colonists - The Coalition and The Alliance - to try to control the violence. However, both of these cadres overthrew the government, and the colony became completely lawless. ("Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Legacy")

Tasha was able to escape Turkana IV when she was 15. She went on to Starfleet Academy and became a security officer.

Sadly, her time aboard the Enterprise was cut short. She was part of an away team that was trying to rescue Counselor Troi and Lieutenant Prieto from a shuttle crash on Vagra II. Unknown at the time, the shuttle crash was caused by a malevolent entity called Armus, which appeared alternately as a dark pool of liquid or a roughly humanoid figure that rose out of the black pool. This entity was blocking the away team from approaching the shuttle. Yar's assertive personality took over, and she just quickly walked around Armus. It then sent an energy discharge at her, hitting her in the face. Dr. Crusher quickly got her beamed up to the Enterprise, but despite her best efforts, Tasha Yar died. ("Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Skin of Evil")

A little bit more trivia: although Tasha Yar died in "Skin of Evil", that episode was actually filmed before the episode "Symbiosis", which aired before. If you rewatch "Symbiosis", at the end as Picard and Crusher are exiting the cargo bay, one can see Tasha in the background at the transporter console, waving good-bye to the camera.

Natasha Yar was portrayed by Denise Crosby. She is the granddaughter of actor/singer Bing Crosby.

Answer: Kasidy Yates

Kasidy Yates was a freighter captain of the SS Xhosa in the 24th century, working mainly in the region of Bajor. Because of this, she frequented Deep Space 9. She met, fell in love, and married Captain Benjamin Sisko. ("Star Trek: Deep Space Nine")

Kasidy Yates was portrayed by Penny Johnson. Earlier, she had guest starred in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Homeward" as the Boraalan girlfriend of Nikolai Rozhenko (Worf's human adopted brother). Later, Johnson was a main cast member of "The Orville", a tribute show of sorts of "Star Trek", portraying Dr. Claire Finn.

Answer: Yarnek

As the USS Enterprise was performing scans of Excalbia, it was itself scanned from the planet. The scan from Excalbia informed the Excalbians of the concepts of good and evil, which were foreign to them. To facilitate their understanding, the Excalbians generated a simulation of Abraham Lincoln from Earth, a good individual from Kirk's memory. Lincoln urged Kirk and Spock to beam down to a region of Excalbia that had been modified to be safe for them.

Once there, they met an individual Excalbian - Yarnek - who told Kirk of their interest of exploring good versus evil. They then meet another simulation of Surak of Vulcan, the founder of Vulcan logic philosophy. Kirk, Spock, and the two good characters are pitted against four evil characters from history: Colonel Green, Zora, Kahless, and Genghis Khan. ("Star Trek" episode "The Savage Curtain")

Yarnek was performed by stunt man and monster costume maker János Prohászka. Yarnek was voiced by voice actor Bart La Rue.

Answer: Yelgrun

Yelgrun was a Vorta who worked for the Dominion during the Federation-Dominion war. He was sent to negotiate with a group of Ferengi for the safe return of Ishka, Quark's mother. The Ferengi would be handing over Keevan, a Vorta that the Federation agreed to give to Quark so that he could get his mother back. He agreed to meet the Ferengi on Empok Nor, an abandoned Cardassian station.

Unfortunately for the Ferengi, they had accidentally killed Keevan while they were arguing. So they had to stall Yelgrun while they came up with a plan. Nog used several neural stimulators on Keevan's corpse to reanimate it enough to fool Yelgrun and get Ishka back.

When Yelgrun realized he was being duped, the Ferengi opened fire and killed Yelgrun's Jem'Hadar guards and captured Yelgrun, turning him over to Starfleet.

Nog's control of Keevan's corpse malfunctioned, leaving the corpse to keep walking into a bulkhead as the Ferengi left with Ishka and their prisoner Yelgrun. ("Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episode "The Magnificent Ferengi")

Yelgrun was portrayed by Iggy Pop. Iggy Pop is best known as the Godfather of Punk; he was a member of music groups The Stooges, The Trolls, The Iguanas, and The Prime Movers.

Answer: Yedrin

Yedrin was a Trill/Human hybrid and the host of the Dax symbiont on the planet Gaia in the Gamma Quadrant. He and his fellow Gaians were descendants of the crew of the USS Defiant that had been sent back in time to the 22nd century by a quantum energy barrier around Gaia and then crashed. The crew couldn't send a message for help, so they instead settled down to live on Gaia.

By the 24th century, Gaia had about 8,000 people. This is when the Defiant originally landed on the planet. By the colony's history, it was when the Defiant tried to leave that they went back in time and crashed back onto the planet. ("Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episode "Children of Time")

It was stated that Yedrin was Jadzia's great-grandson. But what was not said how many other Trill/Human hosts there had been between Jadzia and Yedrin.

Yedrin Dax was portrayed by Gary Frank.

Answer: Yanas

Yanas Tigan was the mother of Ezri Tegan, who became Ezri Dax when she was drafted to join with the symbiont Dax. Yanas was a business owner of a pergium mine in the Sappora star system. She did not have a good relationship with her children, especially with Ezri. This worsened after Ezri was joined with Dax. ("Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episode "Prodigal Daughter")

Yanas Tigan was portrayed by Leigh Taylor-Young.

Answer: Yarka

Yarka was a Bajoran vedek who was defrocked for espousing opinions that were not in line with the Bajoran Faith.

He became convinced that Cardassian scientists who were trying to establish permanent communications through the Bajoran wormhole would cause the destruction of it, which the Bajoran faith considered to be the Celestial Temple of the Prophets. ("Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episode "Destiny")

Yarka was portrayed by Erick Avari. Avari has portrayed two other characters in "Star Trek" lore: a Klingon named B'iJik ("Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Unification I") and a Novan named Jamin ("Star Trek: Enterprise" episode "Terra Nova").

Answer: Shari yn Yem

Shari yn Yem was a Pandronian Starfleet drill administrator. She was sent to the USS Cerritos to administer drill to its crew because of an incident when four lower-deckers were accidentally abandoned on a spacewalk mission. On most of her assignments, the crews performed admirably. Because of this, she was afraid her position would be eliminated as unnecessary. She modified the drills, which were administered in miniature holodeck pods, so that they couldn't be performed acceptably. Then Yem could justify her position because she'd have found a crew that wasn't performing well.

Most of the Cerritos crew were getting failing grades on all the various drills they attempted. However, Ensign Brad Boimler, who was working on a Borg Encounter drill, got a passing grade, but not 100%. He wanted a perfect score, so he kept working on it, getting a percentage point higher each time, but still not 100%.

When Captain Freeman and Ensign Mariner discovered Yem's plan, they realized she couldn't send her unfair grades to Starfleet until all the crew's grades were finalized. With Boimler still in his drill, Yem couldn't send her report. So, Freeman ordered Boimler, who had just achieved a 100% grade, to stay in the holopod. She then went to the bridge and ordered the Cerritos to more and more dangerous situations to scare Yem - crystalline entities, black holes, etc. - until she agreed to send a 100% report for the Cerritos crew.

Freeman then went to the holopod and told Boimler he could exit. Unfortunately, he had sacrificed his 100% grade by staying in the pod, and the program proceeded to assimilate him into a Borg with the designation Excretus. Exiting the pod, his body returned to normal. But the mental effects lingered. ("Star Trek: Lower Decks" episode "I, Excretus")

Shari yn Yem was voiced by Lennon Parham.

Answer: Yassim

Vedek Yassim was a Bajoran vedek who opposed the Dominion's occupation of Deep Space 9. Kira Nerys met with Yassim, and urged her to not to protest, as it would make things worse for Bajor.

Yassim disagreed with Kira and went ahead with a planned protest. She said the protest would start at 1400 hours on the promenade of the station. Kira, Jake, and Odo waited on the promenade, but didn't see any protesters. From the upper level of the promenade, Yassim shouted, "Evil must be opposed," then stepped off the upper level with a rope around her neck, hanging herself. ("Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episode "Rocks and Shoals")

Yassim was portrayed by Lilyan Chauvin and stuntwoman Leslie Hoffman.

Answer: Mirasta Yale

Mirasta Yale was a Malcorian astronomer and scientist. She oversaw the Malcor III Space Bureau, which had just developed a warp drive, which had not yet been tested. Starfleet observers, who had been established on Malcor III, were preparing to make first contact with the government once their warp drive was shown to be viable. But two situations were interfering with normal first contact procedures. First, other ministers were hesitant in developing interstellar travel so quickly. Second, Commander Riker was missing amongst the population. He had been liaising with the Starfleet observers, but suffered some sort of accidental injury and was taken to a hospital, where his alien-to-Malcorian-doctors physiology was discovered.

After Riker is found and his injuries healed, the Malcorian Chancellor Durken decided that Malcor III was not ready to join the galactic society. So, he halted funding for the warp drive project. Yale, who was disappointed in this decision, asked Picard if she could leave with the Enterprise. He agreed, and has quarters assigned to her. ("Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "First Contact".)

The title "First Contact" was recycled as part of the title of the second "Next Generation" movie: "Star Trek: First Contact". Another "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode - "Lower Decks" - became part of the title of "Star Trek: Lower Decks", which centers around the ensigns serving on the USS Cerritos.

Mirasta Yale was portrayed by Carolyn Seymour. Seymour has portrayed other characters in "Star Trek" productions: two different Romulan officers - Taris ("Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Contagion") and Toreth ("Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Face Of The Enemy"); and a holodeck character Mrs. Templeton ("Star Trek: Voyager" episodes "Cathexis" and "Persistence of Vision"). Seymour also appeared as two different characters on "Quantum Leap": a ghost of Priscilla Stoltz in "A Portrait for Troian", and three times as Zoey, a member of an evil quantum leaping organization that is trying to create havoc in history, counter to what Sam's purpose is.

Answer: Yor

Lieutenant Commander Yor was a Betelgeusian Starfleet officer from an alternate reality. He was also a time soldier. By traveling in both time and across dimensions, his molecules attempted to return to their place of origin. This produced painful symptoms that were incurable. Because of this, his doctors petitioned the Federation for euthanasia. ("Star Trek: Discovery" episode "Terra Firma, Part 1")

The picture of Yor used in his personnel file was of an unknown actor.

Answer: Yuta

Yuta was an Acamarian who belonged to a clan called Tralesta a century prior to the events of the USS Enterprise-D. Her clan was decimated by a rival clan Lornak. The surviving Tralestas chose Yuta to be their instrument of vengeance. She was altered to have an extra-long lifespan, and also was able to administer a deadly micro virus that only affected members of Clan Lornak. She traveled Acamar III, infecting any Lornak with the virus, killing them. The virus was undetectable, so all the Lornak deaths were considered to be by natural causes.

By the 24th century, there were only a few Clan Lornak members remaining. By this time, Acamar III had exiled the more violent clans from the planet. These remaining Lornak were among the exiles, called Gatherers. Among the Gatherers, they had stopped their interclan rivalries, though still recognizing their ancestry. To get to these remaining Lornak, Yuta became the chef and food taster of the Sovereign Marouk. When piracy by the Gatherers was becoming a threat to the Federation, Marouk was asked to see if she could welcome the Gatherers back to Acamar III in order to stop the raids. Yuta went along with her, giving her a chance to finalize her mission.

Yuta was able to kill one Lornak - Volnoth - with the virus. Dr. Crusher was suspicious of the death, and did an in-depth investigation where she found the existence of the micro virus. Researching Acamarian records, they found that another Lornak died of similar symptoms a century before. Looking at a picture of that victim in a police perp walk, they saw a woman in the background who looked familiar. Enhancing the photo, they saw Yuta, who remarkably looked the same in the present. Putting the facts together, they realized that the virus would only kill members of Clan Lornak. And there was only one Lornak left, the Gatherers' leader, Chorgan.

At peace negotiations, Marouk and Chorgan were arguing finer points of reunification. Yuta was about to serve Chorgan some refreshment, giving her access to kill him and fulfill her mission. But Riker beamed down into the negotiation meeting and told Yuta to back away from Chorgan. Knowing she'd been realized as the cause of the Lornak deaths, she refused. Riker tried to stun her, but her modified physiology let her shrug off the attack. Riker tried a heavier setting, but Yuta kept advancing toward Chorgan. Finally, he had to set his phaser to its maximum setting - disintegration - and used it on Yuta, evaporating her. ("Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "The Vengeance Factor")

Yuta was portrayed by Lisa Wilcox.

Answer: Yranac

Yranac was a Yridian criminal who witnessed what he perceived to be Jean-Luc Picard being vaporized by a disruptor at a bar. Under questioning by Commander Riker, he revealed that he overheard one of the mercenaries mention the Barradas system.

As it happened, Picard was not vaporized, but transported away via a device that made it look like the target was vaporized. He was kidnapped because he was overheard discussing archaeological artifacts, which the mercenaries were interested in. ("Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Gambit, Part I")

Yranac was portrayed by Alan Altshuld. The name "Yranac" is "canary" reversed; a canary is a slang term for an informant, especially a criminal who gives information to police in order to avoid punishment for their own crimes.

Answer: Yosa

Yosa was a Maquis member who was aboard the Val Jean when the Caretaker seized it and brought it to the Delta Quadrant. ("Star Trek: Voyager")

Around stardate 54101, a post-hypnotic command that had been planted in Tuvok's mind activated, causing him to mentally attack former Maquis crewmembers of USS Voyager, including Yosa. The victims fell into comas. But when they awoke, they appeared unaffected. However, Tuvok planted the plans of a mutiny in all their minds. He activated this plan by communicating to Chakotay the Bajoran phrase, "Pagh t'em far. B'tanay." Chakotay then began a mutiny. Every other Maquis that had been attacked by Tuvok, when they heard the Bajoran phrase, joined in the mutiny.

With the Maquis in control of Voyager, Chakotay decides to test Tuvok, since he doesn't fully trust him even though he was the one who started the mutiny. He hands Tuvok a phaser and tells him to kill Janeway. He pressed the button, but the phaser didn't work. This solidifies Chakotay's trust in Tuvok. However, Tuvok then attacks Chakotay, starting another mind meld to reverse the mutinous behavior. Then Tuvok, Chakotay, and Janeway are able to re-take Voyager and restore the Maquis back to their right minds. ("Star Trek: Voyager" episode "Repression")

After Voyager made it back to the Alpha Quadrant, Yosa was commissioned into Starfleet. He was assigned to the USS Dauntless as an engineer. ("Star Trek: Prodigy" episode "Supernova, Part 1")

Yosa was portrayed by Mark Rafael Truitt.

Answer: Yint

Yint was a weapons merchant who sold Klingon disruptors to Liam Bilby of the Orion Syndicate. They were defective, though Yint claimed they were in working order before. Bilby later killed Yint with the very disruptors he'd been sold, only after his associate Connelly repaired them to be operable. This was to prove a point about lying to the Orion Syndicate. ("Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episode "Honor Among Thieves")

Yint was portrayed by Brad Blaisdell.