Meeting the New Boss

Posted on Tue Apr 28th, 2020 @ 4:35am by Lieutenant Takeshi Nakazato 'Zack' & Lieutenant Bobbie Sue "Bobcat" Hunter

981 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Demons in the Dark
Location: Fighter Bay

ON

Bobbie Sue kept to herself when she wasn't out flying CAP, so she'd avoided the virus going around. For once, she was grateful to be too busy to mingle with the rest of the crew. Now that power was restored, she wanted to check on her bird and so headed to the fighter bay.

To say Takeshi's first reassignment of his starfleet career had began in chaos was an understatement:

Once they had gotten the TIC up and running, Takeshi's duties had been a cycle of running around the ship and administering Kah'Leth's 'cure' into the isolated infected gel packs, and when 'the cure' was unavailable, Takeshi was fixing and replacing mechanical systems. It wasn't like Takeshi minded, though: Doing odd jobs around the ship would help him prove his worth to the higher ups and cement his role as second officer.

Takeshi's most recent job was an access panel in the corridor outside the fighter bay: He had to replace fried power couplings and power relays leading to and from a recently cured gel pack. Takeshi could only guess that these items blew out when the gel pack went bad.

As he worked, Takeshi suddenly got the feeling he was being watched. He looked up from his work to find a short blonde woman staring at him with the same look of odd curiosity he had been receiving from folks he passed in the hall. But this case was different: While all those cases were casual head turns in his direction, this woman was standing in place staring at him. She couldn't have been too much younger than him, maybe a year or two at most. He made note of her rank pips: Lieutenant, same rank as him.

"Stop staring, Lieutenant:" Takeshi said. "You look like you've never seen another Starfleet officer in your life."

Bobbie Sue folded her arms across her chest, not at all taken aback by his words. "Hardly, but I didn't expect to find a stranger down here--especially stuck as we are. They call me Bobcat. Who are you?" Based on his uniform and what he was doing, he belonged here, but she wasn't sure where he came from or why he was here, now, in fighter pilot country. Power was back on, mostly, but they were still stuck, and he was here, which made her intensely curious.

Realizing that the lieutenant, who had introduced herself as 'Bobcat', was not about to simply run along and let him return to his work, Takeshi set his tools down and stood up. At his full height, he was about 9 or so inches taller than her.

"I'm Takeshi Nakazato." He introduced, offering his hand. "But my friends call me Zack."

She shook his hand. "So, how did you come to show up on the Tokyo?"

Takeshi felt in Bobcat's handshake that she was a racer. He would have to circle back around to it, but first he had to answer her question.

"My old ship intercepted an autmomated distress signal." Takeshi explained. "Pretty smart ship, I must admit; as it knew to add 'exercise caution' to the automated distress signal."

She nodded. "Command didn't want anyone else falling into this trap," she replied. "Just help to get us out."

"Well, I was in the process of doing so when you interrupted me." He explained, indicating the open access panel and his tools on the floor. "Lieutenant Commander Kah'Leth's doing his best to make his 'cure' as quickly as possible, but I understand he's no miracle worker. So, I'm doing some other odd jobs all around the ship between batches."

She raised an eyebrow. "The doctor, engineering, and operations are working hard to fix the ship, yes. I would consider what they've managed to do so far a miracle, even if they're still working out the kinks." Her tone was polite, but she was going to take the less-than-subtle hint. "Since I'm headed to do some repairs of my own, I'll leave you to it."

"Say, wait up, Lieutenant!" Takeshi called as Bobcat began to walk off. "I just real quick have a personal question to ask: Do you by any chance race cars?"

She turned, clearly surprised by his question. "Yes. Why?"

"I felt it in your handshake." Takeshi explained. "You know, I used to be a pretty notorious racer myself: They used to call me the Black Lightning back in Gunma."

"Really?" she asked. "I've heard of some of the racers in Gunma. How long ago?"

"Gosh, it must have been right after I graduated University." Takeshi explained. "So, about, 10 or 11 years ago: I bought and fixed up this old Skyline GT-R R32, and began racing on a pass on Mt. Myogi. At first, I was just a lone wolf, but my skill attracted fellow ground car enthusiasts, and before I knew it, I had myself a team: We called ourselves the Myogi NightKids, and the whole thing basically lasted until I found love about 7 years ago, when I dissolved the team and joined Starfleet in an act to clean up my life."

She'd read a little about the group. It wasn't the sort she generally raced against. "I raced competitively on earth for a bit, but I don't have time for more than tinkering right now. I had to choose between racing and flying, and I chose flying."

"I see." Takeshi noted. "Well, then, carry on, Lieutenant: It seems we both have work we must get back to. Perhaps we could continue this conversation later on, if you so desire."

"Sure. I always like talking cars," she said, giving him a wave. "And flying. See you around. Oh, and welcome aboard."

Takeshi gave Bobbie Sue a parting nod and turned back to his work.

___
OFF

Lieutenant Bobbie Sue (Bobcat) Hunter
Flight Leader
USS Tokyo

Lieutenant Takeshi "Zack" Nakazato
Air Boss
Second Officer
USS Tokyo

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