Trying to break the ice

Posted on Sun Sep 27th, 2020 @ 1:07pm by Admiral Tanaka Miyahara & Captain Taiga Aisaka

1,521 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: The Elachi Return
Location: USS Myogi

Admiral Miyahara made his way to the quarters where he was detaining Captain Aisaka, having turned over command to Captain Nishizumi. He had considered giving her Lieutenant Nakazato's old quarters out of irony, but those were way too nice for her, so he gave her some of the smallest quarters on the ship instead. Though he wasn't obligated to talk to prisoners, he was doing so more as a courtesy: Because if he did, then maybe, just maybe, they wouldn't reach earth viewing each other as monsters.

He brought with him a small locked box he usually kept in his ready room, but he felt its contents would help him make his case. When he arrived outside the quarters, he gave his phaser to one of the guards, who looked back at him as if he had gone mad.

"Are you sure, sir?" The young ensign asked.

"Quite positive, Ensign." He responded. "If Captain Aisaka won't listen to an armed man, hopefully she'll listen to an unarmed man."

The young ensign nodded and allowed him inside.

The room was surrounded in darkness. The only light source from the glow of the replicator control panel and the ambient light from passing stars.

"Well. What do you want?" A voice said from the darkness. "Come to belittle me some more huh?"

"I know you have some colorful choice words for me right now." Tanaka replied calmly. "I am unarmed. If you have managed to fashion yourself a weapon, than go ahead and strike me: I have no means to defend myself."

The lamp on the table next to Taiga flicked on, casting a low light over the room. "I don't need a weapon to knock you on your ass if I wanted to Admiral" she said simply frowning at him.

"However. That would be assault on a superior officer" she added. "Although you seem to think I'm some sort of savage barbarian just because of the situation" she paused and looked the admiral up and down. "So enlighten me, what is it you want?"

Tanaka assumed a firm posture.

"A great fellow Admiral; Dobson, I believe his name was, once said that in order to truly defeat an enemy, you must understand them. That is what I have come to do." He explained.

Tanaka settled into a nearby chair, typing a combination into a keypad on the small hexagonal box he had with him. The locked box clicked open upon acceptance of the code, and he placed the open box down on the coffee table.

"I'm sure you'll recognize these." He said, indicating the captain's rank pips inside the box.

"Starfleet Rank pips" Taiga said simply. She looked up at the Admiral.

"A once very great man once said 'The fiercest serpent may be overcome by a swarm of ants'" she told him. Using Admiral Yamamoto's words from Earths World War Two wasn't a threat, it was letting Miyahara know that even he could be taken down by those smaller than him.

Under normal circumstances, Tanaka would have been infuriated by Taiga's threats. However, he was trying to be civil in this matter, and retained his calm demeanor.

"Those pips belonged to my first commanding officer." He explained calmly. "She was a young, attractive officer with a lot of potential, just like you. In fact, if it weren't for the age and rank disparity between us, I might have considered pursuing her romantically."

Tanaka sighed as he allowed the painful memories to come flooding back.

"Eight months after I was assigned to her ship, she died in my arms." He said. "Eight. Months... Doesn't that make you sick, captain?"

Taiga shook her head. "Its a risk that comes with wearing the Uniform" she explained. "I'm not heartless Admiral, it's always hard to lose someone. But it's part of being out here. We never know what's around the corner"

She sat back and placed both hands on her belly. "I lost a child in service to Starfleet. One I didn't even know I had been carrying" she told him her voice dropping to a low more saddened tones her gaze dropped to the floor.

"If your Captains death is still weighing on your mind, and if s she was still here" she looked up meeting his eyes. "Would she be proud of who you are today?"

"Captain, I have become who I am today because of a vow I made while her body was still warm." Tanaka responded after a moment. "What happened on the Honeysuckle Rose at the hands of the Dominion was nothing short of a massacre, and everything I have done since then has been to ensure a massacre like that never happens again."

Tanaka leaned forward and clicked the box shut.

"It's really simple, Captain:" He said. "If you treat all the time like wartime, than when the next war does break out, you will be the most prepared among your peers. While they will suffer from the incompetence of a switchover, you won't, because you've been treating every day as such already."

Taiga sighed. "So, you believe that I massacred all those civilian's?" She asked. "Because you only know violence and it's all you'll ever know or admit?"

"Peace is a lie, Captain." Tanaka responded, knowing his words were of ultimate hypocrisy. "There is only tensions: Romulans, Cardassians, and Klingons all have troops lined up on their respective neutral zones, poised to invade us at the first excuse they get, and you couldn't have given the Romulans a more perfect excuse."

Tanaka didn't want the conversation to have to come to this, but Captain Aisaka was asking for it.

"Incompetence like yours has no place in Starfleet, Captain." He said. "However, the fleet is so rife with it that it and the Federation will be doomed when war breaks out, and mark my words, it will happen."

"If anyone is incompetent here its you" Taiga replied. "By all means have youw own morals and opinions. But if all you ever see is War and death then your thoughts are too dangerous to be in command of a shuttle craft, never mind a Starship" Taiga lent forward slightly. "You've never been able to accept peace, even in yourself. You can't be saved, its gone too far, you're driven by fear, I feel sorry for you. I'll pray at the shrine for your soul next time I go home to Japan"

Admiral Miyahara slammed both his fists down onto the coffee table and stood up, towering above Captain Aisaka. Rage burned in his brown eyes.

"It is precisely that cavalier BULLSHIT that will lead to the Federation and Starfleet's downfall!" He exclaimed. "I came here to try and dispel hostilities between us, but now I want nothing more than to succeed where Admiral Jepson has failed, and PROVE to the Federation that YOU are the one who is too dangerous to command a starship!"

Admiral Miyahara knew full well that bringing up Jepson would be pushing Captain Aisaka too far, but at this point, he wanted her to hit him so he could add assault to her already long list of charges.

Taiga rose to her feet slowly. "Get out" she warned him, her voice low and threatening. "How dare you bring him up. He was the one responsible for me losing my baby, my only chance at happiness and the assimilation of many of my crew. You don't know half the story" shevtold him her fists clenching. "Get out before I throw you out!"

As if by utmost coincidence, Admiral Miyahara's com badge went off:

"Admiral," Came Captain Nishizumi's disembodied voice. "You are needed on the bridge."

"Very well, I shall be there in a few minutes." Admiral Miyahara muttered, answering his com badge.

Admiral Miyahara turned back to Captain Aisaka, collecting the box from the table.

"Well, Captain Aisaka, It appears the next place I will be seeing you is on the PROSECUTION STAND!" He snarled and turned to leave, tapping on the door for the guards to let him out.

"Oh, and one more bit of food for thought:" He said in a foreboding tone. "If I had known then what I know now, I would have NEVER responded to your distress call, and left you and your crew to DIE in the Cardassian Neutral Zone..."

"Cardassian?" Taiga pondered. "You mean Romulan! You stupid git!" Taiga responded. "You can't even get that right! And we didn't need your help!" she added.

"I would think that you would know very well where the USS Cassandra was!" Admiral Miyahara shot back. "The fact that you can't get it right only further proves your incompetence!"

"Thats what he meant..." Taiga thought to herself. She had got too far mixed up in her own argument to even respond correctly. "Just leave me alone" she replied.

The door swooshed open, and Admiral Miyahara shot Captain Aisaka one last mean glare before stepping through.

Posting by

Captain Taiga Aisaka
Commanding Officer
USS Tokyo

Admiral Tanaka Miyahara
Commanding Officer
USS Myogi

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