Inside the mind of the disorganized

Posted on Thu Oct 15th, 2020 @ 8:52pm by Admiral Tanaka Miyahara & Captain Minori Kushieda

1,346 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Allegations

Admiral Tanaka Miyahara had requested a meeting with Captain Minori Kushieda of the USS Armitage. As the leader of the Starfleet side of the prosecution, it was Miyahara's job to compile evidence to prove Captain Aisaka's innocence. As Captain Kushieda had confessed to knowing Captain Aisaka for years during their previous meeting, he figured he might be able to get into Captain Aisaka's mind and try and figure out how she justified committing unspeakable acts of genocide against other Alpha Quadrant powers by speaking with people she knew.

Minori had agreed to meet the Admiral in the grounds of Starfleet Command. She waited for him on a bench overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge.

Though Miyahara was reluctant to meet Minori at Starfleet Command, as things had the potential to escalate very quickly between them, he agreed to her conditions, and arrived at Starfleet Command to find her.

"Captain Kushieda." He hailed once he finally found the correct bench.

Minori looked up at the Admiral. "So, you wanted to see me?" she began indicating for him to sit down next to her on the bench.

Miyahara nodded and took a seat next to Minori.

"I did." He said as he settled down onto the bench. "I understand from our previous meeting that you've known Captain Aisaka for years, and I was hoping you could help me understand how she works. I'd ask her myself, but all she seems interested in doing is calling me names."

Minori chuckled. "Be glad that's all she did. You probably pissed her off" she said with a smile. "Taiga is no ordinary Captain you know. Yes she's hot headed, arrogant and a sometimes not the best at explaining herself. But she's not a murderer"

She took a deep breath. "She's not had the best life you could say,its why she is like she is. But she is dedicated to the fleet" Minori explained. "If you get on her bad side, you'll stay there until she seems you trustworthy enough. Shes been hurt a lot before by others in the past".

Miyahara grinned. It was one of the rare instances he broke his professional demeanor.

"Then I suppose that makes us more alike than either of us care to admit." He said. "Why, then, are we so different?" He muttered to himself.

Miyahara turned to Minori.

"You said in our last meeting that Captain Aisaka has problems with authority figures." Miyahara recalled. "Does this mean she has a criminal record outside of this incident?"

"Quite the opposite" Minori said. "She doesn't like people pushing her around. Yes she does have a problem with authority, but it seems like that Lieutenant Nakazato I've heard about has a similar problem. From what I have been told, those two clash more than most"

Tanaka understood that Minori wanted to know more about Lieutenant Nakazato. He figured it was the least he could do for her troubles:

"Lieutenant Nakazato was my trusted Third Officer." He explained. "He was like a son to me, and it was a damned shame to lose him. I taught him everything I know. His problem you speak of is identical to mine; and quite the opposite of Captain Aisaka's: While she has a problem with order, he and I have a problem with disorder."

Tanaka took in a deep breath and sighed greatly.

"My first and second officers are engaged, to be wed very soon, and my second officer really wants Lieutenant Nakazato to be his best man, considering the person he'd first ask is serving on a starship far from here." He expounded. "The three of them have this almost sibling-like dynamic that's very hard to put to words."

"If you can imagine for one second being torn away from your mentor and your best friends, whom you are so close to you consider them something like a brother or a sister, and placed under the command of someone who seems to care very little for you as a person, and even berates you for doing your job as you were taught, than maybe, just maybe, you might be able to understand where Lieutenant Nakazato is coming from." Tanaka added, turning to Minori.

"You make a good point. But Ryuuji and I are the only ones that been there for Taiga as well. She is our family, and you should know that family protect each other" Minori explained as she gazed into the distance. "Her own parents don't speak with her, it's why she joined Starfleet. We joined with her, both of us. Her entire life is on her ship. I know she and Ryuuji want to become better parents than she ever had" she told him. "If you believe that a person who values life and honesty over everything else can massacre innocent men, women and children in their own homes can do such a thing then you're a fool Miyahara"

"If that's honestly what you think I believe, than you're the fool, Kushieda." Tanaka responded. "What I believe happened at Alvatar was a heat of the moment mistake made in an emotionally compromised state. She was frustrated with Nakazato because he's so much like me, and she wanted to make it clear what she thought of people like me, without thinking of the larger repercussions of stirring up trouble with other Alpha Quadrant powers. No, my problem with Captain Aisaka is that her ways of command are... Antiquated..."

Tanaka turned to look at the Golden Gate Bridge. He remembered the images he saw of the bridge badly damaged following the Breen attack.

"You're probably too young to remember the Dominion War." He said. "I envy kids like you, because you never got to firsthand witness the devastation that conflict caused. You never got to see innocent men, women, and children slaughtered like they were animals. You never had to write to their families, to make their murder sound honorable. You never had to watch the person you expected to keep you safe expire in your arms..."

Tanaka stopped speaking, as the memories were becoming too painful for him to bear. He brushed away tears that were forming in his eyes, desperately trying to regain his usual demeanor, but his post-traumatic stress disorder gripped him hard, and before he knew it, he was openly weeping. Weeping for everything he had lost, for everything Starfleet and the Federation had lost, and would continue to lose if nothing was done to stop the senseless loss of life by having no plan in place for the outbreak of war.

Once the tears stopped falling, Tanaka rubbed his eyes and put his glasses back on.

"We got our asses kicked in the Dominion War." He said, his voice still shaky. "Harder than we've ever gotten our asses kicked before: It made me realize how unprepared Starfleet and the Federation are for open war. If we at least had an emergency plan of action, it would be a step in the right direction, but we don't, and it's living in this constant state of denial that war could never happen that will inflict suffering on generations to come. That is why something needs to be done about it:"

Minori stood up and faced away from the Admiral. "You're living in the past Miyahara. You can't change what happened, nor can you be a one man army" she paused.

"You talk of the Dominion War like it hurt you. I don't doubt that. But you're forgetting..." she paused as she turned to face him her face was serious as she locked eyes with him. "It didn't just affect you! Stop being selfish and get your off your soap box".

"I'm done here" she said as she began striding off.

Miyahara watched Minori leave for a second before he himself stood up and tapped his com badge.

"Miyahara to transporter control, one to beam up." He said.

Within moments, Miyahara was gone in a transporter beam.

Posting by:

Admiral Tanaka Miyahara
Commanding Officer
USS Myogi

Captain Minori Kushieda
Commanding Officer
USS Armitage

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