She's Baa-aack! (Part 3)

Posted on Mon Aug 30th, 2021 @ 2:32pm by Lieutenant Iowa Riverside 'Grey Ghost' & Lieutenant JG Mika Fujimoto 'Pickpocket' & Lieutenant JG Nozomi Kusuda 'Gemini'

659 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Operation Romulus Return
Location: Pilots' lounge
Timeline: After 'She's Baa-aack! (Part 2)'

Previously, on Star Trek Tokyo:

"Iowa, hmm?" The pilot- Kusuda- remarked with mild curiosity. "That's a rather... exotic name; any reason why your parents chose it?"

"Oh, ho; ask and you shall receive, my friend!" Iowa responded, standing up. "I'll be right back! Fujimoto, keep doing your future kid kindness shit and don't rob Kusuda here blind."

"Whatever, man..." Mika responded laconically.

And now, the continuation:

Mika watched Iowa depart before returning to her Kantele.

"And with her departure, the atmospheric pressure shifts once more..." She muttered cryptically.

"Should I be worried?" Kusuda chuckled nervously.

"Nah." Mika responded. "Riverside's not that kind of person: She's the most goody two-shoes person you'll ever meet."

Iowa returned several minutes later, lugging a rather bulky and heavy record player and with it a single record in a rather beat up-looking sleeve. She placed the player down on the table and removed the record from its transporting position. The greatly yellowed sleeve was still readable:

'NBC Radio dramas
June 30, 1944
Made in cooperation with the War Department

The fair maidens of the sky:
The Riverside Sisters
vs.
The Imperial Japanese Kamikaze Ace;
Naomori Kusuda'

"Well, Kusuda; here it is: Your daily dose of living-!" Iowa began before she stopped to read the Japanese name on the label. "Huh, that's weird; never noticed that before. Whatever, it doesn't matter; anyway, you were wonderin' why I'm named who I am, and here's why:"

Iowa started the record going, and tinny 1940s military song began emanating from the player before the voice of a radio announcer from the era cut in:

"NBC Radio dramas, in cooperation with the War Department, presents: The Riverside Sisters! The fair maidens of the sky; with more natural talent in their pinkies than today's flyboys could ever hope to have! They are; Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri, and Wisconsin; sharing the names of four of America's mightiest battleships! And in today's program, they take on the Empire of Japan's one-man terror of the sky in an epic dogfight high above the South Pacific."

"Late in the war, the War Department paired up with NBC to have us star in a little radio show as a means to keep morale up." Iowa explained with the knowledge that only someone who had actually been in the studio at that time would know. "The Jappies in the show were performed by white guys doin' some seriously bad Japanese impressions."

Kusuda did the math in her head. "And you're... How old again?"

"If I'm doing the math correctly..." Iowa said, placing a finger on her chin. "469, going on 470? It's a long and complicated story, and quite frankly, I'm not sure how much has been declassified over the centuries."

Kusuda blinked in surprise.

"I must say," she admitted. "You're not half-bad-looking for your age; I knew a few El-Aurians in their 450s who'd kill to look as young as you do."

"Well, that just goes to show how well-designed and built those cryo chambers were." Iowa responded. "They never did clue us in on how they did it; probably to keep the designs from falling into the wrong hands, blah, blah, blah..."

Kusuda nodded. "And this "Imperial Japanese Kamikaze Ace" that they mention in the program; was he some kind of rival of yours, or...?"

"Nah, this dude was made up by the scriptwriters." Iowa responded. "We faced down a new foe each time we recorded a show, and they were all written by white guys in a smoke-filled NBC conference room."

Mika sat back, playing on her Kantele as Iowa and the pilot who had introduced herself as Nozomi talked, as this conversation had the potential to go on for hours more.

Posting by

Lieutenant Iowa Riverside "Grey Ghost"
Fighter Pilot

Ensign Mika Fujimoto "Pickpocket"
Fighter Pilot

Ensign Nozomi Kusuda "Gemini"
Fighter Pilot

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