When Starfleet Officers become bigger than themselves (Part 1)

Posted on Wed Mar 29th, 2023 @ 2:00am by Major Chiyo Shimada & Captain Kagami Izumi

964 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Sand Sea Fun and Surf
Location: Bridal shop, Risa

Lieutenant Patricia Cooke of the USS Fort Wayne was at a bridal shop on Risa getting fitted for a maid of honor dress. She had been on a one week leave of absence on Risa when she received the exciting news from Earth: Her sister's longtime boyfriend had finally dropped down on one knee and proposed to her, and Patricia had been asked to be the maid of honor; a role Patricia was all too happy to fill. Unfortunately, that also meant getting fitted for a dress. Marion had told Patricia about the color dresses she was thinking of having the bridesmaids wear as a start, and Patricia had decided to investigate the matter and see what options were available on Risa.

Fortunately for Patricia, Risa was home to more than one bridal shop. Patricia had chosen this particular one, as it seemed to offer selections for bridesmaids as well as brides. As Patricia was getting fitted, she happened to spot in her peripheral vision an unmistakable shade of pale purple hair. While Patricia was fairly certain as to who it was, she had to make sure.

Kagami and Tsukasa Izumi were also browing the shop. Although the wedding was over, they found this to be a good time to enjoy some sister time. Their jobs in Starfleet kept them from seeing much of each other.

"So, do you think you'll marry him?" Kagami asked.

"I don't know. I mean, Shouta is only a year old. He is still quite needy still" Tsukasa replied. She then smirked at her sister.

"What?"

"I never imagined that we'd both have kids. I always thought you wouldn't you know, but you and Athrun beat me to it!" Tsukasa said with a slight laugh.

"Yeah... Man I miss him..."

"Same here sis. But he'll be proud of you and how well you're brining up Hatsune by yourself. Plus she's adorable, even if she does read minds by accident at times" Tsukasa smiled.

"She's not a telepath Tsukasa. She's an empath, she feels emotion more than anything. She gets that from her father, and trust me its annoying as hell. She knows when I'm pissed at her before I can scold her. It can be annoying!" Kagami replied a slight hint of frustration in her voice. "I'm just glad that Taiga and Ryuuji were kind enough to take her for the day so we could get in some well deserved sister time!"

"I wonder how they're coping..."

"They'll be fine. Taiga's been wanting children for a long time now. This will give her some practice if anything" Kagami laughed.

As Kagami and Tsukasa were talking, Patricia came out of the fitting room, her consultation having just finished, she was informed her dress would be ready for final fitting by the end of her shore leave, and if there wasn't more alterations needed, the dress would be shipped to Chicagoland for safe keeping until it was time for Patricia to wear it for the wedding.

Patricia made her way over to the two sisters. They seemed to be having a good conversation, and she almost felt bad for butting in to ask her stupid question, but her inner fangirl needed to know:

"Um... Excuse me." Patricia said to get the two's attention. "Sorry to bug you, but you wouldn't happen to be Kagami Izumi, would you?"

Kagami turned to face the woman. "That would depend on who's asking." She replied simply.

"Oh, sorry; where are my manners?" Patricia said. "I'm Lieutenant Patricia Cooke of the USS Fort Wayne. Kagami Izumi is a bit of a personal hero of mine... I had a poster of her in my bunk at the Academy. My roommate always thought I was weird for having it..." Patricia was still playing it cool in case this all turned out to be a case of mistaken identity.

The woman with the shorter purple hair began to giggle uncontrollably. "You had a poster of Onee-San here on your wall?" she began to laugh pointing to her sister with her thumb. "You hear that sis, you've got a fan club!"

"Shut it Tsukasa!" Kagami said in a slightly harsher tone, blushing bright red. She wasn't aware that her time in Starfleet had influenced anyone.

"Oh yeah," Patricia responded to the question of the woman with the shorter purple hair. "24th Century fairy tale stuff aside, I've always aspired to serve aboard your ship, the USS Missouri. Of course, maybe that's because my grandma served aboard her predecessor during the Dominion War. Or that I have an ancestor that served aboard the battleship Missouri in World War II."

Patricia had switched to referring to Kagami as "you" after she had received practical confirmation that it was indeed the Izumi sisters she was talking to.

"That being said, I'm afraid the search for the Missouri isn't going well." Patricia reported, her demeanor seeming to darken. "Starfleet is preparing to call off the search and declare the vessel lost with all hands, probably sometime within the month..."

Patricia took a deep breath and composed herself.

"Anyhow, there's a really good Hebitian restaurant not too far from here:" She said. "Any chance I could persuade you two to come and chat with me over a bite to eat? It'd be my honor to share a meal with Kagami Izumi."

"You might as well add three to the table" Kagami said with a slight smile.

"Three?" Patricia asked, seemingly confused. "Who else would be joining us?"

Kagami raised an eyebrow. "Well, I will have my daughter with me. I can't have Captain Aisaka babysit all day and night long."

"Oh!" Patricia said, smacking herself in the forehead for being so stupid. "Of course! The more, the merrier!"

To be continued...

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