New Orders (Part 1)

Posted on Tue Aug 1st, 2023 @ 3:50am by Captain Taiga Aisaka & Lieutenant Rea & Commander Thomas Johnson & Lieutenant Commander Febin & Commander Chisato Nishikigi & Major Chiyo Shimada & Lieutenant Commander Moklor ‘Shell Squid’ & Lieutenant Trennek Zakrin & Lieutenant Kylynn Adams & Lieutenant Talia Johnson & Lieutenant Jasad Yuvek & Lieutenant JG Nezuko & Lieutenant JG Amari
Edited on on Tue Aug 1st, 2023 @ 3:51am

1,238 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Starship Graveyard
Location: Conference Room, Deck 1

Captain's Log. It's been nearly three weeks since the incident started Gamma Zednor station. The Tokyo reached its new area of operations with only minimal delay. Admiral Tempest didn't mind us being late considering we were responding to a Distress Call.

We've been dispatched to investigate the Karlax Nebula which lies in neutral space. According to records, every ship that found themselves in the nebula has never been seen from again. Starfleet believes that it was due to some navigational anomaly. We have been ordered to chart the nebula and find out why ships disappear.

The engineers on Starbase 234 have provided us with long range navigational beacons that we can deploy. The idea is the leave 'breadcrumbs' so we can navigate back out again. Although I don't think we'll be finding any gingerbread houses in the nebula. I have called the senior staff to a briefing so I can relay our orders to them all.

End Log.

Taiga sat at the end of the table in the Briefing Room. Several hot flasks of coffee sat in the center of the the, with cream, milk and sugar also provided. The meeting was due to start in ten minutes and she had already prepared her notes for them, she now awaited the arrival of the senior staff.

Chiyo was one of the first to arrive. The usual warmth in her eyes wasn't present, and her eyes were highlighted with heavy bags under them.

It wasn't a secret that in recent days, the Major had been struggling: Chiyo had spent her bridge duty hours blankly gazing at the main viewscreen. She had only been taking her meals in her office, and even Captain Beurling had reported sounds of crying emanating from the office. The bags that had been forming under Chiyo's eyes were also an indication that she hadn't been getting the proper amount of sleep. Chiyo had been advised to seek out Counselor Johnson, but she had refused.

"Morning." Chiyo muttered unenthusiastically, her eye catching the gleam of light reflecting off Taiga's wedding ring. "You polished your ring recently?"

Taiga looked down at her hands. "Not really," she replied. She noticed the bags under her eyes, it looked like the major was going through a rough patch. She thought it best not to pry. "How are you this morning?" She asked

"Tired:" Chiyo responded flatly as she overfilled a cup of coffee, spilling some onto the table. "Damn nightmare woke me up again. Same one I've been having... Only silver lining to it is that Alice is still getting her sleep."

Commander Nishikigi was the next to arrive; despite Taiga's doubts, she had proven herself a surprisingly capable officer in the field; granted, she was by no means Commander Knight, but she could be relied upon to get the job done.

"Captain; Major, " she addressed in a punctual manner of speaking. "Lieutenant Chihc is finishing up on that report you requested last night; it should hopefully be ready by the end of this meeting."

Taiga nodded simply in response.

Chisato proceeded to draw up a seat adjacent to Chiyo. It was here that she observed a sizable spillage of coffee that was pooling in front of the Marine CO's work area- a fact made all the more curious, considering that Chiyo tended to be a little more clean and orderly than that, and here she wasn't even batting an eyelid to its existence.

"Er... Major, would you like me to get that for you?" she offered, directing Chiyo's attention towards the spillage

Chiyo had already sat down and was reviewing her notes when Chisato addressed her. She looked over at the spill that had been indicated.

"Well, shit, how did that happen?" Chiyo muttered, getting up and grabbing a napkin to wipe up the spill before sitting back down.

The next to enter was the ship's acting Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Rea. "Captain, with your permission I have requested Lieutenant Amari to join us. She has been overseeing the assembly of the navigational beacons"

Taiga nodded. "More the merrier."

Amari was only several steps behind Rhea, being asked to attend the senior staff briefing had certainly been a surprise for her but she was excited to do it and to see how the Captain interacted with her leading officers directly. "Captain." She said curtly and headed for a seat.

Lieutenant Jasad Yuvek entered the briefing room. He looked around and found an empty chair for him to occupy and made his way towards it. Lt. Yuvek was impressed with how quickly the starbase repair teams had been able to repair the damage done to the propulsion systems after the encounter with the Elachi. It gave the Cardassian comfort to know that the Tokyo would fair so well in such an extraordinary tactical situation.

Lt. Cmdr. Moklor entered the briefing room with a purposeful stride, imposing figure moving with quiet intensity. Sharp, dark eyes scanned the room, taking note of the officers he now recognized. He decided to sit alongside Lieutenant Yuvek. The Cardassian's ability to help coordinate fighter operations, among other tasks, while flying the starship had impressed him.

Weeks later, Moklor still remembered the prior mission. He sat quietly, expression slowly starting to warm.

Lt. Yuvek saw the lumbering Klingon make his way over to the table. He raised an eyebrow in obvious annoyance as the heavy-footed individual took a seat beside him.

However, Lt. Yuvek did hve to acknowledge that he and his team's dedicated effort cleared a path for the Tokyo as he tried to rescue the remaining crew members from the falling station.

To that, the Cardassian choose to at least acknowledge the Klingon, if not begrudgingly.

"Lieutenant Commander" He said with not as much disdain as he believed was fitting for a Klingon.

"Mister Yuvek", Moklor huffed with a nod.

Exploration! Mystery solving! These were things that inspired the Amphea Ops chief. She excitedly reached the conference room, ready to discuss the upcoming mission.

Thomas made his entrance, it was clear on his face that he was flustered, "Sorry I am late Captain, apparently blowing up a station is frowned upon no matter what the circumstances. Also promoting myself to Captain... in order to access the proper files to do so is as equally frowned upon."

Once everyone had gathered, Taiga simply cleared her throat to quieten the room. "Good morning everyone." She greeted them all. She could see that the crew had now started to form a good working relationship with each other.

"We will soon be heading here." She said as she pressed a button on her control panel. A holographic image of a huge nebula appeared above the table. The nebula was made of purple and pink swirls that danced and twirled around each other. "The Karlax Nebula. No ship that has entered has come out. Starfleet believes that the nebula causes problems with navigation equipment."

Taiga paused for a second. "We have therefore been ordered to investigate this nebula. Chart it if possible and drop navigational beacons for traffic to pass through." She looked around at them all. "There's also a chance we could recover the lost ships that the nebula has claimed over the years, if we encounter them."

She motioned with her hand in a sweeping fashion, indicating that the 'floor' was open for discussion and questions.

To be continued...

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