This is Home for a while (Part 1)

Posted on Sat Oct 21st, 2023 @ 6:22pm by Captain Taiga Aisaka & Lieutenant Commander Ryuuji Takasu & Lieutenant Amu Hinamori M.D. & Commander Thomas Johnson & Lieutenant Commander Febin & Commander Chisato Nishikigi & Major Chiyo Shimada & Lieutenant Commander Moklor ‘Shell Squid’ & Lieutenant Jasad Yuvek & Lieutenant Trennek Zakrin & Lieutenant Kylynn Adams & Lieutenant Talia Johnson & Lieutenant JG Nezuko & Lieutenant JG Amari & Lieutenant Tatsuo Shimada
Edited on on Sat Oct 21st, 2023 @ 6:25pm

1,701 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Starship Graveyard
Location: Briefing Room

Bright rays of sunshine shone through the large windows of the briefing room. The entire place still looked a mess. However the table had been righted and the chairs pushed back into their normal positions. The wall console was offline with a noticable crack through the center and the room lights were also smashed. Shards of rubble had been swpet into the corners of the room until they could be cleaned up later, right now Taiga had ordered that the room was 'in acceptable conditon' to hold a meeting of the ships senior staff. At least they could now all sit down and compare notes.

Taiga was staring out of the large windows out over the hull of the Tokyo and the never ending desert. It was like a huge ocean of yellow sand that rose high and low way into the distant. A few wrecks in the distance could be seen of other starships that had suffered the same fate as them. One of them looked like an old Constitution Class, its saucer section and nacelles easily identifying the unique shape and design of a long past era.

The Tokyo's turbolifts had been restored, however many of the main primary system were still offline. She waited anxiously for the senior staff to arrive, and had also invited Tatsuo as their new guide to the planet. She firmly believed he was their key to their survival and had the answers they needed to get off the planet and return to Federation Space.

The Shimadas were among the first ones to arrive. There was no denying that Tatsuo's presence had had a profound impact on the Major, as she hadn't stopped smiling since he had shown up. Chiyo was, for lack of a better term, on cloud nine. She didn't care if she would need surgery to wipe the smile from her face; after 14 years of regs telling her that Tatsuo was dead, and here he stood, alive and well, she was sure that anyone in her situation would be over the moon.

Tatsuo, on the other hand, was a different story: The confident leader of the survivors of the USS Redemption suddenly found himself full of doubt: With Chiyo unexpectedly reentering his life and revealing that they had had a kid together, whom had grown into a teenager not knowing her father, Tatsuo's gut instincts were to drop his current commitments and run back to Chiyo. But he knew the parties affected by such a decision would react negatively to it, so he was busy contemplating a way to diplomatically end things to allow him to be there for Chiyo and Alice.

"Captain." Chiyo greeted in a warm tone; a drastic departure from her usual punctual greeting.

Taiga turned to see the Major and the Lieutenant. "Major," she said in response. "Lieutenant." She added. "Sorry I can't offer refreshments, replicators are still offline along with most of the ships systems."

"It's quite alright." Tatsuo responded. "We're quite used to going for long stints without refreshments on these kinds of salvage missions. Though, remind me once you do get the replicators back online to show you a little trick we figured out on how to keep replicators online even during blackouts. Comes in handy to be able to keep hydrated during extended power failures."

Chiyo giggled at Tatsuo being nerdy. It was these little things about him that she had missed.

"I'd be interested in knowing how you managed to keep ships systems going." Taiga said in response as she crossed her arms. "So would my staff, I presume you have plenty of stories to tell us and tricks to teach us. Like I stated earlier, I fully intend to get out of here as soon as possible."

"Some of them you might have to see how we've implemented on the Redemption herself, because it would take less time to show them off than try and explain them." Tatsuo muttered.

"It's a mission I'd volunteer for in a heartbeat;" Chiyo said. "I've always wanted to go on board the Redemption."

"She's not what she used to be, Chiyo-Kichi." Tatsuo warned.

Commander Nishikigi was next to arrive.

"Captain; Major," she greeted, setting her PADD down on the table. "We just got done interrogating the raiders, and I think there's a few interesting bits of information you're going to want to have a look at."

Taiga nodded. "Thankyou for questioning them. I look forward to what you've discovered."

And with that, Chisato's attention shifted to the newcomer.

"Oh? And who's this?"

"Tatsuo Shimada, ma'am." Tatsuo introduced himself. "The Major and I go way back..."

Chisato's eyes widened in disbelief.

"As in the Tatsuo Shimada?!" she gawked. "Security detail aboard the USS Redemption and poster child for the "Families of the Redemption" organization?"

"The one and only;" Chiyo grinned, snuggling up to Tatsuo. "The same one you regs told me for 14 years was dead. Well, kind of hard to explain yourselves now, isn't it?"

Taiga cleared her throat simply. It was a simple indication for the Major and Lieutenant to cut it out and act professional in the briefing. "Please take a seat whilst we wait for the other staff to arrive." She looked at both Chiyo and Tatsuo. "How about you two sit on opposite sides..." she suggested.

Chisato grinned. "Oh, I see... the two lovebirds can hardly keep it to themselves after spending the last 14 years apart?" she teased, elbowing Tatsuo in the ribs. "Nothing like making up for lost time, Sly?"

Chiyo shot Taiga an intense glare at the captain's suggestion for her and Tatsuo to sit on opposite sides, as if to silently convey "How dare you suggest such a thing?"

Ignoring the stare, Taiga took her place at the head of the table without another look at Chiyo or Tatsuo.

Talia entered the room offering everyone a polite smile. “Captain” she nodded to Taiga as she took her usual seat. Her senses were slowly starting to return, the emotions of others slowly starting to creep upon the fringes of her senses. She put down the PADD she was carrying with her upon the table ready for any notes she might need to take."

Thomas entered the room, having made a quick stop to the sckbay, sure enough there was a cracked rib and a very slight punctured lung. Being able to breath better, he sat down next to Talia.

Talia offered her husband a warm smile, she had been worried about him but knowing he’d been to Sickbay to be checked out made her feel better.

Lieutenant Jasad Yuvek entered just a few steps behind Commander Johnson. The immediate shock of the crash had started to ebb from his mind; however, he was still trying to wrap his mind around the devastation that the ship had endured.

Even if they were able to figure out how to undue the affects of the nebula on the ship's propulsion system, the structural damage to the Tokyo was absolutely beyond repair. Most primary systems were offline and a good number of secondary systems were barely sputtering. There were entire sections of the ship still unaccounted for due to debris, wreckage, and even sand hills preventing their access.

From a humanitarian count, the number of dead was still unknown throughout the ship. Which undoubtedly meant there would be a sanitation issue to deal with if the crew could not determine a safe way to dispose of the bodies. Considering the depleted energy reserves, recycling the bodies into the replicator would not be a bad idea.

Perhaps the only silver lining that Jasad could think of was that the planet's hot, arid climate felt wonderful to him. As a Cardassian he had to deal with the much too cool climates of Federation vessels. If it wasn't for the crisis the crew was currently experiencing he'd go and lay out on a warp nacelle and enjoy the radiating heat on his skin.

"Ma'am," Lt. Yuvek said with a nod as he entered the disheveled room and looked for an available seat.

Ryuuji followed the Cardassian helmsman into the room. He had come to represent the starfighters and flight deck departments. Since Moklor wasn't on board, he could step in as the ships Chief Strategic Operations Officer.

Nezuko was next in, having brought three spare batteries for her breathing apparatus. They were draining far more quickly than she'd like! But she found a spot at the table and waited for the meeting to start.

Doctor Hinamori was next to enter. With Febin currently out of commission, she had stepped up to the role of Acting Chief Medical Officer. She looked noticably tired. The last few hours had been stressful on the medical department as they helped the injured crew and had to catalogue quite a few casualties. She gave the Captain a polite nod and weak smile before sliding down into a nearby chair.

---

Once everyone had arrived and taken their seats Taiga stood up and looked at them off in silence for a few seconds. "Lets not beat around the bush," she started. "Its very obvious that we're not in a good position at all."

"How bad is the damage to the ship?" she asked simply allowing everyone to chime in with their status reports.

Before anyone could speak the briefing room door opened and Amari struggled into the room, her leg still causing her trouble and the large blue blood stain on her white uniform still there. "I apologise for my timing Captain, it is a little hard to walk right now. Lt Rea sends her respects but cannot attend." She said and steadily made her way to a vacant chair.

Taiga noticed the bloodstain on Amari's uniform. "Are you ok Lieutenant?" she asked. "I gather you're here to represent Engineering?"

"I'm told I will recover, it will take some time though." Amari replied. "Lt Rea sent me to give our report. There is a lot of damage down there."

The captain nodded. "As long as you're not too injured to be here; take a seat."

To be Continued...

 

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