This is Home for a while (Part 2)

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

1,636 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Starship Graveyard
Location: Briefing Room

Previously on Star Trek Tokyo:

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."

And now the continuation...

"Yes Sir." Amari semi hobbled towards one of the chairs, thankfully one relatively close to the entrance had been left vacant, slowly she eased herself down into it.

Talia looked towards Taiga. “The Counselling department has, as expected, been inundated with those worried about our current situation. That and those who’ve suffered losses as well. I’ll do all I can to help people, but if there’s anyone available who has counselling experience I’d appreciate the extra help.”

"I want you to assure everyone that we WILL get getting off this planet, one way or another," Taiga said. "Speaking of which, everyone this is Lieutenant Tatsuo Shimada. The chief of security of the Starship Redemption. He's been here... a while."

Talia looked towards Tatsuo offering a polite smile and a nod of her head.

"Thank you, Captain." Tatsuo nodded in Taiga's direction. "I'm sure by now, many of you have heard the story of the Redemption: A 5 year old Nova class starship under the command of a Starfleet veteran goes missing and is presumed lost with all hands. Well, welcome to what really happened to us: My understanding is that we've been stranded here for 14 years, and in that time, it seems Starfleet has undergone a dress code change."

Tatsuo indicated his old, outdated uniform and how he stood out to the rest of the people in the room.

"But the Tokyo and the Redemption are not the first ships to crash here:" He continued. "This planet has claimed many ships from many spacefaring civilizations, and their survivors... Can be a mixed bag to interact with: Some crews can be reasoned with, while others absolutely cannot. In this hostile world, one has to be tough in order to survive. After our second crash landing, and yes, we crashed twice, and the Redemption's surviving crew elected me to succeed Commander K'rala as Captain of the Redemption, I've kept us alive for as long as we have by forgetting about Starfleet values; forge alliances only when necessary and do what must be done in order to survive."

Tatsuo sighed. "I must admit, by now, we would have strip-mined your ship of everything of value to us and left you to the mercy of the other groups if it weren't for the presence of one of your own:" Tatsuo turned to Chiyo. "Major Chiyo Shimada: When I finally gave up hope that I'd ever see her again, I had assumed by then she'd probably moved on from me and settled down with another man. But the fact that she loved me so much she went and joined the freaking Starfleet Marine Corps to travel to the ends of the universe to find me really speaks volumes to her character, and I've greatly underestimated just how tough she really is."

Chiyo was rather surprised to hear word of her strength coming from Tatsuo. Having been praised for it from Liz to Captain Aisaka to now even Tatsuo, Chiyo was beginning to suspect that resolve of her caliber was rare.

"And I really hope you all share Chiyo-Kichi... I mean, Major Shimada's resolve, because getting off this rock won't be easy." Tatsuo said. "My crew back on the Redemption are combing the ship's computer as we speak, looking for any surviving information from our ill-fated takeoff attempt. Hopefully what we find will provide some insight in what we did and mistakes we made so that hopefully we avoid repeating them."

"You're just a pack of vultures!" Lt. Yuvek blurted out before he realized the words were flying from his mouth.

You ransack our ship before the bodies can even turn cold and then you have the audacity to state that the only reason we still aren't fighting is because your wife is onboard!?!" The Cardassian said, his anger rising within his throat as he stood to his feet.

"How many other wives, sisters, and mothers on this ship were you willing to sacrifice just so you and your scavengers could pick out bones for whatever rations you could find!?!" He said as he stepped towards the Human.

The stress of the past several hours had done a toll on Jasad's patience and stress levels. Ordinarily he would be able to compose himself, but the Captain's promise that everyone would make it off this planet seemed to ring hollow as he looked into the eyes of the Lieutenant-turned-Captain who had been stuck here for over a decade.

Tatsuo seemed unfazed by the Lieutenant's outburst, rising to meet the Cardassian.

"Lieutenant, would you like to know about the unspeakable atrocities your own people are willing to commit being stuck on this planet?" He asked in a low voice. "You have no idea what it's really like out there. And if you think we're a pack of vultures, then you, my friend, are unbearably naïve! If you're so confident that you think you can survive without us, then just say the word, and I'll pull the plug on this whole damn agreement right here and now, and we'll see how long it takes for you all to be slaughtered like animals."

Taiga cleared her throat loudly. "That's enough! Both of you!" she said sternly. "No one here is entirely innocent in any respects, but we can't change history we can only learn from it. Right now, its not relevant in this situation." She looked at them both in turn.

She turned her attention to Jased. "I have already discussed the lieutenants actions against us with him already. He has agreed to help us if I overlook what he and his people did." She paused for a brief moment. "That's a good deal in my eyes, plus, he knows this planet better than us. I would rather we not lose any more people."

Jasad stared into the Human's eyes for several more seconds before he turned and walked back to the spot he was previously occupying. He didn't trust the man nor his band of pirates. But for the time being, Jasad would follow the orders of his Captain and cooperate.

Tatsuo slowly sat down as the Cardassian resumed his seat and looked over at his fiancée. He knew the spoonhead lacked the guts to tell Tatsuo to leave the Tokyo and her crew to die.

Chiyo nodded before glancing at Jasad, giving the Cardassian helmsman an intense look that silently conveyed 'you and I are going to have a little talk later.'

Taiga then turned her attention to Nezuko. "Have we had any sign or communication from our Starfighters?" she asked. "By now they must have realised that the Tokyo is no longer in space with them. They could either be heading back to Federation Space to find help, crashed along with us on this planet or are searching the Nebula to locate us." An expression of concern emerged on the Captains face.

Nezuko shook her head somberly. There had not been a single sign. They might be still in the cloud, or crashed on the planet, or far away.

"Well, lets not give up on them just yet," Taiga said. She knew that the pilots were well trained and were fully capable of surviving on their own. Each Starfighter was equipped with survival gear and a warp drive, theoretically a Starfighter could stay out in space for several days if not weeks at a time.

"I think its about time we started getting to work on coming up with a plan to get out of here," she suggested. She looked over at Tatsuo. "Mister Shimada, you're the expert on whats around here. I want you to accompany a salvage team."

"Understood." Tatsuo nodded. "I'll take the list of wrecks I've compiled for you earlier and denote the abandoned ones. The inhabited ones aren't going to be as happy with us turning up for their shit."

"Then we will rely on your knowledge in that case," Taiga replied.

"Your mission will be simple. I want you to take one of our functional shuttlecraft. Investigate some of the old wrecks and salvage any equipment that might be useful to bolster our power reserves, or anything we can use to repair the Tokyo," she told them. "Major Shimada, Commander Nishikigi, Lieutenant Nezuko and Lieutenant Yuvek. I want you on that team. You're expertise will come in useful."

"Happily, Captain." Chiyo smiled, turning to Tatsuo. "You're going to be quite surprised at how far I've come over the past 14 years..." She said, teasingly smacking Tatsuo in the upper arm.

"I'll speak with Mister Shimada and his team, see if they can offer us some further insight into some of the derelicts that they've visited," Chisato offered. "We can cross-reference their accounts with archived schematics, determine if they have still have the vital components that we need."

Nezuko simply nodded and gave the Captain a thumbs-up.

To be continued...

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