Returning to Redemption

Posted on Tue Nov 14th, 2023 @ 5:57am by Commander Chisato Nishikigi & Captain Taiga Aisaka & Major Chiyo Shimada & Lieutenant Jasad Yuvek & Lieutenant JG Nezuko & Lieutenant Tatsuo Shimada

2,495 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Starship Graveyard
Location: Shuttlebay

[Shuttlebay]

Captain Aisaka walked into the shuttlebay where the away team to the Redemption was due to depart in a few minutes time. She wanted to 'see them off' so to speak. She would be lying if she didn't say she felt some sort of nervousness about the away teams. This was the first time that Major Shimada was leading an away team, plus she was concerned that her connection with Tatsuo might cloud her judgement. But, she was relying on that connection to turn into the opposite.

It had taken a while but Tatsuo had finally convinced Taiga that in order to be better equipped, he would need to convince the wider crew of the Redemption to pool their resources with their Tokyo counterparts.

He had already sent most of the scavenging party riding back towards the ship on the Zumbabeasts that had brought them here. Though, no doubt they would overtake the riders despite the head start. The only person from the Redemption who remained behind was Lieutenant Akikawa, Tatsuo's acting First Officer, which would no doubt complicate things with her and Chiyo having to share a shuttle.

While waiting for Chiyo-Kichi to come along, Tatsuo spotted Taiga enter the shuttlebay and made his way over to her.

"Thank you again for your understanding, Captain Aisaka:" He said. "I know going to the Redemption wasn't in your plans for getting out of here, but if we're truly going to make this work, everyone from the Redemption is going to need to be on board for this. I'm sure they'll come around; they've trusted me to keep them alive for as long as I have, and I'm sure they're just as eager to get off this rock as you are, if not more so, given how much longer we've been stuck here."

Taiga nodded in response. "Like I said before. If your people help us get off this planet, I will take you back to the Federation and petition for anything you've done on this planet to be overlooked." She nodded towards the shuttle that was waiting for them. "Bring her back in one piece."

"Well, let's hope they still know what to do with my clearance codes." Tatsuo joked. "It's been a long time since any of us have approached the ship from the air."

It was at that moment that Chiyo arrived.

"There he is!" She said in an unusually sweet voice. "Well, Tatsuo; I'm now a commissioned officer like you; care to show me around the Redemption?"

"Chiyo, I need you to get that preconceived fantasy of what the Redemption is like out of your head." Tatsuo said. "Because you're going to be disappointed by the reality."

Tatsuo then shot Taiga an apologetic look, as if to say without saying it 'I'm sorry if this is who you've had to put up with.'

Taiga turned to Chiyo. "Remember, you're there to assess the state of the Redemption. Bring back all of the remaining crew here, and anything we can use and download their computer core. I'd rather we all work from the same spot, got it."

"Understood." Chiyo said, snapping back to her serious tone. "Tatsuo's going to have to be the one doing the talking, but just in case they're still skeptical... Do you have the recording ready?"

Taiga nodded and pulled a chip out of her uniform. "Its all here on this isolinear chip." She said as she held it out to Chiyo. "They will be able to verify it if they use their computers," she explained. "If they don't want to co-operate you are to use any force reasonable to get out of there and return here, understood?"

"Hey, we had a deal, Aisaka;" Tatsuo warned. "And harming my people was not in it. You give Chiyo-kichi this order, and our deal is off: Understood?"

"Ok, well let me rephrase it. If they don't accept the offer, you don't fire the first shot. Just get out of there, if they do decide to attack you. Then you use reasonable force to get out and protect yourself." Taiga added. She turned back to Tatsuo. "Better?"

"Yes." Tatsuo muttered. He wasn't going to argue about how unnecessary these contingencies were, especially since he would have done the same for the Tokyo. He had spoken for his crew the best he could, but how they would take to being relocated was now in their hands.

Next to arrive was Commander Nishikigi, all geared up and ready to ship out. She had swapped out her Starfleet-issue boots for some more rugged high-tops, and the sling bag that she touted over her shoulder contained all the equipment that she'd be needing to bring with her, including a PADD, Tricorder, and a Phaser in the (un)likelihood that things got hairy.

But if that were the case, she certainly wasn't banking on it becoming an issue.

"Captain; Major; Sly," she greeted, addressing Taiga, Chiyo, and Tatsuo respectively.

"I have a rank as well, Commander:" Tatsuo responded. "You'd do best to remember it."

Chisato threw her head back and cackled. "It's all in good fun, Sly, don't put too much thought into it," she insisted, playfully ruffling Tatsuo's shoulder.

Lieutenant Jasad Yuvek emerged from the rear of the Delta Flyer that they were set to depart in. The look on his face was uninviting to say the least. A casual observer would describe his expression as ranging from stoic to outright hostile.

The Cardassian Helmsman was less than enthusiastic about the mission and for good reason. They had been ordered to take one of their few functional crafts and travel into enemy territory and try to convince them to play nice and come back to the Tokyo.

"We're prepped and ready to depart, all necessary equipment has been properly secured." Lt. Yuvek said as he stepped down the ramp and walked towards Captain Taiga and the other officers.

"Ma'am, Commander Nishikigi" He said, nodding respectfully to the Captain and the recent arrival of the Intelligence Officer.

"Don't worry ma'am, we'll be sure to pay the crew of the Redemption the same level of respect and courtesy they've shown to us thus far." Lt. Yuvek, with a tone dripping with contempt and sarcasm.

"Your disrespectful tone is noted, Lieutenant:" Tatsuo responded. "I just hope you're as good a pilot as you are a racist."

"You assume that I place any value in the opinion of a Pirate." The Cardassian responded. "My job is simple: Fly this team to your ship and back. You don't like it, you can catch up with the rest of your band thieves and look for another ship to raid" He shot back.

"Fellas!" Chisato quickly intervened. "Right now, we have a job to take care of, so what's sat we put aside our differences for the time being and sort this out in Counselor Johnson's office when we're done?"

Taiga sighed. She held her head and a hand up. "Guys, just get this over and done with ok. We'll deal with this afterwards" She said to them both. She turned on a heel and strode out of the shuttlebay.

Nezuko had been around on the opposite side the craft they would be taking, doing a physical inspection of the hardened systems installed to try to prevent power loss. She was done, satisfied with the work, and rounded the Delta Flyer class shuttle, coming face to face with the Captain and the rest of the away team.

She'd heard the exchanges. She knew there was familiarity between Major Shimada and this new person, and apparently also with Ms. Nishikigi. But the person in the room she trusted most was the person who she worked most closely with: Mr. Yuvek.

As a predator herself, she knew how to recognize another one. She would not turn her back on this Tatsuo fellow.

She gestured to the open hatch. We should go now.

Taiga spotted Nezuko's gesture out of the corner of her eye. "Ok, get going." She said simply. She turned away from the group to give them room to allow the Delta Flyer to take off.

"Right, then!" Chisato proclaimed. "Now that the gang's all here, what's say we-!"

"Wait a minute; what about my First Officer?" Tatsuo asked.

Chisato blinked. "I thought you sent them all back?"

"Not all of them." Came an English accent.

Into the shuttlebay strode a brunette woman, also wearing an outdated Starfleet uniform like Tatsuo's. Though the presence of the color grey on her uniform where there would normally be a division color was indicative of her status as an intelligence officer.

"I specifically requested to remain behind to return to our ship alongside our captain." She said factually without introducing herself. "It seems I almost missed the boat."

"In the next 2 minutes, I will begin powering propulsion systems and setting in a pre-determined course. . .1 minute after that, the Runabout will activate its maneuvering thrusters and depart from the Shuttle Bay. . . 30 seconds after that, anybody still standing here will consider themselves: left behind" The Cardassian said unceremoniously as he turned and made his way back up the ramp and into the Runabout towards the pilot section.

As he passed by Nezuko he gestured for her to begin securing the aft compartment and be ready to lift off in less than 2 minutes.

Nezuko nodded and began doing just that. She was uneasy about this situation, and she was more than happy to follow Mr. Yuvek’s lead. She knew very well that there was a timer in the Cardassian helmsman’s head counting down from 120.

Tatsuo, Chiyo, and the brunette made their way up the ramp and assumed their seats for takeoff. Tatsuo assumed the secondary command seat next to the pilot's seat. Not that Tatsuo willingly wanted to sit next to an obviously racist Cardassian, but moreover the position was for easier access for him to transmit his clearance codes before one of Kijad's men blew them out of the sky.

Chiyo took the tactical console. Due to the layout of the Delta Flyer's cockpit, she was unable to sit next to Tatsuo, but her seat did have a good view of the cockpit in case either Jasad or Tatsuo tried anything stupid.

As Nezuko moved to take her seat at the main Ops console adjacent to Chiyo, Chisato drew up behind her and pulled her aside.

"It may behoove us to keep an eye on these three, Lieutenant," she whispered. "If at any time their emotions compromise this mission, we have to be ready to wrest control of the craft from them."

The Ops Chief nodded, knowingly. She’d be ready. She didn’t like this situation at all. If the situation called for it, she’d be ready to do her part. Power drains or not, an Amphea was never truly disarmed.

Nodding, Chisato proceeded to take her seat at the Engineering console directly behind her; while engineering itself was hardly her forte- her knowledge was, at best, preliminary- it gave her a full view of the cockpit, which would allow her to act quickly if things got out of hand.

In the rear compartment, the brunette took a seat. Many things were running through her head, namely the presence of the woman Tatsuo had assured her was just a 'bar slut,' but also something she had been told before she left sickbay. From her seat, she made note of where the space sickness bags were kept, as she was likely going to need one...

From Ops, Nezuko signaled that systems were online, the airlock was sealed, and that they were ready for launch whenever the pilot wanted to depart.

"This is Delta Flyer 767, requesting permission to launch from Home Station." Lt. Yuvek said into the console. Normally he would've waited to receive permission from the Docking Control Master to depart the Tokyo. Unfortunately, that Officer had been killed in the crash and the Docking Bay still significantly damaged, making it rather pointless to have to get clearance to launch when they were the only vessel departing or returning.

Once the computer registered that his request had been logged with the ship's computer system, Lt. Yuvek took control and began the initial flight sequence allowing the Delta Flyer to depart and reach the necessary altitude above the desert-like service.

"I'm assuming that whatever remains of the Redemption won't be out in the open and we'll need to have precise directions to locate it?" Lt. Yuvek said aloud to Tatuso.

"That's assuming the rest of your friends hadn't already picked it apart for scrap metal." The Cardassian added.

"So, you're not only a racist, but an idiot, too?" Tatsuo responded. "We need someplace for refuge from the desert, so what better shelter to use than what you already have."

"On the contrary, our second crash site is out in the open." Tatsuo explained, his eyes scanning the desert below until he gained a visual on the riders. "You see the guys on the zumbabeasts down there? Just head in the direction they're riding until you spot a Nova class starship with its secondary hull half-buried in the sand. I take it you know what a starship of that class looks like?"

Nezuko reached forward from her station and tapped Tatsuo in the shoulder. When he turned to face her, she angrily shook her head and chastised him with a raised index finger.

She then tapped a button on her console so it spoke. “We’re trying to help. You don’t need to be rude.”

In the back, the brunette's stomach lurched when the craft took off. She thought she would get over it because she hadn't been in a moving shuttle for a long time, but as the craft accelerated to speed, the nausea wasn't getting any better, and before she knew it, she was reaching for a space sickness bag and began hurling into it.

The Delta Flyer glided out of the shuttlebay of the Tokyo and quickly started making its way over towards the wreck of the Redemption. Taiga watched from the viewing gallery as it disappeared over the dunes. She held a hand close to her chest as she watched it leave. "Be safe out there..." she muttered to herself. She was hoping deep down that they would succeed and they could find a way out together.

Posting by

Captain Taiga Aisaka
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Commander Chisato Nishikigi
Chief Intelligence Officer

Major Chiyo Shimada
Marine Commander

Lieutenant Jasad Yuvek
Chief Flight Control Officer

Lieutenant JG Nezuko
Chief Operations Officer

Lieutenant Tatsuo Shimada
Acting Captain - USS Redemption

Unknown Intelligence Lieutenant
Acting First Officer - USS Redemption

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