Conversations

Posted on Fri Nov 10th, 2023 @ 5:44am by Commander Thomas Johnson & Captain Taiga Aisaka & Lieutenant Talia Johnson

2,040 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Starship Graveyard
Location: Captains Ready Room

Taiga sat on the couch in her ready room. The bright sunshine shone through the windows, casting long shadows over the room. She was going over status reports handed to her and frankly none of them were that good. She let out an audible sigh as she read over the latest casualty report, it wasn't a good situation at all.

Talia walked alongside Thomas as they made their way to talk with the Captain. With morning sickness in full swing Talia was feeling somewhat off colour, but had chosen to keep working as best as she could. They needed all hands on deck right now.

With everything going on the past few days, Thomas had been worried about the crew, but for the most part, the Captain. Knowing her past, and being pregnant, was a little much, and he wanted to check up on her. It was stressful enough, he could possibly be called to take over if the need rose.

Arriving at the Ready Room Talia knocked on the partially open door, peering inside as she did so. “Captain?”

"Come in," Taiga said. "You'll have to push the door manually, the power still isn't working to it yet," she explained.

“I think we can...squeeze...through” Talia smiled as she eased her way through the gap, turning to look and see if Thomas was able to do the same.

Taiga couldn't help but smile as she watched the counsellor attempting to squeeze her way through the door.

Thomas, being sizable larger than both the captain, and Talia, was unable to, he braced one foot on one of the doors, and his back against the wall, and pushed. With a squeal and a loud crack, it opened up slowly. He then did the same to the other side.

"That fixes that problem." Thomas replied, a bit proud of himself. "I will get engineering to fix that when able to."

Once both of them were in the room, Taiga motioned for them to join her as she took her seat on the couch. She was ignoring the mess that was her desk area at the moment. "So, whats on your mind?"

Talia settled into a seat grateful for the moment’s rest as she wasn’t feeling that well. “Right now? I’m thinking how much I’d really like this morning sickness to go away!” She offered an apologetic smile. “Sorry, that’s not why we’re here.”

Taiga couldn't help but smile. Currently she had only had a few days of morning sickness, but it may be that Betazoids were different. "Well, maybe sickbay has something that can help. I've yet to have it quite bad myself, only occassionally." She replied. "I imagine you're both here because you're worried about something?"

Talia nodded. “Crew morale for one, I’ve been getting a lot of crew coming to see me since we crash landed. They’re obviously worried that we’re going to be here a long time, or maybe even never leave. I can only do so much to reassure people.”

"I've been giving that a lot fo thought recently..." Taiga started to say. "I know that the Tokyo was never meant for planetary landings, but its not the first time a starship has crashlanded and got itself up off a planet before..." She paused for a brief moment. "But, I do wonder. What stopped all the other ships that have crashed here from escaping? Do we actually have a chance? Or is this how its meant to be?"

“I certainly hope not.” Talia looked at Thomas. “I don’t want our baby being born here, not under these circumstances.”

Taiga nodded. "I feel the exact same." She looked at the counsellor. "However, from what I'm reading of these reports. We might be here for a good portion of our pregnancies, the birth too if things don't go well." The captain sighed. "I'm sorry for all this, I should have steered us clear the moment we found this planet!"

Talia gave Taiga an apologetic look. “This wasn’t your fault Captain, you don’t want to be here any more than I do. We’re both in the same boat, as the saying goes, as long as I have Thomas to support me I’ll manage here.”

"Ryuuji said the same thing." Taiga replied. "I just worry thats all. There are so many ships that have crashed here, none of them have escaped before. We already know that the Redemption failed which resulted in most of its crew being killed. Am I just leading us down the same path?"

"This planet has never had a Captain Aisaka crash land here... let alone a pregnant one at that." Thomas replied as he sat back. "From what I remember, the ship was already being dragged to the planet as soon as we spotted it."

Talia smiled, Thomas knew how to make people feel better. He certainly did that for her when she needed it.

Taiga couldn't help but smirk at Thomas's comment. "I guess you're right. If there's one thing I'm determined to do, its to get off this planet." She placed both hands on her belly as she sat back on the sofa. "I don't want to raise my child on this planet."

Talia looked at Thomas, then back at Taiga. “No, neither do we. We’re just as determined as everyone else to get the hell off this rock.”

"So, how do we do this?" Taiga asked. "Am I right in trusting that Tatsuo?".

"I think we can trust him to do whats best for survival." Thomas replied. "He has seen so many ships, and people stranded here, and all attempts fail... I don't want to say anything bad against the man... but when survival has been your main goal for the past decade... your ideals... can be placed aside, in order to make ends meet. On the slim chance we are stuck here... we cannot say we will stick to our ideals after such a long time away, with the fighting, and salvaging."

Taiga pondered for a few moments of what her first officer was saying. "I would like to think that we will stick to our morals and ideals, no matter how long we are stuck here," she told them both.

Talia nodded. “People do desperate things under desperate circumstances, if we do get the ship operational again that will be the time when we’ll find out just who we can truly trust and who we can’t.”

"How does the crew feel about all of this?" Taiga asked simply meeting the counsellors gaze. "Surely emotions are running high?"

Talia nodded. “Emotions are running very high, people are looking to you, and us as command staff, to know what to do in hopes of getting home. I suggest keeping people busy, give them something to occupy their minds instead of dwelling on our situation.”

"Well there's plenty of things to do." Taiga said. "But off duty, we need something else. With the holodecks offline and many areas of the ship damaged or destroyed, we need something to keep people's mind off the inevitable," Taiga looked at them both. "Any ideas?"

Talia paused to think. “As harsh as it sounds maybe we should have the crew set up a camp? It would get people off the ship so repair crews have less people in their way, and it would give people something to do setting up the camp. That way if we’re here as long as you think we’ll have somewhere else to live.”

Taiga pondered for a brief moment. "We do have emergency camps in the cargo bays. We mainly use them for assisting planetary disasters and such..." she told them. "Maybe we set up some around the ship itself? Then we can use them when working on the exterior systems?"

Talia nodded before pausing, her morning sickness was proving to be a major inconvenience right now and it wasn’t just in the morning. “Sorry... I think I need to see someone about this... morning sickness.” She gave an apologetic look.

"Doctor Hinamori has been dealing with mine. We're in the process of replacing Doctor Febin at the moment." Taiga suggested. "I heard its pretty bad with Betazoids?"

Talia nodded. “It can be, my...mother told me she was pretty bad with it when she had me.” She took a few deep breaths. “Dehydration is the biggest risk.”

"Yeah, especially in this environment," Taiga sighed. She looked at them both in turn. "I like the idea of setting up external camps. We can process any salvage outside so it doesn't bring a risk to the ship. It will also give a sheltered area for engineering and operations teams to work on our engines and hull."

She looked at Thomas. "Have them set up as soon as you can." She then turned to Talia. "I would report down to sickbay when you can, they should have something to help you with the morning sickness. Don't do anything that would put you or your baby at risk."

“Understood” Talia nodded. “I think I might head home and grab a little snack see if it settles my stomach.” She offered an apologetic smile.

Taiga nodded. "Keep me informed. If you have any problems, no matter how small I want to know right away, ok?"

Talia nodded as she got to her feet. “I will Captain, that’s a promise.” She offered Thomas a smile before leaving the two alone to finish their conversation.

Once Talia had left the room, Taiga turned to Thomas. "Thomas, assure me she's going to be ok?"

"Even though we known each other for a short time, I can trust her to be just fine." Thomas assured her.

Taiga nodded. "Speaking of Medical." She picked up a PADD and handed it to him. "Doctor Hinamori would like to suggest Lieutenant Ellis as our new Chief Medical Officer. She doesn't want to fill the role at the moment, she worried the extra responsibility may not be good for her while she is pregnant." Taiga explained. "Thoughts?"

Glancing over the padd. "How many more pads are we going to be looking at for replacements of the crew we lost here." He replied as it was a mostly offhand remark. "Capable officer... One thing I am seeing is this is their first ship assignment, and no assistant position before hand." He reached in his pocket and took out a flask. "Whats Hinamoris personal opinion... I am hoping its not just a I dont want it, throw it on the next available kind of deal."

"Well, she's worried the extra stress may cause harm to her baby and Lieutenant Ellis is the next most qualified..." Taiga stated.

"Im not dismissing her just looking at what could hinder, if we were not in this predicament." Thomas assured her. "If Dr Hinamori trusts her capabilities. Then that should be ok with us."

Taiga nodded in response. "Ok, well thats good enough for me."

"I hate to even suggest this Captain... a lot of the ships here, they were focused only on the escape, and only prepared for the long haul stay once valuable supplies dried up. Might I suggest coming up with a long term plan should escape be unattainable. We need to prepare. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst."

"I have given that some thought if I'm honest," Taiga said sadly in response. "However, there I have faith in the Tokyo and this crew. I will never tell anyone to give up hope. We will get off this planet, one way or the other. Until we try I'm not dismissing it." Taiga told him.

Taiga took a deep breath. "Thomas, this is going to be a difficult time for all of us. I think the Counsellors idea of setting up exterior camps for the repair and salvage teams is a good idea. I want you to oversee their construction immediately. We can't waste a single minute here."

"Aye Captain." Thomas replied as he stood and adjusted his shirt.

Posting by

Captain Taiga Aisaka
Commanding Officer

Commander Thomas Johnson
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Talia Johnson
Chief Counsellor

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