The Redemption that Time Forgot (Part 1)

Posted on Fri Dec 1st, 2023 @ 12:55am by Captain Taiga Aisaka & Commander Chisato Nishikigi & Major Chiyo Shimada & Lieutenant Jasad Yuvek & Lieutenant JG Nezuko & Lieutenant Tatsuo Shimada

1,723 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Starship Graveyard
Location: USS Redemption
Tags:

Previously, on Star Trek: Tokyo:

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.

And now, the continuation:

They had been flying for quite some time. Evidently, Tatsuo had undersold the distance to the Redemption. The Nova class starship's acting captain had kept the fact that it was over a full day's ride by zumbabeast in any given direction to reach any of the other wrecks close to his chest.

The Redemptioners were already on the second day of their salvage mission when they spotted the Tokyo crashing, and Tatsuo knew that the guys on their way back would have to set up camp for the night. But he also knew that the logistics of relocating personnel and supplies from the Redemption to the Tokyo wouldn't be an overnight process, so they would be back long before the Redemption was completely abandoned.

The mood in the Delta Flyer's cockpit was quite tense. Very little had been said since they took off from the Tokyo, and the cockpit was very quiet aside from the ambient sounds in the cabin until finally an alarm sounded to indicate that they were being hailed:

Lieutenant Yuvek noticed the incoming communique on the general signal band. It made sense, considering there was no reason to expect a Federation vessel to appear any time soon.

"Incoming craft, you are about to enter restricted airspace:" Came the voice of a tactical officer on the Redemption. "Divert your course, or you will be shot down."

"Shimada to Redemption, you will do no such thing:" Tatsuo ordered in response.

"Shimada?" The officer responded, evidently confused. "What are you doing on there?"

"Stand by for clearance codes, Ensign." Tatsuo responded before inputting his code to broadcast.

Several tense seconds passed before the officer on the other end spoke.

"You are cleared to dock: Welcome home, Captain."

It was at this point that the wreckage of the USS Redemption began to loom into view. The Nova class starship's secondary hull up to the nacelle pylons was buried in the sand, but she was otherwise upright and intact. The ship's name and registry was still proudly emblazoned on the hull:

USS Redemption
NCC-10134

There also appeared to be a perimeter set up around the wreck site consisting of beacons of some sort.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen;" Tatsuo said. "There she lays: The Starship Redemption."

Lieutenant Yuvek barely contained his guffaw. "Shoot us down? With what, more sand?" He said aloud as he performed a fly-by around the perimeter of the downed vessel. He wanted to ensure there weren't any traps setup that might suddenly activate as the Delta Flyer approached.

"Maybe a torsion bow or photon catapult of some form?" Chisato theorized. "It's possible that they may have fashioned themselves some sort of mechanical defense mechanism in the time they've been stranded here."

Nezuko speculated that there were lots of options. She’d read about an ancient Starfleet Captain who fashioned an explosive powder from his surroundings to win a fight against a Gorn. With years in isolation, she knew that these people might come up with lots of reasonably advanced capabilities.

"You know, if I told you all our secrets, you'd be able to overpower us and take our ship with ease if you wanted to." Tatsuo remarked.

Chisato glanced over at Nezuko, an eyebrow raised in mild perplexion, as if to silently ask the Amphea if she sensed that something was a bit... fishy about this whole situation.

Nezuko nodded sternly to Chisato. They were going into a den of…predators was maybe the wrong word. Survivors. And survivors would often do anything to survive.

"Unknown craft, you are cleared to dock in the auxiliary shuttlebay." The voice of a CONN officer on the Redemption issued their landing clearance.

"Auxiliary shuttlebay?" Chiyo seemed quite surprised. "Why not the main one, dear?"

"You should know why based on your friends' attitudes towards myself and my crew, Chiyo-kichi." Tatsuo hinted. "Besides, the auxiliary shuttlebay also serves as something of a decontamination chamber. That way, any auxiliary craft we might bring back from one of the wrecks can be cleared of any pathogens that might harm our crew before we put them to use."

"Delta Flyer 767 to Redemption" Lieutenant Yuvek responded, growing annoyed at being referred to as simply Unknown craft. "Landing clearance received" The Helmsman stated as he guided the vessel to the designated location.

As the Delta Flyer passed by the exterior of the Redemption and made its way towards the shuttlebay, the Cardassian had an uneasy feeling about the entire situation.

One part of him questioned what the crew's response would be to seeing a Cardassian Starfleet Officer, especially since the majority of them had not set eyes on a Cardassian since the waning days of the Dominion War.

Another part of him simply wondered how they would respond to the idea that they were to pack up their belongings and leave to come onboard the Tokyo. A ship they did not know, under the Command of a Captain they had never met, and with no definitive plan on how to escape the planet.

Lt. Yuvek sent a coded message directly to Lt. Nezuko's console. He made sure that the indicator remained inaudible so as not to gain the attention of anyone next to her. The message simply said: Stay Prepared.

Nezuko sent a quick acknowledgment and cleared the screen, in case anyone looked over her shoulder.

Lt. Yuvek made sure the Delta Flyer was properly powered down as he removed himself from the pilot seat and began to secure the vessel. He reached into the port compartment and retrieved the set of phasers that accompanied the Flyer.

He made sure to hand Major Shimada a phaser in an antagonizing slow fashion.

"Ma'am," Lt. Yuvek said briefly as he passed by Tatsuo and continued to hand out weapons to the remainder of the Tokyo crew onboard.

"You just can't help yourself but to cause conflict, can you, racist?" Tatsuo asked. "I bring you aboard my ship in good faith and you proceed to hand out weapons to your buddies? Well, if you want security to confiscate them, then go ahead and hand them out. Don't let me stop you."

"You attacked us first. I'd have to be a fool to put my safety into the hands of the same group that eagerly tried to rob us when we were still pulling our dead from the wreckage of our ship." Lt. Yuvek replied bitterly.

"At least Klingons give you fair warning before they slash your throat. No matter how much you try to try to hide behind a Starfleet uniform, you're still nothing more than a pirate." The Cardassian responded.

"My orders were to bring us here and return. If there ever becomes a moment where your crew interferes in that mission, my phaser will be the least of your problems" He said

Nezuko took a phaser from Jasad, checked its battery charge (fine, for now) and setting (stun, for now), and kept it in hand but aimed to the floor, finger well away from the trigger. Safe handling but easy to deploy. She did not trust this situation. She didn’t know Jasad Yuvek well but he was a crewmate and this Tatsuo was being rude while Jasad was being reasonable. Anything could happen.

She kept her eyes on Tatsuo. Staring. She kept aware of her surroundings, sniffing in air to place the others in space around her, but she refused for the moment to take her eyes off him.

Tatsuo tapped his combadge.

"Shimada to Security: Meet me in the auxiliary shuttlebay. Our visitors are armed, and we'll need to confiscate their weapons."

"Copy that, Captain: There's a team en route."

Without paying any heed to Jasad or the others, Tatsuo made his way towards the rear compartment and the ramp.

Chiyo merely gave Jasad a dirty look, to silently convey that the Cardassian had brought this upon himself by choosing to arm everyone.

As the Delta Flyer's ramp descended, Tatsuo made his way down alongside the brunette woman.

"Welcome aboard the Redemption:" Tatsuo announced. "Or, at least what's left of her:"

A small crowd of spectators had already begun to gather around the back of the Delta Flyer, so as the ramp lowered and the six of them began to disembark, they were almost immediately inundated with questions.

"Tatsuo!"

"Is that a Delta Flyer?"

"Where are the others?"

"And who are these?"

"Are they Starfleet?"

"Is that a Cardassian back there?"

"Freshies? Has Shimada finally lost his mind?"

"Wait, is that?"

"No way, I think that's Chiyo Mabuchi!"

Lt. Jasad Yuvek bit down on his tongue to keep from responding to the gawking spectators. Although, a small part of him understood their fascination. He could only imagine just how much the galaxy had changed in the past 15 years since they had last been off of this world and in contact with civilization.

"Now, since racist has decided to do this the hard way, we shall be confiscating the weapons he has handed you." Tatsuo said. "They will be logged by security and returned to you when we're ready to leave."

Lt. Yuvek watched as the Security Officer made his way towards him. "This weapon right here?" He asked rhetorically.

"Oh, well see, you'll take this from my hand when you pry it from my cold dead body." He said while looking the Officer in the eyes. "And just so your Captain is aware. . ." Lt. Yuvek added sarcastically.

"...the Delta Flyer won't activate without my biometric authorization." The Cardassian Helmsan said spitefully.

To be continued...

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