Convincing Hardened Survivors (Part 1)

Posted on Thu Jan 18th, 2024 @ 2:54am by Major Chiyo Shimada & Lieutenant Tatsuo Shimada & Commander Chisato Nishikigi & Lieutenant Jasad Yuvek & Lieutenant JG Nezuko

1,184 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Starship Graveyard
Location: USS Redemption, bridge and conference room

Previously, on Star Trek: Tokyo:

Eventually, they reached the turbolift. The doors hissed and creaked open, revealing that the car itself seemed quite untouched by 14 years being stranded. Granted it was covered in a good coat of grime like everything else, but considering the turbolifts were the crew's only methods of getting between decks (a design flaw inherent to all Starfleet vessels), the Redemption's crew were under an obligation to keep them in good working order.

"Ladies first..." Tatsuo motioned for everyone to board.

And now, the continuation:

The turbolift ride to the bridge was quiet. One could hear a pin drop as the turbolift creaked its way up the shaft to the bridge. When the doors finally opened, they revealed to the away team what 14 years of being crash landed did to the bridge. The command center's roof had a massive hole in it, not unlike that on the Tokyo's bridge, and due to the hole in the roof, sand from numerous sandstorms had blown in, and almost every surface on the bridge had become crusty as a result. The Redemption's bridge at this point was less of a command center and more of an open air terrace. A great place for the Vulcans on the crew to come and meditate, but otherwise not very useful anymore.

And due to the state of vulnerability the bridge was now in, all command and controls had long since been rerouted away from the bridge, and it was easy to cut turbolift access to the bridge to effectively "trap" any attackers on the bridge.

Today, however, the bridge was in a state of calm, as mutliple senior officers had already gathered on the bridge ahead of the senior staff meeting their captain had called. Including Kisad Vuyi, the Redemption's Bajoran security chief. As the turbolift doors opened and the Captain and his... Guests stepped out, Kisad was one of the first to turn in the direction of the turbolift.

Kisad didn't immediately notice the Cardassian in a Starfleet uniform stepping off the turbolift, as someone else immediately caught his eye:

"As I live and breathe, Chiyo Mabuchi!" He called out, extending his arms and inviting Chiyo for an embrace.

"Hello, Kisad." Chiyo said warmly as she hugged the Bajoran. "It's good to see you're still around and kicking."

"Yeah; well it takes more than 14 years of being stranded to break this freedom fighter." Kisad responded.

"I take it another old friend of yours, Major?" Chisato inquired as she moved to join Chiyo.

"Oh, Kisad and I go way back." Chiyo said. "I believe just about back to the beginning of when Tatsuo and I got together?"

"No, I was there at the start, too." Kisad responded. "Shimada and I were on shore leave, and he must have been eyeing you from across the bar for Prophets know how long before he finally asked me for that nudge he needed."

"Oh, that's right, you were the unseen figure he kept nodding to." Chiyo said, turning to Chisato. "His words, not mine, by the way."

"Yeah, I always knew Mabuchi was something special." Kisad added. "But now, I can tell you that she's a rare specimen of her kind, and you'd learn a lot from her."

"Hey, um, quick question, Lieutenant?" Chisato imposed oh-so-innocently. "You seem like an honest man, so perhaps you might be able to answer this for me..."

"Go on?" Kisad remarked.

"Lieutenant Shimada," Chisato began, almost immediately earning the stink-eye from Chiyo as she realized where this conversation was heading. "Does he seem like the kind of person not to trust others, even if they're fellow Starfleet officers? On the way here, I asked him about the defense measures that he had set up- I mean, I figure it's in our right to know how you guys survived as long as you did- but he wound up ducking the question, so I couldn't help but wonder..."

"Commander, what you need to know is that Shimada has made sacrifices to keep us alive all these years." Kisad explained. "While he likes to believe the best intentions in everyone, sadly he's seen too much bloodshed to be able to openly share information. To put this in perspective, a Nova class starship typically has a crew compliment of 60. Only factoring in the adults who were listed as part of our compliment originally, we've lost about 20 over the years. Now, 20 people might just be a drop in the bucket for you, but for us, that's a third of our crew compliment gone! Granted, some were lost under Commander K'rala's leadership, but still; that's a lot:"

"I see," Chisato nodded. "Well, thank you again for being honest with me, Lieutenant; you've helped me to put a few things into perspective."

"Any time." Kisad said. "And if you ever want to hear any of my stories from my time in the Bajoran Resistance..."

"Let's save that kettle of worms for another day." Chiyo interrupted, shooting Chisato an apologetic look, as Kisad always loved to bring up his time in the Bajoran Resistance.

Lieutenant Yuvek stepped onto the bridge behind the other officers and looked around the area for several moments. It was eerie to step foot onto an unused bridge. It did not seem natural to stand in what should be the central hub of a Starship and see it so lifeless. The bridge was yet another reason Lt. Yuvek could not wait to be off of it and back on his own vessel.

The Cardassian Helmsman continued to walk around the Bridge as he listened to the conversations around him. He was able to restrain himself from chuckling when he heard the Bajoran refer to himself as a "Freedom Fighter".

It was a common term he heard from older Bajorans during his time living on the planet as an orphan. Whenever he heard the term, it typically came after someone had done something rather distasteful.

Well what do you expect from an ol' Freedom Fighter
or
Old habits die hard from my Freedom Fighter days

It always amazed Jasad just how so many Bajorans over a certain age clung to that title as if it was a badge of honor. Regardless of whether they were working in a mine or actually carrying a weapon to use again a Cardassian Soldier.

Nezuko simply watched the room. The bridge, open to the outside. Monitors were off. This room was in use but not for command. For gathering? Maybe. The completely offline control centre was enough to keep her on edge.

She had met plenty of Bajorans in her career and knew of their history. If this one was claiming to be a freedom fighter, then she knew things between the Redemption crew and Mr. Yuvek might get violent very suddenly. And after all, while priority number one was connecting the Tokyo and Redemption crews, priority number zero was always safety and security of the pack. Or rather, the away team.

To be continued...

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