Certainly No Alora Knight... But Perhaps The Next Best Thing

Posted on Fri Apr 14th, 2023 @ 2:53am by Commander Chisato Nishikigi & Captain Taiga Aisaka
Edited on on Wed Jul 31st, 2024 @ 8:22pm

1,477 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Descent
Location: USS Tokyo (NCC-91101)- Captain's Ready Room, Deck 1
Timeline: Immediately After "Pre-Departure Meet-And-Greet"

After the briefing Taiga returned to her ready room. She was curious at to why her new Chief of Intelligence had come across as a bumbling idiot and wanted to get to the bottom of it as soon as possible.

Of course, as the old saying went, "speak of the devil, and he shall come;" for no sooner had Taiga gotten settled in before the door chime almost immediately sounded off, alerting her to CIO's arrival.

"Come" Taiga called clearly as she started to rearrange the PADDS on her desk.

The doors opened and Lieutenant Commander Nishikigi stepped forward, pausing briefly to look about the room (not unlike how her predecessor had done all those years ago) before quickly shifting her attention back to Taiga.

"Captain," she greeted, her chest puffing up with a swell of pride as she stood at attention.

Taiga raised an eyebrow at the Commander. "Commander, I have a question for you. What was with your behaviour back there in the briefing?" she asked quickly getting to the point. "You are aware you are on a Federation starship and not in a Kindergarten right?"

Commander Nishikigi threw her head back and laughed, as if it were a polite suggestion and not a pointed comment in regards to how she should behave.

"I suppose I do get that comment a lot, don't I?" she remarked. "Most people are put off-guard by my level of casualness; some are even appalled by it; me, I find I can sometimes play it to my advantage."

Taiga crossed her arms. "So what you're saying is that you put on a facial front?" she asked.

"Well..." Commander Nishikigi put a finger to her lips. "Yeah, I suppose I've heard some people liken it to that."

Her expression suddenly lit up as if she had just remembered something.

"Ooh! I know! Da... I mean, Captain Sadow provided me with a letter of referral in the likelihood you'd have your doubts, so perhaps you may want to read that over..."

Unclipping her PADD, she pulled up a document and handed it over to Taiga to review:

"Level 1 priority message, intended for Captain Taiga Aisaka of the United Star Ship Tokyo, NCC-91101

Begin Message:

Greetings, Captain Aisaka. My name probably doesn't ring a bell to you, so allow me to rectify that issue: my name is Captain Mika Sadow, Commanding Officer of the United Star Ship Lycoris; having worked in Starfleet Intelligence for over three decades now, I've had my fair share of contacts over the years, including your former Chief of Intelligence, Commander Alora Knight. We've been good acquaintances for many, many years now, and it has recently been brought to my attention that she was recently transferred to the Calypso and that your vessel is currently in need of a replacement Chief Intelligence officer. After some careful deliberation, I feel there is no better officer suited for the role than my own Chief of Intelligence, Lieutenant Commander Chisato Nishikigi.

I know what you're thinking right now: you probably think I take you for a fool, having lumped you with an officer who acts a third of her age. But please make no mistake: One of Lieutenant Commander Nishikigi's greatest strengths lies in her ability to play dumb. It often comes in handy for luring some of our clients into a false sense of security, and I feel you could play this greatly to your advantage when operating in the field. I would know- I trained her myself!

Lieutenant Commander Nishikigi's naivety is not for everyone, so I ask that you be patient with her; she's dedicated to this job, and I believe that in due time, her work will speak for itself.

Good luck, and send Chisato my regards,

Captain Mika Sadow of the United Starship Lycoris

-End message."

Taiga sighed after reading the message. "So, you play dumb to make people think you're not as smart as you really are huh?" she said. "Well, Commander, you can play whatever little games you want in front of the crew, but with me you'll be direct to business and no games, got that?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Commander Nishikigi nodded, with seemingly less resistance than Taiga would've expected.

"Now, tell me everything you know about this area of space we're heading to" Taiga stated simply.

"Fortunately, I had the insight to do some research before we were shipped out here," Commander Nishikigi grinned. "So, the H'Atoria Sector, as it's officially designated in star charts, is something of a no-mans' land between the UFP, the Klingon Empire, and the Romulan Star Empire; the borders of all three powers intersect here, but there's no clear markers as to where one domain ends and another begins, making it nearly impossible to determine whose legal jurisdiction you can be operating under. You could be operating under Federation law one minute, but then cross over into Romulan space and be breaking the law without even knowing it. Because of that, crime in the region is fairly high- in a statistic taken from 2390, it ranked fifth in terms of crime rates for any sector in the Alpha Quadrant, to give you a vague idea.

"The Orion Syndicate has already taken advantage of the lawlessness in the region, and has several illegal smuggling operations scattered throughout the area; in our year posted in the H'Atoria Sector, the Lycoris helped in taking down at least three, and I even led a sting on one of them. Nasty fellas, if ever you run into them; they shoot first and ask questions later.

"In addition, stirrings of political discontent have led to the recent rise of terrorist factions operating in and around the sector. For one, the Romulan Senate no longer recognizes the Tal Shiar as a legitimate organization, but this has only appeared to embolden them, and in the past month, at least three attacks on both Starfleet and Romulan installations have been attributed to the Tal Shiar.

"In addition, a radical human cell led by Tanaka Miyahara have rejected the Federation's long-established democratic ideologies, and believe that only through the guiding hand of a dictatorship can humanity stand to reign supreme amongst the stars. This cell, referring to themselves as the Confederacy of Independent Planets, has only been attributed with one attack on a Federation convoy so far, but Commodore Tohru Honda of Task Force Jomo has classed the Confederacy as a "high-profile" threat to the Federation and its interests.

"And lastly, the House Gael'Dar, a minor Klingon House that has not been recognized by the High Council since at least the 2270s, has begun orchestrating attacks on Klingon ships and installations, hoping to prove their worth to the High Council through intimidation and territorial dominance. At the moment, most of their attacks have been directed at the Klingons, but Starfleet has been advised to stay on their guard, as it is well within the realm of possibility that the House Gael'Dar might step up its game and attack Federation ships in a demonstration of power."

"So, Orions, Klingons, Pirates and people who think that Miyahara is some sort of god" Taiga said with a sigh. "Fantastic place to be sending us. I want you to keep tabs on everything and anything you hear. If it poses a threat to this ship, I want to hear about it as soon as you do." Taiga responded.

"You can count on it, Captain," Commander Nishikigi nodded. "Once I get settled in, I'll start getting in touch with some contacts and ask them to keep tabs on some of the more high-profile threats in the region; anything they uncover will be funneled back to me, and eventually through to you."

"Well in that case Commander. You better get settled in" Taiga said simply. "Welcome aboard the Tokyo. Is there anything else?"

Commander Nishikigi briefly pondered Taiga's offer.

"Hmm... are the replicators here programmed to make bubble tea? I could go for some bubble tea right now... oh, and a slice of cake, that would be grand..."

Taiga raised an eyebrow. "The replicators are programmed with thousands of different options, so most likely." She rose to her feet. "However, I have other things to attend to. So dismissed Commander."

"Thank you again, Captain," Commander Nishikigi grinned, bowing her head as a show of respect. "I look forward to working with you on this assignment."

And with a twist of the heel, she was gone.

Taiga sighed as she watched her go. With a flick of her hair she decided to follow, it was time to report to sickbay like Dr Febin had requested.

Posting by

Captain Taiga Aisaka
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Commander Chisato Nishikigi
Chief Intelligence Officer

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