A Contest of Teamwork, Courage, and Sacrifice

Posted on Sat Jun 10th, 2023 @ 4:38am by Captain Maho Takahashi & Commander Keisuke Takahashi 'K.T.' & Commander Ichika Misono & Commander Victor Delling MD & Commander Queed & Lieutenant Commander Kurumi Ebisuzawa & Lieutenant Commander Brennyn Scott M.D. & Lieutenant Alisha Reno & Lieutenant JG Jane Sinclair & Lieutenant Karen Kujo 'Union Jane'

1,620 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: The Fast & The Fleet
Location: Conference Room, Deck 1

With Commander Misono scheduling an impromptu senior staff meeting, Maho had returned to her quarters to fetch the model of Keisuke's FD before returning to Deck 1 and the conference room, finding Ichika and Keisuke already there.

Maho knew that Ichika wasn't taking Captain Felnoir's death particularly well, as the exec had recently been spending a lot more of her duty time cooped up in her office as of late. Granted, she would still leave for things like exercise, meals, and restroom breaks, but other than those times, she would remain in her office unless otherwise paged. The fact that Commander Misono had been sitting in her command chair on the bridge at all today was noteworthy, and that she had been doing so for nearly 30 minutes prior to Maho ordering her to assemble the senior staff for an immediate briefing.

"Busy day with the crew transfers, babe?" Maho asked. Since Commander Misono had become withdrawn to her office, Maho's husband had picked up a lot of the slack in regards to Ichika's physical duties.

"You bet." Keisuke said. "That being said, it's still surprising how many crew are staying..."

Keisuke was interrupted when Maho passed him the model of his FD from their quarters.

"Hold onto this for now." Maho requested. "Until I'm ready to break it to the crew."

Ichika raised a brow in surprise. "Captain, with all due respect, may I ask what that has to do in regards to this briefing?"

"You'll find out in due time, Commander." Maho responded, winking to her husband.

Keisuke nodded. With the wink from his wife and being entrusted to conceal the model of his FD from the others, he had a fairly strong idea of where things were headed.

Jane came in just in time to miss the model being concealed. “Captain, Commander, Commander,” she said, none the wiser to what she had missed. She took a seat and waited for things to start.

"Captain, Commander, Commander, Lieutenant," Queed greeted those already present. Aside from his voice he moved quietly as he took his seat at the conference table.

Alisha tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear as she walked into the conference room as well, but she was different than she'd been before. Instead of being in uniform, she was in civilian clothes, albeit with her pips and her commbadge on. It was Intelligence's duty to be here and she wasn't NOT a Fleet officer, just... On reduced duty voluntarily. The grey polo shirt and black skirt she wore were clearly meant to be as semi-formal like a uniform, perfectly respectable. "Good afternoon, Sirs, Ma'ams." She said quietly as she made to take her seat.

"Lieutenant, why are you out of uniform on duty?" Maho asked. "I don't recall authorizing casual days."

"No ma'am, no..." Alisha paused for a moment, but surely it would be known soon enough, "I'm on reduced duty, ma'am, not off-duty. I'm working with Doctor Scott about some of my... Problems." She wasn't about to admit to the Captain what had been going through her head, not unless she couldn't get past it. "I'm sorry, ma'am, I didn't have the time to change into uniform without being late and I felt being here was best."

"Very well, but try not to let it happen in the future." Maho said.

Kurumi was next to enter. She looked around briefly at the others before sliding into a nearby seat.

Lieutenant Kujo was next to arrive; ever one to make an entrance, she wasted no time plopping down in her chair and then spinning it around like a nine-year-old turned loose in an office supply store.

Ichika loudly cleared her throat, hoping it would be enough to get the point across for Lieutenant Kujo to behave herself.

Brennyn entered, heavily caffeinated beverage in one hand and a tired but ever hopeful expression on her face. It seemed ever since she boarded, she had watched the crew experience hell and back with little break, and she was doing all she could to provide the support they needed, but it didn't take a mental health expert to realize the challenge of that work when the hits kept coming. She was eager to learn more about the way forward and was at least grateful for the opportunity to lay eyes on everyone, to check the pulse of the ship in someway as it were.

Delling was the last to arrive, and he was in a set of blue surgical scrubs that indicated what he had been doing with his time. The scrub cap that covered his hair was of a fine manufacture, and had a sheen of silver to it. His eyes however, had dark circles of exhaustion under them.

---

Once everyone had assembled, Maho faced her gathered senior officers, some curious as to why they had been called:

"As you probably know, our sister ship, the USS Haruna, also responded to the attack on Starfleet Headquarters, and is presently in the Sol System as well." Maho said. "What you may not know, is that their captain considers her crew; an Andorian majority crew, might I add, to be the finest in the fleet. Well, I so happen to think that the people sitting at this table comprise the finest crew in the quadrant!"

"Not that I don't mind the praise and all that," Lieutenant Kujo grinned. "But is this your way of saying that you invited your senior staff up here just so you could brag?"

"She's getting to the point, Lieutenant." Keisuke said sharply before turning back to Maho. "Babe, please continue:"

Nodding, Maho turned back to the gathered officers.

"I was hoping for a reaction similar to Lieutenant Kujo's." Maho said. "Because when the Haruna's captain challenged us to a contest of teamwork, courage, and sacrifice, I accepted on your behalf!"

“Hm!” Alisha leaned forward in her chair, propping her elbows on the table as she cuddled with the top button of her shirt, undoing it, then redoing it over and over, “What kind of contest, Captain? Hopefully something interesting?”

Without saying a word, Maho nodded in Keisuke's direction, and a handoff occurred of the model of Keisuke's FD.

"Street racing." Maho declared, placing the model of the FD on the table.

"YES!!!" Lieutenant Kujo proclaimed upon realizing that this was right up her alley. "WOO!!!"

"Captain, with all due respect," Ichika was quick to point out. "This seems like an awful lot of trouble we'd be going to just to resolve a simple dispute. Have you considered taking this matter directly to the Admiralty?"

"Captain Zh'gero and I have both spoken to Commodore Honda about this, and she has given consent for things to be carried out in this way." Maho responded, even if she was stretching the truth a bit, as those talks had yet to actually happen, and Shimakaze would never be that kind of proactive. "Besides, It is more than just the dispute; the success of our next mission which we are due to undertake in a little over two weeks' time once our repairs are completed could very well depend on our performance against Captain Zh'gero and her crew."

Ichika still seemed to be somewhat skeptical if this really was the best way to resolve the dispute, but if Maho claimed that they had the Commodore's backing, then she felt an obligation to help out in whatever way she could. Primitive human transports were not even her specialty, to be frankly honest, but this wasn't anything she couldn't educate herself on in the holodeck.

Maho turned back to the gathered officers.

"So, who's with me?" She asked

It was definitely something new and different, Alisha mused to herself even as she raised an eyebrow to Jane. There was no doubt that her girlfriend would most definitely be up for it and well... "Is it just cars?" She asked out loud, "Back in my heyday I did a fair bit of motorcycle stunts when filming 'Death On The Riviera' including a major chase scene." A wistful smile, "Never been in an actual race, but I think I could hack it."

"Street racing huh..." Kurumi said a strange smile stretching across her face. "Can I shoot out their tyres if they're using older vehicles?" she asked.

"You do realize that all of these vehicles are antiques, commander?" Keisuke responded. "Besides, Captain Zh'gero will accuse us of unsportsmanlike conduct if you were to do something like that."

"I can definitely think of safer things to do to boost morale," Bree responded, "but perhaps it would be good to experience an adrenaline rush that isn't connected to fighting for our lives or those of others." Scott couldn't quite bring herself to laugh, but she did offer a small smile.

“This is going to be interesting,” Queed said out loud to no one in particular.

Victor covered his face to hide his laughter, he couldn't imagine getting into one of those beastly things, but he bet that Wyndon would jump right in with both feet. He couldn't wait to tell him.

Maho smiled.

"Very well." She said. "We'll meet up tomorrow at 0800 hours on Holodeck One for first practice. Dismissed."

Posting by

Captain Maho Takahashi
Commanding Officer

Commander Ichika Misono
Executive Officer

Commander Keisuke Takahashi
Second Officer

Commander Victor Delling
Chief Medical Officer

Commander Queed
Chief Diplomatic Officer

Lieutenant Commander Kurumi Ebisuzawa
Chief Security/Tactical Officer

Lieutenant Commander Brennyn Scott
Chief Counselor

Lieutenant Karen Kujo
Squadron Leader

Lieutenant Alisha Reno
Chief Intelligence Officer

Lieutenant JG Jane Sinclair
Chief Flight Control Officer

 

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