Herbie Rides Again (Part 2)

Posted on Sat Jul 1st, 2023 @ 1:58am by Commander Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke
Edited on on Sat Jul 1st, 2023 @ 3:55am

1,101 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: The Fast & The Fleet
Location: USS Akina, Holodeck Three
Timeline: After 'Herbie Rides Again (Part 1)'

Previously, on Star Trek Myogi:

Before putting the car into gear, Minna turned to Mio.

"Since we're in the Wolfsburg area, I can take you to the exact spot where it happened..." She said.

"The... Accident?" Mio asked.

Minna nodded.

"I've been there multiple times. Both in a simulation and the actual site." She said.

Mio nodded.

"Well, by all means." She said, gesturing for Minna to get the car underway.

Nodding, Mio proceeded to back the Beetle out of the barn and turn around before setting off down the dirt road which led up to the barn.

And now, the continuation:

As Herbie made his way onto the Autobahn, Mio felt the atmosphere inside the cabin was rather tense, and decided to strike up a conversation to break the tension:

"You know, you're lucky that Earth is so well documented in holodeck simulations such as this." Mio said. "That you can go and visit the place your boyfriend died just by booting up a simulation of your local area... The place where I lost my eye... Isn't very well documented. I don't even know if that facility where I fought the Jem'Hadar still exists."

"Oh?" Minna asked.

"Yeah, you would think that a Starfleet officer losing her eye would be a just cause for thorough documentation of what happened, but Starfleet fatalities and injuries were so numerous during the war that my story was instead woven into the grander tapestry that was the war." Mio sighed. "I've been commissioning a holoprogrammer to work on recreating the place where I lost my eye based on nothing but my memory, but the details become scarce from the moment my eye was hit, and there's only so much that even a talented holoprogrammer can do without affirmative detail."

"I see..." Minna said. "That's quite the perspective. I lost someone close to me, but you... You lost part of one of your five senses. How did you do it? Adjust to living with one eye?"

"The first couple of weeks were tough." Mio admitted. "In fact, I'd dare to say the first year or so was, but after a while, having only one eye just became second nature to me."

The conversation was interrupted by Minna suddenly and rapidly slowing down, indicating that they were quickly approaching the spot. Herbie pulled to a stop on the shoulder of the Autobahn at the spot where his previous owner had passed away.

"This is it." Minna sighed. "This is the spot."

Minna and Mio exited the car. The spot wasn't particularly special; at first glance a rather unassuming stretch of Bundesautobahn 39. The only real landmark was a utility pole off the road.

"Computer, generate a memorial wreath." Minna instructed. Within moments, a floral wreath materialized in front of Herbie, which Minna proceed to pick up and begin carrying over to the utility pole.

"What happened here?" Mio asked, following Minna over to the pole.

"Kurt was heading into Salzgitter to meet with a friend of his; a fellow Volkswagen enthusiast. They were going to exchange parts for their projects." Minna explained. "At the same time, an intoxicated driver in a hovercar had gotten on the highway going the wrong way. The Polizei (Police) still aren't sure how they managed to go as far down the highway as far as they did, but it was at this spot that they collided with Kurt. Herbie came to rest in this ditch off the highway while the wrong way hovercar skidded into a second hovercar. The drivers of both hovercars walked away from the accident, but Kurt was killed instantly."

Minna laid the memorial wreath at the foot of the utility pole.

"After the bad news of Kurt's passing was relayed to his family, I got what I assumed at the time was a very bad menstrual cycle." Minna continued. "But, after having spoken with several doctors, some Starfleet, some not, on the matter, they all agree that the symptoms I experienced then were consistent with those of a miscarriage."

"My goodness, that's... A lot..." Mio muttered, words failing her.

For a moment, the two women stood in front of the utility pole with the wreath lying at its base.

"Well, Kurt;" Minna said, evidently addressing the departed. "I wasn't expecting to be back here so soon, but a lot of shit's happened lately, and being with Herbie has been helping to clear my mind. I'm sure you're wondering who's with me, and that's... A result of one of the things that have happened. I'm now the Captain of the USS Akina, I've told you about her before, and the woman with me is Commander Mio Sakamoto, the Akina's first officer: No doubt she's having difficulty adjusting to me being in the center chair as I am adjusting to being in the chair myself. Sakamoto walked in on me working on Herbie- you'll be pleased to know I finally got his fuel pump fixed, and wanted to know the full story, hence why we're here. I know you're not here to give me encouragement, especially as I doubt my abilities to lead this demoralized crew, but I know you're still looking down on me with great interest, which is why I'm not ready to give up on everything just yet. I miss you, Kurt: I miss you so much..."

More silence passed before Mio finally spoke.

"You know, Minna; he'd be proud of how far you've come since he passed." She said.

"I know he would." Minna said, turning to Mio. "Well, shall we get back to our reality?"

Mio contemplated obliging Minna's offer, as they would be able to go to the mess hall and decompress over a meal. But then a thought crossed her mind; she had been in contact with Amatsukaze, her counterpart on the USS Haruna, and the Andorian had been bragging about crushing the crew of the USS Myogi in an upcoming touge race.

"Before we do that," Mio said, turning back towards Herbie. "I've heard that the crews of the Haruna and the Myogi are going to be squaring off in a couple weeks' time. Care to scope some of the courses they're planning on running? Since you're more into this ground car business than I am."

"I suppose..." Minna said. "What do you have in mind?"

"They sent a list, they're mostly mountain roads and the like." Mio said.

"Sounds like it could be fun." Mio smiled.

To be continued...

Posting by

Commander Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke
Commanding Officer
USS Akina

Commander Mio Sakamoto
Executive Officer
USS Akina

RSS Feed