I Forgive You (Backpost) (Part 1)

Posted on Wed Sep 6th, 2023 @ 8:00am by Takeshi Nakazato 'Zack' & Commander Ichika Misono

1,095 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: The Fast & The Fleet
Location: USS Myogi (NCC-65918)- Commander Misono's Office, Deck 2
Timeline: Immediately after "Nightkids!"

After the other officers had filed out, Keisuke had briefly lagged behind and told Takeshi that he could trust Commander Misono, but in the same breath, Keisuke had also reminded Takeshi that he was well within his right to refuse to answer any questions from the XO that he felt were inappropriate.

Keisuke then gave Takeshi a pat on the back and sent him along with Commander Misono, being led to the office that used to belong to Maho, but now that Maho's office was the ready room, Commander Misono had taken up residence in the space.

"Have a seat, will you, Mr. Nakazato?" the XO motioned. "I won't be keeping you long."

Nodding, Takeshi slid into the indicated chair.

"Look, if this is about why I'm even here, I'm afraid you'll have to take that question up with Maporin." Takeshi began.

"Well, let me put it to you this way," the XO replied, neatly folding her hands. "I'm not so interested as to why you're here, so much as why you aren't."

"Why I'm... not?" Takeshi asked rather confused.

"Correct me if I'm not mistaken, Mr. Nakazato," the XO went on to explain, "But in light of... recent events, I decided to comb through the official Starfleet report regarding Captain Aisaka's trial, and I happened to notice one "Lieutenant Takeshi Nakazato" who was mentioned in the report."

"The Tokyo's former Air Boss?" Takeshi asked.

"The report didn't specify," Ichika explained. "Details regarding him are scant, likely for what I presume to be in the interest of upholding the individual's right to privacy. Now, this is purely speculation on my part, and you certainly don't have to share anything you're not entirely comfortable sharing with me, but on the basis that you already hold close ties with both Captain and Commander Takahashi, I couldn't help but wonder... You and him wouldn't happen to be one and the same, would you?"

Takeshi nodded.

"Lieutenant was the last rank I held in Starfleet prior to my dishonorable discharge." He confirmed. "Ever since, I've had death threats made against me and my family by terrorists like the ones that stormed Starfleet Headquarters. I'd be lying if I said they were making me nervous. Even now, I feel anxious being here in a position of relative safety while my wife and children are down below still in danger."

Ichika's eyes widened. "Death threats? For a dishonorable discharge?"

Takeshi nodded.

"One of the news services, I can't remember which one, caught one of these fuckers on tape, clearly yelling into a megaphone and calling me a 24th century Benedict Arnold." He explained. "Not sure how well you know Earth history, but in short, Benedict Arnold was a notorious military officer who betrayed the Continental Army and fought for the British during the American Revolutionary war, and these... These bastards are daring to compare me to him!"

"I see..." Ichika observed. "Well, disregarding my thoughts on that statement, especially given whom it's alleged to have come from, why exactly would they be targeting you if you'd allegedly conspired with Miyahara to falsify your testimony in a JAG Court Of Law?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Takeshi asked. "In their eyes, I took the cowardly way out. They didn't know that I had taken a course of action that would be minimally damaging to my family. All they saw was the man Miyahara had hyped up as a poster boy of officers destined to 'Make Starfleet Grest Again' betray everything they thought I stood for."

"Hmm... Fascinating," Ichika remarked, jotting some notes down on her PADD. "And tell me- since you appear to have insight into the matter- did Miyahara ever indicate to you as to why he believed Starfleet was possibly in need of improvement?"

Takeshi sighed.

"The entire time I knew Miyahara, he was of the belief that Starfleet as an organization peaked during the Dominion War, and had steadily been on the backslide ever since." He explained. "He believed that in order to restore Starfleet to its wartime greatness, it needed to appeal to the... "Unsavory characters:" The xenophobes, the warmongers, the religious zealots. Miyahara believed that by bringing the groups everyone else labeled as "right wing extremists" into the fold, we could truly move forward as a "United Federation of Planets.""

"As in give them a second chance?" Ichika deduced. "Give them the opportunity to clean up their acts, possibly turn over a new leaf?"

"It seemed noble at the time, but hindsight being 20/20, Miyahara had actually built the biggest powder keg in galactic history, and when perhaps the only man who had vouched for these groups suddenly lost and was forced to step down in scandal, the problems these groups had with the Federation now had a physical manifestation: A face and a name: Taiga Aisaka. And the fuse was lit for the powder keg to go off!" Takeshi continued.

"But would it have turned out any differently with a different Captain?" Ichika pointed out. "If it had been, say, Jean-Luc Picard responding to that distress signal as opposed to Taiga Aisaka- had the crew of the Enterprise proven that Tanaka Miyahara was conspiring with the Tal Shiar to undermine our laurels as a Federation- do you believe these groups would have reacted any differently than the way they did?"

"No, they still would have acted as unhinged as they did, if not perhaps more so." Takeshi sighed. "The crew of the Enterprise are seen as the Federation's poster children, so if they had been the ones to expose Miyahara's misdeeds, they would have seen it as a direct declaration of war on their ways of life."

Ichika smiled.

"I must confess, Mr. Nakazato, I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I took you aside, but I think it's safe to say that you've surpassed those expectations," she admitted, jotting down a few more notes as she did so. "You've been extremely cooperative in answering all my questions, and you don't appear to be holding anything back so far as I can tell. But that does beg the question: for someone with as strong a moral compass as yourself, what led you to falsify your testimony during Captain Aisaka's trial? You had to have factored in the repercussions if you were caught; this couldn't have been a decision you reached lightly."

To be continued...

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