The Chair Zack Used To Fill

Posted on Wed Sep 29th, 2021 @ 2:53am by Commander Ichika Misono & Captain Maho Takahashi & Commander Keisuke Takahashi 'K.T.'

1,785 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Handling the Fallout
Location: Commander Takahashi's Quarters
Timeline: Part 2 of 'A Hand Extended Is A Favor Returned'

Previously, on Star Trek: Myogi:

"If that's the case;" Keisuke piped up. "I'd like to meet up with you at 0600 hours tomorrow. We're expecting the Klingon Ambassador at 0800 hours, and I'd like to get to know you a little better beforehand. I mean, since you blew me off today...:

"Babe, Commander Misono is here right now." Maho pointed out. "Why not spare yourself the redundancy and do so now?"

And now, the continuation...

"Fair enough:" Keisuke admitted before turning to Ichika. "Commander Misono: If I were to whip up some plain chicken on white rice, would it be something you could eat?"

"Oh, that would be delightful, Commander!" Ichika nodded enthusiastically. "You don't mind if I seat myself, do you?"

"Absolutely." Maho said. "All I ask is that you don't take the heads of the table."

"Dinner will be up in about five minutes." Keisuke said. "Babe; out stuff's ready now, so feel free to help yourself. Commander Misono; any seasoning that you can eat that you would like on your chicken?"

"Basil should be alright," Ichika replied as she took a seat at the dinner table. "I hear it reduces stress and diminishes the effects of arthritis, amongst other alleged properties."

"Okay, I'll throw some of that on there." Keisuke responded as he stirred the pieces of chicken around in the pan.

Maho sat down with her own dinner; a bowl of chicken teriyaki on noodles.

"I will say this much about Keisuke;" Maho said as she dug in. "He does have some surprising culinary skill: If he wanted to, I'd bet he could get a job as a chef at like a three star restaurant without much difficulty."

"Hey, when you survive on little more than gas station and convenience store food for a year, I'd be surprised if you didn't teach yourself how to cook afterwards." Keisuke responded.

"Oh?" Ichika replied, her curiosity evidently piqued. "This sounds like a story worth sharing..."

"That story is long and complicated, but to give the reader's digest version; my brother helped pull me out of a particularly dark chapter in my life, and in return I helped him found his first team: I was still cocky and arrogant until I ran into Ta- I mean, flight officer Fujiwara one fateful night. Before I knew what was happening, both me and my brother were defeated by Fujiwara, and he was something of a rising star; something my brother was quick to capitalize on with his second team. Fujiwara and I became brothers in arms as we travelled around the region, battling the various local teams, but the life wasn't as glamorous as I'm painting it; much of the reality was eating whatever we could pick up for cheap at local gas stations and convenience stores. Sure, there was the occasional family restaurant, but most of the time, the average Project D diet consisted of convenience store rice balls and whatever other scraps we bought along the way." Keisuke explained. "Honestly, I think those rice balls were the reason that in Starfleet Academy, I finally decided to learn to cook for myself."

"So you're friends with Ensign Fujiwara?" Ichika observed. "I wasn't aware when I spoke to him earlier."

"Well, we weren't always friends." Keisuke responded. "I don't believe it was until our last set of battles in Saitama after I'd crashed my FD that we finally began to see each other as more than running mates who tolerated one another. I guess it takes a threat on your life to make you have that moment of clarity."

"You wrecked a transport?" Ichika remarked in surprise.

Keisuke laughed.

"No, when I say, FD, I'm referring to the last generation Mazda RX-7; it's an old Earth sports car from the late 20th and early 21st centuries. We street racers tend to refer to cars made in Japan during this timeframe by their chassis codes, and the last generation RX-7's chassis code is FD3S, or FD for short."

"You know, we actually have a scale model of one," Maho said, setting her chopsticks down and starting to get up. "To give you a better idea of what one looks like..."

"Babe, sit down and eat your dinner:" Keisuke instructed. "The scale model can wait until after we're done eating. Though, Commander Misono; if for some reason we forget to show you tonight; next time you're in Maporin's ready room, keep your eyes peeled for a scale model of a yellow sports car; as that one is the kind of car I'm talking about. If you're still not sure, just look for the thing that's yellow, has four wheels, and looks like it goes fast."

"Are you trying to give a superior officer orders, commander?" Maho asked playfully.

"Hey, we're both the same rank now, thanks to that bitch, Aisaka." Keisuke responded.

"Doesn't change the fact that I'm the captain of the ship..." Maho playfully fired back.

"I might have to take you up on your offer when I have some down time," Ichika smiled. "I'm not all that well-versed in ancient human modes of transportation, so perhaps you two would care to enlighten me with a demonstration some time?"

"I'd be happy to:" Keisuke said. "I regularly run a holodeck simulation to keep in touch with my street racer self. I'd be happy to take you along sometime.

"Oh, a virtual ride along? I do appreciate the offer, but I think a technical overview should suffice."

"Very well; I'll send you the schematics on a PADD when I get a chance." Keisuke said. "Your food's up, Commander: You want me to make it for you? Or can you fetch it yourself?"

"I figure you've gone to enough trouble for me, Commander," Ichika chuckled as she stood up and pushed her chair in. "I can get it myself."

As Ichika prepared her food, Keisuke grabbed himself his own dinner; identical to that of his wife, before joining Maho at the table.

"Why don't I go get the little FD model I keep on my nightstand?" Keisuke asked as he set his bowl on the table.

"Babe, you've already let your food sit long enough;" Maho said. "Sit down and eat it while it's still warm."

"Yeah, I guess you're right..." Keisuke sighed, sliding into his seat. "Anyway, what was it that Starfleet saw in this officer that made her worth replacing you?"

"Keisuke, if you're using her unfamiliarity with human history as an excuse to judge her, you have very piss poor reasoning." Maho responded. "And it's not like I've been replaced; I'm still responsible for this ship and all the souls aboard her: It's just that she's taken over my old job."

"I know, it's just..." Keisuke said before dropping his voice down: "It's just that it's a little off-putting that Misono is inserting herself into our private life as well. I mean, let's face it; I don't think we've had a guest for dinner since it was you, me, and Zack as the top three officers. And don't say anything about all those times we dined with Senpai: In those cases, he invited us over to... Well, here, to share a meal with him."

"You do have a point..." Maho said, Keisuke having covered his bases by invalidating her next argument. "God damn, I do miss Zack, though..." She sighed.

"Yeah, well; we'll probably never see him serving in Starfleet again:" Keisuke responded. "Our nemesis Aisaka has seen to that."

"Yeah..." Maho bitterly agreed. "I'm surprised that woman hasn't stolen any more from us..."

"She's already pulled off the biggest heist of the century:" Keisuke said. "If she had stolen anymore, it'd be mythical..."

"Alright," Ichika sighed, none the wiser about the conversation that had just transpired as she sat down with a full plate of food. "So where were we?"

"Chassis codes, if I'm not mistaken." Maho said, steering back to the subject matter they had been talking about prior to Ichika getting up to fetch her food.

"Ah, yes; so tell me about them, then."

"Right, well; different manufactures handled their chassis codes differently:" Keisuke explained. "For instance, a good friend of ours used to drive a Nissan Skyline GT-R, which was made by a different manufacturer, Nissan. So, the chassis code on a car like that would be E-BNR32 for the specific generation of car he used to drive, but we'd commonly shorten it to R32 or even shorter to just three-two."

"So the chassis code's like a hull number, then?" Ichika postulated. "Is there any specific reason that they're coded the way they are, such as 'F' denoting that it's a Mazda and 'E' denoting that it's a Nissan?"

"I don't believe there was a code denoting the manufacturer in the chassis code." Keisuke said. "I believe the BS in the chassis code was always information about the model of the car and what engine it came with and whatnot: For instance, Tak- I mean, Ensign Fujiwara, used to drive a car called an AE86, which was a Toyota Sprinter Trueno. The A stood for the engine; the A-series engine, the E stood for the model, which was the Toyota Corolla, the 8 stood for the generation, which was the E80 Corolla series, and the 6 stood for the variant within the line."

"But by that logic, wouldn't the last character in your Mazda's chassis code be a number, rather than an 'S'?" Ichika pointed out.

"Every manufacturer does their chassis code somewhat differently." Keisuke said. "I've never really understood what FD3S stood for, other than the fact that F-3S stood for Mazda RX-7, and the D specifically stood for the final generation. I mean, maybe the 3 stood for the 13B rotary engine, but I'm just speculating here. I mean, my brother drove an FC3S, and the C meant that his car was a generation older than mine."

"Personally, I'm surprised you didn't call him out that Ensign Fujiwara's car was called a Toyota Sprinter Trueno, but you very specifically said Toyota Corolla when explaining what AE86 meant." Maho added.

"Hey, the Sprinter was a Corolla clone that Toyota could sell at different dealerships." Keisuke said.

"A dealership?" Ichika repeated. "I suppose you'll need to school me on that as well..."
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Posting by (in order of appearance):

Commander Maho Takahashi
Commanding Officer, USS Myogi (NCC-65918)

Commander Keisuke Takahashi
Second Officer, USS Myogi (NCC-65918)

Commander Ichika Misono
Executive Officer, USS Myogi (NCC-65918)

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