Meeting with the Ambassador

Posted on Thu Dec 2nd, 2021 @ 3:16am by Captain Maho Takahashi & Commander Keisuke Takahashi 'K.T.' & Commander Ichika Misono
Edited on on Fri Oct 14th, 2022 @ 1:48pm

1,665 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Handling the Fallout
Location: Conference Room

Maho sat in the conference room. Waking up had not been fun today; for she had been sick from the moment she had gotten out of bed. From her seat at the table, she gripped a cup of water in two hands like the holy grail, praying to the heavens above that the prenatal vitamins she had taken earlier would stay down, or at least so that she would survive this meeting.

Fortunately, the Klingon Ambassador was a very busy man, and had elected to meet with her and the rest of the command staff remotely, so if she did have to run out on him, she wouldn't look as much of a fool she would have if he had actually been there.

The conference room doors swooshed open, and a rather tired Keisuke made his way into the room, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"Morning, babe:" He greeted. "Did you take your prenatal vitamins? I heard you throwing up earlier..."

"Yeah, babe;" Maho responded weakly. "Just hoping to god that they don't come back up during our meeting."

Command Misono arrived shortly thereafter; with what little information she had to go off of concerning this assignment, she already had her PaDD out and ready to take notes.

"Captain," she greeted as she drew up a seat adjacent to Maho. "I hope you're feeling all right? I stopped by the Sickbay to drop off a report and overheard that you had stopped in earlier this morning to pick up some prenatal vitamins."

"You Inuto ever get morning sickness?" Maho asked.

"Not me personally," Ichika chuckled. "But yes, it's not uncommon for Inuto to experience morning sickness in the first few weeks of their pregnancy."

"Well, you have your answer; Commander." Maho responded. Indicating one of th empty chairs. "Please take a seat: The Klingon Ambassador should be calling any moment now."

As if right on cue, a chime began going off, indicative of an incoming call.

"And that's probably him right now:" Maho said, clicking a button on the table.

On the table appeared the holograms of two people: One of them was a bespectacled female admiral, while the other was a portly Klingon man.

"Vice Admiral Statler; Ambassador." Maho greeted.

"Commander Takahashi." Statler replied. "I take it you're familiar with Ambassador Vro'LakH here, per what you've been sent yesterday."

"I've read up on him;" Maho responded. "However, this would be our first time meeting."

Ichika's ears began to twitch nervously, but whatever it was that was bothering her remained unspoken.

"Duy'a Vro'LakH, {Ambassador Vro'LakH,}" she greeted, opting to play down the niceties in favor of the time-honored Klingon tradition of keeping things blunt and to-the-point. "nuq'neH? {What do you want?}"

The portly Klingon man turned in Ichika's direction.

"vIH: (In a moment:)" He said sternly before turning back to Maho. "I see the top three officers are all here: So, where's Miyahara?"

There were several moments of tense silence that followed the ambassador's mention of Miyahara's name.

"No one told you?" Maho asked.

"Told me what?" Vro'LakH replied.

"Ambassador, we've been over this before:" Statler interjected. "Tanaka Miyahara has resigned his commission following the trial of Captain Taiga Aisaka. I don't think anyone expected Captain Aisaka to be found innocent."

"Ah, yes; perhaps one of the greatest failures of the Federation justice system in modern history: They sure did lose one of their greats" Vro'LakH said. "Well, this certainly complicates things, but no matter: To answer Inuto's question; one of your starships has been repeatedly harassing Klingon shipping."

"If I might observe," Ichika interjected, turning her attention to Vice Admiral Staler. "On what grounds does this Starship's activity qualify as "harassment?" As per Article IV, Section XI of the Second Khitomer Agreements, the Federation is within their right to investigate vessels passing through their space for illegal contraband, given that they have a warrant from a Commodore or higher to do so."

"But you see, Commander:" Vro'LakH interjected. "That is where the problems arise; as most of the ships being stopped have no contraband to hide! And if you're going to play the Khitomer card, might I remind you that subsection I of the very clause you just cited allows us as Klingons to ask for said warrant if we feel the search is unwarranted. This guy (and it's always the same person every time) always claims to have a warrant, but is conveniently unable to present it when asked."

"Sounds awfully suspicious," Ichika remarked, quickly jotting some notes down before turning her attention back to Statler. "Vice Admiral, if I might inquire, do we have anything on record detailing whether or not the accused was ever furnished with a warrant to be conducting these inspections?"

"The first time:" Statler admitted. "Many months ago, Commander Seiji Iwaki of the USS Nikko filed for a warrant to search a Klingon freighter crossing the Neutral Zone bound for Federation worlds. Commodore Honda was the one that approved the warrant. However, no contraband was found."

"And Mr. IwaKh'i has used the exact same warrant each subsequent time." Vro'LakH added. "My government is putting a lot of pressure on my back: They've given me an ultimatum: See to it the Federation resolves this matter; or my house will be dishonored, and the Klingon Empire will have no choice but to pursue war with the Federation."

"And it is war we are hoping to avoid:" Statler responded. "Commander Takahashi, you should know better than anyone that peace comes at a price, considering how highly Miyahara used to speak of you; I would think it's a fair assumption you understood his philosophy:"

"I do..." Maho responded bitterly, remembering Captain Aisaka and how the smaller woman boldly attacked everything Maho believed in at once; including Maho herself.

"These are some pretty serious allegations," Ichika surmised, all but oblivious to Maho's internal plight. "Vice Admiral, has Commander Iwaki been brought in for questioning?"

"That is the reason we are meeting here today, Commander Misono:" Statler responded. "The Admiralty is dispatching the USS Myogi to bring Commander Iwaki in for questioning, and possibly to stand trial for his actions. Admiral Miyahara was supposed to take on this assignment after Captain Aisaka's trial wrapped up, but I don't think any of us were expecting the trial to go the way it did..."

Maho bit her lip and looked away from the holograms. Keisuke, sensing his wife's internal displeasure, reached over and took her hand in his.

"Babe; just remember: She can't hurt you anymore..." He cooed softly.

"So you're telling me he's gone AWOL?" Ichika deduced. "And what of the Nikko and its crew? Can we bring them in for testimony?"

"The objective is to bring the Nikko back intact as well." Statler responded. "Iwaki will have to appoint his XO or some other trusted officer to be acting commander, for I expect you to take him on board so he doesn't try anything stupid."

"Affirmative," Ichika nodded. "Do we have any information in regards to the Nikko's last known whereabouts?"

"Commander IwaKh'i has been conducting raids on ships all along our border:" Vro'LakH explained. "However, he has taken a recent interest in ships crossing the border coming from Y'Tem; which is a popular final port of call in Klingon space before crossing the Federation border. If the NikH'hO is anywhere along our border, it has likely been in that sector the most recently."

"Then it looks like Y'Tem's going to be our best place to start looking," Ichika agreed, before turning to face Maho and Keisuke. "I believe you would concur, Commanders?"

"The Federation side of the Y'Tem sector." Maho responded. "We're here to resolve a diplomatic issue, not start a whole new one."

"I agree with Maho:" Keisuke added. "If we can avoid crossing the border, it would be ideal."

"I take it you understand the assignment you have been tasked with." Statler cut in. "Commander Takahashi; how is your recruitment coming along?"

"We shall have the minimal operating capacity the day after tomorrow." Maho lied, wanting just one more day to take care of a personal issue to her; an issue which had stung with the repeated mentioning of Captain Aisaka's name.

"Very well:" Statler said, turning to Vro'LakH. "Ambassador; will that timetable work for your government?"

"A speedier response than my government will be expecting shall definitely please them." Vro'LakH said.

"Then it's settled:" Statler declared. "The day after tomorrow, the Myogi shall depart for the Y'Tem sector, paying all respect to our border with the Klingon Empire. Unless anyone has any more questions, I believe we can call this a meeting:"

"Nope." Maho responded.

"None here." Keisuke added.

"I have no further objections," Ichika conceded.

"Very well:" Statler said. "I wish you all the best of luck in your endeavor. Live long and prosper."

With Statler's final words, the holograms deactivated, leaving the three of them alone in the conference room.

"Well, I guess the next course of action is to clue the senior staff in on our mission:" Maho finally spoke up after a few moments silence had passed.

"If I may, Captain," Ichika advised, folding her hands neatly in front of her. "I suggest we go into this expecting the worst; Personnel archives indicate that the Nikko is carrying just shy of 800 people, and I guarantee you that not all of them are going to be so willing as to blindly go along with Commander Iwaki's scheme."

"I appreciate your concern, Commander:" Maho responded. "I will have a note made about your concern and that it was acknowledged. However, I feel that going in on Yellow Alert should be sufficient, would you concur?"

"Understood, Commander:" Ichika nodded.

"Very well;" Maho said. "Dismissed."

Posting by

Commander Maho Takahashi
Commanding Officer

Commander Ichika Misono
Executive Officer

Commander Keisuke Takahashi
Second Officer

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