Skeletons In The Closet ("The Fast & The Fleet" Backpost) (Part 2)

Posted on Wed Nov 1st, 2023 @ 6:45am by Captain Maho Takahashi & Captain Shimakaze Zh'gero & Commander Keisuke Takahashi 'K.T.' & Lieutenant Commander Ryosuke Takahashi 'Ry' & Commander Ichika Misono & Commander Victor Delling MD & Lieutenant Commander Kurumi Ebisuzawa & Lieutenant Commander Brennyn Scott M.D. & Commander Rize Tedeza
Edited on on Wed Nov 1st, 2023 @ 6:45am

1,357 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Operation Tokyo Return
Location: Earth Space Dock- Sickbay
Timeline: After 'Skeletons In The Closet ("The Fast & The Fleet" Backpost) (Part 1)

Previously, on Star Trek: Myogi:

"Well..." Kurumi began to explain. "It all happened about three years ago. I was assigned to the Starship Amesbury. An old and underpowered Miranda Class Vessel. I had just made the rank of Lieutenant Commander when it happened..." she paused for a moment.

"The Amesbury was on a standard routine patrol of the Romulan Neutral Zone. Nothing too special, just making sure the peace was there and all that. But that didn't matter to the Romulan ship that attacked us." She told them. She looked down at her bedsheets for a brief moment.

"You see, there was someone special on that ship to me." She looked up at Rize. "His name was Hiroshi." She said a tear coming to her eye. "He was my son. My partner Daiki worked down in Engineering. We had both decided that that would be our last tour, then we would settle down on Earth for a few years. I had accepted a post at Starfleet Academy to lecture there."

And now, the continuation:

She paused again as the silent tear began to run down her cheek glistening in the light. "The Romulan ship that attacked us, it was a rogue ship. Unhappy at the recent changes of the Neutral Zone treaty. He wasted no time in battering our ship." She looked away, the pain of remembering what occured hurt. She hadn't ever let anyone know about this for so long, she had bottled it up inside for all these years.

"Engineering took a direct hit. I didn't know at the time, but Daiki had been killed when his console had exploded. There was nothing they could do to help." She took a breath and looked up at Rize once again. "I've kept this a secret for so long. I've not even told the family about either of them..." she told her cousin.

"Hiroshi was in our quarters. I tried to get to him when Commander Rollins issued the order to abandon ship." Kurumi said tears now starting to flow from her eyes. "I watched as the Romulan Torpedo ripped through the hull, right where he was hiding calling for me. I was saved by the emergency forcefields. However... He was on the other side..."

She burst out into tears, holding her hands up to cover her eyes. "I couldn't save him. I tried to get past the forcefield. I tried to get a site to site transport. But I watched as he drifted out into space. He took his final breath, he was calling out for me and I was useless! USELESS TO SAVE HIM!" she cried. She couldn't stop herself now, she felt ashamed and guilty of what had happened. "No starship is a place for children! I learnt that the hard way!"

She began to sob, as she pulled her knee's upto her face and rested her head on them. "Ever since I came aboard. I keep seeing him. He's calling out to me. He's asking me why I abandoned him. He haunts me everywhere I go. In my dreams, on duty at tactical and when I was driving that car. No matter what I do I can't reach out to him!" she cried into her knee's. "This is why I never wanted to return to space. I've been planetside ever since, and I've been trying to deal with these feelings."

Kurumi looked up at Maho. She reached out and took Maho's hand. "Captain. Don't make the same mistakes I made. Please. Don't put your child at risk like I did."

"Oh, my God," Rize gasped, her face beginning to scrunch up as she fought back tears of her own. "Kurumi, I... I couldn't have imagined... if I had known something had happened to Hiroshi, I would've-!"

At that point, it all became too much; before Victor or Ryosuke could move to stop her, Rize had climbed up onto the bed and enveloped Kurumi in a gentle embrace as the two cousins bawled it out, mourning Hiroshi's loss together for the first time.

Bree was no stranger to hearing other people's horrific traumas, but no matter how much experience she gained, she hadn't figured out a way to not be unaffected by whatever has been shared. The loss of a child was one of the most devastating experiences a sentient being could be forced to endure. She knew the searing pain she felt in her heart was only a fraction of the pain felt Buy the two devastated women before her.

Bree did not want to intrude on such a cathartic private moment, but she also didn't feel right walking away with the obvious grief so raw. Quietly, she offered, "I'm so very sorry for your losses. I can only imagine the depth of the pain you've been caring all this time by yourself. I know nothing I can do or say will bring them back or erase the pain of what you've lost. I do thank you, however, you've taken the first step toward healing and finding a new normal. You don't have to carry this alone. We're all here to support you," the counselor reiterated.

The color drained from Maho's face as Kurumi explained herself, but the surprise was when her Chief of Security took her hand and begged her not to make the same mistakes.

What the-? Maho thought. How does she know? We haven't told the crew yet!

Having said which she needed to say, Bree cast her gaze toward the captain, realizing she was visibly upset. Although not empathic in the psionic sense, Scott got the impression, she was more than just affected by sympathy. "Captain? Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine..." Maho replied sheepishly, averting her gaze. She wasn't sure if she should be put off by the fact that the Romulans murdered her chief of security's son, or the fact that her chief of security knew about her pregnancy before she had officially told the crew.

Victors eyes blazed with that information, while he'd known it because it was part of her official medical record...Noone else outside of his staff should have had access to it. Just HOW had she found out that tidbit of information? There was going to be a reckoning.

Suddenly it seemed there was a knife's tension in the room and Bree wasn't putting the pieces together. "I don't understand. What's going on?"

"I will explain, in private." he murmerred to her, nodding towards his office.

Bree hesitated briefly before nodding. To the rest of the group, she offered, "I'll be right back."

With the Myogi's doctor and counselor gone, the rest of the gathered officers seemed at a loss over what to do.

"So... What now?" Keisuke finally asked the obvious.

"If you'd like my personal opinion; I think it's best we leave these two to sort things out between them." Kyhl said in reference to Kurumi and Rize. "In the meantime, we should at least let Commodore Honda know that it's alright to lift the red flag conditions and get back to the matter at hand."

The Andorian's proposal seemed rather cold, and Maho and Keisuke seemed unsure what to make of it, but a nod in support of the notion came from an unlikely place: Ryosuke.

"Go." Ryosuke said. "I will stay with the Commanders and keep them company."

Returning the nod, Maho, Keisuke, Ichika, and Kyhl all began to file out of sickbay. As soon as Maho was out of earshot of Kurumi, she tapped her combadge:

=A="Takahashi to Honda: Commander Ebisuzawa is okay and we are go to continue."=A=

Posting by

Captain Maho Takahashi
Commanding Officer
USS Myogi

Commander Ichika Misono
Executive Officer
USS Myogi

Commander Keisuke Takahashi
Second Officer
USS Myogi

Commander Rize Tedeza
Commanding Officer
USS Europa

Commander Victor Delling
Chief Medical Officer
USS Myogi

Lieutenant Commander Ryosuke Takahashi
Chief Medical Officer
USS Europa

Lieutenant Commander Kurumi Ebisuzawa
Chief Security Officer
USS Myogi

Lieutenant Commander Kyhl Th'udou
Chief Security Officer
USS Haruna

Lieutenant Commander Brennyn Scott
Chief Counselor
USS Myogi

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