Okay, Here's the Deal: (Part 1)

Posted on Sun Dec 31st, 2023 @ 5:08am by Captain Maho Takahashi & Commander Keisuke Takahashi 'K.T.' & Commander Elisabeth Churchill & Commander Ichika Misono & Commander Victor Delling MD & Lieutenant Commander Kurumi Ebisuzawa & Lieutenant Commander Brennyn Scott M.D. & Lieutenant Ami Rori & Lieutenant JG Jane Sinclair & Lieutenant JG Connor Talmage mr & Lieutenant Karen Kujo 'Union Jane'

1,407 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Operation Tokyo Return
Location: Conference Room, Deck 1
Timeline: 0700 hours, Mission Day 2

Maho knew when she went on duty later that morning that her crew would be demanding answers as to the spontaneity of the evacuation drill, so she had scheduled a senior staff meeting to brief the senior staff on everything that was going on, as the previous day had been so stressful, she hadn't had the opportunity to hold a proper meeting.

Maho and Keisuke arrived in the conference room together, already discussing one talking point on both of their minds:

"So, this is it?" Keisuke asked. "We're finally telling the crew about... You know?"

"It's not like we can keep it secret for too much longer, babe." Maho responded. "Besides, this will most likely just be confirming everyone's suspicions more than anything else..."

Next to arrive was Elisabeth, who had attended Commander Misono's briefing only a few hours earlier:

"Morning, Captain, Commander." Elisabeth grunted, making sure to yawn as loudly as she could to convey how exhausted she was as she took her seat:

Given Maho's increasingly erratic behavior in the past 24 hours, Ichika, for her part, was on edge about being summoned to yet another impromptu crew function without having been given any pretense as to what this was all about. A lack of sleep certainly didn't help matters, as she had just held a briefing behind the Captain's back some 4 hours prior, and had spent another hour after that working covertly with both Engineering and Operations to try and coordinate her strategy for wresting control of the Myogi from Maho, should her behavior in any way endanger the lives of the ship's crew. So in all actuality, by the time she'd dragged herself into the Conference room yet again, she had only managed about two hours of sleep and was evidently running on fumes.

"Captain," she greeted warily as she drew up her usual chair adjacent to Maho. "I hope I'm not coming off as rude, but may I ask why we're holding a staff meeting at this hour? I didn't receive any notification that there was to be a staff meeting today until just a few minutes ago."

"Consider it catching up from yesterday, Commander:" Maho said. "I would have done so then, but my hands have been tied until now..."

Maho then noticed the bags under Commander Misono's eyes.

"You know, you were clear to return to your quarters following the drill last night, right?" She asked. "You had the opportunity to go back to sleep after the fact..."

"I was busy filling that report you requested earlier today," Ichika explained, carefully dancing around the true nature of why she'd been up so late. "Figured I'd best get it out of the way while it still fresh in my head."

Ami dragged herself in almost immediately after, not even noticing that her uniform wasn't sealed properly. It wasn't that it wasn't, just that it was a half inch off, giving the impression that the half-Trill was off-center even as her feet dragged, "Is it even legal to be up this early?" She asked herself while she half climbed in her chair, "Good morning, good morning." She waved at the people present already before curling up in the seat to await everyone else.

Like Ichika, Jane had much work to do between being chewed out by the Captain, participating in the XO's subsequent meeting, and this briefing, so she also had not slept. Frankly she was still riled up from the Captain's attitude regarding the shuttles. So she had quickly finished the tasks assigned to her and then hit the gym, a workout which ended only when she was summoned for this early morning conference. A quick sonic shower and uniform change later, she was in with the rest of them, finding a seat next to Ami.

Bree offered a wan smile to everyone as she entered. She was able to go back to sleep after the surprise drill but it was a restless sleep. She didn't need to be a true empath to know there was tension within the crew at the moment and the impromptu meeting only added to it.

Kurumi walked through the doors, she was still a little annoyed with what the Captain had said to her in the ready room. She also looked a little sweaty and her uniform tunic was unzipped. She had spent the last few hours in the ships gym blowing off steam. Upon arrival she zipped up her tunic, didn't even look at Maho and simply sat down in a huff.

Next to arrive- or more accurately, stumble into the room- was Karen, her hair a mess and her uniform not even tucked in correctly. Swaying back and forth, her eyelids half-open, it was evident that she was still fighting back the haze of sleep.

"Izzyyyyyy," she whined, practically glomping herself onto Elisabeth. "Come baaaack... I wasn't done cuddliiiing..."

“Yeah, Izzy,” Jane added, teasing her friends. “Where are our cuddles? Did you bring enough for everyone?”

"Just sit down before the Captain snaps at us, please..." Elisabeth muttered.

Connor had finished what he was doing. He was used to participating in these seminars by now. He began to make his way to the Meeting. Lieutenant Talmage reporting for duty he said.

Victor walked in, a scrub cap still covering his hair, wearing the tank and pants that went under surgical isolation gear. They were fortunate that he could hand the surgery off to Wyndon, otherwise he wouldn't have been present. The young man looked, annoyed and tired but still he took his seat with a nod to everyone else.

Once the final stragglers had filed in and assumed their seats, Maho began the meeting:

"As I'm sure you all are aware from me bringing her through your departments yesterday, Captain Taiga Aisaka of the USS Tokyo is on board the Myogi. She and her husband, Lieutenant Commander Ryuuji Takasu, also of the aforementioned Tokyo, are the special guests that Starfleet has tasked us with transporting to Beta Antares." She explained. "As I'm also sure you have seen, my behavior since they beamed aboard has been... Wildly out of character."

Virtually everyone in the room nodded.

"It's been up and it's been down, kinda like a turbolift." Ami creaked eyelids open to look at her, stretching widely before sitting up straighter in the chair, keeping her feet tucked in under herself.

"Unfortunately, Captain Aisaka and I have a history, and it's not a pretty one." Maho said. "I know some of you sitting in this room today weren't on board when I gave that speech in the shuttlebay following the violence at Starfleet Headquarters, so I'll recap:"

"Following the destruction of Alvatar colony, we were the ones tasked with taking Captain Aisaka into custody and transporting her to Earth, where my predecessor, Tanaka Miyahara, was to lead a Starfleet side of the prosecution against her at her coming trial. When we took her on board, Miyahara gave me orders to act upon if Aisaka tried something stupid. When we led Aisaka to our brig, she insulted not only Miyahara, but also me for agreeing to follow the orders I had been given. Normally, such words would not have affected me. However, only a few hours beforehand, I had just discovered that I was pregnant."

Maho stopped at her finding out that she was pregnant to let the words sink in for her crew.

"Um... hopefully no offense, but wasn't that already kind of obvious?" Karen pointed out. "Seemed pretty obvious to me that she was pregnant, anyhow..."

"Well, that'd certainly explain the erratic behaviour..." Elisabeth commented.

"No shit," Jane mumbled, as quietly as possible.

“It wasn’t obvious?” Ami blurted, raising her head, “I mean, back when that original thing happened, okay, but now?” She used her hands as if expanding her belly significantly, “I kinda guessed when I saw you the first time, Captain, either that or you’d just been overeating, but,” She ticked things off in her fingers, “Attitude, weight gain, husband, little irritants getting blown way out of proportion? Easy call to make.”

“Ami, that’s a thing we think, not a thing we say,” Jane said often, grinning.

"Oh..." Ami blushed and looked down at the table for a moment, "I um... Yeah.."

To be continued...

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