Okay, Here's the Deal (Part 2)

Posted on Sun Dec 31st, 2023 @ 5:14am 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'
Edited on on Sun Dec 31st, 2023 @ 5:24am

1,556 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Operation Tokyo Return
Location: Conference Room, Deck 1
Timeline: After 'Okay, Here's the Deal (Part 1)'

Previously, on Star Trek: Myogi:

"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.."

And now, the continuation:

"Now, if it had stopped there, it would have been fine..." Maho continued. "But no, she had to keep fucking with me, even when she shouldn't have been able to... She sent an armed gunman to my wedding to arrest the best man. Aisaka took what was supposed to be the happiest day of my life and stomped all over it!"

Ichika's hand shot up. "Captain, with all due respect... permission to speak freely?"

Maho seemed quite surprised by this interjection.

"Permission granted..." She said, albeit begrudgingly.

All eyes in the room turned towards Ichika as she stood up and cleared her throat.

"I would like to go on record to state that I've conducted my own research in regards to the incident that you just mentioned, Captain," she went onto explain. "While I mean you no disrespect, I wanted an unbiased account as to what exactly occurred, both for my understanding and the understanding of this crew. If we're to work together effectively as a unit, we all need to be on the same page here."

She paused momentarily to retrieve her PADD.

"Sufficed to say, there was a lot of red tape involved in collecting this information, and even still, a lot of this information is redacted by Starfleet Intelligence, and I don't have the proper clearance levels to access it without the likes of, say, Lieutenant Reno. However, with a little bit of digging, I did manage to uncover this partially-redacted statement on public record..."

She pulled up the main viewscreen and posted the statement in full view for everyone to see:

"By formal order on behalf of Admiral Maximilian Hunter, head of the Intelligence Division of Special Operations, Lieutenant Commander Jenifer Daxer, Chief Intelligence Officer of the United Starship Tokyo, is tasked with the apprehension of the fugitive Takeshi Nakazato, who is wanted on charges of treason against the United Federation of Planets, obstruction of the Starfleet legal system, and evading arrest. Fugitive is considered to be armed and dangerous- possibly has collaborators aboard the United Starship Myogi, if his threats are to be believed. The use of necessary force is authorized by Starfleet Command to bring the fugitive to justice."

"So, to clear up some misnomers on the Captain's account of what happened," Ichika further elaborated. "I can find no proof that there was any such act of retaliation that was instigated by Captain Aisaka against Captain Takahashi; but rather, to detain a fugitive that Tanaka Miyahara had let be free. And as I'm sure that every one of you here can attest, Tanaka Miyahara is a very dangerous man when he puts his mind to it. Unfortunately, the fact that Mr. Nakazato was asked to be the best man at Captain Takahashi's wedding simply put the Captain in the wrong place at the wrong time..."

She shifted her gaze over to Maho. "So that's when Miyahara decided to play that to his advantage."

Maho said nothing, as she had permitted Commander Misono to speak freely.

"Miyahara is a man who gets what he wants by manipulating the emotionally vulnerable," Ichika continued. "Maho Takahashi was one such individual he saw to play in his favor, not only because she was emotionally compromised as a result of her pregnancy and felt slighted at Captain Aisaka's earlier remark, but also because she was raised in a broken home; her mother is reported to have been a possessive and controlling woman, who saw her daughters less as her own flesh-and-blood and more as inheritors to the family legacy. To that end, Maho Takahashi could be considered as someone who yearns to be respected, as a way of making up for the respect she never felt she got as a child. Miyahara, seeing this, realized he could manipulate this to his advantage by giving the impression of respect in return for unbending loyalty. And when Captain Aisaka foiled his attempt to start a war with the Star Empire, he used Captain Takahashi's vulnerable state of mind to twist her perception of Captain Aisaka into something that she was not- a cocky, reckless, self-assured officer who got whatever she wanted through a sphere of influence."

She gazed out over the senior staff. "Again, I mean no disrespect to the Captain, but she's playing exactly into what Tanaka Miyahara wants; to weaken the Federation by turning Captain against Captain, Crew against Crew. A wise human once said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand"; when we let that happen, we let Tanaka Miyahara win. And we can't afford to let that happen."

"Commander, you and I are going to be having a little talk later about how you obtained such deeply personal information on me." Maho said.

"Certainly, Captain," Ichika nodded as she took her seat. "Thank for letting me say my peace."

Victor's eyes narrowed at what was clearly another breach in confidential records, perhaps there was a leak not in his department, but in the records division.

“My god,” Jane said quietly. “Captain, I know he was your mentor, and maybe he ran a ship effectively, but he’s interfered with your life and this ship enough. I’m sorry, but it seems like it needs to be said.”

About 30 seconds of silence passed before Maho spoke.

"Well, I suppose that thanks to Commander Misono's findings, the truth on this matter has been brought to light." She said. "And while I may not agree with some of the facts, and in truth buy into the alternative facts Miyahara might have peddled me, unfortunately, everything that Commander Misono just said is true and accurate. My best friend from the Academy was arrested for treason by the aforementioned Daxer following Alvatar. I still believe that the charges were bogus, and nobody might be able to convince me otherwise. But that was why Daxer came to my wedding."

Maho sighed. "Compound the insults with the ruined wedding, followed shortly thereafter by a temporary demotion and investigation into my role in the trial, with one of the charges being filed on behalf of an "unknown female" who no doubt was Daxer, with the only real net positive during this time being my receiving command of the Myogi... Safe to say, the whole shit show hit me harder than I can put into words, and to transport Captain Aisaka back to Beta Antares only serves as a final spit in my eyes. Perhaps I'll never be able to get any of you to see my pain, but maybe laying out my perspective on those events will illustrate that every story has two sides, even if I may have found myself on the wrong one..."

She didn't get the chance to finish before she felt a hand resting gently on her own; looking up, she found Ichika smiling back at her.

"Maho," she began, ditching formalities for just a second to stress that she meant what she was about to say as a friend. "I want you to know that you don't need to keep these hurtful feelings bottled up any longer. We're here for you; all of us are. We're willing to help you get past this, but there are times where you're going to have to swallow your pride and listen to what your crew- no, your friends have to say."

Victor pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed softly, his internal thoughts spinning, but uncertain if he wanted to voice them or not.

To be continued...

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