Old Rivals, Dark Truths, and a Spark of Hope (Part 1)

Posted on Fri May 17th, 2024 @ 12:16am by Lieutenant JG Takumi Fujiwara 'Tak' & Lieutenant JG Jane Sinclair

1,081 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Junichi Koyama

“Ready to beam down?” Jane Sinclair was ready for a bit of reconnaissance and exploration, wearing an off duty outfit of work pants and a form fitting tee shirt under a leather jacket, with comfortable black wedges on her feet. Low key and comfortable, with plenty of pockets for a tricorder and sidearm.

"I don't know." Takumi moaned. He had chosen to wear a simple white t shirt and loose fitting jeans. Loose enough for him too to conceal a phaser. And of course, his go to off-duty shoes: A pair of New Balance sneakers. "I mean, isn't there anyone else you could have dragged along? I have a wife back home to think about if anything bad happens to me!"

As Jane had a tricorder on her, Takumi instead had with him a PADD Loaded with a Japanese friendly guidebook which detailed all the places that still welcomed Japanese under the Junichi Koyama laws. He'd heard it referred to as the "yellow book," supposedly after an old guidebook published on Earth known as the "green book." Like its namesake, the "yellow book" was something of a Japanese survival guide for this hostile world.

“There are plenty I could drag along,” Jane admitted, “but none know what we’re looking for better than you.” With the brief spot of attention brought to their automotive racing on Spacedock, one option for bringing back diversity and wisdom to Gamma Zednor was scouting it for some kind of sporting event, car racing being an option. The colony had roads, including some going into the wilderness. And who better to explore it than the two of them? “Besides, if something should happen, I’ll make sure Mika knows you went out a hero. Come along then, let’s not dally.”

"Alright..." Takumi sighed, stepping up onto the transporter pad and turning to face the transporter operator. "Transporter control; two to beam down."

The transporter then powered up; and Takumi and Jane soon became enveloped by a blue transporter beam as their particles were broken down and sent to a pre-determined location on the surface: a green space on the outskirts that Academy cadets used to use before the situation on the planet changed for the worse.

“There’s a place in the visitor’s centre that leases ground cars,” Jane said, gesturing to the building ahead of them, one which no more than thirty years old but was purposely built to resemble a manor from the Southern United States’ antebellum period.

The interior lobby of the house was mostly empty, save for a Caucasian human woman of around thirty years manning the help desk. Jane approached first with a smile, hoping beyond hope that she might be recognized though not sure how popular space racing was among the Gamma Zednorians. “Good day, madam!”

The woman looked up from the desk and greeted Jane with a warm smile.

"Hello!" She greeted warmly before she saw Takumi and the smile faded.

Though company policy prohibited renting to Japs, the clerk had already initiated the customer interaction, so she had to make the refusal in a tactful way.

"Are you looking to rent from us today?" She asked as if nothing were amiss.

"We are!" Jane said, in a friendly way. She noticed the customer service person's smile disappear when her eyes reached Takumi. Well then, Jane thought. She decided to overwhelm with charm and friendliness, force the customer service person to be friendly back or to risk reputational harm.

"We want to tour the countryside, and one of your convertible groundcars seems the best way!" Jane continued. "Fresh air going through our hair, sun beaming on our faces, greenery and vistas to look at, you know?" She put an ID card on the desk, one which had her photo, name, and Starfleet serial number on it.

"Okay, and are you going to be the sole renter of the vehicle?" The woman asked.

Jane frowned. “Do you often have people come in and trade their rental vehicles once they get out in the wild? Is that a common issue? Of course we’re the only renters of the vehicle.” She looked over to Takumi. “What madness!” she said, exasperated. She had an inkling of what this was about but was happy to play dumb a moment. Sometimes bigots backed down when they were being forced to be forthright about it and it would be good for her and Takumi to figure out just how openly Nipponophobic these people would be.

The woman leaned forward and lowered her voice.

"I'm sorry, but we don't rent to his kind here." She explained in a hushed tone. "Company policy says Japs are too much of a liability. If I could, I would rent to you two, but if my boss found out who I let rent one of our vehicles, I'd be terminated on the spot."

The woman seemed genuinely remorseful as she reached into a lower drawer in the desk. The drawer was out of Jane's line of sight, but it was evident that the clerk was reaching for something. When the woman shut the drawer, she had in her hand a business card for a competitor. While in pre-Junichi Koyama times, sending customer in the direction of competitors was a business faux pas, when this competitor was the only place in town that still rented to his kind, it had become necessary to keep business cards on hand:

"There's a Budget car rental a few blocks away:" The woman explained, presenting the business card to Jane. "They're the only place in town that will still rent to the both of you."

"Shame to see how low some people can go," Jane simply observed. She went back to Takumi but stayed within ear shot of the horrible saleswoman. "Well, I suppose we verified the level of absolute bollocks this planet is capable of right now. We should've just beamed down a car of our own, eh?"

"If I'd have known tourism was this tough; I would have arranged to have our own car transported." Takumi grumbled. "Look, maybe the woman's onto something; and we should go try that Budget place? Especially if she says it's the only one in town that will rent to us."

"Yeah," Jane conceded. "And it's probably good to support businesses that aren't run by racist arseholes. I saw the building when we beamed down."

To be continued...

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