Into The Thick of Things (Part 1)

Posted on Wed Feb 5th, 2025 @ 7:37pm by Captain Maho Takahashi & Lieutenant Moon Ji-hee
Edited on on Wed Feb 5th, 2025 @ 7:37pm

1,008 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Captains and Contraband
Location: Ready Room, Deck 1
Timeline: 0839 hours

Maho was in her ready room. Over the recess, a new Operations Chief had been brought in, and Maho was expecting her to report in soon. She had gone over the Lieutenant's personnel file to get some basic information on her, but wanted to hear more from her firsthand.

Lieutenant Moon had scheduled a meeting with the Captain during the morning's open ready room hours. . She planned to meet with Maho as soon as possible.

There were still a few things she had to do. Ji-hee woke up hours earlier at 0555 hours. She set a piercing alarm to awaken daily at that time. Setting a good mood to start the day was integral to staying happy aboard any starship.

Ji-hee started her day by boiling fresh chrysanthemum tea prepared by the ship's chef. It was the first thing she found at breakfast, snatching exta bags to store in her room. After a little tea, yoga and a sonic shower, Lt. Moon anxiously walked out of her room and towards the turbolift.

"Bridge", she said in a somewhat raspy, but gentle voice. The turbolift doors closed before whisking her to Deck 1.

Lt. Moon sped towards the ready room. "Good morning, everyone", she said to the officers assembled to start the day.

They responded. Ji-hee's 5'5" figure quickly darted unassumingly across the Bridge until she stopped at the ready room.

Ji-hee brushed her fingers along her hair as it ran along her shoulders, cascading from jet black to bright lilac violet. Large eyes colored like sea foam in a polluted harbor peered at the door with a gleeful warmth within. Gentle lips were colored in lilac lavender lipstick a shade away from her hair color.

Hearing the chime, Maho set down the PADD she was working on and muted the news broadcast she had on as white noise before rising from her seat.

"Enter:" She called out.

Ji-hee entered, expression warming as she saw Maho. "Good morning, Captain", she said excitedly. Her almond shaped green eyes seemed to turn upwards as she lowered her eyelids with a smile. "Lieutenant Moon, reporting as ordered."

The diminutive woman snapped to attention, showing Captain Takahashi respect. Her right arm snapped into a quick salute and held it.

"At ease, Lieutenant. Before you strain something." Maho said, resuming her seat and motioning for the Korean woman to do the same at one of the available chairs in front of the desk.

Leaning back in the chair, Maho placed a hand on her rounded belly as she breathed heavily from the simple act of standing up and sitting back down. Both were indicative that the captain was in the later stages of pregnancy.

Ji-hee giggled as she allowed her gaze to relax, along with her body posture. She moved to a nearby chair. One calf crossed over her shin before she began tapping her foot. For the first time she looked over the Captain and noticed she was pregnant.

She offered Captain Takahashi a warm gaze and a smile. She didn't say anything about it, instead choosing to bring up something that was on her mind.

"I just want to say I'm excited to be here", said Lt. Moon. "The first set of projects on the docket look interesting. We'll be refitting one of the shuttles into a specialized Science variant. You'll get tons of updates about it from me!"

The task was one of many hardware maintenance & system upgrades on a list Ji-hee needed to get done.

Maho seemed surprised at the revelation of the shuttle refit for science specialization, especially given the present lack of a Science chief.

"Forgive me for asking, but how will modifying a shuttle to specialize in science help with the Myogi's mission?" She asked. "We haven't had a full time Science chief ever since Lieutenant Kamada was reassigned, and our mission isn't exactly... Ideally suited for science."

Lieutenant Moon blinked twice. She figured the Captain must not have had time to read something as mundane as an Operations Department briefing. "More Science officers are coming. Friends told me they heard at least a few more blue shirts are coming to the Myogi soon. They work in Human Resources."

Ji-hee's posture and voice were reassuring. "Starfleet's mission always requires a diverse set of capabilities. A strong officer knows how to use all departments, including fields like Operations and Science, to achieve the military mission."

The Lieutenant knew she would have to be more specific. "The first thing we'll be installing is a Multi-Spectral Quantum Field Scanner. It's one of many upgrades to the standard sensor suite. It detects subspace anomalies, tachyon emissions, and exotic particles at an increased resolution of 0.2 microns across 18 spectral bands." Ji-hee had a habit of speaking about technology, often trying her best to explain it clearly. "It can detect faint signals from deep space phenomena. Scanners like that aren't normally found on simple shuttlecraft. With sensors as powerful as we'll make them, they'll be useful in all sorts of missions. Rescues for example. They would be able to search in wavelengths not found on typical shuttle pods."

The ship itself had these capabilities, but having a small vessel capable of doing what a Starship can would be essential to many missions. The shuttle could be sent to distant points, where it could act as an advanced relay. Shuttles like the Type-9 even had relatively fast warp speed compared to old Type-6 craft.

"It's also not like it's going to take up a lot of time", Ji-hee said more assertively. She knew how to manage a department. Resources were also not an issue in the modern world of Starfleet. "We plan to slowly upgrade the shuttle over the next few months. You'll read all about each advanced system as soon as I can get them to you. I'll be meeting with Miss Sinclair. She'll know how to best advise you on utilizing that craft, Sir."

Ji-hee's lips slowly turned upwards into a smile. Her foamy green eyes looked deep into Maho's.

To be continued...

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