Times Like These (Part 1)

Posted on Sun Dec 28th, 2025 @ 7:28pm by Captain Maho Takahashi & Lieutenant Commander Chrirhc Chihc & Commander Ichika Misono & Lieutenant Commander Kurumi Ebisuzawa & Lieutenant Commander Brennyn Scott M.D. & Lieutenant Ami Rori & Lieutenant Kael Ryo & Lieutenant JG Jane Sinclair & Commander Chisato Nishikigi & Crewman Recruit Hanamaru Kunikida 'Maru'

1,289 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: The Breen
Location: USS Myogi (NCC-65918)- Transporter Room 1, Deck 6
Timeline: March 14, 2397

Captain's log, Stardate 74203.8,

We've been at war with Iconia for almost two months. Following the destruction of Starbase 234, Task Force Jomo's operations have been relocated to the Algonquin Fleet Yards in Sector 813. Already the death toll has surpassed the entire Dominion War, and it's only getting worse for us.

As the Myogi undergoes repairs from our latest engagement, we have been assigned a mission advisor for our next assignment- a close contact of my Chief Intelligence Officer, Commander Chihc. Though I wished to meet this mission advisor and get to know them prior to our setting off, Commander Chihc insisted on handling the matter by himself first, as he says she's an "acquired taste."

So, while I ready my senior staff for the mission brief of our next assignment, I place my trust in Commander Chihc that he knows what he's doing:

End of log.

[Transporter Room 1, Deck 6]

Lieutenant Commander (or, rather Lieutenant) Chrirhc Chihc stood beside the Myogi's transporter controls awaiting the arrival of his contact. This demotion was both voluntary and temporary, as he hadn't shared news of his promotion with her yet. For now, he wished to appear at the same rank he was when they had parted ways, and his extra half pip, rather than adorning his collar, was safely stowed in his pocket.

"Ready to receive your contact, Zura," the Bajoran with the weird vocal tic of whose name Chrirhc never bothered to remember reported from behind the transporter controls.

"Energize." Chrirhc ordered, the regret of the authorization sinking in almost immediately as the Bajoran crewman powered up the transporter.

The transporter buffer dissipated and there stood one Commander Chisato Nishikigi, Chief Intelligence Officer (and recently, as of the last couple of months) Second Officer of the United Star Ship Tokyo; slung over her shoulder was a hot pink totepack, the garishly-colored rainbow straps of which had been personalized with an obnoxious variety of pins and keychains depicting all manner of human IPs that Chrirhc frankly had never had any desire to look up. At first glance, she did not appear to be of the maturity necessary to be handling confidential information, let alone serve as a mission advisor on such a high-priority mission as this one; but those of whom had worked with her in the past- Chrihrc included- knew that she was far from the idiot she made herself out to be, and could play her projected facade of innocence to great advantage.

"Mister Chihc!" she squealed as she ran over and glomped onto the helpless Hebitian with all the childish enthusiasm that Chrirhc didn't miss in the slightest. "And how's my favorite ACIO doing? Captain Takahashi been treating you alright?"

"Yeesh, what kind of horror stories about Captain Takahashi has Captain Aisaka been filling your head with?" Chrirhc asked. "Actually, nevermind. I wouldn't be surprised anyway, given the bad blood between those two."

Chisato chuckled. "She did give me a warning that Captain Takahashi could be a little... impulsive at times, but not necessarily brazen enough to, and I quote her directly, "fuck around and find out"," she explained as she broke the hug. "That, and she allegedly just had a kid? I can't imagine she'd willingly put her newborn in danger just to do something stupid..."

Her face suddenly lit up as if she had just remembered something. "Ooh! And that reminds me- do you know if Captain Takahashi had a boy or a girl?"

"Well, not like I'd willingly look into the child's birth records, but I've overheard Captain Takahashi referring to her child in the female sense, so it's probably a safe bet to say she had a girl." Chrirhc explained.

He wouldn't exactly put it past Chisato to seek out a copy of the birth certificate just to get absolute confirmation. He suspected that a blatant violation of Captain Takahashi's privacy like that would be right up Chisato's alley.

"Oh, good! Because I've got a little something here..."

Chrirhc watched with curiosity as Chisato rummaged around in her totepack before furnishing a small, handwoven blanket proudly emblazoned with the Starfleet insignia in pastel pink, along with the words "Captain's Little Girl".

"And what if I had told you she had a boy?" Chrirhc wondered. "Did you come prepared with both?"

"Well, of course!" Chisato grinned. "It'd be awfully inconsiderate of me to make a girl blanket if she had a boy; of course, I'm not judging or anything if said boy grows up playing with Barbies or something..."

"Perhaps it might be a good idea to hold onto that boy blanket." Chrirhc suggested. "Captain Beurling might be touched to receive it."

"Good idea," Chisato nodded. "Anyways, changing subjects, how's it been? Running your own department everything that you hoped it would be?"

"Oh, yes, very much so." Chrirhc nodded. "Had to actually rebuild it from the ground up. Lieutenant Reno kept things... Shall we say minimalistic? Only herself and one other officer- hardly what I'd call a department."

Chisato blinked in surprise. "You're kidding me; Even the Lycoris was better staffed then that, and the Lycoris is a Nova-Class!"

"You could argue though that the Lycoris was an intelligence-specialized vessel:" Chrirhc replied, motioning for Chisato to follow as they would continue the conversation as they walked. "The science capabilities of that ship, for instance, were downsized to make room for that specialization. Hate to say it, but if the Lycoris were to participate in a science competition with, say, the Galileo, the Lycoris would probably lose despite both of them being sister ships."

Chisato shrugged. "Even still, you can't expect just two people to run an entire department; most Oberths I know of delegate more officers per department than that."

"I have tried pressing Lieutenant Reno on why she believed it would be a good idea, but she seems... Reluctant to discuss her time as Intel Chief." Chrirhc reported.

"Hey, you know how Intel Officers are," Chisato remarked. "Unless it's on a 'need-to-know' basis, we're conditioned not to disclose anything more than we absolutely have to."

"You'll have to forgive this place looking like an active construction site:" Chrirhc advised as the two stepped out of the transporter room into the corridor, which was half disassembled with wall panels laying against bulkheads while the wiring that lay behind them was getting worked on and deckplates removed for servicing. "Then again, I think you'd be hard pressed these days to find a ship that doesn't look this way. You know, if I hadn't have left my hard hat back on Krimena, I'd totally go back to being Foreman Chihc during these yard periods."

"In times like these, we need all the manpower we can get," Chisato remarked. "physical and intellectual."

"No, really, you don't want Foreman Chihc working on your starships." Chrirhc insisted. "Foreman Chihc was kind of an asshole who took everything he had for granted. In fact, there's really no kind of about it, he was an asshole."

"Just goes to show you how far you've come," Chisato remarked as she reached over and playfully ruffled Chrirhc's shoulder.

"I accepted the corruption and turned the other cheek to it." Chrirhc remarked, using a Hebitian term that the universal translator struggled to provide a decent Federation Standard translation of. "It wasn't until Cardassia illegally invaded and annexed my homeworld and the Federation just let them do it that I decided I couldn't ignore the corruption any longer."

To be continued...

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