The Next Step - Part 2: The Needs of the Many (Backpost)

Posted on Mon Mar 16th, 2026 @ 10:23pm by Captain Maho Takahashi & Lieutenant Commander Kurumi Ebisuzawa
Edited on on Mon Mar 16th, 2026 @ 10:24pm

1,609 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: The Breen
Location: Holodeck One
Timeline: After 'The Next Step - Part 1'

Previously, on Star Trek: Myogi:

"Computer, pause." Maho suddenly spoke. In an instant, the holograms froze in place where they were when the order was given. Maho tapped a few notes on her PADD, muttering something that sounded like 'Interesting' as she did so. When she was finished, Maho looked up from the PADD at Kurumi. "Are you ready to begin test two?"

And now, the continuation:

"Wait... That was it? I thought that they would be more to that?" Kurumi replied. She looked around at the holodeck characters then nodded. "Ok, test two. What am I facing next?"

"Computer, load Scenario Two." Maho ordered.

In an instant the room around Maho and Kurumi was replaced by a holographic recreation of the Myogi's bridge. Several crewmembers were already at their stations. A PADD sat waiting on the captain's chair.

"This one's based on real events;" Maho remarked as she strode over to the chair and picked up the PADD, handing it to Kurumi. "The Myogi, Haruna, and Akina have been tasked with transporting a Romulan Senator back to Romulus, where she is to give testimony to her government that the Tal Shiar had conspired to frame me and start a war with the Federation. Your mission is to ensure the Senator reaches Romulus safely."

Maho had pressed hard for the details of the Tokyo's mission to Romulus to modify this scenario from the default version. Understanding that her Chief of Security had prior history with the Romulans, Maho wanted to see if Kurumi would allow those prior experiences to cloud her judgment.

Kurumi nodded. "Ok." She said as she made her way towards the Captains chair. She hesitated slowly and sat down. "Ready."

"Computer, begin Scenario Two." Maho instructed.

Upon receiving instruction, the program started and the officers began their work. Maho stepped over to the starboard side of the main viewscreen, standing out of the way as she began tapping on her PADD again.

A man dressed in a command uniform sporting the rank of Commander stepped off the turbolift and descended the ramp into the command pit. With a smile, he presented a PADD to Kurumi.

"Here's the reports on those Romulan troop movements you were asking for, Captain." He explained the contents on the device he was holding out.

Kurumi nodded as she took the PADD. "Send a message to the other ships. Lets run active metaphasic sweeps amd Tachyon scans. If there are any cloaked ships aroumd, we should be able to see through their cloaks." Kurumi ordered.

"Aye, sir." The First Officer replied. "Shall I also instruct them to scan for Elachi vessels? With what happened at Admiral Takahashi's trial, we shouldn't let our guard down with them."

"Yes, have all active tactical sensors scanning on all subspace frequencies" Kurumi replied simply. "Lets go to Yellow Alert too, raise shields and have weapons charged."

At that moment, the simulated Myogi suddenly shuddered as the tactical alarm sounded. Instead of going to yellow alert as ordered, the red alert klaxons automatically began sounding.

"Haruna and Akina have fallen out of warp!" The tactical officer exclaimed. "Something's targeting our-!"

Before the tactical officer could finish, the simulation violently shook again as the simulated Myogi also fell out of warp. The main viewscreen was showing that the ship was spinning rather fast.

"Tactical report." Kurumi asked calmly. "What are we facing?"

"Helm, get us stabilized!" The first officer yelled, taking initiative when Kurumi had failed to order the spin corrected. "All hands battle stations!"

The helmsman's fingers danced across the console, bringing up and dismissing warning and error messages as she struggled to get the Myogi back under control.

As the ship's rapid spin slowed, the tactical officer was able to answer Kurumi's question.

"Multiple Elachi ships just appeared out of nowhere and fired on us! Haruna is approximately 8 light years behind us, Akina, 5.4. Both ships also reporting having engaged the Elachi!"

"Status of the warp drive." Kurumi called out. She knew they were outgunned and she knew that from a tactical view they were at the disadvantage.

"Port nacelle is offline!" Helm reported. "Starboard is barely functional. We're not going anywhere faster than impulse!"

At that moment, the simulation lurched again as the simulated Elachi continued their assault.

"We're no match for them." Kurumi stated simply. "Divert all non-essential power to shields and engines. Full impulse back towards Romulus. Have Emgineering get those Nacelles back online." She ordered. "Lets try to outrun them. Because we can't outgun them..."

"Captain, with all due respect, those Elachi weapons seem to be able to penetrate our shields." The First Officer speculated. "They were able to strike our nacelles like our shields weren't even there."

With Ops diverting power to the shields and the impulse engines, Helm brought the Myogi about on a direct course towards Romulus at full impulse. If there was a chance that the Myogi could outrun the Elachi until the nacelles could be brought back online, this was their hail Mary pass.

However, they had only been at impulse for less than a minute when the simulation suddenly lurched forward as the ship was rocked by three massive explosions.

"Hull breaches on decks five to thirteen!" Tactical reported. "Emergency forcefields are holding!"

"Those were our impulse engines!" Helm slammed a fist down on the increasingly unresponsive console. "The only propulsion we've got left is our RCS thrusters!"

"Captain, the Elachi seemed to have paused their assault." The First Officer commented.

"Somethings not right." Kurumi said.

"Captain, I'm detecting three Romulan vessels decloaking forward of us:" Tactical reported, cutting short the relief on the bridge.

"All stop." Kurumi ordered simply.

On the viewscreen, three Romulan warbirds decloaked. Two Ar'kif carriers flanking a D'deridex warbird.

"The D'deridex is hailing us, Captain." Tactical stated.

"On Screen." Kurumi said simply as she rose to her feet.

As the Romulan commander appeared on the screen, Kurumi spoke first. "I'm Captain Kurumi Ebisuzawa of the Federation Starship Myogi." she said politely.

"Like a rodent in a cage attempting to escape:" The Romulan commander spoke with an uncomfortable amount of mirth in his voice. "Captain Ebisuzawa; I believe you have something that I want: You seem to understand that you are vastly outgunned here, so I'll make my demands brief: Surrender the Senator to my custody, and I shall spare your crew. I'll even arrange to have your disabled ship towed back to Federation space where you belong. But defy me, and I shall have the ultimate pleasure of killing your crew, and making you watch helplessly from behind containment forcefields as they slowly die... So, which one shall it be, Captain?"

"What becomes of the Senator of he goes with you?" Kurumi asked simply. "Will you execute him? If you want him dead, then why all the talk?"

"I'm afraid the fate of the Senator is an internal affair to the Romulan Star Empire." The Romulan Commander replied. "Now, perhaps you need a little help to speed up your decision-making, Captain..."

The Romulan Commander proceeded to turn away and give an inaudible order to his crew. The viewscreen then automatically switched to a tactical view; where the Myogi, Akina, and Haruna were each represented by Starfleet Deltas, and the Romulan and Elachi vessels, for lack of a known Elachi symbol, were universally represented with Romulan symbols. The ones surrounding the Delta closer to the Myogi's position, noted by the tactical officer as the position of the Akina, proceeded to open fire on the Myogi's sister ship until the Delta representing the Akina disappeared from the tactical view.

"That was the Akina, Captain:" The tactical officer noted grimly. "No survivors recorded..."

Out of the way near the viewscreen, Maho tapped a note onto her PADD over what had just transpired.

"Hopefully that gets the message across that we mean business..." The Romulan Commander threatened once the viewscreen returned to him.

Kurumi remaimed calm. "It would only be polite to let you know that if the senator doesn't arrive at the Romulan senate as instructed. Then the Senate will automatically believe that the Tal Shiar are guilty of their accused crimes, and then in 'true Romulan style' you executed him to cover that up." Kurumi explained. "Plus, Starfleet sensor data can confirm your attack and analysis of the destruction of our ship, which we will share freely will point directly to you."

"Have you ever heard of the Vulcan term. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few?" Kurumi asked. "Computer, activate self-destruct. Set at three minutes."

The computer beeped and the screens changed to the auto-destruct screens. A countdown began counting down from three minutes. Kurumi sat down in her chair. "Go ahead. Send a boarding party to come and get him. You'll never find him in time and your mission will fail. I'm sure the Tal Shiar will punish you and your family for your failure. So, whats it going to be? Or do you have something to hide?"

Several seconds passed before the Romulan Commander gave a simple two-word response:

"Execute them." He said, terminating communications.

When the communications were terminated, the program froze once again. Maho looked up when end of program requirements had been met.

"Well, that was a surprise..." Maho muttered almost nonchalantly as she tapped notes onto her PADD. Maho stepped back up to Kurumi's position. "Well, are you ready for the final test?"

To be continued...

A Mission Post by

Captain Maho Takahashi
Commanding Officer
USS Myogi

Lieutenant Commander Kurumi Ebisuzawa
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Myogi

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