The Next Step - Part 3: Sacrifice

Posted on Wed Apr 22nd, 2026 @ 8:04am by Captain Maho Takahashi & Commander Kurumi Ebisuzawa

1,991 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: The Breen
Location: Holodeck One
Timeline: After 'The Next Step - Part 2'

Previously, on Star Trek: Myogi:

"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?"

And now, the continuation:

"Erm... Yeah, sure." Kurumi said. "That strategy obviously didn't work."

"This one is timed, and I will not be able to provide you with a brief." Maho stated. "Computer, load final scenario."

The room around them changed once again from the Myogi's bridge to the Myogi's main engineering.

"Begin." Maho instructed, not giving Kurumi time to properly adjust to her new environs.

The scenario began with a violent lurch as an explosion of sparks rained down. Warning klaxons were wailing loudly as engineers scrambled from station to station.

"Warning, antimatter containment fields offline." The computer spoke. "Warp core breach in two minutes thirty seconds."

Kurumi turned to the Chief Engineer. "Eject the anti-matter pods. Emergency over-ride." She ordered.

"Unable to comply." The computer responded. "Emergency ejection system is offline due to power failure. Warp core breach in two minutes twenty five seconds."

"Captain;" The Chief Engineer spoke with a thick New York accent not unlike the late Lieutenant Johnston. "I think I've figured out why we've lost containment: That last hit we took must have ruptured the main power conduit!"

Kurumi considered the possibility for a moment. "How long will it take to repair the ejection system?" she asked quickly.

"I can patch the conduit so that it should hold long enough for us to eject, but..." The Chief Engineer trailed off.

"Chief, you can't be serious!" Another engineer objected as he doused a console fire with a handheld extinguisher.

"Answer the question." Kurumi said simply. "How long?"

"Warning: Warp core breach in two minutes." The computer verbally reminded.

"I can have it patched in as little as a minute, but..." The Chief Engineer explained, trailing off once again.

"The radiation from the conduit will kill him!" The other engineer added.

Kurumi thought for a brief moment. "We have no choice." She said simply. "Chief, get into that conduit now. We need to repair it to save us all." She ordered. She then tapped her comm badge. "Ebisuzawa to sickbay. I need anti-radiation treatment equipment ready to go at a moments notice." she said.

She turned to the other engineers. "I want a transport lock on the chief at all times. The second that he repairs it, I want you to site to site transport him to sickbay." She looked over at the Chief Engineer. "I can't guarantee your safety, but we will do our best to get you out of there as soon as the ship isn't at risk of exploding."

"Understood." The Chief Engineer nodded, motioning for his subordinate to stand down before making his way towards the nearest Jefferies tube to the ruptured conduit.

Before climbing in, however, he stopped and turned back towards Kurumi, making eye contact with her.

"Oh, and Captain:" He said. "If, for some reason I don't make it... It's been an honor to serve with you."

Not allowing Kurumi time for sentimentality, the Chief Engineer climbed into the Jefferies tube.

The ship shook once again after the Chief Engineer had entered the Jefferies tube.

"Warning: Warp core breach in one minute, thirty seconds." The computer read out.

"Captain; the radiation in the Jefferies tube is causing transporter interference:" An engineer monitoring the transporter lock on the Chief reported. "It's getting difficult to maintain the transporter lock."

"All crew report to escape pods." Kurumi said as she tapped her comm badge. "I repeat, all hands abandon ship." She looked over at the engineers. "Now people! In case he doesn't make it!"

The engineer who objected to the Chief going into the Jefferies tube nodded and took charge.

"You heard the captain!" He barked. "Let's clear out! Let's move, move, move!"

As the engineers cleared out, the station displaying the status of the transporter lock displayed error messages reporting loss of the transporter lock due to heavy interference.

"Warning, warp core breach in sixty-" The computer began before the readout was abruptly cut off with another announcement: "Warp core ejection system online."

"Computer. Eject the warp core." Kurumi ordered. She then tapped her comm badge. "Transporter Room. Beam the chief directly to sickbay. Widen the beam on his comm badge signal, just grab him. We might still be able to save him."

As the warp core dropped, a muffled thud could be heard coming from the Jefferies Tube. Within milliseconds of this thud occurring, Engineering was plunged into darkness for a few seconds before the emergency lighting kicked on, bathing Main Engineering in an ominous red glow.

"Sickbay to Captain Ebisuzawa." Came the rather shaky voice of the Chief Medical Officer over Kurumi's combadge.

Kurumi took a deep breath. "All hands. Cancel abandon ship." she said as she held a finger down on a nearby comm panel. She then tapped her comm badge. "Go ahead sickbay."

"Um... Transporter room was able to beam something to us..." The Chief Medical Officer began. "But... What we received... Didn't last long."

"Understood." Kurumi said as she let out a long sigh. She turned to the rest of the engineering crew. "Get our systems back online. Lets make sure that his sacrifice wasn't for nothing. He saved us all." she said simply as she turned on a heel and made her way back over to Maho. She stood in front of her awaiting some feedback.

"Simulation complete." The computer announced, the simulation of Main Engineering fading away, leaving Kurumi and Maho standing in the empty holodeck, their uniforms reverting back to their normal colors.

"Interesting." Maho noted, entering the final notes onto her PADD before looking up at Kurumi. "Now that the testing is complete, would you like to know how you did?"

Kurumi nodded. "Yes Captain, I would."

With a nod, Maho pulled up the results of the first exam:

"The first exam was fairly straightforward:" Maho explained. "A problematic Ferengi was threatening regional stability between the Klingons and the Romulans. One of the duties of a Starfleet Captain is to be a broker of peace, and help mediate disputes before they spill over into a regional conflict. With the revelation that the Ferengi was wanted by both the Star Empire and the Klingon Empire, you chose to remove the source of friction from the equation, and have the Ferengi arrested. A natural course to take, but one that doesn't always work."

"I thought it was the best option available at the time." Kurumi stated.

"And sometimes, it is the best option available." Maho reassured Kurumi. "But, not all fires behave in the same way, and removing the fuel won't guarantee that the flame will burn itself out. In the case of the first exam, it's entirely possible that pre-existing tensions between the Star Empire and Klingon Empire would have caused them to go to war anyway. The scenario fails to provide that sort of context, and it that regard, is a bit too simplistic..."

Maho proceeded to pull up Kurumi's results on the second exam.

"The second exam was a lot trickier." Maho admitted. "I had to pull a lot of strings to extract the Tokyo's and Armitage's logs from the mission to Romulus that took place before the attack on Starfleet Headquarters. From the information I received, the Tal Shiar and Elachi that attacked those ships and destroyed the Oceania weren't open to negotiation, and had it not been for the intervention of the Tal Diann, we may not have any record of the incident at all, and we may have found ourselves at war with the Star Empire and their Elachi allies."

"It was your own version of the Kobayashi Maru then Captain?" Kurumi questioned. "It was a tactical no-win scenario."

"Considering the Tal Shiar and Elachi had you cut off from your allies, and had you vastly outgunned, I'd say so." Maho agreed. "In this scenario, you chose to activate the Myogi's self-destruct and call the Romulan commander's bluff. Unfortunately, the Romulan Commander saw right through it, and helped the self-destruct along."

The corner of Maho's lip curled into a smug grin.

"Though, if Captain Wilcke were to find out that you sacrificed her and the Akina to the Romulans, I'm sure she'd have some choice words for you..." Maho joked.

"Yeah, not my best move." Kurumi admitted. "But, trying to fight our way out wasn't an option."

"Know when to hold, when to fold, when to walk away, and when to run." Maho cryptically agreed, pulling up the results of the final exam. "The final exam was also something of a 'Kobayashi Maru.' With just minutes to act before an imminent warp core breach, the only way to save the Myogi was to order a man to his death. I see here that the program took steps to ensure that the Chief Engineer could not be saved: Radiation in the Jefferies tube causing transporter interference, and the main power conduit exploded once the warp core ejected. Sickbay reported that all they received was a small pile of ash."

"Thats the risks of the uniform." Kurumi stated plainly. "Although, I did try to save the engineer. I had to at least try."

"And indeed, it was a noble effort." Maho nodded. She would at least commend Kurumi that much. "Now, as for the reason why I had you take those tests... With the way things have been going as of late, even with a new Third Officer joining us, I still suspect that the Iconian capability to cut deep into the chain of command is relatively easy. Thus, I am looking for a reserve officer: One who can take command if myself, Commander Misono, Commander Takahashi, and our new Third Officer are wiped out in one swift stroke. This role would traditionally be filled by that of Second Officer on other starships, but here, it would be more like a Fourth Officer. You would be fifth in line for command, if you are interested in the position."

"That makes sense." Kurumi said in response. "I would be interested, I have always thought about going into command one day."

"I was figuring I'd get that sort of response." Maho said, turning on her heel and walking over to the holodeck wall, sliding open one of the panels in the grid pattern to reveal a small storage compartment. She grabbed something from within and returned to Kurumi. "Then you'll be needing this, Commander:"

Maho presented to Kurumi a small box with the Federation symbol emblazoned on its lid. Based on the size of the box and what Maho had just described, there was only one thing that could possibly be inside.

Kurumi raised an eyebrow as she took the box and opened it. "Ah. Now I get it." she said as she looked down at the full pip in the box. "This was technically the command bridge officers exam, but your own version right?"

"Had to put a twist on it to keep things interesting." Maho explained. "A standard command bridge officers exam would have made it obvious that you were being tested. And if someone knows they're being tested, they're bound to act a certain way."

"Sounds about right. Well, thankyou Captain. I will do my best to live up to your expectations." Kurumi replied as she ran a finger over the pip in the box.

"I look forward to it..." Maho said before turning and heading for the arch.

But as the arch doors opened, Maho stopped and turned around.

"Oh, and uh... Congratulations, Commander." She added before finalizing her departure from the holodeck, leaving Kurumi alone with her new pip.

A Mission Post by

Captain Maho Takahashi
Commanding Officer
USS Myogi

Commander Kurumi Ebisuzawa
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Myogi

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