Welcome to Starfleet Academy

Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2026 @ 3:59am by Captain Maho Takahashi

945 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Into Our Past
Location: Starfleet Academy - San Francisco
Timeline: 2388

She had made the trip to San Francisco under dubious pretenses: To explore further the offer she had received from the city's Parrises Squares team. And indeed, she had even visited the stadium to add truth to her story. But alas, she was not here for Parrises Squares: She was here to take the next step in her life's journey, and for the former rising Parrises Squares star, that meant leaving her old life behind.

The gates lay before her like the entrance to a gleaming palace situated on the shoreline of San Francisco Bay. A sprawling, modern complex of steel, concrete, and glass. And one that had changed the lives of everyone that had walked through those gates, including those of her father and her grandfather, may he rest in peace. So, in that sense, her being the third generation in her family to walk through was like fulfilling a destiny that had been written in the stars twenty one years earlier.

But getting here had been a long road, strewn with potholes that at times had threatened to swallow her whole.

The young woman that walked towards the gates bore the signs of a deep conditioning: Her dark brown hair was kept short to make it harder to grab. The makeup she had applied before she had checked out of the hotel where she had been staying was on point, and her senses were heightened. Her heart thrummed in her chest, and she kept glancing over her shoulder nervously, hoping that she hadn't been followed. Because at this point, she had come too far to be turned around and pulled back to the life that had been built for her, but which she didn't want.

As she walked, she shifted the duffel bag she carried from one shoulder to another. She had only packed enough personal belongings to sell the illusion that she was going just to meet with the team, yet still the bag was heavy, and when one shoulder got tired of bearing the load, she switched it to the other shoulder. It was efficient, and a way to keep her moving. Keep her heading towards her destination. The adrenaline was well and truly pumping through her veins at this point, every rustle of foliage stoked her fear of being followed. A fear that someone would jump from a hedge in front of her and stop her from reaching the gates.

It was that fear that kept her moving. If she reached the gates in time, nobody would be able to stop her, and she could finally break the cycle in which she had been trapped for the first twenty one years of her life. She could finally be the master of her own destiny, rather than the heir to a destiny that was ill-fitting for her. All the pain, all the sleepless nights, all the tears; she could finally put it all behind her.

All the people she shared this path with likely had their own reasons for being here in this moment. But the same thing drove all of them towards the gates: A call to duty. To serve something bigger than all of them: To support and defend the homeland from enemies foreign and domestic. To bear true faith and allegiance to the same, and obey the orders of Starfleet Command and the orders of officers appointed over them, according to all standing general orders and regulations, so help them.

It was this higher calling that pulled her and the rest towards the gates. And yet, she could sense the demons following her- calling out to her to stop and turn back. To think about the consequences of a betrayal on this scale. Those voices had kept her in the vicious cycle of endless appeasement.

No longer!

The chains that had bound her for so long had already been broken the moment she set foot in the city, and the demons were working their hardest to fashion new ones, stronger ones. But their efforts were in vain as she continued her walk towards the gates. As she drew near, she felt her legs speed up. She knew the final few meters were the perfect place for an ambush, so she pushed through. Her free hand went down into the pocket of her skirt, fumbling about for something from within.

At last, she arrived in a queue that had formed outside the gates, as those in front of her presented their identification to the sentry before being shown through. It was in this line that she finally found what she was looking for in her pocket, and pulled it out to have ready to be scanned. The line was moving efficiently, and at last, it was her turn. The uniformed sentry was male, Vulcan, and logically professional. Algorithmically asking the young woman for her ID, to which she presented a yellow Isolinear chip, just like other in the queue ahead of and behind her had done. She had seen other colors of chips being presented: Red, blue, grey, and even a few green ones, but hers was yellow: An engineer's color- like her father and grandfather before her.

The Vulcan man took the chip and pressed it against his PADD. He gave an approving nod as the device beeped the same confirmation sounds she had heard it make for those that had been in line before her before handing it back to her.

"Cadet Maho Nishizumi." He spoke as he returned the chip to her before splaying his left hand in the Vulcan salute. "Welcome to Starfleet Academy."

A mission post by

Cadet Freshman Grade Maho Nishizumi
Starfleet Cadet

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