Allies

Posted on Sat Aug 15th, 2026 @ 3:10am by Captain Maho Takahashi & Takeshi Nakazato 'Zack'

784 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Into Our Past
Location: Starfleet Academy - San Francisco
Timeline: 2389

She had been crying.

It had all started with that smug Andorian calling her "the Admiral's Mistress" again. Ever since she had traded her yellow Isolinear chip for a red one, there had been talk of an Admiral coming to Starfleet Academy to visit her and check up on her progress. Naturally, the Andorian woman had twisted the narrative to imply that he was coming to see her for more than what the rumors were saying. Maybe the Andorian was jealous that she had a fuller figure than she could ever hope to have.

Whatever her reasons for spreading such vitriol were, it did its job in hurting her. Every time she was asked if she was giving an Admiral "special favors", she was put on the defensive: She had to deny whatever the Andorian had told the questioner about, and having to clear her name this frequently was taking a toll on her. So, when it had happened again today, she had taken off in tears. She didn't even care where she was going, she just wanted to get as far away from that Andorian as possible in as little time as possible.

As a result of her lack of direction and the tears, she hadn't necessarily been paying attention to where she had been going, and failed to notice that she was walking right in the path of someone going the other way until they ran into each other, the sound of PADDs clattering to the floor finally breaking her from her trance:

"Oh, gosh... I am so sorry..." She immediately apologized, stooping down to help pick up the dropped PADDS. "I wasn't looking where I was going, and-!"

"It's alright:" The other cadet replied. "I wasn't necessarily watching where I was going, either."

At that moment, both her and the other cadet's hand went for the same dropped PADD at the same time, and they both wound up touching hands. After realizing that the act had made the man visibly uncomfortable, she noticed that he had a wedding ring on one of his fingers.

"Seems we both weren't paying attention..." She said, attempting to keep the conversation on track.

"I guess so...." The man agreed, checking to make sure he had all the PADDs he had been carrying before the incident before standing back up. "Hey, thanks for helping me pick these up: Normally, assholes just run into me and keep walking."

"Not the first time it's happened to you?" She asked.

"Unfortunately." The man sighed. "And it's always the same person, too: This crazy Andorian chick goes out of her way to walk full speed into me and keeps going like she didn't just cause a scene."

"This Andorian you speak of; does she by any chance have long, flowing hair? On anybody else, white hair like that would be damn majestic, but alas, beautiful hair seems to be wasted on the scum of the Federation."

"That sorta fits her description:" The man put a finger to his chin. "Scrawny little bitch, too, and she wears-!"

"Platform heels!" The two cadets finished in harmony.

"Yep. Had to go see a doctor after she stepped on me in those things." The man continued. "Thank Buddha for 24th century medicine getting my foot fixed as quickly as it did."

"Sounds like you and I have a common enemy: Want to form an alliance?"

The man stood there for a good few moments and contemplated her proposal. An alliance would have its pluses and its minuses. Together, they would both be targets to the Andorian's harassment, but there was something to be said about strength (and safety) in numbers.

"I suppose there's logic in you having someone else's back, and vice versa." He finally admitted, accepting her extended hand. "I'm Takeshi Nakazato, by the way."

"Maho Nishizumi." She introduced herself.

"Nishizumi..." Takeshi mulled the name over in his head. "Any relation to the Parrises Squares prodigy from Kumamoto?"

"One and the same." Maho admitted.

"Saw your name in the paper, once: Some team out in Gunma had offered you a spot in their lineup." Takeshi explained how he was familiar with the name.

"I've gotten offers from teams far and wide." Maho replied. "But, my true calling is where I am right now."

"Gotta be true to yourself; I respect that." Takeshi commented. "Anyways, I must be on my way. Maybe later we can find a good sake joint and truly acquaint ourselves?"

"You had me at Sake, Mister Nakazato." Maho nodded. "What I wouldn't give for some good rice wine around here..."

Posting by

Cadet Sophomore Grade Maho Nishizumi
Cadet
Starfleet Academy

Cadet Sophomore Grade Takeshi Nakazato
Cadet
Starfleet Academy

RSS Feed