Why did you do it? (Part 1)

Posted on Thu Dec 31st, 2020 @ 10:19am by Captain Akeno Misaki & Lieutenant Colonel Tj Perkins

Mission: The Captains Child
Location: Brig

Akeno made her way down to The Brig where Lt Colonel Perkins was being held. She walked in and with a wave of her hand dismissed the security officer at the control console.

"Colonel" she said from the other side of the force field. "Tell me something. What the hell were you thinking?"

Tj was knelt on the floor head looking down at the floor with eyes shut with the room so quite medtition and thinking helped him past the time. When the Captain asked him her quastions he remainded looking down at the floor. "You are not fit for command." He said. "We ended a war and strong leaders must guide Starfleet for its future."

"Yet here I am" Akeno said simply. "Quite frankly Colonel, I am in command here and you're not" she told him. "What exactly makes me unfit for command and why should I value an opinion of a man who's only tactic is to point a phaser and throw a temper tantrum on the bridge when things don't go his way?"

"In the Marine's experience outranks you... You were the First Officer for a month I believe while I've been a First Officer for 3 years...We need strong leaders not people trying to be like Kirk youngest officer to command." Tj replied still not looking up.

"In case you didn't realise. Starfleet is a little short on CO's after our losses from the War" Akeno stated. "I never asked for this command. I never asked for Captain Sprague to up and leave" she told him. "As far as I was aware, he was going to be the Captain. However it turns out he isn't anymore. Many younger officers are rising up the ranks quickly to fill in those gaps"

Akeno paused. "And there's nothing you can do about it Colonel. Maybe there is a reason why you're not in the center seat. Have you considered that?"

"I know," Tj said. "I was told I was a fanatic militarist preferring guns to words."

"Well you proved that back there didn't you?" Akeno stated. "Do you really think that Starfleet want an officer who shoots first and asks questions later in command? Especially after we've just gone through one of the bloodiest and most violent wars in our history?" she asked.

"Violence is the way. It has kept Starfleet alive for many years taught us and shown us how to survive for many many years." Tj repiled.

"Has it really though?" Akeno asked, her voice dropping more from anger and frustration to concern and perhaps even sympathy. "So, you firmly believe that Starfleet should 'shoot em up' every time we run into something we don't like?" she added. "Would we have ever achieved peace with the Klingons, the Cardassians, The Romulans or even The Dominion if we didn't talk to them and use diplomacy?"

"So stupid." Tj giggled like a creepy girl from a horror movie. "The Cardassians have the same firepower as us that's why the Federation-Cardassian war dragged on...Romulans, Klingons the Dominion use violence the galaxy is changing Starfleet isn't."

Akeno sighed. "You fought in The Dominion War just like I did" she said simply. "However, tell me Colonel. Did you actually lose anyone in that war? Did you actually see death or those close to you?"

"My father my brothers... We had a mutiny the person caused a warp core breech killing my father injuring me and my brothers... Me and my brothers was the only one's that survived the shockwave... It was the USS Templar a Galaxy Class." Tj said sounding like he was telling children a story of a medieval battle.

Nodding Akeno now understood. "I know of the Templar" she said simply as she crouched down eventually coming to sit cross legged infront of the forcefield. Now she was at his level, she hoped it was less threatening to him as she wasn't towering over him.

"You're angry aren't you. You're angry at the person who killed your father? You don't have any other way to get your feelings out apart from what you know" her voice dropping to a lower tone. "You don't know how to trust those around you anymore. You've been struggling with this for a long time haven't you? But no one seems to have noticed?" she paused. "And don't give me any of that crap about 'manning up' or 'men don't talk about their feelings' because this is the twenty fourth century and we're all equal"

Tj still knelt down on the floor in front of the forcefield. "When you attend the doctors and say your feeling pain they ask on a scale of 1 to 10... I've been on the 10 for 3 years I am always in pain and anger for what has happened... The weak govern the strong rule." Tj spoke like a Dictator.

"So, why did you not ask for help? You're an officer. You have the right to be helped" Akeno asked. She paused for a few seconds a silence hung in the air. "You want to know something about me?" she asked.

Tj opened his eyes and looked up at Captain Misaki with his snowy white-eye that turned that way while recovering and grassy green eye that was the only thing that wasn't scared. "Sure," Tj said. "Since it's storytime."

"You're not the only one who's hurting" Akeno replied. "When I was nine years old, both of my parents were declared missing in action aboard the Starship Pegasus. I still to this day don't know what happened to them. I know that the Enterprise located the wreckage of the ship, but the files regarding what happened are still sealed" she explained to them. "I grew up without either of them, cared for by my grandparents"

She looked away for a few seconds. "Last year, the Breen attacked Earth. They decimated San Francisco, including Starfleet Headquarters and the Academy. Hundreds of civilians alongside officers and young cadets were killed from the orbital bombardment. Both my grandparents were in the city at the time. It was meant to be their fifthieth wedding anniversary. They only wanted to see where I trained and joined Starfleet" she paused again before she turned back to look at TJ. "I'm alone now. I have no family left after that" she told him.

"My mother was unfaithful I always had a new half-sibling each year. When my Father died she died too. Until she married a Gorn Captain now Governor they have a child on the Gorn homeworld. She could forget what happened but the last moments are trapped in my head I daydream of those moments. The rage and anger I get fuel me to insanity... I keep getting recommendations for cybernetic implants and I keep saying no. Cause I want to be Human not Borg." Tj answered back to her.

"At least you have family" Akeno replied softly. "You are not your mother. You can't make deicions for her. You're a grown man" she told him. "Now, we have both suffered loss, but the difference is that I don't go around shooting my superior officers" she explained to him. In her head she was wondering how a Human and a Gorn might have reproduced together, especially since the Gorn was Reptilian and Humans were Mammalian, surely it wasn't possible without extensive medical intervention.

"So. I want to ask you something" she said. "Do you think you might be able to put aside the past? You're not living as long as you hold onto those events. If you do, they'll only drag you deeper down into depression and anger. If you can do that, show respect for others and be the good damn officer that your record says, then I might be willing to give you a second chance. But be aware, that trust needs to be earned and works both ways"

"I can agree to a white peace," Tj said.

A smile crept across Akeno's face. "Now. We have to work on your anger. Mine too..." she said as she rose to her feet and crossed the room to the brig console. "Computer. Initiate Program Misaki Beta Three"

To be continued...