Part of USS Tokyo: M3: Follow The Broken Trail

8) Down the rabbit hole

USS Tokyo - Ready Room
June 2401
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The mess from the ready room was still in the same state after the event went down with the Borg. Messy was chaotic, yet one soul could get her peace in that chaos. The counsel department had a field day with the mind of their Captain. Yet no one could give her the desired answer: what were these memories and visions haunting her every night? Ko rubbed her template while looking at her computer screen showing three crew member profiles. 

“You really should clean this place up, and I can give you a sedative to get some shuteye, Captain.” Viamame was leaning at a chair’s back with her arms crossed over each other. Looking around the room, wondering how someone could survive in such a disorganized place. Viamame looked at Ko. “You look like shit….you barely got out of the sickbay…” 

“Which I am grateful for, there is much work to be done, and I can’t sit idle while there is this…” Ko waved her hands at the PADDs lying around on her desk. “Transfers, reassignments, promotions, awards, and department reports.” She eyed every PADD while naming it.

She rolls her eyes at that comment, “You do know you have senior staff and a newly appointed First Officer that can do this work for you.” With that remark stated, Viamame noticed Yozria entering the room. “Speak of the devil. There is your right hand. Can you tell your boss to take it easy?” 

Walking to the side of Viamame, “Is that not the task of the Chief Medical Officer to do so? I mean, you are the one that cleared her for duty, not me.” Yozria smirked at her friend.

“After she repeatedly asked every medical staff if she was fit for duty, every minute!” Viamame stated with some annoyance in her voice, “So it was more a celebration that she left the sickbay that overruled my choice to keep her there,” Pointing it out bluntly.

Giving Viamame that smirk, and looked at the Captain, “Captain, I have placed the reports, there, there, and ….” Looking around, “There, of latest reports from the Fourth Fleet.” Yozria smiled proudly.

Blinking a bit, Viamame followed the direction of Yozria’s eyes to the reports, “Good grief, these two a match in heaven. Starfleet created a monster team,” She muttered to herself while rubbing now her own template. “If you don’t listen to my advice, and I am not required, I will be going back to the sickbay.” With that, she pushed herself off the chair’s back and moved.

“I am going….” A weak voice came from the direction of Ko.

Viamame stopped in her tracks as she looked over her shoulders, seeing that Yozria was looking at her leaving and now turning her head to Ko. 

The Captain was sitting in her chair, tapping her finger on the table as her eyes never touched her computer. “I am going to get them back…..” She blinked her eyes slowly and then looked with tired eyes at the two of them. “Even if it means going in alone.”

“Get who back…?” Yozria looked questionable at Ko and confused.

“You’re joking.” A voice came from behind Yozria as Viamame turned around, placing her arms over each other. “They are gone….you know that. It is a suicide mission to go after it…and hell, we don’t even know where to start to trace it down.”

Looking back at Viamame, “What are you guys talking about?” Yozria tried a more demanding voice and slowly felt left out of whatever was being developed here.

Seeing the wave of approval from Ko, Viamame shrugged and started to pace around the room, scratching her hair. “The Captain got in sickbay due to a collapse, right?” Viamame started seeing Yozria slowly nod. “There is more to it; she had an event happening to her that no medical journal can explain.” Feeling frustrated that Viamame was unable to explain it herself.

“What kind of event?” Yozria slowly asked.

“I see Commander Towalr in my head; it happened while I was sleeping; it happened while I was walking through the hallways. Droned, but asking for help,” Ko softly explained, followed by a shrug.

Yozria blinked, looking at Ko, then back at Viamame. “Wait, are you telling me that she is having bad nightmares?” Yozria looked back at Ko. “You are experiencing PDST? Shit, this can put your career on the line and a long period of therapy.”

The two stayed quiet for a second. “Not quite Yozria. When she had her first encounter with this event, she still had remains of Borg Nano in her blood that somehow skipped my scans. The problem is that after I removed them….they kept coming back as if a memory was planted.” Viamame explained, “Something that I have no idea how to get out of her head.” 

“Right, wait….how did it even get in her head if it is a memory…” Yozria blinked at that confirmation. 

Viamame raised her finger. “That is the question….that I can’t answer. It might be a modification when she got the nano injected in her. But that wouldn’t make sense. The nanos were from a dysfunctional drone that is disconnected from the collective.” 

“Right, right….” Yozria confirms that fact, “But…” She looked at Ko “What if she got connected and not active?” Looking back at Viamame, “She is a walking node….because she had not active nano’s in her, they were simply waiting for a confirmation….but that would mean.” Yozria saw Viamame wanting to stop her.

“That I was right…” They both looked at Ko. “I received a message from Towalr….how I have no idea. But I did get it, and I will follow up on it.” She took a deep breath. “It is, after all, my job as a Captain to get the crew home in whatever condition they are in.” Ko paused for a second. “But that would mean that I have to cross bridges that I rather not cross and burn ships that I kinda need to achieve my goal.” 

Letting out a deep sigh, “Captain, you do realize what you are saying, right?” Viamame shrugged.

“I do, I will burn my ship as following the rules and orders of Starfleet. I will cross a bridge to go rogue on Starfleet principles and orders.” Ko confirmed both their fear.

A quiet moment fell in the room, until “But you are sure to get my brother back….?” Yozria carefully stated her deepest desire. Ko tired eyes met those of Yozria “Because if so….I will burn any bridge or ship to do so. I will stand at your side.” 

Taking a deep breath, “I will get them all three back.” Ko confirmed her first officer wish.

“Match made in freaking StoVoKor…” Viamame facepalmed herself and shrugged at the two. “Where do we even start?!”

She turns around, taps on the panel behind her, and a planet appears. She sat back in her chair and looked at the slow-turning planet animation. “Our destination starts here, south of the Turei Alliance.” Ko looked over her shoulder to her team. “But I only want those with us that want to go….if we have too little support, I will get a shuttle and do it that way,…”

Both Yozria and Viamame looked at each other and nodded to the plan. Then both looked back at the planet. “Frak, a black market…” Viamame shrugged.