Mercy's Burden [Part 2]

Posted on Wed Sep 9th, 2026 @ 5:43am by Lieutenant Soyo Hamada & Ensign Lynette Miyafuji 'Highlander' & Lieutenant Commander Nyxala Valentine & Lieutenant Amu Hinamori M.D. & Lieutenant Ralen Trellis & Petty Officer 1st Class Yoshika Miyafuji

3,136 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Kintsugi
Location: Komal Ship Yard
Timeline: April 1, 2397

It was shortly after lunch when the Type 9A Shuttlecraft ferrying Amu and company to the Flemming dropped out of warp at the edge of the Komal Ship Yard, where the ship in question was currently taking on supplies in preparation for their mission out to the Pythos colony. In addition to Lynette, they'd also managed to convince Counsellor Trellis to tag along, as there was no doubt going to be several colonists who were going through a great deal of trauma with their latest ordeal.

A week of shoreleave had been enough to remind Counselor Ralen Trellis that he was better suited to having somewhere to be than not having one.

The first few days had been genuinely restful — meals without time pressure, sleep without interruption, the quiet of a station that wasn't actively under fire. By the fourth day the quiet had started to feel like something to fill rather than something to enjoy. By the seventh, Soyo's message about the Fleming and Pythos Colony had arrived and he'd replied within the hour.

He'd spent the transit time from the starbase reviewing what field intelligence was available on the colony's situation. The picture wasn't good. Herald forces had hit the colony's primary infrastructure — power, water, medical facilities, communication arrays. Survivors were dealing with displacement on a massive scale, separation from family members with no way to confirm who was alive and who wasn't, the specific trauma of an attack that had arrived without warning and ended without explanation. First responders and colony administrators carrying the weight of decisions made in crisis that they would be second-guessing for years.

"Acute stress, survivor guilt, displacement of millions of people..." Ralen said as he glanced up as the Fleming came into view through the viewport. "...I'm starting to think the term 'humanitarian mission' was a generous description." he said

Amu was staring at the bulkhead absent in her own thoughts. It had been a lonely the last few nights since she had met up with Ikuto. However she couldn't help but worry. Was Tadase safe back on Earth with his father? Does Ikuto know the difference between a hunger cry and a diaper change cry? Will he follow her instructions on what milk to make him? Will he talk and okay with him? And how will he cope with being woken up throughout the night? Her maternal instincts were skyrocketing into orbit and she couldn't even process anything else right now.

"Amu?" A voice said as a single hand appeared on her shoulder. The grip was form, yet not enough to be oppressive, just enough to register its intention. Amu snapped back to her own reality, escaping the spiraling thoughts inside her head.

"It'll be fine. I'm sure that Ikuto will be the fantastic dad that you know he will be ". Her smile was warm, soft and comforting. Amu placed her own hand over Yoshika's and gave her a small nod. She kept her hand over Yoshika's, it was like an anchor, keeping her grounded in the moment of now, rather than the 'what if?'.

"Alrighty, folks, just received docking clearance from the Flemming," the pilot announced from up in the cockpit. "Make sure your seat belt is fastened and your tray tables are in their upright position, and as always, thank you for flying with us today."

Ralen looked up from his PADD with a slight frown, the reference not landing immediately. Seat belt. Tray tables. Upright position.

What is a tray? He thought quizzically to himself.

Then something older than him stirred. Not his memory, but that of his first host, Suren Trellis. Standing on a tarmac outside the Smithsonian Aerospace Museum in the late 2200s, watching a restored combustion-engine aircraft make a demonstration flight over the crowd gathered to watch. The noise was remarkable, but the smell from the jet fuel wasn't. The spectacle of something that heavy being held in the air by nothing but shaped metal and controlled explosion had struck Suren as either an act of engineering genius or an elaborate collective delusion, and he'd never entirely decided which.

"I understand that reference," Ralen said aloud, with the specific satisfaction of someone who had just retrieved something from a very long way back. He saw the somewhat confused looks on the faces of the others and felt the need to explain his momentary surge of satisfaction.

"Suren, my first host, watched a restored aero...plane...fly over the Earth Smithsonian once. She found the whole experience either impressive or terrifying." He said as he paused for a moment. "I'm not exactly sure which one. . ." he mused.

"Amazing what us humans could get away with back then?" Soyo joked as she started gathering up her belongings.

Ralen stood, gathering his bag and tucking his PADD under one arm, the Suren memory still fresh enough to make him mildly uncomfortable.

"I've been sitting with that memory for the last thirty seconds," he said, following the others toward the rear hatch, "and I keep arriving at the same conclusion — Humans voluntarily sat inside a controlled explosion and called it transportation." He paused. "Repeatedly. For centuries." Another pause. "And charged each other money for the privilege."

He shook his head once with the expression of someone who had access to the firsthand experience and still couldn't entirely reconcile it.

Soyo chuckled.

Once the shuttle had set down and the pilot signaled the all-clear, the passengers slowly filed out through the rear hatch, where they were greeted with a beehive of activity as fellow volunteers scurried about in search of their assigned group leader.

Ralen stepped out of the hatch and took in the hangar bay in a single sweep — the controlled chaos of a ship preparing for a mass casualty deployment, volunteers moving in clusters, equipment being staged and logged and moved again, someone with a PADD trying to coordinate intake over the noise of everyone arriving at once.

His eyes moved past the logistics and settled on the faces.

The faces that caught his attention were the Fleming's own crew. The ones who had presumably already been briefed on what was waiting at Pythos Colony and had been living with that knowledge for however long it took to get the task force assembled and underway.

"Mom!" A voice called out amidst the commotion.

The five of them turned and were just in time to spot a young Lieutenant in medical scrubs cutting his way through the crowd as he made a beeline for Soyo.

"Reo!" Soyo exclaimed as she pulled the Lieutenant into a hug. "Oh, you have no idea how much I've missed you these past couple of months..."

"Missed you too, Mom," Reo smiled, before realizing that she wasn't releasing him. "Uh... could you-?"

"I haven't seen any of my remaining children since Shigeru died, I get to hug you for a little while longer," Soyo insisted.

"Right... Shigeru..." Reo nodded somberly. "...How are you...?"

"As best I can manage right now, Reo," Soyo assured him as she slowly broke the hug. "I miss him, yes, but right now I've got half a million other things to worry about; there'll be plenty of time for me to grieve once this is all behind us."

"Then I'll say no more," Reo replied. "But feel free to talk to me if you have something you need to get off your chest, alright? I'm more than happy to lend an ear."

"You always were such a sweetheart, Reo," Soyo chuckled.

"I learned from the best," Reo nodded before turning his attention to the others. "Right, so..."

He pointed to Amu. "...You must be the Amu Hinamori I've been hearing so much about!"

Amu's cheeks turned a little pink. "Yeah... I'm Doctor Amu Hinamori. Thanks for having us," she tilted forward, giving him a long bow.

"No, the pleasure's all mine," Reo replied, bowing his own head in kind. "I've heard nothing but good things about you in my conversations with Mom- says you've been asking all the right questions and shown nothing but the Keenest interest in being a parent."

"Oh..." Amu said still blushing. "I'm just getting used to it an all that's all. Nothing in medical textbooks about being a parent." she said as she rubbed the back of her head nervously.

Reo then shifted his attention over Yoshika, with Lynette hovering cautiously behind her. "Nurse Miyafuji, Ensign Miyafuji, pleased to finally be meeting you two in person, and congrats on your recent marriage."

"Thanks," Yoshika said. "It was a little rushed, but..." she took Lynette's hand and held it tightly. "We wanted to be together properly. So that if we don't survive this war, we don't go without any regrets."

"Well, here's hoping it doesn't come to that," Reo expressed, before finally turning his attention over to Ralen. "Lieutenant Trellis, pleased to be working with you; Doctor Deneer has spoken very highly of your thesis, and she says that your facts-based methodology is going to be vital for this type of assignment.

"Doctor Deneer is generous," Ralen said, accepting the handshake with a nod. "The thesis was written with considerably smaller numbers in mind."

He glanced briefly toward the Fleming's activity around them — the equipment being staged, the crew faces he'd already catalogued on the way in.

"A facts-based methodology works well when the facts are manageable. What's waiting at Pythos Colony is going to test that assumption fairly quickly." He settled his bag on his shoulder. "I'm looking forward to being proven wrong about my own limits, if that's what it comes to."

"Excuse me, but did I hear you say Doctor Deneer? As in Cora Deneer??" Soyo inquired.

"The one and only," Reo smiled. "Obviously, a situation of this magnitude calls for precise coordination."

"Is that someone I should know?" Amu asked rather confused. The confusion was evident not just from her, but from Yoshika too whom had cocked her head to one side.

"I attended one of her lectures at a nursing convention a few years ago, back when Doctor Kah'Leth was still CMO," Soyo explained. "She's one of the best in her field, especially when it comes to maximizing sickbay efficiency; I've actually utilized some of her strategies in the past."

"Which I'm very happy to hear, Lieutenant." The calm and collected voice that belonged to the Commander in lab coat that was approaching stated, old-looking eyes glancing over the newcomers, "Unless it's one of the emergency protocols that could relate to our current predicaments, in which case I'm very sorry to hear about it.

"Ah, Doctor!" Reo greeted. "I'd like you to meet my mother, Soyo; she's the one who initially agreed to volunteer for this mission, and even convinced a few other crew members from the Tokyo to tag along, including Ralen Trellis."

"Pleased to make the acquaintance, Doctor Deneer," Soyo introduced herself. "I'm quite the fan of your work."

Cora reached out to shake first Soyo’s hand, then for each of the others in turn, “I am of two minds about being appreciated for that, Lieutenant, because my overall goal is to make my own work obsolete. Sickbay flow is just as important as treatment, because it gets the patients into the right peoples’ hands in a timely manner, which in turn increases patient survivability. Are any of you experienced in effective and concise triage?” She looked between the five from Tokyo, “Except you,” she pointed out Lynette, “Clearly you aren’t a doctor or a nurse.”

"But of course," Soyo nodded. "I've been at this profession for... oh, I'd say four decades now? I'm pretty well-versed in triage setups at this point."

"Then yes, Nurse Hamada, you would be." Cora again singled out Lynette, "And young Miss, what's your name and what do you do aboard the Tokyo?"

Lynette stood there nervously twiddling her thumbs. "I, um... Ensign Lynette Miyafuji, Ma'am; please don't mind me, I'm usually with the fighter corps, so I'm more or less just here to provide moral support..."

Cora gave a smile at the fighter pilot and made a wide gesture, "It doesn't mean you're useless at all here. Now, can anyone give me say... Five things that Lynette here can do for us if she's ever stuck with us boring people in Medical?"

Ralen considered the question for a moment, looking at Lynette with the clinical assessment of someone who spent his career reading people.

"Physical support first — ferrying supplies, moving equipment, helping ambulatory patients relocate when the medical staff are occupied with critical cases." He held up a second finger. "Crowd management, second. Fighter pilots are trained to make fast decisions under pressure and project authority when they need to. That's useful when you have a large frightened population and not enough personnel to manage movement safely."

Cora added her own fingers to the count that Ralen made, "That's two... Anyone else? Anyone at all, even you, Ensign Miyafuji."

Reo glanced around before slowly raising his hand.

“Yes, Reo, you'd like to help our visitors out?” Cora asked pleasantly.

"This might be a bit of a stretch, Doc, but what about shuttle maintenance?" Reo suggested. "A lot of fighter pilots these days are being trained in basic shop maintenance; even if Ensign Miyafuji doesn't know what she's looking at, I've served here long enough to know that the Shuttlebay Staff will be happy to teach her."

Cora pondered the answer before shaking her head slowly, “Close, but we’re talking about how she can help us with medical situations. I will agree that making sure the medevac shuttles up and going is important, however we have a dedicated group of engineers that may object to a pilot helping them out… However,” The Doctor flipped a third finger up and her tone changed from disapproving to brighter again, “Flying shuttles with wounded is not out of the question and one thing fighter pilots like is speed, isn’t it Ensign Miyafuji?”

"Y-Yes, Ma'am," Lynette nodded.

The elderly doctor glanced around the group one more time, “Anyone else have something that the Ensign would be able to do?” She asked, then added after a second, “Doctor, nurses, don’t think you have to be overly complex with things. Think simple, think small. There are at least half a dozen more tasks or duties available.”

Soyo raised her hand.

“Nurse Hamada, yes.” Cora smiled at the other ‘older’ woman like herself.

"Well, going off of Mister Trellis's suggestion, might I recommend some essential support jobs that don't require specialized training?" Soyo proposed. "Patient transport, patient sitting, therapy aide, dietary aide, housekeeping... all of these are admittedly not the normal responsibilities of a fighter pilot, but anyone can perform those duties with minimal training."

Cora nodded, flipping her fourth finger and thumb out, “I’d be hesitant to throw the poor Ensign into aide work in therapy or assisting with feeding patients, not without that training you’re talking about, and Lieutenant Trellis did mention patient transport already, but I’ll accept sitting with a patient, especially ones with concussions or ones we’re waiting for some responsiveness from, and housekeeping, while not glorious, is something anyone can be doing, like changing sheets, sweeping, mopping, all that.

A slight smile crossed Cora’s face, “But we’re still missing some of the other things that anyone can do. Sometimes we can’t get away, so having the ensign retrieve some fast to eat foods or drinks is well within the realm; retrieving supplies; setting up surgical trays, I happen to know the standard work instructions are posted right by the various bits; Has anyone considered that sometimes we can’t get enough blood supplies generated fast enough? We have a walking, talking blood donor in that young lady! I could go on and on, that’s why I was thinking simpler, simpler.” She waved a hand, “All of which are useful on board a starship where you can use more hands in a crisis. Take this back with you for your CMO and suggest she helps to cross-train additional people or at least to think outside the box.”

"Yes, Ma'am," Soyo nodded.

Yoshika blushed and tried to conceal it. She had other ideas of how Lynette could be 'helpful', but it would only benefit her.

Fortunately, Soyo seemed to pick up on Yoshika's discomfort and moved to change the subject.

"So, what can expect so far as lodging arrangements?" she inquired. "What with all these volunteers, I figure its inevitable that some of us are going to be sharing quarters, but has it already been decided whom we're rooming with, or do we get a say in the matter?"

"I would say that aside from the Miyafujis," Cora smiled at Lynette and then Yoshika, "It's a good thing we live on a dedicated medical ship, because all of our medical facilities are condensed as much as possible, which leaves the outer areas available for crew and medical staff rooms. I have individual quarters assignments for you three Lieutenants, as befits your ranks. If you wish to room with someone else, there's no one stopping you, but I like the people working for me to be able to get plenty of rest."

Now both Lynette and Yoshika were blushing.

"Sounds good," Amu said. She took a step forward. "So, how about we get sorted. If we're needed to help, its best to stop standing around chatting." She looked over at Soyo and Amu. She knew how she felt. "We need to get acquainted with the medical facilities aboard the ship, and sooner rather than later. Then we can focus on saving lives. "

"Right," Reo nodded, before turning to Cora. "Doc, care to give them the tour?"

"Right now we're at a good point, but with the war going on, we could get called back into action at any point." Cora gave a small smile and started walking backwards towards the medical ward, "So, before you all tell me your own specialties, let's get familiar with where everything is in here. Clearly, this is our triage area, plenty of space to work with and right behind it is...." Her voice was clear and concise, as if she'd done this before... And would do it again.

---

Posting by:

Lieutenant Amu Hinamori
Flight Deck Chief Medic
USS Tokyo (NCC-91101)

Lieutenant Ralen Trellis
Counselor
USS Tokyo (NCC-91101)

Petty Officer, First Class Yoshika Miyafuji
Nurse
USS Tokyo (NCC-91101)

Ensign Lynette Miyafuji
Fighter Pilot
USS Tokyo (NCC-91101)

Lieutenant Soyo Hamada
Head Nurse
USS Tokyo (NCC-91101)

Lieutenant Reo Hamada
EMT
USS Fleming (NCC-55025)

Lieutenant Commander Cora Deneer
Chief Medical Officer
USS Fleming (NCC-55025)

 

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