A New Place To Call Home Part 1

Posted on Thu Oct 30th, 2025 @ 4:34am by Ensign Grace MacKenzie & Lieutenant Amu Hinamori M.D. & Lieutenant Fubuki Kuchikukan 'Snowflake' & Petty Officer 1st Class Yoshika Miyafuji

1,546 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: The Return
Location: Tokyo Hanger

The landing had been textbook perfect and Grace followed the deck boss’s gestures on where to go and what location to let her landing gear finally touch down with a gentle touch before she went through the shutdown checklist. Her cockpit opened without her input and a man had hopped up the ladder to check on her, “Need any help, ma’am?” He asked with a smile at the unknown pilot.

Grace shook her head as she pulled off her helmet and placed it on past the console in front of her, the unadorned safety gear a stark contrast to the displays, “Ah’m fine.” She said simply, reaching for the harness and undoing it before pulling her hair back into a ponytail and hauling herself to her feet. The tech retreated down the ladder and Grace stretched from her nine hour flight before swinging her own leg over and reaching behind the seat to pull the white keep with black bill out and tuck it on her head. Commander Toulogne and Captain Llewelyn were strict about the officers wearing the proper headgear.

she clambered down the ladder and her legs sagged a bit as she finally hit the deck, but she sucked it up and straightened before anyone noticed, hopefully. She turned on her heel and brought her hands behind the small of her back as her eyes began to seek out another officer, hopefully one of the senior ones, so she could properly request a berth.

The Valkyrie that had been escorting her had just powered down its engines. The pilot, a young woman with brown hair jumped out. "Ok guys, wrack her up." She called out as she removed her helmet. Large metal arms extended from the sides of the flight deck, hoisting the craft up into the air. A large door opened and the Starfighter was neatly pushed into an empty slot on a wrack-type storage system. The entire process took only a few minutes.

Then the woman turned and began walking over towards their visitor. "Looks like you got banged about a bit out there huh?" She said as she approached. She held out a hand. "Lieutenant Fubuki Kuchikukan. My call sign is Snowflake. I'm the current CAG here on Tokyo."

It was rote reflex that caused Grace to stiffen and give the appropriate salute that she’d been chewed out and ‘disciplined’ when failing to give it properly on Foch. Her arm came up, fingers flat to each other at the corner of her eye, arm at a forty-five degree angle, no more, no less. “Yes, mayam,” she drawled out, her accent one thing that the other ship hadn’t gotten out of her. She flushed red as she noted the hand out and finally dropped the salute and tentatively reached out, “It was hairy out there, mayam, Ensign Grace MacKenzie…” she hesitated and then ground out, “Foch 3-12. We weren’t allowed call signs on Foch, Commander Toulogne said it promoted individuality, not teamwork.” She gestured to her fighter, the French flag emblazoned on the fuselage.

"Well you're not on the Foch anymore Ensign." Fubuki said simply. "I believe you should speak to our captain. She will likely be wanting a report on uour current mission. However first, let's take you to our flight deck sickbay. Doctor Hinamori should give you a once over."

“Yes, mayam.” Grace agreed, “And my bird?”

"We'll have her fixed up nicely." Fubuki smiled.

“Thank you, mayam,” The young Ensign sighed in relief. It wasn’t the most modern version of the Valkyrie and she may have been the designated recon-configured ship, but Grace still loved the fighter. As Fubuki started walking, Grace fell in with her, hands again clasped at the small of her back by habit.

"And we're on deck now. Quite with the while 'ma'am' thing. I go by Snowflake, we're less formal here. More of a family, and now just the pilots but the entire crew." Fubuki explained to her as they walked together. "Tell me about the Foch, was she a carrier too? Or just a ship with Starfighters assigned?".

“Modified carrier variant of an Akira.” Grace stated softly, “Took out more of the ship’s vitals to add another hanger, four squadrons of fighters total.She was part of Task Force 22.5 under Rear Admiral Bywater, which is now gone if Ah’m right. Foch is certainly.” Less formal? What was that like? She had to think for a moment, “Ma-“ She started, but stopped herself, “Permission to remove headgear? Burn it, maybe?” Grace couldn’t NOT ask permission, “The Frenchies were fanatics about these things for officers.”

Fubuki smirked as they turned a corner. "I would recommend recycling it instead." She told her. "I don't think Engineering likes fires aboard, but there's also the option of jettisoning it into space and shooting it..." she smiled. She led her into a turbolift which took them up a deck and soon they were standing outside the doors of the flight deck sickbay. "I'm not sure if the Foch had one of these, but this sickbay is for use of the pilots, deck crew and marines. We have our own little part of the ship down here."

“No, ma- Snowflake.” Grace corrected herself, having removed the cap and tucking it under an arm at the implicit approval, “One sickbay fits all aboard Foch. Ah can’t say that Ah’m goin’ to miss bein’ on Foch, but they wouldn’t let me transfer out, not part of their tradition, they said. Among other things.” She hesitated as she glanced nervously at the door, “Mayam, do you trust this doctor?”

Fubuki raised an eyebrow. "She's saved my life before, and many of the other pilots too. So yes, you could say that we all trust her." She said as she stepped closer to the doors allowing them to open. Fubuki then led the way inside. "Hey Doc, got a visitor for you!" She called out.

"A visitor?" A sweet yet seemingly tired voice replied. A small Japanese woman appeared from out of the office. One would instantly notice that she was pregnant; very pregnant. She looked the visitor up and down with her Hazel eyes before stepping forward, the bright pink hair swishing as she walked. "Welcome to the flight deck sickbay. I'm Doctor Hinamori." She introduced herself adding a small bow at the end.

Involuntarily, Grace once again snapped to attention, hand flying up in salute at the presence of a more senior officer. She just couldn’t help doing it, “Ensign Grace MacKenzie, mayam.” She barked even as she fought to control the urge to do it, her eyes going six inches above the doctor’s head, then she visibly fought things as her hand dropped again, eyes lowering, “Sorry.”

Amu simply smiled. "How about you jump up on one of the biobeds. Nurse Miyafuji will take some basic readings, then I'll come over and get you all sorted out." She explained gesturing to one of the biobeds.

At the mention of her name, another young woman trotted up. "If you'd come this way Ensign. We'll start by getting a few basic scans. You can have Fubuki stay with you if you want, or she can wait elsewhere if you want some privacy." Yoshika told her softly.

Grace was really starting to get overwhelmed, her eyes shifting around as she was led over towards the biobed. Her eyes latched onto Fubuki’s in a plea. Even on the walk over to this sickbay they’d passed a few others that had greeted the newcomer, not anything she’d been used to before, “Ma-“ She had to stop doing that, “Would you?” She asked, the person on board she knew longest, by a whole several minutes, but she was a fellow pilot at least.

Fubuki wasn't sure what sort of treatment this Ensign had been through, but from her reactions she could tell it wasn't good. She nodded as she moved over with them. She pulled on Yoshika's sleeve. "Might want to give me a quick check over too Yoshika." She smiled.

Yoshika took the hint. "OK no problem." She replied with a smile.

A few moments later Fubuki and Grace were sat on side by side on the same biobed. Yoshika was waving the tricorder scanning all over Fubuki. "You seem fine, heightened adrenaline, but that's not surprising after coming in from a battle."

The words were normal, what should be heard from a medical professional, not from a staff doctor who only cared about getting people out of their sickbay and back on the flight line, or to their quarters. Not a friend of the CO and CAG who agreed with their doctrine and adherence to an ancient philosophy. The fact that for the last… However long it had been, she didn’t even remember how long she’d been flying by herself after the Heralds showed up to attack, her adrenaline level was dropping rapidly and Grace shivered once. How had she even survived?

To be Continued...

Posting by:

Lieutenant Fubuki Kuchikukan 'Snowflake'
Commander Air Group

Ensign Grace MacKenzie
Fighter Pilot

Lieutenant Amu Hinamori M.D.
Flight Deck Chief Medic

Petty Officer 1st Class Yoshika Miyafuji
Nurse

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