Ghosts in the Gateway
Posted on Sun Mar 8th, 2026 @ 3:41am by Captain Taiga Aisaka & Captain Minori Kushieda & Lieutenant JG Kurumi Hatanaka & Commander Thomas Johnson & Lieutenant Commander Devon Hunt & Lieutenant Nezuko & Lieutenant Teneca Quinn & Lieutenant Takina Inoue & Lieutenant Mizuki Nakahara
Edited on on Fri Mar 27th, 2026 @ 3:14pm
1,356 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Flight Of The Valkyries
Location: USS Tokyo Ready Room
Timeline: March 14th, 2397
"Commanders, Johnson, Hunt, and Lieutenants Nezuko, Quinn and Inoue. Report to my ready room." Taiga's voice called out over the comm badges of the crew she had summoned.
Johnson arrived shortly after, walking over to the replicator, he ordered himself a coffee. Extra strong. The nights were long witht he newborn. Though he would have it no other way.
[Intelligence]
"Copy that, Captain," Takina replied as she finished tidying up her workspace and started making her way towards the door, PADD already in hand. "Intel will be there in five; Inoue out."
"Now what do you reckon she wants?" Mizuki sighed as glanced up from her desk.
"Change in plans, maybe?" Takina speculated. "At least that's my guess, considering who's involved."
"Seriously?" Mizuki grumbled. "Just when we've got everything else locked in?"
"Must be important." Kurumi said her eyes not wandering from her screen. "I'd get going if I were you." She said plainly.
"Already ahead of you, Lieutenant," Takina nodded. "You're in charge until I get back."
"Wait a minute! Why her?!" Mizuki protested indignantly. "I outrank her!"
Takina stopped and shot Mizuki the thousand-yard death stare. "If I were to leave you to it, Lieutenant, I'd come back to find you flirting with bunch of gigolos instead of doing your job."
"I am not that desperate for a boyfriend!" Mizuki huffed as Takina disappeared from view. "Goddamn kids these days..."
[Ready Room]
Devon Hunt arrived to the ready room. The call was unexpected and at a time like this, he wondered if something had changed with the initially plan to storm this base being constructed.
Teneca was close behind. The practical tests had been successful and engineering was currently performing the required upgrades.
Not far behind her was the ever-enigmatic Lieutenant Inoue, briefly acknowledging Captain Aisaka (though she also seemed to take note of Captain Kushieda's presence) before quietly taking her seat.
Nezuko was last to arrive. She had been in her office with the atmosphere set to Amphei Prime standard. There was an appointment in her calendar for one of her team to do some EPS grid work an hour later, and anticipating she might not be present she took the time to cycle the atmosphere back to Earth standard before leaving. She stood behind Lieutenant Inoue, whom she did not know very well yet, and waited to be called upon.
Now that everyone was here, Taiga held a button down on her desk console. "Computer. Seal the ready room and disable all sensors in the room." She said. The computer beeped and an audible click came from the doors as they locked.
"What is discussed in this room heavily classified. You are not to discuss the contents of what it said today with anyone. Including other crew members and any family you have on board." Taiga stated simply.
She nodded at Captain Kushieda who passed a PADD to them each.
"On these PADDS is information of an away strike team I want you to assemble." She told them. She then continued. "Several days ago the Armitage discovered small Herald ships using gateways to 'gate' into the vicinity of the Starbase we are attacking. We believe that these are some form of supply ships."
Taiga looked at her own PADD. "We don't know exactly their point of origin. However we know they appear every six hours in the Astron System, approximately three lightyears away. The Armitage has tracked them after they then use another gateway to appear at our current target." She explained to them simply. "We can only presume that this means their gateways have a range and since the starbase is still unoperational they have to still drop out to enter it."
"Now. This is a voluntary mission. However still classified. Your orders are to ambush and infiltrate one of these supply ships. Sneak aboard the Iconian Starbase and sabotage their offensive and defensive systems." Taiga stated simply. "Also of you are able, gather tactical data on their gateway technology. Once the attack begins, you will have to be in a position to be beamed back to one of the ships. However there is no guarantee that this will be successful or safe "
She paused once again. "If you want to back out. Let me know now. You will not be punished or reprimanded if you don't want to do this. I will not order you to. But be aware, there is a possibility that you may not return."
Commander Hunt looked around the room. Being the new guy on board, everyone was still very much a stranger. His children needed him to be alive and not take unnecessary risks. But in order to when this war, risk had to be taken. "I'll accept the mission," he said, while raising his right hand.
"I'm in." Teneca said after taking everything in.
"Same," Lieutenant Inoue answered, evidently unfazed by the threat of death.
Nezuko nodded and gave the Captain a thumbs-up. She looked to Thomas though. The man was loyal to a fault, but also had a newborn. His calculus about the risk might be different than everyone else.
Thomas paused for a moment, thinking about Talia, the newborn, if this was just him, he wouldn't hesitate. But now he had a newborn, he took a drink. Starfleet was at war. Even remaining onboard the ship was a risk, considering how they were losing on all fronts currently.
"Lets make this mission count. Hit them where it hurts. If we lose, we go down fighting." He finally replied.
Taiga looked at each of them, then back to Minori.
"You'll be transferring to the Starship Armitage tomorrow morning." Taiga stated simply. "Captain Kusheida will then drop you off in the Astron System in a runabout." she added. "From there you will start your mission. You should be able to use the runabout to get you aboard one of the supply ships. From the scans we took, there are no more than three to four Heralds aboard."
"Four Heralds?" Lieutenant Inoue remarked. "That seems awfully understaffed for even a freighter."
"It would seem that they suffer from overconfidence. Thats a weakness we can use." Taiga replied. "However, you are to go heavily armed. You have until tomorrow morning at 0800 hours to get everything you need."
"Or they have a trap set for use," Hunt replied. "With a very tempting target."
"That is a possibility yes. But I've determined its worth the risk." Taiga replied. "Any other questions?" She asked as she looked at each of their faces, her hazel eyes meeting theirs.
"Even if it is a trap, its better than us not taking this opportunity. The diversion the fighters create may just give us an advantage, they hopefully will scramble and ignore or send inadequate forces to deal with us. We have got this." Thomas replied and he turned to Nezuko. {At least one of us has to come back} He signed but didn't speak.
{We both are,} she signed back. {We all are.}
"Do we have the option to recruit additional personnel for the assignment?"
Lieutenant Inoue inquired. "If We're going to be hijacking an Iconian ship, I believe that Lieutenant Hatanaka's computing expertise might be of valuable use to us, even if she's just there as an advisor and Lieutenant Nezuko does most of the legwork."
"I have full confidence in all of your abilities. A larger team could jeopardise the mission. It adds extra risk." Taiga stated. "This a covert infiltration and sabotaging mission. The less people and risk, the better."
"Understood, Captain," Inoue nodded affirmatively.
"If there are no other questions. Dismissed." Taiga said simply.
Posting by
Captain Taiga Aisaka
Commanding Officer
USS Tokyo
Commander Thomas Johnson
Executive Officer
USS Tokyo
Lt. Commander Devon Hunt
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Tokyo
Lieutenant Teneca Quinn
Chief Science Officer
USS Tokyo
Lieutenant Nezuko
Chief Operations Officer
USS Tokyo
Lieutenant Takina Inoue
Acting Chief of Intelligence
USS Tokyo
Captain Minori Kushieda
Commanding Officer
USS Armitage
Lieutenant Mizuki Nakahara
Intelligence Officer
USS Tokyo
Lieutenant JG Kurumi Hatanaka
Intelligence Officer
USS Tokyo
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