Work Text:
Captain’s Log, Stardate 58980.5
Oh, ok, I'm doing one of these for real.
Ok Tsukasa, you've got this.
Um, it’s been about three days since our encounter with the Mitae and taking over the ship. At Miku’s suggestion we’ve arranged a small chain of command so we can better use the ship’s systems.
I’m captain, and I’ve chosen An as my first officer. Ena didn’t want her dad’s job, so Akito is security chief. Rui’s naturally engineering chief and he’s already poring over all the info we have on the engine that launched us here in the first place. Mafuyu is CMO, and Nene is the transport chief.
We’re obviously not really referring to each other with ranks or titles beyond what Miku needs to function efficiently, but I think the order of a command structure is helping everyone adjust. To that end we’re having discussions on saving time by just replicating Star Fleet uniforms, though there are disagreements on which era. I feel we should wear the Voyager uniforms– they got Aunt Kathy and the others home, after all, but Ena feels they’re ugly. At least we can all agree that Rui’s new designs need some work. I don’t know why he thinks an exposed midriff would be a good idea…
Wait, am I rambling? Can I ramble on these?
Anyway, we've determined which parts of the ship where we can leave life support shut off most of the time, and have begun the… grim work of going through the rest of the crew’s rooms and determining what we can put back into the replicator and what we should save to return to their families.
Aunt Kathy never talked about this. Did they have to do this when Voyager first arrived in the Delta Quadrant? And those were their friends too.
I should stay focused. At the moment our strategy is to set a course for home, keeping an eye out for anomalies, just like Aunt Kathy did.
The main point of contention has been how much we should try to interact and examine nearby planets. On the one hand, we’d get home quicker and be in slightly less danger. On the other, if something does go wrong, making allies and trade partners, keeping track of sources of dilithium, and learning more about the makeup of the area would be beneficial, despite being slower.
That’s assuming any other species in the quadrant take us seriously, a ship full of children probably raises some questions.
There’s so much to consider as captain, and KAITO’s been helping, but I still find myself questioning every decision. The point of having a captain is so someone can make snap decisions in times of crisis, but will I be able to do that when the time comes?
…
Anyway, back to our problem, we’ve managed to contact the species on a nearby M-Class planet, and I’ve sent Toya, Akito, An, and Kohane down to meet with them. If anyone can work something out, it’s those four. Maybe then we can find a way to move forward.
~
Akito collapses onto the dingy concrete ground as soon as the guards leave. That last opponent definitely cracked his ribs.
“Let me check on him!” Toya’s voice shouts frantically from down the hall, and Akito can’t help but smile.
“I’m fine, partner! I got this,” he says.
Whether Toya believes him or the guards force him away, the hallway goes silent and Akito’s given time to think.
Between the Mitae and the Yanlaxi, clearly either all the species in the far side of the Beta Quadrant are insane, or they just have terrible luck.
He can almost hear Toya correcting him, “ It’s possible that aggressive species have fared better in this region ,” he’d probably say.
Either way, the second species they happened to meet apparently demands strangers prove themselves in gladiatorial combat before doing any diplomatic discussions and if they failed, they’d be killed. And they took their commbadges before they could tell anyone on the Miku about it.
Akito is the security chief, so if anyone’s going to go half a dozen rounds of hand to hand combat, it’s him. Fitting for a society that resorts to fighting before literally any other form of diplomacy, it hasn’t been easy. He’s managed to defeat all previous opponents by the skin of his teeth, but he doesn’t know if he has another in him.
Well, technically he doesn't know if he has to win, he just has to “prove himself.” That could mean facing every challenge directly and honorably regardless of winning. It could mean he gets stabbed with one of their crazy-sharp naginata-like things. Could be a mix of both. It’s a fight to the death and when he’s dead they’ll determine he fought honorably. He hasn’t tried to kill his opponents, but that doesn’t mean they won’t extend him the same courtesy.
Still, if the Federation could ally with the Klingons, that isn’t a dealbreaker, other than the fact that dying would suck and Toya would never forgive him.
Nah, he’s got to figure out how to win this fight.
The guard barks something, and Akito heads over to the preparation area. He’s supposed to pick two of the weapons to take into the arena, though he’s not familiar with any of these. He’s sort of had an advantage since none of his opponents have been familiar with using Federation-based fighting styles with these weapons but he can’t rely on that forever.
Plus these are all heavy and he’s wearing out quick.
He’d win with his phaser, but unfortunately all the Yanlaxi have been fast and can quickly close any gap on him.
Something glints and catches his eye, a sharp gray rock.
Thank Toya for drilling him so much on these things, it looks like flint. If it’s at all similar… Akito discreetly strikes the rock on the stone wall and sure enough, sparks fly.
He goes and grabs a stick, the same kind that’s been used in the big brazier out front and is very smokey. He’s got a half-formed, completely insane plan, an even more insane back-up plan, and a third hail mary.
Taking the flint and the stick, Akito gestures that he’s ready, and the guards’ large ears twitch. The Yanlaxi are pretty expressive with their thick tails and wolf-like ears. One is baffled, the other seems… bemused? Is that the right word? Anyway, they let Akito into the arena.
Once he’s there, he spots Toya, An, and Kohane in a box surrounded by guards about six feet above him. Akito winks at them, and it seems to make them more worried.
Then his opponent enters. It’s a girl, clearly younger than everyone else he’s fought. She has two-toned purple hair, though hers is longer, and heterochromia.
She’s carrying something akin to a sasumata, a two-pronged weapon used to restrain people, and at her hip is her second choice, a thick knife that’s about the size of an ice pick. So her strategy is clear: restrain him, then gut him like a fish.
She says something in her language as she walks in, but also seems confused by the stick in Akito’s hands.
The officiant yells out the word that starts the match, and Akito quickly strikes the flint-like rock against the ground, setting off sparks that catch on the stick.
Smoke instantly starts filling up the arena, but Akito doesn’t move until he hears footsteps run towards him. When his opponent is close, Akito drives his shoulder into her chest and grabs the knife.
He shoves her onto the ground and gets a running start to the edge of the arena, leaping off and jamming the pick into the wall under where the others are. He pulls himself up and then uses the pick as a foothold to get up to their box, grabbing onto Toya’s hand.
He headbutts one guard who’s distracted and An handles the other and then they all take off.
“Our gear is this way!” Kohane shouts, “I saw it!”
They follow her to a room where supplies are. Akito dives under one of the guards to grab his phaser and stuns them. Then they grab their commbadges and tricorders.
“Emerge—” Toya shouts but the girl Akito was fighting comes in and pins him to the wall with her sasumata and shocks him.
“Toya!” Akito shouts, tackling the girl off of him and making her drop the sasumata. They roll onto the ground and Akito pins her, digging his knee into her chest.
“You were smart to think you couldn’t beat me,” she says, before flipping him over. More guards arrive.
“Everyone!” Tsukasa’s voice comes over the comm badge, “we’re beaming you out hold on—”
“There’s no need for that, Captain Tenma, I think you’ve proven yourself worthy of our aid. Might we discuss this diplomatically?” The girl says.
“Diplomatically? Now you want diplomacy?” An says. “You’re insane.”
“We take our customs very seriously,” the girl says, “doing things like this is how we’ve survived so long.”
“You almost killed Akito!” Toya yells.
“Killed?” The girl’s ears twitch, like she’s genuinely confused. “Those were all restrained.”
Yikes, how strong are these people if what Akito went through was them being restrained.
“Oh, are you… humans, you called yourselves?”
“Humans and a Vulcan,” Akito says.
“Ah right, so you’re not as resilient? I guess that’s why you end up making up with it with your ingenuity,” she smiles, looking directly at Akito. “I guess this is our mistake, we didn’t consider the differing physical capabilities of our species.”
“Ma’am!” Guards come up, prepared to fight, but the girl puts her hand up. “No need. I, Fuyune Shimizu of the Yanlaxi, concede this match.”
There’s a burst of confused discussion between the guards.
“Go, beam yourself up to your ship. We’ll discuss some things and then come up to talk where you have the advantage, if that makes you feel better,” Fuyune says, and Akito can’t help the feeling that she’s staring at him specifically.
An glares at her. “Nene, four to beam up.”
“Send Akito and me to sick bay,” Toya adds.
~
When they arrive, Toya ignores Mafuyu and Luka and leads Akito to a bed.
“You were stupid, and reckless,” Toya says.
“Hey, I’m fine,” Alkito says.
“You brought a stick to a gladiatorial arena,” Toya snaps. “What were you thinking?”
“If the smokescreen idea didn’t work, maybe she’d be so confused by the choice I could knock her out? I only got the escape idea when I saw her weapons.”
“That was all unnecessary risk, we should have left as soon as they mentioned combat.”
“Come on, if they really thought it wasn’t deadly to me, then they’re probably better than the Klingons on that front.”
You’re not being very logical . Toya knows Akito wouldn’t say that, but he still hears it. It’s been his curse ever since he was a child, he’d even been sent for training to overcome it, and yet he can’t find it in him to suppress all his emotions.
“Hey, I’ll be more careful, ok?” Akito says.
“... I can’t lose you, Akito.” Toya hears his father’s voice again, sneering at him for being so attached to a human. The only humans Toya’s father likes are Toya’s mother and Tsukasa-senpai’s parents. And Tsukasa and Saki, of course.
“I’m not gonna die,” Akito says. “I wouldn’t abandon you guys like that.”
He’s right, of course. With a crew this small, losing any single person is a blow to everyone. But still…
“Can I be selfish right now?” Toya asks.
“Of course.”
“I want you to stay alive for me, not just the crew.”
Akito flashes that gorgeous smile of his that makes everything Toya’s father’s ever said about his emotions worth it. “I promise, partner.”
~
When the Yanlaxi representatives arrive, Tsukasa’s nervous. An, Emu, and Haurka are with him to hopefully discuss arrangements.
“I am Princess Fuyune Shimizu,” the girl Akito fought says as she steps off the transporter.
“Princess?!” An gasps.
“Why would you let your princess fight in a gladiatorial arena?” An asks.
“They did say they didn't consider it dangerous,” Haruka suggests.
I hope so, Tsukasa thinks. I would love to have some allies.
“We’re sorry to suddenly impose on you,” Tsukasa says. “We’re not asking for much, we just want to touch base and make contact. Perhaps we could make a deal.”
“Exactly what we were thinking!” Fuyune says. “This is Chikako, my handmaiden. It’s traditional for a member of our royal family to visit our allies every 50 years or so, and it just so happens to be our turn. So, how about this: You provide transport for my tour, and along the way, I introduce you to more planets you can ally with! We have a pretty wide range of allies, it usually takes, oh, five years round trip? That’s why we don’t go very often.”
“That’s… too good to be true,” An mutters.
Tsukasa leans in and whispers to her. “It would be a major advantage. We’ve met two species in this region and they’re both incredibly aggressive, there could be dangers we’re not prepared for.”
“There has to be a catch.” An says.
“It’s not like we’re giving up nothing, it could take us out of the way of the optimal path home.”
Um, guys? Emu broadcasts into their minds, she’s thinking about Akito a lot .
Tsukasa blinks. Akito?
“Would you need any arrangements as far as protection?” Tsukasa asks. “We could speak to our security chief?”
“Yes! Where is he?” Fuyune asks.
They head to med bay, where Toya and Akito are.
“Wow, you people are fragile,” Chikako says.
“I’m so sorry Aki dear! My parents wouldn’t have thought about that,” Fuyune says.
Toya glares. “Aki?”
And then Fuyune blushes . “I can’t simply call my husband by the name everyone else uses, can I?”
“Your what?” Toya asks. He slips into the cool mask Tsukasa recognizes as him suppressing his rage.
“Well, the Tryglofora root! It’s a symbol of bonds, which is why we burnt it before your trial. If you choose that in combat, it means you’re proposing to your opponent. Then either you defeat your opponent or they concede, and you’re married!”
“I did not know that,” Akito says. “Sorry I was just trying to escape, I didn’t mean to propose—”
“Actions mean things on Yanlaxi, not words,” Chikako says. “By choosing the root and completing our ritual, you’re divinely bound in the eyes of our gods, so you’re married. Nothing anyone can do about it.” She seems… incredibly annoyed as she says that last part.
“Ok, but like, I can’t be married to you,” Akito says. “I mean I’m going to be leaving!”
“And I was just talking to your captain about joining you!”
“Only part of the way, though,” Tsukasa says.
“Well, the point where I’d have to go back is a couple of years away, we can wait to discuss what Aki wants to do then.”
“You’d… be ok with me going back to Earth without you?” Akito asks.
“Oh, who knows, maybe I’ll join you, maybe I’ll go home, all that matters is that our bond will last no matter the distance.”
If looks could kill, Toya and Chikako would have slaughtered everyone in the room.
Tsukasa grabs Toya’s shoulder. He telepathically explains the details of the deal to him. We can turn her down, if you want . Tsukasa says.
…No, it’s much more helpful to have her here than not, I know that. Toya says. It’s fine, it doesn’t matter what she thinks, Akito’s mine.
Tsukasa looks at Akito, who nods.
Tsukasa takes a breath. “Well, Princess, Chikako, welcome aboard.”
