Welcome to Tokyo
Posted on Sat Sep 4th, 2021 @ 3:53pm by Major Ashley Rogers & Lieutenant Mila Lynn & Sublieutenant Miles Lynn
4,246 words; about a 21 minute read
Mission:
Chapter V: The Calm Before The Storm
Location: Tokyo, Earth
Timeline: 238703.02
Miles stretched his arms as the shuttlecraft finally dropped out of warp. It had been a quiet 30 hours since they had left Drozana, with no notable incidents during the journey other than the replicator going crazy and dispensing ice cold coffee, but hot lemonade. Something that would definitely need to be fixed once they got back.
He glanced at his sister, who was herself staring out of the window at the planet they were approaching. From here, Earth did not look too different from Cera. So, this was the birthplace of humanity, of the Federation. He could see a large space station with expansive docking facilities in orbit - the fabled Earth Spacedock. Miles engaged the impulse engines, and headed to a chain of islands in Earth's northern hemisphere - Japan. They would land at the Spaceport in Tokyo, and then take public transit to Osaka, where they would hopefully find Perez.
"Unidetified huttlecraft, please state your designation and destination."
The voice of the docking operator sounded almost bored, Miles noticed. "Shuttlecraft Gedak of the Ourainavassa, heading for Tokyo. Transmitting clearance now." Luckily, they had been given clearance codes by Captain Mannerheim, who said that they would identify them as privateers working with Starfleet, and should get them through to the surface with no questions asked.
After a few tense moments, the voice of the operator came back on the comm. "Thank you, Gedak, you are cleared to proceed. Follow standard approach vector. Safe travels."
Mila let out a breath that she hadn't even noticed she'd been holding in. "Well, that was the hard part, right?", she joked as the shuttle descended towards the planet.
Ash let out a nervous chuckle, "I hope so. Now would be a bad time to let you know that there's a non-zero chance that I have outstanding warrants on me, right?"
Miles spun around in his seat. "You're kidding, right?" He turned to his sister. "She's kidding, right?"
"Maybe you should watch the controls," Mila simply replied, as the shuttlecraft named in respect of the late quartermaster of the Ourainavassa descended into the atmosphere. "Still," she added to Ash. "I really do hope you're kidding."
Ash looked at the twins surprised, "I kill people. That's mostly frowned upon with the Federation... but I think I've covered up my tracks. But.... I'm from Earth. I have family here and probably old colleagues from Starfleet everywhere. So...." she shrugged, "It's a possibility that I'm a liability here."
Mila shrugged. "I'm sure we'll be fine. We'll be in and out before anyone notices. I hope. The transit from here to Osaka takes only a few minutes, and from what I've seen on the maps it's a short walk to the teahouse from the station. We'll find Perez, have some tea, and be on our way."
The shuttle touched down with a quiet thump, and Miles shut down the systems. "Welcome to Tokyo," Miles said with a grin as he stood and walked towards the exit ramp, with Mila following close behind. When the door opened, he cursed. "Shit. There's a Fed waiting for us."
Mila put her hand on his shoulder. "Probably just a formality. Here to check who we are and help us find our way, I'm sure."
"No, Miles is right. I know her," Ash said.
"Hello Ash," the security officer said without formality, as she drew her weapon. "Hands up where I can see them. All of you. Now."
"Is this really necessary?" Ash asked as she was being searched. The knife she kept in her boot was the first thing confiscated after her side arm.
"You really have to ask that?" the officer asked dismayed. She then put Ash into restraints, "You're under arrest."
Ash looked over at Miles and Mila, confused, "For what?!?"
The officer looked over at Miles and Mila, "I'm fairly certain you're doing something that endangering the lives of two minors. And there are more than enough suspicious activities that match your MO to justify further questioning. It's not every day that we get to have Ashley Rogers grace our presence... I'll be sure to let mom and dad know that you're back."
"Sara..." Ash started. "Let them go... they're looking for a friend..."
"And you all can tell me all about it... in a holding cell," Lieutenant Commander Sara Rogers said as she put restrains on Miles and Mila as well.
Miles shot a glare at Ash. "No outstanding warrants, eh? Easy, eh?"
Mila groaned. "Lieutenant Commander, if you'd let me reach into my pocket, I could confirm what Major Rogers said. We are here to locate a member of our crew that has gone AWOL."
"Major Rogers?" Sara asked with a raised eyebrow. "You quit Starfleet and disappear to.... what? Wear Romulan rank?" She shook her head, "I'm not buying this. You wouldn't come back to help two kids look for a friend. That's not the Ashley Rogers I know. I used to look up to you. Defended you when no one else believed in you. I was wrong. So you're all going unto a holding cell until we sort this out to my satisfaction."
The young scientist chuckled. This officer definitely was Ash's sister. Luckily, she had another arrow in her proverbial quiver. She glanced at Miles, who simply shook his head, but she knew what needed to be done. When the Lieutenant Commander's attention was turned elsewhere, she knocked her shoulder into the back of her own head - where her aural implant sat. The effect was instantaneous as the implant was knocked to maximum sensitivity and overloaded. Mila fell to her knees as a sharp, stinging pain went through her head and the world around her fell silent. Not a pleasant sensation, but it had worked as a diversion tactic before. Now, the restraints on her hands would have to be released so she could communicate.
Right on cue, Miles rushed to her side. "Fuck," he cursed. "Her aural implant overloaded." He tried to sign, but, with his hands tied, that was obviously not possible. "She's deaf, relies on an implant for hearing. Without that, she can't communicate. At least not with her fucking hands tied, anyway. Why the fuck are you arresting us, anyway, if it's Ash you're after?"
Ash tried to rush towards Mila before Sara shoved her hard into the wall. Was that genuine concern that Ash showed? Who are these kids?
Additional security officers appear and Sara nodded at them to take Miles and Mila, "None of you are under arrest. You're being detained for additional security screenings. Things are a lot different here ever since Mars."
"Stand down, Miles," Ash commanded. "No need to make this worse." She looked over at Mila hoping she could read her lips without being able to sign to her.
"Smartest thing you've done since you've gotten here..." Sara said as she went over to Mila to examine her implant. "Because [this was stupid]," she signed to Mila. [If you're working with Ash, that just means more additional screening for you are needed. If Ash is using you, then we will have to separate you from her anyways. And now we have to figure out our aural implants.] She stood up and nodded at the guards to take Ash away, "Don't hesitate to shoot her, that's an order."
"Yes ma'am," the security officer said as he roughly dragged Ash away.
[Now let's get you two into a holding cell so we can take the restraints off], Sara signed to the twins. "I assume, Miles, that you can understand sign language. I'm not the enemy here. We can do this peacefully. Your choice."
Finally, their hands were free. [What the fuck were you thinking, sis?], Miles signed, shaking his head.
Mila fiddled around with the control panel behind her ears. Before they were being put into the holding cell, a Federation medic had given her some painkillers, and, after Miles had convinced him that his sister would be able to reset her implant herself, they had been brought into a small cell and had their restraints removed. They had no idea where they had taken Ash.
Finally, Mila was able to reset the implant. [I can hear again. And I had to try, didn't I? Did they say anything about where they were taking Ash?]
Miles let out a deep breath. [You are an idiot. What did you think would happen?]
[Well,] Mila tried to defend herself. [For starters, who knew that woman could sign? We just need to get out of here as quick as we can. Maybe we should tell them to call the Amelia, I'm sure the captain can bail us out. I mean, Temporal Investigations is almost as free of oversight as S31, isn't it?]
[Let's hope we don't need to go that far. Hang on, I hear someone coming.] Miles turned to face the cell door, trying to see outside, while Mila adjusted her implant some more until she, too, could hear steps approaching.
"I see you've fixed your implant?" Sara said as she walked towards them. "So, Miles and Mila Lynn... your records are relatively clean. There's really no need to detain you, except you're clearly an associate of Ashley Rogers. That part is the problem. Security measures are heightened on Earth and its not every day that we have a known assassin trying to come in. So, you have to understand why we had to do this. Why is she here? And why are you with her?"
Mila rolled her eyes. "First of all, if we are going to be insisting on formalities, that's Lieutenant Mila Lynn and Sublieutenant Miles Lynn to you. Last time I checked, the Federation still recognised rank granted by other authorities."
Noticing Mila's mood, her brother put a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down, sis."
Mila span around. "Calm down? What happened to you, Miles? We were arrested for nothing. Ash and us came here with valid clearance codes issued by a Starfleet Captain. They didn't even let us tell them who we are before dragging us in here. All because this Lieutenant Commander here thinks she knows who Ash is. This isn't how Starfleet should operate. These are Tal Shiar methods."
Sara paused, the girl wasn't wrong... Starfleet is a far different organization than the one she joined when she was a young cadet, but standing orders are standing orders. Not that such an explanation would mean anything to these two. "I've already said, you're not under arrest. You're here for additional screening. And I don't think I know Ash, I do know Ash. I'm Lieutenant Commander Sara Rogers. I'm her younger sister and I've seen first hand what she is capable of and the types of things she is willing to do," Sara explained. "Her record is nowhere near clean. She left Starfleet, walked out on her fiance, pretty much severed ties with everyone she's ever known and the last record we have of her was that she was a mercenary out in the Beta Quadrant. So... objectively, you have to understand that regardless of if she is my sister or not, I have to do this. You can't let a trained killer who works for the highest bidder just waltz into a port and not figure out why they're here. If something were to happen, I don't want that blood on hands."
Mila had heard enough. "Right. That's what Renee thought of her when she joined our crew as well. Punched her right in the gut the first time Ash walked into the mess hall. But maybe, maybe people change, you know. The Ash you describe certainly wouldn't have saved the lives of two teenagers on a shady station and given them a home on her crew, but she did. If she hadn't, we wouldn't be in this fucking lockup, we'd be dead. Last record you have of her is as a merc, you say?"
Mila shook her head. "Let me tell you who it is that you have in that cell. Major Ashley Rogers, executive officer of the Ourainavassa. A ship that is busy trying to stop innocent people from being blown to dust on Romulus while Starfleet is busy being sorry for itself over Mars. i've seen the way the Romulan Empire works first hand. And I have to say, I am not seeing much difference here right now. I thought the Federation was supposed to be different. But I guess Captain Mannerheim has a point. It's an inevitability that any large Empire eventually turns paranoid."
Sara sighed. She wanted to believe all of that was true... except for the last part. That part she knows is true. "I'm not here to debate the merits of Federation policy, I'm here to do my job," she said as the ring rung hollow even in her own head. Did the kid mention Renee? How would they know Renee? And that she probably would have punched Ash after everything. "So, assuming everything you just said is true, let me warn you... I was like you once. Looked up to Ash. She could do no wrong. The big sister who always looked out for me. Until she didn't. I believed in her when the Section framed her, I defended her when she was in prison... But when things got hard, when push came to shove, Ashley Rogers is not a good person and nothing changes that. So... I ask again. Why are you on Earth? If you are just looking for someone, why didn't you just ask for help from us?"
"Or, maybe, she wants you to think that she is not a good person, because she is scared of it herself. The person you describe is nothing like the Ash Rogers I know." Mila shrugged. "And why would we ask the Federation for help finding one person, when it refuses to help an entire planet?"
Sara rubbed the bridge of her nose in frustration, but stopped as she realized that Ash would used to always do the same thing. If these kids know her sister like they say they do, surely they noticed. "So a mercenary and two kids are showing up to Earth to what? Find someone? Kill them? Kidnap them? Drag them back to your ship? Clearly if this was going to be an easy task, this person would have come back to you on their own. So you really think that I'll just let you waltz out of here to do lord knows what and not take an interest in what you're about to do? Even if it's isn't to help you, I don't want to be called again to arrest you... "
Miles put his hand on his sister's shoulder. "I understand that," he said, looking at Sara. "It's a rather delicate situation."
Mila chuckled. "You can say that again. Look, I don't know how much I can safely tell you without breaking some strange Starfleet regulation, and how much of it you would even believe. The crew member we are looking for recently transferred to us from, well, I think their previous posting was associated with Starfleet Temporal, but I'm not sure how exactly all that fits together. It's a bit of a complicated mess. Anyway, shortly after they transferred to us, they began opening up to me and Ash, about some rather messy stuff that happened early in their life. I think they came to earth to find something, or someone. Not to cause anyone any harm, but to try and find out who they are or something like that. They were supposed to attend a debriefing on their old vessel but instead stole a shuttle and went AWOL. I think they used their old Starfleet credentials to come here. Check the logs, see if there's a shuttlecraft from a ship called the Amelia landed here. All we want to do is find them, make sure they are okay, and bring them home. We want our crewmate back. And the captain of the Amelia wants her shuttle back."
Sara goes back to rubbing the bridge of her nose, "Who is your crew member? We'll look into our logs to see if a shuttle from the Amelia is here. So where do you think they are? Before you all go guns blazing into wherever they are, it might be prudent to send a security team to verify your target first. And we can be discrete, there's no need to spook your crewmate."
Miles nodded before Mila could reply. "If they're using their Fed credentials, they'll be listed as Sergeant Ezra Perez. If you could verify they are on Earth, it'd help us a lot. We can take it from there."
Sara nodded, "We will check on Sergeant Perez. But until then, you're staying here. So, please behave. I'm on your side."
Ash paced in her cell, it's not exactly an unfamiliar place for her to end up. She was more concerned for the twins... and if all the security officers in the galaxybti greet them, of course it would be her luck that it was Sara. Speak of the devil...
"Hello Ash. Long time no see," Sara said greeting her sister as she walked in the door.
"Sara... I... I don't have anything to say that's not going to just make things worse..." Ash said.
Sara raised a skeptical eyebrow, "Knowing when to keep your mouth shut... I see someone has matured."
"Look, please let Miles and Mila go. They haven't done anything wrong. They're looking for a crew member of ours..." Ash started.
"Yes, a Sergeant Ezra Perez. I have a team doing a low key recon of where you think they are," Sara interrupted. "As I told the kids, I'm not about to let you do something stupid that would involve me coming in to actually arrest you."
Ash looked at her younger sister... she's grown up so much since the last time they saw each other, "Lieutenant Commander... congratulations. So... a posting on Earth? Isn't this a dead end job?"
Sara shook her head, "When you disappeared.... someone had to look after mom and dad. The galaxy is a crazy place. Hell, things here have been crazy. Besides, being a Starfleet officer out there now isn't exactly a good thing..."
"Are you conceding I did the right thing?" Ash asked.
"No. When things got hard, you just run. I stayed. I'm staying. Someone has to be here to clean up your mess," Sara responded.
Ash sighed, "That's the point. That's why I'm not here. I don't want anyone to need to clean up after my messes. It's been great out without weight of Starfleet around my neck. I have a good thing going now."
"So you just toss all of us out of your life so you can have a 'good thing'? You're such an asshole. I can't believe I used to look up to you!" Sara scoffed.
"And I never claimed I'm someone you should look up to! Your life is better off without me..." Ash retorted.
"That's never been a choice you've let any of us make, Ash. And that's problem. And now you got those kids thinking you're some sort of hero to them. They're just going to be as disappointed in you as I am," Sara said.
Ash glared at her sister, "I'm no one's hero. I know that. I'm just trying to do the right thing and that is not the easy way out."
"Keep telling yourself that," Sara said walking away. "You're all staying here until we figure things out."
"Okay, so assuming we find Perez, what makes you think they won't just want to stay here? They've had enough shit in their life after everything the Terrans did." After Sara had left, Miles had sat down on one of the small bunks in their cell. In his hand was a small cup of coffee that he'd managed to get out of a guard. "We don't even know why they came here, after all," he continued.
Mila shrugged, taking a sip from her own coffee. "All of those things we can deal with when we find them. If they really want to stay here, I can't blame them. Could you? But I somehow don't think that will be the case. In either case, we have to find them first. I really hope this new Rogers is not like the Commander. We can't afford to spook Perez. Have you heard what happened on the boarding mission?"
Her brother nodded. "Something like going berserk, wasn't it? Losing all control and just murdering everything in their path?"
"Well," Mila replied. "They did recognize friend from foe, but since they wouldn't recognize the people Rogers is sending as friends..."
"Don't worry, sis. It'll all be fine." Miles sighed. "So Ash's sister is an overeager cop. Who'd have thought, eh?"
The doors opened to reveal Sara again, "Overeager cop, eh?" She sighed, "You don't know me. And do you care to share more about this Perez before I send my people into danger?"
Mila shot a glare at her brother, before turning to Sara. "All I can say, really, is keep your distance. Don't spook them. They should be easy enough to spot. I'd show you a picture if you gave back my PADD, but they have bright white hair, so shouldn't be too difficult either way. Fairly short, slim, doesn't look dangerous in the least. But trust me, if they get angry or threatened, they are very, very dangerous."
"And you three were going to so this alone? I know you may think the world of Ash, but she's not invincible," Sara pointed out. Nor should she be allowed to lead these kids on, she thought to herself. "I'll let you know if my people have positive verification of where Perez is located. Then we can figure out next steps. The last thing I want to to see you two get hurt."
"You're assuming a lot, Lieutenant Commander," Mila replied with a chuckle. "We're not defenceless. And besides, Perez would not be a threat to us. They know us, we're friends. It's your people I'm more worried about."
Miles laughed. "Oh yeah. Count yourselves lucky that they didn't bring Lucy."
"That's why my people aren't going to engage. It's a tea house. It's perfectly reasonable for Starfleet personnel to go there for a meal. I'm not sure what kind of hothead you think I am, but I'm not Ash. And who or what is Lucy?" Sara asked concerned.
The twins looked at each other and started chuckling. "Well, as long as none of them actually approach Perez you should be fine, then," Miles said after a moment. "As for Lucy, well..."
Mila chuckled again. "Lucy is a huge sword. Perez' signature weapon. I'm sure Ash can tell you more about it, she's seen it in action." She sighed. "Now, is there anything else, or can we finally get out of here?"
Sara rolled her eyes, "You're not leaving here. Not tonight. We can reassess how you get your friend tomorrow after my team has a chance to do some recon. You have to believe me when I'm saying that I'm trying to keep you out of more trouble. Now is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable while you're here?"
The twins exchanged a look. "Well," Mila finally said, "if you are going to hold us like common criminals even though we have done nothing wrong, Lieutenant Commander, I do believe we have the right to legal counsel. Which I would like to invoke. You have detained two officers of the Ceran Defence Force with no valid cause to do so. We would like to speak to our planet's ambassador to the Federation."
Miles simply nodded. Their father had been in contact just after they had left Cera, informing them that the twins had been given commissions in the CDF at equal rank to the rank they held on the Ourainavassa, meaning that not only was Mila actually entitled to the uniform she was wearing, Miles was technically entitled to one of his own. And with Cera having only recently formalised relations with the Federation, this had the potential for a minor diplomatic incident.
Sara just looked at them, "So you're really going to play it this way? Fine. Then you should know that if you do that I will have to formally charge you with aiding and abetting a known criminal. Your little mentor or guardian or whoever she is to you does have several outstanding warrants. If someone else arrests her, she will be going back to Federation prison. That's why I want to make sure that this little mission of yours to go grab your crewmember is as simple as you think it is. Now, do you still want the Ambassador? Or can you just trust me to keep this under the radar? Just one night is all I need."
Mila sighed. "You have one night. If we aren't out of here in time to grab lunch in Osaka, you know what will happen."
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