Chapter Text
In an alternate 2366, different from our own, Devoid was walking through a class M planet. His clothes were rugged and he was not well. He sat down by a tree, going into a fetal position and almost about to cry when he heard a voice in the distance.
“Hey! Sir! I’m Commander Joseph Shabalala of the USS Odyssey. Can I help you?” A man in a Starfleet uniform says, crouching down to Devoid.
Devoid could only nod, his voice worn out from what happened only minutes prior.
4 years later, Commander Devoid was sitting in his quarters. As of now, he had been assigned as the first officer of the USS Valentine, an Ambassador class ship. He sat with a cup of tea in his hand, waiting for it to cool down. A chime was heard at his door, causing the hedgehog to turn to it. “Come in.” Devoid says, the door opening to reveal an older man, well into his 60s but still with a light in his eye. “Captain Casillo. Surprised to see you here.” Devoid says, getting up from his chair.
“As you were, Ichi.” Captain Castillo says, walking in.
“Would you at least want something to drink, Captain? I assume you’re here for something important.” Devoid says, heading to the replicator.
“Only some carbonated Strawberry Juice. I just want to rebrief you on our task, you did seem rather drowsy during the meeting.” Captain Castillo states, sitting down on a chair parallel to Devoid’s as the hedgehog hands the captain the fizzy drink.
“Understandable, sir. I’ve been rather restless lately. I’ve even seen Doctor Doveblade about this and she’s working on something to help.” Devoid explains.
Castillo sips his drink and nods, “Well, there is an assignment I need you to do, it involves a Maquis division, the Yakuza.”
Devoid perks up a bit, those folks he has dealt with in the past. “Alright, what’s the task?” Devoid asks, interested already.
Castillo gives him a briefing “We’ve received reports from the Unreliable that several Yakuza raiders and cargo ships are nearby, seemingly working out of an old asteroid base. I want you to lead the away team to see what’s going on. While these could easily be simple supply runs, Captain McKormic has informed us that the scanners did pick up traces of illegally acquired weapons and illicit substances amongst the relatively harmless cargo.”
“What do you think they might need those weapons for?” Devoid asks, sipping from his tea.
“We don’t know just yet, but we can’t be sure it’s for assisting with threats to the Federation. We should be arriving within the hour, meet me on the bridge when you’re done with your drink.” Captain Castillo says, getting up and leaving, taking the beverage with him.
Devoid takes some time to get ready, making himself look somewhat decent despite the restlessness. He finishes his tea before heading off to do some checks before going to the bridge.
About 15 minutes after their conversation, Devoid arrives on the bridge, taking his seat to the left of Castillo’s. “Any updates on the situation?” Devoid asks.
“None yet, it seems they’re laying low for now.” Castillo replies.
“We should be arriving within 20 minutes, we still have some time to relax.” Ensign Danny Chilton says, looking at the 2 commanding officers from the helm console.
“Good to know, Ensign.” Castillo says, smiling.
The Bridge doors open suddenly, Dr Poppy Doveblade peeks in from a turbolift. Poppy is a poodle mobian with fur tufts dyed pink, and green eyes to counteract it. She looks at Devoid, a sturdy minded “Commander, if you are going to do a mission, we better do a checkup. Want to make sure you are stable before you get in there.”
Devoid nods, going with her to sickbay on deck 11.
She does her routine scan, and a physical examination afterwards. Testing his motor functions, hearing, reaction time, and cardio.
Devoid sighs at the very end “Poppy, you know the scans can see any problems beforehand.”
She looks at him, unimpressed “You know how I feel about the scanner. It can estimate, but not predict the effects of a stress test. I was thinking of doing a psychological examination like we have every week, but you need to get back to your post.”
Devoid begins to leave, but Poppy grabs his wrist
“Hey,” Poppy requests “Try not to kill yourself out there, I don’t want to lose my favourite patient.”
Devoid nods, heading back to the bridge.
As he arrives back at the bridge, Devoid feels a sense of dread. Unlike other encounters, something felt terrifying about this one. He decides to hide his fear, he wouldn’t want to worry his captain. Before he could speak though, a female Vulcan spotted something from a console.
“Captain, I’m detecting scraps of hull. It looks to match the new Intrepid class that has just launched.” T’Plana, the tactical officer, stated.
“It could be what happened to the Pathfinder, Starfleet said they lost it only a few months back.” Devoid replies, wondering what scraps of a new starship class might be doing out so far.
“There's no signs of damage though, it's as if the ship was disassembled instead of destroyed.” T'Plana says, reading from the console.
“Odd… We best continue though, see if the Yakuza would know anything about this.” Captain Castillo replies, straightening his shirt.
The Valentine continued to the location at high warp, dropping out near the location the Yakuza were working out of, an asteroid base with tons of Maquis Raiders & Antares class freighters flying past.
“Here we are, Captain.” Ensign Chilton says.
“Lieutenant Keys, hail them, show we mean no harm and are just here to investigate.” Castillo commands.
As the hail goes through, the viewscreen displays an image of a hand with the pinkie finger, middle finger, and thumb up captioned with the words “Fuck you” on top and “Boss is busy” on the bottom.
“Well, that’s rather rude.” Devoid says, getting up.
“Indeed. I assume you’re ready to go in?” Castillo replies.
“Of course, Captain. Tell the away team to meet me in Transporter Room 2.” Devoid states before heading to a turbolift and leaving the bridge.
Moments later, Devoid, Lt Commander T’Plana, Lieutenant jg Jackie Wellington, and Ensign Trevor Cribley beam down into the asteroid base, type 1 phasers hidden in their hands.
“Keep a lookout for anything of note. I wonder what this ‘Boss’ is busy with.” Devoid says, leading the away team through the corridors of the base.
The corridors, earthen walls and doors, reinforced from within by steel & neutronium. Tapestries of history, painted across some of the doors, indicate possible hints of where to go to find the “boss” of this faction. Symbols of togetherness mark some of the doors, while others have marks of war, unification, and punishment.
“And I thought the Romulans were imperialistic… Look at this place.” Ensign Cribley says, looking around.
“Now’s not the time to make sarcastic comments Ensign, we’re here to investigate.” Devoid replies as he approaches a door. “Anything behind that door, Lieutenant?”
Jackie takes out a tricorder and scans for life signs in the crack between the doors. “Quite a few, about 4 people are in there. But knowing these guys, I don’t know if they're Yakuza members or captives.” She says.
“Perhaps we can peek through the door? It would be a way to see them and remain undetected.” T’Plana suggests, walking towards the door… Hearing footsteps from the other side.
Cautiously, Devoid & Ensign Cribley took out their phasers, Jackie being hesitant. Then they heard the Yakuza on the other side of the door. A conversation can be heard. Although they speak Japanese, universal translators are in play for our crew
“- and people started hoarding for more,” one finishes.
“So that is why the boss is so angry today?” His compatriot asks
“Yeah, she did find one of the traitors though, so he will receive his punishment,” the first states
“I don’t think it would be light deprivation, especially with the mood she is in, probably the old way,” A third says.
“Maybe we can cheer her up in case she goes on another rampage,” A fourth replies
“Maybe we can improve our forces or get the Federation off our backs?” Footsteps stop, but the first is still heard.
“Wait… Delta… No Blood… NOW!” The group of four yakuza burst in, brass knuckles and Baseball bats pulled out and ready to strike… but not to kill. This group quickly went down to 3 as one was shot down by Ensign Cribley.
“Good shot, Ensign!” Devoid says as he leaps out the way of a punch to the face, only to get one right into his gut.
T’Plana attempts a Vulcan nerve pinch, only to get decked in the face, her green blood starting to pour out her nose.
Ensign Cribley grabbed T’Plana by the armpits and carried her away sneakily while Jackie got one of her ankles shattered by a baseball bat.
One of the Yakuza runs up to the one breaking the ankles, holding his chest with one arm he shakes his head “No blood, remember.” The other one sighs as he throws his bat, accidentally hitting Cribley in the face.
“Sorry, I get blood drunk too often and it messes with my mind.” The initiator sighs and pats his shoulder
“I know Ren, just be careful, brothers need to look after eachother.” The two fist bump, but it didn’t last as Cribley, in a last ditch attempt to reduce their forces, vaporises Ren with his phaser before hiding himself & T’Plana in a storage closet and blocking the door.
“REN! NO! Kofuku, get these fucks to the boss, call for backup! I… Ren…” The first begins to cry, as Kofuku drags Devoid and Jackie to the brig, tossing them in the same cell. He pants and closes the door, he pants as the yelling from one of the other cells stopped, silence fell as one person stepped out.
A Rubberhose toon woman, with black frizz in the shape of a bob. Her breasts under bandage wraps, her pants a tight leather, her shoes being the same. She wears a glistening metallic gold jacket with black plaid, and an eyepatch displaying her current mood in a little holographic face: Moody and a bit tense. She looks at Kofuku. “What are you doing here, I gave you patrol duty, right?” She asks him. He nods and replies.
“We found some Starfleet intruders, Sōutsu-Sarī.”
She pinches where the bridge of her nose is, and sighs “If I didn't have enough to worry about… Who do you have in captivity?”
Kofuku peaks in, and looks “A human woman and some kind of… anthropomorphised needlemouse.”
She perks up when he tells her the latter “pins and colour of his uniform?” She requests
“Red and 3 gold dots, no shadows.” He obliged.
She smiles, laughing a bit.
He laughs with her, despite not knowing what about.
She looks at him with pleasure and a bit of excitement. “Kofuku, I already have a plan. Get the entire station and entire fleet ready for a boarding party. We are gonna have some fun… and take the rat to the baseball field, I’m feeling intimidating today.”
The moment she finishes a blood curdling scream is heard from the cell she exited. “Use the bandages, don’t just bleed out you idiot!” She calls back, making sure her traitor learned his lesson.