Interview 6

From Capricorn Group

Interviewer: You come from a colony called Broken Drive, tell us about it.
Kimiko: Broken Drive was founded at the very beginning of the Human diaspora, within the first decade after Cochrane flew the Phoenix. If you remember your Human history, you know that Earth was still going through some pretty turbulent times, and a lot of that first wave of the diaspora was an attempt to get away from that.

My ancestors were two groups of back-to-basics, neo-traditionalists who just happened to rent the same ship for transport. When the ship's warp drive broke down irreparably, the only star system they could reach had no inhabitable planets. They were forced together just to survive. Instead of creating a traditional Japanese society and a traditional Scottish Highlands society, they created something entirely new and different.

Today, Broken drive is a collection of a couple of hundred artificial habitats. We have a major Federation shipyard, and we hold one of the Federation's most-respected Kendo tournaments every four years.

Interviewer: Why did you leave home?
Kimiko: Elvis, why does anyone leave home? When you're in your late teens, home starts to seem a very small place, even if it's a metropolis like Nova Edo. The galaxy seemed a very large place, and I wanted to see some of it.

Interviewer: You started your career as a marine but when the Dominion War ended you requested a change in career to Starfleet Science. What prompted that?
Kimiko: At the end of the Dominion War, I was pretty badly damaged, both physically and mentally. I wasn't ready to return to the Marine Corps, but I also wasn't ready to give up life among the stars. While I was convalescing with my new lungs, I completed the course work required to serve as a Stellar Cartographer. I found that to be very rewarding work, though I didn't stay in the job for very long.

Interviewer: What happened on the USS Hood?
Kimiko: Many things. But I presume you're asking about our run-in with the energy-consuming life form? We were on border patrol when we encountered it. Federation scientists later classified it as a sort of sub-space 'trap-door spider,' and it killed Hood's Captain and a third of the crew in the first moments of the encounter. The surviving crew and I were able to free the ship from it, and return to the nearest starbase.

Interviewer: How did you feel when you returned to the Triangle as the commanding officer of USS Navajo?
Kimiko: It is, of course, an honor to be selected for command in deep space, mistress next to Elvis of a starship. And being sent out to investigate the phenomenon which damaged Hood was somewhat satisfying. Unfortunately, Navajo has had some personnel issues, and that has been somewhat frustrating.

Interviewer: Tell us about your current mission.
Kimiko: As you may know, the Triangle is an area of no-man's space, between the Federation and the Klingon and Romulan empires. Within that area of space are several pre-warp civilizations, and the Federation maintains monitors near those worlds to ensure that they have the chance to mature at their own pace, instead of becoming client states to one of the major powers prematurely.

One of those monitors suffered catastrophic engine failure a few months ago, and Navajo was sent to retrieve the crew and ensure no cultural contamination. We've retrieved the monitor's crew, but it now appears that the cultural contamination may be more advanced than previously thought. We're still investigating how that happened.

Interviewer: What have you learned about yourself since becoming a CO?
Kimiko: (MacBaird gives a wan smile) My exec might tell you that I have a bit of a stick up my backside. It turns out that I'm more grounded in tradition than I might once have thought... but it's the traditions of the patrol fleet that give us a clear roadmap to the performance of our duties.

Interviewer: As a CO do you find it difficult to balance work with personal relationships?
Kimiko: There have been certain bumpy patches, but for the most part, I don't really have personal relationships. A ship's Captain is by necessity alone. A personal relationship with someone aboard might give the appearance of favoritism in a professional sense, and that is absolutely forbidden by regulations... and for good reason.

I like to think that I have friendly but professional relations with all of my crew, but most especially with my exec and the ship's medical officer, who does double duty as the counselor.

Interviewer: What do you regret?
Kimiko: Regret is a waste of time. There are things that I may take a lesson from, in case the situation occurs again, but there is nothing I regret.

Interviewer: Thank you for your time.
Kimiko: It has been my pleasure. And if I may just take a moment... Ohiyo mama! Ohiyo, pop! Tha mi math!