She's your dog now

Posted on Sat Oct 30th, 2021 @ 4:27pm by Commander Lillian Carter & Commodore Keiben Haistro

1,506 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 4 - The Fires Of Hades
Location: Captain's Office DS21
Timeline: MD2 @ 0800

ON:

Lillian climbed up the steps in Ops and pressed the door chime on the office. The Captain wanted to see her about something, but she wasn't sure what. Probably wanting to know if the Doctor had found any cause for her new... appearance.

The Office doors were closed but beyond that Captain Haistro and Commander Holt could be seen in discussion. Both looked to be in a jovial mood from the outside but the Captain had been able to enjoy his morning Raktajino!

Once the chime sounded he waved her in, a second chair waiting in front of the desk for Carter.

Lillian entered and came to attention, "Commander, Captain. You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, we certainly did want to see you. Do you know how much trouble you are in, Carter?" Tam said, having a stoic expression on her features. Though Keiben could feel Tam was inwardly chuckling. Tam had a sense of humour, and the news she wanted to impart to Carter was good and yet, Tam wasn't above playing a bit of a prank.

Lillian's entire body stiffened up and she brought herself to her best military posture, with her hands behind her back, ready to face the music while in her head she was going over everything that had happened, trying to locate the reason for the grilling. If this had happened when she first left the academy, she would have been crumbling now but her experiences with this crew had made her more confident in herself. She still had trouble on the relationship front but, she was working on that too. Her eyes darted back and forth between the Captain and the XO, wondering where the first blow would come from.

Tam smiled "Relax Carter, I am teasing you. However one thing though you will be getting the rank of Lt Commander and also..." she looked at Keiben. "I think you can add to this surprise."

Keiben was beaming at his Officer. She had come a long way in a short space of time and like a proud parent he couldn't contain himself.

"Lillian, you have been invaluable to my Command since you started with us on Copernicus. You have come a long way indeed but I don't want you to become too cocky, you still have a great deal to learn as I did... when I took command of my first ship!"

He paused to allow the comment to sink in.

Lillian was indeed surprised. A promotion! She started ginning which made her look younger. "Thank you Captain. I promise I'll continue to perform my duties to... She stopped as his last comment registered in her brain "Command of a ship?"

"Yes, Commander. You will still answer to Commander Holt and I and if the need arises one of us will ultimately be in Command of Cerberus but you for all intent and purpose will be her duty officer. Once we have the station back to a point it is liveable I will have you take her out for a simple shakedown cruise to Starbase 308 and back to collect the final assignment of officers and our civilian population!"

He tossed a small black velvet pull string back to Tam with Carter's new third pip held within it.

Tam caught it deftly and opened it up to reveal the pip. She grinned remembering the shock she felt when it was given to her by Keiben.

"This is an honour to bestow this on you." Tam replied. "Welcome aboard Lieutenant Commander Carter." giving a quick smile.

Lillian beamed and stood a little taller. "Thank you Commander."

"This promotion does come with additional responsibilities as well Commander!" Keiben said looking very serious. "With the station's location so close to the Cartels, the Agora Crossroads, Son'a, the fractured Romulan Empire and all of the factions it seems to have spawned... I will be assigning you to coordinate Starfleet Intelligence in this sector. In other words, if you are not out with the Cerberus then you will be here working on that... I also see some interchange between the two jobs but, you will also fall under our Strategic Operations Officer direction also as part of the fleet under their purview... In other words, you report to me and Tam as Chief Intel, you report to our Strategic Operations Officer as Commander of the Cerberus in relation to fleet movements but you will also have some autonomy when your two responsibilities collide!"

Even the Captain found himself having to go over it all in his head. It made him wonder why anyone in their right mind would want to request command of a Starbase our Outpost, so many different threads to keep in mind!

"And bear in mind Commander, you will be watched over as well." Tam remarked. "Just be mindful of what you are doing. Also if there is any signs of you having difficulty we will step in." Tamaska added.

Lillian, who was still grinning from ear to ear nodded "Of course Commander."

"Now... The Missouri is holding station just outside of the Briar Patch and relaying Starfleet orders, reports and the like. I need to set your first goal to sift through all of the intel data and set priority for local activity. The Dons at the Agora Crossroads, The Cartels not far from the colourfully termed 'Graveyard' and I believe we have some Romulan faction activity, Son'a activity and an arm of the Orion Syndicate in the area... and they are to name but a few. This does mean you can stretch your new command role by spending most of it in Ops in charge while Tam and I can focus on the station systems!"

He knew the news would be a blow for her as he could also sense she was eager to get her focus on the Cerberus but the priority needed to be the station, or at least until all systems were once again functional.

"Of course Captain, wherever you need me to be." Lillian replied, keeping her emotions in check. She was disappointed she wouldn't get to take the Cerberus out straight away, but the Captain was placing a lot in her hands and she didn't want to disappoint him. "We'll have to be on our guard, especially with the syndicate sniffing around. Has Starfleet provided us with local intel on their most recent activity?"

"You'll need to sift through the intel reports to know what they have sent. I'll be calling a meeting in a day or so, you'll have the time to pour over the reports and put together a preliminary outline of the situation in this region. There will also be additional orders so you will get chance to take Cerberus out, but it's not going to be a glamourous task!"

He chuckled knowing what the job would be and in many ways was glad he could now delegate the task to someone else.

"We are aware of the syndicates sniffing around." Tamaska stated, "And I know you are all fired up in taking out your ship for a spin." Tam let those words float in the air and had a smile on her lips. "I don't blame you, however, that is secondary as we had mentioned. We are now into a bigger project, please be patient, don't be in too much of a rush to go out there and get into a fight."

Tamaska locked eyes with Lillian. "I can see it in your eyes, Commander Carter. The eagerness, the desire to show what you and the Cerberus can do. For the time being though, I would really like to have a month or more of a ship not getting into any sort of battle or trouble. I would like to just have a breather, between worry about a ship being out there and getting into a scuffle." she took in a breath. "Don't be so eager, too much eagerness will get you killed."

Tamaska was feeling it. She was tired, and just didn't want to deal with another ship being out there, and be in danger's way too soon.

"Well...." Lillian conceded "I suppose things have been rather hectic over the last couple of days. I think I can restrain myself from causing any interstellar incidents for the time being Commander." She said to Tam with a wry smile.

"I'm glad... I'm the only one that can wear that mantle!" Keiben said with a wry playful smile. It had been a while since he had seen this side of himself and it felt comfortable. Things were starting to settle down, he had a truly amazing set of Officers who seemed to rise to all occasions around him so perhaps this new posting would be good for them all.
"Any other questions Commander?"

Lillian glanced at the Captain hopefully "Could we have a look onboard?"

"I don't see why not... Shall we Commander... we have half an hour free!"

"Sounds great to me, Captain. Let's get to it." Tamaska replied.

OFF:

 

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