New Positions

Posted on Thursday 28 July 2016 @ 05:12 by Captain John "Apollo" Barstow, M.D. & Commander Cale Llewellyn DSci & Captain Melody Jones

Mission: Old, New Ship
Location: Ready Room
Timeline: MD7
1262 words - 2.5 OF Standard Post Measure

John walked into the ready room and walked behind his desk. In front of him was a red shirt and an oak box, sitting a few inches apart. He waited until the doors closed and looked both officers he had told to follow him over, "Lieutenants, you both should be full of regret right right now, I can't believe the two of you would force me to take an action like this," the CO said sternly, keeping his face neutral as he looked between them even though he wanted to smile proudly.

Cale looked confused, perplexed even. "Sir, have we done something wrong?" Cale asked meekly.

'Uh oh, Red Alert!' Melody thought to herself and brought herself up to her best military posture. She cast a quick sideways glance to Cale. She hadn't had chance to speak with him since he had left the bridge earlier. He looked better now, she would have to speak to him later about it. Right now, this was either going to be very bad or very good.

"Did you..." John said with mock surprise then shook his head, "you knowingly distinguished yourselves among the crew, have gained not only the respect of your cohorts, but mine as well," Barstow said, finally smiling as he looked between the two officers standing in front of him, "I had you two heading involved with so many projects because of the potential I saw in you both, and I watched the both of you as you carried out your assignments. Command is going to be the same way, having you feel like you're being pulled six different directions, having to keep up with all the departments on the ship and being a leader, not just someone barking orders. But, I think you both can handle it," he said and leaned forward on his desk with a grin, waiting to see if they caught how he phrased that.

That took a moment to sink in and Melody blinked a few times while this sunk in......"Command?" she utter in quiet disbelief.

Cale looked confused. It hadn't quite sunk in just yet. But then it did soon. And when it did, it hit him like a ton of bricks. He 'felt' the tension from Melody. "What?!" he screamed out loud but then he realized what he had done. He looked from Melody to Captain Barstow and back again." Sorry, Captain. I just felt something strange from Lieutenant Jones and from you just now. I'm at a loss to explain what it was or is."

Apollo grinned, assuming he just meant feeling the surprise, but made a mental note to hold him back to make sure everything was ok, "it's alright," he said and picked up the box and the shirt before walking around the desk, "Lieutenant Jones, I am promoting you to second officer, which will also have you as the civilian liaison officer. It also includes a shiny new accessory," he said and opened the box which had a gold, solid pip inside, "congratulations full Lieutenant Jones."

Melody stood there while her smile grew for a few minutes while she processed that statement. She felt quite giddy in fact. When she finally found her voice "I........I........ Thank you Sir". She was still grinning from ear to ear which made her look younger than she was.

"You're welcome, Lieutenant, well deserved," Barstow replied happily, then turned to Cale, "and Lieutenant Llewellyn, I have something special for you," he said and held up the red turtleneck, making sure the collar was folded back, "I'd like you to take on the post of executive officer. Along with that some of the senior staff came to speak with me," he said, looking at Melody with a smile, "I had been considering this part and their support helped make up my mind," he added then flipped the collar up to show not just an extra gold pip, but, a half pip as well, "I am giving you a field promotion to Lieutenant Commander."

Melody turned to Cale "Congratulations Sir" and just nearly refrained from the impulse of throwing her arms round him in a bear hug, instead extending her hand.

"What the hell?! I'm afraid I don't understand Sir. Lieutenant Commander? Tell me this is a joke. Please," Cale intoned. He was confused as he was frightened. Captain Barstow was playing a big joke. "Executive Officer? Sir, you must know I've never been trained in command. I'm a science officer, nothing more nothing less."

The CO grinned, "no joke, Commander," he replied, "Lieutenant Jones and Doctor Miller spoke to me, and I agree with them, the leadership traits you have as well as how you have taken to being the chief of sciences and dabbling in all areas of the ship when I assigned you to work with everyone are things that deserve the senior rank. I've been watching at a distance for a while now at how you handled yourself with those assignments and intentionally letting you pick the courses of action to take with them."

Cale turned to give Melody a big hug and said, "Congratulations Lieutenant!" He was grinning from ear to ear. "When does this become official, Captain?" Cale asked trying not to cry. But in the end, he just gave in and cried like a happy baby.

Throwing rank aside a brief moment, Melody embraced her friend. Melody also had a lump in her throat and seeing Cale cry pushed her over the edge. Soon tears of joy were streaming down her reddening cheeks.

Barstow smiled, he was pretty strict when it came to not going outside of the promotion policies, however, this was one of those rare instances when he did step outside of the policy and allowed a rank skip, "as soon as you get changed, you can use the head," he replied and motioned to a door at the back of the room, "Lieutenant Jones, can you give us a moment? You have the Bridge."

Wiping the tears from her face, Melody manged "Aye sir", and with a wink to Cale walked back onto the bridge.

Cale looked at Barstow and gulped. Now he was nervous...he was still reeling from Mel's emotions and wasn't sure why he was feeling them. He bucked up, looked the captain square in the eye and said "Yes Sir?"

"Cale, is everything alright?" John asked, motioning to a nearby chair with a look of concern, "I called down to check on you and they told me you were in surgery."

"Uh, yes Sir. I am fine. Just had a collapsed lung. Doctor Miller patched me up though. I'm feeling flashes of emotions that I don't think are from me though, Sir. I'm not sure what all that is about, but I am working through it," Cale answered

Barstow blinked and smirked, "just a collapsed lung....are you sure you've never been a Marine?" he said then patted his new XO on the shoulder, "good...but if you need anything let me know, I don't want you hurting yourself worse trying to push through, sometimes getting help is the better option," John said, having seen Marines who decided to push through, ignoreing the pain their body gave them as a warning and ended up severely hurt, or worse.

"Aye Sir. I will inform you if/when anything else comes up," Cale smiled proudly

OFF

Commander John "Apollo" Barstow
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Melody Jones
Chief flight control officer / Second officer
USS Merlin

Lieutenant Commander Cale Llewellyn
Executive Officer
USS Merlin