Promotion

Posted on Sat 3rd Mar, 2018 @ 4:07pm by Lieutenant Colonel Brooklyn Wellington

891 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Brushfires
Location: Outside Starbase Vanguard

Wellington pulled back hard on her controls, causing the emergency thrusters to kick in to aid in the turn as the inertial dampeners struggled to compensate for the sudden onslaught of G-forces as her fighter locked onto the enemy fighter. She fired her pulse phasers that struck the target.

On the other fighter, the simulated hits were recorded as the computer shut down all systems save for life support to simulate being killed. "Damn! Where did she come from?" called out the gruff voice of the pilot.

The final pilot closed with the starbase, using it as a shield as he turned in tight close to the station. "Let's see how you like this," Smith replied with a cocky grin that soon disappeared as he lost contact with the fighter. 'What the hell? Where is she?' he thought.

Wellington skimmed only a few feet off the service of the starbase as her fighter's tactical sensors located and locked onto Smith's fighter coming over the dome of the starbase. At such a close proximity to the station, the terrain following sensors had automatically kicked in to aid Wellington from crashing. She raised her nose to get a weapons lock and fired.

Smith spotted the flash from Wellington's pulse phasers but it was too late as the computer shut his fighter down, registering a kill hit on his fighter. "Aww, you gotta be kidding me!

"Alright you two," Wellington spoke over the comm system. "Reset your computers and head home."

"Acknowledged Tellarite," came their reply.

Wellington circled up behind the two fighters, allowing them to land first before she made her approach and landed. She opened her canopy and climbed out of the cockpit after parking her fighter. As she set foot on the deck, the other two pilots approached her. "Good job, ma'am," Smith stated with a slight grin.

"Thanks. You're getting better, Smith but you should have kept your fighter closer to the starbase to make it harder for my sensors to locate you. When I came onto you, I was skimming the surface at fifteen feet," Wellington replied, removing her helmet.

"Captain Wellington to the flight office," came the familiar voice of Rose O'Malley over the intercom.

Wellington let out a sigh. "Go shower and grab some chow you two. See you tomorrow."

"Aye, ma'am," the two replied in unison and turning to leave.

Wellington made her way to her office across the busy fighter bay, nodding at the deck officer before entering the corridor and then into her office. She saw O'Malley standing next to her desk, grinning as ever. "What is it, O'Malley?"

"You have an incoming message from Starfleet Marine Aerowing Command," O'Malley stated.

"Put it through to my office, O'Malley," Wellington said, carrying her gear into her office. She made her way to her locker and placed her flight gear in it before taking a seat at her desk. She leaned forward and activated the terminal. On screen, the Federation Logo was replaced by the image of an older-looking Andorian, dressed in a Marine General's uniform, sporting two stars on his collar. "What can I do for you, General?" Wellington asked.

The general grinned. "Greetings, Captain. I'm General Shrav and it's my duty to inform you that you are hereby promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel with all the rights and privileges thereof due to your outstanding work aboard Starbase Vanguard. I know you deserve more of a ceremony than this, but with Starbase Vanguard's command up in the air at the moment, we thought it best that we should contact you personally.

Wellington was speechless for a moment before finding the words. "Um...t-thank you, sir."

General Shrav smiled and nodded. "Congratulations, Colonel Wellington. I need to get back to my duties...oh, and we're updating the Vanguard's fighters with the new F-34 Black Lightnings and the EW-9 Phantoms. The craft should be arriving by the end of the week. Semper Fi, Colonel." The screen went back to the image of the Federation Logo as the channel was closed.

Wellington remained sitting in her chair. A new rank and new state of the art craft for her department. Despite the recent events, Wellington allowed a smile on her face as she finally stood and walked to the replicator and replicated the Marine Lieutenant Colonel Rank and replaced her Captain bars with the silver oak leaf.

She took a breath to exit her office. Stepping out into outer office where O'Malley's desk was located, she saw a group of pilots and ground crews gathered, all with smiles. "Congratualtions, ma'am! Ooorah!" they cheered in unison.

"What the hell is this? How did you--" Wellington asked, shocked.

"General Shrav had the message displayed on all official Starfleet and Marine terminals," O'Malley said with a giant smile on her face.

"Thank you, everyone. See you tonight at the Orchids & Jazz to celebrate!" Wellington announced to cheers. "Drinks are on O'Malley!"

The smile disappeared on O'Malley's face. "Wait, what?"

O'Malley's reaction caused Wellington to burst with laughter as well as the others. "I'm kidding, O'Malley. The tab's on me. See you tonight."

Relief washed over O'Malley as her smile returned. "Thank you, ma'am."

"Alright, everyone. Get back to work!" Wellington ordered, grinning.

"Aye, ma'am!" the group yelled in unison before turning and filing out of the outer office.

 

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