Promotion

Posted on Sat 6th Jun, 2020 @ 7:45pm by Commander Mikaela Locke

1,268 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Resolution
Location: Deck 15 - XO’s Office
Timeline: MD-01: 1640 hours.

Commander Mikaela Locke sat in her office, casually flicking through reports from various station departments. She had long since discovered that possessing an eidetic memory meant that not only could she recall vast amounts of information over a long period of time, she could also absorb and it at a fairly rapid pace. A skill she was always thankful for when it came to report reading. But even she had her limits. She put down the PADD that she had been viewing and rubbed her eyes.

She flicked on her desktop console and scrolled through the task list that Commodore Suzuki had sent her shortly after her departure from the station. Several of the tasks were long-term, and would take several days, if not several weeks to actually, but one thing stood out. One thing that she was not only surprised to see on the list, but something that she was absolutely convinced was a mistake - not because it wasn't the right thing to do, indeed, she could think of absolutely no reason not to do it - but rather because she couldn't quite believe that Suzuki had entrusted it to her.

Subsequently, she had communicated with the commodore, seeking clarification and Suzuki had confirmed that there was no mistake. This particular task had not been appended to her 'to-do' list in error, in fact the opposite was true. Suzuki had deliberately delegated it to her as a way of helping to both boost her own confidence, but also to help her become accustomed to her new, albeit temporary, position.

That clarification had arrived a few hours ago, but now was the first opportunity that she had had to actually do anything about it. Acknowledging that this was not the kind of task that should be put off, she closed down the terminal and pressed the comm.

"Commander Locke to Doctor Addams, could you report to my office at your earliest convenience, please?"

"I answer not, but by the deed," Addams said over the com, and a moment later, Locke's door opened, and Addams added across the room, "to fair request, swift compliance maketh best response." She smiled enigmatically and waited for the door to close behind her before confiding, "I was just checking with your yeoman to see if you were available this morning. I have a couple of situations I need to be sure you're fully briefed in on, if you're to be in charge of the border for a few weeks."

Mikaela smiled and indicated to one of the chairs in front of her desk. "Then it seems our meeting comes at a most opportune moment," she said. Before she sat down she walked across to the replicator, in the wall just behind and to the right of her desk. "Can I get you anything, Doctor?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder.

"Thank you, no," Addams answered, taking the indicated seat and crossing her legs demurely at the ankle. "Though by the time I have finished briefing you, I imagine you shall wish you had given me a mug of hemlock tea."

Mikaela smiled. She still hadn't quite ascertained whether Doctor Addams had the darkest sense of humour of anyone she had ever met, or whether she genuinely made no attempt at humour whatsoever and simply had no filter. Either way, she appreciated the brutal honesty with which Addams approached just about every conversation she had. "Well, before we get into that," she said, "I have something for you." She pushed a small black box forward across the desk, toward Addams.

"You shouldn't have," Addams said, picking up the box and putting it in the pocket of her lab coat while drawing a PADD out of the same pocket.

Mikaela looked at the doctor with a mixture of surprise and confusion. "You... um..." she hesitated, not quite sure what to say. "You... might to take a look at that." She gestured toward the pocket that Addams had just deposited the box.

Addams raised her eyebrows. "It's a golden pip," she answered without drawing the box back out. "Clearly, it's a jewelry box; we are not nearly well enough acquainted for you to be proposing marriage. I have well and truly passed the minimum time-in-grade for promotion, and the CMO billet here is actually for a Commander." She shrugged. "The only title I have ever cared about, however, was awarded to me by Harvard Medical School. And," she lifted her PADD, "there are much more pressing matters at hand."

Locke sat back in her chair, feeling somewhat conflicted. On one hand, this was Doctor Addams promotion and how she dealt with it or highly she esteemed it was entirely up to her. But on the other hand, she couldn't help feeling slightly resentful that the doctor had taken the honour and privilege that she, herself, had felt in being chosen to bestow such an honour, and dismissed it so matter-of-factly that she may as well have been handing out cookies.

'It might not be a big deal to you,' she mused to herself, 'But it was a big deal for me...'

She let out a small, almost inaudible sigh, as she resigned herself to the fact that this was about Addams and not about her. The reason why it was so important to her would be something she would need to work through, either on her own, or with someone else at a later time.

"Go on then," she said, finally, gesturing towards the PADD in the doctor's hand. "What have we got?"

Addams watched the play of emotions on the XO's face. She set the PADD down on the desk, drew the black box back out of her pocket, and tried. As she opened it, she squealed in joy, imitating a character in a holonovel she'd hated. "Like, oh ma gawd, it's sooooooo bitchin'!" She pulled open her duty tunic, reaching inside to remove the backing securing her obsidian pip in place. "I can't wait, I'm'na put it on right now, uh-kay?!" She squealed again, bouncing up and down in badly-simulated excitement.

As she got the golden pip in place, the doctor's demeanor changed. "Mwa-ha-ha!" she chortled. "Power! You fool! You've given me power! Today: Commander! Tomorrow: the GALAXY! The week after next: the UNIVERSE! Mwa-ha-ha-ha!"

After a moment, she resealed her duty tunic, then leaned forward to pick up her PADD.

Mikaela sat back in her chair and blinked, a look somewhere between bemusement and complete bewilderment on her face.

'I think I liked it better when she didn't care...' she thought.

"Um..." she eventually said, still a little lost for words. "Well... um..." she stammered, "Congratulations again, Commander..." She took a huge gulp of her coffee in a vain attempt to hide her complete loss of control of the situation. "Perhaps..." she eventually managed, "Perhaps, we should continue with your briefing?" She indicated the PADD, once again in Addams hand, with the hand not holding her coffee mug.

The newly-minted commander began her report and, while Locke was listening, she also couldn't stop thinking about the exchange that had just occurred. It both fascinated and completely bewildered her. After a few moments, a thought popped into her head that she hadn't considered before. She sat back in her chair and a hint of smile crossed her lips because suddenly she realised exactly why Commodore Suzuki had left this promotion to her.

'Well played, commodore...' she thought to herself. 'Well played indeed.'

 

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