Promotion (A Jenled Lar Story)

“Come in, Commander,” said the voice on the comm.

Jenled Lar didn’t hesitate. He entered into the offices of Admiral sh’Ravel. She was standing with her back to the door, looking out the window-which was conveniently overlooking the planet Earth rotating below. “Commander Lar, reporting as ordered,” he said, standing at attention.

“At ease, Commander.” The Admiral turned to face him. She looked tired; that wasn’t a surprise, given that she had been responsible for the fleet incursion into Klingon space that had led to the loss of the USS Columbus and other ships. Her antennae seemed to match her mood, drooped down slightly. Jenled briefly wondered if this blow would cause her to rethink staying in Starfleet; there had been rumors that she was resisting retirement, but nothing concrete.

“Thank you, Admiral.” He relaxed slightly. Jenled wasn’t sure what this was about, which bothered him substantially.

“I want to hear your report personally on the events that led to the loss of the Columbus.”

“Admiral?” The Captain should have turned in a report already. This bothered Jenled; it was an indicator that the Captain was in more trouble than he thought.

“Is there something wrong with your hearing, Commander? Perhaps you should stop by sickbay after you give me your report.”

Jenled repressed a wince. The Andorian could wield sarcasm like a scalpel...but sometimes she preferred to use it like a bludgeon.

“Yes, sir,” he said. “The Captain received encrypted orders to perform an extraction in Klingon space. She showed them to me; all of the code words checked out. The authorizations were authentic. She ordered our small task force to Qo’noS.” Jenled resisted a shrug. “The Klingons were prepared. We got slaughtered.”

“And there was nothing about those orders that struck you as unusual?”

“Permission to speak freely?”

“Granted, within reason.”

Jenled paused. “The orders stunk like month old weeds, sir. No identification, no information on the person to be extracted except that he’d have a signal. Frankly, it screamed at being a Starfleet Intelligence operation, and we were apparently considered nonessential-and information was need-to-know. Clearly, whoever sent the message didn’t think we needed to know.”

His voice hardened. “In hindsight, we needed to know.”

“I see.” The Admiral paced a bit. “Do you consider your own actions during the crisis as acceptable?”

Oh, shades, this wasn’t about the Captain. It was about him.

“I do, sir. When the Captain was knocked unconscious, it fell to me as First Officer to take command.”

“Knocked unconscious.” Admiral sh’Ravel made a “hmph” sound. “An interesting interpretation of events. You knocked her out yourself.”

“Sir, with respect. The Captain was delirious from her wounds. She wouldn’t let the medical team examine her in the middle of a battle situation. She wasn’t thinking clearly. So I borrowed one of the medical team’s hypos and used it to knock her out.” Jenled shrugged. “After that, I was able to order the evacuation of the ship before the warp core went.”

“I see. Usually, assaulting a superior officer like that would be a good reason to court-martial you. Fortunately for you, Captain Kel agrees with your report. In fact, she credits you for saving the crew-and her in particular. I believe she said that she thought she was fighting a battle from the past-a battle which she was replaying in her mind.”

Jenled didn’t say anything. He wasn’t sure what to say.

“Captain Kel is being reassigned to a new ship-a Regent class vessel. I can't let a good captain go to waste after a single incident, can I?”

“I’m glad to hear that, sir.”

“I am also, on the recommendation of Captain Kel and in consultation with the Admiralty, promoting you to Captain, effective immediately.”

That staggered Jenled a little. “Sir?”

“Your record shows an aptitude for command, and you’ve consistently impressed your COs. Each promotion was well earned-and as I’m sure you remember, we have serious personnel problems when it comes to command of a starship. The fleet yards continue to produce ships-which is a good thing, since we keep losing them.” Admiral sh’Ravel looked irritated. “We’re fortunate that we haven’t lost more people to the war.”

Jenled said, “Starship design’s come a long way.”

“It has. And as a Captain, you are being assigned to the USS Gullwind. It was commissioned earlier this year, but we haven’t had a chance to get it crewed until recently. It’s a Sao Paulo class escort vessel. I will be sending full information on the ship and its crew to your PADD after the meeting. You’ll have two days to familiarize yourself with it. Then we’ll be sending you to the front lines.” The Admiral held his gaze. “Don’t screw it up.”

“I won’t, sir,” Jenled promised.

sh’Ravel continued to look at him, measuring. Then she said, “Dismissed, Captain. And don’t forget to pick up the extra pip for your uniform.”