A marine for second officer

Posted on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 @ 2:31pm by Major Cornelius Tremble
Edited on on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 @ 11:27pm

979 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Episode 7 - Home Again
Location: XO Ready Room - Deck 2 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD010 1300 hrs

Quinn met Neil at his ready room room, and reached out his hand to shake it. He was very excited that Neil was going to be the new second officer. "Captain Tremble, please come in and have a seat." Quinn said, as he walked over to his replicator. "Can I get you anything, Captain?" Quinn asked, with a big grin.

Neil slumped in the proffered chair and nodded, "Aye, Commander. Better make it a coffee, black please sir. It's been a week and I'm only now seeing a bit of a glimmer of light."

He accepted the mug with a thankful look as he tucked his beret away inside his mission jacket and took a sip. "I think it's going to take a while to get used to hearing the Captain bit. I haven't had time to get used to it, much less anything else."

"Captain is well deserved, if you ask me, we should have bypassed First Lieutenant all together." Quinn said, as he went on. "You are well respected, and the crew looks up to you, as a natural born leader. I know not a lot of marines, have held command billets within the fleet since the early 80's when Starfleet refilled its ranks, after the dominion war. But in your case, an exception needed to be made. The fleet can learn from you." Quinn said, hoping he was not laying it on to thick for Neil.

Neil knew a con job when her heard one. He was tired, but not that tired and he eyed the Pioneer's executive officer. "Right, Commander. I'm flattered, truly. I'll save us by not being overly modest and trying to deny anything. I'll just ask...

... Who are we invading?"

"No one, Captain. Just trying to prove my point. You deserve that rank, and you deserve to be our new second officer. The crew supports that decision." Quinn told him. He was not sure, where the invasion train of thought was coming from.

Neil took a few moments to process that. "So you're...offering me second officer of the Pioneer, sir. I. Well that's flattering, but...I'm not Fleet trained. What I do know about ships is more in the line of boarding them and taking them away from people. That and blowing them up...."

"You are making a difference here. You may not be fleet trainined, but I bring you up to speed with starship protocols. This crew needs you, they need a natural leader like you. I can honestly see you commanding a starship of your own." Quinn said, hoping what he was saying, was sinking in for Neil. Marines can be a little stubborn.

"That's never been any close to an ambition of mine, to be honest sir," Neil replied, rubbing the back of his neck as he tried to think of a way out of this. "And how will the crew, react to a Marine's sense of order and discipline? Not to mention yours and Captain Malbrookes?"

Then he grinned, "And I would imagine there would be some diplomats considerations that could come up...Marines aren't really good diplomats..."

"Starfleet does have a diplomatic corps, plus we can go over basic diplomatic protocols in the holodeck." Quinn said, with a big grin.

"You say that now," Neil chuckled. "Sounds like I'm running out of excuses not to, sir."

"Since you are apart of the command team, call me Quinn when appropriate. Moments like this, I think is appropriate." He said, with a big grin on his face. Quinn liked the idea of Neil being the second officer. He does have the heart of the crew, and he knew they would be able to work well together.

Neil weighed the XO's words and said, "I'll work toward the getting used to being called Captain. And being second officer, sir. Calling a ranking officer by their given name might take a bit longer...two many years of habit."

Neil spread his hands and shrugged slightly, a grin playing across his face. "Indulge me in that, with no offense intended, of course."

"Alright, we will work on that." Quinn said with a big grin on his face. "I want you to seriously consider, that your career path only gets brighter. Even if you do not choose to command a ship, this will put you a step closer, to commanding your own battalion, a regiment or an expeditionary force." Quinn said to him, but he was hoping that Neil went after a starship command.

"Aye sir," Neil responded, not really knowing what else to say. "One step a time for everything. That way you avoid surprises."

He waited a beat, then added with a grin, "Hopefully."

"One thing I have learned in this job, is to expect things to unfold on you, and accept them." Quinn said to him, hoping his cryptic message made sense.

"Sir, that kind of sounds like getting fitted for a body bag," Neil said wryly, "But I think I take your meaning."

"Think of it more as marriage." Quinn said, with a big boyish smile on his face.

Neil chuckled then. "Sir, I'm not overly sure there's a huge amount of difference there..."

"Probably not, I think this is a good place to end this meeting." Quinn said to him, as he stood up, and reached out to shake his hand. "Dismissed Captain, and welcome to the team."

Neil stood, saluted and said, "Thank you sir." He then turned on his heel and marched from the XO's ready room, pausing in the hall to let it all sink in...

A joint post by:

Commander Quinn Ó Flannagáin
Executive Officer, USS Pioneer

Captain Cornelius Tremble
Marine Commanding Officer/Second Officer, USS Pioneer

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