=/\= USS Quantum Fury =/\=
Doctor visits, debriefings, briefings, and unbelievable surprises--Rob's time onboard the Quantum Fury had already been more exciting than the past two weeks since Carida.
And it seemed it wasn't quite over yet.
After serving as Chief of Security onboard the Intrepid and managing over 1,000 civilians on Carida Rob had thought he knew what it meant to be exhausted. Now, after a series of seemingly mundane transfer duty obligations Lansine now found himself standing outside the Fury's Commanding Officer's office. The call had come unexpectedly and rather abruptly only a few minutes prior. It had taken him a few extra minutes to navigate the foreign halls of the Fury but Rob had managed to find his way to the CO's office without too much trouble.
The doors slid open and exposed the Commander's working space. Had Lansine actually cared about aesthetics he might have mentioned something regarding the dull means of decoration but his mind was preoccupied with more important issues.
"Lieutenant Junior Grade Robert Lansine reporting sir," Rob's eyes met with the Commander's as the other man acknowledged him.
"Greetings Lieutenant." Khiy said "sit down for a moment."
Rob took a seat and again looked over the office. He'd never heard of this man before, Commanding Officers of Starfleet vessels were typically well known throughout the Federation but Lansine had never heard of this Commander Khiy Kanryth. But no matter his familiarity the man had called him down; Rob was just curious why.
"I have looked over your record." Khiy had taken the liberty of going over every one of their guests' records to make sure nothing was amiss. With all the recent incidents aboard he couldn't take any chances "it seems you performed quite admirably in a difficult circumstance."
Rob couldn't disagree. Carida had been hell. The more people in Starfleet that realized that the better he supposed, but he doubted the man had called him down to tell campfire stories of his time stranded on a the Cardassian-infested world.
"The reason I have called you here is because I have been informed by Starfleet to attend to a matter they seem to have overlooked." Khiy wasn't much for words or fanfare. He pointed to the small velvet box sitting on his desk and then slid it across the polished wood at Lansine "you have been officially promoted to the rank of full Lieutenant for reasons I have not been made aware but likely due to your performance on that planet. Congratulations."
If it had been physically possible, Rob's jaw would have hit the floor. He couldn't conjure up any response before the Commander spoke again.
"You may leave." Khiy dismissed the officer.
Traditionally the response for an officer in his position was 'thank you' but Rob felt anything but gratitude—he felt guilty. Captain Savage was right when he'd pushed him about the deaths on Carida; they were Rob's fault. You could censor them from Starfleet records, debrief witnesses and even console those responsible but Rob could never forgive himself for what had happened. Did Starfleet really think another pip would make it all go away?
Rob's looked at the Commander, albeit with an empty gaze, "Thank you," his words were hollow and lacked any sort of sincerity.
"I had nothing to do with this Lieutenant. There is no reason to thank me."
With the new title fastened securely to his collar Rob turned and left the room.
His day had just taken a turn for the worse.
=/\= End Log =/\=
Lieutenant Robert Lansine
Chief Strategic Operations Officer
USS Charon
&
Commander Khiy Kanryth
Commanding Officer
USS Quantum Fury
