Chapter IV
Lieutenant Commander April Petrovic, Chief of Operations and Second Officer of the USS Sherbrook sat during the second watch of the day. A vessel in Admiral Zhukov's Second Fleet, she was one of several hundred ships deployed in the Bolian Corridor, which extended from the Kytani system all the way to the former Demilitarized Zone. The Akira-class heavy cruiser was assigned to patrol a twenty light-year stretch between the Federation colonies in the Kytani system all the way to Dmuriz system, a formerly independent world and now a Federation Protectorate.
All was quiet in this area of space, and so all that was really expected of Commander Petrovic was to cover her shift peacefully and help organize a few of the social events scheduled for over the next week. As a former member of Starfleet's elite Marine Corps, she found this work to be uninteresting at best.
It was starting to look to April that her usefulness to Starfleet was over. It might be why she had been passed over for promotion to XO several times over the past two years. After a decade of threats, both cold war and hot, the Federation seemed finally to be entering another era of peace. The Alpha Quadrant's dominant power no longer needed to turn out soldiers, and she was now felt like she was being abandoned, left to rot as a Lieutenant Commander on a torpedo boat in a pacified sector of space.
At least she still had work in uniform. The wars caused the SFMC to balloon, and while the Corps had found uses in the Cardassian Aid Efforts and maintaining peace in the former DMZ, the Federation Council had mandated in 2376 a massive decrease in the number of active Marines back to its 2366 levels – which, essentially, put four-fifths of her colleagues out of work.
It was okay, of course. Most found work planet-side, working for local police, security firms and the like. A few got into politics, a few got into business... and April Petrovic got into Starfleet.
It seemed like a good idea at the time. She had gone to the academy, and she had a few friends aboard the USS Limitless, the ship she was garrisoned aboard during the Dominion War. They made her assistant chief of security and gave her control of the armoury, with a promise of being made chief when the current one got promoted, an inevitability given his war record.
And so Petrovic did get her promotion and new position a year later. She was a popular and successful officer aboard the Limitless, and she was made Second Officer only four months after making chief of security. Her captain, a brilliant female officer by the name of Victoria Khan, had given her nothing but glowing reports during her time aboard the Limitless, yet no XO job offer was forthcoming.
So, hoping to improve her chances for promotion, she took a post aboard the Sherbrook as Chief of Operations. So far, it had been a dreadfully dull assignment. As far as she could tell, the Operations Officer merely defers everything to the experts. Just last week, there was a planned security exercise. Was she expected to participate? Oh no, just make sure everyone on the list she was given had the same shift off. Engineering had to run a series of diagnostics in preparation for the survey of the Dmuriz system due next week. Was she needed to help? Oh, no, don't worry about it. Just make sure everyone else knows what their job is.
How was this experience preparing her for being an XO? Most first officers she'd seen were quite hands on and energetic. This job required the exact opposite of that.
Speaking of meaningless, hands-off work, a transmission was coming in from Starfleet Research. There was a time when the only work a woman could find was answering calls, Petrovic reflected, what did they call the job? Oh yes, a secretary. That's what I am, after three tours fighting Jem'Hadar; I am now just a secretary.
She was a little surprised to see that the call was meant for her, and it was coming from a Captain. She couldn't recall any contacts at Starfleet Research, and so she put her regular console on standby and braced herself for the unknown.
"Hello Commander Petrovic," a voice rang out to her. The image of the person it belonged to was a science officer with captain's pips and a friendly, but reserved, smile, hidden a little by a beard that was allowed to grow slightly longer than regulations suggested - which was the same that could be said about the schlock of light brown hair atop his head.
"I recognize you from the file photo," he continued before she had a chance to reply. "My name is Felix Pavlik."
"Good day, Captain Pavlik," April managed now that she was given a moment to reply. She mustered all the politeness that an Ops officer was to wield. "How can I help you, today, sir?"
"Actually, commander, I was hoping I could help you," he replied. "I've been given command of the Surprise and in contact with your former CO, Captain Khan. I served under her when she was Chief Science Officer of the Grissom and I was on my cadet cruise. But I digress.
"She speaks highly of your integrity and tells me you are eager for a promotion to first officer. I've read through your file, and, I must confess, I agree with her assessment. You are not prepared to be a first officer," he paused as he watched the growing grin on her face disappear. The negative review from Captain Khan seemed to be particularly stinging. As way of consolation, he offered: "I am, however, more than willing to offer you the position of Chief Tactical Officer."
"Sir, with all due respect, I have been aboard the Sherbrook for only six months after coming from the Limitless. It's one thing to transfer for a promotion, but I fail to see the point of another lateral move. If what you're telling me is that lieutenant commander is the ceiling for me in Starfleet, then I would rather consider resignation than another transfer."
"Ah, Victoria warned me that would be your likely reaction," Pavlik replied, sitting back in his chair slightly. He tapped a few commands into his console. "I wish to direct your attention to the file I am transmitting to you now. When you asked for a transfer from the Limitless, Captain Khan suggested that you to redo your aptitude tests. These are the results."
With a punch of a button, April saw the panel underneath the captain's image list her aptitude test results. Before looking at them closely, she ventured, "Is this not against regulation, sir?"
"It's against custom, certainly," Pavlik supplied readily, a hint of amusement twinkled in his eye. "Regulation, however? That is purposely a little hazy. The brass haven't completely eliminated the notion of captain's prerogative, after all."
If April had been able to focus on his expression as she scanned over her test results, she wouldn't have been able to tell if that twinkle dispersed any as her nose scrunched up at what she saw. There was a long pause.
"As you can see, your aptitude tests for command, security procedures, tactical manoeuvres, weapons/explosives-handling and weapons maintenance are all extraordinary. They are adequate for a first officer in diplomacy and interspecies relations. Your piloting rating is higher than mine, but that's nothing to write home about.
"Where you barely meet expectations are mathematics, astrophysics, subspace mechanics, general relativity, quantum mechanics, temporal mechanics and general engineering – both field and theoretical."
Indeed, she fell into the lowest deciles in those categories for those who can maintain their bridge privileges. In most of these areas she had failed to improve her scores since graduation from the Academy, and, in fact, in some areas she had managed to post a steady decline over the years. She knew that these test results now showed that some cadets were in fact better prepared for a command role than her. It was shocking to say the least.
"I had no idea, sir, that I had let things get to this point," Petrovic said slowly, her whole being still reeling in shock.
"Captain Khan agreed to your transfer to operations chief aboard the Sherbrook with the agreement that Captain Chen take it easy on you, let you study up and prepare for the XO role," Felix explained, any amusement from his expression extinguished and his tone firm. "Instead, I'm told that you've spend your additional leisure time honing your already formidable skills. That wasn't what they were looking for."
"Why didn't they just tell me, sir? If I had known..."
"They wanted to see if you had the self-awareness to realize that the problem lay within and the initiative to seek out a solution. They were testing your willingness to leave your comfort zone as well as think outside of the box," Pavlik replied with an increasing grave look. "Khan tells me that both she and Captain Chen have deemed their experiment a failure, and Chen is open to let you be reassigned. As for me, I'll make you my security officer, if you're willing to work your ass off to bring yourself up to speed. Only then can we discuss promotion."
April glanced at Pavlik's eyes and her expression underwent a wonderful transformation from insecure to hard steel. "I would be most grateful for the opportunity, sir."