Captain Tarik sat in his office, reviewing the fitness reports for the training platoons under his supervision. All six platoons were doing extremely well--scores in the 95th percentile, with only seven drop-outs.
The new recruitment screening criteria seem to be helping, he thought to himself. If we can catch people who aren't suited to Starfleet before they get to this stage, it's better for everyone
The procedure, one Tarik had recomended the previous year, was to have a counselor interview all prospective recruits to weed out instabilitiesor biases that would interfere with the training process.
The interview had been standard procedure for all Starfleet Academy candidates but had never been implemented for enlisted personnel. It had proven remarkably successful amongst Marine recruits and was now being implemented for Starfleet enlisted personnel with the current batch of recruits.
When Tarik had reported to the Enlisted Training Facility three years earlier, the training program was hopelessly out of touch with the needs of the Fleet. Too many purely administrative officers had held the post; Tarik was one of only a handful of officers with actual combat experience to take command of a training series. Most combat officers preferred to stay in the field or take positions as instructors at the more prestigious Starfleet Academy.
Tarik really had no choice in the matter at the time. After his tour on Bajor he faced a return to Starbase 207, one of the most miserable posts ever created. 207 was a penal colony and the Marines posted therewere little more than prison guards.
Thanks to the hearty acclaim of the Bajorans Tarik was able to get the assignment to Mars and had managed to turn the program around. Now his tour of duty was ending, and despite the recommendation of Tarik's commanding officer, Tarik faced yet another unappetizing choice of assignments.
That I still have a choice of assignments is at least a hopeful sign, Tarik thought as he looked at his terminal at the open assignments.
The first assignment was as a recruiting officer on Arrhenius IV, an Andorian colony world. That wouldn't be a bad post, if I were anything but Romulan, Tarik thought. No love was lost between the Andorians and the Romulans, a relationship nearly as old as the Federation itself. Romulans who ventured onto Andorian worlds generally had a very short life expectancy.
The second assignment was somewhat more dubious: commander of the Marine detachment at Starbase 562. 562 was the home of the reserve fleet--essentially, Starfleet's junkyard. Three years guarding obsolete and decrepit ships at a post where absolutely nothing happens didn't strike Tarik as either particularly interesting or particularly career-enhancing.
The third assignment looked more promising: executive officer at the Starfleet Weapons Proving Grounds, Ceres. Ceres, the largest of the main belt asteroids in Earth's solar system, had long been used by Starfleet as a base from which to test new heavy weapons. It also had the reputation of attracting oddballs and misfits--but consistently had some of the highest performance ratings of any facility in the Fleet. The post seems to suit me, I'd be in the chain of command of a major facility, it's close to a decent planet for shore leave, and it's definitely the best option available.
Tarik was preparing to accept the post at Ceres when an incoming message signal flashed on his screen. It was yet another duty station!
Tarik read the message expecting to see yet another dead-end post, but found something entirely different:
TO: Capt. TARIK, SFMC Enlisted Training Facility, Utopia Planitia, Mars
FROM: SFMC BUPERS, San Francisco, EarthRE: Change of Duty Station
You are hereby ordered to take command of the 28th MEF, to deploy within 30 days at SB901 to establish groundwork for deployment of 28th MEF and threat assessment. Authorization to use any available Starfleet transportation and civilian transportation (per General Order 1382) granted.
Under other circumstances, Tarik would have been shouting from the rooftops! He'd been following the news on the situation in the Briar Patch but never thought Starfleet would turn him loose again. He tapped the comm unit on the terminal.
"Ms. Ling, are there any Starfleet vessels outbound to Supply Base 901 today?"
<"Yes, sir,"> his civilian secretary replied. <"The USS Quebec is due for departure at 2100 hours.">
"Comm the captain of the Quebec and let him know he'll be having a passenger. I am forwarding my orders to you in case he has any questions," Tarik replied.
<"Orders? You're leaving?">
"Yes. I've been reassigned to the 28th Marine Expeditionary Force. I will inform Lieutenant Dashevsky of the change in command and submit my evaluation of your performance to your personnel file before I depart."
Tarik didn't let it slip that the evaluation was extremely favorable; she'd find out about that once her next (well-deserved) civil service upgrade came through.
Though not as stoic as their Vulcan cousins, Romulans were not wont to extreme displays of emotion in general and toward subordinates in particular.
Inwardly, though, Tarik was ecstatic. Upon further reserach, he found out who was responsible for the reassignment: a colonel who had just accepted an assignment to Special Forces and was unavailable for the assignment had strongly recommended Tarik for the post. Tarik smiled as he recognized the name. Within five minutes Tarik was in his quarters packing.