Ryan sat down reading over a few reports on the running of the ship. Just standard
stuff. He threw down the PADD onto the table and leaned back in his chair. He
had been wondering what to do about Lieutenant O'Neal and the decisions he had
made for a while now. He had had the official go ahead for it from Starfleet,
so he guessed now was as good a time as any.
"Lieutenant O'Neal to my ready room please."
[On my way sir] came the reply. A few seconds later, the doors slid open and
O'Neal walked up to Ryan and stood at attention. "You wanted to see me,
Captain?"
"Yes, I did, Lieutenant. I wanted to talk to you about your actions on
the planet." Ryan looked up at the man and could see he was a bit nervous.
"Just what the hell did you think you were doing there?"
"Sir?"
"You knowingly violated the Prime Directive."
"Sir, it ended up that...."
"I don't care how it ended out. Fortunately for you, the people you were
helping were Federation citizens, but nether the less, you made a bad call of
judgment."
"Captain, with all due respect, you weren't there!" Sean looked at
Ryan, regretting those words as he stood up and came face to face with him.
"No, I wasn't, but had I been, I would have tried to find out a little
more about the situation before agreeing to aid a rebel faction in a conflict
we knew nothing about!"
Sean was now visibly uncomfortable with what the Captain was saying, and said
nothing. Ryan reached out his arm and pulled the black centered pip off Sean's
collar.
"You won't be needing that anymore," said Ryan throwing the pip on
his table. "I hearby sentence you to live until you are deemed worthy of
further promotion as a full lieutenant." Ryan pinned a new all gold pip
to Sean's collar.
"You mean... I'm not getting demoted?" Sean asked, seeming a bit relieved.
"Far from it. I was very impressed by your performance on that planet.
You handled yourself well and you deserve a lot of respect for that."
"But you said..."
"I know what I just said, but I like to mess with peoples minds at times,"
he said grinning. "As soon as I read your report, I recommended you to
starfleet for a promotion. Seems as though you were due for one anyway. Congratulations,
Sean" said Ryan, taking his hand and shaking it.
"Thank you, Captain."
"Dismissed, Lieutenant."
"Yes sir, thank you, sir." O'Neal left a much happier man than when
he entered.
As he exited the ready room, Lieutenant Wang came to the door way.
"Captain, may I have a word with you?"
"Of course. Come on in, Ming. Take a seat." Ming came and took a seat
in front of Ryan's desk. "What can I do for you?"
"It's about the research on Karissa's engineering..."
"Go on..." Ryan's curiosity was peaked.
"Lieutenant Tierro and I have found a possible lead. A marine by the name
of Robert Benson. He shows similar traits as Karissa with regards to physical
strength and ability."
"But how can you be sure he's been engineered?" asked Ryan, a bit
skeptical.
"It's just a hunch I have, Captain."
Ryan thought for a moment. He was willing to do anything to help Karissa.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Have him transferred to me as a lab assistant."
"A marine as a lab assistant?!" Ryan laughed. "Sounds like he's
going to be more of a lab rat to me."
"Maybe so, but I need him here if we are to continue our research."
"All right, Ming, I'll see what I can do. Where is he, at the moment?"
"The USS Parnassus.... in the Brig."
"The brig? Well, in that case, I can't make any promises, but I'll do my
best."
"Thank you, Captain."
"Not a problem. Good luck with your research, Ming. Dismissed."
Ming smiled as he left the ready room. Ryan swiveled in his chair and stared
out the window into the vastness of space. Another engineered human. Some
where out there, there is someone responsible for this. I won't let them get
away with this. He thought as he returned to his reports.