A Time to Rise

Posted on Sun May 17th, 2026 @ 9:59pm by Lieutenant JG Tamblem Dravor & Lieutenant Bailey Good & Lieutenant JG Kestrel & Ensign Eekit Drol

Mission: Aperture Science
Location: Security Dojo [Deck 5]
Timeline: Mission Day 1 at 1300

[Security Office]
[Deck 5]
[Day 1, 1300 Hours]

Bailey twirled a stylus between deft fingers. She swayed in her chair with deft pushes of her feet. A frown was on her face, her other hand grasping a small black box. "I want you to know," Bailey said, looking up to the pixie-cut officer in front of her desk, "You were high on my list for the promotion, Kestrel. But I feel like your skills are better put to use on the Bridge, as Tactical relief." Bailey shook her head, her brows arching. She scribbled something down on her PADD with her stylus. Her scrawled handwriting was immediately converted to crisp clean text.

Dark eyes that were a near match in color to the pixie-cut tracked the movement pf Good's scribble, watching though restrained enough not to try to read what was written. Kestrel inhaled deeply through her nose and exhaled slowly. One hand dipped to adjust a bit of dark hair that didn't need adjusting. She had expected as much, but that didn't change the odd mixture of emotions in the moment. Quiet disappointment. Resignation. Relief? "Oh course ma'am," she answered, acknowledging the comment. It felt as though she should say something else. Some reassurance that she understood and would continue to do her job to the beat of her ability, but nothing felt appropriate for the moment so she remained silent.

Bailey nodded, set her work aside. She sprawled out her fingers on her desk and rose. "Ensign Drol. Ensign Dravor. I need to see you in my office." She combed her hair back behind her ear and then palmed the small black box.

Drol, who'd had the riveting duty of armory inventory for the shift, was swift to answer Good's summons. Fairly certain she couldn't have done anything to warrant disciplinary action, she took the order as a welcome break from the tedium and appeared promptly at the door. Waiting only for Good to answer the chime, she wasted no time entering the office. Surprised to find Kestrel already in the room, he shot the Argelian a quick questioning glance before snapping a salute to the security chief and stepping just to the side of the door to leave the entrance unobstructed.

"At ease," Bailey mumured, an eyebrow arch. Her voice tinged amusement, almost chuckled.

Tamblem Dravor had a pretty good idea why he'd been called in. Word traveled fast in Security, or rather, he moved fast enough to catch it, and there'd been a low hum of anticipation around the department for the last day or so. Somebody was getting bumped up. He'd figured that much out on his own. He let Drol go first through the door because he was generous like that, and also because it gave him a half-second to glance at Kestrel as he crossed the threshold.

Pips. Check. Same as yesterday. He kept his face neutral, professional, even, which cost him some effort, and filed that data away in about a tenth of a second. So. Not Kestrel. He let his eyes slide briefly to Drol, calculating.

Yeah. Had to be. Good on them. Drol had put in the work. Dravor respected that, even if he'd never quite gotten around to saying so out loud. He pulled himself to something resembling attention in front of Good's desk, hands loose at his sides, chin up. "Sir," he said, easy and unhurried, like he hadn't just done a full tactical assessment of everyone's collar in under three seconds.

With a clank, a number of other Security officers- all the rest of the Non-Coms- filtered in. "Ensign Dravor, front and center." Bailey said. She stood in front of her desk and took the moment to step back from being the authority figure. For a brief moment, she was a slightly nervous young woman, in thought, pensive, combing her hair back behind her ear. Her mouth pursed a sort of flex as to swallow.

Wait.

The word didn't quite reach his face. It clipped against the inside of Tamblem's skull and dropped flat.

He'd already done the math. Drol's pips, Kestrel's pips, the speech that was clearly building, the small black box on Good's desk. The Trill had assigned the conclusion thirty seconds ago and filed it. Drol. Good for Drol.

Despite his thoughts, the Cardassian in question remained impassive, her ridged features impossible to read, her body language the careful neutral of “attention.” She didn’t move.

Dravor's feet moved before the rest of him caught up. Muscle memory. Officer says front and center, you go front and center, and you don't make a face about it. He didn't, exactly. But somewhere in the half-step to Good's desk, the entire inside of his chest dropped about two decks.

Me?

The tested-and-stayed line landed with the kind of soft impact that wasn't supposed to wind a person and absolutely did. The corner of his mouth wanted to do something, and the security officer didn't let it. His eyes flicked, just once, to Kestrel. Not a question. A reflex. The same way you'd look at the only other person in the room who might know what your face was supposed to be doing right now.

A breeze. A breeze could have done it. A particularly opinionated breeze could have laid Tamblem out flat on the deck plating in front of God and the Non-Coms and the Chief of Security, and he'd have gone down with that same neutral, professional, yes-sir expression on his face all the way to the floor.

He stayed standing. Chin up. Shoulders set.

Through the soup of thoughts ricocheting through Dravor's skull, Bailey Good began. "This team has been through a lot since you launched out of Antares. And I'm just the most recent face to sit in that chair. But there have been some members here who have been solid, and tested, and they've stayed." She made sure to glance at Kestrel, and at Drol. They, with Tamblem, formed her officer core. Bailey had put in for commendations for the entire department for their acts of bravery against Subrek. Along with the press-ganged Ops personnel.

But today? Today was about Tamblem Dravor. "Ensign Tamblem Dravor, you are hereby promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, Junior Grade and assigned the role of Assistant Chief of Security on this date. Come forward and be recognized." She approached. He had a good five inches- or ten centimeters- on her in height. She looked up and studied his bronze face, fingers deft at his collar. A small reflective black pin was added to the silver one already on his collar.

Drol’s hands twitched like she was going to make a move, but a quick glance to either side showed no one else was applauding yet. She subsided once again into stillness, deceptively so, as shown by the tension across her shoulders, flexing beneath her uniform.

From her own position, Kestrel grinned openly, eyes crinkling with appreciation for Dravor. To say she was happy for the Trill was an understatement. He deserved the promotion. He deserved the position. All of those thoughts made their way to her face and into the intensity of her smile.

"Nervous?" Bailey said just between them. Her hand, while carrying authority, was warm. She made eye contact as the sealant on the pip locked on to the fibers of his collar and firmly adhered.

"Yes, ma'am." Two words. Flat. No qualifier. His eyes held hers for exactly the length of time it took to say them, and not a breath longer. Then he stepped back. Squared his shoulders. Let the new weight at his collar settle.

Bailey's nod was one of empathy. She had been when she'd been promoted. Every time. "Eyes up and centered!" Good called to the gathering. "Your new Assistant Chief of Security, Lieutenant Junior Grade Tamblem Dravor. Congrat-"

The motion was violent. To the point that it was almost rending. The lights flickered and when they came on, they were tinged with red. It was like someone had just picked up the ship like it was a play toy and then violently shook it to one side. Bailey found herself against her desk, PADDs and things clattering with inertia to the ground. Her hip screamed at the impact of the desk's edge.

"That wasn't weapons fire, something just hit us." Bailey said. Her eyes narrowed, shrewd, discerning. "What the hell's going to hit us like that?" She muttered. "Get to your stations! I'll be on the Bridge." She announced as even now the deckplates shimmied, suggesting the ship was in motion.

Drol had been shoved violently into the newly minted junior grade lieutenant as the deck shifted unexpectedly beneath them, grunting as his elbow dug into her side. . In her haste to disentangle herself, she shoved off of him with almost as much violence as the ship’s motion. “Nothing good,” she muttered in answer to Good’s rhetorical question, then more audibly, “Yes ma’am!” Routine tasks would now be discarded in favor of their assigned emergency stations. As they were on the ship, that meant getting down to main engineering for Drol, who was assigned the protection of their assets there.

Kestrel, too, found herself on the floor thought she was tangled up with the non comms who had joined the assemblage for Dravor's promotion. With muttered apologies and a somehow ladylike curse or two, she found her feet, offering a hand to the man next to her and then tugging him up when he took it. Her eyes scanned the space quickly, assessing and careful. She, too, snapped out a confirming "Yes ma'am," to Good almost a moment behind Drol.

And then she was headed for the door and the shuttle bay. With Good headed to the Bridge she would make her way to a secondary station. Two officers available for Tactical were hardly the most helpful in this moment.

"Yes, ma'am." Tamblem had something ready. He'd had four whole seconds to come up with it and everything. The universe, apparently, had other plans. He watched Drol head for Engineering. Not for the first time, he wished that was his post instead of hers, for reasons he wasn't going to examine right now. He rolled his shoulder where it had met the deck, filed the pain away, and moved for the door. Armory first, then sickbay. He pressed a thumb against the new pip as he went, almost without thinking, "What the hell is going on?"

A Post By:

Lieutenant Bailey Good
Chief of Security

Lieutenant JG Tamblem Dravor
Assistant Chief of Security

Lieutenant JG Kestrel
Tactical Officer

Ensign Eekit Drol
Security Officer