That and Captain Black is a close friend of his. Black was an Ops officer on Lasiter's last starship command. On a mission there was an incident, and Lasiter was in a real bind. Black really stuck by him and earned not ony a debt or gratitude, but his implicit trust. On the first serious mission of Admiral Lasiter's tenure as CinC he really wanted someone that knew him and could work with. No reflection on you, but as you will learn, when he has his mind made up that is it. Even if you show him something better, he has already made up his mind. The old mad does not like to revisit decisions unnecessarily, you see....]>
<[I understand,]> she replied. <[And I think Black is the right one for the job myself. I intend to have him fully in charge of strategic planning and operation. Like I said, I don't know what's going on out there. WHen I was a young officer, the one thing that made the angriest was an idiot superior walking in at the last second and trying to tell me how to do my job. That's what I won't do to Black. But, what I didn't tell Lasiter is that I know Marrtak. Not well; he's a loner, hard to get to know. But we were at the Imperial Star Academy together when we were all much, much younger. And he was a genius, but liked to play by his own rules. He also has always been a staunch supporter of the Klingon-Federation alliance, hence the lack of promotion. He's the right one for the job. I think he and Black will get on rather well, actually. I plan on staying the heck out of it as much as possible,]> she grinned. <[I'm there to keep them from killing each other. Once that's accomplished, I'll leave the real work to the ones that know it best.]>
(eh?)
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"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."
- Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)
