Lost Harbor - minuteman-mission

:: Nico moved from person to person, finally getting some one-on-one time with his crewmen. They all seemed collected and focused steadily on their jobs. The reports were clean, the systems were in check, and morale seemed good. Then again, they hadn't been out in space that long and the true trials were sure to come. He could feel a weariness from his workers, but it wasn't anything he hadn't felt before. The restlessness leading into a mission, especially one of this caliber, was always tangible even without the mental abilities he possessed. Nico felt that unease was the primer to ready the machine to ramp up into overdrive when the need arose. They'd be ready for anything. He was content. ::

:: Nico strolls through engineering, observing from afar the diligence of his workers. As he heads back to his office he sees a flashing panel with an ominous red light blinking to gain his attention. With no crewmember present, Nico steps over and taps the console. Weapon systems have an irregularity in the power grid. Minute enough, but still just out of alignment to cause an alert. After pursuing the problem a bit he finds it was just an inverted polarity in the manifolds housing the phasers on the port nacelle. :: @Cpt AJ Zuriyev: +AJ+ Slate to Zuriyev. Captain, our dorsal port nacelle phaser array is slightly out of alignment. Easily correctable, but I'll need to shut down access to those for about an hour to have my teams fix it. Minor inconvenience, but I can have it back up in no time. Permission to proceed?

:: AJ quickly thinks about the reported issue, their projected travel time, their mission and preference for stealth over combat, and makes a quick risk assessment, replying with confidence. :: +@1Lt Nico Slate+ Granted, lieutenant. Better to take care of that while we are at warp. Keep me updated.

:: A soft but audible snarl soon emanated from the rotating captain's chair at the center of the bridge. It wasn't a big space, after all. Even on Deck 1, where the design was deliberately spaced out to ensure an easily fortified corridor separated the command center and captain's quarters from the nearest turbolift, nothing could be called truly spacious. And so of course he had overheard that exchange between Zuriyev and engineering. And he wasn't happy. He took no issue with Zuriyev's decision, of course. Something like that needed to be fixed, immediately. He took significant issue, however, with the knowledge that something like that was only being spotted now. Yes, engineering had been given other priorities prior to launch. But the outgoing engineer had been no incompetent. If a member of the senior staff had been lax in their duties, then Syvek had been lax in his duties, and in turn so was he. Rak'nar had not been lax in his duties. Nor was he blaming anyone else in particular...yet. Even with the most advanced equipment, random malfunctions happened. But that didn't mean he was about to simply let this lie. And so, clearing his throat grandly to draw attention, he beckoned the current pilot over.:: @Maj Eric Woods Major. A word.

:: After a moment, a somewhat more uncomfortable clearing of the throat occurred as he realized he'd allowed Slate's hail to distract him from another matter. That WAS a failing, however momentary. :: @Cpt AJ Zuriyev And no, captain, not yet. I would like the entire senior staff briefed at once. It will be the first task following our successful infiltration of Free Fleets space.

::stands and crosses to follow Rak’nar to wherever he planned to have this ‘word’. He takes a breath and replies definitively, :: @LtCol Rak'nar: Yes, sir. :: his tone does not ask a question, instead conveying his acknowledgement that he could have done better. ::

:: Woods would not have to go far, as Rak'nar made no move to rise from the command chair. The Klingon's brow furrowed briefly in confusion as he tried to make sense of the Major's tone, as his current dissatisfaction had nothing to do with his second, but regardless he leaned in and pressed on under his breath. :: @Maj Eric Woods Major. In an hour's time, one way or another, I intend to be already crossing over into hostile space. If I find myself doing so in spite of being powerless to shoot anything off to my left, I will not be well pleased. It seems you have your first real test before you. Give Slate fifteen minutes to work, then go find out if this is one of those playful engineering timetable inflations I keep hearing about. If it is not, then proceed as you see fit, but light a fire under him.

:: Rak’nar might not have blamed him, but Eric still felt somewhat responsible. Perhaps it was an unreasonable feeling, or a sign of him still needing to settle into leadership, but it was how he felt. He gave a firm nod, replying, :: @LtCol Rak'nar: It will be done. :: he then crossed back to his seat, checking the time so he could tell when fifteen minutes had passed ::

:: Grunting his approval and turning to indicate he judged the matter settled, he then turned back to Zuriyev. :: @Cpt AJ Zuriyev Captain Zuriyev, I need a secure uplink with the El Cid, and any other starships we may have stationed along that section of the border. Specifically, I need the most recent telemetry from their long range scans to determine the ideal target coordinates for our insertion.

:: From watching the Colonel's reactions, it's obvious that he overheard her exchange with Slate, so she sees no need to waste his time by repeating the message to him. AJ nods as her question is answered regarding the briefing, then observes the interaction with the Major somewhat impassively, knowing from the few years under Rak'nar's command what the root of his displeasure probably was, and that it did not lie with her, her decision, or even Woods. :: :: AJ nods when he turns to her with orders. :: @LtCol Rak'nar: Yes, sir, on it. :: contacts the El Cid on a secure channel to request the necessary information ::

:: having waited enough time, factoring in how long it would take him to get down to engineering, Eric rose from his seat and made his way over to the turbolift. He rehearsed in his head what he might say to @1Lt Nico Slate, trying to determine the best thing he could say or do to help things along. He had a few ideas, but it would all depend on what he saw when he made it into engineering. ::

:: sees notice of an incoming transmission and looks over it with an approving nod before forwarding it to the colonel's console :: @LtCol Rak'nar: Colonel, data received from the El Cid and a couple of other nearby ships. I've forwarded it to you, sir. :: she continues to analyze the data and starts to form a recommendation in case he asks for one ::

:: makes it to engineering in time for everything to have been handled. He looks around, locates @1Lt Nico Slate and gives him a jovial smile :: Slate: All good down here?

:: sees Major Woods enter Engineering, instantly bristles but then settles down in a couple of seconds as the second-in-command traverses the main work area to the console that Nico is working at. Marine's had briefings when they were on assignment. Standard like clockwork. If a CO randomly showed up during your shift it was either because they were doing staff morale checks - always got to make sure the brass can dirty their shiny rank insignia with the grunts - or there was an adjustment of orders. ::

:: Granted, Nico didn't git a rat's ass about all of that. Do the work, sign the authorizations, be there when necessary for other departments, and you were golden. And when you had to kick some ass, you kick some ass. While Nico was a pacifist at heart, given years of his previous 'unsavory' lifestyle, he did own the hard edge of a marine. :: @Maj Eric Woods Woods: Major, good to see you. Yes, all is taken care of with the previous irregularity in our systems. Back in shape. :: looks at Major for a brief second... that second where all the talking is done with the eyes. He didn't know if Major Woods would pick up on his glance. They didn't know each other. Nico didn't know Colonel Rak'nar. But the sudden appearance of the executive officer, after a standard reset of a more-than-ordinary anomaly in subsystems put Nico off. ::