Star Trek: Theurgy

DAY 01: Time Judges All [0445 hrs.]

[ Miles Renard | SCO Office | Deck 15 ]  Attn: Husker

The night for the Deck crew had been a long one.  Just a couple hours ago the last of the "Bear cubs" had left the hangar having been told to not worry about putting things away aside from shutting of all power supplies.  For the last two full hours the hangar had been dead, without even a hint or activity within as even the lights were shut off to conserve power for repairs throughout the rest of the ship.

The sound of an automatic door opening pierced the silence of the bay and a single figure walked through the opening that seemed to glow as light poured in from the corridor outside creating a long column of light that cut through the bay bisecting one of the Mark III fighters sitting in its designated area.  The quiet through the bay created an eerie but peaceful calm that was only interrupted when the figure spoke.  "Thea, lights in the bay and my office please." 

"Unable to comply."  Said the automated response in Thea's voice "lights non-functional within S.C.O. Office."

"Of course they aren't" miles said in a somber manner reminded of the damage he had caused with the photon grenades that he had chucked in there shortly after the invasion began. He walked over to one of the mechanical closets and grabbed one of the portable light sources setting it up within his office and turning it on illuminating the room.

To his surprise the deck crew had managed to get a bit of work done on the office.  It wasn't much but the essentials were there.  A small-portable food replicator near one of the walls, a makeshift desk and a set of metal shutters replacing the broken window a plasma cut and spot-welded bent up chunk of metal on hinges made into a makeshift door, and even a computer console and a few chairs had been brought in since he had left their hangar the night before.

The Vulpinian SCO sighed as he sat down in one of the chairs and began to pull up a set of information on his screen.  Information on the person whom he was scheduled to speak with.  A person who's arrival was heralded by the sound of the automatic door of the hangar bay opening from outside his office.

[ Ensign Chris "Husker" Slayton | SCO Office | Deck 15 ]  Attn: IronFerrox


After a short night's sleep, Chris adjusted his uniform's jacket one last time as he strode across the quiet hanger bay to the SCO's office and trying to remain hopeful as to the following meeting with Lieutenant Commander Renard.

Phanatos had been somewhat quiet on the subject of the Theurgy's TacCONN department chief and only had what he'd seen in the field and heard (before everything went to shit) from the others about him..which wasn't much. So in full effect, Chris was going into the meeting mostly blind.

Which was fair.

When he reached the door to the office, Chris took one last deep breath, tugged down his jacket on last time and knocked on the "door" there to let Renard know that he was there.

"Come in." Miles said before the officer walked into the office.  Despite the few amenities the office was still in horrible shape with discolorations from energy blasts charring the walls and floor. "Feel free to grab you a coffee or something from the replicator.  Mother, knows I'm going to need one before I hit the deck in an hour with the rest of you,"  he said from the chair behind the makeshift desk where two other chairs near the desk sat either meant for him.

Miles knew the man in front of him was the last remaining member of his squadron, he had no clue exactly what this meant to him but intuition and experience told him there was likely a lot of baggage this man rightfully carried with him. "Before we talk about business is there anything you wish to say that you would prefer to keep off the official record.  Anything you feel I should know before things properly begin that you feel may should preempt our official discussion, anything you wish to ask before we start?"

Chris walked into the office after Renard told him to come in and he stood before the other man and he listened, expecting one thing but instead he got another when Renard asked him if Chris had anything he needed to get off of his chest.

"Actually sir there is. I know a few of the pilots are going to be rather cautious about me because of what the others did and I don't blame them. When everything was going down here on the Theurgy, Phanatos had me locked up in the brig after I attacked Riptar for gloating about what he had done prior to coming back to the Harbinger." Chris said simply, his hands clasped at the small of his back. "I'm a fighter, sir, and I don't know what happened to them that made them do what they did. All that I know is that I'm here not to carry around the baggage of being a member of being one of the Harbingers but if the squadron needs me to prove that I'm not carrying some agenda, I'll let who ever scan me but the worst that they'll find is what I had planned for Riptar and some rather interesting concepts on Andorian opera, but nothing else."

Chris then allowed himself a moment to actually smile. "You need a pilot, groundpounder, or even a sneaky bastard who's good at infiltration, I'm your man but if anyone thinks that I've got some grand plan on anything other then flying, fighting and finding a good poker game..that's on them." he said earnestly.

Miles nodded,  "Now its my time to be of the record, I apologize if I may have seemed a little overreaching or even hateful when i ordered you out of the bay last night. I want you ti understand my reasoning, last time i saw Papa Bear that pissed was when Ripitor's victim was being harassed by him the day prior.  Given what happened between our squadrons I think the Deck chief is suspicious of anyone in a white shirt that isn't one of the Wolves at this point."

"He knows how to keep us in line when we are on his turf and your squad well they treated his cubs like they were below them. and got in his way a lot.  Not to mention their invasion of our bay left it in such shit condition.  Needless to say, I informed him that according to the records you had no part to play in the mutiny and in fact were most-likely part of a counter attack against Vasser's crew on his home ship.  and likely were behind the helm when the Harbinger somehow sunk an arrowhead shaped saucer section into his ships own hull in order to assure that it was caught up in a catastrophic warp core breech.  Frankly i wouldn't have a clue whether to chalk up a feat like that as amazingly stupid or stupidly amazing but you pulled it off and the Theurgy's crew likely owes you our lives thanks to it.  I don't know what he currently thinks of you but I think I convinced him to give you the benefit of the doubt."  he paused a moment before continuing though changing the subject.

"As for the mutiny, it was masterminded by your former captain.  The man was apparently a eugenically augmented human, in fact so superior in abilities he may be the most successful example of augmentation for super human abilities since the infamous Khan himself.  The plan was spearheaded by his XO, a Vulcan acolyte who utilized her species unique abilities as well as her knowledge of the mind to execute a form of brainwashing mind meld.  It appears that this mind meld may have removed the inhibitions of its victims and gave them each missions to preform.  Most were given missions essentially to subdue locations and crew members.  Others were to take a location.  It appears though that the last objective given was to if necessary forcefully breed with any viable members of the opposite sex in an attempt to create offspring who would in turn be eugenically modified and over a period of generations the descendants would take the war back to our enemies and retake earth essentially under an empire Vasser and T'rena created.  Trenna and Vasser are both dead.  As for Riptor, Riptor was KIA attempting to fight back against a prisoner attempting escape." 

Looking both ways in what was probably some impulsive check for others before he said something that he might regret Miles continued.  "If you are worried about what they might find in your head about how you would punish Riptor...I was the prisoner in question. In the interrogation room in question he chose to violate me anally while threatening to do the same and worse to your crew's Assurian security officer  It was heavily implied that her fate would be the same as his previous victim.  Once I was sufficiently alone with him I goaded him into a false sense of security through oral pleasure and then preceded to literally tear away every trace of manhood he once possessed.  While attempting to disarm him fully I dislocated his shoulder and twisted the phaser at an angle that caused the beam to intercept his head.  the setting he had chose to place the weapon on was a such that it burned a hole through his head killing him instantly.  His fate was far more merciful than I had wished at the time  Having found out about the brainwashing through mind meld I am frankly unsure if I was fair in my judgement of him."

Chris allowed himself to chuckle just slightly. "To be honest, Riptar was always being told that his dick would be the death of him so I guess it's more irony then anything there, sir." he said before getting a quick cup of coffee before sitting down with it in front of the commander's "desk".

"Vasser was an augment, that was a new one on me. But I was at the helm of the Harbinger when it rammed into the Calamity, that one was Ida's idea since Trujillo decided to activate the Harbinger's self destruct but in the end we were still able to help with the Cala situation but I did what I could to minimize the damage already done to the Theurgy if it was possible." Chris explained before taking a pull from his coffee.

He nodded, "That brings us to the real meat of why I wanted to see you, piloting, it's what I brought you in here to talk about.  I called you in here to do two things, One gauge your capabilitys, attitude, and aptitude, as well as get an idea of your willingness, to join my squadron.  Of course your qualifications for the position are still under review.  I have no clue as to whether you would make a more suitable wingman or element leader.  As such if I were to offer you a spot on the squadron it would have to be as a wingman.  For one you don't have much, if any, experience in the Mark III Valkyrie and as such will need to familiarize yourself with its differences from its previous iteration within sims.  No offense but it flies completely different from the Mark II, completely different computer system too, not to mention the hardsuit systems and TVD interface are completely alien to the mark II."

Pausing he looked over the table and smiled, "If you are interested in joining the squadron I already have your Flight and eleement leader picked out as well as your ship you will inherit Hannah von Slaverton's fighter which I have already redecoed and transponder coded as Wolf 04.  Your flight leader and Element leader will be Lieutenant J.G. Fasha.  I would advise you familiarize yourself with the cultural mannerisms of Catachan colonists as she was born there and incorporates much of her heritage into her personality.  So, are you in; and if so, would you like to be properly introduced to your new ship, Ensign Slayton?"

Chris mulled over what the other man had said for a few seconds before nodding, "I'm in and I don't mind not being an element lead yet, Commander. Call it a gut instinct but I know that I'm not ready for that quite yet." he said with a slight smile.

But before he continued, Chris' mind caught something that made his right eyebrow twitch slightly. "Pardon me for asking sir but Catachan colonists? May I ask for details with the help files engaged?"

Miles paused. "Yes, your element leader and flight group leader is Fasha, Callsign Morigan.  She was born on the Federation colony world Catachan.   It's located near the old Klingon Federation DMZ and boasts a human culture that in many ways very warrior culture influenced.  Post Dominion War, many of its human colonists moved offworld to Klingon territories while much of their world was rebuilt the other half went Starfleet.  Her world apparently took quite a beating from the Dominion.  And, from my understanding, the Dominion took quite the beating from them given that they had little to no Federation or Klingon military backup and had to rely on their local mostly-anti-piracy defense force," he said.

"Figured I would give you a heads up on what you may want to expect from the person I am putting in charge of, making sure you are prepared to fly a mark III when you get told to launch next.  I have found that people's personalities often influence their flight styles, and I have noticed that wingmates who have a good idea of each others cultures and personalities tend to fly more fluidly together."

"Hmm, you learn something everyday because I didn't know about that colony." Chris admitted freely. "I also understand what you mean about personalities and flying styles, I used to be the wingman of an andorian Zhen who's call sign was Sniper..did not fit the standard mold for her people but when it came to flying, Phanatos  knew that he had his goto pilots for recon."

For the first time since the whole series of events began, Chris thought his former squadron CO and what he had heard said about what he had done. "I'm ready to see this bird, sir."

Miles nodded, "I'm glad to hear that there were some things that I and Phantom saw eye to eye on.  He was rough around the edges and a bit harsh from what I saw, but from everything I saw before the mutiny and based on the files I read on him he sounded like an astounding officer.  The Federation lost a fine man yesterday.   No, we lost many fine men and women yesterday in every division.  if there is anything you wish to say on behalf of your fellow pilots and your previous SCO please feel free to share it tomorrow at the memorial services.  It would not be fair to send them off without at least a few kind words."

Miles opened the office door and walked with the new Ensign twards where the ship was parked,   "By the way the pecking order in the air is what you would imagine.  On the ground though Sten is the squadron's XO.  You want to make a request regarding specific repairs, weapon loadouts, etc... he is the man to talk to about it.  Above all else though if he tells you to do something or stop doing something in his bay listen to it.  This bay is his turf and even i Know better than to try and get in a pissing contest with him.  As for conflict of orders between myself and him.  If it has anything to do with maintinance or fighter upkeep or anything like that then his order goes right the hell over my head.  He knows the Valk 3 better than anyone alive.  I was one of their test-pilots but that man practically assembled them. Probably 90 percent of the changes between prototype and final version started as his pencil markings on the original blueprints.  As for the bay, the guy created the model that nearly every fighter bay in the fleet is based on.  Practically wrote the book on every bay procedure that you followed on the Harbinger.  Far as he is concerned the Valks are his babies and he just lets us borrow them. And I have no intention to give him a reason to think differently."

he stopped as they neared the fighter and climbing the steps and popping the hatch, "Here she is,"  A helmet now sat in the chair. Though there was no suit to go with it.  "I'll give you till 0530 to familiarize yourself with the cockpit layout, computer systems and the TVD display in the helmet.  I'll make sure to get you your hardsuit requisitioned ASAP.  Once the clock hits 0530 I need you helping out with the rest of the wolves getting the bay ready for when the Cubs show up.  I told Papa Bear that him and his deck crew will be showing up to work to a deck free of debris and ready for them to start repairing.  So I am gonna need everyone on the job to get it done before 0800."

As Chris started to check his new bird out externally, he stopped and turned to look over at Miles with a serious expression. "With all due respect sir, I know that my record is clean and clear on my part in helping to take down the Calamity and getting Ida and Doctor Duv back home..but I'm still going to have my head scanned." he said with a respectable tone. "I know for a fact that I didn't have my head frakked with or anything like that, the only thing that I'm truly guilty of was stealing a kiss from Ida before covering her and the doctor's ascent to the Harbinger's bridge but it might go a ways to clearing the air on some things."

Chris then chuckled softly, "As for coming up with something nice to say about some of my old squadron..the only ones that I could speak well of either was transferred off of the Harbinger before we went rogue or died in the weeks before we ran into the Theurgy. The only one I can honestly speak well of was Phanatos and that was because he was my friend before that vulcan witch fucked with his mind."

With that being said, Chris's face relaxed "I'll be ready by oh five thirty, sir. If anything, flying and stealth are my life." he said with a grin.

With a mordant stride, Evelyn Rawley walked across the deck of the hangar. She had spotted Iron-Fox from afar, talking to someone she didn't recognise. She had just been reviewing the battle logs from the day before, and she had seen both read the individual reports and reviewed the tactical simulation of what had happened. Now, she had something to say, and she was not about to wait.

Dressed in her dark blue hoodie with the Lone Wolves emblem on the sleeves, she wore it unzipped over her white undershirt - making the garment flap like a short cape as she set her course towards the Vulpinian back-stabber. "Hey!" she called, her face betraying her anger as she closed the distance, "Miles! I want a word with you. Off the fucking record, if you so please. Otherwise I am perfectly fine with calling you out officially."

Reaching the two men standing underneath Nightmare's Valkyrie, she glanced towards the tall, unshaven man. She put two and two together and guessed that he was a bloody Harbinger pilot and that he was going to inherit Hannah's bird, but as much as she might have to say to him, her business was with her superior officer. She just gave the man a hard stare, not trusting him for a bloody moment, before looking back towards Miles. "I think you want to have this conversation in private, but I am perfectly fucking fine either way."

She was too angry with Renard to be bothered to keep her tongue in check in the presence of the new guy, but she supposed that if he was to fly with them, then he might as well learn to stay clear of her if he valued his survival.

He looked over to the Pilot as he saw Rawley angrily approaching  the way the woman walked and the sheer force of anger she seemed to exude was enough that he wasn't sure if seeing a Borg cube dropping out of warp off his fighter's nose would compare to the apprehension her burning glare made him feel, "Husker, I think i have other business to attend to."  he said before hearing her call out to him.

He had expected her to want words with him some time today.  To be honest he was more than a little surprised she had been able to hold off on her confrontation this long. needless to say the way she addressed him made chills run up his spine.  Not because she scared him but because he knew good and well that she had every right and reason to be as furious as she was.  "My office then.  he said."

The silence was like a weight pressing down on miles as he walked into the office and opened the door, once she was within he shut it.  "So, I assume you reviewed the flight recorders then."  he said in a voice of understanding semi-sympathy but also a boldness of an air of knowing.  The tone was somewhat monotone, almost like the voice of a Vulcan doctor having to deliver news to a patient that would be better suited to be delivered by someone with the emotional capacity for genuine empathy.

[ Evelyn Rawley | Fighter Assault Bay | SCO Office ]  Attn: Ironferrox

"As a matter of fact, I did," said Rawley once they were inside the office that Miles shared with Sten, and she paced the room in front of her SC0 like the wolf she was - her sharp scowl and staring eyes never leaving the Vulpinian for a moment. "Quite interesting, I'd say. It looked to me like I was trying to do what was right and true to accomplish the mission, and you decided to thank me for for it by ordering someone else to stab me in the back with a fucking cluster torpedo!"

Pausing in her step, she drew up to him with challenge in her eye that contradicted her diminutive height. "You did not even have the bloody decency to wield the proverbial dagger yourself!" Spitting that in his face, she walked away, circling the office floor again. She realised something, and looked at Miles again. "So this is what you meant down at the Triage Centre, back after I had protected the armed shuttle as it made its way to the Calamity. You complained about not knowing what to do with me after you clipped my wings, and this is your final answer? To use the pretext of 'the greater good' and getting more enemies destroyed by sacrificing your less-than-stellar pilot? What the fuck does not the Chameloid Captain preach more, than that we should be what Starfleet officers once were?"

Baring her teeth at Miles, she came to a stop at last - glaring at him with her fists clenched at her sides. "Again, I bleed to do the right thing, only this time, my ungrateful bastard of a Squadron Commander doesn't just clip my wings, but tries to kill me because I am an inconvenience. Tell me, is that what has become of us? Then what makes you any better than the dead Phantom and his pilots? "

[Ensign Chris "Husker" Slayton| Fighter Assault Bay|] Attn: Auctor Lucan & Iron Ferrox

Chris didn't say a word to the other pilot and was getting ready to go back over his new Valkyrie when he heard her accented voice come raging out of the SCO's office about something that had apparently happened to her previously before he joined the ship's company.

"None of my business, thank..." Husker started to mutter as he started going through the differences in start ups between the Marks Two and Three which included a two step power exchange that would allow the fighter's internal capacitors to quickly shunt the excessive bleed directly into the phasers if the take off switched to a combat one in mid-start up which was impressive.

He started to run through the offensive systems next and noticed a few key differences such as the Micro-Torp magazine held an additional twenty more torpedoes then the standard model which was a large improvement since it meant less time having to switch out systems to make the fighter into a bomber mid-tactical operations like they had to back on the old Mark Ones.

Switching over to the engines, he found that the combat speed actually on par with the prototype Delta Flyers that Voyager used which meant that not only was it quite the improvement over the Marks One and Two, but also it would allow him to hit an Immelmann Turn at a much faster speed then normally which to Chris was quite impressive.

"Hrm, what was it that Shran once said." Chris mused as he resumed going through the systems check and pre-flight start up test. "Ah yes, it was don't push the pink-skins to the thin ice...not very eloquent but I think that people are going to find that out as a truth quite soon, eh?"

At that thought Chris stopped what he was doing as a new thought crossed his mind. Nobody signed up to be warriors as that was not what Starfleet was about but like any good living, sentient being it would do what was needed to defend it's own against any invader.

No matter the cost.

Chris' eyes looked back over the systems in front of him and then smiled a bitter smile. "We may not be a society of warriors, but we are the masters of our fate and that fate can't be controlled by no hostile to our nature." he told himself as he went back to his work.

[Miles Renard | Fighter Assault Bay | SCO Office ] Attn: Auctor Lucan

He nodded, "That's one way of interpreting the flight data.  But, it doesn't take into account the actual firing solution that was programmed into the cluster torpedo that was fired with your ship as its "target."  He said pushing over a series of PADDs each with a different set of data on them that revealed a different facet of the stratagem that had been employed.  On one was the raw data of the firing solution of the torpedo.  On another was trajectory data of Rawley fighter, the torpedo, and the enemy fighters.  Another had an animation of the entire sequence of events as they occurred all the way from firing the torp, to the scattering of the warheads and their lack of ignition for forward trajectory, then the subsequent destruction of enemy fighters.

"If you will give me a moment to dissect the entire sequence of events then I am sure you will see how though it may appear I was attempting to have you killed, the actual tactic raised your survival chances rather than decreased them," he said calmly understanding she had every right and reason to storm out and take her complaints right to the captain and had no reason to let him explain.  Still she came to him to have him hear her anger and to hear his excuse so it was only fair to assume she was willing to listen.  "First I want you to notice your squadmates locations and your own.  Secondly look at the flight paths of the enemies who were on you and where they ended up going.  Notice something?  Your squad-mates were in no position to provide you microtorp or phaser cover should the Reavers make another pass on you.  They were also onto your tactics.  They were onto my own tactics as well.  If I had been within range they would have expected a cluster bomb attack from me as I had utilized the tactic twice before against them.  They were anticipating my flight patterns in that battle as well and inferred they were onto all of our tactics. "

He continued before pushing forward another PADD that showed how the Reavers seemed to anticipate several of their pilots' tactics during the battle including his own.  "This included your own tactic of causing them to break off an attack and veer off course by "playing chicken".  If you notice, their trajectory did not divert from you when they made their pass as they anticipated you would not shift course to avoid them and as such only attempted to divert.  Given the damage you had sustained your ship would likely have been destroyed on the next pass with minimal casualties on their side as they would have easily been on your six with you in a craft that already was at less than effective engine performance."

"Once you were dispatched, this group of enemy fighters could have taken their superior numbers into battle against the rest of your fellow pilots and as such there was a risk to your fellow pilots' lives if they were not destroyed immediately.  Secondly, this would have caused those pilots to be caught in a firefight with those Reavers rather than closing the distance and attempting to assist in protection of our home base.  At the time the Harbinger had not warped in and as such I was planning on ordering them to fire all hardpoint mounted weapons on the Calamity and make a tetrion cannon pass on her before engaging the remaining Reavers targeting their squadmates and the Theurgy.  At the time it was the best tactic I could devise for the overall protection of the Theurgy and that would cause the most damage to the Calamity."

"As such I was prepared to view you and your ship as collateral damage from a purely tactical perspective.  Still it was important to create a way to minimize the collateral damage to your ship.  As you can see from the PADD in front of you,"  he said pointing at the one that showed the tactical readout on the sequence of events as they occurred.  "The detonation of the cluster bomb and the firing solution that I sent your fellow pilot did use your ship as a target.  But, the cluster torp was triggered to deploy its microtorps once it reached a certain position behind you and then explicitly not engage the engines on the microtorps themselves.  Instead they were programmed spread out into a wide dispersal net and detonate in the case of object impact or nearby concussive or explosive force.  Essentially I used a point right behind your ship and the Reaver's headings as a deployment point for a microtorpedo net.  A minefield deployed right in your engine wake if you will."

  He paused before pushing forward a final PADD showing a lot of complex computer calculated mathematics and results on probability analytics.  "I ran the the calculations last night based on the likely outcomes.  Believe it or not your chance of surviving the next attack by the Reavers had I done nothing was roughly 10 percent and this is in the less than one percent probability of your fellow pilots destroying all remaining Reavers as soon as they reached weapons range.  In all likelihood the Reavers would at least destroy one of those ships as well as your own.  Your chance of surviving a cluster bomb detonation directly behind your craft was roughly 5 percent.   The probability of you surviving the custer-bomb net should it have went off around you was next to zero.  The likelihood of destroying the enemy fighters using a detonation with you as epicenter of the net would have been roughly 75 percent.  Catching them with the attack as I executed it was roughly a 50 percent chance of success."

He then paused having shown her the mathematical odds that he had ran only after the fact.  "I know this was math done well after the battle was done and therefore not an excuse for my taking said risks during the battle.  If you must know why I did it in battle, it was gut instinct.  Instinct told me the most effective shot was using you as the target essentially destroying you and the Reavers both.  My instincts also said it still might work and you might live if I adjusted the location of the net to behind you rather than around you.  I trusted that splitting the difference between good and bad outcomes and trusting your piloting skill would lead to a successful destruction of the enemy fighters as well as your survival."

"Of course," he added.  "Gut instinct is no valid excuse for the deployment of a tactic that is as risky as that one and could have resulted in the death of both a very skilled pilot and an extremely promising officer, not to mention the loss of a very vital piece of mission critical equipment.  As such you have every reason to question my tactical decisions in this instance.  Endangering your life in this way and use of a tactic such as this with no data to suggest its success was likely a violation of at least a few regulations regarding squadron tactics and ethics and authority of superiors within the chain of command."

[ Evelyn Rawley | SCO Office | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 15 ]

Rawley had listened, of course, since she really wanted to hear what kind of excuse Miles had for his actions. She had come to try and make sense of his order.

So she had listened, looking at the PADDs as they were presented to her, and while her emotional turmoil was just below the surface, she verified what Miles was saying by going over the numbers and the trajectories. When he was done, she had been silent for a long time. She raised her eyes from the final PADD and she tossed it on top of the others of the stack.

"I went to Eton, you know, so from what I can see, your theoretical bloody numbers check out," she said, and then she folded her arms. "You forget, however, that you are the squad-leader now, and while you may violate regulations and ethics all you bloody deign to, there is one thing you can't violate. None of us wolves can."

With challenge in her eye, she stepped up to the Vulpinian, her lip curled. "You can't fucking call us collateral damage. You can't throw our lives away on a whim or the vain hope of a stroke of luck. Fuck your gut instincts, we can't trust you if are prepared to kill us off when we get out there. We have enough on our minds. Deep down, we are steeling ourselves to thwart enemy fire. There is no room for the fear of our SCO throwing our lives away if he sees a tactical advantage. Not this squad. Not when there are just so many left. Not us Lone Wolves. Please note my unofficial complaint."

Saying this, she turned her body and with the momentum of her hips added, and she rammed her clenched fist deep into Miles' solar plexus. After she dealt the heavy blow, she stepped away towards the door, flexing her hand as she searched for words - something that would make the shape-shifting fox understand. She would not go over Miles head, but she had a few more choice words for him.

"Probability analytics are bullshit. I am not a number you calculate in order to justify your actions. As complicated creatures as we are, you can't derive truth of the unknown. There is no way of knowing the minute precision flying I had to do in order to destroy the Reavers I challenged. Had I decelerated at the wrong time, you would have killed me, and you would have killed your collective credibility as our squad-leader. There are some lines you don't cross."

Saying this, she walked out of the office and headed towards the turbolifts. She was still upset. About Miles, her brother and her dead wolf brothers and sisters.

He listened to her words understanding her points.  But she didn't understand the truth of the matter as it were.  It wasn't as simple as she described; it wasn't a simple act of him throwing away her life nor was it as simple as him viewing a life as possible collateral damage.  Needless to say the words he chose were not the most comforting but he still believed that his words expressed the meaning most accurately.  Perhaps his early time in Starfleet trying to fit in by idolizing the Vulcan way of explanation through logic my not have been the best choice to make when trying to work with a squad of humans.

He groaned as he straitened himself back up  only allowing his words to come out once she had stormed out of the office.  "that could have went better."  he said to himself as he grabbed a few things for himself before opening the door again and raising the "flag" as it were as the signal that if anyone needed to see him in his office it was open.

---

((OOC: if anyone wants to have a meeting with miles now is the time.  If not then i guess we can fast forward to whatever the next item on the agenda mentioned in Miles communique with the squad.))

[ Sten Covington | SCO's Office | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 15 ] Attn: Miles Renard

Morning had come much too fast for the Chief of the Deck, but duty did not care whether a man had plenty of sleep or not.  And in this case, he had been ordered to pay a visit to the Squadron Commander once he was in the shop.  When he arrived in the bay, Sten did not waste much time in detailing what had to be done.  The debris had to be gotten out of the way and the tables with the spare parts that would be further stripped and used to rebuild others were to be shifted along the bulkheads to make room for coffins. 

And once the ceremony was over, there would be a hell of a lot of work to get done.  But for now, he had to have words with the boss.  Considering it was his office as well, Covington did not knock and he simply lowered the makeshift flag as he stepped in.  The place had been savaged during the mutiny.  And truth be told he was none too happy to be in there for in his mind's eye, the sight of Cinsaj's dead body burned bright. 

However, he gathered himself and looked at the SCO while he coaxed himself some coffee from the replicator.  "You wanted a word boss?"

[ Miles Renard| SCO's Office | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 15 ] Attn: Sten Covington

Miles sat at his desk when the chief walked in the office, he sat there with a cup of warm steaming fruity smelling liquid in his cup. He motioned towards the small replicator in the corner of the room, "Grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair and relax a moment.  I wanted to see you as an officer whom I view as a superior outranking myself on a matter."

Once the deck Chief was seated allowing him a moment to interrupt Miles continued. "I apologize for this but last night when I sent the message to everyone I also sent a copy to the captain with an additional area for him to read." 

His voice retained an air of neutrality as his face bore no emotion. Revealing nothing of his opinion on the situation merely stating his carefully chosen words. While attempting to retain his best impersonation of a stoic Vulcan.  "I went over your head on something and for that I apologize but I felt the Captain needed to be informed immediately of Petty Officer First Class Eun Sae Ji's actions during the Harbinger crew's invasion and how she chose to take command of your flight deck when we came under attack by the Calamity and her forces." He calmly stated awaiting the reply of his deck chief wondering if the Chief would immediately jump to his juniors defense given how Miles' words had been carefully worded to leave the impression of disappointment in the Petty Officer's actions. 

He wanted to hear the Chief's honest opinion on the propulsion expert's actions and he figured by leaving the impression of an attack on her performance might just do the trick.  His ultimate goal right now was to see if Sten thought her actions wrong or if he saw her performance as instead more in line for commendation than disdain.

[ Sten Covington | SCO's Office | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 15 ] Attn: Miles Renard

As he sat himself down coffee in hand, the Chief of the Deck listened to the SCO.  Of course, a Lieutenant Commander always outranked a Chief Warrant Officer First Class, even one with four decades of service, had a hand in inventing flight deck doctrine and training and was part of the design and testing teams for every generation of fighter that had been deployed in Starfleet service in the last twenty years or so.  At least, in absolute terms.  However, most officers tended to be at least smart enough to understand that men the likes of Covington were a resource and a fount of knowledge and experience.  And a rare few recognized that these grizzled veterans probably knew more about their fields of expertise than any three or four officers combined. 

And when Miles Renard mentioned that he considered Sten his superior in something, he knew instantly it had something to do with the flight deck or the state of the fighters.  But the part there was a section encoded for the Captain, that was new information but he took it in stride.  After all, messages with multiple addressees were common enough and the Captain needed to be aware of the developments on the Deck to begin with.  However, why had it not gone to Stark as well? 

But having gone over his head, that perked the Briton's curiosity.  Renard was hardly one to step on toes unless it was damn important, but when the matter turned out to be about Eun-Sae, he narrowed his eyes.  She was going to be folded back into his deck apes now that she was back and so far as he was concerned she was going to get right back into her old slot as head of fighter propulsion.  But Miles' tone and words spoke of doubt and reproach, particularly how she took over on the deck while he was otherwise occupied by the process of retaking the ship. 

"Hang on boss," started Covington.  "Ji was sent to Harbinger on my word, but she managed to avoid getting her head scrambled by the Vulcan bitch.  It's a good thing the Harbinger pilots never considered their deck apes with any kind of respect, otherwise things would've gone a lot different.  When she got back here, she did a great job clearing up the bay with whatever warm bodies she could scare up.  I'm none too keen on having had all those randoms on my deck but without her, we'd never have been able to go to flight ops when Calamity showed up.  And I'm not exactly pleased the Reaver got taken out in the process, but from what I gathered she acted as best she knew how in that regard.  And when I got back, she didn't argue or sulk when I took over and did her job as best as I know she can do it.  There's a reason I handpicked the Cubs, boss.  It was to get the right deck gang for the job and to create an instructor cadre when we'd get back from operational testing.  Ji did great, and I'd say that if she'd get away from just doing propulsion and boned up some more on other systems, she'd be fit to head up her own deck in a few years."

[ Miles Renard| SCO's Office | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 15 ] Attn: Sten Covington

Miles kept the stern look a moment. "Good, I wanted to hear your honest opinion even if it meant opposing mine.  Still, I believe I can count on you sending a similar report to the Captain then," he said before allowing a smile to crack on his otherwise stern features, then widening into a full grin.  "Because my report was regarding how she went above and beyond the call of duty and used her instincts, training, and every skill she had to serve in the capacity of a Deck Chief."

In fact, she was able to do so in the worst case scenario possible on a Flight Deck, the all-fighter-scramble - AKA Alert 0 Situation - while also dealing with the compounding issue of a damaged and debris riddled deck.  As such, I put her in for commendation and recommended her for promotion.  I believe it's due time the wolves start adding 'Chief' to her name when they address her."  Looking to the Chief, he was wondering what he thought about the rather cheap trick of fooling him into thinking he was condemning the PO1.

He continued sipping on his drink. "Since a promotion will put her at CPO, this means she will be at the rank where Enlisted need to decide whether they want to look at a career as an officer, if they want to further specialize in a single field in the Warrant ranks, or, of course, she could be gunning for that Senior Chief and later Master Chief badge.  I wouldn't blame her one bit for choosing that path either.  Needless to say, I believe she needs to be made aware that regardless of whether or not she is promoted, she did great in the battle with the Calamity and I would fully endorse it if you were to make her a Deputy Chief of Deck Ops in addition to her job as Head of Fighter Propulsion."

[ Sten Covington | SCO's Office | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 15 ] Attn: Miles Renard

When the Lieutenant Commander spoke of Sten's differing opinion, the Chief simply chuckled.  Far too many men in senior non-commissioned ranks stopped thinking of their men and more of themselves and started being yes-men for the officers.  Covington had never even come close to being a yes-man to anyone.  He would agree when it made sense but when it didn't he'd put his foot down and let his position be known.  And especially with his people.  He refused to accept some personnel as part of Theurgy's deck gang who were perfectly qualified and even heartily recommended by respected officers and some of his fellow Chiefs of the Deck because he didn't have a good feel for them, while he argued to take on some that their supervisors deemed to be problems and troublemakers. 

But in the end, before Theurgy left spacedock with the first operational complement of MkIII Valkyries, he had them shaken down and working together.  His Cubs were hand-picked down to the last one of them, including Petty Officer Ji. 

But somehow, he was none too surprised at Renard's report and his subsequent request.  For a pilot, he was keen enough when it came to the ground crew.  But then again, the Briton had known the Vulpinian since the first manned holodeck simulations of the Mark III and he'd have had to have been pretty thick not to learn a few things from the grizzled veteran. 

But promoting Eun-Sae to Chief?  That was definitely a possibility.  She had the skills for it if not the experience but she also had the right instincts.  And with Marquette recovering from the shit-kicking he had taken in the mutiny and Thomason dead, he would need someone at his right hand.  And he trusted her implicitly, and she was smart enough to branch out.  "Well, I need a new right hand for now.  But let's pitch her getting her Warrant instead.  She's a smart cookie and it wouldn't take her long to bone up on the other systems.  Besides, I'd love to see Billy Bob's face when he hears he's losing a propulsion tech he's already not bossing around."

"Let's leave it up to her to decide her futile path, given her field of expertise and your tutelage the girl could make captain some day if she chose the officer path.  It would almost be a sin to deprive the fleet of such a potentially excellent captain for a dedicated carrier if she chose such a path.  anyways like i said the promotion would be to chief petty officer from there she can choose what path she wants to head in.  More than anything though I wanted to ask you if you would put in the same kind of request for commendation and promotion for her. I feel if both of us were to submit similar requests for her promotion Ives would have no reason not to promote her to CPO and inform her of her options."

He sipped on his drink for a moment before continuing,  "Now that we have discussed her I wanted to talk to you about the newest member of the wolves.  I am designating Ensign Slayton, the last surviving member of Phantom's pilots as Wolf 04.  I reviewed his actions Regarding in crashing the Harbinger into the Calamity and determined that his loyalty is best describes as to the tac-conn branch of the Starfleet we knew.  His service record shows him to be an excellent pilot with a specialization in Stealth-ops and Reconnaissance and is more than better than average with standard fighter ops.  He seems to understand the way I prefer interactions between my and your branches to be handled.  I am confident that he knows that if we pilots can help your cubs get the birds working then he reports to you unless he has other whiteshirt duties.  More importantly he isn't so cocky as to think he can just jump in a mark 3 with no training in the TVD and other mark 3 exclusive systems and think he can fly it effectively and is more than eager to begin the necessary retraining to be qualified for piloting our fighters.  Just thought i should let you know up front my decisions regarding him." 

He paused a moment before adding something he didn't know if he should talk to Covington about but none the less he said it, "Rawley on the other hand... now she has it in her head I intentionally was trying to murder her out there."  he groaned holding his head in his hand a moment rubbing his temple.

[Nathaniel "Maverick" Isley | SCO's Office | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 15 ] Attn: Miles Renard & anyone else in the assault bay
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To say that Nathaniel had been avoiding the Fighter Assault Bay was a bit of an understatement. He hadn't stepped foot in the hanger since he had submitted his after battle reports. Of course even that couldn't keep him away from his bird for that long. He looked over his bird for a moment before feeling just angry. It had been his first command, and he had fucked it up.

One of their pilots Ravon was now MIA, because he left him behind. The man had done things sure... rapist or not he still wasn't entirely sure if he bought the story on Ravon's amnesia, but what he was sure of was that they were down a wolf... because of him. He let out a long frustraited sigh thinking he was mostly alone he turned and kicked something, his Vulcan strength sending the tool whipping to the other side of the launch bay. Probably the most frustrating thing about this was that he hadn't so far been reprimanded for his command, which is why he had come here. The stop at his bird was only temporary. He wasn't sure if he was going to get to see it again any time soon, and he walked with shoulders squared towards the SCO office.

Walking up to it he could already hear voices from the other side of the door, and swallowed slightly he was still angry, but he wasn't sure who he was angry with. Walking up to the door he knocked. "Are you busy Miles? I'd like a word." He wasn't really sure about what he even had to say as far as this confrontation went. He just knew that it was well overdue for a meeting.

He turned to Sten, and for the most part ignored the fact that Miles was already here with someone else. He was tired of waiting, and if he had too he would have the other man be part of the conversation.

[Miles Renard | SCO's Office | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 15 ] Attn: Isley and Covington
He looked over to the shut door hearing the voice of Isley "Come in, Lieutennant"  he offered.  Upon entering the room the Lieutenant JG stood and looked towards the Chief of the bay and Squad XO.  Miles simply turned his attention to the chief and spoke, "I guess we can table that particular discussion." 

Turning his attention to Isley he spoke again, "Yes Maverick, go ahead" he said waiting to hear what the Lieutennant had to say.  Not to mention if he had an explanation for not arriving this morning at the early time he had asked all wolves to assemble to begin getting the bay ready for Covington's deck crew.

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OOC: sorry for the short post here lots of other posts to get done so others can post too.

[ Sten Covington | SCO's Office | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 15 ] Attn: Miles Renard

To say that the Boss has much to say was an understatement.  And considering that Sten was his de facto departmental Chief, it fell upon Covington to advise him on such matters.  Although, technically he did not have to consult with his Chief of the Deck on such matters.  But something to be said about Renard, he had learned early on in the testing phases of the Mk III that the Briton was not just some grease monkey to boss around but a valuable resource when it came to fighters, their ground crews... and their pilots. 

But there was no chance to respond.  Indeed, when the door opened on its ad hoc hinges, Sten turned his head over his shoulder to watch Maverick just walk in as though he owned the place.  And that by itself was very much against any kind of protocol, even the more relaxed ones.  And addressing the SCO by name?  Even in front of the Chief of the Deck that was hardly appropriate.  However, the veteran did not say anything, simply clenching his jaw as the Vulpinian welcomed in the pilot and effectively dismissed the Chief of Flight Deck Operations.  "All right, Boss," he simply replied.  After all, everyone knew his "sirs" were rare enough. 

And with that said, he had work to do, and left the pilots to their conversation.

[Nathaniel "Maverick" Isley | SCO's Office | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 15 ] Attn: Miles Renard
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Nathan gave a sigh as he sat down into a chair. Watching Sten leave he felt a cold chill run up and down his spine for a moment as he looked at Miles. He had been rehearsing an entire speech for this occasion, but now that he was here in this office it felt completely pointless to even talk. What was he supposed to say? He had been in command and suddenly one of the wolves under him had vanished without a trace, no idea if he was alive or dead.

"Sir,I'm a little lost for words I was hoping you could help me to understand what happened?" He said lightly he had been in command could recall the event and he wasn't even sure what he was looking to hear out of miles. The facts were plain as day as he had lost Razor in the attack. "I'd like to hear your assessment of the situation... and if.."

Nathan's eyes dropped from Miles as he searched for the right words. If he had done the right thing? He had chosen Theaurgy over one of his own. He knew the big picture, that old Vulcan mantra of how the needs of the many outdid the needs of the few, and yet time and time again he had replied the events of the last few days over in his head. He shook his head Miles was his superior officer not some plush-toy to cuddle up with when he felt miserable. As much as he wanted it he knew he wasn't going to hear anything good about his performance.

"I'd like your critical assessment of my command in the last mission sir."

He nodded to the pilot, "I cant say I am pleased with the results of us loosing a pilot but from the reports from all the other pilots I would say that the loss could not have been prevented." he said stoically.  as fr your command in the air you did the right thing, fleeing the battle was the only option that prevented your capture by Vasser's crew and as such was the only option.  I purposefully refrained from placing conditions on your command as I knew the likelihood of my capture was high and therefore the less I knew about what your commands were the better.  taking refuge was the right choice and you couldn't have done more to prevent casualties as far as I can tell.  Reprimanding you for things beyond your control would have no benefit and therefore I do not feel it is the right decision.  In combat against the drones your forces did very well and in the end the Calamity was destroyed.  Given the overwhelming odds that we were facing loosing one ship and one pilot though a enormous loss looks to have been seemingly unavoidable."  He paused a moment, "The sad truth is when you take command you have to accept one thing above all else, Sooner or later you will loose someone.  Worse yet sooner or later you may have to order someone to their death in order to prevent the destruction of your home base or to accomplish the mission.  If never gets easy to have to loose someone.  If it ever starts to feel easy to lose a pilot then it might be time to consider hanging up your wings." he said thinking back to how he with no hesitation ordered Rawley to be used as a target to take out a few of the enemy drones.  It had been far too too easy he began to realize and began to wonder if he was getting to the point he was now warning about.

So the disturbance he was feeling now was just normal? He was supposed to be feeling like crap? Nathan sighed feeling slightly dejected at Miles's answer it hurt a little to tell the truth, and he shook his head. It felt all the worse now that he knew that Miles agreed that there was simply nothing he could have done to save one of them. He had never felt powerless while in a valkiry before, and that hurt him. He looked at Miles long and hard trying to read the mans face and he sighed finally shaking his head. "It doesn't feel right. That I could do everything in my power and then still loose, I thought that we were supposed to out think the no win scenario?"

He shook his head. There was one other thing he needed to bring up before he left. "Miles sir, some information came up while my team was on the planet. There was a fight, and Ghost was knocked unconscious after accusing Razor of trying to rape her. Razor then insisted that we leave her behind, I refused and carried ghost back to her craft. Sir I have no reason not to believe Ghost at this point, and while I dislike the idea that I lost one, I think we should note this on the official record, perhaps even investigate the incident."

Miles nodded, "Agreed, Security needs to be informed of this and an investigation of the accusations are definitely in order.  Given the recent trials we have endured it sadly wouldn't surprise me if one of our own may have "morally faltered" or at the same note if another may have made an untrue accusation with the reason being recent traumas.  Either way if one of our pack feels that one of our own assaulted her whether this has occurred should be determined as soon as possible even if that person is no longer in our midst."  He paused a moment, "besides if he was truly not lost it would be best to determine how we are to receive him if he should return."

Looking around a moment "Now as to the question about no win scenarios.  The command division of officers typically has a simulation they have Ensigns take when being considered for the promotions and responsibilities of the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade.  This test is known as the Kobayashi Maru scenario.  Test takers are placed in the position of the captain of a Federation Starship.  AS far as they know this is a standard test there are correct and incorrect decisions to make etc."

He paused a moment, "the scenario goes as follows, The captain is informed of a freighter registration Kobayashi Maru sending out a distress signal.  The Freighter's location is within the Neutral Zone.  Originally it was the Klingon neutral zone currently the scenario plays out in the Romulan neutral zone."

"If the captain chooses they can ignore the distress call as responding to it would require crossing into the neutral zone which could be interpreted as an act of war by the Romulans."

"If they choose to ignore the distress call they will be informed that all communications from the freighter have ceased and they will be informed post test that the Maru was destroyed and there were no survivors."

"If they respond to the call once they attempt to begin rescuing the crew of the maru they are immediately attacked by two decloaking Warbirds.  Given the strength of the two ships attacking while the Federation ship is attempting to beam up survivors the ship will take major damage and the Maru will be destroyed.  Destruction of the test takers vessel is inevitable and the simulation ends with the loss of the ship and all hands onboard."

"The test is a no win scenario and is meant to teach a person with aims at command that no mater what there are such things as no win scenarios.  more importantly though it tests what a person does when faced with a no win scenario.  Do they obey Starfleet regulations and ignore the distress call. so as to not damage diplomatic relations?  Do they try and save the Maru at risk of their own ship and crew.  When engaging with the Attacking vessels does the captain do do thy desperately try and save their ship.  do they attempt to sacrifice their ship to save the Maru. DO they flee as soon as the enemy decloaks.  To me that old test isn't about out thinking the no win scenario to me the test seems to be about knowing yourself and seeing what YOU would do facing the no win scenario."

"Oh there was one person who beat the test of course, James Tiberius Kirk continued to take it well until he was up for his commander promotion.  After taking it multiple times attempting to find a solution to the test he thought outside the box and chose a third option.  He cheated.  he hacked the programming of the test simulation causing the Klingon shields and weapons to go down then destroyed them and saved the crew of the Maru."

"Some saw this as what it was, cheating.  However enough argued that his option was commendable for its creativity that instead of being flunked out of Starfleet for ignoring the purpose of the test he was given a commendation for winning at the no win scenario."

"The reason I mention all this is to let you know that among the command division the no win scenario that is given as a test has been beaten but even so the test is still recognized as having the inherent value of giving those of that division the necessary skills of knowing that there are no win scenarios and the important thing isnt just winning but how do you react when faced with an impossible to succeed situation."

"As I said its tough but you got almost everyone back alive and aided us in the fight against the Calamity.  You lost one person.  now remember your words earlier, you said we are supposed to be trained to out think the no-win scenario.  We were attacked by our allies, you fled base with no commander and were thrust into a state of command, took refuge on a dangerous planet with low survivability odds. Then survived a high risk skirmish with technologically superior opponents.  Finially, you made it back to base before engaging those opponents again and defeating them.  In the course of this mission with low odds of success much less a success with any survivors you had only one casualty.  You did out think the no win scenario.  Hell you could have easily retreated and disappeared into the ether never to return and I doubt anyone on board would view you as cowards for it.    But you didn't, you kept your pack safe and got them home you lost one but the pack made it back home.  Remember, a member of the pack wasn't lost because of you... almost the whole pack made it back home, thanks to you."

He paused a moment,again now allowing the pilot to respond to the attempt at the motivational talk.  He of course knew there was still at least one other thing he needed to discuss with the pilot before dismissing him. still he knew what he had said had to be a lot to take in.  he could tell the pilot was having trouble coping with the loss of a fellow squad member.  Still morale was important and he couldn't have one of his pilots down in the dumps when they had missions to accomplish.

"I know about the Kyobiashi. I was in the academy after all." Nathan said leaning back into his chair a little with a huff. "I also know the favorite prank to pull is to simply fire on the ship and claim that they felt like it was going to be an ambush. It worked the first time some captain pulled that trick so now every student who reads up on it does that one, but saying you can pull the triggure in a simulation and actually having done it... those are two very different feelings."

He shook his head. He didn't feel that any of it was thanks to him. He felt more like he had let down the rest of the wolves. Of course it was impossible to know which was the case, and he knew Miles was at least mostly right. There was little more he could have done, and in truth what they had done had saved the ship. Perhaps he needed to start viewing his actions as a win instead of all negatives. Yet with each supposed victory he had implemented he couldn't help but feel that he was always causing damage where ever he went.

"Permission to be dismissed sir?" He asked Miles, looking into the mans eyes. He hadn't found exactly what he wanted to hear. Part of him had wanted to be chewed out, or have some lash of anger. Instead he was told that he had done a good job. It wasn't what he wanted, but it was also kind of what he had needed to hear.

Though he could also tell that there was something else on Miles mind, one last subject before the two of them could part and close this thread of conversation. "Or is there something else that the two of us need to talk about now?"

He nodded, "Yes Two things, one is my new policy regarding acting flight leader.  This is not due in any way to the results of the previous mission but only because there are three officers besides yourself that are equally deserving of Acting squad lead status when appropriate.  As of today Due to your equal rank Yourself, Morrigan, Ghost, and Goldeneyes are all on rotation for the acting Squadron Commander status when I am not in the air.  SInce you had the last turn you will be 4th in the rotation and I have yet to decide who will get the acting lead status the next time it is necessary.  Understand that this is not based on any form of preformance during the previous mission but because I feel that given your equal ranks all of you should be given the opportunities to lead.

"Now onto the more immediately pressing business.  I am certainly not going easy on you on this one."  His voice dropped a bit and he dropped all of the cordiality in his mannerisms expressions and voice taking on a firm and even angry tone, "Where the hell were you this morning when you were supposed to be in this bay?"

Nathan wasn't all that worried, and in fact a little greatful that he wasn't going to have to deal with being in charge during their next mission. He would wish luck to which ever one got the lead on that mission because for the time being not being in charge as a squad commander. He would be happy to follow one of the other wolves... for a time at least while he got over the shock of loosing one of their own.

Nathan leaned in as things seemed to get more serious and when Miles asked the question he opened his mouth to answer the question, and then closed it. His hand clenched then opened as he tried to think of what time that would have been. It was only a few hours ago, where the hell had he been? For a moment be it due to the seriousness of the question or something else Nathan couldn't remember. It was like there was a dark hole where time had gone in but nothing had come out, at least nothing that he could remember and share with his boss.

"Sickbay." He lied, after a moment of pure hesitation. "I didn't sleep well last night, got rather... sick, I went in this morning to try and see if they could help settle my stomach."

It was all lies, but it came naturally, and if Miles did ask anyone he could just blame it on a different nurse, have him run around and talk to every on duty medical staff there was until he lost interest in this. He could blame the 'stomach pain' on guilt. It was an easy story to sell, and he gave a confident nod as if he remembered everything now.

He nodded,  "I'll take your word on it.  A lot of us are still dealing with the aftermath of yesterday after all.  Besides I figure if I asked them for a record it would take forever to retrieve it.  Wouldn't be surprised if half the ship wasn't in there at one time or another between last night and this morning.  Still I wish you had cleared it with me, I told Chief Covington I the squad would take care of the mess in the bay for his deck crew and I was hoping we all would be available to show them we were there for them as much as they are always there for us."

more importantly though is how you made your presence known moments ago.  Frankly you seemed to just interject yourself into a conversation between myself and Covington.  IT almost felt as if you saw yourself as a higher level of priority than the chief of the flight deck.  I understand that you had an important matter to discuss but you should know the only reason I didn't tear into you right then was because I wanted to know what it was that was so damned important that you missed this morning's assignments and were willing to interrupt a conversation with two officers that are above you in the chain of command. 

"Also on a matter of protocall, when asking for entry into my office, or speaking with me, especially if I am with another officer.  I suggest you adress me with the proper decorum befitting a superior officer.  It isnt a matter of self pride but a matter of respect for the other officer who I am speaking with.

As I am sure you know, Chief Covington, when on this deck is for all intents and purposes, equal in rank to myself if not slightly higher given his experience and yet when speaking abut business in front of other officers he addresses me professionally.   By addressing me by my first name and interrupting our conversation you may have left an impression that you view yourself as deserving of greater familiarity with me than he deserves."  He paused a moment then added,  "Now you are dismissed.  I suggest you make your first order of business an apology to Chief Covington  Also, please inform him that I apologize for the interruption, and that I would like to continue our conversation as soon as he is once again available."

Nathan let out an internal sigh of relief as he looked at Miles, his mind no longer worrying about what he had been up too in nights prior. This was all going to go away and for the moment anyway he seemed to be back in the clear. He was glad that this little meeting hadn't taken some turn for the worse and at the same time he was going over his interactions with Miles and Covington, an embarassed flush overcoming the pilots face for a moment.

"Yes sir, sorry sir." Nathan said suddenly realizing all the breaches of protocol that he had gone through that morning, hell he had kicked a tool box on his way down here not even thinking about how he should have been acting on the flight deck. He stood up to leave once he was dismissed and would take the lesson to heart. At least as much as he could.

"I will make an effort to find Covington now." He said leaving the room and Miles alone in his office. Nathan still had a slight jitter to him as he walked out of the room, still shaken by the loss of a comrade, but at the same time there was now something a little more personal. Once he was done apologizing with Covington he was going to need to launch his own investigation.

What had he been doing this morning?