The message caught Annalynn as she was about to enter the science labs. Sandwich in one hand, datapad in the other, she did a quick 180 and headed towards the meeting room. If Maggie was calling a department head meeting, she was likely even more concerned than she had already implied in their previous conversation. Not like her concern would be without reason - two days without the captain and the [i]Audacia[/i] was already closer to resembling a pirate ship than a Union Fleet ship.

In any case, Annalynn would have to keep things moving. She wrote a quick message addressed to the Science department:

"To all Science personnel:

Until order is restored, continue to work on your assigned tasks until further notice. That said, given that our resources are now split in three ways between upgrades to our ship's weapons, the search for our Captain, and the requests from Security (which, may I remind you, is not a priority, but must still be fulfilled in due order) I understand that the stress of the workload is a bit much to handle. But this department is more than capable of handling it and I expect our research and development to maintain a similar time frame.

Remember, my door is always open.

Commander Annalynn O'Neil

PS And to the people working on [i]Audacia's[/i] weapons, please remember that manual calculations are always required to support your findings in simulation. I think we all remember what happened to the [i]USS Dudacek.[/i]"

Annalynn mentally shook her head at that incident. They had completely forgotten to tell the targeting computers to recognize Union ships younger than ten years and the [i]Audacia[/i] almost fired on the [i]Dudacek[/i]. That had only added yet another reprimand on the ship's long list...

By the time the message was written and sent, Annalynn found herself at the meeting room. She allowed herself in, nodding at the security guard posting outside as she entered.