[i][color=gray]On the Vitae[/color][/i]

For anyone else the term to describe what Xaith awoke to would be 'looming'. The man slept stiff and rigid for the four hours he allotted himself between today's shifts and, he imagined, for the entirety of that time Sasha was observing him. He'd like to think 'watching over' was the term to use, but he knew that her program was not yet sophisticated enough for the requisite emotional attachment such a phrase conveyed.

He took a moment to acknowledge 'her' presence after sitting up and before quickly running through his 'morning' routine. A routine which began with grabbing his EEGARD off the nightstand, applying the RFID transmitters to his scalp, and booting up the system. By this time his automatic coffee maker had produced for him a cup of black lava to get his new day started—even though it was technically still the same day—and it was only a matter of wading through the work he brought home to claim it. He ran his fingers through his short unmanageable hair, before following with a comb, and then rolled off his bed to make the trek to his small kitchen. 

Xaith finished the remainder of his morning routine, and was making his way out the door to leave when he stopped, and turned to Sasha. "Follow," he said, issuing the only order of the day that would be given to her. To which she proceeded to fall in on his left flanking position as they made their way to Engineering. 

Before they even made it into the door to Main Engineering the duo were addressed by waiting staff. "Sir," one of the many engineering sub-department heads began his report while offering another cup of coffee to the Sargent First Class. "Here's the analysis on the modular tactical reconfiguration circuit you requested. I didn't think it possible but the computer says it [i]could[/i] work."

One after another they continued to hand SFC Calhound datapads and explanations to which he nodded in acknowledgement where appropriate. 

"Sir," a female this time added, "Lt. Rorq's meteorological analysis. Electromagnetic interference in the comms between us and the Nyx seems to stem from a dense concentration of ferrophosphorus minerals in the planet's crust." She handed him another pad detailing some schematics for a device drives from one of the Rorq Industries "Planetary Solutions" machines. "The stellar radiation from the star intermixing with the atmosphere of the planet has made it prone to ion storms, and as a result the minerals in the surface—particularly around the poles have been, well, polarized." 

"So, they're landing on a great big radioactive magnet," Xaith summarized.

Sheepishly Lt. Rorq's number one assistant responded: "In a word: yes." She then pointed to something in the first report she handed him, "But more importantly the planet can't even begin to terraform the planet without strip-mining it, to deal with the magnetic interference, and building refractive shielding to scatter the stellar radiation."

"Thank you ensign," Xaith said in dismissal for the next in the long queue of people and tasks he would otherwise delegate to Lt. Rorq who was presently off station. It was the dirty little secret of science that with enough work [i]any[/i] planet could be terraformed. The question to answer was firstly what stood in the way of successful terraforming, and the second was how long it would take to do so in order to determine if the endeavor was feasible. Due to department policy he knew that these recommendations and reports had already been filed for the higher up's attention and didn't need to make a decision about it himself. 

"Sir," began a surly elderly gentleman who was the next in line. "The personnel reports Lt. Rorq requested. Psychological evaluations have been ordered for all staff to assess post-Earth mental fitness. Due to the incident these orders have been expedited." For a moment the man fidgeted in a manner befitting his years, "Sir, I don't mean to pry but I see your evaluation hasn't been scheduled."  

The Chief of Engineering nodded, adding only "Yes, of course corporal." He took the pad and added his own name to the schedule, and returned it to the man. "Coordinate with psych and get back to me."

"Sir, if I might add," the corporal continued, "I expected some resistance to the matter. Many of the staff have been protesting."

SFC Calhound frowned. "Remind them that system diagnostics is of the utmost importance to detecting and correcting a fault before it becomes a problem. And, if necessary, explain that I will [i]personally[/i] assume anyone not willing to commit to such a diagnostic, to be a piece of faulty equipment, and they will be removed and replaced."

It was harsh, but pragmatic, and the corporal nodded in response to the unified front that was Lt. Rorq's and SFC Calhound's orders. 

With that Xaith pushed past the group of engineers, technicians, and staff begging an audience to actually make it into his place of employment. He had quite the long shift ahead of him, and though these were matters of triviality to the Chief of Engineering, they were nevertheless important matters to attend to. As he made his way through Engineering the ever present crowd that Lt. Rorq normally kept at bay with appointments and office hours, flooded to him without any organizational structure to pour in reports, and request orders. 

As they did so they slowly pushed Sasha further and further out of position, and in the back of his mind Xaith could see it: she was confronted with her first choice. Her first question of arbitrary nature. A question that was required to be answered by the machine who had no capability of doing so. [i]Just how close must one be to be still considered following?[/i]

But work would not wait for him to engage in this moment of internal revelry. "Sir," another tech followed up after reporting core status, "Should we be concerned about the droid following you around? Is it for protection?"

To which Xaith laughed. "No. It's a personal project." he stopped and half-turned toward Sasha while remaining focused on the technician. "The droid is incapable of performing any action—let alone intervening on anyone's behalf." He turned back to the tech and took another datapad, adding as he browsed the schedule for deployed maintenance technicians. "Pay it no mind, and don't waste your time trying to interact with it, because it will not acknowledge you." Xaith truthfully explained before following with a convenient lie: "At the present it only has basic collision detection."  


[hr][i][color=gray]Meanwhile on the Nyx[/color][/i]

The silence in the Astronomics maintenance bay was interrupted by the sound of an engineer's toolcase closing.  Lt. Rorq let out a long sigh of relief as she finished analyzing the adjustments made to [i]her[/i] droids. The word stressed in her mind did not go unnoticed as she was quite used to commanding far more than a pack of sensor droids, and here on the Nyx she was as far down the ladder as one could be and still be considered a rung. It had come to her attention there was an unauthorized robotics technician aboard the ship tinkering with her droids. 

To rule out the possibility of sabotage, the Lieutenant decided to give them a full diagnostic, only to find that the robotics technician merely corrected and stabilized their radiation purging protocols, and enhanced their EM shielding. As a result she had the broad strokes of what the analysis she ordered while aboard the Vitae would reveal about the planet but lacked the fine details.

With so little to do, compared to her normal job on the Vitae, she was getting antsy and decided that another calibration of her tools would help take her mind off the waiting. And so, the silence in the maintenance bay was once more interrupted by the toolcase; this time it was opening.