"Thanks for setting that up." After a grumbling acknowledgment the line went dead, and the senior technician relayed the update to the engineering archive to the chief. "The Central Archive has amended protocols to the engineering database as you've requested, sir, but I still don't know why you didn't just have the AI do it. It would have taken a lot less time." 

"Simple," Xaith remarked as he wiped some manifold residue from his hands onto his lab coat, "As sophisticated as it is, the AI is a secondary system." He peered over his peer's shoulder to verify all was in order. "Now, whenever any member of the engineering team files a maintenance report regarding other department's systems, they're notified and receive a copy." 

"Is that really-" the assistant's interjection was interrupted by a maintenance request by security relating several devices having their serviced interrupted during the ship's initial uncoupling. The assistant pulled some repair teams from reserve and dispatched them, while the Chief added, "Make sure they do a structural analysis to identify [i]how[/i] the systems were damaged. I want to know if there's an underlying problem, or..." he let the implication finish itself as he turned back to the console to a new report, adding only as an afterthought "I imagine security would also like to know if they can rule out sabotage."

Catching motion in the corner of his eye caused Xaith to move out of the path of his assistant's salute. Only after recognizing it as such did he turn to seem to whom the salute was issued, while his EEGARD drew up the appropriate profile in conjunction with a number of others. Xaith grimaced at the number of profiles, but did not interupt.

"Status!" The order was issued abruptly, and quite angerly. 

"Sir, yes sir!" The assistant reported to a navy Lieutenant. "The vitae has uncoupled and began falling away from the planet. We should reach a safe distance to engage our engines in a few minutes." 

"Why the delay?" The look on the lieutenant's face suggested her expertise lie elsewhere, as opposed to navigational component design.

"If I may," the Chief interrupted his assistant, "This ship's launch protocols are on schedule. A vessel as unwieldy as the Vitae would require a tremendous amount of force to break the from the planet's atmosphere." Xaith tapped the rim of his glasses to draw attention to them. In which the lenses clearly displayed the Vitae and some related calculations. "Instead, that energy was better spent aligning the jump drive to the quantum signature of a device already in space." He then pulled up the incident reports being filed from all over the ship, and mapped them to a 3d model being projected in central imaging. "These incidents are likely all due to the sheer-force stress being applied to the ship's hull, and interior frame, by Earth pulling away from [i]us[/i]."

The lieutenant inspected Xaith as he inspected her. The look in their eyes mutually explained that they were sizing each other up, and the assistant fell out of sight, from their locked stare. An older woman, once blond and fit, it appeared there had been several years since she'd seen basic training. The bars on her collar gave away her rank and, while polished, the top coat had been worn from daily cleaning. 

"You're out of uniform, Sargent. You're dismissed to go change," she said, casting her gaze down to SFC Calhound lab coat, as he finally allowed her profile to recenter in his glasses. 

[i]Three months out,[/i] he thought to himself as the calculations displayed in his glasses, [i]that's gotta hurt...[/i] Xaith frowned as he responded, "Actually," he said and again wiped his hands on his lab coat, before pushing his glasses up his nose. "apparel ancillary to the performance of duty is within the accepted parameters of being found in uniform. And..." He paused a moment and addressed the computer "Noah, display Engineering command structure." SFC Calhound pointed to his name next to the title of Chief Engineer he added "Engineering's second in command does not don't give me orders."  

Lt. Rorq's profile was summarily dismissed from Xaith's on screen display when another alert came in. Priority One.

"You," he said to his assistant. "Call two CERT teams, and have them meet me in Cryo." He turned to his second. "This job was never yours to be had. You didn't even make the short list. Hell, you're not even going to be up for review for three months." Xaith grabbed his kit and called over his shoulder to Lt. Rorq. "Draw up a schedule. I want [i][b]every[/b][/i] member of this department CERT trained by the end of the week."

"CERT?" The question came from Chief Calhound's assistant. While his second in command asked why the priority had been changed.

"Cryogenics Emergency Response Technician." Xaith confirmed the training of two on-site staff members, and left with a last note "All requests from Cryo have been changed to priority one, because taking care of those people is the reason we're here."

[hr]
[Hider= OOC Lt. Rorq]
Just some NPC I made up to help flesh out Engineering, and serve as the vehicle for some drama.
[/hider]

[hider=OOC: EEGARD]
[i]I've said EEGARD twice now, in reference to Xaith's glasses, but never actually defined it in character. It stands for [url=http://kidshealth.org/en/parents/eeg.html]Electro-Encephalo-Graphic[/url] (EEG) [url=http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/augmented-reality-smart-glasses/]Augmented Reality Display[/url] (ARD). While its intended function is similar to Smart Vision, all that it actually does, and how it works are totally different technologies. The most notable difference is that there is no implants (augs) in Xaith Calhound. 

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs2GDSYYCoA[/youtube]

Though, it need be stated that it is based off of design principles that would be extremely controversial in this universe, and relies on out-dated technology (in comparison to other medical tech discussed). Thus it is something Xaith was required to build himself basically in his basement. The manner in which every little thing is brought up speaks to how fine-tuned the system is, and the lack of filter on Xaith's mind. Furthermore, unlike Smart Vision, anything displayed in the device [b]is visible to anyone who can see the device[/b]. While even modern (today's) devices have tinting to filter this out, that is just not something Xaith gave half-a-shit about when he made them (Socially Awkward flaw).

If you see him using it around you feel free to comment on it, as he uses the device frequently to do things which may be considered rude. For example: looking up a person's personnel profile in front of that person. From a technical standpoint, Xaith's eyes literally are a window into his mind.[/i]

[/hider]