[right][b]Command and Control Centre[/b]
[i]The Bridge[/i]
[/right]

William stood on front of the holo-emitter. Currently the hologram raised no higher than his head as he replayed the battle through on the table. He kept the hologram small as everyone still at their stations was calm and content, the night shift always was. Though he had some issues that he wanted to work out. The Devastator ship appeared on the hologram pulling up out of Earths Atmosphere the ugly behemoth that it was going at speeds he only wished that the [i]Vitae[/i] could accomplish. "Freeze play back." The hologram froze as he spoke, responding to his commands. "Magnify ship dubbed [i]Devastation[/i]-" The crew had a very vivid imagination when it came to naming things. He didn't mind, it made it easier to reference and it kept some things that were hard to keep light hearted at least less grim. "- highlight this vessel and show nothing else." 

The ship grew to match the parameters he had set in motion for the hologram as everything else faded away. He placed his right hand resting on his chin, while holding his elbow with his left hand, he could feel stubble on his chin as he let his eye run over the vessel from bow to stern. Then there was a chirp as Noah appeared before him. "Admiral, civillian Ronald Bridger is requesting entry to the command centre at his appointed time. Security is wanting to know if they should let him pass." He sighed as he turned away from the hologram, straightening himself up his back cracked as he stretched his arms and shoulders. He had been standing analysing everything he could of the battle for longer than he had thought, he knew that Bridger wasn't going to go easy on him but that was the reason William has selected this time for them to meet. A reminder to him as to whom was in charge.

"Let him in."

Within two minutes, under escort, he saw the [url=http://img02.deviantart.net/664e/i/2016/097/3/9/man_with_beard_by_eventrue-d9y211h.jpg]ever angry looking face[/url] of Ronald Bridger. His biggest fan.

"Admiral, Ronald Bridger Ark News." He extended his hand, William paused for a second before reaching his own arm out and grasping the mans hand shaking it. It wasn't an extremely forced handshake but he didn't go light on him either. In his other hand Ronald carried a tablet, which he raised on front of him as soon as his other hand was free activating what was likely text to speech software before lowering disconnecting a microphone which he held in his other hand between them.

"So Admiral, we've had a tough time so far. Wouldn't you say?" William hated the news service aboard ship. It was useful, served a purpose and it kept people happy yes. He just hated the fact that Ronald Bridger was in charge of it, the man had a good record. Got information out to the people, though was red blooded Federation and didn't really stand for Martians or Armani. Ironically he seemed to be able to tolerate people from the Conglomerate so maybe he was just elitist with him thinking Earth was somehow superior. 

"Nothing we weren't prepared for, the [i]Vitae[/i] and her crew can handle more than that, anything the cosmos throws at us we've got it handled."

"I'm sure we do Admiral, however would you care to comment on the injuries caused because of your decision?" 

"Excuse me?"

"I have it on account that you ordered..." He turned his attention to his tablet for a second. "...Colonel Theodore Anderson to manually dock with the Eye of Thea. The experts I spoke to say that the violent shaking the ark encountered was a result of this manual docking process rather than the more careful automated process. Several injuries were caused because of this, in fact in one case the Doctors are unsure on whether or not the man will pull through. After all this to be killed by our entering hyperspace."

"I did order Colonel Anderson to dock manually, what you fail to realize though is the situation we were in. With a Devastator ship-" He cast his thumb over his shoulder at the hologram. "-Bearing down on us, that had actually launched fighters to pursue us. With the [i]Destiny[/i] jumping away to preserve itself we became the target. We had no time to dock with automatic procedures, had the [i]Judicator[/i] not jumped in we likely wouldn't even be having this conversation." The press always found a way to put a negative spin on positive actions. He had made the call in the heat of battle, had he not have done anything humanity may have ended forever. At least as far as this ship was concerned.

"Yes but did you know that this action could have caused such damage?"

William shook his head. "No I did not. The Eye of Thea is a new piece of technology, or was. The only ship to ever go through was the [i]Rejuvenation[/i] and once she went through she wasn't able to relay any information to us. So there's no way of telling whether or not the Eye caused the damage by simply being used or due to our docking procedures. I made the right call, and I'm sticking to it."

Ronald just nodded as he appeared to think about something for a moment. "So now onto another matter. The cyborg-"

William cut him off there. "I'm not sure how you know about that situation. Though my answer to any questions is [i]no comment.[/i] That's a classified military manner-" 

"So is that how we should expect to be run? By a military dictator?"

William was becoming fed up of this, it came up everytime. Though it was bound to, on Mars being ruled by a military man was just a way of life. It was how the planet functioned as well as it did, or at least that's how he saw it. "I've commented on this before. We have a civillian judicial system already in place and are currently looking at creating a civillian government for civillian matters. Do you have any other questions?" 

"No Sir, I think I've got all I need." William nodded at the guard, who then indicated for the door as he turned back around. William rubbed his brow. 

"I hate doing that Noah." The holographic avatar of Noah appeared before him.

"Yes sir. You say that after every meeting with him sir."

"Well, back to real work." He turned back to the hologram as Noah brought up the dimensions of different parts of the ship and he just eyed it. It wasn't the most sound design for a ship, it just didn't make sense for a flagship made to attack an enemy location. Were the Devastators so confident in their abilities that they didn't worry about retaliation? If William had had weapons capable of taking the vessel out there were weak points he could easily have targeted. He swiped at the hologram and it disappeared. It wouldn't do to dwell on the past, study of the devastators was now down to the egg heads. He'd never see them again, they were no longer his concern. He wouldn't be seeing them again.

He sighed as he rubbed his brow. "What's next on the agenda Noah?"