[b][right]Rear Admiral William Locke [sup]Commanding Officers Quarters[/sup][/right][/b] William poured over the data and sighed. This was such a big step, and he wasn't sure what telling everyone about this would be. if it turned out to be a bust it would just destroy morale even more, forcing it lower than it already was. If that was even possible. The other announcement, the introduction with elections would probably go a hell of a lot better. It would be chaotic, and he'd need a sit down with Lopez and TreVayne first but it was certainly doable. They just had to make sure that all the details were hashed out first. William was at the point where he believed that the structure would work, there'd be growing pains but it would certainly be worth it in the end. Especially if they ended up staying behind for years to come. He sighed as Peter announced the arrival of Lopez. He sat himself up straight. Pressing the button on his table: "Very well, let him in. Just let the Commander in as soon as he arrives as well." After releasing the comm button William took another swig of his coffee, it was begining to go cold but had not yet reached the temperature where it was completely untolerable. He still found it odd, even after all these years that on a ship on which he was serving it was possible to get a reasonable cup of coffee. Most ships of the line had terrible coffee, and that's because it was all filtered coffee out of a pot that constantly brewed and was never any semblence of fresh. The coffee got better once he made Commander, better when he made Rear Admiral, and the best once he got onto the Ark. The work was tedious, it always was. He could push through it though, so long as the coffee kept flowing to keep him awake. William didn't stand as Lopez entered the room. He could hear the tell tale thud of the armoured boots on the deck of the ship. "Take a seat Colonel, though if you stand up and that armour of yours takes a chunk of the couch with you I'm not going to be happy with you." He couldn't complain at Matthew wearing his armour rather than his officers garb, he himself had buttons undone on his tunic, his black vest visible underneath. A clear indicator that he hadn't been a career officer, he had been career military. Working his way to where he was, through all the levels of shit you had to go through. "While we wait for the commander there's something I want to discuss." He waited until Matthew had finished sitting down before he spoked, smiling politely at Matthews retort to the comment about the couch. "I'm going to open up Civillian Elections, and restructure the Civillian structure aboard ship. This was never meant to be a long term solution, and while Martians have all served in the military, and every Martian is used to serving an Admiral or a General it isn't sitting so well with the other nationalities." He took another sip, sliding a datapad over the worktop to Lopez. "The idea is, to divide powers round the Hub. The elected official will have control over the Hub, the Civillian Laws and Civillian research projects, as well as matters such as births and family rights. While I will retain military control, and control over everything outside of the hub. Including any civillians working on military projects. There's nothing concrete yet, I still need to meet with the Civillian Reps and TreVayne. I'm just letting you know there's going to be some changes-" He took a sip, before lowering the mug again as with a -hm- as he realised something. "-On that note. I need you to request transfer. Lieutenant John Lowry was apprehended last night by ArkSec. The CAGs after his ass and I plan to give it to her. Let ArkSec get whatever information they need from him, then he's ours to courtmartial."