"Everything in order Hickoring?" Captain Micha asked from his console in the center of the bridge. 

The Captain seemed to be squinting hard with a slight tick in his right eye. Clearly he had enjoyed a little too much of the Commodore's wine and was now feeling the alcohols retribution. Sabatine might have been in a similar state but Kaiden's company had put her off her usual enthusiasm for liquor and the subsequent duties of bringing the Vickie to readiness for launch had sweated the rest of the booze out of her most satisfactorily. The various officers gathered on the bridge. Graving, their gunner also looked a little worse for the wear and he hunched over her console running target simulations involving a simultaneous missile deflection and close in shot against an enemy warship. Graving was enthusiastic about her job but like most gunners found little occasion to practice her craft. Candleworth, the sailing master, was also hard at work, though the leathery faced old Kostroman did not appear to be suffering the after effects of partying. It was ships lore that they would certainly wreck if Candleworth ever cracked a smile or had any fun whatsoever. His work seemed to involve watching a count down timer. At first Sabatine thought this was a count down till lift of, but she realized after a moment that it was a decrypt countdown. Commodore Welkins had not yet told the ships of his scattering command where they were to go, and even the Captains of those vessels wouldn't know until the decryption time built into the electronic orders. Candleworth was watching so he could begin course computations the second he had the information. Midshipman Daglish, a young officer, recently graduated the academy sat at another of the terminals. Daglish had not impressed Sabatine in the three months he had been with the Vickies company. He seemed to her the sort of fellow who tried to look like he was busy to avoid actually having to do any work. At the moment his screen was at too great an angle to her eyes to read, but she reminded herself to pull the record of his activity when she had the leisure. 

"Yes sir," she responded with confidence, having checked in with both Savachev and Higgs only a few minutes ago. Higgs did seem to know his business and she tried not to let his association with Kaiden taint the man in her mind. 

"Chief of Ship and Chief of Rig report all stations in the green, and we are in all respects..." she trailed off as the Captain's eyes focused behind her as Kaiden stepped onto the bridge. Sabatine glanced over her shoulder and then turned back to Micha.

"Ready to lift," she concluded doing her level best not to stiffen at Kaiden's arrival. Whatever her past with him, he was right that they would have to work together.

"Would you like me to shift forward to the bridge so the XO can take my place in the BDC sir?" she asked. The BDC, or Battle Direction Center, was an armored replica of the bridge in the rear of the ship. In theory if a hit destroyed the bridge or incapacitated the Captain the crew in the BDC could continue to fight the ship. In reality, on a ship the size of the Vickie a hit which destroyed the bridge was likely to kill everyone on board, but the RCN preferred to remain optimistic. 

"No, but stay forward for now," Micha told her, "We will all read our orders together." There was a light commotion and then Tilda Savari slipped onto the bridge, taking a seat at one of the jumpseats of an empty console and smiling that thirty gigawatt smile. Sabatine refrained from grinding her teeth with an effort.

"Yes sir, looking forward to finding out where we are headed."