Sitting on the Sidelines

Posted on Sun Oct 31st, 2010 @ 8:02pm by Commander Christopher McNeil

Mission: Episode 1.3 - "The Time of Trial"
Location: USS Pandora, Bridge
Timeline: Mission Day 5, 1100

ON:

Commander Chris McNeil sat calmly on the bridge, surrounded by several junior officers. While normally at least half of the Bridge stations would be manned by department heads at this hour, and the rest by their assistants, with the Pandora orbiting the starbase and the ongoing Board of Inquiry, most of the department heads had arranged some free time. Whether they were at the Inquiry or just taking the time to enjoy the starbase's recreational facilities McNeil didn't know. He also didn't particularly care.

He had volunteered for bridge shifts during the Inquiry, after the first day, in order to be somewhere he felt he could do some good. He knew that Lt Commander Fala was hugely busy with her duties as acting-CO and dealing with the Inquiry and the crew's curiosity about it wasn't helping that. As acting-XO it was his job to make her job easier. As such, he'd decided that the best way to do his job was to free her up from bridge duty while they sat here in space doing nothing and with no critical need for more than one senior officer to be on the bridge.

He was also able to keep track of the Inquiry from here, as a feed had been set up from the court room to the Pandora so that crewmen who were off duty or had a free screen could display the proceedings and follow them as closely as they wished. As such, since he knew he wouldn't be called to testify again, it suited McNeil's purposes to be on the bridge.

He had, however, forgone the center chair, as it was easier to do the other work he wanted and needed to get done from the Mission Ops position just behind the center seat. He could quickly take the center chair, if needed, so the arrangement suited him even better than it would have one some other ships. It also made some of the more junior officers less nervous about his presence on the bridge. As long as he appeared absorbed in his own work, they didn't feel like he was watching them.

With a shake of his head, McNeil shoved away the abstract thoughts and went back to his Intelligence reports. Something odd was up in the Aldani sector, and for some reason he couldn't pull up any reports for the last few days. He was sure there was a reason for that, but not knowing what it was made him suspicious that something was being kept from the Pandora's crew.

OFF:

Commander Chris McNeil
Mission Advisor
USS Pandora