Kristen entered the main lab. She'd felt much more settled after meeting Nathan Bridger. It didn't take long for her resolve to sour though as she looked upon the disgruntled heads of her senior scientists and physicians. They'd all now settled in their cabins, and or dorm rooms, and were now attempting to get to grips with their working conditions and set up shop ready for their subordinates to arrive.
"The hydroponics lab is half the size of what it should be. It's barely a broom cupboard. I am meant to be responsible for growing and maintaining a fresh supply of fruit and vegetables for the vessel yet would be lucky to grow enough to feed the senior crew alone. They've packed more than three quarters of the space with… I don't know what; weaponry of sorts from what I can tell. It's not good enough. I know we aren't meant to be self-sustaining, but they want us to be close. I cannot fulfil my brief without the space I was promised."
"We are in a similar position Dr Westphalen. They are trying to partition the medical bays in such a way it would be nigh on impossible to perform anything of any great intricacy. Heaven forbid someone were to get seriously injured, we'd never be able to perform life preserving surgery and they are filling our equipment stores before we can even get a look in…" Kristen raised her hand.
"Right, okay, I understand. I've spoken to Commander Ford but right now he seems adamant that this is his vessel, and he can do as he likes, but…" she quickly added as the mumbling increased. "… I will speak to him again and if needs be, go above his head. I promise I will get this resolved, to original specifications." With that she dismissed the meeting. Until this was resolved and her teams could even consider beginning their work, there was little else to discuss. She took yet another deep breath and headed towards the bridge.
"I want this vessel to be ready to go ahead of schedule, by 22:00 hours. We can waste the best part of the night arriving at our rendezvous point." Hitchcock, Crocker and O'Neil all exchanged a concerned look. As the highest ranking officer Lieutenant Commander Hitchcock decided to speak up.
"Sir, we are unlikely to be finished in dry dock before tomorrow and not all personnel will be onboard by then." Ford mentally put up a wall, these weren't only his colleagues but his friends too.
"Are you questioning a commanding officer, lieutenant." The loaded way he threw that out unnerved her, this was not her friend.
"N… No sir, of course not."
"Then you have your orders." He reinforced before taking his seat and refusing to make eye contact with anyone. It didn't stop the others though. Why on earth he wanted to leave so early was beyond them. They weren't due to set sail untill tomorrow at the earliest and they didn't particularly think there was any rush, it was an ideal timeframe, not strict deadline. The whole point of this first sail was a test run to ensure the modifications were behaving as they should. That and test out a few changes. Now, not only would everything not be complete, but they'd definitely be leaving people behind. It didn't escape their attention that the majority of those personnel would be scientists. Katie's attention was stolen as the door to the bridge opened and a very stern looking CMO entered. They hadn't properly met as of yet. Formal introductions weren't meant to take place until they were due to set sail and people had settled in.
"Commander, may I have a word?" Ford merely wrapped his fingers against his arm rest and scowled before turning to face her.
"Again Dr, your protests have been heard and you have had my decision, unless you want to discuss anything new, don't waste your breath." Ford spat out through clenched teeth, he was now sweating slightly. Kristin was fuming and Hitchcock and O'Neill shared a concerned look. This did not sound like their friend; he'd been acting weird all day.
"In that case I will have no option but to go over your head. Good day." She turned and began to march out.
"We will be setting sail in five hours, any members of your team who are not on board by then will miss the boat, literally." That stopped her in her tracks. She span back around.
"What! You can't be serious. Commander…" He stood up and towered over her again, puffing out as much he could. This time she'd decided his bark was worse than his bite. He went to open his mouth, but she beat him too it this time, leaving no space for his rebuttal. Meanwhile a certain Captain Bridger had also heard the commotion and was drawn to the bridge.
"No, you cannot just decide to leave before the ship and crew are ready. Not to mention you've reduced the size of the medical bays to unworkable. Woe betide anyone suffers anything more serious than a paper cut, as this ship no longer has the facilities to deal with anything. Never mind the fact you've practically taken over the hydroponics lab. Commander…"
"That is enough! You will not enter my bridge and speak to me in such a manner…" By this time Bridger, Katie and Crocker had all moved slightly closer, not understanding where all this hostility was coming from.
"NO!" She snapped back. "What is your problem?" She turned to face the others. "You cannot tell me that this man is fit to command a submarine, let alone one equipped with warheads." Katie stepped forward.
"She's right Commander. I don't know what's going on with you today, but your behaviour and irrational commands suggests you may not be in a fit state of mind…" That was when Ford squared up to his Lieutenant Commander.
"Sit Down!" She refused to back down, Kristen closed the gap again as though she were about to use her authority as CMO to relieve him of command. As he turned to face her though, he'd worked himself up to beyond livid and he could no longer suppress the anger that had been bubbling so near the surface. He looked as though he were going to strike her or grab her by the throat or something. She froze; absolutely not trusting that look in his eye. Bridger noticing her flinch, decided he had seen all he needed too.
"Commander!" He belted out whilst gently taking Kristen by the shoulders and moving her back, standing between her and the irate first officer. "I am hereby, relieving you of command. Stand down and report to your quarters. I will be along shortly." It took a moment for what had just happened to dawn on Ford. It was then he let out a deep sigh as if a weight had been lifted. He instantly softened.
"Captain, if I may have…"
"Not right now," Bridger calmly commanded, maintaining stern eye contact. "Do as I say, or I will have Croker here escort you to the brig. Do I make myself clear?" All he could do was nod his understanding as he made his way out. They all turned to Bridger.
"Does this mean you are going to be our Captain Sir?" Queried a secretly pleased Crocker.
"It does looks that way, at least for now, but tell, me what the hell was all that about. Is he always like that?"
"No!" Came the assertive and convinced voices from all around, every military officer instantly backing their commander. This immediately put Bridger at ease, he definitely needed to speak to this Commander Ford and find out what was going on. Firstly, he wanted to get to the bottom of the dispute that seemed to be holding the build back. He turned to his CMO. Yes, it looked like she was his now.
"Would you walk with me please?" He asked softly, not liking the way he'd so far seen the military treat the scientists. He wanted to rectify that as best he could. This was now his command and his team and that was what they all had to be – a team. She merely nodded and followed him out.
They walked for a few moments in silence. "Are you okay?" He finally asked. She just nodded through pursed lips. He wasn't going to push it though. "Tell me then, just what was your quibble with my first officer?" Kristen couldn't help a nervous giggle at his choice of word. She then proceeded to air her complaints and the complaints of her fellow scientists to which Bridger made a promise he would rectify forthwith.
It was then he felt the all too familiar shudder and vibration. The Captain instantly placed his hands to the hull. He turned to his CMO. "We're moving." Kristen shared his look of concern.
"But… but we aren't ready." She stated.
"Follow me." Bridger needed to know where Ford was, perhaps this was his doing.
When they arrived at Ford's quarter's there was no reply to their rapping. He opened the door deciding this was a potential safety issue to enable justifying simply waltzing in.
He was pleasantly surprised to find Commander Ford, laying on his bed, clearly in deep thought. It took him a good few minutes to realise they were in his room and staring at him. He sheepishly sat up and dangled his feet over the edge of his cot. The moment his feet made impact, it registered. His face shot up.
"We are moving?" Bridger eyed him for a moment as did Kristen who cocked her head in consideration.
"You seem surprised?" Bridger pushed.
"What! Yes of course…" he shook his head. "Look, Captain…"
"How about I give you two…" Kristen turned to exit, not really wanting to get any further involved in this military debacle.
"No!" Ford grabbed her shoulder, causing her to gasp and spin. It slipped neither of the men's notice how jumpy she was or the momentary look of fear that accompanied it.
"Sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to… startle you." Ford confirmed placing his hands out where she could see them. "I just… I want you to hear this too, seen as you took the brunt of my… actions." Kristen looked to Bridger, as though for authorisation. He smiled and moved closer to stand next to her, he wasn't quite sure why, but he felt it right.
"We are listening Commander." Bridger gave a look that said – behave. He still wasn't sure about this officer.
"I want you to know that the way I've behaved the last day has been in complete contrast to my nature. I was following orders. It's been unbelievably stressful to do so and I've been torn by my conscience ever since, but here we are."
"Orders! Who the hell would order you to be an arse?" Ford was almost taken aback by that remark, but quickly remembered who was speaking to him.
"Admiral Noyce, Captain."
"Noyce, why would Bill…" then it dawned on him. He shut his eyes; he'd fallen right into the old bastards trap. "Dammit Bill." There was a few moments silence.
"So you are telling me, that everything you have put us through these last twenty four hours, was nothing more than a rouse, to lure this… this relic back into action?" She was almost too calm with her words as she gestured towards the Captain.
"Hey, now hey," Bridger said whilst turning to her, "I'll have you know…" He readjusted his shirt has he spoke, almost as though trying to preen.
"Save it." Kristen said curtly, before marching off.
They watched her storm off before Ford crashed on his bed and Nathan sighed. Then Nathan remembered their new little problem.
"You are positive you have no idea how or why we are moving?" That alerted the Commander to ready for action again. He shot up.
"No, I don't. My sole remit was to act aggressive, argumentative, irrational and incompetent." Nathan shook his head considering this. "I swear, I know nothing else and it may not even be related."
"Right, well there's one way to get some of those answers. Come on." Ford was pleased the Captain was allowing him to join him. He had a lot to prove to this legend now.
In the Captain's quarters, Nathan wasted no time in hailing Admiral Noyce.
"Ah, Nathan, do you hail with good news?"
"Good news, you have to be kidding me! You nearly caused a mini civil uprising and managed to pit the science contingent against the military, who, may I add, have only succeeded and affirming the belief we are a bunch of brutes." He shot Ford a look.
"Jonathan, what on earth did you do?" Noyce asked. There was no way Ford was taking the blame for this though, at least all of it.
"Exactly what you told me too, Admiral." Noyce had the respect to at least look a little contrite.
"Well, it seems I may have greatly underestimated your acting abilities Jonathan. I… I shouldn't have asked you to behave in such a way and Nathan, my apologies to you too. I was just desperate for you to give this a shot." Both men relaxed a bit and released a breath.
"I appreciate that Admiral." Noyce nodded, acknowledging Ford.
"Rest assured Nathan, Commander Ford is of the highest quality, and I don't doubt that after a few years under your guidance, he will make a great Captain himself." That was exactly what Ford needed to here, as did Nathan. "Was, was there much damage done?" Nathan and Ford exchanged a look.
"Nothing that can't be undone with a bit of care and attention." Nathan added, only hoping he was right about Kristen. There was something a little off about her and he hoped this wouldn't put her off entirley. He knew of her credentials and wanted to work alongside her. "Where the hell are you sending us, anyway?" Nathan finally added.
"Sending you? What are you talking about?" That sent both men on high alert again.
"You mean, you haven't ordered the SeaQuest to leave port?"
"What! Of course not; you're not ready yet. What do you mean Nathan?" He was also now becoming agitated.
"About thirty minutes ago we broke port; we assumed this was part of your plan?"
"Well I can assure you it isn't and you need to get back here, immediately Nathan." With that they ended the call and made their way swiftly to the bridge.