Gan/Taylor/Max/Lillian-Debriefing

||Starbase 12
||Briefing Room
||August 3, 2387
||1530

He sat at the head of the table, looking at the PADD he had brought with him. He had already sent orders out to everyone to be there by 1600 so he would just take a few minutes to go over a few things. He didn't know what would happen if he had his XO and his MCO in the same room. The men certainly seemed to have a distaste for one another. It would be hard, but in this he would have to put his foot down. They had to show each other respect so that the crew would respect them. He wouldn't have two officers on his senior staff biting at each other's throats like wolves. It simply would not do. He just had to find a way to bring them into accord somehow, but he wished he could do that without pulling them by the ear. He should just knock their heads together and lock them in a room somewhere for a few hours so they could work it out. Or kill one another. He chuckled softly, well that would at least solve the problem of their fighting. But he'd hate to have to replace his XO. In close quarters, he assumed the marine would probably win a fair fight. Though Max certainly would do his best to not allow it to be fair.

He had to talk to Lillian about this after the debriefing. She might have some sort of idea that he hadn't thought of yet, she was usually very good about that. Gan tended to think in straight lines, the shortest route through any situation to him was a straight line. She could think in curves far better than he would ever be able to. And if he was ever to reconcile the two of them, it would definitely have to be a curveball that neither man saw coming. He shook his head and finalized the changes to the Security and did what he could to ascertain what he would need to do to get the station back on track once more. This would certainly be an interesting meeting.

||Starbase 12
||Briefing Room
||August 3, 2387
||1530

He sat at the head of the table, looking at the PADD he had brought with him. He had already sent orders out to everyone to be there by 1600 so he would just take a few minutes to go over a few things. He didn't know what would happen if he had his XO and his MCO in the same room. The men certainly seemed to have a distaste for one another. It would be hard, but in this he would have to put his foot down. They had to show each other respect so that the crew would respect them. He wouldn't have two officers on his senior staff biting at each other's throats like wolves. It simply would not do. He just had to find a way to bring them into accord somehow, but he wished he could do that without pulling them by the ear. He should just knock their heads together and lock them in a room somewhere for a few hours so they could work it out. Or kill one another. He chuckled softly, well that would at least solve the problem of their fighting. But he'd hate to have to replace his XO. In close quarters, he assumed the marine would probably win a fair fight. Though Max certainly would do his best to not allow it to be fair.

He had to talk to Lillian about this after the debriefing. She might have some sort of idea that he hadn't thought of yet, she was usually very good about that. Gan tended to think in straight lines, the shortest route through any situation to him was a straight line. She could think in curves far better than he would ever be able to. And if he was ever to reconcile the two of them, it would definitely have to be a curveball that neither man saw coming. He shook his head and finalized the changes to the Security and did what he could to ascertain what he would need to do to get the station back on track once more. This would certainly be an interesting meeting.

Meetings. It was always meetings. Meetings about missions, meetings about lunch, meetings about diplomatic incidents. The life of a senior officer was just filled with fun. Still he put on his game face and put his feelings about Max to the back of his mind. Feelings that were more or less contempt and utter loathing that the man couldn't obviously put down the bottle. He kept his mouth shut as he walked into the briefing room and offered Gan a salute before sitting down.

"Afternoon captain. Sorry if I'm late...where there's no report there is a meeting and when there is no meeting there's a report. I swear paperwork exists to thwart me."

||Starbase 12
||Briefing Room
||August 3, 2387
||1530

He sat at the head of the table, looking at the PADD he had brought with him. He had already sent orders out to everyone to be there by 1600 so he would just take a few minutes to go over a few things. He didn't know what would happen if he had his XO and his MCO in the same room. The men certainly seemed to have a distaste for one another. It would be hard, but in this he would have to put his foot down. They had to show each other respect so that the crew would respect them. He wouldn't have two officers on his senior staff biting at each other's throats like wolves. It simply would not do. He just had to find a way to bring them into accord somehow, but he wished he could do that without pulling them by the ear. He should just knock their heads together and lock them in a room somewhere for a few hours so they could work it out. Or kill one another. He chuckled softly, well that would at least solve the problem of their fighting. But he'd hate to have to replace his XO. In close quarters, he assumed the marine would probably win a fair fight. Though Max certainly would do his best to not allow it to be fair.

He had to talk to Lillian about this after the debriefing. She might have some sort of idea that he hadn't thought of yet, she was usually very good about that. Gan tended to think in straight lines, the shortest route through any situation to him was a straight line. She could think in curves far better than he would ever be able to. And if he was ever to reconcile the two of them, it would definitely have to be a curve ball that neither man saw coming. He shook his head and finalized the changes to the Security and did what he could to ascertain what he would need to do to get the station back on track once more. This would certainly be an interesting meeting.

Meetings. It was always meetings. Meetings about missions, meetings about lunch, meetings about diplomatic incidents. The life of a senior officer was just filled with fun. Still he put on his game face and put his feelings about Max to the back of his mind. Feelings that were more or less contempt and utter loathing that the man couldn't obviously put down the bottle. He kept his mouth shut as he walked into the briefing room and offered Gan a salute before sitting down.

"Afternoon captain. Sorry if I'm late...where there's no report there is a meeting and when there is no meeting there's a report. I swear paperwork exists to thwart me."

Lillian wasn't looking forward to this debriefing because that meant dealing with Taylor and Max in the same space and she had a problem that that wouldn't be much fun. Honestly, she wanted the problem between them to just go away because regardless of what happened in the shuttle, without them both she wouldn't be there right now and she knew it...and perhaps they wouldn't be here now without her. Still, she knew how men were and she knew how much they enjoyed arguing and trying to prove whose was bigger, so she sighed loudly and then plastered a smile on her face as she entered the room with her jacket open.

Her duty jacket was pretty much always open.

She was supposed to be a professional, but at the same time she also had a habit of being the free Betazoid that she was and so she managed to do her job and also not completely keep her duty jacket on when she was flustered. Lillian had been trying to get a lot done since getting back to the station and while she was supposed to rest, she didn't want to. At this point Gan was going to force her to go and talk to a counselor about it, but that was alright with her because maybe that was what she needed. Still, this was about a meeting and so she hurried into the room and paused when she saw Gan and Taylor there already.

"Good afternoon...and here I thought I'd be the first one..." Lillian said, smiling in Taylor's direction and then quickly taking a seat and trying to keep her eyes off of him.

||Starbase 12
||Briefing Room
||August 3, 2387
||1530

He sat at the head of the table, looking at the PADD he had brought with him. He had already sent orders out to everyone to be there by 1600 so he would just take a few minutes to go over a few things. He didn't know what would happen if he had his XO and his MCO in the same room. The men certainly seemed to have a distaste for one another. It would be hard, but in this he would have to put his foot down. They had to show each other respect so that the crew would respect them. He wouldn't have two officers on his senior staff biting at each other's throats like wolves. It simply would not do. He just had to find a way to bring them into accord somehow, but he wished he could do that without pulling them by the ear. He should just knock their heads together and lock them in a room somewhere for a few hours so they could work it out. Or kill one another. He chuckled softly, well that would at least solve the problem of their fighting. But he'd hate to have to replace his XO. In close quarters, he assumed the marine would probably win a fair fight. Though Max certainly would do his best to not allow it to be fair.

He had to talk to Lillian about this after the debriefing. She might have some sort of idea that he hadn't thought of yet, she was usually very good about that. Gan tended to think in straight lines, the shortest route through any situation to him was a straight line. She could think in curves far better than he would ever be able to. And if he was ever to reconcile the two of them, it would definitely have to be a curve ball that neither man saw coming. He shook his head and finalized the changes to the Security and did what he could to ascertain what he would need to do to get the station back on track once more. This would certainly be an interesting meeting.

Meetings. It was always meetings. Meetings about missions, meetings about lunch, meetings about diplomatic incidents. The life of a senior officer was just filled with fun. Still he put on his game face and put his feelings about Max to the back of his mind. Feelings that were more or less contempt and utter loathing that the man couldn't obviously put down the bottle. He kept his mouth shut as he walked into the briefing room and offered Gan a salute before sitting down.

"Afternoon captain. Sorry if I'm late...where there's no report there is a meeting and when there is no meeting there's a report. I swear paperwork exists to thwart me."

Lillian wasn't looking forward to this debriefing because that meant dealing with Taylor and Max in the same space and she had a problem that that wouldn't be much fun. Honestly, she wanted the problem between them to just go away because regardless of what happened in the shuttle, without them both she wouldn't be there right now and she knew it...and perhaps they wouldn't be here now without her. Still, she knew how men were and she knew how much they enjoyed arguing and trying to prove whose was bigger, so she sighed loudly and then plastered a smile on her face as she entered the room with her jacket open.

Her duty jacket was pretty much always open.

She was supposed to be a professional, but at the same time she also had a habit of being the free Betazoid that she was and so she managed to do her job and also not completely keep her duty jacket on when she was flustered. Lillian had been trying to get a lot done since getting back to the station and while she was supposed to rest, she didn't want to. At this point Gan was going to force her to go and talk to a counselor about it, but that was alright with her because maybe that was what she needed. Still, this was about a meeting and so she hurried into the room and paused when she saw Gan and Taylor there already.

"Good afternoon...and here I thought I'd be the first one..." Lillian said, smiling in Taylor's direction and then quickly taking a seat and trying to keep her eyes off of him.

Max eventually strode into the room in a confident mood, having spent the past several hours analyzing reports and details and thoroughly preparing himself mentally for whatever might come up in this debriefing. Wasting no time, he looked around the room approvingly, then spoke to the assembled officers in his most pleasant tone.

"All right, we're all here so let's get started, shall we?" he asked, almost as if he had called the meeting. "I'm sure we've all reviewed each other's reports and the supplementary information, so there's no need to read it all through again. I'd say it would be best to go around and discuss specific details that each of us feels needs clarification." He nodded in turn to Taylor, Lillian, and finally Gan. "Captain, I think you had better go first, so we can all make sure we agree with everything you have to say," Max joked as he seated himself, every bit the cheerful XO. He was taking a risk with this approach, but he had a good feeling it would work.

||Starbase 12
||Briefing Room
||August 3, 2387
||1530

He sat at the head of the table, looking at the PADD he had brought with him. He had already sent orders out to everyone to be there by 1600 so he would just take a few minutes to go over a few things. He didn't know what would happen if he had his XO and his MCO in the same room. The men certainly seemed to have a distaste for one another. It would be hard, but in this he would have to put his foot down. They had to show each other respect so that the crew would respect them. He wouldn't have two officers on his senior staff biting at each other's throats like wolves. It simply would not do. He just had to find a way to bring them into accord somehow, but he wished he could do that without pulling them by the ear. He should just knock their heads together and lock them in a room somewhere for a few hours so they could work it out. Or kill one another. He chuckled softly, well that would at least solve the problem of their fighting. But he'd hate to have to replace his XO. In close quarters, he assumed the marine would probably win a fair fight. Though Max certainly would do his best to not allow it to be fair.

He had to talk to Lillian about this after the debriefing. She might have some sort of idea that he hadn't thought of yet, she was usually very good about that. Gan tended to think in straight lines, the shortest route through any situation to him was a straight line. She could think in curves far better than he would ever be able to. And if he was ever to reconcile the two of them, it would definitely have to be a curve ball that neither man saw coming. He shook his head and finalized the changes to the Security and did what he could to ascertain what he would need to do to get the station back on track once more. This would certainly be an interesting meeting.

Meetings. It was always meetings. Meetings about missions, meetings about lunch, meetings about diplomatic incidents. The life of a senior officer was just filled with fun. Still he put on his game face and put his feelings about Max to the back of his mind. Feelings that were more or less contempt and utter loathing that the man couldn't obviously put down the bottle. He kept his mouth shut as he walked into the briefing room and offered Gan a salute before sitting down.

"Afternoon captain. Sorry if I'm late...where there's no report there is a meeting and when there is no meeting there's a report. I swear paperwork exists to thwart me."

Lillian wasn't looking forward to this debriefing because that meant dealing with Taylor and Max in the same space and she had a problem that that wouldn't be much fun. Honestly, she wanted the problem between them to just go away because regardless of what happened in the shuttle, without them both she wouldn't be there right now and she knew it...and perhaps they wouldn't be here now without her. Still, she knew how men were and she knew how much they enjoyed arguing and trying to prove whose was bigger, so she sighed loudly and then plastered a smile on her face as she entered the room with her jacket open.

Her duty jacket was pretty much always open.

She was supposed to be a professional, but at the same time she also had a habit of being the free Betazoid that she was and so she managed to do her job and also not completely keep her duty jacket on when she was flustered. Lillian had been trying to get a lot done since getting back to the station and while she was supposed to rest, she didn't want to. At this point Gan was going to force her to go and talk to a counselor about it, but that was alright with her because maybe that was what she needed. Still, this was about a meeting and so she hurried into the room and paused when she saw Gan and Taylor there already.

"Good afternoon...and here I thought I'd be the first one..." Lillian said, smiling in Taylor's direction and then quickly taking a seat and trying to keep her eyes off of him.

Max eventually strode into the room in a confident mood, having spent the past several hours analyzing reports and details and thoroughly preparing himself mentally for whatever might come up in this debriefing. Wasting no time, he looked around the room approvingly, then spoke to the assembled officers in his most pleasant tone.

"All right, we're all here so let's get started, shall we?" he asked, almost as if he had called the meeting. "I'm sure we've all reviewed each other's reports and the supplementary information, so there's no need to read it all through again. I'd say it would be best to go around and discuss specific details that each of us feels needs clarification." He nodded in turn to Taylor, Lillian, and finally Gan. "Captain, I think you had better go first, so we can all make sure we agree with everything you have to say," Max joked as he seated himself, every bit the cheerful XO. He was taking a risk with this approach, but he had a good feeling it would work.

"Afternoon, everyone." He laid his PADD down on the table and thought about he wanted to say. "For the debriefing I've thought about what I wanted from each of you. The planetside encounters you've faced as a group have made us stronger, in some ways. It has brought us closer together." He looked between Max and Taylor, hoping they could keep their disputes to a minimum. It would be a long day if they spent half of it bickering amongst one another.

"All I really have to ask of you is if there was anything I could have done as your commander to have prevented what happened down there? I've spoken to Max about the intelligence issues and Taylor about personnel both on board the station and a contingent for away missions." He turned to Lillian, "But do you think I could have done anything in your expertise, Lillian?" He pondered for a few moments before he continued on. He would let everyone speak but for the moment he had the table. "I've submitted my report to each of you to review before I file it officially." He placed PADDs down in front of each of them. "And if you have any other questions, make sure to speak up." He smiled, sitting back down so his other senior staff members could take the floor.

||Starbase 12
||Briefing Room
||August 3, 2387
||1530

He sat at the head of the table, looking at the PADD he had brought with him. He had already sent orders out to everyone to be there by 1600 so he would just take a few minutes to go over a few things. He didn't know what would happen if he had his XO and his MCO in the same room. The men certainly seemed to have a distaste for one another. It would be hard, but in this he would have to put his foot down. They had to show each other respect so that the crew would respect them. He wouldn't have two officers on his senior staff biting at each other's throats like wolves. It simply would not do. He just had to find a way to bring them into accord somehow, but he wished he could do that without pulling them by the ear. He should just knock their heads together and lock them in a room somewhere for a few hours so they could work it out. Or kill one another. He chuckled softly, well that would at least solve the problem of their fighting. But he'd hate to have to replace his XO. In close quarters, he assumed the marine would probably win a fair fight. Though Max certainly would do his best to not allow it to be fair.

He had to talk to Lillian about this after the debriefing. She might have some sort of idea that he hadn't thought of yet, she was usually very good about that. Gan tended to think in straight lines, the shortest route through any situation to him was a straight line. She could think in curves far better than he would ever be able to. And if he was ever to reconcile the two of them, it would definitely have to be a curve ball that neither man saw coming. He shook his head and finalized the changes to the Security and did what he could to ascertain what he would need to do to get the station back on track once more. This would certainly be an interesting meeting.

Meetings. It was always meetings. Meetings about missions, meetings about lunch, meetings about diplomatic incidents. The life of a senior officer was just filled with fun. Still he put on his game face and put his feelings about Max to the back of his mind. Feelings that were more or less contempt and utter loathing that the man couldn't obviously put down the bottle. He kept his mouth shut as he walked into the briefing room and offered Gan a salute before sitting down.

"Afternoon captain. Sorry if I'm late...where there's no report there is a meeting and when there is no meeting there's a report. I swear paperwork exists to thwart me."

Lillian wasn't looking forward to this debriefing because that meant dealing with Taylor and Max in the same space and she had a problem that that wouldn't be much fun. Honestly, she wanted the problem between them to just go away because regardless of what happened in the shuttle, without them both she wouldn't be there right now and she knew it...and perhaps they wouldn't be here now without her. Still, she knew how men were and she knew how much they enjoyed arguing and trying to prove whose was bigger, so she sighed loudly and then plastered a smile on her face as she entered the room with her jacket open.

Her duty jacket was pretty much always open.

She was supposed to be a professional, but at the same time she also had a habit of being the free Betazoid that she was and so she managed to do her job and also not completely keep her duty jacket on when she was flustered. Lillian had been trying to get a lot done since getting back to the station and while she was supposed to rest, she didn't want to. At this point Gan was going to force her to go and talk to a counselor about it, but that was alright with her because maybe that was what she needed. Still, this was about a meeting and so she hurried into the room and paused when she saw Gan and Taylor there already.

"Good afternoon...and here I thought I'd be the first one..." Lillian said, smiling in Taylor's direction and then quickly taking a seat and trying to keep her eyes off of him.

Max eventually strode into the room in a confident mood, having spent the past several hours analyzing reports and details and thoroughly preparing himself mentally for whatever might come up in this debriefing. Wasting no time, he looked around the room approvingly, then spoke to the assembled officers in his most pleasant tone.

"All right, we're all here so let's get started, shall we?" he asked, almost as if he had called the meeting. "I'm sure we've all reviewed each other's reports and the supplementary information, so there's no need to read it all through again. I'd say it would be best to go around and discuss specific details that each of us feels needs clarification." He nodded in turn to Taylor, Lillian, and finally Gan. "Captain, I think you had better go first, so we can all make sure we agree with everything you have to say," Max joked as he seated himself, every bit the cheerful XO. He was taking a risk with this approach, but he had a good feeling it would work.

"Afternoon, everyone." He laid his PADD down on the table and thought about he wanted to say. "For the debriefing I've thought about what I wanted from each of you. The planetside encounters you've faced as a group have made us stronger, in some ways. It has brought us closer together." He looked between Max and Taylor, hoping they could keep their disputes to a minimum. It would be a long day if they spent half of it bickering amongst one another.

"All I really have to ask of you is if there was anything I could have done as your commander to have prevented what happened down there? I've spoken to Max about the intelligence issues and Taylor about personnel both on board the station and a contingent for away missions." He turned to Lillian, "But do you think I could have done anything in your expertise, Lillian?" He pondered for a few moments before he continued on. He would let everyone speak but for the moment he had the table. "I've submitted my report to each of you to review before I file it officially." He placed PADDs down in front of each of them. "And if you have any other questions, make sure to speak up." He smiled, sitting back down so his other senior staff members could take the floor.

Lillian wasn't all that sure about what it was that she wanted to say, but she knew that she needed to speak up and preferrably before the boys had a chance to say anything. At this point, she was pretty certain that even Gan knew how the two men felt about each other and Lillian still wanted to know why that was that the two didn't get along...was it simply gray and green not able to work together? Maybe it was because she was a Betazoid, but Lillian didn't understand why two people couldn't be more professional despite their personal issues but then again it brought her back to Cecily--the two of them butt heads more than once too. So maybe it was like that, but Taylor was new and so there was no history there and she just didn't understand, but that was the way that it was and it was her turn to speak her piece.

"If you want my honest opinion," Lillian began, "I think that it would be best if the reports were simply filled with what happened on the planet and none of the other...issues. What happened was a distress call was sent and when we answered, we were attacked as we were unaware of the situation that we were being sent into. We ended up having to help the original senders of the call and Starfleet needs to be informed--they need to handle this. There was nothing that we could do, save more intelligence work, but that could have taken days and we had to act. Once we were shot out of the sky it was up to surviving and we all helped each other to survive...the fact that there is a chance that either Max or Taylor will be punished for what they did down there makes me upset for more reasons than one."


<Taggles: Taylor and Max even though Max has to LOA and we shall miss him!>

||Starbase 12
||Briefing Room
||August 3, 2387
||1530

He sat at the head of the table, looking at the PADD he had brought with him. He had already sent orders out to everyone to be there by 1600 so he would just take a few minutes to go over a few things. He didn't know what would happen if he had his XO and his MCO in the same room. The men certainly seemed to have a distaste for one another. It would be hard, but in this he would have to put his foot down. They had to show each other respect so that the crew would respect them. He wouldn't have two officers on his senior staff biting at each other's throats like wolves. It simply would not do. He just had to find a way to bring them into accord somehow, but he wished he could do that without pulling them by the ear. He should just knock their heads together and lock them in a room somewhere for a few hours so they could work it out. Or kill one another. He chuckled softly, well that would at least solve the problem of their fighting. But he'd hate to have to replace his XO. In close quarters, he assumed the marine would probably win a fair fight. Though Max certainly would do his best to not allow it to be fair.

He had to talk to Lillian about this after the debriefing. She might have some sort of idea that he hadn't thought of yet, she was usually very good about that. Gan tended to think in straight lines, the shortest route through any situation to him was a straight line. She could think in curves far better than he would ever be able to. And if he was ever to reconcile the two of them, it would definitely have to be a curve ball that neither man saw coming. He shook his head and finalized the changes to the Security and did what he could to ascertain what he would need to do to get the station back on track once more. This would certainly be an interesting meeting.

Meetings. It was always meetings. Meetings about missions, meetings about lunch, meetings about diplomatic incidents. The life of a senior officer was just filled with fun. Still he put on his game face and put his feelings about Max to the back of his mind. Feelings that were more or less contempt and utter loathing that the man couldn't obviously put down the bottle. He kept his mouth shut as he walked into the briefing room and offered Gan a salute before sitting down.

"Afternoon captain. Sorry if I'm late...where there's no report there is a meeting and when there is no meeting there's a report. I swear paperwork exists to thwart me."

Lillian wasn't looking forward to this debriefing because that meant dealing with Taylor and Max in the same space and she had a problem that that wouldn't be much fun. Honestly, she wanted the problem between them to just go away because regardless of what happened in the shuttle, without them both she wouldn't be there right now and she knew it...and perhaps they wouldn't be here now without her. Still, she knew how men were and she knew how much they enjoyed arguing and trying to prove whose was bigger, so she sighed loudly and then plastered a smile on her face as she entered the room with her jacket open.

Her duty jacket was pretty much always open.

She was supposed to be a professional, but at the same time she also had a habit of being the free Betazoid that she was and so she managed to do her job and also not completely keep her duty jacket on when she was flustered. Lillian had been trying to get a lot done since getting back to the station and while she was supposed to rest, she didn't want to. At this point Gan was going to force her to go and talk to a counselor about it, but that was alright with her because maybe that was what she needed. Still, this was about a meeting and so she hurried into the room and paused when she saw Gan and Taylor there already.

"Good afternoon...and here I thought I'd be the first one..." Lillian said, smiling in Taylor's direction and then quickly taking a seat and trying to keep her eyes off of him.

Max eventually strode into the room in a confident mood, having spent the past several hours analyzing reports and details and thoroughly preparing himself mentally for whatever might come up in this debriefing. Wasting no time, he looked around the room approvingly, then spoke to the assembled officers in his most pleasant tone.

"All right, we're all here so let's get started, shall we?" he asked, almost as if he had called the meeting. "I'm sure we've all reviewed each other's reports and the supplementary information, so there's no need to read it all through again. I'd say it would be best to go around and discuss specific details that each of us feels needs clarification." He nodded in turn to Taylor, Lillian, and finally Gan. "Captain, I think you had better go first, so we can all make sure we agree with everything you have to say," Max joked as he seated himself, every bit the cheerful XO. He was taking a risk with this approach, but he had a good feeling it would work.

"Afternoon, everyone." He laid his PADD down on the table and thought about he wanted to say. "For the debriefing I've thought about what I wanted from each of you. The planetside encounters you've faced as a group have made us stronger, in some ways. It has brought us closer together." He looked between Max and Taylor, hoping they could keep their disputes to a minimum. It would be a long day if they spent half of it bickering amongst one another.

"All I really have to ask of you is if there was anything I could have done as your commander to have prevented what happened down there? I've spoken to Max about the intelligence issues and Taylor about personnel both on board the station and a contingent for away missions." He turned to Lillian, "But do you think I could have done anything in your expertise, Lillian?" He pondered for a few moments before he continued on. He would let everyone speak but for the moment he had the table. "I've submitted my report to each of you to review before I file it officially." He placed PADDs down in front of each of them. "And if you have any other questions, make sure to speak up." He smiled, sitting back down so his other senior staff members could take the floor.

Lillian wasn't all that sure about what it was that she wanted to say, but she knew that she needed to speak up and preferrably before the boys had a chance to say anything. At this point, she was pretty certain that even Gan knew how the two men felt about each other and Lillian still wanted to know why that was that the two didn't get along...was it simply gray and green not able to work together? Maybe it was because she was a Betazoid, but Lillian didn't understand why two people couldn't be more professional despite their personal issues but then again it brought her back to Cecily--the two of them butt heads more than once too. So maybe it was like that, but Taylor was new and so there was no history there and she just didn't understand, but that was the way that it was and it was her turn to speak her piece.

"If you want my honest opinion," Lillian began, "I think that it would be best if the reports were simply filled with what happened on the planet and none of the other...issues. What happened was a distress call was sent and when we answered, we were attacked as we were unaware of the situation that we were being sent into. We ended up having to help the original senders of the call and Starfleet needs to be informed--they need to handle this. There was nothing that we could do, save more intelligence work, but that could have taken days and we had to act. Once we were shot out of the sky it was up to surviving and we all helped each other to survive...the fact that there is a chance that either Max or Taylor will be punished for what they did down there makes me upset for more reasons than one."


"Nothing could have been done to prevent the shuttle being shot down sir." added Taylor with a nod. "They wanted to bring us down and they did. Intelligence wouldn't have been able to map AA capability if they were mobile or semi-mobile platforms. If we had an idea that our response to the distress call had been picked up by their SIGINT we could have perhaps chose a safer location to fly over and land."

Taylor paused for a moment before taking a look at both Lillian and Max, the latter was given some form of loathing. "However Doctor Crae was correct. On ground intelligence work would have taken too long. However I'm interested in how the Intelligence department wasn't able to provide proper information on the battlefield communications or lack thereof perhaps indicating a war down there. I wonder how a bunch of thungs led by a despot was able to crack SFI comm encryption....if there was any encryption in place."

||Starbase 12
||Briefing Room
||August 3, 2387
||1530

He sat at the head of the table, looking at the PADD he had brought with him. He had already sent orders out to everyone to be there by 1600 so he would just take a few minutes to go over a few things. He didn't know what would happen if he had his XO and his MCO in the same room. The men certainly seemed to have a distaste for one another. It would be hard, but in this he would have to put his foot down. They had to show each other respect so that the crew would respect them. He wouldn't have two officers on his senior staff biting at each other's throats like wolves. It simply would not do. He just had to find a way to bring them into accord somehow, but he wished he could do that without pulling them by the ear. He should just knock their heads together and lock them in a room somewhere for a few hours so they could work it out. Or kill one another. He chuckled softly, well that would at least solve the problem of their fighting. But he'd hate to have to replace his XO. In close quarters, he assumed the marine would probably win a fair fight. Though Max certainly would do his best to not allow it to be fair.

He had to talk to Lillian about this after the debriefing. She might have some sort of idea that he hadn't thought of yet, she was usually very good about that. Gan tended to think in straight lines, the shortest route through any situation to him was a straight line. She could think in curves far better than he would ever be able to. And if he was ever to reconcile the two of them, it would definitely have to be a curve ball that neither man saw coming. He shook his head and finalized the changes to the Security and did what he could to ascertain what he would need to do to get the station back on track once more. This would certainly be an interesting meeting.

Meetings. It was always meetings. Meetings about missions, meetings about lunch, meetings about diplomatic incidents. The life of a senior officer was just filled with fun. Still he put on his game face and put his feelings about Max to the back of his mind. Feelings that were more or less contempt and utter loathing that the man couldn't obviously put down the bottle. He kept his mouth shut as he walked into the briefing room and offered Gan a salute before sitting down.

"Afternoon captain. Sorry if I'm late...where there's no report there is a meeting and when there is no meeting there's a report. I swear paperwork exists to thwart me."

Lillian wasn't looking forward to this debriefing because that meant dealing with Taylor and Max in the same space and she had a problem that that wouldn't be much fun. Honestly, she wanted the problem between them to just go away because regardless of what happened in the shuttle, without them both she wouldn't be there right now and she knew it...and perhaps they wouldn't be here now without her. Still, she knew how men were and she knew how much they enjoyed arguing and trying to prove whose was bigger, so she sighed loudly and then plastered a smile on her face as she entered the room with her jacket open.

Her duty jacket was pretty much always open.

She was supposed to be a professional, but at the same time she also had a habit of being the free Betazoid that she was and so she managed to do her job and also not completely keep her duty jacket on when she was flustered. Lillian had been trying to get a lot done since getting back to the station and while she was supposed to rest, she didn't want to. At this point Gan was going to force her to go and talk to a counselor about it, but that was alright with her because maybe that was what she needed. Still, this was about a meeting and so she hurried into the room and paused when she saw Gan and Taylor there already.

"Good afternoon...and here I thought I'd be the first one..." Lillian said, smiling in Taylor's direction and then quickly taking a seat and trying to keep her eyes off of him.

Max eventually strode into the room in a confident mood, having spent the past several hours analyzing reports and details and thoroughly preparing himself mentally for whatever might come up in this debriefing. Wasting no time, he looked around the room approvingly, then spoke to the assembled officers in his most pleasant tone.

"All right, we're all here so let's get started, shall we?" he asked, almost as if he had called the meeting. "I'm sure we've all reviewed each other's reports and the supplementary information, so there's no need to read it all through again. I'd say it would be best to go around and discuss specific details that each of us feels needs clarification." He nodded in turn to Taylor, Lillian, and finally Gan. "Captain, I think you had better go first, so we can all make sure we agree with everything you have to say," Max joked as he seated himself, every bit the cheerful XO. He was taking a risk with this approach, but he had a good feeling it would work.

"Afternoon, everyone." He laid his PADD down on the table and thought about he wanted to say. "For the debriefing I've thought about what I wanted from each of you. The planetside encounters you've faced as a group have made us stronger, in some ways. It has brought us closer together." He looked between Max and Taylor, hoping they could keep their disputes to a minimum. It would be a long day if they spent half of it bickering amongst one another.

"All I really have to ask of you is if there was anything I could have done as your commander to have prevented what happened down there? I've spoken to Max about the intelligence issues and Taylor about personnel both on board the station and a contingent for away missions." He turned to Lillian, "But do you think I could have done anything in your expertise, Lillian?" He pondered for a few moments before he continued on. He would let everyone speak but for the moment he had the table. "I've submitted my report to each of you to review before I file it officially." He placed PADDs down in front of each of them. "And if you have any other questions, make sure to speak up." He smiled, sitting back down so his other senior staff members could take the floor.

Lillian wasn't all that sure about what it was that she wanted to say, but she knew that she needed to speak up and preferrably before the boys had a chance to say anything. At this point, she was pretty certain that even Gan knew how the two men felt about each other and Lillian still wanted to know why that was that the two didn't get along...was it simply gray and green not able to work together? Maybe it was because she was a Betazoid, but Lillian didn't understand why two people couldn't be more professional despite their personal issues but then again it brought her back to Cecily--the two of them butt heads more than once too. So maybe it was like that, but Taylor was new and so there was no history there and she just didn't understand, but that was the way that it was and it was her turn to speak her piece.

"If you want my honest opinion," Lillian began, "I think that it would be best if the reports were simply filled with what happened on the planet and none of the other...issues. What happened was a distress call was sent and when we answered, we were attacked as we were unaware of the situation that we were being sent into. We ended up having to help the original senders of the call and Starfleet needs to be informed--they need to handle this. There was nothing that we could do, save more intelligence work, but that could have taken days and we had to act. Once we were shot out of the sky it was up to surviving and we all helped each other to survive...the fact that there is a chance that either Max or Taylor will be punished for what they did down there makes me upset for more reasons than one."

"Nothing could have been done to prevent the shuttle being shot down sir." added Taylor with a nod. "They wanted to bring us down and they did. Intelligence wouldn't have been able to map AA capability if they were mobile or semi-mobile platforms. If we had an idea that our response to the distress call had been picked up by their SIGINT we could have perhaps chose a safer location to fly over and land."

Taylor paused for a moment before taking a look at both Lillian and Max, the latter was given some form of loathing. "However Doctor Crae was correct. On ground intelligence work would have taken too long. However I'm interested in how the Intelligence department wasn't able to provide proper information on the battlefield communications or lack thereof perhaps indicating a war down there. I wonder how a bunch of thugs led by a despot was able to crack SFI comm encryption....if there was any encryption in place."

He nodded, "I will do everything I can to make sure they aren't punished for anything that went down on the planet, Lillian. I am unsure what more I can than reflect positively on all your actions in my report." He smiled warmly and considered everything that had happened. "I suppose at the end of the day there wasn't anything else we could have accomplished without a lot more time than we had. I'm sure that Starfleet will see it that way as well. As for the sake of encryption, perhaps there was just not enough people to work the problem. We'll have to get things under control up here again. Repairs are well underway as we speak and we'll be able to proceed with our mission out here. Thank you everyone. Is there anything else that needs be done?"

||Starbase 12
||Briefing Room
||August 3, 2387
||1530

He sat at the head of the table, looking at the PADD he had brought with him. He had already sent orders out to everyone to be there by 1600 so he would just take a few minutes to go over a few things. He didn't know what would happen if he had his XO and his MCO in the same room. The men certainly seemed to have a distaste for one another. It would be hard, but in this he would have to put his foot down. They had to show each other respect so that the crew would respect them. He wouldn't have two officers on his senior staff biting at each other's throats like wolves. It simply would not do. He just had to find a way to bring them into accord somehow, but he wished he could do that without pulling them by the ear. He should just knock their heads together and lock them in a room somewhere for a few hours so they could work it out. Or kill one another. He chuckled softly, well that would at least solve the problem of their fighting. But he'd hate to have to replace his XO. In close quarters, he assumed the marine would probably win a fair fight. Though Max certainly would do his best to not allow it to be fair.

He had to talk to Lillian about this after the debriefing. She might have some sort of idea that he hadn't thought of yet, she was usually very good about that. Gan tended to think in straight lines, the shortest route through any situation to him was a straight line. She could think in curves far better than he would ever be able to. And if he was ever to reconcile the two of them, it would definitely have to be a curve ball that neither man saw coming. He shook his head and finalized the changes to the Security and did what he could to ascertain what he would need to do to get the station back on track once more. This would certainly be an interesting meeting.

Meetings. It was always meetings. Meetings about missions, meetings about lunch, meetings about diplomatic incidents. The life of a senior officer was just filled with fun. Still he put on his game face and put his feelings about Max to the back of his mind. Feelings that were more or less contempt and utter loathing that the man couldn't obviously put down the bottle. He kept his mouth shut as he walked into the briefing room and offered Gan a salute before sitting down.

"Afternoon captain. Sorry if I'm late...where there's no report there is a meeting and when there is no meeting there's a report. I swear paperwork exists to thwart me."

Lillian wasn't looking forward to this debriefing because that meant dealing with Taylor and Max in the same space and she had a problem that that wouldn't be much fun. Honestly, she wanted the problem between them to just go away because regardless of what happened in the shuttle, without them both she wouldn't be there right now and she knew it...and perhaps they wouldn't be here now without her. Still, she knew how men were and she knew how much they enjoyed arguing and trying to prove whose was bigger, so she sighed loudly and then plastered a smile on her face as she entered the room with her jacket open.

Her duty jacket was pretty much always open.

She was supposed to be a professional, but at the same time she also had a habit of being the free Betazoid that she was and so she managed to do her job and also not completely keep her duty jacket on when she was flustered. Lillian had been trying to get a lot done since getting back to the station and while she was supposed to rest, she didn't want to. At this point Gan was going to force her to go and talk to a counselor about it, but that was alright with her because maybe that was what she needed. Still, this was about a meeting and so she hurried into the room and paused when she saw Gan and Taylor there already.

"Good afternoon...and here I thought I'd be the first one..." Lillian said, smiling in Taylor's direction and then quickly taking a seat and trying to keep her eyes off of him.

Max eventually strode into the room in a confident mood, having spent the past several hours analyzing reports and details and thoroughly preparing himself mentally for whatever might come up in this debriefing. Wasting no time, he looked around the room approvingly, then spoke to the assembled officers in his most pleasant tone.

"All right, we're all here so let's get started, shall we?" he asked, almost as if he had called the meeting. "I'm sure we've all reviewed each other's reports and the supplementary information, so there's no need to read it all through again. I'd say it would be best to go around and discuss specific details that each of us feels needs clarification." He nodded in turn to Taylor, Lillian, and finally Gan. "Captain, I think you had better go first, so we can all make sure we agree with everything you have to say," Max joked as he seated himself, every bit the cheerful XO. He was taking a risk with this approach, but he had a good feeling it would work.

"Afternoon, everyone." He laid his PADD down on the table and thought about he wanted to say. "For the debriefing I've thought about what I wanted from each of you. The planetside encounters you've faced as a group have made us stronger, in some ways. It has brought us closer together." He looked between Max and Taylor, hoping they could keep their disputes to a minimum. It would be a long day if they spent half of it bickering amongst one another.

"All I really have to ask of you is if there was anything I could have done as your commander to have prevented what happened down there? I've spoken to Max about the intelligence issues and Taylor about personnel both on board the station and a contingent for away missions." He turned to Lillian, "But do you think I could have done anything in your expertise, Lillian?" He pondered for a few moments before he continued on. He would let everyone speak but for the moment he had the table. "I've submitted my report to each of you to review before I file it officially." He placed PADDs down in front of each of them. "And if you have any other questions, make sure to speak up." He smiled, sitting back down so his other senior staff members could take the floor.

Lillian wasn't all that sure about what it was that she wanted to say, but she knew that she needed to speak up and preferrably before the boys had a chance to say anything. At this point, she was pretty certain that even Gan knew how the two men felt about each other and Lillian still wanted to know why that was that the two didn't get along...was it simply gray and green not able to work together? Maybe it was because she was a Betazoid, but Lillian didn't understand why two people couldn't be more professional despite their personal issues but then again it brought her back to Cecily--the two of them butt heads more than once too. So maybe it was like that, but Taylor was new and so there was no history there and she just didn't understand, but that was the way that it was and it was her turn to speak her piece.

"If you want my honest opinion," Lillian began, "I think that it would be best if the reports were simply filled with what happened on the planet and none of the other...issues. What happened was a distress call was sent and when we answered, we were attacked as we were unaware of the situation that we were being sent into. We ended up having to help the original senders of the call and Starfleet needs to be informed--they need to handle this. There was nothing that we could do, save more intelligence work, but that could have taken days and we had to act. Once we were shot out of the sky it was up to surviving and we all helped each other to survive...the fact that there is a chance that either Max or Taylor will be punished for what they did down there makes me upset for more reasons than one."

"Nothing could have been done to prevent the shuttle being shot down sir." added Taylor with a nod. "They wanted to bring us down and they did. Intelligence wouldn't have been able to map AA capability if they were mobile or semi-mobile platforms. If we had an idea that our response to the distress call had been picked up by their SIGINT we could have perhaps chose a safer location to fly over and land."

Taylor paused for a moment before taking a look at both Lillian and Max, the latter was given some form of loathing. "However Doctor Crae was correct. On ground intelligence work would have taken too long. However I'm interested in how the Intelligence department wasn't able to provide proper information on the battlefield communications or lack thereof perhaps indicating a war down there. I wonder how a bunch of thugs led by a despot was able to crack SFI comm encryption....if there was any encryption in place."

He nodded, "I will do everything I can to make sure they aren't punished for anything that went down on the planet, Lillian. I am unsure what more I can than reflect positively on all your actions in my report." He smiled warmly and considered everything that had happened. "I suppose at the end of the day there wasn't anything else we could have accomplished without a lot more time than we had. I'm sure that Starfleet will see it that way as well. As for the sake of encryption, perhaps there was just not enough people to work the problem. We'll have to get things under control up here again. Repairs are well underway as we speak and we'll be able to proceed with our mission out here. Thank you everyone. Is there anything else that needs be done?"

Nothing could crack the smile on Max's face, and he merely nodded and grinned at Taylor during the obvious attack. It did not faze him at all, and he meant to show it as he returned the Marine's sour expression with one of reasonable professionalism. I've got your number, you thick-necked bastard, and I'm going to take you down with it. Use all of your bluster against you, and leave you bewildered and alone in the end, wondering why Lillian chose me. And if you had half the brain that you had brawn, you'd know why. But he said none of that, only made inconsequential notes on his PADD for a moment before looking up and around.

"The Lieutenant makes a good point there. I've ordered a full investigation and review into the matter, and if there was anything of concern I'll call another meeting and fill you in on the details. But at the moment I agree with the Captain and suspect it was more a matter of insufficient resources to cover a sector this vast. I'm referring to things like personnel, processing power, and overall observation assets." He paused a moment, glancing at each of the other officers individually before continuing.

"To that end I've already proposed an expansion in personnel for most departments aboard the station to the Captain. Obviously the Intelligence department is a priority to avoid going into hostile situations blind, but I think most departments require bolstering. Medical, engineering, security, and…" he made sure not to look at Lillian as he said the final bit, to avoid revealing too much "…additional Marines, for security purposes on dangerous away missions. I have personally witnessed the effectiveness of a single Marine in such conditions, and believe we could only benefit from an expansion of their force," Max offered calmly, nodding respectfully at Taylor the whole time.

There. Fighting while appearing to be retreating, fighting without fighting. Give the enemy what they want and they will eventually give you what you want: victory. Let's see how you handle that, Taylor. Or… "Perhaps even a dedicated Marine attack craft, to deploy as the first response to dangerous situations. Secure the area for the medical and engineering personnel who will come later and all that." And put you in the line of fire first instead of me, perhaps?

||Starbase 12
||Briefing Room
||August 3, 2387
||1530

He sat at the head of the table, looking at the PADD he had brought with him. He had already sent orders out to everyone to be there by 1600 so he would just take a few minutes to go over a few things. He didn't know what would happen if he had his XO and his MCO in the same room. The men certainly seemed to have a distaste for one another. It would be hard, but in this he would have to put his foot down. They had to show each other respect so that the crew would respect them. He wouldn't have two officers on his senior staff biting at each other's throats like wolves. It simply would not do. He just had to find a way to bring them into accord somehow, but he wished he could do that without pulling them by the ear. He should just knock their heads together and lock them in a room somewhere for a few hours so they could work it out. Or kill one another. He chuckled softly, well that would at least solve the problem of their fighting. But he'd hate to have to replace his XO. In close quarters, he assumed the marine would probably win a fair fight. Though Max certainly would do his best to not allow it to be fair.

He had to talk to Lillian about this after the debriefing. She might have some sort of idea that he hadn't thought of yet, she was usually very good about that. Gan tended to think in straight lines, the shortest route through any situation to him was a straight line. She could think in curves far better than he would ever be able to. And if he was ever to reconcile the two of them, it would definitely have to be a curve ball that neither man saw coming. He shook his head and finalized the changes to the Security and did what he could to ascertain what he would need to do to get the station back on track once more. This would certainly be an interesting meeting.

Meetings. It was always meetings. Meetings about missions, meetings about lunch, meetings about diplomatic incidents. The life of a senior officer was just filled with fun. Still he put on his game face and put his feelings about Max to the back of his mind. Feelings that were more or less contempt and utter loathing that the man couldn't obviously put down the bottle. He kept his mouth shut as he walked into the briefing room and offered Gan a salute before sitting down.

"Afternoon captain. Sorry if I'm late...where there's no report there is a meeting and when there is no meeting there's a report. I swear paperwork exists to thwart me."

Lillian wasn't looking forward to this debriefing because that meant dealing with Taylor and Max in the same space and she had a problem that that wouldn't be much fun. Honestly, she wanted the problem between them to just go away because regardless of what happened in the shuttle, without them both she wouldn't be there right now and she knew it...and perhaps they wouldn't be here now without her. Still, she knew how men were and she knew how much they enjoyed arguing and trying to prove whose was bigger, so she sighed loudly and then plastered a smile on her face as she entered the room with her jacket open.

Her duty jacket was pretty much always open.

She was supposed to be a professional, but at the same time she also had a habit of being the free Betazoid that she was and so she managed to do her job and also not completely keep her duty jacket on when she was flustered. Lillian had been trying to get a lot done since getting back to the station and while she was supposed to rest, she didn't want to. At this point Gan was going to force her to go and talk to a counselor about it, but that was alright with her because maybe that was what she needed. Still, this was about a meeting and so she hurried into the room and paused when she saw Gan and Taylor there already.

"Good afternoon...and here I thought I'd be the first one..." Lillian said, smiling in Taylor's direction and then quickly taking a seat and trying to keep her eyes off of him.

Max eventually strode into the room in a confident mood, having spent the past several hours analyzing reports and details and thoroughly preparing himself mentally for whatever might come up in this debriefing. Wasting no time, he looked around the room approvingly, then spoke to the assembled officers in his most pleasant tone.

"All right, we're all here so let's get started, shall we?" he asked, almost as if he had called the meeting. "I'm sure we've all reviewed each other's reports and the supplementary information, so there's no need to read it all through again. I'd say it would be best to go around and discuss specific details that each of us feels needs clarification." He nodded in turn to Taylor, Lillian, and finally Gan. "Captain, I think you had better go first, so we can all make sure we agree with everything you have to say," Max joked as he seated himself, every bit the cheerful XO. He was taking a risk with this approach, but he had a good feeling it would work.

"Afternoon, everyone." He laid his PADD down on the table and thought about he wanted to say. "For the debriefing I've thought about what I wanted from each of you. The planetside encounters you've faced as a group have made us stronger, in some ways. It has brought us closer together." He looked between Max and Taylor, hoping they could keep their disputes to a minimum. It would be a long day if they spent half of it bickering amongst one another.

"All I really have to ask of you is if there was anything I could have done as your commander to have prevented what happened down there? I've spoken to Max about the intelligence issues and Taylor about personnel both on board the station and a contingent for away missions." He turned to Lillian, "But do you think I could have done anything in your expertise, Lillian?" He pondered for a few moments before he continued on. He would let everyone speak but for the moment he had the table. "I've submitted my report to each of you to review before I file it officially." He placed PADDs down in front of each of them. "And if you have any other questions, make sure to speak up." He smiled, sitting back down so his other senior staff members could take the floor.

Lillian wasn't all that sure about what it was that she wanted to say, but she knew that she needed to speak up and preferrably before the boys had a chance to say anything. At this point, she was pretty certain that even Gan knew how the two men felt about each other and Lillian still wanted to know why that was that the two didn't get along...was it simply gray and green not able to work together? Maybe it was because she was a Betazoid, but Lillian didn't understand why two people couldn't be more professional despite their personal issues but then again it brought her back to Cecily--the two of them butt heads more than once too. So maybe it was like that, but Taylor was new and so there was no history there and she just didn't understand, but that was the way that it was and it was her turn to speak her piece.

"If you want my honest opinion," Lillian began, "I think that it would be best if the reports were simply filled with what happened on the planet and none of the other...issues. What happened was a distress call was sent and when we answered, we were attacked as we were unaware of the situation that we were being sent into. We ended up having to help the original senders of the call and Starfleet needs to be informed--they need to handle this. There was nothing that we could do, save more intelligence work, but that could have taken days and we had to act. Once we were shot out of the sky it was up to surviving and we all helped each other to survive...the fact that there is a chance that either Max or Taylor will be punished for what they did down there makes me upset for more reasons than one."

"Nothing could have been done to prevent the shuttle being shot down sir." added Taylor with a nod. "They wanted to bring us down and they did. Intelligence wouldn't have been able to map AA capability if they were mobile or semi-mobile platforms. If we had an idea that our response to the distress call had been picked up by their SIGINT we could have perhaps chose a safer location to fly over and land."

Taylor paused for a moment before taking a look at both Lillian and Max, the latter was given some form of loathing. "However Doctor Crae was correct. On ground intelligence work would have taken too long. However I'm interested in how the Intelligence department wasn't able to provide proper information on the battlefield communications or lack thereof perhaps indicating a war down there. I wonder how a bunch of thugs led by a despot was able to crack SFI comm encryption....if there was any encryption in place."

He nodded, "I will do everything I can to make sure they aren't punished for anything that went down on the planet, Lillian. I am unsure what more I can than reflect positively on all your actions in my report." He smiled warmly and considered everything that had happened. "I suppose at the end of the day there wasn't anything else we could have accomplished without a lot more time than we had. I'm sure that Starfleet will see it that way as well. As for the sake of encryption, perhaps there was just not enough people to work the problem. We'll have to get things under control up here again. Repairs are well underway as we speak and we'll be able to proceed with our mission out here. Thank you everyone. Is there anything else that needs be done?"

Nothing could crack the smile on Max's face, and he merely nodded and grinned at Taylor during the obvious attack. It did not faze him at all, and he meant to show it as he returned the Marine's sour expression with one of reasonable professionalism. I've got your number, you thick-necked bastard, and I'm going to take you down with it. Use all of your bluster against you, and leave you bewildered and alone in the end, wondering why Lillian chose me. And if you had half the brain that you had brawn, you'd know why. But he said none of that, only made inconsequential notes on his PADD for a moment before looking up and around.

"The Lieutenant makes a good point there. I've ordered a full investigation and review into the matter, and if there was anything of concern I'll call another meeting and fill you in on the details. But at the moment I agree with the Captain and suspect it was more a matter of insufficient resources to cover a sector this vast. I'm referring to things like personnel, processing power, and overall observation assets." He paused a moment, glancing at each of the other officers individually before continuing.

"To that end I've already proposed an expansion in personnel for most departments aboard the station to the Captain. Obviously the Intelligence department is a priority to avoid going into hostile situations blind, but I think most departments require bolstering. Medical, engineering, security, and…" he made sure not to look at Lillian as he said the final bit, to avoid revealing too much "…additional Marines, for security purposes on dangerous away missions. I have personally witnessed the effectiveness of a single Marine in such conditions, and believe we could only benefit from an expansion of their force," Max offered calmly, nodding respectfully at Taylor the whole time.

There. Fighting while appearing to be retreating, fighting without fighting. Give the enemy what they want and they will eventually give you what you want: victory. Let's see how you handle that, Taylor. Or… "Perhaps even a dedicated Marine attack craft, to deploy as the first response to dangerous situations. Secure the area for the medical and engineering personnel who will come later and all that." And put you in the line of fire first instead of me, perhaps?

While Max made sure not to look at Lillian, Lillian smiled in his direction for choosing to listen to what she had suggested about adding additional marines to the base. She was worried about how things were fairing with the rebuild here and after this fiasco it was important to prepare a united front--that and she really couldn't ignore the animosity between the two men at the table with her and Gan. If she couldn't tell that they were at odds no matter how fake the attempt at peace, then she would just be ignorant and that was certainly something that Lillian Crae was not...she was intelligent, rather she acted like she was or not.

"I believe that Lieutenant Lucas can handle anything thrown in his direction--he proved that on the surface of Thalos more than once. Had it not been for him, Doctor Stone swears that my leg would have been in far worse condition. As for Commander Ritter, he also put forth a tremendous performance of authority. I believe that should these two work together to keep this place up and running, we shouldn't have a problem with gathered information nor with the protection of the people that we have here. Besides, I'm handy at patching up, so should the extra marines need a pair of talented hands, I volunteer to keep an eye on them."

||Starbase 12
||Briefing Room
||August 3, 2387
||1530

He sat at the head of the table, looking at the PADD he had brought with him. He had already sent orders out to everyone to be there by 1600 so he would just take a few minutes to go over a few things. He didn't know what would happen if he had his XO and his MCO in the same room. The men certainly seemed to have a distaste for one another. It would be hard, but in this he would have to put his foot down. They had to show each other respect so that the crew would respect them. He wouldn't have two officers on his senior staff biting at each other's throats like wolves. It simply would not do. He just had to find a way to bring them into accord somehow, but he wished he could do that without pulling them by the ear. He should just knock their heads together and lock them in a room somewhere for a few hours so they could work it out. Or kill one another. He chuckled softly, well that would at least solve the problem of their fighting. But he'd hate to have to replace his XO. In close quarters, he assumed the marine would probably win a fair fight. Though Max certainly would do his best to not allow it to be fair.

He had to talk to Lillian about this after the debriefing. She might have some sort of idea that he hadn't thought of yet, she was usually very good about that. Gan tended to think in straight lines, the shortest route through any situation to him was a straight line. She could think in curves far better than he would ever be able to. And if he was ever to reconcile the two of them, it would definitely have to be a curve ball that neither man saw coming. He shook his head and finalized the changes to the Security and did what he could to ascertain what he would need to do to get the station back on track once more. This would certainly be an interesting meeting.

Meetings. It was always meetings. Meetings about missions, meetings about lunch, meetings about diplomatic incidents. The life of a senior officer was just filled with fun. Still he put on his game face and put his feelings about Max to the back of his mind. Feelings that were more or less contempt and utter loathing that the man couldn't obviously put down the bottle. He kept his mouth shut as he walked into the briefing room and offered Gan a salute before sitting down.

"Afternoon captain. Sorry if I'm late...where there's no report there is a meeting and when there is no meeting there's a report. I swear paperwork exists to thwart me."

Lillian wasn't looking forward to this debriefing because that meant dealing with Taylor and Max in the same space and she had a problem that that wouldn't be much fun. Honestly, she wanted the problem between them to just go away because regardless of what happened in the shuttle, without them both she wouldn't be there right now and she knew it...and perhaps they wouldn't be here now without her. Still, she knew how men were and she knew how much they enjoyed arguing and trying to prove whose was bigger, so she sighed loudly and then plastered a smile on her face as she entered the room with her jacket open.

Her duty jacket was pretty much always open.

She was supposed to be a professional, but at the same time she also had a habit of being the free Betazoid that she was and so she managed to do her job and also not completely keep her duty jacket on when she was flustered. Lillian had been trying to get a lot done since getting back to the station and while she was supposed to rest, she didn't want to. At this point Gan was going to force her to go and talk to a counselor about it, but that was alright with her because maybe that was what she needed. Still, this was about a meeting and so she hurried into the room and paused when she saw Gan and Taylor there already.

"Good afternoon...and here I thought I'd be the first one..." Lillian said, smiling in Taylor's direction and then quickly taking a seat and trying to keep her eyes off of him.

Max eventually strode into the room in a confident mood, having spent the past several hours analyzing reports and details and thoroughly preparing himself mentally for whatever might come up in this debriefing. Wasting no time, he looked around the room approvingly, then spoke to the assembled officers in his most pleasant tone.

"All right, we're all here so let's get started, shall we?" he asked, almost as if he had called the meeting. "I'm sure we've all reviewed each other's reports and the supplementary information, so there's no need to read it all through again. I'd say it would be best to go around and discuss specific details that each of us feels needs clarification." He nodded in turn to Taylor, Lillian, and finally Gan. "Captain, I think you had better go first, so we can all make sure we agree with everything you have to say," Max joked as he seated himself, every bit the cheerful XO. He was taking a risk with this approach, but he had a good feeling it would work.

"Afternoon, everyone." He laid his PADD down on the table and thought about he wanted to say. "For the debriefing I've thought about what I wanted from each of you. The planetside encounters you've faced as a group have made us stronger, in some ways. It has brought us closer together." He looked between Max and Taylor, hoping they could keep their disputes to a minimum. It would be a long day if they spent half of it bickering amongst one another.

"All I really have to ask of you is if there was anything I could have done as your commander to have prevented what happened down there? I've spoken to Max about the intelligence issues and Taylor about personnel both on board the station and a contingent for away missions." He turned to Lillian, "But do you think I could have done anything in your expertise, Lillian?" He pondered for a few moments before he continued on. He would let everyone speak but for the moment he had the table. "I've submitted my report to each of you to review before I file it officially." He placed PADDs down in front of each of them. "And if you have any other questions, make sure to speak up." He smiled, sitting back down so his other senior staff members could take the floor.

Lillian wasn't all that sure about what it was that she wanted to say, but she knew that she needed to speak up and preferrably before the boys had a chance to say anything. At this point, she was pretty certain that even Gan knew how the two men felt about each other and Lillian still wanted to know why that was that the two didn't get along...was it simply gray and green not able to work together? Maybe it was because she was a Betazoid, but Lillian didn't understand why two people couldn't be more professional despite their personal issues but then again it brought her back to Cecily--the two of them butt heads more than once too. So maybe it was like that, but Taylor was new and so there was no history there and she just didn't understand, but that was the way that it was and it was her turn to speak her piece.

"If you want my honest opinion," Lillian began, "I think that it would be best if the reports were simply filled with what happened on the planet and none of the other...issues. What happened was a distress call was sent and when we answered, we were attacked as we were unaware of the situation that we were being sent into. We ended up having to help the original senders of the call and Starfleet needs to be informed--they need to handle this. There was nothing that we could do, save more intelligence work, but that could have taken days and we had to act. Once we were shot out of the sky it was up to surviving and we all helped each other to survive...the fact that there is a chance that either Max or Taylor will be punished for what they did down there makes me upset for more reasons than one."

"Nothing could have been done to prevent the shuttle being shot down sir." added Taylor with a nod. "They wanted to bring us down and they did. Intelligence wouldn't have been able to map AA capability if they were mobile or semi-mobile platforms. If we had an idea that our response to the distress call had been picked up by their SIGINT we could have perhaps chose a safer location to fly over and land."

Taylor paused for a moment before taking a look at both Lillian and Max, the latter was given some form of loathing. "However Doctor Crae was correct. On ground intelligence work would have taken too long. However I'm interested in how the Intelligence department wasn't able to provide proper information on the battlefield communications or lack thereof perhaps indicating a war down there. I wonder how a bunch of thugs led by a despot was able to crack SFI comm encryption....if there was any encryption in place."

He nodded, "I will do everything I can to make sure they aren't punished for anything that went down on the planet, Lillian. I am unsure what more I can than reflect positively on all your actions in my report." He smiled warmly and considered everything that had happened. "I suppose at the end of the day there wasn't anything else we could have accomplished without a lot more time than we had. I'm sure that Starfleet will see it that way as well. As for the sake of encryption, perhaps there was just not enough people to work the problem. We'll have to get things under control up here again. Repairs are well underway as we speak and we'll be able to proceed with our mission out here. Thank you everyone. Is there anything else that needs be done?"

Nothing could crack the smile on Max's face, and he merely nodded and grinned at Taylor during the obvious attack. It did not faze him at all, and he meant to show it as he returned the Marine's sour expression with one of reasonable professionalism. I've got your number, you thick-necked bastard, and I'm going to take you down with it. Use all of your bluster against you, and leave you bewildered and alone in the end, wondering why Lillian chose me. And if you had half the brain that you had brawn, you'd know why. But he said none of that, only made inconsequential notes on his PADD for a moment before looking up and around.

"The Lieutenant makes a good point there. I've ordered a full investigation and review into the matter, and if there was anything of concern I'll call another meeting and fill you in on the details. But at the moment I agree with the Captain and suspect it was more a matter of insufficient resources to cover a sector this vast. I'm referring to things like personnel, processing power, and overall observation assets." He paused a moment, glancing at each of the other officers individually before continuing.

"To that end I've already proposed an expansion in personnel for most departments aboard the station to the Captain. Obviously the Intelligence department is a priority to avoid going into hostile situations blind, but I think most departments require bolstering. Medical, engineering, security, and…" he made sure not to look at Lillian as he said the final bit, to avoid revealing too much "…additional Marines, for security purposes on dangerous away missions. I have personally witnessed the effectiveness of a single Marine in such conditions, and believe we could only benefit from an expansion of their force," Max offered calmly, nodding respectfully at Taylor the whole time.

There. Fighting while appearing to be retreating, fighting without fighting. Give the enemy what they want and they will eventually give you what you want: victory. Let's see how you handle that, Taylor. Or… "Perhaps even a dedicated Marine attack craft, to deploy as the first response to dangerous situations. Secure the area for the medical and engineering personnel who will come later and all that." And put you in the line of fire first instead of me, perhaps?

While Max made sure not to look at Lillian, Lillian smiled in his direction for choosing to listen to what she had suggested about adding additional marines to the base. She was worried about how things were fairing with the rebuild here and after this fiasco it was important to prepare a united front--that and she really couldn't ignore the animosity between the two men at the table with her and Gan. If she couldn't tell that they were at odds no matter how fake the attempt at peace, then she would just be ignorant and that was certainly something that Lillian Crae was not...she was intelligent, rather she acted like she was or not.

"I believe that Lieutenant Lucas can handle anything thrown in his direction--he proved that on the surface of Thalos more than once. Had it not been for him, Doctor Stone swears that my leg would have been in far worse condition. As for Commander Ritter, he also put forth a tremendous performance of authority. I believe that should these two work together to keep this place up and running, we shouldn't have a problem with gathered information nor with the protection of the people that we have here. Besides, I'm handy at patching up, so should the extra marines need a pair of talented hands, I volunteer to keep an eye on them."


"I suppose if you really want to continue the line of bad ideas commander, giving the marines their own shop would be a bad one." said Taylor with narrowed eyes. "Captain we've discussed this point before. A company of marines would give us both the offensive and defensive capabilities the station requires with or without the aid of the Security department. Any more and it's going to seem like sabre rattling. Obviously the commander is not aware of the diplomatic consequences of such a view...so I shall endeavour to enlighten him."

Taylor sat back in his chair and shook his head slowly at the fact he was having to explain this to the XO. "We are positioned amongst some rather volatile borders. Borders which, when faced with military build up, can become highly dangerous. Ambassadors coming to this station might not take too kindly when they see warships at their front door. We need to be careful...we don't have the luxury of starting a war."

||Starbase 12
||Briefing Room
||August 3, 2387
||1530

He sat at the head of the table, looking at the PADD he had brought with him. He had already sent orders out to everyone to be there by 1600 so he would just take a few minutes to go over a few things. He didn't know what would happen if he had his XO and his MCO in the same room. The men certainly seemed to have a distaste for one another. It would be hard, but in this he would have to put his foot down. They had to show each other respect so that the crew would respect them. He wouldn't have two officers on his senior staff biting at each other's throats like wolves. It simply would not do. He just had to find a way to bring them into accord somehow, but he wished he could do that without pulling them by the ear. He should just knock their heads together and lock them in a room somewhere for a few hours so they could work it out. Or kill one another. He chuckled softly, well that would at least solve the problem of their fighting. But he'd hate to have to replace his XO. In close quarters, he assumed the marine would probably win a fair fight. Though Max certainly would do his best to not allow it to be fair.

He had to talk to Lillian about this after the debriefing. She might have some sort of idea that he hadn't thought of yet, she was usually very good about that. Gan tended to think in straight lines, the shortest route through any situation to him was a straight line. She could think in curves far better than he would ever be able to. And if he was ever to reconcile the two of them, it would definitely have to be a curve ball that neither man saw coming. He shook his head and finalized the changes to the Security and did what he could to ascertain what he would need to do to get the station back on track once more. This would certainly be an interesting meeting.

Meetings. It was always meetings. Meetings about missions, meetings about lunch, meetings about diplomatic incidents. The life of a senior officer was just filled with fun. Still he put on his game face and put his feelings about Max to the back of his mind. Feelings that were more or less contempt and utter loathing that the man couldn't obviously put down the bottle. He kept his mouth shut as he walked into the briefing room and offered Gan a salute before sitting down.

"Afternoon captain. Sorry if I'm late...where there's no report there is a meeting and when there is no meeting there's a report. I swear paperwork exists to thwart me."

Lillian wasn't looking forward to this debriefing because that meant dealing with Taylor and Max in the same space and she had a problem that that wouldn't be much fun. Honestly, she wanted the problem between them to just go away because regardless of what happened in the shuttle, without them both she wouldn't be there right now and she knew it...and perhaps they wouldn't be here now without her. Still, she knew how men were and she knew how much they enjoyed arguing and trying to prove whose was bigger, so she sighed loudly and then plastered a smile on her face as she entered the room with her jacket open.

Her duty jacket was pretty much always open.

She was supposed to be a professional, but at the same time she also had a habit of being the free Betazoid that she was and so she managed to do her job and also not completely keep her duty jacket on when she was flustered. Lillian had been trying to get a lot done since getting back to the station and while she was supposed to rest, she didn't want to. At this point Gan was going to force her to go and talk to a counselor about it, but that was alright with her because maybe that was what she needed. Still, this was about a meeting and so she hurried into the room and paused when she saw Gan and Taylor there already.

"Good afternoon...and here I thought I'd be the first one..." Lillian said, smiling in Taylor's direction and then quickly taking a seat and trying to keep her eyes off of him.

Max eventually strode into the room in a confident mood, having spent the past several hours analyzing reports and details and thoroughly preparing himself mentally for whatever might come up in this debriefing. Wasting no time, he looked around the room approvingly, then spoke to the assembled officers in his most pleasant tone.

"All right, we're all here so let's get started, shall we?" he asked, almost as if he had called the meeting. "I'm sure we've all reviewed each other's reports and the supplementary information, so there's no need to read it all through again. I'd say it would be best to go around and discuss specific details that each of us feels needs clarification." He nodded in turn to Taylor, Lillian, and finally Gan. "Captain, I think you had better go first, so we can all make sure we agree with everything you have to say," Max joked as he seated himself, every bit the cheerful XO. He was taking a risk with this approach, but he had a good feeling it would work.

"Afternoon, everyone." He laid his PADD down on the table and thought about he wanted to say. "For the debriefing I've thought about what I wanted from each of you. The planetside encounters you've faced as a group have made us stronger, in some ways. It has brought us closer together." He looked between Max and Taylor, hoping they could keep their disputes to a minimum. It would be a long day if they spent half of it bickering amongst one another.

"All I really have to ask of you is if there was anything I could have done as your commander to have prevented what happened down there? I've spoken to Max about the intelligence issues and Taylor about personnel both on board the station and a contingent for away missions." He turned to Lillian, "But do you think I could have done anything in your expertise, Lillian?" He pondered for a few moments before he continued on. He would let everyone speak but for the moment he had the table. "I've submitted my report to each of you to review before I file it officially." He placed PADDs down in front of each of them. "And if you have any other questions, make sure to speak up." He smiled, sitting back down so his other senior staff members could take the floor.

Lillian wasn't all that sure about what it was that she wanted to say, but she knew that she needed to speak up and preferrably before the boys had a chance to say anything. At this point, she was pretty certain that even Gan knew how the two men felt about each other and Lillian still wanted to know why that was that the two didn't get along...was it simply gray and green not able to work together? Maybe it was because she was a Betazoid, but Lillian didn't understand why two people couldn't be more professional despite their personal issues but then again it brought her back to Cecily--the two of them butt heads more than once too. So maybe it was like that, but Taylor was new and so there was no history there and she just didn't understand, but that was the way that it was and it was her turn to speak her piece.

"If you want my honest opinion," Lillian began, "I think that it would be best if the reports were simply filled with what happened on the planet and none of the other...issues. What happened was a distress call was sent and when we answered, we were attacked as we were unaware of the situation that we were being sent into. We ended up having to help the original senders of the call and Starfleet needs to be informed--they need to handle this. There was nothing that we could do, save more intelligence work, but that could have taken days and we had to act. Once we were shot out of the sky it was up to surviving and we all helped each other to survive...the fact that there is a chance that either Max or Taylor will be punished for what they did down there makes me upset for more reasons than one."

"Nothing could have been done to prevent the shuttle being shot down sir." added Taylor with a nod. "They wanted to bring us down and they did. Intelligence wouldn't have been able to map AA capability if they were mobile or semi-mobile platforms. If we had an idea that our response to the distress call had been picked up by their SIGINT we could have perhaps chose a safer location to fly over and land."

Taylor paused for a moment before taking a look at both Lillian and Max, the latter was given some form of loathing. "However Doctor Crae was correct. On ground intelligence work would have taken too long. However I'm interested in how the Intelligence department wasn't able to provide proper information on the battlefield communications or lack thereof perhaps indicating a war down there. I wonder how a bunch of thugs led by a despot was able to crack SFI comm encryption....if there was any encryption in place."

He nodded, "I will do everything I can to make sure they aren't punished for anything that went down on the planet, Lillian. I am unsure what more I can than reflect positively on all your actions in my report." He smiled warmly and considered everything that had happened. "I suppose at the end of the day there wasn't anything else we could have accomplished without a lot more time than we had. I'm sure that Starfleet will see it that way as well. As for the sake of encryption, perhaps there was just not enough people to work the problem. We'll have to get things under control up here again. Repairs are well underway as we speak and we'll be able to proceed with our mission out here. Thank you everyone. Is there anything else that needs be done?"

Nothing could crack the smile on Max's face, and he merely nodded and grinned at Taylor during the obvious attack. It did not faze him at all, and he meant to show it as he returned the Marine's sour expression with one of reasonable professionalism. I've got your number, you thick-necked bastard, and I'm going to take you down with it. Use all of your bluster against you, and leave you bewildered and alone in the end, wondering why Lillian chose me. And if you had half the brain that you had brawn, you'd know why. But he said none of that, only made inconsequential notes on his PADD for a moment before looking up and around.

"The Lieutenant makes a good point there. I've ordered a full investigation and review into the matter, and if there was anything of concern I'll call another meeting and fill you in on the details. But at the moment I agree with the Captain and suspect it was more a matter of insufficient resources to cover a sector this vast. I'm referring to things like personnel, processing power, and overall observation assets." He paused a moment, glancing at each of the other officers individually before continuing.

"To that end I've already proposed an expansion in personnel for most departments aboard the station to the Captain. Obviously the Intelligence department is a priority to avoid going into hostile situations blind, but I think most departments require bolstering. Medical, engineering, security, and…" he made sure not to look at Lillian as he said the final bit, to avoid revealing too much "…additional Marines, for security purposes on dangerous away missions. I have personally witnessed the effectiveness of a single Marine in such conditions, and believe we could only benefit from an expansion of their force," Max offered calmly, nodding respectfully at Taylor the whole time.

There. Fighting while appearing to be retreating, fighting without fighting. Give the enemy what they want and they will eventually give you what you want: victory. Let's see how you handle that, Taylor. Or… "Perhaps even a dedicated Marine attack craft, to deploy as the first response to dangerous situations. Secure the area for the medical and engineering personnel who will come later and all that." And put you in the line of fire first instead of me, perhaps?

While Max made sure not to look at Lillian, Lillian smiled in his direction for choosing to listen to what she had suggested about adding additional marines to the base. She was worried about how things were fairing with the rebuild here and after this fiasco it was important to prepare a united front--that and she really couldn't ignore the animosity between the two men at the table with her and Gan. If she couldn't tell that they were at odds no matter how fake the attempt at peace, then she would just be ignorant and that was certainly something that Lillian Crae was not...she was intelligent, rather she acted like she was or not.

"I believe that Lieutenant Lucas can handle anything thrown in his direction--he proved that on the surface of Thalos more than once. Had it not been for him, Doctor Stone swears that my leg would have been in far worse condition. As for Commander Ritter, he also put forth a tremendous performance of authority. I believe that should these two work together to keep this place up and running, we shouldn't have a problem with gathered information nor with the protection of the people that we have here. Besides, I'm handy at patching up, so should the extra marines need a pair of talented hands, I volunteer to keep an eye on them."


"I suppose if you really want to continue the line of bad ideas commander, giving the marines their own shop would be a bad one." said Taylor with narrowed eyes. "Captain we've discussed this point before. A company of marines would give us both the offensive and defensive capabilities the station requires with or without the aid of the Security department. Any more and it's going to seem like sabre rattling. Obviously the commander is not aware of the diplomatic consequences of such a view...so I shall endeavour to enlighten him."

Taylor sat back in his chair and shook his head slowly at the fact he was having to explain this to the XO. "We are positioned amongst some rather volatile borders. Borders which, when faced with military build up, can become highly dangerous. Ambassadors coming to this station might not take too kindly when they see warships at their front door. We need to be careful...we don't have the luxury of starting a war."

||Starbase 12
||Briefing Room
||August 3, 2387
||1530

He sat at the head of the table, looking at the PADD he had brought with him. He had already sent orders out to everyone to be there by 1600 so he would just take a few minutes to go over a few things. He didn't know what would happen if he had his XO and his MCO in the same room. The men certainly seemed to have a distaste for one another. It would be hard, but in this he would have to put his foot down. They had to show each other respect so that the crew would respect them. He wouldn't have two officers on his senior staff biting at each other's throats like wolves. It simply would not do. He just had to find a way to bring them into accord somehow, but he wished he could do that without pulling them by the ear. He should just knock their heads together and lock them in a room somewhere for a few hours so they could work it out. Or kill one another. He chuckled softly, well that would at least solve the problem of their fighting. But he'd hate to have to replace his XO. In close quarters, he assumed the marine would probably win a fair fight. Though Max certainly would do his best to not allow it to be fair.

He had to talk to Lillian about this after the debriefing. She might have some sort of idea that he hadn't thought of yet, she was usually very good about that. Gan tended to think in straight lines, the shortest route through any situation to him was a straight line. She could think in curves far better than he would ever be able to. And if he was ever to reconcile the two of them, it would definitely have to be a curve ball that neither man saw coming. He shook his head and finalized the changes to the Security and did what he could to ascertain what he would need to do to get the station back on track once more. This would certainly be an interesting meeting.

Meetings. It was always meetings. Meetings about missions, meetings about lunch, meetings about diplomatic incidents. The life of a senior officer was just filled with fun. Still he put on his game face and put his feelings about Max to the back of his mind. Feelings that were more or less contempt and utter loathing that the man couldn't obviously put down the bottle. He kept his mouth shut as he walked into the briefing room and offered Gan a salute before sitting down.

"Afternoon captain. Sorry if I'm late...where there's no report there is a meeting and when there is no meeting there's a report. I swear paperwork exists to thwart me."

Lillian wasn't looking forward to this debriefing because that meant dealing with Taylor and Max in the same space and she had a problem that that wouldn't be much fun. Honestly, she wanted the problem between them to just go away because regardless of what happened in the shuttle, without them both she wouldn't be there right now and she knew it...and perhaps they wouldn't be here now without her. Still, she knew how men were and she knew how much they enjoyed arguing and trying to prove whose was bigger, so she sighed loudly and then plastered a smile on her face as she entered the room with her jacket open.

Her duty jacket was pretty much always open.

She was supposed to be a professional, but at the same time she also had a habit of being the free Betazoid that she was and so she managed to do her job and also not completely keep her duty jacket on when she was flustered. Lillian had been trying to get a lot done since getting back to the station and while she was supposed to rest, she didn't want to. At this point Gan was going to force her to go and talk to a counselor about it, but that was alright with her because maybe that was what she needed. Still, this was about a meeting and so she hurried into the room and paused when she saw Gan and Taylor there already.

"Good afternoon...and here I thought I'd be the first one..." Lillian said, smiling in Taylor's direction and then quickly taking a seat and trying to keep her eyes off of him.

Max eventually strode into the room in a confident mood, having spent the past several hours analyzing reports and details and thoroughly preparing himself mentally for whatever might come up in this debriefing. Wasting no time, he looked around the room approvingly, then spoke to the assembled officers in his most pleasant tone.

"All right, we're all here so let's get started, shall we?" he asked, almost as if he had called the meeting. "I'm sure we've all reviewed each other's reports and the supplementary information, so there's no need to read it all through again. I'd say it would be best to go around and discuss specific details that each of us feels needs clarification." He nodded in turn to Taylor, Lillian, and finally Gan. "Captain, I think you had better go first, so we can all make sure we agree with everything you have to say," Max joked as he seated himself, every bit the cheerful XO. He was taking a risk with this approach, but he had a good feeling it would work.

"Afternoon, everyone." He laid his PADD down on the table and thought about he wanted to say. "For the debriefing I've thought about what I wanted from each of you. The planetside encounters you've faced as a group have made us stronger, in some ways. It has brought us closer together." He looked between Max and Taylor, hoping they could keep their disputes to a minimum. It would be a long day if they spent half of it bickering amongst one another.

"All I really have to ask of you is if there was anything I could have done as your commander to have prevented what happened down there? I've spoken to Max about the intelligence issues and Taylor about personnel both on board the station and a contingent for away missions." He turned to Lillian, "But do you think I could have done anything in your expertise, Lillian?" He pondered for a few moments before he continued on. He would let everyone speak but for the moment he had the table. "I've submitted my report to each of you to review before I file it officially." He placed PADDs down in front of each of them. "And if you have any other questions, make sure to speak up." He smiled, sitting back down so his other senior staff members could take the floor.

Lillian wasn't all that sure about what it was that she wanted to say, but she knew that she needed to speak up and preferrably before the boys had a chance to say anything. At this point, she was pretty certain that even Gan knew how the two men felt about each other and Lillian still wanted to know why that was that the two didn't get along...was it simply gray and green not able to work together? Maybe it was because she was a Betazoid, but Lillian didn't understand why two people couldn't be more professional despite their personal issues but then again it brought her back to Cecily--the two of them butt heads more than once too. So maybe it was like that, but Taylor was new and so there was no history there and she just didn't understand, but that was the way that it was and it was her turn to speak her piece.

"If you want my honest opinion," Lillian began, "I think that it would be best if the reports were simply filled with what happened on the planet and none of the other...issues. What happened was a distress call was sent and when we answered, we were attacked as we were unaware of the situation that we were being sent into. We ended up having to help the original senders of the call and Starfleet needs to be informed--they need to handle this. There was nothing that we could do, save more intelligence work, but that could have taken days and we had to act. Once we were shot out of the sky it was up to surviving and we all helped each other to survive...the fact that there is a chance that either Max or Taylor will be punished for what they did down there makes me upset for more reasons than one."

"Nothing could have been done to prevent the shuttle being shot down sir." added Taylor with a nod. "They wanted to bring us down and they did. Intelligence wouldn't have been able to map AA capability if they were mobile or semi-mobile platforms. If we had an idea that our response to the distress call had been picked up by their SIGINT we could have perhaps chose a safer location to fly over and land."

Taylor paused for a moment before taking a look at both Lillian and Max, the latter was given some form of loathing. "However Doctor Crae was correct. On ground intelligence work would have taken too long. However I'm interested in how the Intelligence department wasn't able to provide proper information on the battlefield communications or lack thereof perhaps indicating a war down there. I wonder how a bunch of thugs led by a despot was able to crack SFI comm encryption....if there was any encryption in place."

He nodded, "I will do everything I can to make sure they aren't punished for anything that went down on the planet, Lillian. I am unsure what more I can than reflect positively on all your actions in my report." He smiled warmly and considered everything that had happened. "I suppose at the end of the day there wasn't anything else we could have accomplished without a lot more time than we had. I'm sure that Starfleet will see it that way as well. As for the sake of encryption, perhaps there was just not enough people to work the problem. We'll have to get things under control up here again. Repairs are well underway as we speak and we'll be able to proceed with our mission out here. Thank you everyone. Is there anything else that needs be done?"

Nothing could crack the smile on Max's face, and he merely nodded and grinned at Taylor during the obvious attack. It did not faze him at all, and he meant to show it as he returned the Marine's sour expression with one of reasonable professionalism. I've got your number, you thick-necked bastard, and I'm going to take you down with it. Use all of your bluster against you, and leave you bewildered and alone in the end, wondering why Lillian chose me. And if you had half the brain that you had brawn, you'd know why. But he said none of that, only made inconsequential notes on his PADD for a moment before looking up and around.

"The Lieutenant makes a good point there. I've ordered a full investigation and review into the matter, and if there was anything of concern I'll call another meeting and fill you in on the details. But at the moment I agree with the Captain and suspect it was more a matter of insufficient resources to cover a sector this vast. I'm referring to things like personnel, processing power, and overall observation assets." He paused a moment, glancing at each of the other officers individually before continuing.

"To that end I've already proposed an expansion in personnel for most departments aboard the station to the Captain. Obviously the Intelligence department is a priority to avoid going into hostile situations blind, but I think most departments require bolstering. Medical, engineering, security, and…" he made sure not to look at Lillian as he said the final bit, to avoid revealing too much "…additional Marines, for security purposes on dangerous away missions. I have personally witnessed the effectiveness of a single Marine in such conditions, and believe we could only benefit from an expansion of their force," Max offered calmly, nodding respectfully at Taylor the whole time.

There. Fighting while appearing to be retreating, fighting without fighting. Give the enemy what they want and they will eventually give you what you want: victory. Let's see how you handle that, Taylor. Or… "Perhaps even a dedicated Marine attack craft, to deploy as the first response to dangerous situations. Secure the area for the medical and engineering personnel who will come later and all that." And put you in the line of fire first instead of me, perhaps?

While Max made sure not to look at Lillian, Lillian smiled in his direction for choosing to listen to what she had suggested about adding additional marines to the base. She was worried about how things were fairing with the rebuild here and after this fiasco it was important to prepare a united front--that and she really couldn't ignore the animosity between the two men at the table with her and Gan. If she couldn't tell that they were at odds no matter how fake the attempt at peace, then she would just be ignorant and that was certainly something that Lillian Crae was not...she was intelligent, rather she acted like she was or not.

"I believe that Lieutenant Lucas can handle anything thrown in his direction--he proved that on the surface of Thalos more than once. Had it not been for him, Doctor Stone swears that my leg would have been in far worse condition. As for Commander Ritter, he also put forth a tremendous performance of authority. I believe that should these two work together to keep this place up and running, we shouldn't have a problem with gathered information nor with the protection of the people that we have here. Besides, I'm handy at patching up, so should the extra marines need a pair of talented hands, I volunteer to keep an eye on them."

"I suppose if you really want to continue the line of bad ideas commander, giving the marines their own shop would be a bad one." said Taylor with narrowed eyes. "Captain we've discussed this point before. A company of marines would give us both the offensive and defensive capabilities the station requires with or without the aid of the Security department. Any more and it's going to seem like sabre rattling. Obviously the commander is not aware of the diplomatic consequences of such a view...so I shall endeavour to enlighten him."

Taylor sat back in his chair and shook his head slowly at the fact he was having to explain this to the XO. "We are positioned amongst some rather volatile borders. Borders which, when faced with military build up, can become highly dangerous. Ambassadors coming to this station might not take too kindly when they see warships at their front door. We need to be careful...we don't have the luxury of starting a war."

What could have been left as a way to bury some sort of hatchet seemed lost and Lillian found herself actually groaning out loud and her mouth got the better of her.

"First of all, Commander Ritter is your XO so you will treat him with respect even when you don't agree with his methods," Lillian shot at Taylor, clearly disappointed with both him and Max. "As for you, Commander, you're at a table with a Betazoid, so I suggest that you also take notes with what it is that I am about to say, because I'm only going to say it once. This is a response base. We are here to be formiddable. We are here to have military men. We are here to have doctors and scientists. We are here to be somewhat scary to our neighbors and to appear strong to our allies so that they know that we will be able to aide them whenever it is that they need us to do that. I could care less about you two and your clear as day pissing contest, but I seem to be the only one here thinking about what is clearly best for this station without wanting to screw the other person over or point out how wrong they are. Save your personal disputes for the holodeck."

She took a deep breath and looked directly at Gan. "I am aware that I am talking out of turn and that I am just your second officer, but I believe that in order to restore this place to what Starfleet intended for it to be--to restore our purpose--we need to have a strong military, diplomatic and intelligence front. Those are the only sections that we should currently be focusing on. More marines. More security officers. More intelligence officers, more diplomats. We are a response base and that means that we are expected to be somewhat of a fighting base. We have medical personnel. We have scientists and engineers...we don't need the focus right now and Milos System taught us that. I did not poison a man down there for no good reason!"

Lillian knew that she had raised her voice and let that slip and that she was now emotionally on edge, but she was getting fed up with men.

||Starbase 12
||Briefing Room
||August 3, 2387
||1530

He sat at the head of the table, looking at the PADD he had brought with him. He had already sent orders out to everyone to be there by 1600 so he would just take a few minutes to go over a few things. He didn't know what would happen if he had his XO and his MCO in the same room. The men certainly seemed to have a distaste for one another. It would be hard, but in this he would have to put his foot down. They had to show each other respect so that the crew would respect them. He wouldn't have two officers on his senior staff biting at each other's throats like wolves. It simply would not do. He just had to find a way to bring them into accord somehow, but he wished he could do that without pulling them by the ear. He should just knock their heads together and lock them in a room somewhere for a few hours so they could work it out. Or kill one another. He chuckled softly, well that would at least solve the problem of their fighting. But he'd hate to have to replace his XO. In close quarters, he assumed the marine would probably win a fair fight. Though Max certainly would do his best to not allow it to be fair.

He had to talk to Lillian about this after the debriefing. She might have some sort of idea that he hadn't thought of yet, she was usually very good about that. Gan tended to think in straight lines, the shortest route through any situation to him was a straight line. She could think in curves far better than he would ever be able to. And if he was ever to reconcile the two of them, it would definitely have to be a curve ball that neither man saw coming. He shook his head and finalized the changes to the Security and did what he could to ascertain what he would need to do to get the station back on track once more. This would certainly be an interesting meeting.

Meetings. It was always meetings. Meetings about missions, meetings about lunch, meetings about diplomatic incidents. The life of a senior officer was just filled with fun. Still he put on his game face and put his feelings about Max to the back of his mind. Feelings that were more or less contempt and utter loathing that the man couldn't obviously put down the bottle. He kept his mouth shut as he walked into the briefing room and offered Gan a salute before sitting down.

"Afternoon captain. Sorry if I'm late...where there's no report there is a meeting and when there is no meeting there's a report. I swear paperwork exists to thwart me."

Lillian wasn't looking forward to this debriefing because that meant dealing with Taylor and Max in the same space and she had a problem that that wouldn't be much fun. Honestly, she wanted the problem between them to just go away because regardless of what happened in the shuttle, without them both she wouldn't be there right now and she knew it...and perhaps they wouldn't be here now without her. Still, she knew how men were and she knew how much they enjoyed arguing and trying to prove whose was bigger, so she sighed loudly and then plastered a smile on her face as she entered the room with her jacket open.

Her duty jacket was pretty much always open.

She was supposed to be a professional, but at the same time she also had a habit of being the free Betazoid that she was and so she managed to do her job and also not completely keep her duty jacket on when she was flustered. Lillian had been trying to get a lot done since getting back to the station and while she was supposed to rest, she didn't want to. At this point Gan was going to force her to go and talk to a counselor about it, but that was alright with her because maybe that was what she needed. Still, this was about a meeting and so she hurried into the room and paused when she saw Gan and Taylor there already.

"Good afternoon...and here I thought I'd be the first one..." Lillian said, smiling in Taylor's direction and then quickly taking a seat and trying to keep her eyes off of him.

Max eventually strode into the room in a confident mood, having spent the past several hours analyzing reports and details and thoroughly preparing himself mentally for whatever might come up in this debriefing. Wasting no time, he looked around the room approvingly, then spoke to the assembled officers in his most pleasant tone.

"All right, we're all here so let's get started, shall we?" he asked, almost as if he had called the meeting. "I'm sure we've all reviewed each other's reports and the supplementary information, so there's no need to read it all through again. I'd say it would be best to go around and discuss specific details that each of us feels needs clarification." He nodded in turn to Taylor, Lillian, and finally Gan. "Captain, I think you had better go first, so we can all make sure we agree with everything you have to say," Max joked as he seated himself, every bit the cheerful XO. He was taking a risk with this approach, but he had a good feeling it would work.

"Afternoon, everyone." He laid his PADD down on the table and thought about he wanted to say. "For the debriefing I've thought about what I wanted from each of you. The planetside encounters you've faced as a group have made us stronger, in some ways. It has brought us closer together." He looked between Max and Taylor, hoping they could keep their disputes to a minimum. It would be a long day if they spent half of it bickering amongst one another.

"All I really have to ask of you is if there was anything I could have done as your commander to have prevented what happened down there? I've spoken to Max about the intelligence issues and Taylor about personnel both on board the station and a contingent for away missions." He turned to Lillian, "But do you think I could have done anything in your expertise, Lillian?" He pondered for a few moments before he continued on. He would let everyone speak but for the moment he had the table. "I've submitted my report to each of you to review before I file it officially." He placed PADDs down in front of each of them. "And if you have any other questions, make sure to speak up." He smiled, sitting back down so his other senior staff members could take the floor.

Lillian wasn't all that sure about what it was that she wanted to say, but she knew that she needed to speak up and preferrably before the boys had a chance to say anything. At this point, she was pretty certain that even Gan knew how the two men felt about each other and Lillian still wanted to know why that was that the two didn't get along...was it simply gray and green not able to work together? Maybe it was because she was a Betazoid, but Lillian didn't understand why two people couldn't be more professional despite their personal issues but then again it brought her back to Cecily--the two of them butt heads more than once too. So maybe it was like that, but Taylor was new and so there was no history there and she just didn't understand, but that was the way that it was and it was her turn to speak her piece.

"If you want my honest opinion," Lillian began, "I think that it would be best if the reports were simply filled with what happened on the planet and none of the other...issues. What happened was a distress call was sent and when we answered, we were attacked as we were unaware of the situation that we were being sent into. We ended up having to help the original senders of the call and Starfleet needs to be informed--they need to handle this. There was nothing that we could do, save more intelligence work, but that could have taken days and we had to act. Once we were shot out of the sky it was up to surviving and we all helped each other to survive...the fact that there is a chance that either Max or Taylor will be punished for what they did down there makes me upset for more reasons than one."

"Nothing could have been done to prevent the shuttle being shot down sir." added Taylor with a nod. "They wanted to bring us down and they did. Intelligence wouldn't have been able to map AA capability if they were mobile or semi-mobile platforms. If we had an idea that our response to the distress call had been picked up by their SIGINT we could have perhaps chose a safer location to fly over and land."

Taylor paused for a moment before taking a look at both Lillian and Max, the latter was given some form of loathing. "However Doctor Crae was correct. On ground intelligence work would have taken too long. However I'm interested in how the Intelligence department wasn't able to provide proper information on the battlefield communications or lack thereof perhaps indicating a war down there. I wonder how a bunch of thugs led by a despot was able to crack SFI comm encryption....if there was any encryption in place."

He nodded, "I will do everything I can to make sure they aren't punished for anything that went down on the planet, Lillian. I am unsure what more I can than reflect positively on all your actions in my report." He smiled warmly and considered everything that had happened. "I suppose at the end of the day there wasn't anything else we could have accomplished without a lot more time than we had. I'm sure that Starfleet will see it that way as well. As for the sake of encryption, perhaps there was just not enough people to work the problem. We'll have to get things under control up here again. Repairs are well underway as we speak and we'll be able to proceed with our mission out here. Thank you everyone. Is there anything else that needs be done?"

Nothing could crack the smile on Max's face, and he merely nodded and grinned at Taylor during the obvious attack. It did not faze him at all, and he meant to show it as he returned the Marine's sour expression with one of reasonable professionalism. I've got your number, you thick-necked bastard, and I'm going to take you down with it. Use all of your bluster against you, and leave you bewildered and alone in the end, wondering why Lillian chose me. And if you had half the brain that you had brawn, you'd know why. But he said none of that, only made inconsequential notes on his PADD for a moment before looking up and around.

"The Lieutenant makes a good point there. I've ordered a full investigation and review into the matter, and if there was anything of concern I'll call another meeting and fill you in on the details. But at the moment I agree with the Captain and suspect it was more a matter of insufficient resources to cover a sector this vast. I'm referring to things like personnel, processing power, and overall observation assets." He paused a moment, glancing at each of the other officers individually before continuing.

"To that end I've already proposed an expansion in personnel for most departments aboard the station to the Captain. Obviously the Intelligence department is a priority to avoid going into hostile situations blind, but I think most departments require bolstering. Medical, engineering, security, and…" he made sure not to look at Lillian as he said the final bit, to avoid revealing too much "…additional Marines, for security purposes on dangerous away missions. I have personally witnessed the effectiveness of a single Marine in such conditions, and believe we could only benefit from an expansion of their force," Max offered calmly, nodding respectfully at Taylor the whole time.

There. Fighting while appearing to be retreating, fighting without fighting. Give the enemy what they want and they will eventually give you what you want: victory. Let's see how you handle that, Taylor. Or… "Perhaps even a dedicated Marine attack craft, to deploy as the first response to dangerous situations. Secure the area for the medical and engineering personnel who will come later and all that." And put you in the line of fire first instead of me, perhaps?

While Max made sure not to look at Lillian, Lillian smiled in his direction for choosing to listen to what she had suggested about adding additional marines to the base. She was worried about how things were fairing with the rebuild here and after this fiasco it was important to prepare a united front--that and she really couldn't ignore the animosity between the two men at the table with her and Gan. If she couldn't tell that they were at odds no matter how fake the attempt at peace, then she would just be ignorant and that was certainly something that Lillian Crae was not...she was intelligent, rather she acted like she was or not.

"I believe that Lieutenant Lucas can handle anything thrown in his direction--he proved that on the surface of Thalos more than once. Had it not been for him, Doctor Stone swears that my leg would have been in far worse condition. As for Commander Ritter, he also put forth a tremendous performance of authority. I believe that should these two work together to keep this place up and running, we shouldn't have a problem with gathered information nor with the protection of the people that we have here. Besides, I'm handy at patching up, so should the extra marines need a pair of talented hands, I volunteer to keep an eye on them."

"I suppose if you really want to continue the line of bad ideas commander, giving the marines their own shop would be a bad one." said Taylor with narrowed eyes. "Captain we've discussed this point before. A company of marines would give us both the offensive and defensive capabilities the station requires with or without the aid of the Security department. Any more and it's going to seem like sabre rattling. Obviously the commander is not aware of the diplomatic consequences of such a view...so I shall endeavour to enlighten him."

Taylor sat back in his chair and shook his head slowly at the fact he was having to explain this to the XO. "We are positioned amongst some rather volatile borders. Borders which, when faced with military build up, can become highly dangerous. Ambassadors coming to this station might not take too kindly when they see warships at their front door. We need to be careful...we don't have the luxury of starting a war."

What could have been left as a way to bury some sort of hatchet seemed lost and Lillian found herself actually groaning out loud and her mouth got the better of her.

"First of all, Commander Ritter is your XO so you will treat him with respect even when you don't agree with his methods," Lillian shot at Taylor, clearly disappointed with both him and Max. "As for you, Commander, you're at a table with a Betazoid, so I suggest that you also take notes with what it is that I am about to say, because I'm only going to say it once. This is a response base. We are here to be formidable. We are here to have military men. We are here to have doctors and scientists. We are here to be somewhat scary to our neighbors and to appear strong to our allies so that they know that we will be able to aide them whenever it is that they need us to do that. I could care less about you two and your clear as day pissing contest, but I seem to be the only one here thinking about what is clearly best for this station without wanting to screw the other person over or point out how wrong they are. Save your personal disputes for the holodeck."

She took a deep breath and looked directly at Gan. "I am aware that I am talking out of turn and that I am just your second officer, but I believe that in order to restore this place to what Starfleet intended for it to be--to restore our purpose--we need to have a strong military, diplomatic and intelligence front. Those are the only sections that we should currently be focusing on. More marines. More security officers. More intelligence officers, more diplomats. We are a response base and that means that we are expected to be somewhat of a fighting base. We have medical personnel. We have scientists and engineers...we don't need the focus right now and Milos System taught us that. I did not poison a man down there for no good reason!"

Lillian knew that she had raised her voice and let that slip and that she was now emotionally on edge, but she was getting fed up with men.

He smiled softly, knowing that Lillian had the right of it. He couldn't have said it any better himself, but he had to wonder as to the motivations of the two men. It was hard to read either of them. But he knew that he had to do something. He just needed to figure out how to get the two men to comport themselves. "You have the right of it, Lillian. This station is meant to first and foremost be a response base. We cannot forget our mission.." He looked to his senior officers, "Or our place." He grimaced, "I don't know why the both of you have your hackles raised like dogs fighting over a bone, but I will again stress that you respect one another. If you want to strangle each other, do it in your off time. We're here to work."

He spun his PADD idly out on the table and sighed softly. "I have heeded the recommendations of my MCO and my CIO in response to the crisis that occurred on Milos and I have taken action as to try to prevent something like this from happening again. I will submit these requests to Starfleet so we can continue to serve our purpose out here. Now if you wish it, I can put the two of you in a holding cell together and you can debate out your differences. Or kill each other. But one way or another, I won't have you wondering if daggers in the night would serve a better purpose. Now that the mission is under wraps and our discussion has been coming to its conclusion, I'm sure that we will be able to work well with one another, yes?" He grinned, "Or we can continue our infighting and give our enemies an opportunity to see us outside of a secure area fighting amongst ourselves. But either way, we will all leave this room with our heads held high as Starfleet personnel. Do what you want out of uniform. But this.." He tugged at his duty jacket, "When you put this on in the morning, try to remember all the people who wore it before you. Show the uniform what is due to it."

||Starbase 12
||Briefing Room
||August 3, 2387
||1530

He sat at the head of the table, looking at the PADD he had brought with him. He had already sent orders out to everyone to be there by 1600 so he would just take a few minutes to go over a few things. He didn't know what would happen if he had his XO and his MCO in the same room. The men certainly seemed to have a distaste for one another. It would be hard, but in this he would have to put his foot down. They had to show each other respect so that the crew would respect them. He wouldn't have two officers on his senior staff biting at each other's throats like wolves. It simply would not do. He just had to find a way to bring them into accord somehow, but he wished he could do that without pulling them by the ear. He should just knock their heads together and lock them in a room somewhere for a few hours so they could work it out. Or kill one another. He chuckled softly, well that would at least solve the problem of their fighting. But he'd hate to have to replace his XO. In close quarters, he assumed the marine would probably win a fair fight. Though Max certainly would do his best to not allow it to be fair.

He had to talk to Lillian about this after the debriefing. She might have some sort of idea that he hadn't thought of yet, she was usually very good about that. Gan tended to think in straight lines, the shortest route through any situation to him was a straight line. She could think in curves far better than he would ever be able to. And if he was ever to reconcile the two of them, it would definitely have to be a curve ball that neither man saw coming. He shook his head and finalized the changes to the Security and did what he could to ascertain what he would need to do to get the station back on track once more. This would certainly be an interesting meeting.

Meetings. It was always meetings. Meetings about missions, meetings about lunch, meetings about diplomatic incidents. The life of a senior officer was just filled with fun. Still he put on his game face and put his feelings about Max to the back of his mind. Feelings that were more or less contempt and utter loathing that the man couldn't obviously put down the bottle. He kept his mouth shut as he walked into the briefing room and offered Gan a salute before sitting down.

"Afternoon captain. Sorry if I'm late...where there's no report there is a meeting and when there is no meeting there's a report. I swear paperwork exists to thwart me."

Lillian wasn't looking forward to this debriefing because that meant dealing with Taylor and Max in the same space and she had a problem that that wouldn't be much fun. Honestly, she wanted the problem between them to just go away because regardless of what happened in the shuttle, without them both she wouldn't be there right now and she knew it...and perhaps they wouldn't be here now without her. Still, she knew how men were and she knew how much they enjoyed arguing and trying to prove whose was bigger, so she sighed loudly and then plastered a smile on her face as she entered the room with her jacket open.

Her duty jacket was pretty much always open.

She was supposed to be a professional, but at the same time she also had a habit of being the free Betazoid that she was and so she managed to do her job and also not completely keep her duty jacket on when she was flustered. Lillian had been trying to get a lot done since getting back to the station and while she was supposed to rest, she didn't want to. At this point Gan was going to force her to go and talk to a counselor about it, but that was alright with her because maybe that was what she needed. Still, this was about a meeting and so she hurried into the room and paused when she saw Gan and Taylor there already.

"Good afternoon...and here I thought I'd be the first one..." Lillian said, smiling in Taylor's direction and then quickly taking a seat and trying to keep her eyes off of him.

Max eventually strode into the room in a confident mood, having spent the past several hours analyzing reports and details and thoroughly preparing himself mentally for whatever might come up in this debriefing. Wasting no time, he looked around the room approvingly, then spoke to the assembled officers in his most pleasant tone.

"All right, we're all here so let's get started, shall we?" he asked, almost as if he had called the meeting. "I'm sure we've all reviewed each other's reports and the supplementary information, so there's no need to read it all through again. I'd say it would be best to go around and discuss specific details that each of us feels needs clarification." He nodded in turn to Taylor, Lillian, and finally Gan. "Captain, I think you had better go first, so we can all make sure we agree with everything you have to say," Max joked as he seated himself, every bit the cheerful XO. He was taking a risk with this approach, but he had a good feeling it would work.

"Afternoon, everyone." He laid his PADD down on the table and thought about he wanted to say. "For the debriefing I've thought about what I wanted from each of you. The planetside encounters you've faced as a group have made us stronger, in some ways. It has brought us closer together." He looked between Max and Taylor, hoping they could keep their disputes to a minimum. It would be a long day if they spent half of it bickering amongst one another.

"All I really have to ask of you is if there was anything I could have done as your commander to have prevented what happened down there? I've spoken to Max about the intelligence issues and Taylor about personnel both on board the station and a contingent for away missions." He turned to Lillian, "But do you think I could have done anything in your expertise, Lillian?" He pondered for a few moments before he continued on. He would let everyone speak but for the moment he had the table. "I've submitted my report to each of you to review before I file it officially." He placed PADDs down in front of each of them. "And if you have any other questions, make sure to speak up." He smiled, sitting back down so his other senior staff members could take the floor.

Lillian wasn't all that sure about what it was that she wanted to say, but she knew that she needed to speak up and preferrably before the boys had a chance to say anything. At this point, she was pretty certain that even Gan knew how the two men felt about each other and Lillian still wanted to know why that was that the two didn't get along...was it simply gray and green not able to work together? Maybe it was because she was a Betazoid, but Lillian didn't understand why two people couldn't be more professional despite their personal issues but then again it brought her back to Cecily--the two of them butt heads more than once too. So maybe it was like that, but Taylor was new and so there was no history there and she just didn't understand, but that was the way that it was and it was her turn to speak her piece.

"If you want my honest opinion," Lillian began, "I think that it would be best if the reports were simply filled with what happened on the planet and none of the other...issues. What happened was a distress call was sent and when we answered, we were attacked as we were unaware of the situation that we were being sent into. We ended up having to help the original senders of the call and Starfleet needs to be informed--they need to handle this. There was nothing that we could do, save more intelligence work, but that could have taken days and we had to act. Once we were shot out of the sky it was up to surviving and we all helped each other to survive...the fact that there is a chance that either Max or Taylor will be punished for what they did down there makes me upset for more reasons than one."

"Nothing could have been done to prevent the shuttle being shot down sir." added Taylor with a nod. "They wanted to bring us down and they did. Intelligence wouldn't have been able to map AA capability if they were mobile or semi-mobile platforms. If we had an idea that our response to the distress call had been picked up by their SIGINT we could have perhaps chose a safer location to fly over and land."

Taylor paused for a moment before taking a look at both Lillian and Max, the latter was given some form of loathing. "However Doctor Crae was correct. On ground intelligence work would have taken too long. However I'm interested in how the Intelligence department wasn't able to provide proper information on the battlefield communications or lack thereof perhaps indicating a war down there. I wonder how a bunch of thugs led by a despot was able to crack SFI comm encryption....if there was any encryption in place."

He nodded, "I will do everything I can to make sure they aren't punished for anything that went down on the planet, Lillian. I am unsure what more I can than reflect positively on all your actions in my report." He smiled warmly and considered everything that had happened. "I suppose at the end of the day there wasn't anything else we could have accomplished without a lot more time than we had. I'm sure that Starfleet will see it that way as well. As for the sake of encryption, perhaps there was just not enough people to work the problem. We'll have to get things under control up here again. Repairs are well underway as we speak and we'll be able to proceed with our mission out here. Thank you everyone. Is there anything else that needs be done?"

Nothing could crack the smile on Max's face, and he merely nodded and grinned at Taylor during the obvious attack. It did not faze him at all, and he meant to show it as he returned the Marine's sour expression with one of reasonable professionalism. I've got your number, you thick-necked bastard, and I'm going to take you down with it. Use all of your bluster against you, and leave you bewildered and alone in the end, wondering why Lillian chose me. And if you had half the brain that you had brawn, you'd know why. But he said none of that, only made inconsequential notes on his PADD for a moment before looking up and around.

"The Lieutenant makes a good point there. I've ordered a full investigation and review into the matter, and if there was anything of concern I'll call another meeting and fill you in on the details. But at the moment I agree with the Captain and suspect it was more a matter of insufficient resources to cover a sector this vast. I'm referring to things like personnel, processing power, and overall observation assets." He paused a moment, glancing at each of the other officers individually before continuing.

"To that end I've already proposed an expansion in personnel for most departments aboard the station to the Captain. Obviously the Intelligence department is a priority to avoid going into hostile situations blind, but I think most departments require bolstering. Medical, engineering, security, and…" he made sure not to look at Lillian as he said the final bit, to avoid revealing too much "…additional Marines, for security purposes on dangerous away missions. I have personally witnessed the effectiveness of a single Marine in such conditions, and believe we could only benefit from an expansion of their force," Max offered calmly, nodding respectfully at Taylor the whole time.

There. Fighting while appearing to be retreating, fighting without fighting. Give the enemy what they want and they will eventually give you what you want: victory. Let's see how you handle that, Taylor. Or… "Perhaps even a dedicated Marine attack craft, to deploy as the first response to dangerous situations. Secure the area for the medical and engineering personnel who will come later and all that." And put you in the line of fire first instead of me, perhaps?

While Max made sure not to look at Lillian, Lillian smiled in his direction for choosing to listen to what she had suggested about adding additional marines to the base. She was worried about how things were fairing with the rebuild here and after this fiasco it was important to prepare a united front--that and she really couldn't ignore the animosity between the two men at the table with her and Gan. If she couldn't tell that they were at odds no matter how fake the attempt at peace, then she would just be ignorant and that was certainly something that Lillian Crae was not...she was intelligent, rather she acted like she was or not.

"I believe that Lieutenant Lucas can handle anything thrown in his direction--he proved that on the surface of Thalos more than once. Had it not been for him, Doctor Stone swears that my leg would have been in far worse condition. As for Commander Ritter, he also put forth a tremendous performance of authority. I believe that should these two work together to keep this place up and running, we shouldn't have a problem with gathered information nor with the protection of the people that we have here. Besides, I'm handy at patching up, so should the extra marines need a pair of talented hands, I volunteer to keep an eye on them."

"I suppose if you really want to continue the line of bad ideas commander, giving the marines their own ship would be a bad one." said Taylor with narrowed eyes. "Captain we've discussed this point before. A company of marines would give us both the offensive and defensive capabilities the station requires with or without the aid of the Security department. Any more and it's going to seem like sabre rattling. Obviously the commander is not aware of the diplomatic consequences of such a view...so I shall endeavour to enlighten him."

Taylor sat back in his chair and shook his head slowly at the fact he was having to explain this to the XO. "We are positioned amongst some rather volatile borders. Borders which, when faced with military build up, can become highly dangerous. Ambassadors coming to this station might not take too kindly when they see warships at their front door. We need to be careful...we don't have the luxury of starting a war."

What could have been left as a way to bury some sort of hatchet seemed lost and Lillian found herself actually groaning out loud and her mouth got the better of her.

"First of all, Commander Ritter is your XO so you will treat him with respect even when you don't agree with his methods," Lillian shot at Taylor, clearly disappointed with both him and Max. "As for you, Commander, you're at a table with a Betazoid, so I suggest that you also take notes with what it is that I am about to say, because I'm only going to say it once. This is a response base. We are here to be formidable. We are here to have military men. We are here to have doctors and scientists. We are here to be somewhat scary to our neighbors and to appear strong to our allies so that they know that we will be able to aide them whenever it is that they need us to do that. I could care less about you two and your clear as day pissing contest, but I seem to be the only one here thinking about what is clearly best for this station without wanting to screw the other person over or point out how wrong they are. Save your personal disputes for the holodeck."

She took a deep breath and looked directly at Gan. "I am aware that I am talking out of turn and that I am just your second officer, but I believe that in order to restore this place to what Starfleet intended for it to be--to restore our purpose--we need to have a strong military, diplomatic and intelligence front. Those are the only sections that we should currently be focusing on. More marines. More security officers. More intelligence officers, more diplomats. We are a response base and that means that we are expected to be somewhat of a fighting base. We have medical personnel. We have scientists and engineers...we don't need the focus right now and Milos System taught us that. I did not poison a man down there for no good reason!"

Lillian knew that she had raised her voice and let that slip and that she was now emotionally on edge, but she was getting fed up with men.

He smiled softly, knowing that Lillian had the right of it. He couldn't have said it any better himself, but he had to wonder as to the motivations of the two men. It was hard to read either of them. But he knew that he had to do something. He just needed to figure out how to get the two men to comport themselves. "You have the right of it, Lillian. This station is meant to first and foremost be a response base. We cannot forget our mission.." He looked to his senior officers, "Or our place." He grimaced, "I don't know why the both of you have your hackles raised like dogs fighting over a bone, but I will again stress that you respect one another. If you want to strangle each other, do it in your off time. We're here to work."

He spun his PADD idly out on the table and sighed softly. "I have heeded the recommendations of my MCO and my CIO in response to the crisis that occurred on Milos and I have taken action as to try to prevent something like this from happening again. I will submit these requests to Starfleet so we can continue to serve our purpose out here. Now if you wish it, I can put the two of you in a holding cell together and you can debate out your differences. Or kill each other. But one way or another, I won't have you wondering if daggers in the night would serve a better purpose. Now that the mission is under wraps and our discussion has been coming to its conclusion, I'm sure that we will be able to work well with one another, yes?" He grinned, "Or we can continue our infighting and give our enemies an opportunity to see us outside of a secure area fighting amongst ourselves. But either way, we will all leave this room with our heads held high as Starfleet personnel. Do what you want out of uniform. But this.." He tugged at his duty jacket, "When you put this on in the morning, try to remember all the people who wore it before you. Show the uniform what is due to it."

Max had kept quiet during the exchange, because it was all he could do not to lean way back in his chair and clasp his hands behind his head with a huge grin on his face. Instead he nodded gravely at each of the points, avoiding direct eye contact with anyone. He hoped Lillian was listening well as Taylor repeated his own earlier warning about provocation, albeit in a much more blunt manner. Max had to give the Marine credit for grasping the political and diplomatic realities of their position, but then again it was always good to have a healthy respect for one's foes to avoid underestimating them.

He adopted a surprised expression when Gan accused them both of animosity. Maybe that was just to avoid calling out Taylor and making a scene. Very well, he could work with this. This engagement was all but won, he just needed to mop up. Doing his best to sound contrite, Max nodded in response to their CO's points. "Yes, sir. Perhaps there have been some communication difficulties in the past, and maybe the transition following the accident has left people a little unsure of their respective niches. Some friction is to be expected, but we'll get over it. Meetings like this are good for discussion and even venting. Better it happen behind closed doors than out in front of the crew. And I'm confident we're well on our way to becoming the finest crew in Starfleet. Just as long as we all remember our purpose," he said, echoing Gan from earlier "and our place." He smiled affably at everyone around the table, particularly Taylor.

"And I know my place as XO is to be a uniter and not a divider, so I promise to to be open to any ideas or views that you or any other officers aboard have. Suggestions, comments concerns...all are welcome, even if it doesn't always sound that way. So if you or any of your people have anything they want to tell me...just say it into the light fixture or replicator in your quarters, I'll hear it," he offered with a chuckle, trying to restore some levity to the room. Now was not the time to push things too far.

||Starbase 12
||Briefing Room
||August 3, 2387
||1530

He sat at the head of the table, looking at the PADD he had brought with him. He had already sent orders out to everyone to be there by 1600 so he would just take a few minutes to go over a few things. He didn't know what would happen if he had his XO and his MCO in the same room. The men certainly seemed to have a distaste for one another. It would be hard, but in this he would have to put his foot down. They had to show each other respect so that the crew would respect them. He wouldn't have two officers on his senior staff biting at each other's throats like wolves. It simply would not do. He just had to find a way to bring them into accord somehow, but he wished he could do that without pulling them by the ear. He should just knock their heads together and lock them in a room somewhere for a few hours so they could work it out. Or kill one another. He chuckled softly, well that would at least solve the problem of their fighting. But he'd hate to have to replace his XO. In close quarters, he assumed the marine would probably win a fair fight. Though Max certainly would do his best to not allow it to be fair.

He had to talk to Lillian about this after the debriefing. She might have some sort of idea that he hadn't thought of yet, she was usually very good about that. Gan tended to think in straight lines, the shortest route through any situation to him was a straight line. She could think in curves far better than he would ever be able to. And if he was ever to reconcile the two of them, it would definitely have to be a curve ball that neither man saw coming. He shook his head and finalized the changes to the Security and did what he could to ascertain what he would need to do to get the station back on track once more. This would certainly be an interesting meeting.

Meetings. It was always meetings. Meetings about missions, meetings about lunch, meetings about diplomatic incidents. The life of a senior officer was just filled with fun. Still he put on his game face and put his feelings about Max to the back of his mind. Feelings that were more or less contempt and utter loathing that the man couldn't obviously put down the bottle. He kept his mouth shut as he walked into the briefing room and offered Gan a salute before sitting down.

"Afternoon captain. Sorry if I'm late...where there's no report there is a meeting and when there is no meeting there's a report. I swear paperwork exists to thwart me."

Lillian wasn't looking forward to this debriefing because that meant dealing with Taylor and Max in the same space and she had a problem that that wouldn't be much fun. Honestly, she wanted the problem between them to just go away because regardless of what happened in the shuttle, without them both she wouldn't be there right now and she knew it...and perhaps they wouldn't be here now without her. Still, she knew how men were and she knew how much they enjoyed arguing and trying to prove whose was bigger, so she sighed loudly and then plastered a smile on her face as she entered the room with her jacket open.

Her duty jacket was pretty much always open.

She was supposed to be a professional, but at the same time she also had a habit of being the free Betazoid that she was and so she managed to do her job and also not completely keep her duty jacket on when she was flustered. Lillian had been trying to get a lot done since getting back to the station and while she was supposed to rest, she didn't want to. At this point Gan was going to force her to go and talk to a counselor about it, but that was alright with her because maybe that was what she needed. Still, this was about a meeting and so she hurried into the room and paused when she saw Gan and Taylor there already.

"Good afternoon...and here I thought I'd be the first one..." Lillian said, smiling in Taylor's direction and then quickly taking a seat and trying to keep her eyes off of him.

Max eventually strode into the room in a confident mood, having spent the past several hours analyzing reports and details and thoroughly preparing himself mentally for whatever might come up in this debriefing. Wasting no time, he looked around the room approvingly, then spoke to the assembled officers in his most pleasant tone.

"All right, we're all here so let's get started, shall we?" he asked, almost as if he had called the meeting. "I'm sure we've all reviewed each other's reports and the supplementary information, so there's no need to read it all through again. I'd say it would be best to go around and discuss specific details that each of us feels needs clarification." He nodded in turn to Taylor, Lillian, and finally Gan. "Captain, I think you had better go first, so we can all make sure we agree with everything you have to say," Max joked as he seated himself, every bit the cheerful XO. He was taking a risk with this approach, but he had a good feeling it would work.

"Afternoon, everyone." He laid his PADD down on the table and thought about he wanted to say. "For the debriefing I've thought about what I wanted from each of you. The planetside encounters you've faced as a group have made us stronger, in some ways. It has brought us closer together." He looked between Max and Taylor, hoping they could keep their disputes to a minimum. It would be a long day if they spent half of it bickering amongst one another.

"All I really have to ask of you is if there was anything I could have done as your commander to have prevented what happened down there? I've spoken to Max about the intelligence issues and Taylor about personnel both on board the station and a contingent for away missions." He turned to Lillian, "But do you think I could have done anything in your expertise, Lillian?" He pondered for a few moments before he continued on. He would let everyone speak but for the moment he had the table. "I've submitted my report to each of you to review before I file it officially." He placed PADDs down in front of each of them. "And if you have any other questions, make sure to speak up." He smiled, sitting back down so his other senior staff members could take the floor.

Lillian wasn't all that sure about what it was that she wanted to say, but she knew that she needed to speak up and preferrably before the boys had a chance to say anything. At this point, she was pretty certain that even Gan knew how the two men felt about each other and Lillian still wanted to know why that was that the two didn't get along...was it simply gray and green not able to work together? Maybe it was because she was a Betazoid, but Lillian didn't understand why two people couldn't be more professional despite their personal issues but then again it brought her back to Cecily--the two of them butt heads more than once too. So maybe it was like that, but Taylor was new and so there was no history there and she just didn't understand, but that was the way that it was and it was her turn to speak her piece.

"If you want my honest opinion," Lillian began, "I think that it would be best if the reports were simply filled with what happened on the planet and none of the other...issues. What happened was a distress call was sent and when we answered, we were attacked as we were unaware of the situation that we were being sent into. We ended up having to help the original senders of the call and Starfleet needs to be informed--they need to handle this. There was nothing that we could do, save more intelligence work, but that could have taken days and we had to act. Once we were shot out of the sky it was up to surviving and we all helped each other to survive...the fact that there is a chance that either Max or Taylor will be punished for what they did down there makes me upset for more reasons than one."

"Nothing could have been done to prevent the shuttle being shot down sir." added Taylor with a nod. "They wanted to bring us down and they did. Intelligence wouldn't have been able to map AA capability if they were mobile or semi-mobile platforms. If we had an idea that our response to the distress call had been picked up by their SIGINT we could have perhaps chose a safer location to fly over and land."

Taylor paused for a moment before taking a look at both Lillian and Max, the latter was given some form of loathing. "However Doctor Crae was correct. On ground intelligence work would have taken too long. However I'm interested in how the Intelligence department wasn't able to provide proper information on the battlefield communications or lack thereof perhaps indicating a war down there. I wonder how a bunch of thugs led by a despot was able to crack SFI comm encryption....if there was any encryption in place."

He nodded, "I will do everything I can to make sure they aren't punished for anything that went down on the planet, Lillian. I am unsure what more I can than reflect positively on all your actions in my report." He smiled warmly and considered everything that had happened. "I suppose at the end of the day there wasn't anything else we could have accomplished without a lot more time than we had. I'm sure that Starfleet will see it that way as well. As for the sake of encryption, perhaps there was just not enough people to work the problem. We'll have to get things under control up here again. Repairs are well underway as we speak and we'll be able to proceed with our mission out here. Thank you everyone. Is there anything else that needs be done?"

Nothing could crack the smile on Max's face, and he merely nodded and grinned at Taylor during the obvious attack. It did not faze him at all, and he meant to show it as he returned the Marine's sour expression with one of reasonable professionalism. I've got your number, you thick-necked bastard, and I'm going to take you down with it. Use all of your bluster against you, and leave you bewildered and alone in the end, wondering why Lillian chose me. And if you had half the brain that you had brawn, you'd know why. But he said none of that, only made inconsequential notes on his PADD for a moment before looking up and around.

"The Lieutenant makes a good point there. I've ordered a full investigation and review into the matter, and if there was anything of concern I'll call another meeting and fill you in on the details. But at the moment I agree with the Captain and suspect it was more a matter of insufficient resources to cover a sector this vast. I'm referring to things like personnel, processing power, and overall observation assets." He paused a moment, glancing at each of the other officers individually before continuing.

"To that end I've already proposed an expansion in personnel for most departments aboard the station to the Captain. Obviously the Intelligence department is a priority to avoid going into hostile situations blind, but I think most departments require bolstering. Medical, engineering, security, and…" he made sure not to look at Lillian as he said the final bit, to avoid revealing too much "…additional Marines, for security purposes on dangerous away missions. I have personally witnessed the effectiveness of a single Marine in such conditions, and believe we could only benefit from an expansion of their force," Max offered calmly, nodding respectfully at Taylor the whole time.

There. Fighting while appearing to be retreating, fighting without fighting. Give the enemy what they want and they will eventually give you what you want: victory. Let's see how you handle that, Taylor. Or… "Perhaps even a dedicated Marine attack craft, to deploy as the first response to dangerous situations. Secure the area for the medical and engineering personnel who will come later and all that." And put you in the line of fire first instead of me, perhaps?

While Max made sure not to look at Lillian, Lillian smiled in his direction for choosing to listen to what she had suggested about adding additional marines to the base. She was worried about how things were fairing with the rebuild here and after this fiasco it was important to prepare a united front--that and she really couldn't ignore the animosity between the two men at the table with her and Gan. If she couldn't tell that they were at odds no matter how fake the attempt at peace, then she would just be ignorant and that was certainly something that Lillian Crae was not...she was intelligent, rather she acted like she was or not.

"I believe that Lieutenant Lucas can handle anything thrown in his direction--he proved that on the surface of Thalos more than once. Had it not been for him, Doctor Stone swears that my leg would have been in far worse condition. As for Commander Ritter, he also put forth a tremendous performance of authority. I believe that should these two work together to keep this place up and running, we shouldn't have a problem with gathered information nor with the protection of the people that we have here. Besides, I'm handy at patching up, so should the extra marines need a pair of talented hands, I volunteer to keep an eye on them."

"I suppose if you really want to continue the line of bad ideas commander, giving the marines their own ship would be a bad one." said Taylor with narrowed eyes. "Captain we've discussed this point before. A company of marines would give us both the offensive and defensive capabilities the station requires with or without the aid of the Security department. Any more and it's going to seem like sabre rattling. Obviously the commander is not aware of the diplomatic consequences of such a view...so I shall endeavour to enlighten him."

Taylor sat back in his chair and shook his head slowly at the fact he was having to explain this to the XO. "We are positioned amongst some rather volatile borders. Borders which, when faced with military build up, can become highly dangerous. Ambassadors coming to this station might not take too kindly when they see warships at their front door. We need to be careful...we don't have the luxury of starting a war."

What could have been left as a way to bury some sort of hatchet seemed lost and Lillian found herself actually groaning out loud and her mouth got the better of her.

"First of all, Commander Ritter is your XO so you will treat him with respect even when you don't agree with his methods," Lillian shot at Taylor, clearly disappointed with both him and Max. "As for you, Commander, you're at a table with a Betazoid, so I suggest that you also take notes with what it is that I am about to say, because I'm only going to say it once. This is a response base. We are here to be formidable. We are here to have military men. We are here to have doctors and scientists. We are here to be somewhat scary to our neighbors and to appear strong to our allies so that they know that we will be able to aide them whenever it is that they need us to do that. I could care less about you two and your clear as day pissing contest, but I seem to be the only one here thinking about what is clearly best for this station without wanting to screw the other person over or point out how wrong they are. Save your personal disputes for the holodeck."

She took a deep breath and looked directly at Gan. "I am aware that I am talking out of turn and that I am just your second officer, but I believe that in order to restore this place to what Starfleet intended for it to be--to restore our purpose--we need to have a strong military, diplomatic and intelligence front. Those are the only sections that we should currently be focusing on. More marines. More security officers. More intelligence officers, more diplomats. We are a response base and that means that we are expected to be somewhat of a fighting base. We have medical personnel. We have scientists and engineers...we don't need the focus right now and Milos System taught us that. I did not poison a man down there for no good reason!"

Lillian knew that she had raised her voice and let that slip and that she was now emotionally on edge, but she was getting fed up with men.

He smiled softly, knowing that Lillian had the right of it. He couldn't have said it any better himself, but he had to wonder as to the motivations of the two men. It was hard to read either of them. But he knew that he had to do something. He just needed to figure out how to get the two men to comport themselves. "You have the right of it, Lillian. This station is meant to first and foremost be a response base. We cannot forget our mission.." He looked to his senior officers, "Or our place." He grimaced, "I don't know why the both of you have your hackles raised like dogs fighting over a bone, but I will again stress that you respect one another. If you want to strangle each other, do it in your off time. We're here to work."

He spun his PADD idly out on the table and sighed softly. "I have heeded the recommendations of my MCO and my CIO in response to the crisis that occurred on Milos and I have taken action as to try to prevent something like this from happening again. I will submit these requests to Starfleet so we can continue to serve our purpose out here. Now if you wish it, I can put the two of you in a holding cell together and you can debate out your differences. Or kill each other. But one way or another, I won't have you wondering if daggers in the night would serve a better purpose. Now that the mission is under wraps and our discussion has been coming to its conclusion, I'm sure that we will be able to work well with one another, yes?" He grinned, "Or we can continue our infighting and give our enemies an opportunity to see us outside of a secure area fighting amongst ourselves. But either way, we will all leave this room with our heads held high as Starfleet personnel. Do what you want out of uniform. But this.." He tugged at his duty jacket, "When you put this on in the morning, try to remember all the people who wore it before you. Show the uniform what is due to it."

Max had kept quiet during the exchange, because it was all he could do not to lean way back in his chair and clasp his hands behind his head with a huge grin on his face. Instead he nodded gravely at each of the points, avoiding direct eye contact with anyone. He hoped Lillian was listening well as Taylor repeated his own earlier warning about provocation, albeit in a much more blunt manner. Max had to give the Marine credit for grasping the political and diplomatic realities of their position, but then again it was always good to have a healthy respect for one's foes to avoid underestimating them.

He adopted a surprised expression when Gan accused them both of animosity. Maybe that was just to avoid calling out Taylor and making a scene. Very well, he could work with this. This engagement was all but won, he just needed to mop up. Doing his best to sound contrite, Max nodded in response to their CO's points. "Yes, sir. Perhaps there have been some communication difficulties in the past, and maybe the transition following the accident has left people a little unsure of their respective niches. Some friction is to be expected, but we'll get over it. Meetings like this are good for discussion and even venting. Better it happen behind closed doors than out in front of the crew. And I'm confident we're well on our way to becoming the finest crew in Starfleet. Just as long as we all remember our purpose," he said, echoing Gan from earlier "and our place." He smiled affably at everyone around the table, particularly Taylor.

"And I know my place as XO is to be a uniter and not a divider, so I promise to to be open to any ideas or views that you or any other officers aboard have. Suggestions, comments concerns...all are welcome, even if it doesn't always sound that way. So if you or any of your people have anything they want to tell me...just say it into the light fixture or replicator in your quarters, I'll hear it," he offered with a chuckle, trying to restore some levity to the room. Now was not the time to push things too far.

For a moment Lillian felt like the walls were caving in and it bothered her that Max had directed such a comment at Taylor as well. "Captain? If that is all, I move for a dismissal."

For a moment she wondered if they could tell that she was panicking, but for a moment she actually felt a loss of control and wanted nothing more than to be in Sickbay. She felt better when she was helping and conversing and she didn't want to be in such an environment right now because it was emotionally draining. Lillian just gave a smile though and tried not to seem as antsy as she felt, hoping the captain wouldn't motion for her to see a counselor...there were just some things that Lillian Crae refused to do.

||Starbase 12
||Briefing Room
||August 3, 2387
||1530

He sat at the head of the table, looking at the PADD he had brought with him. He had already sent orders out to everyone to be there by 1600 so he would just take a few minutes to go over a few things. He didn't know what would happen if he had his XO and his MCO in the same room. The men certainly seemed to have a distaste for one another. It would be hard, but in this he would have to put his foot down. They had to show each other respect so that the crew would respect them. He wouldn't have two officers on his senior staff biting at each other's throats like wolves. It simply would not do. He just had to find a way to bring them into accord somehow, but he wished he could do that without pulling them by the ear. He should just knock their heads together and lock them in a room somewhere for a few hours so they could work it out. Or kill one another. He chuckled softly, well that would at least solve the problem of their fighting. But he'd hate to have to replace his XO. In close quarters, he assumed the marine would probably win a fair fight. Though Max certainly would do his best to not allow it to be fair.

He had to talk to Lillian about this after the debriefing. She might have some sort of idea that he hadn't thought of yet, she was usually very good about that. Gan tended to think in straight lines, the shortest route through any situation to him was a straight line. She could think in curves far better than he would ever be able to. And if he was ever to reconcile the two of them, it would definitely have to be a curve ball that neither man saw coming. He shook his head and finalized the changes to the Security and did what he could to ascertain what he would need to do to get the station back on track once more. This would certainly be an interesting meeting.

Meetings. It was always meetings. Meetings about missions, meetings about lunch, meetings about diplomatic incidents. The life of a senior officer was just filled with fun. Still he put on his game face and put his feelings about Max to the back of his mind. Feelings that were more or less contempt and utter loathing that the man couldn't obviously put down the bottle. He kept his mouth shut as he walked into the briefing room and offered Gan a salute before sitting down.

"Afternoon captain. Sorry if I'm late...where there's no report there is a meeting and when there is no meeting there's a report. I swear paperwork exists to thwart me."

Lillian wasn't looking forward to this debriefing because that meant dealing with Taylor and Max in the same space and she had a problem that that wouldn't be much fun. Honestly, she wanted the problem between them to just go away because regardless of what happened in the shuttle, without them both she wouldn't be there right now and she knew it...and perhaps they wouldn't be here now without her. Still, she knew how men were and she knew how much they enjoyed arguing and trying to prove whose was bigger, so she sighed loudly and then plastered a smile on her face as she entered the room with her jacket open.

Her duty jacket was pretty much always open.

She was supposed to be a professional, but at the same time she also had a habit of being the free Betazoid that she was and so she managed to do her job and also not completely keep her duty jacket on when she was flustered. Lillian had been trying to get a lot done since getting back to the station and while she was supposed to rest, she didn't want to. At this point Gan was going to force her to go and talk to a counselor about it, but that was alright with her because maybe that was what she needed. Still, this was about a meeting and so she hurried into the room and paused when she saw Gan and Taylor there already.

"Good afternoon...and here I thought I'd be the first one..." Lillian said, smiling in Taylor's direction and then quickly taking a seat and trying to keep her eyes off of him.

Max eventually strode into the room in a confident mood, having spent the past several hours analyzing reports and details and thoroughly preparing himself mentally for whatever might come up in this debriefing. Wasting no time, he looked around the room approvingly, then spoke to the assembled officers in his most pleasant tone.

"All right, we're all here so let's get started, shall we?" he asked, almost as if he had called the meeting. "I'm sure we've all reviewed each other's reports and the supplementary information, so there's no need to read it all through again. I'd say it would be best to go around and discuss specific details that each of us feels needs clarification." He nodded in turn to Taylor, Lillian, and finally Gan. "Captain, I think you had better go first, so we can all make sure we agree with everything you have to say," Max joked as he seated himself, every bit the cheerful XO. He was taking a risk with this approach, but he had a good feeling it would work.

"Afternoon, everyone." He laid his PADD down on the table and thought about he wanted to say. "For the debriefing I've thought about what I wanted from each of you. The planetside encounters you've faced as a group have made us stronger, in some ways. It has brought us closer together." He looked between Max and Taylor, hoping they could keep their disputes to a minimum. It would be a long day if they spent half of it bickering amongst one another.

"All I really have to ask of you is if there was anything I could have done as your commander to have prevented what happened down there? I've spoken to Max about the intelligence issues and Taylor about personnel both on board the station and a contingent for away missions." He turned to Lillian, "But do you think I could have done anything in your expertise, Lillian?" He pondered for a few moments before he continued on. He would let everyone speak but for the moment he had the table. "I've submitted my report to each of you to review before I file it officially." He placed PADDs down in front of each of them. "And if you have any other questions, make sure to speak up." He smiled, sitting back down so his other senior staff members could take the floor.

Lillian wasn't all that sure about what it was that she wanted to say, but she knew that she needed to speak up and preferrably before the boys had a chance to say anything. At this point, she was pretty certain that even Gan knew how the two men felt about each other and Lillian still wanted to know why that was that the two didn't get along...was it simply gray and green not able to work together? Maybe it was because she was a Betazoid, but Lillian didn't understand why two people couldn't be more professional despite their personal issues but then again it brought her back to Cecily--the two of them butt heads more than once too. So maybe it was like that, but Taylor was new and so there was no history there and she just didn't understand, but that was the way that it was and it was her turn to speak her piece.

"If you want my honest opinion," Lillian began, "I think that it would be best if the reports were simply filled with what happened on the planet and none of the other...issues. What happened was a distress call was sent and when we answered, we were attacked as we were unaware of the situation that we were being sent into. We ended up having to help the original senders of the call and Starfleet needs to be informed--they need to handle this. There was nothing that we could do, save more intelligence work, but that could have taken days and we had to act. Once we were shot out of the sky it was up to surviving and we all helped each other to survive...the fact that there is a chance that either Max or Taylor will be punished for what they did down there makes me upset for more reasons than one."

"Nothing could have been done to prevent the shuttle being shot down sir." added Taylor with a nod. "They wanted to bring us down and they did. Intelligence wouldn't have been able to map AA capability if they were mobile or semi-mobile platforms. If we had an idea that our response to the distress call had been picked up by their SIGINT we could have perhaps chose a safer location to fly over and land."

Taylor paused for a moment before taking a look at both Lillian and Max, the latter was given some form of loathing. "However Doctor Crae was correct. On ground intelligence work would have taken too long. However I'm interested in how the Intelligence department wasn't able to provide proper information on the battlefield communications or lack thereof perhaps indicating a war down there. I wonder how a bunch of thugs led by a despot was able to crack SFI comm encryption....if there was any encryption in place."

He nodded, "I will do everything I can to make sure they aren't punished for anything that went down on the planet, Lillian. I am unsure what more I can than reflect positively on all your actions in my report." He smiled warmly and considered everything that had happened. "I suppose at the end of the day there wasn't anything else we could have accomplished without a lot more time than we had. I'm sure that Starfleet will see it that way as well. As for the sake of encryption, perhaps there was just not enough people to work the problem. We'll have to get things under control up here again. Repairs are well underway as we speak and we'll be able to proceed with our mission out here. Thank you everyone. Is there anything else that needs be done?"

Nothing could crack the smile on Max's face, and he merely nodded and grinned at Taylor during the obvious attack. It did not faze him at all, and he meant to show it as he returned the Marine's sour expression with one of reasonable professionalism. I've got your number, you thick-necked bastard, and I'm going to take you down with it. Use all of your bluster against you, and leave you bewildered and alone in the end, wondering why Lillian chose me. And if you had half the brain that you had brawn, you'd know why. But he said none of that, only made inconsequential notes on his PADD for a moment before looking up and around.

"The Lieutenant makes a good point there. I've ordered a full investigation and review into the matter, and if there was anything of concern I'll call another meeting and fill you in on the details. But at the moment I agree with the Captain and suspect it was more a matter of insufficient resources to cover a sector this vast. I'm referring to things like personnel, processing power, and overall observation assets." He paused a moment, glancing at each of the other officers individually before continuing.

"To that end I've already proposed an expansion in personnel for most departments aboard the station to the Captain. Obviously the Intelligence department is a priority to avoid going into hostile situations blind, but I think most departments require bolstering. Medical, engineering, security, and…" he made sure not to look at Lillian as he said the final bit, to avoid revealing too much "…additional Marines, for security purposes on dangerous away missions. I have personally witnessed the effectiveness of a single Marine in such conditions, and believe we could only benefit from an expansion of their force," Max offered calmly, nodding respectfully at Taylor the whole time.

There. Fighting while appearing to be retreating, fighting without fighting. Give the enemy what they want and they will eventually give you what you want: victory. Let's see how you handle that, Taylor. Or… "Perhaps even a dedicated Marine attack craft, to deploy as the first response to dangerous situations. Secure the area for the medical and engineering personnel who will come later and all that." And put you in the line of fire first instead of me, perhaps?

While Max made sure not to look at Lillian, Lillian smiled in his direction for choosing to listen to what she had suggested about adding additional marines to the base. She was worried about how things were fairing with the rebuild here and after this fiasco it was important to prepare a united front--that and she really couldn't ignore the animosity between the two men at the table with her and Gan. If she couldn't tell that they were at odds no matter how fake the attempt at peace, then she would just be ignorant and that was certainly something that Lillian Crae was not...she was intelligent, rather she acted like she was or not.

"I believe that Lieutenant Lucas can handle anything thrown in his direction--he proved that on the surface of Thalos more than once. Had it not been for him, Doctor Stone swears that my leg would have been in far worse condition. As for Commander Ritter, he also put forth a tremendous performance of authority. I believe that should these two work together to keep this place up and running, we shouldn't have a problem with gathered information nor with the protection of the people that we have here. Besides, I'm handy at patching up, so should the extra marines need a pair of talented hands, I volunteer to keep an eye on them."

"I suppose if you really want to continue the line of bad ideas commander, giving the marines their own ship would be a bad one." said Taylor with narrowed eyes. "Captain we've discussed this point before. A company of marines would give us both the offensive and defensive capabilities the station requires with or without the aid of the Security department. Any more and it's going to seem like sabre rattling. Obviously the commander is not aware of the diplomatic consequences of such a view...so I shall endeavour to enlighten him."

Taylor sat back in his chair and shook his head slowly at the fact he was having to explain this to the XO. "We are positioned amongst some rather volatile borders. Borders which, when faced with military build up, can become highly dangerous. Ambassadors coming to this station might not take too kindly when they see warships at their front door. We need to be careful...we don't have the luxury of starting a war."

What could have been left as a way to bury some sort of hatchet seemed lost and Lillian found herself actually groaning out loud and her mouth got the better of her.

"First of all, Commander Ritter is your XO so you will treat him with respect even when you don't agree with his methods," Lillian shot at Taylor, clearly disappointed with both him and Max. "As for you, Commander, you're at a table with a Betazoid, so I suggest that you also take notes with what it is that I am about to say, because I'm only going to say it once. This is a response base. We are here to be formidable. We are here to have military men. We are here to have doctors and scientists. We are here to be somewhat scary to our neighbors and to appear strong to our allies so that they know that we will be able to aide them whenever it is that they need us to do that. I could care less about you two and your clear as day pissing contest, but I seem to be the only one here thinking about what is clearly best for this station without wanting to screw the other person over or point out how wrong they are. Save your personal disputes for the holodeck."

She took a deep breath and looked directly at Gan. "I am aware that I am talking out of turn and that I am just your second officer, but I believe that in order to restore this place to what Starfleet intended for it to be--to restore our purpose--we need to have a strong military, diplomatic and intelligence front. Those are the only sections that we should currently be focusing on. More marines. More security officers. More intelligence officers, more diplomats. We are a response base and that means that we are expected to be somewhat of a fighting base. We have medical personnel. We have scientists and engineers...we don't need the focus right now and Milos System taught us that. I did not poison a man down there for no good reason!"

Lillian knew that she had raised her voice and let that slip and that she was now emotionally on edge, but she was getting fed up with men.

He smiled softly, knowing that Lillian had the right of it. He couldn't have said it any better himself, but he had to wonder as to the motivations of the two men. It was hard to read either of them. But he knew that he had to do something. He just needed to figure out how to get the two men to comport themselves. "You have the right of it, Lillian. This station is meant to first and foremost be a response base. We cannot forget our mission.." He looked to his senior officers, "Or our place." He grimaced, "I don't know why the both of you have your hackles raised like dogs fighting over a bone, but I will again stress that you respect one another. If you want to strangle each other, do it in your off time. We're here to work."

He spun his PADD idly out on the table and sighed softly. "I have heeded the recommendations of my MCO and my CIO in response to the crisis that occurred on Milos and I have taken action as to try to prevent something like this from happening again. I will submit these requests to Starfleet so we can continue to serve our purpose out here. Now if you wish it, I can put the two of you in a holding cell together and you can debate out your differences. Or kill each other. But one way or another, I won't have you wondering if daggers in the night would serve a better purpose. Now that the mission is under wraps and our discussion has been coming to its conclusion, I'm sure that we will be able to work well with one another, yes?" He grinned, "Or we can continue our infighting and give our enemies an opportunity to see us outside of a secure area fighting amongst ourselves. But either way, we will all leave this room with our heads held high as Starfleet personnel. Do what you want out of uniform. But this.." He tugged at his duty jacket, "When you put this on in the morning, try to remember all the people who wore it before you. Show the uniform what is due to it."

Max had kept quiet during the exchange, because it was all he could do not to lean way back in his chair and clasp his hands behind his head with a huge grin on his face. Instead he nodded gravely at each of the points, avoiding direct eye contact with anyone. He hoped Lillian was listening well as Taylor repeated his own earlier warning about provocation, albeit in a much more blunt manner. Max had to give the Marine credit for grasping the political and diplomatic realities of their position, but then again it was always good to have a healthy respect for one's foes to avoid underestimating them.

He adopted a surprised expression when Gan accused them both of animosity. Maybe that was just to avoid calling out Taylor and making a scene. Very well, he could work with this. This engagement was all but won, he just needed to mop up. Doing his best to sound contrite, Max nodded in response to their CO's points. "Yes, sir. Perhaps there have been some communication difficulties in the past, and maybe the transition following the accident has left people a little unsure of their respective niches. Some friction is to be expected, but we'll get over it. Meetings like this are good for discussion and even venting. Better it happen behind closed doors than out in front of the crew. And I'm confident we're well on our way to becoming the finest crew in Starfleet. Just as long as we all remember our purpose," he said, echoing Gan from earlier "and our place." He smiled affably at everyone around the table, particularly Taylor.

"And I know my place as XO is to be a uniter and not a divider, so I promise to to be open to any ideas or views that you or any other officers aboard have. Suggestions, comments concerns...all are welcome, even if it doesn't always sound that way. So if you or any of your people have anything they want to tell me...just say it into the light fixture or replicator in your quarters, I'll hear it," he offered with a chuckle, trying to restore some levity to the room. Now was not the time to push things too far.

For a moment Lillian felt like the walls were caving in and it bothered her that Max had directed such a comment at Taylor as well. "Captain? If that is all, I move for a dismissal."

For a moment she wondered if they could tell that she was panicking, but for a moment she actually felt a loss of control and wanted nothing more than to be in Sickbay. She felt better when she was helping and conversing and she didn't want to be in such an environment right now because it was emotionally draining. Lillian just gave a smile though and tried not to seem as antsy as she felt, hoping the captain wouldn't motion for her to see a counselor...there were just some things that Lillian Crae refused to do.

He nodded, "Indeed. I agree, if there's nothing else, you're all dismissed." Though he crooked a finger at Lillian, "Though I would like to talk to you Lieutenant. If you can spare an old man a moment or three." He waved to the other members of the Senior Staff, hoping that the next few weeks would go over a fair amount easier than these had. He just had to make sure Lillian was alright. He knew her fairly well, and she had to be troubled with the poisoning. It broke every ethical code in the book, more or less. He didn't fault her, but he did want to touch base with her.

||Starbase 12
||Briefing Room
||August 3, 2387
||1530

He sat at the head of the table, looking at the PADD he had brought with him. He had already sent orders out to everyone to be there by 1600 so he would just take a few minutes to go over a few things. He didn't know what would happen if he had his XO and his MCO in the same room. The men certainly seemed to have a distaste for one another. It would be hard, but in this he would have to put his foot down. They had to show each other respect so that the crew would respect them. He wouldn't have two officers on his senior staff biting at each other's throats like wolves. It simply would not do. He just had to find a way to bring them into accord somehow, but he wished he could do that without pulling them by the ear. He should just knock their heads together and lock them in a room somewhere for a few hours so they could work it out. Or kill one another. He chuckled softly, well that would at least solve the problem of their fighting. But he'd hate to have to replace his XO. In close quarters, he assumed the marine would probably win a fair fight. Though Max certainly would do his best to not allow it to be fair.

He had to talk to Lillian about this after the debriefing. She might have some sort of idea that he hadn't thought of yet, she was usually very good about that. Gan tended to think in straight lines, the shortest route through any situation to him was a straight line. She could think in curves far better than he would ever be able to. And if he was ever to reconcile the two of them, it would definitely have to be a curve ball that neither man saw coming. He shook his head and finalized the changes to the Security and did what he could to ascertain what he would need to do to get the station back on track once more. This would certainly be an interesting meeting.

Meetings. It was always meetings. Meetings about missions, meetings about lunch, meetings about diplomatic incidents. The life of a senior officer was just filled with fun. Still he put on his game face and put his feelings about Max to the back of his mind. Feelings that were more or less contempt and utter loathing that the man couldn't obviously put down the bottle. He kept his mouth shut as he walked into the briefing room and offered Gan a salute before sitting down.

"Afternoon captain. Sorry if I'm late...where there's no report there is a meeting and when there is no meeting there's a report. I swear paperwork exists to thwart me."

Lillian wasn't looking forward to this debriefing because that meant dealing with Taylor and Max in the same space and she had a problem that that wouldn't be much fun. Honestly, she wanted the problem between them to just go away because regardless of what happened in the shuttle, without them both she wouldn't be there right now and she knew it...and perhaps they wouldn't be here now without her. Still, she knew how men were and she knew how much they enjoyed arguing and trying to prove whose was bigger, so she sighed loudly and then plastered a smile on her face as she entered the room with her jacket open.

Her duty jacket was pretty much always open.

She was supposed to be a professional, but at the same time she also had a habit of being the free Betazoid that she was and so she managed to do her job and also not completely keep her duty jacket on when she was flustered. Lillian had been trying to get a lot done since getting back to the station and while she was supposed to rest, she didn't want to. At this point Gan was going to force her to go and talk to a counselor about it, but that was alright with her because maybe that was what she needed. Still, this was about a meeting and so she hurried into the room and paused when she saw Gan and Taylor there already.

"Good afternoon...and here I thought I'd be the first one..." Lillian said, smiling in Taylor's direction and then quickly taking a seat and trying to keep her eyes off of him.

Max eventually strode into the room in a confident mood, having spent the past several hours analyzing reports and details and thoroughly preparing himself mentally for whatever might come up in this debriefing. Wasting no time, he looked around the room approvingly, then spoke to the assembled officers in his most pleasant tone.

"All right, we're all here so let's get started, shall we?" he asked, almost as if he had called the meeting. "I'm sure we've all reviewed each other's reports and the supplementary information, so there's no need to read it all through again. I'd say it would be best to go around and discuss specific details that each of us feels needs clarification." He nodded in turn to Taylor, Lillian, and finally Gan. "Captain, I think you had better go first, so we can all make sure we agree with everything you have to say," Max joked as he seated himself, every bit the cheerful XO. He was taking a risk with this approach, but he had a good feeling it would work.

"Afternoon, everyone." He laid his PADD down on the table and thought about he wanted to say. "For the debriefing I've thought about what I wanted from each of you. The planetside encounters you've faced as a group have made us stronger, in some ways. It has brought us closer together." He looked between Max and Taylor, hoping they could keep their disputes to a minimum. It would be a long day if they spent half of it bickering amongst one another.

"All I really have to ask of you is if there was anything I could have done as your commander to have prevented what happened down there? I've spoken to Max about the intelligence issues and Taylor about personnel both on board the station and a contingent for away missions." He turned to Lillian, "But do you think I could have done anything in your expertise, Lillian?" He pondered for a few moments before he continued on. He would let everyone speak but for the moment he had the table. "I've submitted my report to each of you to review before I file it officially." He placed PADDs down in front of each of them. "And if you have any other questions, make sure to speak up." He smiled, sitting back down so his other senior staff members could take the floor.

Lillian wasn't all that sure about what it was that she wanted to say, but she knew that she needed to speak up and preferrably before the boys had a chance to say anything. At this point, she was pretty certain that even Gan knew how the two men felt about each other and Lillian still wanted to know why that was that the two didn't get along...was it simply gray and green not able to work together? Maybe it was because she was a Betazoid, but Lillian didn't understand why two people couldn't be more professional despite their personal issues but then again it brought her back to Cecily--the two of them butt heads more than once too. So maybe it was like that, but Taylor was new and so there was no history there and she just didn't understand, but that was the way that it was and it was her turn to speak her piece.

"If you want my honest opinion," Lillian began, "I think that it would be best if the reports were simply filled with what happened on the planet and none of the other...issues. What happened was a distress call was sent and when we answered, we were attacked as we were unaware of the situation that we were being sent into. We ended up having to help the original senders of the call and Starfleet needs to be informed--they need to handle this. There was nothing that we could do, save more intelligence work, but that could have taken days and we had to act. Once we were shot out of the sky it was up to surviving and we all helped each other to survive...the fact that there is a chance that either Max or Taylor will be punished for what they did down there makes me upset for more reasons than one."

"Nothing could have been done to prevent the shuttle being shot down sir." added Taylor with a nod. "They wanted to bring us down and they did. Intelligence wouldn't have been able to map AA capability if they were mobile or semi-mobile platforms. If we had an idea that our response to the distress call had been picked up by their SIGINT we could have perhaps chose a safer location to fly over and land."

Taylor paused for a moment before taking a look at both Lillian and Max, the latter was given some form of loathing. "However Doctor Crae was correct. On ground intelligence work would have taken too long. However I'm interested in how the Intelligence department wasn't able to provide proper information on the battlefield communications or lack thereof perhaps indicating a war down there. I wonder how a bunch of thugs led by a despot was able to crack SFI comm encryption....if there was any encryption in place."

He nodded, "I will do everything I can to make sure they aren't punished for anything that went down on the planet, Lillian. I am unsure what more I can than reflect positively on all your actions in my report." He smiled warmly and considered everything that had happened. "I suppose at the end of the day there wasn't anything else we could have accomplished without a lot more time than we had. I'm sure that Starfleet will see it that way as well. As for the sake of encryption, perhaps there was just not enough people to work the problem. We'll have to get things under control up here again. Repairs are well underway as we speak and we'll be able to proceed with our mission out here. Thank you everyone. Is there anything else that needs be done?"

Nothing could crack the smile on Max's face, and he merely nodded and grinned at Taylor during the obvious attack. It did not faze him at all, and he meant to show it as he returned the Marine's sour expression with one of reasonable professionalism. I've got your number, you thick-necked bastard, and I'm going to take you down with it. Use all of your bluster against you, and leave you bewildered and alone in the end, wondering why Lillian chose me. And if you had half the brain that you had brawn, you'd know why. But he said none of that, only made inconsequential notes on his PADD for a moment before looking up and around.

"The Lieutenant makes a good point there. I've ordered a full investigation and review into the matter, and if there was anything of concern I'll call another meeting and fill you in on the details. But at the moment I agree with the Captain and suspect it was more a matter of insufficient resources to cover a sector this vast. I'm referring to things like personnel, processing power, and overall observation assets." He paused a moment, glancing at each of the other officers individually before continuing.

"To that end I've already proposed an expansion in personnel for most departments aboard the station to the Captain. Obviously the Intelligence department is a priority to avoid going into hostile situations blind, but I think most departments require bolstering. Medical, engineering, security, and…" he made sure not to look at Lillian as he said the final bit, to avoid revealing too much "…additional Marines, for security purposes on dangerous away missions. I have personally witnessed the effectiveness of a single Marine in such conditions, and believe we could only benefit from an expansion of their force," Max offered calmly, nodding respectfully at Taylor the whole time.

There. Fighting while appearing to be retreating, fighting without fighting. Give the enemy what they want and they will eventually give you what you want: victory. Let's see how you handle that, Taylor. Or… "Perhaps even a dedicated Marine attack craft, to deploy as the first response to dangerous situations. Secure the area for the medical and engineering personnel who will come later and all that." And put you in the line of fire first instead of me, perhaps?

While Max made sure not to look at Lillian, Lillian smiled in his direction for choosing to listen to what she had suggested about adding additional marines to the base. She was worried about how things were fairing with the rebuild here and after this fiasco it was important to prepare a united front--that and she really couldn't ignore the animosity between the two men at the table with her and Gan. If she couldn't tell that they were at odds no matter how fake the attempt at peace, then she would just be ignorant and that was certainly something that Lillian Crae was not...she was intelligent, rather she acted like she was or not.

"I believe that Lieutenant Lucas can handle anything thrown in his direction--he proved that on the surface of Thalos more than once. Had it not been for him, Doctor Stone swears that my leg would have been in far worse condition. As for Commander Ritter, he also put forth a tremendous performance of authority. I believe that should these two work together to keep this place up and running, we shouldn't have a problem with gathered information nor with the protection of the people that we have here. Besides, I'm handy at patching up, so should the extra marines need a pair of talented hands, I volunteer to keep an eye on them."

"I suppose if you really want to continue the line of bad ideas commander, giving the marines their own ship would be a bad one." said Taylor with narrowed eyes. "Captain we've discussed this point before. A company of marines would give us both the offensive and defensive capabilities the station requires with or without the aid of the Security department. Any more and it's going to seem like sabre rattling. Obviously the commander is not aware of the diplomatic consequences of such a view...so I shall endeavour to enlighten him."

Taylor sat back in his chair and shook his head slowly at the fact he was having to explain this to the XO. "We are positioned amongst some rather volatile borders. Borders which, when faced with military build up, can become highly dangerous. Ambassadors coming to this station might not take too kindly when they see warships at their front door. We need to be careful...we don't have the luxury of starting a war."

What could have been left as a way to bury some sort of hatchet seemed lost and Lillian found herself actually groaning out loud and her mouth got the better of her.

"First of all, Commander Ritter is your XO so you will treat him with respect even when you don't agree with his methods," Lillian shot at Taylor, clearly disappointed with both him and Max. "As for you, Commander, you're at a table with a Betazoid, so I suggest that you also take notes with what it is that I am about to say, because I'm only going to say it once. This is a response base. We are here to be formidable. We are here to have military men. We are here to have doctors and scientists. We are here to be somewhat scary to our neighbors and to appear strong to our allies so that they know that we will be able to aide them whenever it is that they need us to do that. I could care less about you two and your clear as day pissing contest, but I seem to be the only one here thinking about what is clearly best for this station without wanting to screw the other person over or point out how wrong they are. Save your personal disputes for the holodeck."

She took a deep breath and looked directly at Gan. "I am aware that I am talking out of turn and that I am just your second officer, but I believe that in order to restore this place to what Starfleet intended for it to be--to restore our purpose--we need to have a strong military, diplomatic and intelligence front. Those are the only sections that we should currently be focusing on. More marines. More security officers. More intelligence officers, more diplomats. We are a response base and that means that we are expected to be somewhat of a fighting base. We have medical personnel. We have scientists and engineers...we don't need the focus right now and Milos System taught us that. I did not poison a man down there for no good reason!"

Lillian knew that she had raised her voice and let that slip and that she was now emotionally on edge, but she was getting fed up with men.

He smiled softly, knowing that Lillian had the right of it. He couldn't have said it any better himself, but he had to wonder as to the motivations of the two men. It was hard to read either of them. But he knew that he had to do something. He just needed to figure out how to get the two men to comport themselves. "You have the right of it, Lillian. This station is meant to first and foremost be a response base. We cannot forget our mission.." He looked to his senior officers, "Or our place." He grimaced, "I don't know why the both of you have your hackles raised like dogs fighting over a bone, but I will again stress that you respect one another. If you want to strangle each other, do it in your off time. We're here to work."

He spun his PADD idly out on the table and sighed softly. "I have heeded the recommendations of my MCO and my CIO in response to the crisis that occurred on Milos and I have taken action as to try to prevent something like this from happening again. I will submit these requests to Starfleet so we can continue to serve our purpose out here. Now if you wish it, I can put the two of you in a holding cell together and you can debate out your differences. Or kill each other. But one way or another, I won't have you wondering if daggers in the night would serve a better purpose. Now that the mission is under wraps and our discussion has been coming to its conclusion, I'm sure that we will be able to work well with one another, yes?" He grinned, "Or we can continue our infighting and give our enemies an opportunity to see us outside of a secure area fighting amongst ourselves. But either way, we will all leave this room with our heads held high as Starfleet personnel. Do what you want out of uniform. But this.." He tugged at his duty jacket, "When you put this on in the morning, try to remember all the people who wore it before you. Show the uniform what is due to it."

Max had kept quiet during the exchange, because it was all he could do not to lean way back in his chair and clasp his hands behind his head with a huge grin on his face. Instead he nodded gravely at each of the points, avoiding direct eye contact with anyone. He hoped Lillian was listening well as Taylor repeated his own earlier warning about provocation, albeit in a much more blunt manner. Max had to give the Marine credit for grasping the political and diplomatic realities of their position, but then again it was always good to have a healthy respect for one's foes to avoid underestimating them.

He adopted a surprised expression when Gan accused them both of animosity. Maybe that was just to avoid calling out Taylor and making a scene. Very well, he could work with this. This engagement was all but won, he just needed to mop up. Doing his best to sound contrite, Max nodded in response to their CO's points. "Yes, sir. Perhaps there have been some communication difficulties in the past, and maybe the transition following the accident has left people a little unsure of their respective niches. Some friction is to be expected, but we'll get over it. Meetings like this are good for discussion and even venting. Better it happen behind closed doors than out in front of the crew. And I'm confident we're well on our way to becoming the finest crew in Starfleet. Just as long as we all remember our purpose," he said, echoing Gan from earlier "and our place." He smiled affably at everyone around the table, particularly Taylor.

"And I know my place as XO is to be a uniter and not a divider, so I promise to to be open to any ideas or views that you or any other officers aboard have. Suggestions, comments concerns...all are welcome, even if it doesn't always sound that way. So if you or any of your people have anything they want to tell me...just say it into the light fixture or replicator in your quarters, I'll hear it," he offered with a chuckle, trying to restore some levity to the room. Now was not the time to push things too far.

For a moment Lillian felt like the walls were caving in and it bothered her that Max had directed such a comment at Taylor as well. "Captain? If that is all, I move for a dismissal."

For a moment she wondered if they could tell that she was panicking, but for a moment she actually felt a loss of control and wanted nothing more than to be in Sickbay. She felt better when she was helping and conversing and she didn't want to be in such an environment right now because it was emotionally draining. Lillian just gave a smile though and tried not to seem as antsy as she felt, hoping the captain wouldn't motion for her to see a counselor...there were just some things that Lillian Crae refused to do.

He nodded, "Indeed. I agree, if there's nothing else, you're all dismissed." Though he crooked a finger at Lillian, "Though I would like to talk to you Lieutenant. If you can spare an old man a moment or three." He waved to the other members of the Senior Staff, hoping that the next few weeks would go over a fair amount easier than these had. He just had to make sure Lillian was alright. He knew her fairly well, and she had to be troubled with the poisoning. It broke every ethical code in the book, more or less. He didn't fault her, but he did want to touch base with her.

Max raised an eyebrow at Gan's request, but nodded at the dismissal and stood, quickly making his way out into the corridor. As he headed towards the turbolift, he glanced over his shoulder a few times, just out of habit.