YSS Eucharis
Natsumi turned in her chair to look at Takao, having just been cut out of the command loop. She had received Mr. Wazu's request, but she had been cut out by the operator, who had taken it upon themselves to authorize employment of the Eucharis' weapons array without approval of the current officer in command of the ship. Why was she even here anymore? Even up here on the ship, she was an unnecessary appendage that the ship and crew did not need to function. Of course Takao was doing exactly what Natsumi would have ordered her to do, just not waiting for her approval or issuance of orders. Preparing the weapons array was the appropriate call, just not being carried out in accordance to the chain of command, as it was supposed to be. It would have been different if Natsumi had ordered weapons free to protect the landing party, for Takao to take the initiative, but she had not, so she was, again, effectively cut out of the command loop without even a word or sign of recognition that the ship's Executive Officer was even there.
The snowy haired neko's mind raced, she wanted to flee from the bridge, find some dark hole to bury herself in and cry. She did not think anyone would even notice at this point. Why was she even here anymore? The ordeal on the previous away mission, the crew's disobedience to her orders, the Shosho's scornful and disappointed remarks when she had asked not to be posted to the second mission and now the junior bridge officer's cutting her out. Her career in the fleet was as good as over. She could not handle a landing party, she had disappointed her Shosho and now could not even maintain control of the ship in orbit.
Taii Yamashiro Natsumi was a failure as an officer, and at this exact moment, she knew it. She felt sick, deep down in the pit of her stomach. The thought that she should resign her commission and get away from everyone here as soon as possible clawed it's way up from the deepest, darkest recesses of her mind. She was not wanted, not needed and a disappointment. She could do nothing but hinder the further operation of the Eucharis from this point on.
Natsumi felt like she was going to throw up, she could feel the bile crawling up the back of her throat and looked down at her pale hands, which were shaking. No. She swallowed and could feel the burn traveling back down to her gut. She couldn't collapse, not now. She couldn't run yet. She had to save what little was left of her career and dignity she had left while she could... But it would be so much easier to just turn over command to Takao and leave the bridge and not have to worry about it all anymore. Sure the Shosho would have her kicked off the ship as soon as she got back, demoted, probably discharged from duty for abandoning her post, but her career was quickly crumbling anyways, wasn't it?
She bit her lip, hard, drawing a bead of coppery hemosynth that soured her tongue and made the bile start to crawl back up again. No she couldn't do that. She had to finish this job, then she could, privately, resign her commission or ask for a transfer off of the Eucharis later.
The Taii pushed herself to her feet, a move that seemed so hard to do, her body resisting the motion every moment as she crossed the small bridge to the operators station and lean over, tapping the control to mute the station's mic pickup.
"Shoi Kohose Hitoshi Takao" she began, her voice seemed small and without much power. "It was inappropriate for you to authorize and prepare use of the ship's weapons array without orders of the current officer in command of the bridge" she said to the man. "Even if it is the same action I was about to order"
Without giving him a chance to respond to the rebuke, she toggled his mic pickup back on and withdrew and dropped heavily into the command chair, trying to retain some semblance of crumbling outward composure as she fought to keep her stomach contents down.
She toggled her own comm channel and spoke into her pickup. "Shosho, weapons ready and targeted to fire on the hostile robots at your command" as she spoke, she double checked the tactical display and could see the landing party withdrawing into the safety of the machine world's interior.
