Wayward

Eclipse

         "So you're telling I'm all clear?," Tib asked Doctor Ambassa. "Surprisingly, other than the pricks in your arms we gave you," the Doctor said as he motioned to the bruises halfway down Tib's arm, "you seem to be intact." Good, that meant he get back to work. "So I'm free to go?," Tib asked as he looked towards the ward's doors. "Absolutely Lieutenant Commander," the Doctor said. As soon as the doctor had said the word "absolutely" Tib had already jumped off the bed he had been put in and had started walking to the door at a brisk pace. "Sheeb, where are you," he said as he exited the ward and started heading to the lift which was down the corridor to the left of the corridor. "At the Core Tib, glad you're back with us," she said. "I am too," Tib said as he maneuvered through a group of analysts that had just left one of the labs from up ahead. It seemed like there were more people moving through the corridors than usual to Tib. "Tib there's something you need to look at when you get here," she said with a voice of concern. "What's going on," he asked as he rounded the left he needed to take to get the lift. "Something is up with the Core," she said. Tib's anxiety became a noticeable knot in his stomach when she said that. "What do you mean," Tib said as he pushed the open button and stepped inside the lift, "like a surge or drop?" "A hiccup," she said as his comm switched to the lifts overhead. "I'll be there soon," he said as he cut the transmission. The last thing the Ragnus needed was a core issue. Tib knew it was probably nothing to worry about but at the same time he had learned no one can be too thorough from his time of being an engineer though short as it may be compared to others. The lift ride wasn't far from the emergency ward but it seemed shorter this time. The warm glow coming from the core that filled the engineering deck did the same to Tib's vision as he stepped off the lift. "Chief on deck!," yelled Sheeb as Tib stepped out of the lift. The surrounding engineers stared at Tib. Maybe they were as surprised he was alive as he was. Tib walked up and shook her hand as the command of the engineering arm of the Ragnus was placed back to Tib. For Tib this was awkward and a waste of time but tradition was tradition. He didn't like it the first time he had taken command and he didn't like it now. Though that time had been different. He had more pride than he did now though it was a short time ago. "What is it that's got you bothered Ms. Fairheart," Tib said as he follow Sheeb as she turned back to the command room. "I've the got the charts waiting for you as soon as you step in the room," she said not wasting any more time on formalities. The door to the office command room opened and they stepped inside Tib's office. Sheeb went to the wall spanning console just under the window and pressed the activation button. The displays on and holographic projections flickered as the console whirred to life. The thing she was talking about was pretty noticeable, even for anyone who had never worked on an engineering crew before. An abrupt half wave started and quickly melted into a fully formed wave in the standard wave pattern the core output followed. Tib narrowed his eyes. There's not much they could do to fix a damaged core out here. Fixing and stabilizing were two different things. They had complete access to stabilize it at anytime but fixing a core was definitely on the spacedock side of things. "I told everyone who had seen it to not worry about it," Sheeb said looking back and forth at the display and Tib. That was probably the right answer or at least it would've been the same thing Tib would have done if he had been conscious. "We'll have to keep an eye on it," he said as he keyed in commands to the console to file this incident and report it, "for now though, everything the core is doing is within standards." Tib turned around and walked to his desk. "But what if we the core is damaged," Sheeb said leaning back on the console with her arms crossed. The glint from her glasses at this angle reminded Tib off the blue hue from his view of the hull of the ship earlier. "Then what we do is our best Ms. Fairheart," he said turning his head to look out at the engineers he could see from his office window, "our very best." That wasn't Tib's primary concern right now though it probably should of been and he knew it. No, the only thing he could think about was setting foot on the planet that had haunted him from the first time he had set eyes on it. His phantom had been in his territory for long enough. For Tib, it was time he entered into its. But the need for Tib to live up to his exploration standards was just as strong. The combination of the two was probably the most driving force he had felt in his life and he found himself checking the time regularly. Tib was finding the thought of getting back to his real mission out here exciting even if it was taking away from his discovering of the corruption in the higher ranks of the Terran Navy and it technically being a punishment from said higher ups. "Tib you know what I'm going to say," Sheeb said breaking his train of thought. "Then we survive, Sheeb," he said. Sheeb stepped back and stared out at the engineering deck like Tib had been. "We have about four hours left now, but I know you already know that," with a sort of tone to her voice that Tib couldn't really understand. "I just want to get back to being me, Sheeb," Tib said with a tinge of sadness, "the conspiracies, the deaths, and the inter dimensional space demon, all of it is a little straining on the psyche, ya know?," he continued with a exasperated chuckle. Sheeb shook her head with an almost equally tired laugh. "Tib, eventually this will all be over and maybe, just maybe, the Terran Navy can get back to being the reality of what it makes its recruits believe it is," she said with a sympathetic smile. "I think the only thing I'm really afraid of is that this is more widespread into the Union as a whole," he said crossing his arms, "I really don't want another Insurrection War." "I doubt it is, Tib," she said crossing her arms as well, "not many other species are as back stabbing as Terrans." That was true, at least from Tib's perspective, no other species he had dealt with, or served with for that matter, was as corrupt as the humans he had served with. Tib checked his comm and saw that the time hadn't really changed but that was a good thing. "Sheeb, we can continue this at another time, have Lark and Alex switched off and prepared for planetary survey," he said while standing up from his chair. He knew that four hours was a bit overkill but Tib found giving his subordinates more luxuries than most chiefs something of a goal for him. He decided he was going to his quarters to do research on the information available to officers about Kaliceon Prime. "You have command, Ms. Fairheart, he said as he walked out the door and started heading to the lift. Maybe, just maybe, things would play out as Sheeb had foreseen them.