Almost two hours have elapsed since Edwards' last communication towards Admiral Prower. After spending this time thinking about what's to come - looking forward to meeting the Admiral and the Captain, his new colleagues, in person - Edwards leaves West Point's bar and heads back to the drydock to check on the Akhetaten. His PDA rings in his pocket, it's a notification from the engineering crew that the Akhetaten has been checked up and re-fueled, reporting no issues. A smile covers his face. "Good timing." He says to himself as he taps a few buttons on the PDA while walking on a visibly faster pace. The crew has been notified that they will be undocking within the next ten minutes - last checks before launch are currently taking place.
Shortly thereafter, Edwards walks through the unlocked blast doors and enters the main hangar, the Akhetaten visible in the distance. Within the next two minutes Christopher was greeted by his high ranking Officers and was aboard the Akhetaten, making his way to the heavily fortified Combat Information Center, as per usual. With all stations reporting green, he picks up the radio. "Control this is Captain Edwards speaking of the Akhetaten, requesting permission to undock." The familiar voice of the Operator grants Edwards' permission and soon the bay-door separating the drydock the Akhetaten was landed in from space is unsealed and the vessel leaves West Point.
The few minute journey to Juneau is as silent and uneventful as Christopher imagined it would be, as per usual. After making sure they weren't being followed the ship entered Zone-21 and headed towards the Jumpgate leading to Alaska. After a successful jump the Akhetaten is greeted by Juneau's control, being a known and expected visitor.
The ship slowly approaches the station after Christopher was granted permission to dock. "Remember, Uhmen, drydock two." He says in a jokingly manner, looking at his navigation Officer as the large bay doors open in front of the ship, and the Lieutenant Commander lands the Akhetaten. "You really make it seem like landing a Guardian, Uhmen." He continues, lightly clapping as he raises an eyebrow seeing the smile on her face.
With no further delay, Christopher directs his crew to take care of the ship in his absence as he heads towards the exit. He disembarks the ship, looking around to the very familiar hangar - he's been here quite a few times. He pauses there for a few seconds, scanning the crowd of personnel with his eyes - looking for who could be Captain Fox. "Well, even if I don't see her she definitely will. Can't really go unnoticed with an Osiris behind my back." He says, letting out a very light chuckle.
Not long after initial arrival, as promised Miles' assistant, Captain Mira Fox was making her way down towards the bay to meet the Captain that would be transferring in. This was simply meant to be standard routine, but it was her job to ensure nothing out of the ordinary was going on and report back to the Admiralty. In due time, she had arrived to the bay. "Captain Edwards. I am Captain Fox, I was told you were to be expecting me." Upfront and to the point, seems to be eyeing both him and the Osiris out the window. All the same, she wanted to be sure.
"I'm here to confirm your transfer to the 5th Fleet and ensure your crew is well aware of what is happening. I assume they're expecting this as well?" She had a datapad out, reviewing it as it had the Captains background on it, reviewing it to match against any questions she will ask.
Christopher nods to the lady as a show of respect. "A pleasure to have been made your acquaintance, Captain Fox." He straightens his torso, having expected that the Captain would be asking him a few questions to make sure that Edwards knows what he's doing. However he doesn't look unprepared in the slightest as the thought of flying under the Fifth's colors was one that had crossed his mind many times in the past. Virtually, the decision was taken by him - but more accurately it was a result of conversation between him and his crewmembers, making Captain Fox's first question one that Christopher doesn't struggle answering. "I confirm mine and the Akhetaten's transfer to the Fifth Fleet, a decision that I took after a multitude of discussions with my crew members as is proper, Captain."
He doesn't seem surprised that Captain Fox spent a few seconds looking at a datapad that she had in her hands, the Fifth Fleet would obviously have gathered a file on the man's past by now, something which brings him happiness, knowing that he is taken seriously. Christopher awaits patiently for the Captain's next questions.
She continued reviewing his file, looking over everything before beginning to head towards the boarding ramp to head onto his ship, motioning for him to follow. "I understand you may be nervous about the questioning however all new transfers undergo this. I've already been provided the details on your command of an Osiris-class vessel. My question is, how well is your crew acquainted with this vessel? And if need be, would you allow our R&D division to take a closer look of the vessel for the future, should the need to arise to facilitate repairs that go beyond standard battle damage?"
She was a very curious girl, and had many things to ask about, however she paced herself so she didn't overwhelm the Captain. Already she knew of a different ongoing project involving the repair and fielding of an Osiris-class vessel, the West Virginia. She wanted to probe the man, and see if it was possible to use intimate knowledge of an operation ship to assist in their endeavors elsewhere.
Christopher calmly follows the Captain on the Akhetaten's ramp, his body straightened - a little bit of nervousness was still visible on him but he was confident that he'd have a proper answer for any question, having spent 13 years of his life on that ship. "Don't mention it Captain, I was of course expecting that the Fifth would undergo certain checks to see if I know what I am doing. I do understand the responsibility the Fleet will hold over me after I am part of it." He pauses for just a few seconds before continuing to answer the rest of the Captain's questions.
"Were you informed that the Akhetaten has been refitted on this very station, Captain? It should be listed on that datapad, but I am quite sure it was around three months ago. The point I am trying to make is that I trusted the Fifth Fleet and your R&D division back then - this trust has only been boosted by now. With that in mind, the division is more than free to request the Akhetaten's presence on this very drydock for inspections - in return, I would appreciate it if I was given the option to upgrade the ship's equipment and weapon loadout should the need for that ever arise, now of course the R&D division will still be able to operate freely on the ship regardless of if my favor is met with or not, Captain, I don't want it to seem as if I am forcing anything." He looks into the Captain's eyes, giving her a few seconds of silence, making sure that he was not misunderstood, after all the last thing on his mind is to exploit the kindness he's being met with.
"As for the crew, you can realize how it's not easy to find crew that is willing to come aboard a vessel such as this while also being experienced in the field. The Osiris is a ship that not many people know how to operate - and that gave me much difficulty in the first months of her refits. A ship, after all, is nothing without it's crew, it's the people that are inside that make a proper Battleship, not the crude metal." He rests his hand on the hull of the ship before continuing. "Every person that is on board this ship has been through all the necessary training-hours on everything that you can encounter aboard, ranging from her unique array of intelligence, counter-intelligence, cyber-warfare systems to her engineering and weapons operation systems. Of course, everyone was put to work on the specific field they specialize in after succeeding crew candidacy trials." He pauses for a moment, smiling. "Captain Mallory has been a major help to the selection of crew for the Akhetaten, he was in command of the recently relieved from action Sierra Nevada. A number of my highest ranking officers aboard were suggested by him."
As they boarded the ship and went along, she took note of what everyone around her was doing. Ensuring they were all behaving normally. Sometimes things would seem odd, so she kept an eye on everyone around her while reading the datapad. Thus far everything was lining up with mmuch of what the fleet knew already, and was confirming it all. Now she would begin getting to things to sate the curiosity of the admiralty. "You mentioned the ship being equipped with EWS and counter-intelligence systems. Does this ship function as a frontline electronic warfare ship or are these auxiliary systems used to aid it in combat? Additionally, if this vessel was to function alongside dedicated electronic warfare ships, would this ships systems conflict with current generation Navy EW systems?"
Her concern seemed to shift to theoretical operations, wanting to inquire about any potential conflict between onboard systems and standard Navy technology, probing for any possibility that would cause harm to current missions and operations. One would think her main goal is to ensure the ship itself doesn't become a friendly fire casualty during frontline combat.
Chris seemed to be greatly pleased about his crew not acting over the top, making the whole procedure seem fake. He had informed the crew that an inspection would probably take place and wanted everyone aboard the ship to continue their normal duties as if this was just another normal day - no unnecessary formalities. The last thing he wants is to give Captain Fox and in turn the Admiralty an idea that this whole operation is faked out. Chris continues walking by the Captain's side as he replies to her questions. "Back in the day when I was first aboard the Akhetaten, I think it was 811AS, she used to be a frontline electronic warfare ship. She had served in many missions in Rheinland and Bretonia - intelligence gathering. Back then, all the Akhetaten had to defend herself in case of an emergency was a wide array of missiles, which is of course why our objective was to never be spotted - the Akhetaten never was a combat ship. Fast forwarding to today, when I took charge of the ship I chose not to continue the tradition and decided to refit the ship to a fully combat-capable warship, with the added bonus of auxiliary electronic warfare systems that are still more than enough for the intelligence gathering we are to provide. The Akhetaten also sports her own laboratory and science team, coming greatly in use on our most recent adventures in Omicron Nu."
He paused for a while, giving the Captain a few seconds to take all that information in - perhaps keep notes of what she figured would be important - before continuing. "I took great care that every piece of equipment mounted on the Akhetaten is a hundred percent compatible with today's technology. Her electronic signatures are the exact same as any other ship of Liberty Navy origin as it is equipped with the exact same technology - which of course made her refit a lot harder, the ship's reactor wasn't exactly 'happy' running today's technology so a number of changes were necessary before the ship was completely combat-ready."
She listened very closely to his explanation of what had been going on in the ship. She was satisfied with the answer regarding the electronics, however she now has some concerns about his last comment. "Issues with the reactor? What kind of issues? I understand retrofits may have been needed however those will only get you so far. Are you certain a custom designed reactor isn't necessary? Can you say with certainty that, hypothetically, should the ship suffer critical damage, would the reactor be at risk of melting down and leaving the remaining portions of the ship stranded and without power to critical systems?"
Her concerns seemed to extend to the safety of the crew in any condition, especially critical conditions. She was fully prepared to order the ship docked until a custom built reactor could be built to bypass the need for retrofits. This was more out of concern for both the crew and the ship rather than safety. She wanted to ensure that above all else, in the event of a reactor meltdown, the crew would be able to be located and rescued before perishing in space.
He was caught off guard by the Captain's concern, mainly because he thought the answer to that was pretty clear from what he mentioned earlier, taking a few moments of silence before answering her question. "I thought I gave an answer to that question earlier, but thinking back I actually did not. The reactor -was- entirely replaced, Captain. That being the reason the Akhetaten took so long to be combat-ready. A custom reactor was built with the help of the First fleet and the Security Force so that the ship can run efficiently and most importantly in a safe manner. The reactor is physically located on the back of the ship, cut-off from all other compartments with sealed blast doors. In case of an emergency with risk of the reactor melting down the aft would be evacuated so as to suffer the least amount of casualties possible - any explosions taking place in the reactor would further lead the aft of the ship to completely disconnect itself from the rest of the vessel, not killing the entire ship and crew but leaving us with no impulse capabilities. If however the reactor critically meltdowns with no further actions leading to the detachment of the ship's aft, an emergency secondary reactor will be activated. The secondary reactor is capable of providing steady impulse and cruise speed for a limited duration of time. The ship can also perform one jump to hyperspace towards a safe location should things really go south - the jump drive unit is entirely independent on whether either of the two reactors are operational."
Thinking back and repeating some words inside his head, he makes sure that this time he didn't leave something half-answered. After a few moments of silence he looks back at her, positive that he gave her all the data she required asking that question. "I believe the addition of an independent jump drive capable of working with both reactors down was a critical point towards the crew's safety, Captain. The ship's jump drive can also be remotely activated from HQ through the use of access codes that will be given to High Command. I'm doing everything I can to make sure the disaster of 824 does not repeat itself."
Mira listened closely to his answer ensuring everything had lined up with information that they had on hand already. She commonly did this, doubling back to ensure the story remains the same even after the first time it has been told. Asking and re-asking when it's not expected is the best way to catch any inconsistencies. Thankfully this was not the case. The Captain was true to his word and Fox had done as requested in confirming such. Now she can move on to the final questions needed to get preparations underway for transferring the vessel to the 5th Fleet.
"From what we understand you primarily worked with the First Fleet and Security Force in bringing the vessel up to spec for working with Liberty. May I ask what influenced your decision to join the 5th Fleet over one of them? I've heard part of it from Rear Admiral Prower but I'd like to hear it for myself as well. I'd assume it would've been easier to choose one of the organizations that had helped you before rather than us. What made our fleet stand out to you?" She walked along with him, leading him to a more quiet corridor of the ship where they could speak freely without any prying ears. She wanted to ensure the Captain was comfortable sharing his story, seemingly putting her datapad to the side for now, focusing on him.
