[Robert "Bobby" Oxford Jr]

1437
Admiral Oxfords Office

Saying nothing he stared out to the gate. Could feel the small pulse of pain in his left hand; the impact of slamming the mug on the desk. To ease the pain he reflexed his muscles. He hadn't intended to blow up his fuse that had been getting shorter and shorter as the days and weeks passed. He knew Matt won't mind him taking over - another reason he noted he was the XO of the Expedition. Yet personally it felt wrong on all levels and angles. As it was after Matt, he was the eldest of the 5 Oxfords. But he wasn't ready to lose Matt anytime soon.

Hearing his XO, asking James and Blake to leave, Bobby moved his mouth to make a protest, but it was James's words that had him feeling like more than a a$$ then he was already oozing out. Thinking back he realised that it wasn't implied. In few hours once he was in a decent mind frame, an apology was in order, as right now Bobby wasn't going make the situation worse. It wasn't going to help either of them.

Fiala's words hit few home truths he wasn't willing to admit to and didn't want to lay on the table. He had agreed to take the XO to watch Matt's back, and he had failed on every level. The very idea of telling his own family was more than he could handle.

He turned to face her with a blank expression, and just listened. All while he considered his options. He could either lead them south and give the IOA a field day or he could lead; really lead them. The Wizard had picked them for a reason; he was made an XO for a reason as well. Perhaps it was about time he sharpened his backbone. "Give me five minutes." Was all he said and watched her leave.

1440
Admiral Oxfords Office

He was about to make his way out after thinking over and getting his mind in order when he saw Collins standing in front of his door, "Doc," he agreed her trying to suppress a groan at her arrival.

With arms folded she glared at him, then walked in, "Your blow up could almost be heard down the hall," she hadn't even reach the end of the hall when voices reached her ears and was not a happy camper, "Pull this again, rest assured Captain, you will be merely leading a team, not a base. As far as James is concerned, you are dealing with a veteran of SGC. A little cool head goes a long way." She was going to turn to leave, "Don't tempt me to pull a reason out of the books to remove you from this office. You have a fine record with USCG, Robert. Don't tarnish it. And I know it's not easy to sign those papers, sometimes we need to do things we don't like to." With that she did leave him be.

1445
Control Room --> Beam Room

He walked out of the office with Collin's words ringing in his ear and cussed at his luck and inability to sign it. She was right, he didn't like it, yet couldn't avoid it for long. Evident was going to be painful action. And joined his team in time to hear the last word from Blake, "A ship?" he asked, "We will have to find out how big once we get there. We need three more team to take the other directions for covering," SV-6 and 9 were on base, and asked one of the SF's to alert team leaders. If they had to break SV-1 into two groups, then he was going to do just that. "And ask them to be at the beaming room. And tell Collins she's running the base till we come back."

Then faced his team, his gaze stayed on James a second longer, "We are not going to waste time debating here. That can be done as we cover ground on the other side of the planet." He turned to walk away and towards the beaming room. The team's gear was already waiting for them. And SV-9 was already setting the location for their beaming.

"All set, Sir," Captain Parson acknowledged the Acting CO, "We are waiting on SV-1 to gear up."

Nodding, he grabbed his gear, "You go ahead. SV-1 will follow soon." He waited till his team was geared up. With a sigh and another nod, he lead them to the other side. Hopefully it wasn't as dense with forest like it was here.

<<To Unnamed Continent>>

Tag: Lequana Ka'ti of Partho, James Calmara, Liam Kelly, Blake Warren