Xander heard the turbo lift open as Captain Blacklake walked briskly from the Turbo lift to the Ready Room.  Xander followed closely behind.<br/><br/><em>"So, what's the problem commander, it sounded urgent? If you'd like to switch places with me commander, I certainly wouldn't stop you."</em>She said as the door closed behind them with a hushed swish.<br/><br/>"Captain, I know we haven't had a lot of time to work together since coming on board.  And I'm certain that the current situation is causing some undue strain on you as well as the rest of the crew, but we need to make sure that we are presenting a united front to the crew.  We are far away from home, with little if any way of finding a way home and the crew needs to see strength and confidence from the senior staff.  I've noticed that in the last few hours you have taken a lot of responsibility and been involved in a number of discussions with different sections of the crew regarding the situation.  While this dedication is admirable Captain, as your First Officer, I should be taking care of delegating most of the responsibility and letting you deal with the more pressing command decisions.  Perhaps I feel out of the loop, perhaps I feel that we have not developed a comfortable working relationship yet.  But as your First Officer I need to be aware of what is going on on the ship and I should be relieving you of stress not wondering if you're over burdened."  Xander walked up to the small window in the side of the Ready Room bulkhead.  Staring out at the brown and grey planet in the distance he turned back to his Captain.  "As far as you leading an away mission, I could quote regulation twelve to you regarding a Captain leading an away mission into an unknown situation, but I suspect you've already decided to go."<br/><br/>