Captain J. L. Chandra was, as usual, not in her chair. As was her custom when approaching a new location, she was standing between the helmsman and navigator, leaning forward with one hand on the console and the other behind her back, absently bouncing the toe of one boot into the deck as her eyes flicked back and forth between the helm station, the navigation station, and the main viewscreen. It was her policy to be where she figured the action would be, to avoid forcing her team to have to shout information across the bridge as much as possible.<br/><br/>Despite her unorthodox position and posture, it would be hard not to recognize who was in command. Aside from her gold minidress uniform with command stripes, she had an air of quiet authority, exercised without any obvious flourish. As the<em>Vanguard</em>approached the planet, she didn’t even need to tell the helmsman to assume standard orbit. That was standard procedure that should be assumed by default, and Captain Chandra expected that her helmsman – indeed, any member of her crew – would be confident and independent enough to know their standard duties without being told. At most, a slight nod if anyone checked her for confirmation should be all that was needed.<br/><br/>Similarly, a wordless look over her shoulder – with raised eyebrow – to the Doctor was all that was needed to solicit her opinion.<br/><br/>((OOC: After the Doctor’s comments...))<br/><br/>“Let’s not jump ahead of the facts we have, Doctor,” Chandra said, almost absently, as she straightened herself up and turned toward the science station. “So far all we know is what the message said: that Dr. Sonvek was—” she affected a passable imitation of the Vulcan scientist’s mannerisms from his message “—‘requesting help evaluating unusual occurrences and a possible life-form on the surface’. Use of the emergency channel notwithstanding, I don’t see anything there that implies<em>threat</em>...” Chandra pulled absently at her lower lip while she made her way diagonally across the bridge toward the science station. “... yet.”<br/><br/>“No...,” by this point, Chandra was talking as much to herself as the Doctor, appearing almost lost in thought as she strolled to the railing, “... there are many logical reasons for using the emergency channel that don’t constitute a<em>threat</em>. The message could be time-sensitive, perhaps – perhaps they bumped into a new space-faring species and needed a qualified first-contact team on the double.... Of course... that would still leave open the question of why Dr. Sonvek sent the message and not Dr. ... whats-his-name – the guy in charge....”<br/><br/>“Bah,” Chandra shook her head to clear it, “can’t jump ahead of the facts. Don’t worry, Doctor,” she spoke while walking backward, grinning at Dr. Tren, “you’ll get a chance to stretch your legs on this one. If we are dealing with a new life-form, we’re going to need your expertise.”<br/><br/>She spun on her heel and leaned against the railing next to the science station – next to Commander Tayla. “Well?” she said to Tayla, nodding with her chin toward the sensor readouts. “Got anything that might help shed some light on what we might be walking into?”