The hour was indeed late aboard Atlantis. But not late enough to be considered early, though not by much. As such the main corridors on deck 5 were dimmed just enough to signify night, but the occasional warning panel was now pulsing a dull yellow, thankfully without accompanying klaxon.

“Thanks by the way,” Ra said as he turned from the small alcove the turbolift deposited him and Vilo in the direction of the captain’s quarters. They’d called ahead and been informed to go there, not the conference room or ready room, but her private quarters.

“For what?” Vilo asked, tone passive.

“For bringing my uniform to me,” he answered, turning to look at the Romulan woman at his side. As he did so he caught the slight smirk on her face, the smile in her eyes.

“Well, I take pride in the appearance of my subordinates,” Vilo answered, then winked at him. “But you’re welcome.”

“Now just to hope she doesn’t kill me for stranding her ship out this far.” He stopped in front of the right door, took in a deep breath and tapped at the call button after exhaling.

There was no response to enter straight away, but a few seconds later the door slid open, Adelinde Gantzmann standing in the doorway in a kimono of sky-blue silk and little horga’hns just splashed around it haphazardly wearing a variety of silly hats themselves. Beyond her the quarters were darker than the hallway, but not such to obscure things too much.

“Come in,” Lin said as she stepped aside. “Tea, coffee, something else?” she asked as she waved them towards a couple of couches and a low table between them before heading for the replicator. “The captain is still waking up,” she continued to cut off any query in that regard.

“Any Vulcan spice tea by any chance?” Vilo asked, though ‘by any chance’ with a replicator would mean yes.

“Lemon ginger tea for me please,” Ra answered as he took the opportunity to sit himself down where Lin had directed them.

At that point, the door between lounge and bedroom, the size of the captain’s quarters on Atlantis a true luxury, slid open and Tikva Theodoras stepped through. She looked tired as she rubbed at her right eye with the palm of her hand, waved at Vilo and Ra with her other and walked without a word towards the replicator and Lin. A warm mug, freshly replicated was placed in her hands, a kiss from Lin on her forehead and she was turned around and gently pushed towards her officers.

A step, a sip, another step, another sip. Then Tikva seemed to actually wake up and finish the short trip over, tugging at her dark red dressing gown a bit before sitting herself down directly in front of Ra. “In my entire life I have never heard the overpressure warning outside of a demonstration of what it sounded like. Not even in an engineering drill.”

“Because it shouldn’t happen,” Ra said. “There are multiple ways for the warp core to fail before overpressure of the reaction chamber becomes even an issue.” He breathed in, prepared a defence in his head and was ready to launch into it just as Lin arrived with a platter of drinks for everyone and a selection of biscuits to pair with everyone’s drink of choice. The interruption of enough to derail him.

“So, first impression of what happened?” the captain asked, the sweet aroma of her hot chocolate finally permeating the room at large.

“Merktin said something about the injectors opening to maintenance levels and then not answering commands to close. Maintenance levels are far wider than normal operations since we need to well…get in there and check things.” Ra picked up his own drink, cradling it. “Ma’am, I don’t know how this happened, honestly. But I’m going to find out.”

“It’s not your fault Ra,” Tikva said, picking up on the engineer’s own internal guilt. “But yes, you are going to find out.” She smiled at him, that same disarming smile he’d seen used almost daily with junior officers. “Mainly because who else am I going to trust to find out why my ship is broken?”

“We’re sublight as well until Starfleet can either send out a tug boat or a new warp core.”

“That could be some time,” Vilo said over the lip of her own cup. “A few weeks until they get any distress call. A few weeks more if the closest ship comes immediately, longer still if they opt to have a warp core brought up from the nearest shipyard, assuming they can find a fast freighter.”

“Commander Kendris, do you always have to find the worst part of a scenario?” Tikva asked before continuing. “But you’re not wrong. I’ve already spoken with the bridge and we’re about two weeks at full impulse from a star system that’s showing promising signs of a class M world. We’re already heading there. Figure we could do a very intense survey of the system while we wait for support and possibly scout the planet out for a decent beach, or ski range?”

“Again, Captain,” Ra started, “I’m sorry –“

“Don’t be sorry Ra,” Tikva cut him off. “Mechanical malfunction until you tell me otherwise, understood Commander?”

“Aye ma’am,” Ra answered after a couple of heartbeats. “Aye ma’am,” he repeated.

“Good. Your quick thinking is likely the only reason we’re sitting here drinking hot drinks at,” Tikva glanced to Lin.

“Oh two fifty,” the taller woman answered.

“Three in the morning,” Tikva continued. “I want you to get started on getting your people to go over every log of every system leading up to and after the accident. Then you get some more sleep and get onto things in the morning with a clear head. There’s a reason that the injectors opened up, I want to know why. Starfleet Command is going to want to know why and you damn well bet some engineer in a design bureau is going to want to know why so they can try and blame you for the error and not their own work.”

“Thank you, ma’am, but I’d like to get onto this right away myself.” Ra leaned forward, setting his cup down and getting ready to stand.

“I shall ensure the Lieutenant Commander gets some more rest shortly Captain,” Vilo spoke, giving Ra a serious look when he turned on her. “And if you don’t mind ma’am, I would like to join the engineering investigation myself.”

“No security concerns, as the Commander is an exchange officer?” Tikva asked Lin at her side.

“None,” Li answered. “But Lieutenant Ch’tkk’va will likely want to be involved, at least until sabotage can be ruled out.”

“Oh, shoot, yes, Ch’tkk’va,” Ra said, shaking his head. “I’ll get them involved right away.”

“Excellent, now, go get your people pulling all the details and looking things over, then go back to bed. Commander Kendris, please make sure my chief engineer gets some sleep, yes?”

A round of niceties, an offer to join the captain for breakfast in a few hours even and Ra and Veilo were exiting the captain’s quarters, escorted by Lin. As the door slid shut behind them, Ra let out a breath. “Well, that wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.”

“Of course not,” Vilo said, taking the lead back to the turbolift. “The captain trusts you. She trusts the crew.”

“You don’t sound terribly convinced,” Ra said as he fell in beside her.

“I think it’s a bit naïve to trust the entire crew,” Vilo replied. “After all, something caused those injectors to open. And someone prevented them from closing. Shall we go and start the investigation into why?”