“Slow down and repeat what you just said,” Rrr stated, their voice filling Atlantis’ battle bridge far too easily.

“I said I’ve figured out how to get us up to a much higher warp speed, even with our damaged drives,” Samantha Michaels repeated with a grin on her face. She waved Rrr over and turned back to the console where she was seated and to her fellow co-conspirator. “Well, okay, Jessica and I came up with the idea.”

“Uh, hi,” the young ensign in Engineering yellow said with a polite wave. “Ensign Jessica Chu.”

“Oh, I was half afraid you would be Ensign Sumner,” Rrr said.

“Jess? Everyone loves Jess,” Jessica responded, then squinted her eyes at Rrr. “Are you serious sir?”

Rrr just stared at Jessica but the contest was interrupted by Sam nudging her.

“So, the problem is we can’t get produce a powerful enough warp field for higher speeds, so we’re stuck at warp seven.” Sam brought up a side view of Atlantis and her warp field in a diagram. “Power more power in, we’ll melt the coils we have left. Only way we can go faster is to stop, discharge the nacelles, make repairs –“

“I understand the repair aspect of the situation, please continue,” Rrr grumbled. They were a little impatient, like more of the senior staff at the moment. There was a lot of work to do and not a lot of hands to do it at the moment. Sickbay was working as fast as they could to get people back on their feet but till then even senior officers were finding they had to chip in and a double shift grated on even the toughest of officers.

“Sorry. So…what if we made it easier on Atlantis to get to those higher speeds?” Sam then tapped a key and the diagram shifted, a second ship appearing in front of Atlantis with its own warp drive. A ship with four nacelles.

“I’ve been cycling on the holodeck with a few friends lately,” Ensign Chu chipped in. “South of France, summer, not important.” She waved the useless facts away. “Anyway, there’s this concept called drafting. Everyone rides in a line, and the person in front is doing more work than everyone else. As they tire out they fall to the back and let the next in line lead for a bit.”

“You want to draft Atlantis behind Papakura?” Rrr asked, then found themselves emulating Velan, not accounting for the lack of a beard on their silicate exterior. “Those Sagan-class monsters do have the engine power for it. And the quad-nacelle design likely does help out. But the warp field calculations so we don’t kill ourselves would be horrendous.”

“Already started on them,” Sam said. “Simulations should start giving workable results within the hour. We’ll need to tie automatics in between our two ships no matter what so both computers can adjust on the fly and cancel out quicker than any of us could should something happen.”

“Guess that Fleet Formation hardware might actually have a use then,” Rrr grumbled. “This is a promising idea.”

“Thank you, sir,” Chu said. “But it was just spitballing.”

“Some of the best ideas often are,” they replied, then fished in a pocket to pull out the keys. The token of command that had of late been forgotten about in the face of urgency. But this wasn’t one of those moments.

“We’re at warp, heading back for Deneb, surrounded by Papakura, Admiral Ketterac and five Klingon warships. I think we’re safe enough, yes? Safe enough I can go for a wander down to Engineering?” they asked of Sam.

“Yeah, think so boss,” she answered, then held out her hands for the keys.

“How safe?” they asked, holding the keys just short of her hands.

“Damn safe,” she answered. “I can watch the ship while you go for a walk.”

“Damn safe?” Rrr couldn’t help but grin, then turned to Ensign Chu, offering her the keys. “You have the conn, Ensign. Lieutenant Michaels, show Ensign Chu the ropes, will you?”

They watched as Sam’s face went through a quick flash of annoyance, to understanding, then mirth. They were foisting her into a tutoring position, and a chance to give an ensign a taste of command and Sam had picked up on it and was willing to run with it.

“Aye sir,” Sam said. “Right Jessica, first up, the captain’s seat. First things first, the captain always has it set way too low, so never ever mess with preset 1.”

“Oh no, no no no. I can’t sit in the captain’s chair,” Rrr heard Ensign Chu protesting as Michaels guided her across the battle bridge.

“Sure you can. You’ve got the keys to the ship after all.”

“Sorry sir, haven’t seen Commander Velan for a few hours.”

“Last I saw him he was toiling around deck twelve with those Romulan engineers from the Ketterac. Those folks know their stuff. Should have seen them when Stubby came after one of them! Priceless!”

“Oh, no sir. The Romulans were on deck fourteen looking over the life support systems. Well, some of them anyway. We’ve spread them around on non-critical repairs.”

“Sorry sir, Commander Velan went off duty a few hours ago. Said he needed some rack time before getting back into it.”

Rrr had tried calling Velan numerous times after the third run around, but the ship’s second officer had opted to ignore calls to his comms. It said something for how preoccupied their mind was that the possibility of a threat to Velan hadn’t occurred until they stepped out of a turbolift not far from Velan’s quarters.

Opting for the responsible course of action, security had been called. Lieutenant Ch’tkk’va had then opted to bring Gold Team with them and upon seeing Rrr, head cocked to one side, had simply said “I am not taking risks with a potential Changeling threat.”

“Fair enough,” Rrr answered as they fell into step beside the Xindi-Insectoid, proceeding to the Commander’s quarters in silence, save for boots on carpeted floors. “Let’s at least try the door, shall we?”

“As you wish,” Ch’tkk’va answered, though raised a weapon anyway. “You are after all tougher than I am.”

“On the outside, perhaps,” Rrr joked. “And the inside. But deep down I’m just as fragile as all of you.”

“Then I shall remember to only use insults to bring you down Lieutenant.”

Rrr stop themselves, finger above the call button and looked to Ch’tkk’va, puzzled. “A joke? Really?”

“You have obviously never seen the captain and me talking off-duty. I have been told,” the Xindi-Insectoid said plainly, clicks barely audible over the universal translator, “I have a very sharp sense of humour.”

Rrr couldn’t help but chuckle and kept chuckling as the call button was finally pushed. And then pushed again.

There was a quiet thump, then a curse from inside the quarters, followed immediately by a very hasty “Just a moment!”

“That didn’t sound distressed,” Rrr said.

“That’s what they want you to think,” Ch’tkk’va countered.

“Commander,” Rrr said loudly to the door this time. “Lieutenants Rrr’mmm’bal’rrr and Ch’tkk’va here. We’ve been trying to get a hold of you, sir.”

There was the sound of another voice inside, but quiet enough that words were indistinct. Then Velan once more spoke up. “I said just a moment!”

“He said just a moment,” Rrr echoed, which earned a single ‘ha’ from one of the hazard team members before they shrunk under the glare of their fellow team members. “Now now, laughter is a good stress reliever.”

“And a distraction,” Ch’tkk’va retorted.

Finally, the door to Velan’s quarters hissed open and instead of Commander Velan, as Rrr and Ch’tkk’va were expected, they were greeted by Sub-Commander Kendis of the Admiral Ketterac. She was just finishing buttoning up her uniform jacket and looked both of the lieutenants over before clearing her throat. “Excuse me.”

Before Ch’tkk’va could protest, Rrr stepped aside, a smile on their face. “Sorry for the interruption Sub-Commander.”

“Quiet all right,” she said, then stalked past them and through the security team present.

Then as one, they all turned on Velan who was standing there in a similar state of just finishing getting dressed. “Not a word,” Velan said as he looked straight at Rrr, a finger pointing straight at the Gaen. “Not a single forsaken word.”

“You weren’t answering your comms,” Rrr said, doing their best to sound the epitome of professionalism. “We were concerned for your well-being.”

It took Velan a moment before he buried his face in his hands. “Of for the love of,” he exclaimed. “I didn’t even think.”

“Sir, there’s a possibility –“ Ch’tkk’va started before being cut off by Rrr.

“I think Lieutenant the security concern is over-hyped. The Lieutenant Commander was…blowing off steam?” Rrr asked.

“Not,” Velan said, lifting his face from his hands, “another word.”

“Very well,” Ch’tkk’va said, then signalled for their people to depart as they did, leaving Rrr and Velan alone in the corridor.

“You’re going to bury me alive with this aren’t you?” Velan asked.

“Who, me?” Rrr asked, holding a hand to their chest. “Never. Won’t tell a soul.”

Velan whole body sighed in defeat. “What do I owe you not to have this spread around the ship like Lypician lice?”

“That can wait,” Rrr proclaimed. “More importantly, I have an ensign and a lieutenant who think they’ve come up with a way to get us to Deneb faster. Perhaps you’d like to come and see their thinking?”

Velan’s despair disappeared in the face of an engineering puzzle. “Best see what bright young minds have come up. And if we hurry, we catch Vilo and get her input.”

“Vilo?” Rrr asked, knowing full well the answer that was about to arrive.

“Sub-Commander Kendris,” Velan said with an exasperated tone. “Cripes, you’re going to be impossible aren’t you?”

“I’m going to revel in this,” Rrr reassured the chief engineer. “And enjoy it for all it’s worth!”