Apollo watches as Meg begins to stir on her bed in the infirmary. Meg slowly blinks and opens her eyes then looks around, when she spots Apollo she groans. Apollo chuckles at her. "Good morning. Sleep well?" Apollo teases. 

Meg groans again. "How long was I out?" 

"About a day." Meg's eyes widen. "Yeah. You're getting sloppy." 

"What happened?" Meg decides to cut off his teasing. 

"You took a little too long. No lasting damage. You'll be fine." As soon as he says that last part she starts to get up. "Woah, where do you think you're going? You need to rest." 

Meg groans. "I feel terrible." 

Apollo smirks. "I'm not surprised." 

Meg makes a face at him. "If I'm dying let me eat cake." 

Apollo rolls his eyes at her dramatics. "You're not dying." 

"Let me eat cake anyway," Meg whines. 

"We don't even have cake. Stop being so dramatic." 

A knock at the door interrupts their bickering and draws their attention. Alex stands at the door, looking at them in amusement. "I see our lovely mechanic finally decided to rejoin the land of the living. Probably thanks to the care and dedication of our medic." The teasing tone he uses is clearly for his amusement and their embarrassment. Which seems to be working judging by the shared looks between Meg and Apollo. "Are you both getting along in here?" 

Meg narrows her eyes at her long time friend. "What exactly are you trying to imply?" 

Alex shakes his head. "You guys have been locked in a room together for hours. I'm surprised neither of you has a black eye is all." 

Apollo, who has caught on to what his brother-in-law is up to, rolls his eyes. "I am professional. And she's been asleep until a few minutes ago." 

Alex gives a simple nod of understanding as a reply, but a mischievous twinkle still lingers in his eyes and the ghost of a smirk is still present on his face. Apollo shakes his head in exasperation. "How's Will? Is the sprain still giving him trouble?" Apollo's attempts to change the subject once and for all are less than subtle, but as a medic he also has a job to do and should really check on his other patients as well. The fact that it provides a convenient escape from an awkward situation is irrelevant. 

"He's doing fine thanks to the brace you gave him," Alex responds. 

"What happened?" Meg asks from her place on the bed. 

"Will sprained his ankle when he landed on it wrong getting out of the trees," Alex tries to explain. 

Unfortunately this was not very helpful for Meg. "Getting out of the trees? Why was he in the trees? I think I missed something." 

"We had to climb trees to get away from some local wildlife," Apollo explains offhandedly. "It wasn't a big deal. We got away. I got back just in time to save your stupid butt." This brings a chuckle from Alex. 

Meg opens her mouth to retort, clearly offended but is interrupted. A green light flashes by her bed. Apollo pushes a few buttons and the light goes away. Meg looks around confused. "What was that?" 

"Nothing to worry about," Apollo says to her before unlocking the door for Alex. "You can come in now. It's safe." 

"Safe?" Meg asks. 

"Yes." 

"Why wasn't it safe before?" She demands. 

Apollo sighs. "You had radiation exposure from below deck. That was telling me you were back down to normal radiation levels. That's why the rest of the crew was locked out until now." 

"But why were you in here with me?" Meg questions. "If it's that dangerous why were you locked in here with me?" 

"In case you got radiation sickness and I had to help you. Can we move on now? You're really lucky we come from a time where we can really easily treat these things. They used to just let people die, and it wasn't pretty or painless." 

Meg is silent for a second, unsure what to say. "Thank you." 

Apollo turns around from the work he's doing at this desk to look at her suddenly at that. "For what?" 

"Saving me." 

Apollo gives her a weird look. He glances at Alex to make sure he's actually hearing her right. Alex nods, slightly stunned as well. Apollo looks back at Meg. "It's my job. I wouldn't read too much into it." There's a moment of silence during which Apollo and Alex exchange a look. "You can recover in your own room now if you want. I'm sure Alex can help you there." 

"Isn't that sort of your job?" Alex asks. 

Apollo shakes his head. "She should be fine now. I got work to do here. Just help her to her room, she can rest there." 

Silently Alex follows instructions and helps Meg from the bed and out from the room. Apollo turns back to his desk after they leave the room and sighs. They've only been there a few days and so much has happened, he had a feeling this was only the beginning. It sort of felt like he's been working nonstop since they landed. Apollo looks over at Mars on his bed in the corner. "A medic's work is never done, bud." Mars tilts his head at the medic. "I know, bud. I know." 

A knock at the doorway pulls the medic from his work once again. With a sigh Apollo looks up from his work and to the door to find his sister standing there this time. "Lucky me, to get a visit from the Captain herself," Apollo jokes with his sister. "What do you need Missy?" 

"Alex and I will be leaving soon," she states plainly, as if that should mean something to him. 

Apollo blinks at the statement, struggling to find its significance. "Okay? Leaving where? What does this have to do with me?" 

Artemis sighs. "Remember? Our plan. We would alternate who went with Alex out there and who stayed in here. But with Meg out of commission for a while and Will's sprained ankle Alex and I agreed he and I would go out alone today." 

Apollo lets the information sink in for a moment. Once he had processed the information he shakes his head in protest. "No, I should at least go with you. You will need a medic out there far more than the kids will here." 

Artemis puts her hand up to halt any further protests. "No. The kids need you here. We need a responsible adult of sound mind here to make decisions for the crew and the mission if something comes up. The only ones not injured so far are you and Alex and he has to go. We need you here. Please. We trust you, acting Captain." 

Apollo stares at her in shock in the stunned silence that follows. After a few minutes Artemis smiles at her brother's expression, which still hasn't changed. "I'll take that as you accept. Good." With that she exits with a very proud smile plastered up on her face. 

Apollo sits back in his chair. Honestly, he knows he shouldn't be surprised. He knows how chain of command works. It's just never gotten down to him before. There's never been a need for both Artemis and Alex to be out during an important mission. It's not like he hasn't watched the kids before, because he has. But all those times didn't have the same weight of responsibility. This time he's not just taking care of the kids and watching over an injured crew member, this time if something happens and they don't make it back he won't just be acting Captain he'll be the Captain. He'll have to make hard decisions. 

Apollo and his sister definitely weren't the poster children for perfect loving siblings, as much as they actually get along. Despite his and his sister's occasionally troubled past, he found himself wishing her luck and hoping more than he can ever remember before that nothing bad happens and his sister and brother-in-law come back safe and sound. 

Letting out a deep sigh of resignation at his newfound responsibility and authority Apollo turns back to the work on his desk in the hopes of a distraction. And for while it worked. But the fact he has to do everything by hand because most of the computer systems were still down was a constant reminder of their predicament, and his current role in it. 

Of course his peace couldn't last. The beep indicating someone turned not the ship's intercom sounds, shortly followed by Valkyrie's voice over the intercom makes a heavy weight rest upon his shoulders, and he doesn't even know what is going on yet. If he's being completely honest with himself he isn't sure which is scarier. The not knowing what or if anything is wrong, or the knowing he's responsible for making the decisions about it. 

Apollo reached the temporary control room they had set up. A weight settles on his shoulders and he has to take a deep breath before he enters. "Alright Valkyrie, I'm here," he says as he strides into the room with a confidence he wasn't feeling, "What's going on?" 

Valkyrie is clearly frazzled. She is dressed in a pair of dark blue athletic leggings, a comfortable shirt and tennis shoes. Her hair is in a messy, hastily put up ponytail. She has her tablet in her hand and is flitting between different things then scrunching her face and shaking her head again. 

Apollo isn't entirely sure if she is aware of his presence yet and thinks of doing something to get her full attention, that is until she suddenly looks up at him. "What took you so long?" She demands. 

The medic's steps falter a little, slightly affronted by the accusing tone in her voice. Blinking, it takes him a second to reply. "Sorry, I was in the infirmary and it's not like I can teleport here." 

The look on her face gave all the response he needed, she was not amused. He turned serious and gave her an apologetic nod, which she acknowledged. Carefully, he tested the waters and repeated his earlier question. "What's going on, "Valkyrie?" 

With a deep sigh she turns back to her tablet before responding. Whether that is to avoid his eyes or to double check her work he isn't sure. "There's been some power drainage after the reboot. It's affecting some critical systems." When she pauses to take a breath before explaining further Apollo cuts in with  questions, ones he would probably have answered if he didn't interrupt her. 

"How did you not notice this sooner? Which systems are being affected? What are you doing about it? Can we stop it?" He asks each question that comes to mind before he can stop himself or give her a chance to answer any of them. 

Once again she gives him a stern look that had him shutting up promptly. After narrowing her eyes at him one last time for good measure she finally decides to start answering questions and explaining. "I did see it earlier and started trying to patch it up. Why do you think I've been here for nearly twenty hours? It's not because this room is so welcoming. I've been working. But no matter what I do it just keeps getting worse or I'll patch it in one area and it'll pop up in another area even worse than before. By now it's almost system wide. I called you down here when it started affecting our very critical systems, meaning habitation and interior atmosphere settings." 

Apollo's brain was in a bit of a fog trying to retain all that information and decipher its meaning. Eventually he just gave up on the latter of two. "Meaning what?" 

The technical manager sighs at her uncle, the ship's medic should really know what at least some of this means. "Meaning we need to act if we want to still be breathing air inside the ship," she states in a slightly obvious tone. 

With that bomb shell unloaded, Apollo now wishes more than ever that he isn't the one responsible for the decisions. Obviously air is important. They have proven though that the air outside is breathable. But that may not always be the case, especially since their lungs aren't used to the air from that time. Having a place that has a stable oxygen level, that they're used to, would be healthy, much like how a diver, though they may have an oxygen tank, still has to surface for air. However, Apollo also knows there are some systems that should or must stay running to ensure a healthy crew and repairs could run smoothly, say nothing about security. 

His mind racing Apollo doesn't even look at his niece when he asks, "Are all the nonessential systems shut down?" 

Nodding Valkyrie responds, "Finished it when you got here." 

Apollo nods in acknowledgement, thinking. "What about noncritical systems? Did you shut those off?" 

Valkyrie blinks for a few seconds. "All of them?" 

Apollo nods. "Start shutting them off one by one. Starting with the most noncritical. Shut all of them off. Including lights, heating, and any and all computers that aren't needed. The flight deck isn't being used right now so you can shut off all monitors and systems there for now." 

Slowly Valkyrie nods and starts tapping away at monitors doing as she was told. It rook a few minutes of her pushing buttons and checking monitors before she was finished. 

Apollo felt as though the suspense was crawling along his skin and trying to suffocate him as he waited for an update form her. Eventually he couldn't take it anymore. "Well? Is it working?" 

Val glances up at him, irritated before going back to her monitors. "It seems to be working for now. But that doesn't mean it will hold. And this can't be a permanent fix. Mom and Dad might know this ship like the back of their hands but you can't honestly expect Meg to make repairs in the dark? Or what if someone gets seriously hurt? Are you going to stitch them up or perform surgery in the dark? Is Will going to clean up the inventory without light? Or mechanical assistance? Are we just going to stack some crates in front of the door and hope that keeps the hungry or angry or curious wildlife out? This has to be temporary. We have to find a way to get more power." 

Apollo is stunned in silence for a few seconds. Of course she was right. About everything. He hasn't even considered any of those things. And with the way their luck has been going any number of those things could happen. Val was absolutely right. They needed power, and fast. But electricity wouldn't be invented for a very long time. And the hull was damaged so the built in solar panels would very well be damaged. They had replacement panels in storage, but there's no telling if those weren't damaged either or if they could even get to them. Even so, that was probably their best chance. 

Still, even though he was left in charge, this was a decision that was best put to a discussion with Artemis, Alexander, and even Meg. This was beyond his expertise. But if they all worked together he was certain they could come up with a good answer for their problem. 

"How long do you think this fix will last?" 

Val gives him a questioning look. "I can't say for sure. But it's holding steady for now." She seems to be watching closely while she tells him this, trying to figure out what he's thinking. 

Apollo turns over her words in his head. "Can we set an alarm if it changes?" After she nods his mind is made up. "Do that. Then get some sleep. As soon as the others get back I'll call a meeting about setting up alternative power as soon as possible." 

"Isn't it a little risky to wait?" 

"Maybe. But you need sleep. And this isn't my area. Besides, something tells me we're going to need everyone's input and expertise on this one. Now get some rest." 

Val shrugs and sets the alarm before leaving for her room. It wasn't her decision after all. It was in her uncle's hands now. 

Apollo knows this isn't what his sister has in mind when she left him in charge. But there were some decisions that were just too important to make on his own, especially when they were way out of his wheelhouse. True, he knew his sister and brother-in-law had a completely different philosophy of some decision are too important to not make on your own. Strictly speaking, both are true. And, technically neither are in conflict with each other. A fact Apollo likes to point out to his sister all the time, much to her annoyance. 

With an exhausted sigh Apollo runs a hand down his face and looks at his watch. He's been away from the infirmary longer than he thought or expected. he should really get back and check on Meg. And Mars. One patient who lights up his day and another he can't communicate with without causing a scene. He stops short at that thought, he knows exactly who he was talking about. But there are those on the crew who would imply the opposite. Apollo grits his teeth and rolls his eyes, as if! 

When Apollo enters the infirmary he unconsciously sends up a silent prayer that the others would be back soon, and that they were having better luck than him out in the field today. Even so, he knew that last past was a long shot.