Artemis decides against her daughter the real reason why the guys aren't coming back that night. She doesn't even want to tell Meg, but her old friend knows her well and can tell that something is wrong. After much persistent questioning, the pilot finally relents and tells her old friend the details of what is going on after her daughter goes to bed. The mechanic doesn't have to say in response other than making an off hand comment about Will's inability to listen finally catching up to him. With nothing else to do but worry for the night they two adults retire for the night. 

The next day begins with a heavy weight of worry and tension hanging over the three women like a storm cloud. That alone should've been a sign that things were not going to go smooth during the day. 

The three of them disburse throughout the ship to work. Val goes to the meeting room to work on the electrical systems. Meg goes below deck, which is now cleared of radiation, Artemis is sent all over the ship to get both of them supplies or check certain systems. 

Thinking there shouldn't be much for her to do now that the major power problem is resolved, Val settles into her seat and puts out the tablet she's been working with. She should've known it couldn't be that simple. 

As soon as she starts up her tablet she starts running a full system check and sits back and waits for it to finish. 

Meg enters the engine room and begins to take stock of things. The room is still a mess, which makes her job even harder. It doesn't take her long to realize that the mess will have to be cleared at least a little bit before she can get any real work done. Artemis offers to help, but Meg refuses. She claims it isn't safe for Artemis to help her, but in actuality she just doesn't feel comfortable with other people working in her engine room. With a heavy sigh, Meg gets to work alone. 

Without having an immediate job to do to help either of the others, Artemis decides to take the opportunity to start cleaning up the kitchen. On entering the kitchen, Artemis looks at the huge mess that has been there since they landed. As she slowly starts to pick up all the dishes and supplies that are now scattered around the room she thinks that perhaps they should consider a better way of securing cabinets and their contents while in flight. She can't believe she didn't think of this sooner. But then again, there hasn't really been a need for it. She doesn't crash, and her hard landings are few and far between. 

Though it seems that everything is going smoothly at first, with each of them having their own jobs to do, it could never last. 

Val looks up at her tablet when it chimes to notify her that the systems check is finished. To her complete surprise, there are several systems registering as having faults. She starts trying to figure out the fault in the first one that showed up, but she cannot seem to make a connection with the system. No matter what she does to try to find out the fault through her tablet she can't get a connection. This is especially weird considering she designed the system to always be connected. 

Deciding it's important to check the other faults before she starts to get frustrated sigh, she calls to her mother on the intercom. "Mom, can you join me, please?" 

A few moments later Artemis joins her daughter in the room. "What's wrong?" 

Val barely glances up at her before responding. "I need you to check some systems for me. I'm not getting a connection from here." Artemis nods in understanding and Val gives her the location of the first system she has to check. She started with something she thought would be easy for her mother to find the fault. 

Artemis goes to the first location and turns on her com to talk to Val. "Okay, I'm here. What am I looking for?" 

Val sighs at her controls before answering through the com. "Do you see any damage? Just general damage or if you open the electrical panel?" She hears her mother hum while she looks around and waits patiently, tapping her fingers on the table. 

Artemis looks around the area and doesn't see any obvious damage. Maybe a dent here or there but nothing that points to obvious damage that could be causing any problems. She puts her hand up tot a tile not he wall and hears the hiss as a part of the wall moves away to reveal the electrical wires behind it. On close inspection she notices that a lot of wires have been knocked loose or are hanging limply, not connected to anything. One or two are even frayed and broken. 

She relays what she sees to her daughter through the com and hears a heavy sigh in response. "If that's what it's like for all of them then this is going to be a long fix." 

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Artemis asks. 

There's a pause before Val responds. "Do you even know what any of those wires do?" 

Artemis doesn't respond for a beat. "No. But I can plug a wire in as good as anyone else can." Not for the first time Artemis feels a little helpless and out of her element. Like her usefulness is suddenly nonexistent now that the ship is out of commission. 

Val sighs once again. "I'll call you if I need help. But I have to track down and replace all the broken wires." 

Artemis' heart sinks a little, once again feeling useless. "Okay. Call if you need help." She tries her best to keep her saddened mood out of her voice. She wanders back to the kitchen and continues her cleaning there. 

Meg, who has been carefully picking up the mess in the engine room since her arrival there, finally takes a breath and takes this moment to look around the room. It is no longer a tripping hazard it once was. Satisfied that it is clean enough for her to start to work, she starts to move from system to system to assess the damage. 

She takes her time cataloging the damage to the different systems. She also checks the seal she applied to the casing of the power supply. Satisfied that it is still solid and holding for now she moves on to the next most important system. 

Now, contrary to what most would believe, the next most important thing to repair is not, in fact, the engine at all. It is actually the systems that will help keep them alive while they are stranded. This includes the environmental systems, the infirmary systems, and the systems that clean and sometimes even make their food. 

She follows the system of pipes and wires that connects power and stability to the rest of the ship. The nervous system of the ship. She sighs in relief when she sees that the group of pipes and wires that connect to the infirmary junction is relatively undamaged, by some miracle. She makes a mental note not to tell Apollo that. She has a hard enough time keeping him in check. 

She looks for the ones that lead to the environmental systems. Her heart freezes in her chest for a moment on seeing the frayed wires and dented and even bent pipes. No wonder Val was having problems keeping stable power to this system. She doesn't even think she could've help it together as long or gotten it working as quickly and as well as Val did. That young technician is truly talented. 

Before she decides to dedicate her time to fixing this particular mess she decides to check the other systems as well, She moves further down the wall, following the pipes and wires like before. She settles on the junction that is for the security system. Technically this falls under environmental controls, but because of its importance it has a separate system for it. At first glance there isn't anything out of the ordinary. Then why isn't the security working? She steps closer and squints. There are small, very small, cuts in the pipes. She opens the junction after realizing there's no visible damage to the wires leading to it. Inside there's a mess of wires. Several are frayed, some bent or broken. There were a few that were still plugged into their proper places, even if some of them were loose. This is definitely a problem. And even though working on the electrical parts of the ship are not her area of expertise, she does know enough to be able to do repairs like this. 

Meg mentally starts making a list of what damage is most important to repair first as she makes her way to the junction that is for the food and water. To her utter amazement and relief, this one seems to have the least amount of damage of any of the systems she has checked so far. Only a loose wire or two. Not even a scratch on the pipes. Shrugging to herself, she puts the loose wires snugly back in their ports. With such an easy fix, it wouldn't make sense not to do it while she was here. She closes the panel for the junction box and turns away. 

Going over the list of damage in her head, she prioritizes the damage and builds a mental list of the materials she will need to do repairs. 

She carefully begins making her way over to the cabinets in the engine room. Occasionally she has to move some things out of her way. Once there she starts rummaging through the now messy and unorganized cabinets to find what she needs. It takes her awhile to find everything she needs to at least get started. She gets a little frustrated when she can't find everything she needs, but improvisation has become the norm lately so she will just have to adapt. 

meg lets out a sigh of resignation or acceptance, either feels appropriate. Gathering the tools she needs, she goes to the area that needs the most work. She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, centering herself and clearing her mind before slowly and carefully getting to work. 

Artemis is still in the kitchen. She had already picked up everything that had wound up all over the floor and put them in neat piles out of the way. Now, with the floor clear and the freedom to move around unobstructed, she stands in front of the cabinets. She knows that, judging by the mess that was on the floor, everything in the cabinet is out of place and most likely ready to fall out as soon as she opens the doors. Knowing this, she finds herself suddenly hesitant to open the cabinet doors. 

Resigning herself to the ultimate mess that will come when she opens the door, she grasps the handle firmly and yanks it open, maybe a little too forcefully. As expected, everything in the cabinet comes tumbling out like a rock slide. She doesn't get a chance to reflect on how appropriate that description is with how quickly and violently the contents falls out of the cabinet. She also doesn't get the chance to jump out of the way. Two large and heavy pots land directly on her foot. 

Artemis lets out a loud yelp as they impact with her foot and then bounce onto the floor with a loud clang and she hops away out of reflex. She can instantly feel a pain where they impacted on her foot. "That's going to bruise," she mutters to herself. Tentatively she puts her foot down on the ground. The instant she puts weight on it an intense, shooting pain erupts, originating from where the pots landed on her foot. She hisses and resists the urge to swear, they spent too long breaking that habit in Will for any of them to fall back on it. 

"Maybe more than a bruise, then." She closes her eyes, breathing deeply, and gingerly makes her way to lean against the kitchen island. "This is a fine time to get yourself hurt." With Apollo, and Alex, gone none of the others left on the ship have the medical knowledge required to take care of a potential fracture or break. And besides, both Meg and Val are busy. She doesn't want to bother them right now. So instead of calling one of them to come and help her, Artemis decides to grit her teeth and continue working, doing whatever she can to stay off her foot as much as possible. 

All three women on the ship work, slowly, carefully, and each trying their hardest to focus completely on their individual tasks and not the guys absence or the reason behind it. They are all so engrossed in their work that lunch comes and goes without any of them taking notice, or a break for that matter. 

It isn't until the sun starts to go down that the passage of time is noticed by any of them. Especially when they hear a shout coming from the open door to the ship. All of the women rush, at their own pace, to the entrance of the ship. The sight that greets them makes all of their hearts sink and the cold grip of fear fill their chests. 

Entering the ship are the three guys. But it very clear to see that something is very wrong. One of the three is being supported by the others. 

Meg wastes no time. She rushes forward to help take the weight. When she gets close enough she realizes that the slumped figure is Alex. She takes Apollo's place in carrying him and follows Apollo to the infirmary, carrying her college friend with the help of his nephew. 

"Please tell me the infirmary is fully operational," Apollo demands to no one in particular. Valkyrie nods and joins the group heading to the infirmary. Apollo doesn't even wait to enter the infirmary before barking orders. The others listen to every order be shouts. 

Meg and Will put Alex on the medical table. Will shakily steps away and backs out of the room, almost in a daze. Meg and Val rush around the room gathering and sterilizing supplies for Apollo. The medic grabs a bunch of clean gauze and pushes them on the large gashes on his brother-in-law's chest. 

"Is he going to be okay?" Artemis asks in a shaky voice from the doorway. When Apollo doesn't answer right away she tries again. "Apollo, is my husband going to be alright?" 

The medic glances at his sister. "I will do everything I can. Now you can Val have to go." 

"Not me?" Meg asks. 

Apollo shakes his head. "I'm going to need help. You have a steady hand and a clear head." Meg nods and gently pushes her friend and the teen from the room.