Disclaimer: Don't own Last Ship.

A/N: Believe it or not, this was actually the first fic I started for this fandom, but after stalling on it I moved ahead and concentrated on some other writings that my muse held preference for at the time. I recently decided to come back to it and have made enough progress to post the first chapter for you. I hope you like it and let me know what you think and if you think it has potential to continue. At this stage I am not sure of the exact direction I am taking this fic…though more because of having too many different ideas, as opposed to too few… ;-)

LSLSLS

"Captain, may I have a moment please?" She spoke quickly, the moment he opened the door to his office/cabin, answering her hail. Her words seemed a little formal even to her, especially considering they had been knee deep in a long tight celebratory not-entirely-platonic-if-she-was-honest-with-herself embrace a mere few hours ago.

With a tilt of his head and slight look of curiosity in his handsome features, he acquiesced and allowed her entry to his cabin, resealing the entryway behind them. His lack of a verbal greeting made Rachel think he had caught on to her slightly too formal tone and was now a little on edge waiting for what she had to say. She didn't expect his first words, though she should have of course. But her mind having basically solved one massive problem that had been heavily occupying it for months, had run at rocket speed to start solving the next one on the list…granted, the next problem had been elevated several spaces on that list by two Navy Lieutenants that were currently resting in her no longer actively quarantined lab.

"Are they ok? Has anything happened? They all seemed fine when I left…otherwise I wouldn't have…" she stopped him there.

"No, no, Captain! They are all fine, better than fine…given the givens. Improving at a rate greater than the most optimistic estimates I could have possibly predicted…it's amazing really." She smiled as she thought of the lives that so easily could have been extinguished that day, but had survived and because of that the human race now had a chance to survive too.

Captain Chandler relaxed slightly at that, an ever so slight smirk marring his features now. He knew that to anyone else's ears, she was just stroking her own ego, praising her own work like that.

But he knew her better, even after these few short months. Hell, even in a single month, because he was the one that had so specifically pointed out that she had barely said more than a few words to him for the preceding four months that she had first been on his ship, just before everything had gone completely FUBAR.

He wondered if Tophet really knew her at all, despite their many years of working together. After overhearing their very heated argument when Rachel had needed her former assistant's help back in the lab after he had betrayed them all…it was kind of impossible not to, they were very loud…he now had to come to the conclusion that the other man didn't really know her at all. Of course it was also possible that the man had been so deep in anger, recrimination and grief that he had just been saying anything that popped into his head to lash out and try and hurt her.

He had accused her of loving the situation they had been in, the whole world dependent on her to save it. He had also made some rather harsh comments about her love life…or for accurately…her sex life. Basically saying that the global pandemic made no never mind to her as she was basically alone and had no-one and nothing to lose.

Tom didn't think either remark could be further from the truth. In both casing he had accused her of not caring and not feeling, and the woman he had come to know cared and felt deeply…she just hid it well…clearly having already experienced the pain of loss in her life. At least it was clear to him. And even if parts of what the man had said had some truth to them, was being all alone for the end of the world really a situation to be envied?

Rachel's voice drew Tom back from his internal musings. "As you know I broke the quarantine as it was no longer needed, not only are they all free of the virus, they are all now immune to it." They both smiled at that.

"After you left I let Tex, Andrea, Miller and the Master Chief retire to their own quarters. We'll continue to keep an eye on them, but what they most need right now is rest. "

"But not Lt. Foster?"

"She needs rest of course and like I said she is recovering extremely well, but in her case I would like her to stay more closely monitored… at least till morning."

Tom raised an eyebrow. Rachel could see he wanted more. She gave in.

"If her condition is going to be…negatively impacted…due to the stress of what she has just gone through…it is likely to happen sooner rather than later."

Tom understood perfectly what she was saying.

"Do you think that is likely?"

"At the moment all indications are good. I think she has already past the largest part of the danger…but I will be a lot happier when she makes it through the night uneventfully. Keeping a closer eye on her during the time till then is just a wise precaution."

Tom dipped his head in acceptance of statement. Seeming to think that particular line of conversation was done for now. He took a seat and indicted for Rachel to do the same, she did.

As soon as he sat, his eyes closed and his head leaned back briefly with lethargy. It suddenly looked like all the exhaustion, that adrenaline and sheer force of will had been holding back the last few days, had crashed back upon him in an instant.

Rachel was somehow pleased that he felt comfortable enough around her to let even this small show of weakness occur in her presence, so rare was it that he let any part of his always fully in control military persona slip. Another part of her recognized how tired he really must be to let even her see it and thought that maybe this wasn't the best time to bring this subject up. She considered it for only a moment before realizing there was no choice; it had to be now, before he could take any contrary measures to the ones she was going to advocate.

"Captain…Tom…" That got his attention, the use of his first name. Somehow, as much as this was the professional conversation of a scientist with something important to convey to a leader…it also had a deeply personal nature to it…at least to her.

There were some very obvious and very personal implications…at least for her.

She also hoped that her fledgling friend Tom might be more willing to listen to his new friend Rachel than Captain Chandler might be to listen to an annoying scientist making what was going to seem like some extreme proposals.

She went on. "…I need to talk to you about something else…well, it is actually rather stronger connected to the situation with Lieutenant's Foster and Green. Which is why it has to be now, I know how tired you must be…both of us…but I need to say this before you take any action in their case."

"And just what action do you think I'm going to take?"

"Come on, Tom. Don't play coy with me. Frankly, I don't know what action you plan on taking, considering that all your usual avenues of recourse are firmly closed. I would hazard a guess that you don't have a clue what you can do at this point either, but what I do know is every military bone in your body is probably calling for you to find a way to heavily discourage this type of thing from ever happening again."

"And what's wrong with that?"

"Everything is wrong with that, Captain!"

He eyed more closely at her small but uncharacteristic outburst…sure, she was tired an emotionally drained…they both were, but this was a level of passion she usually reserved for saving the world… She must find this topic of conversation extremely important.

"Explain." He spoke calmly, his full attention on her; letting her know he was aware of the ardor she felt for this subject and would respect her enough to hear her out…even though he couldn't hazard a guess as to where she was heading with this that was so very important.

Rachel sighed, relieved; he was willing to listen to her…that was a victory in itself…she could only hope he was still willing to listen to her after she has made her seemingly wild but unfortunately accurate contentions.

"Because the world has been turned on his head, Captain, and this no-fraternizing, a battle ship is no place for pregnant woman and children idea has been turned on its head with it."

"How do you figure that?"

"Tom" She went back to her use of his first name, it seemed right, she really needed him to listen to her on this, to trust her. "…I understand you well enough to know the way you're thinking in a crisis like this, hell, how any good military leader in your position would be thinking. You were all trained on how to deal with crises, and I have witnessed how much of that training has served you and everyone on this ship very well…for the most part."

"For the most part?" Tom knew he was going to have to start coming up with responses that consisted of more than a couple of words soon. It just wasn't easy as he literally had no idea where she was heading with this yet…he had an uneasy feeling though…especially if she was suggested doing away with any of the rules that had been drummed into him is whole career as practically being the word of God…which it very much seemed she was.

"My point is, that while I'm sure you were trained for a large variety of different crises, I'm also fairly sure you were never trained for a crisis of this immense magnitude. The very survival of the human species is hanging in a very fragile balance and very much dependent on the decisions our few remaining leaders make. Tell me, did they have a class on procedures for rebuilding civilization after the apocalypse at the academy…?" She let the question hang meaningfully, before continuing on.

"What I'm sure they did teach you, basic principle that it is, is that when the situation changes, the protocol for handling that situation must change too. Take Lt. Foster's situation, in normal circumstances; aside from any other action to be taken she would be transferred off this ship so fast her head would be spinning. Now aside from that being a clear part of her punishment…and don't even try denying it…" She added when he went to interrupt. Tom shut his mouth again...eventually…making the choice to continue to listen patiently…with some effort.

"As I was saying…aside from that being a part of her punishment, it would also be because a battleship is not a place for a pregnant woman or a baby, now why is that?"

"Because it's not safe." Was his automatic response.

"Exactly! But the truth is it wasn't safe, past tense. Safety is a relative condition. All it really means is the more safe option, as true complete safety is not something that actually exists. I think the fact that the very notion of removing Kara from this ship, has not even come up, proves that you already know that this is the safest place for her."

"I'll give you that, and I don't have any intention of kicking either Foster or Green off the ship, or doing very much in the way of punishing either of them, especially given we have already been there. But that doesn't mean this kind of thing needs to be encouraged to happen again."

"On the contrary Captain, encouraged is exactly what it needs to be. Our population is decimated…and it is unfortunately going to be further decimated before this virus is eliminated. The outcome of these trials was better than I could possibly have expected, the tragic loss of one of our people obviously not withstanding." She finished on a dejected whispered breath, eyes lowered, remembering the girl whose death he knows he can't prevent her for forever blaming herself for…

He understood…he blamed himself too, and he didn't miss the way she said 'one of our people' either. Only mere weeks ago, it would have been 'one of your people' such was the outsider she was considered by the crew at large and indeed how she had considered herself back then. He brought his attention back to focus solely on her as he watched her take a long deep breath, seemingly drawing strength from internal reserves he couldn't believe still existed, before continuing.

"The problem is, even if we somehow achieved the impossible and made the entirety of what's left the world's population immune to the virus tomorrow, the human race would still be at severe risk of extinction the day after that."

She paused to let the enormity of her statement sink in for full effect.

He didn't know what to say to that, everything about their every waking moment of the last month had been about creating a vaccine for the virus and saving the world. Somehow, until now he had considered those two things the same, not letting himself think about what came next.

"Captain…people are dying virtually every second…. our population is dwindling…at a rate that is beyond alarming. You and I both know that even with not only a vaccine, but now a cure, we are not going to be able to save everybody tomorrow, not even next week…probably not even next month. And millions more are going to continue to die in that time, and what's more than that, the death toll from this crisis is not going to stop when everybody still alive receives the vaccine."

"You don't think it will work on everybody?" He mistook her words.

"No, I have every confidence that the cure will be very effective, provided a patient isn't too far gone. That is not what I am saying here, my concerns over continuing fatalities…continuing decline in population… is related to the difficulties and set backs we are likely to encounter in mass-producing and disseminating the cure and the following fallout of a world that has been plunged into post apocalypse survival mode. And that's not even mentioning the various other deadly diseases which invariably pop out the woodwork after such large scale disasters…I can assure you a plague that kills billions of people is not going to be the exception to that rule…"

Tom continued to watch and listen on as, barely taking a breath, she continued.

"Your instinct and the instinct of the whole world that have previously, for the most part, existed in the modern era is going to be to wait until things settle down, until things are safer and back to normal before looking at repopulating. It is a natural instinct to want to raise our children in an environment that is as safe as possible, but in this extreme circumstance, that instinct is wrong. The certainty that I am trying to convey to you here is that none of those things are going to happen in the near future…not even in our lifetime probably. Too many and too much of who and what we were has been destroyed. Things are not going to become settled, safe or normal for a very long time and if we wait for them to...it will never happen because the human race will have died out."

TBC

A/N: Reviews make me smile. :-)