Michener knocked on the hatch to the captain's quarters. Normally, it'd be the other way around, but Chandler was still recovering from surgery to remove the last bit of shrapnel.

"Enter!"

Upon entering, he found Dr. Scott packing up her medkit as the captain moved to stand, befitting the entrance of the president.

"Sit down, Tom! What part of 'sit and rest' don't you get? I just stitched those muscles back together."

Tom looked at him apologetically, but he obeyed doctor's orders and lowered himself back to the couch.

"Sorry." He mumbled to her. "Reflex."

Michener smothered a smile. Only Dr. Scott would talk to him like that. Or look at him like she was looking at him now; a look that said he'd better take care of himself, or she'd come back and kick his ass.

"Evening, Sir." Chandler said.

"Evening, Captain, Doctor." He replied. "It's good to see you recovering nicely. Thank you, Dr. Scott."

She shrugged.

"Just doing my job. Speaking of which, Rios needs some help this shift. Would you make sure this one – " she pointed " - doesn't do anything he shouldn't?"

"I'll try." He told her, amused. Somehow, he felt like he had less influence over the captain than she did.

"Call me if he doesn't listen."

"Hey!" they both turned to the couch. "What is this, mutiny?"

"Of course not, Tom." She smirked at him. "He outranks you, not the other way around. And I'm a civilian." She moved towards the door. "I'll check back in a few hours." She said on her way out.

"That woman – " The captain said in exasperation.

"Cares about you."

"Still. It's infuriating sometimes." He said, gesturing to the empty seat. "What can I do for you?"

"I was just looking to see where we were at, now that the sub's out of the way..."

. . . .

"…and we're scheduled to arrive in St. Louis in four days." Tom said, wrapping up his status update for Michener.

"So then we start up a civilian government, and rebuild the military."

"Not going to lie, sir. I'm glad at least half of that job is yours."

"I know, it's a lot. Finding senators, representatives, staffers, judges – I do wonder if we have enough qualified people to fill congress and the courts." Michener saw something briefly cross the captain's face. "What is it?"

"What is what?"

"You have something you're concerned about."

Tom looked at him for a long moment.

"How long until the courts are up?"

"Not sure. Why?"

"Dr. Scott…would be in limbo…her charges…"

Michener thought about it for a few seconds

"We could probably work that out pretty quickly, you know." He said, watching the captain's reaction. "but that's not really what you're worried about, is it?"

"No." he admitted. "I feel responsible for the situation."

"Why? You didn't kill him."

"I'm the one who backed her into that corner. And the more I hear after the fact, the worse it gets."

"What are you talking about?"

"Rios told me how excited Sorenson was to work with her, going on and on about how he'd finally get to work with his idol; he'd been following her work for years, going to her speeches, even shaking her hand once." He shook his head and went on. "And once he did start working with her, well – Bertrise said he flirted with her the whole time. And that Rachel had to play along, just to keep him talking."

Michener felt a shudder run down his spine. He hadn't spent that much time with Sorenson, but it was enough to be thoroughly repulsed by the idea of him flirting.

"It doesn't excuse what she did, but I can't imagine what having someone like that fixated on you day in and day out would do to your state of mind."

"And she didn't say anything?"

"No. And that is my fault. She told me she didn't want to work with him. I could see on her face how much she didn't want to work with him. But – " he paused, taking a deep breath. "But I insisted. I told her that we needed the cure airborne as soon as possible. And, if I could talk to the man who killed my wife, she could too."

Michener winced.

"I then left her pretty much alone, so focused on that damned sub…I took her progress reports at face value, not noticing how she was doing…"

"Captain. We were in a life-or-death situation with 'that damned sub'. And, truthfully, the courts would have eventually executed him anyway. If his …unorthodox execution… accelerated the creation of the cure…I can forgive it. Most people would." His voice softened a bit. "I imagine you would, too, if you weren't the captain."

"I have. The captain can't. But I know I'm biased as hell, and the captain can't be." He said, his hand unconsciously going towards his bandages.

"Hmmm, yes. I can see that. This is what, the third time she's saved your life?"

"Fourth. And that's not counting my family or my crew."

"Well, from my somewhat less biased perspective, your judgement isn't that far off the mark. And I can certainly see that extenuating circumstances were in play – for her and for you. So relax, captain. We'll find a solution."

"Thank you, sir."

"You're welcome. Now rest. And don't stand on ceremony with me until she clears you. I don't want to deal with her either."

Chandler laughed out loud – and then winced at the pain.

"Good night, then, sir." He said, nodding respectfully instead of escorting him to the door.

"Good night, Captain."