“How long has it been?”

Izzy blinked, glanced into the corner of her glasses, tabbed through the readouts with her fingernail, pressing the keys of a tiny trackpad embedded into the side of the frame. So much of it was garbage when the network was down, errors and faulty “attempting to connect” screens that never went anywhere. Luckily, time came standard as a static feature of the spectacles, a function that ran on its own and only ever connected to the network as a passive way of synchronizing its time with the local ship or planetary clock.

“Forty minutes,” She breathed a sigh, glanced past the frames to meet the young pair of questioning eyes. “Give or take a few.”

“You think we’re going to die down here?” The simulator technician asked, hugging her thighs up against her chest, burying her mouth into her knees as she leaned backwards, rocking nervously against the hard steel wall.

“They’ll find us.” Izzy stated simply, looking away. “Ships like this always have roving teams of techs and field medics they put into play when something drastic like this happens.” She looked back to the young technician, gave her a faint smile. “Just relax, breathe.” She made a loose gesture. “Think about... something happy. Flowers or something.”

“Is that a technique they teach you in officer training?” The young woman glanced back, her eyes wet, haunted.

“More or less.” Came Izzy’s tired reply.

“Izzy.” Someone breathed, and all at once, the chestnut-haired lieutenant knew the voice as Phoebe’s. The hair prickled across the nape of her neck, and in an instant she was on her feet, closing the distance between them reflexively. Before she could blink, she was at Phoebe’s side, hand tentative, moving to touch the young Lieutenant’s cheek but hesitating, pulling back slightly, unsure. Phoebe’s dry lips parted, cracked where the broken movements of her tongue failed to wet them, and in the tense silence, she managed a quiet noise, a half groan that ended with the injured sounding whisper: “It– it hurts.”

“Shhh.” Tessa tried, appearing at Phoebe’s side so quickly that Izzy almost blinked in response. The young Lieutenant’s lips parted to say something more, but the cool touch of her LC’s hand running softly across her cheek silenced her immediately. Izzy’s eyes lingered with Tessa for an instant longer, hesitating for a second before she looked away, swallowing, eyes dropping to fix on Phoebe’s features again.

“Just rest.” Tessa advised. “Help is on the way. Just rest.”

“How’s Mac?” Izzy asked.

“Out cold.” Tessa’s eyes rose to meet Izzy’s, hung there for a moment before falling back again to Phoebe’s prostrate form. “I’m worried about him. He’s not responding to anything. Clark thinks it might be a concussion, a– a coma.” She bit her lip, met Izzy’s eyes again. “Shock hit him hard.” The pause was full of pain, and the look in Tessa’s eyes showed her own restrained hurt, broiling beneath cobalt as she bit her lip again, bit harder. “What he really needs is a doctor.”

Izzy looked away, unable to meet the ache that haunted Tessa’s eyes, and even as she did, the Lieutenant Commander’s own gaze fell back to Phoebe’s face, took in her features with silent pity, silent pain.

“How long do you think it’ll take for a roving team with a medic to find us?” Tessa breathed.

“God only knows.” Izzy whispered back. “If the whole network is down and we’re in a combat situation, the simulator will be one of the last places on the priority list, right after they check the cargo bays for anyone unlucky enough to have been in there when the shit hit the fan.”

“We could be looking at hours.” Tessa nodded, swallowed, looked away, her eyes becoming distant, lost in thought. For a moment, she stared blankly off into nothing, eyes picking up the traces of a moist glossiness, and when she stood, it was so sudden, so direct and so driven that only Izzy’s eyes could follow her. In the cold pause, Tessa’s gaze slipped back to meet Izzy’s again, fixed her soul with meaning and purpose. Rising slowly, uncoiling like a copper serpent, Izzy held her love’s eyes, let her lips part for words, then freeze in hesitation. For a moment, the sounds would not come, but when they did, they were calm and smooth, devoid of emotion, bias. Simple.

“What do you have in mind?”

“Medical is one deck above the simulator on the Von.” Came Tessa’s distant response. “Both ships are Wallace class, both ships follow the same layout.” She bit her lip again, considered the silence, then looked away.

“What do you want me to do?” Izzy asked.

“Can you hotwire door optics?” Tessa looked back, fixed her eyes on Izzy’s again.

“Not as well as Phoebe, but since she’s not in any shape to try, then yeah.” She glanced around the room, considering. “But I’m gonna need some kind of power source, something separate from the main network that I can wire into the auxiliary override leads.”

“Let me worry about that. Tessa said dismissively, her mind already somewhere else. “I’ll rip something out of somewhere.”

“We’re going to need a stretcher.” Izzy added, then smiled as Tessa’s eyes flicked back to meet hers. “Unless you want to try and sling Mac’s heavy ass over your shoulder when we get the fuck out of here.”

In the silence, Tessa grinned reflexively, nodded.

“Right.” Her grin widened. “Good thinking. Make it happen.”

“Clark, Woodbridge.” Izzy barked, already turning to the two simulator technicians to pass on the orders. “Rig up a pair of stretchers using anything you can get your hands on.” She glanced back at Tessa, gave her own grin as she finished.

“We’re going for a little hike.”