[color=a2d39c][h1][center][u][i]Captain Maria Thorne & Judge[/i][/u][/center][/h1][/color]
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Maria nodded at the pilot.
"Alright. I'll come back and check on things again in a while, but for now I'd better go update our passenger. Let me know the [i]second[/i] something blips on our scans."

As she had done with the others, Maria left without waiting for a response. The captain wasn't one to stick around and chitchat (unless you got her relaxed), and even less so in circumstances like they were currently facing. She marched down the catwalk to the galley.

The warm scent of coffee drifted down the hall, getting stronger as she approached where she'd last seen their guest, and silently Maria thanked whatever god still looked after her. Just the smell was enough to lift her spirits slightly.
"Seems someone tampered with our fuel line," Maria informed the Judge as she entered. "It's slowed us down a bit, but we should reach our destination relatively on time."

The Judge, having been quietly working on his second cup of coffee, looked up with his yellow eyes as the captain addressed him.
Time was irrelevant to him. He had plenty enough of that - all he needed to do now was wait.
He had even [i]more[/i] time now, since that bomb had sucessfully achieved what it had been intended to do.
"Your crew is incompetent if they didn't think to check for tampering before we left."
He sipped his coffee.
"Then again, perhaps the oversight was intentional."

If the captain was offended by what he said, it didn't register on her face. Or perhaps she was simply too preoccupied with obtaining some of the precious energy-restoring nectar she'd been craving to pay much attention to what he said.

"I'm partly to blame as well. I should've checked to make sure all the proper scans had been done," She replied, pouring some whiskey into her mug along with the coffee. "As far as their intentions, I can't see anybody in the crew having much motivation to blow up the ship. Not that I'm completely ruling that option out. More than likely, it was one of those low lifes back on The Hub."

"More than likely?"
The man's tone was amused, possibly even scoffing.
"You haven't done much in the way of investigation."
It wasn't an insult - more of a simple observation.

"Well right now my first concern is making sure we're not complete sitting ducks if some pirates decide to raid our crippled ship, and making sure I don't pass out."

There might have been a slight edge to her voice, but it was nothing personal against the Judge. The poor woman was just tired. While she finished fixing her beverage, the captain muttered under her breath about 'damn yahoos' that wouldn't give her a break and 'cowards trying to blow her up.' 

She took a long gulp of the whiskey/coffee mixture. 

"My engineer is currently trying to fix our fuel line. When that's done, I'll have him help with identifying some aspects of the explosive. Might help me pinpoint it's origin. At the moment, though, I am going to sit down for ten minutes and drink my damn coffee."

As if to emphasize her point, the woman plopped down at the table adjacent to his.

The Judge nodded slowly, gazing into his own mug.
"One of the few things worth waking up for," he replied.

She snorted, the corners of her mouth curling upwards in a small smile.

"I can definitely agree with you on that."

It didn't take long for her mug to find itself empty, and so she got up again to refill it, using the same mixture. She held the bottle of whiskey up and looked at the Judge, evidently offering to share with him.

Why not?
After all, he was alone out here. No one around to tell him he couldn't drink "on duty".
It was a short move of seats for him after he took up his mug to sit down across from the captain.
He wasn't familiar with this kind of alcohol but hey - liquor is liquor.
he accepted the proffered bottle and topped off his coffee with it before handing it back to the woman, silently going back to drinking.

Maria had half expected him to reject the bottle, but was pleasantly surprised to see that he didn't see to be as rigid as the last Judge she'd been around. Man wouldn't even look at her without sneering. Then again, it probably helped that this one wasn't currently on duty, and they weren't in his jurisdiction.

"Don't tell the doc. He'll probably lecture me about 'ruining my health,'" She said, then added mostly to herself, "I wonder if he knows how much this bottle has saved the health of some of the crew..."

"I don't know what you think I'll be telling him."

Maria smiled. "I knew there was a reason I didn't hate you."