I play that over in my head a lot. We should have run as soon as we realised Andy was gone. We should have done something, anything. We could have been safe. Peggy could’ve still been with us. It’s my fault she isn’t. I thought we’d be okay until morning. Leo said we’d be safe until then. I thought we’d done all that we could.

But it wasn’t enough. It’s my fault Peggy is dead. I should have done more.

My hands shook as I stared at the countdown on Cas’ wrist monitor. We had two days until it would go off again. My breath came in gasps as I looked around at my crew wondering who would be next to go. Cas? Gem? Or maybe Cory. It wouldn’t be me. I wasn’t sure how I knew that but I did. Something told me that if this was Harvey’s doing then he’d leave me till the later. He seemed to enjoy my suffering too much.

Hot tears splashed down my cheeks as shame swarmed in my stomach. I’d let Peggy down. I should have protected her better. I should have fought to stay awake harder.

“Aries, what do we do?” Gem sobbed desolately.

I sniffed and looked around at my crew. They looked crushed. There had to be something more that we could do.

I swallowed and tried to steady my breathing, my hands forming into tight fists as I tried desperately to stay in control. We needed a plan. We had to find a way to stay safe. We needed to do something. We couldn’t just stay there and wait for death.

“Okay. Let’s go see Taury and Ursa if he’s still here. Any of our tutors. I don’t think they’d be working for the Council… Let’s just see what they say?”

My crew looked dissatisfied with my suggestion but we had no other plan. I knew they wanted me to have a plan to find Peggy and get her back but I already knew it was too late. She was gone.

“Will they be in their offices or their rooms?” Cory asked after a pause, his face etched with sadness.

I shrugged.

“I don’t know. Let’s check both.”

We left Frida, not bothering to use the hatches or service corridors anymore and made our way to Taury’s office. We’d unconsciously decided to check on her first without discussing it. We were closer with Taury. We had weekly meetings with her and discussed such personal stuff so we trusted her more than Ursa.

My heart sank somehow even lower as we approached her office door. For as long as we’d been working with her, she’d had a nameplate on the door. She’d said was important that people are clear and know what to expect and that starts before they even walk into the room. But it wasn’t there anymore. I held my breath as I raised my fist to knock on the door. The small slither of hope I’d been clinging to ever since Peggy had said she’d seen Taury at dinner was extinguished as I stood waiting at the closed door.

“Should I hack it?” Cas asked, his voice sounding broken.

It would be an invasion of privacy but I needed to know if she was there.

“Yeah,” I croaked out.

We waited, barely able to breathe, for the door to open. I stepped trepidatiously into the office and looked around. Usually, the metal walls were filled with overflowing shelves. She had almost too many picture screens on display always. I’d asked her about it once, she said that it was pictures that crews she’d worked with had sent her after they graduated and started working professionally. They were always grinning widely in those photos, normally on some wild looking planet.

But now, they were all gone. The silver shelves jutted out into the room, empty and devoid of life. Her desk lay clear with only her screen holder remaining. Even the reflector panel she’d harvested from Mersa and the picture of her and Andy when they were younger with their crew was gone.

I licked my lips and turned away, unable to look at the empty room any longer.

“Let’s check her room.”

Our steps slowed as we drew closer to it. We knew that it was unnecessary, Taury was gone, but we had to see for ourselves. We had to make sure.

There was no answer when we knocked on her bedroom door either but I still wasn’t prepared for what lay on the other side. The room looked just like mine but it was a mess. The bookcase was full of screens but many had been knocked to the ground and trampled. Her bedcovers had been thrown to the floor and a dart phaser lay abandoned on the bed in a pool of somewhat congealed blood.

“Oh, Gods.” Gem whispered, turning around and raising a shaking hand to her mouth.

I turned too and my heart caught in my throat. Blood was splattered across the wall behind us and unidentifiable chunks of flesh lay on the floor below. I looked away, my stomach reeling and reached out gingerly for her gun. Blinking to activate my mods, I examined it quickly.

“It’s empty. Cold too. It hasn’t been fired in hours.”

“But… if she had a gun, that means she might have been able to fight her way out… Right?” Gem asked.

I couldn’t bring myself to answer. I knew she used to be a gunner but she couldn’t have beaten the Guardians. The Council would have sent enough to overpower her. She was gone.

“How come we didn’t hear it?” Cas whispered, “Our room isn’t far from here. We should have heard.”

I shook my head.

“Come on. Let’s check on Ursa. His room is close.”

We backed out of the room and sped down the corridor. His room was more confusing. His duvet was neatly folded on his bed and his shelves lay bare. His desk has a small stack of screens on one side but nothing else. His wardrobe lay open and mostly empty, just his dress uniform and freshly shined looking shoes were inside. It was as if he knew he would have to leave and had prepared.

I turned around slowly, trying to work out what the hell was going on when the blinking screen above the door caught my eye. It didn’t read the time, as it usually did. It read ‘RUN’.

“Look,” I whispered, raising my hand to point at it.

My crew turned, a look of horror coming across each of their faces.

We needed to follow that advice. We needed to run.