“Oh, no. I’m such an idiot. How did I not work this out sooner?” Peggy whispered, staring down at the screen.

“What?” I asked, trying to keep my panic under control until I knew what was happening.

It wasn’t working, fear was starting to edge its way into my mind, threatening to take over.

“I should have seen. They literally talked about leaving. They mentioned a ship and I didn’t see it,” she muttered. “How could I not see it? They’re never going to be caught, they’re never going to be brought to justice. They’re just going to run away and wait for this whole thing to blow over whilst still calling the shots on Nova and making sure that no one is ever safe or free.”

“Peggy, what’s going on?” I demanded, hoping to break through to her.

She looked up at me, her eyes wide and fearful.

“They’re running. They’ve been preparing the warship for weeks. The Council is fleeing Nova.”

So many emotions rushed through me at once, leaving me breathless.

They were running, Nova would be free. But then, the ID wouldn’t be able to catch them. The Council warship is one of the biggest and most powerful ships of all time. They rarely actually used it, it was more of a symbol of their power, but now they were going to use it.

Fuck.

Nova was going to be free.

Unless they found a way to ruin that.

Have they left any kind of instructions or people in charge of Nova? What’s happening with the bases? How many Guardians are they taking with them? I asked, peppering Peggy with questions and hoping that she’d be able to answer all of them.

I don’t know. I don’t know! she cried, pressing one hand to her mouth and biting down on one of her fingers.

“It seems that the Council is fleeing Nova,” Aquila said, a ghost of a smile gracing her lips.

“And threatening to kill everyone left behind,” Peggy added.

The beginnings of a cheer that had started at Aquila’s words came to a sudden halt and even Aquila looked taken aback.

“Elaborate please, Peggy,” Andy requested gently but he looked shaken.

“I mean, that’s what’s happening, right?” she said with an uncertain glance at Aquila. “They’re going to disappear without a trace and make sure everyone on Nova suffers so that people know just how lucky they were to have the Council and how much we all rely on them. Right?”

Aquila’s eyes scanned the screen and I saw her lips tighten more and more as she read.

“I’m going to ask Grus to come in here and brief everyone,” she said as she typed quickly on her screen.

A tense silence filled the room as she continued to type rapidly.

I looked at the other people surrounding the table, their faces a mixture of fear and anxiety. Fornax had pulled out a screen as well and was typing, her eyebrows drawn together.

Peggy, what’s going on? I asked, not willing to wait until Grus entered even though I could see him on the monitor by the door.

They’ve started calling a bunch of Guardians towards their ship, they’re leaving only the absolute minimum behind so that the planet will go to shit. They’ve sent some weird coded messages to the bases that I just can’t work out but I’m guessing they’re preparing everyone to fight, she thought, not looking up from the screen.

Her eyes were bouncing around as she tried frantically to read everything and work out exactly what was happening.

My brain struggled to process what she said for a moment before racing.

We needed to go to Nova, immediately. We needed to get Sammy and the others out.

My eyes found Andy.

“I need to—” I started.

“I know,” he said, cutting me off. “Put a message on the forum asking for a call and call him whenever he replies.”

I nodded, accepting the screen he passed me, and navigating immediately to the forums.

I half expected there to already be a message from Sammy waiting for me but it was empty. Well, not empty, the forums never were, but there was nothing from Sammy which worried me.

I typed out a quick message, read it through three times and posted it just as Grus entered the room, looking only slightly uncomfortable at the number of people who were staring at him.

“Thanks for joining us so quickly, Grus,” Aquila started. “Come, take a seat. Would you be able to explain the current situation on Nova, please?”

Grus slipped into the nearest empty chair and nodded before glancing across at Peggy who sent him a supportive smile.

“Um, sure,” he said with a tight smile. “So, it appears the Council are currently in the process of boarding their warship with the majority of active Guardians and we believe that they will be fleeing Nova. Most of the new Guardians, IA and Space Corps members that they forced into the advanced training camps are being loaded into separate ships but we don’t know if those are going to accompany the warship or if they’re going elsewhere. Oh, and we’re getting increased activity at all bases.”

“What kind of activity?” Andy asked immediately.

Grus sent Andy a cross between a wince and a smile.

“We’re not sure. Can’t work it out at the moment because we can’t access any of the cameras from the base and we’re working on getting some ships into the Nova orbit so we can have a better look at it because we’ve been blocked out of all satellites.”

Andy’s face twitched ever so slightly and I looked away from his panic, refreshing the forum page repeatedly.

Still nothing.

“Okay, so what do we do now?” Fornax asked. “We’re going to Nova, right?”

Aquila took a slow deep breath and I knew she was weighing her options.

“I think we have to, right?” I said quickly, too fearful that she’d disagree to wait. “Now is the best time to do something. We can get there and strike before the Council have finished running away. They’ll be too distracted to coordinate a proper defence or attack and they won’t want to send any Guardians away from the warship if they think we might attack it. It’s the best chance we have at getting the kids and the Irisians out of there.”

Aquila’s eyes bored into mine as she considered what I’d said.

I knew she was weighing up our options and chances of success.

“Does anyone,” she started, looking away from me to make eye contact with everyone else around the table in turn, “have any objection to launching a mission to Nova immediately?”

I looked around the room anxiously but it was silent.

Letting myself breath in a deep breathe, I looked down at the screen, almost missing the flashing red alert.

Shit, Sammy’s asked for a meeting now, I thought to the others before looking up and catching Andy’s eye.

“Has he responded?” Andy asked quietly.

The room was silent and so I felt the weight of everyone’s gaze on me.

“Yes.”

“Ready to call now?”

I nodded, scanning the message again.

He sounded desperate. He’d said he was really feeling a bowl of Captain Sammer’s ramen right now, which obviously meant something big was happening. He hadn’t even bothered to think of a different name or code now that Chal had revealed his identity to the universe.

“Okay, go into the private room and I can give you a rundown of anything you miss out here once you’re finished speaking to him. Do you need me to come in with you?”

I wanted to say yes if I am being honest. I was worried about the situation on the base and what kind of state Sammy would be in but… he was needed out there.

I had to deal with it alone.

“I’ll be okay,” I said with as much confidence as I could manage.

Andy nodded.

“Call me if you need me and I’ll be right in,” he promised.

I wouldn’t but I still appreciated the offer.

“Okay,” I said, standing and pushing away from the table, Andy’s screen clutched in my hands.