My head stuttered in confusion.

“I thought you were dead.”

It slipped out of my mouth as I stared at the blond man.

A laugh escaped Elliot’s mouth and Andy’s eyes twinkled.

“Well, the Council certainly thinks so.”

I knew my mouth was open as I stared at him but I couldn’t bring myself to close it. Andy had told me about Elliot before. They’d grew up together and dated whilst working on the same crew with Commander Taury but Andy had told me he died on a mission that went wrong. He had a picture of them and a panel of their old ship on his office wall. He always looked so distant when he looked at it.

“Ah, yes. A necessary lie, I’m afraid.” Andy smiled lovingly at him.

“Technically not a complete lie though. I did die. Chal just brought me back to life.”

“Chal?” I gaped.

Elliot chuckled again.

“Yes. That old codger has been working ever since we were kids but you wouldn’t know it to look at him. He patched me up and got me sent over to Aquila to continue working.”

It felt like my head was going to explode. Not only was Elliot alive but apparently Andy had known Chal this whole time.

“I know, it was a shock for me too,” Cas added from beside me.

“But… How? What happened?”

I desperately needed to know.

“You can tell your tale later, Elliot. Right now, Captain Aries needs to be briefed. Please be seated everyone.” Aquila cut him off and immediately commanded the attention of the room.

The people who had been milling about before and getting drinks now dropped into the seats surrounding the table, their eyes fixed on Aquila even though she hadn’t raised her voice.

My heart pounded uncomfortably in anticipation of her words and I fought to keep my mind from drifting. My brain felt overwhelmed. I’d learnt too much since I’d left the medBay, I’d seen too much. Everything was new and different and I couldn’t keep up. I wanted to go back to bed. I wanted to be safe back on the base, surrounded by my crew.

But I knew that was too much to ask. We couldn’t go back to the base now. We couldn’t ever go home. It wasn’t even our home anymore.

I blinked and forced myself to focus as Aquila began to speak.

“Since we rescued most of your crew from the base, the Council have been scrambling. They weren’t anticipating your escape, nor were they expecting the effects of your explosive book and its strong anti-Council stance. Our intelligence indicated that they knew it would be released, thanks to the microphones in your wrist monitors, but they expected to be able to remove it from the web quickly before anyone had the chance to share it. However, we were able to intercept the document and distribute it widely.”

She paused to smirk and looked around at the people surrounding the table, many of whom were openly grinning too.

“The Council are struggling. Many planets have had strikes, protests and even uprisings. They’ve been sending the IA and Guardians to assist but things have gotten messy. We’ve been providing weapons and support where we can but the number of planets that have been abandoned by the Council is unprecedented.”

My mouth went dry as she continued to explain the situation and my hands began to shake. Sweat beaded my top lip as my hearing became fuzzy.

We never expected this to happen. I don’t really know what I thought would happen once we published our story but honestly, I didn’t expect to be around for long enough to find out. I was sure we’d be dead by now. I know the rest of my crew felt the same way too.

I stared around at them as they watched Aquila with rapt attention. It didn’t feel real. None of this did. I didn’t deserve to be sitting safely in some spaceship whilst the rest of the universe suffered, whilst Peggy suffered. I deserved to be in her place. If I had the opportunity, I’d switch places with her in an instance.

I needed to find a way to do it. I needed to find a way to get to her. She didn’t deserve the pain the Council were undoubtedly forcing upon her but I did. I hadn’t fought for her or protected her. I should have. I should have done more.

I dug my nails into my hands, feeling the biting pain but it wasn’t enough. I wanted to tear into my skin, to cry out from the pain that I deserved.

Aries, you okay? Cory’s gentle thought whispered through the anger that was racing around my head.

I blinked and looked at him, noticing the rest of my crew were looking at me with concern on their faces. I forced myself to take a deep breath and unclench my hands slightly.

Fine. I thought back curtly, not wanting to explain the self-hatred I was feeling.

Cas reached out under the table and laced his fingers through mine, ignoring the blood that smeared in between our hands.

This was really overwhelming for me at first too. He thought with a caring smile.

Me too! I left the first briefing in tears! Gem added.

I smiled slightly at them before looking back at Aquila and felt some of the tension slip out of my shoulders.

“Fornax and her crews have been running supply missions to the planets abandoned by the Council. Fornax, can you offer more insight on the situation please?”

A small but broad woman with dyed neon green almost buzzed hair and a wild look in her eyes stood. All eyes fell on her but she smiled directly at me.

“Of course. I’m Fornax, head of the fighters on this ship. We’ve been sending patrols out to antagonise the Council and IA but mostly, to deliver supplies to the abandoned planets. A lot of them are not agriculture-based and, although they may have farmed before the Council took over, they were advised to abandon that. The Council has deliberately cultivated a society that cannot adequately fend for itself. Half the planets have no food, the others have no equipment to farm because the Council destroyed it before they withdrew.”

Anger built in her voice and blazed in her eyes. I could feel it building within me too. The Council had made it so that planets couldn’t survive without them. They forced people to be helpless so that they’d come crawling back and begging the Council for aid. But, I knew the Council. They’d let those who betrayed them die instead of helping.

My hands clenched into fists again but this time, my anger was directed at the Council not myself.

“How can we help?” The words came out of my mouth without much thought.

I knew the rest of my crew would want to assist. If Peggy were here, she would have been the first to volunteer.

A smile grew on Fornax’s face again.

“I was hoping you’d say that. The rest of your crew have volunteered too but to work with Captain Aries would be an honour for many of my crews.”

I smiled uncomfortably, unsure of what to say but luckily Andy saved me from having to speak.

“Once Chal and Cory have cleared her for flight, I’ll send her to come and speak to you in the garage.”

I looked at him gratefully.

“Wonderful!”

Fornax dropped back into her seat and I turned to look at Aquila again.

“Does anyone else have anything they’d like to update us on or brief Captain Aries about?”

I held my breath as I scanned the room. I hoped no one else said anything. I already felt that I’d learnt too much today. My bones ached with tiredness and I longed to sink back into bed.

“No? Alright. Thank you for attending today, please go get some fresh air and a drink before returning in time for the press conference. Crew 761, please remain so we can continue the briefing.”

We stayed seated whilst everyone apart from Aquila, Andy and Elliot filtered from the room, waiting silently until Andy began speaking.

“Now that you’re slightly more recovered, Aries, we can discuss our plan for you going forward.”

“I want to help Fornax and the planets that the Council has abandoned.” I interrupted, my anger still bubbling within.

A gentle smile came over his face.

“I knew that you would but there’s more.”

My heart leapt into my throat and I felt panic rise within me.

“You’re still young. You haven’t graduated. I’d like you to keep studying.”

Relief washed through me followed by confusion.

“Why?”

The skin around Andy’s eyes crinkled.

“It’s important to keep learning about the universe. The curriculum here is a little different to the one on the base. It’s a little less Council-centric.”

I knew if Peggy were here, she’d be happy about Andy’s request but I wasn’t.

“But, surely there’s no point in learning more. Surely, it would be better for us to be out there helping the fighters? We can deliver food and supplies to people! We can help!”

It felt wrong that we would be sitting safely in some classroom whilst people potentially starved and Peggy suffered. I wanted to be out there, doing what I could, rescuing Peggy. It all felt wrong!

“Do you know which planets need assistance?” Andy asked gently.

“No, but someone could tell us!” I insisted.

“Do you know what kind of help they need? What languages they speak? Who’s in charge of the planet? Their history with the Council?”

My heart sunk as he spoke. He was right, we did need to know all of that before we could help. But still, I felt stubborn. It felt wrong.

“No… but it wouldn’t take too long to learn that about each planet! And we could take a translator.”

Normally, we wouldn’t have to. Peggy spoke most languages and, if not, she picked them up quickly. Sadness washed over me again.

“Do you know how to fly any of the ships here? They aren’t the Council regulation ones and we couldn’t bring Frida.”

“We could work it out,” I muttered, glaring at the table in front of my.

“And what about Peggy?”

My heart stuttered uncomfortably.

“What about her?”

“If everything goes well and we find out where the Council is holding her, you need to be nearby so that you can come back and assist with the operation to rescue her. ”

My eyes narrowed at his words.

“What do you mean ‘assist with the operation’? We’ll be going to Nova to rescue her, won’t we?”

He sighed.

“That may not be safe. The Council might organise a trap.”

I wanted to rise from my chair and shout ‘I don’t care!’ but I forced myself to stay calm. I would do whatever it took to save Peggy.

“That doesn’t matter. We can be careful, we just need to get her out! Please, Andy!”

“Only fighters are allowed to conduct missions on Nova.” Aquila interrupted our argument and my eyes narrowed on her.

“Well then, how do we become fighters because we can’t just sit in here and watch whilst some other crew tries to rescue her? We’re her crew, it should be us!”

I saw Cas nod out of the corner of my eyes and I knew the rest of my crew agreed.

“It would be difficult. You’d need to train hard, continue your education and take part in smaller missions.”

Thoughts? I needed to know they agreed before I spoke.

It wasn’t an ideal situation but if I knew it meant we would be ready to rescue Peggy when the time came, I could ignore the nagging guilt that people were dying because of me and that I wasn’t doing enough.

We have to, Gem thought back determinedly.

For Peggy, Cas agreed.

For Peggy, Cory whispered.

“We’ll do it.”