I took a deep breath as anxiety rocketed through me again and nodded, not trusting my words to be steady. Andy, Aquila and Elliot were all watching me carefully.

“As we discussed earlier, you and your crew want to become fighters. That means you’ll need to train and study, similarly to how it worked on the base,” Andy explained.

My chest tightened at the mention of the base. I needed to say something but I just settled for nodding again, unable to tell Andy the truth.

“Your classes will be fairly similar to your ones on Nova. You’ll still have Planet Politics and Crew Relationships but I’ve signed you off on having to study Recreational Flying Rules. That was a Council requirement, you’ve flown for long enough to know what you’re doing. Extra time will be allocated to getting you comfortable flying and working in the ships we have on the base, both the larger ones and the one person ships. You’ll need to learn about the history of Freo and the Council.”

I sat up straighter as Andy spoke, absorbing his words. This sounded so much more interesting than the lessons on the base and that was truly saying something because they were already great. I’d never flown a one-person ship before, the smallest I’d been in was a four-person fighter. Excitement started to build in me. I could imagine staying on Freo now, learning more, maybe starting to teach again.

I could have a future on Freo. I never had one on Nova. The Council would have never allowed it.

“Do you think your crew will be happy with the training schedule?” Andy asked and I glanced quickly down at the screen in front of me.

It didn’t seem too intense. From what I could tell it would only be our crew in lessons, we wouldn’t be with any other people. They’d be fine with that. Gem always said other people just slowed us down but Peg said they were important. It was better to have bigger classes apparently. Something about better discussions and more points of view.

Shame shot through me as I realised I couldn’t remember her exact argument. I should have been able to. I’d heard it enough times.

“Yeah, that should be fine…” I muttered.

“Great! I’ll speak to the rest of your crew later today and send the timetables over to start first thing in the morning.”

“Will Taury be taking us for CR?” I asked, suddenly remembering that Andy said she would be arriving soon.

His face broke into a smile.

“She will. Her ship should get here in a few hours.”

“Awesome!” I said with a grin.

“Is there anything more you’d like to discuss with us?”

I bit my lip as I thought about it. I wanted to discuss the list I’d written with them but first, I needed more information.

“What do we need to do to become fighters? What do fighters actually do?” I realised as I spoke that it had never actually been explained to us.

“Fighters do a huge amount of different things,” Aquila explained, “some do supply drops to the planets abandoned by the Council, humanitarian support, some spend time on Nova gathering information for us and some are trained specifically to work on our larger war vessels to intercept IA and Guardian ships.”

“But they only engage when it is absolutely necessary,” Andy added quickly.

I nodded, wanting to immediately start working as a fighter. I wasn’t sure which area I wanted to work in. I obviously wanted to help those on the planets abandoned by the Council, even thinking about them made guilt curdle in my stomach. But still, I wanted to fight against the Council directly. I’d happily go back to Nova, if they’d let me, but I knew I wouldn’t last long there. The Council would tear the planet apart to find me.

“To qualify for the fighters, you need to be able to fly all of our ships, have a thorough understanding of various planets current status and their history with the Council. Your physical health will need to be improved, you need to be able to fight if necessary. And, you’ll need to wear disrupters to hide your face. The Council are still searching for you, you’ll be putting people at risk if you are seen.”

I nodded, taking a mental note of everything Aquila said.

“Any more questions?” Andy asked gently.

The three main items on my list bounced around my head, begging to be let out but I paused, trying to think of a way to word them without sounding rude.

“I wanted to discuss your plan to get Peggy back,” I started.

Andy’s face visibly hardened and I saw Elliot’s eye flick towards him.

“We are trying to discover her location still but it’s been difficult. As far as we are aware, the Council have been moving her around frequently, both on and off Nova. We had one fighter who was posing as a Guardian as was able to confirm that she is alive in the early hours of the morning but they have since gone dark.”

My heart leapt in my chest and hammered in my throat.

“Peggy’s alive?” I croaked, unable to believe it.

“She is.”

Tears stung my eyes.

Is anyone awake? Peggy’s alive. Aquila just said, I thought as I tried to control myself.

She is? Gem asked immediately.

How do they know? Cas thought at the same time.

A fighter confirmed it before going dark.

“Is she… Is she okay?” I asked hesitantly.

Aquila paused before she spoke, for once, seemingly uncertain of what to say.

“She’s alive.”

My hands started trembling as I considered her words. Being alive was not the same as being okay.

“Do you have a plan to get her back?” My tone was desperate.

“Not yet. Once we have her location, we can start to plan.”

I clenched my hands together. That wasn’t good enough.

“I have a suggestion.”

I took a deep, slightly shuddering breath as I prepare to say what I’d planned last night before I fell asleep. I couldn’t look at Andy, I knew he wouldn’t approve but Aquila might.

“I want to speak to the Council directly. Offer to trade myself for Peggy. I know Councillor Harvey will accept that.”

“Aries, that is not an option,” Andy burst immediately, his face concerned but Aquila stayed quiet.

Her eyes were fixed on my face, watching. Waiting. I met her gaze strongly. I would do this for my crew.

“That could work,” she said finally.

Andy turned to look at her, his face scandalised.

“It’s too great a risk. We have lost too many good soldiers. We cannot risk you too.”

Aquila didn’t respond to that. She was still watching me but I didn’t have anything to say to Andy. I was willing to offer myself for her. It didn’t matter the cost.

I took another deep breath, still unable to look at Andy and ran through my planned speech in my head.

“Peggy would be more useful to Freo. She’s a skilled engineer and a diplomat. She speaks 12 languages and picks up even more easily. She’s a great strategist and she’s amazing with tech. She can hack anything.”

“And you?” Aquila asked, one eyebrow slightly cocked.

“Me?”

I wasn’t sure what she was trying to ask.

“What is your value?”

My brain felt empty as I grasped desperately at straws.

“I’m a good Captain. Fairly good at least, a pretty good pilot... urmm... teaching was going pretty well but we only did a couple of weeks so I wouldn’t say I’m particularly good or experienced.... ummm...” I trailed off, unable to think of anything else.

“Thousands, if not millions, of people look up to you. You are Captain Aries, one of the youngest pilots this decade. You exposed the Council for their true crimes. You’re an extremely skilled pilot, Captain and strategist. She’s an exception gunner and quick under pressure,” Andy said passionately before looking back at Aquila, “which is why we can’t lose her.”

Aquila steepled her fingers.

“She’d be viewed as a martyr,” she muttered quietly to herself.

“Why don’t we place that plan on the back burner? If our sources dry up or we run out of options, we can give it a go. We’d be risking both Aries and Peggy, plus a handful of our other fighters.” Elliot pointed out pragmatically.

Aquila nodded distractedly but her gaze still fixed on mine. I met hers without hesitation and I knew, if we needed to, she would trade me for Peggy.

It feels strange to admit that it comforted me.