I forced another slow, deep breath out through my pursed lips as I counted to ten before sucking in another measured breath. My gaze was fixed on the scanner where I could see my crew moving steadily closer to us. It was almost time to go through the warp gate and then… Romikhi-Eight and whatever awaited us there.

My hands twitched compulsively over the screen on my lap. According to our Scouts, there were no Guardian or IA ships on the planet nor in the atmosphere surrounding it. It made sense that they would keep us waiting, hoping that we’d drop our guard, but it still infuriated me. I just wanted it to be over. The sooner the Guardians and IA arrived the sooner we’d get Peggy back.

But also the sooner I might be caught.

A trilling beep came from the screen next to Elliot and my eyes snapped to it immediately as my heart jumped into my throat.

“Aquila’s just sent us the coordinates for where on the planet we’re to meet the Guardians,” Elliot informed us.

Tuc craned his head to glance at Elliot’s screen, his face worried.

“Who gave these coordinates? Us or the Council?” he asked before I could.

If it were the Council, it could have easily been a trap. Maybe buried bombs, mines, or underground bunkers filled with Guardians, ready to strike.

“I believe the coordinates came from Lace’s team. They were definitely from Freo though,” Elliot answered.

“And the Council just accepted them without arguing?” I asked incredulously.

“Apparently.”

I swallowed as my leg started bouncing again and nausea crept into my stomach. I longed to be able to fly down to Romikhi-Eight, just to check the situation myself. Maybe do a couple of quick surveys to make sure that the ground hadn’t been disrupted recently and there were no signs of life below the surface.

But I wasn’t in charge. No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn’t do anything.

How’s it going there? I found myself asking my crew.

Going good, just coming up on you now. How are you? Cas replied, worry in his voice.

All good here.

I didn’t really know how to answer the question properly. I was fine, mostly. Sure, I wanted to dive out of my seat, haul Elliot and Tuc away from the controls and lock them both out of the cockpit then find the Guardian ship with Peggy on it and kill them all apart from her but I couldn’t so… I was fine.

My eyes narrowed at my hands clutching the screen. Painfully, I unclenched them and stretched out my fingers one at a time as my gaze returned to the scanner. I longed to yank my gloves off my hands and tear the loose skin away from the edges of my nails just for something to do but I couldn’t even do that.

I was too aware of the weapons hidden in my gloves, ready to strike. The knives could malfunction at any moment and stab me in the face or I could somehow trigger the tasers as I tried to get the gloves off and I could tase myself.

“Andy’s ship is approaching. How you feeling?” Tuc asked, glancing back at me.

“Fine,” I answered automatically.

He raised an eyebrow at me, clearly wanting me to elaborate.

“Can we help?” he asked when I didn’t say any more.

There wasn’t anything specific I was worried about or that I could realistically don, it was all just general fear and they couldn’t help with that.

“Nah,” I responded, looking down at my screen again but not before I caught the look Tuc and Elliot gave each other.

It was obvious that they were worried about me. I wished I could say something to help ease their concerns but my brain was blank. I was fine, there was nothing to say. I think I just kept thinking and saying that I was fine so much in the hope that I would actually be fine. I wasn’t, not really. The weight of the mission ahead of me weighed heavily on my mind.

My teeth found where I’d bitten the inside of my lip in my sleep the night before and began toying with it. I pressed down hard, feeling the strange, almost buzzing pain and tasting the sharp tang of blood. Normally, that helped clear my mind but instead, it just added to the feelings swirling inside of me.

Still, I couldn’t stop. I bit down even harder, drawing more of my lip in between my teeth and ignoring the burst of blood spilling into my mouth.

“Alright, Lep, it’s time to go through the gate. Elliot, almost ready for you to go through,” Aquila’s voice said.

I slipped the screen into the pocket on the edge of my seat and sealed it inside in preparation for our trip through the gate then immediately regretted the decision. At least with it in my hands I had something to fiddle with and to distract myself with but without it, all I could do was stare through the gate where Lep’s ship had just disappeared.

After a tense few seconds where I found myself frantically worrying if the Council had found a way to hack the gates, Lep’s voice came through the comms, “Through.”

I tried to suppress my sigh of relief.

“Elliot, your turn,” Aquila commanded.

My breath caught in my chest and I forced myself to breathe as normally as possible. I’d been through warp gates hundreds of times, if not more, but anxiety still swirled in my stomach.

“‘Bout to go through the warp gate, everyone ready?” Elliot asked over the comms as he started idling towards the gate.

A chorus of ‘ready’ came back.

“Are you ready, Aries?” he asked, looking back at me.

Anxiety wrapped its icy hand around my throat, threatening to choke me.

“Yes,” I managed.

I kept my eyes fixed on the gate in front of me as we were sucked into the crushing darkness. The world turned black around me and the familiar yet deafening rushing noise assaulted my ears. I was pulled in every direction and my body felt ripped apart. My chest tightened until I felt like I was being crushed then, all at once, everything was normal again.

My ears rang as I scrambled for the screen again and tore it out of the pocket. Lep’s ship was in front of us and Team A and B were at the edge of the short-range scanner. The IA ship and Guardian ship still hadn’t moved from where they’d been before. They were silent, their engines idling and our scanners couldn’t penetrate them to check who was inside. I let myself feel a small gleam of hope that Peggy might be there before fear overtook me again.

Through, I told my crew as Elliot spoke over the comms.

“All clear. We have eyes on Romikhi-Eight.”

My heart fluttered in my chest and I tore my eyes away from the screen to stare as Elliot brought us gently towards the planet, staying away from its orbit for now.

“Andy, you’re clear to enter the gate,” I heard Aquila say.

Coming now, Cas thought.

I glanced away from the planet to the screen before looking back to the planet again as I waited for them to appear through the gate. Despite only being a few seconds long, the wait was agonising and I couldn’t help worry that this was part of the trap but they emerged without any problems.

Everything alright? I asked, trying not to sound as frantic as I felt.

All good here, how are you doing? Gem asked again.

No problems.

“Alright, Elliot, when you’re ready you can land on Romikhi-Eight. There don’t appear to be any Guardians there at the moment,” Aquila said. “Everyone else, move to your positions. If you see any movement, let us know immediately.”

“Understood,” Elliot replied.

I swallowed as my hands trembled slightly.

“Ready, team?” Elliot asked the crew but his eyes were fixed on mine.

“Ready.”