My leg bobbed under the table as I scrutinised Andy’s face carefully. He was reading everything that Peggy had found on a screen but he was taking too long. I was glad, in a way. It meant that he was actually reading it properly, working out what to do and how to act but… I just wanted him to be done. It was painful. It was so painful and he was taking so long.

Are you sure you don’t want me to come now? Cory asked. I’ve finished prepping everything and I’m just doing my rounds but I can have another doctor take over?

No, stay there, I told him. I’ll let you know what Andy says.

Okay.

Elliot sat back, his face troubled, but he still didn’t speak. His expression was distant as he waited for Andy to finish reading.

After what felt like an eternity, he was done. He lowered the screen and glanced at Peggy.

“I assume I don’t need to ask you how certain you are about this?” he asked Peggy, his voice grave.

“I did as much research as possible. I can’t confirm that it was him but he said enough in his posts that are backed up by other things that Guardians have said in interviews,” she answered. “I’m pretty sure he was working on the Council ship. I don’t think there’s any other way he could have known all of this.”

“And the information wasn’t available elsewhere online?”

Peggy shook her head.

He let out a heavy sigh.

“Alright.”

That was all he said and it wasn’t enough for me.

“What now?” I asked.

“It’s obvious we need to act. Harvey’s endangering too many people and if they have succeeded at making this drug, the ramifications are extremely concerning,” Andy started.

“It could mean he wins the war,” Elliot added, his expression still distant.

“It would. Not only that but by not acting, we’d be damning people to a life without free will,” Andy continued.

They exchanged a glance and I felt that there was more being said between them.

I was pretty sure that they were communicating with their mods.

“She won’t be happy to act now,” Andy said softly after a moment. “You know that. She’ll want more information.”

“I agree,” Elliot said. “But she will act eventually.”

“It might be too late by then.”

I wasn’t sure what I missed but they were clearly talking about Aquila.

“Why won’t she act now?” I asked, interrupting their quiet debate.

“This won’t be enough for her, she’ll need to have it validated before she does anything,” Andy explained.

“And I don’t trust that Harvey will wait that long to act,” Elliot admitted begrudgingly. “It wouldn’t surprise me if he’d already started ordering Guardians down the nearby planets.”

Andy nodded.

“I agree. We need to move quickly, to prove that this is all correct and accurate so that we can present the information to Aquila in the morning and she can’t doubt it at all,” he said. “We need to answer every question she might have before she has a chance to ask them.”

“You believe what Peggy’s found, right?” Cas asked.

I glanced at him, unsure where he was going.

“Of course. She’s one of the best researchers I know,” Andy answered immediately.

“Will that not be enough?” Cas continued. “I mean, you believe Peggy and want to act. Would she not accept that? You believe this too, right, Elliot? It’s two against one, can you not order the fighters to start preparing without Aquila agreeing?”

“Unfortunately not,” Elliot said. “I believe what Peggy has found but Aquila is in charge of this ship. We’re technically the same rank but nothing happens without her approval.”

“But, I have faith. We can gather all of this information, make sure we don’t leave a single question unanswered and first thing in the morning, we’ll present it to Aquila and I have no doubt that she will order the fighters to attack,” Andy said.

That’s too long. We don’t have that much time to waste, Peggy thought and I couldn’t help but agree.

“What if she doesn’t?” I asked. “What if she has more questions or wants to wait and see what happens? Then what?”

And what would happen if Aquila wanted the drug for herself?

I do feel bad for doubting her. Maybe she wouldn’t have used it. She’s never done anything to make us doubt her but I was just scared. I didn’t want to even give her the opportunity to use it, I wanted to destroy it and the rest of the research before anyone could use it.

“Then, I’ll make the order. I may not have everyone’s support if I have to go against her but I believe enough fighters will vouch for me,” Andy said. “Can you give me until morning?”

I didn’t want to meet his eyes. I didn’t want him to see what I was thinking.

He couldn’t betray her, it would be too risky, but we could. We could act without her or Andy’s knowledge or approval. We’d done it before, we could do it again.

It was too similar to last time.

“Yes,” I lied.

Aries, you can’t mean that! It’s too late! Peggy cried. We need to do something sooner, we need to go tonight!

We will, I thought back. We’re going tonight.

Oh, Peggy thought softly as Andy continued speaking. How?

“We’ll continue researching tonight. Peggy, Orion, are you okay to stay late tonight? Grus can join you once he’s up. Feel free to use this room if you’d like,” Andy ordered. “Aries and Cas, I’d appreciate it if you could help them too. We’ll join when we can.”

“We have the meeting with Aquila in,” Elliot checked his watch, “half an hour.”

“Ah, we do indeed,” Andy said, pausing for a moment as he considered what to do. “We’ll keep this under wraps for now, until we have all of the information we need and then we’ll go from there. I don’t think it would help to tell her tonight, what do you think?”

Elliot considered it.

“No, we should wait until we have everything.”

So, what do we do? Peggy asked.

I watched Andy continue to talk, not really taking in what he was saying.

You and Orion continue to gather all of the information we need, Cas and I can join at first whilst working out how to take a ship without anyone realising and then we can go from there. We need weaponry, medkits and a flight plan. Do we know where the Council ship is? I asked.

I can work it out, Peggy told me.

I’ve got the medkits already, Cory said. They’re on the way to our room.

And I can probably hack the system, add in a fairly innocent-looking flight that we can sneak onto, Cas added.

I nodded, my eyes falling on Orion.

What do we do about Orion? He’ll know something is up.

The rest of my crew were silent for a bit.

He’d reacted well when I told him I didn’t trust Aquila and he’d been so helpful to us the entire time we’d been on Freo. It was risky. We could tell him the truth, tell him what the plan was, and he’d probably be able to help us. He’d be able to provide information and run interference.

I vote we tell him the truth but I want us all to be happy with that decision, I thought slowly.

There was another moment of silence before Peggy thought, I trust him.