The flight went quickly. My anxiety level remained high until we were free of the atmosphere before dropping to a slightly more manageable level. My hands still shook slightly as I gripped the controls but I tried to remind myself that we’d done this before. We’d made almost this exact flight more than a dozen times before, for as long as we’d been visiting Chal he’d been based near Irision. My anxiety started to build steadily again the closer to the planet we got.

Cas and Peggy had hacked into the Council emergency broadcast system to listen in on anything that was being said about Irision but it was quiet. Too quiet.

Peggy was also streaming the internal emergency broadcast system from Irision. That wasn’t quiet. The planet was definitely on the brink of collapse. Huge cargo ships with writing on the sides in languages I didn’t recognise waited just outside the atmosphere as we passed through whilst smaller transport ships zipped up and down between the planet and them.

Peggy had managed to speak to the person who’d sent her the data before, Suloa. It turned out she was the kid of some high up on Irision, basically the next person in charge there. She was waiting for us when we landed. I had been expecting screaming or carnage but this was different. It was quieter than I expected. People were queued up, talking in hushed tones, as if they were scared that any loud noises might trigger the planet to explode.

Ships from all over were there, loading people onto them and taking them to the larger cargo ships still outside orbit. Every time one landed huge dust clouds were kicked up causing everyone to cough as quietly as they could.

Suloa was explaining to us how the evacuation was going so far and appraising Peggy on the state of the planet when a familiar face caught my eye.

“Chal!” I called over the hushed voices, wading through the sea of people to reach him.

He stood at the doors to his transporter ship, waving more people in.

“Aries! Well, if it isn’t my favourite crew! I was wondering when you’d get here!”

“You knew we were coming?” Peggy asked, having made her way over too.

“Of course! I’m the one who suggested they contact you after the Guardians retreated. I knew the Council would leave the Irisians here.” He said with disgust.

Suloa nodded, her face hardened with hatred.

“Why though?”

He looked at me with pity, as if he didn’t want to shatter my view of the world.

“These people have no worth to the Council now. Before they produced material so they had value but now? The Council view them as a waste of resources.” He explained gently.

I saw Cas’ hands clench into fists beside me.

“What can we do?” He forced out.

“Load people onto your ship, as many as possible. Get them up to my ship. Cory, some people were injured when the mines started collapsing. The medical tent is there. They need you.”

I nodded, turning back to my crew.

“Alright, you have your orders. Load up!” I commanded.

We gestured for people to start boarding Frida, Peggy translating for us and shouting orders as Cory ran to the medical tent gripping his medbag tightly. I hated the idea of leaving him there even if it was only temporary but I knew he wouldn’t accept it any other way.

I boarded, checking the scanner and preparing to take off as soon as we reached capacity. A red banner was flashing along the bottom of the screen, warning me of potential planet instability but I ignored it, knowing we’d need to hack Frida for the next landing or she wouldn’t let us touch down.

All aboard? I asked.

We’re going to stay here. Gem told me.

What? No, it isn’t safe.

Aries, this way you can carry more people. We have enough time. We need to.

I swallowed down the anxiety rising inside of me. She was right. We could fit more people in this way and we did have enough time to come back, Suloa had said so and Peggy had confirmed it.

Alright. Get the next load of people ready. We’ll come back for you. If you get even the feeling that you aren’t safe, tell us and we’ll turn Frida around immediately.

You’ll be okay. Cas added. No retreat.

No surrender. We echoed grimly back to him.

I hit the thrusters, my eyes flicking between the window and the scanner which was still warning me of the dangers on Irision.

How bad is it in there, Cory? I asked Cory as we approached the atmosphere.

Bad. He replied.

I swallowed, gripping the controls even harder.

“It’s okay, Arie. We have time.” Cas said quietly, his eyes fixed on Chal’s ship in the distance.

I nodded tightly.

“I’ll radio over.”

I flicked the microphone on before pausing. I’d never approached Chal’s ship without saying the code, I didn’t know whether or not to say it now.

“Urm… Approaching Captain Sammer’s, crew 761 requesting docking.”

I waited, hoping that they understood me.

“Are you carrying refugees?” A heavily accented voice returned.

“Yes!”

“Approach on the far side to unload.”

I sighed in relief and docked as they said, opening the air seal as soon as Frida indicated it was okay. Chal’s normally empty canteen was crammed with people. The doors to the kitchen were wide open and I could see even more people in there. The tables, usually covered in painted-on dirt, were now coated with dust from the miners. Children were clinging to their parents, some sitting silently in shock, some crying loudly. I helped the Irisian’s down the ramp and helped them settled on the floor, the only unoccupied space. The people here were streaked with dust and blood, pale faces stared at me looking dazed.

“Is there any more space in the kitchen or medical bay?” I asked loudly, my heart pounding, hoping someone would be able to understand me.

A child, no older than twelve, ran up to us.

“There is more space but Chal is running out of supplies.” They said almost flawlessly.

“We have more on the ship.”

Cory, they’re running out of supplies here. What can we give them? I asked, running up the ramp.

You can give them the blood packs and blood tabs, leave one of each on the ship in case we need them. Give them all of the bundles apart from one. We might need it.

I threw open lockers and began piling the supplies into Cas’ waiting arms. I carried what he couldn’t, trying not to push past people in my haste to get to the medical bay, worry for those still on Irision spurring me on. I shoved the supplies into the hole in the wall that would sterilise them before releasing them into the room, my eyes taking in the horror that was happening through the glass. Multiple people were in the midst of surgery. People were missing limbs. Some had open wounds on their stomachs which were flowing with blood. One person had an oozing wound on their head that turned my stomach. The doctors were working tirelessly, their faces barely visible behind their masks and visors but even so, I could see the exhaustion on their faces.

“How long has this been going on?” Cas asked, horrified.

“The first explosion was this afternoon.” The child I hadn’t noticed following us said.

My heart squeezed.

Fuck.

“We need to get back to Irision. Can you clear more space in here, kid? Open up the walk-in freezer and turn it off, it’s huge, you can fit more people in there. Move the shelves out the way if you can, evac any empty cans, have an adult do it, and get all the people who need medical attention into the changing rooms. Try and get them in order of severity. Can you use a medBot?” I ordered, looking around for the medBot that Chal normally had in the waiting room.

“No, but my sister should be able to. She wanted to train as a doctor.”

The medBot wasn’t there. It had probably been pulled in to the medBay instead. I pulled drawers open on the cabinet on the wall until I found what I was looking for.

“Great! This is a medscreen, it’s not the same as a medBot but it will have to do for now. It should be able to tell you what’s wrong with the person and what treatment is needed. Tell her to do what she can.” I thrust it into his hands before turning back to Cas.

“We need to go.”

I nodded, pushing my way back towards Frida, turning once to see the boy talking frantically to his sister who took the screen, blinking rapidly in shock. We couldn't do any more now, the best we could do is bring more people.

We’re on our way back down now. Can you tell Chal we’re running out of space up here? Cas thought as I peeled away from Chal’s ship and turned back towards the planet.

I’ve told him, he said he’s got more people on their way and that by the time you’re back down here there should be another ship. Peggy replied quickly.

“Cas, can you sort out Frida so we can land again?”

“On it.” He leant forwards, typing frantically as we pulled closer to the planet.

Frida touched down and for a second I thought the thrusters were still on. The ship was shaking, almost vibrating like we were trying to reenter gravity but then I realised it was the planet.

I pulled my harness off, rushing to the doors and trying not to trip. Cas stumble behind me and I heard him swear quietly.

“What’s going on?” I shouted, grabbing Gem’s arm.

“We don’t know! We think all the ships landing must have aggravated the planet even more. We’re running out of time!” Her eyes were wide with panic.

“Shit! Okay, load up again. Get even more people in. Override the cockpit doors and get them in there too! We should have enough fuel, we’ll have to make do!”

I rushed back on board, flicking the engines on and not bothering with my preflight checks. I knew they’d tell me the planet was unsafe, it wouldn’t tell me anything useful.

This might have to be our last trip, I don’t think we have much more time. I told them.

I know. We should be able to get everyone onto the other ships before you get back. Peggy replied.

My eyes flicked to the screen showing me the bay of the ship. It was stuffed. There weren’t enough seats for everyone so some people were sitting on other’s laps, some were pressed against the wall, hoping that would hold them and some were being held down by others. It should be okay. I turned up the artificial gravity as we lifted again, making it hold people down harder, hoping that would help.

What do we say to this ship when we arrive? I asked, hoping someone would know.

We were approaching a different ship this time, not Chal’s. It was huge, it looked more like a cruise ship than a cargo or a modders ship.

Chal said to just announce who you are and that you’re carrying refugees. He said to be careful though, they don’t like the Council.

I flicked the radio on.

“Crew 761 approaching carrying refugees, requesting docking.”

“Access granted. Please dock on the lower docking bay.”

I looked at Cas who shrugged at me. What choice did we have?

I pulled the ship into where they said, helping the injured to disembark. We were in a huge docking space with clean metal walls and a lightly polished floor. Smaller ships were scattered around, mostly in good quality but some were clearly in the middle of being worked on. Multiple spaces were empty but the tire marks on the floor showed that there were normally ships there. Hopefully, they were on Irision helping pick up refugees. There were still more people on there than I was comfortable with.

A woman with short dark hair in a light blue jumpsuit was surveying the people coming off the ship, appearing to count them. Her bright eyes locked on mine and she walked over.

“Captain Aquila, and you are?” She demanded, holding out her hand.

She wasn’t wearing a wrist monitor I noticed with a start. Everyone wore wrist monitors. The Council demanded it.

I shook her hand anyway.

“Captain Aries, crew 761.”

“Secondary pilot Cassiopeia.”

She visibly recoiled from us.

“You’re with the Council?”

“No, we’re trainees. Chal told us to come to your ship.” I explained, watching as people in white medic suits came rushing forwards to help the Irisians.

“But you’re here under Council orders?”

I hesitated.

“No… They told us not to do anything. We came anyway.”

She tilted her head slightly, causing her hair to move and reveal an old-fashioned translator chip above her right ear.

“Will you be returning to Nova after this?”

I looked at Cas in confusion.

“Yes?”

“They must not know you met us.”

Cas’ eyebrows creased in the middle.

“Who are you?” He asked.

She smiled slightly and raised one eyebrow.

“Exactly.”

We don’t have time for this. I thought at Cas. We need to go.

“We need to get back to Irision,” I said as politely as I could, ending the conversation and stepping backwards towards Frida.

“Yes. I have sent our transporter ships down. They should be able to carry all of the sick and wounded back up to us. Safe flight. ” The woman said, saluting stiffly as we stepped into the ship and closed the door behind us.