The atmosphere on the ship as we flew away from Captain Aquila’s vessel was different. Sombre. Small conversations bubbled up before drifting back to silence again. We’d originally decided to take the long way back to Nova, avoiding the warp gates but now that there were fewer people on board and everyone could be harnessed in, we decided we could take them. We didn’t have enough fuel to go the long way anyway.

My eyes itched with tiredness. It felt like we’d been awake for days but that was just the adrenaline finally leaving us. Every movement felt difficult, my limbs were heavy and cried out for sleep but I needed to get us home. I remember reassuring myself that then, I could sleep.

My thoughts kept drifting back to what Captain Aquila said about the Council. How they’d put out a request for our capture. I knew the rest of my crew were thinking about it too, no matter how hard we tried not to. I could see it in the crease between Cas’ eyebrows, the shadows on Peggy’s face and the way Gem and Cory clung to each other, like they were expecting to be dragged apart at any moment. Even then, I knew that leaving Captain Aquila’s ship was a dumb idea. We should have stayed. Why didn’t we stay?

A gentle beeping from Frida’s console broke me out of my anxious rumination and my eyebrows drew together.

“We’re getting a distress alert?” I said in confusion.

“What’s it saying?” Cas asked.

“Their ship is nearby. It was damaged in the explosion. They thought they’d be able to get to another planet but the thrusters are damaged… There’s been a breach too.”

“Could this be a Council trick or poachers?”

I thought about it. It could be, if the Council put out a reward for us there would be poachers, but it didn’t seem likely.

“We’re close to the gate, surely they wouldn’t stop there? It’s too dangerous. They could get sucked in.”

“Mmm.” Cas agreed.

“I’ll request more information and see what the others think.”

Crew, can you come in here? I thought. Shut the door behind you.

I typed on the screen and waited until the rest of my crew were in before starting to explain.

“So, we’ve had a distress call and I want your thoughts. Apparently, their ship is nearby, they came from Irision too and it was damaged in the explosion. There’s a small breach and the thrusters were damaged. They’re near the gate so we would be going past anyway but Cas thinks it might be a trick either by the Council or by another ship looking for the reward for our capture. What do you think?”

“Even if it’s not a trick, it’s dangerous. It’s too close to the gate, anyone who goes out there might get sucked in.” Cas added.

“How bad is the breach?” Gem asked.

I quickly scanned the information they sent me.

“They said it’s not too bad but they don’t want to risk going through the gate with any kind of breach.”

Gem nodded grimly.

I looked around at my crew.

“It would be dangerous…”

“We can’t leave them here alone, they’d die,” Peggy said.

“They could request Council assistance but who knows if they’d send any.”

“So, we do it.” Gem decided.

The rest of my crew nodded in agreement.

“Okay. We’ll pull closer to the ship, on the far side to the gate, that way we should be more protected.” I said, beginning to direct Frida closer.

“Who’s going out?” Gem asked.

I bit my lip, not wanting to make the decision, and waited until we had stopped as close to the ship as was safe in its current state. I shut off the thrusters and turned around to see the rest of my crew watching me, still waiting for an answer I didn’t want to give. Any of them could go. They were all skilled in repairs and free-flying. I tried to weigh up their skills in my head, working out the highest chance of success just like we’d been taught.

“I should go,” Peggy said quietly. “I’m the first Engineer.”

“No, this is an Explorer’s job.” Gem argued.

“I’m the second Engineer, it makes sense that I go. We need you to stay here to translate, Peg.”

“No, we’re about to go through a gate, we need a secondary Pilot more!” Gem insisted, staring Cas down.

“I’ll go! You don’t need a Doctor on here anymore.”

“But we will if someone comes back injured!” Cas pointed out.

I looked around at my crew fighting to go. I wanted to fight that I should be the one to go too, I didn’t want to risk anyone else, but I knew that that wasn’t my place. I needed to make this decision. My eyes met Gem’s as the other three continued arguing. She’d fallen silent, she knew who had to go. It made sense. Everyone else’s job was too important, they needed to stay. I didn’t want to be the one to make this decision but I already had.

“I’m going.” She said quietly, bringing the argument to a halt.

“What? No, Gem, you can’t go! It’s too dangerous!”

“It has to be me. The rest of you are needed here.”

“No! You can’t!”

Gem looked back at me and the rest of the crew turned their heads to look too. The lump in my throat wouldn’t let me talk. I knew how dangerous this was. I could be sending her to her death.

I nodded.

“No! Aries, stop her!”

“Cory, it has to be me. We need you here.” She said gently, taking his hand.

He was silent, fearful tears gathered in his eyes.

“Gem, are you sure?” Peggy’s hands twitched like she wanted to reach out and hug her.

“Of course. My engineering has gotten way better, I can handle this easily.” She tilted her chin up bravely.

I could feel my eyes wanting to cry but I wouldn’t let Gem see it. If she could act brave, then I could as well. She couldn’t see how scared I was for her. I shoved my shaking hands into my pockets to hide them.

“Okay. We’ll get everything you need ready. Peggy, you speak to the other ship, see what’s going on and let them know we’re coming to help then tell the rest of the people what’s going on and what we are going to do. Gem, make sure you’re ready to go. Bring a blaster, just in case this is a trap. Frida, can you turn on autopilot and just keep us here? Don’t let us go anywhere.” I ordered, trying to stay under control.

The autopilot light flicked on and I stood, unlocking the cockpit door and walking out to the main bay of the ship with Cas following. I used broken Irisian to ask people to move and opened one of the lockers behind where they’d been sitting. I pulled out the engineering equipment and unrolled it on the floor, checking over the tools. I knew they were fine but I needed to keep my hands busy so I wouldn’t focus on Gem and Cory’s whispered argument.

“I could go,” Cas said quietly.

I looked over at him. He was staring down at the tools too but his hands were clenched.

“We need you here.”

He shook his head.

I heard Peggy come in and start explaining about the other ship in Irisian.

“I could go.” He repeated.

I leant against him slightly.

“Cas, we need you as a secondary Pilot. You know how important that is. If anything happens with the ship or to me, you're the only other one who has the practice to handle this. We need you to stay.”

He wrinkled his nose in disagreement.

“I want to go.” Gem said, walking in behind us.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. You got all my stuff?”

I looked down at the tools on the bench in front of me.

“Yeah. They all seem to be working and everything.” I said, my mouth suddenly dry.

Gem crouched down and started looking over the tools before loading them onto her suit.

I watched silently, anxiety bouncing around my chest.

“Okay, I think I’m ready.”

She smiled but her eyes were wild with nerves.

“You’ll be fine. Just do what you can and come back to us. Don’t risk yourself and don’t go too close to the gate, okay?” I said, hugging her close.

“If anything doesn’t feel right, get the hell out of there,” Cas said, hugging her after I finally let go.

“It’ll be fine. I’ll be back before you know it.”

She smiled at Peggy who smiled back, her eyes full of tears, before turning to Cory who wrapped his arms around her.

I looked away to give them some privacy, my eyes finding Cas. His hands were clenching and unclenching repeatedly, his eyes flicking to the ship we could see through the window.

“Are you sure you want to go? I’ll go instead.” I heard Cory whisper.

Gem pulled back, looking deep into Cory’s eyes.

“I’m sure.”

She untangled herself and stepped back. Cory’s hands clutched at hers, not wanting to let go.

“I’ll be fine, I’ll come back.”

One side of her lips rose in a gentle smile as she brought a hand up to touch his face.

She turned, her shoulders squared, her face determined, and stepped into the airlock.

Turning back to face us, she smiled.

“No retreat.”

I forced confidence into my voice.

“No surrender!”