We subconsciously sped to a light jog and ducked out of the hatch into the corridor just past our rooms. It was strangely quiet. The silent staff corridor echoed our footsteps back to us. Anxiety raced through me, hastening my steps.

The rest of the crew were waiting for us in my room, sitting on the bed squares and looking worried.

"What's happened?” I asked, fear overtaking me.

“Nothing!” Cas responded quickly, shuffling to make space for me.

“Cas.” Gem said, in almost a warning.

I looked at him, checking for signs of injury or illness but there was nothing. He looked worried and his eyes kept wandering to his wrist monitor but he didn’t say anything else.

“Cas?” I prompted.

“It’s probably nothing…” He muttered, still looking down at his monitor.

My heart pounded as we waited for him to continue. I wanted to prompt him again but I knew he had to work up the courage. He looked scared. I wasn’t used to seeing him look scared.

“Fine. So, you know I’ve been getting these weird messages since we got the monitors back?”

“Yeah?” I said, not knowing where he was going.

“So… I got another weird one today.”

I looked around at the others who were all watching Cas intently. They looked worried too.

“What did it say?”

He swallowed audibly.

“It just said ‘I will win’.”

My blood ran cold and a shiver raced down my spine.

“Okay. That’s not too bad. We’ve received worse messages?” I lied, my voice coming out higher pitched than I expected.

We had received worse messages, that much wasn’t a lie but there was something strangely sinister about the message.

“That’s not all.”

“Oh.”

“There’s a countdown.”

It felt like my heart had stopped beating as I stared down at his wrist monitor. There were just under six hours left on the countdown.

“A countdown? Why is there a countdown? What’s it for?”

“I don’t know.”

“Was there anything else to the message? Any kind of clue?”

He shook his head, his eyes fixated on its numbers.

“Okay. Okay. That’s fine. We can work this out.” My heart hammered and I wracked my brain for a solution.

The rest of the crew were watching me, waiting for me to decide what to do. I was the Captain. This fell to me but I was in no way trained for it. I just did my best.

“Okay. Peggy and Cas, you try and trace the message. See if you can work out where it came from. Cory and Gem, you try and reach out on the back channels. Find out if there is any rumours or hints of anything happening in the night. We’re looking for terrorism, anything targeting the Irisians or anything to do with the Council. I’ll send Andy a message, see if we can get a meeting and see what his investigation into that other weird message found.”

They nodded and got to work pouring over their screens. I took a deep, shaky breath and tried to focus. My eyes flitted around the room, checking the progress of my crewmates before settling on my own screen. I picked it up and started typing a message to Andy. I didn’t want it to sound too panicked but at the same time, my hands shook with fear.

Hello Andy! Cas just got another weird message and we were wondering if you could help with it? There’s a countdown too which is kind of weird. It should go off just after four in the morning and we’re not really sure why. Cas and Peggy are trying to trace it and Cory and Gem are trying to find out what’s going on. Can we come to your office to talk about it?

I read over the message again. That should be fine. Andy said his messages were shielded from the Council so there was no risk of someone else reading it. I hit send and breathed in, my anxiety settling for just a moment.

A beeping noise echoed through the room and I looked at my monitor in confusion. An error message was blinking on the screen. That had never happened before. Messages to Andy always went through.

“What’s that?” Gem asked apprehensively.

“I tried to message Andy… It’s saying the user cannot be found.”

“What? No, try again. There’s probably just like poor signal or something.”

I tried again. The same error came back.

Fuck.

I tried to call him but it just kept saying the user could not be found. I looked up at my crew, panic rising in me and goosebumps breaking out on my arms. Peggy’s eyes were glistening, she was trying to hold back tears. Gem and Cory looked confused but Cas. Cas had a look of despondent resignation on his face as if he knew this was coming.

Andy couldn’t be gone. We couldn’t have caused this. He had to be there.

“Now what?” I croaked, my throat feeling thick with tears.

“Now we go to his office. Make sure he’s not there.” Cas said, his voice hollow.

We rose and made the short trip to his office. I knocked, my hand dropping to my side hopelessly. I already knew he wouldn’t be there.

There was a scuffling sound behind the door like someone was moving things around. A little bit of hope rose in me but not much. Something was wrong.

Should I knock again?

Yeah, maybe Andy didn’t hear you. Gem thought hopefully.

I knocked again, harder this time.

The door swung open and a tall, severe-looking woman in full Space Corps dress uniform opened it, smiling pleasantly. The medal on her chest was shiny and looked brand new.

“Oh… Sorry. We were hoping to speak to Andy… Director Gaddon?” I stammered, unsure how to address this new person.

The woman pursed her lips as she looked me slowly up and down.

I glanced behind her. The office was a mess. Books were strewn across the room and the back wall was strangely blank.

“Director Gaddon has been called away on business.”

Her voice was smooth, definitely of Nova.

“How long for?” Peggy asked from behind me, trying to hide the tremble in her voice.

One side of her lips rose in a smile before she squashed it back down.

“I’m afraid I don’t know.”

“Will he be coming back?” Cas questioned, his eyes narrowed.

“I’m afraid I don’t know that either.” A sympathetic smile came over her face but I didn’t trust her for a second.

I recognise her. Cas told us, his voice flat.

“Do you know where he’s gone? We need to speak to him.” I said.

“Well, you can speak to me instead.”

We all knew that we could not. We were silent for a moment before Gem spoke, her tone as polite as possible.

“I’m sorry but, who are you?”

“I’m the new Director whilst Gaddon is… away. I’m Director Plend.”

This time she didn’t stop the victorious smile from appearing.

“Director Plend…” Cas said quietly, recognition dawning on his face.

“Umm… I thought you couldn’t call yourself the Director until the previous one either dies or is removed from the post?” Peggy asked, clearly reciting the handbook.

The woman raised an eyebrow at Peggy.

“Well, I was placed here by the Council as the Director so maybe you should speak to them about the technicalities of the law.”

It felt like a dig at us and I didn’t trust her.

We should go. Cas thought, urgency entering his voice. Now.

“Well… It was nice to meet you.” I shuffled back away from the door.

“Wait, I thought you needed to talk to me about something?”

“Oh… Yeah… I just wanted to ask Andy something about my teaching schedule for next week… I can probably work it out.” I winced at the weak excuse.

“Ah, great. Well, if there is anything else I can do to help feel free to knock.”

She smiled politely before shutting the door in our faces.

Who is she, Cas? I asked as we walked away.

She's friends with my dad.

I stumbled and Cas’ hand shot out to steady me. My heart sunk in my chest.

Are you sure?

Yeah. She used to go to his parties and shit when he was campaigning. I knew I recognised her.

But wait, what does that mean? I thought the Council couldn't interfere with Base operations? Peggy thought urgently.

We stepped into my room, sitting down amongst the screens we’d abandoned before.

Yeah. They shouldn’t be able to.

That means we’re alone. We have to do this without him. Gem thought grimly.

Fear gripped my chest. That didn’t mean anything. It didn’t mean anything had happened to Andy.

I hope he’s still alive.

He has to still be alive. Andy deserves better. He fought the Council for us. If he’s gone that means it was our fault. We caused this to happen.

“What now?” I asked, my voice shaking slightly.