I looked around the room as my heart pounded wildly in my ears. What were we meant to do now? The one person who we could always rely on to fight for us and protect us was gone. Just like that. There was no warning, no message, nothing. The base wouldn’t be the same without Andy. He made it better. He made us better.

I needed to work out what to do. I was the Captain, this was my responsibility. I needed to work out our next steps and how we could stay safe.

Okay. Cory, are there any cameras or microphones in here? My mind had stopped spinning and was eerily clear.

It felt like the moment before a battle where everything else fades away and all that’s left is you and your targets.

“I don’t know. What do we do now?” Gem asked as we waited for Cory to finish looking around.

Nothing. This is weird though, I think the pipes look kind of different. I think I might just be overthinking it though. I’ve never paid much attention to them before. His eyes traced lines on the ceiling.

I glanced up quickly, activating my mods. I couldn’t see through the ceiling, like Cory, but I thought the heat signatures looked the same as before. I’d never paid close attention to them either. I should have. Maybe that would have changed things.

Thinking we were safe for now, I allowed myself to consider what to do next. If Andy was gone, that meant all of the tutors were at risk. Fear started to claw its way through my chest.

“We need to check in with the other tutors, make sure they’re still here. Did you see any of them at dinner?”

“I’m sure I saw Taury there when we first walked in but no other Commanders,” Peg answered, thinking hard.

I glanced around at the others who were shaking their head with worried looks on their faces.

“Okay, let’s call them. See who’s still here. Tell them you want to organise a meeting to discuss your teaching or something if they pick up.” I ordered.

I grabbed a screen from the bed and pulled up the Commander list before dropping it in the middle of the circle so that we could all see it.

“Mark off the ones you’ve called and if they answer. Cross their names out if it’s no answer, highlight if they answer and seem fine, underline it if they answer but it seems weird. I don’t know what we’re looking for… Just if something seems off.”

With a shaking hand, I crossed off Andy’s name. He was gone. There was no point in trying to call him again. I wanted to hear his voice so badly right them.

“Hello, Pict! Oh great, I was wondering if I could talk to you about my teaching… Oh, you’re off base right now? That makes sense… I guess I’ll just speak to you when you get back.” Peggy said, reaching out and underlining Commander Pict’s name.

“Nothing from Orion.” Gem said sadly, crossing out her name.

“Dr Micros didn’t answer either.”

My wrist monitor beeped at me again telling me I couldn’t contact Commander Felix. I crossed out his name, my heart feeling heavy.

“Oh! Commander Ursa! I’m so glad we got through to you. I was wondering if I could speak to you tomorrow about my teaching… Yeah? Great, I’ll see you at lunch.” Cas said politely, highlighting his name.

“I’ll call Leo,” I said, hoping she would answer.

The line was silent, no call noise like there normally was. It usually beeped as it tried to connect but this time, there was nothing.

I had almost given up hope when the line clicked.

“Hello.” Her voice was low and hushed.

Relief flooded my heart at the sound of her voice.

“Leo! It’s Aries! I’m so happy we managed to get through to you!”

She cursed quietly under her breath.

“Where are you?”

“We’re on the base… Where are you?”

I bit my lip as she cursed again, louder this time. It seemed to echo back at her from wherever she was.

“Is Andy still there?”

“No, we just went to see him. There’s a Director Plend in his office now. Do you know her? Cas said he recognises her from Council events.”

“Plend? Oh shit, that’s not good. She’s a known Council supporter. You need to get out of there. We should have bought you some time but I don’t know how much. You’re not safe anymore. Hack Frida and go. You need to leave tomorrow at the latest, you need to—”

It cut out and I found I couldn’t take my eyes off the blank screen as it beeped at me. I took a shaking breath. I had never heard Leo sound so scared. It really threw me.

I ripped my eyes from the screen and looked up at my crew who were staring fearfully at my wrist monitor like it was about to explode.

“Tomorrow. We leave tomorrow.” I decided.

“But what about the countdown?” Cas asked, his eyes wild and fearful.

“We still try and work out what’s happening. We can check the back channels, forums, message boards, everything. Let’s reach out to any of the Irisians who aren’t still in jail, make sure they’re safe and that they know something might be going on. I don’t want to scare them but we need them to know they might be at risk. Let pack up our stuff tonight, reach out to Chal and maybe we can see if we can reach Captain Aquila’s ship.”

“And then?”

“And then we go in the morning. Before class starts.”

My crew nodded grimly but Peggy was still staring at my wrist monitor and looked heartbroken.

“Peg?” I prompted her gently.

She took a shuddering deep breath and looked up at me with tear-filled eyes.

I nudged her with my shoulder.

“It’ll be okay,” I promised dumbly even though my faith in that was waning by the second.

Gem smiled at us gently despite the fear in her eyes.

“We’ll sort this out and find Andy again. Plus, you might be able to get answers to some of the questions you have about Captain Aquila.”

The corner of Peg’s lips rose in a smile.

“See. We’ll be alright, Peg. We’ve got you and you’re the smartest person here. Come on, let’s finish calling the tutors then work out what this damn timer means.”

She let out a deep breath and nodded, reaching out and underlining Leo’s name.

“Okay crew, let’s keep going.”

I don’t even know what to say here. Andy, if you got killed because of us, I’m so sorry. It’s too late, I guess. If the Council got you, you aren’t going to be reading this. They’d have killed you straight away.

I like to think you managed to get away. That you’re out there somewhere. Hopefully safe. Maybe one day you’ll read this and see how much we looked up to you and respected you. But I don’t think that’s likely. I hope that you knew what was coming and ran like Leo and Tria and some of the other Commanders but I don’t think that’s likely. You’d never leave your kids voluntarily. You’d never leave us. Not without warning us or helping us to get out too. You’d have been here until the bitter end fighting the Council.

Thank you. Thank you for everything you did for us. For all of us. Everyone who trained on Base 225 loved you and was made better by what you did. You were the first adult that I trusted. Everything you did was to make us better and happier. This base is going to be a mess without you. It won’t be the same. We won’t be the same.

I’m sorry. Thank you.