“It seems safe enough,” I muttered quietly as I scanned the screen.

“Three,” was all Cas said.

“Three,” Peggy confirmed. “We can do three, we’ve done three before. We can take down three people.”

I glanced up at her. She looked grim but determined.

We had taken down three people before but it was the many, many kids hiding in the corridors that I was scared for.

They were on our side, I knew that most of them were, but some were still likely to try and attack us.

And the three were a problem. They weren’t just three barely trained people or even kind of trained people. They were the Council’s people. Each of those three people who were patrolling the base had been training for longer than I’d even been alive.

One of them was Plend, I could assume that, but I wasn’t sure about the others. Probably some of the tutors who had been left behind. Or maybe they’d chosen to stay behind. Maybe they believed what the Council said, even in the face of everything that had happened and gone wrong. They just wanted us dead.

And they wouldn’t care about who they took down in the meantime.

“Three,” Cory muttered. “Plend, and two others.”

“Or is that Plend there?” Peggy said, pointing to a spot on the screen in front of me.

We had the scan up on the holo in the middle of the bay but still, my crew were huddled around me and the screen in my hands. I’m not sure why. I think we knew it might be the last time we were able to be together.

Before all of our missions in the past, it had been fine. We always knew what we were doing was dangerous but it was okay, you know? Like, we were rarely in situations so horrible that we could die. They were dangerous, but not life-threatening.

But this time…

I looked around my crew.

I think I knew then how this would go down. I knew that it wouldn’t be a good fight. It wouldn’t be safe and we wouldn’t all make it out in one piece. It would be horrible.

“So, what’s the plan?” Cory said, looking up at me.

“How are you feeling?” I asked, meeting his gaze.

I was trying to buy myself some more time, torn between wanting us to sneak into the base, take the tutors out one at a time whilst Sammy and the rest of the kids stay hidden in the corridors, and bursting into the base, drawing them all to us and taking the three tutors out in one fell swoop.

They would both work.

It would be harder to avoid the kids with the first plan, I knew that. We’d need to use the corridors with them which might not go well. I could tell them to stay out of our way but they might not want to. And if any of those kids weren’t on our side, they could rat us out or just try and kill us.

But with the second plan, we’d be risking more.

We’d be a smaller target, harder to hit but all together so easier too. They’d see us coming and either rush towards us or have time to prepare.

No, they were decorated military professionals. They’d be prepared.

We needed to get into the garage with them. At least if we were in the garage with them they wouldn’t be able to use any explosives or rocket launchers or anything. They’d be too close, they wouldn’t risk themselves, surely?

And the kids could be out of the way. I could tell Sammy and the others to hide somewhere far away and they’d be safe from everything that went down and then I could tell them to come out when it was clear.

We’d be more at risk but we could completely control the environment and the situation.

“Yeah, fine,” Cory answered, his words a little too quick.

I blinked, turning on my temporary eye mods to check his vitals. His heart was racing but he seemed okay. Blood pressure a little higher, stressed but fine.

“Okay, what about you?” I asked turning to Peggy.

She met my gaze unwaveringly.

“I’m ready,” she said, her vitals supporting her claims.

She was. She was ready to save the kids.

I glanced at Cas but he just nodded silently,his expression telling me everything.

My crew were ready, I was the one holding us back.

“I want us all to take some stimulant pills,” I said, my tone a little uneven. “This has the potential to be a big fight. We need to be ready and switched on. I know that most of us haven’t been sleeping well since we came to Freo. We need to be at the top of our game because, if we fuck up then someone will die.”

That last bit was more to me than anyone else.

I needed to be smart about this.

My crew nodded and looked up at me expectantly as Cory crossed to his medkit that he’s strapped into the wall. We were silent as he returned and handed out some plain white tablets.

“Let it dissolve in your mouth and then drink at least one hundred millilitres of water,” Cory instructed, ever the ship Doc, taking two of the tablets.

I nodded, doing as he instructed and feeling the flat disk fizz across my tongue before reaching for my water bottle.

“I think I’m going to let the tutors come to us, it should be the best way to keep the kids safe. Send them to the other end of the base and then we go into the garage, throw up a few shields and let them come at us. Then, I want you to stay on the ship, Peggy. Use the built-in guns, you’re good with them. Take out the tutors,” I instructed.

Peggy nodded.

“What about us?” Cory asked.

I took a deep breath, feeling out of my depth.

“That depends. If we get to the garage before the tutors, we can get out to the shields, reinforce them and then go from there but if not, I want you on the other gun, Cory, Cas and I will take the door and push out when we can,” I said.

It was the best option. I wanted to keep them away from the ship as much as possible, a leftover impulse from our old missions where if we were grounded, we were stuck but staying aboard was our safest option.

The ship was reinforced, it could withstand whatever they threw at us and there were enough ships in the air near us that if the ship was grounded somehow, we’d still be able to escape. But it also meant that we were limited in what we could do.

There were only a certain number of weapons built into the ship so we wouldn’t all be able to use them and if the tutors somehow managed to get to the ship or get on board, we’d be dead. If we were out there, behind shields, we had more options.

“Okay,” Cory said.

Cas nodded at me.

“I need to tell the others first. I’ll tell Sammy to get the others away from the garage but I’ll talk to our other ships first. If there are any spies with Sammy, they’ll tell the tutors and they’ll get to the garage before we can,” I said.

The others nodded but said nothing, silently trusting my judgement.

Gods, I hoped I hadn’t made a mistake.

I guess I didn’t, not really. I do still blame myself no matter how often people tell me what happened wasn’t my fault. It feels like it. Andy drilled it into me enough times and not just Andy. All of the tutors did. When you’re the Captain, you are responsible for everyone under you. Whether they live or die, it’s on your shoulders even if they make a decision that goes against what you told them to do.

I know it’s not always that simple but… It’s my fault, I know it is.

I still blame myself.

Hells, I still blame myself for a lot of things.

“Okay, let me go call them,” I said, stepping away from my crew with my screen before hesitating. “Actually, it might be better if, when I call Sammy, we’re all here. What do you think? It might help them feel more… I don’t know, inspired?”

I cringed as the word left my mouth. We weren’t inspiring. Nothing we’d done was inspiring.

Well, nothing I did was inspiring, I just tried to do the right thing. The rest of my crew though, that was different. They constantly made hard decisions, doing something risky and dangerous so that others would be safe or happier. They inspired me.

“Okay, let me call Trolis and let him know the plan.”