Garrick sat on the bridge of the Phoenix Rises as the ship made its way though jump space. He could feel the sense of anticipation in the air that maybe, finally, they would catch the Whisper.

His mind wasn't on the mission at hand, however, as despite the positive first meeting with Jansen the day before, he couldn't shake the feeling that Allison thought that she was the traitor. He was beginning to think that she had her suspicions of why Allison had really transferred him to the Phoenix Rises. It was only small things, making Garrick sit at the rear of the bridge away from the action or missing him of distribution lists. He tried to act with the utmost professionalism so as not to fan these suspicions, but the fact that she was nervous suggested to Garrick he was on the right lines. Jump space faded before them, so he shook his head to focus.

"Power up and prepare for a system scan and diffusion transmission, Lieutenant Forster," Peterborough said.

"Understood, ma'am." Forster began the scans, while the rest of the crew waited in nervous silence. "Everything is as we expected, Admiral. The caxeal freighter is heading towards the Den with the Mandrake moving to intercept."

"Excellent," Jansen said without so much as a glance over to Garrick--the true architect of this mission.

"Get me Admiral Allison," Jansen said.

"Link established, sir," Forster said.

A small image of the bridge of the Mandrake appeared in the corner of the viewscreen next to the view of the freighter. "Admiral." Allison stood up.

"I hope you've enjoyed your stay in the Vale, Ben," Jansen joked. "Any sign of the Whisper?"

"Nothing yet, but I'd say they're in the system. It's too good an opportunity for them to pass up. The freighter is holding position away from the Den."

"Agreed. We have to assume--"

"Sorry to interrupt Admirals," Forster said. "A transmission coming through on all bands."

"Dear Alliance war-criminals--me again. I'm here to take your caxeal. You may as well back off now, because there's no chance in hell you'll catch me."

Silence fell the bridge until Jansen broke the spell. "Track that ship and take us in, now!" She yelled. "This is what we've been waiting for. Now let's catch them.

"She knew we were coming through," Garrick said, to no one in particular, but it was a feeling he couldn't shake.

"Excuse me Commander?" Jansen called up.

"She must have known--this is all timed too well. Someone leaked it to her, I'm sure of it."

"What are you suggesting?" Peterborough turned to face him with his arms folded and a deep frown on his face.

Before Garrick could respond, Jansen held up a hand. "You may be right, but right now we have other problems." Jansen turned to Forster. "Where is the Whisper's ship?"

"I've traced the message--it's coming from a ship moving away from the caxeal shipment."

"Away? Check the caxeal freighter." Jansen went over to her console to see for herself.

Garrick's heart grew cold.

"Two ships docked with it, no transmissions being made."

"Shit," Peterborough said just loud enough for everyone to hear.

"The Whisper's ship is making for the edge of the Vale nebula, Admiral," Forster said.

"No!" Garrick jumped up. They couldn't let them get away.

"Commander, get down here," Jansen said, and Garrick hurried down to stand next to Peterborough. "Recommendations, please."

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

"Go for the Whisper," Garrick said.

"Agreed, we can't let her escape," Peterborough said."She'll have passed her message on already, I assume."

"Message?" Garrick said. "What message? No one briefed me about this. Admiral Allison assigned me here to--"

"We had intel to suggest that the Whisper wanted to get a message to Caxis," Peterborough interrupted.

Garrick's mind reeled. "But that would mean--"

"There's no time for an explanation, Commander." She turned away to leave him trying to make sense of this revelation, and the fact that it had been kept from him. "Get me Allison back."

Allison's face reappeared.

Jansen took a step towards the viewport.. "Admiral, I suggest that one of us pursue the Whisper, and the other head for Caxis to intercept her message--if she issued it."

"Agreed, I'll take the Mandrake to Caxis."

Jansen was silent for a moment. "As you wish. Helmsman, set a pursuit course for the Whisper's ship."

"Good luck, Admiral, and I hope you take good care of Commander Karn for me." He looked directly at Garrick. "Allison out."

Garrick wished he could have a proper conversation with Allison, but that look would be all he got for a long while. Allison knew about this message, which meant Jansen had kept it from him to spite him. Fine--he could deal with spite.

Jansen sighed and sat back down in her seat. "All right, let's hunt the Whisper down. Lieutenant Forster, where is she?"

"Just entering the nebula," Forster said.

"How long until we cross the threshold?"

"Two minutes, sir. We're travelling faster than she is."

"Project an envelope of how far she can get in all directions inside the nebula by the time we get there," Peterborough said. "Launch assault vehicles to manage the search."

"I'd also put a time limit on each sortie so they rendezvous outside the nebula," Garrick spoke up. Peterborough frowned at him but this was no time for politics. "We don't want our ships getting lost."

"Understood," Forster said. "Projecting now."

"Good. Inform me when you've caught her ship." Jansen turned and walked off the bridge leaving Garrick and Peterborough behind with the rest of the bridge crew.

"Well, Commander, don't be too disheartened." Peterborough took the chair vacated by Jansen.

"Excuse me, sir?"

"Your first operation. Don't worry it didn't go to plan."

He heard implied meaning in Peterborough's words, and only a few weeks ago it would have rankled. Instead, he raged that someone had betrayed the Alliance and leaked details of his operation. Given the stakes it was unforgivable. "Captain, if I may. Given that Admiral Allison put me in command of capturing the Whisper, when we pick her up, may I be the first one to interview her?"

Peterborough looked him up and down. "I'll speak to Admiral Jansen. I can't guarantee anything though."

"Thank you, sir." Garrick wanted answers, and he wanted to have a shot before Jansen did.

#

Within the hour, the Phoenix Rises had apprehended the Whisper's ship and Garrick was on his way through the warship to the detention cells with Peterborough. Behind the two of them walked his unit--Fabian, Okoro and Ramsey. He had been waiting for this moment a long time, ever since the first time the Whisper got the better of him outside Picuus, but something was off. This was a fugitive who the Alliance had never come close to capturing, who had raided transports, killed countless people and had such a reputation in the Arm that people viewed her like a galactic poltergeist. And yet, somehow they caught her.

"After you, Commander." Peterborough held a wrinkled hand out towards the cell where they had put her.

"So you're the Whisper." He stared at the brown skinned woman with a clean-shaven head, sitting on the floor cross legged.

"Whisper? I like to think of myself as more of a shout, or hurricane," she mused.

Garrick stepped forward to the forcefield separating the cell from the rest of the detention centre. "My name is--"

"Garrick Karn, yes I know who you are." She turned to the Captain. "And you must be the ageless Captain Peterborough."

"Charmed," Peterborough said. "Though you have me at a disadvantage."

"Call me Hamasa." She started picking at her fingernails. "You're wondering whether the leak who told me your names. Or maybe I'm just good at hacking into Alliance warships to steal their manifests, who knows."

He deactivated the field and walked through to sit on the unoccupied chair.

"Come on in, be my guest." Hamasa rolled her eyes.

Garrick ignored her. "So Hamasa, why did you want to get caught?"

"Commander," Peterborough started before Garrick raised a hand.

"You wanted to get caught. We've spent months trying to catch you."

"You're smart, I like you." She moved to kneel before Garrick, face to face. "Of course, I wanted to--do you think you people would have ever found me if I didn't?" She laughed, her eyes boring into him. "So the next question you will have is 'why'. Correct, no?"

Garrick nodded.

"I wasn't being paid enough, or was it too much? Either way, I'm here now and happy to answer whatever questions you've got."

"How do we know you're telling the truth?"

"Oh, come on Garrick, you know the answer to that already. You can't, but that doesn't stop you from wanting what I've got to say."

"Well, say it then."

She fixed him with another stare. "Ask."

Garrick bit back his growing anger. "Fine, who hired you? Were you given a package by someone in the Alliance Military?"

"Couldn't help even if I wanted to. My contract came through a long route with different couriers in each system. As for the package... It was quite something."

Garrick blinked. What was her game? "Who was it from?"

"Again, can't tell you. Came through a lot of people before it made its way to me."

"What's in the package?"

"A guide."

"A guide to what?" His heart pounded in his chest.

"How to make a gravity bomb."