Admiral Allison was furious.

He paced up and down his briefing room on the Mandrake with his arms folded behind his back. Garrick sat at the table next to Silas. He was enjoying watching the old man squirm after the way he treated him in the Phoenix Rises' detention centre. Chi-Young sat on the opposite side of the table. He pointedly refused to make eye contact with Garrick.

"You are out of line, Silas. And you--" he pointed at Garrick "--I expected more from you. Taking a prisoner off my ship under duress." Allison slammed his hand on the table. "I won't stand for it, dammit."

"I'm sorry, Admiral, but the situation is clear," Silas said. "A mediator has the power to appropriate prisoners." He had a look of mock sympathy on his face.

Allison rounded on Garrick. "Do you believe what he is saying?"

"I believe that Mr Fenig is a traitor and a threat," Garrick said. "I tried raising my concerns with you, but you dismissed them."

"Commander," Chi-Young said, jumping in before Allison could react. "You must see how this looks. Two of the Mandrake's own crew broke a prisoner out of their quarters at gun point--"

"On my ship," Allison's voice was deathly quiet. "This happened on my ship."

"Admiral, Captain." Silas gave another condescending smile. "There's nothing you can do. Corporal Okoro and Officer Shaw are protected by the indemnity granted by mediators for those carrying out their orders."

"Don't play games, Silas." Allison jabbed a finger at him.

"Admiral, I'm not playing. I won't allow Okoro or Shaw to remain on the Mandrake, they'll be coming with me for her own protection. Who knows what might happen to them on this ship."

"Silas, how da--"

"There is something else, Admiral," Garrick cut him off. He wasn't about to sit and take this. Time to set the trap.

"Do not interrupt me, Garrick," Allison said. "Explain to me why I don't throw you off my ship."

"Because then we wouldn't be able to discuss the operation to take the Forge," Silas said.

That stopped Allison dead in his tracks. He and Chi-Young shared a look. It was a minute before either of them spoke, but Garrick could see that Silas had their attention.

"You've got a lot of nerve trying to blackmail me like this." Allison shook his head.

"This isn't blackmail. Our removal of Marcus Fenig has no bearing on your suitability for the Forge operation." Silas picked at his nails. "You requested it, did you not?"

"I did." Allison folded his arms.

Silas looked up at him. "Then you have it."

"Did the Secretary General approve the operation?" Chi-Young said, looking suitably confused.

"I've informed his office that it is going ahead." Silas gave a slight smile. "I decided to take on board the point made by the Admiral that if we delay, we risk handing the initiative to the insurgents."

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"I see." Allison walked over to the viewport and begun staring out at the darkness. "And what would be expected of us if we were to take on this operation?"

"You would need to follow all my orders, not just those related to the Forge. Drop any suggestion of an investigation into Okoro and Shaw."

Chi-Young scoffed and shook his head. "What price freedom?"

"I'm not happy about this Silas." Allison turned back around, frowning at the Mediator. "But if it means that we can ensure the Forge is secure, then it's a price we must pay. Let me be clear though, if Okoro ever sets a foot back on my ship I'll throw her in the brig."

"You know my position on the matter, Admiral, but I will not argue this anymore. I would, however, like Commander Karn to remain on board as my liaison."

Allison looked like he was about to object, but he just sighed and sat back down. Garrick smiled inwardly at how Silas had manipulated Allison and Chi-Young.

"So where is the Forge?" Chi-Young said. Garrick thought it interesting that he was the one that raised its location.

"At the edge of the Arm, a system called 213B," SIlas said

"Never heard of it," Allison said. He walked over to one of the wall mounted consoles and did a search for the name, but nothing came up.

"It's not on the public lanes, or on any charts so you wouldn't have."

"How many off-the-network lanes do the Alliance have? And why don't I know about them?" Allison folded his arms.

"They're classified under the highest security clearance Secretary General's office only." Silas pressed a few buttons on a console fixed to the briefing table and the map zoomed into a distant part of the Perseus Arm. "Needless to say, if you tell anyone about them it's treason."

"What do you take me for Silas?"

"I just have to spell that out ,Admiral--it's procedure." Silas held his hands up.

Allison looked ready to explode, but Chi-Young spoke first. "So what's the plan?"

"Two ships, the Mandrake and the Phoenix Rises, will travel together to the forge and defend it," Garrick said. He tried to detect any hint that Allison or Chi-Young suspected them, but there was nothing.

"Sounds simple enough." Chi-Young shrugged. "Admiral?"

Allison paused. "All right, but I want it on the record, Silas, that I protest your handling of the prisoner situation."

They actually bought it.

"Admiral, I am sorry I didn't run the operation by you first." Silas did an excellent job of making himself look remorseful. "There was the need for secrecy to catch the couple off guard. We will of course pass on any information we gain from interrogating Mr Fenig."

Allison didn't look happy, but he didn't protest.

"If that is all, Mediator, I will go to ensure we make arrangements for Commander Karn's transfer back to the Mandrake. It will be good to have you back, Garrick." There wasn't much warmth in Chi-Young's voice.

If you are the traitor, I will bring you down.

#

Though this had been his home for most his time in the Alliance, it felt uncomfortable being back in his old cabin. Most of the few belongings he owned were still on the Phoenix Rises, so the room felt a shadow of what it had been. Judging by how some of the furniture had shifted around, he was sure that Chi-Young had assigned others to the room while he was away out of spite, despite that not being standard procedure for secondments.

Still, there was no time to worry about the petty actions of the Mandrake's captain. Instead, he just needed to focus on laying the next phase of the trap to flush out the leak on this ship.

Silas hadn't been lying about there being an Alliance base in system 213B, and that it was off the normal lanes network, but it didn't contain the forge. It was a convenient location that both offered the Mandrake information it didn't have before, while concealing the Forge's actual location. Silas hadn't told him where it was, but Garrick was sure that he knew.

Titanic class vessels, like the Mandrake, sent out their fair share of communications; transmissions to update the ledgers of any other Alliance ships in the vicinity after leaving a gate; in-system communications to stations or other ships; or diffusion transmissions for other vessels to take through the gate and beyond. If it was Garrick who was trying to leak secrets, he would have made use of some of the more innocuous looking transmissions to piggy back information off. Anything else was too risky.

Garrick entered the authorisation Silas had given him and opened up the ship's master record. Without knowing what kind of message he was looking for, he had decided with Silas to leave a piece of malware behind to record every transmission that the Mandrake sent out. It meant he could keep track of them and crosscheck with whether there was any attack on 213B.

It surprised him it was this easy.

Now they just had to wait. Garrick put his feet up on the desk and revelled in how well the day had gone.

Why couldn't they all be like this?