Once they left Mraawn, Rila turned to Waarlm to find out what he'd recovered from his venture, and he just showed her the tattered remains of a USEP uniform top. When they were back aboard the Faraday they were able to hack into the tech that was still functioning and find a smattering of partial messages. And being a comms specialist who happened to know Ali, Rila was able to use them to piece together an encrypted comm channel.

Ali was only somewhat surprised Rila had taken it upon herself to start digging rather than staying safe. After all, she had known to leave something behind. After a brief conversation Ali relented and admitted that her crew were free to make their own decisions about it. So they agreed on a rendezvous, using only references to past missions and mishaps so that if someone had hacked the comm they wouldn't be able to beat them there. Rila also knew to take the long route to ensure they weren't followed.

Once the meeting point had been arranged Ali went to Grey and said she was going to go and meet up with her crew, and that if he wanted to keep his crew safe she'd go in the Emerald Mule. Though the offer was unnecessary because Grey knew that they would need allies eventually, and Ali's crew could be trusted.

Naturally the first thing Ali did when the two ships met was ascertain that her crew were fine and well. Then got a full report from Rila and the personal debrief out of the way before holding the full debrief that brought everyone up to speed on what they'd missed.

That led to a meeting in Grey's ready room with him, Ali, Ben and Rila to determine their next steps and just what they let their crews know about this. "Well, shit," Grey decided once Rila had finished relaying everything she, Ed & Waarlm had learnt on Gooli.

"Yep, exactly what I said," Ali admitted, causing at least one wry grin. "Difference is, people expect that kind of language from me," she teased. "We've got a major problem if we're right about this."

"You mean that a group - maybe Pikaya or possibly Tuktutav - are performing illegal telepathic experiments on people? That they appear to scare Touchard enough to prevent him offering a deal for his freedom. Not to mention that they appear to have enough connections to take an active management in USEP business through equally shady dealings?" Grey summarised, looking as if he had a headache.

"Actually, I was thinking Tuktutav and Pikaya might essentially be run by the same people," Ali admitted. "Assuming of course tuktutav is a group at all. But it would explain some of the stuff on that ship."

"This isn't making it better," Grey warned. Ali shrugged.

"I don't think it changes anything, we need to put a stop to it, and either way, they have enough clout to put us all out of commission afterwards," Ben said.

"So we run the raid regardless?" Rila checked.

"I'd rather we infiltrate than raid, but I don't know how feasible that is," Ali admitted. "And just how much plausible deniability do we want everyone to have?" She added, turning directly to Grey. "As COs, sir, we're in the firing line regardless, but we can protect our crews is we restrict information."

"Are you seriously considering keeping your senior staff in the dark?" Rila asked.

"It's my job to protect them, that means working out if withholding information puts them in more danger or less," Ali explained.

"You could just ask them," Rila muttered.

"Bit late by then," Ben corrected in kind. "And I'm not endorsing wiping their memories like this group would."

Ali froze as a realisation came to her. "Krekt," she said as her eyes darted about as if she was reading something in her mind.

"Ali?" Grey asked, not noticing the frown Ben was giving Ali.

"I think I've just remembered where I've seen the word tuktutav before," Ali admitted. "It was written on one of the consoles of that weapon Bert unearthed."

Grey had just opened his mouth to ask a question when a similar look of realisation appeared on Ben's face. "Yes, the panel saying security checks passed."

"I hate it when you do this," Grey muttered to himself as he turned back to Ali.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

"Hey, at least we know it's a real word or group or whatever now," Ali said with an unrepentant shrug.

~-x-~

The easiest part of the research had been pulling up the data from Ben's visor to confirm that he and Ali hadn't misremembered that detail from their attempts to deactivate the incredibly powerful weapon Bert had uncovered and stolen from Kentar.

Since then Ali was getting more and more frustrated as all her efforts to find out what it related to met various dead ends. She had tried companies, individuals, project or operation names, and even trawled through everything she could find on the man responsible for building the weapon in the first place. She'd found little more than the occasional quote or note that didn't come any closer to revealing who or what it was.

She was making a valiant - but she suspected ultimately fruitless - effort at trying to figure out exactly what the security features it represented were when the chime to her ready room went and she all too gratefully hit the release.

Rila stepped into the room with a data-pad in hand. "You look like crap," she said with a soft voice.

Ali couldn't stop her wry chuckle and she indicated to the free seats as an invitation for her second in command. "Does that mean you come bearing good news or you're preparing me for disappointment?" She teased right back.

Rila held out the tablet to her captain. "It took us some educated guesses and some fancy maths from Olkant that I'm not even going to try and pretend like I understood, but we reckon we've tracked down the planet Mraawn told us about."

For a moment Ali allowed herself to be amused by Rila's admission that she didn't have the foggiest idea what Olkant had done. She considered whether or not she even opened the attached algorithms to have a peek at his workings, before the result demanded her attention. "And you're sure about this?" She asked, impressed at how even she was able to hold her voice.

With her eyes fixed on the data-pad she didn't see the way Rila's tentacles briefly twitched as she scrutinised her captain. Though if she had, Ali wouldn't have been surprised, she might have a decent poker face, but that wouldn't have stopped Rila being able to sense her shock. "As much as we can be with what we have," the jetran finally said.

Ali took a deliberate breath as she considered her next steps. "Okay, thank you," she said. "Is there anything else before I brief Grey?"

She didn't miss the way Rila's tentacles tensed for the briefest of moments before they bobbed in a jetran nod and she said, "no, captain."

"Rila, I'm not side-lining you," Ali promised, making Rila pause where she had just stood up to go to the door.

"No, you're protecting us, again," she said. "Funny, you tend to run away a lot to do that."

"Knowing me does tend to be dangerous," Ali countered, relieved that Rila's whole stance softened as she conceded the point and the self-deprecating tone. "I've already said it, but I know I'll need to say it a heck of a lot more, but I am sorry I left, but I'd do the same thing again."

"Yeah, I know," Rila admitted herself, her voice rather more neutral than Ali had expected. She had thought that she was still in the dog house. "Just… with your escapades, one day you aren't going to come back. And if that's how I end up in command, I am going to be so mad at you."

Ali chuckled at the way Rila's voice considerably softened with her joke. "That's probably the safest thing to be if you're cross with me."

"I'd rather help you fight."

"Unfortunately, it's not always that simple," Ali said. "Just remember, it's not a matter of trust, you're one of the most solid people I know…"

"Yeah, still getting the hang of that," Rila admitted, and Ali offered her a rueful smile.

Ali glanced at the time. "Get some rest, I'll brief Grey and we'll work out a plan for the morning."

Again Rila's tentacles bobbed her agreement and she turned to leave. Once the door slid shut behind her Ali instantly turned to her desk to place the call and it wasn't long before Grey's face appeared on her monitor from his own ready room. He'd barely greeted her before she blurted out, "Mraawn's planet, it's Tuthu."

Grey blinked at her as he tried to process what she'd just said. "Tuthu IV?"

Ali nodded, and he cursed under his breath. "It can be a coincidence, right?" She asked not sure what she hoped the answer would be.

"That we're back at the planet Barker tried to blow up?" Grey summarised, rubbing his temples as if to dispel a headache. "It feels more like a warning."

She couldn't stop her little wry laugh at that. "With a confirmed linked to the weapon and now location… Foreboding doesn't even begin to describe how this feels."

Grey shared her chuckle as they both sighed. "That sounds about right."

Ali nodded to herself, fidgeting for a moment before she said, "then we've got a choice to make. What exactly do we want to involve our crews in?"

Grey narrowed his eyes at her. "Are you suggesting doing another runner?"

"No," Ali promised. "No, I don't have a chance running this solo. If we're going down this road, we'll need their help. Though we can offer some protection by withholding the worst info."

"That sounds like the kind of way to escalate a bad situation."

Yet again Ali found herself nodding along to his wisdom. "Normally I would agree, but this…" She let that sentence hang, as she slumped back into her chair.

"We could always put it to our first officers?"

Ali laughed. "Then you might as well just call the briefing now, because there is no way that those two will vote against involving our crews."

After checking that Ali did actually agree that was probably their best way forward, Grey did indeed call Ben and Rila into their meeting. It didn't take long to bring them up to speed and put their dilemma to them. Ali was actually surprised there was a pause long enough for them to look like they were considering it, before they both agreed to bringing in the rest of the senior officers.

"You owe me a drink when you next see me," Ali decided.

"Funny, I don't actually recall agreeing to a bet," Grey replied, as both Ben and Rila looked confused on their respective screens.