Ali had been tempted to try and hide from her crew for the following day. If she were being truly honest with herself she had been hiding in the Endeavour's lounge the previous evening to put off having to face her crew. Yes, it was cowardly, but also they didn't need to see her skating that close to the line.

As much as she hated it, because in the aftermath it had all been completely pointless, she knew she wouldn't have done anything differently without the hindsight. And no matter how much changed with that knowledge, that didn't mean fault lay with your past self for not having that information. She took a breath, maybe if she told herself that enough times the guilt that was twisting in her gut would leave her be.

She wished they'd have been able to recover the body, but that had been impractical during a high risk rescue mission, especially when she didn't know what Tihud's minions had done with Pixie. So they weren't able to hold a funeral, or even the opportunity for her closest friends and colleagues to say their farewells in the morgue. She had organised a memorial, but that was the best she could do, and she hated that was it.

She wished she didn't have to say anything, because what could she say? With Rila's help she was able to come up with a few suitable anecdotes and all the right combination of comforting words to fit around them, but actually giving the short speech was beyond difficult when her voice kept closing with grief.

Most people on the ship knew Pixie. Not only had she been one of the senior officers, but she had been full of mischief and fun. Boisterous was Ali's initial first impression when she took up command. So once the official parts were done, everyone descended into their own stories and tributes. Regaling each other with anecdotes and memories, showcasing the odd connections throughout the ship. Friends made on weird shifts, breaks or even going back to training or pre-USEP days. Those who didn't know Pixie that well built up a picture of the woman who they no longer had the chance to get to know. It was bittersweet, but also kind of cathartic for those who were hurting.

~-x-~

In the meantime, all they could do was continue sifting through the data they'd acquired. It took longer than they wanted, because the deeper they got into it, the harder the encryption was to crack.

It was almost a week later when they got into what Ali had dubbed the "hidden research" and her summary of the first experiments they uncovered had her swearing and frantically trying to cross reference to ancient history and biology kentarians didn't like to be common knowledge.

Another couple of projects later and Ali was calling Grey to organise a joint briefing for their senior crews.

Once everyone had arrived and taken a seat Ali nodded to herself and pushed herself upright so that she could work the controls of the inbuilt computer in the conference table. "We've confirmed that Tuktutav is a real group and we're pretty certain they're dedicated to dominating people to their will via kentarian telepathic abilities," Ali started. "And accessed enough of their research files to confirm the nature of their experiments."

"So they really were doing more than just interrogating us?" Claire asked, her eyes darting from the information on the display to Ali with uncertainty clear in them. Ali nodded sadly, wishing she could let Claire continue to live with the thought it was just a rough and invasive interrogation she - and everyone else - had endured.

"What, exactly, does that entail?" Grey asked.

Ali fidgeted for a moment before she replied. "Control, pain, and if they're good enough, the ability to rewrite a person's memories."

Claire's expression shifted from uncertainty to terror before she glanced to Ben then Narla. "But they were… I mean, no, they can't… Right?"

"I cannot make any promises," Narla started calmly. "But such actions leave a mark on a person's neurological activity, and as a jetran I can detect things the scanners can't. If they had tried anything too drastic it's likely we would have found it by now." Claire swallowed and nodded, eased but not entirely convinced. It was an understandable reaction when you had been an unwilling test subject and unsure of what had even occurred during said stay.

"But maybe that's why they're running these experiments," Ben said. "Trying to find a way of doing this without leaving a trace." He sounded a lot calmer, but Ali could sense the underlying uneasiness.

"It's possible, but I actually think it's much simpler than that," Ali replied, and not liking the way the attention shifted back to her. "These kinds of techniques were more common in ancient Kentar, but they've not been used much in society recently. Part of that is stigma, but another part is the cost."

"Cost?" Grey asked.

"To put another mind through such a trauma leaves a mark in the person that did it. To an extent, they have to experience it alongside the person suffering," Ali tried to explain. "It's not a bond like a tetnar - or even venkar - but it's not a million miles away either. But the more times someone exercises that kind of telepathic attack the more marks they'll have, and eventually it has a tendency to drive them mad. Eeuvat disease."

"So they want to find a way of exerting the control without that?" Ben asked.

Ali nodded. "That and increase their knowledge of non-kentarian minds."

"So what does this change?" Grey asked. "You said this was ancient history on Kentar, so why is Tuktutav a threat that won't also just fade away?"

Ali reached to press a few more buttons to bring up some of the background notes in one of the projects. "Because this is bigger than just Kentar, and because they've been discrete their influence is already far greater than previous groups." Ali paused. "So far only members of Tuktutav know of their plans, and this is a good old fashioned cult, by the time they've got as far as initiation they're bonded by venkar so the chances of anyone breaking away or betraying the cause is slim, even by cult standards. They also use Pikaya as their muscle to avoid having to reveal their telepathic predilections to outsiders and to avoid forming unnecessary eeuvats."

"You mentioned venkar before, what's that?" Hurwitz asked.

"It's another bond, similar to a tetnar, only formed by shared experience rather than any closeness," Ali explained. "So, if two people commit a crime - unless it becomes advantageous - one isn't going to report the other because it threatens them too. It's sort of like that, only a telepathic bond permanently linking them instead."

A quiet descended over the meeting room as no one had any further immediate questions about Pikaya or Tuktutav and kentarian telepathic skill sets. "So… we just get them shut down, right?" Mishri asked. "If this kind of thing isn't outright illegal it's certainly frowned upon based on what you said, so if we expose them then they won't have many options left to keep operating."

"Oh, to be that innocent again," Rila muttered to herself.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Unfortunately we've also uncovered a lot of documentation that demonstrates just how much reach the organisations - or it's members - have," Olkant explained rather more kindly. "It's a select group of powerful individuals, who have the patience to work slowly and remain under the radar for centuries. They have a lot of influence, so they would either discredit us, or contact the right people to avoid the worst of any investigation - or both - and then just continue as they were doing. After which we would be significant targets for their operations."

"Aren't we already?" Waarlm asked, earning a few wry chuckles.

"I'm afraid we haven't seen anything yet, in that regard," Ali said. "You don't need skeletons in your closet to be made a pariah. All they need to do is keep an eye on you and whisper into the ear of anyone important enough that they do have dirt on to keep you out."

"You mean like getting someone court martialed?" Spud asked far too innocently.

"Spud," Grey warned.

"What? I can't be the only one to be thinking it," Spud shrugged.

"It is the kind of tactic I was referring to," Ali interrupted before Spud got herself in trouble. "As would blocking a promotion, getting a friend or family member fired… The kind of tricks that would ruin someone by a thousand cuts without ever controlling them directly." She paused. "And they can control people directly."

"But there is an option, right?" Ed asked. "We can't have gone through all this just to find out the truth and then be forced to accept it?"

"We've still got some data to go through," Olkant added. "That might give us a route to exposing them and making it stick."

"And if it doesn't?"

"We keep searching," Grey suggested. "We know what we're up against now, and it's a heck of a mountain, but we'll move it eventually."

~-x-~

Ali didn't need a tetnar to be able to hone in on the person she was looking for. The staccato thumps punctuated by reverberating thwacks worked just as well as the frustration and turmoil she could feel emanating from the same source.

She navigated through the gym till coming to a stop against the safest space of wall nearest the punchbag that was currently taking the brunt of Ben's agitation. His brown hair and t-shirt were already soaked through from the workout and his knuckles already starting to look red and raw. "I know you're there," he stated between drills.

"Is there anything I can say that you'll listen to?"

The initial answer to her question was another quick series of jabs ending in a powerful kick that explained the rumbles she'd heard in-between the sharper noises. Then he paused, catching his breath as he tapped the bag with the bottom of his fist in irritation, finally turning to her with his hands on his hips. "I know Narla said that she checked, but it's hard to reconcile hearing that they have the ability to alter memories and believing that we're still… us."

Ali nodded, she could understand that. Claire had been the one driving the conversation in the meeting, he had held onto his stoic shell, but that didn't mean he didn't share the same worry. "Actually, I might be able to help with that."

"How?"

"I can't promise anything, but I know that tetnars have a kind of protective effect as well," Ali explained. "Not overtly, not really, but two bonded kentarians know if the other one is… changed."

"So you'd know if they had altered my mind?"

Ali shrugged. "That's where it becomes less certain. Ours hadn't fully formed before you were captured, but I think it's unlikely it would've then formed fully if they had," she said, her brow tight with worry and pain for him as she tried to be strong for him as she knew he needed.

Ben nodded to himself, as if to admit that made sense, but he was still frowning. Then he finally sighed and rubbed at his face. "You know, I checked my service record after the meeting," he admitted quietly. Ali didn't say anything but just waited patiently for him to take the time he needed. Then he realised, she wasn't going to pretend and tell him that it would all be okay, but she just wanted to know what he was worried about. She couldn't help if he didn't let her know how. It took him a couple of goes to speak again. "I wanted it all to be made up."

"The Artemis?" Ali asked.

Ben nodded. "And Eskaar, Brulchor, Toulouse… They might as well write SNAFU over my records."

Ali tried not to laugh at that, knowing that despite his joke it was a serious matter, but she couldn't help it. "You know, it's not a failing to wish that you hadn't suffered," she offered softly once she'd got her giggles under control.

"It's petty."

"No, it's being human."

"I'm starting to feel like that's a disadvantage," he muttered, then realised what he said. Ali could feel the exact moment he regretted opening his mouth. "Sorry -"

"It's okay," she promised. Then gave a wry half smile and said, "after I finished pulling an almighty strop with my parents when they told me I was half kentarian, I realised that actually, compared to my peers, I kinda had superpowers." Ali paused as Ben chuckled and she couldn't prevent her own amusement at her dumb teenage logic either. "I mean, sure, I quickly grew out of that thought… but I can't exactly judge someone else for thinking it when I did."

A wry smile appeared on his face as a weird streak of amused relief passed over him. Of course, she hadn't always known she was half kentarian. They'd only known each other for a few days - if that - when she had told him, so he had practically always known she was a hybrid, it seemed strange to think that she hadn't. "But you adapted."

"Eventually," Ali said with a nod. "Wasn't simple, and it took a long while to realise that I was changing anyway, growing up and figuring out who I was, it sort of got lost in all that. But I was never going to be the same after finding out, even without the new abilities."

Ben folded his arms as he considered what she was telling him. "I'm not the same as I was before the Artemis…" He admitted, and Ali offered him a wry smile. "I didn't want another trauma to leave a permanent mark," he admitted wearily, as if his career of adversity was finally catching up to him.

"I know," Ali said. "But you're still you, and you'll come through it with all the important parts of yourself. And you're not alone in all this."

He nodded, more to himself than her. "Thanks," he finally offered.

Ali nodded in response, the motion promising him that she'd meant it as much as what he could feel through their tetnar. "You better come through this," she half joked.

"It would be typical for my ability to survive hell to give up now," he agreed mirroring her amused grin. Though he could feel the worry behind the jokes, and he almost took a step to wrap her up in a hug to reassure her - as best he could - that he wasn't going anywhere. Before remembering the state he was in. He chuckled to himself. "I'd hug you, but I think you'd rather I showered first."

"Is that an invitation? Because you know you'd just be sweaty again anyway, right?" Ali teased with a knowing smirk as she let her eyes linger over him. He blushed and she was helpless to stop her laugh. "I actually had a second motive for finding you, that doesn't involve either one of us naked."

Ben frowned at her to distract himself from that particular line of thought. Though the glint in her eyes rather suggested she'd felt the way he'd forced it out of his mind. "I'm going to regret asking, aren't I?"

"Oh yeah," Ali agreed, far too honestly, but then again she'd rarely been anything but. "I think I've worked out a way forward."

"To take down Tuktutav?" Ben asked and Ali nodded. "How? During the meeting no one could think of a way to release any info without destroying ourselves and being instantly discredited."

"We don't go after Tuktutav," Ali said with a shrug. "We go after the weakest link."

Ben considered what she was saying for a moment, before deciding it was one of her leaps of imagination he couldn't follow. "Who?"

"Witworth."

He had to admit, that made a certain amount of sense. "Okay, what makes you think he definitely knows anything? And how do you plan to do that without being arrested?" He asked, knowing that if she was ready to discuss this, she wanted to talk practicalities. Ali blinked for a moment as if the question wasn't what she'd expected. She'd probably expected him to tell her she was crazy for even thinking about going after a USEP admiral. Especially when they had no formal proof he was involved.

"He might not, but he's also my best guess," Ali admitted. "I looked into his calendar, and he's due to attend a very important summit for a bunch of USEP dignitaries. Security will be tight, but with the right creds and a friendly face on the inside, we can get in without them noticing."

"You didn't come here to talk strategy," he said as a realisation struck him.

"Not exactly," Ali admitted. "I mean, it kinda is strategy…"

Ben sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He wanted to tell her off for even considering bringing Sam into this, but he had to admit, that knowing his sister she would be perfectly happy to go along with this. And scold him for even considering protecting her. "What are the alternatives?"

He felt her confusion so much as registered it on her face when he looked at her again. She had expected him to straight up tell her no, she'd expected to have to argue it out. "I… There are options, but they're a lot riskier. Sam letting us into a party… that gives us the most room to manoeuvre." She paused. "I've got a bunch of different scenarios plotted out…"

"Let me get cleaned up, then we'll go through them."