TO didn’t forget to ask GiDi what the plan was for Kei, but they also didn’t feel right asking GiDi with so many people around. Their plan was to just follow GiDi when they left the common room, ask quickly, and head back to the recovery room, but DH, Avery, and Goretta showed up before TO finished their breakfast.

“Is that everyone?” Flit asked as the three arrived. Flit and Snout had eaten before TO showed up, and when they were done, they left the table and stood, leaning against the wall. TO had wondered why they didn’t just leave if they were done, but apparently they were waiting.

GiDi looked around, counted silently, and then nodded. “That’s everyone.” They said as they jumped up on their chair and sat on the back of it to position themself so that everyone could see them. The surrounding chatter stopped when GiDi gently cleared their throat.

How did GiDi not realize they were in charge here?

“We have some information.” GiDi said, “And none of it’s good.” They gestured to the corner, “Vik’s been watching the movements of the new Security Minister closely, and they’re a lot stricter than expected.”

“Very strict.” Vik said, “It’s a pain in the ass; this one has morals and actually sticks to them. Five merchants have tried to bribe her so far, and each one ended up in a holding cell in the security district.”

“That’s surprising.” Pearla said, “Merchants who can afford a bribe normally don’t end up in prison.”

Vik nodded. “Yeah, she’s very strict, and doesn’t allow for any bending of the rules.”

”Planets go into lockdown all the time.” GiDi pointed out, “It’s generally because of disease outbreaks, but even so they still allow supplies to come in, and empty supply ships to leave out-“

“And ships from rich assholes who can either bribe the right people or don’t give a shit if they have to pay fines.” Tham said, “Sucks, but it’s something we might exploit.”

GiDi nodded, a humorless smirk lifting their lips. “If you’re rich enough, a fine is just how much it costs to break the law.” GiDi said. Their words took on a practiced tone, like a lot of their sayings that they had embedded in their heads back in training. The only difference was they said this phrase with a conviction that those other sayings never had. “That’s what we were relying on here; a supply ship or a rich luxury vessel we could borrow. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

“There’s been several attempted departures from the planet since lockdown.” Vik said, “Authorities disabled all the ships before they could reach orbit, and brought them back down to the planet. They’ve also detained and held most of the owners and passengers for questioning. The only exception ‌was an empty supply vessel that was automatically launched by a warehouse’s computer. The company responsible had to pay a hefty fine for not keeping their security systems up to date.”

Marissa, who was still eating her own breakfast and who looked very tiny at this moment, looked up to GiDi. “So… There’s no way off?”

“No obvious way.” GiDi said. They pressed at their chip and projected a list in the air over the table. It was a short list, showing spaceships, a list of names attached, and different levels of security clearance for each.

“These are the ships that we think might have security codes advanced enough to hold off intervention from planetary authorities… For a short time.” GiDi said. “So we might ‌get into orbit.”

“Unless the authorities shoot us down.” Tham grumbled, “If they can’t hijack the ship with programming, then they’ll shoot it down.”

“I know.” GiDi said, their ears dipping slightly, “So we need to look through these and find something that has half-decent defensive abilities, something that’s fueled, and ready to take off at any moment. We also need a vessel that can carry many people, and something that can stash a lot of food and water.”

As GiDi spoke, they activated their chip, and with each condition, they eliminated a ship. Soon, all that remained were five ships, all defensive ships from the shipping companies on Arkane.

“This is what we have left.” GiDi said, “Armed escort ships for cargo transport in more dangerous areas. Of course, they’re under intense security, and locked down right now. Getting to them won’t be impossible, but it won’t be easy…”

“And getting food supplies to them will be harder still.” Pearla said, “If we can get off the planet, there is a safe-zone on the moon of a mining planet where we can stop and recoup, and maybe get on better ships… but we still need food enough for everyone for a week at least.”

“And that’s assuming these ships can handle an attack from real attack ships?” Tham added. “They’re good, but if they’re outnumbered, they won’t survive…”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“You’re missing a ship.”

TO had been only skimming the lists of ships and the different statistics that were attached to each one, but it suddenly occurred to them that there was, in fact, a ship that was missing. Vik huffed in the corner, his constant typing stopping suddenly.

“I did not.” Vik snapped, “I have a list of every accessible ship on the planet here.”

“… No, you don’t,” GiDi said, their ears suddenly perking up, “You don’t have the synth ship here!”

“I never have the synth ship here.” Vik said, their small tail lashing behind them as their ears pinned back, “I’m good at what I do, but there’s too many risks involved in hacking their systems, and there’s no way I can get around the security with social engineering since the synths don’t work like that. Also, I can’t just use basic Synth access since the ships only link to specific IDs-”

“And that ship is linked to mine.” TO said, “Mine and DH’s.” Their ears perked up as they sat upright, “And Avery’s chip-” They pointed to Avery, who was still standing on the other side of the room with DH and Goretta, “Is linked to the one circling the planet right now!”

Vik was silent for a moment. His typing stilled as he stared at his computer. After a long moment, he started typing again, more furiously than before. “I’m an idiot.” He muttered.

“You’re anything but.” GiDi said.

“No. I should have considered that.” he said. He turned to Flit. “These ships, how many people could we fit inside?”

Flit’s ears twitched as he considered, “Let’s see… Well, there’s two beds on the main floor, an entrance hall with a questioning room and a holding room…”

“We could fit four on the main floor.” TO added. “And there’s the weapons bay, the gym-”

“Wait.. your ship has a gym on it?” Tham muttered, lifting his head ever so slightly from the table.

“Of course?” DH said, their ears flicking out in confusion, “Otherwise, if we’re on a long trip, we’d lose muscle mass and tone.”

“One small bathroom, one small shower.” TO added. “How many people do we need to transport?”

“We only got twenty-seven people out of the tunnels.” Pearla said, “That’s including children, but if we could, there’s more people I’d like to gather up for this. People who would be in trouble-”

“And my brother.” Marissa said, “We have to get him if we’re leaving!”

“So that’s another indebted rescue mission as well..” GiDi said.

“The ships are fast.” Flit said. “They’re made for long distance, interstellar travel. There’s lots of food and though it’s made for synths, hopefully it’ll be fine for most of you-”

“It won’t be harmful for most.” GiDi chimed in. TO had almost forgotten that GiDi had worked for a short period in food production. “It’s specialized to us, but thankfully there’s a lot of overlap in basic essential nutrients. If we bring what food we can, and get our hands on some vitamins, that can compensate for anything other species traveling with us might need.” They frowned, “That means another drug-store break in as well…”

“Pearla?” TO frowned, “How many people‌ do you think we’ll have to get out in the end? If you rescue everyone, you need to?”

“If I get everyone out?” she asked with a laugh. “Everyone I want is everyone from the indebted program.”

“Then the real question is how many people, max, we can carry on two ships.” Flit added. “If we squeeze people, we might manage 50. It won’t be a comfortable ride, though. I’d suggest only forty to ensure we don’t run out of supplies or overwhelm the air and water recycling systems.”

“Are you forgetting something?” Vik added, “Pearla, you said Twenty-seven, but you’re only counting people we got from the tunnels yesterday. What about the rest of us? Add on fourteen extra, no?”

“That’s forty-one…” GiDi muttered.

“We can tinker with the systems.” DH offered, “Make things a little more efficient, and perform more regular maintenance…” How much time do we have?”

“Pholi will know.” GiDi said, “He’ll have the information when the synths should arrive.”

“Well, it took us two Arkanian weeks.” TO said. “We switched over as soon as we boarded.”

“Thank you for not making me do the conversions?” Vik said.

“It wouldn’t matter.” Flit stepped away from the wall and headed over to Vik, eying their screen. “That’s coming from the training center to here. The synths on their way could be closer, could be further, and it’ll take a longer time for a fleet to arrive than it will for one ship.”

“So we have no idea.” Vik said as they tossed up their hands and slumped back in their seat. “Not until Pholi gets here.”

“How long will he be?” TO asked, “Are you certain he’s ok? I’ve not seen him since-”

“Since Thalassa.” GiDi said, nodding, “And yes, he’s been in contact. He just has to be very careful right now. He’ll be here soon.” They looked down at their folded hands, their ears twitching. “... I think the best thing to do for now is simply to prepare to accommodate the people we have while getting to the ship.” GiDi said. “We can make a plan to save the indebted - at least those we have the time to- but we have to be prepared to get off Arkane as soon as possible.”

“I won’t leave without my brother.” Marissa said, sitting up straight and suddenly looking a lot fiercer than her slight form showed. “If you can’t get him, I’m staying behind.” GiDi nodded.

“I understand. And we’ll do what we can, but if we have only days to leave…”

“... But you’ll stay to help, right?” Marissa asked. GiDi fell silent as they stared at his hands. Here, Flit spoke up instead.

“It’s too dangerous.” Flit said, “For any of us. Anyone involved in assisting the insurgency. I’d say we should even contact the few merchants we know who have helped us, and offer them a way off the planet.”

“I could help if I stayed.” GiDi said, “If I stayed-”

“No.”

This time, it was Pearla and Flit who spoke at the same time. Pearla put a hand on GiDi’s knee. “If you stay, they’ll catch you. We won’t have the support we had…” Pearla said.

“And while you might do some good here, you can do more by getting off the planet and figuring out some way to stop the fleet from outside.” Flit said.

GiDi nodded, their lips tight and their ears pinned back as they tried their best not to glance at the clearly disappointed looking Marissa. Either way, TO felt a sudden wave of relief wash over them. GiDi WAS going to leave the planet with them. GiDi would be safe.

“Alright.” Flit said, “Then… what’s the most important part of our preparation here, GiDi?”

“Confirm that we can access the ships.” GiDi said. “Then get the supplies we need.”

“Alright.” Vik said. They looked to TO, “You said it’s your ship. How do you intend to get to it?”

“What do you mean?” TO asked, confusion flicking their ears and lacing their tone, “I’m just going to walk up to it.”

There were too many pairs of eyes staring at TO in the wake of their simple statement. They felt the heat rise to the ears, and they shrugged as they added, “Well… I doubt we have access to our vehicle anymore, so I can’t drive up.”

Tham, their head still down on the table, snorted in laughter, “Sure, TO, whatever,” He said, “You’re not going to just walk up to the ship, pass all the security measures, and stroll into your ship. They won’t let you.”

TO felt as confused as everyone else looked as they stared at them. They blinked, tilted their head, and asked, “Why not?”