Chapter Six

“Captain, I’ve picked up the Terrestrial Dawn on the sensors,” Sarah Pool said. They were the words Rhys had been waiting to hear for three hours. He had given up on trying to sleep and returned to the bridge, resolved to fight through his exhaustion until they came to Centaura.

“They’re hailing us, Captain,” Marianne Watkins said. The junior officer had relieved McDonald, despite the communications officer’s insistence that he could continue. Rhys had intervened when he realised McDonald had been on duty for nearly twenty straight hours, and had banned him from the bridge for eight hours.

“Permission for visuals, captain?” Watkins said after a few words had been exchanged with the Terrestrial Dawn.

“Permission granted, of course,” Rhys said as he stood up, waiting for the bridge of the Terrestrial Dawn to appear on the shuttered windows that doubled as a projection screen.

The screen flickered white for a moment, and then resolved into the Terrestrial Dawn’s bridge and, more importantly, standing in front of it, Aaron Lee. Though he was initially smiling, this faded and was replaced by confusion.

“To whom am I addressing?” Aaron asked. He squinted. “A mustelid, on Rhys’ bridge?”

Rhys froze. He didn’t even breathe. In all the excitement he had forgotten one, crucial factor.

Aaron Lee didn’t know Rhys was a mustelid.

Aaron turned to his right. “Mr Chen, is this working properly?”

Rhys heard an answer to the affirmative. He shook his head to try and organise his thoughts, but was unable. He couldn’t believe he had forgotten to consider his new appearance. He had been human the last time they had met.

“Who are you, and just why am I speaking to you, and not Captain Griffiths?” Aaron asked again.

“I’m... Lieutenant Christopher Hall,” Rhys said before he even realised what he was saying. He couldn’t bring himself to tell Aaron. He was scared. Aaron was his oldest friend, but he didn’t know what his reaction would be to learning he was now a mustelid.

“Lieutenant Hall? Rhys appointed a mustelid to his bridge?” Aaron said with a laugh.

Rhys nodded and smiled wanly. He wanted to hide. His ears flattened against his head. In the corner of his eye he saw Twitch looking across at him, his mouth slightly agape.

“This is brilliant news. I would never have thought he’d take a liking to mustelids,” Aaron was saying.

“He said the same of you,” Rhys said. He remembered the mustelid that had been part of Aaron’s crew last time he had been aboard the Terrestrial Dawn. It had been one of the reasons Aaron had chosen to defect from TIE.

“Things change, Lieutenant Hall. I’m sure you’ll find no reason to complain. Captain Griffiths is a fantastic man to work with. I’d like to congratulate him personally on his choice of crew if he’s around,” Aaron said.

“No!” Rhys said, much louder than he intended. He gasped and took a step back as Aaron frowned. “I’m sorry, I mean, Captain Griffiths has been taken quite unwell. He’s in the medical bay. Doctor Sparks won’t let him out just yet.”

“Is that so?” Aaron said. He didn’t sound entirely convinced.

Rhys nodded, looking anywhere but at Aaron. “He sends his greetings though, and his thanks for your assistance,” he said quietly.

“Well I do hope to speak with him before we dock in Harbourtown. There’s much I want to catch up on,” Aaron said, leaning back slightly and clasping his hands together.

“I know he’s... very keen to speak to you too,” Rhys replied.

He did want to speak properly with Aaron. He wanted to just come out and reveal himself to his old friend, but something held him back. Every time he tried to say something he just felt paralysed, frozen like a rabbit in headlights. There was nothing he could do to bypass that.

“Well I’ll keep this short as we have to turn this ship around. Pass on my greetings to Captain Griffiths. I’ll call again when we’re ready to tow the Harvester back. I hope he’ll be ready to talk then,” Aaron said.

“Underestood, Captain Lee,” Rhys said, and the transmission ended.

Rhys slumped back into his chair. He felt faint.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered to Twitch, who had come to his side. “I couldn’t tell him. I didn’t know what I was doing until I said it.”

 “He probably wouldn’t have believed you if you had have admitted it,” Twitch said.

“How will I convince him?”

Twitch shrugged. “Tell him something only you would know.”

Rhys groaned and tried to control his racing heart. He was petrified of what Aaron’s reaction would be. He didn’t want to come all this way only to lose his only friend in the CGP.

The challenge now facing Aaron and the Terrestrial Dawn was immense. Space was a notoriously tricky medium to move in; there wasn’t anything for the engines to push against, so changing speed and direction took a considerable degree of effort. The Terrestrial Dawn didn’t just need to make a small alteration to its course though, it needed to complete a full about turn.

Aaron’s crew wasn’t completely inexperienced to such a manoeuvre though. They had pulled off a similar trick in Sol’s Asteroid Belt, when they had approached Ceres from a totally unexpected direction in an attempt to ward off any potential aggression from the Normandy spaceport. Rhys still wasn’t sure how Aaron had done that, but he assumed he had used the gravity pulls from the many asteroids and dwarf planets to alter his course so drastically.

There would be no such assistance in the Hades Cloud, but the fine layer did provide one thing: the faux semblance of an atmosphere. The Terrestrial Dawn would still handle like the brick it resembled, but if it was possible to turn a spaceship around, the Hades Cloud was the place to do it.

Pool kept Rhys updated on the movements of the Terrestrial Dawn as it came to a gradual halt. The friction of the space debris was proving great enough to slow the behemoth even without the reverse thruster engines. Then came the slow turn. Over the course of an hour, the Terrestrial Dawn pushed itself around on its axis, unto it faced the direction it had come from.

This all took place at a range of thirteen thousand miles, very close to the farthest reach of the Harvester’s scanners, taking into account the interference from the Hades Cloud. Despite this, Pool was able to keep Rhys informed as though it had been happening just a few feet away.

As the Terrestrial Dawn began its approach to the stricken Harvester, Rhys took Twitch aside and expressed his fears about meeting Aaron face to face. He knew he was simply being paranoid. Aaron had already made it quite clear how he felt about mustelids, they had been part of the reason he had defected, and yet, Rhys couldn’t fully shake the feeling that this would drastically alter their friendship.

“You’re being stupid, Rhys,” Twitch said bluntly, expressing his opinion quite simply. “You need to just tell him, especially before he finds out some other way, which he will. You can’t hide it from him forever. It’s only so long he’ll continue to believe you’re locked away in the medical bay. He’ll be more annoyed if he finds out some other way, trust me.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Rhys said with a sigh. He really didn’t have much choice: sooner or later he had to tell Aaron, and sooner was better.

“I know I’m right. And if it’ll help, I can stand next to you when you talk to him. That way you’ll have no option but to explain yourself,” Twitch offered, brining out a laugh from Rhys.

“That won’t be necessary, but thank you,” he said.

“Because if you don’t, I’ll just pretend to be you and tell him myself,” Twitch warned, jabbing Rhys in the chest.

“I suppose I’ll deserve that, wouldn’t I?” Rhys said, trying to fend off Twitch, but ending up backing into the wall.

Twitch slapped Rhys on the shoulder. “And more beside that. Now get back up there and go do your captain’s stuff, and wait for Aaron to call you,” he said.

“What would I do without you, Twitch?”

Twitch looked a little shocked by the question. “Without me? You’d probably still be human, and just think how much fun you’d have missed out on,” he said brightly.

“As scared as I am to tell Aaron, I simply couldn’t imagine my life any other way anymore. It was the best decision I ever made letting you take that teleporter first,” Rhys said with a warm smile.

“Tell me about it. I’d have ended up a human otherwise,” Twitch said, sticking his tongue out in disgust.

“Come on, it’s not that bad,” Scott called out with mock offence. The navigator had been following the conversation with more than a little amusement.

“Not that bad?” Twitch repeated in horror as he turned on Scott. “What could possibly be good about it? I saw what Captain Rhys looked like before, and that would not have been flattering for me.”

Rhys didn’t know whether he should have felt offended by that or not, but it served to lessen the tension he felt as he was able to laugh away his worries. He still felt nervous about his next talk with Aaron, but he was now resolved to reveal his true identity to his oldest friend.

He did not have to wait very long, but the news he got from Watkins almost made him reconsider his decision again.

“Captain Lee has requested to board,” the junior communications officer said.

Once again Rhys had frozen. He had not been prepared to face Aaron in the flesh; he had been expecting another conversation from the safety of their respective bridges. For a moment he considered denying Aaron permission to teleport aboard the Harvester, but Twitch stepped forward.

“Tell him Lieutenant Hall grants him permission,” the first officer said. He turned to Rhys. “He’ll be expecting my order anyway,” he explained.

“I guess you’re right,” Rhys said, but he was still very uncertain. He wondered if he could get away with fleeing the bridge and just let Twitch deal with Aaron. He could even run down to the medical bay to add some legitimacy to his previous claim.

As though he could read his mind, Twitch grabbed hold of Rhys’ wrist and held on with a vice-like grip. “You’re not going anywhere,” the first officer said with a smile.

Rhys sighed as Watkins announced that Aaron would be teleporting aboard any moment. Scott had gotten up to ensure the teleporter, situated in a small room just off the bridge, was functioning correctly. Rhys recoiled away as Scott opened the door dividing the two rooms. He had tried to avoid that particular part of the bridge as much as possible. He had not even set eyes on one of the machines since the malfunction that had so drastically altered his life.

Just seconds later, Aaron Lee stepped out onto the bridge of the Harvester. The first thing he noticed was the two mustelids standing by the captain’s chair.

“Two of you?” he asked in surprise.

After a small push in the small of his back from Twitch, Rhys took a step forward.”Captain Lee, it seems like I wasn’t completely honest with you earlier,” he said. He took a deep breath and plunged on before he could second-guess himself. “I said I was Lieutenant Hall, but that’s not true, that’s my companion here, though I doubt you’ll notice a difference between us. I am...

“It happened on Ceres, just after you last met... Captain Griffiths. He was aboard the Olympus, justifying his actions in your defection. Lieutenant Hall was there too, performing maintenance on theship. He went through the teleporter first, Captain Griffiths just behind, when it malfunctioned,” Rhys said.

“Where exactly are you going with this,” Aaron said, utterly perplexed.

“What I’m trying to say is that, when the teleporter malfunctioned, the human that was Captain Griffiths was irrevocably lost. What I’m trying to say is that I’m Rhys Griffiths.”

If anything, Aaron looked more baffled than before. “Bullshit,” he said after a while. There was no aggression in his voice, only bewilderment.

“I assure you that’s true, every word,” Rhys said.

“Then tell me something only Rhys Griffiths would know,” Aaron said suspiciously.

It only took a few seconds for Rhys to work out exactly what to say. “December 18^th, 2415. I think it was your proudest moment at the academy, but for graduating. We had been celebrating. The Spaceways trainees had just beaten the ground army recruits in a friendly football match. You had scored the winning goal, but you weren’t worried about that. You had been asking me if I thought you had impressed a certain Jenny Taylor.”

Aaron chuckled nervously. “Jenny Taylor, that’s right. Jesus Christ, my best and oldest friend’s a mustelid now,” he said almost disbelievingly, though the evidence was right there in front of his eyes. “You took my advice a little too much to heart, did you?”

“To be fair, I didn’t get that letter for over a month after. I’d already been involved in an attempted rebellion before I even read that,” Rhys said as a great weight was shed from his shoulders.

Aaron laughed out loud. “My word, it sounds like you have a lot of stories to tell me once we get to Harbourtown,” he said.

“I feel like you’ll have a lot to tell me too. There’s so much I need to learn about the CGP, I won’t even know where to begin,” Rhys said.

“I can definitely help you there. I’ve already put word of your arrival through to Vice-Admiral Durahn, and she’s already allowed me to take time off my official duties to help settle you and your crew in,” Aaron said. A small frown formed on his brow, but it was gone again before Rhys could question its presence.

“And we’ll all be staying together?” Twitch asked nervously.

“Of course. I’ve already told the vice-admiral that this is probably the best crew Spaceways has ever had. There’s no point in splitting you up,” Aaron said. A few smiles broke out around the bridge at his praise, but Aaron was focussing on Twitch with a look of revelation in his eyes.

“Lieutenant Christopher Hall? I thought your name was familiar,” he said slowly. This time it was Twitch’s turn to freeze in horror.

“You know his name? How?” Rhys asked.

Aaron suddenly looked guilty, as though he had unearthed something he shouldn’t have. “Maybe I was mistaken,” he said lamely.

“I suppose it doesn’t matter now,” Twitch said in a small voice.

“What doesn’t matter?” Rhys asked, looking between Twitch and Aaron for any clarification.

“The CGP had a spy within TIE. I was acting on their behalf, ever since the day I first met you, Rhys, when I hurt myself working on the Europa,” Twitch explained.

Rhys cocked his head in surprise, though he couldn’t bring himself to be annoyed by Twitch. If they were still within TIE things may have been different, but it would have been pointless and hypocritical of him to be brought to anger by Twitch’s attempts to undermine TIE. Admiral Garter had managed to get it right, what felt like so long ago on Cymru. The admiral had highlighted Twitch as being a suspect for the CGP spy, or at least privy to their identification. Rhys hadn’t wanted to suspect his first officer, but it had all been with good reason.

“So who is the spy?” Rhys asked, burning with curiosity to know the answer. He wanted to know who they were so he could congratulate them on remaining beyond his knowledge for so long.

“It’s Doctor Sparks, of course. He recruited me from the moment he first let me aboard your ship,” Twitch said with a bright smile, his mirth returning now it appeared Rhys wasn’t going to lambast him for his actions.

“And you weren’t the only one aboard my ship the last time we met. I’d given Sparks my letter not long after you’d left. You were all so pleased to see me leave that you never checked where I went. I doubled back and waited on the other side of Ceres for a couple of days before leaving properly.

“We tried to work out a way to get you to turn your back on TIE, but we could come up with nothing. Imagine my surprise when I get a communication from Sparks a couple of months ago telling me of the perfect plan to extricate you.

“He told me that if we were to take you captive, you would be unlikely to want to leave the CGP when we brought you back to Centaura. Even if we couldn’t take you, the results of any attack would likely force your dismissal from Spaceways anyway, resulting in your defection. I’ll admit I was confused as to why this would be the case, Doctor Sparks had neglected to tell me of your... transformation,” Aaron said.

Rhys was stunned. He had known he had been the target of the CGP attack on New Swansea, but the reasoning behind it was baffling.

“Why couldn’t you have come sooner?” he found himself saying.

“I did try and tell you,” Twitch said indignantly.

Rhys smiled. “You did, and I was too bloody proud to see it, wasn’t I?” he said.

“You saw the light in the end, and I’m glad,” Aaron said, putting his arms around the shoulders of the two mustelids. “It will be good to have you back, Rhys, even if you do look a little different.”

“It will be good to have you around too,” Rhys said.

The entire ship shuddered as a loud bang echoed around the bridge. For a moment Rhys was alarmed, but he was placated a moment later by Marianne Watkins.

“We’ve coupled with the Terrestrial Dawn, Captain,” she said. While Rhys and Aaron had been talking, she had been in constant communication with Aaron’s ship as it had drifted ever closer. With Sarah Pool and Aleksandr Chekhov’s help, the two ships had come to within just a few hundred metres of each other. The two ships had then coupled, allowing the Harvester to travel in the Terrestrial Dawn’s warp.

“I suppose I should go back,” Aaron said. He held out his hand, which Rhys took in both of his. “I’m sure Vice-Admiral Durahn will be in contact with you before too long, I believe she is very keen to meet you.” Again the frown, but before Rhys could ask about it, Aaron was saying farewell to Twitch and the rest of Rhys’ crew.

“Until we land in Harbourtown,” Aaron said, before going into the teleporter room with Scott, a place Rhys could not follow his friend.

Five minutes later a shuddering jolt ran through the ship as the Terrestrial Dawn’s engines turned on to full drive, dragging the Harvester along with it. He crew were essentially passengers now, and only Watkins stayed at her station with any particular dedication.

In less than twenty-four hours they would finally arrive at the planet Centaura, the home of the CGP.

“We are in orbit around Centaura,” Watkins said, conveying the message that had been given to her by the Terrestrial Dawn’s communications officer. All of the operations crew were present on the bridge, and had been for three hours already in anticipation of their arrival. A collective shudder of excitement ran around the bridge at Watkins’ news.

Then Watkins raised her hand. “Incoming message from Centaura. Permission to display visuals?” she asked.

“Permission granted,” Rhys said, shivering in excitement at the prospect of his first friendly conversation with a member of the CGP, Aaron excepting. Rhys was soon looking at a man in his mid fifties with prematurely grey hair that served to enhance his aura of absolute power and wealth that he wore around him like a physical cloak. He was a little taken aback. This was obviously not Vice-Admiral Durahn, who Rhys had been expecting.

“Captain Griffiths, I am glad your problems out in the Hades Cloud didn’t halt your arrival with us. It is a pleasure to finally meet you. I am Major Riley Thomas of the ground army here at Habourtown, and I’d like to be the first to welcome you to Centaura and the CGP,” he said. He spoke with a strong lisp, something that Twitch found very amusing. He was biting his fingers to stop himself from laughing. Rhys ignored him.

“I thank you for the welcome, Major Thomas,” Rhys replied politely, nodding his head in a sign of respect. He wondered why someone of the ground army was greeting him. It seemed strange protocol. “If I may ask though, Captain Lee told me to expect a Vice-Admiral Durahn?”

Rhys noticed a frown flicker across Major Thomas’ face, the third time he had noticed such a reaction when the conversation had revolved around the vice-admiral.

“Ah yes. She would like to pass on her regret that she can’t be here right now. She does hope to be present when you make groundfall,” the major said. He cleared his throat and moved the conversation on in short order.

“I shall arrange for a few mechanics to board your ship to calibrate your teleporters with ours, and also to repair your ship so it can land without Aaron Lee’s assistance. I hear those ships are bad enough to land without towing another,” he continued.

The very thought of using the teleporters made Rhys shiver.

“Is there no shuttle you can send up instead, Major?” Rhys asked, trying to keep the fear out of his voice, and failing quite dismally. Even he could hear the quavering tone he had spoken in.

“You’re telephobic?”

“Not exactly. It’s because of a teleporter that I am who I am. I was born human, but became a mustelid when a teleport malfunctioned,” Rhys explained, to which Major Thomas nodded sympathetically, whilst clearly not fully understanding Rhys’ meaning.

“There’s a story in that, I can tell. But now is not the time. I do admit I had some confusion as to why Spaceways had a mustelid for a captain. We know quite well how they treat others of your kind,” he said with a slight frown. “Alright, I can send a shuttle up to collect you all instead. I’ll be waiting for your arrival in Habourtown, hopefully with Vice-Admiral Durahn. We can talk more then.”

“Understood, Major,” Rhys said, and the communication ended, leaving just the blank shutters at the front of the bridge.

“You’re telephobic, are you Captain?” Chekhov said, teasing Rhys over the term given to him by Major Thomas.

“Oh shut up, you would be too,” Rhys retorted, and reverted to sticking his tongue out at his pilot in a manner most unbefitting of a captain. The mood was light, and everyone laughed. Rhys grinned sheepishly. His old fear of the teleporters was out in the open. He just had a legitimate excuse for it now.  And apart from Chekhov’s teasing, no one was judging him any less for it.

Aaron had been in brief contact with Rhys as they had orbited Centaura, before he had set the Harvester loose and began his descent into Harbourtown. He had wished Rhys good luck in his meeting with Major Thomas and Vice-Admiral Durahn. He spoke of nothing but good for Major Thomas, though he remained tight lipped when Rhys had questioned him on the vice-admiral.

One by one, Rhys organised the Harvester’s systems to be shut down. The navigation, weapons, and defences, amongst others, were no longer required to remain active. Only the engines, communications, and critical systems remained online by the time the shuttle Major Thomas had sent connected with the ship.

Rhys had to contain his excitement as he boarded the small shuttle with his operations crew. They were only just able to squeeze everyone inside, as no one wished to remain behind with the services crew, who would remain aboard the Harvester until it had safely landed.

As the shuttle launched from his ship, Rhys tried to get the attention of his crew. It was quite difficult to do, everyone was excited and talking amongst themselves, and Rhys was almost two feet shorter than everyone but Twitch.

He eventually managed to get everyone quiet after he stood on one of the seats that lined the edge of the shuttle.

“We’ve all come a very long way together,” he said. “I know many of you have left family and friends behind, and I know you have all sacrificed a lot to be here with me. I hope this is not permanent. I hope that one day you can be reunited with those you’ve left behind, I owe you all that much. For now though, I would simply like to express my gratitude to you all. I am proud beyond anything to call you my crew, and I know that whatever happens from here on in, I will always be in your debt.”

“Our crew is our family,” Scott said, reciting a line often repeated in the early years at Spaceways academies. “We could not allow our captain and our first officer to suffer such injustices and not remain guilty for the rest of our careers.”

“We all knew what was coming,” Dewson said. “Ever since we landed in Mount Cotton, ever since we saw your treatment there, we knew that this was inevitable. We’ve had nearly half a year to make arrangements with family and friends. With the help of Doctor Sparks, some of us will even have family here waiting for us.”

“You knew Doctor Sparks was the CGP spy?” Rhys asked incredulously. He marvelled at the fact that he seemed to be the only one who hadn’t known about the doctor’s true allegiance. Everything that had happened since his transformation had all been a plot to get him to defect to the CGP. He was on the verge of tears. Doctor Sparks and his crew had done this for him; they had seen what he had initially missed. TIE was no place for a mustelid captain, he knew that now, but he wished he had realised sooner.

The automated shuttle provided a perfectly smooth flight from start to finish. From inside it barely even felt like it was moving, but, after twenty minutes, a gentle thud followed by a flashing red light indicated that they had reached the planet surface. The shuttle doors opened, revealing the interior of a flashy docking bay. Three people were waiting for them, two men and a woman.

The one in the middle was Major Thomas, who was shorter than Rhys had expected, though still a foot taller than his own height. The woman, Rhys took to be Vice-Admiral Durahn, and Rhys began to see why Aaron hadn’t been too keen to discuss her. She looked perfect – too perfect. Her strawberry blonde hair was pristine, as was her makeup and manicured nails. Her puffy lips looked like they had frozen mid-pout. Her tight, low cut uniform did nothing to dispel Rhys’ impression that she would not be afraid to use her sexuality as a tool to further her own position, and she probably had done so many times before. Compared to the lisping and diminutive major, she looked a morass of low morals and unprofessionalism.

The second man was introduced as Commander Rob Tudor of the Habourtown military police and defence network, which Rhys’ crew were told dealt with threats both from TIE, and from within the citizens of the city themselves. Commander Tudor was a young man for a role of his responsibilities, being not quite into his fifties yet, but he had a certain gruffness about him that Rhys thought would have aided his progression through the ranks of the military police.

Major Thomas introduced the Commander and Vice-Admiral to Twitch, whom he had mistaken for Rhys. Twitch seemed a little awestruck by the welcoming committee, and made no effort to correct the major’s mistake, so Rhys stepped forward from behind his first officer and intervened. “I am Captain Rhys Griffiths. This is my first officer, Lieutenant Christopher Hall,” he said.

“My apologies,” Major Thomas said, before reintroducing everyone to Rhys this time, quite unnecessarily.

Rhys waved away the apologies. “Don’t worry Major; it’s not a hard mistake to make. We look... well, we are identical,” he said, placing his hand on Twitch’s shoulder.

“A fascinating story I’m sure, but perhaps not one to tell in the docking bay,” Major Thomas said. “Would you care to tell us as we walked? We have business to attend to in the briefing rooms, we may as well begin matters now.”

“Is it far to walk, Major?” Rhys asked.

“It’s a ten minute walk, why?”

“I’ll tell the short version,” Rhys said with a smirk as he once again began to tell of the sequence of events that had led him becoming a mustelid. Twitch added the occasional insight from his perspective of things, as did the other members of his crew, mainly Scott and Chekhov, who had been closest to him during the transitional period.

They were interrupted frequently by Commander Tudor and Major Thomas, who would ask questions about a snippet of information they had heard from Aaron. They seemed genuinely interested in how he had adjusted to his life as a mustelid. Rhys always answered as honestly as he could. He left them under no illusion about how badly he had initially coped with the transformation, but that he could now barely remember his past life.

During the exchange, Vice-Admiral Durahn remained stoically quiet, pursing her lips in irritation as she strode forward a little ahead of the rest of the group. Neither Major Thomas nor Commander Tudor made any attempt to engage with her. They even seemed to prefer her silence.

“It definitely is a remarkable story, but forgive me if I don’t envy your position,” Commander Tudor said. “I doubt I would have been able to adjust as well as you’ve done so.”

“It was hardly easy for me either, Commander,” Rhys replied.

“Oh, I understand that,” Commander Tudor said as they paused outside a large room momentarily. It was one of the many briefing rooms the port boasted, and Major Thomas invited them all inside to take a seat. It took a couple of minutes for the operations crew of the Harvester to file inside and draw up a chair. Rhys remained standing as Vice-Admiral Durahn retreated right to the back of the room and slouched down in a chair.

“Alright then Rhys, firstly, in here, and day to day when we’re not on active duty, we don’t worry about identifying each other with rank. We like things a little more informal to what you’re perhaps used to. It certainly took Aaron Lee a while to adapt,” Major Thomas said. Rhys nodded, but understood that it would be something he’d find very tough to adjust to. It was more than just a simple habit to address others by their rank. He hadn’t even known the first names of a good number of his peers in TIE.

“But the most important thing is to determine exactly where you’ll fit in here, and what role you can best contribute to our cause,” Major Thomas said. “I have already heard a lot – almost too much – about you from Aaron Lee, so I already know a fair bit about your abilities. Naturally, we don’t want to waste these, and you will continue on here as a captain.”

“Are you simply going to be telling me things I already know?” a reedy voice called from the back of the room. Rhys quickly identified it as belonging to Vice-Admiral Durahn.

“Why, Michelle, is there a problem?” Major Thomas said.

“I don’t have time for any of this. You know I have far too much work of actual importance to do than waste my time here,” the vice-admiral said, paying no heed to Rhys or his crew. Without even waiting for an answer, she positively stormed out of the briefing room. Rhys could hear the sound of her heeled shoes for quite some time, but nowhere near as long as the smell of her overpowering perfume lingered.

Commander Tudor felt the need to explain her actions. “Michelle is only filling in as admiral. Timothy Albers, our usual admiral on Centaura, is busy organising a fresh assault on the Sirius System, a real one this time,” Commander Tudor said, with a nod towards Rhys. “It is frankly a huge operation, and he asked Michelle to step up and fill in on some of his other duties. I think I don’t even need to mention she’s barely up to the task.”

“Why she was chosen over the other candidates, I don’t know,” Major Thomas added.

“Perhaps Timothy just made a mistake over her abilities. It’s not for us to judge,” Commander Tudor said. It sounded like a very hollow defence. Rhys already had a good idea why Michelle Durahn had been promoted to vice-admiral, and he was sure Tudor and Thomas knew too. They just didn’t want to vocalise the criticism of Albers.

“And what of us? What happens with us? Captain Lee said we’d probably stay with Rhys, but was he right?” Twitch said, successfully diverting the conversation away from potentially dangerous topics.

Commander Tudor was grateful for his intervention. “Naturally you’d all remain on the Harvester. There seems little point in splitting apart your crew. Aaron has been very vocal in his commendations of you and the entire crew. I was half-expecting a crew of demigods if I’m to be honest,” he said.

“Aaron has always had a tendency to over-exaggerate matters,” Rhys said, feeling embarrassed at his friend’s praise of his crew. He knew he was fortunate to have some of the most talented men and women the Spaceways academies had ever produced, but he believed Aaron was being a little too effusive with his appraisal. He felt like he was being put under pressure to exceed the expectations placed upon him.

“We still feel very lucky to have you on our side. I hope you will enjoy life here,” Major Thomas said.

“Speaking of which,” Commander Tudor said. “We have already arranged accommodation for you all. There is a housing complex not far from the city that has been built solely for the use of Centaurian Military; ground, atmospheric, and space armies all. There’s always room for new crews out there, and we’ve found you a complex not too far away from Aaron Lee’s. I thought you’d appreciate that.”

“We’ve also organised a guide to take you out there. If everyone but Rhys and Christopher could leave now, Rob will take you out to meet him,” Major Thomas said.

Rhys’ crew followed Commander Tudor out of the briefing room. While they were leaving, Major Thomas pressed his palms together and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table in front of him.

“You have something more to add, Major?” Rhys asked once the last of his crew had gone.

“I believe you and Christopher can do so much for the CGP than simply serving in the military. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you just how much power and influence you could wield here, but I shall wait until Rob returns before I say any more,” the major said.

“I don’t understand,” Twitch said uncertainly.

“All will become clear, Christopher.”

A spasm passed through Twitch’s cheek at the use of his true name, but he remained quiet.

Rhys waited nervously for the return of the military police commander. He wondered what the two men could have to say to them; what else could they have in mind for the two mustelids, if not military service. He didn’t understand the major’s meaning when he said they could wield so much power and influence. It didn’t seem right. Surely no one here knew who they were. How could they make a difference if it wasn’t through military service?

Commander Tudor didn’t return for another five minutes, but when he did he shut the door behind him. It was just the four of them; Rhys and Twitch facing the major and commander from across a small table.

“This is where matters get serious,” Commander Tudor said.

“For the next few months your active service will be limited. I’m sure you can understand why: your loyalty to us may still be clouded by old friends or allegiances in TIE. Simply put, we can’t trust you yet for active duty where you may be forced to open fire against your former allies. Your time will come when we, Timothy included, believe you to be ready. Aaron has gone through the same situation; he’s not yet served us on any mission yet either,” Commander Tudor said quickly, as though the faster he told Rhys the better he would take it.

Rhys was disappointed, but understood the reasons behind it. He hadn’t been on any active duty since Ceres, the skirmish on Cymru aside, and these few months would take his time of inactivity to close to a year. He told as much to the commander and major, but did not request a sooner start to his missions. He knew that would not be granted.

“A bit of frustration would be good for us, as it would show us that you’re willing to help,” Major Thomas said. “But we do ask that you try and keep check of it for at least four months, as we won’t consider active service for you before then.

Commander Tudor leaned forward in his seat. “In the meantime we won’t be keeping you idle,” he said. From out of his breast pocket he pulled a much folded piece of paper, which he spread out and placed on the table with a paperweight on each corner to stop it collapsing back in on itself.  From where he was sat, Rhys couldn’t see what was on it, but it looked like a diagram of some sort. “Between you and Aaron, we have access to more information about the interior workings of TIE than ever before. If our planned attack on Sirius is successful, which Timothy assures us it will, especially with your input, then we will hold the upper hand in this war for the first time since conflict broke out. You may not be placed in the firing line just yet, but you will be contributing to tactics, espionage, and training for now. That includes you too Christopher.”

Twitch, who had been devoting more of his attention to the table and not what was being said, looked up at the sound of his name. “Tactics, training, espionage, no active service, understood,” he said, just to prove that he had been listening.

“Those will be your official duties. However, there is another duty I want you both to perform, unofficial, secret, and I feel, more important. Like I said before, you both have access to an unprecedented amount of power, and we would like to see you use that. No one is to know of these plans except us four, do you understand?” Major Thomas said.

“I understand,” Rhys said. He was echoed by Twitch moments later. The two mustelids possessed the same expression of baffled bewilderment. Neither knew what the major was hinting at, but Rhys expected it to be significant. They wouldn’t be placing this much importance on secrecy if it was just a trivial matter.

“Your positions as mustelids are unequalled, even here. There are plenty of mustelids at officer level, but none at first officer or captain, or the equivalent ranks in other disciplines. That makes you two the single most powerful mustelids in the CGP. Sure, there are a few mustelids in power in the civilian sectors, but they don’t have the backing of any military behind them. That puts you both ahead of them all. And of course, no mustelid in TIE can boast so much power, though you no doubt were already aware of that fact,” Major Thomas said. He also pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. His was not a diagram, but large blocks of black writing.

“What are you getting at here?” Twitch asked, his left ear curling in on itself in confusion.

“Mustelids are fractured, split by the divide between TIE and the CGP. And even here they’re separate, and I’m sure the same is true in TIE. Individually, mustelids are no threat to any human organisation, but all included they outnumber us two to one,” Commander Tudor said, taking over the explanation from the major.

“You want to unite them,” Rhys said simply, knowing now where the two men were going. Revolution. It always came down to revolution.

“It’s an idea Timothy came up with, and together, the three of us have jotted down all our ideas here,” Commander Tudor said, tapping the piece of paper he had placed on the table.

“In a sense it would create a fourth faction in this war,” Major Thomas said, not giving Rhys or Twitch any chance to respond. As soon as one had finished speaking, the other started.

“The Vatican claims neutrality, but everyone knows they’re more willing to side with TIE than us. This would be balancing the situation, as we believe any mustelid faction would stay loyal to the CGP,” Commander Tudor said.

“Plus it would give the mustelids the chance to rule their own lives, rather than relying on humans all the time. I can’t claim to speak for you, but I know that if our roles were reversed, this would be something I’d want,” Major Thomas said.

Commander Tudor said nothing then, giving the two mustelids chance to think over what had been said.

They certainly had good points, if Rhys was to be honest. But he wasn’t sure if he had the right to speak for all mustelids either. The ghosts of Mount Cotton still haunted him. He had tried to instigate a rebellion there and it had resulted in the death of a great mustelid. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to risk the same happening again. He looked across at Twitch, who seemed to understand the reason behind Rhys’ silence and uncertainty.

“And this faction, if we’re successful in creating it, would be completely independent from the CGP?” Twitch asked. Rhys already knew that he was convinced by the idea; he was just trying to appear diplomatic about it.

“Completely,” Major Thomas assured the mustelids.

“Then I’d be happy to do this. Rhys?” Twitch said, turning to his captain as though he needed his permission to do this. Rhys however was happy taking Twitch’s recommendation on the matter. If Twitch thought that mustelids needed this, then he would be more than happy to help make it happen.

“We’ll do it,” he said.

“Then we’ll leave it entirely in your hands from now on. These two pieces of paper contain all the information we have been able to gather. You’ll find a list of people who could help you, and places you may wish to consider setting up a centre of operations. Report to us if and when you feel you need to, otherwise this project is all yours now,” Major Thomas said.

Rhys took the two pieces of paper and folded them into his breast pocket. He would study them in depth later. “Do you have any further advice to give us?” he asked.

Commander Tudor shook his head. “All the information we’ve gathered is on those two pieces of paper. It’s not much, but it’s all we have.”

“This is something we’ve been planning for some months now, but it’s only been your arrival that has given us the opportunity to take this next step. You will not be short on time to work on this, but please, keep it of utmost secrecy for now,” Major Thomas warned. “This has the potential to be quite controversial, even here. I’d wait until you have considerable support behind a split before you start announcing this to the public. Only those that need to know should be told.”

“We will,” Rhys said, which Twitch repeated a moment later.

Major Thomas nodded. “Alright then, you two may go now as well,” he said.

“Aaron Lee is waiting for you in the main lobby. Out the door and to your left. You can’t miss it,” Commander Tudor said.

The two mustelids thanked the commander and major before leaving.

“I can’t believe it,” Twitch whispered as he sauntered towards the lobby.

Rhys put a hand to his forehead and rubbed his eyes. He was also finding it very difficult to fully process the task Major Thomas and Commander Tudor had given to them. He hadn’t even been on CGP soil for half an hour and he was already privy to a rebellion that would shake humanity to its very core. Mustelids had been a part of human society for so long, it would be a monumental shift for all to uproot them all and place them in an independent faction, completely autonomous of both TIE and the CGP.

Rhys wanted to talk in depth about it all with Twitch, but they were greeted by Aaron the moment they stepped foot into the main lobby, which was every bit as easy to find as the commander had indicated. He dared not speak about it in front of his old friend, not just yet at least.

They soon had their first sighting of the Alpha Centauri binary stars as they stepped outside the military complex for the first time. Both stars were at their zenith in the sky, the larger and brighter of the two just beneath the other. A third, reddish star, less than half a centimetre in apparent diameter, was visible above and to the right of the binary stars. Proxima Centauri was strictly not part of the Alpha Centauri system, but was easily close enough to be distinguished from the more distant stars, and just about bright enough to be seen during the daylight hours.

As for the city itself, it was everything New Swansea was not, and was more reminiscent of a major Terran city. Habourtown had grown from a small aquaport and military compound to a bustling metropolis of skyscrapers reaching dizzying heights. Electromagnetic tracks criss-crossed through the city – the trains careening just above the busy streets where cars belched out their smoke into the foggy atmosphere. The city had far outgrown its name.

Rhys, who had grown up just outside Cardiff, was well used to the noise and activity of the city, in fact he felt quite at home in it. Twitch though had spent his entire life on Ceres, where there were absolutely no cities of significant size. This was an entirely new experience for him, and he was scared. He would not let go of Rhys’ arm, no matter how much coaxing Rhys gave him.

Rhys tried to tell him a few stories of his experiences in some of the larger cities he had been to, like Cardiff, London, and Sydney; some of the largest cities on Terra. Sydney, the biggest of the three, Rhys knew to be at least twice the size of Habourtown.

But Twitch was not listening at all. He was too busy staring around him in fear and awe of the massive buildings around him, the countless people walking the streets, and the cars and trains roaring past, travelling so fast on their predetermined routes throughout the city centre. Rhys soon gave up trying to talk to him and turned his attentions to Aaron, who began to point out some of the various landmarks of the city as he led them to the closest train station.

They caught a service out to a small town called Porton, located in the eastern suburbs, about ten minutes out of the bustling city centre. It was a journey that took them almost out of sight of the towering skyscrapers.

Along the way, Aaron explained that Porton hadn’t developed from natural growth, as it had been built about ten years ago for the use of the military. The town was arranged in a complex system of cul-de-sacs, each containing two dozen houses, branching off of the main roads in a regular pattern. Towards the ocean in the east the cul-de-sacs were incomplete and the land was flat and barren, simply waiting for the houses to be built. It had grown very rapidly to begin with, but construction had slowed over the past few years as the CGP’s military numbers had peaked.

Both Aaron and Rhys would now reside in two of the newest, and therefore easternmost cul-de-sacs. They wouldn’t be very far from the ocean, and Aaron said that he could hear the roaring surf on a quiet day. It sounded wonderful to Rhys’ ears, and as he looked out the window of the train, he began to smile. Despite the great task that had been given to him and Twitch, he was already glad that he would be calling Centaura his new home.