With the threat of the Purists addressed, there was no reason for Lukas to further damage the ship. So instead of breaking through the hull to board, the sub surfaced alongside the ship, next to the hole the fighter had punched.

Those who were able-bodied, or whose injuries were non-life threatening, boarded under the watchful supervision of Aurrum. The sub that Aquatime had offered the crew of the Andromeda was a small, cramped thing, but it was enough to ferry the fifty or so people that were to be taken to the resort.

Erin and Aurrum joined them, as well as Lukas and Ricardia. Jasper stayed behind with the critically injured, helping the Andromeda's tiny medical team do what they could. Eventually, they would have to abandon the ship as well, for the battered craft had too many breaches to stay afloat much longer. Still, they would do what they could, and bring those who would manage to stabilize to the resort as well. The first thing Jasper did was contact his own medical team, and request further support.

Since the sub was no longer whisking them away under fire, the craft stayed above the surface as it pulled away from the Andromeda. That meant that the sub's top deck was open for use; a wide, flat expanse with a protective guard that ringed it. Aurrum stood there now, watching as his ship grew smaller with distance. He heard the sounds of footsteps approaching, dull beats of noise against the metallic floor.

He sighed, keeping his attention on the view.

Erin sidled up to him, positioning herself against the protective guard as well. Aurrum spared her a glance, and was struck by the way the woman had her arms draped over the edge, hands dangling out above the water.

"There's something I still don't understand," he said, breaking the silence.

"And what would that be?" Erin's tone was uncharacteristically soft.

"The thing that started this all, Ito's S.O.S. message... how did you know? How were you the only one who intercepted it?

"The Communication Department was screening any kind of contact-"

"Don't give me that, Erin. It's an impossible scenario. You somehow involved yourself with the right department, uncovered a single message among the billions flying around space?"

Erin winced. "You know, I came to you for help because I thought you would ask less questions."

Aurrum felt himself smiling. "No, old friend. You came to be because you trust me, despite how much you hoard your little secrets. So for once, just tell me."

Aurrum's gaze was still trained towards the view, but he could imagine her expression. That stormy, considering glare she took on whenever she was faced with a puzzle.

"The truth is," she said finally, "I have no idea how Ito's call was kept classified. It was clear he was desperate enough to make it available to anyone. I suspect that the same force that alerted me to the message was the same one to blame for the censorship."

"Which was?" Aurrum prompted. When she didn't respond immediately, he added a little heat to his tone. Admittedly, much of that anger was genuine.

"Haven't I done enough to prove my commitment, Erin? For Ferrus' sake, I sacrificed my ship for you - my crew! You always do this-"

Erin suddenly surprised him with a laugh. He finally turned to look at her in full, incredulous, but she waved him off.

"You're right, of course," she said after taking a breath. "You're right. Sometime, during all these years, I've learned to keep things so close to my chest."

"You're a scientist," Aurrum said, "working in a dangerous field. You've been holding on to secrets for a long time."

Erin gave him a nod, and with it, she seemed to lose some of her tension.

"I am sorry about your crew. I really am."

"I know."

"It was Ferrus," she said.

"What?" Aurrum looked blankly at her.

"That's who spoke to me. Brought the message to my attention."

Now it was Aurrum's turn to laugh, but it quickly faded at Erin's expression.

"Oh damn..." he murmured. "You're not joking. But how?"

Erin shrugged, a gesture that poorly captured the magnitude of their topic.

"Maybe it's my history as a scientist - someone would be predisposed to being open about revelation. Or maybe I was just in the right place at the right time. Does it matter?"

"It does," Aurrum said, "of course it does! Wouldn't the Rete's full attention be drawn to this? I mean, spheres... what they're trying to do will lead to disaster. A whole army of Knights, except that they'll be able to pick and choose what power they'll wield!"

It was a good argument. From a logical standpoint, Erin should have turned over Ito and everything she'd learned to the Senate at the first chance she got. But there had to be a reason why Ferrus hadn't chosen the Rete as its mouthpiece. She had her suspicions about that, however. Direct, manipulative power over Factors wasn't something any governing body should be handed to on a platter.

"No," Erin said. "I don't think I will."

"So then what are you going to do?" Aurrum asked.

Silence fell as the two of them eyed each other. They'd known one another for a long time; Aurrum had left the military early on, and Erin had turned to her scholarship, but they had kept in touch over the decades. It was why Erin had gone to the captain with something so sensitive, and it was also why Aurrum had agreed, despite the swaths of secrecy surrounding her requests.

Now, a small part of Aurrum wondered if Erin had finally snapped. Erin, on her part, was considering what she'd do if the captain refused to follow her any further. She'd have to figure something out - giving up was simply not an option. But if she couldn't trust her oldest friend, then who?

"We need to find Ito refuge," Erin finally said. "A place where he can be supervised, but hidden. And then we need to surmise how far the Saiseki have gotten with the project since he was stranded. It's very possible that someone else has made further progress."

"And if they do?"

"Then we do everything we can to shut it down."

"You've never been much of a loyalist," Aurrum noted. "The Rete strictness never really meshed well with you."

"It's not about that. Of course, I want to prevent massive loss of life, and prevent this conflict from growing any more intense. But I've dedicated my life to trying to understand the Planatae. The Rete and this war... they employ people like me because they believe we will find ways to exploit these entities. But the reason I got into this was a desire for understand. A way for humanity to grow closer to the only other form of sentience we've ever encountered. In a perfect world, Aurrum, I'd toss all my Factor research in the trash and spend my days simply talking to any Avatar that would listen."

Aurrum nodded slowly. "I get it," he said. "A Planatae - one of the most mysterious, even - spoke to you. Made you a request. You can't help but follow through with it, can't you?"

Erin gave a wan smile. "No, I can't. If I do this thing - if I succeed - then who knows where this relationship will go? Maybe this is a test of some kind, a way to judge us humans for further contact."

"Maybe," Aurrum said. Then he added, "I'm still not fully convinced you spoke to Ferrus, Erin."

"Fair enough." Erin pushed herself off the railings and stood up straight. That iron-hard soldier's pose had returned, the mask once again slipped back over her face. The loose, soft-spoken woman from moments ago may as well have been a completely different person.

"And the woman?" Aurrum pressed her before she could wander back down, below deck. "She's a Candidate, Erin. The law requires us to report her."

"You know, I never really supported that particular mandate," she said, a wan smile crossing her expression. "Forfeiting control over your existence like that should be a voluntary decision."

"Erin..."

"She's a lead." Her voice went flat. "Something about the particular state she's in - that malleability that comes with Candidacy - has given Ito a lead of some kind. We need to keep her close."

"I thought the idea was to prevent discovery."

Erin sniffed. "My goal is to simply keep the information away from the people that would do the most damage with it. But I'm a researcher, Aurrum. I have to understand this phenomena."

Aurrum crossed his arms, unconvinced. "She thinks we're going to let her go."

"We will," Erin said as she stepped away. "But I'm going to explain to her why helping me is the better choice."

She paused then, and added, "for the time being, we're going to continue using our story - that we're a private expedition team that had run into some trouble. Our trip records state that we were planning to stop at Caedem anyway before returning to Ferrus"

"And once we get passage off this planet? What's next for you?"

"Thank you for your help, Aurrum," she said, ignoring his question. "I'll consider your contract fulfilled once we leave Caedum. We'll discuss the insurance claim around the loss of the Andromeda."

Aurrum sighed, frowning as he watched the woman retreat, but he didn't push for a real answer. Then, he smirked, thinking about what she had said. They both knew that Erin couldn't hope to replace the colossal investment that had been his ship.

But her other point... he'd done this job not because she'd offered him a fantastic contract - at this point in his career, he hardly needed the money. No, he'd done this as a favor to her, but it seemed as though Erin was fully prepared to forge on ahead without him. Was it something that he'd said? The skepticism he'd shown when he'd heard about her meeting with Ferrus?

Regardless, perhaps she was right. At the very least, he needed to let his crew return home. If their 'expedition team' facade hadn't crumbled already, he had little hope that the Caedish authorities would simply take their word at face value.

Aurrum sighed, pushing off the railing as well. He needed to go make some rounds throughout the sub, check in with his crew and assuage any overwhelming emotion. There was also the matter of contacting the rest of the company's board and explaining what exactly had happened to their flashship craft - or at least, some version of it.

Erin could handle the strangeness and conspiracy by herself for a little while, he decided. Aurrum needed to lick his wounds and do damage control.

Just like the old days, he thought with a touch of humor. Decades later, he was still cleaning up this woman's messes.

"Aurrum."

He looked up, surprised to see that Erin hadn't gone below deck. She eyed him for a moment, her expression contemplative. Then she looked away and sighed.

"Come with me," she said. "We're going to go find my son and that woman, and then I'm going to tell you all a story."