Ryan had already settled in the cockpit when Leanne arrived. The forward console decks glowed softly, two images displayed across the panels. As Leanne hurried closer, she realised they were not still pictures, but videos, staggered and lagging. One location she recognised as Wells station, the orbiter currently spinning around Mars and mapping her climate. Leanne had stood in that bridge a mere four days before, listening to Commander Roth's final briefing. Cliff had sat beside her in a seat currently just out of frame, turning and turning over that shooting star ornament in his hands. He had no idea that in hours, he would be dead.

A chill washed over Leanne's stomach. She walked slowly behind Ryan's chair, putting her hands on its back for support. Commander Roth's face seemed more drawn and lined since Leanne had last seen her, made haggard by the last days. Dark rings circled her eyes and her usually neat red ponytail had come a little loose. Even in half-freeze frame, Leanne could see the pain and fear in her gaze.

In contrast, Jakande, the governor and commander of Nerio, was like stone. She sat, surrounded by a silently flashing bank of computer towers, dressed in the sleek and severe uniform of the colonists. The symbol of Mars was emblazoned across the dark cloth, the red eye of the planet wrapped in trails of fire and starlight. Her dark hair was short and tightly curled and perfectly preened, just like every inch of her. Leanne had never spoken to her before but felt as though she needed to stand up straighter under her firm gaze.

"Valkyrie," Ryan said. "Can you try and get us a better connection? It's like speaking with a photo album."

"Of course."

A moment of quiet and then both Jakande and Roth's voices were filling the cockpit. The uplinks suddenly spurted into life, emitting a hive of activity. Other astronauts appeared behind Roth, flitting in and out of the frame with data pads and clipboards and logs. A low rumble could be heard from Jakande's stream, the pulses of the computer bank almost seeming to be a pattern of speech.

"Apologies," Roth finally said above the din. "Lieutenant Ziegler, Ryan, it is good to finally see you."

Leanne again thought of the strangeness of Ryan being referred to entirely by her first name. Perhaps the Nerio colonists did not have surnames?

"Ryan," Jakande said, seeming to confirm it. "Lieutenant Ziegler, I am glad to see you well."

"Thank you, Commander, Governor, ma'am. I am still breathing." That was the best Leanne could manage.

"We're stable," Ryan agreed.

Roth waited, perhaps waiting for Jakande to say more. The BASE's meticulous hierarchy played across her indecision, mixed with the fact that this mission had begun as a BASE endeavour. But Nerio had supplied Phaethon and Ryan and the Arcadia sat in Martian airspace. Between Roth and Jakande, there was no clear superior. Leanne felt a stab of sympathy for her. She had only been in the job a few months.

"We have been trying to contact you," Roth finally said. "The channels have been inaccessible until now. But I have been in constant communication with Krasnoyarsk and Helios. Our primary aim has been to ensure your health."

"Thank you," Leanne said, though she knew if they had been so concerned, they would have sent a rescue team – which Ryan claimed was not coming.

"The company wish to express their grievance at the death of Commander Buchanan. A tribunal will be held to investigate the causes of his demise."

Usually, Leanne would be the one heading such an investigation. Now, she would be part of the witness pool and those under question. She nodded silently, squeezing the back of Ryan's chair.

"Nerio colony and Imperium also give their condolences," Jakande interjected. "We will gladly supply testimony."

Her stony face did not change as she said it, almost as if the synthetic Imperium was the one to try and give sympathy.

"Thank you, Governor," Roth said.

"Lieutenant Ziegler has identified the name of the ship," Ryan said before any more painful talk of Cliff could occur. "We have made some headway into investigating its mystery."

"The ship is named the Arcadia," Leanne stated. "I have found quarters that confirm the names of the crew, but there is no indication where they have gone. The ship is on virtual lockdown and I have not found any way to access the centrifuge which powered up within the last twenty hours. The ship's AI, Valkyrie, claims that all the information about the Arcadia's mission is classified. She also says that the Arcadia is registered to the BASE."

Roth had been noting down Leanne's hastily regurgitated information, but now paused and looked up. "Registered to the BASE?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am."

"That is..." Not possible, Leanne could see Roth wanted to say, but this was a professional call, with the eyes and ears of Nerio upon them. Admitting that they had no handle on this ship and its background would be fuel to Nerio's fire against them. "We shall investigate this," Roth continued, returning to the secretive BASE identity she had to wear.

"You say that there is a ship's AI," Jakande said. "Ryan, do you believe you can access her?"

Ryan halted, fingers tapping the plastic shielding around the camera screen. She twisted her mouth and answered, "I think I might be able to."

"We have not found any power banks that indicate where Valkyrie is operating from," Leanne explained. "They could potentially be behind the door that is locking down the centrifuge. We need a way to access that first."

Without saying it, Leanne was requesting aid. She did not think it would be forthcoming: by Ryan's admission, a rescue team was not on the cards. But she could feel they were close to unravelling the next stage of the mystery. If the BASE and Nerio wanted answers, they would have to enable her and Ryan to find them. Leanne saw more and more that she and Cliff should not have been sent here alone. Even without using her investigator's mindset, she knew this whole situation was a mess.

"Now we have comms running, keep us updated," Roth said, shutting down Leanne's vain hopes. "I shall pass this information back to Krasnoyarsk and return with further directives."

That could take days: days they did not have. Had they forgotten that Nerio threatened to turn their guns on the ship in a little over a week? And what had the BASE been doing while she struggled and suffered on the Arcadia? Maybe they were as bewildered and lost as she was.

"Yes," Leanne said though. "Thank you."

"There is one more matter," Roth continued, lowering her eyes. "Governor Jakande is concerned about the Mandala's presence, still in orbit. Where you and Commander Buchanan had to evacuate her so suddenly..."

"BESS Mandala will eventually decay into Martian atmosphere," Jakande interrupted over Roth's hesitancy. "Your commander is still tethered to her."

The bottom dropped out of Leanne's stomach. She felt sick, the world suddenly ringing in her ears. "Oh god," she heard herself whisper.

"We have plotted and tried to move Mandala into a safer orbit," Roth said. "But Wells is not capable of performing such a manoeuvre. She must be internally controlled into a graveyard orbit or pushed out into deep space."

"And...Commander Buchanan?" Leanne asked.

Roth was silent for a moment, seemingly trying to find the words. "He must be untethered."

Leanne let out a breath. She thought she might collapse, but she grabbed tightly to Ryan's chair and pressed a hand to her churning stomach. "Right," she managed to say. "I will do it."

"The process for burial in space is simple," Roth continued, obviously thinking she was helping. "If you require it, I can send you the procedure."

"It's alright," Leanne whispered through a tight throat. "I know it."

Every astronaut who performed EVAs did. If the worst was to happen, the individual at least deserved a decent burial. But Leanne had never imagined she would have to go through one. For Joanne Buchanan's sake, she must, so she could tell her that Cliff had a safe resting place amongst the stars.

Leanne barely registered the rest of the conversation. All she could think of was Cliff's dead body, floating in the vicinity of Mandala, faceplate smashed, EVA suit open to the brutality of space. It would be so ugly. She dreaded the sight, knowing it would forever cloud her memories of her friend. She only asked to find comfort in their past times but no, this would punch a ragged hole through all of that.

For Joanne. She must do it for Joanne and her children.

As soon as the cameras faded into black again, Leanne started to make her way to Airlock-C where she had entered the ship, where Phaethon had broken in. It was better to have this thing done quickly before she could crumble any further. But she had not reached the cockpit's exit when Ryan said, "I am going."

Leanne stopped. "What?"

"I am going outside. I will move Mandala and bury your friend."

Leanne did not know what to say. She managed a small, "Why?"

"He was your friend. You do not want to see him that way. It won't be pretty."

"I... I must. I know the procedure."

"So do I. If you want to, you can say some words as I bury him, but I won't hear any arguments: I am going."

"I couldn't ask you to do that."

"You aren't asking. I'm saying."

Leanne swallowed. Frightful tears had crept into her eyes and she desperately pressed them down. She would not cry in front of this woman. "Thank you," she whispered, incapable of more.

"I told you there was a reason Nerio sent me up specifically. I'm more capable than others." Ryan gave a smile as she approached Leanne. Unexpectedly, she touched her arm and her hand was pleasantly warm in the chill of space and recycled atmosphere. "Come help me into my suit."

Leanne found herself smiling for the first time in so long. She nodded.

Word count: 1704
Overall: 17,268

The shoutout for this chapter goes to SallyMason1 whose two (!) ONC entries, Between and Paradise Falling, are fast paced, engaging and entertaining stories full of delicious morally grey characters.