The chance for the Liberty to get in the Rooks’ way came within the half-hour. A half hour of the Nomad’s engine growling and grinding as they sped down dust-covered streets, weaving between the shells of abandoned vehicles and debris. Smoke curled from distant buildings, and the sound of disruptor fire echoed through the alleyways. Aryn was bent over his tricorder, muttering as he monitored his readings to pick up life-signs, indicators of violence, pockets of the collapsing cease-fire. Time was of the essence, but getting to the Blackbird without running into trouble was more essential. For now, they were one step ahead of the Tal Shiar as they thundered down the war-torn streets, one step ahead of any of the warlord factions who might see them as tempting prey.

‘Eyes up,’ called Tiran after they rounded a corner. ‘Roadblock ahead.’

‘If we don’t have to stop, don’t stop,’ Cassidy ordered.

But Aryn stiffened as he peered through the windshield. ‘It’s Starfleet.’

Leaning forward, Rosewood hissed an oath. Federation uniforms. Phaser rifles. The roadblock looked hastily assembled, made of barricades stripped from the interior of the aid station. ‘We need to go around.’

‘We need to cross the river,’ Aryn reminded. ‘This is one of the few intact bridges. The next-nearest is a kilometre away and through some rough areas.’ His nose wrinkled. ‘It makes sense for the Liberty to block this. It’s separating some of the largest fighting forces and keeping them away from some of the more inhabited districts.’

‘Still no luck raising the Blackbird?’ Cassidy’s jaw was tight.

‘No luck. The jamming’s interfering with more than short-range sensors, too. Even if we could hail them, I don’t think they could safely beam us out.’

‘Right.’ Cassidy reached for the abandoned uniform jacket. ‘Suit up. Ireqah, keep your head down. Let’s try to talk past this. Swap with me, Aryn.’

Rosewood went to protest, but was ignored as the two men went through the rather undignified process of shuffling between front and rear compartments.

‘We could have pulled over,’ Tiran muttered as Cassidy settled in beside him.

‘And get my head blown off? Drive on.’

The Nomad advanced at a careful trundle towards the roadblock. It was well lit, officers lined up with rifles. Beyond, on either side of the wide and long bridge, Rosewood could see huddling civilians. Some looked injured. All looked scared.

Then a figure in red stepped out to gesture for them to slow, and Rosewood’s heart sank as he recognised Captain Galcyon – battered, worn, a phaser pistol holstered by her side. ‘She just can’t help herself, can she?’ he groaned. The Nomad was pulled to a halt, and Cassidy brought the window down as Galcyon advanced with the air of someone expecting them to comply.

‘This is an unmarked vehicle, Crewman,’ the captain said, gaze cautious as she plainly recognised Cassidy.

‘We got caught out when the fighting started,’ he said. He sounded, Rosewood thought, much more natural at lying when under pressure. ‘Had to commandeer this vehicle to get out of trouble. We’re reporting back to the aid station.’

She shook her head. ‘The aid station’s well guarded. We need to hold this bridge. If the warband on this side crosses, they’re going to drag fighting into the middle of the residential district. We need you here.’

There was a beat as Cassidy worked his jaw. ‘I’ve got an injured officer back here.’

Another beat. Rosewood, not wanting to draw attention to himself, elbowed Nallera, who gave a not-especially-convincing groan of pain.

Galcyon’s eyes flickered across them. Then to the vehicle. Then back to Cassidy’s face. ‘You’re not part of my crew. What’re you doing in those uniforms?’

He ground his teeth again. ‘Captain, I have orders that supercede yours -’

The distant crack of disruptor fire cut him off, followed by the echo of an explosion from far behind. Or, Rosewood thought, not as far as they’d like. Trouble was on their heels.

Galcyon snapped around and put a hand on the window-frame of the Nomad. ‘Never mind who you are. This area’s falling apart and that warband’s closing in. We’re keeping the civilians safe. You’re Starfleet officers; we need all the help we can get here.’

Rosewood tried to not hold his breath as he watched Cassidy. Watched him study not the signs of fighting behind them, but the barricade before them – the makeshift defences, the Liberty crew doing their best to hold the line, the gaps in the security. The civilians behind shelter. As he watched, something stirred in Cassidy’s expression, and the big man took a deep breath.

‘Sorry, Captain,’ he said, and shoved her hand off the Nomad. ‘Not our mission.’ He hit the controls to close the window, and barked at Tiran, ‘Breach it.’

Even Nallera tensed at that. ‘Boss -’

‘Go!’

Tiran didn’t hesitate, taking a beat only to thumb a control. There was a whirr as the Nomad’s reinforced front plating shifted into position, then the engine roared and the vehicle surged forward fast enough to make Galcyon leap back. The captain shouted something, but the sound was drowned out by the screech of metal as the Nomad smashed into the first barricade, debris flying.

As they barrelled through, Rosewood peered through the rear window to catch a glimpse of Galcyon staring after them, her face a mask of disbelief and fury. ‘That’s going to leave an impression.’

The Nomad swerved to avoid a pack of officers, rattled across the wide bridge, and just as they breached the last barrier, there was another thumping of explosions from behind them. At the front, Cassidy grabbed the controls tight. ‘What the hell was that?’

Aryn sucked his teeth as he bent over his tricorder. ‘One of the factions! They’re moving in on the roadblock. Looks like they saw this as their chance.’

Rosewood rounded back on the rear window. The roadblock was fading into the dark behind them, but he could see movement from the road they’d torn down, people advancing on the barricade. Starfleet officers standing their ground. Civilians fleeing. Disruptor and phaser fire. ‘We just gave them the opening they needed.’

There was a beat as the Rooks clung tight, as Tiran drove them further into the dark away from the bridge, the roadblock, the possibility that their fellow officers were being overrun behind them. The Nomad slowed as they reached a steady patch of road, and Rosewood could see why Galcyon had guarded that bridge. This district was peaceful, for now. But what hell was on their heels?

At length, Cassidy said, ‘We have our mission.’

Rosewood’s head snapped around. ‘We could have been on and off Tau Mervana in ten minutes if we’d hailed the Liberty when we arrived -’

‘And half the senior staff would know about our mission,’ Cassidy barked. ‘They’d know about Ireqah, they’d know the Tal Shiar were on our heels, and any security would be lost!’

‘You said the whole reason we were here was because if a starship showed up in orbit, the Free State would know we have her! I think they fucking know now!’

Cassidy rounded in the front seat to jab an angry finger. ‘You think you can trust the average Starfleet officer? Are you that naïve, Kid?’

‘Galcyon -’

‘Would tell people, who’d tell people. Starships don’t keep a secret!’

‘How can you think the command staff of a starship is that leaky?’

‘After the last three years of security breaches, how can you not? With Changelings right under your nose only eight months ago?’

Hot rage broiled in Rosewood’s chest. Had there not been a whole vehicle between them, had he not been crammed in the rear of the Nomad rattling through the night-clad streets of Tau Mervana, he might have gone for Cassidy. As it was, the seats between them, Aryn and Nallera, made that an obstacle enough to force him to stay coiled on the bench in the back, seething. ‘How many officers did you just get killed?’ he growled instead. ‘How many civilians?’

‘Galcyon brought those officers to a warzone and dumped them in the middle of a ceasefire so unstable it took five seconds for the Tal Shiar to undo it; she put them in the line of fire there,’ Cassidy spat. ‘And before she got here, civilians were dying on Tau Mervana every day. You didn’t give a shit then; don’t be wet and pretend you just give a shit ‘cos it’s happening right in front of you.’

In the next silence as Rosewood ground his teeth, Tiran spoke, voice low but firm in a way that both carried across the Nomad and broke the quiet tension like turning a page. ‘We’re approaching the outskirts of the city. Blackbird’s landing point is thirty minutes out still.’ Dark streets raced by the window, most of the lights coming from the Nomad itself.

‘See?’ grunted Cassidy, easing back into the front seat. ‘We do the job. We live to fight another day.’

Less than a minute later, an explosion took the Nomad out.