Beckett was in Sickbay just as soon as he’d finished debriefing Kharth, a process he’d resented sitting through. He stormed in to see Forrester sat on a biobed, out of the EV suit and just in the base layer, a medical staffer checking her over, but a quick sweep of the room showed no sign of Thawn.

‘Starik!’ He couldn’t help but snap as the CMO exited his office, and Beckett stormed over. ‘Where’s the commander? What’s happened? I swear to God, I don’t care that I’m not legally next-of-kin or anything, you’re going to tell me -’

To his great surprise, Starik reached out as he closed the distance, and put a hand on his upper arm. While the Vulcan’s grip was iron-tight, there was a firm reassurance alongside the restraint. ‘Beckett.’ Starik’s voice was low. ‘Commander Thawn is in a private room with Nurse Li. We are abiding by protocol for officers who have been imprisoned and abused.’

Despite the worry already worming through him, Beckett felt light-headed. ‘Abused -’

‘Commander Thawn arrived with injuries inflicted by people, not by the accident. They seem superficial. We have to be sure.’

‘Seem –’

‘Lieutenant Forrester insists that “nothing more” happened than several blows to the face and body by their captors. She has been already cleared, but Commander Thawn insisted we see to her subordinate first. Policy simply dictates we take due care.’

Beckett’s lip curled. ‘And let me guess, for this oh-so-sensitive protocol, we don’t send you –’

‘Nurse Li is qualified. I am not.’ Despite the plain jab at his Vulcan behaviour, Starik made no show of rising to the bait. Nor did he drop his hand. ‘You are distressed. You are experiencing a sense of helplessness. You are lashing out. Had we not instituted such protocol, you would accuse us of not taking this matter seriously. Taking it seriously has, however, raised your anxiety.’

‘I…’ Beckett blinked, the fizzing feeling behind his eyes beginning to abate as Starik unkindly diagnosed it. ‘Yeah. I guess.’

‘You will wait?’ The grip loosened an iota.

‘I’ll wait.’ Beckett nodded, swallowing bile. ‘I’ll wait. Thanks, Starik.’

‘Distress under such circumstances is natural. The situation was chaotic. It is not only by Captain Valance’s efforts that Commander Thawn and Lieutenant Forrester are returned safely, but by tremendous chance, also.’ The door to one of the private rooms slid open, Nurse Li emerging, and Beckett watched as she gave Starik a nod.

‘I would presume Commander Thawn has been cleared,’ the doctor said, releasing Beckett’s arm. ‘I will permit you to see her while Nurse Li and I discuss our recommendations to Counsellor Dhanesh.’

Beckett fair flew across sickbay to the door, giving a vague call of, ‘Glad you’re not held captive by a crazed warlord, Tes!’ to Forrester before slipping inside the private room.

With all Starik had said, he’d been braced for worse. The room was gently lit, but not oppressively dark, and he’d half expected the lighting to be ominously low, as if brightness would shine too harsh on suffering. Thawn sat on a biobed, pulling on her jacket. Medical care had tended to the cuts and bruises, leaving her looking nothing more than a little dishevelled.

But her eyes lit up as she saw him, and she stood so he could race over and wrap his arms around her.

‘That,’ Beckett croaked, ‘was too close. We need to stop this whole “rescue mission” routine we got down.’

‘It was just supposed to be repair work,’ she said into his shoulder, voice muffled before she pulled back. ‘I’m sorry I scared you.’

‘Never mind me – are you okay? Starik was talking about protocols, and when you took longer than Forrester -’

‘I didn’t take longer than Forrester, they just saw to Forrester first.’ She hesitated. ‘And I may have a few more flags on my file about being taken prisoner by hostile forces, so Li had some follow-up questions.’

‘This is what I’m talking about with rescue -’

‘At least one of those occasions, I rescued myself.’ But she raised a hand to his face, fingers tracing across his cheekbone as her eyes searched his. ‘Hey. I’m okay.’

‘I know, I know…’ Beckett swallowed, the bitter taste not going away. ‘I just worried.’

‘I can tell the worry, but you’re – you’re furious, Nate, and I’m sorry -’

‘I’m not angry with you!’ Surprise, confusion, and a hint of indignation at the idea meant this came out sharper than he meant it. ‘God, no. I’m furious at the Klingons.’

‘Ledera’s a renegade -’

‘Bullshit. She’s a captain in this attacking fleet. She targeted us twice now; the first time seems clearly against Brok’tan’s designs on the region, and the second time is a flagrant disregard for his orders. And until or unless he does a goddamn thing she’s a threat – and his inaction will make him one, too.’ His hands slid down to take hers, brow furrowed, nearly stumbling over himself as he talked.

‘Maybe,’ said Thawn carefully. ‘But Captain Valance -’

‘Has bought into Brok’tan’s schtick of reluctant nobility, even though he’ll twiddle his thumbs about Ledera and is also trying to set up the Empire with a beachhead in the sector so they can invade the bloody Republic, our allies. He’s not some cool Klingon uncle, he’s the enemy.’

‘I don’t know if we can afford to think like that. The situation with the empire is complicated.’

‘I don’t know if we can afford to not think like that.’ He felt not just her eyes on him, but the gentlest nudge of her thoughts against his. There was more he wasn’t saying, but rather than push, she was simply drawing attention to the unspoken, that she knew it existed, whatever it was.

Beckett sighed. ‘I have orders to ensure the Klingon-Rencaris agreement doesn’t go ahead.’

Thawn’s expression dimmed. ‘Orders from Intelligence.’

‘Look, you can put pressure on me to share these things,’ he said in a stumble, ‘but then you’ve got to keep your mouth shut, okay? When this stuff comes in, either I lie to you, or you lie to the others; that’s how this has to work.’

‘I can keep my mouth shut with the others,’ she said simply. ‘You’re not about to go assassinate Brok’tan, are you?’

Beckett’s nose wrinkled. ‘I don’t think I could. But no. No, I have a line of inquiry to sabotage the negotiations.’

‘Nate… Endeavour’s still in bad shape. We can’t afford to get kicked out of the system. Especially not after today.’

‘I know. If I do this right, our fingerprints aren’t anywhere near this in a way which makes us look bad.’ He gave a half-smile with a cockiness he didn’t feel. It felt good to pretend, though. ‘Sometimes this job can be more cloak, less dagger.’

‘Okay.’ Thawn bit her lip for a moment, then sighed. ‘I’ve never seen you this angry.’

The cocky smirk faded. ‘They’re supposed to be our allies. Legally, they’re supposed to be on our side. Instead, they came for us. For you. For no reason. I don’t know what Ledera even fucking wanted out of that situation, except to toy with Valance, who should have taken the opportunity to rip her to shreds. Instead, Valance is too busy playing chicken with her own sense of fucking Klingon fucking identity, or is paying respects to an alliance and relationship that isn’t worth the paper it isn’t written on -’

‘Okay, okay, okay.’ Her grip on him became a little more frantic, more fretful as furious words out. She clutched his hands before pawing at his collar before putting a fingertip to his lips. ‘You’re right, okay? You’re right.’

That made him pause. ‘Wait. I am?’

Thawn’s gaze clouded. ‘I take offence to being abducted, but they took Forrester, too, and for, like you, said, no reason. The empire’s been a lousy friend.’

He’d read about Endeavour’s clashes with the Hunters of D’Ghor at Archanis, when the empire had dragged its feet dispatching forces against its own renegades in defence of their own allies. They’d never had much reason to talk about that military campaign.

He squeezed her hand. ‘You’re free to go?’

She wore the ghost of a tired smile. ‘Told to take at least eighteen hours off duty. Then? I get to repair what we broke.’

‘Hm,’ mused Beckett, kissing her on the forehead. ‘You’re good at that.’