"You know, have we thought about how we're going to get them to trust us enough to let us even get close to their ships let alone Aneela?"

Johnny stared at his brother for a long moment. "You don't think I'd present you with a plan-"

"A crazy as all hells plan."

He gave a nod, almost proud of himself in that moment. "Yes, a crazy as hells plan...without eventually figuring out that part, right?"

"So, what did you come up with?" Dutch asked.

"We say that our baby is sick and no one's been able to do anything." Johnny was pretty damn sure he was even more of a genius in that moment. "Think about it, there's no way they'd skip basically an offer to look over your child...especially if it's them trying to make it so the Hullen can reproduce."

"Slight snag, Johnny," Dutch spoke up. "Our child isn't here and won't be."

"I know."

"So, they're not just going to believe us because Dutch is here," D'av pushed.

"Remember the school for smart kids from Westerley? Remember Olin? He had us chasing the hologram? It even tricked him," Johnny said. "I'll program a holographic baby."

"I thought those kids were way smarter than you."

Johnny just glared at his brother. "No."

"Don't worry, John, I'll help you," Lucy piped up.

"Thanks, Luce."

"My pleasure."

"You think that'll be good enough to get us on the ship?" Dutch questioned.

"They'll say no weapons, but we shouldn't need them as long as we can get to Aneela," Johnny told her. He was confident that it was going to work. It seemed like a lot, but it was really just three steps. Make the hologram. Get on the ship. Get Aneela on their side via the memories.

It had to work.

"If we had a reference to work off of," Johnny started, but was quickly interrupted by Lucy.

"RAC Agent Fancy Lee uploaded footage from the last time your team encountered Aneela, Delle Seyah Kendry, and the child Caspara."

"You have footage?" D'av question, obviously surprised by this information.

"Yes."

"That'll work," Johnny said. "They probably look alike, plus...babies...they all look weird." He didn't miss the looks he was getting, but he wasn't going to take it back. This was going to work. "Leave it to me and Lucy."

"It's so weird."

"Why?"

"Because it looks so real."

"It's supposed to," Johnny said.

"Too real."

Johnny sighed. "Seriously?"

"What?"

"Just thank me for the awesome work I do, don't complain about it," Johnny told him with a shake of his head.

"It's creepy, okay?"

"Okay, okay...don't look at it then."

"They're going to want a name," Dutch brought up from behind.

"Which means we have to decide on a gender since I've got no other details, but babies all look the same at this age anyways...they wouldn't expect the baby to really look loads different, right?" He could tell that both Dutch and D'avin seemed uncomfortable, but this was what they had. This was what they needed to do to make it all work.

"Six months."

"What?"

"That's the age of the child," Dutch said. It seemed like she was thinking for a moment before she spoke up again. "Make it a girl, like theirs...maybe it'll up sympathy."

Johnny stared at her, he could tell that she was trying to remain detached, but he hated how she sounded in that moment. He knew Dutch and he could see and hear the pain buried there. He wanted this to all be over...for her...for all of them. This was a step they had to take though. "Okay," he said finally. "A name then."

"Emily?" D'avin suddenly threw out there.

"Doesn't sound like a name Dutch would pick," Johnny threw back. "Emily Yardeen doesn't sound too royal, does it?"

D'av goaned. "Tamsen?"

"Are you going through old girlfriend names?"

"No," Dutch spoke up. "No, it's good. Tamsen."

"Do Qreshis believe in middle names?"

"Tamsen Emily Jaqobis Yardeen," Dutch said with a smirk as she looked between them.

"Sounds like a goddamn princess name if I ever heard of one," Johnny said as he worked away. He and Lucy were creating a false medical file in the records on the ship. Maybe they really didn't need it, but it made it more real. "Okay, so...how do we contact them?"

"Put out a distress call...let me talk," Dutch said. "She'll come if she knows it's me."

"Okay, Lucy open-"

"No."

"No?" he and D'av asked at the same time.

"No, you two need to go. I need to be alone when I'm doing it. Make it more believable. It's just an audio message. It'll give you time to work on the hologram because when Aneela does come, it has to look perfect. We all have to be perfect."

"This is how we win the war," D'av said.

Johnny drew in a deep breath. "Yeah, no pressure me."

"I believe in you, John," Lucy chimed in.

"Thanks, Luce."

"Please don't screw this up."

"Hey! What happened to the trust?"

TBC…