Chapter Text
The S.S. Voyageur (in Daniel Ricciardo’s humble opinion) was a really fucking good ship.
Sure, he didn’t really have to deal with anything technical on board—that was hardly a captain’s job, after all—but it was his ship. His baby. As the first ship he’d ever bought, the only one he’d ever used for a job, and fifteen years past its prime, the Voyageur was a mechanic’s worst nightmare. But still—his ship. And Daniel refused to be parted from his beloved ship, even if the Emperor himself ordered it. Which was exactly where he found himself at the current moment.
“This is non-negotiable,” Daniel argued. “We’re a package deal, me and the Voyageur. You want me to captain your little rescue mission, then I’m taking my ship.”
“This mission is hardly little,” the Emperor said, frowning. He turned to give his right-hand man and advisor, Lewis Hamilton, a look that probably meant something Daniel wasn’t picking up on. “I know he’s well-respected, but are you sure he’s the best choice?” The Emperor murmured, quiet enough that Daniel had to strain to hear.
“He’s one of the best captains among those of any currently active ship,” Lewis replied, not trying to hide the conversation like the Emperor had. “If you want the very best to track down our missing person, and I suspect you do, then Captain Ricciardo is the man for the job.”
The Emperor sighed, considering Lewis’s words. “Can the Voyageur be outfitted with adequate defense systems?” he asked. “A mere cargo ship is not enough for this job.”
“Mere?” Daniel exclaimed, appalled. Before he could protest further, Lewis held up a hand, shooting him a warning look.
“I’ll check with the mechanic I have lined up,” he replied. “Though, the Voyageur has had enough modifications that adding a standard defense system shouldn’t be too difficult.”
The Emperor glanced back at Daniel for a moment before muttering to Lewis, “I sure hope the rest of the crew you’ve picked is more agreeable than this.”
*****
“Absolutely not.” The man whom Daniel assumed was the mechanic stood in the Imperial docking bay with his arms crossed. “I am not going to work in this junk bucket. Your ship has more safety code violations than a scrapper. Honestly, was it built by a toddler? It’s practically a death trap.”
Daniel scowled. “Well, fix her up then!” he snapped. “Or, better idea,” he said, turning to Lewis, “let’s get another mechanic—we can do that, right? Imperial budget and all that?”
Lewis sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You do remember that this mission is of the highest priority, yes?” he asked. “Someone has been kidnapped. We don’t have time for this dispute.” He turned to the mechanic. “Look, I know it’s not ideal, Oscar, but the S.S. Voyageur is a reliable ship. If you take care of the most prominent problems before launch, would that be okay?”
The mechanic—Oscar, apparently—frowned, eyeing the Voyageur in contempt. “I suppose I could take a look,” he relented. “No promises, though. A ship this old might be beyond saving.”
“You take that back—”
“That’s enough, Daniel,” Lewis scolded. “Come with me. I need to introduce you to the rest of the crew we’ve picked out. Oscar, I assume you want to start on repairs right away?”
Oscar finally turned away from the ship and nodded. “Yeah, if I’ve gotta get defense systems installed as well, then I’ll need all the time I can get,” he said with a serious look.
Lewis nodded gravely. “Thank you,” he said, gesturing for Daniel to follow as he began walking away.
“So, the rest of the crew,” Daniel prompted as he caught up, falling into stride with Lewis. “Anyone I’d know? Are they good?”
“High-priority mission, remember?” Lewis replied. “They’re the best. The Emperor won’t take any less.”
Daniel paused for a moment as they reached the door into the palace, glancing over his shoulder at the docking bay. “So how come I don’t recognize that mechanic?” He asked. “I’ve worked with all of the top-rated crews in the Empire, and I’ve never seen him before.” He frowned. "Actually, I don't think I've even heard his name."
“Well, he isn’t nobility,” Lewis replied. “You mostly work with Imperial-sanctioned crews, yeah?” When Daniel nodded, he continued, “Most of them come from noble lines or have worked their way up to earning a title. Oscar has stayed as a mechanic for other common folk, so he doesn’t have an Imperial license. But I’ve seen some of his work. I’d be lying if I said any Imperial-sanctioned mechanic was better than that young man.”
“Cool,” Daniel said, dragging the word out. “But not any mechanic can work with my Voyageur. She’s a very particular ship!”
Lewis fixed him with a tired look. “Daniel, you’ve trusted dozens of mechanics with the Voyageur before. I really don’t see what the problem is.”
“The problem is that you’re not letting me supervise,” Daniel grumbled. “That guy could be doing anything to her! I need to be there, make sure he understands the specifics of how she works.”
“Right,” Lewis said skeptically. “The ‘specifics’ being your way of distracting from all the illegal modifications you’ve made over the years? You just don’t want him to report the Voyageur. Which won’t happen so long as you let him do his job. You have my word on that.”
Daniel opened his mouth to argue, then closed it again. Lewis had a point, not that he’d admit it out loud. “Fine,” he relented. “If you trust that he won’t mess up my ship too badly, I’m happy.” Daniel didn’t sound sincere and he knew it, but it was better than risking the Voyageur getting impounded. Again.
The pair stepped into the elevator that would take them back up to the meeting room from before, and they lapsed into silence as it began zipping up through the higher levels of the Imperial Palace.
“Hopefully everyone else will be there by now,” Lewis said after a few floors went by. “To answer your previous question, you should recognize them all. Like I said, I found the best.” The elevator slowed to a stop and the doors slid open. “That, and you’ve worked closely with one of them before.”
Daniel raised an eyebrow as he followed Lewis out and down the hallway, finally reaching the room they’d been in earlier. Lewis rested his hand on the door handle, then paused, listening. “Ah, damn,” he muttered. “Forgot about them.”
Daniel frowned and leaned in as well, shooting Lewis a questioning look once he heard the muffled shouts coming from inside.
Lewis shook his head and pushed the door open, the voices becoming clearer.
“—trust me, if I’d known you would be here, I never would have agreed!” One person snapped, startling Daniel with the volume. Damn, the soundproofing in the palace is insane.
“Oh, get over yourself, Russell,” the other replied, a voice so familiar it immediately put a smile on Daniel’s face, despite the circumstances.
“Max!” He called, bursting into the room and interrupting whatever fight Max was having. “Great to see you, mate!” Daniel clapped Max on the back as he reached him, still beaming.
Max looked surprised, but smiled back. “Daniel,” he said, giving him a quick hug. “I wondered who they’d get to captain this mission.”
“Only the best,” Daniel boasted, his grin never faltering.
Lewis cleared his throat and the crew turned to the front of the room, where Lewis stood awkwardly at the Emperor’s side.
The Emperor leaned toward Lewis, speaking once again in a not-so-subtle tone, “Are you absolutely sure these are the people for the job?”
“They’re the best at what they do,” Lewis replied. “All of them.” He took a few steps forward. “To start us off, I figured we should all get acquainted with one another. I believe I explained each of your roles to you when I offered you this job, so perhaps you could go around and say your name and role?”
“What is this, primary school?” A young man—one Daniel couldn’t immediately recognize—asked with a snicker.
Lewis narrowed his eyes. “Sounds like we have a volunteer to go first,” he said with a sharp smile. “Name and role for this mission.”
The man sighed, looking slightly embarrassed. “Alright, alright,” he said. “I’m Lando Norris.” From a noble line, then. Daniel recognized the name at least, if not Lando’s face; the man had a bit of a reputation amongst Daniel’s usual employers—well, amongst anyone in the inner rings, really. Lando continued. “I’ll be the copilot on the ship and manage the defense systems if necessary.”
Lewis turned his expectant gaze to the man next to Lando.
“Pierre Gasly,” the man said. “I’m told I will be in charge of the ship’s supplies as well as our daily schedule.” Gasly—if Daniel remembered correctly, his family had more than their fair share of success in the business world. They’d worked their way up quickly enough that most people held certain suspicions towards their methods, but none dared to dig deeper. The Emperor’s favor often had that effect.
Continuing with the trend of going down the line, the next man glanced at his companions before speaking. “My name is George Russell,” he said, pointedly avoiding looking at Max. “I’m a navigator, but I also handle communications and diplomacy tactics. If need be, I can also act as a medic.” Another noble family, Daniel noticed, albeit one from the lower circles. George himself was nothing to overlook, though—Daniel had considered working with him on multiple occasions due to the man’s splendid reputation.
“Let’s hope there won’t be a need for anything like that,” the Emperor muttered before gesturing to continue.
“I am Max Verstappen,” Max said from his spot to Daniel’s right. The group all turned to stare, not that Daniel could blame them. It wasn’t every day you met the son of the General of the Armies, after all. “And I am a pilot.”
Short and blunt. Daniel smiled. Yeah, that was the Max he knew.
“G’day,” Daniel said, offering a wave to the rest of the group and distracting from the stares in Max’s direction. “I’m Daniel Ricciardo, and I’m the captain of the S.S. Voyageur. I’ll be overseeing this mission, crew activities, and I’ll also deal with stuff like adjusting gravity and ship time to match the local timezones.”
“Wonderful,” Lewis said, smiling at the group. “Your mechanic is in the docking bay checking over the ship and making any necessary repairs.”
“Wrecking it more like,” Daniel muttered under his breath.
Lewis shot him a warning look for what felt like the sixth time that day. “I’m sure he’ll introduce himself when you meet him,” he continued, “but in case time is short, his name is Oscar Piastri.”
The Emperor looked at the group, studying each man’s face carefully. He didn’t look fully convinced, but he nodded anyway. “I suppose this group shall have to do,” he finally said, leaning back in his seat.
“Alright, now that that’s done,” Lewis said, looking relieved, “I suppose it’s explanation time. I’ve kept the details sparse, so for those who don’t know—which I believe is everyone except Daniel—I’ve called you here today because you make up the specialized crew we’re sending out on a rescue mission.”
“What sort of rescue mission?” Lando asked.
“I was getting to that,” Lewis said, glancing at the Emperor. “Early yesterday morning, we were made aware that a person of importance disappeared en route back to the capital. After some investigation, we’ve discovered that he was kidnapped by members of the Shattered Kardai.”
George stifled a gasp. “The space pirates?” He looked aghast. “I thought they kept away from the capital, avoided confrontation with Imperial fleets.”
“They do,” Lewis replied. “Like I said, this happened during flight, not long after the heir's ship took off, so it wasn't well guarded. They left the crew and escorts’ bodies for us to find when we finally tracked down the ship.”
“My god,” Pierre murmured.
“You still haven’t told us who this person is,” Lando cut in, crossing his arms. “Sorry, mate, but unless you give us the full details, I don’t want to risk my ass crossing the Kardai.”
A moment of silence stretched through the room. “Your rescue mission,” Lewis finally said, “is to track down and bring back the Imperial Heir. Charles Leclerc.”
*****
To say that the group had been in shock would’ve felt like an understatement. The room had gone completely silent. Even as Lewis finished explaining the details of the mission, even as they had all left the meeting room, no one really spoke.
By the time they’d parted ways in the guest wing of the Imperial Palace, Lewis and Daniel had barely managed to coax a goodnight from the rest of the crew. The pair stood in the hallway, staring at the closed doors lining one wall.
“I didn’t expect such an extreme reaction,” Lewis said, sighing.
“It’s a pretty extreme situation,” Daniel replied. “I doubt any of them realized exactly what kind of mission they’d signed up for. I didn’t either, when you first called.”
Lewis nodded. “There’s one other thing I didn’t mention to the group,” he said after a moment. “The mood seemed to be sour enough.”
“Oh, god, what now?” Daniel asked with a frown.
“We’ve yet to receive a ransom order of any kind,” Lewis said. “Not even some kind of ‘abolish the Empire’ threat. We can’t rule out the possibility that they’re going to kill Charles as a statement.”
Daniel stared at him. “Mate, that’s… pretty fucking dark. Even for the Kardai.”
“You didn’t see the state of the crew,” Lewis replied, voice low. “It was brutal. The Kardai have a point to make, and we need to figure out what.” He sighed, worry clouding his gaze. “I just hope we’re not already too late.”
Daniel let out a shaky breath. “If they’d killed him by now, we’d know,” he said quietly. “The Kardai… they’re cunning, mate. They’ll want us to drown ourselves in worry before they land that final blow.”
Lewis hesitated. “You think there’s hope?”
“I…” Daniel sighed, carefully considering his words. “Terrorists like the Kardai are unpredictable. But if this is about sending a message like we think it is, then yes. Timing is everything when it comes to matters like this. They’ll know that better than any of us.”
Lewis nodded. “Get some rest,” he said, gesturing to one of the two open doors. “We’ll need you all at your best for this.” He started walking away, but paused as he neared the elevator to turn back and say, “I really hope you’re right.”
Daniel sighed as he watched Lewis leave. “Me too, mate,” he murmured. “Me too.”