“Jeff?” I managed to ask “Jeff is one of them? Are you sure?”

“I knew he was like us the minute I talked to him.”

Wait a minute… “Like us? You said he was a Tracon.”

“I told you this before, J. There’s a deep connection between Alomegas and Tracons. Like there is deep connection between Alomegas and humans too. We all come from the same…” he seemed to be trying to chose the best word to explain it “Lets just say that we all come from the same source. At the beginning the Tracons were our friends but at some point they started to hurt humans. The Alomegas, naturally, didn’t approve it. With the time it became pretty clear that the Tracons only wanted to dominate the human race.”

“But you are sure that he is a Tracon.”

“Yes, I’m sure. I admit that for a minute I thought he could be an Alomega but now I’m positive about this. He is a Tracon, AJ. There is a little group of Tracons in this planet. The rebels already knew about them. No that they were Tracons, of course, but that there was a group of Empire citizens and soldiers rounding the town and pretending to be simple human outlaws. Jeff is one of them. Until now we know for sure that there are 9 “Empies” here.

“Empies?” Nick made a face.

“Empie is the word the rebels use for an Empire sympathizer” Kevin explained. “You probably have already seen some of them when you were with Jeff, Alex.”

I shrugged. “He was always alone.”

“What about those humans in the bar that you mentioned, Bone. The ones that made you feel nervous?” Brian interrupted.

“I know what bar you are referring to.” Kevin nodded “That’s where they usually meet.”

“What is it, Nicky?” Howie suddenly asked and we all looked to our little brother who had a scared look on his face.

“Nothing.” he answered.

“You were about to say something.”

“No, I was not,” he replied sounding a little irritated.

“Nick?” Kevin gave him a look.

“I wasn’t. Really.”

“Why I’m sensing otherwise?” Howie insisted. Not too many days before coming to K-Tawoor Howie had developed a new power, his third one. It turned out that D was an empathic. He still was having problems trying to control this power though. “You are too worried, Nick.”

“Jeez, Howie, aren’t we all?” the kid growled. “I’ve seen my parents’ death. I didn’t even remember them that well and now that image will haunt me forever. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, I’ve seen some terrible things from my future too, all in one minute.”

“I’m not talking about that. You became more worried the minute Kevin mentioned Jeff. No, no when he mentioned Jeff, it was later, when Train was talking about Jeff’s friends.” Realization hit me. It was when Kevin talked about the bar, wasn’t it?

“I don’t even know Jeff, so leave me alone.” he whined. Oh no Nicky, what have you been doing? I know your little secret, remember. You DO know Jeff. He must have sensed what I was thinking because he looked at me as pleading with his eyes.

“That’s true, Howie, Nicky doesn’t even know Jeff. You are just confused.” Brian spoke up.

Howie moved his head and half-closed his eyes, like trying to read Nick’s mind. The kid held his gaze but sank even more in the couch.

“Yes, I suppose, you are right.” Howie finally admitted. “I’m just probably confused by all the mixed feelings in this room. Man, I hate the fact that I still can’t control this new power. It only gives me headaches.”

I was about to say something but Nick looked guiltily up at me and shake his head.

You owe me this one, kid. And you better tell me the truth as soon as we are alone.

“Does Jeff know that you are aware of this?” Brian asked Kevin.

“Probably.”

“Shouldn’t we leave this planet immediately?” Howie said standing up.

“No, D, don’t worry, they are not going to do anything for a while”

“How do you know it?”

“I just know it,” he said using the same tone of voice he had used thousands of times for me and Nick when we were asking too many questions. Great! Are you still going to keep things away from us, Train? There’s more in this story, isn’t it?

“I was supposed to meet him tomorrow” I told them almost in a whisper and already knowin what Kevin was going to say.

“Forget it. You are not going.”

“Don’t worry, Kevin. I really don’t want to see that guy. Man, I can’t believe he fooled me. I was so stupid. I better not see him again because I will probably kill him.”

“AJ, calm down.” Howie was standing in front of me “You couldn’t have known who he really was.” I smiled at him. Sweet D always trying to make me feel better.

“So, we will just stay here?” Nick spoke again.

“Yes, we will stay here for a couple of days. Howie and I have been working with the rebels planning an attack to an Empire base.” Brian, Nick and I opened our eyes in shock. Wow, that sounds dangerous. All this time I’ve been suspecting they were working for the rebels but now that it’s confirmed it doesn’t seem real. “We need some information and are waiting for a guy who will arrive in a couple of days. After that we are living.”

“Are we going to work for the rebels too?”

I rolled my eyes at Nick’s question.

“That’s all you want to know, Kaos?”

“Hey, it’s a valid question”

I snorted.

“AJ, give the kid a break. It IS a valid question” Kevin came in defense of Nick “I suppose that would be the logical next step.” He smiled at Nicky. “But we will take things easy. Howie and I would let you know about the rebel work so far but for now I want you to stay in the ship.” He paused for a second. “AJ, is my laser working?” he asked me scratching his head and looking at the floor. I knew that he was avoiding looking at me as an intent to stay calm and forget that morning’s episode near the lake.

“I haven’t had the time to check it yet.”

“I will do it” Brian offered to help.

“You need a laser, Alex.” Kevin kept talking, still without looking at me.

“I already repaired his laser.” Brian grinned and Kevin looked up at him.

“You did it?” he asked.

“You did it Rok?” Man, I know I can always rely on you.

“Yes. Remember that it was just a little problem with the trigger. It wasn’t such a big deal. I should have done it before but I was busy with the ships reparations. I have it in my room. And I will check the ATX5 too.”

“Thanks, Bri, you rock!”

“I know” he said in one of those funniest voices he was always doing.

“You think they could come here, Kev?” Howie’s question made me feel uncomfortable again.

“There’s always a chance but they won’t be looking for trouble, not right now.” Kevin assured us.

“How do you know that for sure?”

“I just know it, D. Trust me.” he looked at Nicky, Brian and me “Do you have any other questions?”

“Just a million” I snorted and everybody laughed for the first time that night.


-----------------------------------


We spent the rest of the night talking about the things we had seen when we touched the pyramid, about our future and about our “mission”. Kevin and Howie assured us that every single scene from the future we had seen could change. “Nothing is ever certain until it happens”, those were the words they used. They knew it for sure and that really calmed us, especially since it seemed that we had all seen us suffering. In my case, the pyramid had showed me lot of sadness, including a scene with Kevin deadly injured. I chose not to mention it that night though. D advised us to put our ideas in order for later. He said that at some point we would all be needing to talk about the future we had seen.

Kevin, on the other hand, explained me why the pyramid had never showed me anything before. Apparently it only worked when two or more from us touched it at the same time. That was the reason why once, when I was still a kid and Kevin found me in his room checking the crystal, he had just ordered me to put it on its place instead of taking it away from me.

We hardly slept that night. The next morning Kevin told us that we needed to accelerate the reparation of the ship since we would be leaving just a couple of days later. Kevin and D decided to stay home that day and help with the chores. I tried to talk to Nick but he latched on to Brian, probably knowing that I wouldn’t mention the subject in front of Rok, so I decided to leave that talk for some other time and give Kevin a hand with the ship’s weapons.

We had been working on the target detection system for an hour when one of the laser range finders started to give us problems.

“Nickolas” Kevin called him through the ship’s communication system. “Come to the engine room, please. We need your help here.” Nobody answered.

“Nick. We really need your help here.” he insisted, but the only reply was the customary static.

“NICK! Where the hell is he?” he said taking out a little monitor, like the one Brian had, from one of his pockets. I panicked the minute I saw that thing remembering my last conversation with Kaos.

“AJ. Would you look for him?” Kevin asked me. “He is in his room.”

“Okay” I said leaving the room but didn’t have to go that far. I had a hunch and the minute I left Kevin behind I concentrated on Nick’s energy. Damn, he is not in this ship! I’m going to kill you Nick. What the hell are you doing?

I took a deep breath before going back to Kevin.

“He is not in his room, Train.”

“What?” he said looking at the little device again. “Are you sure?”

I was about to answered but Brian entered the room that minute.

“Brian, is this thing broken?” he asked giving it little taps.

“I don’t think so. Why?”

“Kevin.” I whispered.

“Well, it shows that....”

“Kevin!”

“What?” he looked up at me and froze, probably because he saw the concern in my eyes.

“Shit.” he murmured. “He is not in the ship, right?”

I saw him and Rok close their eyes at the same time.

“I can’t sense him” Brian admitted.

“So, this thing IS broken.” Kevin yelled. “Where the hell is he?”

“I don’t know. I don’t understand” Brian replied pulling his own monitor out of his pocket. “This doesn’t make sense.”

“Of course it doesn’t make sense” Kevin was furious. “I wanna know where he is.”

“I have no idea.” Brian was still trying to find an answer in the device.

“Brian, I hope you are not covering him.”

“I’m not.”

“You always...”

“He is not.” I intervened and they both look at me.

“You know something AJ?”

“I know Nick did something to his bracelet so he could leave the ship without you guys knowing.”

Brian gasped and shook his head in disbelief. Kevin reaction wasn’t that quiet. The minute I finished the sentence he hit the wall at his side with his fist.

“DAMN KID. WHAT THE HELL WAS HE THINKING?” he rested his head on the wall and closed his eyes trying to regain calm. “Brian” he said in a lower voice and looking at us again less than a minute later “Do you sense where he is?”

“No right now” he shook his head “But it's a matter of time, I’m sure. He can’t be too far. Maybe Howie...”

“I may know where he is.” I interrupted. I hope I’m wrong. He can’t be THAT stupid.

“Howie” Kevin used the ship’s intercommunication panel again. “We have a problem here.”

“What is it?” we all could hear D asked. He was probably in the cockpit working on the attitude sensors of the ship.

“Nick is not here. He had left the ship.”

“WHAT?”

“Brian, AJ and I are going out to look for him. Stay here and be ready in case we need anything.”

“Copy. Maintain your communicators on and keep me informed”

“Okay. We are leaving” he looked at me. “Let’s go AJ. Show us the place.”

“He has to be okay guys” I said minutes later when we were walking through the little alleys that leave to the central part of the planet’s only town. K-Tawoor was really big but it only had a little population of Sargons and Grises and most of the last ones living near the mines. “I mean, we would know by now if he was in trouble.”

“Yes” Kevin replied walking at my side “He is okay, but that won’t last, because once I find him he won't be able to sit down without pain again since I will be kicking his butt from here to the remains of Earth and back again.”

“Where are we going exactly AJ?” Brian asked me.

“A bar” I whispered. Neither of them said anything. “The same bar I went with Jeff.” I added a little louder.

“You mean the bar were the Tracons meet?” Brian was terrified.

I didn’t answer; I was too busy picturing lots of horrible scenarios.

“Have you been going to that bar with Nick, Alexander?” Kevin voice didn’t show any emotions.

“No, he told me he had been there once but even at that time I thought he was lying to me. I’m sure he had been there several times.”

We walked in silence the rest of the way. Not too much time later I finally saw the familiar facade of the building. “That’s the bar” I pointed out to it. “I don’t think we will find too many people this early in the...”

“Guys.” Brian said stopping and grabbing me by the arm.

“I know!” Kevin answered and started to run. We all had the same feeling at the same time.

“Damn, the kid is in trouble.” I said running behind Kevin with Brian at my side.

We entered the bar and find a Sargon grabbing Nick by the neck.

“LET HIM GO!” Kevin yelled.

The Sargon didn’t show any intention of following Kevin’s orders. Without releasing Nick he faced us.

“Great.” he said in English. What the hell. Do every Sargon in this town know this human language? “More annoying humans to kill.”

Kevin stepped forth and raised his right hand to stop us from following him. “I told you to let him go.”

“Or else?”

“Or else I’m going to kill you.” I couldn’t see Kevin’s face from where I was standing, but by the tone of his voice I was sure he had a defiant smile on his face.

The Sargon laughed.

“Have you noticed that you are outnumbered?” I counted four more Sargons, all stood up in different parts of the room. “You will be dead soon.”

“Maybe,” Kevin answered, his hand hovering his gun. “But you will lead the way.”

Lots of things happened in just a few seconds. The Sargon pushed Nick and reached for his gun but Kevin was faster, in a quick movement he pulled his laser out of the holster and shot the Sargon in the chest. “NICK GET DOWN.” he yelled firing another shot to a second Sargon who was just behind the kid. I drew my laser too and soon enough the room was total chaos. I shot a Sargon in the hand, making him lose his gun, and was looking for another target when Brian fired at the roof. Pieces of concrete and metal fell over two of the Sargons who fell to the floor and tried to cover themselves. “Don’t shoot!” one of them begged realizing he had lost his gun and I was pointing mine at him. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you” I heard Brian spoke loudly and out of the corner of my eye I saw him aiming his gun at the first Sargon I had shot who was now trying to reach for his gun on the floor. The Sargon step back and the room fell silent

“Now why don’t you just leave” Kevin added coming back to where Brian and I were standing. The Sargons finally accepted that they couldn’t win and one by one left the bar without saying a word, the ones unharmed helping their injured friends.

After the last Sargon crossed the door I heard someone clapping.

“Kevin son, that was impressive,” a voice said sending a shiver down my spine. I turned to my left and saw a man, around 40 years old, sitting on a table in the farthest corner. Those eyes. I’ve seen those eyes before. The next thing I noticed was Jeff sitting at his side. There were two other guys at the table and I recognized them from my last visit to this place; they were some of the humans that had made me feel uncomfortable that time.

“Boy, you certainly have grown up.” The man kept talking to Kevin “How old were you the last time we met, 13, 14?

Kevin didn’t answer and I felt uneasy.

“I recognized the boy” the man said pointing out to Nick who was standing up from the floor. “He looks so much like your father. I was sure he was one of Ryan’s kids by just looking at him.” This guy knew uncle Ryan?

“Nick, come here.” Kevin commanded and Nick immediately walked to us.

“What? Come on Kevin, I’m not going to hurt him. Aren't you even gonna say hello, son?” Who’s this guy?

Kevin putted his laser back in the holster and showed a disdainful smirk. “Well, Drew, forgive my manners but what can I tell you, that’s just me, I usually forget the rules of etiquette when I’m around scum like you.”

“Wow, you really believe in speaking your mind. Don’t you?” he laughed.

“Drew?” I said out loud and the man looked at me. I got a severe pain on my stomach and for a second I thought I was about to black out.

“Well, hello there.” he smiled at me and I went weak at the knees. No, God let this be mistake. I have to be wrong. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you Alexander” he added and the minute he said my name I knew it wasn’t a mistake. That man was my father.

No, this can’t be happening. Someone please wake me up.

Kevin took a step placing himself between me and the table.

“Brian, AJ” he said “Take Nick to the ship.”

Kevin’s tone of voice didn’t leave room to argue. Brian and Nick starting to leave but I stood there frozen.

“Alex, go, now.” Kevin told me in a lower voice this time, giving me a reassuring nod.

I looked at him and then I looked one more time to the man who kept smiling at me.

“Alex!”

Part of me wanted to stay there but I reluctantly followed Kevin orders and left the bar.

Brian yelled at Nick all the way to the ship but I didn’t pay attention to anything they were saying. I was trying too hard not to cry in front of the guys who apparently were completely oblivious to what just had happened. God, why? Someone please tell me that it’s all a mistake.

“Guys what happened?” Howie greeted us at the gate of the ship and the minute I saw him I couldn’t control my emotions anymore and all of them came out in the form of a profound anger.

“You knew it? Didn’t you?” I spat out.

“I knew what?” he gave me a confused looked.

Come on Howie read my mind, after all you are good at that, aren’t you? You and Kevin knew about my father. MY FATHER! I stood in front of him without saying a word but couldn’t hold the tears anymore.

“Your fa...” Howie choked on the word. I saw realization on his eyes and I couldn’t take it anymore. The next minute I was all over him punching his face. “You son of a bitch. How could you keep that away from me?”

“AJ! What the heck?” I heard Nick and Brian. They grabbed me and finally separated us.

“SOMEONE CARE TO EXPLAIN ME WHAT’S GOING ON?” Brian looked at Howie but he didn’t answer. I saw the blood on his mouth and walked to my room.

“AJ!” Brian called me and the last thing I heard before closing the door was Howie saying “Leave him.”

God, my father is alive. He is alive and he is here. This is a bad dream. God make it stop, this can’t be true. He can’t be one of the Empire assassins. A Tracon. My father is alive and working for the Empire, the people I always considered my enemies, the people who destroyed Earth and killed my family. The ones who killed Kaydee and so many of our friends during the war.

I felt sick and ran to the bathroom where I kept crying like I hadn’t cried in years.

----
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