Klaxons wailed. Frantically, Kevin searched the instruments for the source, but he couldn't find it. He hoped it didn't mean they were about to die -

A hand slammed down on a button near his right hand, silencing the alarms. Howie was looking over the data coming in.

He hesitated to ask, "What was that?"

"Proximity alarm," Howie replied. "Means we've found the ship. I'll let the others know."

Kevin stared out the viewport, hoping to pick out the ship from amongst the hundreds of thousands of stars.

We're here, he thought. The moment to rescue Brian had finally come. Could he do it? Would he be able to do his best to help out? Would the others let him help? They had to; it was Brian, a brother in trouble.

Kevin's stomach clenched as new, startling thoughts came to his mind. What if they were too late? What if they'd arrived only to find Brian was dead? What if this wasn't even the right ship?

He shook the thoughts away. This had to be the right ship, Brian was alive, and they were going to bring him home.

Zanell sat in the copilot's seat, flipped a switch, and a vague hum began as the ship's shields activated. At her nod, Kevin slowed the ship and together they scanned the viewport. There... a tiny bluish dot off to the bottom left, growing larger by the second.

The tension in the room was thick as the others took their places -- AJ at weaponry, Nick at the Navigator's seat. Howie slipped on communications headgear and began monitoring messages.

Kevin let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, said a silent prayer, and looked at Zanell.

"Our shields are functioning, so if they hadn't noticed us before, we're good."

"And if they already know we're here?" Nick asked.

"We'll get shot," she replied easily.

Nick rolled his eyes and didn't comment. She was right after all. Once the ship's schematics were downloaded, the team spent the next twenty minutes making a detailed plan, plus a backup in case everything went south. Zanell would stay and fly the ship; she was the most skilled pilot and would be able to make sure it was kept safe. The rest of the team would go by two small pods that would attach to the underside of the ship, allowing them to cut access into the hull. Once there, they had three goals: find Brian, neutralize the opposition, and get out of Dodge in one piece. It sounded so simple, but Kevin knew there was great risk at every turn.

Zanell wished them all luck, then they headed toward the pods; they were small, without much working room. Logic dictated that AJ ride with Kevin, and Nick and Howie take the other pod. Kevin was as happy about it as AJ was, but neither said a word. The pods had maneuvering abilities, shields, life support, and not much else. No weapons, no navigation, barely room to stretch. But this wasn't a luxury cruise. When they retrieved Brian, Kevin knew, it would be even more crowded, but nobody would care at that point.

The trip was short, thankfully. Kevin sent out silent thanks when he didn't actually bump the pod. The roof access hatch was opened, and the automatic laser cutters got to work. Once a viable seal was established, they climbed upwards. Now, the hard part began.

After checking and activating their weapons, such as they had, the search began.

Arriving at the storage bay door, the men activated their amulets.

"Ready?" they asked one another.

"As ready as we'll ever be."

The computer had provided the groups with a map of the interior, and they had calculated where the most likely place a prisoner would be kept. Unfortunately, there were three viable places. Kevin hated the idea of splitting up, but that's what they had to do.

Howie went with AJ; his illusions were awesome, but they weren't weapons. AJ would be able to defend them both, if need be. They headed for the central part of the ship. Nick went towards what they'd guessed would be the crew's quarters; Brian might be held there, if they were planning on keeping him in good shape for whatever they had in mind.

Kevin headed for the engine room; surely Brian wouldn't be kept there, but his first job was to set a time-delayed explosive right in the middle of the engine core. Without power, they wouldn't be chased or fired upon once they made their escape. There were no guards outside the engine room door; inside, Kevin found three very bored looking technicians who were more interested in some kind of game than keeping a sharp eye out. It didn't take long to render them all unconscious; they'd never even raised an alarm. He injected them with a sleeping solution that Zanell said would keep them out of it for at least twelve hours, and then carried their bodies to a storage locker. The device was planted, the timer was set, and he continued on. Kevin was to search the lower part of the ship as quickly as he could, then join the others above.

After a few minutes, Kevin tapped his earpiece, and whispered an inquiry to the others. Nick had almost run into someone, literally, turning a corner, but had managed to evade collision and knock the guy out before he could make a peep. Howie and AJ reported no encounters and were moving on to the central chambers. Kevin suspected that's where Brian would be held; for some reason it made sense. But that didn't matter, there was no time for him to be daydreaming and speculating. Quickly he began searching the warren of compartments, trying to keep his nerves under control. So many things could go wrong; he could make a mistake that alerted the entire ship - Kevin flattened himself against a wall as he heard several footsteps coming down the adjoining corridor. Thankfully, they headed off in another direction before they came to his position.

Pathetic, totally pathetic.

He'd been worrying so much about making a mistake that he hadn't been paying attention! Kevin wrenched his determination up a notch and moved again.

He made his way through several compartments, and was close to finishing the lower deck, when he got a call from Nick.

"You're not going to believe this," he began. "But I think I see Brian."

"In the crew quarters?" AJ demanded.

"How is he?" Kevin interjected.

"Umm... well, from the looks of it, he's just fine." His voice dropped. "Almost looks right at home wandering around on an alien ship."

Kevin had been picturing him being injured, suffering unknown traumas... and he was walking around like normal? Nick gave his location and Kevin hurried off as fast as he could. When he arrived and found Nick, the two secluded themselves and waited for the others to join them. It didn't take long; time was running out and they needed to act fast.

A small sound from Nick directed Kevin's gaze to a hallway. He stared in disbelief; Brian looked whole and healthy, the picture of relaxed ease. He wasn't guarded or bound in any way and seemed to have access through the locked door he faced. When he strolled inside, Kevin stepped out.

"Let's see what this is about."

The thought that Brian had been drugged entered Kevin's mind as a feasible explanation. But instead of pondering the reasons, he simply walked to the door.

"I got it," AJ said, punching a sequence of keys. "I caught the tones."

While Kevin had been observing his cousin, AJ had been paying attention to the musical tones the lock had generated. He had to give the man major credit for that. Two seconds later the door opened with a hiss and Kevin stepped inside. He barely made it past the doorframe when a red bolt of energy came right at his head. Kevin dodged left and held up his hands in a placating gesture.

"Brian, it's us!"

Blue eyes widened, but Brian's gun didn't lower a fraction of an inch. "Kevin?" he said, obviously shocked. "What… what are you all doing here?"

"Saving your sorry butt," AJ said, trying to diffuse the odd tension in the room.

"How did you find me?"

"Put that thing down," AJ insisted. "And trust me, you were hard to find. We're getting you out of here."

Brian's eyes paused a moment on each one of them. "Out?"

"What did they do, drug you?" Kevin asked, frowning. "Don't you realize we're your friends?"

"I... this is just a shock, is all," he replied, slowly lowering his gun. "I didn't expect-"

"Look," Nick said, glancing at the door, "we can talk about this on the way home. We need to move."

But Brian ignored him and turned to Kevin. "I certainly never expected you to be here."

"Funny how things worked out," Kevin said, knowing now was not the time for an involved discussion. "C'mon, Nick's right. We need to go."

Obviously, Brian didn't understand the gravity of the situation, because he kept his focus on his cousin. "What made you take up your amulet after all this time, Kev?"

Part of Kevin was confused as to why he was acting so strangely, but he felt compelled to answer. "Zanell approached me after you'd gone missing," he said. "And I realized that I couldn't stay out of the action any longer. You're family. I couldn't face my children and tell them that I didn't care enough to fight for their Cousin Brian when he needed me so much."

"Zanell is here, too?" Brian asked, blue eyes alight.

Kevin could only blink. "She's waiting for us back on the ship, now let's go!"

Brian's expression shifted, and he suddenly seemed to snap out of the oddness. "You're right, let's go." And with that, he headed towards the door.

Kevin exchanged a confused look with Howie, but they didn't have time to debate. At least Brian's laser was now pointed elsewhere, and he seemed to understand they needed to escape. The five ran as silently as they could, Nick taking the lead. Amazingly, they made it to the lower level without incident. Kevin allowed himself a sigh of relief; the ordeal was almost over.

"Kevin?"

"Not now, Bri. We can't let anyone hear us."

"Kev-"

"Be quiet!"

"Kevin!"

He whipped around. "What?"

For a few seconds Brian just looked at him. Kevin started to turn back around when he spoke.

"I'm glad you came back." Kevin looked back to see him smile. "I always knew someday you'd come back and fight alongside us again."

Kevin faced forward again and swallowed. "Right." His mind went back to the conversation with the others when he'd first arrived. "I'll go on this one assignment, then leave you alone. Everyone should be happy with that."

Brian continued. "It's good having us all together again."

Kevin shook his head. "Look, let's just get out of here and back to earth, then we'll talk about that."

The other three kept silent. Brian stepped closer. "What's the matter? You're staying, aren't you?"

"We'll talk about it later," Kevin snapped. "Let's go!" He took the lead, not allowing any more conversation on the subject.

They rounded a corner and found themselves practically on top of a soldier. His eyes widened when he saw Brian, and he opened his mouth to say something when AJ took a swing at him.

"No, wait-" Brian shouted, but he was too late. The soldier was already on the ground.

Kevin turned to his cousin in surprise. Had Brian just tried to defend an enemy? He halted the thought. Of course not; he'd been worried about the enemy calling out and tried to stop him from doing so.

"Oh, nice job, AJ!" Brian spat. "That soldier was just doing a routine scouting. If he doesn't return, they'll know something's wrong."

"Well, it's a good thing we're almost home free, isn't it?" AJ asked. "Let's go."

"Which reminds me," Nick said as they started walking again. "Where is Brian going to be?"

Brian halted. "What? Where am I going to be, what does that mean?"

"Just keep going!" Kevin directed sharply. "We don't have a lot of time."

"No!" Brian stood firm, well behind the rest. "What is going on?"

Kevin exhaled slowly, forcing himself to stay calm but not doing a good job. "Brian, we're running out of time. We need to get to the pods as soon as possible so we can get out of here and back home."

Brian seemed to hesitate a little longer, then started toward the group. Kevin shook his head and started walking again. A few minutes later, they approached a corridor that split off in two different directions. Howie, in the lead, turned to the left. Suddenly he slammed into an invisible barrier, which crackled upon impact. The force knocked him backwards onto the floor.

"What in the world was that?"

"A force field," AJ suggested. "Which means someone must know we're here."

Nick started to head down the right corridor but was hit with the same barrier seconds later. Kevin signaled AJ to draw his guns. Something was definitely wrong. No one should have known they were here. Nobody except for some unconscious guards, Zanell and Brian. Kevin turned around and felt a sudden sense of foreboding. Without a word, he helped Howie to his feet, then started back toward Brian. Electricity hit him in the face, and he flew back, suddenly realizing that he'd walked into a third force field. He spun around as Howie and Nick hurried back to the split off corridors. Each extended a hand but pulled back immediately as the fields crackled again. They were blocked in!

"How do we get out?" Nick demanded.

"You don't."

Kevin turned around and stared at Brian in surprise. He wore an odd look on his face, which slowly evolved into a smirk.

"That wasn't so hard after all."

Kevin gasped. "Brian? What's going on?"

"I knew you would never listen to the truth," Brian said. "So I had to bring you here, to the source. We had it all wrong, Kevin. From the beginning. I know the real story now."

Kevin stared. "What are you talking about?"

"The truth," he said. "The real truth. And I'm sure that once you know it, you'll be standing right alongside me."

"Brian, what's wrong with you? What truth? What have they done to you, to your mind?" Kevin asked, trying to find some sense in his words.

"I'm thinking clearly for the first time since it all began," he responded with conviction. "You will be, too."

"Did they torture you, brainwash you?" Nick asked, his blue eyes wide with confusion.

"I've been treated with the utmost respect," Brian said. "I've never felt more at home." His expression then turned sympathetic. "The truth is going to be really hard for you to accept, Nick. She's a very good manipulator, I'm afraid."

"She? Bri, what are you talking about?" he asked.

"Look, Brian," Kevin tried, stepping as close to the barrier as he dared, "whatever happened to you, I know we can get help-"

Brian gave him a look that held what he could only call pity, though that wasn't completely correct. "Don't you get it? Zanell lied to us!"

"What?" Nick exclaimed. "No way, Zanell is-"

"I knew we were going to have to do this the hard way," Brian said, his voice bearing no trace of sympathy now.

Before Kevin could open his mouth, a surge of energy exploded from the walls. The four were blasted from all three sides at once, unable to move or scream from the pain. The last thing Kevin saw was his cousin, his expression one of contempt.