The final days in the village flew by in meetings with Telenoch in the mornings, then meals and the rest of the days with the villagers. I spent a lot of time with Kree. Despite the language barrier, she was always more than happy to show me around and try telling me about their history. She did her best to keep me—and on occasion, another elder or two—occupied and entertained.

Saying goodbye to the villagers was harder than any of us had anticipated. Even Raiden-the-hard-ass spent a few extra minutes saying a farewell to a choice few. Currently, I'm stuck in a bearhug between Kree and Ara, both females gripping the other with me sandwiched between them, almost as if the stance would keep us here longer.

"Kree..." Her arms tighten and I shut my eyes with a small laugh. "Ara, you both need to let me go. I'll make sure that we all come back soon."

Finally, they both move to stand in front of me with their heads bowed and hands clasped in front of them. "No, no more of that." I wave my hands and tap under their chins. "You are both powerful people, the amount of power doesn't change who you are. From now on, we are equals, you call me Serina."

I give them a smile, finding their shocked faces amusing, and walk over to meet the others in front of the trees that lead to the rovers. Once we're all together and ready to go, we head out, waving to the villagers as we slip through the brush. Soon, we're all piling into the rovers with the sounds of the engines roaring to life.

Almost everything about the trip back was the same as the trip here—except for the strange rover-like vehicle in the middle of our convoy that carries the ambassador and his security. Other than the added man-power, the largest difference would be what we see. While we pass all the same things, we see so much more than we had the first time. We notice small animals that move along the forest floors, plants that move in a flash to catch small insects in their hidden teeth, even a few large scaly reptiles that wade at the edge of the lake.

The sun is high in the sky when we finally crest the last hill to see the colony. I lean forward in my seat, pulling the belt taut against my waist when I see a wash of color—a rainbow, really—moving in the square. As we get closer, bodies are more distinguishable and I can see that it is a fairly large gathering of people, waiting for our return.

Cheers and greetings make their way to our ears over the sounds of the rovers. The calls almost become defining when the convoy comes to a stop in a small arch formation in the center of the square and the engines shut off. One after another, we all climb out of our respective rovers, expressions ranging anywhere from excited to concerned.

Once the eight of us are all out, the crowd begins to filter out into eight smaller groups, everyone moving to give a greeting to their elder. I look around, my heart suddenly gripped in the fist of anxiety. If they were here to greet us, who's running and maintaining the colony.

A pair of hands grip mine and I find Rosemary's bright eyes staring at me. "Don't worry, look at the sizes of the groups." I refocus my mind with a set of my jaw and briefly count a few of the groups. There are only twelve blue figures here with me, eight grey with Jax, four red with Elena. "The essentials like the infirmary and the guard are being run by a skeleton crew because of the lack of events. We wouldn't have left the colony unprepared. Besides," She smiles and gives me a quick once-over. "We couldn't miss seeing you all when you got back and I'm glad I got to see this."

She laughs, still holding my hands and I look down. We're all still wearing the formal attire that we had been given out in the woods. My feet had been covered in blisters for two days, leaving me to hide the pain during the day and tend them at night with what little I had access to in the supplies that I had brought. Next time we go anywhere, I'll need to bring more first-aid items and less to keep the panic that surrounds too many of my collogues at bay.

With a bitter frown, I drop her hands and pull at the fabric covering me. "Embed this in your mind, Rose, because this is the last time I'm wearing something like this for a long time. I'm ready to live in my scrubs again."

Another blue figure moves, Rylan, coming to Rose's side to speak, but a sudden silence washes over the gathering as people stare behind us. When I turn to look at what has caught their attention, I see that Telenoch and his entourage have finally come out of their vehicle, standing tall and reflecting the sun with their silver skin. Of course, they couldn't wait until we had a chance to speak to everyone before making an appearance.

I take a deep breath and look around at the others, hoping someone would take charge and announce to the people the reason behind the sudden appearance of the natives. Usually, all speaking fell onto me, but with the condition of my feet, I needed to keep all moving to a minimum, and climbing onto the side of a rover so everyone could see me isn't really complying with that directive.

Finally, Raiden moves, hopping onto the outer scaffolding-like exterior of one of the middle rovers. "People of G12," His voice flows over us all, settling like a cloud over the sun to take the bite off the intense rays. Only, in this case, it is bringing all attention away from Telenoch to lessen the blow of surprise. "The ambassador of the Celxian people, Telenoch, along with a few choice others have come to observe our ways. We expect you all to treat them as you would any other colonist; with respect and open arms. They have left their home in an effort to build a bridge between our two peoples. So we expect you all to make the same strides towards unity."

There's a moment of thought before he speaks again. "Now, I'm sure the other elders appreciated the warm welcome just as much as I did, but it's time to head back to your respective duties. You can all speak more to your programmatic elder later today when we return to work."

He jumps down from the rover and the once organized groups of people turns into a mass of blurred color as everyone leaves. Feeling a presence still at my side, I look over at Rosemary and give her a small grin. "Head back to the infirmary. We have much to talk about when I get there, so I expect a full summary to be ready when I arrive."

Her face pales but she laughs, pulling at a piece of hair. "Of course, you are. Everything is totally ready to be discussed, but you're probably tired from the long trip. Take your time to get back into routine and I'll see you later!" Before I can respond, she bolts off in the direction of the infirmary, disappearing in what remains of the crowd.

Much too soon, a new presence finds its way behind me. "Now that we are away from the curious ears of my people, we have something very urgent to discuss."

I look at Telenoch, shocked and not sure how to respond. Instead, I nod and grab my Link, sending the other seven a message to meet in the main hall in an hour after resettling back in our cabins. The sound of seven Links pinging with a message surrounds us for a moment before seven pairs of eyes look to me.

I set my jaw and nod, then look around at the GTA officers still surrounding us. "Cavanaugh!" He moves to my side and nods his head in a small bow.

"Yes, Miss Serina?"

"Please escort Telenoch and his people to their cabins, then bring them here to the main hall in one hour."

"Yes, Miss Serina." He bows again then leads the Celxians to their new home here in the colony.

I move a hand through my hair and sigh. There's never a dull moment here in the colony.

I find myself pacing in the entrance of the main hall almost an hour later. I had gotten here early after changing into a pair of soft, clean scrubs and tending to my feet. As my anxiety continues to spike at the unknown concern Telenoch had, I find myself repeatedly pulling on my hair, tightening the ponytail it's in, to the point of hurting my scalp. Finally, I stop pacing and drag my hand down my face with a groan.

"Woah, there. What's with the animal noises?"

I splay my finger and look between them, making eye contact with Jax. Finally, someone else is here, we should be starting soon then. "I'm just about five seconds from a flare-out, Jax. You don't even know."

He crosses the room and sets his hands on my shoulders. I look up at him slightly and the small grin on his face reminds me of Shawn. "What's going on, Doc?"

I take a deep breath and move my shaking hands to the back of my neck. "We spent all this time, stressing over the first meeting with the ambassador. I thought that once we got passed that, which we have, things would go back to the way they were, and we could all just focus on our jobs. Well, at least for a little bit." I drop my head back and roll out the muscles of my neck. "Now Telenoch has some 'very urgent' concern that we have to address here, and the only reason Telenoch would've waited until now to bring it up, is because he didn't believe it was safe to bring it up back in the village. What could be so sensitive that he didn't trust his own people to keep from spying on?"

"Okay, Flare, slow down. Remember, Telenoch is of another species. For all we know, what he thinks is urgent, could just be another Thursday for us."

I meet his eyes, the bright blue color reminding me of the oceans back home and calm down a little. "As unlikely as it is for the meaning of urgent to get skewed across the galaxy, I guess you have a point; we don't know what he considers to be urgent or concerning."

His lips morph into a smirk and he gives my shoulders a small squeeze before moving to my side and slinging an arm across them. "Good, now that you're the focused person we all know and love again, we can talk about what we're going to do about the guard."

I stuff my hands into the pockets of my shirt and give him a small glance before looking out the door again, praying to just get the meeting out of the way soon. "How do you mean?"

He chuckles under his breath and gives me a small shake. "Ah, you're funny." Using his free hand, he pulls his Link out and displays a holographic list of names in front of us. "You and your friends seem to have these intense guidelines to determine who can be in these first few waves of guards, personally, it seems a little extreme. So—"

"Extreme?!" I turn to face him fully, his arm falling from my shoulders, and I cross my arms over my chest. "Jaxon, if they aren't sufficiently ready, there's numerous consequences that can arise. I mean, we're talking overexertion, disease, psychosis!"

"Yeah, lots of terms that I totally didn't pay attention too." My hands fall to my sides and form into fists. I open my mouth to yell at his I-couldn't-care-less attitude, but he speaks right over me. "Anyway, I thought that if we could come up with a regimen that people wanting to join during the next recruitment period could do on their own to get ready, it would increase the likelihood of them passing your physicals and therefore increase the turn-over rate of soldiers we have."

My mouth opens and I blink in response to his idea, shocked at the thought that must have gone into it. Who knew Jax had it in him? My irritation dissipates like a thing of smoke and my hands find their way back to my pockets as I think. "That could work," Without asking, I start to sort through some of the names on his list. "It would allow them time to get used to the climate and atmosphere, their bodies would acclimate in the time until the next recruitment period and we'd have a much larger turn-out that way. Are—are these all people who want to join the guard?" My voice dips with surprise and disappointment when I recognize a name on the list. I force myself to look away from it and turn to Jax.

His brow furrows in confusion at my sudden change in attitude, then nods his head. "I—uh, yeah. These are all people that have reached out saying that they want to try for a position during the next recruitment." He pauses, seeming to try and analyze my expression. Finding an uncomfortable feeling of vulnerability at the act, I school my features into a neutral expression. He shakes his head slightly and shuts his Link, shoving it into his back pocket. "You think it will work?"

I nod, biting my lip as I think it over a bit more. "I do."

"Oh, don't tell me you guys eloped without telling any of us! Elena's going to be pissed, Serina, you better run." Raiden and Will stand in front of the door, only having heard my last comment.

"Yes, because that's exactly what—"

"Shush, you don't need to hide it from them, they caught us." Jax interrupts my response, my voice dripping with sarcasm, and moves and puts his arm around me again.

The guys all begin to laugh, and I growl, shaking off his arm. "There isn't even an officiary or a witness!"

"Serina," Jax looks at me with an amused gaze. "You need to learn how to let go a bit, you know, have some fun once in a while. You're all rules and specifics, lighten up would ya'?"

I give him my best glower, feeling ice travel the distance between us. "Rules and specifics are what keep the world running. If you want to take over and run it without my help by sticking to the on-the-whim acts and decisions, fine. Just keep in mind that y'all will have to figure out how to stitch each other up."

"Damn, Rina, take the edge off a bit, yeah? It was just a joke." I turn my glare to Will to shut him up, he closes his mouth and nods in a understanding of the threat.

"Shit guys, what's with the icy environment in here?" Finally, everyone else—Astrid, Elena, Lorna, Telenoch and both his and our own security—comes through the door, almost like they all met up before coming.

"Nothing!" The guys say together, trying to avoid bringing up the subject after seeing how quickly my attitude changed.

"Mmm," Lorna hums in response before glancing at me, no doubt noting my silent irritation. "Right."

With a small sigh, I straighten to stand tall amongst everyone in the room and tighten my ponytail. "Enough, let's just get this over with."

Everyone seems shocked to a varying degree—except Bartlett who simply nods and leads up down a hall to a room with soundproofing on the walls. "Links left in the tray." He stops and stands next to the door, glancing at a multi-layered tray with grooves just the size of our Links.

Everyone with a Link sets theirs on the tray and we slowly flow into the room. Everyone save for two GTA officers moves into the room, each finding our own "spot" and spreading out about the room. "This room is completely secure, no sound exits, and no listening devices can penetrate in. Everything said will only be known by the people in this room until the time comes to share it with the colony if you come to the decision to tell the colony." Bartlett briefly explains the room and his last point takes me by surprise.

I look at a few of the others and they wear similar expressions like the one I'm sure is on my face. We hadn't considered the fact that we would have to eventually keep secrets from our people. So far, everything we know, they know.

"Okay, Telenoch, when you're ready." Jaxon takes the lead for once, speaking to the native ambassador who nods and pulls his hood down so we can see his face in the dim light.

"As you know, my people have known about your arrival for quite some time now." He holds his hands in front of him, fingers touching in a sort of tented formation so only the pads of the fingers touch. "I'm curious, how long have you known of your coming here?"

I snort and look at the others. "How long have we been here? A week?" Shaking my head and I turn back to Telenoch. "We've known for a week."

"I—er, the translations of time are still a challenge. What is a week in terms of the moon?" Telenoch looks at us each for a brief moment and I turn to Bartlett.

"Are their moon cycles a month long?" He gives a curt nod and I purse my lips. Meeting Telenoch's gaze, I laugh at the situation. Translating time, of all communication that could've been hindered. "We've known for a quarter of a moon cycle."

His eyes wide, and he looks around the room. "A quarter of a cycle?" His shocked expression speaks volumes and we all nod. "Aleus, how come?"

"We were all in cryo-sleep until we got here. I was in cryo-sleep for four moon cycles." I say, looking at everyone else, suddenly curious how long everybody else was in cryo-sleep considering it coincided with who the oldest of each of us would be.

"So was I." Astrid says with a small raise of her hand.

"Two and a half cycles." This was Leon.

"Five cycles," Lorna states, rolling her eyes as if she had been awake the whole time and remembers how boring it was.

"Five." Will and Elena say together, their voices mixing in an odd harmony that raised goosebumps along my arms.

"Six cycles," Jaxon says, leaning against the wall he stands next to, one hand in a pocket.

"Seven and a half cycles." Raiden is the last to answer.

Telenoch nods slightly, seeming to take a moment to plot out just how long it was for everyone. "Yes, a very long time for all of you."

"Yes, now, can we get to the reason we're here? There's a project that my engineers are behind on that I need to look over." Raiden speaks with a clipped tone, almost like the meeting was an inconvenience. Although, I can understand, I'm antsy to get back to the infirmary.

"Yes, I need to get back to the infirmary, we're supposed to be taking stock now that I'm back."

"Of course," Telenoch moves his hands behind his back and takes a moment to think over his words. "I'm not sure how best to tell you all, so I shall just say it. There is a fringe group of my people, they call themselves The Loyalists, who have separated themselves from the kingdom, resorting to living and hiding in the wilderness to avoid persecution."

"And why are they being persecuted?" Lorna leans forward in a motion of interest.

"Treason. They have spoken out against the crown and mean to harm your colony." He looks directly into my eyes and a chill settles over the room. "They believe that Celxians should be the only to inhabit the planet and mean to kill you all."