Chaos rained when I finally got back to the Phoenix.

Lenna was fussing over Axon who looked like he had just been through the ringer - which he probably had. Kade was flying around the cockpit, getting the ship prepped for a speedy take off and jump. And meanwhile, I stood frozen beside my seat, staring out of the windscreen, as if I could still see Kam looking at me. I couldn't decide if I wanted to collapse or puke my guts out. Currently, the second option was winning. My stomach felt like I was on a roller coaster, doing loops and nothing else.

"TJ! I need clearance codes, now!"

Blinking, I turned my head from the window and looked at my computer screen. My brain was still trying to figure out why the hell we had just gotten through this and I couldn't even think about the conversation with my old friend. Axon made a sound behind, grunting as his sister fussed over a small cut on his forehead. We could've lost Axon. We could've lost, period.

"TJ! Please!"

Taking in a shaky breath, I sat down and strapped in. I could do this. Had done in a million times before. I didn't need all of my brain power to get us clearance codes. A few second of typing, and the green letters that usually filled me with a spark of joy lit up my screen. "We're good to go."

"Finally." Kade sighed heavily as he powered the engines up, the ship rising slowly off the landing pad. "Lenna, Axon, would you two please strap in."

As the ship left the landing bay beneath us, I tried to focus on the screen in front of me. No hostile ships were showing up on the radar yet but I wasn't holding my breath. No matter what Kam had said, whether he was really trying to help keep me safe or what, he couldn't stop all of the GPF agents on the planet from coming after us. As the ship began her accent from the planet, one red dot appeared on the far side of the radar. And then another. And then three more. My stomach lurched into my throat.

"Uh, Kade? We've got tails."

Cursing under his breath, he pushed the engines harder. "How many?"

"Too many."

"Fuck."

As more dots began to appear on the screen, all converging on our location, I had to agree with his sentiment. "I've cloaked the ship but I don't think it's going to matter until we can make a jump." Swallowing, I tried not to count the dots. "There's a lot of them, Kade."

The ship lurched to the right before going up almost totally vertical. "Then it's a good thing I'm such a great pilot then, huh?"

Before I could agree - or disagree, depending on the story - an incoming transmission from one of the GPF ships pinged on my screen. "Um, looks like someone wants to talk to us."

Kade was silent for a moment before finally nodding his head, "Fine, let's see what trash they have to say. But make it a one way."

After a few clicks, and a few deep breaths on my part, I transmitted the incoming call to the main communication holo. Just like my father's message hours before, a new face appeared in the middle of the cockpit. The confusion I already felt only grew stronger when the face became clear.

"This is Lieutenant Levir of General Tarkir's fleet, I'm hailing the crew of the vessel known as The Phoenix."

Kam's face was stoic. His hands clasped behind his back, making his chest push out and his shoulder look broader than they actually were. Through the glow of the holo, his eyes looked eerie. Gone was the stressed out face of my friend that I had seen only an hour ago, if that. He looked every part of the military man that he had become.

"I'm offering one chance for you all to turn yourselves in. I promise no harm will come to you if you come quietly. I don't want to use force but I will if you push my hand." His eyes didn't move as he spoke, he just stared straight ahead. Not that he had anything to look at - I had made sure he couldn't see us. I saw his lips purse together briefly; his eyes crinkle just slightly on the edges. His next words made me feel like puking all over again. "TJ...please. Come home with me."

A beeping sound from my computer made me turn my head. One of the GPF ships had locked onto our location - it was Kam's ship. Slamming my hand on my keys, the image of Kam vanished from the cockpit. "Get us the hell out of here, Kade."

"With pleasure."

As the ship broke through the atmosphere and through the planet's shield wall, the dots on my screen began to scatter to surround us. They were trying to block our jump path. "Kade..."

"I know, I know!"

I could feel the engines revving underneath me; I could hear the sound of the ship creek around us as it adjusted to the vacuum of space. A few GPF ships came into view in front of the ship. I had barely braced myself when Kade swung the ship in a wide arc to avoid them. When we were clear of those ships, only empty space sat between us and our hyperspace jump.

A blast of green flew past the right side of the ship.

My fingers flew across the keys, adding more power to the rear shields of the ship. "Those are immobilizing shots! They'll make the Phoenix dead in space!"

"I know! I know!" The engines shook the ship underneath me. Kade's fingers flew over the navigation panel in the middle of the control panel. More shots flew past the ship. Were they trying to miss us? They couldn't be that bad at their aiming. Before I could wonder if Kam was purposefully missing the ship, the lights of hyperspace filled the bridge.

A knock on my door broke me out of my thoughts. I glanced at the tarot cards sitting on the small table in the corner of my room but couldn't be bothered to clean them up. At least they weren't floating this time. "Come in."

The door slid open to reveal a very tired looking Kade. He rubbed the back of his neck as he took a single step into my room. "Hey...I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Playing it off, I shrugged my shoulders a plastered a smile on my face. "Why wouldn't I be okay? We got Axon out and no one was shot in the process."

His hand dropped to his side and the raised eyebrow gave away how he felt about my act. "You were really shaken when you got back to the ship - don't think I didn't notice. And I saw your face when that Lieutenant came through. You knew him...before. Didn't you?"

The smile slid off my face. Sighing, I pushed the old books away from the edge of the bed, clearing a place for Kade to sit. My bed wasn't made either, not since I had tossed the blanket away to run out the door. Like it mattered. After three years of living together on the ship, we had seen each other in many situations. "I did...he..." Another sigh, "he used to be my best friend. Before."

The bed slouched as Kade sat down beside me, our shoulders brushed for a moment while he got comfortable. "He seemed...I don't know, like he actually cared. Maybe was even telling the truth."

A dry chuckle left my lips. "You don't even know the half of it." I filled him on what had happened when I was trying to get out of the GPF station.

When I was done, he sat with his arms on his knees and his hands clasped together loosely. Shaking his head slowly, he licked his lip before speaking. "Well...that's confusing as shit."

"Yeah, pretty much." Shaking my head, I glanced at the tarot cards on my desk. The spread I had pulled was just as confusing. "I can't decide if he was telling the truth, that he was trying to help me, or if he was just doing as ordered. Trying to bring me back to my father."

Kade shifted on the bed, our shoulders bumped again. "Whatever he was trying to do, it doesn't matter. We won't let anything happen to you, you know that, right?"

A soft smile grew on my lips and it was real this time. Looking at his bright brown eyes, I only found determination and love their. "Yeah, I know." Too bad I was more worried about something happening to him and the others than myself.

He nodded once, before leaning closer to me. A soft kiss was pressed to my forehead before he rose from the bed and headed for the door. He paused just as the door opened, the light from the hallway illuminating his frame. "I promise, TJ. I won't let them get you." As the door closed behind him, leaving me in the darkness I had secluded myself in, I knew he was telling the truth. I just hoped it wouldn't end up with him in trouble because he was protecting me.