After barely escaping the field of debris from the blown-up transport, we decided to land back on Koshi - on the far side of the planet - and let the now freed Maji decide where they wanted to go. Koshi may have been a planet in the Inner Rim, but it was also one of the most populated. Easy to get lost. Kade landed the ship in one of the lease populated shipyards and I made sure the cloaking system was still running. Hopefully, none of those GPF ships had caught sight of us.

"Seriously, you don't have to try and find a ride. We'd be happy to take you guys." I could feel Kade's eyes as they stared at the side of my face but I didn't care what he thought about the offer. Leaving these people to fend for themselves was suicide.

The Xenu woman we rescued - Kala - smiled. The rain pouring down on our heads made the limbs of her hair move excitedly around her head. "Thank you for the offer, but you've done enough. We don't want to get you guys into any more trouble. Most of us have already found pilots willing to add one or two more to their crew for a time. We'll get home." She laid a hand on my arm, giving it a tight squeeze. "Seriously, TJ. Without you and your crew, we all would've died on that ship."

Her thanks made me feel uncomfortable. Sure, she was probably right, but that didn't make me a hero. It just made me a decent human being. "It's fine, Kala...it wasn't a big deal. Really."

"Maybe not to you but it was for me. For a lot of us. We won't forget it." With one final smile, Kala turned and entered the run down diner we stood outside of. I couldn't help but wonder if I would ever see her again - see any of them again.

"Thanks for volunteering my ship like that."

Crossing my arms, I turned and shook my head at Kade. "Like you would've denied them."

He turned and began to head back towards the landing bay where the Phoenix and the rest of our crew waited. He didn't want for me to catch up. He knew I would. "Maybe you're right but it would've been nice to volunteer her myself."

I wondered what it was like to be a man with such little ego? Shaking my head, we walked in silence the rest of the way. Turning the corner, the Phoenix was all but hidden being the pouring rain.

Too bad the three GPF agents only a few feet away from us weren't.

One of them spotted us. "Hey! You two! Freeze!"

We acted before the words had even finished leaving the officer's mouth. Kade grabbed my wrist and we tore back down the alley we had come out of. Only once my feet were underneath me and I was keeping up with his long strides did he let go of my arm. We didn't slow even though the rain pelted our faces and the shouts of the GPF agents could be heard behind us. Taking random corners at odd intervals, I knew Kade was trying to lose them in the maze of streets.

Focusing my energy, going against my own number rule, I listened past the rain and zeroed in on the officers: two sets of foot falls were a dozen or so feet behind us. Wait. Two? Where was the third?

Something hard stopped me in my tracks. I would've fallen on my ass if someone hadn't grabbed my arm.

"Well, what do we have here?"

I flung some hair out of my face and looked up to see a GPF officer with a sick grin on his face. The grip he had on my arm was certainly going to leave a bruise. I glanced around frantically for Kade but I couldn't see him. He must have gotten past the guy. I pulled hard against the officer's hand, but it was no good. I could hear the other two coming up behind me. I was stuck.

The officer sneered down at me, "A smuggler caught in my trap, huh? It must be my lucky day." With his free hand he reached into one of the pockets of his uniform jacket. A small black box came into view and the blood in my veins ran cold. "Let's see if you've got a record, shall we?"

I pulled harder. I almost got my wrist free - it slipped thanks to the rain. But then more hands gripped my shoulders. The other officers must have caught up to me. It was no use - before I could do anything, the first agent laid my hand against the black box. I knew why I had pulled the Devil card just the day before. Everything was about to change.

A beep and a blinking red light. The officer glanced from his screen to my face. The sneer turned to an all-out grin. I knew what he was seeing on the file that the device had brought up. "Temperance-Jude Tarkir. You're awfully far from home, aren't you?"

Swallowing down the fear I felt rising in my stomach like my breakfast, I hid it behind a sneer of my own. "It's Carter, actually."

The officer laughed. Pulling me closer to him, he leveled his face with my own. "You're father is going to pay me awfully well for returning you to him."

"Fire!"

It all happened too fast after that. Someone shouted from the shadows and then loud cracks and bangs filled the alley. Fireworks. Fireworks were going off in all directions. In the chaos the officer dropped my hand in favor of his blaster. Smoke was filling the area, making it hard to breathe and even harder to see.

"What the hell is this?"

"Who's doing this? Stop now or I'll shoot!"

Something grabbed my arm and yanked, taking me down to the ground with no resistance. For a split second I panicked, fought against the hand that held my own. But then a familiar set of brown eyes broke out of the cloud of smoke and I stilled. Kade.

"We gotta get out of here!"

We were on our feet and running before the officers even realized what happened. I could still hear them yelling as we made out way out of the alley and down another. How Kade knew where the ship was parked was beyond me. I hadn't been paying attention before and I was too busy gasping for breath to ask him. Thankfully, the Phoenix broke through the rain like an answered prayer and we ran for her open cargo door. Lenna stood just inside, a frantic look on her face.

"Come on! Hurry! Those fireworks won't keep them distracted forever!"

My feet landed inside the ship and I could instantly feel the engines revving up. Axon - he must have been in the bridge, readying the ship for takeoff as soon we got aboard. I tried to thank Kade for coming back for me but the words were barely on my tongue and he was already halfway up the stairs to the cockpit.

Lenna offered a hand and pulled me to my feet. "Come on, let's get you dried off."

As we headed for the stairs ourselves, the ship's axis shifted and I could feel the direction of the ship for a split second before the anti-gravity kicked in. I didn't know where we were going but all I knew was that it was far away from Koshi. And far away from my father.

The colors of hyper-space shifted around the common room where we all sat. A hot cup of tea sat in front of me untouched. The towel Lenna had draped around my shoulders didn't feel warm at all. I kept playing the scenario in my head over and over. But there was no escaping it. I had just given my father the first clue of my whereabouts in two years.

"I don't want to push you, TJ...but we need to talk about it." Kade sat across from me, a towel on the back of the chair he occupied. He glanced from my face to Lenna and Axon. "I heard what that officer said."

I nodded. "I figured." Swallowing, I picked at the soaked edge of my shirt. I didn't know how to beat around the bush for this one, so I didn't even try. "My father is a General in the GPF. He's a Nakeer." Silence followed my truth. All I could hear was the blood pumping in my ears.

Lenna pulled out a chair close to me. "I always wondered...your skin. It looks like an opal when the sun hits it just right. The only beings with skin like that are-."

"The Nakeer. Yeah, I know" I sighed, shrugged my shoulders weakly. "I just...I never thought it was important. We all have pasts."

Kade snorted. "Yeah, we all have pasts, TJ. But not all of us have a father who's in control of half the galaxy."

"Don't exaggerate. That's not helping." Lenna said, tossing another towel across the table at Kade. He snatched it out of the air before it could hit him in the face.

"I wish I was exaggerating! A General in the GPF? That means he'll have his own fleet! Maybe more! He's the one that put those wanted posters out for you, isn't he?"

My silence was answer enough.

"Great."

"Kade. Enough." Lenna glared across the table before resting a hand on my shoulder. "You're right. We all have pasts and it doesn't change anything. We would've come back for you even if we did know this information. You're our friend, TJ. Whoever your father is doesn't change that."

I didn't think it was possible for the love I had for my friend to get any bigger but I was wrong. "Thanks...I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys. I just don't want to put you guys in danger."

Axon chuckled from his corner of the room. Coming over to the table, he smiled. "Hey, we're all trouble makers here. We put each other in danger every day. That's what being a smuggler means. It doesn't change anything."

Sighing across from me, Kade nodded. "He's right. I'm sorry I got upset...you know you're a part of this crew, TJ. That isn't going to change." He smiled that winning smile of his but it didn't make my stomach do flip flops like it did most of the time. It just made the anxiety building in my gut get stronger.

"I hope so, Kade. I really do." I took a deep breath before meeting each of my friend's eyes for a moment. "Because there's one more thing...that ship we rescued the Maji off? It was one of my father's."

A/N

Week 1 of NaNo has come and gone and I can't help but feel so dang behind. *cries forever*

But I know I still have plenty of time! I can do it!