"I told you, I don't understand why it isn't working." I stood at the table in the bunker, my father and Kam on the other side of the table. We had been working on the device for the last hour and a half. Our time was almost up. My father needed to take it with him when he left and apparently that was at the same time as we did. Go figure.

Kam scratched his chin, "And you checked the connections?"

I glared across the table, "No, Kam. I totally forgot to do that. Why didn't I think of that?"

Chuckling, my father leaned closer to the device between us. "Alright, you two. You're bickering like children. Focus, please."

Tossing one last look across the table, which was returned with equal fever, I watched my father. His fingers looked huge beside the tiny device and yet he was able to maneuver bits with no trouble. "What's the power source for this thing? I never figured it out."

Kam raised a brow, "What do you mean? It doesn't need power. It starts when blood flows through it."

Putting my hands on my hips, I stared. "You're serious? Everything needs a source of power, Kam."

Standing to his full height, my father gestured to the device. His eyes caught the light when he looked at me, "It is supposed to just start working when blood passes through the mechanism. I see you don't think that will work."

Pulling the pieces closer, I started to fit them back together again. "Maybe for a while, sure. But eventually whatever stored power it has is going to wear out. Which would explain why it seems to work for a while and then doesn't."

"Alright, so what do you suggest? We can't exactly put a battery under someone's skin."

Inclining my head, I fit the last piece in place. "No, that wouldn't be a good idea. But...I think I know what might be." If it worked. Which, theoretically it should. But then I also hadn't used this ability in - well, ever. If I even had it, which not all Maji did. Most, if not all, had telekinesis, but others would have extra abilities, too. We were about to find out if I was one of them.

Biting my bottom lip, I focused on the flow of energy in my own body. The electrical current that all living things create just by being. When I thought I had enough of a grasp on it, I focused on bringing it down my arms and into my fingers. For a minute, nothing happened. I could hear Kam shifting his feet, asking my father what I was doing. Then a spark jumped between my index fingers. Taking it for what it was, I touched my fingers to the device and let the energy flow out. Sparks danced across the table and around the device. After a moment, a single, pin-head sized blue light appeared on the device. Stepping back, I let the energy flow back into my body and back to a normal rhythm.

Kam stared at it for a full minute before finally speaking. "Holy shit. How did- is that- What did you just do?"

Chuckling, despite the hives I could feel growing on my skin from the electric current, I shrugged. "I don't know...I just- gave it a shot."

Coming around the table, my father reached for a bottle of water. Opening it, he handed it to me before squeezing my shoulder. "Well done, TJ." He smiled when I looked up at him.

"But is it going to work?"

Gulping down a few mouth fulls of water, I set it down before heading back to the table. "Let's find out."

I scratched at my wrist, where the device was sitting underneath my skin. The small incision was barely visible, healed quickly by a shot of nano-tech to the location. Running my fingers along the skin, I could even feel that it was there. And it appeared to be working, at least it did when we tested my blood back in the bunker.

My father took the rewritten blueprints and notes, leaving on the personal speeder that Kam used before. Apparently, he had someone who could make more of them. I wasn't sure how he could get these devices mass-produced without drawing attention to himself but that wasn't my problem. Looking out at the expanse of stars where the transport would drop out of hyperspace, I had more important things to occupy my thoughts. I could just make out Kam and Axon's ship, barely visible behind a stray asteroid.

"I don't like this."

I smiled at Lenna. She had said the exact thing at least five times since we left the base. "He'll be fine, Len."

Kade chuckled dryly, "Yeah, he'll be fine. I'm more concerned about us. Ya know, the ones in firing range of the enemy."

"You think this transport is going to have weapons?" I raised a brow, turning in my seat to face the pilot's chair.

"Do I expect the transport that is carrying hundreds of tons of CD to have a weapons array? Yes. Yes, I do."

Pursing my lips, I shrugged a shoulder. "Good point."

A beeping alarm lit up my holo screen. "A ship is dropping out of hyperspace!"

Sitting up straight, setting his hands on the controls, Kade nodded. "Ready? Kill all auxiliary power except the anti-grav and atmo."

I nodded, shutting down all power to the engines. My fingers paused, poised to hale the ship the second it dropped. "Ready."

A groan filled the air, but then I heard Lenna strap into her seat. "Ready." She didn't exactly sound ready.

Out the main windows, a flash of green made me squint and then there was a ship blocking out the stars. Turning to my screen, I hailed the transport. Here went nothing. "Attention transport ship 8754, we are dead in space and need of assistance."

There were a few beats when I didn't think they were going to respond. I mean why would they care if they left a stranded ship behind? But then the speakers in the cockpit crackled to life.

"Light freighter 6523, what seems to be the problem?

Not taking my eyes off the holo-screen, I watched as Kam began to make his way around the asteroid. Swallowing to clear my throat, I spoke to the transport. "Our engines have lots all power, we're on reserve oxygen. Requesting permission to dock with your vessel."

"Denied. We are unable to offer transport at this time."

I watched the dot - Kam's dot - move closer the rear of the ship. Only a few more seconds. I turned to Kade for help, I didn't know what else to say.

Catching my eye, he nodded and reached for the comm button. "This is Captain Smith, we are requesting aid. Our oxygen levels are diminishing."

"Understand, Captain Smith, but we are unable to offer assistance. We have time-sensitive cargo aboard. We have sent for the nearest GPF station to send aid to your location."

The dot moved closer and closer. I couldn't help but feel guilty about what we were doing. Maybe the people aboard the transport really didn't know what they were carrying? I doubted that - surely the GPF wouldn't send mass amounts of CD through space without guards. But they sure knew how to put on a good show. I stopped breathing. Kam was in position. I waved my hand frantically in Kade's direction.

He caught my dramatics, positioning himself ready to get the Phoenix out of harm's way. "Negative, transport. That will be too late. We don't have that much time left."

An alarm appeared on my screen. My eyes widened when I realized what it was. Without thinking about it, I cut the communications and rerouted all of the power to the engines and shield system. "They've locked weapons on us! They're going to fire!"

The speed of Kade's reflexes should have been impressive, if I wasn't so busy myself. The engines surged underneath me and the ship lurched to one side, just as a plasma blast scored the left side of the Phoenix. "Damn it!" Taking evasive maneuvers, Kade evaded two more blasts before slamming his fist on the dash. "How did they figure it out?"

My fingers flew over the keys, trying to determine the damage done to the Phoenix and find Kam's ship on my screen. "I don't know! I didn't notice anything off until their weapons locked on us." I pulled a scan of the Phoenix up on my screen, zeroing in on the red area - damage to the outer shell of the ship. Nothing concerning. At the moment.

Flying the ship around some of the asteroids in the area, Kade slowed the engines to a low purr. I spotted Kam's ship in the distance just the transport made its next jump, disappearing in a flash of green light.