In a two room bunker it sure was hard finding a place to sit alone with your thoughts. So I finally ended up grabbing a helmet and simply heading back to the Phoenix. I didn't care if anyone saw me leave or not, I just needed to be alone so I could sort through the thoughts screaming in my head.

A device that could make my blood appear human.

My father, who wasn't in fact a murderer and actually just a parent trying to protect his only kid.

Red Industries, a company with its slimy hands in every aspect of the universe, just got even worse.

And my friends and I were supposed to help stop it all from happening anymore.

Sitting in the cockpit, staring out at the expanse of space around the asteroid, I contemplated running. I'm not proud of it, but I did. It would've been easy to just disappear again. Find a new ship, a new crew in need of a hacker, and forget about all of this. Except that I couldn't forget about it. I was right in the center of it all and now that I knew it - I couldn't turn my back on all of those people. On my friends who were also my family.

I put my head in my hands, let my fingers dig into my hair and scrape my scalp. But how was I supposed to fix this device? I didn't even believe it could actually work and yet they wanted me to repair some unknown problem. I didn't even know if I could do it but they were already counting on me. I couldn't fail. If I failed then it wouldn't just be my family who paid the price - it would be every Maji out in the universe still hiding from Red Industries.

Time passed without me realizing it; I had no idea how long I had been sitting there. The sound of the door sliding open made me lift my head off my knees.

Kade came through the door, followed by Lenna, and then Axon. The door shut behind them as they made their way in, sitting down in empty seats around me. Kade took the co-pilot's chair, since I happened to be sitting in his.

From behind me, Lenna's hand squeezed my shoulder, "You doing okay?"

A dry chuckle left my throat, "I don't know how to even begin to answer that." Swallowing the lump in my throat, I let my legs fall to the floor. "Everything I thought I knew about the world has just been obliterated. And now they expect me to fix that device? Me?"

Offering a warm smile, Lenna's hand fell from my shoulder to take my hand instead. "Don't sell yourself short. I know you can figure that thing out."

I squeezed her hand. It felt so warm - when had I gotten so cold? "At least once of us does."

"Make that two." Axon smiled wide. "You're the best hacker and techy I've ever met. You can fix it."

"Agreed." Added Kade, his own smile softer than Axon's but no less bright. "I can't even imagine what must be going through your head right now, but we've got your back. If you don't want to do this, we leave, right now."

How he could read me that well used to be bothersome. Now it just warmed my insides. "But all of the people I'd be letting down..."

"It's your decision, TJ. We're in this together or not at all, remember?"

I looked from Kade's face to Axon's and then Lenna's. They all wore the same expression, one of support and love. The lump in my throat started to grow again. Squeezing Lenna's hand again, I managed to get the words out, "I want to try. But I don't want to let anyone down."

Kade smiled and waved my words out of the air, "You could never let us down."

I really, really, hoped that was true.

Groaning, I pushed the pieces of the dismantled device away from me and dropped my head onto the table. I'd been going over the files and blueprints for hours; took the damn thing apart and put it back together, twice. I was still trying to figure out how the thing even existed let alone how it worked. And I kind of needed to know how it was supposed to work in order to find out why it wasn't. I banged my forehead on the table a few times.

"I don't think that's helping."

I turned my head just enough to see Lenna on the other side of the room. She'd stayed behind with me while the others went back to Antares for supplies. With nothing else to do, she had started cleaning the bunker. I didn't think Regris would recognize it when he returned. "You got a better idea? Because my brain has officially turned to mush."

Smiling, she tossed the blanket she had just folded onto the back of the couch. Pulling out the chair beside me, she pulled some of the tiny pieces of the device closer to her. "Well, every machine works in a certain way based on the parts inside it, right? So let's see what each piece is supposed to do and then what it can do together."

Moaning, I rubbed my head on the table. Sitting up, I gestured to the mess around me. "I've tried that. And I've looked at a power source, because it has to have power somehow to run, right? But I can't figure it out. This is so far beyond me."

She gave me a look. "I doubt that. If your father was the one to come up with this, than you can do it, too."

"My father is...he's a genius. Even for Nakeer standards. There's a reason why he's the General of the GPF - which is also the head of the Nakeer military, did you know that?" I gave her the same look she had given me. "Yeah, exactly. He's perfect."

Her hand squeezed my knee under the table. "No one's perfect, TJ."

I snorted. So she thinks. I was fairly certain my father was damn close.

As she started to tinker with the pieces in front of her, her brows pulled tight in concentration, she glanced at me briefly. "Did you always feel so strongly about him? I mean...before everything happened."

Shrugged, I slouched farther down in my chair. "I mean...no, I guess not. I used to worship him as a kid but every kid worships their dad." Sighing, I picked at the worn edge of the table. "I used to wait so hard every day for him to come home from the station orbiting Earth. He always had the biggest smile, just for me."

Lenna didn't stop playing with the pieces but I could see her looking at me out of the corner of my eye.

"I would always have whatever I had made that day ready to show him. You know, like paintings and stuff, but also computer programs and holo screens." I smiled despite myself, recalling a particular memory. "One time, I hacked into the local city's mainframe. I was so proud of myself. I think he was too, underneath. But he couldn't exactly say that to a seven-year-old, ya know?"

"You were seven? And you hacked into a government mainframe?"

Chuckling, I sat up straight again. My fingers started to fiddle with pieces of the device. "Yeah. No one could stop me after that." My smile faded slightly, "It wasn't long after that, when I had been outside playing, that my father came home and he was...different. Distant, didn't smile as much. That's when he told me to hide what I was - I couldn't tell anyone; couldn't use my abilities outside of the house." Shaking my head, I started to put the device back together again. "I had no idea why, he wouldn't tell me when I asked. But my mother changed after that day too, never wanted me outside by myself, always wanted to know where I was."

"You think that's when he first found out about RI and the Maji?"

I shrugged a shoulder, "It must have been. I don't know what else would have made him change like that."

"But that was-."

"Ten years ago. Which is when RI first started their experiments on the Maji."

Her hands dropped from the table. She turned to look at me fully. "You think he knew that whole time?"

"Maybe not exactly what was going on but I think he knew something was up." Looking across the room, at the single old computer in the bunker, I sighed. "You don't hold the amount of power my father does without knowing what's going on."

Following my gaze, Lenna sighed. "I think you need to talk to him. You know, have an actual conversation."

"I don't know if I'm ready for that."

Loud bangs traveled down the elevator shaft. The others were back from their supply run. Rising from her seat, Lenna squeezed my shoulder. "I don't know if we have the time to wait for you to be ready."

Chewing my bottom lip, I got up to help the others bring in the supplies. Axon was the first to climb out of the elevator, his arms were full of sacks but he stopped in his tracks when he saw the clean room. "Uh, am I in the right place?"

Lenna smirked as she took some of the bags from his arms. "Looks good, huh? Now don't make a mess."

He walked passed me with his brows raised and his free hand in the air, "Why do you think I'm going to make a mess?"

Kam and Kade came through next, grinning to each other as they finished whatever conversation they had been having. Taking the box Kade offered me, I raised an eyebrow, "Well, you two are looking awfully chummy."

Chuckling, Kade shrugged as he walked by. "We had some time to chat and realized we're a lot alike."

No kidding, Sherlock. I could've told you that. "Huh, really?"

Kam came next, smiling at me as he set some boxes down in one corner. "Did you know he's flown a Falcon X before? Those things are impossible to pilot." He squared his shoulders, "Well, except for trained military."

I did know Kade had flown one. I had been there to help him steal it. "You don't say?" I turned and found Kade smiling sheepishly. Rolling my eyes, I couldn't stop a smile from growing on my own face. I guess I would rather have them friends than at each other's throats. Shaking my head, I headed for the small kitchenette area and placed the box on what little counter space there was. Opening the box, my mouth started to water instantly. Fruit. There was real, fresh, fruit in the box. I couldn't remember the last time I had eaten fresh anything.

Lenna came up beside and I could see the same feelings mirrored on her own face. She smiled at me before reaching into the box and taking out a shiny apple.

"Don't get too comfy, we've got our next assignment."

Turning, my hand just about to pick up an orange, Regris stood in the doorway. He looked around to make sure we were all listening before nodding. "We've got a storage compound that needs to be taken off the map." He turned and looked at me, "Your father wants you kids to take it out like you did the last one."

My stomach started churning. That orange didn't seem so appetizing anymore.