"He had better hurry up and get his ass on this ship or we're leaving without him."

Rolling my eyes, I didn't even bother turning away from my holo-screen. Kade could be a jerk sometimes but I knew he would never actually leave any of us behind. "I'm sure he'll be here soon."

"What could be possibly be getting into this time? Actually, scratch that. This is Uzara - he could be getting into a whole lot of shit."

This time I did glance away from my screen. Lenna stood with her arms crossed tightly around her, her bottom lip between her teeth. Annoyance bubbled up in my veins at Kade for being...well, Kade. My voice was low as I turned towards the pilot's chair. "Would you chill, Captain? He'll be here soon."

His chair spun around and his eyes met mine, mouth already hanging open to say something. But one look at my face had him shutting it instead. I had perfected my 'if looks could kill' face long before Kade ever came into the picture. Sighing dramatically, he spun back to face the control panel. "Fine, whatever. But be ready to get us out of here as soon as he gets on board."

"Aye, Aye." I gave him my best mock salute and tossed a reassuring smile in Lenna's direction. I told her she'd have gray hair by the time she was twenty if she kept worrying so much about her brother. He may have been a stupid kid sometimes but he wasn't really an idiot. He'd be fine. Looking back at the screen in front of me, I scanned the hyper-lanes traffic and had my own moment of worry. Axon better hurry or we'd have to wait for an opening to get off this forsaken planet.

A blue light blinked to the right of my screen, indicating the back door to the cargo bay had been opened. I counted to three and the light went out, the door securely closed again. Axon was home.

Grunting, Kade sat up straighter and started turning on the engines. "Finally. TJ, have us cleared in five."

I nodded as Lenna pushed off the side of the ship and headed out of the cockpit. I sure hoped Axon had a good excuse this time or he was about to be in a world of hurt.

Heading into the common room, I took note of Axon secluded in one corner and Lenna sitting at the table, her eyes glaring in his direction. I so did not need to get into the middle of whatever argument they were having this time. I'd go look for Axon later, when the others weren't around, and see if he was okay. "We're en route to Koshi. Should be there in a just under an hour."

Kade stood in the small area we called a kitchen, trying to make the only protein bars we had left into something edible. "Perfect. We'll still make that deadline even though we didn't leave on time." The last few words were pointedly said in the direction of the youngest member of the crew.

I closed my eyes and prayed to whatever greater power existed in the universe that Axon hadn't heard him.

"I told you - I had something to do."

Shit. Never mind, universe.

Kade picked up his meal and headed for the table. "Yeah, I'm sure you did. Too bad your little activities don't feed this crew."

Groaning, my shoulders sagged a bit as Axon stood up from his corner. Stalking over the table with his brows pulled tight.

"So what, it's not like the last few jobs you've taken us on have fed us either. At least I keep this to myself and don't bring everyone along with me."

Stopping with his protein bar halfway to his mouth, Kade set it back down with a scary smile on his face. Standing back up, he poked Axon in the chest. "Watch it, Axon. You're a part of my crew, that means you follow my rules."

Fear started to prickle under my skin; my rising anxiety was no doubt causing hives to form on my arms. "Guys, seriously. Cut it out."

Standing to his full height, which had gotten higher in the last few months, Axon poked Kade right back. "Oh right, because your rules are so important anyway. You couldn't run this ship without us."

Before I could say anything, Lenna stood from her seat. "Axon, enough. You two are acting like children."

Kade waved his hand in Axon's face, "I'm not the child in this room."

Growling, Axon took a step away and turned towards the door. "Whatever. Maybe I'll just get out of your hair."

"Axon!-."

"Guys, come on-."

Kade grabbed Axon's leather jacket, halting the boy's footsteps. "Now hang on a second, I wasn't-." A small bad fell out of the inside pocket of Axon's jacket. I would recognize that shimmering blue powder anywhere.

Axon made a grab for it but Kade was quicker. Holding the bag up towards his face, his eyes narrowed as he focused on Axon. I had never seen the captain of our little crew look that angry. "You brought CD on my ship?"

His words sent a shiver down my spine. I wasn't surprised to see Axon's bravado diminish. He looked a lot more like the kid I knew than he had a few moments before. "It's - I'm just -."

"We don't deal in CD. We don't deal in any drugs. Never have and never will." Pushing the bag of powder into Axon's chest, Kade left his hand there as he added, "I don't care what you do with it but you get this shit off my ship. Got it?"

I was holding my breath. My lungs were starting to scream for air but I couldn't move a muscle. Lenna stood just as still beside me, her hands gripping the back of her chair; her knuckles white.

Nodding once, Axon didn't lift his eyes from the floor as he left the common room. The door opening and closing was the only sound in the room for minutes. Finally, Lenna broke it. "Kade, I'm so sorry. I'll talk to him, he didn't mean to-."

Kade held his hand up to quiet her, his eyes soft when he looked towards where we both stood. "No, it's okay, Lenna." Sighing, he ran his hand down his face. "Well, it's not fine, obviously, but don't get mad at the kid. Maybe this is all my fault, maybe I've been too hard on him."

Finding my voice, I put my hand on Lenna's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "Maybe we've all been too hard on him." I knew from experience that leaving behind everything you knew for the unknown wasn't easy. Sure, we had all been at home on the Phoenix for over a year now but that didn't make it easy all the time. I hadn't seen the Milky Way Galaxy in just as long but that didn't mean I didn't miss it sometimes.

"Could you go talk to him?" Lenna turned to her, her eyes pleading. "He's always liked you more than he likes me."

"Lenna, that's not true. You're his sister and he loves you."

Shrugging, she sat down in her chair like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. Sometimes I was pretty sure that it actually was. "Maybe but he'll talk to you."

Glancing at Kade, who nodded in agreement, made me sigh. "Alright, I'll try."

After searching half the ship for Axon and coming up empty handed, I decided to give it some time. If the kid didn't want to be found than he wouldn't be. Who knew how many hiding places he had on the ship.

The door to my room slid open. Revealing the mess I had left behind hours before. Groaning, I bent down to start cleaning up my mother's old Tarot Cards from the floor. It wasn't until I picked one up - the only one to have landed face up - that I stilled.

The Devil card. Changes were coming.

Sitting back on my legs I looked out my porthole window. The kaleidoscope of colors flashed past the ship, filling my room with rainbows as we sped through hyperspace. I sure hoped whatever changes were coming would wait until after this job to Koshi.

A/N

Hey guys!! So as you can see, NaNo has had a slow start for me this year. I'm currently moving my life halfway across the country. But after the 5/6th, things should settle down and then I'll really be cranking this out.

Thanks so much for reading! <3