She nodded, pulling away, and wiping tears from her eyes, chuckling. “Look at me. I’m a damn mess.”
He helped wipe a tear. “You ready?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know what we’re supposed to be ready for, but yes.” She habitually touched her sword's hilt—Sol—almost forgetting it was there. It reminded her of Chan and Thun, and the prick, Harak, since he created the baldric for her. She let her fingers fall off the hilt and pushed open the door. Light flooded in, and her father stepped through the doorway by her side. The doors shut, clicking loudly, echoing off the tall ceiling and walls.
All eyes turned toward Ali, and she slowed in her walk, stunned. In front of her stood her friends; Thun, Chan-Ru, Daf, Hank, and William. By their side stood the Space Templar Grand Master, Skye Vortek, and then Nyx, and the blue-furred creature named Jantu. Thun gave her a wink, his whiskers lifting in a smile.
She halted. “What's going on?”
Several sets of boots clicked and clacked, reverberating across the giant room. Through an archway near the rear of the assembly hall in walked two large individuals, Anunnaki, a man and a woman with red hair. They stopped in front of Shae and Ali and bowed.
“My name is Enki, and to my right is my sister, Sabra. We are leaders in the Space Templar alliance.”
Ali bowed back. “I’m Ali.”
Shae followed suit. “I’m Fleet Admiral Shae Lutz of Star Guild. Hello again, Sabra.”
“Nice to see you in one piece, Admiral,” she said.
He patted his chest. “Nice to be in one piece.”
Enki placed his palms together and interlaced his fingers. “I know you don't like my kind, and if I was in your position, I'd feel the same. Although I hope Chan-Ru showed you a side of our race that is good.”
Ali unconsciously touched her heart. “Chan did just that.” Chan bowed a thank you.
Enki continued. “Enlil is mine and Sabra’s brother. We’re aligned against everything he stands for. That’s why we joined the Space Templars and are here standing before you today.”
Sabra nodded, eyeing Ali’s sword. “You, your father, and Captain Eden Gaines are of the bloodline. Without you three and all the wonderful souls who helped, the people of Star Guild and of Starbase Matrona would not be here today.”
Shae slightly jerked his head back. Sabra had mentioned Eden in present tense. “Yes, Eden. Though she wasn’t a captain, she deserved to be. She was of the bloodline, like Ali and I?”
Sabra went to talk, her mouth opening, but Ali couldn’t help but feel something familiar with this woman. Ali slightly tilted her head. “Wait, what's your name again?”
“Sabra, sister to Enki, and daughter of King Anu.” She grinned. “You stepped up when I asked you to find your way to Mount Gabriel. You have more courage than most I’ve met.”
Ali cocked her head more to the side, her brows squishing together. “S?” She threw her hands to her mouth. “You saved me and Daf so many times. I owe you…I don’t know what I owe you, but Guild, you are the reason I survived.”
Sabra interlaced her fingers together. “I helped as best I could under the circumstances.”
“You sacrificed yourself to save me and Daf.”
Shae interrupted. “Why is everyone here?”
“We’re here for a last farewell,” said Sabra. “A goodbye.”
“A goodbye?” asked Shae.
“We’re sending you to your home, Earth,” replied Enki. “It’s been long overdue that you see your wife.”
Ali’s eyes widened, and her heart about leaped out of her chest. “Are you serious?” She pointed to the floor. “Now?”
Sabra gestured toward the two enormous doors. “We have a ship ready and waiting for you.”
Shae put his hands on his chest. “Thank you.”
“You both deserve it,” said Sabra.
Ali stared into her father’s eyes. “We’ll see Mom.”
His lips upturned. “Well, your mom, my wife, but yes.”
She turned to her friends and spotted Daf. Her friend held a frown, her eyes misty.
“Fleet Admiral Shae Lutz.” A woman walked through the arched doors in the room's rear, the same doors Enki and Sabra came through. Eden hurried into the assembly hall, her eyes beaming. “I’ll miss you.”
Shae did a double-take, his eyes about bursting out of his sockets. “Eden?” He hurried toward her. “What in the…” He hugged her and stood back, grasping her shoulders, looking her up and down like she’d just come back from the dead. “You’re alive?”
Eden let out a laugh. “Yes, thanks to Skye and the rest of the Space Templars. I’m a captain now. I commanded Starship Tranquil during the battle.”
Shae’s eyes welled up. “You saved Matrona and us when you risked your life in your Thunderbird. I can’t believe you’re alive.”
Eden gestured toward Skye. “Blame it on Space Templar technology.” Eden reached out, touching her palm against Shae’s chest, her expression turning serious. “I’ll never forget you. You’re the only father I ever had.” She shifted her eyes to Ali. “For a long time, without your knowledge, you lent him to me. I’m forever grateful. I’m glad, albeit sad you’re getting him back.”
Ali gave her a nod. “You’ll always be family.”
Eden dipped her head. “Thank you.”
Ali made her way to her friends, letting Eden and Shae say their goodbyes. She gave a farewell to Thun, Chan, Hank, and William. She stopped in front of Daf and held the girl’s hands. “You’re the reason I kept going, even if I didn’t know it. You pushed me, though you pissed me off more than I’d have liked, but you’re the best friend that I’ve ever had.”
Daf shook her head, a tear dripping from her eye. Her voice cracking, she said, “Any chance you can stay?”
“Any chance I can take you with me?”
Daf laughed. “Never.” She pointed to the ground. “I have a new home and my screwed-up parents and brother to take care of.”
“I understand.” Ali stepped back and unsheathed her sword and eyed it. She set it down on the ground and unstrapped her baldric, setting it alongside Sol. She dipped her head at Skye, and then at Sabra and Enki.
Shae slipped his Space Templar pendant off, stared it at while walking toward Ali, then set it on the floor. “We’re ready to go.” He looked around. “But where is Devon? I’d like to say goodbye to that young man.”
Sabra pressed her lips together. “He is at an Aurora beach, spending time with his mentor, Naveya.”
Enki extended his arm, pointing toward the main doors. “Your ship awaits.”
Ali looked at her dad, who nodded back at her. “I guess admirals go first.”
“Not today.” Shae grinned. “We go together.”
They walked past their friends and toward the door, heading toward the ship ready to take them home.
61
Eden
Planet Aurora
Eden sat on her bed inside her new home, a crystalline dome that glimmered all around her. She patted the bedspread and ran her hand up and down it, the soft texture practically massaging her palm. She let out a sigh. She’d miss Shae, her mentor, her non-biological father. He had more confidence in her than anyone alive. He’d left in his ship an hour ago to the dismay of everyone, though he needed to get back to his wife and his own home.
A knock on her door jostled her out of her thoughts. She lifted her head. “Yes?”
“May I come in?” asked Skye.
Eden stood, cupping her hands behind her back, sensing Skye doing the same. “Go ahead.”
The door opened and Skye walked in, his hands behind his back. He grinned. “I see you’re getting better at the Sight.”
“I think I am. It gradually grows in me every day.”
“Good.” He walked to where several chairs sat and tapped the wall next to them. A beautiful wood table extended from the wall, its gorgeously crafted legs unfolding and setting gently on the floor.
“We
ll, I guess you learn something new every day.”
“Indeed.” Skye sat, placing his hands on the table. “Please sit.” He motioned to a chair on the other side of the table across from him. A sense of gloom surrounded him with a bit of excitement swirling underneath.
Eden couldn’t make sense out of his current emotions. She walked over and sat. “What’s going on?”
“I’ll come out and say it. I have a mission in the Nibiru system, and I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. Maybe months, maybe years. It’s a lengthy trip, but it’s for my training.”
Eden put her hand up. “You need more training?” How the hell could someone with Skye’s abilities need more training?
“I do, and believe it or not, I have a lot to learn.” He winked at her. “Unlike you, I don’t learn the Sight at the drop of a hat.”
“What does any of this have to do with me?”
“You’ll be training too.”
Eden’s brows nearly lifted to her hairline, and she did her best not to drum her feet underneath the table. “You said it’s a lone trip for you.”
“My training is more difficult, so I’ll be heading to a much more unique system than you. You, my friend, will go to Earth.”
She nearly fell out of her seat. “Excuse me?” Earth had simple technology. How much could she learn on that planet?
“Yes, you’ll be learning in a jungle, in a place no one but the Masters dwell. Do you understand?”
“Do I understand? Not in the slightest. Who are the Masters?”
“The Masters taught me the Sight, and they live on Earth. They’re excited to teach you.”
“Who exactly are the Masters?”
“Monks, but dedicated to the cause, more advanced in tech and ability than anyone on Earth. They’re in a remote area, there for Space Templar training.”
“When do I leave?”
Skye stood. “I have a flight scheduled. You’ll be leaving soon.”
Eden stood. “Today?”
“Today.”
“You’re joking, right?”
He smiled calmly. “No, Eden. I’m not. I’m here to help you the best way I can, so you can one day fulfill your destiny.”
Eden wanted to roll her eyes. The destiny thing again. It seemed to flow through Space Templar talk often. “What exactly is my destiny?”
“You’ll take over my position as Grand Master. When you’re ready, you’ll lead us, just like you led Starship Swift’s crew.”
Eden blinked several times and sat still so she didn’t fall from the sudden weakness in her knees. She put a hand up. “Okay, you’re saying I’ll be the Grand Master of the Space Templars?” This was all too much. “What will happen to you once you step down as Grand Master?”
“I’ll be a monk, helping more Beings in the galaxy learn the Sight. It’s what we do. We bring up a new Grand Master and move on. You’re in the wings, and I don’t want to wait around any longer to find another person worthy enough to be a Grand Master, so please make me proud.”
Eden rubbed her eyes. “Oh, my Guild.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe it.” She took a deep breath and lifted her chest. “Well, son of a Guild. I guess my next question is, what time do I leave?”
“In an hour.”
62
Shae
Lowell, Michigan—Earth, 1945
On the corner of Parnell Avenue and Bennett Street, and at twenty-one hundred hours as the sun set into twilight on a summer’s eve, Shae and Ali stood at the edge of a short gravel road lined with shrubbery. Not far down the road and within view was a yellow farmhouse with white trim. A soft light glowed above the small, wooden porch.
Shae rubbed his chest, closing his eyes. He’d been in military conflicts, had seen death in ways most humans wouldn’t dare imagine, and had pulled the trigger on a man he once admired, killing him at point-blank range. Yet tonight had him choking on a fear he’d never experienced before, meeting his wife, a woman he hadn’t seen in over twenty years.
Would she have a heart attack when she saw him? Would she turn him away, call him names for leaving? Hell, would she believe where he went?
“Do you think she remarried?” asked Shae.
Ali shook her head. “That’s not Mom. Before I left four years ago, she hadn’t gone on a date, let alone talked about another man since the moment you went missing.”
Shae straightened his jumpsuit, then let his hands fall to his sides. “I’m not dressed for the occasion.”
Ali grabbed his hand and pulled him down the gravel drive. “I’ll be right here next to you, Dad.”
“Should you go in first? She might not recognize me.” He was a man knocking on a woman’s door at this late hour, he thought. It wouldn’t look good. He knew Helen and remembered she kept a rifle inside by the door. Did she still keep that weapon there?
“We’ll meet her together,” Ali said.
Gravel crunched under boots as they made their way to the porch. The wooden stairs creaked as they stepped up to the front door, the hand railing a bit loose for Shae’s liking. He’d fix it tomorrow. Shae made a fist and went to rap his knuckles on the wooden door, a slight difference from an automatic vertically sliding door on the ships and the starbase.
He dropped his hand and closed his eyes, his insides tossing and turning. He exhaled loudly. “Let’s do this tomorrow. We can think of a plan that will help get her ready for a reunion with us.” He nodded. “Yes, we’ll start with a note, place it in her mailbox, and maybe a picture of us the next day, and then—”
Ali grabbed his wrist as he went to walk off the porch and begin his new strategy, Operation Helen. Ali knocked on the door.
Shae gasped. “What are you doing?”
“I’m seeing Mom.” She tipped her head to the side, her hands on her hips. He’d seen Helen in that stance many times. “And you’re seeing her too.”
“Coming,” came Helen’s muffled voice.
Shae froze. “Ali, are you sure? I don’t want her hurting herself if she faints,” he whispered.
Helen’s footsteps shuffled across the floor, the way Shae remembered her walking when she’d wear slippers in the house. She still wore slippers. His heart lightened. The footsteps stopped at the door, and her sweet voice carried through it. “Who is it?”
“Mom? It’s Ali.”
Silence. Shae stiffened, his feet rooted to the porch. Even if he wanted to turn and run, he couldn’t now.
Ali placed her hand on the door, her fingers splayed against the wood. “Mom, it’s really me. A lot of things happened, and, well…I’m back. I…I want you to see who I brought with me.”
A longer pause, and Helen finally spoke. “Ali?”
Ali nodded, her voice cracking. A tear left her eye and raced down her cheek, followed by more. “Yes, Mom. It’s me. Please, open the door.”
The doorknob twisted slowly, and the door creaked open. Helen stood before them in a robe and slippers, glasses on, her graying hair up in a bun. Shae’s heart melted, like the first time they met. She aged, but beauty aged even better with her as if she’d grown more gorgeous as the years went on.
Helen threw her hand to her mouth, stepping back. “Ali?” She shifted her gaze, letting out a yelp when her eyes locked onto Shae’s. “My…Shae?” She walked backward as if seeing ghosts. “Please tell me you’re real. Please, please be real.”
Ali stepped forward through the doorway and onto the wooden floor. “Mom.” Helen’s eyes widened more when Ali wrapped her arms around her. Helen’s chin quivered, and she went into a sob, her arms limp by her side as if unable to lift them.
“I love you, Mom.” Ali turned her head to Shae, her eyes and cheeks dripping wet. “I found Dad of all things.”
“It’s me, love,” said Shae, taking several steps forward. He held out his hands, not knowing what to do, his heart racing faster than a holocar speeding down a starbase road. “It’s me…” he gulped down the knot forming in his throat, “…Shae.”
“Shae?” She shook her head as if she were dreaming. “It can’t be.”
Ali extended her arm, bringing Shae into a hug with them. He held them tightly, allowing his tears to fall.
“I don’t know if I’m dreaming, but I missed you two so, so much,” cried Helen, her voice soft. “I need to sit.” She led them to the couch in the living room and sat, Ali and Shae finding a spot on either side of her.
“I missed you too, Helen,” said Shae.
“Where…where did you two…where were you?” Helen sniffed and grabbed a tissue off the coffee table.
Ali took in a deep breath. “It’s a long story. A story we can tell another day.”
Shae nodded. “Yes, right now, let’s just hold each other.”
Helen wiped her nose and patted Shae’s leg. “I’d like that.” She leaned back, holding Ali’s hand, her other hand resting on Shae’s thigh. She laid her head on Shae’s shoulder. “I’d like that a lot.”
Epilogue
Ali awoke with a start, hearing the crickets outside her window, a night breeze flowing in her room. It had been a few months since living in the house she grew up in. Her mom and dad were like newlyweds, unable to keep their hands off each other. She rolled her eyes, giggling to herself. “Those horny bastards.”
They both deserved each other, back together in love, and that’s all that mattered. Friends and family had made a spectacle about the missing people coming back into Helen’s life—her and her father. That had since died down, and life continued as normal for everyone except Ali and Shae. They had to adjust, and that adjusting took time.
It was hard for her mother to follow the story; how the Anunnaki took Shae and Ali and brought them to an unfamiliar world, and the flying ships and the battles went way over her head, along with the slave-race thing. Whether her mom believed them or not, being back at home, on a world she grew up on, and with a mom and dad that loved her, couldn’t be better.
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