• • Sunset: Heroes of the Milky Way
• June 2, 2024

Sunset: Heroes of the Milky Way (Chapter 2)

Lost Time

Alloya Ra’non

Today is the most important day of my life, I just need her to be okay, and it’ll all be fine.

They call name after name, getting closer to hers one after the other. Please let her be okay, do not let her break under the pressure.

If she messes up everyone will remember and judge her for it.

Okay, maybe I’m being a little extreme- 

Here she comes!

“Now the valedictorian of Nornan Third Academy, Aleti Ra’non!” the class president calls as she walks up the aisle in her golden gown and sash. 

I stand up to start cheering for my daughter. 

After 13 years of getting her through starter school, allocation, and then into the Scholarly Branch, and skipping a grade, she finally graduates at the top of her class! I can not be prouder.

Now… she gets to figure out what institute she wants to conduct her research at. Most kids only have a few to pick from, the Institute giving them options based on their performance, but Aleti will get the pick of the lot. 

Other mothers wish their kid could do so well.

Aleti walks quickly with a huge smile over her face as she shakes hands with her school president before she starts looking around. I assume she’s looking for me so I start jumping and waving my hands as if I were her age. 

She sees me and she waves back… with an expression that’s a little more than embarrassed.

She can get over it. We’re only doing this once. 

Then the principal congratulates my daughter and kind of points to her to keep walking so the next student can walk after her. She settles down and walks back in line. 

Then I sit back down in the bleachers with the other parents and try to calm myself down. I can’t believe that she’s a graduate already, at only 18. 

I look to my right and left with a huge smile on my face to see if the other parents are as happy. They seem to be, except for the man next to me. He is staring intently at as if confused. I think he is wondering why I am so happy.

“That was my daughter who was valedictorian,” I tell him loudly so I can be heard over the music.

“I figured,” he says. “I’m sorry if I was staring strangely at you, you just seem so familiar.” 

Now the smirk on my face is for me. It’s been a while since I’ve been recognized. Even back then, not many people remember a face they usually saw on the news moving at supersonic speeds, but this guy got it.

“Oh, I remember now, you used to be the Captain!”

‘That must have hurt,’ my demon taunts me. 

*****

“Mom, it’s been… a long time since we’ve been here,” Aleti reminds me, as she looks around at all the families around us.

“Yeah, we used to go here more often when you were younger, I thought it’d be nice to go back.” Aleti gives me a rather bemused expression. I can see the gears grinding in her head, deciding whether or not to amuse me. 

“I have somewhere fancy to take you tomorrow night, most places worth reserving were didn’t have tables.”

“No,” she tries to say, as if I didn’t clock her disappointment immediately, “I, just… thank you, I appreciate.”

Aleti’s a bit shorter than me by two inches. The women on her father’s side are tall, don’t get me wrong, but shorter than me at 6’4”. That’s only thing she got from her father. Her hair is liquid black, but you can tell it’s real because you can see the outline of her wars beneath her hair. Dying your hair tends to make the liquid far more opaque.

Thankfully, that’s where the similarities between her and her father end. 

Now, we get to take our seats. We’re eating dinner at her favorite restaurant, or what was her favorite restaurant, the Lagoon. Last time we came here to together, she was nine. Being eighteen now…  it has been a while. 

It’s near this nice park and has chairs outside on the side where we liked to sit and have lunch. While the grass may not be entirely natural, it’s nice to be around what little of it remains on Reganora. 

We haven’t been back here since we moved into the city after her father passed. The Regnorian government asked, or better yet, strongly recommended that we move after her father passed. They told me somethings about they’re being better schools, more places to go to, no need for a car, and conveniently left out the part about me being easier to keep an eye on.

If there was any doubt before, Aleti’s father watching over me personally allowed for us to live in a small town outside of the capital. Thankfully, Aleti didn’t mind the move. I’m sure this place reminded her of her father. 

It also allowed her to go to one of the most prestigious schools in Nornan, the aforementioned capital city, and considering today’s her graduation, that certainly felt like a good false choice.

“I know you haven’t been here since you were small but I remember it being your favorite place when you were a kid, so I thought that it would make this occasion extra special. I know you may not care for it anymore-” 

“No, I just… well…”

“Worried that someone you know will see you?” I ask her. This place skews younger, or at least for big families. Aleti’s not quite an adult, but I’m sure we stand out. We’re not exactly matching everyone else in terms of closes, with her graduate robe, and my officier uniform, but… I wanted it. 

Aleti started fiddling with her straw after I spoke. “There’s not exactly anyone I care about seeing.”

That struck me as strange. I press her on what she means. “That’s a weird thing to say, you’re not worried your friends will make fun of you?”

She lets out this little huff, and puts on a rather adult smile. “Oh, that’s definitely worth the ice cream, if its as good as I remember.”

It’s a familiar smile on her face, but it’s not familiar to me on her face. There’s something she’s not telling me. I hope being valedictorian didn’t drive her friends away. It wouldn’t surprise me with how competitive kids. The higher the ranking, the better the institute you get to go to, the more blah blah blah the nerds get to do.

I didn’t go to through the Scholarly Branch if my lack of egghead speak didn’t make it obvious.

‘You talked a lot less in your head back when you had a job,’ my demon reminds me. I ignore her.

Aleti keeps wearing that fake smile as she looks down at the menu. “The food here has changed, or maybe it’s just the names.” Her eyes search for what she wants to eat. “I’m sorry if I’m taking too long.” 

I’m watching her look at the menu so it must seem like I’ve gotten impatient. I quickly gather myself and shake my head. “No, no it’s fine, take as long as you need, order as much as you want.”

Then she makes a pained face and informs me, “Actually, I haven’t gone to the bathroom once all day. Can you get me a water when the waiter comes over?”

“Um, sure sweetie.” 

Then she scampers off to see if she remembers where the restroom is.

What is up with her? I’d get if she was embarrassed to be here, she’s a teenager. Any nostalgia for me should make her skin crawl, but she sees more… sad. 

Graduation is more for the parents than the kids, I’m only 42, it hasn’t been that long that I don’t remember how I felt during graduation.

Still, I can’t do anything if she doesn’t tell me. I stay in my seat looking through the menu, not recognizing what’s there. The Lagoon for some reason, decided to have a menu where the names of the meals are something special or full of characters instead of just being what they are. I have to go and read the specific descriptions to figure out the meals, which are much simpler and commonplace than their goofy names suggest.

Then a waiter comes walking past and puts down two glasses of water. “Thank you,” I tell him without looking up from the menu.

“No problem, this is what Aleti wanted, right?” the waiter responds.

I immediately freeze in place. Only my eyes move from the menu to see that it is no waiter standing by my table. He’s not dressed in the sexless robes expected of the average citizen, but the dark, tightfitting uniform of an agent. 

Or, you know, a fucking supercop.

He smiles at me as he moves to sit down in my daughter’s chair.

“What do want?” I ask him sternly.

He holds up his hands as he smiles. “No need to get anywhere near upset. I’m just here to check up on you since you left Nornan. You know you’re not supposed to do that.” Then he lifts up what should have been my daughter’s water and sips from its straw. “You usually do what you’re told.” 

It doesn’t take much to figure out his purpose as he tries to goad me on. He’s an agent of the Regnorian Republic meant to spy on me. I figured the agents ‘guarding’ over me today would realize the occasion and let it go if I left the city for fucking food. 

I guess they aren’t smart enough for that, dumber than actual animals. 

I return his fake smile with one of my own as I let my menu stop covering my mouth. “Don’t worry, I’m not planning a run for it, not that you could stop me. I just wanted to take my daughter out to her favorite restaurant for her graduation.”

“Graduation? Good for her,” he says with a nod of his head, as if he didn’t know. “You know, besides the hair color, and the slightly rounder chin, she really is the spitting image of you when you were her age.”

As I look back down at the menu to feign interest, I tell him, “No, I never noticed.” I expect him to leave before Aleti comes back, and for once I’m thankful that she’s taking a long time. Still, I should get him out of here before she comes back. “Why are you still here?” 

“Just to remind you of your duties,” he says with an annoying smirk.

“Duties? Is there a city I forgot to recharge last week? Or was there a natural disaster I missed instead of helping my daughter with her homework? I’ve put all the terrorists groups on the extinction list before my retirement. My duties are done.”

The man arches his brow as if something I said was incorrect. “While I doubt you could help your kid with any besides gym class, I was actually referring to your duty to staying inactive. You know, not causing any commotion or breaking any rules.”

“Not much passes for duties when a part of the Regnorian Regime these days.” 

“Regime? Is that how you think of the government? Yourself too then,” he comments. He can’t really care to know, and the lack of interest can be heard in his voice..

“No, I was a part of the Regornian Regime,” I patronize. “That was back when your leadership remembered how to respect those who fought for them, even  after one ‘mistake’,” I say with air quotes. “It’s not like it was really my fault, you tossed me out to stay trapped in a bottle.” 

“Well, I don’t know about it not being your fault. You didn’t say that when the Human could have taken the blame.”

“I wasn’t going to let you scapegoat my teammate,” I shoot back. I’m letting him get to me, and it shows when my eyes started to glow with bluish-green hue of my power.

It’s annoying really. It adds a tint over everything I see, and the colors of the world contrast even more. I see better but… who wants to see with a green filter over everything?

“I’d calm down if I were you. Wouldn’t want to make a scene in front of your little girl,” he says as he points to her. I power down and quickly check to see that he isn’t lying. Aleti is walking back towards us with a look of curiosity on her face. Then the agent gets out of her chair and warns me, “Remember Alloya, you don’t have the power you used to. Just live peacefully and ignorantly with your kid. There’s no reason to ruin things for yourself and her.” Then he smiles at Aleti and walks past her as she greets him. My daughter watches him walk away from the restaurant without turning his back.

When he moves far enough away, Aleti sits back in her seat. She looks down at her drink and I remember how he drank from it. 

I quickly confuse her by leaning across the table and switch my untouched drink with her soiled one. She glances between me and the drink and then accepts it. “I’m not even going to ask about the drinks, but who was that?”

“Admirer,” I lie as I take a sip of the water from the edge instead of the straw.

“Turned away another I see,” she comments with judging eyebrows.

I narrow my eyes at her as if I don’t know what she’s talking about. “What does that mean?” 

Aleti gazes back towards me and points out, “While I realize that it’s weird to ask someone of your stature for your number so randomly in public, the rest of us normal girls would love to have cute guys like that show interest.”

I spit out my drink over what my daughter said. “I don’t know which is worse, that you would welcome the some random stranger’s attention or that you think he was cute.” 

“Well, actually, he was hot, but I didn’t want to gross you out,” she says like I’m crazy. “Maybe I just don’t get asked out a lot-”

“Lucky you, you get some peace from the creeps,” I say as if I’d prefer anything else for her.

“Mom, I think you need to lower your standards if you’re ever gonna find someone you like.”

“You think I have high standards? Why would I have high standards? Why do I care if I have high standards.”

Aleti shrugs, “I dunno, I’m not your therapist.”

The only thing worse interesting than a man’s unprompted attention is my clueless daughter thinking I should welcome it. How has she not been annoyed to death by the boys in her…

Wait, she went to school for the eggheads, not to learn how to fire a gun, they probably rather disect pogs. Explains everything.

*****

After dinner Aleti wanted to spend the rest of the night at home in our apartment, which was strange to me. It was hard to let it go, even after asking for the fifth time as we walked through the door. 

“Are you sure there isn’t anything else you want to do Leti?” I ask her.

“No, nope, nadar, nok? Is there any other way to say it?”

“Nad.”

“Ah yes, like hick, nad,” she jokes, as if she’s ever been anywhere where she would meet a hick. If the republic wasn’t a thing I’d have taken her to Asmo, a colony planet full of hicks.

 I promise, Mom, I just want to read my book with my you while you watch TV. It’s been a long day otherwise.” Then she takes a seat right next to my spot on the couch.

This feels weird. It’s the start of the weekend after graduation. How are there not parties galore that she’d rather be going to? Surely even the eggheads know how to drink until their liver collapses in on itself. Why does she want to stay here?

I really can not let this go.

“You don’t want to go out with your friends? Rent a holo-movie? Have your first drink?” I feel like she never hangs out with her friends, and when she does she always brings a book with her, even to the arcade. That’s strange, but maybe kids are weird nowadays.

She looks at me sideways with a mischievous smile. “You’d give me a drink?”

“That’s the part you heard?” I asked her. She didn’t even flinch at the idea of it being her first drink. Has she not had a drink behind my back? Is she like… wait… 

Is my daughter a loser?

I could hear my demon laughing in my head, which makes me think that she may be influencing my thoughts. Wouldn’t be the first time. She likes to do that when I get bored. Maybe that’s why I’m so hyperfocused on Aleti staying in.

It’s… I miss my team. With them around, I wouldn’t have to worry about trusting my own thoughts. 

I try to pretend I wasn’t dissociating, and assure Aleti, “No, I would not give you a drink, but you can still ask.” 

Aleti smirks a little then takes out a big book that was sitting on a small table next to the couch. I lean over her arm to see that it’s a textbook plainly called, Guardians. I stare at her to see that she’s staring at me with a kind of guilty smile. “Didn’t you have to give the textbooks back to graduate?”

“Yeah, unless you pay for them,” she answers sheepishly.

I take it back, this isn’t the demon, I really do think my daughter is a loser. She’s… why is she reading a textbook for fun? It can’t be that interesting. There’s no way they suddenly made textbooks interesting since I had to read them.

“Don’t you ever want to do anything else besides read to learn, Aleti? Do you ever even read for fun?” 

Aleti makes a face to show she’s offended.  “This is fun! And besides, you can’t just order textbooks about Guardians anywhere. This textbook was also the only textbook the school gave that contained any information on Humans, Rivertans, or Waverites. Like, did you know that Waverites bark like Lupians? Or that Rivertans have scales like fish despite being amphibians? How do you not want to learn about that?”

“Because I use to live with them, we were basically roommates on the Rango,” I remind her.

“Okay, but have I ever done that? I’ve never met either one in person.”

I cringe at that oversight. 

She sighs and tries to explain, “Come on, Mom, not everyone got to hang out in the most diverse workplace in the galaxy. The galaxy knows barely anything about Humans, and you lived with one.” 

I did a bit more than live with a Human… but she would… probably find that gross. 

“This textbook has all the information from the Lupian’s observations and their Guardian’s first hand information.”

I am little confused by that. I cannot for the life of me remember how Jackal convinced Clay to sit down and explain the culture of Humans. Then I remember something interesting about Humans. I inform Aleti, “I think I remember Clay saying that the Humans have several hundred countries.”

My daughter develops a look of confusion on her face and begins flipping through pages in her textbook. She finds a page and points out, “But right here it records a much smaller number of little over a hundred different Human nations and a lot of small tribes.”

I remind her, “Aleti, don’t forget that the Lupians made their observations over a hundred years ago. Humans have probably changed a lot in that time.”

Aleti nods her head in understanding. “Yeah that’s true.” Then she does this strange thing of looking down and asking me, “Maybe you could tell me other things you know about the other Guardians?” Then she starts pushing her tongue around in her mouth.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

Then she looks up in a fake face of surprise. “Nothing’s wrong. What would be wrong?”

“You’re acting all coy and strange. What do you want to know about Guardians?” 

Then she shrugs and looks back down. “It’s not like Guardians and superpowers and great responsibility aren’t supposed to run in the family.”

It’s no uncommon for other’s in the Guardian bloodline to develop powers. Usually their weaker than the Guardian themselves, but not uncommon. Aleti never developed any. If she was going to, it would have happened by now, or her power is so insignificant or specific that it hasn’t come on.

I had a great aunt apparently who melt plastic with a touch, but all that did was get her a good job at the local landfill.

Still, this is her heritage, which must have been strange to learn in class. I knew at her birth that she was not going to be the next Guardian, but I suppose it makes sense that she would still want to know everything.

‘She was born too weak for me to fix,’ my demon says in my head.

Shut your trap, I tell her.

This time I seriously offer to answer her questions, “Okay, I’m sorry. I guess it never occurred to me that you would be interested.”

“Why?” 

“Well…”

I can hear the demon laughing.

“Because I don’t have powers?” she asks.

“No, no, I just didn’t-”

Aleti’s already moving to get up as she lays into me with one good jab. “I hope you were a better liar when you were a superhero.” 

“Excuse me?” 

“You’re the one with super-hearing, not me, you heard me,” she snipes back as she’s stomping off towards her room.

I get up to go after her, grab her by the arm. “Don’t walk away from me,” I warn her.

“You’re hurting me!” she cries out, and I soften my grip.

“I’m not holding you that hard, stop and listen to me-”

Then she tries to shove me, and she falls backwards. As she trips I try to catch her, but then I have to let her go and she just pushes me away again. 

“Aleti, stop, I’m sorry, I-”

Her hand hits me hard in the face as she’s pushing me away, and must have hurt her far more than it hurt me. The look in her eye as she turns and all but runs away is what gets me.

I don’t chase after her as she goes into her room and locks the door. Breaking it open with a single push would be easy, but in what world does that make anything better?

What is this? Almost twenty years from being on Team Sunset and I still lose control of my own strength?

‘Oh please, you didn’t lose control. You kept her from leaving you, you didn’t break her arm. It’s just you being pathetic.’

As if you would know a thing. I’m alone in trying to raise Aleti, you’re alone with yourself, trying to break into my world.

‘I know more about raising a child than some blind spoiled twat like you.’

Is… is she implying that she has children?

As soon as I make that connection, I feel the demon retreat into my subconscious, and I’m there kneeling in my hallway, truly alone. 

*****

I stay up watching holo-movies while I mourn the night that should have been. 

This is usually the point where Jackal tries to cheer me up by grossly licking my face like a pet animal. Clay always found that really funny for some reason. Back then I thought moments like those to be annoying and bothersome. Now they would be a wanted change to the boring monotony that is being a crappy, stay at home mom. 

‘It could be much worse. Her father could still be around to bother you,’ Rega comments.

Leave me alone, I tell her. I cannot stand Rega. At first I thought she was just a prick but after having her in my head my whole life, her condescension and her need to make me feel guilty about everything bothers me more than it should.

KNOCK! KNOCK! 

I get up from the couch to go to the door and hold my left hand behind my back. I charge it up something fierce, more than enough to punch a hole in someone’s chest. 

Can it be the agent from before, here to threaten me again? I haven’t left Nornan again so why would anyone try to intimidate me?  

When I rest my right hand on the panel of the door, I focus the charge into my palm so it doesn’t glow so bright. I’m ready for whoever was at the door. Then I open it.

I lied, I was not ready.

“Hello Captain,” my old friend says. 

I gasp, “Terra!” 

Then I leap against his hard chest to hug him. I can’t reach around him, and it most certainly hurts when I bang my head against his chest, but I don’t care. 

He dips his head to smile down at me. “It has been far too long, Captain.” It really makes me feel good to hear him say that. “Doesn’t seem like you’ve aged that much these past few years.” 

Strange that he says few, though Techanots do live longer than others, I’m not gonna nitpick his words.

“Why are you here?” I ask him as I release my hold on Terra. Then I move to the panel to  open the door wider for him to come inside. 

“I came to see if you were alright,” he informs me. “Please don’t freak out, but I’m not supposed here.”

At first I narrow my eyes at him, but it make sense. Why would the regime have me under house arrest but not him? He’s not exactly a combatant, but I’m guessing they don’t want him talking or making noise. 

“I’m sorry but I couldn’t let a bunch of higher-ups tell me where or how to live anymore. I just want to see someone I care about before I get caught.” 

It would be an understatement to say that I’m not surprised. I’m more surprised by how little I’ve thought about it. The people that have been screwing me over were doing the same to poor Terra and I did my best to not realize that. 

I try to comfort him by saying, “Terra don’t worry. They’ve been doing the same to me. I’m not even apart of their regime anymore.” 

His face loosens. Then in reference to my position in the government he says, “I don’t mean to be rude, but that’s a relief.”

Then I ask him, “What have they done to you? How’s your family?”

Then with a heavy sigh he tells me, “I was stripped of any right to choose and forced to work at a hospital in Aloy.”

“That’s a Regamorph city, how did your family cope with the move?” His dreary face makes me regret asking that question.

“They didn’t. They moved back to live in Tortugan.” 

The loneliness in his eyes really tugs at my heart. “You’ve been forced to be alone all this time.” He missed out on his kids growing up and everything. I couldn’t imagine missing everything with Aleti.

Aleti then comes out of her room in her pajama pants. As she rubs her eyes she begins complaining, “I can’t get back to sleep now. Can you tell me who was at the do-” 

She stops in her tracks when she sees a huge Techanot in the middle of her home, all while still holding her hand to her eye. She glances between the two of us, and then focuses and squints at Terra’rork. 

Then realization washes over her. “Holy shitballs, you’re Avalanche! Terra’rork, the Guardian for the Techanots!”

“Um, nice to meet you,” Terra’rork says as he looks at my daughter all confused. Then he looks at me to ask, “Alloya, who is this? Your roommate?”

I giggle, and Aleti smiles humorously. I inform him, “This is my daughter, Aleti.” Terra’rork’s eyes went wide and starts glancing quickly between my daughter and I. “What’s wrong Terra?”

“This is your daughter? I see the resemblance, but… how old are you?” he asks Aleti.

“I’m 18,” she says with a slightly confused smile. 

I explain, “I had her almost two years after the team was disbanded.”

Terra’s eyes flutter. “That can’t be right. That doesn’t make any sense!” he yells loudly. 

He is really confusing me and worrying me now. “Terra, what are you talking about? What about this doesn’t make any sense?”

“Her age! If you had her two years after we disbanded, and she’s 18, that would mean you haven’t seen me in 20 years!” Terra states facts like they cannot be true and now I’m worrying about his state of mind.

“Yeah so, what’s the problem?” Aleti asks, sidestepping to get closer to me. I think Terra is frightening her.

“It hasn’t been 20 years! It’s only been 5!” he says.

Then Aleti and I contort our lips out of confusion. I grunt, “Huh?”

“5 years! That’s how long it’s been for me! My kids are only 6 and 7. How is it that yours was born and gotten older in the time it’s taken mine to learn the alphabet?!” Terra asks.

I am at a loss for words. “I, uh, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t seen you for twenty years. I have the memories and the physical proof of it,” I say as I point to Aleti, who is clutching my arm from behind me.

Terra dips his head and starts whispering and swaying frantically. Then he picks his head up. “I know how to figure this out.”

I narrow my eyes onto him. I inquire, “How exactly is that?”

“The Rango!” he exclaims. “I brought it. It can tell us how much time had passed on Tora and Reganora! I didn’t park it far. We should go now.” Then he begins shambling towards door. 

I quickly turn back to face Aleti. I apologize, “I know you probably don’t want me to leave, but I have to know what’s going on with him so I can help him. He may not be right in the head, or worse.”

Aleti stares at me like I am crazy. “Are you kidding? I’m coming with. You’re not leaving me here.” I open my mouth to argue, but she speaks first, “We don’t have time to argue about it right now. He’s already left our apartment.” 

I look back behind me and Terra isn’t there. How did I lose a several ton rock giant? I quickly look out the door and see him waiting for the elevator. 

“Shit! Fine you can come, but you stay by me at arm’s length, at all times. You understand?” I order her.

“Yes, sir!” she says with a rather mocking salute. 

I tell her, “Go tell him to wait. I need to grab something!” 

“Didn’t you just say stay at arm’s length?” 

“Just- when we get outside stay by me!” I yell. She shrugs and runs out of our door to stop Terra. Then I run to my bedroom and quickly open the front door.

My bedroom is spacious and filled with some mementos, holo-pictures, and personal trophies, but I don’t have time to look at any of it. I go to my closet to grab my old combat fatigues. As fast as I can, I take off my regular clothes and put that on. I then turn around to slide to my knees next to my bed where I reach under. I pull out a very special case and open it.

Inside are my trusted cantorium batons, already well dusted. I grab the black duster that is also in the case. It’s made from the same shiny material as my old combat gear. I take the batons and their holster to then pull them around and onto my back. Then I put the black duster on over. Now I’m ready in case there is trouble.

I’m already out of the room before it hits me. Just like that, it was like old times.

*****

“The shipyard should be closed right now, how do we get in?” Aleti asks. It’s the dead of night as we stand by the gate and the a metal fence around the shipyard. 

The fence is taller than Terra and made of a strong metal. For the average person, this would seem like a reasonable barrier to entry.

I smile at my daughter because we are not average people. I wrap one arm around her waist and bring her close, then I grab Terra’rork by his arm. Right before I power up and take off, I whisper in Aleti’s ear, “We fly over.” 

Then we launch into the air.

Aleti quickly tightens her grip around me, a nervous look on her face. Though after a few seconds it turns into a shit-eating grin. “I’m freakin’ flying,” she mutters. 

“Language, daughter please.”

Terra joins the conversation by saying, “Now that we’re over the fence, can we please land?!” 

It’s easy to forget that Terra does not like flying without a spaceship, you know, because he likes flying a spaceship. If there is nothing under his feet it apparently feels like he is falling.

“No way!” Aleti cheers, “This is amazing! How do you not fly everywhere?!” 

“Well, honestly it can get boring, and there’s not much exercise in it,” I tell her. Then I remember why we’re here. “Hey, don’t forget to look for the Rango!”

“It’s in the back corner,” Terra informs us. 

“Boring?!” Aleti questions me, bringing the conversation back around as I change course. “How could anyone get bored of soaring through the clouds?”

“I can actually fly through space too, I don’t need the nitrogen you do to breath,” I inform her.

Then Aleti’s curiosity shows. “Dr. Terra’rork?” she asks as she looks down at him.

For some reason, his face lights up after she calls him by his name. Then his smile plummets along with his stomach as I descend. “Yes, child?” he croaks out.

“The Techanots homeworld has copious amounts of nitrogen, that’s why we can breath on Tora. Is that the element you breath too…?” Her question is way too long and complicated for me to follow. I sort of space out as she starts talking to him.

Then as we get closer to the ground it becomes easier to see the ships. I spot the Rango, and I realize that I really missed that old girl, or young really. She’s younger than Aleti if Terra’rork hasn’t lost his mind. 

“Found it!” I tell them as I make a quick dissent.

Terra nods and Aleti keeps him talking, distracting him from his stomach, I realize. “Your textbook is correct. We get all of our nutrients and necessary elements from the minerals in the rocks we absorb. Trust your textbook. The only Regamorph class you should worry about trusting is history.”

Aleti’s face becomes one of confusion. I wonder how long it will be before I would have to explain our predicament to her. I have managed a life of ignorant bliss for us for a while, but for how much longer… I don’t know.

When we fly near the Rango it automatically starts opening its rear ramp. I let go of Terra’s arm a few feet above the ground and he falls with a thud, but completely unharmed. I descend to place Aleti’s feet lightly against the ground. 

Terra leans over and starts talking to the ground. “I never wish to part from you again.”

“But he will,” I add as I walk past him to enter the Rango. To say that I’m excited to be back in the ship I used to call home is an understatement. I lived in here for almost a decade where I could talk to and be around the only people in the world like me. Not to mention that the food was only half bad. Jackal knew how to cook, Clay did not.

And to think, I’ll never have Jackal’s cooking again.

I quickly come around the bend of the rear platform and take a look at the Rango’s huge hull. Then I hurry up to the door to enter into the main ship. 

“Mom, wait up!” Aleti sounds off trailing behind.   

Terra tells my daughter, “Give your mother a moment. This was her home and she hasn’t been here for a very long time. Let her take a look around and I can give you a tour on the way to the bridge.”

I then impatiently open the door to the halls. I walk through, taking notice of each nook and cranny, letting memories of the conversations I had or the times someone would have been walking through.

Then I come upon the dorms. 

First was Clay’s. His is last since he was the newest member to the team. It took a lot of politics and broken rules to get a Human on the team. I place a hand on the door as I stop in front of it. 

Made many memories in there, I joke to myself. Then I realize that I should probably keep them secret. 

“Wouldn’t want Aleti finding out about those now would we.”

Then I pass Womby’s. Probably the most normal one of us all.

Then I pass Hideo’s. The loud mouth, with a sparkling sense of humor.

Then I pass Terra’rork’s.

And then come Jackal’s. Oh, Jackal. I place my hand on the panel to his room, and I have to go in.

The door opens and I enter his dark room. I turn the light on and take a gander over the mess that will forever be Jackal’s living space. Everything is turned upside, nothing is in the drawers, the bed isn’t made, and food is on the floor. 

This place clearly needs a deep cleaning before it becomes anything less than hazardous.That being said, I smile, it means no one has touched this room. 

I hold my nose I move to look over his dresser and gaze at all the pictures he left behind. I have to step over a lot of his old crap to do it, but when I get there I remember just how long we had been friends. 

I look over his regular photos of him and different members of the team at different times. There is one I think Hideo took of Jackal and Womby after a job well done. Another of Jackal, Clay, and Hideo. Others are of him having fun with us like always. Then I find a picture I haven’t seen in forever.

I go to pick it up and hold close to my chest. It is of us after my award ceremony for the Hand of Valor. It was for saving my squad on a mission to raid an Omniguard hideout. I had to get everyone out because the squad leader walked us into a trap. 

I remember being told I didn’t deserve from more than one superior, that I could only do it because of my powers. Jackal told me that only I had powers for a reason.

The medal and the ceremony don’t seem to matter much now though. Now it just means more to me that he kept the picture. It was of Terra’rork, Jackal, and me. I remember how proud they were of me, my two older brothers. 

I can feel my eyes welling up with tears. I try to hold them back but one drips down my cheek and onto the picture. I quickly rub my eyes and think that Jackal would not want me to be sad, or at least I hope not. He’d probably make a joke about he’ll haunt the shit out of me.

I stuff the framed picture inside the pocket of my duster to keep. Then I turn and leave his room, remembering to shut the door and the stench behind me. I take a moment to gather myself and then make my way to the bridge.

When I get to the bridge I happen upon two very confused individuals. 

“This doesn’t make any fucking sense,” I hear and see Aleti say. 

She really does have a mouth…

‘I think you overestimate how vulgar she actually is,’ Rega pops out to comment right before I come near Terra’rock and she is locked out.

“What doesn’t make any sense?” I ask the two of them as I come up from behind.

Terra orders the Rango, “Computer switch to voice communication.” 

‘Voice communication now operational,’ the Rango says in the electronic voice of a woman.

“Rango, bring up the calendars for both Tora and Reganora for the Captain,” Terra orders it.

It brings up the dates and I can see why they were floored. 

Simply put, Tora is 5 years after the disbandment of Team Sunset, and Reganora is 20 years after.

“How is this possible computer?” I ask the Rango.

‘There seems to be an anomaly where the planets are in different time zones. In each time zone time passes at a different rate. I cannot know how much time passes without first traveling to said time zone, and connecting to their online infrascture,’ the Rango informs us.

“Do you have any ideas as to why this happened or how it works?” Terra asks.

‘The only possible theory I can come up with is that it’s some kind of side effect of the Dion’s expansion and whatever else happened after your attack on Omniguard’s stronghold years ago, the one that claimed the life of teammate, Jackal.’ 

The worst thing about robots, is that they like to sting you and have no idea why you have a nasty scab.

It’s been twenty years now, and I still think about that last raid. It was supposed to be the end of everything we’d done as a team. Omniguard wanted power from the Dion, the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, the supermassive black hole with the power to end everything and everyone if gravity were just a little off-kilter.

During the fight, Jackal stayed behind to make sure the machine didn’t affect the Dion too much, and that took a third of the galaxy, sucking in the inner ring before going back to normal. 

That was the end of billions.

So what the Rango says makes sense I guess. With an abnormal event of that size, it makes sense that we’d still be feeling its effects decades later. Then the Rango continues, ‘As to how it works, I can assume based off of the fact that Tora is closer to the Dion than Reganora, that’s why time moves slower there.’

Terra lets his shoulders loosen up. “I suppose that makes sense.”

Aleti has a sad look on her face. “What’s wrong?” I ask her.

She looks at me with a disappointed look. “Earth is the farthest away. Time must have passed by much faster there.” 

“Clay could be near the end of his life, even if he ages slower as a Guardian,” Terra says. “I don’t… know enough about Humans to say.”

Aleti only becomes seemingly more disappointed, and I try not to reveal just how… utterly devastating that is. I lost one teammate, and now potentially the other? This soon? How could our youngest become our oldest? That just… feels so unfair. 

It doesn’t feel real in fact. 

Terra asks us, “How has this been kept quiet? Portions of the galaxy have been on a different time table and no one knew?”

I think about that for a second. “There’s no way the Regnorian Republic didn’t know, it’s how they kept it a secret that’s insane… or… no, actually, it’s truly not.”

“Wait, what do you mean?” Terra’rock asks me for clarification.

“Think about. If the Regornian government is mainly rooted in a time zone where time passes faster, they’re getting more done. They can evolve faster than the rest. The time it takes for new technologies, new battle tactics, new policies, and production, can all happen under the Regnorian banner all before it would for anyone else. 

“And who would know? The Rivertans are on one planet in isolation and wouldn’t even care to check in with everyone else. Half of the remaining Waverites are fending for their lives while the other half are trapped with the Rivertans. The Techanots are pretty much under Regnorian control, and controlling exports to Tora just became easier. 

“Even if people try to talk about it, half of Regamorphs adults are military personnel, and our internet is controlled by the regime. Most people probably know, and won’t say a word to anyone who could do anything about it.”

“Like you,” Aleti realized.

Most people know, but the facts don’t change how their life is going to change. The only way their life would change is if they talk about it, so they don’t. 

Then we see red and green lights start flashing through the front window panels of the Rango. Regornian soldiers shine their bright lights and sound off their horns. We can hear them saying, “Team Sunset, come out with your hands up!”

“Well that’s no good,” Terra comments.

“They do know I can show beams of energy from my hands, right? Holding my hands up is not going to help them.”

“How are you two so nonchalant about this?!” Aleti’s new to this, she doesn’t get how not-scary cops are to us. 

“It was only a matter of time I guess,” I remark to her, “they follow me around everywhere.” 

Aleti looks at me sideways when I say that.

“Really?” Terra says. “They used to follow me but they stopped a few months ago. It was a pain to lose them in orbit though.”

I think about what to do, and I realize that I should go talk to them. “If I can stall them, can you prepare the Rango to wormhole from here?”

“That’ll take a few minutes, even longer since we’re on the ground and not outside the atmosphere,” Terra informs me.       

“I bet they brought something that can shoot us right out of the sky, and I don’t feel like losing my home after I got it back so soon,” I state. “I’ll distract them, while you prepare, Terra.”

I turn around, and Aleti gets in the way. “You can’t go out there,” she tells me, “what if they shoot you?”

“I doubt they have anything that can hurt me now that I’m ready,” I reply.

Aleti still looks concerned. “Mom, you can be honest with me, aren’t you even a little afraid?”

“I am, but not for me.” Then I grasp her by the shoulders gently and move her out of the way slowly.

I walk to the middle of the bridge over this circular platform that then raises to the ceiling. I turn around and look at my daughter as the ceiling slides open and the platform begins elevating me higher. 

Quickly to Terra, I order him, “Jump as soon as you can, even if I’m outside the ship. I’ve survived worse unscathed.” Terra nods his head in understandment. 

Aleti and Terra watch me as I move upwards. I look Aleti in the eye and try to protrude bravery to her before she can’t see me anymore.

Before I know it I’m standing on top of the Rango in front of its tall finn-looking structure on top. I walk to the front edge of the Rango and look down at a lot of Regnorian soldiers. Quite a few of them have personal missile launchers aimed at the Rango. 

Then there is that same damn prick from the restaurant holding the horn.

He stands on the hood of a military hovercraft, with a shit-eating grin on his face. He wanted this to happen. Guys like him like it when people like me misbehave. Can’t say that I am sorry to give him what he wants.  

He speaks without the horn at his side, “You can hear me, right?”

I respond politely, “I hear you fine, jackass.”

He smiles at me. “This is good, I hate using the horn, it hurts my ears.”

“You’re telling me.”

He keeps smiling at me, and it’s creepy. Everything about this guy’s looks seem bland and uninteresting. He has a regular physique, his hair is the common color of dark blue, his face is samey looking. What did Aleti think was cute about him?

“Did I ever tell you what to call me?” he asks.

“Maybe,” I tell him, “I probably wasn’t listening, you know, because I don’t care.”

Then he laughs, “I like you, you know that.”

I fight the urge to cringe in disgust. “I kinda wish you didn’t.” 

Then he looks down to scuffle his feet on the seat of the hovercraft. The soldiers around us do not budge as they keep their weapons trained on me and the Rango.

He looks up with his smile still there. “I don’t think you need to know my name, my title will do fine.” Then he dips his head like he is talking to royalty, not that we have anyone like that anymore. “I’m Chronos.”

“Well, Chronos, I care about you about as much as I did before, so still not at all.”

“You’re not getting out of this,” he states plainly. “Just turn yourself in, or run. I’ll admit, it will be more fun for me if you run.”

I arch my brow at him. He is not playing this the way others would. He isn’t nervous, nor aggressive, and especially not afraid. His lack of any fear bothers me considering that I can wipe him off the map. Does he think I won’t? Or does he think I’m too close to the Rango to do anything extreme? 

“Sounds like you want me to get away. Better question, why haven’t any of you morons tried shooting me? I mean, won’t you all get in trouble if I get away?”

“It’s a standstill. We shoot you, it won’t kill you, it kill your kid inside, and then you’ll kill us,” Chronos explains, “it’s not rocket science.”

I turn to the soldiers and warn them, “The one of you fires first will be thrown so hard, your skin will tear off, and your rocket won’t even reach the ship. Take this opportunity to leave.”

When no one budges, I assume the risk to their love ones is worse than my threat to them, or maybe they don’t believe me. If they’re young underneath those helmets, they wouldn’t know any better. 

Chronos certainly does, but pretends that he doesn’t. “They do what I tell them,” Chronos informs me, “they hang onto my every word.”

“Really? Interesting,” I mutter to myself as I gaze at the crowd of aimed guns. Then I ask Chronos, “By the way, did your superiors tell you about what’s going on?”

“Hmm?”

“With time. The galaxy is no longer on the same time table.”

“Oh! That’s what you mean,” he says excitedly. That confirms that indeed he knows about what is going on. “Was that a big surprise for you? We hid it from you better than we thought.”

I contain my growl. I wonder how many embarrassing conversations I’ve had because people just weren’t willing to tell me the truth.

Suddenly, the circle I came from opens. Damn it, they won’t go without me inside. I thought I could trust Terra to have faith, but probably not Aleti. She’s like the other young people of today, they don’t believe in what I can do.

“Something wrong?” Chronos beckons to have my attention again.

I turn back and return his gaze. “Yes, sadly. I’m gonna have to give someone a stern talking too. After I give one to you.” 

Then in quick succession, I clap my hands.

BOOMP!

The shockwave I create sends the army flying, the hovercars flipping over, and rockets firing everywhere but at me. It shouldn’t kill them, at least, leave minimal casualties. It doesn’t feel good to kill kids who don’t know any better, but if someoen bites the dust today… 

There are limits to mercy for the foolish. 

I don’t stay to exchange anymore words as the Rango powers up and starts creating the wormhole to escape. I quickly run to the hatch and jump through as it is closes. When I hit the floor of the bridge, Aleti is there to launch herself at me. 

“Mom!” she yells into my chest.

Terra yells back, “We’re going now!” 

Then the Rango lurches forward through a now fully formed wormhole. The force throws Aleti and I backwards. I quickly grab and bring her close to my chest as we go spiralling. My back hits the wall behind me with a thud, and tighten my grip on Aleti as we travel through space as it’s folded like paper.

After a dozen seconds we come out the other side in deep space. 

The Rango’s voice communications informs us, ‘We are now in the time zone which holds Acoustica. It has been three years in this time zone since Team Sunset was disbanded. The location of Acoustica also holds true for the previous theory that time moves slower the closer to the Dion. This planet is the closer than Tora.’

“Thank you, computer,” Terra says. Then he turns around in his chair to look at me as I let Aleti up. “What do we do now, Captain?”

I look at him with a blank face, and then at my daughter who is kneeling next to me. I tell her, “I’m so sorry that this happened, but we can’t go back home obviously.”

Aleti looks to the side to smack her lips, and then looks back at me. “I think you’re already home Mom, and that place we lived at was only an apartment.”

“Okay Aleti, but I have to know. If you want, we can go find some colony to live on, under different names or something. I’ll take you back to something resembling a normal life if you want. I don’t want to force you onto some dangerous adventure you don’t want to go on.”

Aleti stares me in the eye and smiles. “Uh, no, are you crazy? Who wants a normal life when you can go on some dangerous adventure? Didn’t you ask if I wanted to do something other than read books?”

It’s hard not to smile at her naivete. “Thank you, Aleti.”

“Don’t thank me, I should thank you. I get to actually meet all the people and species I’ve been studying for years, and save the world all at the same time.” 

She’s actually excited about this. Oh dear, she is actually happy.

“She really is your kid,” Terra says, “hungry to go do something.”

I inform him with a chuckle that, “That’s ironic because she hasn’t done anything but read all her life.” 

Then I look back at my daughter, and for some crazy reason she’s still smiling. 

“Does this make me a part of Team Sunset?” she asks me.

“Sure does, kid,” Terra says. “We can call you what we call everybody for their first few weeks,” then with inflection he calls her, “The Rookie.”

I look from Terra back to Aleti. “The Rookie, I like it for you.”

She smiles and nods her head. “Let’s get you up.” Then she reaches for under my shoulder to get me off the floor.

“I’m fine!” I tell her. Then I motion away and get up myself.

“Still, won’t take any help,” Terra chuckles, “some things never change. Now where to Captain?”

I walk up behind him past the Captain’s chair and rest a hand high on his shoulder. I command with pride, “Obviously we’re getting the rest of the team. This is in the same time zone as Acoustica, right computer?”

‘Correct, Captain,’ the Rango replies.

“And is Hideo on said planet?” I ask.

‘Yes he is.’

“Take us to him, Avalanche.”

“Yes, Captain,” he sounds off.