• • Sunset: Heroes of the Milky Way
• October 25, 2026

Sunset: Heroes of Milky Way (Chapter 38)

Alloya Ra’non

Homeward Bound

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After Clay, Hideo, and Womby left the Rango, Terra flew the ship towards the Regnorian destroyer and parked it in the hangar. It felt a little foolish agreeing to this, but in the moment, I don’t feel threatened.

Every step I take, the soldiers are watching me, most as still as they will in their graves. I doubt many of them see me as a hero, it’s been long enough for them to forget when I was the poster girl for military conscriptment. Now, after months of being on the run, they’ve surely had multiple sitreps, reports, and boring powerpoints about how they can’t kill them, and I can brutally kill them.

I walk into the hangar with my daughter and friend behind me without nothing to fear. We’ll crush the two squads of Regnorian soldiers we come to meet us. They have to stand in a line to make sure we keep walking straight, but they give more room than standard regulation.

Then I see the man standing ahead of us with two different pairs of shackles. Maybe the only man I may hate as much as Lamberine right about now.

Chronos.

“Nice to see you again, Guardian,” he greets with that asinine smile. I see that smile and I think about how he almost killed Clay.

When we are face to face I promise him, “I’ll kill you for what you did to my friend.”

He squints at me while maintaining his smile. “I assume by your composure that the Human isn’t dead? I’ll have to try harder if someone else doesn’t kill him first.”

I don’t react to him to avoid giving him the satisfaction of getting to me.

Alph glances between the two of us. “You two know each other? You fought Clay? When the hell do you guys do all of this?”

“Long story Al, don’t ask,” Chronos tells him.

“Are you two friends?” I question accusingly.

My brother looks at me with his new trademark face of confusion. “Yeah, sort of,” he admits, as if he’s embarrassed. “He was my bodyguard while I was Chancellor.”

“Saved his life many times,” Chronos brags, with a shrug of his shoulders. “You’d think your sister would be more thankful, Al. I’ve done nothing but help her little brother, and she still doesn’t like me.” He says this all with a smile and it makes me want to crush his skull in my hands even more.

I’m beginning to remember why Clay never gets over his anger issues.

Alph looks at Chronos, and elbows him right in the ribs. “What?!” Chronos shouts.

“Stop being an asshole to her, that’s my job,” my brother tells him. Finally, my brother gives me an ounce of happiness. Then Alph takes the shackles from him and tells Chronos, “I’ll put them on.”

I smirk and ask Alph, “What’s the point? They can’t hold me.”

Then Chronos snorts.

Alph moves them around my hands, and before he closes them he tells me, “Please Alloya, stay calm.” I narrow my eyes at him. What does he expect to happen? The second he closes the shackles they light up.

I feel my powers instantly disappear. I have to plant my feet far apart to not fall from vertigo. Alph holds me up as Aleti asks me what is wrong in a shout.

I begin stuttering, “It, it’s, it’s shutting me off from my powers. How is this possible?!”

“Stay calm, Alloya,” Alph mutters, trying to keep a low voice, “if you don’t, these men will turn violent.”

“I’d like to see them try,” I hear Aleti say behind me.

Alph looks around me around and mutters, “What?”

Aleti’s eyes turn blue-green. When did she take my power?

“Aleti has powers?” Alph gasps. “I didn’t believe it—”

“Told you,” Chronos gloats. When he says that the soldiers aim their guns. I start panicking inside, they don’t know what they could trigger. “She can take the power of other Guardians! Everyone prepare for cosmic and earth powers!”

Aleti smiles in a way I’ve never seen before. It’s like… she wants to show off. She’s had basic instructions for what? An hour and she’s already—

No, she’s a teenager, this actually tracks.

Secrets damned.

“That’s what you think,” Aleti taunts, which causes Chronos’s eyebrow to twitch. I see her lifting the valve when she can’t control her powers fully yet. Her eyes look unstable, like I was as a child. I know this from the familiar look of fear on my brother’s face. Alph looks like he did when I blew up, and killed our father, and my mother. His life is flashing before his eyes again. I shouldn’t be allowing this to happen to him.

“Aleti stop!” I yell at her. With a look of shock she immediately powers down, allowing Alph to slap the power dampening shackles on her.

Aleti looks down, hurt and confused. She mutters, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, Aleti,” Alph tells her. Then he wraps an arm around her shoulder, and starts walking with her. “Let’s just all stay calm.” When he walks her past me he gives me this look of thanks, or maybe I’m just seeing things.

Chronos walks up besides me as I watch my brother and daughter walk away. “What did she mean before? The power she used to almost kill me, what was it if not the Human’s?”

I turn to him, with a look of disgust. “First of all, his name is Clay, not the Human. And second, what makes you think I would tell you? I’m not going to give you the peace of mind.”

Before he can respond I walk after Alph and Aleti. Soon afterwards the soldiers start following me. If the shackles weren’t on, leading a squadron would have probably brought back memories.

Instead I just feel like a fool.

Hideo TriVi Die-Ve Eron

“Ugh, I just feel really crappy about this,” Clay groans as he leans against the holographic table next to me. “It’s like a lose-lose situation, she fights back and looks like a monster, or some way they stop and she… well that’s probably not gonna happen, but still..”

We’re currently in a call room, waiting for Commander Starden to get back to us. The holo table is essentially a three dimensional phone, which makes a physical construction for anyone to see, but also for Waverites to reflect sound off of. Some company made the technology in an effort to get Waverites into television, and the technology worked better for telecommunications.

I place my palm on his shoulder and assure Clay, “I do too, but the Captain has been through tougher situations.”

“I know, I’m just…,” Clay rambles on with only shake of his head. Instead of finishing his statement he crosses his arms.

“Worried about her? Cause you’re not over her?” I tease him. I feel the glare.

He shakes his head in annoyance this time. “Why do I tell you anything?”

“I can listen pretty well when it gets serious, and I can keep a secret,” I point out with my finger.

Then Clay points to Womby across the table. “You think saying this in front of him is keeping anything secret?!”

“What’s the point in keeping it from him?” I question as I straighten my ears.

Womby points out, “It would take an idiot not to see it,” then he realizes who he is talking about and adds, “or a Regamorph, or a Techanot. Actually, I take that back. Those two species don’t seem to understand stuff like that.”

“They’re pretty weird,” I add with a purse of my lips.

“True dat,” Clay agrees. Then Clay turns to Womby and asks him, “Hey, are Rivertans mammals?”

Womby scrunches his nose in confusion. “No, we’re amphibians. Why? Are you?”

“I am, I didn’t think you were,” Clay admits. “I’ve just been wondering who’s what. I’m a mammal, Lupians are mammal—,” then he gives me a second to answers.

“I’m a mammal,” I add.

“—but Regamorphs aren’t. Techanots kind of make sense, being made of rock, and Rivertans evolved with land and water,” he surmises, “but why the hell aren’t Regamorphs mammals? What are they anyway? They’re definitely not amphibians, reptiles, or insects. What else is there that lays eggs?”

“Ever considered that there is another animal group?” Womby asks Clay sarcastically. “There are more animal groups than the few on your planet. What would you label the Techanots as?”

“Good point,” Clay admits. Then he rubs his temples. “All of this stuff is confusing.”

Then the hologram popped up, alerting us to Commander Starden’s incoming call. “Let’s talk about this later, we got important business to attend to.” Then I think to add, “I really do want to talk about this later. Analyzing the complexity that is the Regamorph species through a Human’s feeble mind is better than TV.”

Clay scrunches his nose at me.

“How do you know it’s the Human mind that’s feeble and not just his?” Womby points out.

“True, he’s the only one that I’ve met,” I agree.

“Just answer the damn call,” Clay tells us. I press the receiver button and a hologram of Commander Starden’s body levitates over the table.

“Greetings,” the Commander of Noland introduces himself. Then he looks left and right before asking, “I don’t see the Captain anywhere, though I am glad to see that Wombinal is now among you.”

“See, about the Captain, we got a situation,” I admit with my palm going to scratch the back of my head.

Starden sighs and groans, “Ugh, you Guardians never seem to have any good news without bad news do you?”

“Nope,” I assure him. Then I begin to fill him in on the whole situation with Alloya, Aleti, and Terra’rork standing before their Parliament, and how we need a ship because they took the Rango with them. I also add how we uprooted the Prime Minister, but since he escaped we are going to look for him.

Once I finish, Commander Starden rubs his temple with his fingers. “Literally, never a dull moment,” he comments. Then he makes a thinking face to consider how he should proceed. He states that, “I’m sure the Captain is going to use that trial as a way to out someone. If they could just instantly prosecute her for treason they would, but they couldn’t keep her down if they tried.”

“Can you get us a ship?” Clay asks.

Starden crosses his arms as he looks more and more worried. “Probably within the hour, but where do you plan to go? You said Lamberine vanished into thin air. How are you going to find him?” Starden inquires with an arch of his brow.

“We thought about that amongst each other. There is no known technology that behaves in such a way, but we only known what the major governments make,” I start explaining. “I mean, Noland was one of the more advanced Regnorian facilities, correct?”

Starden hesitantly confirms, “Correct.”

“So we can assume the Regnorian Regime doesn’t have technology like that,” Clay adds.

“Not the worst assumption, though hardly the best. I can’t say we’ve ever come close to the black matter you describe. Are you even sure it is teleportation?”

“The Captain seemed pretty sure for some reason,” Womby tells him, “never got to ask why.”

“So with all of these assumptions, and yes we know we technically shouldn’t assume, we think the best idea would be to go somewhere where the governments don’t rule. Some place where black market scientists and traders do what they want,” I explain with a smirk.

Commander Starden sighs and develops a disappointed look on his face. “You want to go to the Demon’s System don’t you? To Shao 9?”

“Yep,” I admit with a devious grin.

“You want to take a Regnorian ship, a small one but still Regnorian, to the criminal capital of the Milky Way?” Starden asks rhetorically. “Where pirates, and thieves, and black market weapon manufacturers go to sell illegal products to other scum?”

“I hear the locals are very diverse,” Clay jokes. He’s not wrong though, members of all known sentient species, besides Humans, live in the Shao 9 space station.

I have always kind of assumed we would get around to them eventually, but even the Captain hasn’t presumed to know how to stop criminals from being criminals.

Womby clarifies, “These two want to go ruff up some people and ask around. I’m going to stay here and help rebuild for a little while.”

“Of course, so no one calm and collected is going. That’s great. Maybe if one of you two nuke them, maybe they’ll finally quit,” he comments sarcastically, purposely trying to sound unfunny.

“I find your lack of faith disturbing,” Clay states in a mock hurt voice. “You’ll still let us borrow a ship won’t you?”

Commander Starden stares at Clay. He asks him rhetorically, “Do I look stupid? I’m not getting it back. I’ll give you a small ship, just drop off the pilot before you go to Shao 9.”

“Will do, Commander,” I assure him.

“Anything else I need to know from you three?” the Commander asks.

“No, is there anything you want to know?” I ask him comically.

“One thing,” he states as he puts up one finger. “Who’s going to pilot the ship?”

Alloya Ra’non

Alph walks with us to a rather nice cell, with two beds on either side. It’s certainly not accommodating, but still too nice to be a brig. Probably designed for political prisoners, or ones who aren’t allowed to be harmed.

Alph sits Aleti down and sits besides her. Terra can’t sit on the beds as they’re too high up. No one would think to build for a Techanot. He behaves perfectly content though to sit on his bum in front of the door, which would be a real hindrance to anyone trying to walk in.

“Are you staying?” I ask Alph, as I sit across from him.

“Yes, is that a problem?” he questions me, as he removes his arm from around my daughter to rest his chin on his hands.

“No,” I tell him, “rather you’d rather hang with me than Chronos.”

“I figured you wouldn’t like him, but I didn’t know you two had been pitted against each other,” Alph claims. I believe him, but that doesn’t make me feel better about their friendship. I do wonder how far back they go.

I ask my brother, “Would you say that you and Chronos are… close?”

“Very. Like I said, he’s saved my ass many times, and has always been there when I’ve needed him,” he tells me. It stings a bit to think that someone who can be considered my enemy has such a polar opposite relationship with my younger brother.

“Great,” I comment.

After a bout of silence, we hear the wormhole drive start powering up, Alph asks me, “So do any of you want to explain when my niece got powers, and what they are?”

“Is this place bugged?” I ask him with a tilt of my head.

“Undoubtedly,” he admits.

“That doesn’t matter,” Aleti informs us. Then she quickly concentrates a ball of energy in her hands, revealing that the shackles are not affecting her like they are me. “Mom, this is barely anything. Can I release it in a way that would destroy any electronics?”

Instead of acting shocked, I just motion with my own fingers into a closed fist. “Copy me.” She closes her fist around the ball, letting some stray light escape from her hands. Then I slide my palms flat against one and other, then open my hands upward. She copies me to the letter and the energy looks like a squeezed water balloon for a moment, then pops to send a forceful wave of energy.

Alph, with a face of shock, looks at his watch. It won’t turn on. “Well, I guess I can afford to get a new one,” he sighs. Then looks back to us, “Why aren’t the shackles working on her?”

“Well for one thing,” I remind him, “we don’t even know why they work on me.”

Aleti apparently has her own theory, which she states is, “The shackles are made to stop a Guardian’s power. I absorb the powers of the demons.”

Alph and Terra both form faces of shock. Terra stutters, “But, how—? How is that even—?”

Aleti shrugs her shoulders, seemingly unfazed by it all. How is she being so calm about this? I was so afraid, confused, and worried about every move I made until I had complete control over my powers. Why is she already so comfortable using them?

My daughter tells us, “I absorb their energy. I think their energy transforms into whatever kind their Guardian has once it leaves. I have no idea why.”

What she says makes sense. Rega has given me an energy boost a couple of times to keep me from being killed, and many more times to try and corrupt me. For the most part her power just overloaded mine, acting like a limitless battery of cosmic energy. Maybe without a demon’s control their energy defaults to be the same as their Guardian.

“Well that might explain why the shackles don’t do anything,” Alph bemoans as he rubs his forehead with his palm. Then chuckles sullenly.

“What?” I ask accusingly.

“Nothing, it’s just…. The women in my family seem to have all been born special, haven’t they?” he remarks with a grin. He doesn’t seem jealous, more so anxious or fearful.

I assure him, “Alph, I know we pretty much never get along since I became a captain-”

He interrupts to correct, “Actually since I became Chancellor.”

I give him an angry look, about to correct his wrong correction.

“Are you two really going to argue about this too? Again?” Aleti grills us.

I let his comment go, then continue, “Even though we don’t get along my dear brother…” I repeat that in a sarcastic tone which makes him chuckle, “… I’m never going to use my powers to hurt you.”

Alph arches an eyebrow, maybe out of surprise for my promise. Then he huffs, “Heh, thanks.”

I add, “If I wanted you hurt I wouldn’t need my powers to beat the shit out of you.”

Aleti facepalms and groans. Alph laughs.

“I think I’d rather you just blast me then.”
“Too bad,” I tell him, chuckling to myself.

All of sudden Terra looks between the two of us and comments, “I’m sure I’ve said this before, though maybe not to your faces, but you two have a very strange relationship.”

“Tell me about it,” Aleti agrees.