Chapter 14:

Arriving on the planet Cararam, Chronos and the Janus crew leave their ship and wait for the Athena crew to land. It didn't take long for the older crew to land their ship on the prosperous bustling planet and meet up with Ren and the others. The planet was full of futuristic life, filled with an abundance of species that all worked together to maintain the situation on the planet. Transport ships flew across the sky in perfect synchronisation as it felt like invisible roads were built high above the watery grounds. Each invisible road weaved its way through the skyscrapers that reached miles into the rosy sky.

"Alright, so we're looking for..." Ren trailed off as he forgot the name of the pirates they were searching for.

"Rewn. Rewn pirates." Luciel finished, a hint of bitterness lingered in his words as his eyes turned a shade darker.

"Our best bet in finding them would probably be that building." Chronos pointed to a tall large bustling building around the centre of the city, "it looks important and possibly has information on the pirates."

Sceptical over whether to trust Chronos or not, the Athena crew took a second to determine whether he was suspicious in any way. Amongst the crew, Adrian and Darius were the most suspicious of the young boy and his absurd amount of knowledge about space. Aria and Skylar, who both still didn't trust him entirely, did feel that it was alright to follow his lead as long as they kept a close eye on the boy.

"Alright then." Ren said, "should we go together or split up again?"

"For this, maybe sticking together would be the best option," Adrian said, his eyes filtering between the destination and Chronos, "in case something goes wrong, there's more of us to deal with it."

Chronos, getting a sense his words were directed at him, crossed his arms over his chest as he retorted, "you still don't trust me, do you?"

"Of course not." Darius responded, "how could we when you go and do things like sneaking aboard two ships without telling us reasons behind it."

"Plus we know nothing about you," Aria added.

The Janus crew couldn't say anything to defend their unwanted crewmate as they, themselves, knew nothing about Chronos. Despite Luciel wanting to stand up for him, he really didn't know what to say as it wasn't like he could provide a precise and reasonable explanation to Chronos' appearance in space.

"I have my reasons for boarding both ships," Chronos replied, vaguely as he didn't want to give too much information out, "and for knowing more about me, how about I introduce myself then?"

"One, you always use that excuse for what you do and it doesn't make sense," Adrian said, unimpressed about Chronos' explanation, "and two, go on."

Before saying anything, Chronos took a second to properly get his words together so he doesn't let out something he shouldn't, "alright, so I'm seventeen, my family consists of my mother, father and two older brothers-"

Before he could continue, Darius interrupted and said, "how about your name. Real name."

Pausing for a moment, Chronos swiftly spun around on the spot and began walking towards the large central building as he replied, "shouldn't we go find the Rewn pirates and save Luciel's sister?"

And with that, he had partially successfully shifted the topic of conversation away from his name and towards the main task at hand. He could feel the judgemental eyes coming from the Athena crew and Marcus bore into his back as he just laughed it off, not wanting to bring the attention back to him.

Following Ren and Luciel towards the tall tower, the group maintained a steady pace as they glanced about the city. It was filled with things that only Earth could've dreamt of in their lifetime. Despite having the capability of sending multiple ships out into space for an unknown period, the people back on Earth still struggled to manufacture flying cars, teleportation devices and cities of skyscrapers that would still look good. To the group, it seemed as if most of the humans back on Earth - especially the ones in power - focused mainly on space voyages and moving planets instead of improving or restoring the current planet.

"Here it is," Ren called out as the group entered what they believe to be a transaction centre.

Hundreds of species roamed the wide corridors lined with small kiosks owned by different beings as they searched and sold items they found. Each kiosk was filled with unique items that most of the group had never seen before as they ventured down the corridor, their eyes sometimes lingering on the variety of things being traded amongst the species.

As they wandered further down the endless halls, a strange large purple jelly-like being came up to the group and said, "first time by I guess."

Stopping instantly before the squishy alien, the group, led by Adrian replied, "yes, we're here to find something... Some beings I suppose."

"You'll find anything and everything here." His low toned voice echoed as he stretched his stumped jelly arms around, "Cararam is the central planet of the trading galaxy. Anyone and everything will be here. It's better than those system space stations."

"That's great then!" Luciel leapt in front as he took the lead of the conversation, "my sister, she said that she was taken here by some Rewn pirates!"

"How long ago was this?" The jelly being asked, "too long and she'd be gone."

"About just under two weeks ago, I guess." He replied, "she-she isn't gone right?"

The purple blob thought for a second before it shook its squishy head, "if she was taken by Rewn pirates, she'd probably have already been sold to a trader, but maybe not to an owner."

"So she's still somewhere on this planet?" Luciel asked, extremely excited.

"Most probable." It replied, "I'd go down there as that's where life trading is being done."

Glancing down the busy corridor, Luciel swiftly thanked the purple jelly-like being before dashing down to where his sister should be. Not wanting to lose sight of the petite two-tone haired man, Ren and Marcus chased after him with Kennie just behind them. The Athena crew followed the rushing crew slowly whereas Chronos remained put as he had a question for the purple blob.

"Hey." He called as he turned back around to face helpful being, "would the Rewn pirates still be about?"

As Luciel raced down the corridor, swiftly checking each kiosk for his sister, his black eyes filtered between the hundreds of beings that wandered the corridors looking for things to buy or trade. Ren and Marcus were right behind him, yelling at the petite man to slow down as he might end up skipping past his sister.

"Ah! There!" Without a second's hesitation, Luciel spotted and ran to a small narrow kiosk that housed multiple beings aside from Sofia all locked up and barely conscious.

Rapidly, Ren and the others dashed towards her, hoping that she was aware enough to help them get her out. Unfortunately for the group, the trader she belonged to was stood, sternly straight and at its peak height of 8ft. It's teal muscular body hardened as the group got closer and it's multiple arms folded over its rock-like chest.

"Sofia! Sofia!" Luciel cried out over the low table as he tried to wake Sofia into a more conscious state, "Sofia! Are you okay? Are you hurt? Look! I'm here to save you!"

As the rest of the group piled in behind Luciel, Adrian and Ren immediately pushed their way to the front to demand answers from the trader. They didn't care what it took or how much they needed to do to persuade the trader to hand Sofia back to them, especially as she was the last of the Polaris crew to survive.

"Hey! You!" Ren yelled up to the intimidating being, "hand Sofia back to us!"

"She's not for sale! She's not an object!" Adrian yelled as well as he pointed to the half-conscious blonde woman.

"If you want her, pay for her." The deep voice of the being echoed between the group.

"She's not for sale!" Luciel yelled, trying to climb over the table to reach his sister, "she's my sister! She belongs with me."

"If you want her, pay for her." It repeated in its monotone voice.

"What are you, a robot?" Chronos taunted as he side-eyed the much taller and stronger being, "if we have to pay for her, how much?"

"How much are you willing to pay?" It answered, shifting its sights slightly down to Chronos.

"Wait- Chronos," Kennie said, pulling him back a bit, "we can't pay to get Sofia back."

"I know." He replied, leaving Kennie's grip as he went to talk to the teal-skinned alien.

"How much are you willing to pay?" It repeated once again.

"Actually, before I say anything, why are you so into selling Sofia?" He questioned, as he watched Luciel and Ren sneakily climb over to release Sofia, "like... Humans can't be that valuable, right?"

"Incorrect." It stated, "humans are very valuable, especially now."

"Why now in particular?" Skylar asked, "there are plenty on Earth."

"Because the human population as d-"

The teal being couldn't finish his answer as Chronos loudly yelled over his monotone voice at Luciel and Ren to pick Sofia up and leg it out of the building. The sudden noise from Chronos shocked everyone as Ren and Luciel stumbled to lift Sofia and race down the corridor with Adrian and Marcus in pursuit. Chronos quickly ushered the rest of the group to reconvene out of the building with Sofia as he would catch up behind them.

The teal-skinned alien quickly alerted the authorities on the planet about the theft of one of its possessions as it tried to grasp Chronos. Ducking and dodging its large grasp, Chronos chuckled lightly as he opened his mouth.

"Sorry 'bout that but you nearly messed everything up." He said, "however, I have a deal for you if you call off the authorities and let us take Sofia."

"What's that?" The being paused in its movements as it asked.

"Pretty simple and easy actually," Chronos replied, "you get all you want from here as long as you stage it for the Rewn pirates."

He handed over a piece of paper with a note written on it. It was filled with instructions and directions on what the deal entailed for Chronos' friends to keep Sofia. The being glanced at it, perplexed, as it double-checked with Chronos if it was what he was asking.

"You have to go now to complete it before the rest of the group returns, okay?" It nodded and began making it's way over to the undisclosed location. Waving Chronos yelled with a fake soft smile, "good doing business with you!"

Chronos chuckled as he began making his way towards where the rest of the group should be. Weaving his way between the hundreds of species that all collectively glanced over to the small young lad as he tried to spot his crewmates, each one probably thinking the same thing the Rewn pirates did when they took Sofia.

It didn't take long for Chronos to find the others as they sat just outside one of the entrances to the large transaction centre. Luciel sat right beside Sofia as he desperately tried to help her fully regain consciousness. Ren and Adrian were similarly sat down, helping Luciel as everyone else just stood around the barely awake woman.

"Sofia! Sofia! Are you okay? We saved you." Luciel called out as he watched her ocean blue eyes flutter open, weakly.

As she somewhat began understanding where she was and who she was with, she glanced around to fully see the people who just saved her. Her dullened ocean eyes scanned across the group, sometimes widening at the people she saw, this especially was noticeable when her eyes locked onto Chronos.

"You..." She mumbled as she tried to sit up, only to collapse back into Luciel's thin arms.

She winced, painfully, as sparks of aches and pains raced through her body. She didn't know where they came from but had a good guess that they were probably formed when she was with the pirates.

"Sofia! Don't- don't move too much, you're injured." Luciel cried as he felt his warm liquids drip into his hands.

Retreating one of his hands back from Sofia's body, he saw a heavy amount of thick, impure blood pooling in the palm of his hands. His black eyes widened larger than the moon as tears began to form in his eyes.

"Sofia!-"

He was abruptly interrupted by Sofia pointing up towards Chronos as she said, "you... I... You..."

All eyes aside from Luciel's turned to Chronos as he pointed to himself, "me?"

"Know... I..." It seemed hard for her to let out words and express what she was thinking as her body shook rapidly, "you're... You're..."

Her words never reached an end as Luciel grabbed a hold of Sofia's hands and pulled them down, ensuring that she wasn't using too much energy. He knew in his mind that this was going to be the last time he saw her, his medical instincts told him that the best thing he could do for his older sister at this moment was to remain by her side.

"Sofia... Just-just don't talk too much," he whimpered as he held her closer to him, "ignore Chronos for now, focus on yourself."

"Chronos?" She quietly questioned, "but... You're..."

The sudden realisation hit Chronos as he noticed that Sofia actually knew who he was. He had kept his name and identity from Earth a secret for this long and he didn't want anyone to expose it now.

"Umm... Sofia." He smiled as he crouched down, "I think you may be mistaken. And anyway, as Luciel said, you should focus on saving your energy, we could treat you eventually."

A small weak smile landed on her lips as she said, "you've changed..."

"Sofia, please..." Luciel's face was coated with tears as he watched the light from his sister's face fade away, gradually.

Just before the last ounce of her strength faded away, she turned to face Luciel and expressed a soft comforting smile on her face before whispering, "I'm sorry."