Phoenix Rising

"Thanks again, Doctor Phil." Juan said as he extended his hand to the man. It may have started out as a joke, but Juan really felt like the man was trying to help him, and even Juan had to admit that some of the things that Phil said made sense. Sort of.

"You're more than welcome, Juan. As always, if you need anything, or just want to talk sometime, my door is always open," Phil said while quietly thinking about the bottle of Jack Daniels he had stashed in his desk. He escorted Juan to the door, then saw him leave. Quickly he ran back to his desk, and poured himself a double shot of Jack. For a brief moment, he thought about the poor women in Hawaii. He had the training to deal with kids that were abused, and the quirkiness that went along with it. They were untrained mothers who had no idea what they were getting themselves into. He quietly chuckled as he wrote them standing orders to have as much medication as they needed.

Juan chuckled as he walked away from the shrink's office. He couldn't help himself, the man was thinking so loudly. Juan was planning on heading to the firing range that was being set up on the Hawaiian base when he was interrupted by his comm going off on the command channel.

"Trauma Team Alpha, stand by for emergency transport, location to follow." It was Daileass's voice that came through, but Juan heard something that gave him pause. Daileass sounded worried. It was not like Daileass to call up Trauma Team Alpha, unless there was something really wrong. Alpha was Momma Janet's team, which included her and Chang, as well as three other doctors and four emergency techs. Not to mention that any time Trauma Team Alpha was called up, they went in with no less than two full strike teams. One assault team, at least two attack helicopters, and three rescue birds were brought online in case there needed to be an extraction. This was not something that was done easily. It had only happened twice since Janet and Adam had set up the Trauma teams, and both times things got messy.

All of this went though his mind, as he ran for the nearest lift to head to the med bay. He wasn't on duty at the moment, so wasn't required to respond, but he was trained in emergency medicine and could at least help out some. He was in the lift when another thought struck him. Never before had he heard the words "location to follow." Whatever was going on, Daileass didn't even know where yet. That worried him.

It took him almost two full minutes to get to the med bay. In a situation like this, Juan would not bother Daileass with a transport, so he had to do it the old-fashioned way; he ran.

When he got to the med bay, he immediately went into the back trauma ward, where he knew the action would be when the time came. Walking in, he saw that everyone was busy getting ready for multiple incoming. Not wanting to be in the way if he wasn't needed, Juan moved to the back corner and waited. Leaning against the wall, Juan waited until he heard Janet's voice come over the speakers. "Med Unit, prepare for incoming patients, four critical traumas, one of them being General Adam Casey, and five comatose aggressors." Juan was about to jump out of his skin when he heard that Adam was injured. At the same time, his training kicked in and he quickly called for security to come and help with the prisoners. Thankful for his ability to multi-task, Juan was able to still follow what Janet was saying. "Please get Doctor McCoy here ASAP; we're gonna need his help! First patients are being sent now, Daileass transport all five prisoners and Adam; we still need a bit of time for the other three."

Juan had to hold himself back when he saw his big brother get transported in, lying on one of the bio-beds. He was close enough to hear the doctor, "vitals are stabilizing, no physical trauma... If I would have to guess, he somehow over-exerted himself to the point of being near death. He'll be fine after some rest."

Juan breathed a big sigh of relief, making a note to himself to bitch Adam out for whatever the hell he did. His next surprise came from the other doctor, who was treating one of the adult bad guys. "No physical trauma found, but he is completely brain dead... no higher brain function. Nothing we can do right now, unless we get a Vulcan who can see if they can try and fix it." The doctor said with a shake of his head.

What happened next, was able to shake Juan to his core. He heard Mamma Janet come across saying they were transporting in the final three victims, and immediately three more beds filled up, and the trauma team appeared. Juan's hands grabbed his head in pain but couldn't cry out. For a moment he fought to bring up the shields that Jason taught him, and block out the pain and agony that was radiating from the three new boys.

As soon as his eyes cleared, Juan went in search of how and why those boys were able to break through his normal shields. He tried to get a look at the new patients, but couldn't see anything with all the doctors running around, so he 'looked' with his mind instead.

 

Immediately, he saw something that shocked him: three minds all linked as one. It only took him a moment to figure out what was going on. The first thing he noticed was that the three minds were actually linked, but not the way he first thought. They were not like Jamie and Jacob who were literally one mind; these three minds were very similar to other twins that Juan had met, yet much stronger. The next thing he saw was that two of them were normal, yet the third one, the one that was in the most pain, had actually forced himself to the edge of becoming an N-Gen.

 

He hadn't been converted yet and Juan knew he had to do something fast, or the kid's mind would burn out. Glancing around, he saw that he was not in the way of anyone, but moved back into the corner a little more. Suddenly his eyes burned blue, and the room around him disappeared.

 

He took some time to re-order the first boy's mind so that it wouldn't burn out, then was somewhat shocked to see that because of how the thee minds were linked, when the first one went, he brought the other two with him. So Juan had to spend some more time re-ordering the other two boys' minds. Once he was done with that, he allowed them to 'wake up.'

 

---

 

Jory stood in the middle of the hanger bay waiting for his latest assignment. Taking a moment to look around, Jory was still shocked to see the number of people being taken through the intake process. Things had slowed down, but they were still processing several hundred kids a day. Most of them were able to be placed in foster homes, or group homes that were already Clan certified, not to mention the thousands of parents that had come out of the woodwork lately. Almost all of them had be denied by Child Services on adopting for a variety of reasons, most of them being financial. With the Clan making sure that finances were not an issue, many good parents were now able to adopt kids.

 

What was surprising to Jory, and also very frustrating, were the sheer amount of people that were coming out of the woodwork now trying to help. Stealing a glance at one very well-known person, Jory thought back to an argument he had had with the man, shortly after Adam named him the head of intake. His name was Terry, but most people knew him as Hulk Hogan. When Jory confronted the man, he asked a very simple question, "Why only now?"

 

What he meant was simple, why was it now that people like Hulk Hogan were willing to help out the kids like he was, instead of doing it all along. Jory couldn't forget the look that came over the man's face when he answered. "It's simple, but very unfortunate," Hulk started. "I've donated a lot of time and money over the years to a bunch of different places, some of them I was very active in, but never once did I even begin to imagine that things could have been this bad. Had I known even a quarter of what I know now, I would have spent every penny, broken any arms needed, to get these kids help. The problem has always been, no one wants to talk about issues like this. Most of the times they get swept under the rug, and very few even know half of how bad it really is for some kids out there. Now that I know, NOTHING will stop me from helping with every ounce of strength I have." The big man went to one knee so he could look Jory right in the eyes. "Little man, you and your family have opened many eyes. What you guys have started here, is something that should have been done years ago... no, I take that back, things should never have gotten this bad. But I will make you this vow right now. As long as you and your family keep fighting for these kids, so will I." Jory searched the man's eyes for any type of deception and found none. Finally, Jory nodded and the man pulled him into a tight hug. They held each other for a few moments, before Hulk broke the hug, he turned Jory around and popped him on the butt. "You got work to do, soldier."

 

Jory grinned at the man as he turned around, went to attention, then saluted. "Yes Sir!" Jory ran away laughing, feeling a lot better about the man he knew he would be working with often. That was two days ago, and Jory had yet to see the man slow down once since then.

 

Now however, Adam had asked him to play tour guide for a few more celebrities: three guys who made up the the band Rascal Flatts. When Adam asked him to do this, he also gave him a CD with some of this group's music.

 

Jory really wasn't too interested in country music, but he had listened. While it wouldn't change his mind about country music, he couldn't deny that some of these songs were more than slightly powerful. Hell, some of them had even brought Jory to tears. Now he would have to deal with them, and see what they were like: would they turn out to be like most celebs that didn't care about anyone but themselves, or would they be more like Hulk. He really hoped that it would be the latter.

 

"Okay Jory, they're ready to come in. You ready for them?" Daileass asked in Jory's ear piece. Jory let out a deep sigh and spoke softly. "If I have to."

 

Daileass's only response was to laugh. Jory plastered a smile on his face as he saw three adult men appear in front of him. Standing there in full uniform, Jory snapped to attention as the three men looked around for a second before all of their eyes settled on him. One of the guys stepped forward, looked at him for a second, then extended his hand. "General?" The man said, and Jory couldn't help but smile genuinely. It was obvious this man didn't find it so odd to see a ten-year-old kid in a military uniform, wearing stars on his shoulders, the Rank that signifies a General.

 

"Yes Sir," Jory said, shaking the man's hand. "My name is General Joris Casey, My Commanding Officer asked that I show you around. What I need to know first is, exactly what are you looking to get out of this?"

 

The man smiled and nodded. "I was told you would tend to get right to the point. First off, I think I should introduce myself and the band. First off..."

 

Jory couldn't help but smile, and indulge a little bit on his childish side. "… You are Gary Levox. Born Gary Wayne Vernon Jr. on July 10, 1970 in Columbus Ohio. The name Levox literally means 'The Voice', which you lifted off the studio console during your first recording session."

 

Gary turned towards one of the other guys while laughing out loud. "Pay up, Joe Don!" The third guy, who Jory knew was Jay DeMarcus, slapped Joe Don on the back and laughed hard.

 

"You should never bet against Gary when it comes to the Military folks!"

 

Jory wasn't too concerned by this since Joe Don had a huge grin on his face as he pulled out a wad of cash from his pocket, pulled off five twenty dollar bills and handed them over to Gary. Once Gary had the money in his pocket, Jory had to ask. "Okay, I gotta know. What was the bet?"

 

Gary turned back to Jory grinning, "Is it okay if I call you Joris?"

 

"Actually I prefer Jory. One of the things you'll learn about this place is that, unless we are on duty, we generally don't stand on formality. Most of us are kids, and that's the way we want to keep it. Until we're on duty, of course." Jory grinned as he saw all three men nod in agreement.

 

"That works; well, the bet was simple. Joe Don didn't think you guys would bother doing research on us. I said there is no way in hell that you would allow us on the base without looking through our records very closely."

 

Jory nodded, hiding a smile. "If I may ask Joe Don, why didn't you think we would look into you guys?"

 

Joe Don looked a little flustered for a second, and Jory couldn't help but giggle. "Let me guess. You thought that since we were just a bunch of kids, that we wouldn't know to do some of those things?"

 

Joe Don had the grace to look embarrassed. "When you put it like that, it sounds kinda bad, doesn't it?"

 

Jory shook his head and sniggered. "Nah, we're used to it by now. As a matter of fact, we enjoy it. Why don't you guys follow me, and I'll go over the rules, give you a short tour, and then take you to the rooms you guys can use while you're here."

 

The three guys looked at each other and shrugged; finally Gary spoke for the group. "Sure, lead the way, little man."

 

---

 

"What the..."

 

"Where are we?"

 

"What happened?"

 

Juan couldn't help but giggle as the three boys spoke, one right after the other, in true twin, or in this case triplet fashion. The laughter died right on the spot, when all three boys said at the same time, as if in one voice, "Are we dead?"

 

"No, you're not dead." Juan said softly, looking at the three identical faces and sighed. "I won't lie to you guys. You," pointing to one of the boys, "were hurt real bad, but right now, my mom is fixing you up. Before you wake up, everything those bastards did will be fixed. Well, everything physical."

 

The three boys looked back and forth to each other, and Juan knew they were talking to each other. He didn't want to intrude, so he just wait, without looking to see what they were talking about. Finally one of the boys, not the one that was hurt looked at Juan. "Can you tell us what's going on?"

 

"I can do that, but first, could I ask your names?" Juan said. He knew he needed to establish trust with these kids, and looking into their minds was not a way to do it.

 

All three boys blushed slightly and giggled. "Sure... sorry about that. I'm Madison, and these are my brothers Maddox and Morgan." Juan nodded and decided to see just how attuned these three boys were. He started with Madison, and lightly brushed the boy's mind with his own. All three boys' eyes widened with shock as they looked at Juan. "You're... you're like us?" Madison asked in amazement.

 

"Yes I am; however, things have changed for you guys. I know you have a lot of questions, but please, let me ask a few first. Once I know a bit more about what's going on, I can answer your questions easier, okay?" Juan asked, and all three boys nodded. Juan seemed to think about something for a second, then spoke with a small smile. "First off, why don't we get a bit more comfortable?"

 

Before the three brothers could say anything, all four of them were suddenly in a new place. This time they were in a small wooded glade, with a small stream running down the middle of it. Around them the forest was alive with small critters running around, and birds flying from branch to branch. In the stream fish jumped out of the water in a playful manner, which forced a smile on Juan's face, until he looked at the shocked faces of the boys.

 

"We've been here before. We know this place." Maddox quietly whispered, while his brothers nodded.

 

"Daniel said we can come here and play while the bad people were hurting us." Madison said softly, looking around as if looking for this Daniel.

 

"I don't know Daniel, but I was told to bring you guys here, so I did. Why don't we sit down and talk for a bit, okay?" Juan said as he walked over to the treeline, and sat down with his back to a trunk sitting in its shade. The three boys sat down across from him, all looking at him and waiting.

 

Juan looked them all over and smiled again. "How old are you guys?"

 

"Eleven." Madison said, then Maddox spoke up. "Our birthday is on Christmas, then we'll be twelve."

 

Juan nodded and then chuckled as he asked his next question. "How do people tell you apart?"

 

Again Madison did the talking for the group. "Well, usually we each wore something that was our favorite color, and none of us were allowed to wear one of the other colors. I wore red, Maddox had yellow, and Morgan has green."

 

"Ahh okay, like this?" Juan asked, and suddenly the boys were not in their hospital gowns any more, but now were each wearing black jeans with the appropriate colored shirt. The boys looked at themselves, then their brothers and grinned while nodding. "Cool." Juan said smiling then asked another question. "So you guys have mind powers?"

 

The boys looked a bit guilty, but nodded. "Hey guys, don't feel bad about it. Mind powers are great things to have, and if you haven't figured it out by now, I got them too. So do lots of people around us. Have you guys heard of Clan Short?" When they all shook their heads negative, Juan had another thought. "How long did those assholes have you?"

 

This time it was Morgan who spoke. His voice was so soft that Juan barely heard it. "We're not sure. We don't know what the date is. Our step-dad sold us to them the week after the July Fourth holiday."

 

"Did he find out about your abilities?" Juan asked with as much compassion in his voice as he could put in it.

 

"No... it was after... after he caught us fooling around with each other." Morgan said and all three boys had their heads down and were crying. Juan moved slowly over and wrapped up all three boys at the same time.

 

"Don't worry, guys, you'll never have to worry about that again. If someone ever tries to hurt you just cause you were messing around with each other, they'll answer to me... or my boyfriend. Wait, I should say my husband."

 

The three boys looked up at him in shocked disbelief. "You.. you mean you're gay?"

 

Juan grinned sweetly. "Yup... and I like boys too!"

 

---

 

"So what rules do we have to follow while we're here?" Gary asked Jory as they got into the lift to take them down to the second level.

 

"That's actually easy. We're not going to restrict you from any areas save for the weapons vault, and the non-public hospital areas. You are free to talk to anyone you want; however, if they say no, or don't want to talk about a certain topic, you will respect that, or you'll be escorted off the base. Other than that, when you are outside of your rooms you will have an escort. They will not tell you what to do; however, they will be there to help you find your way around, and to keep any fans from getting to rowdy. Think you guys can live with that?" All three of them nodded as the doors to the lift opened.

 

Jory led them to one of the pods that had been set aside for adult visitors. Right now it was housing some of the visiting doctors, nurses, and other adults that were helping out right now. Jory showed them each to a room they could use, and then got ready to leave them to their own devices. "If you guys need anything, you can simply just ask. Daileass is our AI, and is always listening if people need something, right Daileass?"

 

"As always." the three men heard a pre-pubescent voice say over the speakers in their room.

 

"So, he's always listening?" Joe Don asked with a bit of concern on his face.

 

"Yes and no," Daileass responded, as the computer screen on the table came to life. Daileass then moved his voice to the computer speakers as well as plastering his face on the screen. "While I can hear everything that is going on inside this base, I have set up subroutines that act as flags for certain key words. In other words, all I am hearing is a buzzing in the back of my head unless someone says one of the keywords."

 

Joe Don seemed to breathe a little easier until Gary had to ask. "What are the keywords?"

 

They all heard Daileass giggle as he started to recite them. "Well, of course there's my name, and the general ones like help, red alert, things like that, but there's also things like sex, blowjob, dick, penis, group shower, gang bang, and of course BBQ sauce... and other such things like that."

 

The three men looked horrified at Jory, who was quietly sniggering. "Please tell me he's kidding!" Gary asked in shock.

 

"Unfortunately... he ain't." Jory got out between giggles.

 

"But... but why BBQ Sauce?!" Joe Don asked in complete seriousness; of course that just made Jory totally loose it.

 

Jory got himself under control quickly, and simply stated, before heading out, "If you guys need anything just ask." With that he made a beeline for the door.

 

Once the door shut, Joe Don looked to his friends and band mates. "I don't know about all this. It almost looks like a bad place..."

 

"Sorry to interrupt..." Daileass's voice again came from the TV's speakers. "I just have to let you guys know something. A lot of the kids here have been sexually abused, and would become very easy prey for any predators that somehow managed to slip past our scans. If you look at those keywords again, you'll see that they are the most used words if someone is being abused. All I do is make sure that everything is okay when I hear those words. If they are, then I don't pay attention anymore. There is nothing we take more seriously than a kid's safety here." All three men could tell, simply by the tone of Daileass's voice, that he was very passionate about what he was saying.

 

"That makes a lot more sense," Gary said softly, then turned towards the TV, "Thanks, man, I know Joe Don was worried, and so was I. Thanks for clarifying things."

 

"No problem, it actually puts you guys higher in our books knowing that you guys actually care about the kids." Daileass said before waving and disappearing off the TV set.

 

 

---

Saying that Adam was a bit sore when he woke would have been like saying that Jory occasionally liked to use firecrackers to make small booms. He groaned as he rolled onto his side and sat up. Not many people noticed him because all the doctors were running all over the place trying to treat the three boys he had brought in.

 

Logan though was right there next to him, and as soon as Adam sat up, Logan pulled him into a tight hug trying hard not to sob. "If you EVER do anything like that again, I'm gonna kill you!"

 

Adam had the good sense to look abashed, seeing Logan was near tears. In a quiet voice, Adam looked over at the three boys being worked on by the team of doctors then back to Logan. "Sorry, love, but I just couldn't not do something. The kid just went N-Gen... we had no way of knowing where they were at. Had I not done what I did, all three would have died." Adam actually had tears leaking out of his eyes as he peered into his lover's eyes. "I just couldn't let them die!"

 

Logan pulled Adam into a hug and held him as his lover cried. He'd only seen Adam like this once before, and that was after the battle in Montana. Maybe Adam needed a break or something. Whatever it was, Adam breaking down like this was not something Logan wanted to see. Knowing that Adam wouldn't want anyone to see him like this, he asked Daileass to transport them to their room, which his AI brother did without comment.

 

Once there, Logan led Adam into the shower, and lovingly washed his lover from head to toe. No sexual tension in the air at all, this was simply love. Even when Logan washed Adam's most private parts, neither one of them got hard. Without a word being said by either of them, Logan lead Adam back into the main room and gently toweled him dry. By that point, Adam was back to his old self and didn't need Logan's help getting a clean uniform on. "Put on your medals." Logan said quietly. Adam looked at him questioningly, but complied. Logan knew that the medals would help Adam realize just how much he meant to everyone, and hopefully get him out of his funk.

 

As if on cue, as soon as Adam was dressed Daileass came across the speakers in their room. "Adam, sorry to bother you, but I figured you should know this."

 

"What's that, Daileass?" Adam asked, sounding completely like himself

 

"Jason just beamed in, and he's not alone. I don't know who they are, but Jason is in his full VSO uniform, so it's gotta be official. As soon as he got here, he asked where you were. After I told him, he had me direct them to the conference room on your floor."

 

"Okay, thanks, Daileass. I'll meet them there. Can you do me a favor and ask all my brothers to meet me there? I don't know what he wants, but if Jason is in full uniform, it's gotta be official. Oh yeah. Only bother Chang if he can get away from the patients... if not, no biggie." Adam spoke as he started moving to the door, Logan right on his heels.

 

"Chang said he'll be there, Janet doesn't need him, all the patients are stable, and being kept under till Juan gets done doing whatever he's doing." Daileass replied, going from speaker to speaker so he stayed right over Adam as he moved down the hallway.

 

"What's Juan doing?" Adam asked as he moved into the empty conference room.

 

"Not sure, but he's sitting in the corner of the medbay with his eyes glowing blue. None of the three boys will wake up, so Chang ordered them to be kept under till Juan allowed them to be brought out. Chang said he briefly touched Juan's mind, and he was indeed the one keeping them under, but Chang doesn't know why."

 

"Okay, I'm sure Juan knows what he's doing. Keep me posted if anything important happens." Adam said as he sat down at the head of the table.

 

"You got it, boss." Daileass said just as the doors opened, and in walked Jory, Will and Khan. Knowing better than to ask, all three boys moved to take seats. They hadn't even sat down when the doors opened again; this time Chang and some of his wolves came in as well.

 

For a final time, the doors opened, and Jason came in first wearing his black VSO robe, with the golden inlays indicative of a VSO Commander. As soon as Jason started into the room, everyone jumped to their feet, all knowing that this was something official.

Behind him, came an older man with graying hair and a long beard. The first thing Adam thought when he saw the man was that he reminded him of Gandalf from the Lord of the Rings films. He was wearing a simple brown robe that was tied in the front with an ornate looking belt. Adam knew immediately that this was a man that was dangerous. The way he held himself, and the way he walked, reminded him of Master Takamora. The three men were human looking, but something about them made Adam wonder.

The two men that came in after the older man were younger, but not by much. They both wore what looked like military uniforms, but none that Adam was familiar with, and he knew every Earth-based military uniform.

Jason led the three men to the table, and then indicated Adam. "Commander Casey, I would like to introduce you to Master Quel, High Priest of the Eryradain religious order," Jason said, indicating the older man. "With him are Captain Liuella, commanding officer of the 'Eryres', and Admiral of the Second Eryradain Fleet. Finally this is his first officer, First Commander Huthel."

Adam, being ever the diplomat, nodded to each one in turn, even though he had no idea who the Eryradain were.

"Master Quel, I would like to introduce you to Commander Adam Casey, commanding officer of the Special Forces division of Clan Short."

"Thank you very much, Commander Evans. I can see by the look on this young man's face that he does not know who we are, so with your permission, I would like to give a little background, and then we can get onto why we are here," the old man said as the four of them took their seats.

"As you wish, Master," Jason said while lowering his cowl.

"Thank you. I believe you call your Artificial Intelligence Daileass?" The Master asked, and Adam decided not to take offense at the term since the man obviously did not know better, so he simply nodded.

"Daileass... could you please bring up a map of the Beta Quadrant, as you call it." Daileass did not reply, other than to lower the screen and display the appropriate map. Master Quel got up, and moved to the map. After looking at it for a moment, he pointed to an area of the Beta Quadrant that was uncharted. "The Eryradain Empire lies on the far side of the Beta Quadrant from where we are now."

Adam whistled softly and mentally calculated how long that would take someone going at full warp... a long time. Adam knew something big was coming, so he interrupted the Master while he waited for everyone to be on the same page.

"Pardon my interruption, Master Quel, but I felt I should inform you that everyone in this room is clear for any and all information you wish to share with us." Adam said, trying to be as official as he could be.

Master Quel just nodded. "Thank you, Commander Casey. I was about to ask that. As I was saying, we come from the far side of the Beta Quadrant. Before I can go into why we are here, I need to give you all a bit of a history lesson."

The man went back over to his seat and was about to sit down when suddenly, all around the table, glasses filled with water, and pitchers, also filled with water, appeared. "Thanks, Daileass." Logan said as he closed the section of the table in front of him that held a keyboard.

Master Quel smiled and took one of the glasses. "Thank you, young man." he said as he saluted Logan with his glass and took a sip. Sitting down, he put the glass on the table and sat back, making himself comfortable. "Roughly four thousand years ago, one of our colony ships was lost. Somehow it managed to go off course and ended up going through what you would call a 'worm hole'. We never heard from, or saw any of them again. However, we never stopped looking for them and trying hard to find them. About four hundred years ago, the worm hole again appeared, and this time we were able to figure out where it went to. We were not able to pinpoint the exact location, but we know generally where the ship appeared, in this section of the galaxy."

"Hoping that they may have survived somehow, we turned our scientific attention to figuring out a way to get here without it taking many many years. Finally about fifty years ago, our scientist figured out how to do it. It is what your people call 'slipstream drive'." Logan couldn't help himself as he sat forward stunned. Not being as tech savvy as his lover, Adam really wasn't sure what they were talking about.

"Now, about three years ago, the first ship test of the slipstream drive was successful, so a crew of volunteers was assembled to come to this area and search for the survivors. They left a little over two years ago, with strict orders that they were to report back with in one year even if they had not found our lost brethren. When they did not return, we were sent looking for them... for the reason that the Emperor's youngest son is the captain of that ship."

Logan leaned forward again and asked a question that was burning in his mind. "Master, I am sorry to interrupt, but I must ask. How long does it take to get from your world to Earth?"

"Going at maximum sustainable speed, a little over 2.5 days." Logan's jaw wasn't the only one to hit the table top when that was said.

After a moment, the Master continued. "When we got to this area, we started a search pattern based on what we knew of their search pattern. We came across an asteroid field, which is where we got ambushed by someone who we now know were the Orions. We managed to destroy their ships, but took significant damage to ours in the process."

"That was about nine months ago. We wound up close to the planet Vulcan and asked for some aid. Ambassador Sarek was kind enough to escort us to the planet you call Mars, and we traded for the materials we needed to make our repairs. Only one of your days ago did we finished our repairs, and were ready to leave, when Commander Evans contacted us. This is where I will let him take over the story."

Jason nodded, and looked at Adam. "When I finished my training on Vulcan, Grandfather came with us to Earth in our then new ship. Only he and I knew of the Eryradain, and only Grandfather had all the details. Much of what has now been said is new to me too. When Aunt Janet told me of the DNA sequences from Tommy and Elwyn, I recognized it. It was one of the few things I knew of about our new friends. I talked to Grandfather last night, and he requested that I make contact since he is still emotionally compromised; so am I, to be fair, but I have VSO training that he lacks. Since Red One Level Security was put in place for the sake of the Eryradain, they are quite free to break it where I could not. As you can no doubt guess, the reason for us being here is that those 'werewolves' of yours are anything but. They are Eryradain."

Jory put his hand up, as if in school. "Um, you're telling us that the Eryradain can ALL transform into wolves?"

The Master laughed. "No, child. We can transform, as you put it, into any creature we have imprinted upon in our youth. Tell me, is Commander Evans' information correct regarding the medical state of this 'Tommy' and 'Elwyn'?"

Chang leaned forward and answered. "Well, as of about nine o'clock this morning, they just suddenly came out of their flu-like state." Seeing that the Master had no idea what he was talking about, he quickly continued. "Before that time, they were very tired, sometimes not waking up at all. They had an increased core body temperature, and when they were awake, they were vomiting, and generally not feeling very well. Then all of a sudden, they both woke up and said they felt fine. According to all our scans, they are completely back to normal."

The Master stood to his feet quickly, "And this stopped three of your Earth hours ago?"

"Yes," Chang nodded, "about that."

"Where are they?" He asked. "The change is upon them."

"They are sleeping in Tommy's room." Adam said as he to got to his feet, and quickly made his way to the door. "Are they in danger?"

Master Quel followed him out of the room, along with everyone else as they were quickly making their way to the elevators. "Not really, no, but we have found it best that the young one who changes, does it out of doors, so as to not damage anything as they get used to their changed form."

Adam nodded, and with Logan hurrying along at his side, he led the entire group to Tommy's room.

Fluffy was outside the door waiting for them when they arrived, and the Master smiled at the large animal.

Fluffy, however, was looking... perturbed.

"What's the matter, girl?" Adam asked as he lightly tickled the large cat's ear.

Fluffy lifted up onto all four paws, batted her rump against the apartment door so that it opened, then pointed inside with her tail... before sitting down and continuing to look perturbed. In one of the rare times that Fluffy spoke to Adam in his mind, she said, "I told you they were Bird Brains..."

Adam and Logan rushed inside and to the bed that contained... sorry, no LONGER contained two small boys.

"What the FUCK?!" Adam yelled.

This, of course, woke up Tommy and Elwyn.

Only they weren't the same Tommy and Elwyn that had last been seen by Chang three hours ago.

The others all piled into the room, including the three Eryradain.

The Admiral and his First Officer fainted dead away.

The Master, however, fell to his knees before the bed. He started to quote in his own language, and it was fortunate that Jason's translator could deal with it.

"From the Stars our Gods shall return;

From those that are lost, shall the Twins find their way;

Sun and Moon, Gold and Silver,

Flying upon the Winds of Fire.

Shielded in lightning, bearing the power of youth,

They shall smite our foes,

And break their will;

And all shall bow to their power..."

Then, weeping, Quel choked out the final part of the ancient prophecy...

"Let the Adain fly again;

Let the Eryan walk again…

Let the <i>Gods</i> rule again."

Tommy and Elwyn fought their way out from the quilt that was covering them. It was hard when you didn't have hands.

There, on the bed, stood two; and Adam had to pinch himself to make sure he was awake; two Phoenix birds, straight out of legend. Tommy, at least Adam thought it was Tommy, was golden colored, with a flame red beak and a silvery color under the huge wings. Elwyn was silver, with gold under the wings. Both had long bright tail feathers.

And the bed was smoldering, for they were excreting a liquid from their wings and chests that, on contact with the bed, burst into small flames. Flames that didn't seem to do more than slightly amuse the two beautiful creatures now hopping about the bed and singing to each other in a song that brought tears to everyone's eyes.

"The true Adain, the Eryan, have returned! They are Eryres! Winglords and Gods!" Then, and only then, did Quel join his fellow Eryradain... he fainted.

Yet, while all three were unconscious, the Song of the Phoenixes whispered to them...

No one noticed Janet and Joe rushing into the room; however, they all heard her gasp as she saw Tommy and Elwyn on the bed. Without a word, she turned and went into Joe's arms.

---

Editor's Notes:

The Eryradain? What or who in the world are these guys. Tommy and Elwyn Winglords and Gods now? I guess we know why this is called "Phoenix Rising" now. What are we in store for? I for one am very interested to find out where this is all going.

Did Quel ever find the lost ship? Who are the Orions? Where did they come from? Slipstream technology? This is going to be interesting. I think Adam and the U.N.I.T. May be in for quite a ride here!

So, I wonder what the triplets have to do with all this? Juan is working inside their heads and getting to know them, but what is really going on? What part are they going to play in this story. I think this is really cool!! We are in for a fun and enjoyable ride I think!

Until next time, you friendly neighborhood editing pup!

Boxerdude!