I hope you all enjoyed my last chapter; I took particular pleasure in writing it. Now, here is Chapter 9.

Sly Cooper and the Space Thieves

Chapter 9- Departure

Sly and his friends were glad the games were finally over, and that they and the Vapok have come to trust and respect each other. They were enjoying the feast that was prepared for everyone; the food was so delicious that Dimitri asked the cooks if they could exchange recipes, which they agreed to do. While everyone was crunching and munching, Sly and Chief Rajz were talking.

"I hope that you will forgive me for putting you and your companions through the last challenge. It was necessary to see if you could be trusted." "No harm done, chief," replied Sly. "In fact I should be thanking you. If you didn't force me to face my biggest fear, I would not be able to become a better person." The chief smiled. "I am glad you think that way. Now, I believe you wish to know where the Aquians are? It is why you have come here in the first place isn't it?"

Sly nodded as he was eating his fruit salad. "The Aquian's home world of Dolphus is located in the Ganor Star System; it is a system consisting of 5 planets, an asteroid field, and no moons. Dolphus is the closet one to the Blue Sun." Carmelita, who was sitting next to Sly and listening to all of this, was stunned. "Did you say Dolphus orbits a "Blue" sun?"

"Yes, it does. There indeed is a blue colored sun in that system. While most star systems have yellow or red suns, Ganor is the only one with a blue sun. I have visited there many times in the past…" Sly decided to interrupt him. "Sorry chief, but I need to speak to you in private. It concerns our reason for finding them, plus something else." Rajz suddenly looked concerned. "I was wondering when you were getting to that. Follow me. We will discuss this in my personal hut."

"Thanks chief." Sly turned to Carmelita and told her that he needs to speak to the Rajz in private. "It won't take long. Just wait in the guest hut with the others, okay?" "Sure, Ringtail," she replied as Sly and Rajz went to the hut for their private conversation. As Carmelita ate, she began to wonder what they were going to be talking about. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard Murray belching very loudly at the other end of the table. "Sorry about that!" Everyone laughed at this, even Carmelita!

"What is taking Sly so long?" Murray and the others have been waiting in their hut for over an hour, and Sly still hadn't returned. Murray wanted to know where he was, so he kept asking why he isn't back yet. Carmelita kept telling him he was talking to chief and that it may take awhile. "I'm sure he'll be back soon." Just as she replied, Sly entered the tent. "Is everything alright Sly?"

"Yeah, everything is cool Carmelita. Sorry for keeping you all waiting, but I had to talk to the chief about something very important. I can't tell you what it is until we meet Jacor and his people. That way, it will all make sense. Understand?" Though everyone was confused, they agreed. Carmelita thought that what he and the chief spoke of was what he tried to explain earlier, but decided to wait. "Good. Start getting the gear, we will be returning to the Dragon Thief in 15 minutes."

The group understood and began to pack up for their return to the ship. While they were packing, Carmelita walked towards Sly. "How important was that info you told Rajz?" Sly looked at her for a moment and said: "More important you than you realize."

The whole gang was all packed and ready to go. Before they beamed up to their ship, Sly thanked Chief Rajz and his people for their hospitality and respect. Rajz smiled as he bid them farewell and wished them luck on their mission. After they have disappeared in a flash of light, Rajz looked up in the sky and thought: 'If what you have told me is true, Sly Cooper, then you and your friends will be part of something much bigger than a mere search and retrieve mission.'

Now that the Dragon Thief was occupied again, the team aboard her can get back to the task at hand: Locating the Aquians. As everyone returned to their posts, Sly asked Bentley how far the Ganor system was from their present location. "Just a moment, Sly," he said as he used the computer to locate the system. After a few minutes, he got the results. "Okay, here it is. According to my data, the Ganor system is approximately 10 light years from our current position. At warp 8, we should arrive there under 3 hours."

"Alright then, you heard the turtle Murray! Set our course to the Ganor system and take us their on warp 8." Murray replied as he began to fire up the warp engines. Sly felt something grabbed his right hand; it was Carmelita's hand. They looked at each other and smiled as the Dragon Thief vanished into warp space toward their destination.