Rilena and Ratchet took off their helmets once they were inside the main research building on Quartu, seeing Derek was standing at the desk in the main building, no helmet which meant inside the buildings was safe. "Mom. Dad. Clank." Derek greeted each of them with a nod, making them nod in turn. "Hi Derek." Rilena said as she walked over, before she gave a watery smile, cupping his face. "My, you've grown." She said softly, nuzzling his forehead and his own eyes got watery, before Rilena hugged him and he hugged her tightly in turn.

"Hi mom." He greeted again, making Rilena hug him a bit tighter, before his body shook and she rubbed his back. "I'm so, SO sorry about what happened son." Rilena said as she pulled back, wiping the tears that slipped down his face, yet Derek shook his head. "It couldn't be helped mom. Even though I willingly stayed behind, Drek would've hidden me anyways." Derek explained to his mom, giving a small smile. One way or another, it would've happened; she would not have been able to bring him with her that day.

Rilena nodded, remembering what Ratchet told her as the Lombax walked over. "Hey Derek, you doing okay?" Ratchet asked, rubbing Derek's head in which the boy looked at him and gave a nod with a small smile. "As well as one can with Drek breathing down my neck. He might be suspicious of me, yet I do not know" Derek explained as Ratchet removed his hand, giving the boy an apologetic smile. "Offer is still up to come with us." Ratchet said, yet Derek shook his head. He loved to but not yet.

"Can't. Drek's suspecting something and he's planning something big. In fact, I think there might be someone inside the Rebels giving him information." Derek said with a concerned expression, yet serious tone. Rilena froze, eyes wide and Ratchet grit his teeth with a curse and Clank frowned heavily; a traitor within the Rebels? "Any idea who it is?" Ratchet asked Derek, who shook his head. "No idea but Drek's convinced that you," He turned toward his mom, "mom, are on Veldin." Rilena frowned, he was convinced? They haven't given themselves away, have they?

"He can't find anything that confirms his suspicions but he's convinced you're there which means someone inside the Rebels let him know." Derek explained, grabbing a small device and handed it to Rilena. "Some are in code, using words in a language I don't understand so decoding it was extremely hard." He crossed his arms as Rilena looked over the device. "I decoded about half of it before Drek called me to his office to give me new orders." Derek explained, even as Rilena handed the small device to Ratchet.

It was a message intercepting device. "New orders?" Rilena asked her son, in which Derek nodded. "He's wanting me to head to Veldin and check around, see if your there." He shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets. "I tried to refuse, saying we have a treaty with Veldin and that going down to question and investigate was against the rules...but Drek wants it to be a stealth mission. Meaning the Mayor of Veldin is unaware." Rilena frowned a bit, worried about Derek.

Derek took note of his mom's concern and sighed. "It's alright mom, I'm used to being Drek's pawn." He waved a dismissive hand, yet she hugged him once again. "Just be careful Derek, I don't want you getting hurt." She said softly and he nodded, patting his mom's back as he hugged her in return. "I'll be fine." He said softly, giving his mom a smile. "Is that what you needed to tell us?" Ratchet asked Derek as he handed the device to Clank, who put it away. "Yeah. I don't have any idea who it is in the Rebels, but I figured that talking in person is the best bet since I have no idea who the traitor is." Derek commented, making Clank nod.

"That was a smart idea. We have no idea who the traitor is, for all we know, they could work in the Command Center." The small warbot said, making Ratchet nod. "I agree. I know we can trust Conner, Leon and Takeria who work in the Command Center, as well as the kids but the others we can't be sure." Ratchet said, making Rilena nod as well. "True but who would betray the Rebels and why?" Rilena questioned, making the four look to the ground, all deep in thought.

Ratchet was the first to break the silence. "I don't know who would benefit from betraying the Rebels but who is the most likely to take a bribe?" He asked Rilena, who frowned as she crossed her arms, closing her eyes as she searched through the names of faces of those she knew. "I can't be sure...but the most likely suspects would be Kyle, Lutinef and Vizi." Rilena said, thinking of the Lombax, the new Galactic Ranger and the female who was similar in race to Brax. "Kyle and Lutinef I can see them being suspects, but Vizi?" Ratchet questioned his wife, in which she frowned.

"She's a lot greedier than she looks." Rilena muttered, making Clank tilt his head. "Or do you just dislike her?" Clank asked as he gave her a questioning look. "She was looking at my husband like a piece of meat, of course I'm going to be angry!" Rilena defended, face red in embarrassment. Ratchet chuckled along with Derek, both amused at her flustered and defensive response while Clank and Rilena bickered back and forth about who the traitor was and who couldn't possibly be a traitor. In the end, they narrowed down all possible suspects to a small selection of five possible suspects; Kyle, Lutinef and Vizi with two other suspects.

As the conversation died down with Derek giving more information that he had, Rilena asked Clank for the picture. "Oh." Clank took the picture out from the department he had, handing it to Rilena. "Derek, here." Rilena handed the picture to Derek, who looked at it confused, before grabbing it. "What is-" Derek went silent, seeing a picture of his siblings and he felt his eyes water. "The kids wanted a picture of you but I also thought you would want a picture of them. Something to remember that you're not alone." Derek gave a small smile and shook his head to keep his composure, looking at his mom.

"Thanks mom." Rilena nodded at Derek's words, before she nodded to Clank, who gave her a small camera. They took a camera so Clink could stay with Riley. "And since we have some time before we have to get back, the kids wanted one of you." Derek chuckled but nodded all the same, sitting on the desk so his mom could take his picture. He hoped that, once everything was said and done, that he'd be able to live with his siblings and learn what it's like being in a loving family. Having parents who truly loved him and siblings who cared, he hoped that, in the future, he'd be able to experience it all.

**(Four Weeks Later, November 7th, Tuesday)**

Drek slammed his hands into the desk, glaring at the reports that came in. Four armories in four weeks had been destroyed on some of HIS planets and the Blarg on the planet were either too wounded to remember the attack or dead! Useless! They were all useless! "DEREK!" Drek called his son who had been outside the doors and the boy paled, before schooling his expression and walking in with a sigh. "Yes, father?" Derek asked in a bored tone, looking annoyed as he walked to Drek's desk, hating having to refer to him as father.

Last time he didn't, he got the lashing of a life-time.

He wasn't making that mistake again.

"Are you sure you didn't see ANYONE on Veldin? No one I should know of?" Drek asked, his suspicion for his son rising. Derek had been rather defiant lately and while it could be the fact the boy was growing older and entering a rebellious phase, Drek wasn't too sure. The boy was far smarter than he should be and, despite entering puberty at the mere age of eleven as Derek recently turned eleven, he didn't know if Derek would have the rebellious phase most kids his age would have.

"No. As I stated in my report, nothing was out of the ordinary. I found remnants of Rebels possibly having been on that planet, but a planetary scan provided no proof and the remnants were a few years old. They hadn't been on the planet for months as, if they had, they stayed away from towns." Derek explained, having practiced this line many times for when Drek would get suspicious. Able to retain memory as well as Drek, Derek was able to recount everything in his report and what he wrote.

It wasn't an exact lie, most of what he said was true...just not about the Rebels not being on the planet.

Drek frowned with a hum, not sure if he should believe his son but deciding that, since he was the boy's father, what would Derek gain from lying to him? He sat back down, the four pincer-like arms behind him twitching and grasping at air, showing his anxiety. 'This is really bothering him that he can't prove mom is on Veldin. Why is he so convinced mom is there? Who is giving him information? Why does he want her?' Derek thought but kept silent, even as Drek gave a growl.

"Dammit! He keeps telling me that she's there but there is no proof that Rilena is on Veldin. If he's lying to me, I'll make him pay dearly at our next meeting." Derek felt his eyes widen at Drek's whispers but quickly schooled his expression again. 'Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! Someone is on the inside! Shit!' Derek thought, before sighing and rubbing his neck. "If that's all, can I go now? I need to make sure the Blarg aren't raiding our stockpile of the drug again." Derek commented and Drek waved a hand, dismissing his son. Once Derek was out of the office, he took a sharp left and ran to his room, he had to alert his mom!

**(Same Day, Evening, Veldin Rebel Base)**

Rilena was looking over some files about their energy levels, seeing some concerning information regarding the energy levels in the research department they carved out. "Conner, transfer some energy from the ship dock to the research department. We can't afford losing any of our research. Since we're not using any of the ships for the week, it's best to lower our energy output there to keep the research going." Conner nodded and typed the correct codes in, altering the energy output, even as Rilena turned back to the documents.

If they couldn't get any energy, they'd have to go back to Barora and gather more crystals. If they could find a sun crystal, they could transfer the power from that instead of drawing power from the core of the planet. She hated drawing power from the planet core but ever since Aurora blew up from the battles and the Deplanetizer hitting it, they had to make do with what the planet gave them. The Solar Panels helped but they converted that energy for nighttime use. The generator they had could only store a small amount of solar energy and, during the day, all the energy from the panels went to the Command Center.

A ding on the main computer caught everyone's attention, making everyone look at it. "Incoming message from Derek." Conner said with a smile, making Rilena pull her tablet closer. "Allow access and send it to my tablet for decoding." Rilena commanded, turning her hologram tablet on and Conner nodded, allowing access for the message to come through before closing access again and hiding their energy signature. Rilena decoded the message, growing more and more concerned by what Derek sent. It was confirmed there was someone within the Rebels that claimed they were on Veldin and it was a male.

"Everyone except Ratchet, Conner, Takeria, Leon, Karla, Clank and the kids leave." Rilena said as she stood up, eyes dark and everyone looked at her in surprise. Nodding, one by one the others left the room, leaving Rilena and those requested alone. "What's going on mom?" Ratchet Junior asked, sensing his mother's unease as Rilena sighed, rubbing her temples. "Derek has just confirmed that someone within the Rebels is trying to give us away, stating we are stationed on Veldin. The traitor is male." Conner was surprised, Derek found out.

"Does he know who?" Conner asked, hoping they could find the traitor. "Not yet, he states he'll do some digging and try to find out. In the meantime, we need to be alert of any suspicious activity among those who we have suspected." Rilena said when Ragar spoke. "What if it's someone we don't suspect?" He asked his mom, making Rilena sigh. "We take all necessary precautions, we'll let Qwark, Cora, Brax and Elaris know as well as General Zigas when he contacts us again." Rilena walked over to the main computer and pulled up a list of possible male suspects.

"We need to be careful. If they manage to convince Drek that we are here...we'll not only lose another home but we'll lose people as well. Casualties will be unavoidable at that point and people won't trust us to keep them safe." She crossed her arms as she looked the list over, eyes zeroed in on Kyle...something about this all made her uneasy and she growled, biting her thumb. "When I find this traitor, they'll regret having crossed me." She hissed, tail moving side-to-side in anger, even as her normally bright blue eyes were dark with anger.

Ragar, Ratchet Junior and Riley looked at one another in worry; the only time they had seen her this mad was when Qwark and the other Galactic Rangers had disobeyed her direct orders to retreat and leave her when they started taking casualties during her rescue. Riley hadn't seen the event as she hadn't been born yet but she had heard the stories and what Rilena did afterwards. It's why the Galactic Rangers were so protective of her and were quick to follow her orders. She proved she was a leader and punished them when they disobeyed.

Ratchet Junior and Ragar still shivered from the memory of what she did but that was the only time she had been truly, beyond angry. Rilena can be a strict mother and firm leader when needed, dishing out punishment when the situation calls for it but she was also caring and loving, providing for those under her care and taking little concern of herself. Still, she was not someone you wanted to double-cross and if you betrayed her trust...you better hope you dealt with Drek or a Blarg instead of her.

Sighing, Rilena called Qwark, Cora, Brax and Elaris to the Command Center and they showed up, the information being relayed to them. They commented they'd keep an eye out for anything or anyone suspicious as to be extra cautious and everyone was dismissed. The others were called back in as Rilena sat down, before Riley climbed on her lap, snuggling against her mom. Rilena smiled, kissing her daughter's forehead making the others smile at the display of affection. She was a fierce leader, a reliable and strong ally, a protective friend...but she was also a caring and loving mother, someone who would protect those who needed it.

**(Week Later, Veldin, Kyzil Plateau, November 14th, Wednesday)**

Kyle growled as he looked at the message he was given, wondering why his contact wasn't believing him. No matter how many times Kyle altered the energy signatures to get them past the camouflage or the energy suppressors, HE still couldn't find them. Kyle couldn't take the energy suppressors rodes out or otherwise the others would suspect something. He had noticed how Rilena and her family, Leon, Karla, Takeria, Conner and the Galactic Rangers had been watching everyone a bit more closely. They were obviously suspicious about something and Kyle didn't know why!

They couldn't possibly be onto him!

Sighing, he burned the message, telling his contact he'd get ahold of him later and try to alert him of their next target. As he was usually on patrol, he didn't know the target's that Rilena tended to go after in order to help the Rebels out but he was going to do his damndest to find out. If he could help HIM catch her...he smiled wickedly. He wondered how he'd be rewarded.

Things are officially getting interesting with the Rebels and with the Blarg. As we noticed, Kyle isn't exactly a good guy, he's evil like Drek. He's doing all this simply because he believe's he'll be rewarded to do whatever he pleases with Rilena. That's what he wants his reward to be. Also, Rilena and Derek have a reunion, Derek obviously loves his mother, she was an actual parent to him, unlike Drek...but then again, Drek's a bad guy...he ain't exactly good with kids.

The Rebels are now fully aware that someone is working on the inside and giving Drek information, the traitor is male...but they have a list though it is small. Still, will they figure it out before its too late? Or will their efforts to keep Rilena out of Drek's hands prove futile?

Stay tuned! XD