Dulles International Airport was empty, save the single BMW waiting in the middle of the largest runway. The sun gave off little heat today, although the sky was clear, the exception being the small speck that seemed to be nothing. Cassie knew that it was far from the truth. Within minutes, the speck became a figure, and the figure grew until it became a ship that made a silent landing twenty meters from her car.

She cautiously stepped out onto the runway and toward the craft, of which its ramp was already set onto the concrete. A single man walked out of it, although she could see one more standing at the entrance. He was American, she could easily tell from the swagger that all, including herself, americans had. "Commandah Brian West," he announced his name. Cassie couldn't place the accent, but she knew there were more pressing matters, so she let the question go unsaid.

"Cassie Brenner," she replied, shaking his hand. After her father had died of a heart attack, she and her mother decided to revert to her mother's maiden name. At times, she still winced when speaking it. This was one of them.

Commander West didn't seem to notice. He had an air of purpose, of strength, of... Jake. Cassie shook away the thought. West was speaking.

"Ms. Brenner, if you will follow me, we can sit down and talk about the situation," he said, guesturing to the ship.

Cassie hesitated. Was this a good idea? She didn't know who these people were. However, this Commander wasn't giving off any vibes. He didn't seem to notice her, at least who she was. That ruled out kidnapping or assassination. Instead of making things hard for him, she simply nodded and followed him into the ship.

They walked through a long hallway and into a lift. She recognized the Yeerk technology from her excursions into the Blade Ship... But that seemed ages ago. Was it really that long? She was barely twenty-one, now. After Jake, with Tobias and Marco, had gone after Ax, she truly felt alone. Rachel's death hit her for a time last year, and depression begun to sink in. Not bad enough to require professional assistance, but it certainly affected her work and, at times, her relationship with Ronnie. Yet Ronnie worked with her, was able to adapt to her needs, and genuinely cared for her.

He left me, she thought. He could have taken me, but he left me.

And now Jake was gone, perhaps forever, probing the universe for their friend. And she wasn't able to be there if they found him.

The next thing she knew, she was already out of the lift and had walked into a medium-sized room. It was made up of three basic parts. The first was a table that seated thirteen, and at each seating was a noteputer (an advanced form of PDA, with more capabilities than the strongest Pentium in the pre-Invasion). The second part was a second table, although this one was a holoprojector. At the moment, it was a digital mapping of the Sol System, centered on Terra, with Mars to the right and Venus to the left.

The third and final part, in the back of the room, was a smaller holoprojector, but this one was shut off at the moment. She noticed a Z-space transponder (human version, about as large as a dictionary) was connected to it, and realized that it was their comms unit.

West ordered the two at the table, both Andalites, for some privacy. They were more than happy to oblige. They had only their rooms where they could feed, and they were getting hungry. West motioned to one of the six human seats at the table. She accepted the one closest to the seat at the head of the table and to the right. West, naturally, sat at that head seat.

"Ms. Brenner," the Commander began, "let me assure you right now that we are working under the UN, and that there is no reason to fear anything from us. We're a special operations team and we keep a tight lid on everything."

"Tight enough to keep the White House in the dark?" Cassie asked. An honest question.

West took it as much. "Of course. How can you blame the Americans if they didn't know we existed? It's taken years to create this outfit. We originally were a creation of NATOs to build a international anti-terrorism unit, back in Y2k. After the Yeerks came and went, NATO had already forgotten about it, but we were partially created, but those that recruited all of us were killed. A few of us went on and finished the job, complete with some new friends. And that's our story."

"You guys have a name?"

West smirked casually. A "Can't-tell-ya" smirk. "Just think of us as guardian angels. You'll have to join us to find out our real name."

Brenner frowned sarcastically. "Chances are, by next elections, I may need a job."

Both shared a light snickering. West cleared his throat and continued. "I didn't ask you to come here just to tell you that."

Cassie shook her head. "Of course not. Now tell me, what do you know about the Iskoort?"

West shrugged. "I don't know. Why don't you tell me?"

"I'd like to, but I can't."

"Why not?" West asked.

"They don't exist yet."

There was a long pause as the weight of that answer began to sink into the importance of the conversation. Finally, West couldn't take anymore and started up again. "About a year and a half ago, there was a report of a stolen Yeerk ship that was supposedly under Andalite protection. A small outrage came from the humans, and then it died back down because nothing came of the theft. Coincidentally, two very historical figures went missing around then. Perhaps you know them?"

"Three," she whispered.

"Come again?" West frowned.

"Three historical figures."

Commander West understood what she meant after a brief moment of processing. "Ah, the Forgotten. Gotcha. Why didn't you go?"

Cassie shrugged. "Wasn't invited."

West saw that was a non-issue and kept right on along. "We heard nothing from them until about two hours ago."

Brenner's eyes lit up. 'He's back?!' "What? They contacted you?"

West immediately saw it begin and shook his head. "Don't show your enthusiasm just yet, Ms. Brenner. It was a distress signal. Something was going wrong, big time, and there was a follow-up message to the signal. It consisted of two words, and the first one was your name. The second one..." he let it hang in the air.

Cassie nodded and sighed, the excitement gone as quickly as it had come. "Iskoort."

West nodded. "Exactly. Now, the message came from Berenson, we have no doubt about that, but as for the message itself... We're plenty confused. Right now we're tracking its origin, but soon we'll be headed there, and I want to know what he was trying to tell us before we reach him, or at least the source of the signal. We were hoping you could tell us what he was trying to say."

Cassie barely heard the last of what he was saying. She was already searching. Not searching, but finding.

Rachel was scowling, pissed that their previous battle against the bow-legged monstrosities known as Howlers ended in yet another draw. Marco hadn't spoken for at least ten minutes, a sign that the situation was definitely grim. Ax had already withdrawn from the group, something eating at him. What, Cassie didn't know. Erek was in his natural state, a metallic, dog-like figure.

Tobias had gone looking for Jake a while ago. He hadn't come back. No one was quite ready to go looking for them, denying first that Jake was killed, and second that Tobias was gone, as well. They just needed more time.

And then, all at once, Ax's four eyes turned to the doorway. There was surprise and excitement in the eyes. Cassie turned. [Prince Jake!] Ax cried.

Cassie didn't even say a word. She jumped to her feet and sprinted toward Jake, literally jumping into his arms and letting him hold her. In a single, fluid motion, their lips were pressed together, and the pressure of the game set by Crayak and Ellimist was suddenly lifted. Nothing mattered anymore, all Cassie knew was that she was in the arms of the one she loved.

"It's about time," Rachel grumbled.

"Jake..." she stumbled over the words. "He was trying, trying to tell me that..."

West was anxious to hear the rest, but understood that it must be hard for her. "Go on, Cassie. It's just you and me."

Cassie took a deep breath, and let it out. She nodded, and just let it out in one, simple, sentence. "Jake was telling me that he loved me."

Commander Brian West whispered to her an obedience to her request to be alone, and walked out so that she could break down in a flood of tears without anyone watching.