He'd ended up in trouble with Aunt Jane when she found out he had slacked off in helping with repairs. Like everything, James didn't really care much about it. He'd gotten angry at the game again and given it up, giving a dirty look at Alex's name on the top score list. James had only been able to get 800,000 and he had no idea how Alex had been able to score so high. As he looked up into the sky, he tried to determine whether or not he believed the story that his cousin had ascended to the stars to fight a great galactic war…or as James had offered (and been admonished by doing so) his opinion that he and Maggie had simply run off together and that this was the family's strange way to come to grips with it. Still remembering the whack that Aunt Jane had given him for it, it seemed a strange coincidence when a pebble hit his head. Sitting up, he looked up to see Jaiden, her mocha skin reflected in the flickering neon lights, smiling coyly. She lobbed another projectile his way and James raised his hand to fend it away.

"Hey, Otis," he greeted, smiling as she frowned at her nickname. Being the granddaughter of the longtime owner of the establishment had given her the dubious nickname of her grandfather. She didn't mind it too much, especially from the older folks who had lived with him for a long time. Jaiden knew that it was a term of endearment; but when younger people said it, it pissed her off royally.

"Hey Starfighter," she quipped, dropping the rest of her pebbles as she sat beside him. She kicked his leg under the table before deciding to forgive him. "Still trying to beat Alex's score?" she wondered rhetorically.

"Yeah," James answered a bit bashfully. It was no secret that he had a long-standing feud with the blasted game, but he still didn't like people calling him out on it. "I dunno, I just can't beat it."

"Well here," Jaiden dropped a quarter onto the table. "A leftover from when I went into town today," she explained. "Go on and use it."

James eyed her, not wanting to confront her that he wasn't in the mood for the game. She looked back, daring him to complain or make a fuss. Considering that it wasn't worth the effort, James relented, taking the quarter from the table and walking over to the machine. Jaiden stood up and followed him up to it, standing to the side as the electronic voice greeted them, once more narrating the story of why he was blasting Ko-Dan ships from the sky. He started to play, keeping himself focused as the difficulty increased. He noted Jaiden's encouragement, but not much else; he was completely engrossed in the game. From some corner of his mind, James was acutely aware that he was doing better than before. He'd never thought of it before, but it seemed such a "duh" moment of clarity to realize how good he could be if he just kept focused. He didn't have a lot of time for self-reflection, as the next wave of enemy ships approached. His hands moved furiously, moving the virtual weapons to train and fire on the fighters swarming around him. Numbers flashed on the screen, but he ignored them, along with Jaiden's sudden excitement. James registered the words, "Louis" "score" "beat," but didn't connect the dots until it had already happened.

Instead, James kept at it, his eyes darting around the screen as he zeroed in on threats, prioritized targets and fired on the most threatening. The flashing score sheet was getting annoying now, hampering his ability to lock onto targets until they were right on top of them. His eyes widened as the largest ship he'd seen yet; a Ko-Dan command ship, came into view. No guts no glory, was the saying, and James put his effort into it firing again and again, picking off guarding fighters and smaller support ships as he got in closer to the command ship. Firing off a final blast, the command ship dissolved into bits and pieces of computerized debris. James snapped out of his stupor, noticing Jaiden was giving him a hug from behind and jumping with joy. He let out a deep breath, smiling as he finally beat Alex's old record.

Rylos

The star-car was being prepared for launch, and a familiar hustler was getting ready to depart-as discreetly as possible. His bribe seemed to have not been enough as a small group walked over to the star-car, standing in its way.

"Going somewhere?" said the leader of the group. His once-curly hair was receding a bit, and was cut much closer to the scalp than it had been twenty years ago. "Centauri, what're you up to this time?"

"Ooh…" the older man grumbled. "How's that a way to greet an old friend, Alex?" Centauri answered.

"Friend?" Alex asked incredulously. "You swindled me the first time we met, remember?"

"Swindle?" Centauri shook his head, dismissing the accusation. "No-no, my boy, I gave you an opportunity; an opportunity you've embraced, if I may say so," he referred to the entourage behind him.

Alex couldn't say anything because he knew that, at least for that part, Centauri was right. After the battle with Xur's command ship and the prevention of a Ko-Dan invasion, Alex had become something of a celebrity, and his vow to help rebuild the Starfighter Legion had been honest, the process having been a long and slow one. There were barely enough to be considered a proper Legion, and their need was even more dire now. Xur had returned, with an armada far larger than the one twenty years ago. The attitude of the citizens of Rylos and the Star League was crestfallen; despite the leadership of Commander Rogan, the people were still in fear of Xur and his followers.

"All right, you might've been right back then, but this is different," Alex relented, "But this is different," he added. "I know you're going back to Earth…and you're taking me with you."

"OH-ho, and why should I do that, Commander Rogan?" Centauri asked incredulously.

"Because you're going to find a Starfighter, and that makes it my business, Centauri," Alex retorted. Now it was Centauri's turn to relent to Alex's logic. "Besides," he added with a confident smile, "I haven't been home in a while…"