Chapter 3 – Tamaran in Sight

"Why is everything glowing red, Daddy?"

"We're getting close to Mommy's home planet, Galacia," I answered, smiling. "Remember our trip to Saturn?" He nodded. "Think of it like that, only we might get to walk on the planet surface. Do you want to wake Mommy and Uncle Flare up?"

His eyes brightened and I pointed at the buttons and levers he needed to press and pull to deactivate the Sleep Pods that his mother and "uncle" were in. A few minutes later, I felt Starfire's hands on my shoulders and the tip of a feathered wing brushed past my right ear as Flare took his place in the Co-Pilot's seat. Galacia looked up over his shoulder at me, his look asking me to show him how to slow the ship down enough so that we wouldn't impact on the planet surface. I wiggled my fingers, his eyes intent on my hands as I took a little extra time to slow the ship down.

"Someone is interested in space travel. No wonder he couldn't sleep during the Saturn trip, Reaver."

I glared at my large best friend and he automatically stopped laughing, although he kept his smile to let me know that he still thought my situation was humorous. I was thinking about reaching over and punching him in the shoulder but thought better of it being that I didn't want to break my hand, cybernetics or not. I turned back to the task at hand only to see that Galacia had taken over when I paused to glare coldly at my friend. His small hands were having trouble reaching all the right buttons, so I resumed my task to give him a break and so that he could continue to watch and learn from what I did at the controls. I smiled when he reached over and hit the final button that was just out reach for my thumb.

"We should be safe now. Right, Daddy?"

I nodded when we reached normal space around Tamaran. I felt Starfire squeeze my shoulders twice in almost joyful anticipation.

"There are no more Citadel ships here to check us out. That must mean that my people have found a way to fight back and drive the Citadel away. I just hope that Blackfire has changed her ways from serious traitor to fun-loving sister to me and aunt for her youngest nephew."

I laid my right hand over hers and gently squeezed her fingers in comfort. I looked up to see her smiling in genuine happiness. Galacia started to squirm in my lap so I set him on his feet and he happily went off to play with his toys. Flare set to the task of getting the ship into orbit until we were contacted by the Tamaranean Space Collaborative. I unlocked my seat belts, stood and stretched. I was grateful I had commissioned a ship with a full functioning bathroom that included shower, toilet and sink. I patted Flare on the shoulder, pecked Starfire on the cheek and went to clean up.

After being strapped into the pilot's seat for anywhere between 22 and 25 hours total, I knew I was in need of a good cleaning, especially with a squirming 4-year-old on my lap for 16 of them. I grabbed a towel and a bar of soap, making my way for the bathroom toward the back of the ship. I felt someone watching me, so I decided on a quick mental sweep of the other three on the ship. I looked over my shoulder, but no one was there.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," I teased. "I know someone is there. Just because I can't see you, that doesn't mean I don't know you're there. Now come out before I force you out under some serious mental pain."

Flare and Starfire were still in the main control room and Galacia was by the sleep pods, playing with his hero action figures. I felt a familiar twang in the brain waves of whoever was following me and hiding in the shadows. I smiled when I realized that it was Raven, my brother's ever faithful wife of the last 20 years.

"I know it's you, Raven. You can stop hiding in the shadows of this ship. And unless you want to seem unfaithful to Loto, I suggest you pull your astral form back to your own body on Earth."

"Why would I go back to Earth now of all times, Uncle?"

The last carefully enunciated word caught me off guard. The mind that I had thought belonged to my sister-in-law actually belonged to my only niece, Rainger Drandel. I almost dropped my towel had I not composed myself at the last possible second. Rainger has her mother's pasty gray skin and bob style haircut. The rest of her looks belonged to my older brother, Loto. Her hair was the shade of the sands of Egypt, her eyes are the color of twilight just before dawn, and her height is comparable to my own, only curvier like Raven's. I grabbed her and hugged her close to me, more in grievous joy than anything else. I reprimanded myself for not doing a more thorough sweep of the ship, both physical and mental.

"How did you get past your parents, girl?" I asked, holding her at arm's length now. "And don't even think about lying to me, Rainger Drandel. I've known you for your entire life. Lying as always been a weak point for you and your mother both."

"Mom knew I was coming and Dad knew he couldn't stop me, regardless of what he tried. And I figured you could use a little extra help from Mom's side of the family."

I had to chuckle at that last little piece, telling her where everyone was. She gave another quick hug before running off to the control room to spend time with her Aunt Starfire and "Uncle" Flare. I entered the relatively small bathroom to see that it only housed the sink and toilet.

I realized that the shower was probably in another closet like space on another level of the ship. I was fine with just the sink and toilet because I didn't want to risk my cybernetics getting shorted and kill me, leaving Galacia without a father and Starfire without a husband. I found a wash rag in the medicine cabinet behind the mirror and got it wet in the sink. I lathered it up with soap, washing my natural skin and being careful not to let too much moisture get to my joints.

I was just rinsing the rag out when I heard a metallic knock on the doorframe behind me. I turned just enough to see Flare standing there with Rainger behind his left shoulder, barely visible around his wing.

"Hey, Flare," I said, patting my skin dry. "What's up? Did you two need something in the control room? Or did something happen to Galacia?"

"We were hailed two minutes ago by someone calling themselves Windfire," Rainger said, pushing gently past Flare. "And Galacia is fine, Uncle. I'm guessing that this Windfire person is a relative of Aunt Starfire's, but that's just my take on it. We're ready when you are."

"Alright. Just let me finish up here, get Galacia ready and then we can head out. Tell your Aunt Starfire that we need deeper family history before we go though, Rainger."

She nodded, attempting to use her water control ability to get her frizzing hair to flatten out as much as possible with the moisture from my wash rag and walking away to get Galacia. I folded the rag and set it on the closed toilet lid while I hung the towel around my neck and made my way back to the control room with Flare. When I got to the control room, I saw that Rainger had deposited my son into my seat and took over Flare's position in the co-pilot's chair. I cleared my throat, making the teen jump at most an inch off her seat. She quickly evacuated Flare's chair and tapped Galacia on the shoulder. I draped the towel over the back of my seat, grabbed my son and sat down, turning the COM unit on to see who was this "Windfire" was.

"This is Galactic Reaver speaking," I said loud and clear, careful not to let my metal joints interfere with the connection. "To whom do I owe the pleasure of speaking at this point it time?"

"This is Windfire," came a masculine voice from the other end. "We see you are traveling in Justice League issued vessel. That must mean that Starfire is with you. I have been waiting my entire twenty-three years to meet my cousin."

Starfire stared at me, her eyebrows pulling together in a frown. "Neither of my parents had any siblings that I knew of. The Royal Family almost always had at least one child with my abilities that ascended to the throne. If there wasn't a child born like me, they would choose one from among the commons in the surrounding cities, towns and villages. That is how it has been for generations and how I was taught growing up before the Citadel came."

I returned to the COM unit. "Did you catch all that, Windfire? Starfire knows nothing of any family outside of her older sister, Blackfire, and younger brother, Wildfire."

"Your mother still has some common roots, Starfire," he replied. "Her younger brother is my father. You also have another little cousin, who is four now. Her name is Swampfire."

I could hear the laughter in his voice as he explained where we would be teleported to on the planet surface. I stood with Galacia in my arms, Flare following my lead to the teleporters. Starfire looked about ready to pass out from all of the information about her family and Rainger was still having trouble with her frizzing hair. I chuckled at my niece and her antics to get her hair to lay flat.

"Everyone ready?" I asked looking around at our sad, but healthy group.

Starfire took three deep breaths, Flare ruffled his feathers one last time, Rainger flipped up her hood in frustration and Galacia buried his face in the crook of my neck. I nodded, hitting the button that would get the ship's onboard teleporter working. I stepped into the teleporter first when it was humming and warm to the touch.