A/N: Sorry for the extreme delay in this chapter. I never planned for these Tarsus chapters to take so long, or become so detailed. Due to that, I had to figure out/work out what actually occurred in this universe's Tarsus massacre. The next chapter should not take this long.

Chapter 9

"What the fuck Jane!" Eli blurted out. His other three friends just stared at him at a loss for words. He felt Kevin's grip on his pant legs tighten.

Aiko was the next to recover. "Jane, that's a really serious accusation." She was always the pragmatic one. She pressed her fingers together to her chest.

"You can't just go saying stuff like that," Thomas added.

Jim rolled his eyes. Only Kevin was looking at him with big chocolate brown eyes.

Fuck...

He probably should not have said that. The little boy looked ready to burst into tears.

"You're just being paranoid, Jane." Eli squeezed the ball that he had been holding even tighter. Jim watched the ends spewed out from between his fingers. They morphed into heads, hundreds and thousands of heads. Heads that would roll, heads that would bleed, heads that would contain lifeless eyes if he couldn't convince his friends that he wasn't crazy.

"No, I'm not. I fucking swear. We have to contact Starfleet."

"Starfleet?" Eli almost laughed incredulously, but Jim stopped paying attention to Eli. He instead turned to look at Jack and Aiko. He was certain Jack had ties to Starfleet, and so did Aiko through her great grandmother. "Starfleet doesn't care about us, Jane. In fact, I'm surprised you still care. Why are you even here? I thought you were a Kodos supporter. Parroting that 'Kodos can save us'." Jim wanted to punch him, but he didn't have the time, and he hated to admit it but he probably would need him… for whatever the fuck they were about to do.

"Stop it, Eli," Jack cut in. He had been silent this whole time, him and Jennifer. Jennifer looked pale. "Maybe Jane is right."

Eli threw him a look.

"It is a little odd that they rounded up half of the population tonight. You said it yourself." Jack pointedly added.

Eli closed his mouth.

"And…" Jack took a deep breath. "If she's right, well… that's really bad."

"And what if she isn't?"

"Then at least Starfleet will know. We'll get help. Obviously, Kodos isn't doing anything."

"And what are we going to do?"

"I overheard some men talking at Pa's shop the other day. Supposedly there is a laboratory a few days' walk away. Maybe we could take a hover car?" Jennifer suggested. She pulled her legs against her chest.

A laboratory?

That didn't sound right. Jim had always assumed Tarsus was empty save from this tiny settlement in the middle of nowhere, but he didn't have time to think about it. "That'll take too long."

"Jane's correct. We need something immediate."

Eli sighed. "This is stupid, but there are trans-receivers in the government building." Jack gave him an incredulous look. "I don't know if they work though. Mom says she's never seen anyone actually use it."

"We can't break into a government building."

Aiko let out a gasp. "I… I think great grandma has one… in the school house. I think they gave it to her to send our progress reports back to Starfleet, but… I don't know if she actually ever used it." Aiko immediately deflated. She tucked back a piece of her hair behind her ears.

"The school house is definitely safer." Jim nodded. He looked down at Kevin. The little boy was sobbing into his pant legs. They couldn't take Kevin with them, but Jim didn't want to leave him behind either.

He wondered if Jack noticed too.

"We don't all need to go to the school house, and even if we do manage to alert Starfleet. We don't know when Kodos will …" Jack trailed off.

At least Jack believed him, and maybe they were all starting to, even Eli. Jim saw him bite his lower lip. Jim hoped he was wrong, but the clues were all there.

"Dawn?" Thomas finally spoke up. He had been so quiet this whole time Jim had forgotten he was even there.

"Dawn?"

"It'll be the first sunrise of the New Year."

"New Year?"

"Tonight's Tarsus' New Year Eve," Aiko explained. "That's why we're all here," she further explained.

Jim faltered. "That wasn't right. There was almost another week until New Year. He knew because his birthday was exactly three days after New Year Day, January 4th." He would be fourteen. It would be fourteen years since his dad's death, and his mother stopped smiling.

"That's for Earth. Tarsus's cycle around its sun is a few days shorter."

"So you better be right, Jane," Eli added. "Cause we'll look really dumb if we're actually crashing a New Year's party."

"New Year's party?"

"Surprised you know about it. It's a lottery or something. You have to be chosen." Eli emphasized. He dug into his pant pocket and pulled out a leaflet. It was parchment paper. He handed it to Jim. He didn't know what he was expecting, but he definitely wasn't expecting this. It looked so innocent, so real, that for a moment Jim really thought he was wrong, that Kodos was the man he always thought he was. The honorable leader who had saved them all like he promised, but one quick look at Kevin and his friends, he knew he wasn't wrong. Kodos wasn't that man. He wasn't wrong. He crumpled the leaflet with his hand.

"We'll need a plan, and more people."

"My brother," Aiko immediately added.

Jim didn't even know Aiko had a brother.

"He's older," Aiko explained.

It wasn't a bad idea. In fact, the more Jim thought about it, the more sense it made. He barely got his friends to believe him. There was no way he could convince grownups about his fears. They would need help and a lot of it.

Jim nodded. His friends, one by one, nodded too. Kevin tightened his grip on Jim's pant legs.

Jack led them out the back. Jim noticed the small trail of white light that escaped from the edge of what could only be of Jack's parents' bedroom. They could go to them. Let adults take care of this, but Jim quickly doused that idea. He had trusted once. He trusted Kodos. He trusted his mother. He trusted many adults, and they all let him down. Now it was his turn. He was going to save them.

The dirt streets of Tarsus were quiet. It was eerily quiet considering it was New Year's Eve. Aiko lived a few houses down from Jack. Her great grandma and grandpa lived across the street; however, they walked past those houses.

"Tsuneha lives down there," Aiko motioned. She led them up a dirt path. His brother's home was a small adobe house. She knocked softly before pushing inside to complete darkness. "Tsuneha!" She called out.

A dark shadow suddenly appeared. Jim nearly back up until he realized it belonged to a tall, towering young man. He had Aiko's eyes and her dark hair. "Aiko!" He pulled her into a tight hug. Jim noted how she held on to him for a fraction of a second longer and clung to him a little tighter. Jim couldn't fault her for that. In that moment, Jim knew that Aiko did believe him. Maybe they all did.

She pushed away from her brother a moment later. "Tsuneha…" She started. She stopped with another figure appeared. He was shorter than Tsuneha. He had a dark coffee complexion. He was cradling a small bundle in his arms. His dark chocolate brown eyes looked worried at he looked from Tsuneha, to Aiko and then to Jim.

"Aiko?" The man stepped into the foyer and passed the tight, whimpering bundle to Tsuneha. Jim felt Kevin's grip loosen on his pant leg. He noticed how intently he was looking at the tiny bundle. Jim gently pushed the little boy forward. He didn't need to hear about their plans.

"Jude, Tsuneha…" Aiko looked at him. Jim wondered if she was asking him, as if it was a final peal that he was joking. That this was all on big, elaborate joke, and Kodos wouldn't…

But Jim knew; he knew just as he knew that in a few hours the sun would rise that he wasn't wrong. He still didn't understand why Kodos had warned him. He wondered if Kodos even meant to warn him.

He stepped forward. He wasn't going to make Aiko tell her brother, and who Jim guessed was her brother-in-law and niece or nephew.

"I'm Ji… Jane. Aiko's friend…"

"We know," Tsuneha stopped him. "Great grandma told us. She volunteered you to train under Kodos."

Jim noted the contempt in his eyes when he spoke Kodos' name. He wondered how many others hated Kodos. How many others would fight with them?

He watched as Kevin walked over to Tsuneha and gently placed his hand around the tiny child in Tsuneha's arms. At least Kevin wasn't listening. He didn't need to know. He watched as Jude noticed and drew the little boy into the adjourning room with the tiny bundle. Jim was thankful for that. Kevin had already cried earlier.

Once Jude appeared again, Jim continued. He spoke softer now.

"Kodos has a plan to kill half the colony tomorrow. His own eugenics program… his plan to save the colony…" As he spoke, the words, they seemed to just flow outwards. It didn't even sound like they were coming out the mouth of a thirteen-year-old. The words that he hadn't spoken to his friends, these were the thoughts that had been tumbling around in his mind.

He saw Tsuneha raise a hand to his mouth. He saw Jude's eyes harden.

"We think that's what he's planning to do under the disguise of the New Year Eve party." Jim finished lamely. He hoped they believed him because the more he spoke those words, the more ridiculous he knew it sounded; however, similarly the realer they became.

Tsuneha choked out an inaudible sound from the back of his throat.

"Ol…older brother?" Aiko whispered out. She seemed to be shaking.

"If Jane's right then… Mom, Dad, Great grandma…" Tsuneha trailed off.

"She's not lying." Jack stepped forward. "She ain't. We need help to save them."

"Half the colony was invited," Jude countered.

"That means half can still help us. And there must be others like Kevin's parents that hid their children, that suspected," Jim continued speaking. "We're going to split up into groups. Contact Starfleet, reconnaissance, and gather support…" The plan tumbled from Jim's lips. It was still hazy, but the more he spoke, the more hope gathered within him that maybe they could actually pull this off.

Kodos might have taken half the colony, but that also meant half the colony was still around to help. They had to help. "We're four thousand strong." He looked at his friends, at Aiko's brother, and towards the room where Kevin was currently sitting in. They had to help, for Kevin's sake, for Aiko's sake, and for all the other men and women he didn't know.

"Supposedly, Ms. Kimura has a transmitter we can use to send a message to Starfleet. Aiko and Eli are going to send them a message. Jack and Jennifer and I are going to scout out Kodos' estate…" He picked Jack because he knew Jack wouldn't agree otherwise, and Jennifer was quick on her feet. "Thomas and Kevin can convince the rest of the colony to join." He quickly finished. He left off Tsuneha and Jude because he wasn't sure if they were going to help.

When his friends didn't protest, he turned to Tsuneha and Jude.

"Tsuneha can help Thomas. He knows the caverns the best, but I'm coming with you Jane."

Jim opened his mouth to protest, but then shut it. It wouldn't hurt: another pair of eyes.

Tsuneha looked at him for a moment before speaking. At the moment, Jim realized why Aiko had suggested her brother. "There's a series of underground caverns a few kilometers away to the north. We can meet up there."

"Tsuneha and Jude are Starfleet geologists," Aiko stated proudly. "He and Jude were sent here to study the caverns of Starfleet. There is a huge underground system beneath us!"

"Aiko," Tsuneha spoke fondly. He set a hand on his sister's shoulder.

It wasn't a bad idea. It would keep the resistance protected and together. "Okay."

"Then we should go," Jack stepped forward. At the moment, Kevin ran out of the room. Jim wondered how long the little boy had been listening. He immediately latched onto the corner of his shirt.

"No!"

Jim looked over at Thomas and Jack. The two boys quickly looked away. Jim sighed before bending down to Kevin's eye level. He looked at Jim with his big, chocolate browns eyes. "You got to stay with Thomas and Tsuneha. You can protect the baby." Jim quickly added. He could feel useful and maybe that would make all the difference.

"No." Kevin shook his head. He tightened his grip on Jim's shirt. "I want to go with you."

Jim sighed. Theoretically Kevin could come with them. He was fast for his age, but there was a part of Jim… a part that feared what he saw. It was the same reason he had insisted that Aiko and Eli send the message to Starfleet. Because how pale Eli looked, how he hadn't spoken once, Jim was started to getting a feeling that members of Eli's family must have been invited to Kodos' party's too.

"You can't."

"But…"

"Jane…" Jack's voice called behind him. He detected the urgency in his voice. Jim wasn't dumb. They were fighting time, and Jim had learned a long time ago that it's near impossible to win against time. He spotted the glimmer of silver in Kevin's pant pocket.

Kevin's pocket watch, the one his dad gave him for his birthday.

Jim drew it from Kevin's pocket. The little boy looked at his quizzically. "Remember what your dad said about this watch?"

Kevin shook his head.

"Your granddad carried this watch with him during the Great War. He believed as long as…"

"The watch ticked, he'll come home." Kevin finished. He looked up at Jim will his large imploring eyes. "You'll come back? With Mama and Papa and everyone else Kodos took?"

He looked up at Thomas and Jack. He saw as both boys looked away. It was his promise to keep. "As long as the watch ticks, we'll come back, Kevin. You listen for it." He placed the watch into the little boy's hands. Jim saw him cradle it as if it was the most important thing in the world. "Now you go help Thomas and Tsuneha."

"Okay." Kevin nodded his head. He bit his lips then grinned. "You're going to be superheroes Jane, the league of J's."

Jim laughed. "Yeah, that's right, buddy."

Kevin then took Thomas' larger hand; it dwarfed both Jim and Kevin's. He watched as they disappeared into the darkness of the night with Tsuneha leading the way.

"You shouldn't have done that, Jane," Jack broke the silence.

"I know, but I had too," Jim clenched his fist. Because he had to try, he was going to try his hardest to save them all. "Let's get going." He closed his mouth before any more promises left his lips, before he had to make any more promises that he wasn't sure how he was going to keep.

And that, that scared him the most.