Turk flew his ship to a settlement south of the main city on the planet.
"Do we know anything about the local natives?" Callen asked as the ship was setting down.
"They should be friendly, as long as we play their game." Vera said.
"Do we even have a clue how it will take until we can leave?" Kensi asked.
"Nope." Turk said.
"What do you know?" Sam asked.
"I have a contact with one of the local tribes." Turk said.
"Anything good." Sam said.
"This particular tribe is in contact with our man." Vera said.
"How soon can we get to him?" Kensi asked.
"I don't have a definitive answer." Turk said.
"Why?" Callen asked.
"It took the man five day to get here. You hadn't even left to link up with me yet." Turk said.
"Just wondering, what is the name of our guy." Callen said.
"Max." Vera said.
"How original." Sam said.
"There's our guy." Turk said, as he set his ship on the landing pad.
"Let Turk, or I do the talking." Vera said, as the five of made their way to the exit.
"Yes." Callen said.
Turk was talking to the contact as the landing ramp hit the ground. Kensi, Sam, and Callen didn't understand the conversation because it was a language that wasn't in their database.
"Vera, do you know what they're talking about?" Sam asked.
"Max is currently out assisting with a Rite of Passage of sorts." Vera said.
"Rite of Passage?" Kensi asked.
"A coming-of-age ritual for teenagers. Can we link up with the group and help them finish the ritual?" Sam asked.
Turk asked the man the question that Sam just posed, and the man answered.
"Two people can go, but they will need to change into something a little more appropriate for the trek." Turk said.
"Who's going, and why the change of attire?" Sam asked.
"Callen and Kensi are the one's going." Vera said.
"Why?" Sam asked.
"Do I even have to answer that?" Turk asked.
"Where are Kensi and I going?" Callen asked, trying to keep the conversation from getting derailed any further.
The man pointed to something behind Kensi, Sam, Callen, and Vera.
"That thing." Sam said.
"That tree is massive." Callen said.
"Yggdrasill…the World Tree." Vera said.
"You wouldn't happen to have locator beacon on the group?" Kensi asked.
Turk relayed Kensi' question to the man, and then man answered back.
"There's a patrol leaving within the hour to get a status update on the group. Time for you two to gear up and meet up with the patrol." Turk said.
Callen and Kensi went with Vera to get changed, while Sam and Turk went into the village.
"Why am I the one staying behind? I'm capable of going out there." Sam said.
"I prefer not to have a pissing contest at the moment. On top of that Max is assisting in retrieving something from beast of renown to this village." Turk said.
"And." Sam said, after a moment of silence ad passed.
"Your disdain for androids will only slow things down, that and the fact Max has business that he needs to attend to before he can return to known space." Turk said.
"You make it sound like I would cause a lot of problems and slow everything down." Sam said.
"Because you would." Turk said.
Turk's comment soured the mood, but Sam had the decency to keep his mouth shut.
Star Ocean-
About an hour later, Kensi and Callen shared a flying mount to get to the general location of where they were going to find the candidates.
"How are you doing?" Callen asked Kensi over their earpiece.
"I just want to get off this bird, get our man, get off of this rock and back to known space." Kensi said.
"Hey, you two, look down there." One of the patrol members said into the earpiece.
Kensi and Callen looked over their shoulders to see three people standing on a landing pad.
"Let's get down there then." Callen said.
The four mounts made their way over to the landing pad. As they were approaching, Callen and Kensi could see that their man was about foot and half taller than the Gagarin's of the planet.
"Max." Kensi said jumping down off of the flying animal.
"Got a last name?" Callen asked.
"Nice to see you two. Gentry is the last name." I said.
Kensi heard the last name, and something about it felt familiar, but her thought got cut off.
"This isn't a place to be daydreaming." I said.
"What?" Callen asked.
"This is the wilds of Gagarin 5." Said the male participant standing on my right.
"Plus, the Unknown Regions of Space." The female participant on my left said.
"Meaning?" Kensi and Callen asked.
"One wrong step and you're a goner. Where's your partner?" I asked.
"Who?" Callen and Kensi asked.
"The tall, dark, and handsome man with a bald head. And if memory serves me, he had a Latina woman calling him Teddy." I said.
"I don't know how you know that, but don't let Sam here you call him that." Callen said, remembering the nickname but unsure why I would know that name.
"He's back at the settlement waiting on us." Kensi said.
"Let's get a move on it." I said looking up at the top of the tree.
The five of us continued making our way to the top of the tree as the patrol flew back to the settlement.
"So, what do you think?" Kensi asked.
"I have no idea who this guy is, but he knew a nickname that I haven't heard in over a thousand years, or more." Callen said.
"The name Max Gentry sounds familiar, but I don't know why I can't place it."
"Hey, Max." Kensi said.
"Yes." I said, not breaking stride.
"What are we doing up here?" Kensi asked.
"Our contestants have been tasked with getting a feather from the nest up here." I said.
"How big is the animal?" Callen asked.
At that moment, we heard the loudest bird cry ever known to man. We all turned and looked up to see a flying reptile three times the size of Turk's ship.
"Before you ask, yes it does eat flesh." I said.
"This is some Rite of Passage." Callen said.
"Shush!" The female said, silencing everybody.
"That thing has many ways of finding out that we're coming." The male said.
"Got any extra gliders?" I asked.
"We have two extra." The female said.
"Here, I'll explain the mechanics of them later when we get a moment." I said.
The male handed me a thin disc, and I placed them in my pocket. We slowly crept further up the tree, ever mindful of our footing and the noise output we were making.
As we approached the top of the tree, we could see the nest of the large flying reptile.
"Somethings not right." The male said.
"What's wrong?" Kensi asked.
"The Stnari has been riled up and is more agitated than usual." The female said.
"Awesome." I said.
"What?" Callen asked.
"There are oviraptors in the area, look one of the eggs has been damaged and another is missing." The female said.
"What do we do now?" Kensi asked.
"Be a really terrible thing to come all this way, and leave empty handed." Callen said.
"He's brave." The male said.
"And I was the crazy one back in the day." I said.
"It's not like we have much of a choice." The female said.
"Callen and Kensi come here." I said.
"How do you know our names?" Kensi hissed.
"Now's not the time for that. Here take these." I said, handing them both a disc I took from the female earlier. I took my glider, flipped it over and pressed a button, and the placed it against my chest. An aluminum plating appeared on my chest, and then a hissing sound when the glider locked into place.
"What are the gliders for?" Callen asked.
"Normally, the Rite of Passage ends with the participants get a feather and climbing back down." Is aid.
"In case of emergencies?" Kensi asked.
"That's what the glider is for. It's safe, I checked them three days ago." I said.
"How do they work?" Callen asks, as he and Kensi attached the gliders to their chest.
"See that little red button." I said, pointing to my chest.
"Yeah." Kensi said, as both she and Callen looked down at their chest.
"Don't press it until we jumped off of the tree." I said.
"Wonderful." Kensi said.
"Don't worry Fern, I'll catch you before you get to the bottom." I said, winking at Kensi.
"Don't you dare call me…" Kensi said cutting herself off.
Callen walked away momentarily but came back to see that I was kissing Kensi. Callen rushed over but Kensi stopped him.
"What do you think your doing droid?" Callen asked.
"How's that for communication?" I asked.
Kensi almost fainted on the spot, but that never happened because she was attacked by an interloper that slashed her shoulder, destroying the glider. One look and I see that we're about to be surrounded by the oviraptors.
"Everybody get ready to run." I said.
"At your signal." The male said.
I found the one that attacked Kensi, drew a gun, and shot it twice in the head. As soon as the gunshots rang out, the Stnari was on us. The five of us ran for the nest and grabbed a feather each.
"You two go!" I shouted to the participants. Without hesitation, the teenagers jumped out of the tree and completed the Rite of Passage.
"Go Callen." I said.
"What about Kensi?" Callen asked.
"I'll take care of her." I said, already working to get the glider off of her and tending to the wound on her shoulder.
"See you at the bottom." Callen said, and then jumped off.
Callen was gone all of thirty seconds before Kensi said. "Double tap to the head, you must really love me."
"My baby is bleeding." I said, spraying the wound with an antibiotic compound.
"You were dead! I saw you bleeding out!" she said, pushing me away, as hysteria was about to overtake her.
"We're both going to be dead if we don't get out of here." I said, finishing cleaning the wound and applying a bandage.
Kensi started to cry, but I bear hugged her, and jumped. I winked at Kensi, and then pressed my chest into hers, activating the glider. Every inch of my body, except for my arms, was covered in mesh; whereas, on my back wings spread out and slowed our fall. Kensi looked down to see that her legs were bound together as well.
"How does this thing work?" She asked.
"Don't know. You're going to have to ask the chief mechanic when we get back." I said.
Kensi reached out with her hands, and braced my head as she kissed me.
"We can talk when we get back to Turk's ship." I said.
"Now I understand why Turk wouldn't tell us who you are." She said.
"Nice. Looks like I'm going to have to dig deep for the other two." I said.
"Especially Sam." She said.
"Why?" I asked, stupefied.
"Sam has a severe distrust for androids." She said.
"I didn't ask for this body, or the burden that comes with it." I said.
"Better you than me, I love my body to much to become an android." She said with a laugh.
"After a few thousand years, it feels great to hold you in my arms again." I said.
There was a moment of silence as we descended back to the ground. About two or three miles north of our landing point is the village I left a few days ago, I can also see Turk's ship on the left side of the village as well. When we were five feet from the ground I said. "Could you press the button on my chest."
Before Kensi could press the button, I started to lean back for the inevitable moment when Kensi pressed the button so that we would land on our feet, as opposed to Kensi landing on her back with me on top of her. Kensi pressed the button, disengaging the glider, and we landed on our feet.
"Max, it seems that we are all being called by the village chief." Callen said, as he and Sam walked away.
"All right." I said, with a grin on my face.
Callen, Sam, Kensi, and I all headed towards the village to complete the Rite of Passage. Well, at least Kensi, Callen and I completed the Rite. I keep quiet just listening to what is going on between my old teammates, and amazingly enough Sam isn't attacking me. As we were approaching the village, I saw the two participants from the Rite of Passage, and standing behind them was Turk and Vera.
"Been awhile, Turk." I said, as I gave him a hug.
"A very long while. The chief is going to be amazed when he sees the four of you together again." Turk said, hugging me back.
"Who's the chief?" Callen asked.
"I'm not ruining the surprise." I said, and then the four of us walked with the two teenagers that were on the verge of becoming adults. I grabbed my feather and kept it at the ready because I wasn't sure what to expect. Callen and Kensi see us with our feathers out and grab theirs as well. The next surprise came when we stood before the elders.
We lined up from left to right, the two teenagers first followed by Callen, Kensi, and I. The elder gave the two teenagers another glider to replace the one they used to complete the Rite with, and waved for them to finished the Rite and become full-fledged adults. The elder waved for Sam to join the group and took our feathers. He handed me a flash drive, and then removed his mask and head dress when Sam joined our group.
"Director Vance." Callen, Sam, and Kensi said.
"Welcome to Gagarin 5 my wayward agents. I see that you got the fourth musketeer to round out the old gang." Vance said.
"We've been told that Max here was a former teammate, but nobody wants to tell us who he is. Care to share." Callen said.
Kensi didn't let on to the fact that she knows who I am, so she wasn't about to let the cat out of the bag.
"All I can say is that Max was someone who would have died for any of you." Vance said but left out that fact that he saw Kensi not making eye contact.
"Did Hetty leave a message for us." Callen asked, as Sam rolled his eyes.
"Yes, she did. Hetty said that the four of you were to meet her on the first planet in the Gozen system." Vance said.
"Anything of interest we need to be aware of?" Sam asked.
"I cannot. I've been here on Gagarin 5 for the past two thousand years and it could another thousand before I'm free to leave." Vance said.
The four of us stared at Vance for a moment, and then I activated a sensor and checked out the situation. I was just able to figure out what was going on when Turk and Vera intervened. "We need to get you back Paldea so you can head to Gozen."
"Lead the way." I said.
"Later Director Vance." Callen said.
Vera and Turk led the way back to his ship as Callen and Sam followed bantered about nothing as they usually did. Kensi was silent, and extremely tense. I look at her, and I can that tell its because of me. I've been missing for the better part of a thousand years, or more, and now that she sees me in front of her, even though it's not my real body, she is having a hard time keeping it together. Not that I can blame her because if I'm being honest, I'm having a hard time keeping it together as well.
"Turk said you two can use the Captain's Quarters to have it out." Vera said, and then caught back to Turk.
"Thanks." I said.
Kensi and I walked all the way to Turk's ship in silence, but neither of us wanted to be silent. We wanted to bear our hearts, and a millennia's worth of pain that we have been holding because of each other's absence. I lose track of time, as well as my sense of awareness because the next thing I know I'm on Turk's ship and I hear Kensi say. "Deeks."
"Kensi." I said, looking as if I had just woken up from a horrible nightmare.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
"What do you think?" I asked, on the verge of tears.
"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked.
"Yeah." I said.
"What is it?" She asked.
"Ahem. Hey, I just want you to know that the place I went to in my head to, uh, stop the pain was you. I just kept thinking about your smile and your laugh. Everything. It's the only thing that got me through. For whatever it's worth." "I said.
Kensi stared at me in shock, and then broke down in tears. I pulled Kensi into me and held as she cried. I cried a tear or two and then said. "It's okay. Come here. Come here. It's okay. I got you. We're going home. We're going home."
With my words spoken, I just cried the tears of pain that I've holding onto since I left Earth. It took me a moment, but I remembered the word that I had spoken to Kensi. The first was the night we had closed the case involving the Russian nukes. The second was when we rescued Kensi from Afghanistan.
Some point in time, I tilt Kensi' head back and kissed her.
Kensi sniffled as she pulled away and wiped the tears as she whispered. "I've missed you so much."
"I know you are tough. You're tougher than me, and that's tough." I said.
Kensi gave me a funny look, wondering where I was taking this, but I couldn't stop as another one of my memories has slipped out. "Even with this…adorable…veneer."
Kensi looked at me, while doing her best to suppress a laugh, but failed. "My God. And just like that, the moment is way gone." she said.
"That's okay." I said. I paused for a moment as Kensi let out a soft chuckle, and then I said. "I got more moments.
"Okay." Kensi says looking into my eyes one last time with the biggest smile on her face that I haven't seen in a long time, and then walked out. I smile back at Kensi and then walk out to see Callen waiting for me. I saw Callen's lips moving, something about paying someone, and I miss the whole thing; but my response was. "School kid, twenty bucks," as I gave Callen a low five.
"Welcome back Deeks." Callen said.
Kensi looked back at the two of us in shocked surprise.
"What?" I asked.