I was at the radar station in the cockpit when Kavra came looking for me.
"Here you are." Kavra said.
"What can I do for you, Kavra?" I asked, without looking up from the station.
"What is the plan when we meet this Hetty?" She asked.
"Well, my team is going to give Hetty a stack for a former coworker when we were still on Earth, and then she is going to send off on another wild goose chase." I said.
"What about us?" She asked.
"That's up to Hetty. I have information in my body that I'm trying to get out of me." I said.
"What seems to be the problem?" She asked.
"Well, I need computer that has access to the Alpha Prime network, and Omega Clearance to find our way home." I said.
"I might be able to help you with the Alph Prime network, but the clearance code is beyond me." She said.
"It's more than we had since I left known space the first time." I said.
"Only one problem." She said.
"Always is." I said.
"The access point is here." She said, pointing to a darken part of the map.
"Old…Miltia." I said, understanding the consequences of completing my restoration.
"Yeah. I'm certain you already know the stories." She said.
"Just for clarification, the planet we just left gave rise to the Aeons, but nobody knew of the menace until the events that occurred at Old Miltia." I said.
"More or less." She said.
"This complicates things, while at the same time, makes them more interesting." I said.
"What is?" Kensi said, entering the cockpit.
Kavra looked at Kensi in surprised shocked unaware of Kensi' presences.
"I'm certain you heard the last, what, ten minutes of the conversation." I said, looking at Kensi.
"I heard the last part about Old Miltia, and nothing else." Kensi admitted.
"Technically, Old Miltia is the Sol system, while Miltia is this system here." Kavra said, pointing to the galaxy map.
"What?" I asked.
"What's wrong?" Kensi asked.
"Which part?" Kavra said.
"That part about Old Miltia and Miltia." I said.
"I said Old Miltia was originally called Sol—"
"I'm guessing someone from the original administration tried to cover that up." I said.
"Your guess is as good as mine. It's above my paygrade." Kavra said.
"Callen, Sam, I need to speak to you in the cockpit at your earliest convenience." I said, over the loudspeaker.
"Be there in a moment." Callen said
Five minutes later, Callen and Sam came strolling into the cockpit.
"What's so important that you had to discuss it right now, and not in ten minutes after we make our rendezvous with Hetty?" Sam asked.
"Does Old Miltia, or the Sol system mean anything to you?" I asked.
"Old Miltia is where the Aeon's struck from some three thousand years ago." Callen said.
"What a minute, back up. What does Old Miltia, and the Sol system have anything to do with this?" Kensi asked.
"Scientists designated the home system Sol." Sam said.
"The home system? The system where Earth is located is called Sol?" Callen asked.
"What's so important Deeks?" Sam asked.
"The computer to restore life on Earth is in the very system where Earth is located." I said
There was a moment of silence, and then Callen said. "Going have to defer to Hetty on this one."
At that moment, the hyperdrive engine started beeping.
"Right on time" Kensi said.
Callen and Sam jumped into the pilot chairs, and then we heard.
"I have good news, and bad." Callen said.
"Please don't tell me we've fallen into interdiction trap." I said.
"No, but that's a close second." Sam said, and then put the map on the view port.
We watched for a second, and then we were joined by Astrid and Orion.
"Where is this mythical Hetty you speak of?" Astrid said.
"Woman's not a myth, and she's on the other side of this mine field." Callen said.
"Welcome to No Man's land." I said.
"Is this one ruled by human's or Aeon's?" Kensi asked.
"This is probably rule by cannibals." I said.
"I hate to say it, but I hear rumors of—"
"Then don't, I'll find us a route that doesn't take us through this mess." I said, turning my attention to the radar station.
It didn't take long before said cannibals were on us. Callen gunned the engines, and then put a holo map up of the system. Callen and Sam started bickering back and forth to ease the tension, which shocked Kavra, Astrid and Orio.
"Is this normal for them?" Kavra asked.
"Sadly. Yes." Kensi said.
"Anytime, Deeks." Callen said.
"Rerouting." I said, and then uploaded the coordinates to the hyperdrive engine.
The chase lasted all of ten minutes, and then we jumped to the next system.
Star Ocean-
Paldean system: a ship in gravity well of the first planet-
"When was the last time you sent a message to them?" Hetty asked Turk.
"About five days after they left." Turk said.
"I had a feeler that said that the jumped into Unknown Space to escape." Vera said.
"Try sending the message again." Hetty said.
The trio received a message. Turk brought the message up on screen.
"It's from your team. They want to know when they can rendezvous with us." Turk said.
"Tell them the Paldean system, a.s.h.p." Hetty said.
Vera sent the message. Twenty minutes later, the long-range scanner picked up a ship entering the system.
"There they are." Turk said.
"I hope they got Eric before their trip into Unknown Space." Nell said, entering the cockpit.
The was a beeping, an incoming transmission. Turk putting it on screen. The four of them saw Callen and Sam in the pilot's chairs, Kensi and I behind them, but they were confused by the three newcomers.
"Hello, Hetty." I said.
"Hello, Mr. Deeks. Please tell me that you four managed to get Eric before your detour." Hetty said.
"We did, and we learned much more. All of which can be discussed when we're not on an unsecured line." Callen said.
"We'll meet you in the shadow of Paldea One." Hetty said.
Twenty minutes later, Turk and Callen created a bridge between the two ships, but Hetty, Turk and Vera came over to Callen's ship. We were waiting in the rec room when we heard Hetty ask. "What's so important that it couldn't be discussed over—oh, Kavra Payne. That explains that."
"You know her?" Vera asked.
"Yes. Kavra here worked for the company that designed the tech in our heads." Hetty said.
Kensi, Callen, Sam, and I all looked at Kavra.
"Yes, and no." Kavra said.
"Okay." Hetty said.
"I work for the government in the Malachor system." Kavra said.
"The Malachor system was deep in the Unknown Regions but became abandoned about three to four thousand years ago." Vera said.
"Well that explains why we found her where we did." I said.
"Who are these two?" Hetty asked.
Kensi, Sam, Callen and I turned to see that she was talking about Orion and Astrid.
"These are her adopted children Astrid and Orion." Callen said.
There was a moment of silence while Hetty contemplated Callen's statement.
"Adopted." Hetty said.
"Yeah." I said.
"Care to explain that one." Hetty said, looking at Kavra.
I put a hand up, signaling for Astrid and Orion to remain silent. Kavra was silent for a moment longer, and then found her words.
"I was sent to a planet in the Unknown Regions to observe and report my findings back to headquarters. I didn't know at the time, not like I had a choice, but after a while I realized that I had been sent to a death row colony." Kavra said.
"Death row colony." Vera said.
"A penal colony beyond triple max. A place for the criminals who committed the most heinous crimes. So, what was so special about this colony?" Hetty asked.
"I'm almost certain you know the rumor, or more like dark secret, that is attached to death row colonies." Kavra said.
"No." Turk said.
"They've been known to dabble in human experimentation." Hetty said.
"Want to shock us with the truth." Vera said, unable to contain her disgust.
Kavra looked at me, and I nodded my head.
"The planet were I encountered Callen, Sam, Kensi and Deeks was where the menace to human society was born." Kavra said.
"What?" Vera said.
"Menace to human society?" Turk said.
"She's talking about the Aeons" Hetty said.
There was a moment of silence, but I cut it short.
"Astrid and Orion were children saved from that planet we just left, albeit those aren't the bodies they were born with." I said.
"What's the next problem?" Hetty asked.
"Getting to Miltia." Callen said.
"Why Miltia" Turk asked.
"Because the Sol system is in Old Miltia. Have you found the Alpha Prime computer?" Hetty asked.
"Yeah." I said.
"Where?" Hetty asked.
"Old Miltia." Sam said.
"Are we certain?" Turk asked.
Kensi, Callen, Sam, and I all looked at Kavra.
"Yes." Kavra said.
"How can you be certain?" Vera asked.
"The Alpha Prime mainframe is in a planet in a system adjacent to the Old Miltia." Kavra said.
"We have to get to Old Miltia before we can get to the Sol system." Hetty said.
"Yes, the Alpha Prime mainframe will open the path the Sol system." Kavra said.
"Astrid and Orion are going to need new sleeves." I said.
"Why?" everybody asked.
There was a moment of silence, which lasted for about ten minutes. Kavra and I shared a looked, and then Kavra said. "There is still left over DNA fragments of the Aeon's in their sleeves"
"We can use their current sleeves to stun the Aeon's and buy us time to finish the transfer." Callen said.
Hetty and I shared a look, and then she just nodded.
"What was that all about?" Orion asked.
"Ask me later." I said, and then walked away.
Twenty minutes later, Kensi and I returned to the group and Kensi was upset to say the least.
"This conversation isn't over." Kensi said.
"It is for now." I said to Kensi. To anybody who was listening I said. "Does anybody have a lead on the Junon Corporation?"
"Why?" Callen asked.
"They were the company behind the creation of the technology that allow humanity to live as long as it did." Kavra said.
"I'm going to go out on a limb and say their headquarters are in the Miltian system." Kensi said.
"Yes, and the probably our best place to get a lead on the Omega clearance code." Kavra said.
"Or legal adjacent." Sam said.
"That's definitely not legal." I said.
Callen, Sam, and Kensi all share a chuckle remembering the escapades of us trying to rescue Tiffany from the arms dealer a long time ago.
"Question is are we going to have to storm the building to get the code?" Astrid asked.
"That's a good question, but I'm willing to bet Kavra might know something about that." Hetty said.
"I can't go anywhere near those buildings. If my clearance code still worked, we would be detained in mere moments." Kavra said.
"Looks like we're going to need the Wonder Twins to work their magic, and then we're going to have to send Deeks in to get the code." Callen said.
"I think we can handle the first part." A male voice said.
We all turned to see Nell walk into the rec room, followed by Eric Beale.
"Looks like the band is getting back together." Sam said.
"So, before we move out, does anybody want to explain the plan going forward." Kensi said.
"To clarify everything, the Sol system was deemed Old Miltia by some shadowy organization(s) because of the synthetic Aeon outbreak. Humanity fled the system and created a gate to seal the bulk of the Aeons there. The way to gates of the sealed star system can be found in one of the three divisions in the Miltian star system." I said.
"This all starting to make my head spin." Astrid said.
"I warned you that things were about to get complicated." I said.
"I don't know about the location to the sealed gate, but I do know that the Omega clearance code was split into to three parts and hidden in the deepest parts of all three divisions." Eric said.
"Do we have people working for us inside?" Hetty asked.
"No, but we could repurpose Kavra's old clearance code. That's not the problem." Nell said.
"Problem is if we try to access it there going to close all of the exits to keep us from escaping." Kensi said.
"And most likely we have to do this simultaneously, so security can detain us all at once." Eric said.
I grew silent, and contemplated what Eric and Nell said. Something was bothering me.
"Mr. Deeks." Hetty said.
"Yeah, Hetty." I said.
"You've grown unusually quiet." Sam said.
"Nell, Eric, when we get to Junon I want you to run a diagnostic." I said.
"Okay. Why?" Eric asked.
"With the Aeon supply cut off, Junon might try to run a decoy." I said.
"Junon was the reason for the Aeons to turn into the mechanical menace that we know?" Kensi asked.
"Yeah. And if I was a betting man, Junon had boots on the ground when we destroy Orion and Astrid's home." I said.
"So, if they know about the world being destroyed, what's stopping them from going back to Earth?" Sam asked.
"How can they?" Eric asked.
"I mean—"
"Firstly, it's an incomplete code that few people know how to put back together. Secondly, no one knows the way to the path leading to the Old Miltia, at least the sealed off portion, and by proxy, the Sol system." Eric said.
"Kavra." I said.
"Yeah, Deeks." Kavra answered.
"What's stopping the Malachorian government from letting us walking out the front door, and allowing us to complete the code, and then detaining us afterwards?" I asked.
"Nothing, really." Kavra said.
"That's a very likely scenario." Callen said.
"Something about this whole setup is fishy." I said.
Callen and Sam shared a look, and then Callen said. "Time to call in a favor."
"This isn't a time for a favor." Sam said.
"Not so much the favor, but more so, the who." Callen said.
It took Sam all of two seconds to realize what Callen meant. "No. Absolutely not." Sam said.
"What choice do we have?" Callen asked.
"What's wrong?" Kensi asked.
"The person that G is suggesting that was call in our favor with is a homicidal maniac." Sam said.
"Then we're going to need someone who is crazier or can put them in their place." Vera said.
Callen and Sam shared another look, and then looked at Hetty.
"Think again, gentlemen." Hetty said.
"You want to have to do anything, Hetty. Just stand there, I promise." Sam said.
"I remember your antics back when we were on Earth. That's highly unlikely." Hetty said.
"Make the call." I said.
"Roger that." Callen said.