Kaldor shook his head sadly. "A lot of time has passed." He said with a small frown. "Bodyguard has not been my job for around seven years. I've been a bounty hunter of sorts, trying to figure out how to bring Addison back. And now that you're here, I'm second guessing whether having you here is a good idea." Addison shook her head as she gave Kaldor a hug. " I'm sorry. "
"It's not your fault. It's your sorry excuses for parents that did this to all of us."
"Yeah, cuz, you were a great friend to us when we needed one," Phoenix said, walking over to them, "You didn't know we were coming, and even if you did, you would have had no way to communicate with us."
Oh no, wait… Addi wasn't supposed to know that…
"Blah, blah, blah," Cyprus huffed. "You know what my parents did? They stabbed me." Jay snorted before realizing that it probably wasn't a good time to start laughing at Cyprus's post-pact lack of filter
"And do you know what our parents did to us?" Addison asked. Secretly she wanted to laugh, but didn't .
Wait crap "You knew that we were coming here? Before the debrief?"
"Let me guess, is torture an option?" Cyprus jeered. Jay looked down at his feet, trying his best not to grin at Cyprus's sarcasm.
"Shut up, you're making us look bad."
"Me? Shut up? That's as possible as a dog turning into a worm by natural means."
oh thank the stars, she missed it
"No, I knew we were going on a retrieval mission to an unexplored planet, but i didn't know it would be our homeworld," Phoenix explained.
Addison nodded. "Okay. So…..what do we do now? And Cyprus, shut up. Like seriously. Shut up."
Phoenix snickered.
Cyprus looked offended, and the expression on his face caused Jay to start laughing a little. "Yeah, you should probably go until you're back to your senses." Cyprus huffed.
"Fine!" He fizzled away
"Oh uuummm……I have to tell you guys something." Addison said nervously, fidgeting with her sleeve.
Phoenix's smile quickly turned to a look of concern. "What is it, Sestra?"
"We uuummmm…….we weren't the first team they sent. We're the tenth."
Phoenix looked at her blankly.
"The.. the tenth?" she asked in shock.
Nononono. Their superiors wouldn't send them on a suicide mission. Would they?
"Maybe…Maybe they thought we were the best equipped for the job after the first 9?" Jay offered
Sestra, you're not thinking what I'm thinking, are you? Phoenix transmitted.
Why go through so much trouble for a satellite? And….Phoenix I don't know if this is a suicide mission or something else….
Exactly, we've lost satellites before and they just build new ones. I figured that this one had important info, but what if… Phoenix hesitated, What if they had contact with our parents?
Addison's blood turned cold. That–but–Jaxon wouldn't do that, would he?
You know what our parents are capable of, maybe he had no choice
Addison nodded and put dropped her head, looking at the ground. I know. I wish it weren't true.
Should we tell the others…?
I wish we didn't have to, but they have the right to know. And if I had told everyone about the previous information then maybe my capture could have been avoided.
Do you want to or should I?
Jay huffed. "Okay, I can sort of hear you still. Talk with your mouths, not your minds."
"JAY!" Phoenix exclaimed, turning to him, "Put up mental barriers, would ya?"
"I can't! The pact's still partially active for another half hour or so!" he huffed
"You are still capable of putting up shields!" Phoenix argued, then sighed, "But in this instance, we were going to tell you all anyway."
Jay rolled his eyes. He actually couldn't really do anything because he was still in 'cooldown' from the pact, but he humored Phoenix. "So what do you have to tell us?"
"ok so," Phoenix began, starting to pace in front of the couch, "We know that we're not the first team sent here, and we know all the other teams were killed by Marfor. Addi and I are theorizing that A) our parents somehow knew our location on Earth, and B) they somehow got in contact with Jaxon or our other superiors to send teams to this planet with the intent of finding us."