Return Of The Stars

Chapter 1: Meanwhile On Earth

Kolt watched as the ol' girl vanished into the midday sky with a twinkle. One minute Blue was bursting through her rock fortress and the next she was scarin' the pants of the Garrison senior command. He smiled fondly at the spot where she'd been, the last time his little boy had flown off in a spaceship he didn't know if he'd ever seen him again. It never got any easier.

"Good luck, kiddo." He whispered to the sky before beginning the treacherous descent down the crumbling Cliffside.

It took a good three hours before he made it back to the tiny one bedroom cabin, cursing the entire trek about how stupid it was he didn't think to bring his hover bike along. Once back, Kolt immediately set to work disposing of any evidence pointing to that Shirogane kid having been a temporary houseguest. Clearing away the Garrison ration bar wrappers from the large boy with the headband, burning the prison rags Shirogane had been found in, and giving the whole place a quick once-over.

After all necessary precautions had been taken; Kolt settled in on the sofa, beer in hand, to watch the game. Colleen would be working in her botany labs 'till round 7PM or so and it wasn't like he could just leave her a voicemail. 'Oh, hey there Colleen, don't go freakin' our er nothin' but my alien son went and abducted yer daughter in a giant robotic cat.' Somehow he didn't see that being very well received. Not to mention the absolute shit storm if the Garrison had bugged his phone.

With a dramatic groan he heaved himself off the couch during the first commercial break and proceeded to dismantle the phone, followed by the old CB radio which he doubted the diaper wearing, fresh-faced, baby Offers of the Garrison even knew how to operate. Frustratingly everything turned up clean, which only made him more suspicious that the bugs were just of a much higher quality. He plopped himself back down on the dusty ol' couch when the commercial ended and started putting the various devices back together.

His peace and quiet lasted all of one evening before the pain-in-the-ass Garrison folks came a-knockin'. Grumbling profusely he made his way to the door, taking a quick peak out the window to gauge the situation before hand. Shit. There were damn near 20 of those fuckers out there. Beer still in hand, Kolt opened the door.

"What?" He grumbled to Iverson's grouchy ass face.

"Kolton Kogane?"

"You know damn well who I am, Mitch." The surly man scowled at him as best he could with only one functioning eye and Kolt tried his hardest to supressed a snicker. Keith packed one hell of a punch.

"That troublesome kid of yours home yet?" Iverson grumbled and now it was his turn to scowl. "Guess not. When he gets back you are to bring him in for interrogation."

"He ain't comin' back and you know it. You saw that thing take off just as clearly as I did. How 'bout we make a deal – first one to see him gets to be the one who gives him shit. Sound good?" he crossed his arms defiantly over his chest and Iverson furrowed his brow.

"You've been summoned to the compound for tomorrow at 1400 hours to discuss what you know with Admiral Sanda. Do not be late." The military man commanded and Kolt rolled his eyes.

"Tell the ol' bat I'll be there." He responded, shutting the front door on an incredibly annoyed Iverson and several young Officers struggling not to smirk.

He didn't move for a while, even after he heard their vehicles leave. Kolt leaned against the heavy wooden door and stared into the small one bedroom cabin. With Keith gone it suddenly felt so empty. He'd always lived alone, with the exception of those 5 years Krolia had been on Earth. But ever since Keith had moved in permanently it just didn't feel right anymore. He could handle the cabin being empty; it was the quiet that came with it that tore at his heart. God, Keith had been gone less than a day and he already missed the little shit.