Beyond the Empyreal Stars

24.

24.

The metallic comm bracelet rested in Duke's hands as he sat in the passenger side of the lead truck. In the almost four hour journey from D.C. to New York City, he hadn't taken his eyes off of it. Even when they had stopped and Carson spoke to him, he didn't. He didn't even realize when he left and had another one of their men take over driving. His eyes wouldn't leave the bracelet.

It had been five years since he'd seen it...and the girl it belonged to. Five years of losing almost everything he held dear to him – his father and brother, his home, his planet, the Terrian girl he'd fallen in love with...and himself.

Duke had changed in those five years and not just physically. Emotionally, he'd shut himself off. Mentally, he became the strong-willed leader everyone had looked at him to be and knew what he had to do to keep his people alive.

Sometimes, though, he lost control just like so many would with the kind of pressure he was under at all times. Like with stunning Cliff earlier...he saw the fear in everyone's eyes when Carson snapped him out of it. He hadn't lost control like that since they'd found his sister seven months before, lying in a half-destroyed motel just outside Philadelphia, covered in blood...Carson's screams and curses as he held onto her...

Duke's hand balled into a fist around the bracelet as he closed his eyes, trying to push back the memory.

Five years of rising up and becoming one of Earth's leaders...and he'd lost himself all over again when he saw Odette. He'd convinced himself that she was dead and gone after receiving the feeds about her and the others leaving Terra on a rogue mission. And yet there she was, standing right there in front of him with the barrel of his gun pressed against her forehead.

He almost wanted to pull the trigger just so it would be true.

Looking into those blue eyes again...seeing the bright green in the left one...she seemed just as shocked and confused as he was. She hadn't changed at all, not like Duke had over the years. He could still see the love she had for him in those eyes as he stared at her, gun to her forehead, and he tried his best to hide his. He knew he faltered for a second...and she saw.

"Sir?"

Duke looked up at Frank Ryne, who had taken Carson's place in the driver's seat. "Yes?"

"We're back," Frank answered, nodding forward. "We're parking on Track 109, correct?"

"Yes," he repeated, shoving the comm bracelet into his vest pocket once more. "Comm Griffin and tell him to pull the trailer onto 110. We'll unload there."

"And the Terrians?" he asked, looking a little unsure if he should be asking.

Duke slipped on a mask of indifference. "We'll put them in holding for now. I'll comm everyone and tell them to meet in the conference area. Make sure everyone knows what they're doing with the supplies and get up there as soon as you're able."

Frank nodded, opening the door. "Yes, sir."

The familiar cool air of the lower level tracks hit him as he got out and jumped up onto the platform. With the sounds of the men and women beginning the unloading from their two week run, Duke paused to look around and make sure there wasn't anything out of place.

Grand Central Terminal hadn't been their first thought of shelter after moving to New York City, but it had quickly become the perfect place to build their home for the little over three hundred people they had left. They lost so much after the second war with the Whispians, including the majority of their people, and were in desperate need of a safe haven once they reached the city.