Cain tried to process everything that Axel said. It was typical. He and his sister would find two people in a direct conflict with the attackers. Jessca's face fell. He knew what she was thinking. They could have stopped the attack. But that wasn't true. There's nothing they'd have been able to do.

"Now we need to find them both or else who knows what this new species have planned for the rest of the galaxy," finished Axel. His story seemed outlandish but, after what happened on Displincia, anything could happen.

"So how do you expect us to do that?" Cain asked.

Marcella stepped forward. She revealed half a golden heart on a necklace. "We know that my father was a prisoner of the Engen'ozus but, by the time we got to his cell, he was gone," she said. "This is the device he invented so I can always contact him. But it keeps ringing through."

Jessca's eyes lit up. "Can I take a look at that?"

Marcella nodded and handed it to her. She grinned. "I reckon I could reverse the signal. This thing's pretty powerful. If your Dad still has the other side, we might be able to pin his location."

Cain frowned. "It's not our problem, Jessca," he snapped. "We need to get the stragglers out of here."

"Hey," shouted Axel, getting in his face. "Don't you care about the galaxy? This affects everyone."

Cain laughed. "You think a pipsqueak like you stands a chance against that lot?"

"Don't be like that, Cain," said Jessca.

He shot her a look. "I'm not being like anything," he said. Once again, she wanted to be the hero. He had seen enough to know there was no such thing. She turned a concerned face to Marcella. This was new to him. Jessca was always on his side. No matter what.

"I know what it's like to lose a parent," Jessca said, then caught Cain's eye contact. "We both do."

They had been through so much loss in the last year. He would never forget Jessca's face when she discovered their father's body. Jessca had been at the chapel on the day it happened. She usually came back so energised and happy.

Cain could still feel the scorching heat of the day. The same one that he'd failed his final test. The pain of failure was nothing compared to the sight he returned home to. Jessca had dragged him inside the house and dropped to her knees. The blood-soaked corpse of their father lay before her. He'd stood there, frozen. Watching as she rocked their father's dead body back and forth. He'd had to pull her away from him. She'd broken down in his arms.

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Cain was capable of taking down just about anyone but he couldn't comfort his little sister in the worst moment of her life. For that, he hated himself. If she ever found out what he was, that could be the end of them.

"Surely we can do something to help them," she said.

Cain snapped out of the memory. "We have enough of our own stuff to deal with," said Cain, then he looked to Marcella. "I'm sorry about what happened to your father. We just can't get involved."

"Maybe you wouldn't have had to," said Axel. "We don't actually know what you're doing on this ship in the first place. If it wasn't for you, we might have had the aid of Rutan Kaarzee."

"That slimy little brat was never going to help you," Cain scoffed. "If anything, you would have gotten yourself killed. The Kaarzee clan aren't one to be messed with."

"Then why were you trying to steal a ship from him?" Axel asked. "Aren't you as stupid as we are for messing with them?"

Jessca looked at Cain. Her deep eyes cut right through him.

"We can look after ourselves," said Cain.

"Rutan Kaarzee made a deal with those people," said Jessca. "Cain used to be his bodyguard."

Axel scowled. "You knew about these things and you did nothing to stop it?"

Cain turned away. "I don't have to explain myself to you."

"So what's your plan?" asked Axel. "Because last I checked, you could have escaped in the Homesteader before we got here. Let me guess, neither of you know how to pilot a ship."

"He's got a point," said Jessca.

"Stay out of this, Jess," snapped Cain. He was only trying to protect her. He tried a different approach. "We're already in too much of a mess. There are people trying to find us. People who are worse than the Kaarzee Clan and, trust me, you don't want to be here when they do."

He let the point linger. He wasn't lying. Cain couldn't let his guard down. Not even to save the entire galaxy. All that mattered in this world were him and his sister.

"We can drop you off at the nearest planet," said Cain. "You can sort the rest out for yourselves."

Jessca scoffed. "How do we do that if we can't even leave the ship?"

"You're smart," said Cain. "You'll figure it out."

"You're still going to need a working transdimensional drive," said Marcella. "The one we've got was knocked out by the plasma blast. I can program the engine to draw from the back-up supply but that won't last forever."

Cain cursed his luck. If they didn't have the drive working, then they would be floating through space. While he didn't want to be a part of someone else's fight, he also didn't want to be stranded in space.

"We can help each other," said Axel, shooting a reassuring smile at Marcella.

"They're right, bro," Jessca said. "If it weren't for them, then we would probably be stuck on Displincia. Also, if these things are a threat to the entire galaxy, then I don't know about you but I think this will involve us one day whether we like it or not."

She had a point. If the politics of the galaxy were to shift, who knew where that put Vixen and her people.

"Think about what father would have said," Jessca continued. "Didn't he always tell you to fight the fights which mattered most?"

The mention of their father sent a bolt of anger through Cain's spine. "You don't know what father would have said!" he shouted before he could hold himself back. "This image you have of him...he wasn't always like that, he wasn't perfect!"

Tears wavered in Jessca's eyes. Cain turned and walked away before he could say anything else he would regret.