Taimia had placed a countdown timer in the corner of the screen and with less than a minute left to go, I could feel every muscle in my body tense up. I hadn't known what to expect for the first jump, but as the time to jump drew close, sweat beaded on my forehead remembering. Then it happened, the timer hit zero and everything around me inverted. Colors, shadows, the room, even me. Everything inverted, twisting back upon itself in ways my brain struggled to comprehend. I started to feel numb but a tingling sensation also ran throughout my entire body at the same time. And then we were there with everything normal again and the new sun taking up almost the entirety of the main screen.

I shuddered, "that was worse than the first time."

"The distance was greater." Taimia said, answering me. "This jump was almost three times as far."

"And yet it still took only a moment. Crazy. Are you okay?" I asked Madison. She nodded in response. "Taimia, take us to the planet, remember we want to be as stealthy as possible."

"I will do my best, but you must remember I was not designed to be stealthy. Reducing my profile also limits my sensor range. I will need to strike a good balance otherwise we will be blind or could even be ambushed." She said

"I understand, do your best. Eta?"

"Forty-two minutes."

"Ok I'm going to head down and check on our guests really quick." I stood up and patted my seat. Madison gave me a smile before sitting and I left the bridge, stepping out of a lift into the hanger a moment later. I found Crizah'domn easily. "Greetings, we've reached the system, how did you like your first star jump?"

"I understand now why you said the experience was unpleasant. It was certainly disconcerting, but in some ways it was also cathartic." When I raised an eyebrow he continued. "Yes, it was good to be reminded that space, though it seems to be empty nothing, is truly something that shapes everything, including our perceptions."

He was right but I stopped my brain before it could charge down that rabbit hole in pursuit. "How did the animals do?" I asked, after a polite head bob, to acknowledge his words.

"They did well. Most of the animals we have left are very placid. All of the ones I would have worried about are already down on the planet."

"I'm glad everything went well. We'll probably hit the atmosphere within the next thirty minutes, it'll be bumpy. I recommend you strap down anything you need to, and when we hit the atmosphere You and your people should sit on the floor, away from walls or boxes. The turbulence could be good or bad, there is never a way to know ahead of time."

"I understand and we will do as you request." The old bird said.

I left him after that and thirty minutes later I was sitting on the bridge, Madison seated behind the console on my left and ready as we approached the planet. "I have located the settlement, altering our approach." Just before we hit the upper layers of the atmosphere Taimia turned off the warp field enveloping the ship and I almost bit my tongue as we slammed into the atmosphere like it was a solid wall. I rocked forward against my straps. On the main screen we watched as friction superheated the air and plasma bloomed along the underside of the wings. It felt like it took forever but in reality it only lasted two or three minutes.

The RCS thrusters along the edges of the wings all angled downwards and fired in unison. The nose tilted up as Taimia expertly angled us in a landing attitude. Below us were ten to fifteen huts centered around a large town square. To the north and west were forest, to the south pastures and crops fields so Taimia had us angled to land slightly east of the village. I could see the villagers below already, many had a hand shielding their face as they looked up at us. Some were pointing. Five hundred feet off the ground we stopped, the RCS thrusters holding us in a hover. The landing gear deployed as we rotated so the front of the ship faced the village before setting down. The RCS thrusters flickered off and all was quiet.

"Excellent job Taimia." I said, unbuckling my straps and standing. "Open the bay doors so our guests get a view of their new home." Madison was on her feet and I held a hand out to her. "Care to join me?" She nodded and I pulled her after me towards the lifts.

As we descended toward the hanger she turned and looked at me. "I have a confession." I raised an eyebrow and she continued. "This is my first time ever being on a planet."

"Your first time?" I repeated. She nodded. "It's a lot like being on a station, you'll be fine." The doors opened and I gestured for her to walk in front of me. The Arahnka were mostly at the bottom of the ramp embracing long missed loved ones but a few were still in the cargo hanger, industriously moving boxes or animals toward the ramp. Others were climbing the ramp to help unload. "I grew up on earth, I just can't imagine it." I said to Madison as we started descending the ramp and she looked back at me for a moment.

When she looked back forward she was stepping onto the ground. Her gaze immediately went to the wall of trees beyond the village before her head tilted back to take in the open sky. I couldn't see her face but I could tell something was wrong. Her head kept tilting up and she lost her balance falling back into my arms. I caught her and she clung to me squeezing her eyes shut. "Whoah, take it slow." I said, helping her get her feet back under her. "It's just a bit of vertigo, its perfectly normal, just take a deep breath."

"Here," I took her in my arms and turned her to me, then pulled the top of her head down to my chest so she would be looking down. "Now, open your eyes and look at the ground. Good," I said when she stopped wobbling and seemed stable I took one of her hands, held it straight down by her side, then bent it at the elbow and curled her hand into a fist. "Now slowly bring your eyes up to your fist and keep them there. Ok, now I want you to look into my eyes." After we were staring into each other's eyes I took a step back, then a second and a third.

"Now look at that hut, focus on it and don't look at anything else. And now look at the ship." She was doing really well but looking up at the ship above us showed a bit too much sky and she got dizzy again so I rushed forward and wrapped my arms around her to make sure she didn't fall. "Maybe we'll take it just a bit slower."

She kept her eyes angled down as she clung to me. "I feel so embarrassed." She whispered under her breath, "everyone is watching".

I looked around and sure enough a pack of children and several groups of adults were watching. Thinking fast, I came up with a plan. "Um, I know, come here, sit at the base of the ramp here." She sat down and wrapped a hand around one of the hydraulic shafts that raised and lowered the bay door. "Take your time and if you need me just call for me, I'll be nearby." She nodded her head and I walked the few dozen feet to Crizah'domn.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Is your companion in good health?" The old bird asked worriedly.

"She will be fine. This is her first time on a planet and just needs to acclimate to it."

"Ah, I understand. My first time on a starship was much the same for me. I felt very claustrophobic, so I can sympathize with her plight. Time and experience is the best cure for it." He thought for a moment, "my wife tells me that night is almost upon us, stay here with us tonight. There will be a celebration and I would like to have you stay as our guests." I looked west to see the sun had already set behind the trees even though the sky was still bright. "The dark of the night will also help her become more comfortable with being on the surface of a planet."

I couldn't see any flaws in his logic and it wasn't like we had somewhere else to be. "Sure, why not." I said turning back to him.

"Excellent, I am overjoyed. Let me introduce you to my sons." The old bird said joyously before dragging me off to meet nearly every damned member of their tribe.

I kept an eye on Madison but I needn't of worried. The children of the tribe found her and were clustered around her, asking who knew what, but they kept her distracted long enough for night to fall. After Crizah'domn was finally dragged off by his wife I returned to Madison as she regaled the enraptured children around her with some story.

"And then, the troll returned to find that the bridge was too high, he couldn't reach the billy goats clip clomping across it. And they shouted down to him, 'you can't reach us now.' And the troll left because he knew it was true, he was going to have to find somewhere else to get his dinner." The group of kids cheered and applauded the end of her story.

I laughed "alright kids, it's dark out, I'm sure your parents will be looking for you. Go on home."

My words were greeted with a collective "awwe" but the group obediently broke up and scattered into the group of huts.

I reached down and helped Madison to her feet. "Do you feel better?"

"I do." She said, returning my smile.

"Good, Crizah'domn, our host, has generously invited us to their welcome home party. Care to be my plus one?" I asked, offering her my elbow.

She took my arm and as we made our way to the village square she laid her head on my shoulder. "You're a good man Jonathan Kaine. Don't let anything change that." She said softly and closed her eyes. I wasn't sure how to respond and decided to just keep my mouth shut so I didn't say anything stupid.

The center of the village was illuminated by a massive bonfire over fifteen feet in diameter. Arahnka stood all around it or were sitting on long benches made from split logs. Some danced to music played with instruments I'd nether seen or heard before and yet others attended banquet tables heaping with food. As the two of us looked on at the merriment three young Arankan girls ran over and stole Madison from me, dragging her to the dancing area. I watched for a moment as they taught her steps to some dance and made her dance with them.

Happiness saturated the atmosphere and seeing everyone together, all the smiling faces, it made me think of Jenny. I really missed my family. I made my way over to the tables of food and put together a plate for myself and Madison before finding an empty bench. I put a little of everything on both plates because I hardly recognized half of it. But everything was delicious. A few minutes later Madison plopped down beside me, she was breathing heavily. "You looked like you were having fun out there." I said, handing her the plate I made for her.

"Thanks, haha, yeah." Her face was red from exertion. "This looks good." She said as she shoved some of it in her mouth.

We ate quickly and Riso'domn, one of Crizah'domn's sons, brought us both tall wooden cups filled with a liquid. I took a sip and coughed. "That's pretty strong" I tried to say as my throat clamped shut.

Madison took a long drag and wiped one hand across her face. "Pussy" she said to me with a smile.

Her eyes teared up a bit from the alcohol and I laughed at the jab, then took a longer drink. "What was that story about earlier? The one you told the kids."

"Just a kids story my mom used to tell me when I was young. I honestly don't remember most of it and made a bunch of it up on the spot."

"You said she was part of Aegis? Tell me about her." I asked.

The firelight flickered in her eyes as she spoke, "My mother had been on special assignment as a spy at some Starforce military base. While undercover she met and fell in love with an officer at the base. After her assignment ended, she requested to leave Aegis so she could be with him."

"They said yes and my mother and father were together for three years before I was born. She had told him her secret long before then." Her gaze fell to her lap. "My powers manifested early. Normally Seraphim don't manifest powers until puberty. I was four, and it happened while I was at a daycare. My father was still a Starforce officer then and they called him in before my mother could warn him. I never saw him again." Tears in her eyelashes reflected the firelight and they glimmered like stars.

"My mother and I were on the run after that for the next seven years. The Starforce was always one step behind us. She taught me how to control my powers and how to survive. But the Starforce was closing in and she had no money, somehow she managed to book passage for me out of the Sol System but she couldn't come." Guilt dripped off her words and I put an arm around her to try and comfort her.

"The Starforce only had a vague description of me while they had her full identi-file so she stayed behind and kept running. A month later I saw a news story about her. They caught her and the media was labeling her as a terrorist. My mother killed herself in prison before they could get my information out of her." She sighed, "this is all I have left of her." She said as she pulled a small book, maybe six itches square, from her pocket.

She passed it over and I took it delicately. The handwriting inside was small and neat, and as I read, I realized it was a diary. I turned the pages, briefly skimming over each. Some had pictures but most were just text, until I got to the last page. Hexagon shaped symbols covered the entire inner cover of the back of the book.

I must have gasped because Madison looked over. "I always loved that picture, it's so intricate and pretty." She said

"Madison, that's not a picture," I said. She looked at me questioningly. I put a hand over one ear. "Taimia, can you read Trinity? Or do you have any reference material to decode it?"

"No, I am sorry, I do not have any means of translation for it".

"What about Zeveriah?"

"He would not either. Trinity was a heavily guarded secret. A few translation tomes were lost, which is why James Malaki stopped using it, but it never became public knowledge."

My thoughts drifted to Christian. "Thank you Taimia."

Madison had both hands wrapped around my right bicep. "What is it?" She asked, looking into my eyes.

I gestured to the page, "I think I know someone that can translate this. But, it's risky. Your mother obviously put this here as a code to hide the information. So we can't transmit it to him to decipher, the Starforce would most likely intercept it and they probably have access to the translation materials. We'd have to go see him, and that's also risky because he's in training, for the Starforce, on Deimos, in orbit above Mars in the Sol System." She sucked in a deep breath. "I'm a wanted man there."

We were interrupted when Riso'domn brought us a second helping of the alcohol and dragged us up to join in the festivities. Madison slipped the small book back into her pocket and we drank, laughed and danced for the rest of the night.