Ever since his old team broke up in pursuit of families or other professions, Jarris Kel Thane spent most of his time in his hideout meditating and searching. He was determined to reach the final stage of resonance but wasn’t sure how to do so. Since he had surpassed his fourth resonance event, he did not feel his abilities and body progressing like they used to. His last resonance event made him face some truly horrible things and truths about himself and his life. This was one of the reasons he had his old quartermaster Iggy find him a house-sized geode underground on his home planet where he could hole up and step away from the outside world.

  Another thing that Iggy helped him build was a scanning contraption that was one part scanner, one part radio, and one part emergency signal. The emergency signal was required for all Master-level Attuners for both Union and Planetary governments to be able to call on them whenever a serious threat emerged. The radio was one of his two means of communication; it was a link, but stripped of all features except for a two-way messaging system. The system only interacted with other devices that Iggy had built specifically for the purpose of creating a closed-loop communication system. His mobile link operated similarly to others, but Iggy modified it to disable any kind of tracking software and turn off interlink connection.

  Since the Arcane Operators had become famous over their years of activity, Jarris had grown paranoid. He was afraid of the government, afraid of stalkers, afraid of not ever being truly alone. This paranoia led to him building his hideout that had no other point of entry other than Jarris’ wormhole ability. That, and drilling down thousands of feet to where the geode was buried underground.

  The last part of the device Iggy created for Jarris was a spatial anomaly scanner. Iggy was an impressive inventor, being attuned to Connection at the master level, his mind worked like no other and was a key reason the Arcane Operators were so successful. Jarris used his intellect to build him this scanner that searched the galaxy for anything that could only be described as an anomaly generated by the use of Void abilities. Jarris was searching for something, but he didn’t know what. He came out of his fourth resonance event feeling drawn to something. It was like he caught a fish on a fishing line and was endlessly reeling it in, expecting to finally pull up his prize.

  Before Nathan Foster attuned to Void, his scanner was relatively silent. The scanner would catch his abilities whenever he used them, and would catch other Void Attuners he knew of across the galaxy. Most of them were rich pricks from historically noble families that either had the money to buy a Void gem, or passed them down from generation to generation. He had yet to see an event that didn't fit the signature of an ability being used, or a normal celestial event like a star going supernova.

  Jarris was looking at a map of the galaxy that the scanner produced, dismissing notifications of anomalies likely caused by Void abilities. The Hub was lit up like a Christmas tree from Nate doing his daily training so Jarris swiped all of those away without a second thought.

  With his daily scan complete, Jarris let out a deep sigh and activated the radio function of the device and opened an active communications channel. Knowing how rough this conversation was going to be he mentally prepared himself for heartache.

  "Jarris? Is that you?" said the voice on the other end of the line.

  "Yes, Iggy told you that this device can only contact me right?" Jarris said grumpily.

  "Yea, right, well, been a long time. Heard you made a commotion at the ACC, you've been all over the socials. Didn't want to stop by to see an old trainee you left behind?"

  Jarris’ lips frowned greatly at the dig. "Low blow… But fair…” The other voice interrupted before Jarris could continue.

  "You want to tell me what's fair? I was a boy, and when K and H left, I thought you would at least let me finish school. At least help me build up a team again before ditching me to retire. Iggy finished my training by the way, thanks for asking, and we are working with a couple recruits, no real healer though."

  "Well I-" Jarris tried to interrupt, but the other voice just rolled past him, listing off other shortcomings that Jarris had already tucked in the back of his mind as a list of regrets he would need to answer for one day.

  Frustrated with having this conversation over a link, Jarris got up from his chair and cut his hand slowly through the air, creating a floating black scar in space time. With both hands glowing black, he opened the rip further and stepped through to find his old trainee sitting at a desk similar to the one in his hideout. The Cattan trainee with dark Pantheran fur just like Jarris’ was still railing into the radio device when he twirled around in his chair to find Jarris standing there in his team’s apartment. The younger Cattan dropped the device and stood up to meet Jarris’ eye line.

  "I failed you. I'm sorry, but I'm here now." Jarris said, trying to convey the burden of guilt he had for abandoning his nephew years earlier.

  The young Cattan’s eyes teared up, and he embraced Jarris in a tight hug. Jarris returned the hug without hesitation, holding on to his nephew tighter, as if squeezing him would gain him forgiveness for the years he had stayed away.

  "I'm so sorry, Dane."

  Dane, through tears and sobbing, started punching into Jarris’ sides, screaming into his chest.

  "She died! She died, and I needed you! She died, and you weren't there. You said you’d always be there!"

  Jarris was tearing up as thoughts of his sister Lenore came rushing back to his mind. Jarris held Dane tighter, as if promising to never leave him again with nothing but his strength.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  "I'm here now, boy. I'm here."

  The pair moved to the couch in the apartment’s common room to sit and talk for a while, reminiscing about some good memories. Memories of Lenore naturally came up, bringing up painful guilt for Jarris he had been carrying with him for some time.

  "I loved your Mother so much. I couldn’t face you knowing you would see me so… weak. It was a loss I wasn’t prepared for."

  "Neither was I," Dane said. "But I had to grow up quite a bit that day seeing as my Mother was dead, and the only Father I ever knew also abandoned me."

  Jarris placed his paw-hand on Dane’s shoulder. "I’m here to make amends. Will you let me?"

  "Depends." Dane stood up from the couch they were sitting on and gestured to the rundown state of his new base of operations. "We ain't as rich as when we had you, H, and K. Iggy rips through his money tinkering with our gear and buying the random shit he insists on collecting."

  Jarris laughed. "That man never knew how to budget and save. I think I can help there. All my money has been holed up for years in the markets, I don’t have anything better to use it for."

  Dane nodded. "Well, what did you really come here for then? I know it’s not to say sorry, 'cause that’s the first time those words ever crossed your lips."

  "Well actually, I came to talk to you about your team and the Draft."

  Before Jarris could continue, the rest of the current Arcane Operators opened the door to the apartment and started filing in through the main entrance. Standing a little shorter than Jarris and Dane was a Cattan woman with squinted eyes piercing through Jarris’ soul. Next to her was a shorter Lizzan with dark green scales without any spots with a black cloak draped over her. Her jaw hit the floor when she recognized who was standing with Dane in their common area.

  In between both of them was a very short and petite light-skinned half-human with greying hair that was atrociously unkept. He rode a squeaky children’s tricycle between his teammates before he stopped suddenly, making eye contact with Jarris. Jarris' mouth broke into a big toothy smile as he laid eyes on his old friend and teammate, Iggy Stone.

  Iggy stood up and got off his trike, then suddenly flew through the air from where he was just standing still. Jarris caught his old friend in a tight hug as Iggy latched on to Jarris like a spider monkey.

  "Hey buddy, long time."

  Iggy squeezed tighter, not saying anything, before hopping down and starting to move his hands.

  "Have you eaten? We just got groceries. Is something wrong? Do you need help? How are H and K? They haven’t called in a long time. Have you talked to them?"

  "Slow down, slow down. I can’t keep up when you get on a roll like that. I’m fine, everything’s fine. I could eat, to be honest, but that’s not why I’m here."

  "Then why are you here, Jarris?" The Cattan woman cut in with an unimpressed tone.

  Iggy turned around signing frantically to her. "Donna, don’t—"

  "No, Iggy. He doesn’t get to just abandon Dane, and you, and everyone for that matter, and just expect a warm welcome. They say never meet your heroes. It’s too late for me."

  "Donna, it’s ok." Dane said as he turned to Jarris. "He’s here now. I’m making peace with that."

  Donna huffed in frustration. "C’mon, Dane. We haven’t needed him these past years, we don’t need him now."

  "I need him." Dane replied softly. His eyes were looking straight into Donna’s. Donna’s heart turned from stone to soft butter, she could see that Dane wanted, no, needed her to accept this. She tightened up a bit though before starting her interrogation.

  "Fine." she sighed. "Why are you here?"

  "Well I-" Jarris started but was interrupted yet again..

  "Hey uh… it’s uh… really nice to meet you, sir. I'm a big fan of your work and all that." the dark green Lizzan said.

  Jarris looked closer at the Lizzan and noticed several tactical-looking straps all over her body. Jarris’ head tilted to the side before he realized what they were.

  "You must be the scout."

  The Lizzan looked up, eyes beaming with pride. "Yeah!" She practically shouted, startling himself. He regulated his volume before he continued. "Yes sir, I’m Gemini Waldrop. Scout, Recon, Sniper, et cetera."

  "We’ll have to talk about stealth tactics later, maybe you can show me a thing or two." Jarris spoke to Gemini, picking up on his excitement and admiration.

  Gemini laughed. "Yeah right, ha-ha-ha, get a load of this guy, Jarris Kel Thane learning from me."

  "So, Unc, why don’t you finally tell us why you are here?" Dane said.

  ***

  The team was gathered around their dining table that was marred with cuts, burn marks and grease stains. Iggy had prepared one of Jarris’ favorite meals, a hearty beef stew over rice. The warm meal certainly lightened the mood as Jarris explained what he’d been up to during his extended absence. He talked about training Nate and being his sponsor for the Contractor Academy before he got down to business.

  "So you think we are just going to pick up four greenies out of the draft, that are all on the same team, where said team is going to the finals tournament, and the one that is in solos from that team flips back and forth at number one and two for most of the year? Oh, and the kicker, you are his sponsor, you trained him, and he is attuned to Void?" Donna asked incredulously.

  "Well… yea." Jarris responded matter-of-factly.

  "And do pray tell, Master, where we are going to get the creds for such an offer? That one guy will go for tens of millions alone. Not to mention the literal princess, who people will offer just to get close to Maran royalty, and the Stock kid who, to be honest, made some of the best gear I've ever seen for a greenie in C school."

  "I’ll cover that, and I’m going to get you guys some new digs too." Jarris, again, said like it was no big deal.

  "Well, you may be kind of a shit uncle, but at least you're rich." The table laughed at Donna’s cruel assessment of Jarris.

  "C’mon Donna, he’s still my uncle, practically my Dad."

  Donna waved a hand dismissing Dane’s attempt at saving Jarris’ reputation.

  "It’s alright. I kind of deserve it." Jarris interjected. "I know it’s tacky, but I can make this happen. And Nate won’t care as much about the money as he will about being able to go out and work. And like you said, the two rich kids won't care about the money either. If they did, they wouldn't have gone to the academy and would have just bought a license when they hit Rookie."

  Iggy waved his hands vigorously to get everyone’s attention. "I really want this Jax kid. I think he’s got a lot of promise. Looks like he’s more interested in science and magic and gear than his profit-worshipping family."

  "I felt the same way. I mean, look at the Maran’s cannon, it's a thing of genius. Anyway, put in an offer of ten million each, and start looking for a new apartment. I'll bank roll the rest of you too so you can have some play money. Iggy, let’s freshen up the gear when Jax comes on board. It’s time for The Arcane Operators to come out of retirement."