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At that moment Jack appeared on the screen.
"Rufus, we have a match and we have it confirmed, Clou is related to the Royal Family of the Empire of the Sun"

Rufus looked at Clou then at Jack. "The Japanese Royal Family?"

Jack: "Yeah I thought the same thing, seems that they too left earth just a few hundred years ago, they found a planet with a sustainable atmosphere and settled down. Apparently they were attacked on route and three of their ships left the fleet and got lost."

Rufus looked down at Clou again "Well, how about that...your highness..." Rufus chuckled slightly

Jack: "We have a contact on the planet who will be able to tell you much more than we can but from what we can tell, your parents were related to the immediate Royal Family their ship was chased from the fleet where it crash landed on the planet where you grew up. The Royal Family presumed you all dead since there was no distress signal sent."

Rufus put an arm around Clou's shoulders "It will be fine hun, I assume Jack that this means we can come back to the mother ship?"

Jack: "Not quite, what's happening on the planet is still too tense, two escort ships are coming from the Empire and will rendezvous with you on the soviet ship and escort you to your home planet, I will send Skye the moment negotiations are over."

Jack simply nodded, "I'll go tell Skye what's going on so he can inform the Royals on the planet surface."

Jack signed off and Rufus stayed by Clou's side with the arm still around his shoulders. "This must be quite the shock, you have a home planet and possibly some remaining family."

Rufus nodded and left Clou to himself and made his way to the bridge to talk with the Captain.

On the planet Skye had been explaining to the King about what they had found out about Clou.
"We will be leaving the planet short with your highness but the main fleet will remain here incase Vertex decided to change their minds about this alliance."
Just as he said that, there was an explosion and the castle shook.

King: "What's going on?"

"I think Vertex just decided to change their minds about the alliance."

Jack: "Skye what's going on down there, sensors are picking up weapons fire."

"Sensors are right sir, Vertex has broken off their cease fire, seems they want the planet one way or another."

Jack: Walked around the control room assigning various units and devisions to their deployment zones. "Understood, get to your ships and get out of there, none of you are equipped to help, I'll send some Specialists, some Commandos, and some marines down with your escorts to get the Royal Family to safety, meantime I want you back on the ship asap, Clou's heading for his home planet I figured you'd want to go with."

"Understood. You're highness I'm afraid we have to depart but my commander is sending troops to help protect you until you and your family are safe."

King: "But they promised.."
"Your highness, I understand you're upset, we wont let Vertex win, you have my word. Let's go guys the sooner we're airborn the better."

Rufus walked down the corridor back to the quarters he was sharing with Clou and ran into him half way there. "Ooh taking a stroll are we?"

Rufus smiled and chuckled, "It's not really much different from the Mother ship really, just slightly different in design and well obviously in size. You'll have time to explore it a little, it's a three day trip to your home planet, we'd get there faster by Hyperjumping, but since slip space is going to be full of other ships zipping around it's not really safe at the moment."

Rufus followed Clou into the room and slipped his arms around the young boy's waist. "Everything will be fine, I wont let anything happen to you ok?"

Back on the Mothership Skye's dropships had just entered the hanger.
"Midnight, get us some gear together, Rusty we're going to need a ship a small transport if that's what it takes, Gin, Tonic, go research the Empire of the Sun I want to know everything about them in 24 hours. The rest of you pack your sunday best."

Rufus looked at Clou slightly puzzled before he chuckled, "And ehm how exactly were you going to get to your own planet yourself....swim?" He patted Clou lightly on the shoulder before ruffling his hair.
"It's fine to get help now and then Clou, now come on, put on a smile and lets get you sorted."

Back on the mothership the guys were all set to go and boarded one of the small transport ships

"Attention all hands, this is Captain, general quarters, we make for Empire of Sun all stations report to bridge Captain out."

Rufus looked over at Clou as he folded a shirt on the bed "Looks like we're under way then."

Rufus smiled, "Like you honestly need to ask, have we taught you nothing yet, Computer, display clothing from the Empire of the Sun on the main viewer."



The tv screen automaticly turned on an began showing models in various items of clothing all from the Empire of the Sun, some of them resembling old fashioned Japanese clothing.

Rufus watched and flicked through some of the pages that it displayed. "Some of these would look really cute on you."