It had been so long since Aliez spoke with his parents that he didn’t know what to expect. He missed them so much that it hurt, and they assured him that he was missed as well. He’d been as anxious as he was excited to talk to them, and he didn’t quite manage not to cry at least a little when they told him how proud they were of him for being promoted to Commander.

He saw the questions in their eyes that they knew better than to ask. They knew the nature of his mission, and knew that there were likely many things that he couldn’t share, despite wanting to. The less they knew, the better, and they all knew it.

There were things that they’d never shared with him, either. Their life before Velencya. The horrors they must have seen on Velenia. Their family and friends who had been stolen from them, in more ways than one.

They assured him that things were being taken care of on Velencya, that the cows were doing fine, that there were three new calves to take care of, among all their other patients. They didn’t actually tend to the cows on a daily basis, but they checked to make sure they were doing well.

It hadn’t been enough time, but Aliez knew everyone else earned the right to talk to their family and friends and loved ones back home, so he didn’t complain. There would be more opportunities, he hoped. And maybe they would be able to go home once they’ve figured out a way to save everyone.

To save the Commodore and Caedus as well.

The Commodore set this up for all of them -- to be able to speak with their families. He knew how homesick some of them were, especially those who hadn’t been enamored by Earth. And there was a sickening guilt that tugged at his heart knowing that there might be something that could be done, but that he didn’t want to do.

Did that make him a bad Velencian? A bad Commander?

He’d met Caedus, after everything. It had been several months by now, but time was strange and not always easy for Aliez to keep track of, especially on Earth. He was able to tell Caedus how the Commodore was dying, along with their world. He hoped that maybe it would help motivate Caedus to continue researching, continue fighting and looking for other ways to save their worlds.

So far, even with Andreiya’s research, nothing seemed to help. At least not when it came to Caedus. His research would likely be incredibly useful once they were able to get back to Velenia and Velencya.

And he wasn’t convinced that taking Caedus’s starseed would help the Commodore. In fact, he was pretty certain that the Commodore would be sacrificing himself along with Caedus, and that thought alone made him feel sick and helpless.

Maybe they were researching the wrong things. Maybe they needed to rethink everything. Time was running out.