Star was, to say the least, extremely upset. She finally woke up back in her cell at Yoglabs and she shouted, roaring until Professor Xephos came to her cell.
    "What do you want?" He asked with a big sigh, rubbing at his eye, looking like he'd just been pried from his work which he'd been at all night to see her.
    "Let me out!" Star screamed.
    Xephos raised an eyebrow. "Never let you out for all the years you've been here, what makes you think I'd let you go now?"
   Star only looked angrier.
   "You're stuck Star, till you finish doing your time. We've doubled the guards and the thickness of the glass." Xephos tapped on the glass. "You're not taking the easy way out this time."
    "I WILL BE BACK." Star screeched.
    Xephos snorted, walking away, waving a hand arrogantly. "That's what Israphel said too, dear; trust me, you won't be returning anytime soon."
   
Clancy didn't say anything as he packed up his station on the lab table he'd been borrowing from the Sky Army while he was there. He had attended his last class, eaten his last meal, walked the halls one last time. He hadn't been at the base for long, but he would certainly miss it a lot. He had made friends, real friends, who didn't hate him. He was learning new things for once, having fun making things. He was happy...
    But now he had to go home.
    He and Vern had decided to keep in touch through letters although neither were looking forward to a long-distance relationship. Clancy closed his suitcase, staring at it, before he sighed. What he wouldn't give to stay at the base... But he knew Sky wouldn't want him after all the rules he'd broken and the trouble he'd caused. This wasn't his place.
    Clancy straightened up with a big sigh and grabbed the suitcase handle; but before he could lift it off the table, he was suddenly blinded by a very white light. He yelled in surprise, losing his balance and falling back so he was slouched against the wall. He pulled the white fabric off his face and looked down at it in confusion. Then he blinked. It was a white coat. There was a label under the pocket on the right chest:

Sky Army
C. Barlow

    Clancy's eyes widened in shock and he looked up. There was Jason, leaning in the doorway of the dark, empty lab, smiling at him. "I talked to Sky. It's yours, if you want it."
    Clancy was speechless. He was... Wanted? He could hardly believe the Sky Army really wanted him in their science department. Clancy got up and ran over to Jason, hugging him tightly, unable to think of what to say.
    He was just relieved he finally had a place to belong.

June 5th, 2014
    A year and three months had passed since Clancy, Vern, Deanna, Andy, and Exodus formed a team; Team Quanta. They had done so only a week after Star was captured, three days after Clancy became a Cadet. By now, he and Vern had both finished their second year of the Star Academy, although both regularly went to Jason to learn more about their separate fields of science.
    Business continued as usual. Often, the five would all hang out in the lab together after the base had quieted down for the night and most everyone else had gone to bed. They sat there now as Clancy worked on the blueprints for his latest invention. Deanna sat on the edge of his lab table kicking her feet, Vern leaning his back against it right beside Clancy. Andy sat on the stool of a nearby table with Exodus, and they all chatted as always.
    "So what's this one about, and why did you cut a hole in your prosthetic to do it?" Vern asked.
    "It's going to be a hover-board." Clancy said. "Got the idea off General Ellis's friends, what was her name..."
    "A hover-board?" Andy asked, intrigued.
    "Yeah, calling it Project Fly." Clancy smirked. "Already made a few prototypes, although they didn't work."
    "Caerulem?"
    "Yeah."
    Vern looked over his blueprints, before he blinked. "...Clancy, that's going to take mass amounts of energy to get into the air. Where are you planning on getting that?"
    Clancy smirked. "Ever heard of the red diamond?"
    Vern's expression went blank. "No way."
    "Yes way."
    "Well you're gonna be doing that all on your own, there's no way in hello you're dragging me along with you!"
    "We'll see about that one."
    "Uh, what's a red diamond?" Exodus asked. "I thought they were white."
    "Red diamond is a crystal mined and refined in the desert that, if powered correctly, could power a rocket into space."
    "It could also blow up the base, and Farpoint, and Mistral all in one go if it touched a single molecule of oxygen!" Vern said.
    "Ooh..." Andy said. "Didn't you hear? Mistral already got blown up."
    Vern blinked. "What?" He and Clancy chimed in unison.
    "Yeah, it's all over the news." Exodus said. "And that girl who saved General Ellis's ass was from there, the only reason she stayed was cause her home got destroyed."
    "I did hear about that." Vern nodded.
    "Hear about what?" Clancy asked.
    Deanna smiled a little. "Sky got a new apprentice."
    Clancy blinked. "...Really?"
    "Yeah! Isn't it wonderful?"
    "Well, yeah! That's good, he can stop moping around. But I mean, as long as this apprentice isn't a total bitch."
    "Can't tell whether or not she is yet." Vern said. "She's pretty unique."
    Clancy nodded, continuing to work on his blueprints. "Well... Suppose only time will tell then, won't it?"
    Vern smiled just slightly back at him. "Indeed..."

END OF STAR CATCHERS