A Matter of Family

Chapter Nine: Flashbacks

*note to readers* Greetings again! Hope everything's going well on your side! I kinda didn't take the time to fully read through this entire chapter (it's a little longer, sixteen pages), so if you see anything which looks like a typo that I missed, some constructive criticism is welcome. If you comment on what you notice, it helps me to go back and fix it so its better for future readers. Speaking of readers, if you've made it this far, thank so, so very much for choosing to read on! I've seen a few people who've been taking looks at the last few chapters and that really just brightens my day! I hope your enjoying the story to have gotten this far! As I said, this chap's a little long, but hopefully its interesting for ya! Without further ado, let's go!

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During the events of the previous chapter.

"What could've brought them here?!" Keith asked aloud as he and Logan looked up at the Galra star ships entering the atmosphere like something one would see in a sci-fi TV series.

Logan squinted at the cruisers.

"I count about three for now." He announced. "It looks like their planning on landing from how their moving."

"What could they be here for?" Keith wondered aloud.

"I'm not sure." Logan responded with an honest shrug. "This planet is pretty much just woodlands without not much civilization. They wouldn't have any reason to come here, unless...." he suddenly drifted off in thought.

Keith looked at his father upon him not finishing his sentence, and saw Logan's face was crossed between dread and realization.

"Unless, what?" Keith repeated, knowing the answer wouldn't be good.

Logan looked up at his son a moment.

"Unless there's been another quintessence spike." he ventured.

"What do you mean?" Keith asked, an eyebrow instinctively raising.

"Forelongs has never been famous for anything really," Logan explained, "but one thing about it that remains a secret to a lot of the universe is that once in a while, a small pocket of quintessence spikes up in a certain place on the planet's surface. Raw, quintessence. No one knew why, but the Blade of Mamora had discovered it not long after we settled a refugee camp, and we barricaded it and tried our best to hide and protect the recurring quintessence from Galra sensors, which couldn't detect it except at close range. But eventually they found it...."

"...and that's why they attacked the town?" Keith guessed upon his father drifting off a moment.

"Yes," Logan affirmed with a nod, "or at least, that was part of it. The Mamora had set up a small base within the town to keep in contact with the other Blades. They also set up security in that base protecting Blade of Mamora related information and the quintessence information as well. When the Galra came, one fleet had already located where the quintessence was, and the other was ransacking the town in order to conquer as well as gather whatever intel they could. They would have found it if we had not erased all the data in our computer system and fled."

Keith looked back to the cruisers.

"So, why isn't this place overrun by the Galra?" He asked.

"They actually spent a few years sucking up all the quintessence they could, nearly killed the entire planet looking for more, but eventually, they saw no more use for the planet. Surprisingly enough, they left it alone to seemingly rot. But, Forelongs managed to pick itself back up and has been thriving alone and peacefully for several years. Scarred, but alive." Logan explained, his gaze temporarily drifting to the beautiful landscape.