Location: Magicon Empire; Valterion Duchy; Valterion System; Nua; Alburgh

The next day, we're all ready for our appointment with Doctor Philipps. After breakfast, Dad has to leave for an appointment, unfortunately, but Mom agrees to accompany us instead.

She teleports us close to the doctor's office and we enter it shortly after. Surprisingly, it's still the same blonde assistant who greets us and tells us to wait for a few minutes until the doctor is ready. I'm starting to wonder if he's only got the single assistant employed.

Ten minutes later, a door in the back opens and Doctor Philipps steps into the waiting room. He seems to be in his business persona again. "Morning, you're here for longevity treatments?" He waits for our nods before continuing. "Good, follow me."

Doctor Philipps turns around and walks down the hallway without checking if we're following. Alina gets up and whispers in my ear. "That's your special doctor? He doesn't sound very friendly…"

I just smile and whisper back. "Just wait, you'll be surprised."

We follow the doctor down the hallway while Mom stays behind to talk to the assistant. After a few meters, we enter another room through an open door. It closes behind us and the doctor asks us to sit down. Then he explains a few more things about the longevity treatments before another door opens and Ronja enters the room.

"Ronja!" I jump up to hug her with Lucy and Lydia right behind me. We introduce her to Alina while the doctor looks a bit annoyed.

"Take your time with the reunion," he finally says. "I'll start with your friend in the meantime. Follow me."

He nods at Alina who stands a bit awkwardly to the side while Lucy, Lydia, and I exchange news with Ronja. I feel a bit bad, but we haven't seen her in a while. I give Alina a thumbs-up and she follows the doctor.

Once the door closes, Ronja has some bad news for us. "I met Jack, Greg, and Alex a few months back… They told me about your plans for the Earth adventure and how you plan to include all of us. Unfortunately, there is a problem… I'm too old. I can't join you."

Shit, I haven't thought about that! "Oh no! I forgot that you are older. I'm so sorry, Ronja. But I'm pretty sure I could ask Grandpa John for an exception."

Ronja shakes her head with a slight smile. "No, don't worry… I wouldn't have been much help anyway. I still have so much to learn. Just send me a few pictures or something. I've got enough time to visit Earth once it's open for everyone."

"You sure?" I ask again and Ronja confirms. I leave it at that, it's her decision. We continue to talk until Alina is finished. She asks Lucy to go to the doctor after her. Then she turns back to us. "Wow, you were right. It was like he switched into a completely different person! That was wild."

I laugh at her reaction. We were all the same the first time. "So how was it?"

"Oh, it was completely relaxed. I didn't feel a thing and then the doctor told me he was done already. I've got now the perfect foundation for future treatments and I won't look older anymore. At least for the next fifty years or something, but that should be more than enough."

When Lucy returns, she basically tells me the same and sends Lydia to the Doc. After she's back, it's my turn. Doctor Philipps leads me to another room next door and when the door closes behind us, he's suddenly all smiles.

"You're back so soon! Ah, splendid. You must like me!" He chuckles and points at the medical bed in the middle of the room. "Please lie down, then we can get started."

I do as he asked while smiling. "Of course, I like you, doc. You're the one who unlocked my magic after all."

Doctor Philipps grabs a syringe and steps close to my bed. "True enough. Now, are you ready to proceed? Your treatment will be a bit different, as I'm not only stopping your physical aging process but also giving you your first enhancement in lifespan. While Song Medical made the whole process as smooth as possible, they still didn't manage to make the very first treatment completely painless… That's why I'm offering to put you to sleep with this little thing here." He indicates the syringe in his hand.

I look at it and think for a moment. Yeah, I don't want to hurt! "I'm going to take you up on your offer, doc. Please go ahead and I'll see you once we're done."

He nods. "As you wish, sleep well." He bends down and I feel a slight poke in my arm, then a great tiredness overcomes me and I'm fast asleep within seconds…

I open my eyes to find myself in a different room. Blinking, I look around and spot Mom sitting on a chair next to my bed. "Morning, Mom!"

Her head jerks up and she smiles. "Welcome to the land of the long-living, Sara!"

I laugh at that and sit up to hug my mother. "I don't feel different, Mom."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Perfect, then everything went right. Come on, let's get you checked out. It's almost time for lunch and I guess you are hungry after your little nap."

My stomach rumbles right on cue and we both laugh. We exit the room and find Doctor Philipps next door. He does a quick checkup and when everything is fine, we say goodbye.

The other girls are sitting in the waiting room and talking with Ronja. We join them and chat for a little while. Turns out Jack, Alex, and Greg had their own longevity treatment a few months back. The rascals didn't breathe a word of it during our calls!

Lucy immediately calls her brother and rips him a new one. Apparently, they wanted to surprise us when we see them next time. Oops, I guess.

Anyway, Ronja accompanies us to a restaurant and we eat together. Afterward, it's time to say goodbye again though. We promise to see each other at least once before we go for the Earth adventure, and then Mom teleports us back to the house.

Back there, we sit down in the living room and Mom looks at us with a big smile. "So, what are your plans now?"

I take a quick look at my friends. It's Friday now… If we hurry, we might be back somewhere on Saturday night. That'll leave us with a day to spend with our friends at FBC. On the other hand, we could stay for the remainder of the day and go out to chill in Alburgh.

"I guess, we don't have any plans right now… We'll be probably heading back to Imperia in the evening or something."

Both Lucy and Lydia nod along. Mom smiles even wider. "Perfect, then I've got something for you. How about you leave right now and make a stop in the Cintman System?"

Cintman System… Where have I heard this before? It's been a while. OH! It's the Peacekeeper system. Does that mean? "Is the communication blackout finally lifted? Can we say hello to Maja, Shay, Simon, and Thomas?"

"Got it in one! You have to go there as Sara Green though. We'll put it under the guise of you meeting your Peacekeeper company for the Earth adventure."

I jump up to hug her. "You managed to get all of them assigned to our group?"

"I did, but you didn't make it easy for me… Including Lisa Song in your group made it much more difficult. But I managed to do it anyway."

"Sorry," I mumble sheepishly and step back.

Mom just laughs and looks at Alina. "Actually, you're the linking piece now, Alina. Both you and Maja are sponsored by the Valterion Foundation. Therefore, I asked Dan's great uncle who's the president of the foundation to throw his weight a but and ask that the two of you be together in the same group."

She blushes and looks like she doesn't know what to say. "Err, you're welcome?"

That makes all of us laugh for a while. But we find ourselves back on the Stargazer soon after. I'm not wasting any second when I can finally meet my friends at Peacekeeper Academy!

Location: Magicon Empire; Armortec Duchy; Cintman System; VS Stargazer

I push myself to the limits and we make record time. We arrive close to one of the wormholes leading into the Cintman System right after midnight. I'm totally exhausted though and slowly walk down to my cabin to sleep. Clara takes care of the ship and Lydia volunteers to stay awake and talk with the Peacekeepers guarding the wormhole.

The Cintman System is heavily secured and access is restricted. Starships can only enter through the dedicated wormholes. Luckily, they are enhanced ones. Any ship teleporting in directly is greeted very aggressively and if they don't stand down immediately, they are shot down. Mom gave us clearance codes that will allow us to enter and ultimately meet with Maja and the others.

Lydia will take care of it. That's the last thought I have before I collapse in my bed.

On Saturday morning, I'm gently awoken by Clara's voice in my ear. "Please wake up, Sara. The others need you on the bridge."

"What's wrong?" I groan and slowly sit up while wiping the sleep out of my eyes. I start putting on my clothes while Clara explains.

"Lydia brought us safely through the wormhole and we're now in the Cintman System. She proceeded with contacting Commander Lackney who is in charge of Maja's cadet ship."

"That sounds good… So what's the problem?"

"Sorry, I haven't made myself clear. There's no problem, but Maja's ship is currently on the other side of the star system. So we need you to teleport us over there if we want to make it back to FBC in time and still meet Maja."

"Oh, sure, I can do that. But are we even allowed to do this? I mean they made all that fuss with not teleporting and everything…"

"Yeah, we're allowed to teleport. Otherwise, I wouldn't have suggested it, right?"

I ignore her snark and finally exit my cabin. "Sure, that makes sense. Do I have time for breakfast before I make the jump? I could use a bite."

"Sure, you also have to talk to the commander first. I think he has something planned… I can reroute a call down to the mess hall if you don't want to waste any time."

I ignore the bridge elevator to my left and walk down the hallway toward the mess hall. "That's a great idea. It'll speed things up. Oh, and you can ask the others if they want to join me for breakfast."

Lydia just went to bed two hours ago. I'd prefer to let her sleep for a bit longer… Lucy and Alina are on their way though."

"Yeah, she deserves some sleep, thank you. You can initiate the call whenever you're ready."

"Gotcha! Just remember that there will be a slight light-speed lag due to the nonmagical nature of the call."

"Oh, shouldn't I just use the Communication spell instead?" Now that I think of it, why would we use normal communications with them? Magic makes it so much easier…

Of course, Clara has a reason readily at hand. "It's all about proper protocol. We're not part of the Peacekeepers and so we're technically outsiders. Forming magical connections with outsiders isn't allowed as it could compromise the affected Peacekeeper. It would be different if you were here as Sara Valterion for obvious reasons, of course."

That makes sense… It's not that I haven't dealt with light-speed lag before. I hope it isn't too much or it will be very annoying. "Gotcha, thanks, Clara."

While I prepare my breakfast, Clara initiates the call. It connects basically the same time I sit down at the table to eat. A hologram appears before me and shows a middle-aged man with greying hair and blue eyes. "Good morning, Miss Green. My name is Commander Lackney, and I'm in charge of cadet Captain Yarin's recruit ship. Your crew informed me that you wish to make contact with them in preparation for the Earth mission. I assume that's still the case?"

I swallow my cereal and smile. "That's correct, commander. We were in the vicinity of the Cintman System when we heard that the communication blackout was lifted, so we decided to drop by and say hello. I hope we're not causing any inconvenience."

The man shakes his head. "Oh no, not at all. Your arrival is actually rather convenient as this brings the possibility for a special training mission if you are willing."

He waits for a moment, clearly checking out my reaction to this. The light-speed lag stretches the moment even further. I just shrug and smile back at him. "That sounds interesting. I'm all ears, as long as my crew isn't in danger."

He grins wolfishly in answer. "There won't be any danger for you at all. But let me explain…"

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