In that moment, the questions that'd been lingering in Zoltan's mind became amplified by the new wave of questions that'd sprung forth from the sudden appearance of this woman. The mystery of who Jordan's mother was had now been added to by the appearance of this woman, now towering over Jordan and demanding that they leave at once to go see whoever 'The Gem' was.

His first guess was that she was simply another one of their guides. The stark juxtaposition of her apparently rude behavior compared to the eerily polite demeanor of their earlier guest served to disprove such theories, however. Leaving Zoltan completely out of guesses and able to only study her physique from behind in search of clues to her identity.

Most notable to Zoltan about her; besides her skin-toned mechanical hands and alluringly hoarse voice, was her long brown hair that was tied in a ponytail with twin bangs that fell around her face and the rest cleanly shaven at the sides, starting at her temples and tapering downward to meet at the point of her nape, giving the back of her head the appearance of a pair of spread wings. A white jacket that appeared to be halfway between a pea coat and a trench coat covered her torso. A high, unfolded collar was wrapped around her neck, giving way to the asymmetrically buttoned top that was bound tightly around her waist, its coattails extending nearly to the top of her heeled boots, tucked into a pair of white slacks.

Secondly.

"Pfft! Jordy! Aha! Ahahaha!" Gelos clasped his hand over his mouth and hunched over himself before he began bouncing in place with barely restrained laughter.

He'd not known Jordan for long, in relative terms. However, Zoltan was sure that Jordan had a strict no tolerance policy when it came to tactlessness behavior, disrespect or condescending demands. Yet, he remained visibly unfazed as he sat there, staring at the woman while casually slurping the flesh of an oyster from its shell. Even after she called him such a ridiculous name.

'Maybe they were an item before.' Zoltan thought. 'He did say he came here a lot as a kid.'

"But, I'm not finished eating yet." Jordan innocently replied as he set the barren shell down on the table, pulling Zoltan from his thoughts.

"Don't care." She immediately scoffed with a jerk of the head. "Now let's go."

With that, Jordan allowed his annoyance and reluctance to be displayed in full. "Oh, come on Viv!" Jordan groaned as his palms slapped softly against the table, only to quickly break contact in order to start throwing pleading gestures towards her and the others.

A comically strange reaction, when seen from the perpetually stoic Jordan Astros that Zoltan knew.

"What's a little wait, huh?" Jordan pleaded, throwing his hands towards her once more. " And where's your manners?" He threw his gestures towards the three of them. "You didn't even introduce yourself to my friends!"

She slowly craned her neck about to look at the three of them in turn, eventually having to turn halfway about in order to look Zoltan in the eyes. And then it all made sense.

'They look like twins!'

The facial structure that never moved, despite the emotions spewing from the mouth; the cold, calculating eyes that vacantly looked about at the universe around them with severe disinterest, the hair color and texture. Besides the voice and hair, everything besides the obvious was perfectly identical in a way that made Zoltan unknowingly uneasy.

Her head spun round once more as she evidently took in the impressions of their crew, then curled her lips in disgust and scoffed loudly across the restaurant. "Your friends look like bums!" She laughed, turning back to Jordan. "Now let's go."

With her words, Zoltan's self esteem only shrank as they meekly ordered to-go plates and packaged up the remnants of their meal.

'Damn.' He sighed to himself, looking down at the coveralls tied around his waist. "That hurt more than I thought it would."

***

"So." Zoltan's droning voice trailed over them from Jordan's right side, gaining the attention of him and the others after only a second or two of singing the word. When he turned, the ghost-skinned Ganymedean's expectant gaze told the Astros all he'd needed to know about the upcoming conversation. "That's your sister?" Zoltan finally asked.

"Yeah." Jordan nodded. "My elder sister. The 24th child of the Clan, Vivian Astros.

At the mention of her name, Vivian craned her neck about to give Jordan a warnful eye from her position in the middle of the alleyways, some ten meters ahead. Causing Jordan to steer the conversations aside to be discussed in privacy. "Don't worry about her," he quickly said with a sigh of relief. "This is the Power of Ananke, the fashion capital of the Galilean Powers. You two are dressed in coveralls." He pointed towards Zoltan and Tobias before moving his finger in Gelos' direction. "And you're wearing a t-shirt and cargo shorts. For all intents and purposes." He shrugged. "She was right. Nobody will like your style in this place. So, regardless of Merit, people will look down on you."

"That's so fucking stupid." Zoltan muttered under his breath.

"Again, don't worry." Jordan chuckled, then paused as they made their way back into the main estate. "That's exactly the reason why we're here."

"If you say so." Tobias dismissively replied.

"I do." Jordan nodded, then craned his neck a few inches forward to where his sister stood impatiently waiting at the main entrance a few meters ahead. "Anyways. I don't appreciate you interrupting my meal time, Viv."

"Yeah, we all know how much of a fat-ass you are." She yelled back at once, rolling her eyes. "But this isn't about me." She added, only after Jordan and crew approached to within arms reach. "Mom hasn't seen you in how long, and what do you do after arriving in the early-ass morning? You keep her waiting. Then, you pout and try to keep her waiting even longer." She scoffed, shaking her head as she turned to push the doors open. "How rude."

'But. She made me wait first. She probably wasn't even awake!' Jordan sighed to himself after his internal retorts had been spent. Yet, he sagged his shoulders and gave his sister a sympathetic look. "Your right. I'll apologize."

"Not to me." Vivian scoffed. "To her."

"Obviously." Jordan snorted out a laugh while pushing past her. "The Starfarer would return before I ever apologized to you."

Ignoring the curses and grumblings that soon followed behind him, Jordan continued stepping through the expansive foyer- past the marbled staircases that curved along each wall and around the floor-to-ceiling statue of Ananke, sitting barren on the top of a pillar with her hands running freely through her hair while a cascade of water flows around her.

Through the foyer, Jordan led his sister and the others into the main living room of the estate. A cavernous stone room with wooden floors and an assortment of bookshelves, trophy cases, screens and couches arranged along the walls. Physically, the center of the space held nothing but the open floors and air that came in any vacant room. Digitally however, illustrations and drawings that were created on the scale of a leviathan-sized beast, fluttered and floated throughout the air. While many of them were the various pieces put together by Jordan's sisters and their friends, a few digital mannequins could be seen. Prototypes for suits and clothes, mostly in trends that had yet to go mainstream. Like Vivian, and her mad scientist theme.

The only other entities in the room were two metal-armed women that were sitting, facing one another on a small couch directly to their right. A pair that Vivian diverted towards, the moment she'd entered the room.

"Ah." Jordan stomped to a halt before pivoting into step behind Vivian. "Gelos, Zoltan, Tobias," he said, gesturing to the two parties of three with each of his arms. "These are my three sisters. Vanessa, Vivian and Valerie Astros."

"Astros-Desai." Vanessa, the 23rd child, calmly corrected, before giving a subtle nod to the three boys. Of all of Jordan's sisters; full and half, Vanessa was most likely the nicest; in relative terms at least. In regards to appearance, she took after their mother. A sand-tanned skinned, plump, squat and stout woman that roughly evened out at 175 centimeters in height. Her hair grew thicker than any of their siblings. Colored a deep wood-brown, it was elegantly curled around the top of her head and neck in a way that made Jordan think that great care went into keeping the piece properly balanced. Not to mention fashioning it in such a way in the first place.

During her nod, Jordan heard Zoltan's unignorably deep voice call out a question to the other two standing beside him. "Desai?"

"Didn't know you liked to hang around losers." Valerie; the 25th child, said, cutting him off at the most auspicious of times. "But then again, if it weren't for mom, you'd be one as well."

"Go fuck yourself, Val." Jordan coldly replied after a short pause.

"Oh, calm down!" She sighed, rising from the couch with open arms extended. "I'm only teasing! It's been too long, Jordy. How've you been?"

Hesitantly, Jordan fell into his sisters embrace and held her in his grip for a few moments longer than he ever cared to. "I've been good." He sighed as he subtly attempted to pull himself away from her. "I-"

"JORDYYYYYYY!"

The bloodcurdling scream wailed off of the stone walls to assault Jordan's senses without warning. In a panic, Jordan wheeled about on his heels and magnified his vision to the source. Then immediately felt a wave of relief come over him, countering the horribly timed surge of adrenaline that just began to course through his system.

At the center of his line of sight was a woman, lunging from her place in front of a side door and falling into a dead sprint towards Jordan. At first appearance, she seemed roughly the same age as Jordan; around twenty or so Earth years. Her skin was deeply tanned and notably unmarked. Long, curly brown hair bounced and swayed with each of her steps across the stone tiles, bringing the fluorescent smile that was spread across the entirety of her rounded face into an ever clearing view as she rapidly approached.

The way she ran and carried herself suggested otherwise however. Even in such a joyous state, there was an unbreakable aura of confidence that emanated from each of her strides. Like she'd seen all the worlds under the sun and has lived enough lifetimes to learn all there was to know about living as a human. So much so that there was nothing in this universe that could faze her.

After jumping into his embrace, she gently cradled Jordan's head and began rocking both of their bodies back and forth as she whispered lovingly in his ear. "I missed you, Son." She whispered.

"I missed you too, Mom." Jordan hugged her a degree tighter, forcefully pushing a bit of air from her lungs that nostalgically brushed against his hair. "Sorry if I made you wait."

"You didn't." She dismissively giggled, pushing Jordan away. "I just got out of bed. But, more importantly." She released Jordan entirely from her grip and pointed to the three others with a nod of the head. "Who are these gentlemen?"

For the first time since they'd entered the room, Jordan gazed upon the reactions. To not much surprise, all of them; including Gelos, were practically standing in place with their mouths completely agape. Causing Jordan to throw a resentful gaze towards the three of them that seemed to barely snap them out of their trance. Forcing Jordan to give their introduction in their stead.

"Tobias Pacheco. A mechanic from Choece, Ganymede." Jordan announced with a gesture towards the bug-eyed Ganymedean, before moving over to the next. "Zoltan Burns, a bartender. Also from Choece. And lastly." Jordan paused as he expectantly looked to his mother. "Igris Gelos. Family Known simply as, Gelos. An immigrant from Mars."

"Oooh." Jemenna perked up instantly and took a step towards the ever more sheepish Gelos, further receding into himself as the infamous woman crept forward to stand just centimeters away from his face. "What part?"

"Kyknos." Gelos muttered. "A toroidal habitat near Phobos."

"Hmm." Jemenna frowned before dismissively shrugging and backing away. "Never heard of it."

"Yeah. It was built after you all… left."

"Figures." Jemenna shrugged again. "Didn't know people still built those things. Anyways, back to what I wanted to ask. Jordan." She turned back to her son with the frown from earlier displayed in full effect. "Why do they look like that?" She bluntly asked, pointing to the three with a stout finger.

'Sorry, guys.' Jordan eyed the others before turning his gaze back to his mother. "They have no style, is all."

"Yeah, I can see that." She looked back to them and blew a soft raspberry through her lips before returning her attention to Jordan with a newfound ferocity. "And why the fuck did you wait until now to come see me, Jordan!?"

It was true that it'd been nearly four months; Galilean, since he'd seen her. Though, when she lived some 26 million kilometers across the void, Jordan figured he had a fair excuse.

"Well." Jordan reached up to begin sheepishly rubbing his head in embarrassment. "I couldn't really afford the trip until now."

If she had any objections, Jemenna didn't voice them as she remained silent and suspiciously squinted at him for a few seconds. Then shrugged dismissively as if the issue had never even existed and opened back up with a warm smile. "Well, no matter," She excitedly said. "You're here now, so we can take all the time we need to catch up! While we do, the girls will give your friends some much needed fashion advice." She paused to take another look at them before curtly sucking her teeth and returning her eyes to Jordan. "Their clothes are so bad, I can't even stand to look at them."

"Can you redesign my suit while you're at it?" Jordan instinctively asked.

"Your suit is perfect, Jordan." She dismissively waved. "I made it myself. And, it's a classic style, so it'll never become outdated."

"It's for this." Jordan accessed the inventory of his personal storage and shared with her the chestplate he'd pulled from Field Marshal Quinn Law's body. "Can you refit this to my suit?"

Jemenna remained silent for a few minutes as she stared off into space, clearly studying the chestplate for all it was worth before she excitedly voiced her agreement.

In a deceiving blur of motion, she lunged forward towards Jordan and began tugging at and unzipping his vest until she'd pulled it free from his arms. With the clothing article held firmly in her embrace and Jordan now shirtless, she excitedly began sprinting away, cackling madly on her way out the side door from where she came and disappearing before Jordan could even begin to call after her.

Inwardly cursing, Jordan quickly began to scan the room for any type of wardrobe or dresser. Finding none, he stormed back through the main entrance of the room in search of a shirt to wear in the meantime. A task that turned out to be a small order, unsurprisingly, considering where he was.

Upon returning to the room only a few minutes later, Jordan was met with his friends standing near the center of the room. All of them leaned back on their heels in a submissive posture while his three sisters towered and talked and looked over their bodies with undivided attention.

Being unwilling to interrupt, Jordan found a secluded spot to sit and watch his party commented and replied to the strange questions and comments being thrown around by the other.

"The warrior-god of laughter." Vanessa innocuously commented, seemingly to herself as she stared intensely at a point somewhere off to the side of the Martian's sheepish body. "Can you smile for me, Gelos?" She politely asked.

Gelos' eyes immediately began bouncing awkwardly from side to side as a sheepish grin curled the corners of his mouth upward.

"Harder!" Vanessa demanded, causing Gelos jump in surprise before awkwardly expose his teeth in a cheesy grin."

"Like a bastard child who'd just stolen something for the first time!" Vanessa continued. "Like you just won your first campaign! Smile!"

With visible frustration, Gelos toiled to keep up with her demands of Jordan's eldest sister until the latter visibly gave up with a throw of the hands.

Looking at her shout demands at Gelos reminded Jordan of how Vanessa used to pride herself on being the eldest of their family. Of how she used to 'take charge' and demand the others to do her bidding on every occasion. And of how she used to get comically frustrated when no one would listen.

"What weapon do you use?" Vanessa instead asked after a few seconds of temple rubbing.

"A gladius!" Gelos proudly exclaimed.

"Any propulsion?" She then asked.

Gelos' face split wide with a natural grin as he bent at the waist to pat at his boots. "In my boots!"

With the declaration, Vanessa satisfactorily rocked her head backwards. "Good." She smiled. "I think I can work with that."

'Well.' Jordan snorted to himself in disbelief. 'That's new.'

"Your scowl suits you,"

Jordan turned towards the owner of the hoarse statement and held back a laugh as he saw Vivian towering over Zoltan so much that the latter's neck was craned upwards to his zenith, and the formers twin bangs hung just above his face, barely brushing against his skin as they danced and twirled freely in the air.

"Er. Thanks?" He awkwardly chuckled in his baritone voice as he bent the knee to lower his posture a few more centimeters.

"No problem." Viv smiled coyly as she pulled back from Zoltan before brushing one of her bangs aside with her metal hand and eying him in an almost dreamy manner. She rested her chin on the butt of her palm after sitting on the floor and simply stared at him for a few moments before blurting out, "You like skulls?

"Huh?"

"I bet with the right mods, your voice will sound nasty."

"Huh?" Zoltan's face curled inwardly in confusion as he shook his head once again.

"What about horns?"

Looking to Jordan, Zoltan questioningly spread his palms out to his sides before reluctantly turning back to Vivian with his face now filled with anger, rather than confusion. "What are you talking about?" He snapped.

Vivian shot her eyes up to Zoltan's and jutted her chin forward as she spat out her words through clenched teeth. "What. About. Horns?"

Zoltan raised his hands to chest-height, palms forward, before taking two steps backwards. "Uh. Sure?" He said hesitantly. "Skulls are a bit cheesy though."

With the answer, Viv suddenly fell back into her earlier state. The feelings of intensity completely gone from her being. "I agree." She shrugged.

Their conversation continued in much the same way from that point onward; with Vivian giving seemingly off-handed comments or questions and either ignoring Zoltan's perceivably harsh tone, or expressing anger at his warranted confusion, until two simple words echoed throughout the room.

Bringing about a period of throbbing silence that infected everyone inside.

Almost.

"Bug Eyes," Valerie said again, staring straight at Tobias.

Before he, her or anyone else could speak, Zoltan and Gelos simultaneously keeled forward in laughter and began rolling about on the ground and pointing at Tobias while they repeated the name.

"Bug Eyes!" They cackled in unison. "That's your new name!"

"What'd you just call me?" Tobias warningly squinted at her. A comical sight when considering the difference in size.

In terms of height, Valerie was slightly taller than Jordan, at just over two meters in height. As paternal traits go, that's as far as Valerie was born with. While still tall, Valerie inherited the thicker physique, as found with their mother. With full cheeks; soft, feline eyes and a head of dense, curly brown hair, she had an appearance that many men lusted over; much to the chagrin of James, Jordan and Jacques. Like her sisters, she was dressed in an asymmetrically buttoned coat with a high collar and long coattails, matched with white slacks and black, heeled boots.

"Or a sloth." Val amiably continued, clearly completely unconcerned with Tobias' inquiry. "Though you don't seem like the lazy type."

"Hmphf." Tobias huffed. "An astute observation."

"Definitely a smart ass though." She chuckled before turning away with a wave. "Let's go with Corvus."

'As expected.' Jordan chuckled to himself. More so than Jacques, Valerie was just as intelligent as she was eccentric. Unlike Jacques however, the entirety of her intellect had been divided and diligently poured into fashion and learning about terrestrial animals, rather than software engineering and IT. Giving her an immense database of knowledge that enabled her to design and craft gear that even their mother couldn't compete with.

"Alright." Vanessa nodded after receiving affirmatory nods from the other two sisters. "Give us a few minutes and we'll have the preliminary designs ready for you all to approve."

***

"Your mother is Jemenna Desai." Zoltan chuckled to himself in disbelief before slowly shaking his head. "How come you never told us?"

"I told Gelos." Jordan shrugged. "And he freaked out. I figured you two would be too embarrassed to freak out if you found out when you met her."

"A fair assumption." Zoltan grunted. "But, your still an asshole."

"The son of two of Gale's founders." Tobias commented to himself. "Unbelievable."

"I really don't think it's that big of a deal." Jordan sighed. "Besides this suit and a childhood in New Bran, I haven't really gotten anything else from it."

"Sure." Tobias sarcastically muttered.

"Guys!" Gelos interjected with a point across the room. "I think we're up."

Looking in the direction of Gelos' finger, Jordan saw Valerie entering back into the room. It'd been around thirty minutes since they'd been left to their own devices. In that time, the crew found the nearest section of couches to sit on and watched as the sisters stared off into digital space and began tracing invisible shapes in the air with their fingers. About five minutes had elapsed since Valerie had abruptly stood from her section of the floor and purposefully left the room.

Seemingly causing Zoltan and the others to begin outwardly voicing their internal monologues.

Now with Valerie's return, such thoughts seemed to have dwindled back to the privacy of their minds as they all watched her move towards the center of the room with a large gray helmet cradled gently between her arms.

"Do any of you know what this is?" She asked, turning to them and presenting the helmet at arms length.

"Yeah." Tobias immediately replied with wide, envious eyes. "A DreamScape. One of the first exports from the Saturnian Empire."

"Exactly." Vanessa nodded. "In simple terms, it allows the user to project their thoughts onto a digital canvas. Turning a mental image into a digital picture, in real time."

"Sounds interesting." Zoltan frowned admirably while nodding his head.

"They say the inventor became a monarch for being recognized by the Empress after its debut." Tobias continued. "But they're grossly expensive! How'd you get one?"

"Birthday present." She coyly shrugged.

"From her boyfriend!" Vivian teased from behind her.

'Boyfriend?' Jordan internally spat. Immediately, his thoughts began to swarm with questions about who the implied man was- what he does for merit, where he came from, what he looked like. Questions that all had to be squashed deliberately by Jordan's stream of consciousness. 'Good for her.' He smiled.

With a swipe of the hand, the paintings that'd been floating and drifting around throughout the space faded until the comparatively bleak walls were all that remained in their place. With another swipe, three digital mannequins suddenly appeared into the air above the sisters, prompting excited gasps to trail from the three of their lips.

"Well?" She excitedly asked. "What do you think?"

"Yes."

"Absolutely."

"Looks amazing!"

The three replied almost immediately.

"Great!" Vanessa eagerly clasped her arms together. "Then we'll finalize the design and start production! Come back tomorrow and we'll have them ready for you."