Shift's Over

When Jessie and Talia arrived, the scene was already tense. Rhea stood tall, arms crossed, as the employer—a greasy, middle-aged man in a cheap suit—cowered in front of her. Behind him, Dax loomed like a mountain, his arms crossed over his massive chest, his gaze unwavering. The man’s eyes flicked nervously between Rhea and Dax, clearly intimidated.

“Please, I don’t know anything else!” the employer stammered, his voice shaking. “I was only trying to meet demand! The workers… the device… I didn’t know it would cause so much damage!”

Dax leaned forward slightly, “Oh, yeah? Then why the guards? Who are you trying to fool here?”

Rhea cut in abruptly, “We want to know where you got that device. Start talking.”

The employer gulped, his face pale. “I swear, I didn’t know! I just… I just bought it off the black market! From a dealer!”

Rhea’s eyes narrowed. “And who would that dealer be?”

“I… I don’t know his name!” the man babbled. “He operates out of the lower districts, somewhere near the dockyards. He introduced himself as ‘Malik’. That’s all I know, I swear!”

Dax stepped even closer, casting a long shadow over the trembling employer. “You better not be lying.”

“I’m not, I’m not! Please, that’s all I know!”

Satisfied, Rhea glanced at Dax, and with a small nod, Dax backed off. The employer practically collapsed in relief.

“We’ve got what we need,” Rhea said, turning to Jessie and Talia as they entered the room. “Jessie, Talia, good work on neutralizing his tech. We’ll take him into custody and call for cleanup. The higher-ups will want a full report on this.”

Jessie smirked, glancing at the terrified employer. “Looks like our friend here isn’t cut out for dealing with time cops after all.”

“Time cops?” Dax echoed.

Ignoring them, Talia turned to Rhea, “So, are we going to bring him in?”

Rhea nodded. “Mira, can you call in backup to secure the site? We’ll take him to the tower for processing.”

“Already on it,” Mira replied. “Backup will be there in five.”

As the team waited for the cleanup crew, Jessie leaned against the wall, his arms crossed casually. “First mission in the bag. Easy.”

Talia, standing nearby, crossed her arms as well, her tone softer now that the tension had dissipated. “Easy for you, maybe. Let’s try to keep things a little less ‘improv’ next time, okay?”

Jessie grinned, flashing her a wink. “I can’t rule out the possibility of that just yet.”

Dax chuckled from the other side of the room. “Don’t worry, Talia. I’ll keep an eye on him so he doesn’t cause a nuclear explosion at the least.”

“That’s not a sentence you casually stick ‘at the least’ in the end Dax.”

While Mira commented, Rhea glanced at the group, a small but approving smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Good job everyone. Let’s head back to HQ. We have a lot to report.”

The team escorted the employer out of the facility as the backup arrived to handle the cleanup. As they boarded the Chrono Strider, the squad shared a brief look of understanding. Talia’s and Jessie’s first mission as defenders of time had been a success, but they all knew that in this field nothing was certain.

Even still, that didn’t keep them from feeling the satisfaction of a job well done.

◔

The quiet hum of the Chrono Strider had long faded, replaced by the soft sounds of Neotera’s streets as Jessie made his way home. Talia’s words from earlier in the day replayed like a broken holo-message in his head, echoing louder with every step.

“Now I can see why the Valis accident happened… Maybe recklessness runs in the family!”

Jessie exhaled sharply. It wasn’t like he hadn’t heard that kind of thing before. It was just different hearing it from someone like Talia—a squadmate. Someone who actually mattered. The sting was real, and no amount of deflection could change that.

He stopped in front of the modest apartment building where he and his mum lived. Jessie stood there for a second, staring at the door. Usually, coming home felt like shaking off the weight of the day, but tonight it felt different. It felt… heavier.

As he reached for the door, the memories rushed back—the whispers about his father, the looks, the judgment.

They don’t know him. They never did.

He pushed the door open, the familiar scent of his mum’s cooking washing over him like a warm blanket. He couldn’t help the slight smile that crept onto his face as he kicked off his boots.

“Jessie?” His mum’s voice came from the kitchen, soft and full of warmth. She appeared in the doorway a second later, wiping her hands on a towel. “Oh good, you’re back. How was the mission?”

Jessie grinned, doing his best to shake off the weight of his thoughts. “Easy. Saved the day. Time’s safe for another 24 hours, you know how it is.”

His mum, Nia Valis, raised an eyebrow, though there was a glimmer of amusement in her eyes. “And no trouble this time?”

“Trouble? Me?” Jessie placed a hand on his chest dramatically, feigning innocence. “Come on, Mum. I’m practically a model knight.”

She laughed softly, shaking her head. “Of course you are.”

But as she turned back to the kitchen, Jessie hesitated. He followed her in, leaning against the doorway. The warmth of home, the steady rhythm of normalcy, it all felt distant tonight. There was a knot in his chest, something heavy that refused to untangle.

“You look tired, Jessie,” she said gently, not looking up from the stove. “Something on your mind?”

“Me? Tired?” Jessie quipped, though his playfulness lacked its usual spark. “Nah, just thinking. Dangerous activity, I know.”

She smiled, but didn’t push him. “Go wash up. Dinner’s almost ready.”

Jessie nodded, though he lingered for a moment longer. His gaze drifted to the side, his thoughts swirling back to the mission… and to his father.

In his mind, Jessie was back in his father’s study, sitting cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by towering stacks of books and glowing holo screens. His father, Thoma Valis, was leaning over his desk, scribbling notes and diagrams that Jessie didn’t fully understand but still found fascinating.

“Dad,” Jessie had asked, “if we can manipulate time, why don’t we just go back in time and fix everything? Like… why doesn’t everyone just use chrono energy to make the future better?”

Thoma, absorbed in his work, glanced at his son with a thoughtful expression. “You’ve been reading again, haven’t you?”

Jessie nodded eagerly. “Yeah, but… doesn’t it make sense? If we can change the past, shouldn’t we fix things? Make sure nothing bad ever happens?”

Thoma set down his tools and turned to face Jessie fully. His expression was serious, but there was a warmth in his eyes and a fatherly smile tugging at his lips. “It’s not that simple, kiddo.”

“Why not? If we have the power, why not use it?”

Thoma sighed, pulling up a chair next to Jessie. “Changing the past isn’t just a matter of having the means to do it. It takes an enormous amount of Chrono Energy to even alter a single moment in time. And even if we could gather that kind of power, there are consequences.”

“Consequences?”

Thoma nodded. “Time is fragile. Every action, every decision—big or small—creates ripples. Changing the past might seem like a way to fix things, but those ripples can lead to unintended consequences. You might solve one problem, but you could create a dozen more in its place.”

Jessie tilted his head, trying to wrap his mind around it. “So… we can’t fix anything?”

“It’s not about whether we can,” Thoma said gently. “It’s about whether we should. Just because we have the power to tamper with time doesn’t mean we should do it on a whim. Time has a way of balancing itself, and trying to force it to change can lead to disaster.”

Jessie furrowed his brow, still not entirely convinced. “But… what if someone could do it right? Like, change just one thing for the better?”

Thoma smiled softly. “That’s the dream, isn’t it? But even the smallest change could unravel everything we know. That’s why we have to be careful—why the Chrono Knights exist. They don’t just control time; they protect it. They make sure no one, not even someone with good intentions, can cause harm by altering the past.”

Jessie sat quietly, processing his father’s words. “So, you’re saying it’s dangerous?”

“I’m saying it’s more than dangerous. It’s unpredictable. And that’s why we need to respect time, Jessie. We can’t control it, not really. But we can guide it, protect it from those who might misuse it.”

Jessie blinked, the memory fading as quickly as it had come.

His father had dedicated his life to understanding time, to protecting it. But the world had shunned him. The Valis Accident had turned his father’s name into something people whispered about in dark corners, something they feared.

And now his father’s life had ended, during an event nor Jessie, nor the Knights, not anyone could change.

And yet, despite everything… Jessie didn’t believe his father had been reckless.

He was trying to protect the world…

Jessie stood there for another moment, the weight of the day pressing down on him. Talia’s words had cut deep, but they also stirred something inside him—a sense of resolve. He wasn’t just doing this for himself. He was doing this for his father, for the man the world didn’t understand.

I owe it to him to make our name respectable again.