The Strono family spent their holidays in Egypt, Sharm-el-Sheikh, where Dorothea and Harald spent their free time exploring the reefs and marine life. Due to the introduction of the federation new technologies have been introduced and scuba divers were able to reach depths of 200 meters without any problems. During that time, Alex's grandparents took him to the beach to relax and take his mind off of Force manipulation and training. The sand was glistering hot most of the time, only cool enough to endure in the respite of the moving shadows. The water instead had the perfect temperature to enjoy a whole day in it, swimming, snorkeling or surfing.

The talk they all had to have, about their future, could wait a few days.

The family stayed in a large compound encircled by pristine white stone walls, two one story houses standing in the middle of a luxurious garden with swimming pool. Beside it, a pavilion could be found under which a long dining table with comfortable seats stood. One villa was slightly longer than the other, the former being where Alex and his parents had their bedrooms. Both of them had classic Egyptian designs and where located just a short walk away from the refreshing sea.

Alex slowly adapted to the changes in his body too and in the first week he only circulated Force through his body to not stress it too much. While the young prodigy was acclimating himself towards his personal technique his grandfather was thinking of ways to unburden the whole family from the uncertainty the future held.

He knew that to keep his grandson's secret hidden, Alex would have to keep his head low and not stand out too much, while his training could only be done in the privacy of their home. Nonetheless he began preparing for a time when the secret still came out, diligently practicing with a bamboo training sword he bought online. He downloaded all kinds of martial arts into his brain, with his UC, but to utilize them his muscles had to adapt to and remember the movements. Additionally Kazimierz tried everything to accumulate just the tiniest amount of Force, although to no avail. Inepts where barred from utilizing the energy consciously and in the whole history of the I.F. no individual could cross that limitation.

After half of their holidays were expended in that manner. The family came together one day, while Alexander was training his Force circulation, to talk about the potential danger the upcoming years held. The little genius didn't need to be present as a kid, his age, shouldn't be allowed to worry too much, about his path ahead.

"Let's go with his teacher's suggestion to test ourselves for an inherent bloodline and try to get citizenship in the Paketas' territory." Dorothea started, "After thinking about it for the last two weeks I came to the conclusion that we should trust Mrs. Natpiea, she could have ratted us out already, then someone would have gotten to us already!"

As a doctor she didn't worry that her husband and her would lose out on job opportunities and leaving earth behind was a small price to pay to keep her son's future secure.

"While that is a valid argument and I, too, do believe we can trust Natpiea to some degree, we shouldn't do so for her whole species. I researched the Paketas and although they truly don't just start a war out of greed, their top brass has their own species' interests in mind and wouldn't hesitate to throw us out the first moment a stronger force makes their claim on Alexander." Harald countered since he has done some investigating because of his distrustful nature, "I could get behind doing some exchange with a lot of secrecy clauses in our benefit but that too would leave us at their mercy until Alex is strong enough to bargain for a good deal with the top members of the I.F."

"I wholeheartedly agree. I also did study about the Paketas and their military forces would just rank in the middle of the federation, anyone more powerful would be able to threaten them enough to hand us over. Not to mention that though they are indeed pacifistic in interracial conflicts but that is just the case when it happens with stronger forces, weaker ones are often decimated and brought into submission in a very cruel way. I would leave this option for our last choice, but suggest we could use Mrs. Natpiea's connections, she surely has, to secure an escape route in case shit hits the fan." supported Kazimierz his son-in-law.

The calculated rational thinking and thorough consideration of every possible option was the reason all members of the Strono family respected Kazimierz and why Harald even took his surname, instead of using his owns parents's name.

"Well, that concludes the topic about the Paketas, I guess, that will be only our last plan. Asking Alex's teacher for help would be fine but we should still leave room for more options." answered Harald, happy that he didn't have to lay his life into the hands of others.

"Shouldn't we also talk to Alex about all of this? It's his life in the end and although he is still young he should be allowed to speak for himself!" Irena, who hadn't said much until now, spoke in mild outrage, she didn't like talking behind the back of the person who's future was in question.

"We can let him chime in his input after reaching some options ourselves first. I know, with the UC's advent, childhood is different now than it was in any of our times but I still believe that a five and a half year old kid shouldn't be put into the position where he has to decide about his whole life in such a short time. That kind of stress isn't healthy for adults so such a small child would definitely experience much worse adverse effects. Let us just give him some simple options and keep the emergency plans for ourselves until he is older." her Kazimierz reasoned with his wife, trying to make her understand that Alex was simply too young to comprehend the situation as a whole, a child was still a child, whichever era it lived in.

Having known the reason behind their exclusion of her grandson beforehand Irena quickly regained her calm, understanding that it was for the best.

For the next two hours the discussion and planning continued, the conclusion being that they would reject Kathia Natpiea's offer for the moment and try their best to hide Alex's talent as a secret themselves, keeping the teacher's help as a last resort. Harald and Dorothea would smuggle some equipment out of their workplace to test their bloodlines on their own too, if an opportunity arose.

They did plan to get Kathia's help for teaching them to utilize any potential bloodline they might have, though.

After finally coming to a final decision they decided to wait until the next day to consult with the person in question as it already was past midnight.

"So these are the solutions we could think of and want to know your input now." Irena brought up the topic after the whole family was done with breakfast and were sitting relaxed under the pavilion, hiding from the burning sun.

"I don't really have anything else to add, I guess. I just want to explain the situation to my teacher as well so she isn't left in the dark." Alex knew he didn't have much of a choice in the matter but even so he wanted to return Mrs. Natpiea's kind intentions and tell her the reason of his family's choice.

"That is fine and we will definitely need her help with your training. As a trustworthy teacher she could help you a lot and maybe she would be open to tutoring you privately. In that way we could hide your talent and powers from the rest of the world and you would still be able to receive proper training." his father answered him, happy that his son was wise enough to not stubbornly insist to show off his talent.

With the adults confirming that Alex would adhere to their plan they could finally enjoy the rest of their holidays with peace of mind before their everyday stress returned.