Skysong's "Ha" Story

Typed up as requested

Author's Notes: It is strongly recommended that you read the book Wraith Squadron by Aaron Allston and Skysong's profile before you read this story. If you are too lazy to read the former, I will not get the necessary quotes for you at all. Ever. That is a waste of my time.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Ton Phanan, Star Wars, or anything related to those topics. Lucasfilm does. Please, do not sue the author(me). I apologize if anyone is out of character. I do own SCA. Contact me if you want to use it in a story. I also own Pigpimples (it is based loosely on Harry Potter, who belongs to J.K. Rowling, not me. Thank heavens!) The song "It's a Small World" belongs to Disney, but the mice belong to me. Several times there are quotes from the BBC recording of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and I will document them in the back of the story, eventually. I also quoted bits of things from an online RPG called The Two Towers. I do not own that either. If I have missed anything, please email me at hedgewig@yahoo.com and I will attend to it. If you see any grammatical or spelling errors, do the same. Part One is in no longer in short form. Also: readers will please note that this is becoming more and more autobiographical. Don't worry. I'm not actually writing an autobiography. Thank you for reading this lengthy paragraph. >^v^<

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Dedicated to: Wouldn't you like to know? (me too, actually!)

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Prologue- Legend

Planet Miravin, 91225 turns, Year of the Dog~

The Great One looked down upon the Smaller One. -Great and terrible things will soon happen, little one. Great . . . but terrible. I am sending you to a planet far from here where you will be safe.-

-But I don't want to go! I like it here!-

-You are a child. These choices are not for you. You must go! You will go.-

-No, No, No! I . . . I am afraid!-

-Fear not. I must ascend into the above, and you cannot go, my little halfling. Remember, She who thinks she is lost before she has started is truly lost. She who is lost, however, can be found. You will find courage. I will open the portal now.- A great swirling mist opened up before them.

-Good bye, young one!-

-Good bye . . . Mother!-

Skysong's Ha Story: Dogworld

i. Blue Canary

I hoisted my pack and looked around the crowded station. Platform Nine . . . Platform Ten. Where was the way into this Hogwarts place? After all my study with the Archmages, and Lufterin priestesses! The thought hit me with the impact of a large, heavy falling tree. Follow the people with owls and trunks, you dolt! Sometimes inner thoughts can be a trifle rude. I followed a guy with red hair, lots of freckles, and a rather tiny owl. I made it through the doorway-concealed-as-a-very-solid-looking-brick-pillar and saw the scarlet steam engine getting ready to puff away. I ran and jumped on the back platform of the last car, and clung. Since I never received an official acceptance letter, I thought it better not to be noticed until I reached Hogwarts. Two hours later I was seriously reconsidering the wisdom of that choice. I was getting very cold, and hungry.

When the train finally reached the station, I was glad. I jumped down, and hid in the shadows until all the other students were out, and on their way to complete the journey to Hogwarts, in carriages or boats. I waited until I was sure they were there, and teleported myself to the front doors. No one was their. I knocked, a little timidly at first, then louder, and louder. No one came to answer. If I knew what the inside looked like I could've teleported in, I told myself glumly. I sat down to wait. I must've dozed off, because when I woke up it was poring rain. I hammered on the door as loudly as I could.

"Uh, EXCUSE ME?! HELLO? COULD I COME IN PLEASE?!" I shouted to no avail. Finally, reached out with my mind, and found the red-headed kid.

-Excuse me, but could you come open the door? I'm getting wet.- I 'pathed.

WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY BRAIN? He thought.

-Oh don't be ridiculous. I am not 'in' your brain, I am merely communicating to you telepathically. Now are you going to open the door?-

I can't do that! Besides, I don't even know who you are. He had rather primitive thoughts.

-Talk later. Get the wet person inside NOW! Or get a teacher to.-

Okay, okay. I'll get McGonagal to open it as soon as the feast is over.

-You're having a feast? You're going to leave me out here cold, misrebale, and WET, until you're done eating?!-

Yep. Now get out of my brain.

- I already told you, I communicating telepathically! If you don't open the door NOW I'll . . . I'll-

You'll what?

-Sing Disney songs!-

I have a younger sister, that won't work.

-I hate you. I am getting wet. And cold. And I am very hungry!-

Well, I am dry, warm, and well-fed.

-Grr.- I sat down in the driest spot I could find. I was wet, and quickly getting wetter. When the consistency of my skin was about the same as a well-soaked sponge, the door opened, and I heard voices. I jumped to my feet and went to it.

"Excuse m-me but I am v-very c-cold, c-c-could I come in n-now?"

"Good heavens, yes! But why didn't you come in with the others?" She let me in and handed me a towel.

"You see, I didn't get a letter."

"Didn't get a letter?"

"No. I come from a different Planet, in a different D/W/Uetc. and you're the first wizards I found on this planet."

She blinked, "Can you do magic?"

"Well, only a little. I can summon light, and do any wind spell there ever was. Oh, and I have telekinesis and 'pathing abilities. That's it."

"Oh. Do you have a wand?"

"No. I don't need one."

"Don't need one?" She repeated things a lot.

"Right." She took out her wand and muttered something. A large candle stick in a holder appeared.

"Light that." She ordered. I concentrated, and a small ball of white light appeared in my hand, then flicked on to the candle.

"Hmm." She said. She summoned another candle-holder.

"Now move the candle." After years of practice with rocks and boulders, it was easy to "lift" the candle onto the other holder. The woman made a tsk-ing noise.

"Now blow the candle out." I summoned a puff of wind, and the candle went out.

"Very good. From what you've shown me, I'd say you're at the same level of our seventh year students. How old did you say you were?"

"37 turns, or 17 earth years."

"What's you're name?"

"Skysong. Skysong Rândess."

"Follow me." That was how I found myself enrolled in Hogwarts, in the Gryffindor house.

I lay on my bed that night, wondering what the morning- and the next year- would bring.

The next day I woke to sunshine streaming in the windows, kind of like melted butter. I, personally cannot stand cliches like that. Ugh. I'm not a morning person. The woman I'd talked to the night before had said she'd meet me in the dining hall to give me my schedule. I pulled on jeans, and my "You're just jealous because the voices only talk to ME" shirt. As an afterthought I shrugged into the robe I'd been given the night before ("It's our school uniform," the woman had told me). Only then did I notice that I was the only one in the dorm. I swore, and teleported to a broom cupboard I had seen when I came in the previous night. I forgot to reckon for the brooms. Swearing the worst Mirivinian curses I knew on the person who actually bothered to put his/her brooms away, I fought a battle with two mops and a bucket to get out of the cupboard. I fell out, and dashed to the dining hall. The room was full of chattering people in black robes. I felt rather alone, but saw the red-haired kid I'd badgered before. I went over to the table he was at.

"Hi." I said.

"Hi."

"Can I sit here? Please?"

"Sure. This is Harry." He pointed to a boy with unruly black hair and glasses.

"And this is Hermione." He pointed to a bushy-haired girl with a book in front of her face.

"I'm Skysong."

"Are you going to sit down or not?"

"Oh, erm yes." I sat down, and took a piece of toast. As I munched my toast, I listened to Harry and Ron discussing whether or not their potions teacher would poison them all that year. I glanced around and spotted the woman I'd spoken to the night before walking towards me. I wondered what her name was. Oh well. I finished my toast and stood up. She was carrying an ugly circlet of bronze and a quill that had been bronzed. She also had a piece of parchment.

"Put the circlet on," she directed. I did so. A few minutes later she glanced at the parchment. I noticed the quill had been writing on its own. She nodded. She handed me the parchment and left.

"Your schedule." She said, over her shoulder. I glanced at the parchment:

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Skysong's Schedule

Monday

Period One- Potions (dungeons) Period Two- Healing (go to the Hospital Wing) Lunch

Period Three- Herbology (Greenhouse 2) Period Four and Five- Free Periods Dinner

Tuesday

Period One- Double Potions Lunch Period Two- Double Self- Study (self-defense/martial arts recommended) Period Three- Free Period Dinner

Wednesday

Period One- Advanced Charms (2^nd floor corridor, Room 110) Period Two- Arithmancy (West Tower, 4^th floor) Lunch Period Three- Herbology Period Four and Five- Free Periods Dinner

Thursday

Period One- Double Healing Lunch Period Two- Double Self- Study (Tele- Kinesis and Pathic Development recommended) Period Three- Free Period Dinner

Friday

Period One- Herbology Period Two- Healing Lunch Period Three- Advanced Charms

Period Four- Arithmancy Period Five- Free Period Dinner

Saturday

Period One- Care of Magical Creatues (Outside) Period Two- Quidditch Practice (see H. Potter) Lunch Period Three and Four- Quidditch Practice Period Five- Free Period Dinner

Sunday

No Classes

Notes

Period One- 8:00-9:30 Period Two- 10:00-11:30 Lunch - 11:40-12:40

Period Three- 12:45- 2:00 Period Four- 2:30-4:00 Period Five- 4:30- 6:00 Dinner - 6:15-7:15

Free Time after Dinner. Lights Out is at 11:30. Breakfast begins at 6:30. School Supplies available at Diagon Alley, take Knight Bus there today. Do not buy wand! School Supply List on Next Page.

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School Supplies

1 cauldron

1 set of potion supplies

1 Set of Scales

1 broom (not a broomstick!)

1 Magical Engraver (gold)

1 set of basic herbs

2-4 quills

Parchment (lots)

The Art Of Healing by Proctor Gavins

Arithmancy by Edith Prong

1,001 Magical Plants and Fungi and Where to Find Them by Unk Nown

The ABC Guide to Magical Creatures by Dr. Z. Oology

Potions by Felda Winsprogle

Quidditch by W. A.

Advanced Charms (no author)

Optional:

a cat OR toad OR owl OR rat/mouse OR dog

Note: turn this in to Gringott's (the bank) to get the money you need, help Madam Pomfrey in hospital wing at least 10 hours per week to pay off debt.

- Professor McGonagal - Albus Dumbledore Debt Allotment

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With help from Ron (formerly known merely as the red-headed kid), I caught the Knight Bus, and I swear the driver failed his Driver's Ed course. Badly. Basically, driving on roads was not his speciality.

I did get to Diagon Alley, greener than before, but intact (much to my surprise and relief). I went to Gringott's and got the money I needed. I headed straight for the Bookshop, and proceeded to waste half the day browsing. It must of been about noon when I looked at my watch. To my horror/wonder, I realized I was changing into my other form.

(A/N: I am a teenager, with teenage hormones. Hormones affect my changing, when I am content, or angry I go to Hundes Form.)

Instead of becoming my normal, furry humanoid self, I was shorter, smaller. I was a dog. Then, as quickly as I had changed, I returned to normal. I got up hurriedly, and bought all of my books as fast as I could, regretfully leaving Tele- kinesis and Communication: A How-To Guide behind. Then I bought parchment, quills, cauldron, scales, herbs, broom, and engraver. I realized I had money left over, so I lugged my supplies over to the Magical Menagerie.

However, before I could purchase an animal, I felt the all to familiar sensation of fur beginning to sprout along my arms. I had yet to discover why I could not become my usual hominoid dog form. I crushed the sensation, along with all hope of purchasing an animal. I went back to the bookshop. I bought Tele- kinesis and Communication: A How-To Guide as well as Hogwarts, A History and 2,002 Incredibly Annoying Phrases. Then, as an afterthought, I went next door and bought a bag of sweets. I stuffed as many of my purchases into my cauldron. I put the rest into a shopping bag that changed shape whenever it got bored. Then I translocated back to Hogwarts. I put my new supplies away and glanced at my watch. 6:10. I ran downstairs to meet of with Ron, Hermione, and Harry, for dinner.

I hummed a nameless tune as I walked along the corridor. Nameless, because at the time I could not have told you its name if my life depended on it. I nearly bumped into a pale, blond boy who was standing in the middle of the hallway.

"Watch it!" He snapped. I snapped (no pun intended) out of my reverie, and glared at him.

"What are you looking at?" he sneered. Then he looked closer.

"You're the new girl, aren't you? The one they say doesn't use a wand." I wouldn't have minded the remark, if he hadn't said doesn't use a wand like ordinary people would've said is a slut. I felt my blood begin to boil. I do not anger easily. But one thing that will always infuriate me is people who have disrespect of differences. I will not respect such people, much less be friends with them.

"You must be a member of the group of Jack Asses they let wander around inside." I replied.

"You'll pay for that," he hissed.

"Make me."

He pulled out his wand, and said, "Oh, I will." He shot pink sparks at me. He stared in amazement as I caught the sparks in a ball of light, and sent it to a nearby torch. He tried again, but before he could , I had already started. I wove an invisible net of wind, and pulled his wand from his fingers with it. -You can go back outside now- I told the net. He stared as his wand blew away. Then I turned on him.

"Where I come from we have a good phrase to describe people like you." I told him.

"Simply translated: You are a bastard who doesn't deserve the air he breathes." As I spoke I gathered a rope of wind, and tied him up with it. He tried to move, but couldn't.

"Don't like shackles of air?" I asked innocently.

"Good luck explaining how you got stuck on the ceiling to the teachers."

"But- I'm not stuck to the ceiling!" He said, obviously perplexed.

"Oh. How careless of me, I forgot to stick you to the ceiling!" I slapped my forehead in a mock feeling of foolishness. And stuck him to the ceiling with a particularly strong gust of wind. Whunk! -Just keep him there until I'm gone. Then drop him.- I told the wind. Then I left.

I was sitting in the common room, when Ron, Hermione, and Harry, burst in.

"Is it true you beat up Malfoy?" they demanded.

"Who's Malfoy?"

"He's a pale, blond guy. In Slytherin."

"Mmhmm. Is it important?"

"Is it IMPORTANT?! We really dislike that guy, I mean, he's just awful!" Hermione said.

(*v*) (ooo, a penguin!)

The week flew by, and before I knew it, it was Saturday. I followed Harry to the Quitditch Field with my broom. ~Flashback~

I looked up at Harry, who was standing nearby, "Can I help you?"

"Yeah. What are you naming your broom?"

"Huh?" He then explained that due to the cost of a broomstick, I had been told to purchase an ordinary broom, and an engraver. I would name my broom, and port it around the field.

"You're a beater. You take a bat, and hit either one of two black balls (the bludgers, that is) and keep'em from hitting our team. You try to hit'em so they get in the way of the other team." He left. I went upstairs, and got the engraver. After a bit of thought, I christened it the Hawk-bat. ~end Flashback~

"All right guys, this is Skysong. She's new, she'll take Bill's place now that he's graduated." They seemed to shy away from me.

"I don't bite." I said.

"Oh, erm. Uh, it's just that, uh, your, uh, wand. . ." the speaker trailed off.

"Is invisible. Accident in a potions class," I said smoothly.

"Oh. Okay." They were all friendly after that.

(*v*)

Our first game. I was nervous, yet confident. We were playing Slytherin, and Malfoy was their team captain. We walked out on to the field. Harry and Malfoy shook hands. They looked like they were trying to break each other's fingers.

"Mount your brooms . . .3 . . . 2 . . .1!" We were off in the air. I didn't pay any attention to the red Quaffle, or the Snitch. I zoomed after a Bludger, and hit as hard as I could away from one of the chasers.

Later on in the game, I noticed Harry and Malfoy in a dive. I hit the bludger nearest me straight in front of Malfoy. He swerved away, and Harry waved his fist. In his fist, was a small golden ball. It hit me all of a sudden. We won. I did a loop to celebrate, then headed for the ground.

><><

About two months later, around Christmas time, Professor McGonagal announced a Yule Ball. I didn't hear the announcement, I was dressing a third-year student's burn. When I did hear the announcement through Hermione, I shrugged. I had not failed to notice lots of students avoiding me. After my encounter with Malfoy and the Quitditch team, I knew it was because I was one of those who doesn't use a wand. I did not think anyone would ask me. So I was incredibly surprised when Ron asked me.

I will not go into detail about the dance. It was nothing out of the ordinary, as dances go. The aftermath is what is important. Ron began to take me out regularly, to Hogsmeade, the local village, or a picnic on the school lawn.

On April twentieth, Ron and I were having such a picnic. When he stopped talking for a moment and looked thoughtful.

"Skysong, do you mind?"

"Mind what?"

"If I do this." And he leaned over and kissed me.

"Oh," I said, startled, "No."

"Good." And he kissed me again.

A month or so later, we learned that Gryffindor had won the Quitditch Cup that year. So, naturally, we celebrated. Midway through the party, the conversation rolled around to Muggles (a term they used for non-magic folk). After awhile they began to dis Muggles considerably. I was used to this, it happened a lot. Then Ron spoke up.

"I never thought I'd say this, but I think that Muggles are useless. So are all non-magic folk, for that matter." I began to shake with rage. I stood up (we were sitting).

"Define non-magic." I said, barely containing my anger.

"Oh, you know, muggles, ordinary things. People who don't use their wands- " he broke off when he saw my face.

"You are all a bunch of hypocrites! A few minutes ago you were saying you disliked all Slytherin stood for. You were glad they didn't win the cup. Now you're agreeing with them! And what about me? I'm non-magic, by you're definition!" I stood there, seething, my hands clenched. The room was very quiet.

"But- but Skysong! You're different!" Ron told me.

"Different? How? I am I different because I happen to be your girlfriend? Well, I'm not! Not anymore, and not ever! I don't want anything to do with you, not now, not ever again! Not any of you!" I turned and ran upstairs.

(A/N: A song collage is a compilation of a bunch of songs and thoughts. Here is mine from that moment.)

This is where the party ends/ I can't stand here listening to you and your racist friend/ . . ./I feel like a hypocrite talking to you and your racist friend/ . . . /if anything was broken I'm sure it could be mended . . .

What about my heart? My trust? They're broken, shattered.

I'm your only friend/ I'm not your only friend/ but I'm a little glowing friend/ but really I'm not/ actually your friend/ but I am.../ Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch/ who watches over you/ . . .Make a little birdhouse in your soul

Birdhouse? Fly? I snapped the broom I'd made in half. I could hear the music from the party, trumpets and flutes . . .

One Day/ I'll hear/ that trumpet loud and clear/ all together we'll fly away . . .

Oh, I'll fly away all right . . .

She set your gold fish free/ and now she's sighing/ blew out your pilot light/ and made a wish/

. . ./ Slowly twisting/ twisting/ in the wind/ twisting, twisting/ in the wind . . .

I'm gonna blow out more than a pilot light . . .

Person Man/ Person man/ hit on the head with a frying pan/ lives his life in a garbage can/ . . ./

who came up with person man? . . .

Inhuman man. Idiot man. Ron-man got hit with the M-CFPOD! Bang, bang, bang . . .

I shouldered my pack. All it contained was what I'd had before I came to Hogwarts. I'd smeared the ink across the sheets of my bed. The message I'd chiseled on the stone walls with a now smashed engraver read: You are all scum. you don't deserve the air you breathe. if you ever learn the basics of human kindness, which I doubt, you will then qualify for the post of "human being."

Ron- there are not words in English for you. So here: gnik fo s'd'rat'sab, d'rol fo s'loof, na, na, n'atur' li'ch!

I had filled the cauldron with acid, and lit a fire under it. I threw everything else in the fire. I went downstairs, and bumped into Ron.

"Uh, Skysong, I-"

"Go to hell, Ron." Then I slapped him, as hard as I possibly could. I don't know what his reaction was. I had a red haze in front of my vision. I didn't wait for it to clear.

Outside of Hogwarts, I walked slowly to the gate, and pulled a vial from my pack I never wanted to use. Until now. I turned to face the castle and threw the vial as far as I could. It hit the steps and exploded in a cloud of green- gray smoke.

I raised my arms, "<Let these incompetents live as stupid as their thoughts until the end of time>." The smoke enveloped the entire building, hiding it from view. I waited awhile, then pushed open the gate, and went towards the castle.

ii. Whistling in the Dark

In most stories it is the "poor, oppressed" female-growing-up-in-a-male-dominated-society who is under a spell. Not so in what was now Pigpimples. Their own stupidity and lack of charity caused them to bewitch themselves, and that's no joke. Anyway, the former school now looked like a cheap knock-off of Disneyland's "Haunted Mansion," complete with cardboard tombstones and paper "ghosts."

As I entered the "castle," an ugly old man in a purple dress/robe said, "You're late. And students are not allowed to become a . . . ani . . . animals!"

(A/N: I am currently in dog form. Don't ask.)

"I'm not a student. I'm doing a story for the London Daily News."(my so-called "cover")

" Ahhhhhhh, muggle!"

"Oh, shut up." I stalked off. I had to find the chief of these idiots, Fumblehead (Dumbledore) or whatever his new name was. I had to know how much damage I'd done.

(In human form)

" So, what is it like being a wiz . . ." I trailed off. Fumblehead's head was drooping. He began to drool. I shook him, lightly. His head fell off.

"Oops."

One of the teachers came in, "Oh no! The head-" she tripped over his head and fell. I checked her pulse. She was out cold. I picked Fumblehead/Dumbledore's head up and placed it on his shoulders.

"I'll go chat with my frien- er, the students, ok?" I took their silence as a "Yes" and left. I decided to try the potions class.

"Come to order, class." The teacher had a large, bright green wart just above his left nostril.

"Come to order, class."

"Uh . . . you, uh said that . . . already?" the red-head across from me looked confused. It was Ron! Students at Pigpimples now permanently looked confused, this one just looked more confused than normal (if that is possible).

"Oh, who are you?" the teacher was looking at a mirror. I sighed.

The PA beeped: Please excuse the interruption. I would like to make an announcement that all leave to go to Pigsbeere has been canceled, repeat canceled. I have just had an unfortunate love affair. So I don't see why anyone else should have a good time." The PA clicked off. I made a face. The red-head made one back, then fell out of his chair.

"Ronald Weaslebreath and strange-girl-I've-never-seen-before, please see me after class." I swore vehemently under my breath. I didn't want to spend anymore time with my the results of my anger than I had to.

"I said I was sorry! It's not my fault I-" Ron broke off when he saw my glare.

"Listen you brainless git, I'm not a student. I used to love you. Please, don't talk to me. In fact, go away. Please."

"Huh?" I sighed. With an IQ the size of an Oak tree, I couldn't expect much from him. I pulled out a bottle of SCA.

"Here. This works on monkeys. It might work on you." He took a swig.

" Whoa . . . E really does equal MC². Cool."

"Mental note to self: SCA works on newly-dense humans."

" So. What's your plan for getting us out of here?"

"Excuse me? What is this "us" thing? I'm not taking any passengers along. Especially you."

"Yes you are. I'm coming with you."

"Oh no, you're not."

"I'm gonna go get Harry. He'd kill me if I left him out of this." Ronald ran off.

" Yeah, I'll bet he would." I muttered to myself as I wandered around the school, searching for the exit. My search did not last long. When I was about 20 feet away from the door I nearly put an end to the lives of a group of mice on the floor.

"Excuse me," one of them squeaked, "But would you like us to sing a song that will brighten your day and renew your enthusiasm for life?" Without waiting for a response, the mice began to sing, in three part harmony, and about three notes out of key:

"It's a small world after all, it's a small world-" I shuddered and ran.

Ton Phanan sighed. If there was one thing he hated more than cold liver with coleslaw for breakfast, it was airport security. And this planet, Earth, seemed to take an extra long time. It was also slow. Very slow. He checked his wrist chrono. He'd been standing in line for three hours, going on four. Ugh.

I was standing in line, waiting to go through the airport security. I had been waiting for three hours and thirty minutes. I was next in line (finally). The guy in front of me set off the metal detectors. I groaned, inwardly. Not again.

"Sir, please remove all metal objects from your person." The security guard looked bored.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to do that." He looked annoyed.

"Why not? You must comply with the airport rules, sir." The security guard glanced at the person in front of me, apparently for the first time, " If you can't take those off, we'll have to 'wand' you." The guy sighed, and turned around, and for the first time I saw his face. The upper left portion of his face was covered with a prosthetic shell.

"Wait!" I called, "If you 'wand' him, you could cause him to short-circuit!"

" The airport reserves the right to 'wand' anyone they want to, Ma'am. Next!" Furious, I stepped forward and through the security/door-thingy. Then I headed for my plane. EZ-Flyer^TM planes don't have reserved seating, so it's first come, first served. I found a seat, and well, sat. I decided to sulk. I was having a bad day, and sulking seemed a good idea. Right up there with beating the crap out of someone on my to-do list.

"Um, excuse me, is this seat open?"

"Yes." I was still sulking.

"Can I- Would you mind if I sat here?"

" No." I looked at my new seat partner. It was the (cute) guy with the prosthetic shell on his face!

"Are you ok? Well, you're obvious full-circuiting, er-" I was furious with myself. I hate appearing dumb in front of people, especially those of the opposite gender. That's why I avoid it as much as possible.

The captain's voice came on, "Attention, passengers. There has been a slight delay. We will serve coffee and biscuits for your enjoyment. Thank you."

(A/N: English biscuits are cookies)

A flight attendant came up. She was wearing a bright pink dress and a yellow apron. She also had a large pink and yellow bow in her curly blond hair.

"Coffee or biscuits?" she asked. My seat partner looked confused.

"Uh neither, thanks. We're not hungry." I said. He gave me a grateful smile. The flight attendant left.

"Ok, Earth Culture 101: Coffee is more commonly known as Caf, and biscuits are usually edible. Never eat airplane food unless you are A) very stupid or B) very hungry."

"Thanks."

"Well, we have an eleven hour flight plus in front of us. We might as well get acquainted. What is your name?"

"Uh, Ton. Ton Phanan, from Rudrig. My friends call me Phanan."

"Skysong Rândess, from Miravin. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

The captain's voice came on again, "Passengers, EZ Flyer would like to apologize, but there has been another delay. We will serve coffee and biscuits . . . again."

Three hours later . . .

"Passengers, there has been another delay. We will serve coffee. We are out of biscuits."

"Oh, man." I groaned. We finally took off. The food was awful. But we got to watch Star Wars (Return of the Jedi), so the flight was cool. Phanan had an odd expression on his face when the Death Star blew up, and an even odder one when a random rebel star ship blew up. We landed in Vermont. Yea, maple candy in the gift stores!

I was halfway to the rental cars before I noticed Phanan was following me. He followed me until I had the keys to my rental car, then asked:

"Um, can I have a ride, please?"

"Sure. Where do you need to go?"

"Anywhere in the middle of nowhere."

"I'm going there too. Well, actually, the place I am going is more in the middle of nowhere than anywhere else. I hope you're prepared."

"Yeah, whatever. Let's go."

"Sounds good." Phanan placed an oddly-shaped suitcase in the trunk, and we were off.

When we reached our location (a campground with a sign "Happy Campers' Campground: Vacancy-- Closed), I stopped the car. I opened the door and got out. Pine needles crunched under my feet (are there pine trees in Vermont? oh well . . .).

"This looks like a good spot." I said. I looked around the campground. I looked at Phanan.

"You wouldn't happen to have a tent, would you?"

"Ah, no. It is not something I generally carry around with me." A warbling whistle came from Phanan's suitcase.

"Your droid has a tent," I said.

"How did you-"

"Don't ask." We opened the oddly shaped ( I now recognized it as droid shaped) suitcase and Gadget (the R2 unit) gave us a cylinder labeled TENT. We set up the tent and Phanan went inside to check it out. I sat down under a tree. About five minutes later Phanan poked his head out of the tent.

"Good news: built in bed-rolls. Bad news: No food."

"Spoken by a hungry man" I said, and with a flourish I produced a good-sized handful of biscuits and two containers of airplane coffee. Cold coffee. Yuck.

After dinner (biscuits and warmed-up coffee) we sat under the tree and talked.

"Ya know," he said "It took an airplane to make me appreciate hot, good Caf."

"Yeah . . . I know what you mean. That was pretty bad." I stood up. Wham! I tripped over a root and hit my elbow on a rock. Pain shot through my arm and shoulder.

"Ow." Phanan looked at my arm, which was bleeding.

"I'll go get some Bacta patches.

"I'm perfectly," I stood up and hit my head on a branch and sat back down again, " fine."

"Right. I'll be right back." He got up and walked off. He returned with a black bag, out of which he produced some pink patches.

"I don't think you should put-"

"Oh, shush. Bacta patches are perfectly safe."

"But I-" He did not heed my warning and applied the patch. The world instantly grew hazy.

"You drugged me!"

"Had to. You've obviously thrown out your elbow. I have to reset it. You don't want to be awake for that. Trust me."

"I don't believe . . . I'm letting a guy I met on an airplane . . . knock me out . . . I'll get you for that." And then I surrendered to the blackness that had been tugging at my vision.

When I woke up my face was covered with a pink rash. I glared at Phanan.

" How was I supposed to know you were allergic to Bacta patches?!" He demanded.

"If you recall, I did try to tell you."

"Get up quick, though. The ship we're hitching a lift with won't hang around long."

"You're changing the subject, Phanan." But I got up anyway, "Who's giving us a 'lift?'"

"His name is Aleph-One, 0693," He said.

"You don't know who it is?!"

"Relax, it's perfectly safe."

"Oh, that helps."

"Better get ready to leave Earth's gravity field."

"Yeah, I know. It is unpleasantly like being drunk."

"Well, what's so bad about being drunk?"

"Ask a glass of water!"

Phanan and I landed with a Thunk! in the ship's Hitch-hiker Retrieval Port. I know it was a Hitch-Hiker Retrieval Port because a big sign said: HITCH-HIKER RETRIEVAL PORT

I glared at Phanan, "This is obviously some new definition of 'safe' I was previously unaware of."

"Hey, at least we're somewhere."

"Phanan, do the words 'firing squad' or 'execution chamber' mean anything to you?"

"Uh . . . yeah. We're screwed, aren't we?"

"Probably. Unless . . . Gadget? Do you have any replacement parts or anything?" The droid beeped an affirmative.

"Oh, good. Could I have them?" Another affirmative beep. I was given one colander, several tent poles, a large roll of wire, five butter knives, and one metal arm brace. Using these somewhat primitive objects, as well as a tube of grey greasepaint I had in one of my pockets (Don't Ask), I was able to turn Phanan from a Cyborg into a Protocol Droid (sort of).

Phanan grinned at his reflection in a conveniently placed mirror. "You're turn, Skysong."

"Drat."

He laughed, "Gadget, go find a female imp uniform." The droid scurried to the other side of the room and returned with a costume that looked like a cross between a Santa-Claus Elf costume and a tea-towel. I felt myself turn green.

"No. I utterly refuse to wear that."

"Gadget, not imp. Imp as in Imperial!" Whistling innocently, the droid popped a silver cylinder, similar to the one that had contained the tent, out of a hidden panel. This one was labeled COSTUME. Gadget blew a raspberry at Phanan.

"You had one all along?!"

We (Gadget, Me disguised as an Imperial Major, and Phanan the Psuedo-droid) peered cautiously around a corner. No one was in sight. We left the HHRP (Hitch-Hiker Retrieval Port) and headed for the TIE-Fighter Hanger. I had told Phanan I sucked at flying, but he ignored me. Suddenly, a door slid open, and a Lieutenant stepped out.

"Excuse me, Major, but Admiral NoOg has given the order that all crew members . . ." he trailed off. I mustered up everything I had learned in the summer school acting class I had taken, and prepared to bluff my way through the situation.

"Well, excuse me, Lieutenant," I said, careful to put stress on his rank, " But what I am doing does not concern you. I am your superior, and you will address me as such. Also, why aren't you with the rest of the crew? Finally, I'm having a bad day, and you did not make it any easier. And you're breathing my air, an infraction for which I will have to punish you. R2- 0835?"

(A/N: Because I have no idea what Gadget's original number was, I just made it up. So sue me. :p)

Gadget zoomed forward and zapped the Lieutenant three times with his welding arm. The Lieutenant was out cold.

We did make it to the hanger eventually. Gadget was beeping a song Phanan told me was called "March of the R2 Droids" and Gadget was making it up as he went along:

March of the R2 Droids

or Gadget's Song

Beep beep beep,

Bo-eep.

Beep beep beep,

Bo-eep. (sound of people screaming)

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

Dree!

Thup, thup, Yub, Yub,

Bee-e-ep!Beep beep beep,

Bo-eep.

Beep beep beep,

Bo-eep.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

Dreeee!

Thup, thup, Yub, Yub, Bee-e-ep!

Doot, Doot, (sound of explosion)

Reet, Reet, Chirp, chirp, Beeeeep!

Droid, Droid! R2, R2, R2, R2!

Weero, toot, Beep!

Doot, Doot, (sound of explosion)

Reet, Reet, Chirp, chirp, Beeeeep!

Droid, Droid! R2, R2, R2, R2!

Weero, toot, Beep!

Bee-e-ep!Beep beep beep,

Bo-eep.

Translation:

This is the tale of the mighty

droids.

They are the R2

droids.

People are afraid of big rancor,

No, not droids (at least not anymore)

Thup Thup, Yub, here they come.

This is the tale of the mighty

droids.

They are the R2

droids.

People are afraid of big rancor,

No, not droids (at least not anymore)

Thup Thup, Yub, here they come.

The droids blew up the rancor,

Droids are pleased. People cheer:

Hooray for the R2 droids!

They saved us!

The droids blew up the rancor,

Droids are pleased. People cheer:

Hooray for the R2 droids!

They saved us!

That was the tale of the mighty R2 droids.

He repeated this song several times. We did make it to the hangar, but not before Phanan had threatened to remove everything but Gadget's motor.

"Okay, I'm Gray One, you're Two,"He told me.

"Why do you get to be one?"

"'Cause I called it!"He grinned idiotically as he climbed into his TIE.

" Oh, and I'll send Gadget with you." I climbed into the TIE Fighter and turned on the comm.

(A/N: I know droids can't go in TIEs! Nyah!)

"One?"

"What, Two?"

"How do we get out of the hangar?"

"I'm working on it!"

"One?"

"What now, Two?"

"What about this big green button labeled HD?"

"Don't push it!" I pushed it anyway. The hangar doors opened.

"How did you do that?" Phanan asked.

"I pushed the button." I heard him whack his head against the side of the TIE Fighter.

"Hey, One, you're killing brain cells!" We left the hangar and headed away from the Ludicrous's TIE Hangar door-thingy.

"Sithspit! Two, we have unfriendlies at three o'clock."

"Great. What should I do until then?" Then I switched to broadcasting in the clear, "Uh, sorry we're late, guys . . ."

"We'd love to stick around," Phanan added.

"But we'd rather not eat vacuum for lunch." I finished. Then we high-tailed it out of there.

"Two, we are Omega. Try to shake those five on your tail. I hope I see you on the other side of hyperspace . . . and if I don't make it . . ." he didn't finish the sentence. We split off in opposite directions. A moment late, while delivering the fatal shot to a TIE, I saw him disappear into hyperspace. I was alone.

"Gadget?" I said, nervously, "Do you have the coordinates for the jump Phanan just did?"

"<Yes>."

"Plug them in or whatever and activate them when I tell you to."

"<Will do>." I had decided to do a last ditch attempt I hated doing, reverting back to the days in which I stayed a dog way too often. I would follow three basic commands every dog knows: Rollover, Play Dead, and then Run Away to Save Your Sorry Behind. Trainers usually called this last trick "fetch," but no dog in his or her right mind would ever actually bring the stupid stick (or ball, or chew toy, or random enemy body limb) back. Sometimes the dog in question would just run away, then stand there wagging its tail and panting.

Anyway, I waited until an Imp grazed my rear deflector shields, and began a sideways roll, trying hard not to think about the spinning world outside the view ports.

"Gadget . . . NOW!" I yelled, unnecessarily. Then I fired all the artillery I could.

When I got out of hyperspace, Phanan was there waiting for me. I followed him in, and only slightly damaged the TIE while attempting to land. Gadget got out, and I was right behind him. Phanan grinned at me, then his smile faded.

"Admiral Ackbar, sir." He threw a slightly shaky salute. I turned around, prepared to follow suit, when a stun beam hit me. Here we go again, I thought. Why does this always happen to me??

When I woke up I could hear people arguing. Listening to people argue is not one of my hobbies, and like an earthquake, fire, or the smell of burning pancakes, is not it a pleasant thing to wake up to.

"She got an Instant Ace- destroyed five TIEs, four of which she did in one maneuver, and you still think she's an Imperial Spy?! Of all the ridiculous things, I told you already!! The Uniform was a disguise, just like the stuff I was wearing! I-"

"Phanan?"

"She's awake! Now maybe-"

"Phanan?"

"What?"

"Shut up! I was asleep." I sat up.

"I'll help you go back to sleep, sweetheart," Another pilot walked over, aiming his blaster at me.

"Well," I said, "That was two lies at once. First of all, you obiviously do not wish to help me, you want to kill me. Although help and kill both have four letters, they mean very different things. Trust me. For example, I will help you, means "I will aid or assist you in what you are doing without much personal gain." I will kill you means "I hope you have life insurance and a will, because you are about to die." See? They are very different. Secondly, I am definitely not your sweetheart, and I deeply pity the woman who is."

"I guess she's Phanan's sweetheart then," joked another pilot, who was standing next to the first pilot who had spoken. I said nothing, but responded by kicking him swiftly between the legs. I looked at Phanan, who had a crimson flush creeping up his neck and ears. It went well with his eye.

"Let's find you some new clothes, before this happens again, okay?" Phanan picked up his comlink, "Tyria? Face, give Tyria back her comlink! Oh, alright, please give Tyria back her comlink. I- Sithspit, Tainer! If you don't- Oh, heh heh . . . Hi, Tyria. Could a friend of mine borrow some clothes? Yes. No. Shut up! Thanks." Tyria Sarkin entered the room a few moments later, carrying a stack of clothes.

"Bye-Bye, Phanan." she told him, and shoved him out the door.

"See you guys at Down Time!" He called. Tyria grinned and handed me the stack. I changed (I was now wearing a blue three-quarters shirt and jeans).

"Gadget had them and thought they would fit you," She shrugged, "I have no idea where he got them."

"I do. The same place he got the Imp uniform and tent, I'd assume. Where's Down Time?"

"Follow me." She led me down a hallway, and we reached a door labeled "Down Time, this way!". The door opened by itself.

"Glad to be of service!" it called after us.

"Stupid talking door. It's a Crossroads idea. I hate that door." We walked down the corridor, which opened into a large room.

"Welcome to Down Time, Skysong." We walked to a table where the other Wraiths were sitting. I ended up between Piggy and Garik Loran, more commonly known as Face. Face was sitting next to Phanan.

"Would you prefer to switch places? I'll bet Phanan would," Face said.

I gave him the most evil smile I could muster, then told him, "Face, your matchmaking impulses are seriously atrophied."

"Oh, you've been skewered," Piggy told Face.

"That was nothing. You should have heard her tell off an Imp Lieutenant on his own ship!"

"Oooo, Phanan's got a crush!" Face began cat-calling. To my horror I felt myself turning red.

"They blush in sync, too!" Runt snorted. Phanan muttered something about their next visits to the sick bay.

A droid walked up, "I am Squeaky. I will be your server, again. What will you have?"

Phanan went first, "I'll have some of that blue stuff you got in last week. Please."

"And for you?" Squeaky looked at me.

"I'll have the same. Please." He left and returned in a few moments with our drinks.

"So what's your name?" Face asked.

"I'm Skysong Rândess." I tried some of the blue liquid in the cup I had been given. It wasn't bad. Phanan's chrono beeped.

"I have to feed the Prowlers. Care to come along, Skysong?"

"Sure." I drained my drink and follow him out. The rest of Wraiths made kissing noises as we left. I scowled.

<(*v*)> (flying penguin)

"They're so cute!!" Normally, I do not like bugs, but these translucent insects were quite pretty, even cute. Phanan's eyes lit up.

"Would you like to hold one?"

"Sure!" He made me sit on his bed. He carefully deposited the bug on my hand.

"This is Squeak,"he told me, "No disrespect to our Down Time server intended, of course. The one in the cage is Bubble."

"Bubble n' Squeak," I mused.

"Temexitry," it said.

"It likes you," Phanan told me. He sat down next to me and leaned towards the bug with a small box labeled: BUG FOOD. Then the door flew open and Face came in.

"Zeeeee!" Squeak squealed and flew onto Phanan's face. And clung there.

"Uh, sorry to disturb you, I'll be going now," and Face backed out of the room, stifling laughter. We heard him lose control of himself in the halls.

"Ugh. Offa yuck ple!"

"What?"

"I seg, Offa yuck ple!" Phanan was obviously having difficulty taking with a Storini Glass Prowler stuck to his face. I grinned, and reached over to attempt to pry the bug off of him. I had almost succeeded when the door flew open- again. It startled me and I lost my balance and fell- dragging Phanan and Squeak with me. We fell in a tangle of arms and legs, both of us leaning towards each other and away from Squeak. We looked at the door. All of the Wraiths, including Wedge Antilles and Wes Janson, were standing there. Wedge muttered something about chasing Ewoks to Wes, who laughed. Then they left.

"You can't look dignified when you're having fun," Janson's voice drifted back to us. Phanan whispered something and I nodded.

"So, when's the wedding?" Kell asked. I said nothing, but untangled myself and the Prowler. I put Squeak in his/her cage. Then I spun around and kicked him in the solar plexus. Kell staggered into Tyria, for the moment speechless and breathless. He recovered quickly, but not quick enough. Phanan had already managed to slap a Bacta patch over his mouth (to cure its blabbering) and kicked him out into the hall. . . straight into Wes, who looked slightly amused.

"Uh, sorry sir. We were discussing the finer points of a boxing maneuver and-"

Wes waved him aside, "Shut up, Ton." Tyria and I had the unfortunate timing to roll out into the hallway in the middle of a cat-fight.

"And all four of you will be peeling tubers in the kitchen tonight. Now march!" He called back. I gave Tyria a final slap, and got up. Kell bent over to help Tyria up. Phanan gave Kell a push that landed him on top of Tyria.

"So when's the wedding?" I asked impudently. Then Phanan and I made a break for the Kitchen.

I peeled a potato (or its nearest equivalent) and tossed it in the pot. Clunk! Only 14 more to go. I peeled a potato and tossed it in the pot. Clunk! Only 13 more to go! I peeled a potato and tossed it in the pot. Clunk! Only 12 more to go! I peeled a potato and tossed it in the pot. Clunk! Only 11 more to go! I peeled a potato and tossed it in the pot. Clunk! Only 10 more to go! I peeled a potato and tossed it in the pot. Clunk! Only 9 more to go! I peeled a potato and threw it at Kell. Clunk! Only 8 more to go! I finally got to the last potato and tossed it in the pot. Clunk!

Phanan and I looked at each other, and then at Tyria and Kell, who were not quite as proficient at peeling as we were. Very, very quitely, we tip-toed over to an ice bucket that had once contained bottles of beer and wine. Now it was empty, except for melted ice. Even more quietly, we tipped it over Kell and Tyria. Then we ran.

We did not stop running until we reached Phanan's room, and this time he locked the door behind us.

"Whew!" I said.

"Thorvo!" Both Prowlers were in the same cage . . . with two little Prowlers.

"$%#@!!" Phanan swore, "Prowlers reproduce at an extraordinary rate, that's why I kept those two in separate cages!"

"How the . . ." then it dawned on me, "Tyria." I told him.

"Kell." he added.

"They are going down."

"Oh yeah."

"Tyria may not be so willing to lend you her clothes after this," Phanan commented.

"Yeah. We'll have to ask Commander Antilles if we can go on-planet,"I jerked my thumb out the window of the ship at the gray planet with neon green lights twinkling on it, "to go shopping."

"Ah, man! I hate Neddog. It positively the worst planet to spend time or credits on."

"Yeah. I know. But it can't be too bad . . . I hope."

I checked over the contents of my shopping bag before handing them to the cashier. I almost put the last one back. It was a dress that would go perfectly with the pilots' dress uniform. Why and when would I ever need something like this? Oh well, Christmas was coming up soon. This would be my present from me, to me. The shopping clerk handed me a gray bag with pink flourescent writing that said: All-Fits: Clothing for all Creatures-- Now a multi-Star-System company! on it. Phanan checked his wrist-chrono.

"We still have two hours left, and there is a café downstairs. Want to check it out?"

"All right."

"Hi, I'm Larry your waiter, and welcome to Milliway's Marvelous Munchies, home of the original Mega Munchable Meatball n' Mushroom Medium-Sized Sandwhich," said Larry. He was dressed as the kind of clown that explains why some children are afraid of them.

"What would you like to eat?" He handed us menus with the word MENU emblazoned in orange on pea green covers. Nothing in the menus looked appetizing.

"What would you like?"

"I dunno. Could you come back later?" I asked.

"Be Right Back!" The over-enthusiastic clown/waiter left.

"Let's get out of here!" I hissed to Phanan. We departed the restaurant, hoping never to return.

Phanan bought a pastry from a street vendor and we sat on a bench to eat it. He looked surprised when his comlink beeped. He answered it.

"Phanan here. Oh, uh, hello Sir. Yes. The Admiral? Yessir!" He put his comlink away.

"What is it? Who was that?"

"We have to head back. That was Admiral Ackbar." Something was obviously bothering him, so I didn't press him for details. I crumpled the pastry wrapping and followed him to the shuttle. After a short and slightly turbulent ride, we reached the Night Caller. The Night Caller was originally an Imperial controlled corvette, owned by Captain Darillian. It was now owned by the New Republic (specifically the Wraiths) and Darillian was dead, although he made occasional appearances for entertainment (hint: Think Face, former actor).

Admiral Ackbar was quite formidable, at least he was formidable to me. Of course, anyone whose bodyguard shoots you in the arm on site will seem at least somewhat formidable.

"It has come to my attention that you, Skysong Rândess, are an ace. Under other circumstances, there would be some sort of award, but as you are not an official member of a squadron, it will be recognized at a later time. For now you will be a sort of half-Wraith, and you will be Gray 7b. Phanan is now 7a, and you two will be wingmates. Also, you used some . . . unorthodox methods to vape your enemies. I would like an in-depth description of it, please."

"Yes sir. It was really an accident. My planet of origin is not actually Earth, but Miravin." I heard someone gasp. Good Grief, I thought, Its not as if the place is a myth or anything. Then I continued.

"I am part Hundes (that is a dog-like species, for those of you who haven't bothered to read my profile!) and can change into a dog. When I was on Earth, for many years I found more convenient to stay in dog form. Through this I learned two tricks: Rollover and Play Dead. I used these two tricks as the basis to form a new evasive tactic, the Psuedomortis (from the Greek false and death)."

"Thank you. Any questions?" Ackbar apparently wanted to make sure that no one was confused.

"I have one."

"Yes, Major Janson?"

"What's Greek?" I had to suppress the urge to respond "It's all Greek to me," and instead I said:

"An ancient Earth language."

"Oh."

"Any other questions?" I decided that in this case, ignorance was not bliss.

"Excuse me," a nameless pilot asked, "But I was told all my life that Miravin was a myth. I'm confused." I sighed. Apparently it was a myth. Sithspit.

"Miravin is not a myth. I guess there is only one way I can prove this. You'll need a translator droid."

"Lieutenant Webley! Get B-28N in here. He's obnoxious, but he's the only one available!" Wedge yelled into the hallway.

"Yessir!" I decided not to wait, and closed my eyes. I felt the familiar shrinking taking place, and an odd tickling sensation as fur covered me. When I opened my eyes, everything was much, much bigger.

"Woof- grr!" <Is this proof enough?>

"She says, 'This roof is not enough."

"Woof woof Grrrr! GRR!" <No, you incompetent excuse for a translator!>

"I mean, she said, 'A doofus is using snuff.'"

"Grrrrrrr. Grrr. Bow-wow. Woof!"<I've had it. I'm changing back now.>

"Or maybe she said, 'Is that beef jerky tough? '" I changed back. I glared at B-28N.

"What I really said, was 'Is this proof enough? '"

"Oh. You're dismissed for now, B-28N." The droid left. Ackbar began to talk with Wedge about diplomacy. Wedge said something about Adumar. Wes Janson snorted with laughter. Phanan and I left. Before I could leave however, Ackbar called out to me.

"Flight Officer Rândess? There is an extra R2 unit, a member of Gold squadron recently got an R5. I will assign it to you until further notice."

Twelve X-Wings screamed across the surface of a greyish-green moon towards a squadron of TIEs. Admiral Ackbar was having each of the Wraiths tack turns being TIEs and X-Wings. The TIEs were supposed to try out the Psuedomortis. The X-Wings were supposed to avoid it. This was the third pass, and I was beginning to sweat. One of the X-Wings peeled off and came towards me.

"R2-15?"

"<What?>"

"You know what to do."

"<Yes.>"

"On my count . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . 1!" I pulled my yoke and sent my TIE in to a spin. I had almost perfected a sort of way to aim as I spun. I winced as the "canopy" of my TIE opened, to a harsh, glaring, artificial light. I climbed out.

"Nicely done, Skysong. You may go to Down Time, if you'd like, you're done for now. The rest of the Wraiths will join you shortly." I left, R2-15 beeping along behind me.

"R2-15?"

"<What?>"

"Would you like a nickname?" Affirmative beep.

"Hmm. How about 7c?"

"<Maybe.>"

"What would you like?"

"<Tonin2. I once had the opportunity to meet Tonin, Lara Notsil's R2 unit. I admired him/her>."

"Can I say Tonin instead?"

"<Yes>."

"I may have some time this evening. Can I get Cubber to help me make some modifications on you?"

"<Nice modifications?>"

"Yes."

"<If I can have a blaster.>"

"Consider it done, Tonin." Tonin trilled a happy trill. We headed for DownTime. I told Tonin(2) what I wanted.

"You can have an oil bucket." I told him. "You've been good today."He rolled over to Squeaky and chirped. Squeaky looked down.

"Oh. You. What do you want?"

"<One bucket of oil, wet napkin, and blue-stuff."

"All right." I went and sat a table for two. I wanted to be alone, at least until one of the Wraiths came and talked his or her head off. Tonin came over carrying our order. He situated himself next to my chair, and did whatever you'd think droids do with oil buckets. I did the best I could to cool my hot, sticky face off with the napkin. I was "nursing" my blue-stuff when Phanan plunked down by me. Gadget droid-chatted with Tonin.

"I've got news." Phanan told me, as he shoved a datapad across the table to me.

"So. We have a ship, supplies, and an infiltration mission." I clarified what I had read a few minutes ago from the datapad. Phanan and I were heading for the hangar, with luggage, to prepare for tomorrow's departure.

"That about covers it." The mission was actually pretty simple: get on board an Imperial craft, hack in to one of the computers, steal the data for the cross between a Death Star and a Sun Crusher they are going to build, and leave, preferably alive. Simple may not have been the best word to use. In case you did not understand a word I just wrote, we are officially screwed.

I checked over the new "equipment" I had. "Equipment" is in quotes because half of it was unnecessary. I had already thrown out three crates of dog biscuits. Phanan pulled his head out of a box labeled "Medical Supplies" to voice his opinion.

"Why are there Bacta patches," he looked at the traces of the red rash on my face, "I mean, neither one of us needs them."

I glared at him, "It gets worse. They only put one box of Prowler food in. We're taking all four along, right?"

"Right," He swore viciously, "Three scalpels and not a single tongue depressor!"

"Um, why would you need a tongue depressor?"

"I dunno. It's just . . . I don't need three scalpels, either." I grinned as I opened a crate marked "Danger: Explosives." It turned out to contain an abominable stuffed dog that barked, wagged its tail, and sang, "How Much Is that Bantha in the Window?" I stuffed it back into the crate, then put the crate on a cart. I jumped down out of the ship, and began pushing the cart along.

"Hey!" Phanan called after me, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to give this," here I waved the dog, "back to Kell.""

"Oh. That."

I surveyed my handiwork. Whenever Kell or Tyria's lights went off, the dog would start to sing or bark. At exactly 7:00 am, ten minutes before Phanan and I left, their lights would flip on (if they weren't already on) and the dog would wag its tail, triggering a reaction that would project a hologram of 300 prowlers into each room. If either of them left their rooms at any time during this period, a large bucket of water would empty its contents on the luckless person. Phanan and I had also left strange notes all over the place for them to find. For example:

Our ship is bigger than your ship!

~ Skysong and Phanan

And there were many others like it, all stuck in convenient places where they would be noticed. There were also notes like this:

Skysong was here. Phanan was too.

NYAH! :p

We had way too much fun doing those. The dog would self-destruct harmlessly in a shower of dust at 8:00. I headed back to the ship, to finish checking over the "equipment" that was still there, but also to inform Phanan of the addition of the dog to our prank. He would enjoy watching it the next morning as much as I would. Twelve standard hours until the dog began its tricks. I couldn't wait.

Phanan and I walked up the ramp of our new ship. Our new ship was a Travel~Mission X-wing, or for short, a TMX. It was basically a huge enlargement of the X-wing, with the addition of food prep, sleeping, and smuggling compartments. Because we were the first to fly it, we got to name the first TMX. I checked my wrist chrono: 7:09 am. I grinned. Perfect. Phanan and I were wearing uniforms we had designed ourselves. Pale grey shirts, dark grey pants, and black boots made up our chosen ensemble. We settled into our respective pilot couches. Our "crew" was made up of a bunch of droids.

"Control to . . . to . . . What did you guys name that thing, anyway?"

"The Prowler. Grays 7a and b are manning it. What droids did you give us?"

"Let's see . . . You've got Gadget and Tonin, of course . . . and B-28N."

"Oh, no, not that droid."

"Sorry, but no one else wants him."

"Sithspit. Oh well. Will you transmit our jump coordinates, please?"

"As soon as you take off, which you are clear to do by the way."

"All right. Prowler out."Phanan pushed the ship into gear and we glided out of the hangar. Right before we made our jump, we heard a piercing scream over our comm.

"ARGH!!"

"Prowler to base," Phanan said, "What in the hells of the sith was that?"

"This is Tyria."

"And Kell!" Came another, fainter voice.

"There's a lot of bugs in my room . . . and this isn't funny!"

"Share and Enjoy, Tyria. You've just been victims of the Storini Squadron. Consider yourselves humiliated. Out."

After cruising along for about two hours, Phanan got up, "Hold down the fort for awhile, okay Skysong?"

"Where are you going now?" I was shooting rubber bands at target Gadget was holding up.

"Food."

"Good idea. Bring me some."

"Yes, Captain Rândess." He turned and left. A rubber band hit him on his way out. I shot a few more rubber bands, and then glanced out the viewport. To my utter horror, I saw the triangular silhouette of a Star Destroyer.

"PHANAN!!!" He ran in, a butter knife in one hand, as if he were in the middle of buttering toast.

"What? This had better be good, Skysong?"

"It is good. Well, actually it is very bad." I shoved him towards the viewport.

"Take a good look at that." He swore rather violently at what he saw.

"So what do you propose we do?"

He thought for a bit, "You're gonna say I'm crazy, but-"

I interrupted, "Phanan, I know you are crazy."

"Anyway, I think we should allow ourselves to be captured."

"You've been drinking again, haven't you?"

"No . . . I mean, yes. But I'm serious. We hide everything in the smuggler compartment. We are taken on board the ship, and grab the plans, then get out of there."

"Phanan, they won't leave us alone with a computer. They'll interview us with the aide of an interrogation droid!"

"I know! But they won't be expecting this!" He pulled out a thin gray rod.

"What is that?"

"Stun Rod."

"Oh. Just how, may I ask, are we supposed to get that on board an imperial ship?"

"Uh . . .Let's cross that bridge when we come to it."

I sighed, "Let's start moving our stuff. Maybe we'll get an idea that way."

"Sounds good." As we were moving boxes of equipment and supplies, one of Phanan's three scalpels fell to the ground. I picked it up and looked from it , to the stun rod Phanan had left lying on the ground.

"Skysong, we're caught in their tractor beam. There is still time for you to get in the smuggling compartment and- "

"What? And let you have all the fun?" In that instant I made my decision. I flicked the laser part of the scalpel on and cut a large chunk out of the sole of my right boot. I wedged the stun rod in the hole. It fell out. In desperation, I turned of the scalpel and stuck it in, too. I turned towards the door.

"Freeze." A stormtrooper leveled his blaster at me.

"Is that mandatory?"

"What?"

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

"Darn. I hate playing statues. I always lose."

"Put your hands in the air."

"But you told me to freeze! And it is against my religious principles to make myself look foolish in front of self-appointed prison guards." The stormtrooper looked confused.

"Could I have that in Basic, please?"

"No."

"Forward march!"

"Yes, 'sir!'"

"Insolent Rebel!" He struck my cheek, and felt blood begin to trickle down my face.

"Got that right!" I told him. I spat rudely on the floor and ground the spot with my foot.

"Shut up. I hereby declare you a prisoner of the Imperial Star Destroyer Dumbledore." I snorted in amusement.

"What's your problem?"

"With all undue respect, I will decline to answer that question. Where are you taking me?"

"The Interrogation Chambers." We reached the interior of the Dumbledore, and met up with Phanan and his guard.

"So, where are we going?" Phanan asked. He pointed at his guard.

"This guy doesn't talk much."

"RESISTANCE IS USELESS!" Phanan's guard yelled.

"Yes, I can tell. You're very good at that." Phanan scowled.

"We are headed for the Interrogation Chambers."

"Do we get a last request?"

"No. We'd get one of those if they were going to kill us directly."

"Oh. I'm hungry."

"Still?"

"Yep."

"RESISTANCE IS USELESS!" Phanan's guard really was good at that.

"What after that?"

"Um, they'll probably release us into open space."

"So they aren't going to feed me?"

"You have a one track mind, don't you?"

"Affirmative." We reached the Interrogation Chambers. Phanan's guard, being the more intimidating, stayed with us. My guard went to get the Interrogation Droid.

"Cause a distraction!" I hissed to Phanan. Phanan threw a friendly arm around the guard.

"Does this really make you happy?" he asked, "Are you satisfied with your lot in life . . . If you're not, we could hold a seminar on redirection for you. We could call it your SAT, a Stormtrooper Aptitude Test. We'll hold hands, sing Kumbayah, and have a good time!" The guard looked at Phanan suspiciously.

"RESISTANCE IS USELESS!" The half minute Phanan had given me had been enough. I whipped the stun rod from its hiding place and turned it on. I threw it at the guard. It hit him, and he dropped like a stone. Clunk! Only one more to go! Phanan looked impressed. I threw him his scalpel.

"You can probably make better use of it than me," I told him.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. Put on his stormtrooper armor," I directed.

"All right. You turn around- and keep a look out for the other guy!"

"Okay." I turned and faced the door. Phanan successfully pulled on the stormtrooper's armor, and as an after thought, he tied the stormtrooper up.

"The bad 'rebel' tried to escape," he told me, "Now you sit in the other corner, and try to act rebellious."

"Grr."

"Shut up, Skysong." We finished our conversation just in time. In walked my guard . . . and an officer.

"Well, well, well, if isn't some rebels in trouble. I have a few questions for you, but first, I would like you to meet my other . . . friend." He snapped his fingers and my guard went out and came in with an Interrogation droid. I felt fear draw its icy fingers down my back. The officer took a step towards me.

"First, though. I'll ask you nicely: What in the @#$% were you doing near our spaceport?"

"That's nicely?" I muttered, before replying the first thing that came to mind, "We were on our honeymoon."

"A likely story!" He bellowed, "Nobody would come into Alpha 4-B, Gamma Sector, on a honeymoon!"

I nodded at the unconscious man on the floor, " Don't look at me! It was his idea!" I started to fake sob, "And n-now th-that s-s-s-stormtrooper's k-killed him! Waaaahhh!"

"Um . . . lady?" the Officer looked like he had never seen a bad actor pretend to cry before, "He's just unconscious."

I sniffed, "Really? Oh, you're an angel!" And beaming as brightly as I could, I flung my arms around the now thoroughly shocked Officer.

"Um, I . . . HELP!" He yelled. The stormtrooper stepped forward to come to his superior's assistance.

"Now, now!"Phanan admonished, "He's a big boy, let him deal with the psycho-lady by himself!" And with that he tripped the other stormtrooper and stabbed him ruthlessly in the neck.

"Ughhh . . ." the stormtrooped snuffed it.

"Do you mind the cold?" I asked the Officer.

"Yes, I hate it." The Officer began to back towards the door.

"I'm glad. I'll be able to imagine you somewhere nice and warm." Then I twisted his neck sharply, and he slumped to the floor. I took the dead stormtrooper's armor and put it on. Phanan stood up.

"Dead men tell no tales." he informed me, jerking his thumb at the RESISTANCE IS USELESS guard.

"Yeah. They don't miss anything either," I said waving a datapad and a blaster I had taken from the Officer.

"Good point!" We ended up taking three data pads, two blasters, and two Identicards (just in case).

"Yub, yub!"

I reach over to a button marked COMM. I pressed it. I knew that the Officer had been Admiral Cinorom, from reading his datapad. I nudged Phanan.

"Ahem." He said, " This is Admiral Cinorom. There is an emergency in the," he glanced at a map, "C deck. Would everyone please drop whatever they are doing and run over there immediately. Do not worry about the ship crashing. Thank you." He turned off the comm.

"Why the C deck?" I asked.

"Well, 1) it is the prison, and 2), it is far away from the Communications Room. I glanced around at the unfortunate dead people lying around us.

"Yeah. So, do you know how to hack into an Imp computer?"

"Uh . . ."

"Didn't think so. Move!" I stepped up to the computer and typed in a code. ACCESS DENIED. I typed in another code. ACCESS STILL DENIED. In frustration, I typed the word Password. ACCESS IS STILL DENIED. Finally, I tried Cinorom is a Genius, and we were in. I scrolled frantically through hundreds of files: How to Make a Bomb, How to Fly a Star Cruiser, How to Live on only 30 Creds a Day, How to Survive on Hoth in Nothing but your Underwear with only Popsicles to Eat, How to Build a Hybrid of a Sun Crusher and a Death Star . . .

"Stop!" Phanan yelled. "There it is!"

"Sh!" I hissed. I opened the file. Password? 9545999555999945999999995. The file popped up on the screen. There were plans, diagrams, parts inventories, everything! I quickly downloaded it onto the datapad, and closed it down. I turned and grinned at Phanan. He grinned back. Then we left the Comm center. We were halfway down the hall when we met trouble. A full squad of stormtroopers. I swore under my breath. How could we disguise our voices? I thought. Higher? No. Cinorom? No. Brittany Spears? NO!! Yoda? That'll work.

"Talk like Yoda!" I hissed to Phanan. Then, to the stormtroopers, "Lost, we are!"

"New recruits, we are!" Phanan added.

"How did you guys get here?" The squad looked confused.

"A stormtrooper, I am!" I said proudly.

"We gathered that." The leader said. They began to edge around us.

"Oyah!" Phanan said, and bobbed his head. Then, as if we had practiced the synchronization for months, we drew our blasters and fired. I reverted to my old days of SSBM button mashing, while Phanan yelled obscenities and shot people.

Approximately ten to twenty minutes later, there were only two of them left. I did a forward flip and knocked one of them over, my foot connecting solidly with his chest. He fell, and he lay there, unmoving. I wiped the sweat off my forehead. As I turned around the remaining stormtrooper kicked me in the side. I lost my balance and landed on my back. I lay there, gasping for breath, while the stormtrooper stood looming over me. He kicked me in the ribs, and I thought I felt one of them give way. He raised his foot to kick me again, but got no further. Phanan, with blood streaming from a cut on his face that was almost identical to mine, slit the trooper's throat. He gurgled and slumped to the floor. I stood up and instantly regretted, as pain shot through my entire body. I sat back down. Phanan took off his stormtrooper armor, then mine (we had our Prowler uniforms on underneath). He looked at me with the eyes of a surgeon.

"You are going anywhere soon, are you?"

"Probably not." I grimaced. I slumped against the wall. Suddenly, I felt a pair of strong arms around me as Phanan picked me up. He smiled at me, then headed off towards the docking bay where the Imps had put the Prowler.

"Does this hurt?" Phanan gently tapped one of my ribs.

"No."

"Does this?"

"Yes!!" He wrapped some surgical tape around one of my ribs, as the finishing touch to what had been an hour long "Does this hurt?" session.

"All done. You should get some rest now." I stood up. I wobbled a little and Phanan put out an arm to steady me.

"Thanks . . . Ton."

"You're welcome." He turned and left. I lay down on a cot he had set up for me and the hum of the engines lulled me to sleep.

When I woke up, it must have been about three or four hours later. I looked out of the viewport, and the white starlines told me all I needed to know. I got up and went quietly to the galley. I had never been the world's greatest chef, but I could make a decent pot of caf, which I did. I found a package of cookies in a cupboard. I filled two mugs with caf, and put everything on a tray, which I carried into cockpit area. Phanan was sitting there, listlessly staring out into space.

"Hey." I said.

"Hey." He sounded depressed.

"What's up?" I sat down next to him.

"Nothing!" His reply was curt, and a little sharp. I handed him a cup of caf.

"Thanks." He slumped in his seat.

"Listen, Phanan. I may not be a therapist, and I may have known you less than a month, but even I can tell you are depressed."

"Oh, all right! But don't say anything until I finish the whole story." Phanan took a deep breath and began.

"You know that I had a near-death experience. Before that, I was very depressed, like I am now. Same reason. I am allergic to Bacta. Someday, I will be so badly hurt that I cannot be fixed. That almost happened. It is what will inevitably happen to me. It is only a matter of time." He sighed, and stared at his cup of caf as if he could see something in it.

I got up and put my hand on his shoulder, "Phanan, just because you're allergic to Bacta doesn't mean that will happened to you. You are different now. You have four Prowlers." At this he smiled.

"You have a mission, another chance at life . . . and you have me."

"What?"

(A/N: There are two kinds of What?. The first is the what-did-you-say? What?. The other is the did-you-just-say-what-I-really-really-hope-you-said? What?. Phanan, in this case, was using the second What?.)

"I said that you had another chance at life."

"No, after that!"

"Oh . . .I said this," I leaned forward to kiss him when the comm beeped.

"Son of a sith on the other end!" Phanan swore, before answering it.

"Hello, Prowler."

"This is control. You are approaching the station. Please orbit for half a standard hour, then proceed. You may land in the third space int the main hangar. Out."

"We're important now, huh?"

"Skysong, that would be the universe's biggest understatement."

"Oh yeah."

I glanced at an Earth calendar. Completely useless here, of course. If I were on Earth it would be . . . December 24^th. I circled and labeled Christmas on the calendar, then stuffed it into the outside pocket of my small suitcase. Then I joined Phanan and we disembarked from the Prowler. We headed down the corridor. First, we'd stop by our rooms for the 'fresher, then we'd go to DownTime for obvious reasons. I did not notice when the calendar fell out of my bag and onto the floor.

The next afternoon was a rather quiet one. The Wraiths and I played sabaac for the first few hours, but then we went our separate ways. I found a book called 101 Stupid Imperials: The Incompetent Bimbos on the Wrong End of Rebel Sniper Rifles. It was really good. I was on Moff Susaphone: A Bad Combination of Batteries and Paperclips, when someone knocked on my door. I glanced at my wrist chrono. 6:00 in standard hours. I opened the door.

Tyria was standing there out of breath, "Skysong! Guess 'wat?'"

"I hate guessing games. What?"

"Face, Piggy, and Runt decided give us an Ego-Boosting Dance!"

"What?!"

"Exactly! It's in one standard hour, in the cafeteria. See you there!" Then she dashed off.

"Tyria! Who put them up to it?" I called after her in vain. After no response came, I turned and went back into my room. I walked over to my dresser and pulled out the dress I had bought at All-Fits. It seemed like a long time ago. I pulled it on and brushed out my hair. I decided to leave it down. I heard a timid tap on my door, so I went over and opened it. It was Phanan, looking magnificent in his dress uniform.

"Uh, Skysong? Can I . . . May I escort you to the dance?"

"Sure." I felt a smile tugging at my lips.

He looked relieved, "You have no idea how difficult that was."

I punched him on the shoulder, "The dance is starting. Let's go!"

He offered me his arm, "As you say, oh exalted one."

"And the same to you sir." I took his arm and we left.

^v^

(A/N: I am finally putting in the "serious" part, for all you romantic whiners out there! *coughs*Akira*coughs again*)

^v^

We opened the door . . . and stopped dead. The chairs and tables had been pushed to the sides of the room. The tabletops were covered with silver, and silver tinsel hung down from them. A band was playing in the corner. Silver and gold garlands hung on the walls, and the metallic floor had been polished until it gleamed like a mirror. It would have been blinding if there had anything but small light globes on each table. The other Wraiths were standing nearby.

"Look up, Skysong." Face called. I did, and discovered that I, er, we were standing underneath a sprig of what appeared to be mistletoe.

"How . . .what?" I was at a loss for words.

"We did some research." And Piggy pulled my calendar out of his pocket. I tried to escape, but the Wraiths had blocked all the exits.

"What do you do under mistletoe?" Phanan had not done research.

"This." Then I leaned forward, and this time, no comm interrupted us. It wasn't bad. As the Wraiths cat-called I turned and faced them.

"Tyria?" She was too busy laughing to breathe, much less respond. I pulled the astonished Phanan out from under the mistletoe and shoved Tyria under it. Phanan caught on and sent Kell after her. They, too, were forced to kiss under the mistletoe. Then the dance began.

I don't remember much about the dance, and I'm not sure when it ended. Phanan and I were still dancing to imaginary music that only we could hear, when we realized it was twelve midnight and the band had left. We decided to leave, but as we were passing through the door, Phanan touched my arm.

"Look up, Skysong." Laughter danced in his eyes. I looked up. Face had not taken the mistletoe down. I looked back into Phanan's eyes and he gave a gentle kiss. And this one was much more pleasant that the first.

The next morning I woke up to an alarm klaxon blaring. It sounded like a hippo in distress. I rolled out of bed and put on my Prowler uniform, then I raced to the Prowler itself. Phanan would be there too, because 1) It was a two-man ship, and 2) His X-wing was currently in more than one piece.

Phanan sat down in his pilot couch with a Whumpf!. We looked at each other, then began running through routine checks for take-off.

"Pilot or gunner?" I asked him.

"Pilot."

"Why?"

"Cause you suck at flying!"

"Very funny." We settled down to wait for instructions. We did not wait long.

"Wraiths? This is Leader. Launch. Wraiths 7a and b, you may launch, too. Narra and Night Caller, also launch. Gold Squadron wait for your leader's instructions."

"Leader this is Prowler. What are we doing, exactly?"

"We are going to assist the (sound of Wedge rubbing his hands on mic)."

"Oh, that helps. I'm still confused."

"That's affirmative, Prowler. Sending jump coordinates now. Jump in 10." I began computing the coordinates, and plugged them in. Nothing happened.

"Uh-oh." I tried again. And again. Suddenly, the ship shot forward.

"Whew, close one." I sighed.

"You can say that again."

"Whew, close one."

"Oh, good grief." An hour later we jolted out of hyperspace. The planet in front of us was an odd mix of blue, gray, green, brown, and purplish-white I had ever seen. And I knew I'd seen it before, somewhere.

Suddenly, it was all green- no, all trees! Our engines set the trees on fire as we passed. The whole hill's aflame! I thought. Wait . . . if the trees are burning that means . . .

"Phanan, please tell me there is not a gaping hole in our ship."

"Okay, there isn't a gaping hole in our ship."

"Damn." I made my way back to the hole, to check out the damage. It wasn't bad. Then I tumbled out of the ship and hit the forest floor. Ouch. Lots of little blue canaries. Then I knew no more.

And so/ I'm having a wonderful time/ but I'd rather be Whistling in the Dark

iii. Mirror, Mirror

I woke up on the ground. I sat up, rubbing my head. *ow!* I looked around. There was no sign of Phanan, or the Prowler. Oh crap. I heard a rustling in the bushes, about twenty yards away. Due to the lack of weapons I was carrying, I decided to change into a dog. I'd rather have some sharp incisors on my side if it came to dealing with alien creatures (or was I the alien in this case? oh well . . .).

I was shocked when, instead of an unfamiliar creature, I found myself facing an entire Hundes hunting party. Well, at least I know where I am now. Then I realized I was not a dog. I had finally changed into my semi-normal dog/humanoid form.

<Who are you?> asked the leader.

<Skysong.>

<What Clan?>

<No clan.>

<Hmmf. I think you lie. We will take you with us back to camp. No sudden moves.> He barked a command to the warriors with him and they formed a ring around me. Great. Just great. I thought.

When we entered the camp, a crowd rushed to the warriors. They had brought several deer-like creatures with them, as well as me. The leader spoke to the chief, who looked at me critically.

<We will hold a meeting to decide your fate among us.> He said. As soon as the sun went down, he gave a ululating howl that summoned the entire camp.

<I, chief of the Ahakma Clan, have summoned this meeting to decide the fate of Skysong No-clan. We shall see who she is, and if deserves a place among us. Who volunteers?>

(A/N: The Hundes are a warrior-based group. They settle almost everything as trial by combat)

<I challenge!> a female warrior in the back stood up.

<Challenge accepted. Combatants: Prepare yourselves for battle!> the Chief roared. I adopted the fighting stance I'd been taught, and bared my teeth.

<I, Miar na Ahakma, challenge Skysong to trial by combat, dueling to test her worthiness.>

<I, Skysong No-clan, Rândess, accept the challenge and vow to prove my worth.>

<I, Harar na Ahakma, witness the trial, and will stand by the results, as will the rest of my clan. Begin!> the chief declared.

Miar wasted no time. She sprang at me, clearly thinking to topple me with one blow. She was mistaken in her thought. Just as quickly, I turned to the side, my arm out. I flipped her onto her back and dropped into a crouch, growling. She rolled, came into a crouch facing me. She lunged again, and from her stance, I knew the previous attack was merely a test of my strength. I met her halfway, and felt her teeth sink into my shoulder. I found a pressure point near the back of her neck, and sank the retractable claws on my paws into it. She howled, and released my shoulder. I struck, with a quick kick to her solar plexus, and swipes at her stomach. I left shallow gashes where I scratched. She growled angrily, and let a rain of blows loose on my knee. My knee collapsed under the pressure, pulling me to the ground. I used my good leg as a hook as I fell, pulling her legs out from under her. I flipped upright, and got her into a headlock. I threw her to the ground, and held her there for the necessary counts. Then I stood, and raised my arms in a victory salute. Then I heard a hiss in my ear.

<You survived this, but what about-> The threat was never finished. Hundes are incredibly honor bound, and this group was no exception. The offending warrior was knocked out by a stun dart from the back of the crowd. Then they began a unison chant.

<We, the Ahakma Clan, accept Skysong No-Clan, Rândess, as one of us. Now shall she be known as Skysong na Ahakma, Rândess.> One of the priestesses walked to me, and clasped a silver armband of thin wire with a silver Ahakma bird on it around my upper arm.

(A/N: See back pocket of binder for example)

I felt happy. Then I remembered Ton, and my happiness fled. Where could he be?

(A/N: Ton's POV for affect, until further notice)

I hacked my way through the brush, after covering what was left of the Prowler with camo-netting. Skysong couldn't be more than one or two klicks away. I could kill myself for letting her go back to the hole.

I couldn't see a thing. Damn forest. Suddenly, I came upon a clearing. It wasn't that big, in fact the hole in the canopy of trees above was human sized. Skysong sized. I looked around. Sure enough, there were her boot-prints. Then, all at once, they changed to paws. She must've changed to her dog form. Then there were more paws, bigger than her's. Had she been attacked? Was she . . . dead? I refused to consider that possibility. She had to be alive! I felt a sting in my left arm and looked down, to slap the offending insect. I saw a stun dart. Sithspit. I looked up, and saw a group of dog-like humanoids walking towards me. Was this what had happened to Skysong? I swear, if they hurt her. . . The humanoids were talking in a strange language.

T'ahw si ti? E'ht t'r'ad s'ah o'n tce'f'fe! <What is it? The dart had no effect!>

W'oh dou'lhs Y w'onk? <How should I know what it is?>

Then I blacked out. When I woke up I couldn't see. I couldn't move. I was bound, gagged, and blindfolded. Cowards.

"Where am I? Where's Skysong?" I yelled, pretending they could understand me.

E'h s'w'onk Skysong! E'b'yam 'eh's s'w'onk m'ih. Kanik, o'g t'eg Skysong! <He knows Skysong! Kanik, go get her!>

I heard Skysong's name twice.

"What did you do to her? If you've hurt her, I'll- I'll- Have you hung, and drawn, and quartered, and then- I'll cut you into little bits! And I'll take those bits and- and I'll jump on them! Until- until- you've had enough!"

E'noem'os t'uhs m'ih p'u! <Someone shut him up!> They hit me with something large, and heavy.

"You cowards!" I yelled before I blacked out again. I woke up. There was a cold, leafy cloth-thing on my head.

"So you've decided to join us, have you Phanan?" A familiar voice said.

"Skysong?" You're not dead?"

"Well, how could I be dead if I am talking to you?"

"My head hurts."

"I'm sure it does. D'you think you could sit up? The chief of the Ahakma clan wants to talk to you.

"I think so." She helped me sit up. I opened my eyes. Skysong was sitting next to me.

(Skyong's POV)

<Who is he? Why is he here?>

<We crashed. He's with me.>

"What'd you say, Skysong?"

"I said you recently escaped from a galactic insane asylum and are currently on the run."

"What?!"

"Just kidding. I told him we crashed, and you're with me."

"Oh. Did he say why he knocked me out?"

"No." I noticed Ton's eyes seemed a little unfocused.

"You better lie down again, and take a nap. I'll talk to the chief."

"I'm fine! And anyway, who's doctor, me or you?"

"For the moment, me. Do I have to sing to you?"

"Would you?"

"No."

"Then yes. Or better yet, how about a bedtime story? Or a goodnight kiss?" I sighed, and leaned over and kissed his good cheek.

"Mmm, could you do some Corellian (sp?) brandy, too?"

"No." I poked him with a dart.

"Go to sleep."

"'k. Do you need a goodnight kiss, too?"

"No. I'm going to be awake."

"Can I kiss you anyway?"

"Yes." I leaned towards him, but he had already fallen asleep. I turned back to talk with the chief.

<He is harmless.>

<Are you sure? I will not have a danger to my people here!>

<I will take full responsibility for his actions in combat and elsewhere.>

<Very well. I have other matters to attend to. Do what you will with him.>

<Walk under the Trees, Harar.>

<And you, Skysong.> I turned back to Ton. His breathing was even and deep, as if he were completely at peace. His glistening brow told me otherwise. I gently shook him to bring him out of his nightmare.

"Umph. Urgh." He rolled over and winced.

"Ow."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"You said 'Ow.'"

"Ow."

"There. You did it again." I reached for the bag herbs near me. I had brought it when I heard they'd captured a strange creature that knew my name.

"Show me."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Ton, have you ever seen me angry?"

"No."

"Hope to whatever deity you worship that you never do. Horrible . . . horrible things happened to the last person who made me angry."

"I take it you mean that you'll scream the crap out of me if I don't show you."

"Worse."

"Worse than PMS?"

"Much worse." He hastily rolled up his sleeve to show me the spot where the Hundes Stasordiu Dart had hit him. An angry rash was already spreading across the area, and the minuscule cut was oozing a purply-brown pus.

"Phanan? Do you want the good news or the bad news first?"

"Um, the bad news, I guess."

" The bad news, you are allergic to Stasordiu."

"What's that?"

"The most common plant on this planet."

"Oh. Darn."

"Yes. And your cut is going to hurt like heck soon."

"And the good news is?"

"You're going to be unconscious in the Hundes form of BACTA."

"Skysong, you know I'm allergic to bacta!"

"Not bacta. B-A-C-T-A. Bsai Alto Cythe Tai Alethia."

"In basic, please?"

"Stasis Physio-Pathic Healing Liquid."

(A/N: SPPHL (Syphyl) is sometimes available. Pale blue or green. Tastes like paper/grass. )

"Ugh."

"That about sums it up."

While Ton was in the SPPHL tank, I went looking for the Prowler. I almost didn't find it, but on my second day out, I took Ton's Datapad with me. I used it to contact Tonin. I discovered the Prowler (or what was left of it, which was a fair chunk) hidden beneath some camo-netting. Tonin was over-joyed, and beeped ecstatically. Gadget made similar noises, and then asked:

"<Where is Ton?>"

"In B.A.C.T.A. that he is not allergic to."

"<Good.>" Just then, a prissy voice interrupted us.

"Oh my! I have never been so humiliated! Where is Master Phanan? He landed the ship much too roughly! I've got this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left side, too. Ugh." A silver protocol droid walked stiffly down the gangplank of the Prowler. He walked past me, still complaining.

"Ugh, a forest! I will need serious repair before-" We never found out what the rest of his sentence was because I reached over and deactivated him. Tonin whistled appreciatively.

"Tonin, hover function!" I commanded. Tonin retracted his wheels and a small repuslor lift powered up, and Tonin made a noise imitating a small ore-hauler. Gadget looked put out.

"<I want one, too!>" he told me.

"As soon as we get home." I promised. Then I set about loading a small crate with supplies. I had Gadget get in, then had Tonin pick it up.

"<Mush!>" Gadget told Tonin. I laughed as I re-covered the Prowler.

"Yub yub⁽¹⁾, R2s!" We moved out. When I got back to the Ahakma camp, I went to check on Phanan. The tech shook his head.

"<He'll need another day, Skysong. You know how slow this can be⁽²⁾.>"

"<How long have you been here?>"

"<Since the sun rose.>"

"<I will watch him for now. Take a rest.>"

"<Thank you. I will. When the light goes green, lift him out.>"

"<I will.>" He left. I watched Phanan for a while, as he floated in the pale blue-green liquid. He could not see me, as the liquid in stasis. I decided to mind-probe him. His mind was blank. I sent him a simple message he would perceive in his subconscious state.

-I love you, Phanan.- He half-smiled. It was enough. I spent the rest of my afternoon watching him. As the sun set, the light on the tank began to flash green. I "lifted" (teleported) him out of the tank on to a waiting cot.

"Plgh!" Phanan spat the taste of SPPHL off his tongue. I handed him a chunk of cheese.

"Try this."

"Thanks."

"How do you feel?"

"Floaty."

"I meant your arm."

"Oh. It's fine."

"Good." He finished his cheese.

"Roll over." I commanded.

(A/N: Ton's POV)

I did as I was told. Skysong sat down next to me, and began to massage my back. I hadn't realized how sore it was.

"You're back is sore because you've been lying on it for about three days now." She told me.

"Oh." Then I relaxed, as slowly, the soreness began to dissipate. I was sad when she stopped.

"Better sit up for a bit." She said.

(Skysong's POV)

I helped him up 'till he was in a sitting position, with his back against a wall. I rummaged around until I found a bag the tech had left, and handed it to Ton. He dumped out the contents: a robe of undyed cotton, soap, and a scrub-brush.

"Um, Skysong?"

"In a few minutes you'll get to use the 'fresher. We're going to the baths." He looked at me blankly. I wave my own bag at him.

"The bag is for you dirty clothes. Robe for after baths. Baths are large, heated indoor swimming pool type things, with private baths available for the convalescing (you) or new clan members (me)."

"Ah." The sun finished sinking below the horizon.

"Time to go." We got up and headed for the baths. They were old stone buildings, with large courtyards, heated pools, and best of all, a cafeteria. I walked in, and, after handing Phanan off to a grinning male Hundes named Mikar, (Miar's brother), I headed for my own bath.

I relaxed in heated bliss. The water lapped against my shoulders, reminding me to swim my six laps before continuing to relax. I swam them, the floated on my back, and gazed at the ceiling. It was carved with runes and pictures, and inlaid with gold. I decided to give translating the runes. I got as far as <Once there was a warrior named S'yal . . .> before I heard Miar calling.

"<Rândess! Are you going to sleep in your bath tonight?>"

"<Coming, Miar!>" We had become friends, after a fashion, and had friendly sparring matches almost every morning. I jumped out of the bath and quickly toweled off. I pulled on my robe of undyed cotton and ran to join her.

My days past in a quiet, peaceful monotony. I helped Phanan repair the Prowler, or hunted with the Hundes. In the evenings we sang songs or had sparring matches around the campfire. One afternoon, Gadget came up to me, beeping a message. I extracted myself from a part of the engine and looked at him.

"<Phanan says come.>" I went to Phanan. He looked excited.

"Skysong, I just got the hyperdrive working!"

"Great! I've got maybe another fifteen minutes and then our right engine is in the green." Phanan looked elated.

"As soon as we find a fuel source, we can leave! We'll be back with the Wraiths before you can blink!" I started. I realized I did not want to go, to leave my newly rediscovered planet.

"Leave?" I asked.

"Yes, leave!" he said, impatiently, "Go home."

"But Phanan!"I said, half indignantly, half scared, "I am home." It took a moment for this to sink in.

"What do you mean?" he said, slowly.

"This is my planet. I belong here."

"Skysong I- I thought . . ."

"You thought wrong! Do you really expect me to leave my home? To go back to suspicion and mistrust I face everywhere but here?!" I was fast becoming hysterical.

"Do you have any idea what I've gone through?"

"Skysong, I'm sorry. I didn't know. I think I know what it's like to be rejected, though. Sithspit, if anyone knows, I do. Look at me, for crying out loud!" I looked at his face, with its prosthetic shell, his hand and leg with mechanical bits gleaming.

"I was going to be a doctor, and BOOM! My career hits the incinerator! How many times do you think I've heard, 'You're a DOCTOR?! Talk about ironic!'" He glared at me.

"You have no idea what its like to see your own mother die. You have no idea what it's like to see your father murdered, Phanan. Shut. Up."

"Oh, believe me, Skysong. I think I know." His voice had grown deadly quiet.

"You're just obsessed with yourself. All you think about is you, you, you! 'I suffered the most, my life is hard.'" He mimicked.

I was seething by this point, "I don't believe I had a crush on you!" At this he smirked.

"How could I love a half-man?" I turned and fled. I knew what I had said had hurt him, and hurt him bad and I didn't care. He deserved it!

[part I wrote in class, flashback to my parents deaths]

I clutched at the sparse forest floor grass, as if it were a handhold in the whirlwind my life had become. Suddenly, a past I thought would stay as history, and a horrible memory I thought I had left behind hit me like a Mack truck. And I knew . . . and ran to Miar.

"<Rândess, of all the crazy- YOU WANT TO TAKE A BATH?!>"

"<Miar, my half friend is gone. The runes on the ceiling of the bath I was in awhile back had something about a warrior named S'yal someone or other. My father was S'yal Rânithil. I must read the ceiling!>"

Translation of the Bath Ceiling~

Once there was a warrior named S'yal Rânithil. He alone opposed the chief of the othersiders, Talzed. Talzed wished to rule all of Miravin. S'yal and his mate, her holiness Y'al'tek, goddess of light and elements, waged a campaign against Talzed, to stop him. The goddess would have crushed him had he not allied himself with, his holiness Sh'ep'za, god of the Underworld. Sh'ep'za gave Talzed three gifts. Immortality, Enithalpy, and knowledge of Y'al'tek's one weakness. Her daughter, Illet. Talzed killed S'yal, and then murdered Y'al'tek, who became Yaltek. Talzed was then known as T'al'zed the dark. Before she died, Y'al'tek/Yaltek sent Illet through a portal to an unknown planet. Illet in her leaving took the name of Devenir, which in the common tongue is translated as both Skysong and T'al'zed's Bane. Even the gift of Enithalpy, control of all energy, could not find the missing Illet, now called Devenir and Skysong. It is said among the Hundes priestesses, that when she returns the world will be reborn, and T'al'zed vanquished. It is said by the Lüfterin priestesses that when she returns the world will end. But then, they belong to T'al'zed and are his to control.

End Translation

I stared at the ceiling, and read it over and over until I had it memorized. Then, after shrugging into my undyed cotton robe, I headed straight for Harar's dwelling. He would know where the surviving Hundes priestesses were. Less than an hour later, Harar had provided me with a Hundes Speedskiff, a sort of cross between a skimmer and a speeder.

It took me a day to reach the Hundes priestesses' temple. Due to the fact that it was located on the top of Kasad, one of the highest mountains on Miravin, I had to leave the speedskiff behind and hike there. A deceptively old female Hundes opened the gate.

"<Yes, my child?>"

"<I need your assistance, mother.>"

(A/N: Mother here is a title).

"<Who are you?>"

"<I am called many things. Illet. Skysong. Devenir. And T'al'zed's bane.>" She peered at me closely.

"<Come in.>" She led me inside. She told me her name was Mother Asima.

"<This is a matter for Mother Superior Jamia>." Mother Superior Jamia was the oldest Hundes I had ever seen. She must have been at least 350 turns (125 years or so)! Jamia led me to the map room. The map room was full of three dimensional maps of the entire planet. She led me over the map in the middle of the room.

"<This is Kaark. Here is he-who-is-not-named's citadel. Here is the gate you should entire from.>" She pointed to a side gate.

"<There are only two guards there.>" Then Asima came back and led me to the main temple.

"<You may wish to speak with your mother, Y'al'tek's daughter.>" And then she left. I was alone. I pushed aside the pale yellow curtain and entire Y'al'tek's shrine. It was empty, except for the silver pentacle on the ground, and the small stone altar. Five tall, white candles stood on the corners of the pentacle, and a silver dish of unlit incense was on the altar. I stood in the center of the pentacle and conjured fire/light to the candles and incense simultaneously. At first nothing happened. Then the smoke from the incense began to take shape. First a head, then a body of blueish smoke rose. The smoke broke free of the incense dish and walked towards me.

-Illet.- It said.

-Mother. I am here. What should I do?-

- You, my child, are Devenir. You must do as that name gives you right, and fulfill your duty to your planet. You alone have the right to the name D'eve'nir. I suggest you take the life of the traitor Talzed. He does not deserve his godly name.-

-I will.-

-I know.-

-Mother? What about the half-man?-

-Let your heart be your guide there.- Then she was gone. The candles were puddles of wax on the pentacle and the incense dish was cold. I could see my face in it.

Who is that girl I see?/ Staring straight, back at me/ When will my reflection show/ Who I am inside? I smeared a handful of burnt incense in a Goddess-sign on my forehead. Then I turned and left the shrine. Asima was waiting for me.

"<How long have I been in the shrine?>" I asked.

"<Three days now. I sense you wish to leave now. You have our blessing, my child. Jamia would speak with you again before you go.>" She led me again to Jamia. Jamia looked at me until I thought I would burst, so intense was her gaze. Then she nodded.

"<The transformation has already begun. Go quickly, my child.>" With those strange words she left me. The next thing I knew I was outside the main gate. It began to rain as I went down the mountain, and I took this as a sign that my mother was with me. I slipped on a rock, and fell. I saw my face reflected in a nearby puddle. My normally brownish/red hair had turned silver. My eyes were now a crystal-blue, and my skin was the palest I'd ever seen it.

Who is that girl I see?/ Staring straight, back at me/ Why is my reflection someone I/ don't know?

I pulled the gray, hooded cloak the sisters had given me around myself, until only my eyes showed. I tried to get up, but slid further down the mountain.

~Earth, wind, water, and fire/ Lift me up higher and higher~ I decided to take those words literally. I used wind to lift myself up. I smiled, then teleported to where I'd left the Speedskiff and kicked it into full throttle. I would not waste anymore time.

iv. Transformare

It took about four hours to reach Kaark. When I saw the ugly, gray city, my blood began to boil. I once again left the Speedskiff behind and entered the city on foot. The guards looked at me when I entered but a quick mental scan revealed they were not really interested in me. I headed straight for Talzed's citadel. The streets were deserted, but I remained on my guard, mentally reaching places before physically arriving there.

I finally reached the citadel, and knocked on the door three times. Bang, bang, bang! A young guard who obviously had a rather high opinion of himself opened the door a crack.

"What do you want?" He asked.

"I am here to see T'al'zed."

"Who should I say wishes to see him?"

"Rineved."

"Do you come in peace?"

"I come with it, yes."

"Very well." He slammed the door. A moment later he reappeared.

"His majesty does not wish to see you now."

"I wish to see his majesty."

"His majesty will not see you."

"I will see him. I can wait as long as I need to." He disappeared again. When he reappeared, he was smirking. I made a mental note to take him down a peg or too as soon I had the chance.

"His majesty would be delighted to see you. He apologizes that he had to delay." Warily, I entered the citadel. I followed the uppity guard to the throne room. A tall, powerfully built man sat upon the throne. His long black hair was done in many plaits, with gold ornaments here and there.

Despite his royal appearance, the only aura he emitted was pure evil. He got up and walked towards me. I tensed. This was the man who had killed my mother and father.

"Welcome to my city, Rineved. Derk here is not used to visitors coming to visit me. Hence the trouble you had." He offered me his arm, which I took, but not without a sense of revulsion.

"Would you like a tour of the castle?" He inquired. I sensed that this was not a yes or no question, but a yes or yes. I accepted.

" . . . and these stairs lead to the dungeons." Talzed was saying. I was growing bored. The tour had lasted three hours and counting. We headed down the stairs. I did my best to block the images of tortured, emaciated prison wretches from my mind. Until we reached the "Miscellaneous Prisoners" wing. There were only two there. One was a near corpse, who should have been mercifully killed years ago. The other was Phanan. He was covered in bruises and dried blood. The marks left only by various torture devices covered him as well. I stifled a gasp.

Feigning indifference, I asked, "What did that one do?" and pointed at Phanan.

"The crazy lout came here four days ago asking for fuel. He admitted to being an offworlder, so naturally we imprisoned him."

"I see." I said. We reached the last, empty cell.

"And now, Rineved. What is your real name?"

"Majesty? My name is Rineved."

"Well then, you might know that there is no Rineved in the Miravinian records. You are, therefore, and an offworlder. With that he shoved me into the empty celll and locked it.

I was furious with my stupidity. Stupid, Stupid, STUPID! I smacked my forehead. Why didn't I sense it? I reached out for Phanan's mind. It was no longer blank. ~Pain. Torture. Skysong.~ I shuddered at the sheer force of the first two feelings. I probed further, and ran my senses along his nervous system, doing my best to alleviate all the pain I found there.

When I had finished I retreated back to his brain. He was awake and conscious now. I alerted him to my presence.

-Phanan?-

Skysong! You're here? How- what? Where are you? he thought.

-In the cell next to yours. Phanan, just in case I don't get a chance to tell you, I am sorry.-

Me too. Did you see that Talzed-guy?

-Yes. That is the one who killed my parents.-

I am sorry. Why did you come?

-To find you, at first. And to kill Talzed.-

Oh.

-Phanan, in about half an hour by my wrist chrono it will be midnight. I will teleport out of my cell and free you. I will give you the keys to the other prisoners' cells. None of them are truly guilty. Free them, and all of you get out of the castle! Get away as far as you can, understand?-

Yes, Skysong. I spent the half hour mentally contacting the other prisoners, removing pain and giving them enough strength to flee. Then the citadel clock struck midnight. Before it had finished, I was out of my cell. I knocked out the guard before he could react and took his keys. I bound and gagged him, then locked him in my cell. I freed Phanan, then handed him the keys.

"Remember. Free the prisoners, then run."

"I will, Skysong." On impulse, I reached out and hugged him. I released him, then mentally shouted to all the prisoners and Phanan.

-Hear me, prisoners of Talzed! I am Illet, daughter of Y'al'tek! I am Devenir, Talzed's bane and I have come to set you free! When Phanan comes and frees you go with him and escape.- The quiet cheers the gave were huge. The mental cries of happiness made me smile.

"Skysong?" Phanan looked confused, and rightfully so.

"Who is Illet? And Devenir?"

"Me." I said.

"Ah. Than this is for Illet." He kissed my right cheek.

"And this for Devenir." He kissed the left.

"And this is for Skysong." He kissed my forehead. Then he kissed my lips.

"What was that for?"

"Luck." He stepped back. I nodded, then teleported to the throne room. I cast my cloak aside, so that I was wearing only form-fitting green spandex material and that flappy skirt thing that no one knows what it is called.

(A/N: See front of notebook). Then

I gave a mental screech that everyone in the citadel would hear.

-TALZED! I HAVE COME FOR YOU! I am Devenir, also known as Illet, and I am here to avenge my parents.- I stood, mental senses extended fully. I did not have long to wait. T'al'zed appeared, wearing shiny black armor.

"So, Rineved. You're Devenir." He drawled.

"Excellent, Sherlock. I suppose Sh'ep'za failed to give brains with his other gifts."

Talzed's face grew red, "Shut up. Are you ready to die?"

"In your dreams."

"I killed your father. And your mother. How can you hope to beat me?"

"How can you hope to beat me?" Before he could answer, I blew a blast of icy wind toward him. His response was a wall of pure fire. I thought, then-

-Earth.- I raised my hands without thinking and a rain of sand smothered the firewall. And I saw what was behind it. A swarm of Miravin's most deadly insects, whose poison could kill a grown elephant in five seconds. But they were supposed to be extinct!

-Wind.- A gust of wind slammed the insects into the ceiling, like an invisible fly-swatter. Hundreds of dead insects began to rain down on us. By then, almost all of Talzed's guards had entered the throne room. They'd formed a ring around us, to prevent any outsiders from helping me. I squinted, and could just make out several shadowy forms of Hundes warriors.

"Hey, mud for brains!" I heard Miar's voice.

"Catch us if you can!" I smiled. Then I heard Talzed's laughter, and instinctively crossed my forearms in front of my chest, the Mirivinian sign for the god of protection. I was amazed when I was able to absorb the energy that came from Talzed's hands. Energy that had killed my parents. I grew angry.

-Water.- I lifted my hands in a I-don't-know gesture. Energy-laden water rushed out, as if from a fire-hose. Talzed barely dodged. Then I felt mental tearing and burning in my mind. Talzed's Lufterin priestesses!

-GET OUT OF MY BRAIN!- I mentally screamed.

Get off of my back/and into my game/ get out of my way/ If you can't take the strain . . ./I think it's time you better face the facts- Get off of my back!

Then the real battle began, have of it fought psychically, half physically- magically. It was the most grueling experience of my life. Mentally my body was being stretched and speared. Physically it was fine. I hurled a ball of blinding white light at Talzed, designed to distract him for a moment.

-Fire.- Not only Talzed could make a firewall. I raised a hand at eye level and slowly extended it. Fire began to spiral out, then up and over my body. It did not hurt. It was my fire. I fed it the anger I had against Talzed, the fury at the betrayal by my former teachers, the Lufterin. By feeding it that anger, I knew it would burn them and only them. Then I let it loose. The Lufterin left my brain almost immediately. Talzed's attacks ceased. He was dead almost instantly, the Lufterin lived longer. They made sure each of them returned to my mind for their dying moments. Each one let out a wrenching, horrible screech as she died. And then it was over. I collapsed on the ground, senseless. I had no energy left.

When I woke up, I was still on the throne room floor. A familiar set of blue/red eyes were staring at me. I pushed myself up on one elbow.

"Phanan?"

"The one and only."

"How did you get here?"

"You didn't really think I'd leave you to fight while I ran away, did you?"

I considered that, "Not really."

"Didn't think so. Now lie back down. When you woke up I was in the middle of stitching a cut on your forehead. It's gonna hurt a lot more now that your awake."

"Uhn." I attempted to use telepathy to dull the pain, but realized I was still burned out. I decided to grit and bear it. It hurt, but compared to the rest of my body, it just felt like sharp pinches. In a few moments, Phanan was winding a cloth bandage around my head. It was then I noticed the myriad of bandages around the rest of me. I touched Phanan's arm.

"Where did the bandages come from?"

"Most of them are from Talzed's curtains. I believe the fittest of the former prisoners are tearing the rest of the curtains into bandage-sized strips. Talzed had a thing for curtains. The tourniquet on your arm was my shirt. I didn't have time to tear down any curtains. " He stated all this rather matter-of-factly while securing the bandage around my head. Then his tone changed.

"Sithspit, you scared me falling like that, Skysong!" I tried to get up and face him, but Phanan held me down.

"Oh no, you don't." He reached over and grabbed a syringe.

"Not until I've injected you with a little pain killer." I sighed, but held out my arm. I winced slightly at the prick of the needle. I heard the clink! as he put it down. Then he helped me into a sitting position. He was wearing a black cloak over his torn shirt. He tugged at the cloak.

"A gift from Mikar."I smiled.

"Speak of the devil . . ." I gestured at the aforementioned Mikar, who was walking up behind Phanan.

Mikar grinned, "<You must be getting old. Your hair is gray.>"

"<Old and senile.>" Miar added. I pulled a wisp of my hair down. Sure enough, it was still as silver as it had been on the mountain side. I remembered a book I had read once in the Animorphs series. The people in those books just thought of the animal they want to change into. I thought of my former self. The strand of hair in my hand shivered slightly, and changed back to normal. I was glad to see my skin regained its color, too. Then I had an idea, and changed back. I grinned. I did it again, and again until Miar kicked me, lightly.

"<Rândess, stop that! You're acting like a kit!>" Ton stood up, then pulled me to my feet. I had to lean on him, still slightly shaky from my battle with Talzed. I surveyed the once grand throne room. Windows were broken, and there were deep gouges everywhere in the marble floor. Broken columns and shattered bits of a chandelier littered the floor. Bodies, Lufterin, Talzed, guardsmen, Ymani and Hundes made the scene a grisly one. I instinctively made the protection sign, and Miar and Mikar followed suit.

"<We should separate the traitors from the Hundes and Ymani.>" Ton tugged my sleeve.

"Who are the Ymani?"

"The humans who live on this side of the world. They are exceptionally tall and have pale skin. They communicate telepathically, but can't do anything kinetic."

"Oh, and another thing: how come you didn't tell anyone- especially me you were telepathic and could do magic and all that?!"

"You didn't ask."

We spent the next few days cleaning up the city. Bandaging the injured, and looking for refugees from Talzed's reign. I took his place as ruler of all Miravin. Mikar sidled up to me.

"<We would like to adopt Ton. The Ahakma clan, I mean.>" I grinned.

-We can do the ceremony tonight.- I had taken to speaking telepathically of late. I needed to be respected by the Ymani, and they respected me most when I looked like them and acted like them. It was difficult to speak Hundes when not in Hundes form.

That night was to be a full moon, a day when, according to the Hundes, the gods walked the earth. The moment the moon rose, the chief of the Ahakma clan called everyone to him.

"<Ton Phanan has showed bravery only worthy of a Hundes. Therefore, to protect our honor we will make him a member of our clan tonight. Let the ceremony begin!>" I translated all of this for Phanan, who looked completely shocked. A priestess I recognized as Asima.

"<Who will be brother to Phanan?>"

"<I will.>" Mikar and Harar (the chief) stepped forward.

"<Who will be sister to him?>"

"<I will.>" Miar and I stepped forward.

"<Who will heal him when is sick?>"

"<We will.>" and we all stepped forward.

"<Who will eat with him?">

"<We will.>" We stepped forward again.

"<Breathe with him?>"

"<We will.>"

"<Bleed with him?>"

"<We will.>" By now we made a circle around him. Each one of us bared a wrist, and I motioned for Phanan to do the same. Asima cut each wrist in turn, and then clasped them all together. Our blood dropped down and formed a pool on the ground. Then a cloud covered the moon, and a wind blew the fire out. It was very dark. We heard a howl in the distance. From the embers of the fire a glowing shape began to arise. First a head, then a body followed. The fire flaked off, and the figure of my father, S'yal, came forth. He was followed by my mother, and then by Y'man, the patron god of the Y'mani and Ramar, the patron goddess of the Hundes.

Well done, my daughter. My father placed a hand on my arm. Ramar cleared her throat.

I agree. This one I like far better than Talzed.

I think she is D'eve'nir. Said Y'man.

Foretold by the Creator, this was. Ramar said.

The patron goddess of all Miravin is a big post. Glad it is not me.

I also. Said Y'man. My mother walked forward.

Welcome to full Goddessship, my daughter. Because you killed Talzed, you gain his power of Enithalpy. You, too, shall join us in the curse of immortality. Is there anyone you would bring with you? She looked pointedly at Ton.

I think you would miss him more than you know or admit.

I believe that should be his choice. I said. They turned to him.

Well, son of Rudrig?

"Um, I. Yes." He looked at me. Each one in turn laid a hand on me, then they all disappeared. I turned to face Asima.

"<Asima, I was->" I stopped. All the Hundes were kneeling.

"<Oh, stop that! That is completely unnecessary!>" I bent to pull Miar to her feet.

"<Stop that at once!>"

"<I think they have the right idea, goddess,>" Phanan said, smirking.

"<Phanan? You're- you're speaking->"

"<A gift from your dad.>"

"<Oh.>"

v. The End of the Beginning

The day after the night with the gods, I rose with the dawn. As I drew water from a nearby spring, I noticed my reflection in it. Everything was normal (as normal as normal is for me) except for the hand hold the bucket. The palm of my left hand had what appeared to be a silver pentacle tatoo. As I marveled at it, Phanan came up behind me, and shoved me into the stream. It was cold.

"PHANAN!! Help me out!" I reached up a hand, but instead of him pulling me out, I pulled him in.

"Hey! Sithspit, it's cold! Skysong!" We clambered out on to the bank, and he reached out a hand to help me up from my clumsy attempts at doing so. I noticed his hand. It had a silver pentacle tatoo identical to mine on its palm. Phanan sat down on a rock. It was only dawn, but it was already warm. Today would be hot.

"This is a delicate subject, Skysong, so I'll stop if you want. But I would . . . Gosh, how do I put this? I got in contact with the Wraiths. Or at least I tried to. It seems that everyone but you and me vanished. They're just gone. Com- General Antilles and Major Janson are at the current base, but everyone else is gone. The specialists think that the imperials knew where we were going, and set up a trap. Nobody knows where the Wraiths are.

"To make a long story short, they want us back as soon as possible." He looked at me. I sighed.

"I think, no, I know we should go. We can leave tomorrow." I got up and went to see Miar. I had to appoint a ruling council sometime, and there was no time like the present. I chose Miar, Mikar, and Harar, of course. And Yad and Pum, twins who had been in prison when I fought Talzed. And I chose Asima. I also added Thif and Ruina, the leaders of the former YATR (Ymanis Against Talzed's Rule). I spoke to them, addressing them as the council they would become.

-You eight will lead Miravin as a world government. If you are ever in danger, well. I am the patron goddess/ruler/whatever of Miravin. Contact me immediately. And rule well.- I said good-bye to each of them alone.

Then I went with Phanan to the Prowler. We walked up the ramp together and sat in our chairs.

"Sure you don't want to stay?" Phanan asked, softly.

"No. But I think what I am doing is right." I was in my human form. There was nothing we could do about the tatoos, they stayed no matter what we tried. We began prep for take off.

As the Prowler left Miravin, I felt a tinge of sadness. A single tear trickled down my cheek. Phanan covered my hand with his, using the other to guide the ship.

"It's okay. We'll come back." He promised.

"Prepare for entry to hyperspace." Tonin and Gadget came in, trilling. They regretted this as soon as we entered hyperspace, because they both went flying across the cockpit. Only Tonin's hovering ability saved them. I laughed. Tonin landed, gingerly bringing Gadget down with him.

"<Want to fly the ship, we do!>" He informed me.

"Talking like Yoda, you are." I told him.

"And yes, you may."

"They may what?" Phanan asked.

"Fly the ship. You, Phanan, and I, are going to the galley. I haven't had a cup of caf in an abominably long time." He unsnapped his seatbelt and followed me, making what he told me he called "Caf-calls."

It did not seem like a long time before Tonin's shrill beeping came over the ships "PA," warning us to come strap in the passenger area. A voice crackled to life on the ship's comm.

"Welcome back, Prowler. We've cleared a landing space for you in the main hangar. You may land in five standard minutes."

"Thank you. Prowler out." As soon as the gangplank was lowered, Phanan and I were out of the ship. I raised a hand in acknowledgment of the mechanics. They stared at it, and I realized I had raised the tattooed hand. I quickly lowered it, and Phanan and I hurried to meet Tycho Celchu, a friend of Wedge Antilles, who was walking towards us.

"Wedge is busy at the moment, but he told me to tell you to that I would be taking you to the Officers' Lounge. He has a whole presentation set up for you." We followed Tycho to the Officers' Lounge, which was very nice. Phanan and I chose a couch and sat down. We waited for Wedge to appear. He did so at precisely 1300 hours. General Cracken, head of New Republic Intelligence affairs, followed him.

"Good to see you two." He said entering. Squeaky came behind him, carrying a tray with a bottle of Corellian Brandy, and several glasses. Gadget came rolling behind him, and Tonin was flying. Gadget nudged me.

"General, I beg your pardon, but I made a promise to Gadget. May I fulfill that promise, please?" Wedge looked amused.

"I suppose." So, as I pulled wires and added components and thingys that had some unknown yet necessary function, Phanan gave a brief summary of the battle for Miravin. General Cracken looked interested.

"So, Flight Officer Rândess can read minds?" He looked at me.

"Would you mind demonstrating that for us?"

"Not a problem." I said, attaching the last plate on Gadget. I powered him up, and he buzzed happily off to join Tonin.

"Whose mind should I read?"

"Oh, oh! Pick me!" I had not noticed Wes Janson sitting in the lounge.

"Well, Major Janson, you're are hungry, and you beat Hobbie at Sabacc an hour ago." Wes looked amazed.

"Cool." General Cracken glared at Wes, but looked pleased.

"I have a proposal to make, to search for the missing Wraiths. Skysong says she is, in effect, ruler of a planet. Imps like planets. Maybe we could get some rumors spread that the New Republic is very interested in having this Miravin as an ally. The imps are hosting a sort of party for other planets who are choosing sides. Perhaps you would be able to find out about the Wraiths." He abruptly turned and left. Wes looked curious.

"I saw your dog-form. Could I see the others?" I nodded, then became Hundes. After a few minutes, I changed to my goddess form. At that moment, General Cracken came back in.

"Where did Skysong go? And who is this young lady?"

"I am Skysong, General." I changed back. Cracken looked amazed.

"Well, now we will not have to worry about a disguise for you after all," he said, "We will have to find a way to disguise Phanan's face, though. It is to recognizable, to well known." I had a sudden idea.

"Give me two hours with a tool kit and some make up and you will not recognize him." I told the group.

"Done." The four officers got up and left. A few minutes later Gadget and Tonin brought what I had asked for.

Half an hour later . . .

"Did I mention that tickles?" Phanan complained. He was lying on a table in the Sick Bay while I fiddled with his prosthetic shell (on his face).

"Got it!" I took it off and set to work. I injected only local anesthetic so Phanan could walk me through any difficult parts. Carefully I inserted several components that would project a hologram of his face as it used to be. It was slightly tricky. I used some prosthetic skin to cover the scarred portion of the left side of his face, and carefully painted it so that it looked like the rest of his skin, and not like brand new, prosthetic skin. Then I went to work on the other exposed prosthetics. By the time I was finished, the anesthetic had worn off.

"Anything hurt?" I asked him.

"No, not really. I liked it better the old way, though."

"It's just a hologram. Relax. I'll put it back the way it was when we're done with the mission!" I said. Then I handed Phanan a container of black hair dye.

"Go to the refresher. Use. Hair. Dye." I told him.

"Yes. Sky. Song."

"Not funny. Go!" I gave him a little shove, to get him on his way. Then I began repainting Gadget and Tonin. I painted them silver, with a faint pentacle design on each side of each droid (i.e., right and left sides).

Within a day we left for Coruscant. We rented a small apartment, at the top level of one of the many buildings. And then we waited for the "Imperial Summons." We did not wait long. On the fourth day of our stay on Coruscant, we were contacted. Tonin came beeping up to me.

"<Imp contact- eww!>"

"Just give me the communication." I changed to my goddess form. I was wearing a flowing white and gold gown, and added a couple bracelets and a golden tiara. The communication came up.

"Greetings." I made the first move, so to speak.

"Hello. This is Lieutenant Fedora. I am contacting you on behalf of Warlord Tyeml."

"I see. Please continue."

"It has come to our attention that you represent, I mean, rule the planet Miravin. The Warlord would like to meet with you and several other diplomats of other worlds to discuss possible alliance with the Empire. Does this proposal interest you?"

"It does indeed. Please transmit any details to my droid. I will be there." I then cut the transmission short.

"Phanan!" I called.

"We're in!" Later that night we received a transmission of the address of the private apartments of a Kechaak Eonteps, undoubtedly an alias for Tymel. I went to the suitcase in which intelligence had provided "goddess-like" apparel and false ID cards. Well, actually, mine were perfectly legitimate. It was Phanan's whose were forged. I glanced at them, quickly, to make sure everything was in order. Devenir Rânithil . . . ruler of Miravin. Reval Thakik . . . consort of Devenir Rânithil. By all the gods- wait that won't work! By the powers that be, I could have sworn one of my old friends had made that card! Oh well, c'est la vie! I then turned to the garments. I took the packet labeled "S," leaving the one labeled "T" for Ton.

I turned in front of the mirror. A long, sleeveless dress cascaded to the floor. It was an inky black-blue color. It looked (and probably was) expensive, but would help me blend into shadows should the need arise. I had on black sandals. They were no ordinary sandals. They had high heels, which I detested, but the heels could be snapped off if I had to run. I turned to the jewelry. This was were the intelligence people had been extremely clever. The myriad of silver bracelets I would wear were actually quite flexible, and could be used as handcuffs, a weapon, or even to pull my hair back if I lost all my hairpins. Ah, the hairpins. I carefully pinned my hair up, memorizing the location of each different type. Poison-tipped hairpins were above my right ear, stun dart-pins over my left. Some had communications links to Phanan in them, others would record all that was said and done at the "party." The final touch was a pair of chopsticks in a sort bun at the back of my head. One of them had a retracting cable in it, useful for climbing and getting out of tight spots. The other was a small glowrod. I had a necklace that would explode when detonated by remote (courtesy of another hairpin) and ring that would do the same. I sincerely hoped I would not have to use any of my "weapons."I went out into the hall that separated my room from Phanan's. He was waiting there for me.

Phanan's attire was much simpler. He had on gray body stocking and boots, which were covered by a cloak that matched my dress. The cloak was fastened by a silver pentacle broach, which almost certainly contained hidden gadgets. Speaking of gadgets, Gadget and Tonin would be flying our speeder to the event, and then would go back to our apartment, where intelligence officials would take them back the base.

Phanan offered me his arm, "Shall we depart, Mistress Rânithil?"

"Yes. What's your name?"

He grinned, "Nice try. Its Reval, and I won't forget. Let's go." We headed for the speeder. Soon we were zooming along, speeding quite nicely towards the apartments of Kechaak Eonteps. Gadget parked the speeder, and Tonin pushed a button that released the convertible top-thingy. We got out, and they drove off. I watched them disappear into the night. We would have to take a taxi back. We went inside. The apartment was huge. It was big enough to land two Millennium Falcons in and have room left over. I made a mental note of that.

A uniformed officer handed me my name tag/security badge. It displayed my name, planet of origin, and much more. Phanan's was similar. We were then taken to meet Warlord Tymel, current head of the so-called Empire.

"Ah, Mistress Rânithil. Such a pleasure to meet you." Tymel bowed.

"The pleasure is all mine."

"Who is the lucky young man who accompanies you?" He inquired.

"This is Reval Thakik, my consort and personal bodyguard." Phanan bowed.

"Charmed. We will not go in to any diplomatic functions tonight, so please enjoy yourselves and get to know the others here." He said this in a tone that sounded half like a suggestion, half a command.

"Thank you." We left. We spent the evening moving among the other guests, learning their planets of origin, and how they felt about the Empire. By the end of the evening we had seen all of them, and my hairpin had recorded each face and conversation. At about twelve midnight we left, along with other guests. While Phanan called for a cab, I transmitted all the data I had collected to Tonin in short, two minute bursts. I finished and Phanan and I waited for the taxi. We were the only ones left. Then we heard Tymel talking.

"That was simple."

"It was, my lord."

"As simple as catching that confounded Wraith Squadron." I motioned to Phanan to step into the shadows. The Warlord came to the door with another man.

"Harran, take this disk to our other base. I recorded all of the faces I saw, intelligence will begin tracing to make sure none of them are spies. Get going." Harran stepped out onto the porch. I snapped the heels off my sandals. Phanan nodded. We would follow Harran, and see if we could reposes that disk. He entered a turbolift I hadn't seen, and the doors closed behind him. A light lit up a "Down" arrow. I whipped out the chopstick with the cable in it.

"Hold tight." I whispered to Phanan. He wrapped his arms around me.

"Jumping . . . now!" I hissed. We jumped off the platform and I fired the cable into the air. It caught on the bottom of the platform, and we plummeted downward. We landed safely, and I pushed the button to retract the cable. It did not come.

"Sithspit!" I swore, under my breath. I gave up, and let go of the stick. It jerked, and zipped back up to the platform, and we heard a faint shunk! as it buried itself in the bottom of the platform. Just then, Harran came out of the turbo lift. We would have to worry about it later. We were in the bottom levels of Coruscant, were gangs tended to lurk. I used telepathy to put a strong "There aren't any people here, you just have had too much [insert recently used drug here]" barrier around us. Then we followed Harran. He entered an abandoned warehouse, and we lost him. I swore.

Then we saw them. The gang members that had been tracking us while we tracked Harran. Guess they hadn't been drinking lately, or my barrier would have worked.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" one with green hair said.

"I dunno, but I think she has too much jewelry on." the one with no hair said. Green hair nodded.

"I think so too. Here, lady, just dump it all in the bag, and you and your friend won't get hurt." It was then that I noticed they had Phanan at a knife point. I pulled off the ring and necklace and dropped them in the bag.

"Hairpins, too, lady." That was just what I wanted to hear. I pulled out one of the pins, the one that was really a remote detonator, and depressed the small jewel/button on it. Instantly green hair was thrown backwards as the ring and necklace exploded. I pulled out three from my left ear and threw them, using telepathy to guide them. I heard throaty gurgles as three of the gang members fell, but I already had thrown the rest of my pins. There was one gang member left, No Hair. I reached up for another pin, but they were all gone. Then somebody punched No Hair, and he was out cold. I had forgotten that with only one left, Phanan would be free to move about.

"Whew."

"Yeah. Now let's get inside that warehouse before they wake up."

"Not all of them will wake up." I informed him. Then I removed one of my bracelets, and used it to pull my hair back. I removed the other chopstick, the glowrod one, and thumbed it on.

"Let's go." We entered the building. I waved the glowrod around, but there was only the one hallway. Suddenly, a warning bell went off in my mind. I turned for the door too late, because it slammed shut with a bang!. We were trapped. Then the floor collapsed. I screamed, and clutched at the nearest thing. . . which was Phanan, who was also falling.

Our fall came to an abrupt end. We hit a pad of foam, and bounced. Whoever had made this building booby-trap obviously wanted people alive, which was small comfort. I got up, gasping. I had lost my shoes in the fall, and the rest of my bracelets. I took a step and tripped over my own dress.

"Allow me." Phanan said, and he ripped the dress so that it was shorter. I realized I had lost the glow rod as well. I sniffed. Something smelled odd. The chamber was filling with knock out gas! I gasped, then collapsed. I heard Phanan hit the ground beside me. Then I blacked out.

When I woke up, I was staring at a white ceiling. I tried to sit up, but could not. I was strapped to a table. I heard a soft click, and then the table I was lying on began to move, like a dentist's chair. Soon I was standing, sort of, still strapped to the table. I saw Phanan directly across from me. I also saw Tymel and a scientist. I shuddered. This was not good. Tymel walked towards us. It was then I noticed the dye had been washed out of Phanan's hair, and his old faceplate replaced. Now he was easily recognizable. Was this some kind of cruel hoax? More importantly, where were we, and what had happened to us?

Tymel answered that question, "Welcome to the Imperial Science and Information Laboratory, Devenir or whatever your real name is." I froze ISIL was notorious for killing people it captured. Tymel smirked at my apparent fear, but I had already begun looking for the locks that held me to the table. There were none.

"We welded the locks on your tables shut. Wouldn't want you trying to pick them." Drat. Now I would have to use small bits of fire to sever my bonds. That would take awhile.

"Now, does anyone want to volunteer information, or do I get to do this the hard way? If the experience of the incompetent officers on the Dumbledore and Ludicrous is anything to go by, I already know the answer."

I struggled to work my mouth. Knock-out gas often has the effect of paralysis, which wears off eventually.

"N . . No." I gasped out.

"No? No what? Do you mean you won't talk?"

"Ne . . . never!"

"I didn't think so. Nevertheless, I think you will." He pushed a button on a remote in his hand, and the pain of electric shock shot through me. I didn't scream, instead, I diverted all my energy to deadening my nerves. I realized that it had stopped, suddenly.

"So you were serious. However, you introduced Reval here as your consort. I wonder if you really do have feelings for him?"

"Leave him alone! He doesn't know anything!" I cried.

"Whether he does, or does not matters not. Perhaps his pain will induce you to speak." He turned to Phanan. I "linked"to Phanan. By doing so, I lost the ability to deaden my own pain, but I would cut his in half.

-This is gonna hurt like heck, Phanan,-

Don't care. He thought.

Out loud, he said, "Do your worst, imperial scum!" Apparently, Tymel did so, because the pain was incredible. It hurt so much, and I had only half of it. A scream ripped from my throat. Phanan, too, was screaming.

"Interesting. When I hurt him, I hurt you both." Tymel smirked, and adjusted a knob on his remote. He pressed the button again. Again, merciless pain, tearing at my very soul.

(A/N: Another song collage!)

If you can't catch a wave then you're never gonna ride it/Come on, come on, come on I'll fight it!/ Never gonna give it/ Never gonna give it up, no! . . .

OwOwOwOwOw!

If you move too fast, oh-way-oh, you're falling down like a domino . . .

I came. I fell. I hurt. Ow!

Now when I die/ Don't think that I'm a nut!/ Don't want no fancy funeral/ Just one like ol' King Tut! . ..

Oh, bloody hell . . .

It's just another Manic Monday/Wish it was Sunday/ 'Cause that's my fun-day/ My I-don't-have-to-run-day/ Just another Manic Monday . . .

Is it Monday? I thought it was Thursday! I never could get the hang of Thursdays . . .

Never gonna give it up, no!

Sithspawn.

You were there when I needed you/ You were there when the skies broke wide, wide open . . .

Skies? Sky . . . song! My head . . .

Come on, come on, come on I'll fight it . . .

Right. Sure I will. . .

My throat was raw from screaming. Every nerve in my body was tingling. Suddenly, the electricity providing the shock doubled for a second, then quite altogether. For that one second, I felt my mind and Phanan's become one. Then we were separate. I cannot describe the overwhelming sadness that flowed throughout even the tiniest part of his soul. So sad, so lost . . . I felt an ache in him that I cannot describe. I had never felt more alive.

It took me a moment to realize there had been a power surge, which was followed by a blackout. The room was full of acrid smoke.

"T- Ton?" I coughed. I heard someone else coughing, choking. I tried a different tack.

-Ton?-

-Skysong?- I was in shock. I knew the difference between a thought and a 'path and that had been a 'path, pure and simple.

-Skysong?!-

-Sorry . . . I . . . You realize you're communicating telepathically, don't you?-

-I am? Cool!-

-Rather. Listen, are you okay?-

-Not really. You?-

-Same.-

-Yep. - I heard a cough.

-This dratted smoke! No breeze or anything to blow it away, either.- If my hands had been free, I would have smacked myself. I summoned a quick breeze, and dispersed the smoke. I noticed Ton's face was bloodied and his whole body was covered in strange welts.

-Skysong, you- you're covered in blood!-

-You too. Damn.- There was no sign of Tymel or the scientist. I looked at Ton again. I saw something glinting on his belt.

-Ton, is that one of your scalpels? On your belt, I mean?-

-Yeah.-

-How sharp is it? Could it cut through metal? Specifically the locks holding us down?-

-If I could reach it we would be free.- I smiled, then "lifted" the scalpel. I turned it on telekinetically, then used it to cut first my hands, then my feet and neck free. I nearly fell over, without the strong metal holding me up. I grasped the edge of the table and pulled myself up.

"Unghh . . ." I struggled for a moment, then was upright. I walked unsteadily to Ton and cut him loose. He fell forward, hitting the floor with a meaty thunk. I sat down beside him, and leaned against the table for support.

"Oww. . . ."

"Yeah . . . Ton, we should get out of here. We both need medical attention, and I really don't want to be here when Tymel gets back." He nodded.

"One problem, Skysong. We neither of us can walk."

"Not a problem. Just picture the door to General Antilles office, okay?" He nodded again. I looked at his mind, then teleported both of us to the door.

(A/N: From third person point of view, temporarily.)

Lieutenant Shi'hyrn, a member of the Bothan species, was a dedicated officer. His current post was working as General Wedge Antilles' secretary, to filter out the unnecessary visits and such. He taken a special training course so he would be able to do the best possible thing for each visitor.

But nothing in his course had prepared him for the arrival of two bloody, beaten humans at the General's door. He had been even less prepare when they both collapsed, senseless on the floor. He paged the General. Wedge opened the door separating his office from Shi'hyrn's.

"Shi'hyrn, I thought I- Oh, my god." He stared at the two collapsed figures.

"It's Ton and Skysong! Get the medical officer! Sithspawn, Ton is the medical officer! Get any medical personal to the sick bay at once! I'll get these two there!"

(A/N: Back to Skysong's POV)

When I opened my eyes, the expected sea of pink was not there. Instead, I was one large mass of bandages and tubes.

"What happened?" I croaked. A smiling nurse beamed at me. I scowled.

"You are allergic to Bacta. We don't know why, you're records only have Bacta patches listed as an allergy." She beamed energectically me. I realized what must have happened. Ton and I must have made an exchange when our minds temporarily melded. He got the ability of telecommunication, I became allergic to Bacta.

A few days later, we were both released from the sick bay, confined to wheelchairs and forbidden to drink alcohol (much to Ton's chagrin). I didn't see him until then. When I did . . .

"Skysong, I- they told me you were fine, that you had completely recovered!"

"I told them to. I did not want you to worry."

"But, you're not allergic to Bacta!" Then what I had realized a few days ago dawned on him.

"I will never forgive myself!" He said, with such force that I was surprised. I powered my chair over to him.

"Ton, I couldn't care less about that. I- When we were being tortured- All I cared about was keeping the pain you felt to a minimum." I looked into his eye. He blinked. Then I asked him:

"Why are you so sad? When our minds melded, I . . ." I trailed off. He sighed.

"I was looking at you. You had such a look of pain on your face. It hurt. Me." We heard a beeping coming from down the hall. It was Gadget and Tonin, both towing small puffcots.

"<Get on. Whee!>" Tonin told me. As I scrambled aboard I noticed the bottom of the cot had been replaced by a very small repulsorlift. I grinned.

"Ton, I think I have some non-alcoholic beer in my quarters. Want to see if it tastes at all like the real thing?"

"Might as well. I'm not feeling very optimistic, though." We headed for my quarters. When we got there, I poured him a large cup of the aforementioned beverage.

"Well?"

"I was right. This tastes nothing like the real thing." He grimaced.

We must have dozed off talking, because when I woke up the next morning Ton was asleep with his head on the table. I reached over and shook him, lightly.

"Pst! Ton! Wake up!" He jolted upright, then slumped back onto his chair. I glanced at my wrist-chrono. It was eleven o'clock. Tonin whistled a query, asking me if we should go to the gym for rehab like the doctors had said to. I nodded.

"Ton Phanan, don't you dare go back to sleep! We have to go to rehab in," I checked the schedule, "Three minutes!" Phanan muttered something and rolled over . . .and onto the floor.

"Oof!" He said. It took ten minutes to get him back on his feet and into the chair. Just then the two rehab droids wheeled in.

"Master Phanan, Mistress Rândess, will you never learn?"

"You are exactly seven minutes and thirty-two seconds late for rehab!" We sighed simultaneously. They transferred us from our puff-cot/chairs to wheeled chairs and began wheeling us down the corridor to the gym.

"Hey, Ton!"

"What?"

"We haven't named the other two Prowlers!"

"Whoa . . . you're right! Start thinking!" I did. A name came to me while I was swimming in the grav pool, a swimming pool with enhanced gravity.

"Ton! Duck!"

"What?"

"Duck!"

"Duck?"

"Duck!!"

"Duck??"

It was too much, "Goose!" I began to laugh, and hoisted myself out of the pool.

"Mistress Rândess, have not yet completed your-" one of the droids began.

"Oh, shut up. Laughter is the best medicine."

"Duck, Skysong?"

"A name for one of the Prowlers."

"Oh. Cool. What's a duck?"

"A funny earth animal. It goes 'Quack.'" I gave a fair imitation of a duck.

"Weird. I thought of one too, though. Squint. Like the name for Interceptors."

"I like it." I dried myself with a towel and walked over to the climbing wall.

"Mistress Rândess, you are to remain in the pool. You are not signed up for wall-"

"Oh shut up. I know exactly what I am doing." I told them. I pulled on a simple harness and attached ropes and carabiners. I called to one of the droids.

"Are you going to belay me or do I just go it?"

"I don't approve of this, Mistress Rândess," the droid told me. He came over and prepared to belay me.

"On belay?"

"Belay is on." He said, stiffly.

"Climb on?"

"Climb on." I reached down to my belt and adjusted the gravity to one of the higher settings. Then I began my climb.

I was seriously reconsidering that adjustment as I hung from a rock that was at about a forty-five degree angle to the rest of the wall. I gritted my teeth. Climbing walls adjusted themselves to the level of the climber. Sithspit. I decided to test how kinetically fit I was, and shoved myself up and over, using leverage to get on top of the out-cropping. At once, the entire rock face changed, so that I was now on top of a series of ledges and spaces. I switched carabiners, so that droid was essentially doing nothing. I laughed, softly. This would be fun. Just like a video game. Run, prep, jump, flip, land. Run, prep, jump, flip, land. As soon as I got to the end of that series, another, more complicated series formed. Soon I was so engrossed in jumping and landing that I did not hear Ton calling me. So I was shocked when I heard him yell:

"SKYSONG!!!" I stopped.

"What?"

"Come. Down!" He yelled. I made sure my rope was secure, then jumped over the edge. I landed, and glanced at Ton.

"What?"

"I'm hungry. I was looking in the Prowler earlier to find some of those cookies, and I found this." He held up The EZ Cookbook: Cooking for Dummies.

"What are chocolate chip cookies?"

I stared at him, "Don't tell me you've never had chocolate chip cookies!"

"I . . . plead the fifth. I think that's right."

"All-righty, then. We're making cookies. Now." I lead him to the galley where we had peeled tubers for Wes. I assembled ingredients, bowls, and spoons. When I turned around I discovered Ton had eaten half of the chocolate chips.

"Ton! Stop that!"

"Shorry." One cookie sheet was in the oven and another on the way when I felt something sticky hit me in the back of the head.

"Gaa!" I put my hand up to where I'd felt it hit . . . cookie dough. I slowly turned to see Ton's smirking face.

"Ooo, you're goin' down, Fly-boy!" I used a spatula as a catapult to hit him square in the face with a blob of dough.

"Mfff, YUMMY!" He said. I shook my head, and was not prepared for a second lump to hit almost exactly where the first had hit.

"Agh! Ton!" I lunged and tackled him, knocking him to the ground with a wumpf!. I placed my knee on his chest.

"Once you may touch the hair, second is a no-go." I told him, "Throw any more dough and there will be no cookies to eat." He made a face. I made one back.

"I guess you're right." He did his best to shrug. His nonchalance made me suspicious. Seconds too late. He reached up and flipped me so that he had me pinned instead.

"Damn you." I hissed. He shook his head, then reached up and grabbed a handful of dough and shoved it into my mouth. I swallowed.

"Meanie." I heard a timer beep somewhere.

"Get up- off, or the cookies will burn!" I told him. He hurriedly let me up. I pulled out the tray. I looked him in the eye.

"No touchie. Very hot. Icky." I spoke with the air of one speaking to a small child.

"Me big boy now." He reached for a cookie anyway.

"Big boy needs patience." I firmly pushed his hand away, "No touchie." He pretended to pout, but refrained from stealing any cookies. I had any idea. I sent Ton out of the galley and instructed him to ask Wedge (very politely) to clear out the smallest of the pilots' lounges and reserve it for us. I returned to my cookie baking. Pretty soon Ton returned and told me it was all ours. I grinned.

"Now you get to stay out of it for the next," I checked my watch, "Two hours. Go play with the prowlers." He nodded and left. I wondered what he was planning that made him so agreeable.

When the cookies were done, I headed for the lounge. I rearranged the couches and a holoplayer. Then I fiddled with it and got it so that it could either play DVDs or a support a gamecube. Then I went to get the one suitcase I'd brought with me.

(A/N: I know I never mentioned it before. Let your puny mortal minds deal with that. So sue me. )

(Alter-Ego Note: Eh heh heh. Sorry 'bout that.)

At precisely six o'clock Ton walked in, looking incredibly curious. I made him sit on the couch, then cleared my throat.

"Ahem. It has come to my attention that you know almost nothing about my alternative home planet, Earth. This is a gamecube." I held it up. Then I plugged it in. I handed him a controller.

"This is a game called SSBM. I'm Link, the one in green. If only because he's the only one I can operate. You're Samus. Just push the "B" button a lot. We're both on the blue team." I started the gamecube.

A few minutes later . . .

"Die, pink inflated abomination!" Ton yelled.

"That's Kirby," I informed him as I "up-b"ed Mario of the screen, "Yah! Take that, Mario!" The bodyless talking voice came on.

"5 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . 1! Game! . .. The winner is . . . Blue Team!" Ton and I high-fived, then I turned off the gamecube. I slipped in a movie I hadn't watched in a long time, I-Spy, with Owen Wilson and Eddy Murphy. The first time I had seen it I had been with Arete in a nearly empty movie theater.

(A/N: TIMELINE!!!

Skysong Born! Mom and Dad die, Skysong goes to Earth Meets Goonies Half of Blue Canary All stories in which Skysong likes Ron Second half of Blue Canary Skysong wanders around Earth (not yet written)rest of Ha Story and all other stories)

I got the plate of cookies and two glasses of milk from a small cooler and brought them over to the couch. Ton grinned, and I hit the "play" button.

vi. Plague

The Wraiths' were still missing. They were probably dead now. Or worse. They'd been missing for almost a six months with no trace. That was never a good sign. In those six months, New Republic forces had combed the entire galaxy.

And Ton and I were helpless. We had spent almost all of the time recuperating. I sighed to myself. I could not stand being helpless. I made a sudden decision. I would not just sit around, I would do something! I would look for the Wraiths in the most unlikely places possible.

"Wedge might buy this, but Cracken will say it's suicide." He told me when I'd finished.

"I don't care. I'm going to go whether this idea of mine gets authorized or not."

"You're crazy, but I guess I'm just as crazy. I'm coming too."

"Great! Now let's get some sleep, 'k?"

"Right." I got up and went back to my room.

"Tonin? Start packing. We're going to look for the Wraiths."

"<Really? Wheee!>" I brushed the top of the droid affectionately before getting into bed.

<==>

"No, absolutely not!" Wedge looked peeved.

"You'll stay here. No sense in either of you, from the looks of it."Cracken looked annoyed.

I was determined to make them see it from my perspective, "But Sirs, I don't think you understand. It is-"

"Impossible to even think about letting you two go. Dismissed." Wedge gave a curt nod, and I left. I was furious. I met Ton in the waiting room.

"Time to pack!" I told him. We left the waiting room.

"They authorized it?"

"No, but we're going anyway."

"Smashing."

(A/N: Switching to third person POV for affect)

Wedge woke up the next morning to an insistent pounding on his door. He got up and shuffled to the door. He pushed it aside to reveal an out-of-breath private, who gasped out a message Wedge could not make head or tail of.

"Whoa, son, sit down and breathe." He said. The officer nodded, and sat.

"Now, what were you saying?" Wedge sat down in another chair.

"Well, uh, sir, it's Ton and Skysong."

"What about them?"

"They left."

"WHAT?!" Wedge stood up, looking angry.

"They were told explicitly not to go anywhere!"

The private gulped, "They left you a message on this datapad, sir." He handed Wedge a black datapad. He turned it on.

[Dear General Antilles: ]

[ We apologize for disobeying you, but it was necessary. Save the bounty hunters for]

[another time. You will not be able to find us. We have taken the Prowler, and some ] [supplies. Best wishes, ]

[Skysong and Ton ]

<(^v^)>Skysong's POV

The Prowler glided into a docking port on Coruscant. We weren't actually authorized to land, but a subtle mind "trick" had persuaded the officer on duty that we had authorization to land there. I set up a "there-is-no-ship-here-and-don't-you-have-something-to-do-somewhere-else?" spell around the ship.

Ton and I walked down the gangplank, both of us wearing dark gray, hooded cloaks so as to make us almost unrecognizable. I looked across at Ton and grinned. We were going to have a "chat" with Warlord Tymel that he would never forget. We had decided to enter his stronghold the same way we had before- through building "booby-trap." This time however, we would be prepared. I checked to see that my vibroblade was safe in its arm holster and tightened my grip on the stick in my hand.

~* Flashback* ~

As I was packing, I felt something poke me in the back. It was Thif, one of the leaders of Miravin, formerly of YATR. He was holding what looked like an ordinary walking stick. In reality it was a Lamna Talea, a Ymani knife-stick. At both ends of the stick, there was a four inch silver, sort of lightsaber-ish blade. They were completely hidden when they were off, only the most practiced eye could see it. Both ends were also weighted with lead. It fit my hand perfectly. I had been trained to use it when I was younger.

"Asima says you will need it." Thif told me.

"Thank you." I returned to my packing.

~* Flashback Ended* ~

I nodded to Ton. He had blaster as well as a vibroblade. We did not need comlinks. He nodded back. We started for the lowest level of Coruscant. I was already in goddess form, so as to see the area through the eyes that would recognize it most. I saw one of the gang members we had encountered previously. I grinned, and nudged Ton. He grinned back. That member, at least, was staying clear of every woman with hairpins.

We walked on. We turned down an alley, and were instantly hit by a stench so powerful it made my eyes water. We soon got used to it though, and continued on. I heard a moaning in one of the hovels.

-There.- I pointed it out to Ton.

-Why?-

-Someone in trouble. We go. Cover me.- I heard Ton draw his blaster.

-Ready.- I pushed open the door. I flinched when I saw the Twi'lek lying on the floor. He- or she- was covered in odd sores that were a strange bluish color. The Twi'lek raised its hand.

"Can you help me?" I pushed back my hood and knelt down next to the Twi'lek- I knew it was a he now. He instantly recoiled.

"Human!"

"Not quite." I told him. He relaxed.

"How did this happen?" -Ton, close door!- I summoned a ball of light and reached for the bag a healing herbs at my side.

"Humans, caught me at the Starshooter. Took me to a lab. Injected me, been like this ever since." He gasped.

"Ton, do you have your water flask handy?" I asked. Ton knelt down next to me, simultaneously passing me the flask. I uncorked it and passed it to the Twi'lek. Ton began to examine the Twi'lek with a very professional air.

"What's your name?"

"Hai'tyi."

"Are there any others like you?"

"I have only seen two others, they live next door to me."

"We will see them next. I want you to relax your mind, think of something peaceful." I put my hands on his temples (or where I guessed they'd be) and mentally began to explore his body to see what the disease was affecting. I gasped when I realized it was his heart, lungs, and liver. I used mental-fire to purge his entire system. Then I retreated to my own mind. I looked at him, to see him staring at me.

"I do not know what you have done, but what you did has cured me." He turned a hand over and as he did so, the sores began to disappear.

"You have my friendship." He sat up. I reached forward and pulled him up. I looked at Ton, who nodded.

"We'll have to figure out an immunization, but that will work for now." He told me.

"This whole thing smells of Tymel." I spat and ground the spot with my foot. We went next door, Hai following us. The situation was the same there, except there it was a Tauntaun and a female Twi'lek. When we had finished there, I looked at Ton.

"I do not have much strength left. Not enough to heal another, that is." He nodded.

"I believe it is time to confront Tymel." He said. We began to depart. Hai stopped us.

"I wish to go with you. I have a few things to say to this Tymel person, too." I shook my head, and reached into the pouch at my side. I pulled out a bottomless (enchanted) vial of all-heal juice.

"Hai, I need you to get to as many non-humans as possible and give them a drop of this. If they won't take it, do all you can to give it to them, tell your story. This should keep the disease from spreading. It will help those who have it as well." He nodded.

"All right." Then Ton and I left. It was not long before the building was insight. We reached the building. I pushed open the door and we walked in.

We braced ourselves immediately. Ton wrapped his arms around me, and I concentrated on raising a wind that would lower us down the shaft at our own pace. I made sure I was holing my staff tightly, not a moment to soon.

I lowered us carefully down to the bottom of the shaft, then used the wind to create an air-bubble to make breathing easier. As soon as the gas stopped filling the chamber, Ton and I switched positions so that we were standing back-to-back. I flicked the blade of the staff on both ends. Ton drew his blaster with one hand, his vibroblade with the other.

Pretty soon a couple of stormtroopers came walking in. One of them saw we were still standing, and radioed for back. He had only just finished when a shot from Ton burned through his chest plate. His buddy attempted to get off a shot at us, but I deflected his shot with my staff. He stared, but then his back up came.

Then the fight started. I flicked both blades off and used the stick as a pole-vaulting stick to get over Ton. Right before I landed I flicked them back on. I began to go through the completed moves my trainer had made me drill endlessly. Thrust, parry, thrust. Disengage, stab, whack, head-crack. Thrust, thrust, parry, stab, kill-shot.

Eventually they did the sensible thing and ran. I turned off my staff and glanced at Ton. He was okay.

-These guys couldn't hit the broadside of a bantha!- he told me. We ran after the stormtroopers. I skidded to a stop next to a console with a button marked "COMM." I pushed it.

"Hey Tymel! Are you here? Remember those people you tortured awhile ago? We have a message for you: You can't catch us twice. But we'd love it if you'd try." I looked at Ton, who was laughing silently.

-Ton, I'm going to raise a mental barrier around us. We just going to walk in there, you blazing away on your blaster, me stabbing people. Ready to scare some stormtroopers to death?-

-Totally.- We started forward. We rounded a corner and met an "ambush" waiting there. My mental "bubble" kept them from coming within a five-foot radius of us. It was almost laughable, the way wave after wave would run at us, only to die.

Quite sickening, really. They were so loyal to Tymel that they would throw their lives away even after seeing almost all of their comrades die. After awhile I stopped attacking, and Ton did, too.

-Sickening.- He told me.

-Yes. Maybe they were possessed?-

-Who knows?- We continued on. We came to a locked door. I mentally unlocked it. We saw Tymel standing there, about to get into his personal TIE.

"Don't even think about, Tymel." I told him. I set fire to the TIE. Ton leveled his blaster at Tymel.

"Now, Tymel, tell us what you did with Wraith Squadron." He said, coldly. Tymel began to laugh.

"Oh, they're in another dimension. That was only a distraction so that the New Republic would be distracted. What I really wanted was to destroy the non-humans with my plague." He laughed, insanely.

"So it was you. I thought so. No one else is low enough." I told him. Something was wrong. The Tymel who'd tortured us was much different. I mind-probed him, and I knew.

-Ton, just shoot him. It's a clone. So were all the stormtroopers.- Ton complied. I went straight to the computer and tapped in. Nothing.

-Sithspit. If you were Tymel, where would you hide?-

-Somewhere I was sure would be overlooked by the New Republic. Somewhere they wouldn't go unless they had to.-

-Like Hoth?-

-Brr . . . yeah.- I walked over to the TIE. I was about to reach into it when Ton stopped me.

"You set fire to that, don't you remember?"

"I set fire to the paint. Damage was cosmetic only." I reached in and check the vector it was set for.

"Well, we were off. Tatooine, of all places."

"Hot."

"No kidding. Let's get back to the Prowler."

"No, I don't think so." I turned to see a stormtrooper with a blaster pointed at Ton.

"You just back up towards your friend here. We'll tie you up, and ask Tymel himself to come and get you."

"Sure thing, plastic-boy." I told him. He tried to slap me, but I ducked. I backed up 'till my hands touched Ton's.

-As soon as they're busy, I'll teleport us out of here.-

-Great.-

-First, though, we're going to see where the trooper is transmitting his message. Is he using a datapad?-

-Yup.-

-Stupid git. Let's see how good his grip on it is.- It was no trouble to "lift" the datapad out of the trooper's hand and bring it over to my pocket.

"What the . . ." We never knew what the trooper was going to say next, because we teleported back to the Prowler.

We strapped in and headed for Tatooine. We landed in the middle of the desert, and I summoned a wind to cover TMX with sand. Then we headed for Mos Eisley, city of sand and more sand. It took a relatively short period of time. When we got there, we went straight to the first cantina we saw, but before we went inside we pulled up our hoods so they covered our faces.

We walked up to the bartender and ordered drinks. When he brought them to us I asked him a question.

"Do you remember what your customers look like?"

"It is difficult." I shoved a standard credit across the top of the bar.

"Sometimes I remember one or two faces."

"Any stormtroopers come by here?" I asked.

"I don't remember if any did." I handed him another credit.

"Three came in last night."

"Thank you." We paid for our drinks and chose a table in a dark corner, where we could see the other patrons of the bar without being seen. A group of stormtroopers walked in.

"Routine search, all non-humans please exit the building." One said. The barkeeper began to protest.

"Hey, those are-" he stopped when one of the troopers held a blaster to his head. One by one, the non-humans got up and left.

"Something's wrong here." I hissed to Ton. The last non-human exited, and the cantina returned to normal. I stood up and picked up my staff. Ton stood as well. We left the cantina. The last group of non-humans was being forced into a small sort of cargo-skimmer. We saw the doors close behind them. The troopers got into the cab in the front. I motioned to Ton. We jumped onto the back of the skimmer. As it started off, I pulled open the door. Ton had already climbed up onto the top of it. I signaled for the non-humans to exit the skimmer. I used the flip I'd practiced earlier to get on top of it. A stream of non-humans began to pour out. The troopers driving noticed that the skimmer was getting lighter. They stopped the skimmer, but all of the non-humans were already out. They came to investigate. They saw the line of non-humans running away.

"Hey, you there! Stop that!" I had had enough. I jumped down on him, like a cat pouncing on its oblivious prey. I drew my vibroblade and turned it on. I held it under his chin, a vulnerable place in his armor.

I caught the eye of his buddy, "No sudden moves." He ignored me and drew his blaster. Ton jumped down on him. I used strips of cloth from my tunic to tie their hands.

"Into the skimmer." I told them. They complied.

Ton untied the hands of one trooper and held his blaster to his head while the trooper drove. I questioned the other trooper.

"Where were you taking the non-humans?"

"To our base." He said, sullenly.

"To do?" I prompted.

"We were going to inject them with the Lues virus."

"Which basically kills them eventually. What are the symptoms?"

"Blue sores. Sore throat. Lots of pain." That sounded just like Hai and his two friends.

"Is there a cure?"

"Of course. In case the wrong person got infected." I nodded, as if pleased. Then I drew his blaster, set it to the highest stun setting, and shot him. I opened the door of the cab and kicked his limp form out. I pulled the door shut and turned to the other trooper.

"Now, let's get to that 'base' he told me about." I said. It did not take long. When we got there, we were only one of about ten or so. The guard didn't give us a second glance. The trooper parked the vehicle.

"You were cooperative," I told him, "So we'll stun you." I used the same blaster I'd used on the other trooper. Then I took it off its stun setting. Ton took the trooper's blaster. We joined the group of non-humans who were walking towards an opening in a large gray building. We checked to see that our hoods were still up and entered. I sideslipped in the long column of prisoners until I was next to a stormtrooper. I slipped my hand into his blaster holster and took it. I handed it to the first non-human I saw, a Twi'lek who could have been Hai's twin. He looked startled, but then quickly hid the blaster under his shirt. I repeated the process with one or two other troopers, until a couple others caught on.

One female Bothan was particularly clever. She feigned that she was weakening and fell against a stormtrooper. She apologized profusely, but when straightened and stumbled back into the column, she had his blaster.

With this method, by the time we had gone thirty meters more, we had every blaster we could get. Then those with blasters moved to the edges of the column.

"Open fire!" I called. I had given the blaster I took from the trooper in the cab away, so I turned on the blades of my staff. I swung it sideways and felt it connect with the abdomen of the trooper next to me. The troopers were somewhat startled when they reached for blasters they did not have.

It did not take long to drop all of the stormtroopers to the floor. We continued on, and came to a large chamber. We opened the door. The room was full of scientists, each with a waiting syringe. I jumped up onto a nearby chair.

"Imperial scientists! Inject us if you will, but at least one of you is going to die in the process. Who's first?" They just stood there. No one walked forward. Then, one of them ran forward and knocked me off my chair. I felt the bite of the needle as he sunk it into my skin.

"Agh!" I kicked him sharply in the stomach, then swung the blade of my staff into him. He gurgled and fell.

That was enough for the rest of the scientists. They flung down their syringes and ran. I went to the head of the column. There was a throbbing pain in my arm, but I ignored it. I spoke to the former prisoners.

"Listen to me! Do not touch the needles! They carry a deadly virus, it only affects non-humans. There are prisoners somewhere in this compound that have already been injected. We need to find them and bring them here. There is a cure for the virus, we'll get it and distribute it to them. They need it. Let's get going!" They cheered, and ran to find prisoners. Ton, a few others, and I, stayed behind and began looking for the cure.

It was not hard to find. Ton filled a syringe, and waited. He did not wait long. Soon some people returned with some who were infected. Ton put the rest of us to work, filling syringes and handing them to him. He was the only doctor there, consequently, he was the only one who injected the sick with the cure.

I looked down at my arm. I noticed the spot were the scientist had injected me was turning blue. Small blue sores had already begun to cover the skin around it. When Ton was free, I walked over to him.

"Me, too." I held out my arm. He put his hand on it and stiffened.

-You weren't kidding when you told Hai that you weren't human.-

-Just shut up and give me the cure.- After he injected me with it, I went to talk to the former prisoners.

When we had finished, everyone piled into the skimmers and we headed back to Mos Eisley. Ton and I teleported back to the Prowler. On our way off Tatooine we blew a few holes in the base. It wasn't needed anymore. It would never be needed again.

We headed straight for Coruscant, to take the cure to Hai and the others. We landed in the same way as before, and rushed to find Hai. It didn't take as long as we had expected, but it was still night before we found him.

"It is good to see you two again. Were you successful?"

"Quite." I told him, and showed him the box of the bottles of the cure we had brought. He smiled. Then we told him about the Twi'lek who looked just like him. His name was Qou'Tyi.

"Are you related to him?" Hai began to cry.

"He is my brother. He went missing almost a month ago." He reached forward and clasped my hand.

"Thank you for all you have done. I will not forget this."

"You're welcome. If you ever want to contact us, just to say hi or something, send it to Skysong, c/o Wraith Squadron, New Republic."

"I will. I must catch a ship- I will go to Tatooine. But first, I will give these," He hefted the box of cures, "To the local non-human hospital." He saluted us and left. Ton and I went back to the Prowler. It was time to find Tymel. And since if we couldn't find him, we would let him find us.

First, however, we would find the Wraiths. The clone-Tymel had said something about them being in another dimension. So we headed for Crossroads.

vii. Warning

This is a public service announcement, this is only a test/ Emergency evacuation process/

May Impair your ability to operate machinery . . .

Life does not come with a warning label. If it did it would read something like: Caution- May impair your ability to think. May break your heart (more than once). Evil people may trap your friends. And they might kill them. They might even attack your home planet and blow it up. Many unknown side affects.

There's no label. That's why getting born is a risk. And while you're at it, live it up! You can't come out of life alive.

The Wraiths' had no warning. They'd been missing for almost year now with no trace. Where could they be? Crossroads might know, if we could convince them that we really did have quite a good reason for searching their records to see where a large group of X-Wings had been transported.

Can't quite tell just what it means to me/ Keep out of reach of children, don't you talk to strangers/ Get your philosophy from a bumper sticker/ Warning. Live without warning/ Say warning. Live without warning/ Without. Alright.

As the Prowler sped towards a secluded spot in space where it would be safe to open a portal to the ante-crossroads parking lot (ACPL), I reflected on the choice I'd made, to deliberately disobey not one but two Generals of the New Republic. My reverie was interrupted when Ton called over the intercom.

"Skysong, approaching location. You gonna open the portal?" I went to the cockpit and took my seat. I buckled in, then looked at Ton.

"Ready?" He nodded. I made three quick circling motions with my hand, then twisted it as if I were opening a door. An image of a parking lot formed in front of us, framed with a gold glitter. Then it was gone, and we were cruising through the ACPL. I saw a spot.

"There, there! Park there!" I told Ton. He set the Prowler down with practiced ease. I got up and shouldered my pack. I reached for my staff, then I turned to Tonin and Gadget.

"You two guard the ship. If anyone but us tries to take it, fly away. We can always hitch a ride." They beeped a farewell. Ton and I went down the gangplank. We walked towards the glittering entrance of crossroads.

"Prepare yourself." I told Ton.

"This place is a zoo." We went in.

Three hours later . . .

"I tell you, I know there was an unauthorized portal opening almost exactly six months ago! Look, if it helps, I'm a member of the GA, and if I don't get some assistance soon, I'm going to get angry!" The squirrel behind the front desk just glared at me. I sighed, and pulled out my GA ID.

Two more hours later . . .

Ton and I were walking towards the area where a "kind" employee had told us that, "Portals 'ave been actin' up there, lately." When we got there I reached into my pack and pulled out a clear glass orb. I muttered a few words and a picture appeared in the orb. A small figure of a man- two men- were standing where Ton and I were now. One of them put a small silver device on the floor. The other pushed the buttons on the device that activates portals. Then they stepped back. I saw a group of X- Wings and one TMX (the Prowler). One of the men pushed another button and the X-Wings were flying over an all-to-familiar green and blue sphere. A picture of bright lights and a deck of cards flashed. Then the image fizzed out.

"Fimus!" I swore, vehemently.

"Fimus? What's fimus? And do we know where the Wraiths are now?"

"Fimus is essentially 'Dirt-born.' And the Wraiths are somewhere in Las Vegas."

"Where's that?"

"Earth. How good are your gambling skills?"

"Decent. Pretty good. I win at least half the time."

"Great. Vegas, here we come."

Mental homes and safety self communities/ Did you remember to the pay the utility?/ Gosh Darn Police Line You Better Not Cross!/ Is it the cop, or am I the one that's really dangerous?/ Sanitation, expiration date, question everything/ Oh shut up and be a victim of authority . . .

I walked up to the registration desk of a posh hotel-casino. The clerk looked like he thought he was a somebody.

"Two rooms please." I told him. He looked down his nose at me.

"Is madam sure?"

"Madam is damn sure. Madam has cash. Madam wants a room."

"Madam may wish to consider the Motel 6 down the road."

"Clerk-boy may wish to consider another job." He stiffened.

"There are no vacancies." He wasn't telling the whole truth. My patience was gone. I mentally nudged him.

" . . . except for the bridal suite." He amended.

"We'll take it, if you're sure there is nothing else."

"I am sure, madam." I paid for the room, and led Ton upstairs. He kept muttering about how technologically behind Earth was. I unlocked the door. What I saw was at first only a lot of an eye-assaulting shade of pink. When my eyes had adjusted, I saw a large canopy bed, a fireplace, a heart-shaped tub, a small couch, and a closet. I shook my head, then Ton and I went inside. I opened the closet to find a bunch of extra pillows and blankets. I pulled out the pillows and blankets, and lugged them over to the couch. I looked at Ton, who was looking out of the window.

"We'll hit the casinos tomorrow. Today, we lie low, and stay in the room. We'll get room service."

"Room service?"

"They bring you food."

"I know that. What's good?"

"I was thinking sandwiches, actually."

"Sounds good," Ton walked over to the phone, "How do you use this thing?"

"Watch." I picked up the receiver and called.

"Room Service." said the voice on the other end. Suddenly the phone clicked out with a snkt!. I swore and hung up.

"Someone in the next room is using more power than they're supposed to." I got up and went to the door.

"Where are you going?"

"To ask them to share."

"Ok. I'll come, too."

"Fine with me." We went next door. I knocked. I gasped in surprise when I saw the person who opened the door. It was Face, also known as Garik Loran.

"Face?!" Ton exclaimed, then he muttered something.

"What'd you say?" I asked.

"I said, 'Better not go gambling, I just used up all my luck for awhile.'" We all laughed, and Face invited us all inside. All of the other Wraiths were there. It was good to see them again.

"Screw room service, this calls for a celebration!" I said.

"I think I'll introduce you to some of the better Earth-cuisine. Have you guys ever had Sushi?" They shook their heads.

"You don't know what you're missing!" I sighed.

"I am taking you all out to the nearest place. If you don't have some, the other Goonies would never forgive me for it."

"The other Goonies?" Tyria asked.

"Long story. Tell you later. Much later."

"'K. I'm hungry!" Ton announced. After consulting a map, we headed out.

@

"All right, I admit it. Skysong knew what she was talking about." Kell said. Face was at the counter, get a box to take back to the hotel. As soon as he finished, we left the restaurant.

As we walked down the street, we laughed and joked. We were completely oblivious to where we were going. We took one wrong turn, then another, without even noticing. Soon we were in a quarter of town that was completely dark and empty.

"Hey, guys, I think we took a wrong turn somewhere. Ton, where's the map?" I asked, trying to sound casual.

"I don't have it. Face?"

"Nope. I think Kell has it."

"I don't know where it is. Grinder?"

(A/N: he is alive. Any information that say otherwise is wrong, and propaganda put out to make you think he is dead. Nyah. :p)

"If I had it, I would have told you by now."

"Hold it!" I said, "Does anyone have the map?" No one spoke.

"That's it, we're screwed." Ton muttered.

"You can say that again, shell face." With that comment a bunch of black-clad thugs materialized almost out of nowhere. I hissed in vexation. Then I felt lucky.

Not be a trusting person by nature, I had brought my staff in case it was necessary to force-feed anyone Sushi. Ton must have warned the others what my staff was for, because I heard the faint rasps of blasters being removed from hidden holsters.

I began to back up, as if scared, and pretended to only just have noticed the thugs had surrounded us completely. The Wraiths and Ton were slowly forming a back-to-back circle.

When I was within two feet of one of the attackers, I dropped and swung my staff at his legs. He fell like a sack of potatoes. A quick blow to his head put him out of the fight. I heard Face yell something that sounded like "Fire at will."

The thugs didn't seem to notice they were in over their heads. They were either very brave, very stupid, or very drunk. I suspected the latter. Most of them had knives, a few had guns. I swung a weighted end of my staff at one of our attackers. The Wraiths were still firing their blasters with a mark of precision that only comes with years of practice.

I glanced up, sweating from the fighting, just in time to see Ton catch a bullet square in the chest. I screamed, angry beyond measure.

"Noooooooo!" I went wild. I performed a sort of twisting, whirling attack. In the middle, I changed to my goddess form. As I landed I struck the throat of one assailant. I heard him gasp, but did not care. I planted my feet firmly, with Ton lying prone behind me. I raised the pentacle tattooed hand, and spread my fingers. A mix of wind and water began to swirl and pulse from it creating a barrier between me and the gang. I made a flicking motion, and the water-wind swirled to create a wall that separated the Wraiths, and the gang and me. Then, I flicked a blade of my staff on. The training I'd had years ago kicked in. With a flying leap, I cleared the short wall the gang had been firing behind. I swung it first sideways, then flipped it up and over in an arc. I heard strangled screams and gulps as the blade made contact.

Finally, only one was left. I knocked him down. I could see fear in his eyes, he was sweating. I spoke to him.

"I will let you go. Do not forgot this lesson I have taught you." With a flick of the blade I destroyed his gun.

"You're too young to play with guns. Tell the other gangs what you have encountered."

"Ah, they wouldn't believe me." He spat.

"No? Then I will give you proof." I reached forward and grabbed his wrist with my left hand (the one with the tattoo). I added a bit of heat to the pentacle area. He screamed. When I drew my hand away, he had a pentacle burn mark on his wrist. I issued a single command.

"Go." He needed no second telling. He ran. I jumped back over the wall, and with a wave of my hand I dispelled the air~water shield. I dropped my weapon and ran to Ton's sign. Kell was already there, and he shook his head at me.

"It's no good, Skysong. He's . . . gone." I choked back a sob. His breathing was almost imperceptible. I put my head to his chest. His heartbeat was faint . . . fainter . . . I couldn't hear it anymore.

"No! Nooooo!" I sobbed. I felt Kell pulling me away.

"He is dead, Skysong. Come on." It was like his voice was coming from a badly tuned radio. Someone else helped Kell pick me up. They began to drag me away.

Warning. Live without warning/ Say warning. Live without warning/ Say warning. Live without warning/ Say warning. Live without warning . . .

viii. Priori Spiritus

I screamed as I felt arms pulling me away from Ton's body. This was not right! I began to struggle against Kell and whoever else was holding me- Face, I think. I broke free and ran back to Ton's side. I began to perform CPR, the only thing I could think of. The minutes crawled by, creeping slowly. Nothing. I thought back to my training. Perhaps a sharp shock? I remembered something my mother had told me: You killed Talzed, you have absorbed his power of Enithalpy. I raised a hand and let a bolt of lighting strike him. To my joy, I heard him cough. I scooped him up in my arms.

"C'mon, we've got to get him to a hospital. There's one just three blocks away." I began to run. I heard Face yell something, and come running after me. The other Wraiths weren't far behind him.

I burst into the Emergency Room of the Lippencott Memorial Hospital.

"Gunshot wound . . . chest." I gasped. A nurse and a team of green masked people came running with a Gurney. I slowly lowered him onto it. The nurse began to ask me questions.

"Does he have any allergies to medicine?" she asked. These people had never heard of bacta.

"No." It was all going to my head. The room began to whirl, faster and faster. I began to lose consciousness.

"She's falling- someone grab her!" I heard the nurse yell. I felt my head strike the floor. They didn't catch me. was my last thought before darkness claimed me.

When I woke up I was lying on a couch in a private waiting room somewhere. The other Wraiths were in groups, talking in hushed whispers. I sat up, rubbing my head where it had hit the floor.

"Any news on Ton?" I asked. Face shook his head. It was then I noticed he was sitting with his head in hands. He muttered something.

"What?"

"Second time. I've- done this twice now." He choked out. I realized he was crying. I saw a box of Kleenex next to me. I handed him one.

"Blow." I said, softly. A heard the door open and whipped my head around in time to see the white-coated doctor come in. I jumped up.

"News?" I managed to croak.

"He's coming 'round now. He keeps asking for Skysong."

"That's me."

"Come with me." I followed him to a room. Ton was in bed, blankets pulled up to his waist, his chest covered in bandages. He turned his head towards the door as we came in.

"I'll leave you two alone. Push the buzzer by his head if anything goes wrong." he instructed me. He left. I pulled a chair up to the bed and took Ton's hand.

He coughed, "Sk- Skysong?"

"Shh, don't speak." I lifted one of my hands to brush a tear away. He smiled crookedly. I put one hand on his head and stroked his hair, as if he were a little boy. I sniffed.

"I'm not going to forgive you scaring me like that." I told him.

"Didn't think so." He croaked.

"Didn't I just tell you not to talk?" I reached for a glass of water on his bedside table and handed it to him.

"Yes. But I," He coughed, "Wanted to tell you I was right. I used up all my luck when we found Face."

"Hush. That's not true, all of us were unlucky. Face wants to see you. He's beating himself up for not doing something."

I left Ton with Face, who walked in as I left. I had a lot to think about. Stress and worry about Ton being hurt should not have made me unconscious for the hours it must have taken for his surgery. In fact, almost every time after I became my goddess alter-ego, I was incapacitated for at least an hour afterwards. Was it possible that the energy the goddess used was too much for my mortal self to handle?

And another thing: Every time I became a goddess, it became easier. It was getting to the point where I was less Skysong and more goddess. Would I eventually become a permanent goddess, and Skysong would essentially be dead?

I hadn't been a dog for awhile. I found I missed it. I sighed. Life was getting so complicated. It seemed only a few days ago all I'd wanted was to learn to use my power at Hogwarts. Now all I wanted to do was control it.

Control it. It is said that all power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Look what happened to Talzed.

I made my way to the waiting room, and assured the others that Ton would pull through. There was a mad rush to go see him, and I was left alone with my own thoughts. My mind became a war of three voices. At first I couldn't identify them.

So, Skysong. You're thinking of backing down again. Typical. Can't handle even a little responsibility or power.

Not backing down. I'm not!

What about me, Skysong? Have you forgotten me? I identified the first voice as Scornful, the second as Wimpy, and the third as Hurt.

Ha! You're both afraid of power! Let me take control! Scornful said. Wimpy just made little whimpering noises.

No! I am part of her, newcomer! Step down! Hurt was not so easily intimidated.

Step down?! I am a goddess. You step down. Scornful retaliated. Now I knew who the voices were. Scornful was me as a goddess. Wimpy was me as a human. Hurt was my dog/Hundes-self.

(A/N: Skysong can be either a dog or Hundes without side-effects because that form is part of her blood.)

I glanced at my hands. One was a paw, the other was a very pale white.

"Oh, stop!" I said aloud. The skin on both hands seemed to ripple, and then returned to normal.

What was wrong with me? It was as if each of my "selves" had taken on a life of their own. I curled up on a couch and went to sleep.

~~Skysong's Dream~~

There were three figures walking towards me. All of them were wearing black cloaks and masks, I could not see their faces. One by one they pulled their hoods back. I was startled to see one of them was me. My first thought was, "If that is me, who am I?"

Then I recognized the other two people. Well, they weren't really people. One was a Hundes, better known as Skysong na Ahakma. The other's name was D'eve'nir. Half of each face was in shadow, the other halves were shining brightly. D'eve'nir drew a blaster and fired. I turned and saw Ton fall down, dead. Briefly D'eve'nir's face became that of the gang member who had shot Ton. I screamed, and tried to go to him, but I couldn't move.

At the same time, Skysong (Rândess) ran to him, bending over him in consternation. Skysong (na Ahakma) ran to his other side. D'eve'nir followed. Her face was now completely black. The two Skysongs' faces were shining.

D'eve'nir had reached Ton's side. She drew a sword and cut his head off, laughing. The other two disappeared. My view became that of D'eve'nir's.

Then I woke up. My hand was clutched around a pen like you'd grip a sword. I dropped it and ran to Ton's room.

It was full of nurses. Ton's breathing was harsh and labored. One of the nurses spotted me.

"I'm sorry, you can't come in now-"

I cut her off, "I do not carry what I can or cannot do, I am coming in." She reached for me.

"I don't think you understand-"

"You cannot fathom how much I understand." I ducked under her arm and dodged a swarm of other nurses until I was by Ton's side. He was gasping, his eye's had taken on an odd glassy sheen. I pulled back the covers to look at his neck. There was a thin red line around it, like a necklace.

"I think you should leave now." I said as calmly as I could to the nurses.

"But we are-" I lost patience. For one of the final times I became D'eve'nir.

-GO!- They fled. I turned to a medical tray one of them had dropped. On it was a small glass of water. I picked it up. All right, D'eve'nir. I thought. You started this. You will finish it, or be finished yourself.

I pulled on of my hairs out of my head and dropped it in the water, then blew on it. The water became silver. I picked up a cotton swab and dipped it in the water, then began to dab it over the almost invisible cut on Ton's neck. When I had finished I drew a pentacle on the ground with the remaining water. Then I changed to my human force. I sat down in the center of the pentacle and began a simple breathing pattern.

~~Meditation~~

Ton's body was lying on the ground. His head was several feet away. I walked over and picked it up. As soon as my hands touched it D'eve'nir appeared.

"What are you doing, mortal?" She asked.

"What does it look like?"

"Do not offend the Gods."

"You are me. How can I offend myself?" I pushed past her to get to Ton's body. She grabbed my shoulder and turned me to face her. Her eyes glittered dangerously.

"You cannot save him. You were right when you were thinking that one day you and I will become one, and in that both Skysongs will die. I can kill him then." I pulled away from her.

"I love him, that means you do too! Why do you want to kill him?"

"A goddess does not know love. She has no emotions. Why would one mortal death bother me? He is what is between you and me becoming the same being."

"Then I would keep him there. I would die before becoming one with you!"

"You will die to become one with me."

"I swear on all I hold dear and vow on everything sacred not to become you as an alter-ego unless lives are in danger."

"So be it." She vanished. I walked to Ton and set his head in its rightful place. I bent down and kissed him.

He opened his eye. He reached a bandaged hand up to his neck. There was no trace of the cut that had been there.

I want to be the minority/ I don't need your authority/ Down with the moral majority/ 'Cause I want to be the minority . . .

ix. Operation: Whiplash

As Indiana Jones discovers when he is young, unless you're very careful when you crack a whip, it whips back and hits you. Ouch. Warlord Tyeml had cracked the whip when he tortured us. And because he was careless, and we escaped, his "whip" was going to come back and hit him. At least that was the theory of Operation: Whiplash, the exercise Ton and I had planned.

As we drew closer to the small grey planet that was our destination, it became easy to see why Tymel would chose this planet. No sane person would go there twice. On planet records would show we'd already been there. And we were widely considered to be sane.

But that was where Tymel would be wrong. As any of the people who knew us well would say, we were far from what was sane. Very far. Anyone known to stay up all night painting a squadron of A-Wing pilots' vehicles bright pink before a simulation mission in real-space would be designated crazy.

Yet Ton and I had done just that almost exactly three months before we had first left to deal with Tymel. The pilots hadn't been too happy about it.

flashback-thingy

As soon as Ton was released from the hospital, we had all headed back to the New Republic Base. We had concocted a strange seemingly plan, and we were planing on presenting it to Wedge and General Cracken.

They were delighted to see the Wraiths again, but at our advice they had not announced it to anyone else. The Wraiths were kept hidden, and most units were kept on their respective searches. The leaders of each unit were notified that they should be ready to make a jump into hyperspace to Neddog.

With the help of the astromechs, we had downloaded/hacked into all the information the New Republic had found as to the Wraiths whereabouts. The Wraiths also shared all the information they had heard from Tymel and any of those in his employ. We had also compiled all the information we had on Tymel's location into one file. Then we ran a program that would find the most likely places for him to be. The final result was a small planet that Ton and I hated. Neddog, home of senseless fashion and clashing colors.

Our plan, once we knew the location, was simple. We would send a disguised group of commandos (the Wraiths) to find and infiltrate the base. Once they had found it, they would relay a message to Cracken and Wedge. They would then alert all units to standby incase the Empire objected to our next move.

I had dubbed the infiltration team the "Leafy-Bug" team, for reasons of my own. Leafy-Bug would then move into the base and look for Tymel or anyone else who might be "useful," planting explosive charges along the hallway as they went.

If, as we were sure they would, the imps decided to retaliate, the "Jelly-Bird" team would launch. The Jelly-Bird team consisted of several squadrons of X-Wings, Rogue squadron of course included. Jelly-Bird team would then buzz the other side of the planet, and come around to strafe the base.

end flashback-thingy

Ton and I buckled into our seats. The Narra was once again under the false of identity of the Doran Star (A/N: See Wraith Squadron) with Kell acting as pilot. I had used my telekinetic abilities (still quite strong even without Devenir) to give Kell streaks of gray in his normally blond hair. Face, Ton, Tyria, and I had all gone for the slightly abnormal look. We were all dressed in black (for infiltration reasons as well as getting onto Neddog (recently fallen to the Empire) without being noticed). Ton and Face had both dyed their hair black, and Ton had added even more metal to his face and body (on top of the black clothing, easily discardable later). He had also changed his artificial eye so that it looked somewhat like a Disco-Ball. Tyria and I wore identical silver, sparkly belts and hair accessories. Tyria had used an exorbitant amount of hair gel on her short hair and had spiked it. She had then sprayed it bright pink. I had been a little less extreme, and had just dyed my hair with streaks of bright blue. We looked like we had all stepped out of an add for . . . something. Those of us without prosthetic face enhancements (everyone but Ton) had painted our faces.

(A/N: Picture of this ensemble will be attached)

We were posing as a punk rock band. After much debate we had named ourselves Skyrocket. Grinder, Runt, and Piggy were members of Jelly-Bird, not Leafy Bug, so they were somewhere else. Several mechanics were dressed as ordinary civilians, they would easily pass inspection. Kell turned in his seat.

"Here we go, guys. I expect full reimbursement on all of these tickets, by the way."

Tyria made a rude gesture at him, "No way Fly-boy. Just pilot this crate over to Neddog." Kell muttered something.

"Say that to my face, you egg noodle!" Face yelled.

Wedge poked his head in, "You guys, great acting, but you don't need to be in character yet."

Ton shook his head, "He thinks we're in character!" I snorted.

<(^v^)>

According to most of our sources, the customs officer on Neddog led an eccentric lifestyle. Drinking, eating, nightclubs, all sorts of things. So he should not have been surprised when the "Skyrockets" walked down the gangplank towards him. Ton handed him our identicards. The officer made a strange noise

"Guh . . . guh."

I turned to Face, "Hey, I like that sound: Guh-guh! Can we put it in a song?" Tyria fluttered her eyelashes.

"I'll bet we could!"

Ton nodded, "With the right syncopation, I'm sure 'guh-guh' would become a-" The officer cut him off.

"Ah, welcome to Neddog. Please keep moving." I shook my head.

"Maybe 'guh-guh' isn't right. Perhaps 'gu-uh-guuh' would be better?"

"Really? As soon as we get to the hotel, we'll try it!" We moved on, feeling pretty satisfied with ourselves. The officer hadn't looked twice at our cards. We were home free.

******

Wake up, the house is on fire/ And the cat's caught in the dryer/ Philosophy's a liar when

Your home is your headstone . . .

Once out of the airport (is that what it is?) we met up with Kell, then ducked into a convenient alley. Once there, we discarded all of the flashy metal we'd been wearing. We crept into an empty apartment and washed our faces. Tyria and I sprayed our hair with black hair dye while Face tweaked Ton's mechanical eye so that it no longer appeared to be a small disco-ball. From a bag that Kell had been carrying we each removed and put on a black hooded cloak. Ton handed out the blasters that had been concealed as parts of his "outfit."

Then we moved out. We were headed for The Roaring Ewok, a popular bar on Neddog. A popular bar, that is, with the local Stormtroopers. It was not hard to find. The large, pink, neon sign that read: The Roaring Ewok was impossible to miss. Face opened the door and we went in.

We all crowded into a single booth. We ordered our drinks and waited. We did not wait long. We had only been there five minutes when a group of Stormtroopers walked in. We waited till they finished their drinks and left. Then we, too, got up and left. Tyria put a handful of coins on the table as we did so.

We followed the Stormtroopers as quickly and silently as shadows. Before long we reached a large, gray building with the words "Emar loves Loosa!" scrawled in graffiti along the side. The troopers went in. Face gathered us in a huddle.

"Okay, we need a plan. Anyone got an idea?"

I waved my hand enthusiastically, "Me, me!" Face nodded.

"Okay. Fire away."

"We climb the wall and go in through the hangar doors on the roof."

"How do we get the hangar doors to open?"

"We have Jelly-Bird buzz the other side of the planet."

Imperial Pilots are very predictable. They respond almost exactly the same way to every crisis- some TIEs go out to investigate it. As soon as the hangar doors opened, we jumped inside. Ton mouthed something at me. There was a buzzing noise in my ears from the roar of the TIEs.

"What?" I said.

Dimly, I heard Ton's reply, "What?" I shook my head to clear the noise.

"Hey guys, I know we can barely hear and all, but I think someone's going to notice us eventually. We should get going." Tyria said.

"Oh, er, right." Face took the lead, then came Kell, and Tyria. Ton and I brought up the rear. At first everything was uneventful. Then I heard a faint clanking behind us.

"Stop!" I hissed. We paused. Sure enough, a squad of stormtroopers was heading our way. I looked up. A thin grill blew cool air down onto my face. I motioned to the others.

"Ducts." I whispered. Kell nodded. He pulled out a small screwdriver and unscrewed two of the screws. The grill swung down. He pulled himself up, then pulled up Tyria. Face climbed up, followed by Ton. I jumped up and pulled myself inside, pulling the grill shut behind me. Kell passed me the screwdriver, which I used to reattach the grill to its former location.

And not a moment too soon. The stormtroopers passed right under the grill, muttering to themselves.

"I don't think there even are any damn intruders."

"Yeah, well, Lord Tymel's paranoid."

"Totally. Oh well, the sooner we're there, the sooner we can go back. Let's move faster." If any of them had looked up, they would have seen five anxious faces peering down at them. But they did not look up. Face motioned that we should follow him. We crawled as quietly as possible through the ducts. We came to another grill and stopped to look down. The person standing there was unmistakably Tymel.

"Is that the real McCoy?" Face whispered. I 'pathed Tymel, then nodded.

"It's him all right." I used the screwdriver (which I still had) to loosen the screws, then I lifted the grill out and put it behind me. I nudged Kell. He braced himself, then jumped down behind Tymel. He was quickly followed by Tyria, Face, and Ton. Something made me hesitate before I jumped down.

Tymel gasped, "Where did you come from?" He groped around behind him, looking for a way out.

"We are the Wraiths. We strike from Nowhere." Kell's voice was menacing. Tymel made a gurgling noise in his throat. Then he pulled a thermal detonator from behind his back.

"I was expecting you." I hissed in vexation. Tyeml's thumb was not near the trigger, thank the maker. I tensed myself, then sprang down, pouncing on Tymel as a cat would on a mouse. I knocked him to the floor.

"Give me one good reason why I should not cut your throat." I asked.

"Devenir . . ." Tymel breathed. I shook my head.

"No." Tymel suddenly lunged for my throat and before I knew what I was doing I slapped him as hard as I could, forgetting the screwdriver was still in my hand. He was out could. I picked him up.

"As much as I would love to kill him, I'm sure that General Cracken will want to ask him some questions." The others nodded.

"What kind of private escape vehicle d'you think Tymel had?" Ton said. He walked over to a panel and depressed it. A door slid open to reveal a trio of TIE fighters.

"Okay, guys, here's the plan: Skysong, Tyria, and I will fly the TIEs and put Tymel in one of the cargo holds. Kell and Ton will hot-foot it out back through the vents." I shook my head.

"Right except for one thing, Face. KELL, Tyria, and you will fly the TIEs. Ton and I will stick together." Face paused, then nodded.

"Okay. Come on, guys, let's move." Ton and I watched them go. Then I grinned.

"I'm afraid I lied to Face."

"What?"

"We're not going to go back through the vents. I'm teleporting us straight to the Doran Star."

"Sounds good." I grabbed his hand, and in a moment our surroundings winked out to be replaced by the interior of the Narra (Doran Star). Ton took the pilot's seat and I sat down next to him.

"Let's go." I said.

Everything went well until we were passing Coruscant. Then I felt a tearing, rending, sensation in my head.

"Ton," I croaked, "Stop!" He turned and looked at me. I was holding my head in my hands. The tearing, rending sensation had become a screaming, and I knew.

"Ton," I whispered, "It's that plague. The non-humans down there. They're dying."

x. In the End

It starts with one/ One thing I don't know why/It doesn't even matter how hard you try/ Keep that in mind I designed this rhyme/ To explain in due time/ All I know/ Time is a valuable thing/ Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings/ Watch it count down to the end of the day/ The clock ticks life away . . .

I tried so hard/ And got so far/ But in the end/ It doesn't even matter/ I had to fall/ To lose it all/ But in the end/ It doesn't even matter . . .

Hai was dead. So were hundreds of other non-humans who'd had the Lues virus. I could not figure out what had gone wrong. There was not a single sore on any of the bodies. The only thing that the corpses had in common was a strange, staring expression, and eyes that refused to be closed . . . as if they had been strangled.

All those who had received the cure were fine. But those who had taken the heal-all potion I'd given Hai were dead. Somehow, someway, something had gone wrong. But what? Had I brewed the potion wrong? Had the cure become contaminated? If I had done either of those things, I had essentially helped murder hundreds of creatures. The weight of that suddenly hit me, and I collapsed with a sob.

All most four hundred dead, because of me. I wrapped my arms around my knees and put my head down, sobs shaking my body.

~*~ Reconciliation~*~

I stared at the white figure approaching me. It was Devenir. But she was changed. Gone were her haughty look and hard eyes.

She spoke to me, "Skysong. I have thought a lot about what you said. You are right. A goddess . . . can know love. I felt it when you kissed Ton's astral self and he came alive again. I was sad. I want to help you. But not as Devenir. You started your fight with Talzed as Rineved. I would like to be her, the one who helps people instead of hurting them. I want to give a gift . . . of life to those who need it most." She disappeared. I thought for a moment. Rineved could be translated literally as Healer.

I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"You couldn't have done anything, Skysong. Some other doctors and I just finished an autopsy on Hai. He drowned. His lungs were full of fluid." Something in me tightened.

"No, Ton. But I can do something now." I stood up.

"Where is Hai's body?" I asked him.

"I'll show you." Ton led me to the local medical building. I looked down at Hai's still form.

"Havaniai, Hai. Rest in peace."

"I have to go back to work, Skysong. There are others who are not dead yet." Ton kissed my cheek.

"I am sorry." He walked off. I stood there for a moment. Then I went to the turbolift and pushed the button. The two doors slid open. I pressed the button for the roof.

The skies of the city open and sing/ Born a healer, mercy bring/ Ever-after, goddess-child/ Like a tiny bird take wing. - excerpt from Song of the Fire-bringer, a Mirivinian lore-song.

I summoned a wind and swirled it around and around until it formed a miniature sort of cushion. I used a second gust of wind to seat myself, cross-legged, on the "cushion." Then I closed my eyes. I swirled my telekinetic powers out and around until my entire astral being was swirling around Coruscant. I then purged all remnants of the plague, until not one remained. Then I opened my eyes and dispersed the wind. The plague was over.

Mercy's child/ Prone to wander/ Ever gentle, ever mild/ Come to calm the raging storm. - More from Fire-bringer.

Two months later . . .

Ton and I were sitting across from one another at a café in an airport on Coruscant. In a few minutes, my shuttle would arrive, and I would be heading home to Earth. About an hour later, Ton's own shuttle would arrive, and he would depart for the New Republic's newest base.

But for now, it was just us. Tonin would be going with me, Gadget would stay with Ton. They were already being loaded on their respective flights. Well, actually, I would "carry-on" Tonin and my small backpack, only Gadget was being "checked." Ton sighed.

"I'm going to miss you, Skysong."

"I'll miss you, too, Ton."

"Maybe . . . Maybe I'll get some time off soon and I can come visit you on Earth."

"I'd like that. I wish I didn't have to go. But that message from Claire was pretty urgent. Probably some Chitb clone on the loose again." He smiled. The PA beeped.

"Now boarding flight 22-9 at Gate 6." I got up.

"That's my flight." Ton nodded. We walked in silence to the gate, but just before I got on the shuttle, Ton handed me a box.

"Open it on the shuttle." He said. I nodded.

"'Bye." I said, still feeling somewhat miserable.

"'Bye." I boarded the shuttle and found my seat. I sighed. Then I opened the box. The first thing I saw were two of the prowlers. I recognized them as Duck and Squint. I smiled. I also found a scalpel - the only one Ton had managed to lose - and a datapad. I turned it on. The first thing I saw was the only file on the datapad. A file, titled: Skysong, will you marry me?