ok so it's my first storm hawks. Cut me some slack. I reckon there is a overhead trap door on The Condor, but i don't know about Julesburg cheese...

Twice upon the times, a fish jumped. An otter stealthily slid into the water and caught up with it in one swish of its tail. Meanwhile, a dragon was rampaging throughout the countryside, demanding round the clock room service of princesses and sheep. But that isn't the story. This story happened long ago, in a galaxy far away… wait… that's Starwars. Now, on to the real story.

It was the average day on the Condor.

"Bored. Bored. Bored. Bored. Bored. Bored. Bored. Bored. Bor- hey! That's my hair gel!" Finn took off from his seat to chase Radarr, whose fur was looking suspiciously wet and spiky. "ONLY THE FINN MAN CAN USE THAT!"

Watching without any real interest, Aerrow attempted to immerse himself in tightening a screw on his skimmer. Unfortunately, he was turning it the wrong way, causing it and a whole metal strip to fall off. Cursing, he finally managed to fix it back on.

Suddenly, Piper leaped up from where she was lounging next to the ship detection device. "Incoming! Small skimmer sized vehicle at twelve o'clock!"

"What allegiance?" demanded Aerrow, grabbing his energy blades and running up beside Piper and Stork, where he could indeed see a small dot, quickly getting bigger.

"Unknown!" Piper bit her lip, her fingers dancing over controls. "I can't trace their vehicle type or number, so they aren't allied with the sky knights however, there's only one, so it probably not cyclonians." Stork muttered something under his breath, about unknown pilots and certain doom.

The ship was a hive of activity, as everyone rushed for weapons ("just in case," insisted Junko to a near hysterical Stork), previous boredom forgotten.

"Transmission in from the unknown skimmer!" called Finn, as all rushed over. "It says 'prepare to be boarded. Like hell prepare.' " Turning back to the rest of the squadron, he raised an eyebrow. "Well, they'd better prepare for the Finn man! Chica-cha!" He struck a pose, as the others rolled their eyes, save for a spaced out Stork, who was rubbing his chin. "'Like hell prepare'? Familiar…" he murmured.

There came a thud, and everyone glanced upwards as the hatch lock squeaked. "They're forcing their way in!" gasped Piper.

"Battle stations!" ordered Aerrow, as everyone tensed.

Suddenly, the latch decided it had had enough. Life had been tough for this poor, neglected latch, right from being created. What, with no loving care and countless break ins, the worn security device gladly received the offered escape from the kind hair pin.

A small helmeted figure fell down the trap door, instantly jumping up again as if they had springs attached. "Sky knights!" hissed the figure, voice unidentifiable through the voice changing visor attached to the helmet (which had probably seen better days, with one whole side suspiciously missing, showing spiky, purple streaked brown hair.), over which they could only see a golden pair of eyes.

"Weeeeell, technically were not, but if you say so…" corrected Finn.

The figure relaxed, and stood up from a crouching position. "Oh. That's cool then. Sky Knights are pansies anyway." The stranger removed the helmet to reveal a girl no older than they, with one side of her chestnut hair flat from the helmet, sharply contrasting with the windblown half.

Stork's eyes widened. "No… please no…I got rid of you a year ago…" he backed into a corner. Finally noticing him, her face broke into a wide smile, and she walked towards him with her arms outstretched.

"STORK! I wondered where you'd skulked off to!"

"NOOO! Not you again! And before you say it, there are no such things as trainers, there is no such place as earth, and I am NOT PISTASHIO GREEN!"

"Aww, c'mon here, gimme' a hug!"

The others all looked stunned. Finally, Junko managed to speak. "You uh… know her?!"

The girl beamed, and put her arm around the scowling merb's shoulders. "Yup. I visited Terra Merb once, and met him there. We were great buds." She suddenly frowned, turning to Stork. "But why didn't you answer my message crystals? Although a telephone would have been easier…"

Heartily bemused by the mention of a telephone ("a what?"), all of the Storm Hawks wore different expressions. Junko looked like he was trying to figure out what she was saying, Aerrow looked slightly taken aback, and Piper was furrowing her brow. Finn, however, looked like he wasn't taking in a word she was saying, looking at her if she was the first girl he'd ever seen.

"Stork? Is there an explanation handy?" Aerrow looked slightly at loss for words.

The pilot sighed, and leaned in to talk without the girl hearing. "Heala? She's sort of a gangster. I met her at home before the storm hawks, and she means certain …doom."

"All correct, save for 'me being a gangster,'" Heala called, making them all jump. "It's such an ugly term; I prefer 'bounty hunter'. It's more accurate too. And what have I told you? Clumsiness isn't deadly!"

"Says the girl who knocked over a whole tub of oil and set a house on fire," muttered Stork, leaning in again.

"But can we trust her?" asked Piper, chewing her lip.

"Probably. She always keeps her word. Just be careful; she may have struck a bargain with someone else already." He jumped back as the bounty hunter bounced over.

"Speaking of which," she grinned. "I haves something to ask of you guys. I need to deliver a crystal shipment to Terra Gale, but I ran out of crystals, and had to land on your ship. Any chance you could give me a lift there and back to Terra Atmosia?"

Aerrow was quick to reply. "What's in it for us?"

Heala chuckled. "A man after my own heart," she said, mockingly putting a hand on her chest. "Yes, it will be worth your while. Apart from returning the necessary crystals, I'll give you this." Reaching inside a patch on her brown and white top, she pulled out a painted chicken feather. "Show this to anyone in the underworld and they'll slave away at your needs. Just say The Chicken sent you."

Finn raised an eyebrow. "The chicken?" he asked, making an vain attempt to get the attention foucused on him.

She shrugged. "The Chicken. The Joker. The Lady of Sporks. Whatever. You gotta' use a name, or you lose your cred. Also, it's best to keep your name a secret."

The squadron gathered round in a circle to discuss the matter, while Heala fiddled with something in her quiver. "Piper? Your opinion?" asked Aerrow.

The navigator pushed some hair back from her face. "Well, my guess is she's pretty well hooked up, therefore the feather. It would be useful to have someone in the underworld in our debt. Remember the colonel?"

Aerrow shuddered and turned to Junko. Interpreting the look, he said "well, I guess it could be pretty useful. She can help, y'know?"

The captain turned to Radarr, who shrugged. He could guess Stork's answer before he said anything, as he was frantically motioning 'no. no no NO.'. "Finn? Shall we agree?"

The sharpshooter dreamily gazed over at Heala, wearing a smile precisely 5 and a half sizes too big for his face. "cuuute…" Aerrow sighed, guessing that was the most he'd get out of him. He turned to the rest of the storm hawks.

"I guess she's staying."

"Brilliant!" the girl grinned, having discreetly listened in on the conversation. "And yes, my dear, I am well connected. Some people would give their eye teeth for that feather. Unfortunately, it's one use only."

"One question though," asked Piper. "If you were looking for a lift, why did you land on a sky knight's ship? According to your reaction, you dislike them."

"Well, for one there weren't any other ships around. Two, you had probably nicked the wreck from where it was before, and therefore weren't the real thing," she replied, ticking reasons off her fingers. She winced, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Three, there was no news about 'reforming Storm Hawks', so you were probably wannabes, trying to get some experience, though you do look official. Unsigned squadrons are the best; more willing to help."

Her answer intrigued Aerrow. "Why? Sky knights should always be there to help."

She took a deep breath and sighed. "Hate to break it to you, but they aren't all perfect. In fact, I've yet to find a decent squadron. You know I said about going back to Terra Atmosia? Well, I need to pick up my sister and take her there. She's-"Heala twisted her mouth, "-ill. It happened when we were younger, when all of us- my parents, my two sisters and my brother- were living together.

"My parents were captured by cyclonians. My sister has been traumatized since." Her gaze switched accusingly to Aerrow, as if it was his fault. "The council guessed it was going to happen. But did they send help? No!" she glared at them for a few moments, and then appeared to let all her anger was away. "Well," she continued normally. "Enough about me. I know nothing about you. Stork? Do they have names?"

Grumbling, Stork grumpily pointed to each Storm Hawk in turn. "Aerrow. The leader. Piper. Second in command. Junko. The mechanic. Finn. Sharpshooter. And the blue furball is Radarr, mission specialist, who… appears to be missing…"

The mentioned dog…rabbit…thing… appeared in a door way, clutching a huge hunk of Julesburg.

Heala's mouth dropped open, and her eyes grew wide. Radarr started to look a little scared, as the girl crouched down and sprung at the surprised creature.

"CHEEEEEEESE!"

It was going to be an interesting week.

ok. It was probably terrible, but tell me what you thought anyway. THAT MEANS REVIEWS.

I tried to get in all of the characters in, well, character, and featuring them all so I don't neglect them, and to prevent the dire suemonella from infecting Heala, but I don't know; you guys are the readers. I don't know when I can update again, as I'm still working things out, and dealing with a new, stressful school year. so, incase I don't see you for a year, bye!

GWGE

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