Hello faithful reviewers. Sorry about the hold up but I had exams. This is the first break I've had in ages. Anyway to my reviewers:

Diehardstormhawksfan: Thanks. Cliff hangers are my speciality.

Alicat259: I sympathise. I have exams over here as well. The horror. I

Delphigirl689: I'm not very good at tragedy. I'm one of those people who love happy endings despite all odds. As for the Finn strangling I'll see what I can do.

MissJuly005: Sorry for the delay.

LostLyra: I am not going to kill Finn. He's an important part of this and I don't want to upset any Finn fans (if there are any). Everyone seems to be revising this week. It's a pain in the butt. Hope this chapter makes up for all the time wasted revising.

Jenergy: Thanks, I was worried it was too fluffy. Hope you like the chapter.

Doilan: Finn pass me that bat. Just kidding. Sorry about the spelling mistakes. I guess I'm not being careful enough. Hope you're feeling better

GotomonFan7: Glad you are enjoying the story. BTW are you new?

Midnight Rose Dew: Congrats on your new account. Cool name. Love your new story, v. cute. Sorry that this took so long. I tried to update ASAP.

Aerrow's POV

I sighed. Finn had the worst timing ever. The delicate moment had been shattered and all that was left for Piper to leave and then who knows how long it will be until we get a chance to talk again? Finn was looking from me to Piper and back again. I wondered what he was thinking about. And then it became obvious.

"Am I interrupting anything?" asked Finn with that annoying voice he gets whenever he finds Piper and I alone, which isn't often if we can help it.

"No" said Piper and I in sync. She got up like someone had given her an electric shock and left. I was sort of glad because I could feel myself blushing. I looked at Finn. He was about to burst out laughing. I sent a warning shot over his head with one of my energy blades.

"What did you want, Finn?" I asked. Finn wasn't going to laugh anymore but now he was insulted and when Finn is insulted he starts to whine a lot.

"Hey, hey don't shoot the messenger," he said, pouting. Internally, I sighed.

"Sorry Finn. What does my wingman want?"

"I'm your sharpshooter," he said still pouting. I was beginning to lose my temper.

"Whatever Finn. I thought you had a piece of news that I would never believe." The effects of my statement where immediate. Finn brightened up and some of that mischief that we all love but mostly hate was back.

"The Rebel Ducks are coming." I clapped Finn on the shoulder and told him that it was great news but inside I was a little bit depressed. Whenever we had guests over, none of us were alone for more than a couple of minutes except for Stork (who has built in hiding spots that he refuses to tell us about) and Radarr (he can climb around in the pipes but usually he stays with me).

"Hey, um…Aerrow?" Finn interrupted my thoughts.

"Yeah Finn," I was kind of worried. The last time the Rebel Ducks had been over, Finn had asked them if he could use their armour to help cook. It had only been a joke but we found him locked unconscious in his room after they had left. The lump looked suspicious but no-one inquired any further. We were kind of grateful. While he was snoozing, it was the quietest it had been on the Condor for a year.

"Can we put up the barbeque?" I didn't see any problems with that.

"Only if you leave Stork alone and make sure Junko doesn't make his potato salad. The last one is still missing."

"'Kay but if Stork won't help, Junko is going to have to use the grill and you and Piper will have to set everything out. Perfect opportunity, dude," As he said that last bit he looked at me knowingly. It took all of my will power not to throw him off the Condor.

"Yeah, sure Finn," I said, trying not to let slip how exasperated I was. We walked into the cock-pit.

"Good news, people," said Finn, like he was an audience instead of just Stork, Junko and Piper. "Three words! Bar-be-que!" Piper raised her eyes at me from the map and I shrugged in the 'it's-out-of-my-hand-' kind of way. Radarr jumped on my shoulder and he looked like he was glad to see me.

"Sorry, I ignored you buddy," I said and I scratched the place behind his ears he likes. Radarr looked at me as if to say 'its okay' or 'I'll get you later' I couldn't tell.

"I'm not in charge of cooking again, am I?" moaned Stork. I turned to him feeling in charge again.

"No but can you find us somewhere on Sahar to land?" I asked.

"Sure," he shrugged and went back to the control panel, obviously relieved. After the last time he had been forced to cook it had taken us a week to get rid of the scorch marks.

"Junko, can you handle the grill?" I asked.

"Sure, but I won't have time to make my famous potato salad, if I have to cook." All around me, I heard groans of faked disappointment.

"It's a big loss but you're the only one who can use the grill without burning anything," I flinched remembering my own disastrous attempt at using the grill. The least that was said about that the better.

"Okay. What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna lay out the plates and everything so that people can grab food when they want it. Piper can you help?" She looked up from her maps.

"Sure, Aerrow," she said cheerily but her eyes told me that she wanted to talk. Now if not sooner.

"Stork, how long before we land?" I asked.

"About two hours, give or take," I knew better than to ask what the 'give or take' was so I nodded and left.

"I'm going on patrol. I'll see you at Terra Sahar." I saw Piper make as hasty glance outside. It was about halfway through the afternoon with minimum cloud cover so she could probably see me from here.

"See you," she said and I left, wondering just how badly this meeting with the Rebel Ducks could go.

Two Hours Later

Stork landed on Terra Sahar away from the nearest village. It was a hotspot for Cyclonian trading and the last thing we needed was for another one of us to be taken by the Cyclonians. I was glad to be up here in the sky with Radarr. Things were so much simpler in the sky and problems unravelled. Except for how to talk to Piper. Every time I considered that one, I came very close to hitting a rock. Radarr was now clinging to his seat so hard that I could see the white on his knuckles through all his blue fur.

"Sorry, Radarr," I said and he whimpered weakly. The message was clear, 'Get me down, please.' I landed as gently as possible taking a moment to appreciate the dusty, yellow rocks and sand. The heat was great. It was just before evening and the sun was going down. In the morning, the heat would slowly climb until only Stork could stay outside. I don't know why but even though the guy spends most of the time inside when it gets hot, he can't resist coming out with a book full of dark poetry. As soon as I touched down, Finn ran in with his guitar. Piper followed just before the door closed.

"Finn, we said NO," she yelled before she noticed me. Her eyes looked like orange bolts of lightning. "Aerrow, tell him! He can't play that thing while the Rebel Ducks are here."

Finn rolled his eyes. "Tell her that the Rebel Ducks will love my special brand of ROCK!" He raised his hand to play a chord but before his hand reached the guitar, Piper grabbed his guitar and pulled it away from him.

"No Finn. Aerrow, tell him."

"No Aerrow, tell her to get her hands of my baby," How to put this nicely? I thought for a moment. There wasn't one. Then I had an idea.

"Piper, maybe we should ask the Rebel Ducks if they want to listen to Finn's music or not," she glared at me but I winked at her. She was good friends with Dove, the leader of the Rebel Ducks. Surely she could get Dove to make Finn back off. Comprehension floated over Piper and she smiled at me.

"Sure, Finn. We'll let the Rebel Ducks decide," Finn smiled in triumph. I resisted the urge to laugh. Piper turned to me. "Could you come up to the cock-pit? I think I've found a way into Cyclonia that Cyclonis doesn't know about."

I think I heard Finn mutter 'another one', and I elbowed him. "Sure Piper. See you there. I just need to make sure my skimmers okay."

Piper' POV

Ha ha. If Finn thinks he's won, he's got another thought coming. I can radio ahead while I'm waiting for Aerrow. I'm sure that Dove can come up down with a migraine before she and her team get here. That dampened my mood a bit. The Rebel Ducks wouldn't be here till tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. Something about a Scrout outbreak on one of the farming Terras. I had been looking forward to showing her the new Blocker Crystal shield that Stork and I came up with.

He had helped me on the condition that I start wearing his meteorite deflecting gizmo on my morning jogs. The thing had weighed more than I did but when the Blocker Crystal shield was up and running it was worth it. Unfortunately, none of the boys has any idea about the matrix that I had to use to get it to work. Finn said that he would rather watch Junko's experimental film than listen to me explain about it and even Aerrow admitted that he couldn't keep up even through the simplest bits.

I picked up the radio and tuned it in to Dove's skimmer. I looked around. Stork was driving but he wouldn't mind me telling Dove not to let Finn play his music. Junko was nowhere to be seen and Aerrow was probably checking on his skimmer. He kept on almost bumping into huge pillars of rock. I thought Radarr was going to have a heart attack.

"Dove, can you hear me?" I waited for her to reply.

"No Adrian, behind me," a familiar voice commanded down the radio, "Hello, who is dis?"

"Hey Dove, its Piper," I said and a laugh came down the line.

"Hello Piper. Why are you calling? We're heading to Sahar as fast as possible. 'Scuse me for one second. Adrian, I said watch the back not talk to Peter! Sorry Piper. My team refuses to listen."

"I know the feeling."

"So why did you call?"

"Finn wants to welcome you in the only way he knows how," I heard a sigh from down the line.

"Hiz stupid guitar."

"Pretty much but he won't get the chance to play if you have a headache."

"Of course, Adrian just told me he has a splitting headache," I heard a clang and a groan of pain. I may have imagined it but I think I heard her say "That will teach you to talk to Peter on a mission."

"See you there."

"Cannot wait." The radio crackled and then Dove was gone. She couldn't get here soon enough. I heard the door open behind me. I looked. Aerrow walked in without Radarr.

"Where's Radarr?" Aerrow looked embarrassed.

"He's mad at me so he went to hide in the pipes for a bit. They're becoming his second home." I shook my head but I couldn't hide a smile.

"If you tried to stop killing him maybe he would like you better." He shrugged. "Why did you keep on running into rock?" He shrugged.

"I guess I wasn't paying attention," I didn't buy that for one second. Aerrow never ever gets distracted on his skimmer especially when Radarr is with him. Maybe he was just tired.

"Go take a nap," I suggested "You seem bushed."

"Okay, I'll see you later then," I nodded and he left but I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something he wasn't telling me. I remembered that while he was gone, Stork had told me that Aerrow …loved me? Was that true? Or was he having a laugh. I guess I'll ask Aerrow later on tonight.

Sorry about this chapter but unfortunately I needed to do this boring one before we could get to the action packed bits. I Promise it gets better as you go along.