I have way too much fun writing in Tamaranean, and I love to write Raven as Commander Raven.

Disclaimer: I still haven't changed it, did you think I would?

Chapter 4

Apparently, when the heart begins beating too fast, it must also jump up into the throat.

Yet when Victor looked over at the Commander, she was sitting calmly as ever. "I'm sorry, Captain, but there must have been some sort of mistake. We are not here to cause any contention, but rather to find the Princess."

"Find her? What do you mean find her? Tri'at u'tar ve're shia'sht irts'a, bre'va!"

Victor winced. With his varied knowledge of language, he had understood each and every word. Yet Commander Raven was just as calm as before as she said, "I would appreciate it if you spoke in our own language, Captain, and please keep it civil. I'd rather not have to censor the ship's logs."

The Captain glared back at her, but spoke afterwards in English. "I demand that you leave now before we force you to leave!"

"I'm sorry, my dear Captain, but we may have some trouble getting out of Tamaranean space, as you appear to have damaged our engines. Now, either we could continue our present course or you could escort us back to a place where we could repair and be back on our way. Our engines won't let us change our course."

"We could always just blast them," one of the officers on deck said, a wry grin sneaking over his face.

"I'm sorry, I don't know your name. But thank you for your input into this conversation, it was very benificial. Especially considering that would bring a full-scale war on your armies before you could gather your troops together. I don't think you want a war on your hands unless you have a true reason, do you? Isn't that part of being a warrior? Fighting without a true cause is supposed to be dishonorable, right?" Commander Raven shot back.

The officer shrunk back, muttering, "Bre'va."

"As I believe I said before, I would appreciate keeping my logs clean, thank you. Now, Captain, as I said before, perhaps you could provide us with aid? Otherwise our damaged engines would only cause us to drift through Tamaranean space until we reach the outer edges and run out of fuel. This would probably mean that you would be blamed for the loss of this shuttle-"

The Captain sighed. "We will take you into tow and help to refuel your ships, that is it. You will repair on our outermost station as quickly as possible and then be on your way."

Commander Raven smirked. "Thank you for your hospitality, Captain. I hope you don't mind my ending the transmission, but I would like to consult my crew about possible repairs that we could make while in tow."

The Captain nodded, and the transmission ended. Victor let out the sigh of relief that he hadn't realized he had been holding, and he saw Richard visibly relax. He noted with some relief that Commander Raven had also fallen back into her chair, and that color was only now returning to her knuckles. So she had been worried; at least she was human.

"Cyborg, what all did you gather from that small meeting?" she asked.

He took a moment to think. "There was something strange about that officer, the one that wanted to blast us," he said finally.

She nodded her agreement. "I felt it too, I just wanted another to confirm it. I can't get through him very easily, just some of his emotions. And he was hiding something, that much I gathered. Ensign Logan?"

Garfield snapped up. "Yes ma'am?"

She almost rolled her eyes, but managed to keep her cool. "Did you gather anything from that?"

"Well, I did recognize one of the words the Captain said. My friend Kish'ta used to call my buddy that-"

She held up a hand, shaking her head in something like disgust. "That's okay, I'm fully aware. So, Lieutenant, what did you gather?"

Victor chuckled at the small grin that spread over Richard's face. Of course he would have noticed anything and everything he could have possibly noticed. He was Richard. He was Robin.

"I agree with the two of you; that officer definitely had something strange about him. Did you notice the way he immediately scowled when he saw us?" Richard said.

"So did the rest of the crew," Commander Raven pointed out.

"This was a different scowl. I've seen it so many times before; the one where the questioned glares at the questioner. He's hiding something. Something major. And did you notice that he immediately closed the program on the deck computer he'd been using?"

She leaned forward, suddenly very interested. "And did you happen to notice what it was?"

He nodded, smiling triumphantly. "Earth. Or, more importantly, the Himalayas."

"So, I guess we really will be going back to start our investigation," Garfield smiled, slightly relieved.

Commander Raven smiled wryly. "Not quite. I wasn't making up that bit about the engine. We really do need their help, however much we don't want it."

"So you mean we're stuck with that creepy Tamaranean guy until our engines get fixed?" Garfield nearly pouted.

Victor grinned. "You're not afraid of him, are you?"

Commander Raven interrupted, "Stop it, both of you. Now, Lieutenant, I want you to see if you can sneak around and gather some information about that officer. I want his name, his birthday, anything you can find. Cyborg, how long do you think you'll take with repairs?"

He grinned; technology was his favorite toy. "Three hours tops."

She nodded. "I'm sure I can find out all I need from that time. Ensign Logan, you serve as a lookout. Make certain no one follows myself or Lieutenant Grayson."

TTTTTT

Tamaranean security wasn't as tight as he had expected. Once he had Garfield going with those jokes of his, those guards were too annoyed to notice him sneak off. He didn't blame them, actually.

The computers hadn't been very helpful. He wasn't a true Tamaranean, and no one knew his real name. They just called him 'Red X'. And he was really close to the Princess Blackfire. That was about all he could find out, no matter how many searches he ran.

The ground vibrated slightly with each step he made. This outer stop wasn't exactly top notch, was it? He sighed. Sooner or later, he had to find out where that officer had gone.

He turned a corner to see a pair of Tamaranean guards. He had a split second to react before he would surely have been caught. Flattening himself against the wall, he hoped desperately that they hadn't seen him. He willed his breathing to slow down as he peeked around the corner. They were gone.

"What the-"

The soft sound of carefully placed footsteps alerted him to a presence behind him. He whirled around just in time to duck an oncoming punch. He blocked the next one and managed to deliver one of his own to his attacker's gut.

"They told me you were snooping around, kid, but I didn't realize you had the guts to come so close to my own personal quarters. You weren't looking for a fight, by any chance?" his attacker gasped, his voice still cocky despite oobvious pain.

It was Red X. He knew it without even seeing his face; which he didn't, as the next punch was well-aimed at his face. He responded with a left-right combo of his own, then growled, "What do you care?"

"Not much, just that I might actually get a challenge. Lieutenant Grayson, right? Also known as Robin, right? I've heard you were a good fighter, kid," Red X taunted.

Richard could finally scrutinize his oponent. He wore all black, cape and everything, and he had black hair and eyes to match. "Wish I could say the same about you. Ever thought about a computerized journal or something?" With those words, he blocked a blow and struck out with his right fist, but that was also blocked.

"Naw, kid, then people could know more about me. Isn't that the point?" Red X shot back, punctuating the remark with a blow to the gut.

He doubled over, but still avoided the oncoming blows. That was how he'd earned his nickname after all, perserverance. He was about to deliver a swift uppercut when a blast of purple energy knocked them both away from each other. Princess Blackfire landed between the two of them.

"Is there a problem, X?" she demanded.

"No, Blackfire, I was just practicing with the kid," he shot back.

"We're not at war with them just yet, and besides, I need to have a word with you," she ordered.

"Was that an order?"

She glared down at him. "Well, I am the princess, aren't I?"

Red X shrugged. "Just saying. You can always hire someone cheaper or something like you're always threatening to do..."

She rolled her eyes, then turned to Richard. "Terribly sorry for any inconvenience. He's always so ready to fight. Now might I escort you back to your ship? You must be lost."

He growled in response, but allowed her to show the way back. He could have gotten back on his own, but his instincts told him not to start any more fights. Besides, he'd meet Red X again. In fact, he was sure of it.

TTTTTT

It was the second time within twenty-four hours that she had tried to access her powers, and she was finally becoming more accustomed to it. She eased into it and allowed herself to become part of the energy keeping her embedded in the wall.

Oh, yes, she'd seen Lieutenant Grayson fighting that character. What had she called him? X? She would have to get back to Lieutenant Grayson on the details of his opponent. He would notice important details that she wouldn't have, as hard as that was for her to admit.

What's more, though, is that she had actually followed this X character to the princess' quarters. He sat comfortably in a chair until she got back. Involuntarily, Commander Raven shuddered. This room had too much black in it, even for her tastes. She felt that a room should have at least one light other than a few flourescant lights along the bottom.

Blackfire walked in and carefully closed the door behind her. She strolled right over to a large black chair and sat facing this X character. Her eyes narrowed and she nearly shouted, "What were you thinking?"

This was certainly a character change from the well-composed princess Raven had just seen lead Lieutenant Grayson away...now why did that memory bring up jealousy in her mind? She shrugged it off to listen in.

"I was thinking that the kid was doing too much snooping. I checked the files on the computer. He did a pretty fair job of covering his tracks, but there was still a faint trace. He was trying to find out more about me. You can't blame me for wanting my privacy," the guy shrugged.

"But I can blame you for trying to start a war before we're ready. If they find my sister before the two weeks is up, the war is off, and nobody will be the wiser!"

"I seriously doubt that they'll-"

"Don't count them out yet, X. You need to learn to keep considering the worst. I want you to keep an eye on them until their visit is over. A close eye, X, and no slip-ups."

He glared at her with those amazingly deep black eyes. "Are you trying to tell me what to do?"

"Who's paying you?" she shot back.

"To do what? I wasn't aware that I was suppoed to be fighting your wars for you, just helping it along," he shot back, and the two glared at each other in a long silence. Raven wished they would move. She really did. Her hold was slipping.

As if something had read her mind, a voice blared, echoing in the room: "Blackfire, the engineer on that shuttle says that he's almost ready. Would you like to come down and see them off?"

Raven sighed in relief, letting herself fall to the ground the moment the doors were closed. Her breathing was shallow; she really needed to get more practice accessing these weird powers of hers. Taking a deep breath, she tried once more to get to the room where the others would be.

...Well, it almost worked. Once the black shield had disappeared, she found herself in the shuttle, alright, but she had somehow ended up in the bathroom. Thankfully, no one else was around, but it was still awkward to find yourself standing in the toilet.

"This is just perfect," she muttered, gingerly peeling off her shoes. Just one turn after another, wasn't it?