A/N: There's something in here that coincides with another story, called "So they met in a bar..."


As they neared the group who were conversing as they sat together on the sand in the afternoon Tatooine sunlight, Luke stopped walking and turned to Mara. "It was a Wampa."

Mara's eyes narrowed as she tilted her head in question. "A Wampa?"

"You wanted to know what happened to the Tauntaun," Luke reminded her. He wanted to look away, but willed himself to keep looking into her eyes. Living it was one thing, but explaining it to someone else? Hard. "Hadn't really thought about it since, but…"

"Ah," Mara said after a few moments of silence. She gently traced the faint scars on his cheek with her finger, at once understanding the story behind them. "So that's how these happened."

"Yes," Luke admitted, his voice echoing strongly with the long ago memory into the slight wind blowing around them.

Mara smiled softly, glad to have the avenue of communication open and be learning something new about him. "Thank you for telling me, Luke."

"So how did you get the scar on your hip?" he asked suddenly, and then seemed to regret saying it.

Mara stared at him, stunned that he'd ask… but since they were being open with each other, it was something she could tell him. "That was a training mishap. I was 10 and leaned in to something when I should have fallen away from it."

"Ah," Luke said as he glanced toward the group of people who were now studiously ignoring them. So he had felt their attention shift over… "I wonder…"

"What?"

He motioned to the Wave Rangers, still trying to act like they were talking among themselves. "Being around them at times feels like being around my aunt and uncle did. Same sense of maturity or authority, or something…"

Mara followed his gaze as she slid her arms around his waist, and was touched by the presence they seemed to generate. He was right, they did leave that impression. "Reminds me of Iris." At his questioning glance, she sighed. "The nurse from the hospital? Nice, took away your ration bars? That is who they remind me of, though they don't seem older than they appear."

"Iris seems old to you?"

Mara rolled her eyes at him in mild annoyance. "No. Just in comparison. Something to think on, as it were."

"Hmm…" Luke glanced downward to look at Dark Star, then over at the Rangers. "We could turn around and go back to the dunes for a little while longer…"

Mara chuckled. "We do have to be going at some point, you know."

"But do you want to go right now?" He studied her, then returned the smile she was bestowing on him. "You want to have some more time alone, don't you?"

"Of course." Casting another glance at the group, Luke smiled and away they walked again. They didn't notice that Dark Star hadn't followed them back to the dunes for a while.

Miranda smirked when she allowed herself to look again and saw Dark Star sitting on the warm sand, watching as Luke and Mara walked away. "Is that good or bad?"

Ranko glanced at her. "What?"

"The cat letting them go off alone? She's… oh, there she goes." Miranda watched as Dark Star began to slowly trail behind the couple. "Interesting."

Elsie shook her head. "Seems like she is just giving them a wider berth or something, if that makes sense."

"She's a cat, you know."

"And since when has that little thing stopped animals from making people feel better?"

Pause… "Good point."

Mara sat down on the sand next to Luke and looked around. "We seem to have lost something along the way."

Luke pulled her closer as he glanced around. "So we have. Feel her anywhere?"

"Yes," Mara told him after a moment. She leaned into his embrace. "We can't stay long."

"No. Would be nice, though."

Mara heard something in his voice, a sort of tonal change she'd not heard before. "Something bothering you?"

He shook his head. "We just want to be out of here before the sand storm hits."

"Ah… how long to do we have?"

"Long enough."

And so, they sat and enjoyed each other's company for a while longer.

Elidar…

Taloh wasn't used to visiting the Resident Training Center on Elidar. In fact, she'd only rarely visited, and even then hadn't stayed long. Time guardians in their own environment where they could be themselves were weird... not that she had the right to call anyone weird or anything. So, as she entered the medical area after being convinced into it by a very insistent Tasha, she prepared herself to expect nearly anything... but if it so much as barked at her, she was leaving.

Looking around, she saw Tasha standing in front of someone, doing what appeared to be a physical. "All right... what was so important that you needed me, Tasha? I was in the middle of painting and had JUST the right light for it."

Tasha didn't even spare a glance in her direction, just continued what she was doing. "Does this hurt? No? ...Good. Sorry, Taloh. I'd have called someone else, but Katrine is out of contact, Mel's on a mission, Elfin is more bonkers than I have patience for right now, and Susan is on monitor duty. Plus, barring Suna, you know the most... Open your mouth for me? ...Okay. Fine. Don't." She stepped back and finally looked at Taloh. "Sorry. It's been a very hectic couple of days and the Wave Rangers pulled an intervention."

Taloh blinked, not really understanding. "But I saw Susan this morning... How can it have-"

"Elidar's time is not the same, you know. Days here can be hours or minutes there... I'm glad it's hours. They may be there a while." Tasha glanced at her patient, then shrugged. "You are the healthiest one of your kind I have ever seen... Granted, you're the only one alive of your kind I have ever seen, but it comes to the same thing."

Taloh joined her at the bedside and studied the person sitting there. The person was, quite obviously, female, with unfamiliar clothing and a skin tone that bordered on gray... with scars on her face and arms that appeared to be either decorative or tribal in nature. Taloh frown when she noticed the slight glow that she'd only ever seen once on someone else... Susan, right after her elemental status had been confirmed. "Oh. So that's why you called me."

"See it, hmm?"

Taloh nodded and walked around the other side of the bed, keeping her eyes on the warrior. At least, she was pretty certain this person was a warrior... she'd seen knights with less scaring than that. Then she smiled and held out a hand to the warrior. "Hello... Tasha, does she speak English at all?"

"Not as yet, no. I'm using a translator."

The warrior batted Taloh's hand away. {{I do not shake the hands of infidels.}}

Taloh blinked again. "Infidel? I beg your pardon? There are no infidels here, what ever your name is."

"I guess you don't need a translator set, then..." Tasha said slowly, headset in hand. "And I think her name is Van Ree."

Taloh turned and took the proffered headset from Tasha. "I might miss something. Thank you... Now then, you were saying?"

{{I do not talk to infidels.}}

Taloh rolled her eyes ceiling-ward and sighed. "Great... I haven't been called that since the crusades. It brings up so many wonderful memories." She made direct eye contact with the warrior and glared at her. "I take great offence at being called an infidel, Van Ree. There are no infidels here. They are good people, if at times somewhat odd... And, if I am an infidel, then so, now, are you. You are one of us, and you're alive when you should quite obviously have died, judging by the state of your clothing that has really seen better days... and, unless I miss my guess, you did die. So you are now an infidel as well. Try again, only think before you speak. Everyone else here might not be as nice as I am now being."

The warrior stared at her, then at Tasha, then at Taloh again. {{What?}}

"Like I said, you are among friends here, but you have to understand that certain things are not the same as they were for you in the life you led. Things changed, Van Ree, and now you have to adapt, like it or not." Taloh held out her hand again. "This is a greeting. It means welcome and hello."

Slowly and uncertainly, Van Ree took hold of her hand and clumsily shook it. {{Um... Hello?}}

Taloh smiled. "Good enough." She glanced at Tasha. "What happened and why is Susan on monitor duty, and what did the Rangers do?"

Tasha sighed tiredly. "There was a distress signal, and Ranko pulled a team together to see what the signal was about, and then there was an invasion... Van Ree's people were the invasion force."

"Oh... and Susan is on monitor duty because of it?"

"Yep. The Wave Rangers blew the invaders up... I still think that was overkill, but it was their call."

Taloh stared at her, then looked at Van Ree again with new eyes. A planetary guardian among enemy forces. That was one for the books... "I really wish I'd stayed to finish that painting... Tasha, do you know if Rala was part of that?"

"She wasn't. Whuki and Rala both missed it. They were on a mission and out of contact."

"Good. If they hadn't been, I'd have needed to have a word with my daughter. Blowing up an entire strike force like that..."

"We had to clean up what they missed, if that helps."

Taloh snorted. "No... wait. Is that how this happened? Did Van Ree here pull a Battlefield Surprise on you or something?"

"If, by that, you mean: 'Did she come back to life and kick our butts'? Then no. It was just a plain old surprise, but the Battlefield Surprise..." Tasha smiled at her. "You are still the only time element with that honor, Taloh."

Taloh shook her head. "No, Susan did it once... those cult members never knew what hit 'em."

"I forgot about that. Sorry."

Taloh held out her hand again to Van Ree. "Well? Would you like to see more of this place than just the medical ward?" Van Ree hesitantly took her hand and Taloh helped her off the bed. "All right, then... Susan is in the lab, right?"

"Gonna surprise her by just dropping in?"

"Yes."

"Have fun."


Susan was holding Victoria when she felt someone enter the computer lab that normally never came to Elidar. She frowned and turned to find Taloh standing there with... was that a Yuuzhan Vong warrior? "Um..."

Taloh came closer, held out her arms expectantly, and Susan wordlessly handed Victoria to her. "Thank you, Susan... And yes, Van Ree is what you think she is."

"Got pulled away from painting, huh?"

"You know me so well." Victoria burbled to get Taloh's attention and Taloh smiled down at her. "Yes, Vicky. You are so cute, yes you are."

"You didn't come here just for some baby time, did you?"

"Good guess... Vincent, can I borrow Susan for a few minutes? There's something we need to discuss."

Vincent turned away from his computer screen and nodded. "There's not much going on right now, so go ahead."

"Traitor," Susan muttered, nearly mocking him with her tone.

"Hey, if Taloh came all the way to Elidar, then it must be important."

Susan glared at him. "I am so going to find a way to break your arm later."

"I think not," Taloh told her. "You mother will find out if he somehow turns up injured later."

"Mom's been known to congratulate me for that kind of thing..."

"He's your cousin, Susan."

"So?"

"And she congratulated you for stopping a robbery, but for breaking the arms of family members... Somehow, I don't think she would..."

Susan sighed. "I just can't be sarcastic with you, can I?"

"No."

After they deposited Victoria safely back into Emanee's care, Taloh dragged Susan and Van Ree to a lounge, made Susan sit down, and glared at her. "You mind explaining to me why you were involved in blowing up a strike force, thus leaving your responsibility unprotected?"

Susan calmly stared back at her. "I was part of the distraction, Daena."

{{I thought your name was Taloh?}} Van Ree suddenly asked, sounding confused.

Taloh sighed. "It's both... Susan, you did not answer my question."

"I did not leave my planet unprotected. We left half our team at home, you know."

"Susan..."

"What? Ranko needed a team. She didn't know precisely what for, and everyone else was either out of contact or on medical leave... And if Maria hadn't had surgery last week, she would have gone instead of me. I have two obligations, Daena: to my planet and to my team... My team needed me, and thus I heeded the call. If Ranko hadn't begged and pleaded as much as she did, I would have happily stayed at home and been blissfully unaware."

Knowing the other woman as she did, Taloh realized suddenly that Susan, after months of being in a state of mourning, was feeling better, even if she wasn't saying it. Taloh nodded, "Fair enough... But blowing up a fleet? Wasn't that overkill?"

"No." Susan glanced at Van Ree. "No offense meant to your people, ma'am, but invading a galaxy, no matter when or where they do it, is not a way to win friends or influence people. Not that they actually deserved to be blown up, but..."

"Susan," Taloh said, her voice hard and eyes flashing with silent anger. "This is Van Ree... She's one of us."

Susan stared at Taloh, then looked at Van Ree with a careful, discerning eye. She saw it, too. "Ah... And here I thought she was a new time guardian or something and she was following you around for no reason..." Susan held her hand out and Van Ree slowly took it. "I humbly apologize for my remarks about your people, Van Ree. I've had a very long couple of days, my sister blew up and nearly fried us, and... I'm grouchy. I am mean when I'm grouchy."

Two flashes of light, one silver and one black, appeared in the lounge and solidified into two people, both women. "Tiger, I swear, if we ever take another vacation and return only to have to clean up a mess, I'm taking a permanent leave of absence. I don't care what Carnegie says about it."

Tiger, so called because of her silver and black striped hair, just sighed as the other woman stormed off in a huff. Then she shrugged when she noticed the three of them. "Don't ask. I think she's just upset because she wanted to relax some more, and instead actually had to do something."

"Ah," Susan said with a chuckle. "Anything interesting happen out there?"

"Not really... Hi, Taloh. Staying on Elidar long? I'm making dinner shortly and you're invited."

"Mind if I go and get Daniel?"

"He's invited, too."

"Good."

Taloh waited until Tiger was out of earshot before looking at Susan. "How bad was it that Wildcat is that frustrated?"

"We got most of it. 93 percent, anyway..."

"And Ranko blew up?"

"Someone got knocked on their but and she saw it, and it sparked something."

"Oh... need a hand?"

"Nope. Jill's been here and gone already... I did have to brush up on my Valarin, though. I forgot what the unrestrained multiple languages thing was like... and I think she's leaned some more since 2025."

"I'm amazed she keeps those straight in her head," Taloh admitted before turning and looking at Van Ree. "So... should I introduce this one here to the kind of life she's just inherited, or do you want the honors?"

"I'd love to, but I've got monitor duty. Plus, there's a wedding we were invited to." Susan smiled as Taloh stared at her. "Yes, we went on a mission of mercy, destroyed an invasion fleet, and then got invited to a wedding... Also, we rescued the bride and groom and their cat."

"You're not making that up, are you?"

"Nope."

Taloh just shook her head, laughing under her breath. "All right, I'll do it... Wait. Susan, we need to figure out where Van Ree is supposed to be."

Susan glanced at the warrior, then nodded. "I'll look into it... But it could be more simple than you think. The planet chooses the guardian, not the other way around. Sure, the potential has to be there to begin with, but it comes to the same thing."

Taloh watched as Susan walked away, then turned to Van Ree again. "Let's go outside, then. Can't train in here, lest we break something."

"It's also not allowed, Taloh," Na Omi told her as she came in and sat down in a chair, book in hand. "Teach all you want, but we've got a training field for that kind of thing..." She glanced at the warrior, then set her book down. "I'll come with."

"Why?"

"I like to help."

"Fair enough."


Elidar, hours later...


Susan couldn't help but stare at the readout on the computer screen, disbelief flooding through her mind as the ramifications and complications of what it meant totally and completely hit home. She knew, without a doubt in her mind, what had caused them to be called in by Moira. She knew what the anomaly was.

As she stood up and moved to look out a window that viewed the practice field where Taloh was leading Van Ree through more exercises with Na Omi's help, she shook her head. It should have been impossible. Totally, utterly impossible for the anomaly to exist at all. But, as she was learning the longer life went on... nothing was. Not one thing.

As she retook her seat at the computer and stared at it some more while her cousins teased each other and Jessica let Vincent take a seat before heading off to get some sleep, Susan knew she didn't have to say anything. Not one word to either of them about what she'd found. Did it really concern them? No, no it really didn't.

Pushing away from the desk that had practically become a second home for a week and a half, she both took a moment to stretch, and also set her screen to password lock so no one else would see.

Vincent, fresh from an eight hour nap, turned and frowned as he saw her start to walk away. "Taking a break, Sue?"

Susan smiled at him, praying that he wouldn't see anything off in her mannerisms. "Need to go see Vicky."

He laughed. "Go, then. Find anything?"

"Nothing of import."

She'd nearly made it to the door when he said something that made her pause. "You can't lie to me, Susan. I saw you put it to password lock."

She sighed and looked back at him, making a note to herself to have a long talk with her uncle about how well trained his son was that he'd pick up on something so subtle. "You got me. I want to look into it... and see Vicky, too."

"Bad?"

"Define 'bad', cousin."

He nodded and waved her out with a motion of his hand. "I'll be here when you get back. Eager for details, if there are any."

Susan sighed and left the lounge after snagging the back up flashdrive from her workstation, kicking herself for not having been more subtle.

Carnegie glanced up from the report she was reading to find Susan standing in the doorway of her office, appearing... panicked and intrigued at the same time. "You know, the last time anyone looked at me like that, it was Aniya. Please tell me there isn't a 'we need to save everyone' dimensional theory ramble in the offing."

"It's not going to be that," Susan told her, smiling slightly. "I just need permission to check something out and I want to run something by you. Because... I think I know what the anomaly was that resulted in us being called in, but it's impossible, or should be, and I have to make certain it's correct before I say word one to anyone else."

Carnegie frowned at her for a minute or two, sorting through that rambling babble in her head. "And... why do you need my permission for that?"

Susan entered and closed the door soundly behind herself, then turned around and leaned against it. "Because you are the last Planetary Guardian of Remykia, Cara, and I can't talk about this kind of thing with anyone else."

Carnegie continued to frown. "Technically, I'm not. I carry the power of my world, but..."

"You know what I mean." Susan moved and sank down into the chair in front of the desk. "And this is no time for technicalities. Really."

"All right. Tell me."

Susan motioned to the window. "Look out on to the practice field."

Carnegie, intrigued, stood up and looked out... to find what looked like a three person sparring session going on. "What about them?"

"Our anomaly? It's one of them. Or will be. Or was. Depending out how you look at it."

Carnegie turned back to Susan and frowned again. "What?" Susan handed a small flashdrive over, and after studying the information on it for long moments, Carnegie's eyes went wide. "Oh. You're certain of this?"

"It came up more than three times, Cara. And every time it did, it got more detailed."

Carnegie nodded after a moment, and then handed the datapad back to her. "Yes. You have my permission... Looks like an explosion. Big one."

"It was," Susan concurred.


On the surface of it, the alley was unremarkable. A forgotten space between buildings that was, as was with most alleys, strewn with trash and debris. A pale orange and silver flash solidified into a woman wearing an orange jumpsuit, and Susan wanted to gag at the smell. Immediately on edge, she scanned the walls with her eyes... and winced in recognition when she felt a familiar thrum of something impossible. Bending down beside a pile of trash, Susan frowned at finding a long piece of material that, had it not been so stained and burned, would have been white. It was long enough to wrap around someone's waist a couple of times and leave enough left over for a... bow. Someone had landed here, all right. And from the tone of the vibrations, she knew for certain who it was... this sash only put more weight to the evidence.

Standing up, she looked toward where the alley let out into a street. Did she want to know more, to go out there and see what she could find? A sound behind made her turn... to find Carnegie standing there, frowning. "Cara?"

"Need a hand? There's only so many reports I can read."

"Always."

Carnegie motioned to the cloth that Susan was holding. "Is that a sash?"

"I think so." Susan studied it some more. "It's odd, though... About the only thing I can think of this working with an outfit is a Summer Yukata."

"A what?"

"A kimono."

Carnegie paused, trying to picture the garment Susan was referring to in her mind. Something to do with cherry blossoms... Or not. "A kimono?"

Susan nodded and inspected the length of cloth more closely. Coming to one end of it, she found what she was looking for: Kanji that meant 'For Ari. Happy birthday' in blue thread. "Not just any kimono, either. I've seen this sash before."

"You have?"

"During training with Taloh. She wanted to illustrate a point about how durable Guardians are, and showed me the outfit she'd been wearing when she was in the wrong place at the right time." Susan glanced at Carnegie. "It was burned exactly like this one is... and, this is going to sound weird, but I swear it's true: the background radiation is making me itch more than it did when she showed it to me in 2027, more than 50 years after the event."

Carnegie took a moment to stare at her, needing to process what Susan had said. "So you're saying that sash is hers and somehow she's the anomaly because..."

"Because she was present for a nuclear bomb going off. Practically ground zero." Susan pulled out a scanner and ran it over the fabric in her hand. "And if the readings fit... which they do, then we either have a problem on our hands, or it'll solve itself."

"I'm hoping for the 'solving itself' senario," Carnegie told her dryly. "You're certain?"

"I am now."

"Then let's go see what we can see," Carnegie said as she motioned to the street at the mouth of the alley. Susan nodded and carefully put the sash away in her subpocket for safe keeping. Together, they walked to the street and looked out. "Looks pretty normal. Which way?"

Susan studied the establishments on both sides of the street, noted the presence of white-suited stormtroopers posted here and there, and saw something that looked inviting. "That tavern down that way. If you were uncertain of your surroundings, had never seen Selonians or Drall before, and were sort of out of it, would you go to the place that seemed the most 'human'?"

"I'm not human, Sue."

"You know what I mean."

"Yes, I do know what you mean, and yes, I'd head for somewhere that felt right or at the very least common place."

Susan smiled and led Carnegie to the tavern. The inside looked like... well, it looked like a bar would. And the man standing behind the counter didn't seem to be completely mentally present. Also kind of annoyed, judging by the way he was wiping everything down listlessly. "Odd enough to talk to." She made her way to the counter, and he frowned at her. Or, more precisely, at her orange clothes.

"Can I help you?" he asked after a moment.

Susan paused, then shook her head with a smile. "Well, I've always wanted to try a Corellian Ale, but that's not why I'm here."

His eyes narrowed as he glanced at Carnegie. "And you?"

"Satisfying a curiosity," Carnegie told him succinctly, the lilt of her Remykian accent suddenly brought more to the fore in her voice. "And I'll not have anything, either." For which Susan was eternally grateful. She didn't want to have to be the one to explain just how a Pemalite had gotten drunk on her watch.

"Slow day?" Susan asked the man as he looked around.

"Yes."

"Bored?"

"No."

"That's good, then." Susan turned to look at Carnegie. "Well, Cara? Seen enough?"

Carnegie nodded slowly, studying the man as she did so. There was something off in his reactions. Almost as if he was expecting anything and everything to happen and was relieved when it didn't. "I think we have, yes. Have a good day, sir."

When they were outside again, Susan felt a pull to the north and looked down the street. Far down the street, maybe six or so blocks away, she saw what looked like a blackened building. And maybe scorch marks. From this distance, it was hard to tell. "Come on."

"There's something off here," Carnegie muttered. "About that bartender especially."

"Probably just having a bad day. With all the Stormtroopers around, I can't imagine it's good for business."

"That wasn't what I meant."

Susan wisely chose not to probe further and they walked the rest of the way. Or as close as they could get... the street had been cordoned off and there were uniformed imperials walking around, all officious-looking. "Inside or out?"

Carnegie studied the blast pattern shrewdly. If she hadn't known better, she would have said that it had been blown up from the inside, but looking at it from this angle... "Out. From about where we're standing or a little closer."

"That's what I thought. Reminds me of that building I fried those cultists in, only done from the exterior."

"Susan..."

"What?"

"That's not something to take lightly or joke about."

"Didn't say it was. That sword hurt something fierce." A man turned in their direction and frowned at them, as if he hadn't been expecting onlookers. He came over to them. "Don't mind us, Sir."

"This is a crime scene under investigation," he told them curtly. "You have to leave."

"And we will." Susan motioned to the building. "Any progress?" At his sour expression, she grabbed hold of Carnegie's arm and nodded to him. "Right. Going now." They made a big show of walking away very fast and then ducked into the nearest doorway. She looked at Carnegie for a moment. "Given what we saw back there... want to walk around some more? Particularly away from mean Imperials?"

Carnegie nodded. "Yes. Did you feel anything off back there?"

Susan frowned. "Come to think of it, I did. Remember how you said it could have been triggered from about where we were standing? You're not wrong." She leaned out of the doorway to get another look, trying to picture the scene if someone had accidentally or on purpose released an energy blast on par with a Guardian. "There would have been Troopers or someone here at the time, right?"

"If they're here now, yes."

"And trooper armor is white..." Susan got back under cover of the doorway and puzzled it out from what she knew of her mentor. The woman never wore white and didn't drink... anymore. The white reminded her of bad things, and the alcohal used to cause disasters of the weather variety. And when and if she got mad or upset, it was never good for those on the other side. Not until Susan herself had taken up the post as planetary guardian did Taloh have her first alcohalic drink in seventy-eight years that wasn't a wine cooler. If it was Taloh, and the evidence was only solidifying that it was, then what they'd seen was likely an uncontrolled release for as yet unknown, but probably justifiable reasons. If anyone, namely white-suited Storm Troopers, had tried to stop her... it wouldn't have been good. Internally, Susan shuddered. "I think we can assume rather safely that she did. Question is, where is she now? She can't teleport on her own here, even if she remembers how to, and going by what she told me about getting caught up in that explosion and waking up a week later more than 3000 miles away, I'm not certain she would. And that blast back there would have depleted her into unconsciousness."

Carnegie sighed and stepped out of the doorway, glanced down toward the burnt and blackened building again in fascination, and looked at Susan. "We've got time to find out. And walking is good to do."

Susan nodded. "Yes, it is. Lead the way."


They spent hours walking the streets of Dorthus Tal, puzzling it all out, got a small tour of the clinic not that far from the bar, and it wasn't until they were in the middle of a residential neighborhood while walking back to the street where the alley was that things took an interesting turn. There, sitting on the front steps of a modest house in the waning light of evening, was Taloh... and that bartender. Susan had just enough time to stare in open-mouthed shock before Carnegie pulled her behind a tree and out of sight. "Hey!"

"I knew there was something off about him," Carnegie hissed at her. "We're not supposed to interfere, remember? That is not our mission."

Susan stared at Carnegie, suddenly reminded that the far older woman in front of her was the one in charge. "But she's... Wait."

"What?"

"Did she look different to you? Kind of... I don't know. Less world-weary?"

Carnegie paused and chanced a glance out from behind the tree. "You're right. Odd." She felt a warning hand on her arm and turned to find a woman with reddish eyes and black hair, wearing a lavender business suit glaring at her. "What?"

"You know what." She turned the glare on Susan. "You both know what. Or you will, even if you don't right now."

Susan, for her part, winced. "Suna, this is hardly the time for a cryptic lecture that begins with a riddle. That's Taloh over there, in a place where she shouldn't be."

Suna kept on glaring at them. "Did it ever occur to you, Susan, that you need to think outside the box? Nothing is wrong."

"I fail to see how an anomaly that results in death and mayhem isn't wrong."

Suna motioned to the two people talking on the porch on the other side of the tree. "Everything is relative and you looking at the end while you're still in the middle. Think it through, all right? It's not what you think it is."

"It's Taloh. She's on Elidar right now..." Susan cocked her head in curiosity. "Relative in what way? And what do you mean by the middle, oh wise mistress of time travel?"

"It means that you can't go over there and introduce yourself, proclaiming her a time-space anomaly when she isn't and wouldn't know what you're talking about," Suna told her in clipped, curt wording. "And, while her being here is the result of an anomaly, yes, her continued presence is not."

Susan blinked at that explanation, suddenly reminded of something. It had been the explosion... one of the worst human-caused disasters of the 20th century. If she'd been at ground zero, with the combined energy potential... it didn't make sense, but maybe it wasn't supposed to. "Oh. This is one of those paradox things that give you headaches, isn't it? If I'm living in the middle of it and not the end of it, does that mean that she's in two places at the same time?"

"From your point of view, it does. But really? No."

Susan turned to look at Carnegie, who was staring at Suna in stunned wonderment. "That make any sense to you?"

"I think so," Carnegie said slowly. "We can't go over there and talk to her, because it would just lead to confusion. Right?"

"Correct," Suna answered sternly. "And it's not your call, either. Ralarna is the only one who has a say in the matter."

Susan nodded, taking it all in. It made sense, in a way. Plus, the bartender reminded her of someone... "It's ironic, in a way."

"What is?"

"Taloh and meeting people in bars." Susan chuckled for a moment before becoming serious again. "You'll be keeping an eye on things, right?"

"Yes," Suna assured her. "More or less, anyway. Arvina more than I."

Susan turned to Carnegie. "Then we're done here. Back to that alley?"

"The less attention the better," Carnegie told her.

Suna watched them go humorlessly, and shook her head. People were weird at times... and it made her job all the more interesting, if at times frustrating.


Vincent was still on duty when Susan arrived back in the computer lab with Victoria in her arms. "How'd it go?"

"I can't give you a straight answer, you know."

Vincent shrugged. "You haven't given straight answers about weirdness in years, Sue. Why start now?"

Susan laughed at his teasing. "It's not that. Just... I was researching the anomaly that got us called in. In a very weird way, it solved itself."

"Oh?"

"With a side effect of Vong."

He wasn't certain what to say to that as he gestured for Victoria, and Susan handed her over. "Mel wants to talk to you, by the way."

"About?"

"Seems that the rescuees have a request to relay."

Susan took that in as she turned to her terminal after watching Vincent make funny faces at her baby. Smiling at hearing Victoria laugh that cute baby laugh, Susan put her headset back on and pressed the button to synch it back up with communications. "All right, Mel. What's up? It had better not be another crisis, because I gotta tell ya... I'm done for the time being with having a crisis."

["No... not a crisis. Unless a wedding is a crisis. Where'd you go, anyway?"]

Of all the things to ask. "Saw something on the scans, needed to look into it. What wedding?"

There was a pause, and then a giggle. Which was odd, because normally Melinda didn't giggle unless she was exhausted. ["Mara invited us to their wedding. You wanna come back and join us?"]

Susan turned and looked at Vincent. "Did you know about this, Vince?"

"You're free to go... Unless you want to deal with Wildcat checking in every half hour, seemingly in a panic because every time she goes on vacation, something of a crisis nature happens. Then you can stay here and enjoy monitor duty." He made some more faces at Victoria. "Because Wildcat is funny when she's panicking, right Vicky? Yes she is. Yes she is."

Susan shook her head and bit her tongue to keep from laughing. "I'm telling her you said that, you goof."

"You do, and I'll tell Carnegie about the time that you hotwired the training field's shields to fail while a water element was practicing and she was supervising."

Susan rolled her eyes. "Like she doesn't know it was me anyway. I can't go and leave my daughter with you and-"

"Sue? Stop trying to find excuses. It's our turn to give you a break." He glanced at her with raised eyebrows and she saw the concern. "Let us do it, all right? Vicky will be fine away from you for a few days." Victoria babbled in baby speak up at him and he looked meaningfully at Susan. "See? She agrees with me."

["And this might be shocking, but I agree with my brother,"] Miranda said over the comlink. ["Join us, Sue, okay? Please?"]

"Is that what the three of you want?"

"Yes." ["Yes."] The three of them answered in unison.

"Then I'll go. You're... not going to give her back to me, are you?"

"No. Go and try to enjoy yourself a little."

"It's a ship with Dawn and Elsie on it at the same time. I'll try if they do."

["One of these days, Sue,"] Elsie said suddenly, breaking into the conversation. ["You're going to do something and everybody is going to make fun of you for thirty years straight, too."]

"Ha-ha," Susan deadpanned as Vincent now had to bite back a laugh himself. "Is everybody listening in?"

["I'm pretty sure Luke and Mara aren't,"] Melinda told her gleefully. ["They're having themselves a moment in the lounge. Or were ten minutes ago."]

"Oh. Good."


Mara didn't want to move, she was so comfortable in his embrace. "Luke?"

"Hmm?"

"Think we could just stay in the lounge all day? I'm comfy." Well, she reflected as he kissed her, the only really comfortable thing was being in his arms. The chairs were kind of hard.

"We could, but I think they might want to use the lounge at some point," Luke teased her. He didn't want to move, either.

"Worth a thought, though, isn't it?" Whatever he'd been going to say was lost to both of them being startled as an orange flash lit up the lounge and deposited Susan in front of them.

Susan looked around, and then winced as she saw the startled expressions on their faces. "Sorry." She nodded once, and left quickly.

Mara looked at him, eyebrows raised. "Think that was intentional?"

"No. Interesting mode of transport, though."

"Weird?"

"Definitely."

Mara banished all thoughts of weirdness as she kissed him again, and then settled in to enjoy the quiet before anything else happened. Not that it would... she hoped.


Enroute to Coruscant…


Ranko stood at the food synthesizer in the small galley and sighed. She wasn't really hungry, but still wanted something to munch on. She smiled slowly as she pressed a button or two and picked up the bowl that appeared in the slot.

As she sat down at the table in the lounge, Mara and Luke passed through, and Mara glanced at what Ranko was eating and made a face. "What?"

"How can you eat that?"

Ranko frowned and looked down at her jello. "What's wrong with it?" Mara stared at her for a few seconds before leaving the lounge without replying. Ranko looked puzzledly at Luke, who sighed in consternation. "Is there something wrong with jello that I'm not aware of?"

"Mara… well, for her, the jello is a reminder of a bad time. Hospital food."

Ranko absorbed that and nodded slowly. "Ah. Sorry."

"No need…" Luke shrugged and followed his fiancé.

Ranko frowned once more, then continued to eat her jello. She understood the reaction, yes, but that didn't change the fact that the snack was still good.


In another part of the ship, Luke caught up to Mara. "She didn't know. You realize that, right?"

Not looking at him, Mara nodded. "I'll just be glad when we're back on Coruscant. Things like that will happen less." His silence made her look at him. "Well, it will."

"Wishful thinking and you know it."

Mara shook her head. "Just hope."

"Really? Hope for what?"

"For us. For me. Hope that I'll stop wanting to cringe every time I see something out of the corner of my eye and just trust that it isn't something wanting to grab me and make my world turn upside down all over again." Mara turned to him and saw the understanding in his eyes. "I just…"

Luke moved closer and pulled her into his arms, and whispered in her ear: "A little at a time, Mara. A little at a time."

Mara pushed him up against the wall and they kissed, hard. "Thank you," she said between kisses. "Love you."

"Love you, too." He leaned back against the wall and they stood there, embracing.

So caught up in one another were they, that they missed the transition out of hyperspace.


Elsie was in the lounge alone, cleaning tables and chairs with a rag when she noticed a bag of something under one of the tables. Bending down to pick it up, she wondered who would have brought energy bars and would have hidden them out of sight like that.

Pulling one of the wrapped bars out of the bag and turning it over in her hand, she realized that these weren't energy bars, but ration bars. The kind that… "Huh… weird."


As they prepared to disembark from the Wave Runner after landing in a docking bay on Coruscant's surface, Elsie picked up a bag and handed it to Luke with a smile. "I found these in the lounge under a table. They yours?"

Avoiding Mara's stare as he took the bag from Elsie, Luke nodded. "Yes. Thank you, Elsie."

"You might want to dispose of them. They're out of code." Rolling her eyes and suppressing a chuckle, Elsie walked away. "And you're welcome."

Mara waited until she was out of earshot before saying anything. "You brought the ration bars along on the trip?"

"Now is not the time, Mara."

"Sure it is. You brought those. The same ones you had with you in the hospital months ago, and you think nothing of it?"

"Can we just drop it? Please? It's not that important."

Mara's eyes narrowed and she pulled his arm so he would look at her. "No. If I can't avoid the subject, then you can't either… Tell me?"

"Taking these made me feel safe," he admitted after a long moment of silence. "That if I had them, then I wouldn't lose you again."

Mara's eyes softened and she cupped his cheek with her hand. "You won't lose me, Farmboy."

"But-" he started to say before she interrupted him.

"No. No buts. Not ever. No amount of stupidly evil, cruel kidnappers or invading forces can tear us apart. Besides, we're here and they're gone, so…"

Luke silenced her with a kiss.

A couple weeks from now...

Leah was flabbergasted. "You want to what? Why?"

Elsie sighed. "Look, I've been out of practice for ten years. I just want to get back in the grove is all."

"Getting back in the groove is one thing. This is something else entirely."

"You're only saying that because my last official case was a recipe for disaster, Leah."

"There was a reason you went on vacation, Elsie. I'm sorry Ranko pulled you off of it without my approval-"

"I'm not," Elsie interrupted.

"But until Jill clears you for work, you're not going to New Jersey, let alone another universe."

Elsie smiled and handed a folder to Leah. "Already done. Jill agreed with me."

Leah opened the folder and read the contents for a minute, then regarded Elsie with a firm stare. "This needs my approval, you know."

"And?"

"And you don't have it."

"Then what do I have to do to get it?"

Leah blinked in surprise. "You really want to go?"

"Yes."

"Fine... Six months of routine case work, then we'll see. If you pass evaluations made by Running Moon, Jill, and myself, then you may go and intern with Coruscant Law Enforcement. If not, you're back on vacation leave until Chris approves as well."

"You drive a hard bargain."

"Take it or leave it, Dusty."

"I'll take it… By the way, I've been meaning to ask you something."

"And that would be?"

"What was the big idea of saying no when Ranko paged everyone for an all team call? 'I hate snow' isn't enough of an excuse."

Leah chuckled. "She called in the middle of a rescue operation involving an avalanche."

"Huh?"

"I was on search and rescue that day."

"Oh."

"So did I miss anything fun?"

"This mission was called Operation Worldships Go Boom, if that tells you anything."

"It does, and I'm not sad I missed it."

"It was fun, though."

"I'll bet."

"And you would have loved the wedding."

Leah paused, staring at her. "What wedding? You went on a mission of mercy and ended up at a wedding?"

"The bride and groom were the ones in distress."

"You can't leave out details like that, Elsie. Tell!"

"All right…"

Now…

"Who are those people?" Leia asked as she looked over Luke's shoulder at the people also disembarking from the ship they'd arrived in. She turned to look at Mara. "And what happened? That's not the ship you left in."

"We left the Jade's Fire on the academy moon for repairs," Mara told her. "And we'll explain some of it later. For right now, though… they're friends. A bit strange, and weirdly overprotective, but friends all the same."

Leia watched as a woman with dark hair introduced the group to that nurse and those other two people who had been waiting for the ship to land with her. "Hmm... it's been a long time since I've seen anyone wear that much pink."

Mara frowned and looked. "I thought I told her that was a bad idea?"

Luke shrugged. "Melinda didn't have to listen to you, you know."

"But... oh, forget it. Never mind." Mara looked at Leia and shrugged. "Don't ask me to explain that one, because I can't."

The day before...

Iris was heading back to the nurses station when the air in the corridor seemed to ripple and a man and a woman appeared, the man in a battle stance with an expression of irritation on his face. The woman, concentrating on a circular object in her hands, paid her surroundings no mind until she smiled and put the object away.

Iris blinked, not used to people appearing in the hallway like that. "Uh… hello?"

The woman turned to look at her and smiled again. "Hi. Sorry to drop in on you like that... You can get out of the stance now, dear."

The man glanced back at her. "You sure?"

"Very. The patients aren't going to attack us."

He nodded and dropped his arms. "Just promise me there are no demons."

"There aren't. Just Jedi and aliens."

He blinked at her. "What?"

"You asked." The woman turned to Iris. "Where exactly are we?"

"Coruscant Medical Center. On Coruscant." Iris was certain she'd heard him wrong. Demons?

The woman sighed in relief. "Good… wait. Which Coruscant?" She pulled the round thing out again and peered at it. "Oh. That one… Even better."

"Where did you come from?" Iris asked as she watched the woman put the thing away again.

"Another dimension," the woman said frankly. "The stupid Frisbee kept dropping us into stupid places, and if I ever see the guy who programmed it again, I'm going to take HIM on a training trip and see how HE likes it."

The man smiled at Iris's confuzzled expression. "Sorry. We're always like this… And really, Ralarna. Dimitri probably wouldn't know what to do with our training trips even if we trained the guy in Susan's battle sims for a year with no mercy."

"I'm still going to kick his sorry butt, Whuki."

"Just tell Na Omi to follow him around with the threat of bodily harm. She'll be happy to do it."

"But I want to kick his butt."

"Why?"

"For programming that thing and not giving anyone the codes to change it."

"Oh. Well, then for that you can kick his butt."

"Um… excuse me?" Iris spoke up, catching their attention. "Who are you people?"

Ralarna smiled and held out her hand. "Ralarna Benjen-Trason."

Iris shook it. "Iris Dellona." She looked at the man in question.

"Whuki Trason."

"Pleased to meet you both. Staying long?"

Ralarna and Whuki looked at each other, and Rala frowned. "Actually, I don't know."

"You don't?"

"No, but the Frisbee says our team is here, so maybe it won't be very long."

"Huh?" Whuki asked. "This is the right place?"

"Yep. We may have missed the fun, though."

"Bummer."

"Honey, you really shouldn't watch TV ever again."

"But it's fun!"

"Uh-huh…"

Now…

Ranko stepped off the boarding ramp of the ship and looked in Moira's direction, then glanced over to where Luke and Mara were meeting Leia and smirked. "Wonder how they're gonna explain this?"

"What do you mean?" Peter asked from beside her.

"This is not the ship they left in and, among other things, Mel's wearing pink."

Peter glanced back at Melinda with a frown. "Want me to tell her to go change?"

Ranko sighed. "No. I'll do it. She probably couldn't resist so soon after a fight like the one we had."

"What makes you say that?"

"I don't ever wear red, and Susan's wearing orange, which is almost as bad as Mel's pinkness."

"And Miranda's yellow."

"That, too." Turning, she got a good look at him and saw the blue jumpsuit. "All right. So it's everybody."

Peter rolled his eyes. "Har har... Over there with Moira. Is that who I think it is?"

Ranko turned back to look over where Moira was standing with a small group of people and blinked. "What are Whuki and Rala doing here?"

Peter watched her go and then turned back to raise an eyebrow at Susan, Miranda, and Melinda. "Go change into something a little less... bright. Please?"

Melinda frowned at him. "It's protocol to wear our colors, Peter."

"I understand that, Mel. It's just... this isn't an official function and it's perfectly all right to break protocol just this once."

Miranda laughed. "All right. Come on, ladies. Let's go change into something less offensive."

"Why is orange a bad thing?" Susan wondered as she followed Miranda and Melinda back into the ship.

"What are you two doing here?" Ranko asked as she walked up to join Moira's group.

Ralarna sighed. "We took the long way." She pulled out the 'frisbee' so Ranko could see it. "I forgot that Dimitri programmed it, so getting here took a while."

"Ended up in Japan a lot, hmm?"

Whuki put his arm around Ralarna's shoulders. "In at least two different centuries, too. You'll have to get Dimitri to reprogram that thing, because I never want to go to Feudal Japan with demons ever again."

"Right... wait. Feudal Japan? And why'd you use the Frisbee instead of calling Susan?"

"Because we were on assignment when your call came through and I still had the Frisbee," Ralarna explained. "You didn't leave any coordinates in your message, so I had to guess on where you went. And I forgot that there was an easier way."

Ranko glanced at Moira, who shrugged. "You missed all the fun, you know."

"We had our own fun," Whuki grumbled.

Ralarna glanced at him. "Sweetie, you're turning green again. Stop that. You'll scare people."

"It's fine if he 'goes green', as you put it," Moira told them, breaking into the conversation.

"Actually, no. It's really not fine. Green leads to shape shifting," Whuki explained as he took several deep breaths to calm himself.

Moira frowned at him. "You shape shift?"

"He gets it from his mom. Really long story having to do with war and defection and more war." Ralarna turned to smile at Iris. "Thank you for helping us, by the way."

Iris smiled at her. "My pleasure. It's not every day that people appear out of thin air in a hospital corridor in a battle stance." She noticed the fleeting expression that flickered in Ranko's eyes and wondered. "Or is it?"

"I don't even know your name and you've made me homesick already."

Iris turned to look hard at Moira. "Where did you find these people?"

"Master Burrows introduced me to them in the Jedi Temple Library. Why?"

"You're going to have to tell that story later, you know."

"Oh, I fully intend to."


Leia wasn't sure what the change was in their demeanors, but she wasn't going to dwell on it. They seemed closer, even though, right now, they weren't embracing, just holding hands. "So how was the run?"

Luke glanced back over his shoulder to where the other group were still talking. "Eventful."

Mara snorted. "That's one way of putting it."

Looking at the ship they'd arrived in, Leia frowned. "So why did the Jade's Fire need repairing?"

"You don't want to know."

"Oh really? It wouldn't happen to have anything to do with what I felt a week and a half ago, now would it?" At this, Leia stared hard at Luke. "Well?"

Luke sighed. "It might."

"Luke…"

"What?"

"Tell me."

He shook his head. "No. It's over, and you'd..." He broke off when he noticed her staring at him. "What?"

"What happened out there that you don't want to tell me?"

"You really want to know?" Mara asked.

Leia nodded. "I do."

"We had fun."

Luke snorted in laughter. "You're going to call it fun? We nearly died, got ourselves rescued by very strange people, were attacked by something we could see but not feel, and then helped take out interstellar invaders... and you're calling it fun?"

"Yes," Mara said simply, smiling up at him.

Luke pulled her close. "It was, wasn't it?"

"Um-hmm..." Mara looked at Leia, who was staring at them in fascination. "So, Leia... how soon can the wedding happen?"

Leia blinked in surprise and looked at her brother. "Okay, who are you and what did you do with the real Mara Jade? I don't think you brought the right one home with you."

"Ha-ha," Mara deadpanned as Luke chuckled. "I'm serious, you know."

Leia shook her head. "It's not that I don't think you're serious. It's just… It was all I could do to get you interested in it before you left. This is quite a change."

"Are you done?" Mara asked impatiently, feeling that someone was crossing the landing pad.

"Yes."

"Good."

"The wedding is scheduled for two weeks from now."

Someone tapped Mara on the shoulder and she turned to see Ranko standing there. "Hi. I just wanted to let you know that we're going to dinner with Iris's family."

Mara nodded. "Have a good time."

Ranko smiled, then looked at Leia. "You know… It's really none of my business, but… perhaps you should move their wedding date up a week? They were acting like love-struck teenagers the whole way back." And then she walked away with a smirk.

Leia stared at Ranko's retreating back, then regarded the two of them with a bemused expression. "Is that true?"

"From her perspective, it is," Luke answered. "We weren't going to go into details."

Leia looked straight at Mara and noticed that she did seem lighter, less tense, than she had been. Happy, even. "I'm curious, now... but perhaps that person whose name I don't know is correct. I'll move the date up a week. Is that all right with the two of you?"

Mara looked at Luke, and he nodded. "That sounds good to me..."

Mara and Luke were at the table in the kitchen of Luke's apartment, Leia watching with interest as Mara laid various items on the table from the trip. The personal shield devices, the extra lightsabers, and the comm devices. Even the armor and the bag of ration bars that Luke had still not disposed of.

Leia surveyed the items, wondering just why there were four lightsabers on the table when they were wearing theirs, and then turned to the two of them. "I still don't understand why you wanted me to be here. To help you unpack?"

"No, Leia." Mara said patiently. "You were having a problem with a ceremonial thing before we left, because I couldn't think of anything suitable for it."

"And this has something to do with that?"

"Yes… now let's see here…" Mara took one of the ration bars out of the bag. "This is something old and borrowed." She placed one of the shield devices next to the ration bar. "This is something new." And then a blue-handled lightsaber. "And this is something blue."

Luke had to stifle a snort of laughter at the expression of near-shock Leia's face.

Mara considered the objects that she'd laid out. "I think I'll have to talk to Jari'kyn about working pockets into the design... And Leia?"

"Yes?" Leia asked when she found her voice.

"We'll need a weapons check and a metal detector."

"We will?" Luke questioned. At her expression of incredulity, he sobered. "Oh, that's right. We will..."


Later…


Mara leaned back into Luke as they esconded themselves on his couch after Leia had left. "There's still one thing that's bothering me."

"Oh?"

"I've been thinking about it way too long, but… Why don't I remember the trip back to Coruscant afterward? Leia mentioned that you stopped on Saccoria, and then here, but... I don't remember that. Why not?" She could feel the motion as he shook his head at the question. "Luke?"

"You… weren't awake, right after. And on the way to Saccoria, you slept." He took a deep breath, then spoke again. "And then... well..."

"Well what?"

"You don't remember being seen by medical personelle on Saccoria because, when they started to treat you, you woke up in the middle of it and... leaked. With the Force."

"I what?" She hadn't expected to hear that at all.

"Things started hitting medical personelle that were trying to help you," he explained, his voice tinged with emotion that she could feel coming from him. "I hadn't expect it, or I'd have told them to wake you first. As it was, it was a good thing I stayed close by."

She turned her head to look up at him, noticing that he was staring out the window at the darkening sky. "So then what happened?"

"I had to get you to calm down and the only way to do that that I could think of was a healing trance. It wasn't easy, but..."

"Ah. So what was the word to wake me up?"

"Sand dune."

"Huh?"

"It had to be a word or phrase no one would use by mistake and that was the only thing I could think of right then."

"Oh."

Luke pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to her. "Here. A nurse gave me those on Saccoria because she thought I looked exhausted. I didn't use them."

Mara turned the container over in her hands, not understanding what it was at first, then she looked at him again. "Why didn't you use them?"

"Someone had to be alert."

Mara reached over and set the container on the floor, then relaxed again. "So that's why you looked so haggard, hmm?"

"Yes. I was… well… worried. So I didn't sleep all that much."

"And by that you mean at all?"

"Not until…" Luke paused a moment, thinking, then glanced over at the feline that was watching them. "All right… not until Iris made me go home, and I picked up Dark Star on the way. Dark Star purred me to sleep that night."

Mara looked from him, to the feline, then back again. "You slept with my cat?"

The sheer sillyness of that question made Luke chuckle. "It's more that she sat on me and then curled up into a ball and refused to move, really."

Mara smiled and coaxed Dark Star to come sit on her lap. "That's my Dark Star. Thanks, girl." Dark Star got up into Mara's lap, curled up, and began to purr.

They were soon asleep, lulled by the furry purring machine on Mara's lap as Mara rested peacefully against him.

They didn't wake up until morning.