Ooo.... wonder of wonders, after a long, LONG hiatus, I'm back! Don't be mad, there are reasons that I left this story (and most of my others) chillin' on the backburner for so long. But I will try (TRY, mind you) to update more than once every year or so giggles sheepishly.

Anyway, on with the story!

Aisha cautiously climbed up the steps to the ship's airlock. After peering around to make sure no one was looking, she punched in the code that she had seen Ron use. The door slid open silently. Aisha stepped inside and made her way down a dark corridor, heading towards a lit room at the end that she figured was the cockpit. That's where the brother will be, she thought excitedly, ready for a fight. She could hear the beeps and clicks of machinery working as she reached the room. Aisha snuck up carefully behind the pilot's chair and then jumped over the top of it, intending to pounce on the younger McDougal and take him by surprise. There was no one in it; Aisha's Saigon-kick attack dropped her heavily into the seat instead. She winced and rubbed at her butt, then looked down to find Harry McDougal's face staring directly at her from the vid screen of the pilot's controls.

"Aaauugghh!!"

"Aaauugghh!!"

The two screams rang out simultaneously, echoing around the empty interior of the cockpit. She wasn't expecting him to suddenly appear like that! Aisha cut her shriek off and clamped her hands over her ears. On the screen in front of her, the face of Harry McDougal continued yelling.

"Shut up!" Aisha bellowed, a bit of a snarl edging her voice. "Why in the hell are you still yelling?!"

Harry stopped and glared at her. "Because you startled me!"

"Well, you startled me too! You don't just pop up on someone like that!"

Harry looked at her like she was stupid. "It's my ship!"

"Mya," said Aisha uninterestedly, already bored with him. She hopped up and wandered over to the glass, peeking down and out to the hangar outside the ship. Good-- there didn't seem to be anyone around. She didn't want any innocent bystanders nearby, just in case she had to make some trouble.

"I know you," the computer continued to speak behind her. "You're that Ctarl-ctarl woman that was running around with Ge--"

"Yeah, that was me," she interrupted forcefully, not wanting to hear his name out loud. "But not anymore." Aisha moved around so that she could see the younger McDougal on the screen. He frowned at her, tucking some hair behind his ear.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked, but then checked himself. "Hell, what am I doing? I don't care. I'm calling Ron."

Aisha smirked at him. "Go right ahead, human. It doesn't matter at all. Ron's long gone by now. No matter where he is, it'll take him at least 15 minutes to get back here." She flipped her long pale braid haughtily and continued, "Now why don't you be a good boy and tell me where Danvers is?"

"Who do you think you are?" Harry asked angrily, voice starting to creep up in pitch and volume. "You can't come onto my ship and order me around!"

"Why not?" The Ctarl put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "I seem to remember you doing that to a good friend of mine!" Aisha was on the verge of yelling.

Harry's normally youthful, handsome features contorted into a mask of rage. He snarled, "You don't know anything about it! Melfina--"

"Shut up!!" Aisha cut him off. She reached out to the console and roughly started jabbing buttons with her finger. Harry's image wavered, then split up and disappeared as the screen went blank. "Ha! So there!" she crowed triumphantly.

The screen suddenly sprang back to life. Harry sneered up at her, narrowing his purple eyes. "You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" he sneered.

Aisha snarled at his triumphant expression. "You better be glad I'm in a good mood, otherwise I'd--"

This time Harry interrupted her. "You'd what? I'm not scared of you, Ctarl! You can't hurt me!"

"GggrrrraaAAHH! I can't hurt you? We'll see about that!" Roaring in pure rage, Aisha whirled around and gave the computer a thundering roundhouse kick, then another, then another.

"Hey! What are you doing?! Stop!" Harry's image screamed.

"SHUT UP!" She balled up her hands and smashed both of her fists down on the console. It started to crackle and spark. Harry fuzzed up, still screaming at Aisha to stop. His voice cut off as the screen snowed over.

"Aaarrr!" Aisha snarled, giving the ruined machine a final kick. "Never challenge a Ctarl-ctarl!" Giving a final derisive glance at the smoking mass of crunched metal and loose sparking wires, she turned to leave the cockpit. "Now to find Danvers!"

In smashing Harry's console she had done herself another favor. Many of the computer-run locks and safety mechanisms on the ship had been disabled. The sliding metal doors were all open as she trotted down the central corridor of the Shangri-La. Most were storage rooms, but five doors down on the left she caught a glimpse of something on the ground.

Cautiously she stepped into the darkened room, then grinned. Sure enough, there was Che Danvers, hogtied and gagged on the floor. He had been attempting to wriggle towards the suddenly opened door when a shadow fell across his face. Slowly his eyes traveled up-- over a pair of tall boots, to maroon leggings, a nicely filled top, and finally to the exultant face of that Ctarl-ctarl woman. If his mouth hadn't been blocked, he would have screamed bloody murder.

"Danvers!" Aisha crowed. "Aren't you happy to see me?"

Che changed direction, squirming his way back into the room away from the cat-woman. Aisha just grinned and followed him. "Don't make this difficult, Danvers. You're mine!"

Danvers tried to say something, but it came out as, "Oomp eek ee!" around the tight gag.

"What?" Aisha stared at him. She bent down and pulled the gag out of his mouth. "What did you say?"

"Don't eat me!" he gasped out.

Aisha cocked her head to the side and gave him an incredulous look. "Eat you?" She laughed and poked at him with her index finger. "I guess I could. You've got plenty of meat on you!"

Danvers wiggled backwards some more and realized that he had effectively trapped himself with his back to a crate. "Help! Somebody help me!" he hollered.

Quick as lightening Aisha leaped forward and shoved the gag back in his mouth. "You idiot! I'm not gonna eat you! You're worth good money!" She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and hefted him up. "Don't make this difficult!" she repeated in a growl. "Think about it! It's either me or McDougal. You're screwed either way. McDougal's taking you back to your home planet, and there are a lot of people there who'd be really glad to see you. I'm just after your Tesla bounty. At least with me you probably won't end up dead! So don't make a fuss, cuz you're coming with me NOW!"

With that, Aisha scooped Danver's up underneath her arm and stalked out of the storage room. That hadn't been so hard! And once she got the money, she was going straight to the first seafood restaurant she could find. "Lobster, lobster," she sang, clomping triumphantly back down the hall towards the cockpit. "I'm gonna eat lobster!"

Aisha grinned widely at the ruined computer as she passed it and aimed a victory sign in its direction. "Lobster," she crowed, "and shrimp! Yum!"

Three feet away from the door, it suddenly shuddered to life and slid shut. "Hey!"

The console crackled. "--override---system---manual control--" a static-y, detached voice said.

"What?!" Aisha stared around wildly, noticing for the first time that there was another screen hanging from the ceiling behind the pilot's chair. Harry's image blinked to life on it.

Harry spoke again, stronger now. "You're (crackle) not going (pop) anywhere."

Aisha let out a howl. "DAMN!" She hiked Danvers more securely underneath her arm and kicked viciously at the door. "Let me out! Let me out!"

From the other side of the metal door came another, deeper voice. "Harry! Harry, let me in, hurry!"

"Yeek!" Aisha screeched, and her ears flattened back. "It's the brother!"

The sounds of Ron pounding his fist against the door echoed throughout the cockpit. "Are you all right in there? Let me in, hurry! I've got some jackals on my tail!"

Immediately the door shot open. Ron tried to rush in as Aisha tried to rush out. They ran smack into each other. Aisha's heavy load put her off balance, and she fell backwards, Ron falling with her. Che rolled away, but Ron landed directly on top of Aisha. "Aauugh! Get off me!" she shrieked. What is with this pervert?!

Ron bellowed, "Shut the door!" Luckily they had fallen into the ship. The door whisked closed, but not before Aisha caught a glimpse of a gang of men rapidly climbing up the stairs and scaffolding of the hangar.

Aisha scrambled up and started banging her fists on the door. "Noooooo! Let me out!" Meanwhile, Ron stared around at the mess that had been his cockpit. Danvers, forgotten in a heap on the floor, simply tried to remain as quiet and unnoticeable as possible.

"What the hell happened here?" Ron snarled at no one in particular.

"She happened!" Harry answered angrily. Aisha paid no attention to either of them. Something large and heavy suddenly hit the door from the outside, knocking her back. The door shuddered, but didn't give. The Ctarl decided it might be time to find a different exit. She turned to find Harry (on screen) and Ron (in the flesh) glowering at her. "Heh heh," she chuckled sheepishly. "Um, hi?"

Luckily for her, another resounding boom shook the cockpit. Whoever it was, they weren't playing around. "We don't have time for this," Ron yelled, running over to the console. "Harry, can you get us out of here?"

"I don't know. I'll try, but that psycho cat-bitch ripped out a lot of my main controls. The engines--"

Ron interrupted, "What's that beeping noise?"

"Huh? Oh... oooh shit," Harry said distractedly. "Shit! The starboard airlock door is malfunctioning. It's unlocked!"

Aisha, who had been about to erupt again after being called a "psycho cat-bitch", saw opportunity knock. She scooped up Danvers and took off running, calling over her shoulder, "Don't worry boys, I'll lock up for you on my way out!"

"You-- hey!!" Ron raced after her.

Aisha pounded down a hallway. There it was! She could see the door ahead of her, and the control panel on the wall beside it. She leaped, stretched her free arm as far as it would go. Her hand slapped the large square button. Triumph! The control flashed green and the door slid open--

to reveal a man in a ripped muscle shirt leveling a huge bazooka straight at her.

Not again!

She heard a thunk behind her and the door whooshed shut again. Her relief was short-lived however; because Ron lifted the gloved hand that had slapped the button and cuffed her across the back of her head. Aisha let out a surprised snarl as she hit the floor. Danvers flew in the opposite direction, wishing he'd never gotten out of bed that morning.

Ron curled his lip and took a pair of pliers from his jacket. He busied himself rigging up a temporary electric lock on the door control. He didn't notice the Ctarl moving on the floor until a pair of feet locked around his neck from behind. Hands planted firmly on the floor, Aisha had flipped herself up to trap McDougal in her infamous upside down headlock.

"No one," she snarled, "hits Aisha and gets away with it!" With a roar she tossed him up and over her, away from the door. He landed with a painful sounding thud and Aisha scrambled up.

But Ron obviously wasn't one to take things lying down either. As Aisha went for the door again, he dove at her knees and pulled her down. They grappled for a moment, an odd assortment of snarls, growls, and curses issuing from the pair. Danvers had long ago decided to just sit back and watch-- there wasn't much else he could do.

"Let me go! Let me the hell off of this ship!" Aisha howled.

"Stop it, you crazy--"

Aisha kicked him in the mouth. Ron caught her foot and held it with a grip of iron. "I want you off this ship more than you do, but if you open that door again, we're all gonna get killed!"

Aisha wrenched her foot free. "I'm not a part of this!"

"Are you stupid? Do you really think they'll let you just waltz out of here? As far as they know, you're with us!"

The Ctarl stopped for a moment. In the sudden silence she could hear the engines powering up. Aisha let out a string of words so foul that even Ron was impressed.

"Ron? Where are you? I need you up front!" Harry's desperate voice rang out.

The older McDougal glared at Aisha, then grabbed her arm and pulled her up with him.

"What are you doing?!"

"I'm not letting you out of my sight. Come on!"

Harry didn't seem pleased when Ron appeared dragging an enraged Aisha behind him. "Cut it, Harry," Ron snapped. "We have more important things to deal with right now."

The Ctarl stuck her tongue out petulantly at the blue-haired man on the screen. "Ron!" Harry started, but stopped when he saw the look on his brother's face.

"You!" Ron barked at Aisha. "Sit down right there, and stay out of my way!" He swung her to the portside navigator's seat.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Aisha shrieked.

"Fine!" Ron yelled back. "Sit where you want to! Sit on the damn floor for all I care! Just stay the hell out of my way!" McDougal turned to his controls, eye twitching. Aisha crossed her arms and grumbled a bit, but stayed put.

There you go! I'll try to have the next one out in a week. Questions, comments, criticisms, etc. are as usual welcome. Laterz!