Garik 'Face' Lorain stood in front of 100 potential Wraiths in the main briefing room. After four days, the preliminary screening process was completed. It had actually taken weeks to get this far in the process. Kell and he had spent weeks going through the applications selecting which personal they wanted with the right piloting skills. Being a pilot was not necessarily a positive, if that pilot had no useful secondary skills to fall back on. In some cases, such as with Ratnena Bora, he was willing to overlook poor piloting skills in the light of other talents. Face figured that they could always train up to a skill that would allow them to learn other classes of ship. During the long history of the Wraiths had shown being a pilot was fundamental to the missions that they often found themselves engaged in. Many times, they drop in with no other support and must use their own skills to get them home safely. In many ways it was a blessing since, unlike other commandos units or intelligent teams, the Wraiths did not need a huge support structure to equip them for a mission. The numbers of leaks are reduce since the numbers of outsiders that are privileged to their operation plans were fewer, this in turn increased the odds of the target not being aware of their actions and setting up traps or other nasty surprises for them.

Now however, the biggest weakness in the Wraith group was glaring at them as brightly as a supernova, they had no one waiting in the wings to take over for them. They, the Command staff of the Wraiths, are getting too old to keep doing these kinds of missions. They had to get new personal but had no pool of personal to draw from. Since they had been in service back during the battles with Warlord Zsinj, they only had small replacements, one or two here and there, with the rest helping in the break-in process. Now they had only six months to find at least twelve to twenty four replacements to train them to their standards. It was a challenge all right but one they can accomplish.

"I would like to thank you all for your interest in become an elite of the elites. You are about to face challenges unlike any you have faced before." As he talked, he scanned the room looking at the faces of humans, Bothans, Mon Calamari, Twi'lek, and other species representing the Galactic Alliance. Some had apprehension on their faces, some looked cocky, some curiosity, and a few had a very bore looks. A couple of the bored looks came from Ratnena and Tahiri. Why Tahiri was bored was easy to figure out. She had been here for over a month and she had been training hard up until the rest showed up four days ago. Since then she had been doing easy duty with the rest of them, except for the cleaning duty as punishment, and it was driving her nuts. Ratnena was gladly helping her to go insane, for the past four days they both had been pulling pranks on each other; Face could not wait to see what they will come up with once they start on the others. "I know you all are anxious to begin the training but we have a little surprise for you. Since we will be isolated out here in the middle of nowhere, the command staff and I have decided to give you one last night of relaxation. We arranged to have shuttles transport you to the main base and back starting at 0900 up until 0100. You are free to go to the main base and do whatever you please. However, curfew is 0130; we will expect you to be back here by then. If you don't return at 0130, you will be drop, no ifs or buts." Again, he scanned the room, most of the faces out there look up with excitement, a few looked wondering and Tahiri and Ratnena looked at him with undisguised suspicion. They both seem to slump down in their seats. "Also you don't have to worry about waking up at 0430, as we have the last few days. I will give you my word that you will not be awakening at 0430. It is now 0756; you are all off duty until 0130. Go ahead and have fun."

Ratnena sat quietly as the rest of the room filed out; everyone was talking about their plans for their surprise leave. She wasn't sure if it was Commander Loran's body language, the stuff she read from the files that she sliced into or that wicked smile the major gave them as the commander pointed out that they wouldn't be woke up at their normal time; but something told her they were being setup. She did not know how but she just knew that in some way the command staff was testing them. Of course, she could just be paranoid like she normally was. She leaned over her chair, looked at Sara, and saw that she was also staring at them as if to figure out what they were up too.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Ratnena asked.

Sara tilted her head, raised an eyebrow and gave her a smirk.

"Probably not, the only thing you think about is mating."

"Not that," she said giving the younger woman a backhanded slap on the shoulder, "I wondering if they are setting us up for something."

"Oh that," Sara said losing all cheer from her face as she slumped back further in her seat, "yea, we're being setup. For what and how they are going to do whatever they are going to do, I do not know. Commander Loran was stressing that last part for a reason and Major Tainer was a little too happy for my taste."

"That is my read on this too. Blaster, I would have liked to go for one last night of drinking."

"You could still go, Rat. I'm sure you could get away with one night of drinking, if that is what you really want to do." Sara sounded somewhat strange when she said that as if she was wondering about her as well.

Ratnena really did want to go, it has been months since she had a chance to go out and get drunk, have fun and dance. She might have jumped up and headed out to the landing field now if she did not keep remembering her parents faces on that first piece of mail she got from them while she was awaiting for her trail. It broke her heart seeing the anguish and pain on their faces as they reassured her that they still loved her and supported her. They had been so proud of her when she joined the military, to try to make something out of her life, instead of going to jail again. When she graduated from flight school, her parents flew out to her base to watch her get her wings. Her father had a picture taken of the three of them and when he got back to his shop, he had the picture hanging where everyone who walked in or by could see it. Jar, her oldest brother, wrote later that her dad would tell everyone who asked about that picture that it was a picture of his 'little ace', the next greatest pilot in history. This was her last chance at making them proud of her again, she had to grow up and stop indulging every impulse she has.

"No, I had better not." She said getting up and following the last group out. She was aware that Commander Loran and Major Tainer were watching everyone leaving and talking in low tones. "I can always find something to do around here. Are you going to go out?" She turned to her left knowing that Sara would be right in step with her. Ratnena had notice earlier that when ever she walked with Sara, she would be on her left side. She gave Sara a smile full of merriment and mischief. "You could always meet some cute guy there; you guys could drink, dance and well you know."

"I swear I'm going to make it my personal quest to get you to go longer then five minutes without thinking about guys!" Sara said shooting her a look of strained and obvious fake scorn. "I rather not go alone and anyways I don't drink …"

"What you never drank?"

"I don't drink, never had and …"

"Not even when you were younger, you know you and your friends sneaking out some wine or something from your parents' supplies while they were out of the house."

"Of course not Rat! That would be wrong …"

"Gee wiz what the heck did you do for fun anyways, have study groups?"

"Actually yea," Sara said with a look of bafflement that Ratnena could not tell if it was real or not. "There is not a whole lot to do except work, study, do some flying to and from school. We would all get together sometimes but that was mostly to study or hanging out."

"Oh shi…," Ratnena said with look of horror on her face, "sound like a great place to live."

"Why do you think we spent all that time studying? We wanted to get as far away from Tatooine as possible." Sara said smiling.

"Now that is the first smart thing I have heard you say yet!" Ratnena said laughing too.

"Gee thank." Sara said trying hard to look insulted but failing. "Anyways I think I'm going to go fly some simulators exercises."

"You are such the life of the party," Ratnena said laughing still, "I think I'm going to grab Little Brother, he knows how to play dejarik and other games. He will be a challenge to play against unlike some people are." Ratnena and Sara walked through the thong of people to get to their room. It seemed everyone else was rushing around trying to get to the landing field before the shuttles were full. Again, Ratnena felt a longing to go out and drown herself in whatever alcohol the officer club was serving or whatever supply she could get a hold of from less official sources When they walked into their room they found Little Brother plugged in to the base net, Ratnena always caught him in the base computer system. She often wondered if he was just lonely or if he was a slicer like her. When he saw them, he let out a series of beeps and whistles, Ratnena grab the data pad off her desk to see what he had said.

WE HAVE BEEN GRANTED LEAVE FOR THE NEXT 17.5 HOURS, ARE WE GOING TO THE MAIN BASE?

Ratnena always found it funny how Little Brother always included himself in whatever off duty activities they did.

"Nope, we are going to stay here. I was hoping you would like to play some games with me." Ratnena said she looked over at Sara, who was digging out her flight equipment for the simulation runs. "Unless you sure you don't want to go?"

"Yea, I'm sure."

"I mean if you really want to go …"

"Rat," Sara said from under her bunk, "if you want to go out, you can, but I really don't want to go. What would I do anyways? Watching you get drunk doesn't sound like much fun to me."

"Well you don't have to watch me; you are old enough to drink."

"I don't drink remember." She said with a smirk as she popped her head up from the storage compartment. She sat down on her bunk with her gear and faced Ratnena. "Besides both of us agree that they are planning something nasty for tomorrow, I think we will be better off sober and rested for the morning."

"Yea, I guess you're right." Ratnena said unenthusiastic.

"Tell you what Rat, when we both graduate I let you buy me my first drink. How does that sound?"

"Just one drink, I mean if we are going to celebrate we should have at least ten each, to make it proper and all."

"Rat no! Just one should do it." She said shaking her head.

"How about I buy us eight drinks each?"

"I'm not listening anymore." Sara said getting up and heading out the door.

"Oh come on don't you trust me?"

"You have the nerve to ask me that after what you did to me yesterday morning?" Sara said glaring at her, which would have been more effective if she was not laughing while she was glaring. "I'll see you two later; keep her out of trouble Little Brother."

Kell finished hooking up the last of the noise bomb to the master control switch. All around the base the Wraiths and him had placed noise bombs, low yield grenades, smoke bombs, light shows and other loud and confusing devices to simulate an attack on the base. Face had suggested setting up this simulation while most of the recruits were on leave, so they could give them their first test. They wanted to see how everyone handled the surprise after spending the night parting and getting almost no sleep. Everyone but two had left the base this morning and were straggling back in, many were obviously drunk from parting too hard. As for the two who had not left the base, Tahiri and Ratnena, they and Little Brother spent much of their time in the lounge area. Tahiri did venture out to her X-wing and the shooting range to practice her sniping skill, but she did not observe any of their work. Ratnena had decided to use Little Brother as an excuse to play some games on the holo board. When Kell had asked Tahiri why she and Ratnena did not leave with the rest, she just gave him a look as if he was talking Huttonise.

"Yea right, like I trust you enough to believe you guys don't have some trick up your sleeves for us."

Kell had Piggy, who was sitting in on some of Little Brother and Ratnena's games, asked her the same question. He said she just shrugged her shoulders and made a comment about parting after she had proven to her family that she was not a screw up. Kell was glad to hear that she was well motivated about doing her training; he hoped for her sake that she stays motivated. Not many get the second chance at life, those who do should remember how lucky their actually were.

The dark cloud that she was under and from what he knew about her past reminds him of another pilot out to prove something. Years ago, when he first joined the Wraiths he was motivated also. His motivation was to repair his family name after Wes Janson, the second-in-command of the Wraiths, shot down his father, during the early days of the Rebellion. Nevertheless, somewhere along the way he found something even more important to keep himself motivated, his fellow teammates and especially his future wife Tyria. He hoped that somehow Ratnena would be able to see past her immediate goal of redeeming her own name and life or at least see the easiest and quickest way would be to keep her teammates lives safe. The fact that she stayed here and did not go to the main base with the other was a good sign; he hoped it was because of Tahiri's influence.

Another reason he hoped that she would get her act together for the long haul was the small fact that she was potentially the second most dangerous person on the base, right behind Tahiri. At least he now knew how Wes must have felt when he found out whom Kell was and what his hobbies were. He would never admit to anyone outside the Wraiths but she worried him more then anyone else on the base, Tahiri included. Tahiri would at least give you some notice before she lost control, it probably would not do any good but it did help him sleep at night. Ratnena, on the other hand, seemed to be the kind that would whisper sweet nothings in your ear while she gutted you. Ratnena's criminal record had started out as simple assaults and petty thief, although her and her gang never did steal much of value, her record of assaults were growing more and more deadly. Moreover, her last assault against her old squadron, while light on the bloodshed, was the scariest of them all. She had 'fixed' seven X-wings and reprogrammed their droids in less then 6 hours. Drayson and Piggy figured it would have taken at least a week to come up with the additional programming the droids and another week to get them to accept the new orders. Kell knew from experience that to monkey around with the X-wings like that he could do it in 6 hours, per ship. She had admitted, during her trail, to reprogramming one of the R2 units and having it help reprogram the rest. Then they all worked on the X-wings together, it reminded him of the trick that Lara Notsil pulled on Warlord Zsinj, but it took her weeks to accomplish the same feat.

Piggy had played dejarik against her earlier and lost all three times. He had reported that she was quite a ruthless player, setting up traps that he did not see until it was too late.

"While many players tend to play five or six moves ahead in the game, she seemed to almost seem to play ten moves in the future." Piggy had stated when Kell had asked him.

Why this super intelligence did not follow her into the cockpit was something none of them understood. Elessar had a idea that the stress in combat or potential combat caused her to over compensate and she was trying to absorb too much information too quickly and that caused her to 'freeze up', once she learned to slow down her thinking and calm herself she should be a excellent pilot.

"All set there Explosion Boy?" A voice said from behind him, dragging him away from his thoughts.

He turned and saw Face, Poster Boy; Piggy, Droid Boy; Drayson, Circuitry Girl; Shalla Nelprin, Warrior Girl; Elessar, Charm Boy; Baljos, Science Boy; and Squeaky, a.k.a. Junk Pile; walking into the control room. All of them were dressed in combat suits that offered both comfort and durability and many pockets to carry all the little items they will need today and every day for the next six months.

"Oh Exulted One," Kell said giving him a wicked smile and a mocking bow, "your extremely talented, extremely intelligent, outstandingly hansom, the king of the whit, and humble servant awaits your inferior presents to dazzle you with my stunning intellect."

"He is definably losing it," Elessar said, "good thing he is retiring soon."

Among the laugher, he heard a distinct sound of hollowness in their cheer. Many of them would be leaving the service after the new Wraiths were operational. Elessar was going to go home and set up a private practice, Baljos was going back to Coruscant as a civilian working to repair the damage the Yuuzhan Vong had done to the planet. Drayson was going to go back to Denon to teach at the academy, as was Shalla; she was going to be in charge of the self-defense department. Piggy was going to a private college to head their mathematic department. Kell was going to travel with his wife and son as they explored the galaxy as a Mother/son Jedi team. Squeaky was going to stay with the Wraiths, as much as he complains about them; they all knew that he secretly loved being a Wraith. They often used him on mission when needed and he has proven his worth to them repeatedly. Kell knew that no other unit would ever use him or treat him as 'one of the team', that was the biggest reason he stuck around them as long as he had. As for Face, Kell's long time friend and commanding officer, well they all knew why he was staying.

"Well as long as we are ready, I'll show a little mercy on his poor deluded mind." Face said laughing, "What is the body count so far?"

"Out of the 98 who left the base this morning, so far 83 has returned before the 0130 dead line." Shalla said looking at her pad. "Six are in the brig for disorderly conduct and fighting, three are in the hospital recovering from injuries that they received from the disorderly conduct that the other six somehow avoided. One is in the orbital defense platform brig, he 'borrowed' a shuttle earlier today. His story is you gave him ultra-high secret mission to take the assault shuttle and try to sell it to a know group of smugglers. I set the record straight on that lie. Two were involved in a shoot out with the Military Police when they found them in a supply shack 'gathering supplies' as per your orders."

"My, my I have been busy issuing orders haven't I?"

"The last three are unknowns right now."

"Well they are all scrubbed, Squeaky have a couple service droids pack up their things and forward them to where ever they end up."

"If I must."

"You must Junk Pile," Face said looking over the set up that Kell had rigged into the command council, "but first at 0230, I need you to set off the fire works while the rest of us make sure they find their way to the parade ground."

Face stood down the hall from where Tahiri and Ratnena slept, watching the minutes click away on his clock. He chose this hallway for two reasons; one was to make sure that Tahiri did not try to cheat on the uniform of the day. He was sure that she would go along with it no matter how much she would hate it. The second reason was this hallway was the closets to the entryway to the parade grounds; he wanted to observe everyone as they left the building, to see who was straggling, who was able to make it and who was too drunk to exercise. He would not necessarily disqualify anyone for being hung over but he did not want some one too drunk to hurt himself or herself or others today. At 0230 on the dot Squeaky set off all the explosions, it sounded as if the entire Yuuzhan Vong fleet was attacking. To add to the noise and confusion Squeaky's voice came over the intercom.

"ATTENTION ALL PERSONAL ATTENTION, THIS IS A DRILL. YOU ARE TO ASSEMBLE ON THE MAIN PARADE GROUND IN 15 MINUTES IN THE APPROVED UNIFORM OF THE DAY. THIS A DRILL YOU ARE TO ASSEMBLE ON THE MAIN PARADE GROUND IN 14 MINUTES AND 50 SECONDS."

Tahiri and Ratnena were the first out on the parade ground in front of the Wraith building. Judging the way most of the other recruits were moving it would be a long, hard day for most. They definably had a great time back at the main base and now they were going to pay for it, most look like they were still intoxicated as they stumbled out of the building with the Wraiths yelling and pushing them along. Once they got out to the parade grounds, they had to line up four a breast in columns of five and standing at attention. Looking down at her clothes, she had a feeling that they were not the only ones who will be having a long hard day of suffering ahead of them.

"I'm going to get you for this Rat." Tahiri said quietly to her friend. Well as quietly as she could over the sounds of explosions and sirens

"I had nothing to do with this Sara, I wish I had."

Tahiri, even though she was not using the Force, could feel her friend's amusement by the choice of the 'uniform of the day'. It consisted of a sleeveless undershirt, which showed of her shoulders and arms, short pants, which showed off her legs up to the mid-point of her thighs, socks and running footwear. I might as well be naked! She thought to herself as she watched Commander Loran and the rest walk up and down the formations yelling and screaming at everyone and no one. A few of the recruits got sick on themselves, Tahiri figure they had too much to drink earlier.

"By the way, thank you." Ratnena said to Tahiri.

"For what, standing out here practically naked?"

"For being strong enough to stay home last night, Sara, if you had gone so would I and we be like them now instead of rested and ready."

Tahiri smiled and was about to make a comment when Major Drayson chose that moment to walk by and talk, scream really, at her and her group. After that, there was not much time to speak or even think; from that day on, they went through what the recruits fondly or not so fondly referred to as 'Hell Month'.