"Where do you store all that food anyways, the Black Bantha?"

Tahiri looked up from her dinner to see Jorge High and Hal Starred standing across the table from her. They were two males who did not take subtle hints, not so subtle hints and out right refusal by either Tahiri or Ratnena to be anything but friends. Ever since they finished the first week of 'Hell Month', they both went out of their way to talk to either one of them or eat with them. The first couple of weeks it was annoying but tolerable but not after 3 months, now she had to clamp down on her growing disgust when she saw them. In addition, ever since Commander Loran and Major Tainer had figured it out that Hal and Jorge were sweet on the two girls, they went out of their way to team them up. Sometimes she wondered if those two were plants to test Tahiri's patients with the annoying side of people, but she did not really believe that, even Major Tainer would not be so cruel as to do that. Besides why would they do it to Rat as well? Hal was her latch on; he seemed determined to win her heart. Tahiri guess he was not too bad looking; he was a reasonable adequate pilot, even if she or Rat always shot him down, and a competent officer but he seemed to be too weak. She knew it was wrong and unfair to Hal but she could not help it; she kept comparing him to Anakin Solo. Where Anakin was strong, self assure and a leader; Hal was not. Where Anakin could make you believe he was right and that he always knew the right answer by the way he talked and carried himself; Hal did not. The only thing that Hal had in common with Anakin was they were dark hair, blue eyes and the same age.

"Bend over Flight Officer Starred and I'll show you." She said in her frostiest Yuuzhan Vong tone. Both men laugh as if she made a joke, totally ignoring her tone in her voice.

"Not only are you cute Sara but you have a great sense of humor." Hal said sitting down across from her. Tahiri said a silent prayer to Yum-Shuno for patients to deal with these two, at least until the end of training. She was a Jedi after all and needed to be calm at all times and deal with a whole range of beings. In addition, as a Jedi, no matter how satisfying it would be to sacrifice these two to the great Yum-Yammka, she knew it would be the first step down the long and twisted path of the dark side. Even thinking about doing it would be wrong, no matter how enjoyable it was. Moreover, Yum-Yammka would be insulted to receive these two and she had enough troubles in her life without insulting the Slayer. Stop that! The gods do not exist! She silently reminder herself, even if it was so hard for her to denied their existence, she help disprove their existence but privately she often wonder if she was not mistaken.

"You ok Sara." Hal said looking at her.

"Uh?" She forgot that they had even been there for one enjoyable second. "Yes, I was just lost in though." Then to find out if it would help her get rid of them she added, "I'm sure you know what that is like Flight Officer Starred, since it would be such unfamiliar territory to you."

Both men laugh as if it was the funniest thing they ever heard, Tahiri gave a silent sigh, I should know better.

"So how did you do on the firing range today, my sweet?"

Tahiri could feel her left hand tighten around her knife; it was a steak knife and very sharp steak knife. She could almost see herself plunging it in his skinny little neck .

Stop this now Tahiri! You are a Jedi Knight, regardless of you heritage! Jedi Knights should not entertain such thoughts no matter how enjoyable they are and how badly he needs it! She reminded herself as she forced her hand to relax and put the knife down on the table. The idiot sat there, eating his food, looking at her while waiting for her response totally missing the fact how close he is to getting his guts ripped out of him. Tahiri, you must stop this thinking right now! Do you want to end up like Anakin's vision of you? Do you want to destroy all he died for, do you?

"Flight Officer Starred, I have asked you before and I will ask you again not to call me 'my sweet'. My name is Flight Officer Sandblaster; please address me in that fashion. Not 'Sara', not 'my sweet' or any other name you can think of but Flight Officer Sandblaster. I'm not nor will I ever be 'your sweet'!" She said silently counting down from 100 in Yuuzhan Vong.

"Oh I know I just like the sound of it besides sooner or later you realize that I'm right about us being perfect for each other and then you won't be able to hear me say enough." He answered smugly.

"I am please to disappoint you then because Hoth will warm up before that happens, Tatooine will grow liquid oceans before I look at you in any other way then contempt that I feel for you now." She closed her eyes her eyes and began counting in Yuuzhan Vong and basic while mentally reviewing every technique to relax that she knew. "If you want to be friends, I am willing to try that however I am demanding that you stop this pointless mating ritual."

"Ah you say that now but soon ." he trailed off with a wink and smug smile. A smile she wished she could remove, with her light saber and very slowly.

"No I will not, however I will say now and in the future that you are the kind of man I find severely lacking satisfactoriness in both skills and the superficial, murky world of physical attractiveness. I have been requesting that you limit your conversation in scope and nature to what is appropriate, which you have ignored on repeated occasions. That shows me that you have no respect for my feeling and needs which is not a good bias in which to build either a friendship or a romantic interest, which I will point out again is not an option. I fail to see why you persist in this course of action."

"My, my," Jorge said as he feed his fat face, "she cute, funny and intelligent. You sure know how to pick them."

"I have always had great taste." Hal said, his eyes staring into Tahiri's, "And Sara just to give you fair warning there are thousands of women out there who would give anything to be seen with me. Heck, back home girls would get into fights over who got to stand closer to me."

"Then please go find one of those vacuum brains to shower your allege charm on and stop bothering me."

"But I want you Sara; you are a challenge unlike any I have faced before. You have brains, body, and skills that I admire, respect, and would make us the perfect couple. We would be the envy of everyone!"

"No."

"Ah they all say that at first but sooner or later they learn to appreciate what I have to offer. No woman has ever resisted my charm for long."

"I find that to be a statistically implausibly, I'm sure some women have rejected your so called charm if by suicide if not by any other means."

Again, both men howled as if she was the funniest person to walk the galaxy. She wondered, not for the first time, if they thought that was funny how they ever achieve the brainpower to get their shoes on the correct foot let alone fly an X-wing. She had to close her eyes again, concentrate on her breathing exercises, and started counting down from 1000 in both basic and Yuuzhan Vong. The longer this conversation was lasting the madder she was getting.

"You cannot resist forever and I do get what I want Sara, I always do." he said softly. That is when he made his big mistake.

In hindsight she knew he could have never known what he did was wrong, even if he did know about her Domain. In truth few non-Yuuzhan Vong would know about some of the quarks of the Kwaad Domain and their reaction to anyone violating their taboos. In truth if he had been Yuuzhan Vong he would have never done what he did or pushed thing as far as he had. They would have a ritual battle long ago; if he had lost, he would have stay away on the penalty of dishonorable death. However, he was not Yuuzhan Vong he was a human, a very stupid human. In hindsight if she had though about what she was doing, she would have never done what she had done. Nevertheless, she was not thinking she was just reacting to an impulse that he triggered in her. She was already feeling a degree of hostility towards him due to his refusal to stop trying to get her to 'date' him. Therefore, when he pulled his boneheaded stunt all she felt was 'dirty', she had a need to cleanse herself. To help in the cleansing she had to make him suffer a bit. Yep in hindsight, she would think later, if she had not been so angry she would have never done what she did.

He had reach across the table and ran his fingers through her hair.

With her eyes still close, she reached out with her right hand moving as quickly as an amphistaff grabbed the offending wrist. Puling back as hard and as quickly as she could, she slammed his body against the table. She heard the sound of the wind leaving his body. She then twisted the offending wrist up and to her left causing his whole body to twist to his left; this action caused his head to slam into the tabletop. With her left hand, she reached for the steak knife and slammed it down to the hilt into the steel tabletop inches from his face.

"What do you think ." Hal started to say.

Then she opened her eyes and was gratified to see the anger and color leaving his face at the speed of light. In his eyes, she could see the fear growing in him.

Fear, she though to herself, delicious fear, disrespect a Yuuzhan Vong Jeedai wills you!

She could feel a small smile creep across her face and rewarded by him beginning to shaking and beads of sweat forming on his forehead. She began to imagine all the pain she will cause this infidel, the hours of screams he would produce. It will be a glorious song for the gods to hear, she thought, and unlike the rest of her kind, she could make his song even more glorious. Why with the Force .

Tahiri jerked back as if she had a live, high voltage wire touch her skin. She stared in horror at Hal lying there on the table, at the knowledge of how close she had come to using the Dark Side against him. After she let him go, he scooted back away from the table, rubbing his left wrist and staring at her as if he expects another attack. Jorge and the rest of the room were all standing, watching the events but unsure what to do about it. She slowly began to walk back towards the door, keeping a weary eye on everyone in the mess hall. She could see Squeaky talking into a comm link, but that did not matter anymore, nothing did anymore; she failed. The door behind her opened and Major Tainer ran in with his pistol drawn and ready. She turns and looked at him, all the energy left her and she hung her head in shame.

Face was enjoying his flying time. It was so rare for him and Vape, his R2 unit, to take the old X-wing out and just fly. No mission, no deadline to deal with, no life or death decisions which the entire fate of the Galactic Alliance had hinged on. It was just Vape and the sky and he; they were not doing any trick flying or anything just watching the landscape scream under him.

"Hang on Vape."

He sent his X-wing in a corkscrew maneuver while never changing his attitude, Vape sitting in his couple let loose an electronic equivalent of a 'Yippy!' Face also let out a yell enjoying the freedom of it all.

The last time he had been here, it was shortly after the Fall of Coruscant, when the future of the galaxy was seriously in doubt, the New Republic was in shambles and the fate of friends and loved ones were unknown. At that time, he was too busy to admire the beauty of Borleais or to take time to enjoy the simple pleasures of life. Politicians were fighting over who has the first shot to grovel before the perceived new leaders of the galaxy, whole fleets running to their home world to cower. People huddled in dark corners wondering who would be able to protect them; the fleets could not stop them, the Jedi were unable to stop them. Face was ashamed to admit, even if it was only to himself, that as he fled the ruins of Coruscant, he had thought that nothing could stop the Yuuzhan Vong.

Face shook his head as he leveled out his fighter and had a small smile on his face as he remember that day he was proven wrong. Thinking back, he should known there was one leader who could stop the Yuuzhan Vong. That man was Wedge Antilles.

General Wedge Antilles, the greatest military leader he has ever had the pleasure of serving under and unarguable the greatest leader in the New Republic. Wedge Antilles, the man who took the shattering remains of the New Republic fleet and hurt the Yuuzhan Vong. He gave everyone who served with him at Borleais the hope and knowledge that the Yuuzhan Vong was beatable, could be defeated. His actions allowed the remains of the other fleets to pull themselves together, to allow the Senate times to reform, to give the people of the New Republic hope that the war is winnable. Sure, the data text will say the Battle to Reclaim Coruscant won the war. That it was Zonama Sekot and the Jedi who delivered the finial-killing blow to the Yuuzhan Vong. None of that would have been possible without Wedge's astonishing stand against all odds here at Borleais. Face knew and respected Wedge since he formed the Wraith Squadron years ago and after his actions after the Fall of Coruscant; well if Wedge wanted Face and the Wraiths to battle their way to the 9th level of Hell for a piece of brimstone. He would not even question it and whatever was in charge there had better just get out of the way.

"Poster Boy?"

"Yea Circuit girl?" He said wondering what had gone wrong now. He heard a low moan from Vape behind him; he must have figured fun time was over too.

"I think you may want to get back here."

"Why, what is wrong?"

"Your special project almost went critical, Explosion Boy wants you to exam what went wrong and find out if you want to dismantle it."

Face grimaced Tahiri must had lost control. He figured it was not too sever since there was no general alert and Kell has not taken any steps yet. However, he knew that he had better get back to base.

"Roger on my way."

Kell was waiting for him as he landed his X-wing in the hanger. As Face stripped out of his flight suit Kell briefed him on what happened in the mess hall.

"How badly is Starred hurt?"

"His oversize ego is bruised as well as his wrist."

"Don't sound like she used the Force."

"Agree if she had used the Force there probably would not have been enough of him left to question."

"What is his story?"

"He claims that he was just making a gesture of affection when she went nuts and attacked him. He also says that the only reason he was not more injured was his ability to move out of the way before she stabbed him. His friend of course backs up the story all the way. Ratnena told me that both Sara and her do not want anything to do with either one. No one else, including Squeaky, saw what had gone on only the results. Starred was pale and near tears when I arrived."

"What do you think happened?"

"Personally," the big man said with a shrug as he followed Face out of the hanger, "Starred made himself unwelcome and Sara defended herself. She could stab him, shredded him in to mush, and twisted his mind inside out. Remember Coruscant?"

Face did and it was not a pleasant memory either, Lord Nynex was a medically enhanced Jedi with superhuman strength and attitude. Luke, Mara, and Tahiri nearly died trying to stop him. He could control anyone and have him or her do his bidding no matter the cost. It was during that mission Face started thinking about recruiting Tahiri and it showed him the danger of having her on his team.

"Where is Mr. Wonderful?"

"Elassar has him in medical bay keeping a eye on him."

"Ok go get him and have him wait in my office. I want to go talk to Tahiri first."

"You should have stab him in the head, you couldn't have damaged anything." Ratnena said pacing the room. Little Brother and Ratnena has been trying to cheer her up since she was order to her room to wait for Face to come back from flying his X-wing. She was wondering how long it would take for her and Little Brother to fly back to Zonama Sekot. Oh she had never seen Major Tainer as mad as he was when he walked, ran more like it, in to the mess hall. She knew she was finished, there was no way Face and Kell could ever justified keeping her around after she attacked a fellow officer.

DO NOT WORRY FLIGHT OFFICER SANDBLASTER; YOU WERE ONLY DEFENDING YOUR SELF. Little Brother beeped and whistled out.

"That is right," Ratnena, said after reading the translation, "that swamp rat has been harassing you for weeks now. Besides he had no right to touch you anywhere!"

Tahiri did not answer either one of them; she was lying on her bunk staring at the ceiling wishing she could explain to Ratnena why what she did was so wrong. However, until either they graduated or she was removing from training, she had to keep her Jedi powers secret.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Ratnena asked sitting down next to Tahiri. She looked both mad and worried, the mad part was for what happened to Tahiri and the worry part for what was about to happen. It was touching to Tahiri to know Rat and her had become very close friends in such a short time.

"There is not much to say, I screwed up."

"Uh-uh you did not screw up, he is lucky he did not try that with me! I would have stabbed him!" Ratnena suddenly stood up, "Maybe I should go talk to him!"

Even when she was not trying, certain people around her just broadcasted their feeling too loudly for her to ignore. Right now Ratnena smelled blood. Tahiri jumped up and beat her to the door.

"Oh no you don't!" Tahiri said blocking the door.

"What, I was just going to talk some sense into that gundurk!"

"Yea I know the routine Rat, you talk and he bleeds." Tahiri said giving Ratnena her best Jedi stare. Ratnena squirmed under that stare and Tahiri knew she had her. "Thank you, but please don't get your self kicked out of here along with me."

"You are not going to get kicked out." Ratnena said but even she did not sound, as if she believes it either, "You are better at this stuff then anyone else on the base. They would be fools to let you go."

"Should I remind you what happened the last time I tried to slice into the base computers?" Tahiri said giving Ratnena a small smile.

"It took only three days for us to bring the computers back up." Ratnena said waving away her objection, "but everything else, Sara you are like at the top. You are better then I am or that jerk. You have a natural ability to this spy stuff." Ratnena turned away from Tahiri and sat down on her bunk. Her poster was one of defeat and sadness. "Plus kid you're my friend and you know, I had never been good at making friends"

"Thanks Rat," Tahiri said sitting down next to her and giving her a very brief hug, "just for the record I have never been all that good at making friends either. Most of my friends had died during the war."

"I usually end up trying to kill mine." Ratnena said with a humorless smile, " Look Sara we have to fight this. The Wraiths need you I need you here. Without you, here I just end up with a bunch of no humor geeks. Come on some of these guys here have a sense of humor like a Wookie with a rash. They are as much fun as a bunch of Jedi at a High Day celebration! And the Jedi would not know how to have a fun party if you drew a them a map!"

"Oh come on I sure there maybe a Jedi or two who know how to have fun." Tahiri said laughing inside and out, the irony had not escaped her notice. "They can't all be that bad."

"I heard their idea of fun is sitting around wondering if trees sing. I mean really could you see any of them pulling pranks like we pull."

"Well ." Tahiri started but was cut off by the door chime going off. Little Brother rolled over and opened it; he was making his 'giggling' sound also no doubt found the situation funny too. Outside was Commander Loran, looking grim.

"Little Brother and Flight Officer Bora could you excuse us for a minute."