"Sir, a moment of your time pleases." Ratnena said standing up from her bunk. Tahiri remained sitting on the bunk trying hard to keep her face neutral.

"Ratnena, please I need to talk to Sara alone. Would you and Little Brother please go to the lounge?" Face said gently but firmly. He could see her trying to come back with a response but in the end she turned back to Tahiri and told her not to worry. Little Brother beeped something also as they walked out the door. After they left, he activated the privacy lock and sat down at Tahiri's desk. "Ok, is this room clean?"

"Yes, Little Brother checks it about 5 times a day. He also checks it anytime anyone but Rat and I are in here."

"Good then we can be open and honest with each other Tahiri. Now you want to explain to me why I should not call Luke up and have him haul your butt to back to Zonama Sekot."

He saw her flitch, as if he physically slapped her when he said Zonama Sekot, for some reason going back there filled her with dread. Even after 3 month of hard training and the month she spent here before that, he knew nothing else in the Universe seems to affect her as badly as that threat did even if he couldn't figure out why.

"I have no excuse, sir."

"Uh-uh, that is not going to fly with me Tahiri. I am not going to let you get away with that 'throw yourself on the mercy' crap. I want to know why you scared Starred so badly he had to wash his pants out."

"Commander I have no ."

"Tahiri first this is off the record and there is no need to be formal." Face said interrupting her. "It has to be if I am going to find out why you did what you did. Now tell me." When she did not answer, he leaned forward in his seat and stared her down. "If we have to stay in here until we both get old and gray before you answer my question we will."

"That would not be fair Face; I am 20 years younger then you." She said relaxing some.

"Yea and I have seen how much you eat. You can't go more then a couple hours without trying to eat anything that you get near."

"I don't eat that much!" She said in a mock horror.

"Tell that to Squeaky, he is always complaining you eat more in one day then the rest of the base does in a week." He said with a laugh. "Now come on, talk to me. I can't help you if you won't trust me."

"You are going to think it is stupid." She said letting out a long sigh.

"Let me be the judge of that."

"Ok," she said, with a weary sigh, leaning forward and lowering her voice. "It is something that I inherited from 'Riina Kwaad'."

"Your Vong programming?"

"Yuuzhan Vong, she was part of the Domain Kwaad and they have some quarks that they share with the other Shaper. Namely, we do not like anyone to touch our heads. Usually the headdresses we would wear would discourage anyone from trying but even without them, it has been known to be an instant death to who ever were stupid enough to try to play with our hair."

"So when Starred ran his hand through your hair you programming kicked in."

"My instinctive reaction was to kill him however I was able to regain control before I did." She leaned back against the wall on Ratnena's bunk. "I hate wearing hats of any kind. One reason I do not like flying X-wings is I have to wear that flight helmet while I do it. I am able to repress it long enough to do the job but Flight Officer Starred took me by surprise, I did not think I just reacted."

"So you acted as you were programmed too."

Tahiri narrowed her eyes at him and gave him a frank-evaluating stare, he could not help himself it gave him the chills.

"The memories of 'Riina Kwaad' were taken from a living person before they were introduced into 'Tahiri Veila'. So in a very real sense she did exist." Tahiri leaned forward again and Face caught himself from leading away from her. He forced himself to sit still. "What you don't understand, what no one seems to understand is that up here," she said pointing to her head not touching it, he notices just pointing, "I am very much half Yuuzhan Vong and half human. I have the best and worst of both worlds. I cannot always predict which impulse will manifest itself but I do try to fight any improper impulses. And trust me there are human instincts that I have to ride hard on as well as my Yuuzhan Vong ones."

"Also I would not say I reacted as I was 'programmed' as you put it, 'Riina Kwaad' started out as a Shaper but she was trained as a Warrior. Add that to "Tahiri Veila" Jedi and Tusken Raider training I am sure you can understand why I said I have no excuse. If I had been acting out of total impulse, there would not been enough left of him to save."

"So what stopped you?"

"I did, I thought how I could use the Force to make him really scream in pain." She said with sorrow in her eyes. "I saw how close I was to giving in to the Dark Side and pulled myself back. No matter what he had done to me, there is no excuse for me to act like that. What would happen if I was on a mission and that happened? I could expose Rat and the rest to inexcusable danger, not just from me but also from the enemy who would do anything to stop me. And that is not something that I can allow to happen."

"So even as out of control as you were, you still knew that you should control yourself and to stop what you were doing."

"Yes sir, but ."

"So in a sense you did the right thing even though your instinctive reaction was to split him open like a gutted fish?" Face asked watching her face carefully.

"No sir," she sounded and looked very weary as she tried to make him understand, "if I had done the right thing in the first place we wouldn't be here right now."

"So you did gut him like a fish?"

"No, of course not!"

"So you did the right thing after all."

"No, the right thing would have been not to lose my temper and attack him!"

"So you used the Force to slam him into the table?"

"No," she said lying back against the wall again, "I thought about using the Force but I didn't."

"Before or after you slammed him in the table?"

"After; as I stood there watching him squirm on the table and staring at me and the knife I slammed into the table top."

"So was that your Yuuzhan Vong, Jedi or Raider training you used?"

"It is a unique combination of all three."

"Ah," Face said sitting back and allowing his body to relax, "so you did do the right thing."

"No I did not Face, the right thing was not to lose my temper in the first place. A Jedi is to be calm and in control at all times. We are not to scare people or do what I did."

"So you attacked him for no reason."

She sat back up and gave him a strange look, after a few minutes, she answered him.

"Well I felt I had to defend myself from him because of his action."

"What actions? I mean running his hand through your hair is a usual action for someone human to show affection?" When she did not answer, he probed some more, "What if he had held your hand? Gave you a kiss?"

"Having time to think back, ." She responded with her eyes flashing.

"No, no I want to know what your instincts would have told you what to do." He asked not giving her a chance to think, "I don't want to know what you should have done I want to know what you would have done."

"I think I would have reacted the same way." She said with reluctance.

"Why?"

"Because I felt threaten by him, I have informed him in the past that I do not appreciate his attention towards me. When he ran his fingers through my hair not only was I offended as Yuuzhan Vong but as a human."

"Ok now we are getting somewhere, so what should you have done?"

"I should have ignored ."

"Sound like you tried to ignore him and we see how that worked out, what should you have done."

"I guess I don't know." She answered honestly.

"Did you talk to anyone about it?"

"Yes, Little Brother and Rat."

"And were they able to help you fix this problem?"

"We talk about it but they couldn't get him to stop either."

"Did you go to a superior officer?"

"Uh ." she looked as if the thought never occurred to her, "no sir, it was my problem I did not think it was worth going to anyone else about it."

"Why not?"

"Well gee Face; I am going to be a Wraith. I can't go running back here every time I have a problem with some guy." She said sarcastically. "It might be a small tip off to the bad guy, don't you think."

"Ok I conceded that point however you shouldn't have to deal with that from your own side. If you tried to solve it on your own, then your wingman and you tried to solve it and it is still a problem, you should come to one of us."

"I didn't think it was that big of a problem." She replied with a sheepish shrug.

"Well if it wasn't that big of a problem I don't think you would have stabbed an innocent table top." He sat back and gave her a frank stare that she did not flinch from or looks away. "Ok Tahiri, you could have handled this a lot better then you did. In a normal unit, you would be packing your bags right now. However, the Wraiths are not a normal unit so I will cut you some slack, mostly because you did not cause any major damage nor did you uses the Force. Nevertheless, that does not mean you are out of the fire yet. One, you are on probation for the rest of training; anymore discipline problems and I will have no choice."

"Yes Face."

"Two, I had secured weekend passes for everyone. I am going to let you people's catch your breath before we move on to phase II since there are only 16 of you left here. Now, although, you are restricted to base during leave period. You will also stand all the watches for that weekend, three days sixteen hour shifts. You will be restricted to your quarters except to stand watches and eat meals."

"That sounds fair; give me lots of quiet time to figure out how not to flay every idiot I run across."

"Oh how Jedi of you," He laugh at the face she made at him, then moved on, "Ok, now whom do you trust enough to talk to about your little anger management problem?"

"Here? Rat and Little Brother."

Face though about that comment, a droid and someone who is even in worst shape then she was in, not good.

"How about Elassar or Kell or one of the other command staff could you trust them enough to talk to when you feel like you want to stab tables again?"

"Except I am supposed to be a naive innocent farm girl fresh off Tatooine, how would it look if I go running to you guys every time I have a problem?"

"Tahiri, I think you already blew that story out of the sky today. How many farm girls do you know who can fight like that?"

"Oh," she said looking slightly distressed, "well we already have in my file that I'm a self defense expert. And since I didn't use the Force it should still hold up, we can always pass it off as something I learn on Tatooine."

"Maybe but if you finish here we may have to change some things in the next cover story, these guys will buy that story but I doubt the really nasty bad guys out there will." Another thought suddenly occurred to him, "By the way, what would have the proper Yuuzhan Vong response had been to what happened to you."

"It would have not gotten as far as it did," she answered in a matter of fact fashion, "we would had a ritual combat weeks ago since I do not wish to mate with him. He would have fought me to prove to all that his love for me was proper and sanctioned by the gods. If he had won I would had to be his, unless I killed my self-first, and if he had lost, he would have to leave me alone or face a dishonorable death. Most times the marriages arrangement is done by the different Domains or by their superiors, in which case neither would have much a choice in the decision."

"They are really," he stops to think of the proper term, "practical people."

"You forget sir, that I have the memories of the old 'Tahiri Veila' rambling around up there. From what she had observed and what I have observed about human mating rituals, while rarely is combat required, you people can be just as bloody and a whole lot messier about the whole thing. And the Yuuzhan Vong ways is a lot more cut and dry about such things."

"She attacked me without cause or justification, I demand justices sir!"

Face was watching the pompous jerk pace back and forth in front of his desk, Flight Officer Starred was from Adumar and what he has heard and seen over the years, they could be as stiff necked about things as the Vong could, not that they would ever admit that fact. When Wedge found them 17 years ago they were actively, killing each other for sport with the excuse that honor was all-important. While most of the people from Adumar were able to adjust to the fact that not everyone in the Galactic Alliance would duel at the drop of a hat, Starred must not be one of them.

"We do not have duels in this unit Mr. Starred, no matter what injuries you think you may have suffered to your honor."

"She attacked me in a ."

"Why did she attack you? Could it have been the fact that she has told you that she was interested in you and this was just her way of saying 'I love you'?" Face said standing up behind his desk, "How many times did she tell you that she was not interested in any relationship with you?"

"Sir, we are both men of the world and have been around the block a few times, we both know that many times woman will say one thing and yet desire another." Starred said with a leer and a smile, Face was half temped to allow him to dual Tahiri after seeing that smile, Starred needs something kicked out of him. "Trust me sir, no woman has ever resisted my charm, I'm sure she was playing hard to get."

"If she played any harder you would be dead right now. She is from Tatooine, you understand, she may not even know how to play those kinds of games." Face said trying to hold down his own lunch, he has met many pilots and other in the service that thought this way and he never did like it or understand it.

"She knows sir, they all know." He said anger returning to his face as his cocky smile fled, "After we get done with the duel and my honor is restored, I am quite sure she will decided to refrain from any more playing. After all sir I always get want I want."

"Are you stupid or something? The girl comes with in centimeters of making you her next course at dinner and you still want to sleep with her!"

"It is the principle of the matter sir, I always gets what I want," his leer came back, "besides I think I would have fun teaching her the proper way a woman should treat a man."

"You are a idiot, Starred. Listen to me, this is a direct order; you will cease your unwanted attention on Flight Officer Sandblaster. You will not make any comments, passes, looks or even sneeze at her if it does not have a direct bearing on a mission, understand?"

"Sir, I do not believe it is within your authority to issues such order," Starred replied stiffly.

"Ordinarily I won't but I am trying to save a good officer, I think throwing Sandblaster in the brig for the rest of her life would be a waste of a good officer, save me from doing a lot of paperwork, and to save Squeaky from disposing of your bloody corpse."

"Sir, I protest ."

"Wrong answer, Starred. All I want to hear is 'Yes sir'."

"Yes sir," Starred grounded out through clinched teeth after a few moments.

"I am holding you too that promise Starred. Now get out of here we have a briefing at 2100 hours, go let the rest of the squad know." Face accepted his salute and sat down after he left his office. He glanced over at the other occupant of the room who remained silent during the whole conversation. "Comments Explosion Boy?"

"No, not really." The larger Wraith said stretching in his chair. "I give you 2 to 1 odds he still tries to get Tahiri to 'fall in love' with him. The real question is will she kill him or will she come to one of us for help."

"I think she will come to one of us after today. I think before she was more worried about breaking security then she was about him. Now that I have removed that barrier, she will come to us before she kills him. Tahiri is smart, too smart to throw away her life over him." He looked over at Kell, "how about your special project?"

"Well her and I were in the hanger working on my X-wing, nice to have another ace mechanic on the squad, when the alert came down from Squeaky. Do not worry he used Tahiri's cover identity and all he said was she was in a fight. However, before that she was dropping hints about how annoyed they both were about High and Starred. From what I gather High is only slightly less annoying then Starred. I'm going to have a nice sit down with him after the briefing."

"Do you think she will try to get revenge on Starred for his actions against Tahiri?"

"There is nothing in her record showing that she will go out of her way to help anyone else, but then again she thinks really highly of Tahiri. Lets just say I hope not. I asked Drayson to keep an eye on the computers access for the next couple of days and after they get back. Her normal pattern is to strike hard and quickly, maybe after she gets back from leave she will forget all about it."

"Except Tahiri will be here on triple duty while Starred is out having the time of his life."

"That is why I extended past this weekend."

"Oh no you don't, Little Brother and you are going on leave." Sara said looking up at Ratnena with her arms crossed over her chest. They had just gotten back from a surprise briefing from Commander Loran, where he informed them that they all had three day pass. He also told them that, due to her actions in the mess hall, Flight Officer Sandblaster had volunteered to stand watch for everyone during that period. Ratnena had been angry before now she was furious, it was not Sara's fault that she did what she did that idiot! When they got back to their room she made a simple comment that she would stay behind and do some work with the computers while Sara was restricted duty. Some how the kid figured out that Ratnena was up too. That what she normally liked about Sara, she was quick thinker. Tonight she wished she had been a little slower. "I know you figured out that he has advance slicing skills, I know you two like to slice into the base computers and I know you are both upset about what happened. The last thing I need is you hanging around in the base thinking how unfair it is and get some crazy idea to use the computer for some kind of revenge."

"Do you really think that I would ever use the base computer in some grand plan to get revenge on some worm?" Ratnena said trying to look innocent.

"And who set up a computer virus that infected the entire bases computer net that showed a scantly clad dancing line version of me doing high kicks across the computer monitor after I finial completed a slicing exercise?" She shot back with raised eyebrows.

"Well come on that was funny, I think you turned purple faster then I have ever seen you turn purple before."

"And you did that to someone you liked, I hate to see what you would do to someone you were mad at." Sara said not knowing how vicious Ratnena could be, which Ratnena was thankful for right now. If she had known she probably, warn Commander Loran or Major Tainer that she was up to something. Little Brother said something to Sara, which after she read it on her wrist comm., she turned her glare on him. "Oh I am sure you would never help her, after all who programmed the flight simulator to give us smiley faces and a silly song when ever we get shot down during practices." Sara turned around and grabbed her showering items and change of clothes. "Look you two, I appreciate that you both want to stay here with me, I really do. But the truth is I won't have time to visit with you guys or anything but do my watches and sleep. At least if you two go out, I won't be worried about you getting into trouble or anything. If I can't have fun I want you to have fun."

Ratnena flopped down on her bunk when Sara went into the refresher. The problem was clear, if Sara was worried about her using the computer for some kind of revenge, then Major Tainer would definite be on the alert for her. After all Major Tainer did know what Ratnena was capable of and how vicious she could be when she was mad at someone. So to teach that little worm a lesson she would have to be very creative. As she took her clothes off to go to bed, an idea hit her, a nasty idea.

"Say Little Brother, I think Sara is right we should head out." She said with a nasty smile.