Face, after being rudely waken up at 0900 by the commanding officer of the Borleais Military Police, was racing to get to the Commanding General office across the huge complex of office buildings, supply depot, shipyards and vehicle storage building that made up the base. All the colonel would tell him was that the general wanted him in his office as soon as possible and that there was a problem with some of his men. Face knew General Sinclair from past meetings, security briefings and such, a few times at the senior officers club but they were not friends however, they did have admiration for each other work and skills. When Face first approached the general about placing the new Wraith headquarters in the southern landmass on Borleais, Sinclair not only warmly welcomed the Wraiths but also sent a detachment of construction droids to assist in building the base. He kept trying to figure out what Ratnena could have done, not only to warrant the head M.P., but the Commanding General's personal attention.

He knew, as soon as he got the call, that Ratnena had to be involved somehow, there just was not any other person who could cause that much higgledy-piggledy in such a short time. Their leave had just started yesterday. The only other choice would have been Tahiri but he personally called her before he went to sleep at 0100 and she answered the call. Piggy had verified that she had been on duty all night; Tahiri was an excellent Jedi but a lousy slicer. If she had tried to slice her way into the logs, she would have crashed every computer on the planet. Unless Tahiri, Ratnena and Little Brother all working together? No, that did not fit in with Tahiri's personality. She would never leave her post to get revenge on someone, would she?

When he got to the main office building things even looked worst, not only had they been waiting for him to arrive but also a private was standing by to escort him up to the general's office. The four M.P.s' waiting out in the General's outer office did not fill him with confidence nor did the look of the sympathy the General's aid gave him as he told Face to go ahead in.

"Commander Loran is reporting as order sir," Face said while saluting the general and scanning the room with his eyes. The general was sitting behind his desk with a jolly expression on his face; however, Face could tell by his body language that the general was ready to chew through durocrete. Standing off to the right was the source of the general's displeasure. Flight Officers High and Starred, both men were wearing wrap around towels and nothing else in the way of clothing. Their bodies however were sporting 'battle paint' wiggly strips on their torsos, arms and faces. Officer High was also sporting woman's eyeliner, blush and lipstick and a red bow in his hair. Face could not help staring at the sight of the two men, oh Ratnena, what have you done this time!

"Please have a seat Garik; I am sorry to call you in here on such short notice, especially since I learned that today is first day of vacation for you in almost six months."

Face pulled his attention away from the spectacle standing silently beside him. He sat down in the chair that would leave High and Starred directly behind him so he would not distract himself by staring at them.

"Thank you General, I'm sure you would not call me away from my leave unless it is of great importance."

"As I said I'm sorry to pull you away," the general repeated, to Face's trained ear he sounded very sincere, "I, myself, had just returned from Denon with my wife and two daughters."

"I hope you had a relaxing vacation sir."

"It was more of a working vacation I am afraid, damn politicians. Have you had a lot of experience dealing with the Senate?"

"Fortunately sir, I have not."

"You right about that being fortunate, those blood sucker are impossible to deal with. They have questions and complaints but never any solutions. You are lucky that you only have to run one small base, wait until you run a base this side or get a ship command. Then those space slugs will be calling you on the carpet for every credit you spend and every bit of data you produce. They can be a real pest but that is the price of democracy as you know."

"Yes sir, I understand what you mean," Face did understand, before the Fall of Coruscant, events involving the Senate showed the whole Republic just how bad the Senate could be. He supposed it was naïve to think they had learned their lesson from that debacle but it was a nice dream. "And if I may say sir, the powers that make the decisions on who runs bases and ships tend to pass over those in the intelligence field. So I doubt I will ever have much opportunity as you to deal with the Senate."

"Oh I understand what you are saying; people are always afraid that you and your kind know where the bodies are buried and think you would tell everyone just where the bodies are. It is a shame; I have had very few complaints about you and your base. You and your staff are one of the few bright spots around here. Some of the people on this planet must have learned their management skills from the Senate. Nevertheless, I must ask you if you had any discipline with your personal. I understand that you have had a very grueling training program down there."

"Yes sir," Face began with an outline of what the Wraiths had set up to weed out and strengthen the personal he hoped to replace the aging Wraiths. He summarize by saying, "Sir, please understand something about the Wraiths, we get a lot of 'retreads' personal who are staring at a discharge or lengthy prison sentences in the face. The Wraiths are their last hope."

"Like Flight Officer Bora?"

"Yes sir," Face said hoping he had hided his flinch; he was hoping that no one in the training program would find out about it until she had complete training. He was hoping after she had proven herself to the rest and let them know she was under orders not to discuss the incident they would accept her more easily then if they found out early in the game. Attempted murder of your formal squad was something hard to live down. "I should add that I have not had any trouble with Flight Officer Bora, other then her roommate and her playing pranks on one another."

"Have you had any problems with a," he looked down on his data pad, "a Flight Officer Sandblaster? She is Miss. Bora's roommate, correct?"

"Yes sir," Face was hoping he could keep that particular problem in house but those two wonder boys behind him must have talked too much, "I was forced to place her on three day restricted duty for striking a fellow officer. However much I agree with the actions she felt she had to take, unit discipline forced me to take those steps."

"Are you sure she was at the base last night?" The general said, giving no outward clue why he was so interested in where Tahiri might have been, however Face had a good guess as to why.

"Yes sir, when I was orders here I contacted my base to talk to my Officer of the Day. Piggy told me he had no idea why I had been summoned here but told me when he relieved Flight Officer Sandblaster she reported nothing out of the ordinary. I also contacted her last night around 0100 to see if everything was secured."

"Sir it had to have been her, she …" Starred started but was silence by the general before Face could tell him to shut up.

"You will remain silent! You are in enough trouble as is, do - you -understand -me!" The General said standing up so fast his chair slammed against the wall behind him. Face was amaze that Starred actually shut up, he must have more brains then Face had given him credit for to bad he did not use them before today. After the General sat back down, he resumed talking in a normal tone again. "These two," packing a lot of venom in that one word, "claimed that Sandblaster had engineered some kind of elaborate con to get them in to trouble. So I have to ask what Flight Officer Sandblaster's involvement with these two is."

"Sir, the reason Flight Officer Sandblaster was placed on restricted duty is she struck Flight Officer Starred after he made an advance to her, it was a sexual advance; she and her roommate have told me that she was not interested in such relationships with Flight Officer Starred. Starred himself admit to me and in front of my …"
"Sir! I am being unfairly …"

"SHUT UP!" the general bellowed out and walking around his desk to talk face to face with Starred, "so far you have blamed Sandblaster, Bora, that R2 unit and now your commanding officer in conspiring against you! Are you going to suggest that I am part of some conspiracy to do you in? You have changed your story as often as a Hutt eats! I have read Bora's service record, while it is borderline mental; nothing in there suggest that she would go through such an elaborate scheme to get revenge on anyone, especially since she has a tenancy to try to kill those she hates!"

Face turned and looked at High and Starred while the General chew them out. High was near tears and Starred was turning purple with rage. Had it been anyone else standing there Face would have made an effort to calm the general down, but not for those two. Was it playing favorites? Maybe but his conscious was clear, he had more invested in Tahiri and Ratnena then in those two. Moreover, Starred rubbed him the wrong way the other day, he would not be sorry to see him go. The comm. system beeped, allowing a brief moment of rest as the general went back to his desk to answer the call.

"Yes?"

"Sir, I checked out the story the two officers gave us, there was a red head at the cantina last night. The bartender droid did not see who she left with or when. As for her identity we still have no idea who she was, Nurse Heart is not listed in any of the personal records while we do have about 4 females who resemble the woman in question. All four have been ruled out since they were all on duty or around other who could verify their where bouts. Bora was at the flight simulator room from 2000 until 0027, she had spent $200.00 credits on the simulator. After that, she went to the cantina, spent half hour having one drink and arguing with the droid about her R2 unit being in the bar. At 0135 she left the bar, showed up at the shuttle at 0158 and waited for the 0200 flight to the Wraith base."

"What time did these two entered into my residence?" The general asked watching Starred and High.

"According to the log 0243, the cam and computer both back it up, no female-recorded being with them or a cab out front. Also all cabs had been check and there is no record of any of them being sent to your residence."

"Was there any lapses of time for Bora to fix the computer and cam?"

"If she did sir, then I don't know how she did it. There is no sign of tampering with any of the computers at the arcade, bar, shuttle port or your residence, sir."

"Thank you colonel, please draw up the paperwork for me on these two." He clicked off the comm. and went over to his door. "Captain, please have the Advocates' office informed of these two's arrest. You guards, please escort these gentlemen to their new quarters." He turned to Face and stuck out his hand. "I am sorry to have bothered you Loran, I hope you enjoy the rest of your leave. When you have a moment please have their gear sent up here. They will not be returning to finish their training with you."

With that, the general flew out of his office and the guards were close behind him dragging Starred and High to prison. The two men were pleading and claiming that they had been set up. Face sat in the general's office feeling as if he was missing not only the big piece of the puzzle but the completely puzzle. He went back out into the waiting room to ask the general's aid what exactly happened.

"Well sir it seems that the general's wife and two daughters went straight home this morning when they returned from Denon. The general himself came to the office to see what has happened while he was gone. When Mrs. Sinclair walked into the main sleeping quarters she found the one wearing the red bow, naked, tied up and spread eagle face down on their bed with the other one passed out on top of him naked. They had also trashed his room and spilled large amounts of alcohol in there. Her screaming brought her two daughters into the room and well sir I sure you can understand now why the general was so mad."

"Oh yea, I can take a good guess," like many people Face knew, he did not care what two people did behind closed doors and in private. However, it was a different story when you break into another person home and did something like that. Face had to admire Ratnena she knew how to get the best revenge. He will have to have Kell remind her of that fact as he makes her life a living hell for the last three months of training. "I know how I would feel if I came home and found anybody there no matter what they were doing. What is the deal with the redhead?"

"They claim a red headed nurse, they picked up at the cantina, had told them it was an empty VIP house. No one can find records of her anywhere nor did the cams record her being in the house. The General is of the opinion that she did leave the cantina but without them and they were too intoxicated to provide accurate information on her or a good description. Besides it does not really matter the cams and security systems recorded those two entering the house."

"I am surprise that the alarms did go off when they broke in?"

"They did, but they are silent alarms that only become visible at the guard house at the main M.P. building. Unfortunately no one entering the house would have known that the alarms had been tripped, which by the way the General is having that problem fixed as we speak, and the guard house never knew since the transmitter at the house had bad wiring." He glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall," sir, it is a good thing that we don't have jury trials here on Borleais, between all the new security checks the general has ordered and all the work the techs now have thanks to those two, we would never be able to find twelve people who could be impartial. It is already 10 in the morning and the General has issued enough orders to keep everyone, including me, busy for a week."

Face nodded his head in sympathy and wished the Captain luck in the future. As Face, heading back to his hotel room, digested the information, the puzzle became clearer. Face knew that Ratnena did not spend all that time in the simulator; she had used that time to change into a disguised while Little Brother, with his special programming, sliced into the various computer systems. The fact she had even went as far as too withdraw $200.00 credits from her account to make everything appear legitimate on the surface was really a well thought out touch. He was right about her, even though her skills as a pilot and her infiltration skills were at the bottom of the list, her slicer skills and computer knowledge more then made up for it. Of course, his admiration for her little prank was not going to stop him from dropping on Ratnena like a mega-ton of bricks when he got back to the base. He need to go check out of his hotel and contact Kell, Face knew between the two of them they would find someway to let Ratnena and Little Brother know how much they appreciate the joke. First, he called the hanger and had them prep Vape and his X-wing for flight.

"You are sure you won't try any of this?" Tahiri said holding out a forkful of her steak at Ratnena.

"Get that out of my face," Ratnena said swatting at Tahiri's hand, "you cold at least let it cook long enough so it was not moving on it is own power."

"It is cooked long enough," Tahiri said, faking her confusion, "it is all black on the out side?"

"But it is raw in the inside!" Ratnena said taking a bite out of some fruit.

Back during 'Hell Month', they did not have the time or the luxury for specialized meals. Tahiri and Ratnena, trying to over come each other's special diet, would load up their trays with anything and everything then swap when they sat down. They still do to a point, Tahiri liking meat more then fruits and vegetables and Rat would not touching a piece of 'dead rotting animal flesh' as she called it with a 6 meter long pole. This 'swapping' meant that they shared many meals sitting together and become very close friends as a result, much closer then Tahiri has been to anyone in long time. Yesterday's leave for Rat was the longest time Tahiri, Little Brother and Rat had been apart since they met. While much of Tahiri was enjoying this close friendship, she was beginning to dread finishing training. How Rat would react to knowing the truth about her was something that was starting to keep her up at night. Right now Rat treated her with kindness, respect, she was a pain to be around sometimes but even at her worst, it was still a thousand times better then being alone. How would she react if she knew the truth? Anger, hate, suspicion, dread; would Tahiri go from being the great 'kid' as Rat though of her now to an evil monster that most view her? When she joined the Wraiths, she never thought that this would be a problem, and then again, she never would have guessed she would meet someone like Rat either. So in the past week she has become aware of two huge problems in her life, Starred and Rat. Neither one seem to have an easy solution available to her, even with the Force. Of course, the up side to all this was the chance that Starred would be so freaked out that he would leave her alone for good. A dream, but it is a nice dream!

Tahiri suddenly became aware of Rat shaking her arm and talking to her. She snapped herself out of her dream and saw Rat's pale blue eyes inches from her face.

"I asked if you are ok kid." Rat was saying sounding very concern.

"Uh, oh sorry, I must have been lost in thought." Tahiri replied lamely, watching Rat go back around to her side of the table, she still looked at Tahiri with a dubious look on her face. "Really Rat I am ok."

"You sure, I could call around and find Doc if you need him. Or Squeaky, he has some first aid programming in him."

"No, it just …" she stopped trying to find the right words to use, "it is just, I have a lot on my mind, you know."

"Ah, I understand," Rat said her features softening as she nodded her head, "do you want to talk about?"

Yes! That is what she wanted to scream out and wanted to remain hidden at the same time. She wanted to tell Rat so if Rat rejected her then it would be done and over with, but on the other hand she did not want to ever take the chance of losing a friend. Damn you Master Kwaad may the gods never allow you to see them in their glory!

"Hey Sara, what wrong?"

Tahiri looked up and saw Rat looking concern again. Would Rat see her as a friend after she learned the truth? Would anyone ever see her as a friend? She just looked down at the table and got her self under control. You are Tahiri, Jedi Knight and Yuuzhan Vong Warrior; child of the Sand People you have nothing to be ashamed of and everything to be proud of.

"Yea, I am ok Rat. I just need to get my head screw on straight that is all, no big deal." Tahiri answered with a smile she hoped was convincing.

"Ok kid, if you want to talk about it you knows where I am." Rat said then with an evil glint in her eye she added more to that statement. "Of course it may not be your head that need screwed on tight; I think you need a leave to get …"

"RAT," Tahiri yelled and turning red again! How does she always know how to make me blush?

"Ah how cute."

Kell enjoyed the sight of both young women jump at the sound of his voice; they were so engrossed in their conversation that they heard Face and him walk into the mess hall. They both walked over to their table and sat down, Face next to Tahiri and Kell next to Ratnena. Tahiri looked at them with a smile on her face and Ratnena had a guard look, she probably had a real guess as to why they were back already.

"Looks like the gang is all here Explosion Boy," Face said causally laying a package on the table.

Kell looked around the empty mess hall, only the four of them and Squeaky, who was walking over to them, were present.

"No, Poster Boy there seems to be someone missing." Almost as if he was giving a signal Little Brother rolled into the mess hall, he took one look around, did a 180-degree turn, and started back out again. "No, no Little Brother, come join us."

The little droid stopped and turned back around making some very low tones. He must have figure out why they were here.

"Now this is cozy the six of us sitting around chewing the fat." Face said as he cut a piece of Tahiri's steak off and popping it his mouth. "Mm chewy."

"We really should do this more often Poster Boy."

"Um did you sirs enjoy your time at the main base?" Ratnena asked brightly

"Had a great time Miss. Bora," Face said reaching for the package, "in fact I found something today that I saw on someone else and thought it would look perfect on you. I just had to get it for you." He tossed the small package in front of Ratnena.

"Ah thank you sir, you should not have gone to the trouble." She said halting, as if she was starting to get a very clear picture as to why they were there.

"No trouble at all Miss. Bora, in fact when Poster Boy told me about it, I had to agree with him." He said giving her his most evil smile. She started opening the package as Tahiri watched the whole scene with confusion written on her face. Little Brother started making low moaning noises. She opened the package just far enough to look inside, when she did she went pale.

"What is it?" Tahiri asked grabbing the package out of Ratnena's hands; Ratnena was staring at the tabletop. "It is two red bows?"

"Yep, I saw one this morning and just knew that it would look great on Ratnena and Little Brother." Face said staring hard at the two co-conspirators, "I do not know why but those two names just seem to pop to the top of my head."

"Sir?" Tahiri started to ask, but was interrupted by Face.

"I have something for you too, Miss. Sandblaster. I talked to the Advocates office today about what happened the other day. After a discovery of certain actions this morning, they do not believe your punishment is appropriate. It seems that Starred and High were very naughty boys last night and …"

"Easy Poster Boy, she is only 18, we can not get too detailed. She is still innocent child, after all." Kell broke in; knowing that glare she sent was in half jest.

"So true Explosion Boy, it does not matter those two will not be returning to this base nor will you ever be brought up on charges for the assault." Face said looking over at Ratnena who was now paying very close attention to the conversation. "Starred and High, alone, are being charged with several crimes, they are the only two who will be charged"

"So I am off probation?" Tahiri said she kept watching all the interaction going on but clearly still have no idea what was going on.

"Yes and no," Kell said leaning over towards Ratnena who was looking as miserable as anyone could look, "while we would love to have you enjoy the leave we still need someone to do guard duty. And since everyone is still on leave we really do not think it would be fair to interrupt their plans this late in to the evening."

"True," Face said leaning across the table, "if only we had a voluntarier to take at least some of her watches."

"Well sirs, I seem to have a few hours free tonight I could take a four hour shift for her." Ratnena said managing a weak smile.

Kell and Face both sat up straight and exchanged looks as if the idea had never occurred to either one of them, Kell had a hard time keeping his face straight.

"Wow, I never thought of that, did you Poster Boy?"

"No, that is a brilliant idea. Gee wiz Explosion Boy I wish we were that smart."

Tahiri snorted and rolled her eyes while Little Brother and Ratnena sat quietly, waiting for the punch line.

"I must say Miss. Sandblaster you have a true friend there, imagine she is willing to take 12 of your 16 hours of watches." As Kell said that he saw something flash across Tahiri's face, it looked like she got a knife in the gut. Kell looked over at Face; by the way, he was looking at her, he must have caught it too.

"Sandblaster you ok?" Face asked, all humor leaving his expression.

"Yes sir," Tahiri answered in a low tone, "sir it is ok I do not mind standing watch …"

"No, I think it is wonderful that Bora is willing to stand watch for you so you …"

"It is not necessary sir!" She snapped out in a tone of voice Kell had only heard from Vong warriors before, she seem stop and take a few deep breaths before moving on. "Sir, may I be excused I need to head to my duty station."

Kell looked over at Face who was studying her closely before answering. "Very well Flight Officer Sandblaster, you may be excused. Piggy is the O.O.D.; I will relieve you at 0800 tomorrow. Any questions report them to the O.O.D. however I will be on post all night."

"Thank you sir." Tahiri said as she stood and saluted them. After they returned the salutes, she turned around and all but fled the mess hall.

"Bora, Little Brother, Junk Pile, Explosion Boy; what just happened?"

"She has been moody for the past week but I though it was because of Hal." Ratnena said, looking worried about Tahiri. Little Brother beeped out a complex sentence that Junk Pile translated.

"He said it has been closer to a week and half, sir."

"What do you think?" Kell asked Face who was still watching the doorway.

"Bora and Little Brother you should let me know if you see anything like that again, please. But in the mean time take those bows and go to storage room 1 with Squeaky; do a complete inventory of room 1 and keep the bows as a reminder that I know what you don't want me to know."

After the three left, Kell repeated the question to Face.

"When Charm Boy gets back have him make up an excuse to get her in his office, maybe he can figure out what is eating her. For now I keep a closer eye on her."