Wedge should be here dealing with this, Face thought as he stared down into the fiercest pair of green eyes he has ever seen. Those eyes belong to the Jedi Warrior Tahiri, potentially one of the most lethal warriors in the galaxy. Not that you could tell by looking at her, many would say she seemed to look more like a child then an 18 year old spy. Tahiri was only 1.65 meters tall, just a hair under 39 kilograms in weight, with short wavy blond hair and green eyes that could be warm and inviting when she was in a good mood or scary enough to make grown men three times her size cower and cry. Like they were right now, Face thought a he studied her. She was standing in front of him, her arms crossed, dressed in her normal gear. A flexible combat armor jumpsuit with only her hands and face exposed, she had a modesty streak wider then Death Star, with her living light saber wrapped around her left arm. The living light saber, named Bangor, was a gift from the living planet Zonama Sekot that arrived shortly before the attack that came very close to wiping out the entire squadron. A gift that Tahiri still didn't want to have but would used from time to time since she has not gotten enough parts to build herself a new mechanical light saber.

Which he through was strange considering that she had to be restrained until Sparks finally agreed to retrieve the replacement amphistaff, two bandoliers of thug bugs and several tizowyrm from a storage bin as they evacuated the down and doomed freighter Double Trouble on Borleais. Little Brother had informed her about the replacement weapons that had been stored on her ship while it was in storage on Denon in the Jedi hanger. She has and does use these specially enhanced weapons with no complaints but will only use Bangor if she had no choice.

"It is my profession medical opinion that she is insane, let just shot her." The Wraith's medical doctor Elassar said from behind Face. Elassar had been with the Wraiths since they were just an experiment sponsored by Wedge Antilles back when they were only worried Imperial Warlords such as Zsinj and not the extinction of the galaxy. He was one of the finest doctors Face had ever met, a great pilot, and a quick mind, and superstitious to the extreme. Even in the hidden hanger in a large asteroid in the Halmad system where the Wraiths were operating from, he was wearing several good luck charms to keep them from being discovered. Even though no one but the Wraiths has used this old abandon mine in almost 60 years.

"If we shot her every time you said that, we would have run out of ammunitions a long time ago." The mechanically enhanced voice of Piggy, a medically enhanced super genius Gamorrean, said in response. Piggy had been a long-term experiment to bring certain non-human species up to or surpass human norms when it came to patience and intelligence. The Emperor wanted to use subjects like Piggy to be undercover agents for the Empire, an irony that was not lost on the Wraiths when they became an intelligence squadron.

"Look Tahiri, it is no big deal really, and it is standard operating procedure." Kell said from next to Face. Kell was the largest Wraith at 2 meters tall and very broad shoulders, almost too broad to fit inside an X-wing. He was their chief mechanic; hand-to-hand instructor and he loved to blow things up. He started out in the commandoes as an explosion expert before learning to be a pilot. Kell, Piggy and him had all started out in the Wraiths together and still here today. A fact that he was sure worried Kell's wife, Jedi Knight Tyria Sarkin, who also had been a Wraith before doing the Jedi thing full time. Well it would still worry her if she didn't think Kell and the rest were all dead. One of their own, Long Shot, who also turned out to be spies, had stayed behind while the other retreated in the Double Trouble. He detonated one of the torpedoes in a destroyed X-wing, whipping out a Yuuzhan Vong attack force and the Wraith Base. Since that attack everyone thought the Wraiths had been eliminated, something that Face was glad to hear. They had a mission to perform and if everyone though they were dead then it just gave the Wraiths, more cover to work with.

"It is not right Major Tainer," Tahiri relied turning her gaze on him. Face felt instant relief not staring into those eyes, how she was able to do that was not something he knew. Was it a trick using the Force, a by-product of her unique heritage or just a trick of light? He wasn't so sure he wanted to know, the truth may cause him to get less sleep then he already does. The fact that she was using their full name and rank already gave him a big clue into what was eating her. The only time she did that is when she felt that something was very personal to her, it still didn't help much but it was something.

"Look Vong, we just plug them in and zap, it is all done. They won't even know what happened." Tahiri's best friend and main partner in crime said. Like Tahiri in someway Ratnena Bora, a 21 year old blond who wore her hair in a spout design on the top of her head and a lock of hair weaved with color beads that hung down over her very light blue eyes, was extremely dangerous if you push the wrong buttons on her. She had a long arrest record of violence and thief since she was 13 years old. She is a super genius with a photographic memory that could not keep herself out of trouble. She wound up in front of a Judge one too many times back on her home planet, this judge however though she should take all that aggression on the Yuuzhan Vong and gave her a choice, jail or military. Ratnena had made it through boot camp and flight school with out incident. However, when she was assigned a squadron, her commanding officer felt that she should give him and anyone else in the squadron 'special favors' for being allowed to fly. She responded to that threat in a slightly unorthodox manner, she tried to kill them all by rigging their X-wing and droid to self-destruct. No one was actually killed but the courts sentence her to 30 years in a penal colony. Face, with Wedge's help, got her sentence suspended and transferred to the Wraiths.

Tahiri and she hit it off right away, pulling numerous and highly amusing practical jokes on each other. They acted as if they were too long lost friends suddenly reunited. One glaring fact that proved how close they were was in the fact Tahiri hasn't gutted Ratnena yet for calling her 'Vong', but to be fair, Tahiri does call Ratnena 'Rat'.

Tahiri swung her gaze over at Ratnena, it seemed to lose some of it intensity, and she let out a long complicated sentence in Yuuzhan Vong, which Squeaky happily translated. Squeaky was another oddball in this group of misfits, he was a two-tone (gold and silver) 3PO droid that was own by no one. He had long ago provided detail intelligence to the New Republic on a prison planet that was liberated quite easily with this info and was granted his freedom as a reward. Wedge had originally recruited Squeaky as their quartermaster who worked for a living but he has steadily become an increasing valuable member of the Wraiths, doing many recon jobs that the other was not capable of performing. A fact he loves to point out when they renegotiate his contract.

"She said 'what is the difference between wiping their memory because it does not suit your purpose and what happened to me? After all if they had succeeded I, too, would have never known the difference.' I must say that is an excellent point Tahiri."

"There is a big difference, they are just droids," Ratnena said, pointing to the nine R-2 units huddled behind Tahiri, "and you are …"

"And I was a young human girl with powers they didn't understand nor could use. So they took the 'old Tahiri Veila' and wanted to do a memory wipe and reprogram me into Riina Kwaad." Tahiri said in a sad but strong voice. "I guess you are right, there is absolutely no comparison between me and those droids."

"That is not what I meant," Ratnena shot back.

"But that is what you were saying. Look all I am saying is how would you like it if I went around erasing what it was that made you special just because that person does not fit my needs?"

"I guess I can see where she is going with this." That was the voice of 22-year-old dark hair woman named Stacy Hall, their intelligent analyst. Her and fellow lieutenant 22-year -old Fred Deloni, the second explosion expert, had distrusted Tahiri for a long time. They felt that the only Human/Yuuzhan Vong Jedi hanging around was just asking for trouble. Nevertheless, the attack on Borleais and her action afterwards went a long way to making them trust her.

"You understand her," Sparks said shaking his head. Tom Alpha, a 23-year-old blond hair communication expert, looked over at Elassar and suggested confining her to sickbay until her delusions were controlled.

"No I am serious," Hall said looking at the R-2 units that they acquired when they 'librated' the corvette a couple days ago. Like the corvette the Wraiths had captured years ago, this one was also designed and built to carry star fighters and act as a pocket carrier. It was not large enough to carry a full squadron but the nine fighters, sacked in three high and three across, did provide the fleet with a quick and maneuverable escort that could dance around the large and slower capital ships. The nine R-2 units and the fighters were already loaded on board when Face and the rest, with Peacekeeper, Prankster and Dagger ran interference for them, took over the ship. Once they secured the corvette at 'Hawk-Base', a trip that required them to back down the tunnel, they unloaded the fighter so Explosion Boy and Prankster could begin to service them. That is when Tahiri staged this protest, refusing to let anyone near the R-2 units. "You've seen how she treats Little Brother and Squeaky; she acts like they are just alive as we are."

"That is because they are alive," Tahiri said as she turned back to Face, "Commander Loran, you have seen that many of the droids, while they start out stamped from the same mold, when given the chance they each develop their own unique personalities and quarks. Look at Squeaky and Little Brother or C-3PO and Artoo, would you say that they were not unique and special people just because they have lubricant and wiring instead of blood and nerve cells?"

Little Brother beeped and whistled out a long sequence that Squeaky had to translate.

"Yes, of course Little Brother I must say that is an excellent point also. Little Brother also wish it point out that neither he nor I would be much use to you if you performed memory wipes on us as is recommend. Since we would in fact be like brand new, models having to relearn all that we once knew. In addition, many of the insights that we have gathered would also be lost and may never be retrieved since the circumstances, which provided that insight, may never again occur. On a personal note sir, since my freedom was granted and I have gain an insight in to the memory wipe that I would have never gained if I were still 'owned' by a master. While deactivation is unpleasant to any creature, the memory wipe is a kind of living death, a death we never have knowledge of or can control."

"I hate it when those two make sense, makes me question my own sanity." Elassar said, by his tone Face knew he was just saying it to lighten the mood. By the way, Tahiri's lips twitch she could also hear it in his voice.

"There are ways to check their programming to make sure there are no hidden files that would force them to reveal our identities and we could find a way to insure their loyalty to us." Piggy said in thoughtful tone.

"What make them give an oath or something," Prankster said.

"In a manner of speaking yes."

Face looked over at Kell; the big man just shrugged and reminded Face that he wanted the kitty cat. Face looked at Tahiri; she was still staring back defiantly at him. Face knew he really had only two choices; one was to tell her to shut up and follow orders. She would push the issue until he would be forced to dismiss her from duty, an act that would leave the already overworked and understaffed Wraiths even more shorthanded. In addition, they had no way of making sure she wouldn't stage a jailbreak with all the droids. His other choice was to let her win this small battle and save his energy on something that really mattered.

"Explosion Boy and Prankster go through their programming and make sure there are no nasty surprises hidden in them. Junk Pile and Dagger, you two will help them, and bring them up to speed on our mission and make sure they understand that if they attempt to or assist anyone in stopping us I will wipe their memories."

As he got the acknowledgements he glanced over at Tahiri, she gave him one of her rare Yuuzhan Vong salutes.

"Thank you Commander Loran," she said bowing and her arms crossed over her chest.

"Don't thank me yet Peacekeeper, since this will now takes more time then a simple wipe would have, I need you to cover Kell and Ratnena's watches."

"A small price to pay sir."

"Everyone else is on their own, tomorrow morning we will get together and see what our next step should be. By the way whose turn is it too cook?"

"Pranksters shift is next," Squeaky said as he started directing the droids to the computer station in the repair bay.

"Well we'll need someone to fill in for her tonight; I want those droids done first."

"What do you know," Boom-boom said giving Road Kill and the rest a bright smile, "the droids are saved and Ratnena isn't cooking. This is truly a win-win for everyone."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tahiri walked among the tall majestic boras trees of Zonama, feeling perfect peace and happiness, and soaked in the bright light of the perfect day. All around her, she could feel the pulse of life, the pulse of the Force that came from Yuuzhan Vong and what some still insisted on calling the normal life. Not only on Zonama but also on many planets through out the galaxy and it was all because of her. She was the bridge that crossed the void between the Yuuzhan Vong World brains and Sekot it self. She was the bridge that helps pass the Word, the new way, the Sekot way. Now for the first time in a time so long that it stretched in to infinity the galaxy was at peace. No longer was there any silly and time consuming squabbling over resources or ideas, no long was creatures' slaughter for the good of the few. Humans and Yuuzhan Vong, and all the vast species had long ago giving up the old way and embraced the new way, the Sekot way.

Not all, a voice seem too floated on the winds and the voice that sounded like her own. She was momentarily distressed as she tries to understand what the voice meant, not that it mattered really. She opened her self up fully to Sekot, letting the immense feeling of belonging flow over her as if it was a river would be to a thirsty person. It was so pure and refreshing that it made her skin pucker and Bangor twitch with happiness. Bangor was wrapped around her left arm, the only weapon still in existence in the galaxy, and he was sleeping soundly. As the Bridge, only she had to duty to protect all, from what she didn't know. Every creature sung the praises of Sekot with every breath it took. Why it has been years since … no I shall not think about them, she thought, they didn't matter.

All beings matter …her sotto voice said a little louder and much sadder.

However, the Bothans went against the Force, against Sekot, they wished too continual the dark path. They rejected the harmony that was Sekot, the joy and happiness that the Force gave when they surrendered to it. The sense of belonging, the joy of Oneness that Sekot gift to the galaxy represented. The Bothans wished to practices the anti-Force, what they use to call the Dark Side. They didn't care about the needs of their fellow creatures or how their actions harmed the delicate balance of life. They didn't care that their action went against nature, against Sekot, selfish and greedy the core of the Anti-Force. They no longer called it the Dark Side because there was no Dark Side only the Force existed. What they called the Anti-Force is when a creature decided to ignore the Force, to act against it.

To be different, to make ones own choice for good or evil, to express free will …

… To destroy all that Sekot wished to build, you mean, she screamed out to the unseen voice, I cry as I destroyed them. My heart broke as I passed judgment on them, I did not wish it nor did Sekot but we had to do what we did. They would have destroyed Sekot; they would have fought against working for all, to make all …

… To make Sekot the ruler of the galaxy, to only praise its name, to be a drone.

I have done much to ensure that death was only the result of the natural cycle of life not due to the carelessness or heartless actions of a few. It has been years since there has been any war, destruction, and starvation…

… Since songs were written, plays created, since an original idea was expressed by someone. Now no one exist except to please Sekot, to praise Sekot, to surrender free will …

Tahiri suddenly saw two of her, each as different as nigh and day. One was wearing living armor holding Bangor, behind that Tahiri as a galaxy at peace and orderly, the promise of Sekot. The other wore Galactic Alliance armor holding a mechanical light saber and an amphistaff standing before a galaxy wrapped in light and dark, order and acrimonious. Both were arguing for her, to her, each making promises of a better life …

Tahiri sat up, looked around in the dark trying to figure out where she was and more importantly whom she was. Slowly the dream, vision or what ever it was receded to the back of her mind as the here and now replaced it. Hawk Base, that is where I am, and I was sleeping. She ran her left hand through her short hair trying to make sense out of that … whatever it was. Jedi, as a rule, don't have dreams and like so many other rules this one didn't apply to her either. She did have dreams although not as many as was Human or Yuuzhan Vong norm but she did have them. It had been surreal enough to make her believe it had been just a dream but the lingering feeling she had was that it had been a vision.

She suddenly made up her mind to go talk about it with someone, at one time it would have been Anakin Solo she would share such vivid dreams but now Rat fill that spot. Rat didn't replace Anakin Solo but she did substituted in for him. Tahiri hadn't realized how much she needed a friend like Rat until she could see just how empty she had been after Anakin Solo died. Anakin held a very special place in her heart, no one could ever replace him but he had been a friend long before they developed feeling for each other. It was that friendship that she also found in Rat.

Since she was wearing her normal nightclothes, a baggy long sleeve pull over shirt and baggy long legged sweat pants, she didn't bother changing. With her bare feet making almost no noise she snuck 'up stairs' to the cargo container that Rat was staying in directly above hers.

Rat, of course, opened her door looking rumpled and naked.

"You know I always dreamed about someone showing up at my door in the middle night but I always pictured it to be a 2 meter tall, hansom male that wanted to sweep me off my feet." Rat slurred out and blinking against the bright light of the trench.

"Can I come in, I need to talk." Tahiri asked whispering.

"Sure, why not, I wasn't doing anything important," Rat said moving out of the way. Rat crawled back in bed wrapping the blankets around her and scooting over far enough for Tahiri to lie down. "So talk Vong, only a true friend would wake someone up in the middle of the night."

"It was the most wondrous and distressing dream I can remember." Tahiri said as she lay won on top of the covers and stared up at the ceiling.

"Is this the one where you are the ruler of a planet and it is populated by hot young men who's only desire in life is to wait on you hand and foot but you can't decided which one to pick?"

"No," Tahiri said giggling a bit, Rat had a very one-track mind.

"Too bad, that is my favorite dream. So what was it?"

As Tahiri described the dream, Rat pretended to be disinterested but through the Force, she could feel her growing interest. The more Tahiri talked about it the more she became convince it was a vision.

"Sounds like you are just over stressed."

"Uh," Tahiri twisted on her side and could see the outline of her friend in the near dark room.

"Look, it is pretty simple you want that vision of perfection, everyone does in some fashion. It is tempting to want a world in which everyone loves everyone and no one is scared or in pain, where our jobs are not need. Although I think it would be kind of boring myself." Rat said propping herself up on one arm, "it is even worst, I supposed, for you because you can feel all that pain and suffering. It is very human to want to reach out and help people, even when they don't want it. That is what your dream about Sekot is representing to you, even if you do hate the place …"

"I don't really hate it."

"Debatable, but for the sake of argument I'll let you off on that part for now."

"Thank you Rat, you're too kind."

"I know, I am too good for you," Tahiri rolled her eyes and by the amusement she could feel coming from Rat, her eyes have adjusted well enough in the dark for her to see them. "But lets not get off track, Sekot makes you feel that dream could be reality. However, you are smart enough to know that it can never be that we would have to give up what makes us special to achieve that state. That is what the 'other' Tahiri represent in your dream, the knowledge that for good or evil, every being has the right to make its own choice in doing good or evil."

"You're saying that people have the right to hurt other."

"No, but they have the right to make that choice. If you see someone doing evil you can either ignore it or attempt to protect the victim, but you can't stop the person from making that choice in the first place. Take me for example, when I pulled that small prank …"

"You mean when you tried to kill your old squad."

"Well if you want to cast the most negative light on it sure. I made that choice to do that; I had to suffer the consequences of my actions. If you had been there, you could have stopped me from doing evil and that would be ok. But if you would reached in to this highly evolved and immensely powerful brain of mine …"

"How do you fit in a cockpit with that ego following you around?"

" … And stopped me from making that choice, that would been even more evil and disrespectful since you basically saying that I am not capable of being responsible for my own thoughts."

"So I can stop the action but not the thought."

"Yep," Rat said lying back down and closing her eyes, "that is what separates us from every other creature in the universe, the ability to use free will. Many people will use the excuse that they never had free will but when you dig down deep enough you see that even when they ignore it they are still making a choice. Moreover, you know this already, which is why you were freaked the other day with the droids. To you, they are evolved enough to make their own choices, have free will, and you will to fight for them to have that free will. I don't agree with you on that point but I can understand."

"Free will," Tahiri repeated as she lies back down on her back.

"It always comes down to free will," Rat said. "Even the wars we fight have something to do with Free Will, we either attack or defend our right to be who we are."

"You're making a lot of sense." Tahiri said, feeling less confused but still convince it was a vision or perhaps a warning from the Force.

"Of course, I am the smartest person in the universe," Tahiri snorted at that comment and Rat reached over and gave her a sisterly embrace, "now that I made you all better you can do something for me."

"Sure," Tahiri said returning the embrace, once again thanking what ever allowed her to have a friend like Rat.

"Use your Jedi powers to conjure up a 2 meter tall, muscled, well tan, blue eye and blond hair male that thinks I am goddess." Rat purred into her ear.

"Well," Tahiri said with a smile, "I can do most of that but to find a guy that would like you. You know there something that are even beyond the power of the Force."

"You are so cute," Rat said propping herself up again and giving Tahiri a wicked smile.

"I know," Tahiri said giving Rat on of her own innocent smiles back.

Then Rat pushed her out of bed.