Face was up to his neck in paperwork, even being dead didn't let him escape it. Especially, since everyone believed that they were dead and they were going after such high profile targets as he was aiming at. He had to make sure all the 'T' were crossed and the 'I' were doted. He knew that for every Senator he went after at least two gundurk sucking, bottom eating rancor would be pouring over every line of data trying to find some way to get their client off by sidetracking the judge or committee assigned to hear the case. Therefore, he had to account for every kilo of fuel they used, every credit spent, every drop of bacta that the squad used to gather intelligences. Every raid had to be documented as to why this target was chosen over that target, how many persons were injured in said raid, the cost of pulling off the raid vs. the actual benefits gained. Not that he wasn't use to the scrutiny since the Wraiths operated in the shady world of intelligence but this was going to be worst then any he has known before.

What he was not going to like would be all the exposure they will be receiving for many weeks to come. For Kell and the rest who would retire soon it was no big deal really, and they earned a bit of notoriety. However, the kids, Squeaky, and him, well the less everyone knew about them the better. He didn't have much experience in dealing with Chief of State Omas but he was an ex-pilot, so he may have an understanding of security. Hopefully, he would understand Face's desire to keep the Wraiths out of the press and testifying behind closed doors as much as possible. The kids and he also need a break, badly. It has been over a year since their last day off and the fatigue was really starting to show. Not that any of the kids would admit it; they just kept right at their job without a word of complaint. Despite all the problems early on, despite that they never actually finished their training they had become one unstoppable team.

"Excuse me Poster Boy."

Face looked up to see Piggy standing in the doorway to his office. "Briefing over all ready?"

"No sir, the Solos just wanted to take a break, so I thought I would come see you for a minute."

"Let me guess, you came here to save your glorious leader from drown in his paperwork."

"Why would I take something away from you that I know you enjoy so much," Piggy said grinning.

"You're sure? It is a lot of fun."

"Uh-uh, I am not falling for that one again."

"Yea I save it for one of the kids down the road. So what is up?"

"Sir, I been thinking about Peacekeepers briefing."

"What about it? You think she is way off?"

"No, if there is a hidden shipyard everything else makes sense, it was a well thought out plan. No sir, I think about what do we do when she gets back?"

"You mean do we go to Chief of State or Master Skywalker when Tahiri and Stacy get back and both fleets are showing signs of moving out?"

"Yes, sir. General Solo and Princess Leia are accepting our evidence but very grudging. In addition, there is a lot of it to go through. We will have trouble convincing the Chief of State in a timely manner. Admiral Kre'fey will also have time to disperse the fleet if he knows the game is up and more importantly the Yuuzhan Vong could still launch attack against Ossus even if Master Skywalker evacuates the academy."

"There is a change Kre'fey would bring the Shadow fleet to Ossus but there is a bigger chance he will stone wall claiming that this is all fabrication on our part."

"Yes and the damage to Ossus could still be used to propel his plans to move against Zonama Sekot. Worst still, the Warmaster may call off the attack to Ossus and decide to reinforce his lines with these new ships and personal. That will prolong the battle against them for many years, to come it would be like hunting down the warlords all over again." Face knew what he though of another 20 years fighting a war. While it gave him job security, the cost would be too high for even him to be over joy at that prospect. "Sir, we need to hit that fleet now while it is still located at one spot before they have a change to either move against Ossus or dispersed to the other fleets."

"Then we still run into the same problem don't we? Can we get enough elements there or at Ossus without tipping our hands and without running into problems from Kre'fey and his people?"

"Yes sir, so far it appears that Admiral Kre'fey has kept this from the Warmaster which is why that fleet is still hidden. If the Warmaster sees large formation of our fleets moving to that location, if we can convince Command to make such a move, he would disperse either the fleet or move against Ossus. We need to move against the fleet before they know we are coming."

"We, as in the Wraiths?" Face looked at Piggy wondering if he needs to schedule him to see Elassar for a mental exam. "Piggy we would need a fleet of ships bigger then we got to attack them."

"We could always … borrow a fleet," Piggy said with a sly look on his face.

"Piggy, where would we get a …" Face stopped as what Piggy was suggesting finally dawn on him. He watched, as Piggy's grin got bigger.

Little Brother's navigation skills haven't diminished a bit as he dropped them out of dark space behind the seventh planet of the system. Without wasting a word, Tahiri and him immediately went into stealth mode and let the X-wing tumble into an orbit around the planet.

"Fas! Little Brother I can feel them already." Tahiri said aloud, if she could feel them this far out there had to be hundreds of them around. Briefly, she had an image of Ebaq 9 flash through her mind. She shuttered, it would make sense a fleet that big was here, they would need that big of one to attack Ossus and then move out to attack other sites.

I HAVE A HYPERSPACE COORDINATES READY DO YOU WISH TO LEAVE.

"How long till me get around this planet?"

12 MINUTES AT PRESENT RATE, I HAVE NO LIFE FORMS DETECT WITHIN IMMEDIATE SCANNING AREA.

"Good, keep an eye on that scanner." She took a deep breath; her orders were to just confirm their existence no more. She knew those orders, she couldn't help but know them, she wrote the things. But could they get more information without causing more problems then they could by fleeing?"

"Little Brother …"

I AM UPDATING THE HYPERSPACE ENTRY POINT AS WE PRECEDE AROUND THE PLANET.

"You learn how to read my mind while you have been running around with Rat?" She said with a grin.

NO, BUT SHE WOULD WANT TO STAY HERE AND GATHER MORE INFORMATION DESPITE ORDERS TO THE CONTRARY AND YOU AND HER OFTEN THINK THE SAME.

"So nice to be loved," Tahiri said with a small laugh, "how long is the orbit around this planet?"

WE WILL COMPLETE AN ORBIT IN ONE HOUR 34 MINUTES.

"Ok, one orbit then. As soon as we are out of sight, we jump. The planet should shield any hyperspace waves we make or at least lessen the effect enough that they will miss them."

As the small X-wing came around to light side of the planet their scanners started registered the large shipyard found further in system. Even Little Brother was speechless at the number of ship of all sizes and types slowly orbited around the third planet. As they sped back in to the dark space, Tahiri wonder if even Admiral Kre'fey knew just how big of a sore he let fester.

"I don't know. Maybe you ought to stick it back in and let it age properly?"

Ratnena threw her towel at Major Tainer, but wearing a grin that threatens to split her face open. All of the Wraiths were in the medical ward, except Tahiri and Little Brother, to greet her when she finally emerged from that tank. She had been in there way too long as far as she was concern. Five minutes would be too long, she though as she smiled at some of the cracks the other was getting at her expense. She didn't mind, for once, she felt as if she was just one of the gang instead of an outsider. Moreover, she had spent her time in the tank thinking of new pranks to pull on Tahiri and the rest of them.

"So," she said turning to Charm Boy, "can I get back to work?"

"You still need to take it easy for a few days but I guess you can do some light duty. You can go back to creating destruction and mayhem as you please, just make sure this time you do it to the Yuuzhan Vong."

"In fact since you are free to leave to leave the sick bay and no longer on vacation," Poster Boy said ignoring the look of mock annoyance on her face, "and Road Kill got back from her trip, we got a little surprise for you to work on with Piggy and Road Kill."

"A fun surprise?" Ratnena said with a growing smile.

"The kind of surprise that make a lot of noise and pretty spectacular light show." Face said and then told her what they had in mind.

It was late in the evening or very early depending on your point of view, when Tahiri returned from her mission. However, she was not surprise to see Commander Loran waiting up for her. The first thing she did was take off the helmet, she never like wearing the stupid thing anyways, and then climb down the stairs that the Commander rolled over to her ship.

"Welcome home, Peacekeeper," he said as she climb down the steps. "You too Little Brother." Little Brother beeped out a greeting as he lifted himself out of the couple behind the cockpit and waited for Tahiri to lower him down to the deck. As Tahiri lifted him down using the Force, he asked the question that she knew he would and the one she wished she didn't have to answer. "So, you are back on time, I am assuming that your guess turned out to be right?"

"Yes sir and that may turn out to be the worst news of the year once you see exactly what I found."

"That bad uh?"

"Let's go to the briefing room sir, and I'll show you." Tahiri said quietly. Commander Loran nodded and sweep out his arm as if to say 'after you'. "By the way sir, how is Rat doing?"

"She is doing much better, Elassar let her escape yesterday. And not a minute to early either, she was starting to go nuts in there."

"I wish I could have been here when she came out," Tahiri said sadly. Rat helped her a lot after she was released last year from her injuries at Borleais. Tahiri wanted to be there for Rat in any way she could. Not because she felt obligated, but because like Jaina and Jacen, Rat felt more like a crèche mate then just a friend. That meant a lot to her, the Solos felt like family because of some the lingering feelings she inherited from Tahiri Veila. Of course, that did not lessen the feeling she had for them, the good that they had done after she was born did nothing more then reinforce those feeling. However, Rat and the Wraiths had become her friend after her merging and, except the older Wraiths, had no concept of Tahiri Veila or Riina Kwaad. They all liked and respected her for her not for the memory of someone who no longer existed. That didn't make them any better then the Jedi but it just made them more special to her.

"We told her where you were and she understood," Commander Loran said patting her on the shoulder "She said that just means that you can treat her like a queen when you get back and wait on her hand and foot like you made her do when you got hurt."

"You know sir," Tahiri said with a grin and looking up at Commander Loran, "for someone who has such a great memory, she sure can get her facts wrong."

"I'm sure that is what she is going to say about you," he said with a laugh as he opened the door for Tahiri and Little Brother to enter the briefing room. Little Brother rolled up to the droid interface and began downloading their data. "Ok then lets have the bad news."

"Yes sir," Tahiri said going to the make sift control panel at the head of the table. "Sir, we stayed for one orbit less then two hours. Any longer would have exposed us to dangers that would have out weighted the benefits so we don't have a complete picture." She waited until he nodded then brought up the first series of images on the screen. Face watched each image flash across the screen his face was unreadable. "As you can see, we only have what was on this side of the planet, in the night side; we may have missed a few due to poor angle for the scanners to pick them up. But we can estimate how many ships would be on the light side of the planet and the numbers come out to …"

"A fleet that is larger then the ones that attacked Coruscant and Ebaq 9, isn't." Face said in a whisper as the magnitude hit him. Tahiri could only nod as the information continued to scroll across the screens. "Little Brother, find the latest numbers Road Kill brought back yesterday and run a comparison of the Shadow fleet and the Yuuzhan Vong fleet."

Little Brother beeped once and then started the search for the information. As he started his calculations, Tahiri decided to take a set across from Commander Loran. She wonder what he could do with this information, there wasn't a whole lot that they could do really. The only option was to run to Ossus and hope for the military to scramble enough forces to either attack the yard or protect the people who will be fleeing their homes very soon.

However, in the back of her mind she had an unshared thought that this was their Borleais. This was their last stand.

"What was that Peacekeeper," Commander Loran asked, not in a suspicious manner but more in a quizzical fashion.

"Excuse me sir?"

"You said 'this was their Borleais', I am just wondering what you meant by that," again his voice soft and curious.

"Sorry sir, I didn't realize I had spoken out loud." Tahiri said blushing, wishing she could hide somewhere.

"I won't tell Ratnena," he said with a smile, "she will never let you forget that you got lost in though."

"Thank you sir," Tahiri said with a ghost of a smile, "she would contently remind me not to travel to such unfamiliar territory and I won't get lost." She turned somber quickly then answered his question. "It's just my people are not so different from my people."

"How so?" Again not angrily just a gentle curiosity.

"Can you imagine what General Antilles could have done with a fleet half this size there?" Tahiri turned and look at the display screen, "he would have rallied even more troops to his side. Nevertheless, even with what we had there he was able to make the doubters see that it was possible to stop my people. For the first time my people had hope that the GA would win in the end."

"And you think that this is what the Warmaster is ultimately trying to do?"

"In a way, yes sir. Even if we somehow stop this fleet in the end, it won't matter if the Jedi are destroyed. Just like young children, young adults read and see what he did at Borleais so to will young Yuuzhan Vong read about this ultimate sacrifice for the gods and to their people from their warriors and they too will dream of the time when they can join such exalted ranks." She turned back to a very somber Face, "sir, they too will have new hope that they could win in the end."

Little Brother beeped again and new figures were listed along with the approximate ship count from the Yuuzhan Vong shipyard.

"I don't know what scares me more, Tahiri," Face said after studying the two different figures for about ten minutes. "What you just told me or what I see up there."

Tahiri just nodded, she too was unable to answer that question, and "Admiral Kre'fey doesn't have enough does he?"

Face didn't answer he just studied the figures, rubbing his chin and looking very disturbed. After another very lengthy pause and without taking eyes off the displays, he said, "Tahiri, you and Little Brother can head to sleep. Everyone will be up in about 5 hours. After morning meal we'll have a briefing."

"Sir, I …"

"Tahiri that was an order." He said gently and still glued to the displays. Tahiri stood up and saluted. She and Little Brother left the room and she felt even worst then before and hoped somehow Face could find a way to save the day but not sure, anyone could.

Face walked up the ramp of the Falcon feeling no better then he had during Tahiri's briefing. They all seen the same data he had and came to the same conclusions. Unless they came up with a way to stop the Yuuzhan Vong or at least cut them down to size before they left their shipyards, Ossus was doomed and the chances of ever delivering a death nail to the Rogues was gone. It would turn into an on going grapple like the fight between the Imperials and the New Republic. Worst actually, since they would have a clear leader to rally behind. Except for the two Grand Admirals, Thrawn and Pellaeon who were able to rein in many of the dissent elements and give the Empire a clear goal, there were long periods in which higgledy-piggledy ruled the Empire giving the New Republic the tools and time to defeat them. There would be no repeat of that from the Yuuzhan Vong, their Warmaster, whoever he was, ruled them and no dissent would be tolerated. Oh sure, if the GA had pursued the broken fleets a bit more aggressively after the Battle to Reclaim Coruscant they might have keep them off balance and prevent a clear leader to emerge. Then they may have stopped this war but …

He let out a sigh, the worst thing was as Piggy and Tahiri have both pointed out to him, and they were not fighting a man but an idea. The idea that the gods decreed them to conquer this galaxy in their name and they believed that idea more deeply then many in the GA or the Empire believes in their causes. As Wedge had shown at Borleais and Grand Admiral Thrawn had shown in his drive to recapture the Empire, ideas were bigger then the men that represents it. It was also harder to kill.

"General, Princess," he said nodding to them each as he approached. They were setting around a game table in the lounge with their droid standing off quietly off in on corner. "Piggy tells me that you have some question?"

"Please have a seat Commander," Leia said, she also asked him if he wished any thing to drink. He polity turn down the offer, he had a good idea what they wanted to know and he knew delaying it with small talk and drinks won't make it any easier to deal with.

"We have a one question we want answered," Han said holding up a print out. "How accurate is this?"

"Some of it we can confirm, Long Shot's mission was to observe and report on Tahiri's actions. From the reports he filed, when he was on Denon with me after the two Peace Brigade spies had been discovered, he was well aware of her cover before he joined us. He also armed and connected the bomb that had been attached to Tahiri's X-wing. We speculated that it was done at the Jedi hanger which of course has been confirmed by that memo." Face said pointing to the printout that Han held up. "As for the other parts … we don't know."

"Have you tried to check and see if it accurate?" Han asked angrily. Face took a deep breath to calm himself. He knew why Han was acting this way and could sympathize with him, to a point.

"No, nothing else has either confirmed or denied it but based on other information we have gathered we tend to believe it is accurate."

"Such as," Leia asked quietly.

"Jaina's role in the Shadow Fleet, her working with certain senators and upper military personal to support and fund the Vong-Free movement, although she is never public about her activities there is enough circumstantial evidence to lead us to believe that." Face said pointing to the print out.

"So this could be wrong?"

"Gods we hope so Han, we really do," Face said wearily, "if it makes you feel better Tahiri …"

"You told Tahiri about this," Han yelled, going red from anger while Leia went pale and eye wide.

"No, we haven't," Face snapped out letting some of his anger show, "We have been trying very hard to keep her from finding out. Which isn't easy around her, in case you haven't notice, she is extremely good at interpreting people's moods and correctly analyzing small bits of data?" Face ran his hands through his hair and continued, "We have been hoping that it was a mistake on our part. Alternatively, that Luke, Mara, and you guys would be there to help us tell her. Look at from this angle; the rogue Vong wants her dead, the Jedi don't want her around, the Vong on Zonama Sekot are just as happy to have her gone, her own government, that she has sworn to defend, is happy to help everyone and kill her. You two shot her," Face held his hand in an expression of helplessness, "she has forgiven you for that and even snapped at Ratnena this morning for even joking about getting even with you." Neither of the Solos said anything but their expression told volumes at what they were thinking. "So you tell me how do we tell her, a girl who has had everyone she has ever cared about and wanted to be around keeps kicking her down, that the woman she looks up to and loves like a older sister is the one who signed her death warrant."

"So what is your next move," Leia asked after a few lengthy pauses.

"Tahiri brought back some data, not much but enough for us to guess that the fleet there is too large."

"How big," Han asked looking concern.

"At least the size of the one that attacked Coruscant, maybe larger."

"The Shadow Fleet?"

"With the Shadow Fleet and whatever is around Ossus won't be enough," Face said deadpan. "We are leaving as soon as we can to go to Ossus and talk to Luke. He should be there by now, if not he be there very soon. We need to get every ship we can to Ossus as soon as possible."

"Why not contact them on the Hypercomm?"

"Two reasons Princess, one if the Yuuzhan Vong gets a sniff they could call of the attack and spread the fleet out all over the galaxy. In the long run that could make a huge difference between wining and losing, for both sides."

"The Warlords all over again," Han said grimly.

"Yes, that is our guess too. The second reason we can't give time for Admiral Kre'fey any chance to deny or delay the deployment of the Shadow Fleet. If we have any chance we need that fleet."

"Yea and he would just to save face."

"We're not sure, he doesn't always play by Bothan rules but this is too big of a pot to gamble with."

"What do you want from us?" Leia asked sincerely.

"We want to put that spy and Runt with you …"

"Why not take him aboard the Sunset?" Han asked, looking weary at Face. "Wouldn't be safer to keep him there?"

"Usually but we are worried about security …"

"Meewalh would be willing to travel with you to make sure he won't cause trouble," Leia said, which is what Face figured she would offer.

"Its not him that has me concern, it is Ratnena, and she was once arrested for breaking a man's arm for making a pass at her. I hate to see what she would do to someone who shot her. We need her on the Sunset to help Kell finish some badly needed repairs. In addition, Tahiri believes that he must be way up the food chain and trusted to be sent out to make contact with her on Tatooine. The information he may have could be a real gold mine if they can get him to talk. Therefore, we need him alive not dead which Ratnena would do to him if she gets it in her head to take revenge. She is smart enough to get him without being in front of him. So I would really appreciate if you take him for me." He watched them exchange glances and then nodded. "Thank you. We are also making duplicates of all the information, one set will go with Tyria, Doran and Shalla, one set with you and one set with us. That way we are positive one set will make it there no matter what."

"Kind of extreme don't you think?" Han said with his sabacc face on again.

"No, again we have to make sure all this is exposed and that command has all the information they need."

"Why is Shalla traveling with Tyria?" Leia asked suspiciously. Face gave her his most somber look.

"Shalla was named after her aunt, who was a Wraith. One of the Wraiths who died at Borleais."

Again, they exchanged looks but agreed to the plan. Face smiled inside, he was sure they would understand. "Good then we'll be ready to fly in a few hours. I got to get the Sunset ready for combat just in case we fail to convince anyone."