"Let's go Ratnena," she heard Kell as if he was talking through a tunnel. How did I get down on the deck, she thought as she stared dumbly at the ceiling. She was having trouble breathing, too much smoke in the air, but I quit smoking years ago?

"Rat, you ok?" She became aware of Kell standing above her, well two of them anyways. "Rat, can you move?"

She tried to respond but it was too much work between the smoke getting in her lungs and the low roar in her head, plus it just hurt to move at all. She felt herself floating in the air; wow I don't know what Vong gave me to drink but man this was some good stuff! They had to be in a bar, it was dark, smoky, and lights flashing. Music stinks, although, sounds like sirens and explosions, not her taste in music.

"Kell, the escape pods are out, head to the hanger we'll leave by fighters!"

"Good, music sucks." Ratnena slurred out, leave it to a Vong to pick a bad club. The kid has no taste in fashion should've known she couldn't pick a club.

"Rat has been hurt, she is out of it," she heard from a place far away.

Well that is no good, how am I supposed to party if I am hurt. "Don't let the Vong pick the next club, this one sucks," she mumbled out.

"Don't worry Rat, we're leaving now."

"Good, service sucks and I never got my drink." She was vaguely aware of them entering a new room, it wasn't smoky but she could still hear the horrible music from the other club.

"How is she," she heard Face say.

"Hey, Poster Boy drinks on the Vong. She got this great drink, knock you flat."

"Does that tell you anything?"

"Ok, you got the middle fighter, Squeaky is in the cargo area. Elassar is with Piggy and I'll take party girl"

"We are going to a new club?" She asked but they didn't seem to hear her.

"Hard to fly and fight with two people in there?"

"We got help."

"Hey, we got to find Tom, Stacy and Fred! Can't go parting without them!" She tried twisting to go find those nuts but Kell and Face held on to her too tightly.

"They'll met us at the next place," Face said as they climbed up a ladder. "But we have to hurry ok? We don't want to miss happy hour, now do we?"

"Ok," she slurred out, "yea hurry or Fred and Stacy will spend the whole night kissing." She sat down hard in Face's lap. "Sir? I like you and your nice and all but you are like way too old …"

"Easy Rat, I just got to fly us to the next bar on the Guardian." He said as he flips some switches. "Besides, I've read your file before, I like my head attached if you don't mind." She gawked at the view out the window; the space was alive with strobe lights and ships flying all over the place. For some reason the universe was spinning around her. "Kell go!" A ship shot out of the hanger and immediately started to twist and turn as a skip followed closely by three X-wings who were firing on the skip. "Elassar go!" Then she felt a kick in her pants as they followed Elassar out of the hanger.

"Face, Kyp; turn right and head to the Guardian we got you guys covered."

"Roger Kyp thanks for the assist."

"Its you guys we need to thank."

"How is the battle going?" She heard Face ask the other pilot. She watched, without seeing, much fighters and skips battling in out one to one and three to one. The larger capital ships were unleashing mega-kilowatts of energy and destruction at the Yuuzhan Vong fleet trapped between the GA forces.

"Too early to tell but we got the jump on them and … SLAG! Jaina get back into formation. JAINA SOLO THAT IS A ORDER!"

"She is heading back towards Ossus," the voice of Tyria came back sounding sick and worried.

Something clicked in Ratnena battle damaged brain, Jaina Solo wanted Tahiri dead and Tahiri was alone out there! She tried to grab the stick to help her only true friend but Face was fighting her.

"Rat, no," Face yelled at her as she kept fighting for control.

"We got to help Tahiri, Jaina is going to kill her!"

"No, Rat we can't help her …"

"We have to she wants my friend dead, everyone wants my friend dead …" Had she not been suffering from a head trauma she might have been able to fight back and would have been mortified when she broke down and cried.

"We let Luke know, he will protect Tahiri," Tyria's voice came back across in soothing tone.

"No, they want her dead, everyone wants my friend dead, we have to save my friend," she whimpered out as Face told her everything will be fine. But she didn't believe him, they all hated Tahiri. Ratnena vowed that if they killed Tahiri they would pay, they though she was dangerous before well they haven't seen anything yet. "I'll make them pay, they kill her and they all will pay."

As soon as Ratnena was on a gurney, Face started to yell for a flight suit and for his fighter to be refueled. He wasn't hurt that badly, he could still fly with a broken wrist and leg pains. He could hear Squeaky, Kell and Elassar yelling for the same thing. There was a Wraith left out there and they don't leave anyone behind.

"Sir, you need to get to medical …"

"What I need is to get my fighter fueled and a flight suit and I need one now!"

"We're medically sound," Elassar yelled at one of the medics. In truth, he and Kell looked like hell. Probably felt as bad as he did but there were something more important then a little pain. The flight crews and the medical crews kept talk about the shape they were in, the shape of the battle and how they couldn't possibly survive out there. And they kept talking and wasting valuable time.

"Fine, we get the fighters ready ourselves," Kell finally snapped to a Commander who was getting on his nerves.

The flight crews watched as the four walked over to the fueling trucks. Squeaky was shaky, his motors were damaged. Face walked over trying not to limp too much; Kell kept wiping away the blood from his face from his scalp wound. Elassar favored his left hand; his right arm was bent in the wrong place. As they were dragging the equipment over a new voice entered the conversation. Face whirled around and saw the Chief of State standing behind him.

"Sir, we request permission to head back out," Face said coming to attention as much as he could.

"Permission denied," Cal Omas said with a slow shake of his head.

"Sir, one of own is still out there," Elassar said, "We are sound to fly again."

"No," Cal Omas said softly, "look at you guys, not one of you is unhurt. Even Squeaky is damaged. Two of yours is unconscious and you lost three others. You have done your duty already, done more then your duty."

"Sir, we don't leave anyone behind!"

"You haven't Commander, you got five of the best pilots in the galaxy out there helping her." The Chief of State walked over to Face and put his hand on his shoulder. "No one can out fly Luke Skywalker or Han Solo, no one Face." And then very quietly, so only the Wraiths could hear him, "Not even Jaina Solo can do that, they will protect her."

Face looked at Cal Omas for a long time and then dropped the equipment he was holding. He looked back at the others and then turned to walk over to the medical crew. As they hustled him to the medical bay, the last words of Ratnena before she passed out went though his mind. Trust me Ratnena, they let Jaina kill Tahiri, you won't go at it alone.

REMIND ME TO NEVER LET YOU PLAN OUT A MISSION AGAIN. Little Brother screamed as she twisted and turned to get rid of the two remaining Slayers skips behind her.

"It worked didn't?" Tahiri said as she swung her ship towards a flight of X-wings heading in her direction. She had done this maneuver once before she would fire at the skips trailing them and they would try to take out the Slayers. When they passed each other she was able to break up the formation of eight skips but the khapet Slayers stuck to her like glue. "Besides don't you like being seen with the most popular girl in the galaxy?"

"Command to Wraith Nine; One, Three, Five, Seven and Eight are safe."

She let out a sigh of relief when she acknowledge that message and said a small prayer to the gods. When she saw the Sweet Sunset take a shot into the engine room and go dead in space, she had to do one of the hardest things she has ever done in her brief life. She had to trust the Jedi to save her squad mates for her. At the time she still had six skips on her rear and the two attacking the Sunset, if she went back she would just bring them more trouble then they could handle.

Plus, for once, she had to stick to the plan. When she reveled herself to the Yuuzhan Vong and started taunting them, she changed the focus of their attack. She made herself the main objective, the main target. They could claim a large victory if they killed her in battle. Commander Loran knew this and understood but it also knew it would made it possible for the Wraiths, for her, to dictate the course of the battle. They would follow her; they had followed her on whatever course she chose. She could have gone to the Maw and flown into a black hole and some of them would have followed just to make sure she really was dead.

The Yuuzhan Vong threw themselves against the Shadow Fleet to get at her, helping the Wraiths annihilate them. Of course, the larger fleet pretty much chewed their way through the Shadow Fleet. However, the Shadow Fleet served its purposed, it slowed the Fleet down and cut it down to a workable size for the GA to save Ossus.

As she worked her way over to Master Skywalker and the rest, who were having troubles of their own, she tried to work out the conflicting feelings she was experiencing. She felt awful about leading her people in to a trap but she had to be honest about the idea behind this trap. Her people wanted to destroy and reshape the galaxy to what they thought was the will of the gods. They didn't try to work in peace with the other inhabitants of the galaxy or try to understand the gods will. She was not arrogant enough to believe that she could or did understand the gods will no mortal could. But she did listen to her heart and it told her that what they were doing was wrong. If the cost of protecting others from their evil were this battle, well, she would do what was necessary but not enjoy the victory to follow. She was proud of her role to help safeguard Ossus but she was not proud of the cost.

She spotted a skip trailing Corran and was able to disable it.

"Thanks for the save Peacekeeper," Corran Horn's voice came across the comm unit as he lined up to take out an ordinary skip following Jaina.

"You welcome Top Cop," Tahiri said as she turned hard towards Ossus with two skips still on her tail. She was glad to see Corran take care of the skip on Jaina's tail. She was also very happy to see Jaina out here to help her in the battle. With Jaina, her parents, uncle and aunt, and Corran's help she was sure she would survive the battle … somehow. She was also wondering why everyone seemed so upset about Jaina joining the battle. Sure, Tahiri wished she had stayed with the Wraiths to make sure they made it to safety but she was not surprise by her response. Jaina was just being Jaina, in control, in the thick of things, with a burning desire, that Tahiri could feel without trying, to stop the Yuuzhan Vong and disobeying orders to do it. So what was different this time from the others?

She turned back towards the battle and headed in the direction of the Imperial Star Destroyer Right to Rule with her two new 'best' friends and the Falcon on their tails. Maybe she could trick them into flying into a turbo blast from the Right to Rule? Before she could lure them that way she felt a kick in the rear and her diagnostic board lit up like a Life Day party.

"Little Brother, can you do anything about the shields?"

NO, THERE IS NOTHING LEFT TO WORK WITH.

"Fas!" Tahiri tried to contact someone to help her; the Falcon was busy now with their own new friends. "Wraith Nine to Command; need landing instructions, over." She waited a few minutes as she tried, again, to lose her tails. She listen to the comm chatter, it was a dizzy array of confusion, panic and cheer. But no landing instructions, so she tried again. After the third time she finished with a comment that was, "an answer would be nice right about now!"

"Right to Rule to Wraith Nine; Admiral suggest planet side, over"

"Wraith Nine to Rule, planet side, over. They will drop their shield, over?"

"Rule to Nine, affirmative, Admiral wish you luck, over."

Tahiri signed off and drove hard for the planet and the safety it may offer. Hot on her heals was the Slayers, didn't they ever take a caf break? In her scanners she saw that Jaina Solo was also heading planet side. Good, between her and I, we can finish this.

Little Brother outlined a section of the planetary map where the shield was opened for her to get through. As she passed through the hole, the Slayers cease firing and put everything they could into acceleration. One made it thru and the other one was crushed by the hole closing. Jaina was still alive and livid by the tone of her voice on the comm. Tahiri stopped listening to Jaina asking for the shield to be opened as she fought with her controls. The damage she has taken during their run to Ossus hadn't affected her much in the vacuum of space but down here in the atmosphere, where wind and gravity was present, the small ship was shaking like a tree in the wind. Tahiri looked back at Little Brother, "Anything you can do about this?"

NO.

"Are we going to crash?"

YES.

"Ah, thank you," Tahiri said as she turned back around, "you do so make me feel better."

THE FLIGHT PATH OF THE ENEMY FIGHTER SUGGEST THAT IT TOO IS EXPERIENCING BATTLE DAMAGE SIMILAR TO THE DAMAGE THAT WE HAVE SUSTAINED.

"What does that mean? He is going to crash too?"

YES.

"You could have just said that," Tahiri said with a huff as she scanned the landscape ahead. "How far can we make it anyways?"

Little Brother brought up the schematics for the near by spaceport, if the Force and the gods were with her, she may just make it. Especially when the Slayer … "Um Little Brother, where is the Slayer going to crash?" He showed her, she wished he hadn't. She just knew it wasn't going to end easily, she believed in the Force and sometimes the gods but she didn't believe in luck. However, what else would you call it when they would be landing, if they both survived, within meters of each other? "I think I going to have to start carrying good luck charms from on now."

"Ossus Space Control to X-wing, come in please."

"This is X-wing WR-9, I'm coming in hot and with a friend, over."

"Roger, WR-9; we have emergency rescue and security standing by to assist you."

"Negative, I say again negative. Do not approach this is a Slayer behind me, too dangerous for security to handle."

"Ma'am?" She could hear a lot of questions in that simple statement.

"It will take too long to explain, just trust me on this. Unless I go up in fire balls do not approach." Then an idea popped into her head, a crazy idea, and one that no Jedi should do or attempt to do but it might work. "Scratch that, just track." As Little Brother and Ossus Control bugged her for clarification, she checked to make sure she was strapped in tight and pulled the 'droid ejection' switch. She heard a long drawn out scream of surprise from Little Brother as he went flying up and back behind the fighter. Don't try this at home kiddies, as she pulled her own ejection seat, she gave the fighter a Force kick to the left, straight into the path of the Slayer. The Slayer never had a chance to deploy his voids or maneuver, the X-wing disintegrated against the Coral that the skip was made of and the Slayer dropped like a rock.

Tahiri watched slam in to the ground, in a swampy area just short of the spaceport. His skip was throwing mud, plants, the security fence and pieces of itself as it plowed into the soft ground. As it reached the end of the spaceport, it did a flip and flew through the air, end over end, until it finally came to a rest. As she gently floated down to the ground, she contacted Ossus Control, again.

"Ossus Control, did you track the droid?"

"Yes, ma'am," there was a note of astonishment in the controllers voice, as if she didn't believe what she just saw.

"Could you send someone out to pick him up please," Tahiri said as the ejection chair got closer to the ground. "Make sure they are gentle with him please, he is already going to give me a headache for not giving him any warning."

"Uh, yes ma'am a recovery team is being dispatched. We are sending a team out to your position."

Tahiri took a deep breath and reached out with her senses, she felt her spirits drop, as she understood what she was feeling.

"Negative Control, the Slayer is still alive, stand by," was her only comment as the chair came to a gentle rest. As she un-strapped herself and got up, the Slayer was also emerging from the now dead skip. As she removed her helmet and life support equipment, she studied his markings. Great he is the head Slayer; I couldn't get the new guy no that would be too easy.

["Will you allow me to remove my flight suit before we yell insults and slash each other up?"]

["I have waited a long time Abomination to slay you for the good of the gods, a few clicks of a time piece will not make the sacrifice any less pleasurable for I or the gods."]

["You honor me, Slayer."] Tahiri said as she reached down to remove her boots. ["However, I have appointment at 3:00 to have my head wrapping trimmed by one who is like a shaper, I can not be tardy. Let us kill each other quickly."]

As she removed her flight suit, she watch the Slayer try to make sense out of that joke, some ideas in Basic just didn't translate well into Yuuzhan Vong. She though about using the foot wrappings for a microsecond but discarded that idea instead ripped off her socks. The slayer laughed as she removed Bangor from a special holding case on her belt, being a living light saber he just won't do well in a vacuum and she wanted to protect him as much as possible.

["I understand the joke, Abomination,"] the Slayer said in a gruff voice. ["I have heard even the Infidels find you to be cursed by the gods and not right in the head."]

["Since when can you believe a Infidel?"] Tahiri made a dismissive gesture, which the Slayer laughs again. At least he is a happy warrior, Tahiri said as she ran her fingers back in her hair so that her scars showed, which Face had restored on her before they left 'Hawk-base. Rat and Elassar was not happy about it but she knew that they would have to be there to make this work. ["Again, thank you for the honor of allowing me to prepare myself to kill you."] The Slayer let out another laugh.

["The honor shall be mine as I call out to the gods to cast their holy gaze down to witness your death, Abomination."] He crouched down into a combat stance and extended his amphistaff for combat.

["I am not yet dead, Slayer,"] Tahiri said smiling and sending a command through the force for Bangor to extend and ignite.