Tahiri watch as the people of Coruscant worked feverishly to rebuild the damage caused to the planet as the result of the war with the Dark Side. The planet had been ravaged and burned clean like Ithor had been early in the Yuuzhan Vong war. The misguided forces of evil attacked Coruscant and killed off the World Brain and all who lived here. It has been many years and too many battles since the recovery began nevertheless, slowly and surly the planet was coming alive once more and would soon joined with the harmony of the galaxy. Tahiri should be proud of her work but yet somehow she wasn't, the cost to bring peace had been high. Worth while to the galaxy as a whole, as Sekot reminded her often, but the cost was so high.

At least that was the impression Tahiri was getting from the Force while watching her future self-guild the rebuilding. It was … creepy … watching an older version of her walking around and talking and that version not being able to interact with her. It was almost as if she was watching a holo or …perhaps she was the holo watching reality?

"Now there is an interesting question to ponder!" a voice said from behind her. Tahiri turned around and saw the other 'her' standing there watching her with an amused expression on her or its face. This version was about her age and wearing GFFA combat armor, sporting both human and Yuuzhan Vong technology weapons and the three scars Tahiri wore at times. She was also an odd creature since the Light and Dark chased each other around her body in some kind of complex and yet symbolic dance. Tahiri has seen her before in her visions, and yet had no real clue as to what it represents. The facsimile gave her a bright smile and said, "That is a question for another time but let's answer your first question, are you real or are you the holo?"

Tahiri turned fully to face … herself? … and crossed her arms wondering if it was reading her mind.

"Of course I am, silly wily, this is your brain we are in," it looked around with a look that can be best described as patronizing, "I do admit there is not much in here but we can only expect so much with the materials we have to work with."

"Oh ha ha," Tahiri said deadpan, "great I am going insane and I have a comedian running around lose in my head."

"Oh you are not insane, at least not yet but you still have not answered my question."

"Since we are standing here talking to each other and you said we are in my head then I must be real."

"So what is all this then?" It asked waving its arm at the scenes around them.

Tahiri looked around at the new scene, it was another planet and another glorious tribute to Sekot.

"I guess it is the Force showing me the future or what one possible future would look like and I am supposed to try to figure out what it means," Tahiri answered and then giving her partner a sidelong glance, "I supposed you are the same thing, a question I am supposed to figure out."

"Ah, but this is what the fourth or five time you have had this particular vision or at least the same theme," it answered looking around with a faintly disgusted look on its face, "kind of boring place don't you think?"

"This is the fifth time as you well know since you been here each time to drive me mad and do you mean it is boring because no one is out to kill each other, exploit each other or make each other miserable?"

"Exactly, this place is like an Amish community only on steroids," the other Tahiri said wrinkling her nose as if she smelled something bad.

"A what?" Tahiri asked in confusion. Around her the planet Denon, or what Denon would look like without its great cityscape dominating the land, swam it to view. The people of Denon had torn it down, level-by-level, brick by brick to pay homage to the Sekot.

"Skip it for now, it will be easier to explain a duck-billed platypus," the other Tahiri said with a mischief smile and twinkle in her eye. "The real question you should be asking is this, 'is this the best we can hope for?'"

"What is wrong with this?" Tahiri asked in confusion, not even bothering asking what a platypus was, as the landscape change once again, this time showing a mass evacuation as the great space stations around another planet is purposely sent to a fierily death. On the surface and in the ships heading to the surface a great celebration is being carried out to honor the great Sekot. "What more could someone want? There is no death, no pain, no …"

"No excitement, no learning, no duck billed platypus to find," the other one screwed up her face in a more disgusted expression. "Is this what life is all about, to be a nerf?"

"Oh so they should live in pain and in fear? What kind of life is that?" Now Tahiri could see the great shipyards around Kuat being dismantled and its resources sent to the surface.

"I don't know, Tahiri you tell me." Her twin said getting uncomfortably close and staring deeply into her soul. "Do they have schools or universities here? Are they exploring and learning or just sitting around getting fat and existing instead of living!"

"I …" Tahiri broke off, in all her visions she never saw anyone doing anything except doing work to help Sekot. It was as if Sekot was the beginning and the end of everyone's existence. Tahiri turned away and looked over at the scene again, which way was better for the galaxy, this simple peaceful existence or the death, pain and the unknown that the galaxy has only known until now? Could she live like this and be happy, can anyone? Then again, they all seem happy. Were they? Is that the ultimate goal to be a nerf? She shivered as the idea past in her thoughts, she could never live like this.

"Ah, see you can learn can't you. Now tell me this oh wise Jedi Warrior, what lessons does Riina Kwaad and Tahiri Veila remember the best from their childhood? When they sat in a lecture listing to others or when they went out and faced life and all its complexities and dangers? Which lessons have you learned the best, by being a drone and having everything spoon fed to you or when you go out looking for that strange but beautiful duck billed platypus?"


Tahiri jerked forward, bruising her chest on the restraining straps designed to keep her from taking a header into the control panel.

"Captain, are you alright?' A small voice said from the pilot seat next to her. 

"Yea, I'm fine, bad dreams," she replied running her left hand through her hair. She had a strange though that it was time to get it cut again as she tried to center herself in the here and now. "How long was I asleep, Pathfinder?"

"Six hours ma'am," Ruskin said somehow watching the panel and her at the same time without being obvious about it. When Tahiri first heard about the young Noghri, who was about her age, had joined the Wraith, she wondered if he had been assigned to keep an eye on her by the request of her adopted family. However, after spending a few weeks together, she found out that he was as much of a misfit as the rest of them were. The reason, the real reason, he was late in joining the group was the argument his clan was having with the Defense Fleet. They wanted him to return to Wayland and continued his duties there, while he had other ideas. The Defense Fleet was happy to have him join the Wraiths and interceded on his behalf. Ruskin's clan was displeased with this idea and from what Tahiri has learned a displeased clan was what every Noghri went out of their way to avoid. Although Ruskin has never come right out and said it, it would be unlikely he would be welcomed with open arms when he returned.

"How long till we get back to the Hawk-Bat?"

"Six hours ma'am."

Tahiri pinned him with a half jest half mean glare, while he was a radical to his people he was still too stiff to be a proper Wraith.

"Peacekeeper, Pathfinder, say it Peacekeeper. Not Jedi, not ma'am, not glorious and ol wises of wise leader, not captain; just Peacekeeper."

"Yes ma …"

"Noooooooo, Peacekeeper." Tahiri held up one finger and pointed at him like a blaster, "Say it Pea-ce-keep-er"

"Yes Peacekeeper," Pathfinder said squiring under her glare.

"Very good, now why do we need to practice using our code names and not rank?"

"So we don't give away any more information as to our identity to our enemies then we can help."

"That's right, if you call me ma'am that will give them some clues to our command structure which might help them come up with a plan to defeat us." The look he gave her sent volumes of information on what he though the chances were of anyone stopping them, not that she could really disagree with that vain of thought. "Well ok, I know what you mean but that is the way Poster Boy wants it, so we'll humor the old guy."

"Ok Peacekeeper," Ruskin said with a chuckle.

"I'm going to check on the rest of the crew," Tahiri said unbuckling her straps and standing up.

As usual, she was a bit lightheaded and hungry after the visions, just as she was after any prolong use of the Force or combat. Elassar, a former Wraith, had theorized that since she was still undergoing her shaping and her unique heritage caused her body to burn energy at a greater rate then normal Human standards or even Yuuzhan Vong. In addition, using the Force excessively and for long sustained periods just aggravated the problem. What her body will be like when, or if, the shaping has finally ran its course was still up for debate. Since she was the first, possibly the only known case of human and Yuuzhan Vong, much more is not known then known when it comes to her. This included her Force perception; while she has grown in both power and in her ability to see several different shades, if you would, of the Force, others have reported that she was growing 'dimmer'. It was as if she was slowly turning into a full Yuuzhan Vong but from her point of view everything, the Yuuzhan Vong and its life forms, the Humans, and all the creatures of this galaxy, were getting brighter.

She wished that she could talk to Jacen and see what his read on her was, of all the Jedi out there only he could also see and control Yuuzhan Vong life. Would he see her as dimmer or would he see her shining brightly? Of course, since she hasn't seen him or heard anything about his whereabouts since he chased her half way around Denon, the question would have to stay unanswered. That is if it had been Jacen that night? She thought to herself as she stopped at the small galley area directly behind the cockpit. The feeling she got from him, the read so to speak, seemed more like Sekot then Jacen but that made no sense either. If it had been Sekot, several questions came to mind. Like, why would Sekot attempt to trick her? How could Sekot project its self that far across the galaxy? Why hasn't it tried to contact her again? What did it mean when he, she, or it said that Rat would destroy her? Moreover, if it had been Jacen, why hasn't he showed up again? At least contact her by mail or voice communication? Master Skywalker had, through very carefully worded questions, asked Face if he knew of any sighting of Jacen since that night. Of course, now I have another question to answer, Tahiri thought as she grabbed a couple high protein bars and a cup of hot chocolate, what is the purpose of life? Somehow, she just knew that answer would answer all the other questions and would of course be the hardest to answer.

However, all her visions since her birth had been center on two themes, free will and the purpose of life and how the two interconnect. Whatever was going on or will happen, the answer to those two questions would help guild her thought it … whatever it was.

Tahiri rubbed her forehead, noticing her missing scars again, and started feeling a headache coming on. Too bad Rat and Little Brother weren't here for me to share this headache with, she thought as a pang of loneliness passed quickly though her. She didn't have the luxury to feel lonely right now or worry about what trouble those two were getting into. Because she was sure that if there was trouble within twelve parsecs of their location, they would find it, probably by stumbling into face first.

"How is it going back here?" Tahiri asked when she found the rest of the crew.

"Not good Peacekeeper," Uhilka, a.k.a. Hunter, said frowning up at her.

"What is the problem," Tahiri asked as she sat down and began munching on the protein bar.

"We're not sure, exactly," Sorr, a.k.a. Watcher, said in a frustrated tone, "we are not sure if what we are seeing makes sense or if it is just the fact that the three of us don't have enough experience with humans to decipher the data properly."

"What do you mean Watcher?"

"It's just what we have reordered doesn't fit with our perceptions of what being a human being means," she said looking disgusted with the galaxy at large and her self. "All three of us have had some contact with humans, true none who were from imperial worlds and all had been in the military but there shouldn't that much of a difference."

"Yea, I had a weird impression of that ship yard also," Tahiri said ignoring the look of disgust that Snipe was giving her as she ate her meal. Snipe never did like those quick and easy protein bars, truth be told neither did Tahiri but any port in a storm.

"Since you are a Jedi, ma'am, and you have yet to be briefed on what we collected; we are hoping you could tell us if you have any impressions about the places we check out before we tell you our ideas."

"Its 'Peacekeeper', Snipe, no rank or I will force feed you some of these food bars," Tahiri saw Sorr give her friend a playful punch while Snipe went green at the thought of eating these bars. Well, greener anyways. Tahiri, while wishing she was eating a steak or even one of Rat's attempts at cooking, tried to sum up her impressions. Ruskin and she had been in at the controls during all fly bys. She had left the probe work, data collection and annalist to these three and had purposely avoided getting involved until now. There were two reasons for this action, one was sneaking in and out of Imperial bases was exacting and nerve racking work and she needed Ruskin and herself to be at peek readiness. The second reason was the knowledge that she was in charge and had far more important jobs and worries then to hover over everyone's shoulder, making sure they did their job. As nerve racking as it had been, she had to learn to trust others to do what they do so she was free to do her job. It was one of those benefits of command no one had ever bothered to warn her about. She wondered how Luke, Wedge and Face could ever learn to let go and trust people, to trust her, and not go nuts with worry. "I was surprised that I could get anything in the Force at all, I usually can't get anything that far out. It was almost eerie how clear it was and how … unified it felt."

"What do you mean unified?"

"It just felt like … One."

"One?" Hunter repeated, then paused to think about what to say next, "do you mean like a … hive mind?"

"A what …" Tahiri asked as she got up to get some more bars.

"Could you hand me one please, ah thank you Peacekeeper," Hunter said as he collected his thoughts, "it was an idea I heard one day from a scientist I was assigned to protect. It was towards the end of the war, I was recovering from an earlier injury and we were so far behind the lines there wasn't much of a danger of being attacked."

"What a plum assignment, who did you kill to get that job?" Sorr said with a grin.

"Really, let me tell you I was on the ground at Coruscant, I would have given anyone any body part just to be consider for that job," Snipe said with a good nature laugh, " in fact I would gave anyone a part of anyone else to get there."

"Yea, I'll admit it was nice duty for awhile, it was there that I learned that 'almost no chance' wasn't the same thing as 'no chance'." Hunter said with a bitter laugh, "anyways, before the war the guy was big into bugs. That was why they tapped him, to see if he could come up with a defense against those thugs and razor bugs that the Warriors liked so much. He once told me that bugs were pretty unique in the universe because individually they are very stupid but in a hive they are as smart as you or I."

"Uh," Snipe said from behind Tahiri. He had finally broken down and grabbed a bar for himself, and a few more for her. "Next time we head out, we need to pack some real food."

"Tell that to Junk Pile," Sorr said grabbing one of his bars, "he said this was real food."

"Crazy droid alright," Snipe said, "but what do you mean they are as smart as we are anyways?"

"Well, he tried explaining to me but in the end it was something he had to show," Hunter said, "it's not something that can be explained but experienced. Have you ever looked at an insect's hive, I mean really studied one. They are truly a work of art, the complexity and organization skills that are needed to develop one on our scale are beyond our abilities. Yet, a simple bug with the most primitive nerves system and no real brainpower, collectively, construct a hive that is almost living it self. The insects all working in concert to protect and grow the colony, yet separate one from the hive and it can't do anything." Hunter threw up his arms is frustration, "I know I am not being very clear but like I said it has to be observed not explained."

"So is there a central figure running the hive?" Tahiri asked as absently munched on her bar. There was something about the Hive-mind that was not sitting well with her.

"At the beginning yes, the Queen. However, at some point, the Hive grows too big and then the Hive takes over. The Hive begins to dictate how much growth is needed, where to expand and how much expansion is necessary. The individual insect no longer exist only the Hive. When your dwelling is invaded by insects, do you kill the individuals? No, they are not the problem and can be replaced. The Hive is the problem and must be eliminated."

"Do you think that higher forms of life can be 'Hive-minds'," Watcher asked looking concern.

"I don't know," Hunter said sounding frustrated, "I am not an expert on this kind of stuff. We'll have to ask Doc or someone outside the Wraiths, but I doubt it."

"What about the occults, you know the ones who use drugs or mind control to control their 'converted'?"

"Like I said, I am not an expert at this; you really need to talk to Doc."

"But do you have a guess," Tahiri said feeling that the answer to this question was an important step to solve … whatever it was that she needed to solve.

"I hate to guess at this point I might be totally of base on this."

"Understood, now tell me."

"Ma'am really this could be a total wrong vector …" he cut himself of as she glared at him, "ok, don't say I didn't warn you. Are the people in cults able to be reclaimed after the leader or drugs are removed?"

"I think so," Snipe said pulling up a file at his station. "According to the information in here, most are able to recover once the outside influence is removed. Something like 76.098 but that is after weeks to months of treatment."

"Then I would say no, a Hive-mind is more intense then that. You just don't surrender your will and control; you surrender your identity, your free will if you want. You don't just become one of many you become the many."

Tahiri sat back and chewed on what Hunter had said, the more she chewed the fouler it tasted.

"Hunter, do you think that could be what we are seeing in the Empire?" Sorr asked.

"I hate to go that far, I am not an expert on this," Hunter started to say but was waved silent by Tahiri.

"That is what these sessions are all about Flight Officer Uhilka, we take what we know and start building theories. We compare the theories with Commander Loran and the rest and we see what sticks and what doesn't. If we are wrong, then we are wrong and we start from scratch or go out and get more information. You may not be an expert in this field but you are an intelligent being and I need your ideas." She looked at all three in turn, "all of your ideas, no mater how crazy it may seem. I want to have something to give the rest when we get back. Now give me the hard data first then we will see what we have after that because," Tahiri stopped as many of the visions she has had since she was 'born' flashed in her mind's eye. "Because somehow I think this is a very important find."

By the time they arrived home, Tahiri went for a sour stomach to out right fear, they had only a small sample and no real hard evidence but the circumstantial evidence was strong and compelling. What she needed to do now is to see what Commander Loran and his team found and if it matches, to plan further trips into the Empire.

Looks like it will be a day or two before they can get rolling, Tahiri thought as Ruskin and she shut down the shuttle. The Sweet Sunrise was not in the hanger, but there were two new X-wings off to the side. I wonder how Squeaky managed to snag those two for us?

As they disembark from the shuttle, Squeaky met her at the bottom of the ramp.

"Welcome home Captain, I hope you had a successful trip."

"Thank you, Squeaky. I believe we had a very successful mission, but I guess we will have to wait for Commander Loran to know just how successful it was. When is he planning to return?"

"Tomorrow, if all goes according to plan."

"Well guys, looks like you get some down time tonight," Tahiri said with a grin and then turn back to Squeaky. "By the way, how did you manage to get two X-wings here?"

"Your guest brought them out with them." Squeaky said, looking nervous.

"Guest, we have guest?"

"Yes, ma'am, they arrived yesterday."

"Did someone send out invitations and forgot to tell me," Tahiri said in a false sweet voice, arms crossed and staring daggers into Squeaky. There were standard orders that she and Commander Loran were to be notify immediately if anyone enters the base, no exceptions.

"I'm sorry ma'am but I was order not to inform you in yesterday's update."

"Who's orders?"

"Your guest order me, ma'am."

"And who is my guest?"

"Ma'am they are waiting for you in on the patio, perhaps it would be better if they explained why they are here."

Tahiri sweep past Squeaky, with her crew behind her, and headed to the patio to see who these guests were. Moreover, how they could have the authority to over ride Commander Loran's standing orders and convince Squeaky to break those orders. Squeaky, while occasionally annoying, was a stickler for following procedures to the letter. As she got nearer to the patio she could hear voices, she though that she knew then but was unsure. When she saw who was sitting at a table, with dinner already spread out, she came to a stop.

"Greetings Tahiri," Calghal, Jedi Master and healer, said as she nodded her head in greeting.

"Welcome home, Captain. I'm glad to have finally meet you and look forward to work with you, again," former General Wedge Antilles said with a smirk on his face.

For some reason, Tahiri felt as if she just jumped out of the amphistaff garden into the Sarlac pit.