He finally found her pacing the observation deck. Usually, there were a few off-duty personnel there, but it looked like Princess had scared them off.

He watched her fondly as she paced, he could see her body was taught, quivering with the force of whatever emotion she was feeling.

She was magnificent.

His own way. His own time.

How could he have wanted other women when she was there?

But... Anderson and Cronus had been so insistent. No inter-team relationships.

Well, screw that. He'd finally recognised her game when she told them about her grounding, and had felt flattered that she'd gone to those lengths.

She really hadn't had to.

His beautiful Swan. All he ever wanted.

He stepped in the doorway. "Princess," he said softly, walking towards her.

"Don't come near me, Mark. I'm not safe."

Laughing, he ignored her and pulled her into a swift hug. "Sometimes, you're even more of an idiot than Jason. I've spoken to Anderson."

Reluctantly, she pulled away. "The plan, Mark. We want me grounded."

"Yes, but we want you on missions. I pulled rank, and you'll go on missions." He clasped her bracelet around her wrist. "I'm not going out one man down. "

"I suppose I should thank you." she was slightly sullen. The bloody team again.

"Perhaps. I also asked him what went on. I believe his approval was for a Rigan pilot." He ran a finger down her cheek.

"Is this some sort of revenge, Mark?"

He moved closer, and she could feel his breath ghosting over her cheek as his mouth moved towards her ear. "I'm a Rigan pilot, honey."

Swiftly, he pulled her in close, his mouth moving and capturing hers in a loving kiss.

She felt her heart soar and her whole body tingle in response to that kiss, that kiss she'd been dreaming of for years.

It was over too soon, voices in the corridor causing him to pull away, but not before he again caressed her face with his finger, and not before she heard his breathed words in her ear. "And I'd better be the only Rigan pilot in your life."

Then, he was gone, sitting on the other side of the room by the time the door opened. She stood stunned, looking at him in astonishment. He raised his eyes from the magazine he had picked up and winked, before raising it.

She laughed out loud then. He'd be mortified when he realised that the magazine he seemed to be reading so intently was "Vogue".

She moved towards him, wanting to rescue him from immanent embarrassment when she realised that the people entering were a group of Red Ranger pilots.

The one in the lead caused her to stop in her tracks, a small sound of distress coming from her mouth.

It was enough to galvanise Mark into action. Long years as a team, long years loving, watching her, had made him sensitive to her every move. He stood and walked over to her, putting his arm around her shoulder, feeling worried as she seemed to collapse slightly against him.

"Can I help you gentlemen?"

The Red Rangers steps had been a deliberate unison as they made their way towards the observation deck. Just as deliberate was the mission to which they were coming to now carry out. With a whoosh the door had slipped open and they had strolled in. One forward the other slightly off to his side and only a single step away.

Greeted by the commander of the team, tension and rivalry began swelling. Neither officer immediately offered an explanation for why they were now there. The second just seemed to hold a bemused smirk as he looked from a stack of magazines, to the Mark, and then on to his partner. Making a sign the other was sure to find incoherent. He just shook his head.

The other paused giving him only a sideways glance as he questioned with a quick.

"Do what?"

The tall pilot looked sideways at his silent friend, concentrating hard on the sign language. When done, he gave a smirk and a small shake of his head. "Nah-h-h," he drawled long and lazy with a thick Okker-Australian accent. "Not him, it's that Bastard Condor we need to see."

Mark snorted. "Still a disrespectful little prick, aren't you, Shinji."

Shinji, his hair mussed from hours in his flight helmet, smirked as his team took up relaxing positions in different areas of the room. "Fuckin' oath." He caught sight of Princess leaning into the Eagle and gave a broad grin. "Babe! Didn't think I'd catch you here." He quickly shot forward and pulled her from Mark. She was drawn into a quick, but hard, kiss on the mouth.

"Hey," Mark warned low as he pressed his palm against Shinji's chest to push him off Princess. "Private property." He watched Shinji raised a brow and pulled Princess back to him. "You didn't answer my question. "

"Heh," Shinji chuckled. "Isn't it usually how we can help you?" He pressed his finger to his lips and frowned at Princess, who was looking at him desperately to keep his mouth shut. "Mint Lip balm, Babe? That's not your usual flavour."

Princess' eyes widened in horror as her mind cursed the obviously body-language-illiterate Flight Lieutenant. Mark read the implication and responded dryly. "No, it's mine."

There was a chuckle from one of the other pilots behind Shinji. "She's back…"

"What was that?" Mark snapped.

Shinji stifled a smirk and shrugged a shoulder. "Ignore the dogs-arse with the TV remote. I swear he's a fuckin' nut case. All he does is talk shit, and normally to himself."

The pilot responded to his Lieutenant with a distracted flip of the bird.

Princess' response was quiet. "Charming behaviour."

"Yeah," Mark agreed. "Do you want to watch the language, there's a lady in the room."

He shrugged, and then got a cheeky grin. "So, babe. Playing tonsil hockey with the Boss?"

She groaned, Mark snarled. "Her name is Princess, not Babe."

"Actually her name is Sarah."

Mark's eyes shot open and he looked toward Princess, who had palmed her forehead in distress. "You two are on a first name basis?"

Shinji gave a shit-eating grin and looked as though he was about to say something pretty seedy, but a pleading look from Princess forced him to change direction. "Uh … yeah. Nah. At the club a few weeks back, she asked me to hold her purse during the wet t-shirt competition. I found her ID card."

Princess let out the smallest of whimpers.

Shinji caught on and inwardly groaned. Behind him, two Rangers snickered. "Uh … well… not that she was a participant, or anything. No, uh … "

Mark seemed to gloss straight over the whole wet t-shirt thing, but went straight for the ID topic. "You rummaged through her purse?"

"Ahh, fuck," Shinji replied, irritated that Princess was playing miss innocent, again, and he had to cover for her. "It was her round, the bar-wench brought the drinks and I took the money from her wallet. The ID simply fell out." He hoped that was sufficient. It was a better response than her telling him her real name before they got down and dirty.

Mark gave Princess a concerned look. "Since when did you start hanging out with the Rigan Guys."

She sighed and pulled gently away from him. Her response as she strolled past Shinji and knuckled him in the ribs was barely audible. "About the same time you started hanging with the Rigan women."

Shinji exaggerated his reaction to Princess' poke in the ribs by contracting his stomach and leaning forward. "Hey hey, little girl. No teasing, now."

Mark was silent, his gaze wide on Princess.

Damn, she knew.

Just how much did she know?

Shinji noted the look and chewed on his cheek. Obviously Mark was non-the-wiser about Princess' indiscretions – unlike Tiny, who was still sending him nasty voice messages and emails warning him to stay away from her.

But if Mark and Princess were doing the horizontal mambo, then why did she call him? Why did she sound so … desperate?

Shinji fixed his eyes on Princess as she strolled past the only muscle-bound pilot on his squadron. The pilot, called Roid-Boy by his team, pulled a pack of cigarettes from his coat pocket and threw them to her. "Here, P, I owe you a pack."

Princess caught the small box at her chest and gasped – trust the Rangers to blow her innocence to Hell.

"She doesn't smoke," Mark muttered from his place in the room.

"No?" Rod-boy asked as he extended his hand to take the pack back. "Since when?

"Since ever."

Roid-Boy chuckled. "Are we talking about the same girl? Damn, I could have sworn the girl smoked like a chimney."

The silent pilot smirked and signed quickly to his team mates.

Both Shinji and Roid-Boy burst into laughter. "Damn, you're a sick-puppy," Shinji managed between snorts.

Mark was curious. "What did he just say?"

Princess glared over her shoulder at the mute pilot. "If it's what I think it is, I'll cut his hands off and he'll truly be a mute."

"Which is?"

Shinji thought now was the time to intervene. "Commander, mate. How jealous is the most jealous you've ever been in your life?"

Mark turned quickly to Shinji. "What?"

"I've got a revelation that is just going to drive you fuckin' insane."

Princess' head tilted and her eyes widened in absolute horror.

No, he wasn't….

Mark's curiosity was piqued, and he managed to flash a quick look at his third. One that conveyed worry it might involve her. "How … insane are talking here?"

"You are gonna die, man. I beat you to the punch, got the girl…and had one HELL of a ride." He smirked, noting Princess' look of absolute terror. "And I'm gonna ride her over, and over….and over. Fuck, it's out of this earth." He punctuated the 'over and over' with huge pelvic thrusts.

Snorts were heard from the other pilots. Mark's lip twitched and his hands balled in to fists at his side. He couldn't even look in the direction of the Swan … But he was ready to tear the hide of this mouthy little bastard in front of him.

"Bragging about it is going to get you into some serious, fucking trouble, Lieutenant."

He shrugged, "What's the point if you can't boast to the guys about the ultimate conquest?"

Princess' body shuddered. "Shin, please."

"It's not a competition, you smart-mouthed, arrogant sonova bitch."

"The Hell it isn't. I got chosen over you, man."

Roid-boy smirked at Princess. "Are you gonna call Med.? Or am I?"

"Oh God," she sighed in response. "He'll kill him."

Mark took a deliberately slow step towards Shinji, who had the biggest shit-eating grin known to man plastered across his face. "If I were you, I'd stop myself right there."

"And miss out on seeing your reaction? Hell no!" He slouched to one side and folded his arms across his chest. "I want to see your inadequate-for-the-task ass squirm."

"And feel my fist in your face, too?"

"Oh, that would still make it worth it, Commander." He started a stroll toward Princess, who was, by now, slouched so low she was almost sitting on the chair beside Roid-Boy.

Mark grabbed hold of Shinji's upper arm to stop his approach of the Swan. "Don't. Fucking. Say it. It's not right."

Shinji raised a brow. "Huh?" He flicked Mark's hand off him. "No touchie."

"Whether or not you bedded her is no one else's business, much less a bragging right." His eyes darkened, "if you so much as breathe it, I'll neuter you where you stand."

Shinji laughed in a challenging manner. "That a threat?"

"It's a promise."

He shook his head and rolled his eyes. "I'm talking about the X-315, you fuckin' idiot."

"The X-315?"

"Fuck, yeah, baby!" He repeated his pelvic thrust action.

Mark's entire demeanour changed. "No-o-o-o…way-y-y-y."

"What, you think I bumped uglies with Princess?" He winked at her, then let out a laugh. "Oh, I fuckin' WISH!"

Mark tapped his foot. "What else was I supposed to think?"

"Oh, and you really thought that I'd come in here and brag about it? Give me some credit, Jesus."

Mark shrugged, his blood pressure dropping back to normal. "So…how does she handle?"

"Like a god damn Thailand whore."

Princess raised a brow, "is that good, or bad?"

"Fucked if I know. It's just a saying, supposed to be good I 'spose."

Mark seemed completely calmed and fascinated by whatever Shinji had to say now. "So?"

"Beats the Hell out of your piece of shit."

"Impossible," he muttered jealously in defence of his jet. His head then tilted to one side. "Hey, how come you were chosen for the testing?"

"Cause I am a better pilot than you?" His eyes rose cheekily to Princess, who dropped and shook her head.

"I don't think so, asshole."

"Let's ask Prin, then." The mischief in his voice and the hint of what Shinji truly meant wasn't lost on Princess. "Whose better, eh? Me, or Mark?"

Roid-Boy coughed into his drink, the silent one silently laughed. Princess narrowed her eyes, then raised her hands in her own defence. "I … am so-o-o staying out of that one."

Mark smirked, then realization hit. "Hey, hang on. How would she know what kind of pilot you are? She's never flown with you."

"No-o-o-o," Shinji said very slowly, a hint of something in his voice. "Not in the air…"

Mark ignored it, obviously oblivious now that jets seemed to be the topic of conversation. "So. Is she here?"

Shinji dangled a set of keys in Mark's face. "Dry-dock hangar 3. Tiffany is up there refuelling and shit." He nudged him. "I'm sure she'd be thrilled to see you."

Mark felt a small moment of panic when he heard Princess let out a breath. "Uh, yeah-h-h. Maybe I'll wander down later."

Shinji let the keys swing from side to side. "Are you sure-e-e-e-e? We might have to leave soon-n-n."

Mark snatched the keys from his fingers. "Temptation's too great. I've got to see this!" He started to run from the room, then paused, skipped between feet and addressed Princess. "Uh, Prin. I … I'll see you later." He anxiously waited for her nod then bolted out of the room. "Make sure they……" the remainder of his sentence inaudible as he moved further form them.

Princess immediately rushed Shinji and punched his shoulder. "You. ASSHOLE!"

He let out a laugh and pulled her into a hug. She readily accepted the embrace. "Man, the ultimate mind-fuck. How could I resist?"

"God, Roid-Boy and I were gearing up to call base med."

He pulled her to the side and kept an arm draped comfortably over her shoulder. He made sure she kept both hands on his hips and dropped her head on his shoulder. "Babe, I can handle him well enough."

Roid Boy snorted, "bullshit. You ended up in the infirmary getting into a sparring session with him."

He flipped the bird at his team mate, then looked down at Princess. "So," he asked. "I got your message, everything okay?"

She nodded, "Yeah. I had one of those moments, you know?"

"Damn, and it's gone?"

She giggled. "Mark kinda … killed it for you."

"Are you and him... you know?"

She shook her head. "Baby-steps, Shin."

"Ahhhh, okay."

"But, now that you're here. You can help me out with something."

"Sexual?"

Her body nudged him. "One-track mind. Anywa-a-a-a-a-y. How much do you know about Cronus?"

Shinji shrugged and looked to his two team mates, one of whom offered him an identical shrug. "Not a great, fuckin' deal. He's a secretive old-fart. Why?"

"Well, the team and I are tired of this secretive crap. We are on a mission to find out as much information about him as we can."

"Wish I could help, Babe." He glanced up to his silent team mate, who signed rapidly. "Oh … really?"

Princess rolled her head to watch. "What's he saying?"

"Heh heh. He says he knows the passwords to the personnel files. We can probably hack into them from …." He paused and tilted his head as the pilot continued his hand signs. "Ranger HQ. That's not a real fuckin' help, man. Can't we do it from here?"

Roid Boy lit a cigarette and tossed his lighter, still lit, up and down in the air. "If we can hack from HQ, we can do it from that blue piece of shit you guys call a warship."

"Don't knock the Phoenix, Tiny can hear an insult to her from 100 miles. He'll hunt you down."

Shinji chewed on his cheek. "Tiff can hack into the Phoenix computer from the main computer here." He looked down at her accusing stare. "We had to, Babe. If we didn't do it that time, you guys would have been on the wrong trajectory for re-entry."

"Yeah, but did you have to change the voice program on the Phoenix to sound like PeeWee Herman? It's frightening hearing that voice when there's an alarm."

"Alarms are supposed to be scary."

She rolled her eyes. "Tiffany…Only Tiffany can do it?"

Shinji nodded. "Yeah, that a problem?"

She slouched. "Uh, yeah-h. She screwed Mark, then bragged about it for weeks. I don't really want to spend all night with her flirting with him while we try and raid the databanks."

"Ahh, I think we can keep her away from him."

She tapped at her teeth in thought. "But if you guys are here, that means Cronus and Anderson are, too. It'll be hard to get in without being seen."

Roid-boy piped up. "Use the AC ducts."

They both looked at him with tilted heads. "Huh?"

Roid Boy blew a puff of blue smoke into the air. "I thought you were a reconnaissance expert, P?"

"Yeah, I am."

"Then I'll blame your lust for the Wallaby over there on you not being able to figure out that you can sneak anywhere on this base through the AC ducts."

"I don't lust Shin."

"No, of course not."

Shinji rubbed his chin. "That….is a good idea."

Princess smiled. "So you guys are on board then?"

"Always up for stirring the pot, Babe." She then gave a sneaky grin. "On one condition."

Her brow rose. "No sex, so don't ask."

"Just one little kiss?" He pulled her to him and ran his fingers through his hair. His other hand nestled on her hip.

She sighed and raised her mouth to his to comply. Their lips met for only a nano-second before he was roughly pulled away from her by a hand much larger than he though Mark had.

"I thought I told you to stay away from her."

Shinji hit the wall, not too hard, then let out a long sigh. "Fuck, Big guy. You always walk in at the wrong time."

"Stay away from her you little piece of dirt."

Shinji rolled his eyes and grunted as he wandered over to Roid-Boy and leaned his hand on the back rest of the chair. Mark, he could possibly take on….not Tiny…. "Whatever."

Tiny frowned at Princess. "I thought we'd discussed this."

"It's not what you think, Tyne. We're just friends, that's all."

He ignored her, but glared down the Ranger pilot on question.

Jason's voice interrupted the suddenly uncomfortable silence. "Well, well. Look who the Colonel dragged in."

Shinji stood up straight and thrust his hand into his back pocket, producing a neatly folded piece of paper. "The latest stats, Jase. We're even at 27."

"Get off, there's no way you're up there with me."

"Read it and weep, Jase. I got you with a signature from Sarah."

Tiny growled low and dangerous, glaring at Princess.

"Sarah? Who the fuck is Sarah?"

"I reckon you'd know her … she's on the G-Force project." He dared not look at either Tiny, nor Princess.

Princess stammered and ushered the three pilots out of the room. "Uh, come on, guys. We should, probably get going on the mission."

Shinji made a finger gun and shot at Jason. "Cut off is two weeks, man. You'd better get crackin'."

The trio left the room leaving Tiny and Jason alone….It was time for their little chat.