Hello. I think this chapter may be a little fluffier than I intended, but I can't help it, I have a lot of stuff I want to put in this. So, this is where stuff really starts to happen (like those "sightings" Mace Windu or someone talked about) Also, I will be releasing the first chapter of Crusade Squad's back stories relatively soon. So, the first I might release will be Ratchet. Chapter 4 of The Lizard War!


In the briefing room, Kiki stood in front of the single, wide window, watching the blue lines of hyperspace streak by her view. "Are all of you here?" she said without turning around.

"Yes sir," Bliz voiced. The rest of the Squad stood at attention in the back of the room, facing the holo-projector in the center.

"Have a seat." Kiki turned around and motioned to the chairs surrounding the projector. Everyone found a seat and sat down, resting their helmets on the floor by their feet. Kiki sighed and fully turned around. She could feel the apprehension rolling off of her men in waves, even from Anakin and Rex.

"I know," she began carefully, "that you're not looking forward to this mission to my home planet, but we were requested by the queen herself, and the Jedi council agreed and said I would go." Without even consulting me first, Kiki thought irately. "This mission is also partly personal for me." Kiki sighed and rubbed her forehead. "This shouldn't take as long as it did last time, and we're most likely just going to be at the second palace, far away from the first battle site at the capital." Let's hope we don't have to go through the same horrors we did last time, either, she thought. Because of Kiki's enhanced mind abilities through the Force-basically telepathy- she could practically hear the thoughts of everyone in the room. Dark memories chasing each other in everyone's minds, she could hear screaming and almost feel the pain that they had all endured. Kiki clutched her head, trying to clear it of the pain that was staring to flood her senses.

"Sorry, sir," Jax said immediately. He knew exactly what was happening in Kiki's mind. "Just so many things…" he let his voice trail off and sent Kiki an apologetic look.

Kiki only shook her head. "It's okay. We've all had bad experiences there." Well, at least I have people I can look forward to meeting, Kiki thought with some happiness.

"Sir, where will we be landing? I understand that we have to bring multiple gunships down planet side, but the main castle didn't have any landing pads, will the secondary?" Bliz asked after raising his hand.

"Yes, the secondary palace has a landing pad, but it can only fit two gunships side-by-side. You don't need to worry about where we are going to fit one hundred seventy-five clone troopers, because the east wing has been given to us for our use." Kiki gave a faint smile at the astonished looks on her men's faces.

"An entire wing, sir? What if that's too much space?" Edger couldn't help but voice his worry.

Kiki looked over to him. "Don't worry, Edger. That's just enough space. There is also a kitchen for your use. As long as you don't burn anything, we'll all be fine." Kiki tried to reassure her men of more than just burned food. The joke did nothing to melt the more than grim look on Cord's face, though. Kiki sighed and turned off the holo-projector. "Bliz, get the transports ready, we'll be leaving at 0900." Kiki turned back to the window, dismissing her men.

"Oh yes," Kiki said turning back around to face them. "You'll be getting a new member of Crusade Squad when we touch down on Verocia."

"A new member, sir?" Bliz asked. Kiki nodded.

"Is it a good idea to be bringing a new guy into the group…now?" Jax asked. Right when we're going to Verocia?

"I asked him, and he said yes," Kiki answered. Of course, she asked him. Edger rubbed his chin in thought. Kiki had asked all of them whether or not they would like to join Crusade Squad. Edger heard Cord sigh and turned back towards the door.

"Oh yeah, and guys?" Kiki's voice stopped them once again. "Be nice to him."

Ratchet thought it would be a little hard to be kind to anyone if nightmares would be keeping him up most of the night.


Edger gripped the handle on the LAAT/i tightly in one fist, his DC-15 in the other with an even stronger grip. He didn't want to come back. He didn't imagine the Generals or even the Captain and Commander wanting to come back to this planet. But, orders were orders, so he had no choice but to go in head first and hope for the best. Edger felt the slow decent of the gunships as it drew near the secondary palace. He could see bright sunlight filtering through the spaces in the doors, letting him catch glimpses of his surroundings. The LAAT/i touched down on the landing pad, and Edger saw Cord grip the handle even harder, looking as if he weren't about to let go. He could tell Jax was paling under his helmet. Edger continued to look around the gunship. There were many shinnies on the ship, so any one of them could be the new recruit Kiki had told them about.

The gunship finally landed and the doors opened. By now, Cord really looked as he weren't about to let go of the handle. But, in the end he did, and Edger followed as Cord stiffly walked out of the hold.

"Kriff ," Edger swore. "It even smells the same," Edger noted disdainfully. Jax only shrugged his shoulders and walked into line, the bright sun making his armor glare.

Kiki lead down the middle with Bliz, Danda, Anakin, Ahsoka, and Rex. They led the group up a large set of stairs to an even larger door. Jax glanced around when he stepped inside. The hallway was wide, with high ceilings and delicate decorations on the walls.

"Look sharp men," Kiki whispered. Jax stood up straighter when he saw a woman coming down the way towards them.

She was wearing a yellow gown that reached the ground, with a slit going up one leg. She had a complicated head dress with jet black hair and pale blue skin resembling Kiki's. Actually, she looks a lot like General Jorani, Jax noted with slight amazement. He assumed she was Queen Makoria of Verocia. The Queen smiled at Kiki in a way that Jax found strange. It was more familiar than he thought it would be.

"I'm so glad you're here. We have been experiencing troubles with the Separatists lately. Count Dooku has been asking me to join the Separatist alliance, even though we are a neutral planet."

Kiki nodded her head, an unreadable expression riddling her features. "Well, your highness, that's why we're here. We'll unpack and be ready for you to call us." The queen smiled again.

Jax picked up two movements from the scanners in his helmet, one from behind the queen, the other from out the window. Jax looked harder through the window to his right. He saw another flash of movement, and he knew it wasn't just a bird or some small animal. When he looked upon closer inspection, he saw that the skin was green, almost scaly. No, he thought with sudden fear. That's impossible! They can't be- Jax's thoughts were interrupted when the queen started speaking again.

"Let me show you where you and your men shall keep your belongings." She turned around to start walking down the hall, but a little head popped out from behind her dress. "Ri! I told you to stay inside!"

Ahsoka cocked her head at what the child said next. "But I want to see aunty," she said, clinging to the woman's dress. She couldn't have been more than two years old. Ri looked around at the adults before her before spotting Kiki,

"Aunty!" Ri cried, running up to hug Kiki's leg.

"Aunty?" Anakin asked, raising an eyebrow at Kiki.

"I am so sorry! I don't know why she doesn't listen to me anymore," Queen Makoria immediately started apologizing for the toddler's behavior.

Ri looked up at the other adults. "Hi," she said shyly, peeking out from behind Kiki's leg.

Anakin smiled at Ri. "Hey there," he said to her. Ri gasped and hid behind Kiki's leg, peeking out to look at Anakin. Anakin made a face and Ahsoka giggled.

"Well, since it looks like Ri won't be leaving any time soon," Queen Makoria waved her hand down the hallway. "I might as well give you a tour of the palace. I would have started at the main entrance, but we are doing some…renovations," she sighed. She walked down the hallway, the Jedi, clones, and little Ri behind her.

Jax caught another sight of movement from his scanners through the large window. Whatever it was was starting to unnerve him to a point where Kiki could feel it.

"Jax, are you okay?" She stalled her speed to line up with him. Jax stiffened a little at her closeness, but answered anyway.

"I'm fine, sir," Jax lied. He wasn't fine. He was sure he was seeing things. There was no way they could be back, they'd made sure of that the last time they came to this nightmare-of-a-planet. Jax instantly regretted not speaking up about having to return. Now he was sure there would not be peace for any of them…


So! The revised version of chapter 4 of The Lizard War is finally up! Yeah, I didn't really have much to change about this particular chapter, considering how I couldn't find anything besides grammar mistakes. You will be seeing who the new mystery recruit is, along with some more crazy children and OC that will definitely play an important part in this story in the next chapter or so (I forgot -_-'). Behind the Scenes thingy: Even though Edger is a kind of a perv, he just has magazines. Bliz is the one who thinks he is the sexiest man alive, and sometimes he has some dirty thoughts about Kiki. Also, if you look at my picture of Chibi Crusade Squad on deviantART (link on my profile page) you would already know who the new guy is going to be. I have a donation pool up, for those of you who have dA accounts. So, until next time!

~AAx