Ok so its not before the 23rd, but at least its before the end of the month. anyway i hope you enjoy

The Underdogs

Part 11

The Tedagorians

Nani was up and ready for her first lesson with white wolf. She was wearing the standard uniform that every serving soldier received when they found their quarters, except for the experiments they didn't get a uniform. The uniform consisted of a pair of urban camouflage trousers and a matching top. Their foot ware consisted of a pair of black boots. They also got a pair of black gloves, a pair of goggles and a helmet, though these things where not mandatory to wear until they actually went into battle (Note: you can find a picture of the uniform at my homepage in the "My Arsonal" photo folder. Its called urban camo)

"ah Nani, I'm glad to see I didn't have to wake you up. You would have found it rather, unpleasant" white wolf said with a slight chuckle and a boyish smile. "anyway, if you would like to follow me I'll show you where we will be spending most of our time on this trip. Oh and before I forget, nice haircut. Shoulder length hair really dose suit you" hearing this Nani just huffed. She may have suited short hair, but she felt somewhat naked without it. all her life she had long hair and now it was gone.

Arriving at a small room Nani was surprised to see that it was filled with black squares and red lines.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you know what this room is called. Its called a holo room. Basically this room is just one giant simulator. You feel heat, pain, exhaustion, everything. Now I'll tell you the program that you will be going through; everyday you will meet me here at 6am, and don't be late because you wont like it if I have to wake you up. We will train for an hour and a half then you can go off and get a shower and something to eat. This program allows you to eat with the officers who's meals are served an hour after everyone else, so you will avoid your sister.

"after breakfast you will come back here to train with me until lunch, which will be at 2, when their will be another hour break. Before coming back here to train with me again until 7 when, you guessed it, you will get another hour break for dinner. You will then come back here for a final hour and a half before returning to your quarters.

"now normally I would give you a week to let me see how fit you are and what you are capable of. But since we really have a short amount of time, I'm going to give you one day, today, to show me what you can do." and with that Nani put on her game face and went to work showing Virgil just what she could do.

Stitch, Palua, Rouge, Blissey, Ruby, and demo where just leaving their quarters to go and get some breakfast. They had no idea what to suspect, but Palua did know was that she was already beginning to miss Nani. It wasn't until she woke up that she realised that this would be the longest time she spent away from her. It was also the furthest away she has ever been, and it was thanks to all this that Palua felt a little home sick.

Arriving at the cafeteria they where surprised to see it so full. Sure they saw it when they had their dinner just last night, but just the sheer volume of people that could fit into one room. And there where suppose to be another 5 in this ship alone, not including the officers cafeteria.

The way they made the food was an amazing combination between real ingredients and artificial ingredients made by a replicator. Even though they did have more than enough supplies to last them the full trip, both going to Turo and getting back to earth, but this way even the greediest of soldiers would get more than their fill of food that tasted just as good as food that was prepared using all natural ingredients.

The selection of breakfast wasn't the best in the world, because it consisted of the ingredients that made a full English breakfast, but everything was freshly made and people got to choose what they wanted, so it wasn't all bad.

After collecting their breakfasts the group of experiments walked over to a table where everyone was waving them over. The table consisted of Patrick, Goslyn and Tyrone.

"hey guys how did you guys sleep?" Patrick asked as soon as they Stitch, Palua, Rouge, Blissey, Ruby and Demo sat down.

"we slept fine thanks" Rouge said before she took a bit out of her scrambled eggs.

Nani had been training with Virgil for about 2 hours and she was already beginning to tire. Even with her hour break for breakfast, she was still quite tired; but she enjoyed the feeling. It reminded her of when she was young enough to not have the worries of making enough money, or being there for Lilo whenever she needed her. It reminded her of when her parents where still alive, and that made her feel a little sad.

"Virgil, why are you doing this?" Nani asked as she sat beside white wolf on the floor of the holo room for her few remaining minuets of her break.

"doing what Nani?" Virgil asked surprised at the sudden question

"doing all of this. Training me to once again feel like an older sibling. Like I can actually protect my sister. Wasting your time on me when you could have gotten someone else to train me. After all you have a vital role to perform in this war, why are you training me?"

Virgil just sighed; he hated being reminded of the past, of his past. But he also knew that Nani would eventually find out, and he would rather be the one who told her instead of someone else.

"Nani I use to have a younger sister. She was head strong, and adventurous, and didn't care what happened to her. She was a bit like your sister. Anyway what I didn't know was just how much she wanted to be like me. When we where growing up she would always follow me around wherever I went, and like any older sibling I found it annoying and would try everything I could to get away from her. So much so that I join the army just to get away from her. Sure I was considering it, but I'm sure that deep down that it was one of the reasons why I joined.

"I thought that that would be that; you know, go see her and my parents every time I got leave. But I was wrong. About 4 years later, I get a letter from my parents asking me to look after my sister. I didn't put two and two together until I joined the SAS. I was just starting when I heard of a bright up coming young woman, when I asked around I found out it was my sister. To say I was unhappy about that was an understatement, but I was far too busy with the SAS to do anything about it, so I just ignored her.

"well, she continued to do well, as did I, and eventually we where both deployed into Iraq. Her squad was on patrol in the north, when it was attacked. Out of her squad of 12 people, 7 of them where killed and 4 of them where captured. The only survivor of the attack managed to get a report to main command of the British army, and through that I heard what happened.

"They where planning a rescue mission, but when a tape came out showing one of them being killed, they lost hope for the others and where starting to plan a counter attack. I was having none of that. Before anyone could say or do anything, I was out of the door and on my way to get her back.

"By the time the sun set I had tracked them down to an abandoned warehouse, and before sunrise of the following day I was carrying my dead sisters body back to my HQ. Every single person that attacked her squad was dead. Killed by ether my pistol, my knife, or my hands.

"Because of that one incident I was promoted to a captain of the SAS, and awarded the Victoria Cross. But it wasn't enough. Nothing could ever give me my sister back, or the lives of the people I killed to rescue her. I left the army, and moved to Alaska where the weather matched my mood.

"I can never forgive myself. Because of my selflessness I lost my sister. You are willing to do anything to save your sister, so I feel it's my duty to make sure you succeed."

"Why that's terrible. I'm now even more surprised that you let her go onto one of the ships."

"I knew you would come after her. I also knew there would be nothing I could do to prevent her going. If I stopped her at the door, she would have stowed away just like you did. And I would rather watch over her with more than just one set of eyes. I would rather have the entire force be there for her than just her friends and myself. Now we've talked for too long, we do have a very short deadline and there is still so much to teach you" Nani quickly put on a serious face before getting up and started her routine all over again.

On the Planet Turo, Hamsterville was in a gleaming white lab that put his fur colour to shame. He had just finished injecting himself with a syringe when there was a knock on the door and it opened.

"What do you want?!" Hamsterville screamed at the intruder as if he was caught doing something inappropriate.

"Master, you've been stuck in your lab for the past four weeks. Your people are beginning to get scared without your light to show us what to do." Hamsterville's most loyal hammer headed servant with a single robotic leg.

"Well fear not. I have finished what I wanted to do, and am now able to show you all the light once again" hearing this his servant just bowed before leaving.

"fool, not even you fully understand what I've been doing in this lab. I've just sealed my rule over the galaxy!" Hamsterville said before the lights of the lab dimmed until totally off; leaving only his blood red eyes as the light and a really dark and evil laugh that any demon would be proud of, to fill the room.

For one whole month the Terra Federation went deeper and deeper into unknown territory; but not one of them was afraid of it. No one was afraid of the unknown, and it was because they had a much greater objective to worry about. That and everyone was too busy preparing to give any thought on just how far away they where from their home planet.

But not everyone was distracted. The pilots and the superiors knew exactly how far away they where, and they where the ones constantly looking into the black void of space. Eva was the one sending messages back and forth to Hamish throughout the entire time, and she was beginning to worry about the pilot's mental well being. After all if you had to stare at the same blackness over and over again; even you might get a little over the edge if you where to look at that every time you where on shift.

Salvation arrived when, on the fifth day of the second month, they received a transmission from the Tedagorians. It was a standard transmission of, "leave our space before action will be taken." However before anything else was said, or done, the grand councilwoman went right onto the horn and put a stop to it.

With the Tedagorians realising that the navel force was in fact from the Terra Federation, the tune was changed considerably and even sent out escorts to show them where to land.

The planet where the Terra Federations force landed was a lot like the planet earth; but at the same time it was so very different. For one thing the area that they where in was a desert, but it had the strangest looking plants in it. The plants looked like a giant green ball covered in purple spikes.

The sky was different too. It had two suns. One was bigger than the other, but the smaller of the two was a red in colour, while the bigger one was the standard white/yellow in colour.

The buildings were different as well. For one, they where a lot smaller than human buildings, but that was understandable thanks to the Tedagorians shortness. But they where also a different design entirely and made out of a different material. They appeared to be made out of a wood like substance, but it was as strong as steel, possibly even stronger. The architecture of the buildings where more circular than the buildings back on Earth; and they seemed to go deeper underground rather than tower above it. But that was probably to keep the houses cool on hotter days.

Maybe it was because of the warning White Wolf gave everyone, or maybe it was because everyone was too thrilled to be out of the ships, but there was not a single incident of a human being mean to one of the natives, or the natives being mean to a human. This made the grand councilwoman smile. Secretly she was afraid of introducing the humans to an entire planet of aliens, thinking that the humans might act like cornered foxes or something and start a small fight.

White Wolf was also pleased to see this. He didn't like to punish troops; it reduces the connection between the soldier and the higher upper. But seeing his men trying to play soccer (or football to me) with the Tedagorians made him smile 'I guess there really is a chance for the human race' he thought to himself as he watched.

Well, there was no rest for the wicked and the same was true for the forces of the Terra Federation. Within the hour of arriving onto this alien planet, they started setting up the forward command at the designated place on the planet.

Set up was pretty easy, because the forward command was like do it yourself furniture. Everything was already pre-made and set up, and all you had to do was put it together. It was a very long, and wide building, because if it was to become a two story building, it would have taken a lot longer to put together and would require extra machinery that would have taken up even more space in the ships. Sure it was too small for Gantu to fit into it, but Gantu wouldn't need too because all the sleeping accommodations where tents that you set up yourself.

The generals didn't want people sleeping on the ships, because they wanted the men to get as much time off them as possible. After all how would you feel if you had a month long journey; you'd want out of it pretty desperately. Well these guys still had another 10 to 15 odd days left and even though the ships where certainly big enough to give people more than enough elbow room, it still somehow felt cramp.

Night had fallen over the planet and it is here that we see another thing that's different about it. The moon had a ring similar to Saturn's around it. the stars where still the same though, so Palua still found some comfort staring into the sky. At this moment in time she was thinking of her sister Nani; how she wished she could be with her right now. But no, her sister was a billion miles away on the planet earth.

'I wonder which star holds the planet Earth?' Palua pondered as she heard some foot steps come up behind her.

"Palua are you all right? You've been staring into the sky for some time now?" stitch asked as he moved his arms around her waist.

"Yeah I'm fine stitch. It's just that I miss Nani, and Jumba, and Pleakly, and David."

"I know how you feel. I miss them too."

For a while they just stared into the sky, thinking of family and wondering how long it will be before they can see them all again. Eventually stitch grew tired and started to head back to the campsite. Palua said she'd be along in a minuet, and that she just wanted to think some more. But stitch knew what she really meant; she wanted to think of her Ohanna some more and the best way to do that is alone. So like any respecting boyfriend he left her to her own thoughts.

For some time after stitch left, Palua just sat on the warm sand looking staring into space. She was brought out of her trance when she heard someone come towards her. She knew instantly it wasn't stitch because the noise the feet where making where a lot louder. Turning around she was shocked to see White Wolf walking towards her. The fear she felt before started to build up again and she hoped that he would just walk on past her, but unfortunately for her he didn't.

He sat down about a meter away and just looked into the sky with her. Palua was getting mixed messages; one still remembered the stare that he gave her, and how much she was frightened by it. Another was saying how much responsibility he had, and how horrible it would be to have it. But then there was this small voice that said he wasn't scary. That he was actually a nice person. Of course it was completely ignored, and it showed by her slight trembling.

"If it wasn't for that moon the shy would be the exact same as the sky back on earth. Don't you agree?" white wolf asked Palua. The sudden question shocked her, and it took a little bit of time for her to actually reply.

"umm, yeah. It would"

"You don't need to be afraid of me. What happened back on Earth was a one-time affair. You have too many things to worry about to include me as well."

Palua was getting a little confused now. This seemed to be an entirely different person that the one she met coming into the transport ship for the first time. Palua even started to calm down. If she was looking at White Wolf she would have noticed a small smile appear on his face.

"You miss your loved one don't you." The sudden question surprised Palua again, but this time she was more prepared, but that still didn't mean she said anything. No she just sighed while remaining quiet. "can I ask why you came here. Why you wanted to fight in this war?" again Palua remained silent, but no words where necessary. The look on her face screamed out the answer.

"Well Palua. I just hope that experiment is worth it. I really do."

"How did you know my name?"

"You think I'm one of those commanders who doesn't talk to his troops. Who doesn't spend time with his troops? I'll have you know, that your one of the only people on our ship that I haven't spoken too. I'll admit I've been very busy training a special recruit, but during my meal times I try to get to know people that I've never seen before. I've spoken to stitch, and even that bat experiment Rouge. They seem very nice, but they told me how I spooked you on our first meeting. Well I just want to say that I'm sorry about that."

"its ok. I'm sure you had your reasons why you did that. But I'm glad you apologised."

White Wolf smiled a calming smile before it quickly vanished and was replaced by a serious face.

"Palua, at some point in this war, there will be a time when you must decide between what you feel is right, and what is genially right. That choice will affect the outcome of this war, and you must choose the right one"

"But how will I know what is the right choice?"

"You'll just know when the time comes. It might hurt you to do it. But you must go through with it" and with that White Wolf stood up and left.

As soon as White Wolf was out of sight, Palua heard another set of footsteps coming from the opposite direction. Looking over to it she saw that it was Goslyn Waddlemeyer.

"Hey Li. Oops, I mean Palua. So what was that 'White Puppy' wanting?"

"Oh nothing. He just came to me and apologised about that stare that he gave me when I saw him before we entered the ships."

"Wow, there goes another barrage of emotional confusion thanks to that puppy."

"Why are you saying things like that? He's a nice guy once you get over his sternness"

"Sigh, you may be right Palua, but I don't like the way he commands. I like a person who commands using a softer touch, or at least someone who uses one style. With him I've seen him use both styles; I like to know who I'm dealing with. If it's someone who has a soft touch I feel more comfortable around him. And when someone uses 'tough love' I get a little irritated. With him, I could be thinking about giving him a new stomach piercing, and then he would act all nice and interested in my life and I'd feel bad about myself for thinking like that. Also have you seen how mysterious he is? At times he talks like any old soldier, but at other times he sounds like a bloody monk or something."

"I know what you mean. The last thing he said to me was that I'd have a choice to make that could decide the whole war, but it would be a very hard choice to make."

"You see, that's what I'm talking about. Theirs just something about that guy; I've got to do something about it. Something to remove that smug grin off his face."

"But he hardly ever grins. Just like cobra"

"Hush Palua, I'm thinking. Hmm maybe I can get him to fight me in a duel or something; then I can show him that he's not the best the world has seen."

"But why would you want to so something like that?"

"I dunno. For one thing it would help me to relieve some stress. It might also get me to respect him some more. I just don't know a guy until I've fought him in combat."

"But you haven't fought Patrick in combat, and you get along fine with him."

"Well, that's not true. I've been sparring with him ever since you signed up to join the army. Sparring for that length of time is more than enough to get to know someone. Yawn, well I'm tired. I'm going to go back to camp. Wanna come with me or are you happy out here?"

"no, I'm tired too. I'll come back to camp with you" and with that, Palua accepted a hand that was extended and together the two girls, well one woman and one experiment, walked back to camp where everyone was in their tents, except for a select few who where on guard duty.

Virgil walked over to his tent and was about to retire for the night, when he heard someone called out his name. Turning around he saw Nani standing there with a bit of a sad look on her face.

"Yes Nani, what is it?"

"I saw you talking to my sister. Can I ask how is she coping?"

"Well she certainly is a strong little girl; but she dose miss you. She also misses her family. She knows Jumba is somewhere here, but she doesn't dare reveal herself to him. Just like I strongly recommend you do the same. You may think this is hard on a little girl, but she has a vital role to play in this war and I cannot endanger that role."

"What role? What are you talking about? Why can't I see her? Why can't I speak to Jumba? Why can't I do all these things?"

"Nani, the reason is very simple; you want to protect her again. Right now you feel that this experience will drive her further away from you. But I promise you it will do the opposite. And while she learns this important lesson you are with me learning how to make sure you can protect her just like the old days. Now it is late and we still have an early start tomorrow. Good night Nani" and with that Virgil turned and went into his tent. Turning around Nani headed towards her tent, her mind still swimming with all sorts of questions.

so what did you think of it? good? super good? well tell me so that i may continue to write just the way people want me too.