The bar was deserted, except for the most dedicated of the Siths­; ThunderingSilence and JeniViolet. Long after Lead, Seven, Palin, Jace and Narska had passed out on the floor, Thunder and Jen were still at it, matching each other drink for drink. Keeping with the grandest of all Sith Squadron traditions, the last person still standing at the end of the night got a case from the second to last person. And Thunder was more than determined not to let Jen get her last case. After all, Jen had Tyros, who would run out on a moment's notice to get more Whyren's. Thunder had to fly herself to the nearest store and buy Whyren's herself.

"So, we are each down to our last case," Jen commented.

"No shit, Olie," Thunder remarked. "Which leaves us in a bit of a quandary."

"I'll say. If we drink that, the winner will get nothing."

It is rumored that throughout the galaxy, there are creatures that can "see" the thought process in an infrared stream. This thought process supposedly shows a glowpanel turning on when a sentient gets an idea.

If any of these such creatures had been in the bar that night on the SSD, they would have seen several small glowpanels flickering and shorting out over Thunder and Jen's heads.

The two Siths sat for a few moments, eyeballing each other, trying to see who would come up with a brilliant plan first. They wasted several minutes thinking about that before they started thinking about plans.

Naturally, Thunder came up with an idea first.

"Let's send Tyros out. He's supposed to do stuff like that."

"Hokay." Jen took out her comlink. "Gimmer, are you there?"

The typically static voice came back. "Unfortunately, yes. There's only one thing you want from me this late at night."

Jen was too drunk to fully interpret the sarcasm in Gimmer's tone, and replied gleefully "Great! Prep the shuttle, Tyros will be down in twenty minutes." After all, the SSD was huge, and it took twenty minutes just to find a 'fresher sometimes.

"No can do," the static came back. "Shuttle's outta commission for a while. Ordered some parts from Kuat, and you know how backed up they are."

"Kriff." Jen shut off the comlink and the two Siths were silent again.

Somewhere, in the infrared stream, a glowpanel flickered.

"I know. I'll just send him out in my X-wing."

Thunder shuddered. "You're crazy to let any man touch your pointer."

"You're crazy, period. We need alcohol. This is the only way."

"Are you sure he can fly that thing? He's more used to shuttles and stuff."

Jen stood up abruptly, her hand on her lightsaber hilt. "Are you implying my X-wing is a thing? Or that my assistant is incapable?"

Thunder stood up also. "I'm implying that you've got that thing so jury rigged, no sentient being could fly it!"

"Why you..."

Suddenly, Lead sat up. "Seven, get up! Chick fight!"

The two fully conscious Siths glared at the half conscious one. "Lead, go back to bed," Thunder said.

"I don't even remember what we were fighting about anyway," Jen commented.

Disappointed, BaronReno passed out again.

"Gimmer? Me again," Jen sing-songed. "Prep my X-wing. Tyros will be there in twenty minutes."

Ten minutes later, Jen had reached her quarters. As soon as she was out of sight at the bar, she did what she called her super-duper-fast run. She really appreciated having a Force strength the other Siths didn't know she had. One could never tell when such a thing might come in handy.

Opening the door, Spanky greeted her with his usual cheerfulness. Jen was the only person in the squadron who used an R5 unit, and it was a diversity she was proud of. An incompatibility with the squad's datapads made it impossible for her to plug into Spanky and actually converse with him outside of the X-wing, but she had spent enough time with him to get the gist of his messages. She patted the purple and silver R5 unit on the head and entered the adjoining quarters that belonged to Tyros.

Most of the Siths were surprised when they discovered that Jen and Tyros actually slept in different rooms. But Jen, raised as an only child, simply could not get used to having another person in her room as she slept. She didn't want to share her bed. She didn't want to hear snoring. She didn't want to cuddle. She just got what she wanted from Tyros and sent him on his way.

She sat on the edge of the bed and whispered his name. He stirred, then smiled. Jen frowned; he was still sleeping. Dreaming, too. Using the Force, she entered his mind to have a peek at his dream. With a sigh of relief, she realized he was dreaming about her. She touched his arm, and said his name out loud.

Tyros bolted out of the bed, grabbed Jen, and pinned her to the ground. Her immediate response would have been to fling him across the room, but physically he was stronger than her, and she didn't have any TK.

He stared at her for a moment, then muttered, "You know better than to startle a Royal Guard."

"Riiiiiight. And you know better than to tick off your employer like that." Jen shoved at him, indicating that he needed to get up.

Tyros complied, pulling Jen up with him. "I know you want something. What is it, more Whyren's?"

"You know me too well. And I have news for you. The shuttle is down, so you'll be flying the Peregrine."

Tyros groaned.

Returning to the bar, Jen sat down next to Thunder. Palin had awaken and the three of them congratulated themselves on another successful mission of warping the minds of non-Force users to their will. Eventually Lead regained consciousness also, and seeing his subordinates in despair over lack of Whyrens, he just laughed at them.

"You guys can't drink it that fast. It needs to last a little bit longer..."

"Lead is babbling again," Thunder said.

"No shit, Olie," Three voices said in unison. Palin and Jen looked at each other and said, "THX."

All was quiet for a minute, then Jace mumbled from the floor, "Oh yeah. THX."

Two days later, SevenUpperRoom approached JeniViolet in the bar.

"Where's that Whyren's?"

She shook her head sadly. "I can't imagine what happened. I haven't heard from him at all."

"Are you sure he would not betray you?"

Jen glared at Seven. "Listen, you. Tyros is faithful to me, and me only. I know it. He's in trouble, I can almost sense it."

"Um, if he's not okay, can I have his job?"

"He'll be ok. I have faith in him, even though I am worried."

"Do you need a temp? Til he comes back?"

"No."

Watching space from the bridge of the SSD, Jen could hardly believe Tyros had been gone for five days. Although she maintained a strong exterior, she was frantic. Tyros had, in one way or another, been a part of her life since before she joined the Siths. And the Peregrine, well, she'd had that even longer. Everything was so much simpler when it was just me, Spanky, and The Peregrine. Now, I'm not even sure I have them anymore.

BaronReno came up silently from behind. Jen sensed his presence and turned around, ruining his surprise.

"You cannot startle me that easily anymore."

"Damnit! Oh, I mean... good. Your training is progressing nicely."

She turned around and continued staring out the viewport. "Where is he," she whispered.

BaronReno could tell she was upset. He had two choices presented before him: taunt her even further, or challenge her to a training duel. All the Siths dueled better when they were a little ticked off. And Jen was really ticked off. It would be interesting, to say the least.

Still, he considered taunting her a little bit more. It was fun, after all. "He's not coming back. You must realize this by now."

Jen glared daggers at Lead. "I don't think you realize­" She was cut off by Captain Vanicus, who announced

"We've got a transmission. Incoming."

"Acknowledge," Reno ordered. The image on the big-ass screen tv showed the inside of an Imperial shuttle, carrying two people Jen thought she would never see again. The first was Tyros, looking a little worse for the wear but all in one piece. The second man was piloting the shuttle, and Reno had no idea who he was. But Jen brightened a little, then headed over to the comm center.

"Nice to see you boys again. Dock in bay 42." She turned back to Reno, gave him an I-told-you-so look, and left the bridge. Reno hesitated, then followed. He didn't get any direct danger signals from the man, and Jen seemed to know him. Catching up with Jen, he asked her,

"Where's your X-wing?"

"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about this."

"From the Force?"

"No, this is more of an overall bad feeling."

Reno stopped walking and lightly grabbed Jen's arm, stopping her too. "Who's the older guy?"

Jen sighed. "An old friend of mine. And my father's. Let's just say he helped me out of a jam a long time ago."

"So the bad feeling is not related to this old-timer."

"No." She shook her head. "I'd trust Mohe with my life. I have in the past, and I'm still in one piece."

Docking bay 42 was noisy, cold, and completely void of a purple X-wing. The Lambda Class shuttle had just landed, and Tyros and Mohe were exiting the vehicle. Jen walked up to Tyros and briefly touched his arm. He understood the signal; she was glad to see him and would talk to him later.

Mohe rushed over to Jen and greeted her with a warm hug. "So nice to see you again, Violet. I wish I had better news though."

Jen stepped away. "My ship..." she trailed off.

"First of all, I want you to know that your X-wing is not currently under new ownership. And that this man here had nothing to do with it." He motioned towards Tyros.

"So what happened?" Jen was beginning to feel the room spin around her. This is not true, it can't be true...

BaronReno stepped in. "Ahem. I hate to break this up, but we should go somewhere more comfortable to continue this. Jen's not looking too well."

The bar was deserted. Reno led the group to a table and directed Jen to a chair. She seemed to be in a haze, and was keeping a loose hold on Mohe's arm. Tyros was seated across from Jen, watching her with a concerned eye. Reno sat at the head of the table, hoping he would be fast enough to stop Jen from killing Tyros if the need arose. He was already drunk, and knew more drinks would be coming.

Tyros spoke first. "I don't suppose you want to know what happened, do you."

She didn't reply, only stared at him.

Mohe excused himself from the table to get the drinks. A lifetime ago, he had been a bartender. For the past 10 years, he had been wandering the galaxy, living quite comfortably off the money Jen had given him during her escape from Corellia. To him, it was strange how easily he was stepping back into that role­the confidante, the service man.

"As close as we can figure, it was a Rebel ambush. I landed on Gados VI, and left the X-wing in their dock. When I returned twenty minutes later, the entire dock was up in flames. The place was pure chaos for days; comm systems were down, people were stranded and wounded, and finally I met up with Mohe. It was only by sheer luck that we figured out we had you in common." Tyros reached across the table and put his hand on Jen's. "I'm sorry, I know how much she meant to you."

Mohe returned with three Whyren's and a Lomin Ale for Tyros. Jen neglected her drink, and looked at Reno.

"Lead? This is Eleven. Permission to kill Two."

"Negative, Eleven. This wasn't her idea."

Jen's silence indicated her agreement. After a beat, she spoke up. "Permission anyway?"

"Um, how about.... No."

"Permission to kill Twelve?"

"No."

"Permission to leave the room."

"Granted."

She got up from the table and left the room, her drink untouched. The three men continued drinking.

Lead broke the silence first. "I'll bet you're glad you guys have separate rooms, eh?"

"Oh yeah," Tyros replied.

Reno could sense some duplicity in his tone, but he let it slide.

"She didn't drink anything. So very unlike her," Tyros said.

"I've seen this before, ya know," Mohe contributed. "Her father did the same thing right after his wife died."

"Well, her loss." Reno grabbed Jen's glass and slammed the drink for himself.

The former bartender studied his glass. "Oh. We forgot to tell her about the droid."

JeniViolet entered her quarters, and left the lights off. Her datapad had been left on, and it cast a dark orange light into the room. She flopped down on her bed and laid there, not moving.

She didn't really blame Tyros. She knew deep down it was not his fault. And she was relieved to see he was still alive.

She wanted to strangle him anyway.

Her X-Wing and Spanky had been the sole constant in her life during the past ten years. She couldn't imagine not having them. So many memories...

She didn't know how long she stayed there in the dark. But eventually, Tyros opened their adjoining door, shedding soft light into the room. "Hey."

"Hey yourself," she replied, not looking at him.

"Someone here wants to talk to you."

Spanky rolled into the room, bleeping away in droidese. Jen bolted out of the bed, and ran over to her droid.

"Spanky! Where have you been?" She looked up at Tyros. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Honestly, I forgot. He was so quiet the whole trip home, and everything happened so fast once we got off the shuttle..."

Jen knelt down so she was eye level with the droid. "Are you okay?"

BLEEET-BOOP!

Tyros stood behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. "He left the dock with me. For some reason, he insisted."

She stood up and turned to face him. "I don't know what to say. Thank you, for taking him with you. Thank you for not getting killed."

"Anytime." He held her for a minute, then realized she was not going to let him go. "Do you want me to stay tonight?" She nodded yes.

They laid down on the bed, not even bothering to pull back the covers, and fell asleep immediately. Spanky stayed activated, fully determined that he would be a sentry for the night.

The next morning, Jen felt something was wrong. The room's automatic lights had come on before she was awake. That was unusual in itself; she never overslept. Secondly, Tyros was... in her bed? What the.... The most irritating aspect of that was that she was not irritated. She couldn't quite put her finger on the other thing. But there was something else wrong.

Spanky greeted her with a usual cheerful beep. Jen had no clue what the droid wanted, and was now unable to find out. She always seemed to know what he was saying when she was drunk­

That's it. I'm not hungover from last night. I'm hungover from two nights ago.

She couldn't remember the last time she woke up without a fresh hangover.

Forcing herself out of Tyros's arms, she got up and headed for the fresher. After getting herself ready for the day, she still didn't feel any better. But she needed to find Mohe, and thank him.

She found him in the bar, chatting with Two. ThunderingSilence waved wildly at her, motioning to join them.

"Eleven! You finally got up, I see. Mohe was just telling me about your stepmother."

"That kriffing wench. If I ever get my hands on her... Wait, Violet already did," Mohe said.

"So what are you going to do now?" Thunder asked.

"I'm going to..." Jen paused. "I don't know what I'm going to do. I think it hasn't sunk in fully yet."

Thunder got up to leave. "Mohe, it was nice to meet you. I'm off to the simulators."

Jen and Mohe watched Thunder leave, then the older man spoke up. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

She shook her head. "No, I can't even think straight right now. But I did want to thank you for finding them."

"Gados VI is going to be reeling from that catastrophe for a long time. I've seen more blood and destruction in the past ten years than I did while living my whole adult life as a bartender. Although I am glad I got to see you again."

"How long will you be staying?"

"I'm leaving in about an hour. As much as I appreciate your leader's hospitality, I have appointments to keep."

"Well then, it was good to see you again. I, too, wish it was under better circumstances..." she trailed off.

"I understand." They hugged one last time, then Mohe left.

Three days went by. Jen refused each daily invitation from the other Siths to engage in flight simulations, duels, and other gatherings. Tyros knew the real reason why; she had been spending all her spare time in her quarters trying to communicate with Spanky. And she hadn't touched a drop of alcohol. Even the case ThunderingSilence had sent as a consolation gift had gone untouched.

Tyros was concerned. He was sitting in his quarters, and could hear Spanky bleeping away in the next room. He had a problem on his hands, that much was certain. He didn't even know where to start...

His thoughts were interrupted by a the door chime. He pushed a button, and the door slid open to reveal SevenUpperRoom and PalinKD.

Palin walked in and said "I've got an idea."

"Of course you do," Tyros said sarcastically. "You've all got ideas­Get her a new ship, a new droid, a blastsword, a new assistant..."

"I was just kidding about the new assistant thing," Seven said. "But this is a real idea. Courtesy of our expert slicer." He gestured toward Palin, who handed Tyros a piece of flimsy with her codes and specs written on it. Tyros glanced over it, then looked at Palin suspiciously.

"Looks good in theory, but will it really work?"

"Well, there's only one way to find out. But it'll cost you. I've already run it by Nuprin, and it won't be cheap."

"What do you think? Is it a go?" Seven asked.

Tyros deliberated for a moment, then said, "It's a go."

BEEP-OOOP!

Jen looked at the droid and shook her head. "I... hmm... what was that?"

Spanky whirred and buzzed frantically at her. The adjoining doors opened, and Tyros walked in with two force pikes. He lofted one towards her, which she caught halfheartedly.

"Let's go."

"Where are we going?"

"Out of here for a while. You said you wanted to learn, and frankly, I'm getting rusty."

"But­"

"No buts. We're going." He grabbed Jen's arm and directed her out into the hallway. Spanky tried to follow, and Tyros turned around and pointed at the droid. "You stay here. I'm tired of putting you back together." The R5 replied with some violent squeaks, but Tyros shut the door behind them, blocking out the noise.

"Who died and put you in charge?" Jen asked as they walked toward an empty training alcove.

"My boss, JeniViolet. Perhaps you knew her?"

"Very funny." They entered the room, and Tyros removed his jacket and holster. Jen followed suit, then said, "Ok. You are aware you'll regret teaching me this."

"I'm not so sure about that, but it will be easier for you to scare the kriff out of me the next time you wake me up in the middle of the night." He stood behind her and put his arms in front of her, taking the forcepike from her hands. "Now. Hold it like this, and I'm going to direct your swings. Just follow along."

Tyros was pleasantly surprised. Although her attitude had recently been questionable, she seemed to pick up the basic skills quickly. Before long, he stepped away and picked up his own forcepike. The pair lightly sparred for a few minutes, then Jen turned the tables on him. With her lightsaber experience and the use of the Force, she quickly had him cornered, briefly. He forced her back after several parries, then knocked the forcepike out of her hands. She lost her balance, and Tyros grabbed her around the waist before she could fall to the floor.

"You win. Again," she whispered.

"So it seems."

"I think you just have way too much pent up energy. How can we get rid of it?"
"I have an idea," he said, then kissed her.

ThunderingSilence looked at the Siths present in her quarters. Seven was staring at Palin, and Palin was staring at Thunder's blastsword collection.

"So why are we here?" Palin asked.

"As soon as our guest of honor shows up, we'll start," Thunder answered.

"Who, Lead? We might as well start without him, he's always late."

Thunder glared at Seven. "It would be good to not speak of him that way, kid."

"Sorry." Seven sheepishly looked at the ground.

"Besides, it's not Lead. He doesn't give a kriff about this kind of stuff."

Tyros entered the room. He gave the other Siths a nod, then spoke up. "Thunder, thanks for getting these guys together. I'll let you take over."

"Ok, listen up guys," Two addressed the Siths. "We've got a problem, and I'm sure some of you have noticed it; Jen is sober. And not just for the first five minutes of the day, we're talking all the time. She's been this way for the past seven days, ever since her ship was lost. If we don't get her some help, soon, we might lose her."

"You think Lead would boot her out of the squad if she stays sober?" Palin asked.

"Not likely, but she's a valuable pilot, and in case you hadn't noticed, we're short on pilots around here," Thunder replied.

"What we should get her is a new ship," Seven commented.

"Not so fast there," Tyros interrupted. "She told me she won't take another X-wing, and until she gets into the other simulators, we're not gonna have any idea what else she likes to fly."

"And, she's not going to fly anything else until we get her drunk. Now, there is something we can do, although from what I've heard it doesn't have a high success rate." Thunder paused, and the others looked at her expectantly. "It's called an intervention."

"Inter-whatshion?" asked Seven.

Palin shuddered. "No way. I had to do that once.... It's embarressing for the interveners and the intervenee."

Tyros nodded in agreement. "I don't think that approach is gonna go over too well."

"I suspected as much. Which is the main reason for the meeting; we need a Plan B." Two paced the room as she talked. "Now Palin, my first plan involved you, but I don't think it's gonna work now. But just in case, have you ever had any luck influencing Jen's mind?"

Palin thought back. "No, not really. I think my force strength is similar to hers, in an indirect way, but hers is much stronger. I'm not sure I'd even want to try it."

"Ok then. Here's our plan: You guys all grab her and I'll TK the Whyren's down her throat."

The others looked at Thunder blankly.

"Guys, I'm serious here."

More blank stares.

"Really."

Seven shrugged. "Well, that's good enough for me, then."

"Me too," Palin stated.

"I'll go get the Whyren's," Tyros said, and left the room.

JeniViolet opened the simulator of the Interceptor, and fresh air rushed in. Well, that was it. All of the available sims had been tested out by her, with the exception of the X-wing. Even looking at the sim made her heart stick in her throat. But there was no doubt about it, she needed a ship. And a drink. Her grief was beginning to let up, and she was fully ready to start drinking tonite.

The Preybird, the first ship she tried, had seemed the most fitting to her. She was on her way to Nuprin's office to request one when her danger sense flared.

"What the kriff..." she said aloud.

"GET HER!" Palin, Seven and Tyros jumped out of the next room and grabbed her, forcing her down to the floor. She struggled momentarily, but knew damn well that if Tyros could pin her down alone, she didn't stand a chance with him and two other Siths.

ThunderingSilence sauntered into the room, her blastsword in one hand, a bottle of Whyren's in the other. "Allright, Eleven. We hated to do this to you, but it's the only way." She pointed the blastsword at Jen's throat, then held the bottle out. "Remember, the blastsword only activates if the tip touches something. Right now it's about 5 centimeters from your throat, so I'd suggest you not move."

The Whyren's began to float. Golden liquid emerged up from the bottle in a 10 centimeter sphere, and reflected the green of Thunder's flightsuit. The other Siths and Tyros were mesmerized by it, and it began traveling towards Jen...

Then it disappeared.

"What the kriff?" Palin asked.

"Where'd it go?" Seven looked at Thunder.

"I don't know, I still have control over it, but it's gone."

They all looked at Jen, who smiled and said "Ok, I gotta lock on it... Yep! I'm drunk! Now, this is gonna hit me pretty fast, so you guys better be prepared to catch me if I fall down on the way to the bar."

Thunder put away her blastsword as Seven and Tyros helped Jen to her feet. "Damn you and your Corellian talents. You made us think it disappeared, didn't you."

"You all know me too well."

One week later, Jen, Lead and Jace stood in docking bay 42, admiring Jen's new Preybird.

"A fine craft. You've chosen wisely, Jen," Lead declared.

"I agree," said Jace. "Although why you did not chose an Interceptor is beyond me."

Lead gestured to Jace. "We still have much training to do, my apprentice. You can drool over Jen's new toy later."

"Right. See you guys at the bar tonight!" Jen waved them away and climbed into the cockpit. She checked out all the controls, then tried to move the seat forward.

It wouldn't budge. Why, why why, did I have to be cursed with shortness?

Tyros peeked in over the cockpit. "Wow, so it is a one-man fighter."

"Yeah, well, so was my X-wing."

He grinned. "I seem to remember us proving them wrong on that one."

"Well, the forests of Bakura are quite a bit more secluded than BaronReno's SSD, if you know what I mean," she replied.

"Yeah, I know. So come out of there, I have something to show you."

Jen looked at him, a questioning look on her face. She climbed out of the cockpit and said "Then show me."

He handed her a box, about the size of a case of Whyren's, but lighter than 24 full bottles of liquid. She opened it, to reveal a datapad with a purple border and black feathers painted on it.

"Yes, it's what you think it is. And don't ask me how I got it... but you owe Palin a case for it. I picked up the rest."

Her face lit up. "Does this mean I can talk to Spanky now?"

"Yes."

She threw her arms around him and said, "Have I paid you lately?"

"This morning. But you know what they say... you can never be too rich­"

"Or have too many kills on your snubfighter. Are you sure it was this morning? I think I'm too drunk to remember."

"Well, I'll refresh your memory then."

"Wait... first can you move the seat up on the Bird? I really do want to talk to Spanky first."

"No problem. See you in thirty."

Jen bolted into her quarters. "Spanky! Look, Tyros found you a compatible datapad!"

The droid beeped excitedly. She plugged it in...

YOU GLITBITER. I NEED AN OIL CHANGE!

"Sorry about that, Spanky. I'll have him do it later today, ok?"

OK. OUR SHIP IS GONE, ISN'T IT?

"Yes it is. And I have bad news, you won't be flying with me on my new one. Do you still want to stick around?"

YES. YOUR FLYING SHORTS OUT MY APPREHENSION CIRCUITS.

"Hey! Well, I think we can find something for you to do. It's not like there's a shortage of things to do around here."

OK. ARE YOU SAD ABOUT OUR SHIP?

She laughed. "Not anymore, Spanky. Not anymore."