Thanks for all your support and replies! And I hope everyone has had a great Christmas. Melee turned to Joshua to ask him something when she saw a sudden change overcome him. A look of horor slowly spread over his face. "Joshua, what's wrong?" The hairless girl asked. The others, who'd been watching an of image of Joshua and Sasha at a beach on the monitor, turned back. Peenk, alarmed at the swift transformation of the man sitting next to her, put her hand on his shoulder, only to have him jerk away with a gasp. It was as if her touch had burned him. "P-p-pain!" He whispered. "A partition has fallen." "What do you mean, a partition has fallen?" Mala asked. "I k-k-keep unwanted memories hidden behind partitions." "Like in a computer?" Zell asked with great interest. "Yes," He said slowly. "Sometimes the Partitions c-c-come d-down on their own. I'll need to raise it again. It will only t-take a few minutes," He then slowly got up and moved for the door. "Where are you going?" Bitty asked with tears in her eyes. "To the bridge. Music helps me, and the best speakers on the ship are on the bridge." "Can we come with you?" Baby asked him. "Y-y-yes," He replied as he walked out of the room. Melee, Ano, Baby, and Mala swiftly followed him out. Magenta glanced down at Bitty and waved her in the direction of the door. The girl rolled her eyes and got up. "Ok, I'll let you adults talk about what just happened," She said and ran out the door. "That girl's smart!" Zell said as they all turned to Metla who lay curled up on the floor in Kinna's arms, tears flowing from her eyes. "Alright my little empathic Jedi," Mulk whispered to her. "What did you see?" "Nothing," Metla swallowed hard, then continued. "But I felt pain. The worst pain I've ever felt. It was like all my skin was being peeled off at once. But the worst was around my left eye. It was like it was being slowly pulled out," Kinna ran her hand over the fur on her former Padawan's face, wiping away the tears. "Is that all you felt?" the Cerinian whispered to her. Synyss shook her head. "I also picked up something," She took Kinna's hand. "A name. Teros 6. Oh, by the Force! What has happened to him?" "He was tortured," Saleena told them, wiping tears from her eyes, while Max held her. "My father would get the same way when he remembered what the Separatists did to him during the Clone War." Saleena's father had commanded a squadron of ships from the famed Broken Circle Fleet, and had been captured when his ship was boarded at the battle of Corou. He was held for three weeks before he was rescued by Republic commandos. She put her head on the Mazuran's shoulder as he pulled her closer to comfort her. Saleena was escorted to her stateroom by Max and his father Mulk, while Peenk and her mother Magenta continued to the bridge. But they stopped when they saw Joshua squatting near the hatchway, talking to Bitty as she danced for him. But they also noted that Mala was dancing for him as well. But she was not wearing the jumpsuit she'd had on earlier. She now had on one of Magenta's dresses. And the teen's dance was a sexy one. The two older women glanced at each other and smiled, shaking their heads. "Mala," The girl's mother spoke as she stepped onto the bridge. "Take Bitty to your cabin and get to bed. It's late. And take my dress off and put it back. You don't have the body to be wearing something like that yet," "Come on Bitty, let's go," Mala said to the dancing five year old. Bitty launched herself at Joshua and wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. The squatting man returned the embrace. "Good night Joshua!" She whispered into his ear before sprinting down the central passage. "Good night Joshua," Mala said as she kissed him on the cheek and turned to run after her sister. When the door shut behind them, the man collapsed on the floor and began to shake his head. Melee, now standing over him, began to laugh. "Mama! You should have seen it! Poor Josh here had Mala shaking that thing in his face, and he was doing his best to ignore her." "She's a wicked young temptress," Joshua complained from where he lay on the floor. "And wonderful little Bitty rescued me from her evil clutches." "Yeah," Ano cut in from across the room. "She started dancing for Josh and began pestering him with questions about what life was like in the Federation. It was so cute." "I thought that I was going to have to say something rude to make Mala stop," He said, suddenly serious. "What's the matter, Lover?" Magenta grinned at the man on the floor. "Did Mala shake her little boobies in your face?" "Yes!" He told her emphatically. "She shook her little ass in my face also. Among other things! The girl was going commando!" Magenta and Peenk stared back in confusion. "Going commando is an old phrase among my people. It means to not wear underwear. And she made damn sure I knew it!" Magenta spun about and sprinted for the girl's cabin. Peenk, with a mischeivious smile, bent over Joshua. "Did my babiest baby sister save you from that wicked, wicked girl?" "Hell yeah!" Kirk gave her a big grin. "Well, I tell you what. Come with me to my cabin, and I'll protect you for the night." "Yes," Kirk said with a sly smile. "I do need to be protected," He then jumped to his feet. "Where's Baby?" Peenk asked Melee. "You didn't see her run past you and haul Zell back to her cabin?" Melee said with a laugh. "Hold on!" Ano complained. "That's my cabin too! Where the hell am I going to sleep?" "Sleep in mine," Joshua told her as he opened the door to Peenk's stateroom. "I will not be using it tonight." "To bed everyone," Peenk ordered as she pulled Joshua through the door. In ten minutes, everyone was in bed but Metla, Kinna, and Lele. They sat in the new command chairs Lele's sons had helped Joshua install. And for the next few hours, they talked about men. As the three women got up to go to their respective beds, Joshua ran out of Peenk's cabin, naked, heading for the Rat's Nest. Kinna knew what the problem was and blocked his way. "Move it! Something's wrong with Ano!" He shouted. "We know Joshua!" The Cerinian told him, pushing him back. "But there's nothing you can do." "What do you mean?" Metla took his face in her hands and turned it to hers. "There's nothing you can do." "This will make an excellent first lesson in using the Force," The spotted Furrene said as she pulled him away from the hatch. "I'm going to show you how to read the emotions of another who is not in an excited state. Clear your mind," Metla said calmly. "Empty it of all thoughts. Do you understand? Can you do that?" Joshua nodded and closed his eyes. He then used a Vulcan calming technique that his uncle Spock had taught him when he was a baby. Soon his mind was calm, his emotions under control. The man then opened his eyes and nodded once again. "Very good. Now reach out with your mind. Feel our presences. Can you do that?" Kirk did as she asked. For several minutes he felt nothing. Then, just as he was ready to give up, he felt someone. Kinna. He felt cautious optimism from her. The same for Metla. Peenk was a blinding beacon of love. His left eyebrow shot up at what he felt coming from Lele. "Do you feel us?" "Yes." "Now expand your mind further," The Furrene said gently. "Try to find Ano." Again he did as she asked. Slowly his mind crept through the bulkhead towards his cabin. Then, like a light had been turned on, he felt her. Joshua immediately broke off the contact with a shake of his head. "Did you feel her?" Kinna asked taking his hand. "Yes," Kirk said with a slow nod. "I felt a strong sense of lonliness and betrayal." "Why would she feel that way?" Peenk cut in. "Peenk, how long were Ano and Baby together?" Joshua asked the blonde. "About two years." Peenk muttered as realization quickly crossed her face. "I guess she developed an emotional attatchment to Baby." "Yes. And now Baby has found her brother Zell. So she's feeling betrayed. She's also feeling alone because she doesn't have someone," Joshua turned back to the two Jedi. "I see what you mean by me not being able to help her." "That's right. Sometimes, you can't help someone. It hurts, but that's the way the universe is," Kinna told him sadly. "Now go back to bed." Kirk gave her a nod, then turned to Lele. "Lele, I am shocked! You are a married woman!" Kirk said with a grin. The small woman gave the man a surprised look. "Well how did you think I would react?" She bluted out. " You come running in here naked, with your pheromones clouding up the air!" "Lele, are you aroused?" Kinna said as she stared down at the Scrum woman. "I hope so," Marty said, leaning against the hatchway, a smile on his face. "Josh! Ever since you came on board, it's been a non-stop sex party for my wife and I. Hell, we've always been horny, but your pheromones have made my life so much more enjoyable. You see, we Scrum have a very powerful sense of smell. Almost as strong as those two," He said, pointing to Kinna and Metla. "Well that makes two of us that are horny then," Peenk said. It was then that everybody realized she was as naked as Joshua. "Now get back in there! I'm not done protecting you, Cabinboy!" Lele hooked a finger in her husband's belt and led him back to their suite. Metla glanced at her former Mistress and shrugged. "You have to admit it. Things have not been dull since he came aboard." Moff Degro Serro stood in the main chamber of the Council of Moffs, talking to his wife Admilla, and fellow Moff, Veru Panaka when Gith Seergah entered the room. "You know spouses are not allowed in this room Serro," The tall man said in his nasally voice as he walked across the floor. "And why are you out of uniform?" "My wife is here in an official capacity. She's the one who's going to tell us what it is that Intelligence has that's so important that they'll drag us out of bed. And we're out of uniform because it's the middle of the night! Besides, there is no rule that we Moffs have to wear a uniform. That was something started by that strutting fool Tarkin," The short man took the hand of his wife and escorted her to the table. Seergah stood seething for a moment before sitting. When all were seated, the stunning woman began. "You all remember that Admiral Vond Morss defected with his son Jay and their wives, correct?" The men all nodded. "Well Intelligence has had his son Dayvid under close surveilance on Doroub. Just in case he tried to contact him." "Did the traitor show up there?" Seergah asked with a sneer. "No. But the holocams that we have set up in the port security building where he works found something far more interesting than any wayward admiral." "What would that be my dear?" Degro asked with a smile. "Was there a brawl between the police and a drunken Wookiee?" "Close. There was a brawl, and it did involve a Wookiee. But he was fighting a lone human." "I bet that was over quick!" Panaka said with a laugh. "You would think so," Admilla told them. "But watch this," Reaching out, she turned on the rooms holo projector. The group sat in stunned silence as they saw a young human male, and a rather short one at that, wrestle a large Wookiee. Even more amazing was when two volleys of stunner bolts could not stop him. "That's one of these super soldiers from the other side of that worm hole, isn't it?" Seergah asked, his eyes glued to the images playing out before them. "Yes, sir. Several ships came through about five months ago. And he was a prisoner on one of them. Meet Joshua Kirk. According to one of our sources, he was an ambassador. And he was being transported back home to the capitol of the Federation for trial when they were attacked by some other ships. This source called them Klingons." "Ambassador!" Sundo Mako said in disbelief. "He's a kid!" "He's twenty nine, sir," Admilla replied. "What was he charged with?" Moff Zan Dadonna asked. Admilla Serro stifled a laugh as she glanced down at her husband. "He got the Klingon Empress pregnant," The men around the table broke out in laughter. All except Seergah, who continued to stare at the holo. "I see he's short. So he's one of the lower class?" The current leader of the Council mumbled. "I'd hate to see what one of the more advanced ones can do." "No sir," The woman replied. "He's not of the Soldier Class. Our source says he's part of a new class. He's far superior to the Generals." "Generals?" another moff asked. "Remember the super assassins the Emperor tried to create?" She asked the assembled men. "They are what these people call Generals. And we've all seen the holos from that droid that our people were able to lift from Republic Intelligence's Section 65." "Who can forget the sight of that cute girl blasting Dr Matthew's brains out!" Panaka said with a chuckle. "She really appeared to be having fun spraying the bulkhead with the contents of his skull." "I don't blame her," Admilla said with a shiver. "I've seen holos of what these girls went through." "Yes. And now those same force sensitive super soldiers are doing some serious damage to the Empire," Sata Kinter said with a shake of his head. "Oh, it gets worse," The analyst told the assembled leaders of the Empire. "There's word on Coruscant that Mon Mothma wants to meet our randy little ambassador. They say that she wants to open diplomatic relations with this Federation and recruit his people for the war effort." "How?" Her husband asked. "This wormhole closes as soon as it's used, and then stays shut for five to ten years." "The Republic has found a way to open it. In fact they are in contact with the Federation." "If they can do that," Dadonna said as he slumped in his chair. "then we are doomed." "So we must do something to stop them," Seergah cut in. "How are they opening it?" "We don't know. All we do know is that they have the largest hyper matter reactor ever built supplying power for their effort." "And there's how we stop them, we destroy the reactor," Seergah told the others. "Then they'll just bring in another!" Kinter shot back. "And I guarantee that the next one will be better guarded!" "No, Seergah is right," Serro said. Everyone in the room turned in shock to see the shaven headed man agree with Seergah about anything. "A very large reactor exploding will cause a spatial disruption that should destroy this wormhole." "Very well," Panaka nodded in agreement. "We'll need a strong force to do the job. No telling what they have defending the place. "I'll have my son take the 2nd Fleet," Gith Seergah cut in. "They are just coming back from a training excersize, so they'll be at their peak of readiness." Seergah looked around the table. All the Moffs agreed to the destruction of the reactor. "Then we'll inform Pellaeon of what we need," Kinter said, as they all got up to leave. "Wait!" Sundo Mako spoke up abruptly. "What about the people we have on the other side? There's an Imperial-1 class Stardestroyer, and a War Hammer class frigate over there, as well as fifteen hundred men and women from Intelligence." "But they have not been heard from since they were sent through the wormhole sixteen years ago," Dadonna told the oldest of the Moffs. "They are most likely dead." "Actually, the comm relay we have hidden near the wormhole picked up a signal on an Imperial band," Admilla informed the others. "But it was in a language one of our Coruscant sources called Latin. She said it's pretty much a dead language among the humans there. But that their super soldiers are born knowing how to speak it. Which means that they have control of our forces." "It does not matter!" Seergah shouted. "The Empire will not be destroyed because we were worried about sixty thousand people. We are shutting the wormhole!" The tall man turned his back on the others and left. Mako sat back in his seat. His son had been the executive officer on the frigate. "Does your source have any idea what they were saying?" The elderly man asked. "No idea," She said. "The only way he could find out would be to ask one of them, or to use Excalibur's computer. But the ship's gone missing," The woman smiled, glancing down at the still playing holo. "We could ask him." "Yes," Degro said with a laugh. "Let's search the entire galaxy for this kid." "Oh, he'll be easy to find," Admilla told her husband. "It seems he's now a crewmember of The Long Distance Runner." "Well then," Degro grinned. "I think I'll talk to my brother the ambassador and have Ivory pay this man a visit when Peenk gets back to Coruscant." "He's not the ambassador!" Mako said in a tone mocking Gith Seergah. "Your brother was sent to negotiate the rebels surrender." "By the Force!" Panaka said. "I'll be glad when control of the council rotates out of that idiots hands, and back to you sir," He told Mako. "The damn, prancing Tarkin wannabe." Sundo Mako grinned. "I like you younger Moffs. You don't show defference to the memory of Palpatine or Tarkin." "There's nothing to show defference to," Serro told him. "They doomed the Empire from the start with this damned Doctrine Of Fear, and Palpatine's Humanocentric Policy. And let's not forget these idiotic super weapons. The Empire could have worked otherwise." "Yes," Kinter said. "Instead of rooting out the corruption like Palpy claimed he was going to do, it just shifted to his friends," "Well," Serro styarted as he put his hand on the older man's shoulder. "You gentlemen can talk all night if you want. I'm going home. And I'm taking my wife with me. I'll see all of you later." And this ens chapter three, Dourob.