Vreem was walking down the hall when a woman ran out of one of the rooms and collided with him, knocking them both off their feet. The woman sat up and turned to Vreem and stared at him with annoyance. By any standards she would be considered beautiful. But the beauty was marred by two jagged scars that ran down her left cheek. "Why don't you watch where your walking kid!" She said as she climbed to her feet. "Excuse me?" Zarell said as he jumped to his feet, suddenly angry. "You were the one who ran into the hall like a drunk Gungan, not me!" "Why are you even here?" She demanded. "Who are your parents? Kids are not allowed in this part of the building!" "Are you shittin' me?" Vreem asked angrily before he slapped himself on the chest. That was when the woman noticed he wore the uniform of an officer of the Corellian Defense Forces. "Oh shit," She muttered as her face turned scarlet. She quickly stood at attention when she saw his rank of Lt Commander. "I'm sorry, sir! It won't happen again!" "Let's hope not," he said as he glanced around. "I'm trying to find an Ensign Rellie Basso. Do you know where I can find her?" "Oh shit," She said again as the color left her face. But then a small smile formed. "Who are you, sir?" "I'm Commander Vreem Zarell," he told her, wondering what she found funny about the situation. "Hey, Old Man!" She shouted as she turned to face the room she'd just exited. "Get your ass out here!" "What the hell do you want girl?" A man in armor asked as he stepped through the doorway. He was about fifty with black hair and brown eyes. He looked at Vreem, smiled and nodded. "Lt Commander." "Old man," The woman said as she grinned. "This kid says he's you. But he can't be you, because you are you!" "That's true, I am me," He said as he smiled. "How can you be me, when I am me?" "I am not you," Vreem said as tears formed in his eyes. "I am me. Who, who are you?" "Someone who's been wanting to meet you for a long time," He said as he wrapped his arms around Vreem and laughed. He then turned about and shouted through the doorway. "Hey all of you degenerates! Get out here and meet my nephew and namesake!" Soon the hall was full of the men and women of CorSec. "They told me you'd left the Jedi on Coruscant and had returned home when me and Cutter returned from an undercover mission this morning," The elder Vreem Zarell said as he grinned. "I was ecstatic!" "Who's Cutter?" The younger Vreem asked as he glanced about. "I'm Cutter," The woman said as she pointed to her scars. "Was sergeant Rellie Basso of CorSec until two hours ago. Now known as Ensign Rellie Basso, of the Corellian Defense Forces Reserves, soon to be active duty." "And that's why I'm here," Vreem told her. "I've been given command of the fighter wing attached to one of the new Corellian built Venators, the Raven. So I'm looking for the best flyers." "I thought they assigned you your pilots?" Cutter asked. "Raven's captain is going to let me choose," Vreem said. "The CDF will just give me the usual fare. But I want to choose those from outside the flight school types. Like you. You learned to fly with your parents, who flew an, um, independent merchant ship like mine did." "That's such a polite way of saying our folks were smugglers," Cutter said as she grinned. "And why me? I'm slated to pilot a shuttle." "I've seen video of you flying," He said as he stared at her. "And they're damned fools for wasting your skills on a shuttle. So I'm offering you the chance to really show what you're capable of. What do you say, want to fly a Headhunter?" "I say hell yeah!" She replied. "I'm your girl!" "Oh shit!" Vreem said quickly. "Don't ever say anything like that around my girlfriend! Very jealous. Very dangerous." "Can she kick your ass?" A tall, thin blonde woman asked. "Not likely," The younger Vreem said. "The only humans who stand a chance against me in a fight might be my father, grandfather, and Asa Onyhee." "You're confident," The woman said before laughing. "Because those are famous last words." "I knew his father," The elder Zarell told her. "You know me, I'm a strong man. Well his father was probably three times stronger than I am. And damn, he was fast!" "Your grandfather was one of the best fighter pilots ever," One of the women said. "My father flew with him in the Stark Hyperspace War. And he had nothing but good things to say about him. He also said that he was the guy you wanted at your back in a bar fight." "And I hope I get the chance to get out to Doroub to meet him one day," The younger Vreem said. "But until then, I'm here to defend my homeworld." "You guys be at my place outside the city tomorrow," Big Vreem said to the others. "We're having us a cookout! You all know what to bring. Now let's go Little Vreem, you're going to meet your Aunt Millie and cousins Jannah and Hannah." "Little Vreem?" The younger Zarell muttered. "Yes, Little Vreem," The man said. "I had the name first. So it's Little Vreem with us." "I guess I could live with the name," He told the others as they grinned. "It's a lot easier to say than Lt Commander Zarell." "Though I don't think your going to stay little for long," Big Vreem said as he stared at his nephew. "I have a feeling you're going to be tall." "That's what a doctor who works with the Jedi told me," He said. "I should be about two meters, maybe more he said." "Damn!" Big Vreem said. "Yeah, tall. Well let's go, Got some ladies I want you to meet." "And why are you wearing armor?" The former Jedi asked his uncle. "Just what kind of mission were you two on?" "The classified kind," The man said. "It was for Corellian and Republic intelligence." "Understood." "Millie, I'm home," Big Vreem said as he stepped through the door of his apartment. "And I brought a stray home for the girls." "A stray?" Millie asked as she entered the room. She was a tall woman with long blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. When she saw who her husband had with him she grinned. "I was wondering when the two of you would meet." "He showed up at Central Headquarters today looking for Cutter," He told her. "He offered her a chance to fly a Headhunter off one of the new Venators." "Good, she deserves better than a shuttle!" She said disgustedly before turning about. "Girls, get in here and meet your cousin Vreem!" "He's here?" An excited girl's voice floated down the hall. Seconds later two girls in their mid-teens ran into the living room. One was blonde, while the other had black hair, both cut short. Both had green eyes like their mother. "Wow, you're cute!" The blonde said. "I can't wait to introduce you to our friends!" "I don't think so," Big Vreem told her as he grinned. "He's already found someone." "You work fast," The raven haired girl said. "You only left the Jedi a couple months ago." "Zory was the pilot of the ship I caught a ride with the day I left Coruscant for Corellia," He said. "I saw you on the news," Millie said. "I haven't seen the Sapphire in a long time. Where are your parents?" "I wish I knew," He said. "The people I caught a ride with knew my parents. They also knew the man who was taking care of Sapphire, Douglas Frey." "Doug Frey?" Millie asked angrily. "Bethany, one of my best friends, ran off with that dirty old man!" "Hey," Vreem said. "Don't talk about my family like that." "Vreem, we are your family," She replied. "Yes, I know," He told her. "But they are my parent's friends so that makes them family." "Face it Millie," Her husband cut in. "We're going to have to share him." "He was a Jedi mom," The blonde, Hannah, spoke up, stepping beside him. "Having family is new to him, and the more the better!" "Besides," Jannah cut in as all sat on the twin couches. "If Bethany likes him, he can't be that bad. It's not like she was dumb." "And they made a beautiful baby girl," Little Vreem said as he pulled a holo-projector from his pocket and placed it on the table. Switching it on, an image of Doug and Bethany floated before them, holding their child, Jillia. "Oh my!" Millie said as she leaned forward. "That is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen! Well I guess he can't be too bad." "Listen up everyone," Vreem said as he watched his nephew's flyer descend for a landing. "The boy's bringing some friends and I don't want any trouble, understood?" "Just what kind of friends are we talking about?" Merrilith Asundo asked the man cautiously. "Some friends of his parents," He replied. "Not that smuggler trash his parents worked with!" Jenni Magnuson said as the Swift Wing came to a rest beside her own flyer. "Nothing from you two!" He shot back sternly. "These people have been given a pardon for the work they've been doing in the war." "Oh sure thing Boss," Merrilith grumbled. "Oh this is going to be fun," Jenni's husband Mario muttered to Merrilith's husband Jason. "Come on," Merrilith said as she turned to Mario. "We're cops, they're criminals." "Not in the eyes of the law," Vreem told her. But both women jumped from their chairs as Bethany stepped from the craft with her baby. With grins, both ran to her, swiftly followed by Vreem's wife and daughters. With less than gentle pushes, Zandya sent the men away and joined the women in gushing over the baby. "Gentlemen," Big Vreem said confidently to the others. "You three are going to be fathers." "Not soon," His nephew said as he and the others sat. "Zory and I have decided to wait until this war is over before we start a family." "Well the girl's not getting any younger you know," Zacharia Cronda said as he sat at one of the tables, a beer in his hand. "She's twenty-five today. The women of the Night Singer Clan usually start having children around eighteen or nineteen. She's practically an old maid." "And you don't have to call her Zory around us," Big Vreem told his nephew in a low voice. "We know who she really is. She's managed to avoid every attempt to capture the Scandalous Wench." "She's not bad," Vreem said as he watched Zandya who now held Jillia. Turning to face Vreem she smiled before turning to Merrilith. "Yeah, I don't think she wants to wait for the end of the war." "I know," Doug Frey said as he smiled at the young man. "She's been talking to Bethany, my sister Liz, and Momo about having a couple herself." "Why didn't anyone say there was a baby out here?" Rellie Basso said as she pushed her way past her husband Walden. "Looks like you're going to have kids as well, Walden," Big Vreem muttered as Cutter thrust him aside as well. "Yeah, don't I know it," Walden said. He like, Little Vreem, was an officer in the Corellian Defense Foces Navy. "I guess it's our destiny."