The Desert Suite
                   A Ranma Wars Side Story
                     By J. Austin Wilde
                     Fission Park Press
                 and P-P-P-Chan Productions



J. Austin Wilde, K.B.C.S.
Minister of Propaganda and
Herald of the Temple of the Island King
Fission Park Press
wildeman@flash.net


Ranma Wars is the creation of Lucas Muzzatti. It may also be a parody 
of George Lucas' epic, Star Wars, although no one told _me_ about it. 
Ranma 1/2 is of course the creation of Rumiko Takahashi. I'm sure we 
understand who owns the rights and privileges of the various characters 
and situations, hmmm?



______________________________________________________________________
     Not so long ago in a galaxy of our own devising...



     The K-Wing limped over the dunes of Tatooine trailing smoke.
     Kasumi sighed tiredly as another red light flicked on at her damage 
display. The starfighter was trying to sound cheery as it slowly failed. 
She decided that its attempts were failing too.
     Her own reminder to her friend Nabiki of Jabba's formidable air 
defenses came back in her face. After shooting down the three T-95 
Tsubasas, she attacked the two turbolaser batteries. Make that _three_ 
turbolasers.
     The third had been quite a surprise. A surprise that nearly got them 
vaporized. The first blast had flattened her deflector shields and blazed 
streams of coherent death into her K-Wing. She didn't give the gun crew 
a second chance at her, loosing a concussion missile into the thing at 
point blank range. She hated it when the intel reports overlooked such 
trivial details as a third anti-aircraft laser cannon.
     Now her K-Wing's power generation systems were overheating. The 
main cooling system had been holed by molten metal spalling of her 
armor belt. The redundancy system had a history of poor performance, 
really the only flaw with the starfighter's design.
     It all came down to one thing: she didn't have enough power 
available to make orbit. Soon her energizers would fail and she wouldn't 
have any power whatsoever. With luck she could reach the city of 
Anchorhead and secure assistance before then.
      An alarm began to warble in her headset. Without looking at her 
panel she knew what it was. The energizers were overheated. She 
could feel the sluggish response of the controls, the change in pitch 
from the turbofans that fed tons of air per second over the reactor 
system for thrust in an atmosphere.
     Her slim fingers flew across the panel, directing her remaining 
power reserves to the gravity drive and flight controls. Airspeed bled 
away as the turbofans stalled. She could feel the last of her forward 
thrust ebbing with each second. 
     **If I can just reach that hard packed ground,** she thought as 
she bit down on her lip. She didn't have any illusions about setting 
down without power in sand. The idea that the sand would absorb the 
shock of crash landing didn't enter her mind. She wasn't going to crash, 
and that was that.
     With one hand on the yoke and the other hand-pumping her landing 
gear down, she deftly dropped the K-Wing on a patch of hard earth little 
larger than her starfighter. The engines finished winding down as she 
opened the canopy and set her helmet on the console. She pulled her 
pink 'snoopy cap' hood from her head and mopped away the sweat 
soaked bangs from her eyes.
     Kasumi Antilles stood up in the cockpit and stretched out. Her fall 
of golden brown hair worked its way out of her flightsuit and fell over 
her shoulder. The starfighter shuddered just once as it settled on its 
landing gear.
     "Well you are alive and whole," she said to herself.
     Upon inspecting the starfighter she confirmed what the damage 
control system had already informed her. The main coolant system had 
vented its entire charge of exotic gas to the hot and dry Tatooine air. 
Even if she could patch the holes with her repair kit, she still didn't 
have the fifty-seven kilos of coolant gas to fill the system.
     "Oh dear..."
     She sat down atop the reactor complex and thought.
     **I could always patch the holes and transfer the coolant from the 
redundant to the main system. I just hope I have enough repair material.** 
She looked again at the damage. Several runs of tubing were split. One 
manifold was cracked wide open. This was a little out of her league. **It 
would also help if I knew what I was doing...**
     She decided the best she could hope for would be to clean away some 
of the carbon scoring. Unfortunately that wouldn't help her to get the 
K-Wing operational. Also as she had undertaken her mission for Nabiki 
without any official sanction from the Alliance, she didn't expect much 
help from that quarter.
     Kasumi hopped down onto the dusty ground and looked to the east. 
Anchorhead was somewhere over that far ridge of red-brown sandstone. 
It was a good hundred kilometers away as the snarkas flew. Part of the 
Dune Sea stood between her and her destination as well. The twin suns 
G1 and G2 hung high in the sky blazing down upon her, and she 
decided to wait until later when it wasn't so hot before setting out.
     She settled down in the shade of her starfighter's wings and leaned 
against the landing gear strut for support. It was _soooo_ hot, and the 
heat drained away her strength until she dozed off in exhaustion. As she 
drifted away she thought of her dear friend Nabiki. She hoped her 
scoundrelous companion was faring better than she was.



                        *       *       *



     "All squadron leaders report in," the tac-net crackled.
     "Indigo Leader here, Indigo Squadron ready!"
     "Cocktail Leader here, Cocktail Group standing by!"
     "Bronze Squadron ready!"
     "The Wrecking Crew's ready for action!"
     Kasumi Antilles was next in the queue. She keyed her commo system 
as she looked over her shoulder. K-Wings and their counterparts the 
Kawaii-Wings slid into an echelon-left formation on her own K-Wing.
     "Darling Leader here," she said sweetly into the tac net. "Darling 
Squadron standing by!"
     In all there were eight squadrons of starfighters filling space 
with the light of their HEPLAR drives. It was the largest formation 
the Alliance had ever mustered in one place against the Hentpire. If 
this mission succeeded, it would be the first real victory over the 
Hentpire since the civil war had begun.
     The Command channel crackled in her earphones. In order to 
preserve the mission's secrecy, the location of the target and the commo 
frequencies to be used wouldn't be given until the ships were spaceborne. 
     "Lock navigational data into your computers; set Channel 1G to 
receive. Tactical-net shift to Channel 6F will occur prior to hyperspace 
jump, command channel is unchanged. Set IFF to 3A95."
     The Squadron Leaders acknowledged and set their commo systems 
accordingly. Mission Data scrolled across the displays as it was 
transmitted up to them. Kasumi wished they had more time to review it. 
They were playing this one by ear, counting more on the element of 
surprise and the skills of the pilots to overcome the lack of familiarity 
than on a well planned and practiced attack.
     She called up her Darlings on the squadron channel and passed them 
the data. Each fighter's primary and secondary assignments were detailed 
in the instructions. From the look of things, the Darlings would be 
providing fighter cover for the Cocktail Group and their heavy bombers. 
Kasumi preferred intercept missions over this sort of thing. With her 
eleven Darlings to worry about she just didn't need a whole 
Bombardment Group thrown in for company.
     They were good girls, her Darlings. Well all of them except for 
Dowling, who was a man. Darling Six was ceaseless in his bellyaching 
about being stuck in a squadron of females, but the truth of it was that 
he had a heart of gold and was a cool hand behind the stick. She had 
turned down his every request for a transfer on this last point.
     "All Squadrons stand by for the jump to hyperspace."
     Kasumi scanned her navigational unit. The coordinates for the jump 
were loaded and the hyperdrive status lights shifted to standby. She 
could feel the reactor behind her start to ramp up the power, charging 
the hyperdrive's accumulators.
     Her Darlings flashed their collision lights twice to show they were 
ready. Kasumi smiled in spite of the butterflies that spun circles in her 
stomach. She loved them all, and she hoped they would all come home 
safe tonight.
     "Execute hyperspace jump on my mark..." The Mission Commander 
intoned. "Five, four, three, two, one, Mark!"
     The eight squadrons suddenly leaped into a phenomenally higher 
energy state, disappearing into flashing streaks of white light and 
lambent flame. The attack was on.



                           *       *       *



     Kasumi stirred as the rising wind sent scouring clouds of dust and 
sand into her face. The rivulets of sweat that tracked down her cheeks 
and matted her luxuriant mane of hair now caked with gritty mud. Braving 
a look with her hands shielding her face, she saw that the larger of the 
two suns was setting over the horizon. Its sister wasn't far behind.
     "No time like the present," she said to herself. She collected her 
helmet from the cockpit console and set it on her head. With the visor 
down it would keep the sand out of her eyes. She opened a storage locker 
in the fuselage and pulled out her survival kit. The kit had a large 
cloak that would keep the sand and grit from fouling her flightsuit. She 
donned the cloak and slipped the soft frame pack over her shoulder and 
started east.
     The way was slow through the sand, and she was grateful for sealed 
boots. With her cloak and helmet the winds didn't seem as bad, though 
she was sweating as fast as she could drink her dwindling supply of 
survival water. Her flightsuit could reclaim a little of the moisture, 
but not enough to account for losses through breathing. It seemed 
Tatooine's atmosphere leeched the moisture out of her.
     At last the second sun set in the southwest. It was that time in 
the northern hemisphere of the planet where both suns actually set in 
the sky. G2's eccentric companion orbit around G1 made for entire 
months of continuing daylight, Tatooine's 'summer'.
     Kasumi watched the huge orange ball of fire descend over the dunes 
in shimmering waves of heat that made the air seem liquid. The sky was 
an angry blaze of colors until finally the darkness overcame the last 
vengeful rays of daylight. Stars began to appear in the sky, little 
points of eternal light against the sable firmament.
     Night comes swiftly to the desert. With no vegetation the burning 
sands soon gave up their heat to the air. Kasumi pulled her cloak 
tightly about herself as she went from furnace to freezer. She could 
use her flightsuit's heaters if need be, but without a source of power 
available the batteries would only last a few hours.
     She looked up longingly to the stars. They had always been her 
friends, her home. She wanted to get back to them. 



                        *       *       *



     The Darlings dropped out of hyperspace in formation, a display of 
the vigorous training regimen the original founder of Kasumi's squadron 
insisted upon. She was just a young girl when she joined Leticia Darling's 
unit. That was two years ago, and she had grown up quickly in that time. 
Leticia had died during the Hentperor's ascension to power, killed by 
none other than Kuno Vader himself. The surviving pilots of the 
squadron named themselves in honor of her, and Kasumi Antilles had 
become their leader.
     She checked her instruments, then looked over her shoulder to 
confirm that all of her Darlings had come through intact. They flashed 
their collision lights again for her. Darling Two, her second in command, 
took half of the squadron into an echelon-right formation and dropped 
back. The other half stayed echelon-left with Kasumi's K-Wing.
     Their ribbon-bow shaped EMS suites detected the Hentperials' 
probing sensory arrays a good distance away. A capital ship came over 
the pole of their target planet Gallus Prime. It was one of the newer 
Hentperial cruisers, not one of the old Republic ships. That meant it 
was armed to the teeth and had the kind of sensors that could tell what 
color your panties were through a deflector shield and three centimeters 
of titungstenel armor. (At least that was the way the joke went.)
     They weren't after the panty-shaped cruiser. They needed to hit the 
orbital construction yards. Those would be producing the new Hen-TIE 
fighters and more of those perverted cruisers to enslave the galaxy to 
the whim of the twisted little Hentperor. Cocktail Group would take out 
the yards, Kasumi's Darlings would keep them covered against the fighters.
     "Cocktail Leader to all Cocktail Sections, sound off."
     "Whiskey Leader standing by!" Twelve aging Thunderbolts formed 
up by element pairs.
     "Martini Leader standing by!" Nine Kawaii-Wings armed with heavy 
missiles and torpedoes waggled and flashed their lights.
     "Screwdriver and Brandywine Sections ready!" A mixed bag of 
Thunderbolts, T-95 Tsubasas, K and Kawaii-Wings formed up to attack.
     "Rummy Leader here, Rummies are ready to roll!" Ten more 
Thunderbolts fell in behind the Screwdrivers.
     They were closing with the target. Sensors continued to indicate the 
Hentperials' ignorance to their presence.
     The Mission Commander's voice issued across the tac-net. "Cocktail 
Group get set up for your run. Watch that cruiser coming in. Darlings 
cover against that cruiser while Indigo and Bronze Squadrons work it in 
close. Wrecking Crew draws Triple-A suppression against the yards. 
Everyone got it?"
     There were various replies by the squadron leaders over the command 
channel.
     Kasumi called out to her pilots.
     "Lock S-Foils in attack position, please."
     The Darlings complied as one. The K-Wings' airfoils split apart into 
the characteristic 'K' shape tipped on its side. The Kawaii-Wings' long 
engine pods split apart and formed into the classic 'Y' shape in relation 
to the fuselage, making them look like big bunny rabbit heads when 
viewed from above. (Several of the Darlings' Kawaii-Wings were in 
fact painted to look like bunnies.) Deflector shields energized and pilots 
set them double front to attack. Weapons charged up and missiles 
primed themselves for launch. They were keeping their EMS arrays 
passive for the moment to capitalize on the element of surprise.
     Kasumi awaited her pilots' status reports.
     "Darling Two standing by," Irene Tal declared. Kasumi could almost 
see her green eyes shining through her helmet visor.
     "Darling Three is standing by," Beli Seff sang. She had the 
prettiest voice, and was rumored to be a big opera diva on her homeworld. 
She was Kasumi's wingmate.
     "Darling Four standing by," Jantica Kolustan announced. Jan was the 
Darlings' hustler. She could get a hold of whatever the squadron needed 
despite the vagaries and shortages of the Alliance supply system. She 
also had a running betting pool going on just about any wager you could 
think of.
     "Darling Five standing by," Karen Rago called. Karen was the best 
shot in the squadron. She once picked off Hentperial Stormtroopers in 
a strafing run through a crowd of hostages with her K-Wing's laser 
cannons. A few of the hostages received impromptu sunburns, but 
they fared far better than the Hentperials.
     "Darling Six ready," Rik Dowling growled. His rumbling bass voice 
was a little out of place on a tac-net filled with altos and sopranos. 
Kasumi grinned as he mumbled something else unintelligibly over the 
net.
     "Darling Seven standing by," Lathloral Kess said evenly. Lath was a 
veteran of the first battles against the Hentpire. She'd seen too much, 
and had since withdrawn into herself. More was the pity, for she was 
so beautiful to look at that it made your heart ache.
     "Darling Eight standing by!"  Darcie Allucronin replied in a cheery 
voice. Next to Kasumi, Darcie had the sunniest disposition of the 
squadron. Which is why she was Darling Six's wingmate.
     "Darling Nine ready!" Arika Mil cried. She was the first of the four 
new replacements for the Darlings to get the squadron up to strength. 
This was her first combat action, and Kasumi was a little worried for 
all of them. She was full of enthusiasm, Kasumi just hoped it would be 
enough to get her through.
     "Darling Ten standing by!" Denri Hakash piped up as soon as Arika 
cleared the net. The two had been friendly rivals throughout their hasty 
starfighter pilot training.
     "Darling Eleven standing by," Mona Shantipall said with a little 
less enthusiasm. She was the daughter of a scandalously wealthy shipping 
magnate, and it was rumored that she joined the Alliance just to get 
back at him for something. Now that she had front-row pressbox seats 
to the middle of the war she seemed to be having second thoughts 
about her decision. Her biggest problem was that she wasn't a quitter 
at anything, and was determined to see this war through to the end.
     "Darling Twelve ready to go!" Tiko Glissando chirped. Tiko was 
for lack of a better term the squadron's mascot. She was barely fifteen 
years old, about four and half feet tall, and needed special modifications 
to her acceleration chair to see over her starfighter's instrument panel. 
Her prowess in the simulators is what put her in the cockpit of a K-Wing.
     "All fighters commence attack!" The Mission Commander ordered.
     Cocktail Group surged ahead on full HEPLAR burns.
     The Hentperials finally detected the Alliance starfighters and began 
to sortie their Rapid Alert fighters. A full squadron of Hen-TIEs 
screamed from the cruiser's launch bay and closed on intercept with 
Cocktail Group. EMS suites detected weapon radars and deflector shields 
springing to life about the shipyards.
     "Twelve marks at two points left, azimuth four!" Rummy Leader cried.
     "They must think we wouldn’t see ‘em," Rummy Five said in a laconic 
voice.
     "Well I didn’t see ‘em, did you see ‘em?" Rummy Nine barked.
     "I see ‘em now," Five replied casually.
     "Let 'em have it Darlings!" Cocktail Leader called out.
     Kasumi keyed her commo on the squadron channel as her starfighter's 
tracking systems acquired and locked the lead Hen-TIE on her Heads Up 
Display. She felt elated now that the wait was over.
     "Let's go girls!" She called out cheerfully.
     Ten voices sang happily in reply.
     Darling Six grumbled something not worth repeating here.
     The twelve starfighters formed up into their element pairs and hit 
their boosters. They climbed in relationship to the ecliptic plane to 
intercept the Hen-TIEs. The Hentperials saw them coming and decided to 
change targets.
     Once she had given the necessary orders, Kasumi switched on the 
cockpit music. Biohazard began grinding out the big metal sounds as 
her K-Wing took the lead. Her pulse quickened as her fusion reactor 
screamed with vengeful fury. The roar of helium plasma was a deep 
vibration in the pit of her stomach as she closed the range with the 
Hentperials. She loved every millisecond of it.



                             *       *       *



     Kasumi had walked all night across the dunes. By the time she 
reached the hard age-worn sandstone ridgeline she was exhausted. She 
searched around for suitable shelter from the quickening dawn with the 
last of her energy.
     Finding a spot that would keep her out of the sun for awhile, she 
spread her cloak over the rocks and tried to get comfortable. The grey 
sky of Tatooine's sunrise began to brighten. Soon it would go from 
evening chill to blast furnace heat.
     She took a sip of her dwindling reserve of fresh water, realizing 
that by sunset she would have to start using her flightsuit's recycled 
supply. She didn't look forward to that at all. Instead she chose happier 
thoughts, such as a nice hot soak in a bath tub to wash away the dirt 
and grime that clung to her.
     Kasumi wasn't aware of drifting off to sleep, nor was she aware 
how long she had been out when the huge smelly hand collared her and 
lifted her off the ground.
     "Oh my!" she cried in sleepy surprise.
     The Tusken Raider who held her off the ground raised a gaffe stick 
and prepared to bring it down on her pretty head with the intention 
of splitting it open. Kasumi would have no truck with that. As an 
alternative she lashed out with her foot and planted it in his mid-
section. The foul smelling beast made an appropriately painful sound 
as all his breath left his lungs.
     She dropped to her feet as the Raider let her go. Danger can do 
wonders for one's concentration, and she had gone from fast asleep to 
wide awake in the time it took her to say 'oh my!'. The other Sand 
People weren't expecting much of a fight from her, and they backed 
away a few steps.
     Kasumi did as well. Unfortunately for her, she had a sheer wall 
of sandstone at her back, which didn't give her many options for 
escape. The Sand People gathered their wits quickly and dropped their 
gaffe sticks level with their chests to stab at her.
     She drew her blaster from her hip holster and pointed it at the lead 
Raider.
     "I don't want to have to shoot you," she said trying to maintain a 
smile on her face.
     The Sand Man had seen blasters before, but decided his prey didn't 
have the nerve to use it.
     Kasumi promptly shot him in the foot, which not only blasted a 
silver dollar sized hole through it, but also had the collateral effect 
of setting his ragged clothes on fire from the knees down.
     The Tusken Raider started whooping in a horrible voice, his cries 
echoing painfully across the sandstone rocks. He hopped around on 
one foot beating at the flames as the others wisely stepped back 
another few paces.
     "So sorry about that," she apologized. "But I did warn you."
     He howled something in reply and the others charged at her.
     She squeezed off two shots into them before they knocked away her 
pistol and pinned her arms at her sides. She chose this moment to 
scream, but it wasn't likely to draw any attention if the beginning of 
this ruckus hadn't. The maimed Sand Man hopped over to her, 
grunting something reasonably obscene as he prepared to club her to 
death like a baby seal. His smoldering legs added to his terrible stench.
     Kasumi thrashed uselessly in their grips as the Sand Man raised his 
stick high over his head. Despite his obvious agony he seemed to be 
savoring the moment. She hoped it would be quick, but had the feeling 
he was going to take his time in killing her.
     You can imagine her surprise when the Sand Man began cudgeling 
_himself_ instead.
     The other Sand People were of a similarly confused state of mind. 
Then the crazed Sand Man began pummeling them as well, and they 
decided to run for it. Kasumi was a tasty morsel, but was proving to be 
too much trouble for the effort.
     The maimed Sand Man hopped after them in pursuit, howling and 
cursing and waving his gaffe stick around. When he couldn't reach any 
of them he hit himself instead. Kasumi watched them go, pausing only 
to collect her blaster and her other things.
     "How very odd," she remarked.
     A figure in a dark robe popped out from behind a rock outcropping. 
Kasumi saw the movement out of the corner of her eye, and she 
wheeled about with her blaster ready. As her finger tensed on the 
trigger ready to fry the interloper, he threw off his hood.
     "Why hello there!" The figure called in a friendly voice.
     It was a man. A rather handsome man to boot! She lowered her 
blaster.
     "Are you hurt?" He asked.
     Kasumi looked herself over.
     "Nothing serious, just a little shaken up," she replied.

     The man got a closer look at her. He was a little nearsighted, and 
affected eyeglasses that were charmingly quaint in an era that corrected 
poor vision with simple surgery.
     "You're a girl?" He asked in surprise.
     Kasumi was taken aback by his question, but laughed anyway.
     "Of course I am, silly!"
     At the sound of her melodious laughter and as he got a better look 
at her in that flightsuit that clung lovingly to her marvelous curves, he 
began to blush furiously and his glasses steamed up. His reaction only 
made her laugh some more.
     "Forgive me!" He stammered.
     Kasumi put her hand to her mouth to hide her smile. "It's nothing 
really." She quickly decided that she liked him.
     "Are you hurt?" He stammered again.
     "I'm fine." She was having a hard time hiding her smile from him.
     "That's good," he said, regaining his composure somewhat. His 
glasses were still opaque. He fidgeted about for a few minutes.
     Kasumi decided that if she was going to get anything useful from him, 
she would have to do the talking.
     "You wouldn't happen to have a vehicle around would you? I need 
to get to Anchorhead."
     The man looked around as if he was hearing angelic voices in his 
head. (Which he was depending on your point of view.)
     "Excuse me sir?" Kasumi said in the hopes of regaining his attention.
     "Hmmm? Oh I'm terribly sorry," the man replied as if waking from 
a dream. "By the way, you aren't hurt are you?"
     If she hadn't immediately sensed his distraction with her, she might 
have gotten angry at this point. But Kasumi Antilles was also a woman 
of enormous patience, and so she took him by the hand and led him 
back the way he came. He followed along a little confused, but 
otherwise blissfully happy.
     "I'm sorry, where are we going?" He managed.
     "You were going to show me to your vehicle," Kasumi informed him 
with a radiant smile.
     "Oh yes," the man replied. He thought about it for a minute as she 
led him by the hand through the rocks. "Um, I don't know how to say 
this, but I don't have a vehicle."
     Kasumi stopped in her tracks.
     "Oh dear..." she said softly.
     "I'm terribly sorry, it's just that I live out here and don't need 
to get around much. I could take you to my home if you like." As he 
realized what he'd said he began to blush furiously again.
     "That would be wonderful!" She enthused. It wasn't as good as a 
vehicle, but it would be a chance to freshen up and restock her water 
supply.
     "Um, yeah." He decided to lead for awhile. Kasumi smiled to herself.
     As it turned out, he didn’t live very far away. His home was a cave 
set into the side of the sandstone cliffs. It didn’t look like much on 
the outside, but once Kasumi was inside she found it was rather cozy.
     "Sorry about the mess," the man replied. "I wasn’t expecting 
company."
     "It’s okay," Kasumi grinned. From the clutter she guessed that he 
lived alone.
     The man fumbled with several odd bits of clothing lying around.
     "Um, ah, can I ah, get you something?"
     "Well, I don’t want to impose more than I already have."
     "It’s no trouble!" He replied. "I’ll get you something to drink."
     He bumbled his way into a little alcove in the side of the room. 
Kasumi heard the clatter and crash of a great pile of unwashed dishes.
     "Are you all right?" She asked him.
     "I’m fine! I’m fine!" He stammered amidst the clamor of glass and 
crockery.
     She put her gloved hand to her lips in a smile.
     "If it’s no trouble, I’d really like to freshen up a bit."
     Something sounding like a cast iron skillet bounced off his head. 
There was a sharp intake of breath. A hand appeared out of the darkness 
of the alcove, pointing down a short hall.
     "Just down and to the left," he hissed in obvious discomfort, but 
trying his best to keep his composure.
     "I’ll find it!" She laughed.
     The bathroom was rather small, but it would suit her needs well 
enough. It seemed  like imposing, but she needed to clean herself up. 
The sink was a little shallow, and had that standard Tatooine vacuum 
fitting that drew air across it to conserve the moisture that might 
otherwise evaporate away. 
     She turned the faucet valve to fill the sink. The conserver fitting 
whined to life as a thin stream of clear tepid water spilled into the 
basin. She touched her fingertips to the water and frowned. That was as 
cold as it was going to get.
     She sighed and cupped a little of the water into her hands and 
splashed it on her face. Tatooine’s stubborn grime stayed put. A little 
scrubbing only seemed to scour.
     She shut the faucet valve. Over her shoulder was the shower. 
**Surely he wouldn’t mind?**
     The sound of that delightfully clumsy man down the hall told her 
that he wouldn’t even notice, let alone mind. Her long delicate fingers 
played at the flightsuit seals, which hissed softly as she undid them. 
It felt good to get out of the confining suit. It was her shelter and 
her protection, but it was also a smothering affection sometimes.
     The shower had another of those obnoxious conservers above it. 
Kasumi flicked her hand across the sensor and the fine pulses of hot 
water strobed across her body. Ultrasonics helped work loose the grit 
and the grime with a minimum of water usage. It felt wonderful, and 
the low whine of the conserver carried her thoughts away.



                          *       *       *



     "Break left girls!" She called out.
     Her half of the Darlings rolled and pulled hard left yaw against 
the Hen-TIEs. The range was long, but stinging tongues of brilliant 
light reached out across the darkness between them. Out of the corner 
of her eye she saw Darling Seven’s Kawaii-Wing bathed in incandescent 
fire. A harsh blast of static erupted over the tac-net.
     "Lath!" Karen Rago cried in terror.
     "I’m all right!" Lathloral replied in a shaky voice. "Just cut 
across my shields!"
     Somewhere in the back of Kasumi’s mind there registered the 
heart-skip of relief. But not in her conscious mind. Time slowed to a 
crawl in the rat race; and she was lining up that lead Hen-TIE in her 
sights by the millisecond.
     There was no conscious decision to squeeze the firing stud. At 
least none that Kasumi Antilles would recognize. There was only that 
actualization; caught in the moment and willing her weapons to release. 
That a vast string of computations and probabilities acted in concert 
with precision photonics and several million joules of energy to turn 
a bra-shaped starfighter a thousand kilometers away into an expanding 
cloud of boiling plasma was meaningless to her.
     That was however, the end result.
     Half a second later she was pitching her nose into a climb against 
the ecliptic. As the Hen-TIE’s glowing remains succumbed to entropy and 
cooled away to dying embers, Kasumi’s K-Wing grappled with Gallus 
Prime’s gravity well. As one part of her awareness registered the blip 
on her EMS suite fade, another was watching her girls. 
     Her Darlings were all there, and they were doing her proud.
     The Hen-TIEs closed the range with the Darlings. Four more 
Hentperial starfighters fell to concussion missile strikes. The deaths 
went unanswered as the small fighters carried no missiles of their own. 
     Kasumi ordered her K-Wings into a dogfight with the Hen-TIEs 
while keeping her Kawaii-Wings at the fringes to deal with the 
stragglers by using their impressive missile load-out. Darlings Seven, 
Nine, and Eleven broke off and made a wide circle in formation. She 
trusted Lathloral to keep Arika and Mona out of trouble. The middle 
of the rat race was no place to be hurling missiles indiscriminately.
     Irene Tal and the even-numbered Darlings were covering Whiskey 
Section’s run on the shipyards. The Wrecking Crew’s Thunderbolts 
and Kawaii-Wings had blown the hell out of a pair of parked corvettes 
with proton torpedo strikes, leaving only a smattering of point defense 
turbolasers and the threat of Hen-TIEs to worry about. Starfighters 
were too fast and agile to have any trouble against the turbolasers, 
and Irene and her half of the Darlings were covering them from above 
and below against fighters.
     Kasumi registered their voices over the tac-net as they commenced 
their runs. They were several thousand kilometers away, only little 
glowing lights against the darkness. This close to Gallus Prime’s 
reflected glare overwhelmed the light of the distant stars, making 
space empty and black.
     "Watch that cross fire!" Martini Leader advised. Martini Section 
had just completed their run. On the far side of the yards several 
airdocks burned brilliantly as their voided atmospheres rushed out 
in glowing streams of fire.
     Kasumi had other problems. Returning her awareness to the dogfight 
she found that three Hen-TIEs had come up on her from behind. Dozens 
more streamed from the launch bays of the Hentperial cruiser far ‘above’ 
them.
     With the loud angry music blaring over her cockpit speakers she 
grinned in anticipation. She shoved the throttles to the stops and goosed 
the burn studs as she pushed over into a dive. The triplex HEPLAR 
drives belched forth million degree helium plasma. A spray of laser 
fire rippled into the space her fighter had just occupied.
     Pushing the nose down into Gallus Prime’s gravity well gave her 
additional velocity, or energy. In a dogfight, energy was life. Squander 
it and you squandered your life. Kasumi held on to her dive for as 
long as she thought she could before the Hen-TIEs got back on her tail. 
Then she grit her teeth and clenched her stomach and leg muscles as 
tight as she could.
     It was the first maneuver she had ever learned as a pilot, the M-1 
maneuver. Even with inertial dampeners, pulling high-g accelerations 
continued to put stress on pilots’ bodies. The flightsuit would contract 
around her to assist, but she would still need to put her own squeeze 
on her body to keep the blood in her heart and brain. And like most 
pilots she kept the dampeners set as low as practical to conserve power.
     The K-Wing’s nose jerked up perpendicular with the ecliptic with 
such swiftness that the Hen-TIEs had no time to react. Standing her 
fighter on its tail, she gunned the boosters and decelerated against her 
fall towards the planet. The Hen-TIEs couldn’t slow down fast enough, 
and risked an overshoot. They decided to scatter and break for it.
     Kasumi was ready for that. She tipped the K-Wing over on its side 
and redirected her velocity parallel to the ecliptic in a kind of vacuum 
version of the Immelman turn, shooting ‘sideways’ across space. A 
Hen-TIE swam in her sights. He was out of energy trying to break his 
fall, and out of luck.
     A short volley of red laser light severed his cup shaped solar 
panels where they joined the central body of the fighter. The solar 
panels burst into shards of glowing metal. The small cockpit/engine 
section spiraled away into the void out of control.
     Other Hen-TIEs were meeting similar fates. Space was filled with 
their brief deathlights. The rest of Cocktail Group unloaded their 
proton torpedoes and fusion bombs into the shipyards. The Hentpire 
wouldn’t be building much of anything here for a long time to come.
     Her command channel commo bleeped twice to inform her of an 
incoming message. It was the Mission Commander. "All starfighters 
disengage. Authentication is Rio Canto Rio. Repeat; all starfighters 
disengage. Rio Canto Rio. Form up by squadrons and jump out at 
your discretion. Let’s go people!"
     That was all she needed to hear. She keyed her squadron commo.
     "All Darlings disengage at once. Form up by element pairs and jump 
home as soon as you’re clear."
     They acknowledged her cheerfully and swooped away. Rik and 
Darcie pulled rearguard with their Kawaii-Wings, loosing a storm of 
missiles into the Hen-TIEs to discourage pursuit. Irene and her even-
numbered Darlings were clear of the dogfight Kasumi and her odd-
numbered Darlings were still fighting. They began to jump out 
immediately, becoming bright flashes of light and winking out of 
existence.
     All but Denri Hakash. Her Kawaii-Wing caught a stray bolt of laser 
fire even as she began the jump. The shields drop to commit power to 
the hyperdrive as the jump sequence begins. Her life ended in an instant 
as the green bolt of light crashed through her cockpit canopy. With the 
computers destroyed in that same instant, the hyperdrive failed, and 
Darling Ten tumbled away into the darkness.
     There wasn’t time to mourn. That would come later. At the 
moment Kasumi’s only concern was getting the rest of her girls out 
of there. The Hentperial cruiser’s supply of starfighters seemed endless, 
and they were scrambling as fast as they could.
      She ordered the rest of them to jump clear and turned her own 
fighter back into the fray. She would have been outnumbered twenty 
to one, but Beli stuck close to her wing. Just to let Kasumi know she 
was there, she launched her last missile dead on into a Hen-TIE.
     "Get out with the rest of them!" Kasumi ordered.
     "I’m your wingmate," Beli replied evenly.
     "I can handle this myself!"
     "I won’t let you."
     Kasumi bit her lip in frustration but decided this was not the time 
to argue with her. She double-fronted her shields and clamped down 
on the firing stud. Her K-Wing hosed streams of laser fire into the 
ranks of the advancing Hen-TIEs. It wasn’t enough firepower at any 
one of them to destroy them, but it looked damn intimidating to fly 
through. They began to scatter.
     Beli followed her lead and began cycling her lasers at maximum pulse 
rate. With the amount of hostile fire incoming now doubled, the Hen-TIEs 
decided that they should try another approach vector. That would take 
time. Darlings were jumping out in the interim.
     Kasumi pulled a split-s in formation with Beli. Darlings One and 
Three half-looped around a pack of Hen-TIEs, leaving a burst of red 
laser light for them. The Hen-TIEs accepted their parting gift and 
exploded appreciatively.
     Bronze Squadron was just jumping away as they boosted clear. The 
Hen-TIEs were trying to get back around for another attack, but in the 
three seconds it would take to activate the hyperdrives, it was far too 
late. Kasumi waited until Darling Three leaped into the higher 
dimensional plane known as hyperspace before she activated her own 
drive.
     Her starfighter leaped into hyperspace. A major turning point in 
the galactic civil war had just gone in the Alliance’s favor with their 
victory over the Hentpire at Gallus Prime. Casualties had been light, 
(or so the analysts said.) Every time Kasumi looked to the empty chair 
in the briefing room where Denri had sat, it seemed like far too dear 
a price for that day of triumph. Many questions would be raised about 
the aftermath of the battle. One thing was clear however:
     Darling Leader was the last Alliance starfighter to leave the 
Battle of Gallus Prime.



                          *      *      *



     Having come to his senses a little bit, the man realized he could 
help his guest reach Anchorhead after all. He was so excited that he 
decided to tell her at once. The trouble was he couldn’t remember where 
she went.
     His home wasn’t very big, so she couldn’t have gone very far. He 
decided to just check everywhere, starting from the pantry and 
working his way down the hall. Okay, so maybe he wasn’t quite 
altogether yet. It was a little puzzling to him as he realized how 
stupid he’d been acting. Considering who and what he was.
     He opened the first door. Closet.
     He opened the next door. Food storage.
     He opened the third door. Water reclaimer.
     He opened the fourth door. Bathroom. Kasumi was just stepping out 
of the shower. 
     Without the benefits of modesty.
     It could be argued that the steam from the shower was what clouded 
up his glasses to the point where they were utterly opaque, but this was 
Tatooine, and showers have conservers which collect the steam. Steam 
wouldn’t go far to explain the sudden hemorrhaging that erupted from 
his nose, either.
     Kasumi gasped in surprise. When the man collapsed to the floor in 
a faint she rushed over to him. He was out cold, but he had the most 
blissful smile on his face.
     She reached for the towel and covered herself before trying to 
rouse him.
     He came out of his faint and looked groggily at her, still wearing 
a goofy smile. His glasses were steamed so badly she couldn’t see his 
eyes. Blood trickled down his nose.
     She reached for a washcloth and dabbled at his nose. This seemed 
to bring him around a bit further.
     "Oh, ah, what am I doing on the floor?" He asked.
     "You must have slipped on something," she replied. She wanted to 
laugh, but kept it in.
     "You must have landed badly. Your nose is bleeding."
     His eyes, barely visible through the foggy glasses, looked down to 
the washcloth she held against his face.
     "So it is," he said sagely.
     "Are you okay?"
     **There was such concern in her voice!** He thought suddenly. Then 
he remembered why he was trying to find her.
     "I have some good news!" He cried.
     "Oh?"
     "Yes! I have this droid friend who doesn’t live very far from 
here. She could give you a ride to Anchorhead. I’m sure her speeder 
still works. At least, it did the last time I talked to her."
     Kasumi sensed that something might be amiss.
     "Um, how long ago was that?"
     "About two years ago," he replied deadpan. "Don’t worry, Miss, 
ah...?"
     "Antilles," Kasumi replied. "Kasumi Antilles."
     "Kasumi?"
     **What a lovely name!**
     "Yes. Kasumi Antilles. I’m a pilot for the Alliance."
     The man got to his feet. Kasumi rose with him, still pressing the 
washcloth to his nose. 
     "I have to go," he said, taking her hand away from his face gently. 
The bleeding had stopped. "I’ll be right back!"
     He turned and walked out. 
     Kasumi watched him go.
     "And you are...?" She called after him. He was already gone.


     Kasumi had a change of clothes in her pack. She put them on, 
regretting that she didn’t have anything better to wear than a pair of 
lavender coveralls. At least they complimented her figure.
     She looked around the comfy house set inside the cliff face. It was 
a real mess. 
     "This place could use a woman’s touch," she said idly. There was 
no telling when her host would return. She enjoyed housework, and she 
really had nothing better to do.


     She was just drying the last plate in the kitchen when he returned. 
He looked around with the kind of surprise and alarm usually reserved 
for people who return home to discover they’ve been robbed. It took 
him a few moments to figure out that the reason he couldn’t find 
anything was because everything had been put away.
     Kasumi poked her head out of the kitchen.
     "Oh, you’re back! Welcome home!" She smiled extra-sweetly for 
him, which was quite a bit of sunshine, even for Tatooine.
     "Did you do all this?" He asked softly, reverently. It seemed like 
he was in the presence of a miracle.
     "Oh, I just tidied up a bit. I hope you don’t mind."
     "Uh, ah, not at all! Good news, that droid friend of mine named 
Bet-E has a speeder, and will be along shortly to take you to 
Anchorhead."
     "Wonderful! Dinner will be ready soon."
     "Huh?"
     "Well you’ve been gone for almost three hours, and I wanted to 
show a little appreciation for everything you’ve done for me," she 
said with another arctic melting smile. "And I like to cook," she added.
     She brought out dinner on a tray. It smelled wonderful.
     He looked at the tray as she set it on the table for them. He 
certainly didn’t remember having any food like this around!
     "Where did you get all of this?" He asked her in awe.
     "Oh, just whatever was at hand. I’m afraid I just threw this 
together at the last minute. If only I had a little more time to prepare."
     He sat down in awe and stared. She took a seat next to him at the 
table and prepared a plate for him when it looked like he was going to 
remain immobilized.
     "I never did get your name," she said to get things moving.
     "Oh! Ah, forgive me! It’s Kenobi. Oni Wan Kenobi. I am, was, a Jedi 
Knight."
     It was Kasumi’s turn to be surprised. "Not _the_ Oni Wan Kenobi?"
     He blushed. "Yes, that was me."
     "What happened to you? I thought you were against the Hentpire?"
     "I was. But it’s my fault that the Hentperor came to power."
     Kasumi looked at him in further surprise. He continued.
     "I was the one who once trained Kuno Vader. Then he betrayed me... 
I have failed the galaxy when it needed me most."
     His eyes lowered in shame.
     Kasumi’s heart was about to break as she beheld him thus.
     "We still need you Oni Wan," she said softly. "Join the Alliance!"
     "I cannot."
     She felt sympathy for him, but she wouldn’t tolerate self pity.
     "You must! Without you our cause is lost!" She looked away. "If 
you stay here, than you will surely have failed the galaxy."
     He was silent.
     "Well?" Kasumi asked.
     He closed his eyes.
     "I’ll do it."
     "Wonderful!" She cried. Without thinking she leaned over and kissed 
his cheek. He turned crimson in response.
     She laughed and lifted a fork to his mouth.
     "Now eat, and I’ll fill you in on the galaxy while we wait." She 
told him.
     He took the offered bite. It was absolutely delicious. He decided 
that as long as Kasumi Antilles was in the Alliance, there was a place 
for him as well.



                              THE END



Author’s Notes.

First of all, I just want it known that I haven’t read any of the Star 
Wars novels, and just about anything I know about the Star Wars universe 
I gleaned from watching the movies. Anyone have a problem with this? 
(Sorry, there are some out there who are purists to the core. This kind 
of fanaticism has never appealed to me.)

The names of Tatooine’s suns I got from a Star Wars Storybook when I 
was six years old. (Yes I was six years old when Star Wars came out. Do 
the math.) I also made up the eccentric orbit of G2. Work with me here.

The Thunderbolt starfighter, mentioned several times but never 
described, is an old Republic fighter that I made up for the story. The 
Alliance is a rag-tag fighting force that cobbles together whatever they 
can to resist the Hentpire, and so its fitting that they use a wide 
variety of fighters in their missions.

Free The Nukes!