I did? I did! Ahhhhh! Oops. I think. . . this is not a repeat.



"Gosh, we really beat them, didn't we," Blacksheep commented, looking astonished as she watched the victorious prisoners finish off the last of the fleeing guards. Claw nodded slightly, and Copper gave her a look. Ducky was off-duty because she had to have her third-degree burns treated, and Blacksheep who had taken over was being distracted very easily. When asked how she'd gotten burned, the only reply Ducky had given was a side-long look at Blackie. Or rather, her Jello~Ray gun. Which explained everything.

"Blackie? My shift now," Kaz grinned as he stuck his head around the corner. Blackie stuck her tongue out at him, and he cheerily tried to shove her out of the nav seat. Grath, who had just been passing when Kaz made his comment, looked enraged.

"No it's not, featherhead, you're after ME!" Kaz stubbornly shook his head.

"Uh-uh." Copper solved the problem.

"Actually, I believe that it's Kovu's. Blackie, go get him, will you?" Grumbling, Blacksheep obediently left the cockpit to go find Kovu.

She found him in the medical, trying to ward Thye off as she tried to apply an ice pack to his jaw.

"Oh no you don't. Keep away from me with that!"

"Stand still for a moment, I've got to get this on you. Come back here!" Kovu determinedly headed for the door, and Thye cut him off.

"Thye, stop- augh, no, help!" Blacksheep stifled a laugh.

"Get back here, you blasted rabbit!"

"Blackie, restrain her, please! She's insane, she wants to put that thing on me-" He stopped talking as Thye began stalking him, her expression one of exasperation. Blacksheep saved him.

"Kove, it's your turn at the nav."

"Not til I get this pack applied to that jaw of his," Thye started, but Blackie cut her off with, "Copper really needs him, and she's going to try to lose those Protectors in the asteriod field."

As if proving her point, the Assassin shuddered as a laser hit. Kovu had prudently disappeared, and Blackie wanted to do the same.

"I'll be in my room if you need me," she told Thye, and left in a hurry before Thye could find anything wrong with her.



"Asteriod field, eh?" Kovu remarked as he slid into the nav seat. Copper gave him a concerned glance.

"Kove, you really should get an ice pack on tha-"

"Don't start," he grumbled, and she took the hint.

"Yeah, we've got to get through those rocks and then back to Firen to drop Zanzibar off, if he wants to leave," Claw informed him. "Then it's back to the Conquerer to challenge Kroys again."

"I'm counting on Wildie to keep him from disappearing again," Copper added, and he nodded, having first-hand experience with Kroys' teleporting ploy.

"Can she do it?"

"I desperately hope so."

They fell silent as the black warship neared the belt. Kovu glanced down at the readout. The Belt of Varanhal? Huh. The asteroids tumbled through space in absolutely no pattern, and more than once he saw explosions as a smaller stone was caught by a bigger one, and shattered.

Copper had given the order to tie everything down, "including yourselves", and Kovu could see why now. He'd heard, of course, about the tricky Varanhal, most dangerous of the three belts this solar system had, and he'd never really expected to be flying through it. . .