lol, Kovey. . . and thanks, y'all.



Just to let you know, I'm not having chappies in this one. Too strenuous



Jassiv Zirconii Sevren, Jass for short, watched the huge glacier birds soaring. Many were headed for the town of Icei, others for Fort Icicle. Iceshadow, his own companion, would come shortly.

The never-ending wind swept the swirling snow about him. The blue rabbit felt the cold seeping through his body. A shard of numbing pain shot up his arm.

The scar was almost healed now. An icy blue against his dark coat, the color of his eyes, the swath of lighter fur was his memorial of his time spent in the shipmines. As a slave.

He'd gotten it protecting that squirrel, the one with the crossbow and the glasses. He'd barely felt it at the time, but now he could never forget it in the cold. Never.

Well, Iceshadow was to take him to the shuttles, where his Starblown would be. Her repairs had cost him a pretty penny, but now he'd do it himself.

Firen. The name echoed in his mind, resounding in his dreams. The place of his captivity, to be sure, but now the place of freedom.

A harsh cry above woke him. The giant glacier falcon settled to the snow delicately, presenting his back to the rabbit. Jass grabbed the harness and leapt up.

Flying always helped. It took his mind off of the memories that solitude encouraged. Iceshadow understood as much as a bird can, but he couldn't help. Firen would.

"Where to? Tisss a fine day to live."

"Of course, Iceshadow. It's always a good day when it's cold. The Shuttle pound, please."

"I knew that. You do not alwayss like the cold, Jass. I know to test your mood." The falcon turned his great head away and focussed his amber eyes on the sky.

"Hold on." The great creature flung himself to the sky, wings snapping out. Then they were gliding across the desolate snow-blown wastes.

A short eternity later Iceshadow landed. Backwinging powerfully, he scattered the snow and litter that dotted the compound. Jass dropped to the ground and watched Iceshadow fly.

"Jass, you here for the Starblown? She's over here." The tall violet rabbit grinned.

"Thanks, Slade. Next time I see you will be on Firen." Jass headed for the elegant vessel. The Guardian IV was black, with deep purple accents. Jass keyed in the starting sequence and lifted off.



Claw slipped through the shadows on Tubelectric. Shadows were rare, seeing as the planet was quite lit up. So he made use of them whenever he could.

He was heading for the Vortex Crawler. His next destination was Shilarloh, to pick up some cargo for Medivo. Simple enough, and it paid well.

He had no fear of the Shilans. But hopefully he'd not have to fight the Medivans.



Kovu hissed as the left engine failed. Sure he'd taken damage in the meteor field, and maybe the Moonrise had clipped a couple mines when he'd been escaping those turtles, but surely it couldn't have been enough to. . . the damage indicator showed otherwise. Not again! was all he could think as he fell smoothly towards Varzal XI.

"Oh great. I'm going to land in the shipyard. Hope I don't take out any ships as I hit."

The small Moonrise seared through the atmosphere, and shot towards the compound. He skimmed over a big black Darkspray -and what was Coppertop doing here, anyway?- and plowed through the fence. The Moonrise skidded and spun, glancing off a tree and coming to rest in a large bush.

"Darn. I hope I didn't hurt the Assassin."

Kovu clambered out the damaged ship and headed for the building in the compound. While he was here, he might as well register. . .



More tomorrow, I hope, I hope!