"Will ya just watch it?" Mish asked as Darillian's knee pushed into her again. Darillian was on one side of her, and Ton on the other, with Kat on his knee. They were in Tycho's speeder entering the jungle.

"I'm sorry. I'd be able to control that better if the speeder didn't keep jerking like that." Darillian glared in Tycho's direction.

"Hey, it's the road, not me!" Clechu exclaimed.

Mish, with no indepth knowledge of speeders, wondered if they even had wheels.

Kat rather liked the fact that the ride was bumpy, because it made Ton hang onto her tightly.

 Finally, thanks to Tycho's piloting skills which, Ton reflected, were less than superior, they arrived in a clearing in the jungle.

Darillian fell out of the speeder. Mish followed, falling on top of him. Darillian sighed in ecstasy. Ton and Kat exited from the other side of the speeder.

The Author noticed things were starting to get 'shippy'.

"So where's Cimex from here, then?" Mish asked, getting up off of Darillian.

"Umm…" Tycho turned around in a circle. "That way," he finally said, pointing straight ahead.

He then fell over as a Xena-Warrior-Princess-like woman swung down from a tree and kicked him from behind.

"That's her?" Mish stifled a laugh. She looked at Ton. "Her and you?" She actually burst out laughing, and had to lean on Darillian to stop herself from convulsing with laughter. Mish had had the unfortunate opportunity to watch Xena, Warrior Princess one too many times, and she was beginning to wonder exactly how hard she'd hit her head when she fainted.

Phanan looked offended. He turned to the woman. "Hello, Vitrum. It's been a long time."

Kat examined this old flame of Ton's. Hmmm… she and Bryn are both dark-haired. Maybe he doesn't like blondes? What would I look like with dark hair? She shook her head, disgusted. This is really getting out of hand.

Darillian kinda liked the idea of Mish hanging off his arm.

Tycho didn't, and glared at the other, naturally blonde, man.

"Ton Phanan." The Xena-woman said, backhanding Ton around the face twice, and making him take a step involuntarily backwards.

Ton put his hand up to his cheek. "What was that for?" he asked.

"You never called!" the woman whined plaintively.

"I was, um, busy." Ton replied, looking abjectedly to the floor. He thought meeting Cimex again would be ... well ... nice.

Darillian giggled most unmacho-ly, as men aren't often associated with the word 'giggling'. He couldn't help it, though. Mish was still laughing on his shoulder, although she'd calmed down a bit since Ton got slapped. Presumably for her own safety.

"Busy? You've been busy for FOUR YEARS? Doing what?"

"Umm… well, I was a pilot for a while… I have my own surgery now." Ton hoped she'd accept his explanation. He didn't want to be hit again.

"A surgery, eh?" She looked over Kat suspiciously. "And I suppose this is your nurse?"

"Yeah, I am," Kat told her, trying not to get jealous or mad.

 "And I'm his secretary." Mish chipped in.

"And I'm, well, um, his, uh, I'm Darillian."

"And I'm his psychologist, Sneezy."

Vitrum pressed her lips together. "Nice entourage, Ton," she said.

Mish started up again, "Sneezy!" She muttered in between giggles, "Classic!"

 "Anyway, why are you here?" Vitrum asked. "I'm really busy trying to find a cure for this epidemic affecting Glass Prowlers…"

Mish wordlessly held out the Glass Prowler's travelling case.

"Interesting." Cimex said, "This is what I'm looking for."

"What do you mean?" Mish asked. "You're not going to hurt it, are you?" She sounded worried.

"No." The woman replied. Somehow Mish didn't trust the evil glint in her Xena-like eyes.

"Why do you need it?" Kat asked, knowing how devastated Mish would be if something happened to the bug.

"I'm conducting various experiments in order to stop the epidemic to insectoid kind." Vitrum replied levelly.

"You can't experiment on my Glass Prowler!" Mish exclaimed. Tycho and Darillian both noticed that she looked like she needed a hug, but somehow ended up hugging each other instead. They jumped apart and looked away from each other.

Mish wondered what they were up to, but Number one on her Priority List of Things That Needed Doing Right This Very Minute, Like Now, Get A Move On was protecting the Glass Prowler . . .

"If I do not experiment, I will not get results." Cimex summed up.

Mish cultivated a hatred for this particular ex of Ton's.

"I'd suggest you don't go any closer to your left." Ton said, indicating the direction to which Mish was standing in in realition to Vitrux, "She's just one volcano of anger waiting to go Pompeii on your butt."

Darillian looked at Mish, like he hadn't been looking at Mish the whole time, but suffice to say he continued to look at Mish. She really did look mad.

"Anger . . . rising." Mish muttered to herself.

"Now, if I could just have that bug?" Cimex asked, moving in closer to Mish.

"Rage . . . increasing."

Mish put the travelling case, complete with Prowler, down.

"Now, Mish . . ." Kat began, remembering the last time her friend had gone psycho, and remembering the hours of medical treatment she'd needed afterwards - hence her long-term mental scarring in relation to psychologists, endless numbers of who usually summed Mish up best in the quote, 'Well, Mish iz just ziz gal, you know?'

Cimex seemed to finally have found her mistake - possibly having seen the ex-hysterically laughing pyschopath's eyes flash like a Goa'uld on hard core drugs. "Okay, I'm not going to touch him. Okay?" Cimex started to back away. I knew there was a reason I wasn't that regretful about Ton never calling. She thought, He has the weirdest taste in friends.

"Fury . . . subsiding."

Mish seemed to have returned to normal. Tycho was wondering how much psychological evaluation she needed, and if he could be the one to do the evaluating. Ton looked proudly at his weirdest employee. It wasn't that Kat wasn't weird, of course, it was just that she was weird in a different way to Mish.

"Can we talk about this like civilised human beings?" Kat asked. Hmm, must be something to do with this planet which makes everyone's emotions heightened? Conspiracy theories began to form in her mind.

"Too right. I know the best place." Tycho said, taking Mish by the arm and leading her back into his speeder. Darillian glared at his retreating figure, and followed, making sure he was wedged in properly between the front seat, where Clechu was now seated, and Mish. Ton and Kat clambered in the other side, Kat looking very pleased about the fact that she had to sit on Ton's knee again.

Oh, what a pity. Kat thought, Never mind.

"Meet you at the Orange Bothan, should take us about an hour to get there." Tycho said to Cimex.

"Right. See you then." Vitrum replied and mysteriously dissaperared into the jungle again.

Great name for a drinking establishment. Kat thought sarcastically again.

Mish seemed to agree with Kat's mental thought, and shuddered, expressing her feelings aloud, "The Orange Bothan? You sure we want to go to a place with a name like that?"

Tycho leaned back and put a hand on Mish's knee as he said, "Sure we do, babe. Trust me."

"You're a psychologist?" Mish questioned.

"I'd give it up in a moment for you."

Mish rolled her eyes and attempted to sit back in her seat. Darillian's arm appeared to be in the way. She shrugged and snuggled into his chest, closing her eyes. Hopefully she could sleep off the excess anger, and, after all, she wasn't sure she could cope with an hour in a speeder travelling with Tycho or Darillian talking to her. . .

Darillian almost managed a smug self-absorbed smile, but the black eye Tycho had so generously given to him was really hindering it. Oww! He thought, not wincing because Mish was falling asleep on his chest, and he was nice like that.

Kat shrugged and followed Mish's lead, falling asleep curled up in Ton's lap.

I wonder if a guy like me could ever get a girl like her? Ton wondered, feeling extremely comfortable with Kat on top of him.

The speeder stopped in front of a bar somewhat less seedy-looking than the ones previously described. Ton nudged Kat, attempting to wake her, and also trying not to look mournful. He'd spent most of the speeder ride trying to figure out how an old 20% mechanical guy like himself could win the heart of a gorgeous, talented nurse/spy like her only to come to the conclusion that it wasn't possible. The rest of the time he'd spent trying to tune out Darillian, who'd been giving Mish subliminal messages such as "You will marry Darillian" and "You will think Zurel is not a sucky name."

Kat opened her eyes and stretched, kicking Ton in the shin. He managed not to wince. A kick from Kat is better than… better than…

"Are we there?" Kat asked in what Ton thought was a very cute voice, interrupting his thoughts on just what would be worse than a kick in the shin.

"Yep," he answered. "Did you have a good sleep?"

Kat nodded, a little forlorn. Was there nothing she could do to make him like her as more than an employee? But then, why would a handsome experienced doctor ever go for a nobody like her? He liked women like Bryn and Vitrum - independent, dark-haired women who could stand up to his Superior Intellect. Not insignificant, mousy blondes like her who punched in the wrong hyperdrive half the time. The only guys who'd go for her were stupid smugglers and Ewoks. Why couldn't she be more like Mish, who had a psychologist and a mystery man fighting over her, not to mention her past with Daniel the hot archaeologist? Kat realised she was sinking into the abyss of low-self-esteem that she's spent a fortune of psychiatric visits and self-help books to get out of.

She and Ton exited the speeder on the side the bar was on. The other three got out on the other side. Tycho and Darillian had a brief skirmish about who got to walk with Mish. She ended the fight by walking ahead of them. To be honest, she was getting a bit sick of them and their incessant fighting. But she'd put up with it a bit longer, as they were both pretty cute.

Most bars Mish went into had a dark, dirty ambiance. The Orange Bothan was dark, but not as dirty - it might actually have passed a sanitation inspection.

Tycho began strutting around like he owned the place and led them to a table. Mish was less than thrilled to end up wedged (The Authors start to giggle, then realise Wedge isn't in this story) between Darillian and Tycho. Ton and Kat were somewhat thrilled to be seated next to each other, but they were both all depressed over their failure to read perfectly obvious signs.

A statuesque redheaded waitress came over to their table and asked for their order. She looked disappointed when none of the guys checked her out.

Mish ordered a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, thinking that maybe if she got really drunk the Tycho/Darillian problem would go away. Tycho ordered a Lomin Ale. So did Darillian, which made the psychologist glare at him. Ton and Kat both ordered Elba beers at the exact same time. They looked at each other, blushed, then looked away.

Mish noticed that and smirked, Kat and Phanan were both showing extreme signs of being desperately in love and too shy to do anything about it. She could understand that in Kat, who really was shy despite appearances to the contrary, but Ton confused her.

Her inner monologue was cut off when the waitress came back up to the table. "Is one of you Ton Phanan?"

"I am," Ton told her.

"You have a call." She handed Ton a comm unit and walked away.

Ton wondered who could have called him here. The only people who knew he was on Storinal, let alone at this bar, were all sitting at this table, except for Vitrum.

Kat was watching Ton closely when the parts of his face that were still natural blanched. He put the comm down. "My… my surgery. It burned down."

Kat and Mish gasped. "What about Ran?" Mish asked. Ran, for those who have forgotten, was Ton's security guard.

"He was there. They haven't found a body, but they don't think it's likely that he survived."

Kat turned to Ton and cried into his shoulder. He stroked her hair and thought absently, It's so soft and pretty… why did I never go for blondes before?

Mish was crying too, with her head down on the table. Tycho had expected a fight with Darillian over who got to comfort her, but Zurel was staring straight ahead, a dazed look on his face.

Ton also noticed Darillian's strange reaction. "Why would you care?" he snapped, deciding to express his grief by getting angry rather than maudlin.

"It's… well… hey, I thought you knew!" cried Darillian.

"Yeah, I sometimes make people think I know things that I actually don't," Ton admitted. "So what is it?"

"So that's why they call him the Superior Intellect." Tycho mused.

"What was the question?" Mish asked, picking her head up from the table. It had a bit of condensation on it from Clechu's Lomin Ale, which her head had landed too close to. She wiped this off, and skillfully wiped her eyes too, as if to say I wasn't crying, who do you think I am?!

 "The question is, why would Darillian care that our security guard perished in flame," Ton explained. Kat was still weeping on his shoulder.

"Oh. Why would you care?" Mish asked.

Darillian smiled at Mish, "If it's her problem, it's my problem." He said, never loosing his cool.

Mish noticed he was a little too cool.

"Darillian… please tell us what it is." Mish batted her eyelashes and felt like a fool. This is why she left it to Kat to chat up people for information.

Darillian took a gulp. As the token Tall, Blonde Mysterious Stranger it was his job to not tell anyone about exactly why he was so worried about the death of Ran Kether . . . But Mish was SO cute, and this could mean he had a chance with her . . .

"Please?" Mish said again.

Darillian collapsed. He couldn't stay strong with her looking at him like that. "Ran's my superior," he said in a low, almost squeaky voice.

 "WHAT?" Mish looked shocked. Ran Kether - The Security Guard - Was Darillian's superior? She almost fainted again.

Instead, she slapped Darillian around the face.

"HEY!" Darillian cried.

Tycho felt left out and wished that Mish would slap him.

Mish stormed out of the cantina. She wasn't sure why she was so upset, but it added to the mood. Pausing, she returned, picked up her Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, and then stormed out of the cantina.