Diamonds and Dynamite

The blonde held her gloved hand out to the young man in front of her. The first thing she'd noticed about him was his burgundy, purple hair. It was almost as unique as his golden eyes. "You understand that this project is top secret?"

The boy nodded.

"Good. If you leak anything..." Her eyes narrowed. "I'll kill you, Xell."

His golden eyes got wider.

She laughed. "It's okay. I rarely have to make good on my threats."

"By the way..." the boy asked as they walked out. "What's your name?"

"Priire. Seijoutai Priire."

"Hydrospanner."

Xell handed Priire the item. "Do you ever ask for anything other than a hydrospanner?" he asked, looking at all the tools in her tool kit.

Priire took a moment to think. "Nope." In a few minutes, she cursed.

He was becoming used to her frequent use of off-color language. "Was that a good curse or a bad curse?"

"Good. Means we're almost done and you can stop playing nurse." Priire pushed herself off of something under the ship and sat up. "All right. Now we need to go inside and work a few things in there. "I mentioned top secret, right?"

Xell nodded.

Unfortunately for the disappearing pair, the other people in the hanger - hiding - only heard "secret". And that intrigued them.

"Renako! Come on!" Kairiku grinned. "It'll be fun!"

Renako looked unsure. "But... Priire threatens to shoot people!"

Sutaru rolled her eyes. "Give me a break. Priire wouldn't shoot us! We're important!"

"Um... then what about that governor? Or the ambassador? Or the..."

Chakra put a finger to Renako's lips. "Shh! We're a special case. Now, let's go! That Xell guy was cute."

Arriving late, but just in time, Audra agreed. "He was really cute... hey, Renako's blushing!"

The dark-haired girl tried to hide. "Aw, let's just go..." she said, meaning go back to the rest of the Temple. Kairiku and Sutaru took that as agreement with them and hauled her into the Black Fire Legendmaker.

"Coruscant Control, this is the Black Fire Legendmaker, requesting lift off."

While Priire was talking, Xell was running the Legendmaker through the complex series of checks Priire had printed. "Umm..."

She raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong?" The ship was already clearing the atmosphere.

"We've got..." He scrutinized the panel. "...five unidentified persons in the library. I think."

Priire leaned over him and flipped a few switches. Suddenly, voices filled the cockpit.

"...doing?"

"How would I know? She's Priire! No one ever knows!"

There was shuffling. "What if they're going far away?"

"That wouldn't be good."

"I'm hungry!"

Priire grinned. "Well. This could be worse."

Xell matched her grin with a frown. "I thought you said 'top secret, hush-hush'?"

"I did," the mercenary-turned-senshi said with a shrug. "But they're just chibis. I can threaten them easier." She winked. "Look, can you hold this orbit and run some more checks?" Priire gestured to a readout. "It looks like I've got a substandard wire here. I'm gonna go fix it."

She walked off, muttering something about untrustworthy mechanics.

With an impish grin, Priire tested out some of the modifications she'd made to the Legendmaker by stressing the internal generators to their limits... and making most of the girls who were hiding in the library sick. "We give up!" Kairiku shouted. "Stop!"

After a few more loops, spins, and other nausea-inducing activities, Priire gave the controls back to Xell and went to rescue the girls.

Taking time out from one of the checks, Xell watched the stars. The Legendmaker's main viewpoint was huge in front of him. From where he was sitting, all he could see were stars. The viewpoint started from where the control panel he was at connected with the ship's hull. It was a semicircle in front of him with all kinds of gears and switches on the sides of the ship around him. The doorway to the cockpit was a step up from where he was sitting. He didn't know for sure, but he thought that the cockpit could easily hold pilot, co-pilot, and six other people. Despite the fact that it wasn't a large ship, some of the rooms in the Legendmaker were incredibly spacious. The other parts were so cluttered with badly-planned wiring and ladders and things.

Xell was just beginning to really enjoy himself when a jolt shook the ship. The comm-unit lit up with activity.

"Vessel - lower your shields and prepare to be boarded. You will not be harmed if you hand over your ship peacefully."

Panic ran over Xell's features. He was about to thumb the comm on when the machine jumped to life on its own. "Xell, maintain comm silence!"

The golden-eyed boy gulped. "Priire... you do realize that they're at least twice as big as we are?"

"And that they must be very well-equipped to be operating this near Coruscant. Yes, I know that." The comm went dead. Xell began to sweat.

"Priire's coming!" Kairiku announced. "Hide!"

Despite their best attempts, Priire found all five of the girls. "All right. Why were you stowing away?" she asked, hustling the kids back to the cockpit.

"Xell!" Audra volunteered.

Priire shook her head. "I really wish you hadn't."

The entire ship shivered and bucked. Under her breath, Priire muttered something about inexperienced helmsmen.

"What's happening?" Audra yelled. "Are we all going to die?!"

Priire shook her head. "No. We're not." With a final shove, she pushed all of the girls into the cockpit and took off running in the opposite direction.

Renako was blushing, but everyone was too busy to notice.

"Wow! That's a big ship," Sutaru exclaimed. "Are they pirates?"

Xell nodded. "Yeah. And they want to board the Legendmaker."

"Priire won't let them," Chakra declared. "She wouldn't let anything happen to us."

The ship rocked again, and Xell looked confused. "They didn't fire at us."

With a gasp, Sutaru pointed at the controls. "They have a tractor lock! They're going to tow us in!"

Silence fell over the six people for long moments. Suddenly, the comm crackled to life. "Xell! Stand the Legendmaker on her nose, vertical relative to the plane of the attacking vessel."

Priire's voice was a welcome sound. Xell quickly began working the controls, fighting against the tractor beam to comply with Priire's instructions.

"Good job!" Priire said. "Now, hold on tight."

The Legendmaker rumbled. The sound seemed to come from the deepest bowels of the ship and was accompanied by metallic pangs.

"Separation sequence commencing," the ship declared.

The girls looked at each other and paled. "Se... se... separation??"

The pirates could see nothing different about the ship in their tractor beam. It was medium-sized and silent. And also in an odd position that gave them more hold on her.

What they couldn't see was that a good portion of the ship was in the process of detaching itself from the rest of the ship. A thin black line began to form where the beams ended on the larger ship. The line went straight back from the end of the wings to the stern of the ship. Looking at the ship from the side, the black line seemed for form a crescent moon shape, cutting under the wings and coming back around. Carefully detaching itself, a small ship was born of the larger ship.

Its nose had been perfectly fitted and tucked under the cockpit of the larger ship, hiding it away. Now that the little ship was gone, the larger ship seemed to have a great cavern on its underside. The hole, however, was soon filled in by a telescoping hatch.

Now that it was free, the little ship hovered in the shadow of its parent. Where it had been inside the larger ship, the little, bullet-shaped one was space-black. The parts that had been exposed to space, however, were blue, sliver, and black in the same pattern as its parent.

After continuing to hover - as if catching its bearings - the tiny ship shot around the larger one and faced the pirates.

This was the first indication that anything unusual had been going on with their prey. Of course, the ships small size didn't cause much panic.

"Get a tractor lock on the little ship," the pirate commander instructed. Their ship was equipped with multiple tractor beams for simultaneous captures.

"Sir! I can't! He's moving too fast!" The man frowned, working at his station as the pirate ship rocked under the force of the smaller ship's fire. Every time it came out of hyperspace, it threw an intense blast of energy. Sithspit!"

The commander frowned. "What?" He examined the ship's frantic-looking leaps with amazement. "Impossible! What is that thing doing?"

A few moments later, one of the men answered him. "Sir... I'm not sure how... but that little ship is making miniscule hyperspace jumps. As if it's going into hyperspace then being pulled out by a gravity anomaly." The man shook his head. "It's as if the ship is turning on a gravity generator and pulling itself out of hyperspace."

"That has got to be one dizzy pilot."

One of the men muttered, "Ditzy."

The commander smirked. "Easy way to solve this problem. Turn on our gravity generator."

The man complied, creating a well of gravity that rendered hyperdrives useless.

"What is she doing?!" Kairiku yelped. The six people had front row seats to Priire's annoy-the-mean-pirates-'til-they-blow-you-to-bits act. "She's crazy!"

They felt another thud, and Xell informed them that there was an interdiction field up.

"We're all going to die..." Renako said quietly.

Priire's face was wild with impish pleasure. "Now this," she purred into her helmet, "is fun!"

She toyed with the controls, bringing the thrusters online. With several short bursts, she angled the small ship into position. Its guns were mostly on the ship's belly because of its normal docked position. One either had to stand the ship up on end to have a clear shot or be down in the gun turrets. When the little ship was docked, it was all automated and hooked into the Legendmaker's controls. Now, it was a littler harder to control the guns and fly the ship.

Besides, of course, there was the fact that the life support was turned off.

When Priire discovered the little ship nestled inside the Legendmaker, she spent hours studying it. After long hours - the ship didn't give up her secrets easily - she found the ship was a stealth wonder. The little ship could reduce its energy signature to almost nothing, mostly by cutting off life support. There were helmets and suits for the crew and passengers.

"Woohoo!" Priire shouted, her voice metallic from the helmet. The ship was designed for jumping into and being yanked out of hyperspace with cushioned seats that enveloped the person in them. They were, of course, adjustable so everyone could be comfortable. This was good because the pirate's interdiction field shook her ship harshly.

The ex-mercenary shrugged. The little ship had more than one trick up her sleeve. Priire ran her black gloved hands over the ship's controls, transferring power. "I love my job," she grinned. She posed one finger over a large red button with an impish grin on her face. Before pressing it, she slapped her head. "Oops, almost forgot."

"Xell! Something's happening!"

The burgundy-haired boy reached over Renako - making her blush - to activate another screen. "Uh, another set of shields just activated themselves."

"You mean you didn't do it?" Audra gasped. "Who did?!"

Xell looked around. "I bet it was that little ship that detached from us. I really hope that's Priire driving."

"It has to be," Sutaru gulped. "Otherwise..."

Chakra shook her head. "It's Priire. I'm sure of it."

The pirate ship was a flurry with activity. They had detected the surge of power from the small, dark ship and had no idea what outlet it was going to take.

Suddenly, the ship turned its bi-level nose toward its enemy and seemed to grin malevolently.

"Sir... something's happening! The ship's..." The man didn't have time to finish his sentence before a blanket of energy engulfed their ship. "...firing a really big ion cannon," the man finished, stating the obvious.

"Black Fire Diamonds and Dynamite to attacking ship, come in."

The ship was silent for a moment. "That's one heck of a name," one of the men commented.

The captain shook his head. "Diamonds and Dynamite, this is Tooth and Claw."

"Tooth and Claw, would you like to discuss terms of surrender?"

"Surrender!" the captain shouted.

She laughed in response. "Tooth and Claw, would you like to discuss redecorating your ship in carbon scoring and holes?"

More silence followed her statement. Then the captain sighed deeply. "Unconditional?"

"I think you'll have to talk to the law about that," the woman responded. "And here they come."

The captain shook his head and pounded his fist on the console. "Sithspit!"

"Black Fire Legendmaker, this is Black Fire Diamonds and Dynamite, come in."

"You've got to be kidding," Audra giggled. "That's a long name!"

"I know," Priire laughed. "But it describes this little beauty perfectly. Mind if I dock?"

Xell nodded, until he remembered that she couldn't see him. Then he spoke. "Sure, Priire."

She had already taken the initiative and sent the command to open the hatch. Diamonds and Dynamite slid into her berth, leaving no trace that she even existed.

"The name?" Priire shrugged and tossed a piece of fruit up in the air, catching it as it came down. "It's from a saying. 'Diamonds and dynamite both come in small packages.' It was appropriate. She only holds six people but packs a punch. And there's tons more space in the Legendmaker."

Ippin snatched the fruit out of the air the next time Priire tossed it up. "And why didn't you tell me about her?"

The redhead's twin laughed. "Sorry. I didn't want anyone to know. There's also a secret passage into Diamonds and Dynamite. Kirran, Koumi, and a couple of others know about it. Otherwise, there's a corridor that seems to be a dead end. With the right codes, you can get in."

"So..." Ippin looked expectant.

Priire gave her an innocent look. "What?"

"Are you going to tell me how to get in, or am I going to have to beat it out of you?"

The blonde scoffed. "Hah. I'd like to see you try!"

Nami, just walking in, caught only the last bit of the exchange and only saw Ippin winding up to toss the fruit at her sister. "Uh... I'm leaving while you two kill each other."

Ippin laughed as Priire caught the fruit. The blonde leaned closer. "All right." She carefully described the path to the dead end corridor. "Once you're there," Priire continued, "put your hand in the middle of the wall. The ship'll prompt you to give your name. It'll sound something like a death threat."

Ippin snickered. "I'm used to that."

"Hey!" Priire mock-pouted. "Not that often. Anyway, after that, give the password."

There was silence for a minute. "What's the password?" Ippin grinned. "Or do I have to guess?"

The blonde raised an eyebrow as if daring her. Then, with an impish grin, she relented. "It's 'bent'."

Ippin gave her a funny look. "That's weird."

Priire shrugged. "Next you'll tell me the name's too long."

"It is!"