Alan had gotten up early and had left the house, Lucky was still sleeping peacefully.  He hadn't sleep much during the night as something was on his mind.  He knew the Imperial Ball would be coming round soon as his mind had drifted back to last year's ball and he smiled as it brought back so many wonderful memories.  There was one memory that had nagged him and he just never had any time to do anything about it.  With Paladin's return from their last mission, maybe that could be rectified.

Lucky woke up and stretched.  She reached over and was surprised that Alan was not there.  She knew he wasn't one for early rises so something must be troubling him.  She got dressed and went downstairs, expecting him to be drinking some coffee but could find no trace of him.  She suddenly remembered that he had been different when he had heard that this year's ball was not too far away.

"I think I know where he is" muttered Lucky under her breath as she left the house.

Alan gazed up at it and smiled.  It gleamed with fresh paint and emblazoned on the side of it was its name, 'The Twin Stars'.  Alan pressed the door release button and the door slid open and Alan walked up the ramp and into the ship.  The exterior was a stark reminder of how grim the ship looked like inside.  Moving into the cockpit, Alan sat down and pressed several buttons.  The ship roared to life, sputtered and then died.  Alan cursed under his breath as he slammed his fist onto the controls.  The ship sputtered to life once more and the engine hummed.  Alan winced when he heard a control panel behind him spark.  He shut down the engines and sighed.

"I thought I'd find you here"

Alan swivelled his chair around and gazed over at Lucky who had just entered the ship.

"I thought I'd have another look at her" replied Alan.

"After you bought the Firefly, I figured you'd be mothballing this one" said Lucky as she sat down beside him.

"Well, this rust bucket is past her years now" replied Alan.

"But" said Lucky.

"But it has so many wonderful memories and been through so much that I hate mothballing her" replied Alan.

"Well then, last year we painted the ship and got her named.  Why not this year we work on the internal side and get her completely ship worthy" replied Lucky.

Alan smiled and replied "I'd like that".

He gazed around at the ship and suddenly thought to himself where on earth do we start?

"Well, we could start by taking the engines out and giving them a tune-up, would also give me a chance to check out all the wiring back there before we put them back, what do you think?" said Lucky.

Alan took a deep breath before answering.  He had thought that they would replace a few circuit boards and repair bad wiring but to remove the engines completely was a massive job.  He knew that Lucky was right though, if they were going to do so then they were going to have to do this properly or not at all.

"Sounds like a heck of a lot of work" said Alan, "but the sooner we get started, the sooner we can get it finished".

Lucky smiled at Alan and said "that's the spirit".

"We're going to need some help" said Alan, "I'll be right back".

Lucky watched him leave and wondered who it was that he was going to get.  Returning home, Alan was immediately greeted by his "Betty" droid.

"Welcome home Sir, is she not with you" said Betty.

Alan shook his head.  Ever since he had gotten married, his "Betty" droid had developed some sort of personality issue, it was almost like the droid was jealous of Lucky but Alan dismissed that notion as it was only a droid after all.

Alan replied "if the she you are referring to is Lucky, then no, she is at my ship right now assisting me in repairing it, and that is where you are going to".

"Me" replied Betty, "why me?"

"Because I need someone to talk to my ship and you are the most qualified".

"Most qualified, I would think that scrap heap of an R2 unit you got would be better qualified than a droid of my sophistication" replied Betty.

The R2 unit wheeled itself in and emitted several rude sounding beeps.

"Well really" commented Betty.

"Settle down the pair of you.  You're both going, and so are the Battle Droids" said Alan.

"Battle droids!" exclaimed Betty, glancing over at them, "you said you were going to repair it, not destroy it".

"Yes, and I am going to need some muscle in moving components, they should be able to do that" replied Alan.

"I hope you are right" replied Betty.

I hope so too thought Alan as he led the procession of droids to the hangar bay and to his ship.

Lucky was looking over some circuit boards on the ship when she heard Alan walk in. Behind her were his r2, the "Betty" droid and...the rest of his droids.

"These guys are all going to help us dismount the engines." he said with a smile.

I should've brought some of my own, oh well. I think they could do the job very well.

The R2 and the "Betty" droid seemed to be in an argument of some sort, she felt that this would be a long day.

"You two, stop arguing and get to work with these droids. We have a lot of work ahead of us and only a few days to finish the job."

The r2 sped off to help and the "Betty' droid grumbled something inaudible before heading outside.

"Is she jealous of me?"

"I'm not sure but i think so."

"That's cute in some way but that's also sad and somewhat inconvenient. I hope we will be able to get along well someday."

Sighing, she went out to supervise the removal operations of the engines, unsure if she trusted the Battle Droids could do the job or not. They managed to accomplish that feat however, and soon the engines were mounted on blocks.

Rubbing her hands together, she got her Combat Engineer kit and got to work.

Lucky looked at the droids and shook her head when will they be able to get along... A short time later, she finished the work on the engines without another incident, stood up and stretched. A few of the battle droids started to come toward her, but she stopped them with a few movements of her hands.

"If the engines are put back now, I won't be able to do any checks behind there so they'll have to wait a little while longer."

The droids went back into standby mode and she did all the checks and repairs that were needed. If you really thought about it, it could've been way worse. She replaced a few faulty wires, one of which was starting to fray and covered a few who had gotten stripped of their protective coverings over the years.She tapped one of the battle droids who sprung to life immediately.

"NOW, you can replace them. "


She watched with sharp eyes as the engines were carefully reinserted into their respective positions and secured tightly. What next...

"We'll manage" Lucky replied as she placed a hand on Alan's shoulder. Staring at the still sparking console, she got out her sonic screwdriver and got to work on unscrewing the many screws that held the console in place.

She stopped, looked at Alan whho seemed to be a little discouraged and smiled.

"Cheer up hun, we'll get her up and running in no time. Why don't you look around the ship and  see what else needs immediate repairs or what things we should think of investing in to make this space a little cozier , the latter might get you in a better mood."

Kissing him softly, she got back to work and smiled when she heard him get up from his seat and slowly start to walk away.

Lucky had fiished working on the console tht needed repairs and screwed it back in place. hearing Alan pacing at the back of teh ship, she stood, stretched for a minute before joining him.  He was looking around, a look she didn't like was drawn on his face. Was it discouragement? Desperation? Both? Wanting to clam his nerves, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissesd him softly.

"Don't worry hun, we'll fix'er up in no time."

"Hope so.."

Gicing him another kiss, she moved past him and sat in one of the chair which was in front of a rather big viewport. Looking out, she noticed taht it was starting to get dark. Flicking a switch, she turned on the outside lights which cast some light inside as well and invited Alan to sit in the chair next to hers.

"You know, I've been thinking about a small couch bhind or beside these" said Alan, staring out the viewport.

"Would be a nice addition but these will do for now"

She had brought along a small, portable cooler and took out two beers, which thankfully were still cold and handed Alan one. Together they sat in the seats, watching the sun set before Lucky got up and looked around again.

"What do yuo say we spend the night here? the bde's a bit small but it'll do for the night, will get us a chance to egt more things done. we'll get her up and running in no time, next thing you knoww she'll be purring like a kitten."

"I like that idea, just like old times."

Smiling, Lucky drainer the last of her beer, discarded the can and went off to the bedroom, a few minutes later, she couldn't help but slip into a deep, fitful sleep.

.

"I think we should take a trip to Omiddelon III, see what it's like there" said Lucky.

Alan had said to Lucky that he didn't mind where they went to.  He wondered where she came up with the planet as he hadn't even heard of it before which was good.  Somewhere new to explore he thought to himself.

"Sounds like a plan" he said to Lucky.

Lucky smiled as she clambered into the co-pilot's chair and entered the co-ordinates of the planet.  Alan was glad she had done so as he still had no idea whereabouts in the Galaxy this planet was and it saved him the time of looking it up.

His hands roamed over the pilot's chair and he gazed down at the control console.  It looked new and he couldn't wait to get going.  Sitting down slowly he took it all in before finally he brought the ship to life.

Wow she sounds good thought Alan as he listened to the engines purr.  It had been a long time since the engines had made such a good sound.  In fact, Alan wondered if the engines had ever purred so satisfactorily before.

The ship slowly lifted off the hangar bay and Alan guided the ship out of the hangar bay and soon the ship was enveloped by the blackness of space.  Alan loved being out here, he felt like they could go anywhere, and with the ship purring like this, he thought to himself that now they probably could go anywhere.

Alan flicked a switch and the blackness of space dotted with stars and planets soon vanished as streaks of light surrounded the ship and the ship lurched into hyperspace.  Alan smiled and turned round to speak to Lucky and was surprised to find her sound asleep.

Alan thought about lifting her off the chair and laying her on the bed but he was worried that he might wake her up in doing so, so he decided just to leave her and let her sleep.  He hoped that she would have a peaceful sleep.

Leaving her to sleep, Alan moved into the lounge area of the ship.  He had a fridge full of corellian ale and he opened up the fridge to remove a can of the beer.  Lounging in a chair he sipped it slowly.  He felt like he was on holiday.

Alan suddenly became aware of a noise.  He wasn't sure what it was and he began to worry that his newly refurbished ship was starting to develop faults already.  Then he realised that the noise was coming from the cockpit.  He quickly put his beer down and moved hastily to the cockpit.  Lucky was tossing and turning and looked very disturbed.  Alan was about to wake her when her eyes bolted awake and she started out the viewport.  Her mouth opened and she said a single word.

"Andar".

Alan had never heard of such a word before in his life, looking at Lucky he queried "Andar?"

Lucky took several seconds to compose herself before replying, "I had a dream that we were looking at Andars, they are creatures that inhabit the planet we are going to".

"Why would you dream about Andars?" asked Alan.

"I don't know, maybe I am just looking forward to seeing them, maybe they are in trouble, I don't know" replied Lucky.

"Well we'll find out soon enough" replied Alan, "we'll be arriving Omiddelon III very shortly".

Alan seated himself back into the pilot's chair and readied for when the ship would exit out of hyperspace.  He glanced back at Lucky, she still seemed to be disturbed from the dream and he hoped she would be ok.

Alan pressed several buttons on the control console and the stars that had been streaking past returned to normal and before them lay a planet.

"Well here we are" commented Alan, " Omiddelon III".

Alan had never been to this planet before and he was looking to see what it was like.  He could tell that Lucky was just as eager as she hardly waited for the ramp to be fully lowered before she scampered onto the planet to take in her surroundings.

It felt nice to be somewhere where people where not trying to kill you or you felt confined with having a stormtrooper armour wrapped around you like it was a second skin.  He breathed in the air and felt the warm sunshine on his skin.  He wondered if their ship had crashed and this was actually his version of heaven as he couldn’t think of a nicer place than this.  He heard the click of the holoimager and knew that Lucky had found something of interest.  He sauntered over to her to see what it was.

"What'd you find hun?" queried Alan.

Lucky held up the imager and began to show Alan the picture.  Alan hadn’t really pictured in his mind what an Andar was going to look like but if he had he was certain that that was not it.  It did indeed look like a funny creature but also quite a cute one.  He hoped that he would get a chance to see one personally.

They decided to go for a stroll and sleep in the shuttle overnight.  Alan reached out his hand and Lucky smiled, grasping hold of his hand.  Together they walked through the tall grass and enjoyed the scenery and the lovely weather.  The sun started to disappear and soon it began to get cooler.  They hadn’t come across anymore Andar’s which Alan was disappointed by but he knew there was always tomorrow.

"We should be getting back to the ship" said Lucky.

"Agreed" replied Alan.

They walked back hand in hand to the ship.  Entering the ship, Alan raised the ramp.  He was worried in case any of the Andar’s ventured onboard and got frightened.  You never knew what damage a frightened animal could do no matter how cute they were.

Lucky was already laying in the bed when Alan entered the bedroom.  He quickly joined her and kissed her softly on the lips.  She kissed him back tenderly and reached out to turn out the lights.  The bedroom was quickly enveloped in darkness.

"Goodnight hun" whispered Alan.

"Night sweetie" replied Lucky.

Alan wrapped his arms around her and started to drift off to a gentle sleep.  The last thoughts in his head were of the Andar’s and whether he would get to see one.