Futurama

Delivery: Impossible
By Nasteve

Prologue:

An experienced Special Forces soldier ran down the stairs with a relaxed look on his face. He found himself in a short narrow corridor and instantly headed for the room at the far end. Above the door read: 'Private briefing room, Commander Frost.' The soldier took a breath and entered.

Inside, two senior officers were looking at a plan and discussing something quietly, between themselves. The soldier stood to silently, and tried not to pay attention to what was being said, in case it was a private or confidential matter. The officers had noticed him enter, but were obviously too busy to acknowledge him. After a few moments, the two seemed to agree on something and one said, "Right, we'll do that, then." He headed off through the door, past the soldier. The younger man saluted him, as he left, and the officer nodded in approval, before leaving.

"Ah yes, Reeves. At ease corporal," the remaining officer said to the soldier. The officer spoke with an obvious familiarity and friendliness to his comrade, whom he knew well. Reeves took a seat at a desk in front of the Commander.

The Commander had a huge smile on his face. Picking up a cup of coffee, he said, "It's Xmas, Reeves. We've just found the perfect opportunity to cripple the Millonian defences, in preparation for our surprise attack against them next month."

"Eh?" replied a slightly confused corporal.

"Well, our sources have confirmed that the Millonian government has ordered a shipment of weapons grade dark matter from the DOOP, and we know exactly where and when it's arriving. The intelligence was leaked just 12 hours ago, so we'll have to act fast," explained the commander.

"Hold on, hold on. Weapons grade dark matter? Do you think they're on to us? Preparing for a war?" interrupted the corporal.

"Unknown. It could be a routine weapons purchase, could be something else. Either way, it's a hell of an opportunity."

"So, what? Are we gonna steal it?" asked Reeves.

"No, better. You see, the beauty of this situation is that due to budget strains the DOOP is using a small, lightly armed, package delivery service to deliver the dark matter. Very minimal security."

"Budget strains? Why aren't the DOOP just delivering it themselves?"

"Politics. The DOOP is still just a neutral party in this whole dispute. Doesn't stop them selling weapons to both sides, but if they're seen to be siding with one side over the other, it could be bad for weapons trade, further hurting the DOOP's budget."

"Okay, so what's the plan?"

"You'll be heading to Earth, to New New York. The name of the target building is Planet Express."

Frost pulls down a map of NNY, and points out the building. Then he continues, "Memorise it. Next you'll have to infiltrate the building and enter the main hanger." On the desk are some surveillance photos of the building, as well as floor plans. Frost points out the lower left window of the hanger. "That's your Point of Entry. Next, your task will be to locate the package and plant a bomb inside."

"What sort of explosives?" Reeves asked.

"C4. Really small amount. Just enough to set off the dark matter," responded the Commander.

"And where is the dark matter?"

"We assume it's in the hanger somewhere, probably here," Frost said, pointing to a spot on the floor plans at the near end of the hanger. "But, there's a good chance it's already been loaded onto the ship. In that case, it will definitely be in the cargo bay."

"Got it," Reeves nodded, as he was taking notes. "Right so what's my response status?"

"Discretionary. You're a ghost. No one can know you were there. No weapons. And, you are not to make any contact with the crew or personnel."

"Fair one, so, black kit I take it?"

"No. No way, you'll be in civvies."

"What!? Christ you've gotta be kidding! Dressing like a civilian NNYer? No chance!" declared the image conscious corporal.

"Forget it. If you're spotted in full gear, wearing Night Vision Goggles and what else, that's the plan gone to shit. They'll know something's up. But, if you're compromised in civvies, you can just bolt out of there, and they'll assume you were just a stupid burglar," replied Frost.

"[sighs] Fine."

"Right. Now the package is due to be delivered on Thursday, at 15:00. It'll be cutting it close, but the bomb should detonate at 15:02, in case the delivery's running late. So, when you're planting it keep that in mind and adjust the timer accordingly. Now, any more questions?"

"Sounds like a walk in the park," commented Reeves.

"Should be, just so long as you don't let off one of your killer farts while squeezing through the window. Wake the whole city up!" joked the Commander.

Reeves laughs. "Jesus, I'm not that bad! I've heard some nasty shit about you, too!"

"Seriously though, don't get careless. Now, head over to Bay Nine, and get your kit sorted out. Dismissed, and good luck," finished Frost.

The Corporal stood up, saluted his Commander, then headed for Bay Nine.

Reeves stepped into the huge bustling activity of Bay Nine. All around him people were busy loading equipment, carrying weapons, prepping ships, etc. Reeves could hear someone calling his name.

"Hey, Reeves! Over here!" yelled a grease and dirt covered technician.

"How's it going, Mike?"

"F***ing shit, I've been run ragged trying to get everyone and his dog ready for the attack next month. Listen, I've no time to piss about, so just shut up and listen."

"Right. Just give it to me straight, Doc."

"Come on, listen up. This is your kit. Nice set of ugly civilian clothes, your boots should be nice and quiet, but don't tread them on glass or anything. In this bag is a flashlight and your explosives, simple detonator, no fancy trips or anything. Arming code is '183', and should you need to, '184' will disarm it."

"That it?" asked Reeves.

"Yup. Oh, wait, no. Also, we've prepared a device that will enable you to infiltrate the building undetected. It also doubles as a key, to let you access the crate with the dark matter in it." Mike then holds up a large, ugly, green screwdriver.

"Well terrific. Ugly civvies, cheap detonator strapped to a piss amount of explosives and a f***ing screwdriver. The department sure is stretching its budget. Hope you guys didn't burst the bank getting this thing for me," Reeves added, sarcastically.

"Cut the crap," retorted Mike, "you're Special Forces. You're meant to be good enough to do this blindfolded. Consider yourself lucky we're not sending you in to detonate the dark matter yourself, with a match."

"Tell me about it," Reeves agreed.

"Right, well that's it, get going."

Reeves grabbed the gear and headed for a transport.

"Oh, and Reeves!" Mike shouted. Reeves turned around. "We want the screwdriver back, when you're done!"

It was late night. Reeves approached the Planet Express building in his civilian clothes and quickly scanned for activity. Nothing. No lights on. The place was empty - ideal.

Reeves found his point of entry and removed the screwdriver from his jacket pocket. Carefully fiddling with the window, in front of him. he managed to purge it from the frame, making only a slight noise. He slid it quietly up the rest of the way, and slowly entered the dark hanger. He stood still, for a moment, and listened closely. Satisfied, he switched on the flashlight, and made his way over to the main loading area of the hanger, directly in front of the PE ship.

Sure enough, there were two large crates there, housing the deadly weapons material. Reeves laid the flashlight down on one crate, as he carefully removed the lid of the other. He'd only need to plant explosives in one, because the dark matter explosion would be enough to take out both crates (and everything else in an 80 kilometre radius) easily. Once the lid was off, Reeves found inside another sealed crate, but this one was reinforced steel. He wouldn't get through it with a screwdriver; the C4 would have to penetrate it, hopefully.

He pulled the explosives out of his bag, and glanced at his watch: 01:23 (on Thursday). "Okay, so that's13 hours and... 30... 8 minutes", Reeves whispered to himself, under his breath. He brought the explosives up in front of him, and tapped in on the small keypad: 183...13...38...00. Then glanced again at his watch - when it changed to 01:24, Reeves hit the 'ARM' button on the keypad. The display instantly jumped to life, and began silently counting down.

Reeves placed the device in the crate, replaced the lid carefully, grabbed his stuff, and began heading back for the window.

Suddenly, Reeves thought he heard a noise. He quickly turned in its direction and froze, listening sharply. Had he blown it? After 5 minutes of silence, Reeves was again satisfied, but he noticed something on the wall, a row of lockers. Reeves studied them, the names: Leela, Bender, Fry. "Hmm." Then Reeves spotted a picture on one of the lockers. "A group photo of the crew perhaps?" he thought. It showed a drunken robot, with his arms around an orange haired guy, in a red jacket, and a purple haired girl, with just one eye. They were all smiling and seemed like nice people. Reeves looked at the picture a final time, then said, "Sorry guys, tough luck."

Part 1:

"Good news, everyone!" the Professor exclaimed, as the crew were sitting down to breakfast. The three were silent for a while, Bender hadn't stopped drinking, Fry hadn't stopped eating, and Leela was just mulling over a cup of coffee. None of them looked terribly enthusiastic, and couldn't be bothered with whatever the professor had to say. The professor was still smiling (and eagerly waiting for his cue).

Eventually, Leela sighed and said, "Well what is it then?"

"Huh? What's wha?" replied a bewildered professor.

"The good news, already!" shouted Bender.

"Oh yes! I have good news, don't I? You'll all be making an important delivery today to the Millonian government!"

"We know," Fry interrupted, "it's all you and Hermes have been talking about for the past week."

"It is? Oh, my."

"But you haven't told us what we'll be delivering yet," stated Leela.

"Yeah, what is it?" added Bender.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you, it's top secret. Now, all of you follow me."

The four of them walk towards the hanger and approach the two crates. They were littered with warning signs, hazard symbols, the word 'Danger', written in about a dozen different languages, and in huge bold letters across the top: 'Warning. Weapons Grade Dark Matter. Highly explosive. Do not eat.'

"Uh, professor, are these the top secret crates?" asked Leela.

"Yes, indeed."

"Wow, look at all those warning signs. Is this stuff safe?" asked Fry.

"Oh yes, of course it is," the professor exclaimed.

Leela sighed again. "Professor, is there even a chance we might deliver this stuff without it blowing up in our faces?" Leela asked, already knowing the answer.

"Oh my, no. Now, off you go!" the senile professor gestured, still smiling manically.

"Come on you two, get to work loading these crates on to the ship," Leela ordered.

"Aww," complained Fry and Bender.

Eventually, once the cargo had been loaded, the PE ship got underway.

14:15

"Sir, the shipment of dark matter should be arriving within the hour," the young Millonian answered his Captain. "It's expected at 15:00 hours."

"Understood," the Captain acknowledged. The Millonians were a humanoid race, with very similar bodies to humans. They could easily have been a sister race. The only noticeably distinguishing feature was that the Millonians skin was slightly duller than humans. However, as far as build went, they were almost identical.

"Prepare docking bay two for the cargo ship's arrival."

"Aye, aye, Sir."

14:39

Bender and Fry were busy playing poker, while waiting to arrive at their destination.

"So, what have you got, skintube?"

"Two kings and two eights, hehe."

"Ha. You lose again, meatbag!" Bender shows his hand, revealing five [yes] aces.

"Damn, again!" Fry yelled, throwing his cards to the table.

Over the intercom Leela says, "Bender, Fry, get in here. We'll be arriving soon."

14:44

"PE ship approaching sir," reported the young woman at comms.

"Hail them," ordered the Captain.

14:45

The PE ship is approaching the planet. It is already under escort by two fighter spacecraft. Below, on the planet, the crew can see dozens of large metropolises and spaceports. The Millonian Military prides itself on its huge Planetary Defence System. On the planet's surface is a neural network of laser turrets and independently targeting missile defence systems. But, the true spectacle of the military's might is in orbit around the planet. The PE ship is flying towards a gargantuan sized battle ship.

"Holy crap! Look at the size of that!" commented Bender.

"Yeah, it's something else!" added Fry.

The warship was heavily armed, and at least twice the size of the Nimbus. A light flashed on Leela's console. She brought down the view screen, and switched it on.

14:47

"Good afternoon, Planet Express crew," the captain welcomed them.

"Good afternoon, sir," Leela replied.

"Please follow these co-ordinates and dock with us on the port side," the captain requested, still pleasantly.

"Roger," Leela answered.

The Captain then ended communication, and Leela brought the ship in towards its destination. The two agile fighters, which had been escorting Leela, broke away before she docked with the ship, in its ample cargo bay.

14:49:23

"Alright guys, let's deliver the dark matter and get out of here," Leela ordered. The crew took the loading platform down with the crates and were greeted by four Millonian soldiers. One of the soldiers pulled out a scanner, of some sort, and waved it at the two crates. Once she'd verified the volume and quality of the contents, she signalled her comrade with a thumbs up.

"Okay," said one of the soldiers. "You two, take those crates and put them over there," he ordered to the remaining two soldiers, who hastily complied. "Well, everything's in order. Thank you for getting here on time," he said to Leela.

"No problem. If you'd just sign this..." she said, as she handed him a receipt to sign, "to confirm the delivery of the, uh, cargo."

"Sure," he scanned the receipt quickly, then signed it at the bottom. "There you go."

"Thank you."

15:00:12

By now the landing platform had been cleared and the crew had returned to the ship. Leela sat down in her captain's chair and let out a deep breath. "Finally, I'm glad that's over," she said.

"Huh? What do you mean? That wasn't so bad," Fry asked.

"I know, it's just... I hate dealing in weapons, it makes me feel so dirty. I mean, think about it. That wasn't fuel we delivered, it was a weapon. A weapon that WILL be used to kill people. I just don't like being part of the cycle, you know?"

"Ah, quit your whining, meatbag. Someone had to deliver it, and since it was gonna happen anyway, we might as well make a profit from it!" Bender observed, while lighting a cigar.

"I guess. Anyway, let's just get out of here," Leela said. The PE ship took off, and reversed out of the docking bay. Leela pulled the ship around and headed back for Earth. Once she'd cleared the battleship, she was once again taken under armed escort by the same two fighters, until they cleared Millonian space.

They never did.

Fry watched, as the ship gracefully flew above the planet's surface. You'd never have thought it to look at him, but Fry held a strong passion for the spectacle of the Universe. And, even though flights like this were now (that is to say, in the future) commonplace for him, he still liked to gaze in silent awe at the beauty around him. The beautiful blue-tinted atmosphere of the planet below him was steadily falling away. Fry then looked back again at the huge Millonian warship they'd just left. Its bow was stunningly silhouetted by the planet's burning yellow sun.

15:02:00

There was a sudden, and deafening, explosion, which seemed to roar terrifyingly at the crew. Fry looked back at the once great battleship, to see its massive hull detonate, in a horrible firestorm of red flame. He watched helplessly, as the ship was ripped to pieces by the awesome force of the dark matter explosion.

"What the hell?" Leela said, unaware, as she turned around. "Oh my god!" Suddenly, the shock wave hit the PE ship, jostling her and her crew violently.

In unison, the two escort fighters flying along side the PE ship broke formation and fell behind, each locking their weapons onto the aft of their new enemy.

Leela's comm flashed, and she answered. It was one of the fighter pilots. "Attention, Planet Express ship. Lower your shields and surrender your vessel, immediately. If you fail to comply, you will be fired upon. This is your only warning, do you understand?" the pilot barked, in an aggressive tone.

"They're going to shoot us? Why? Shit! What are we gonna do?" Fry panicked.

"I don't know! What can we do?" Leela said.

"It's hopeless! Abandon ship!" Bender yelled, throwing his arms into the air.

The fantastic explosion, and still burning wreckage of the Millonian warship (and unfortunate surrounding fighters) lit up the darkness of space, changing it from a cold black, to a warm orange/red shade. Leela knew she had to do something NOW. Leela instantly lowered the ship's shields and brought the ship to a halt. Speaking into her comm, she pleaded, "Don't fire! We surrender! Repeat, we surrender!"

The PE ship was docked with by a small transport ship, while it was still under close watch by the two Millonian fighters.

Fry was still standing by the window, trying to see what was going on outside. Leela was pacing back and forth by the captain's chair, unsure of what to do with herself, and Bender (now completely relaxed) was taking a large swig of beer on the far side of the bridge. Just then, two Millonian soldiers entered the bridge. The male was holding a small laser blaster and the female, to his left, a similar weapon, and a large metallic equipment case.

"Listen, I know what you must be thinking, but..." Leela pleaded to the two, but was cut-off by the barking order of the male soldier.

"Shut up!" he yelled, raising the blaster menacingly. He grabbed Fry, who was standing dangerously close to the pair, aggressively by the hair, and tossed him towards Leela. The female took no hesitation, and dropped her case, approaching Bender with her gun pointed straight at him, she quickly slapped the beer out of his hand, and let it smash on the floor.

"Hey!" Bender objected.

"Shut the hell up!" the soldier threatened him, as she pressed the blaster against his head. Bender instantly complied. "Move, now!" she ordered, and Bender carefully shuffled towards his fellow captives.

"Nobody move! Hands in the air!" demanded the male Lieutenant, waving his gun at the three, as they all threw their arms up.

"Please, you've made a terrible mistake!" Leela tried reasoning.

"No talking!" the Lieutenant yelled. "Search the ship for any incendiary devices, and keep an eye out for any more crew lurking about," he ordered to his private. She grabbed her case (which, no doubt, contained some sort of bomb detection equipment), and headed off to search the rest of the ship.

The Millonian lieutenant kept his weapon trained on the crew, vigilantly. Leela could see the hate in his eyes. She wondered how many people had been on-board the huge warship when it exploded. None of them could have escaped. She wondered if this man had lost friends in the explosion, but most of all, she wondered what caused the explosion. "Is this inspection just a precaution, or do they genuinely believe that we were involved?"

They stood there in awkward silence for what seemed like hours, arms still in the air. Leela tried looking at Fry, trying to establish eye contact, looking for some comfort, reassurance, answers, any form of communication. Leela's eye met Fry's, and they exchanged thoughts and emotions for a brief second. Leela could see that Fry was scared, but was trying his best to hide it. Fry could tell that Leela was worried - but for what exactly, he wasn't quite sure. For him...?

"Eyes straight ahead! Face the wall!" the Lieutenant barked, ending the short exchange. Fry and Leela immediately jumped back into position.

After what felt like an eternity, the Millonian private returned from her sweep of the ship.

"Well?" asked the Lieutenant, gun not straying from his captives.

"Ship's clean. No other crew on-board."

"I told you so..." Leela began, lowering her hands. The Lieutenant instantly snapped back. Bringing his blaster directly to bear on Leela's head, re-assuring her that the search was not yet over.

"Search them," he ordered the private. She holstered her weapon and headed towards Leela. Standing behind her (so as her comrade would have a clean shot at Leela, should she try something), she began searching through Leela's long hair for concealed weapons or equipment. Then starting at her head, she worked her way down, padding and cupping area's where weapons could be stored. She reached down past the neck and onto Leela's chest. Fry could not help himself and looked across to witness this most rare, and beautiful, of moments...

"I said face ahead!" the lieutenant growled at Fry. Leela knew what he must have been doing, and would have shot him a menacing glance, but dared not tempt fate; she would have to sort him out later.

The Private continued her search down Leela's waist and legs, before finally confiscating her wrist communicator. "She's clean," the private reported.

But, her superior wasn't satisfied.

"That's a rather unusual eye you've got there, lady?" he observed, with a puzzled look. Leela was unsure if she was meant to respond, whether it was a rhetorical question or not. Eventually she replied.

"I'm not a human, I'm a cyclops. And, there's nothing wrong with my eye, thank you very much," Leela answered in a matter-of-fact manner.

"You look fairly human to me, 'cept for the eye," the Lieutenant responded, suspiciously locking his eyes onto Leela's. "Check that it's real," he ordered the private, eyes still on Leela.

"Sir?" replied a bewildered private.

"See if the eye is real or not," he repeated. "She may be masking something behind it."

"Like what? Two smaller eyes?" Leela retorted, sarcastically.

"And a weapon..." the Lieutenant replied.

"Or a hidden camera," the private now agreed, coming around to face Leela.

The Millonian Private was slightly shorter than Leela, and had to look up to see into her eye. The pair exchanged looks, and the Private then decided to reach into her case for something. She pulled out a small, sophisticated, cylindrical shaped, laser retinal scanner, and brought it up ready to inspect Leela's eye. As she pointed the delicate retinal scanner at Leela's large eye she hesitated, then brought it back down. The young female looked Leela straight in the eye and gave her a wicked smile, before sharply poking her in the eye with her index finger.

"Owww," Leela screamed in pain, clamping her eye shut and clutching it with both hands in a reflex action.

"Hey!" Fry objected bravely, "you can't do that!" But, his bravery quickly subsided as the armed Millonian soldier shot him a glance.

"It's real," the private smiled, as she turned to face her superior, who couldn't help but smile too.

"Alright, get them back up," the lieutenant ordered Leela. She reluctantly raised her arms back up, and opened her eye, revealing a red and teary eye underneath. She sucked it up though, and refused to show further pain.

"Now him," the lieutenant gestured, with a nod towards Fry. Fry gulped as the private proceeded to frisk him. She finished, finding nothing.

"Want me to make sure his eyes are real too?" the female soldier joked.

"Might as well," the lieutenant smiled. She then poked each of Fry's eyes simultaneously with her index and middle fingers.

"Ahhh," Fry wailed in pain, reaching for his eyes.

"Up," the lieutenant reminded him, training his blaster on Fry's head. Fry did as he was told.

Then it was Bender's turn.

The Private eyed him once over, then opened the door in his body.

"Oh my god!" the soldier remarked.

"What is it?" a concerned Lieutenant asked.

"It's a mess, that's what it is," she replied, sifting through the clanging beer bottles in Bender's body.

"Yeah, like your insides are any cleaner," Bender stated. The lieutenant let that comment pass.

Once finished clearing out Bender's compartment, the exhausted private let out a deep breath. "Well that's it, they're all clean."

"Now, do you believe we had nothing to do with the explosion?" Leela asked.

"Listen lady, this wasn't an interrogation, it was just a search. I'm not interested in what you have to say, so just shut up and save your breath 'till you're down on the surface." He then spoke to his female comrade, "Okay let's load them onto our shuttle, and take them down to the surface."

"What about this ship?" she replied.

"Order someone to tow it down too, for further inspection."

"Okay."

"Now, handcuff them and put them on the shuttle," he ordered.

"Uh, sir. We weren't issued cuffs," the private responded.

"Oh, that's right," the lieutenant remembered. Leela saw the soldier point his gun straight at her, from across the bridge, and give her a sly smile. The last thing she remembered was him flicking a switch on the side of his weapon, before she felt a heavy thud in her chest, and she suddenly lost consciousness.

Leela's eye slowly fluttered open, once again. It took a while for it to adjust back into focus, but when it did its effort was only rewarded with a grey, lifeless ceiling.

The PE captain didn't feel well. She had a pain in her chest, in her heart to be more specific, which was burning painfully. It then occurred to her that she must have been stunned, that would certainly explain the pain she was feeling and her new surroundings. The sensitive system of nerves around her heart would ring from the stun for a while yet, but the pain would eventually subside.

Holding a hand to her throbbing head, she sat up in the small, uncomfortable bed she found herself in, and inspected her surroundings. In her cell was a small prison bed, a toilet, three bare walls and, blocking her escape, a force field. Opposite the transparent force field was another identical cell - except it was empty.

Now that she was settled in, Leela contemplated getting up, but was too drained. She let herself fall back down onto the hard mattress and shut her eye. 'Well, with nothing else to do, I suppose I'd better think about how I'm going to get us out of this,' Leela began thinking. 'That soldier said we would be interrogated on the surface. I guess that must mean I'm on the planet now. What am I gonna say?' Leela asked herself, trying to focus her thoughts. 'I don't know anything. We had nothing to do with the explosion... did we? Was there something in the crates that shouldn't have been there? No, impossible. The crates came straight from the DOOP. Maybe there was just an accident on the ship or something...'

"Ughh, I don't know," an exasperated Leela said aloud to herself.

"Leela, is that you?" a voice called out.

"Huh, Fry?" Leela said, startled, as she got up.

"Yeah it's me. Are you okay?" Fry asked.

"I'm alright, I guess..." Leela lied to her friend, whom she could now tell was calling from the cell next to her. "What about you?"

"Well my head hurts a little, but I'm alright."

"What happened, exactly?" Leela asked.

"All I can remember is seeing you get shot and falling to the ground, and before I could look back up, well the next thing I remember is waking up in here," Fry recalled.

"Is Bender here too?" Leela asked.

"I don't know, I haven't heard him," Fry answered.

Leela sat up in her bed and rubbed her heart a little, to try and soothe the pain.

"Leela... what's going to happen to us?" Fry spoke.

Leela raised her head a little when she heard this. She could sense the genuine fear in Fry's voice. "It'll be alright," his captain reassured him, unsure whether she believed it herself.

Just then, the pair heard footsteps approaching. Then Leela saw two Millonian soldiers walk past her cell, towards Fry. One, she saw, was carrying a blaster in his right hand. The other, an officer, also had a blaster, but it was holstered. Then another soldier, carrying a similar sidearm, approached Leela's cell, and stood in front of it, facing her. He held his weapon at his side, relieving Leela that it wasn't pointed at her.

"Out," one of the voices called to Fry, in the cell next to Leela's. Then the officer came to Leela's cell. He punched a few buttons on a keypad, that Leela could not see, and the force field fizzled quietly, before dying completely. Now the guard was pointing his gun at her.

"C'mon, out. Follow me," the officer ordered, complacently. Leela got up and stepped out of her cell. Looking to her right, she caught a glimpse of Fry. He looked alright, but wasn't too delighted about the armed soldier behind him jabbing a blaster into his back.

Leela was not given long to look before the muzzle of her own escort's weapon persuaded her to walk on.

The group marched down the long corridors, following the officer a few feet ahead. Leela was now aware that they must be in a detention wing of a military base. But, as she walked down the wide corridors of the complex, she noticed how quiet it was. She heard nothing but her own footsteps on the hard floor, and saw no other soldiers about.

In truth, the base was more or less deserted. It was still on high alert, but most of the personnel were in orbit, either assisting in the huge salvage operation or part of the wreckage themselves.

They were now out of the detention wing, and in a much more friendly looking and brighter part of the base, Fry observed. The grey, ugly walls had now been replaced with clean white ones.

This, unfortunately, was not an accurate reflection of things to come.

Finally, they were led into an interrogation room. The room was quite large and had a huge glass window on one wall, looking out onto the corridor the group had just emerged from. The remaining walls were lined with filing cabinets and bookshelves. The only other furniture in the room was a desk, propped against the centre of the right hand-side wall. Stood at the desk were two chairs, on opposite sides of the desk. To be honest, the well-lit interrogation room did not look very intimidating.

The leading officer sat down at the desk and started leafing through some documents. On the desk was also Leela's confiscated wrist communicator and Benders assorted junk, piled up in an exhibit box. Leela and Fry were positioned opposite the desk, with their respective escorts standing watch, a few feet behind them.

At that moment Bender was escorted into the room by two more guards. "They must have been holding him in a special Robot detention block, or something," Leela thought. The three, now re-united, were lined up in front of the interrogation officer.

"Ah, everyone's here," the officer spoke.

"Why are you holding us here...?" Leela began. The officer raised his hand, asking for silence in a far more polite manner than the previous soldiers had adopted. Leela granted it to him.

"Now, let's do this professionally. You are all suspected of.," he looked down at the document laid on the desk, "voluntary destruction of a Class-1 Avenger Warship, destruction of 38 Falcon space fighters, destruction of 16 Razor Back space fighters, 4 civilian transport craft..." he paused to take a breath, "1 Class-2 medical ship, 1 Class-4 cargo ship. The murder of 3,185 Millonian men and women." On hearing this, Leela closed her eye and looked down, giving a silent prayer. "Causing approximately $286 billion dollars of industrial damage in orbit, and even on the planet's surface, and also..." he said, as he looked up to face the crew, "unauthorised use of Millonian dark matter." The officer finally finished. "Now, as citizens of the DOOP, these actions would be considered an act of war, but we are not entirely convinced that you three were acting on behalf of the DOOP, so you will each have to be interrogated until we can establish the truth. So, any questions thus far?"

"Yes," Leela asked. The officer gestured for her to speak. "Do we even get the chance to defend our innocence?"

"When a formal charge has been issued against you, you will be entitled to a defence, yes."

"Well at least we haven't been formally charged yet, I suppose that's a good sign," Leela considered.

"Right," the officer said, standing up and walking around the desk to inspect the crew, "which of you to go first?" he asked himself. "You," he said, standing before Leela. "I suppose you're the one in charge?"

"I'm the captain, yes," she responded.

"We should take her first then," suggested one of the guards. The officer looked her in the eye. He could see the strength, the determination in it. She was the captain, alright. Then he looked at Fry. In his eyes he saw fear. He could see that Fry was young and afraid; he wouldn't put up much of a fight. He'd go first. He'd break first.

"No. That one," he said, nodding at Fry. The two guards that had each brought Bender in grabbed Fry by each arm and pulled him out of the room. Leela watched them drag the poor boy away, and was helpless to stop it. Bender was told to assume Fry's old position, and stand next to Leela. "Well, I think you and I, captain, better have a talk."

Fry was ushered further down the long corridor and dragged into another interrogation room by the two guards. They deposited him in the room, with a shove, before closing, and locking, the heavy door behind him.

This room was far less welcoming than the last. Composed of cold grey walls, with no windows, and a dull red light hanging from the ceiling. The room also had a very intimidating atmosphere. It felt like walking into the reception room for Hell. Waiting for him were two unarmed men sitting at a desk in the middle of the small room. An empty stool sat opposite them. The pair were looking at Fry with contempt, one was holding a plastic cup filled with coffee and the other smoking a cigarette.

"Sit down, asshole!" one ordered Fry. Fry quickly took a seat at the stool. "What's the matter, pal, you scared?" he asked.

"He's shaking like a leaf," the other added.

"N-n-n-n," Fry stammered.

"What's that? What's your name, jerk?" The coffee guy demanded.

"Uh, I-I-it's... F-Fr."

"Huh? You speak English punk? You thick?" Coffee jested.

"Do you have a name or are you just stupid?" the guy with the cigarette added.

"Fry. It's Fry," Fry finally managed to speak.

"Fry, huh?"

"What do you know, it talks!" Coffee said.

"You look scared Fry, do you want to go home?" Cigarette asked, sympathetically.

"Y-yes."

"You will Fry, if you help us. Do you want to help us?" he asked.

"Uh, yes."

"Good, Fry. Now, we're just going to ask you some simple questions. You just answer truthfully and you can leave. Do you understand that, Fry?" Cigarette asked, speaking as if to an infant. Fry nodded, still shaking and sweating uncontrollably. "Good. Now, Fry, who were you working for on your last mission?"

"Um, it was the DOOP. The DOOP hired us."

"That's good, Fry. You're co-operating. So, you admit that the DOOP hired you to sabotage our weapons and destroy our warship?"

"No! No that wasn't, I mean we were only told to deliver the... we uh."

"What? The DOOP didn't hire you to attack us?"

"No. Not at all," Fry agreed.

"So you were lying to us? Don't lie to us Fry," Cigarette warned.

"No! I mean the DOOP did hire us..." but he was cut-off.

"So they did hire you? Fry you're gonna have to make up your mind, or we won't be able to believe you, no matter what you say..." Cigarette interrupted. The pair knew exactly what Fry wanted to say. But all these rapid questions, and putting words in Fry's mouth were just a standard procedure, to wear Fry down and make him slip up.

"No. The DOOP only paid us to deliver two crates for them. That's all, I swear!" Fry insisted.

"Okay, Fry. So the DOOP didn't hire you to attack us?"

"No."

"You did that yourselves."

"No! We didn't cause that explosion!" Fry protested.

"Look, Fry. We're not stupid. Do you think we're stupid? We know you caused that explosion. We just want to know who put you up to it."

"No one!"

"Fry, I want to help you, but this guy..." Cigarette said, pointing to Coffee, "he doesn't, he wants to hurt you, Fry. He wants you dead. And I can't stop him, unless you help me." Cigarette spoke to Fry like he was his best friend.

"But, I don't know anything! Please, I'm telling the truth!" Fry begged. At that moment Coffee picked up his scolding hot drink and flung it at Fry's face in frustration. Fry screamed in pain, and covered his burning face.

"It seems we just don't understand each other yet, Fry," Cigarette sighed.

Leela was sat down at the officer's desk, her back still to the window.

"Tell me your name, Captain," the officer said.

"Leela."

"May I call you Leela?" he asked, pleasantly.

"Yes."

"Leela," he began, sitting forward in his chair, now to appear more friendly, "let's not play games here. It's quite simple: we can do this the easy way, in here, right now, or we can do this the hard way. Be careful before you answer," he cautioned her. "You're lucky you're getting the choice. Your friend, through there, didn't have that luxury. And, I'm pretty confident he's having a rough time, and in considerable pain." Leela considered this for a moment. "And, I'm afraid he'll be in considerable pain for a considerable time, until we find out what we need to find out. How much time is up to you. Remember, you have the choice. The easy way or the hard way? Don't put your friend through any unnecessary pain. It's up to you."

Leela was silent for a while.

"What is it you need to find out?" Leela asked, pessimistically.

"We need you to tell us why, how, and who."

"I don't understand."

"Why did you destroy our ship? How did you go about it? And who else was behind it?"

"You don't understand, we had nothing to do with it!"

"Leela..." the officer shook his head.

"No! Has it even occurred to you that this may have been an accident? An engine fault or something? Did you even investigate that possibility?" Leela demanded.

"Leela," he tried reasoning, not losing his cool, "let's assume, for a moment, that you are innocent. Even if, in the extremely unlikely event, the entire engineering section had exploded, it wouldn't have caused a 120 Megaton explosion, it wouldn't have even destroyed half the ship. The only thing that could have caused that explosion is a dark matter explosion. And the dark matter was too far away from the engines to be at risk, if they had exploded. It would have taken military precision sabotage to ignite the dark matter on-board our ship. Now, who helped you?"

"No one! we weren't involved," a defeated Leela protested, exasperated at the despair and utter hopelessness of her situation.

"Leela, we are wasting a lot of time. Do I have to remind you of your friend's situation?"

Fry was pinned against the wall by Coffee. His bruised and bloodied face pressed against the cold, hard concrete. He had a burst lip and his right arm was pinned behind his back.

"C'mon, spit it out! I'll break it! I'm not f***ing joking!" Coffee threatened, as he pushed Fry's arm up higher. Fry was screaming in pain, he could feel his arm on the verge of snapping. Cigarette strolled up to him, completely nonchalant.

"That's enough," he said to his aggressive comrade. Coffee grabbed Fry by the collar, and violently pulled him back to his seat. Fry was wheezing and coughing, from the severe punches and kicks he'd been getting. "Now, Fry. Once again. Who were you working for?"

Fry found it hard to breathe, let alone answer.

"Does the 'Septurian Military' [Reeve's and Frost's outfit] ring any bells?" Cigarette asked. Fry shook his head. "You've never had any dealings with their government?" he asked. Fry still shook his head.

"Little stubborn prick!" Coffee cursed in anger. With his right hand, he grabbed his fellow interrogator's cigarette straight out of his mouth and stormed towards helpless Fry. "Maybe this will jog your memory!" he said, as he held Fry's right eye open with his left hand, and brought the lit cigarette up to it slowly with his right. "I'm gonna f***ing burn that eye off, unless you talk!" he yelled.

"Cut it out!" his comrade ordered. "You don't want him to end up looking like the god-damned victim here, do you?" he asked.

"You're a lucky little shit! You know that?" Coffee spat at Fry, as he withdrew.

"Have you ever heard of the 'Septurians', Leela?" the interrogation officer asked.

"I'm not sure, I don't think so," she answered.

"You've certainly never had any dealings with their government or military?"

"No. Absolutely not."

"I'm surprised you haven't heard of them, they're rather famous right now. They've been mentioned in the news a few times about territory disputes, with us."

"I wasn't aware," Leela said, she was starting to loose her patience.

"We've been here a long time, Leela. I'm starting to fear my own form of interrogation simply isn't persuasive enough for you..."

"Well you're wrong. It is, because I've told you everything I know," Leela retorted. The Officer sighed. He hated seeing women put through the rough stuff; especially when they were so pretty. "Oh well," he thought.

"Guards, would you please retrieve the other one, and tell the men they can expect Captain Leela along shortly," the officer said to the two guards who'd carried Fry away.

"Yes, sir," saluted the two guards, as they left the room.

A few minutes of silence befell the room before Fry was dragged back. Leela stood up and gasped in shock when she saw him. He was on his knees, unable to walk. He had to be held up by the shoulders by both guards. His clothes were ruffled and torn, showing signs of beating. His head was hanging down limp, and his face was in a bad way. Leela felt sick just looking at him. Fry raised his head up and tried to give Leela a smile. Something to tell her "it's okay, I'm alright. I'm a big brave boy". But his eyes gave him away.

Leela could feel her sympathy for these people's loss fade away and her anger against them rise. She hated these bastards for what they'd done to Fry. The officer allowed Leela to soak in the sight of her injured friend. Hoping it would scare her into talking sooner. But, before he could order the guards to drop Fry and take Leela away, a dark haired Millonian women in a suit stormed into the room.

The Officer instantly stood up and saluted her, as did all the other soldiers in the room guarding the prisoners.

"Uh, Madam Vice-President. Please allow me to offer my greatest condolences at the loss of your brother. Captain Robertson was one of the greatest..." the officer said to the vice-president.

"Yes, he was a great man. Thank you," the vice-president interrupted. The crew could see the hatred and distaste for them in her eyes. She was not happy. "I assume these are the three responsible?" she asked.

"Well, uh, we were in the process of, um," the officer replied.

"They delivered the sabotaged weapons to my brother's ship, correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then what, may I ask, are they still doing here?" she accused.

"Well, we need to..."

"What needs doing? They're responsible for murder! Execute them! Immediately!" the vice-president yelled. The crew gasped in shock.

"Actually, uh, Madam Vice-President, we're not..." the officer cautiously tried protesting.

"That's an order, soldier!" she barked, looking at the shocked three in disgust. The officer did not agree with the vice-president's decision. She was being completely irrational. But, an order was an order. And the crew would have most likely been executed eventually, anyway.

"Um, yes ma'am," he finally agreed. "Captain!" he called to the guard standing behind Bender.

"Yes, sir?"

"Hand-cuff the prisoners and then take them up to the yard, and have them shot, understood?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Wait! You can't do this!" Leela protested.

"Shut up, you scum!" the vice-president barked. The Millonian captain pulled out a pair of laser cuffs and, approaching Bender from behind, cuffed both arms behind his back. Then the Millonian guard, standing a few feet behind Leela, pulled out his own cuffs and approached her. Leela had had enough! This was it. Now or never. She turned around as quickly as she could to face her advancing guard. She was raising her arms, getting ready to defend herself.

Words cannot do justice to what happened next.

Leela, now facing the advancing soldier, was grabbed by her left arm by the experienced prison guard as she prepared to fight. Holding the laser-cuffs in his right hand, he proceeded to spin Leela back around with his left arm. Leela didn't even think, she didn't struggle, but instead freely allowed herself to be spun by the guard. Left arm still caught in the guard's grip, she twisted around with great speed and raised her right arm to head height, connecting her elbow with the guard's nose with frightening force, as she did so. The surprised soldier, caught off-guard, released Leela and clutched his bloody and broken nose. Leela didn't pause for a moment, and with her newly freed left arm, she reached down quickly for the guard's holstered blaster and drew it out, taking aim on the guard behind Bender.

The Millonian captain was shocked, and had only begun to realise what was going on, when Leela released a sort burst of laser fire into his chest. With no hesitation, Leela brought the weapon, still held only in her left hand, to bear on the guards holding Fry up. They released him in unison, and had both begun reaching for their guns, when Leela dropped them both with two headshots.

The officer was completely stunned by this incredible turn of events, but thanks to his many years in the army, his reactions were not dulled. He had already un-holstered his gun, and was raising it up to take aim at Leela. But, still he was too slow. Running on adrenaline and instinct, more than planning and conscious reasoning, Leela grabbed the shirt of the soldier whose nose she'd broken, and spun him in front of her with her free hand, using him as a human(oid) shield. The soldier would have retaliated, broken nose or no broken nose, had he been given the chance, but, alas, the Millonian officer fired two shots into the back of his unfortunate comrade, killing him. Upon realising what he'd done, the officer hesitated and Leela took immediate advantage of this, and diving from behind her shield, she gave the officer a few blasts of laser.

The whole event had lasted no more than a few seconds. And, only now, were the first bodies hitting the floor. "Holy shit! Did I do that?" Leela thought. "Come on, there's no time, Toronga. You've gotta get out of here. Now!"

"Hurray for Leela!" Bender cheered. "Now, get me out of these cuffs!" Leela released him, but had no time to celebrate. Detecting unauthorised weapons fire, the base computer automatically activated an alarm. The very worst kind of alarm.

"They'll be sending people this way soon. We gotta go!" Leela said, as she grabbed her wrist communicator off the desk and slapped it on. Leela took a look at Fry. "It's gonna be hard enough getting myself out of here, let alone getting him out quickly." she thought, "he can barely walk."

"Bender, you'll have to carry Fry!" Leela ordered.

"No way! Let's just leave him, he's finished," Bender argued. But Leela's new best friend convinced him to reconsider.

"Okay, okay. But we should take her too!" Bender said, pointing to the paralysed and gob-smacked vice-president, standing in the corner. "We can use her as a hostage!"

"No, Bender!" she told him. Leela had regretted having to kill those soldiers, but there had been no time to set the blaster to stun. However, she fixed that now.

Bender slung Fry over his shoulder, and the crew ran out the door. "Okay, so how do we get to the ship?" Bender panicked.

"Don't worry! We can locate it with my wristo-jackamater," Leela said, trying to stay as calm as possible. "This way! Quick!"

The ship was abandoned in a hanger, not too far away. Leela and Bender stormed down another long corridor. "The ship is just on the other side of this wall!" Leela exclaimed. But further down the corridor, a dozen soldiers were approaching, preventing them reaching the only entrance to the hanger.

"Freeze, or we'll open fire!" a voice about 50 metres ahead shouted.

"Oh, no!"

"Quick!" Bender yelled, switching Fry from his right to left shoulder, he crashed through the wall, making a hole in the hanger. Leela quickly followed him through.

The ship was right in the middle of the immense hanger. The crew ran towards it, for all they were worth, desperate to get on-board before the troops arrived. As they climbed the stairs, leading back onto their dearly missed ship, Leela noticed the hanger doors were still open, revealing clear blue sky. "Finally, a bit of good luck," Leela thought.

The three boarded the ship, and retracted the boarding stairs. Bender dropped Fry quickly in his seat.

"Owww. Easy, Bender," Fry complained.

"Jam a sock in it, skintube!"

Leela jumped into the captain's chair, gunned the engines, and hurriedly raised the shields. "Alright, fasten your seatbelts guys! We're getting out of here!" Leela advised. But, just then she noticed something that made her heart sink. The hanger doors were closing.

"WARNING, WARNING, YOU ARE NOT CLEAR FOR TAKE-OFF. WARNING, WARNING," a computer voice announced over the hanger, as sirens went off and red alarm lights flared.

"Quick, Bender! Get up and man the laser! We have to get through that door!" Leela yelled. Bender quickly scrambled up the ladder and got ready.

By now, troops were flooding into the hanger and laying down small arms fire. Their blasters had little effect on the ship, but they were beginning to assemble heavy artillery.

Leela took-off and brought the ship around, heading for the sealed door. "Uh, Bender. Now would be a good time to fire!" Leela suggested, as the doors were drawing ever closer.

"Yeh, yeh, gimme a second!"

"A second is about all we got! Hurry!" Leela cried. And with that, Bender opened fire on the hanger doors, and at the last moment managed to blow them open, as the PE ship ploughed out into freedom.

"Woo-hoo! Yeh!" Bender and Leela celebrated, as the ship cleared the base.

"Good work, Bender!" Leela congratulated.

"Ha-ha," Bender gloated as he turned to face the departed surface. "Take that, you stupid bast..ah, Leela."

"What?"

"I think we got company."

In pursuit, Bender could see a rather unfriendly looking spacecraf: a Millonian Razor Back fighter. The Razor Back is the most advanced short-range interceptor in the entire Millonian fleet. It has a simple two-wing design, but an agile and aerodynamic body and tail. The broad wings mean that this particular fighter is just as agile and dangerous in the gravity-influenced atmosphere of a planet, as it is in the freedom of space. It is incredibly fast and armed with a devastating arsenal of laser guns on each wing tip. Not to mention a payload of rockets, missiles, torpedoes and bombs. Even in a fully armed dedicated space fighter this craft is extremely dangerous to engage. Fortunately, this particular craft was un-prepared for combat, and thus had not been fully armed and equipped, leaving it with only its basic twin laser load out. This, however did make it even more lighter on its feet, and enabled it to close on the PE ship with phenomenal speed.

"Uh-oh," Leela remarked, upon spotting the closing fighter.

"This is, Alpha One. I have lock-on target and am in range. Advise course of action, over," the Razor Back fighter reported to ground control.

"Roger, Alpha One. You are ordered to stop target at all costs. Destroy target ASAP, over."

"Roger that," the pilot confirmed. The fighter opened fire on the fleeing PE ship, targeting the engines.

Leela had to summon all of her piloting skills to avoid the laser fire that was screaming past.

"Bender, I need some cover fire! Don't let him get behind us!" Leela yelled.

"Y'know if we'd taken that vice-president broad hostage like I said they wouldn't be firing at us," Bender stated.

"Just shut up and shoot!" Leela shouted back.

"Fine," Bender snapped back, muttering something under his breath about how he should be captain.

The Millonian fighter tried his best to take the PE ship down, but Leela's flying was just good enough to hold him off. He easily managed to avert Benders shots, but in doing so found it difficult to get a clean shot back.

Activity was buzzing inside the control room of the Millonian Planetary Defence System centre. The commander in charge had just been advised of a hostile ship trying to escape, and had been issued orders to destroy it.

"Put me through to the pilot," the commander ordered.

"Yes, sir," a man at communications replied.

"Alpha one, reporting, over," the pilot answered back.

"Alpha One, be advised. Withdraw to 300 metres; we're going to open up on them with the PDS. Repeat, withdraw to 300 metres then resume fire. Over."

"Understood."

"Hey, good news! Looks like good ol' Bender saved the day again! We're losing him," Bender called down. At that moment a wave of laser fire drove up at them from the surface.

"Ah, hang on!" Leela yelled.

"Leela, if we're gonna die, I just wanted to say..."

"We're not going to die, Fry," Leela stopped him. But the constant rocks the ship was feeling were none too reassuring. Leela did her best to avoid taking a hit, but her skills were just not good enough, and the ship took a nasty shot from the surface right in the engine, causing the whole ship to jostle violently.

"They're getting away, sir!" one Millonian in the control centre called out.

"Not likely, is the missile ready?" the commander asked.

"Ready...now, sir!"

"Fire!" the commander ordered. His comrade hit a button on the console before him.

"Missile away, sir. Target acquired."

"Well, the good news is the engines aren't out!" Leela stated.

"And the bad news?" Fry asked pessimistically.

"WARNING, ENGINE TEMPERATURE CRITICAL," the computer called out, as if on cue.

"They're gonna blow if we don't shut them down soon," Leela finished. [Crash] The ship took another hit. And suddenly Leela felt like she was being crushed into her seat. "Uhh, and I think it's safe to say we've just lost artificial gravity."

"Who?" Fry asked, clueless.

"WARNING, MISSLE LOCK," the computer cried.

"Okay, now we're gonna die," Bender gave in.

"We're not finished yet, I've got an idea."

The heat-seeking missile thundered through the air with incredible speed, guided by the unique thermal signature of the PE ship, closing in on her engines.

Leela knew she had to break orbit before the engines gave up. "We're losing speed. Hang on!" Leela ordered, as she hit the engines' afterburner. The ship soared on towards space, straining the damaged engines.

Without artificial gravity, Leela could feel the effect of the planet's pull on her. At such high velocities, the number of positive G's acting on her was immense. It became difficult to move. "Gotta hang on. Hang on, Leela!" she willed herself, gritting her teeth. The blood was leaving her brain, slowing her thoughts down and draining her energy.

"WARNING, ENGINE TEMPERATURE CRITICAL. EXPLOSION IMMENENT."

Everything around her seemed blurred, her senses were numb. The weight on her body was unbearable. "Nearly there, hold on!" She'd lost colour vision; everything was grey. "Almost!" Fry was already unconscious, and now Leela was beginning to blackout, she couldn't go much longer. "There!"

With a tremendous surge, the PE ship finally broke orbit and with all her strength Leela hit the engine shutdown switch, just before completely loosing consciousness.

"TARGET LOST," the missile reported back to PDS control.

"What? What the hell?" the commander shouted.

After suddenly losing the PE ship's engine signature, the heat-seeking missile went berserk and tried desperately to re-acquire its target. It found it in a very similar heat signature on the exact same flight path of its initial target's last trajectory, and locked on.

"TARGET AQUIRED," the robotic computer voice reported.

"Now, that's more like it!" the commander agreed.

"What the hell?" the Millonian fighter pilot remarked, after his computer informed him of a hostile weapon's lock. The pilot looked just in time to see the PDS missile scream up towards him, before crashing into his rear engines and blowing him to pieces.

"TARGET DESTROYED."

"And goodbye, scum," the commander smiled.

"Good job everyone! Great work," cheered various members of the non-sussed PDS ground team. None of them aware that the PE ship was safely on its way home.

Epilogue:

Leela and Fry lay unconscious in their chairs, with their heads back, as the PE ship glided silently through space. Finally, they were safe. Even without propulsion, the confusion back on the planet would last long enough for them to escape sensor range, and leave a horrible chapter of their lives behind them.

Bender floated down to the bridge, in the gravity-less space ship, and took a look at the napping pair. He chuckled as a devious thought entered his head. It would be at least 30 minutes before the blood flowed back into their heads, and they woke up to begin repairs on the ship. On the way back to Earth, Bender took this time to rob them both.

THE END

Well, thanks again to everyone who read my fic, and thanks to those who gave me some kind words of encouragement on the first part, it was appreciated. Once again, if you'd let me know what you did/didn't like, or any suggestions, that would be great. Want me to lay off the casual swearing? Or was there just not enough of it, goddamn it!? Let me know, thanks. ;)