To be the force captain of the Lunar army had many responsibilities. Some were dangerous, some were painful, and some were fucking boring. These were the thoughts running through Moonfire Sarah Blood's head as she boarded the shuttle headed for Mars. This particular mission fell into the latter category. She sighed as she flopped ungracefully into her seat. She felt as though she had never been given this boring a mission in her entire life. She sat back and tried to relax. It would only be two weeks and Craft would join her about halfway through. She found herself already missing his constant juvenile banter. It had been a very long time since she'd spent more than a day without him. She'd been looking forward to spending some time alone, but right now she was going through some serious separation anxiety. Really not a good sign for the first five minutes of the trip. Moonfire closed her eyes and tried to look at the bright side. She wasn't stuck at the palace anymore. She was the force captain of the Lunar army, an army which at the moment had nothing to do because of the recent peace treaty between the Sun, the Moon, Venus and the few inhabited stars and planets in the Crab Nebula. So currently the Moon was blessed with peace which made things beyond boring for Moonfire Blood. Not that she wanted to see her friends dying around her, like the last battle they'd fought, but she craved some action! A little excitement at least. It certainly didn't have to be in the form of a war.

"I'd settle for a really good TV show at this point," she sighed to herself. Unfortunately, even that didn't seem likely in the near future. The shuttle began to take off. She braced herself against the back of her chair. The sudden increase in weight was almost too much for her sometimes. 'You'd think I'd get used to this eventually,' she thought. Craft had been trying to build them an attack rocket that would reduce the gravitational pull by at least 50% but she didn't think he'd gotten around to finishing it yet. 'Just don't think about it,' she urged herself. She was already beginning to grow dizzy. 'Think about the mission, that'll at least bore you to death.'

The mission was so unsuitable to her position it was ridiculous, but she hadn't really been in a position to argue. The basic facts were that the Lunar Royal family wanted a signed peace agreement with the governments of all of the planets and inhabited stars in the region of the Sun to avoid close range attacks that they weren't prepared for. Negotiations were being made with most of the planets but the Martian government had been all too happy to agree immediately. The last thing they needed was an attack from the Lunar army with all the political problems that they'd been having. Normally the desk general would be the one to bring the treaty over but these were "special circumstances".

The 'desk general' was how Craft and Moonfire fondly referred to her only army superior. Their uncle Swifteye Sam Summers' real title was the Head of Army Affairs. He made decisions and negotiations and gave the occasional order, but never went into battle.

There was an odd situation on Mars. There were rumours floating around that the Martian government was planning to sell areas of Mars or possibly the whole planet to Plutark, so that they could exploit its natural resources. A part of the mouse population had begun to mount a so- far non-violent rebellion. None of this had been confirmed however. Moonfire and Swifteye both suspected that the Martian government wanted to sign the treaty because it would effectively bar the Lunar army from intervening if they did hand the planet over to Plutark. Moonfire growled softly at the thought of the Plutarkians. Her and her uncle were already in silent agreement that they would bend the rules of the treaty if necessary, for they would be fighting Plutarkians on a Martian battleground. Technically they would not be breaking the treaty.

Obviously the Martian rebellion didn't know that Moonfire and Swifteye had already made those plans though. Swifteye was worried that they would be angered by the lack of Lunar support to their cause and attack while the signing was taking place. He wanted to send someone who would be able to handle the situation. They thought that the Lunar army could do without its Force Captain for two weeks during this time of peace. Swifteye thought that his niece was the one for the job. 'In other words he's scared shitless to go himself,' she thought to herself.

She was suddenly jarred to the right by a particularly unpleasant flip of the shuttle's wings.

'Just don't think about it!' She was sure she was going to faint. Not the most impressive thing for a Force Captain to do in public. She forced her mind back to the mission. It probably wouldn't be that bad, if a little dull. The treaty signing would take place the next day and after that she had a week to snoop around and try to discover if there was any truth to the rumours, as well as the plans of the government and the rebellion and who they should be supporting. She would have liked Craft to be with her for the entire trip but he had some business to wrap up on Mercury first. Some weapons deal or something.

She didn't see why the Lunar army needed a new shipment of lava guns if it deprived her of the company of her dearest baby brother! She smirked, wondering what Craft would do if he heard her calling him her "baby" brother since he was actually a minute her senior. She just didn't like to admit that.

Once he joined her maybe they could do some sightseeing, a well needed vacation. She could deal with a lack of action if Nap was there to entertain her. She seriously doubted that the rebellion would make a move as drastic as to attack her this early on. She almost hoped they did though. Of course that would mean that she would have to fight them and then possibly be fighting the wrong side.