I want to thank BEB for turning my attention to the Me-163 Komet micro-fighter as an inspiration for the Ares. While I had never heard of the Komet, last night I googled it and found myself liking the lines of it... soo... I sketched a 26th century mock up. Of course this is nothing what Stang looks like currently in the story, but, if Ru and Kaylee fix her up this is what she would look like. (Wings are supposed to fold up against the body for storage, didn't draw that though). Cut and paste the links to get them to work.

Dismclaimer: Although I am an art major, I don't think I've ever drawn a space ship and/or plane in my life. I'm more of an animal oriented artist. So if it sucks... that's my reason :)

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Mal had his hands on his hips to look intimidating.

However, he was up against much greater forces.

Hearing Kaylee recite the name of the ship was like hearing a small child announce the name of their new pet. To make things worse, Ru walked over, and he was suddenly pitted against his two xiao mei-meis. The mechanic was a natural at acting adorable, yet, as intimidating a Ru could be, she stood behind the smaller young woman and gave the most pathetic look she could conjure up. Suddenly, it was like looking at two children who had found some mangy stray that they wanted to keep. Only in hindsight it was a mangy junked up fighter. He set his jaw and narrowed his gaze, and they gave sheepish smiles with round green and brown eyes.

“No.” It was all he could say as his will was being tested.

“But Cap’n…” Kaylee’s voice squeaked into a whine as her face gave a sad expression that was like a puppy being yelled at. In other words, it made the captain’s façade crack a bit. “It’s our project.”

“It’s a piece’a gos se.” He told them firmly, finding his reason as he stared at the rusty old ship. The more he stared at it, the les