Project Boussh: Actress Kidnapped, Actor Involved by Vickie Boyd Vickie growled as she crashed into another fighter. She had secluded herself in the second bedroom so she could be alone. At least that is what she had told the guys. Secretly, she was practicing something nobody else would understand. A knock at the door interrupted her. "Hey, Vickie. We've got all the recon uploaded." "I'll be there in a minute." She cursed under her breath. The mission she was on was a long one and one she didn't wish to interrupt. She slid the headphones back on her head and continued. She was so involved in playing that she failed to see the door opening. Corran pulled the headphones off her ears. "What are you doing?" Surprised, she jumped and instinctively swung her arm towards her "attacker." Corran grabbed it effortlessly. "Sithspit! Don't you know how to knock?" He cocked an eyebrow at her use of a very familiar phrase. "I did knock. You need to come help us now." He looked at the computer screen. "What are you doing in here anyway?" She quickly reached over and turned off the monitor. "Nothing. Just practicing." "Practicing what?" "Flying. That's all." His gaze was very intimidating. She cringed inwardly. "Are you sure?" "Yes," she huffed. "Let's go check out those pictures." She stood and pushed passed him out of the room. Pash and Rich stood beside Whistler. The droid had projected a three-dimensional rendering of the data. A castle stood at the edge of a sheer cliff. Patrols were wandering the battlements as well as the grounds. "Looks like something out of a James Bond movie," mused Vickie. Pash looked at her strangely until Rich whispered to him. "James Bond is a character in a movie. He's a spy for the British government and goes on rather outrageous missions." "Oh." Pash shook his head and went back to looking at the image. His eyes were starting to cross. "What's this," Vickie asked pointing to a spot on the far side of the castle. "Whistler, would you enlarge this section, please?" The droid did as he was told and the area she was pointing to was brought into focus. There was nothing unusual to the naked eye, however, to the eyes of a potential Jedi... "There," she pointed to a small red dot. "That looks like the reflection off infrared goggles or something similar." Corran stepped up beside her and looked. "She's right. There is a figure there." Rich and Pash looked at each other and shrugged. "We haven't heard of any of the crew being there yet, have we," Vickie asked. "Not that I know of," said Pash. "But, we haven't logged on since we've been back." Vickie walked over to the other PC and logged onto the internet. As she was letting the email download, she skimmed a few sites. She pulled up scifi.com's news page. One of the top articles caught her eye. "Mara Jade missing," she said aloud. "What," the guys asked simultaneously. Now that she had their attention, she began to read. "Model/Actress Shannon Baksa, made famous by Decipher for her portrayal of Star Wars' Mara Jade, has been missing since yesterday. She was in Los Angeles auditioning for a part on Baywatch Hawaii. She failed to appear for the third day of auditions. When producers tried to reach her at her hotel, they found that she was missing. Sources say it may have been a kidnapping, though hotel officials neither deny nor confirm this. theforce.net claims to have received from an anonymous source the video recordings in the hallway outside Ms. Baksa's room showing a figure enter late in the evening." She clicked on the link to where the supposed video was. Sure enough, they had a QuickTime video from the hotel. Vickie clicked on it and started the download. "It's going to take a few minutes for it to download." Corran cocked his head. "So, you have a model for Mara. What about others?" "Um," she hesitated. "Well, most of the expanded characters, those we only know of from books, are in comics or source books. The card game that Decipher made has gotten several models to portray certain characters." "That didn't answer my question." "Yes, someone has done you, Talon Karrde, Tycho and a couple of others." "Me? Well, I would like to see that sometime." She nodded, "Ok, but let's watch this first." The four humans crowded around the 17" monitor. The image was fuzzy and dark. A non-descript human in a trench coat walked down the hall. It stopped before the door and then the image jumped. A few moments passed where the view was only an empty hall. The figure moved into the hall again with Shannon's limp body over his shoulder. "Wait a second," said Pash. "That is _not_ the same person." He backed up the video. "Look, this guy is small, slim. Yet the other guy is much bulkier." Something else in the video caught Vickie's eye the second time around. "Emperor's Black Bones," she whispered. The three men looked at her in shock. She looked up and saw the startled looks. "The video. You've got to look at the times." She moved the video back slowly. The time before the jump was just before midnight. After the jump, it said 10:57pm. "It's been doctored. There is the evidence." Corran nodded in agreement. "I think I know who that first person is, too." He turned to Whistler. "Can you enhance the image of both the figures?" The droid chirped an affirmative. He pulled the two images and projected them against the wall. "Just as I thought," Corran said. "That is Garik Loran." "Face," Vickie asked. "What the hell would he be doing trying to get to Shannon, unless... Damned fool. He thinks that his face is just as famous here as it is on Coruscant." "Um, the other guy is a stormtrooper," said Rich. "See the boots?" He pointed to the second figure's feet. Bright, shiny, black boots betrayed the figure's identity. "He must have left his armor on underneath the coat. Idiot." "Well, we now know who has Face and Shannon. I guess we should let Alison know. We can offer our assistance, too."