Project Boussh: B Is For Brad
by Vickie Boyd

"Psst, Whistler, wake up."

The droid turned its domed head towards the person speaking to him.
WHAT...

Vickie put a finger to her lip before the droid could continue. "Shh,
not here." She stood and walked away.

Whistler followed her out onto the front porch.

"I need your help."

WHAT DO YOU NEED?

"I need to borrow Corran's X-Wing." She fidgeted as she spoke, her eyes
darting towards the door.

Whistler had been around humans for a long time. He knew when something
was amiss. HAVE YOU ASKED HIM YET?

"Um, no." She bit her lip. "Please, Whistler. After what happened
earlier, I really need to talk to Brad. I figure the only way to find
him is with your help. Since the X is the only fighter which you can fit
in, it will have to be the ship we take."

The years he had been with Corran had taught the R2 unit to be patient
with humanoids with crazy ideas.

"Look, once we are in the air, you can send Corran a message and tell
him where we've gone. I just can't risk him going and not giving Brad
the benefit of the doubt first."

The droid's circuits churned. He knew he couldn't just leave without
letting Corran know. And besides, did this female know how to fly?

"Please. I promise we will stay in the atmosphere. If he's out beyond
the ozone, we can just contact him."

Was she reading his circuits? She sounded so much like Mirax had on
occasions when she wanted something from him. DO YOU THINK THIS WILL
HELP US TO FIND QUIARA?

"Well, I don't think it will hurt. Maybe Brad knows something he hasn't
told us yet. Maybe I can get him to tell us."

THAT IS A LOT OF MAYBES.

She sighed, "I know."

This is not fair, thought the little droid. OK. BUT ONLY AS LONG AS I
GET TO LEAVE CORRAN A MESSAGE.

Her face brightened. "Oh, that is no problem! Thank you, Whistler." She
stooped and gave the droid a hug.




Vickie pulled the camo netting off the X-Wing. She smiled as she ran her
fingers along the green stripe down the nose of the ship. Turning to
face Whistler, she creased her brow and frowned. "Ok, I guess now is the
best time to try this." She closed her eyes and began to concentrate.

YOU ARE _NOT_ GOING TO TRY AND USE THE FORCE TO LIFT ME, ARE YOU?

She cracked one eye open. "Yes I am, now shush so I can concentrate."

The little droid moaned in discontent.

Vickie shook her head and took a deep breath. She imagined herself as
being larger than the ship. Like a child picking up a toy, she reached
down and plucked the R2 unit from the ground and placed him in the
socket on the X-Wing. She opened her eyes slowly then blinked in
astonishment.

Whistler sat cozily in the X-Wing. He began pre-flight checks and
scanned all known frequencies. Mostly he found music or emergency
signals. He looked out of the ship to see Vickie jumping up and down.
She was certainly a strange human.

"I did it! I did it! I did it!" She bounced around in joy and stopped
quickly when she realized what she was doing. She tried to straighten
the orange flightsuit she had "borrowed" from Corran. He wasn't much
taller than her, but his girth, due to his muscles, was a bit larger
than her. She had to roll up the sleeves and pantlegs. She had cinched
up the belt as tight as possible, but it still had folds rolling over
the top.

Ok, she thought to herself. I can do telekinesis and seem to have a lot
of sense dice. No, dice isn't right. This is real. Sense is my dominant
power. Ok, now what?

The engines of the X-Wing began to hum. That was her cue to get inside
as quickly as possible. She pulled on Corran's helmet and jumped up to
the emergency ladder. Climbing up and into the ship, she stopped before
sitting. "Wow, it's pretty from up here." Sitting down and pulling the
harness over, she began to familiarize herself with the controls. It
wasn't much different than the A-Wing. "Ok Whistler, let's go."

With great care, she lifted up from the ground, the repulsors doing the
hard work. She ever so slightly pulled the stick back and pushed the
throttle forward. Her heart beat like an African drum as they rose into
the sky.

Whistler beeped something she didn't quite catch. Looking down at the
screen, she saw everything was written in Aurebesh. "Uh-oh. I knew I
should have studied Aurebesh." She blinked and sighed. Suddenly, the
characters shifted into the Roman alphabet. Whistler had complimented
her on a smooth take-off. "Why thank you," she said. "Now, let's get
started. Set your scanners to look for a B-Wing. If we find the B, we
find Brad."