Project Boussh: Chances Blown by Vickie Boyd Vickie stood and watched the TIE-fighter rise into the air. Yes, she had done the right thing. She had faith in the young man, though nobody else did. She knew they were coming before she heard them. She turned to face her destiny. "Who just took off," Wedge asked her first. "Brad." She held her wrists out to him. "Go ahead. I allowed a 'suspected' traitor get away. Put me in binders and arrest me." Piggy came forward with a pair of binders. Wedge raised a hand to belay him. "Why did you let him go?" "Because he made a promise to me. I told him that if he didn't go and get Dorset back from the Imps, I would track him down and kill him personally. There would be no way that I would let Piggy have that honor. It would be mine and mine alone." He pulled her slightly aside. "You do realize this will jeapordize your participation in the rest of the mission." "I do." "Your ideas have been very useful. Why did you do it?" "With all due respect, sir, I have always in some way or another believed in the Force. I have felt an underlying goodness in Brad. I believe he will do what is best for the group, not for himself. Compare him with Han Solo, if you will. Remember on Yavin? His immediate thoughts were of himself. He was going to take the reward and pay off Jabba. But, he came back and helped Luke. 'The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few'. Han realized he couldn't let farmboy get killed because he wasn't there to cover his ass." "That is a completely different scenario," he said with slight aggitation. "How is it different? Han and Brad are like two peas in a pod. Both are independant, hardheaded, stubborn men who outwardly appear to only care for themselves, when in reality they would lay down their very lives for the people they care about." Wedge looked at the woman standing before him. Her stubbornness reminded him of Iella. Here she was calling two men hardheaded and stubborn when she was just as much if not even more. "I cannot make the final decision in what to do with you. Cracken put this into your hands. I will have to talk to Sci about it, but for now, you are confined to a room on *Red Home*." He waved Pash over. "Please take Ms. Boyd to *Red Home* and find her a room. She will be staying there for an indefinate amount of time under house arrest." Pash saluted and led her away. Once far enough from the crowd, he spoke to her. "Why," he simply asked. Her dour expression did not change. "Because I believe in someone." "How could you believe in him after he fired upon Dorset's ship?" She turned angrily to face him. "Look, I don't have to be questioned twice. Just take me to the ship and get this over with. Nobody is ever going to believe me anyway." Pash was torn. He wanted to believe her, but everything pointed against Brad. The familiar scream of a fighter passed overhead. He looked up to see an X-Wing flying in the direction Brad had gone. Vickie had continued on. He jogged to catch up to her. They quietly boarded *Red Home* and found a room for her. He watched her sit on the bed before the door closed. Keying in the code, he locked her inside. Vickie laid down and buried her face in the pillow. The tears came easily. She cried herself into a dream filled sleep. She awoke when she heard a knock on the door. There was a pause before the door opened. She turned her head to see who had come in. The blur looked vaguely familiar. She put on her glasses to see Corran walking towards her. "Have they decided my fate," she asked. He shook his head slightly. "No, but Wedge wanted me to talk to you. That was rather brash, the way you talked to him out there." She pushed herself up into a sitting position, pulling the pillow to her chest. "Yeah, well I was scared to death. I sometimes speak before thinking." "So I've noticed." He pulled the chair from the terminal over and sat down. "Wedge compared you to Iella. I would have to agree." "At least I'm in good company." That garnered a smile from the ex-CorSec officer. "You really believe in him, don't you?" She looked at him in all seriousness. "I believe in the Force. I always have, I think. I feel the Force told me to believe in him." "You took things a bit far when you compared Brad to Solo." She snorted, "I did not. Both are former Imps. Han did and Brad will come through for his friends." Corran thought over what she had said. True, Solo had been an Imperial. He was at the academy at the same time as Fel. But what did she really know about Brad? Was he truly no longer working for the Empire? Silence hung between them like a fog. Neither knew what to say. "Is Pash ok," she asked in a rather timid voice. "Yeah, I guess. Why do you ask?" "I was kinda rude to him. Please tell him I'm sorry. I just had so much on my mind." "I'm sure he knows you didn't mean it." "I'm not. Corran, what was it like when you first realized you were a Jedi?" The Corellian started at her question. It had been a long while since someone had asked him that. "I didn't believe it at first. But when I saw Neeja's hologram at the museum, and the medallion around his neck, I knew that was my real grandfather." He leaned forward and rested arms on his legs. "I used his lightsaber to defend myself against Isaard's soldiers. That was an incredible feeling." "When you had your 'hunches', did you ever think they might actually be from the Force?" "Never. Like most Corellians, I thought the Force was a bunch of simple tricks and nonsence. Yes, Rostek fought alongside the Jedi and praised what they stood for, but I was a young, brash CorSec officer. There was no way some Force was going to control my destiny." Vickie propped her chin on the top of the pillow, pulling it closer to her chest. "When you told me I was Force sensitive, I knew already. My conscious mind just hadn't figured it out. "It was like a dam had opened. My mind filled with all sorts of things that I knew. Not only did my subconscious know about the Force, my consciousness knew. I could do all the things I dreamed about. I used it for all it was worth." She paused and moved the pillow to her lap and sat up straight. "I used it to its fullest capabilities. Anything I felt was important, that I remembered or had a dream about, I took it as being a sign from the Force. Maybe I did go a bit overboard. Maybe I am wrong about Brad. I don't think so. I honestly believe the Force told me that Brad is destined to help us out." "I believe you." It was her turn to be startled. "You do," she asked blinking. "I did some mediating. I saw Luke telling me to believe in you and your powers. It was a sign. Now, I don't have enough clout with the others to convince them to believe you, but I can at least try." He stood and prepared to leave. "Thanks, Corran." She jumped down from the bed and hugged the Jedi. He returned her hug then moved to the door. "I'll send Pash by to keep you company. You can apologize to him." She smiled and nodded. "Thanks." "Not a problem," he said as the door closed.