Project Boussh: Cliffs of Insanity... or Sanity?
by Alison Sky
 
Walking quietly, Face and Alison crept around the wall.  They didn't 
speak because of the fact that they didn't want any attention drawn 
to them... and because the tension in the air was so thick, not even 
Alison's sword would be able to cut through it.

They got about halfway around the fortress when finally Face slammed 
his hand against the bricks.  "Damnit, I can't take this anymore."

Alison sighed and turned around to look at him.  "What are you 
babbling about now?"

"You."  Face leaned against the wall, gritting his teeth.  "Why the 
hell are you always so stubborn?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"To hell you don't,"  Face bounced off the wall and walked towards 
her.  "Ever since I've gotten off that shuttle, you've either ignored 
me or treated me like you do Luke in your stories."

"I do not!"

"Do to! And I'm sick and tired of it.  You want to slug it out, 
fine?  Put the sword down and let's get at it."

Alison raised an eyebrow.  "You can't be serious."

"What, afraid I'm going to kick your butt?"  Face pulled off his 
cloak and placed his blaster on top of it.  "Let's go."

Alison snorted and undid her swordbelt, laying it on top of her 
jacket.  She rotated her back, letting a few bunched up disks in her 
back pop.  "I'm gonna make you eat those words."

Face snorted.  "I've had years of military training."

"I've got two years of stage combat, plus I was a big Power Ranger 
fan in the beginning."

The two friends circled, each measuring the other up mentally.  
Finally, Face dodged in and brought his right leg up in a tentative 
kick to Alison's left ribcage.  She spun out of the way, her hand 
coming out to give a knifechop to Face's neck.  Face, however, saw 
the move from his eyes and danced away.

They circled again, and this time Alison came in with a two hit 
combo.  First she kicked her leg up at him, but he slapped her leg 
down.  Quickly, she tried to follow with a punch to his face, but 
Face grabbed her wrist, swung her around so that her arm was pinned 
behind her back, then tossed her away.

"Got to get up earlier than that to get a move by me!" Face gloated, 
and chased after her stumbling form.  Alison quickly recovered though 
and ducked under his flying arm, kicking out a leg and tripping the 
Wraith Leader to the ground.

"You need to stop buying clunky shoes," Alison replied, getting her 
balance back.  Enraged, Face jumped up and ran at Alison, tackling 
her to the ground.  They rolled, exchanging hits and curses between 
each other.

At one point, they rolled over their belongings.  Alison felt the 
edge of her sword scrape along her back, and she hissed in pain of 
her stupidity.  She should have placed the metal object under her 
jacket.

Biting her lip, Alison played off the only move she thought would get 
Face off her.  She made a fist and punched him right where the bacta 
patch clearly marked where his chip had been.  He howled in pain, 
grabbing his head and rolled off her.

Quickly, Alison grabbed her sword and went to lunge at him.  She 
wasn't thinking anymore.  In her mind, she saw Face as an enemy, not 
a friend.  A howl escaped her mouth, and that was the only warning 
Face got as the tip aimed right for his chest.

Quickly, Face ducked and ran forward, digging his shoulder into 
Alison's pelvis.  He lifted, tossing her over his shoulder.  She 
flipped up into the air, then landed and rolled a few feet.

That was when Face saw it.  The moon was starting to come out, and 
the edge of the ground was visable.  Alison was heading towards a 
steep cliff.

"Watch out!" he shouted.

Alison turned just as her feet skirted over the edge of the cliff.  
She shrieked as her body leverage made her go over the side.

Face ran and dove to the side of the cliff, reaching to grab Alison 
before she disappeared.  He felt her fingertips slip past his as she 
disappeared over the ledge.

"No..." he muttered to himself, collapsing against the dirt 
ground.  "Why was I so stupid?!"  He could feel tears coming up into 
his eyes, and wiped them away in anger.

"If you're done whining, can you get me a rope or something?"

Surprised, Face crawled on his hands and knees to the edge of the 
cliff.  About fifteen feet down the cliff, Alison hung fron her sword 
that was firmly embedded into the rock.

"By all that is unholy..." Face muttered.  "Are you ok?"

"I'm hanging several hundreds of feet above jagged rocks with only my 
sword supporting me.  What do you think?"

Face smirked.  "I'd offer you a hand, but I'm afraid you'd just cut 
it off."

"Not until I get back onto solid ground."

"Then maybe this is the best time to talk."  Face got onto his elbows 
and got comfortable.  "I'll pull you up, after you tell me what 
crawled up your butt."

Alison growled.  "Some leader you are, making your teammates suffer 
while you get your pleasure in seeing them hang in space."

"I'm serious, Alison.  Back before we hit California, you and I were 
good friends.  Hell, I helped you start up your damn company, and 
don't think I don't know what really goes on there.  Your clone of me 
seems to enjoy walking the streets a bit more than I bet you allow."

Alison scowled.  "When I get back there..."

"What happened between then and now?"

"You mean beside you going off on your own, getting yourself and 
Shannon kidnapped, making yourself into a mindless servent of an 
Imperial Madman and stunning myself, Hobbie, Emily and Ooryl so we 
can fall into the same fate..."

Face sighed.  "Alright, I admit it.  My pride can get in the way 
sometime.  I shouldn't have snuck off, especially after seeing what 
happened when Kolot did it.  I'm... I'm sorry."

Alison looked up at Face in shock.  Barely five minutes ago, she had 
wanted to punch his face in because of all the arrogance he held.  
Yet now she could remember the other side of him, the side that she 
had been friends with.  The side she had lost...

"I'm sorry too..." Alison muttered.

"What was that?" Face asked, cupping his ear.  "I can't hear you..."

"I said I'm sorry too!" she shouted.  "I'm sorry for losing you."

The Wraith's face softened.  "Alison..."

"No, let me talk."  She tried to lift herself up a bit on the sword, 
but fell back from the struggle.  "I never felt that I was a good 
leader.  I regretted joining the project from the moment we left the 
Spaceport.  
"While we were traveling, I made a lot of mistakes.  But you, as well 
as the others, were always there to help guide me.  And when I lost 
you... I failed.  I truly failed in everything that you all were 
working on teaching me.
"Then to see you as a chippee... something in me broke, Face.  You 
became a symbol of my failure.  Everytime I saw you after that, I was 
looking at what I had done in the face.... no pun intended."

"None taken," Face said, a small smile coming to his lips.

"I guess I don't take to failure easily."

"No one does," Face stated.  "But it could have been worse."

"Really?" Alison asked.  "And how so?"

"You could have been a crispy fried Aussie with a stormie mind."  
Alison looked up at Face with a raised eyebrow, and the Wraith 
laughed.  "I'll explain later.  Let me find you some rope."

Face jumped up and ran back to where their supplies were.  He found 
Alison's bag and started to dig through it.  He found some rope and 
pulled it out, then put the bag on his back.  He also scooped up his 
blaster as he ran back to the edge.

"I'm going to lower a rope to you..."

"Hold on a sec."  Alison motioned with her head to her right.  "About 
a hundred feet that way is a sewer grate.  You think we can fit 
through it?"

Face walked to the edge of the castle and pressed his body against it 
as he peered down.  There was a grate with water flowing out, yet it 
was large enough to let a Hutt through.  "It looks plausible.  How do 
you propose we get there?"

Alison looked down.  "I can see a ledge about twenty feet down from 
me.  It goes to the opening, a few feet below it.  We can walk along 
the ledge, then use my sword to anchor the rope and climb up to it."

Face heard whispering behind him.  He turned and saw two guards 
walking in their direction.  He was in the castle's shadow, or they 
would be able to see him.

"We've got no choice," he replied quietly.  "If we stay here, we're 
had."

"There should be a hook in the pack.  Use it to anchor the rope and 
come down."

"What about you?" Face asked as he dug in the bag.

"I'll slide."

Face found the hook in the pack, and was amazed that for such a small 
bag, so many things fit inside.  "You really know how to pack a bag," 
he stated as he tied the rope to the hook.

"Learned from cartoons," she replied quietly.  He heard some rocks 
slide, and looked down.  She slid carefully down, using her sword to 
dig a line down the rocks.  "In cartoons, a character can pull 
ANYTHING out of a plain brown bag."

Face snorted as he dug the hook into the ground.  "Now, if I come 
down there, you promise no more attacking me with the sword?"

Alison looked up at him and smiled.  "As long as you don't give me a 
reason to."

Face nodded, and swung his leg over the side of the ledge and began 
to climb down the cliff.