Project Boussh: Difficult Conversations
by scifantasy

"Hello?"
"Is this Rich Boyd?"
"Yeah. Who are you? If you're selling something..."
"Sir, my name is Sci. I believe you've heard of me?"
Rich thought for a second. Suddenly he remembered. "Yeah. Is Vickie
all right?"
"That's an involved question, sir."
"Call me Rich. What do you mean, an involved question?"
Sci sighed slowly. "Involved because of her situation and involved
because all information is on a need-to-know basis."
"And I don't need to know."
"Actually, you need to know some of it. She's being incarcerated on
the grounds of letting a suspected traitor escape custody."
"What?"
"She let a suspected--"
"I heard you. I just can't believe it. Is she hurt? If you did
anything--"
"We didn't hurt her at all, Rich. After letting the man get away she
surrendered herself. The only reason she's still in lockup is she
agreed to be. Given her...abilities, it would be difficult to keep her
locked up against her will."
"Good point. Now, did you call just to give me a status update or
what?"
"She let this traitor go free on the grounds that he wouldn't actually
betray us. You know her longer than any of us..."
"Oh, I get it. Well, lemme put it this way. If she says he's okay,
he's okay. Especially because of her abilities, as you put it."
"I figured as much. Thank you, Rich."
"Anytime."
Sci hung up the phone. *All right, that's that.* Now for the other
ones.

"Nick! Josh!"
Nick looked up. He and Josh were arguing about Brad and Vickie, as
they seemed to do so often. There was Sci walking up to meet them,
with a serious look on his face. "What's up?" asked Josh.
"Brad and Vickie." The two burst out laughing. Sci frowned. "What's so
funny?"
"Are you SURE you're not Force-sensitive? That's exactly what we were
talking about," answered Josh.
"I'm not, trust me. Anyway, I wanted to know about them. More
specifically, how far can they be trusted?"
"You want to know if you should let Vickie out of lockup, don't you?"
"That, and whether you think the mission was compromised."
Josh shrugged. "Well, what's done is done. I personally think Brad has
some serious issues, but is locking Vickie up the answer?"
"Probably not," Sci conceded. "And when you factor in the
Force...Well, some people--"
"--Or Gamorreans--"
"--Or Gamorreans, might have a problem with me letting Vickie go
free."
"You won't know unless you ask them."
"True. Well, thanks for the input."

Piggy looked up from his computer at the knock. "Sci! I was hoping to
speak to you."
Sci was leaning against the doorframe. "That makes two of us, Piggy."
"Really? What about?"
"You first, if you don't mind."
"Well, I wanted to apologize to you about the whole scanning incident.
I should have had more faith in you and General Antilles."
"And I should have controlled my reaction better. I'm not used to
dealing with non-Terrans enough. Apology accepted."
"And you wanted to speak to me?"
"Yes. It's about Brad and Vickie." Sci resisted the urge to step back
at the sudden growl Piggy made. "Mainly, do you think Vickie is right,
and Brad won't betray us?"
Piggy snorted. "I don't know. If he had wanted to betray us to the
Imperials, he would probably have done so already. However, from what
I've heard he has a personal vendetta against me, and while he may not
compromise the mission, he may work with the empire to see me dead. As
for Vickie, the Force is beyond my abilities to predict. However, my
experience with Tyria Sarkin and Corran Horn has led me to believe
that it may indeed be as powerful as some claim. What Vickie did
cannot be undone, but I believe that she, for one, will not betray us.
She has had time to think about her actions, so maybe we should be
forgiving."
"That's what I've been thinking as well. Thanks, Piggy."
"You're welcome, Sci."

Sci walked towards the _Red Home_ and the room where Vickie was locked
up. As he approached, however, Corran and Mike came running from the
cabin. "Sci!" they yelled at they approached.
Sci stopped. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know," answered Mike. "All of a sudden I felt this blackness
coming from the ship. I have a bad feeling about this."
Sci's eyes widened. "You don't think..." He stopped at the looks from
Corran and Mike. "I guess so. Come on!"
The three ran to Vickie's room, keyed the lock, and the door opened.
Sci was the first to speak.
"Oh, gods..."