Project Boussh: Fighting for the Right Mind
by Alison Sky

        _You're fighting for the wrong side...they are your enemies...
KILL THEM!_
      Face shut his eyes against the voice in his head.  It had 
returned again, fracturing his mind into two.  The words, the 
whispering... 
      "But this time I don't have a chip controlling me," Face 
said, and he pushed the voice outside of his consciousness.
      _Who needs a chip?  I'm in the core of your brain.  There's 
no escaping me._
      "Go suck exhaust," Face muttered, and he dove after the TIE he 
was chasing.  His fingers traced across the laser button.  Yet, 
somehow his fingers could not close down on the trigger.
      _See.  I'm here to stay, flyboy.  Get used to it._
      "I don't think so.  I'm in control of myself, not some 
psychosis..."
      A flash of light caught his eye.  Turning, Face watched as 
Vickie was shot down by one of their own, and his anger began to 
rise.  His mind flashed back to the point where Tal'dira had tried to 
take out Wedge during one of their battles, and then how he had 
almost lost his life when he thought that Kirney, then as Lara, was 
going to do the same.
      _You could have done it better.  Your kill would have 
destroyed the ship with nothing left but atoms._
      "Will you just shut up?!"
      He brought his fighter around to do a flyby and question the 
shooter, Josh Cochran from the looks of the ship, when suddenly he 
felt the hairs on the back of his neck tingle.  He turned to look out 
the right side of his viewport just as a pair of laser blasts skimmed 
his nose.  
      "Sithspawn!" Face shouted, and instinctively he pulled back 
on his flight stick... and right into the path of another set of 
lasers.  From the corner of his eye, he saw the TIE he had been 
chasing was the source of the laser blasts, then all went white.
      _Sucker._

      "FACE!" Emily cried over her com.  She dove after the TIE 
that had sent two lasers into the hull of Face's X-Wing and worked to 
get a target lock.  "Come on, Snipe.  Give me a lock!"
      The TIE turned on its panel, bringing its guns to bear on 
Emily's X-Wing.  The young teen fiddled with a few buttons, then 
pulled the stick to the left and rolled out of the way as the TIE 
flew past her.  She flipped back up and around, getting back on the 
TIE's tail.  
      Her fingers pressed the trigger and she let laserfire dance 
over the hull of the TIE.  Nothing connected, but they were close 
enough to make the TIE continue to try and free itself from her 
pursuit.
      Suddenly, her targeting went from green to red, and Snipe 
gave off a steady tone.  A sinister smile coming to her face, Emily 
flipped the weapon system and let a torpedo off at the TIE.  Five 
seconds later, the flying machine was reduced to a fireball.
      Emily came back around to see the damage to Face's X-Wing.  
There was a big smoke cloud around it, but the vacuum of space  
quickly dissolved it.
      In moments, the wreckage of the ship was clear to see.  The 
machine was a piece of twisted metal, scoring not even a concern as 
the whole body was almost black.  But the thing that concerned Emily 
the most was that the cockpit window was completely shattered.
      "Face, can you hear me?" Emily asked over the com, bringing 
her fighter closer.  She knew that the others were covering her, for 
her battle display showed no enemy ships in the area.  "Face, please 
answer me."
      Only static was her answer.

      "Face, please answer me."
      Dia sat frozen at the controls of the communication board.  
In her head, she heard what was happening outside in space; yet her 
thoughts were at a total different time.
      She was at the controls of an X-Wing, looking out in front of 
her at a damaged X-Wing.  Inside, Face sat semi-conscious, his head 
rolled to the side as he stared out in space.
      "Face, please answer me."  She sent her call over a private 
com, as so no one would know that she was concerned with only him, 
and not the rest of the group.
      _Face, please answer me.  I can't lose you.  I can't afford 
to... please answer me._
      Memories started to flood back.  She remembered waiting 
anxiously as Face was in bacta after the mission; the celebration in 
med bay afterwards.  She could remember back further, to when she 
joined the Wraiths, her meeting Face and being intrigued by his 
mysteriousness and aloofness; the care that he showed towards her, 
and that first kiss.
      She remembered all the kisses that followed.  When they 
danced, when they would leave for a mission... their Twi'lek wedding 
kiss that joined them as husband and wife.  She could feel each 
tender touch on her lips now, as if he was there.
      "Face, are you there?" Dia called softly over the 
com.  "Please answer."

      Face fought against the blackness in his head.  It hurt too 
much to fight, and some part of him didn't want to bother.  If he 
just went to sleep, everything would be fine.
      _Face, please answer me._
      The childlike voice he didn't completely recognize.  Oh sure, 
he probably knew the person who called for him, but their attachment 
to him wasn't worth the fight.  The sleep...it was so peaceful...so 
relaxing.  Nothing felt this inviting to him as this sleep did now.
      _Don't answer them.  They are your enemies.  Sleep.  It's 
your time to sleep._
      _You're still here?_ Face thought.  _Don't you ever take a 
break?_
        _Face, are you there?  Please answer._
      His mind perked.  Now that voice he knew.  The words, soft 
and gentle, wrapped around him, making his feel safe and secure in 
their tone.  The sleep may be inviting, but so were Dia's arms, her 
words, and her life.  With her, he knew that he was never in danger.
      But which side of the darkness was she on?  Maybe she was in 
the darkness too, and that was why it was so inviting...maybe she was 
calling him to it, so that they would be together.
      _Sleep...it's your time to sleep._
      _Face, please answer._
      But in the end, he knew it wasn't true.  After all, Dia was 
afraid of the dark.
      _Dia, I'm here_, he called in his mind, and he worked to 
fight past the pain of the light.

      Dia almost jumped for joy when she heard Face respond.  It 
was almost impossible to hear, like he was talking to himself instead 
of out loud.  But she knew his voice, and now she knew he was alive.
      "Emily!" Dia cried.  "How close are you to Face's ship?"
      "I'm flying right beside it," the static filled reply came.  
      "Do you remember reading about what Kell did when he tried to 
save Jesmin Ackbar?  I wasn't with the squad then, so I only know 
stories."      
      Emily took a moment to reply.  "Yes, I do."
      "Do you think you can guide Face towards the Addy that way?  
I can lock on to him with the Home's tractor beam once he's in 
distance."
      "I'm on it."
      Dia jumped up and ran to the back of the ship to the tractor 
beam station.  She started it up and waited for Emily to get Face 
within her sights.  _Come on Loran, you've stuck with me this far.  
Don't leave me now_.