Project Boussh: Flyboy: Revenant
By Josh Cochran and Alison Sky

Josh threw off the breathing mask as his head broke through the top of
the thick pinkish liquid surrounding him. *So that's what swimming in
hair gel would be like.* He pulled himself up onto the top of the bacta
tank and sat breathing the cool, clean air for a few moments.

Seeing the two bright pink spots that were all that remained of the
injuries he'd sustained brought back the events of the last few days in
a flood. While he'd been in the bacta tank he'd relived those events in
dozens of horrific nightmares. As he'd awakened he'd come to assume that
they had been nothing but nightmares, but now he knew the things he'd
done in those dreams were all too real. In that moment a weight settled
into his heart he felt sure would be there forever.

A step on the walkway beside him made him turn to see a medtech
approaching with a towel. Josh stood unsteadily and took the towel.
"What happened? How long have I been here?"

"You've been here about twelve hours," said the Mendellian tech. "That's
a bit long, but your injuries were severe and you were also suffering
from exhaustion. We didn't have to sedate you; you slept the whole time
on your own."

"The battle is over, your friends won. Eugor Atner is dead, and Lord
Thayer is now Dictator."

Josh followed the technician down the metal stairs to the stone floor of
the medbay as the tech continued talking. "Your flightsuit was beyond
repair. You'll find some clothes waiting when you get out of the
shower."

Josh nodded and headed off in the direction the tech indicated. He
turned the water up as hot as he could stand it and stood in the spray
for a long time. Thoughts and images of the last few days washed over
him with the water. It was all a jumble that he wasn't sure he even
wanted to sort out. Now that he was rested and feeling a good bit more
himself, Josh knew he'd done things he would never be able to undo. He'd
*killed* people. Other human beings had died at his hands. When he
closed his eyes, all he could see was the pool of blood around the first
stormtrooper he'd shot.

At that moment, all he wanted to do was to go home to his parents' house
and sleep in his old bed until the memories faded into the distant past.
The warm embrace of his family would make all this go away. They would
tell him that he was forgiven for all that he'd done. The dogs would wag
their tails and the bobwhites would sing and the world would be exactly
as it had been.

Josh sighed and drug himself back out of the pleasant fantasy. He
couldn't go back home, and it might be years, or never, before he could.
In stealing the F-16 and stunning its pilot, he made himself a wanted
criminal. It would take a while for OSI to trace it back to him, but
he'd done very little to hide his involvement. It was only a matter of
time, and he didn't want to be anywhere nearby when that time ran out.

With a deep feeling of isolation settling over him, Josh turned the
shower off and dried himself off. Outside the shower stall he found a
stack of clothing. His own flight boots were on top of an all black
flightsuit, a plain black t-shirt and appropriate socks and
undergarments. His nametag and other insignia from his old flightsuit
were missing, as was his pistol and other gear. He dressed quickly and
looked briefly into a mirror. The bacta had not only healed his combat
injuries, it had also taken care of a chronic split lip he'd been
fighting for weeks and a cut on his left hand. All in all, he looked and
felt better physically than he had in quite a long time.

The lone medtech looked up when he came back into the room. "Feeling
better?" Josh nodded. "Good! Terra Lead and Lord Thayer asked to be
notified when you were up and about."

The tech reached for a comlink, and Josh's hand darted out to catch it
before the other could activate it. "Don't," he said. "I'll go find
them. I'm sure I have as many questions for them as they do for me."


Alison sauntered into the med bay, looking around at the people who were
still loitering in the area.  The few people still on duty just nodded
at her then continued on with their work.  After a few moments, she
found her way back to the bacta tanks.

There was a repair team working to fix the tank that she had fought Face
in.  She bit her lip and walked away, shoving the memories from that
moment from her mind.  She did NOT need to think about Face anymore than
she already had these past few hours.  How was she going to be able to
face Dia ever again?

"Can I help you?"

Alison turned back to see one of the med tech, the one from Kentucky,
standing behind her.  Smiling, Alison nodded towards the tank.  "Yes,
the young man who came in when we took over the med bay, tall with the
blaster wounds and head injury?"

The med tech nodded.  "Yes, he was released about an hour ago.  He went
and took a shower, then left."

*Left where?* Alison thought, and then a thought struck her.  "Do you
know which direction he might have gone?"

The med tech shrugged.  "He stated that he was going to look for Lord
Thayer and your Terran Lead, but he has yet to find them, from the
sounds of their calls."

Alison nodded.  "Thanks.  Have a good night."

She turned away from the med tech, then looked over her shoulder.  "Oh,
and I'm sorry about the tank."

The tech laughed.  "Don't worry.  Now we can learn how to fix it so it
doesn't happen again."

"You learn something new everyday."  Alison tossed the tech a quick
salute, then walked off.


Despite his words, Josh didn't go in search of the two commanders.
Instead, he headed up. Up every ramp, flight of stairs, and elevator he
could find, until finally he emerged on top of one of the tall towers of
the High Palace. It turned out to be on the seaward side of the palace,
affording him a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean and an enormous
expanse of sky. The view would have been inspiring that day was it not
so incredibly hideous.

The sun was nearing the western horizon. Fire still burned in some
places on the surface of the ocean. A dozen firefighting ships sprayed
water and foam over the flames as a pair of firebombers targeted smaller
patches of flame. Their battle was clearly nearing an end. Only a few
scattered patches of ocean still remained ablaze. The sky above the
flames was choked with thick, black smoke rising from the sea.


It took her a while to get her bearings in the other side of the palace.
She had only been on one side, so the west wing was very new to her.
Finally she found a circular stairway leading upwards.  Closing her
eyes, she listened for any echoes up the spire, and smiled as she heard
the distinctive sound of a fist slapping rock.  Sounded as if someone
was thinking hard while getting as close as he could to the sky.

*Typical flyboy,* Alison mused.  For an instant, she hoped she wasn't
mistaken and that Face was at the top of the spire, but she knew he was
down wherever the rest of his Wraiths were gathering for dinner to trade
war stories.

Nodding to herself, she started to walk up the stone stairway.  At the
top, she saw the lone figure dressed all in black, staring out at the
dying flames of the ocean.


Josh heard a soft footfall behind him, from the direction of the
stairway. Without turning he said, "I did that, didn't I?"

Alison walked up the rest of the stairs and looked out over the burning
ocean.  "Well, that's debatable.  Hobbie's wing crashed into the ocean
at the same time."  She looked up at the stranger and gave him a half
smile.  "Just like Hobbie, always trying to take credit for a crash."

"I sent my plane into the ocean, knowing it was on fire. I forgot about
the spill... The fire started when the plane hit it. It's my fault."

"So you forgot about the spill... you don't have to feel that you have
to take all the blame for it.  There are other people at fault here for
that."

"For the spill, yes. For the fire, no. I was so busy trying to save the
world that I ignored everything else."

Alison sighed.  "Well, if it means anything, I'm glad you were out there
trying to save the world."  She turned to look away over the ocean.
"You saved my butt at least."

Josh shrugged. "It needed to be done."

"You know no one knew we... Face and myself... were there.  If you
hadn't opened my cell, we probably would still be there."

"I'm glad I could help then. That's all I was trying to do here."

Alison turns to him, giving him a once over, now that she's not half
dead.  "So, stranger, can you answer me a question?"

"Sure."

"Just who the hell are you?"  She smiles at him, leaning back against
the wall.

Josh glanced down at his blank flightsuit and chuckled. "I'm Josh
Cochran," he said, extending his hand to Alison.

"And I'm Alison Sky.  Nice meeting you."  She took his hand and shook
it, exerting some pressure in her squeeze. "So, how did you come to join
our little group?  Not like we're the most advertised conflict in the
world right now."

"I've known about it all along, I just didn't believe it at first. I was
too wrapped up in my own problems to take much interest. When it finally
got through to me, I decided it was much more important than anything
else that was going on. I wanted to get involved, make a difference...so
here I am."

Josh withdrew a step and a darkness settled into his eyes. "Yeah, I may
need to rethink that a little bit."

"Yeah... you should think about diving AWAY from blaster shots.  You're
lucky I noticed your knife so I could get that stormie that shot you."

"There wasn't much to lose," he said simply, still not meeting her gaze.

"Every hand helps.  We still have to get up to Thrawn and save Wedge."

"I'm sure you'll get him."

"And I'm sure you'll be good backup."  She smiled, sensing the mood that
Josh was slipping into and hoping that her smile could at least put him
into some kind of ease.  "Have you eaten yet?"

"Um...not recently, unless they fed me in the tank."

"Doubt it.  Unless it was bacta... then you're gonna want SOMETHING to
take that taste away."  Alison tilted her head, looking at Josh.  "Are
you ok?"

Josh looked up at her and tried to bury his thoughts deep inside. "Sure,
I'm fine. Haven't felt this good in months. I should try that bacta
stuff more often." He smiled weakly.

"At least you survived your bacta bath.  I almost killed myself in
it..."

"I figured almost killing myself getting into it was enough."

"I try to see if I can discover new ways of killing myself."

Josh smiled. "I've found two in the last twenty-four hours. Can you beat
that?"

*Well, besides drowning in bacta, kissing someone who's almost
married...* "You'll find I'm full of surprises."

Josh laughed out loud. "Is there quite a lot of that that goes on in
this group?" he asked, then realized what he'd said. "Quoting the
movies, that is. Not kissing the wrong people."

Slanting her eyes, Alison gave him a funny look.  "What did you just
say?"

"Well hey, you're the one who said you kissed someone who's almost
married..."

"I didn't SAY that.  Thought it, maybe... but not aloud."

Josh frowned. "You said it, clear as a bell. I heard you."

"I did not!  That is something I would never tell anyone about, let
alone someone I just met"

"Actually I think we met last night, when you stole my knife. But what
is something you'd never tell anyone about?"

Alison instantly threw a wall up into her mind, surrounding her
thoughts.  "Nothing."

"Okay...you brought it up..."

"Actually, you dragged it out..."

"Either way, I wasn't trying to offend you. Just responding to what you
said."

"Or thought I said," she smirked.  "What are you, some kind of Jedi?
Got a lightsaber hidden in your pocket?"

Josh laughed. "I'm human, remember? Normal old Earthling. No green
antenna or anything sticking out of my head."
*Yeah, talk to Vickie and Mike about that*  "Well, you do have a few
stray strands of hair sticking straight up..."  She grinned.

"Dammit, I hate it when that happens." Josh reached up to straighten his
hair before he caught the glimmer in Alison's eye. He glared at her.
"That's not funny..."

Alison bit her lip, trying to keep from laughing.  "Yes it is."

Josh sighed and shook his head. "So...we won last night, huh?"

Alison nodded, a smirk coming to her face.  "Yep.  Took a bit, but we
got him."

Josh nodded. "And the Imps?"

"Ewok food."

"So it's all over?"

"Not yet."  She looked up at the clouds above.  "Thrawn is still up
there somewhere with the Addy, and Wedge, Quiara, and Vickie are
prisoners there."

"I take it you're going after them, then?"

"Well, this whole mission was to save Quiara.  Some of us got
sidetracked for a bit with our happy missions..."  She smiled for a
second.  "Plus, it wouldn't look good on our records if we didn't try to
save Wedge Antilles."

"Yeah, I guess I can see that. Although if the real man is anything like
the legend, he probably doesn't need any help."

"Even Wedge needed the help from his friends now and then."  She looked
down the stairs, for a moment, then back at Josh.  "SO I'm taking it
you're going to be coming along?"

Josh looked at his boots and shrugged. "I don't know. I'd like to, but
I'm not sure what to expect from the rest of your group."

"Well, if you can put up with some sword poking, a Crispy Fried Aussie,
and a lot of Ewoks, you'll survive.  Just make sure you know you'll have
no marbles left by the end of the day."

"Surviving isn't the point. I'm wondering if the team will even want me
around."

Alison waved her hand in the air.  "So what?  You came to help, didn't
you?  If they don't appreciate it, then they will just have to deal.
After all, at least you ARE here fighting.  You're not a traitor, like
another one of our members."

"The infamous Brad?" Josh laughed harshly. "I could never be like that.
I can't understand what would make someone like that."

"Neither can I.  Then again, I can also say that about being normal."

"Can't help you there. I'm not exactly normal myself."

Alison laughed.  "Who is?  No one in this palace, that's for sure."  She
felt her stomach growl, and instantly wished they were closer to the
makeshift mess hall.

"I suppose I should go find Sci. I vaguely recall him giving me a
significant piece of his mind a few hours ago."

"He has a mind left to give a piece of?"  She looks at him in shock.  "I
would have thought that between myself and the rest of the group, he
would have no mind left."

A sly smile crossed Josh's lips. "Well, it didn't seem like there was
that much to it, really..."

"Just avoid Kristy.  She'll really have you given a once over, from what
I hear."  She winks.  "So far I have avoided my lectures."

"Something tells me once they find out about that stunt with the TIEs
last night I'll be in for a few more."

"Stunt with the TIE's?"  Alison slants her eyes at him.

"Oh, well, I figured everyone had heard by now."

"Well, I've been... occupied by other thoughts."

"Well, I tried to take out a squadron of TIEs last night by crashing
into their lead. A pair of missiles blasted 'em first and knocked me
clear. That's what brought my plane down...got shrapnel in the
compressor and threw a fan blade."

Alison nodded.  "Well, it could have been worse."

"I could have succeeded?"

"The TIE's could have blown you up right off without you killing them,
then gone on to kill more people, while your fighter still fell into the
ocean, maybe even hit one of the X-Wing's on it's way down.  At least
you stopped people from killing, and got out so you could fight another
day."

"That wasn't my intent at the time."

"Whatever your intent was, what's been done is done, and you can't
change it.  You just gotta find out what you want to do and go with it.
Continue fighting."

"I haven't known what that is for a very long time now. Deep down, I'm a
pilot and that's all I've ever been or wanted to be."

"Well, flyboy, there is a whole gaggle of them downstairs that I'm sure
are curious about you.  Why not go and talk with them?"

"Yeah, I guess I should get it over with," Josh sighed. "Any idea where
they are?"

Alison's stomach growled again, and she laughed a bit.  "It's dinner
time, so probably they are all in the makeshift mess hall we set up
outside the med bay."

"Great, back to the medbay..."

"But at least the food doesn't leave a beautiful bacta aftertaste in
your mouth."

Josh's stomach chose to join in the growling. "Now that you mention it,
I think I could stand to eat something that doesn't remind me of hair
gel." With the briefest hint of a smile, Josh turned and headed for the
stairs.

"I thought it was strawberry Jell-O myself, only without the sugar."