Project Boussh: Free At Last!
by Alison Sky

Face bit his lip as he heard the fire fight from outside the cell 
door.  In his arms Alison lay, her body worse for wear.  The cut on 
the side of her ribs had opened and bled during the night, and now 
sported black scar tissue that Face could only hope wasn't infected.  
She was turning real pale from the blood loss.

And he just knew that her right hand was broken.  If the purple color 
didn't convince you at first, the size of the palm would.  It looked 
like a plastic glove that had been blown up with air.  He knew that 
she couldn't bend her fingers without pain, but that didn't stop her 
from making fists during the painful dreams she experienced.

The firefight outside stopped, and Face heard the sound of cell doors 
opening.  "Someone's coming for us," he said, shaking Alison 
slightly.  The Terran moaned and opened her eyes, then shut them 
quickly as the door to their cell opened.  A silhouette framed the 
doorway, and quickly turned to look out the door.  "Three! Get in 
here, quick!"

Within a moment, Face watched as Becki and Josh, CrispyFried as Face 
called him, ran into the room.  "Face! Alison!" CrispyFried 
exclaimed, but he kept his distance.  "What happened?"

Face tried to sit up, but was careful of not moving Alison too 
much.  "It's a long story."  He kept his gaze on the Aussie, his eyes 
drifting from his face to the blaster he held.

The unknown person came forward, kneeling beside Alison.  He gave her 
a quick look-over, then felt for a pulse.  "Are you ok?" he asked.

"I will be," Alison responded.  Face knew instantly that Alison would 
jump up and go after Atner right now if she could, but hopefully 
someone would bring some reason into her head.  She made a move to 
stand, but stumbled back against the cot.  The stranger caught her, 
holding her steady against him.  

"Here, let me help you."

Meanwhile, Becki helped Face to his feet, giving him a one 
over.  "You sure you're ok, One?" she asked, holding out a blaster to 
the Wraith.  "You look as if you've been though hell and back."

Face checked the blaster's charge, his eyes looking past Becki at 
CrispyFried.  "I've been through worse.  At least this time I'm not 
being controlled by a chip."

"That's an improvement, I guess," Becki stated.  She walked back into 
the hallway, checking left and right.  "Let's head towards med bay.  
That's where we're supposed to regroup."

Face followed behind Becki, purposely brushing himself past 
CrispyFried.  The Aussie sucked in a quick breath of annoyance, but 
didn't say a word.  Alison and the stranger did not move, Alison 
still working on standing up.


Alison looked up into the face of the stranger who held her.  For a 
moment, she felt as if she was back in her dream.  It was the eyes... 
the blue eyes that stood out vividly from her dream.  "Please tell me 
this isn't another dream," she said to the stranger.

He gave her a curious glance.  "Not that I know of."

She let an evil grin come to her face.  "Good... now I'll finally get 
chance to kill him."

The stranger said nothing, but helped her get a better standing on 
her feet.


Crispy, Face and Becki filed down the halls, the Ewok tribe on 
Crispy's heels.  As they turned the corner, they stopped short.  In 
front of them, a large group of stormtroopers was approaching, and 
fast.

Face grabbed Becki's shoulder and pulled her back against the wall.  
Crispy instantly stopped the Ewoks from their approach as the three 
Terrans watched from around the corner.  "How many you count?" Crispy 
whispered to Face.

"More than you can take out," Face muttered back.

Crispy growled.  "Sorry, I've sent the stormie on a long vacation," 
he muttered back.

Becki watched the two and shook her head.  "Guys, shut it.  We've 
gotta help them, so put your egos to the side and make a plan."

Face closed his eyes.  "Crispy, send your Ewoks to double back down 
the corridor and get behind the troopers."

Crispy looked back at his Ewoks.  He quickly gave them orders.  The 
Ewoks nodded, then disappeared back down the hall.

"What are we going to do?" Becki whispered.  

Face looked down the hall at the cell.  Alison and the stranger had 
yet to immerge.  "We're never going to be able to outrun them," he 
told the two Terrans.  "Our best bet it to fight it out."

At that moment, the troopers ran around the corner.  The two groups 
started at each other in shock for a second, and then the stormies 
raised their blasters.  "Freeze, you rebel scum.  Drop your weapons 
and get against the wall."

Face nodded to the others, and they slowly lowered their weapons.  "I 
hope you know what you're doing, One," Crispy stated.

"I usually do, when I'm in my right mind," Face replied, placing his 
hands on the wall.


The stranger held Alison close as they entered the hallway that Face 
and the others had turned down.  Instantly, they found themselves 
face to face with a dozen blasters being held by white stormtroopers.

Alison stood next to the stranger, holding herself up against his 
body.  Her mind instantly went into fight mode.  While she worked on 
keeping up her weak appearance, in reality she was trying to keep the 
troopers attention away from the ground.  She had noticed that the 
stranger had a knife strapped to the outside of his boot, and now her 
leg slid along the leg of the stranger, her booted toe finding the 
knife within the sheath.

The stranger looked down at Alison, sighing at the defeat from having 
the troopers surround them.  She gave him a hopeful smile as she felt 
the knife slide out of his sheath and balance lengthwise on her 
foot.  A bolt of adrenaline surged up into her body.

"Hands against the wall.  Move!"

Alison turned around with the stranger, then watched as the stranger 
spun back and attacked the lead trooper.  Instantly, she kicked her 
foot up into the air, the knife flying high.  As the knife fell, 
Alison grabbed it with her left hand, tucking her broken right one 
behind her back.  As her fingers gripped the handle, she spun and 
connected her heel into the space under the helmet.  The trooper fell 
to his knees, his hands clutching his throat.

She saw through the corner of her eyes as Becki, Face and Josh N. 
turned and started to fight, the Noghri also helping in their 
efforts.  Yet Alison blocked them out of her mind as she twisted 
around, slashing the knife out at the trooper she had dropped to his 
knees, cutting his throat with a quick flick of her wrist.

She heard a scream of pain behind her.  She turned quickly and saw 
the stranger go down into a pile, his head connecting to the floor.  
Instantly she jumped at the trooper who stood above him, blaster 
rifle aimed to take another shot.  Her right hand swung out and she 
grabbed the blaster, ignoring the pain that shot up her arm as her 
fingers gripped the heavy weapon.  She turned his arm around, 
swinging the weapon wide and out of aim on the injured stranger.

Still holding the blaster, she stepped behind the trooper.  She 
brought the knife up into where the back armor overlapped the pants.  
She felt the trooper jerk in pain, and his weight collapsed backwards 
on top of her.  She tried to hold him, but she suddenly realized how 
weak she was and fell back onto the floor with him.

Out of breath and energy, Alison looked up and saw that she stared 
down the barrel of a blaster.  "Times up for you," the trooper 
stated, and Alison could swear that he was grinning behind his helmet.


Face tackled one of the troopers to the floor, wrestling with him for 
the blaster rifle.  He grabbed the trooper's head and smashed it back 
onto the ground one, two three times.  When the trooper stopped 
moving, Face pulled the blaster from his death grip and rolled on his 
back, getting into a standing position.

He scanned the fight quickly, looking for where the most help was 
needed.  He saw that the Noghri had themselves under control, 
twisting themselves through the mass of troopers.  Becki was on the 
back of one trooper, either trying to beat his helmet or strangle 
him, Face couldn't tell which.

Then he saw Crispy.  His blaster aim was impeccable, Face noted.  He 
stood with his legs apart, spraying blaster fire at a group of 
troopers who were trying to find cover.  Yet he didn't catch the 
trooper who snuck up behind him, butting Crispy in the head with his 
rifle.

Instantly Face was on his feet, charging at the trooper.  He 
connected his shoulder into the trooper's lower back, knocking the 
hulking mass of a stormie to the ground beside the stunned Aussie.  

The trooper's head hit the ground hard and he lay still.  

Face saw Crispy shake his head, clearing the fog from his brain.  The 
Aussie looked up at Face, and a smirk came to his lips.  "Thanks, 
mate," Crispy said.

Face nodded, lifting a corner of his lip into a smile.  "Not a 
problem, Crispy."

They both ducked as more blasterfire streamed out over their heads.  
Becki ran to their side.  "There's more coming down the hallway!" she 
told them.

"Exactly how many stormies are in this hallway, and where are they 
all coming from?!" Face asked, checking the charge on the rifle.  He 
looked at the other two, and then all three stood and started opening 
fire.


"CHE YA!"

Alison's eyes burst open as she heard the Ewok war cry.  Suddenly the 
hallway was filled with the blaster wielding Ewoks in full force, 
running up behind the remaining stormtroopers.  An Ewok jumped onto 
the back of the trooper above Alison, biting his arm as the trooper 
frantically tried to slap the creature off him.  Alison quickly 
jumped up, grabbed the man's blaster and looked for the trigger.

"It's the little curved thing on the bottom," a weak voice painfully 
spoke.  Alison looked down and saw that the stranger's eyes were 
open, but filled with pain.

"I knew that," Alison quickly replied, and put her finger on the 
trigger.  She pressed the barrel at the back of the trooper and 
fired.  She stepped back a few paces from the kickback of the weapon, 
and watched as the trooper fell forward, a black burn in the center 
of his back plate. 

"Alison!"

Alison looked over the heads of the Ewok tribe, and smiled as she saw 
Kristy, Morwen and another person she didn't know approaching the 
fight, their blasters blazing as they worked to get their way through 
the stromies.  She smiled, glad to have more of the Terrans together.

"Alison?"

She looked down at the stranger who was at her feet.  Quickly she 
fell to her knees, forgetting about the firefight that was finishing 
up around her.  The stranger lay still, a sweat breaking out on his 
forehead.  "Are you ok?" Alison asked him.

The stranger nodded, then closed his eyes as the pain in his head 
became too much.  "Funny how now I'm the hurt one and you're the one 
saving me.  I thought I was supposed to be the rescuer."

Alison smirked, taking a piece from her tattered flightsuit and 
wrapping it around his arm wound.  "Don't get used to it, flyboy.  
I'm usually not the one who needs to be rescued."

The stranger laughed.  "Yet you were the one in the cell, if I 
recall."

Shrugging, Alison pulled another piece of fabric from her suit.  "A 
minor technicality.  I was going to escape soon anyway."

"If you keep shredding your flightsuit, you're going to be naked," 
Becki said, coming up behind Alison and draping a jacket over her 
shoulder.  "It's not the best way to make a first impression, even if 
he is unconscious and unable to enjoy it."

Face joined them.  "But if you want to, I have a nasty blister right 
here on my finger..."

Becki slapped Face upside the head and laughed.  Alison looked up at 
Becki and smiled then back at the stranger, who had blacked out 
again.  She shook her head, swearing that he had been awake only a 
second ago.  "He was just talking a few seconds ago."

Face knelt down on the other side of her.  "Alison, with these kind 
of wounds, he's gonna be lucky to be able to wake up within a week.  
There's no way he could have been talking to you."

Alison shook her head again.  She saw the two binded blaster wounds, 
and the dark bruise forming on the back of the stranger's head.  But 
he HAD been talking to her, hadn't he?  "Who is he?"

Becki shrugged.  "Not a clue.  He showed up during the middle of a 
firefight that Crispy and myself ended up cornered in.  Took a 
pistol, not a blaster but a pistol, and shot the trooper right in his 
head."  Becki shuddered.  "It was like something out of a movie 
almost.  He then goes on to dispatch the other four stormies without 
a thought.  He knew who I was and where we were, so he's gotta have 
some kind of information."  Becki waved two Noghri over to pick the 
stranger up.  

Alison stood slowly, Face helping her a bit.  She drew the jacket 
around her with one hand.  Her right hand throbbed with 
pain.  "Better late than never.  Another terra group member, maybe?  
I wonder if he'll be a crispy fried one as well?  He's got a good 
start."

"No, there's only one of those, thank the Force," Face said, pointing 
with his finger back at Crispy with his thumb.  The Aussie was 
talking with Morwen and the Ewoks.  "If we get another one, I'm going 
to return home."

Kristy laughed.  "It's good to know you have such team spirit, Face.  
Maybe he's another defecting member of Atner's family?  We've met a 
few of those."

"Maybe he's Atner's lover seeking revenge for being spurned."

Kristy slapped Face upside the head, and the Wraith had to keep from 
laughing.  Alison shook her head.  "Face, you've read way too many of 
my books in the `bago."

Kristy looked the ragged group over.  "Well, whoever he is, we can't 
let him hang out here.  I suggest we try to take over med bay next.  
From the looks of it, we could all use a visit there."

"Already sent Crispy ahead," Face stated.  They turned and saw 
Crispy, along with his Ewok tribe and the other two Noghri disappear 
down the hall. A group of four Ewoks remained behind, all wielding 
blasters from the fallen troops.  Morwen and the other person with 
her took up guard positions with the Ewoks at the end of the hall.  
Alison noticed that two Ewoks stood off to the side as well, carrying 
a third between them.

"Emily, Sharon, and... well, the body of Mike are probably still in med 
bay as well," Alison said, a far off look to her face.  Face gripped 
her shoulder and squeezed in sympathy.

"Once we get there, we'll find them, then get everyone treated.  I 
think you could also use a good bacta dip, Alison."

"But my sword..." Alison said in protest, looking back at Kristy.

Kristy looked at Alison's swollen hand.  "Even if we did find it, 
dear, I don't think you'd be able to wield it pretty good."

Alison shrugged.  "I'll fight left handed."

Face turned and screamed an incoherent set of protests.  He then 
grabbed his blaster and started to fiddle with it.  "Where is the 
stun setting?  I'm going to stun her, I swear."

"Try it and see how fast I kick your butt."

Becki and Kristy laughed at the two friends' banter. "Come on, let's 
go catch up with Josh before the Aussie ends up getting fried again."

Becki and Kristy walked off to join Morwen and the other person and 
started down the hall.  The two Noghri carrying the stranger followed 
close behind, as did the two Ewoks carrying the third one.  Alison 
moved to follow, but noticed the knife that lay on the ground in a 
bloodied heap.  She knelt down and picked up the weapon, examining it 
closer.

"Come on, Alison," Face said, standing beside her, tilting his 
head.  "You'd better be able to walk the rest of the way to med bay.  
I don't want to have to carry you."

Alison looked up at Face.  Through his sarcasm, Alison could hear the 
worry in his voice.  "I'll be ok as long as you help a bit."

Face nodded and put his arm around her waist.  She lay her head on 
his shoulder, and the two friends walked behind the group.  The Ewoks 
fell in behind them, and they made their way to med bay through 
hallways that glowed from an eerie orange light from outside.  


By the time the group got to med bay, Crispy had the situation under 
control.  Four stormtroopers lay on the ground, dead or unconscious.  
At Ewok blasterpoint stood 6 medics.  Face and Kristy went to stand 
before them.

"OK.  You all have a choice.  Either you surrender to our side, swear 
allegiance to Terran Squad, or else we will stun you and lock you 
up," Kristy said, being short, sweet and to the point.  "Now, who of 
you are not from Mendellia?"  Two medics raised their hands.  

Face pointed to one.  "Where are you from?"

"Kentucky," the young girl replied.

"You'd surrender to Terran Squad to," Face stated.  "Anyone not from 
Earth?"  The other medic raised her hand.  "Where are you from?"

"Munto Codru."

"Then you would surrender to the New Republic and me."  He looked at 
Kristy, then back at the group.  "Any objections?"

The six medics shook their heads.  Face noticed that they were young, 
probably still in college or just out of it.  He motioned for the 
Codru medic to come with him, waving the Noghri and Ewoks carrying 
their loads towards the bacta tanks.  Suddenly he stopped short, 
seeing Mike floating in one.  He turned on the medic.  "What happened 
to him?"

The young medic wrung her hands.  "I don't know.  He came to us all 
burnt up.  We're still not sure if he's going to pull through.  His 
vital signs waver all the time."

Face placed a hand against Mike's tank.  "Get the human and Ewok into 
bacta, please."

The medic nodded and showed the Noghri and Ewoks where to take their 
loads.  She was a bit hesitant dealing with the Ewoks, not used to 
the creatures.  However, soon she had the stranger and the Ewok 
prepped and placed in the bacta tanks on either side of Mike's 
floating body.  Face still stood at the base of the cylinder, staring 
upwards at the healing face of the Brit.


Kristy and Alison were led down the hall by another one of the 
medics.  "Atner made it specific that once the young one was healed, 
we keep them under our watch until he came for them.  After that, he 
just seemed to forget about them."

"Probably cause he had a squadron of Ewoks running around the 
castle," Alison stated.

"You should be getting your hand looked at," Kristy stated.  "I don't 
know why you're following us."

"Emily is my wing mate," Alison replied instantly.  "It's my duty to 
check on her."

The medic stopped outside a door and pressed in a code.  The door 
opened instantly and the group walked in.  Emily sat on a bed, her 
arms strapped down to the side of the bed.  Sharon sat beside her.  
Both looked up as the door opened.

"Kristy! ...Alison?"

Kristy and Alison went to the two Terran's side and undid the 
restraints that held them near the bed.  Sharon and Kristy hugged 
while Emily ran a hand along Alison's hair.  "That's not an 
attractive look on you, wingmate."

"Don't worry.  When I find Atner, I'll get the hair back," Alison 
replied.

"We'll worry about revenge later," Kristy stated.  "Let's just work 
on getting information and getting healed."

The Terra Groupers nodded and followed Kristy back to the main room.  
Suddenly, the mood in the room was a lot happier.  Things were 
finally getting back in their favor, and after a bit of healing, they 
might be ready to finish this war once and for all.