Project Boussh: Gathering Storm
by Josh Nolan

"Terra Lead - Rogue Two.  Are you getting the same sorts of readouts I
am?"

"Rogue Two, Terra Lead.  Multiple starfighter contacts, X's and TIEs,
over the west of the island?  Got 'em."  There was a moment of dead air,
and Sci continued, "It looks like our guys are doing well."

"What's the plan?"

Sci paused, and then said, "They can handle it, for now.  We make a drop
at the palace, then go help them out."

"Roger that, Terra Lead."

"Rogue Nine here.  Whistler's just picked up some Imperial launch orders
being broadcast nearby..."

"Contact!  Ten reads two-four squints on an intercept course!  Repeat,
two-four squints!"

"Copy that, Rogues.  Just try not to let them blow this hunk of junk out
of the sky, all right?"

"Terra Lead, Rogue Nine.  We're Rogues.  Accomplishing the impossible is
our stock in trade."

"Nine, Four.  That was just obnoxious."

"You're my squadmate!  You're supposed to back me up!"

"I'm not backing that one up, Nine."

"Copy your request, Terra Lead.  Rogues, diamond formation.  We're going
to show them how we earned our rep."

***********

"This is Terra Lead - I have two squints on my tail, and I can't shake
'em.  Some help here'd be useful."

"Roger that, Terra Lead..." Two lights on the shuttle's sensor readouts
blinked off.  "Two dead squints.  Amateurs."

"Nice run, Rogue Nine.  Requesting cover while I deliver a package."

"Terra Lead, Rogue Two.  Ten and I have your six."

"Roger that, Rogue Two."  Lead shunted power around to coax more speed
out of the shuttle's engines, and looked back at Josh over his
shoulder.  "Get the Ewoks ready, Josh, you'll be going in hot.  Looks
like you got your request after all."

"Sir, yes sir!" barked Josh, leaping out of his seat and snapping a
salute.  He turned to leave the cockpit, when Sci said, "And Josh..."

"Yes, sir?"

"Quiara is who you're supposed to be rescuing.  No executing of the
prisoner.  Clear?"

"Sir, not even if -"

"No.  No exceptions.  Get moving."

"Yes, sir!"

***********

When the hatch opened, it gave a view of Hell.

The remnants of a squint smashed into the ground in the small space
between the shuttle and the palace, filling the air with dust, flame and
shrapnel.  The heat washed into the shuttle's climate-controlled
environment like a breath from a blast furnace, the deafening crash
following immediately after.  Josh took one last look at his command,
and screamed, "Go!"

A squint, desperately trying to shake the X-Wing that was sitting
doggedly in its wake, roared overhead as Josh and the Ewoks sprinted out
from underneath the shuttle.  The roar of the Imperial starfighter's
twin ion engines shook the ground, and when the X-Wing speared its ball
cockpit with ruby shafts of light, thunder drowned out all other sound.
The squint, one engine still firing, corkscrewed off into the distance,
exploding as it rammed an outcropping of rock, but Josh paid it no
heed.  He had the best damn air cover in the galaxy - they'd keep the
enemy off him.  He had other threats to look out for.

Stormtroopers came boiling out of the front of the palace, firing wildly
towards Josh's squad.  Josh yelled out an order, barely audible over the
roar of the air battle, but the Ewoks dropped to their knees and began
scything fire through the approaching Imperials.  The stormtroopers
continued to run towards them, and Josh and the Ewoks extracted a heavy
toll of passage.  *Your armour does not make you invincible*, whispered
the voice in Josh's head, *It protects against near-misses - nothing
more.*  Josh grinned in savage pride as he gunned down his fourteenth
enemy - these stormtroopers were probably Mendellian conscripts,
impressed with their new toys.

They were certainly no more dangerous than children.

******

The TIE Interceptor raked fire over the shuttle's rear shield, and Sci
cursed.  Desperately, he killed the ion engines and repulsorlifts,
flicking his joystick to activate the shuttle's concussion missile
launcher.  As he'd hoped, the squint shot straight into his sights, and
the targeting computer screamed a lock.  Simultaneously, Sci fired the
missile and re-engaged the repulsorlifts, catching the shuttle with a
shudder.  The glowing orange warhead homed in on the squint, which tried
too late to swerve out of its path.  The missile ripped the
Interceptor's wing off, then exploded, crushing the ball cockpit like a
mallet on a ping-pong ball and detonating one of the ion engines,
leaving the shuttle to be heavily buffeted by the expanding fireball.

"Nice flying, Terra Lead," Tycho's voice crackled over the comlink.  "I
think that's the last of them."

"Not by a long shot, flyboy," responded a female voice.  "I was
wondering how long it'd take you to show up.  We could use a little help
near Resistance HQ."

"As ordered, Wife... wife."

"Plenty of time to be doey-eyed after blowing stuff up, husband,"
replied Winter, amusement evident in her voice even through the
comlink.  "Right now, I need big-tough-hurt-man, not..."

"Please," Mirax interjected.  "The rest of us *really* don't need to
know."

"Actually, I was kind of curious, my little ryshcate," replied Corran,
the grin on his face clearly audible.

"That goes for you too!  Just get over here and help us blow up some
eyeballs, will you?  I just had the /Skate/ painted!"

"Your wish is my command."

"And don't think you're not going to hear about that ryshcate crack
again, Nine.  Skate out."

"Nine, Two.  How do you manage to say that sort of thing to her and stay
alive?"

"Two, Nine.  You don't know about half the times I've come back from the
dead."

********

Josh levered the white-and-black helmet off the limp body on the
ground.  As the corpse's head fell heavily to the ground, it revealed
the face of a young man, not more than twenty years of age, a look of
terror preserved on his lifeless face.

*That guy had a family - parents, siblings, maybe even a wife and kids,*
murmured a voice as Josh tried to cannibalise the comlink from the
stormie helmet.  *And now he's going to wear that expression forever.*

*He chose a side,* came the response.  *He knew the risks.*

*Are you sure?*

*If he didn't, he had no business choosing.*

*Maybe he was just defending his country.*

*His country isn't worth defending.  Stupidity earns its own
punishment.*

Finally, Josh ripped the comlink headset free, and placed it over his
ear.  He tapped it a few times, and voices began crackling through it.
"Squad Forty-Five is approaching the breach from the west," said a
voice, "We are ready to engage."

Immediately, Josh leapt to his feet and gestured to the Ewoks.  His men
turned and took their positions - and the comlink said, "Engage."

The stormtroopers never stood a chance.  As soon as they emerged around
the stone wall Josh's squad was using as cover, the Ewoks set up a
devastating crossfire with the stormtroopers at the apex.  Josh crossed
his wrists, twin carbines spearing the white and black armour as soon as
it appeared.  Twenty-nine.  Thirty.  Thirty-one, thirty-two,
thirty-three.

*******

The faint sound of blaster fire came over the comlink and Becki's voice
rang out.  "Is anyone else in the palace?  This is Terra Three,
requesting assistance.  Is anyone out there?"

"Three, Terra Five."  Josh's reply was dull, but the background chaos
was anything but.  "I have heavy resistance.  But I'll try to draw off
more."

"How are you -" A loud crack sounded in the background, followed by a
low rumble.  "Was that you?"

"Affirmative.  Did it do much?"

"Five, One.  Too soon to tell, but we do have some breathing space."

"Roger that, One.  Five out."

********

Josh led his squad down the corridor, away from the wreckage left by the
thermal detonator. His squad were a whirlwind of blaster fire, sweeping
all in their path to destruction.  Using the comlink's warning,
approaching stormtrooper squads became lambs to the slaughter, to Josh's
eyes offering themselves to the angry red bolts.  Fifty-seven.
Fifty-eight.

Josh stepped over a thrashing stormtrooper who was screaming at the loss
of his leg, and fired a shot into the enemy's head.  Fifty-nine.

An idea suddenly occurred to him, and he keyed the comlink on his
headset.  "This is the intruder.  We're two floors below ground level,
and we just passed some elevators. Come and get us if you can."

Consternation broke out on the channel as he removed the key, and Josh
calmly changed the powerpacks on his blasters.  Nodding to the Ewoks, he
kept moving.