Project Boussh: Go Wes-t
by Majick

    Wes got down from the cab of the truck and thanked the driver. He hefted
Lucky down to the ground, and watched the happy pup scamper around, free
from the confines of Boss T's truck. He walked over to the Trading Post,
delighted to find it open at such a late hour. He walked inside, hoping to
find someone who could direct him to the Sky cabin. As he walked inside,
however, he heard a distinctive, high pitched, and above all familiar whine
overhead.
    He rushed out of the Post, and looked skyward, unable to see anything in
the gloom. But he knew what the sound was. TIE's. Lots, and lots of TIE's.
Then he felt the ground begin to shake.
    To the west of the Trading Post, he could see large objecs making
somewhat controlled descent's to ground. With a sinking heart, he recognised
the shapes.
    "Drop pods," he groaned. "Me without a can opener, too."
    He began to run towards the pods landing zone, certain he would find the
others there.

    He covered the two miles to the cabin in record time. From his position,
he could see that things weren't going according to plan. The Imperial
invaders were being stalled in the air by X-Wings and a freighter that made
Wes do a double take.
    Blood Nest was gone, wasn't it?
    He shook his head clear of thoughts. He used a length of rope to tie 
Lucky to a tree, and then it was time for action. He saw a stormtrooper cross
the path ahead of him, precisely following the middle of the cleared area.
    Wes shook his head. A bad move, putting yourself in the open like that.
He dropped into step behind the stormie, slding the vibroblade from its
sheath inside his sleave. As the stormie moved into a patch of particularly
deep cover, Janson struck.
    The blade stabbed deep into the middle of the stormtrooper's back plate,
then jammed against metal, and snapped off. Wes looked forlornly at the
handle of the weapon, and dived out of the way of the troopers spinning
attack.
    Wes watched the trooper turn slowly, its smooth movement pattern
somewhat disrupted, sparks sizzling from the hole in it's back plate. He
groaned.
    "Of all the stormies, in all the forests, in all the world, he had to
walk into me." Wes had watched a lot of films while at Emily's. Some things
just had to be said at a time like this.
    A blast of light hit the droidtrooper in the helmet, and it exploded,
scattering parts all over the path. Myn Donos stepped out of the forest, and
for a second looked like losing his air of imperceptible dourness.
    "Wes, I..."
    "Yub yub, Myn. Got a gun?"
    Donos wordlessly handed him a blaster pistol from his belt, and Wes
pulled the droidtrooper's gun belt off the fallen body. Buckling the belt
around his waist, Wes sighed conentedly, and began to sing, under his
breath.
    "Somewhere, over the rainbow..."

    Janson and Donos moved stealthily through the forest. They kept their
weapons ready -pistols for Wes, sniper rifle for Donos- and their sense
sharp. Nonetheless, they were able to compare notes of the last few days.
    "Right, that does it. If I get my hands on the kriffer who did that to
Emily and Hobbie, and everyone else... Making them think I'm dead... I'm
going to take his face... off..."
    "Uhuh... As I was saying..." Myn said, all business. "The droids and
droidtroopers are only apparently here on the East flank. Nick, Josh and the
Ewoks are raising merry hell out there, and last I heard, Mike and Vickie
had taken out a bunch of them."
    "You think maybe the droids were meant to be reinforcements?"
    "Or just guards... They can work non-stop, after all. Maybe they were
meant to come on out once the resistance was subdued."
    "But we're resisting a little more than planned, huh?" Wes said. "Silly
of them to think I'd ever be subdued."
    "The Ewok's are doing better than they expected, I would imagine."
    "Amazing, aren't they?" Wes replied. "I mean, I was at Endor... I saw
what they did to the stormies there... You'd think the Empire would have
learned its lesson."
    Myn's comlink crackled to life. "Terra Four calling all units. I've just
slagged a walker and it's attendants. Situation update please?"
    The comm crackled, before Tycho's voice hissed over it.
    "Four, this is Rogue Two. The news isn't good. Rogue One and Terra Nine
have been captured. Nick reports them being led away from the Red Home by a
stormie platoon."
    Myn hissed. "What about Wraith Four?" he asked.
    "No news, Three... I'm sorry."
    The two men stopped to look at one another. As one, they turned to head
toward the Red Home, tracking it's precise location from its homing beacon.

    They approached the downed freighter cautiously. All kinds of dangers
might have been lurking within. From troopers to leaking coolant, it was a
trap waiting to spring. Myn used the infrared attachment for his rifle to
sweep the area for lifesigns. When he was reasonably certain the area was
clear, he signalled Wes forward.
    Wes, the Jaws theme stuck in his mind, eased through a hole in the Red
Home hull. All clear. He signalled Myn to join him.

    The two worked their way through the ship. They knew Kirney had been in
the cockpit, and, understandably, Myn wanted to check that way first. Their
path, however, took them past Dia's turret first, and they maged to shove
enough of the dmaged walling away to find the Twi'lek slumped in her seat.
She was hurt, but breathing.
    "Wraith Three reports that Two is alive and well..." Wes cut in.
    "This is Rogue Three. Scratch that. Wraith Two is in need of medical
assistance. She's suffered a severe compound fracture of the right lower
leg, and there's some nasty bleeding."
    "Rogue Thr... Wes?"
    "Yub yub Two. It's me. You should know you can't keep a good Rogue
down."
    "Another Rogue back from the dead, huh Three?"
    "That's right, Nine. Think we should start calling ourselves the
Squadron of The Living Dead?"
    "Whatever that means, Three, it's good to have you back."
    "Good to be back, Two."
    They left Dia, and moved along one of the freighters many corridoors
towards the cockpit. They found the door jammed, as the ship's power was out.
Myn's IR scope showed life within, and between them, they tugged and heaved
until the door slid open far enough for them to get into the cockpit.
    Myn, first through, was met by two explosions of mass. Kirney
catapulted herself from the copilots chair, and clutched herself
frantically to him. Kolot bounced from the comm officers seat and clamped
himself to Myn's leg, happily.
    Wes squeezed past the inpromptu reunion, and moved up to the front of
the cockpit. The three mechanics were busy working on the various panels,
trying to get the Home working again. Even as he moved up to them, comms
were restored, and Wes heard Tycho's voice buzzing through a hail of static.
Wes crouched down beside a pair of legs, and tried to see who they belonged
to.
    "Any chance we can get this online anytime soon?"
    A mass of chittering and clicking greeted this query. Wes had picked up
a little Verpine in his time in Starfighter Command, and none of those words
were ones he'd like to use in front of his kid sisters.
    "I was only asking, Zraii."
    "Good to have you back, Wes."
    "Thank you, Koyi. Know a polite way of saying what Zraii just told me?"
    "Basically, it'll be eighteen hours before we get most of these systems
repaired, then another eight to twleve to get her flightworthy."
    "All in all kid," said the Wraiths' Cubber Daine. "Be thankful for that
'Bago out there. If you're going anywhere, that's how you're getting there."
    "Wonderful. Thanks, all of you." He turned to see Myn and Kirney smiling
at him.
    "There's two X-Wings in the hold, you know," Kirney said with a grin. "I
can take one, Kolot the other, and you boys can go play.
    "Why two? Who didn't take theirs? Did Tycho say someone couldn't play?"
    "Plourr's been captured, and Myn was needed on ground work."
    "Well, okay... Can Kolot fly an X-Wing?"
    In reply, Kolot pulled his metal limb extensions from his pack, and
waved them around.
    "Well... okay... but take Myn's fighter, Kolot. Any damage to Plourr's
and she'll blame me. She always did."

    The X-Wings thrusters roared, the powerful engines pushing the fighter's
noses hard against the heavy hull door. With the locks released manually,
the door slowly swung open, before crashing to the ground. The two ships
roared out to join the battle, and Myn and Wes jumped out of the hole they'd
entered from, looking for more stormies to work over.
    "Hah," Wes cried, gunning down a droidtrooper. "I'll be back!"
    "You are back, Wes," Donos replied.
    "OK. Hasta la vista, baby!"
    "What baby?"
    "Uh... Put the bunny down?"
    "For once in your life, Wes, just shut up..."
    For once in his life, Wes just shut up.