Project Boussh: Half Done, Not So Well Begun
by Durandir

"There they are," Corran whispered as Rescue Team One was led onto the
bridge of the Admonitor. Tede followed Corran's line of sight and answered
with a slight nod. There they were, indeed, guarded by a handful of Security
operatives in a corner not far from the entrance: two women who matched the
images in his memory of Dorset Konnair and Vickie Boyd. Two of the people
they had come to rescue - now, at least, they had found them, and that was
certainly progress. If locating them was half the job, though, Tede saw
little chance now of finishing the other half - the actual rescuing. Dorset
and Vickie weren't the only ones held prisoner on the bridge at the moment.
Throughout the short trip from the place where his team was captured to the
bridge itself, Tede had dedicated the majority of his processing time to
evaluating possible plans for escape, but it had done no good. They were
still securely bound, unable to rescue either themselves or those they had
come to save.

Besides, Dorset and Vickie were only two out of five - where were the rest
of their targets? Brad Corletti, Isplourrdacartha Estillo, Policraticus
McEwok: Tede located their images in his memory and slowly glanced around
the bridge. Of Pol and Plourr there was no sign, but as he looked toward the
command chair where the clone of Grand Admiral Thrawn sat directing the
battle, Tede obtained a match. A human standing near the clone fit the data
for Corletti.

Tede caught Corran's attention and nodded in Corletti's direction. "There's
the third," Tede said. "But he's not bound as the others are. What do you
make of it?"

Whatever answer Corran would have made was suddenly cut off as the
stormtroopers guarding them took notice. "You keep quiet," grumbled one,
reinforcing his order with a poke of his weapon, "if you don't want to be
silenced permanently, got it?"

The would-be rescuers got it well enough. Corran scowled and looked away,
focusing here and there at random, trying not to look either at Brad or at
the other prisoners, to avoid making his recognition of these people known
to the Imperials. Tede, however, stared stubbornly at the stormtrooper for a
moment, allowing a sly smile to show on his face. He knew they'd have a
rather harder time than they expected of permanently silencing *him*. As for
that blaster rifle that the stormtrooper was waving about, he could crush it
as easily as he could crush its owner, if he wished to. Except of course
that it probably wouldn't get them anywhere. If anything it would probably
end up getting his human allies killed, and then where would their mission
be? Tede waited until the stormtrooper's weapon wavered slightly as its
bearer began to be flustered by the prisoner's relentless smile, and then he
too turned away, turned back to watching Thrawn and the Terran at his side.

The officer in charge of the stormies who'd captured Rescue Team One stepped
forward to report to Thrawn, and the Grand Admiral's gaze suddenly turned
toward the new prisoners. Tede oriented himself to seem to be meeting
Thrawn's gaze, but his focus all the time was on the Terran, Brad Corletti.

"We've intercepted one of the groups of intruders, sir," the officer said,
indicating his prisoners.

"Excellent," Thrawn said. "Put them with the others for now. That will be
all." And he turned his attention back to his battle.

Corletti's attention, Tede noted, followed that of the Grand Admiral. All
during this brief exchange, the Terran had shown no sign of recognizing the
new prisoners - which at first might not be a surprise; according to Tede's
information, Corletti had not yet met many of the Terran and New Republic
forces he was supposed to be working with.

But he had met Corran, at the cabin in New Hampshire, and should have
recognized him. As the stormtroopers led Rescue Team One away to join Vickie
and Dorset, Tede again caught Corran's attention and raised his eyebrows in
a silent question. Corran answered in like manner, with a slight shake of
his head.

Tede glanced back at Corletti. Whatever game the Terran was playing, he
seemed to know his business. Tede could only hope that in the end it would
work more in their favor than in the Grand Admiral's.

~

Elsewhere on the great ship, the last member of Rescue Team One was looking
for a way to make himself useful. Whistler had finally found the computer
hookup that Tede had sent him looking for. In a matter of seconds, he'd
patched into the ship computer and learned what it knew about the status of
the ongoing battle. He'd looked for information on prisoners, as well, and
that was how he knew that he was the last member of Rescue Team One, for his
teammates were even now being marched away to the bridge. He'd thought of
one or two other things to do while he was there, but none of his
interfering as yet seemed to have made a difference. Finally, he requested
data on the various groups of intruders inside the Admonitor, said goodbye
to the central computer, and set off in the direction of the nearest site
where intruders had recently been spotted. If he couldn't make himself
useful for Rescue Team One, perhaps he could be of help to one of the other
teams.

By the time he reached the place, no one was there. But Whistler put his
sensors to work and immediately found a signal, not far away. He hurried off
in that direction, chirping with excitement, for there was something
familiar about the signal, and he was fairly sure he knew whom he would
find, just down that side hall up ahead....