Project Boussh: Is the Force With Us?
by Vickie Boyd

Pash, Corran and Vickie sat in the back room of the house. Pash was
playing with Vickie's Lego ships. He was fascinated with the detail of
the A-Wing and amazed at the complexity of the X-Wing and TIE fighter.

Corran was going through all the Star Wars roleplaying books. "Hey Pash!
There is one here called 'Wanted by Cracken.' Want to take a look?"

"Sure," said the redhead. He sat down the A-Wing and grabbed the book.
"Wow, this is amazing."

Vickie was sitting at the card table that served as the GM table when
she and her friends roleplayed pushing a green toy R2 unit back and
forth. Her mind was elsewhere. She turned the head of the droid towards
her and sighed.

"Is there something wrong," Corran asked as he pulled another Cracken
book off the shelf.

"Not really. My imagination tends to get away from me at times."

Luckily, the conversation was stopped by a wailing from Whistler. Three
heads popped up. "What's up with him," asked Pash.

Vickie looked back down at the toy droid. "Mirax just sent a message to
say she's down."

Corran and Pash shot her a look of questioning. Corran got up and went
to check on Whistler. The droid was shaking back and forth rather
agitatedly. He had a message on the computer screen. YOU HAVE AN URGENT
MESSAGE.

Corran read the screen. "What? From whom?"

MIRAX.

A tingle at the back of his neck made him crease his brow. He looked
down at the message from his wife.


CorSec,

Got to DC ok. Had a problem with the hyperdrive so Wedge and Tycho
followed us there. Everything is fine now. Will contact you soon.

Love,
Mir


A lopsided grin slipped on his face. She just had a way with words. He
was glad she was ok. But now he had something else to worry about. He
turned and walked back to where Pash and Vickie were. "I think you and I
need to talk," he said to Vickie.

She sat the droid on the table and looked up at him. "Why?"

Corran's reply was interrupted by Vickie's husband. "Hey! You have some
email marked urgent!"

The three ran to the computer. There was a message from Piggy and one
from Sci. Vickie opened the one from Piggy first. "Oh no," she said as
she read over it.

"That was not a good sound," said Pash. "What's wrong?"

"Two X-wings got slagged. We may want to move the A and X somewhere
new.  And we've been warned of a possible traitor."

"Who," Corran asked.

"Doesn't say. He doesn't think the person is going to contact anyone
else within our group." She pulled up the email from Sci. It was a group
message, forwarded to everyone involved. "Now this is interesting."

She chuckled under her breath as she read the entire message. "Seems
Admiral Ackbar and General Airen Cracken have turned the whole mission
over to us."

"What," Pash and Corran asked in unison.

"You must be joking," Pash said. "There is no way my father would allow
us to be..." He stopped as he realized what he was about to say.

"To be led by children," Vickie finished his sentence. "That is what you
were going to say, wasn't it?"

Pash looked flabbergasted. "No, that's not what I meant. I..."

Corran put a hand on his arm. "You're right, Pash. This does look
suspicious. Vickie, you are about the oldest of the AFWers who are
working on this project, yes?"

"As far as I know, yes."

"Most everyone else is in school. There is no way the General would
allow something like that to go on without some of his people directly
in the middle."

There was a few moments of silence before Vickie broke it. "I have
thought over and over again how Airen Cracken would handle certain
situations." She paused to see if either would react. They didn't. "In
this case, I agree. He wouldn't allow even Admiral Ackbar to let some
'_kids_' who know nothing about military tactics, or anything like
that, take over a project."

"You have a point there," said Pash. "He must have someone planted on
Terra. Or he is planning on inserting someone."

"What about Iella?"

"She's here for Wedge," Corran replied. "He asked for her help and she
agreed."

Vickie scratched her head. "Then maybe we should warn her that there may
be Intel operatives on Terra."

"Good idea. We will also keep an eye out."

Vickie nodded and composed an email to Morwen.



Greetings Morwen,

I am sure you have received the update from Sci regarding the current
stand of the NR to our cause. We (as in Pash, Corran and I) have reason
to believe that this is a ploy on a certain General's part. Perhaps you
should let Iella know that there is a huge possibility there will be or
already are some Intel ops here. Have her keep her eyes open.

Ace Squadron Headquarters




Corran pulled Vickie aside as she vacated the chair at the computer. "I
need to speak with you."

"About what," she asked curiously.

"How did you know what Whistler was saying?"

Her brow creased as she tried to remember. "What do you mean?"

"When Whistler was calling me, you looked up and said that it was
because he had gotten a message from Mirax."

"I did?" She looked perplexed.

"Do you always answer a question with a question?"

"No. I don't remember saying anything."

"I want to try something with you. I have a feeling that you are Force
sensitive."

She laughed. "You are the one who is joking this time. There is no way I
could have the Force."

"And why not? The living Force is everywhere on this planet. I can feel
it. Perhaps there are Jedi here. Or perhaps the Force is just dormant
inside people. Let me see. Please?"

She looked at the Jedi. "How are you planning on doing this?"

"Well, Luke once showed me how to test people for the Force."

"Oh, you mean like he did to you and you threw him all the way across
the room."

"How did you..." he paused before asking the question. "Books?"

She nodded in response.

"Ok, then you know what is involved. Will you let me try?"

She looked at the determined man. "Ok, we'll try."



They went into the back room and sat on the floor across from each
other. "Now," Corran commanded, "release your mind. Think of nothing."

"Nothing? Wow, right off the bat you ask the impossible. My mind is
always cluttered with thoughts."

"Just try."

Vickie closed her eyes. In her mind, she told herself over and over to
think of nothing. Emptying her mind was hard. Silly things popped into
her head. I need to clean the kitchen. The floor needs vacuuming. What
are we going to have for dinner?

She heard Corran chuckling and her eyes snapped open. "What?"

"Try this. Think of a room surrounding all your thoughts. Then shrink
the room until you have pushed all your thoughts outside and you see
only the room. After that, just make the room disappear and you have
nothing."

She heard herself almost tell him that she would try, but quickly bit
her tongue. Never be like Luke Skywalker, she told herself. She released
her breath and nodded. Closing her eyes, she thought of a room. It
turned into more of a ball and she could feel herself squeeze her
thoughts from the ball until it was empty. For once in her life, her
mind was blank.

Corran smiled and reached out to her through the Force. He passed into
her mind and back to the little place where Luke had found his strength.
At first he couldn't find it, then, like a little beacon, the Force
found him. It was weak, as he had suspected, but there was potential.

He touched it ever so lightly. The light brightened and he felt her
inhale sharply. She broke his contact and he opened his eyes. "Well,"
she asked excitedly.

He grinned, "Well what? You already know the answer."

"Yes, but... how do I use it?"

"Well, I guess I'm going to help you learn."