Project Boussh: Jedi vs. Jedi
by Vickie Boyd

After sending the email to Alison offering help, Vickie moved back into
the other room where she had been practicing. Corran followed her and
closed the door behind him. "Do you want to explain this?" He pointed to
the computer.

She looked over and saw the opening screen for TIE-Fighter. She
grimaced. This was not a conversation she wanted to have right now. "I
was practicing."

"In a TIE-Interceptor."

"Yeah, so?"

"You're considering going to the other side, aren't you?"

"No, not exactly." She was busted. No way to get out of this now except
to tell him. But, she wasn't going to give up easily.

"Not exactly? What does that mean? You're in here secretly training on
TIEs. You have been exceptionally quiet since the run-in with Brad. What
is going on?" He flung his arms in the air to punctuate his question.

She sighed and sat down heavily. "Our vision of Jedi are that they help
people. 'Act on instinct.' That is what Obi-Wan told Luke, according to
our tales. 'Trust your feelings' was another. That's what I'm doing."

"Don't you know that it can get you killed in the process?"

"Yes." She lowered her head and composed her sentences carefully. "I am
trying to be the kind of Jedi that Mike has written you to be. I want to
be as strong as you are. Strong as a person, not in the Force."

She saw him blush as she continued. "The only teachings I have known of
the Force have been what I have read and seen on the screen. I'm sure it
isn't quite what it should be. Somehow, deep down inside, I feel that
they are mostly right. I need to act on my instincts and trust my
feelings. I may be wrong sometimes, but just like life, it's going to be
touch-and-go. You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet."

At his questioning gaze, she quickly replied, "an old Terran saying. In
other words, you have to make mistakes in order to finally get something
right. So, in answer to your original question, I am practicing _just in
case_ I need to fly a TIE. Heck, we might even confiscate some. I
already can fly an A and an X. Why not a TIE?

"Yes, I had thought I might either go over to the Imperials or turn
myself in to get on the inside and perhaps help those who have been
taken." She paused then added quietly, "And those who aren't quite sure
_what_ they are."

"You still believe Brad is on our side."

"I do. I can't explain it well, but when I spoke to him, his thoughts
betrayed him. He said one thing, but meant something else."

"What about when he shot down Dorset?"

She shivered as visions of the two crafts firing upon each other passed
through her mind. "It was an ion blast, not a concussion missile. He
only disabled her craft."

"In gravity. Don't you know what that does to a ship? It shuts it down
completely. No engines, no thrusters, nothing to keep you from hitting
the ground and becoming a speck of dust."

She winced as Corran projected the image he was portraying into her
mind. "I know. But I also knew his conscious wouldn't let her die. He
has a sense of honor about himself."

"Honor amongst thieves. That is an old Corellian saying."

"We have the same saying. But, he is not a thief. His honor is of
loyalty to his fellow man. It's more like a knight's honor. Respect for
others. He..." She stopped herself before she told anything else.

"'He' what?"

"I can't say. No, I won't say. This is something I really shouldn't know
and don't have a right to tell anyone else."

"You read his mind."

"No, I kinda 'overheard' a conversation he had with Dorset. I've
discussed it with someone else, and I feel it doesn't need to come out
just yet."

Corran nodded respectfully. "I understand that, but don't let it go too
far before you tell someone if it might help."

She nodded. "Don't worry, I will."

"So, what are you going to do now?"

"Right now I think our best course of action is to try an find a way
into Atner's fortress and leave the Imps alone. At least for now."