Project Boussh: Killshots
by Brad Corletti


Brad looked out from the viewport of the Star Destroyer _Admonitor_. In the 
distance, stars sparkled and died; TIEs exploded and X-wings swooped 
through the debris. The scene was dominated, of course, by the mighty Rebel 
warship _Lusankya_.


He took it all in, his face impassive.


Behind him, the Grand Admiral spoke. "It seems our mission here is at an end."


Brad turned to face him. "Indeed. With the ships you have available, it is 
impossible to defeat the Rebel fleet."


Thrawn shook his head. "Not impossible under ordinary circumstances, but 
these are anything but ordinary circumstances. We cannot be confident of 
victory and, thanks to the hypermass minefield, we cannot flee. Since 
surrender is unthinkable, that leaves me with only one option."


_Admonitor_'s captain spoke up, his voice panicked. "Admiral, they've 
nearly reached the bridge!"


Thrawn glanced at him calmly. "How unusual. They apparently want our 
prisoners very badly."


Brad's guts churned. Here they came. The New Republic was going to finally 
catch up with him.


The Rebel fighters were so emboldened by the arrival of their immense 
flagship that they were engaging the destroyers with torpedo barrages.


The sensors officer piped up. "Proton torpedoes incoming!"
"Fire point defence batteries!" Captain Niriz immediately responded.
The weapons officer nodded and relayed the order. Brilliant green 
turbolaser bolts spat out at the incoming torpedoes, detonating some of 
them prematurely. The remaining torpedoes battered away at the destroyer's 
shields.


Brad idly wondered why every single straightforward decision had to be 
relayed through the captain. Next they'd be asking the captain to authorise 
individual shots. Surely a ship this size would fight by itself?


He shrugged. That was the way the Imperial Starfleet did it, that's the way 
terrestrial navies did it. There must be a reason. He returned his 
attention to the view from the bridge.


More destruction. A TIE interceptor bearing the red stripes of the 181st 
screamed past the bridge, an X-wing in the red stripes of Rogue Squadron 
right on its tail. The X-wing fired, catching the interceptor in the ball 
cockpit and blasting it apart. And then, as suddenly as it had appeared, it 
had screamed past the bridge, green energy bolts futiley attempting to 
track its progress.


Thrawn looked at Brad, then at the captive Rebels. "Major Defel." Brad 
nodded and walked over to the prisoners.


The stormtroopers forced the prisoners onto their knees. Brad walked to the 
first in line, Dorset Konnair, drew his service blaster, and placed it 
against her temple.


She looked at him, her eyes pleading with him, begging for a return to 
sanity. Brad's face was impassive, remorseless; the face of an Imperial 
officer doing his duty. He ignored Jedi Vickie's cold stare, thankful for 
the ysalamiri that was no doubt protecting his mind from all sorts of 
telepathic abuse.


Thrawn opened a communications channel. "General Antilles. If you do not 
give us free passage from this system, I will have no choice but to begin 
executing prisoners."


A voice came back, tense. "Grand Admiral Thrawn." There was a pause, then 
the sound of an explosion. "I expected more from you."


"My apologies, but you've not left me much to work with. Major." He looked 
at Brad expectantly.


Brad nodded. He switched the blaster from stun to its more permanent 
setting, and drew a deep breath. "All your base are belong to us."


Thrawn looked at him curiously. "What did you say?"


Brad shot him.


Grand Admiral Thrawn had no last, dying words. It was not artfully done. 
The blaster bolt struck him in the face and forever silenced the masterful 
Chiss. Chaos ensued.


Brad clenched his jaw three times in rapid succession. The bioneural 
transmitter implanted in one of his molars interpreted the code and sent a 
signal to all the droids within range.


All over the _Admonitor_, BLR-3025 crew droids suddenly ceased operation. 
The only exception, Drake, his personal bodyguard droid. It nonchalantly 
dropped Vickie's lightsaber into her waiting hands, before opening fire. 
She immediately ignited her energy blade and used it to sever her bonds 
before attacking her stunned captors. Drake's first shots removed the 
bridge ysalamiri from the equation.


A team of New Republic commandoes chose this moment to charge in. One of 
the Royal Guardsmen took aim at Brad while the others moved to engage the 
newcomers.


Brad leapt at the Royal Guardsman, pistol blazing.