Project Boussh: My Kind Of Rest
by Majick

"OK, everyone," Sci concluded. "Until the Red Home gets here, there's
nothing we can do for Vickie and the others aboard the Admonitor. Until
such time as it arrives, you're all officially stood down. That goes double for
you, Josh," he added, glancing at the ever alert Australian. For his part,
Josh merely looked glad no-one had called him by his nickname in the last
five minutes.
Sci watched the members of Terra Group shuffle out of the room, some of
them headed for their beds, others for the beach. He guessed Kristy
especially would want to check on the progress of the oil spill. Elassar
hadn't helped by christening it 'Flyboy's Folly' as soon as he'd heard of
the dual crashes of Hobbie and Josh Cochran.
"Sci?" He turned to face Sharon Kerr, the New Republic's
representative-elect. "Can I borrow the Gaia once the naming ceremony is
done? I want to go off with some of Thayer's men to get his mom, and I
figure it will be nicer transportation then some cramped airliner."
Sci looked reluctant for a second, and Sharon had a flash of how hard it
would be for his kids to borrow his car.

"You two aren't planning anything, I hope?" said Alison, sneaking up behind
Mike and Elassar. Elassar looked around with a wounded look on his face.
"Lady Sky, you wound me," he said, his lips shifting into a toothy grin. He
slipped his arm over Alison's shoulder, and turned her away from Mike.
Before he slipped completely from her field of vision, she noticed the
Englishman stuff something into his pockets.
"Now," the Devaronian continued, gently but firmly guiding her away from
the table he shared with Mike. "We're just working on some details of the
Admonitor assault. You know how Face likes to share responsibility around.
You go get some rest," he added, shutting the door behind Alison. She heard
the bolt scrape across behind her before she realised he was still on the
other side.
Shaking her head, she walked away from the room, certain she'd hear about
whatever the two of them were planning. She also resolved to lock her door
while she got a couple of hours sleep.

Elassar slumped into his seat. "That was much too close," he commented.
"Relax," Mike countered, with a grin. "'Lady Sky' is cool. If Emily or Josh
had caught us, it'd be a different manner."
"I thought Emily was kinda cool, myself." Elassar said, a sly grin on his
face. He was rewarded with a baleful glare from his partner in crime.
"Look, don't even go there. My only interest in Emily is seeing her
beaten -in a friendly way- and that ego of hers deflated somewhat. I can
assure you, as well, that the feeling is mutual."
"I thought the list was a little....focused. And you don't feel even the
slightest sense of kindred spiritness?"
"No! She threatens my position as least mature member of the group." Mike
clambered on top of the table and drew his lightsaber, holding it up to the
ceiling. "She must be defeated!"
Elassar grinned. Finally he'd found someone as over the top as he was.

Emily left Becki to wander the palace, and to the youngest member of Terra
Group, it was obvious where her wanderings would lead her. She grinned, and
wished the young woman luck. It had become immediately obvious to all of the
Terra's that Becki had developed an affection for the new leader of
Mendellia.
Turning down the corridor, she headed for the room she shared with Alison.

Mike and Elassar finalised their plans. Mike was about to stand when he
heard a purring under the table. Looking underneath, he found an orange
tabby cat, and he picked it up, scratching it behind the ears.
"Hello Cavver," he said, as the feline purred contentedly in his arms.
Looking up at Elassar, Mike grinned. "We just found ourselves an ally."

The first anyone knew of the new campaign was when Corran Horn followed the
mewling sound of Macavity around a corner, and walked smack bang into the
gooiest, stickiest treacle tart Mike had been able to find in the kitchen.
With the pie smeared all over his face, and dripping down the neck of his
flightsuit, Corran seethed gently, reminding himself that anger leads to
hate, hate leads to the Dark Side.
It had begun.

*Clunk*
*Shuffle, shuffle*
"I'm in. Here, give me your hand."
*THUMP*
"I'm in too."
"What do we do here?"
"He had loads of books on the shuttle."
"Here they are."
"Perfect. Here, take the glue, the staplers, the scissors, the knife, the
blaster, the matches, the petrol, the small incendiary devices and the
blowtorch."
"What do we do with all this?"
"Nothing. If we damage any of these books, we die. Now, what I had in mind
was this."
*Whisper, whisper, whisper."
"Ooh, that's evil."
"I know."
"That grin is evil too."
"Yours isn't too bad either."

"Next?"
"Random selection. Ooh, that's a good choice. We like this."
"Nice of Sci to give us this map of all the castle's secret passages.."
"Just call us the Weasley twins."
"I'll take your word for it."

Emily dozed fitfully on her bed, memories of her battle against the
stormies buzzing through her mind. Then came the moment when she actively
engaged in combat, rather than just waiting for Mike's orders. She settled
down and began to enjoy her dream.

"It just lifts up."
"Good, isn't it. You'd never know from the other side. Look, there's the
swords. grab them, quick."
"Do we still want to do Alison's?"
"Maybe not. She didn't grass on us. Besides, it'll eat Emily up if Alison
has a better sword."
"True. Well, here's the thermic lance."
"Where *did* you get this?"
"Ask me no questions."
"Fine. Let me see. Down.. Across. Yep, done."
"Very nice."
"Isn't it though?"

And so it went on. With the palace at their mercy, Mike and Elassar, with
Macavity on point, they were able to avoid anyone else hearing them walking
inside a solid wall deciding to investigate.

Alison was unfortunate enough to walk past a 'public' trap. One of Atner's
booby trapped floor panels triggered a ceiling hatch that dumped a gallon of
liquid Jello over the newly showered young woman.

Morwen opened her door to find hers and Kristy's room totally upside down.
The beds had been attached to the ceiling, along with the rest of the
furniture. Even the lightsocket was wrongside up, lying now on the floor.

Sci retired to his room after the naming ceremony for the Gaia only to find
that all the books in his trunk had had all of their bookmarks moved. For
Sci, who regularly had a dozen or more books on the go at any one time, it
was enough to make him put his face in his hands, and quietly shake his
head.

"Do you think they've taken hold yet?"
"Some of them are bound to have. I thought Kristy and Morwen's one was very
nice."
"I hope it's Morwen who finds it. I don't want another chewing out from
Kristy."
"May be too late for that."
"Good point. If we're going to get it, let's make it worth it."

Emily schlepped from her bed, and reached for her sword. Looking fondly at
the familiar weapon, she found it hard to believe it had been so brief a
time since she'd first obtained it.
With a sweeping gesture, she pulled the sword from its scabbard, and
pointed it at the ceiling. Looking up at the weapon, she noticed something
wrong.
Bringing it down to eye level, she blinked once or twice, unable to believe
her eyes.
Scored deep into the metal was a jagged letter 'L'.
She looked down at the floor, and noticed the scrap of paper. Picking it
up, she deciphered the scrawl.
' "L" for learner.'
Red-faced with fury, she charged from the room.

"Did we do anything to Josh?"
"Already sorted. That shirt he has to wear?"
"Yeah?"
"Who do you think found it for him?"
"That's a cruelty above all I could imagine. I'm glad you're on my side."

Hobbie slouched into his room, and slid gratefully under the crisp sheets,
waiting to sleep off yet another round of bacta. Sniffing, he detected a
smell that seemed very familiar. Then he realised that the bed under the
bottom sheet was a little, well, crinkly.
And damp.
Pulling back the sheet, he turned on the lights. Stripping the bed, he
groaned as he looked down on a half dozen squashed bacta patches. Sniffing
his flightsuit, he realised he was, once again, covered in the stuff.
Sighing, he headed for the shower again.

And so it continued. Within a short span of time, nearly all the members of
Terra Group, the Rogues, the Wraiths, and even some of Thayer's resistance
fell victim to Mike and Elassar's ambushes.
Eventually, it had to come to an end. Mike's comlink beeped, and he slumped
agaisnt a wall as he answered.
"Four," he said, his empty bag hanging from his hand.
"This is Lead. I think you should come down to the dungeon. Lord Atner and
myself would like a word. Oh, and bring Elassar if he's there."
Mike scraped the sweaty hair from his eyes. "Uh, no Lead. I don't know
where Elassar is at all."
"Well, just you then," Even over the comlink, Sci sounded dubious. "As soon
as possible, please Four."

Mike and Elassar climbed wearily from the passage, and nearly stumbled over
the pile of stormie corpses lying there. Looking up, they saw a hole in the
ceiling.
"Ah, Emily's playground," Mike said with a half smile. "Well, I'd better go
see what the big kahuna's want. See you later?"
"Yep," said Elassar, scratching the base of one of his horns. "Thanks for
protecting me from the leaders. I owe you one."
"No worries," Mike replied. He turned, and headed for the nearest
stairwell.

Macavity, being a cat, padded off, looking for something to interest him
for a minute or two.

Elassar headed for the nearest shower unit. Booby trapping the palace had
been fun -and distant screams, splashes and pops told him it was work well
done- but it was extremely sweaty.
Reaching a shower room, he went to turn the handle, when he heard a scream
of rage behind him.
Turning, he saw Emily charging at him, her sword in both hands, and, more
frighteningly, a very angry look on her face.

Mike sidled into the dungeon, ready to defend himself. He saw Sci and
Thayer behind a desk covered in paper and datapads. They looked up at the
same time, and Sci beckoned him forward.
"Ah, Mike. Good to see you. Would you mind helping us out with something?"
"I have a choice?" Mike asked, warily.
"Of course. Ruling by democracy, that's the new Mendellian motto," said
Thayer. Mike tried desperately to remember what he'd done to Thayer's room.
"Well, what is it you want done?"
"Down the corridor there are a number of isolation cells, each with a
prisoner Eugor Atner picked as being one of the world elite. Looks,
strength, speed, personality, all seem to be represented in the mix. We were
hoping you could go into each of the prisoners and explain what's happened."
"I guess. How many?"
Sci handed him a datapad, and Mike scrolled down the list. He swallowed.
"That's a whole heck of a lot of prisoners," he said.
"That's why we need someone of your tact, diplomacy, language skills, and
patience to talk to them," Thayer said, with a straight face.
Mike looked at them incredulously, and then shrugged.
"Well, OK. I'll do it."

Mike walked into the corridor, and heard the faint sounds of the prisoners
pounding on the well insulated doors. He looked along the long corridor,
knowing that another bisected it. Each cell held a prisoner. And he was
supposed to talk to *all* of them?
No. He didn't *think* so.
He scrolled down the list and selected a number of likely subjects. Cruise
and Kidman for a start. Crowe would surely add to the mix. That German
footballer and his English counterpart. The rival boxers. Oh, and a
sprinkling of national rivalries that would add to the mix.
"Yoink," he whispered, tapping 'open' on the pad.
The doors opened, and suddenly Cruise and Kidman faced each other again.
Already, down the hall, there were sounds of disagreements.

Sci and Thayer looked up at the noise.
"You don't think..?" Thayer began.
"Not even Mike would do that," Sci said, sounding more confident than he
felt.

"Oh, what the hell," Mike said, with a grin. Selecting the remaining
prisoners, he tapped 'open' again, releasing them all from their cells, into
the riot that was now getting ready to kick off.
"SCI!" he bellowed, walking back towards the pair of leaders. As he walked,
he fiddled with the datapad.
"We have a problem," he reported, walking back into the room. "The doors
opened, and they're all loose."
"Damn," said Thayer, vehemently.
"Anyway," Mike added, laying the pad on the desk. "I think it's up to you
two now. Good luck."
With that, Mike walked from the room, leaving Thayer and Sci to deal with
the angry horde.
Sci picked up the pad, and looked at it. Realising it was useless, he laid
it back on the table, and rubbed his face with his hands, before raking his
fingers back through his hair.
"Any ideas?" he asked Thayer.
"Well, for a start," Thayer began. "And I mean this seriously, before
anything else."
"Yes?" Sci asked.
"You're going to want to wash that boot polish off."