Project Boussh: No Time by Durandir MENDELLIA: RESISTANCE HEADQUARTERS As Kristy, Morwen, Iella and Winter followed Becki up the stairs and into the Resistance's headquarters--Mirax having stayed below with the _Skate_, and Tede having stayed below as hangar guard--it soon became evident why there had been none of the usual chaos of an evacuation in the hangar. All the chaos was confined to these upper caverns. The central room at the top of the stairs was now cluttered with crates and boxes; Kirret was just visible behind a stack of them, packing away her outdated computers. As the newcomers stepped into the chamber, Reth burst out of one side-cavern and dashed across to another without noticing them. Becki started toward one of the doorways, but suddenly Kell's face appeared at one of the others. "Wait!" the Wraith shouted. "Don't go in there!" "What?" Becki asked, stopping in the middle of a step. "That one's already done." "You should've put a sign on it or something," Becki frowned. "What, and tip off the stormies? Besides, there's no time." Kell's head disappeared again, leaving the newest arrivals to the Resistance headquarters utterly bewildered. "Um," Kristy spoke up, "what's he talking about? What's already done?" Becki shook her head apologetically. "Well, it's Kell, you know...he's got a group at work setting up booby traps throughout the caverns. Some explosives, others...I'm not sure what all they've been doing." "Booby traps?" "For Atner's forces. If we get out in time, it'll keep them...a little busier here than they should like. And if we don't, well, it will be one very interesting fight, I suppose." "To say the least," Morwen smiled. Becki then led them through those rooms not yet "done" by Kell's team, introducing them to whatever Resistance personnel could be found. She introduced them also to one orange tomcat, whom Kristy and Morwen greeted with much enthusiasm while Iella and Winter exchanged a bemused glance. Eventually, they returned to the main room to find Kirret still at work there. "Have you seen Thayer?" Becki asked her. "Down in the tunnel," Kirret answered. "Ought to have been back half an hour ago." "You fear the worst, of course," Becki grinned. "Someone has to." "No need, in this case, Kir," came a laughing voice from the main entrance. They turned to see the Prince himself standing there, having just returned from the tunnels. "Thayer!" exclaimed Kirret and Becki together. "Well, since you're here," Kirret said, her accustomed scowl not abating in the least, "I suppose the tunnel's still clear?" "No sign of the enemy there as yet," Thayer nodded. "But what's this? Have we new guests?" "Help has arrived," Becki grinned. "Some of it, anyway." Again she made introductions, and Thayer exchanged greetings with the Skate team. "We can begin the evacuation now, then," said the Prince. "First, Rekla. Have you brought this medicine, this--" "Bacta," Becki supplied. "Yes, this bacta by which he is to be made whole?" "I'm afraid not," Kristy answered, "but the rest of our group should be bringing it. We haven't heard back from them yet, but I'm sure they'll be here soon." "I'm more worried that we haven't heard from Alison and Ooryl," Morwen added quietly. "Alison and Ooryl?" asked Becki. "They came with us to Mendellia," Iella explained, "but disappeared not long before we got your request for help." "Not a trace," said Kristy. "We would've liked to look for them longer, but...well, there was just no time." "No time," Becki sighed. "That pretty much sums up this day." "Indeed," said Thayer. "Well, then, first let us get the boy to your ship; with or without the bacta, we may hope he'll be safest there. And then, to move as many of these boxes as we can before my uncle catches up with us. Godspeed to your comrades with their bacta; and confusion to Eugor's forces!" So they went to work, Iella and Winter carrying the wounded Rekla, pale and still, down to the _Skate_ on their repulsorlift stretcher. Then, runners in a race against time and fortune, every free hand in the caverns busied itself with the boxes in which the Resistance's material existence was so tightly packed, footsteps echoing endlessly through the stone stairway as the _Pulsar Skate_'s hold began to fill up with the countless crates. ~ Time, for once that day, was kind. Hours of this hasty evacuation passed before Kristy's comlink beeped. "Terra One," she spoke into it. "Skate here," Mirax's voice answered. "We just received a transmission from Terra Lead." "They're on their way?" cried Kristy hopefully. "Apparently so...actually, what he transmitted was assignments for the strike on Atner's stronghold. Not wasting any time, this leader of yours; some'll be storming the Palace even while others are keeping Atner's forces busy here and in the air. He wants Terra Three and Wraiths Five through Seven in the Palace to assist Terra Five and...Ewoks?...with the search for Quiara. And--uh-oh." "What? What happened?" "Better get down here right away. We have incoming, and it's not Sci." ~ "Well," Thayer murmured as he looked down at the _Skate_'s display, at the pattern of lights that indicated General Atner's approaching forces. They were halfway across the island now, and would reach the caverns in no time. "So this is it. The time has come." "I'd really hoped our people would get here first," Kristy said apologetically from behind him. "So had we all. But that's no matter. He has not caught us unawares--we are at a disadvantage, but not wholly unprepared. Come, to our posts--let's be ready to meet whatever he is sending." The group hurried out of the _Pulsar Skate_, save for Mirax, as pilot, Rekla, as passenger, and Iris, who was staying with the wounded boy as his nurse. As the three Wraiths hurried toward their X-wings, Runt hesitated and turned to Becki. "You have your piccolo, for the droids?" "Right here," she grinned, indicating a holster at her left side where the tiny instrument was tucked away. "I'm going into battle like Falstaff with his bottle of sack where his pistol should be..." "Shouldn't you have a blaster there?" Runt frowned. "Don't worry," she laughed. "It's on my right side. Not that I'm likely to do much shooting, if I'm busy playing high C's. But it's there just in case." "Force with you, then," Runt smiled. "With us all." The Wraith moved on to his ship, and Becki paused to look around the hangar. The _Pulsar Skate_ was already in the air, moving toward the cavern's entrance; Kell and Tyria, in their X-wings, were close behind, and Runt would soon join them. And all five of the captured TIE fighters had found pilots: besides Thayer and Reth, Winter, Iella, and Tede would be spending this battle in the air rather than in the tunnels. Tede, just now entering his fighter, caught sight of her standing alone there and frowned as if to ask why she wasn't yet at her post. *I'm going,* she thought, answering his frown with a wink and smile, *I'm going; just couldn't help one last look at this place.* "Force with us all," she whispered again, then turned and hurried back to the stairway.