Project Boussh: Rebel Assault by Brad Corletti Brad cursed. That worthless 'Skywalker' kid had gone and gotten himself lost. Of the two stormtrooper escorts who'd left with him, only one had returned; and he'd passed out as soon as he'd arrived. The team's medic had briefly examined him, and the only injuries he'd sustained were large bruises, a few cuts, and possible internal damage. When woken, the stormtrooper had explained that Skywalker had deviated from the normal route, leading the stormtroopers into an ambush. The other trooper had been killed in the opening moments of the fight by a pistol-packing thug. The remaining stormtrooper had managed to eliminate the team, but not without injury. Skywalker had fled. And not checked in. There was only one possible conclusion. Skywalker had planned an ambush with a cell of Rebel operatives. And now he was in their hands. He should have shot the scum dead when he had the chance. He'd proven far too great a liability. Brad wandered over to his command post. First priority was to double the stormtrooper sentries. If there was an attack coming, he wanted to know the instant it began, and if possible, sooner. Brad idly watched the base's sensor panels. They were optimised to detect non-humans, in the belief that Rebel cells would contain alien beings. Apart from a truckload of koalas passing on a nearby street, there was nothing amiss. Wait a minute... A siren sounded. The base's airborne threat detection system had picked up a sole TIE fighter, angling at the base. It had not broadcast any identification, and so the base's system had designated it as a threat. He shot to his feet. "Lieutenant Hend, SCRAMBLE!" The Lieutenant needed no encouragement. With the disappearance of Bill Skywalker the base was on alert status, so the pilot quickly jumped into his cockpit, the other members of his flight doing the same. The hum of the starfighters' power plants coming online filled the warehouse, along with the sound of the motors opening the warehouse's roof. Brad dreaded what was to come. The TIE fighter screamed overhead and sprayed fire into the warehouse. One of the TIE interceptors exploded, still in its start-up sequence. And then the real explosions came. The world shuddered. Brad watched the shockwaves smash through the air, into one another. He collapsed to the ground, stunned, as the building's sturdy walls began to bend inwards. Several sections were torn completely open. And through them poured a sight as terrifying as Hell itself. Brad suddenly saw what the sensors had tried to explain. Not koalas, but a truckload of Ewoks. Ewoks, with blasters. Brad did what any sane man would do in that situation. He turned and ran. He heard the whine of blaster fire. It was intense, all-encompassing. Between the white-suited stormtroopers stoically firing into the onrushing savages, and the savages themselves firing more shots into the air than at their targets, the building was a nightmare of red strobing death. Brad sorely wished he had his droid here. Not that he thought the droid could fight more effectively than a stormtrooper platoon - he had no illusions about that. His droids may be impressive but they were not suited for infantry work. Simply, the droids were more loyal than anything Human could possibly be - no sense of fear, nor of self-preservation beyond that of those they were built to protect. His droid would be firing on any Ewok who threatened him, whereas the stormtroopers were protecting themselves first and foremost. Nearing an exit, Brad fooled himself into thinking that his escape was close at hand. Surely there wouldn't be too many Ewoks. Surely they wouldn't have completely ringed the base. There must be an escape. The door opened, and Brad saw two black-clad figures. Not Ewoks, but man-sized. Automatically, he swung his pistol to bear and fired. One of the figures dodged to the side as his pistol swung into line, but the other was not so quick. The blue bolt streaked out and impacted him squarely. The man stumbled to the ground and collapsed. His more agile companion snarled and fired shots of his own. Falling back on his only infantry training, Brad tried to strafe, but belatedly realised that he wasn't as agile as a Quake marine. The bolts landed true. -- "Take that you little bastards!" The statement was punctuated by a burst of blaster fire that sent an Ewok flying in a scorched ball. The Lieutenant in command of the 525th stormtroopers laughed as he sighted his weapon at another one. Finally, a chance for revenge not only for his third squad, but for Endor. His jubilation, however, did not really match the situation. His men were rapidly falling, and the Major had already been taken out. He refused to think of defeat. The Lieutenant died on his feet, his weapon still firing, surrounded by Ewok carcasses. -- Josh shook his head in a futile attempt to clear the voice from his head. It worked no better than it had in the past. The mission seemed to be an almost complete success. The Ewoks had slain the stormtroopers, Ooryl had vaped the squints (although one had gotten away in his speedier craft) and Major Brad "Defel" had been shot. The only real fly in the ointment was Nick's wonderful ability to catch a stunbolt in the chest. Josh smiled at that. It seemed getting repeatedly shot by Ooryl had done him some good. And now he knew Nick would stop giving him crap about it. Josh nudged Brad with his boot. The unconscious form, clad in an Imperial Navy uniform, didn't move. The objective was secure. All in all, a well-planned and executed mission. The hard part, really, had been placing the thermal detonators around the perimeter of the building. The sentries might have been bereft of their helmets' fancy sensors but they still had their Mark 1 Mod 1 Eyeballs. Thankfully, they hadn't been spotted. And it hadn't taken too many - thermal detonators were powerful. Then Ooryl had made his attack run and the Ewoks had been allowed to rush the base from the front. This caused those whose loyalties were less than fanatical to flee to the rear, as Josh, with his supply of stormtrooper wisdom, had anticipated: After that, it was a matter of just mopping up the survivors. Josh unconciously rubbed his gut. It was good that this time, he was still in one piece.