Project Boussh: Remember, Dia
by Alison Sky

Koyi Komad sat just inside the service area of the Red Home, looking
down the ramp at the waiting faces below. "You know, they are you
friends," she stated to the woman standing beside her. "Even if you
can't remember them, they remember you."

Dia Passik rubbed the end of one of her lekku nervously. "I don't
want them to see me this way. I don't want to go down there not
knowing if I will remember them or not."

Koyi looked at the Wraith. Dia had lost some weight from her
injuries, and still wore a bacta path on the base of one of her lekku
that had been severely damaged in the pounding that the Red Home had
taken. The medics had told Koyi that the metal sheet had crushed the
tail that contained the memory side of her brain, cutting off the
flow of blood for a few minutes. From that and the bruising, it
would take time before the cells regenerated and gave her back her
memory.

She knew that Dia needed more time to heal, but unfortunately when
there is a battle going on, time is a commodity that few people
have. For now, the Wraith would have to rely on her friends and
loved ones to help her regain herself. And though Koyi would miss
Dia's help getting the big ship back up to par, she knew that there
were better places for a woman of her skills.

"Dia?" a timid voice called from the bottom of the ramp. Koyi looked
out and saw Tyria at the bottom, the rest of the Wraiths a few feet
further back. It seems that the Force-sensitive woman was elected to
go and soothe her friend's fear.

Dia looked at Koyi hesitantly, and the mechanic nodded for Dia to go
down. Nodding, the Wraith walked around the side of the ship and
onto the ramp. She cast her eyes around cautiously, seeing the
people in front of her smile warmly.

Images floated through her mind. She couldn't remember specifics,
but some people in the group she recognized, though names escaped
her. Others were total strangers.

Tyria walked to her, and opened her arms as if to hug Dia. The
Twi'lek hesitated for a moment, and then let Tyria sweep her into a
generous hug. Though she did not know the name of the woman holding
her, she knew that she was a friend, and that she was safe with her.


Koyi watched the Wraiths talk with Dia, helping her try to remember
names and faces. But looking in the crowd, she knew that someone was
missing. She quietly pulled Kirney Donos aside. "Where's Face?"
Koyi asked. "Of everyone, I would have thought he would be here."

"He couldn't take it," Kirney stated, and Koyi instantly sensed the
venom in the redhead's words. Koyi didn't press the subject
further, but wondered in the back of her mind where Dia's fiancee was
hiding... and what was going through his head.


/Just so you know...one of the things she doesn't remember is you./

Face slammed his hand against the side of his X-Wing in anger. Wes'
words shot through him like a knife in his heart. Dia, not
remembering him: it was almost too much to bear now after everything
else he had gone through.


Vape bleated out a few whistles from the droid slot of the X-Wing,
bring Face back to reality. He had learned that Cubber and a few
other techs had stopped at Alison's spaceport and loaded the X-Wings
for transport to Terra. How they had gotten the codes for the ships,
Face had no idea. In fact, Cubber mentioned something about some of
the pilots being there and helping load them over.

A groan had come from his mouth, and he had made Cubber promise not
to tell anyone else about what he had seen at the Spaceport. For a
few bottles of wine from the palace's cellar, the tech had been more
than agreeable.

Face looked down at the datapad in his hands as the droid transferred
the diagnostic data to it. Piggy had been flying his X-Wing in the
fight in the sky, and luckily the Gamorrean had taken little damage.
A few cosmetic paint splotches here or there, a coupling burn out and
a oil change would be all that the X-Wing needed to have it back to
tip top condition.

So why am I here, worrying about my ship when Dia is somewhere in the
palace with the others?

"Face?"

Balanced on top of his S-Foil, Face hadn't heard the person
approaching him. He turned quickly and lost his balance, and flung
his arms out to catch something to balance himself. His foot slipped
from the edge of the foil, and he was able to grasp the edge of his
open cockpit.

Laughter came up to him from the ground as he looked over his
shoulder. Alison stood under the S-Foil, her hand to her mouth. "Ha
ha, very funny," he stated, and dropped down to the ground. He
flexed his hands, getting the sharp pain out of his palms. "What are
you doing here?"

"I should be asking you that one," Alison stated, leaning against the
side of the ship. Face lowered his head and turned away.

"I can't see her..."

"Why not?"

"It's just.." Face sighed and turned to look at Alison. "How can I
face her now, knowing all that's happened to her, and what's happened
to me, and between the two of us?"

"First of all, she's your fiancee, or wife depending on which worlds
you are visiting," Alison said, feeling of irritation at herself in
her mind. "And she needs you now more than ever."

"I just feel...like I've failed her." He sat on the ground, and Alison
crouched beside him. "I feel that while she was going through this
immense pain and confusion, I was here, almost enjoying myself."

"But you didn't know what was happening to her," Alison stated. "No
one did."

"I should have felt it," Face replied. "If I wasn't going around,
trying to find her in other people, maybe I would have."

Alison shook her head. "From what I'm getting from Wes, you would
have been with Mike, Sci and Josh...Crispy Josh...on the shuttle coming
to Mendella when that happened."

Face snorted. "Another way I failed her. I let my pride get me
kidnapped. If I had just stayed with the group, Dia wouldn't have
been alone on the Red Home."

"You don't know that, Face. Being there might have changed things,
but most likely it still would have happened, and you would have been
hurt too in the process."

Face shook his head. "But if..."

"But if, but if..." Alison sighed. "What happened is what happened,
Face. Nothing can change that now. You've also gone through a lot
this past week, so remember that you are just as much a victim as she
is."

"I know."

"So I'll ask again, what are you doing here?"

"Sulking and making myself feel horrible," Face replied in a tone of
a scorned child.

Alison laughed. "And where should you be?"

"With Dia."

"Then go to her, pull her into your arms and give her one of those
fabulous kisses that will bring her memory flooding right back to
her."

It was Face's turn to laugh. "And you should know this from
experience?"

Alison reached over to slap Face's head, but he grabbed her arm and
pulled her down to the ground beside him. She smiled, reaching her
other arm up to poke him in the ribs. "Get going, flyboy. Your lady
awaits."

Face smiled and stood up. He helped Alison to her feet, and gave her
a hug. "When did you get to be so smart?" he asked.

"I get it from you guys," Alison replied. "Sometimes, I sit and
think `What would so-and-so do in this situation?' And then I think
with their mind. Sometimes I think I have little versions of the
group in my head."

"Little voices talking to you in your head. You're turning into Runt
right before my eyes."

"That's similar to what Ooryl told me earlier."

"I think you've spent way too much time with Ooryl lately," Face
stated. "I bet that was the mind you were accessing while giving me
advice just now."

"Alison thinks so too."

They both laughed, and Face hugged his friend one more time. "OK,
I'm going to go find her."

"I think Tyria took her towards the kitchen for some breakfast,"
Alison called out to Face's back as he walked away. "I'd try there
first."

Face nodded, and took off running back inside. Alison smiled, and
then turned to walk away. Instantly she came nose to nose with
Kirney.

Alison jumped back for a second, and found her hand unconsciously
make its way to where her sword hilt should have been. She stopped
herself, and laughed. "Kirney, you scared me."

"Did I?" She tilted her head slightly, and Alison could see the
rigid stance the redhead took. "Maybe if you weren't flirting, you
would have heard me."

"Flirting?" Alison laughed. "I wasn't flirting, I was just-"

"Just what? Trying to get another kiss, maybe?"

A shiver went down Alison's spine, and she let the coldness seep into
her eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Kirney laughed, a cold, deep laugh from the pit of her lungs. "Yes
you do. Shall I give you time and place coordinates? Say a
storeroom in the middle of the night last night?"

Alison didn't attempt to keep the shock off her face. "It's not what
you-"

"Don't even try to weasel your way out of this one," Kirney said
curtly. "I can't believe that you would do this, especially since
Dia is your friend."

"I wasn't-"

"I never trusted you from the beginning, that is no secret. But I
never thought you would stoop so low as to break up a love between
those two. Especially now when they need each other the most."

"I didn't-"

Kirney held her hand up at Alison, cutting off anything the Terran
could say to defend herself. "You're going to pay for this, Terran.
One way or another, I will find a way to make you pay for what you
have done."

And with that, Kirney stalked away, leaving Alison under the S-Foil
of Face's X-Wing, and leaving Alison to wonder how in the hell she
was going to get out of this mess.


Dia walked away from the kitchen with Tyria, her stomach filled with
the best food she had eaten in a long time. "What were those called
again?" Dia asked Tyria. "Pancakes?"

Tyria nodded. "We will have to get the recipe before we go back
home."

Suddenly Dia stopped. Before her stood a man who she didn't
recognize, but something in her told her that she should know this
man. He was a few inches taller than her, with hazel eyes and the
sprouting of dark black hair on his recently shaven head. He wore a
white shirt with khaki shorts, both of which looked wrinkled and had
a few oil spots on them. He stared at her almost as if he was seeing
a ghost in her.

Dia turned to Tyria, who was smiling. "Whose that?" she asked.

Face took a step closer, and he smiled as Tyria stated, "Dia, this is
Garik Loran... your husband."