Project Boussh: Splitting Up is Bad to Do
by Alison Sky

Running through hallways, Wes and Hobbie followed the trail of dead 
and stunned stormtroopers until they reached a fork in the path.  He 
and Hobbie had agreed that splitting up would be a faster way to find 
the group.  Hobbie had gone left, Wes choosing to go right... and now 
he was lost, and had no idea how long he had even been in the ship.
      "Which way to go.  Which way to go," he muttered to himself.
      Suddenly, the sound of laughter could be heard down the 
hallway.  He pressed his back against the wall and listened.
      "Can you believe it?  She tried to take on the group with a 
piece of metal!"
      "She did do a good job of it."
      "Yeah, poor TK669.  He didn't see it coming."
      "TK669 was a fool.  An Ewok with a stone could have brought 
him down."
      "So what are we going to do with this?"
      "I'm keeping it as a souvenir."
      "Nuh uh.  I got the last shot on her.  I should have it."
      "Yah huh.  I'm the group leader, so I get the spoils from 
battle."
      "Nuh uh."
      "Yah huh."
      "Nuh uh."
      "Yah huh."
      Wes raised his eyebrow and turned to look around the corner.  
He could see four stormtroopers standing in a circle.  One held a 
very familiar weapon while another of the troopers was squared off 
with a trooper wearing an orange flap on his shoulder.  "They're 
acting like children," Wes whispered to himself.      "Fine," the leader 
stated.  "We'll hang it in the lounge for all of us to see.  That 
satisfy you?"
      The other trooper looked to his two silent comrades.  They 
nodded, so the trooper stuck out his hand.  "Agreed."
      "Actually, I have a better idea," Wes stated, stepping around 
the corner.  He held his blaster out in front of him while leaning 
against the hallway wall.  "How about you give me the sword, and I'll 
let you live?"
      The troopers seemed to consider it for a second, then they 
reached for their blasters.  Wes fired four quick shots, and three of 
them went down without even taking the blasters from their holster.  
The fourth shot, however, bounced off the sword and embedded itself 
in the wall closer than Wes found comfortable.
      The fourth trooper locked eyes with Wes, then held out the 
sword.  Wes smiled and walked forward, taking the weapon in his 
hand.  He flipped the weapon around in his hand, examining the blade 
and down to the crystal at its base.  "Where is the woman who was 
wielding this?" Wes asked, pointing the blaster at the trooper.
      "We... she, um... we left her a few hallways back," the trooper 
stated.
      Fire filled Wes' eyes.  He tucked the sword through a belt 
loop and flicked the blaster for the trooper to lead.  The trooper's 
gulp could be heard through the helmet, and he led Wes through the 
halls.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      Hobbie looked around and sighed.  He was lost, and not happy 
about it.  "I told Wes that spliting up was not a good idea..." he 
muttered and continued down the hallway, hoping to run into someone, 
or something.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      After a few minutes, they reached a hallway that had turned 
black from blaster scoring.  A few dead troopers littered the 
entranceway, but that was it.  Wes turned and placed the blaster 
against the trooper's helmet.  "The girl!" he stated.  "Where is 
she?!"
      "I... I..I...I don't know!" the trooper stuttered.  "Ssss she 
was... she was here a...a minute ago!"
      "Freeze, you rebel scum."
      Wes turned slowly and saw a group of troopers behind him.  
They all had blasters pointed at him.  He felt the trooper beside him 
grab his blaster and take a few steps away.  "He just killed my 
squad," the stuttering trooper stated, his voice coming out clear now.
      "Really?" the leader of the new squad stated.  "Well, maybe 
we should show him what we do with murderers?"
      Wes closed his eyes, letting his hand come to rest on the 
sword by his side.  He saw himself pulling the sword from the loop, 
swinging it wide and taking the head off the trooper behind him.  
Then he twisted and blocked the shots from the incoming blasters.  He 
treated the sword like a lightsaber, and blocked the blasts as they 
came in.  They bounced back at the troopers, making them fly 
backwards.  
      With the first line down, Wes jumped at the rest of the 
troopers.  He flew through the air like the cartoons he had watched 
at Emily's house.  In movements that seemed like flashes, he hacked 
his way through the remaining troopers, until they were all cut down 
to size.
      "... Are you deaf as well, scum?"
      Wes opened his eyes and saw that the leader was standing a 
few feet away from him.  Wes looked down and saw his hand attacked to 
the sword, yet no dead bodies lay on the ground besides the ones that 
had already been there.  
      Wes looked up at the leader and smiled one of his wicked 
grins.  "No, in fact, I think you should all surrender now."
      The troopers laughed.  "You must be kidding.  It's twenty to 
one, and you don't even look Corellian."
      Wes smirked.  "No need to be Corellian.  I'm a Rogue."
      With that, Wes pulled out the sword with a flourish and spun 
around in a circle.  He sliced the blaster that the trooper behind 
him held, then brought the sword to rest right under the throat of 
the group leader.  "Now, call your men off."
      The leader held his head up high.  "I'll do no such thing."
      Wes used his other hand to grab the leader's blaster and 
placed it on the leader's shoulder, so that Wes was positioned 
perfectly behind the leader with the blaster aiming at the rest of 
the squad.  "Then you'll be my blast shield."