Project Boussh: Stakeout
by Josh Nolan

Ooryl turfed the last of the stormtrooper team's equipment onto the hot
concrete of the courtyard.  "I count four more carbines, thirty-six
powerpacks, three comlinks, fifteen thermal detonators and a packet of
cigarettes."
"Those things'll kill you," commented Josh absently as he rifled through
the glove box.  "There's a box of matches in the glove box, here, too.
Not much else, though."
"They have removed all identifying marks from this vehicle?"
"Seems like it - no plates, no registration papers, I wouldn't know
where to look for the chassis numb -"  Josh broke off, staring at the
windscreen.  "Actually, Ooryl, I think we're in luck."
Ooryl followed Josh's gaze to the small blue sticker affixed to the
inside of the van's windscreen.  He recognised that there was a large
number printed on it, but the rest of it made no sense.  "What is it,
Josh?"
  Ticking points off on his fingers, Josh said, "It's either a
deliberate trap, an accidental oversight, or they thought it was too
much trouble to take off.  It's the registration sticker, Ooryl.  We can
track 'em."
Ooryl grinned.  "They won't know what hit them."
Josh nodded, grinning in return.  "Now, get the stuff inside, I'll
dispose of the van."
"How are you going to do it?"
Josh gestured with his thumb at the large, blue glass tower of Toowong
Village.  "I figured I'd drive it into the carpark there and walk back.
Hopefully it'll be a couple of days before the carpark people do
anything about it.  I'll leave it unlocked - hopefully it'll get stolen,
as well."
Ooryl nodded.  "You're packing?"  he asked, surprising himself with his
use of Josh's slang.
"Always," Josh nodded, patting the blaster concealed under his T-shirt.
He frowned.  "Since I've become a gung-ho nutbar, anyway."

Ooryl paced nervously around Kronos, waiting for Josh to emerge from the
Department of Transport in Sherwood.  A few passers-by stared at him
curiously, but Ooryl returned their gaze steadily and they broke eye
contact and hurried past.
Finally, Josh emerged from the building, waving a slip of paper
triumphantly.  "I got the address.  It's registered to someone who lives
in Pullenvale.  I say we stake it out, then take it out."
Ooryl nodded.  "Ooryl thinks it is easier said than done."
"Sure, but it's so fun to say.  'Stake it out, then take it out'.  I'm
proud of that."
"Just drive, Josh."

Kronos slowed to a stop in front of a somewhat opulent house, set in a
picturesque rural countryside.  Josh and Ooryl climbed out of the
hatchback and made their way to the door of the house.
Josh knocked, and after a while, a somewhat dishevelled mop-haired young
man with a cultivated stubble answered the door.  The man's face split
into a wide grin when he recognised Josh.  "How's it going, y'old
bastard?"
"Not bad, not bad, y'old bastard.  I was just swingin' through
Pullenvale, " he pronounced it 'Poownvaew', "and I thought I'd drop in
on me old mate Dan."  Josh lapsed back into a more normal accent, and
said, "Dan, this is my cousin Ooryl - Ooryl, this is Dan, the most
pumpin' funkatronic bassmeister this side of... um... a sidey thing."
Dan and Ooryl shook hands, and Dan stepped back.  "Well, come on in, can
I get you anything to drink?"
"Water'll be great, thanks"
"Ooryl would enjoy some water as well."
Dan nodded, and walked into the kitchen, where Josh followed him.  "He's
your cousin?" asked Dan quietly.
"He's from Ipswich.  He's got his funny ways.  I don't suppose you'd
mind letting him have a bit of a wander out back?"
Dan shot another look at where Ooryl was running his hands over a sofa.
"Fair enough.  What's with the bug suit?"
"Don't ask."
"Oh."

Josh and Dan spent the next two and a half hours talking in depth about
nothing much at all while Ooryl reconnoitred the property out the back -
the property that matched the address Josh had prised out of the
Department of Transport.
There was a Queenslander homestead more or less in the middle of the
property, and a huge corrugated-iron barn very near it.  If it had main
doors, they were not in view from Ooryl's vantage point, so the Gand was
unable to assess whether it could serve as a TIE hangar or not.
However, Ooryl was able to observe that the house sheltered a number of
motorcycles - at least six - and that a number of tall, brawny men would
take them on irregular tours of the property.  To Ooryl's trained eye,
the patterns they followed were textbook Imperial patrols, given the
terrain.  As further confirmation, Ooryl zoomed in his macrobinoculars
on the side of a motorbike as it paused about three hundred metres from
Ooryl's hideout - and found the blocky sillouhette of an Imperial-issue
blaster carbine.
Ooryl swung his binoculars back towards the barn, and saw a man duck out
of a small personnel door on Ooryl's side.  Ooryl zoomed in on him, and
found the man was carrying a TIE pilot's helmet under his arm.  Ooryl
grinned - they'd found the source of some annoyance.  All that remained
was the assault...