Project Boussh: Taking Stock
by Brad Corletti

Brad pitched his voice to be heard. "My name is Major Defel and I am
taking command of this unit."

The inhabitants of the Melbourne warehouse turned and looked. Several
stormtroopers, four fighter pilots, and a few civilians were present.

One of the civilians started sniggering when he said his name. Brad
spitted him with a glare. "Cease that immediately."

The civilian had enough sense to stop laughing, but not enough to keep
his mouth shut. "It's just that, the Defel are..."

"I know who the Defel are," Brad interrupted angrily. He looked to the
stormtrooper who had accompanied him. "Sergeant, if this 'man' insists
on disrupting discipline again, shoot him."

The stormtrooper simply nodded.

One of the TIE pilots spoke up. "We were not informed of your arrival,
sir."

Brad nodded. "Of course not. I wanted to see how you were performing
when I arrived." He looked around the warehouse-come-hangar. "And I'm
not disappointed." The hangar, although dirty, was organised and all
the equipment seemed to be in working order. It also contained four
TIE interceptors.

Some of the TIE pilots smiled.

He walked towards what appeared to be a command post. "Report status,"
he ordered.

The first TIE pilot saluted. "Alpha Flight is at one hundred percent
operational status!"

One of the stormtroopers likewise saluted. "525th Stormtrooper Platoon
at sixty-six percent operational status!"

Brad nodded. He looked at the extras. "Now what are they for?"

"They are native civilian advisors, sir!" the TIE pilot answered. "In
addition, they have a large amount of information on our enemies."

Brad appeared to consider this. "How?"

The TIE pilot smiled. "Apparently a lot of classified information has
been released to the populace of this world through material claimed
to be fictitous. These people have studied that material in depth."

"Hence the comment about the Defel."

"Yessir."

"Allright." He turned to include the TIE pilots, stormtroopers and
natives in his view. "As you were."

He drew a datapad out of his pocket, tapped at it. "Bill Skywalker, a
word with you."

The native who had sniggered at his name gulped and stepped forward
while his companions resumed their work.

"I take it you're not a relative of the Jedi Luke."

"No, sir."

"Good. Now, Intelligence has informed me..." he tapped a few more
times at his datapad. "that you have been careless." He looked at Bill
Skywalker. "You know what Intelligence does with careless people,
Skywalker?"

Bill's eyes opened wide. Brad noticed his legs were beginning to
quiver a little. "No, sir. I mean, uh..."

"Nothing, Skywalker. You're under my command, and I'm going to do what
I can to ensure you stay that way. A dead man serves nobody. But I
will have to ask you a few questions to ascertain the danger."

"Yessir."

"Firstly, do you know what this incident of carelessness was?"

Skywalker appeared to think. "It must have been SithMasterYoda. We
were discussing how inferior non-Jedi pilots were, when I accidently
gave him a clue as to our mission here."

Brad hrmmed. "You told him you knew people involved in the
disappearance of the Rebel campaign manager."

Skywalker paled. "Yessir."

"And these people were?"

"Uhh, Alpha Flight and the 525th."

"I see. A serious error, but one I think that has been corrected. The
Rebels have no idea where you are, so you no longer present a lead for
them. I think I can save you."

"Uh, thankyou sir."

"Just one more thing before I let you go. I'd like to see some of this
intelligence material."

Bill Skywalker rushed over to a pile of books and returned with one.

Brad looked it over, turning it a few times. "Paper. How quaint." He
saw the back cover blurb. "I don't read Terran. Translate for me."

Skywalker nodded. "Wraith Squadron: They are the Rebel Alliance's
ultimate strike force. Sleek, swift, and deadly, they are the first in
battle..."

Brad interrupted. "That's not Intelligence. That's Rebel propoganda.
What's more, I've never even HEARD of this 'Wraith Squadron'. I would
think, were they as formidable as that book claims, we would all know
of them. That is all, Skywalker. Dismissed."

He turned his attention to the lead TIE pilot. "Lieutenant. Please
introduce me to your men."

"Certainly, sir."

He introduced each of his men in turn. "Flight Officer Davin Porsek.
Flight Officer Darb Rendus. Flight Officer Gorg Peterson. I am
Lieutenant Talus Hend."

Brad nodded to each in turn. "Pleasure to meet you. There will a
briefing tomorrow morning. Until then, your time is yours. I hear this
city has wonderful nightlife. Just don't forget operational security."
Brad supressed a smile at the expressions on the TIE pilots faces.

He turned to the stormtrooper who had saluted. "Lieutenant. You said
your unit was at sixty-six percent."

The stormtrooper nodded. "The 525th handles proactive security on the
Australian continent. One squad was sent to the Rebel C3 center in
Queensland. They did not report back on schedule. We believe them to
have been killed. How the Rebels achieved this we do not know."

Brad feigned surprise. "Surely you knew, Lieutenant, that the C3
center contained large numbers of Ewoks?"

The stormtrooper took a step backwards before he could stop himself.
"Ewoks. Those little Sithspawn. No wonder we lost the team."

The stormtrooper drew himself to attention. "Request permission to
destroy the C3 facility and slaughter the Ewoks."

Brad looked at him as though he'd just asked for magic green super
putty of death. "Denied, Lieutenant. I don't intend for you to lose
any more troopers to misguided vengeance. The C3 center is shut down,
destroying the building is a waste of resources. In the meanwhile, we
have a mission tomorrow."

The stormtrooper nodded. Brad imagined his face would be red if he'd
not been wearing a helmet. "Yessir. Permission to speak freely?"

"Granted."

"What is a Naval Major doing taking command of a flight of TIEs and a
platoon of stormtroopers?"

"Need to know, Lieutenant. Unfortunately, you need to know. I'm in
Procurement and Logistics." As his records would indicate.

The stormtrooper cocked his head to the side. "What?"

Defel looked him in the viewport. "Procurement, Lieutenant, is often a
euphemism."

The stormtrooper nodded. "I understand sir. I withdraw my question."

While the TIE pilots made preparations for a night on the town, Brad
began looking over the command centre's databanks, pausing frequently
to look at his datapad and make 'hrmm' noises.

Very interesting...