Project Boussh: The Battle Is Joined
by scifantasy

Sci looked back into the _Gaia_'s passenger compartment. Becki was warming 
up on her piccolo. Corran was meditating; no surprise there, as he wanted 
to be at his best--physically and mentally--for the upcoming attack. Tede 
wanted the same thing, and to the untrained eye he was meditating too. That 
is, unless you noticed that he was sitting extremely close to one of the 
outputs for the ship's auxiliary fusion generators. Sci had been a little 
surprised when Becki had pulled Sci aside and told him that Tede was a 
human replica droid, but since then he'd been noticing things about Tede 
that made more sense. Fir and Fenya were, by the look of it, trying very 
hard not to goggle at the displays of advanced technology that everyone 
else was treating as commonplace.
Off in the back, Winter and Mirax were brushing up on Imperial security 
systems. Sci wondered just how Winter would need to brush up on anything. 
Or was she just helping Mirax review material?
Most of his team was aboard the _Red Home_ or the _Pulsar Skate_, the 
various New Republic commando groups were aboard their transports, and all 
the fighters were loaded. All that was needed was a final check in.
Sci made sure he had everything he needed. Not hard, concerning his 
travelling was light. Blaster, vibroblade, backup blaster, a few datapads 
with useful information on them. Opening his comlink, he cleared his 
throat. "Terra Lead to all units. Report ready status."
Wedge's voice came back first. "Rogue Dogfighters standing by."
Next was Face. "Wraith Dogfighters standing by."
As Sci listened, the rest of the units checked in one by one. "Terra 
Dogfighters standing by." That was Josh Cochran. From inside his cockpit 
came "Rescue Team One standing by," and "Slicer Team One standing by." The 
_Home_ contributed "Ewok Team standing by," "Mayhem Team Standing by," 
"Slicer Team Two standing by," and "Red Home crew standing by." The 
commandos reported readiness, and Sci heard Thayer's voice, clear and 
strong. "Mendellian Air Force standing by."
Sci nodded to himself. "Prepare to lift on my mark. Our fleet will join us 
soon after we start mixing it up with the fighters. May the Force be with 
all of you." He tapped at a few control boards, then his hand hovered over 
the repulsor drive switch. *May the Force be with all of us.* 
"Three...Two...One..." He hit the control. "Mark."
A seemingly motley collection of ships began to lift off from Mendellia, 
heading for space.

Aboard the New Republic Dreadnaught _Peregrine_, General Garm Bel Iblis sat 
and waited, seething slightly. He didn't want to risk blowing his cover any 
more than necessary, even given the circumstances. A fleet made up to fight 
one Star Destroyer suddenly forced to fight against three--and without the 
option of escape, no less. Apparently letting any Imperial forces leave 
this system was out of the question, for reasons Bel Iblis hoped would 
eventually become clear. Thus, the pulsemass generators the _Peregrine_ had 
onboard. Now, however, Bel Iblis was playing a waiting game--and he wasn't 
fond of waiting games.
"Sir?" came the voice of the sensor operator.
"Yes, Lieutenant?" answered Bel Iblis.
"Sensors report a group of ships lifting off from the planet's surface, 
configurations matching those of the New Republic's forces and allies 
onplanet."
Bel Iblis smiled. "Signal the fleet. Deploy. Repeat, deploy. Helm, take us 
on a circular path and launch those pulsemass generators immediately, then 
take us in to engage the Star Destroyers."
Off in the distance, he could see the one Star Destroyer launching its TIE 
fighters, and the other two appearing from behind the planet's moon--an 
unusually large moon, given the planet's size and composition--and 
launching their own fighters. The lifting ships broke formation, and Bel 
Iblis could see flashes of light as the starfighters began to do their jobs.