Project Boussh: The Leader Returns
by Alison Sky

Face lay on a med bay bed, staring up at the tank Alison floated in.  
Sighing, he ran his hand through his fuzzy hair, growling at the fact 
that the med techs made him shave off the length of his hair as so 
they could treat the wound made from the implant better.  _At least 
now Alison won't be jealous that my hair is longer than hers_ he 
mused silently.

The techs, in the end, had praised Sharon and Mike for the way they 
had done the "emergancy" surgery.  However, Face could still swear he 
felt that electronic device behind his ear, no matter how many people 
told him that it was gone.

Laying his head back on the pillow, Face tried to remember what had 
happened in these past few weeks.  Some of his memories were fuzzy, 
but the med techs assured him that once his injury healed and the 
part of the brain the device had been attached to regenerated some 
brain cells, his memories would return.

"Well, it seems that we can add another person to the 'coming back 
from the dead' list."

Face rolled over and saw Corran flop down on the corner of his 
bed.  "I thought that list was for Rogues only."

Corran laughed.  "No, you Wraiths are close enough relation that you 
can have some of our traits."

Face smiled.  "Any word on when we're going to the Addy and find the 
general?"

Corran sombered.  "We're waiting on a few things to come into play, 
but we should be going once the rest of the bacta bunch is 
recovered."  He looked at the tanks.  "I'm sure Alison will be ready 
and raring to go."

"I'm not sure about that," Face stated.  "I think that last fight 
took a lot out of her.  And I _know_ she's going to get revenge on me 
for stunning her."

"Well, we shall see, won't we."  He looked out the single window of 
the med bay, and smiled.  "Oh, I forgot."  He pointed to the window.  
Face turned and saw two X-Wings landing.  "Tycho commed the rest of 
the group to land and set up patrols.  He also figured you might want 
to let the rest of the Wraiths know you're alive, since no one has 
heard any news of us."

"Is Dia with them?" he asked, sitting up.

Corran shook his head.  "I don't think so, but maybe one of them will 
be able to tell you."

Face grabbed the hat that hung beside his bed on a hook.  "Maybe one 
day we'll be able to put this all behind us and just remember the 
victories?"

Corran laughed again.  "We won't be that lucky."  The two stood, and 
Corran smiled at Face.  "Good to have you back, Captain."

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

Kirney and Kolot landed a few feet away from the rest of the 
Wraiths.  The Wraiths had taken to landing their X-Wings next to the 
Rogues, but keeping them split as so each squadron could take off 
seperatly from the other.

Kell waved them over, and hugged the red-headed woman when she 
arrived.  Tyria hugged her afterwards while Kolot nodded to them 
both.  "We made it," Kell said, smiling.

"It was a lucky battle," Elassar stated as he, Piggy and Runt walked 
over to join them.  "The next one, I hope, will be just as lucky."

"We will be fighting Imperials next time," Piggy stated.  "They are 
more advanced in skills than the Mendellians, so we had best be ready 
to face them."

Kell looked around the group.  Shalla, he knew, was inside with the 
Terrans and a few of the Rogues.  Dia should be arriving as soon as 
the Red Home came over from the pad it had created in new Hampshire.  
From counting, there was only one person unaccounted for.

"Any news about Face?" Tyria asked.

Kirney sobered.  "Before we left new Hampshire, the Red Home was 
going to pick him up.  however, we were shot down before getting him. 
He was seriously injured then, from what I gathered."  She shook her 
head.  "Who knows where he is now."

"I might be able to answer that."

All the Wraiths looked up and saw a figure perched on the tip of one 
of the X-Wings s-foils.  Dressed in khaki shorts and a white shirt, 
with a floppy cap on his head, it took them all a second to reconize 
him.

"FACE!" Kirney shouted, and she ran across the field to him.  
Smiling, Face jumped down from the ship and waited as Kirney crashed 
into him.  She hugged him tightly, happy to see him again.  "We were 
so worried about you!"

"I'm glad to see that I'm still loved," Face stated, hugging Kirney 
back.

"Yeah, well, I don't think I could handle the group as well as you 
do," Kell stated, slapping the captain on his back.  "Good to see 
you're still all in one piece."

"Well, mostly, that is," Face stated.  He pulled his cap off to 
reveal the large bacta patch and his fuzzy hair.

Tyria gasped as the others stared.  "What happened?" she asked.

"A madman and a knife... and that's how I was healed..."  he grinned, 
putting the cap back on.  He looked over the group.  "Where's Dia?"

Kirney bit her lip.  "She'll be along soon with the Red Home," she 
stated.  She wasn't going to be the one to tell him, right now at 
least, what had happened to her.

Face nodded, satisfied with the answer, but knew that Kirney was 
hiding something.  "Well, let's go inside the palace.  Thayer has 
laid out some food for us, and you can all get some rest in the med 
bay.  Then we can trade tales of our adventures."

The Wraiths nodded and moved to enter the palace.  Kirney stayed 
behind, looking over Face's shoulder.  "Where's Alison?" she asked, 
her voice showing little emotion, but curiousity.

"Med bay," Face replied.  "She took a real beating."

Her eyes changed.  "A beating?"

"Shot up, torn up, a couple of broken bones and a LOT of blood 
loss."  He smiled.  "Had to stun her to finally get her into bacta.  
Ooryl can tell you better about the details with her swordfight with 
Atner."

"Swordfight with Atner?"  The redhead raised her eyebrows 
unbelivingly.

Face nodded.  "She's changed a bit, Kirney.  Grew up, became a 
fighter.  Also became a smartass, but that's my fault, I think."

"I'm sure!" Kirney laughed.

He placed a hand on her shoulder.  "Listen, I know the two of you 
didn't get off to the best start, and I'm sure there were no happy 
feelings after I got kidnapped.  But give her another chance, ok?"

Kirney scowled.  "I'll try, but don't expect me to bake her a 
ryshcate and pop open the Halmad's Prime."

Face shook his head and led her into the palace.  "I know you better 
than that.  Now let's join the others before they hear rumors about 
how I tried to kill some of them."

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Kirney asked.