Project Boussh: The Search For Quiara
by Durandir

Part One (soon after Last Stand)

Slowly regaining consciousness, Kirret awoke to confusion. *Where am 
I?* She blinked, looked around, and blinked again in surprise at her 
surroundings. The room was vast and dark, with three walls lined with 
mirrors, several rows of black chairs; in one corner, a dusty grand 
piano, and against the mirrorless wall, racks lined with musical 
instruments of all kinds. Nearer to her stood a cluster of percussion 
instruments. Memory returned to her then: she knew the place, had 
often sat in one of those chairs in days gone by; though more often 
she'd stood amidst the percussion cluster. The orchestra room! Deep 
in the heart of the Palace, where...

...Oh, the Palace. Now she remembered: She was in the High Palace, 
helping Thayer's allies to find their imprisoned comrade. Or she had 
been helping them, until that trapdoor in the stage of the Palace 
theater had suddenly sent her spinning down into the lower 
levels. "The place is in utter disrepair since Eugor moved in," she 
grumbled. Though of course the Dictator probably preferred it that 
way, if a theatrical trapdoor could double as a trap for 
intruders. "I really should have known better," she fretted. "I'm 
sure I know this Palace as well as Eugor does, at least. I've got to 
be more careful."

A bit late to think of that. She stirred, began to sit up. It was 
only then that she realized where she was sitting--smack in the 
middle of the kettledrum, literally inside it. Kirret couldn't help a 
sudden laugh at the irony of it: how many times had she stood just 
there to roll out thunder on that drum, and now the faithful old 
instrument had, apparently, broken her fall. She squirmed her way out 
of the battered drum and took another look around.

She was certainly alone; probably Atner wasn't expecting much of an 
attack on his music room. But what about her allies? They would 
certainly not know where she'd ended up; the orchestra chamber was 
several floors below the theater--there must have been some sort of 
chute leading down from the trapdoor to this floor, or even with the 
kettledrum she would not have survived the fall.

"Wait a second," she muttered, glancing around at the floor as a 
thought struck her. "Oh, that's just wonderful. No comlink. I must've 
lost it in the fall. And--great, my blaster's gone too." No way for 
her to contact the Terrans, find out where to meet up with them. And 
if she set out looking for the rest of the team, she'd be largely 
defenseless against whatever of Atner's forces remained in the Palace.

"I'll just have to improvise. Pity I've played so little jazz." So 
she quickly went to work, searching the music room for anything she 
might put to use.

Five minutes later, Kirret stood hesitantly at the door of the music 
room. Most of the instruments had proved too cumbersome for her 
needs, but she'd stocked her pockets with drumsticks and mallets and 
the conductor's spare batons and even a maraca, then armed herself 
with the most durable-seeming bow she could find among the cello 
cases. Around her neck hung a high-pitched whistle on a string, to 
serve in place of the lost comlink if she needed to hail someone. The 
final touch was one of the smaller cymbals, which she held in her 
left hand as a makeshift shield; she doubted it would be of much use 
against blaster bolts, but it was better than nothing. "This is 
ridiculous; I look like a Peredur of the orchestra. If only the 
Maestro could see me now," she sighed. "But of course he can't, since 
Atner had him killed too. Well, Eugor, you shall pay, come what come 
may."

But first, to find the Terrans she'd come in with. There was no 
telling where they would be by now, but most likely they were 
continuing their search for Quiara. Kirret had ventured a guess, when 
the four of them first entered the Palace, that the prisoner was 
likely being held either in the dungeons of the lower levels or in 
the prison levels of the central tower. They'd probably look in one 
of those places first, then. One way or another, if she could find 
Quiara, she'd probably soon find her allies as well. So Kirret 
cautiously eased the door open, then, when she was satisfied that the 
hall was empty, she slipped out of the music room and headed off in 
search of the others.


Part Two (Immediately after Storm's End)

"All right," said Kristy as she, Morwen, and Becki set out 
again. "Level Eleven. No problem."

"Ah...wait a second," Morwen frowned. "Was that level Eleven 
aboveground or belowground?"

The other two exchanged a sheepish look. "Eep," said Kristy.

"That," said Becki, "would be a very good question."

Morwen whipped out the comlink. "Terra Five, this is Terra Two..."

"Five here," Josh's voice came back after a moment's pause. 

"We have one more question," Morwen continued. "Was that level Eleven 
counting up or down from the main floor?"

Another pause. "Now that you mention it," Josh replied, "I don't 
know. I had thought belowground, but I'm on level Eleven belowground 
now and I'm not finding any sort of prison cells. Just a lot of tiny 
rooms with pianos crammed into them."

Becki looked up at that. "Weird. Sounds like practice rooms in a 
concert hall."

"Wait a second," Josh said. "Here's something...no, never mind. Well, 
this explains the pianos, at least. Some sort of music room...there 
are all sorts of instruments. And all sorts of dust. Looks like it 
hasn't been used in--no, wait, get away from there!"

"What happened?" Morwen called, raising her voice to be heard over 
the sudden burst of background noise.

A moment later, the noise stopped and Josh's voice returned: "Um, 
right, everything's fine here now. Just a little incident with a 
couple of the Ewoks who have a bit of fondness for music. Man, is 
that bass drum *loud*..."

"He has a bloody *music room* in this Palace?" Kristy asked in
amusement.

"Why not?" Becki grinned. "This place is big enough that he could 
have an entire city in it. Why not an orchestra? I bet that's where 
Tede got my piccolo..."

Josh went on, "Wait--it's not so dusty over here. Looks like some 
things have been moved around recently, too...and...Weird. There's a 
timpani with the top caved in. Like something heavy was dropped on 
it."

The girls exchanged puzzled glances, wondering what to make of Josh's 
findings.

"But there's no one there?" Morwen asked finally.

"Nope," Josh answered.

"No dungeon? No prisons? No guard droids?"

"Nothing but a lot of dusty instruments. Well, this obviously isn't 
where Quiara's being held, anyway. I'll head for the upper Eleven. 
Meet you there, if I don't run into you on the way."

"Right," Morwen answered. "Two out."

"Five out."

So the three girls again set out, this time heading up in search of 
the other level Eleven. "I wonder," Becki murmured as they hurried 
along, "where Kirret ended up, anyway?"


Part Three (Follows from Part Two)

Josh finally gave up on convincing the Ewoks to leave the various 
instruments where they had found them. "All right, then, keep them if 
you like. But come on, and hurry. We have a Quiara to find; you can 
stage your concert after she's safe." The Aussie and his furry 
entourage hurried back out into the hall of the eleventh floor 
underground. 

Just as they reached the stairs that led to the next level up, one of 
the Ewoks yubbed something to Josh. "What's that?" he answered. The 
Ewok turned and pointed down a side hall, yubbing more insistently 
now.

"Oh, is that so?" Josh raised his blaster to aim down the 
hallway. "All right, come out slowly. We know you're there. And don't 
try anything funny; we've got you covered, and even if I should miss, 
you don't want to take your chances with the Ewoks."

For half a minute nothing happened. Then, slowly, a figure emerged 
from the shadows. It was a young woman, black-haired and dark-eyed, 
glaring fiercely at him and at the Ewoks. And oddly enough, in her 
left hand she was carrying...a cymbal, of all things? And in her 
right...he couldn't tell what it was, but she gripped it as if she 
thought it were a lightsaber and meant to make use of it as such. 
Josh frowned in confusion.

"Is that what they are?" the woman asked suddenly, keeping both her 
distance and her guarded posture.

"What what are?"

"Those...whatever they are...that follow you. Ewoks?"

"Oh. Yeah, these are the Ewoks. Never seen one before? Be careful; if 
you ever see one closer up, you'd better hope they consider you a 
friend." He held the blaster steady; she seemed unarmed--at least not 
conventionally armed--and entirely unlike any of the others of 
Atner's forces he'd run up against today; but there was no telling 
what tricks Atner might have prepared.

"Be careful?" the woman arched a delicate eyebrow. "You're holding a 
gun on me. What do you expect me to be, if not careful?"

"Well, judging from your...um...unorthodox equipment there..." Josh 
grinned. 

"Who are you?" she interrupted suddenly, her expression 
darkening. "If one of Atner's, you would have long since shot me. He 
would never suffer the daughter of old Lord Xarim to live, were he 
given the chance to finish what he had begun."

If one of Atner's? From her tone of voice, Josh guessed she held no 
love for the Dictator. And he did indeed have the advantage for the 
moment. So..."Terra Five, at your service. Miss Xarim, did you say?"

"Terra?" the woman's eyes grew wide. "Is it so? Then you're on our 
side!"

"Ah...which side, again?"

"Thayer's," she answered with a brief smile. "Against Eugor Atner."

It clicked, then. "Yep, against Atner," Josh grinned. "Thayer--you're 
with the Resistance, then? That means you'd be Kirret?"

"I would," she nodded. "Is 'Five' your name, or--"

"Callsign," he smiled, lowering the blaster. "Off duty, call me Josh. 
On duty, Terra Five."

Kirret's eyes narrowed. "We were supposed to meet you within the 
Palace. To find Quiara. You and the...Ewoks...were assigned to 
Three's group."

"Yeah, but I didn't know you were assigned to the same group..."

"I wasn't. I came to show them the way through the tunnels and within 
the Palace. And now of course I'm not even able to do that. We got 
separated, and I have no idea where they are now."

"I do," Josh put in. "On their way to level Eleven aboveground."

"Eleven?"

"That's where Quiara is. You know how to get there?"

"Well, of course."

"Well, then...after you?"

"This way," Kirret nodded.


Part Four (Follows from Part Three)

"So," Josh said as he followed Kirret up a narrow staircase she'd 
claimed was a shortcut from the sixth level belowground up to the 
third. "How'd you end up in the Resistance, anyway?"

"Two reasons," Kirret answered without looking back. "One: Thayer 
deserves to rule. Two: Eugor does not."

"As simple as that?" Josh frowned. "You expect Thayer will make 
everything right? He's a nice guy and all that, but still, when the 
whole government is in one man's hands--"

She did look back to answer this time, stopping so suddenly to do so, 
in fact, that Josh nearly ran into her. Two of the Ewoks, slower to 
observe the halt, plowed into his legs from behind, so that for a 
moment he wavered, slightly off-balance.

Taking no notice of his momentary predicament, Kirret answered 
fiercely, "I fight for Thayer because I believe he is our country's 
best hope. But essentially, if I fight at all, it is not so much 
about putting Thayer on the throne as taking Eugor off it."

Regaining his balance, Josh stared at her uncertainly a 
moment. "What'd he do to you?" he finally asked.

"He killed my father."

Josh raised his eyebrows, remembering hearing something similar in 
Kell's first report to Team Boussh about their new ally, Prince 
Thayer. "There seems to be a lot of that going around..."

"Does it seem so?" Kirret answered sarcastically. "And well it 
should. Not just my father. Not just Thayer's, the good Dictator. 
Eugor Atner has killed or caused to be killed more fathers and 
mothers and sons and daughters than heaven can bear. Vaulting 
ambition! Let it be his downfall at last! He reaches too high; his 
ambition would have the very stars; and it will bring down deep 
heaven upon his head."

"Hey, easy," Josh soothed, laying his hand on her shoulder and 
finding her trembling with rage. "I know. We know how bad he is. But 
we're on your side; we'll see him brought to justice."

She closed her eyes for a moment. When they opened again, the fire 
was subdued under her habitual coolness. "Come on then."

She turned and continued up the stairs. They found themselves in a 
narrow hallway then; Kirret led the group along it until they reached 
a crossroads of sorts. And just as they entered the intersection of 
hallways, suddenly they collided with someone else coming round the 
corner--

Josh rolled, began to bring his blaster up, when a voice rang 
out. "Hey, wait! It's Kirret!"

He recognized the voice--Three. Becki. A second look confirmed that 
it was indeed the flutist; and with her, just now pulling themselves 
up off the floor, the Prophetess and Morwen.

"Where've you been?" Kirret was saying, frowning even as she pulled 
Becki into a quick hug.

"No fair, Kir, I get to ask *you* that first," the girl answered 
cheerfully. "And what's with those?" She indicated the mallets and 
other assorted implements stuffed in Kirret's pockets; as for the 
cymbal-shield and bow-sword, the Mendellian woman had left those 
behind after Josh had provided her with his spare blaster.

"The trapdoor apparently led to the orchestra room," Kirret 
shrugged. "That's where I've been until your Five here showed up. And 
as for those, I lost my blaster and comlink on my way down so I 
grabbed these to avoid being totally defenseless. Now, you?"

"All over the Palace, looking for Quiara *and* you. Five? Well, 
hello, Josh. Nice to meet you."

"Delighted," Josh rolled his eyes. "Um, shouldn't we be getting to 
level Eleven, though?"

"We were heading that way," Kristy grinned, "but sort of got knocked 
off our feet. Josh, when you said you might run into us on the way, 
you should have mentioned you meant it literally!" 

"This way is better," Kirret interrupted, indicating one of the 
smaller halls. "Come."


Part Five (Immediately before Brightest Star In the Sky; or actually, 
I guess it's concurrent with that one and immediately before In the 
Line of Fire)

They continued toward the eleventh floor, following Kirret through 
stairways and hallways that seemed more in disuse than those they had 
seen when searching through the Palace on their own. The Mendellian's 
knowledge of the Palace proved effective for keeping them away from 
the more open areas, where Atner's defenders would likely bar the 
way. Nevertheless, they were obliged, once they were past the 
underground levels, to go by the main stairway of the central tower, 
and the steps there were literally crawling with stormtroopers. They 
pressed their way through, firearms blazing--and happily, with the 
Ewoks on their side, it was quicker going than it might otherwise 
have been.

At last they emerged into a wide hall, now littered with the bodies 
of stormtroopers who had thought, moments ago, to defend it, and 
Kirret announced that they were on the eighth upper level. "Almost 
there now," she said. "We just--"

A sudden gasp from Becki interrupted Kirret's words. "Hey!" the 
flutist cried, "Look!"

"What?" Morwen asked.

"Did you see him? Just down that way--"

"See who?"

"Macavity--at least, I thought it was him--I don't see him now..."

"Macavity?" Josh asked.

"Cleverest cat this side of the Panama Canal," Kristy explained with 
a grin. "And probably the cutest too. But, Becki, he's on the _Pulsar 
Skate_. You put him there yourself."

"I know, but...but I'm sure I saw him. And besides, this is Macavity--
when does he ever stay put?" Worry showed behind her grey eyes now.

"Well, but if it's Macavity," Kristy continued, "he's pretty good at 
taking care of himself. You--"

The Prophetess stopped short suddenly. "I don't believe it," Morwen 
whispered into the sudden silence. "I think it *is* him." The orange 
tomcat had appeared again at the end of the hall; everyone saw him 
this time, for every eye had followed Becki's when she first pointed 
that way. 

"Mac!" Becki cried as the cat turned and sauntered away. "He wants us 
to follow," she declared. "Come on!" And with that, she took off 
after Macavity.

"Wait!...Oh, sithspit," Kristy grumbled, and set off after her, with
the rest of the group following.

"Oddly enough," Kirret commented as they caught up to Becki, "he 
seems to be going the right way."

"Eleventh floor?" Kristy asked.

"So far, yes. See, that stairway he just entered--that's one of my 
shortcuts. It's as if the cat knows what he's doing."

"Of course he does," Becki laughed. "Or he doesn't. One way or 
another, the crazy cat always turns out to be right."

But the crazy cat also turned out to be quick. And elusive. And not 
quite as direct as Kirret. Macavity decided to take certain routes 
that were not in Kirret's plan, winding and wandering through more 
stairs and halls than seemed to belong between the eighth floor and 
the eleventh. Then suddenly he was no longer before them. Becki 
stopped and looked around uncertainly. And Kristy, Morwen, and Kirret 
were no longer behind her.

"Where'd he go?" Josh asked as the Ewoks crowded round them.

"Where did *they* go?" Becki returned, indicating the emptiness 
behind them where the other three should have been.

"Sithspawn," Josh growled, looking around. "You sure this was the 
right cat we followed all the way to--wherever we are?"

"How many orange cats have you seen in the Palace?" Becki shrugged.

"I--" Josh stopped and frowned at her. "Do you know what a bizarre 
question that is?"

"Well, but wait," she shook her head. "Look. See the windows?"

Josh's eyes widened when he saw what she indicated. "Barred. The 
prison level?"

"The eleventh, for sure. Macavity knew what he--"

The sound of blaster fire interrupted her elation. Becki gasped as 
Josh pulled her back against the wall. The Ewoks immediately began to 
return fire, though as yet it was not clear who they were firing at.

"I'm going to--" Josh began, raising his blaster and preparing to 
lean out for a better view.

"No, wait," Becki held him back. "I think...yes. First let's try this-
-"

She set her own blaster back in its holster and reached for the 
holster at her other side. Bringing up the piccolo that had been 
tucked away there, she took a deep breath and blasted out a note 
shriller, more piercing than any Josh could imagine.

"Aah!" he cried, putting his hands to his ears. "You could at least 
warn me--" But she was smiling. And then he saw why. The blaster fire 
had stopped, except for stray blasts still coming from the 
Ewoks. "You stopped him. A droid?"

"Or a newly deaf stormtrooper," Becki grinned, cautiously peeking out 
around the curve of the wall. "Nope, droid it is."

"So the high C still works on them."

"Apparently so. Wonder if there are any--"

Again blaster fire cut the sentence short, and again they shrank back 
against the wall, and again Becki's high C rang out to bring a sudden 
cease-fire. This time, Josh managed to cover his ears before the note 
sounded. 

"If you were about to wonder if there were any more," he said, "I 
think that answers your question."

She smiled in answer. "Better make sure we've silenced any others on 
this level before we start checking the cells."

"Right." So they moved cautiously along the curved hallway, answering 
blaster fire with piccolo notes until it became almost a routine, a 
pattern. Until one time, when Becki answered the fire with the note, 
the blaster fire didn't stop.

"Uh-oh," Josh said. "Live one this time, or if it's a droid, it's 
piccolo-immune."

" 'Fraid so," Becki sighed, holstering the piccolo and bringing up 
her blaster again. "I was starting to think there were nothing but 
droids on this level. Too good to last, apparently."

"Stormies, all right," Josh confirmed after quickly peeking out past 
the curve. He frowned briefly in her direction before leaning out 
again to return fire. "Maybe they followed the sound of the piccolo."

"Maybe so," Becki answered unhappily, "or maybe they were able to 
trace which droids had been deactivated by it. Either way..."

"Either way," Josh interrupted, "it's just another delay. Give us a 
few minutes and we'll have this level clear again."

"Sure," she sighed, joining him in returning fire, and trying to keep 
her eyes open this time.

At first it didn't look so bad; even the Ewoks were proving better 
shots than the white-armored enemy. Probably Mendellian conscripts, 
like most of the stormies they'd faced that day.

And then suddenly a hail of blaster fire rained in from behind them. 
Once more they pulled back against the wall.

"Surrounded," Josh grumbled. "This does not look good."

"No," Becki answered, eyes wide with fear. Indeed it did not look 
good; with blaster fire coming at them from both sides, the Terrans 
were now unable to make any headway in the fight. "We need help," 
Becki declared finally. Josh just nodded, all his attention now 
focused on the lightfight to either side.

Trying to flatten herself even more against the wall, Becki pulled 
out her comlink, setting it for the Team Boussh frequency. "This is 
Terra Three," she called desperately. "We need any available backup 
in the palace right away! Anyone that can help, please respond!"