Project Boussh: Those Are The Breaks
by Vickie Boyd

Vickie sat before the fireplace meditating. Everyone marveled at her
resolve. A figure walked
up to her and dropped something on the floor. She cracked open an eye
and saw a cylindrical
object before her. "What's this," she asked the shadow.

"My spare lightsaber," Corran replied. "I need someone to spar with."

She looked up at the Corellian. "You want me to spar with you. Using
lightsabers."

"Yes. You need to learn how to use one anyway." He held his hand out.

She picked up the cold metal cylinder in her left hand and grabbed his
forearm with her right.
She pulled herself to her feet. Turning the lightsaber over in her hand,
she asked, "are you
sure about this?"

"I have already turned down the power. The most you will feel is a
slight shock." He handed her
a jacket.

She slipped the jacket on and zipped it up. "Right, in this weather.
Cold and dry. Makes
electric shocks even worse."

He shook his head. "Quit blabbing and come on."



"I've never used a sword of any type before," she said as she ignited
the blade. It made a
snap-hiss sound just as it did in the movies. A chill went through her
and she grinned. The
light danced in front of her. She turned her wrist left and right,
making the familiar humming
sound of a lightsaber cutting through air.

"That's ok," he said as he stood before her. "I'm going to teach you.
First we'll start with
defensive moves."

Corran spent the next half-hour showing her different defensive and
offensive moves. She picked
them up quickly. Now was the time to test her. "Have you thought of any
more plans for
attacking Mendellia," he asked out of the blue.

She mimicked his moves as she replied. "Well, the team of rebels and
Wraiths on the island
probably have attracted a lot of attention with the raid on Darwinia. I
just hope they are
somewhere safe. What puzzles me are the cloning tanks."

He increased his speed and complexity of the movements. "Why?"

She didn't miss a step. "Atner must have some weird vision of Darwinism.
Either that or he just
wants it to be Hitler, only faster."

"Why do you think he kidnapped Becki, Shannon and Garik?"

Following his long sweeping moves, she turned back to face him.
"Insurance? Maybe he thought
Shannon was actually Mara and a Jedi. That could have been the
Imperial's doing. Face was just
in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Corran stopped. "Fight me," he said matter-of-factly.

She blinked. "What?"

"You just followed my every move without a mistake while discussing the
mission. You are fully
at peace with the Force. Now fight me."

She shrugged and stood in a defensive posture. "If you insist."

He smiled and came at her with a swipe from his left up to his right.
She blocked it before he
got halfway up. "Very good." He back up and tried again, this time from
the other side. She
blocked it faster this time. "Excellent."

"Easy. You're telegraphing your moves."

"Telegraphing?"

She sighed. "You're making a slight move before committing to the
direction."

He nodded. "Ok. No more 'telegraphing.'" He allowed the Force to flow
through him as he moved
towards her. He tried a sideswipe followed by a cut upward. She blocked
both easily. He
continued to hammer on her blade, pushing her backwards.

She blocked a cross shot and pushed forward. "You're still doing it,
only this time in my
mind."

He looked deep in her eyes. The Force was strong. "I'm not sending you
anything. You are
reading my mind."

Her brow furrowed as she looked at him. The Force was showing her the
future. And right now,
she was about to be in a lot of trouble. She let herself fall to the
ground and rolled over.
Imagining she was Jackie Chan, she pushed herself off the ground and
landed on her feet.

"Nice move," he said respectfully.

"Thanks," she replied. Not giving him a second, she began to press an
attack. His feet
skittered backward as he tried to parry her attacks. She smiled before
leaping into the air,
twisting a half turn and landing behind him.

CRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKK!

Vickie's world collapsed around her. She screamed. Miraculously, she
somehow shut the
lightsaber off as she fell. She hit the ground with a thud and a snap.
Fear flowed from her.

Corran turned in time to see her falling. He ran to the edge of the
hole. Rotted wood hidden
under leaves and needles covered what looked to be an old well. "Are you
ok?"

She was crying. "What the hell do you think?"

"Can you move."

"Not much. I think I broke something. My leg or my ankle. It's too dark
to tell. Get help."

He turned to run back to the cabin only to find a half dozen of its
occupants running towards
him. Neither one of them had noticed they had gained an audience as they
fought. Kirney looked
over the edge. "Vickie, I'm going to drop a glowrod down to you." She
lit the rod in her hand
and dropped it.

"Shit." Vickie reached for the glowrod. It was inches out of her reach.
She tried to slide
closer only to create greater pain in her leg. She screamed.

They saw her trying to reach the rod. "Don't move," Kirney said. "You
have enough light there.
Tell me what kind of cuts you have."

"My arms are a bit scraped. I think my hip hit a rock, but I don't think
it's broken."

"What about your legs?"

She looked down at her right leg. It hurt. She saw why and immediately
began to hurl.

"Vickie? Vickie, answer me. What is it?"

She was crying hysterically. The bone was protruding from her leg. She
had never had a broken
bone in her life. She was scared, cold and angry.

Corran tried to touch her mind and calm her. Her fear blocked him. "I
can't do anything from
here."

Pash pushed between him and Kirney with a synthrope made into a
makeshift harness. "I'm going
down. I am about the only familiar face she won't kill about now." He
looked at Corran with a
frown.

"Do you have a medpack with you," asked Kirney.

Pash patted his back. "Right here. Went and got it from my ship."

"Does it have a splint?"

"Yes, made sure it did. With the way she screamed, I'd say her leg was
broken." He stood with
his back to the hole and nodded before jumping down below the rim.

Corran shook his head as he began to lower the A-Wing pilot. Myn, Wes,
Nick, Josh and Bror held
the end of the rope and began counting off how far down Pash was going.
At about 6 meters (20
feet), the rope slackened. He had reached to the bottom.

Pash winced when he saw her leg. It was lying at a very odd angle and
the bone had broken the
skin. She had passed out. He pushed up her jeans to get a better look.
Her ankle was swelling,
probably due to a sprain, and she was loosing blood from the break. He
took off her shoe and
slapped a bacta patch on her ankle. As best he could, he pushed the bone
back into place. He
was thankful that she was not awake.

Pulling out the splint, he began to place it around her calf. "Not
enough hands," he murmured
to himself.

"How is she," Corran asked from above.

"Leg is broken bad. She's unconscious at the moment. I'm going to have
to awaken her to help
with the splint." He pulled out the smelling salts and waved it under
her nose.

Vickie came to with a start, her arms flailing. "Geezus, what the hell
is that?" She took in
her surroundings before focusing on Pash. "What happened?"

"You fell into an old well."

Her brow furrowed as she thought. "That's right. I was sparring with
Corran, flipped over him
and..." She looked down at her leg and tears filled her eyes. "Broke my
leg."

"Yes. I need your help to get the splint on so we can get you to the
bacta tank."

"I'm not touching it. It hurts." She was getting hysterical again.

"Do you want it to heal?"

"Yes," she sniffed.

"Then you have to help me. Just hold the splint together here." He
pointed to a spot. "You
don't even have to look."

She nodded and turned her head before reaching towards her leg. He took
her hands and placed
then where he needed her to hold the splint. She winced and whimpered as
a sharp pain went up
her leg.

"This is probably going to hurt," he told her before tying the first
binding.

Hurt was an understatement. It felt like he was cutting off her leg. She
screamed again. "Just
one more," he yelled over her scream. "You can move your hands now."

She pulled her hands away and grabbed his shoulder. Gritting his teeth,
he tied the last one.
"Damnit," she screamed as she punched him with all her strength. He
grunted and barely kept
himself from falling.

Pash undid the harness and began to strap it around Vickie. She looked
like a lost child.
"We'll get you to the bacta and you'll be good as new in no time."

"I'm sorry," she whispered. Wiping away the old tears, new ones
appeared.

He smiled warmly. "It's ok. You just need to be more careful next time."

She nodded as he tugged the rope twice. "Haul her up," he yelled to the
crew at the other end
of the rope. She felt herself beginning to rise. He steadied her as far
as he could reach.

Just over halfway up, she began to swing. Panic flooded her mind.
Quickly she pushed it aside
and concentrated on the Force. She stopped her movement and began to
slowly lift herself.

Corran felt the rope slacken. He looked over to see her still
approaching the top. "She's
telekinetically lifting herself," he told the others. "Hold onto the
rope in case she drops
it."

The guys nodded and held onto the rope. When her head cleared the hole,
they quickly pulled in
the slack. Corran moved her onto the ground and helped her lay on the
stretcher. "I'm sorry,"
he said to her.

She put a hand on his arm. "It's not your fault." A grimace crossed her
face. "Damn, my leg
hurts."

He placed a hand on her leg. "Maybe I can do something to help."

"You can heal others," she asked.

He nodded. Closing his eyes, he allowed the Force to pass through him.
It was very strong on
this planet. He focused it through his arms to his hands. And then... it
stopped. He opened his
eyes and looked down. Nothing was unusual. He tried again, with no
success.

"It didn't work, did it?"

"I don't understand."

"I do. I guess I have subconsciously known all along about my Force
powers. You have a
weakness, not being able to use telekinetics. I made my character have
the weakness of not
being able to use the Force for healing or it be used on her. Looks like
I actually have that
weakness." She grinned then grimaced as pain shot through her leg again.

Corran waved two of the guys over as Pash cleared the top of the hole.
"Get her to the shuttle.
Elassar should have the tank ready."

Wes and Myn lifted the stretcher and carried her to the shuttle.