Project Boussh: Time To Die
by Brad Corletti


Freeze frame.


Brad, in midair, floating towards an Imperial Guardsman, pistol pointed in 
his direction, finger pulling on the trigger.


The Royal Guardsman, who has just seen his Lord shot down in cold blood, 
also pointing his weapon with steady arms, his whole body honed by years of 
training into an instrument of cold precision.


Meanwhile, a battle rages. The New Republic commando teams are surging onto 
the bridge. Sci is yelling orders as he lays down covering fire.


Kelly and Winter are frozen in midstride as they rush toward the former 
prisoners. Kelly and Vickie exchange still, identical stares.


A lightsaber, thrown from where it was hidden in Dorset's pant leg, halfway 
on its arc to Kelly.


Blaster bolts hang in the air, waiting to land on their targets.


It is impossible for Brad to survive. It was foolish of him to engage a 
Royal Guardsman. The guardsman's bolt hangs in the air before him. It is 
dead on target.


It will land in Brad's face.


Brad is going to die.


He isn't going to die alone.


Time resumes.


Blaster bolts suddenly accelerate, shooting through the bridge, impacting 
and killing.


Brad's own blaster bolts strike out and down the Royal Guardsman. Brad 
lands lightly in the crew pit, like a cat, and crouches.


He's not dead.


Why isn't he dead?


He doesn't have time to ponder his fate any further. He's taking fire from 
multiple directions, despite the cover of the pit walls.


He watches, amazed, as the blaster bolts flash towards him, and then... 
curve away from him, like rapids water around a rock.


He drops the empty power pack from his blaster, rams home a new one. He 
grabs a fallen blaster and checks it. He smiles, and leaps, launching 
through the air, over the lip of the crew pit, and onto the command walk.


The battle is still raging. Vickie's lightsaber flashes constantly, 
deflecting and devouring blaster bolts aimed at her and her fellow 
captives, who are firing on enemy troops behind the shields of their Jedi's 
lightsaber.


Kelly clashes in furious meleé with a Royal Guardsman. The commando team 
continues to exchange fire with the Imperial troops.


Brad then hears a noise, vibration through his feet, the sound of 
approaching stormtroopers. A lot of them. Without thinking he hurtles 
towards the bridge entrance, blazing away at everything in his path. As he 
flies out of the bridge he sees them, what appears to be the _Imperator_'s 
entire contingent of stormtroopers, rank upon rank of the fearless killing 
machines rushing towards the bridge.


Brad drops his pistols with disgust.


Applied math. If you have two heavy blaster pistols with 25 shots each, and 
you have over a thousand enemies, how many enemies will be left? How many 
of you will be left?


He's out of ammo, anyway.