Project Boussh: Traitor? by Alison Sky Alison sat at the edge of the beach, watching the oily black waves beat against the sand. Ooryl, Morwen and Winter had gone to join Kristy in making plans with the information that they had gathered. Alison thought. "Where ever the path that your mind is taking you is one of anger, not of logic." Alison turned to find Ooryl approaching her from behind. She sighed and nodded. "I don't know how to balance my emotions right now, Ooryl. It's like, my heart is breaking from seeing all this destruction. I feel like I'm responsible for Face being kidnapped, not to mention Shannon. And I can't think of any way to help bring things back right again." Ooryl sat down next to her, looking out over the water. "I am Findsman, yet finding a person's path in life is more of a private journey then a helpful one. But if you wish, Ooryl can guide you." Alison bit her lower lip, smiling. "Normally, I would be too proud to ask for help. But I think this is something that we need to tackle as a group. I wish that there was a way that i could just do one thing, and poof, everything would be healed." "If everything were as easy as that," Ooryl stated, "then there would be now need for heros. But then things would be so simple, that people would stop caring about causes." Alison nodded. "I just wish I had the great skill of being a leader. Sometimes I don't even know why I accepted the offer to join this mission." "Ah yes, the self doubt." Ooryl smiled. "Kirney warned Ooryl about this trait in you. Reminds Ooryl of Hobbie, I think." "I usually thought myself more of being like Wes myself." Ooryl laughed. "Big difference. Wes doesn't want the responsibility. Hobbie can't handle it." "If he heard you say that, I'm sure he would fly here right now and kick your butt." Suddenly, two X-wings flew overhead, starting to land on the sand a few hundred feet from them. Alison and Ooryl exchanged glances, then got up to see who had come to visit. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Emily jumped out of the X-wing, pulling off the helmet as her feet sunk into the sand. "That was awesome!" she stated, as Hobbie came up next to her. "Yeah, they can be fun to ride in. I hope Snipe wasn't a big problem. He's still upset about..." Emily sighed. "Snipe was perfect... a bit crude, but he showed me everything." "HEY EMILY!" Emily and Hobbie turned and saw Ooryl and Alison appraoching them. Emily ran forward to meet them, embracing Alison while Hobbie and Ooryl shook hands. As the two girls seperated, Alison looked around. "Where's Wes?" Emily and Hobbie exchanged glances. "Um, Alison....Wes..." Emily looked to Hobbie for support. "Some guy named Retsim captured him. They tortured and killed him, then sent the video to us." A hand went to Alison's mouth, and she tried to hold back tears. Emily squeezed her shoulder. "Not another one," she muttered. "One more log to put under Atner's fire," Emily stated. "Are you sure the video was not digitally altered?" Ooryl asked. Hobbie nodded. Alison broke away, turning her back on them all. "WHY?" she screamed to the stars. Emily moved to go to her side, but Ooryl stops her. "Give her a moment to herself." After screaming for a few moments, Alison collapsed onto the sand, weeping. Emily, Ooryl and Hobbie went to her then. "First Quiara, then Face and Shannon, then the animals, and now Wes. How many more people have to be hurt before we finally stop him?" "You might want to add four more to that list." The group looked up to find themselves staring down blaster barrels. All wore wet suits and scuba gear. Out of the five, only one looked familiar. "Face!" Alison cried. Yet Face made no motion that he knew who they were, Instead, he motioned with his blaster for them to stand. "It's foolish to fly a New Republic ship over our waters," Face stated. "Face, you don't reconize us?" Hobbie asked. "Who the hell is Face?" Face asked. Hobbie was about to answer, but Ooryl put an arm on him to stop him. He motioned to Face's ear, which held a red blinking light above it. "He's not him," Ooryl whispered. "What do you want from us?" Emily asked. "It's not me," Face said. "Mister Retsim wants to honor of your company." Alison saw Hobbie and Emily's face tighten, and she knew that hers was one to match theirs. Wes' killer..... Alison couldn't finish her thought as four stun bolts were fried, knocking the four combats to the ground unconcious. Then the thugs equiped them with scuba gear and they all disappeared under the water before anyone could notice them.