Project Boussh: Unopened Mail
by Nick Coghlan

Still distracted by the burning wreckage he'd created, Yarg failed to
notice the figure rounding the tree in front of them. Nick shook his
head, attempting to clear the ringing from his ears. As his vision cleared
again, he spotted the enemy the Ewok had missed. Pushing Yarg to one side,
he brought his blaster up, drawing a bead on the centre of the soldier's
chest. As always seemed to happen when he was hit by the adrenaline charge
of combat, time seemed to slow. Details embedded themselves on his retina,
as his mind came into the sharp focus only the rawest of self-preservation
instincts could engender.
  
The figure wore a standard stormtrooper breastplate. No limb coverings,
no helmet, no slate colouring.
  
A red light flashed above the target's left ear. The rate increased to
a frenetic level.
  
The figure began to lift its blaster.
  
Nick's blaster reached the required position. His finger tightened on
the trigger.
  
A flicker of light from the smouldering walker lightened the enemy's
visage. It was Face.
  
A blaster shot rang out, and Face fell forward in the snow, his blaster
dropping from his hand.
  
The red light flashed even faster. Face moaned. Dropping the canister in
his left hand, he reached towards the fallen blaster. His right arm
remained tight against his side.
  
Yarg moved forward, weapon at the ready. Nick raised his left hand to halt
the Ewok's advance.
  
Smoothly flicking the power setting to stun, the Terran pumped another shot
into Face's slowly moving body. 
  
As Nick reset and holstered his blaster, his adrenaline-charged brain began
to slow to normal speeds. Looking away from his former target, he scanned
the forest, looking for any sign of further hostile activity. He could still
hear blaster fire and explosions, but nothing in his immediate vicinity.
Nodding to Yarg to keep watch, he moved over to the fallen man.
  
Picking up the blaster from the ground, he gave it a cursory inspection
before tucking it into his belt. The message canister got a similarly brief
review before being slipped into a pocket. The hardware secure, Nick turned
his attention to the stunned figure on the ground in front of him. A few
muscles still twitched in reaction to the stun bolt. Going down on one
knee, he rolled the comatose man onto his back.
  
It looked like Face alright. Nick swore to himself. A deep blaster wound
marked the Pantolomin's shoulder, where Nick had averted his aim to go for the
disabling shot instead of the straight kill. The odd device behind Face's ear
was puzzling, as was his action in drawing a blaster on supposed friendlies.
Could this be another one of those damn clones? 
  
Still, the mysteries behind Face's apparent appearance were not something to
be unraveled while there was a lightfight going on. Until he could get Elassar
to look at the strange chip, and the man himself was able to talk, there wasn't
a lot to be done. Shaping his hands carefully, he whistled a call that drew nearby
Ewoks towards him. Detailing two of them with a flick of his figures he said,
"Guard him. We need him in one piece when this is over."
  
The selected Ewoks yubbed their assent.  Gesturing to Yarg and remaining warriors,
Nick drew his blaster from its holster, and headed for the sounds of combat.