Project Boussh: What Leaders Do On Their Days Off by scifantasy At last Sci had some free time. Now he had a chance to take care of a few middling pieces of business. First up was his shuttle. With several members of the team with him in the med bay, and a few more connected over the comlink, he finally had the chance to decide on a name. "I'd suggest the _Lunatic_," said Corran, "but the Wraiths beat you to it." "Well, there's three names: the _Daring_, the _Audacity_, and the _Suicidal Insanity_." "Where's that from?" "OK, throw Douglas Adams onto the list." They chuckled at that. "Maybe I should just lend you my entire library." "Anyway, they don't sound right, although _Suicidal Insanity_ is good for Josh." said Becki, smiling slightly. "Either one, for that matter," Ooryl said from across the med bay. More chuckling. "Well, what about naming it the _Terra_?" Tycho's voice was, as usual, distorted over the com, but it was clear enough. Sci thought about it. "It's too easy. If we actually use it, calling it the _Terra_ would be like a beacon, announcing our presence." "Well, why not another term for your planet?" asked Shalla. "If I remember right, Terra isn't the common name." "Well, that's true," said Sci, "the most common name is Earth. Only problem is, the term means 'the home,' and it's very self-centered to call this planet 'the planet.' That's why I prefer Terra. It's an old Terran language for the same thing." "That makes sense...Are there any other languages you can use?" Sci smiled. "Now why didn't I think of that? In fact, I have the perfect name: Gaia." Hobbie thought about it. "The shuttle _Gaia_...I like it." Sci nodded. "I say we have a small ceremony, but first I have an official announcement to make." ---------- A couple of hours later, a small group stood around the shuttle, which was carbon-scored from the battles over Mendellia, and Kristy raised a bottle of wine. "I hereby christen you the _Gaia_. May you fly straight and true, and blow up all who stand in your way. And may the Force be with us all." She broke the bottle against the hull. The meeting broke up with light applause. Sci nodded to Sharon as she walked up the ramp. "Be careful." And try to get some rest while you can. Sci yawned. How long had it been since he'd slept? Let's see...The shuttle ride to Mendellia from New Hampshire. Maybe now he could actually get some sleep. But first, some reading. He reached into his trunk... ---------- All right, to heck with the reading. Maybe he could at least sleep... "Um, Sci? You might want to see this." Damn. "He what?" Morwen looked up from the computer she was working on. "He dedicated one level of prisons to his cloning templates. Most are Mendellian, but there's a list of foreigners...Here. I haven't read it through myself." She handed Sci a list of names. Sci whistled. "These are some names..." He stopped and his eyes jumped to Morwen. "Did Kristy see this yet?" "No. Why?" Sci dashed out of the room, thumbing his comlink. Morwen stared quizzically at the space he had been, until he stuck his head back in the door. "Keep this from her as long as possible, all right?" She nodded, confused. After he had left, she pulled up a copy of the list and started to read through. Kristy was down the hall when she heard someone burst out laughing. She walked back to the med bay to see Morwen doubled over in laughter. "What's so funny?" Sci and Thayer arrived at the prison level. The cells looked like standard jail cells, with front walls made up of bars. There was also a large group of isolation cells. As the two entered the room, the people in the standard cells dropped to one knee. Sci smiled. "These would be the citizens of Mendellia I mentioned. I imagine that they were here because they did not go willingly to be cloned, which means..." Thayer grinned. "Which means that they aren't loyal to my uncle." He raised his voice. "Citizens of Mendellia, I am Thayer Atner, Dictator of Mendellia." A cheer went up. Sci, meanwhile, found the main door control and opened the doors. Thayer raised his voice even more over the combined cheers of joy for Thayer and relief at being freed. "All those of you who are Mendellian, if there is nothing you need, you are free to return to your homes. If you have an issue you need dealt with, please be patient, and my colleague here and I will get to everybody in turn." Sci and Thayer sat in the guard station, going over names. Thayer suggested dealing with the Mendellians first; there were only a few who needed to talk to them, and most of them were easy cases. Sci had found a vault filled with all sorts of personal posessions, and most people wanted some precious trinket back before they went home. Sci decided that he'd have someone else deal with the international prisoners. And he knew just the person for the job. ---------- Washing his face, Sci walked back into the prison block. "Um, excuse me?" No effect. "HEY, SHUT UP!" Nothing. *Blam!* That got everyone's attention. Sci holstered his blaster. "All right, I know you all have some problems with one another. Now then, either stay away from each other until we can get you sorted out, or you'll go back into the isolation cells. Got it?" A general concensus was reached quickly. It was slow going, on a case-by case basis, but they were making progress. That's when Russell Crowe stuck his head in. "Anywhere a bloke can get a drink around here?" Thayer pointed down the hall. "There should be a storage room in there. Help yourself." "And be careful," Sci added as Crowe left. "There are a few people aroudn here who would be...Too glad to see you." "No worries," Crowe said as he walked out the door. Sci was about to pick up the next case file when he heard a noise that made his blood run cold. Kristy. Screaming. From the direction that Crowe had gone. Sci grabbed his blaster, setting it to stun, and raced out the door. Thayer shrugged. The scene wasn't as bad as he'd hoped. Well, that was Sci's prespective. To Crowe, having a woman come out of nowhere and attach herself to him, all the while screaming his name, was probably kind of nice. However, she was beginning to cut off circulation to his extremeties. "Hi," he said. "Get her off me?" Sci nodded. "Kristy, if you would, please?" Kristy almost pouted. "But..." Sci sighed. "Sometimes I think you do this to bug me personally." Kristy released her grip on Crowe. "But what is he doing here?" "Atner's Spaarti cylinders." Kristy was unable to restrain a chuckle as she ran back down the hall. Sci turned to Crowe. "I'm sorry about that. I take it you get that a lot?" "She'll be right." Crowe seemed unfazed. "I guess that's what you meant by 'too glad to see me.' What are you going to do about getting me home?" "Well, you'll be taken to your home sometime very soon, as soon as we can sort everything out. With many apologies and condolences, of course." "I hear the bastard who locked me up is dead." Sci nodded. "Good. Now, about that drink." "Oh, and congratulations on _Gladiator_ and _The Insider_." Sci said. Crowe nodded thanks and continued down the hall. Sci returned to the guard station as Thayer passed him a case file. "Take a look at this..." ---------- The comlink crackled as Sci was finishing up the cases. Thayer had contacted every pilot who could fly, and a fleet of small passenger jets was ready to take to the skies and return the various international victims home. Kristy, however, was going to be a problem with Crowe so close. Then Thayer had left. Sci held no illusions about where he'd gone. "Sci? We have trouble." It was Josh Nolan. "I'm listening." "We've been trying to puzzle this out for a while. We think Brad built the droids." "What?" Sci sat back. Wheels were spinning in his head, and he barely heard what Josh said next. "Well, the droids are Defel Droids, Inc., but they were made on Terra. Brad went by the name of Defel when he took over that Imp base. We also know he has Imp war droids..." "I see. Actually, that explains a lot. That probably explains why he did what he did. Get Piggy down here, ASAP." "Lieutenant SaBinring, reporting as ordered." Piggy stood at attention in the conference room that Sci had appropriated. "Piggy, I need you to help me work something out. A brainstorming session, as it were. Here, have a seat." "What is it?" "I think I know Brad's big secret. Let's say for a moment that he ran a droid manufacturing facility, one for war droids." "Yes, we know he did." "And if he sold them to the Empire, it could explain the income for the B-wing." Piggy nodded. "Why did you need my help for something that simple?" "There's more. Would the Empire award a Major's rank to someone like that?" Piggy considered the question, his head cocked to one side. "In Supply and Procurement, maybe." "And is it possible that Brad was being so secretive because he really did want to help, but he didn't want his sideline business threatened?" Piggy looked at Sci with a disbelieving expression. "You think that everything was motivated by profit?" Sci couldn't help smiling as he said, "Piggy, try as we might, Terrans don't have the evolved sensibility of the New Republic." Piggy was silent for a moment. "Well, that would actually explain quite a bit." "Here's another thing. This news came as a combined effort. Dorest Konnair was on Terra for a while." "Dorset Konnair of Polearm Squadron?" Sci nodded. "Brad's mysterious A-wing pilot?" "I'm betting. I guess she would be a backup, like when General Antilles had Colonel Celchu on Coruscant." "It makes sense." "Thanks, Piggy. That's what I needed to know. I'm going to give direct orders that Brad is not to be killed if at all possible. Stunned or otherwise rendered unconcious, but I want him alive and sane if I can get him." Piggy's eyes narrowed. "Why?" "Because I think he didn't betray us intentionally, and he won't. In fact, if he had, we'd probably all be dead now." "You think he's still on our side? Working from inside the _Admonitor_?" Sci nodded slowly. Piggy stood. "I don't envy the decisions a commaning officer makes, Sci. I can't give you advice either way, because I don't know Brad the way you do. I will say, however, that your explanation fits all of the factors, and that I sincerely hope you are correct." Sci slumped back in his chair as Piggy left the room. If anything else went wrong, he was sure he'd scream. Which reminded him. He flicked the switch on his comlink. He had a few issues to cover. "Mike here." "No hard feelings, Mike." "What?" "Don't worry, you and Elassar won't get in trouble from me." "I figure Elassar is in big enough trouble as it is...I hope someone is seeing to him." "You have bigger problems. I hear Emily's gone on the warpath, and she knows where you are." "How?" "Well, it's the leader's job to know what his people are up to."