"Oh Biggs, really?" said Tess with tears welling up in her wide, expressive cornflower blue eyes. "Really, sweetheart, if you'll have me." replied Biggs, his voice all choked up with the emotion of asking the woman he loved to spend the rest of her life by his side. He knew he didn't deserve the smallest fraction of love she freely gave him and for that he was profoundly honored and …..humbled at the same time. He rambled on, saying that if she needed time to think about it, he would understand of course and that she would take all the time she needed. Tess shook her head, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand as she said quietly "Shut up Biggs, just shut up." Shaken, Biggs looked up into the smiling, teary face of his angel in bewilderment, "What? I… I... don't …don't under..." his voice trailed off as Tess cupped his face in her hands and kissed him passionately, then she stared straight into his eyes and said "Yes." It had been one of the happiest moments in his life, that day. He sighed and rolled onto his side, she had been the best thing that happened to him, and now he didn't know whether she lived or died.
It had been 7 years since the Vong had been defeated and banished to the farthest confines of Wild Space. The Chiss had been assigned the task of making sure that no more Vong overstepped their boundaries and started off on another insane war of conquest. General Jagged Fel headed up the small task force made up of both Imperials and Rebels, along with his wife Col. Jaina Solo Fel. Fitting it was that those two had been picked to lead the task force, the oldest son of the Empire's greatest pilot since Darth Vader, General Soontir Fel and the daughter of former New Republic Chief of State, Leia Organa Solo. Their relationship had been one of the high points of the Vong Wars, as had the reformation of the long-dead Jedi Council. We suffered a lot of casualties in that war as well, chiefly amongst the Jedi. The Vong warmaster Tsavong Lah had brought a bounty down upon the heads of all the Jedi, more specifically Jacen Solo and his siblings.
It was during the war that she and I first met, after the Vong assault on the Academy at Yavin Four, Jedi Master Kam Solusar and his wife, Tionne (also a Jedi Master) volunteered to find a world where they could safely train the children currently in training. Eclipse Base, they called it when they had found it, anyways it was there at Eclipse that Tess and I first met. My mother and grandmother before they had both retired had worked in the upper echelons of the New Republic Intelligence division. My grandmother, Dria Darklighter Klivian had been the Supreme Allied Commander for the Intelligence department after the death of her predecessor, General Crix Madine. My mother, Thacia was one of the most successful field agents, ranking up there with her mother and Winter Celchu, the former aide of Leia Organa Solo. When news of the Vong war came, Mother and Grandmother came out of retirement as had several other of the Alliance heroes, the entire family (including all my aunts and uncles) joined the war effort, leaving my twin sisters and I along with our seven other cousins shuttled here and there until Eclipse Base was settled and we were able to stop there and finish our training.
Six months passed and finally I had finished my primary training and was ready to be taken as an apprentice. I was getting kind of restless there at Eclipse when one day as I was getting ready to dive into the bowels of an old (but functional) X-wing cockpit simulator, an oddly shaped, highly modified Troop Transport landed and then she came out along with her little brother and her parents. They said their goodbyes and then the parents boarded the transport again and took off. I hurriedly made sure I was presentable and offered to take them to Kam and Tionne, where they could then get settled. Turns out, Kam and Tionne were kind of hassled at the moment with the influx of kids, not just Jedi kids, but also the kids of some of the Alliance leaders like Ret. Gen.Wedge Antilles'. Tess (what an angelic name, I thought when I learned it) and I immediately offered to pitch in and help with the kids.
We also were informed that everyone fifteen and up was being asked to pitch in and help, being that there were only eight of us fifteen or higher ,it worked out just fine with me cause we decided to partner up within our age groups. Tess, my two cousins Lini Rendar-Tharen and Jonn Rendar-Tharen, and I worked together with most of the seven to twelve age groups. Then one day word came in the form of Lt. Col. Jedi Knight Jaina Solo, her brother, Jacen , Knight Tenel Ka(the recently crowned Queen Mother of the Hapes Cluster) , and Col. Jag Fel that finally after almost three years, we had at last come to the turning point of this drawn-out war with the Vong. It had not come cheaply through, at least half of the Jedi Knights and Masters had been killed by the Vong, among them an old friend of my mother, Eelysa and the Solo twins' younger brother, Anakin.
After they had left, I did some serious thinking and then went to find Kam, when I found him, I told him that since my training was finished, I wanted to go and join the war effort. To my astonishment, he agreed and three weeks later I (newly Knighted and a hot hand on a stick) tracked down the base where they were staging from and was assigned to one of the squadrons that were a pilot short. I had been assigned to the new Avenger Squadron, along with my good friend, Drew Cracken. It was in fact, the same squadron that my Uncle Davi was commanding by a strange twist of the Force. It wasn't until eighteen months later that I would see my angel again….
It was right after we had just returned from helping escort freighters and other transports to various destinations, when we stopped down on a old Imperial base conformed to suit the Alliance's needs(just like the good 'ole days before the Emperor died, I'm told) and there she was as part of the Intelligence crew stationed at the base. "Hey kid, pick your jaw up off of the floor" said Miklos, my uncle's wingman. Uncle Davi chuckled and then asked me "What're you staring at anyways, B?" It was all I could do to point, my mind was reeling, she was supposed to be safe back on Eclipse Base. What in the name of the Sith was she doing here? Uncle Davi let out a low whistle and remarked dryly "Wow, that's some looker, but surely wherever Thace and Diric kept ya'll, you had to have seen girls just as pretty." Then Drew remarked from behind us "Oh her" he answered with a chuckle "That's B's girlfriend." Some of the other squadron members let out low whistles; Uncle Davi gave me a measuring, sidelong glance and whispered "You done good, kid." At this, I grinned and replied "Thanks. I couldn't agree more, you see the girl next to her?" "Yeah, who is she?" inquired my Uncle. "Linya Rendar-Tharen, Drew's girl." I replied smugly. "Is not!" exclaimed Drew hotly "Low blow, B" "Is too, see for yourself, Doubter." I stated with a half-hidden smirk. Drew's eyes grew to the size of teacups as he saw that I had not been pulling his leg after all and that Lini ,his girlfriend was actually here on base. Drew started to sputter, but before he could utter a word, we heard this low muttering, almost like a growl. We turned around and Uncle Davi remarked "Come again?" Miklos flushed and replied "All I said was that it's not fair that those two infants over there have the two prettiest girls I've ever seen." The entire squadron burst out laughing at this and Uncle Davi said "c'mon guys let's go grab a bite to eat before we have to ship out again."
As we passed the two girls, Drew and I waved slightly at them and were rewarded with disbelieving stares. After we had presented ourselves to the general, gotten our orders and grabbed a bite to eat, Drew and I were headed back to the temporary quarters we were sharing, when we turned down the next corridor and found ourselves cornered by the girls. Apparently, they were not too happy with us going off and not telling them. After Drew and I had apologized and promised never to do it again, we begged out of further chit chat then as we were both dead on our feet. Lini and Tess understood and after kissing us goodnight left. That night, Drew and I went to bed happier than anything else in the world. The next day we got our orders from General Antilles and the High Council. We were to keep doing escort duty for now and we would be staging from here on Myriad Base for now.
The big surprise came two months later when One Flight ( which was Uncle Davi(Lead), Miklos(Two), Me(Three),and Drew(Four)) went out to escort a freighter which for some reason looked vaguely familiar to me. The freighter was already being escorted by four X-Wings, agreeing that this was really weird; Uncle Davi keyed his comlink and broadcast "This is Capt. Davis Klivian of the New Republic to the unknown freighter, you are in restricted airspace, please identify yourself and state your business here." There was a moment of silence and then the comm waves crackled to life, "Capt. Davis Klivian? You mean that fuzzy-cheeked infant nephew of mine made Captain!?" There was a resigned note in Uncle Davi's voice as it came over the squadron frequency "One Flight, S-foils in cruise position, they're ours." "Capt, Four here, are you sure?" Drew's voice somewhat choked with suppressed laughter came across the comm waves. I hit my comlink, "Lead, Three here, you want I should do a flyby?"
"That's not necessary, Three, they're family"
"Come again, Cap'n?"
"Family, Four as in yours, mine and Three's"
"Oh….Oh…"
Uncle Davi's voice came across the comm waves again "Freighter 'CorellAlder' please come to heading four, six, alpha, omega, three, eight for approach to Myriad."
"'CorellAlder' is complying and thanks lil brother."
As soon as we landed, Drew, Uncle Davi, Miklos, and I walked on over to where the 'CorellAlder' had landed. There were hugs and backslaps all around as I was surrounded by my mom and dad, my grandparents, aunts, uncles and extended family. At one point, I turned around to find Tess being pushed into my arms, we laughed and then kissed, and not even noticing that suddenly all attention was now focused on us. The kiss ended when we heard impatient shuffling of feet and muted clearing of throats. "Well, Race it could be worse, he could be an Imp or a Peace Brigader instead of my grandson." remarked my grandmother. "Thanks a lot, Grandma" I replied sarcastically. "Well, I for one am not that surprised at Biggs and Tess's relationship, what I want to know is how you ended up here in the same squadron as your uncle, instead of being at Eclipse Base where we left you?" wondered my mother. "Well, did I mention that Drew here is also dating?" I said, trying to evade the question. It worked. "Really, who is she?" asked Eowyn eagerly. "Thanks a lot, wingmate." Drew muttered and then replied out loud "Her name is Lini …" "Wait a minute" said Dash Rendar-Tharen "My Lini?" "Ummm yeah" answered Drew as Uncle Dash dragged him off for a "talk".
So 2 weeks went by as we sorted out and answered everyone's questions. My parents were (as Kam had predicted) thrilled that I had achieved Knighthood. I had a long talk with Tess's father and we understandably came to an agreement. Then they had to leave, going back to wherever it was, with whatever they had needed. One week after they had left, I proposed to Tess. I recall that during the brief period that we were engaged, we almost never saw one another. I was always just leaving on another escort or recon mission or she was off on her "special" Intelligence missions.
It was one of the rare times where we were actually in the same place at the same time that we decided after talking it over that we were just going to go and get married. Somehow in the 2 hours before the wedding, Tess had managed to come up with this simple, but stunningly beautiful white sheath dress. Our witnesses were Lini, Drew and the rest of Avenger Squadron. Uncle Davi and Miklos had heard me asking Drew to come as one of the witnesses and not only showed up with the rest of the squadron in dress uniforms, but also arranged for a special little banquet in the mess hall. After the ceremony and the mini-reception, Tess and I recorded and sent messages to our families. Then we retired to the "Bridal Suite" (in other words, my quarters spruced up and arranged slightly differently) and spent the most amazing night together. For the next week and a half, surprisingly enough, the squadron was not requested for any sort of duty whatsoever. That week had also been marked by the wedding of Drew and Lini.
Then the Vong attacked, somehow they had caught on to the location of Myriad, at any rate as my squadron mates and I scrambled for our freighters, I sent off a holomessage to Tess, asking her to drop everything, grab Lini and to abandon Myriad. I also told her that I loved her and that Drew and I would meet up with them at HQ. After all the escaping ships (the ones that got off of the ground at least) had jumped to hyperspace, what was left of the squadron also made the jump. We made it to HQ barely, only to discover that our brides of a week and a half (or in Drew's case, five days) had not been in one of the ships that were able to escape Myriad.
That meant that they were either holed up somewhere on or in Myriad or captured by the Vong. The sickening realization of this hit me and it was like someone had suddenly shot me with a stun bolt. My mind raced at lightspeed, no there had to be a mistake, she was here somewhere, and she had to be. No! She couldn't have been left with there with the Vong swarming all over the planet now. Then I looked over at Drew and saw on his face the same look that must have been on mine and I knew it was true, we had unknowingly left our wives back on Myriad. It was Miklos that first noticed that neither Drew nor I were following the rest of the squadron as they went to eat and then sleep. He walked back to where we were and in short order he had the entire story. He too leaned back against the bulkhead and closed his eyes for a moment. Then they snapped open again and he told us to follow him, certain that he was onto something we followed him to the secure office where Uncle Davi was giving his report on what had happened at Myriad.
The General shot us a cool look as we barged into his office, until Miklos explained in a hushed voice to Uncle Davi. Uncle Davi's face had blanched when he heard about the girls and he shot us a sympathetic look before telling the General what Miklos had just told him. General Antilles looked at us and then asked "What do the boys have to do with it?" directing the question to Uncle Davi. Before he had a chance to reply however, I stepped forward and answered "Our part in this, sir is that the two girls in question happen to be our wives." "Ah, I see" the Gen. said, a look of understanding passing across his face "you look oddly familiar somehow, what's your name and rank?"
"Lt. Biggs Sunrider sir and my friend here is Lt. Drew Cracken." Then the General shot a look at Uncle Davi and remarked dryly "Thace and Tell's kids? How'd they end up under you, Captain?" My uncle shook his head and replied "I have no idea, Uncle Wedge, supposedly they signed up and by some twist of the Force were both assigned to the Avengers. I, myself didn't figure out who they were until after our first three missions."
"Hmmm, well I will look into plans for a search and rescue op, until then Lt. Sunrider and Lt. Cracken; I suggest you get some rest. Don't worry, we'll do our best to recover your wives." "Yes, Sir" we answered and saluted, then left the room.
That day was seven years ago and still there has been no word on Tess and Lini. Supposedly , from what Intelligence can figure out from the remains of Myriad Base, the two girls were captured , taken to the Vong ship and then two days before our rescue op, they left for who knows where, taking Tess and Lini with them. The New Republic gave up the search after a year but we are still searching, Drew and I and we will keep searching until the day we die. Always hoping, looking, praying that they are still out there, seven years has not dimmed our resolve, it has strengthened it. We are on our way now to check up on some leads that might give us a clue as to where the Vong ship may have fled to. We will not rest until they are found, some call us crazy, some insane, we're just determined, unwilling to give up on our quest, the Quest to find our Angels.