Broken Rules
ECHO BASE.
HOTH.
A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY.
The stars surrounded the two X-Wings in their shimmering brilliance. The planet Hoth loomed frostily in front of them, its icy surface glowing eerily from space. The pilots were silent, their astromechs making minute adjustments to their course, and, though they were Rebels on the run from the Empire's heavy fist, for a moment the two men felt peace. It was the kind of peace that could only be felt while piloting, and both of them were equally content.
"It's times like these that I can almost forget I'm a hunted man," the first pilot said, his X-Wing bearing one of only two Death Star symbols in the fleet. His partner's craft bore the other, painted on the hull of his ship just below the cockpit, a mark of just how good both pilots really were.
"The only reason you're hunted, Wedge," the other admonished, "is because you owe Han fifty credits in losses. Whatever possessed you to challenge him to a game of sabaac in the first place?"
"I find myself frequently asking that same question, Luke," the first pilot replied, and then laughed into his comm. "I'm counting down the days until he flies the Falcon off this ice cube. I hope he'll forget about it once he leaves."
"Don't count on it, Wedge," Luke said with a laugh of his own. "If there is one thing Han has trouble forgetting, it's credits and what's owed him."
The two of them fell silent again, orbiting the planet, always watching for a sign of the Empire.
"You're leading again, Wedge," Luke said through the comm after a moment. The other pilot checked, realized his partner was correct, and brought his ship into a starboard roll, nudging the stick until he came up on Luke's port side.
"Is our shift nearly over?" he asked with a sigh.
"Bored, are you?" Luke raised an eyebrow in his direction.
"In your company? Never," Wedge laughed, and soon Luke joined in.
The sharp crackle of static trying to get through the commlink quieted them both, and Luke cleared his throat. "Echo Base, this is Rogue Leader. Are you trying to reach us? Over."
There was silence over the comm, and Luke tried again. "Rogue Leader to Echo Base, do you copy?"
A crackle-pop spat through their earpieces, causing both pilots to wince at the noise. "Static," Wedge muttered. "Blast this ice planet."
"My guess is that our shift is over, Wedge," Luke said, nosing his X-Wing down towards the planet. "Let's get further in and try again."
"Right with you, Rogue Leader," Wedge saluted, manoeuvring his ship in the same way.
Side by side, the two of them streaked through the atmosphere toward the surface of the planet, racing to see who would break through the clouds first. "Echo Base, this is Rogue Leader. Do you copy?" Luke tried again.
"Rogue... Base... Return... Relieved... Over," came back through the comm., still sparking with static.
"At least we can hear something this time," Wedge said, and as Luke turned his head to smile at him, his X-Wing dropped from his port side and rolled backward underneath Luke's ship to come up on his starboard side again.
The sandy haired pilot laughed, shaking his head, and acknowledged that they had gotten their orders. They then wasted no time in getting back to the base.
As Luke pulled himself from the cockpit, he could see Wedge standing on the hanger floor, helmet under his arm. He was in a heated conversation with General Rieekan. His eyebrows were furrowed at the general, his hands on his hips. Things did not look good. Luke scrambled down the ladder toward his friend, but the general left before he could join them.
"What's wrong?" he asked Wedge when he reached him. Wedge was still scowling.
"Rieekan didn't appreciate the little celebratory barrel roll I executed in G's. Says I could have cost him a damn fine ship and pilot. Looked more concerned about the ship." Wedge appeared hurt by this comment, and with good reason. Luke put an arm around his shoulders to comfort him.
"He was just jealous that he can't get out of the damn snow bank for a while," Luke joked.
Wedge turned and smiled at his friend. "Thanks," he said. Their eyes caught in the pass, and suddenly, Luke's throat felt very tight. His stomach did a barrel roll identical to Wedge's move earlier, and his heart began thumping in his chest. He removed his arm from around Wedge's shoulder.
"Uh, you're welcome," he said quickly, shifting his flight helmet to the other arm. "I'll catch up later," he said to the floor, not daring to meet Wedge's eyes again. "I've got to see Leia about... things." He walked out of the hanger without looking back, leaving Wedge to wonder what just happened.
ECHO BASE. SHIELD GENERATOR CONTROL ROOM.
Luke watched the sizzling blue energy field surrounding the shield generator and thought about what had just happened in the hanger. He hadn't had much experience with that kind of feeling before. Sure, he had felt something similar to that the first time he had seen Leia sleeping on that cold, hard bunk in the detention block of the Death Star. His heart had done some sort of flip-flop within his armoured chest. But just now, with Wedge, it had been stronger. Much stronger. It had just about come out of his rib cage, he was sure of it. He also knew that it wasn't normal to feel like that when his friend looked at him.
He sighed, and the control room operator glanced over at him. "Everything all right, sir?" he asked formally.
Luke glanced back at him. He had forgotten the man was even there. "Yes, thank you, Lieutenant. Just tired of living on this hunk of rock."
The operator laughed. "I'm with you on that one, sir."
Luke smiled in his direction and went back to brooding. He should go talk to Han. Perhaps, in amongst the bravado, his friend might have something to say on the matter of love. He would just conveniently leave out the part about Wedge.
ECHO BASE HANGER BAY. MILLENIUM FALCON.
Han was, not surprisingly, in the middle of a 'modification' to the Falcon. He had most of his body stuck in an access panel in the floor when Luke finally found him.
"Hey kid, what's up?" he yelled in reply to Luke's greeting. Han didn't seem to notice that the tone of voice the younger man was sporting wasn't exactly one of joviality.
"Can I talk to you for a second?" Luke asked.
"Of course." There was a crash from inside the access tube, and a hand reached out to grope on the deck. When it did not find what it sought, it connected a fist with the parasteel plating. "Luke, hand me the hydrospanner, would you?"
Wordlessly, the young man picked up the instrument six inches from the fist and placed it into waiting fingers.
Han cried "Ah!" when his hand closed around it, and then retracted the arm back into the access hatch. "Now then," he said, head still sub-level. "What did you want to talk about?"
Luke was quiet for a moment before replying. "What does it feel like when you're in love?" he asked, whispering without really knowing why.
The tinkering noises that had been issuing from the hold stopped at once, and Han's voice was strangely serious when he finally chose to ask, "Who do you think you're in love with?"
"Not Leia," Luke replied all too quickly, and then cursed softly. He noticed Han's body relax, so he elaborated a little more. "Just... someone," he added. "Someone I know fairly well." He decided that was enough.
"Not naming names, huh? Han asked with a little sarcasm in his voice. "Fair enough, I suppose. A boy needs his secrets." He lifted himself out of the hole, pushing his head up and out. Placing the hydrospanner on the deck again, he took a rag from a nearby pile of things and wiped his hands.
"Well," he began, settling down beside Luke, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor. "Whenever I think I'm in love, two things generally happen.
"We inevitably end up at each other's throats, for starters," Han said with an almost wistful look in his eyes.
"But we're not fighting," Luke countered, running a hand through his hair.
"Give it time, kid," Han said in a sardonic tone.
"And what's the other thing?" Luke pried, trying to get something useful out of the older man.
Han looked him straight in the eyes and, with all seriousness, said, "Every time they look at me, even when we're fighting, my heart speeds up, my palms get sweaty, and if we make eye contact, it's like blaster fire." He stopped and sighed, as if remembering something. "That feeling is love, kid."
Luke groaned heavily, and Han laughed. "Don't sound so happy about it," he admonished. Luke managed a half-grin in the older man's direction before standing.
"Thanks, Han," he said from above him. "I'll talk to you later."
He left the ship as Han shouted "Good luck!" after him. He waved at Chewie, who was 'modifying' the comm dish. He began to think about what Han had said. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he shuffled, puzzling, toward his quarters.
SPACE.
Luke shifted uneasily in the cockpit, and tried to catch Wedge's X-Wing out of the corner of his eye. The brown-haired pilot was keeping his astronautical acrobatics to a minimum today, which was not at all in keeping with the way he normally spent his surveillance shifts. Luke was worried.
His curiosity finally got the best of him. "What's wrong, Wedge?" he asked over the comm. "You look so... disheartened." He pulled the throttle back a little so he could make eye contact with his wingman.
Through the canopy, he could see Wedge looking over at him. "It's this thing with Rieekan," he said, his face pained with frustration.
"Is he still on your case about the barrel roll in G's?" Luke was incredulous. "The whole beauty of the X-Wing is that it's designed to be just as manoeuvrable in atmosphere as it is in space." His fist connected with the durasteel lining of the cockpit. "He should know that!"
"It's not that," Wedge said softly, catching Luke's attention again.
"Has he been after you about something else?" Luke suddenly found himself angry, and he wasn't sure why.
"Yes... no... we'll talk about it later," Wedge evaded.
"Why?" Luke demanded, shocked at his tone. He could feel the Force bubbling inside of him, daring him to use it in rage, and he pushed it back down into a calm spot. This reaction was happening a great deal very suddenly, and he knew he should look into it, but now wasn't the time. He exhaled slowly and tried asking again. "Why?"
"Because... I can explain this better face to face," Wedge explained with a sigh. "I promise I'll discuss it once we're back on the snowball."
Luke supposed it would do. "Okay," he consented. "I'll hold you to that." He tried a lopsided grin out the port side of the cockpit, and found Wedge giving him a matching one from inside his ship. Luke's heart executed Wedge's famous barrel roll in perfect unison with Wedge's ship, making Luke feel queasy and warm at the same time.
We're not arguing yet, Luke thought to himself. Please don't let us ever argue. He wasn't sure if he could handle being in love.
ECHO BASE. WEDGE'S QUARTERS.
The two pilots sauntered through the door, still in their flight suits. Luke had followed Wedge from the hanger bay, and Wedge hadn't argued.
The sandy-haired pilot hung his helmet on the bedpost, standing in front of his companion, who had dropped onto the firm mattress. "Why don't you start from the beginning?"
Wedge scrubbed at his face with his hands. "Remember when Rieekan was at me for that barrel roll? Well, that wasn't the beginning. It started three weeks before that. I was eating lunch in the ready room, when he came up to me..."
ECHO BASE. READY ROOM. THREE WEEKS AGO.
"Shouldn't you have finished eating by now?"
Wedge whipped around at the authority in the voice. "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. I just can't fly on an empty stomach, sir." He swallowed once more and crumpled the silver packaging from the energy bar he had just finished. "My surveillance shift starts at zero-eight-hundred."
Rieekan stared at Wedge hard, and the brown haired pilot swallowed again, involuntarily this time.
"I wanted to talk to you privately before you went out today," the general said, stepping close to where Wedge now stood.
"Yes, sir," Wedge cleared his throat. "What was it that you wanted to speak to me about, sir?"
Rieekan stepped closer still. "I want to wish you luck on the run. Even three years after Yavin, we're still hurting for pilots." He reached up and brushed Wedge's hair out of his wide, brown eyes. "Especially excellent ones, such as yourself."
Wedge stood stock still. His body screamed at him to run, but decorum prevented it. "Is that everything, sir?" he asked in a frosty tone, jerking his chin out of Rieekan's fingers.
The general sighed. "That is all, Captain." He brought himself together, snapping straight. "You are dismissed," he said coolly.
"Yes, sir!" Wedge replied, a little more enthusiastically than he intended, and, flight plans under one arm, jogged out of the room.
ECHO BASE. WEDGE'S QUARTERS.
"...and the rest of the encounters have been about the same," Wedge concluded.
Luke's lips were pressed thinly together, and if his hands hadn't been jammed into his pockets, they would have been crushing something between them. As it were, they were rolled into fists so tightly that he could no longer feel his fingers.
Wedge noticed his friend's stony exterior. "Luke, are you all right?" he asked.
Luke swallowed and managed to choke out a short, "Yes".
Wedge lifted an eyebrow. "You don't look okay."
Luke tried a tight lipped smile. What was he going to say? That Rieekan should be brought up on charges of harassment? That Wedge should defend himself, with a blaster point if necessary? That the general was, after several accusations of the same thing, still not getting the picture? As a friend, he could offer support. As a lover, he could offer comfort. As something in between, he could only get jealous and frustrated. He looked at Wedge. "I think you should tell Leia about this."
"But what could she do?" Wedge asked, throwing his hands in the air. "She's got to decide between a hot shot pilot and a seasoned army general. There's no contest."
"There is when the hot shot is a friend, and the general has had previous complaints against him." Luke grabbed his helmet. "I'll talk to her, Wedge, discreetly. She'll listen to me. I know she will."
"Thanks, Luke." Wedge looked eased by not having to re-tell the story. "I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Well, for one thing, you wouldn't have such a dashing and charismatic wingman." Luke grinned and messed up Wedge's hair. "I'll drop by later and fill you in on how things went with Leia."
"I eagerly await your return, my most dependable commander," Wedge laughed, clapping his friend on the back.
Luke eagerly awaited returning, but he didn't mention that to his friend as he walked out the door. He just flashed him another genuinely happy smile and left.
Without Luke knowing it, the smile had the desired effect on its target. Wedge, in surprise, put a hand on his abdomen and felt his stomach flip for the first time, even after all those barrel rolls.
ECHO BASE. LEIA'S CHAMBERS.
The white-on-white décor of the princess's chambers had always made Luke feel as though he was going to dirty something, and this visit, still in his flight suit from his surveillance shift, was no different. He could tell Leia was busy by the way she had begun their conversation distractedly, but he could see her attention snap into place as he began to tell her about Rieekan and Wedge. By the end of the story, she was pacing, a trait she had picked up from her mother (thought she didn't know it), and something she often did while thinking. When she had begun to walk from one side of the room to the other, Luke had relaxed. It was a good sign that she was focused on the problem at hand.
"How many times exactly has Wedge indicated Rieekan behaving like this?" Leia asked as she tapped the ends of her fingers together in time with her steps.
"He didn't say exactly, just an estimate of roughly ten." Luke shifted on the couch. "Hasn't Rieekan been accused of this before?"
"Twice, and both times, the claimants have mysteriously withdrawn their complaints. As far as anyone knows, Rieekan's a flawless example of character in a leadership role." She leaned on the couch and looked down at Luke. "If Wedge could stick it out, then maybe I can get him removed, but, if he doesn't, I'm not sure I can do anything."
Luke bowed his head. "I understand."
Leia narrowed her eyes. "You've taken an awful interest in Wedge's welfare, Luke."
The pilot stood up and stretched. "He's my friend, Leia, and he's hurting from this. He's becoming distracted, and I can't be flying with a distracted wingman, now can I?" He threw a smile at her, and she, cautiously, answered it with one of her own.
"Is that the only reason, I wonder?", she mused aloud.
Luke said nothing, but his smile faltered and his face flushed under her gaze. He bowed quickly and left the room, not trusting his voice enough to confirm or deny the question hanging between them.
ECHO BASE. HANGER BAY.
Two days later, Luke was checking his X-Wing over for all pre-flight regulations when he heard a whistle from behind him.
"Hey, kid," a familiar voice called up to him.
"Han," a surprised Luke responded. "What's up?"
"Apparently, your wingman bailed on you, kid. They sent me to tell you not to bother prepping your ship. They're sending Zev and his buddy up instead."
"WHAT?!" Luke exclaimed. He jumped from the ladder to the ground, nearly colliding with Han when he landed. "I'm Rogue Leader, and I say who goes up when. Who gave the orders? Was it Rieekan? Where's Wedge? What's wrong?"
"Easy, kid," Han placated. "I'm just the messenger. He's been in his room all day. He won't see anyone." He paused, a frown forming on his face. "There's something else you should know, too. It's about the general."
"Rieekan?"
"He knows, kid."
"Knows?"
"You talked to Leia? About him and Wedge?"
Luke nodded slowly.
"Well, he knows." Han put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "He knows, and he's not happy. Be careful."
Luke didn't acknowledge Han's concern. He just took off at full speed for Wedge's quarters, and hoped to Hell he didn't meet Rieekan on the way. He had a very strong, very bad feeling about this.
ECHO BASE. WEDGE'S QUARTERS.
Luke tapped lightly on the door with his knuckle. When no reply came from within, he looked up and down the all to make sure no one was coming, and then called out. "Wedge? It's Luke."
From inside the room, there was a thump, then the sound of bare feet slapping the durasteel floor. A moment later, the door slid open. Wedge stood in the frame, hair dishevelled, feet bare, wearing nothing but loose drawstring pants. He could have just woken, if not for the fact that the bags of darkness under his eyes spoke otherwise. He must have been freezing. Luke could see his breath in the hallway.
"Wedge?" he wondered incredulously.
"Yes?" Wedge ran his fingers through his hair, causing more of it to stand up on end. "I have nothing to say to you."
Anger welled up inside Luke. "Then why did you open the door?" He took a deep breath, willing the Force back down. "What is wrong with you?"
"What was wrong with you?" Wedge exploded. "Why couldn't you keep your mouth shut?"
Luke ground his teeth together. Stepping forward, he passed Wedge and ducked into his friend's quarters. He didn't need the whole base to know what was going on.
Wedge sighed and closed the door. He turned to Luke, arms crossed, still waiting for an answer.
"I told you I was going to talk to Leia," Luke started.
"But you didn't tell me you were going to talk to Rieekan!"
"I didn't!" Luke roared.
Wedge blinked. "You didn't?"
"Do you honestly think I would betray your trust like that, Wedge? We've been friends for too long now. Don't start accusing me of things before you know the truth." Luke smacked the wall with his palm. The Force was seething inside him. He had to learn to control himself. He breathed in deeply. Ben would be having kittens were he alive to see this, a Jedi letting his emotions get the best of him.
Wedge closed the gap between them, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. Wordlessly, Luke turned to face him. The air crackled between them.
Luke took another deep breath and focused on the face in front of him. In a moment, he had released the anger that had been raging in him. He smiled tentatively at Wedge. "Now. Since we know I didn't tell Rieekan, and Leia would never betray that kind of trust either, who do you think told the general that he was going to be investigated yet again?"
Wedge's eyebrows furrowed. "Someone close to Leia, perhaps? Someone who could have overheard the two of you talking?"
Luke shook his head. "Maybe. I don't know." He gazed at friend, and a warm feeling crept up from his stomach into his throat. His fingers floated up the outside of Wedge's arm, tickling the hairs, drifting up his neck to brush along a jaw line covered with stubble. "You need to shave," he said absently, smiling faintly as he ran a finger down Wedge's chin.
"I was thinking of growing a beard," he replied softly.
"It would never grow, you know," Luke retorted. He stepped closer to his friend, until mere inches separated them.
"I know," was Wedge's concession, faintly more than a thick breath. He closed his eyes.
Luke leaned in to kiss the man who had been haunting his dreams for months.
Then he had an epiphany.
"Threepio!" he exclaimed, drawing away from Wedge, smacking his forehead. "Ugh. How could I have been so stupid?!"
"What?" Wedge opened his eyes. They were a mixture of disappointment and perplexity. This did not go unnoticed by Luke, who, unfortunately, was on a roll.
"Threepio was there when I went to talk to Leia. If Rieekan asked him, he would have no way of knowing that what he told him would have consequences." Luke groaned. "I can't believe I didn't think of this before." He sat heavily on the edge of the bed, and looked up at Wedge.
His friend stood close to him still, brown eyes now full of hope, and something was sparking about him again. Not only that, but a smile full of love broke his face in a wide half moon.
Luke's heart flipped again when he remembered how close he was to him, and how much closer he had been moments ago.
And then his heart reminded him of his stalled flight.
"Get your flight suit on," he admonished Wedge, standing and making for the door. "We've got a patrol to fly, and a lot to discuss. And I don't know about you, but I always think better when I'm flying."
"I'm with you, Rogue Leader," Wedge said sardonically, but with the grin still intact. "I'll meet you in the hanger in five minutes."
"And no more!" Luke yelled over his shoulder as he stepped out the door, starting at a jog back to his ship. If they hurried, they could still take off on schedule. Space would allow them the chance to talk freely, and, for once in his life, Luke was eager to see Wedge perform some of his famous barrel rolls. In fact, he was in the mood to try a few himself, and the mood would only get better after he told Zev that he wouldn't be needing his shift covered after all.
SPACE.
"So you think that, all this time, it's been Threepio feeding Rieekan the information he wanted?"
"I think Rieekan's being using Threepio to get it, yes, but I don't think Threepio was aware he was giving it away." Luke scrubbed his face with a gloved hand. The blast shield on his helmet was lifted so he could maintain visual contact with his wingman. Or, at least, that was the official reason.
"I'm confused," Wedge said over the comm. "How could Threepio not know?"
"He's a droid, Wedge. I'm a human, and I still don't understand the subtle workings of the human mind sometimes. If Rieekan hadn't wanted him to know, he wouldn't have known."
Wedge was silent, which probably meant that he agreed. The comm crackled in Luke's earpiece, and he flicked it over to the channel open to Echo Base. "This is Rogue Leader, Echo Base. Transmission acknowledged. Over."
The comm popped, and a familiar voice came over the air. "Whatever you did to get Wedge out of his room deserves a whole lot of credit, Luke." Leia's voice carried her smile with it.
"It was nothing, Leia. I'm just... persuasive." Luke laughed, and Leia's silvery echo rang in his ears.
"Well, save the cockiness for later, Rogue Leader," she said, catching her breath and becoming serious. "You're wanted back on base. Now." Her tone let no room for discussion.
Luke swallowed hard. It wasn't going to be good, whatever it was. "Understood, Echo Base. Will relay the message and rendezvous shortly. Rogue Leader out." He switched back to the channel he had been using to talk to Wedge. "Bad news, Wedge. Someone's cut our tail feathers. We're wanted back on base. Now."
Wedge gulped. "Do you think it has anything to do with...?"
"No," Luke interrupted firmly. He softened his voice to elaborate. "No. Whatever it is, it's bigger than us. It was Leia who sent the message."
He could hear Wedge's sigh of relief. "Well, I suppose we should find out what they want, then."
Luke's mouth crept up at the corners. "Yes, I guess we had."
The two X-Wings dipped back toward the planet in perfect unison, descending back into atmosphere, ice, snow, and responsibility.
ECHO BASE. BRIEFING ROOM.
"The shield has been given the 'okay' to commence operation by its engineers," Leia began, and there was a cheer from the assembled audience. She smiled, holding up her hands for silence to continue. "We will start by extending the shield just over the main hangers and control rooms of the base. If the test is successful, the coverage will be recalibrated a little at a time until we can learn what the maximum potential area of protection will be. Until this maximum area has been determined, all patrols off planet have been suspended." She paused, and there was a mixed reaction in the crowd. Some were disappointed; others saw the necessity.
"Rogue Squadron will patrol using the snowspeeders," Rieekan interjected as he stepped up beside Leia. "We will also be running alternate, closer patrols on tauntaun." This time, the entire audience groaned. No one particularly enjoyed the smell of the foul native beast.
"There will be no ships leaving the system until the energy shield has been activated to its fullest capacity. The last thing we need to do is alert the Empire to our whereabouts before we can protect ourselves." Rieekan paused. "Test operations will begin at 0800 hours." He scanned the audience, and, spotting Luke, crooked a finger. "Rogue Leader, may I see you?"
Luke paled but stood, following Rieekan off to the side of the room.
Leia cleared her throat. "Meeting adjourned. Thank you, everyone." She glanced over at Luke and the general, and decided to join Wedge instead, to apologize for the information leak as well as avoid any unpleasant confrontations between him and Rieekan.
Luke, still in his flight suit, was approaching Rieekan on the opposite side of the room. The general looked grim, which never ended well for Luke.
"I want to discuss the deployment of your pilots," he said.
Luke cringed. "Yes? What about them?"
Rieekan glared sternly at him. "You are not making use of your resources properly, Luke. You are pairing good pilots with one another, and leaving the mediocre to fend for themselves."
Luke immediately understood the real reason behind the conversation. "You don't want Wedge and I flying together," he said bluntly.
Rieekan looked a little surprised, but covered it well. "It is not the best use..."
"Of my resources, yeah, I got that," Luke finished. "Fine. Wedge will no longer be my wingman. However, General, let me make something clear: as Rogue Leader, it is my task to ensure my unit is organized in the best possible way. It is also my responsibility to ensure my pilots' safety on and off the ground. As General, you are the head of the army, which is a strictly ground-based unit of our defence, meaning you have zero control over the flight units. For future reference, it might be wise to let me work with you, because if I'm not, then I'm working against you, and that's not very good for the safety of the people we care about, is it?" Luke finished in an undertone.
Rieekan took a step back, blinking. He was clearly caught off guard by what Luke had just said to him. Without an acknowledgement or gesture indicating he understood, Rieekan simply left the room. Luke was not sure whether to be joyous or annoyed.
ECHO BASE. LUKE'S QUARTERS.
Luke's first run in the snowspeeders had been less than stellar. His new gunner, Dak, had been efficient enough, and Hobbie, his new wingman, was capable, but the combined frustration of the sluggish speeders and the breaking-in of an entirely new flight unit was enough to set him on edge and throw off his concentration. He willed his door halfway open before he realized that he hadn't lifted a finger to the keypad.
He rubbed his face and peeled his flight suit down to his waist, stepping inside the room and willing the door shut behind him. As he lifted the undershirt over his head, he felt the door encounter some resistance, and whirled around to look.
There was Wedge, foot literally in the door, leaning against the frame. "May I come in?" he asked with a smile.
Luke, suddenly conscious of the fact he was now bare-chested, swallowed and nodded.
Wedge squeezed himself in the door, jumping out of the way as it slammed behind him. "Careful," he admonished. "That thing almost hit me."
"Sorry," Luke apologized. He was more than a little too preoccupied to notice that the pressure on the door was more than enough.
"I wanted to talk to you about my new flight group," Wedge began with a wave of his hand, accepting Luke's apology and moving on.
"Are you unhappy with my choices?"
"No, that's not it at all." Wedge sat in the hard plastic chair at the desk, now between Luke and Luke's chest of drawers, where his clean clothes were folded neatly out of sight. "I just wondered if there was any... personal reason why you didn't want the two of us flying together anymore." He trailed a finger across the desktop, watching the pattern he was drawing without any real interest. "I mean, it's okay if you don't want to fly with me. I'd just like to know, is all."
Luke's concentration gave out. His frustration from the day, his confusion from the moment, and the fact that he was freezing compounded into action. He took four quick steps toward Wedge, pulled him out of his seat, and kissed him hard.
For a moment, Wedge stood very still, then, tentatively, he put a hand on Luke's bare chest.
Luke groaned into Wedge's mouth, wrapping his arms around him. The emotion firing a million synapses in his brain opened the Force up inside him like a faucet, pouring it into the both of them, causing Wedge's hair to stand on end. The tips of Luke's fingers tingled on Wedge's back through the fabric of his flight suit, feeding the slighter man all of Luke's passion and excitement. Wedge felt light-headed, overrun with desire. He slid his arms around Luke's waist, leaned into the kiss, and was surprised to feel the full force of his craving brush against Luke's thigh, just as Luke's was brushing against his.
Putting his hands up at Wedge's sudden movement, Luke broke away long enough to utter, "Is this personal enough for you?" before Wedge crushed his mouth under another hard kiss.
Rather than argue with him, Luke let himself be pushed back onto his bunk. While Wedge explored behind his ears with a soft tongue, Luke focused as well as he could, sending his will out toward the keypad next to the door. After several attempts went awry, he gave up on finding the lock and just ripped the entire thing from the wall. Sparks flew, the lights in the room went out, and one emergency bulb glowed red from above the door frame.
"Mood lighting?" Wedge asked from somewhere near Luke's collarbone. Being held down as he was, the Jedi could only emit a low-throated growl in response. Wedge sucked on the prominent bone at the base of Luke's throat, forced a knee between Luke's legs, and with adept fingers, began sliding the orange flight suit down over well-formed hips.
Luke switched from a growl to a whimper. However, his hands now free, he began to disrobe Wedge: zipper, sleeves, shirt, and then – flesh. His hands explored Wedge's shoulders, back, chest, neck, anything and everything. His fingers found the waist of his flight suit, forcing it down a little so they could play in the hollows of his hips.
Wedge muttered something into Luke's stomach, and Luke had to ask him to repeat it. "Damn infernal boots," the brown-haired pilot laughed, and bent down to undo and remove first Luke's and then his own heavy flight regulation boots. Relieved of that obstruction, he grabbed the bundled up waist of his own suit and slid it off, along with whatever was underneath, so he stood at Luke's feet stark naked. "And now it's your turn," he smiled, reaching out to grab Luke's suit. The two of them wrestled it off, laughing, and soon both men, baring all, faced one another.
It was Luke who finally broke the silence, inviting Wedge onto the bed. He rolled on his side, inched toward the wall, and the other pilot laid down beside him, face to face. He reached up to brush Wedge's hair out of his eyes. "What are you thinking about?"
Wedge wormed his arms in and around Luke, and pulled them both together. "I'm thinking about how long these last three years have been, and, if I had known you felt the same, how much sooner I would have done this." He kissed Luke tenderly, and Luke wrapped his arms around Wedge's neck.
Being both the same height, they fit together perfectly, and key parts of their anatomy met at just the right spot. Their legs entwined, both men quickly realized that a little gyration of the hips pleased not only themselves, but their partner as well. What started as a little teasing quickly became serious. Kissing, stroking, panting, gasping, Wedge came first, a hot stream onto Luke's well-toned abdomen. With a satiated smile, he put his hand down between them and helped Luke reach his climax, coming on his partner in exactly the same manner.
For several minutes afterward, the couple lay together, still entwined and sticky with their passion, kissing tenderly, helping one another down from the sexual heights they had just reached. "It's a good thing you have a private refresher," Wedge whispered into the dark red glow of the room.
Luke laughed, a hearty laugh that Wedge had not heard in a long time, and the two of them raced to the shower. They stood in the warm stream of water for quite some time, licking droplets off shoulder blades, sucking the drips from earlobes, scrubbing one another down with soap. When they got out, they continued their exploration.
They spent the night tangled up together, soft skin touching soft skin, blissfully dreaming in Luke's bunk. When it was time for Wedge's patrol, he borrowed underclothes from Luke, stepped into his flight suit from the day before, and kissed Luke goodbye. He waited as the Jedi opened the door for him, smiling. When he was through and the door was shut behind him, he started for the hanger. That's when he heard the General's voice.
"Antilles?" Rieekan asked, incredulous. "What are you doing in Skywalker's quarters?"
Wedge wheeled around to face him. "Getting a quick... briefing, sir, before my patrol duties today." He reached up to clasp the other man's shoulder. "And I'd love to stay and talk, sir, but I am late already." He saluted Rieekan sloppily, turned on his heel, and started at a jog for the speeder bay.
He left the General standing in the hallway, stunned, and Luke, who had heard the conversation through the door, grinning broadly in the persistent red light of his room.
ECHO BASE. LEIA'S CHAMBERS.
"I invited you both here to give you the good news: Rieekan's been removed to the control room. The other generals and I agree that three complaints are enough, even if there is only evidence of one. The closest he'll ever be able to get to you now, Wedge, is as a voice in your ear." She held out her hand and smiled. "Congratulations, Captain Antilles. You did it."
Wedge grasped her hand warmly, responding with a look of disbelief and relief. "Thank you for believing in me, Princess."
"Oh, please, it's 'Leia' to my friends," she said with a wink to Luke.
Releasing Wedge's hand, she escorted both men to the door. "Now just remember, you owe me one."
Luke turned on her. "You're beginning to sound more like Han every day."
The princess's eyes widened. "Really? It's that noticeable?"
The two men looked at each other. "Yes," they both said at the same time.
Outside her door, Luke took Wedge's hand in his. "You did it."
"No, we did it," Wedge responded, squeezing Luke's hand.
They walked down the hallway in silence, Luke's arm around Wedge's shoulders. As they neared the junction where Luke would go right, to the hanger, and Wedge left, to a meeting with his flight group, the brown-haired pilot started to chuckle.
"What is the matter with you?"
Wedge took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "She's... got it bad... for Han."
"You noticed that too, huh?" the Jedi asked. The two men soon broke out into uproarious laughter, waving goodbye as they parted. Just before they did, however, Luke leaned in close to his love. "I'll see you tonight," he whispered.
"I'm with you, Rogue Leader, as always," Wedge said with a salute and a smile, and the two men, still laughing, broke apart. They went their separate ways, but they would never be alone again.