4 ABY, Endor
A fire burned on the center of the wooden cabin that had been given to Rogue Squadron to conduct their briefings and meetings, while the newly formed New Republic maintained their provisional 'capital' in the Sanctuary Moon of Endor.
It wasn't much, but at least they had a bit more privacy than aboard Home One...
Recently promoted to Commander, Wedge Antilles sat facing the door, waiting for the rest of his pilots to settle down.
After the battle over Endor and the problem with the Ssi-Ruuk at Bakura, the Rogues had been seriously diminished.
As it was, now there was just himself, Tycho Celchu, Wes Janson, Hobbie Klivian, Plourr Ilo and Dllr Nep.
Not the ideal situation for the Rogues, specially after losing Luke to his mission to bring back the Jedi Order...
"Where to this time, Boss?" Hobbie asked, sitting idly on one of the crates of their temporary headquarters. Though it seemed to the Raltiirian that they weren't going anywhere sooner.
"We're suppose to be heading to Cilpar, to protect a supplies convoy headed to Mrlsst. " He informed the six members of the shortened Rogue Squadron.
"How much time do we have to prepare for the mission?" The question came from Tycho, listening attentively, nursing a cup of caf in his hands. "Don't tell me it's one of those 'five minutes ago' kind of things...?" He rolled his eyes, causing the rest of his squadmates to chuckle at him.
Wedge smirked at his friend, distributing datapads to his pilots.
"No!" He sniggered. "It seems finally someone had the brilliant idea of giving us time to review the plans and actually rest for a while before we, you know..." He waved his hand.
"Get thrown back into mayhem?" Wes asked, with a grin. "Because that's what they usually do, right?" Shaking her head, Plourr slapped the back of the Taanabian's head. "Ow! What was that for?"
"Does anyone need a reason, really?" Tycho squinted at him.
"Don't encourage her!" Wes threw a dirty look at the blond pilot, turning a serious look at Plourr. "You still haven't given me a good reason for the slap..."
"I don't know about you people..." She grumbled. "But I'm tired of being stuck here! If I hear another 'Yub Nub', I'll go mad!"
"Wedge should appoint you a therapy Ewok, Plourr..." Wes commented sliding away from Plourr's reach.
"You're the one who's gonna need therapy, one of these days Janson!" She bit back.
"That would be a waste of time Plourr." Hobbie added. "Believe me! We tried that already! The therapist quit after two days..."
"Shut up, you!" Wes poked Hobbie.
"Hey laser-brains!" Wedge called them to attention. "Pay attention, will you? First of all, we still have patrols to do. Plourr, you stay with Dllr. Hobbie stays with me...which means you Tycho, are still in charge on putting up with Wes!"
The Alderaanian slumped his shoulders, looking sideways at Janson.
"Someone shoot me please..." He whined.
"Next time, I'm cutting you out of the Life Day gifts' list!" Wes warned him, with an exaggerated pout. "No more stuffed animals for you!"
They all laughed at Wes. The Taanabian could be insufferable sometimes, but they all knew there was another side to him.
In the end, the Taanabian was one of the most reliable people they could have in their midst...
Though he had a knack for practical jokes, which no one escaped, he always went out of his way to give his friends some silly thing for each of their lifeday and the Galaxy's Life Day!
Last year he'd given the four remaining original Rogues, stuffed animals!
Wedge ended up with a Bantha, Luke received a Dewback, Hobbie got a Raltiirian tiger and Tycho received a Nerf.
And of course, all of them had the dolls somewhere in their travel bags!
The five of them had come out unscathed after four years flying together. Now they shared a level of friendship that was hard to achieve with any other person.
Even Plourr and Dllr, though treated like equal members of the squadron, were aware that those men were a tight unit unlike any other.
With a wide smile, Wedge finished their briefing, watching as Plourr and Dllr excused themselves and left the cabin that served as their HQ, while the other three simply stood there sharing jokes and poking at each other.
Hobbie turned to Wedge, with his hands on his pockets.
"Who's paying for the lum tonight?" He stared at the Corellian, with his expression almost merry. "Oh yeah! That would be you Wedge!"
"I'm never playing Sabacc with Rylothean rules with any of you..." Wedge moaned, searching for his purse. "Just don't forget we start our patrols early in the morning! And when I say 'we', I really mean you Wes!"
"No late nights out partying for you, my friend..." Tycho patted Wes on his shoulder.
"Very funny!" He swatted his hand. "Like there's anything resembling a decent nightlife in this moon." He complained.
Early mornings in Endor was something Wes would never admit to anyone that he'd come to enjoy!
There was something about being able to wake up early, when the sun was still rising in the horizon, and the first rays gave a golden tint to the sky, mixed with the grayish of the dawn.
Sitting outside, always the first one up, a habit that was a part of his nature, having grown up in a huge farm where Master Farmers worked as hard as their farmhands from sunrise to sunset, Wes let his gaze run through the landscape ahead of him.
The gigantic trees, that seemed as old as the galaxy itself, the noises of the various bird species found on the moon, that distinct dawn aura, in which even the smells surrounding a person seemed to be different...more subtle, the morning coolness giving everything a more wooden scent, rather than earthy...
In a weird way, it reminded him of his distant home in Taanab.
A rustling sound brought him to attention. A still yawning Wedge was trying to put the other sleeve of his jacket while checking his datapad at the same time. He grumbled when he noticed Wes already suited offering him a smirk.
"Seriously Wes...don't you sleep?" He asked, running his hand through his hair while letting out another yawn.
"Sure he does..." A silvery, singsong voice answered. "...he just prefers to do so during missions and briefings!"
Wes shook his head. Tycho would never be any good for undercover jobs that didn't include him just being his Alderaanian self! Because his accent practically screamed Alderaanian upper class! Not even his time in the Empire's service had changed it.
"Ah yes... I forgot that detail!" Wedge agreed. "Ready for another early morning patrol?"
The other two men grumbled.
"I've had enough of exploring this jungle, thank you!" Tycho complained.
"Ah, but this one's different!" Wedge informed them. "We're not scheduled for a ground patrol. We're spacebound my friends..."
"Ooh, I like that!" Wes eyes lit. Getting up on his X-Wing was always a thought he welcomed. "In system or out?"
"In system. It's a simple patrol, making sure no surprises come our way." The Corellian added, transmitting his datapad's info to his pilots' pads.
"Like some greedy Moff or Admiral looking to catch us off-guard?" Celchu asked, checking his own pad, going through the plans Wedge had sent.
"Something like that." He confirmed. "Let's go get the rest of our half squad, and let's get going."
The three pilots made their way to the small plateau, where their starfighters awaited. Hobbie, Plourr and Dllr met them halfway, and the six pilots climbed to their cockpits, initiating pre-flight checks, while the maintenance crew finished installing their astromechs, and gave them take off clearance.
The six X-Wings roared into the skies, picking up speed and altitude until they reached space.
"Right people...this is supposed to be a milk run, just keep your eyes open and look out for your sensors." Wedge's voice crackled through the comm. His pilots acknowledged his instructions as they followed him.
He smiled as he saw the fleet above Endor. All seemed peaceful enough, though his warrior instincts always kept him on his toes.
He looked at his comm scan. Everything seemed clear. He picked up nothing more than the presence of his pilots and the fleet's ships.
Suddenly his R5 unit started beeping in warning.
He checked his scanners again, looking for whatever had alerted his astromech. He saw nothing at first, but then there it was, some kind of energy just pulsating into being and suddenly...disappearing.
"Leader, Five." Wes' voice came through the static. "Did you get the same readings as I did?"
"Five, this is Leader. Yes I did! I'm still trying to figure out what that was..."
"Look! There it is again!" This time it was Tycho's voice, carrying an excited tone. "Did you see that?"
"Leader, Three. "Plourr's voice came with a confused tone to it. "Is it me, or did those stars ahead of us just...twisted?"
"Six? "Wedge asked. Dllr always had a more instinctive way of pick up things that sometimes eluded the rest of them.
"There's something there for sure, Leader." Dllr answered. "It's like... some kind of vibration almost. Like energy surges, coming in waves. I can feel them getting stronger."
"Any ideas?" Wedge asked his pilots. "The readings I'm getting are way off."
The starts in front of them started twisting again, this time the anomaly lasted longer, and it appeared to Wedge like some kind of blackhole, but...smaller.
"Ok! Whatever that is, It doesn't sound like good news to me. You people stay clear from it you hear me?" Wedge ordered.
He saw Hobbie, Plourr and Dllr climbing and turning to get their distance from the anomaly, but Wes and Tycho weren't moving.
In fact it looked like they were getting closer to it! And that thing, whatever it was, was clearly expanding!
"Two, Five! Did you not hear well enough?" He called to them. "I said, get the hell out of there! That thing is growing! And if that is a sithspawned blackhole forming, then we ALL need to get out of here."
"We heard you loud and clear..."Wes' voice came strained. "But I have a problem! The commands aren't responding!" He yelled.
"Neither are mine." Tycho's voice carried the same urgency as the Taanabian's. "I would eject, but that will probably make it even worse."
"There's got to be something we can do!" Hobbie's voice denoted panic. And that was not usual on the Raltiirian. "They're getting pulled right into it! Wedge!"
"I'm trying to think about it!" A sense of dread was starting to seep into his veins. "Home One, This is Rogue Leader!" He called to the fleet's flagship. "Are you getting our transmissions? "
"Rogue Leader, Home One Control here. "A female voice answered him. "We got it all. we've been studying ways to rescue your pilots, but I'm afraid Rogue Two is right, Commander..." Her voice was almost apologetic. "If they eject, the impulse of such action, could throw them further into the anomaly..."
"It's still better than watching them being hopelessly dragged into that thing, don't you think?" He bit off. " Wes? Tycho?"
"Here..." Wes voice seemed defeated.
"Still here." Tycho sounded...resigned...
"It's your decision. " He closed his eyes. He didn't want to think that he was close to lose two of his best friends like this... "What do you say?"
"Tych?" Wes called to his squadmate, looking at the other man's cockpit.
"We can try. It's still better than just...you know...floating into that thing without at least trying. I think we should try." He nodded to Wes, seeing the other man nodding back. "Wedge? If we don't make it...It was fun you know?"
"Wedge? "Wes called the Corellian. "If this doesn't work? Can you get word to Mia?"
Wedge gulped. This had to be a nightmare...he hadn't just heard his friends saying goodbye to him...
"Wedge?" Wes voice was just a whisper.
"Yeah...I..." He swallowed hard. "If this goes wrong...I'll tell your sister, don't worry." Silent tears ran through his cheeks as he prayed that this would work.
"Alright! Let's do this..." The Alderaanian muttered. He pulled the ejection lever, but nothing happened. He tried two more times...but his X-Wing was dead. He gazed at Wes' cockpit.
The Taanabian looked at him and shook his head, with a sad look on his face. He was also dead in space. His X-wing not responding. "Wedge? It's not working...Wedge?" The usual crackling from the comm was also dead. They had lost all communications...
In front of the two pilots, the twisting stars we're opening to show an expanding hole. Both pilots new this was it. There was no escaping now.
"Tycho! Wes!" The frantic voice didn't even sounded like his own. He tried calling them, but all he picked up was silence. Wedge could hear through the comm the rest of his pilots also calling out to their doomed friends. "Can you hear me? Please, answer..."
"Rogue Flight!" The controller's voice boomed through. "You are ordered to evacuate the place! Do you copy? Get to the other side of the moon's orbit! The fleet is moving out!"
"But my pilots!" Wedge argued.
"Commander? I'm sorry, Ok? I really am, but there is nothing more anyone can do! That thing is expanding and they are being drawn in! Any attempt at a rescue will only condemn more ships and personnel! Is that what you want Commander?"
"No..." He felt utterly defeated. He was being forced to leave. To abandon Janson and Celchu to that...thing...
Knowing there was nothing more he could do, wasn't taking the guilty feeling away... "You're right...Rogue Flight...you heard it. Let's go..." He ordered, feeling completely empty. "I'm sorry..." He whispered.
Whispered, perplexed replies came out of his pilots, but as himself, they knew when to fight and when to give up.
It just hurt more to have to give up like this...
Unaware of their friends' turmoil, Wes and Tycho resigned themselves to their impending fate.
The hole kept expanding, sucking them in faster.
The two friends kept their gaze on each other, rather than worrying about what came ahead.
Tycho saw Wes floating closer to him, due to the blackhole's grav pull bringing them in.
"What a stupid way to die!" He saw Wes mouthing slowly. He just shrugged.
He took off his helmet, running his finger through his blond hair.
Wes was right, this was a stupid way to die...
As they turned to escape the blackhole and get to the other side of Endor, Wedge, Hobbie, Plourr and Dllr looked back as their friends got suddenly pulled faster and disappeared...and just like that, after just swallowing their squadmates, the blackhole collapsed on itself and disappeared...
They froze there...trying to understand what had just happened.
Wedge ran his comm scan and his sensors.
Nothing...
There was nothing there...
Whatever that anomaly had been, it had just disappeared after claiming his two friends.
Feeling a sudden rage run through him, Wedge closed his communications and let out an angry scream. The tears were flowing freely now.
This was it? Just like that? A freaking space anomaly just appeared like that to rob him of his two friends?
He stood there sobbing for the loss of Wes and Tycho. He punched the comm link back to life, and he realized that the rest of the Rogues were in the same disarray as himself.
He could hear them curse, yell, cry...
And there was nothing he could do.
They were gone...