Chapter Eleven

Darvix looked up at the man. He was wearing an Imperial officer's uniform and had that self-righteous smirk on his face. Darvix looked forward again. Two Twi'leks were already on the ground, dead. The wall behind them was covered in their blood. Another Twi'lek was in front of him, sobbing hysterically…She couldn't have been much older than twelve.

Stop it, Darvix! STOP IT! His mind screamed

The officer looked back at Darvix, handing him the blaster he was holding. Without hesitation, he took it and looked back at the young alien before him. He could see the pleading in her eyes, but she was too frightened to say anything to him. The tears were streaming down her face. She shook her head, silently begging Darvix to spare her.

Don't do it! She's innocent!

He pulled the trigger. The young girl fell to the ground, and fresh blood coated the wall.

He couldn't suppress the smirk that slowly came to his lips…

***

Darvix Zorvan let out another blood-curdling scream. For the last two hours he had been barely cognitive, thrashing violently on his bed and sobbing uncontrollably. Something had happened to him out there that caused him to snap, and unless they figured out what to do to help him, the Rogues would be a man down.

He began to flail again, waking up Cheriss ke Hanadi from her state of reverie. She'd been assigned to watch over him for a while, a rather meaningless task if you asked her. Quickly, she moved over to him and tried to calm him down, only to be pushed away by the completely incoherent pilot. Cheriss moved to the console mounted on the wall beside Darvix, keying the transmission button.

***

Wedge shook his head "How could Academy not have spotted this?"

"You know as well as I how fast command is pushing pilots through right now," Tycho replied. "If they can hold on to a flight stick they're mentally competent in their eyes."

Wedge let out a heavy sigh. Not too long ago he had to deal with this situation. Myn Donos had witnessed the destruction of an entire squadron, the one he was commanding. When his droid, who he viewed as the sole remaining survivor of the squadron, ceased to function, he snapped. The pilot had been introverted before then, but after that he was a total mess. It really wasn't until Myn and Wes sat down for a conversation that he began to pull himself out. Somehow, Wedge doubted a few cute lines from Wes would bail Darvix out of his state.

"What do you suppose is wrong?" Tycho asked.

"Something from his past back to haunt him," Wedge said, "When those dupes took out that freighter he snapped. Might have triggered something in his head."

Tycho suddenly looked up towards the console behind Wedge, "Uh oh. Cheriss is calling for help."

***

Wedge and Tycho burst into the room where Darvix and Cheriss was. Darvix was thrashing violently, screaming the phrase 'I'm sorry!' in between sobs. He was getting worse and fast.

"Tycho grab a sedative!" Wedge yelled to the other pilot.

Tycho hurried to grab a nearby medkit and began digging through it for supplies. Cheriss was struggling to hold Darvix down, causing Wedge to hurry over to her aid. All this got Wedge was a right hand hook from Darvix, who apparently was conscious enough to fend him off. Tycho had returned with a sedative, but with Darvix thrashing about, there was no way to administer it to him.

Wedge didn't even see it coming; all he heard was the loud smack. He looked up at Cheriss, who had just backhanded Darvix across the face. He was stunned just long enough for Tycho to give him the sedative. The young pilot momentarily looked up at Cheriss, a hurt look on his face. Soon after, his eyes closed, and he fell back on to the bed.

***

Wedge walked out of the room with Cheriss and Tycho, rubbing the side of his face that Darvix had punched.

"He's got to talk to someone," Tycho said.

Cheriss shook her head, "I don't think he's going to want to talk to anybody."

Wedge thought for a moment. It was true that Darvix hadn't been with the Rogues long, and hadn't had the time to form any strong friendships with the pilots…but there had to be someone he'd talk to.

"This isn't good," Wedge said, "Being a man down is not going to help us once we get to Telos."

Tycho just looked at Wedge for a moment, "It gets worse, Wedge."

"Oh sith…what?"

"Well," Tycho said with a sigh, "Cracken saw Darvix's file while preparing for this raid…He's cross-trained as a slicer, so Cracken didn't bother to send another one with the team following us."

Wedge clenched his teeth. Perfect, he said to himself, just…perfect…

"Wonderful. Now we're short a pilot and a terminal slicer."

Who could he have talk to him…

Wedge looked up at Tycho, "Go get Corran."

***

Wedge had seen Darvix and Corran sharing numerous conversations back on the Mon Remonda. If Darvix was willing to listen to anyone, it would be Horn. He had been on every simulator run that Darvix had participated in, obviously he felt as if Corran was a pilot to be trusted.

Corran was seated next to Darvix's bed. The young pilot had awoken and was staring straight up at the ceiling, completely silent. His brow was covered in sweat, his breathing still ragged. Corran could see the stains Darvix's tears had left on his face.

"Dap," Corran said softly, "I need you to talk to me…"

Darvix simply shook his head. He wasn't going to talk unless Corran did something drastic. Corran looked back at Wedge and nodded.

"Dap, I'm going to try something," he said, "I promise you, I wont hurt you…do you trust me?"

This time Darvix's response was a nod. Corran let out a soft sigh and closed his eyes. A moment later, Darvix's breathing became deep again. It was as if he was looking into space.

"Dap…what happened in your Y-Wing."

Darvix took a breath, "I…I saw myself home, years ago…Nar Shadaa…I don't think I was much older than fourteen. There were three of them…three Twi'leks, a family I believe…mother, father, and their daughter. Couldn't have been older than twelve. I… I was with an Imperial Officer. He was angry with them for something. Before I knew what happened, he had shot the two older Twi'leks in front of their daughter…"

He was silent for a long moment, "The officer handed me his blaster and told me to finish the job, to wipe this pathetic alien off the face of the Galaxy…The empire would be better off without her. She looked at me, begging me not to. I didn't even hesitate, the Empire would be better off…I…"

A sob escaped Darvix's throat, "I shot her! Oh, sith, I killed her!"

Wedge took a step back. He could feel his anger for the Empire growing with every moment. They had brainwashed Darvix as a child to believe that alien species were a blight to the Galaxy, and he had killed one without a moment's thought. Wedge felt his hands ball into fists…

"Darvix, listen to me," Corran said, "You didn't know any better…If you hadn't done it, that officer probably would have killed both of you."

"I killed her, Corran! I'm no better than those mechanical monsters!"

The young pilot was sobbing freely again.

"It's alright, Darvix…It's alright."

***

An hour later, Darvix was asleep again, Corran had managed to calm him down. He and Wedge watched Darvix for a while, to ensure that he would be alright.

"No one should have to carry that kind of burden," Wedge said.

Corran could only shake his head, "It explains it though. When that freighter was attacked, the memory resurfaced hard. He felt like a murderer for not helping the freighter, and when the memory came back to him, he lost it."

"Is he going to be okay?"

Corran motioned to Darvix. Wedge could see his left hand slowly clenching and unclenching. "Force-induced hypnosis… While I was talking to him, I told his mind to clench his hand, rather than mentally collapse again when the memory comes to him. In other words, meatball psychiatry."

Wedge nodded, "Good thinking…"

"It's only a temporary solution, Wedge," Corran said, "He needs serious evaluation and help. Who knows what else he's buried in his subconscious."

Wedge sighed. The Empire would pay for what they had done to Darvix.