Chapter Twenty-three

To celebrate yet another small victory against Rozrrom's forces, their second in a row, Wedge allowed himself the luxury of spending some quality time with Ajene in his quarters before heading for the mess hall, eating his supper amongst some of his fellow pilots. He'd enjoyed being immersed in their joking and jubilant conversation, finally dragging him out of the dark thoughts that seemed to haunt him these days. But the conversation, of course, had eventually turned to the spy, and how they'd outwitted him or her this time.

Corran was present at the dinner, and Ajene and Wedge had talked to him about how to go about exploring the various ways in which a spy could send undetected transmissions. His experience in CorSec and investigative skills were invaluable, in Wedge's opinion, and he'd asked a number of questions of his Corellian pilot.

Of course, a private conversation was out of the question in the mess, and eventually Wes had jumped in with some salient ideas. Then Hepat Avaan had some thoughts, as well as Myn and Inyri, and two pilots from Eclipse Squadron. Before Wedge knew it, a group of eight pilots and one Special Forces major were all sitting around, brainstorming over caf and pastries.

Not all that much had come out of the informal meeting, besides a couple of new ideas on how to get around the spy again. Although Wedge stored those ideas away for later consideration or modification, he'd think twice about using a tactic that had been suggested in the very public venue of the mess, even though he trusted most of the people involved. As it stood, however, they'd given him some things to think about.

Ajene had some ideas of her own on how to go about her searches, so the next morning she'd gotten up early, far too early, and headed to the communications center again. Corran had already agreed to meet up with her there, to give any help he could, providing a new but experienced set of eyes. As Wedge moved around his quarters, getting ready for a new day, he knew things were finally in good hands. Trusted hands.

That feeling of wellbeing had stayed with him despite being stuck in his office, filling out reports and lists and more reports in relation to the battle the day before. Sometime mid-afternoon, Ajene reached him on his comlink, asking him to meet her in the communications center, which was where he was heading now, under the assumption that she had found something. He picked up his pace, encouraged that perhaps they could prove once and for all that Thras Nyl was a traitor.

No, don't do that. Don't assume that it's Thras.

He shook his head, rounding a corner to head down the long corridor to the last hatchway. But before he could get more than three paces down that hallway, a brilliant ball of fire erupted before him, the sudden burst of light momentarily blinding him. Before his brain could even register the fact that there had been an explosion, the searing blast wave hit, channelled by the narrow corridor. It shoved him off his feet and sent him flying back several meters into the bulkhead behind him.

Wedge rebounded off the wall and hit the deck hard on his chest and belly, lying stunned for a moment, just trying to catch his breath. With an effort, he raised his head enough to glance down the hallway to the room the explosion had come from. His heart began to pound even harder in his chest as he realized which room it was: the main communications room. That was the room that Ajene and Corran were in.

Get up! he thought desperately, adrenaline surging through his veins, pushing him into action. He shook his head to clear the ringing in his ears and focus his thoughts enough to get off his stomach and scramble to his feet. His head hurt, he slowly noticed. He swiped at his forehead with the back of his left hand and it came away bloody, and at the back of his head there was a noticeable lump forming. He had to put a hand on the wall to steady himself as he followed the smooth metal, staggering down the hall towards the hatch.

A noxious gray smoke billowed out of the room, but the ship's fire-suppression system seemed to have put out most of the flames. As Wedge glanced through the gaping doorway, he pulled out his comlink and twisted it on. "This is General Antilles, priority one. There's been an explosion in communication center alpha. Get emergency crews and medics down here, now!" He didn't wait for an answer, mindlessly shoving his comlink into a pocket after flicking it off.

Wedge pushed through the smoke and into the room, his eyes already burning and tearing. He coughed then pulled up the front of his uniform to cover his mouth and nose. The room was an unrecognizable mess, with equipment and debris spread throughout, some of it scorched, some of it twisted slag, all of it still painfully hot. On his left, Wedge spotted what he thought was a computer technician lying on top of a computer console. What was left of the body was burned almost beyond recognition, the limbs hanging at unnatural angles. He looked frantically around for any sign of Ajene or even Corran, simultaneously choking on the smoke and his rising panic.

"Ajene!" he called, followed immediately by a fit of hacking coughs, causing his head to pound even more than it had been already. He staggered, momentarily light headed, grasping a tipped communications console to steady himself. He cried out in pain when the heat singed his hand.

Once he regained his equilibrium, he made for the back of the room, towards the bank of consoles where Ajene and Corran would most likely have been working. His progress was agonizingly slow as he made his way through the ruined room, avoiding some smouldering wreckage, most pieces of metal too hot to touch with his bare hands. The air temperature was unbearably hot, and sweat was already beginning to stream down his face, mixed with blood from his head wound.

Wedge searched desperately through the debris for any survivors, but especially for Ajene. He spun as he heard a voice near the entrance, every instinct alert for another possible explosion or even an attack. In the hatchway stood Corran, covering his mouth and nose with the sleeve of his nerf-hide flight jacket. He looked untouched by the explosion, and Wedge prayed that Ajene would be right behind him, but he couldn't see her anywhere.

The captain rushed to his commander's side, carefully avoiding jagged pieces of metal as he did. "Wedge..." he said, before coughing into his sleeve.

"Where's Ajene?" Wedge yelled, his ears ringing and his mind racing.

"I don't know, I wasn't here. I heard your emergency call and got here as soon as I could." Corran shrugged his shoulders helplessly and moved to Wedge's right, beginning to hunt around the room for survivors. Wedge turned to his left, again heading for where the secondary communication stations had been at the rear of the room.

"Hello? Can anyone hear me?" he heard Corran calling from somewhere behind him. There was so much wreckage strewn around that Wedge couldn't see Corran anymore. Sections of the ceiling swung back and forth, large consoles were toppled on their sides, and computer screens crackled and sparked. Most of the glow panels were smashed or malfunctioning, giving the chamber an eerie, flickering glow.

Wedge was sweating even more now in the oppressive atmosphere, his eyes and the gash on his forehead stinging fiercely. He tossed fragments of durasteel and other materials aside, using the sleeves of his uniform to try and protect his hands from the heat still pulsing from some of them. As he moved one large piece aside, his heart leapt into his throat, and he felt his knees weaken. There, projecting out from underneath what was left of a portion of the ceiling was an arm; an arm in a green uniform jacket.

"Corran, I found her!" Wedge yelled as he tried to lift the scalding plate of durasteel. But it was too heavy for him alone, and the heat was burning into his hands.

"Wedge, where are you?" he heard Corran call, and Wedge stood straight to wave him over.

"Hurry, she's trapped!" Wedge crouched down and took Ajene's hand; she didn't tighten her grip when he gave it a squeeze. Corran appeared at his side within moments, and both men, desperate to uncover Ajene, grabbed at the scorching metal, grunting with the effort as they blistered their hands.

After moving that aside, as well as several smaller pieces of rubble, they reached Ajene. Luckily a chunk of communication equipment had landed just beside her, so when the ceiling dropped she'd been mostly protected from it in the empty space provided by the console. She was laying on her right side, facing Wedge and Corran, not nearly as burned as some of the bodies they had seen so far. Her eyes were closed and she was obviously struggling to breathe. Wedge knelt at her side, looking her over for signs of obvious injury. Her uniform was scorched in places, and a trickle of blood ran from the corner of her mouth. There was a small spot of blood on her jacket just below her chest. Wedge gently unbuttoned the jacket and peeled it back to take a closer look, and saw a shard of metal poking out of her midsection.

His breath caught in his throat as an alarming thought occurred to him. He carefully leaned over her and felt acid bubble into his throat when he saw the rest of the serrated piece of durasteel-at least fifty centimeters long-that had passed clear through her, piercing her from the back through to her upper abdomen. He looked up at Corran, who was standing over his right shoulder, and for the first time for as long as he could remember, Wedge didn't know what to do. His mind went blank as panic and fear overwhelmed him, numbing his brain.

Corran, on the other hand, sprang into action. "I'm going to bring the medics over here as soon as I can." He turned and ran, vaulting over smouldering piles of wreckage as he did. Then Wedge and Ajene were alone, with only the intermittent hiss and crackle of sparking equipment to break an uncanny silence.

Wedge took hold of her hand again, trying to ignore the pool of blood that was forming beneath her, beginning to stain the knees of his uniform as he knelt by her side. He barely registered the pain emanating from his burned hands and the mild dizziness and disorientation from his head wounds. He was coughing still, but no longer noticed the rawness of his throat and lungs. All that mattered was that the woman he loved was dying right in front of him, and there was nothing he could do about it. A detached part of his mind thought of the first aid training that all military personnel underwent. That training told him that he shouldn't remove the foreign object, no matter how much he wanted to, because that could cause even more damage. He didn't have any bandages or other materials to stem the follow of blood, so all he could do was watch the pool grow larger.

Suddenly, Ajene gasped and opened her eyes. She coughed a number of times, trying but never succeeding to catch her breath. "Jene!"

She looked at him, wide-eyed and frightened, trying to focus her vision as she struggled to get enough air into her lungs to speak. "We-Wedge," she gasped.

"Just hold on, help is on the way. Please, just hang on!" he pleaded, taking her hand in a firm grip in both of his, knowing that if he let go, she could slip away from him.

"I...I..." she managed, her eyes fluttering closed before snapping open again. "Wedge...promise..."

He leaned closer and kissed her on the forehead. "Don't try to talk, love."

"Promise..." she tried again, each breath becoming more and more difficult. "Promise...to not...be...alone," she whispered between wet gasps.

Wedge shook his head violently, causing him to see stars and make him dizzy momentarily. "I won't be alone, I'll be with you. You're going to be all right, you'll see. Medics are on their way, then into bacta."

"P-promise...promise..." she managed to choke out.

His cheeks were wet, but not from sweat this time. Tears welled up in his eyes, spilling insistently down to drop from his jaw. "Don't you dare leave me. Jene, you saved me. Let me save you..." he said gently, trying to keep the tone of his voice calm and reassuring, but failing miserably.

"P'mise..." she labored to say, trying with all her might to extract it from him, each short breath gurgling and wet.

"I...I promise," he choked.

"I do…love you..." She offered him a smile and closed her eyes, tears splashing down past her temples as she did. Her breathing was ragged and irregular, but she managed to give his hand a weak squeeze. He tightened his own grip, just as she took in one sharp breath then fell slowly silent.

"No..." Wedge begged, still clutching her hand to his chest. "No!" He screamed the word this time, tearing at his already raw throat as his voice echoed through what was left of the communication center. In a futile attempt to keep her from leaving him, he pulled her lifeless body into his arms, hugging her tightly against his chest as he rocked back and forth. "Don't leave me, Ajene. I can't be alone again," he whimpered frantically. Grief tore at his heart, and he felt suddenly disconnected from the universe. The only contact he had ever had with it was through Ajene, through the motionless body he held desperately.

He jumped as Corran laid a hand on his shoulder, suddenly returning him to his frightening reality. But he hardly registered the sounds of the first emergency crews arriving, searching through the rubble and calling out for survivors. Wedge couldn't even believe that the explosion had happened only minutes before. He gently lay Ajene back down on the ground, then leaned over and kissed her forehead. His lips quivered as he fought for control. That control was all he had left.

He turned and looked into Corran's worried eyes. "She's...she's..." He couldn't bring himself to say the word.

Dead...Ajene's dead.

Corran crouched beside Ajene and checked at her neck for a pulse, although he already knew he would find none. He looked back at Wedge, who had collapsed from his knees into a sitting position, never letting go of her hand. As the medics approached them from behind, Corran gently pulled Ajene's hand out of Wedge's.

His heart ached as Wedge glanced up at him, his wide brown eyes watery and distraught. With crusted blood on his forehead, the dirt on his cheeks smeared by tears, and a bewildered and lost look, Corran had never seen Wedge seem so...childlike, he thought. Abruptly, Corran realized he was looking at the young boy who had watched as his parents, his home, and his childhood were taken away from him in one brief, fiery explosion.

An explosion...

"Wedge, you have to get up," Corran said softly, trying to get him to his feet so that a pair of medics could get in to deal with Ajene's body.

Wedge let Corran haul him upright and he took in a deep breath before looking around, bleary-eyed, as the medics and emergency personnel moved through the room, finding a couple of survivors amidst the wreckage of the communication center, but mostly recovering bodies.

The medics gently lifted Ajene's body and lay it on a repulsor bed. A sheet was placed over her, covering her from head to toe. Wedge freed himself from Corran's support and moved over to her. He lifted the cover on the side, taking her hand in his for the last time. He lifted it to his face and laid his cheek against her palm. After a few moments, he moved it towards his lips and gently kissed her wrist at the point where her pulse should have been. He then returned her arm to her side and let the sheet drop to conceal her once more.

"Corran," Wedge said, as he looked down at the shrouded form.

"Yeah, Wedge?"

"Get me out of here."