AN: Short chapter this week, but next week's chapter will be longer. Thanks to all who are reading along and leaving reviews. :)
The whine of the engines warming up cut through everything and the technicians had to shout to be heard over it. Wedge had had some last minute things to catch up on and was only now entering the hangar and hurrying towards his X-wing. Then he caught sight of something out the corner of his eye and changed direction.
"Hello, Solo."
Han nodded in return. "Hi, Wedge."
"Hello, Leia. Didn't think you'd be here."
Leia stood with her arms wrapped around herself and Han's arm draped over her shoulder in a comforting way, and she didn't look her usual strong, sure self.
"Hello, Wedge," she said quietly. "I just wanted to see you off."
Wedge nodded his understanding. He had been warned that they wanted to come along and he could understand why neither Leia nor Han were happy about being left behind; Luke was family. He reached out a hand a gently squeezed Leia's arm.
"We'll find him, Leia," he said just loud enough to be heard. "The imps won't get away with this."
Leia just nodded and hugged herself a little tighter.
"Give them hell from us, Wedge," Han said. The anger and frustration were clear in his voice; Han did not like being told to wait either and much preferred taking action.
"We will," he promised.
"You better hurry," Leia said. "Don't want you to be late."
Wedge hesitated, but then nodded. There was much he wanted to say to them, but there was no time to say it; he really did need to run unless he wanted to hold back the whole thing and risk Admiral Ackbar's ire.
Instead he threw a quick, casual salute. "See you when we get back," he promised. Then he spun around and ran to his waiting X-wing.
"Nice of you to join us, boss!" Wes joked.
"Yeah, we were wondering if you had overslept," Hobbie added as he crawled into his cockpit.
Wedge smiled. At least the Rogues were in good spirits and that was always a good sign. "Just some last minute stuff as usual. Let's get into the air!"
He saw Tycho raise an eyebrow at him, his eyes flickering towards Leia and Han, and understood the silent question in them. Just as silently Wedge let Tycho know to contact him once they were in the air with a small toss of his head in the direction of his cockpit and Tycho nodded his understanding. He couldn't share all the details, but at least he could share some and that would have to be enough. He just hoped for a successful mission and to bring all his pilots home again.
§ §
Why wouldn't he bend?! Mara smashed her hand into her pillow in frustration. She had tried everything. She had even tried offering him to bring his family along; they could all come along and be in high positions in the Empire, Mara didn't care. As long as he went with her everyone else were of little consequence.
But he had reacted as if it was the most horrifying thing she had ever said or done and completely rejected the suggestion. Why? What was it that caused him to so vehemently reject the Empire and her, and to have such devotion and loyalty to Princess Leia? It had to be more than just being family. If everything he had told her was right, then Lord Vader had been his father, but that had not made him join him in the Empire. No, he had fought against him. So why this devotion to his sister? What was it?
Mara wanted to scream in frustration and for a moment she buried her face in the pillow to prevent just that.
Am I doing this all wrong? Do I need to do something completely different? There must be something there, some reason why he's so devoted to the rebels. She put a hand under her chin and stared at the uninspiring cave wall of her room. It seemed to her that he had an unusual strong sense of loyalty to both his sister, but also his rebel friends in general, and that figuring out why was the key to both understanding him and getting him to come with her. The Empire needs an Emperor and so do I. And one way or another I will have him. But she didn't feel as confident in her thought as she used to. There was just something about him and his resolution that both unnerved and impressed her and which had proved to make it a very difficult mission to break him and turn him away from the rebels. So she needed to do something new, something different. She just had to find out what.
She rolled unto her back with a sigh and stared at the cave ceiling. Skywalker was a jedi, that much was obvious in his sheer resilience. But it seemed like there was more to it than that. And she had tried making him see her point, but to no avail. Maybe if she offered him the chance to tell her his point of view he would then be willing to consider hers? She had to admit she hadn't been a good listener, but she could show some willingness to listen to him, and perhaps that would make him listen to her, too, and consider her points.
She frowned in thought. He would not be easy to convince through arguments, not a jedi. But she didn't think she had much choice; he was healing incredibly fast now despite the lack of food and soon it seemed he would heal so fast that she could not continue with her plans. The pain didn't even seem to bother him as much anymore, as if he was getting immune to it.
She snorted to herself. Of course you couldn't get 'immune' to pain, but he just didn't seem to fully register it anymore. And it felt as if he was getting stronger in the Force even as his body was weakening. It scared her. He should not be getting stronger, not under circumstances such as this.
Mara shivered. She would have to give this a great deal of thought, because Skywalker was not going to simply break, that much was now obvious, but she needed him to stand by her side. And one way or another she would have him with her. That was all that mattered now.
§ §
"Lock S-foils in attack position." Wedge suited words to action and flipped the switch to break the wings into the shape that had given the fighter its name. He got a series of affirmatives from the Rogues and pushed up the throttle, sending his fighter forward of the capitals ships. The Rogues fell into formation behind him, and all around him the fighter screen flew forward to meet the enemy fighters that would appear in a few moments.
"All right, Rogues. Stay sharp and let us try to all make it back in one piece. Our job is to punch a hole in the enemy fighter screen to let the carriers through. We will fire a sequence of proton torpedoes, then break by pairs to clean up any leftovers. Any questions?"
"Lead, Nine. Do we give the second wave of fighters the same treatment?"
It was a fair question. In battles like these there would usually be at least two fighter screens; the forward fighter screen, which would most likely be Interceptors, and then a second, which would most likely be the slightly slower TIE fighters and possibly TIE bombers as well.
"Negative, Nine. Save your torps for the squints and for punching out again, if necessary."
"Acknowledged."
Wedge looked out to see the enemy fighters now swarming around the Star Destroyers' hulls and quickly forming up to meet the New Republic fighters. "All right, get ready. Fire on my mark." Wedge took a deep breath and slowly released it again. This was it. Now he just hoped it would be worth it. "One flight; mark. Two flight; mark. Three flight; mark."
A moment later space was lit by a series of brilliant explosions, before the surviving Interceptors began firing in return and the Rogues broke up to chase them.