Summary: Rogue Squadron heads back to Hoth to defend an Intelligence Unit. But they get more than they bargained for.
Disclaimer: Star Wars, Rogue Squadron, and the rest are not mine. I write this for my own amusement. Jesina is my own, original creation.
---------------
Chapter 23: Answers
---------------
Jesina reached the top of the boarding ramp but had to step back as the medical crew was already on their way up. She watched as they moved Iella onto the repulsor stretcher and heard them murmuring about her condition as they backtracked down the ramp and disappeared into the complex with their charge.
She walked slowly down the ramp and saw the Rogues landing some distance away. Then she glanced toward the tunnel that connected the hangar to the main bunker and did a double take. Wedge was standing there as she'd expected, but Mara Jade was standing next to him. Specifically, a very angry looking Mara Jade.
As the pilots alighted from their fighters, Jesina saw Tycho head in her direction. She hung back a moment, waiting for him, and then they approached Wedge together. She could see by the look on his face that he'd noticed that they were short one pilot.
"Where's Corran?" Wedge asked quietly.
"And where's Durron?" Mara asked, not so quietly.
Jesina looked at her sharply. "How did you know he was up there?" The redhead set her lips in a thin line, but didn't answer, so Jesina looked expectantly at Wedge.
He shook his head. "I don't know. She won't tell me." He paused. "Where's Corran?"
"They're both, hopefully anyway, on their way back. Provided they both made it off the asteroid, and out of the belt, for that matter, in one piece."
"Oh, he'd better make it here, because I want to be the one to kill him," Mara replied, teeth clenched.
Jesina glanced uneasily at Tycho. Something very odd was going on here. First Kyp Durron, and now Mara was here ready to tear him limb from limb. She shivered, as much from the cold as from the bad feeling she was getting from this whole situation. "Let's go inside?" she suggested. Tycho saw her shake slightly and put an arm around her shoulders.
---------------
"All right," Wedge said when they were all seated. Well, all but Mara, who leaned against the wall, toying with her blaster in a way that made Tycho feel for Kyp. "What happened?"
Tycho watched him closely. He could see that it was taking all his friend's willpower to remain professional about this when what he was desperate to know what had happened to Iella.
Jesina apparently had noticed as well. "Everything went fine at first – we got knocked around a little on the way in, but we were pretty lucky. We got inside, went through a tunnel, and got to a cavern. And then…things fell apart."
"Literally," Tycho murmured. Jesina frowned at him and he looked properly admonished. He made up for it by telling the next part – Iella's fall, Jesina's near-fall, and Corran's attempt to catch Iella.
Then Jesina opened her mouth to take over again, but closed it as Wedge's comm unit buzzed. He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Antilles."
"General, we have an incoming x-wing and…"
Wedge frowned at the unit. "And what?" he asked testily.
"Well, it looks like the Ugly version of a Lambda-class shuttle. The x-wing is hailing as Rogue Nine."
"The shuttle's got to be Durron," Jesina muttered, and Tycho nodded. Wedge indicated with his eyes that he'd heard them.
"Tell Commander Horn to report—" He broke off when Jesina put a hand in front of the comm.
"To his quarters," she said. "Trust me, Wedge."
He gave her a strange look, and heard the deck officer's voice come back over the comm. "Sir?"
She nodded and he returned his attention to the comm unit. "Tell…Commander Horn to report to his quarters and remain there. Tell the shuttle's pilot to report to my office immediately."
Tycho cast a glance in Mara's direction and saw a glint in her eye that told him that Kyp Durron was in for it. "Look, Mara, go easy on him, will you? He's the only reason Iella is still alive."
Wedge shot him a surprised glance, and Tycho took advantage of the short time before Kyp arrived to give Wedge the short version of the rest of their time on the asteroid. He'd just finished telling him about Kyp's departure to go after Corran when the Jedi Knight appeared in the doorway.
By this point Mara was leaning against a cabinet so she'd have a good view of the door. She saw Kyp and her eyes narrowed almost to slits. Kyp saw her at the same time and took a step back. But Mara's gaze – no Force use required – stopped him cold.
Tycho did step back and waited for the explosion. Maybe now they'd find out what was going on. Sure enough. And he didn't have to wait long.
"Where in the name of the Sith do you get off?"
"Mara, let me ex—"
She cut him off. "This oughta be good," she muttered snidely, folding her arms across his chest.
He glowered in return, then sighed and stepped inside the office, looking like a man walking to his own execution. "How much do you know?"
"I know that the galaxy's only Jedi Master went missing and you decided that no one needed to know about it."
In an instant, all eyes were on Kyp. "What happened?" Wedge exclaimed. "From the beginning!" It was his command voice and even Kyp, though not one of his subordinates, knew better than to make him any more angry.
"A couple of months ago," Kyp turned to Mara, "after you came to Master Skywalker with the information about the Councilor killed on Skaloc IV, he went to investigate. He planned to maintain contact with me, but after a couple of weeks I never heard anything more from him."
He paused, and then went on. "I figured he'd gone underground for a reason – that he'd come across something and wasn't able to contact me. But after another couple of weeks with still no word, I went looking. I didn't tell anyone – Han and Leia Solo included – because I didn't want word to get out that he was missing, especially if it was of his own accord. If he was tracking someone and they found out he'd disappeared, it might have tipped them off. So I went after him myself. And then I heard about the Sullustan Senators. I decided, given what little I'd heard from Master Skywalker before he went missing, that the two were more than likely related. And I traced the people responsible for the Sullustans to those clowns on the asteroid."
"So who are they? And who killed the Sullustans? And the Skaloc Councilor?" Mara seemed calmer now, and Tycho wasn't surprised. He was far from being intimately familiar with Mara Jade's methods, but from what he did know, he guessed she'd have done the same. And was probably angry that she'd been denied the chance to.
"They're Imperials; I know that much. I don't know who they're working for; I wasn't with them long enough. I do know that the Uglies that have been flying for them are pirates – independent contractors. They're in it for the credits. And it wasn't a Force-user who was responsible for those deaths – but it was made to look like it was a Force-user. Again, I don't know why. I wasn't there long enough."
"I'm going to kill Cracken. I'm going to shoot him. Several times, as a matter of fact," Wedge muttered under his breath.
"It's not his fault," Kyp defended the Intelligence Director. "This time, anyway. He had no way of knowing what was going on. I was the only one who did, and I didn't tell anyone."
He returned his gaze to Mara. "How did you find out?"
"Because Karrde heard that Luke Skywalker was dead. He's not," she said quickly when she saw their stricken looks. "But someone wanted everyone to believe he was." She sighed.
"And how did you figure I knew? Why not go to Yavin? Talk to Kam Solusar?"
"Because I commed the Academy. And Solusar said you knew where Skywalker was. It wasn't hard to put it all together."
"And then you came here just to yell at me?" Kyp asked.
Jesina snickered and Tycho tried – and failed – to hide a smile. Wedge just massaged his temples and looked tired.
"No, I came to drag you with me to go find Skywalker. I managed to find out a few things, and I plan to make your life miserable along the way."
Kyp looked pained, but didn't have a chance to respond. There was a knock at Wedge's door and a moment later, it slid open. Wes and Hobbie were there, Inyri and Gavin right behind them. "Wedge, there's someone in the base. And Corran went after whoever it is."