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.

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Chapter 29: Of Weddings and Prisoners

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"I think we should take Leia up on her offer to arrange this wedding," Wedge muttered.

"She has so much else to worry about, though," Iella replied. "This is our wedding. We shouldn't put it off on her."

"She offered…I think she likes doing this stuff. Though I can't imagine why. Besides, you can't get out of bed, Iella. You're still recovering."

"I can get out of bed…the doctor is just too blasted overprotective," she argued.

"Just which university did you get your medical degree from?" Wedge retorted. He understood her frustration – he was hardly a model patient himself when injured, but, well, that was him. This was her.

Iella scowled, and voiced his thoughts. "Yes, because you always listen to doctors so well."

"Iella…half the bones in your body were broken. If not for Durron putting you into a trance – which I didn't even know they could do, by the way – you'd be dead. Can't you relax for a while?"

"No, I can't. I hate just sitting here."

"There's nothing going on right now, not that needs your attention. We could go after Luke, but Mara Jade won't tell us what she knows, and Karrde's not talking to us either."

"There's our wedding, Wedge!"

"Iella, does picking out flowers and table linens and food choices to accommodate Force only knows how many people honestly sound like fun to you?"

"If it's for our wedding, it does!"

Women.

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Tycho looked up as Wedge came into the office. "How you doing?"

"Iella is, um, what's the word…insane."

"Oh?" Tycho raised an eyebrow at his friend. They'd been granted two weeks of restricted leave upon their return to Coruscant, but he and Wedge had been in nearly every day for a few hours, before Wedge went home to drive Iella crazy by fawning over her. "I'm not surprised, given how you've been acting since she was allowed to go home."

"You really think I've gone overboard?"

"Wedge, she was hurt, but she's an adult. She knows her body better than you do." Tycho shook his head when Wedge's face reddened slightly. "She knows her limits. If she says she's all right, give her the benefit of the doubt. And remember, med droids are programmed to be conservative about time estimates and instructions, and doctors are careful because they don't want to get sued." He shrugged. "Let her be."

"She wants to go running all over Coruscant planning the wedding."

"That's how women are about weddings. Winter wants to go all over Coruscant with her – and it's not even her wedding!"

"Let's talk about something else?" Wedge begged him, and Tycho laughed. His friend was already getting the "crazed groom"-look. Well, maybe he shouldn't say 'already' – the date was only three weeks away.

"Any news on Luke?"

"Karrde won't say a word – probably because Mara won't let him. Cracken still hasn't been able to pick up anything, which worries me more than anything else. I don't believe that what was going on is some isolated incident. It's got to be tied to something else, but I don't know what, and I don't know how to find out. In the report he filed, Durron said they were Imperials, so why haven't we seen any activity elsewhere?"

"Because they're waiting to pop their heads out until they're ready for us," Tycho replied. He sighed.

Wedge sighed. "I'd rather talk about the wedding."

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"What do we do about Wedge's wedding?" Hobbie asked.

Inyri stopped drinking mid-sip. "Um, I don't think we need to do anything but show up…and buy a gift. It's Wedge's wedding."

"I mean…about you and me. Do we go together?"

"I think we can," Inyri said slowly. "Everyone knows we're friends. As long as we don't act like we're anything more than that, we should be fine."

"Inyri, why are you so dead set on not letting people know about us?" They'd had this conversation a handful of times since they'd gotten together – not that he was sure when, exactly, that had happened. And all he knew was that she cringed every time he suggested that they tell anyone – even if it was only Wedge.

"Other than that I can only imagine what Wes will do to us?" she asked, and he nodded. Wes was his best friend, and as much as the two of them had tormented Wedge about Iella, he knew he could convince him to back off if he started to really bother Inyri.

"Hobbie, this wedding…no matter how small Iella and Wedge want it to be, is going to be huge. They're public figures. Do you realize what the sludge news is doing to them?"

"Yeah…Wedge said Iella doesn't even answer calls anymore."

"Well, the same thing will happen to us. Maybe not as bad, since we're not quite as important as Wedge and Iella, but…just the same, I don't want to go through that. Not yet. I can't. This is hard enough for me as it is – I haven't…I haven't been with anyone since Thyne. Having the entire galaxy watching…that's not something I can deal with right now."

"I understand you not wanting everyone and their brother to know, but what about the squadron?"

"Hobbie, if we tell one person, someone else will hear about it, and then…" She waved her hands around. "I just, maybe I'm paranoid, but please, just humor me?"

He frowned. She looked ready to cry. Slowly, he stood and put his arms around her. "Whatever you need. But don't worry about Wes…he does know how to be a decent person…sometimes…when it suits him." He knew he was sounding less convincing by the second. "Or when threatened."

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Mara pushed her hood back slightly, just enough to be able to see the faces of the handful of people scattered throughout the bar. It was still early, but the type of people she was supposed to be meeting were the type to inhabit a bar before mid-day.

They didn't seem to be here right now, though.

"Are we actually meeting someone?" Kyp asked in a low voice, "or are we just hoping we'll stumble across them?"

She glanced at him, rolled her eyes, and went back to scanning the mostly empty establishment. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his scowl and heard him mumble some complaint about her not telling him anything but expecting him to know everything. "I don't expect you to know a thing," she replied curtly. "That's the point."

He opened his mouth to reply but she kicked him under the table, indicating with her eyes that there was something that might demand their attention. A man wearing a cloak similar to theirs was leaning casually against the bar. The bartender said something to him that made the man glance toward her and Kyp. The man waited a moment, replied, and then headed in their direction.

He sat down across from her and looked them both over for a second. "You work for Karrde?" he asked finally.

"Well, that all depends," Mara said carefully. She hadn't dealt with this man before.

"On?"

"On who's asking. And why they want the information." She knew that was a tacit 'yes' but it served its purpose – it told him she was nobody's fool.

"I want it because I have a message to deliver to an agent of his."

"Then you're in the right place."

"The man you're looking for has been released…he should be on Coruscant within the week…with no recollection of where he's been or how he got there."

With that, he stood and turned, and was out the door before she could say another word.

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Iella smiled smugly as she headed to the holocomm unit to call Winter. "The warden has decided to set me free," she said when the other woman's face appeared.

"Shopping?"

"For a dress," Iella confirmed. "Call Leia and Mirax for me, will you?"

"Will do. Meet you at your place?"

"One hour. Oh, and remind me to thank Tycho."

Winter raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"I'm fairly sure I have him to thank for saving my sanity."