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 31: Bachelor and Bachelorette
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"Iella, your veil is falling off," Mirax told her, standing and swaying in her effort to straighten the headpiece they'd made Iella wear to the bar they'd selected for her bachelorette party. She and Winter, Leia, Jesina, and Inyri had pitched in to throw the party. They'd planned on inviting the ladies of Wraith squadron, but the unit was off on assignment.
"I'm fallin' off," Iella murmured, clutching the table to steady herself. "You guys weren' s'posed to get me drunk," she slurred.
"That's why we did this two days before the wedding," Winter replied. "If we'd done it the night before, no one'd show up."
"If half the people we invited didn' show up," Iella replied, hiccupping, "I wouldn' mine a' all."
"That's what you get for being a public figure," Leia said, sipping the glass of wine she held. From the looks of it, she was the least intoxicated of all of them. "You know about a million people, and they all have to be invited or you're going to make things hard on yourself."
"I know," Iella muttered. "Trus' me, I know."
"Enough about pol'tics," Mirax muttered. "Which one of your new husban's frien's do you fine the mos' attractive?"
Jesina coughed. "You're not s'posed to ask her about other men right before her wedding."
"It's called a bachelorette party," Inryi paused, taking another drink from her whiskey, "for a reason." She hiccupped and looked back at Iella. "And I, for one, would like to hear this."
"Phys'cally attractive?" Iella asked, and Mirax nodded.
"I bet I know," Jesina said in a singsong voice.
"Who?" Winter asked as all eyes swiveled toward Jesina.
"Janson," she replied smugly, and Iella sputtered, face flushed from more than just the alcohol.
"I thin' she's right," Mirax mumbled, casting a glance at Iella.
"How did you know?" Winter asked.
Jesina shrugged. "He's the mos' like Wedge," she replied, "not that they'd ever admit it."
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"I'm coming," Wedge muttered as Tycho literally dragged him toward the door of his office.
"You know, Iella's been out for two hours already," Tycho pointed out.
"I know, but she doesn't run a squadron full of delinquents," Wedge retorted.
"We take offense to that," Wes replied.
"I still haven't forgotten that little Ewok stunt on Hoth," the Corellian replied, eyes narrowing.
Janson held up his hands. "That wasn't me. I told you then that I had nothing to do with it."
"And I told you to find out who it was," his CO replied as he turned off the lights and locked the door behind them. "I'm finding you guilty by default. And if any Ewoks show up at my wedding, I'm throwing you in the brig."
Before Wes could reply, Tycho spoke up. "Why didn't you ever ask around? I know who it was."
Both of them turned on him as Hobbie backed slowly away. "Jes and Hobbie," he replied. "Mostly Jes."
Wedge spun around, mouth open, to look at the Raltiirian, but never said a word as his eyes moved past Hobbie to the man standing behind him. Luke looked thin, tired, a little shaken – and more confused than Wedge had ever seen him. "Luke!"
The Jedi leaned against a wall. "Wedge," he replied softly.
"Where have you been? Mara and Kyp were halfway across the galaxy looking for you."
"I know. I just came from talking to General Cracken." He frowned. "I tried comming Leia, but the hysterical giggling in the background made it difficult to hear her."
Despite their concern over their newly returned friend, the pilots dissolved into laughter. "Iella's…bachelorette…party," Wedge managed. The whole idea wasn't that amusing, really – but in combination with the expression on Luke's face it was.
"Speaking of which," Wes said once he'd stopped laughing, "feel like going to a bachelor's party, Luke? You can fill us in on the way to the bar."
"I'm afraid I have nothing to fill you in with – I remember contacting Kyp a couple of times, but there's just a whole in my memory from the last time I spoke with Kyp to waking up in a med bay here."
"How did you get here?" Wedge asked as they started down the corridor.
"General Cracken believes I was…delivered…on board a freighter that docked on-planet. Apparently, I was found in a supply room after someone sent a message to Cracken."
Wedge sighed. "This is ridiculous."
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Mirax watched the male dancers on the stage appreciatively, whistling at all the appropriate times. A glance over at Iella told her the guest of honor didn't seem to be as entertained as the other woman – no doubt thinking about her future husband.
"Are you and Wedge spending the next couple of nights together?"
Iella flushed and looked away, and Mirax laughed. "I didn't mean like that. I just…" She shook her head. "Iella, even I find Wedge attractive, but I don't want to know about his sex life. Really."
"You've talked to me about Corran's," Iella pointed out, and Mirax noticed that she wasn't slurring her words as much. They'd all slowed down on the booze. She glanced at her chrono. The boys were probably just getting started.
"Well, yeah, but you and Corran almost slept together at some point when you were working together."
"You and Wedge never came close like that?" Iella asked her, looking surprised.
Mirax shook her head. "Nope…he was always more the brotherly figure." She shrugged, shaking her head. "Is two days before the wedding really the time you want to be asking who else your future husband might have been with?"
"Why not?" Iella asked. "It's not my wedding day yet…"
"Yeah, but…aw, hell, it's not like there's a whole flood of women in Wedge's past. There're probably more in Corran's, now that I think about it."
"I can almost guarantee that," Iella replied, giggling.
They might all be sobering off, but that didn't mean they were sober. Mirax signaled the nearest shirtless male – thank the Force for the female-oriented clubs on Coruscant – for another round of drinks.
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Wedge sipped his Whyren's Reserve and sighed. "One rule," he said, and was greeted by the protests of every male officer in his squadron. "One rule – nothing about work. I can't take it anymore." That was greeted by a round of applause.
He felt badly going out and having fun when Luke had just been released after an experience that had to have badly shaken him, but work had come first since the day he'd joined the Alliance. He needed a few nights to himself, didn't he? And he knew he'd be thinking about work all day on his wedding day – the possibility of something going wrong was just too high.
"Well, since that's your only rule," Wes commented, and Wedge felt his chair moving underneath him, "I suggest you pay attention."
"What?" Wedge asked, glancing around at the put-on innocent expressions on most of the faces staring back at him. Finally he fixed his glare on Tycho, who shook his head.
"I had nothing to do with this part. I picked the place – because I knew they couldn't get too out of control here."
"You should be careful not to underestimate us, Colonel," Wes replied slyly as three scantily women made their way onto the stage from behind the curtains.
Facing glares from both Wedge and Tycho and a resigned sigh from Hobbie, Wes shrugged. "I had to. You know you'd have been disappointed if I didn't."
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"So, how was the party?" Iella asked Wedge, smiling brightly despite the pounding in her head.
"Um, it was…all right," her husband-to-be replied. "Tycho picked where, but Wes organized most of it."
"Strippers?" she asked.
"Uh-huh." He nodded and winced.
"Headache?"
"Uh-huh." He didn't nod this time.
She slouched down on the sofa. "Me too."
He brightened slightly. "Luke was there."
Her eyes widened. "Really? How did he get back?"
"Brought in on some anonymous freighter and dumped in a supply room in one of the public hangars. Whoever it was messaged Cracken about where he was and Cracken sent some MPs." He paused. "The message Mara got about him not remembering anything – that was true. He remembers communicating with Durron but nothing between then and when he woke up in the Palace med center."
"Wonderful." She picked up a pillow and hugged it to her chest. "None of this makes any sense."
He massaged his temples and sat down beside her. "Does anything ever?"
She leaned against him and he got the hint, shifting his position and putting his arm around her shoulders. "No, but I can hope, can't I?"
"Wasted effort," he replied.
They were silent for a moment before she asked, "Are you worried about the wedding?"
"I…I don't know. I don't know if I should be. A lot can happen, but this just seems like someone's idea of a fun way to pass the time. Luke was kidnapped, and released. The deaths of those Senators were supposed to look like a Jedi was responsible, but that was all a trick."
"The bomb on Hoth was no joke, though," Iella pointed out.
"I know. Which is what is actually worrying me. If nothing real had happened yet, I wouldn't be that concerned. But if they could get to us on Hoth, they can do it here, no matter what we have for security."
Iella sighed and shook her head, curling her legs up underneath her and relishing the fact that they were together and didn't have to talk about this if they didn't want to. And she didn't want to. "Let's talk about something else, huh?" She rested her head on his shoulder and turned on the holovid screen.
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Iella looked over Mirax's shoulder into the mirror as the other woman adjusted her veil on her head – the real one, this time. Winter was standing behind her, fixing her hair so that it sat just right under the headpiece. She raised her left hand and stared at it. "I'm shaking."
"I'm not surprised," Leia said with a smile from the doorway. "You are getting married in," she glanced at her chrono, "thirty minutes or so. You're supposed to be nervous."
"Most brides don't have to worry about their weddings getting bombed," Iella pointed out. "I want a drink."
She saw Winter's face appear beside hers as her friend leaned to the side to make eye contact with her. "Yup, she's Corellian." Everyone laughed.
"Where's Corran?" Iella asked a moment later, half-turning toward the newcomer. Her former partner was not only giving her away, but he was acting as her guard as she went from the bridal suite to the chamber for the ceremony.
"He's outside," Leia replied. "He's just waiting for you."
She turned back to face the mirror. Mirax and Winter were on either side of her now, adjusting their hair and the shimmering pale red sheaths they were wearing as attendants. Each gown had a slit up the side allowing them access to the holdout blasters that each woman – Iella included – was wearing strapped to her leg. "I'm ready. I think."
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Wedge stood at the head of the aisle, eyes everywhere but the entrance. He was watching each door in turn – all the doors that they'd assigned guards to. Then he eyed the windows, replaced for the event with transparisteel that was supposed to be unbreakable. His head was just generally swiveling around in no particular direction.
"You're going to make yourself dizzy," Tycho whispered.
He met his friend's eyes for a second, glad to have this man standing beside him on this day. He'd spent a great deal of time thinking about who to ask – Tycho or Luke. But over the last several years Tycho had grown even closer to him than Luke had been. There was no one he trusted more.
Besides, Luke was still here, in the crowd – that was the only way he could think of to describe the mass of people who'd been invited – and that was more than Wedge had expected after the news of his friend's disappearance.
"I know," he whispered back. "I can't help it." Hobbie and Wes, standing off behind Tycho, offered him supportive smiles but remained silent.
Tycho grinned. "Nervous?" In response, Wedge fixed him with a glare. "It's going to be fine."
"I know," he replied again. Slowly, he moved his hand down to the butt of his blaster. As he'd reminded Leia and General Cracken, every member of the wedding party was armed – as were a high percentage of their guests. The Rogues, Leia and Han, Admiral Ackbar, Generals Cracken and Bel Iblis, Luke – all were prepared to act if necessary.
It frightened him that they'd had to take these precautions, but if carrying a blaster – which he did everyday anyway – on his wedding day meant there was a greater chance they'd make it through the end of the day alive and unharmed, he'd do it without complaint.
The first strains of the wedding march jerked him from his thoughts. Slowly, the doors at the end of the aisle opened and Leia appeared, bouquet of flowers in hand. A few steps behind her were Mirax and then Winter. As his bride's attendants started down the aisle, he got his first glimpse of Iella, walking behind them, on Corran's arm.