Title: Inner Demons, Outer Evils

Summary: A tragic event sets Rogue Squadron on the path to the truth...and sends one of the Rogues on a collision course with himself.

Disclaimer: Star Wars is, quite clearly, not mine, and no copyright infringement is intended. This story is not written for profit.

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Chapter 21: Everything Fell Apart

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"Elscol!"

She spun around, spilling some of her caf. "What's happening?"

"You've got perimeter alarms going off all over the map."

"Wake your girlfriend, major," Elscol told him. "It's time to go."

"I'm here," Inyri said, noting the way Elscol had referred to her, but not particularly caring either way. "What's going on?"

"We've got about five minutes until the Imps are knocking on our front door." She slapped at a control panel, and everyone in the room looked up as the relative quiet was broken by the blast of an alarm. "Get your people out of here!" she yelled over the din. This was, first and foremost, her fighter, and she felt she owed it to Wedge to keep his people – some of them her friends – alive.

As soon as the alarm had started, the Rogues had formed up around Hobbie and Inyri, and the Wraiths around Kell and Face, who had joined them when Face heard Hobbie yell for Elscol. As soon as Hobbie knew that all the New Republic personnel were there, he ordered Face to move his people out. The Wraiths began heading for the rear exit, nearest the tunnels, and the Rogues followed suit. Hobbie planned on getting those who'd just flown down to their ships, and then heading for cover to wait for Elscol and her backup.

They made it to the tunnels before everything fell apart – literally. A few flashes of blaster fire lit up the tunnel ahead of the Wraiths, and then the ceiling came down.

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Inyri and Hobbie, leading the Rogues, were about five meters behind Piggy, Shalla, and Runt when the ceiling of the tunnel between them collapsed. There was no explosion, just the crash as the duracrete that had been overhead hit the ground.

Coughing from the dust that had filled the air, Inyri stared at Hobbie, then at the now blockaded passage, and then back to Hobbie. "We have to go back."

He nodded. "Double back. Head for Elscol's freighter. Keep low and to the sides, and expect a fight."

On the short trip back Hobbie slipped up to the front, ordering Inyri, who wasn't pleased, to stay in back. As they reached the entrance, he could see into what had been their command center. It had turned into a shooting gallery, with those who hadn't been able to escape hiding behind overturned tables and equipment that now bore many more holes than they had originally been made with. When he stopped, the others gathered around him, resting on hands and knees. "The other entrance is about 20 meters that way. It's all open. Keep low until you get behind the building, and then run as fast as you can. There's nothing to hide behind if anyone sees us." They were outside the warehouse, but about 10 meters was open to view from inside the building, via the door and a long window. The last ten was hidden by the warehouse's back wall. "Inyri, Donos, Duryll, go."

He watched as Inyri led them, following his instructions to the letter. He kept glancing back at the melee inside the warehouse, and was glad to see that the Imps inside had been distracted by what looked like more of Elscol's people who had arrived in an attempt to help those still inside get out. Elscol, having headed to her ship, was long gone.

As Duryll disappeared into the tunnel, he ordered Gavin and Ensa to go and followed himself. But Ensa's foot caught on a stone and he fell forward, catching the attention of at least one Imperial, who opened fire on them and was soon joined by others. "Go!" Hobbie yelled as Ensa scrambled forward, not even bothering to get to his feet.

He had just reached the tunnel, right behind Gavin, when the Imps who had seen them made it outside. He knew he was in trouble a second before the blaster bolt hit him in the back, spinning him around as another struck his chest. Gavin, who'd turned at Hobbie's cry, grabbed the Rogue and pulled him in, though he wasn't sure it would do him any good at all. "Cover us," Gavin told Ensa, Duryll, and Donos as he adjusted Hobbie in his arms. "Run, Inyri. Don't bother looking." Right before he'd turned to grab Hobbie, he'd seen Inyri freeze momentarily as the man was hit. But she'd managed to shake it off, and started down the tunnel without saying a word.

Inyri had seen Hobbie fall and, for a moment, had been unable to move, or to speak. But seeing Gavin react had been enough to shake her out of it, to give her some reassurance, false though it might have been – she didn't know yet and didn't want to – that he would be all right, and to jar her into moving. She heard another shout behind her, and knew that someone else had been hit. A look over her shoulder told her it had been Duryll. And then, seconds later, the shooting stopped.

Inyri wasn't sure if it was a good sign or a bad one until she heard Myn say, "There's no one else. I don't think most of the Imps even realized we were there, just those few."

The slight lull gave Inyri a chance to turn around. "How is he, Gavin?" she asked, afraid to hear the man's reply.

"I...not good, Inyri. I don't think—"

She cut him off, unwilling to let him finish the sentence. "Myn, how is Duryll?"

"He's dead," the Corellian said, straightening up from having checked the fallen Rogue's pulse. "We have to keep moving. They may not have realized where we went yet, but they will." He reached over and activated the locator Hobbie had secured to his belt, and then did the same for Gavin, who couldn't reach his, and watched as Inyri did as well. "Let's hope Elscol hasn't taken off yet."

As they started moving again, this time walking quickly rather than running, Inyri pulled out her comlink. "Wraith Lead, come in."

"Lead here. That you, eleven?"

"Yeah. Rogue four is dead, and six is down. How are you?"

"We lost Wraith four in the cave in." She could hear the pain in his voice, and guessed that it had been mirrored in hers. "Everyone else is more or less in one piece. Your people mind if we borrow the x-wings? I'm guessing you're hitting Elscol up for a ride off this rock?"

"Go ahead. Good luck."

"Good luck, eleven. Wraith Lead out."

"Out." She switched frequencies. "Elscol, come in. This is Rogue Eleven."

"I read you."

"We're heading your way. There was a cave-in in one of the tunnels and we got separated from the Wraiths – they're taking the x-wings out. We have one loss, and six is badly injured."

Elscol was silent for a moment. "I'll be ready for you."

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Gavin lay Hobbie down on a cot in the cabin that Elscol had set up for him, along with some medical equipment. But even before he set Hobbie down, Gavin knew that there would be no need for the medical equipment.

Inyri appeared in the doorway. "How is he?"

Gavin slowly straightened up and turned to face her. He knew there were tears in his eyes and right now he didn't give a damn. "I'm sorry, Inyri."

Her breath caught and she stared at him, exhaling shakily as Gavin approached his wingmate and put his arms around her. Inyri had told him about her involvement with Hobbie not long after they'd started seeing each other and, though she normally hid her feelings for him well among the rest of the squadron, he spent more time with her than most and knew that she would take this very hard.

She let him hold her for a moment before gently pushing him away. "I...If you don't mind, I'd like to be alone for a while."

"I understand. But if you want to talk..."

"I know."

As Gavin left, she sat down in a chair and stared at Hobbie's still form. This mission was getting worse and worse, and she didn't know how much longer they could all hold on. First, Corran's supposed death, and Tycho's breakdown. Then they found Corran, but one of the Wraiths was killed. Now Jesina was missing, another Wraith was dead, and two Rogues were gone. And Elscol had been forced to abandon her resistance effort, albeit briefly, because Hekrig had chosen this perfect point in time to come after them.

Now she understood how Hobbie had felt about Hekrig.

It didn't seem fair. That man had nearly killed him once before, a long time ago. And now he'd come back to finish what he'd started. And he had, at least in Hobbie's case. She wondered if this was at least partly a vendetta against the Rogues – if he was coming after them now because they'd had the gall to survive him before.

She reached over and took his hand. It felt cold against her skin, and she shivered despite the warmth of the air on the ship. "It isn't fair," she murmured, as the tears she'd managed to hold back in front of Gavin slid down her cheeks.

Her face was buried in her hands when Elscol walked in. "Gavin told me he didn't make it," she said gently, sitting down across from Inyri. "I wanted to make sure you were okay."

Inyri raised her head and looked at Elscol, feeling like she was looking at an older version of herself. Elscol seemed to have the same kind of hard exterior she put up, but she'd seen enough of the other woman to know that she was a lot softer than she appeared to be, though she could be as hard as the situation called for. It was the way Hobbie had described her once. "Not really."

"I'm not going to pretend that I know exactly how you feel. I've lost a lot of friends, but not someone I loved the way you clearly did him. And I'm not going to pretend that anything I can say can make it better – I've lost enough friends that I know that platitudes often just make me want to hit someone. But I wanted to remind you that a lot of people cared about him very much – me, Wedge, Tycho, Wes, Dreis, and a lot of others – and that if you need to talk, any one of them will be more than willing." She paused. "I'm going to comm Wedge and warn him and Wes, so they won't be hit quite as hard when we reach them. I wanted to know if you wanted to be there."

"I...they don't know about us...I don't think...I'd rather not," she finally managed.

"It's all right." Elscol squeezed her hand and stood. "You need anything? A drink, or some food? I don't have much, but I've got some water and a few small snacks."

"No, thanks." Inyri paused. "How long until we reach Lusankya?"

"About an hour." She turned to leave, but turned back. "Also, do you want me let Wedge know about that you'd been seeing him? So he'll know to expect you to be a little..." she trailed off.

"Go ahead," Inyri said softly, her eyes traveling back toward Hobbie. "He asked me to marry him, you know," she whispered. "The night of that stupid dinner that started the whole thing. He'd gone with Cheriss, the girl from Adumar. Once we were on board Lusankya, he told me that had made him realize he was sick of hiding it, and he wanted to make it real." She laughed despite herself. "I laughed at him, but I said yes. We were going to wait until we were back on Coruscant, and Tycho could be there, to even announce it."

Elscol had stopped short when Inyri had begun to speak. "I'm so sorry."

"Thanks."

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"General, you have a transmission from the Firestorm."

Wedge frowned. That was Elscol's ship. Or, rather, the name she was using on this world. He'd forgotten what the vessel's actual name was. "Put it through to my quarters." He turned to face the comm unit as Elscol's face appeared, and frowned. She looked like she'd been crying.

"My headquarters was raided." Straight to the point – that was Elscol for you. "The Wraiths are en route to Lusankya via x-wing, minus SaBinring, who was killed on the surface. I have the Rogues with me, except for Seco, who was also killed." She paused.

Wedge had a sinking feeling in his stomach. "What happened, Elscol?"

She swallowed hard. She couldn't remember the last time she'd done anything this difficult. "Wedge..."

The sinking feeling was now a block of ice. "What, Elscol?"

"Hobbie is dead."