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.

---------------

Chapter 22: The Hard Part

---------------

Wedge stared at Elscol, her words not quite sinking in. "I...how?"

"He was shot twice, once in the back, once in the chest. He never really had a chance. Gavin carried him back to my ship, but he was already dead by the time they reached me. I'm sorry, Wedge."

"I know," was all he could think of to say.

Elscol was silent for a moment. "You've got some people here who are pretty bad off. The Twi'Lek is blaming himself." She explained to him what she'd been told about his falling. "And Inyri Forge isn't dealing too well with it either."

Wedge frowned. "Inyri? Why?" From the tone of Elscol's voice, it was something more than the loss of a squadron mate.

"She and Hobbie had been seeing each other for about six months. He proposed to her the night you all left Coruscant."

"I had no idea." Wedge fell silent.

Knowing he needed to talk to Janson and Dreis, if she'd been found, Elscol elected to end the transmission. "Wedge, we'll be there in about forty minutes. Again, I'm sorry. Firestorm out."

---------------

Wedge had sat in the silence of his quarters for about ten minutes after Elscol had ended their conversation before deciding he really needed to warn Wes. And then he needed to figure out how to keep an eye on Wes because the last thing he thought he could deal with was another pilot going off the deep end. And if anyone would have a right to after this, it would be Wes. He picked up his comlink. "Janson, I need to talk to you."

"Give me five minutes,"

"Now, Wes." Wedge heard his voice break and knew Wes must have, too.

Janson was at his door in a minute and a half. "What's going on, Wedge?"

Wedge motioned him in. "Sit down, Wes."

The man was, if possible, even more serious than he'd been for the last few hours. "What's going on, Wedge?"

Wedge couldn't bring himself to say it just yet. "Did you know Hobbie and Inyri were dating?"

Wes shook his head. Hobbie and Inyri? "How long?"

"About six months, apparently. He proposed to her the night of the Adumar dinner."

Wes frowned. Hobbie hadn't said a word. "He was probably afraid that you'd pay him back for us tormenting you over Iella."

"Or he was afraid of subjecting her to whatever taunting you'd have come up with," Wedge shot back. Normally he'd have laughed. Now he felt like crying. Sure enough, the tears did fill his eyes.

Those tears didn't go unnoticed. "Wedge, what happened?"

"Hobbie was shot, Wes. Twice. He didn't survive the trip to Elscol's ship. She's bringing his body back."

All color drained from Wes' face. "How...?"

"Their command center was raided. Piggy was also killed, and Duryll Seco. I don't know exactly what happened. Sounds like Ensa fell and that's what drew the Imps attention. He's blaming himself, and Inyri isn't doing very well."

"Neither am I." Wes stood abruptly. "I'm gonna go, Wedge. I can't..."

"Wes," Wedge reached out and grabbed Wes' arm. "Damn it, Wes. I just went through this with Tycho. I'll be damned if I'm going to let you do the same thing."

"I'm not going to lose it, Wedge. I'm not going to go down a bottle of whiskey, and I'm not going to put a blaster to my head. I'm going to go check on Jesina, and then I'm going to go to my quarters so hat I can hopefully be a little more composed by the time Elscol gets here." He tried to pull away from Wedge, but the man wouldn't release him.

"Let. Me. Go." Wes' voice was deadly serious as he locked eyes with Wedge. He didn't want to fight. He didn't want to talk. He wanted some time alone. When Wedge wouldn't let him go, he shoved the man backward to break his grip, and then disappeared out the door as Wedge picked himself up off the floor.

---------------

Wes and Wedge, who'd more than forgiven Wes for their little fight in his quarters, were waiting when Elscol docked with Lusankya. Ensa was the first off the ship, followed by Donos, Gavin, and Elscol. "Forge is in the cabin. His body is in there, too. She won't leave."

Wedge stepped forward, intending to board and talk to her, but Wes stopped him. "Let me."

He walked slowly up the ramp and disappeared into the ship. Sure enough, he found Inyri sitting beside Hobbie's body. Her face was streaked with tears. "Hey."

She didn't look up at him. "Hey."

He knelt down next to her. "How you holding up?"

"I've been better." She finally met his eyes, and could see that he'd been crying.

"Feel like talking?"

"Not really."

He was silent for a moment. "You two were good."

Inyri looked over at him again, tearing her eyes away from Hobbie's body, confusion written on her face. "Good?" she echoed.

He nodded. "I wouldn't have thought that it was possible to hide a relationship for as long as you two managed to. Especially in this group."

She shrugged. "A couple people knew. I told Gavin, and Kell figured it out somehow." She paused. We were going to tell everyone soon, anyway. We were waiting until we got back to Coruscant to tell people we were getting married. He wanted to tell you, Wedge, and Tycho at the same time."

Wes was taken aback. Getting married? "I knew something was up with him, but I didn't know it was you, and I didn't know it was that serious. And I'm sorry. I should have."

"Not really. We made a point of keeping it quiet."

Wes couldn't help but feel hurt that his best friend hadn't confided in him about something as important as this. Inyri noticed. "He wanted to tell you. But we knew he couldn't tell you and not Wedge and Tycho, and that would involve Iella and Winter finding out and Leia and we were worried that if a lot of people knew, then other people we didn't want to know would find out and, well, I'm babbling, but you get the holo."

"Yeah." They lapsed into silence for a moment, broken when Wes asked, "Six months, huh?"

"Since we got serious about each other, yeah. We actually started seeing each other right after Adumar."

"I knew it." A smile appeared briefly on his face. "I asked him if he was seeing someone. He said he wasn't, but I didn't believe him."

"I know." She stifled a laugh. He told me about that. He was convinced you were going to figure it out and that you'd harass him for the rest of his—" She broke off, a stricken look on her face. "Gods, Wes," she murmured.

He stood and drew her to her feet. Slipping an arm around the woman who would have been his best friend's wife, he pulled her close to him and said softly, "Let's get out of here." She nodded, leaning her head on his shoulder, and let him lead her off the ship, and past Gavin, Elscol, Wedge, and the others who were waiting outside.

---------------

"Wedge, you have to involve her!" Wes exploded. They were planning a strategy session with Elscol, and trying to decide who to include. Wes was fighting for Inyri.

"No, I don't. She's very emotional right now—"

"And that's different from you and me how?"

Wes saw with satisfaction that Wedge was at a loss for how to counter his point. "Come on, Wedge. She's earned it. So has Gavin. When Hobbie was shot, they took over, and they got themselves, Donos, and Ensa out alive."

"Janson has a point, Wedge. You're down by five. Horn will be up and around soon. Dreis may not be. You need all the input you can get. I say, involve all the Rogues, and the Wraiths, for that matter." She didn't want to get involved in squadron politics, but this was her party the New Republic was crashing and while she was grateful for the help, she wanted some say in what was about to happen – especially since she'd just abandoned her people.

Wedge raised his hands in a gesture of defeat. "All right. Wes, get Inyri – if she's up to it – and the rest of the Rogues, and the Wraiths, into the main briefing room. Iline Jesmin, Pash Cracken, and the other squadron COs and their XOs – those who are on board Lusankya, at least – and Captain Ackrand, too. Corran's awake now – he woke up about half an hour ago – so I'll see if he feels up to it, and Iella and a couple of other Intel agents will be here in about ten minutes. Hopefully, this will be our last planning session.

---------------

Everyone was assembled by the time Wedge and Wes walked in – including Corran and Inyri. Wedge wasted no time with pleasantries. "I want to start with an update of our status."

"Wraith Squadron, our primary ground team, is down to six members, with the loss of Piggy SaBinring in the command center evacuation. The command center, by the way, is a total loss." He sighed. This was the hard part. "Also, with Jesina Dreis out of commission indefinitely but Corran Horn finally able to rejoin us, and with the deaths of Duryll Seco and Hobbie Klivian, Rogue Squadron is down to eight members." He stopped for a moment to calm himself. He hadn't missed the shocked looks on Pash, Iline, Iella, and some of the others when he'd said Hobbie's name.

"Now, our mission parameters have changed. Major Janson and I, and Agent Wessiri, will be heading down to the surface within the next eighteen hours to meet with the President, to try to talk him into aligning with the New Republic, at least to make a stand against Hekrig. We're also going to make it clear to him that, with or without his cooperation, we are going to continue our efforts to find that lab."

"Can we actually do that?" Pash asked, frowning.

Wedge sighed. Leave it to Pash to raise that issue. It wasn't like it hadn't occurred to him, though. "Technically, no." He glanced at his wife. "Iella, would you like to field that one?"

She stood. "Sure. As Wedge said, technically, we can't. But no one in the New Republic government really cares at this point. We've lost at least four officers to Hekrig, and Zhar is in the middle right now. Whether the planetary government wants to admit it or not, Hekrig is not going to stop until he's found that lab, and NRI and the Council have no problem making a few people mad at us if it means saving a few people's lives."

Wedge thanked her as she sat down and then turned to Elscol. "Elscol's going to talk about the ground component of this mission. And then we're going to figure out how to do this and stay alive."

Before Elscol had a chance to say a word, Wedge's comlink chimed. "Antilles."

"General, this is Dr. Shula. I need to speak with you."

Wedge swore under his breath. "Can it wait, Doctor?"

"No. I need someone responsible for Jesina Dreis down here now."

Wedge glanced at Wes and could see the anxiety on his face. "Go. We can't wait for you, though."

Wes nodded and headed out as Wedge spoke into his comlink again. "Major Janson's on his way."