Ninjaturtle – I've actually made it a point to kill people off because I realized the books were at a point where the same nine or so people had been flying together for twelve years or something - not too realistic. And thanks for the suggestion. It's a good idea, and I'll include it soon, I promise.
Jet – yeah, the darker side was something that I felt was missing. The NJO books had the darker side and, while I like the characters in the earlier books better, I liked that about the NJO. They were more realistic.RowenaR – No, I won't kill them all off. I want to do a story after this and for that I need to have characters alive. ;) Thanks for the input on Elscol. I like her character but I admit I don't know a lot about her. And I'm glad you like Jesina. I tend not to create my own characters very much, but I wanted another strong female pilot.
Lady Sinistra – shaking things up gets more of a reaction. Glad you like it.
Nikki – I'll bring in more Tycho, and I'll make sure not to lose parts of my story again.Banshee – glad you like! There's plenty more to come.
A note to all: I have a couple of other stories, more or less prequels to this story. One is about Tycho going from an Imperial to a Rogue. ("A New Path") The other takes place a little less than a year before this one, primarily taking place on Hoth. ("Bitter Reunion") I'd really love some feedback – and constructive criticism – on those. The stories are both in my profile.
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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 23: The Good News…and the Not So Good
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Wes half-ran to the med center. Dr. Shula was waiting for him. "What's going on? Is something wrong?" he asked. Anyone could have heard the worry in his voice. He was doing nothing to hide it. He glanced over at the bed that Jesina lay in. She looked the same.
"She's getting worse. It's affecting her more rapidly than I'd expected. But I have good news, and this is what I needed you for. Apparently, they've seen this before on Coruscant." A strange look crossed her face. "It was used on General Bel Iblis."
"Is he all right?"
"Yes, he's fine. Still a little weak, but he resumed command within a week of beginning treatment. And he was much worse off than Jesina is, and not as healthy to begin with, being older than she is."
"So you know how to treat it?"
She nodded. "It's a serious of injections – essentially a cocktail of a couple of different hormones. It's intended to do exactly what I said earlier – counteract the high levels of AHD in her bloodstream. It'll be a strict regimen – every four hours, on the hour, for the next thirty-six hours, and then every eight hours, on the hour, for the following sixteen."
He frowned. "It sounds simple enough." He paused. "No offense, but how come you couldn't figure it out?"
"None taken. The second hormone in the cocktail is synthetic. It's not something that naturally occurs in the body. It was created to treat another illness, and apparently the General's doctors, in their research for a cure, learned that it had, in its early uses, had the types of effects they were looking for. If I'd kept looking, I might have found it, but I wouldn't have really known where to look."
Wes nodded. He didn't really understand a word she said, but she seemed to think it made sense and that was good enough for him. "What did you need someone for?"
"I need authorization to treat. This is still considered experimental, and for that we need either a family member or, absent family, a superior officer."
"Can I give you my word that Wedge will okay this? He's in a briefing right now and time is something we don't have."
"I can accept that. As long as, as soon as he's free, you get him to sign off on it. I could wait, but I don't want to let her get any worse." She was bending the rules, but Major Janson and the General were close enough that she felt as if talking to one – at least on something like this – was talking to the other.
"He'll sign. Don't worry." He looked worriedly at Jesina. "She's going to be all right then? When will she wake up?"
"It took nearly sixteen hours for General Bel Iblis to start to come around. I'd imagine that it'll take her half that. As I said before, she's in better shape than he was – much better. They forwarded me his test results and health records."
He nodded. "Do what you have to do." He glanced again at Jesina's bed. He didn't want to leave, but he needed to know what was going on. Elscol had to get back to the ground, and Wes figured that a few of the Wraiths would be going with her. And she'd probably need a fighter escort to be assured of making it to the surface in one piece. Besides, Jesina wouldn't be waking up for a few hours yet, so there really wasn't anything he could do by staying here, anyway. "I need to go. Let me know immediately if anything changes."
"Yes, sir," the doctor said as he left the med center.
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After Wes left, Elscol stood up, taking Wedge's place in the front of the room. "As you know, our primary goal is to locate the lab that we believe Admiral Hekrig is looking for. We haven't found it yet, but the fact that Hekrig seems so determined to find it tells me that he believes it exists – which is enough for me to keep looking." She glanced at Wedge, asking with her eyes for the bottle of water he'd set down. He handed it to her and she took before going on. "I have people on the planet who, though our command center was hit, are continuing to search."
She took another drink as Iline raised a hand. Elscol swallowed and nodded at her. "Yes, Major?"
"How have you gotten all these people to work with you, given that there's no actual Imperial presence on the planet?"
Wedge nodded his approval. He'd been meaning to ask her that himself, but had kept getting distracted by larger issues.
"That's a good question. Part of it has to do with the fact that these people don't want anyone there – New Republic or Empire. As far as they were concerned, just the suggestion that the Empire might be interested in Zhar would bring New Republic interest, which they didn't want. And, of course, they didn't want the Empire taking over. This is a resistance to the New Republic almost as much as the Empire."
"So we're doing exactly what your people don't want?" Pash asked.
"Pretty much," Elscol admitted. "But those that have come to me with concerns have left more or less satisfied. I've told that your presence here was about rescuing one of your own, not about interfering in their lives, and that I've requested your assistance. And they do understand the New Republic's interest in preventing any weapon or biological agent from falling into Imperial hands, and they're really not keen on having their planet destroyed by the Empire."
"What do you have planned for when you find this lab?" Face asked.
"Blow it up," she replied, glancing at Kell Tainer. Wedge stifled a laugh. She already knew these people well.
Kell grinned, stood, and bowed, and then sat back down. "At your service, ma'am."
"Yes, please, take him," Face told her, motioning with his hands as if to push Kell toward her, eliciting laughter from everyone present.
"I mean it, though," Elscol continued after they'd all quieted. "And I was planning on requesting your assistance, Captain Tainer. The New Republic has no use for the types of things we're expecting to find there, and even if they did, there would still be the risk of them falling into the wrong hands. And that's a risk I don't want to take. The safest outcome for this, from where I stand, is to destroy whatever we find."
"Captain Tainer, Lieutenant Sarkin," Wedge glanced at the couple. Though they were married, she'd kept her own name professionally – as she'd said when she made the decision, one Tainer was more than enough – "and Lieutenants Nelprin and Ekwesh, will be accompanying Elscol to the surface. Her ship will be escorted by Commander Loran and Lieutenant Passak in their x-wings. If possible, Loran and Passak are to return to the Lusankya to fly with Rogue Squadron in what will no doubt be the ensuing space battle." He paused. "We'll be using Rogue designations up here to limit confusion. Loran will fly with Ensa as Rogue Four and Passak will be paired with Janson as Six." He saw Janson, who had just slipped back into the room, stiffen when he assigned Dia to Hobbie's position.
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Corran dropped bodily into a chair in Wedge's office. "Forgive me for not standing at attention, sir, but you wanted to see me?"
Wedge waved a hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. Yes, I wanted to know what happened to you. I meant to talk to you before the briefing, but I haven't had a second to stop to think."
"I know. I'm sorry about Hobbie. And Janson told me about Tycho. I feel badly about that."
Wedge arched an eyebrow at him. "Unless you arranged for someone to impersonate you and try to kill me, I don't see what you have to feel badly about."
Corran shrugged. "Just the same…"
Wedge nodded. He understood what the other man was trying to say, and appreciated the sentiment. "Do you know what happened to you?"
Corran shook his head. "Not really. I don't remember much. I remember leaving from debriefing after that last assignment, and not much after that. There are little flashes in my memory that I'm guessing are from waking up and being drugged again. But I really don't know anything. I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it. I didn't expect much."
"I didn't think you did." He paused. "How's Colonel Dreis?"
"She should be coming around soon. If Hekrig holds off for another couple of days, she might even be able to fly with us. Which is good, because we can use everyone we can get."
"She'll be well enough by then?"
"According to Doctor Shula, she should recover quickly. She'll still be weak, but if we need her, she should be able to – provided I give her orders to turn back if she starts to feel at all ill."
"How do you know she'll get well that quickly?" Corran asked. Wedge told him what the doctor told Wes. Corran nodded, looking thoughtful. "Now, I don't know how Hekrig thinks as well as you do, but from what I've been told – I talked to Elscol a little – he's not going to want to fight a two-front war."
Wedge looked at him curiously. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, I'm guessing that he's responsible for the attempt on Bel Iblis' life, especially considering what happened with Lonciez. If he's looking at Bel Iblis, he's looking at something bigger than just this lab. But he still wants the lab. Otherwise, he wouldn't have had Lonciez go after the Colonel, and he wouldn't have struck at the command center Elscol was running. Whatever else it is that he wants – and I'm guessing it's Coruscant – he's not going to go after it at the same time. That's not the style of a man who's made his career by not overextending himself and his resources."
Wedge was surprised at how much Corran had picked up in the short time since he'd been up and around. His CorSec colors were shining through. "You think Coruscant's safe until he's done here."
"I think Coruscant's safe until we blow that lab. Then he has no more interest in Zhar and he can throw everything he has at Coruscant."
Wedge nodded. "You're right. That's why, despite the fact that I think that Coruscant is safe right now, I haven't asked for any additional reinforcements."
"Someone should let Leia know as soon as we locate that lab, so they can expect an attack. And I think we need to ask ourselves how long we should actually stay here."
Wedge frowned. "What?" It sounded suspiciously like he was suggesting they abandon Elscol.
"I'm saying, we need to be here to prevent Hekrig from ending Elscol's resistance with a planetary bombardment. But we have to figure out when we need to head back to Coruscant because, if I read the situation properly – and feel free to correct me if you disagree – they're going to need all the help they can get."