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 29: A Risk
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"What's up?"
Wedge looked up to see Jesina standing in the open doorway. "Good, you made it."
"What did I make, Wedge?"
"Cracken is taking off in a few hours for Force knows where. I still think he knows something that he hasn't told anyone, and I wanted to talk to him before he left. Thought you might want to join me."
"Definitely." This whole thing hadn't sat well with her from the beginning and if Cracken had any responsibility for the disaster that had been their last assignment, she wanted to know about it.
Wedge stood and they left the office together. "You don't expect him to just volunteer the information, do you?"
"No. Which is why I'm going to tell him that I already know."
She stopped walking and turned toward him, raising an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"I don't," he clarified. "But if we both say we know he was involved, he'll believe it. He'll have no reason not to, especially considering he knows how good you are."
"What, exactly, are you going to say?"
"That I know he knows what happened to Corran."
Jesina's eyes widened, and she grabbed his arm, pulling him into the nearest available room – a cramped supply closet. Turning on the lights she stared at him. "Are you crazy?"
He shook his head. "No, Jes. I'm done. The whole situation with Corran has bothered me from the day it happened. I refuse to believe that he knows nothing about it. And I once I get into his office, I won't leave until he tells me."
"Wedge, this man can make you disappear," she protested. "I know that you know that."
"Which is why Leia knows I'm planning on having this conversation. As do Tycho, Winter, Corran, Mirax, Wes, and Iella." He ticked the names off on his fingers. "I'm not stupid, Jes. I know how he operates. And I'm tired of always being on the defensive with him. He can play that part for a change."
She sighed and opened the door to the closet. Stepping out and turning off the lights, she muttered under her breath, "I really hope you know what you're doing."
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Wedge and Jesina stood side by side in front of Cracken's door – inside his office. Cracken regarded them with mildly disguised disdain. "I have a ship to catch," he told them.
"Then I suppose you'll be missing it," Wedge said. He fought to keep his voice level. He wasn't, as he'd told Jesina, stupid. He knew he was taking a chance. They both were.
"What do you want?" the Intelligence Director asked wearily.
Jesina took a step forward. "We want to know what happened to Corran Horn."
Cracken gave them a long-suffering sigh. "He was taken prisoner and rescued. You are, after all, the ones who brought him back."
"Don't play us for fools, General," Wedge spoke up. "You know better than that. I know you know more than you're telling about what happened the day his imposter tried to shoot me down. I know you know when he was kidnapped, and who replaced him. Now I want to know what you know."
Cracken met each of their gazes in turn, eyes narrowing a little more every second. "You know nothing," he finally responded, though he seemed slightly shaken.
"Do you want to bet on that?" Jesina asked. "Because I'm fairly certain that the Inner Council would be quite interested in what we have to say. Speaking with Mirax Horn, Tycho Celchu, and Corran Horn himself would probably also be enlightening for them." She kept her voice even, and Wedge remained silent. Jesina was far batter equipped for this battle than he was, even if he was the driving force behind it.
The Intelligence man's confidence had clearly been struck a lethal blow. The threat of going to the Council – a Council full of people who already didn't quite trust him – had done the trick. He set down the briefcase in his hand and sat down, sighing. "You're taking quite a risk, General."
"It's not a risk," Wedge answered. "What happened to Corran Horn?"
Cracken's eyes narrowed. Given their determination, even were he to remain silent, they'd find out what they wanted to know somehow. Ten years of directing Jesina Dreis convinced him of that. As did ten years of battling back and forth with Wedge Antilles.
"Two weeks before the incident over Coruscant that preceded Colonel Celchu's hospitalization, it came to my attention that Corran Horn had disappeared – taken as a prisoner by Hekrig's agents," he began.
Jesina and Wedge looked at each other, incredulous. "How did we not know anything about this?" she asked him. "How did Mirax not know?"
In answer, Wedge shook his head. "This ought to be good," was all he said, his voice taking on a dangerous tone as he looked back at the other General.
"Because within two hours, I had a replacement for him. I knew even then bits and pieces about what was happening on Zhar, and we couldn't afford to have your routine disrupted if you were to be effective there."
Jesina stepped forward, leaning as far over her former boss' desk as she could. "'We' couldn't afford to disrupt our routine? Who is 'we'? Who did you talk to about this?" She straightened and shook her head, anger and disgust in her eyes.
"It wasn't Leia, or Bel Iblis, or Ackbar. Because they wouldn't have let Wedge, and me, and Tycho, and Iella, and Mirax – and their CHILDREN – go through this. You talked to no one, again. For the last ten years, you've been going along, doing as you damn well please, and ignoring the people whose lives you destroy along the way."
Her eyes narrowed to slits and she glanced over her shoulder at Wedge before looking back to Cracken. She probably shouldn't say this, and she'd probably regret it later, but she had to.
"Well, you screwed up this time. You, on your own authority, put someone into Rogue Squadron who tried to kill the commanding officer." The volume of her voice was increasing. "And it's going to come back to hurt you. Because I'm going to do everything I can to end your career." She paused. "By this time next week, either you'll be gone, or I will be."
Jesina turned back around to face Wedge and saluted. "Permission to be excused, sir?"
Wedge returned the salute. This wasn't exactly how he'd wanted this conversation to go, but he couldn't blame her for her outburst. Truthfully, he wanted to do the same. "Dismissed." As he spoke, he looked into her eyes. The angry fire was gone, and she actually looked like she was about to cry.
After she was gone, Cracken faced Wedge. "I'm surprised. You have quite a reputation for dressing down your people when the situation calls for it."
"You're surprised at what?" Wedge snapped, venom practically dripping from his words.
"That you let her get away with that."
"Of course I did. In fact, I'm going to back her on this all the way. You've played with this squadron too many times, General, and I can think of any number of people – both inside and outside New Republic service – who are sick and tired of it, and will be glad to see someone finally trying to do something about it. Jesina won't be leaving."
"Have it your way, General."
"I will." Wedge wanted to know more about just how Cracken had replaced Corran so quickly – the whole thing unnerved him, and made him wonder if the man somehow had doubles of all of them waiting in the wings until they could be of use to him. But he was too angry now to listen to him any longer, not that he expected Cracken to say anything more.
He took his leave of the Intelligence Director, eyes cold as ice as, at the same time, they blazed with anger.
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Wes, on a suggestion from Wedge, walked into the lounge in the lower levels of the palace. Sure enough – as his CO had predicted – Jesina was sitting at a table nursing a glass of dark liquid – one of three glasses, two of them empty, on the table in front of her. "Hitting the whiskey kind of hard, aren't you?"
"I think I just torpedoed my career. And, possibly, my life." Her voice grew slightly higher toward the end and Wes could detect just the slightest slur to her words.
He sat down, moving his chair close to her and taking her hand. "Yeah, Wedge told me what happened." He paused. "Look, Jes. Wedge is going to back you up on this. And so will the rest of us. Cracken went too far this time. Wedge has already talked to Iella about it, and they're going to talk to Leia right now."
"He replaced Corran in two hours," Jesina said softly. She might be slightly drunk, but she was still sober enough to know to keep her voice down. "He can do the same to us. You know that."
"Yeah, I know. But he'll have a lot of people to replace. Especially since we just got word that the Wraiths are in system and Iella gave them a direct order to report to her – and no one else – once they're planet side."
"What, exactly, are they going to do?"
"I don't know, but Wedge wants us to meet as his place in one hour."
She downed the last of the glass she was holding and raised her hand for another. "I plan on being very drunk at that time."
"I bet you do." Wes caught the bartender's attention and shook his head. Then, drawing Jesina to her feet, said, "Let's get you some caf."
He put an arm around her and she leaned heavily on him. The alcohol was really starting to kick in. Pressing a kiss to the top of her head, he tossed a few credits on the bar and led her out of the lounge.
She looked up at him once they were outside. "I love you, Wes."
He wondered briefly if she'd say that sometime when her words weren't slurred and she could walk on her own. "I love you too," he replied, leading her toward the exit.