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 31: Duty-Bound
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Jesina stood alone in Wedge and Iella's study. She leaned against the wall and brushed her dark hair back from her face as the conversation she'd just left played itself over and over in her mind. She was sick of Intelligence. She'd watched Corran Horn abandon his most sacred principles on Hoth because of a lie from Cracken. She'd watched Wedge nearly shot down because of a lie from Cracken. And that was just the most recent in a long list of disasters or near disasters all because of Intelligence. And so many of them had been times when her friends – whether she remembered they were her friends or not – had been in trouble and she'd been unable to do a thing.
Tycho. Adumar. Corran. Hoth. Tycho. Adumar. Corran. Hoth. The words played over and over in her mind, a mantra reminding her of her failures.
But part of her knew that Leia was right. None of that would have happened if not for Cracken cultivating the NRI's culture the way he had. Certainly, the man had done a lot for the Alliance and the New Republic. She hated to think of where they would be if not for his aid. And no one could suggest his loyalty lay anywhere other than with the New Republic. But his tactics had hurt so many good people, nearly destroyed so many lives – and even more careers. If she were to take Leia's offer, she could change that. Change the failures, change the culture, end the games. She sighed. That was why she'd joined Intelligence in the first place. That was what Cracken had baited her with.
She'd taken the bait then. Was she really going to do the same thing again?
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Wes watched Jesina leave and waited a moment before standing. "I'm going to see if she's all right," he said softly.
He found her in the back room, leaning against the wall, eyes closed tightly. "Jes?" he said softly. He'd learned not to startle her. She might have left NRI, but she hadn't left her training behind.
Her eyes flew open and she tensed for a moment. Relaxing when she saw that it was Wes, she gave him a wan smile. "Hey."
"Hey."
They stood a moment in companionable silence. Wes moved closer, standing in front of her. Taking a few steps forward, she leaned her head on his shoulder. He raised his arms slowly, encircling her. She let herself relax further, taking advantage of the fact that someone else was around to be strong for her for a change, and slipped her arms around his waist.
After a few minutes she pulled back and, keeping her arms around him, looked up at him. "Thanks. I needed that."
He offered her a soft smile and slowly bent his head down, brushing his lips against hers. "I needed that," he said, the smile shifting to a cocky grin.
She snickered and shook her head, shoving him playfully. But she sobered almost as quickly and sighed, stepping back and leaning against the wall. "I don't know what to do."
He looked at her in surprise. "You're actually thinking about taking the job?"
She shrugged. "There's really no one else. With Corlis dead and Layfee a potential traitor – and Force only knows who else he's taken along with him – we don't have a lot of options. Besides, Leia's right. Everything that's wrong with Intelligence – if I take over, I can take steps to fix it."
"You've been through this before, remember? And it didn't work out the way you planned. That's why you left, remember?"
"I know. But it's different now."
"No, it isn't."
"Wes—"
He shook his head and put a hand over her mouth. "No. Listen to me. I lost you to Intelligence once, ten kriffing years ago! And I'm not going to let it take you away from me again. Leia is doing exactly what Cracken did to you back then. And we all know how that turned out."
She blinked. "What?"
He looked away. "You heard me."
"I…yes, but…" she trailed off. She didn't want to have this conversation now. She couldn't have this conversation now. "Wes, I—"
At that moment they heard a knock on the door. Stepping apart quickly as if they were teenagers caught in an illicit embrace, they turned to see Wedge standing in the doorway. Blushing furiously, she tried to mumble some sort of excuse, but failed miserably.
It didn't matter anyway. Wedge waved her off and shook his head. "Someone made a move on Tycho and Winter. She's been shot, but guards stunned the shooter before she could hit Tycho. Winter's in bacta already, and should be fine."
They followed Wedge out to the living room, equally stunned expressions on both their faces. "Leia, pull Layfee out. There's no way Corlis' death could be a coincidence. And General Cracken's had to be an inside job. I'll take the position." She turned to face Wedge. "Effective immediately, General, I'm temporarily resigning from Rogue Squadron."
Wes could hear her voice crack slightly, and the fact that she carefully avoided looking in his direction did not slip by him unnoticed. He felt momentarily guilty for acting the way he had. It was clear from the way she looked at Wedge that she felt duty-bound to take the job, and that was something he could sympathize with. And he knew Wedge could as well. And he felt like he'd just made doing her job that much harder on her.
Their CO stood and hugged her. "I'll be sorry to lose you, but there'll be a place waiting for you to come back."
She smiled at him. "I'll be back." Then she looked at the others, then at Leia. "We should go back to the palace."
Pash Cracken stood quickly. "I'm going with you."
"Pash, we're going to need you in the air," Wedge pointed out, and Wes nodded to himself.
Now wasn't the time for the A-wing pilot to go off half-cocked on a man who might have been involved in his father's death. They'd need Pash where he belonged – in the cockpit, leading his squadron – if anything happened. "Let the MPs handle it, Pash."
The other man shook his head stubbornly. "No. I'm going. Besides, it doesn't seem like a good idea for these two to head over to the Palace alone, especially considering why they're going over there, does it?"
Wes glanced at Wedge. "He has a point."
"Yes, he does," the Corellian agreed, and sighed. "Fine. But the rest of you…" he waved a hand around the room, "are heading straight to the hangar."
"Wedge," Wes began, his own stubbornness showing through.
Wedge stared at him, and Wes knew that his old friend could see right through him. Finally, he threw up his hands. "All right. But the rest of you," he tried again, and Face spoke up.
"We're technically Intelligence," the Wraith pointed out.
Wedge shot Jesina a pleading look. Wes knew exactly why. Without Jesina, and with…he swallowed hard as the thought entered his mind…with Hobbie and Duryll dead, and with Tycho still out of the game, they were four short – five if he didn't make it back in time if something happened. Which it probably would, given their luck. Plus, if he didn't get back, Cracken probably wouldn't either. And…. Wes shut his brain off there. It was starting to hurt.
Jesina sighed. "All of you, go with the Rogues. We're going to need all the help we can get in the air if Hekrig comes back, and I can almost promise you he's going to. Wedge, I'll leave it to you to figure out how to sort people out, and I'm sure you can throw your weight around enough to get them fighters. And I'll try to get these guys back to you as soon as possible." She stepped back and motioned for the others to walk in front of her. As they moved, her hand dropped surreptitiously to cover the handle of her blaster.
Wes, as he stood and waited for her to leave before him, did the same. Jesina could take care of herself – that much he was sure about. But he didn't feel like seeing a demonstration of her abilities today. There was a reason he'd wanted to come along.
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Jesina and Leia stood side-by-side, with Pash and Wes flanking them – the Ace to Leia's left and the Rogue to Jesina's right. Facing the short, balding Intelligence agent, they made a formidable wall. "By my order," Leia began in her most presidential voice, "you are hereby removed from your position as Interim Director of New Republic Intelligence. You will be taken into the custody of New Republic Military Police pending the investigation of the murders of General Airen Cracken and Colonel Marck Corlis, as well as allegations of collusion and acceptance of bribes." She turned to the MPs who had come in with them. "Remove him from my sight," she finished bitterly.
"You can't do this," the man protested weakly.
"I can, and I have. Colonel Jesina Dreis will be taking your place. Lodge any complaints with the Council, although I assure you I am acting quite within my power as we are in a military crisis situation."
At that moment, his aide entered the room. Jesina's aide, now, as it stood. "Sir?" she asked nervously. Jesina truly felt for her. She couldn't have been more than twenty-two or twenty-three, and the scene she'd walked in on must have been…unsettling.
"Your boss has just been arrested," Leia told the girl. "This woman, Colonel Dreis, is taking over Intelligence for the time being."
"Um, yes, well…" she trailed off and shook her head in an effort to reacclimate herself. "I just got a comm message." She glanced at each of them in turn, as if unsure of who she should be addressing. "General and Agent Antilles' home was just attacked. Four gunmen with high-powered blaster rifles shot out the front wall of the apartment."