Hearts Are Meant To: Chapter 29
By KnightMara
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Disclaimer: Blah blah blah Lucas blah blah not my universe blah blah blah blah see actual disclaimer on any previous chapters blah blah blah thank you.
And as Super Grover says, "Yes, on with the STORY!"
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Several hours later, Wedge sat in the infirmary, cup of caff in hand, waiting to arrive at the Ithull base. He was exhausted, but sleep eluded him. Of course, the caff didn't help, but since he wasn't sleeping anyway, he might as well indulge a little. In truth, he was too anxious to sleep. Too much had happened in the small hours of the morning, and his brain was having a hard time sorting it all out. Especially considering the fact that no one was quite sure what had happened.
A few hours earlier, a still recovering Luke had brokenly confessed that the whole mess had been his fault. According to Luke, Laire had managed to draw him out of his hiding place in the utility closet, using vicious taunts and threats against Genna. Luke had been guided by emotion rather than logic, and had realized his mistake too late. When finally driven by anger into stepping out of hiding to attack Laire, he'd been quickly disarmed by the Imperial. To add insult to injury, Laire hadn't even been sure Luke was hiding in the first place, but had spoken the obscene taunts just in case Genna had tried to double cross him. It had worked, and now Genna was floating in bacta because of Luke's poor judgement.
Worse yet, they'd all realized that Genna was the only one who knew exactly what had transpired in that room. Luke had been stunned shortly after Laire brought him in at gunpoint. The recorder Genna had planned to use was a complete loss. Two datacards had been found on Laire, but both had fused together from the heat of the blaster shot, and they were unreadable. Luke had been able to identify one as his own medical records, but he had no idea what the second one could have been. Everyone realized that the mystery would have to wait be solved until after Genna awakened. If she awakened.
Her injury was alarmingly severe. The surgical droids had informed Wedge and Narra that she was stabilized for the moment, but that she required extensive surgery which could be life threatening in her weakened condition. Narra, himself, had gone with her to the infirmary, holding her hand in reassurance along the way, though she only partially regained consciousness en route and was likely unaware of Narra's presence. She hadn't come close to regaining any form of consciousness since. Narra had remained in the infirmary for a few hours, until exhausted and faced with filling out reports in the morning, he had retired to his quarters. Luke, shaken and guilt-ridden, had remained, although the toll on his own body had forced sleep upon him, and he now lay curled up in an uncomfortable-looking ball on one of the infirmary chairs.
Staring into his cup, Wedge felt the sudden shift in vibrations that signified that they had come into realspace. Wedge somehow always knew when he'd come out of hyperspace, whether asleep or awake. He often wondered why he always picked up on it, but it stood on record that he never missed a reentry. Pilot's intuition, he supposed.
As if on cue, a humanoid medic came out to greet him. Her amber eyes met his. "Sir, we've come out of hyperspace and are preparing to land on Ithull. We will then transfer your friend to the medcenter on the planet, which is much better equipped to handle this sort of trauma. You are free to go with her if you'd like."
Wedge managed a grateful smile in spite of his weariness. "Thank you."
The medic nodded and walked away.
Wedge glanced at the sleeping form of Luke, debating whether or not to wake him. Once the young commander had been able to move and speak again, he had refused any further medical treatment, in spite of the urging of the medical staff and droids. Wedge himself had tried to reason with him, but it was no use. Luke's only concern was with Genna, and he stubbornly refused to be placed in a position that would compromise his ability to rush to her side at a moment's notice. At length, everyone gave up trying to argue with him, and he had spent the evening waiting in the infirmary with Wedge. Wedge was grateful when Luke finally succumbed to his exhaustion, knowing that he desperately needed the rest. But now he also knew that Luke would never forgive him if Wedge went along with Genna alone.
Reluctantly, he rose from his seat and walked over to the young Commander, tapping him gently on the shoulder. "Luke," he whispered.
Luke bolted upright, jolted awake as though someone had screamed his name. His bloodshot eyes found Wedge, and he asked in a voice hoarse with sleep and the aftereffects of the stun beam, "What is it?"
"We're about to land," Wedge answered. "They're going to transfer Genna to the medcenter for surgery."
Luke nodded at him and rose from the chair, trying to stretch out cramped muscles as he looked around.
Wedge stared at him sympathetically. He'd truly had one hell of a day. Dark circles ringed Luke's blue eyes, his face was drawn and pale, his hair was tangled, and he looked half-dead. "You know, boss," he quipped, "you look terrible."
With a weary grin, Luke replied, "Well, I hate to say it, but you don't look so hot yourself, Antilles."
Wedge didn't imagine that he did. He ran a tired hand through his own tangled hair, knowing he must look as worn as Luke or worse. His leg muscles ached in fatigue, but he doubted he'd be getting any rest soon. For himself, and for Luke, it was not a time to rest, but a time to wait.
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Genna was spared the agony of waiting. When she opened her eyes once more, it seemed mere moments since she'd closed them. She saw in her mind's eye the image of Laire collapsing to the ground, of Luke sprawled on the floor beside her as she struggled to take another breath. She saw the rush of blurry lights overhead as she was moved from that place. It seemed only a second ago that she'd opened her eyes to a world of pain and tubes, and the grasp of an unfamiliar hand upon hers. Now, she stared up at another blurry light above her, this one not moving, and she slowly allowed her eyes to bring the world around her into focus.
The first thought that entered her mind was, "What am I doing alive?" By all rights, she should be as dead as Laire, whose eyes had rolled back unseeing as he fell. She had taken a shot to the chest. She remembered the pain. An echo of it still resided across her right shoulder and breast, though she was too groggy to make any real assessment of the damage. She remembered struggling for air, blacking out as the loss of both blood and oxygen took their toll on her brain. How had she survived? And how had she survived with so much of her memory still intact? She seemed to remember everything that happened.
Everything. Even Laire's vicious lies.
Of course they had been lies, created by the sick fancy of a deranged man. He had allowed an obsession to govern his logic, turning fiction into fact by finding "evidence" to support his musings. Thank the Force Luke had been stunned through the ordeal. She hated to imagine what Laire's lies could have done to him. Luke seemed to recoil from the very name of the Sith Lord. If he knew that Laire thought that . . ..
No, she wouldn't even think it. The whole thing was an absurd falsehood.
But why had he said it? Why gloat over such a ridiculous assumption? Nagging doubts filled her. She'd been afraid of Luke once. Afraid that his powers could be used as Vader's had been. Could there be a connection? And whose records had Laire shown to her if not Vader's? The data had matched Luke's so closely, it had to be a relative. But who? And did Luke know of this stranger's existence? Should he be told?
Or did he already know? Hadn't the entire conversation been recorded?
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door being opened. Genna turned her head to see who it was, surprised to find her neck incredibly stiff. It felt as though she'd been lying here for days.
A medical droid entered and crossed to her bedside. "Good evening. I see that you are finally awake."
Genna tried to reply, but her voice was weak from disuse and her ribs ached with the effort to draw in enough air to speak. She opted to nod.
"Are you in any pain?"
She shook her head. She was stiff and she ached, but plagued by nothing she would call real pain.
"Short of breath?"
She nodded. Why else was she refusing to speak?
"That is to be expected. After all, we had to perform extensive surgery on your ribs and the surrounding muscle. The soreness should begin to fade in a day or so, and you'll find that your lung capacity will improve."
Genna smiled weakly at the droid.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to record your vitals and perform a few simple tests." The droid rounded the bed and moved to a data terminal on the opposite side. As she followed his movements, her eye caught the movement of a door and she watched as a familiar form strode into the room.
"It's good to see you awake again, Cage," Commander Narra said with a relieved grin. "How are you feeling?" he asked gently.
She gave a half smile and attempted to respond. "Sore," she managed in a broken whisper. The effort sent a dull ache through her chest and shoulder, and she winced slightly. The droid noted this as it continued to record her data.
Narra grimaced in sympathy. "Don't speak then."
But she had to speak. There were so many questions. She took a slow breath. "Luke?" she asked, hoping he'd understand.
He did. "Mission," he answered with a frown. "We had to send him out two days ago."
What? Why would they send him away? Why wasn't he here?
Narra must have seen the disbelief in her eyes, because he explained hastily, "He didn't want to go, Cage. You should have seen him. He even argued with General Rieekan—so did I, actually—but it was no use. The Rogues were sent out to meet up with Captain Solo and the Princess and escort them home. And this after Luke hadn't slept in days. He was so worried about you. We had to kick him out of the medcenter repeatedly, and you know how much he hates this place."
His words reassured her. If Luke was on a mission, they must not have heard about Laire's twisted scheme. If so, then what had happened? And why was she even alive? She looked over at the departing medical droid and took another slow breath. "How did I survive?"
"The blaster bolt hit the recorder instead of hitting you full in the chest. They had to surgically remove it, but it saved your life. Of course, it was a total loss. Nothing could be salvaged from it, so the investigators have been waiting for you to wake up so you could tell them what happened." He paused. "Laire's dead."
"I know," she replied, letting some of the relief she felt at his other news color her words. No one knew. No one knew what Laire had been trying to prove or about the lies he'd tried to get her to believe. No one knew. "Guess I'm lucky I wore that thing," she added with a grin.
Narra chuckled softly. "Thinking like a true Rogue."
His words gave her pause. That's right, she was a Rogue. One of Luke's pilots. So much had happened, she'd nearly forgotten. Would she be able to fly under his command, after everything they'd been through together? Would their romantic involvement get in the way of their working relationship?
Would she wonder in the heat of a battle whether Laire had spoken the truth?
She shuddered involuntarily, bringing a look of deep concern to Narra's face.
"What's wrong?" he asked. "Do you want me to bring the droid back?"
She shook her head, dismissing the question. "How long was I out?"
"A week," he answered simply.
She arched her eyebrows in shock. "A week?"
Narra nodded. "We weren't sure whether you were going to pull through. The investigators have been getting impatient, though. They'll want to interview you as soon as possible now that you're awake. They need information on Laire. What he told you, what was on the second disk. That sort of thing."
"Second disk?" She'd forgotten all about it.
"It fused to the first one when you shot him. No one knows what's on it." He paused. "Do you?"
She shook her head. "No," she lied. "But I'll tell them what I do know."
Narra smiled gently. "If you need me to be here for you, just send for me. Those guys can be a little unnerving."
Genna returned his smile gratefully. "Thanks, Sir."
He patted her leg and moved from the bed. "I'll let you get your rest, which sounds rather funny now that you're awake at last." He chuckled. "I'll be back to check on you, later."
Watching him leave, she suddenly felt a deep sense of dread. She'd be questioned. What would she say? She'd have to tell them what happened. And she would. She'd tell them everything they needed to know.
But not the lies. She would never repeat the lies. Not even to Luke.
Especially not to Luke.
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A/N: Please, be kind and review. . . at times I feel like I'm writing this story for an audience of two people. . .and to Deja and Bjrn, I really, really appreciate all of the feedback you've given.
Remember, constructive criticism is always welcome. We writers long to improve (at least I know I do), and for some of us, fanfiction is a way to hone the craft for future, original works. The more you review and critique, the more we can learn.
Steps off soapbox for now. heheh