"So," Kess said, just to make conversation. "What are you going to do about a repair manager?"

Wedge used the tongs to add more coals to the grill and peered at the flame. "I'm going to give it to Ashten."

Kess looked over her shoulder to see the green woman in the crowd, sitting with her husband and laughing at Rogan and Seth's antics. Ashten moved up from Floor Sup to Repair Sup only two months ago. Although the woman had the skill, Kess wasn't sure she had enough experience for the role. "You think she's ready for it?"

Wedge shrugged as he stood tall again and hooked the tongs on the rail. "She's been doing job since Neilson left. She just doesn't have the title yet." He looked out at the woman in the crowd and stepped over to sit on top of a picnic bench. "She's fumbled a few times, but she's handling it like a trooper."

Kess peered behind her to the laughing crowd. Rogan and Seth seemed to be laying it thick for Yana and Joanne. Kayla aided the fun with playful insults and shrieking giggles.

Wedge slurped his beer. His eyes studied them all. "In a war like this, most of us don't get the benefit of experience before we're promoted."

She returned face front and grinned wisely. "Are you talking about you or are you talking about Luke?"

Brown eyes narrowed secretly at her. Wedge sipped his beer again . . . and changed the subject.

He chinned over at the gang. "Rogan seems to have Yana in his sights. Didn't see that coming."

Kess looked at her own swinging feet. "Rogan doesn't have chance."

"How do you figure?"

"Yana doesn't date pilots."

"Oh yeah?" He sat up and set an elbow on a knee. "How come?"

"She thinks pilots are unfaithful as a general rule, and she doesn't have the patience to risk it."

His eyes aimed over at her. "And what do you think?"

"I think I only care about one of them. And I'm not worried about it."

Wedge smiled and nodded. "Good for you."

"But in my experience, she's right."

Wedge just shrugged an eyebrow and swigged his beer again.

"This is the part where you're supposed to defend yourself."

He dashed his head aside but grinned with honesty. "That would be unethical of me, for I am guilty as charged."

"Is that so? This is a story I didn't know."

He climbed off the table to check the food again. "New pilots do have that urge to roam. Makes them feel invincible. Or maybe it's because they already feel invincible; I don't know. But the tendency fades . . . for those of us who survive long enough to grow out of it."

"Spoken like a newly-minted thirty-year-old." Kess lowered her voice so her next question wouldn't be overheard. "Is that what happened between you and Kayla?"

His eyes flicked over that she knew, but he accepted it quickly; of course she would. He admitted it with honor and humility. "And I was punished appropriately."

"Interesting."

"Why do you say that?"

"She only had good things to say about you."

Wedge chuckled darkly. "Kess, I wasn't punished by Kayla. I was punished for Kayla."

"Oh!" She laughed freely. "Oh, I see."

"Now, don't give me that look. It's ancient history," he said. "I wouldn't have transferred her over if it wasn't."

"Fair enough. To be honest, I completely forgot about it until a week ago. She never talks about it."

"I'm sure she doesn't. I was no more than an unwitting conquest." He seemed to accept that with ease, but he kept eyeing the gang out there with a distant grin. "When Kayla's ready to land, I'm sure she'll find a good port. She's still having too much fun with it though."

But Kess detected something in the way he kept watching the gang behind her. She angled her head. "Are you ready to land?"

He nodded with direct honesty and shrugged. "Just looking for the right port."

She suggested with caring, "Got any in your sights?"

She watched his brown eyes peek at the gang and narrow at her again. He shook his head even as guilt welled up. "Not really, no."

"Then why do you keep looking over there like that?"

He spoke carefully quiet to point out. "Kayla's not the only one over there."

"Ah ha!" Kess smiled big.

Wedge shook his head to get her to shut up but his grin spread across his face. "Now, don't try it. It doesn't matter."

"Why not?" She whined.

Wedge stepped back over to sit on the picnic bench again, and spoke quietly, almost without even moving his mouth. "You just said it." He picked up his beer and murmured behind the mouth of the bottle. "She doesn't date pilots."

Kess's face brightened with budding glee. Wedge hardened one brow over his eyes to glare at her in warning. Kess didn't get the chance to answer before bodies bounced up to join them.

Joanne sat on the table by her hip and draped her head back against Kess's left shoulder as if the woman was a backrest. "Is the food ready yet?"

"You already ate."

"What's your point?"

"Come on, dammit. You're going to burn it." Yana complained as she checked the food herself, robbing Wedge of his tongs to turn the meat.

"He likes his meat burnt," Kayla poked as she stepped over too, lounging against Kess's right side. "Dark and crispy. Like Joanne."

Kess turned her chin over at her friend. "Did you just make fun of Joanne's skin color?"

Kayla chinned back. "Actually, I was referring to her recently roasting under the open flame of an exploding shield generator. But, shit, if that's all it takes to get her skin color, I'm game."

"Undercooked," Joanne announced with a spread of her arms and a laugh. "I shall hereby refer to ya'll as 'undercooked'."

"No, no." Kayla wagged her finger. "Me and Kess are undercooked. Yana's raw."

Yana's cheeks were pink to giggle all this too. "What about you Ashten? What's the trick to get your skin color?"

Ashten settled on the seat beside Wedge's knee and grinned her full green face. "Eat bugs."

As the women giggled collectively, Wedge hopped off the table in a hurry to interrupt Yana's work. "Don't take them off. They're not done yet."

Yana played keep-away with the tongs, making her healthy brown ponytail bounce the air behind her. Kess watched the woman's green eyes shift to the man with a daring glint. "Have you ever tried it 'undercooked'?"

Kayla seemed to detect the flirting as clearly as Kess did and offered (almost) innocently. "Have you ever tried it raw?"

Wedge's eyes flicked to the two of them with a disciplinary finger. "Stop. Both of you."

"Is that an order, Commander?" Kayla batted her eyelashes.

"If it has to be." But he smiled.

Kayla wrapped her arms around Kess's shoulders and announced with pride. "Well then, it's a good thing Kess doesn't work for you anymore."

Kess smiled back at Kayla with a deepening nod at this epiphany. "It is indeed!" They almost didn't need Jedi tricks to be on the same page—Wedge and Yana—Kess and Kayla eyed each other and nodded in agreement to this mission objective.

Ashten wrinkled her green eyebrows. "What are you two going on about?"

"Nothing!" Both peeped in unison.

Wedge rolled his eyes at them and began to turn away from the grill.

"Wait!" Yana snapped at him, motioning him back over, but still kept the tongs far out of any attempted reach.

Untrusting, but unable to disobey, Wedge turned his feet a back around to see what she wanted.

Yana eyed him with daring, snagged the beer from his hand, swigged it, and handed it back. "Thank you."

As if only to keep the smirk from his mouth, Wedge shoved his tongue in the corner of his lower lip. He turned away with a stiff sigh and a commander's shout. "ROGAN!"

"Go for Rogan!"

Wedge tried to sound angry as he growled, swigging his beer, licking his lips after, and walked away to join the other group instead. "Where's my wingman? I'm surrounded."

Seth crooned like the man was insane. "And you're bitching about this?"

All the while of his feeble exit, they women snickered in madness. Kayla dove her face into Kess's shoulder. Joanne clopped her palms together and rubbed them. Ashten lifted her green eyebrows with new understanding. Yana flushed a little pinker. "I can't believe I just did that."

Ashten settled her elbows on the other table and angled her head at Yana with a smile. "I can't believe it took you so long."

Kayla spread her arms with an announcement. "New project!" Still using Kess's side as backrest, Joanne spread her arms too and joined the long shout. "New project!"

Ashten chuckled at all this and 'reported in' to Kayla. "Do we have a mission plan, commander?"

Kayla poked a finger over at her. "You, my girly girl, just became a member of the Girly Girl Team."