All pilots to your stations. . .

Rogue Group was one of the last squadrons to leave. The place was alive with activity. As soon as they arrived on Pad 14, Luke and Kess split apart and dove in to help. The Falcon hummed and half the fighters whined at the ready. Wedge managed everything beautifully and soon directed Luke into the locker room to get changed. Han saw it and quickly told Kess to load up anything she could fit into the cargo bay so the Falcon could help ship out as much as they could.

Then Han split off and trotted over to the locker room too.

Luke wasn't the only one in there zipping up the red-orange envirosuit over his day clothes, so Han waited on the side until the kid finished wishing his old crew safety and success. Luke glanced at Han as turned back to the locker to don the oxygen unit too. "Everything ready?"

"Yeah, we'll head up right after you."

Luke nodded and adjusted the white unit over his shoulders. "Keep an eye on Vanech. Especially around Kess."

Han nodded severely, but he didn't leave.

Luke continued to prepare. He glanced again, "What?"

"There's something we want you to carry during this thing," Han said.

Luke's brows twitched.

Han fished something out of his pocket and stepped over to show it in his open palm. He dropped his shoulder against the nearby locker and explained in a murmur. "It's from both of us. We weren't sure if you were thinking about it, but Leia says it doesn't matter. You'll use it when the time is right."

At first, Luke didn't recognize what it was. It was a raw lump of off-white, like a rock, about the size of a tranton grape. He picked up in his fingers to look closer. It was a knot of naked Tatooine bone.

He smiled big at Han.

"It's a reminder," Han told him. "You have to get through this in one piece because you have a more important mission after it."

Luke clasped it in his fist and nodded an ear-to-ear smile of thanks. "So do you."

Han grinned and nodded too, and slapped a palm on Luke's shoulder as he left.

Artoo climbed happily into his socket and got comfortable, ready for adventure. Once he was secure, Kess climbed down the ladder again so she could board the pilot too. She was all business, not letting the hard truth of this event distract her with worry. It still took her aback when Luke came out of the locker room dressed in an envirosuit like the good old days.

But Luke wasn't looking at her. At the end of the Pad, a small group of civilians stood by to watch the launch. And it wasn't just any civilians; it was Wubak with a cameraman and a producer.

Luke stopped his feet and gestured just as Leia was rushing up. "What the hell are they doing here?"

Leia rested her hand on his forearm and looked up with serious eyes. "It's time."

"Time for what?"

Leia stared up at him with severity.

Luke rolled his head on his neck in disbelief.

"It's the signal," Leia told him.

Luke's eyes changed. He looked over at Wubak standing in the distance with her camera and back to Leia. "Plan Cresh."

Leia nodded.

Luke understood. He gave her a hug pulled away with a nod. "See you there," he whispered, and let her go.

He didn't like using this as a tool, but he had to admit the plan was brilliant. His eyes scraped over the pilots climbing into their ships, the repair crew hard at work to ready the craft, looked hard at Wedge, but the man was busy managing the whole mess with skill. . . .

He nodded to himself as he finished his walk to Five, now only seeing the beautiful grease monkey standing by the bottom of the ladder waiting to board him.

It's time.

As he approached, Kess met his eyes with a tight grin and sighed quickly. "Don't get shot."

Luke didn't answer. He took her face with both hands and pulled her face in for a kiss.

Leia smiled big. Han chuckled. Ashten blinked back.

Luke wrapped his arms around her body kissed her deeper. Kess dropped the helmet to rattle and roll along the deck and grabbed his body instead.

Eyes whipped over. Helmets paused in greasy hands. Pilots applauded from their cockpits. Wedge . . . grinned with success.

And Wubak caught the perfect vidcap.

Luke pulled away but didn't look at anyone else. He whispered it under his breath. "I love you too."

She was radiating.

But now he worked to shrug off the embarrassment of it as he climbed up into the cockpit. The crowd gurgled with shock and awe at the display, as expected. Luke took deep breaths to get his mind back to business, and Kess climbed up the ladder behind him to plug his suit into life support.

Five. Check. Lightsaber. Check. Artoo. Check. Girl. . . . His eyes shined up through the yellow visor. Check.

Kess gave him one last hopeful smile, and shimmied down the ladder.

The speaker at his ear sounded like Seidrik was yelling. "Control. Rogue Flight. Rogue Three and Five ready for launch. . . .

"All craft prepare for hyperspace." Admiral Ackbar swung around his captain's seat of the Mon Alderbaran and checked the last of the status, then called into his mike. ". . . Hit it."

They waited until Mon Mothma strapped firmly into her chair, and the Mon Odelbom hit it.

Olive drab ground troops strapped into seats five abreast, still filed the same order as when they marched in, Madine sat down in the cockpit when he heard the order. "Hit it."

Kess buckled herself into the back seat, with Vanech strapped into the seat beside her, and watched Chewie's furry hands racing across the controls ahead. Han reached for the lever, and the Millennium Falcon hit it.

Leia closed both palms around her belly and watched the still stars until the Intrepid hit it.

Joanne strapped in a bulk transport and dozens of bodies chattering around her, she ripped off the bandage from her wrist that covered the last burn scar. She looked out the window and saw the gold and green moon below, the one she almost lost her life to save, and watched it streak into nothing when the transport hit it.

Crammed tightly into their big leather chairs of the ready room of the Mon Icarus, still dressed in their enviro-suits, all twelve pilots of Rogue Group waited in silence for what felt like a very long time. Wedge sat in the chair next to Luke. And Luke could sense the man's emotions as a stiff but controlled ball of twine.

In the continued waiting, Luke unzipped the fly of his enviro-suit and reached into the pocket of his street clothes underneath. He pulled out the knot of bone Han had given him.

Wedge glanced over.

Then Luke reached back into his pocket and pulled out the second knot of bone he'd already bought.

He fidgeted with both not-yet-wedding-lockets in the real flesh of his left palm.

He knew Wedge was watching, trying to figure out what the things were, but the man didn't say anything.

Luke felt an uncontrollable need to get it out in the open.

He spoke with quiet tension as his eyes absorbed the meaning behind both pieces of bone. "You're my best friend," Luke said, then he looked up to meet the other man's eyes. "But if you kiss her again I'm going to kill you."

Wedge's eyes hardly struck with shock, but he recovered fast and added distant nod, keeping Luke's gaze with strength and honor. "Copy that."

Stomachs flipped when the carrier ship hit it.

Stars in the day? It didn't make any sense. He watched the sky with confusion as the meteor shower to streaked backwards. One by one, glistening dots stroked away to disappear into the sky.

But the birds sang in the trees and the wind blew like it was supposed to. There was no sense of impending doom. In fact, the jungle delighted in a deeper sense of calm and freedom. All of the big creatures were gone. From the whole of this earth.

So, the brown and pink bug crawled back on top of the fallen log, settled himself in a glorious beam of sunlight, and gladly began to eat.