Chapter Six

She stared at the blue tunnel around her, leaning back into her seat. Well, here we go again. It was time to return to Tatooine. It had been an interesting few months, Mara figured. She had no idea she would stay that long, but they were indeed quite short on pilots. Or rather, experienced pilots.

A lot had happened, though.

When she first arrived back into Yavin 4, she flew low and smiled at the sight of the trees. The bloody trees, of all things. The forest was a welcome sight, but Mara was accustomed to the barren land of Tatooine - so much so it was normal. She remembered the fog and mist that covered a lot of the greenery below. Whoever was on duty gave her the all-clear; she smiled at the beautiful temple as she made her landing into the large hangar bay.

After a quick meeting with General Dodonna she was reunited with her fellow pilots, but seeing Wedge Antilles again was the one moment that stuck out in her mind. She had felt apprehension at seeing him again, it rose in her stomach and her heartbeat even increased. Maybe she liked Wedge more than she had previously thought but then she hadn't done anything wrong. Apart from let herself like someone else, knowing there was a strong chance that Wedge liked her too...

They were bickering about something when Mara saw him for the first time in months.

"I'll have you know," Jal Te Gniev was saying, "I've flown thirty-one missions and destroyed-"

"-eighty TIE Fighers. When are you going to stop telling us that?" said a voice, from behind the friends.

Mara hadn't seen Wedge yet, instead catching up with Jal, Doc, Porkins, and Wes Janson, a close friend of Porkins and a member of the Tierfon Yellow Aces. She turned around quickly, not even hearing him entering their common room. His eyes were fixed on her and he was grinning widely. Mara jumped up and hugged him tightly, which he returned. It felt warm, comforting and familiar.

"It's so good to see you back," he said quietly, moving a strand of her brunette hair to behind her ear, lighter now thanks to the Tatooine sun. They had let go of each other and were still standing quite close, Mara couldn't help but remember what it was like to stand this close to Luke Skywalker…

As if to make a point, Wedge had been quite touchy-feely. As in, more so than usual. Especially when Mara slipped up and said she had met 'someone' rather than 'some people' that had taken her mind off of her last undercover mission, and so Wedge interpreted that as she was interested in this someone. Well, he was right… It was exhilarating to have Wedge acting like he did, but if she hadn't have met Luke then she would probably have reacted entirely differently.

However an emergency situation meant Mara had to fly with Wedge in a Y-Wing squadron not too long after her arrival. They and other pilots were called into a briefing lead by General Rahm Kota and Commander Yat-De Viedas. They had planned an assualt on Imperial cloning facilities on the planet Kamino. Wedge was the only other pilot Mara knew personally seeing as they didn't fly with the Y-Wing guys all that often. As it turned out, sadly, she wouldn't have the chance to get to know them.

They attacked the planet's shield, but it was stronger than they expected, and their squadron was suffering heavy losses. Kota was aboard the frigate Salvation directing the battle, as the Alliance ships engaged in a fierce fight with Star Destroyers. It was completely one-sided from the moment they arrived out of hyperspace, and Mara felt her ship veer off due to a huge force; she smacked her head at the sudden movement. She felt the blood trickle down her face but scrambled back into position.

"Mara?" She heard Wedge ask in a panic. "Mara are you alright?"

"Yeah, fine. What the hell happened? Where's half the squadron?"

"Torn apart by a concentrated blast of turbolaser fire," Wedge replied bitterly. "Excuse me, General? We're getting ripped apart up here!"

"Literally," Mara added. "Order the retreat!"

"Antilles, Kanos, enough!" said Kota. "Hold your position! Keep pressing the attack! We won't get another chance to take this target!"

She heard Wedge make a noise over the com, but incoming fire meant Mara had to dodge out of the way quickly and fire back. She wondered what Luke would think if she never returned, he wouldn't even know what happened to her.

She heard someone say that the Salvation was falling apart, and so the decision was made to abandon it. The crew left for The Rogue Shadow and Salvation was piloted by a droid to crash directly into the planet's generator; it was to be a fast-moving missile to completely destroy the shield generators.

It was quite a sight, seeing the frigate dive into the planet's surface. But it worked. The Rogue Shadow was able to land, and Mara and Wedge had the order to cover the ground assault. Below was a domed city where troops were being led by Kota himself, to destroy the cloning facilities.

"We need to enter the city," Mara said in the comlink. "General, is there a control center?"

"We're heading there now Kanos. As soon as I give the all-clear you'll be able to enter the city through the main hangar doors."

"Imperial Dropships Wedge!" Mara yelled as she saw the transports heading their way, assaulting rebel positions on the ground.

"I see them."

They flew in formation, taking out some snipers threatening the ground forces on the way - with a great shot each the Dropships were destroyed, preventing them from any further damage to the Rebels. However their joy was short-lived as there was news of the Bounty Hunter Boba Fett having killed many of the Alliance troops.

"What's Fett doing here?" Mara wondered aloud, having heard of the famous Fett.

A huge explosion caused a disorientation between the Alliance soldiers, as they tried to get word from Kota. Fett had escaped as he had set off a sonic grenade, but that hadn't stopped the Alliance gaining a victory - the hangar doors were finally opened and they flew inside the city, providing vital support to Kota and his men. The facilities were destroyed, and eventually - after a clean up operation - they returned to Yavin 4.

Mara fiddled with the controls in her ship as she continued her flight through hyperspace. She thought back to when they landed, and she had found out that Ananda was a part of the troops on the ground. Of course she would have been! And she was still unaccounted for.

"Oh Christ," she muttered, as Wedge stood beside her.

"I'm sure she's fine Mara," he said, sounding optimistic and putting an arm around her. "Come on, let's get something to eat whilst we wait."

"Good flying out there, by the way," Mara said to him.

He smirked. "You weren't so bad yourself."

They had sat together in the canteen, Mara putting her feet up as they ate. Afterwards, Wedge had held her hand on the table. Mara didn't have the heart to pull away, and a part of her didn't even want to. She didn't even think of Luke, because they had just completed a heavy mission together after all.

Eventually Ani walked in, looking tired. She spotted Mara before they had seen her, hurrying over. Mara turned her attention away from Wedge and jumped to hug her friend. Ani's blonde hair was in a scruffy bun and her blue eyes looked sad, and the bags under them suggested she had been crying.

"We lost more people Mara," she muttered, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. She shakily laid her blaster on the table. "Thanks to your squadron we managed to hold on."

Ani sat down with them wearily. "Well done soldier," Mara muttered. "I know you did us proud, as you always do."

"How much longer will I last?" Ani wondered.

"Don't say that. You're my best friend, I can't lose you."

She managed a smile and said, "Well I see one good thing's happened."

"What?" asked Mara and Wedge.

"You two have finally figured it out and got together!"

Mara and Wedge shared an awkward look and stuttered something like, "Er, no, we're not-"

"Oh!" Ani gasped, realising her mistake. "I just saw your hands … I thought - do you know what, never mind."

Mara remembered being in the pilot's quarters that evening, and eventually just her and Wedge were left as everybody filtered off to bed.

"You've been avoiding me," he stated.

"Have I?" she asked him, trying to sound nonchalant about it. But it was clear that she had been since that morning when they had returned from Kamino.

She heard him move, eventually standing behind her as she made herself a coffee at the counter. "Yes, and you know you have. Ever since Ani thought were we together earlier." She sighed and turned around to face him, holding her cup of coffee close to her chest for comfort, leaning against the counter. "Before you went away to command that base, I'm pretty sure something would have happened between us. I think you know that too."

Mara kept her cool, but inwardly she felt not ready at all for this conversation. "Yeah, maybe. I had a feeling we liked each other."

Wedge nodded. "Have you met someone else?"

"What do you mean, 'someone else'?"

"Do you like someone else?" Wedge, the confident flyer and all-round confident person, looked quite nervous at her reply.

"Yes...maybe," she admitted. His face fell a little at her honesty. "But I think I'm the first girl he's met that's not from Tatooine, so I don't know if it means anything. And of course I thought about you a lot…"

She put her mug down to one side, and he lifted a hand to her head, stroking where she hit it during the attack earlier. The blood had dried and it was forming into a scab already just below her hairline. "Did you get that looked at?" he asked softly.

"No, it's nothing."

"Mara…" he moved his hand down, gently caressing her skin with his fingertips until he got to her wrist and entwined their hands together.

"Wedge, I think I need to figure my feelings out," she told him, ignoring the feelings that were erupting. " I can't…" God, he was having an effect on her that she was forgetting her words. "Wedge!"

"What?" he asked innocently, moving closer.

"You know 'what'," she replied irritably.

But she didn't want him to be in control. Not in complete control, anyway. That wasn't her. "I was first," he muttered, referring to Luke.

"I suppose you were…"

Mara supposed he was completely shocked when she leaned forward and kissed him, turning him around by his collar so he was against the counter. They had kissed passionately, and their hands definitely explored before she felt Wedge's hands on her cheeks, pulling her closer. She placed her hands on his waist and pulled away; they were both out of breath.

She had felt guilty, if she was honest, but the kiss was amazing. If anything, it made her question what it would be like kissing Luke. Nothing else had happened between herself and Wedge though, as she told him she still didn't know how she felt. Luke, though he had no idea, made her question everything. Who knows, if she hadn't have met him, she could have been dating Wedge Antilles.

A couple of weeks after the Kamino mission, she still hadn't been given clearance to leave. Finally, it became clear why when she was present for the new squadron assignment. They were calling it Red Squadron, a reaction to the news of the new superweapon. They were reserving them however for if the worst happens, and for now they'll be assigned to random squadrons or even in pairs for the time being. The General was cobbling together the best. Garven Dreis was Red Leader and nobody was surprised. He was the former leader of the Dantooine Squadron, and he personally trained Mara when she very first joined the Alliance. Wedge was assigned to Red Two; Doc was Red Three. Mara was assigned to Red Four, but John Brandon would be covering her spot until she returned if they needed to use the squadron early, and then he'll take up his long-awaited promotion. Jal was Red Five, Porkins was Red Six and the rest were also outstanding pilots, all the way up to Red Twelve. Pilots like Wes Janson were on the transfer list in case of casualties but was still flying with his usual squadron for now, as they hadn't yet suffered any heavy losses.

They had a few training sessions during their first few weeks as a squadron, but they were the most experienced pilots in the Alliance now, apart from a few others, and so not a lot else could be said or done. Mara stayed for their planned raids on imperial convoys, all successful - they had a great team going. She admired the Red Squadron assignment - it could do very well.

They had heard of a rare mutiny on board the Rand Ecliptic, where two Imperial leaders had defected from the Empire and joined the Alliance. One of those had arrived on Yavin 4, as he was beginning to get a reputation as an excellent pilot and leader. He also knew the mind of the Empire, having graduated the Academy and served for a short time.

He spotted Mara in the hangar bay as she serviced her X-Wing, and she turned to look. Biggs Darklighter. They grinned and almost ran to each other.

"You!" Biggs said. "I knew it!"

"I'm so glad you've finally seen sense," she joked, hugging him.

"I knew there was something else about you," he said as other pilots worked around them in the Hangar. "What were you doing back on the old rock?"

"I'm commanding a base there, training pilots and buying weapons on the Black Market," she explained.

He nodded, looking impressed. "Are you going back then?"

"I'm only here temporarily." Wedge was walking towards them. "Wedge! This is Biggs Darklighter." They shook hands. "Biggs, this is Wedge Antilles, and if you're not aware of his exploits, I'm sure he'll be delighted to give you the whole story."

"Haha."

Biggs got on really well with everybody, as he's an easy-going person, and he asked Mara in the evening, with Wedge definitely listening in, "So how's Luke doing?"

"Yeah, er...fine. Absolutely fine." She smiled at Biggs, who noticed something was amiss, but now Wedge was aware of Luke's name.

"So hasn't gone to the Academy yet?"

"Not yet. He deferred his application again."

Biggs flew jointly with Wedge in his first attack against an Imperial convoy protected by a huge escort frigate and Wedge was impressed by Biggs. He had defected with a guy called Derek Klivian, who he called Hobbie. With new pilots defecting or finishing their training Mara was assured she would be able to return to her base soon. She sure hoped so, it had been a while and she had promised Luke she would go back. She suspected people were surprised she even wanted to go back at all, but she wanted to finish things up in the base one last time.

She provided Biggs with advice for his first undercover, as he attended the debutante ball of Rivoche Tarkin, niece of the Grand Moff himself. She passed him essential information successfully, and averted an assault of some kind. Mara also flew with him for the first time to steal X-Wings from an Incom Corporation facility. They struck it successfully and a transport arrived, seizing the fighters and flying them back to the Alliance. It was not without its horror, however. They had finally met Hobbie as he became stationed at Yavin 4, and he suffered the most. Already wielding a prosthetic arm, he ejected from his TIE Fighter (provided when he and Biggs had defected) after drawing the enemy away and had the lower half of his right leg sheared off. They only had time to give him a quick bandage before their shuttle took them home.

They now had enough X-Wings to sustain the incoming pilots, but now needed droids for them. That would come later.

Her return to the Anchorhead Base was delayed yet again during a meeting with General Dodonna.

"We have received word from an anonymous defector that the Empire has launched Operation Strike Fear," he began.

"Creative name," Mara muttered sarcastically.

"It's goal is to suppress the Rebel presence in many systems but also to distract us from their new battle station. We believe this 'distraction' will also be used whilst they escort some plans or schematics of the so-called Death Star."

And of course, Mara had been involved. She was sent with Biggs in their X-Wing's to the Rebel outpost AX-235 as they had intercepted schematics for the Death Star using stolen Imperial communications satellites. They received the data and returned to Yavin 4 successfully, however it had been touch and go…

"Mara! ARGH."

"What's the matter? Biggs?"

"My power generator has gone!"

Mara winced and flew near him, to see him struggling, his R2 working frantically to fix it. "Outpost AX-235, this is Kanos. Requesting immediate backup for Darklighter, his X-Wing is damaged." She knew Imperials were on their way, and she got ready to defend them both. "Alright Biggs hang in there. I'm not going anywhere."

"Thanks buddy."

As she had predicted they came under attack by Imperial ships, with the Rebel outpost only providing a little support as many of them had evacuated due to their position being revealed, when they had intercepted the plans. The remaining Rebels had called for further assistance and soon three R-22 Spearheads came to their aid. Just in time, really, as Mara had already watched a couple of her fellow Rebels get destroyed trying to protect her as she tried to protect Biggs. She was the one carrying the plans, hence why they were wary of her own position - Biggs was supposed to be her bodyguard, but she ended up being his.

By some miracle they held off the attack, as the Mon Calamari Star Cruiser had sent a rescue team of corvettes and shuttles. They had managed to repair Bigg's ship and this allowed all of them to make the jump to hyperspace, escaping with the plans.

They met the pilot Keyan Farlander, who had never been stationed at Yavin 4 before. They had heard of him though, as he executed various missions and was usually stationed aboard the Independence, Admiral Ackbar's flagship and where Mara completed a part of her training. It was those sort of pilots who were heavily involved with Operation Strike Fear. He helped with the fixing of Bigg's ship and he would be one to watch.

And that was finally it. She was allowed to return to Tatooine, as they had enough pilots for now. However…

She only had a couple of months left. She was to be stationed full time on Yavin 4. The General had been impressed with how she handled her missions and was sure they would recover the rest of the plans to get a complete picture of the Death Star. He wanted her on standby, so she was to return to Anchorhead and transfer full command over to Roger Stern. Dodonna had offered for her to do this over hologram, but she refused, wanting to return. Luke had a part to play in this. She had already been away for roughly three months.

She visited Biggs, who was sitting in the infirmary with his friend Hobbie. A serious infection developed at the site of his wound causing raised, ropy growths on his skin.

"I've been disqualified from flight duty," he said crossly. "The medics can't treat it, they suspect it's of native origin."

"I'll be thinking of you Hobbie," Mara said softly as she hugged him. "I'm sure I'll see you back on your feet - er, foot - when I'm back."

Hobbie laughed at her error. "Hopefully they'll fit me another prosthetic limb. I'll be half-robot then!" He paused and looked up at his friends. "Get somebody to carry me to my bird, and just watch me fly. You can count on me."

"We know. You'll fly even if you lose your remaining arm and leg."

Mara bade goodbye to him, who was smiling at her comment, and left with Biggs, who looked worried. "The medics are worried for his life, Mara. The infection might spread everywhere if they can't contain it."

She placed a hand on his arm. "He'll be alright. He's a fighter, that one. He lost an arm before, didn't he? I think it'll get worse before it gets better, but it will get better."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Just a feeling." And it was just that. But somehow, she knew he would make it.

"Luke gets those," Biggs remarked. "And he's always right." Mara shrugged, remembering Luke setting off her migraine. And he gets 'feelings' too. Maybe he was suffering with the same thing she had? "I know you and Wedge have a little bit of history, Mara-"

"I'd hardly call it that."

"Even still, it's something," he said seriously. "And I know it's none of my business, but Luke is my best friend and I saw the way he looked at you. And the way you looked at him back. Assuming you have gotten closer to him since I left, I think you should set the record straight fairly soon."

"Did you just lecture me, Darklighter?" Mara asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Sure did Commander," he replied casually, a smile breaking out under his moustache. "I would say 'send my regards to Luke', but...I want to be the one to tell him about this."

"Understandable," said Mara. "I'm going to tell him about me, too. I've not got long left there."

"I've been granted leave in a few weeks, so I'll be in Tatooine saying my goodbyes in case anything happens to me," he explained. "If I catch you when you're leaving can I hitch a ride back?"

"Sure can."

"Are you going to put Luke into contact with the Alliance?" Biggs asked.

"I don't know." Mara paused, wondering what the best option was. He was one of the best pilot's she had seen, and the Alliance need that right now. But putting him on standby in the face of this huge weapon could mean certain death. His family would never forgive her if anything happened to him. "What about you?"

"I was thinking about telling him that I was planning on jumping ship and joining the Rebellion," said Biggs. "The less he knows, the better. But if you two become...whatever happens between you two you should definitely tell him you're a part of it."

"No secrets."

"No secrets," he agreed.

She said her other goodbyes again, Wedge once more kissing her on the cheek as she sought him out.

And here she was. The beeps signaled her time in hyperspace was coming to an end, and she soon saw the surface of Tatooine.

There was a lot to think about, and only time will tell how it all plays out…

Author's Note: How was it?! I really hoped you liked it and didn't mind the flashback structure. I took a day off writing my dissertation to get this done. Also I edited the prologue slightly - it's now chapter one instead and a small Wedge and Mara scene was added in. Thanks for reading, please review!

Also: credit goes to the Star Wars Wikia pages for their info!