Wes seemed to have a permanent grin that he couldn't shake off…
He looked to his side, while going through pre-flight checks on his X-Wing. Tycho had the same satisfied smile on his face. He turned to the Taanabian, winking at him.
They were bound to Home One where the rest of the Rogues waited for them. Wes was a bit anxious about the scheduled mission, because this was going to be the first time they would meet up with the rest of the Rogues and they had no idea of how different these versions of their friends could be.
"Zapper, run me systems' check" He spoke to his R2 unit. "Comms are operational, weapons check, shields and all systems are go." He recited, going through the data Zapper was giving him. "This is gonna be a short ride, Zap! Are you ready to meet your counterpart?" The R2 unit, painted to replicate an X-Wing pilot, with his dome painted to match Wes' helmet, chirped in what sounded almost sarcastic… "What do you mean 'you hope he's had an easier time?'. We've been doing good!"
Zapper emitted a series of fast beeps and whistles, sounding almost annoyed.
"That's not fair!" Wes turned to his astromech. "Haven't I always brought you back?" A low whistle came out as an answer. "Ok! So you got blown to pieces two times… that's why I always do backups of your memory! Any other pilot would just be content with their new droid. But not me! haven't I always uploaded your memory into the new droids they assigned me? Did you prefer your original R4 body?" A low beep came . "See? You take care of me, I take care of you!"
Tycho and Wes got their repulsorlifts on, hovering seamlessly in sync, gaining altitude to take off.
"Endor Control, this is Rogue seven." Tycho announced, using is temporary call sign, since there was another Rogue two. Being short of half a squadron, Wedge had assigned them the callsigns Rogue seven and eight. "Requesting permission for take-off."
"Rogue seven, this is Endor Control. You have permission to take-off."
When they reached optimal altitude, both men hit their thrusters, quickly getting off atmosphere.
As Wes had called it, it was a short flight to where Home One stood, hovering over the Sanctuary Moon.
They landed effortlessly side by side, heading to the Rogues' briefing room.
"Well, there's something that's not weird at all!" Hobbie exclaimed as Wes and Tycho appeared at the door.
"I don't mind putting up with two Tycho's." Plourr snorted. "It's the idea of putting up with two Janson's that's unappealing…"
"Hey!" The other Wes complained drawing laughter from his squadmates.
The counterpart Tycho smiled at his husband, shaking his head at Plourr. "Leave him be, will you? He'll start pouting and then I'm the one who has to deal with it!"
Janson squinted at Tycho, giving him a suffering look. "You're supposed to be on my side here…" He said.
"I am!" Tycho answered him. "Now be quiet!"
"When you kids can settle down…" Wedge spoke to them, giving his voice a louder, sterner tone. He looked around his pilots waiting for those first minutes of usual taunting to subside.
Many other officers tended to accuse Starfighter Squadron's commanders of giving too much leeway to their personnel.
But most of them were unaware of what it meant to be in a twelve or, as they stood now, six people unit, flying together, fighting together, trusting each other with their lives!
It was not the same as being of the bridge of a Corellian Corvette, commanding thousands…
Besides, they mistook leeway for chaos and insurrection!
And there was one thing Wedge could count on, was his pilots' commitment and obedience when it was needed.
And since the New Republic was as eager to use Rogue Squadron as the spearhead for suicidal missions, just like the Alliance had done, then he would make sure his people would be entitled to have some fun before that one torp or laser blast that would have their name written on it, came to meet them!
Starfighter pilots lived on borrowed time...Rogue Squadron's more than anyone...
Hobbie's hand came up.
"Yes, Hobbs…" Wedge asked with a smirk.
"How do we call them?"
"They have names…" He sighed. "You're familiar with that concept right?"
Hobbie gave him a dismayed look. "Funny...what I meant was, if you call for Wes or Tycho, you'll always have two of each answering. So, how do we call for the one we actually want?"
"He responds fine to 'hey asshole!', in case you're wondering!" Tycho pointed in Wes' direction, which earned him a slight punch in the shoulder.
"I vote for Wes Two and Tycho Two...or B!" The other Wes offered.
"Why do I have to be the Two?" Wes whined.
The other Wes stared at him, with a lopsided grin. "Dude… you come into my house…" He said, letting the sentence hang in the air.
"Call him Wesly!" Tycho said. "Just like his sister and aunt do…"
Wes looked at him with his mouth open and an offended look on his face.
"You traitor…" He muttered, with a mock offended tone. "I guess that makes it fine for you, to call him by his middle name." He threw Tycho a dirty look.
All eyes turned to Tycho… and then to their Tycho, who just shrugged, shaking his head.
"You have a middle name?" Plourr asked.
"I hate you…" Tycho mumbled at Wes, who threw him a kiss, taunting him. "I have, and it's none of your business." He moped.
"It's Garon." Wes told them.
The other Tycho laughed, covering his eyes with his hand. "Seriously? How did you end up with a middle name? It was dad… yeah, that's just like something he'd do." He reasoned. "Thankfully my mom thought a middle name was overkill!"
"Lucky you! I'm stuck with this!" Tycho rolled his eyes. He would make sure to give Wes his due punishment for that one…
Wedge straightened himself suddenly, calling to the rest of them. "Attention!"
The pilots stood in attention, saluting as a tall figure entered the room.
The stern-faced officer returned their salute and took Wedge's place at the center of the room.
Wearing the usual pilots orange flightsuit, the man had the unmistakable look of a seasoned fighter, someone who'd seen more, and lost more, than he'd bargained for in his life… His black eyes almost like staring into the horizon.
He spotted Tycho and Wes amidst his own pilots and, with a sudden smirk that seemed to ease his stony features, he turned his attention to them.
As for the two pilots, they were visibly gaping at the newcomer. It was like they'd just seen a ghost…
Wes exchanged a puzzled look with Tycho, who shook his head looking as surprised as the Taanabian.
"So, you are the motive of such a secrecy among the Rogues?" The man finally spoke, with a soft-spoken voice that, nonetheless carried the cadence of someone used to be in command. "When Antilles appeared with Cracken to explain your situation, I thought they were playing with me. For a wild moment, I believed Cracken had given into one of Janson's elaborate pranks!"
"Co-commander...Narra?!" Wes stammered.
The officer uncrossed his arms, pointing at the rank badge on his chest, displaying five blue pips. "Actually, it's General now." He sneered slightly. "Fortunately, I wasn't required to leave my X-Wing, - they can do that when I die! - but I was put in front of a whole Wing… I take it from your expressions, that my counterpart isn't supposed to be breathing anymore." He said matter-of-factly.
Both pilots lowered their eyes.
"No, sir…" Tycho answered.
"Brental?" Narra asked, a flash of a distant pain crossing his gaze.
"Yes, sir."
"I see…" He seemed to ponder on the Alderaanian's answer. "For some time, I wished that had been my destiny too…" Narra added, his voice almost a whisper. After a moment's pause, he opened his datapad, pressing a button that brought the holoscreen on the briefing room to life. The schematics of the blackholes, and their mass and energy readings' analysis were displayed, along with the recorded images of the studied occurrences.
The General pointed at one of the images to his right. "This anomaly right here, was active just half an hour ago. Captain Gies sent me this, after they positively identified it as being one hundred percent compatible with the one that landed you here. Following a detailed analysis of the rest of the occurrences, we identified ten that are recurrent… including yours!" He looked straight into Wes and Tycho's eyes. "Gentlemen… You're going back home!"
Wes clenched Tycho's hand, with a beaming smile on his lips. The Alderaanian locked his fingers with his lovers'.
"What did I tell you?" He whispered to him.
"Ok, so you were right and I was over-stressing." Wes conceded. He turned to the General, with an inquiring look. "Is there any timetable on when that thing might appear again, or is it still active?" He asked.
"Unfortunately for you, it's not active still… but if the patterns keep as steady as they've shown to be so far, we're expecting another manifestation in twenty-six hours. Get your things ready and your fighters double checked. And enjoy your last day here...before you go back." Narra signalled to Wedge, who called the pilots to attention. Narra responded to their salutes and left.
The other pilots patted Wes and Tycho on their backs, congratulating them on their good news. Both had smiles from ear to ear. No matter how interesting this entire adventure had been for them, they longed to go back to their own reality, back to their friends!
"You still have today to buy us some lum." Plourr draped her arms around both pilots.
"Why? They pay you here?" Wes asked with a feigned mesmerized expression. "Because if they do, then we're stayin'!"
"They pay about the same, that I'm sure they pay you…" Hobbie snorted. "Meaning, it depends on how good you play sabacc."
The rest of them broke into laughter, as they left the room taking the path to the RecRoom.
"By the way…" The other Tycho said. "There's someone that wants to meet you. Luke just got back from one of his scouting missions on the Parmel sector. He sounded very curious!" He looked sideways at Wedge, trying to gauge his friend's reaction.
Luke and Wedge's break-up was still very recent, and though they seemed to be able to have a civil understanding, the discomfort was quite obvious… As was the pained gaze in Wedge.
He knew he'd never be able to pry out a real answer from Wedge, over his reasons to let Luke go.
He had justified with a break of trust after the whole Dagobah issue, but they knew there was something more to it.
It was heartbreaking to see two people so visibly in love, just drifting away from each other…
Of course, as always, his husband's offered solution consisted merely on locking them in a storage room until they kissed and made up! The rest of the Rogues had glared at Wes, when he came forward with that option, but Tycho was keeping that one as a last resort!
They entered the RecRoom, there was Luke, his smile becoming somewhat tense as he laid eyes on Wedge. Both men greeted in a painfully formal way, after which Skywalker walked turned his attention to both pairs of Tycho and Wes.
"Well, I be…" Luke smiled, still uneasily, but genuinely happy to meet them. "This is the most unbelievable thing I've ever seen! Interdimensional portals, were the kind of stuff you'd read in those cheesy holo-adventures when I was a kid. To find out they're real is quite something!" He shook Wes and Tycho's hand, signalling them to the table on the far right. Their counterparts followed suit. "I heard Cracken and Ackbar are studying a way to install a belt of satellite probes, to keep these occurrences. The general also wants to keep a permanent garrison here. If you ask me, I think he believes if the some greedy Moff gets a hold of this information, he might try to use them as a gateway."
"Don't tell me." Tycho sneered. "Cracken thinks the remnants might try and look for an alternate reality where the emperor is still alive…"
"We can't rule that out as possibility, Tych." Luke sat down, nodding at his friend. "Not that anyone's sure these portals will become permanent. After all, there wasn't any documented evidence that this had ever happened before… nor that is hasn't! it all a big mystery!" He gave them a lopsided grin, waving at the Sullustan waiter. "I need some lum to make sense of it all…"
The other Tycho's commlink beeped. He took it from is pocket and got up to take the call. After a few seconds, he returned to the table, leaning towards his husband. "Sorry guys, the lum has to be postponed. We got to go." He reached his hand to the Taanabian, and the counterpart Wes stood up following him.
"Parenting duties…" Wes guessed, smiling in the leaving couple's way.
"Most certainly!" Luke nodded.
"How do they do it?" Tycho asked. "I mean, it can't be that easy to raise a small infant in the middle of all of this…" He pointed around them. "Plus, being a Rogue isn't exactly the safest job in the galaxy!"
"They always were extremely professional, since day one. Though it was a bit rough for our Tycho, when he got pregnant. He loves flying! Being forcefully grounded, was very hard on him. Our Wes put up with a lot, during Tych's pregnancy, believe me!" Luke rolled his eyes. "But no one could stop him, when the time came for the second Death Star run. Their friend Bina looks after Lara, whenever they need, so they manage!"
"Baby Rogue Lara Celchu-Janson!" Tycho lifted his lum.
"You got that right!" Luke laughed. "She's adored by all of them! I bet they'll all try to teach her how to fly an X-Wing before she learns how to read and write…"
They chuckled, as they continued exchanging friendly banter.
Unseen by them, A dismayed Wedge Antilles got up and left the RecRoom, hands on his pockets and his head hanging low.
Hobbie, Plourr and Dllr exchanged a sad look. Watching Luke from a distance, was tearing their friend apart… And there was nothing they could do.