Aboard the MC80 Star Cruiser Home One

The Rogues were working with Lieutenant Page and his commandos when the call came. In fact, Wedge was flat on his back with a grinning Karie Neth over him. "Come on, Boss. I thought you were tougher than that."

"I was going easy on you;" said Wedge.

Immediately, a gleam appeared in Karie's eyes. "Oh so you're going easy on me? Why is that? Because I'm a women perhaps?"

Wedge suddenly felt nervous. "No! No, not because you're a women! There was this Twi'lek named Rianna, she could kick my ass with her eyes closed! Obviously, it's not because you're a woman."

"Really?" said Karie as she leaned down, one just-slightly unkempt eyebrow raised. "Then why, exactly, are you going easy on me?"

Wedge gulped and said, "Because... uh... because I'm bigger than you?"

Karie's eyes widened and she looked at Page. "Lieutenant, are Stormtroopers going to be bigger or smaller then me if I ever find myself facing them in hand-to-hand combat?"

Judder Page was grinning as he answered, "Every Stormtrooper is roughly between 1.80 and 1.85 meters tall when in their full combat armor. They usually way around 113.4 kilograms when in full kit and are in perfect combat shape and conditioning."

She turned her eyes back to Wedge and raised her eyebrow again. Just then, the intercom chimed. "Rogue Squadron, report to the briefing room off the main hanger."

Sweaty, sticky and aromatic with the scent of hard work, the twelve ace fighter pilots piled into the room. Though they were able to keep their bearing professional, it was quite amusing to watch General Rieeken's nose wrinkle as they all sat down. When everyone was settled, Rieeken activated a holo-projector. The shimmering blue form of a tibanna gas storage platform appeared and several of the older, more seasoned Rogues, including Wedge, were unable to suppress a groan. "Now, now Rogues;" said Rieeken, a wry smile on his face, "chin up. This next mission with be to acquire a large amount of tibanna gas for the two massive coming battles. To that end, we gained in-depth insider knowledge of the Bespin gas mines."

A figure that Wedge didn't quite recognize strode forward. He was dressed in black pants, a white shirt and a vest, not unlike Captain Han Solo's - but this was not Han Solo. He had darker skin and flashed a brilliant smile. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Rogue Squadron. Luke Skywalker has said many great things. I'm Lando Calrissian, the former Baron Administrator of Cloud City on Bespin and I'm going to provide all the information you need to get that tibanna gas. Now the mining facility isn't large at all, so small in fact that we managed to avoid the eyes of both the Mining Guild and the Empire for quite some time. Now, however, there is an Imperial garrison there. They have set up platforms to take a good amount of the tibanna gas for the Imperial war machine. Those are the storage platforms you will be hitting. Using a half a dozen medium transports, and of course the legendary skill of Rogue Squadron, you should be able to make off with more than enough tibanna gas for both missions."

The man looked pretty pleased with himself until Wedge lifted a hand, "Mister Calrissian, a couple questions for you: what kind of Imperial resistance are we expecting here?"

"I'm glad you asked!" said the man with another blinding white smile. "You're Wedge, right? I left the city in a bit of a hurry so I can't speak to exactly what they have. Past experience says they probably have siege balloons with laser cannons, several squadrons of TIE Fighters and Interceptors and quite possibly some TIE bombers too. Oh, and they most likely placed laser cannons all over the place in the city. You know how the Imperials just love their laser cannons. Any other questions?"

"Yeah;" said Wedge, "why'd you have to leave in such a hurry?"

Suddenly, Lando Calrissian looked just a little uncomfortable. "Let's just say that a deal made with what turned out to be a rather controlling and unreliable partner went south in a hurry. Any other questions?"

None were forthcoming and Calrissian turned his eyes on Karie Neth, smiling even more brightly. "How about you, Sweetheart?"

Karie tensed and said coolly, "I didn't raise my hand, so no."

It took a moment for Lando to realize the eleven pairs of eyes, aside from Karie's, were glaring at him balefully. Clearing his throat, and suddenly uncomfortable, Calrissian said, "Right. Well I won't keep you any longer. Good luck, Rogue Squadron."

Slowly, the Rogues stood and exited, most of them shooting the man a warning glare as they did. Wedge hung back to last and General Rieeken said, "Commander, have your pilots ready in an hour. There will be RZ-1 A-wings prepped for them since they proved invaluable last time we were fighting in tibanna cloud formations."

"Agreed;" said Wedge, "the A-wing's sensor packages were very well suited to scrambling effects of the stuff. Anything else I need to know?"

"Yes;" said Calrissian, "if it comes to letting the Alliance have the gas or simply destroying it, the Empire will take the latter so move fast. When they start firing on the containers, your time table will constrict."

"Thanks;" said Wedge, his voice a growl but then he gave a feral smile. "You know what, Calrissian, why don't you join us on the mats when we get back? We do hand-to-hand combat training with Lieutenant Page. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if we invited you along."

Calrissian looked like he was beginning to sweat. "Kind of you to offer but..."

"Good;" said Wedge. "We'll look forward to it."

The Gas Giant of Bespin - Cloud City

As the transports and fighters dropped into orbit, the more senior members of Rogue Squadron, those who had been around since the rogue Imperial Moff Kohl Seerdon's war on them, were uneasy. Over the squadron's frequency, Wedge called out, "Calibrate your scanners to 7-mark-9. This is going to be just like Talaraan - except this time, we need to be sure that none of the containers are destroyed. Dido with the transports. Rogue Two, Rogue Four, you're with me. We're going to stay nice and close. The rest of you, fan out a little more. Intercept and eliminate any incoming TIE squadrons. Don't be shy about taking out those gun platform balloons either."

They acknowledged and broke off. Wedge wasn't really worried about the enemy fighters. The most immediate problem was definitely the gun balloons. Each one had a half a dozen anti-air weapons on them. If Wedge and the others had been in X-wings, things would have been far more difficult. Luckily, they were in A-wings and the smaller, more compact fighters allowed them to zip in between the cables that tethered the balloons and fuel containers to the gun platform. It was all too easy to elevate the laser cannons just enough to blow the fuel containers without even changing flight pattern. It took no time at all to eliminate the balloons surrounding the first of the platforms.

Wedge hoped that, considering that Rogue Squadron traditionally flew X-wings with red markings on the s-foils, not to mention dozens of small TIE's of various kinds painted on the fuselage to represent their kills, the Empire wouldn't bulk and start destroying the containers outright. He also hoped that they would be slow to respond with their full force since it was a half a dozen medium transports and a dozen A-wings making the raid. With any luck, the Imperials would be overconfident at first.

Initially, that seemed to be the case too. Reports came in that a squadron of TIE Fighters or TIE Interceptors were engaging them but it never ended up being much of a problem for the ace fighters of Rogue Squadron. None got through. "Geesh;" muttered Wedge after the forth such report. "This garrison was bigger than we expected. Thanks a lot, Calrissian."

"Now, now;" chuckled Karie, "nothing to be done about it now. If Calrissian left in as much a hurry as he claims, he probably didn't have much time to count starships."

Wedge scowled slightly. He didn't want to agree with her but it made sense. "Point;" he finally muttered.

His attitude towards Calrissian seemed to amuse her greatly. Wedge's comlinked clicked, bringing him back to the moment. "Rogue Leader, this is Transport 1: we've emptied these containers and are moving on to the next ones."

"Roger that, Transport 1. Forming on your starboard side;" replied Wedge, a tight smile crossing his lips. One down.

They skies of Bespin were beginning to get crowded as they headed to the next storage container platform. More and more TIE's continued to arrive to reinforce their brethren. "Where are they all coming from?" murmured Wedge as he blasted one apart and spun away, narrowly avoiding being vaporized by another.

"Rogue Leader, this is Rogue Three, my long ranger scanners just picked up a pair of Light Escort Cruisers and a Quasar Fire-Class Fighter Carrier dropping out of hyperspace."

"Blast;" muttered Wedge before replying, "Rogues, I want you to identify the nearest container platforms. Protect them from any and all Imperial fighters. Calrissian said that they would destroy them sooner than let them fall into Rebel hands so lets make sure that the latter is their only option."

Eleven confirmations came over the comms and Wedge through a little more power to his weapons. As the transports eased up next to the next set of platforms, a dozen TIE's buzzed in and split off - some after the transports and some after the containers. "Alright, Rogue Two and Rogue Four, split off and make sure that none of the containers are lost. I'll take the ones after the transports."

He thanked the force for the speed and maneuverability of his A-wing. With it, he was able to blaze and blast through the standard TIE Fighters. As he fought them, one or two broke off and tried to circle around, only to find their wingmen destroyed and Wedge zipping towards them from another direction. From his helmet speaker, Wedge heard Karie Neth mutter, "Geez, these things are too fast! Gotta be careful or I'll run into something."

Wedge chuckled as he angled around and lined up a shot on another TIE. "Don't do that! We need you up here, Karie."

With one final trigger squeeze, the last two TIE's exploded into dust and fell towards the planet below. "Status Report, Rogue Squadron."

They all came back as alive and well with the vast majority of the containers surviving the engagements. "Keep it up, Rogues. Send me reports as your situations change."

The battle was intense. It seemed that fresh TIE's continued to arrive even as the Rogues destroyed them. Every now and again, one of the Rogues will call out 'clear' and 'incoming' over their comms. Often the same pilot would say the former less than a minute before saying the latter. Where the TIE's were coming from didn't make any sense. A standard garrison had maybe three squadrons and a single carrier cruiser only carried for.

Keying in the frequency for Wes Janson, he said, "Rogue Five, head on up and get me a scan. See if there is any indication where all these fighters are coming from."

"On it, Boss;" came the reply.

It was only a couple minutes before he came back and said, "There are Two carriers up here and a half a dozen Light Escort Cruisers, Rogue Leader!"

Wedge grimaced, "Rejoin your group, Rogue Five."

If there were so many Imperial ships above, why weren't they just shelling the platforms from orbit - or even coming down and taking them out inside the planet's atmosphere? Maybe the Imperials wanted the platforms in tact despite what Calrissian said, yet another reason to think even less of the man.

"Rogue Leader, this is Transport 1 - we're clear and heading to the next platform."

"Copy that, Transport 1;" replied Wedge. "Rogue Two and Rogue Four, form on me again."

Wedge was pleased to see that three of his pilots were flying frantically around and trying to eliminate any incoming TIE's at the next platforms. There were two within a few dozen meters of one another. "Way to go Rogues;" said Wedge. "Now, you three go to the next platform. We'll take it from here."

With three acknowledgements, the three A-wings zipped off.

The Rogues buzzed around as the transports continued to fill from the platforms. Those two and the next two were dicey and rather stressful for the Rebel pilots. As they approached the last cluster of platforms, the captain of Transport 1 said, "We're almost completely full, Rogue Leader. We might not even be able to drain these last platforms."

Seeing the situation ahead, Wedge replied, "Good, because there is no way that all of those containers are surviving this."

Bombers were sweeping in to destroy the platforms completely and gun platform balloons were angling to fire on the container platforms. To make matters worse, the last platforms were almost directly over Cloud City and the Empire had laser cannons firing into the sky, targeting the transports and the Rogues. "Listen up, Rogues, I need you to target those bombers and gun platform balloons;" said Wedge as he angled down towards the city. "I'm going to target the power generators to those guns."

Over his private frequency, Karie Neth contacted him. "Wedge, that's insane! You'll be pulverized!"

"I'll be fine. As soon as I'm flying among the towers, fewer of them will be able to hit me. I'm already tracing where their power sources are. I'll be able to take them out and then the guns won't fire."

He ignored her protests as he dove, spinning, bobbing and weaving to avoid the anti-air fire. He took several hard dings and was about to tell his astro droid to start working on it until he remembered that he was in an A-wing and did not have one.

Finally, he was below the majority of the fire and began to slow down, weaving expertly between the spires and towards of Cloud City, following his sensors to the first power source. It wasn't hard to find. When the Imperials took over a city, they weren't exactly discrete about where they put their weapons' power sources. Two concussion missiles more than did the job. Above, Derek 'Hobbie" Klivian said, "Some of the cannons ceased fire, Rogue Leader. Hurry up! We need your help up here."

"On it;" said Wedge through gritted teeth as he wove between buildings. Suddenly, two Cloud Cars were on his port and starboard and just slightly behind.

"What the Hell!" muttered Wedge.

They broke off suddenly and Wedge noticed that a pair of TIE's were on him - until the Cloud Cars blew them away.

"Alright!" he said with a grin.

He come upon the second generator and blew it away. Over a general Alliance frequency, an unfamiliar voice was heard. "Rebel Pilot, the last generator is over by the security tower. We'll watch your six while you take it out. Frankly, the Bespin Wing Guard is blasted tired of these Imperials and their heavy handed oppression."

Over that frequency, Wedge replied, "Much obliged, Sir. We'll do what we can but I hope you realize that this isn't our big move to save you from the Empire. We just need top procure the gas they're trying to steal."

"You can have it and welcome;" came the reply, "and don't worry. We were fired and had to steal these to get up here. The rest of Cloud City won't suffer after they execute us."

Wedge didn't know how to respond to that. These men were knowingly signing their own execution orders. "I don't know what to say. Just know that this tibanna gas is going towards the final destruction of the Empire."

"Of course. Time to break off now, Sir. TIE's coming in from rear and starboard. May the force be with you, Rebel."

Wedge gritted his teeth as he came to the lase generator and blew it away. Instantly, he pulled up and angled skyward, blasting every Imperial ship that was even slightly in front of him. "What's the situation, Rogue Squadron?"

Tycho Celchu replied, "Our sensors just picked up an Imperial-class Star Destroyer dropping out of hyperspace."

"Copy that;"replied Wedge before switching to the transports' frequency. "What's the word, Transport One?"

"We're detaching and closing out now, Rogue Leader;" came the reply.

"Great! Just a few more minutes, Rogues. Keep those fighters and bombers off the transports while they make their escape. We just need to get them to the edge of the planet's mass shadow."

Whoops came over the comms and the Rogues seemed to be reinvigorated as the transports moved laterally across the skies and away from Cloud City, hoping to exit atmo far enough away that the slow transports could get to the right jump distance away from Bespin. It was a race. "Captain, put all of your power to your engines and we'll keep the fighters away."

"Wedge, the Imperial ships are trying to cut us off!" said Tycho.

Wedge cursed and, just for a moment, contemplated trying to slow down the Imperial ships but a dozen A-wings would do nothing to a Star Destroyer and six Light Escort cruisers. It was going to be tight. On an impulse, he called over all frequencies, "Pull up! All craft pull up and make straight for space!"

"Wedge!" yelled Karie in shock.

"Trust me! We can't out run them, so we'll out smart them! Ascend!"

All craft pulled upward and rose, fighting gravity as they did. They plowed through the clouds and the sky darkened around them until, suddenly, gravity gave way and they blazed into space - just as the Empire bore down upon them. Ion cannons fired and tractor beams were activated from the Star Destroyers. The Light Cruisers seemed to only be firing on the fighter pilots. "Rogues, attack the nearest tractor beams with the rest of your concussion missiles."

The fighters blazed through the storm of turbo laser fire and blasted the nearest tractor beam emitters before turning back. "Rogue Squadron, this is Transport 1 - we're making the jump. See you back at the rendezvous."

The Rogues gave a triumphant cry as, in twelve flickers of pseudo motion, the six transports filled to the brim with tibanna gas disappeared.

"Form up, Rogues!" called Wedge. "It's our turn!"

As soon as they were all clear, they were gone.

Aboard the MC80 Star Cruiser Home One

General Carlist Rieeken smiled proudly at Rogue Squadron. "You've done well, Rogues. We now have more than enough Tibanna gas for our mission to Endor. Shower up, rest up and get yourselves ready. Before the final confrontation, we have one more mission for you - probably the most important with exceptions of the attacks on the Death Stars."

Wedge crossed his arms over his orange flight suit. "Rogue Squadron it ready whenever you are ready to send us, General."

The others nodded in agreement, grim looks on their tired faces. The General smiled. "I know you are, Wedge, but there is one last component we need before we send you out. Now go. Get some food in you and get some rest. Relax and enjoy a little rest. You've earned it and, believe you me, you're going to need it. Dismissed."

The Rogues exited before Rieeken called, "Oh, and Commander;" Wedge, Tycho and Karie all turned to face him.

The general was grinning broadly, something that was not common for him. "Captain Calrissian is on assignment with Princess Leia and Commander Skywalker. He said to pass on his apologies for missing combat training with you and Lieutenant Paige."

Wedge, Tycho and Karie all chuckled. "That's too bad, Sir. I was looking forward to it."

As they left the briefing room, Wedge threw his arms around his two companions, for some absurd reason, in an excellent mood. "Come on, let's go shower and then eat. I'm starving and you two stink."

"We stink?" said Tycho in mock-outrage.

"I do no stink, Commander;" said Karie, her voice, faux-haughty. "I become aromatic the more I glisten. Besides, there is no way that I am showering with you."

"I never said that!" said Wedge indignantly.

"That's what I heard;" said Tycho casually.

With a glare, Wedge muttered, "Traitor."

All three of them laughed as they made it to their quarters section.