A Pilot Story (OT - The Adventures of Wedge Antilles)

Hey, this is a really good story!!!!!!!!! Keep up the great work, and post more soon!

 

Top.

 

This story's great. I can't wait for you're next post.

 

Thanks for replying, everyone! I'll put up another post in the morning. Sorry it's been taking me so long to update this - RL's a pain, ya know?

 

Don't mind me, I'm just here to send this to the top.

 

Don't mind me either I am just waiting for a post.

 

Okay, so maybe it wasn't exactly the morning... heh heh... Thanks for waiting, though!

* * *

?So what?s the report?? Maire asked, watching as I emerged from the engine room.

?That last hit the TIEs scored on us damaged the hyperdrive pretty good,? I said, scrubbing the oil from my face with a rag. ?I doubt we?ll be able to make it much further before my ship breaks apart under the strain of lightspeed.?

?Can?t you do something?? she asked, shooting me with the same hopeful look that Dabria had back on Corellia. ?You?re good with starships.?

I hated that look. No matter what I did, I could never seem to sate that hopeful expression ? only kill it. ?The repairs needed here are too much for me to do by myself, plus it requires parts I don?t have onboard,? I said heavily. ?A group of professional technicians need to look at her.?

?We can?t afford the time!? Maire exploded. ?Captain Tomak is probably right behind us!?

?We need to get the Bucket fixed or you?ll never reach Dantooine.?

?What if the Imperials are tracking us??

?Easy.? I shrugged. ?Then we get the Bucket fixed really, really fast.?

She hurried after me as I strode down the hall. ?I don?t think you understand our situation,? she snapped, suddenly temperamental. ?Did it ever strike you as to why Wes, Piggy, and I wanted to get off Corellia so fast in the first place? Aren?t you curious about Tomak? Why he?s following us all over the galaxy? Why he?s so determined to see us all dead??

?Gee,? I said, ?He must be a really big fan of yours.?

Maire got ahead of me and stepped directly into my path. I had to stop to keep from running into her. ?Dammit, don?t act so aloof and unconcerned.? She poked me in the chest with an accusing finger. ?You?re a part of this too, whether you like it or not. You heard Tomak. If he gets his way, you?re going down right along with the rest of us.?

?I won?t let Tomak catch up to us.? I met her glare without blinking. ?But if the hyperdrive malfunctions in the middle of a jump and we get sucked into a black hole somewhere, it?ll make him just as happy, right??

She said nothing, just stared at me, her jaw clenched.

?We need to stop,? I said mildly. ?It?s only a matter of where and how. That?s what we?re going to discuss with your buddies now.? Slipping past her, I turned into a nearby doorway. It was the Bucket?s lounge room.

Piggy and Baby were already there, sprawled on top of two of the three chairs present. Maire walked past them and without looking at anyone, she lowered herself into the remaining chair. I decided to stand.

?Our savior!? Baby jumped to his feet and sketched a bow. ?You honor us with your presence.?

?Ace, ignore this degenerate.? Piggy got up and with one easy push, shoved a grinning Baby back into his seat. ?We want to thank you what you did back there,? he said earnestly. ?Instead of spacing us, you helped us escape Tomak. If it wasn?t for you, we could be sitting in a prison cell right now.?

?Yeah, and sharing a room with Piggy is never pleasant. Trust me on that.? Baby sat up, his expression uncharacteristically serious. ?Basically, what we want to say is: thanks. And sorry for that hijacking stuff. We know you probably needed the money for that job. When we paid off that senior tech to distract you, he felt bad about it, so we knew you were a decent guy. We wouldn?t have done it if Tomak hadn?t been hot on our tail. We were desperate.?

?Uh? I? you?re welcome,? I stuttered, my face coloring, utterly speechless by their sincerity.

?Though if Piggy had been paying attention,? Baby continued, ?and not pushing every button on the control panel, the job would have gone a whole lot smoother.?

?Yeah?? Piggy retorted. ?And who was the one who nearly activated the self destruct thinking it was an automatic caf dispenser??

?You said you were thirsty!?

The moment had passed. They were back to normal.

After the two had consented to finish their argument another time, I informed them of the hyperdrive situation and they listened intently with a profess

 

That post was so funny. I love how Piggy and Baby treat eachother. Then with the whole airlock bit. Great job.

 

Top! Post coming this evening. Nice to have some loyal readers.

 

Can't wait Rogueleader.

 

I found Maire in the cockpit. She was curled up in the co-pilot?s chair, her legs pulled to her chest. Her chin was resting on her knees. She didn?t stir at my approach, simply squeezed her eyes shut, as if she couldn?t bear the sight of me.

It was such a little gesture, but I was surprised at how much it hurt. Maire had never exactly been a friend ? more like a good acquaintance, an amiable business partner. Since when did I care about what she thought of me? I sank into the pilot?s couch, my hands gripping the armrests since I could think of nowhere else to put them. I chanced a look at Maire. Her eyes were open again but she kept them stolidly on the bulkhead to her right. Silence hung over our heads like an oppressive cloud.

?I?m sorry for putting the pressure on you,? I said after a while. ?I know this isn?t easy.?

She laughed bitterly, still not looking at me. ?Trying to play Mister Nice Guy to sway me over? I don?t think so.?

?I?m not trying to sway you either way. I just want you to think this through. We both know there?s a lot at stake here.?

The co-pilot?s chair squeaked as she swiveled around. Her words were harsh and she fairly spat them in my face getting them out. ?You wouldn?t understand.?

?Try me.? I lifted my chin challengingly.

Another suffocating silence started to descend upon us, but Maire was the one to break the spell this time. ?What does it matter now?? She threw up her hands in exasperation. ?He?ll find us eventually, no matter what we do.?

?Tomak??

She was speaking faster now, frustration and despair fueling her words. ?He?s relentless. You cross him once and he?ll follow you to the edge of the galaxy and back. He never forgets. He wasn?t pretending when he spoke to you on the com ? he?ll do exactly what he said. He?ll send his hunters to find you, to kill you. He won?t stop!?

I leaned forward. ?Maire, what happened? Why does he want you guys so badly??

Another mocking laugh. ?Why else? We?re rebels. Tomak hates rebels more than anything.?

?Even a guy like Tomak doesn?t carry a grudge for nothing.?

I waited, but all she did was purse her lips and clam up. I swallowed a sigh and persisted. ?Well, will you at least let me drop us out of lightspeed for now? That way the hyperdrive won?t crack in two while we?re deciding.?

She frowned. ?Tomak will pounce on us.?

?Assuming he?s anywhere close to us now.? I started to count on my fingers. ?Assuming he knows where we went, or what direction we took. Assuming he?s managed to track us at all.? I glanced at her pointedly.

?You think I?m being paranoid,? she warned, ?but I?m just trying to keep us all alive here.?

The Bucket chose that moment to make some unsettling creaking noises.

?If a seam splits,? I said, patting a bulkhead, ?I wonder who will get sucked out first??

That seemed to make up her mind. Maire gnawed on her lip savagely and her head jerked in a stiff nod, as if her neck remained unwilling to go along with the rest of her. ?Do it,? she murmured.

It took a minute or two to key in a command sequence into the computer. I pushed the hyperspace lever and starlines shrunk back to pinpoints of light. The Bucket lurched forward. Outside the cockpit, I heard a ?Whoa!? and a CRASH and Baby?s voice, shouting, ?Strap in next time, Piggy!? Meanwhile, Maire sat like a statue, her eyes frantically scanning empty space.

?According to the nav-comp, we?re in the middle of nowhere,? I assured her. ?We?re safe.?

?Famous last words.? She suddenly seemed very weary.

I stood. ?You can have my cabin if you need to rest.?

?I?m not tired.?

?If you pass out in this cockpit, you?ll be in the way and I?m afraid I?m going to have to ask Piggy to remove you.? I put my hands on my hips. ?And knowing his level of competence, I?ll bet he?d sooner shoot you out the garbage chute than find you a decent place to sleep.?

She scowled at me. ?You?re a nerf.?

?Thank-you.? I smiled pleasantly. ?Now will you let me show you your room??

Maire didn?t bother protesting this time. We went down the hall

 

Kewl, Rogueleader. Great post.

 

What's going to happen?!??!?!?!?! Come back and post!

 

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She was lying on her side, one arm twisted awkwardly beneath her, head resting with her cheek pressed against the floor. Her clothes were tattered and patches were actually burned away in some places. The explosion had caught her while she?d been turned, probably running away; if she?d been closer, there might not have been nearly as much of her to be recognized. She had screamed only once before. Now she didn?t stir when I dropped to my knees beside her, picking pieces of rubble off her body.

?Maire!?

Baby grabbed my arm and wrenched it almost painfully backwards. ?Don?t touch her!? he said. ?You?ll make things worse.?

I shook him off. ?I?m just going to turn her over.?

I put my hands gingerly on Maire?s shoulders and eased her onto her back. I brushed away the strands of matted, tangled hair and focused on her face, trying to see past the burns and the blood and the terrible gash that stretched from her temple to her right eyebrow. ?Maire?? I whispered. ?Can you hear me?? I put my ear to her lips in time to hear a soft moan sigh out.

?She?s breathing,? Baby noted. He must have seen my relief.

?Yeah. Thank the Force for that, at least.?

Piggy stumbled into the room. He took in everything at a glance ? the black floor tiles, the scorched section of the wall where the closet had once been, the splinters of furniture, Baby stomping out a fire in the corner ? but it was only when his eyes fell on Maire did the shock actually seem to register.

?There?s a medpac in the cockpit, under the pilot?s chair,? I shouted at him. ?Bring it here.?

Piggy had enough brains to know that dithering wasn?t going to help anyone. He nodded once and was gone.

I leaned over Maire, called her name again. I thought I saw something flicker under her eyelids. Blood ran steadily from the wound on her forehead. I ripped off part of one my shirtsleeves and used it to staunch the bleeding. It wasn?t long before the handful of cloth was soaked; rather than settle for another sleeve, I tugged off my entire shirt, balled it up, and used that instead. There was a growing pool of blood around us now; it covered my hands and stained the knees of my trousers where I knelt on the floor.

Piggy raced back in. ?Well?? I demanded, glancing at the small case in his fist. ?Give it here!?

The paunchy pilot shook his head. He opened the medpac and allowed the lid to drop, still holding it by the handle. I waited for something to tumble out. Nothing did. Frowning and mystified, I peered closer. And got my answer: nothing had fallen out because there was nothing *to* fall out.

The medpac was empty.

?I found it like this,? Piggy reported breathlessly, letting the useless medpac clatter to the decking. ?Under the pilot?s chair, like you said, with the lock busted open.? He kicked the box toward me so I could see the lock, ruined and charred by a blaster bolt.

I barked a strangled laugh, sardonic and bittersweet. If the Fates were toying with me, they were doing an excellent job.

Piggy crouched down next to me and without a hint of squeamishness, took over the job of pressing the shirt to Maire?s temple. I leapt to my feet and stalked around the cabin, rooting through the wreckage. My bunk was a blackened mess. The blankets were unsalvageable. I eventually found a chest of clothes that had been thrown against one wall. I chose another shirt at random, tore it into strips, and hurried back to Piggy. He helped my bind the makeshift bandages around our patient?s head.

?The lounge,? I said, after we had finished. ?Take her there.?

I knew moving Maire could aggravate her injuries, as Baby had said. But leaving her where she lay ? on the cold deckplates, surrounded by smoke and plagued by draft ? would definitely accomplish the same thing. Better to take the risk. And with no medical supplies at all? I pushed away the thought, watching as Piggy gently took Maire?s limp form into his arms. He went out into the hall and I followed, dragging the clothes chest. Baby brought up the rear.

We arranged Maire as carefully as we co

 

Awesome...

And you're not posting more now because...

 

To the top!!

 

Top!

 

Working on a post right now... Sorry for the delay!

 

Oh, a wise guy eh?

 

Don't mind me, just here to get this thread back where it belongs.

 

So when do we get another one?

 

To the TOP!! Rogueleader promised a post today, so check back soon.

 

Yo quiero mas.

 

Sorry! Sorry! Mis apologias! Sorry for keeping you guys hanging for so long. I've been having real trouble with this post - Ace is out of character in parts, you'll find them - and have rewritten it at least three times over the last few days. Well, anyway, I finally gave up today P) and decided to put it up as is. So here's the post, in all it's faulty and imperfect glory!

* * *

The lounge lights were turned low when I padded inside. Piggy was sitting with his back to me, kind of slumped over in his chair, facing the couch. At first I thought he was napping, but as I walked closer, the rebel glanced over his shoulder at me and raised a hand in greeting. His eyes were open and alert without a trace of sleepiness.

?My turn,? I announced. ?It?s been two hours.?

?So it has.? He consulted his chronometer, straightened up. He peered at me. ?What do you have there??

I carried two mugs in my hands. I gave him one. ?Something to wake you up,? I said.

He accepted gratefully and took a generous pull of the steaming liquid. Piggy made a kind of choking noise, glared up at me with a less than flattering expression. ?Is this swill what passes for caf around here?? he spluttered.

?Drink your swill,? I told him impassively, sipping from my own cup. ?Nobody likes it cold.?

He lumbered to his feet, pushing back his chair to lean against the wall of the lounge with me. We stood there for a while, letting our caf mugs warm our hands, gazing at Maire?s listless body on the couch. ?How is she?? I asked after a while.

?No change,? he replied. ?Still unconscious.?

?What about her head??

?Stopped bleeding a while ago. She lost a lot of blood, though. I?ve been trying to keep her warm with a tarp I found in the loading bay.? He gestured. ?Best I could find. I thought I saw her shivering.?

?Quick thinking.? I pulled up the chair he?d vacated and sat down next to the couch, balancing my cup on my knees. ?It?s only a couple hours more to Dantooine. We should make it.?

?Good.? He paused, awkwardly. ?Oh yeah, Baby wanted me to deliver this. He found it in your room but forgot to give it to you.? Piggy took something from a pouch at his belt, carefully handed it to me. ?I rubbed some of the ash from the frame for you, but there?s still some stuff on one corner that I couldn?t get off.?

I didn?t need to look twice to know it was the hologram of my family I?d kept on the shelf above my bed.

?Thanks.? I shoved the picture underneath my chair, knowing for certain now that he?d seen the boy with his father?s face and his mother?s eyes, standing between the two with the former?s arm slung around his shoulders. Everyone was grinning for the camera. There was a blond girl to the boy?s right, several years older and pretty. Her smile was radiant. It had been one of the last times I remembered seeing her smile that way.

Piggy was shaking his head. ?Your pal wants you in the cockpit,? I told him, hoping to get rid of him.

?I?m sorry,? he said.

I pretended to study something interesting in my caf. ?For what??

?They?re dead, aren?t they??

I?d been lifting my cup to take a drink, but ended up clamping my teeth onto the bottom of the ceramic rim to keep from snapping back at him. ?I don?t want to talk about it,? I said shortly.

?I?m sorry,? he repeated again.

?Just get out.? Though my head felt like it was on fire, I couldn?t meet his eyes. ?Get. Out. Now.?

Piggy opened his mouth to say something else, but thought better of it. I heard his footsteps recede and the lounge door hiss shut. Then there was only silence, and as some of the tension drained out of my back and shoulders, I forced myself to look down at Maire.

Her face was pale, her normally animated features still and lifeless. There were angry red patches on her exposed skin where the burns from the explosion had left marks. We?d been using cool cloths ? run under the faucet in the refresher unit ? to try to reduce the swelling. Before I?d come, Piggy had put a fresh bandage on Maire?s forehead. Most of the blood had been wiped awa