The characters that have appeared in previous Star Wars novels are property of Lucasfilm, Ltd. Captain Amaryl Assay, Admiral Tesh Dorass, First Officer Azzeh, and the name of Tycho's droid belong to the author. Any other characters presented here that have never been seen in a Star Wars novel are property of Iris Bailey. Do not repost anywhere without the permission of the author!
Heblon sat by Wedge’s bacta tank in the main Sandostan medical facility on Thyferra. It was the first time in the last thirty-six hours that he had been able to check in on Wedge. General Cracken of New Republic Intelligence had arrived in the system about the same time as Rogue Squadron and the three capital ships in their miniature battle group. Heblon had immediately been segregated from the rest of them to be debriefed.
It had felt like every detail of his life for the past ten years or so had been meticulously picked out of his brain. Intelligence was gaining invaluable knowledge about the remnants of the Empire, their fleet strength, supply routes, chain of command, and other minor details. For Heblon, it only served to confirm how misdirected his life had become. He felt a tremendous amount of regret for all the lost years.
Eventually Cracken and his agents decided what Heblon already knew. He was no threat to the New Republic. So they had let him go. He had headed directly to the medical facility to check on Wedge’s progress with the technicians. They told him that they would be removing him from the tank in hour or two, so he decided to wait around, despite the lateness of the hour, to make sure that all went well. Wedge was, after all, his patient.
And my friend. He smiled at that thought.
"What are you smiling about?"
Heblon jumped, then looked to his left and saw Ajene leaning against the far wall of the room. She was wearing a loose fitting blue jumpsuit with the sleeves rolled up so it would fit her. "I was just thinking about something Wedge said to me a few days ago, just after he..." He stopped short, suddenly unwilling to finish the sentence in case the mention of Wedge’s first brush with death would somehow jinx them.
"Just before he what?" Ajene asked.
"Nothing."
"So what did he say?" She moved over and sat down beside him on the small bench.
"He said that I was a friend of his, whether I liked it or not."
Ajene smiled, a sparkle in her dazzling green eyes. "That sounds like something Wedge would say."
Heblon chuckled to himself and Ajene studied him closely. "Now what’s funny?"
"I was going to say something, but realized in time how absurdly trite it sounded."
"Well now I have to know," Ajene said.
Heblon hesitated, but recognized that he had aroused her curiosity. He knew he had passed the point of no return, so he continued. "I was just thinking how I never really knew that a man like Wedge existed. And now I find there are hundreds, probably thousands of him throughout the New Republic. People like you, Face, or Kell. Like Colonel Celchu and the rest of the Rogues. People putting their lives on the line every day so that the rest of the galaxy can live out their own."
She seemed to think about that for a moment, pulling at the turn up of her sleeve before twisting to look at him. "You may not believe it, Heblon, but you are as much a hero as they are."
He slowly shook his head, not wanting to look into her intense green eyes. "I don’t think so, Major."
"First of all, please call me Ajene. As for the hero bit, what you did on the planet was extremely brave. If you had been the typical Imperial, you would have watched Wedge die with a smile on your face. Instead you did everything you could to help him." She reached out and took his hand in hers, and he finally turned to face her. "I want to thank you for bringing him back to me."
He cleared his throat, not sure how to respond to her heartfelt gratitude. He felt his face flush. "Well, you’re welcome. And I guess you should call me Tonar."
"Thank you, Tonar." She squeezed his hand then let it go, standing and walking over to the tank. Heblon watched her as she touched the transparisteel window with her hand, as close to Wedge as she was able to get.
He felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth and he shook his head. When he had first met Ajene, he had thought she was lucky to have someone like Wedge. But he was quickly starting to believe that Wedge was lucky to have found her.
Copyright June 13, 2001 by Susan Hill.
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