On the Wings of Valkyrie

Chapter XLV

"Valkyrie is visiting the fleet today!" Wedge exclaimed as he bounded over to where Luke and Biggs were working on their fighters.

"That's all anyone's been talking about the past few days, we know," Biggs grumbled—he'd been out of sorts ever since Aiolin had all but cut ties to the Rebellion. Luke wished he could explain what was really going on to his friend, but until further notice, it was probably a better idea to keep his mouth shut. Besides, he was pretty sure the agent had figured out some way to keep in touch with her boyfriend, so not all was lost.

"Well, some of us are excited to meet the Force-sent-avenging-angel," Wedge responded. "I've heard she's pretty."

"No one save her Fulcrum knows what she looks like," Luke grunted as he forcefully shifted a panel to the side. "And you heard High Command, that's not changing. They're too worried about Imperial spies."

"Yeah, yeah, the anonymity of the Fulcrums and Valkyrie is what allows them to do what they do. And if the Empire got a good look at her face, I'll bet Valkyrie's bounty would be about twice as big as yours and posted on every wall from Coruscant to Tatooine."

"Ha. Ha. Ha."

"It has to make you wonder, though," Biggs muttered. "Valkyrie had to be high up in Imperial Command before defecting. If she's worried about Imperial spies...."

"Maybe that's why she's coming in person, to help draw them out," Wedge suggested.

"Valkyrie's got better things to do than to get rid of spies. Command's more than careful enough anyways—we're clean and they still keep information to themselves when it comes to coordinate destinations."

"Don't you two have better things to do than gossip?" Luke asked, looking up at his friends.

"They haven't let our squad out for over a month, what else are we supposed to do?" Wedge asked.

"If you feel that strongly about it, you could always reform Red Squ—"

"Thanks, but no thanks," Wedge quickly interrupted. "I did that while you were off in Jedi Training Land, and that was enough for the year." His voice was joking, but eyes far away. Luke didn't know much about the entire ordeal that had occurred when he'd been on Dagobah, just that the moment he got back, Wedge came to him with the information he'd already tracked down a few more Rogues to rebuild the squadron in his absence—the pilots were what was left of the short lived reincarnation of Red Squadron which also contained the few members of Rogue Squadron who had survived the Battle of Hoth. "Leading isn't my style."

"You're only saying that because Luke gets the cream of the crop," Biggs stated. "There's been a surplus of pilot recruits with all the stuff Valkyrie's managed to pull."

"And how many of them can actually fly half decent and work together?"

"Whether or not you like it, Wedge, they are going to put you in command of another squad sooner or later, and you know it. Same goes for me, they're going to be needing experienced leaders to get those recruits together, and they'll be pulling them from Rogue. They already dragged Lando into it."

"Oh, don't remind me—flying drills with Gold Squadron is like dancing on death's doorstep."

"They've only had a few weeks, cut them some slack. And when you guys get your own squads, I expect them to be just as good, if not better, than Rogue Squadron once you finish training," Luke commented as he slipped out from underneath his X-Wing. "Pilots are going to be what wins this war."

"As well as our very own Jedi Knight," Wedge added, knocking him on the back.

"As if," Luke responded with an eye roll just as he noticed everyone in the tech rooms had begun racing into the halls. "....When was Valkyrie supposed to get here?"