The Starfighter Pilot and the Spy

The two little girls bounded over to their weary father. Wedge Antilles had returned home only minutes before, but even tired as he was, he could never refuse his beloved daughters. He bent low and scooped them both into his arms, planting a kiss on each of their heads.

After a few happy minutes of reunion, Iella spoke up. "All right, girls. You waited up for Daddy, but now it's time for bed."

There were good natured groans on everyone's part, but they knew better than to sass the commanding officer. Syal and Myri rode into their room on their father's shoulders, laughing and giggling. They gave murmured goodnights and declarations of love as their parents tucked them into bed.

As Wedge pulled the blankets up around his girls, they begged him for one of their favorite bedtime rituals. "A story, Daddy!" Syal cried.

"Please, please, please!" Myri added.

Wedge grinned. Where his children were concerned he was just as great a storyteller as he was a pilot. "Which one did you have in mind?"

Both girls grinned widely. "The Starfighter Pilot and the Spy!"

Their father chuckled happily. The story was their absolute favorite. "Okay, you've got it. But then you do have to go to sleep."

Myri and Syal nodded fervently. Wedge leaned back in his chair between their beds. "A pretty long time ago by your standards and right here in this galaxy we call home, there was a starfighter pilot. He loved to fly, and he was pretty good at it."

"He was the best," Syal said confidently.

"Well, it's been said before. Now one day, as part of his many missions, the starfighter pilot became involved in a plan to rescue Coruscant from the Empire."

Myri nodded knowledgeably, "The bad guys."

"The Empire did a lot of bad things, but the starfighter pilot was in the Rebellion, a group of brave people willing to do whatever it took to save the galaxy and make it better."

"The good guys."

Wedge smiled at the oversimplification. Already his girls had been taught a little about the Rebel Alliance's fight for freedom and what it had meant for the galaxy. Since the New Republic had enjoyed an uninterrupted peace for the last few years, the Empire could no longer be called the bad guys, if in fact those sorts of definitions had ever applied. But for the sake of the story, and to be historically accurate from one side, the Empire and Rebellion would be playing the traditional roles of 'good guys' and 'bad guys'.

"So the starfighter pilot and his team of other pilots were sent down to the planet of Coruscant in disguise. Their job was to try to free the planet from the inside. This might have looked like a silly move, sending in only a bunch of pilots. Some people thought the Rebels should have sent in an army."

He paused, gauging his children's reactions to this story they loved. "But with an army some innocent people might have gotten hurt, and that's never okay if it can be avoided." His daughters nodded in somber agreement.

"So the pilots weren't too silly of an idea. They'd been in disguises before, they'd be real careful and sneaky, and they weren't going in alone."

Myri, sitting up in bed in order to fully enjoy the story, bounced up in down in excitement. "The spy! The spy!" she squealed in a not so hushed voice.

Her sister sent her a halfhearted glare, but was doing about as poor a job concealing her excitement. "Keep going, Daddy!"

Wedge smiled at his children's enthusiasm, nearly as excited as they. "The starfighter pilot and his team wore disguises and managed to sneak past Coruscant security. They managed to find their contact, a woman they'd never met, but who knew the passwords. She was the spy.

"Together the starfighter pilot and the spy boarded a secure shuttle. Once inside, the starfighter pilot removed the mask he was wearing, and saw the spy for the first time."

"What did he think of her?" Syal asked him.

His grin could not have been more genuine. "He thought she was the most beautiful woman he's ever seen."

"And he fell in love with her."

"Not quite yet," Wedge answered. "They still had a mission. I'm not quite sure what she thought of him, but he knew that she wasn't someone he'd ever forget.

"So they worked together, and together their team and friends were able to free the planet from the Empire. And the starfighter pilot and the spy became friends. They trusted each other and stayed good friends for many years."

Wedge's littlest girl looked puzzled. "Why didn't they fall in love then?"

Her father gave a vague shrug. "It doesn't always work out like that, sweetheart. But in this story, there is a happy ending. A long time after they'd met, the starfighter pilot and the spy wound up on a different planet working a very different mission.

"He was still a starfighter pilot, and she was still a spy, and it was on that mission, worlds away from the glittering world where they met, that he realized what she meant to him."

"What did she mean, Daddy?"

"He realized that she was his best friend, the smartest and most beautiful woman he'd ever met, and that he was very much in love with her. The starfighter pilot couldn't imagine his life without her in it, so he asked the spy to marry him."

Syal smiled. "And she said yes, didn't she, Daddy?"

Wedge gazed at his two children, such smart and beautiful girls. "Yes, she did, honey. She sure did. And the two of them have been flying together ever since."

Myri yawned widely, and Wedge tucked his daughters in for a second time. He placed a kiss on each of their foreheads. "And they keep saving the galaxy," Myri finished.

"They do their best. Goodnight, girls. I love you."

"Love you, too!"

"Love you, Daddy!"

Wedge was still smiling when he stepped into his and Iella's bedroom. His wife was sitting on their bed, reading through a case report New Republic Intelligence had asked her to review, even in her retirement.

She looked up when he entered, though he was sure he hadn't made a noise. "They asked for a story?"

He nodded. "Their favorite."

She closed the file as he sat down beside her. "Which one is that?"

Wedge grinned. "Ours."

Iella looked surprised. "What exactly do you tell them?"

"I don't tell quite all of it," he admitted to her. "I leave out most of the blood, murder, and the long term stupidity of the story's two heroes. For that matter I also leave out Wes."

"That certainly makes for a shorter story." She laid her head on his shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around her.

"It is a good story," Wedge said, reflecting on the years that had gotten him here.

Iella smiled up at him, then kissed him deeply. "I must say, I'm fond of the ending."

"Why does Daddy pretend that he's not the starfighter pilot?" Myri asked after their father had left. "He is."

"I know," Syal replied, "and Mommy's the spy." The two sisters nestled deeper into their blankets.

Myri yawned again. "I know why," she said. "He likes being the secret hero." She closed her eyes and smiled at the thought of her father, the galaxy's secret hero.