tatooine_doofus | Haven Base [Galaxy far, far away]

Luke had been gone far too long--it honestly hadn't occurred to him that anyone would be interested in his friendly X-Wing race with Wedge, and had been absolutely thunderstruck when Wedge insisted that Luke take over command of Rogue Squadron at the conclusion of their match.

"I didn't even beat him by that much," he protested to Leia, who laughed and ruffled his hair.

"You could've," she said. "You didn't honestly think you were going to come back and become just another pilot, did you?"

Luke's blush was enough of an answer. Leia laughed harder. "You're just going to have to get used to a life of leadership, Commander Skywalker," she teased, kissing his cheek.

It took Luke a few days to learn names and faces of the squadron, but even he wasn't oblivious enough not to notice the redheaded woman--not Mara, he'd checked--who kept smiling at him during briefings. "What's with, um, Shira Brie?" he asked Wedge in an undertone as they walked down the hall of the base together.

To Luke's surprise, Wedge burst out laughing. "She's practically throwing herself at you," he said between giggles. "You're just now noticing?"

Luke's cheeks went red. Again. "Maybe? How long's she been part of the squadron?"

"Since the first time we went to Hoth," Wedge said, still laughing. "You didn't notice her when you were back?"

"I had Jo," Luke muttered to his boots.

Wedge smothered a grin. "You're not used to having girls interested in you?" he teased.

"No!" Luke yelped. "Maybe she'll just, you know, stop it."

Wedge's dubious expression made it clear how effective he thought that particular strategy would be. "Maybe. She's been asking about you for more than a year now. You might want to keep Artoo and his videos away from her..."

Luke's face drained of color. "I hadn't even thought of that."

As the months went on, Shira didn't stop flirting, but Luke had learned how to ignore the more overt parts. She was one hell of a pilot, after all--she'd saved the squadron when they'd visited her homeworld of Shalyvane, earning both a promotion and the Burdine Cluster for heroism--and even if he had been interested, which he wasn't, he hadn't wanted to affect the rest of the squadron with any awkwardness that would come from the boss dating a subordinate.

The Rogues went out, got shot at, and survived by the skin of their teeth. It was becoming almost habit.

Then came the infiltration mission.

What was left of the Empire had captured a teezl, a non-sentient creature that could be used to boost hyperspace communication.

"Not that we exactly have the Empire on the run," Leia said dryly as she briefed Luke, "but they are certainly more scattered than they'd like, and we'd prefer they not be able to be more effective in intergalactic communication."

Luke smiled. "Consider the problem solved."

"You'll have to go in flying TIEs," Leia warned.

Luke made a face. "Without shields," he said, nodding. "I'll pick a small squad."

"Will Shira be one of them?" Leia asked with elaborate casualness, staring intently at her datapad.

"Probably," Luke said with a shrug, looking a little confused. "She's as good as Wedge, and I want him back here in case you need to mount a second run at this thing."

Leia arched up an eyebrow. "I'm sure she'll be thrilled."

Luke gave her a frustrated look. "It's not like that."

"Not for her lack of trying," Leia replied, rolling her eyes.

"It's a bad idea on many, many levels," Luke said, standing up and kissing Leia on the top of her head. "I'll see you on the other side."

Leia smiled softly. "May the Force be with you."

But the Force wasn't with him, at least not that day. The Imperials figured out far too quickly that there were imposter TIEs among their squadron and engaged the teezl to disrupt their communications. Luke, rocketing towards the target, had only a second to decide friend from foe when a TIE slipped in front of his shot. He closed his eyes, reached into the Force, found malicious intent, and fired. The TIE went spinning away, on fire and completely unrecoverable.

It wasn't until they returned from the mission that Luke realized exactly who he had shot down.

"I couldn't have," he whispered, all color drained from his face as he looked at Leia. "That was Shira?"

"We have the footage from another Rogue's R2 unit," she replaced in the same tone. "There's going to be an investigation, then a trial. Until then," and her eyes offered an anguished apology, "you're stripped of your commission and command."

Luke nodded, completely numb. "I understand," he said. "Am I confined to the base?"

She shook her head. "You just can't fly in combat."

He blew out a long breath. "In that case, I have a wedding to go to. I'll get someone to drop me off."

He walked slowly back to his room. This was not the way he wanted to go back to Fandom.

[OOC: This time, with the entire story included, wtf yesterday. Tweaked slightly from comic canon because Luke had to meet this evil wench so that canon could kick his ass again in another thirty years. Stupid canon.]