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“Why?”

Ackbar sighed. “Because your people in the squadron are refusing their own promotions. They’re following in your wake, which is a grand testament to your leadership and their feelings for you, but not really fair to them at all. Captain Celchu should be at least a Colonel—that was the job he was performing in leading the Rogues while you were with the Wraiths. Hobbie and Janson should be Majors, Horn should be a Captain at the very least, Darklighter as well, and the rest of your Rogues should be something other than Flight Officers.”

Wedge sat there, his mouth open ever so slightly. “I never really gave it that much thought, I guess.”

“There wasn’t that much time for thinking, given all you and the Rogues have been through.” Ackbar spread his hands. “The liberation of Thyferra made it difficult for us to insist on promotions lest it look as though we were rewarding you for toppling a government. That sort of thing could have encouraged other units to try similar actions on other worlds. Your involvement with the Wraiths further insulated you because of the bet we had. Then Thrawn arrived and promotions became less important than otherwise. Now, with his threat ended, we have old injustices to take care of.”

“Right. I’m sure the Bothans would like to see Asyr made at least a Captain.”

“And they would like her back flying for them.”

“Not hard to believe.” Wedge shook his head. How could I have been so blind? My people have all been great, and certainly more deserving of rank and honors than a lot of folks who’ve been promoted beyond them. I’ve been so worried about not letting the Rebellion down that I’ve let them down. “I guess I need to prepare reports so they can be considered for promotion, yes?”

Ackbar punched a button on the holoprojector pad built into his desk. Above it little holographic images of each of the squadron’s pilots burned to life. The Admiral reached up and touched Tycho’s image and it blossomed into a full datafile. “Emtrey managed to take care of filing routine reports for you, including performance evaluations and the like. Appending your comments to each file would not hurt, especially if the reporting officer is General Antilles.”

Wedge nodded slowly, then smiled. “How long ago did you figure out that using my people against me would work? I mean, none of them complained, did they?”

“No, none of them did.” Ackbar’s mouth opened in a smile. “In fact, I think they took perverse delight in their situation. As for when I knew how to get you to accept this change, it occurred to me during your time at Thyferra. You’re as loyal to your people as they are to you.”

“Fair enough.” Wedge’s eyes narrowed. “Now that you’ve gotten me to agree to the promotion, it’s time you let me in on what else is happening.”

Ackbar hesitated for a moment, then bowed his head. “Very good, General. How did you know the tide was still rising?”

“I know you well enough, Admiral, to know you wouldn’t have pushed me to accept a rank unless it was important for me to do so. If getting my people to accept rank was the problem, you’d just have me talk to them. You want me to be a General, and I guess I figure that if I have rank, it’s because I’m going to need to pull it.”

“Excellent reasoning, which confirms your suitability to what I need you for.” The Mon Calamari pressed his hands flat against the desk. “Thrawn’s assault really was the last effort by a united Empire to destroy the Rebellion. There are, however, many warlords who hold sway over collections of star systems. We’re going to need to liberate those systems and worlds. Right now, Rogue Squadron is pretty much the only unit in the New Republic with any sort of experience with that kind of operation.”

“Because of what we learned at Thyferra.”

“Exactly.”

Wedge nodded. “System liberation will be a delicate operation. If we go in with too much matériel we’ll appear to be as nasty a force as the Empire. If we make a half-hearted effort and