Epilogue
Coruscant – six weeks later

The private dining room Face had reserved was part of an upper middle-class hotel in one of Coruscant's sprawling urban settlement districts, situated far away from the skytowers and government buildings of Galactic City and the Senate District just north of the planet's equatorial belt. The pastel yellow color of the walls was lit by subdued glowpanels and spotlights in the ceiling which gave the room a relaxing aura. The four corners of the room were dominated by permaglass terrariums depicting various ecological systems complete with the appropriate plants, animals and simulated weather conditions. A table was set in the middle of the room with dinnerware and cutlery for nine people, a second was pushed against one of the longer walls containing the utensils for an opulent warm buffet, but no fares were present at this moment. The other side of the room was taken up by an enormous shelf containing dozens of various liquors, a beautiful bar made from fijisi wood with taps for various beers and ales and a big fridge laid into the wall containing non-alcoholic drinks.

Piggy held a device similar to a datapad in his hands and moved along the walls, tables and terrariums, his eyes never leaving the readout. He looked up when a door in the rear of the room opened.

"All clear?"

The Gamorrean nodded. "Scan was clean. Are they here?"

Face took off his dark brown leather jacket and hung it on one of the hooks of a coat rack standing near the bar. "They're in the next room. Took me a moment to slice the virus into the security system, but it's done. The hotel staff will be surprised to find that none of their holocams work and that all of today's recordings are corrupted and not salvageable." He checked his wrist chrono. "Is the gang here?"

"They're in the lobby, still savoring the welcoming drink we booked along with the room." He picked up a small satchel from underneath the buffet table and stowed the scanner in it before putting the satchel back underneath the table and behind the tablecloth. "Is it time?"

Loran nodded. "Yes, it is. Go get them, would you?"

Piggy nodded and moved towards the far side of the room where the door opened for him with silent efficiency.

Face meanwhile had turned to admire the collection of liquors in the wall rack and the bar itself, his hand was tracing the clean lines of the counter and he smiled at the distinct honey-tinged warmth of the light brown wood. He inhaled deeply, expecting to smell cleaning solution or the tart tang of plasteel that was the hallmark of a replica but was surprised to detect the sweet telltale scent of real fijisi wood. His smile widened. Reaching up he took hold of a tall ale glass and held it underneath the tap marked with the distinctive sigil of a Coruscanti Lomin Ale brewery. After drawing himself a glass he held it up, looking at the amber tone of the liquid and the thick froth at the top before he brought it to his lips and took a sip. His surprise about the ale being cold, Lomin Ale was usually consumed lukewarm, was cut short by the sound of the door on the other side of the room opening to admit his friends.

"Now why did I know I'd find you doing just that?" Kell's droll voice asked, his face wreathed into a wide smirk. "I thought it was bad style to open the bar before the festivities begin."

"Hey, unlike other people here," Face retorted with a smirk of his own, "some folks actually had to do a bit of work to check whether everything is as planned." Giving the tumbler in his friend's hand a pointed look he added, "And before you decide to give me a lecture about alcohol intake I'd take a long hard look at that glass in your hand."

That drew a laugh. "That's the 'Welcome Drink' we got from the hotel staff."

"All part of the package." Loran raised his glass. "Just like this."

"Well," Tainer drawled and directed a smile at his wife who had put an arm around his waist, "remember you're paying for it, Poster Boy, Sir!"

He yelped when a hand gave the back of his head a slap. "We're off duty," Shalla reminded him with a glare. "No decor, remember?"

Tyria mock scowled at the other woman who had gone to the fridge for a non-alcoholic drink. "Don't slap my husband," she said sullenly. "That's my job." Tainer grinned at her words but the grin died when her scowl turned onto him. "And you're going to be quiet now. Take a seat and behave before I decide that you need another one."

Kell was instantly subdued. "Yes, dear."

The rest of the Wraiths snickered and Shalla moved her right hand as if she were swinging a force whip. "Shhhhtttpuuu," she hissed the approximation of a force whip's signature sound, her dimples very prominent thanks to the broad grin she was wearing. The snickers grew louder and Kell threw her a fulminating glare.

Elassar hadn't joined the hilarity for he was studying the table with a frown. "I count nine places with dinnerware," he said and gave Loran a suspicious look. "But we're just seven people. Do we expect guests tonight?"

Shalla groaned. "Don't tell me you've invited General Antilles and Janson."

Piggy, who had brought up the rear, shook his head as he stood behind the chair next to Face. "No, nothing like that. General Antilles is too public a person and too much in demand to have time for something like tonight and Janson is a … complication … we decided we could do without tonight."

The Devaronian tilted his head and stared at his commanding officer. "So who are the two guests we're about to have?"

Heaving a sigh Face answered, "That is part of what we'll have to explain. Get yourselves something to drink, it's an open bar after all, and then take a seat so we can begin."

It took a moment for everyone to decide what to drink and sit down, except for Face and Piggy who remained standing. "Thank you for coming tonight," Face began the explanation. "Several of you have already asked me what this evening is about and I asked for your forgiveness for not answering that question in any great detail. It is part get-together and part celebration, but the reason for this is quite complicated. Please bear with us while we explain."

Piggy took over at Face's nod. "About six weeks ago I noticed a strange message in my inbox," he said and turned to look at Shalla who had perked up at his words. "Yes, Shalla, that message. Face and I got one, too."

"What kind of message," Tyria inquired.

"A bare text message sent through the public com system," Face responded. "It did not contain any text but there was a data package attached to it and that one was encrypted in an old Wraith Squadron code from our days with Starfighter Command."

"Who has access to those?" Shalla asked with a puzzled frown. "I mean they're in the Fleet Archives, but even then some aspects of our deployments are still secret and under wraps even today. And that includes the encryption codes."

Piggy chuckled at her confusion. "That is what we established, too. In fact …" He exchanged a small smile with Face. "In fact it took us a while to find the correct decryption sequence. And while we did it we checked when those files were accessed."

"And?" Kell arched an eyebrow.

"Not in the last two years," Face responded, his smile growing wider. "For a moment we suspected a prank, we even thought Iella may be the instigator but she was offworld at this point."

"Doesn't stop some people," Piggy growled with a pointed look at Runt. The Thakwaash's lips parted for a smile that was all teeth. "Anyway," Piggy went on, "we decrypted the attached file and it turned out to be the coordinates of a tapcaf near Newport Sub-Five along with a timestamp set to noon two days after."

"A meeting," Elassar said and got a nod in return. "With whom?"

Face shook his head, his smile giving way to a serious expression. "You would never believe it. Trust me … I did not believe my eyes when I saw her."

Suspicion was etched into Shalla's features as she inquired, "Her?"

Loran and Piggy exchanged a glance, the Gamorrean giving a barely perceptible nod. "Well then … ,"Face said and brought out his comlink to hit a button on the device, "meet our hosts for tonight."

The hiss of displaced air as the door behind him opened was almost completely drowned out by the collective gasp of disbelief and surprise emitted by the other Wraiths as they saw just who was coming through the door.

"What kind of wizardry is that?" Kell demanded shakily, his face almost as white as the tablecloth.

"No wizardry," Kirney returned quietly and darted nervous glances at her stupefied former squadmates. "I'm really here."

"We're really here," Myn corrected and sneaked an arm around her waist, his chin held high as if daring anyone to make an acidic remark.

"Kriff me sideways," Elassar muttered, his eyes wider than any of them had ever seen them. His usually dark gray skin had taken an ashen tone that looked decidedly unhealthy.

The stunned silence was suddenly pierced by a whoop of disbelieving delight, the sound of a chair being pushed back with such force that it toppled over and banged onto the carpeted floor and the fast paced footsteps of a woman running.

Tyria dashed around the table with seemingly unnatural speed and crashed into Kirney without slowing down, almost toppling her over in the process and forcing Myn to let go of her waist. The blond woman threw her arms around her and squeezed, eliciting a squeak of surprise from Kirney that was drowned out by Tyria's delighted laughter. "I knew it," she crowed and drew back slightly to look into Kirney's face. She brought her hands up to cup the other woman's face and said, "Thinking you were dead … it just felt wrong."

Tears welled up in the redhead's eyes just as Tyria felt her own eyes water. It began as a choked sob and soon both women were embracing each other tightly and sobbing into each other's shoulders.

Myn was watching the reunion of the two former roommates with a mixture of relief, amusement and even a pinch of disbelief. Kirney had confided in him that Tyria's possible reaction was her greatest worry and seeing them holding each other in a tight embrace, crying tears of relief and happiness into each other's shoulders reduced part of the tension he'd been building up since the morning. Face nudged him and smirked, clearly saying 'I told you so' and Myn shrugged his shoulders. Then his attention turned to Runt who had rounded the table, his grin so wide it had to hurt his face. He briefly wondered what the Thakwaash was up to and smothered a grin when Runt simply threw his long arms around both women, lifted them off the ground and laughed at their squeaks of surprise.

"We like this surprise," he cheered and whirled them around in circles.

"Watch it, Runt. Don't make them sick," Kell threw in with a small smile. The tall man rose from his chair, rounded the table and smashed his hand onto Myn's shoulder as if he were swinging a sledgehammer. "You rascal," he said and grinned when the Corellian stumbled back against the wall from the impact. "That's for keeping this a secret for so long."

Kirney, who was still locked into Tyria's and Runt's embrace at the same time, gave him a look of wide-eyed surprise. "You're not angry?"

Tainer bestowed a small ironic smile upon her. "My wife has given you a ringing endorsement. Who am I not to trust her judgment?"

"Not to mention," Loran chortled, "that you'd be in trouble with her."

Kell looked affronted. "I do actually have an opinion of my own."

Face grinned back at him. "The phrase 'Yes, dear' comes to mind."

Tainer rolled his eyes and turned to look at Kirney. "By the way … What do you want us to call you? Lara?"

The redhead disentangled herself from Tyria's embrace and shook her head. "Lara is dead and it's better that way." Heaving a sigh she added, "I'd appreciate it if you would call me Kirney. That's what I've been calling myself ever since I moved to Corellia."

"Another role you're playing?" The words were delivered in a rather frosty tone that was at odds with the happy reactions of the other Wraiths.

Kirney looked at Shalla with a contented smile and shook her head. "No, this is finally myself. For the first time in my life I get to decide the path I wish to take." Looking at Myn she amended, "Well, part of it."

Shalla remained unconvinced judging by the scowl she was directing at the redhead. "Really? Why should I trust you?"

"You can't," Kirney returned evenly and shook her head. "In fact, none of you can."

Tyria blinked and opened her mouth to protest but Kirney held up a hand.

"No, Tyria, I'm serious. You may feel differently right now, but think about it for a moment." Directing her attention back to Shalla she went on, "I was an Imperial agent who infiltrated the Wraiths with the intent of betraying you to Warlord Zsinj … That is a fact, no matter how much I wish it wasn't so. By lying to all of you, by trying to take advantage of the trust you put in me after that mission to Lavisar I forfeited the right to ask you for your trust. And, to be brutally honest, you would be stupid to trust me right now.

"I could offer you all kinds of things for your work right now, most of them having to do with computers and my slicing abilities, just to try and prove to you that I am no longer an enemy. I could put together all kinds of helpful programs to make your life as Intelligence Commandos easier, to help you survive … But I won't. Because you simply can't trust me. Because every time you were to use such programs you'd be wondering if this is really just the harmless little helper I made it out to be or if it was a nefarious ploy to expose you to the Empire and betray you. And every time something went wrong, and Intel is a business where that happens rather sooner than later and more often than anyone would like, you'd wonder if this just bad luck or if I had betrayed you."

The dark-skinned woman cocked her head, her expression now more thoughtful and less suspicious. "So why come back at all? What's in it for you?"

The redhead took a deep breath, her eyes clouding as she looked back in time. "After Selaggis," she said, "I went to Corellia. I told myself to start anew without the baggage of the past. I told myself that all those people who mattered to me hated me and that I would never be able to face any of you ever again." Her eyes cleared and she turned to look at Donos, displaying a vulnerability that none of the Wraiths had ever seen on her. "That didn't work with Myn," she added huskily, sounding so broken he moved forward and took her in his arms again.

She let it happen, her head dropping against his shoulder as he simply held her close. They stayed that way for a few long moments, the room eerily silent around them, but finally Kirney withdrew from the embrace with a small grateful smile. She did not, however, let go of Myn's hand.

"I had barely managed to rent myself an apartment with a small office," Kirney continued, "when I could no longer stand it. I simply had to record a message, to tell him that I was alive."

"After a little prodding from Tonin," Donos added with quiet amusement.

"Which explains where you disappeared to after Mon Remonda returned to Coruscant," Kell said. "I thought you needed time alone and away from everything to come to terms with all that had happened, but I'd never have guessed …" His voice trailed off and he shrugged.

"You were supposed to," Kirney soothed. "And yet …" She grimaced. "I constantly found myself reminded of you guys, of the little things I experienced, how one of you said something and it would come back to my mind in similar situations. Contrary to what I was expecting I was finding that the more time went by the stronger grew the urge to tell you about me being alive. You were … are … the first real friends I ever had in my entire life. And when Myn finally came home last Midwinter …" Her shoulders gave another shrug.

Shalla heaved a sigh. "I don't know. I just can't … I need time to … I don't know."

"I understand," Kirney said quietly. "And even if it turns out to be never I'll accept that as well."

Face, who had remained silent throughout the standoff, came forward and put a hand on Kirney's shoulder. "Let's call the waiter droids and then sit down for dinner. We have more than enough time for further tales."

At her nod he gestured at the other Wraiths to take a seat again. Then he moved to the comlink embedded into the wall and spoke a few words into the device. The door through which the Wraiths had entered the room opened and a procession of waiter droids holding plates, bowls and what looked like rectangular pans full of food came into the room, placing them on the prepared buffet table. When they were done the droids left the room as silently as they had come.

As the door closed behind them Myn took his fork and clinked it against a wine goblet. "Since we've found a home on Corellia," he said with a small grin, "we decided to order Corellian fare for the buffet. The bar is, as Face has surely told you already, open and on our tab as well. And without further ado I declare the buffet open. Help yourself and enjoy the meal!"

They ate leisurely for well over an hour while exchanging tales and anecdotes. A few times Kirney had to remind them not to speak of Intelligence issues – to the point that her asking pointedly 'What did I tell you?' became a running gag for the evening – but mostly she was telling stories about her life as shuttle pilot. Another hour went by. Then, when raucous laughter was rippling among them as she told the story of how she had ended up being friends with Jarrath Lund and how he got his unflattering nickname in the process, Myn decided to spring his own surprise for the evening.

He picked up his fork again, clinking it against a glass and waited for the conversation to die down. He stood, moved around his chair and rested his hands on its back. "I have something to say. In fact," he directed a small sourish smile at Kirney, "I owe all of you an apology. I … I'm not good with words, so please excuse me if I'm rambling." He blushed slightly but fought the urge to look away. "For the last few years I have been treating you guys as potential dangers and not as the friends that you are. I think you may understand why now, but still I feel bad to have treated you like this. My sudden disappearance, the fact that nobody could reach me anymore and that I didn't tell either of you that I was retiring were all means to an end for me – I did these things to protect Kirney."

He sighed again and his blush deepened. "When she told me of her plan to tell you that she's alive, to meet you face to face … Well, I'm sure at some point she thought I had completely gone Sith. I was sulking all the way from Corellia to Coruscant when we came to meet Face and Piggy, moping because I could not understand why she was taking this risk, unnecessary and foolhardy as it was in my eyes. I was so focused on my fears of losing her again that I refused to see things from her perspective. But she was insistent and I ultimately swallowed my pride. It did little to sooth my fears, though." He looked at Loran and shot him a self-deprecating smirk. "In fact I asked Face and Piggy in a very roundabout way if any of you would pull a blaster on her."

Myn paused to take a deep breath. "But that is the past," he went on and let his gaze sweep across the faces of his friends. "The way this evening has gone has allowed me to breathe easier for I know that there is one less secret in our lives, one which has given Kirney much grief over the past few years. And it has relieved me of a tension that I have not been able to shake off ever since learning that she wanted to contact you again." A smile found its way on his face, a beatific smile he directed primarily at his girlfriend and held out a hand. "And it makes it so much easier for me to do the following."

Kirney took it with an expression of confusion warring with suspicion and curiosity. He pulled her to her feet and turned to face her fully, taking hold of both of her hands.

"Kirney, once we were enemies and I spent my time dreaming of dozens of supremely painful and horrible ways to kill the woman I held responsible for the death of Talon Squadron. All I had was her short Intelligence file and yet I thought I knew that woman …" He shook his head. "But I didn't. I didn't know you. And, as you've admitted in the meantime, neither did you know yourself.

"Then we met, you as Lara, playing yet another role. But this time the role became something more for you and, for the first time in your life, you allowed yourself to dream. But still you weren't yourself. Not yet.

"When I thought I had lost you forever I realized that there had been much, much more than hostility and enmity between us. I found myself mourning a future that wouldn't come to pass, lamenting the things that had happened, wishing for a sign that it wasn't my fate to lose all those people I cared about in horrible ways. That sign came, you gave me that sign." He shook his head in disbelief, a slight smile on his lips. "When I came to Corellia to visit you … I did not really know what I was doing. I didn't know what to expect, what I was actually hoping for, what I wanted. Was I looking for Lara or was I going to meet Gara? Would you be someone else? Whom did I want you to be? In the end I decided it didn't matter which name you were going by, I simply decided that I wanted to get to know you. And the more I learned about you, the more certain I became that I wanted a life with you. We may already be business partners, friends and lovers, but I know I want more. I want the whole package – the friend, the lover, the confidant, the family and, at some point, the mother of my children." He reached into his pocket and retrieved a small jewelry case.

Kirney's eyes shot open wide in surprise and disbelief and her hands flew up to cover her mouth.

He opened the cover and revealed its content, a small delicate golden band with streaks of copper spiraling around it and a green emerald sparkling at the top. He sank down onto a knee and asked nervously, "Kirney Slane, will you marry me?"

Kirney was too surprised to speak, not to mention that she kept her hands over her mouth, but she nodded at him with, slowly at first, then with growing intensity and frequency.

A devilish smile spread across his face and he put a finger behind his earlobe, pretending not to have understood. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"YES," Kirney crowed and threw her arms around him as he stood, laughing happily. "I will marry you."

Myn let out a relieved laugh himself, took the ring and slid it onto her finger. Their lips met for a kiss that was everything at once: tender, loving, full of promise, desperate, passionate ... When the lack of oxygen forced them to break the kiss, after what seemed to have been an eternity but in reality were just a few seconds, they found themselves surrounded by their cheering friends.

A hand landed on Myn's shoulder that, judging by the force of impact, should have belonged to Kell or Runt. But when the Corellian turned around he found himself looking at a madly grinning Face Loran. "You rascal," Face said and landed another friendly punch on Myn's shoulder. "You've been planning this for a while, haven't you?"

"Yes, I did," Donos admitted and gave his fiancée a sheepish smile. The smile widened when her eyes did at his admission. "In fact I wanted to propose a few weeks ago, but when you told me you wanted to meet with the Wraiths I knew I had to wait."

"Why that?" Kirney asked across Elassar's shoulder as the Devaronian held her in a brief congratulatory hug.

A touch of embarrassment was coloring his cheeks as he answered, "Well, to be honest I was listening too much to my fears. I was afraid that this evening would go badly ... and I planned to propose to you a few days after we returned home. I wanted to show you that I wasn't planning to run out on you. Ever." He chuckled. "But I like this outcome a lot better, because now we can invite all of you to our wedding."

"Wouldn't miss it for anything," Tyria answered for all of them. She looked intently at Face. "Can you arrange for us to get leave for this?"

The former actor frowned for a moment. "In theory it shouldn't be a problem given the months of leave all of us have accrued. Provided the Empire doesn't start making trouble at that point, that is." He fell silent for a moment. "I think I'll enlist Iella to get it done. She's got the ear of Cracken and can talk him into acceding to our request should the need arise."

"Then it's settled," Kirney declared with a broad smile. "I ... We want all of you to be there. It means so much to both of us."

"Even me?" Shalla asked mischievously, an eyebrow arched towards the hairline. She didn't give Kirney a chance to answer before she hugged her and whispered, "Congratulations," into the redhead's ear. After withdrawing from the embrace she added louder, a sourish smirk appearing on her face, "Just promise me one thing ... no dress uniforms."

"Oh, I think that's an easy promise to keep," Donos responded with a laugh before his expression turned sly. "Now, frilly dresses on the other hand ..."

Shalla rolled her eyes at her chuckling friends and picked up her glass from the table. "A toast," she said and raised it. "May this marriage bring you only happiness and good fortune. And may all of us be spared dress uniforms and frilly dresses."

They burst out laughing again and it helped to dispel the last vestiges of hurt and distrust in the air. Many toasts were to follow that one over the course of the evening, how many nobody could say as they'd lost count pretty soon, and it wasn't before the orbital mirrors high above the city planet were beginning to direct the light of the new day to the district when they left the hotel.

The end (for now) …