Childhood's End: By Shadow
shadows_myst14@hotmail.com 

On the outskirts of a Correllian city, 
in a small fuelling station sheltered 
from the Rebellion and the Empire one 
of the greatest fighter pilots of the 
Alliance grew up. How did he come to 
fight for the Alliance anyway? And is 
he really the only survivor of his 
family's murder. Follow Wedge 
Antilles' early years to find out.






Disclaimer:
Okay, here we go with the routine. All 
the characters from Star Wars 
contained in this story belong the 
George Lucas and LucasFilm except of 
course the one's I made up. I'm not 
getting any money whatsoever off this 
story, just the joy of knowing that 
somewhere, another Star Wars fan is 
reliving the excitement of the Star 
Wars universe. (c) 1999 






Author's Note:
Right, this is kind of necessary since 
I've made up some of my own 
characters, and changed the events of 
Wedge's life quite a bit. First of 
all, there's Isari, Wedge's younger 
sister (I've stuck her in all three 
movies in my mind and most of the 
novels too, maybe I'll get around to 
telling you how, someday); she's nine 
years old in this story, about two 
years younger than I pictured Wedge to 
be (I know the age is wrong, sue me).  
Also, I left Syal at home for this 
mostly because I had no idea she'd 
left when I wrote it. This is the 
first part in what I hope will be a 
three part series that explains 
Wedge's early years. Well I hope that 
clears things up a bit, if you have 
any questions or comments email me, 
I'd be glad to here them.
Enjoy!





Childhood's End


	Under cover of night they came, 
eight sleek and deadly fighters. They 
flew so low to the ground that the 
thinning brown grasses in the fields 
of the planetoid below fluttered with 
their passing. In the distance the 
lead pilot spotted the faint lights 
that marked their destination.
	"Hawk Leader to Hawk Boys. 
Target in sight. Remember the plan, 
let's have some fun with this one."
	His cold voice was answers by a 
chorus of acknowledgements and 
laughter, as the other seven men with 
Hawk Leader acknowledged their orders.
	Ignoring their cheers Hawk 
Leader stoically pulled down the 
Headhunter's targeting computer. It 
was time to let these people know just 
how big a mistake they'd made when 
they'd defied the Emperor. He grinned 
under his flight mask, yes; this would 
be fun indeed.

	Less than fifty kilometres away 
from the approaching fighters, inside 
a small fuelling station and store, 
the lights glowed warmly as a 
Correllian family sat down for dinner, 
blissfully unaware of the danger that 
streaked towards them. 
	"Wedge! Syal! Dinner's ready!!" 
Zena Antilles called to her two oldest 
children as she placed a steaming pot 
of traditional Correllian stew on the 
table in front her youngest daughter, 
Isari.
	The petite woman's smile carried 
through to her brown eyes as she 
watched her daughter's eyes light up 
at the sight of her favourite meal.
	"Not yet, Hon." She admonished 
caringly, "we wait for everyone else. 
Do you know where you're brother is?"
	"Awww, Mom! Wedge isn't always 
with me...I always get in trouble for 
stuff he does..." at a look from her 
mother the child cut her self off and 
sighed, "Alright, I'll go get him..."
	She slid off her chair and ran 
down the stairs in search of her 
brother and sister. At the bottom 
landing she heard a familiar voice say 
goodbye to someone and shut the door 
to the store.
	"Daddy!!!"  The nine-year-old 
girl all but launched her self around 
the corner and into her father's arms. 
"You're home already? I thought you 
and Booster would be gone longer! Is 
Booster still here? Did Mirax come 
with him? Did you bring me anything? I 
can't wait to show you the trick Wedge 
taught me in the Skyhopper!!" her 
words came out in a torrent.
	"Hey now, easy there Squirt." 
Jagged Antilles said good-naturedly, 
giving his daughter's tangled brown 
hair a rub with his right hand and 
pulling her to him with his left. 
"Booster's still around somewhere, 
Mirax couldn't come, sorry hon, but 
relax, we juts got in, I wouldn't 
leave you hanging. As for the gift, 
did you leave your manners outside? 
It's not polite to ask people for 
gifts, got that sweetie?" In spite of 
his last words Jagged reached behind 
him and pulled out a small package 
wrapped in an oily rag, "Sorry about 
the wrapping job, go ahead, open it."
	"Sari!! Did you find your 
brother yet?? This stew is going 
cold!"
	Jagged smiled, "On second 
thought maybe you should find Wedge 
first and then open it."
	Isari nodded, and ran towards 
the back yard in search of her 
brother.

	In the garage outside Wedge 
Antilles lay underneath his most prize 
possession, his late-model T-6 
Skyhopper that he'd gotten from his 
parents for his tenth birthday. 
Lovingly he wiped and re-wiped the 
underside of the old fighter until it 
shone. He heard Sari open the backdoor 
and call his name, with a sigh he 
crawled out from under the fighter and 
wiped his hands on the rag. 
	Syal, grinned at her younger 
brothers care for the ancient fighter, 
he didn't seem to realise the thing 
was a piece of junk. She hopped off 
the bucket she'd been sitting on, and 
headed into the house, giving Isari a 
playful swipe on her way. 
	Wedge caught up to Isari as she 
also went into the house. "What'd Mom 
make for dinner anyway?"
	"Tresk'in stew. But since you 
took so long I think she gave the rest 
to Booster."
	The boy's face fell then her 
realised she was only playing with 
him.
	"Wait a minute. Booster's here? 
Then that means...Dad!" he'd reached 
the top of the stairs and started 
towards his father.
	He never got there. In the space 
of a heartbeat his quiet world on the 
space station Gus Treta was completely 
and utterly shattered as a proton 
torpedo from Hawk Leader detonated 
less than 100 metres from the house.
	Wedge felt unseen hands grab him 
by his shirt and fling him full force 
into the cabinets that lined one side 
of the kitchen. He hit hard and lay 
there stunned, his vision fading in 
and out as his brain tried to sort out 
which wire went where. He could hear 
his mother crying out near him but try 
as he might he couldn't see her 
through the haze of smoke around him.
	Suddenly the kitchen door was 
blown inward, making Wedge flinch as 
splinters nicked his face and arms. 
Through the hole where the door had 
been, five men stepped through, then 
made way for a sixth. The sixth man 
was huge. He stood a head taller than 
Wedge's father, who was no small man 
himself, and his muscles could be seen 
rippling through the fabric of his 
flight suit. 
	Wedge's father pulled himself to 
his feet and stood to confront the big 
man, his brown eyes harder than Wedge 
had ever seen them, blood running from 
a cut above his eye.
	"You Jagged Antilles?" the big 
man asked in a flat voice, completely 
void of emotion.
	Jagged straightened and glared 
at the man,
	"Who wants to know?"
The man chuckled, "It seems you've 
made some very powerful, and not to 
mention rich, people very mad at you, 
Antilles. Don't suppose you'd know how 
you managed to do that would you?"
	Wedge saw his father pale 
slightly and he swallowed hard before 
answering. Wedge tore his eyes away 
from the two men at the centre of the 
room and took in the rest of the 
situation. His mother and Syal were 
huddled under the remains of the 
table, he could see his mother sobbing 
on Syal's shoulder, see the terror in 
Syal's blue eyes as she looked across 
the room at him. Aside from their 
terror they both appeared to be all 
right. 
	As his gaze swept over the room, 
Wedge saw one of the other five men 
who'd entered with the big man looking 
at him, as if judging him. His blue 
eyed stare pinned Wedge in place and 
sent a chill to the bottom of his 
soul. Wedge shuddered and looked away 
wondering what exactly his father had 
done to make these men this mad at 
them. 
	Then he saw the other person he 
was looking for, by the corner nearest 
to him Isari sat hugging the small 
package their father had given her 
tightly to her chest, watching the 
confrontation with dry eyes, though it 
was evident that she had been crying.
	Wedge fought back the urge to 
run to her and make sure she was 
alright, to tell her everything would 
be okay because that's what big 
brothers did. But he knew he really 
wouldn't be helping the situation if 
he made a sudden move and got himself 
shot. So, Wedge Antilles did the only 
thing a sensible eleven-year-old could 
do, he sat, did nothing, and hoped to 
hell his father could get them out of 
this. He glanced back at his father in 
time to hear the other man's reaction 
to Jagged's explanation.
	"Yeah, I guess one could call it 
smuggling, it's a stretch, but it 
fits." He gave Jagged a humourless 
smile, "Now listen, I'm a reasonable 
man, I see no reason to terrorise your 
poor family here, they ain't done 
nothing wrong. So I'll tell you what. 
You just hand over those Jedi you're 
hiding around here and we'll leave 
you're lovely little family alone. 
How's that sound?" his smile 
disappeared, "I really don't want to 
have to do this the hard way, 
Antilles, but I will if I have to. The 
pays the same, and I'm sure these boys 
would love the chance to get their 
hands dirty, it's up to you."
	Jagged glared, "I can't tell you 
what I don't know, now leave my 
property NOW!"
	The man took a step towards 
Wedge's father pulling out his blaster 
with exaggerated deliberateness. "Was 
that a threat, Antilles?" he growled, 
taking yet another step closer, he 
charged up the power pack on his 
blaster and took another step, "Are 
you threatening me? Here? I don't 
think you're in much of a position to 
be making threats do you?" he took one 
final step and jammed his blaster 
under Jagged's jaw.
	The two men glared at each 
other, faces mere inches apart, Jagged 
never backing down despite the blaster 
to his jaw.
	Wedge watched the display 
riveted. Wanting to turn away, to 
scream, to run, anything to dispel the 
horror he was seeing before him. His 
heart thumped in his chest and he 
heard a strange whimpering sound, that 
he only realised later, was his own.
	Finally, after an eternity, the 
bid pilot brought his blaster up into 
Jagged's jaw, snapping his head back. 
When Jagged regained his balance he 
was met by a fist to the face. He 
collapsed to the ground groaning. The 
big man stood above him a smirk on his 
hateful face.
	"I tried to be nice about this, 
Antilles. Last chance, where are those 
Jedi?"
	Jagged glared up at him and 
spat.
	The man sighed, "If that's they 
way you want it we'll do this the hard 
way." he gestured to two of his men, 
"Hold him up."
	Wedge could no longer just sit 
and watch, these men were going to 
kill his father. With a shout of rage 
and pain he launched himself at the 
men holding his father.
	An arm snaked around his neck 
from behind, cutting off his air as it 
raised him into the air. Wedge choked, 
tried desperately to draw in a breath, 
bite, kick, scream. Nothing worked. 
Finally the arm lowered him down 
enough so he could breath. He gasped 
far air, hearing the horrible sound of 
the big man's evil laughter echoing in 
his ear.
	The look on his father's face 
was that of a man being hit by 
multiple two by fours simultaneously. 
"Wedge..." he whispered, so much fear 
and pain in that one word that it 
almost broke Wedge's heart.
	He struggled anew against the 
restraining arm, and was raised into 
the air because of it. When he was set 
back down again his vision faded for a 
moment. He felt hot breath against his 
neck and fought down the terror that 
threatened to rise within him.
	"So, Antilles, we ready to talk 
business yet? Or does this little hero 
have to sacrifice his life for your 
Jedi?"
	"NOOO!" The cry was wracked with 
despair. Wedge glanced at his father, 
held down by two men almost as big as 
the one holding him, and was surprised 
to see tears on his face. "Please, do 
anything you want to me, but leave my 
family alone. I honestly don't know 
where they went, they left about a 
month ago."
	"See? Was that so hard?" The big 
man shoved Wedge towards the floor no 
longer caring about him. Wedge 
scuttled towards his younger sister 
and held her protectively in his arms,
	"I'm sorry I have to do this, 
friend. I've gotten to rather like 
you, but since I don't have the Jedi, 
I do need you." He nodded slightly and 
one of the two men holding Jagged 
pressed a blaster up against his side 
and fired.
	Wedge bit back a scream and 
looked away from his father's corpse. 
Isari shrieked and tried to run to 
him, but Wedge held her back until she 
finally dissolved in his arms. Then 
his own tears came, unbidden, and 
washed down his face. Her could hear 
his mother crying his father's name 
over and over, hear Syal try and 
comfort her through her own grief. 
	Then he felt his arms being 
pulled from around Isari and behind 
his back, he kicked out and caught 
someone's shin, he heard a muffled 
curse and got backhanded across the 
face hard enough to make him see 
stars. He felt a rough rope being 
wrapped tightly around his wrists and 
he cried out from the pain.
	The stunbolt came out of 
nowhere. Wedge felt a brief flash of 
pain, then the world went dark.

	Isari saw the man next to her 
father pull out his blaster and 
screamed. Then her whole world fell 
apart around her. The comfortable 
kitchen she'd spent the past nine 
years in suddenly became cold and 
ugly; her brother's strong, comforting 
arms became horrible snakes trying to 
grab her. She shrieked and fought 
against them wanting only to get to 
her father's side.  But those snakes 
refused to let her go, and eventually 
she came out of her blind panic and 
sagged in Wedge's arms sobbing 
helplessly.
	Worst of all was that she didn't 
understand why these people had done 
this. Her family didn't know any Jedi, 
according to all the books she'd read 
the Jedi were extinct, only a fairy 
tale now. Why would her father hide 
one? It made no sense. The people that 
had been staying with them, the ones 
she assumed her father had been 
talking about had been passing 
travellers, nothing more.
	Quite suddenly she was ripped 
from Wedge's embrace. She saw him 
fighting out of the corner of her eye, 
then he went still. The horror of 
losing another loved one set her off 
again. Screaming Wedge's name she 
grabbed the nearest objet to her 
hands, a frying pan conveniently 
enough, and swung with all her might 
towards her tormentor. She hit and 
felt the satisfying thud, heard the 
yelp of pain. The arms let her go and 
she squirmed out from under the man, 
grabbed her father's last gift to her 
and fled to the living room.
	She could hear the men pursuing 
her and knew she didn't have much 
time. Her father had said Booster 
Terrik was around somewhere but she 
didn't have time to find him right 
now. So she did the next best thing 
she could think of, she hid. Cramming 
herself inside the tiny closet that 
she used as a hiding place when she 
and Wedge played hide and seek, she 
closed the door tightly, held her 
breath, and prayed.

	Hawk Four cursed silently to 
himself as he walked back into the 
kitchen from the tiny living room; the 
little girl had escaped. The boss was 
not going to like that one bit. At 
least they'd gotten the other one as 
instructed, and she was even better 
than her sister. Older, more 
developed. He grinned and hurried to 
help Hawks Five and Six spread fuel 
around the house. Finally they closed 
the door to the store and tossed a 
match through the window. Laughing as 
the fuel soaked wood caught fire and 
sent the house up in flames, along 
with it the bodies of the mother, son, 
and perhaps, the young daughter. With 
a grunt hawk Six picked up Jagged 
Antilles' body and trudged towards the 
transport the hawks had stolen for 
this job. Ignoring the sobs of the 
oldest daughter he threw the body of 
her father unceremoniously at her feet 
and climbed into the back of the 
transport, relishing her look of 
fearful defiance and thinking up 
creative ways to wipe it off that 
beautiful face of hers. 
	Then the doors slammed and the 
transport took off into the night, 
leaving behind it a charred reminder 
of what happened to those who crossed 
the Empire.

	Wedge came to in a fiery inferno 
and wondered briefly if this was what 
death felt like. He wanted nothing 
more than to succumb to the agonising 
pain in his side and arm, but thoughts 
of his mother and sisters drove him to 
his feet. He cried out as he jostled 
his right arm and got a stab of red-
hot pain in return. Broken. He tested 
his other limbs and was relieved to 
find they were all intact.
	"MOM? SYAL? SARI?!?" When he got 
no answer to his cries, he choked back 
a sob; they might only be unconscious. 
He clung to that thought as he sought 
them out through the smoke and flame.
	 The roof above his head groaned 
and cracked as a support beam burning 
on both ends fell towards Wedge. He 
dodged sideways and screamed as his 
shoulder hit burning wood, he bounced 
of the wood and hit something solid 
but soft. Another person. At first his 
heart soared, one of them had 
survived! Then he realised it was a 
man, it couldn't have been his family 
and that hope shattered and crashed 
within him. Screaming he attacked the 
figure, flailing his one good arm like 
a windmill, hoping to do something the 
men who had murdered his family.
	When the shadowy figure didn't 
respond to his attack, Wedge paused, a 
little miffed. Then the figure spoke, 
a deep voice that Wedge would know 
anywhere.
	"Wedge? That you son? Oh sweet 
Jedi Ghosts, you're alive!! Thank the 
heavens!" he pulled Wedge to him in a 
fierce embrace, "Come on, we've got to 
get out of here before the whole place 
comes down around us."
	"Booster? What-?" Wedge was cut 
off as another beam landed nearby. As 
more and more debris began to rain 
down on the, the two of them dashed 
for the window.  For a minute Wedge 
resisted going with Booster, he still 
needed to find his family, but the 
bigger man finally hauled him bodily 
out of the house and a safe distance 
away. Only then did he set Wedge down 
on the brown grass and call his ship 
the Pulsar Skate from the Antilles' 
garage.
	Wedge knelt on the ground his 
fingers clenched in the grass, tears 
streaming endlessly down his cheeks, 
watching his home burn, knowing that 
the life he had known was burning with 
it. He flinched away from Booster's 
hand, refused to listen to his words 
of comfort because he refused to 
believe his family was truly dead. He 
lay there like that with Booster 
standing protectively over him for a 
long time. When he was ready Booster 
helped him aboard the Skate and into a 
new life.

	Isari smelled the smoke first, 
then she felt the heat coming through 
the wall between the kitchen and the 
living room. With a gasp she lunged 
for the handle of the small closet, 
but it came off in her hand. How could 
she have been so stupid? The knob had 
broken the last time she and Wedge had 
played hide and seek; she'd been stuck 
in here for an hour while her dad took 
off the screws. The memory brought 
back the sting of tears to eyes and 
she blinked them away. No time for 
tears now, she needed to get out.
	Grimly Isari set to work, 
pounding at the door with her leg 
muscles, slowly it gave way. Too 
slowly for Isari's taste but at least 
she was getting somewhere/ Eventually, 
when she thought she wouldn't be able 
to stand the heat any more, her foot 
smashed through the wooden door.
	It took another five minutes to 
make a hole big enough for her to 
crawl through. When she was finally 
out of the hole she looked around her, 
and felt her heart being squeezed by 
an invisible hand as she watched her 
life and memories go up in smoke.
	Coughing and hacking she made 
her way to the second storey window 
next to the tree and jumped from the 
window to the branch, wincing as the 
flames licked her hand. She shimmied 
quickly down the tree and ran to the 
garage, hoping to there before it, 
too, went up in flames.
	She hesitated slightly when she 
entered the garage. This place should 
have been a happy place, with her 
mother and father and maybe even Syal 
working on ship. While she and Wedge 
were off in the field, Wedge teaching 
her how to fly his old Skyhopper, 
laughing when she couldn't manoeuvre 
because she was too short to reach the 
rudder pedals. Instead, it had also 
been changed by her ordeal. It now 
seemed intimidating and foreign to 
her.
Isari shook herself out of her 
reverie; she had to get away before 
the men in black came back to look for 
her. She hurried over to Wedge's 
Skyhopper, pausing for a moment to run 
her fingers along it's hull. Wedge had 
unofficially dubbed the ship Sari's 
Dream because she'd always dreamed of 
becoming a pilot. She couldn't help it 
anymore, she couldn't fight it. Isari 
slumped in the cockpit of her 
brother's fighter and cried 
uncontrollably until she felt slightly 
better. Then she made sure she still 
had her father's package, keyed the 
start up checklist and prepped the 
fighter for take-off. 
	When the Skyhopper was in the 
air, Isari piloted it over her ruined 
home, sniffing back more tears, amazed 
that there were still more left inside 
of her. Hovering over the carcass of 
her home she tossed a sad salute at 
the smouldering ashes, then took off 
towards the spaceport in Gus Treta. 
Leaving behind her the ruins of her 
home, her family, and her childhood.





Well hope you liked it, any comment or 
suggestions can be sent to 
shadows_myst14@hotmail.com