After reading a lot of this topic, I, too, was tempted to keelhaul Wedge after this, but Scruffy's post made me realize that I'd been misinterpreted Wedge's line all this time.

"I'm hit! I can't stay with you."

All my life, I'd thought that, "I can't stay with you," meant, "I have to leave." But instead, it means, "My ship can't keep up with your ship anymore," and that makes a lot more sense. It also makes Luke's line, "You can't do any more good back there," make more sense.

But RRS brings up something I've always wondered. Why the hell did Red Leader put Luke in charge? I know that Wedge and Biggs were pretty wet behind the ears as well, but they at least had to have been there a tiny bit longer than Luke (although you have to admit that Biggs had to have "jumped ship" pretty quickly to be there by the time Luke arrives) and have some kind of seniority. Scruffy, do you have any explanations for this? Did Luke somehow prove himself in combat up to that point more so than Biggs and Wedge?