In Which Cassian speaks Space-Spanish. Translations as follows:

Están tratando de asustarnos: They're trying to scare us.

Deberíamos correr: We should run.

No, mijo. No huyas de ellos. Nunca corras: No, my son. Do not run away from them. Never run.

No corra. Quédate detrás de mí no corras, no importa qué. Te mantendré seguro: Stay behind me. Do not run. No matter what. I will keep you safe.

Quédate conmigo. Te mantendré seguro: Stay with me. I will keep you safe.

(I speak neither Earth nor Space Spanish. This is all Google Translate and I offer my sincere apologies for whatever the bot got wrong)

"You look like you've had a rough day."

Cassian lifts his head from where they rest on crossed arms atop the table. "What makes you say that?" It's supposed to be a joke, but he can't quite reach the light-hearted tone he needs to make it work.

The green-skinned Twi'lek across the table looks him over with a worried frown.

Cassian sits up. He's a soldier, not a little boy who needs someone to take care of him. And she is, he now sees, a General. She wears the rank badge pinned to a civilian jumpsuit, but she's still a ranking officer. Even if they've never met before.

"I know you," he says. Know of you, he amends, mentally. "You were at Lothal."

She nods, a satisfied smile on her face. She holds out her hand to Cassian. "Hera Syndulla."

"I know. I mean… I'm Captain Andor. Intelligence. I'm…" He narrows his eyes. "Is there something you want?"

"A cup of caf. Or several. You look like you could use one." Cassian just stares at her. A General is offering to get him a cup of caf? "How about it, Captain? Do you like sugar? Milk? There's probably some powdered milk in the stores, right?"

"Black," Cassian manages to say. "I drink it black."

Hera nods. She walks across the mess hall, to a table that holds an industrial-sized caf brewer and a towering stack of disposable cups. She returns to the table with two cups of steaming liquid in her hands, and sets one down in front of Cassian.

Cassian holds the cup in both his hands, taking comfort in the warmth of it. He takes a drink. He watches General Syndulla spinning a swivel stick through her cup. She takes a smaller sip.

"Thanks for the caf," Cassian says, after setting his cup back down on the table.

"You're welcome." General Syndulla sweeps her lekku over her shoulder and takes another small sip of her caf. "Do you want to tell me why you look like someone killed your pet loth-cat?"

"It… may not be my place to say. Ma'am."

Syndulla smiles again. "You have my permission to speak freely, Captain."

Cassian frowns. He cannot recall a single time when a General has smiled at him. Praised him for good work, sure. Thanked him. But everything was always - is always - about the mission. They don't share cups of caf and he doesn't expect them to try to make him feel better. But the mission is heading speedily for all the seven hells of Corellia now.

She told him to speak freely.

"They don't believe us," he says, and his voice comes out harsher and more angry than he'd expected. "They're not… it was all for nothing."

He's not sure why it matters, honestly. It was never his idea to break Jyn Erso out of prison, never his plan to use her to track down her father. Never his plan to kill the man. Or not kill him. He's a soldier, he doesn't generally make plans so much as follow orders.

It just seems like High Command went through a lot of effort to send him after information about the planet killer just to ignore what he's brought them.

And it feels like this is a tipping point. Like if they are cowed into submission here, the entire war is over. All for nothing.

Not just the mission. Everything.

When he was almost-seven years old, his father took him to Carida. A peaceful protest, against a Republic that was supposed to listen to reason. The Carida Academy was a school. A military school yes, but still a school. There will children inside.

There were children outside.

"This is a hostile action! Clear the area! If this crowd does not disperse, we will respond as appropriate to an attacking hostile force."

Cassian glanced up at his father. The man squeezed his shoulder and told him not to worry. "Están tratando de asustarnos."

Cassian looked at the clone troopers in their heavy white armor and heavy black rifles and thought that if the Republic was trying to scare them, they were doing a good job.

"Clear the area! We will use lethal force!"

We will use lethal force.

If the Empire has this kind of power, what chance do we have?

The Empire subjugates more worlds with every passing day. This was never a fight they could win.

Cassian pulled on the sleeve of his father's jacket. "Deberíamos correr."

"No, mijo. No huyas de ellos. Nunca corras."

Cassian sips at his caf. He studies the General sitting across the table from him. She was at Lothal. The Empire subjugates more worlds with every passing day. But nearly a year ago, an Alliance cell liberated one.

That victory is already almost erased from their collective memory, under the weight of everything that has happened in the months after.

This war is grinding them all to nothing.

But they won.

"They'll listen to you," Cassian says. "You're a hero. If the Liberator of Lothal told them…"

The Twi'lek shakes her head. "That's not what I am."

"What are you then?"

General Syndulla frowns, her lekku twitching noticeably as she considers the question. "I'm a mother, Captain Andor. I'm trying to keep my son safe."

"Papa!"

"Cassian, No corra. Quédate detrás de mí no corras, no importa qué. Te mantendré seguro."

The open courtyard was a killing field. Those who ran were instantly shot down. His father knew. His father was smart enough to know.

This galaxy is a killing field.

"If we run away now, they'll slaughter us all."

"You believe her. Erso's daughter, you believe her."

Cassian nods. Of course he believes her, he was there. And he's been trained to know when people are lying.

"The planet killer's real. I've seen it."

Hera reaches across the table, putting her gloved hand on Cassian's. She looks up, into his dark eyes. "We can't give up on the people we believe in. It's the only thing that's going to keep us going in this fight."

Cassian nods his understanding. Rebellions are built on hope.

"General Syndulla, report to the briefing room." The announcement crackles over the comm.

Hera stands up, and drains the last of her caf with one gulp. "It was nice talking to you, Captain Andor. May the Force be with you."

Cassian nods. He doesn't believe in the Force but he believes in the way that she says it. He slings his bag over his shoulder and goes to find Jyn.

Quédate conmigo. Quédate conmigo. Te mantendré seguro.