Notes: Written for ancslove for Star Wars Rare Pairs Exchange. I couldn't resist the opportunity to bring these two wonderful ladies. I'm playing a little bit loose with the timeline of Galen's manipulation of the Death Star, putting it later than it likely was in canon to give me more wiggle room for Jyn and Mara.

Save Me Your Last Dance

Jyn Erso made her way through the throng of fawning courtiers and breathed a sigh of relief when she reached the balcony. Out here, the music from the ballroom was almost inaudible.

It would have been a gross lie to say the air on Imperial Center was fresh or even brisk. Even as high up as the Imperial Palace there remained an undercurrent of pollution, and the weather controls didn't permit for the cold winds it would have taken to leave her feeling refreshed.

She tugged at her collar, much to her disgust she wore the white uniform of a Tarkin Initiative scientist. Director Krennic always had her accompany him in her finest dress uniform when he visited Imperial Center; he liked to parade her around like the war trophy he still believed her to be.

Jyn found it more favorable to let him believe so. The entire ordeal was ridiculous anyway.

There was no warning that she was no longer alone until she felt warm breath against the back of her neck, followed a moment later by an amused voice asking, "How did he take his latest failure?"

Jyn turned around to the red-haired woman no older than her and met green eyes that sized her up like she was her latest prey. "You look nice," she said dryly, "I take it you did get an audience."

Mara did look nice in her elegant green dress, the right arm bare, the left covered with a wide bell sleeve which ever so conveniently concealed the holster of her sleeve gun, while the skirt of her dress was sure to hide her lightsaber. Jyn had only seen it in action once, a magenta blade bringing certain death that had left her both captivated and chilled to the bone.

Seeing Mara's lightsaber cut through flesh, bone and metal alike with ease had been when the true destructive power of kyber crystals had hit home for her. Computer simulations couldn't compare.

"I never have a problem getting an audience," Mara pointed out, "the Emperor rewards loyalty."

Jyn pursed her lips but chose to remain quiet. She owed Krennic nothing. Growing up an Imperial hostage for her father's good behavior, she had learned to play the game, but whatever Krennic may believe, he had done her no favors.

"Of course he does," Jyn said dutifully. "The Emperor's wisdom and generosity are uncontested."

Mara narrowed her eyes at her, searching for hidden meanings, hidden betrayals, for any stirring of disloyalty she might feel in the Force she commanded.

Jyn did not know much about the Force, all she had were her mother's fanciful bedtime stories and the even more unbelievable – frightening – things she had seen Mara do. Jyn didn't know the Force, but much like her father, she had learned to survive in the gaps between half-truths. Mara would strike her down if she sensed outright rebellion, but she would not waste her time on futile embers of rebellion and resentment.

The Empire did not care if it was loved by its subjects, as long as they served their purpose without complaint.

Jyn and Galen had learned to keep these embers so small they were nearly dead. They would be ready to be fanned into flames when the time was right.

That could not be today, of course.

Today, Jyn accepted the cocktail Mara offered to her and sipped on it, pointedly without first sniffing it for poison.

"Not suspicious of me any longer?" Mara asked.

Jyn's lips thinned again. This time, she let her annoyance flare. "I figure if the Emperor's Hand decides she wants me dead there is nothing I can do about it." She emptied the glass in one go, enjoying the burn of the Spice Liqueur and sweetness of the Lum. "I might as well enjoy my Meltdown before I die."

"I won't have to, as long as you remain loyal." Mara's fingers wrapped around Jyn's wrist, her grip almost but not quite strong enough to hurt. "We owe the Emperor our loyalty," she repeated, "all of us. You will not stray."

There was as much threat as plea to her demand and Jyn turned her face away, pretending that she was entranced by Imperial Center's skyline. Her father still called it Coruscant when they were alone. Her jaw was clenched tight and she forced her breath to remain even. When you served the Empire, you either mastered rigid self-control early on or you did not get the chance to learn it late.

"I'm no traitor, Mara," she ground out. "You have been sniffing around for ages and never found a thing."

"I wanted to see you. Is that forbidden now?"

"Since when does the Emperor's Hand make social calls?"

She still refused to look at Mara and the fingers on her wrist tightened further, crossing the threshold to painful.

"I wanted to see you," Mara repeated. She was better at hiding her frustration. She didn't sound angry, just quietly menacing.

Jyn felt a shiver run down her spine, she could admit to herself that it was born of thrill as much as fear. Mara was deadly and dangerous and blindly devoted to the Emperor, but she existed in shadows and half-truths as much as Jyn did. They were nothing alike, the Emperor's assassin and the hostage, and yet…

Jyn exhaled noisily. It would have to be her who was the bigger person. It always had to be her, though she was hardly any better at reaching out than Mara herself.

In the tense silence that had settled between them, she could hear that the orchestra inside had started to play a new song.

She finally turned her head to Mara. She was scrutinizing her so intensely that Jyn felt goosebumps rise on her skin. You never knew, when Mara Jade looked at you like that.

"Dance with me?"

For a heartbeat, they remained perfectly still.

Mara's fingers slipped from Jyn's wrist down to grasp her hand. When she placed her left hand on Jyn's shoulder, Jyn felt the tiny blaster attached to her arm.

She heard her father's warnings echo in her mind. She will be the death of you, he told her every time Mara ghosted through the facility on Eadu and Jyn found herself drawn into her orbit all over again.

With every day that passed, the Emperor's latest weapon was coming closer to completion.

Soon, Jyn knew, their orbits would clash.

But for tonight, they danced.