AN: I like Cassian Andor a lot and thought he deserved a small story about one of his antics before his tragic death in Rogue One. Aside from that there'll be no spoilers for the movie as this story takes place just before it.
Also note that Cassian is bisexual in this fic. Juno Eclipse is gay and in a relationship with - what I have made - a canon suitable version of Mara Jade. While there may or may not be sex chapters, I just need to outline that these characters are very much LGBT. If you don't want that, leave right now because I will be making plenty of points about their sexuality in this small fic. Other than that enjoy!
Cassian Andor - Dark Purge
Chapter 1: We Have A Mission For You, Part 1
Space was always cold and dreary as soon as one exited the fading blue gleam of the stars of hyperspace and Cassian Andor was not a stranger to te disorientation that one experienced coming out of hyperspace. It had been a long trip too, from the most outback worlds of the Outer Rim directly to Coruscant all on his own. Without even stopping to resupply from a base as well.
It had been his orders. To complete his mission on Nar Shaddaa and then turn over directly to Coruscant with all haste to make contact with an informant. Why it had to be Cassian he had no idea. But Cassian never really questioned his orders.
Or at least, he never openly defied them. And that was what made him a Captain and one of the most expert Rebel Intelligence Officers in the Rebel Alliance.
But today he was a humble dock worker about to ditch his untraceable U-Wing and sneak inside one of the hundreds of thousands of docks that Emperor Palpatine had littered all over Coruscant's main upper city level. From there he would make a quick change, a disguise of some sort and then sneak aboard another ship, a labor transport that would take him down to a lower level of the infamous undercity of the Imperial Capital.
Idle with thoughts of apprehension and mild exhaustion from his last mission in Hutt Space, and filled with the usual nerves that came with entering the Core Worlds, he breathed. Steadily he slowed down the sub-light engines and brought the U-Wing steadily to a snail's pace. He needed some time to think about how he was going to do this. He had never been to Coruscant before, not ever, and he had heard the rumors, the reports about what the hub of the Old Republic looked like these days, since the dark times, since the Emperor.
Cassian could not say he was looking forward to seeing the dark of space, which was humble and homey to him, turn to the blue and white of the atmosphere. If anything he hoped to enter those Imperial skies in the dead of night. Even a thunderstorm would help make it look how it felt.
What he did not want to see was normalization, was a subversive paradise. Not after all he had done and seen. He wanted Coruscant to look every bit as evil and devilish as he had thought it was.
The small astromech droid in the back of the U-Wing sounded off, coming out of the low power mode that it slipped into while the longevity of lightspeed. Now it was up and whirling and moving around the back of the ship, talking up a storm in binary to drag Cassian out of his melancholic staring at the planet coming closer toward them. He turned to see the astromech unit and smiled at the company, the one thing that he did hate about lightspeed was that he flew it alone. Being in a thinly stretched Rebellion with barely enough funding for an Intelligence Service anyway was bad enough. Being a covert agent meant that Cassian flew almost every single mission alone, or at least with no sentient/organic company. Droids were all he often had, and R7-K8 was all he had right now.
"You're awake," Cassian affirmed to the droid as he set the small U-Wing onto autopilot and moved into the back to change. He thanked the stars that the Empire had not yet discovered how the Rebels were using the U-Wings. And one with no guns could pass through customs with relative ease. All Cassian had to hide was his rifle, which he was doing. "Find anything on the HoloNet while you slept? Any good vids circulating the Core?" He asked the droid, trying to relax.
That was how, he would always surf the HoloNet for vids, any and all, whether they be movies, shows or even some adult films at times. Not for pleasure, well, for some but not the sexual kind. Being in RI did something along the lines of making Cassian feel less of a human than he was, and watching vids was a good way to come back. Dissociation of the mind was slowly killing him day by day.
Kayeight made a series of chipper whirrs and beeps, telling Cassian all about a small cache of adult films it had found while sifting through data dumps as they passed through the Mid Rim. Outback and semi-civilised worlds around there had a lot to look through. And since they passed Ryloth, there was a treasure trove waiting for outbound signals. The small droid with the round dome head had had a field day picking them up and packaging them for Cassian for later. Twi'leks were a favorite of the galaxy, and Cassian was no stranger to finding them appealing in pornography.
Both male and female.
"Huh really? Well thanks, friend, though they'll have to wait. Another mission. We have to meet an informant on level thirteen-thirteen," Cassian told the small astromech what it already knew. But the agent liked to retread through mission details if anything to keep himself on his toes.
Again Kayeight made naught but whirrs and beeping noises in retort, going over the details of the landing for Cassian. He needed to hide the rifle, into the flooring where the Imps couldn't scan past the layer material. Then he had to change into more simpler clothing, then cold wipe the communication console for the time he was on Coruscant, and then hide the U-Wing in one of the designated Rebel spots. There it would be handled by an agent on the ground, and Cassian himself would go meet with the informant.
It was a lot easier said than done. And Cassian nearly bit his lip several times as he set the U-Wing down in the Rebel Warehouse and left it with a rather trashy looking Toydarian. Some deal of credits was obviously behind his loyalty, but Captain Andor still had his doubts.
Kayeight let loose a short series of beeps and Cassian sniggered as they left the warehouse and walked to the transit station. "Hah, you can say that again," he told the droid before they stepped out into the evening dusk on the capital world.
It was every bit as normal as Cassian had feared, and from his position, with the white and green Kayeight at his feet, he couldn't even see the monuments that had been described to him. Not the monolithic and disgusting Imperial Palace, not the ruins of the Jedi Temple, nor the massive statue of Palpatine himself in the central square of the old Senate District. All he could see was something that Kayeight told him was the building for 'The Celestial Power Project'.
"Look into that building Kayeight, personnel and purpose if you can and upload it right to the Alliance too," Cassian told the droid, hoping it could do just that.
Then, with nothing more to see, Cassian and Kayeight made their way to the transit hub, fitting seamlessly in with the rest of the masses that saw him as an equal no one. There he was, in plain sight, with Imperial Dropships and Pacification Patrols zooming overhead, as well as TIE Fighters. Cassian hadn't seen something so… Imperial before, not even after his years of hauntings in the Mid and Outer Rim. In fact, he was amazed that there were no Star Destroyers in the sky, although he had seen a small task force of them just in orbit. And he was sure that there would be thousands in drydock and in R&D, possible even some very old Vindicator-Class Star Destroyers kicking around, left over from the Clone Wars.
The Rebellion could do with a couple of Star Destroyers, even if they were almost nineteen years old.
The next couple of hours were spent getting to the transport and then sorting and providing all he forged paperwork for the Stormtrooper battalion between Cassian and the dead drop down to the lower levels. As if there was not a vast amount of Stormtroopers, Snowtroopers, Sandtroopers, Shoretroopers and any other denomination in the Rims, Cassian could see the massive difference here. Coruscant was a hive of Imperial troopers, and it made him sick. He could imagine them not being here, like in the Clone Wars, no white armor at all. Despite not even seeing the time, he missed it as he boarded the small shuttle leading down to the undercity.
Forged papers had gotten him the way, now he was relying on his own initiative and instincts to survive the rest of the way. Some had described the lower levels of Coruscant as hell or in other words any other Outer Rim or Hutt World. Cassian has seen too many of them, but still, he had his hand on his concealed pistol, which miraculously had made it past the checkpoints. The alloys it was made from were a rarity even in the Alliance. Being a high-level agent, he had managed to snag a pistol's worth.
Something slipped past his back, and then suddenly a person pressed on it as they stood in the dark room of the transport, all the seat taken. Kayeight let loose a trembling whirl of sound seeing the figure press against Cassian. The man had no idea who it was.
"You took your sweet time Andor," a harsh and Imperial feminine voice whispered into his ear, setting his hairs on end and making him tighten his grip around the holster of his pistol inside his coat. Whoever the woman was, he had a bad feeling about, and stood on edge, not wanting this mission to go sour. The thought and possibility of shooting his way back across the walk to the U-Wing did not sound nice.
Cassian's eyes widened and spiked as he held his pistol close, ready to whip it out and plug one round in the Imperial's back, hopefully before she could signal the Stormtroopers at the exits to the shuttle. They were one a one-way trip down to level thirteen-thirteen and that would take a while, being in a position such as this for that long had Cassian wanting to vomit. But it was mostly just the nerves, the intel had said that the meet would be anywhere from the shuttle to the ground. Perhaps she was the informant. But the intel had said nothing of sex or voice. It had Cassian alert.
"Don't do anything stupid and pull out that pistol, because you'll have these Stormies on you before you can put one in me, darling," the woman said some more, with a slightly seductive vigor in the inflection of her voice. It did nothing but creep him out.
"Who are you?" Cassian asked plain and simply, trying to dull his veteran instincts and relax his fingers, but he couldn't. Not until he got her name.
The woman took a small sip from a hip flask, or that was what it sounded like from Cassian's point of view, he had still not turned his head the whole way around to check what she looked like. To him, it was just a suspended voice that for all he knew could be the Governor of Lothal.
But she was not.
"First you give me your Rebel Intelligence Identification Code and Keyword so I can make sure I'm talking with the real Cassian Andor and not some fake from II," the woman demanded, seemingly pointing something sharp into the side of Cassian's pelvis. He could tell from the point it was a small vibroblade without even looking. He'd had plenty stuck at and in him before. But she was serious, and he suddenly relaxed a little.
Calming his grip and letting go he slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out his Rebel ID card and slid it down for her to take. "There's my card, and the Keyword is Chariot. Now tell me what in the Force is going on!"
"There's been a change of plans Captain Andor, we're not meeting on level thirteen-thirteen and it's going to be a little while longer before I can tell you exactly what is happening, but we have to be quick and get to my apartment," the woman told him, getting only mild louder as she took the blade away and gripped at her own pistol. She took up a stance and Kayeight made a small noise as she did, noticing how she looked like she was ready to attack the troopers near the entrances.
They hadn't left yet, the shuttle had not departed, but exiting now, especially for her would arouse suspicion, it was much easier to simply shoot her way out. Cassian, meanwhile, felt his stomach sink and turn queasy. He felt a shadow of change loom over himself and the woman at his back, and he suddenly knew what she was about to do.
His mission had changed, and he had suddenly been rused himself by whoever she was. Instead of him coming here, grabbing information and heading back to Yavin after the mission to Nar Shaddaa, he had suddenly been nabbed by the woman without even realizing it. She had him right where she needed him, and now she was about to take him with her and she stormed across the upper level and down to her house of her own ways. This was bad for Cassian, and he gave Kayeight a dreaded look as he heard a pistol being pulled from a holster. He had no choice but to pull out his own as he heard the troopers take notice.
"Hey, no weapons are allowed in transit, where did you two get those guns?"
"Karabast, she's the woman from the warrant alert. Juno Eclipse! Get your hands up!"
Cassian took a sharp swallow and gritted his teeth, cursing under his breath. "Oh, I have a bad feeling about this," he spat in his latin accent of the Outer Rim and then held his breath. Juno Eclipse, of course, it was her, he'd heard of her in Rebel Intelligence, even ran ops for her as an information handler from the field. But he'd never met her, until now.
And her cover had been blown. Which meant his cover had been blown. And now he had to shoot his way through Coruscant holding her hand. The worst excuse for a day and he was tired enough.
From the bridge of the main command building near that sector, Grand Admiral Thrawn could see the small amount of disturbance from the window. Seeing the skiffs carrying more and more Stormtroopers to the scene of the shuttle explosion around the corner. Unbeknownst to most of the other officers around the small command deck, Thrawn knew already who it was, at least one of them. He was a master of deducing things, of psychology and sociology, and he was a sociopath as well. Which made him the perfect tool to be groomed by Emperor Palpatine himself. How else was he the only alien member of the Admiralty of the Imperial Military? He was simply that good at what he did.
"Who the hell has caused that?" One man in a similar set of white tunic cloths called out as he looked past Thrawn out into the streets of Coruscant.
The blue alien Grand Admiral with the blood red eyes turned around, sipping his small cup of tea as was his evening ritual. Seeing the stark white Orson Krennic away from his posts at either Geonosis or Eadu was always a disappointment to Thrawn. Progress was stalling on his little project and the Chiss would sooner see it dismantled than completed. Even with Dr. Erso, it ran too many risks of failure and Thrawn hated failure.
"That, Director Krennic, would be Juno Eclipse," Thrawn slithered to Krennic, sipping his last sip of tea and setting the cup and saucer to the side. "She's been on the run since this morning when my Deathtroopers failed to apprehend her at the Academy," he informed the Director. A false title to Thrawn and one Orson had merely attained from his feeble position as head of his project. Thrawn looked down on him and had for years since his ascension to the Admiralty.
"That simply says plenty of your squads Grand Admiral."
"And what exactly brings you to Coruscant, Orson? Should you not be at Geonosis with your pet project? Or at Eadu with Dr. Erso?" Thrawn asked the Director, whose brow furrowed the more and more the Grand Admiral pressed him. Any minute the Chiss would bring up Governor Tarkin, and then Orson would lose his cool.
Thus Krennic retreated before facing any further questions from Thrawn, who turned back to the window and observing the small amount of chaos Juno was causing down below to get to her lodgings. Thrawn had been set with capturing her, since he was the one who found out about her guilt, about how she was a double agent. After his failure against Hera Syndulla, the capture of Juno Eclipse would be something to earn the good graces of the Emperor once again. Or at least of Lord Vader.
Almost ethereally, Thrawn moved over to the small communication console where an Ensign was diverting incoming and outgoing communications between police and troopers downstairs. Thrawn soon took over, grabbing her wrist and attention. "Please patch me into my Deathtrooper squad for me," he told the woman and she complied if anything a little chilled by his icy cold voice.
"Sir!" The head trooper came over the com, to which Thrawn smiled a little with elation.
"Commander, the ruckus outside is being caused by Juno Eclipse, no doubt with another Rebel Agent come in for extraction," the Chiss began, still smiling from his overconfidence. "Your orders are to search the surrounding area for the ship that agent came in, as well as set up a trap at Eclipse's apartment. And when she arrives," Thrawn told, looking out the window again and at the small confusion and rising smoke from the destroyed transport shuttle. She had laid out her hand in blowing it up and given Thrawn her exact location when he knew not where she went to ground. Telling him through that that she had the backup. Now he would spring a counter for her, and ensnare her and Cassian Andor in his creepy web. He merely had to wait for the Deathtroopers to go to work now.
"Shoot to kill Commander. Eclipse and her counterpart."
To Be Continued…
