Hello there! Sorry this has taken so long for me to publish, but the story went in way I didn't expect. It will probably continue for a couple more chapters, that way it can get the ending it deserves.

I want to thank all the people who favorited, followed, and left reviews! It really encouraged me to continue writing. And in answer to Sonny J's question, fanfiction (at the moment) is my only outlet for all my geeky outpourings.

As always, I hope you enjoy this next installment, and leave reviews if you have any thoughts or comments. Thank you!

Chapter 2

Kay-too was not happy.

He had done everything Cassian asked him to. He made it to the ship in relative time meeting only little resistance, which was good, considering the amount of stormtroopers swarming the city, and he had delivered the schematics to Dravin at the rebel base. Yet, when the droid had asked permission to retrieve his master, they refused him.

"No." Was General Dravin's blunt reply.

"But the Captain-" Kay-too started, but he was cut short with a brief wave of a hand.

"Captain Andor knew what he was getting into when he joined the Alliance, and I can't afford to send another ship to Corellia at the moment. The planet is in an uproar." And Dravin turned to talk to another operative, leaving Kay-too no opportunity to say anything else.

Kay-too could understand the man's reasoning, but it didn't mean he had to like it. The droid had patiently explained to them the state he left Cassian in, and the questionable woman, Mira Ortooga, who he had left the Captain in care of. They merely offered the droid a kind smile, lost on a non-organic being, and told him the matter was out of their hands at the moment. If it wasn't hardwired into his component matrix, or if he was an organic, Kay-too would've disobeyed their orders and gone straight back.

But it was hardwired into him, and he wasn't an organic, so Kay-too did what droids do best. He waited.

He kept near the hanger, on the edge of the tarmac so he could keep an eye on both land and sky. To pass the time, Kay-too came up with probabilities with what might happen to Cassian.

The most likely one, it had an eighty-six percent chance, was stormtroopers would assault the safe house, effectively taking Cassian and Mira hostage. Then they would be tortured, and then they would die.

The second probability, a forty-three percent chance, was Cassian wouldn't get the proper medical attention he needed and would die in a matter of days. He preferred not to contemplate on either option too much.

Another one, with only a seven percent chance, had Mira as an Imperial Spy, with Kay-too making a terrible mistake leaving Cassian with her. It also left the option for revenge, something the droid wasn't necessarily programed for, but one he would gladly fulfill. He kept contemplating it, coming up with different scenarios on how Mira would pay for her crimes.

Kay-too was still in the process of one calculation when an officer walked up to him and awkwardly cleared his throat.

"Kay-too Es-oh? He asked, peering up to the droid's head.

"Yes." Kay replied.

"Captain Andor's droid?" The officer further elaborated.

He was stalling, Kay-too determined as much. There was only one person in the entire Rebel base with a reprogrammed Imperial droid. "Yes."

"I thought I should tell you, the Empire has placed a blockade around Corellia. Apparently, the rebels there really did a number on them. We won't be able to send any ships to retrieve Captain Andor."

Kay-too merely nodded. He had seen the rebels fighting on Corellia, and he didn't think they posed much of a threat. He figured the Empire wanted to keep one of it's largest assets safe and simultaneously send a message. Corellia was the one of the major shipyards all the Imperial Fleet came from, and if they broke away from the Empire, others might follow.

The officer was still looking at him, waiting for a reply, so Kay-too gave him one. "Very well."

The man looked surprised. Apparently, he had expected more of an outburst, one you might assume from an Imperial Droid.

If Kay-too could sigh, he would've done it. He constantly found his expectations for organics slowly descending into near impossible levels. Most of the rebels at the base walked around him on cushions, like he was some sort of bomb about to go off. Which, he supposed, was only to be expected. After all, he was once their enemy.

Cassian was something of an exception. He wasn't like anyone on base. As far as friends went, he had none, at least none that met the requirements in Kay's database. Family? Dead. And he processed things differently than other humans; more logical, more statistical, more…droid-like, Kay thought with a tilt of his head.

Besides, he was his master, and Kay-too was entitled to the opinion Cassian was the better specimen of the human race.

Thankfully, the officer left without any further comment, and Kay-too was left alone once again. With the new information provided him, the droid re-examined his statistics, finding the percentages marginally higher. But for all his highly sophisticated programming, no statistics he could come up with would help Cassian.

As time moved on, the shadows grew along the wall, and Kay-too remained at his post. Soon, the shadows faded away altogether, replaced by the harsh blue glow of synthetic lights. The droid briefly contemplated whether he should shut down and decided against it. He wasn't in the way, and no one but Cassian gave him orders. He would remain.

Dawn shown hours later, the sky a brilliant display of soft yellows and blues pushing away the dark night sky. The base slowly started to wake, the hanger soon filling with pilots and servicemen starting their daily duties. A few cast sidelong glances at the droid, but left him alone.

Expect for General Dravin, who strode towards Kay-too with a heavy scowl etched across his face. He stopped a few feet in front of the droid.

"The girl, Mira Ortooga, is on the transmission. She won't speak to anyone but you."

That was not a probability Kay-too had come up with.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Cassian woke up with a low moan, feeling stiff and sore. He blinked, trying to adjust his vision to the dim room, but there wasn't much to see. The room was bare, only a few pieces of trash bunched up in the corners. Hushed voices came from beyond his line of sight, and Cassian turned his neck to listen.

"We have to keep pushing forward." A gruff voice spoke. "We've come too far to back down now."

"And risk losing everything in the process? It's not worth it." The second voice sounded older.

The man's next words sounded strained. "It would be better to die trying than hide like cowards."

"And then what? Haunt the Emperor as ghosts? You're a good soldier, Cal, but you can't see anything past your own glorious death. What future will there be for the Insurrection?"

Cassian didn't have to see the scowl to know one was there. "What will you have me do, Lars? Like you said, I'm a soldier. I don't do sitting down."

Whatever Lars was going to say next was lost as a face suddenly loomed over Cassian, a gruesome smile stretching across a burnt face. He shouldn't have been surprised, but in the uncertain light Mira's face appeared more ominous than before. Or it could be it always looked that way. He was half conscious when they first met after all.

"Welcome to the land of the living."

Cassian offered a faint smile. "Good to be back."

She moved down to check on his bandages. "You were unconscious for quite a while, even after the blood transfusion. I wasn't sure if you would wake up."

Cassian frowned. "You sound like my droid. How long was I out?'"

"Eight hours."

Eight hours. His mind was a whirlwind of different scenarios of what could've transpired during that time, but only one really concerned him.

He tried to lift himself up. "Is Kay-"

Mira silenced him with a glare and pushed him down with a nod. "Gone. Soon after you konked out."

Cassian sighed and leaned his head back down. "Good, I was afraid he wouldn't listen."

Mira smiled, but it was so fleeting a movement he wasn't sure if he saw it or not, as it then took on what seemed to be her usual frown. "They'll want to question you."

Cassian didn't question who 'they' were. He had heard something of a rebel cell starting on Correlia, although this was the first he's heard it been given name, the Insurrection. He also knew that all initial contact with them had been unsuccessful, which could mean one of two things; they had no interest in the larger struggle against the Empire, or they were too radical even for the Alliance.

"I wouldn't tell them about the droid." Mira spoke under her breath.

Cassian was about to press her for more answers, but the footfalls of Lars and Cal approached and the two men came into his line of sight.

The younger of the pair Cassian assumed was Cal. Forty-ish and a buzz cut to boot, his face was hard with two pale lines running from his cheek down to his throat. His clothes were covered rubble, and he had a KX-80 repeating rifle slung across his back. He stopped by Mira and crossed his arms.

Lars walked with a slight limp and smiled at Cassian. "I see our guest is awake."

His face was pleasant enough, but his eyes told a different story. They were a cold, clear blue and spoke of a fierceness that seemed to transmit to every fiber of his body. Cassian had seen men like him before, not every encounter ending well.

Lars was still smiling. "Captain Andor, is it?"

He nodded. "Yes."

Lars motioned to Mira, who turned and brought a stool over to him. The older man sat down with a grateful sigh and leaned a palm against his right knee. He tapped the other one.

"Sometimes it bothers me. Old wounds never seem to heal right."

Cassian only nodded again.

Lars let the silence drag on before continuing, a tactic Cassian would sometimes use himself. Make your target uncomfortable, unsure where the interrogation would go. Or, he thought, it could be he was just being paranoid, but in his line of work it was better to take everything in perspective.

Lars sighed and slapped his knee. "I don't believe in wasting time beating around the bush, so I'll get right to it. Mira says you're a rebel spy. Care to tell us exactly what you were doing here?"

Spying, Cassian almost retorted. Instead he said, "What every good operative does; gather information."

Lars leaned forward in his seat, something dark flashing across his eyes. "Alone, I hope?"

Every good lie has some truth, and Cassian had been doing it long enough to become a master. "No. I had a droid."

He could see Mira tense, but other than that, she showed no visible sign she was concerned.

"I see." Lars stroked his steel beard. "And this droid is-"

"Gone." Cassian interrupted, then elaborated. "He was destroyed in the crossfires. All what's left is a heaping ruin of metal and circuits."

"How unfortunate." Cal's rough voice cut in.

Cassian turned to face him with a frown. "Yes, it was. He was a valuable droid."

"Cal." Lars tapped the man's arm. "Could you give me an update on our forces?"

Cal looked like he was about to argue, but instead thought better of it and gave a sharp nod. He slipped out the door, the light outside illuminating the room for a second before being drawn back in shadows. The sudden burst of light sent jabs of pain through Cassian's head, and he closed his eyes with a wince.

"My apologies. I had forgotten you are only just recovering from your injuries. A few more questions and I will leave you to rest." Lars sounded sincere, and Cassian didn't doubt he was. He grunted, hoping it relayed clearly enough he would continue.

Obviously, it did, as the older man leaned forward and spoke his next words in a hushed tone. "Where were you gathering your information? The Academy? The shipyard?"

Cassian briefly considered whether or not he should divulge the information with Lars. Whatever the older man wanted from him, Lars didn't trust Cal enough to bring it up when he was around. Mira, on the other hand, had no such restrictions. She must have some special sort of connection with Lars, Cassian thought. Daughter, sister- it was impossible to tell with her disfigurement.

Cassian came to a decision. His mission was already all but finished, if Kay-too made it back to base in one piece. Sharing where he was wouldn't endanger the outcome. And besides, he thought grimly, he couldn't really refuse in his position.

"The factory." Cassian answered, ninety-nine percent sure that was the truth. He was only just regaining the memories eluding him after the crash, and the factory made the most sense.

Lars blue eyes sparked. "While you were there, did you come across anything under the name of 'Black Star?'"

Cassian frowned, running and cross-referencing the name through memory and coming up with nothing.

"No." He answered. "What is it?"

Lars scowled darkly and moved away. "None of your concern.

I'll leave you now, Captain."

The man stood from his seat and nodded to Mira. Cassian closed his eyes at the second dose of light, and winced as something pricked his arm.

"What was that?"

Mira held up an empty syringe. "A sedative. For the pain, and the slight temperature you're running. After all the trouble I went to keeping you alive, I would hate for you to die on me now."

He could already feel the drug start to work, as any notion of pain slipped to the farthest reaches of his mind and the world around him took a warm glow. It's all just an illusion, Cassian told himself, the sense of comfort only dulled his senses. He was still in the middle of a war zone, confirmed by the distant booms of Imperial cannons, and it wouldn't do to have his mind as weakened as his body. So instead he focused on his pain, the hard metal table he was on, the dull throb of cauterized wound on his abdomen.

Cassian turned his head to Mira. "Why didn't you want me to tell them about Kay-too?"

She frowned as she put away the medical supplies. "A precaution. They might've been less likely to trust you. These are dangerous times, and Cal has been on edge ever since the last incident."

Cassian blinked away the haze creeping along the edge of his vision. "And Black Star? Do you know what it is?"

"No, but I wish I did." Mira's voice was strained. "Lars has been fixated on it for months. Whatever it is, it's big."

"Does Cal know about it?"

Mira squinted her dark eyes at him. "Why ask? You know what, never mind. No more questions about Black Star. I can't tell you what I don't know."

Cassian sighed and closed his eyes. "Fine, then lets talk about something else. How did you get caught up in the Insurrection?"

Mira smirked. "So you were listening to them."

Cassian smiled back. "Of course I was. Are you going to answer the question?"

She leaned back, the smile slipping from her lips. "It's a long story."

"I'm not going anywhere."

Mira's lips twitched upwards. "No, I guess not."

Her face fell and she looked at the wall beyond Cassian, her eyes a distant glaze. When she glanced at him again, they were filled with something else, something he was altogether too familiar with; hurt.

"I used to work at the shipyard, inspecting the vessels and their cargo. It was pretty simple; I would catch a couple of smugglers, send a few honest travelers on their way. Same as it's always been. Until some Imperial officers come to me and have me start arresting people. I didn't ask questions, it wasn't my job to. But that all changed when they had me pick up a family. They had a boy, couldn't have been older than four." Mira paused, and twirled a loose thread from her shirt. When she continued, her voice was soft. "They killed his parents, said they were traitors and conspirators, and left their son to die on the streets. And I couldn't do anything about it."

She looked at him, a fire growing in her eyes, and the gruesome smile returned. "So then I did the one thing I could: I fought back. Small things here and there, but then I got ambitious, decided to blow up the shipyard."

"Did you?" Cassian asked when she didn't continue.

Mira chuckled. "I tried. It backfired on me, and blew off half my face in the process. That's when Lars found me, half dead in the wreckage. He saved my life, and gave a name to my cause. Our cause."

"The Insurrection." Cassian added softly.

Mira nodded. She stood there for a while, nothing more spoken between them. Then she left his line of sight and returned shortly with a blanket. She draped the black cloth over Cassian and glanced at his eyes briefly before dropping them to the floor.

"It gets cold." Mira said, and shrugged a shoulder. "Thought you might need it."

A corner of his mouth lifted and he nodded. "Thank you."

Mira smiled, a genuine one that reached up to her eyes. "You're welcome."

Her eyes flicked to the side and she brought a hand up to her ear, listening in on her com-link. She nodded. "On my way."

Mira glanced at Cassian with an apologetic shrug. "Duty calls. I won't be long."

She didn't wait for him to make any comment before she slipped out the door. He heard the magnetic click of the lock, then the soft tread of her boots leading away.

Cassian closed his eyes with a sigh. He wasn't quite sure what to make of his 'hosts,' or even what exactly he was mixed up in. The Insurrection, by all appearances, was in the midst of a power play, with him caught in-between.

But he was so tried, he couldn't think everything through properly. He needed to find a way to get off the planet, he knew already he couldn't count on Dravin to allow Kay to come back for him. But how, in his weakened state, and his mind all in a fog, was the real question.

Cassian wanted to trust Mira, felt he could, but if all the years spent in Rebel Intelligence have taught him anything, it was this: trust no one.

After a while, he allowed himself to drift into an uneasy sleep, he wasn't quite sure for how long.

The sudden bang of the door jolted him awake, and he turned his head to see Mira and several others rush in. Dust clung to them like parasites, and one particular young trooper's eyes bulged. Even with the rubble covering him, he looked green.

"What happened?" Cassian asked, glancing at each member.

Mira's lips were in a firm line, and she looked about ready to murder someone. "They're coming."