Shorter chapters, yeah right ;) Well, the next one *will* be de facto shorter, and I *will* put it up sooner (it helps that my clean-shaven-Diego lookalike boss is away until next Friday) - or else at this rate I will be posting well into April!

And let me say thank you, once again, to all the readers who follow and comment. Without the option of in-line comments on FFnet, I feel bad about not always replying, but I *am* always grateful.

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"Didn't we just leave this party?"

Her muttered quip is met with confused head-tilts from both her companions, and seeing this, she has to explain. "This is exactly how he met us when we were last here." Almost four years ago. "I forgot that neither of you were conscious to see it back then."

Except that back then, Nawara took his sweet time showing up in a sort of dramatic flourish that made her pretty nervous. And he had not two but four Devaronians accompanying him.

"Well, he doesn't seem hostile," K ventures next to her.

"He isn't," Jyn assures him. She is pretty certain of that; but whether he will be inclined to grant favours is another matter.

Still, there is only one way to find out.

"Come on, boys," she prompts them, getting up from her seat. "Time to turn on the charm."

x x x

"Welcome back."

Nawara's quick affirmative response to their yesterday's message asking for a meeting was reassuring enough, but seeing him face-to-face helps dispel any residual doubts any of them may have. His eyes are bright, and he greets them with a sharp-toothed grin. "It's been a long time."

"Seeing you now, I could swear it was yesterday."

Her words are only part flattery; he may look a fraction of a shade less grey and more pink since she last saw him nearly four years ago, but nothing else in Nawara's appearance betrays advancing age.

"Captain Rook, a pleasure to see you again."

Cassian is too good at undercover work to have shown the slightest hint of confusion at being addressed by a name he has no claim to; he probably ran through their old adventure in his mind as they approached and recalled how exactly Nawara would be addressing him based on their previous meeting; but Jyn, despite remembering that she is still Liana as far as Nawara is concerned, has to consciously erase any trace of surprise from her expression.

"I assure you, the pleasure is mutual." He remembers the formal tone, too; but then, the many weeks he has spent on diplomatic missions have given him plenty of practice.

"You look familiar…" This is addressed to K standing next to them. "Or should I say, your body does." This is accompanied by another grin. "I am pleased to meet your… person."

"You know you owe this body to Nawara, K," Jyn reminds him, though K probably remembers it as well as she does.

"I daresay you rather owe it to Liana," Nawara corrects her, "who was very concerned about restoring you to your usual self after you found yourself temporarily… transplanted."

"I am grateful to you both." Nice of K to be playing along with the good manners.

"Shall we?" Nawara gestures to the hangar exit. "Unless there is anything else you want to take from the ship." Besides the compact crate with their personal belongings that K is carrying, that is.

She wonders for a moment if they should bring along the rigged repulsorlift pallet, but figures that it can wait until later. Should wait until later, in fact; Nawara may be friendly but that in itself does not guarantee that he will be eager to jump headlong into a risky plan with them. For that same reason, they are both wearing civilian dress rather than anything suggesting their Alliance affiliation.

"No, we're all set for now." If he noticed the for now, he shows no sign of it. "Let me lock down the ship and we're ready to go."

x x x

It may have been four years or thereabouts, but it does, in fact, seem as if they just left this place. Despite its crazy short days, life on Dorvalla seems to glide along at a glacial pace; the city and its lush mountainous environs look every bit the same as she recalls last seeing them. It is reassuring, and nostalgic, and makes her half wish they could settle there for real one day… if the war ever ended. The twelve-hour days would be a pain to get used to, but she has missed this kind of natural surroundings ever since they had to leave Yavin.

Not surprisingly, the full-length holo that greets them in the foyer at Nawara's quarters is a new one; Jyn figures they probably get changed every few days. Seeing this one brings a smile to her face that has little to do with the need to be nice to their host; the three women in the holo look so happy that the mood is downright infectious, not to mention…

"They look like three sisters," she exclaims, unable to keep the surprise out of her voice. She could not even immediately tell which one is Shani and which two are her daughters.

"Don't they," Nawara agrees; she notices that he is grinning, too. "This is from last week when Ayla and her family came visiting from Pantolomin. Talene and her husband live with us now, you know." Jyn cannot quite remember which of the two is the elder daughter; both of them are around Jyn's age in standard years, so must be in their mid-twenties. "They have a house just north of here but we see each other almost daily. They would have joined us tonight but they are taking the children to a lights show just north along the valley."

"Is Shani with them?" Jyn asks. Shani usually keeps a distance from Nawara's dealings, but knowing their by now nearly-ten-year acquaintance, Jyn was half expecting the other woman to stop by to greet them.

"She is offplanet," Nawara explains. "She went to Nar Shaddaa three days ago as she heard there was a new merchant house there selling a particularly fine grade of vine silk. She said she would be back… by now," he says after a brief pause to do the mental calculation, "but when we talked earlier today she said she was still looking through the fabrics. I hope she does not end up needing a bigger ship."

Jyn tries not to grin too broadly; Shani is true to herself as always. "Maybe she could become their trade representative here," she suggests. The local climate is mild enough so that such garments are not entirely impractical.

"So long as she gets her own accountants," Nawara says, and Jyn almost positive she can detect a hint of a grumble amid the purring tones. "I have enough trouble finding them for myself so she'd better not poach any of mine."

"Is your Selonian financial advisor still with you?" Jyn ventures.

"She is, and upon my request she has persuaded half of her family to move here to work for me, but we are still short of people who are good at counting money." Strangely, he does not sound happy saying it; unless Jyn is missing something, needing more beings to count money should be a good sign.

"Business must be going well," she says, if a bit cautiously.

"Oh, it is," Nawara assures her. "It is that the nature of the business has… changed since you two and your companion were here last." By now they are in the spacious sitting area, seated around the table on the dais waiting for the 3PO, who fortunately stays silent, to finish bringing in their dinner. K, who would not be able to make much use of it, asked if he could take a walk around instead; perhaps seeing Jyn's and Cassian's mild concern at the idea of K venturing around entirely on his own, Nawara successfully tempted him into a more sedate pursuit by the offer of an oil bath.

"You see, the… scheme we managed to put in action when you last visited has borne rather unexpected fruit," he starts, his tone a mix of amusement and mild annoyance. "As it happened, when the First Imperial Bank data vault was destroyed, the Empire sent a team of financial data analysts here to look through the backup data storage records and, I suppose, recreate what they could of its recent operations based on those. What they discovered, and what I had not quite realized before, seeing how I had a number of specific transactions as my goal, was that the bank had been resorting to rather… questionable practices on a regular basis."

"But you were still able to funnel away the money?"

"Oh yes, that went through just fine. But the data recovery effort showed that their traders had been engaging in large-scale short-sell transactions involving volatile stocks and unfunded call options and the like. Had been placing risky uncovered bets, that is," Nawara explains for their benefit, seeing how they both are looking confused by the terminology. "At the end of their exercise, the team concluded that the bank was technically insolvent, and that the best option was to close it down."

"Correct me if I am wrong," Cassian ventures, "but at first glance, it does not necessarily seem a bad thing."

"It isn't," Nawara agrees before correcting himself. "Or rather it wouldn't be, if only the local minister of commerce had not talked me into setting up its replacement."

"You?!" Jyn exclaims. She might see Nawara in a lot of roles ranging from brash smuggler to bona fide industrial tycoon, but a banker is not one of them.

"Indeed." His voice and his expression both seem to say I didn't expect it either. Then again, she now understands where his knowledge of finance terminology and his need for accountants both come from. "Not that I agreed at once. But it came down to a choice between the Empire setting up another bank, or me and a group of like-minded local businessmen setting up an independent one and running it more or less as we saw fit; and we decided that this way, it could at least be of some use to us and to the general populace. The only problem was that they all thought I was the best qualified among them to run it."

"What about Starfire and your… mining operation?" she prompts, remembering his de-humidifier and climate control equipment import business that served as a front for the mining outfit, itself the basis for the ryll synthesis and smuggling that was the original source of his wealth.

"Both are still in business," Nawara assures her, "though the Independent Dorvalla Bank is now my largest official occupation." The ryll production still being the largest unofficial one, presumably. "Not only is it profitable, but it has been really growing," he adds, this time with an unmistakable undertone of pride, despite his outward annoyance at his newfound calling as a financier.

"We even extend financing offworld for reputable traders and inter-planetary concerns that are not too close to the Empire." Jyn is pleased with his apparent reluctance to deal with those with close Imperial ties; if anything it bodes well for their mission. "But it also means that I constantly have to look for qualified staff. I do not suppose you happen to know any bankers you could recommend?" His glowing eyes travel between Jyn and Cassian, but both shake their heads ruefully for an answer. The Alliance may have a small team of accountants, but they are not exactly a financial operation… even if they could spare the people.

There is silence for a second, and when Nawara next speaks he has apparently decided to change tack in favour of what, for him, passes for a direct inquiry.

"And I suppose it would be too much to hope for that the two of you decided to take me up on my offer of work".

It is really them who want to offer him work, Jyn figures, but she has to not only match Nawara's circumspect ceremonious tone, but also package the request nicely enough to maximize their chance of success.

"I regret to say that we are still… rather busy with our current employment. But we were wondering if we might take the liberty to ask you for a favour."

On the plus side, he seems neither alarmed nor annoyed. "Based on where things stood the last time you were here, I would say it is I who still owes you a favour, Liana, that you can claim at your convenience".

Wait until you hear what it is, she thinks; you might not be so eager then.

"There is something I must ask you first," she ventures, hoping that he does not take offence at her question. When Nawara inclines his head in silence, she continues, "How confident are you that there is no way someone might eavesdrop on us?"

Nawara does not seem in the least ruffled by the question; coming to think of it, she is probably far from the first of his would-be business partners to ask it. "I have a thorough sweep done twice a day, first thing in the morning and right after the mid-day break. The only listening devices here…" he starts, then motions his hand to the 3PO hovering in the distance, who obediently shuffles over, only for Nawara to reach over and flip the switch at the base of his head, shutting him down. "…are the twin microphones in this one's head. I am quite certain of his loyalty, but it never hurts to take precautions."

"In that case," Jyn begins as she sits up, "I have a confession to make. Well, both of us have," she adds, tipping her head at Cassian. "Up to this day you have known me as Liana Hallik, an independent operator. My real name is Jyn Andor, and for the past four years I have been part of the Rebel Alliance."

Nawara's eyes glow brighter for an instant, but he shows no other outward sign of surprise.

"And my name is not Captain Rook but Colonel Andor," Cassian joins in, "and if Jyn does not take it against me, I was the one who brought her in. But the name is still Cassian."

Her response is a chuckle; Cassian may not have been the one to have brought her in in person – that questionable honour, along with a nasty blow with a spade, fell to Lieutenant Melshi – but the decision had been his and Draven's.

Interestingly, Nawara looks like he could be chuckling, too. For all she can tell, he looks amused to have been tricked by them last time… assuming that he was tricked, of course.

"It is still a pleasure to know you both," he says after the tiniest pause. "I knew something was going on with you two. Besides the obvious, even though you were not yet married."

"It took us two more days to get to that point," Cassian says, and all three of them end up grinning.

"I take it you are not just a pilot, Colonel," Nawara ventures with a sly look at Cassian. "Let me guess. Alliance Intelligence?"

Cassian laughs and shakes his head. "She is," he explains, tipping his head at Jyn. "I was for many years, but not anymore. Strategy and Special Missions."

"Ah." Nawara's eyes narrow for a second; it is hard to say which of them is more amused with this, Cassian over the two of them having convincingly tricked Nawara up to now or Nawara over having been tricked. "Well, as you know, I may not be a vocal supporter of your cause, but I do like your side a lot better than the others," Nawara continues. "So if there is something I can help you with, I am willing to consider it."

This is about as much as they could hope for, but Jyn is also well aware of the unusual, to say the least, nature of their request. "And let me assure you, we do not expect you to take it on unless you are convinced that you are prepared to do so."

Nawara inclines his head. "What do you have in mind?"

"We wanted to ask you if you could be an ambassador," Cassian begins.

"Who would I represent… and where?" Nawara's tone is half caution, half curiosity.

"You would be seen as representing Ryloth." Cassian is careful to put the emphasis on seen. "On Coruscant."

The subtle flash in Nawara's eyes tells Jyn that he is intrigued, but not so much as to forget practicality.

"That would be difficult to keep up," he ponders aloud, "I may be able to convince them initially, but after two or three weeks, the chances of me being found out will be significantly higher."

"We would only ask you to stay there for one or two weeks, not more," Jyn assures him. "The nature of our request has more to do with the fact of you travelling there than with the length of your stay."

It does not take long for Nawara to catch on to her meaning. "You want me to… bring something in." As in, smuggle something in; the meaning of his mid-sentence pause is crystal clear.

"Exactly." After all, it was Jyn who once fabricated diplomatic credentials for one of Nawara's ships to help him avoid an Imperial inspection.

"There may be additional benefits to your visit that we may reap while you are there, but bringing in the object we need without an Imperial scan is the most important aspect," Cassian adds. "This kind of provisional contact meeting usually lasts from one to two weeks, and as soon as your official agenda is concluded, we are very much hoping you shall be able to leave before the Empire starts suspecting anything."

"There may be additional benefits for me, too," Nawara purrs, narrowing his eyes. "With any luck I may come across a banker or two who might be ambivalent enough about their political allegiance and good enough at derivatives trading. Not that I am overly hopeful, but I am willing to take my chances. Besides," he adds after a pause, "your request has come at an opportune moment, as it were, in that recent events have given me an excellent fellow clansman as an ambassador candidate who I could impersonate."

"I found out last week that my elder brother Firith," he explains, "has just gone to a backwater desert place called Tatooine on the lure of a promising job. There is a renegade Twi'lek who lives there in the employ of a Hutt gangster, and he promised Firith a lucrative role as another of the Hutt's lieutenants; and the old fool is too greedy not to have accepted." His shoulders move slightly, somewhere between a shrug and a sigh. "Whatever his future fate, for now Firith is conveniently out of sight, and he is prominent enough to make a credible ambassador. And of course I know him well enough to fool the Imperials into believing I am him."

"Sounds perfect," Jyn remarks.

"And since the Empire practically stole my son-in-law's business on Kalarba, forcing him and Talene to move here, I have just the right trustworthy deputy who can keep an eye on affairs in the meantime." So that is why his daughter is based on Dorvalla now; Jyn is sorry for their predicament but cannot help thinking how it must have worked in their favor in more ways than one.

"My only reciprocal request to you," Nawara concludes, "would be to go along with me, as it were, in keeping Shani out of it. I will tell her I am going to the Core Worlds to look for banker candidates, which will be quite close to the truth, and I hope that my ostensible reason will be boring enough to dissuade her from wanting to come along. So if she should happen to come back while you are here, or somehow contact you in the meantime or mention it afterwards, I would be grateful if you could corroborate that story."

"Of course," Jyn jumps in.

"We assure you we have no wish to put her, or anyone else from your family, or you yourself, in danger," Cassian adds.

Nawara's response looks suspiciously like a grin, though he looks to be fighting to suppress it.

"It is not the danger I'm worried about… or rather it's not the danger," he replies cryptically before explaining. "The greatest danger I can see is that if she finds out she will insist on coming along to Coruscant, and knowing her love of grand venues and fancy events and the like, she will want to make it a permanent appointment, as it were." It is Jyn's turn to hide a grin. "Not to mention the money she will be sure to spend on dresses," he finishes under his breath.

"Rest assured, the secret is safe with us," Cassian answers while Jyn is busy snickering. "We're both spies, after all."

x x x

"What do you think?"

She has been busy ogling the place and so is caught unawares by Cassian's question, if only slightly. They landed on Berchest the night before, after leaving the rigged pallet with Nawara, together with one of the tweaked datapads whose secret features they explained to him, producing the required fake papers for him using templates they had brought, creating a fake ship manifest that showed him departing from Ryloth in a month's time, and generally agreeing on the key details on their plan. Now, a six-hour hyperspace jump and a planetside night later, they have finally ventured into Berchest's one-time top tourist attraction, Calius aka the City of Glowing Crystal, the entire settlement sculpted out of a startling orange-red semi-translucent mass created by accumulated sea spray.

"It's… well, it's kind of… sparkly." It is, in fact, and while the holos she checked out in advance prepared her for the bright colour and grand scale of the spectacle, the sparkle was not apparent and is news to her. Still, there is an odd familiar feel about Calius. "For some reason it reminds me of Jedha City." There are several reasons, in fact: the bustle of intermingling species, the absence of large repulsorlift vehicles on narrow city streets, the strange aromas of at least a dozen cuisines. Except for one big difference. "Without the temple, that is." No, except for two big differences. "And with a much lighter Imperial footprint."

"Let's hope they won't blow this one up," Cassian mutters next to her.

She is about to object by saying that, to the best of their knowledge, the weapon capable of blowing it up was destroyed four years ago, but hits enough of an uncomfortable mental snag at the to the best of their knowledge part to give her pause. "You could say that again," she mutters back instead.

x x x

They take their time walking around the city, trying the strange food, trading comments; both of them are aware that even though technically speaking, their trip out of here in just under a week's time will be on a commercial transport, from the moment they board it they must be careful to stick to their cover identities, certainly in public and possibly even in private if a bug sweep of their quarters makes it necessary; and so these days are their last chance on this mission to really be themselves.

They agreed that they would sleep on board their ship, despite booking into a local hotel for their cover story's sake, explore the city for a few hours during the daytime, and spend the evenings studying their respective briefing files. A quick scroll through her brief on the way to Berchest left Jyn with a strange sensation seeping through the dry population statistics and matter-of-fact descriptions of the planet's surface structure; for the first time in 22 years she is about to visit her birthplace, but all she can recall of it are scattered snapshots and faded flashbacks that have more to do with her parents and the place they called home than with the greater city or planet beyond. Understandable considering she was a small child back then, but not quite helpful.

…then again, seeing how she will be impersonating an army wife from a simple background who grew up in the Corellian backwater and so is supposed to be in awe of Coruscant's grandeur and attractions, her lack of clear memories of it might be a blessing in disguise.

x x x

"We'll be in touch as soon as we get a secure channel."

She can tell that Cassian is trying to make his voice sound soothing. It does not take advanced observation skills to tell that K is not happy at the prospect of staying behind on board the freighter while they venture into the Empire's dark heart, even if he too can see the logic. His face may lack the capacity to mimic human expressions, but his mopey voice more than makes up for it.

"And as soon as we're done we'll get in touch with you to agree on our rendezvous spot," Jyn jumps in, hoping that it does not prompt K to say what they all know, that this eventuality has a less than 100% probability attached to it.

K wisely says nothing on this count, but instead takes a final valiant shot at what he must know is a rather hopeless goal. "Are you certain there is no pretext you could use to bring me along?"

All Jyn can do at this is give him a sideways hug, even if her arms only reach to his waist; even Cassian pats his arm as he delivers the verdict. "We would if we could. Believe me, there are probably half a dozen K-2SOs on all of Coruscant." Seeing how K looks poised to jump on this, presumably to ask why that number cannot become half a dozen and one, Cassian adds, seemingly offhand: "Unless you count the ones shipped in to be taken to the smelter recyclers."

This looks to have done the trick; instead of arguing, K just sighs. "Take care, you two."

"And you," Jyn replies. "Hope we still find you in the same body next time we see you."

At least he has a chance of switching bodies, or more broadly, places to store his person, in case of pressing need. She almost wishes the two of them had the same trick up their sleeves as a backup option.

But unlike K, in that case they might no longer be entirely themselves anymore.

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TBC

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Firith Olan is an EU character, and his EU-canon fate on Tatooine ultimately leaves much to be desired. You might recall the strange inhabitants of Jabba's palace including weird spider-like contraptions carrying brains in large glass jars. As the respective story has it, Jabba's scheming Twi'lek majordomo, Bib Fortuna, at one point found himself separated from his body with his brain surviving in just that sort of jar; he ultimately got out of it, as it were, by swapping places with Firith, who (or rather, whose unlucky brain) had to take his place :(

And by way of minor errata corrige, Berchest (and specifically Calius) appears in The Last Command rather than Dark Force Rising; still, same trilogy :)

And by way of a mini-public service announcement for anyone who may want to see more of amazing Donnie Yen (aka Chirrut Imwe) kicking ass, you may wish to take a look at the latest Vin Diesel flick, XXX: the return of Xander Cage. I admit it is a silly film, but it *is* fun and Donnie is great in it.