Ch 4:

About what my hands and my body done…

It was about the time that Cassian Andor found himself in a small cell with a blind monk and his stoic sentinel that he decided that things on Jedha had not gone exactly according to plan. His cell mates were content to lurk in the corner, one of them chanting muffled prayers (I am one with the force). Not Cassian. He paced until he'd worn trenches in the dirt floor because he'd have traded them both for one small, mouthy brunette.

Every so often he'd stop and go to the bars to yell out, "Hey! Jyn Erso! Where is she?"

He mentally scolded himself. Hadn't he reminded himself already that he had to guard his heart from her? If she became his weakness, he could be taken advantage of…and here he was yelling it out for all to hear. Reckless, Andor. Stupid and reckless.

"You pray?" It was Chirrut's partner.

"Pray I can reach that control panel." Cassian said still eyeing the thing through the bars. It was going to be their way out as soon as he could find a way to reach it unnoticed.

Chirrut stopped chanting and fixed his cloudy eyes on Cassian, "It bothers him because he knows it's possible." The other man laughed and Chirrut continued, "Baze Malbus was once the most devoted Guardians of us all."

Cassian studied the two men, noting the proximity they maintained in relation to each other. "Now, he's just your guardian?" Cassian asked. Neither answered until Cassian continued, "Why did you save us?"

"Maybe we only saved her." Chirrut responded with a knowing smirk.

Cassian frowned, "I'm beginning to thing the the Force and I have different priorities."

"Oh, Captain, I think that is the opposite of truth." This time Baze also snorted what might have been a laugh. Cassian glowered and returned to the bars to listen for any signs of Jyn. He told himself it was professional concern. She was part of his crew for now and he ensured his crew's safety—not true, but the lie was almost convincing.

It was some while later when Cassian at last realized that there was an occupied cell beside theirs. The realization came in time for him to narrowly intercept Baze's attempt to kill their neighbor.

"Are you the pilot?" Cassian asked through the bars. He cringed at the sight of him—filthy and battered—his stomach clenched in worry that Jyn might be in a similar state by now. Professional concern. "Hey, hey—are you the pilot? The shuttle pilot?"

The man gave an indiscernible groan.

"What's wrong with him?" Chirrut asked.

After a bit more back and forth Cassian determined that he was in fact looking at Bodhi Rook and that Bodhi Rook was broken. How broken remained to be seen.

Jyn was vaguely aware of the ground rumbling beneath her feet…of the air coming to life with screams but she couldn't react to it. Her mind was flooded with memories of her father, the man she'd inked out of her thoughts so long ago.

Then, there were hands, insistent and gentle at the same time, pulling her up. A familiar voice shouting her name like a prayer, "Jyn! Jyn! Get up!"

She was vaguely aware of Saw somewhere in her orbit telling her to go, to let herself be rescued. Suddenly, fingers tilted her chin and there were brown eyes, round, intelligent and something else—pleading?

"Cassian." It was less that she was talking to him and more that her mind was identifying whose voice, whose hands, whose eyes.

Then, they were running, him practically dragging her. The last thing in her ears before the blast was Saw's yelled, "Save the rebellion! Save the dream!"

Then, they were on the U-wing and the sky was falling all around them. Survival instincts kicked in and she scrambled for a jumpseat to strap herself to as the ship pitched. She felt it when the ship made the jump, when they were out and safe and alive. The others exchanged haunted glances— three men, one whom she didn't know. She didn't know what each of them left behind in the ashes of Jedha, but she knew one thing. She'd just been orphaned…again.

Her mind struggled with the new information. Saw—surrogate father—was dead. Galen—biological father—was alive. Everything she thought she knew about Galen had been wrong. Unconsciously, her eyes found Cassian, and tracked him as he moved about the ship. First, he spoke into the comm, then he checked in with K2.

"Eadu." he said.

Her father was there, she knew it. Why else would they be going there? She asked Cassian as much and confirmed her theory which sparked recognition in the long haired pilot. Pilot, her mind worked to fit more pieces. Imperial pilot. He carried the message. Saw showed her the message. The message shattered everything.

"You're Galen's daughter?"

"Yes." She said, though she wasn't sure that was the right answer at all.

Bodhi talked to her for a minute about Galen and his urging Bodhi to do the right thing but his singing her father's praises fell flat in her ears. Her father was a bastard. Wasn't he? She thought of Saw shouting "Save the dream." This was in her hands now...and she needed to do it. If not for Galen, then for Saw.

Suddenly her voice was silencing them all. "We can beat the people who did this." All eyes turned to her. Chirrut. Base. Bohdi. Cassian. She got to her feet. "I've seen the message. They call it the Death Star—and there is a way to defeat it." She rounded on Cassian. She need him to understand. She trusted that he would. "You are wrong about my father. He's not working for the Empire."

"He built them a planet killer. If that's not working for them I don't—" Cassian was in Spy mode again, unreachable.

"He knew they would build it with or without him…but he also knew that if he was there, doing the work, he could find a way to destroy it. That's why he sent Bodhi."

"So, where is this message." Cassian was closer to her now, intimidatingly so.

"Where do you think." She tried not to look away from him, not to back down. "Everything happened so fast…"

He shook his head in exasperation and turned away.

Her fists clenched so hard she could feel her nails making half-moons in her skin, "You don't believe me? After everything…" He wouldn't turn. "Jeron." She spat, and he froze. She was aware of the others watching them, but she didn't care. She broke their unspoken agreement but she needed him on her side. She needed him to see. "I saw the message." She repeated.

"I believe you, for what it's worth." Said Chirrut.

Great so the blind monk could see…but Cassian couldn't. Her eyes pleaded with his but he didn't relent.

He said, "I'm not the one you have to convince." It was almost a whisper with that he turned to the cockpit. Jyn caught his arm, stopping him from walking away from the fight, while the others looked on in tense silence.

"My father said we can find the plans," Jyn said. "They are in a data vault on Scarif. Tell the alliance they have to go to Scarif to get the plans. Tell them."

He finally faced her. "I can't risk sending that. Even if it's true, we're in the heart of Imperial territory. If the message were intercepted…" he trailed off but Jyn understood. Then, his cold mask slipped. It was so fast, she might have blinked and missed it. He ghosted the back of his hand down her cheek and said, "We will find your father and bring him back to Yavin. He can tell the Alliance himself. If they believe him, then they will decide what to do. It's the best I can offer."

She had no response. She wasn't even sure she wanted to see her father. How could she face him? How could she admit what she'd become. The moment was shattered by K2 shouting from the cockpit, "Cassian, if you are done touching Jyn Erso's face, you are needed in here." Jyn ducked her head and went to sit with the others as Cassian huffed and retreated to his droid.

Bodhi was avoiding looking at her, he seemed almost embarrassed. Chirrut, who couldn't have seen anything between them, smiled at her and Baze watched, ever silent.

"Captain doesn't have very good social skills does he?"

"His best friend is a droid." She said by way of an answer.

Cassian sighed at the console. What had he done? He clearly hadn't followed his own advice…he'd let Jyn in and now his fate was in her hands. Her tiny but powerful hands. Truthfully, he did believe her. He believed that she'd seen the message and that the message had been Galen Erso describing a trap he'd laid in the Death Star.

He did not, however, believe Galen Erso. The most likely explanation was that this pilot, this message and this "trap" were all part of an elaborate scheme to draw the Alliance to their deaths. Galen had worked with Krennic and the others all his life. There was no way he wasn't compromised.

But Jyn was acting on blind faith and misplaced hope. She'd been an orphan all her life and suddenly—her father reemerged, playing the part of the martyr, and she had fallen for it —hard. She was too close to see it.

Cassian hadn't survived this long on hope and faith. He couldn't let himself believe it. Not yet. Not without proof. He thought of Draven's words on the tarmac, "There will be no extraction."

Cassian pondered this. He imagined a thousand ways Eadu could play out and there wasn't one in which he actually killed Galen Erso. He couldn't say the exact moment that killing Jyn's father had become off limits—but it had. So, he'd capture Erso. He'd bring him back to Yavin and leave him at the mercy of the Alliance. Draven would be angry but he'd get over it. Galen would still be in their possession one way or another…and if there was a chance, some small, small chance that Jyn was right about him. They'd find out.

Crashing a ship had not been on the itinerary and once again, just like Jedha, Cassian Andor got the feeling that things on Eadu had not gone according to plan. He barked out his orders to an unresponsive group.

Bodhi nodded slowly, Baze and Chirrut smiled secretly as if they found his grappling for some semblance of control amusing. As for Jyn, she watched him warily. The exhaustion had returned to her. She looked fragile now, not at all like the girl he'd seen level a battlefield in the Holy City. He wanted to take her in his arms and promise her that it would be alright, that Galen would leave Eadu alive (in chains) but alive…but he couldn't do that. Not in front of these strangers. Not yet.

"I'm coming with you." Jyn said following him to the ramp.

"No, you're not." He ignored the glare that followed. He slung his blaster strap over his shoulder and waved Bodhi to follow.

"He's my father, Cassian."

He rounded on her, "You are the messenger, we need you safe." I need you safe. "I can't do my job with you running around being your reckless self. We are just looking for now. We aren't ready to do anything. Stay here with Baze, Chirrut and K2. Protect the ship."

"The broken ship that is now "scrap" in your own words?" Jyn sulked away to pout in the corner. Pout and plot, he surmised. Cassian stepped close to Baze and Chirrut, and said, "Don't let her out of your sight." He hoped it was quiet enough that she hadn't heard.

Chirrut smiled again, which seemed to be the perpetual state of his face. "Tell her the truth and she won't argue with you nearly as much."

Cassian reeled back, brow furrowed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Baze laughed. "I like you people."