Chapter 8: The Moral High Ground Wars
"Some of the plans I pulled off the computer system are designs for modified crop dusters." Jyn finally breaks the silence. "Custom aerosol canisters for dispersed drops. High altitude. They have to be customized; most chemical drop operations are done at low altitudes for better control of where everything ends up."
"That paints a pretty clear picture." Hilton comments coolly.
Bohdi is shaking his head. "This is a whole new level of moral bankruptcy. I know that they've done some awful things, but no one has resorted to biological warfare in nearly 3000 years."
"They have a planet killer. They have plans for aerosol dispensers. They have a factory receiving shipments of a custom made virus. It takes no great leap of logic to understand what we are dealing with." Cassian looks at each face, appraising their reactions. Only Hilton looks back at him. "We have to destroy that factory."
"We'd endanger the whole planet." Ellie disagrees. "You said yourself how many of those canisters were in only one shipment, and there have been shipments arriving for months. The N562RK virus is not only incredibly dangerous, but it's resilient. It's one of the few that can be transmitted in the air. And if the notes you recovered are accurate, this strain is even more resilient and deadly."
"Why are they creating it then? They can't possibly hope to control this once it gets out. What's the point of ruling an empty universe?" Bohdi still can't wrap his mind around this. Cassian envies his innocence.
"We have a suspicion about that." Ellie admits quietly, glancing at Jyn, who nods gravely. "There are vaccinations and treatments for the N562RK virus already in existence. This custom strain could, reasonably, be combated. The great danger is simply that vaccinations are hard to create. It requires time, and testing, and advanced scientific facilities. The kinds of things that the Empire has, and that the Alliance doesn't. The virus would spread quickly on whatever planet it was introduced. And it would get off world just as easily, as people tried to escape the outbreak. It could be spread across the far reaches of space. It could even reach the Alliance, if they dropped it on a planet with known rebel activity. And then, after a reasonable wait, as citizens die and cry out for help and focus on surviving instead of fighting, the Empire comes up with a cure. And planets teetering on the brink, they have to make the obvious choice. Meanwhile, the Alliance dies off faster than it can confront the problem. Even after a cure is introduced, the whole process could be repeated with a new strain. And everyone starts thinking how fortunate they are to be beneficiaries of the Empire's resources."
The room is cold. "But now we have the information right? "Bohdi gestures to the stack of paper in front of her. "If we send it now, we can work out a vaccine. And we can expose the Empire for planning this."
"We don't have the equipment for it, or the budget, or the expertise. It would take much longer than 6 months for us to create a cure, and they are going to be producing faster than that. If the citizenship knows, the only think that changes is they are motivated by fear instead of gratitude."
"What do you suggest, then?" Hilton asks. Cassian likes that about him; always to the point, focused on a solution.
"We have to seal that factory closed forever." Jyn says firmly.
"It won't be enough. We have to make it so that no one attempts to get inside too. It has to be untouchable. And we have to make sure anyone who knows how to make another virus is wiped out. Then we'll have the time to create the vaccine." Cassian says quietly. His calculating mind had already suggested the answer before now. He waits patiently for the implications to land.
Hilton lets out a low whistle, but gives one firm nod of agreement.
Jyn, unsurprisingly, is next. Her eyes bore into him and her mouth is a tight line. "How will we know who we are looking for?" She is already thinking ahead, but Cassian has one bit of information left to share.
"In 3 days, there will be a celebration to begin operations. The security guard told me that the rumors are saying the entire development team will be there to be honored by the Moff responsible for the program. All of them, in the factory itself."
She's white as a sheet. Cassian wishes she'd fight a little. He wonders how much of Jyn will be left to salvage after this; the new one, the hopeful one that had just come back to life after the vindication of her father's betrayal as a noble martyrdom.
"I don't understand. We can't just go shooting up the place. We still run the risk of contamination." Bohdi looks curiously between them.
Cassian breathes out slowly. "The contamination can't be a risk. It has to be the method. The entire factory contaminated on the inside, and sealed forever. The only entrances and exits are the 10 delivery bays. Once 9 are sealed, we release the virus into the air system, and we seal the last door. They'll have time to communicate what has happened, but without the treatment in production yet, we'll have enough time for the Alliance to catch up technologically before they can risk entering the facility. Plus their best geneticists will be gone."
"No!" Ellie gasps. "Absolutely not. How is that any better? How is this the right thing to do? This is as much biological warfare as we are condemning them for!"
"Then suggest something better." He snaps.
Bohdi jumps predictably to her defense. "She's right, this is serious."
"No, no." Ellie mumbles again. "You don't understand. You don't know what you are suggesting. This virus, it doesn't just kill people. It destroys the cell membrane. It attacks fatty tissues first, and the skin. Things you can live on without at first; it prolongs the suffering, but the truth is that your cells are literally falling apart. These people aren't just dying Captain, they'll be melting. They'll melt, and it will take weeks."
"It's not the method I would choose to kill someone," Hilton comments with some indifference, "but then again, I didn't do the choosing. They made it, they can keep it." He turns to Cassian. "You just let me know what you need from me." He's out the door.
Ellie stands too. "I won't be a part of this. I know I can't stop you. But I can't. I took an oath." She walks out too.
Cassian turns to Bohdi. "And you?" He doesn't mean to sound so accusing, but the righteousness has exacerbated a long buried guilt.
Bohdi, to his credit, looks conflicted and wary. "I think that I don't like killing very much." He says.
Cassian doesn't let himself roll his eyes. "We can kill a handful of the people that brought this into the world, or we can let them wipe out huge populations. The math is simple."
Bohdi rears back in offense. "That's not fair. It's not simple."
"How is this any different than the Death Star? What do you think is going to happen when they blow it up, Rook? You think they'll give the Empire time to evacuate? Tell them about the weakness? A lot of men will die. And it will be for the greater good."
"You can tell me about the greater good all you want. But it isn't going to make this feel any better to me. Rightness and justice can't be boiled down to the numbers!"
Cassian does scoff this time, rising to his feet. His expression is thunderous. "That's easy to say when you can't change the outcome. We know, we have opportunity, and inaction in the face of these facts is more damning than doing what must be done. The odds will never be more in our favor than they are now."
"The odds, huh?" Bohdi sneers. Jyn is leaning back. She has never seen this side of him. "That's what this is about? Maybe you just miss your fucking droid. I'm sure he would agree with your assessment. Too bad you didn't follow his advice all along, huh?"
It's genuinely shocking that Cassian doesn't strike him. His voice is low and controlled. "A righteous cause makes unrighteous men of us all. I expect you to do as you are told in 3 days, pilot."
Bohdi meets his glare head on. "I'll be there, sir." He spits the title, and turns primly for the door.
He whirls now at Jyn, and she meets his eye. He is not the first angry man she has been left alone with.
"Now's the time, Sergeant." He growls.
She doesn't answer, just keeps staring at his face. Frustrated, he storms away toward his room. Jyn follows silently.
The door to his room clicks closed behind her. He lunges at her again. "WELL?!"
She doesn't flinch back. "I'm with you." She assures firmly.
He's not sure why that makes him angrier. "You think you're ready for that? You shoot one prisoner and then suddenly you've got ice all the way to your bones?"
She bristles, and he feels some cruel satisfaction. At last, the fight he's been craving. "I was a guerilla soldier for 7 years. I've been killing men since I was 8. You think you're the only child soldier, you ass?"
"I'd hardly call you a soldier! Soldiers have a cause, they do things for a reason. They aren't ashamed to look up from their boots, at least." He's too good at this. It's what had recommended for this job in the first place. It's easy for anyone to see another person's buttons, the little soft spots. It takes someone as angry as him to be willing to use them.
But he's miscalculated. Jyn doesn't reel away with hurt, doesn't flinch or back out the door. She's more alive than ever, shoving him back, eyes alight. "I executed that kid to protect you, and you can't make me ashamed of that! I could see on your face that you couldn't do it."
In this moment, he really hates her. That she feels the need to protect him, that even now she can so freely admit this something that has gone sideways between them, that she can see through him so easily. He wants to scare her, to really destroy something here. He wants to grind the heel of his boot into this fragile fledgling rapport that keeps him up at night.
He grabs her jaw painfully and shoves her forcefully into the door. Her gasp of pain as she grabs her side is grimly satisfying, but she still doesn't look afraid. He bares his teeth for a second than plunges forward.
His lips remind Jyn of their first meeting, of clothes-lining herself on the unforgiving metal of K-2's arm.
His mustache scratches and his hand is too tight on her neck and chin to respond, and he is crushing his mouth too hard on hers to get any leverage if she tried.
His pinky is resting over her pulse and he feels her heart stutter out a faster beat, thrumming double time.
She takes him by surprise again when her hand lands softly, tenderly on his cheek. She rests it there, and the other lets go of her side to stroke soothingly up from his wrist at her neck, up, up, over his elbow, a slow slide on his bicep. He can feel all the anger drain out of him, feels his fingers loosen. The shame is blooming at the back of his mind and he begins to pull away, but she follows. With each gentle stroke of her lips over his, more and more of his fury slips out of reach. His analytical mind flails, tries to reconcile this gentleness with the rough edges of Jyn Erso that he has come to know. When his hand strokes slowly down her neck, curls around to card into her soft brown hair, she sighs into his mouth. His free hand presses into her ribs, then strokes gently across them to her back. When he pulls slightly she comes forward into his chest.
She tilts her head back, and Cassian presses his forehead to hers. Her breath is cool across his chin. He swears he can feel ice water pouring down his spine.
"I honestly expected more of a fight." Jyn whispers.
He had too. More fighting this, more kicking and screaming and clawing back away from such a grievous error. Nothing good can come of this. Jyn is a free woman; no one has successfully held her anywhere, and no place could keep her attention for long. He knows enough of her story to know that she is like water, flowing smoothly over conflict toward the path of least resistance. She is going to leave one day, for she knows no other way, and he cannot follow. But his brain is like a broken record. It keeps stuttering and skipping back over the same thought, she's here she's here she's here….
"I don't want to fight." He admits hoarsely.
"That's good. You've probably done enough fighting for today." She agrees. The hand at his cheek falls away to press warmly over his heart.
"Jyn, I don't think I can…." Okay, not a great start.
"I know. We should talk when we… get back." She looks a little hesitant at this, searching his face.
He tries to push some of the warmth into his expression without letting her see the fear, but he suspects she has him pegged. "Whatever it is you want Jyn I think you should know, I want it too."
"How can you be sure? You don't know what I want. I hardly know what I want." It shouldn't be comforting to see some of his doubts reflected on her face. He hopes this means she is taking this seriously.
Cassian smiles. "I'll take what I can get. I want whatever you'll give me." The look she gives him is so incredibly warm that it makes him feel like a goddamn superhero.
She presses another kiss to his lips. It'll be worth it. He tries to reassure himself. Even just this would be worth it.
AN: Ahhh, sweet sweet dialogue. My bread and butter. Fun time is over, bitches. We're getting dark, fast. Gonna have a hard time getting the comedic tone back.
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