IMPORTANT! I updated this story with two chapters on May the 4th, but there was an error as I did so and so it doesn't show up as being updated nor did I even receive notification of it being updated. When I read another story that should have been updated during that time and got confused as to what was happening (and so no replies to reviews at the bottom per usual) I realized I wasn't the only one effected. So please, go back and read the two previous chapters, otherwise this won't make any sense!
Lol get ready for a little change of our usual programing ;)
Jyn looked over at her friend Cassian and smiled, though she had this feeling that all was not right in the galaxy. Something was about to happen, something that would change the course of their lives. Whether for the good or for the worse, she didn't know. But she tried to push that thought aside and enjoy her time with her friend. Since the attack on her family, her father had restarted his research efforts, hoping to figure out what the Dark Forces were up to before they showed it to the galaxy. He was in need of some fresh kyber crystal samples and so had sent her and Cassian to Jedha to get some. The duo were happy with this decision, for they got to see their good friends again.
It was hard to believe just seven years ago they hadn't known each other, but now neither of them could imagine their lives without Chirrut, Baze or Bodhi in it. While there was no guarantee that Bodhi would be there, he was often away shuttling crystals to the Jedi when they needed them, at least the other two would be there for them to see. As Cassian brought the Rogue One to a gentle landing, he asked "Are you okay Jyn? You were awfully quiet on the flight over." Jyn gave him another of her plastered on smiles and said "I'm fine Cassian." He didn't look convinced, but didn't push her further as they headed to the exit of the Rogue One.
As they exited their craft, they saw Bodhi exiting another ship and greeted him. "How's this for timing?" Bodhi said with a smile on his face, "I was sorry to have missed your last two visits, so I am glad I caught you this time." The three talked amongst themselves as they headed into town. They soon met up with their other two friends, who were waiting for them. After a round of hellos, they spent a few minutes catching up with each other and just news in general.
Suddenly, the sky grew dark, which was odd since it was the middle of the day and Jedha never had solar eclipses. Looking up, they saw something that caused them all to gasp. Hovering over there planet was a giant ship, as big as some planets were. Jyn felt something screaming at her to run and she vocalized that. Her friends didn't even question it, the way she said it stirring them into action without any need for more. As one, they made their way for Jyn and Cassian's ship were K-2S0 was waiting for them. Just as the first of their feet entered the Rogue One, a green laser shot out of the ship above, striking the planet.
Jyn's eyes widened as she looked in the direction of where the hit occurred and saw a wall of dirt rushing towards them. Her stomach twisted as she realized there would be no saving the people who called not only this town their home, but possibly even the whole planet. She was snapped out of her daze by Bodhi yelling "Come on Jyn, we need to get out of here." Seeing that her friends were already on board the Rogue One, she climbed up too as Cassian and K-2S0 got them into the air. "What is that thing?" asked Baze, to which no one had an answer.
"Kay-Tuesso, can you scan that ship for me?" asked Jyn, "Something tells me we need to get this information to my father. This looks like something he drew up when he was redoing his research." "I guess someone has to do the work around here." The droid replied sarcastically. Softly Chirrut said "I guess we know why the Dark Forces pulled out of this system." This sobering thought was met with silence as they made it far enough into space to make a jump. "Got everything we need K-2?" asked Cassian. "Of course." The robot responded. "Then let's get out of here." Replied Cassian, before making the jump, leaving the crumbling planet of Jedha behind.
XXX
Everyone was quite as Lah'mu came into view, each coming to grips with the fact that Jedha and those on it were gone. Cassian brought them down right next to Jyn's parent's home and they all quickly embarked the Rogue One. "Don't forget the data K-2S0." Jyn said distractedly right before the door to her home opened up, revealing her father standing in it. "Well this is a surprise, I ask for crystals and you bring your friends as well." He said jollily before noticing their faces. Sobering up he asked "What's happened?"
Quickly Jyn and the others filled him in on exactly what had happened on Jedha with K-2S0 finishing it with "I have the specs of the craft if you wish to see them sir." "I think I already know what you're talking about, but I better confirm it. Come inside." Galen said, motioning them to follow him. Inside the house Lyra had already put together a small meal for them all to enjoy and was shocked to hear about Jedha as her husband went to work looking at the information K-2S0 had brought back for him. She insisted that the others needed to eat as her husband looked it over. No sooner had they taken a couple of bites before he said "It's just as I feared."
"What is it father?" Jyn asked, her food already forgotten. "You know those little training droids that the Jedi use to teach Padawans how to reflect bolts? I was working on ones that would use the crystals, but would still just stun them, though the shock was slightly different than regular bolts. I never had perfected it before my research was stolen. It looks like they took the basic design I had and modified it to make the kind of blast that you saw." "Is there any good news in this?" Cassian groaned. "Yes there is. I believe I have spotted something that will make it extremely vulnerable." "We need to warn the Republic and tell them what you have found." Lyra said to her husband.
Galen went to send a transmission but his face paled as he said "We won't be sending any transmission, they're jamming our signal. "Then we'll take the Rogue One out of here and get away from their signal." Jyn replied and she and her friends headed outside to do just that, but stopped when they saw what was in the sky. Dark Force ships, what looked to be about twenty of them at least, were headed they're way. Jyn turned around and reentered the house and said "Grab your research dad, we need to all get out of here." Galen and Lyra didn't question her, but immediately started grabbing the most vital of his work. Jyn's friends reentered the home as well and helped gather everything possible.
Then they loaded up the Rogue One with it all and even though it had taken them at the most five minutes to gather all of it, they worried that they had taken to long, for the ships were getting close enough that they could see TIE Fighters, a Dark Force favorite, flying out of them. "We won't make it past all of those, you'll need to stay low to the ground until we get to a place where they aren't filling the sky." Baze stated.
Cassian nodded and said "Bodhi, you take the controls." Bodhi's response was to jump into the pilot's seat while the others secured the research better, each taking their own seats as they completed that task. Bodhi barely took the Rogue One into the air, keeping almost impossibly low to the ground to be as unnoticeable as possible. When they were almost out of sight of the Erso home, they could just make out the TIE's bombing it. One thing was for sure, after this was all over, the Erso's wouldn't be returning home.
But even as they were out of sight of the house, they weren't out of sight of Dark Forces ships, in fact there seemed to be more over here. "You know, I bet this attack was supposed to take place at the same time as the one on Jedha, that way the Republic would be thrown into a panic and the only one who could figure it out would be gone, namely you Galen." Chirrut said. "They have this planet completely surrounded, by the looks of it, we need some place to lay low, preferably with the Rogue One, or at least someplace the Rogue One can be near." Cassian stated.
"The mountains up ahead are riddled with caves, some large enough for this ship of yours." Galen responded, "Since we haven't been chased by TIEs, I don't think they know we have escaped their attempt to kill us, so if we can stay in one of those long enough, we might make it out of this without having to struggle to stay alive." Bodhi kept on a straight line to the mountains, everyone keeping their eyes peeled for the perfect cave after they came close enough to them. Lyra was the one who spotted the one they all thought was perfect and Bodhi gracefully brought the Rogue One in for a landing, turning it so it faced outward for a fast exit.
Then they all exited the Rogue One and headed for the mouth of the cave where they stared up at the ships hovering over the surface of Lah'mu. "How long you think until they leave?" asked Lyra. "Until they are sure we are dead." Galen responded. "I'm not very optimistic about our odds." K-2S0 said to know one in particular, earning him a glare from Cassian who said "Try to think positive." "I am thinking positive." K-2S0 shot back at him. Jyn just rolled her eyes at them, the years of flying with them having grown her accustomed to their bickering.
She remembered when Cassian had found the Dark Force Enforcer Droid suffering from a malfunction. Not only had Cassian reprogramed him so that he wouldn't have to answer to the Dark Forces, but he had also given him way too much personality and free speech, at least for most of the time in Jyn's opinion. Anyways, the two had been practically inseparable ever since and while she and the droid often butt heads, they both respected each other too.
Everyone else ignored the little spat between Cassian and K-2S0, all of them too worried to take much attention off of the Dark Force fleet for long. "I'm actually kind of flattered that they thought they needed this amount of force to take care of me." Galen said after a while, earning a chuckled from the group, whose nerves were still on edge. "Why don't they just leave?" asked Jyn, "They've certainly leveled the house and checked for survivors by now, why haven't they left, or at the very least why haven't some of them left?"
"Maybe they are setting up a new base here?" Baze suggested. "Or maybe they know we escaped and they are planning something bigger." Chirrut said, to which Jyn replied "You don't mean that thing that blew up Jedha?!" "Think about it, that fleet can easily keep us blocked down here long enough for them to bring that monstrosity over here and it's not like there is much in between the two so they don't have to worry about it being reported to the Republic before they get here." Chirrut replied. "Then we need to get out of here!" Bodhi exclaimed. "You don't even want to know what our chances of surviving are if we go out there right now." K-2S0 almost gleefully informed him.
"Then what are we going to do, wait for them to blow us up?" asked Lyra. "That's exactly what we are going to do." Cassian answered, to which everyone responded with "What?!" except for K-2S0 who said "Well I wasn't expecting that." "Listen to me, when are they going to be the most lax and therefore when is it going to be the easiest time to slip through their defenses? When they blow up Lah'mu. When they do that, we will have to time our jump just right so that they, hopefully, don't notice our escape. "What do you mean our jump, are you suggesting we make the jump to lightspeed from here?" asked Jyn, to which he nodded and said "It's the only way we can get out of here for sure, which means it's the only way we can warn the Republic what's coming."
"If we survive you mean." Jyn replied, to which Cassian replied "Our chances of survival our better this way then if we try to get into space first, am I right K-2S0?" The droid looked as uncomfortable as a droid can, not wanting to be dragged into this really, but he replied "In theory, you're correct." "See, nothing to worry about." Cassian said to Jyn with a grin. "Nothing but my sanity." Jyn replied. Cassian pulled her into a hug and said "We'll be fine Jyn, we'll make it, I promise." Jyn wanted to believe him, but the thought of what they were going to attempt caused her stomach to do flip flops. It had nothing to do with the fact that she was in the arms of the man she considered her best friend.
XXX
K-2S0 had successfully hacked into the system of the Dark Forces, as far as they could hear the transmissions between all of the ships. Sometimes it paid to have a former Dark Force droid on your side. They all sat around, waiting for word that the big battle station had made its way into their system and was getting ready to fire. Suddenly, Jyn noticed that they used a different call sign then before and she focused her attention on the broadcast as someone said "Death Star has entered the system." Death Star, it must be that big battle station, the name certainly fit it in her opinion.
Looking up she couldn't see it, but that same feeling she had on Jedha told her that she was right. "Guys, we need to get ready, its here." The others stood up from their positions on the ground of the cave and headed to join her in the Rogue One. "How do you know it's it?" asked Cassian. "Well with a name like the Death Star it seems right, plus I have this feeling…" Nobody questioned it further, Jyn's feelings were hardly ever wrong. Instead they all strapped themselves in, Cassian taking the control this time, while Bodhi sat next to him, ready to help where he could.
Over the radio they heard "Charging up the Death Star." Cassian and Bodhi started working like crazy to get the Rogue One into the air. For once, Jyn was glad Lah'mu had basically become a ghost planet since the attack on her family's house seven years ago. When the few others who called this planet home had seen how vulnerable they were to attacks by the Dark Forces, they had all left as quickly as possible. It had made it seem lonely, but now it just seemed like a blessing that they wouldn't have anyone's deaths on their hands.
"Fire!" came over the radio, and even though this time they couldn't see the bolt of green, they could hear the rumbling and see the wall of dirt, rocks and everything else the planet was made of rushing at them. Cassian waited, the moments ticking by agonizingly as he looked for the perfect moment to pull off what they were going to do, or at least hopefully do. As the wall of dirt got closer and closer, Jyn hesitantly said "Cassian?" "Just a few moments longer." He said softly. When the wall was just seconds away from engulfing him, he shouted "Now!"
Bodhi and K-2S0 flipped a few switches, keeping an eye on readings as Cassian through the Rogue One into hyperspace. After several seconds passed and the realization that it had actually worked filtered out amongst them they cheered! Jyn hugged Cassian from behind as she said "Well done Cassian!" Cassian grinned back at her as he said "Now unto Coruscant, where we will tell the Republic what's happened." "No, not the Republic. The Jedi first, they need to know what is charging that ship and I need to get this research to them, maybe even continue it." Galen said.
"Right, to the Jedi Temple it is then." Cassian replied, setting the ship to auto pilot so he and his friends could celebrate their escape for a bit. Jyn's hand went to the crystal around her neck that her mother had given to her when she was little. So much had changed since then and Jyn wondered if the galaxy would ever know real peace or if they were doomed to fight for all eternity.
XXX
Maul stood next to his Apprentice aboard the Death Star. "Is it done, Darth Keeran?" he asked. "Yes, my Master." She replied. "Good, now there is no one left who can tell the galaxy about our little weapon. I want to work out a few more bugs before showing the Republic my ultimate weapon. I want it to be able to instantly destroy a planet, there is far too much time for someone to get off in my opinion and we can't always surrounded it with the fleet. I want you to oversee the process while I go back out into the lines, do you think you can handle that?" "Of course, Master." Darth Keeran replied.
"Good, I was hoping that you would say that." Maul said, his smile spreading across his face, as he thought of the horrors he would do to the Jedi, particularly his old nemesis, Obi-Wan Kenobi.
This chapter (and part of the next) have been planned since the last story, right after seeing the movie so it was four months in the making, as far as me writing it, lol, hence why I was so excited to write it (this was written mid-April) :D Oh boy is it hard to get the dry yet snarky humor of K-2S0 down, so if he seems unusually quiet, it's because I am just not quite comfortable about doing him correctly. K-2S0 looks exactly like he does in the movie, just instead of being an Imperial Enforcer droid, I switched it to the Dark Forces.
I hope Cassian's maneuver with lightspeed at the end of this chapter brought the feeling of Han with his shenanigans in the Force Awakens. I wanted a crazy lightspeed moment in this story and it just felt right to put it here.
I wasn't planning the little Maul and Keeran/Leia conversation to be a part of this, but when I got to the end of the chapter I felt that it needed this little moment for us to see their side of it.
If you have any characters you want to see make it into this story, please feel free to ask. If I can make them work, I just might add them. They can be a good guy or a bad guy, I don't care. But remember I am several chapters ahead, writing wise, compared to where I am at posting wise, so even if I do take a suggestion it will probably be a few chapters before you see them come into the story. If you have someone that is already in this story and its prequel that you want to see more of, ask and it may happen. I do have plans for a couple of people that I had either mentioned in passing, or were only in it briefly to return, but I don't mind working in any favorites of yours too :D