She wasn't what Cassian Andor had been expecting. The description Bail Organa had given him was restricted to things like her name and a composite image of what she might look like now. Supposedly she was someone important enough to the Alliance that he'd been told to retrieve and protect her from the Empire at all costs. Nowhere had he been told to look for a woman in a torn coat hardly thick enough to keep her alive through the cold Garnib night. Or one who was hungry enough to go back to a Vaathkrez merchant's cart to steal a piece of meat, risking a beating at the very least, worse if she'd been caught before. This wasn't some Imperial deserter or Alliance contact. She looked down when Stormtroopers passed and tried to stay unseen instead of keeping covert tabs on their movements like he'd expect from someone gathering information. So if she wasn't an operative, then who was she to the Alliance? Or perhaps he should've been wondering who she was to Bail Organa?
Cassian watched her all day, she didn't even notice he was following her. There was a singular purpose to her day and it was only to find food. It was the heart of winter, everyone's rations were tighter on Garnib and that made it nearly impossible to find anything thrown out so she'd been trying and failing at stealing. She wasn't very good at it, like she hadn't been doing it for very long. It would've been better for her to try and steal credits from people's pockets instead, most were more forgiving than the merchants. But if her attempts to pickpocket weren't any better than filching from a food cart then even that would be unsuccessful and would possibly draw more Imperial attention.
As he watched her, she was run off from the cart again. The merchant seemed to know her well and that wasn't a good sign.
Days were short there during the winter, only about six standard hours and with the sun went any temperature on the high end of freezing. Cassian was running out of time and he was afraid if he waited to act she'd freeze to death by morning, the estimates for the next few nights were grim for those who didn't have a home to go back to.
He pulled a few credits from his coat pocket and traded them to the same merchant she'd been trying to steal from for a small paper cup of cooked meat made from a creature he probably didn't want to know the identity of. It would have to do, there weren't many other choices, the carts were closing up for the night.
She'd slipped down an alleyway after using up the last of her luck and daylight, probably resigned to curling up behind a couple bins and trying to sleep through her empty stomach. Only when he turned the corner, food in hand, did she notice he was following her and that was just because he meant for her to see him.
Standing in the middle of the alley she watched him and waited to see what he would do, with a glint in her eye that dared him to try something although she likely had the strength of a week old bantha for all she'd probably had to eat in the past week. At least he could still see a fire in her eyes, he'd seen plenty of others lose that.
He held up the paper cup, steaming in the dropping temperature, and tried to look as non threatening as possible. If he spooked her he'd have to wait until dark and knock her unconscious so he could get her back to the ship. It was his least favorite option, but Senator Organa had said to bring her back at any cost. All things considered, that would still be fairly easy.
"Are you hungry?" It was a stupid question, especially considering he'd been watching her all day and knew she hadn't eaten, but it was enough to catch her attention and she stared at the cup.
Her eyes flitted from the cup to his face and back again to the cup. Finally she looked back at him. "What's the price?"
Telegraphing his movements he bent down and set the cup in the snow, then backed up until he was out of reach. "A conversation."
The toe of her boot twitched but she didn't move to take the food even though he could see how desperately she wanted it. She didn't trust him and he didn't blame her.
"I don't have anything to talk about and nobody gives things away for free around here. What's the real price?"
"Your name is Ava, isn't it?"
One step back, away from him and the food. It was her, just like Cassian thought.
"I was sent to find you, take you someplace safe."
Another step back. "You're a liar."
"Perhaps." He nodded. "But if I'm not? What do you think will happen, huh? Will you freeze first, or starve?" A few moments passed while he let her mull it over before he continued. "If you get caught stealing from that merchant again he will kill you, you know that."
"And if I go with you I get sold as a slave."
She was trying to stare him down but he stared right back. "What if I'm not a slaver?"
Desperation was a useful thing to find in other people. It changed their priorities and made them reckless. It made her take a step towards the cooling cup of food on the ground between them even though all she had to trust him on was his word. It was what made her think about his offer even though it was stupid to accept. He used it because it wasn't his job to get her to trust him, it was just to get her back to Yavin.
Without taking her eyes off him she reached out and grabbed the cup, sniffing the meat before stuffing one of the cubes in her mouth, barely chewing before swallowing it. "How do you know my name?"
"If you come with me I will tell you."
Ava wasn't a complete stranger to the kind of desperation that prompted someone like her to follow a stranger to his ship because he knew her name and gave her food, although this was probably her worst moment of them all. He led her through the streets, occasionally taking her arm to steer her another direction to avoid stormtroopers, while she finished off the cup of food.
She knew following him was stupid but in the grand scheme of things it was probably her best option. He kept acting like some sketchy motherfucker but it seemed...out of place almost. Or maybe she was just cold and starving and liked the fact that he gave her food that didn't seem to be poisoned. They were heading towards the space port at least, so that part of his story was still legitimate. God, when had the term 'space port' become normal for her? When had any of it become normal for her? She'd just woken up there, a few miles out from the city about a month ago after a normal night at home...on Earth. The fact that she even had to differentiate based on the planet now was ridiculous. Alien abduction, as silly as it sounded, was about the only idea she'd come up with and even that didn't seem to make any sense. Why would they just drop her on some random planet in the middle of nowhere?
Thinking about it all just made her head hurt, or maybe that was hunger?
Her new friend turned one last corner into the hanger with his ship and seemed to relax a little. It was also infinitely warmer in the hanger so at least if she was going to be murdered she'd be warm?
The type of ship probably had a name but it wasn't one she knew, so not unlike every other ship she'd ever seen. When the door slid up he nudged her inside before following, glancing warily over his shoulder like he half expected someone to burst in and start shooting.
There was a row of seats in the middle of the ship and not much else, it reminded her of some kind of troop transport, although most troop transports she was used to seeing didn't have giant robot co-pilots in the cockpit. It looked back at her as her new friend made sure the door closed behind them.
"She doesn't look like an Alliance asset to me." It's voice sounded vaguely familiar but in a way that she'd probably never figure out.
"An Alliance what?" The ship's engine started up and her new friend took the free second seat in the cockpit without answering her, he was definitely in a hurry to leave the planet. "Hey," she braced herself against the row of chairs as the ship started moving and stumbled over to the cockpit. "what the hell is he talking about? Who are you people, really?"
He didn't look back at her, he was too busy fiddling with the controls as they rose up over the spaceport. His robot friend wasn't as silent.
"I am K-2SO and this is Cassian Andor, and you are important to the Alliance." he paused "Although I'm not sure why."
The ship pitched backwards and she had to grab onto Cassian's chair to keep herself upright, but at least she'd gotten an answer. "So far I like your robot better than you."
"I am a droid." K-2SO corrected. "A reprogrammed Imperial droid."
Cassian did a double take to her clutching at his chair to keep from falling. "Sit down before you get hurt. We'll be in hyperspace soon."
As much as Ava wanted her answers, it obviously wasn't going to happen until they got in this hyperspace thing he was talking about so she stumbled back over to the row of seats and sat down. The presence of the droid had done a bit to make her feel more comfortable. He seemed rather frank and had called her an asset, not something more...slave like at least.
There was another hard jolt back and then the shaking of the ship evened out and she could see stars streaking past the windshield in the cockpit. It was funny, she would've thought she would be amazed by space travel and enthralled by the view at least at first. But it seemed...everyday almost. It was weird. She got back out of her seat and stood by the window, watching the stars as Cassian left K-2SO in the cockpit. He was far more relaxed now than he had been a few moments before.
Ava's eyes followed him expectantly. "Now are you going to tell me how you know my name?"
"The man who sent me to find you told me." He started pulling off his gloves and unzipping his heavy blue coat.
"Who?" She didn't know anyone in this damn galaxy apparently, seeing as nobody knew anything about Earth, so why would anyone know about her? Unless he had something to do with how she got there...
Tossing his gloves on the seat behind her he pulled off his coat. "You will meet him when we get there."
"You're flat out not going to tell me?" She glared at him as he ignored her and instead pulled his coat around her shoulders. It surprised her a little but she wasn't going to say no to the extra warmth, although it rubbed against a sore spot on her shoulder and made her flinch when he gave the edges a tug.
Cassian stilled. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"
"I'd rather you just tell me who's trying to find me." She snapped. Her shoulder wasn't that bad anymore, it just still hurt like hell.
He glared back at her and pulled back the coat. "Let me see."
"Who sent you to find me?" She let him take her arm and pull back on the collar of her jacket so he could see the old phaser wound. Phaser? No, blaster, that's what they'd called it. If he was there looking at that then she could throw questions at him that he'd have a harder time deflecting.
He grabbed a box off the wall and started digging around in it. "Let me guess, the merchants caught you stealing?"
"Look, I came with you like you wanted now I need some answers."
He looked at her and sighed, tearing open a small foil package and pulling out a swatch of goopy looking gauze. "I was told to find you and get you back to the Alliance and to make sure you stayed out of Imperial hands. Bail Organa sent me." He took her arm again and sat her back down so he could see her shoulder better.
"Am I supposed to know who that is?" The name didn't sound familiar to her at all, not that she had actually expected it to, she supposed. "And what's this Alliance your droid was talking about?"
Cassian sat down next to her and pressed the gauze stuff to the blaster burn on her shoulder. "The Rebel Alliance?"
She looked back at him blankly, seeing as that made no more sense to her than it had before. This seemed to confuse him. "I have no idea what that means." That was probably because she had no idea about anything in the whole damn galaxy so she should just give up now. "Screw it, don't even bother. I probably wouldn't understand anyway. I don't know anything anymore."
When she looked back up at him she was surprised to see his eyes had softened, he seemed so much nicer now and she couldn't see the same sketchy person in him she'd seen back on Garnib.
"Bail Organa is a good man. When he heard you were out here he seemed worried. Now hold still."
"Wh-" She cut off as he added pressure to the gauze and groaned as the slight discomfort she'd been feeling spread into a sharp ache. "Is that really necessary?"
"Yes. It is healing, but not well. This will help until we get back." He carefully pulled the gauze away and taped a dry bandage over her shoulder, tugging his coat back around her when he was done.
He passed her a blanket from under the seats and put away his fancy...space first aid kit. "We won't be there for a few hours and it will be morning when we land, you should try and get some sleep."
Ava watched him as he went back to the cockpit. He didn't have any more answers for her but maybe this other guy that had sent for her in the first place, did. She shook out the blanket and laid down, using the hood of Cassian's coat for a pillow. By far the bumpy seats were the most comfortable sleeping arrangement she'd had in a long time.
She wanted to know what this Rebel Alliance was, who was Bail Organa? Who was this Cassian Andor guy? But since she didn't know anything about anything else, those things were just additions to a long line of things she was growing used to not knowing. This Alliance place was the best option she'd had since she'd shown up in Garnib and she was too tired to do anything but let it happen.