Chapter 19

"Ma'am? The report you wanted."

"Thank you, Marika."

Mon Mothma skimmed through the file, looking for one unit in particular. It was near the bottom – Rogue One. Her military leaders had not entirely agreed with her about keeping the survivors together as a team. General Draven, in particular, had objected, especially since it meant removing Captain Andor from his command. But Mon paid more attention to the personnel than anyone realized, at least when she could. It was helpful knowing who she was working with and what their capabilities were.

Rogue One's list of successfully completed missions was impressive, not that she had doubted that it would be. But even more pleasing were the good reports on Captain Andor. She had worried about him. She still remembered seeing him as a youth, a member of Bail's resistance movement. That was when she first became aware that they were beginning to employ children in the fight. She and Bail had many discussions over the years on that subject, but he always reminded her that no one, not even children, would escape from the effects of the Empire. The sooner they understood and helped to eliminate it, the sooner children could again enjoy a childhood. Even his own daughter, Leia, had grown up knowing far more of war than Mon would have liked.

But there had always been something about Captain Andor. She respected him, and his accomplishments, but she had never become accustomed to the deadness in his eyes. Their resources were stretched so thin already that it was impossible to even contemplate including counselling for such men and women, if any would even cooperate with the effort.

Operation Fracture had changed a great many things. But to her mind, one of the best rewards to come from that was Jyn Erso. The life she had led was not unlike Captain Andor's – a childhood ripped from them, replaced with a blaster in their hand and lessons in killing. Yet Jyn had somehow managed to retain a…quality about her. General Draven had never trusted her, but Mon had sensed something strong and extraordinary in her. Her force of will had drawn Captain Andor and a motley crew to her, and they had accomplished the impossible in stealing the Death Star plans.

Despite all that, however, Mon was most pleased with the effect Jyn had on Captain Andor. The girl very likely had saved him from himself, and she was glad General Draven had been persuaded to release him to join the rest of the Rogue One survivors. He was doing well there, and she did not think that would be so if he had remained in Intelligence.

Maybe he was just one of many, but she was glad they were doing something for someone. It made the whole unpleasant situation slightly less distressing. If she spotted other opportunities, she fully intended to make use of them.

xxxxx

"Okay, I'd better let you go. It's been nice talking with you." He closed out the line.

"Hey, Bodhi, who was that?"

Bodhi involuntarily jumped at finding Jyn behind him. "Oh, uh, just one of the scan-com operators on Home One. She was on Yavin before that."

"She?" Jyn settled into the co-pilot's seat.

"Yeah. She's, uh, she's Tonc's cousin. That's how I met her."

"Really. So…are you interested in her, then?"

He looked away, trying to hide his flushed face. "She's Tonc's cousin, Jyn."

"So what? Are you interested in her?"

"I wouldn't…it wouldn't be right."

"Tonc!" Jyn yelled in the direction of the hold.

"Shhh! What are you doing?" Bodhi hissed.

"Trust me on this."

"What do you want, Erso?"

"Come here a minute."

"I'm busy."

"Come here anyway!" She paused and then teasingly added, "Don't make me come and get you!"

"What!" he demanded, looming in the cockpit doorway a couple of minutes later, his arms propped on the side panels.

"Okay if Bodhi and your cousin get together?"

Tonc shrugged. "Fine by me. He'd be a big improvement over a lot of the guys who have approached her. They were mostly jerks."

"See? Not a problem." Jyn turned back to Bodhi who was studiously pretending to check his controls.

"You like Marika, Bodhi?"

"Uh, maybe. Yeah, a little."

"Well, good luck with that. If we don't find a base you won't get much time with her." At that, he turned and left, his attention drifting back to what he had been doing.

"Hey, Bodhi, just tell her you'd like to get better acquainted. If she's not inclined to pursue it, she'll tell you. Then at least you'll know. You can just continue on as friends, unless either of you finds that impossible."

"Okay, maybe. I might mention it."

It wasn't much of a promise, but who was Jyn to point a finger at someone else. "Do it, Bodhi. Like you told us, life's too short. You deserve a little happiness while it lasts." She rose and gave him a hug around the neck before departing.

xx

Jyn was nothing if not tenacious. An hour later, she camped out in the hold near where Tonc sat working at the terminal.

"Stop staring at me, Erso." Tonc didn't even turn around when he said it.

"How do you know I'm staring at you? You aren't even looking this way." She had been staring, but that was beside the point.

"I can feel it," he retorted. "Your gaze is like a laser bolt."

She laughed. "Well, that's the first time I've been accused of that, so I give you points for originality." She walked over and pulled down the seat next to him.

"What?" He kept typing at the terminal, still not looking at her.

"So, tell me about this cousin of yours that has caught Bodhi's notice. What's she like?"

He sighed. She could almost hear him rolling his eyes. "You're not going to leave me alone until I do, are you?"

She crossed her legs, put her elbow on her knee and propped her chin on her hand. "Nope. Start talking." When he didn't respond, she held out her hand. "I have the last slice of that bread that Cassian made…"

His eyes twitched left to where she sat, then with another sigh he closed the program he was working on and turned to snatch the treat. "Don't think you can always bribe me."

"Ha! Food will tempt you every time. I don't know how you stay as skinny as you are. So, start talking."

He moved over to a more comfortable seat while he ate the bread and she followed impatiently. "What do you want to know?"

"Anything. Everything. Who is she? How does Bodhi know her? All of it."

The man shrugged. "She's my cousin. Well, more like my sister, really."

"Oh, please don't tell Bodhi that. He was hesitant enough about approaching her as your cousin."

He snickered and continued, "We grew up together. Her mother died of a fever when she was young, so she spent a lot of time at our house. I think my mom liked having a daughter since she only had two sons of her own. Now it's just the two of us left."

"Bodhi says she's a scan-com operator. Don't they usually work SpecForces rather than on base? What's she doing on Home One?"

He shrugged. "Mon Mothma requested it. She oversees all the scan-com traffic, and collects the reports from the teams in the field, summarizing them for the Chancellor. I guess Mothma wanted someone at a little higher level than just a radar tech doing that for her. At least it means I occasionally get to talk to her. If she was assigned to a team, it would be harder."

"Her name is…Mar…Marka?"

"Marika. Marika Tonc. Bodhi met her after we got back from Scarif. She came to see me in the medbay while we were there getting checked before shipping out again." He finished the bread and wiped his hands on his pants.

"Most people don't know it, but we – Rogue One – weren't the only ones who helped to accomplish getting the Death Star plans. Marika and others heard you speak to the Council but, like Rogue One, they knew what had to be done. They helped us…kind of invisibly. Getting supplies and information and anything that might be useful to us."

"She was okay with you going off on a suicide mission? When you were all the family she had left?"

He met her gaze. "She knew it had to be done. If she thought she could have helped, she'd have come with us, but her skills lie in another direction." He looked down at his hands. "We…we don't want to lose each other, but we know it might happen. But fighting against the Empire is too important for us to hide in the shadows to try to stay safe."

"Did your family die in the fight, too? And hers?"

"Not exactly. The Empire decided to occupy the town where we lived. Some of the people resisted, so they mowed down the protestors and everyone else in the vicinity. Only reason Marika and I weren't killed is that we were away at university. When we heard what had happened at home…well, we never liked the Empire, but we knew then we had to do more than we had been doing. So we left school, she sliced our parents' financial accounts and we emptied them, then we used the funds to track down the Alliance and join. She was studying communications when she was at school. She's brilliant at that stuff."

They both lapsed into silence for several minutes. Finally, Jyn laid her hand on his arm. "I'm sorry if I dredged up painful memories."

The corporal gave a slight jerk of his head. "It's been a few years. Yeah, it still hurts some, but mostly I can remember the good times more. And at least I have her. A lot of people don't even have that, you know?"

"Yeah," Jyn said softly, "I know." Then she smiled at him. "But we've built a new family, a good family. That helps when things are hard."

"Yeah, it does." He slapped his hands on his knees. "So, if no more questions, can I go back to what I was doing?"

"On one condition."

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"I want an introduction first chance we get."

He grinned. "Yeah, that I can do."

xxxxx

Unfortunately, it wasn't looking likely that Bodhi would be seeing Marika anytime soon, or that Jyn would get to meet her. Missions kept them busy, with no reason to rendezvous with Home One.

At least as June approached they learned it had been decided to set the new base on Hoth. Even so, it was going to take quite some time to build the infrastructure and make it habitable. Alliance Command hoped they would be able to begin moving in by the new year. But that was still six months away, so the Rogue One team didn't dwell on that eventuality. A lot could change in six months. Until then, there was plenty of other work to be done.

xxx

"Ah, dag!" Bodhi scrabbled for his communicator. "Team – pilot alert. Abort. Abort. Repeat abort. Drop everything and return immediately for urgent business. Respond."

"What are you doing?" K clumped up behind him.

He gestured toward the display panel as explanation, simultaneously depressing the talk button again. Before he could speak, though, a response came back.

"Team – leader. Do as instructed. Rendezvous immediately. Pilot stand by."

K-2 settled into the co-pilot seat. "When did the Star Destroyer arrive?"

"Just now. I was bored just waiting, so I was running scans to see who was coming and going. Suddenly that showed up." He stood quickly. "Figure out the best route to take and a destination to name. It's better if we don't have to try to fight our way out. I'll go get clearance for us to depart early."

At the bottom of the ramp, Bodhi took a couple of deep breaths to steady his nerves. As nonchalantly as he could manage, he strolled into the flight-control office. He was glad the place was nearly empty, but despite clearly not being busy, the personnel still took their time before acknowledging him.

"Yes?"

"Oh, hey. My crew is reporting we will wrap things up here sooner than expected. I was hoping we could depart within the hour? Is that possible?"

"Isn't this rather sudden?" the port official sniffed.

Bodhi forced himself not to display his tension, and gave a shrug. "Not really. Sometimes we have better luck on one planet than on another. This trip didn't turn out as fruitful as we hoped it would." He shrugged again. "It happens."

In his earpiece, K-2 quietly advised, "Suggest we claim our destination is now Hosnian Prime."

"Destination?" the officer asked.

Bodhi pretended to think for a moment, then said, "Hosnian Prime. We've done well getting work there. Since we're close, that should be worth a stop."

The official dutifully entered their intended course, and reached for Bodhi's datapad to upload the necessary clearance codes. Handing it back, he offered a disinterested, "Safe travels."

"Thanks." Bodhi waved the datapad in the man's direction, but he had already turned away to attend to other matters.

Back onboard, he dropped into the pilot's chair, letting out a relieved breath. "We're cleared for departure in the next hour. Let's hope all goes well and they all make it back safely by then. I don't want to have to explain any delays."

x

"Halt! Who are you two and what are you doing?"

Chirrut caught hold of Baze's arm and turned toward the voice. "Good morning. It is still morning, I assume. I am Chirrut, a Guardian of the Whills. I am seeking to share the wisdom of the ages with new pilgrims. Might you be interested, young man?"

"We don't believe in that Force nonsense, old man." The stormtrooper turned his attention to Baze. "He may be some religious nut, but you don't look like one."

Baze shook his head. "No, I am merely a caretaker. A blind man can hardly travel to other planets on his own. I find food and shelter, and do my best to keep him safe from harm."

"Hmmmm." The trooper considered them a moment, then waved them on. "Move along. No loitering, and no bothering the citizens with your nonsense."

Just then an explosion roared some distance to their right, and Chirrut cringed, gripping Baze's arm more tightly. "Oh dear – what was that? Are we in danger?"

"I said move along. Go on. Let's go men. It came from over there." The five troopers hastened away and Baze wasted no time in retreating in the opposite direction.

"That explosion was remarkably close," Chirrut observed with quiet amusement.

"Maybe that's because I detonated our bomb supply and we are not that far from it yet," Baze growled. "It should keep them busy for a little while and give us time to disappear without more questioning. I wanted to make sure they lost interest in us. Not to mention that I dropped the satchel near an Imperial guard station we passed."

"Ah, you are such a good caretaker!" Chirrut teased.

Before they reached the ship, Tonc appeared beside them and joined in their casual stroll into the spaceport. "Any idea what's going on?" he asked Baze softly.

"None, but Bodhi wouldn't raise an alarm needlessly. It must be something big."

Just as they reached the bottom of the ramp, another explosion was heard, this time farther to the west. All three turned to look curiously in that direction as everyone else nearby was doing. "Jyn?" Tonc muttered under his breath.

"Should be," Baze agreed. "Hope she found a target and didn't have to just waste them as a diversion."

"Had to dump mine and leave them. I couldn't get anywhere safe to detonate without killing a lot of civilians."

They moved into the ship. It took another ten minutes before Jyn and Cassian appeared, sipping at cups of caf as though it was just another day. They joined Bodhi and K in the cockpit. "Leader, report. Team set."

There was silence and Bodhi glanced at Cassian. "Try again?"

"Not yet. Give him a few more minutes. He may simply not be able to answer at the moment."

Tonc came up behind them. "Secure for launch as soon as Melshi arrives."

"Bodhi, go out and do a walk around of the ship. Pretend to check on a few things outside. That will help explain our delay." Cassian slid in to replace Bodhi in the pilot's seat as he exited.

Another five minutes ticked by, and Tonc went out to seemingly assist Bodhi with the inspection, but finally they returned to avoid looking suspicious. "Anything?" Bodhi questioned nervously.

"Not yet. Stay calm." Cassian gave no evidence of concern and Bodhi tried to let that reassure him.

"Maybe I should—"

"No, Jyn. Stay here. Give it time. Give—"

"Leader in sight. Be there momentarily."

Jyn and Tonc moved to the ramp to watch for pursuit, but Melshi was soon aboard and the ramp closed.

"Where are we headed?" Cassian asked.

"I plotted a course for Hosnian Prime. The routing will take us farthest from the location of the Star Destroyer in orbit," K-2 advised.

Melshi came up behind them. "Star Destroyer?"

Bodhi squeezed in also. "Yeah, it just suddenly showed up. No idea why, but I thought it best that we cancel the mission and get out of here."

"Good thinking," Melshi acknowledged. "I heard two explosions. Did we at least do a little damage?" He turned to look where the rest of the team was gathered on the hall seats.

"I got an Imperial guard station, so maybe a few Imps, too. Was the other one you, little sister?"

Jyn nodded. "Unfortunately, nothing of consequence. There was an abandoned building nearly collapsed. I just finished the job."

"Okay, everyone write up their report on what they encountered or saw that might be of use. We'll let others try to work out the reason for the Destroyer's visit. Dismissed."

xxx

"Hey, Melshi. Any chance we'll get a little down time? We've been going at it pretty hard." Jyn was again sprawled on the floor, apparently liking the space to spread out unrestricted.

The Sergeant looked up from his datapad and shook his head. "Not in the immediate future, no. Until we get a base going, I suspect we'll need to keep at it."

She turned away. "Yeah, I was afraid of that. Seems like I spend most of my time either sleeping or blowing things up. It almost – almost – makes me hope they hurry up and get the base built on Hoth. Not crazy about spending time on an ice planet, though."

"With Cassian onboard now, at least we get some decent meals. That helps, right?" Bodhi suggested.

She smiled at him. "Yeah, it helps. Overworked and bad meals – not good. I've had too much of that in my life."

"Hey, listen. Remember that marketplace where we stopped? I found an old holoprojector for sale, cheap but I got it working. They also had a few holodrama disks – not much of a selection, but I got the adventure ones since I thought everyone might enjoy occasionally watching one of those. We could have a holo night now and then."

Everyone sat silently looking at Bodhi, making him suddenly less certain about his suggestion. He had thought they would like the idea…

"What disks did you get?" Tonc finally asked, not looking up from the terminal. "There were some space adventures that my family would watch together every so often. Not sure you could still find disks of those, though."

The question eased Bodhi's discomfort. "I got about a dozen disks. I'll let you look through them to see if anything interests you."

"The only holo I ever remember seeing was when I was a child. It was called…'The-something-Stair'…no Stairway…Octave. It was Octave. The Octave Stairway. Once I was with Saw, holos were a thing of the past unless they were instructional."

It was rare for Jyn to reveal so much of her past. To make her less self-conscious, Cassian replied, "You're still up on me. I don't recall ever seeing a full holodrama. I maybe caught glimpses over the years, but never watched one all the way through. They weren't really something we did on Fest."

"Sounds like maybe I've got the upper hand here," Melshi said. All heads turned in his direction. "I loved all stories as a kid – whether in book form on a datapad or visual on a holoprojector. Watched everything I could, sometimes even multiple times." He became thoughtful. "I haven't done that in years. Books were easier to come by and enjoy during downtime." He turned to grin at Bodhi. "Thanks. That should be an enjoyable break for us. If K-2 will watch the controls, maybe we can find something to watch before we sack out."

"I'll go get them." Bodhi climbed to his feet, relieved at the interest. When he returned, he teased, "Sorry, Jyn, no Octave Stairway, I'm afraid."

She made a face at him. "Well, then, find some Spaceman Spiff or such for Cassian, since he's never seen one."

"Spaceman…Spiff? What? That's not a real holo, is it?" Bodhi handed the disks to Tonc as he stared down at her.

She shrugged. "I don't know. Don't all the heroes have names like that? Spaceman Spiff, Captain Courageous, Vax the Vanquisher?"

"Ooookay… Looks like you need to watch a few more holos than Octave Stairway yourself. Spaceman Spiff? Really?"

Everyone chuckled, but Chirrut chimed in, "I would agree with Jyn. I would enjoy watching the adventures of Spaceman Spiff. He sounds as though he would live an exciting life."

"Don't encourage her," Baze retorted. "No Spaceman Spiff. That's the end of it."

"Spoilsport," Jyn sniffed, not looking particularly bothered by it. "Fine, you shot down my suggestion, so one of you will have to choose. Just no romance."

"You got something against romance, Erso?" Tonc asked as he walked over to join them, still sifting through the disks.

"Not for its own sake, no, but I occasionally glimpsed a bit of a couple of those and they are so fake. No one in love acts like that. Oh, Reg, if you leave me I'll just die!"

"They have to do that stuff so you'll know what they think and feel," Tonc replied. "If they all acted like you and Captain Andor, they'd just stand close together, and occasionally cast fond gazes at each other while barely touching or admitting to any feelings. Boring to watch, even if you're satisfied living it."

She stuck out her tongue at him. "Sorry we aren't entertaining enough for you, Corporal, but since you barely ever look at anything other than a computer terminal or food, how would you even know how Cassian and I act?"

"Well, actually—"

"Shut it, Baze. Don't back him up on this for your own amusement!" Jyn snapped, feigning irritation.

He grinned at her then reminded, "We were going to watch a holo, not enact one amongst ourselves…?"

"Got one." Tonc held up a disk. "As I recall, I enjoyed this the few times I saw it."

"I'll set up the projector. We'll do it near the doorway. K-2 said he would watch the controls if we played it so he could listen as well."

To be continued…

invented characters:

Sergeant Daster – head of the tech shop on the tech frigate

Dr Lesorid – kind doctor caring for Cassian

Isk-Gun Jul – bounty hunter

Marika Tonc – cousin of Rogue One team member Stordan Tonc

All other characters actually are taken from the existing Star Wars universe.

ch 19 note: Kudos to you if you recognize the origin of Spaceman Spiff. If you don't, you're missing out! Google 'Spaceman Spiff' and check out the wiki article. [Spaceman Spiff, "interplanetary explorer extraordinaire," explores the outermost reaches of the universe "by popular request" in a red flying saucer with a bubble canopy. Despite his title as an explorer, he frequently engages in conflict with aliens, sometimes with seemingly far-reaching implications.]