Disclaimer: Though I am a fan of Star Wars I am not as well versed as many, so there very probably will be some discrepancies with my story. Please note that this entire story is a divergence from canon, so if you have a problem with some of my mistakes just think of it that way. Thank you!
7
a·me·lio·rate
To make or become better, more bearable, or more satisfactory.
Jyn knew very little about Corellia but Cassian seemed almost energized as they touched down in the concrete shipyard that edged around the city.
"This is where many of the pilots in the resistance have trained." He told her as he logged their ship into the system. A toll warning popped up and Jyn and Cassian exchanged a look. One of the things they didn't have was money.
"Give me an hour." Jyn said pulling on her jacket over her bandaged shoulder.
"To do what?" Cassian asked and the look she gave him told him not to ask anymore questions. Jyn gave him a mock little salute before disappearing into the crowd.
When Jyn reappeared barely forty-five minutes later Cassian was taking a cat nap inside of the ship, he'd been skimping on sleep over the past two weeks in order to get them to Lah'mu.
Jyn dropped a couple of bags of coins onto Cassian's stomach. "Lets go get supplies…" When she saw his face she held up her hands "Don't worry I didn't steal from civilians-strictly Imperial officers who wouldn't miss a couple of credits."
"Thats even more dangerous Jyn." Cassian wanted to take her by her shoulders and give her a firm shake but he instead stood "Next time I'll go with you. Just in case you get into a bind you can't get out of."
"I can look after myself Cassian." Jyn informed him, irritated by his words. She'd been doing it long enough for herself, why wouldn't he let her do it for them?
"If I remember correctly you were in prison when the Alliance found you." Cassian shot right back as they exited the ship and he began to fuel it, inserting credits into the pump. Jyn opened her mouth to protest but Cassian held up a hand to stop her.
"I just want to make sure that you are safe." He said gently as the fuel pump finished up, "I know you can do things by yourself. But you shouldn't have to, thats what having friends is for."
Jyn had no argument to back that up so she just kept her mouth shut at they closed the ship and headed into the marketplace.
People bustled everywhere around them and people called at them from their stalls-urging them to come and peruse their wares.
Jyn and Cassian stopped only at the stalls that they needed, purchasing oil for the old stove in the ship and fresh meat and vegetables along with other more sensible dehydrated rations. They also purchased new clothing as the clothes they were in were dirty, bloodied and tattered.
After they'd finished and were ladened down with parcels they headed back to the ship, stowing everything away.
"I'm going to head to the junkyard to try and find something for the hyperdrive-we can't keep travelling the way we are it's not smart. I've hooked up the water pump to the ship so you can try taking a shower, I don't know how well it will work since-"
"The ship is so old." Jyn finished for him and he grinned at her, their earlier disagreement all but forgotten by a day of relative ease that they hadn't felt in a long time.
After Cassian left Jyn gathered her new clothes, fully intending to toss the old ones into the trash, and a bar of soap that smelled of vanilla (it had been a splurge purchase on her part) and headed into the tiny little restroom that was at the back of the ship.
It was barely big enough for her to stand in and the shower was even smaller. She twisted one of the knobs, fully expecting it to not work, but when water rushed through the spout-brown at first and then clear-she grinned to herself.
She took longer in the shower than she probably should have, massaging the soap into her skin and lathering her hair several times.
When she emerged dressed in a pair of light brown trousers and and a soft blue shirt she felt better than she had in a long time.
She was just re-bandaging her arm when Cassian came back into the ship, his arms fulled of different metal objects.
"Are you any good with ship repair?" he asked, dropping the pieces onto the floor.
"I can replace something if you guide me through it, but by myself? Probably not."
"I could use a second pair of hands, the faster we get this ship in good running condition the faster we can get to Tatooine."
Jyn put away the rest of the medical kit and stood, "Lets see what we can get done before it's too dark tonight." She moved past him and out of the ship, leaving him blinking at the vanilla scent that followed her.
They stayed on Corellia for a week, working most of the day on the ship. Whenever Cassian needed a new part Jyn would disappear for a while and return with it. Cassian had decided that after the first day that he wouldn't press her anymore about her thievery. They needed to get to Tatooine and neither of them could drop everything and get a job.
Finally, the ship was as good as it was going to get. On their last night on Corellia Jyn was attempting to cook something that didn't come out of a dehydrated rations packet.
"Question," Cassian began, coming up behind her and causing her to jump. She'd been staring at the meat as it sizzled in the pan. "Did you put any spices on that?"
"Spices?" Jyn asked, she'd never used them before. Then again, she rarely ever cooked and even then she'd usually just thrown the meat into the pan-it tasted good enough to her.
Cassian looked mock offended and he bumped her out of the way with his hip "I'm glad I got these then." He opened one of the storage cupboards and pulled out a paper packet.
"This is salt." He said as he sprinkled it liberally over the meat.
"I know what salt is." Jyn crossed her arms over her chest and watched as he expertly flipped the meat in the pan. "I'm surprised that Captain Cassian Andor can cook."
"Well when you are one your own you tend to pick up a few things, but yes you are right I am full of surprises."
Jyn sat on the bunk and let Cassian finish making the food and she had to admit, when he finally held a plate of sliced meat out to her, that the smell of the meat was mouthwatering.
She'd only ever had things like this when she stole enough to buy them from a food stall. The meat was tender and juicy with a little kick thanks to the salt and she found herself closing her eyes with pleasure as she ate.
Cassian watched her with a smug smile as he ate his own portion, ignoring the little twist in his stomach that came from watching her rapturous reaction to the seasoned meat.
"Good?"
"Delicious, it's going to be hard to go back to eating dehydrated food." Jyn said as she finished her food.
"Well hopefully we won't have to stick with them for too long once we get to Tatooine."
"I wonder what we are looking for on Tatooine?" Jyn asked as she took off her shoes and climbed to the top of the bunk where her bedroll had been set up.
"I don't know." Cassian replied from below as he pulled the blanket up to his chin. "But I'm sure the Force will let us know-it definitely has a way of hitting us in the face with it's directives."
Jyn would have replied, but she'd already drifted off to sleep.
The sound of someone knocking something over and cursing brought Jyn abruptly awake. She lay in the dark listening to a harshly whispered argument.
"You are going to wake them up."
"I'm not the one who nearly knocked over that compression coil."
Jyn listened to them as they rummaged through the ship and was filled with anger, who in the world had the gall to try to steal from someone's ship while they were inside it? She reached under her pillow and found her blaster.
Light filled the room as she allowed her energy to flow into the crystal and she aimed her blaster in the direction of the noise.
"You'd better drop whatever is in your hands before I shoot it out of your hands." She growled, sliding off of the bunk and landing with a soft thud. One glance at Cassian told her that he'd woken up too and was pointing his blaster at the intruders.
"Whoah! Don't shoot!" One of them shrieked and pulled his hood away from his face and Jyn gasped. They were both children!
"What are you doing on our ship?" Cassian pulled the blanket away from his legs and stood.
"Well the door wasn't locked so we came in to tell you so." The taller boy said, stepping in front of the shorter girl who looked a few years younger than him. She had bright blue skin with white markings and as Jyn looked at her closely she realized that the girl wasn't human but a Togruta.
"How kind of you." Cassian replied, narrowing his eyes at them.
"We are the wrong people to mess with. Whats your name?" Jyn asked, keeping her blaster trained on them.
"Are you going to report us to the guards?" the girl's voice shook with fear as she looked at the boy.
"I will if you don't tell me your names." Cassian lied, even if they were trying to steal he would never send Imperial guards after them.
"I'm Miira and this is my brother Thadis." The little girl stepped around Thadis despite his protests.
"Brother?" Jyn asked looking between the two at the obvious differences between them.
"We're orphans." Miira answered sheepishly. "Thad takes care of me, but we steal things from ships so we can eat."
"Miira." Thadis snapped and she shrank back behind her brother. "If you aren't going to report us we need to get going." He dragged his sister by hand with him towards the door of the ship.
"Thadis." Jyn called, stopping him. She threw a back his way, "It's not much but it'll get you something to eat. You both need to get better at stealing, maybe next time try a ship that doesn't have two armed persons in it." She advised.
Thadis paused for a moment before grudgingly nodding, pocketing the credits and continuing to drag his sister out of the ship. "Come on Miira."
"Bye! Thank you!" Miira called over her shoulder with an exuberant smile that Jyn had no doubts would fade over the years.
After they had left and Cassian had secured he turned to her with a grin, "Softie." He teased.
"Yeah, yeah. Lets get off of this planet before all of the orphans of Corellia flock here looking for a handout."
Cassian just smiled and began to flip the switches that would turn on the ship.
- Author's Note -
Not a whole lot happened in this chapter, it's mostly filler but it works out! Miira is a Togruta, which is the same species as Ahsoka Tano if you were wondering. I like to think that the more that Cassian and Jyn learn about one another and show every side of one another-even the sides that one may not like-it builds trust which is something that they could both use.
Please read and review!
-LittleMoonLover-