Chapter 5: Future Guardian

Jonas' information wasn't thorough, but it was solid. Mara and Cassian spent a night on Tatooine, then headed for Babyli, a moon in a more or less desolate system not too far from Alderaan. Cassia was unsurprised to learn that was where the pirates were operating out of. He was, in fact, slightly disappointed to find them in such an obvious location.

And yet not so obvious. Babyli was a hub, a trading post, a refuge, an off the charts mishmash of whatever life the galaxy happened to throw into its clutches.

Anything could hide there.

Including a Rebel spy and a mysterious woman known vaguely as the Emperor's Hand. Cassian led them expertly through the crowded streets, thinking that whatever might have lived on the underside of a world like Coruscant had ended up here.

Then again, the underside of Coruscant held a far more subtle darkness.

They passed crying babies, scampering children. Florists handling bouquets that might have been alive once, stems now preserved in a gel that allowed the semblance of life for a week or more. Weavers offering the pick of styles across the galaxy, no doubt three years behind the current trends. Scavengers and their go-betweens haggling over the bottom line. Activists shouting in front of their holos, as if they could be heard over the din. Fortune tellers. Pilgrims. Food of unimaginable variety and questionable digestibility.

It was hot, and it was chaotic. And as far as Cassian was concerned, it was safe.

After a few inquiries, he found them lodging – staying at the ship would have been easiest, but might have attracted attention to the vessel and the reprogrammed Imperial droid on board. As he turned from making the arrangements, Cassian caught something unexpected in the wide eyes and hungry stare of the girl next to him.

Mara was young. Much younger than he'd thought, and younger than himself, certainly. Regarding her now, he caught the one detail he'd missed: that no woman of experience, who carried the title of "Emperor's Hand," could possibly fall for the charms of a man such as himself.

He wasn't that good.

Which meant that Mara had had little experience with men.

For the first time, he felt a rush of shame. He was corrupting something, something Imperial, but it was still his fault. It was still an innocence.

Then, in a sudden rush of anger at the Empire that would take a girl and set her to whatever horrific tasks an Imperial assassin of the highest rank was deployed for, he found and re-shouldered his purpose.

They were not so different, he and Mara, and he had a job to do.

She turned and smiled at him, artless and trusting, and he took her hand as he said, "Come on," and led her through the busy streets to their room.

**RogueLegends**

There was something different this time, though Mara could not have said why. Cassian was not, in her brief experience of the man, a rough or hurried lover. If she'd had to chose a word for him, it would have been calculated, an impression which should have unnerved her, but which worked out quite well in the bedroom.

This night was different. A little of the control slipped, a little of the mask faded, and Mara felt she was making contact with something that was usually sheltered, something with a shyness tinged with desperation. It was not an entirely successful transaction, but for all that, Mara felt a certain satisfaction when they were through. He had panted and sweated, devoted his entire body to her in a way she didn't recognize until the end, when his eyes as they looked at her were, of all things, troubled. She felt suddenly that all that effort had been spent in trying to give her something. She didn't know what it was, and she wondered if he did.

The thought left her cold.

Sensing this even as they drifted off, he pulled her to him, and until she heard her own name ring in her mind from across the galaxy, she could forget all the unanswered questions between them.

It was a summons.

**RogueLegends**

They had separated, Mara slipping away and blending effortlessly into the crowd to "check in," whatever that meant. Cassian stood near a cluster of vendors with brightly shrouded stalls, too weary to really watch the crowd. It took the full on human contact of touch on his arm to rouse him.

The tiny woman, humanoid, withered and brittle, looked up at him with eyes like iron. "This, I do for free," she said, tugging his sleeve as she turned. With a frown and a curiosity he had no will to fight, Cassian obeyed.

He took in the stall's contents: cards, crystals, a variety of incense, most of which mixed in the thickened air, but the woman shook her head.

"Misdirection. Baubles. The necessary accessories of dealing with customers who only know what they can see. With you, I need no such distractions, eh?"

Cassian could only blink at her.

"Hmph. To the point then. Do you know the fire with which you're playing?"

His hand tightened around the strap of his knapsack. "My mission…"

She shook her head. "I'm not talking about the mission. I'm talking about the girl."

He went cold. The mission…she could have guessed. No doubt he looked like a man with a purpose to any keen observer. But Mara…

She was nodding now, even an inexpert reader of humans could have told they'd hit the mark. "Flame caged in darkness and duty, she is, but her destiny is even greater than yours."

Cassian's lips twitched wryly. "I've never put much stock in destiny."

"Ironic, that, as it's put so much stock in you." The woman approached him, wrapping her gnarled fingers around his callused ones. "Do not worry for your soul, Cassian Andor. When the true battle comes, you will do what is right."

Ignoring the flash of discomfort and alarm her use of his full, correct name ignited, Cassian pulled away. "Unless you have something more concrete to tell me, I'll take my leave now."

"How's this for concrete? She will outlive you."

**RogueLegends**

The prophecy wasn't just substantive, it was comforting. Cassian moved through the streets with a new lightness to his step. Whatever horrors awaited them, he would not have to take Mara's life. And even if he had to try, he would not be successful.

**RogueLegends**

The summons was not an official one. Mara had means other than the Force of contacting her master, and by those means she learned that he mostly wanted a report of their progress. "Slow," she told him honestly, and was both relieved and alarmed when he didn't push it further. He called her "my child," and she understood that, somehow, her relationship with the mysterious Cassian had gotten back to him.

Between that and the incongruent semi-facts that had emerged about Cassian over the last few days, she was starting to get a sick and knotted feeling in the pit of her stomach. Consequently, she was not in a very good mood when she rejoined him and answered his nearly cheerful "hello" with a grunt. He frowned, but didn't press it, and she found another reason to like this person she shouldn't trust and the Emperor didn't approve of. The knot got bigger.

Mara had the sense that, whatever happened in between, this wouldn't end well.