Chapter 2: A Rude Awakening
Cassian woke up to silence with the ringing sound of death still echoing through his head.
His arms, all at once, felt empty. Jyn Erso is alive. His body was sluggish and he realised, after trying to lift an arm, that he was tied down to a bed with restraints. So much for a good start to the day.
Memories and thoughts flooded his head, disjointed and loud. A wall of light, small hands holding onto him desperately, an elevator descending slowly into what he knew was The End. I'm not alone in the End. Bodhi and Chirrut and Baze and K-2SO, Oh K2, what did they do to you? lying on Scarif, empty eyes staring up at the sky, at the beacon of hope that their mission granted the Rebellion. He remembered closing his eyes, breathing in and holding onto Jyn, happy beyond words that she was there with him and angrier than he'd ever been that the days, the hours he could have had in which she might have looked into his eyes again, like she had in the elevator, hours in which he could have asked her what her favourite food was or places he could take her that she'd never been, those hours were nothing but a fantasy his mind eagerly clung to in the moments he knew he had left.
And then they were alive and breathing, strange men surrounding them in stranger surroundings. Cassian couldn't remember much of what happened after his body flared up in agonizing pain soon after and his mind became numb, but he did remember Jyn Erso and the eyes he'd told himself he'd never see again. The final thoughts of a dying man now rattled around in his head, the what ifs and could haves he'd realised tormenting his thoughts because it was all well and good to be caught up in the moment, knowing that the fantasies were probably his own brain's way of giving himself comfort. It was an entirely different notion when those fantasies slammed head-first into a wall of reality.
Cassian's awareness of his surroundings grew like a forest fire and dim voices floated to his deaf ears. He attempted to open his eyes but stopped, catching a snippet of the conversation.
"… know Jyn, we've had lunch together in the mess hall. She's a kind, carefree soul. This Jyn looks like she's been through a war and worse." a woman's voice drifted from somewhere further away.
"The important question is whether or not we can trust them, Captain. If they have indeed lost their memories, then the state they are in cannot be explained through the stories of the rest of their landing party, who saw them moments before beaming up. It is logical to assume that something must have happened in between their last moments on the planet and their re-assembly on the ship."
"I know, Spock. I keep getting this feeling that they're not the Officers we're all familiar with. But the medical shows that they are, in every way, Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor, if a little rougher around the edges according to Bones. The only plausible explanation I can think of based on past experience is that they are from a Mirror 'verse, but it could be a whole new ballgame for all we know."
There was a deep sigh and Cassian strained to hear as the man's voice became quiet.
"I don't know if we can trust them, but they're injured and they've not hostile towards anyone. For now. The story that Jyn told is so bizarre that I doubt they were sent here to infiltrate the Enterprise, else they haven't done their homework in making it believable. I'd say we keep them confined until we find out more about them. Spock, if we decide that they could be a danger, will you be willing to use the mind-meld to extract information?"
"Yes, Captain, although I suggest it only if necessary as the procedure is quite intrusive and I would rather not perform it when their minds are still recovering."
"Yeah no shit it's intrusive." The other man laughed as the group lapsed into silence.
Cassian dared to open his eyes, squinting immediately at the light. His surroundings were unfamiliar, something resembling a medbay and yet something entirely different. The bunk he lay on was comfortable, more comfortable than he ever remembered. He glanced around and saw three people staring straight at him with guarded looks from across the room- two men and a woman, all dressed in bright coloured uniforms with strange insignia on their chests. But his eyes were drawn to the bed beside his, in which lay…
"Jyn." He groaned, his body stiff from the pain and lack of mobility. He knew he still couldn't move due to the restraints but he damn well tried to.
"Officer Andor?"
Cassian looked up as the small party approached his bed, a fourth man joining them in a rush through a nearby doorway. He stopped right next to Cassian and began waving some sort of device over his entire body, which, to no one's surprise, made the Rebel Captain pretty ill-disposed. But when nothing else seemed to happen, Cassian relaxed back into his bunk and allowed himself to examine the people standing above him.
"I'm no officer." he said and his voice came out as a rasp. "What happened to us? Who are you?"
The strangers looked at each other and the man in the yellow shirt turned to him.
"You are aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, a Federation Ship. In our records you serve here on a five-year mission to explore the Galaxy, an Officer Cassian Andor. You were born on a settlement planet called Kaytoo and joined Starfleet at the age of 16. Based on our latest information, you were sent planetside to Jalta 5 together with Officer Erso and six others to scout out the cities for any hostility before a landing party would be sent to greet the government. While every other member of the landing party beamed back without difficulties, during your trip there appeared to be a malfunction."
Jalta 5? Beaming? Federation? Cassian's confusion and suspicion only grew as the man continued speaking. So far he had not heard anything concerning the Empire or the Death Star, but for all he knew this could all just be an elaborate trap set up to get information out of him.
"Your injuries are inexplicable to us and as far as we know, both of you were completely fine before the beaming process. My theory thus far is that you two are from a Mirror Universe, a parallel world where Jyn and Cassian led very different lives. Ms. Erso already gave us a story which seems to at least make the theory more likely, but we need confirmation from you in order to make sure you're not spies or enemies."
Cassian's worry grew as the man continued to speak. If his theory were true, then they had somehow appeared, through this process called 'beaming', in a completely different universe instead of their counterparts of this world. But if so, then where did these counterparts end up? What kind of world was this, in which he was an officer aboard a starship and no one seemed to worry about the Empire?
And what could he possibly tell this man?
"I do not know how much I should trust you." began Cassian wearily. "You have me restrained and my friend is unconscious. I have no idea how I got here or why and I do not recognise any of the places you speak of. For all I know you could be working for the Empire and trying to get information out of me."
The man with a pallid complexion and pointy ears stepped forward. He was unlike any creature Cassian had met before, but then again he'd not met every alien in the Galaxy.
"Captain, might it be prudent, given the situation, to use the mind-meld? Perhaps establishing trust in one direction would be more useful than no trust at all on either side. I will attempt to make it as unintrusive as my control allows."
The man he could now recognise as the Captain looked pensive for a moment before nodding. The pointy-eared man stepped closer to Cassian and he stiffened, ready to try everything he could to get away if the need arose. He clenched his teeth as the man placed his hand on Cassian's face and—
"My mind to your mind."
My thoughts to your thoughts.
I am Commander Spock of the Enterprise. Do not be afraid. This is a mind-meld, a direct link between our minds that allows me to better communicate with you. We do not wish to harm you and I promise to leave any thoughts you desire to yourself. Before I ask you to show your version of events, allow me to show you ours.
Information and images began to circuit through Cassian's mind, just slow enough for him to keep up and yet too fast to consider. He saw a giant starship, men and women in uniforms working. He saw himself, clean-shaven and young and whole, in a way he'd never known himself to be. He saw and immediately understood the transporter beam and filtered through a hundred and one stories of travels and planets and, above all, an overwhelming peace. This was not a universe without war, but it was nothing compared to the dirt and hostility of the Empire and the Rebellion. He understood that the Captain- Jim Kirk- was from a planet called Earth and that Spock was from Vulcan.
Finally, the flow of information slowed and he watched as Captain Kirk gave out orders for a landing party to go down to Jalta 5. His heart sped as he recognised Jyn, who stood on the opposite side of the room to his other self, clean and healthier than he'd ever seen her look, without the haunting pierce of her darkened eyes. But that wasn't all.
He recognised Bodhi too, so very different in his Starfleet uniform and without the both haunting and haunted look in his eyes. He saw Chirrut, still blind and still so much the Chirrut he knew in his proud, smiling stance. Baze too was there, his long hair replaced by a military cut, his broad shoulders towering over the rest of the crew. There were others there, people he didn't recognise, but it was the sight of the very heart of Rogue One, alive and well again, that had Cassian shaking, his hearbeat running away from him as though he were faced with the Death Star's wall of destruction yet again.
There is something that troubles you.
Spock's voice had a twinge of concern in its stoicism and Cassian attempted to calm himself down. If he believed these memories to be true, then himself and Jyn were stuck in this world in which no threat of the Empire existed and where a benevolent Federation dedicated itself to exploration and the occasional confrontation with a hostile force. If he believed them, then the most likely thing to have happened was that the happy and healthy Cassian and Jyn took their place in the Death Star's inferno and he felt unbidden grief well up inside him because in that moment, he believed the story thoroughly. He would have wanted these alternate versions of themselves, untainted by war and blood, to live out their lives as they had always been meant to.
Instead, here were broken versions of those people, who'd already resigned themselves to death and yet lived instead. He remembered the prayers he'd sent to the Force in those last moments of breath he thought he'd had, but now he would gladly take the fate assigned to them and slam his blood-inked book shut.
I can sense your distress. If you would share with me what you can of your memories, it would help us determine whether or not we can trust you and Officer Erso. I understand your trepidation, but we cannot allow either of you to be free on board the ship if we do not know your intentions. I am fully capable of extracting them from your mind by force but I do not wish to do that if you mean us no harm.
Every fibre in Cassian's body rebelled against the idea of revealing his thoughts to a stranger. Years of training and experience with the Resistance had taught him that information was worth everything and the moment the enemy held any of it against you, you were a goner. But beyond that was his absolute and utter inability to trust anyone, grown from the fertile grounds of loneliness, bloodshed and regrets. Anyone except Jyn his mind whispered and he slammed the thought away as soon as it formed.
There was no choice. He had to trust Spock because there was no other option. Either way the thoughts could be taken from him and he knew, in his heart, that if it were the Empire that had them, they wouldn't bother with the theatrics and would simply torture the information out of them. He thought of the incredible story that he'd just learned and realised that he wanted it to be true.
"Fascinating." muttered Spock as he finally lifted his hand from Cassian's face. The rebel captain's eyes flew open and he attempted to sit up only to be caught by the restraints and forced back onto the bed.
"Spock you'd better not be going around crippling my patients."
"That was…" Cassian blinked a few times before allowing the tension in his muscles to relax. Spock lowered his head.
"I apologise, Captain Andor, the effects of the mind-meld can be quite… intense for those that have not had the experience in the past."
"Captain Andor?"
"Yes Captain, it appears as though this man is indeed from a parallel Universe. However, unlike our previous encounters with our counterparts, this Universe has taken a tragically different path, one that is unrecognisable to us in any form, an iteration so far away from our branch that there are almost no similarities. None, that is, except for the people known as Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor and possibly other small coincidences. Their galaxy is ravaged by a tyrannical dictatorship, the 'Empire' as Cassian has referred to previously. Both Captain Andor and Ms. Erso are, or rather were, a part of the Resistance, a movement that has been opposing the Empire for many years."
"So you're a rebel." James Kirk grinned at Cassian. "I'm thinking we could get along. What about our Jyn and Cassian then? Can we swap everyone back like last time?"
Spock was about reply but he was cut short by Cassian, whose eyes were suddenly clouded in shadow, his face twisted in something pained and angry as he spat out:
"They're dead. If what I understood from Commander Spock is right, we were caught in your beam's malfunction at the exact moment that the Empire's wrath would have finally claimed us. There would have been no escape. And now there is no way for us to go back."