As usual the only excuse for the frequency (or lack thereof) of the chapters is my struggle with my degree- but the story continues! I wanted to thank you all for the engaging feedback and to reassure you all that there's most definitely a plot in the making here. Think 'City on the Edge of Forever' if you'd like.

I sometimes feel as though I wrote far too much introspection in this story though I think the biggest part of it right now IS the way the characters feel about the situation. I'm worried about moving it forward too quickly before building the right bridges. Tell me what you think in the comments if you can be bothered!

Enjoy the joy that is the merging of two epic sci-fi fandoms!

Chapter 6: Home

Galen Walton Erso, born 2218.45 (aged 45 standard years) to Kyrel and Gemma Erso, husband of Lyra and father of Jyn Erso. Head of Life-Support Engineering at Starfleet, currently stationed at the Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco, Earth. Graduated Starfleet academy with Highest Honours, holds a number of human awards including the Nobel Prize for Physics and the Zee-Magnees Prize for his innovations in xenogenous life-sustaining technologies…

Jyn sighed, switching off the reading pad and closing her eyes. The backlit words of the paragraph continued dancing in her vision, making her head spin. It may have been the hundredth time she'd read the article and every time her gut felt like it had been slammed with a blaster shot.

Of course, Galen would be a scientist in this universe and a genius no less. She wondered what his life may have turned out like if the Empire hadn't recruited him to build the one thing he couldn't put his heart and mind into. A man with a mind like her father may have saved millions of lives instead of taking them away.

But then, in a way, he had.

She grasped at her mother's necklace, feverishly praying that the Deathstar plans will have made it to the right hands, that the warmachine which had taken everything from her would soon itself be blasted into nothingness. It's true that even the little she had learned to hold dear in her universe was probably gone, but she'd fight tooth-and-nail to return and finish the job herself, to make sure that the Empire paid the price for what it had done to her family and her friends.

Guilt, unbidden, wormed itself through her consciousness. Cassian's shocked face floated in her mind and she grit her teeth, thinking of his endless war. He deserved the freedom he had in this world, she had no right to take it away from him. He'd given his entire life to the Rebellion while she had only just begun the journey. He was happy here.

Freedom-

-was something she wanted too. But there were years to go still, before her father's gaunt face and unseeing eyes stopped haunting her.

She would have to learn to leave Cassian behind if the opportunity ever presented itself.

She sighed, letting go of the kyber hanging around her neck and searching for some sort of distraction in her new home. The room was spacious enough but it held nothing to latch onto, nothing to distract her tumbling thoughts and her churning stomach. There was an unrest in her heart and Jyn didn't know how to tame it. She needed space to think.

Her eyes fell on the keypad by her door and she sighed. It could only be so long that she could avoid interacting with this brave new world she'd landed in. And if nothing else, Jyn Erso was no coward.

It was time to face the USS Enterprise and her crew.

000000

"Long hair."

"Yes."

"And a cannon."

Cassian sighed, the words still echoing fake in his head as he tried to grasp the gruff and consistently far-too-direct personality of Officer Baze Malbus. It was disorientating- familiar and foreign in superposition.

"It was a heavy repeater cannon yes. Baze was very fond of it, at least as far as I knew him."

"Huh."

Other-Baze lifted a mug of his beer and took a long swig, his eyes only ever pausing their constant vigilance for a moment or two. He regarded Cassian with an infinite edge of distrust but, the rebel captain noted, the look had indeed softened in their ten minutes of conversation. It seemed as though this Baze retained the assassin's instincts of his counterpart, if without practicing the actual profession.

"I don't suppose you knew him all that well then, seeing as though you met two days before he died. Sounds like your universe is a harsh place."

"It is." Cassian inclined his head and continued to sip the wine which, apparently, had been other-Cassian favourite drink and he found he enjoyed immensely. "I'm glad to find that there are existences other than ours in the… well, not the universe I suppose. I'm glad they're out there."

Baze allowed a silent pause in the conversation, his eyes finally drifting away from his companion and focusing on the stars twinkling in the massive viewing screen surrounding them.

"I'm sorry." He said after a moment and Cassian looked up in surprise. "I was angry at you, you know. Angry that Cassian and Jyn were dead, angry that some impostors who should have died instead replaced them. And I know it wasn't your fault and now I see that you're good people, so… I'm sorry. Your—other Cassian's, our Cassian's—sister, Keira, loved him more than anything in the world. He was the brave big brother exploring the galaxy and beating up bad guys."

"What was he like?" Cassian asked quietly, almost in a whisper.

"A good man." Baze's lips twitched upwards fondly. "Cassian Andor cared for people around him, cared for his family. I only met him a year ago on one of the planet-side missions and he taught me how to reprogram my info pad to play music. He was someone you could make friends with in an instant. A lot of us miss him."

Cassian hung his head, both in respect for the fallen man he'd never known and in shame. His own history was marred with nothing but deceit and violence. Surely this universe would have been a hundred times better off with Cassian Andor the friend and brother than Cassian Andor the spy and soldier. He resolved once more to try and right his way while he had the chance, to help in any way he could with this mission of peace.

"You know what I find interesting? That you and I would find each other in a different universe, just as Jyn and Cassian seemed to have found each other." Baze said after a moment. "Seems like some sort of existential karma thing. It was strange enough to see two Kirks running around but knowing that there's another me on some strange planet with Chirrut and a portable cannon… it's fucking weird you know."

"I'll admit the idea of some stranger walking around wearing my face with no knowledge of the Empire is almost impossible to fathom. I still keep expecting to just wake up and find that it was all a dream. I'm a soldier, bred for war, stuck in a world in which the war never existed and I'll admit my hands feel empty without a blaster in them."

Cassian paused, trying to sort out the beehive of his mind before he could ask the next question. His emotions tumbled all over the place and the philosophical tone of their conversation had not helped him ground himself in any way, shape or form whatsoever.

"Cassian and Jyn, did they… did they know each other then?"

Baze looked at him in silence for a couple of moments, his gaze inscrutable. Then, all of a sudden, he threw his head back and began barking with laughter. Cassian almost leapt out of his chair in surprise.

"Those two? Don't even get me started. I know you told me about how you only met myself, Chirrut, Bodhi and Jyn from your universe a couple of days ago, but we've got a history of on this ship amongst ourselves."

Baze took a long swig of his drink and then looked at Cassian almost as though he was trying to convey something through the look, seeking out an answer to a question he hadn't voiced out loud.

"I told you how I met Cassian about a year ago and I've known Chirrut for most of the three years I've been aboard the Enterprise. Bodhi's only become part of the team as recently as last month when we all got sent on a planet-side exploration mission, but the kid's got guts and I like him. Jyn though? I met Jyn some months ago when she was just a brand-new transfer from another ship. I remember it clear as day- yelling her skinny self hoarse in the mess hall about our treatment of the Nechani. And the man she was yelling at was none other than our own friend home-verse Cassian Andor. Apparently the two had managed to get into an argument about tolerance, morality and religion without even having properly been introduced."

Baze chuckled again, his eyes unfocused as he reminisced.

"Long story short, within the hour we were all enamoured with the feisty creature, daughter of the renowned scientist Galen Erso. She gave Cassian a hell of a talk and wore him down pretty damn quick. Never have I met someone with half as much passion about her beliefs- except for maybe the Captain and Scotty, those two could move a galaxy if they set their minds to it." Then he looked straight at Cassian, again. "That wasn't nearly the last argument yo—those two had. Jyn and Cassian were like fire and ice half of the time and we could only pray for those who decided to try and step in to split them. It just so happened that they also made one of the best operational teams on the ship together so soon enough it was Andor and Erso this and Andor and Erso that. The Captain's smart, he can tell when something works well and boy did them two work well together. I guess neither was slow in challenging the other's plans and strategies."

Baze smirked and Cassian felt heat rising up his neck.

"You know we always joked about them arguing like a married couple and they did end up spending an insane amount of time in each other's presence over the last few months. It was a friendship that was clear to see to anyone who even glanced. Personally I was just waiting for the ball to drop- they were some of my closest friends at this point after all and I did enjoy Cassian squirm when anyone even mentioned Jyn. Yes, you know exactly what I'm talking about." Baze said, changing his tone at Cassian's look of embarrassment and revelation, sounding far too much like an admonishing best friend. "It might be weird hearing about this when you've only known your Jyn for a few days but I'm about ninety percent sure that ours were practically soulmates. Even if it might have taken them another ten years to figure it out for themselves."

Then Baze sighed, his face turning into a deep-lined frown and for once, he truly reminded Cassian of the Baze of his memories, war-weary and old, tired. His eyes scanned Cassian's face as though searching for something inscrutable.

"You look just like him. Maybe a little more tired and skinny, but you're him. I'm not the kind of man who makes friends easily and this… this group of people that I met aboard the Enterprise mean the world to me. I'm sorry if I still see our Cassian when I look at your face and I still feel like teasing you when I speak of Jyn. It will take me a while to deal with what we've lost."

Cassian hung his head again, the sadness of the other man growing a guilt inside him that he'd almost forgotten. Here he was trying to draw parallels between himself and this other Cassian, speaking of him as though he were a character in some twisted story, when Baze had lost him, a real person, a real friend that had been right there just a few days ago.

"I'm sorry."

Baze said nothing for a couple of moments, staring out into the viewscreen void of the universe and then shook his head.

"I'm not getting over them being gone any time soon, but I'm not going to hold some stupid grudge against you either. If you like, you can join myself and Bodhi at the mess and the gym any time. God knows you're probably finding this a lot harder than we are and that's saying something."

"I… I'd like that." Cassian said, feeling himself warm a little. It was a tentative step but a step nonetheless in finding himself a place in this world. "I'll try and find my way around the ship somehow."

"Well then, 1100 standard time tomorrow at the mess, I'll tell Bodhi. He won't believe me the little rogue, but he'll see for himself anyway."

Cassian almost choked at the mention of the word 'rogue' but saved himself before he spilled any drink on himself. A wave of affection radiated through him and he felt himself smiling.

"I'll get going then, d'you want me to show you the way back to your quarters?"

Cassian looked up at the expanse of stars on the screen, his brain's circuitry running wild after the conversation and he shook his head. "Thanks, I'll stay and finish my drink first. There's a lot to think about."

Baze nodded and clapped his hand on Cassian's shoulder.

"I may have lost a friend but that doesn't mean I can't make a new one. I'll see you tomorrow."

And with that he walked away, leaving Cassian behind to marvel at what he'd just been offered.

00000

The moment Jyn stepped out through her door she felt on edge. The alien environment unsettled her. She pondered knocking on Cassian's door, the need for his presence now an itch after their shared few days at the medbay but she decided against it- the man needed rest more than anything and he may already be asleep.

She wandered through the ship's corridors in no particular direction, her mind swimming with thoughts about her father and of mornings where she would kiss her mother on the cheek. She felt a strange kind of emptiness- an absence of something that her mind now clung to with a fervent need. It was a hole cut in her soul by the very knowledge that some version of her, somewhere in existence, had had this. The family. The happy life.

Unbidden, Cassian's face came to her mind and with it a sensation of relief. She didn't ponder it, but clung to the sensation and realised, that while she'd never had the family life she'd wanted, the last week had given her the opportunity to experience what having a family really was- caring for people, having someone who cared for you, having some sort of home.

I'm not used to people sticking around when things go bad.

Welcome home.

She was startled out of her reverie when she saw someone approaching her from down the long, winding corridor, calling her name.

"Jyn! I'm sorry I didn't mean to startle you I just…"

It was the woman in red from the medbay, the one who had spoken with the captain and Scotty and Bones and the stone-faced Spock. She struggled to remember her name, but was saved before she made any stupid remarks.

"… I just wanted to check that you were doing alright. It's Nyota, by the way. Nyota Uhura." She smiled, extending her hand and Jyn took it, feeling herself relax in the pleasant aura of the strange woman. "I know that I'll never fully understand what you're going through but if it helps, I've had the pleasure of visiting a universe in which I was a man-seducing, killing machine with a terrible taste in clothing. I know how strange it is to find yourself in an entirely different world."

Jyn nodded, unsure of what to say.

"I was just about to explore the ship." She managed and Nyota smiled.

"Well I just finished my shift so I've got a little time to myself. I can give you a little tour if you'd like? It's better than wandering around aimlessly in this place, trust me. The best you'll get to is getting lost."

Jyn was dumbfounded by the openness and friendship she was being offered and her instinct to question it almost made her turn the offer down. But the few days of cognitive re-conditioning she'd had to do to deal with the idea of this entire universe made her nod instead.

"Thank you."

"Brilliant." Nyota waved at a passing officer and smiled at Jyn. "Let's start with the command room?"