A/N: Has it been too long? Yes, absolutely. I'm still trying to find my rhythm in my new assignment and it's been wild. Thanks for keeping those Follows and Reviews coming! They were always pleasant surprises. On with the adventure!
"You mentioned that your last master had your memory wiped," says a boy with warm blue eyes and sandy blonde hair, looking over the desert horizon of Tatooine. "I guess I can't ask you what it might be like for me to turn my back on all this. Everything's about to change."
A dusty R2 unit bleeps in return. The boy manages a small smile, "I kinda wish I could have my memory wiped, too."
"Luke!"
The boy—Luke Skywalker—turns to see the old hermit Ben Kenobi's hooded figure stepping from behind his cottage. "Your other droid has your speeder going."
"I'll be right there," Luke replies. "You go with Ben, R2. I'll follow." As the droid wheels off, Luke fixes his gaze again on the horizon. He can see the first sun beginning to cast faint rays of yellow into the sky. I'll fix this Uncle Owen, Aunt Beru, he thinks, watching the sun as it continued its way upward, as if the day were to go on its regular course, and nothing had changed on the world Luke had known all his life. Its twin was about to follow. I promise.
Luke finally takes a deep breath and walks to the front of the cottage to meet Ben, R2 and C3PO already in the speeder. Ben's arms were folded across his chest, eyes closed. If Luke didn't know any better, he would think the hermit was asleep. But after all the stories the man had shared last night, Luke knew that almost like a morning ritual, the hermit—the Jedi—was deep in prayer.
"Master Kenobi advises to head for Mos Eisley Spaceport straight away," 3PO chimes. Luke nods and hops into the speeder, "Sit tight, then."
Jyn had just stuffed a change of clothes into her travel pack when she found herself again holding Kay-Tu's data drive in her hands. It is the morning of their departure for Tatooine, and the group had barely an hour left to meet at the hangar. Bodhi had retrieved two more travel packs from the cargo shuttle and equipped them for himself and Cassian. Jyn imagined he was already helping prep the Tua-Lu for flight.
She barely notices the knock on her door and a familiar teasing-borderline-berating tone.
"Were you always a heavy packer?"
Jyn turns slowly, making a slight effort to hide the data drive behind her, "Thank you for the blaster, by the way."
"You owe me for that one. It was one of my favorite units."
"Favorite? I didn't realize you packed with sentiment."
"There goes my image." Cassian makes a gesture to continue his way into the room. Jyn nods and watches him step close to her, gingerly circle and arm around her waist and reach for the data drive. "I saw it."
"Right," Jyn says quietly. "I just didn't want you to think of it too much."
Cassian tossed the data drive between his hands, "We'll leave it here."
"Are you sure? We can find anything on Mos Eisley. I'm sure it's absolutely teeming with Imperial forces—and droids."
"All the more reason to stay focused on the mission," Cassian said, more to himself than to his companion. "Kay-Tu will have to wait. He'd want that anyway. His data drive will be safest here."
Jyn says nothing and watches Cassian place the data drive under a pillow on her bed.
"Besides," he adds and almost winks, "I don't pack with sentiment."
Cassian makes his way to the door, hands customarily clasped behind his back. Without turning, he says, "Your pack looks too heavy!"
Jyn rolls her eyes.
The Tua-Lu was being pulled out of the hangar just as Jyn arrived, travel pack casually slung over her shoulder. Maz was nowhere in sight, but Cassian and Bodhi were escorting the ship at its flank.
"Nice of you to join us!" Bodhi calls with a wide grin on his face. He had acquired another pair of flight goggles and a fresh set of fatigues. He looked relieved to be free of his Imperial garb.
"You're looking like a rebel now more than ever," Jyn calls back with a smile. Cassian jogs forward and waves towards the viewport of the Tua-Lu, seemingly signaling the pilot inside. The ship comes to a stop and its cargo doors open with a burst of exhaust.
"After you," Cassian turns to Jyn. He follows her and Bodhi inside and to the upper deck where Maz stood behind Emmie at the control panel. She turns and smiles with glinting eyes. "All ready?"
The rebels nod in reply.
"Cassian, you will pilot alongside Emmie; Bodhi, to the tech station. Jyn, take the communications panel. All of you, buckle up. We'll go at full speed for Tatooine."
Everyone takes their positions promptly, buckling their seatbelts, securing their headsets, and engaging communication systems. Emmie begins switching controls, "Initiating flight system. Captain?"
Cassian switches controls on his side, hands sweeping expertly across the panel, "Wings lowering for take-off. Setting course towards Nymeve for orbital flight. Bodhi, thrusters to full power."
"We're at 50…70…80…"
Jyn holds her breath as the exchange of commands sends a surge of excitement down her spine. She brings her fingers around her kyber pendant and closes her eyes as the Tua-Lu's engines roar louder and louder. She feels the lift from the grassy plains of Takodana and the angular bend as the ship made its way towards orbit. Her mind starts to run clear with every step of the mission: Make it to Mos Eisley. Find Saponza and bring him back.
In between those lines her subconscious reminds her to keep Cassian, who was still recovering from Scarif, safe.
Before she knew it, the Tua-Lu made the jump to hyperspace.
"Nicely done," Maz clapped, rising from her seat and motioning around the deck, "I can trust you men with my ship perhaps in another hundred years."
Jyn sees Cassian smiling to himself as he eased his headset off, leaving his dark hair ruffled. As if realizing he was being watched, he meets her eyes and raises his brow. Jyn shrugs and quickly looks away. "How much time do we have?"
"Not too long before we land," Maz replies. "I'm more worried about how much time we'll have once we land."
"What do you mean?"
Bodhi turns in his seat. "Remember those bounty hunters I told you about? They set course before dawn this morning, apparently eager to get a head start. It's going to be a busy galaxy today."
"If there's a scramble for those 'blueprints', we can expect bounty hunters everywhere," Maz paces across the deck and looks directly at Jyn. "Even Mos Eisley will not be a place for the presumably dead."
"We'll stay low," Cassian says, earning attention from the others. "We'll have to split up and move with the crowd. If we go as a large group we'll only be asking for it. I suggest leaving Emmie here to keep the ship running and ready to fly—in case we have to abort."
Jyn clenches her fists at the probability of abandoning such a critical mission but the odds for now seemed least in their favor. She could only hope for better. "Fine. What's the split?"
"In pairs," Maz nods. "I'll take Bodhi with me to the landing bays. See if I can't recognize any of those mercenaries myself."
"I'll help you stay away from Imperial forces," Bodhi offers.
"That leaves Jyn and me to the public markets and indoor establishments," Cassian says. "We'll manage."
"Shall we start at Chalmun's Cantina?" Jyn asks.
"That would be the best place to start. We'll be lucky to find Saponza there. If not, then we'll head to the market stalls, starting with those selling spare parts."
Bodhi hesitates, "And if anything happens, where do we reconvene?"
"Back at the ship and no questions asked," Maz says with firmly. "And if you're caught in crossfire, stay low. Do not engage."
Just as everyone else murmured in response, Maz adds slowly, "Remember that the mission here is the mercenaries. If you are to come across whoever holds the said construction blueprints, you are not to aid. Not today. I won't have that sort of attention brought to my sanctuary."
Jyn feels her nails dig into her palms again. She feels Cassian eyeing her carefully, as if trying to read her thoughts about leaving the plans alone. It wouldn't surprise her if the Intelligence officer already sensed her disdain. Jyn glances at Bodhi and realizes that he too was deep in his own head. She forces herself to remember one thing about the Death Star plans: they will bring danger to whoever holds them. Maz's castle was the only real sanctuary for those in need in the galaxy. Allowing its constituents and the rest of Takodana to fall victim to the superweapon, over a fight they were not prepared for, would do them the same injustice done to Jedha.
That, and I have a debt to pay. Perhaps the Rebellion could wait one more day to secure the plans. Perhaps when they build their forces and when Saponza agrees to fight. "No one touches the Death Star plans," Jyn finally says with a low voice and she meets Maz's knowing gaze. "We stick to the mission we came here for, and we'll live to take another day for the Rebellion."
Maz nods solemnly and watches the younger girl quietly take her leave for the lower deck. The sentient turns to see Cassian, whose eyes were fixed after Jyn with an almost steely gaze. "You worry for her?"
"She's impulsive," he replies shortly. "A good fighter, but a danger even to herself."
"Does she know how much you worry?" Maz asks sharply. Cassian, clearly taken aback, pulls his gaze to meet Maz's. He isn't given a chance to respond. "You should tell her."
"She's more efficient with less things on her mind," Cassian says. "I will not distract her."
"Things left unsaid," Maz speaks deliberately as she takes a step closer, "Are what distracts you humans most."
Cassian fixes his lips into a thin line. He tries to catch Bodhi's attention but the other pilot is suddenly busies himself over the tech station, tight-lipped and punching sequences with his headset clamped over his ears.
"I'm going to get myself some caf," he finally mutters and pushes himself off the co-pilot seat. Maz keeps her eyes fixed on the viewport with her chin high.
Cassian finds that the Tua-Lu is luxurious for a cargo ship. He looks into several holds before he finds Jyn's hunched figure in what looked like the galley. She was sitting in a far corner, feet flat on the floor with her elbows on her knees. Her head is bowed and Cassian is quick to notice that for once she isn't clutching her necklace. He approaches her quietly, almost cautiously, feeling ridiculous for thinking she can suddenly pounce on him like a Loth-cat.
"Jyn?"
To his surprise, Jyn almost jumps. She looks up at him with glassy eyes. "Have you been standing there long?"
"No," Cassian replies. "May I sit with you?"
Jyn nods and Cassian settles himself a comfortable distance from her side.
"One fighter with a sharp stick and nothing left to lose can take the day."
"What?' Jyn stares at Cassian, puzzled.
"I remember a day when I felt really pushed into a corner," Cassian says quietly. "I'd been badly wounded, lost my comlink, run out of gas cartridges, and the storm was too heavy to send out a flare. It was the first time I failed so terribly on a mission."
Jyn feels her characteristic defensive pout fix itself on her face. Suddenly, instead of the Cassian she'd come to know over the last two days, she realizes a Cassian who was a fatigued soldier from a time far behind Yavin 4. His eyes clouded over with dark recollection as he tilted his head towards her but kept his gaze fixed on the hull in front of them. "It was the only time I lost nearly all my men trying to fight for a cause that I believed in. Vato…he and I were supposed to drink to victory that night and talk about his girl from Red Squadron."
Jyn is aware of his pain.
"I never really understood why I was meant to survive. I drank hard back on the base. I lost myself for weeks. And when I was sent to meet informants…sometimes to silence them…the job was easy to do. Too easy." Cassian turns to look at Jyn and he keeps his voice steady, "I told myself I'd protect the next team I took on a suicide mission like that. And if I couldn't, I'd protect whatever and whoever is left."
"You don't have to protect me," Jyn says haltingly.
"And I don't know that already," Cassian smirks. "I want you to know that I have your back, Jyn."
Jyn's eyes soften and suddenly she is back on Yavin 4 at the hangar on the way to the cargo shuttle, and Cassian had just welcomed her home to the Rebellion.
"All the way," Cassian finishes. Jyn does not have to look down to see Cassian open his palm for her to take, a gesture she knew she could eventually get used to. She takes his hand and when she looks into Cassian's eyes, she knows that she doesn't have to say thank you.
Jyn presses the headset over her ears as she listens to the instructions from Mos Eisely Spaceport Control. The flight to Tatooine was indeed smooth and uneventful and the real work was about to begin.
"Docking Bay 36 and a small inspection team only for the exterior of the ship," Jyn calls out.
Emmie flies the Tua-Lu on a gentle slope as Cassian locks the coordinates. "Easy on the thrusters now, Bodhi."
"Set wings to landing position," Emmie adds.
Jyn watches the pilots run sequence after sequence on their control panels, pushing switches and pulling gears. Through the viewport she can already make out the familiar dusty sight of the notorious spaceport and the burning desert hue that came with it.
"Kestrel Dawn, deploying inspection team." The Tua-Lu's rusty comms panel is just enough to allow the voice of the controller through. Jyn presses the headset over her ears again
"Copy. We will wait for your signal on starboard side."
"Copy."
The Tua-Lu's engines seem to sigh as the ship touched the landing pad. Jyn hangs the headset just as Maz stood in the middle of the deck, "You have your assignments," she says. "Stay sharp and stay out of trouble. If any of you start a riot you'll hear it from me on the way back and you'll have some privacy in the brig."
With travel packs over their shoulders, the team of four steps down from the ship and onto the sandy docking bay. There is a brief exchange of nods before they split up, Maz and Bodhi blending into the crowd towards the larger hangars, Cassian and Jyn towards the public markets. Cassian particularly resists the urge to grab Jyn's arm and guide her to move with the crowd like they had on Jedha, but he realizes that his assistance was no longer required. Her hooded face turns to him as she motions slightly to another direction. Cassian speaks low in her ear, "I haven't been here in a while. It looks busier."
"Criminals here aren't the kind that would concern the Empire—smugglers, petty thieves, suppliers," Jyn replies, "There are no rules so people come in droves to do business."
"Incoming."
Cassian and Jyn dart into a stone archway as a handful of Stormtroopers march past. "What got into you back there?" demands a trooper from the flank.
"What are you talking about?"
"You just let that speeder through without inspection. There were droids aboard, droids that matched the description on the mission log."
"They…weren't the droids…we were looking for."
Jyn looks at Cassian and sees that they share the same puzzled expression.
"The Death Star plans had better not have been with them-"
"Hey, quiet!"
Jyn's eyes widen as the Stormtroopers continue their way through the bustling spaceport, their voices fading. She grips Cassian's arm.
"I know, but we have to stick to the mission. I have no idea how those plans ended up in the hands of two droids but I'm sure they'll be safely kept until they finally reach the base."
"And they're here!"
"We'll make sense of everything soon," Cassian assures her, glancing up and down the street. "We have to keep going. More of those troopers will be put on alert. It's going to get interesting."
Jyn follows as Cassian makes his way into the crowd again. They reach Chalmun's Cantina in good time and walk among an unsuspecting crowd of creatures and humans, smugglers and activists, thieves and madmen drinking and laughing to a live all-Bith band playing Jizz on a far side fronting a small window. Jyn tugs her headscarf over her eyes and follows to the counter. "Describe him again."
Cassian takes a quick look over his shoulder before responding. "Middle-aged human male, white hair and likely a beard and fair skin. He has a healing scar on his left temple," he motions to the bartender and finishes, "If he hasn't ditched his rusty orange jacket yet, he'll be easy to spot."
"What are you having?" the bartender huffs, wiping his hands on a towel.
"Ottegan mead," Cassian answers.
"And for your lady friend?"
"Just a lager," he adds smoothly.
As the bartender disappears to get their drinks, Jyn folds her arms across her chest. "I can hold my drink, Captain Andor."
"I'm sure you can," Cassian replies with a crooked smile, "I'm just keeping your best interests in mind and saving the credits for a better occasion."
"A better occasion?" Jyn retorts. Cassian almost laughs and two large mugs are nearly slammed on the counter in front of him. He grabs the lager and hands it to Jyn. "To the back where it's a bit elevated," he says.
They just begin to turn when a loud crash comes from the other side of the U-counter
"DON'T SHOOT, DON'T SHOOT!" the frantic bartender yells and he dodges what looks like—"A lightsaber!" Jyn whispers excitedly but Cassian is already trying to pull her away from the mass of onlookers squeezing around them to see more of the 'fight'. Whoever is wielding the lightsaber manages to strike a man across the chest and mutilate an Aqualish's arm in one swift motion. The legendary weapon disappears in a heartbeat and only the anguished screams of its victims can be heard.
As if on cue, the band resumes playing and the cantina's patrons return to their activities. "That's something you don't see every day," Cassian jokes dryly and looks around the cantina. Jyn makes a quick mental note to mention the brief scene to Maz before she shakes her head clear and walks after Cassian to a table near the cellar door.
"How long should we give him?" she asks, seating herself across Cassian. He takes a long drink from his mug before replying, "Five minutes and we move."
Jyn scans the room intently. Come on, Saponza. This is the perfect place to find recruits. The sudden crackling of Cassian's comlink distracts her. She watches him reach for it in his jacket just as Bodhi's voice comes through, "Melshi, Kessel, checking your position."
"Chalmun's Cantina. No sign of the cargo in the last three minutes."
"Be careful. There are troopers amassing in your area. Do not attempt to leave."
Jyn's eyes grow steely and she turns her attention to the numbered windows of the cantina. She manages to glimpse white armor marching on the sand outside. "What brought them here?" she almost whispers into her own comlink. This time, Maz answers. "There is a repeated mention of two droids, one protocol and one astromech. It's beyond me what the Empire could possibly want with an odd couple like that."
Jyn is about to say something back when she feels Cassian nudge her foot. She sees him tighten his lips into a line and shake his head once.
"These patrons don't seem to know anything about it yet," Jyn says. "What's your position?"
"Possibly identified one of the merc's ships in Docking Bay 91. We're waiting around to see if the pilot will return."
Cassian almost growls in frustration, "Check in again in five, Sefla. We're wasting time here."
Bodhi's familiar stammer almost begs the rebel captain, "Melshi, I strongly advise against moving out of there. You seem to have a wanted target in your vicinity. They might mistake you for being a conspirator if they see you leaving."
"Would you really have us stay here surrounded by Imperial forces?"
Jyn cranes her neck to look for any sign of the strangely cloaked figure with the lightsaber. Her heartbeat quickens. "Cassian," she whispers, "The man with the lightsaber is gone."
Cassian nods, "Three guesses who the 'target' is," he says, grabbing his pack. "Stay close."
Just as the pair gets up and start for the front entrance, they are interrupted again by the deafening sound of a single blast shot.
"Karabast!" Cassian hisses and almost instinctively grabs Jyn to cover her head. He turns just in time to see another man in navy fatigues and leather vest throw a tip to the bartender before making his way out the front door of the cantina. "This place is attracting too much attention."
Jyn pulls her scarf over her eyes again and feels her heartbeat quicken as she follows Cassian towards the front of the cantina and out onto the glaring sunny spaceport. Nothing on Mos Eisley seemed unusual since they arrived, except for the large number of Imperial forces now drawing attention through the crowds. The sight of towering black security droids accompanying their charges does not escape Jyn.
Soon, the two rebels were being elbowed by a unit of Stormtroopers as they jogged by, one yelling indiscreetly into his comlink, "Docking Bay 94! There's a merc out to smuggle those droids and two men off this spaceport. Hold them down!"
Cassian grabs Jyn's arm and pulls her under another archway. He grabs his comlink, "Sefla! Sefla there're about three waves of troopers heading your direction. They're after Bay 94. Get out of there!"
Jyn feels for the blaster holstered against her hip. She hears Bodhi's hushed voice crackle over the comms and she senses his panic.
"Melshi, we're surrounded," he says. "We're lying low under the cargo hull of the ship here—"
Cassian's face fixes into a scowl. "Sefla? Sefla, can you read me?"
Jyn clenches her fists.
"Sefla!"
This time, it's Jyn's turn to grab Cassian's arm. "The troopers are busy. Time to try our luck here. We won't be permitted to fly anyway even if we all made it to the ship now."
Cassian grudgingly stuffs the comlink back in his collar and gives Jyn a sharp nod. She leads the way out of the arch and through the nearest crowd. Cassian steels himself against the unwelcome familiarity of his circumstance. His mind taunts him with images of Kafrene where it was black as night from mining activity and smelled of smoke and toxic fumes from rundown ships. With the crowd, not against it. All Intelligence training out the window and with it everything that would have pleased the Alliance, Cassian bumps into one body after another, barely keeping the top of Jyn's headscarf in sight.
'It's all falling apart!' Tivik had been in a panic. Cassian could almost hear the man's heart pounding against the walls of his heaving chest. 'Saw's right. There're spies everywhere!'
Before Cassian could demand him again to calm down, it was too late. He had already heard the footsteps coming before he heard their questioning authoritative tones.
'What's all this?' said the first Stormtrooper. Cassian had laughed uncomfortably, 'Nothing, we—'
'Come on, let's see some scandocs.'
'Yeah, of course.' As soon as Cassian had bent to retrieve his blaster, everything had gone too fast and he purposefully forced his mind to forget that Tivik, poor horrified Tivik, would not escape the Ring of Kafrene today, if at all.
'What have you done?' the rebel partisan had nearly screeched, staring at the bodies of the two downed Stormtroopers. Cassian was already looking up at the array of pipes for his escape route.
'I'll never climb out of here with my arm!'
'Hey!' Cassian had moved swiftly behind the informant and placed a reassuring hand on his back. 'Calm down. Calm down. We'll be alright.'
And that was one of many sick lies Cassian knew he would never forgive himself for. He had felt how Tivik's body had gone from warm to rigid to dead. That was what rebels paid for freedom, or so he was told. There was no other option but to balance sacrifice and gain.
He only questioned if it was always worth it.
Another Stormtrooper dashes past and the flash of white brings Cassian back to Mos Eisley. He could still see Jyn. She had long since let go of his arm and occasionally glanced back to make sure he was still close. Each time, he looked straight into her eyes in reassurance.
Jyn dodged imperial troops as they came. They had their orders and looked as if they could care for nothing else but Docking Bay 94. If only Bodhi and Maz were not right in their path.
Suddenly, Jyn feels a strange sensation prickling the back of her neck. She stops and whirls around to look for Cassian, only to realize that her companion had disappeared.
Oh, no…Jyn starts to retrace her steps, craning her neck above the crowd. I'll be damned! She feels the color drain from her face and tries the comms. Only static responds to her coded messages. Cursing under her breath, Jyn turns a corner and a hot wind picks up, sending sand to her mouth and eyes. Arm over her eyes, she darts behind a hanging tapestry and takes her comlink from her collar.
"Melshi? Sefla? Read back, please."
When nothing comes over the comlink, Jyn stuffs it back under her collar and growls. She steps away from the tapestry to head back towards the crowd when two burly men block her path. Jyn dips her chin and steadies herself, muscles tensing in preparation for combat.
"Gentlemen," she says.
"There'll be no need for that, rebel girl."
Jyn whirls around and finds a third man stepping from behind the tapestry. It only takes a moment to realize that he was the man they came here for, tall, well-built, grayish hair on a weathered face, and the characteristic scar on his temple. Saponza.
"Nice jacket," she says casually.
"Rebels like you brought trouble on Jedha," Saponza replies sternly. From his tone, Jyn could already tell he was very angry, although he seemed not to mean harm. "That spy you're with, Andor, you want to see him again, do you?"
"Where have you taken him?" Jyn shoots back, sizing up the other man. Almost as she had expected, a thick black hood is forced over her head and a metal restraint is clamped over her wrists.
Bloody rebel partisans.
A/N: And we close here until the next chapter. Until then, readers! Who's already enjoying the Rogue One DVD?!
