The Battle of Scarif – One Day Earlier

Raysen Nezra shook his head to the left and hit his ear with the palm of his hand. He tried this maneuver several more times as he circled the Tower, but the buzzing in his ear refused to abate. "Damn," he muttered under his breath, adjusting course to fly over the patchwork of beaches. Looking down, he saw plumes of smoke rising from downed fighters and crippled AT-ATs. There were bodies strewn in every direction, but none of them matched his targets.

Turning to scan the beaches closest to the Citadel, Nezra felt a sudden vibration course through the ship, as if the air itself were cleaving in two. On instinct, he bent over the control console and looked upward, his eyes scanning the upper atmosphere for signs of an Imperial star destroyer. Instead, he saw a brilliant column of light beamed directly through the clouds. Nezra followed the column with his eyes until it intersected with the planet. The ground around it seemed to burst under the sudden influx of energy, collapsing in on itself as a massive shockwave rose from the epicenter, spreading outward like a drop of water in a pond.

Nezra stared on in horror, his hands frozen in midair above the controls, until he realized how quickly the shockwave was spreading. He needed to find Capt. Andor and Sgt. Erso now.

Seizing the controls, Nezra dove the shuttle closer to the ground. The rapid descent caused a cloud of sand to rise in the air, but it was quickly carried away by the howling wind. Nezra held the controls firmly, his attention equally divided between scanning the beach and maintaining a level altitude.

"C'mon, c'mon. Where are they?!" He growled in frustration. The citrine tsunami generated by the shockwave continued to loom closer – too close for his liking. Suddenly, he saw a pair of figures standing near the water's edge, their arms wrapped around each other in a tight embrace. Drawing closer, he noticed the shorter individual's hair blowing in the wind. The description matched Jyn Erso.

"That's them! It has to be them!"

Nezra slowed down for an approach and deftly maneuvered the shuttle to hover behind the couple. Jumping from his seat, he turned and bounded down into the cargo hold. One hand found purchase on the closest cargo net while the other activated the controls near the ramp entrance. Although he expected a sudden blast of wind when he opened the ramp, he was surprised by how warm it felt. Bracing himself against the wind, Nezra cupped his free hand around his mouth and yelled into the din, "Capt. Andor! Sgt. Erso!"

When they didn't move, Nezra yelled again, this time straining his vocal cords to their maximum capacity. "Capt. Andor! Sgt. Erso! It's time to go!"


Was that my name? Jyn thought with a start. It was difficult to tell with the myriad noises competing in the background.

"...or! Sgt. Erso! It's…to go!"

No, it can't be. Everybody's dead. I must have hit my head on the metal grating.

And yet…what if somebody had come to rescue them? What if Bodhi's still alive?

The possibility of salvation was enough to pique Jyn's interest. Slowly – almost reluctantly – she lifted her chin off Cassian's shoulder and turned her head in the direction of the voice she heard. She expected to see debris, sand, and uninterrupted foliage. Instead, she saw a Lambda-class shuttle hovering a short distance away. The shuttle ramp hung open and a scrappy looking pilot stood near the entrance, his free hand cupped around his mouth.

Jyn gaped in utter disbelief at the sight before her. "It can't be," she muttered under her breath.

"Hmm…what can't be?" Cassian mumbled, his eyes still trained on the vanishing horizon.

The sound of Cassian's voice startled Jyn into action. Fisting one hand in the back of his shirt, she quickly raised the other and used it to turn Cassian's head toward the shuttle. "Cassian! Look! It's a ship!" she yelled excitedly, her body already in motion.

Cassian gaped in shock and stumbled forward on his knees as Jyn quickly stood, wrapping one arm around his torso while the other grabbed his right hand and pulled it across her shoulders. Pitching her left hip into him for extra leverage, Jyn started shuffling toward the shuttle as fast as she could. Her injured ankle throbbed every time it pushed against the sand, but the adrenaline was enough to push her forward. Cassian tried to match her step for step, his eyes trained closely on the ground in front of him, but a sudden twinge in his side caused him to falter and drop heavily to his knees.

The abruptness of Cassian's fall stopped Jyn midstride, prompting her to turn and look down. Cassian was stooped on one knee, his left arm pitched forward to brace himself against the sand. His head was bent down and his shoulders were hunched forward in an exaggerated manner, as though shielding his ribs against invisible blows. He looked like a reverential Jedi kneeling before royalty, yet his shoulders and hair shook every time he drew in another ragged breath.

"Jyn…I can't…keep…moving. Go on…without…me."

The man before her looked nothing like the calm, cool Capt. Andor. This man looked…broken. The sight brought tears to Jyn's eyes.

When she made no move to leave him, Cassian drew in his shoulders and looked up at her.

"That's an order!"

Hearing the word "order" seemed to jar loose some deep-seated resentment inside Jyn. Straightening up, she angrily batted away the tears on her cheeks before bending down next to him. Once they were at roughly the same level, she grabbed him by the shoulders and looked him dead in the eye. "Order or no, I'm not leaving you here. You got that?! All the way…right?"

Jyn uttered the last word as a question, her eyes and voice softening as she dared Cassian to abandon her. Cassian's own steely expression seemed to give way under Jyn's pleading gaze and he huffed his assent as he pushed himself back up. Jyn moved quickly to support his weight again and they continued, half-running, half-limping toward the shuttle.

In the background, the pilot continued to spur them on while the roar of the shockwave grew louder and louder. The sand, itself, felt like it was being torn out from under them, but Jyn refused to look back until she felt hard metal under her feet. The pilot hit the controls for the ramp as soon as Jyn and Cassian stumbled and fell into the cargo area. Cassian closed his eyes and held his hands to his chest as he rolled onto his back and breathed heavily, but Jyn sat up and looked through the rapidly closing entrance as they took off. She watched in horror as the shockwave engulfed the beach behind them and felt one last blast of heat as the ramp sealed itself shut.


"Profundity. Come in, Profundity. This is Lieutenant Nezra aboard stolen Shuttle Kyberian. Do you copy?"

"Roger, we hear you Shuttle Kyberian. Status."

"My U-wing was shot down on the north side of the Citadel, but I successfully commandeered an Imperial shuttle near the main hangar." Nezra paused as he steered the shuttle around a plummeting TIE fighter. He took a deep breath and steeled himself. "No other crew members survived the crash."

"Copy that, Kyberian. Have you successfully located Capt. Andor and Sgt. Erso?"

Registering the names of his precious cargo, he glanced back toward the hold where Sgt. Erso was kneeling in front of Capt. Andor. He watched as she gingerly secured the safety harness around his injured arm before reaching up to brush the hair out of his eyes. The shuttle jerked back and forth as he struggled to avoid falling debris and intermittent dogfights. Capt. Andor rocked with the sudden movements, wincing every time a maneuver caused his injured leg to shift a few inches, while Sgt. Erso gripped a nearby cargo net and did her best to stay on her feet. Judging by the way they limped aboard the shuttle, neither of them faired very well during the ground assault, but Sgt. Erso seemed completely focused on Capt. Andor, her steady gaze refusing to leave his face.

Nezra turned his attention back toward piloting the shuttle. He considered himself a proficient pilot, but flying a shuttle typically required two pilots. This would have been easier with Jem, he thought, sparing a brief glance at the empty copilot seat before responding to General Raddus' ship.

"Affirmative, Profundity. Capt. Andor and Sgt. Erso are safely aboard." Turning once more to glance at the two officers he added, "Be advised: both parties are injured. Capt. Andor likely requires bacta treatment."

"Roger, Kyberian. Prepare for an immediate jump into hyperspace."

Nezra's mouth dropped open in shock. "Say again, Profundity. Did you order an immediate jump?"

Suddenly, General Raddus' voice cut through the static. "Affirmative, lieutenant. If the Imperial fleet intercepts Tantive IV, Capt. Andor and Sgt. Erso are our only sources of information about the Death Star's weakness. We need them alive."

Calculating a jump into hyperspace usually required a few minutes to plot a safe course around planets and moons, but they were out of time. Nezra quickly leaned across the copilot seat and turned on the navicomputer. "Roger, Profundity. Calculating coordinates for the nearest star system."

"Good luck, lieutenant. May the Force be with you," warbled General Raddus before the comm link went silent.


Author's Note: I apologize for long delay between chapters 2 and 3. I started working on the action sequence for chapter 3 the day after Sherlock, Season 4 premiered, but of course, life intervened. Thankfully, the issue is resolved. I have parts of chapter 4 plotted out already, but this is where the story starts to get interesting/tricky (i.e. ow that I've rescued Jyn and Cassian from Scarif, how do I weave them into the original story?). I have a few ideas, but I need to watch Episode IV again to make sure my story is plausible and maintains the correct timelines.

Side note: My inspiration for this chapter comes from a snippet of dialogue during the space battle at the end of the movie. It was probably mentioned by General Raddus in reference to Princess Leia and her ship, but the line was ambiguous enough to make a rescue operation for Jyn and Cassian seem plausible. After all, without the stolen battle plans, Jyn is, literally, the only person with direct knowledge of her father's message and the Death Star's weakness. Hope you enjoy! - K