Cassian sighed and shook his head as he wondered how he always managed to get himself in even bigger messes. It could probably be traced back to his time working as a spy in his Home Universe. There he had been able to hone his skills, both at getting himself into even bigger messes and getting himself back out again. He wondered what exactly it said about him that he was used to getting himself out of tight jams. He wondered if it said something about his friendship with both Dacia and Jyn that the other two women were able to feel comfortable running with him. Dacia for one was willing to bet that the man's inherent lucky streak should be utilised more often.
At the moment though, Cassian was not thinking of his lucky streak, he had too much on his mind to muse that things were beginning to change. It was not something that he felt comfortable musing, not while his mind was still racing through some of the things that he wanted to take a closer look at before they got into even more trouble. He was looking over some of the mechanical logs to the ship, wondering at what point he would have to make sure that he had enough time to look into the problems before they attempted to make any long scale flights.
Cassian might not feel sure about a lot of things, but even he knew how vital it could be to have a fully operational spaceship before they needed to open it out really. Taking in a large lungful of oxygen as he tried to think through some of the things that he would need to make sure he could confidently work. He felt the stress levels begin to swim up his body as he mentally calculated exactly how much time and effort it would take for him to feel comfortable with the possibility that the spaceship might be needed at any time.
Biting his lower lip as he tried to work out exactly what parts he would, Cassian huffed a breath as he thought through some of the parts he would have to acquire and how difficult it would be to acquire some of them. He was well aware that it could prove to be incredibly time-consuming for him to fabricate some of the parts. It would not be a first time for him to have to repair the ship, he had already performed some smaller repair jobs, but nothing on this scale. At the moment he made a mental note to himself to make sure that he had enough time and included his friends in this repair job. Otherwise, he shuddered to think of how long it could take him to repair this spaceship all on his own.
Growling to himself under his breath as he thought of exactly how many repairs he would have to be prepared to run, he mentally tabulated some of the lists in order of urgency. It would not be the first time that Cassian had ever had to perform repair jobs, goodness knows that he had unfortunately become accustomed to hurriedly performing small repairs while soldiers of the Empire were at his back. Sure, he usually had to go back and ensure that he made any massive errors, but the point was that he could do them.
For now, though, he wasn't comfortable with the idea of performing the same action, not least because now that they were heading towards the Avengers Compound, Cassian could see sometimes where he could properly repair the spaceship. Sighing to himself when he realised that at least not he would have the time to carry out a deep-dive and make sure that all of the problems were completely resolved. It might not seem like such a big deal, but Cassian knew that their time in this Universe was beginning to come to an end, he wanted to make sure that there nothing that could spring any nasty surprises on them.
Cassian knew that it was only a matter of time before they were called to carry out either offensive or defensive actions. In the back of his mind, he thought he could feel a stirring of uncomfortable feelings that something big was about to happen. He did not want to be the one to drop the ball and leave them open to danger.
That was not the only thing on his mind; he had become comfortable with being the one in charge of keeping the prisoners safe and secure. He wanted to make sure that when they did manage to hand over the Avengers, that they were held in a secure cell, with no chance for them to break out. The two sides of his mind which were vying for attention, whispered to him that if he had to run it would be difficult to make a Kessel run in a few parsecs if the spaceship was beginning to fall around his ears.
Cursing to himself as he turned back to the tablet device clutched in his hand, as his fingers danced over the screens, as he flicked through some of the information in front of him. He shook his head as he wondered exactly what it would take for all of these problems to simply disappear and resolves themselves. Hissing to himself as he realised it was unlikely to happen, he would simply have to put his head down and work on the problems. Some of his allies in his Home Universe had enjoyed pointing out to him that he could be guilty of spending far too much time with his head in the clouds.
Deciding that he should go and inform Dacia that he could only foresee an even greater amount of time that he would have to sort out before they move on. It was a bit of a shame, but Cassian had long since become accustomed to working. Or at least he hoped that he had, he had been working for too long not to have become used to working through some of his problems. It would no doubt cause a bit of a headache, but it was something that he was well used to dealing with, he did not want to become the overly cocky person, but he felt that he was confident enough to assume that he could handle most problems that life threw at him.
WHOOSH
Making his way through the spaceship, Cassian started to mutter to himself and count the time on his fingertips; he was well aware that he seemingly became a better worker when he was under a time crunch. Smirking to himself when he came upon another sign of sloth when he entered into the central computer nodule and spied Dacia looking for all the world as if she was ready to begin taking a nap at the desk.
Dacia sighed, and looked out of one of the windows in the central computer nodule on the spaceship. She struggled at times to believe how tiring meditation could be on her; it was not as if she was doing anything physically taxing. She had to remember that it had taken her a lot of time and energy to get to this point back when she was still in her Home Universe. She would probably never be able to accurately describe just how taxing it could be to reach into the Force, especially if she was trying to scan minds.
Dacia wondered at what point she would begin to feel as if it was second nature for her once again to scan through minds. She thought to herself that she could compare the Force to being a muscle. Now she would simply have to build that muscle up again, it might mean more work for her, but she was fully committed to feeling the comfort of the Force once again within her grasp. It would make her feel slightly more comfortable if she was able to reach the Force and use it to her benefit.
For now, though, it did not matter how in depth her scans could be, because for right now, while she was simply attempting to gloss over the minds. At least until she became more adept at being able to use the Force again. She only wanted to ensure that it would not become remotely feasible that no one was going to burst out of the proverbial bushes and attack them. It turns out that she would always have to worry about building up her strength. Especially if she wanted to be able to do the things she had once found a little easier.
It might take her some time and effort, but she felt as if it would be well worth the effort for her to have that skill back under her command.
Looking over at Cassian, Dacia quietly groaned to herself; she could see that the man looked as if he had come to some disturbing conclusions. She wondered to herself what those conclusions were; she felt as if she could not take the possibility of even more unwelcome news. Shaking her head to herself when she tried to bring her attention back to the problem at hand, knowing that for now at least she had to make sure that she kept her attention focused on what was happening.
Stifling a yawn, she peered at the man, wondering how she should best begin to speak, was there enough time for her to beat around the bush while she tried to work out what exactly was happening around her? Or would Cassian appreciate it more if she simply plunged into business, getting directly to the heart of the matter? Whatever that matter was.
"Cassian, is everything okay? You look worried about something?" Dacia remarked, deciding that she did not have enough time to pussyfoot around the problem.
"Yes and no, I know that we are going to be landing soon at the former Avengers Compound in upstate New York. I knew that I would have some repairs to carry out on the ship, but I did not anticipate exactly how far-ranging those issues were. For one thing, the engine on this spaceship is going to need a greater amount of work, especially if I want to get it to a point where I can feel comfortable enough travelling on this rig." Cassian told the woman agitatedly.
"Okay, we can work with that, you said the spaceship needs a greater amount of repairs done, I am guessing that you will not be able to perform those repairs while we are still travelling. My second question is; will it take a greater amount of effort for you to acquire the parts that you need?" Dacia asked, her mind beginning to whir through a few of the possibilities that worried her the most.
"It won't be easy, but with your permission, I might end up needing both yourself and Jyn's help to jury rig a few of the parts. Though, you told us that we would be going to Dr Stark's home, correct? If the man can live up to his genius mechanic label, he might be able to help us. I do want to caution you though, that it would not be a good idea for us shoot off and go on both a long distance and time trip, at least not while I can not assure the safety of this rig. Not to my satisfaction at any rate." Cassian cautioned the two, squeezing his eyes shut while he thought.
"Okay, we can work with that, I can probably stall a bit with any meetings we have. Cassian, do you feel confident enough to assume that the Avengers we have locked in our cells, will be kept safe and secure?" Dacia quickly thought.
"I will want to look through their cells; I do not feel I need to point out to you guys that it could be bad if any of them escape, right?" Cassian sarcastically double-checked.
"That would be bad, I for one do not want to think through what could happen if we do not ensure that the former Avengers are kept safe. I do not particularly relish the prospect of having to hunt them down, all because we put our eggs in the one basket." Jyn nodded at the two, backing up Cassian.
"No, that would be a bit of a deal-breaker for us." Dacia thoughtfully mused.
Dacia watched thoughtfully as Cassian began to busy himself in the room, Dacia thought that the man was maybe looking for more problems. She could see that the man was beginning to look as if he was harried. Dacia quietly gulped, knowing that if the man were completely aware of his body language, he would be fighting to lock his emotions down. The situation must be even worse than she thought because Cassian might be trying to hold back some of his worries so that he did not freak out his friends.
She wished from time to time that the man would simply tell it to them straight, at the very least because she sometimes wished that the man could simply let the man know what was going on. It could be a tricky problem because was ignorance bliss?
"You ready? We need to nail this meeting." Dacia checked with the woman.
"I know I have heard it all before, as you are so fond of stating time after time first impressions count," Jyn muttered, rolling her eyes.
Dacia snorted, laughing at her friend, knowing that the other woman might like to pretend to get bored with Dacia from time to time. The woman was never outwardly angry with her, at least she never bothered to raise her voice at Dacia. She sometimes wondered how she was likely to react if Jyn started to shout at her. Dacia could only wonder what it would take for her to start crying some days, she dreaded some days, knowing that the overly taxing says could sap at her energy.
"You know why I am pointing it out though? It's incredibly important that we should know exactly how to play our cards here. We are in the home straight now; I do not want for us to lose sight of what we are doing here." Dacia tiredly started, beginning to sound not for the first time like a broken record.
She was well aware that she was starting to sound a bit like a broken record, but she could not help it, she needed to make sure that her friends knew how the next few days should play out. At the moment all she wanted was to make sure that they all knew how they should approach the next few days. Dacia would be damned if they got pulled into further work, all because Dacia had not warned them on what to expect. She felt as if they knew what they could expect, but she only hoped that they realised how high the stakes were; they might not come with a physical toll, but she privately thought that if they made one wrong move here, it could prove to be just as dangerous.
Rubbing a hand over her face, Dacia shouldered one of her bags and glanced over the room, wanting to make sure that she had not left anything behind. Sucking at one of her gums when she realised that she had not left anything behind. She hurried from the room, ready to do battle. It did not matter to her, that it was simply going to be a mental battle, where she was kept on her toes at all times, not wanting to over-step her bounds.
Taking a small breath of air, she made her way through the spaceship, ready to attend a meeting, knowing that she would need to be able to focus on her upcoming tasks. Hurrying to catch up with Cassian, wanting to make sure that the trio was ready to put on a united front. Glancing behind her, she waited for Jyn to catch up with them, wanting to make sure that when they all went out, it would be with each other.
The trio had had countless discussions together on how they could expect the next few days to proceed; they were well aware that they should follow Dacia's lead. It was with this thought in mind that they were able to move to look for all the world like they had been choreographed in advance. Maybe they looked this way because Dacia had tried her hardest to ensure that that they moved as one. Normally, she did not acting as if her friends did not know in which way they should act, but for now, it was important that they should project a united front. At least until this had been dealt with, after such a time, they could begin to let their hair metaphorically down.
When Jyn had met up with them, the three nodded at one another and began to walk together towards the exit to the spaceship. It might be painfully boring to them to have to go through these motions, especially after the previous few months had been a non-stop action movie, but Dacia was glad of the break. She could count on now having to use her brain to work out what she wanted to do. Next, it would be rather like exercising a different muscle she told herself.
The trio made their way as one towards the door to the spaceship, as one pasting on bright and happy smiles. Cassian, at least knew that he had to keep an eye on his surroundings, something that he was sure was a leftover from his time as a spy, he was always prepared to have to fight at a moment's notice. Thankfully he did not notice anything, so he put three-quarters of his energy into keeping an eye on what was going on with the people in front of him. He was well aware that it was probably not a good thing for him to remain so paranoid, but his only defence was that it had kept him alive this long, it could only be a good thing. He would continue with his paranoia until such a time when it looked as if it stopped serving him.
Gazing at the figures in front of her, Dacia mentally told herself that it was time for her to put on her big girl panties and put her new degree to use. She knew that she did not want to start thinking of all her studying being for nothing. Fighting the urge to begin running a hand through her hair, she was not sure whether or not she could trust these people not to use any potential weaknesses against her, but for now, she did not want to show any signs of potential weakness. Especially if they could come back to haunt her at a later date.
"Hello, my name is Dacia, but while I am here, please call me Darcy Lewis. These are my associates; Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor." Dacia calmly introduced herself, deciding that for now, she did not particularly want to waste words. Not when they still had business to discuss.
"Hi, my name is Virginia Potts, I along with Ms Hill here have been the primary two that you have been emailing with. I am assuming that you have the prisoners with you? Would you like to follow me inside?" Ms Potts spoke calmly, holding her hand out to the group to shake.
Dacia carefully shook hands with the woman, refraining from doing anything more than a basic glossing-type scan. She simply wanted to ensure that these people meant her no harm, she would not willingly lead her friends like lambs to the slaughter. Dacia had long worked to make sure that she could be held as separate from the Jedi of old, who had forgotten that there was always a price to pay, she would not become the type who thought that the end justified the means. You could ask her to do anything but that. She would fight tooth and nail to avoid falling into that particular harmful stereotype. As the young people of this Universe were fond of saying 'fuck that noise', she might not completely understand the background of that phrase, but it was apt in this situation.
Ms Potts, an attractive looking strawberry blonde looked in place as she introduced herself to the group. Dacia wondered whether or not it was likely that the woman was holding back on her, at the very least holding back any visible signs of stress. She felt her respect for the grow, not least because she felt more like she could respect someone that knew how to control her outward appearance. Dacia wondered if it was part of the woman's position as a CEO. She knew that it was more likely that the woman had long since grown accustomed to keeping her emotions in check, especially when it came to practices in the business industry. Dacia did not even think she was capable of imagining the amount of denigration that the woman could face if she even started to crack.
Ms Hill, one who with some further investigation work, Dacia had learned was Commander Hill, looked slightly severe. Fighting the temptation to raise an eyebrow as she took in the stiff posture the woman was standing in. Dacia wondered if the woman always looked like she was ready to start fighting. It was no way to live, Dacia knew that she preferred only having to fight at certain points when it was necessary.
Cassian meanwhile took in the woman's perfect parade rest posture and wondered in what capacity the woman had served. Making no mistake the woman had served in some capacity, at some point in her life, Cassian wondered where the woman might have seen combat. He thought judging by the stance the woman held when she was walking that the woman looked to be incredibly efficient. Hill had also become used to holding a gun or some other weapon at her hips if the way that she was swinging her arms out as she walked was any indication.
Dacia frowned at the woman and quickly began to follow the woman, knowing that she needed to get some things straight.
"Yes, they are indeed in the spaceship, but before we release them to you guys, we would like to see where you intend on keeping them. We do not want to face the possibility of us having to chase after them again. While it was not that difficult for us to capture them, except Designation: Black Widow, we do not want to have to re-perform the same actions." Dacia coolly told the group in front of the woman.
Nodding over at Cassian and Jyn, the trio followed the woman leading them further into the bright and airy building. She knew that for now, it would make sense if the three of them could follow into this meeting, so at the very least they could start on the same page. She knew that it would ultimately be up to her to make sure that her friends were kept informed, but for now, she felt that it was very important that they started by singing on the same hymn sheet. When they walked through the building, Dacia found herself looking around impressed, she enjoyed the clean lines on display, the architectural display in the building evident that the building had been completely redesigned. She wondered at what point it would be considered odd that she should find somewhere that was still attached to the ground. Dacia could admit that she sometimes felt a little nostalgic for time spent on the ground.
She might be used to travelling around on a spaceship, but she sometimes found that she missed the solid ground. Anytime that Dacia found herself on a long stretch of time at space, she found that there were some things that she still missed from back on Solid Ground. She frequently found herself yearning for the simpler things in life, like decently good water pressure, or even proper flushing toilets. She found that even though her home Universe was supposed to be far advanced of anything from here, chemical toilets were still a thing (and still a complete and utter nuisance). She rarely found that she felt clean after taking a quick shower, which she likened to more like an air freshener.
Glancing over at Jyn, she realised that it looked as if the woman was also entertaining similar thoughts, she tried to hide her snort when she wondered exactly what the woman was thinking. Sneaking a small glance over at Cassian she noticed that the man was simply peering around him, no doubt looking into a few of the darkened corners while he tried to suss through what was going on. Dacia struggled not to roll her eyes at the man's paranoia, the only thing that she could be sure about the man at times. She did not want to knock it too much, because after all, it had kept the man alive this long, she did not want to knock it too much.
Even if it occasionally got irritating.
Familiarity was nice though, do not get her wrong.
Following Ms Potts and Ms Hill into a conference room, with a long beautiful glass table stretched in the middle of the room. The table was lined with white plush chairs, which were set against chrome hardware. Looking down the table, Dacia noticed a few figures sitting at the conference table, one of whom she recognised as being the African American Air Force Commander Rhodes. Dacia privately wondered to herself why American's seem to have such an obsession with saying where someone was from, even if they had rarely (if ever) stepped foot in the place that preceded the word American. She took note of the man sitting in a wheelchair and traded a sneaky glance with Jyn. She was well aware that the woman might be able to do something, but she did not want to risk raising the man's hopes for nothing.
That alone would be needlessly cruel to the man, not without having spoken to Jyn; the woman might have some brilliant ideas on how the man could proceed in his healing plan. She wanted to know for definite if they could offer anything before she built up the man's hopes.
Jyn, after all, was not a miracle worker, and would never claim to be a miracle worker.
Dacia did not want to put words into her friend's mouth, knowing that if she said the wrong thing and Jyn could not deliver the two of them would feel like a complete heel. Dacia would do anything to shield her friend from that kind of hurt; goodness knows that Jyn had been let down enough and suffered more betrayals than she could count in her lifetime. Dacia did not want to become the next in a long line of hurts.
She simply had access to better technology from their home Universe, but it was unclear whether or not that could be counted as a modern day miracle. Something told her that it could not be a miracle, especially if Jyn were making use of her unique advantages.
Sitting, or more like floating, beside the man was a purple and red android, who Dacia instantly recognised as The Vision. Dacia wondered if at any point The Vision would allow them to question him (gently) about some of his theories about his creation. Dacia could admit that she had a great number of theories, some of which she knew were shared by Cassian and Jyn. Cassian she knew, was a little more familiar with androids and robots from their Home Universe, but she suspected that the basic makeup of the androids was even slightly different.
Strangers in a strange land, indeed!
Shaking her head, she followed Ms Potts, gestures to sit on the other side, stepping back slightly and allowing both Cassian and Jyn to step over. The trio had already organised what order they were going to sit, not least because they did not particularly want to look as if they could not present a united front. With this thought in mind, Jyn sat on Dacia's immediate left while Cassian sat on her immediate right.
"Hello, my name is Virginia Potts, this is Commander Hill, that over there is Air Force Commander James R. Rhodes and The Vision. Would you like to introduce yourselves? It would be so nice if we knew who exactly we are dealing with." Ms Potts introduced herself again, before pointing at each member as she introduced them.
"Hello, this is Cassian Andor, that is Jyn Erso, I go by the name of Darcy Lewis, while in this Universe. We captured the Rogue Avengers and we need to know where we can leave them. You understand that we still have some concerns about holding them, is there anything you can do to reassure us of your ability to hold them before they escape humanely?" Dacia nodded, speaking slowly.
"We have cells completely outfitted here that should be able to hold the former Avengers. When you took them from the R.A.F.T, they should not have been held there, not least because they were held without due process. It does not seem as if they even had their rights read to them, not as far as I have been able to see in any case. For now, though would you like to have a look at the cells we have here? After this meeting I mean?" The Vision evenly told the small group, spreading his hands wide to indicate his intense honesty.
"That would be good, Cassin here is in charge of making sure that the prisoner's cells are kept clean and safe for the rest of us. He will no doubt want to make sure that wherever we leave these people, that his effort is not wasted. For now, though we want to make sure that you can hold onto these people. Is there anything else that you guys can think of that we might need to have in place before we leave them here?" Dacia calmly asked.
"That is fine; we haven't met before, so we need to know how you came to be messed up in all this. You understand, with all of the heightened security we have around this compound; we do not like to take in anyone unless we can completely vouch for their intentions. You understand this right?" Commander Hill words were sharp as he tried to make her meaning clear.
"Just so, we have provided you're A.I. Friday with some of our background information. We can, of course, get a hard copy to you if that is what you prefer." Jyn told the trio.
"Wait, you know that we can not trust anyone who does provide a full and accurate description of their abilities. So how do you expect us to be able to trust you if you can not even find it in yourselves, to be honest about what you can do?" The Vision evenly asked them.
"There are some things that we can not in good conscious allow out about ourselves. All you need to know for now is that we are very powerful and that we have the capability of fully becoming your worst nightmare if you cross us." Cassian quietly warned, already becoming rapidly irritated with the way that they were speaking.
"Cassian! What Cassian means to say is that we are more powerful than you could imagine and we do not want information on ourselves circulating around out there. It is not that we do not trust you, we do not trust the integrity of computer systems. Do not trust that there is something that we discount you, we do not trust anyone that we have not already worked alongside, going through a baptism of fire." Dacia warned.
"Very well, but you understand that this will only mean that it takes us longer to trust you." Commander Rhodes icily reminded the group.
"Look, we did our job, we captured those people. All you need to know for now is that mean no threat to you." Cassian testily reminded the group.
Dacia felt like banging her head against the table, she struggled to reign in her emotions at this rapidly de-escalating meeting. It was not the first time she wondered why Cassian could become such a hot head, when he was normally so stoic. She guessed that it was because the guy was rapidly becoming incredibly agitated at the minute.
WHOOSH
"Guys, I have not heard the engines on this thing in a while. What is happening out there?" Scott nervously asked.
Scott had become rapid more and more agitated as he tried to work out exactly what was happening to him. His emotions felt as if he had been cast adrift, with little to no hope of him finding his way out of this situation. He turned the problem over in his head once again, while he tried to work out exactly what was happening. He wished that he could know what had happened to make him think that this had been the right choice for him.
In spending time on this spaceship, he had had time enough to consider some of his past actions, just like he had in San Quentin. He had not felt ashamed of his actions THEN because how could he?
Now though? That was a completely different matter, because that woman, Jyn, had made sure that he knew all the particulars of what exactly he had gotten himself messed up in. He might not be completely in touch with his conscience, he always had a problem with fully listening to that little voice in the back of his head telling him what to do.
Now, though, now that he knew some of what he had been party to, he wished that he had listened more to that little voice.
Not for the first time did he wish that he had listened to it even more, maybe if he had developed that skill more he would not be in this mess.
Hindsight was 50-50 he found especially applicable in this case.