The next morning, after Jyn woke up, got ready for another day of work (all the while reflecting on the conversation she'd had with Peg the previous night and feeling as thrilled as frightened), and opened the shop to let the first costumers get in, something made her relegate her own personal affairs to the back of her mind.
"Haven't you heard the news?," asked Ian, one of the regulars who Jyn already had come to know by name.
"What news?," Jyn inquired distractedly and with just polite curiosity, arranging a shelf, more as an excuse to keep her hands busy, than because the shelf truly needed to be tidied up. Peg had left her in charge of the shop that morning because she had to take a short trip to visit one of her suppliers and to do grocery shopping. By then, Jyn knew enough about running the business and had proved that she was capable of managing on her own.
"There has been a massive robbery at Aldhani's garrison. Millions of credits have been stolen from the funds kept there, which were set aside for the salaries of a whole Imperial sector. A bigwig died along with part of his military personnel. Rumors say that an organized group of rebels have orchestrated it," Ian explained in a rush.
Jyn tore her gaze from the items she was rearranging and fixed it on the restless man on the other side of the counter. She furrowed her brows in momentary puzzlement and remained silent, digesting the information.
"People are starting to fight back seriously against the Empire, don't you see?," Ian went on excitedly. "A robbery like that isn't the deed of a bunch of amateurs operating on their own. There must be a mastermind behind and an organized network."
Jyn could understand Ian's excitement, and in a visceral level she was glad, very glad, that the Empire had been put to shame. She hated the Empire as much as anyone who had suffered under its oppression and cruelty. But, above any sense of satisfaction, which could only be short-lived, she could only think of the reprisal that would come, without a shadow of a doubt. In what form, she didn't know yet, but she was beginning to fathom the many ways that the galaxy might be punished. A foreboding shudder ran down her spine. She just stared at Ian in reserved silence.
"Come on, Jyn, cheer up! It's a good thing. That gives people hope. Maybe others will bring themselves to attack too after this. It's time the galaxy fights back against the tyrants."
"We aren't ready," Jyn blurted, thinking aloud. "We aren't ready or well equipped to fight back. The Empire would crush any attempt, and the whole galaxy would pay in spades." We'll never be at a level with such an enemy, not by far. But does that mean that we must sit back and do nothing?
Ian was apparently imbued with an impassioned (and idealistic) thirst for action, as he didn't let himself be deterred by Jyn's sensible arguments. "I don't care. I'm ready. I won't cower in a corner. What else do we have to lose that the Empire hasn't stolen already?"
Jyn had no reply for that. Ian had a fair point. But she could only think about the futility of it all. About a lot of people as idealistic as Ian dying uselessly under the Empire's soles, as if they were just cockroaches.
She herself had wished to see the Empire burn so many times that she had lost count. She had wished for a thousand lifetimes of misery to befall upon Orson Krennic, and devised sadistic ways of torturing him to death slowly. To Jyn, he was the face of the Empire along with Palpatine. She knew hatred, probably much more than Ian, a family man who seemingly hadn't suffered significant losses according to Peg, would ever know. He hadn't lost his family to evil monsters, so he couldn't truly see what he would be missing if the Empire stole them or killed them. Which was precisely what it would do if Ian rebelled openly.
That was what had kept so many in check for so many years, Jyn was aware of that. The fear of one's loved people being targeted for one's own actions.
But what if the moment came when that fear wouldn't be enough any more?
What if that moment had finally come?
Was she ready? The Empire had stolen from her everything important that there was to steal. She no more had a family to lose. The Imps could hardly link her new friends with her in case she was caught. There were no records of their acquaintance. Peg hadn't officially registered her in the business' books, and that might prove an excellent preventive measure for what might happen.
So then, why was she reluctant to the notion of fighting? She guessed it was because she had struggled so hard and was just rebuilding her life and felt content at last with her current situation. She had a decent job she liked a lot, a comfortable place to dwell in and friends she had started to care for greatly and who she timidly believed cared for her in return.
She abhorred ruining it all by joining an emerging rebellion.
But, could there be a real, normal life with the shadow of the Empire looming everywhere, or was it just the fake illusion of a life? Did it truly matter?
The answer was yes. It mattered because the Empire could snatch everything at a single stroke. If life usually wasn't easy for many in times of peace, under a despotic regime it was much worse.
Such regime placed its weight upon people progressively, in such a way that those people didn't notice the burden so much at the beginning, until it became crushing, but by then they'd got used to carrying it, they'd been made to believe there was no other way around it, like the abysal fauna who lived under countless tons of water. By then, freedom was just an unattainable luxury item that very few could afford to think about, because it could only inpsire fear or an impossible yearning.
As the morning passed by, more customers came in and talked about the subject of Aldhani. Most of them, especially the young ones, were of the same opinion as Ian, whereas the rest, older (and more conservative), thought the robbery pure madness.
When Peg returned around lunchtime, she brought more alarming news. Two cargo shuttles and a Lambda-class shuttle had landed on the outskirts of the city spitting out several battalions of stormtroopers and a bunch of officers. The latter were occupying the city hotel to establish their headquarters. That could only mean one thing.
They were after someone, or several someones. Jyn felt herself tense up like guitar strings.
Who were they targeting?