Target Eadu
Cassian had found himself once more in quite the situation. Right now there was a blaster to his head by an unknow assailant, Jyn was holding their only ticket off world at gun point and they were only an hour from dawn on this miserable planet, they didn't have time to argue.
Ka Sing looked terrified and he now understood what was going on. Her handler hadn't been on planet for almost six months, the lab in the ridge had suddenly blown up two nights earlier and two rebels suddenly showed up on her doorstep. Ka Sing must have taken it as a sign that she needed to get out. But she forgot one crucial detail in her plan- she had a star cruiser which could barely fit one person at a time- there was no way they were going to be able to get four people aboard, no matter what kind of changes she could have made.
That meant that now they had a serious math problem. Then why bring them along? Why drag them out into the woods? To kill them here? She could easily have just taken off with Ima and no one would know. Just because she didn't know the location of the Alliance Base didn't mean that she needed to go there.
What would she even tell them? She abandoned Eadu after the attack that had no effect on her intelligence mission?
Cassian didn't understand the play here.
"Why did you bring them out here, Ka Sing!" Ima the Twi'lek demanded, looking at her.
"We can't get off world without them! Don't shoot them!"
What did that mean? Was there a checkpoint they didn't know about? Then he remembered. He had mentioned that he had a droid that he could contact. What if she needed something from K-2?
"The cruiser- you said you bought it off a junker- there's not navigation system, is there?"
That was how she was able to buy it without anyone noticing. He must have sold it to her under the table without the navigation system- making it far cheaper. Stealing a lot of things from the lab or cargo ships to fix it up would be easy- but stealing an Imperial navigation system was a very complicated thing. He had managed to do it a few times in his younger days but that was because he was more than willing to take the risk. But he doubted someone who had been so cautious her entire life like Ka Sing was ready to make such a high risk for such a low reward.
"What?" Jyn asked, looking at Ka Sing. "You don't know how to get off of the planet?!"
"I can get us out of the system," she insisted. She must have tested the cruiser out to make sure, but if she was branded, she would have to go much further than just the next moon. "But I want to join the Rebellion. We both do. We want to get off of this planet and get back to work!"
"You're a spy, you were already working."
"After your little Alliance stunt the other night, things are getting difficult," Ima said, "That cargo pilot has been all anyone at the base has been talking about. Now they are locking down everyone to keep people from defecting," Ima said, gritting her teeth at Jyn.
"I can see that, considering you're holding a gun to my head," he said, smiling a little.
"You want to go to the Rebel Base?" Jyn asked, looking at Ka Sing and she nodded, looking desperate. Desperate people were the worst kinds. They made serious mistakes.
"Why?" Cassian had to ask.
"We still want to fight! We still want to be a part of the Rebellion!" Ka Sing insisted, but he wasn't so sure that her partner was on board. "If we can get off world and join the Rebels, we can still be useful!"
Jyn looked at Cassian. This was not a good idea. They were at an impass. Ka Sing and Ima had a ship, but no navigation. Cassian had access to K-2, but no ship. The ship was clearly not going to fit the four of them. They needed a new plan. She should have shot Ka Sing the moment Cassian came out of that bathhouse with her.
"Look-" Cassian said in a firm voice. "We all want off this planet- and the only way to do that is to get to a ship that can take us all."
He remembered the shuttle depot that Bodhi had mentioned. It was going to be heavily guarded after the bombing at the lab, but with a pilot like Ima on their side, getting a ship would be easier than before. He looked at Ka Sing.
"We are going to steal one from the Imperials and get to the Rebel Base- together."
The plan was simple enough. Ima took a lot more convincing then the other two, but Cassian had a pretty good idea. He and Ima would go together to the shuttle depot. She had a speeder bike that she had managed to sneak off base on. It was big enough for two people so they could go together, steal a ship and then head back.
Ima was not sure of the plan at first because he wanted Jyn to stay with Ka Sing. He put it this way- no one could betray anyone that way. Jyn knew the location of the base if something happened to Cassian and could kill Ka Sing and steal her star cruiser. And Cassian could kill Ima and risk Jyn's life with Ka Sing- urging Ima to give her blaster to Ka Sing so that they could go alone unarmed. This was a pretty good way to make sure all sides stayed calm.
"This is a bad plan," Jyn said as he was getting ready to make the long trek up a hill to the hidden speeder bike.
"We don't have time for arguing," he said, looking at her. The longer it took them to get back to Yavin IV, the longer it was until they could go to Scarif. He knew that was what Jyn wanted. She was playing fast and loose with her trigger finger to answer all of the questions herself. But he honestly was surprised she hadn't sacrificed him just yet to Ima's gun for the chance to get that star cruiser and be off herself. He wouldn't have blamed her.
They turned and Ima was ready to go, Ka Sing clinging to her.
"Please be careful," she said and Ka Sing looked annoyed.
"You should be more careful," Ima replied and turned, heading up the hill, Cassian following behind. He couldn't help but look over his shoulder at Jyn one more time before disappearing into the dark woods, wanting to memorize the look on her face in case he never saw her again. Much to his surprise- she looked incredibly worried and lost to see him go.
The speeder bike wasn't hidden too far away, and they made it just as dawn broke. The clouds opened a little to let some light in, the first time he had seen sunlight in days on Eadu. Ima led the way, but it was clear that she didn't trust him because she kept a good distance between them. Cassian saw no purpose in fighting with her, that would be counter productive. He had a much better plan in mind.
He followed her up to the bike and she revealed it hidden near a large gathering of trees. As she got the bike out and prepared to get on it, Cassian stepped up behind her. It was not gentlemanly to shook an unarmed woman, but it wasn't the worst thing he had ever done. He didn't even say a word when he pulled out the blaster and shot her in the back, watching her fall to the ground, dead before she hit the grass.
Ima had been easier to kill than he had thought. She had really let her guard down too much because she believed he was unarmed. He had been smart about lifting Jyn's blaster without her looking. He knew that if it came down to it, all she needed to take out Ka Sing was her nightstick. He had made a big show of the blasters to get the women to be at ease. Amateur hour over here. He looked down at the body, checking for things and he found a data disk. His hunch was correct. This woman was a spy. Not a Rebel spy, an Imperial one. Probably with the IBS, they were really resourceful for their placement of spies.
She probably was just reporting on the base and the lab when she met Ka Sing. Doesn't take much for a spy to recognize another spy. Ka Sing either knew the truth and was hiding it really well, or she was too naïve to know the truth.
Either option was bad. That meant that Jyn was in real danger now. Ima had gone along with this place because it was the chance to score big by finding out where the Alliance was currently stationed. That was powerful intel that could lead to a lot of problems with Mon Mothma and the others. He looked at the speeder and then turned back. Better to return on foot, they would be expecting him to come back in a ship or on a bike. The element of surprise was always better than expectations.
He made his way down the hill as the clouds started forming again, pouring down rain and making his path difficult. He finally reached where he had left Jyn and Ka Sing, but found no one in the area. He looked around and saw the Rebel symbol carved in a tree. He looked at it and saw that it was at an angle, pointing west. The direction of the cruiser. Ka Sing could have gotten impatient and made Jyn move to the cruiser. He needed to be careful. This could be a trap. Well, it probably was. He needed to assume that Ka Sing did know that Ima was with IBS or that she was in fact a double agent herself.
He moved quickly through the trees, following the path that she had described to them, should they get separated. He found the clearing where the cruiser was hidden behind a large bolder that was overgrown. The rain was really pouring down and he saw that the lights were on inside of the cruiser. He did not see anyone, but he knew that someone was here, probably watching the cruiser.
He needed to draw them out but he had to be careful, in case it was an ambush. He decided that he should just simply come out, looking around as if he were lost. That would draw some kind of response. He ducked down and moved quickly through the opening, moving as if he was trying not to draw notice to him. He reached the cruiser and hurried behind it. No one was there but the engine was running. He looked around, wondering what was going on.
Just as he was about to move again, he felt a blaster pressed against his side and he wanted to roll his eyes because this was becoming ridiculous.
"Where's your little friend?"
He let out a sigh of relief- it was Jyn. She put down the blaster and he turned to see that she had been hiding under the cruiser using the poncho as cover. She had mud on her face and looked like she had been running.
"What happened?" he asked, turning to face her.
"That spy turned on me the minute you were out of sight- she pulled the blaster on me and when I went to reach for mine- oh, what's that? Mine was missing!" she replied sarcastically, and he smiled at her.
"I knew you could handle yourself," he said, looking down to see that the blaster she was holding must have been Ka Sing's. "You took care of her?"
"She got away, but I doubt she has far she can go, this place is going to be crawling with Imperial soon, our blaster shots were pretty loud."
She looked up to see the cruiser was ready to go. They needed to get moving now. Heading back to base was critical. They moved to board the ship and Ka Sing really was a good liar because this ship was modified at all- it was a piece of junk that was being held together with tape and the Force. The droid port was completely missing and the cockpit barely fit one person, let alone two. He looked at Jyn and wondered if they were going to have to figure out something else.
"We don't have time for this."
"We're not going to both fit!" he said, trying to get into the cockpit but it was barely room for him. She did not hesitate as she got inside, pushing down on him. She'd been in tighter spaces before, and they were not going to be able to navigate anyway- they would need to get K-2 to help them.
"We can fit if we just don't move much," she insisted, though how that was possible, he didn't know. She was sitting on his legs, her knees practically wedged against the metal. This was so uncomfortable. He sighed and managed to move around her enough to start the ship up. They had little time to worry about it. They needed to get going. They lifted into the air and took off before they were spotted.
Only until they were almost to the next planet did they attempt communication with K-2. It was hard, considering that Jyn was sitting on the console and he was struggling to keep his composure.
"K-2," he said into his communicator. He waited a long moment. It had been several days since they had spoken, he might not answer right away. He looked at Jyn. She had been forced to lay across him, using her elbows against the metal dash to keep from falling against the glass. "Kay, it's Cassian. Do you read me?"
The voice seemed surprised to find that he was alive.
"Cassian is that really you?"
Jyn and Cassian took in a deep sigh of relief, they were able to make contact.
"Where are you? What happened? It's been several days!" K-2 bombarded them with questions but they didn't have the time.
"Kay- Kay, we'll explain everything later, but Jyn and I are without a navigation system- we need help getting back to Yavin IV."
There was silence for a long moment and then he spoke again.
"Cassian? Jyn?" Bodhi's voice said, coming over the communicator. He sounded winded, he probably got the news that they were alive just moments earlier. "Are you two alright?"
"We're fine- we're alive. Look- we don't have a good ship- we can't make it without navigational help," Cassian explained again, looking at Jyn who was getting really annoyed now.
"I understand. But Cassian, things are not good here, they didn't believe us."
"They think that we stole the ship and left you behind. They took Churrit and Baze to the brigg," he said, sounding worried. "They only let me go because they think that I am useless."
"You were right. What are we going to do?!"
He looked at the console. They had little time to worry about the future right now- Jyn was not going to stop until they found the Death Star plans and he had known that it was her top priority. So he looked at the communicator.
"Bodhi, get us to Yavin 13," he said and Jyn looked at him. She mouthed "What's that?" and he nodded his head in a way to let her know he knew what he was doing.
"When we land, I'll send K-2 instructions. We don't have time to waste. We need to get to Scarif!"
Cassian's voice must have gotten Bodhi going because he quickly started to type into a navigator and quickly guided them where they were going. Cassian couldn't risk going back to the Rebel Base, they would have too many questions and he didn't have the time. They needed to go. He could see the fire burning in Jyn's eyes. The same fire that had been burning when she saw that message. She was not going to stop until they got those plans. This was just another small hitch in their mission. He was going to get her to Scarif, no matter what it took.
A/N: Yeah buddy- I managed to get them to fit in that tiny little cruiser! it’s uncomfortable but they fit because I said so!
