Print Page - Rogue One: Resurrection

Story analysis: Rogue One sent the Death Star plans to save the galaxy, at the cost of their sad, tragic, inevitable deaths. But, due to a very special artifact, two members survive: Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor. They are given a second chance at their lives. This...is their resurrection. Jyn & Cassian's story continues...

(This also gives you a clue to the origin of my username)

Prologue: Resurrection

Rogue One completed their mission. The plans were successfully sent to the Rebel fleet just above Scarif's orbit, and they were ready to retreat to Yavin 4. However, on the other side of the planet was the Empire's Death Star. Because it was too far away from the Rebel fleet to approach and attack, and because there were too many Imperial air fighters in the vicinity, Admiral Raddus decided for his fleet to retreat. The Death Star's laser beam had incinerated everything and everyone in a 500-mile radius, including Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor. All of Rogue One was wiped out in the blink of an eye.

After what seemed like an eternity, Jyn Erso opened her eyes slowly. She couldn't feel anything nor see anything for a long moment. Jyn eventually opened her eyes and gasped at what she saw. She was "asleep" in bright white light. Jyn sat up quickly and looked around herself. She saw literally nothing but white.

"W-Where am....I!?" Jyn asked herself in great confusion. She stood up on her two feet as she examined herself. She looked as though nothing happened. "Aren't I....dead?" She wondered. She remembered her quick, inevitable death. She didn't want to think about it. Not now. Not ever. But she knew she just granted the galaxy a path to a better future. But then she remembered something: someone was there with her. Right there at the beach. She was embracing him like if there was no tomorrow, which was true. She tried to remember.

It wasn't long before a voice suddenly spoke behind her. A male voice. "Jyn!"

Upon hearing her name being called out, Jyn instantly turned around and gasped at who she saw. Her eyes widened even more. Cassian was standing in front of her with a handsome smile on his face, with no blaster wounds present on his shoulder. Jyn froze for a moment as she attempted to assess everything. She then ran up to him like the speed of lightning, wrapping her arms around him once again.

"CASSIAN!" Jyn exclaimed happily, almost bursting into tears. "I can't believe it's you!" She says, looking up at him her green eyes, smiling up at him.

Cassian smiles back as he hugs her back, embracing the exact same way they did at the beach in Scarif seconds before their death. "I know, Jyn. We're together again."

Suddenly realizing their presence, Jyn pulled away from their embrace and fell silent, looking down at the floor. "But....why are we here? I thought we died?" She asked, trying to think harder. Cassian shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe it has something to do with the Force." Cassian said.

Those words sparked an idea in Jyn's mind. She suddenly remembered something at the beach. She remembered that she was touching her kyber crystal necklace while she was hugging Cassian just as they had died. Her mother gave her the kyber crystal necklace when she was nine years old. Jyn believed in the kyber crystal's extraordinary power to grant survival, no matter how dangerous the situation was. And Jyn believed in the Force just as her mother had.

Jyn pulled out her kyber crystal necklace from her chest and held it up to her face. She was touching Cassian when she was touching her crystal, nobody else. "I think we're still alive in this afterlife because of my kyber crystal. Does this mean that.....we get a second chance?" She says, looking over to Cassian. Cassian keeps his smile, and chuckles.

"Jyn, whatever fate that lies ahead of us, we accept it. If a second chance is the case, then it is as the Force wills it." Cassian says, smiling at his Sergeant.

Hearing his words, Jyn smiles excitedly and embraces him once more. Eventually, she pulled away with her smile fading. "But....Cassian, what about the others?"

"Hm?" Cassian asks, tilting his head.

"K-2....Chirrut.....Baze.....Bodhi. They're dead...but we're not." Jyn stated her teammates' names. Tears almost burst from her eyes just as she said them. Cassian sighs and puts one hand on her shoulder.

"They are in a better place, Jyn. And they are with us wherever we go. We are Rogue One, no matter what. We are one with the Force, and the Force will be with us." Cassian says, trying to cheer up his closest comrade. Jyn nods silently.

"K-2....well, I can always steal another Imperial security droid and reprogram it." Cassian jokes, making Jyn chuckle in response and smile up at him.

Suddenly, an orange glow appeared behind the two Rebels. They turned around to see a shiny golden door in front of them. Jyn and Cassian look at each other in curiosity. Jyn noticed her kyber crystal was glowing bright white in her hand. "Our second chance..." She whispers.

Cassian pats her back. "We'll take it, Jyn. The other may not have it, but we do. It's what they would've wanted for us, Jyn. We represent them. And I guarantee you, it will make them happier the more we live it."

Jyn looks up at her Captain, gazing into his brown eyes. "I hope so."

"Your mother would've wanted it. And your father would've wanted it too." Cassian smiles, and Jyn nodded happily at those words. It was at that moment she brought his face to hers and brought her lips to his. Their lips locked deeply for a very long moment. It was that moment they knew they were to be together from that point on to the infinity of time.

"Well then.....looks like we got a life to return to. Shall we, Captain?" Jyn asks happily.

Cassian chuckles and holds her hand, with her kyber crystal necklace in-between their locked hands. They walked closer to the golden door together, with Jyn leaning her head against Cassian's arm. They smiled as they walked. The closer they got to the golden door, the more visible a vision of a young man in tan desert robes became in their minds. The vision showed a young man named Luke Skywalker inside the briefing room of their base at Yavin 4, where they were just at the previous day. Skywalker was with other Rebel pilots, and Mon Mothma was explaining the Rebel air squadron strike on the Death Star's trench.

Jyn and Cassian both smiled at their visions, as they realized that was the result of their success in sending the Death Star schematics to the Rebellion in time. They were proud of themselves for carving a pathway to victory for the Rebellion, and shaving one less victory off the Empire's list. They had just seen a vision of the man who will destroy the lethal weapon they had feared all because of their sacrifice.

Jyn held tightly on Cassian's hand. He was her Cassian. He was her Captain. She was his Sergeant. Nothing will separate them ever again; even death will never do them part, for they were bonded with the Force and it kept them together spiritually.

"For Rogue One, Captain?" Jyn says, smiling up at him.

Cassian smiles back down at her and nods. "For Rogue One, Jyn. Always for Rogue One."

With those words said, they open the golden door and step through it. The bright white light fades away behind them, and they randomly enter the front of the Erso House on planet Lah'mu to continue their lives with their second chance the kyber crystal had granted them.

Chapter 2: Their Living Legacies

It was near early morning when Jyn and Cassian arrived at her late parents' home on planet Lah'mu, where it served as their own moisture farm when Jyn was seven years old. They had just been granted a second chance at their precious lives by Jyn's kyber crystal necklace, and the golden door in the afterlife teleported them instantly right in front of the Erso house. It was usually dark and cloudy on Lah'mu, but on some parts of the planet it was sunny and clear, and this day it was just that. It set the atmospheric mood for the two Rogue One survivors, for they were very happy with their miracle.

Jyn walks the first few steps forward toward her house, which was now rightfully all hers. Everything still looked intact: nothing was damaged nor destroyed. Though there was a terrible memory that Jyn witnessed many years ago: the death of her mother right on the front yard. But it was all behind her now because she wanted to try so hard to forget about it. The pain of losing her parents stuck to her like tar, and she needed to teach herself to let it all go one day. Jyn scans the front yard of her home, then turns to Cassian.

"I-Is this....all real?" Jyn asks softly, placing her hands on Cassian's shoulders and squeezing them, trying to confirm it.

Cassian places his hands on her arms as well and nods. "It really is. Welcome to our second chance."

Jyn then became so happy that she instantly squealed excitedly and happily wrapped her arms around him, embracing him passionately. He did the same, smiling, and they both felt each other's warmth. Cassian looks up to observe the Erso house.

"So this is where you and your family lived? It's nice." Cassian comments after releasing from the hug.

Jyn releases from the hug too and nods happily. "It's OURS." She stressed the last word.

Cassian smiles and places a gentle kiss on her forehead, making her blush and smile excitedly. However, she starts to shiver due to Lah'mu's cold temperatures despite her long-sleeve light jacket and vest. Cassian concludes that it was now the time to enter the house where it would shelter them from the harsh coldness. "Jyn, we should get inside.....and settle." He says in a peculiar way, winking at her.

Before Jyn answers back to him, she remains speechless for a moment, blushing and grinning up at her Captain. Then, she nods. "Yes, sir!"

((()))

Jyn and Cassian settled in her house, where it was warm and safe from the outside environment. It was small and narrow in the Erso house, but it was all Jyn and her parents had. She was thankful for it, and even Cassian was as well. This was the only place she could feel safe from the Empire besides Yavin 4, and she knew she still had the secret hiding spot underground just a quarter mile away. Cassian noticed that Jyn immediately started walking around the house, so he allowed her to check the house, for she missed it so much. He took the opportunity to take a look around as well. He saw photos of Jyn, Galen, and Lyra on a few walls. "They seem like a nice family." Cassian thought. He was glad he didn't choose to pull the trigger in Eadu. He wondered how things might've turned out between he and Jyn if he did kill her father. But, it was all behind them. It was history, and they both accepted the events.

Cassian inspected more of the house until he arrived in her parents' bedroom. Jyn was sitting on her mother's side of the bed, where her eyes were glued to the photo of she & her parents on the wall nearby. She was silent: it was as though she didn't acknowledge Cassian's presence in the room. Though, he didn't want to interrupt her moment of silence, Cassian wanted to be heard by her.

"Jyn?" Cassian calls to her softly.

As Cassian expected, Jyn didn't turn to face him. She kept starig at the family portrait: it was a portrait with Jyn as a little girl wearing Imperial clothing. It was a photo from back in the day when Galen Erso's family was living under the support of the Empire and under Orson Krennic's supervision. Cassian stepped closer to Jyn slowly to see that tears were streaming down her face.

"They were the most amazing people I've ever had...the most amazing people I've ever lived with. And they were just....taken.....away from me. Just like that." Jyn explains in a very soft voice that was almost inaudible to Cassian. "I remember the day Krennic killed my mother...I was left for dead. When I ran away....I didn't know what to do anymore."

Cassian sighs and looks down at the ground.

".....Until I found you." Jyn says expectantly. This causes Cassian to raise his head and shoot her a surprised look.

"Why, Jyn...." Cassian was about to thank her, but she cut him off by turning to him.

"The moment I sent those plans, and we both escaped that tower....it patched up everything in my life. And you are part of that..." Jyn says thru her teary, red eyes. She stands up and stands in front of Cassian to look straight up at him with a desperate face. Cassian looks down at his Sergeant: he was now sympathetic for her. He places both hands on her shoulders.

They gaze into each other's eyes for what seemed like an eternity. It was actually a brief moment later that they immediately press their lips together, kissing each other's warm, soft lips deeply like as if there was no tomorrow...

((()))

The two Rebels were outside in front of Jyn's house in the front yard, lying down on the grass on some sheets. The couple was gazing up into the dark pitch-black night sky, where they watched the bright white stars twinkle. Cassian had setup a small bonfire next to them to keep them warm, for the night was very cold in Lah'mu.

They both watch a comet speed down the dark horizon. Jyn then sighs. "Don't you miss them?"

Cassian looks over at her. "Who? You mean...."

"The rest of Rogue One. Chirrut, Baze, Bodhi, and that walking piece of metal." Jyn answers for him.

Cassian answers immediately. "Yes, of course. Every second of the day. But your crystal only saved the two of us, Jyn."

"Yeah..." Jyn sighs sadly, shifting her eyes to other stars in the sky and hoping to find a constellation. "Cassian?"

"Yes, Jyn?" He asks.

"You see those stars?" Jyn asks when she points to a group of stars making a pattern in the night sky. "There's K-2. That one's Bodhi. That one's Chirrut. That one is Baze. This one is Saw. That one over there is mother. And the one next to it is....father." Jyn says, naming each star with every point.

Cassian smiles at the stars when he notices they make a circular pattern. "They're our family circle of eternity."

"The Force is with them. And with us. And they are with us everywhere we go." Jyn softly declares.

"The stars gaze down at us at night. They are watching us from up there, Jyn. We're their living legacies..." Cassian declares almost quietly as they both turn on their sides to lock with each other's eyes. They gaze at each other for a long moment before wrapping their arms around each other and cuddle into the cold, starry night.

(In the book Rebel Rising by Beth Revis, Saw Gerrera is the one who burns down the Erso home. But in this story I decided to use it as a setting.)

Chapter 3: His True Kiss

The next day, Cassian opens his eyes slowly; it was very bright in the bedroom. That meant that there was broad daylight outside in Lah'mu. The first thing he remembers is the previous night, where he and Jyn were having their moment together on the front yard gazing up at the stars: their 'friends' and 'family.' He notices Jyn sleeping next to him, with her back turned to him since she was sleeping on her side. Cassian couldn't help but smile at her sleeping figure. She was wearing a pair of white long sleeve sleeping attire. He felt very comfortable just being next to her, and he always wondered why.

Cassian threw aside the blanket and was about to get up, when suddenly he heard shifting blankets behind him. He knew Jyn had awaken, and that she was staring at his back from behind. Unsure as to why, Cassian's lips formed a smile.

"Good morning, Captain Andor." Jyn says in a seductive manner, in which a grin forms on her face through her brunette bed-hair.

Cassian blushes and slowly turns around to see the very woman he cares about most smiling at him and sitting up from the bed. "Good morning, Sergeant Erso."

Jyn chuckles and decides to play along. "Sleep well?"

Cassian shakes his head while smiling, then shrugs his shoulders. "Whenever I am with you."

That made Jyn blush twice as harder than him. "Umm...fancy a breakfast? I think mother left some goods over there in the..uhh...kitchen." Jyn asks Cassian nervously.

Cassian felt that Jyn was nervous because they were together, alone in this part of the planet Lah'mu, and he was completely fine by it. "Why, thank you, Sergeant. It must sound like a delicious one."

Jyn laughs and gets up from the bed to enter her mother's closet to change into whatever was available the last time her mother was alive fifteen years ago. Jyn realizes that her old clothes from when she was seven years old was in her old bedroom, but of course it won't fit her. Jyn was twenty-one years old now, and she decided to take on her mother's clothing.

Cassian checks Galen Erso's closet, finding some jackets, crew pants, and some clothes that appeared to be farmer's clothing. However, there was one piece of clothing in Galen's closet that caught Cassian's eye. It was all gray. It looked formal. It looked superior. It looked like it was meant to be worn by a man of authority. In the corner of closet, hidden behind all of the other clothes, was Galen Erso's Imperial uniform that he wore during his time as the lead scientist of Director Orson Krennic's Death Star project in the Galactic Empire.

Cassian's smile fades the moment he sees it. Given the events that he and Jyn just went through recently, he did not want to think about it now. He shakes off the thought and calls out to Jyn. "Are you okay with me wearing your father's clothes? There's nothing much for me here."

"Of course, Cassian!" Jyn calls back to him while changing.

Cassian grabs a pearl-white long sleeve shirt and green pants from Galen's closet and proceeds to dress himself for the day.

((()))

Jyn was in the kitchen, where she was preparing some breakfast for the two of them. She tried to hurry up to finish making breakfast before Cassian came. But Cassian showed up nevertheless. Right when he entered the kitchen, he stopped in his tracks when he eyed Jyn from head to toe, then back to head. His eyebrows rose in response to what he saw: Jyn was wearing a farmer's attire, very likely her mother's, Lyra's farming dress. It consisted of tan robes with a brown cloak over it and a red sash around her waist. Most noticeably, Jyn's brunette hair was more tidy to give it that worker's look to her overall appearance.

Jyn turns to Cassian. "Breakfast is ready. Cassian...?"

Cassian tries to hide a blush and just smiles slightly. "Yes, of course." It was all Cassian could respond with. No matter how Jyn looked like, he loved her. She is that precious to him.

The two Rebels sit down on the white round table, where they face each other. Cassian couldn't keep his eyes off Jyn. He kept thinking, "Hideous dress, but she is cute..." Jyn wanted to ask him what was the matter since he had this excited expression on his face, but she realized it wouldn't help asking. She proceeds to take a bite of her food, while Cassian does the same, slowly.

After swallowing, Cassian smiles and tilts his head. "So...your mother did a lot of work around here?"

Jyn nods and takes another bite. "Yeah. But she wasn't the only one. Dad helped too, of course."

"I bet it was very quiet..." Cassian mutters just loud enough for Jyn to hear.

"Peaceful, actually." Jyn mentions while sipping from a glass of tea

Cassian nods and winks at her, to which Jyn gives him a funny look. The two continue to eat in silence for the rest of the meal time.

((()))

It was the afternoon, and Jyn decided it was time for them to start working the field of crops outside their homestead. It rained a lot on Lah'mu, and it was the perfect place for their food to grow. That was why Jyn was dressed up in her mother's farming dress. Cassian stood beside her with his hands on his hips and a confused look on his face.

"Cassian...if we're going to live here, we have to really live here." Jyn says while looking up at him.

Cassian frowns and shrugs his shoulders. "What does that mean?"

"We have to work over here besides living in the house. There aren't much people on this planet, so we have to grow and harvest our own food. Mother and father did it every day when I was little." Jyn explains. She notices Cassian looking down at the ground. "It's fine if you don't want to. I'll do the labor."

Cassian immediately looks down at her and shakes his head. "No! No, no no! Of course I'll help you. A man's got to do his duties."

With his mind made up, Jyn smiles at him and she makes a hand gesture behind her. A white service droid appeared. It was an SE-2 service droid, and its main function was farming. Cassian stares at the droid curiously. "What does it do?" Cassian asks.

"It helped mother and father with the farming work back in the day. I am surprised it is still operational after all these years. This is just about the only help we have around here." Jyn declares, patting SE-2.

Cassian shrugs. "Let's get to work, shall we, Sergeant?"

Jyn curls her lips in response before grabbing some harvesting equipment. Cassian was always curious about Jyn. He always wondered how her life was before he arrested her for Rebellion recruitment. He always wondered why she had a sudden change of heart the moment she was being interviewed by him, Mon Mothma, and the other officers that day. Jyn being a former criminal was one thing that Cassian couldn't bear to dwell over, but Jyn living a farmer's life was a totally different thing. It was a surprising fact that got Cassian wondering about Jyn. Considering the fact that he now lives with a woman who is a farmer, was a former criminal, and a Rebel, he was very sure he was in for a challenging life that could possibly be more challenging than his life was from the age of six to his first death.

((()))

It was the early evening. The dark clouds began to settle over the black & green landscapes around the Erso homestead. The sun was setting, and nightfall was about to arrive. The two Rebels got done harvesting all the crops they could, with the help of the Erso's SE-2 farming droid. Jyn was in the kitchen washing the crop, while Cassian limped through the doorways into the kitchen. He was quite exhausted from all the manual labor, despite being a highly trained Rebel Intelligence field Officer. It was then he immediately knew how difficult his new life was going to be, because he would have to farm crops with Jyn all the time. But he didn't mind at all. Jyn 'Stardust' Erso is the only person that matters to him in the entire galaxy, nothing else and no one else. He didn't care what happens to him. He didn't care how hard something will come by in his second chance of life. Cassian Jeron Andor finally figured out his true home. His true home was his true love: Jyn.

"Cassian, I will make our supper in a few minutes-" Jyn says before being cut off by Cassian, who suddenly appears beside her at the sink while she was washing a potato. It startled her.

"Jyn...?" Cassian says in a soft, low voice. He stares down at Jyn directly into her emerald green eyes like as if he wanted to lock feelings through their eyes.

Jyn couldn't help but gaze into Cassian's brown eyes. She wasn't smiling. She just gazed. "C-Cassian?"

They stared at each other for a very long moment. Within that long moment, the only sound that loomed the air around them was the sound of the kitchen sink's water faucet running to wash the potatoes. Cassian decided to break the silence. "I love you. I truly, truly love you..."

Before Jyn could reply, Cassian immediately lunges forward, placing his lips onto her lips, and he kissed her deeply. Though, they were both sweaty with their farming clothes drenched in sweat and particles of soil, Cassian didn't care. Cassian didn't care if his beloved Sergeant was sweaty with untidy wet hair and smelled like the sun outside. Jyn was beautiful in so many ways to Cassian, and that is what made him cherish her.

Cassian finally pulls away from the kiss. When Jyn opens her eyes, she notices that Cassian had no smile on his face, only a stale blank face. Before she could say anything in response to the unexpected kiss & the stale face, Cassian instantly turns around to walk away swiftly into their bedroom without saying a word to her.

It was that moment that Jyn felt her heart sink. She turned to face the sink again, but her actions were halted from her mind's clouded state of shock & confusion. "Does he really love me!?" Jyn thought to herself with jaw slightly open and eyes slightly widened. She remembers that Cassian did kiss her yesterday, but that was because she was crying from reminiscing about her deceased parents. She thought he was being friendly and supportive at that moment. But this kiss felt much different, and it both surprised and concerned her.

Suddenly, Jyn's kyber crystal necklace glows underneath her mother's farming dress. Jyn holds her crystal necklace, keeping it grasped firmly in her hand. All Jyn did was stare down at the running sink in front of her. Jyn's mind was now being clouded with questions. She doesn't know what to feel at the moment. But she now knows one thing: her Captain truly loves her from the bottom of his heart.

Chapter 4: Heart's Moment of Truth

It was the end of the night. It was silent at dinner, for Jyn and Cassian refused to speak a single word to each other the entire time. To Jyn, it was shocking for her to hear those powerful words being said from her Captain's mouth. That caused Jyn to be in deep thought from dinner all the way to bed time. Jyn wanted to refrain from saying anything to Cassian....

.....until she appeared at her bedroom's doorway.

Noticing that they both were dressed and ready for bed, Jyn saw that Cassian was sitting on his side of the bed. He was mesmerized on a photo of every member of their Rogue One unit taken the day prior to their mission on Scarif. He kept the photo in his wallet, so that he felt that Chirrut, Baze, K-2SO, Bodhi, and Jyn were with him every second of every day. Jyn couldn't keep her eyes off Cassian's back. She didn't smile. She only had a concerned, blank poker face. Her arms were crossed and she was leaning against the door, which meant she wasn't in a content mood, not after what Cassian just declared a couple of hours earlier...

Jyn decides to pluck up the courage and takes a few steps into the bedroom. Her heart raced with every step. She was growing nervous.

"....Why me?" Jyn asks out of nowhere, causing Cassian to look up from his photo and turn around to look at her.

"W....What?" Cassian asks confusingly.

"WHY ME!?" Jyn asks more loudly this time, sounding just about aggressive. This causes Cassian's heart to rise up in his throat and cause the tightening feeling.

"What do you mean?" Cassian asks with furrowed brows.

Jyn frowns. "All of a sudden you say you love me.....why now? After what we've just been through..." She tells Cassian in a soft voice, but it sounds as if she was hurt from the inside.

At that exact moment, Cassian wanted to answer, but he couldn't. He could not find the words. He only shifted his eyes and head to look down at the floor in dismay. Jyn watched him, and she decided to carry on.

"You barely even know me." Jyn mentions, shaking her head slightly. Still, no answer from Cassian.

"You were the one who got me into that whole mess!" Jyn exclaims loudly, startling Cassian. "It was great that we fought in a war and we sent the Death Star plans together and gave peace to the galaxy.....but us....I don't know about us, Cassian."

"What did you think was going to happen? Hm?" Cassian suddenly spoke, surprising Jyn and causing her to blink her eyes.

"What!?" Jyn says, feeling jumped at.

Cassian looks up at her, dead straight into her emerald green eyes. "Even if we did survive Scarif, for real,....how did you think things were going to turn out? I told you three days ago, Jyn......if you completed that mission with us, you were free to go."

There was a moment of silence between them. Jyn keeps her eyes in contact with Cassian's eyes.

"So?" She says.

"Tell me, Jyn. Why did you participate in the mission? Who were you doing it for?" Cassian begins inquiring Jyn.

Jyn blinks her eyes in confusion. "WHAT?" She exclaims loudly after crossing her arms.

"Were you doing it for the Rebellion? Were you doing it for the galaxy? Were you just doing it for your father? Or were you just doing it....." Cassian pauses for a second, then finishes. ".....for me?"

Jyn's jaw drops. She felt offended, and she felt like slapping Cassian for that. "HOW DARE YOU QUESTION ME LIKE THAT!" Jyn yells at her Captain.

"Then what was that hug at the beach!?" Cassian says, raising his voice. Though, he didn't want to raise it too high as to not irritate Jyn further.

"T-that...that was..." Jyn struggles to find an answer.

"That was what!?" Cassian asks.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Jyn yells, clenching her fists. She felt anger pumping through her veins and with every breath. She was giving Cassian a furious look now.

Cassian sighs and looks away again down at the floor.

Jyn sighs as well and shakes her head. She crosses her arms again. "Why are we here, Cassian?"

Cassian shrugs his shoulders. "I-It was meant to be."

"You mean us!?" Jyn exclaims. "You know, Andor, I had every chance to kill you..."

"What?" Cassian says while still not looking at her. He only had a puzzled facial expression.

"You read my file, right?" Jyn says in a serious tone. "I came from a former Imperial family. I'm a farmer. Both of my parents are dead. I was abandoned at fifteen. I grew up around weaponry. I taught myself to fight. I stole Imperial documents. I forged Imperial documents. I've cheated. I've lied. I've been arrested countless times. I was dragged through streets and dirt. I had blasters pointed at me. I've been a prisoner. I was a former criminal. I am a reckless woman, Cassian Andor." Jyn explains. It was that moment that she felt both of her eyes stinging because tears were close to bursting from them, due to the way she described herself. "I'VE BEEN THROUGH HELL, CASSIAN!" Jyn yells angrily despite the tears attempting to burst from her eyes.

Cassian remains silent.

Jyn bites her lips in an attempt to suppress her tears. "And here you come along. You turned me into a Rebel. A criminal turned Rebel. Do you realize who you were with the entire time, Cassian!?" Jyn asks with a raised voice. Tears were at the edge of bursting. Cassian still remains quiet while feeling some shame.

"I'M JUST AS DANGEROUS AS ANY STORMTROOPER IN THE GALAXY! I'M NOT A WOMAN YOU SHOULD BE WITH!" Jyn screams out angrily, with the tears finally bursting from her eyes. The tears dripped down her cheeks like rainfall.

It was that exact moment that Cassian slammed the photo of Rogue One down on his bedside table as hard as he could, and stood up on both feet off from the bed. He pointed at Jyn, and his face now held a very serious expression. "THAT IS NOT TRUE..." He declares with a clear, serious voice.

Jyn looks up at Cassian from the other side of their bedroom through her tears. "Really? Then tell me. Why did we deserve this second chance, and not the others?"

Cassian takes some steps closer to her so that he is now just a few feet from her. "Because I...I wanted it to start perfectly."

Jyn gives Cassian a half furious and half sad facial expression with tears in her eyes and tear trails wet on her cheeks. "IT!? WHAT IS 'IT', CASSIAN!? WHAT IS 'IT' THAT WE ARE!?" She yells at him.

"I may not have trusted you at first, but I judged you well in the end, and I knew you had good heart in you. You know I trust you now." Cassian assures her with a calm tone.

Jyn glares at Cassian. "Yeah....like how you did not trust me with my blaster on day one? Like how you deceived me, and lied to me, about killing MY father. Yeah, talk about trust..."

Cassian shakes his head. "I was ordered to, but I chose not to kill him, Jyn! Remember what you told me? Trust goes both ways." He reminds her.

Jyn looks down at the floor and sniffles. She doesn't attempt to wipe away her tears before looking back up at Cassian. "Why? Why do you love me? Why do you truly love me, out of anyone else in the entire galaxy?" She asks with a calm tone this time.

Cassian thought about it for a moment. It was a good question, Cassian thought. He knew what to say.

"Because....you were meant to be my Stardust." He quietly declares.

Jyn still stares at Cassian through tears, but she remains silent, indicating that she was willing to listen, thus allowing Cassian to continue.

"I lost my family at a very young age. My whole life, I had this void in my soul that I thought would never fill.....until I met you, Jyn." Cassian states, causing Jyn to stare up at him with a more confident face. "You're everything I wished for...and only you can fill that void. Both of us can fill our voids now. We need to fight back this suffering, and move forward TOGETHER."

Jyn glances to the side for a split second, then returns her teary glare to Cassian.

"But-" Jyn begins before being cut off by Cassian.

"Jyn. If Rogue One was here with us right now, this is what they would happily wish for us. There is no shame in that. From up there....they are with us every step of the way, believe it or not. And I'm very sure that your mother and your father would've been so proud of you. They would want the best for their only daughter, their only child."

More tears burst from Jyn's eyes. She tries to blink them away, but the tears were too abundant.

"Only Stardust can fill the hole in my heart..." Cassian declares with the most confident and enthusiastic tone Jyn has ever heard from him. Cassian steps closer to her so that he was standing right in front of her. He looked down at her, and she looked up at him through the tears.

Cassian whispers. "You're my reckless Rebel....you're my Sergeant.....YOU.....are meant to be my true love."

Cassian places his hands on Jyn's shoulders gently. Noticing him do so, she allows him to touch her now that her mood has begun to chill to a much calmer level.

"Because, Jyn Erso, I miss you....I want you....I need you....I love you....." Cassian whispers in her ear.

Jyn's lips began to form a very slight smile as the tears trickle down her face more slowly this time.

"....like crazy." Cassian finishes. He slowly wraps his arms around Jyn the same way he did on the beach in Scarif. It was like that for a very long moment. Then, Jyn wraps her arms around Cassian's waist, signifying that she did indeed trust him after all. She buries her wet, teary face into Cassian's warm chest where she feels his strong heartbeat under his muscular chest. She felt confident in him, and she felt that she could place her faith in him as he placed his faith in her. That sense of compassion and affection came from the Force, and they were one with it.

Jyn spoke with a muffled voice. "....I love you too, Captain."

It was that moment that Jyn 'Stardust' Erso and Cassian Jeron Andor were officially in love.

Chapter 6: The Beauty Under the Dirt

It felt like an eternity before Cassian opened his eyes slowly. His eyelids felt heavy, but he resisted the urge to fall back asleep because it was now sunny outside and the bedroom filled with bright light through the window curtains. Cassian sits up and rubs his eyes to clear up his vision. The first thing he notices is that he was half-naked: he had no shirt on, but he only had his night slacks on. Then he remembers. "Last night...." Cassian finally recalls to himself in his head.

He heard shifting next to him. Cassian turns to see Jyn finally awake and eyeing him in the eyes. She didn't look tired. She looked ready: ready to start another day with her Captain.

Cassian reaches over to place his hand on top of her hand. She interlocks her fingers with his, and she gently squeezes his hand to express her affection. Jyn and Cassian both give each other a long stare; there is a long moment of silence between them. They admire each other.

"Hello, love." Cassian finally breaks the silence. He smiles and brushes aside some hair off Jyn's forehead.

Jyn doesn't smile. She just stares with her forest green eyes. But, really, she was smiling in the inside. She wasn't really a morning person. "Cassian...." It was all she could mutter out. Cassian then reaches over to place a gentle kiss on Jyn's cheek, making her smile. She did indeed remember what they did last night, and she felt no shame in it. She now wanted to spend the rest of her second chance with Cassian to the fullest. She became motivated the moment Cassian declared his true deep love for her.

Cassian crawled closer to Jyn on the bed, and he lay his head on her shoulder.

An hour and a half later

The two Rebels were sitting down at the table, face-to-face. They were having their breakfast, and it was going smoothly, somewhat. Jyn and Cassian were both exchanging different kinds of smiles and funny faces with each other as they ate.

Though, they were getting nervous due to the looming silence in the Erso house and the constant staring at each other, they nevertheless wanted to get used to being comfortable with each other.

A few minutes passed, and Jyn ordered her SE-2 droid to pick up their dishes off the table. Cassian straightened up in his chair and watched Jyn get up off her chair and walk towards him. He looks up at her and smiles, admiring the dark green shirt she was wearing.

"I need to go check the moisture vaporators outside. Then we'll meet at the field for harvest. One hour." Jyn informs Cassian.

While still sitting on his chair, Cassian shifts his eyes to the floor for a moment. Jyn waits for a response. Then Cassian nods and looks up at her. "Yeah..."

Jyn turns around and is about to walk away when she suddenly feels Cassian grab ahold of her wrist instantly, like the speed of lightning. For a split second it feels uncomfortable because Cassian grips it tightly. Jyn stands there, a little hesitant about the awkward sudden moment. Her wrist was hurting slightly.

"Jyn..." Cassian says in a soft voice. Jyn turns to him with curious eyes.

They look into each other's eyes for a very long moment. Cassian keeps his grasp on his Sergeant's wrist. He keeps her waiting, wondering what he wants to say or what his next move will be. Then in an instant, Cassian pulls down Jyn so that she is sitting right on his laps, coming face-to-face with him. For a second, she is confused, but she then realizes what Cassian wants to do. She felt half scared and half excited. Her breaths became more rapid, her heart rate increased, and her hormone levels shot up to the extreme. She knew he wanted her right now.

Cassian places his hands on Jyn's hips and starts kissing her passionately in the lips. Jyn moans in pleasure because that's exactly what she wants. It was a perfect way to start her day. She wraps her arms around her Captain's neck and reciprocates every single kiss they share on that chair. "Oh, Cassian..." Jyn gasps in between kisses. "....you're my man."

Two hours later

Jyn and Cassian was outside performing the daily labor outside in the fields that the Ersos owned. They dug and collected the crops under the harsh, cold, windy conditions of the lush planet Lah'mu. They were used to it, but they were getting exhausted by the minute from all the excessive hauling.

Jyn, in one of her mother's farming dresses, hands some vegetables to SE-2, which then carries it over to the reservoir in the basement. Jyn wipes the drips of sweat off her face. Her brunette hair was damp and was getting in the way of her eyes, so she strokes her hair aside. Cassian stands up straight to relieve some pressure and stress off his lower back from all the bending down and all the shoveling. He was sweating as well, and his white long sleeve shirt was dirtied from the soil.

Jyn looks over at Cassian and smiles slightly, which Cassian does the same to her in return. However, Cassian couldn't keep his eyes off Jyn. There is sweat and bits of dirt on her face. She looks exhausted and fatigued, and it looks like she can use a day's rest. Despite Jyn looking like a hard-working manual laborer, Cassian thought that Jyn looked beautiful nonetheless. No matter what, Jyn Erso is and will always be beautiful to him.

Cassian approaches Jyn.

"C-Cassian?" Jyn asks, widening her eyes slightly.

Cassian doesn't hesitate to wrap his arms around her and pull her in close to his body. He places those smooth lips of his onto Jyn's soft sweaty lips. She becomes instantly confused just like earlier in the kitchen; she wonders why Cassian was kissing her at a time like this. She is all sweaty, dirty, and she even smells like ground soil at the moment.

But Cassian doesn't care. He loves Jyn in all types of ways. He loves her no matter what. She is everything to him.

Jyn exhales into the kiss and inhales for more air before going along with the kisses. She places her arms around Cassian's waist and continues to kiss him while waiting for SE-2 to return. "What...is.....up....with yo....today?" Jyn says to him in between kisses, but Cassian ignores her question from the barrage of deep kisses.

Cassian knows Jyn is his soul mate forever. She is the beauty hidden underneath the dirt.

((()))

It is a few hours later, and it is close to sunset. The gray clouds start to fade away miles away from the Erso homestead, allowing golden rays of sunset rays to shine at the area where Jyn's house is. It becomes less windy and less cold near the house. It was a long day of hard work for both Jyn and Cassian. After the two Rebels wash up in the shower and dress up in fresh clothes, Jyn decides to take a stroll along the beach a few miles away from her house, and she wants Cassian to come along.

"Cassian, I want to show you the beach over there." Jyn points towards the shore, where the ocean blue waters can be seen from the Erso house.

Though, Cassian hears her question, Jyn saying the word 'beach' reminds him of the moment that somewhat haunt him to this day: their last moments in each other's arms on the Scarif beach.

"Cass?" Jyn tilts her head curiously, wondering what is wrong.

"N-Nothing, Jyn. We can take a look." Cassian finally answers her, smiling in the process. "Anything for you, my Stardust."

Jyn smiles so excitedly that she hugs him firmly.

Cassian follows Jyn to the underground basement of the homestead. He notices it is dark inside. Jyn proceeds into the basement. "What's in here?"

Jyn turns on the lights and reveals a gray two-seater commuting speeder that was parked in the middle of the basement. "This is where my father kept his own personal speeder."

Cassian nods and tilts his head as he admires it. "Nice."

"He liked driving it around with mother. Whenever he was having a hard time with something, he would take this out into the fields. You know, having fun with it." Jyn explains while running her fingers across the speeder's front end.

"Joyride. I like that." Cassian says with a mischievous wink, to which Jyn tilts her head as a sarcastic response.

Jyn grabs the key and hops into the driver's seat, with Cassian hopping into the passenger's seat after her. Jyn inserts the key into the ignition and turns it, causing the engine to start up with a loud revving sound. Upon hearing the vicious-sounding engine, Cassian shifts his eyes over to Jyn. She smiles.

"I can't believe it still works after all these years!" Jyn exclaims. Cassian smiles and pats her shoulder before she shifts the speeder into gear and exits the basement from the ramp leading to the surface.

As soon as they reached the front yard of the Erso house, Jyn pushes down the pedal to the floor as hard as she can, and the speeder zooms off quickly like lightning. The engine roars with gradually increasing notes, and Jyn shifts the gears, eventually having the speeder reach its top speed. The increasingly strong winds gushed against their faces as the speeder hovered above the grass and soil over a stretch of a few miles away from the Erso house.

It wasn't long before they reached the shore of the roaring waves coming from the ocean. Jyn clicks the speeder in park and shuts off the engine before climbing out with Cassian. Cassian holds Jyn's hand, much to Jyn's content, and they walk slowly towards the beach. The winds from the ocean blew across the shoreline. The breeze felt cool to Jyn's and Cassian's faces; it set a tranquil mood for their moment together alone at the Lah'mu beach. It seemed like a long walk, but it wasn't when they arrived right in front of the tides.

The two Rebels look out into the distance, towards the horizon where the ocean met the sky, where it looked as though there was no end to the ocean. The skies were blue & pink, and the golden rays of sunlight shined across the landscape and lit Jyn's and Cassian's faces. They stand there on the sand, together side-by-side, with hands intertwined.

The moment reminds Cassian of the exact moment that they stood at the beach in Scarif, watching death coming at them from miles away. He greatly despised the memory, but it was also a beautiful moment for him and Jyn to be on a beach, this time alive, together. Cassian was very sure that Jyn had the same thought in her mind.

Suddenly, Jyn breaks the silence. "My parents always took me here every weekend." She says. Cassian looks at her, wanting to listen to her go on. "My mother said that it was the only place where they could....be free, you know? From the Empire and such." Jyn recalls the day her mother gave her the kyber crystal necklace when she was seven years old, the day Orson Krennic found her family and killed her mother & kidnapped her father.

Cassian nods. "Yeah. I know what you mean. This place was their....safe haven. The only one, I'm sure of it."

Jyn then looks at him as a wave approaches closely to them. They both sit down on the sand, still holding hands. It was the same way they sat down together at Scarif during their final moments. It was an inevitable death. But now that they were granted a very previous second chance by Jyn's kyber crystal necklace and the Force, it made her very happy to be in this exact same moment again: sitting with Cassian holding hands on a beach. The sunset simulated how the skies looked when the Death Star fired its laser and the blast site on Scarif became an increasing catastrophe of death that very day: orange.

They sit like that for about twenty minutes, before Cassian speaks up.

"Now, we're free." Cassian says in a soft voice, which sounds almost like a whisper.

Jyn looks at Cassian in the eyes. She feels her heart rise to her throat just as he said that. It is true. They are truly free now: truly free to live their moment. Jyn feels like crying, but she holds the tears in.

Jyn and Cassian both rise up on their knees together on the sand, facing each other. Cassian is several inches taller than Jyn, but it is so perfect. They wrap their arms around each other and embrace in what is their most affectionate, most passionate, and most loving hug possible. They embraced each other on their knees the same way they embraced each other on the beach in Scarif moments before their tragic inevitable end. Their hug on Scarif resulted from the mutual feelings that they both understood about each other, and from the heated moment that was their coming end: they were in their last moments, and they were desperate to hold each other to hope that the sending of the Death Star plans worked. Jyn and Cassian can feel a strong, unique power encircling them. Jyn's kyber crystal necklace begins glowing brightly. Jyn then begins to cry: tears roll down her face and onto Cassian's shoulder since her head was resting on it in the hug. The Force recognized their intimate moment, and it worked strongly with them to accompany the feelings of love they had for each other, right there on that sand where they were kneeling and hugging with each other.

It seemed like an eternity before they decided to pull away from the passionate embrace. Jyn looks up into Cassian's eyes with her face & eyes now dry of tears. They stare into each other's eyes for a very long moment, feeling the strong emotional connection between each other. Cassian stands up on his feet, with Jyn standing up after him. Their eyes remain glued to each other. Their eyes were the side-scrolling boards of art that contained all the feelings and memories they have that they could see in each other anytime. Cassian now holds both of Jyn's hands with his hands, holding them closely to his chest. Jyn looks like she is going to cry, but Cassian ignored it because it looks beautiful when she is about to.

Cassian says in a soft voice that sounds almost inaudible. It sounds almost sinister, however. "There....is no Death Star...no Empire....to stop OUR moment now." Cassian then clenches a very tight fist, indicating that he was about to feel angry from the thought of the Death Star's laser canon killing them during their hug on that beach.

Jyn notices. She nods and reaches up to touch his cheek. "I know. It's our moment...now, and forever."

The two Rebels close in for a deep, slow, passionate kiss on the lips in the face of the Lah'mu beach's roaring waves and the golden serene sunset.

Chapter 7: Going Back

Cassian wakes up in bed and rubs his eyes to clear up his vision. His eyes widen when Jyn is nowhere to be found. The spot next to him is vacant, for the blanket was shifted, indicating that Jyn left bed earlier. "J-Jyn!? Where are you?" Cassian asks himself in his mind. Half worried, Cassian struggles to put some quick clothes on from Galen's closet and starts to walk all around the Erso house looking for his Sergeant.

"Jyn!" Cassian calls out. No answer. "Jyn!" He calls again. Still, silence looms the atmosphere of the small Erso home. Cassian goes to check the kitchen, but no luck.

However, Cassian notices a bright glow from the corner of his eye. It is so eye-catching that he knows exactly what it is. Cassian turns to the kitchen table to see that Jyn had left her kyber crystal necklace there. It glows bright.

"I wonder where she went..." Cassian wonders out loud. He tries to think of where his lover could've gone to on this lush, sparse planet that barely had any habitants. "She couldn't have gone far."

But after a few moments of thinking, Cassian has a slight clue of where she might be. He doesn't really know where exactly she is, but he felt the Force through him, and it gave him a slight clue of where Jyn is. Cassian heads to the basement downstairs and switches on the ceiling light to find that Galen's 2-seater speeder is still parked in there. "I'm coming, Jyn." Cassian mutters to himself as he grabs the keys to the speeder and hops in to start the engine.

Cassian drives by the crop fields, scanning all over for Jyn, but she isn't anywhere to be found. Though, SE-2 was at one of the water vaporators collecting some water, which was good. "Hmm...." Cassian thought. Then, an idea came up in his mind. "The beach!" Cassian blurts out as he turns the speeder around to head towards the beach that they were at the previous day.

Once Cassian arrives at the roaring waves of the sky-blue tides, he hops off the speeder and surveys the entire golden shoreline for the short, brunette twenty one year-old woman that he desperately loved so much. Still, she is nowhere to be found. He only ends up finding the footprints left from their visit yesterday. Cassian sighs and rubs his forehead from worry and frustration. "Jyn...where are you? I need you right now." Cassian mutters in a desperate tone.

But something tells Cassian to look somewhere down west of the Erso home. He can feel it in his heart. He looks up from the ground and into the ocean. "Guide me." Cassian mutters out loud to the Force, before running back to the speeder and taking off in a flash.

As the Intelligence Officer drove west down some green fields, he decides to turn on the radio. He just let it run until there is one topic that greatly caught his attention. So, he listens carefully.

"The Empire's so-called Death Star is still lurking through space and poses as an extremely major threat to every planet and every person in the galaxy. The Rebel Alliance has yet to take action or resolve the issue at hand. Will the Rebellion save us? Or will it fail and watch the whole galaxy blow to pieces? Lives are at stake." The news broadcaster announces on the radio.

Hearing that, Cassian's heart sank. He felt dead. He felt helpless. Although he and his team were able to send the Death Star plans a few days ago, nothing has happened as of now. The Death Star is still active, and it will be any minute before it starts destroying other planets, just like it did to Jedha and Scarif. What greatly terrified Cassian the most is that there could be a possibility that the Death Star could destroy Lah'mu any day if it isn't destroyed in time, and this really worried him. The Erso home was Cassian's safe haven too, and he would hate for his second chance with Jyn to be taken away in the blink of an eye.

"Oh..ggrrhhh..." Cassian chokes. He feels like crying, but he holds it in his throat. He floors the accelerator pedal hard to speed up the speeder towards the location the Force was guiding him to.

Cassian eventually arrives at a rocky ridge that acted as a dead end. He is confused because he is very sure that Jyn is there, but it did not look like the kind of place Jyn would be. Cassian hops out of the speeder and paces around the area with his hands in his pockets. He waits and waits for long moments, but he is persistent.

Suddenly, Cassian hears a subtle noise coming from nearby. It comes from near the pile of rocks in front of him. Cassian squints and focuses his hearing: he hears that a sound is coming from near the rocks but below the ground. It sounds like a voice. "Wait a minute..." Cassian mutters.

He proceeds towards the rocks when suddenly, a rock 'lifts' off the ground and Jyn appears with a brown bag and a glowing object. Cassian's eyes widen in surprise: it appears that Jyn came from underground, and the rock served as its cover in disguise.

"J-JYN!" Cassian yells, with arms out wide. He walks to her.

"Hey Cassian." Jyn greets him, slinging the brown bag over her shoulder.

"W-what....what are you doing here!? Down there!?" Cassian asks confusingly. "You had me worried all morning!"

"Relax, Cassian. I was just exploring a..." Jyn looks back at the underground hole that she appeared from. "...a very familiar place."

Cassian places his hands on his hips and sighs. He looks down at the glowing object she held. "What is that?"

Jyn holds out the object in front of him. Cassian takes it and examines every inch of it. It had a constant pulsing orange light. "That's my lantern that mother gave me when I was a girl. And that..." Jyn points at the underground's entrance hole. "...was my hiding spot whenever my parents were in danger and ertrbeing hunted by the Empire. It did happen actually..." Jyn explains, with her voice fading softly near the end.

Cassian eyes Jyn for a moment before nodding and understanding what the lantern was used for. He hands Jyn back her lantern and leads her to the speeder. "I drive. And you walked all this way? This is about fifteen miles away from the house." Cassian complains as he turns on the engine.

Jyn shrugs her shoulders after she loads her bag and lantern in the speeder's storage compartment. "I knew you'd find me, Cassian. Since being abandoned at fifteen, and being a former criminal, I am one heck of a walker, Captain Andor." Jyn says with a dirty smirk.

Cassian scoffs when Jyn tells him that. He loves it. It makes him smile at her.

Not a lot of time passed since they left Jyn's emergency childhood hideout. The skies were not cloudy at the moment. It was hot and sunny, and the winds blew over Jyn's and Cassian's heads as the speeder dashed through the green fields, acting like a natural fan in the hot weather. As Cassian looks over at Jyn, who was reclined back in the passenger seat, he smiles at the sight of her sleeping. Jyn looked flushed and exhausted. The strands of hair on both sides of her face blew with the wind, and it made her sleeping figure look more serene.

"She looks cute when she sleeps." Cassian thought to himself as he shifts his focus back to the fields and navigated their way home.

Once Cassian arrives home and parks the speeder in the basement, he glances over at Jyn, who is still sleeping in the passenger seat. Being the gentleman he is, he gives the care and love to his girlfriend by carrying her in his arms and bringing her into the house, being careful not to run into the walls. Jyn is pretty short and light-weight for her age, as Cassian could feel on his arms. He carries Jyn to their bedroom and gently places her on their bed. Cassian takes the moment to observe Jyn's sleeping figure. Her eyes were closed. Her chest & abdomen rose with her breaths. Her head was laying on its side on the pillow. Cassian loved the sight. It was another beautiful thing he loved about Jyn. She looked beautiful to him wherever she is. Cassian bends down to kiss her cheek before going to Galen's closet.

Deciding to change his shirt, he switches to a dark blue shirt. But, before he could turn around and leave Jyn alone to nap, something in the closet caught his eye. His jacket and pants from the day they sent the Death Star plans was in there. And his blaster pistol was inside its holster.

It got Cassian thinking on the spot. He looks at his blaster pistol, then he glances over at the sleeping Jyn, then back at his pistol.

He then recalls the radio broadcast he had heard earlier in the speeder about the Death Star still active. Cassian sighs heavily, massaging the bridge of his nose. He was now irritated.

Cassian quietly leaves the room and goes to the kitchen to grab a drink. Upon taking a few sips, he just stood in the kitchen, thinking. Just thinking. He closes his eyes as his head tilts down. His mind was now clouded with thoughts and worries.

((()))

Cassian sits there at the kitchen dining table, watching Jyn chop some vegetables for their supper that evening. She was the one who did the kitchen work, as most women in the galaxy do. Cassian would help her, but not at the moment. He was bombarded with thoughts all day long, and it was aggravating him to his nerves. Cassian would go to the ends of the universe for Jyn. But...he just needed to know something from her.

Gathering the courage to talk to Jyn, Cassian finally stands up from his chair and slowly makes his way towards her, hearing every chop of the knife with every step he took. Jyn notices him, and looks up at him. Jyn smiles slightly and brushes aside one of the fringes on her head. "Captain."

"Jyn....I...." Cassian starts, but struggles to. He tries not to make eye contact with Jyn since she does indeed frown the moment he has trouble starting off.

"I.....I need to talk to you. It's important..." Cassian says softly. He notices Jyn laying the knife down on the countertop and placing her hands on her hips. She knew this wasn't going to sound like a good conversation.

"Yes?" Jyn asks, looking at Cassian directly in the eye. She holds a blank expression on her face. She was getting nervous.

Cassian sighs in an attempt to relieve the pressure. "Look Jyn....I know a lot has happened lately, and it's only been several days since we've met. Several days since we died and were given a second chance."

Jyn nods to acknowledge his statement. "Hm. Go on."

"I greatly value this strong, powerful love between us, even though we've only known each other for a few days....but this whole....farming life......isn't there more out there than this?" Cassian asks.

At that moment, Jyn feels somewhat offended, but she tries to keep her nerves calm this time. "....What do you mean?"

Cassian shakes his head and sighs. "Jyn....it's been a few days, and I heard on the radio that the Death Star is still not yet destroyed."

Those words struck Jyn like a blaster bolt. Her heart sank to her chest. Her eyes began to shift downwards to the floor. She sent those plans. The Rebellion has that information. They know the Death Star's weak spot. They did all that work, and it's still not destroyed. This made Jyn frightened and worried.

"N-N-Not....d-destroyed?" Jyn's voice begins to crack.

Cassian makes his way around the kitchen counter and places his hands on Jyn's shoulders. "Jyn, listen to me. Hey, look at me."

Jyn looks up at Cassian. She is about to cry, yet she also feels half angry in the inside for the lack of action by the Rebellion, the very military power that she and Cassian work for.

"I don't mind this farmer's life here. I will live it with you all the way through. But this war isn't over yet. OUR mission....is not completed yet, believe it or not. If you want to live our second chance in a time of peace, we need to make sure that nothing stands in our way." Cassian declares.

Jyn still has a look of fear and worry in her eyes. "What are you saying, Cassian?"

Cassian has waited all day long to ask her the question. "Shouldn't we be back there, aiding the Rebellion once more? Shouldn't we be there helping them end this conflict and fully restore peace to the galaxy?"

Jyn's heart begins to race. "B-But Cassian...what about our life here?"

"Jyn, it'll always be here. But shouldn't we be taking care of a more serious matter?" Cassian asks.

Jyn shakes her head. "Cassian, it won't be that easy!"

"I know, but-" Cassian says, but Jyn cuts him off.

"We just died several days ago! We can't just show up at Yavin 4 like nothing happened, Cassian! Even if we did survive Scarif, the Empire would have a bounty on us by now!" Jyn begins yelling.

"We still have a mission to complete, Jyn! Our mission wasn't over yet!" Cassian yells back, but not as loudly as Jyn.

"Wasn't it!? Hm!?" Jyn shoots him a glare.

There was a long pause between them. They stared into each other's eyes with serious faces.

"We belong there, Jyn. The Rebellion is our home." Cassian says in a more softer voice now.

"You want to talk about home!?" Jyn raises her voice, indicating that Cassian's statement irritated her in a way.

Cassian shakes his head. "Jyn, if we don't help now, their deaths would be in vain."

And it struck Jyn. Those words that came from Cassian's mouth angered her because she knew exactly what Cassian was referring to: Imwe, Malbus, Bodhi, K-2SO, and her parents. It got the former criminal's blood flowing with anger and frustration. But she tries to hold in her anger. Instead, she speaks in an aggressive voice. Her eyes were wide, her face held a very serious & slightly angered expression, and she shook her head side to side slowly while eyeing Cassian directly in the eye. "CASSIAN....DON'T YOU DARE BRING THEM UP IN THIS. DON'T YOU DARE."

Realizing he is treading on thin ice, Cassian tries to calm her down. "Jyn, I love you."

Jyn scoffs and shakes her shoulders out of his hands, and turns around to walk away to their bedroom angrily. "I need to think about this..." She says in a voice that sounds frustrated.

"Jyn!" Cassian calls out to her, but she refuses to comply. He closes his eyes and rubs his forehead in frustration from the heated conversation with his Sergeant, his only Stardust, his partner. As much as he loves her, he did not want to risk their home being destroyed by the Death Star or the Empire.

Chapter 8 (Part 1): The Decision

Cassian was clouded with frustration from the tense conversation with Jyn in the kitchen. He couldn't stop debating between the Rebellion or his life in Lah'mu with Jyn, but he felt that they had no choice but to finish what they started. If they wanted to live their life without fear from the Empire, then they would need to contribute to the Rebellion again. However...that would require risks as well.

After what seemed like a half hour, Cassian decides to continue to speak with Jyn. "I knew this would've stirred her mind..." He mutters to himself as he made his way quietly to their bedroom.

Jyn stands right next to the bed with her forehead resting & hiding on one hand, and the other arm crossed underneath. Cassian knows that she is thinking about his proposal to go back to being Rebels, but he also knows that it was such a hard & intense moment for her. But he needs to know now. Taking small, slow, silent steps, Cassian approaches Jyn from behind and places one hand on her shoulder. "Hey, Jyn..."

Feeling his touch, in an instant, Jyn turns around and knocks his hand away with a hint of anger. She has the angry facial expression. "WHAT!?"

Cassian feels bad about it, but nevertheless he has to get an answer by the end of tonight. "Jyn, I know this is all too fast for you...but some day that space station will be destroying many lives if we don't do anything about it soon."

Jyn glares at him. "What made you change your mind? What caused you to want to go back to that?"

"I....I....Jyn, I made a vow to myself when I was six years old. I would never stop fighting for the Rebellion...until the Empire breathes its last breath." Cassian informs her with an innocent face. He waits for her to respond despite the angry pair of emerald green eyes staring up at him.

"Really!? Don't you see how badly I want to stay here!? You said it yourself, Cassian. If we completed that mission, I'd be free to go." Jyn says angrily.

"But our mission's not complete yet...." Cassian says after finally shifting his head downwards so he looks at the ground in dismay.

Jyn shakes her head. "I sent those plans, that's final!"

Jyn then begins to leave the bedroom by walking swiftly past Cassian. But Cassian quickly catches her by the wrist.

"Let go of me, Cassian!" Jyn yells, attempting to shake off his grasp on her wrist. But Cassian still won't let go.

"Jyn! Listen to me for once, please!" Cassian begs the brunette young woman, finally making her calm her nerves and look up into his chocolate brown eyes. "We may have sent those plans....but it didn't fully ensure the Death Star's destruction right away. That's what we sacrificed our lives for. I am very sure your father would've wanted his very own work to be destroyed, especially with the help of his own daughter." Cassian tells Jyn. Jyn looks down at the floor for a moment before looking back up at him.

"Your father would be very proud." Cassian repeats the last words he told Jyn at the beach in Scarif moments before their first deaths.

Jyn closes her eyes after angling her head down at the floor once more.

Cassian sighs after seeing lack of response from Jyn. "Jyn, please. Where is that reckless, aggressive, undisciplined Rebel who gave the galaxy a new hope?"

Jyn clenches a fist before shaking her head and turning away to walk out of the bedroom. "I....I don't know Cassian. I..I-I just don't know..." Jyn mumbles softly, crossing her arms as she escapes the room.

"Jyn!" Cassian calls out behind her. He tries to go after her, but then he realizes it is no use chasing after his beloved girlfriend. Realizing Jyn used to be a criminal, it made sense to him that she was most likely good at escaping from people in a jiffy. Cassian decides to let Jyn be and cool off for the next hour or so, and sits down on the bed.

Meanwhile, Jyn is storming off down the fields to the beach that was a couple of miles in front of their house. It is early evening, but there was still a little bit of sunset light left in the blue skies. Jyn stands there at the shoreline, watching the tides roar up and down to the sands. The winds blow against her face gently, acting as a fan to 'cool down' her angered mood. Jyn just stares out into the orange horizon with her arms crossed.

"I don't know what to think..." Jyn says softly. "And here I am, living a second chance with a man I barely know, but trust. Yet, the Death Star is still out there....and I died just to let it sail free?"

She feels tears bursting from her eyes. Her lips begin to curl and tremble in conjunction with the cry. "Why was my life such a rough mess!?" Jyn yells out into the sea.

It's true: Jyn did live a rough life. Her parents, Galen and Lyra, were working for the Empire, so that meant that she was an Imperial child. Orson Krennic killed her mother, and the Rebellion killed her father. She was abandoned by her secondary caretaker, Saw Gerrera, when she was fifteen years old, so she lived on her own for the past six years. Within those past six years, she's expressed her extreme hatred for the Empire by stealing and forging information from it, getting into lots of trouble, becoming a prisoner in many prison camps, being dragged through streets as punishment, having blasters pointed at her every day, escaping so many places from Imperial troops. She even learned how to fight people swiftly and aggressively. Jyn is a criminal who turned into a Rebel, and she is a reckless twenty one year-old woman. She would take any extremely dangerous, reckless measure instead of safe methods just to get the job done. Though, Jyn wondered why Cassian still loved her despite her background, her past, and her personality.

Jyn shakes her head as the tears flow down her cheeks, and her eyes start to redden. "Why was I brought into this mess!? Why father!? WHY!?" She yells out into the sea. Hearing only more waves from the tides, Jyn sinks to the sand, sitting there and breaking down into more tears.

Was it her life that she wanted to continue living in peace on Lah'mu? Was it her love for Cassian? Was it Rogue One, who were her best friends all within that three-day span before their tragic deaths? Was it her parents? Who knows. It might be everything.

About ten minutes have passed, and Jyn was still crying tears, with her hand covering her face. But at that moment, she felt a very strong force inside her. It felt warm, yet so strong. She felt as if there was a presence right next to her. She felt it in her heart, and it was telling her something. Her kyber crystal necklace began glowing. She looked down and notices it. Something strong indeed was happening at the moment.

Chapter 8 (Part 2)

A blue glow appeared from behind her, and the reflections of the glow on the sand were visible to her when she looks up from her hand. With her eyes still full of tears and her cheeks still wet with tear trails, Jyn pushes herself up to her feet and turns around. Her eyes widen and her jaw drops when she sees who was there.

The blue-glowing spirits of her parents, Galen and Lyra, were standing right in front of her, with smiles on their faces. Jyn didn't know what to say. She only wanted to cry more. She felt as if it was all real.

"M-MOTHER!? F-FATHER!?" Jyn mumbles loudly, covering her mouth with both hands.

"Jyn." Galen says calmly.

Jyn then cries more tears.

"I'm so proud of you, Stardust. I knew you could do it." Galen says to Jyn, referring to her sending of the Death Star plans.

"F-Father...so much has happened..." Jyn begins, but Galen smiles and cuts her off.

"Save your breath. Your mother and I are very proud of what you did. Your sacrifice in the end was worth it all." Galen compliments his daughter. He couldn't stop smiling at his grown-up girl.

"The Force was strong with you, my dear Jyn." Lyra gracefully tells Jyn, who took some steps closer to them.

Jyn felt like she will choke on her next words. She is half-shocked and half-surprised to see that the spirits of her parents are right in front of her very eyes. It is like a unique, special, desperate gift from the Force. "Mother....father....is it true? The Death Star is still....?" Jyn tries to ask.

"Not yet, Jyn. But someone is bound to destroy it soon. I have a strong feeling that he will." Galen answers with a nod.

"He?" Jyn is confused by the person he just mentioned. "Who, father? Who is he?"

"I'm not sure. But I can feel that he is a powerful man, and he will help restore peace to the galaxy." Galen tells Jyn. Though, Jyn nods and looks down at the ground, unable to think about anything else.

"I....I really miss both of you..." Jyn whispers quietly, but her parents' spirits could hear anything.

"And so do we, Stardust. Very much. You've grown." Galen says as he watched his daughter form a small smile on her lips. "Jyn...I know you don't want to face the conflict of the Rebellion and the Empire no more, and I know how badly you want to return to the peaceful life you used to have here." He catches Jyn's attention when she looks up at him.

"I know. What of it?" Jyn asks, curious.

"You deserve better. You were meant to be out there with the Rebellion. You're a fighter, Jyn. Even one person can change the fate of the future. You did just that a few days ago. Why not do it again? You're a great woman that you've grown into, Jyn, and your mother and I are proud. Don't let fear hold you back. Let hope encourage you forward." Galen says with a smile, tilting his head to the side to express confidence and assurance.

Jyn nods slightly, but still keeps her eyes gazing down at the sand. "It's too much for me to take in."

Galen looks over at Lyra, who raises her brows, for she has nothing to say but to agree with her daughter. Galen then turns his attention back to Jyn. "You know, Captain Andor loves you so much."

This catches Jyn's attention. She stares directly into her father's eye.

Suddenly, a voice appears to her right. But...it sounds like a computerized voice, more like a robotic voice. And it sounds very familiar to Jyn's ears.

"I am very sure it was obvious from the start!" The robotic voice said.

Jyn slowly turns to her right to see the spirits of K-2SO, Chirrut Imwe, Baze Malbus, Bodhi Rook, and Saw Gerrera standing there as well. Jyn swears that her heart sank to the bottom of the sand when she saw their spirits. Jyn's eyes now begin to fill with tears again as she brings her hands to her mouth to cover it.

"K-2!? Imwe!? Baze! Bodhi! Saw! Oh..my...." Jyn exclaims happily as she let the tears trickle down her cheeks rapidly from joy. She felt so happy to see her best friends again.

"Missed us yet, sister?" Baze taunts Jyn, giving her a dirty smirk and scoffing.

"Wow. I didn't know you look that young." Chirrut comments about Jyn. This surprises Jyn, because Chirrut's eyes did not look blind anymore in his spirit form. She guessed that his death caused the blindness to be removed, enabling him to see with full, clear sight as a spirit.

"You worry too much, Jyn." Bodhi says playfully with a grin.

Jyn still feels the tears rolling down her cheeks when she saw the rest of her team, Rogue One, standing right in front of her as spirits one with the Force. "Oh my...it's you! I can't believe it!" Jyn exclaims so happily, she was almost on her knees. She smiles through her tears. Though, she felt embarrassed, it looked beautiful nonetheless.

"We....we were great out there. All of us. I really couldn't have done it without you guys. Thank you." Jyn says with a soft voice, since she felt like choking. It meant so much to her saying that to her team since she didn't get a chance to say anything more before they separated near the Scarif jungles. "But, the Death Star is still out there. It should be destroyed soon enough. A-And I'm...." Jyn pauses for a moment, because she is now looking at her four deceased teammates in the eyes with a hint of guilt. "I'm so sorry...I am very very sorry."

That moment, every one of the spirits frowns at her.

"Sorry for what?" Baze asks, tilting his head to the side in confusion.

"I mean...this...." Jyn holds up her glowing kyber crystal necklace, to which Lyra smiles happily. "....this gave me and Cassian a second chance. It resurrected us....but not you guys...because only we were touching it. Us being alive and living a second chance, and not you guys....I feel guilty. I honestly am! I wish you were here with us!" Jyn confesses with sorrow. She breaks into more tears.

"Jyn!" Chirrut gets Jyn's attention. "You have nothing to be sorry for. We fought to the best of our ability, no matter the consequence, and no matter the cost. Dead or alive, Jyn, we accept our fates happily."

"You and Cassian should be lucky that you are living the second chance. Our lives live within you two." Bodhi assures her.

"Our living legacies." K-2SO concludes.

Jyn, still feeling guilty, looks down at the sand. "But..."

"Jyn." Saw Gererra then speaks. He no longer breathes into his oxygen mask, thankfully, for death has given him the benefit as a spirit. "You and Captain Andor just saved the Rebellion. You just saved the galaxy from a terrible future, a terrible threat. You just saved the dream, like I told you on Jedha. There are times where you must be patient, and let the events unfold to a brighter, positive future. Be positive about the outcome, Jyn. No need for worry, or guilt, or shame, or fear."

Jyn nods and looks at her glowing crystal necklace.

"You have a greater purpose, Jyn. And you should fulfill it for the galaxy. For all of us. And for Cassian." Galen says, putting an arm around Lyra.

Jyn looks up at Galen. "Oh. Father, about Cassian..."

"He's a good man, Jyn. Despite everything he tried to do, he is a good man at heart, and I know he will protect you from anything. I trust him, just as you trust him. Trust goes both ways. You know that." Galen tells his daughter with a slight smile.

Jyn thinks for a long moment before speaking. "Are you sure you want me to go along with it all?"

Galen nods with reassurance and confidence. "I am positive, Jyn. Please. You're a Rebel, and a damn good one." He chuckles at the end.

"We're with you all the way, no matter what." K-2SO confirms, raising one of his hands.

Jyn chuckles with a smile, chuckling out of happiness. She is glad that her parents and her friends supported her with the matter to continue to be part of the Rebellion.

Unbeknownst to Jyn, the entire time she stood at the shoreline speaking with their friends, Cassian was watching the conversation from about thirty feet away behind her. Seeing his comrades and his lover speaking to her parents made him tear up a bit, and it made him feel so happy that he wanted to jump up and scream his lungs out into the ocean. Cassian overheard everything in Jyn's conversation with their deceased teammates, and he wanted to finally enter the scene.

"Me too." Cassian cuts in, approaching Jyn from behind with a smile. Jyn turns around to face him with a surprised face, and with a gasp.

"Cassian..." Jyn says softly before looking over at her father, Galen.

"Captain! Why, how good it is to see you again." K-2SO waves a hand to him excitedly.

Cassian scoffs and smiles while waving back. "Never thought death could have us meet again, buddy."

Jyn looks at Galen. She then approaches him. "Father, in case you didn't know, Cassian and I...we..."

Galen and Lyra both nod. "Yes, Jyn, we know. We want the best for you. You deserve the best, my Stardust."

Galen then looks at Cassian. "You have our blessing." Galen makes the official confirmation, while smiling at Lyra who was smiling back at him, feeling happy that their daughter was now with a man that they trust is the right one for her.

"Thank you, Erso." Cassian thanks him.

"You protect her. Take care of her for us. She's the most precious thing in the galaxy." Galen orders Cassian with a serious stare.

Cassian nods and promises him. "I will protect her with my life." Cassian wraps an arm around Jyn. She grins up at him and wraps an arm around his waist. "Stardust is the key to my heart."

Lyra smiles happily at the two of them after watching them wrap their arms around each other.

Jyn whispers in Cassian's ear. "I hope Rogue One approves of it..."

"Hey! We heard that!" K-2SO blurts out, pointing at her. Jyn & Cassian laugh in response.

"Rogue One lives on." Bodhi declares.

Jyn then looks at all of them with concern. "B-But...when will we see you again!?"

"We're with you everywhere you go, darling. The Force is strong with both of you. We'll be there if you have anything to talk about. We're all here for you, sweetie." Lyra assures her daughter one last time.

Jyn smiles and looks up at Cassian. They smile into each other's eyes as the waves roar peacefully to the shoreline. The sunset is almost fading into night, and the temperatures begin to turn chilly. The two remaining living members of Rogue One embrace each other for a long five minutes. Then, Cassian notices from the corner of his eye all but one spirit stayed behind.

"You can kiss him, you know." K-2SO informs Jyn. Jyn looks at him with a sarcastic smile. "The Captain said so."

"Yeah, right..." Cassian mutters under his breath quietly as he and Jyn both chuckle from K-2SO's obvious statement. "So, have you made up your mind?" Cassian then asks Jyn, going back to a serious face now.

Jyn places her hand's on Cassian's shoulders and looks up into his brown calming eyes with confidence. "Cassian, I know it will not be easy to go back into it all of a sudden, but I am willing to. Cassian...as long as we're together, I am happy. If you fight, I fight. Wherever you go, I go. I will follow you to the ends of the galaxy, Cassian."

Cassian smiles, because her words touches him. "You're everything to me. I will never leave your side. I love you so much, Stardust. You have my word on that. We made ten men feel like a hundred. But two Rebels..." Cassian points at both himself and Jyn. "...makes it feel even better."

Jyn smiles and kisses him on his lips. "Then we leave tomorrow!" Jyn happily declares while reaching up to wrap both of her arms around his neck since she was so much shorter than him.

Seeing the two Rebels embrace each other, K-2SO jerks back in response. "Ugh. Humans..."

Jyn immediately looks at K-2SO and gives him a playful glare. "Oh, get out then, K-2!"

"Yes, ma'am." K-2SO replies before fading away back into the afterlife.

"So, time to be rebellious again." Cassian gives Jyn a dirty smirk.

"Yeah." Jyn answers, smirking back.

Cassian strokes one of Jyn's fringes on the side of her face. "Reckless. Aggressive. Undisciplined."

Jyn gives him a dirtier smirk. "Sounds just like me."

"I like that." Cassian tells Jyn.

"Mmmmmm." Jyn responds in a seductive tone.

"I'm surprised you love me." Cassian says.

"Even reckless women like me have feelings too, Cassian." Jyn says before placing a kiss on his cheek.

Cassian loved that Jyn is the way she is: reckless, aggressive, undisciplined. She was a strong young woman both inside and outside. Yet, she still had a caring heart for him. He loved that she was on his side no matter what. Even though she was a former criminal and did many terrible things in the past, he knew it all helped her become the woman he is in love with now. It was that moment that Cassian knew his life was already complete; the void in his heart filled. The young woman, who was six years younger than him, was truly the best thing that has ever happened to him, and he wanted to spend an eternity with her.

Chapter 9: Homecoming

"Well, we're ready for takeoff. Shall we?" Jyn asks, looking at Cassian with her emerald green eyes.

Cassian nods. "Are you with me?"

Hearing that question from him before, when they sat together in his U-Wing, Jyn slowly smiles. "All the way."

Cassian then smiles. He takes Jyn's hand and intertwines his hand with hers. Keeping his chocolate brown eyes locked with Jyn's emerald green eyes, he slowly brings up their hands, with Jyn's hand on top, and he places a gentle kiss on her hand. This makes Jyn's heart sink, and she smiles in return.

"Setting coordinates for Yavin 4. Rebel base." Jyn announces as she activates the speeder's hyperdrive. The console makes a beeping noise, confirming its activation and set coordinates for Yavin 4. Jyn turns on the engine, and the speeder slowly begins to vertically ascend from the ground. "Rogue One, launch." Jyn says as she pushes the lever so that the speeder goes at full speed into hyperdrive. It zooms off towards the ocean in front of the Erso home and disappears in the blink of an eye into hyperspace, leaving Jyn's home planet Lah'mu.

((()))

15 minutes later...

"Homecoming"

1625 hours

Rogue One

Sgt. Jyn 'Stardust' Erso

Jungles, Yavin 4

On a planet full of jungles and tall, green trees, comes the speeder that Jyn & Cassian were travelling in. Jyn tries her best to safely land the speeder from its swift speed from hyperspace.

"Watch out!" Cassian points at a tree in front of them, to which Jyn swerves around. They eventually bring the speeder to a halt safely and quietly. The first thing they do is look around and observe their surroundings: tall green trees surrounded them like shadows. It was almost dark under the vast cover of the jungle, but there was some sunlight that shone through the trees. The two Rebels exit the speeder and look at each other. "We're here...but where's the base?" Jyn asks. Because she's only been recruited into the Rebellion for three days, she knows that Cassian knew the area better than she did.

"Do you hear that?" Cassian asks. Jyn frowns before focusing her hearing to the sky. The sounds of aircraft engines were roaring in the skies. "That's the hangar. We're close. Maybe one mile out. We'll have to go on foot from here. Leave the speeder here."

Jyn nods and reaches in the storage compartment to grab two brown hats, one of which she tossed to Cassian. "This'll help with our cover."

After putting on his hat, and making the appearance of his different Rebel uniform neat, he gestures over to Jyn. "Stick close to me. Follow my lead. Speak only if spoken to, and keep a low profile. We just died, so I don't want anyone surprised to our presence until the time is right." Cassian warns her.

"Yes, sir." Jyn says loudly with a dirty smirk before putting on her brown hat and walking along the jungle beside her Captain.

After a fifteen-minute walk through the jungle of trees, Jyn & Cassian finally arrive at the base, where the front hangar serves as the main entrance of the Rebel installation on Yavin 4. With their different Rebel uniforms and brown caps, they were almost unrecognizable to any infantry present in the base. They had to use the low profile in order to get around the base undetected, and survey the premises. Of course, the Rebellion is their friend, but they were just there for a 'recon' of their own, and it would look suspicious to any Rebel there if they got caught.

"Follow my lead." Cassian whispers quietly to Jyn as he puts his hands in his pockets and continues walking into the hangar.

As they walk into the hangar, they observe their surroundings. Service droids accompany Rebel pilots to perform maintenance on their aircraft, X-Wings and Y-Wings underwent minor repairs, Rebel pilots dressed in orange uniforms chattered in different groups, Rebel patrols walked along the walls of the hangar with assault blasters, and a couple of X-Wing engines were roaring loudly inside the hangar for thrust testing.

Seeing that nothing was out of the ordinary so far, Cassian leans in to Jyn to whisper to her. "There's nothing unusual here."

Jyn nods as she continues to look around. "Everything here looks the same before we departed for Scarif that day. Maybe we should go into the command center."

But something caught Jyn's eye. From the corner of her eye, Rebel pilots began to form up into groups, and they were indeed proceeding to walk towards the command center. Pilots then jog; it seems suspicious to both Jyn and Cassian, as they wonder what the sudden hurry is.

"Bingo." Jyn whispers after looking up at Cassian.

"It looks like they're headed to the briefing room. Let's go." Cassian replies quietly before gesturing his head in the Rebel pilots' direction. They are careful not to trail behind the group of pilots too closely, and instead kept their distance from them. "Wait...they're all pilots. What about the infantries?" Cassian asks, with a face of confusion forming on his face.

Jyn shrugs her shoulders, unsure. "Good question." She replies while following Cassian and turning to another hallway.

After a few minutes of riding an elevator together alone up to the upper floors of the base, Jyn and Cassian finally arrived in the briefing room where all of the Rebel pilots were present. They were seated in a semi-circle, and there was an elderly man in the front of the room explaining something. It appeared that Jyn and Cassian arrived in the middle of the sudden briefing, and so they decided to stand in the back of the group to have a better view of the briefing and to better maintain their low profile.

However, Jyn's eyes widen when she notices on the projection screen at the front of the briefing room something very, very familiar...

"Cassian!" Jyn whispers loudly to Cassian, nudging him with her elbow.

"What, Jyn?" Cassian asks, looking down at her.

"Look!" Jyn exclaims quietly as she gestures her head towards the projection screen.

What the two Rogue One members saw on the projection screen sparked big smiles on their faces.

((()))

A three-dimensional model of the Death Star was shown on the screen, and it displayed the Death Star's core: the critical weak spot. The very flaw that Jyn's father, Galen Erso, implemented secretly for the Rebellion to exploit. Jyn and Cassian were so happy to see that her father's plan did work after all.

"It's the plans that we sent! It's finally being shown to the Rebellion!" Jyn exclaims happily & quietly after smiling up at Cassian.

Cassian couldn't believe it either. His smile stuck to his face like adhesive tape. He couldn't stop smiling down at the pair of emerald green eyes looking up at him with a beautiful smile. "Someone up there did listen to us after all." Cassian tells Jyn, referring to what he asked Jyn during their last moments at the Scarif beach that day.

The two Rebels nod to each other before turning their attention back to the briefing.

"It's a small thermal exhaust port right below the main port." The elderly man informs to all the Rebel pilots. "The shaft leads directly to the reactor system. A precise hit will start a chain reaction which should destroy the station. Proton torpedoes are required for this mission, as they are efficient enough to use in the trench."

"Your weak spot will save us, father. You did it." Jyn says to herself with a slight smile as she sees the three-dimensional diagram of the Death Star plans show a sample of a proton torpedo descending down the main shaft and damage the central weak point.

"B-But that's impossible, even for a computer!" One of the Rebel pilots exclaims.

Suddenly, a young man sitting next to him blurts something out of nowhere. This particular man caught Jyn and Cassian's attentions, as he was dressed differently from the other pilots. He wore tan desert robes.

"It's not impossible! I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 speeder back home. They're not much bigger than two meters." The unfamiliar young man comments.

Jyn and Cassian look at each other and give each other frowns, for they are unsure who the young man is.

"Then man your ships. May the Force be with you!" The elderly man says before dismissing all the pilots. The pilots begin to chatter and exit the briefing room.

"Well, one of these men is going to end up destroying the Death Star tonight. I wonder who it will be. My father mentioned it..." Jyn whispers to Cassian as they both step aside to let all the Pilots pass by them through the doors.

Cassian shakes his head. "The more important question is...will the Death Star actually be destroyed?" He asks Jyn.

"Right..." Jyn says with uncertainty. "That man...who is he? Does he look familiar to you?" Jyn asks Cassian, referring to the young man in the tan desert robes.

Cassian shakes his head, unsure. "I don't know. And I've never seen them either." He points out a man with brunette hair wearing a white long-sleeve shirt, black pants, and a black vest. Accompanying him is a tall, brown-haired Wookie with a crossbow blaster. The three mysterious, unfamiliar people exit the briefing room last.

"They weren't here before we left for Scarif. New recruits?" Jyn asks, looking up at Cassian for an answer.

"Maybe..." Cassian says. "We'll find out later. Look, it's Princess Leia."

Jyn looks to the front of the briefing room to see Princess Leia and Mon Mothma speaking to each other. She and Cassian both know who Princess Leia is. She is one of the leaders of the Rebel Alliance; though, they've never seen her on the field, of course, since she mostly operates from the commanding centers. Neither of them ever came into close contact with Princess Leia though.

On the far left side of the room was General Draven, who was shuffling through some papers. Upon seeing the sight of Draven, this has Jyn glaring at him from the other side of the briefing room. Seeing Draven makes her very angry that moment. Jyn's heart rate increases, anger pumps through her veins every second, and she clenches her fists hard. She feels like pulling her A180 blaster pistol out and shooting him. Jyn's breathing becomes more rapid and louder, catching Cassian's attention. He widens his eyes to her sudden rigorous breathing.

"Jyn? What's wrong!? Quiet down." Cassian warns Jyn quietly.

Suddenly, Cassian notices at the corner of his eye that Princess Leia and Mon Mothma notice he & Jyn, though they were unrecognizable to their leaders and were seen as suspicious.

"Damn..." Cassian mutters under his breath silently so only Jyn hears, who then turns her attention to the two female leaders.

"Hey!" Mon Mothma calls out to them.

Assuming that their cover is blown, Cassian nudges Jyn with an elbow, signaling them to escape the premises. "Come on, let's go..." Cassian quietly orders Jyn, and the two turn around and begin exiting the briefing room by walking swiftly.

"Hey! Guards!" Mon Mothma yells out, ordering a few Rebel guards to apprehend Jyn and Cassian.

Making their way to the stairs, Cassian grabs Jyn's arm. "Come on! We've got to get out of here!" Cassian pants, pulling Jyn with him down the spiral of stairs. The Rebel guards then appear at the floor above them, so they were not far from catching up to the two Rogue One members.

"Halt!" One of the Rebel troops orders. Jyn and Cassian ignore him and continue to escape towards the hangar.

As they arrived at the hangar, they were close to escaping when they heard blasters being raised at them from behind. Aside from hearing blasters cocking, they notice in front of them that all the X-Wings and Y-Wings have sortied into hyperspace towards the Death Star already.

"Stop right there!" A strong, loud, superior female voice orders them. Her voice fills the atmosphere of the main hangar. Mon Mothma had caught them.

Both panting heavily, Jyn and Cassian look at each other. Jyn's face held concern. But, Cassian gives her a single wink of an eye, and he raises his hands up to indicate surrender. Jyn sighs in defeat and does the same.

"Identify yourselves!" Mon Mothma orders them in a strict voice.

There is a very long pause before Cassian decides to answer her. "Have you ever seen a ghost before, Mothma?"

Mon Mothma, confused by the question, frowns at him. "Excuse me?"

"Do you believe in resurrection?" Cassian asks out loud for every Rebel in the hangar to hear. Still, Mon Mothma remains silent due to her confusion. "Because.....we just died.....under your command."

Jyn and Cassian turn around slowly to reveal themselves. Every single Rebel in the hangar, including Mon Mothma, gasps in response. They mutter to each other, and most of the guards lower their blasters. Mon Mothma is in shock, and she did not know what to say at the moment. All she could do is stare with a dropped jaw and widened eyes of awe.

"We just rose from the ashes." Jyn says.

It took a very long minute before an excited, and impressed, smile forms on Mothma's face.

Chapter 9 (Part 2)

"This is unbelievable! Truly amazing! H-How!?" Mon Mothma asks with awe, as she sits there inside the command room with Jyn and Cassian, and with General Draven standing to the side observing their conversation.

"Well..." Cassian starts off while smiling at Jyn, who only gave a very small smile. "We died. It should've been confirmed by now. But then something happened. It was...." Cassian looks over at Jyn. "Jyn, could you show her?"

Without saying a word, Jyn pulls out her mother's kyber crystal necklace and holds it up. It wasn't glowing at the moment, but it forced a curious look on Mothma's face.

"That kyber crystal happened to save us from the Death Star's catastrophe, and it allowed the Force to grant us a...." Cassian is about to finish his sentence when Jyn decides to finish for him.

"....second chance." Jyn finishes for him before putting her kyber crystal necklace back underneath her brown jacket.

"We happened to be touching the crystal when...." Cassian tries to finish his sentence. He is reluctant to, as he wanted that moment on Scarif to be a private memory to him and Jyn only. "....when Jyn and I were...." Cassian pauses again.".....having our last moments." He finally finishes, causing Jyn to look at him.

Mon Mothma is almost at the loss for words. She still couldn't believe the amazing ability that a kyber crystal could contain, because no one ever knew it. "Wow....I must say, it must have been such a joyous moment for that to happen for both of you." She compliments with a smile. "However, I am deeply sorry for the loss of the fellow Rebels that fought alongside you on Scarif, and your....four close friends." Mon Mothma tells them. This causes a very long moment of silence between the three Rebels. "But, I must say that I am very proud of your efforts of sending the Death Star plans to our Rebellion. I am truly amazed by your great sacrifice and resurrection. It truly is one of the greatest miracles to happen!"

Jyn and Cassian nod to acknowledge Mothma's kind words.

"Thank you." Cassian says. "It was an honor completing that mission for you..."

Mon Mothma widens her eyes and shakes her head. "No, no! We thank you two. It was the greatest honor to have you two send important documents, and miraculously revived from an inevitable, tragic end. Truly, truly honorable. We welcome both of you back, should you choose to continue your service to the Rebel Alliance." She says with a smile after crossing her legs in her seat and interlocking her fingers on the hologram table.

"Well, thank you, Mothma. And Jyn & I are willing to continue serving for the Rebellion. It is our personal duty." Cassian says with a smile to Jyn. However, he notices that Jyn isn't smiling. She has a blank emotionless face. This was beginning to worry him.

"Thank you, Captain Andor. I hope that another tragedy like Scarif doesn't fall upon you both again in the future. May the Force be with you." Mon Mothma declares with a smile. "Thanks to both of you and your team, we were able to examine the plans of the Death Star, and we found its weakness that Galen Erso built into its core. We have an entire squadron of pilots deployed to the Death Star space station as we speak, and they are about to destroy it very soon. We're one step closer to peace and victory."

"That's great news!" Cassian politely thanks Mothma.

Jyn felt so very angry deep inside her soul. She was staring up at General Draven, and Cassian's smile faded as he watches her. He thinks what she's about to do. He could see the anger in his Sergeant's eyes and her fists. "Jyn?" Cassian says with worry. This makes Mon Mothma turn her attention to Jyn.

In the blink of an eye, Jyn stands up from her chair and pulls out her A180 blaster pistol, and she points it at General Draven, who jerks back in surprise and drops the papers he held. This action causes Cassian and Mon Mothma to react quickly by getting up from their seats and attempting to apprehend Jyn.

"J-Jyn, what are you doing!?" Cassian yells out.

"I MAY BE ALIVE AGAIN, BUT I STILL HAVE NOT FORGIVEN YOU, YOU BASTARD!" Jyn yells with such fury at Draven. She is so angry that she had her finger ready on the trigger, and it is slightly being pressured on.

"What are you talking about, Erso!?" Draven exclaims with a sour face, and he takes a step back.

"Jyn!" Cassian yells at her, trying to get her attention.

Jyn shakes her head while keeping her A180 pistol pointed at Draven's face. "YOU WERE THE ONE WHO ORDERED THE BOMBING ATTACKS ON MY FATHER! YOU HAD CASSIAN DECIEVE ME! MY FATHER DIED BECAUSE OF YOU! YOU'RE A MONSTER!" The reckless, aggressive, undisciplined female Rebel yells angrily at the top of her lungs. Tears of anger begin to burst from her eyes.

"Erso, it was a judgement call! We had to! We couldn't take a chance in the Death Star's full completion! Trillions of innocent lives were at stake!" General Draven yells back at Jyn, trying to speak truth to her. But it's no use for the reckless twenty one year-old woman.

"JUDGEMENT CALL!? LIKE HELL, IT WAS A JUDGEMENT CALL! WHO KNEW!? MY FATHER WOULD'VE DEFECTED AT THE LAST MINUTE IF HE WANTED TO! HOW DARE YOU!" Jyn screams, gripping her pistol very tightly. Her breaths became more tense and rapid.

"Sergeant Erso!" Mon Mothma exclaims as two Rebel guards raise their A280 assault blasters at Jyn.

"JYN! THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE DOING!" Cassian yells louder so that the words could actually reach Jyn's angered brain. Jyn remains quiet; only her tense breaths sounded from her nose and mouth. "Put your blaster down, Jyn!" Cassian orders less loudly.

"You expect me to let this man walk after what he caused that night!?" Jyn says while keeping her eyes on Draven and her blaster raised at his chest.

"Jyn, that was history! Killing Draven won't bring your father back. He and your mother wouldn't want you doing this." Cassian tells Jyn, raising a hand out to her.

Jyn shakes her head without saying a word. She felt like she was returning to her old self, where she was a reckless, aggressive, mischievous criminal before she joined the Rebellion.

"I'm still your superior, Jyn. Lower your weapon. That's an order." Cassian commands Jyn with a serious tone.

And it is true. Cassian is indeed Jyn's superior because he is a higher rank than her. He is a Captain, and she is a Sergeant, so Jyn had no choice but to obey him. Jyn looks over at Cassian, then at Mon Mothma, then back at Draven before lowering her pistol slowly, much to everyone's relief.

Jyn then speaks in a soft voice. Still, she has an angry face. "The reason why you're not dead....is because I'm still joined in this cause." Jyn says in a harsh tone before returning her A180 pistol back into her holster and turning away, storming angrily out of the command center.

"Jyn..." Cassian mutters quietly under his breath as the two Rebel guards lower their A280 assault blasters. Then, he looks over at Mon Mothma, who frowns at him. "Look, I'm sorry about her."

"It's alright. I've read her file, and I'm sure you have too. We both know how reckless she can be." Mon Mothma assures him.

Cassian sighs before leaving the command center to catch up to Jyn. "Can't agree with you more."

Chapter 10: The Victory They Died For

After the heated argument that involved a General being held at gunpoint by a female of lower rank inside the command room, Cassian follows Jyn, where she doesn't stop walking until they were at the end of the hallway. Cassian places his hands on his hips as he watches Jyn calming herself down; he wonders what was going through her mind then, and at the current moment.

"What were you thinking, hm!?" Cassian exclaims, almost shouting. "Do you want to get us killed!?"

"Sorry. I just...still can't get over his death." Jyn finally comes with an answer for him. She paces back and forth in front of Cassian, trying her best to chill her mood.

"Just don't do that again, okay?" Cassian asks more calmly this time. He eyes her, hard. "Understand?"

Jyn nods. "Yes, CAPTAIN."

Cassian smirks and pats Jyn's shoulder before walking past her towards the stairs. "Good girl."

Jyn pauses for a moment. She suddenly remembers something about the young man that they saw in the briefing room earlier. After thinking it over, Jyn turns around to catch up to Cassian at the stairs. "Cassian!" She gets his attention.

"What is it?" Cassian gives Jyn a curious look.

"That man in the desert robes at the briefing room...didn't we see him in a vision?" Jyn asks, looking up at her Captain and scanning every bit of his eyes for a reply.

"Vision?.....Wait a minute..." Cassian looks down at the floor, trying to clear his mind and recall the event.

"The vision. Right before we walked out that gold door and continued our lives. That man was in the vision, in the exact place, in the exact situation." Jyn informs.

After realizing what Jyn is trying to imply, Cassian widens his eyes and looks into Jyn's eyes with slight shock. "I-Is....is he the one who will-" He starts to ask.

"Destroy the Death Star?" Jyn finishes for him. There is a long pause between them before Jyn continues the conversation. "I think so. I have the feeling, just as my father has."

Suddenly, a distressed voice announces through the P.A. speakers.

"The Death Star will be in targeting range in approximately one hour. I repeat, the Death Star will be in targeting range in approximately one hour." The announcer informs the entire base.

At that very moment, Jyn & Cassian both look at each other with worried eyes and faces filled with fear. Mon Mothma never mentioned anything about the Death Star on the verge to destroy the Rebel base on Yavin 4. They felt their hearts drop with a bang. They felt as if time had frozen the moment those words from the P.A. speakers lingered through the air and haunted their minds. Realizing that the Death Star had found them yet again, Jyn immediately wraps her arms around Cassian, exerting much force around his torso. Feeling his heart sink in response, Cassian reciprocates the hug by wrapping his arms around her and holding her gently. Since Jyn is a lot shorter than Cassian, to further deepen the hug, Cassian rests his cheek on her head, and Jyn presses her head into Cassian's chest, feeling the warmth of his chest and hearing his smooth steady heartbeats.

They stay embraced like that at the stairwells for a very long minute.

Jyn eventually breaks the silence after feeling tears bursting from her eyes; the tears trickle down her cheeks slowly. "Did my father really do it....to protect me?" Jyn mumbles since she kept her face pressed into Cassian's warm chest. Cassian rubs her head gently in the hug to show some affection to accompany his answer.

"Of course, Jyn." Cassian whispers into her ear.

Hearing his reply, and while still keeping her head pressed into his chest, Jyn reaches for her kyber crystal necklace and holds it firmly in her hand, while her other arm remains wrapped around Cassian. The two Rebels feel the strong emotional bond between them at that moment.

"We're one with the Force, the Force is with us..." Jyn whispers quietly, but her voice sounds trembled, like as if she is about to cry from fear that the Rebel squadron won't be successful in destroying the Death Star. Cassian closes his eyes, and they remained gently embraced in each other's arms.

Were they going to face the face of death again? Will the Rebel squadron be able to destroy their biggest fear in time?

((()))

Mon Mothma, Princess Leia, and several officers stand around the central hologram table, staring at the speaker & waiting for any response from the Rebel squadron in outer space. The people in the observatory have just announced that the Death Star was going to be in targeting range in five minutes. They were on the edge of death.

Jyn and Cassian stand with them, with their hands covering some part of their chin, lip, or mouth, indicating that they, too, were waiting for a response from the squadron. Both of them were the most anxious and most frightened out of all the Rebels in the base. Cassian looks over at Jyn, who then crosses one arm underneath the other and grasping her kyber crystal necklace tightly with the other hand. Their hearts were beating rapidly in response to their fear and anxiety of the Death Star's attack.

The silence looms around the room for what seems to be the rest of the five minutes when...

"WOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOO! YEEEAAAHHHHH! WE DID IT!" A loud, happy, & excited voice exclaims through the comms radio. It is so loud that it stung the ear drums of everyone listening in the command room. "WE DID IT, BABY! THE DEATH STAR IS LONG GONE! TIME TO GO HOME, FOLKS!"

Mon Mothma, Princess Leia, and everyone else in the command room sighs loudly in what seems to be the greatest relief after they hear the voice of the Corellian YT-1300 freighter's pilot excitedly and loudly announce the good news.

"Death Star is confirmed destroyed. I repeat, Death Star is confirmed destroyed. Mission successful. Returning to base." The leader of the fleet informs the command center through the comms radio.

"We did it!" Princess Leia happily declares, approaching Mon Mothma and embracing her happily in a long hug. All of the other staff in the command room raised their hands in victory and celebrated with smiles on their faces.

But they weren't the only ones celebrating their big victory.

Jyn and Cassian, after hearing the confirmation of the Death Star's destruction, were in shock and awe simultaneously. They didn't know what to think or what to say at the current moment. They couldn't believe what they just heard. Cassian had his hands on both sides of his head in response and his eyes were widened and his mouth was open in awe, and Jyn let the kyber crystal necklace fall back down to her chest after placing her hands on her mouth, indicating that she was in shock and awe as well.

Deep down inside, they felt so happy that they wanted to scream all of the frustrations, worries, and fears out of their chests.

Cassian immediately, but quietly leaves the command room to head down to the main hangar. Noticing him leaving, Jyn follows him quickly without saying a word.

Cassian, now arriving in the hangar with his hand covering his mouth and his other hand placed on his hip, paced around excitedly. He wanted to let go of his fears already, and he wanted to express his joy in any way he could. Luckily, the main hangar was empty, and there was no one around at the moment. He also felt Jyn's presence behind him. He gathers the courage to turn around and find Jyn with a smile on her face.

"Jyn, we did it!" Cassian exclaims happily.

Jyn nods and grins so very happily. "Yes!"

"Now our mission is complete! Your father's plan worked!" Cassian tells Jyn with much enthusiasm, and he steps closer to her. Cassian places his hands on Jyn's hips, and Jyn places her hands on his shoulders. The two of them smile happily into each other's eyes like as if they were communicating silently through their minds.

"We did it, Cassian...We did it..." Jyn now says softly in a quieter voice.

"Chirrut...Baze....K-2....Bodhi....they didn't die for nothing. They didn't die in vain." Cassian tells her in a quiet, calm voice. He strokes her brunette hair gently.

Jyn nods, agreeing with Cassian, and tears begin to burst from her eyes. "This is the moment we sacrificed our own lives for...and we did it, Cassian. We did it..." Jyn says to him before eventually releasing her cries. She lets her head rest on Cassian's warm chest, and she also lets the tears fall down her cheeks. Her arms then wrap around Cassian in a gentle hug.

Cassian nods and returns the hug, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and pulling her closer to his chest. He feels so warm with her. He felt that they were heroes for the Rebellion, and the trillions of innocent lives around the galaxy. Seeing his Stardust so happy and victorious made tears appear in his brown eyes.

The two Rebels immediately take the moment to look each other in the eye for a very long minute. They admire each other's beauty and each other's happiness. This was their moment now.

Jyn cries more tears from the happiness that she is feeling deep in her heart, and this now causes tears to release from his eyes as well.

"Now we're free....mission accomplished. Jyn..." Cassian says in a small whisper that is almost inaudible. He whispered Jyn's name after he says that because he clearly sees that Jyn has begun crying more intensely and has begun to hyperventilate: her breaths stutter in between small gasps of air in conjunction with her crying.

Cassian felt Jyn's pain. It was the pain of finally becoming truly happy and feeling free from the reign of terror after such great efforts, and it was a good kind of pain, a different kind of pain.

"Cassian...." Jyn mumbles. Her cries cause her to hyperventilate before continuing. "....w-we did it....f-for t-them...for Rogue One, Cassian..." Jyn says while looking up into Cassian's brown eyes with tears flooding her green eyes and tears trickling down her face. She hyperventilates while waiting for his response.

"Always....for Rogue One..." Cassian declares tearfully before pinning Jyn against a large stack of metal crates, and he made his move on her by removing her gray shirt, revealing her white tank top.

This was their moment.

Jyn and Cassian's moment was so special, because it honored Rogue One. They did everything for Rogue One. They risked everything, but it led to greater reward. They fought bravely in the end they thought was survivable, and their result was triumph, true victory. It was truly a joyful moment for Jyn and Cassian. The destruction of the very space station of the plans that they sadly & inevitably sacrificed their lives to send was the moment that they waited to bask in victory. It was for Rogue One. It was for Jyn's parents. It was for Cassian's parents. It was for the Rebels that assisted them and died on Scarif. It was for the Rebellion. It was for the people of the galaxy.

It was for everything.

That is what Jyn & Cassian happily died for, and were willing to live for again.

Chapter 11: Team Victory

Their moment of deep feelings, happiness, and true love for each other masqueraded into the night. Jyn and Cassian felt so truly happy that their mission on Scarif led to a huge Rebellion victory, and it truly made them proud to be Rebels. Their sacrifice meant something honorable, and they knew it was all worth it.

Back up on their feet again, Jyn and Cassian have an arm resting on each others' shoulders. They were smiling and chattering happily, for the Force spirits of Rogue One stood before them. It was the two remaining living members, and the four deceased spirits alone in the main hangar, with no one around to witness their surprising gathering. Jyn grins through emotional tears, and Cassian's smile held slight laughs from the jokes Bodhi and K-2SO were telling.

"Thanks to you, Jyn, the galaxy just celebrated. They held on to the hope you gave them." Baze congratulates her with a slight smile, for his low-key personality always stuck with him like a needle.

Jyn shakes her head. "Well, I couldn't have done it without all of you. Really." The young twenty-one year-old replies with a slight shrug of her shoulders with an innocent-looking facial expression.

"Hey..." Cassian places a hand on her shoulder as she gazes up at his chocolate brown eyes. He looks into her mesmerizing green eyes, searching for her attention. "We're not just a team. We're a family."

K-2SO steps forward and raises a hand, catching Jyn & Cassian's attentions. "Yes. That is precisely right. Though, I would've said the same thing. If I did, it would be because the Captain said so..." The gray former Imperial security droid states. His robotic voice looms around everyone's ears, and they all laugh at K-2SO's joke.

Jyn shifts her eyes to the floor for a moment, before finally realizing what she wanted to say. "So this is what we died for?"

"Happily. And honorably." Chirrut answers for her, with his brown eyes accommodating the slight smile he forms.

"They're proud of you, Jyn. Your mother and father. And Saw." Cassian suddenly declares. Jyn looks up at him, knowing that he has more to say. "We're all proud of you, Stardust."

For some reason, Jyn's face wanted to form a smile. But she was unable to. Though, she was proud of their greatest achievement yet, she still felt a great, vast sympathy for Rogue One.

It was survivor's guilt that Jyn, but not Cassian, felt.

Jyn decides to speak up to get her team's attention. "I wish...that you were here. To celebrate with us all." Jyn speaks with a voice that almost sounded shaky, like as if it came from a guilty person whose vocal cords were affected by fear, shame and sadness. Her words get all eyes of Rogue One laid on her.

"Jyn..." Bodhi starts, with concern forming on his face.

"I sense that shame and guilt in you, sister. But that's not the truth. They only cloud your mind." Chirrut assures her.

"But..." Jyn tries to say back. She knew she and her Captain survived because of one special, powerful item that they were in direct physical contact with. She felt it was not fair to the four deceased members of her team standing right in front of her, and for that, she felt the guilt weighing down on her shoulders, despite the huge victory achieved by the Rebellion just earlier. Her heart was full of sorrow. Her heart was drowning in sorrow. And it was going to take over her feelings like a brain-washing virus.

"We are in a better place, Jyn." Baze declares with a full smile this time and his arms crossed. "We'll be waiting for you both." He says with a dirty, playful smirk.

Everyone smiles and chuckles to Baze's comment on that matter.

As Rogue One laughed on and conversed, Jyn looks over her shoulder behind her to see Mon Mothma standing near the entrance to the interior of the base doors. She stood there, watching them. Everyone but Jyn was unaware of her presence one-hundred feet behind them. She watched them: her Rebels who went rogue to finish the Rebellion's mission that resulted from a new hope. The Rebel leader had a proud smile on her face, and she just smiled. She didn't say a word to attract their attention. She only smiled. Jyn locked eyes with her leader for a long moment: it felt as though their comments and emotions were given to each other through the air from a distance. They both knew how the other was feeling. Mon Mothma knew just how important Cassian Andor, K-2SO, Chirrut Imwe, Baze Malbus, and Bodhi Rook were to Jyn. Mothma finally realized that they were the sole reason why Jyn wanted to continue living her second chance the kyber crystal gave her & Cassian. Eventually, Jyn gave a slight smile, and Mon Mothma gave one happy nod before turning to her left to quietly exit the hangar.

Jyn turns her attention back to the team and forms a small smile on her face as she leans her head against Cassian's shoulder.

((()))

Mothma was about to enter the elevator to head back up to her office when she heard rapid footsteps arriving behind her. She turns around to see Jyn approach her with innocent-looking eyes and a face of confidence.

"Sergeant." Mon Mothma starts off. "I see you're enjoying your own little celebration."

"Y-Yeah..." The twenty-one year-old former criminal replies.

After watching Jyn for a few long moments and not hearing a word from her, Mon Mothma tilts her head to the side in curiosity. "What's on your mind?"

Jyn just shakes her head, unsure if she even wanted to say anything to her leader. "I-I just want to say......thank you."

Mon Mothma smiles and nods at her. "They really mean the universe to you, don't they?" She asks her Sergeant.

Jyn only nods a 'yes' in response.

"Well...mission....FINALLY....complete, Sergeant Erso." Mothma declares. "You do remember what we told you, yes?" She asks. This causes Jyn to nod again. "You would walk free when you've done your mission." Mon Mothma reminds Jyn, referring to Jyn's life before she was captured by the Rebellion: a prisoner at the Imperial prison camp on Wobani.

"Well, I..." Jyn starts off, but is cut off by the Rebel leader.

"You know, everyone has at least someone to fight for. We all have a reason to fight, and rebel." Mon Mothma says calmly, with a smirk on her face.

Hearing those words from her, Jyn knew what message Mon Mothma was trying to deliver into her ears, as the thought of Rogue One came to her mind. Jyn smiles a big grin.

Mon Mothma says in a calm and friendly manner. "You may continue your service with the Rebellion for as long as you desire, Erso."

Jyn immediately felt a burst of happiness and excitement flare up under her skin. She nods with a huge smile. "Thank you." She thanks her leader happily, and Mon Mothma returns the nod before watching Jyn turn around to run back to the main hangar. Mon Mothma then turns around to enter the elevator.

((()))

The P.A. speakers blared loudly. "ATTENTION. RED SQUADRON RETURNING TO BASE IN APPROXIMATELY FIVE MINUTES."

With the spirits of the deceased members of Rogue One vanished back into the afterlife after saying goodbyes to Jyn and Cassian for the night, the two Rebels put back on their jackets since they had them off during their desperate love moment in the main hangar earlier. The surviving pilots from the operation of destroying the Death Star were going to arrive any minute. Jyn and Cassian wanted to see the man who successfully destroyed the very thing they feared, the very thing they died to protect the galaxy from.

Chapter 12: The Real Heroes

Red Squadron has just landed. They took to the deep depths of outer space and into enemy Imperial territory, and came back home with the eventual destruction of the Empire's Death Star: the super massive planetary weapon that the Rebellion and the entire galaxy greatly feared. Some pilots never made it back, but they were one with the Force, and they were already celebrating in that 'special place.' Just inside the main hangar, every Rebel celebrated with loud cheers and raised hands. The pilots in Red Squadron were appraised and welcomed back with happy, open arms. They were hugged, kissed, patted on the backs & heads, and congratulated by every leader of the Rebel Alliance present in the base of Yavin 4.

But the most congratulated pilot in the spotlight was the very man who shot the proton torpedoes into the Death Star's reactors himself: Red Five. Tall, slim, young, blonde hair, blue-gray eyes. Yet so young, he had the tenacity of a soldier. It would be unknown to everyone. Maybe the Force was strong with this one...

"You saved us all, Luke!" One of the pilots congratulated with a happy smile and a manly pat on the shoulder. So that was Red Five's name...

"Thank you, thank you!" Red Five responds with pleasure and a polite smile.

A brunette man and a brown-haired Wookie approached the pilot from behind, and he wrapped one arm around his shoulders and took his other hand to rub the top of the blonde's head playfully, expressing gratitude. "I knew you could do it, kid! Chewie had doubts about you!" The man smiles as the Wookie roars in annoyance to his comment when he actually did believe in the young pilot.

"If it wasn't for you saving my ass out there, I wouldn't have done it." Red Five shakes his head.

"Ahhh!" The brunette man with a white long-sleeved shirt, black vest, and scoped blaster pistol yells out and points at him playfully before walking away.

Red Five's celebration only lasts for a few minutes when he turns around to walk to the briefing room alone when he sights two unknown people to him, couple, rather: people that he hasn't seen nor met on the base yet.

They stand about 10 feet in-front of him, side-to-side, shoulder-to-shoulder. One is a tall man with black hair and the other is a brunette woman who is much shorter than him. They eye the young blonde directly with a sense of coldness plastered on their faces. Instantly, Red Five felt nervous the moment he made direct eye contact with the two Rebels standing in-front of him. He knew exactly who they are, and he just did not know what to say at that split second.

"Umm....uh....wait.....you're..." The blonde tries to speak, but his nervousness already takes over.

The two Rebels still have the cold, emotionless faces.

"Cassian Andor and Jyn Erso!" He finally realizes their names. His heart skips a beat as his nervousness spikes and degrades. "Oh my.....It is an honor to meet you two! I'm Luke Skywalker. They told us about you and Rogue One's plan!"

The young Skywalker smiles in confusion and his eyes fill with awe when he notices that Jyn and Cassian wouldn't say anything back. They both look at each other in the eyes, to which Luke knows that they are conveying messages to each other through their minds, before Jyn rests her head on Cassian's shoulder and shifts her eyes back to Luke.

Cassian's lips form a tiny smirk, and he finally speaks out to the young man who destroyed the weapon of the plans they sent. "Yes, Luke. It's us: what's left of Rogue One..." He says in a soft, almost inaudible voice.

Luke blinks a few times, for he still can't believe that the couple is standing before him. "B-But how....!? How are you....still alive!? All of Rogue One was killed on Scarif."

Cassian starts squeezing Jyn's shoulder softly and affectionately when he wraps an arm around her. ".....We all have our secrets." He manages to get out of his mouth.

Luke nods. However, he does notice that they did indeed seem a bit cold. He didn't expect that from them. "Um..." He mutters under his breath in a confused state.

Cassian shifts his eyes over to the other side of the hangar where everyone else was still celebrating. "Well, congratulations, Skywalker."

Luke accepted the gratitude, but he knew very well what to say. He shakes his head. "Oh, no, no, no. I should be congratulating both of you. You're the ones who sent those plans. We wouldn't have destroyed the Death Star without you."

Cassian nods. "I guess." Then, he looks down at Jyn, who smiles up at him, then he shifts his eyes back to Luke. "Enjoy your night, Luke. And thank you..." He says softly before turning away while holding Jyn firmly to his side and walking away towards the elevators.

"W-Wait! Captain! Where are you..." Luke asks confusingly when Cassian and Jyn suddenly decide to walk away from him. He sees that it's no use and lets them do so, so he just sighs and looks down at the floor in dismay.

'Thank you.'

'THANK you.'

'THANK YOU'

Those two words struck Luke like a lightning bolt. The moment he heard those two words sound from Cassian's mouth, he felt his throat tightening. It was the guilt that was weighing down on Luke's shoulders. Luke may be the one who destroyed the Death Star, but ultimately he knew that, deep down in his heart, that Jyn and Cassian were the true heroes in this whole operation, not him. They were the true victors that led this victory for the Rebellion. Luke knew exactly what Cassian was thanking him for: that 'Thank you' was not for the congratulations, but for destroying the Death Star and finishing what both of them started when they inevitably could not. THAT is what struck Luke's heart. Cassian was saying thank you on behalf of Jyn, and the rest of Rogue One. Realizing the meaning, Luke couldn't help but feel happy, confused, sorry, and guilty simultaneously. But he realized that at the very least, he just helped bring happiness & peace to the couple, and the spirits of their four deceased friends that they called family, and he felt proud of himself. It was truly one of the best things he has ever done for anybody thus far, and he bet that Jyn and Cassian never thought that anyone would end up doing that just for them.

Chapter 13: The Right Place

"Sergeant Erso! Captain Andor!" An astonished-sounding female voice calls out to the two miraculous survivors of Scarif.

Jyn and Cassian are surprised when they turn around to see that a woman dressed in a white long dress is smiling at them. She has brown eyes and brunette hair that are rolled into two buns on both sides of her head. Jyn and Cassian knows who she is: one of the key leaders of the Rebel Alliance.

"Princess Leia!" Both Jyn and Cassian say at the same time.

Leia Organa approaches them with a happy vibe: her presence surrounds them with a powerful energy that they've never felt from her. Though, it is their first time meeting her. But any member in the Rebellion were required to know who the leaders were, not to mention that Jyn had to know just hours after swearing her allegiance to the Rebellion, and her mission of finding Saw Gerrera several days earlier. Leia knew of their return and their second chance at their lives, and she is more than happy to have them back in service.

"Princess, it is an honor to-" Jyn begins, but Leia cuts in the way.

"I think it's better if we talk here." Leia points towards a very familiar disc-shaped ship isolated away from the other starfighters in the main hangar.

It had the words 'Millennium Falcon' written on its side.

Jyn and Cassian look at each other curiously before Jyn nods in agreement. "Of course."

They sense as though Leia was either in a hurry or wanted to talk to them in private.

((()))

"It's extraordinary." Leia commented with enthusiasm as she held Jyn's kyber crystal necklace and examined it closely. She inspects every inch of it as she becomes so very focused and interested in its craftmanship and its powerful, miraculous capability that it gave to her two Rebels.

Cassian had the biggest urge to give a smile to Jyn, and she returns the smile, this time twice as powerful, for it made him blush through the feelings of butterflies in his belly. He loved the great benefit that his Sergeant's necklace gave them, and he felt like kissing her passionately at the moment.

"We're thankful for it. We've my mother to thank the most, after all." Jyn has a slight smile when she mentions her mother, as the flashback of Lyra passing the necklace on to Jyn in Lah'mu replayed in her consciousness.

Leia looks at Jyn and smiles as she hands back her crystal necklace. "And we have both of you to thank more than anyone else!" The Princess exclaims with much joy and pleasure in her voice. "You have no idea how much of a positive impact this operation had on our progress to restore peace. The Rebellion can't thank you two enough."

"Thank you, Princess. It was an honor. The Empire will have more things to worry about now.." Cassian falls silent suddenly, which catches Jyn's attention. She got a little clue of how he was really feeling in the inside. And Leia even noticed him as well.

"Look, both of you." Leia catches their attention. Jyn and Cassian both look up at the Princess from their seats at the small round table in the main center cabin of the Millennium Falcon. "I am terribly sorry for the loss of your friends in Scarif, but there are still important matters at hand. The Empire's garrison may have diminished today, but all we did was anger them. They're going to come back with more force soon enough, and we still have to defend ourselves against them in the near future." Leia explains, then observes her two Rebels' facial expressions. Jyn and Cassian look at each other with blank emotionless faces. Of course, they knew that the war between the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire was still ongoing. The destruction of the Death Star was just the tip of the iceberg for them, despite all the hard work and sacrifices they made the past several days. It was the price of being a Rebel, after all, and they didn't mind.

"We know, Princess Organa. We just felt as though the war did end..." Cassian responds with this statement, on Jyn's behalf as well.

Leia shakes her head in denial. "Well, in the meantime, we have Rebel intelligence teams out there retrieving intel and making predictions on the Empire's next moves. As a personal reward from me, I'll grant both of you some rest time. I'm sure you needed it after Scarif's incident. Most of your duties can be at this base if you want." She smiles.

Cassian nods and glances quickly at Jyn, ensuring that she followed the conversation, before turning back to Leia. "Much appreciated. Jyn and I have our....own agendas to attend to anyhow."

He looks back at Jyn, and he senses nervousness under his skin as she gives him a weird look. Her green eyes gave the 'What the hell?' stare. Cassian didn't mean it THAT way. So, he raises his eyebrows and tilts his head slightly, sending her a message that meant 'Not like that!'

Leia, unsure what Cassian meant by that, shrugs her shoulders and chuckles with a smile. "Well, I have to get back to the briefing room with the other leaders and officers. You two make yourselves comfortable here. We'll need you soon enough. Captain. Sergeant." Princess Leia declares and turns to leave, but suddenly Jyn and Cassian sights a man that they had seen earlier in the base.

It is the man with brown hair, white long sleeve shirt, black vest, and a scoped blaster pistol, accompanied by a tall, huge, brown Wookie with a Crossbow blaster slung over his back.

Jyn and Cassian widen their eyes before standing up with Leia.

"Well, if it isn't the Princess of the Falcon onboard!" The man says with a mischievous smile, and the Wookie behind him gave a roaring laugh.

"Han..." Leia mutters with a bit of anger and annoyance under her breath. Though, she still realizes that her Rogue One members were present. "Captain Andor, Sergeant Erso, this is Han Solo and Chewbacca. Han, Chewie, meet Jyn and Cassian."

Han is astonished the moment he lays his eyes on the two fellow Rebels. His eyes widen with excitement as he holds out a hand to Cassian for a handshake, to which Cassian accepts. "The prodigy survivors. Talk about miracle. We have you to thank for giving those Rebels the plans of that Death station, brother. Hell of a job you guys pulled off!"

"Welcome aboard, sir." The Intelligence Officer replies with slight gratitude.

Chewbacca roars before sitting down at the round table. Leia shoots Han a small glare before proceeding to stride through the Falcon's loading ramp to exit the ship. Her white dress glides with every stride, and follows her fluidly. Han places his hands on his hips and focuses his attention back to Jyn and Cassian.

"She doesn't take jokes lightly, to tell you the truth. I'm beginning to wonder if she gets that from her mother." Han scoffs.

"No, she does not..." Both Jyn and Cassian say at the same time while shaking their head side to side, saying 'no.' They knew what Princess Leia liked and disliked, and they were careful not to bring up anything she dislikes whenever a conversation occurred with her.

"If you don't mind, Solo, Jyn and I have somewhere to be. It was good to meet with you, and welcome to the Rebellion." Captain Andor gestures to him.

Han shrugs his shoulders. "Well, I came for the fight. Chewie and I never thought of staying."

Cassian stares at Han for a moment before nodding once, accepting his statement despite being dismayed. Cassian loved the Rebellion as much as he loved Jyn, and he would take in as many recruits as he could, no matter who it was. He would recruit the whole galaxy if he had to, just to defeat the Empire. "Let me know if you change your mind. Good day." Cassian says before exiting the Millennium Falcon.

"Hey!" Han calls out behind them, grabbing a bottle containing a drink. "I'll stay just a little longer! Chewie and I have a celebration of our own!" He laughs as he pops open his bottle, and the loading ramp closes.

After walking a few paces away from the Falcon, Jyn and Cassian stop in their tracks. Jyn smiles slightly, as so does Cassian. "Lovely people." Jyn points out.

"Except you." Cassian shoots back at her, which causes Jyn to nudge him in the abdomen in response, and Cassian let out a small groan. "Okay, just kidding."

Chapter 13 (Part 2)

Jyn stood there, in front of the bed that was already prepared for her with pillows and bed sheets. Since she is a new recruit in the Rebellion, despite her huge surprising victory on Scarif and the greater victory it led to earlier tonight, the officers were kind enough to give her a room in the crew's quarters to live in, which is located on the 2nd floor in the crew's quarters building. She takes one good look around her. All she had was her bed, a closet, and a desk. There were no windows, just lights. She could hear other Rebels around her: on the other sides of her room walls next door, down the long corridors, even above her ceiling and on the 3rd floor. She felt lonely and annoyed. She felt the past weighing down on her shoulders again. 'This reminds me of Wobani prison camp...' Jyn thought to herself, despite being in a Rebel base and having a much better, bigger room than a prison cell. She did her best to shake off the memory because she was tired of being a prisoner. It would be annoying like this every day, she guessed, but at least it was better than being in a prison cell with worse entities. She could get used to it. She was tired of running as a criminal and living as a prisoner. This time, she wanted to try a different path that her kyber crystal granted her.

Moments later, her room's door slides open, and Cassian appears in front of it wearing his usual brown jacket and pants that served as his uniform. His arm rests against the doorway, and he smiles his handsome smile that Jyn saw so cute with his black beard. "Hello, Sergeant."

Jyn looks up at Cassian from the middle of her room. She never moved an inch from where she was standing. "Captain..."

Cassian looks down at the floor, trying to hold in a chuckle, before smiling up back at her again. "May I come in?"

Jyn pauses for a moment, then answers him. "Yeah."

"I see you settled in here pretty quickly." Cassian notices. He sees a holographic image on Jyn's desk that showed the same photo she had in her house in Lah'mu: the family photo of little Jyn and her mom & dad. And another holographic image next to it showed a copy of the photo Cassian always kept in his wallet, a photo that was so very sentimental to them both: a photo of Rogue One before their mission on Scarif, where they died heroically to save the galaxy from a planet destroyer.

"You know, my quarters and office are up on the 8th floor. So, if you need anything, just come and let me know." Cassian informs Jyn. He scans his brown eyes all over her innocent-looking face. "We're just sitting tight until duty calls."

"I know, Cassian." Jyn acknowledges & nods. Her heart skipped a beat when she realizes that Cassian bent down to place a gentle kiss on her lips. Then, he begins to walk away; he was about an inch away from the door when something stopped him.

"Cassian."

The Rebel Intelligence Officer stops and hears the young, soothing, female voice that stopped him. Cassian turns around to look at Jyn with curiosity. "Yes, Jyn? You alright?"

The young 21-year-old female Rebel just stares at the 27-year-old Intelligence Officer straight in the eyes, where their eyes locked in harmony and deep focus. Cassian wanted to say something again, but for some reason he could not. They just stood there in Jyn's room, with nothing but their eyes seeing the love that was blooming behind their minds, like an animal waiting to pounce at its prey. Silence filled & lingered the air amongst them. Time froze between them.

And then all at once, Cassian turns around to see that Jyn's door closes suddenly. "Huh!?" He mutters confusingly after turning his attention back to Jyn. He didn't know how the door closed, for the buttons were on panels inside and outside the room. Cassian starts to get nervous as Jyn takes a step closer to him with the blank expression on her face. "Um....Jyn?"

Jyn keeps her silence in. She took a few steps closer, where she eventually approaches him at about a half foot away so that they were face-to-face with each other. Cassian looks down at her, Jyn looks up at him. Jyn's chest expands rapidly from the increase in heart rate. Cassian now notices that Jyn looks like she is about to tear up and cry. But there are no tears present in her eye tear ducts. He only sees the sad-looking face that he believed to be beautiful to him no matter what. Before Cassian knew it, Jyn places her hands on his shoulders, and she pushes up slightly on her toes to reach her lips to his lips, and she places a very passionate kiss that turns him on instantly. Cassian's heart skips a beat, then beats faster than before. His hands start to shake from excitement and tiny bits of nervousness, because he knows that butterflies were forming in his belly.

After returning the kiss, Cassian opens his eyes and smiles at Jyn. He knew nothing was wrong. He knew she wanted him right now, and he knew she wanted to be held close by the man who survived the bloody mess with her.

But what now surprises Cassian is that he frowns when he suddenly notices Jyn removing both brown gloves off her hands and letting them drop to the floor. Then, she proceeds to remove her brown vest that she wore over her gray jacket. This sparks a new level of excitement, as well as a bit of shyness, in the Captain.

"Uh....J-Jyn!? What are you....doing?" Cassian asks with much confusion as his smile fades away. He blinks several times, rapidly.

Jyn then completely removes her gray jacket and lets it fall to the floor, revealing her in her white tank top. She wraps her arms around her Captain's neck, and tilts her head to the side, further reinforcing her showings of affection for him. Cassian blinks rapidly and tries to push her arms away.

"Jyn! Remember, I'm your Captain, I'm your boss. No one here should know about this, about.....us." Cassian warns Jyn in a quiet whisper.

Jyn ignores Cassian's warning, instead pressing her chest against his gently to deepen the act of affection. "Then we don't tell anyone. This is only between us, my Captain."

She plants a soft kiss on his lips, with her eyes closed, and Cassian attempts to object. But, he finds himself moaning into the kiss with his eyes shut too. He feels every bit of love through the power of their lips exchanging kisses. Once his eyes shut, he was already in a void he felt he couldn't help but remain in: a void of love. It felt like ages, but the next thing he realized when he opened his eyes was that Jyn was straddling over his laps, on her bed. Jyn pushed Cassian to sit on the bed while they kissed deeply, so that she was sitting on his laps in her black slacks and white tank top.

Cassian is about to say something.

His attempt is interrupted when, right in front of his eyes, Jyn quickly strips off her white tank top, revealing her bare chest, her bare breasts.

Cassian's heart jolts in a flash: his heart rate increases more rapidly, and his breaths become shaky from becoming blushful. Jyn notices that her boss's cheeks are light pink in color, and she takes that as a sign that indicates he loves her more than anything.

"Mmmm......just between us. Yeah....I can do that." Cassian whispers back while staring into his girlfriend's forest green eyes.

Cassian was supposed to stay up in his own quarters and office on the 8th floor since he was an Intelligence Officer with a higher rank than Jyn. But for other Rebels to see a higher ranked Rebel with a lower ranking Rebel together, not to mention sleeping with each other, it would be a bad sign.

But, did Cassian believe he wanted to be alone up in his own quarters?

No...he believed he was already in the right place.

(Now, this chapter...you are in for a mindblowing surprise!)

Chapter 14: Ephemeral Nightmare

It was blurry all around. The captive couldn't make out a single shape or person in his sight; all he could see was just blurry light. Not only he could barely see clearly, but he could hear sounds also: the sounds of a woman screaming both in pain and anger, not to mention that he was also on his knees, and he could barely move. It distressed him. It worried him. He made an attempt to free himself from the wrist restraints behind his back, but it was no use. He & the unknown woman were completely helpless.

The prisoner heard the sound of a punch on the face, and a groan indicating the reaction of the woman, who turned out to be the other prisoner in the cell with him.

But why was he in the cell with her?

It became a question of curiosity to him. He couldn't remember why they were there, or how they got there. All that conquered his mind was confusion. He kept asking himself unlimited, endless questions until he heard a male voice in the room with them that both surprised him and confused him even more.

The voice sounded calm: calm, but sinister. It had a heavy accent. His voice was deep, with anger. He sounded like he was demanding things from both the prisoner and the woman. 'This didn't happen by chance,' the prisoner thought to himself. 'This was set up.'

There was a moment of silence before the prisoner heard the woman shuffling away from the captor. Apparently, she was sitting on the floor in wrist restraints too. She was as helpless as the male prisoner, and he could feel the impatience and pain already through her.

"You're going to make a choice, and you will decide right now!" The captor yelled violently at the female prisoner. However, that voice sounded familiar to the male prisoner.

"....No.....that's not going to happen! Not now, not ever!" The woman yelled back aggressively, fighting her captor verbally. Her rapid breaths could be heard from the male prisoner across the cell.

The man laughed hysterically. "Oh, really? You're just like your mother and father! Rebellious, unfaithful, stubborn, backstabbing low-lives!"

This insult about the female's parents sparked much rage in her blood that she immediately snapped back at the man so loud, at the top of her lungs. She was furious, and she felt as though she could break free from the restraints and beat the life out of the man. "DON'T YOU SAY THAT ABOUT THEM! YOU CAUSED EVERYTHING THAT THEY WENT THROUGH! EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED TO THEM WAS BECAUSE THEY RAN FROM THE EMPIRE! BECAUSE THEY RAN FROM YOU!"

Surprised. That was exactly how the male prisoner felt the moment he heard the woman retaliate with her words through his still-blurry sight. But since things were heating up, and afraid that the captor was going to do something painful back to them, the male prisoner thought of injecting his own voice into the fray.

"Well, they're both dead now, orphan girl!" The captor laughed again, insulting and taunting the woman. He rubbed her chin, to which she pulled away defensively from the anger that built up in her.

"YOU BASTARD!" The female screamed with fury.

"H-Hey...w-what's going on here!?" The male captive finally spoke, much to the unknown man's surprise.

The mysterious captor chuckled and slowly approached the male prisoner. He could see him coming closer through his blurry vision, and his heart skipped beats rapidly with each step the man took towards him. "Well, well, well, look who decided to join us. Such a sleepy one, I presume. But he's good. He could make such a lovely Deathtrooper to my collection!" The man taunted, further angering the woman.

"NO! He will not!" The female defended.

The male prisoner suddenly realized something. That woman's voice....it was very, VERY familiar.

And his vision was slowly and gradually becoming clearer by the minute. He could see the captor. He was a tall, old man with gray hair. And he was wearing a white uniform with a white cape...

He also sees that the woman was wearing a gray jacket with a brown vest over it, and black pants. Her brunette hair was tied in a bun on the back of her head and fringes that hung on each side of her face. She looked very, VERY familiar to him.

"Then declare to me that you will join us! Join the Galactic Empire, and destroy those Rebel scums that you call friends!" The man demanded out of the woman.

The woman was struck. Now, her anger reached a full level.

"NEVVVVVERRRRRRRRR!" She angrily forced the rejection from her lungs through barred teeth and shook her head, with a furious-looking face. She briefly licked the small spot of blood on her bottom lips, which resulted from the physical abuse inflicted by the man in white.

The man in white chuckled upon hearing that.

The woman, with her blood mixed with her saliva in her mouth, spat her blood on the man's white uniform. This caused him to jerk back, and surged angry feelings through his veins.

"Alright then, Jyn Erso. Let's see if your partner in crime joining us will make you join, since you're as defiant as your mother was." The white-uniformed Imperial declares. He turns to the male prisoner, and he dashes towards him in a flash. The male prisoner widens his eyes in surprise and confusion.

Jyn's anger levels instantly drops, and she widens her eyes in concern as she watched. "What? Wait! What are you doing to him!? Orson! Orson Krennic!" Jyn attempted to catch his attention, but it was no use. He already grabbed ahold of the male prisoner.

Orson Krennic violently and aggressively stood the male prisoner up on his feet, then gave him one punch to the abdomen. He groaned in pain, and Jyn screamed in response and sympathy.

"Guards!" Orson yelled towards the cell door, and two of his Deathtrooper bodyguards entered the cell and took the male captive by the arms. The male prisoner was powerless: he couldn't move nor fight back. Krennic most likely drugged him with a powerful sedative that inhibited his senses. All he could do was observe, hear, and think.

'N-No...I will not...join....them.' The prisoner said to himself in his own mind. His eyes began to close slowly, for he was about to drift into a deep sleep again. 'J-Jyn...' He called out to himself silently.

Jyn's voice rang out loudly through the air.

"NO!!!!!! CASSSSSIIIIIAAAAAANNNNNNN!"

After that, a very long ten seconds passed before a sound is heard in pitch black darkness. It was a deep, sinister-sounding breathing sound, and it sounded like it was a breath emitted through a mask...

Inhale.

Exhale.

Then a low-pitched, sinister voice speaks.

"Join the dark side. Together, we'll rule the galaxy..."

((()))

His eyes fly open instantly. His breaths are rapid and shaky. His heart is pounding forcefully against the inside of his chest. Cassian gasped loudly and INSTANTLY sat up in the bed, forcing the blanket off his bare, topless torso, for he is sleeping without a shirt. He hyperventilates relentlessly: inhales and exhales exchange through his lips every quarter of a second. He feels so scared at that moment. Sweat drips from his face and chest, slightly wetting the bed sheets underneath him.

Cassian just had a nightmare.

"Oh my...oh m-my......oh my gosh...." Cassian's shaky, trembling voice whispers in the room. Ignoring the sweat drenched all over his body, he looks over to his left to see Jyn sleeping on her side, topless, and her back faced to him. He sighs a big, much-needed sigh of relief before getting up from the bed, and he slips on his shirt before exiting Jyn's room in a hurry.

Unbeknownst to Cassian, Jyn was wide awake, with her eyes open staring at the wall. She did indeed wake up to Cassian's awakening, but she didn't want to alert him to her presence. After hearing Cassian leave her room, she slowly sits up, shifting both eyes towards the automatic sliding door. 'What's wrong with him!?' she thought nervously. Jyn is now greatly worried by Cassian's sudden awakening and his behavior. It did not seem normal, she concludes.

Cassian stands at a balcony overlooking the sea of trees below, and stares into the night sky. He watches as a comet flies downwards through the night, and he watches the stars twinkle with their radiance. Cassian has questions on his mind, since he is in the 'thinking posture': one hand in his pocket, the other hand grips the metal railing in front of him. Something is on his mind that is making fear conquer his emotions.

Only a few minutes allow Cassian silence all to himself until he feels a presence behind him: a presence that he knows so well already. He knows that Jyn is standing just several feet behind him. Luckily, it was only the two of them together at the balcony; the other Rebels were either asleep or on night duty in the other parts of the base.

Cassian breaks the awkward silence between them. "What?"

Jyn stares at him, stares at his back. She has on her tank top, and she has her arms crossed as well, further expressing her mood of concern for her lover. "Is that all you have to say? After what happened back there?" The worriedness can be sensed in her slightly shaky voice.

Cassian waits for a quick moment before speaking. He didn't really want to tell her anything, despite knowing that it would aggravate her. "I'm just getting some fresh air. Maybe you're sleepwalking."

Hearing Cassian's ridiculous, mediocre excuse, Jyn shakes her head side-to-side slowly and furrows her brows. "Really!? Does gasping for air desperately in bed sound like getting fresh air!?" She snaps, raising her voice just a little bit. The hint of aggravation can be sensed already in her voice.

Cassian wanted to tell her, but he didn't have the guts to. Inside, his mind was in a battle between truth and lie. So, he refused. "It's nothing..."

"Like hell, it's nothing!" Jyn snaps louder.

Cassian stays quiet for a moment.

Jyn stares at his back hard, waiting for an honest answer, but she gets impatient with him.

"Eadu." Jyn says. This makes Cassian turn his head slightly, emitting a least response for Jyn. She knows she is getting some sense into him now. Cassian's heart skips a beat when the memory of their argument in the stolen Imperial ship on Eadu over the assassination of her father, Galen Erso, flashed in his eyes.

"Don't lie to me, Cassian. You can't lie to me again. You've done it to me once, I won't let you do that again. I know you well enough already, Cassian. TELL ME, NOW. WHAT'S WRONG?" Jyn's voice is aggressive in those words, especially with the last few words. Cassian can tell that she is very serious with her concern over him. Remembering that Jyn is reckless, aggressive, and undisciplined, he guesses that he couldn't stand a chance withholding things from her.

"I'm...worried about you." Jyn declares in a softer voice this time.

Feeling some shame over making his girlfriend's worriedness and anxiety increase, he sighs heavily and turns to face her. She still has her arms crossed and her face still has the look of concern.

"I....I had a dream. A very bad dream, Jyn." Cassian finally tells Jyn the truth, to which her hearts rises to her throat, creating the feeling of a lump and tightness in there. She gets more nervous hearing what Cassian has to explain.

"T-That man we encountered at that tower on Scarif....Krennic, is his name. I saw that he was alive." Cassian says with fear in his words. He frowns slightly to accompany his fear.

Jyn widens her eyes as her heart beats a bit faster than normal upon hearing that. "Orson Krennic!? But he was killed in that Death Star blast! Everything on those beaches were wiped out that day! There's no way he could've survived that."

"Jyn, he tortures us. In the dream, he interrogates us and hurts us. We were....his prisoners." Cassian explains more, while watching Jyn's face closely to observe some sort of reaction. Jyn tilts her head to the side, curious, but still growing more concerned and anxious.

"P-P-Prisoners?" Jyn stutters in disbelief.

Cassian nods as in 'yes.'

"W-What did he say?" Jyn asks.

Cassian looks down at the floor in dismay, nervous of what he wanted to say next. Jyn observes him, and she gives him time to pluck up the courage to speak the information. "He made insults about your parents. A-And...he.....he....." Cassian struggles to say the very thing that he feared of telling Jyn about his nightmare. Jyn stares at him directly in the eye, urging him to go on.

".....He manipulates you in joining the dark side by forcing me to join them." Cassian finally spits the truth out. He clenches his fists as tight as he can, he stands up straight, and calmly observes Jyn as he breathes smoothly to keep his nervousness at level.

And with the truth finally revealed, Jyn is shocked, and she looks down at the floor confused. She did not understand his dream either, but whatever it was, it was bothering her Captain, and it was her obligation to care and maintain his well-being. "The....d-dark...s-side?" She whispers quietly so only they hear.

A very long moment of silence occurs before passing when Cassian decides to ask a question.

"What if the dream is real, Jyn? What if what I saw is exactly something that will happen to us in the future?" Cassian asks, with anxiety at its highest in his voice. Jyn looks up at him and they make eye contact full of concern and curiosity. But Jyn decides to approach Cassian so that they were face-to-face with each other, and she places her hands on his arms to express her confidence in him.

"Cassian, it's just a dream. Dreams can't be true. It's just....involuntary imagination. Maybe it's not real." Jyn suggests.

"Do you believe so?" Cassian injects.

Jyn places her hands on his cheeks instantly, and nods confidently while gazing innocently into his brown eyes. "Yes, I do, Cassian. Real, or not real, whatever happens along the way, I'm with you all the way. I love you, Cassian. We're in this together, no matter what."

Cassian nods and reaches behind her to gently stroke her brunette hair. "I guess so. It's just a dream..."

Jyn smiles and places a gentle kiss on his cheek before wrapping an arm around him. They turn around and head along the corridor back to Jyn's quarters. "Come on. Let's get back to bed."

Although, he was still paranoid by the nightmare, Cassian greatly trusted his Sergeant, his 21-year-old lover., his ultimate partner in crime. He believed in her, and he had faith in her and himself, and in the Rebels around him. 'It's nothing to worry about then,' he thought.

Or was it?

Chapter 15: A Clear Message

Jyn and Cassian smiles their biggest smiles up to date, because they were so proud of what they helped accomplish: the destruction of the planet destroyer, the Death Star. They stood up on the stage with the other three members of the team that took the battle to space: Luke, Han, and Chewbacca. They held their heads high, with joy visible on their lips & cheeks as they watch the Rebellion happily applauded them for their heroic efforts the other day.

Princess Leia was among the people on stage, and she gave Jyn and Cassian the highest honor, for she placed them higher on the stage than Luke, Han, and Chewbacca. She couldn't be prouder. She smiles joyfully at the crowd as they continue clapping.

Jyn tried her best to resist the urge to fiddle with the gold medal around her neck. She hasn't felt this excited and this happy in ages, given her past. Cassian quickly turns his head to smile down at her and wink, to which Jyn reciprocates with a small, soft curve of the corners of her lips. However, she knew this moment of achievement was temporary, because she knew this war with the Galactic Empire was still ongoing, and this destruction of the Death Star was just the tip of the iceberg. Jyn knew she couldn't smile for long. There was still much ahead of them.

((()))

"A dream, you say?" The voice of Lyra Erso's Force spirit lingers the air. Galen and Lyra's spirits stand in Jyn's room, where they take conversation with their daughter, their only child.

"Yes....it was more of a nightmare. A very bad nightmare, by the way he woke up." Jyn explains with her arms crossed, for she paces around her quarters with concern filling her head about Cassian's bad dream the other night. Galen and Lyra takes a long moment to think rigorously about the thought, but there wasn't a good clue about it.

"And Captain Andor says he saw Orson Krennic too?" Galen asks. In response, Jyn nods, and Galen looks at Lyra with concern. "Did Orson say anything in the dream?"

Jyn stops her pacing so she faces her parents. "Krennic said that he...." She pauses to observe the facial expressions on her parents' faces. "....wanted us to join the Empire, or he would kill us."

Galen and Lyra sigh at each other with a sense of concern as well, despite it being a dream. They could sense the fear in their daughter's consciousness, and, as the Erso family tradition goes, if their child is in fear, then they are in fear as well.

"Look, Jyn, I know this is all too much for you right now. But it was just a dream. Orson was killed in that blast." Galen says.

"We cannot see nor predict the future, dear. The present is what matters most." Lyra adds to her husband's sentence.

"What if it is true, father? I don't want anything to happen to Cassian, or me." Jyn asks desperately, clasping her hands together as she takes many steps closer to her parents' spirits.

"Just take precautions. Somehow...I sense it too. I can feel something is a bit out of place. Just be careful, my Stardust." Galen warns her before wrapping an arm around Lyra, and Jyn nods in confirmation. Then, she watches her parents' spirits fade away.

There are so many questions in the former criminal's mind, but she is interrupted in her thoughts when the electronic panel to her door beeps, and the door slides open. Her Captain strides into the room in a casual manner, and he looks as lively as ever. Jyn forms a small smile as she takes his hand and kisses it. "It feels great to be honored by the crowd, isn't it? Cassian says, fiddling with the gold medal around his neck. It would make a great addition to the walls of his office, for sure.

"Yeah...I guess." Jyn mumbles while pressing her face into Cassian's shoulders.

Cassian notices and frowns. "Jyn? What is it?"

Jyn just shakes her head. "Just worried about you and your nightmare, that's all."

"Jyn..." Cassian sighs and places a hand on her shoulder. "Don't be afraid. I'm right here, with you. There's still a war going on, and we can't let fear conquer our well-being. Alright?" He advises her before placing a soft, gentle loving kiss on her forehead. She loves the feeling of his kisses, and she could bask in that feeling for eternity.

Suddenly, something at the door caught Jyn's eye. She pulls herself away from Cassian's embrace and eyes the entity. It is a small, white & blue service droid. It apparently rolled its way into Jyn's quarters quietly & slowly, and it appeared to greet her.

"Well hi, there." Jyn smiles at the droid.

The droid beeps as its response.

Cassian points at the white & blue droid. "Oh, that is R2-D2! He's one of the best servicing droids at this base. A good little mischievous companion to have around..." Cassian jokes after chuckling. R2-D2 beeps very loudly after hearing that insult from Cassian, and Jyn turns to glare at him. His laugh fades instantly. "Just kidding."

R2-D2 beeps a few more times at Jyn.

"Why, thank you! We've done it for all of you." Jyn bends down and pats the top of R2-D2's dome-shaped 'head.'

"You understand him!?" Cassian asks in much surprise, for his eyes widen and his mouth drops open a little bit.

Jyn nods as she examines the front of R2-D2's metal body. "Of course. Living with a farming droid for four years can pay off."

Cassian slaps his forehead in a facepalm since he realizes that Jyn developed skills in understanding droid language when she was a little girl on Lah'mu. "Right." Then, a blue blinking light flashes in R2-D2's 'eye.' "Look. I think he has a message for you."

R2-D2 opens up one of his compartments to reveal a metal 'arm' reaching out to Jyn with a white piece of paper with a written message on it. Jyn curiously examines the paper in her fingers, unwrapping it until she can clearly read the sentence through the many wrinkles & creases on the paper's surface.

Jyn reads it out loud with Cassian listening carefully.

"Congratulations. You have my honor. The Force was truly with you. Luke."

Suddenly, Jyn feels a surge of energy boost in her, for her kyber crystal necklace glows under her gray jacket. She folds the message and twirls it between her fingers, thinking about the young pilot she just met the other day, Luke Skywalker. She doesn't really know the young man, but she is impressed by his achievement since he was the one who finished the job for her and Cassian.

"Huh. That young Skywalker kid probably looks up to us. I'm beginning to wonder if it's a mistake..." Cassian mutters.

Suddenly, Jyn looks up to see another droid appear, this time, a human-looking droid. It had a shiny gold finish, and two circle-shaped lights on its face that appeared to be its 'eyes.' She immediately stands up to appear to the droid.

"Why, hello!" The droid says. "My name is C-3PO. I'd like to thank you and Captain Andor on behalf of the 5,000 Rebels at this base! It truly is a pleasure to meet you, Sergeant Erso!"

Jyn smiles, but Cassian points at C-3PO and whispers in her ear so that C-3PO couldn't hear. "Annoying one." He whispers.

C-3PO tilts his head in response. "Oh, how rude, Captain! Come on, R2. Let's get out of here." He exclaims as he and R2-D2 leave the corridor of the 2nd floor.

Cassian was about to laugh when he noticed that Jyn was in deep thought, because she immediately paced around her room, with her finger rubbing her chin. She was thinking about something, and Cassian was wondering what she was thinking or planning. "What is it? Jyn?"

Jyn takes a long moment pacing around before answering him. The moment she's seen C-3PO, a splendid idea arrived in her mind. She wanted to enact the plan right away, because she felt a great need to. "Cassian, what if..." She starts off, but is cut off by a familiar robotic voice that she knows very well.

"Oh, dear....you're not seriously thinking of doing that, are you!?" The voice of K-2SO's spirit questions loudly. He appears right behind his two leaders, much to only Cassian's surprise, while Jyn isn't startled one bit.

"Yes..." Jyn quietly whispers to herself so Cassian could not hear.

"What? What is she thinking about?" Cassian asks in confusion, looking at K-2SO for answers.

K-2SO shakes his head as he angles his face towards the floor. "Now that answer is clear and convincing, this time. How dare you, Jyn Erso..."

Jyn then forms a mischievous smile on her face. "Yes, it is..." She mutters through barred teeth.

Cassian repeatedly switches views between K-2SO's spirit and Jyn, much to his frustration. "W-WHAT!? WHAT IS IT!? What did Jyn say?"

Cassian takes a very long moment to try to put the pieces together. Remembering that he saw C-3PO a few minutes ago, and his resemblance to K-2SO, and Jyn's deep thought, Cassian eventually finally realizes what Jyn is planning...

Cassian shakes his head and yells loudly.

"OH, NO....!"

Chapter 16: Clear and Convincing

"No....no, no, no. You couldn't possibly do this! Not to K-2SO!" Cassian yells out as he follows Jyn out to the main hangar, where the Rebel pilots and infantrymen were servicing the X-Wings and Y-Wings for the upcoming patrol duties. Apparently, Cassian was shocked and furious when he realized what Jyn was planning to do earlier in her quarters.

"There's nothing wrong with that, Captain." Jyn says calmly while keeping on the mischievous smirk as she continues walking towards the front opening of the hangar.

"Jyn!" Cassian screams behind her as he moves to the side to allow a couple of Rebels carrying some crates pass by.

Cassian realized that Jyn's intention was to travel to an Imperial encampment and procure the exact same security droid that they had, and reprogram it with K-2SO's digital memory and protocols.

In other words, Jyn wanted K-2SO's revival.

Or, 'reboot', in that sense.

"You...y-you are being reckless again, Jyn." Cassian comments behind her as they approach a new, freshly built U-Wing with blue stripes, which indicated that it was built for the Captain after its destruction in Eadu.

"I know." Jyn smirks as she climbs aboard.

Yes...

Reckless.

One of the words that described Jyn Erso's personality and behavior. Her ethics seemed to gain her a reputation amongst the other Rebels by now, and Cassian knew her well enough by now that she is indeed a reckless twenty-one-year old youngling. Whether he wanted to stop her or not, it frustrated him just being dragged along into whatever mess the former criminal could get herself into, and out of. Maybe this was the kind of woman Lyra Erso was too...

"Jyn, I find this a bit disrespectful to K-2SO. Even he would feel it is. Replacing him just.....just does not feel right to Rogue One." Cassian tries to reason with his Sergeant. He never understood her mentality nevertheless. "Even though he was just a droid, he was....h-he...he was my best friend! He was like a brother to me!"

Down on one knee, Jyn held out her A180 pistol and examined it for any abnormalities. "At least getting a new K-2SO will get us half of Rogue One again. Right?"

Cassian thought for a moment. Perhaps she was right. "True...I-I guess so...I hope you know what you're doing, Jyn. You're about to take us into another war zone, and you've got a knack of getting yourself into a lot of dirty situations. I've read your records."

Jyn scoffs and looks up at him after holstering her A180. "Then you'll just have to trust me again, Captain Andor." Then, she gives him a dirty smirk.

Cassian sighs and steps onboard into his new U-Wing, and then he mutters quietly under his own breath. "How did I end up with this little girl...?"

Jyn immediately stands up and turns to him with a face that gave the 'You will pay for that!' expression. "What was that!?"

"Nothing." Cassian mumbles innocently, turning away to hide his face.

A few minutes later, a voice calls out to them nearby. It appears to be Luke Skywalker, dressed in an orange Rebel pilot uniform. It looks as though he wanted to say something important, but he just appears casual. "Captain Andor!"

Cassian and Jyn focus their attention to Luke, who has such an innocent face.

"Mr. Skywalker. Good to see you." Cassian says with a small smile as he leans against the door of his U-Wing.

"The Red squadron and I are just about prepared for orbital patrol around Yavin. I just wanted to let you know that we're ready to take off at your command." Luke informs his superior as he stands upright with chest puffed out like a real soldier, further reinforcing his appearance to his Captain.

Cassian chuckles and looks away into the hangar, where he momentarily watches some pilots chattering near their X-Wings. "My command? Yeah...then you're cleared for takeoff."

"Yes, sir." Luke replies. "So, you have some duties of your own?" He asks, noticing that Jyn and Cassian were preparing for some destination he wasn't aware of.

The two Rogue One members look at each other, with Jyn giving Cassian a facial expression that meant don't let anyone know about their secret agenda. "It's just something that Jyn and I must handle on our own. This is Rogue One business. We're inseparable, if you haven't noticed by now." Cassian lets out a small laugh.

Luke smiles and nods. "May the Force be with you, Rogue One."

Cassian nods back. "And may the Force be with you, young Skywalker."

Luke begins to walk away when Jyn looks down at her glowing kyber crystal necklace. It was giving off a strong sense of the Force, most likely due to Luke's presence. Somehow, Jyn felt that Luke is the key to something bigger, a matter much more than just shooting Stormtroopers and destroying space stations. Out of politeness and respect, Jyn grasps her kyber crystal in one hand and calls out to Luke.

"Thank you!" Jyn calls to him. This catches Cassian attention, and he looks at her.

Hearing her words, Luke turns around to look directly into Jyn's green eyes from twenty feet away. Their eyes lock stares for a very long moment; it's as if gratitude was being appreciated through the air. Luke knows exactly what Jyn is thanking him for. All that Luke does is smile at her and nod before continuing to his X-Wing.

"So now you have a heart." Cassian remarks as they both turn their attentions back to the interior of their U-Wing. Jyn scoffs and shakes her head just as she hops into the pilot seat on the right.

Suddenly, K-2SO's spirit appears right behind them just as Cassian hopped into the pilot seat on the left, usually where K-2SO sat. K-2SO speaks out to both of them. "I can't believe you're about to do this! This really is clear and convincing..."

Cassian scoffs when flicking on some switches on the ceiling. "Well, we could sure use another Imperial security droid in our unit."

The spirit of K-2SO shakes his head. "Captain Andor, I thought I was the only droid you ever cared about?"

Cassian sighs in frustration as he begins the liftoff of the U-Wing. "Well, you were the most annoying one..."

"Oh, dear..." K-2SO mutters in dismay as he looks down at the floor of the cabin.

Jyn gives Cassian a vicious mean glare after hearing his remark to their deceased security droid.

K-2SO then remembers the day they were in Jedha City...

K-2SO blurts out. "I should've slapped you harder."

Chapter 17: Replacement

"Replacement"

1800 hours

Rogue One

Sgt. Jyn 'Stardust' Erso

Imperial local encampment, (Fictional planet of...) Yucoban

Rogue One arrived at an Imperial-conquered planet, the Yucoban, that they suspected to have an adequate amount of security droids that K-2SO originally was. Cassian was careful to land the U-Wing far enough from the Imperial encampment so they were not detected. It was just the two of them, after all, and they were going to do this quick.

Cassian puts on his blue jacket with its white fur collar, then holsters his A280-CFE blaster pistol. "There's plenty of them here. We're just going to grab one, and get out. We don't have reinforcements with us, so we're not going full on attack here. Understand?" He eyes Jyn to make sure she followed his instruction.

"Yes, sir." Jyn calmly replies with a deep, but serene tone after she wraps her long gray scarf around her neck, and the rest of it hangs down behind her back.

It was about a ten-minute walk into the encampment. It felt just like Jedha City: civilians and alien humanoid entities inhabiting the area, Imperial troops and droids patrolling the perimeters, and a melancholy, gloomy setting. It was like déjà vu.

Before Jyn and Cassian begin to come out of an empty alley way and into the main streets, Cassian grabs her wrist, immediately catching her attention. She looks up at him with determined eyes, and it is a clear message that she is listening.

"Remember what I said. Blend in." Cassian whispers quietly to her, to which she nods and covers her head with the scarf.

The two Rogue One survivors proceed to walk into the filling streets of the slums-like premises, walking along with the flow of traffic and being careful not to accidentally bump into any Imperials. As Jyn and Cassian look around, they observe that the conditions there are worse than what they had seen in Jedha. The place looked filthy compared to Jedha, people were ruder to each other, such as pushing and shoving when walking past each other, or making horrid remarks, and it looked as though there was no signs of some form of rebellion.

This encampment is heavily influenced by the Empire, and it has taken total control of this particular area, possibly the entire planet of the Yucoban.

And they treated their locals horribly and cruelly, by the looks of it.

Cassian quietly whispers to Jyn as they turn a corner. "This place is already giving me the creeps. I knew this was a mistake."

Jyn ignores his statement and moves past a tall humanoid creature. She then whispers back to him. "Are we not the best Rebels in the Rebellion?"

Cassian sighs in frustration as he follows Jyn from behind. Up ahead, he can see a couple of Imperial security droids walking along the street.

'K-2SO!' was the first thing that came into Cassian's mind. But, he forgot that his beloved security droid was destroyed.

After turning into an alley way & making their way through it, they eventually come up to a large, four-way intersection where a group of Stormtroopers were dealing with some civilians who apparently had a commotion with each other. Jyn and Cassian notice that one of the Stormtroopers brutally beat one of the people in the head with his baton.

'This damned Empire needs to be brought down!' Cassian thought in his own consciousness. Seeing cruel acts like that fired up the hatred Cassian had for the Galactic Empire. Speaking of hatred, Cassian notices from the corner of his eye that Jyn's fingers almost reach for her A180 blaster pistol. Luckily, Cassian grabbed her wrist, preventing her from equipping her weapon and blowing their cover.

Suddenly, the two Rebels hear a pair of robotic voices behind them. As they turn around, they glance at each other's eyes before focusing their sights on two things that brought small smiles to their lips: two Imperial security droids conversing with each other. Jyn knew instantly that seeing them made Cassian a little bit happy, since a security droid was basically K-2SO.

Jyn and Cassian decide to stand against the wall of a nearby building and observe the situation.

"That's eight prisoners captured so far today. They were fighting over what appeared to be nothing but supplies." One of the droids says.

"Who knows how many more will be imprisoned? They were right about this place. It wreaks of filthy, undisciplined, stubborn people." The other droid horridly remarks.

"I am going to report these captures to the officer." The first droid declares before turning to walk away down the small Imperial transport vehicle up ahead.

"Affirmative." The second droid replies. Now, it is left alone. It then begins to walk towards a discrete, empty alley way that is positioned away from the big crowds. Jyn and Cassian saw this as their opportunity.

"Now's our chance. Go!" Cassian whispers in command. In a flash, they reach the alley of which the security droid entered through. Luckily, the droid hasn't turned its back, so they took this opportunity to strike.

"Now, Cassian!" Jyn mouths the words silently.

And with one strike, Cassian stuns & incapacitates the droid with his electronic disabler rod. The droid's internal systems instantly shut down, and the droid begins to fall to the floor like as if it fainted. But luckily, Cassian catches the droid in-time before it could hit the ground, which would draw unnecessary attention.

"Okay, how do we get him out of here!?" Jyn asks while kneeling down next to Cassian.

"I'll drag him and say he malfunctioned, and needs to go to repairs." Cassian says, believing he planned the right thing at the top of his head.

"REBELS SIGHTED!" A robotic voice rings out from the other end of the long alley. Unfortunately, another security droid happened to spot them, and recognize them, as it walked near the alley. And now, Rogue One's cover is blown.

Jyn immediately takes out her blaster and shoots a single blaster bolt into the droid's head, dropping it instantly. Her heart was beating rapidly, her blood was flowing, the fear was building, and the adrenaline was flowing, all at once, all at that instant. The female Rebel looks at her Captain wide-eyed.

Cassian looks up at Jyn too with wide eyes, and he did not hesitate to give the command. "GO! BACK TO THE WING!" He yells out loudly, since they were already alerting the Stormtroopers and security droids to their presence.

((()))

Blaster bolts dart right at Jyn and Cassian from behind as they near-miss it by turning a sharp corner out of another alley way, and they impact the walls of a building. Jyn leads the way through the streets, with Cassian treading behind as fast as he can, with the disabled security droid on top of his shoulders; the weight reduced his speed about a quarter of his overall full speed. Jyn pushes and shoves everyone blocking their way, causing the civilians to yell at them angrily as they run away.

"To the right, to the right!" Cassian yells to Jyn, confirming the way that they came from.

Jyn turns right and leads the way, but a Stormtrooper appears just several meters away. Before he could raise his assault blaster, Jyn fires at his torso a few times, ensuring that the bolts penetrated and dealt enough damage to kill him; and she did it successfully. "Come on!" Jyn yells, running into another street full of people. Both panting heavily, they continue sprinting down the long main street where the entrance to the encampment was near.

From the right, a Stormtrooper pops out all of a sudden and attempts to knock Jyn out with the butt of his blaster. But, being the quick, strong, former criminal she is, Jyn whips out her truncheon rod and delivers a quick, hard strike to the trooper's head, rendering him stunned temporarily.

"It's just right there! Go!" Cassian screams and points at the exit.

The closer they got to the encampment's gates, the more blaster bolts came jolting past them like rain. More and more Stormtroopers inside the camp were gaining their tail, but Jyn and Cassian were quick to evade the blaster fire and certain capture.

A few minutes have passed when they finally reach the U-Wing, where they hop into the cabin and prepare for the security droid's extraction. The two Rebels were both heavily exhausted from their escape, and so they prepared the jump to hyperspace in to flee from the premises as fast as possible.

"Jyn, get us out of here! Come on!" Cassian commands his Sergeant as he lays down the disabled security droid on the cabin's floor. Jyn nods and assumes the pilot seat instantly, obeying her Captain right away. She turns on the buttons and switches to activate the U-Wing's engines and flight control; therefore, the ship starts hovering some two-hundred into the air.

Cassian stands beside the cabin's sliding door, where he looks down at the entrance of the Imperial encampment. He can see that Stormtroopers were gathering at the gate, and were shooting at his U-Wing, with no shots being landed.

However...there appears something at the gate as well. It catches Cassian's eye so easily because it stands out from the rest of the Stormtroopers. It is a person, not in body armor, but in a more formal uniform....

A white uniform.

With a white cape.

And black pants.

And gray hair.

Cassian's eyes widen as he observes the figure, dressed in white, locked his stare with the U-Wing. Cassian felt as though his body depleted of energy on the spot, all of a sudden. He felt weak, and his heart rose to this throat, giving him the tightened throat feeling. He was shocked at who he has just seen.

The man in white looked very, very familiar...

Suddenly, Cassian frowns & furrows his brows in confusion when the man in white turns around to walk back into the encampment, but not before raising his hand to signal something to one of the Imperial troops.

"Huh!?" Cassian mutters.

Suddenly, the U-Wing's incoming warning sound rings out of the pilot's cockpit, catching Cassian's attention towards the cockpit where Jyn is. Jyn looks around confusingly, unsure as to why it is making the loud beeping noise.

"What's happening!?" Jyn exclaims as she gains altitude.

Cassian immediately refocuses his attention back to the gate below, and what he sees sparks fear in himself. A missile was launched from inside of the Imperial encampment, and it was headed straight towards them. Cassian shakes his head and does not hesitate to close the cabin's sliding door.

"THEY LAUNCHED A MISSILE! GO JYN! GET TO HYPERSPACE!" Cassian screams at the top of his lungs.

Jyn took a little bit of time to set the U-Wing's hyperspace bearings. "Damn it!" Jyn mutters in frustration as she flicked on a few more switches before, eventually, the hyperdrive sets its hyperspace traveling ability.

Cassian looks back, seeing that the missile is now catching up to them from behind. "ANY TIME NOW! HURRY!"

And all at once, a white flash appears in the sunset sky, and the U-Wing finally dashes out the planet and into hyperspace, avoiding the missile that was tracking them.

((()))

All was calm. It was silent because the U-Wing was traveling in hyperspace, and a bluish 'void' dashed past the windows. Cassian sat there, on the cabin floor, breathing rapidly while wide-eyed, much to Jyn's concern. She heard him breathing the exact same way he breathed on the night of his nightmare, and she just couldn't help but question him again. Standing up from the pilot seat, she walks right in-front of her Captain and kneels to him.

"Cassian?" She asks, with concern in her eyes. "What happened? Did we forget something?"

Cassian just looks up at Jyn with the familiar eyes of fear that Jyn knew. "I-I saw....him."

Jyn frowns and gets closer to him, and she places a hand on his arm. "Who, Cassian!? Who?"

Cassian takes a very long moment to respond to her. His heart is a-beating. ".....Krennic."

Cassian said it. It became true. Director Orson Krennic is indeed alive and in the flesh, just as Cassian saw & feared in his bad dream. He could not believe it, and Jyn as well. She stares off to the side in space, trying to process what Cassian just witnessed. Now, Jyn has confirmation that her family's archenemy, Orson Krennic, is still alive, somehow.

But how was he still alive? Was he not killed in the Death Star blast on Scarif?

"Krennic..." Jyn mutters under her breath. The haunting memory of her mother's death flashes in her eyes, and she instantly feels some bit of anger and vengeance rising in her blood, for she clenches a fist as tight as she can.

There were so many questions filling up in their heads that they want answered. But now was not the time. While Jyn kneeled right where she was, still thinking about Orson Krennic, Cassian eventually stands up and holds the Imperial security droid's head in one hand, and then takes a small storage device out of his pocket that was about the size of a thumb. Then, he inserts the device into the back of the droid's head, where he installs some kind of software.

"Erasing current memory..." Cassian mutters. "Reprogramming security protocols..." He whispers.

After several minutes of waiting silently, and impatiently, Cassian removes the tiny device and observes the reprogrammed security droid from head to foot. Cassian is unsure of what is going to happen. Was the droid completely changed? Was the droid still Imperial? Or was the droid going to attack him and Jyn? Cassian keeps his stare of fear at the droid, with his heart beating from nervousness and anxiety.

But Cassian sighs a big sigh in relief, because the Imperial security droid was Imperial no more. It is now one-hundred percent Rebel. The first words from the newly reprogrammed security droid pretty much confirmed that they had just 're-booted' K-2SO back to 'life.'

"Oh! Where am I!? Ah!" The new K-2SO exclaims excitedly and happily upon turning his head to see Cassian. "Captain Andor! I am glad to see you again! Wait...." K-2SO pauses for a moment, realizing where, and when, he is. "...Were we not in the tower on Scarif, trying to unlock the vault doors?" K-2SO asks, confused out of his digital mind. "Where are we? How did we get here all of a sudden?"

Cassian shakes his head and closes his eyes. Apparently, the device Cassian input into the droid's head had the memories and digital protocols of K-2SO where and when he was last alive before he got destroyed, which was by the vault door controls in the archive tower on Scarif. Cassian simply just brought back K-2SO's 'consciousness' in another Imperial security droid that looked exactly like him.

K-2SO looks left and right, switching views between Jyn and Cassian. Both of them look confused and exhausted. K-2SO also notices they are traveling in hyperspace. K-2SO is now confused as well. "Something happened. What happened?" He asks. But neither of his two Rogue One teammates replied.

Now, half of Rogue One existed at the very least; they knew that they couldn't bring the other three members back. But then there were questions that needed assessment, and those questions were about the very man that almost killed them in Scarif, the very man that killed Jyn's mother and used her father as a tool, the very man that was now haunting their consciousness and Cassian's state of mind:

Orson Krennic.

Chapter 18: An Enemy Reborn

Rebel Base, Yavin 4

The U-Wing slowly descended to the ground below, right in front of the main hangar, and upon landing, the only surviving half of Rogue One gloomily vacates it and slowly make their way inside the base. Jyn nor Cassian did not have the urge to speak to each other, even K-2SO. The one thing that caused their intertwining silence was Cassian's witnessing of Orson Krennic, the Imperial Director of the Galactic Empire's weapons division, and it was already haunting Cassian and Jyn. His nightmare finally became real after all, unfortunately.

"Everything looks untouched! I'm so glad the Empire did not discover our base after our recent mission." K-2SO comments to try to break the silence between them. "Speaking of recent mission, how is it that I'm still alive? Care to explain, Captain Andor?" K-2SO increases his walking speed a little bit faster to catch up to Cassian.

"I reprogrammed another droid with your memory, end of story." The shaken-up Intelligence Officer briefly answers for K-2SO as he leads Jyn to the elevator.

Allowing some Rebels to pass before entering the elevator, K-2SO stands between his two squad mates as the elevator closes and makes its way to the top floors where the command center is. During the ride, K-2SO repeatedly shifts views between Jyn and Cassian, neither saying a word since the return trip from the Yucoban. He was growing utterly curious. "Did we win the battle?" K-2SO asks out of nowhere, referring to their mission on Scarif.

Annoyed twice as much than earlier already, Cassian answers immediately for him by countering with a question rather than a simple statement. "What does it look like?"

"I'll take that as a yes. Though, I haven't seen the others..." K-2SO looks up at the ceiling, wondering where Baze, Chirrut, and Bodhi were. Cassian and Jyn glance at each other, with Jyn shaking her head slowly with a face of secrecy. Cassian got her message clearly: she didn't want them to let K-2SO know their teammates' fates. K-2SO was still very clueless about what went down at the beaches during and after the three of them entered the archive tower in Scarif. Jyn signaled Cassian that it was best not to let their reprogrammed friend know the truth. Who knows how hostile and enraged a former Imperial security droid could react if provoked.

It wasn't long before they reached the command center, and the key people of the Rebellion they saw in the center holographic round table appeared before them: Mon Mothma, Leia, Luke, and General Draven. They were about to smile in response to their arrival, but they kept concerned looks as they notice Jyn and Cassian's faces mirrored theirs.

A few minutes passed, and the Rebels were already well into the conversation.

"What do you mean Director Krennic is still alive!?" Asked Princess Leia, wide-eyed and shocked at Cassian's report.

Cassian shakes his head, trying his best to put together words. "I saw him....in my nightmare. And it became real. He was there at that Imperial camp. I saw him! I swear!" He almost yells much to everyone's surprise. Jyn nudged Cassian in the leg to let him know not to overreact, especially to his superiors, his leaders.

The three leaders, and Luke, all exchange looks of worry and concern, for the silence between them loomed so much it's as if Cassian was talking to himself in the command room. Mon Mothma decides to break the silence and keep the conversation going. "Our official reports indicate that Director Orson Krennic of the Imperial weapons development division was killed in action by the Death Star blast on Scarif."

Jyn looks at Cassian for a response. "B-But I saw him! He ordered one of his troops to shoot our ship down. We were lucky to get out of there in time and bring back this...." Cassian points at K-2SO. "...this piece of junk."

K-2SO raises his arms and shakes his head. "Captain, damn it! What's with you!?" He exclaims loudly. Jyn sighs, but a part of her did want to release a small laugh.

"I-I don't know how he is still alive. But he is." Cassian declares before letting his head hang so that he is staring straight down at the floor. Feeling his anxiety, Jyn gently places a hand on his lap, trying to comfort him a bit.

Leia and Luke exchanges looks for a moment. They both got a clue of exactly how Cassian and Jyn were feeling about this incident. Luke knew Cassian's fear and anxiety. He felt it through the Force, inside the Death Star's trench section, right before one of the TIE fighters could get a shot at his T-65 X-Wing. Somehow, he felt a very strong feeling through the Force at that moment after the TIE fighter was staggered away by Han's intervention. Luke felt like as if he knew who that specific TIE fighter pilot was, and that's what was worrying him lately. Yes, Luke did indeed feel what Cassian felt. "Captain Andor." Leia catches his attention so that he focuses back on her. "The man you saw. He was wearing a white Imperial uniform, correct? White Cape? Gray hair?"

Cassian nods in assurance and no question.

The three key leaders all nod in agreement before Mon Mothma dismisses her three Rebels. "We will investigate further into Director Krennic and his current operations. Captain, please have full confidence that you have our support, and keep faith in us." Cassian nods while eyeing Mothma directly in the eyes, showing his confidence and confirming her assurance. "Dismissed." Mothma dismisses her three Rebels, and they exit the command room.

With Mon Mothma, Leia, Luke, and Draven left in the room, they still exchange concerned looks with each other. Though, it was just one man, they, too, feared the future actions of Orson Krennic now that he is still alive.

"If Director Krennic did not die in the Death Star blast, then how..." Leia starts off, but is cut off by Draven.

Draven speaks out with a serious look. "It doesn't matter. Krennic, just like Galen Erso, is a vital key to the Empire's galactic imperialism and weapons management & production. The longer that man is alive, the longer the Rebellion will endure the Empire's fear. All Director Krennic is best at is advanced weapons development, and we don't know if he is currently in the process of constructing a new supermassive weapon or not."

Luke gives it some thought. "At least he is furious now that I destroyed his space station."

Mon Mothma shoots Leia and Luke an assuring gaze. "Our clock's ticking faster than time itself."

"Captain Andor seeing Director Krennic again has already shaken him quite much. Maybe we should ground him and Sergeant Erso from infantry operations for the time being." General Draven suggests, to which Mon Mothma nods in agreement.

Leia then speaks in. "You know, I can tell that just by talking to Captain Andor and observing his eyes..." She pauses for a moment, feeling all three pairs of eyes on her urging her to finish her sentence. "...that this sighting changed his mood so quickly and so negatively."

Luke looks down at the floor, acknowledging Cassian's flaring emotions. "I hope he and Jyn will be okay."

Leia turns to Luke with a face of determination. "We need to get forces out there immediately and gather more details about Krennic's intentions. The sooner we do, the sooner his future operations will halt."

"I'll get right on it!" Luke says before jogging off and exiting the command center.

Mon Mothma shoots General Draven a serious and very worrying gaze. "It will be just a matter of time before the Empire starts destroying more Rebel planets. Next thing you know...they will come back here to Yavin 4, and vanish us along with this entire planet."

((()))

Outside the command center, Jyn and Cassian were still clueless as to what to do at the moment. All they could was stand around and try to figure out questions that kept popping up in their minds. Jyn turns to Cassian and observes his anxious figure; though, she, too, was anxious about the entire thing.

"Cassian..." Jyn softly whispers so that only he hears her. "Are you....okay?" She asks while touching his arm.

Cassian didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to think. The sight of Orson Krennic physically abusing Jyn in his nightmare kept replaying in his eyes. He felt angry, yet very scared at the same time. He didn't want anything to happen to her, to his Sergeant, to his partner, to his squad mate, to his twenty-one-year-old girlfriend. It wasn't long before he finally replied to her. "Yeah...I guess."

"Well, I'm off to take a nice, clean wash." K-2SO blurts out, then jogs to the staircases.

As the elevator dinged and opeed its doors, Jyn entered it by herself and tells Cassian. "I....I need to clear my head..." She says in such a way that catches Cassian sudden attention. He eyes her directly in her green stardust eyes. "Meet me in my quarters tonight, Cassian. Please." Jyn says before the elevator doors close.

Cassian replayed the way she said 'Please' in his head a few times. For some reason, this made him curious, because she said that in such a way that she sounded like she was about to cry, like as if her voice began to choke from emotions piling up in her veins, causing her throat to tighten. Cassian was worried about Jyn, just as she was about him.

(Many things will be referenced from the canon book Rebel Rising)

Chapter 19: A Rebel's Past

"Hey, Jyn. I'm here. What do you want to talk about?" Cassian asks when he enters Jyn's quarters as he promised earlier when she requested him at the elevators.

It was later, in the evening, and Jyn was roaming around the Rebel base, her head full of thoughts and mixed emotions. She didn't know what to think, but if she did come up with the right words, she would be nervous however. And that was exactly how she felt at that moment when Cassian stood in front of her, gazing into her beautiful forest green eyes that had the so-called stardust. She didn't smile; she just stared up at Cassian with a serious face.

"Jyn...what is wrong? I'm not sure if you are okay. I know we've both been quiet earlier, which I understand. But you called me in here in private, so..." Cassian shrugs.

However, Jyn did not hesitate to start the mysterious conversation.....

"Cassian..." Jyn says in such a soft voice that she sounds like she is whispering, despite only the two of them present in her quarters with her door locked shut. But she only says her Captain's name.

Cassian tilts his head to the side curiously. "Yes?"

After not hearing anything from her, he is beginning to worry and getting creeped out. "Jyn, what?" He asks, raising his voice a little to make her speak out loud. And he is successful in doing so. She finally talks.

"C-Cassian....have you ever felt.....true pain?" Jyn asks all of a sudden.

This surprises Cassian greatly, because this is an unusual question that he has never heard from anyone, let alone from Jyn. "Uh...what do you mean?" He widens his eyes slightly, showing his seriousness in the matter. Jyn does not answer him again, so he pushes on. "Pain from the death of my parents when I was a child? Yes, Jyn, I know what it feels like. Um....why are you asking me this?"

"No, Cassian." She answers, and she turns away from him so her back faces him, and she faces the opposing wall. Her arms are crossed, and her head angles downwards so that she appears to be staring down at the floor. "I mean, true pain. A life full of all kinds of.....pain." She almost whispers, though, her voice sounds shaky, which catches Cassian's attention even more. He didn't like where this conversation was going, but he urged himself to keep listening to Jyn.

"Jyn..." Cassian mutters, knowing something is bothering Jyn.

"I've had my parents taken away too, Cassian. I saw them taken away...in the blink of an eye...just like that, with my very own eyes." Jyn feels her eyes stinging. She begins to feel tears rising into her eyes. "But do you know what it feels like to be left behind, Cassian? Left behind by someone you trusted your life to?"

Cassian is getting confused now. "Um...J-Jyn...what is all this!?"

"We may be soldiers for the Rebellion, Cassian. We kill Imperials. " Jyn continues, but this time her voice trembles. "...But could you ever bear to witness death every day?"

Cassian shakes his head and takes a step closer towards Jyn's back, and he frowns. "Why are you talking like this!?"

Jyn shakes her head and keeps her back facing to Cassian, and this causes him to stop walking towards her. "I've been taught survival. I've been taught to kill in so many ways. I trained. I followed orders. I met strangers who I doubted were my friends or not. I've witnessed death worse than you've probably ever saw...it's terrible, Cassian." Jyn could feel a tear leaving the duct in the corner of her eye.

Cassian wanted to say something back to Jyn, but he was beginning to gain interest in her monologue, and so he kept silent and listened.

"I've been hurt from the feeling of wishing my parents came back to me, but never did, and I lived every single day coping with it...but it still hurt. Then he...." Jyn said the word 'He' right as a tear trickled down her cheek. She could feel the emotion, hurt, conquering her heart. "....he left me....he left me to....die."

Cassian tilts his head to the side, wondering who she is talking about. "Who, Jyn?"

"Saw. Saw Gerrera." She answers, with a hint of hatred in her voice. "I remember that day...I was fifteen, completing some heist against the Empire...but they attacked us. He was injured and told me to hide. The last thing he did was leave me with a blaster and a knife." Jyn closes her eyes as more tears were about to burst from her eyelids.

Cassian stays silent.

"I was left alone. I've been alone since, Cassian..." Jyn felt the tears now: they fell like rainfall. Her hurt, her pain was beginning to take over her. "Do you ever know how it feels to be treated horridly by random strangers all day, every day, no matter how unfair and hurtful it is, Cassian? I've seen terrible things with my own eyes, Cassian....I was only a girl, but it all seemed....normal...to me. Thinking back to it...I don't know how I was able to live like that."

For once, the Intelligence Officer feels his heart sink, and he gulps. His mind imagined everything that Jyn said, and he already did not like it by the time he started imagining horrid, absurd things that happen in war.

Jyn wipes a few tears off her face and continues, with her back still facing Cassian. "Have you ever wondered how...terribly boring it is to....to sit in a room and alter Imperial codes all day long, just for someone else's benefit? It felt like exactly what I became: a prisoner. All this time, I've been living a crime." She admits with much regret. Jyn felt more tears flooding her eyes and rolling down her face, but she decided to just let them flow. Cassian soon felt a feeling that he never wanted to occur: he felt some pain. Emotional pain. Jyn continues speaking. "I've had no home, Cassian. Since the day Saw left me, I've had no home to go to, no home to look for. All I was, was a drifter: constantly moving anywhere I felt that was safe from the Empire because no one was to know who I truly am. The only home I found was...." Then, Jyn remembered something, or someone, perhaps, the moment she stopped in mid-sentence. She held the thought, and went on. "I was all alone, Cassian...for six years, never knowing what to do, who to trust. No one was ever coming back for me. All my life...has been a deception. The people around me, deceiving me for their own gain. I despised that...but somehow I managed to live through the hurt." Jyn was now sobbing out loud. She didn't care that she was, because she allowed her mind to speak itself to the twenty-seven-year-old man behind her that she called her boyfriend.

"Somehow....I survived. I've been beaten by many. I've beaten them back. I've seen people who suffer under the Empire. I've been a prisoner of the Empire for half a year while being treated brutally by them. I survived with what little I had. I've been used. Abused. But somehow, I still survived all alone, just a girl." The twenty-one-year-old female Rebel mumbles her words just as tears reached her trembling lips. She sniffles, and Cassian urged himself to comfort her, but it was as though his legs froze, like as if his legs didn't want him to go anywhere but listen to Jyn.

Finally, Jyn turns around to face Cassian. Her eyes are reddened from crying, her tears leave wet streaks along her face, her tears slide down her cheeks, and her lips are quivering from the sadness inside her. It is at this moment that Cassian truly saw all of Jyn's pains and hurt being released from within her, right in front of his very eyes. He wanted to embrace her, tell her everything will be alright. He wanted to plant the desperate kiss that would save the day. But he still couldn't at the moment.

"Have you ever clung to hope, but it never came your way, Cassian? I've tried." Jyn stares into Cassian's chocolate brown eyes through teary, blurry vision despite the stinging pain of the tears on the surface of her eyes.

Cassian felt his lips quiver. "But...you gave your Rebellion hope. A new hope, to a peaceful future."

Jyn ignores Cassian's reply, and continues speaking what her mind wanted. "The reason I'm telling you all this, Cassian, is because...." Jyn can feel the emotions rising up to her throat. Her voice cracks, her voice tightens. ".....now that Orson is still alive, I don't want anything to happen to you!"

Jyn sobs the tears fully.

And it struck Cassian like a blaster bolt: the sympathy and the guilt weighing on his shoulders.

There was a very long moment of silence between them looming around the air in Jyn's room before Jyn continues speaking.

"When I first saw you in the command room...all I could ever think about was...." Jyn pauses because she feels her heart rising to her throat. Her voice cracks as she says the words that finishes her sentence. "....how much you reminded me of....him." Jyn covers her face with both hands, crying tearfully, and her hands catch her tears.

Cassian's eyes widen, and his legs finally enable him to approach Jyn and place a hand on her shoulder. "Him? Who are you talking about, Jyn? Jyn, please..." Cassian asks, but the tone of his voice indicated that he was now getting very emotional. He wanted to cry with his lover. He wanted to sympathize all day for her.

Jyn continues crying for a long moment.

"Jyn..." Cassian says impatiently, feeling his eyes starting to release his own tears. He never liked seeing Jyn sad. He didn't want to see her in pain, nor anyone else. He didn't like to hear the sounds of pain and cries from his Sergeant.

"Hadder." Jyn mutters under her breath just enough that Cassian is barely able to hear the name. But he didn't want to have Jyn repeating words, so he accepts her reply and just watches her sob. But then, Jyn looks up at Cassian through her tears and places her bare, un-gloved hand to his cheek, and she gazes directly into his eyes that boosted his full attention. "You look just like Hadder..."

Chapter 19 (Part 2)

Flashback

5 years earlier

A few months has passed since the sixteen-year-old Jyn Erso took up refuge in the Ponta's residence after Saw Gerrera abandoned her upon failing their heist on planet Tamsye Prime. Akshaya Ponta allowed Jyn to live with her and her son, Hadder Ponta. She was in the planet Skuhl, a planet that is thought to be hidden from the Empire's reach. For the past few months, Jyn spent most of her time either alone or with Hadder.

Jyn and Hadder were in the plains, in broad daylight, just the two of them alone. They had a picnic.

"'I've been thinking of joining a group that fights the Empire." Hadder says. If there was anything that Jyn expected, it was that. "What do you think?"

"Why are you asking me?" Jyn eyes him with concern.

Knowing that she was a freedom fighter, or a rebel, Hadder wanted to get her opinion. "I'm asking what you think."

Jyn pretended not to care. "Do what you want." She says.

All his life, Hadder was very passionate about flying ever since his father died when he was young. He wanted to be a pilot in whatever rebel force opposed the Empire. But no matter what, Jyn wanted him to stay. She didn't want him to face the pain that she felt when she rebelled with Saw Gererra. A recruiter was in the town's bar trying to recruit Hadder into his rebel force, and he tried to get Jyn's opinion. "There was someone I met at the diner. He was putting out feelers for people who may want to fly." Hadder explains.

Jyn's face showed dismay, and she drew away from him. "Fighting the Empire is about more than flying..."

Hadder closed the distance between them, pressing his lips against hers. The kiss startled her, but it felt natural, as if they'd been doing it for years. Then, he finally pulls back from the kiss. "If you're not going, then I'm not going. I'd rather have you than the chance to fly." Hadder confesses to Jyn faithfully.

Jyn could feel her heart rise to her throat. She thought she felt a tear in her eye. "I can't take that away from you..." She says in what almost sounds like a soft whisper with a hint of sadness.

"And I can't take myself away from you." Hadder declares. He kisses her again, harder, and she could taste the longing within him, the feelings he'd tried to keep in check. She returns every passionate, gentle kiss he laid on her lips. She strokes Hader's black shoulder-length hair, then she wraps her arms around his brown-skinned neck while deeply persisting with the kisses. She understood why he'd wanted to take her outside the town and away from their home to say THIS, to do THIS. They could be honest out there, under the open sky, in a way they never could with a roof over their heads.

They could pretend they belonged to forever just as much as they belonged to each other.

((()))

Flashback

Some months later

Jyn was devastated. She was shocked. She was mad. And she was also sad, mostly. She had every reason to hate the Galactic Empire. The Empire began to take over their town, their home. They weren't looking for the Pontas. They were looking for her. She was the target.

Right when the Stormtroopers busted through into the Pontas' home, Jyn escaped through her bedroom window, and escaped in an airspeeder with its own hyperdrive. The plan was for she and the Pontas to escape in separate aircraft through hyperspace and away from Skuhl, where they could avoid the Empire's grasp. But, unfortunately, Jyn was the only one to make it out of there.

And what she realized had broken her forever.

Hadder and his mother, Akshaya were blasted away inside their freighter ship in mid-air accidentally by a rebel Y-Wing trying to dogfight an Imperial TIE fighter.

((()))

Cassian finally realized who Jyn was referring to. Before him, she also had a lover. Her first true love: Hadder Ponta. And for Jyn to tell Cassian that he reminded so much of Hadder made him feel broken as well. He could understand why she was crying, breaking down right in front of him. He finally felt what pained her the most. He knows that pain hurt her ever since, but he felt partly proud that he was the man to fill the open void in her heart and continue to occupy it for life.

Cassian now embraces Jyn tightly with both arms, and rubs her gently, comforting her as much as he can. He could feel tears leaving his eyes and rolling down his face. He feels what she feels now, and he sympathized. He rests his cheek on top of Jyn's head. They stayed embraced for a very long few minutes, with only the sounds of Jyn's sobs filling the room.

"I miss him...so much..." Jyn whispers, her voice muffled from her face buried into Cassian's chest. Cassian understands, and he gently rubs her back as the embrace lasts for a couple more minutes.

After a long while, Cassian pulls away from the passionate hug and looks down into Jyn's forest green eyes. Jyn returns the gaze, and her tears continue to flood her eyes. She hyperventilates, which accompanies her crying.

Suddenly, Jyn proceeds to remove all of her clothing, letting every single bit of clothing fall to her feet, so that everything except her mother's kyber crystal necklace were on the floor. Her slim, short body revealed an abundancy of scars and burns all over her torso and limbs from incidents encountered in the past. This frightens Cassian, but also makes him slightly angered at the sight of it.

"Can't you see, Cassian? I've been through hell!" The naked twenty-one-year-old woman almost yells loudly, her lips quivering after she had spoken those words. And all Cassian could do was stare at her, admiring the beauty of her sobbing face. But in his head, he was summing up everything Jyn said about herself and what she's been through. Yes. His girlfriend has been through rough hell worse than he's been. He stares at the scars and burns on her body. It was very obvious.

"I'm just as dangerous as Orson...or even the Emperor." Jyn says coldly, with more tears trickling down her face. "What if I did end up doing something horrible to you, Cassian?"

Those words struck Cassian again, this time harder. He felt his heart sink, and he felt the urge to deny it. "No. No, no, no. That will never happen. I promise you, Jyn. You're not as evil as they are. We know that." Cassian explains to Jyn and consoles her; he comforts her by placing both hands on her shoulders, and they lock gazes into each other's eyes. "We've all lost someone, and something, that we love. But Jyn..." Cassian rubs the tears away from Jyn's face. "...you can't let the past haunt you. The past doesn't have to make you a horrible person in the present, Jyn."

Jyn's hyperventilating breaths gradually comes to a halt, and she listens to her Captain closely through wet eyes.

"What matters the most is the present. You don't let the past make you a horrible person. You let the past prevent you from becoming one, and change for the better, the future. The past doesn't matter." Cassian tells his Sergeant, rubbing her face softly with a thumb, and then brushing one of her side fringes behind her ear. "All that we've done in the past...led us here together. I don't care what you've done in the past. I only care about you, and who you chose to be since we met." Cassian tries his best to form a small smile with his lips. "Stardust."

Jyn's lips wanted to form a smile from those caring and comforting words, but they couldn't. She was flattered and touched, though.

"Jyn, the true home..." Cassian touches her chest where her heart is. "...is where the heart is. You choose your home. And...I think it's fine to say that the Rebellion is your home. Our home."

Jyn's heart is struck by emotion and feelings of joy. Home is where the heart is. Jyn knew that her true home was Cassian, the man she truly loves. She is proud to have a man who accepts her for who she is. Despite continuous waves of tears releasing form her eyes, Cassian keeps rubbing them away just so that he could smile at the sad, but beautiful face in front of him. "I love you, Cassian. You...have no idea how much I truly do." Jyn declares in a grateful tone.

She lunges in, planting passionate kisses on Cassian's lips. It was a very strong moment for both of them, and they could feel the power of the Force working around them. Cassian notices that Jyn's kyber crystal necklace begins glowing. Cassian embraces Jyn's naked body gently. The naked female body in front of him is all that he truly, passionately cares about. After all the rough things she has done and that she has been through, he realized that throughout her whole life, a rebel was rising in her up until the day they met. Her body may be scarred from her experiences, but to Cassian, she is beautiful to him, in the inside and outside.

Jyn looks up at Cassian with her sad face, and mouths, "I love you," quietly.

Cassian smiles at her and whispers out loud. "I love you more."

Since their resurrection, Jyn didn't have to be alone anymore. There came a man who would care for her, love her, be with her, protect her, and fight her battles with the Empire with her. Jyn knew that Cassian is the one, the true and rightful love of her life. Her soulmate. Her partner. Her other 'half' that she would be with for an eternity.

"Everything will be alright, Jyn. We will take down Orson Krennic, again, this time, together. Just trust the Force." Cassian assures Jyn, repeating her mother's last words to her. Jyn nods while she buries her wet face into his warm chest, with her eyes closed.

Unbeknownst to Jyn, Cassian's eyes are open as he held naked Jyn in his arms, and he notices from the corners of both of his eyes blue glowing auras: glowing auras that were from the Force spirits of original K-2SO, Chirrut Imwe, Baze Malbus, and Bodhi Rook. The four deceased Rogue One members stood around their two live teammates, watching their Captain embrace their naked, crying Sergeant.

Then, they huddled into a group embrace as well, with Jyn and Cassian in the middle.

Chapter 20: Desperate

"Yes. Yes, affirmative. Have those units set up strong defense perimeters around those convoys. The surveillance equipment must be protected at all costs, and we cannot afford to lose a single one." Captain Andor says thru his commlink as he is sitting at his desk in his office, advising the intelligence units sent to other star systems that were on the lookout for Imperial forces. It was a usual task that Cassian handled daily, hence his rank of Captain and title of Intelligence Officer.

"If any Imperial troopers get past any one of our units, this base will be compromised before you'll know it. Stay alert." He commands with a mighty, confident, determined voice.

"Yes, sir!" One of the leaders of the Rebel units responds before cutting off communications.

Cassian sighs and shuffles some papers in front of him, and sipped on his morning tea as he skimmed through a couple of pages containing reports of Rebel cargo and operations in nearby planets. A couple of minutes in, his mind begins to doze off. And when he does, his eyes shift around his desk, left to right.

And they land on a photo of Jyn that he kept on his desk, contained inside a white metal propped-up frame. It showed Jyn standing in the main hangar with her arms crossed, looking out to the aircraft grounded near the front hangar entrance. Apparently, the base's journalist snapped the photo that day, and Jyn's back was facing the camera. But at least it showed part of her face and her side fringes. Luckily, the journalist was nice enough to give Cassian a copy of the photo of Jyn, to which he happily accepted instantly.

And whenever Cassian gazed at the photo, he couldn't help but find her slim & short figure attractive. Cute.

Cassian takes another sip of his tea and begins typing on a document on his computer when suddenly his office's doorbell rings.

"Yes?" The Captain calls out towards the door.

No answer.

"Hello? Who is there?" Cassian calls out again.

Still, no answer.

He sighs and gets up from his chair, lazily walking across the room, and when he reaches for the buttons next to the door to open it, his mind was already predicting. It could be...

Jyn.

And K-2SO standing behind her.

This catches Cassian by surprise, as he was sure that Jyn had work to do during the regular day in the Rebel base. But, nevertheless, he was always happy to see her, whether she was doing her job or just sitting around doing nothing.

"Jyn! Hello. Are you feeling okay?" Cassian greets and asks her.

However, she does not say a thing. She looks as though she is sad. She gazes up into Cassian's eyes with nothing to say at all, because she is silent. Because of this, Cassian feels concerned, and he wanted to embrace her and comfort her.

K-2SO looks at Cassian, then at Jyn, then back at Cassian again. "She wanted me to come along. I asked why. She did not say. She just walked off immediately to your door. So, here I am." K-2SO's robotic voice informs the Captain as he nods in response.

"You can come in. I was just doing some work." Cassian says. He remembered what went down last night: Jyn's long vent about her past. It was a long night, alright. Cassian thought to himself that it was one of the best feelings ever to sympathize for Jyn, to comfort her and hug the frustrations and fears out of her inside soul.

And the part he loved best?

Embracing his young Sergeant as she leaned against his chest with no clothes on; only her kyber crystal necklace around her neck remained, and the emotional tears streamed down her smooth white cheeks from her forest green eyes.

Though, Cassian never had a relationship to any other Rebel like that, he was glad he had it with Jyn.

"I was going to go down for lunch in half an hour, so..." Cassian says, but his sentence trails off when he suddenly feels the pair of soft lips pressing against his lips, and arms wrapping around his neck.

Jyn immediately pinned herself against her Captain, kissing him with her arms wrapped around his neck. She did it out of nowhere, and it caught Cassian by surprise.

"Uh...Mmmm." Cassian moans as he attempts to return the wave of kisses bombarding his lips.

They could hear a couple of male Rebel soldiers walking and chattering at the end of the long corridor, but they ignored them and continued with their 'usual' routine.

As Jyn pulls away from the kiss, she looks up at him though thin sheets of tears. Her heart was in emotionally sharp pain, and it was pounding more rapidly by the minute. She wanted Cassian, badly. She wanted to bond with him the way they always do. She needed it right there and then. Cassian opens his eyes and looks into Jyn's green stardust eyes; they became mesmerized from the beauty and the increasing emotions he sensed in them. After a few seconds of silence between them, Jyn is able to form a small smile with her lips through the tears in her eyes as she locked her stare into Cassian's eyes.

And Cassian received the message instantly. He knew the 21-year-old Rebel well enough already to know what goes on through her reckless mind. She didn't need to speak. She was already showing him. That was their way of communication to each other, their special method of bonding with each other. And Cassian knew he was going to feel great later.

"Well, come on in, Sergeant Erso." Cassian whispers loudly, with a wink and a smile as he begins to step backward into his office, pulling Jyn along.

Jyn begins to unbutton his beige long-sleeve shirt, and eventually exposes his bare muscular top half as his shirt falls to the floor. She then pushes up on her toes to reach up and plant more deep, passionate kisses on Cassian's face due to her short height and his tall height. The 27-year-old Captain smiles and wraps his arms around Jyn's waist as he reciprocates her kisses.

K-2SO, on the other hand, stares at his two superiors. He watches them for a very long moment, watching them trade kisses, breaths, and moans.

"Umm...." K-2SO mutters. He shifts his head towards the floor, then back up at the sight of Jyn & Cassian making their love to each other. It was that moment that he finally realizes why Jyn wanted him to come with her to Cassian's quarters on the 8th floor.

"I'll just stand here and keep watch..." K-2SO mutters as he pushes the button on the keypad next to the automatic sliding metal door of Cassian's door to close it. The security droid whistles as it stands guard outside Cassian's quarters on the corridor of the 8th floor.

With Jyn and Cassian alone in the room, they get close to his bed. She buries her face into Cassian's chest and embraces him, to which he embraces her as well.

Jyn came to him this instant because she was desperate: desperate for his love, desperate for his presence.

Chapter 21: Something in Common

The 21-year-old former criminal stands there, in the vast crew lounge, holding her tray of food as she shifts her head & eyes left to right and vice versa. Apparently, Jyn found no one to sit with for lunch. Actually, she usually doesn’t find anyone to sit and chat with at the Rebel base on Yavin 4, given her reputation and criminal history despite sending the Death Star plans and miraculously coming back to life with her Captain, Cassian Andor. Though, Jyn never managed to make any other friends in the Rebellion other than Cassian, K-2SO, and possibly Leia & Luke. There were some female Rebels present too, but given her dark, rough past and her aggressive, cold personality, she felt she wouldn’t be able to socialize & bond with the other female Rebels, because she knows she isn’t like them. She knows she was still the lonely girl trying to find her place in this journey.

Luckily, she is able to find a completely vacant table that was isolated away from the other tables full of infantrymen, after minutes of searching. It was situated outside, under the sunny afternoon, and it was under a tree that provided shade, luckily for Jyn. Once she sits down, she begins to munch away at her food.

She had seen Cassian earlier in the morning, where he told her that he was going to go into a meeting with Mon Mothma, Princess Leia, General Draven, and the other superiors to discuss something important. He said it would take a very long while, so Jyn decides to spend most of the day by herself since she had no obligatory duties for the day.

“Same as always.” Jyn thought to herself quietly as she picked the fork at her food. “Oh, well.” She adds. She was picking at her food with one hand, and the other arm was bent so that her elbow leaned on the table, propping her cheek & head up. Jyn was bored.

However, she felt a strong feeling around her. Her kyber crystal started to warm up, and Jyn notices a blow glowing aura right next to her. Turning her head to see who it is, her lips form a slight smile when she sees the Force spirit of Bodhi Rook, her deceased Rogue One teammate, sitting next to her. However, despite his appearance, she still felt lonely without Cassian around.

“How’s our little sister?” Bodhi asks, referring to Jyn, who was called sister by Baze Malbus before their raid on Scarif. He tilts his head to the side, curious about what was going through Jyn’s mind.

The reckless, undisciplined female Rebel sighs a long sigh after turning back to her food. “Nothing, I guess.”

Although, Bodhi nodded and accepted her answer, he nevertheless didn’t believe she was fine. So, he shrugs his shoulders and looks out into the distant dunes of trees below the balcony. “You know, I was just like you. You know…” Bodhi starts to explain, causing Jyn to gulp down some food and look at him. “…while I was still with the…..the Empire.” He finishes. Jyn nods and still gazes at him, urging him to continue. “I wasn’t always exactly happy with the way things were….or how I turned out.”

“That’s why you joined…us.” Jyn declares, and Bodhi nods as in ‘Yes.’

“Well, not only that. But I’m glad I did. It was Captain Andor who found me.” Bodhi states, still looking into the waves of trees in the distance. Jyn looks up at the sky, reflecting back to their time in Jedha when they were captured. ‘The cell, perhaps.’ Jyn thought. But that is where Rogue One started, right there and then.

“You know, Captain Andor really goes for you, you know?” Bodhi blurts out after a long moment of silence. Thus, Jyn immediately looks at him with her stale, cold green eyes, and she is curious as to why he is bringing up Cassian.

“Yeah..?” She replies vaguely.

“He would go to the ends of the galaxy for you, it seems. I’ve seen the looks on his face when he sees you. Even when he hears your name, I sense the hint of happiness that I’ve never seen from him before.” Bodhi declares, and he finally turns to her to inspect her facial expression.

Jyn suddenly turns her head back to the trees, thinking of Cassian. Because, now, she feels as though she couldn’t breathe if Cassian was not within an arm’s length around her. Whenever they parted for some circumstance, even if they’re just separating to sleep in each’s own quarters, she felt the pain in her chest. She felt the anxiety on her shoulders. She felt the whole galaxy was weighing down on her.

“ Cassian. That is what is troubling you lately. Am I right, little sister?” Bodhi asks; though, he knows he is exactly right. He just wants to see if Jyn would deny it.

Jyn finishes the last of her food, gulps down a whole can of water, and leans her back against the table, silent. She just stays silent as her response to her deceased friend.

“You love him so much, it hurts. To…to think something will happen to him anytime. That’s where the fear is, yeah?” The former Imperial asks, nodding his head with the question.

Jyn still stays quiet, because she feels a tear about to burst from one of her eyes.

Bodhi looks down at the floor, then up at the sky. “I wouldn’t worry much. Both of you made it this far. Captain Andor would do anything he can to protect you and the ones he loves.”

“I hope you’re right.” Jyn mutters, sighing after shifting her gaze to the ground.

“Have faith, Jyn. The Force is with us.” Bodhi declares to Jyn as he places his hand on her shoulder. Though, she can’t feel his touch because of his spirit form.

“Thanks.” Jyn says. But as she turns to look back at Bodhi, he is gone.

((()))

Leia sighs in slight frustration as she walks out of the command center where the meeting took place. She hated long meetups as much as she hated Stormtroopers, and it already made her day aggravating. It was a few hours later, and she & the other leaders, as well as Cassian, just got done with their discussion of some Rebel operations going underway at the moment. The whole time, she thought of how Luke was holding up, since he was with an infantry unit in some planet out there as well. The Princess needed a break, and she definitely needed someone to chill out with.

Coincidently, and surprisingly, as Leia turns a few more corners of some hallways, she sees Jyn, who is commanding one of her base infantrymen under her command. Indeed, Jyn had her own unit to lead in the base. Her unit was doing inventory of weapon supplies, and she was in charge of making sure her men get tasks done efficiently. Leia smiles as Jyn ends her discussion with the young Rebel and part ways. Jyn then proceeds to walk towards Leia, who is also surprised to see her.

“Sergeant Erso!” Leia calls to her.

“Oh, Princess Leia. Hi.” Jyn responds with a hint of respect to her superior by slightly bowing & keeping her eyes glued to the floor. Much to Leia’s amusement, she shrugs off the act.

“No need for formalities, Jyn. Behave like you normally would. Please.” Leia chuckles.

“Umm…sure!” Jyn shrugs, feeling slightly embarrassed, since she still felt awkward about appearing to a superior of the Rebellion after being a former criminal for some time. Though, she realized it must take some getting used to from now on.

The two young women walk together, shoulder-to-shoulder down the long hallway while other Rebels walk past by. Leia walks steadily and calmly, with her hands behind her back and her white dress gliding along the floor with every stride, whereas Jyn walks with a sense of nervousness, letting her hands hang down both sides of her thighs and balled into tight fists. Leia is the first to spark the conversation.

“Enjoying your rest time, I see?” Leia asks.

Jyn, at first, was reluctant to answer. She gulps nervously before answering to her leader. “Pretty much, yes. How did the meeting go? How’s Cassian? Is he still in there?” Jyn asks away, much to Leia’s amusement. Leia knew that Jyn was very anxious about Cassian, and that she yearned to know what he was up to the whole day.

“He is fine! Don’t worry. He’ll be dismissed shortly, I assure you.” Leia laughs & answers Jyn, while Jyn just nods calmly, with a shot of relief rushing through her now.

“Princess?” Jyn says as they turn a corner leading to another hallway.

Leia looks at her Sergeant with curiosity, her eyes gazing at her, urging Jyn to speak out. “Yes, Jyn?”

“Why does this conflict…this war…have to go on?” Jyn asks Leia when her head hangs down, so that she is now looking down at the floor, dismayed. Seeing Jyn in a gloomy mood, Leia shrugs and tries to come up with something to say.

“The people have done this. They caused this war, and all the pain that came with it.” Leia explains. “That’s why the Rebel Alliance is here to keep the peace.”

Hearing that from Leia, Jyn begged to differ. She knew what she has witnessed in her past thirteen years of her life, and it was not pretty. “But all this has brought to me is pain, up until the moment Cassian and I came back.”

Leia shrugs and smiles a small smile. “Well, it’s not bringing you pain now.”
Perhaps, Leia is right, Jyn thought. Because she feels so close to Cassian, she cherishes him greatly, that she doesn’t feel pain from the effects of the Rebel operations and the Galactic War, but from the effects of being in love with Cassian and missing him whenever he isn’t by her side. “Oh…right.”

“War. Pain. Suffering. The inevitable. Conflict won’t stop itself. Question is, what do we do about it?” As she asks this question, both women stop walking and look at each other.

Hesitant for a response, Jyn says the first word that came to mind. “Fight. But….I feel like it’s not enough…”

Leia comes up with a better answer. “We protect the ones we love.”

And that brought a slight smile to Jyn’s lips, for a sense of hope and joy rushed up her spine. She looks at Leia.

“You see all these Rebels here?” Leia looks around her, while Jyn does the same. Many infantrymen walk by them at a faster pace. “They all have a reason to be here. They came here because fear conquered them. Now, they’re here because they are fighting for something. They may not know it, but I treat them all like they’re family. It’s my duty to protect them. If we can protect the ones we love, then we can protect the very thing that we all hope for in the galaxy.”

“Peace…” Jyn whispers loudly so that only Leia heard it. Leia nods and they continue walking down the hallway.

“I know how much Director Krennic’s surprising existence is troubling you and Captain Andor. He may be even more dangerous than your first encounter with him now that he has the ability to start more massive destructive weapon projects for the Empire.” Leia says, catching Jyn’s immediate attention.

“How is the intelligence coming along?” Jyn asks.

“Right now, we have units in other planets undergoing field operations, but we should have more information within the next few days. It won’t be long before we have another major operation. And you, Captain Andor, and that droid of yours had better be ready.” Leia informs the 21-year-old woman.

Jyn nods in response. “Right.”

Leia stops in her tracks, causing Jyn to stop walking too, and Leia turns to Jyn to face her. Their eyes gaze into one another’s, reinforcing the confidence and trust they had between each other. “Listen, Jyn. This war, and Krennic, is the only thing standing in the way between you and Captain Andor. The best you can do, the best anyone can do, is fight for him. Embrace him to the end. Jyn, if Captain Andor is really worth the universe to you, fight for him.”

Upon saying that, she places a gentle hand on Jyn’s soft cheek, and when she did, Jyn instantly felt a tear about ready to fall down her cheek. The statement was heartfelt and true and encouraging. Jyn couldn’t help but grab ahold of Leia’s hand and squeeze it gently, signaling to Leia that she absorbed the wisdom and encouraging words. Leia smiles at her 21-year-old Sergeant, for she knows Jyn is strong enough.

Suddenly, R2-D2 approaches the two young women from behind, catching their attention by making beeping noises. Obviously, it had something to say to them.

“What is it, R2?” Leia asks, bending down to R2-D2’s level. R2-D2 replies with some more beeps. “They do? Okay.” Leia stands back up and looks at Jyn. “Han and Chewbacca want me to meet them in the Millennium Falcon. You want to come?”

At first, Jyn is hesitant to say anything. Eventually, she plucks up the courage to accept. “Sure!”

“Also, R2-D2 says he needs some maintenance done. Do you know how to fix a droid?” Leia asks.

Jyn shakes her head and smiles slightly. “Maybe a thing or two.”

((()))

It was Jyn and R2-D2 alone in the center lobby of the Falcon, where the round table was. Leia, Han, and Chewbacca went to run a couple of errands while Jyn stayed behind to perform a few repairs on the small blue & white colored service droid that stood before her. Jyn sighs as she pulls out some old wires from inside one of the compartments on the main body.

“You’ve probably been through a lot, haven’t you?” Jyn asks with a hint of playfulness in her voice. She notices how the white and blue paint on the droid were faded out, compared to the vibrant colors on the newer service droids that she’s seen around the Yavin 4 base.

R2-D2 beeps a few beeps.

“So have I…” Jyn mutters, referencing her rough childhood.

R2-D2 makes a few high-pitched beeps.

“Oh, if you were human, you’d feel like hell too.” Jyn gently bangs the side of R2-D2’s dome-shaped head, causing it to chirp loudly. Jyn shakes her head and begins replacing new wires into the compartment she was working on. R2-D2 then beeps, asking another question. “You mean, K-2SO? Oh…right.” Jyn says, reaching into the compartment that held some of R2-D2’s tools. “He can be hard-headed.”

Hard-headed. No pun intended…

R2-D2 chirps in a way that indicated it is laughing about Jyn’s comment.

Jyn struggles to splice the wires, so she tries harder, shifting positions for a better angle. “What is it with you droids always getting shot at? It’s funny…how you and K-2SO attract so many blasters….but you never get shot, and K-2SO does. Huh….” Jyn wonders as R2-D2 beeps in amusement. “I wish I was that invincible.” Jyn mutters under her breath. It didn’t take long for Jyn to finish up the last repair on R2-D2 before sighing in relief.

“There you go. Happy? Ya slimy bugger.” Jyn playfully says, patting R2-D2’s head before standing up on both feet and throwing the wrench aside. R2-D2 beeps some more.

“You have something for me!?” Jyn tilts her head to the side, curious.

R2-D2 chirps.

Predicting that it’s a surprise, Jyn shrugs and nods. “Cool. I’ll wait upstairs.”

Author's Note: (Awww. I personally love this chapter.) :D

Chapter 23: A New Ability

Jyn’s eyes couldn’t shift anywhere else, because her gaze is fixed on the old silver hilt and the purple kyber crystal on her desk. Jyn stands there, right in front of her desk with her arms crossed, with her brain searching for possible answers as to why the lightsaber was abandoned and disassembled underneath a pile of rubbish. Jyn kept thinking hard for clues, but no luck. The broader question Jyn kept wondering was: Who did the lightsaber belong to? Jyn had yet to figure out the mystery behind it, though, there was a likely chance she wouldn’t ever solve the question. Jyn had heard stories about the Jedi when she was a little girl, back when she and her parents were settled in the care of the Galactic Empire sometime after the end of the Clone Wars.

But, at least what mattered is that she scavenged parts of a lightsaber from one of the most unusual of places.

A thought came to Jyn’s mind: the base did have a technology & weapons laboratory in the upper floor of her pyramid-shaped building. If she could just spend some time there trying to build & repair the lightsaber, she could develop herself a new weapon to her arsenal.

But was Jyn suitable for that type of weapon?

She wasn’t really Force sensitive. She was no Jedi. She never trained in the Jedi arts, because she didn’t have that strong enough of the Force within her. She couldn’t levitate objects at will. She couldn’t tap into people’s mind with Jedi mind tricks. Though, she was one with the Force after her death. However, Jyn could feel the Force surging through her completely, especially when she was by Cassian’s side all the time.

“You don’t have to be a Jedi to hit someone with a lightsaber.” Jyn thought, looking up at the ceiling with her fingers rubbing her chin in deep thought.

Yes, that is true indeed. A non-Jedi, like Jyn, Cassian, Leia, and many others, could easily pick up a lightsaber and hold it in their hands, as any other Jedi would easily & simply do so. The only difference, Jyn figures, is that she didn’t have Force powers to use in the offensive against enemies. But it was alright, Jyn thought, because it wasn’t like she was anything special. She was just a regular person, just like Cassian and all those other Rebels in the entire Rebel Alliance.

Perhaps, she could just have a lightsaber with her for extreme situations.

Suddenly, Jyn feels a strong force surrounding her. She could feel it so well that she knows what was about to occur. She closes her eyes and takes deep, subtle breaths, breathing the tension out of her system. And before she knew it, she opened her eyes to find the Force spirits of her parents, Galen & Lyra, standing in front of her.

“Mother. Father.” Jyn says, with a slight smile.

“Hello, our dear Stardust.” Galen returns the greeting with a small smile of his own.

“We see you’re holding up pretty well with this Rebellion.” Lyra says, scanning her eyes on Jyn from head to toe. She has her hands crossed in front of her waist on the red sash she wore with her brown & beige robes.

“It’s much better than prison, for sure.” Jyn says cleverly, lifting one of the sides of the brown vest that she wore over her gray jacket.

Galen and Lyra both chuckles as they look at each other. They’ve watched from the afterlife how Jyn adjusted to life as a Rebel on her own, with Cassian as her man, her partner. And they were happy to see that. “That’s good, sweetheart. That’s good.” Galen says, before his smile fades.

And Jyn notices, so her smile fades as well, because she knows her parents were about to have a conversation with her.

“We sense a great deal of fear and worry in you, Jyn. It’s troubling you lately, and it has something to do about Captain Andor. Correct me if I’m wrong.” Galen declares, keeping eye contact with his young brunette daughter standing before him.

And Galen knew it, because Jyn turns away to break from the eye contact to face the other direction. Galen and Lyra look at each other with concern, then focus their attention back to their daughter. “I’m scared for him…” Jyn says.

Lyra takes a step forward. “And we’re scared for you. Both of you.”

Jyn then turns to face her parents again, with her hand on her hip. Lyra continues on. “We’re here to tell you that you don’t have to be afraid. Your family will protect you, and they will do everything in their power to do the best they can for you and Captain Andor. Believe me, Jyn. Be strong for him just as I was strong for you and your father.” Lyra tells Jyn, looking at her husband with a small smile.

Jyn nods to acknowledge & absorb her mother’s words of comfort.

“But we’re also here to tell you to be careful, because we feel something deep, and something big, will be coming the Rebellion’s way in the future.” Galen warns, much to Jyn’s concern. She takes a couple of steps towards her parents.

“Why? What will happen, father?” Jyn asks as she frowns.

“I don’t know, but I sense that it is something terrible. Far more terrible than my creation.” Galen says. He now looks down at the floor in dismay.

Jyn looks down at the floor, dismayed as well. “More terrifying than….the Death Star…?” Jyn whispers quietly to herself.

“Jyn, whatever happens, Orson must be a priority target. And I know how personal this is for you & Captain Andor. Don’t let the darkness cloud your faith, Stardust.” Galen finishes.

Jyn then shifts her attention to her mother as Lyra approaches her. Jyn raises her hand, and Lyra grabs ahold of her hand, even though Jyn isn’t able to feel her mother’s physical touch.

“Trust the Force, Jyn.” Lyra tells her daughter. “May the Force be with you…” Lyra says with a smile as she and Galen fade away.

Jyn tries her best to keep her emotions stable, because she wants to vent out the anxiety and worry out of her body now. She paces back and forth in her quarters, shifting her eyes from the floor, to the lightsaber hilt & kyber crystal, and vice versa repeatedly.

Suddenly, Jyn could feel that her chest was burning hot. “Ah!” Jyn exclaims. She looks down and sees that the kyber crystal she wore around her neck is glowing very bright, and it is warming up. Jyn could feel a strong force looming the air in her room. Her heart keeps a rapid beat. Her breaths become shallower. Somehow, her mind keeps shifting from distress to tranquility, and back. She didn’t know what was happening to her.

But after a long moment, Jyn could feel something very strong in the room, and it was coming from behind her. A very bright purple glow came from her desk.

Jyn’s eyes widen, and she gasps loudly at what she sees.

((()))

Cassian is in the lower floors, helping a few Rebels store away a shipment of crates containing food & supplies in the storage area. But Cassian jumps unexpectedly when he hears his commlink go off on his wrist. It was Jyn calling out to him loudly.

“C-C-Cassian! Come up here, now! Hurry!” Jyn yells, sounding distressed.

With confusion and worry rushing in him, Cassian’s eyes widen as he brings his commlink wrist bracelet to his mouth and responds. “What!? O-Okay! I’m coming!”

The Intelligence Officer excuses himself to the other Rebels and swiftly runs to a nearby elevator.

Eventually, Cassian arrives at Jyn’s quarters, where he examines the room. And when he sees that it’s only Jyn, he sighs a big sigh of relief as he rests a hand on his abdomen. “What’s wrong, Jyn?”

Jyn stays silent for a brief moment to gaze into Cassian’s chocolate brown eyes. Cassian stares at her, waiting for a reply. “Close the door.” She whispers to him. Unsure as to why she is being secretive at this moment, hence her whispering and her urgent call, Cassian pushes a button on the wall-mounted control pad behind him to close Jyn’s quarters door, and he approaches her so that they were an arm’s length from each other. “Cassian….watch this.”

Cassian furrows his brows in curiosity as they both turn to face Jyn’s desk. Jyn’s A180 hand blaster lay on the surface of the desk.

Just out of nowhere, the A180 pulls right in to Jyn’s gun holster strapped to her right thigh by an invisible entity.

Jyn turns to face Cassian, and she gazes up at Cassian into his brown eyes, trying to search for whether he had approval or disapproval. Cassian’s jaw dropped, and he was wide-eyed, because he was both amazed and confused by what Jyn had done.

Jyn has just discovered a supernatural ability.

Cassian looks down at Jyn in confusion. “Y-You….the Force….how!?” He asks, struggling to develop a stable, clear question.

“I’m not a Jedi, Cassian. But I think I have the Force in me.” Jyn tries to explain while keeping her forest-green eyes locked with his chocolate brown eyes full of confusion. “I was speaking with my parents’ Force ghosts. Then, I was able to do…that.”

Cassian could do nothing but stay silent and try to assess what he has just seen from his young 21-year-old lover. After a brief moment, he asks away. “….How long?”

Jyn blinks, gathering the courage to explain to Cassian. “When I was a little girl, before my mother was killed…she gave me the kyber crystal necklace. You know, the thing that brought us back. She always told me to trust the Force. But, mostly, I never believed in it until our raid on Scarif. I don’t have Jedi powers, Cassian. At least, not right now. But, I can only lift things at will, and I hope it is just only that.”

Cassian still didn’t have any words to say. He places his hands on his hips and turns away from Jyn, placing his thoughts elsewhere. Jyn gets worried about what Cassian was thinking of her. Was he thinking that she was keeping this from him all this time? Was Jyn going to become more dangerous than she already is now that she has this Force ability? Or was Jyn going to be safe with her secret power and use it for offensive means?

Was it going to affect their relationship?

Cassian sighs a big sigh of relief, and he smiles. Because, no matter what, he accepted Jyn for who she was, what she was. He believed that nothing will ever change his love for her, even though if it was just a Force ability that Jyn developed out of the blue. He knew it could help both of them in the battlefield. Cassian turns to Jyn.

“Cassian…?” Jyn asks his name, with her eyes still gazing up at him with concern.

From his powerful, unconditional love for Jyn, Cassian places one hand on her cheek, and wraps the other arm around her waist. He locks his eyes with the forest-green eyes that was searching for his approval of her. “I don’t mind a little Force.” He says softly & happily.

Jyn’s heart aches in a way that it releases all the tension built up in her system, and she sighs relief through her nostrils. She wraps both of her hands around Cassian’s hand, which rests on her cheek, and she presses her cheek firmly against his hand in an affectionate act. Her eyes close, for she is relieved that her Captain accepts her Force ability and that he has faith in who she is, and in what she has in her.

Chapter 24: Infiltrators

Jyn twirls the wrench in her hand, humming a tune while watching Cassian load things into their U-Wing. They are outside of the hangars, where they have a clear view of the tall, enormous pyramid-shaped structure in front of them. Cassian knew they were getting close to finding out what the Empire’s next move is, and he took the liberty of prepping their U-Wing ship with the necessary field supplies. Though, only Cassian was doing the task himself, while Jyn just sat on the metal crate behind him, twirling & staring at the wrench in her hand.

“I always wondered why you like this ship.” Jyn mentions after a couple of minutes. Cassian turns to her after wiping a drip of sweat off his brow, and he shrugs his shoulders.

“I just like it, okay?” Cassian replies instantly, raising his voice slightly. Jyn tries her best to hold in a laugh because she knew Cassian was becoming stressed in the heat of Yavin 4’s weather that particular day, and he wanted to complete the tasks as soon as possible.

“There’s got to be a reason why, Captain.” Jyn says, trying to aggravate him further to her amusement.

After throwing a bag of medical supplies into a small storage compartment in the cabin of the U-Wing, Cassian swiftly turns to Jyn with an annoyed face. “It looks good. Is that good enough!?”

Jyn laughs as Cassian sighs in frustration. “Whatever you say, Cassian.” Jyn says, though she knew Cassian had more reasons to like the U-Wing.

Cassian now lays on the ground flat on his back, so that he can get a clear view of the underside of the U-Wing. Noticing some errors that need to be fixed, Cassian points to the toolbox that is next to Jyn. “Can you hand me those pliers?”

Grabbing the pliers from the toolbox and holding it up, Jyn pauses for a moment. “…..Magic word.” She then says, biting her lip to try to hold in a laugh.

Cassian clenches a fist, for the frustration was building up already. “PLEASE.” He says loudly, indicating his seriousness.

Jyn couldn’t help but let out the chuckle, and she hands Cassian the pliers. “So…have you ever flown in one of those things?” She asks, turning her head towards one of the fighter aircrafts just about yards away from them.

Wondering which aircraft Jyn is referring to, Cassian pulls out some bolts & nuts from under the U-Wing before glancing at her a quick moment. “Which one?”

“That one.” Jyn points at the starfighter. It is a gray starfighter with scarlet stripes on its sides and its wings. Its wings were shaped like an X, and it had an astromech service droid mounted right behind the cockpit.

Cassian shifts his gaze over to the starfighter that Jyn was pointing at. He sees it, and stares at it for a brief moment. “T-65B X-Wing.”

“Mhhmmm.” Jyn says in reply.

Cassian nods before refocusing on the repairs he was performing underneath his U-Wing. “Once or twice.”

Jyn thought for a moment. She has only seen the X-Wings upon her first arrival to the Rebellion as a captured prisoner/criminal, and she has also seen them in action on Eadu, where one of the missiles from an X-Wing killed her father. ‘They’re surprisingly faster than the U-Wing.’ Jyn thought. And that reminded her of the memories when she was 16 years old, when she was always constantly flying in the skies to escape from the grasps of the Empire. One of those flying moments was one that will forever remain in her heart, and that was the memory of flying with Hadder Ponta, her deceased former lover, her very first true love. Back when he was still alive, he wanted to learn to fly like a fighter pilot, all so that he could be a rebel in a huge cause, though Jyn already experienced being a rebel before he wanted to, and it was painful for her at the time. But, she couldn’t force him to not go. However, he decided to stay with her, because he loved her that much, until his and his mother’s deaths, leaving Jyn alone and single for the years up until the day she met Cassian, the day she agreed to join the Rebellion.

Though, Jyn never flew an X-Wing, nor taken down any Imperial aircraft in a dogfighting-capable aircraft, she was very interested in flying one, and she hoped she could use one to swat those TIE fighters out of the skies like insects. She felt that could serve as a form of revenge for Hadder’s death, since it was really the Empire’s fault that caused it.

“Take me.” Jyn says softly, keeping her gaze locked to the X-Wing.

After successfully installing new hardware under the U-Wing, Cassian stands up on his feet and sighs a breath of relief. “We will, soon, Jyn. We will. Just me and you.” Cassian says back, tossing the pliers aside and approaching his Sergeant. Both of them were at eye level, since the crate Jyn sat on had enough height to bring their eyes level as Cassian stood in front of her.

“Me and you, hm?” Jyn says on a manner that made her attractive to Cassian, and she crosses a leg over the other, and she crosses one forearm over the other, resembling a youthful girl’s sitting position.

Cassian smiles as his lips were right in front of hers. “Me and you. Yes.” He says in a seductive tone, and he lunges his lips forward to plant a deep, loving kiss to Jyn’s lips, and she reciprocates them. Jyn wraps her arms around Cassian’s wet, sweaty waist, though she didn’t mind. They knew some Rebels around them were looking and giving looks of disgust, but they both didn’t mind, because they were inseparable, and that’s how much they were in love with each other, even if it’s just kissing in the middle of the hot, sunny, afternoon.

Suddenly, Jyn and Cassian broke away from their kiss, and they shifted their attentions towards the interior of the hanger near them. They heard loud screams, and they could see a group of Rebels struggling with something. All of the Rebels’ attention is focused on the commotion going on inside. Curious, Jyn hops off the crate, and she & Cassian jog to the hangar to see what incident is taking place.

Their eyes widen when they see that the Rebels were detaining two Imperials dressed in gray clothes.

Yes. Imperials. In the Rebel base.

They have been infiltrated.

((()))

“How did you get in our base!?” Cassian yells at the Imperial infiltrators, who were both cuffed with their arms behind the chairs, in a cell in the brig. Jyn, K-2SO, General Draven, Leia, and Mon Mothma were standing watch as well.

“Does it really matter how we got in here!? We’re here, and that’s all that mattered! What do you want!?” The Imperial says.

Cassian steps in so that his face is a foot away from the Imperial’s face. Cassian could feel the hate building up in his blood. “We already know you are with the Empire! Tell us, who sent you here!?”

The Imperial spat on the ground. “I’m not telling you anything, rebel scum!”

With the anger rushing to his head, Cassian delivers a strong punch to the Imperial captive’s face. Mon Mothma, Leia, and Jyn wince at the scene though…

“TELL ME!” Cassian yells at the top of his lungs after grabbing the man’s gray shirt.

“Doesn’t matter! You’ll all be dead soon enough!” The other Imperial says, glaring at Cassian and the others standing behind him.

General Draven takes a step forward, and he holds up a datapad showing some tracking data of the small pod that the Imperial infiltrators arrived on the planet with. “Our data shows that your pod was launched from an Imperial shuttle freighter. There is most likely a key person there that sent you to do this sneaking around. Tell us where you came from, and who sent you! We might even consider sparing your lives if you cooperate with us.”

Jyn makes a quick glance at Draven, giving him a glare from his left that he didn’t notice.

“Screw all of you! You traitors! Those against the Empire deserve to die!” The other Imperial yells at Cassian’s face.

Seeing that they aren’t getting anywhere with the absurd responses from these Imperials, Cassian takes out his A280 hand blaster, and he points it at the Imperial in front of him. Cassian pulls the trigger, and the bright red flash of the blaster bolt exits the gun, and plows it way through the Imperial man’s thigh, causing him to scream in pain and agony.

And the moment Jyn, Leia, and Mon Mothma saw this, all three women gasp and wince at the sight of Cassian shooting the man’s leg. The Captain now turned to torture to get information.

“TELL ME NOW!!! TELL ME NOW, DAMN IT!!!!” Cassian yells out of fury as he grabs the Imperial man by the collar of his shirt and pressing the barrel of his A280 hand blaster against his head. The other Imperial now is scared to say anything back because he now got fear introduced into him upon seeing his friend being shot.

Jyn steps in, looking at Cassian. “Cassian…”

Cassian ignores Jyn and continues to interrogate the men. “YOU’D BETTER TELL ME NOW!”

“O-O-OKKKAAAYYYY! O-OKAY! WE’RE FROM A WEAPONS FACILITY ON PLANET SADON!” The scared Imperial finally confesses as he watches in horror: his friend continues to scream from the blaster shot to his thigh, to the bone. “W-we’re…organizing weapons for this…this new project. I don’t know what it’s called. But they’re very valuable equipment. That’s all we know!”

With that information, Cassian releases his grasp on the screaming man’s collar and points his blaster down at the floor, and he takes a few steps back. The Captain sighs in relief as he looks over at Jyn, who stares back directly into his eye. He sees that Jyn’s face shows no signs of reaction. And the moment he enjoys the sight of the beautiful face in his sight, only one thing came to mind…

Protect the ones you cherish.

Cassian’s grip on his hand blaster tightens. He could feel the anger surging through his veins instantly. In the blink of an eye, Cassian faces the two Imperial infiltrators, and he raises his A280 hand blaster and blasts both men’s heads, killing them both instantly on the spot, dead.

The women gasp, while General Draven glares at Cassian.

“What in the hell, Captain Andor!?” Mon Mothma exclaims while Leia covers her mouth, horrified at the sight.

General Draven glares at Cassian with his hands on his hips. “Why did you kill them, Captain!? They could’ve had more information, and you killed them! What’s the matter with you!?”

It then became silent in the cell for a long minute. Eventually, Leia decides to speak to break the looming silence in the brig cell. “It was unusual for a Rebel to do that…” Leia says, looking down at the floor. She knew what happened when someone did such acts. It led to the dark side: the dark side of the Force.

However, Cassian ignores their comments. He holsters his A280 hand blaster, and he looks at everyone in the eye. “We have what we need. It’s already enough.” He says in such a dark tone that Jyn thought there was something very different about Cassian, about the way he handled the situation. She’s never seen him do anything like it before. However, she has witnessed worse actions than that in the past, and this wasn’t anything new to her. She wasn’t terrified. But it only concerned her about Cassian…

Cassian leaves the brig cell, leaving Draven, Leia, Mothma, Jyn, and K-2SO speechless together in there. General Draven looks at Jyn, who looks at him too. They both had looks of concern on their faces, and they felt awkward about what had just went down in front of their eyes. “Keep an eye on him, Erso.” Draven commands Jyn. And without question, she nods and leaves the cell.

((()))

Suddenly, the P.A. speakers rang out with an announcer’s voice, and he had important information to relay to all Rebels and personnel in the Rebel base. “ATTENTION. REBEL INTELLIGENCE HAS JUST CONFIRMED OF AN IMPERIAL WEAPONS TRANSPORTATION OPERATION TAKING PLACE ON PLANET SADON. THIS IMPERIAL ACTIVITY MUST BE STOPPED IMMEDIATELY! THIS MISSION IS EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY! PREPARE FOR DEPLOYMENT!”

With the end of the announcement, voices and sounds of aircraft rang out through the other Rebel bases on Yavin 4. Jyn, Cassian, and K-2SO stand in front of their U-Wing as they look around them and watch all the Rebels prepping their equipment for the impromptu mission. It seems the Rebels in the intelligence units from the other planets have gathered sufficient intel about major Imperial activity, and it was extremely consistent with the information that the Imperial infiltrator revealed before he was shot dead by Cassian. Jyn has a look of concern on her face as Cassian looks down at her, gazing into her forest-green eyes with uncertainty.

“Weapons operation!?” Jyn asks.

Cassian nods, and the two Rogue One members knew exactly what the other was thinking: there may be a chance that Orson Krennic could be there at that Imperial weapons facility, running that weapons transportation activity, since weapons is Krennic’s specialty.

“Krennic…” Jyn says softly.

Hearing the name of the man who poses a serious danger to them, Cassian places a hand on Jyn’s shoulder to comfort her. “If he’s there, we’ll catch him. We got him the first time, we can do it again.” He assures his Sergeant, and this helps forms a smile on Jyn’s lips as she boards their U-Wing. Cassian and K-2SO follow her in to the cabin, bringing their blasters in their arms.

“Rogue One, launch.” Cassian prepares for lift off shortly after they strapped themselves in to their seats. The U-Wing, as well as a squadron of X-Wings and several transportation shuttles, take off into the atmosphere, where they prepare for hyperspace to the planet Sadon.

Saber Forum

General Chat => Fan Fiction and Art => Topic started by: HeartbreakOne on October 20, 2017, 08:56:20 PM