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"You lied to me, General." His voice is cold, and he glares at his commander with the look of a man who has just seen death.
Draven leans forward in his chair, shaking his head with a pitying expression.
"Lied? What the hell are you talking about, Captain Andor?" The General's voice is stern, and he glares coldly at Cassian without a moment of hesitation.
"You ordered me to murder Jyn's father from the very beginning. The possibility of extraction was never even on the table to begin with." Cassian's voice trembles with anger, and he casts his sniper rifle down on Draven's desk without looking him in the eye. The light is at such an angle that the General's face is partially obscured from him, as he sits quietly in the shadows, hidden from view. The man he has come to think of as his closest mentor is now nothing more than a shadow of himself. In a way, Cassian thinks to himself, he's almost reminded of Saw Gerrera.
No, he tells himself, brushing the thought aside. Saw was a terrorist. An enemy of everything the Rebellion hoped to build. Surely Draven couldn't be compared to a monster like him...?
"And? What of it?" Draven turns his chair even further into the shadows, refusing to meet Cassian's gaze. "Miss Erso's father was a traitor, and a danger to the Rebellion. Better to liquidate him than to risk bringing him here, where the Alliance would be placed at an even greater risk."
"Then why the hell didn't you go to Eadu, then?" Any semblance of patience or understanding in Cassian's voice seems to vanish into the darkness of the room. "You've been a field agent before. If Galen was such a priority target, then why not go there yourself, finish the job personally?"
"That doesn't matter, and you know it, Cassian." Draven's voice is perfectly calm, but his eyes are daggers.
"Tell me!" Cassian wants to scream at the man in front of him. He wants to curse him out, rage, let his anger overcome his resolve and mental control. But he holds his ground. He's only a captain, after all. Professionalism and decorum are still required of him, even if he wants nothing more than to simply cast them to the side.
Draven continues to sit in silence. A part of him wants to have his subordinate arrested for defying his orders, but there's no reason he should. Let Andor continue to make a fool of himself. Let him continue to rage and curse and make himself look unprofessional. That gives him more evidence to use against him, more ammunition he can bring to bear in this metaphorical war of words.
"Tell me, damn you!" At last, Cassian's decorum breaks down. He lets out the curse, momentarily satisfied.
"I wanted to!" Draven lurches towards him, his voice a venomous hiss-whisper. "I wanted to kill him… for everyone on Jedha, for everyone the Alliance has lost to the Empire and their schemes. And it would have been righteous — There's no doubt in my mind that Galen Erso deserves to die."
"You rebel scum…" Cassian mutters another curse under his breath, the same one Jyn used against him during their flight back from Eadu. There's a sort of satisfaction in the words, and he allows himself to smirk ever so slightly as he delivers the verbal fusillade.
"Oh, there it is!" Draven shouts. "You’ve been wanting to say it since you met me, haven’t you? Haven’t you! You look at me and all you see is a hollowed-out soldier, a hardened spy who's sold his soul for freedom. And maybe you’re right, but at least I fight for a cause that's greater than myself. What do you fight for?"
"I fight for my parents. For their memory, for everyone I've lost." Cassian's tone calms for a moment, and he lets out a deep sigh. He isn't about to hold back. He's going to be honest with Draven, even after the General lied to him.
"Sure, once we dragged you out from under the Empire’s boot and threw you into the fray." Apparently, Draven isn't holding back either.
"You’re a monster. Any man who would deny a political prisoner the right to defend himself has no right to command."
"At least I know how to follow orders, Andor. I would have thought you knew the same by now." Draven rises from his seat and walks away from his desk, making a show of examining a computer readout.
"You’ve nothing left, have you?" Cassian asks after a moment in a pitying voice. "Nothing but hate. Perhaps Jyn was right. Perhaps the Alliance's rebels are no better than the Empire."
"You know nothing about me!" Draven hisses between his teeth, and his eyes lock onto Cassian like a pair of turbolaser batteries. "I’ve given everything — EVERYTHING — to fight the Empire. I've lost friends to this cause, friend I've known longer than I've known you. So you don’t get to lecture me, just because today the Empire finally took from you something you were unwilling to yield."
"Oh, spare me the sanctimony, General! I now see exactly the kind of man you are. Jyn was right about you. You’re just another Saw Gerrera. A thug, a murderer. And precisely the reason people like her never wanted any part of this fight. But now you've given her no choice, haven't you? And since men like you have so spectacularly failed to save us from the Empire, it will take people like me — people like Jyn — who think before they fight, to clear up your mess."
"You won't last a minute without the rest of us, Andor," Draven warns. "I’d love to see you try."
"Believe me, General. You will," Cassian declares, and storms out of the room, taking his rifle with him.