Chapter Text
The Royal Cruiser of Naboo landed on the shuttlepad to a remote mountain palace. Nearby, another ship of similar size had already landed. A small delegation waited in the center of the pad.
A group of pilots walked down the corridor from the cockpit, their checklists taking them to the large room with the exit ramp. As they went over post-landing procedures, they chatted nervously about the upcoming meeting.
"I don't like this...they're up to something."
"Lord Ulgo doesn't just want an alliance with Naboo. He wants a kingdom to replace Alderaan."
"Yeah, and try asking the Empire for help! House Ulgo has favor with them. Naboo just has history of resistance."
Memebers of the royal delegation were filtering out from their cabins and preparing to leave the ship. Two squads of guards arrived and fell into formation.
One of the pilots slipped away from the others and started walking toward one of the far corridors as if he was waiting for something. He hadn't said anything or even taken his helmet off.
He snapped to attention when the queen and her handmaidens arrived. Eyes hidden by the helmet, he glanced at each handmaiden's face as she walked past him. By the way he lowered his head afterward, he hadn't found who he was looking for.
The exit ramp lowered. The queen's procession went out to meet Lord Ulgo's procession.
Suddenly, the pilot looked up as a final handmaiden came around the corner, discussing something with the captain of the guard. Her back was turned.
Before he could whisper a name or lightly brush a hand against her shoulder, she whirled and confronted him. "Yes, Ensign.....?" She frowned and checked his name tag. "Sward?"
Her face was clearly not the one he was expecting.
The pilot quickly turned away, paced the now-empty room for a few seconds, and was about to hurry back down the corridor and search the handmaidens' chambers. Then realization struck, and he stopped dead in his tracks, shoulders slumped.
Slowly, Cassian Andor pulled off his helmet and turned to look out across the landing pad--just in time to watch the "queen" grab a blaster rifle from one of the guards and shoot Lord Ulgo in the face.
*******
(Epic theme music and opening voiceover by Kay)
None of this ever happened, of course. I'm dead, and I know Cassian and Jyn are dead too. I didn't tell them this, but they only had a 9% chance of even accomplishing the mission. What's even more sad is that we were supposed to star on a TV show about rebel spies ten years ago. You know...instead of dying. But that's none of my business.
*******
Cassian sprinted the last few meters and dove behind a shipping crate, joining the royal procession as they exchanged blaster fire with what was left of Lord Ulgo's people.
"Your majesty," he greeted Jyn with a reverent nod.
If Jyn blushed, it was hidden by the heavy layers of white facepaint and the way she quickly leaned out of cover to unleash another round from the blaster rifle.
"None of the handmaidens are behind the plot," she whispered. "And yes, there was definitely a plot."
"The pilots suspect the Governor and some of the council have Imperial ties," Cassian whispered back. "Could one of them be behind this?"
"It's Councilman Tunbar! From the River District! It has to be! One of the handmaidens saw him talking to the Governor before we left."
"Jyn, Tunbar took a shuttle to the palace before the ship even landed!" Cassian was barely still whispering. "He said he needed to make arrangements for the negotiations."
"Cover me!" Jyn tapped the nearest handmaiden on the shoulder and leaned around the crate, watching for an opening.
"Your majesty!" the guards protested.
"Jy--r majesty!" Cassian reached for her arm half a second too late, sighed, and charged after her.
He caught up just as they made it to the loading ramp of the Ulgo ship.
Kay's voice came on over the intercom: "There were Stormtroopers on board, just as I suspected...Now there aren't."
Ulgo fighters were running to stop them.
Naboo fighters were running to join them.
Both would only slow them down.
Cassian hit the ramp controls as Kay lifted them off the ground.
"Get us back to the Theed Spacepor--" Cassian began, but Jyn interrupted him with "palace courtyard!"
"Our mission was to see if Naboo would make a good site for the new rebel base," Kay protested.
"And we just learned that it's definitely not a good site." Cassian agreed.
"They're still on our side," Jyn pleaded. "If we stay, we can save the queen, expose the traitors, and Naboo will still be able to help the rebellion in other ways."
Cassian sighed. "All right. How about the west tower then? Kay can alert the palace guards, and we can immediately start going through Tunbar's things--without having to fight our way upstairs."
They landed on the roof after finally convincing the captain of the guard that they were with the rebellion.
Councilman Tunbar's room wasn't hard to find. It was one of the bigger ones, and most of the outer wall was a beautiful picture window.
Jyn couldn't resist stealing a glance at the huge feather bed as she tried to access the computer terminal. It was more luxurious than anything she'd seen in her life. What would it feel like to lay down, just for a moment?
Then she caught Cassian stealing a glance at her dress, and the daydream abruptly changed. Jyn turned away, trying to hide a grin.
Neither of them had noticed how silently the door had opened the first time, so neither of them noticed as it opened again.
Before either of them could react, Councilman Tunbar was in the room and had a blaster pressed to Jyn's forehead.
"I found the guards you sent after me!" he laughed. "And I know what you're up to!"
Cassian and Jyn exchanged helpless glances.
("How did he know?")
("I don't know....stay strong okay?")
"It's over, your majesty," he chuckled. "Tell me all about your affair with this lovesick pilot here, and I might let you live long enough to watch me publicly remove you from office."
Oh.
Jyn spoke quickly "All right! I'll tell you everything. Just...please dont hurt him. I've had my eyes on him ever since the moment I first saw him."
Cassian reacted exactly as she'd hoped.
"Things didn't really start heating up until he took me to visit relatives in the ocean district--alone--and our shuttle crashed."
Tunbar was riveted.
"I never told him this," she went on, this time for Cassian...just in case, "but it was there on the beach, holding him in my arms, waiting for rescue, watching the most spectacular sunrise I'd ever seen, that I first realized how much I truly--"
"Jyn...." Cassian's voice wavered.
"Jyn??" There was doubt in the councilman's voice for the first time. Who's Jyn?"
Tunbar turned to look more closely at his prisoner.
Cassian lunged at him, shoved the blaster away, and tackled Jyn to the ground.
Then the entire palace shook as Kay fired a torpedo into the window.
Jyn's ears were ringing. "Cassian?" He was still on top of her, still breathing at least.
Tunbar was lying in a broken heap on the floor next to an outline of his body on the wall--in shards of glass and burned wood.
"Cassian!" Her hands were shaking as she brushed off the glass that had fallen on him. No major injuries that she could see! She carefully rolled him onto the floor, one hand on his shoulder and the other one under his head.
He stirred. "Jyn!" The look on his face took her breath away. Several moments passed, and he seemed content to just smile up at her.
"You're in shock." She lightly kissed him. "Let's see if there's still any evidence left."
"Personal datapad," he said, lightly kissing her back. "I put it in my jacket before he came in."
"By all means, take your time." Kay had turned the volume all the way up on the intercom. "I'll just be here...finding out how fast tie fighters can fly in this planet's atmosphere."
Jyn offered her hand and helped Cassian up.
"Let's get out of here before anyone else walks through that door," she said, still holding his hand. "I don't want to get shot, and I definitely don't want to give this dress back."