Chapter Text
Jyn opened her eyes with a deep breath. “How are you feeling, Jyn Erso?” the medical droid asked.
Jyn opened her mouth, then closed it. Words. Remember how to form words. “I… I’m- okay.” Well. That was something.
“Would you like to try sitting up?”
Would she? She didn’t see any reason not to. “Okay.”
“When you are ready.”
Jyn waited longer than she thought she did before hoisting herself into a sitting position. Her heart rate responded to the change, but only momentarily. She looked around at the med bay, then at the medical droid. She had never seen one like it. “What make and model are you?” she asked.
Before the droid could respond, the door opened. A compact woman walked into the room. “Jyn Erso,” she said, not unkindly, “I am Leia Organa. Do you remember me?”
Jyn nodded. Leia. She was the daughter of Senator Bail Organa, both father and daughter were vital parts of the Rebellion. She had never meet her before, but she had heard of her.
“I am sorry I am not in better shape to greet you,” Jyn heard herself saying.
“That’s alright. You just woke up. How are you?”
Jyn’s mind snapped fully awake all at once. Her body became rigid in response, and the medical droid started making warning noises. “How’s Cassian?” Jyn demanded. Her voice sounded harsh in her own ears, but she-
“He’s okay,” Leia responded, raising a hand placatingly. “He’s not awake yet but he should be up soon.”
Breathe, Jyn. “Did you get the death star plans?”
“We got them,” Leia responded, softly but firmly.
“There’s a flaw built into the system-”
“We destroyed it.”
Jyn closed her eyes, swallowed and sighed with relief.
After several moments passed, Jyn felt Leia lay her hand on her arm. “Jyn,” Leia said gently, “Thank you.”
Jyn opened her eyes to look at Leia. She didn’t really want to be thanked, but the way Leia said it made the gratitude palatable. “How many others made it back?”
“You and Captain Andor are the only ones we’ve found.”
Again, Jyn closed her eyes, this time in pain. She wasn’t surprised by the answer, but it still hurt. “I want to see Cassian.”
“I’ll take you to him.”
The medical droid protested, but relented when Leia said he could come along.
Jyn’s face softened when she spotted Cassian, lying as she had been on a med bed, his own medical droid hovering nearby, busy.
Jyn took his hand in hers, not taking his eyes from his face. He looked so different from when she had seen him last. Strain and exhaustion had etched deep lines in his face.
Sedated and relaxed, he looked quite a bit younger. At peace.
“Jyn.” She jumped slightly at the gentle call. When she tore her eyes away from Cassian to look at Leia, Leia replied, “You are welcome to stay with him, but your medical droid would appreciate it if you ate something. I would be happy to eat with you, if you’ll have me. I can tell you about the destruction of the death star, and I’d like to hear how you managed to steal the plans and end up where you did, if you wish to tell me.”
Jyn smiled and nodded. “Yeah, thank you.”
Over what Jyn realized was somewhat better food than standard military rations, Leia told her about finding her brother and the destruction of the death star. Jyn got the impression that Leia was leaving quite a bit unsaid, but there were probably things she couldn’t tell Jyn, or didn’t want to tell Jyn at the moment.
Jyn had no idea what to make of the revelation of the involvement of Jedi - she thought that was a dead order, their legacy shrouded in unbelievable myths. But Leia did not seem to have such doubts about the Force - she reminded Jyn of Chirrut. Jyn found herself wishing the two could have known one another.
Leia’s story ended, and it was Jyn’s turn.
Jyn told her of their plan, of the distraction the small rebel force had provided while she and Cassian and K2SO went after the Death Star schematics. For reasons Jyn didn’t fully understand, she found herself explaining to Leia how Cassian had fallen after being shot, how she had thought he was dead.
Leia watched her in silent sympathy.
She had no way of telling Leia how she felt seeing Cassian again, after he had shot the Imperial officer, so she didn’t try.
Getting the injured Cassian to safety had been no small task, especially since the only ship left to them was hardly in better shape than he was. But a fraction of a chance was better than no chance at all. While the damaged cruiser had dumped them on a fringe planet in winter with no chance of getting off without help, at least they had been dumped on a fringe planet in winter with a chance of being rescued eventually.
It was a few days into their stay on X-gee that Jyn had realized their best chance lay in waiting out the winter in stasis. She needed time to devote to fixing the cruiser, but Cassian’s injuries were so severe that not only was he unable to help her, she found that the majority of her time was taken up with worrying over him. The cruiser’s info files told her the planet had other seasons far more hospitable, with a chance of finding resources. And calling for help.
The cruiser had surprisingly advanced medical facilities, most of which were damaged, but somehow not the stasis tanks. Not really trusting the cruiser’s damaged systems to last four months, Jyn had used the kyber crystal her mother had given her as a backup power source.
She had put Cassian to sleep first, the two of them staring at one another through the glass as she turned the unit on, silently promising each other they would both wake up. If K2SO had been with them he would’ve informed them how bad their odds were, but Jyn had never known anyone like Cassian, who had refused to give up on her regardless of how badly he was hurt. He had made it this far. She would make sure he kept going.
The last thing she remembered seeing was ice, before waking up in Leia’s protection. Jyn glanced around again, her eyes lighting on the unfamiliar droid model, the panels and readouts that were both familiar and somehow slightly off.
She looked back down to Cassian before returning her attention to Leia. “How did you find us?”
Leia smiled. “I sent two of my scouts to explore X-gee for resources the fleet could use. They found you.”
“What shape were we in?”
“I think you could’ve remained in stasis for a lot longer than you were with no harm done.” That was a very diplomatic answer.
“I programmed the system to wake us after four months,” Jyn said.
“Ah,” said Leia.
Jyn studied Leia uneasily. While she had never seen Leia before, Jyn didn’t think that Leia was as old as the woman who had spent the last few hours speaking with her was. Jyn didn’t have any reason to doubt Leia’s identity, not after the story about how she had gotten the Death Star files. But the uneasy feeling was steadily getting worse. She glanced again about the room, but it didn’t offer anything to quiet her growing sense of unease. At least Cassian had made it, too.
Not really wanting to think about it, but knowing she needed the answer anyway, Jyn finally asked, “How long were we in stasis for?” If the timing mechanism had failed, maybe it had taken eight months, maybe a year-
“Thirty-four years.”
Jyn had absolutely no idea what to do with that information.
Besides her, Cassian opened his eyes.