Chapter Text
The cargo ship slips silently through hyper space. You’ve checked over the coordinates in the navi computer a few times over and take a moment to gaze at the star streaked viewport. Slowly, you draw your thumb over your bottom lip in gentle admiration. Ever since you were a kid this is what you dreamed of, flying ships and getting off world. Lots of kids from Jelucan did, when the Empire came and made their mark. You remember Grand Moff Tarkin’s words from where you stood on supply crates in the back of the crowds. "People of Jelucan, today represents both an ending and a beginning. On this day ends your isolation from the greater galaxy. Instead, Jelucan begins a new and glorious future by assuming its rightful place within the Empire!" You know now what that meant. You were one of thousands who had applied for the imperial academy and one of hundreds who made it to actual service. One of the very few who defected.
You lick your lips lightly at the memory. You were running envoy defense to important cargo, you had done it many times and had never really left your ship when docking for loading and unloading. Was told not to. Figured it was protocol and waved it off. But one trip you needed to hop out for a stretch and a break, it was allowed this once. You were led back into the building, and what you saw in route stopped you heart dead in its tracks. Slaves of all ages and races, mostly very old or very young, beaten raw, were moving heavy loads of ore and minerals. This isn’t what you thought it was. The trip was to a mining colony on Burnin Konn where people worked with the empire selling what was mined there. But this was slavery outright.
You had to glue your feet to the ground when a human child no older than 11 tripped and dropped an arm full of ore. Two guards moved in on him and you turned away at the screams when he was punished, forced yourself to move on. You didn’t know. You were suppose to just fly and guard the cargo freighters. Maybe it was an isolated incident, but it weighed on you night after night. This wasn’t the order and balance you had fought for, but you were too scared to leave. It took weeks before you realized that you weren’t the only one who was shook by the deeds sanctioned by the Empire. A few of you and your fellow cadets had talked in the quiet corners of the barracks about what they had seen and what you all could do. You had heard of the rebellion, at time it was rumor, it was small, but it would get you out of the Empire’s clutches. It was going against oath you took at the academy, it was a knife twisting in your gut to do so. But you didn’t follow the old ways and rules of Jelucan as closely as others did. To break an oath is to cut ties with your home, religion, and honor, but what honor was there in this….
“Y/N” A voice draws you out of the hypnotic view of hyperspace and you turn your head to face the sound. There, fidgeting in the doorway was one of your crew for this mission. His imperial coveralls sobered you some. He had defected too. But today, both he and you would be infiltrating a small base with K2-SO.
“Rook.” You voice is steady and calm as you stand up a bit straighter. “Finished going over the files?” His hands clenched, there was a small sheen of sweat on his brow, you noticed how some of his hair laid damp on it. To hide who he was they cropped his hair and gave him a clean shave. With an imperial hat and uniform he would be glanced over. He was nervous and it showed as he glanced behind him and stammered a moment.
“I-I did. Yes. But you see, Kay-too has been-” He stops as you come forward and clap him on the shoulder. He flinches. The terrors he’s been through still are close to the surface of his psyche, you forget that at times. You give his shoulder a little squeeze.
“Don’t listen to that pile of scrap.” You say loud enough to be heard in the back, where K2 calls back at you with a response that is lost under your words. “We go in. We grab the data we need, we come back. We know the protocol and it’ll be fine.” You give him a reassuring smile, you feel him quake for a moment under your hand before he nods. His demeanor seems to change before your eyes, he takes a breath and continues.
“I looked over the files. I will direct us down to the landing pad. The mission should take no longer than two hours. If we take longer… K2 is suppose to leave without us.”
“Gladly!” He chimes in as he clanks around the corner.
“It won’t take that long.” You say and give the droid a pointed look. “We have a few hours before we get there, rest, relax, get into character and we’ll be ready to go soon.” Your hand slips from Bodhi’s shoulder and you move past him. His eyes are trained on your back as you go. You don’t doubt Bodhi Rook. His nerves showed his caution and a survival nature that got him through Saw Gerrera’s interrogations and got him off Scarif when everyone thought that team was lost. Had you been on base at the time, you would have gone too. You probably would have died. So very few made it back. You know that when it’s time to get his head in the game, Bodhi Rook is brave and smart and quick. He’s almost a completely different person. He still has trouble from time to time and usually keeps to the base. Very few trusted the ex-imperial pilot, even after his heroics, but other defectors made sure to try to make him feel at ease. This is his first real mission in a while.
You haven’t changed into your Imperial gear yet. Doing your best to avoid it as long as possible. Instead you grab a small snack, drop onto a bench and flick through the holodata. The clack of metal feet comes up behind you as K2 looms over. Had Cassian not given him the orders to go on this mission and not kill them, you were sure this would be going in a very different direction.
“No need to scare him like that Kaytoo.” You mumble and scan over the data.
“Why do I care?” He monotones back.
“We’ll have you back to your buddy soon. You’re important for this mission.” You sigh and look up into the lights that are his eyes. “I know you didn’t have a choice but thank you for coming.” K2 watches you silently and then looks off to a wall.
“Your probability-”
“Aannnddd I’m done.” You cut him off, at least you tried. “Go tell it to a wall.” You say shifting to lean back on the bit of bench. K2 says some other things in your direction as he plods off but you tune it out. Bodhi had the first hour of flight time to rereview the data. It was your turn now.
It gave a read out of the crew you were trying to be, a ship docking for rest at a nearby base that needed to refuel while moving cargo. You had decoy crates in the hold and a manifest to reflect actual cargo and destination. It hits close to home, in the sense this is basically what you did for the Empire the whole time you worked with them. But it also meant that you, Bodhi and hopefully K2 would slip back easily into those roles. You nod off after 45 minutes of review. It’s a dreamless sleep.
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“Stay calm.” You hear yourself say as time ticks down. You’ve gathered the data you needed from the base, Bodhi’s call signs and checks had gotten the two of you where you needed to go and back. The terminal, though, was deeper in the base than you both had thought. Bodhi tried his best to give K2 a heads up that this may take longer than anticipated, but the lack of response back made you both uneasy. Now, with the data in tow all that was left was to walk back, casually, to your ship thank refuelers and leave.
“I’m calm, are you calm?” Bodhi’s voice was barely over a whisper but it was steeped in anxiety. Your hand brushes against his, you both are walking too close together.
“Shhh, ahead.” You nod to a check point. Bodhi slips back into his character and you ready yourself. You monotonously give your name rank and number, Bodhi does the same.
“Ah yes, Captain Asche, your ship is ready to depart.” The officer said and you give him a small but curt smile.
“Thank you for use of your facilities.” You intone in the way you remember speaking to higher or equal ranks in the service. Bodhi stands silent and you give a small salute, Bodhi is your echo, and walk on.
Neither of you say a word as you reach the tarmac. You skin is itching to get out of this uniform, you wish you could walk faster without drawing notice to yourselves. You see your ship, K2 is looking through the viewport at you and begins warming it up. You guide Bodhi up the ramp first. Then nod to those few mechanics at attention near the ship. Your heart nearly stops as you recognize one, and she sure as hell recognizes you. You were bunkmates. Faltering, you almost trip. Marit Narem, mechanic to your fighter, knows you as a deserter. She is staring at you, and is starting to walk forward, mouth opening to say something. She’s going to blow your cover. You walk briskly inside, slamming your hand on the hatch button, feeling your heart ache and tremble.
“KAYTOO GO!” You yell up to the cockpit. You scramble to get to outfit off as you walk up to the where they sit, feeling the ship begin to lift off. “Cover may be blown, we have to go before they alert anyone.” K2 didn’t physically acknowledge you but made a sound similar to an ‘I told you so’. Bodhi though looks back at you while turning in his chair, confusion and panic in his eyes.
“How-” He starts but you cut him off.
“Just go! Punch it from here, I don’t care.” You almost growl, flush out of embarrassment and anger. “I’m going to slide into the gun well, just incase.” You leave the jacket of the uniform discarded on the ground. You hear footsteps following after you but they stop, as if thinking better of it and go back to the cockpit.
The roster must not have been updated. You had looked it over for familiar names before the mission so something like this wouldn’t happen. Both you and Bodhi did. You ball your hands into fists and press them against your eyes.
“This is bantha shit.” You mumble to yourself before taking up the headset and turning on the comm. “Keep your eyes on the radar…” You tell the crew and bring your guns online. Sure enough it’s not long before some TIE fighters are screaming after the ship. You only just made it out of the atmosphere and need to clear them before the jump. Bodhi and K2 are trying to fly to get them off your tail. It’s hard, still is, to shoot down a TIE. Most pilots were just doing the job, they don’t know what horrors were happening. It could be a friend or a classmate. But right now they were attacking you and you choose a side. Distracted, you miss your first few shots.
“If you keep shooting like that, Y/N, the probability-”
“Shut up!” You cut off K2 sharply. “Not now.” You squeeze off two more shots and take down a tie, which collides with another. “How many are up?”
“Seven now.” Bodhi replies. “Shield is up and if we can take down a few more we could make a jump.” His voice is methodical almost calming as he is more in his element.
“Right. Line them up and I can take them down.” Your reply is attempting to be light, it failed somewhere but not completely.
“Roger that.” You could almost hear a smile in his voice. You take a deep breath and watch as space spins before you. As the TIEs come into your sights, you take them down, one-by-one. However, a TIE in you blind spot gets through the shield and takes down your gun. Sirens are going off in the enclosed space. You need to move and seal it off, you can get it under control when you’re clear of the fight. But right now equipment is sparking and smoke is starting to fill the well as you move to unbuckle yourself. It burns your lungs and makes it hard to breath. You manage to get word to the cockpit. “Now’s a better time than-”
You are slammed back in your seat, and the streaks of hyperspace fill your vision before you black out.