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Y/N had just sat down in her usual corner booth, far away from the hustle and bustle of the busy bar when she felt eyes on her. She subtly slipped her hand underneath the table, checking her blaster as she took a sip of her drink. Secure in the knowledge that her weapon was ready if needed, she relaxed slightly into the booth, doing her best to seem oblivious to the fact that she was being watched.
A moment later, a shadow moved out of the corner of her eye and she looked up, eyes wide at the sight of someone she thought she’d never see again.
“Solo?” Y/N asked, a smirk forming on her face at the sight of her old friend. “What the hell are you doing on Takodana?”
Y/N watched as Han leaned against the wall next to her booth, that familiar charming smile greeting him.
“A guy can’t come and say hi to an old friend?” Han asked, and Y/N rolled her eyes.
“Not when he’s got a bounty on his head from the Hutts.”
“Ah, Maz would never rat me out.”
“Perhaps.” Y/N replied, shrugging. “But I’d also heard that you’d gone legit, joined up with the rebellion.”
At that, Han slipped into the booth, his eyes scanning for anyone within hearing distance.
“I don’t know that I’d call the rebels legitimate.” Han replied, and Y/N chuckled.
“Legit enough for someone like you, Solo. Now what are you really doing here?”
“He’s with me.” A new voice replied, and Y/N looked up to see a handsome man with tan skin and dark hair joining them, slipping into the booth beside Han.
“Did Chewie finally dump you, Solo?” Y/N asked, and Han returned the question with an offended scoff.
“My name is Captain Cassian Andor.” The stranger - Andor, apparently - replied. “We require someone with certain…skills for a mission, and Captain Solo recommended you.”
“And by ‘we’ I’m assuming you mean the rebellion?” Y/N replied, raising an eyebrow at Han. “What have you gotten yourself into, Solo?”
“Oh come on, Y/N. This wouldn’t be the first time you’ve taken a job for the Alliance.” Han replied.
“Sure, for the right price. So what are you offering? And what is the job?”
“That is classified until you agree to work with us.” Cassian replied, and Y/N shook her head in response.
“So, I have to agree to a job for which I don’t know the details, the price, or the danger. Why? Because I have occasionally made the mistake to trust Han Solo?”
“Hey!” Han interrupted, fake offense painted all over his face. “I am very trustworthy!”
“A smart person wouldn’t trust you as far as they could throw a bantha.” Y/N replied, downing the rest of her drink before continuing. “But I never claimed to be smart. I’m in.”
After making Han pay her tab, Y/N followed the two men out of Maz Kanata’s bar and back to her ship, the Alpha Dawn, Captain Andor following behind her while Han returned to Chewie and the Falcon. They climbed aboard her ship silently, Cassian taking the rarely used co-pilot’s seat and punching in the coordinates for the rebel base.
“Yavin 4, huh?” Y/N asked, staring over the captain’s shoulder. Cassian whipped around to glare at her, and Y/N shrugged her shoulder.
“The location of our base is highly confidential, that was the whole point of me traveling with you.” Cassian replied, and Y/N threw her hands up in mock surrender.
“I have a right to know where my ship is going, Andor.” Y/N snapped, falling into the her seat and prepping the ship for takeoff. “Besides, your secret is safe with me.”
“That remains to be seen.” Cassian replied, and Y/N rolled her eyes as she guided the ship off of the ground and off of the planet.
“Why do you dislike me so much?”
“You fight for nothing but money.” Cassian replied, pausing momentarily to enter the last calculations for the jump to lightspeed. “You have no honor, no respect.”
“Oh, I have plenty of respect.” Y/N replied, taking the calculations Cassian had provided and initiating the jump. Everything around the ship blurred and Y/N felt the momentary uneasiness that accompanied the jump to hyperspace. “Respect for money just happens to be the most important. And you don’t know the first thing about me, Andor, other than the fact that you need me to make this mission a success. We should be in the Yavin system in five hours.”
With that, Y/N jumped up from her seat, slamming the button to open the cockpit door with more force than was necessary. She made her way back into the small kitchen area her ship held, slamming open a cabinet and pulling out a pack of crackers and taking it to the small table in the center of the room. Something about the rebel captain got under her skin. His comment was nothing she hadn’t heard multiple times over the years, but somehow they were affecting her more than they normally would. She was still brooding over the captain’s words when the object of her thoughts appeared, looking slightly sheepish as he approached her.
“I am sorry, Y/N. What I said was uncalled for. It is no business of mine how you live your life.”
Y/N stared at him for a long moment before sighing and tossing him the half-empty package of snacks as a means of accepting his apology. A small smile appeared on Cassian’s face as he took the seat across from her, picking out one of the crackers out of the package.
“So what exactly did Han tell you about me?” Y/N asked.
“That you were a skilled pilot, one of the best smugglers in the Outer Rim, and that you had no love for the Empire.”
“He could have said that about any number of ne’r-do-wells we know. Most people who break the law for a living have no love for Imperials”
“True.” Cassian replied with a nod. “He also told us about the job you pulled at Kyrell 8.”
“That…” Y/N began, before leaning back with a smirk. “That whole thing was pretty brilliant on my part, actually.”
“And reckless.”
“But also fairly impressive. I can see why you were so desperate to hire me.”
“Believe me, if we had any other choice we wouldn’t have.”
“Why did you hire me?” Y/N asked. “Surely you’ve got plenty of skilled pilots in the Alliance.” Y/N watched as Cassian’s features grew dark, his eyes cold.
“We did.” He finally replied after a moment, crossing his arms across his chest. “We sustained heavy losses at Scarif, then again during the Battle of Yavin. We lost most of our fighter pilots during the defeat of the Death Star. The number of Imperial troops defecting to the Alliance has grown steadily, but it takes certain skills and months - even years - of training to successfully pilot an X-Wing. Any spare pilots we have have been transferred to the defense of the Alliance. We simply can’t spare anyone.”
“So, I’m expendable.” Y/N replied. “By sending me, you don’t risk any of your own officers. And if I fail, you don’t even have to pay me because I’ll be stardust.”
“Yes.” Cassian replied simply, and Y/N got the feeling that this was a man who was blunt to a fault. She just wasn’t sure if she liked it or not.
Once Y/N and Cassian had arrived on Yavin IV, he immediately whisked her away to the control room. Y/N briefly saw Han as they passed through the hangar, chatting amicably with a shorter blonde man. He glanced at them as they passed, waving a hand at Y/N in greeting. When they entered the control room, Y/N found herself staring at three intimidating figures - one she recognized as Princess Leia of Alderaan, former Senator now proclaimed as a traitor by the Empire.
“Captain Andor.” the princess greeted with a regal nod. “Miss Y/L/N. Thank you for coming.”
“You’re welcome.” Y/N replied somewhat awkwardly.
“This is Senator Mothma and General Draven.” Cassian introduced, gesturing to the other two standing around the table. “And Princess Leia of Alderaan.”
“Miss Y/L/N,” Mothma began, gesturing to the display in front of them. “The work we require of you will not be easy. It will be dangerous, but it is vital.”
“What is the job?” Y/N asked, her natural curiousity piqued at the serious tone.
“You will travel to the planet Margravia. Do you know it?”
“Vaguely. It’s near the Outer Rim, but still part of the Empire.”
“Margravia is politically neutral. It was never part of the Republic, nor the Empire. The Margravians are wealthy enough that they can buy their freedom from Palpatine. However, we had reason to believe that they were willing to join the Alliance.” said Leia.
“And what changed your mind?” Y/N asked.
“We sent an agent to negotiate with them, to try to convince them to join the Alliance. Instead, they arrested her for espionage. We need you to free her.”
“I’m a smuggler, not a jailbreaker.” Y/N replied.
“You’re talented at getting items in and out of sticky situations. It is the same idea, only different cargo.” Cassian replied. She found yourself locking eyes with him, staring each other down until she sighed in defeat.
“When do I leave?”
After ironing out the details with Mothma, Draven, and Organa, Y/N returned to her ship, giving it a once over while she waited for the all clear to leave. She had just finished inspecting the fuel lines when she felt someone standing behind her. Turning sharply, she found Cassian staring at her with a peculiar look on his face.
“Can I help you, Captain?” Y/N asked, leaning against the ship and crossing her arms.
“Draven has given the okay for you to leave.” Cassian replied, and Y/N smiled.
“Ready to get rid of me already?” Y/N asked.
“Ready for Jyn to be back.” Cassian replied, and Y/N raised an eyebrow. The only thing she had been told about the target was that her name was Jyn Erso, and given a quick look at a holoimage so she could recognize her.
“Miss your girlfriend?” Y/N asked, and Cassian rolled his eyes.
“She is not my girlfriend.” He snapped, and Y/N felt a surprising relief at the revelation. “She is my partner, my friend.”
Seeing the pain in his eyes, Y/N found herself stepping closer to the man, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“I’ll bring her back, Andor.” Y/N said. Y/N watched as Cassian quickly schooled his features, Captain Andor taking the place of Cassian almost immediately.
“Good luck, Y/L/N.” He replied, stepping away. “May the Force be with you.”
As Y/N flew through hyperspace, her mind was running just as fast as she began to formulate a plan to recue Jyn Erso and still make it out in one piece. Margravia wasn’t a particularly violent planet, but Erso must have done something to cause her arrest, which meant that the Margravians would be on their guard. The fact that Cassian, who seemed to have a strong connection to Erso, hadn’t been allowed to go after her had been telling. There was danger here that Y/N could sense, and it made her nerves stand on edge.
By the time she had exited hyperspace and sweet-talked her way to a landing pad near the edge of the city, Y/N felt herself zoning in on the mission. Margravia did not have a large prison system, and Erso was a fairly high-profile prisoner. A few hundred credits in the right hands (Y/N would be requesting that back from the Alliance, she was certain) and she learned that Erso was being held in the dungeons under the palace belonging to the Margravian Royal Family. Not wanting to draw attention to herself, she found a small room to rent and spent the next three days scoping the palace and city while posing as a tourist. Once she was confident that she had a well-formed plan, she used the last of her credits to bribe a palace guard to let her in through a rarely-used side entrance.
As she made her way through the palace halls, a maid’s uniform her only disguise, she found with relief that almost everyone in the palace barely acknowledged the anonymous maid. Grabbing a plate of food from the kitchens, she found her way down to the dungeons. As she stepped through the main entrance of the dungeons, she was stopped almost immediately by a guard.
“What are you doing down here?” The guard asked, and Y/N did her best to look as meek as possible.
“They told me to bring food to the prisoner.” Y/N replied, her eyes toward the ground but watching for any movement from the guard.
“What happened to the guard who normally brings the food?”
“I-I don’t know, sir. I was just given the tray.” The guard watched her for a moment, before sighing and stepping away. Y/N nodded her head at the guard and hurried down the hall. Facing two long halls of cells, Y/N found herself wondering which way to go.
“Left hall, fifth cell on the right.” The guard called over his shoulder, and Y/N hurried down the hall. Checking to make sure she was alone, Y/N stood in front of the cell and flipped open the slot for placing the food tray. She peeked through and found herself being watched by a woman with dark brown hair and expressive eyes.
“You’re new.” The woman – Jyn Erso, she assumed – remarked, and Y/N found herself smirking at the other woman as she slid the tray through.
“A gift, Miss Erso.” Y/N replied, and Jyn immediately perked up. Taking the tray, she returned Y/N’s smirk when she saw the vibrodagger hidden beneath the napkin. Dipping into the apron on the front of her dress, Y/N pulled out two charges, handing one through the food slot and placing the other near the cell’s lock.
“Attach that and step back. This is going to make a big boom so we need to move quickly.” Y/N said, stripping off the now-useless maid’s uniform, leaving her in her standard blue shirt and beige pants. “We’re going to have to fight our way out of here.”
“How many of us?” Jyn asked as she set the charge, stepping as far back into the cell as she could get.
“Just me, I’m afraid.” Y/N replied. “Sorry to disappoint.”
“As long as you can handle yourself, we’ll do just fine.” Jyn replied, and Y/N was now sure that she liked this woman.
“Let’s go.” Y/N said with a grin, pressing the detonation button on the trigger in her hands and their world descended into chaos.
As they flew through hyperspace from Margravia to Yavin IV, Y/N quickly patched up Jyn’s minor wounds in the kitchen/makeshift medbay. Thankfully, they had escaped the planet with minor cuts and bruises, but Jyn’s extended stay in the Margravian dungeons had left her with several injuries that would require more care.
“So, who are you?” Jyn asked as Y/N taped a bacta patch over her worst injury, a blaster shot that grazed her leg.
“Y/N Y/L/N.” Y/N replied. “The finest rescue party that ever was.”
“You’re not Alliance.” Jyn replied, a statement instead of a question.
“Definitely not.” Y/N replied with a chuckle. “I’m a hired hand.”
“Hmmm, let me guess. Han?”
“How’d you guess?” Y/N asked, rocking back on her heels to look up at Jyn.
“The ship. The reckless endangerment and disregard for your own personal safety with that mad rescue attempt. You definitely have the mark of someone Solo would approve of.”
“I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not.” Y/N replied, standing up to put away the medical supplies. “You might want to have yourself looked over in the medbay once we’re back, but I think you’ll survive.”
“Thanks.” Jyn replied, stretching her leg out and inspecting the bacta patch.
“Can I ask you something?” Y/N found the words leaving her mouth before she could stop them. Jyn raised an eyebrow at the question, but didn’t stop her from continuing. “What’s the deal with Andor?”
“The deal?” Jyn repeated, and Y/N sighed.
“He’s so intense, so focused. But he let the Council keep him from going on this rescue mission himself.”
“Cassian was raised in the rebellion. He doesn’t know anything else. And yes, he is willing to do whatever it takes. And yes, we’re partners. But he’s also a soldier and will follow orders until given no other choice.”
“He used that word too, partners.”
“That’s what we are.” Jyn replied, pulling her hair out of its tie and quickly redoing it as she continued. “We’ve been through a lot together, Cassian and I. It changes you, changes your relationship. Few can relate to what we’ve been forced to do in the name of freedom…hell, even just to survive. It changes you as a person, and Cassian understands that.”
Before Y/N could reply, the ship began to beep with an alert about their impending arrival to the Yavin system.
“Looks like we’re here.” Y/N said, pushing herself away from the counter and back toward the cockpit. She heard Jyn following limping behind her, and didn’t bat an eye when the other woman slipped into the co-pilot’s seat.
“Transmit the passcodes.” Y/N instructed, and Jyn nodded as her fingers flew across the buttons.
“This is Alpha Dawn requesting clearance to land.” Y/N sent out over the communications. “Transmitting clearance codes now.”
“Alpha Dawn, this is control. You are clear to proceed to landing pad two. Welcome home.”
Y/N piloted the ship smoothly onto the planet’s surface, surprised that they had cleared one of the larger landing pads for them. Clearly, Jyn was more important to the rebellion as a whole than she had been led to believe. Once they had landed and completed their final checks, Y/N helped Jyn stand up from the co-pilot’s seat, the grimace in her face making it clear that her leg injury was getting worse.
“You know,” Jyn said, putting some of her weight on Y/N as they prepared to exit the ship. “We make a pretty good team.”
“You are pretty useful in a fight.” Y/N replied. “You ever thought about leaving all this behind to make some real money?”
Y/N watched as a smile grew on Jyn’s face as she shook her head.
“No, this is my family, my purpose. These people and what they’re fighting for…it matters.”
Y/N hopped down onto the landing pad first, grabbing Jyn’s arm and helping her to keep her weight off of her injured leg.
“Jyn!” Y/N heard Cassian’s voice call, and both women turned around to find the man waiting nearby. He moved toward them and Y/N watched as Jyn opened up her arms, enveloping Cassian in a hug.
“Took you long enough to send someone after me.” Jyn greeted, and Y/N watched with a pang of jealousy as she watched Cassian cradle Jyn’s face in his hands, a smile on his face.
“Well, I suppose I could have sent K-2 to rescue you again.” He said, and Jyn smiled back.
“I think I would have preferred the Margravian dungeon.” Jyn replied before turning back to Y/N. “You did well, though. I like her.”
“Jyn!” A new voice called, and Y/N turned to see the blonde man she had seen Han talking to upon her arrival on Yavin IV running toward them.
“Luke!” Jyn called, and Y/N saw her expression change immediately, stepping away from Cassian and limping as fast as she could toward the other man. He immediately wrapped her up in his arms, lifting her off of the ground and spinning her around.
“I was so worried!” Luke said, gently setting her back down on the ground. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Jyn replied. “I promise, no permanent damage. I told you I’d come back.”
If it was possible, Luke’s smile grew wider before Y/N watched as Jyn pulled him into a heated kiss.
“So…” Y/N began, looking away from the couple to give them what little privacy they had on the busy landing pad. “Definitely not your girlfriend, then?” She asked Cassian, who chuckled.
“I tried to tell you.” Cassian replied, turning away as well. “You did well.” He added, and Y/N shrugged.
“All in a day’s work.”
“Thank you, truly.” Cassian insisted, and Y/N smiled at the man. “You have proven yourself quite useful. Perhaps you would consider sticking around?”
Y/N leaned closer to Cassian, tugging on his jacket before shooting him a smirk.
“I think I could be convinced.”