Built on Hope (Cassian Andor FF)

Prologue - 20 BBY

Kylath motioned to one of the rebels. The man stepped forward and placed the only electromagnetic pulse charge they had on the door. He twisted the top of the round bomb until it locked into place and started flashing red. "Here's to hoping it works," the man declared before taking a step back. The door's control panel fried once the EMP went off, causing the door to unlock. Kylath helped the man pry the door open and let everyone inside.

It was unlike anything Cassian had ever seen.

Tiers of assembly line machinery stacked on top of each other, the dark colored belts twisting and turning with every floor it went up. The ceiling was incredibly high, and had a mechanical belt of finished droids moving from one end of the huge room to the other. Electronics whirred and zapped the droids as they assembled them. Unfinished droid parts lay at the bottom of the belt, leading to the top where they were completely assembled. The smoke from the machinery rose to the top of the room and got sucked into the ventilation system. Loud gears shifted every second, and the weight on the belt put a huge pressure on the machinery, causing a deep vibration to shake the floor.

A wall of deactivated dark droids hung in resting position on their right, waiting for orders to be given. Their lanky limbs shook at any vibration caused by the machinery on the other side of the room. Their heads nearly resembled that of a clone trooper. All held their metal hands clenched, revealing their aggressive programming had a complete handle on their minds.

Cassian glanced over all of the machinery and the droids being carried at the top. He wondered how they were like in battle. Did they shoot really cool rockets from their wrists? Did bullets fly from their hands? Could they blast battle droids away with laser beams from their eyes? His mind wandered as he followed his parents' lead and set the explosives on the machinery. He turned the top of the bombs to change it to waiting position.

"Hey, you!" A thin clone trooper yelled out. He put his gun up and aimed to shoot, but one of the men shot him down. The clone clanked when he hit the ground.

The rebels glanced at each other nervously, and somehow, Xyrias remained fierce. The Republic created droids, but for what? To fight their battles for them? What about the clones? Have they finally realized that their cloning facilities were wrong on morally high levels? None of the rebels knew what these droids were capable of. They could be overpowered.

Maybe even capable of slaughtering the rebels in record time.

A Clone Heavy Trooper turned the corner of a hallway and peered down at the ground. He saw the group in the corner of his eye, and spun to face them. "Stop right there!" He fired a rocket towards the group.

Xyrias shoved Cassian down to the ground and did the same. "Get down!"

The only other woman in their group attempted to dodge the rocket, but her reflexes were too slow. Her right arm and whole right side got hit in the blast. She cried out in excruciating pain before taking her last breath. Six more clones rounded the corner and joined in the fight.

Blood sprayed everywhere and scared one of the men. His blue eyes widened in fear as he watched the body fall to the ground. He dragged his free hand down his cheek, wiping off the blood in the process. He bit the inside of his lip before firing at the group of robots. His hand began to shake, and he couldn't steady it.

He took down the heavy trooper and a single clone. The man ducked behind the conveyer belt and rolled a little ways down until he got close enough to fire point blank. The clones all turned on him and fired, burning a few dozen holes in his chest before he could react.

Kylath gestured to the camera in the far corner, "Xyrias, the camera!" Xyrias peered down her sniper scope and disabled the camera quickly. If there were any clones in the security chamber, they wouldn't be able to see anything. She hoped they would assume their fellow clones killed them.