Built on Hope (Cassian Andor FF)

7. Off by a Hair

Cassian worked his way to one of the two Zeta-class cargo shuttles, which weren't plugged in to the landing pad. They must've been prepped to leave already. Two cargo shuttles didn't seem to be a lot for this outpost, but if that's all they had on hand, then it would suffice. As long as he locked onto the cargo shuttles' hyperdrive system and tweaked it a bit, that's all that was needed to complete the mission. The TIE Fighters would lock onto the Zeta's hyperdrive coordinates and follow them straight into the asteroid belt, or as Cassian referred to them as the jaws of death. The pilots would have no time to think before they were jerked out of hyperdrive and driven right into an asteroid.

That's what General Draven hoped, at least. He would confirm how many ships actually crashed later back at Dantooine base.

Cassian hopped up onto the pilot's deck of the ship using the ladder. He sprinted towards the console and crouched underneath it. He unhooked the metal plating to reveal wires and different technology that helped power the ship in different ways. His hands worked fast as he clipped a few wires and strung them together. When he was done, he put the metal plating back on just like he had found it and started to poke around on the hyperdrive's map. I hope this works. He had never reset a hypderdrive's map, so changing the coordinates by a hair seemed a bit risky. A buddy of his showed him how to do it before Cassian left, but it was so different on his own.

Captain Andor calmed himself by exhaling and curling his fingers up for a moment. This has to work. He pushed a few buttons and set new coordinates for the asteroid field. In order to get to the planets the shipments were to be sent to, they would have to go around the asteroid field. This would put them directly in it.

He turned the console off when he was done and wiped his fingerprints off of the screen. His fingers twitched towards his hidden blaster as he exited the cargo ship, but refrained from coming in contact with it. No need to get worked up. Focus.

Cassian headed towards the second ship and did the same thing he did to the first one. The storm trooper patrol had gone inside for lunch, and a new one hadn't come out yet. This seemed like the perfect time to head out. He snuck around the ships and started to make his way towards the swampy jungle. His ship wasn't too far away. It was an Imperial ship on the outside, so it would draw no suspicion for it to be out here.

"Stop right there," a man called out.

Damn.

Cassian stopped in his tracks. The urge to reach for his blaster heightened, but he knew better than that. He needed to turn around to see the man. He needed to be observant of his surroundings. Maybe this guy had a weapon. Maybe he didn't.

Either way, he was a dead man.

"Who are you?" the man questioned. He stepped closer and closer until he could put a hand on Cassian's shoulder, forcing him to turn around.

Cassian whipped around and punched the guy in the jaw. The guy didn't stumble back, rather started swinging himself, flailing his arms around at the rebel. Cassian dodged a few punches, and sent back a few of his own. He heard a small, whoosh sound as the man swung, and that's when Cassian realized that he had a blade.

The man tackled Cassian and both hit the ground hard. Cassian gasped, but tried to continue fighting. The man tried to shove the blade inside Cassian's abdomen, but the rebel pushed his hand upwards. The Imperial mechanic pushed down with both hands and all his strength, retaliating against Cassian's efforts. Cassian grunted in pain as the blade sunk into his skin like a sharp tooth. The Captain gave up on resisting and punched the man in the jaw, sending him to the side. Cassian snapped up as quickly as he could and fired his blaster at the man's head, causing him to go limp.