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Astrid stood in the shadows inside the U-wing starfighter as she watched Jyn riffle through Cassian's duffle bag before taking out a blaster gun pistol from within it. Astrid didn't think Jyn knew she was there, watching, which was good since Astrid was trying to find out how much she could truly rely on Galen's daughter.
Judging by the actions playing out before her eyes, Astrid knew she couldn't trust or rely on Jyn.
Suddenly, K2-- short for K-2SO-- clomped into the U-wing starfighter they were using for this mission, and he caught sight of the pistol in Jyn's hand. The security droid let out a tsk of disapproval, but before he could say anything, Cassian walked up from behind him and said, "Alright everyone. Buckle up because we're flying out of here."
"You should know that Jyn is armed," K2 spoke up in a matter-of-fact tone.
Cassian's eyes lifted to where Astrid stood ahead of him but to the left, behind Jyn. Their eyes locked for a moment before he whirled towards Jyn and K2. Jyn gave K2 a sharp look before she hid the hand holding the pistol behind her back. The movement was too quick and jerky to miss, and Cassian's eyes narrowed. He held out a hand.
"Give me the pistol, Jyn."
"No," Jyn argued. Before he could protest further, she added hurriedly, "Trust goes both ways." She gave a pointed look at the blaster pistol on his hip.
Cassian sighed, his dislike at allowing her the gun evident through the Force and in his eyes. He studied Jyn for a moment before relenting, "Fine. Keep it."
He turned and began walking towards the cockpit past Astrid as K2 protested, "But Cassian--"
The droid's protests trailed off as Cassian disappeared around the corner behind the wall separating the cockpit and the space they were currently standing in. Astrid turned and poked her head around the wall to see into the cockpit, where Cassian was firing up the engines and raising the boarding ramp.
She told him, "I'm going to sit with Jyn and K2 so I can watch over Jyn."
Cassian gave her a look of approval before he replied, "Okay," and then he twisted back around to face the controls.
Astrid eyed the control buttons with envy, wishing she could be the one to pilot, before she turned and strode into the space behind the cockpit. Astrid slipped into one of the the seats lining the wall across from where Jyn sat. She crossed her arms over her chest.
"So why are you so unwilling to help the Resistance?" Astrid asked as their ship began lifting off into the sky.
Jyn shrugged as she replied, "My parents paid the price for helping the Empire; they killed my mother and took my father from me when I was young. When Saw Gerrera picked me up and raised me, he, too, abandoned me when I was sixteen. I've learned not to put too much faith in people." She leaned forward as she told Astrid, "You can only rely and take care of yourself, or else you'll wind up dead."
Jyn leaned back in her seat and regarded Astrid with a mixture of wariness and thoughtfulness. Astrid couldn't help but think the opposite of Jyn. As a Jedi, she'd been raised to always help others, even if it meant her or her friends' deaths. It was her job. She couldn't imagine abandoning a cause with a mission to help free people and take down tyranny just to save herself.
But something else in Jyn's speech bothered Astrid.
Astrid frowned as she asked, "Are you telling me that you and Saw Gerrera aren't... friends anymore?"
"Not in my eyes," Jyn answered curtly. "Perhaps in his, but not in mine. Never in mine. Not after he abandoned me to save his own skin."
Yet, Jyn had just been espousing the benefits of "saving one's own skin". But then again, Saw Gerrera's abandonment had taught her such a lesson.
Astrid cleared her throat uncomfortably before she asked, "So, despite this estrangement here, do you think you will still be able to get us an introduction to him?"
Jyn snorted lightly as she answered with a flip of her pistol in her hand, "I think I can. The tricky part will be to get Saw Gerrera to take some of his precious time away from his little rebellion to see us. He's very fanatical about his rebellion against the Empire. He's lost all sense of humanity."
"But you're friends, so he will set aside some time to see us," Astrid clarified, growing worried that this wasn't going to work out as they'd expected. Wouldn't he also set aside time to see them because they have the same goal, to end the Empire's rule?
"Maybe," Jyn replied with a shrug.
They settled into silence, and their ship rocked gently as they shot off into hyperspace towards Jedha. They would arrive at the moon in about half an hour at this speed.
In an effort to learn more about this woman, Astrid inquired, "So, what exactly landed you in the Imperial Wobani labor camp?"
Jyn replied nonchalantly, "I tried to steal an Imperial officer's gun and vehicle." She gave Astrid a sidelong look as she clarified, "If a Resistance fighter had been nearby with a gun and a vehicle, I would've attacked them, too. I only attacked the Imperial officer because it was convenient." She paused before adding thoughtfully, "But I suppose my twenty year sentence was also determined by my other committed crimes."
"Like what?"
It was strange talking to a criminal, and an indifferent, uncaring criminal at that. Astrid had spent practically her entire life as a Jedi capturing criminals like Jyn before the Clone Wars had taken over all of her time.
A smirk tugged at Jyn's lips, and she began counting off with her fingers as she replied proudly, "Aggravated assault against Imperial military personnel, escape from custody, possession of unsanctioned weapons, forgery of Imperial documents, and resisting arrest. I'm sure there are more I forgot."
Astrid had to admit she was impressed with Jyn's criminal repertoire.
She noticed Jyn's hand come up to play with a necklace around her neck that Astrid hadn't noticed before, and it reminded her of her own japor snippet necklace. Astrid's eyes narrowed as she peered closer at Jyn's necklace, and her eyes widened when she realized what the necklace piece was made of.
In her surprise, she blurted, "That's a kyber crystal!"
Jyn looked startled at her outburst, and a look of confusion crossed her face before she followed Astrid's gaze and realized what she was talking about. She swiftly tucked her kyber crystal necklace into the collar of her shirt out of view.
Her eyes narrowed on Astrid. "How do you know that it's kyber crystal?"
"How did you get kyber crystal?" Astrid shot back, incredulous.
Kyber crystal was hard to obtain, and it was practically sacred to Jedi since it was used to construct their lightsabers. It was strange to see an ordinary citizen wearing one and on a necklace of all things. Astrid felt like the crystal should only belong to Jedi since it was so precious to them.
"My father gave it to me," Jyn replied curtly as if daring Astrid to take it from her. "He devoted almost his entire life on researching and studying kyber crystals. He was trying to understand how to harness its power."
Jyn pulled out her kyber crystal necklace out from underneath her shirt and examined it as she reverently ran a thumb across its gleaming, jagged, white surface.
"Well, that was pointless research," Astrid remarked bluntly. "The kyber crystals only react willingly to the Light Side of the Force used by the Jedi. Kyber crystals resist efforts from Dark users and non-Force users to extract their power."
Jyn scowled before retorting curtly with a lift of her chin, "Well, my father found a way to harness their power. It's why the Empire wanted him so badly for their Death Star."
Astrid's stomach dropped at her words. Was the Empire using the kyber crystals to power the Death Star? It was impossible.
It was brilliant. Terribly brilliant.
Jyn narrowed her eyes at Astrid as she asked, "How do you know so much about kyber crystals if you're just a normal rebel in the Resistance?" When Astrid didn't respond, she continued suspiciously, "I think you're actually--"
Suddenly, their ship shuddered violently as they exited hyperspace, and they were both thrown forward in their seats, cutting Jyn off mid-sentence to Astrid's relief. Thankfully, they were both wearing harnesses, so they weren't thrown entirely to the floor.
Astrid quickly rightened herself right as Cassian entered the space, and he announced with a grim smile, "We've arrived at the Imperial-occupied moon of Jedha."
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The four of them peered over the sand dune on their stomachs as they gazed at Jedha City in the distance through a pair of shared binoculars. Currently, Cassian was using the binoculars, leaving Astrid to examine the terrain with her own eyes.
Between them and the city was a flat desert plain, and the city, itself, was composed of elevated settlements on rocky mesas, all of it centered around towering, jagged rock formations. Astrid's eyes lifted from the city and widened. Hovering in the pale blue sky was a massive Imperial Star Destroyer. The Star Destroyer took up most of the sky, so it casted a large shadow on the desert below. Astrid peered up at the Star Destroyer with narrowed eyes, disliking its very existence.
"What's with the Star Destroyer?" Jyn questioned, saying aloud Astrid's thoughts.
Astrid watched a few TIE fighters disengage from the massive ship to fly down to the city. The TIE fighters looked like small ants compared to the Star Destroyer, which resembled a massive sun. The TIE fighters would be a problem later when they arrived in the city. They had more stormtroopers to worry about in the city now.
"It's because of your old friend, Saw Gerrera," Cassian answered as he lowered the binoculars from his eyes and peered up at the Star Destroyer, himself. "He's been attacking the cargo shipments."
"What are they bringing in?" Astrid asked, glancing over at Cassian.
He met her gaze as he replied solemnly, "It's what are they taking out, that is the question."
"Jedha is a moon stuffed with kyber crystals," Jyn commented. "I bet that is what the Empire is taking out." Cassian and Astrid both looked at her, and she shrugged as she said, "What? I told you my father researched kyber crystals."
Cassian merely harrumphed before he rose to his feet and said, "Okay, well, we've done enough scouting. I think it's time we delve into the heart of the monster. Let's go find Saw Gerrera. K2, stay with the ship. You'll stand out in the city."
It took another thirty minutes to walk across the mesa to Jedha City, which Astrid learned was also known as the Holy City. It was called this because it was once a spiritual home to the Jedi Order due to the city's overabundance of kyber crystals.
The cold wind whipped at Astrid's hair and tore at her clothes with greedy fingers, reaching for something to catch on in the open desert plain. Astrid felt too vulnerable walking across the vast mesa. There was nowhere to hide or take cover if need be. She felt much better when they finally entered the city's narrow, urban streets. Sandstone buildings lined either side of the crowded streets, reminding her of Tatooine.
Even still, Astrid's unease grew as she spotted the stormtroopers milling the streets amidst the people, their pristine white armor like beacons to their location amongst the drab tan and brown clothing.
Their trio came to an abrupt halt as they spotted an Imperial assault tank in the upcoming street intersection, and Astrid noticed Jyn glance up at the surrounding buildings a moment before Astrid felt a flare of surprise and alarm from Jyn through the Force.
Astrid followed Jyn's gaze to find people scattered on the rooftops of the surrounding buildings, their guns peeking over the roof's edge towards the stormtroopers gathered around the assault tank. Astrid didn't know what happened first; either the people on the roofs shot first, or the stormtroopers spotted the people on the roof and they shot first, but all of a sudden, blaster fire was raining all around them in fiery sparks as the two groups exchanged blaster fire.
Their trio split up as they dashed for cover, all the other people on the streets doing the same. Screams and shouts filled the smoking air, and Astrid flung herself around a building right as a bolt of blaster fire whizzed past her. Astrid pressed her back against the rough sandstone wall, her breathing quick with adrenaline. She looked across the street to find Jyn standing in an alleyway with her back pressed against the wall, as well, her pistol pointed upwards beside her face.
Cassian was nowhere to be found.
Jyn suddenly whipped around the corner and shot off a couple of rounds before she swiftly ducked behind the building. Astrid itched to ignite her lightsaber, but she knew it would be a dead give away to her identity as a Jedi, which probably wasn't a good idea since they were on an Imperial occupied moon.
Astrid suddenly spotted Cassian as he sprinted across the street to her same side a couple of houses down the street, narrowly missing a few blaster fire shots from the stormtroopers.
Astrid peeked around the corner and, inhaling a determined breath, lifted a hand. A few of the stormtroopers on the streets were swept off of their feet with the force of her Force-shove, and they slammed into the side of the buildings. A few of them crumpled to the dusty ground and didn't rise.
Astrid heard crying to her right, and she turned her head to find a small girl standing in the middle of the street, completely exposed to the blaster fire, sobbing with fright. Astrid and Jyn's eyes met from across the street. Before Astrid could move, Jyn darted forward into the road and snatched the girl up into her arms.
Blaster fire trailed her as Jyn sprinted back behind the cover of her building, but right before she was about to reach cover, the ground rendered up into the air as the Imperial assault tank fired off a missile. Astrid lost sight of Jyn as rock flew up into the air right where she had been, followed by a thick plume of dust and smoke, and Astrid coughed as she shielded her face with a hand.
The assault tank fired off another shot, and the roof of the building beside Astrid was struck. Rock and people tumbled down to the ground, and Astrid quickly flung up her hands and used the Force to throw the pieces of the building towards the stormtroopers. One of the pieces of rock landing directly on top of the tank with a satisfying crunch of metal.
She could only hope nobody had witnessed her manipulation of the rocks' movement with the Force. As if her thoughts had triggered it, Astrid felt a pair of eyes on her from across the street, and she glanced over to see a thin man with a walking stick in hand staring at her with wide, unflinching pale blue eyes.
Astrid's heart stuttered in alarm.
Suddenly, Astrid felt a hand on her shoulder, and she whirled around with a small shout of surprise, only to find Cassian standing there, gun in hand. "Where's Jyn?" he demanded as his eyes beseechingly searched the dusty, chaotic streets.
"I lost her," Astrid told him. "A missile landed near her."
"What?" Cassian exclaimed in horror. "We need her!"
Astrid scanned the smoky street desperately for signs for Jyn, and she spotted a figure emerging from the dust and smoke, running directly towards them. Astrid tensed before realizing it was Jyn, and both her and Cassian let out sighs of relief.
Jyn skidded to a stop beside Cassian behind the shelter of the building, and she shouted over the sounds of rapid blaster fire, "What are we doing? We need to get out of here before we're all killed!"
Before, Astrid might've protested and suggested they stay and help the insurgents, but she realized their mission was more important in that it could save more lives, so she nodded and said, "Yeah, let's go!"
The trio sprinted off down the alleyway, but when they emerged onto the adjacent street, they discovered the fighting had spread here, too. Suddenly, an Imperial KX-series security droid appeared out of nowhere to their left, and with lightning speed and without hesitation Jyn whipped out her pistol and shot it, leaving a smoking hole clean through its metal chest.
The security droid fell to the ground, revealing another Imperial KX-series security droid behind it, who turned out to be K2 when he remarked incredulously to Jyn, "Hey! Did you know that wasn't me before you shot the droid?"
Jyn nodded and tucked a lock of brown hair behind her ear as she replied breathlessly, "Well, yeah, of course."
Astrid knew she was lying.
"Well," K2 began, chagrined, "you shouldn't have left me with the ship." One of the stormtroopers tossed a grenade in their direction, and before any of them could react, K2 caught the bomb in his hand. "I mean what would you have done without me here to save you?" He casually threw the grenade back at the stormtroopers, and it exploded in a fiery burst, throwing stormtroopers everywhere like they weighed nothing more than a feather.
The three of them gaped at K2.
The security droid turned towards them as he asked, "What?"
"Let's just keep going!" Cassian shouted impatiently before running forward.
Astrid, Jyn, and K2 followed after him in a run, and they headed into the alleyway across the street, where it appeared as if the fighting hadn't spread there yet. The moment they emerged onto the next street, they found themselves running straight into a group of eight stormtroopers. They skidded to a stop with alarmed looks, and the stormtroopers immediately lifted their blaster guns towards them as the lead stormtrooper ordered, "Stay where you are! Put your hands in the air!"
The three of them except K2 lifted their hands into the air.
The lead stormtrooper regarded K2 as he asked, "Where are you taking these prisoners?" Before K2 could answer, the stormtrooper spoke curtly, "We can take the prisoners from here."
Astrid suddenly caught movement to her left, and she glanced over to see the same monk who'd caught her using the Force earlier walking calmly towards them. The stormtroopers noticed him, too, and they turned towards him as one of them shouted, "Hey! You there! Stop where you are!"
From this close, Astrid realized the monk was blind.
"Stay back!" The lead stormtrooper demanded with a shout as he hefted his blaster gun upwards to aim at the monk. But the blind monk kept walking forward with calm, measured steps.
The stormtroopers began firing on the man, but he easily sidestepped and dodged all of the blaster fire. Five of the stormtroopers surged forward as they fanned out around the monk. Before the stormtroopers could heft their blaster guns up to shoot at him, the monk began taking out all of the stormtroopers with impressive speed using his stick.
He whacked a stormtrooper on the back of their knees, causing the stormtrooper to fall, and in the same movement, he kicked with his foot and then hit with his stick another stormtrooper to his left. One of the stormtroopers fired his blaster gun at the monk, but the monk grabbed a nearby stormtrooper and pulled them in front of him, causing the blaster fire to hit the stormtrooper in the chest instead.
It was amazing that the monk could fight so well and avoid getting shot when he was blind. He moved as if he could see.
Within a few moments, all of the stormtroopers were on the ground, defeated, some of them dead, and others unconscious. The four of them gaped at the monk in bewilderment. Before any of them could move, they were suddenly surrounded by the insurgents who had been attacking the stormtroopers earlier two streets down.
Astrid realized the sounds of blaster fire had ceased; the fighting was over, and it appeared the insurgents had won.
One of the rebels stopped in front of them, his blaster gun pointed threateningly at them in warning not to bother attacking. Jyn hurriedly spoke from beside Astrid, "I'm Jyn Erso, Galen Erso's daughter. I'm friends with Saw Gerrera. We wish to speak with him."
The rebel looked behind him as an older human man with long black hair and olive-toned skin approached them. The older man appeared to be the leader by the way the group was regarding him, and the man spoke to the rebels in front of them in an alien language. Astrid heard Saw Gerrera's name mentioned, which had to be a good sign, right?
Four rebels came up behind them, and they didn't resist as the rebels bound their hands behind their back with rope. Then, a hood was being tugged over Astrid's head, and her vision was engulfed in darkness.
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