Captain Cassian Andor

"On this day, the fourteenth since the Ascension of our Emperor and the creation of peace in the galaxy, we celebrate from Coruscant to the far reaches of the Outer Rim!" The holovid echoed through the streets of Ord Mantell with cheers, Cassian could hear they weren't eager but practiced from his spot by the office window. Down in the streets, clusters of 'troopers moved among the crowd and he could see the balls of camera and surveillance droids recording the moment and watching who didn't cheer loud enough. Once the cheers died down, he turned to finish up the party planning, the only benefit to being the lowest in the office was he didn't have to go everything.

He'd done as expected and moped at not going, now he'd seen the food was ready and was at the supervisor's desk slicing as deep as he could. Sombra could have done it faster but he needed to be careful and not leave anything to be traced by, steal information especially from the Imperial ship in dock. His comm beeped and his lifted it up, making his voice harried, "Yes, Willix here."

On the other end, Enla said crisply, "Is everything ready? I'm coming up with the commander and he wants to be impressed."

"He will be," In a few moments, he was out of the program and made himself disappear before going down the hall to let the caterers know it was time. He straightened his suit and stretched, he could do this, one more bureaucrat, no one to be seen in this Mid-Rim office.

The officers entered and looked everything over with a few tuts, before going for the most expensive drinks and food on display. When a lower level officer, an Ensign waved him over, he walked over and said, "Yes, sir."

"Those pastry things, I've never had them before. Get me a few from the kitchen and there's a credit in it for you."

Cassian lowered his eyes because he knew some of his anger would show and leaned on his accent, "Course, sir."

It was a relief to have an excuse to get out of that room and in the kitchen, Sinya, who was one of the Twi'lek servers handed him a small glass, "Drink that, you need it."

He took it and smiled at the taste of All or Nothing, "Thank you. I need a plate of those for the Ensign seeing what he can get away with."

She laughed, "They are good. Take one for yourself before bringing them out and if we survive tonight. I'll give you half price off a bottle of All or Nothing."

It wasn't hard to look surprised, that was generous of her, but he had helped with the hiring of this company, "You'd do that?"

"Yes, we have to stick together," From the party, Enla laughed and laughed at something and Cassian went back into the room. Somehow the party wound to its end and he helped in the kitchen, Ganto did too, it was comfortable to be around food and no voiced jokes but a few impressions. Enla had gone on to another gathering but he had pressed into her hands the holovid from Cassidy. As she was leaving, Sinya clapped him on the shoulder and he paid her for the bottle as she said, "Find someone to share that with, Willix. You have a nice face but don't smile enough."

He laughed and this time it was fairly genuine, "I've heard that before and I'll work on it."

Soon he was the last one in the office except for the cleaning droids and as he left, he checked the surveillance to double check there was no sign of what he'd done. As he was walking out, he kept a hand in his pocket and in the other one clutched the bottle to hide how tightly his hands were clenched. He wasn't here for destruction, he had no back up or plan but it would feel nice to wreck one of the Empire's banners.

Cassian typed in another form, one more ship to pass through and he knew that Enla would find a way to take her skim off while their boss would add another charge. The Black Sun had left their most of their structure behind, ways to keep ships behind, every shopkeeper expected to pay for insurance, all the Empire had to do was take it over.

Evidence upon evidence but who would care, the Senate where getting a topic that mattered spoken of required months of work. Advocate groups that were concerned with all their own troubles and wanted their names mentioned on the Holonet in Coruscant. It would go to the Senators when he had it distilled, Organa knew how to make change, small change but it existed. One chink in the armor, but how many would it take to bring it all down?

Patterns of ships and troops, that could lead to disruption but too much and the retaliation could go in the wrong places. Where were those shipments going? He'd have to find deeper links into Imperial records to find out. Where was the Empire going next? Would they ever be able to stop them?

He stretched as the shift ended, smiled at Ganto and went to buy a cheap dinner. His gaze went to the ships passing overhead, everything moving somewhere and if he kept looking, he'd see the Empire's patterns and how to destroy them.

"Willix, get over here and bring me those reports!" The yell carried through the office and Cassian hurried over to say with his accent stronger, "Here, sir, all prepared."

Niol, the customs' officer at the port took the datachip and scanned it with a few tuts, "Fair work but you'll have to do better here in the Mid-Rim, Willix."

"Of course, sir, I want to prove myself," Cassian smoothed his hair and kept his eyes low until he was dismissed with a wave. Then he went back to his desk to sit and work on the busywork of the port and looking for the cracks that he could use.

Night had long fallen by the time he made his way to the tiny government apartment that he was assigned and pushed open the door. Then he tugged off the suit jacket and stretched, he'd have to find which cantinas to go into next. He'd had a few openings from others at the offices but they wanted to see how eager and how smart he was, which meant a lot of playing up being from the Outer Rim. Lunch tomorrow would be a good chance to ask and be amazed at Ord Mantell, they'd like that. He checked the apartment, no one had searched it though he expected they would at some point and his compartment was well hidden.