Captain Cassian Andor

The stands are a mixture of good quality and finding seats where you can. Thanks to the help of Pan, Cassian was able to get Barry, Cisco and Gabe seats with a good view of what's visible of the track and then the screens showing the other sections.

Cassian's down with the ships with Yamato, Pan came by to help them but is now up in the stands.

Cassian could just hear the young rebels talking from where he waited in the warehouse. He didn't need to know the details of their argument, either they would trust him or they wouldn't. A part of him almost wished they weren't needed so by the Rebellion, but everyone had to fight or they'd never win. He'd started fighting younger than they were and the Rebellion had been there for him as much as it could.

****

"We can't trust him." Yna said as she watched the Rebel contact wait, his stillness made her nervous. Her ear twitched and she smoothed her whiskers as she wondered how much of a hunter he was.

"He brought what the message said he would." Ty said as he smoothed a tentacle, his voice low and thoughtful.

"He's from Fest." Mig's voice rose slightly, he was the youngest and still hopeful, but he was also human. That made things simpler for him.

"How do you know?" She wasn't going to take anything on Mig's faith.

"When I said my lucky phrase, he looked my way and he kind of smiled." Mig was so certain of what he saw.

"No, he didn't." Ty scoffed.

"It was small but he did. I know he understood. We always get to decide what we give, but I think we should." Mig looked at her and Yna looked down at the supplies in from of them.

Then she turned and gave a quick nod. He walked over and she was struck again how he would make a good Togorian, always ready to fight but not obvious about it.

Yna made her voice firm as she said. "We have a deal."

"Good, this is an encoded comm. Use it as a dead drop as we move everything into place." The comm he handed her seemed too small for all that meant but she took it and hid it. Then he turned to go, she hadn't seen which entrance he'd used, which was safer. Before he was too deep into the shadows, Mig said in Festian. "May the thaw come as promised."

From the darkness, his voice emerged to answer Mig in Festian. And the ice be thick enough to hold you."

Then there was nothing as Mig beamed at her, while they prepared to move the supplies.

"No, I'm not talking to anyone unless they have a performer with them and the cantina is closed." The door slammed behind the angry Shistavanen and Cassian winced from where he watching across the street.

His asset couldn't meet him if the cantina wasn't open as they worked in there. He needed some way to convince the owner and started to walk around the block, opening a door that turned into Milliways.

Cassian pats the shuttle as he gets off, nodding to the pilot before stepping off and starting towards Ops and Draven.

If he reports first then he can find Kay and get some rest perhaps even see if whoever's cooking needs help. As he walks back, he notes the extra movement and wonders which of the possible raids is going ahead.

He gets a few nods but not that many, he's not around that much and tends to keep to himself, its safer in the long run.

"Who are you with?" Cassian lifted up his hands and glanced around the pilots' bar with a surprised look as the Locan owner glared at him, "No one, just me."

"I don't buy it. I've heard the questions you keep asking Aim, who's too nice," Across from him, Aim, a teenage Rodian seemed unsure what to do.

"That's not fair. What am I going to tell him and who would care?" Aim spoke up, pleading for him.

"Who cares? Rebels, Imps, the syndicates, but he's too skinny for the last two. I bet he's a rebel," He could hear the owner getting angrier.

Carefully Cassian edged out of his seat, keeping his hands in sight. He needed to get out before this turned bad, he'd be sorry to lose Aim to talk to.

Before he could get too far, the owner punched him in the gut twice then once on the side of his face, "Don't fill Aim's head with stupid dreams. Get enough of them from pilots. Out!"

With a push, he was sent out of the door and saw Aim's galaxy Rodian eyes follow him then he turned and got back to his ship. At least Kay was on another mission and wouldn't there to see him like this. It felt like a rib was cracked and he tasted blood in his mouth.

In his ship, he sat down and stared at his hands which shook. There wasn't time for that, he got out of orbit and into hyperdrive before checking in. Draven had another mission for him, a clear-cut assassination of a target that needed recon to get the right shot.

******

At least the planet was warm, almost humid, Cassian shirt kept sticking to his back as he drank bad caf and watched his target follow their routine. It took three days to know where to be and one wait on a roof once he'd changed his rifle over. The shot was clean and quick, while he dismantled his blaster and moved into the crowd. It felt good to have a simple mission, the kind that Draven liked. No complications, no need for adaptations or too many thoughts just in and gone. This was what he did.

Barry was drunk when he'd said 'everyone deserves friends', after what happened and when he's sober, he won't feel the same. No one ever does when they understand the kind of liar and killer Cassian truly is, but Cisco will keep Barry away from him. And disappearing into crowds and not being seen is something else he's good at.

The time in hyperspace seemed to stretch so he started working on intel and finally a collection of word and spatial puzzles he'd found. They keep him from thinking too deeply.

Cassian wants to be going on a mission again but that means getting all the pieces together.

As he's finding sleep hard to come by, he takes his datapad and goes to rest on Kay where he's recharging.

Soon he has projections of possible routes and options for a sabotage up and the plan's looking like something he can take to Draven and command for approval.

"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.

He couldn’t move, there was only the cold and he woke up trembling to see the faint lights of the medbay. His side hurt as he sat up and pulled on his boots, shirt, buckled on his belt with blaster before getting his jacket on and hugging it against himself. Somewhere would be warmer, the ship would be and Kay would understand if he was sleeping in there instead of his bunk. He took a breath and stood up before heading towards the hangar and trying not to hit anything.

The door that should have led to the hangar went to Milliways and he went to the elevator, there was a U-wing down there. All the distances seemed longer and he kept resting his hand on his blaster, no Imperials would find him down here. Finally he made it to the ship, opened the door with a lockpick and then laid down on the seats and fell asleep, not an easy sleep but rest. Sometime later he wakes up and stretches with a wince before leaning on the open door of the U-Wing, maybe sleeping in the garage of Milliways wasn't the wisest of ideas.