Chapter Text
Two years ago
“Spill it,” Jyn said, stepping into the doorway of the private locker rooms that the Special Forces cadets used (that was currently completely empty, as only two of said elite cadets were back from training) and barring the way in.
Keo, who was about to walk in, towel and soap in hand, froze, like they’d been caught stealing extra ration bars from the cafeteria.
“Fuck,” they groaned, massaging their temples and backing up. “What did you hear?”
Jyn scowled.
“What do you think?” She demanded.
Keo scowled back.
“I saw you with Wedge and Ria earlier,” they huffed, shouldering their way around her. “Let me guess, something about me slipped through the rumor mill and you wanna verify it.”
Jyn blinked in surprise.
“You saw me with them?” She remarked, hanging her towel on the rack and undressing. Given that space was always in issue in Imperial complexes, the locker rooms were little more than a line of showers with low walls in between them for some sort of privacy, but most cadets didn’t give a shit about nudity. You kind of had to, especially since each room in the barracks had three sets of bunk beds with two cadets each, meaning that each room had six cadets packed in like sardines and there was no personal space.
Keo nodded. “Yeah, Ria’s hair’s like a massive beacon that’s constantly screaming, ‘look at me!’ It is absolutely not regulation.”
Jyn smirked, thinking of her fellow cadet, who was known among the Academy for her habit of coloring her hair the most bright, vibrant colors she could whenever she was able to get her hands on some dye. And Keo was right, it most certainly was not regulation.
“Ria told me that you’re helping her plan a defection,” Jyn said, deciding to be blunt. “And she’s refutable.”
Keo made a face as they slid off their shirt. “Okay, okay, you caught me. I’m pretty sure Ria only told you that because you’re my friend. But yeah. We’re organizing a mass defection tomorrow during the flight drills.”
“I want in,” Jyn replied.
Keo snorted. “I saw that coming. The plan is that as we’re passing the outer perimeter, instead of flying back, we just hit the gas and book it north. Ria managed to get some mercenaries on our side to help cover our escape because apparently she knows their leader or something. From there, they’re gonna escort us towards Atollon in Paxton. You can sign up to be my gunner!”
“I heard Atollon has giant mutant spiders,” Jyn muttered dryly, hastily scrubbing herself down. “And I’ll fly my own plane, thanks. Your piloting terrifies me.” She hated showering, mostly because of how bad her dysphoria tended to get. Keo, however, didn’t seem to have much of a problem.
Then again, Keo had exactly zero qualms about showing up to the shooting range very hungover after sneaking out to the nearest bar, so it wasn’t exactly a fair comparison.
Keo Venzee had been Jyn’s best friend here at the Skystrike Academy For Imperial Elites ever since she’d first arrived. They’d both lost their parents due to Imperial intervention, as it was referred to (which was a lie; the incidents had clearly been attacks on rebel cells). Keo, however, had lost their parents in an air raid over Mirial on the Italia Peninsula, and rather than training to be a Deathtrooper, they were training to be a TIE pilot since they clearly had a gift for flying. They were a year older than Jyn, which meant that they already received the customary facial markings of their people: A unique pattern of dark lines and diamonds tattooed on their pale skin, below and on the outer corners of their eyes and on their chin. The two of them had bonded over puzzling their identities together, and recently Keo had settled on using they/them pronouns.
Personally, Jyn thought that suited them. Keo had always preferred to look androgynous as possible.
“Nah, I think the giant spiders thing is a myth,” Keo remarked. “Might just be Shell-Walkers. But make sure you’re at the hangar by oh-nine-hundred tomorrow sharp. Then we’ll get out of here.”
———
Jyn felt incredibly nervous as she stood in line with the other pilots.
It wasn’t like she was a bad pilot. She was just a lot more comfortable fighting on the ground, even though she’d scored high enough on the aptitude test to sign up for the Special Forces flight program.
She was glad, though.
Being stuck as Keo’s gunner would’ve been the most frightening experience of her life. They seemed to really enjoy those fancy maneuvers that were against protocol and were really only useful when you were being shot at by multiple missiles, and Jyn hated admitting that the G-forces made her woozy.
Speaking of Keo, the Mirialan was a few spots away from her in line next to Ria (who must’ve dyed her hair that outlandish shade of green last night) and kept glancing at her and winking, clearly ignoring the instructor’s lecture.
Jyn glared at them.
Keo smirked and stuck out their tongue.
Jyn rolled her eyes.
“We’ll be running a standard dogfight scenario this morning,” Instructor Goran said sharply, pacing in front of them in his flight suit. “I expect everyone will follow orders as they are given and stay in formation, Cadet Venzee.”
“Sir yes sir,” Keo remarked.
Hastily muted laughter rose from the other pilots.
“You cadets do not truly understand your position yet,” Instructor Goran snapped. “But I do. I know the most important thing of all, the one thing you must know to be true if you are ever to become an Imperial TIE fighter pilot. Like any tool, you are expendable and replaceable. Now assemble by squadron and get to your planes and perform your preflight checks. Then await my orders.”
Jyn sucked in a deep breath and ran over to Keo. Ria had already left to join her squadron. In her opinion, Meiloorun Squadron, composed of Ria (the squad leader), Wedge (a nice guy but kind of preppy), Hobbie (often an overthinking mess), Oleg (an asshole who tended to buy into Imperial propaganda), and Rake (who had the personality of a rather pleasant disposable napkin) was a great group to make small talk with, but not one she’d want to hang around with all the time.
Vanguard Squadron, on the other hand—
“Ha, looks like Erso decided to join us!” Frisk laughed, slapping her on the back. “You get bored in the infantry?”
“She’s not in the infantry, Frisk,” Grace scoffed, holding her helmet between her knees so she could pull her dreadlocks into some semblance of a ponytail. “She’s a Deathtrooper. So she kinda ranks above us, technically.”
“I’m glad you’re joining us today, Lady Erso,” Gunny remarked, flashing her a grin.
“Yeah, yeah,” Jyn grumbled, trying to hide her grin.
Vanguard Squadron was probably her favorite group to hang out with. She’d met them through Keo, and Jyn always loved hanging out with them during her free time.
Even though Keo was her best friend by far, Feresk—whom they all called Frisk—came in at a close second. Apparently he’d been rescued by the Empire from some crazy human sacrifice thing from the Trandoshan cultists—likely because of his strange, mutated outward appearance, given that he was very tall and bald and had weird scaly bumps all over his head and his pupils and teeth were weirdly shaped—but he was one of the nicest guys Jyn had ever met. He did have a weakness for food of any kind, which meant that Keo had to move their stash of stolen ration bars often to avoid getting them nicked.
Grace, however, didn’t have such weaknesses and was usually the one keeping everyone out of trouble. She was a daughter of a rich Imperial merchant (and she definitely looked the part, with her demure grace, beautiful dark skin, and gorgeous fluffy hair), but despite her background, she wasn’t snobby and stuck-up. In fact, she was the opposite, and tended to be the sole voice of reason in the group.
And then there was Kierah, the squad leader, nicknamed Gunny ever since she’d lost her arm after some repairs had gone wrong and she’d gotten said arm shot off by a malfunctioning machine gun. Gunny found the nickname hilarious, and despite the fact that she was usually the most calm and collected of the group—she was the squadron leader after all—she never failed to have a good time. Her favorite hobby when they snuck into town to go to the bar was getting drunk and jumping up on the table to sing along to the radio, which was amusing, considering she was a nineteen-year-old with a bright red buzz cut and a prosthetic left arm who was barely taller than Jyn.
All in all, Jyn loved Vanguard Squadron.
“So Ria filled you in on the plan?” Gunny asked as they all huddled underneath one of the TIE planes.
Jyn nodded.
“I’m ready,” she said. “Just go easy on me and try not to pull anything fancy. Flying makes me nauseous sometimes.”
Frisk laughed. “Of course we’ll have your back, Lady Erso!”
“When we get out, I’m gonna be a pro podracer,” Keo remarked, putting their helmet on. “I might just invite you to my races once I’m famous. Except you, Grace, you got on my nerves last night.”
Grace scoffed. “Rude. I’m telling you, I didn’t touch your dashboard collection.”
Jyn snorted.
She climbed into her TIE and belted herself in, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves as she started up the engines.
“Vanguard Leader here,” Gunny said. “All wings, report in.”
“Vanguard Two, standing by,” said Grace.
“Vanguard Three, standing by,” said Keo.
“Vanguard Four, standing by,” said Frisk.
“Vanguard Five, standing by,” Jyn said.
She almost couldn’t believe it.
She was getting out.
“All squadrons, report in,” Instructor Goran’s voice crackled over the radio as they began to taxi out of the hangar.
“Meiloorun Squadron, standing by.”
“Scrapper Squadron, standing by.”
“Rustwash Squadron, standing by.”
“Cirrus Squadron, standing by.”
“Dart Squadron, standing by.”
“Vanguard Squadron, standing by.”
“Meiloorun Squadron, Rustwash Squadron, Vanguard Squadron, take off and head due east towards Skystrike’s sister facility,” Instructor Goran said. “Everyone else, you will act as enemy pursuers. Meiloorun, Rustwash and Vanguard, your goal is to make it to the sister facility as quickly as you can and with minimal casualties. In this scenario you are merely evading, not firing back. Points will be deducted from your final score for using your weapons to deter the enemy planes. I will observe the dogfight from a distance in my own plane and intervene if necessary. Do you understand?”
There was a chorus of “Yes sirs” as they lifted off.
“Is everyone ready?” Gunny asked over their private comn channel.
“Ready as we’ll ever be, Vanguard Leader,” Ria joked, and Jyn laughed as Ria’s TIE dove steeply before leveling out.
“Back in formation, Meiloorun Leader,” the leader of Rustwash Squadron, Eitri, grumbled. Frankly, Jyn didn’t like Eitri very much, since the guy had a massive stick up his arse and the aforementioned stick made it startling that he’d agreed to defect, but hey, who was Jyn to judge?
“We’ll make for Skystrike Beta and then head north when we hit the canyons,” Ria said. “We’ll have to make it on our own until the power lines, but once we get there my friends’ll meet us and we’ll be home free. Everybody clear?”
Jyn grinned.
She’d been dreaming of this day ever since she’d arrived.
“Looks like we’ve got Cirrus on our six,” Keo remarked. “Time for a friendly firefight, huh?”
“No weapons, Keo,” Grace chastised them. “Not until we head north. This needs to look convincing.”
“I’ll show them convincing,” Frisk grunted.
“How?” Jyn taunted, smirking to herself. “By following protocol for once?”
Laughter from the other squadrons.
Jyn tightened her grip on the joystick, sucking in a deep breath as her radar screen pinged, alerting her to Scrapper Six and Scrapper Two approaching to the left in an attempt to strafe her. The TIE planes all had brightly colored clay targets fixed to the tops of their wings to represent engines, so instead of crashing in a fiery wreck they’d merely get their visible markers knocked off and therefore be disqualified from the exercise.
This, however, wasn’t going to be a normal exercise.
Jyn wrenched her joystick to the right, diving out of the way as Scrapper Two attempted to knock out her left target. Biting her lip, she leveled out again.
“Scrapper Two’s on my tail,” she said.
“On it,” Keo replied. “Bank right. I’ll distract him so you can shake him.”
Machine gun fire rattled behind her.
“We’re nearing the canyons,” Ria said suddenly. “Everybody, get ready to bank left and open your throttles. Instructor Goran’s gonna realize what’s up real quick, so we’re gonna have to fly fast!”
“Sir yes sir!” Everyone replied.
Jyn gnawed on her lower lip anxiously as she swerved and weaved away from Dart Squadron (who were trying to cut her off from the group like a wolf pack singling out a deer from a herd). She could see the canyons up ahead, deep troughs in the earth that looked like they’d been blown out by explosives. According to researchers, they’d been quarries of some kind in the days of the Ancient Ones.
There was tension brewing in the air, like the calm before the storm.
“Bank left now!” Ria shouted.
Right on cue, Rustwash and Meiloorun Squadrons swooped low in a wide left turn and rocketed into the sky.
Jyn slammed the throttle forwards.
She yelped in surprise as her TIE shot forwards, but she managed to recover and level out.
“Cirrus Squadron and Dart Squadron are still giving chase!” Grace said. “Looks like Scrapper’s confused though since they’re breaking off! Don’t stop!”
“Can I use my guns now?” Keo asked.
“Yes Keo, you can use your guns now,” Gunny snorted. “Aim for steering controls and try to disable rather than kill. We don’t wanna make ourselves bigger criminals than we already are by—“
BOOM.
Jyn shrieked out loud, almost losing control of her TIE in shock.
She whipped her head around just in time to see Gunny’s TIE explode in a fireball, the wreckage raining down on the canyons like hail.
“GUNNY!” Keo, Grace, and Frisk all screamed.
“Nice try, but you losers aren’t gonna defect on my watch!” Oleg cackled, and Jyn’s eyes widened as she saw his TIE shoot towards Ria’s.
“YOU BASTARD!” Keo snarled. “YOU MOTHERFUCKING DICK SUCKING CUCK SON OF A—“
Jyn didn’t get a chance to hear the rest (although she doubted she would’ve wanted to) because the radio suddenly cut out altogether, and then, dozens more Imperial TIEs suddenly lifted out from under the overhanging rocks in the canyons.
“That arsehead squealed!” Jyn barked, slapping her radio in an attempt to get it working. “That bastard!”
Of course Oleg had ratted them out.
Why hadn’t she suspected something when that bastard hadn’t stopped spouting Imperial propaganda? Sure, most cadets who’d enlisted willingly like he had were brainwashed from youth, but that bastard seemed to be damn bloodthirsty.
Jyn growled.
“I’ve almost got it unscrambled!” Wedge suddenly yelled, his voice crackling and garbled. “This is Meiloorun Two, can anybody hear me?”
“Report in!” Ria shouted, strain in her voice. “All wings, report in!”
“Vanguard Two, standing by!”
“Vanguard Four, standing by!”
“Rustwash Five, standing by!”
“Meiloorun Two, standing by!”
“Rustwash Four, standing by!”
“Meiloorun Three, standing by!”
“Rustwash Leader, standing by!”
“Meiloorun Five, standing by!”
“Rustwash Two, standing by!”
“Rustwash Three, standing—AAAAAA!”
Jyn winced as Rustwash Three exploded next to her thanks to a few well-placed shots from—oh, fuck, that was Instructor Goran.
“Shit!” She gasped. “Vanguard Five, standing by!”
Wait a moment.
Where was Keo?
“Cadets, this is your first and only warning,” Instructor Goran’s voice broke through, chillier than ever. “Thanks to your fellow cadet Oleg, who alerted me of your plans to desert, we were able to successfully prevent your treachery. If you do not wish to be shot out of the sky, I suggest you follow my orders and resume your course to Skystrike Beta.”
Jyn growled.
She wasn’t going down without a fight, she thought to herself, opening the throttle.
More explosions sounded behind her, and she forced her TIE into a dive. Unfortunately another locked onto her, and she heard the rattle of gunfire.
The sounds of bullets ricocheting off the tops of her wings made her flinch.
Jyn bit her lip.
Damn it, where was Keo when she needed them?
“I can’t shake ‘em!” Rake shouted. “Shit, they’re all over me! Somebody help—“
He was cut off.
Jyn’s stomach twisted nauseatingly.
Shit shit shit, that TIE behind her had steadied out, which meant he had her locked and was preparing to fire missiles.
She had to do something drastic.
Jyn hauled back on the control yoke with all of her strength, trying to remember how Keo did that fancy maneuver they used…
And then she was upside down.
Jyn yelped in alarm, struggling to keep from passing out from the G-forces as her nausea continued to build.
Don’t throw up in the cockpit don’t throw up in the cockpit don’t throw up in the damn cockpit—
She jammed her guns downwards and fired.
The TIE chasing her went up in flames as she shot back downwards through the resulting fireball, flames trailing from her plane’s wings, and Jyn whooped with joy.
“Keo!” She shouted. “Keo, I pulled off that fancy maneuver—“
Her right engine exploded.
“SON OF A BITCH!” Jyn shrieked, struggling to level out. Shit, this was bad. She could fly with only one engine, but it wasn’t going to be easy.
She was going to have to glide.
“My starboard engine’s down!” She shouted into the commlink. “I need an assist if I’m gonna make it to the power lines!”
“On it!” Eitri called. “Hang tight, Vanguard Five, I’m almost—“
Out of the corner of her eye, Jyn saw Eitri’s TIE explode.
“You’re next, Erso!” Oleg crowed, and his TIE barreled in, and Jyn’s eyes widened in horror as she saw the cannons priming—
“EAT LEAD, SHITLIPS!”
“Keo!” Jyn yelped as another TIE streaked by, forcing Oleg to break off his attack.
“Grace, give Jyn her assist!” Keo barked over the radio, their voice audibly shaking. “Frisk, cover me! Time to give this asshole a piece of what he gave Gunny!”
Jyn clenched her jaw.
She could see the power lines in the distance. Just a few more minutes and they’d be in the clear, she thought to herself.
“Is anybody still there?” Ria’s voice, sounding panicked, came over the comn.
“Rustwash Squadron’s wiped out,” Wedge replied. “We lost Rake, but Hobbie and I’re still here. How’s Vanguard lookin?’”
“Everybody’s fine here except for Gunny,” Jyn said hastily, checking her fuel levels. She swore under her breath. They were dropping. Her tank must’ve been punctured. “One of my engines’re down and I’m losing juice so I’m gliding right now; Grace is watching my back. Frisk and Keo went after Oleg.”
“NO!” Ria squawked. “Forget his ass! I repeat, do not go after Oleg!”
Jyn swore.
Oh, this escape was not going as planned.
She saw Oleg’s TIE streak past, followed closely by Keo’s. Frisk was tailing Keo, picking off attackers who tried to give chase.
Suddenly Oleg stalled.
“The hell?” Jyn muttered.
Keo’s TIE overshot Oleg, and suddenly Jyn realized what was about to happen.
“Keo get out of there!” She shouted.
“Where’d he go?” Keo snarled, their voice trembling with rage. “Just lemme kill his ass real quick—“
But before Oleg could fire, Grace rammed her TIE into his, and the resulting explosion blew them both to bits and sent debris raining down on Keo.
“NO!” Keo screamed. “NO NO NO—“
“Shit—“ Frisk yelped as a missile fired from Instructor Goran’s TIE blew off his wing and ignited his fuel tanks.
“Oh god,” Jyn croaked.
They weren’t gonna make it, she realized, watching as Hobbie and Wedge struggled to evade more gunfire. The debris from the explosion had obviously damaged Keo’s plane, and Ria’s was belching smoke.
“Meiloorun Squadron, Vanguard Squadron,” Ria said, voice shaking, “It was an honor flying with you all.”
Suddenly Jyn’s radar lit up.
“Holy shit,” she breathed, watching as from beyond the power lines dozens of planes came into range, all of them emblazoned with the crest of…
“The Dreamers!” Wedge yelled. “Holy shit, Ria, you didn’t tell us you were friends with the fuckin’ Dreamers!”
Ria cackled ecstatically. “Hell yeah I am!”
“You cadets aren’t looking good,” a new voice, an older man, remarked dryly. “We’ll take it from here.”
Jyn let out a sigh of relief.
As battered as they were, they were going to make it.
———
It was silent in the armored truck that had picked them up at the rendezvous point.
Hobbie and Wedge were conked out on the bench, using each other as pillows (Jyn would’ve laughed had she been any less tired). Ria—whom they’d recently learned was actually named Sabine—had gone to ride in another truck, and she’d been in a great mood then, talking about how the Resistance had more pilots now.
Jyn couldn’t help feeling… hesitant.
Sure, she hated the Empire just as much as everybody, but she didn’t like the idea of joining the Resistance. From what little she’d heard, the fledgling rebellion wasn’t really strong enough to accomplish anything.
The Dreamer mercenaries, on the other hand…
Jyn sighed, leaning her head back against the side of the truck and listening to the low rumble of the engines.
She was just glad to have gotten away.
“My ma would’ve said they’re not really gone, you know.”
Jyn blinked.
She glanced over.
Keo, whom she thought had been sleeping, was tucked into almost a fetal position in their seat, something glum and miserable in their eyes as they propped their chin on their forearms, holding a crystal pendant about the size of Jyn’s thumb in one hand.
They had been silent since the rendezvous point.
“My ma always said that there is no death, only the Force,” Keo continued miserably, gazing at the crystal. “Mirialan custom. Supposedly when you die, you’re not disappearing forever. You just leave your physical body to join the energy that binds everything together. You… you think it’s true?”
Jyn winced.
“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “Are… are you holding up okay?”
Keo chuckled humorlessly, wiping up a few tears with their sleeve. “No. All I have left of them is this.”
They reached into their pocket and held up what looked like a hideous little brown doll the size of their thumb with a tuft of bright purple hair on its head. “Grace gave it to me. To stick on my dashboard while I fly. Like a good luck charm.”
“Her sense of humor was always weird,” Jyn murmured.
Keo grimaced, sniffling. “I can’t believe I lost them all so fast. It should’ve been me, not everybody else.”
Jyn sighed.
“Hey, it’s okay,” she sighed, reaching over and patting Keo’s leg. “We’re alive. We got away from the Empire. I think Frisk and Grace and Gunny would be proud.”
Keo shot her a withering look. “I shouldn’t’ve gone after Oleg, they’d be alive if I hadn’t—“
“Don’t do that,” Jyn cut them off. “Don’t blame yourself.”
It was quiet for a moment.
“Well, I’m not joining the Resistance, that’s for sure,” Keo sighed. “I’m joining the Dreamers. And… I’m done flying. For good.”
Jyn tried to think of a way to respond, but she couldn’t.
Maybe it was for the best, she thought to herself, leaning back against the wall of the truck. All of them had lost too much today.
———
Present day
Jyn couldn’t help but stare in disbelief.
“I thought you were with Benthic,” she spat as Keo dropped a toolbox on the floor. BD-1 was sitting happily on the Mirialan’s shoulder with an irritatingly smug look on his annoying metal face, which was amazing considering that he wasn’t capable of making facial expressions.
Pick a side, you little shit, Jyn thought.
“I… owe you an apology,” Keo sighed, rubbing their face. “I was… I was selfish, okay? I didn’t think about what I was doing. I just… I mean, your bounties are huge, and I started thinking about getting the Cavern Angels back, and—“
“You sure have a unique way of paying me back for saving your life,” Jyn snapped.
Saw cast her a glare.
Jyn rolled her eyes.
Keo scowled, kneeling next to Saw and grabbing some tools. “Look, I said I’m sorry, okay? But I’m letting you out mostly because of the batshit heroics your ginger friend pulled a while ago.”
Jyn froze. She had a feeling she was going to hate whatever Keo said next.
“What did he do?” She sighed.
“Jumped into the Pit to avoid getting captured,” Keo remarked. “Even if he somehow survived the fall, he’s royally fucked himself over.”
Jyn groaned.
“Let me guess,” she said. “They turned on Ezra and tried to capture him but him and Cal are a little more powerful than they estimated.”
Keo nodded, prying the back panel of Saw’s exoskeleton open. “Yeah. They managed to break out of the medcenter before the sleep gas Benthic’s goons chucked in the vents got to ‘em. They made it to the lounge, and they almost got out. The ginger one made a jump for it.”
Jyn winced.
“I’d hate to see what’s left of him,” Saw remarked dryly.
Jyn scowled.
The Pit was a huge sinkhole that served as a hangar, which housed the majority of the Dreamers’ aircraft. Part of her had wondered why Benthic had been using the balcony as an execution stand. Wouldn’t they just have to clean up the bodies below?
“What’s up with the Pit?” She finally asked.
Keo smirked. “You wanna tell her, Saw?”
Saw sighed. “We’ve been having some… problems with the Pit. Not long after you left, a member of the Hutt Clan chartered us to hunt him a Stormbird to put in his menagerie. He requested that we make it unable to fly, which we did, but what I did not account for was the damn thing’s ability to recover from being knocked out of commission. It woke up shortly after Ziro arrived to retrieve his prize, and… while I didn’t care for that obese bastard, the Stormbird killed many of my best men as well. So far we’ve been forced to seal off the Pit until we have the funds necessary to kill the damn thing, since it can’t fly away on its own and we’re low on supplies. Your bounties would’ve covered the costs for sure.”
Jyn winced.
“Now that’s bad,” she said.
And Cal had jumped down there? Keo was right. Even if he’d survived the fall, he’d be hard-pressed to escape an irate, flightless Stormbird, especially with no way out.
“They got the blue-haired kid with the weird tattoo, too,” Keo said. “Threw him in another cell, I think.”
“Damn him,” Jyn muttered, popping the new power cell into Saw’s exoskeleton. “He got us into this mess. If anything, he deserves whatever he gets.”
Keo made a face. “I feel bad for him, honestly.”
Jyn rolled her eyes.
Saw grunted and flexed his arms as his exoskeleton came back online, and slowly rose to his feet. “Ah, much better.”
“We have to get a ride out of here,” Jyn mused, debating their options. They could try and take back the Pit, but without Cal’s brute force, that would be a problem. Or they could steal a cargo truck or something, but getting back to Alcatraz would probably take too long.
“Saw,” Jyn said, “Where are the planes now?”
“Well, we have exactly one cargo plane that would carry us parked above the Pit,” Saw replied. “Unfortunately the rest are single-seater fighters. We’ll have to take the freighter.”
Keo’s face paled. “No, we are not flying. They’ll pick us off easy.”
“Not if you’re the one behind the joystick,” Jyn said.
Keo visibly deflated, guilt and pain rising in their eyes. “Jyn, you know I don’t fly anymore after what happened at Skystrike. People get killed when I fly, okay?”
Jyn sighed.
“Keo,” she said, “you’re the best pilot I’ve ever seen. If there was ever a time to make up for what happened to your old squadron, it’s now.”
Saw nodded. “Like I told Jyn. Let go, Vanguard Three.”
Keo’s mouth twisted.
“I guess I can try,” they muttered. “If we crash, it’s your fault.”
“Right,” Jyn huffed. “Then that’s settled. Now let’s get out of here before somebody figures out we’re loose from the brig.”
———
To be perfectly frank, Cal’s thought process wasn’t all that complex as he plummeted towards the sinkhole far below him.
It would’ve been nice if he’d been able to come up with some kind of heroic internal monologue, laughing in the face of death as he concocted a genius plan to break his fall in the split seconds he had before splattering all over the bottom of the sinkhole, but the harsh reality was that the inside of his head more or less matched what was coming out of his mouth at the moment:
“AAAAAAAAAAAAA—“
Then, just as he entered the sinkhole itself, exactly one very bad idea popped into his head, and since Cal didn’t exactly have many options at the moment, he acted on it.
He yanked out his lightsaber, activated the blade, and stabbed the wall.
With a horrible metallic shriek of cortosis and plasma clashing with solid rock, his fall grinded to a painful halt only a few meters off the sinkhole floor.
For a moment, Cal just hung there, shaking in terror.
“H—holy shit,” he wheezed, attempting to unlock his fingers from around the hilt and close his weapon.
Then he cackled.
Damn, if Luke had been here to witness what he’d just pulled, the guy would’ve lost his shit and yelled at Cal for a full minute for being reckless. The irony in that statement was that Luke probably would’ve done something similar, only twice as dangerous.
For a twink, he was very sure of himself.
Cal finally found the switch to retract the blade and thumbed it, and with a loud screeching sound, the blade came loose from the solid rust-red rock wall.
He landed on the ground with a grunt.
And then, of course, he saw the corpses scattered around from Benthic’s executions earlier, and he almost threw up.
“Oh god,” Cal choked, stumbling away, but not before he yanked a coat off one of them to at least cover his bare arms and shoulders. “Fuck. Fuckityfuckfuck. Shit.”
He ventured into the nearby cave, looking for somewhere to hide, and then he realized in surprise that this place was an airplane hangar of some kind. There were gunships and fighters that must’ve once been parked in neat rows, all of them emblazoned with the Dreamers’ crest, but strangely enough many had been knocked over and scattered around, like models that had been broken and cast aside by some spoiled rich kid. Not to mention that there were scorch marks everywhere on the walls and floors, and the remains of exploded fuel tanks and other debris littered the hangar floor.
Cal frowned.
It looked almost like there’d been a pretty big fight in here, but against what he couldn’t yet tell.
Something wet dripped on him from above.
Cal winced, reaching over to wipe whatever it was off his shoulder, but he hesitated when he saw it wasn’t condensation like he’d expected.
“What the…” he muttered, staring in surprise at the droplets of blaze running down his arm.
And then he made the mistake of looking up.
Cal froze in horror.
Clinging to the cavern’s ceiling above him was an actual fucking Stormbird, its ocular sensors glowing red as it seemed to glare at him from its perch and made a low, mechanical whirring sound.
Electricity flickered around its chassis, and it dropped down on the tarmac directly behind him with a metallic thud.
“Oh fuck,” Cal squeaked.