2.1k words; edit by sondercoyfish

It was the first time that you hadn't come to him when he called for you. The very first time.

It hurt you so deeply. But you couldn't stop. Every part of you felt alive. You felt pulled --- as if something was physically pulling you. You imagined an iridescent beam of energy, connecting you to the Captain that was located Force knows how far away.

You always thought your first journey out of Tatooine would be one with your father by your side. This wasn't at all what you had thought it would be. For the first time, you were with the stars, journeying away from your home, about to experience more than you ever had dreamed of.

You'd only heard tales of Mos Eisley. Your father always told you it was full of scum. You had a feeling that, like everything else he had ever told you, what he had said was true.

You had enough credits in your bag to last you a while, and you hoped that they would be enough to bribe those you encountered to help you, but people were scared in this galaxy. They were terrified of doing things wrong. But you were somehow not too afraid, driven by this intense desire to restore hope.

You kept your lightsaber concealed beneath your grey poncho and kept your hood up. Your eyes were always open, your mind always alert. You were aware of the stormtroopers that made their rounds around this tiny planet you had arrived on. The people looked terrified. They hid in their tiny homes the moment the sun went down. The stormtroopers stood at their doors with guns, making sure all of the lights went out at a certain time.

You remained in the shadows on the edge of the town, watching.

"You are going to get yourself killed, child," a voice said.

Your head turned quickly. A human male sat a few feet away. He looked filthy and tired, with a half empty bottle on his lap. "I'm not a child. And I'll be fine. Thank you."

But if you were being honest with yourself, you were a little nervous. Here you were, concealed only by a cast of shadows, in a city full of Imps. No one was allowed out of their homes at night. No one was attempting to fly out of the city. You were trapped here.

The stranger shook his head and laughed. "None of us are going to be fine. You thinking otherwise is what makes me know you're nothing but a child."

You tried to ignore him. A group of troopers marched by. You squatted down, your hand pressing against the wall of the hut you were leaning against. You let your eyes trail after them.

"A couple more rounds about the perimeter and we are clear to head back," one of them said.

"Alright, sounds good with me," the other replied. "You know, I never considered being grateful for being stationed solely on the Destroyer until we started getting sent out here every night. This place is a dump."

"Sure is. Maybe with the Death Star is done, I'll be stationed there."

"I'm hoping for the same," the other said. "No promises though. There's a whole lot of us aching to get promoted to that station."

There was no reason for you to believe that the Star Destroyer they were talking about was the one you needed to get to, but you did. You believed it wholeheartedly. The pull that was urging you to go find the Captain was tugging a little harder, leading you straight to him.

"This transport goes to a Star Destroyer, doesn't it?"

"How should I know?" the man slurred. He spoke loudly and you stared at him in alarm, then looked around to make sure troopers weren't on their way. "Wherever they come from, wherever they go back to... it's all bad! And if you put your nose in their business, then you'll die like the rest of those Rebel spies."

"I'm no spy," you hissed.

"You ain't a hero either, kid," the man said. "You want to see what they can do? They'll beat you senseless in the streets! Right here!"

As he spoke, he raised his voice louder and louder. You looked around, panicked, and saw that the troopers were searching for the source of sound. "Shh! Be quiet!"

The man was up on his feet, slinging his arm around to circle around your shoulders. He yanked you to him as you stood up, moving to get away. He yanked you to his side with surprising strength. He reeked so badly of alcohol that your stomach turned.

"Get off me! Now---"

"We're right here, boys! We've got a real fighter here. A Rebel sympathizer!" He cackled, his hands wrapping around the mouth of the bottle as he took a swig. His laughter turned into a fit of coughs and you shoved him, hearing him topple over into the sand. He just kept laughing.

You darted back into the darkness, running as swiftly as you could as the stormtroopers dragged the man out into the streetlight and shot him on sight.

You paused in the darkness under the awning of a house and pressed your palm to your mouth as you fought to catch your breath. You trembled, your shoulders jumping as you heard another shot. This wasn't the time to be paralyzed with fear. You had to remember that because things were sure to get worse. You straightened your shoulders and pulled your hood to cover your hair more, and you ventured forward.

It was strange and horrifying, the way the stormtroopers punished those lingering outside. But their persistence on making sure the citizens were locked away in their homes as the sun went down made it all too simple for you to sneak onto their transport and hide away in storage.

You squeezed yourself between two crates of explosives and hoped for the best. With your knees against your chest and your hand on your lightsaber, you waited. Two hours passed and you dozed off, only to be startled awake as the ship hummed with life underneath you. You could hear the mechanical voices of the stormtroopers just beyond the door you were beside. The transport started to move and you inhaled deeply, fighting the urge to shift. Your legs were so stiff. But one wrong move and they would discover you were on this transport with them. The odds of you and a lightsaber against a couple dozen troopers weren't the greatest.

The journey took longer than you thought it would. But when the time came that the stormtroopers disembarked the transport and you could finally escape, you found yourself transported in a different world entirely.

Literally.

You felt dizzy as you stepped out into the docking area. The entire backside of the Destroyer was open, facing the full vastness of space. The stars had never looked closer. You stared in awe for a moment, hearing the sounds of TIE-Fighters before they zipped by. Troopers and officers were scattered around the room, far too busy furiously sending in reports or rushing to get where they needed to go to notice you, cloaked in grey, darting quickly behind a stack of cargo to conceal yourself.

You shut your eyes and breathed in deeply. This was your moment. Your chance to make things right, to give the Rebellion another shot. Your failure would result in the failure of a great cause that your father believed in. You knew without a fraction of a doubt that everything relied on you now.

"I am one with the Force, the Force is with me," you whispered. It helped bring confidence to you. You thought of all that had gone before you in hopes of restoring peace to the galaxy. You grounded yourself, focusing on the feel of your soul and the feeling of all around you. "I am one with the Force, the Force is with me."

Your eyes opened and you stood. You couldn't delay any longer. Swiftly as a shadow, you moved, your lightsaber in hand but not ignited, your other hand open. You somehow didn't wonder which direction you were going. You took the turns and finally found an elevator. You knew you'd have to go down. I have given you all that you need.

When you reached the interrogation cells, you were overwhelmed by the moans and groans of pain. You could hear troopers within the sealed doors, shouting at their prisoners. Pressuring them for information. Hurting them until they finally snapped. You kept moving forward, listening closely to the shouts of pain, trying to match it with what you had heard in your vision, hoping that the woman who spoke to you really had given you everything that you needed to reach this man.

At the end of the corridor, the last cell door opened. Two stormtroopers, one with a long object ending in two short metal rods stepped out. They paused at the door to lock it behind them.

"We'll get information out of him sooner or later," one of them said.

The one holding the weapon flicked it. Blood splattered against the wall. "If I had hit him one more time with this, he would've died. I don't think it'll be easy getting a word out of the guy. Which really sucks, 'cause he's a spy. I bet he's got all the knowledge we need on those Rebel scum."

"We'll find the right way," the other said, nodding. "'Til then, let's just grab some lunch. Forget about it for now."

"Sounds good to me. Hey, did you..." They disappeared down the other side of the corridor. You pressed yourself against the wall to ensure you wouldn't be seen. You stepped out as they left, your eyes on the door.

You just knew it was that one.

But just as you approached it, a group of three stormtroopers rounded the corner. They paused when they saw you, then held up their blasters. You stared, wide-eyed.

"Hey! Stop right there!" They started to shoot at you. You threw up your palm, catching the blaster shots in midair. Your chest tightened as you pushed them back towards the troopers. It hit one of them in the chest, knocking him down. Taken aback by your power, you looked at the palm of your hand. You'd never done that before.

"Send out an alert! It's a Jedi!"

"A Jedi?!" 

"Kill it!"

They fired more, running at you full speed. You ignited your lightsaber, the familiar hum of it in your palms fueling you to think clearer. You spun in a circle, swinging your weapon out from your body, catching both of them in the thigh. You kicked off the wall and let your body fly backwards. As you landed on your feet, you swiped the weapon upward, catching one of them up the chest and to the throat. Your hand snatched the back of the last stormtrooper's neck. You jerked him backwards and let the flickering blue blade sink into the center of his armor. He choked out in shock and slumped to the floor.

An alarm started to blare. You glanced around and then ran back towards the cell door. Just on the other side of it was the Captain. You stood in front of it, knowing that you would free him and you would save him. Your mission was nearly complete.

You raised your hand to the panel at the side of the door. It crushed as if you'd hit it with heavy weight and the lights ahead flickered until they went dark in the entire corridor. When the lights returned, they were far dimmer than before --- and the cell door slid open as smoke poured out of the panel and walls.

You stepped inside. The smell of blood was strong in your nose. You reached up and pushed your hood back off your hair, blinking the fog away from your eyes. In the dimness of the cell, you could see him sitting on the floor with a bloody nose and a bruised face. He flinched at the sound of the door opening.

He was without a doubt the man from your vision. He looked so incredibly small and broken as he cowered from you. You stared down at him, eyes wide as you looked him over.

"Cassian Andor?"

His head swayed as he looked at you, at first a little confused, until it melted away. The smoke cleared. The emotion in his eyes was unlike anything you'd ever seen before. His brown eyes were shadowed with bruises and wet with tears.

"Captain Cassian Andor," you said, stepping in further to the cell. The lights above flickered, dancing across your skin. "I'm here to rescue you."