This plan was incredibly risky, but smart enough to work.

Cassian carefully adjusted himself in the Imperial cargo truck. He was uncomfortably tucked between a crate of explosives and a crate of freshly picked imported Calarantum. The truck rattle as it trekked over the hard, swampy terrain of planet Imdaar in the Dreighton Nebula. They were headed to the Imperial supply base stationed here.

General Draven had the utmost confidence in his star Intelligence Officer. Cassian didn't want to put too much emphasis on the success rate of this mission, but he would sure as hell give it his all.

The plan wasn't as intricate and safe as he had hoped, but if he succeeded, it would delay the Empire in numerous areas across the galaxy. The supply base sent out cargo ships full of weapons, ammunition, and food. Captain Andor's job was to sabotage the ships in such a subtle way that the pilots wouldn't notice until it was too late. Then, make it out of the base without dying.

If things go south, just remember. This is for the Rebellion. This is to secure the galaxy's freedom. Cassian reassured himself. He waited patiently as the journey went on, slow and agonizing. The anticipation built up inside of him and mixed with uncertainty. I've done worse missions with this. Those had less chances of survival. His eyes focused on the crate in front of him. The missions came to mind slowly, like the mission on Ando Prime where he almost froze to death, or the time on Chaaktil where he traveled across its deserts, barely clinging onto life. The planet's inhabitants, or at least he couldn't remember which species, took him in, but almost killed him in his daring escape. Other missions sprang up in his mind, but the truck jerked to a stop.

They were here.

Cassian waited patiently and closed his eyes. He put all of his focus on his hearing. The metal crates stayed still after the truck stopped. The engine ceased, causing the parts of the truck to creak and groan as it settled. Other vehicles could be heard driving off of the base, but none came in. The storm troopers that drove the truck hopped out and made their way towards the rear doors. They chattered about some new regulations the Empire enforced, but it was nothing important to use against them.

Cassian ran his hands along the inside of the explosive crate, and set up a small bomb. Once it was set, he buried it among the rest of the inactive bombs. He stayed tucked between the crates when the bucket heads opened the doors. They viewed the inventory, and then proceeded to go get a cargo loader to put it on. Cassian took the chance and hopped out of the cargo truck. He pressed up against the metal as he surveyed the area.

An informant had surveyed the area previously on a separate mission. Cassian knew the layout vaguely, but knew where to go to reach the airships. That's all that mattered. The surrounding area was empty of life. I guess the informant was right. They had stated that only few troopers were stationed here. The rest were sent to Imdaar Alpha, the moon in the planet's orbit. Rebel intelligence has records of a research base there, but couldn't pinpoint the location. It was as if it were invisible to the human eye.

He made his way cautiously to the landing platforms for the airships. A few TIE Fighters were hooked up to stations nearby. It must've kept the ship's diagnostics shown in real time on the base's computers. Cassian put his arm up to shield his eyes when he came in contact with direct sunlight. A heavy air pushed down on him, and the humidity finally sank in.

It only reminded him of how much he hated hot, humid planets.

He pushed the feeling aside and focused on the mission at hand. He ducked behind a TIE Fighter's wing as he looked around. There was one mechanic working on one of the ships with an ion torch. A few troopers patrolled the area, but stopped so often to talk that it almost seemed impossible for them to actually catch him.

Cassian worked his way to one of the two Zeta-class cargo shuttles, which weren't plugged in to the landing pad. They must've been prepped to leave already. Two cargo shuttles didn't seem to be a lot for this outpost, but if that's all they had on hand, then it would suffice. As long as he locked onto the cargo shuttles' hyperdrive system and tweaked it a bit, that's all that was needed to complete the mission. The TIE Fighters would lock onto the Zeta's hyperdrive coordinates and follow them straight into the asteroid belt, or as Cassian referred to them as the jaws of death. The pilots would have no time to think before they were jerked out of hyperdrive and driven right into an asteroid.

That's what General Draven hoped, at least. He would confirm how many ships actually crashed later back at Dantooine base.

Cassian hopped up onto the pilot's deck of the ship using the ladder. He sprinted towards the console and crouched underneath it. He unhooked the metal plating to reveal wires and different technology that helped power the ship in different ways. His hands worked fast as he clipped a few wires and strung them together. When he was done, he put the metal plating back on just like he had found it and started to poke around on the hyperdrive's map. I hope this works. He had never reset a hypderdrive's map, so changing the coordinates by a hair seemed a bit risky. A buddy of his showed him how to do it before Cassian left, but it was so different on his own.

Captain Andor calmed himself by exhaling and curling his fingers up for a moment. This has to work. He pushed a few buttons and set new coordinates for the asteroid field. In order to get to the planets the shipments were to be sent to, they would have to go around the asteroid field. This would put them directly in it.

He turned the console off when he was done and wiped his fingerprints off of the screen. His fingers twitched towards his hidden blaster as he exited the cargo ship, but refrained from coming in contact with it. No need to get worked up. Focus.

Cassian headed towards the second ship and did the same thing he did to the first one. The storm trooper patrol had gone inside for lunch, and a new one hadn't come out yet. This seemed like the perfect time to head out. He snuck around the ships and started to make his way towards the swampy jungle. His ship wasn't too far away. It was an Imperial ship on the outside, so it would draw no suspicion for it to be out here.

"Stop right there," a man called out.

Damn.

Cassian stopped in his tracks. The urge to reach for his blaster heightened, but he knew better than that. He needed to turn around to see the man. He needed to be observant of his surroundings. Maybe this guy had a weapon. Maybe he didn't.

Either way, he was a dead man.

"Who are you?" the man questioned. He stepped closer and closer until he could put a hand on Cassian's shoulder, forcing him to turn around.

Cassian whipped around and punched the guy in the jaw. The guy didn't stumble back, rather started swinging himself, flailing his arms around at the rebel. Cassian dodged a few punches, and sent back a few of his own. He heard a small, whoosh sound as the man swung, and that's when Cassian realized that he had a blade.

The man tackled Cassian and both hit the ground hard. Cassian gasped, but tried to continue fighting. The man tried to shove the blade inside Cassian's abdomen, but the rebel pushed his hand upwards. The Imperial mechanic pushed down with both hands and all his strength, retaliating against Cassian's efforts. Cassian grunted in pain as the blade sunk into his skin like a sharp tooth. The Captain gave up on resisting and punched the man in the jaw, sending him to the side. Cassian snapped up as quickly as he could and fired his blaster at the man's head, causing him to go limp.

Damnit all!

A searing pain soared up his side as he bled. The wound wasn't too deep, but deep enough to need stitches. He grabbed the small detonator out of his pocket and switched the button. The cargo truck inside the compound exploded, immediately setting off the alarms of the facility.

The noise was loud enough to cover Cassian's escape. He sprinted towards his ship, and within minutes, he was turning on the hyperdrive on the course for Kuat. He rested against the pilots chair for a moment before he reached over for something to soak up the blood from his wound. His hand came in contact with an unwashed shirt, and he pressed it against his wound.

He winced from the pain, and he turned on the message transmitter on the console. The operator put him on hold until General Draven was present. Cassian reported in, "Mission...success, sir." He huffed a few times and creased his brow as a reaction to the pain in his side.

General Draven seemed pleased, "Good work, Captain Andor. Reports have shown several Imperial casualties in the asteroid field. I will have a new mission for you soon."

Cassian ended the transmission and closed his eyes for a moment. He wasn't sure how long he was gone. He wasn't sure if he could reach the apartments without attracting suspicious looks from the public. All he knew was he had to get to Talia's apartment to clean this wound. He used up the medical supplies in his ship on the last few missions, so he had nothing on hand. He made a mental note to change that once he had time.

He opened his eyes when the ship stopped in front of the green planet of Kuat. Cassian sighed and fumbled with the controls as he got ready to land in one of the hangars closest to Talia's home. A recorded transmission popped up on his console, but he didn't have time to view it. It would have to wait until he was patched up.

Cassian stumbled out of his ship, but tried to keep himself steady and upright without slouching over. The hangar was almost quiet, for it was dark outside. A few people hung around their ships as they made repairs, but other than that, the hangar was empty. Cassian was grateful for different planet day durations.

He walked out onto the streets, keeping his eyes low, and glancing around every so often. It wasn't late in the night like he had hoped, but late enough for the kids to be off the streets. Some people were getting off of work and heading to the bars or clubs. Most were on their way home to get some needed rest.

Cassian thoughts clouded over as he felt his shirt was soaked to the brim with blood. He cringed and fumbled with Talia's door with his clean hand. Open. Come on. He thought impatiently. The door finally opened and he let out a short breath. He went inside and closed the door quickly before making his way to the kitchen. He grabbed clean towels and pressed them up against his wound as he searched for a medical kit.

The thought of going to a medical center crossed his mind. His wound would heal much faster if he got proper treatment. He shook his head in response. Too risky. He opened the medical kit once he found it. His shaky hands searched the kit, making a complete mess of things.

The front door clicked shut, and Cassian heard Talia drop her things. She followed the small trail of blood to the kitchen and looked at Cassian in disbelief. Her mouth hung open a bit, brown eyes wide in shock. He's dirtying up my spotless floor. She remarked, "Jesus, Sward, can you make any more of a mess?"

Cassian almost forgot he told her one of his aliases. That would have been a major slip up, and he would've blamed it on his clouded mind from blood loss. He growled lowly in pain, "Excuse me fo-" He cut short and groaned as he cleansed his wound. He pushed the cloth with more pressure and clenched his jaw to muffle his signs of pain.

"Do you need help?" Talia moved around the blood trail and to the medical kit to search through the mess he had made. "You know you're going to clean this mess up, right?"

Cassian grunted in response and moved her hands aside as he took over the search forcefully. "I got it." He grabbed a needle and some thread, and released the towels from his grasp. He let them slide onto the floor in one bloody heap.

The nerve of this rebel, I swear. Talia narrowed her eyes and took a step back. He trailed blood in her home, which was incredibly hard to get out completely, and then doesn't allow her to help. She couldn't tell if he was stubborn or just so self-sufficient that he believed he didn't need the help of anyone. One question came to mind. "Are you always this distant?"

"Only when I'm talking to someone who works for the Empire," Cassian said wittingly. He glanced up at Talia with his dark, tired eyes to see her reaction. She glared at him, causing Cassian to chuckle a bit. "It's like you've never heard a joke before."

Surprise swept over Talia's features. She didn't think he would even remember what she said to him that day they met on Coruscant. A part of her wanted to compliment him on his memory. The other part wanted to reply with something snarky. She settled with something simple, "I think you and I have two very different definitions of the term joke."

Cassian stayed quiet, a small sly smile glued to his lips as he patched himself up. It was the second time he's smiled in a long time, and lasted longer than the last. It felt so good to smile again, and over a joke, not something he had to fake. He bandaged himself with unsteady hands. After he had finished with the stitches, he didn't care how he bandaged himself. It didn't matter. All that mattered was the bleeding had stopped for now.

Talia reached into some cupboards and took out some cleaning supplies. She set them on the counter in front of Cassian, and made sure he saw it. She wiped her hands on her dirty, oily Imperial suit and nodded towards him. "Are you going to go back out, or are you going to rest up until you're healed?"

Cassian raised his eyebrows at the sight of the cleaning supplies. He thought she was kidding with the whole cleanup thing. Just another thing he had to do, unless he could guilt her into doing it. He focused on one topic at a time, and responded to her, "You ask a lot of questions."

"I'm curious." She watched him intently. If he were to stay, she'd help take care for him until he healed. It was the least she could do. His expression would tell it all, or at least she hoped it did. He lost enough blood to make him a little less focused.

Cassian's smile fell; his signature spy expression settled over his features. "Curiosity will get you killed."

Talia huffed, the corners of her lips curling up into a small grin. She licked her teeth for a brief moment before she thought of something to say back. Something that would make him think. Something to make him consider about himself. "Is it not the same for you?"

She was right. Cassian didn't want to admit it to her face, but she was. He was curious about a lot of things. Stars. Other galaxies. New technology. Alien species. How people could enjoy a regular life. He wondered if he would ever get to as well. Cassian disregarded her question and remembered back to the unread transmission. "I need to go back to my ship."

Talia stepped in front of him before he could leave the kitchen. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared up at him in defiance. "In your condition? No way."

"I'm fine." Cassian tried to move to the side, but Talia copied him. He stared down at her and clenched his jaw. His wound ached, but he tried to push that aside to not show weakness in front of her. That would only support her opinion. "I'm waiting for a transmission. An important one."

He really thinks he can go without me? That's dangerous for him. Any Imperial could see him and assume the worst. If he fights with them, they'd kill him on the spot. Then the Rebellion is without one of its Captains. That was something Talia couldn't live with on her conscious. Knowing she could've saved a bit of everything she's worked towards would destroy her. It could destroy the Rebellion. Talia stayed in front of him and demanded in resolve, "I'll go with you then."

Cassian's expression lightened up in slight surprise. He thought she would stick to her guns and make him rest up until he was healed. She's more active and supportive of rebel activities than he thought. Then again, he needed to protect her. There still could be a bounty hunter out there waiting to kill her. Surely the Imperials would act on the information they received from her handler. Cassian nodded. "Good because you were going to go with me whether you liked it or not."