"Cassian! Cassian!" Thalassa pushed her way through the large crowd of people. "Let me through. Cassian!"
When she finally got free of the crowd, she launched herself forward, running full speed towards her brother. He stepped out of the stolen Imperial ship, and as soon as his feet touched the ground, Thalassa threw her arms around him. She clung to him, not wanting to let him go ever again. He held her close. Thalassa's nose burned and her eyes filled with tears. She pulled away from him and punched his arm with all her might (which wasn't much, after having just given another bout of blood to her still healing friend).
"Ow!" Cassian seethed. Jyn glanced over, obviousoly still in defensive mode.
"Don't ever do that again!" Thalassa yelled. "You scared me to death!"
"I'm sorry, Little Sister. It won't happen again," Cassian said, and kissed her forehead. Thalassa glared at him, but still took his hand and squeezed it.
"It better not."
She turned to Jyn Erso, the new member of the Rebellion.
"Thank you, for taking care of my brother," she said.
"To be honest, he took more care of me," Jyn admitted. She looked over at Cassian, but then cast her gaze downward. Thalassa didn't hesitate to hug the woman in front of her. Jyn went stiff. Thalassa guessed that she asn't used to affection of any kind.
"Jyn Erso?" A rebel soldier walked up to them.
"Yes?" Thalassa released Jyn and allowed her to face the soldier.
"Mon Mothma and the General want to see you." Jyn looked back at Cassian, who nodded once.
"Take me to them."
After the girl had left, Thalassa turned to Cassian.
"She's cute."
"Lassa! She blames me for her father's death." Cassian grabbed his sister's arm and pulled her away from the other people.
"Is it your fault her father is dead?"
"Well...sort of. I was supposed to kill him, but I didn't. I couldn't." Cassian cast his gaze downwards. A soft smile appeared on Thalassa's lips.
"You couldn't because you didn't want her to not like you. You couldn't dissapoint her."
"Lass, that's not-"
"You can't lie to me, Cassian. I'm your sister."
"I know you're my sister." He paused and took a deep breath. "Lass, I need your help."
"Of course, anything." A wave of nausea washed over her and she felt her knees buckle. Cassian caught her before she fell.
"Thalassa! What happened?" He sat her down on a supply box. She put her hand on her forehead and breathed deeply.
"Penelope was injured and she needed blood."
"Again, Lassa? I told you that you can't keep giving people your blood or you won't have enough for you." Cassian put one hand on her knee, the other on the crook of her neck.
"She needed my help, Cass. Kael can't lose her-"
"And I can't lose you. You made me promise to always come back to you. Now you promise that you'll always be here when I come back." Thalassa smiled and put her hand on her brother's face.
"Don't worry about me, Big Brother. I'll always be here."

Cassian left after that.
"To go find a crew." Is what he told her. That wasn't much help. With trembling legs, Thalassa stood and made her way back to the Medical Bay. Kael was where he was when she had left him, sitting next to Penelope's bed.
"How's Cassian?" He asked, playing with his cousin's fingers.
"He's well enough. Alive."
"Alive is good."
"Yes, very. How's Pen?" Thalassa took the seat on the other side of the bed, uneasily glancing at the monitor above her head. It beeped steadily, but Thalassa was scared that at any moment, it would begin to flucuate.
"The same as the rest of today. She's-"
As if responding to the two beside her, Penelope bolted straight up with a gasp, as if she had been holding her breath the entire time. Kael yipped and fell off his chair. Thalassa stood in shock. Penelope continued to gasp in small breaths, trying to crawl out of the hospital bed.
"Penelope, Penelope." Thalassa grabbed her shoulders and tried to settle her back down, but the weak woman fought against her. "Hey, Pen, calm down. You're alright. You're safe. It's me, Thalassa. I'm your friend." Penelope sat still long enough to gaze into Thalassa's eyes. Her mouth hung open, jaw trembling. Her chocolate brown eyes were wide and filled with silver tears. Thalassa's lips twitched upwards and shse brushed some of Penelope's dark hair out of her face. "You're safe now."
Penelope howled in despair and clung to Thalassa, who held the thin girl close to her body. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Penelope cry. It had been a long, long time ago, when they were kids. As Kael slowly stood up from the floor, Thalassa pet Penelope's head, planting a long kiss on her forehead. She sat on her bed so as to hold her better. Kael stood there, jaw slacked. Kael had never seen his cousin cry, not that Thalassa knew of, so this sight could quiet possibly be the weirdest thing he'd ever seen.
Penelope wept, mumbled, and wailed for a few minutes before she pulled herself away from Thalassa.
"Where's Kael?" She asked, voice hoarse from days of not talking and thick from minutes of endless cries. "Where's my cousin?"
"Here I am," Kael said, his voice full of tears. Penelope turned to him and reached out her trembling hands. Eyes red, she offered a wavering smile. Kael took her hands and immediately scooped her up in his arms, falling on to her bed. He buried his face in the crook of her gown, weeping, his shoulders shaking. Penelope put her arms around his shoulders and ran her fingers through his hair. She placed small kisses up and down the side of his face. Thalassa thought the wounded woman would have no more tears to shed, but with her younger cousin in her arms, she had a few more to spare. Thalassa decided to give the two some space. She stood to leave, but as she opened the door to leave, Penelope called her name.
"Yes?"
"Thank you. Thank you."
Thalassa dipped her head and left the room. She didn't know what to do, really, or where to go after that. She thought that maybe Cassian was done with whatever he was doing and she could go have a a family moment with him, but that was unlikely. She wandered around the base for a few minutes before finding herself in the archives. It was manned by no more than two people usually, and those two seemed rather busy with other people, other more important matters.
So Thalassa conitnued to wander through the many shelves of blue holotapes. She found the section of family names connected to the Resistance. In the column of 'A's, she found 'Andor'. Under that was two names; Cassian and Thalassa. She pulled the shelf open and pulled out the holotape pretaining to her family history. She turned it over in her hands a few times before walking over to the player almost absent-mindedly. She plugged it in and began to listen.
Six year old Cassian Andor and his 3 year old sister, Thalassa were found in the ashes of a smoldering house. The voice said. The image was two scrawny children, a girl and a  boy, hlding each other, tears making lines on their ashen faces. It has not been discovered what happened to them or their family. All the boy said was that his 'Mama, Papa, and older sister' were all dead, killed by men clad in white with guns. Captain Cassian Andor is one of our best rebel leaders. He is head of intelligence and for good reason. He gets the job done. The hologram revealed Cassian, standing tall with K2 behind him. His gun was in the air and he was ready to shoot, to get the job done. Head of Medicine, Thalassa Andor is hard working and determined. No soldier is too far gone in her hands. She and her partner, Kael Sisk, are miracle workers when it comes to healing. We woul be no where without them. As if they were ghosts, blueish versions of Kael and herself ran through the hologram, yelling back and forth at each other, a wounded soldier in their care. Little is known about their past, where they came from, or what happened to their family, but whatever it is, it drives them to be the best.
The recording ended and the player spat out the blue disc. Thalassa sighed and pulled it out. The hologram was never different. They had never figured anything else out about what happened to her family. Nothing else had ever been revealed. Thalassa didn't know what she was looking for, or why she always came back to this disc. Thalassa stood and placed it back on the shelf where it belonged. She left the archieves and found herself back in the hanger bay. Cassian was standing in front a large group of people, talking to Jyn Erso, who had the recognizable look of hope on her face.
Thalassa scowled. The crowd disperssed and Cassian and Jyn were talking quietly to themselves, standing quite close together, which would have made Thalassa smile if she hadn't been so worried about what was going on. Finally, Thalassa found a moment when Cassian was alone and pulled him aside.
"Cass, what's going on?"
"The counel decided not to help us."
"Help you what? Cassian, you haven't told me anything!"
"Gallen Erso engineered a flaw in their super weapon, the Death Star. We need to go to Scarif to steal the plans, but the counsel won't permit a full frontal attack. So we are going to go on our own."
"Are you crazy? You won't survive on your own! Just the five of you can't-"
"Not five. Some of the men are coming as well."
"What's that then, 15? Against an entire planet? No, Cassian, you can't." Cassian grabbed Thalassa roughly by the shoulders.
"Thalassa, this isn't about me! Or you. Or Jyn. It's not about us. We can't let the Death Star be used by the Empire, don't you understand?"
Thalassa choked back a few tears.
"I...I understand. Let me come with you. I can-"
"No, Lass, you can't. You must stay here. I am expendable. They can find another soldier. You are the best medical doctor the Resistance has seen in many years. You must stay," Cassian said in a firm tone, as if commanding a child.
"Why? Why must you go and risk your life while I live here forever? What if you die out there and I never get to...what if...I can't lose you too."
"Thalassa, the galaxy-"
"To hell with the galaxy! You're my brother, and I love you and I can't lose you. Don't you understand?"
"I do understand, Lass. I understand perfectly well. But how many people feel the same way you do? How many people feel the same way I do? We're not special, Lass. We're not heroes."
"Cassian!" Jyn called from a few yards away.
"Be right there." He turned back to his sister. Putting an arm around her waist, he pulled her into him and kissed her forehead. "I will be back, Little Sister. Trust the Force."
With tears in her eyes, Thalassa let her brother go once again. She pressed her lips together as he pulled away from her. He made it three steps before she called his name and threw her arms around his neck, just one last time.
"I love you, Big Brother, she whispered into his shirt, as if it was a secret no one else could know.
"I love you, too, Little Sister." He waited for her to pull away before he turned to leave. Tears filled her vision as her brother walked away from her and didn't look back once. The stolen imperial ship took to the sky, leaving Thalassa in the place where we started this story, alone on a docking bay in the shadow of a ship that had once again taken her brother away, a steel feeling in her gut and tears daring to flow from her eyes.

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Here we are again, my friend, the end of another chapter. I do sincerely hope that you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. :)
I would very much like it if you would point out any mistakes I've made in my writing, since I am a wretched editor. Haha. Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and that you got everything you wanted.
If you need to talk to me about anything, I'm always open. I don't want any of my readers (however few) to feel helpless, hopeless, and insecure. Tell me your troubles, and I'll do my best to help.
Thank you all so much in advance for the votes, comments, and reads. They all mean so much to me. You all mean so much to me.

Patience.

bucky

In loving memory of Carrie Fisher
May the Force be with you