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CASSUS FELT HER HEART START POUNDING as she stepped into the meeting room of General Organa. Into the belly of the beast. And, having been inside a Sarlacc Pit, she could say that it was pretty accurate.

Except this time, the walls weren't closing in on her. If anything the room felt far too open, with only a long conference table to take up space.

Cassus felt terribly exposed. She rubbed her arm, feeling goosebumps on her bare skin. It was too cold. And without her helmet's visor, she had to squint to see properly in the low light.

But what was even worse was that she wasn't there to shoot anyone. She was there to...talk.

Two of the chairs at the table were occupied. Poe's face lit up as soon as he saw her enter, standing to his feet. The other person sat facing away from the door, but when she turned around, Cassus caught her breath.

Leia Organa.

Cassus had heard countless stories about the woman. The princess. The general. The legend. She remembered sitting on the hard floor of Slave I at her father's feet, wide-eyed, hanging on every word as he spoke of the Rebellion. Boba Fett had always held a grudge against Han Solo and a disdain for Luke Skywalker, but he always spoke of Leia Organa with respect. She was a strong leader who fought alongside her troops on the battlefield against the Empire. A rare leader that a Mando could admire.

The general stood from her chair slowly, batting away Poe's offered hand. Cassus couldn't help but smirk.

She tensed, though, as the general stepped closer. Leia regarded her with scrutinizing eyes. Brown eyes. They sent a jolt through Cassus.

She had only just been acquainted with Kylo Ren's eyes, but it was unnerving to see the same eyes now. Kriff, this is weird.

The general looked Cassus over before meeting her gaze. And her face softened into a smile. "You must be Lara," she spoke. Her voice wasn't all that Cassus had expected. It was worn, but it somehow still held warmth. "Poe has told me a lot about you."

Cassus glanced at Poe, and he gave her a reassuring smile. "And I've heard a lot about you." She held out a hand. "It's an honor, general."

"Please," the general said, shaking her hand, "Call me Leia."

She moved to sit back down, and Cassus and Poe followed. "I must say, I admire you for what you did," Leia spoke, "It was incredibly brave."

Cassus warmed under the praise, feeling like a girl again as her father patted her on the back after their lessons. "Thank you. It's just...it started out easy, working for the First Order. The pay was good and the jobs were challenging. But then I started actually paying attention, looking at the people that we were sent to kill. It wasn't right. I knew I had to get out somehow." She shook her head. "I just feel like I've lost so much time to them."

She had practiced that little speech all morning. It was safe to say that she nailed it.

"We've all lost things to the First Order," Leia said, an old pain passing through her eyes. Those familiar eyes. "That's one of the reasons why the Resistance is here." She cleared her throat and straightened, her face relaxing again into a smile. "But I was actually referring to your saving Poe's life."

Cassus's mind stuttered, and she frowned, glancing again at Poe. Saving his life? When had she done that? She thought back to Mos Eisley: the running, the stormtroopers, the sand. She remembered Kylo Ren pushing her to the ground very clearly.

"Oh." Her eyes widened. "Oh! Yeah, well..." She shrugged, scrambling for something intelligible to say. "You know, I...usually like to think things through, but that...just sort of happened. I didn't really have to think about it."

She hadn't thought about it at the time. At all. Kylo Ren had just shoved her out of the way of some blastershots and into Dameron.

Leia smiled, her eyes crinkling at the edges. "That's just the kind of thing we need here."

"Then I guess I'm at the right place."

Leia nodded. "Greer told me a lot about you in her debrief. I'm sorry that your friend didn't join us."

"Oh...yeah, thanks. I just hope he's alright."

The general's face pinched with sympathy. "I'd understand if you were afraid of running into any familiar faces on the battlefield."

Cassus felt herself tense. "It won't be a problem, General."

"Of course not," Leia conceded, "but you did have friends in the First Order, didn't you?"

"I didn't have many friends in the Order." Cassus paused, her thoughts going back to some of her more pleasant experiences with the First Order. Her lips lifted in a small smile. "But I had a few."

Cassus crashed down to the mat on the floor of the training room, the ground punching the breath out of her lungs. She struggled to suck in air as she stayed sprawled out on the floor. A cold, metal rod prodded her side, and a slow smile spread across her face.

Without looking, she shot a hand back, grabbed the end of the staff, and shoved it back. Her opponent stumbled back as the rod struck their face.

Cassus jumped to her feet and wrenched the staff out of her opponent's hands. Whirling around, she stopped holding the staff ready behind her back.

Captain Phasma raised a hand up to her lip where a streak of bright red blood stood out against her pale skin. Regarding the red smear on her finger, she chuckled. "You never know when to stand down, Fett."

Cassus blew a loose strand of hair out of her face and shrugged. "Yeah, I've been told I'm pretty bad at it."

Phasma lowered her hand, and Cassus immediately tensed as the taller woman's stance shifted. Before either could move though, the private training room's comm beeped.

They both sighed and moved to where they had deposited their stuff to the side.

"Which one do you think it is this time?" Cassus asked as she shrugged on her chest plate. Aside from her quarters, this was the only place she took off her helmet and armor. She was pretty sure the same could be said for Phasma. Although the captain kept hers on more for setting an example for her troopers than anything else.

Phasma looked down at her comm as she slipped on her arm guards. "It's exactly 0700, so I'd say Hux. Only he is that particular."

"What?" Cassus smirked, sliding her helmet on. Her voice shifted to a deep, distorted tone. "You don't think Ren would be up by now?"

"Oh, I'm sure he's awake." Phasma adjusted her helmet on her head and walked over to the comm's control board. "I expect he's in some dark corner meditating or hacking something apart."

Cassus huffed out a laugh. "That's accurate."

"The Force," Phasma muttered, "A waste of time." She paused, her finger hovering over the control board. "Ready?"

Cassus nodded, and Phasma activated the comm. The message hologram came to life with the image of a younger officer, surprising both women. He straightened, glancing nervously between the two. "Erm...General Hux wishes to speak with you two in conference room B."

The officer looked down and fumbled with something outside of view and the hologram blinked out.

"Poor kid," Cassus muttered as they left the training room.

"He's going to get crushed here," Phasma spoke, her voice devoid of any sympathy.

Cassus nodded. "What do you think Hux wants to talk to us about?"

"Probably the training of our top cadet squad."

"The FN Corps?"

"Yes. They're promising. Hux thinks they may be our best yet."

"That's a bold assumption." Although, Hux was always one to overemphasize how his projects were doing.

"I agree," Phasma said, "Hux and I have discussed new training methods to test them."

"Like what?"

"You."

Cassus grinned under her helmet.

Looking back at General Organa, Cassus gave a grim smile. She knew Phasma would likely deny ever being friends, but they had a rare sort of mutual respect and understanding. They were both survivors in a hard galaxy.

Cassus also knew that Phasma preferred to lead behind a wall of stormtroopers so actually seeing her in battle was unlikely. And her communication with Kylo Ren would help them avoid each other in conflicts.

"It won't be a problem," she repeated.

"Good." Leia's face became serious. "You are more valuable to us than you know, Lara. I won't drill you for information now, but we will soon need to discuss what you know that could help us."

"I understand." Cassus shifted in her chair. This was where she would have to work to find a balance in what she shared. She needed to gain their trust by helping them, but she couldn't burn down the First Order to do so. "I'll give you what I can."

Leia's face softened. "I know. Now," she went on, picking up a holopad and handing it to Cassus, "on to other less dire matters."

Cassus looked over the screen. Marksmanship, hand-to-hand combat, field first aid, flying. The list went on, but Cassus couldn't help but scoff. "You don't want to put me in a cockpit."

"Im afraid that's still part of our new recruit assessment and training," Leia said with an apologetic look, "And Poe's one of our best. He can help train you."

Poe grinned. "You bet." And that just sent a fresh wave of dread through Cassus.

"I understand your experience puts you ahead of most of our new recruits," Leia went on, "so the process will be shortened so we can get you in the field."

The dread was quickly replaced with a rush of excitement. In the field. That sounded much better than sitting at this conference table. Cassus looked down at the first two parts of her assessment: marksmanship and hand-to-hand combat.

"I can't wait."

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a/n:
Finally a new update!
I'm so pumped to go deeper into Cassus's mission and interactions with others. I especially love introducing her relationship with Phasma!

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