Chapter Text
30 BBY
Kenari
Kassa loved visiting the lake with his parents. Whenever they came here, they cast out their nets and fishing rods and waited for the fish to get caught in them. Kassa preferred that over collecting berries in the trenches or climbing up trees to reach their fruits. The best thing about their fishing trips was that they could lie in the sun together and watch the clouds which they did for hours and hours.
In the evenings, Kassa helped his dad with a fire, and they roasted the best catch of the day. Happiness was a word Kassa hadn’t yet learned, but he felt nothing but that on these days at the lakeside.
And of course, he also learned how to swim. His mom was the one to encourage him while his dad repaired nets, side-eyeing them both with a smile. The water was shallow and cold enough to relieve the heat of the day and his mother’s hands were always at his side, safe and loving, until he could stay afloat on his own.
When he did that for the first time, his dad started cheering from the shore which made Kassa happily stop in his tracks and sink like a stone. His mom pulled him up immediately, and so there was only laughter as he spit out the sweet lake water. In fact, he couldn’t stop grinning for the rest of the day and he loved the lake even more afterwards.
Sometime later, his mom preferred to sit in the shallow water and let her husband throw out the nets on his own. She had become round and solid for a while now, but her hands were as gentle as Kassa remembered them. So he never worried until the water around her suddenly turned dirty and she shouted the name of his father with tight pain in her voice.
His parents made Kassa promise that he would not be afraid and after he did, they let him stay. Though Kassa tried not to be, he was still afraid, but he didn’t let it show. Instead, he held the hand of his mother as she screamed and cried. He wanted to cry with her, but he bit his lip and let her squeeze his hand. His dad assured him that his mother would be fine and he told her that she was so strong. The smile never faded from his eyes and Kassa believed everything he said.
After what felt like an eternity, another set of screams bounced across the lake’s surface. They were higher and not pained like the ones from his mother. Kassa watched with wonder as his dad held the little girl in his arms. For the first time, he saw tears in his father’s eyes.
Quickly, he handed the baby to Kassa’s mother and kissed her on the head. Then he sat down next to Kassa and hugged him as well. “Thank you for watching over your mother,” he whispered, and Kassa leaned happily into his hug.
“He didn’t only watch over me,” his mother said then, her voice hoarse from screaming.
She held the baby up so that Kassa could see her better. She was truly not the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, bloody and wrinkled, but his heart sped up nonetheless.
“Kassa also watched over his sister,” she stated warmly.
This wasn’t the first time he heard the word. Sister. Other people in their village had said it before, but it was the first time he’d ever heard it and it had meant something to him.
His mom stretched out her arm and caressed Kassa’s cheek. Her hand felt as safe as the time when she had held him afloat in the lake.
“Kerri has found herself a wonderful big brother,“ she said lovingly.
3 BBY
Zatoq
A year and a half after joining the Rebellion, Cassian was still adjusting to the feel of an Imperial uniform. It was stiff and constricted his chest, but at the same time, it made him invisible in the crowd of guests at General Culbry's mansion. And that was definitely an advantage for what he was about to do next.
His first undercover mission as Senior Lieutenant Willix had already lasted two weeks. Two weeks of constantly fighting the urge to look over his shoulder, two weeks of fear of being caught, two weeks of trying his hardest to gain the General’s trust subtly. A goal that he had somehow achieved. Though, Cassian had to realistically admit, his success wasn’t entirely his own. Instead, Luthen’s preliminary work had simply paid off. Since Luthen had sneaked the fake persona into the system, Culbry, who was known to be extremely cautious after almost getting assassinated on his last base, had no reason to mistrust the man who was officially gaining experience on other Imperial outposts before being installed in charge of his own.
And so, Cassian finally got the invitation to Culbry’s birthday party, which was the reason the Rebellion had sent him here in the first place. Here, that was a small planet named Zatoq that was occupied by the Galactic Empire in order to harvest crops for the troops all over the galaxy. A planet that used to buzz with energy, culture, and life before its people got expropriated and forced to exploit their once unharmed nature to produce more and more grain.
Cassian had sat in Imperial meetings, masking his disgust and hoping to get some information that could end his mission sooner. But Luthen had been right – the trade routes would not be discussed in front of guests. Instead, they were saved on Culpry’s computer in his private office, which was not connected to any hackable network. So Cassian had to win his trust in order to get the invitation, sneak into his office and steal them.
Eventually, this is exactly what he did. The map with the transport routes was being transferred from Culbry's computer onto his own device while he could hear the chit-chat of the already far too drunk guests from behind the closed office door. It only took about 2 minutes to sneak into the room, hack the device and find the data and another 20 seconds to copy. Still, by the time he could remove his USB stick, his hands in his leather gloves were damp with sweat. The only thing that had stopped his heart from going berserk in his chest was the knowledge that the Rebellion could attack the major corn distribution of the Galactic Empire once he got the information out. They brought starvation to so many planets and soon they would get their own share of hunger.
Cassian wasted no time and hid the USB stick in the secret pocket inside his boot. Then he left the office, with a confidence that would make nobody question why he was there in the first place. It was an age-old lesson he had learned back on Ferrix. Nobody would care as long as you looked like you belonged somewhere. It worked every time and therefore nobody even glanced at him when he walked through the corridors.
With a haste that was just about subtle enough, Cassian took the stairs back to the main hall and made his way to the grand entrance. Luthen had advised him to leave as quickly as possible after he recovered the information and because of that, everyone on base knew that Cassian would depart early in the morning to his next place of employment. In truth, he would leave right now. Cassian didn’t need another reason to finally get away from this planet and take off the goddamn uniform.
But just as he passed the open door near the entrance, he heard someone shout his name. In his mind, Cassian let out all the insults he could think of. In reality, Lieutenant Willix turned around and smiled politely at General Culbry, who was sitting on a big set of sofas in the adjoining room and signaled him to come closer.
Gritting his teeth, he obeyed and walked into the other room, scanning the attendees on his way in. There were not an awful lot of people present, most of them had joined Culbry at the far back of the room. Cassian saw two other Imperial Colonels who had taken part in a few meetings. One of them had done nothing but eat during their duration, while the other had always tried to snuggle up to Culbry. Judging from the fact that he was now drunkenly stretched out on the same couch as his general, his strategy had worked.
In addition to the men, a handful of scantly dressed women were also lolling on the couch. Three others were catering, refilling their glasses with alcohol, laughing at their jokes, or squeaking in joy when one of the men gave their butt a friendly squeeze. Cassian’s senses came back to full alert as he stopped in front of the couch, Culbry’s gaze falling on him. The USB felt hot against his foot, though he knew that nobody had any clue what he had just stolen.
“Willix, don’t tell me you’re already on your way!” Culbry shouted a bit too loudly considering Cassian stood only a few feet away.
As he raised his voice, the bustle on the couch immediately stopped. Cassian could feel all eyes on him even though some of the girls tried to peek emphatically uninterested. Most of them were human girls who all wore the same style of braids, but there were also two female Twi’leks whose colors shone almost too brightly against the white uniforms of the men. If Cassian had to guess, he assumed they came from one of the traveling brothels that brought the higher-ups of the Galactic Empire whatever – whoever – they wanted at any time. Just the thought of it made Cassian angry, but after all this time in the Rebellion he knew how to suppress his rage.
“General, it seems like I enjoyed your party too much for my own good. Since I need to leave in the morning, I should have been in bed hours ago,“ Cassian answered, his voice dripping with politeness.
“Well, that’s a shame! Then let’s have one last drink in your honor!“ Culbry exclaimed and waved at someone behind Cassian.
Even though one of the Colonels offered to sit down, Cassian kept standing. He was sure that once he was on that couch, his farewell would become far more difficult. He knew drinking men too well to not assume that they would challenge him to drink after drink and in the rank game of the Empire saying no was not an option. Also, he didn’t want to come near the hands of those empty-eyed girls that seemed to be everywhere.
Just at that moment, two more women passed Cassian and put tablets with green sparkling wine on the table in front of the couch. One was a Togruta with colorful head tails and the other…
For a moment, the world tilted and Cassian could only stare as she handed him a champagne flute.
Kerri.
He couldn’t remember the last time he had thought about his sister but once the name resurfaced from the depths of his brain, there was no stopping. It rolled through his mind like an avalanche, all over the girl's face, thinking, wondering. Was it really her?
It took him quite the effort to tear his eyes away – the last time he had seen her she had only been six years old but she could have grown up to become this woman, the face shape, her eyes, her skin tone, could it possibly be? – and toast as everyone was raising their glasses. Culbry’s toast was too quiet for the roaring in his ears. He emptied his own glass in one gulp which showed to not be the best idea considering all the gas in it. Bubbling, it raised down his throat and made him cough.
“Ah, sweetie, are you all right?” The woman was still nearby and patted his back compassionately, the sweetness in her voice far too familiar.
Her hands left hot and cold trails on his back and once again, Cassian couldn’t help but stare. Didn’t Kerri also have a tiny mole under her eye?
“Looks like you have found an admirer, my dear,” Culbry’s comment was awarded with loud laughter by the other men. It was quickly joined by the more careful chuckles of some girls.
Only then did Cassian manage to get his concentration back. Shocked, he realized that he had let down his guards entirely – while the stolen documents were still hidden in his boot.
The woman who – maybe? – was his sister laughed and it sounded like the lake where they had fished on a spring morning. It had to be her, right? By now, Cassian’s heart was beating like crazy, the hard throbbing in his chest somehow managing to bring him back to the present.
“I truly like to adore beautiful beings,“ he answered. It frightened him how he was capable of letting his voice sound so calm in face of his spiraling thoughts.
“May I ask what part of our galaxy you are from?”
She lowered her eyelids covered with golden rhinestones, before answering with a chaste smile, “Kenari. It's a very small planet, I doubt that you have ever heard of it.”
Cassian gulped. “No, I have not,“ he managed to lie through the desert his mouth had turned into. Impossible. He had never met anyone from Kenari. And she looked just like Kerri. This could not be a coincidence, could it?
“Lieutenant Willix looks like your beauty frightens him,“ Culbry teased her and it took Cassian all the years he’d spent fighting against the Empire to not lunge at him.
“Maybe you give him a little kiss?“ one of the Colonels suggested and Cassian knew how he would murder him in an instant.
But sadly, he didn’t get the chance to finalize his plan. It would certainly land him in an Imperial prison cell where they would certainly find out that Lieutenant Willix was nothing more than a data shell in the system. More importantly, time also didn’t slow down and the woman – Kerri – made a step in his direction.
Before he could stop her, she let her hands run through his hair carefully, tousling it on the way.
“That looks better. Not that strict,“ she explained with a warm smile that almost reached her eyes.
She leaned in to kiss him but Cassian quickly grabbed her with bracelets adorned wrists and gently but firmly got out of her grasp. The woman couldn’t hide her confusion and quickly took a step back. Suddenly, her smile faltered. Fear flashed across her face before she could set her mask back in place. Of course, she was afraid, Cassian thought, she was dealing with a Lieutenant of the Galactic Empire after all.
“I don’t kiss people whose names I don’t know,“ he told her, trying to sound as harmless as he could. The fact that he didn’t snap at her seemed to relax her a bit and she lowered her hands which she had held up defensively.
“It’s tradition on my home planet,“ he explained defensively in the direction of the couch.
He had made that up and he could see Culbry’s eyebrows furrowing though he assumed it was more because of the scene Cassian had made than the lie he had just told. He realized that he was fetching too much attention and that it was time to move on. Still, he couldn’t leave until he got his answer.
“Kianshe. My name is Kianshe,“ the woman told him.
Cassian’s heart sunk like an anchor still attached to his brain. He knew that stumbling coincidentally over his sister in the wide galaxy was impossible but a small part of him wanted to believe that Kerri had let go of her name a long time ago. Names were just waves in an ocean of possibilities anyway.
Hope - it could be such a cruel companion.
To Cassian’s luck, it was at this moment that a huge group of completely drunk administration officers stumbled into the room. They were already singing a song of praise about Culbry which made the tense atmosphere in the room immediately vanish. The General smiled kindly and got up to greet the men but not before stopping in front of Cassian and squeezing his shoulders.
“I liked your work attitude, Willix,“ he said with praise, “not many men stay that focused when they have to discuss farming all day. I am sure your ethics will bring you far up the ranks soon.”
He turned to the woman who was still standing somehow lost between Cassian and the couch.
“You go with him,“ he told her, the poisonous command tone of an Imperial General in place.
To Cassian, he said, “Have fun with her tonight. It might be my birthday but see it as a gift from a friend. And maybe repay me once we meet again.” He winked and marched off.
Cassian, feeling utterly disgusted, could do nothing but signal the woman to follow him. The clacking of her heels on the tile floor made him feel sick but he kept going. Luthen had told him to stay away from unwanted attention and that definitely included upsetting an Imperial General by not accepting his gift, even if the gift was a living breathing being.
So Cassian made his way to the outside, debating what to do next. Because yes, he had to be careful not to blow his cover at the last second. But he also felt that if he didn't ask her a few questions now, he would regret it for the rest of his life.
Cassian marched off into the darkness of the night. The woman followed him in silence, respectfully two steps behind at all times. Culbry’s mansion was located in the middle of a secure military campus. Normally the streets were busy with soldiers and military vehicles but today the personnel was either securing the mansion directly or celebrating themselves. Cassian still looked around unobtrusively before they entered a dimly lit underpass. But as he had calculated, there was no one nearby.
He stopped, turned around, and looked at the woman whose red sequin dress glittered in the cold light of the underpass neon tubes. Even though she held her chin high, he could sense the same fear he had already registered in the mansion. He had to give her credit for masking it so well. He doubted that anyone who wasn’t regularly in contact with fear could notice it.
“You can tell me your name now,“ he said.
The tunnel gifted his voice with a subtle echo but it didn’t carry it outside. She looked at him measuring, perhaps trying to figure out the persona she had to be for him tonight.
“I already told you my name. It’s Kianshe,“ she answered with a teasing undertone.
Cassian shook his head. “No, your real name. Your Kenari name”
The woman slowly bridged the distance to him and stroked his shoulders. Her touch was soft like contact with a butterfly.
“I don’t know it. I barely remember my time on Kenari,“ she admitted regretfully.
Cassian gulped and hoped that she couldn’t feel his racing heartbeat under his uniform.
“When did you leave?“ he asked her. His voice was horse from anticipation but his heart was worse because it was filled with a galaxy of possibilities. He didn’t dare to think about the ones in which she was his sister, he could take her with him and fly away.
But instead of helping Kassa heal she pushed the boy back down into the prison that Cassian had built for him deep inside his soul.
“I don’t know exactly. I was brought off-planet when I was a toddler and grew up in an orphanage.”
Cassian had to fight the urge to sit down as his legs turned weak. While the tension left his body, disappointment hit him like a torrent. He couldn’t bring himself to say anything. Kianshe – not Kerri – looked at him emphatically. Her eyes were brown with sprinkles of green and now Cassian remembered that Kerri’s eyes hadn’t had a trace of that color in them. How could he have forgotten?
“I would love to visit Kenari once. In my memory, everything was green,” she told him with a dreamy undernote, “I am so used to industrial planets like Ferrix or Kessel, I can hardly imagine a place like that still exists.”
Cassian gulped. “It doesn’t anymore. The whole planet is toxic,” he explained.
“Have you ever been to Kenari, Lieutenant? Before it got closed, I mean“ Kianshe asked curiously.
Cassian, still not able to shake off his tumbling thoughts, just shook his head. Somehow his instincts took over and reminded him that he still had to pretend he was someone else. Pretend, pretend, always pretend until you were not there anymore, until nothing could hurt you.
Kianshe leaned closer, caressed his cheek with the top of her fingers and whispered, “Maybe you haven’t been there but you seem like you want to forget it nevertheless. I can help you forget every planet in this universe.”
Surprised, Cassian could only stare at her. After everything he had done for the Rebellion, forgetting was a luxury he couldn’t afford. All those horrible things, those lies, those deaths, in the hope of eventually supporting a greater good. He didn’t deserve to forget but at that moment it was everything he wanted. He wanted to forget the uniform he was wearing, the USB drive that burned against his skin and Kerri. He wanted to forget how guilty he felt because he had left her behind.
All of a sudden, the light of the neon lamps didn’t seem cold anymore. Instead, it was frizzing with energy. Kianshe’s tongue wet her lips and he leaned toward her kiss. Her lips were soft and careful, letting him decide the pace.
Cassian only wanted her to keep her promise.
He grabbed her neck and pulled her closer, kissing her hungrily. There was nothing more in this universe than her lips, her tongue and that kiss. Cassian believed for a moment that she could indeed save him from all his mistakes. Then he remembered that there was no saving for someone like him.
Startled, he released her and took a step back. A bitter taste spread in his mouth. A small part of him had expected her mouth to taste like the berries he had collected in the jungle. Instead, it had felt foreign. The bitterness of the realization settled under his tongue.
“I need to leave,“ he told her and turned around.
He had to get away from this horrible planet and bring the maps to the Rebellion. This whole ordeal had distracted him from his mission far too long.
“Wait!“ she shouted.
Even though Cassian only wanted to flee, he stopped in his tracks. Perhaps it was the desperation in her voice. Perhaps it had been the first honest word he had heard since landing on this planet that made him obey. As he turned around again, Kianshe looked at him with big eyes.
“Take me with you,“ she pleaded.
Cassian mustered her cautiously. Her words had pushed his senses back to high alert. Did she know he was from the Rebellion? Well, surely she must at least have figured out that he was an unusual Imperial Lieutenant. Cassian felt like punching a wall. If she knew, he had to eliminate her. His cover was far too valuable to risk. Bitterly, he realized that nobody would even question if they found her body later. Just a tiny girl who had played with the wrong soldier.
“No, I will not,“ he told her, still debating on what he should do next. He didn’t have a gun because those had been strictly forbidden at the party. But he did have a knife hidden in his other boot. Kianshe was tall but thin, with barely any muscle. He could easily overpower her.
She sighed and looked down. Then she seemed to consider something and eventually said, “General Culbry has given me to you for the rest of the night. Can I at least stay in your place so that I don’t need to go back?”
Cassian still didn’t move. Didn’t know what to do. A real General would’ve never let her speak to him like that and of course, he’d never grant her a favor. He couldn’t help her out even if he wanted to. But would it matter? He would be off-planet soon enough…
“Please, Lieutenant Willix,“ Kianshe stressed wholeheartedly.
Cassian wondered if she emphasized his name coincidentally or if that was her way of telling him that she saw through his cover and wouldn’t blow it. He didn’t know what he preferred but he found himself nodding and pulling his door card out of his pocket.
As she reached for it, he held on to the card a moment longer. She looked up at him and at that moment, Cassian knew he should kill her. Play it safe, get it over with. In every other mission, he would have acted by now. Hesitating that long normally meant risking capture or death.
But he couldn’t do it.
Even though she wasn’t Kerri, Kerri could have been her. Somewhere else, on another planet, at the service of another Imperial Lieutenant. Kianshe was home, just like his sister. How could he protect the galaxy when he wasn’t able to protect his own?
He let go of his keycard.
“Thank you,“ Kianshe said earnestly and leaned in to gift him a butterfly kiss on his cheek.
Perhaps, she could sense his conflict at that moment because she took a quick glance at the building number and hurried away. Cassian watched her as she stopped again at the exit of the underpass.
“Stay safe and don’t get caught,“ she told him with a tired smile before vanishing into the dark.
The words sent a new jolt of electricity through Cassian’s limbs. Danger, alert. He should have killed her when he had the chance to. Now, she would certainly blow his cover. If he hurried, he could catch her before she entered his now empty apartment.
But Cassian couldn’t bring his body to move. Instead, he stood in the middle of the underpass, feeling her lips on his. The light kiss had set his cheek on fire and the bitter taste in his mouth grew stronger and stronger until it wasn’t bearable anymore. In an instant, fear and disgust washed over him. Mixed with the feeling of her touch, it all became too much.
Cassian bend over and threw up. The pungent bile burned its way through his body and took Kianshe’s taste with it. His body spasmed and Cassian vomited until there was nothing left in his stomach. Shaking he took a few stumbling steps away from the mess and leaned against the tunnel wall.
For only a moment, he allowed himself to close his eyes and breathe. The aftertaste was disgusting but he preferred it over the sweet taste of her kiss. It helped ground him in the present as if getting rid of everything inside him had also taken his shattered hopes with it.
He sighed, pushed himself off the wall and got going. It was only a short walk to the airplane runway so by the time he reached it, his brain hadn’t been able to shake off its exhaustion. Cassian felt empty and not only because he had lost everything he ate today. It was a tiredness that came from years and years of fighting, of lying and fleeing. Of having to decide whom to kill and whom to spare.
He could only hope that he had made the right decision with Kianshe. Perhaps, he would never know for certain until it was too late.
Cassian recognized his starship from afar, K-2 standing next to the open ramp. The droid had accompanied him on the mission, though most of the time he had been guarding Cassian’s ship or his apartment. With a headquarter so calm and quiet, personal protection from your security droid caused more attention than was good for the mission.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,“ the droid said instead of a greeting in his unnerving neutral voice. “Did something go wrong?”
“Nothing went wrong,“ Cassian said defensively, not in the mood to elaborate on his comment.
He patted the droid on the back and walked up the ramp into the ship. K-2 followed him with heavy steps.
“So you have them?“ he asked as Cassian slammed the button to close the ramp. While it went up beeping loudly, Cassian wasted no time getting out of his uniform. He had already unbuttoned half of his jacket when he remembered K-2’s question.
“Yes, I got them,“ he explained, shrugging off the jacket and letting it fall to the ground.
He could feel the droid staring. Even though K-2’s face always stayed the same, Cassian sensed that his friend found his tight-lipped answers odd.
As Cassian put on his own jacket, the droid passed him and sat down in the cockpit. The leather of his jacket felt familiar and Cassian anticipated feeling like himself again. But the feel of the rough Imperial uniform was still sticking to his skin. All of a sudden, he felt disgusted once again.
For everything, he had done wearing it. For the countless meetings in which he had listened to people planning on destroying this planet’s nature. For the many times, he’d been out with the staff, watching the citizens plow away on the fields. For not granting Kianshe an escape out of fear that she would become a risk for the cause.
Cassian held his palm to his mouth, fighting another wave of sickness. Luckily this time it faded after some deep breaths. When he turned around, he saw K-2 watching him.
“What?“ he sighed, dropping ito the pilot seat next to his friend.
“Nothing,“ the droid said. “Well at least, if you don’t have anything to tell me,“ he stressed with a significant pause.
If there was anything Cassian didn’t want to do, then it was talking about what had happened at the party. So he shook his head and helped K-2 navigate the ship onto the roll field.
“This is going to be a nice silent ride then,“ K-2 added sarcastically before speeding up the ship.
Cassian scoffed but didn’t bite back. All energy had left his body the moment he had entered the ship.
He was happy that they indeed made it off the planet without any problems. As his ship was already set to depart on the terminal computers, nobody questioned his flight. And he was sure that nobody would register that someone took a copy of the trade routes until the first set of bombs destroyed the corn carriers.
As they left the atmosphere of Zatoq, Cassian breathed out for the first time in two weeks.
He reached into his shoe, pulled the USB drive out and presented it to K-2 with an apologetic smile.
“Rebellion 1, Empire 0,“ he joked. His tone was still off but he was thankful K-2 didn’t comment on it as he put the drive back into his boot for safety’s sake.
Instead, the droid added drily: “Good thing we never gave up. Not even when you almost blew the cover on the second day.”
The remark made Cassian flinch. Not because of the memory of him sitting down at the wrong side of the table – who knew the Empire had that universal seating rules – but because of the “never giving up”-part.
Maybe it was because his whole body and mind felt oversensitive still - no, not maybe, that was certainly the case – but a heavy feeling grew in his gut. Guilt. Because he had given something - someone - up once and had yet to make things right.
“All right, entering coordinates now for hyperspace. Let’s get away from here,“ he heard K-2 say through the mist in his brain. His words were like a beacon that ignited his nerves
“Wait!“ he exclaimed decisively and held up his hand. The droid stopped in his tracks and looked at him.
“We need to go somewhere else first,“ Cassian stated, heartbeat picking up in his chest.
“Somewhere else? That’s not part of the mission,“ K-2 stated confused but his fingers still hovered unmoving above the input panel.
“I know but I have to take care of something important,“ Cassian explained.
He sensed that K-2 was about to decline his request, so he added urgently, “Please Kay, I need to look for someone.”
He hated himself for the weakness that made his voice quiver by the end of the sentence. Ashamed, he looked out of the window into the dark galaxy. Zatoq was still visible in the distance, a planet with so many fields they made it shine golden even from afar.
Cassian expected K-2 to try and argue with him but instead, he felt the droid clumsily patting his upper arm. Cassian gulped hard, feeling that the friendly gesture was undeserved.
“Which coordinates should I put in?“ K-2 asked unceremoniously.
“397.31, 451.96, 0011.5,“ Cassian answered quietly.
The numbers tasted foreign on his tongue. When he had been younger, way back when he had laid awake in a still far too unknown house that sounded so different than the forest he had grown up in, he had repeated these coordinates over and over again. They had been like a friend during the darkest nights, the calming knowledge that he would eventually find his way back home.
But then Kenari had been shut down by the Empire and Kassa had grown up to become Cassian. As the sound of wind whistling through metal pipes had become part of his life, he’d eventually stopped repeating them out loud every night. But his heart had never forgotten them. Them and her.
Kerri, I hope you are there. Please wait for me, Cassian allowed himself to think as K-2 flipped the switch and the ship entered hyperspace.