by Revis, Beth
“You two, come with me,” he said, motioning toward them.
Saw frowned but couldn’t reasonably deny the request. He and Jyn followed Lieutenant Colonel Senjax down the hall and into a small empty room.
“Is something wrong?” Saw asked. Jyn could feel the tension radiating from him.
“People forget—because I’m something of a celebrity, a public face—people forget that I’m still an Imperial officer,” Lieutenant Colonel Senjax said. He looked past Saw. “Ah, yes, come in, come in.”
A pair of stormtroopers entered the room, followed by Reece.
“What is this?” Saw growled. Jyn’s hands balled into fists.
“These are the anarchists you alerted my department of?” Lieutenant Colonel Senjax asked Reece.
He nodded. “Saw Gerrera,” Reece said.
Lieutenant Colonel Senjax’s eyes were alight. “This is excellent,” he said. “That name has been on our lists for quite some time.”
“This was a setup?” Saw said, disbelief in his voice—not disbelief that Reece would betray them but that he hadn’t caught on earlier. “Did Id—was she in on it?”
“Idryssa was a fool who took my suggestions easily.” Reece laughed. “But she was just a fool. By the way”—he turned back to the lieutenant colonel—“check where the signal of the camera droids is transmitting; it should lead you to a larger cell.”
“Traitor,” Saw growled at Reece.
“You betrayed me first,” Reece said in a bored tone. “You took my men. So I’m taking yours.”
The comms Reece had sent from Saw’s base, the “contact” he obviously never had. He’d been signaling the Empire directly. Jyn prayed that everyone back at the outpost had the sense to evacuate, knew the procedures and remembered the plans Saw had drilled into them.
And then Jyn thought of Jari. Had he been a traitor, too, or was he framed by Reece? Or—a dark thought flashed through her mind—had Saw just been so paranoid he saw a traitor where none had been?
“This is revenge from all those years ago?” Saw laughed. “You were a little boy then, and you’re a little boy now.”
The insult struck home; Reece’s face reddened with anger, and Jyn thought of how he’d looked when she’d beaten him in the sparring match.
His eyes landed on her. “And that one,” Reece said, pointing to Jyn. “You may be interested in her as well—and I’ll obviously be expecting higher payment if you are. Saw’s tried to keep her identity undercover, but I suspect she may be—”
He never finished the sentence. Saw moved with lightning speed, ripping the blaster from the stormtrooper positioned behind him and firing at Reece. Reece dropped like a stone, but Jyn was surprised to see that he was still breathing, still alive. The stormtrooper’s blaster had been set to stun.
Saw turned it toward the lieutenant colonel, but the other stormtrooper knocked his arm, sending the shot wild. Lieutenant Colonel Senjax commed for backup, and Jyn threw herself at the stormtrooper, fighting him back. She wasn’t armed well—Reece had told them specifically that they’d be scanned before working next to the lieutenant colonel and any blasters would be confiscated—but she had a knife in her boot. She withdrew it as fast as she could, slamming it into the stormtrooper’s elbow.
“We have to go!” Saw shouted at her. The outer room was large, but there was only one exit and entry, and already more stormtroopers were charging inside.
Saw wheeled around, pressing the barrel of the blaster against Lieutenant Colonel Senjax’s skull. “Jyn,” he said, “get Reece.”
Jyn didn’t question him; she grabbed Reece’s limp arms and dragged him behind her. Using the lieutenant colonel as cover, Saw and Jyn exited the room.
The rest of the crew stood, shocked. The stormtroopers were listening to orders in their helmets. Jyn sent an emergency comm to Codo in the ship. For a moment, they all stared at each other.
And then the entire building shook.
“An aerial attack?” Jyn gasped, catching a glimpse of black TIE fighters through the high windows.
Lieutenant Colonel Senjax laughed mirthlessly. “This factory is on its way out,” he said. “The Empire is finished with it. It’s worthless. If you think they’ll let the building stand when they could destroy you…”
But the people, Jyn thought as an alarm blared through the building and all the workers tried to evacuate.
Lieutenant Colonel Senjax used the chaos to wrench free, jerking from Saw’s grasp and knocking the blaster aside. Jyn picked it up from the ground, letting Reece’s limp body drop, and fired at the retreating officer. Saw pulled her behind the edge of the plasma lathe, giving her cover.
The lieutenant colonel raced out of view, but the wall behind him erupted in flames. Debris rained down on them, rock and metal, flames and timbers. The crystalline spectrometer shook free from the wall, the laser array spinning.
Saw leapt toward Jyn, grabbing her by the arm and yanking her behind him. “We have to go!” he screamed.
Panic flooded Jyn’s senses. Everywhere was chaos and burning. Through the exposed roof, Jyn could see more TIE fighters screaming through the air. Everyone scattered, racing down the hall to the exit. Rumbling filled the room.
Someone was shouting her name, pulling on her.
Saw.
“Come on!” he shouted in her face.
Just past him, Jyn noted the giant power cells lining the wall. She blinked, shock overwhelming her system. She watched as if frozen as a green beam of plasma from a TIE fighter’s cannon whizzed through the air, striking the power cells.
The world exploded.
Saw threw himself at Jyn, covering her body with his. They landed on the floor with a skull-cracking crash, and Jyn was knocked out of her dazed shock. Fire and metal rained down on them.
Saw bucked in pain, screaming in agony, a sound Jyn would never forget. She scrambled out from under him.
Blood blossomed all over his body.
Jyn analyzed the wounds as quickly as she could. A mixture of sharp metal debris and something else—a chemical of some kind, she wasn’t sure—had fallen over them. The chemical burns were deep, but they were mostly seared shut. The same could not be said of the wounds caused by the metal debris. Dozens of deep, long cuts littered Saw’s body, but the worst was where a long, flat triangular-shaped piece of metal that had pierced Saw’s shoulder, clean through to his chest. Jyn knew not to remove the metal; she just hoped it hadn’t sliced any arteries. Saw still bled, but he might not bleed to death, and not dying was about the only thing Jyn hoped for at that point.
Reece groaned. Somehow, despite being unconscious and unprotected, he’d escaped the main blast mostly unscathed. His face was covered in blood-streaked soot, but the superficial head wound was nothing.
Jyn kicked him. “Get up!” she screamed. “Help me!”
He groaned again, rolling over, then his eyes widened, taking in the horror of everything around him.
“Help me!” Jyn shouted again, struggling with Saw’s body. He had passed out from the pain. Or at least Jyn hoped it was the pain. His shirt was so soaked that it dripped blood, but he still had a pulse, breath. It wasn’t over yet.
Reece, still stunned and possibly in shock, lifted one of Saw’s arms around his shoulders, and Jyn supported the other side, holding him so as not to disturb the metal in his shoulder. She kept the blaster she’d stolen from the stormtrooper in her other hand in case they met resistance. They hobble-ran through the raining debris.
“They’re toying with us,” Reece said, choking on smoke. “We’ll never escape.”
Jyn thought about the crystalline spectrometer, the hinged roof that was even now falling aside, flattening everything in its wake. They stumbled to the door.
“Jyn,” Saw groaned.
They cleared the building. The spaceport was a kilometer away, and it was, miraculously, not destroyed. Reece picked up his pace, but Saw, becoming more conscious of what was happening and his injuries, pul
led away. He made a noise, deep and guttural, animal-like, a bellow of rage and regret. Reece yanked him forward, but Saw struggled against him, stumbling and pushing Reece away.
“Traitor,” Saw growled. He slipped from Jyn’s tenuous grasp, falling to the ground, hissing in pain as the metal shard in his shoulder shifted.
In her desperate attempt to flee, Jyn had almost let herself forget that Reece had been the cause of all this. She raised her blaster, pointing at him, and he froze.
Saw had not forgotten. He was bleeding, broken, maybe even dying, but he looked more dangerous than Jyn had ever seen him.
“Saw!” Codo—stupid, simple Codo—stood in the path leading to the spaceport. He started running as a TIE fighter zoomed overhead.
Jyn kept her eyes and her blaster on Reece. Saw muttered something, spluttering through the blood in his mouth.
“What?” Jyn asked, not taking her eyes from Reece.
“Go.” He struggled to sit up, and when he coughed, blood leaked over his dry, cracked lips. He jerked his head to the left, toward the munitions testing ground. “Hide.” He coughed again.
“I’m coming with you.” Jyn was surprised at the steel in her voice.
“Give me a day,” Saw said. “He—” He coughed again. “He knows.”
“We will take care of Reece,” Jyn said, looking the traitor right in the eyes. She was satisfied to see the terror in them.
“No!” Saw roared. Jyn flicked her gaze back to him. “I will take care of Reece.”
Codo finally reached them, and Jyn tossed him her blaster. He was confused, but he knew enough to keep it trained on Reece.
Jyn dropped to her knees by Saw’s side. “Wait in a shell turret,” he said. He pressed a small blaster into her hand; she had no idea where he’d gotten it. “Until daylight.” He withdrew a pair of knives from a hidden sheath inside his pants. He pressed one into Jyn’s hand but kept the other one.
“You’re not leaving me behind, are you?” Jyn asked urgently.
Saw’s big eyes stared into hers, and she could see all the love in them. “He knows who you really are,” he said. “A secret like that, once exposed, can never be hidden again.”
“You’re coming back for me, right?” All she could think about was Saw’s growing paranoia, the way he had treated Jari and some of the others. “Promise?” she said in a small voice.
Another explosion rattled the ground.
Saw struggled up, sucked in a deep breath, and shouted, “Go!” Blood from his mouth sprayed across her face.
The noise startled Codo so much that he lowered the blaster he held on Reece. Reece moved like lightning, jerking the weapon from Codo’s grip and whirling around, aiming wildly. Jyn wasn’t sure if he intended to shoot her or Saw, but he never got the chance. Saw lunged up, driving the blade of his knife into Reece’s leg and jerking down with all his weight, the blade dragging a jagged slice through his flesh. Reece screamed in agony but didn’t drop the blaster. He smashed the grip against Saw’s skull, beating him repeatedly when he didn’t release his hold.
“Run!” Saw shouted again.
Jyn ran.
She blew past Codo, who was sputtering out questions, and ran to the munitions testing ground, breaking through the weak gate and ignoring the warning signs. The area had been used during the Clone Wars and then boarded up.
She had seen the reports of buried mines, of unexploded torpedoes embedded in the black rock, but she didn’t think about that now. The ground was still pockmarked and scarred from blasts, but near the fence was a series of small rectangular buildings that faced the testing ground.
Jyn ran for the closest shell turret, a bunker just big enough to hold one or two people if they crouched. It was made of black igneous rock and gritty mortar that blended into the background of the landscape. Jyn dove for the tiny hut. There was a single entrance—more like a tunnel—and two slits for windows.
The bunker was dark inside, with just slits of light carving into the shadows. Jyn pressed her face against the narrow window, looking out.
She could see Saw and Reece, still fighting in the road, oblivious to the TIE fighters and the screaming survivors, to Codo and the chance to escape. Despite his injuries and the metal shard sticking out of his shoulder, Saw had managed to throw himself over Reece, using his body weight to keep him down. They were both smeared with his blood.
“Help me, boy!” Saw roared at Codo. Codo dropped to the ground, pressing his hands against Reece’s wrists.
Saw’s bloody-toothed grin was so malicious that Jyn could see it from her hiding place. He said something—Jyn couldn’t hear it—but despite the fact that Tamsye Prime was still under attack, Saw wasn’t going to delay his revenge one moment longer. He slid the blade of his knife down the side of Reece’s face, as if he was going to peel the skin from his head. Jyn gripped the twin of that blade in her own hand so hard that she started shaking.
Reece screamed, high-pitched and desperate, and squirmed, trying to get out from under Saw. Codo was pure white, fear blanching his face as he watched Saw dig the knife into Reece’s shoulder, twisting the blade, creating a mirror of the injury Saw himself bore.
Something crashed. Something loud. Tinkling sounds of rock and debris scattered across the shell turret’s roof, and on the road, Codo ducked for cover.
“We have to go!” Codo shouted.
He stood, heaving Saw up and helping him stand. Reece lay on the ground, whimpering, one arm splayed out. Saw looked around, his eyes scanning the munitions testing ground. He couldn’t see Jyn; it was impossible, but for a moment, she pretended that he could. Through the slit in the shell turret, she stared at him, memorizing him in that moment, blood-soaked and wild.
He turned away. Saw said something to Codo, and Codo grabbed Reece by the ankle, dragging him as he supported Saw and they made their slow way back to the spaceport.
Through the noise of her entire world crashing around her, Jyn heard an engine roaring to life. She scooted out of the tunnel just in time to see a ship—a small Imperial shuttle—streak across the sky. Smart of Saw to steal an Imperial ship. None of the men knew how to use Jyn’s code replicator, but an Imperial ship could make its way through the attack anyway, with a little luck. It dodged the TIE fighters, taking out one with a plasma cannon before breaking atmosphere and disappearing from sight.
Jyn was alone.
IMPERIAL DETENTION CENTER & LABOR CAMP LEG-817
LOCATION: Wobani
PRISONER: Liana Hallik, #6295A
CRIMES: Forgery of Imperial Documents, Resisting Arrest, Possession of an Unsanctioned Weapon, Aggravated Assault
Eat a ration cube.
Collapse into bed.
Wake to the alarm.
Eat a ration cube.
Rush to dress and stand by the door.
Accept the heavy cuffs.
Trudge to work assignments.
Board a turbo tank.
Rattle over the planet’s rocky landscape to the work assignment.
Work.
Work.
Work.
Work.
Eat a ration cube.
Work.
Rattle back over the planet’s rocky landscape to the prison cells.
Eat a ration cube.
Collapse into bed.
The days drifted one into another, the only difference being what the day’s labor assignment was and, occasionally, new faces in the crowds. Some she recognized. Working with Saw meant that she had been exposed to various partisan groups throughout the galaxy, and it wasn’t that surprising that anyone with rebellious intentions wound up there.
Jyn never tried to reach out to any of the people she recognized. There was little point. She saw them in passing, maybe shared a day’s labor with them. But the Empire’s system of varying whom people worked with ensured that no attachments could be made or exploited. Jyn spent whole days without saying a single word. Zorahda had begun withdrawing into herself and didn’t respond on
the few days when Jyn tried to make conversation.
“Another day,” she said as she and her cellmate stood by their prison door, waiting for cuffs.
Zorahda grunted at her.
At work assignment, Zorahda was sent to the farms and Jyn was sent to transport loading. It was monotonous, but it was by far not the worst possible position at the camp. Droids oversaw the main shipping placement, and Jyn and the others in her group operated the repulsorlifts that shifted the crates of ore into position. The Empire could have had droids do the entire operation, which just added to the insult of making prisoners complete the tasks.
A door opened near the hangar as Jyn moved the latest crate from the mines into position on the loading line. She caught a glimpse of the warden and looked quickly away. Her eyes met another prisoner’s, and she shared a momentary look of worry with the Rodian. Wherever the warden was, nothing good could happen.
“As you can see,” the warden said, his voice carrying across the floor, “we have an excellent production cycle.”
Jyn dared a glance up as she lifted her crate. A man in an Imperial admiral’s uniform surveyed the transport loading line, looking down his long nose. He had dark skin, shaved hair, and eyes that were more black than brown. He was clearly an Imperial soldier down to his bones, but he wasn’t the man who had killed her mother, so Jyn ignored him.
The warden and his Imperial guest walked along the perimeter of the catwalk, then down the stairs and onto the floor. The admiral didn’t seem to be very keen on being among the prisoners and dust, but the warden was overwhelmed with pride. He prattled about production rates and the low cost of the labor. He’s nervous, Jyn realized. This Imperial officer made the warden nervous.
“It is not as efficient as it could be,” the admiral said, cutting through the warden’s ceaseless talk.
The warden’s river of words dried up. “We have, of course, experimented with longer work hours. We’ve found that fifteen standard hours of labor a day gives the ideal combination of efficient, mistake-free labor and little chance for any seditiousness to grow.”
