Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

More Than One Sort of Prison

Chapter Thirty

Off world, the pilots within the Royal Guard flying the N-1 Starfighters charged the Imperial fleet per Captain Panaka's and Captain Typho's orders while the rest of the Queen's soldiers led the charge against the stormtroopers down on the surface. Their attack took the Imperials by surprise as they scrambled to gather their men together, but it wasn't long before dozens of TIE Fighters and other ships which fought to protect the officers in charge of their mission to find the missing Rebel counterattacked, as a second battle began in the space outside of the unidentified planet below.

Though the Queen's squadrons were outnumbered by the Imperial fleets, the Starfighters shot down nearly a number of the ships fighting against them before the first of them fell. Unfortunately, their luck turned and the TIE fighters began to take out more and more until under a dozen N-1s remained. The Royal Guard didn't quit as their friends below were depending on them to keep the Imperials busy. And their efforts eventually paid off when two unknown ships suddenly appeared from out of nowhere and fired upon the fleet with incredible accuracy and flare.

"I'm not sure who you guys in the Starfighter ships are, but seeing as you're against the Empire… I think it's time we even out the odds a little," one of the new arrivals called out fervently through their frequency and then took down another TIE Fighter, while the pilot's partner flew overhead within an X-Wing as he took several shots against one of the cruisers firing at members of the Queen's Guard.

"Chewie, what do you say we bring that Cruiser down?" the pilot flying mysterious ship continued while the Wookie sitting beside him roared and fired the weapons onboard the Falcon.

One of the Starfighter pilots spoke through the coms as he enquired, "Pilots of the X-Wing and unknown ship, please identify yourselves."

The second of the new arrivals answered, "This is Luke Skywalker of the Alliance and my friends in the piece of junk he calls the Millennium Falcon are Han Solo and Chewbacca, also with the Alliance. We happened to be passing through and thought we'd help you take the rest of this Imperial fleet down."

"Your timing couldn't be better," another of the Queen's squadron responded as several more Imperial ships were taken down, though one of the TIE Fighters managed to get a good shot off before it crashed into another as the ship's blast took out one of Luke's engines.

"Han, I've been hit!" Luke cried out nervously as the Alliance ship began to fall while Han turned his own around to check on his friend. "I'm alright, but I'm going to crash. Don't worry, R2 can fix it enough so that I'll be able to land somewhere within the planet without blowing apart. The blast wasn't bad."

Han quickly retorted, "He'd better. Don't worry, as soon as we finish up here, I'll come and find you."

The younger man smiled as he struggled with the ship's controls upon entering the atmosphere and replied, "I know you will. Be careful."

"Who do you think you're talking to?" the smuggler asked, almost sounding hurt. "I'm always careful."

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of," Luke stated, just as their radios cut out after the X-Wing disappeared from view.

Back within the Muun's hut…

Drisco stood over the fire that was heating water for the Rebel lying unconscious again a few feet away, then carefully pulled the cauldron off, poured a few cupfuls into a bowl, and added his remedies in so that he could continue to help bring down the fever within him and treat the remainder of his wounds. He paused in his ministrations as the Sith Lord gently turned Cassian over onto his back and applied a pasty substance to the blaster wound that wasn't much smaller than the already healed wound within his side was, then continued to wipe down his brow and chest with the water.

He stopped once more when two uniformed soldiers broke through the shelter's door, then aimed their weapons on the Muun as he stood in front of them unstartled by their sudden entrance. The men looked past the creature and finally saw who they quickly realized must be the man they've come to this strange world to find. They raised their rifles higher, but before the Queen's soldiers could make their next decision, Drisco immediately used the Force to pull them out of their hands, turned the guns on the men and opened fired. One of the men was killed, while the other remained on the floor of the hut as he groaned from a blaster wound to his lower leg. Suddenly another soldier entered, followed by masked warrior as they both also raised their own weapons.

However, the warrior whose face was covered froze upon seeing Cassian lying unconscious behind the creature before her and attempted to rush forward, but the creature moved between them and used his power to force the masked intruder backward against one of the walls and held her there. The other attacker fired a shot at the Muun, who easily deflected the blast and ripped the rifle from his hands as he knocked the soldier back against the wall as well and caused him to fall to the ground. The gun turned around in midair as it was about to fire again when it became trained on Typho, until the woman still against the wall behind her cried out for Drisco to stop.

When the Sith Lord heard her plea, he paused and then Jyn continued, "Please… we mean you no harm. I've only come for my friend who's lying on the bed behind you. I've been looking for him for days. He's been through…"

Drisco interrupted, "Through hell? I don't necessarily need to read your mind or his to know that this is so. But doing so is one of my many abilities. And I read his. Your friend is with the Rebellion and he has killed many."

"And from the powers you possess, I'd say you're loyal to the Empire," Captain Typho answered coldly, keeping his eyes on the villain before them while he struggled to sit up. "Who are you?"

"I told your friend my name was Drisco Vil Hyde in order to learn more about him," the Muun responded smugly as he stepped forward while keeping the intruders exactly as they were. "But I lied. My true name is Darth Plagueis and I'm the very Sith Lord who once trained the Emperor in the Force until he betrayed me. I was forced to flee and hide from my own Apprentice and everything I knew and loved after he tried to kill me, while he rose up to power in my place."

Jyn pulled away the scarf that covered her nose and mouth to reveal herself to him and then she replied, "I would ask you to help us defeat the Imperial soldiers who have also come to take back their prisoner. But you follow the dark ways of the Force. What have you done to Cassian?"

He looked behind him at the Rebel, then turned back to Jyn and smiled as he answered, "Nothing. Not yet. In fact, I've helped him to heal as his condition was grave when I first found him after he crashed here on this world. But the Force has given me a gift. A chance to become the Sith Lord I was always meant to become and your Rebel Captain will be my salvation. I have the power to bend life to my will and Captain Andor's life now belongs to me."

"Stop!" she angrily cried while she struggled to break free from his invisible hold on her, when the villain stood over her wounded friend again and used the power within him to steal what Jyn knew was Cassian's life force as he drew it into himself. "If you hurt him…"

"Save your petty threats, Jyn Erso," the Muun sneered cruelly while he continued to drain the life of the man he had been tending to until all of a sudden, he froze as though he became lost within a trance of sorts.

The strange thing was, the Sith Lord's power vanished when he slowly walked out of the hut and out of sight, causing Jyn to collapse to the ground and allowed for Typho to stand back on his feet. He helped Jyn up, then she immediately rushed to Cassian and knelt down beside him as she tried to rouse him. She took his lifeless face in her hands as she whispered words the Captain could barely hear, then she looked over his body to see the torments he had been forced to endure while being held a prisoner of the Empire.

Captain Typho also knelt down as he gently lifted Cassian's upper body up so he could pull away the makeshift bandage covering the wound in his left shoulder in order to look at it, then when she saw the lashes across his back and felt the heat of the raging fever coursing through him, Jyn stifled a cry and said fearfully, "I don't care why he left. We just need to get out of here, back to our ship. Can you help me?"

He nodded as he carefully lifted her friend off the bed with Jyn's help, then pulled one of his arms over his shoulders while she did the same and together they started making their way back through the trees and overgrown plants with Cassian between them. They had walked nearly the distance they had come and were almost back to where the fight against the stormtroopers began, when both Jyn and Typho stopped walking upon seeing a young man with blonde hair fighting against the Sith Lord who had almost killed them until whatever force drew him away. Somehow, Jyn knew it was the stranger wielding a lightsaber who had been what Darth Plagueis was drawn to. She and the Captain both stood there and watched as the Muun was suddenly run through by the Jedi's weapon as he fell to the ground dead.

Finally, he turned his head and saw them staring at him in awe and swiftly came running over to help them as he asked, "How is your friend?"

"He's very ill, and badly hurt," Jyn responded worryingly. "We need to get him back to our ship."

"Gregar!" Ric Olie suddenly called out as he and a few other soldiers of the Queen's Guard came running towards them when they saw the three of them arriving back at the sight of the crashed escape pod, then the men took Cassian from Jyn to take over his care. "It's good to see you both are alright and that you found your friend, Miss. Erso."

Upon seeing a stranger with them, the pilot stared at him as he asked, "But who is this now?"

It was then that someone rushed towards them from another ship unknown to them as he shouted, "Luke!"

"As my friend just said for me, I'm Luke," the young man replied. "And that's Han. I'm glad we arrived here when we did. The man you saw me kill…"

"He was a Sith Lord," Jyn finished for him. "And you're a Jedi. Only Jedi have the kind of strength it takes to wield a weapon such as your lightsaber and to kill a man as powerful as that monster was. I know enough of the Force because my parents told me stories when I was a child. I just never thought I would meet one. But how did you come to be here?"

Han scoffed in frustration and then answered, "We were out on a scouting mission, which we should really be getting back to. Don't you think, Luke?"

Luke added, "We happened to be passing by at the right time. Or perhaps the Force had something to do with it."

"It was your idea to turn around and join the fight," the smuggler curtly retorted while he glared at the younger man.

Jyn thought of Cassian again and how close he had come to being killed by the dark Jedi as she responded, "Thank you. If not for you coming when you did… He would have killed Cassian. Thank you."

"You're welcome, but I only succeeded because he was frail and weak," Obi Wan's last Apprentice replied honestly. "He allowed himself to lose touch with his faith in the Force until it was too late. I've only just begun my training and so I was lucky that I didn't get myself killed. Han's right, we really need to get going. May the Force be you, Miss. Erso is it? To all of you."

"And you," she answered and then watched the Jedi and smuggler leave before she finally turned back towards the ship and left Typho and Ric to follow after her. "I need to get back to Cassian."

The Captain quickly turned to the pilot as he asked, "Where's my uncle, Ric? Is he helping the others take care of the wounded?"

Ric Olie looked over at him with remorse in his eyes, then he regretfully responded, "I'm afraid that…. Panaka died. He was killed saving my life. I am so sorry, Gregar."

"Don't be," Typho replied. "It's how he always wanted to die, as a hero."

Six evenings later on Naboo…

"There you are," Jyn said quietly as she walked out onto one of the palace's balconies overlooking the vast ocean before them and worryingly found Cassian sitting on the ledge. "I've been looking for you. You're looking much better than you've been since we fought on Scarif. How are you feeling?"

Without turning around he whispered, "I'm better. At least physically. I'm not so sure about the rest. I'm sorry if I worried you. I was only looking out at the horizon. I never thought I would ever have a quiet moment like this. It really is quite beautiful here. I wish I could stay, if only for a little bit longer."

Jyn placed her hand gently on his unwounded shoulder in hope of getting him to look at her as she answered firmly, "If that's really what you want, Cassian… then stay. I would be happy staying here."

"You think that I'm just going to return to the Alliance?" he asked when he finally looked over at her and smiled sadly. "No. A part of me is telling me that it's my duty and that I need to find them. But I wouldn't know where to even begin looking. Besides, after everything I've been through, between Vader's torments, the Sith Lord nearly stealing the rest of my life, and you coming after me to save me… For the first time in my life, I realize that I want more than a life fighting solely for someone else, as a soldier without a heart and the mind enough to stand against what I believe to be wrong. I'm not sure what I want. But if you truly mean what you've been trying to tell me, if you really are willing to stay with me and help me to discover the better man you see in me, then I wish to remain with you wherever our journey takes us. I'm not used to someone caring about me."

"I know," she responded, then she suddenly leaned in and kissed him without thinking and when she pulled away again, Jyn looked deep into his eyes and saw love and admiration in them that she never believed she would see in anyone's eyes. "I'm sorry. It's just… I'm here. And I'm not going anywhere. Because I couldn't even if you wanted me to. I don't care about the terrible things you've done, Cassian. I never read the file on the drive you gave to Lando to give to me. What you've done in your past no longer matters because you are not that man anymore. I know you did it all for the right reasons. You are a good man, no matter what you think of yourself."

Cassian leaned in closer to kiss her again, but he stopped himself and pulled back as he replied, "Those things I said that night in Cloud City… when I told you I was prepared to die on Scarif and became angry with you for saving my life…"

Jyn cut him off and said, "You were hurting and confused. So was I. But you gave me a reason to fight for someone other than myself. Thank you, Cassian."

"You're welcome, Jyn," he whispered and allowed himself to kiss her once more.

"I could get used to this," she said fervently, then they continued to kiss as the sun went down before them.

The End