Chapter Eight
The early morning chill nipped at their feet and fingers as Jyn and Cassian skirted around rocks and bushes, avoiding the troopers already out patrolling.
"Okay, where's the base Jyn?" Cassian whispered urgently.
"I'm working on it!" Jyn motioned to Cassian for him to follow her.
Soon enough, they reached the dark building Jyn had found yesterday.
"Do you still have the scope?" Jyn asked Cassian.
Wordlessly, he handed her the quadnocs and Jyn used them to look at the surrounding area, zooming in specifically on a door that led inside the building. There were guards there, talking into radios. One held the controls to the door, she assumed. She could see the apparatus in the trooper's hand. Others walked back and forth, then around the other side, faces unreadable underneath helmets. The doors to the inside opened for some time to make way for the white stormtroopers and their sandy counterparts, then shut again. Jyn caught a few words and phrases of the guards - "Shield above destroyed---check for any traces of survivors--no mercy for any rebel--"
That was all she needed to hear. Jyn's pulse quickened. Armed with this information, Jyn would tell Cassian later. The search for the ship was even more important now. They couldn't get captured, or all of this would have been for nothing.
"Okay, so we have to find a ship, and see whether we can use it to fly out. You'll lookout while I go find it, " Jyn instructed.
"I can lookout WHILE I go with you. It takes us both working together to find it. Don't do it all yourself."
With hands on their blasters, the two stepped out from their hiding spot and quickly ran towards the base. Jyn took another look at the door. It was locked firmly.
She would take a chance, knock out the guards, then sneak in. That was their best bet.
"Ready?" she asked Cassian.
"Yeah."
With a fluid movement, Jyn leaped towards the guard: a flash of light, the enemy lay on the ground, knocked out cold. Cassian had done the same to the other one. Jyn bent down and took the controls from the still body. With a clank and a rumble, the metal doors shifted open.
Jyn pocketed the device, thinking to herself:
You don't know if you'll need it again. Best to keep it and not throw it out just yet.
The door moved back into place with a groan, any light present before chased out by the darkness of the hall. It was almost eerily silent, the track ahead lit only with small lights along the wall's bottom edge. Jyn and Cassian took a shuttlecar from the entrance and waited as the transport took them further into the Empire's dark labyrinth. On the outside, tree leaves and grass whipped by in a matter of seconds, but the two didn't know that. All they could see was the gray of the windows.
Stepping out of the shuttle car and onto the gray ground, the corridor took the sound of their footsteps and sent it echoing throughout the hallway, despite their best efforts to tread the ground quietly. The floors and walls split off into separate rooms and passages. Jyn thought of the building as a maze. With each new pathway she saw, there was more room for error, one more way to get lost. There were enemies lurking about, possibly. She didn't want to run into them.
_________________◇____________
Bodhi had unlocked a code to get the U wing he was in up and running.
Yes! Bodhi cheered. He instinctively looked around, slightly embarrassed by his own act of celebration.
The flight mechanisms were simple for Bodhi to handle, especially since he had watched Cassian and K2 piloting one when on Eadu. Bodhi had also checked the fuselage level in the engine. Pretty full. He hadn't forgotten about Baze, Chirrut, Jyn or Cassian. A small hope bloomed in his mind. Perhaps they had survived. Bodhi had been aware of the atomic like explosion that had shaken the ground like an earthquake. But during that time he had been protected by that strange golden aura.
Bodhi shut the engine down on the U-Wing after checking the tank. He didn't want any of the precious oil and gases in it to be burned away.
Meanwhile, Bodhi would explore more of the island and draw up a plan for escape. His mind was already working ahead of his body, sketching the layout of the area and categorizing the best routes for travel. Bodhi's memory would not fail him today. He certainly hoped that would be the case.
_________________◇____________
Chirrut and Baze had continued their search for Jyn and Cassian for around two days now. Still no sign of them.
Baze was doubtful -- they were doing this for nothing. He had protested to Chirrut a day before, but Chirrut had refused to listen. There he was again, acting stubborn, and repeating his seemingly useless mantra. But Baze had grown used to it by now.
Chirrut and Baze, surprisingly, hadn't had a SINGLE thing come after them for the last 2 or 3 days despite having cut through a fourth of the island planet on foot. But that didn't mean the two men had their guard down. Quite the opposite. Chirrut could sense something ominous deep within his marrow. Despite having a calm demeanor, Chirrut remained highly alert and sensitive. He understood that there were still bases scattered around, each having their own evil emanating from them, whether hidden or wide out in the open.
Baze saw one black and gray tower in particular growing closer as he and Chirrut plodded on.
"Chirrut! There's a giant base ahead. Swarming with troopers!" They swiveled around, concealing themselves behind the leafy foliage. Baze had seen the 3 or 4 shore troopers with their intimidating tan uniforms. The white ones were few, easy to pick off with his blaster cannon, but he had little ideas about the shore troopers' capabilities. But fear had no place to dwell with Baze. He could probably create a heap of dead if he had to.
He poked Chirrut, a silent message urging him to move forward when the group disappeared around a corner. However, the blind monk stood still as a statue.
Chirrut's clouded eyes turned towards Baze's jet black ones. Although unseeing, the message all the same had an intensity that conveyed a very strong emotion. What was it? Hope? Happiness? Baze couldn't quite place his finger on what it was. There was silence for a heartbeat, before Chirrut revealed his innermost thought. He spoke slowly with a strong tone, smiling as he stated,
"Jyn and Cassian. They're alive."
"Okay, where's the base Jyn?" Cassian whispered urgently.
"I'm working on it!" Jyn motioned to Cassian for him to follow her.
Soon enough, they reached the dark building Jyn had found yesterday.
"Do you still have the scope?" Jyn asked Cassian.
Wordlessly, he handed her the quadnocs and Jyn used them to look at the surrounding area, zooming in specifically on a door that led inside the building. There were guards there, talking into radios. One held the controls to the door, she assumed. She could see the apparatus in the trooper's hand. Others walked back and forth, then around the other side, faces unreadable underneath helmets. The doors to the inside opened for some time to make way for the white stormtroopers and their sandy counterparts, then shut again. Jyn caught a few words and phrases of the guards - "Shield above destroyed---check for any traces of survivors--no mercy for any rebel--"
That was all she needed to hear. Jyn's pulse quickened. Armed with this information, Jyn would tell Cassian later. The search for the ship was even more important now. They couldn't get captured, or all of this would have been for nothing.
"Okay, so we have to find a ship, and see whether we can use it to fly out. You'll lookout while I go find it, " Jyn instructed.
"I can lookout WHILE I go with you. It takes us both working together to find it. Don't do it all yourself."
With hands on their blasters, the two stepped out from their hiding spot and quickly ran towards the base. Jyn took another look at the door. It was locked firmly.
She would take a chance, knock out the guards, then sneak in. That was their best bet.
"Ready?" she asked Cassian.
"Yeah."
With a fluid movement, Jyn leaped towards the guard: a flash of light, the enemy lay on the ground, knocked out cold. Cassian had done the same to the other one. Jyn bent down and took the controls from the still body. With a clank and a rumble, the metal doors shifted open.
Jyn pocketed the device, thinking to herself:
You don't know if you'll need it again. Best to keep it and not throw it out just yet.
The door moved back into place with a groan, any light present before chased out by the darkness of the hall. It was almost eerily silent, the track ahead lit only with small lights along the wall's bottom edge. Jyn and Cassian took a shuttlecar from the entrance and waited as the transport took them further into the Empire's dark labyrinth. On the outside, tree leaves and grass whipped by in a matter of seconds, but the two didn't know that. All they could see was the gray of the windows.
Stepping out of the shuttle car and onto the gray ground, the corridor took the sound of their footsteps and sent it echoing throughout the hallway, despite their best efforts to tread the ground quietly. The floors and walls split off into separate rooms and passages. Jyn thought of the building as a maze. With each new pathway she saw, there was more room for error, one more way to get lost. There were enemies lurking about, possibly. She didn't want to run into them.
_________________◇____________
Bodhi had unlocked a code to get the U wing he was in up and running.
Yes! Bodhi cheered. He instinctively looked around, slightly embarrassed by his own act of celebration.
The flight mechanisms were simple for Bodhi to handle, especially since he had watched Cassian and K2 piloting one when on Eadu. Bodhi had also checked the fuselage level in the engine. Pretty full. He hadn't forgotten about Baze, Chirrut, Jyn or Cassian. A small hope bloomed in his mind. Perhaps they had survived. Bodhi had been aware of the atomic like explosion that had shaken the ground like an earthquake. But during that time he had been protected by that strange golden aura.
Bodhi shut the engine down on the U-Wing after checking the tank. He didn't want any of the precious oil and gases in it to be burned away.
Meanwhile, Bodhi would explore more of the island and draw up a plan for escape. His mind was already working ahead of his body, sketching the layout of the area and categorizing the best routes for travel. Bodhi's memory would not fail him today. He certainly hoped that would be the case.
_________________◇____________
Chirrut and Baze had continued their search for Jyn and Cassian for around two days now. Still no sign of them.
Baze was doubtful -- they were doing this for nothing. He had protested to Chirrut a day before, but Chirrut had refused to listen. There he was again, acting stubborn, and repeating his seemingly useless mantra. But Baze had grown used to it by now.
Chirrut and Baze, surprisingly, hadn't had a SINGLE thing come after them for the last 2 or 3 days despite having cut through a fourth of the island planet on foot. But that didn't mean the two men had their guard down. Quite the opposite. Chirrut could sense something ominous deep within his marrow. Despite having a calm demeanor, Chirrut remained highly alert and sensitive. He understood that there were still bases scattered around, each having their own evil emanating from them, whether hidden or wide out in the open.
Baze saw one black and gray tower in particular growing closer as he and Chirrut plodded on.
"Chirrut! There's a giant base ahead. Swarming with troopers!" They swiveled around, concealing themselves behind the leafy foliage. Baze had seen the 3 or 4 shore troopers with their intimidating tan uniforms. The white ones were few, easy to pick off with his blaster cannon, but he had little ideas about the shore troopers' capabilities. But fear had no place to dwell with Baze. He could probably create a heap of dead if he had to.
He poked Chirrut, a silent message urging him to move forward when the group disappeared around a corner. However, the blind monk stood still as a statue.
Chirrut's clouded eyes turned towards Baze's jet black ones. Although unseeing, the message all the same had an intensity that conveyed a very strong emotion. What was it? Hope? Happiness? Baze couldn't quite place his finger on what it was. There was silence for a heartbeat, before Chirrut revealed his innermost thought. He spoke slowly with a strong tone, smiling as he stated,
"Jyn and Cassian. They're alive."
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