[AU] Without me you would be dead

Страница: « 1 … 9 10 11 12 13 »

Тема закрыта

Сообщений 301 страница 330 из 380

Поделиться125-03-2018 22:52:53

Автор: K-2SO
Гость

Cassian Andor, Kay Tooesso

Время: 11 BBY

Место: in a galaxy far, far away

Описание: Cassian is old enough to start helping out on missions, but apparently he isn’t old enough to do it on his own.

the timeline

• 10.V — Cassian is assigned to be Kay’s trainee
• 11.V — Kay and Cassian get their first mission and discuss how to approach it. Sometime later that day they go to Uquine.
• 20.V — a woman comes to them with a job, “a simple fishing tool which can provide access to internal messages of any network it’s implemented into.” They suspect she’s from a cell. (And she is from a fake one.)
• 21.V — in the morning after finishing the job they talk about why Cassian things the Empire is bad. Cassian passes the finished job back to the woman. Kay tinkers with commlinks turning them into GPS, and in the evening they both go to a (rebel) talk at a cantina called Low Deck. There are people watching them at the cantina. Kay gets thoroughly drunk, and Cassian has to drag him home. The apartment didn’t get searched as Kay thought it would.
• 22.V — Kay tasks Cassian with asking around about the people who watched them in the cantina the day before. Cassian learns from his friends that there are two cells, one is fake, the other is not.
• 25.V — a twi’lek and a woman (from a real cell) ambush Kay and Cassian on their home from a grocery store. They demand explanation about Cassian asking around risky question a few days ago. Turns out, the rebels know the woman, Marani, too. Cassian and Kay learn that Marani was about to switch sides when she was killed—right after she collected their work. Kay is forced to show the twi’lek his slave marks so the rebels would let them both go. Finally, they exchange contacts.
• 26.V — Kay suddenly leaves Cassian alone and goes looking for the Imperial cell.
• 27.V — The next day the fake cell comes and searches the apartment while Cassian is out.
• 29.V — a man (Elek), saying he’s from a local rebel cell, comes to Cassian with a job, he wants a simple decoding program.
• 30.V — Not succeeding in his endeavour, Kay returns to the apartment where he left Cassian. They exchange the news. Cassian explains what he did while Kay was absent and they come to the conclusion that their landlord is a part of the game, possibly helping the fake cell. They contact the rebel cell and learn that they got searched by the fake cell. Kay infects the datadisk Cassian is going to give their new client (Elek) from the day before with a virus to learn their hiding spot.
• 31.V — Cassian goes to pass the datadisk to the client (Elek). His task is to get intel but instead he gets kidnapped by Elek. Mist Osh (the landlord) paralyzes and kidnaps Kay. Cassian escapes.
• 32.V — Together with local rebels Cassian frees Kay, they kill Elek and Mist. After welcoming local rebels to the bigger Rebellion, Cassian and Kay go back to the rebel base. In the evening Kay asks Draven to reassign him, but Draven refuses.
• 33.V — Kay low-key tortures Cassian to teach him a lesson. Under torture Cassian tells Kay that the name of the girl he likes is Thea. Kay suggests Cassian should go to therapy and work through his issues caused by being an orphan on Fest and then an orphan on the rebel base.
• 34–35.V + Fruitfulness Day + 1–6.VI — Kay is training Cassian at the rebel base.
• 7.VI — Kay and Cassian get a new mission. They are tasked with getting intel from one of the rebel informants at Coruscant.
• 10.VI — Kay and Cassian arrive to Coruscant.

[nick]Kay Tooesso[/nick][status]what are the odds[/status][icon]https://s7.postimg.cc/akubc07uz/Chiwetel_Ejiofor.jpg[/icon][LZ]<a href="https://swmedley.rusff.me/viewtopic.php?id=75#p815">IDENTIFICATION CARD</a><div class="lz-hr"></div>Kay Tooesso, Alliance intelligence officer[/LZ]

Поделиться30130-07-2019 20:26:28

Автор: K-2SO
Гость

⠀⠀“Okay.”

⠀⠀Pain is fine, Kay thinks. Pain is not everything, except it is, because he has a kriffing hole in his arm, and if it wasn’t for bacta, and his sewing skills, and the bandage, he would have bled to death a few hours ago. Kay doesn’t have the luxury of dying, not yet. It becomes the mantra that he tells himself while silently following Cassian on his way to Shak Chuk. Thankfully, at some point, he spots some stormtroopers, and it shoots so much adrenalin in his blood that he actually feels alive.

⠀⠀They end up somewhere on the lower levels. The sunlight doesn’t get here, only the artificial light of lamps and hovering holoscreens. One of the holoscreens urges people to sign up for the army. The other one broadcasts a recording from the last Senate assembly. Somewhere in the distance, there is a holoscreen with Palpatine’s face. For a second Kay imagines how wonderful it would be to shoot the man. Then he looks away and follows Cassian in one of the narrow streets. Before they enter what looks like a secondhand store, Kay touches Cassian on the shoulder.

⠀⠀“He won’t ask questions, but it doesn’t mean we should talk either. We will talk,” Kay adds, “but not right now.”

⠀⠀He enters the store, a dark little place with rows of clothes and shelves full of various things—anything from artificial arms to decks of cards for sabacc. The person behind the counter is Shak Chuk himself—it’s rather difficult to miss the Togruta. His long dark-green lekku have so many scars on them, they almost look like some piece of barbaric art. The left lek is slightly shorter than the right one. Kay doesn’t remember it being the case the last time they saw each other, but he doesn’t ask.

⠀⠀“Two of us,” he says shortly. “He goes first,” Kay nods towards Cassian.

⠀⠀Shak Chuk doesn’t say a word, just turns his head slowly to Cassian and eyes him for a long minute before getting up from the counter and motioning with his hand towards the barely noticeable entrance to the inner room of the store. Kay moves his hand across his face tiredly, letting an inaudible sigh. Shak Chuk will see them, that’s good. He could’ve easily turned them away, and Kay wouldn’t blame the guy. He lets Cassian go first, then follows himself.

⠀⠀“Vibroknife. We applied bacta and sewed the wounds, bandaged them. Same with me, except the knife went through my arm,” Kay says once they are inside the other room, which turns out to be only marginally brighter and cleaner. Kay stops at the entrance and doesn’t move any further. Crossing his arms over his chest, which makes him wince in pain, he looks at Cassian and says, “Make sure the kid is alright, then tell me how much.”

⠀⠀Shak Chuk just nods.

[nick]Kay Tooesso[/nick][status]what are the odds[/status][icon]https://s7.postimg.cc/akubc07uz/Chiwetel_Ejiofor.jpg[/icon][LZ] <center><a href="https://swmedley.rusff.me/viewtopic.php?id=75#p815">IDENTIFICATION CARD</a> <img src="https://forumstatic.ru/files/0018/1a/00/18603.png"> Kay Tooesso, Alliance intelligence officer</center>[/LZ]

Поделиться30230-07-2019 20:51:31

Автор: Cassian Andor
Гость

[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]Cassian Andor, your trouble[/LZ]A hospital isn't really a hospital. That's why Shak Chuk is so hard to find. He is not a doctor, he is a Togruta. You can't be both on the Coruscant, and it's impossible to hide his skin, and his lekku, and his true self.

They shouldn't talk, and he wouldn't ask any questions. Both sounds good. Cassian doesn't know how Kay knows him, but if he is with the Rebellion, it's too early to tell them. If he's now, he may betray them.

He stays silent and let Kay do the talking, meeting Shak Chuk's gaze with what he hopes will be read as calmness and trustworthiness.

The inner room is small, just a bit lighter and cleaner. It doesn't look clean enough to practice medicine in it, but Cassian was with the Rebellion long enough to see darker and dirtier places, that worked as operation rooms just fine. Sometimes you don't have privilege to choose something better. Sometimes you should be grateful you have a proper medic. And Shak Chuk definitely acts as one. Obeying his silent commands — he doesn't ask question, just as Kay said, but he doesn't say anything at all, just waves and nods — Cassian takes off his shirt and lets him tend his wound.

It is better now. It hurts a little — and much more when Shak Chuk presses it — but he is better, a bacta, and a sleep, and Kay's help was enough to help. Kay, on the other hand, doesn't look good. He doesn't sound good. And yet he wanted him to be the first.

He cares this much? Or maybe it's just a way to know if their doctor can be trusted or will he try to hurt any of them? Must be it, but Cassian never heard him before talking about "them". He tended to separate his actions from Cassian's.

The togruta presses again, and Cassian hisses, leaving his thoughts. He doesn't ask anything, but he has a pleased look on his face, so the wound can't be too bad. Shak Chuk puts something on it — the pain soon goes away — applies something on sewed, but irritatingly red edges of the wound. Then he bandages it again.

Cassian looks around with interest. They are on the lower level, and he is still curious about it, just a lot careful. The room seems to be some kind of a storage, but the table Cassian is sitting on is large enough for a grown man to lie down, and there is a set of needles, clearly took from interrogation or medical droids. It's something like a clinic, for poor people, maybe, or for specious, or for a gang like one that tried to kill them.

It must be hard to hide something like that from imperial patrols, and Cassian's heart alerts, it's beating is faster, util Shak Chuk puts his arm on Cassian's shoulder in a calm way.

"Thank you," Cassian says and calms down. He thinks they must leave once Kay is fine too. "Now help him, please."

Поделиться30330-07-2019 21:24:02

Автор: K-2SO
Гость

⠀⠀Kay watches every move that Shak Chuk makes, not trusting him entirely. He doesn’t know who is Shak Chuk’s clientele these days. It might be just the poor from around here, it might be some gang, or it might be the Black Sun. Kay hopes it’s some gang. That way Shak Chuk would have enough supplies and things to treat them yet they won’t be in any additional danger, not really. From the look on the Togruta’s face, he’s pleased with the state of Cassian’s wound. Once that is done and over with, Shak Chuk turns to Kay and quickly shows him a bunch of signs.

⠀⠀Unfortunately, the sum is higher than what Kay has hoped for, even though there wasn’t much work for Shak Chuk. Kay lingers in place for a few moments, then nods and steps closer. He gives Shak Chuk all the credits he asked for without a word, their exchange so silent one could hear cars and speeders on the outside.

⠀⠀“Let’s go,” Kay says to Cassian.

⠀⠀He already turns to go when Shak Chuk catches him by the wounded arm. Kay hisses from pain and turns back sharply, immediately ready to fight and looming even over the tall Togruta, but Shak Chuk only presses a bottle to his chest. It’s something alike bactaid. From Shak Chuk’s explanation, as far as Kay understands, it’s both worse and better than bactaid. Worse, because it has some spice in it. Better, because it can save Kay’s life if—or, rather, when—he needs a boost to push through whatever awaits him.

⠀⠀“I can’t pay you more, sorry,” Kay says, returning the bottle, but Shak Chuk only shakes his head and waves his hand towards the exit. Kay sighs defeatedly and nods to Cassian, “He’s being generous, which means we need to run.”

⠀⠀Kay says it in the gravest voice possible yet Shak Chuk smiles. It’s a closed-lipped smile yet genuine.

⠀⠀“Thank you,” is the only thing Kay says before leaving.

Поделиться30430-07-2019 21:32:00

Автор: Cassian Andor
Гость

[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]Cassian Andor, your trouble[/LZ]This was not among his versions. Cassian didn't think that they might have money for only one of them. It's so unfair — they've spent so much to support their legend, and now, when they really need it, they are short of money.

So short Kay can't get help himself. Cassian doesn't argue only because Kay said they shouldn't talk much. He doesn't, but he lets his scowling face do the talking.

If he only knew, he would... well, Cassian isn't sure, what exactly he should do then, but it doesn't matter. He stays silent until they leave.

"How are we going to get out of here? Do you have a plan? Does this plan involves you too? Are you alive in this plan?"

Maybe this is the plan. To die, because Kay thinks the Rebellion will kill him? No, that's ridiculous, impossible to imagine. Kay survived too long to sacrifice himself now.

"He should have treated you," he says angrily. "It would be more practical, you know. I was in better shape than you, and you wasted credits and time on me. You fight better, you have more experience, you are smarter, and older, and more careful. You know I won't protect you as good as you protected me, and yet..."

Cassian falls silent. They are still on a street, on a lower level, and it's a too dangerous place to talk too much.

"I'll try," he promises. "If there's any danger. But promise me you are not going to die or to do something as stupid. We'll return, and you will be safe, and..." he pauses for a second, "all our friends will be safe too."

Поделиться30530-07-2019 21:38:54

Автор: K-2SO
Гость

⠀⠀It seems like all the words that Cassian held inside while with Shak Chuk burst right out of him once he and Kay are on the street. Kay pockets the bottle and listens carefully—both to Cassian and to the sounds around them. It’s quiet, and the Coruscanti night here seems to be rather pleasant, as for the lower level. No Imperials to get them, yet. Kay walks briskly for some time before finding a good place to stop and turn to Cassian.

⠀⠀“I should’ve known that if he treated you, you would be unbearable with all your questions,” he says quietly, calmly. “I wanted him to treat you because you are more likely to get hit and die. They ordered me to kill you, kiddo, they didn’t order me to kill myself. You are in much more danger than I am. I have information, and skills, and I still can be useful to them if they decide so—if I’m able to convince them that I can be,” Kay falls silent, his face hard. There is one more reason, and Kay knows he is too good at hiding it for Cassian to be able to know of it. It suddenly becomes important to say it out loud. “I care about your survival. I care about you. I care about you more than I do about myself, and I will get you off this planet in one piece, whatever it will take me.”

⠀⠀A challenge rings through his voice for the briefest of moments. Tiredness and pain both make it harder to keep his usual calm demeanor.

⠀⠀“We still have enough money to smuggle you off and away to one of the nearby planets, and there it will be easier for you to find a way to get back home. To ensure my own survival at your home I need more than just my word. I need proof, and this proof has to be more convincing than you, alive and well, and whatever you plan to tell your general. So I am going to make sure you survive first, and then I will take care of getting the proof and delivering it to your home. I’ll get inside their Intelligence office if I have to. This is my plan.”

⠀⠀Kay thinks to add that nowhere in this plan he’s dying yet something makes him decide against it. He did say, ‘whatever it would take me’, and that might as well mean, ‘if it’s the last thing that I did’. It sure sounded like that. In fact, all of it sure sounds batshit crazy.

Поделиться30630-07-2019 21:42:41

Автор: Cassian Andor
Гость

[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]Cassian Andor, your trouble[/LZ]For a moment Cassian seriously considers a possibility that while he was sleeping someone switched Kay. His words are so unlikely, his plan seems to be not having plan at all. His reasoning... Recently Cassian wasn't sure Kay even likes him, and now he says he cares. It's strange to hear. He knows the general cares, but he also knows since he was allowed to start his training as a future intelligence asset, he does his best to not show it. Even when he was a child he never was explicit in his caring, so to hear it evokes in Cassian something he can't even name.

Sudden Kay's transparency is odd too. It's not like it seems he is lying, it's just odd. He said himself he stopped caring long time ago. Yet he cares now. Or he tells the truth now and he always felt and cared, hiding it from everyone, maybe, even from himself.

They stand on a street, and if Cassian learnt anything today, it's that the lower levels are not the best place to chat or to take a walk. Yet he stands and doesn't move. He looks at Kay trying to look taller and older than he is. He really feels he became older today, so he decides he will stand his ground.

"I'm not going to be smuggled out. I'll stay. And before you say anything, you are a traitor, so I don't have to obey your orders. And I won't."

Cassian hesitates.

"I will. Just not this one. This one is bad. And look at it that way: you smuggle me out, and stay, and then you return with some proof. How will they know it wasn't prepared and put together by them? You need me, so I will be close to you, and I will tell everything I saw and heard and did. They will believe me, they will believe the proof I'll bring to them. And I'm going to make sure you will survive as well. Here — and when we are back home. I'll help you. Let me help you, will you?"

Поделиться30730-07-2019 21:44:17

Автор: K-2SO
Гость

⠀⠀Cassian objects. Of course. Kay isn’t surprised, he just closes his eyes for a second and breathes in, and then out, and then opens his eyes and looks in Cassian’s stubborn young face. He should have asked Shak Chuk to drug the kid so he can take care of him. No way in hell Kay is getting off Coruscant alive—but Cassian still might. If he abandons his stubborn thinking for a second and acts like a normal human being—selfishly. Cassian doesn’t, of course. Cassian rarely does, doesn’t he?

⠀⠀“You’re young and you don’t have to die here because of my choices. You can reach home in time and warn them of what’s coming. It might just save their lives, because every second counts,” Kay cocks his head to the side and studies Cassian—his posture, his face, his eyes. “But you think you made your choice and you will stick with it regardless of anything I say. You are right, I am a traitor—and a one beyond saving, because I betrayed all the sides in this war. You will be wasting your life for a dead man. Think again.” Kay turns his head to check that they are still safe and continues thoughtfully, “The good of the many outweighs the good of the one. I am but one person, and I am tired.”

⠀⠀Kay remembers all his thoughts on the Rebellion, and how he could return there and maybe wiggle his way out of this peculiar situation, but it’s all wishful thinking. It’s impossible, and he should deal within the realm of his possibilities, which are limited at best. Cassian has to survive. Kay doesn’t see any other way. His eyes snap back to Cassian, but he doesn’t say anything, letting his previous words sink in.

Поделиться30830-07-2019 21:45:49

Автор: Cassian Andor
Гость

"You didn't betray me," Cassian says. "I know I'm not a side in the war, I know I'm not important, but you didn't betray me."

Still, Kay's words about the base concerns him. His previous reasoning was easy to ignore. Cassian doesn't think someone really wants to kill him. No one knows him, he did nothing important for the Rebellion, nor something destructive for the Empire. He is no one. The only reason the Empire cared for his death was probably to test Kay. They don't see him as a person but as a leverage, a Kay's weak point. They might be right, but it doesn't mean Kay's weak point can't hit back and do his part to destroy the Empire, to crush their proclaimed ownership of the galaxy and Kay.

Now, the future of the base is another kettle of Giju.

"We'll contact Seetha. She will let others know, they will evacuate everyone, we'll find them later."

If Seetha believes them. If she has a way to contact the base, if she is not dead, if she is still here. Too much ifs, but he must at least try. He doesn't want to leave Kay alone. Id the Empire considers him to be a weak point, him leaving will make Kay too dangerous, too uncontrollable. He will die, or get captured, or something else.

Cassian wants to help the Rebellion. Later, one day when he is good enough and ready. And to help the one seems to be a good way of becoming better.

"I'll stay. If you think you are a dead man, than you need someone to remind you you are wrong. I'll stay, and then we return together, not for a good of the many, but for the good of all, including you. There's nothing you can do about it."

He almost says the only way Kay could get rid of him was killing him earlier, but Cassian stops. he's not sure Kay doesn't regret his decision already.[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]Cassian Andor, your trouble[/LZ]

Поделиться30910-08-2019 22:02:35

Автор: K-2SO
Гость

⠀⠀Cassian says it differently, but Kay mentally continues his phrase the way it should have ended, ‘if you think you’re a dead man, you need someone to bury you when you die’. Kay is relatively sure he doesn’t require proper burial. He is so far removed from his ancestry by this point that he isn’t interested in being buried the way they do it on Varadan. He isn’t interested in being buried at all, if anything, he would rather be burnt and scattered in space. Like stardust.

⠀⠀He never was stardust material, but sometimes he thinks he could have been if the tides of his fate turned differently.

⠀⠀All of it is not important; his wishes are not important. He has to get the stubborn kid off the planet safe. Kay understands he doesn’t even really care all that much for the Rebellion—only if Cassian is in it. This bond that he formed with the kid is strange yet strong. Kay wonders what created it, and the answer comes quickly. The very simple answer of truth. Truth created it. The kind of truth that he previously chose to hide. The kind of truth he chose to use as training bait for Cassian Andor. Kay questions his choice back then, even though it was not all that long ago.

⠀⠀“I could paralyze you once I get a blaster and drag you into some smuggler’s ship and send you off. I don’t think you would risk yourself coming back here for me, because I think you value the Rebellion more. Or, rather, you value specific people in the Rebellion more than anything, because they gave you shelter and food and purpose, and that makes you in a way—in a very extraordinary way—more like me than you might think. And I know the feeling, and it is not the kind of feeling to get rid of that easily for just one person. Even if that person is yourself.”

⠀⠀Kay tilts his head to the side and falls silent. He thinks of Seetha and what she could do, he thinks of the plan he made up mere minutes ago just to divert Cassian’s attention—unsuccessfully—and fool him into thinking there is no place for him—unsuccessfully. Maybe if the plan was more elaborate, if it involved Kay going undercover. Maybe, maybe, maybe. Kay is used to dealing in possibilities and chances and prospects. He isn’t very good with hope. Hope is alien to him. Maybe that’s why in all three years of his service to the Rebellion it never quite managed to convert him.

⠀⠀“I am not going to do it,” Kay decides, suddenly snapping back to reality and to full attention, his senses alert, his body tensing up. His arm is still in pain, but he doesn’t pay attention to it. “We need to move, now. It’s not the troopers but these are no better. Let’s go.”

⠀⠀Kay almost imperceptibly nods sideways, directing Cassian where exactly they will be moving. The people on the other side of the alley are not interested in them, at least not in the way that Kay can see, but they could be. They are still too close to Shak Chuk’s place, and this is not a good district. They need to move, and while Kay thinks of a better plan, if there is such one, they will follow what Cassian suggested. So, finding Seetha. This will be fun. Kay needs a few seconds himself to start walking.

⠀⠀Oh stars, his arm is still in pain.

Поделиться31031-08-2019 23:14:08

Автор: Cassian Andor
Гость

"I'm not..." Cassian stops and blushes. It feels plain wrong to say Kay he trusts him, to convince himself he treats the man as an equal — but to feel the urge to note he is nothing like Kay.

"... easy to be sent off. Ask the general sometimes about it." Cassian smiles, hoping that his smile will cover the fact that he was going to say a completely different thing. "You are right, let's go."

Are they alike? Cassian knows that the day before he would have been happy to hear it. But now Kay's words make him think about his loyalty. He knows (because everybody knows this) all imperial people are just petty pawns, blindly loyal to their false cause. But is he one? Does he look like one? If Kay's willing to do what he thought was right brought him here, should Cassian take it as a lesson and avoid deciding and making his own decisions? If so, will he?

Cassian shrugs the thought off. He knows it won't get away, and he doesn't want it to go. It's something worth thinking, no matter what time it will take. But right now he is the one in the better shape and he can't be distracted.

They reach the elevator without any trouble, which both gladdens Cassian and disturbs him. They must be in trouble, right? There must be someone after them. It's not like he wants them to be, but what if this lack of the Empire's attention means it has saved them for later and is focused on destroying the Rebellion?

Seetha. They have to find her and to warn her so she could warn the base so everyone would stay alive and safe.

Kay doesn't look safe at all. He has the bottle of something Shak Chuk has given to him. But he doesn't drink from it, and Cassian is glad he doesn't. There's no way to be sure it is a medicine and if it is it might have some side effects. So many 'ifs' isn't good enough. Not now.

"I think I should talk with her," he said while the elevator takes them up. "I think she doesn't like you, and she will more likely trust me. Just tell me how to find her and what exactly people back home should know for now. Then we'll find some place for you to rest, and I'll do everything. You agree?"

[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]Cassian Andor, your trouble[/LZ]

Поделиться31109-09-2019 18:23:42

Автор: K-2SO
Гость

⠀⠀Kay notices. There is this loud second of silence before Cassian continues his phrase, and it is enough for Kay to notice. He doesn’t say anything, though. What could he say? “I know you were brainwashed into not wanting to have anything to do with anything Imperial”? “Yet, somehow, you are here, helping me, so you might want to reconsider your worldviews”? It doesn’t matter right now, it’s not like Cassian’s little stutter wounded Kay’s pride or anything. Kay follows Cassian to an elevator and leans on the wall inside. He needs to think clearly and he needs to think about the important things. Survival. Getting Cassian off the planet. Those are the important things. Cassian denying their likeness is not important.

⠀⠀It’s not important at all.

⠀⠀Kay turns his head to look at Cassian when he speaks up. Seetha will not be happy about any of this, but would it be just Cassian, she’d help. If it’s Cassian and himself, well, that complicates things. However, Kay can try to persuade Seetha to smuggle Cassian off the planet. He just needs a second or two alone with her, that’s all. She’d ask him why the kid is so important. He’d say, because he has a good heart, or something equally sappy and sentimental. She wouldn’t be impressed but she’d agree. Everyone likes a kid with a good heart.

⠀⠀The elevator creaks and keeps lifting them up, higher and higher, further and further away from the lower levels of Coruscant. The air gets cleaner—almost visibly so. Kay breathes steadily, on the count of one-two-three. One-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three, like a dance. The pain doesn’t get any lesser, but it’s not increasing either. The bottle from Shak Chuk can wait for now.

⠀⠀“Pop in the coruscanti excursion bureau, she’ll be there, or somewhere around there.”

⠀⠀Kay names the address. It was the first thing he learned about Coruscant by heart. After all, Seetha was his target back then. He missed. He didn’t want to miss—she just was that good. Understandably, she has never liked him since and she never thought he truly defected. As they say, it is difficult to fool a woman, and it is twice as difficult to fool Seetha.

⠀⠀“I guess you can just let them know that they should pack up and leave the base immediately. If they believe you. If they don’t, then promise them we’ll deliver some proof of their imminent destruction, if by then they are still alive, they might even have a second to take a look at it,” Kay answers grimly. “The problem is, in order to deliver information, Seetha has to meet up with someone from the outside. That’s why we flew here. She could use Shadownet, for sure, but it would put her in grave danger. Coruscant is unforgiving. It’s too close to the Emperor. You’ll have to do some convincing if you still refuse to leave and deliver the news by yourself.”

Поделиться31215-09-2019 22:00:03

Автор: Cassian Andor
Гость

[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]Cassian Andor, your trouble[/LZ]There's quiet almost soothing hum of elevator passing level by level. It's probably the safest place for them to be right now. The Empire is waiting for them up there on higher levels, and the lack of it on lower ones is surprisingly dangerous as well. Cassian thinks he doesn't like Coruscant after all. Even slightly. The only thing that is reassuring is that Kay is here. The only time Cassian thought everything is over for him was when he was going to kill him. So Kay not killing him — for now at least — is good. He uses it as a fulcrum point and stubbornly nods insisting he's not going to change his mind any time soon.

"If so, Seetha will run away too. Maybe we'll team up, she must have her ways out. There's no way we'd send someone to do job so dangerous and didn't set up a clean getaway for her."Cassian isn't really sure if it so. But Seetha looked like she knows what she is doing. Even if the Rebellion didn't protect her she could do preparations herself.

Thinking is easier. Everything is easier now. Whatever Shak Chuk did worked along with bacta and Kay's careful stitches and sleep. He's almost fine now, he just has to avoid moving his arm too much for a little longer. Apart from that he's fine. It's good to have a clear mind instead of pain clouding his judgement and thoughts, but Cassian frowns just a bit. He thinks if they get out — no when, when they get out — he'll have to look closer and to think better, because he can't get rid of a feeling that his thoughts were and are clouded not by just pain.

On higher levels elevator door opens without sound. Cassian blinks to get used to the bright light and carefully touches Kay's right hand.

"Let's go."

He'll go alone. Kay didn't say it's a good idea, but he gave him the address and with that he gave him the right to decide. He must be quick but there's no point in rushing up to see Seetha while leaving Kay like that to draw attention and hurt an a street. Even if it's a clean and nice street. Cassian doesn't know for sure what is he looking for, but then he stops. knowing that's it.

"Holotheater, Kay," he says quietly. "You'll be good there, I promise."

The holodrama — it's Win or Die, and it's good too; everybody knows how this one drama increased recruitment in the Empire, who will search for rebellion agents in a place like this — has already started, and there are no people in a hall, no line near ticket machines.

"You stay there, sit, drink your medicine, okay? I'll return soon, and you'll be better when I'm back, I promise."

Cassian hesitates for a second. He promises a lot and has nothing to give his promises any weight.

"Try not to die."

Поделиться31321-09-2019 22:06:01

Автор: K-2SO
Гость

⠀⠀Cassian refuses to change his mind yet again, but Kay isn’t that easily demotivated. He will try again later, and then again, and then again, and then it will be too late—he sees this future clearly—and Cassian will still be here because that’s what kids with good hearts do. They stay by your side after you try to kill them and change your mind midway when you already scared the living shit out of them. And then, after all that and some rough patching up, they give you commands and act like they know what they are doing when in reality the only thing they are doing—is undoing the gift of life you gave them when you didn’t plunge that knife through their lung. Life’s a bitch, ain’t it.

⠀⠀Kay doesn’t feel well enough to argue so he just nods and follows Cassian’s orders. It bugs him all the way down to his bone but he follows Cassian’s orders regardless. It’s a mindless instinct, something that he learned all too well as a kid and wasn’t ever quite able to get rid of.

⠀⠀“Find a mirror or clear enough puddle and repeat that to yourself, kid,” he answers begrudgingly and turns to walk away.

⠀⠀His “away” is only a few steps away in truth, to buy the ticket, and then to go sit in a dark theatre. There aren’t that many people here, and definitely no aliens at all. Win or Die bores the living hell out of Kay so he has time to think. He considers drinking the bottle and seeing what that would do for or, rather, to him. Then he abandons that idea and instead just tries to make his life as easy as he can by rebandaging his arm and just resting.

⠀⠀Kay switches off on the thirtieth minute of this trip into the depths of boredom conceived as a means of Imperial torture for sure, and once he wakes back up again he can swear it was the best decision of his life. Maybe not the smartest, but definitely the best. He filters out of the holotheater with the meagre rest of the unfortunate viewers, still groggy from sleep, and tries to evaluate his surroundings. Surely, Cassian must be back here. Somewhere. He’s a smart kid. Also, young and inexperienced. Kriff.

Поделиться31428-09-2019 19:01:30

Автор: Cassian Andor
Гость

[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]Cassian Andor, your trouble[/LZ]He types "coruscanti excursion bureau" and runs a search. There's a map on a screen and a route he should take. There's an arrow pointing at small red dot.

"You are here."

It's just a program, just a way to help lost tourists, but for a moment he feels as if there were eyes looking for him, finding him, coming for him. Cassian looks at the screen closer trying to see someone in the reflection, but there's no one but him. His reflection looks young and ragged with a hint of scare.

"You won't die," he reassures his reflection to follow Kay's instructions. "She will help and everything will be fine."

"I won't help you," Seetha says half an hour ago. She is not pleased but at least now she is not as furious when she saw Cassian coming to her in the bureau and grabbed his hand and dragged him into a staff-only closet. She grabbed his left one, so Cassian winced and that's how she knew about his arm. That's how she knew everything is already kriffed up.

"This is too dangerous. I have to carry on, and your drag too much attention. We've already met once, that was more than enough, and..."

"Don't you understand? It's bigger than you! If you won't help, there's be no one to work for anymore!"

"Shhh!" Seetha angrily hisses. She takes a deep breath to calm herself and mutters something. "I can provide you with a safe way out. I'll stay here and work if you didn't get a tail, and you do what you have to do."

"And Kay?"

"Him," she hesitates for a moment, "I don't trust. But it's bigger than him either, right? You go, I stay and he takes care of himself. He's good at it."

Hadn't Cassian heard her words oozing with poison he would have thought Kay asked her to say this. To suggest to leave him and to save the Rebellion. And it is bigger than any of them, that's true. The Rebellion can overlook it's separate pieces, Cassian can't. Stars, it's hard. Maybe he should have become a pilot, maybe he would be better off just flying around and blowing things up. Following orders without any need to decide. But then, who would be here to stand by Kay?

"I'll snitch on you."

"What?"

"I will," he looks her in the eyes, "snitch on you, so the Empire would be busy arresting you and I will have more time to get away from here with Kay."

"You wouldn't..."

"And no one will know anything. You can, of course, contact them and tell them about what I did. You should use Shadownet for it or try to run away or both. And that's exactly what I ask you to do. If you refuse, you'll have to do it to tell them what I did and, since you would have already contacted them, to tell them about what I said so they could run away and be safe. If you agree, you'll still have to do it. But without The Empire breathing down your neck."

There's a long silence. Then Seetha gives a gloomy chuckle.

"And I used to think you're a nice kid."

"I just don't want anyone to die."

"Say it to yourself again after you do get us all killed."

She sighs.

"Fine. I'll do it. Kriff, I hate you so much, but I'll do it. If you get out — if I get out — you owes me, kid. A big one."

"Thank you."

"Now go."

Cassian hesitates.

"I said I'll do it! Go, you could already draw too much attention. I will contact them. I promise."

He nods and leaves glad that she agreed. not knowing that he wouldn't have a chance to repay her.

When he is back the holodrama is already ended and near the theater there is a lot of people. Kay is towering over them and he is still alive, which is good.

"All done," he says looking at Kay and deciding he looks a little better. "She'll do it. But she will travel alone, we stay here and find some other way. You feeling better?"

Поделиться31511-10-2019 23:21:13

Автор: K-2SO
Гость

⠀⠀The moment Cassian appears next to him, Kay knows something is up. He can feel it in his bones, just the way Cassian says it—“she’ll do it”. Kay almost asks what exactly, but he doesn’t need to ask to know. They set Cassian’s plan in motion. But something is wrong. Something is always wrong, Kay just can’t put his finger on what exactly is wrong with this particular plan, yet. So he lets it go and answers the kid’s question instead.

⠀⠀“Marginally,” he says, looking somewhere above Cassian’s head. “We should go.”

⠀⠀While he was being bored out of his mind by the holomovie, he thought up a plan. They still need to get the intelligence from Coruscant to prove the Empire isn’t joking. And maybe to have something else that could buy Kay his life if not his freedom. He can’t just vanish into the thin air with Cassian still being in danger, he has to deliver the kid back. This means he inevitably will be at the Rebellion’s mercy, and rebellions historically aren’t the most merciful bunch. So he needs a bargaining chip. Information.

⠀⠀It’s funny how his tired brain swings from being ready to die to this inextinguishable will to live.

⠀⠀Kay leads Cassian away from the theater. At the next bus stop he buys them two tickets and only when they are settled in the back of the bus he relaxes a bit. Stormtroopers will be able neither to follow them here nor to even spot them. Besides, he still feels much better when sitting rather than standing. He leans closer to Cassian and says, “We are going to stay here for a while. And commit a minor burglary. And impersonification. And, quite possibly, documents forgery, maybe with a hint of a major theft. You’re in for a fun ride, pal,” Kay claps Cassian on the shoulder. “You’re going to hate it and never, ever stay when I tell you to go.”

⠀⠀It sounds like Kay thinks they have some future when they are both alive and well, and still working together. The probability of it is so low it’s ridiculous. But Kay isn’t the type of person who can sit idly awaiting their death sentence. He never stops, never rests, and that is why he is so good at his job. It’s a little consolation, but it’s all he has.

Поделиться31615-10-2019 21:19:29

Автор: Cassian Andor
Гость

[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]Cassian Andor, your trouble[/LZ]Nobody pays attention to them on a bus, which is a good thing. Kay being only marginally better, on the other hand, is not. Cassian didn't expect Shak Chuk's mixture to be a magical elixir, but he hoped that Kay would be more or less fine. He is fine apparently as he is standing, walking, talking and plotting. But he is clearly less fine than he could be.

However he has a plan. Their new agenda is versatile and interesting. Cassian have never committed any of those things considered to be crimes by the Empire and useful skills by himself. But it is as interesting as it is dangerous. As always danger means death, but this time it's not an ephemeral concept that might someday happen to him, but a very real thing, a reality he was barely spared from.

Surprisingly Kay tries to lighten up the mood. He is joking and Cassian thinks they might believe him on the base when he'll say Kay had been an imperial but then suddenly changed sides for no good reason, but they will never believe in joking Kay.

"You said that about those free weeks back home. And I did hate it. But if they never happened I would have died on a lower level. So I don't mind hating something else."

He thinks for a bit. It's too much effort to leave Coruscant, so it must be about something else, something different.

"Are we staying? Is that what you mean? We are staying here? Are you sure you can handle it?"

Поделиться31724-10-2019 20:34:31

Автор: K-2SO
Гость

⠀⠀Kay expects the answer that Cassian promptly supplies: of course he didn’t mind hating something else. The kid is a wonder, and a complete mystery to Kay. Any sane human being—any sane being at all—would evaluate their options and use the best possible way out. Cassian, on the other hand, seems to have some kind of a death wish. Kay considers telling him that. And his chances of survival. And their joined chances of survival. It might be that Cassian will get his wish granted by the almighty Coruscant. Kay says nothing. He doesn’t spare the kid out of the goodness of his heart—stars are witnesses, he has no goodness in him, just a pragmatic old mind—but because he needs Cassian alert and not scared out of his wits. At least until Kay himself feels good enough to carry this burden for both of them.

⠀⠀“You seem to be sure you can handle it. I’m older and more experienced, and I’ve been here before,” Kay points out blankly. “Moreover, I know how the insides of the building we need look like. How tall are you?”

⠀⠀They don’t need to go to the Imperial Intelligence headquarters, thankfully. And the Imperial Security Bureau. However, they do have to figure out a way in the fourth most guarded place after the former two and the Emperor’s Palace—the Central Imperial Archive. All the military, intelligence, engineer, Senate, justice reports—a copy of virtually everything the bureaucracy has ever produced in this country is stored in the Archive. The probability of finding something worth his life to the Rebellion is the highest there. But first, they need to figure out their way off the planet. Then—how to get out of the CIA. And only then it will be time to think of the way in.

⠀⠀Kay looks out the bus window, but the ecumenopolis seems disinterested in them. It’s good. It would be even better if there was a diversion, a distraction to lead the troopers the wrong way. He wonders what exactly did Cassian and Seetha agree on, what were the terms and conditions of their agreement. Did she deliver on her promises? Did she warn the Rebellion? Kay doesn’t like to operate in the dark. It would be a complete disaster to go back after all this only to find ash and dust where the Rebellion once was. Cassian said they’d have to find their own way out, but does it mean Seetha will also be getting out? How discreet was Cassian? Too many questions for Kay’s liking, and a feeling of impending doom for all of them doesn’t exactly lighten his mood either. He turns from the window back to Cassian. The kid is alive, he thinks somberly. That will have to do for now.

Поделиться31829-10-2019 21:21:43

Автор: Cassian Andor
Гость

"One hundred and sixty nine. Why?"

He is curious. Kay seems to have a plan or a first draft of a plan at least. But all Cassian gets is a vague question and Kay staring at the window where anyone can see and remember him. Cassian only hopes imps are busy with Seetha.

He also hopes she will get to the base sae despite all possible danger. She had her way out planned, she should be good. Cassian thinks about her for a bit and suddenly realizes he has no remorse. He realizes he'd do what he promised. Up to this point he thought he was bluffing and Seetha bought it. But he was not, an! Cassian is strangely fine with it. Is this how he is expected to be? He wants to ask Kay but doesn't.

The bus stops, some peole leave, some new passengers enter. He observes all of them. There's no fear, no panic, no.duty, nothing. Just regular people who don't know they are helping two rebels with staying low. They can't stay here forever, but it'll do for now.

Cassian is still a little worried about Kay. He looks better but by this point Cassian knows better then to trust his looks. Or his words.

"Do you know any other doctors here?"[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]Cassian Andor, your trouble[/LZ]

Поделиться31917-11-2019 15:33:17

Автор: K-2SO
Гость

⠀⠀One hundred and sixty nine is nineteen units too long, but maybe it’ll do. Cassian did survive on Fest, after all, he has to know how to fit in small spaces not designed for humans. Kay, with his two hundred units, will never be able to do anything like that. That is one of the reasons he often chooses to face certain problems head-on. Sometimes those problems get scared and run away. Not this time, though. Not this time.

⠀⠀They need a speeder. Kay needs a list of janitors, but that can be easily accessed through a datapad. So they need a datapad. It sounds like what they really need is a library. To get off the planet, they need to forge some documents. And to steal a starcraft. A VIP starcraft will do just fine. They have a lot of work. Maybe Cassian’s presence can speed things up. That would actually be very, very nice. Kay turns to him.

⠀⠀“Of course,” he answers in his typical neutral tone of voice, “I always have a cohort of doctors waiting for my call at every planet I go to.”

⠀⠀Even if Kay knew a cohort of doctors at Coruscant—and he does know one or two other than the one they’ve been to—they would be of no help to them. They don’t have the time and they don’t have the money to keep mouths shut. Maybe somewhere doctors do keep their patients a secret, but not on Coruscant, not when patients have such wounds, and not this close to the heart of the Empire. Kay lets his words sink in.

⠀⠀“Next stop is ours. We’re going to the library, and you are looking for a book. Something very peculiar. How about something on the topic of ‘intimate relationships with artificial partners’? Sounds terribly interesting, don’t you think?” Kay isn’t asking, and it is evident in the dead serious look in his eyes. “Can possibly entertain the librarian for a good half an hour. Maybe more, if you remember that you are looking for something for a school study and need serious nonfiction instead of vulgar fiction. I will be terribly proud of you when you submit that paper to your teacher.”

[nick]Kay Tooesso[/nick][status]what are the odds[/status][icon]https://s7.postimg.cc/akubc07uz/Chiwetel_Ejiofor.jpg[/icon][LZ] <center><a href="https://swmedley.rusff.me/viewtopic.php?id=75#p815">IDENTIFICATION CARD</a> <img src="https://forumstatic.ru/files/0018/1a/00/18603.png"> Kay Tooesso, Alliance intelligence officer</center>[/LZ]

Поделиться32026-11-2019 21:01:37

Автор: Cassian Andor
Гость

[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]Cassian Andor, your trouble[/LZ]Cassian stays silent. Whet he feels — physically — he would call a discomfort, not a pain. The pain is still here, he knows it, it's somewhere deep inside of him, curled and asleep. It may return later, but right now everything he has to worry about is not to wake it up too early. It bothers him a lot that Kay instead must still be in a great pain. And there's nothing they can do about it apart from leaving Coruscans, returning home, making sure Kay will stay alive and free... The list is almost endless, but Kay is right. They can't draw too much attention, so no doctors, only droid sex...

"Wait, what?"

He returnes back to reality from his thoughts. Kay has the same neutral impression, the same serious tone. He is not joking, and too slowly Cassian uderstands. He is going to buy them some time. Around half an hour — or more. He can buy them more time, Cassian is sure but avoinds bragging.

"Intimate relationships with artificial partners," he repeats. "For a school."

It sound a bit odd. Not just the relationship part, but the one about school as well. Does he even look like a student? He better be, and a librarian better trust him.

A library is something. It's huge. Not very tall, but he imagines it has undeground levers reaching the core of the Empire's heart. Cassian looks just fine and if not he acts like he does. Spoilt persona he had to wear does him a lot of good right now. It's easy not to be awed by the library, it's easy not to show he worries about Kay and what he is doing right now. He rechannels his emotions to look like the only thing he cares about is whether he will find anything on his topic. And it works until it doesn't.

Maybe it's the way he watches a time projected to the wall behind the librarian. Maybe it's his shifting — he has to make sure his wounded arm is covered neatly. But in twenty minutes the librarian stops in the middle of his catalogue. Few datachips with materials on topic are lying beside him, few more are aside as Cassian has to be older to look at them. The librarian has a suspicious look in his eyes.

"It's for school," Cassian tries to urge the man. "non-fiction, serious stuff. No way you don't have it."

"What school has study projects like that?"

Cassian shrugs, "Guess they run another test program to see how to make a system work better."

The librarian narrows his eyes.

"Our educational system is the best. So, what school are you going to?"

"Told you, I've forgotten the id, so..."

He smiles and tries to ack nonchalant, but Cassian knows he must get out. After Seetha he thought he is really good with getting other people do what he wants. But he was wrong. Again, he was very wrong.

It's been 23 minutes. Will it be enough? It better be enough.

"I'm not asking about your id. What school are you from?"

Cassian stays silent. How do they name their schools on Coruscant either way?

"You think I wouldn't find out and report you for wasting my time?"

He sounds intimidating now. Cassian steps back. "I'm sorry," he mumbles. Be can't be looked for in any case, because it'd be too obvious he's not from here — it would be too obvious he is not from anywhere.

"You will be. Not get out of here!" the librarian shouts very quietly.

Cassian does just that.

Поделиться32107-12-2019 20:56:32

Автор: K-2SO
Гость

⠀⠀The library is grand in the way all the Imperial buildings are grand. It’s much older than the Empire, and most likely, it will outlive the Empire, and Kay, and Cassian, and everyone else currently alive on Coruscant, maybe, with the exception of droids. Kay hides to the side of the exit in between two pillars. It wasn’t nearly as much time as he would like to have, but it was enough to at least find something. The stormtroopers, if they were looking for them, didn’t do so in much haste. The counter-intelligence officers seemed to take a day off, too. Or maybe the trap was set, and everyone is just waiting for Kay to do what he always does and get himself into trouble. He doesn’t feel good, and his thoughts get cloudy, his head swimming a bit.

⠀⠀Once Cassian emerges, Kay steps out of the shadows and puts his hand on the kid’s shoulder, “That must’ve been fun.”

⠀⠀He walks a step behind Cassian, guiding the kid with his hand on his shoulder until they are a few blocks away from the library and big transport arteries of Coruscant. Once they stop, Kay sits down on the steps of some apartment building and breathes for a moment. His strength is leaving him, and it’s not good, but he has no choice. He’ll use the Shak Chuk’s magical elixir once he really needs it, and it is still not now.

⠀⠀“Come early morning, we are going to go to the Central Imperial Archive. You are going to get in through the vents and slice us some cleaner droid—I’ll let you know what to tweak and how. The droid is going to cause enough havoc for me to get in as well, and then we are going to find something useful. I, unfortunately, don’t know, what it will be,” Kay doesn’t let pain seep into his voice but he still sounds strained. “But we’ll grab the first important thing we can find and run. Before that, today, we are going to see how’s the nearest speeder workshop doing and borrow one. Probably without them knowing about it. Then we are going to the nearest spaceport and checking out the starships. We need something VIP, that’ll be able to leave Coruscant regardless of anything else—so, most likely, some Senate douche’s personal yacht. So when we run, we have something to run on, and something to run towards. If we mess up, you and I are dead on the spot. Is that understood?”

[nick]Kay Tooesso[/nick][status]what are the odds[/status][icon]https://s7.postimg.cc/akubc07uz/Chiwetel_Ejiofor.jpg[/icon][LZ] <center><a href="https://swmedley.rusff.me/viewtopic.php?id=75#p815">IDENTIFICATION CARD</a> <img src="https://forumstatic.ru/files/0018/1a/00/18603.png"> Kay Tooesso, Alliance intelligence officer</center>[/LZ]

Поделиться32210-12-2019 14:33:23

Автор: Cassian Andor
Гость

[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]Cassian Andor, your trouble[/LZ]Before that they should let Kay rest, but Cassian doesn't say that aloud. He doubt Kay doesn't know it himself. The way he kept his hand on Cassian's shoulder, the way he obviously needed it as support... Will he be able to run tomorrow? Will he be able to do anything — tomorrow, so soon — in the CIA.

THE CIA. The most important, most protected place, source of all information, a heart of all Imperial bureaucracy. If anything goes wrong, they are dead. But if they won't go there or will fail to find something important, Kay is dead. Their mission is anything that can be used for bargain. It will be good for the Rebellion, but somehow it feels wrong. As if the Rebellion wouldn't hear and understand Kay. As if he won't be given another chance.

Cassian doesn't say that aloud as well. He is a part of the Rebellion for a long time. He knows there's rarel place and time for a blind trust. It may feel wrong, but if he wants Kay to be well and safe — or at least alive — then they need this leverage,. They need data so good it can't be overlooked.

"Right," he says. "Let's go and steal a speeder, then. Can you walk?"

Поделиться32331-12-2019 23:51:46

Автор: K-2SO
Гость

⠀⠀Kay checks if he can push himself just a bit further, and he still can. He always can and does that—that’s what makes him a good agent and a formidable enemy. His Imperial colleagues used to compare him to a droid, telling tales of how he didn’t sleep, or eat, or do anything human, except for work. Kay liked it and didn’t stop them from spreading the ridiculous gossip around. It stripped him of his humanity and thus made his job easier. It also made people fear him, and fear, Kay found, makes people uneasy and prone to make mistakes. Sometimes he misses being an Imperial in this particular humanless way.

⠀⠀Being human pains him too much.

⠀⠀He shouldn’t have cared for the kid, and yet he did, and look where they find themselves now. The plan that Kay laid before Cassian looks just about doable enough for the kid to believe in it. In truth, Kay suspects, the probability of their journey ending here on Coruscant is way too high. It pains him too, in a different way. Nothing has pained him quite so much mentally for a long time. It’s a waste and a pity, and he still thinks of the ways to get the stubborn rebel kid off the kriffing heart of the Empire. There are some. None of them are ideal.

⠀⠀ “Yes,” Kay answers after a moment of silence and pushes himself off of the stairs. “We have to be very discreet. Once we get there, you stay on the watch out, and I’ll do the dirty work. The probability of this is low, but let me know if this becomes too much and you change your mind, rebel kid.”

⠀⠀Kay ruffles Cassian’s hair in a sudden amicable gesture and starts walking. Walking he can do. Running is different. Fortunately, they don’t have to run, they just have to keep away from the main streets and hope for the best. Kay can’t stop thinking what would he do if it wasn’t for Cassian. He would probably go back to the Imperial side and then move on with his life, once he gets a chance to escape these masters, too. Whichever one he would pick, Kay doesn’t know. Somehow, the kid changed everything without even trying. Kay sees a certain hand in this, and it makes him wonder. What if…

⠀⠀He halts, turning a corner. A speeder workshop he talked about is right here, they just have to sneak in the back, where all the speeders are, and Kay motions with his hand. They go in between two buildings. Thankfully, it’s getting late now, and the shadows hug them tightly all the way to their destination point—a big yard of speeders needing a repair or already repaired.

[nick]Kay Tooesso[/nick][status]what are the odds[/status][icon]https://s7.postimg.cc/akubc07uz/Chiwetel_Ejiofor.jpg[/icon][LZ] <center><a href="https://swmedley.rusff.me/viewtopic.php?id=75#p815">IDENTIFICATION CARD</a> <img src="https://forumstatic.ru/files/0018/1a/00/18603.png"> Kay Tooesso, Alliance intelligence officer</center>[/LZ]

Поделиться32404-01-2020 20:30:18

Автор: Cassian Andor
Гость

[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]Cassian Andor, your trouble[/LZ]"I won't change my mind. I'm very persistent," Cassian says in serious voice but smiles. They will be fine. If Kay spares a time to ruffle his hair, it means that everything is going to be well.

He says he is persistent, but 'stubborn' is the right word. What he is is stubborn — everyone back home say that. They say that as if there's something wrong with it. It isn't. Cassian knows he wouldn't be here if he wasn't stubborn. He probably wouldn't also be alive, but he isn't sure about that one last thing.

At the workshop he looks at Kay one more time. He doesn't look like he can steal anything, but neither they have more time to rest nor there is a spare Kay they can use instead of him mentor. So Cassian quietly sighs and promises, "I'll let you know if there's someone."

It's already semi dark outside, but Cassian finds himself a nice shadowy corner and stays there. It's quiet, there's no one around and slowly he start to think about a future.

They will steal from the CIA. That part seems impossible, and Cassian skips it and moves further, to a point when they are back, Kay is arrested and tries to bargain for his life, and Cassian says... Looks like he has to skip this part also, but where move next? There's nothing next if he won't speak up.

What will he say? What are his reasons to trust Kay and to be sure he doesn't lie? He doesn't really know, his trust is not something he can easily explain. Kay did harm to his native planet, but he is one of few who knew his planet at all, who was willing to talk about it. He is the one who suggested what to do with the pain Cassian brought with him wherever he went without even realizing it. He is the one whose choices where wrong, but they also where the only one available.

Kay is everything Cassian should despise because of who he is, because of what the Empire does, but once he saw a human being under his droid-like officer facade, it's really hard to remember about proper rebel thoughts and judgement. It's harder because Cassian hopes Kay also sees his as something else than just an orphan, a general's pet.

But how will he explain all of that? Cassian doesn't know, but he stays with the thought and tries to find right words. It's still better than thinking about The CIA and their chances there.

Поделиться32519-01-2020 23:13:22

Автор: K-2SO
Гость

⠀⠀Once again Cassian promises not to change his mind. Kay doesn’t indulge the kid, just keeps walking, and then turns the corner, and then they part their ways, and Kay acts alone. Just like he used to. It’s a weird feeling he gets, trying to find a way to get over the stars forsaken fence. He’s alone, finally, but he much rather would have Cassian to accompany him. It’s been a month, and Cassian Andor grew within him so much he couldn’t kill the damn kid. This has never happened to Kay before. He could kill anyone. His lover. His brother. An entire planet. Easy. But not this kid.

⠀⠀“Davits Draven, you filthy bastard, burn in hell,” Kay swears under his breath, climbing the fence, but he doesn’t mean it.

⠀⠀Just like being lowborn slave overtime just became a part of his life, being Cassian’s mentor and even protector now also became a part of his life, a part of him. The general must’ve studied him very well. Kay always wondered what was it about this man that bothered him so much, and now it blinds him. The obviousness of it all. Of course, they studied him. He was a former Imperial high-ranking officer. And of course, they put the best person they could find to study him. This person was Davits Draven. Davits Draven found just the right key to Kay at just the right moment.

⠀⠀He hates the guy for it, but he also feels like he should thank him profoundly. Being human hurts, but it’s a good hurt. It makes Kay feel alive and struggle not because this is what he does, but because without struggle there is no life, and so he has to fight his way out of this… Damn this fence! Kay not so much lands as just plain drops down on the other side. Thankfully, the fall doesn’t hurt him much, or he doesn’t feel it too well at this point.

⠀⠀It takes him exactly four minutes fifty-eight seconds to find two speeders worth stealing. Kay finds something to prop up the cover that was on them and quietly rolls the speeders close to the fence. This part, he has to admit, he didn’t really think through. Apart from getting inside the fence to the speeders, he also needs to get two speeders out. Kay sighs, waits two moments, listening. Nothing. Quiet as ever. Then he starts searching, pushing with his fingers at the fence and coming up with nothing, nothing, nothing. No way he can just pull a part of this fence and not alarm everyone around. Or hurt himself.

⠀⠀Kay rubs at his face. He’s getting sloppy. He’s hurt but he should think straight, otherwise this mission, and, above all, this kid is doomed. Kay looks around trying to spot Cassian but can’t. Well, then. There is only one way this can be done. Kay finds a box and brings it as close to the fence as possible. Then he pants, lifting one of the speeders up, upon the box, and over the fence, where the speeder drops rather loudly. Kay doesn’t wait for anyone to come out to check what is going on. He feels like if he stops now, he will never lift the second one. Yet somehow, he does. The second speeder drops on the other side of the fence just as loudly, and then blissful silence falls. There are some noises somewhere, but they are quiet and far away. Kay puts his hands on the fence but feels like he just can’t. So he stays like that, with his forehead against the fence and his eyes closed, panting, pained, tired. So very tired.

[nick]Kay Tooesso[/nick][status]what are the odds[/status][icon]https://s7.postimg.cc/akubc07uz/Chiwetel_Ejiofor.jpg[/icon][LZ] <center><a href="https://swmedley.rusff.me/viewtopic.php?id=75#p815">IDENTIFICATION CARD</a> <img src="https://forumstatic.ru/files/0018/1a/00/71921.png"> Kay Tooesso, Alliance intelligence officer</center>[/LZ]

Поделиться32626-01-2020 14:02:26

Автор: Cassian Andor
Гость

[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]Cassian Andor, your trouble[/LZ]There is a loud THUD, snatching him from his thoughts. Cassian hastily leaves his shadow corner, because if he failed to notice a danger before it was so close to them he at least must do something now.

But there's no one. There's just one speeder on a street and another one landing next to him. And there is Kay, looking so tired, on the other side. And he must have been...

So he is that strong.

He doesn't look strong now, just very very tired. And it's too strange to think that someone can be so strong, but so trapped into unfortunate circumstances. Kay doesn't look at him. Cassian doubts he would have seen him even he was looking directly at him. Pain and exhaustion radiates from his tired posture. But they have time. There's no one around. Coruscant is a peculiar place, where hearing a loud thud a wise one must pretend not to hear it. Cassian comes closer to the fence.

"You can't give up now. Come on, Kay. Climb over, and then we'll rest."

Then they'll have to ride speeders, to find some safe space, to plan The CIA breaking in. But Kay knows it himself, and Cassian suspects he doesn't need someone to tell him the truth. He's too good with it himself. What he needs is someone who will lie. Someone who'll say everything will be fine.

"Come one. Please, Kay, just try."

Поделиться32701-02-2020 19:57:40

Автор: K-2SO
Гость

⠀⠀A familiar voice sounds close. Cassian. Kay didn’t want the kid to see him like this, but he also has neither energy nor the strength of will to hide his weakness at this point. Cassian sounds almost pleading, very pathetic, tears-jerking.

⠀⠀“Just needed to catch my breath, don’t worry,” Kay replies evenly. It’s part truth. “I now realize that accomplishing this task would have been seventy percent easier if I turned their repulsion engines on. If you got spooked because of the noise, don’t worry, they will be fine. Me—I will just need another moment.”

⠀⠀Kay stays as he is for exactly that—a moment. Nobody has lied to him quite so blatantly in a long time, and it amuses him. The way Cassian cheers for him. No. That would be impossible to fake for a fifteen-year-old. Therefore, it must be true, and Cassian isn’t some wicked Draven’s agent. He is just what he appears to be. A kid. The kid. Kay pushes himself off of the fence and starts climbing. He hates this kriffing fence so much. Probably, at this very moment, even more than the Empire itself. He uses this energy, this emotion to power himself and ends up safely on the other side. This time he doesn’t drop to the ground in a heap of clothes and limbs, he lands rather carefully on his feet.

⠀⠀“We are going to go one level below, several blocks away from here, then several levels up. If no one follows us, we will stop, regroup and think through our strategy further.” Kay doesn’t mention a word about his insides burning. Himself burning. If he survives this, he must be a droid or an unsuspecting cyborg. Normal people don’t survive things like these for as long as he did, with the amount and type of action that he does.

⠀⠀It’s a miracle he can drive a speeder. Somehow Kay finds the wind in his face a bliss. Even a Coruscanti wind, full of gases and smoke. After they are done with this part of the plan, they need to scout out the spaceports. They will have to use the nearest one to the CIA. That is going to be difficult, but nothing that they’ve done previously has been easy. Cassian will lie and defy every single percentage Kay comes up with in his head, and somehow, they will be fine. The voice speaking about it in Kay’s head sounds suspiciously similar to Cassian’s.

[nick]Kay Tooesso[/nick][status]what are the odds[/status][icon]https://s7.postimg.cc/akubc07uz/Chiwetel_Ejiofor.jpg[/icon][LZ] <center><a href="https://swmedley.rusff.me/viewtopic.php?id=75#p815">IDENTIFICATION CARD</a> <img src="https://forumstatic.ru/files/0018/1a/00/71921.png"> Kay Tooesso, Alliance intelligence officer</center>[/LZ]

Поделиться32807-02-2020 23:16:28

Автор: Cassian Andor
Гость

[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]Cassian Andor, your trouble[/LZ]Kay doesn't fall down. He lands. Cassian watches him carefully to be sure he doesn't sway, he won't fall from a speeder. He won't die. It's still quiet around, there's no one around. Still Cassian's inner voice reminds in a silent whisper that he should run away. He must be quick and silent and invisible. He must survive. Cassian shushes it.

He will survive. But this time he'll make sure Kay survives too.

No one is following them and it makes him nervous. Both of them are no fit to meet and fight imps. Literary, at list. Figuratively Kay is doing it for most of the day. Cassian doubts imps could just forget or let them go. He doubts it was impossible to track them. Are they waiting then? Are they watching them right now?

He looks around. There's no one.

Cassian breathes in — and out — he can panic and be paranoid when he is back home. Now they need a plan.

"We still need a way out. And you have to do something with this", he nods, making whole Kay 'this" that is bothering him so much. "I know you can survive anything and you are older and everything. But if you die here, I'll die too. So tell me what is the next step of the plan, and then I'll do it, and you... Please, please, Kay, get some sleep. Or drink something. Or tell me where I can find another medic. Anything. I can't look at you when you are like this and there's no way to help you."

Поделиться32916-02-2020 13:21:46

Автор: K-2SO
Гость

⠀⠀Frankly, Kay isn’t sure if Cassian’s voice in his head was real or not. He’s getting delusional from all the pain. But he can’t have the stuff from the bottle, not yet. If he gulps it down now, by the time they are escaping he’ll be right back in this miserable state, and it’s not practical. He can deal with pain. He can. He knows, he can. Kay pushes himself further, and further, and further. Until he stops the speeder and just for a second leans on the handlebar. They are several levels and blocks away from the shop. Of course, Cassian picks this exact moment to speak up about his concerns.

⠀⠀“The ship that we will borrow from the spaceport is our way out. Correction. Not borrow. Where we will hide.” Kay is pretty sure, he will be in no shape to be borrowing anything much less pretend he’s the owner of the ship they will have just borrowed. As for Cassian, it’s too difficult of a job for one kid. “You worry too much. Stop. If I die on this mission, I die. If anything, I would much rather die protecting you than killing the Rebellion. That’s the job, kiddo.” Kay lifts his head to look at Cassian. “You don’t get to worry about anyone. You concentrate on your primary objective and that’s it. That’s why I don’t have partners. Partners inevitably start,” Kay nods at Cassian, “worrying. So, do me a favor and stop. There’s a ninety percent chance that this is the end of the line for me, and I am okay with that. Take the time you’re using worrying about me to come to terms with this and move on.”

⠀⠀Kay doesn’t look intimidating, he probably just looks tired, and he knows it, yet he still tries to use his usual persuasion tactics. It works much better when he’s in better shape, though, so he doesn’t give Cassian too much time to linger on it.

⠀⠀“The spaceport is one block away from here. You go scout for private ships scheduled for departure in the next ten hours. Look for ones that would be easy enough to board, something not too small, something that’ll likely have hiding spaces. Can you do that for me? Without arguing?”

[nick]Kay Tooesso[/nick][status]what are the odds[/status][icon]https://s7.postimg.cc/akubc07uz/Chiwetel_Ejiofor.jpg[/icon][LZ] <center><a href="https://swmedley.rusff.me/viewtopic.php?id=75#p815">IDENTIFICATION CARD</a> <img src="https://forumstatic.ru/files/0018/1a/00/71921.png"> Kay Tooesso, Alliance intelligence officer</center>[/LZ]

Поделиться33012-03-2020 20:00:28

Автор: Cassian Andor
Гость

[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]Cassian Andor, your trouble[/LZ]Cassian bites his lip so that he won't argue the very moment Kay asked him not to. He knows Kay is right. Arguing and worrying won't help any of them. In fact he might be too distracted because of it.

So he breathes in — and out — once again and nods. If Kay is dead he'll probably die too, but if he lives, he must remember then that piece of Kay's advise as well. He is going to be a very good intelligence officer. He needs everything Kay is willing to share.

Carefully placing the bit about worrying and disadvantage of having living partners Cassian suddenly smiles.

"Ninety," he says, "because it's your first mission for the Rebellion? Well, I've survived mine first one. And you are better than me, you'll manage too."

He smiles again, then his smile fades away. No worrying and no nervously hiding of his feelings under those smiles.

"You are wrong, but I won't argue. We can't lose any time on this. Be right back. Stay here."

He is not right back, of course. Finding spaceport is easy, even entering it is rather easy. Finding a ship that would match with all specifications he is given — that is hard. It's so hard Cassian drops his internal arguing with Kay, who being imaginary is very easy to persuade to get his health better and not to die. He drops his worrying, his panic, his eagerness to flee before someone notices him. Its just a ship he can't find yet but will find whatever it takes — and Cassian himself.

In half an hour he decides to think through the option he might fail. A minute later he sees the ship and finally flees back to Kay.

Тема закрыта

Страница: « 1 … 9 10 11 12 13 »

Star Wars Medley

Меню навигации

Пользовательские ссылки

Информация о пользователе

[AU] Without me you would be dead

Сообщений 301 страница 330 из 380

Поделиться125-03-2018 22:52:53

Поделиться30130-07-2019 20:26:28

Поделиться30230-07-2019 20:51:31

Поделиться30330-07-2019 21:24:02

Поделиться30430-07-2019 21:32:00

Поделиться30530-07-2019 21:38:54

Поделиться30630-07-2019 21:42:41

Поделиться30730-07-2019 21:44:17

Поделиться30830-07-2019 21:45:49

Поделиться30910-08-2019 22:02:35

Поделиться31031-08-2019 23:14:08

Поделиться31109-09-2019 18:23:42

Поделиться31215-09-2019 22:00:03

Поделиться31321-09-2019 22:06:01

Поделиться31428-09-2019 19:01:30

Поделиться31511-10-2019 23:21:13

Поделиться31615-10-2019 21:19:29

Поделиться31724-10-2019 20:34:31

Поделиться31829-10-2019 21:21:43

Поделиться31917-11-2019 15:33:17

Поделиться32026-11-2019 21:01:37

Поделиться32107-12-2019 20:56:32

Поделиться32210-12-2019 14:33:23

Поделиться32331-12-2019 23:51:46

Поделиться32404-01-2020 20:30:18

Поделиться32519-01-2020 23:13:22

Поделиться32626-01-2020 14:02:26

Поделиться32701-02-2020 19:57:40

Поделиться32807-02-2020 23:16:28

Поделиться32916-02-2020 13:21:46

Поделиться33012-03-2020 20:00:28