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Вы здесь » Star Wars Medley » Завершенные эпизоды » Альтернатива » [AU] Without me you would be dead


[AU] Without me you would be dead

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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><b>Kay Tooesso</b>, <br>Alliance intelligence officer[/LZ]

Отредактировано K-2SO (16-09-2021 10:10:25)

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    Kay stays silent for a few seconds before answering, “We’re selling Taanab vegetables to the restaurants. We help restaurants owners to establish a connection to the farmers on Taanab, and we get a yearly fee for every lasting connection made with our help. Your father is responsible for the farmers' side of the deal, and I am the one who knows one or two restaurants which might require our help. That’s as much as you need to know.”
    It’s the type of business that easily puts them on Coruscant without any suspicion from the Imperials. Kay will have to read up on Taanab business network a bit after he’s done with the briefing, but overall, he doubts anyone will pry details of boring vegetable business out of any of them. And even if someone gets interested, Cassian is only sixteen and can’t be expected to know much. As for himself, Kay is sure he’ll figure something one if need be.
    The kid’s next question makes Kay shift in his place and sigh, letting go of his pretense persona for now.
    “It’s definitely something, kiddo,” he says. “I’ve been there only twice, and both times it was rather memorable. Have you ever been to any ecumenopolis before?”
[nick]Kay Tooesso[/nick][status]what are the odds[/status][icon]https://s7.postimg.cc/akubc07uz/Chiwetel_Ejiofor.jpg[/icon][LZ]<br><center><a href="https://swmedley.rusff.me/viewtopic.php?id=75#p815">IDENTIFICATION CARD</a><br><br><img src="https://forumstatic.ru/files/0018/1a/00/81098.png"><br><b>Kay Tooesso</b>, <br>Alliance intelligence officer</center>[/LZ]

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[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]<b>Cassian Andor</b>, <br>your trouble[/LZ]So, he is a farmer now. Cassian doesn't know much about farming, but he knows farmers who joined the Rebellion. Almost all of them are good fighters, ready to protect themselves when a government - governments even - fails to do so. He reaches his vibroknife once again, this time with ease. His robe doesn't bother him that much anymore and he decides to promote it to clothes.
"No, never."
Cassian hides the weapon and stops himself before he starts to defend himself, to explain how it won't be a problem. He doesn't know whether it will be a problem or not. He hopes it won't but it's just his opinion, his hope, not a fact. And they need facts.
"But I imagine it to be somehow like our base is. Busy, chaotic for people who don't know how it works, big. Definitely something, just like you've said."

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    “The base doesn’t even remotely feel like Coruscant. Everything is massive there—the buildings, the number of people, of the grav-cars, and the stakes are always higher than on any other planet out there. It’s loud and overwhelming, and it never leaves one unimpressed. You either love it or hate it, there’s no in between.” Kay’s voice takes on a more serious, concentrated tone, ”You will stay close and avoid talking to anyone or anything if you can. We have three days there to meet up with our informant, and that’s the only window we get. Her name is Seetha, she’s a tall blonde woman, a maid for an important person. Your task throughout the mission will be to watch out for the Imperials. Also, practice your straight face when passing the outposts on the way to Coruscant. You should remember your odds for this mission and not get cocky. Understood?”
[nick]Kay Tooesso[/nick][status]what are the odds[/status][icon]https://s7.postimg.cc/akubc07uz/Chiwetel_Ejiofor.jpg[/icon][LZ]<br><center><a href="https://swmedley.rusff.me/viewtopic.php?id=75#p815">IDENTIFICATION CARD</a><br><br><img src="https://forumstatic.ru/files/0018/1a/00/81098.png"><br><b>Kay Tooesso</b>, <br>Alliance intelligence officer</center>[/LZ]

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[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]<b>Cassian Andor</b>, <br>your trouble[/LZ]Cassian wonders if Kay loves Coruscant or hates it. He doesn't ask though. Cassian is not sure he'll be able to spot it - he knows he's not there yet - but he can at least try instead of giving up immediately.
So he just says "Yes, sir," and makes a straight face right away. His odds are still to small, although Cassian is optimistic about them. He didn't die on his first one, and his second one is faster, easier, simpler. They know their informant and their timing. Their legends and documents are all right. It's going to be an easy, almost nice mission. A perfect opportunity to see Coruscant and to get out of there without any danger.
But Kay reminded his odds, and by this time Cassian knows nothing he says or does he says or does in vain. So he tries to stay - or at least to look like he tries to stay - serious and slowly adjusts to his new persona. It's relatively easy. All Cassian has to do is to remember he is fifteen and for once embrace his age. But he should be watchful too, he should be a good agent, he just has to hide it under a teenage cover.
So when Cassian looks at stars and spase and everything the galaxy prepared for him he is as excited as he always is. But he tries anyway and scoffs at it - lame.

Отредактировано Cassian Andor (28-02-2019 19:31:30)

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    So far they are doing surprisingly good. Even though Kay was fairly certain it would be nearly impossible to fail the security check at the spaceport he still watched out for Cassian out of the corner of his eye. The kid was fifteen-year-olding as good as he could and turns out, even a child with a rebel background can pull off a decent spoilt fifteen-year-old out of themselves if they are determined enough.
    It takes them some days to get from Taanab to Coruscant, and this is, perhaps, the most luxurious traveling Kay has experienced in a while. They take a few economy class flights and then a few business class ones, which remind Kay of the last time he went to Coruscant. He never shows it or talks about it. Instead, he reads a lot about Taanab and the market for the vegetables on Coruscant, he learns some names and prices, and companies in the market.
    When they are going through the ID-control in the Coruscant spaceport, Kay allows the tiredness to show. The imperial officer looks at his ID barely paying attention to it before shoving it into the scanning device. She asks Kay a couple of usual questions—the reason he’s traveling, the planets he’s been to so far, his plans on Coruscant—all of which Kay answers in a tired but neutral voice. It’s evening, and he hopes to get out of the spaceport soon and go have some dinner in a nice restaurant. He adjusts his glasses and scratches at his beard.
    “You’ve been to Coruscant before?” the officer asks.
    “Yeah, but a long time ago.”
    There is something in the way she looks at him after this answer that makes Kay immediately concentrate and pay more attention to her than he usually would. She’s a regular officer, nothing out of the ordinary, the uniform, the look on her face, her motions almost automatic at this point. Maybe he’s just tired and paranoid because there isn’t a single soul you can trust on Coruscant except for the ones you came here with. And even those can betray you—he knows it all too well.
    She lets him go, and Kay collects his ID and passes through the last gate without a second glance. A part of him is just waiting for something to go wrong but nothing does. Nobody arrests them. Nobody is watching them. The Empire lets them in the same as it would anyone else. All is well. And that is excruciatingly alarming.
    Once they are checked in to their hotel and the elevator is taking them up to their lodgings, Kay looks over at Cassian and asks, “So, how do you find Coruscant so far?”
[nick]Kay Tooesso[/nick][status]what are the odds[/status][icon]https://s7.postimg.cc/akubc07uz/Chiwetel_Ejiofor.jpg[/icon][LZ]<br><center><a href="https://swmedley.rusff.me/viewtopic.php?id=75#p815">IDENTIFICATION CARD</a><br><br><img src="https://forumstatic.ru/files/0018/1a/00/81098.png"><br><b>Kay Tooesso</b>, <br>Alliance intelligence officer</center>[/LZ]

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[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]<b>Cassian Andor</b>, <br>your trouble[/LZ]Cassian wouldn't admit it, but in a short time he almost likes the way he has to act. At first he is afraid he might be too childish, but it seems to work. He even refuses to eat some food served to him because he doesn't like it. They change their transport a lot, and sometimes it's better, sometimes it's worse, but it's always interesting and Cassian is always too busy looking around and trying to cover his interest to keep worrying or being nervous.
He barely notices the security check, eager to leave it behind and to see the great Coruscant. He is asked of his name and his reason to visit. He answers with a little bored, a little cocky tone he has been practicing all journey, adds a little more tiredness into it. With that a security officer looses all his interest - and Cassian is free to go.
The Coruscant is something. It's impossible to see the sky. Flying islands with villas and fountains hides it. It's easy to imagine those islands falling down crashing everything below. It's impossible to see the ground, just a level after a level. Maybe there isn't any ground on Coruscant at all. Maybe it is just a durasteel ball, dark and dead inside, full of people and full of life on its surface.
In his mind Cassian presses both his arms and his face to every window or a glass wall they are passing. In reality he looks at Kay and shrugs, because an elevator is not safe.
"It's okay, I say. Just a planet. Nothing special."

Отредактировано Cassian Andor (04-03-2019 21:11:23)

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    Cassian keeps his charade, and Kay quirks his lips and looks away. A typical teenager, never impressed, never willing to admit there is anything in the world that’s cooler than himself. The kid is doing good. Kay doesn’t ask anything anymore, just waits till the elevator stops and walks the long corridor with the content of a person who had a long, long day and is looking forward to bedtime. The dinner that they had at a restaurant nearby was most satisfying, yet Kay was still troubled by that officer.
    That look. It was just a fraction of a second yet he could’ve sworn she recognized him or recognized something, at least. Maybe not him, but something.
    When he opens the door and flips the switch, the room turns out to have an amazing view—or as amazing as it can possibly get on this level. They are not here to enjoy the luxurious lifestyle yet there are definitely profits in being sent to Coruscant. Kay still loathes the planet. He walks in, glances at their luggage in the little corridor and proceeds straight to the little table in between two armchairs. There is a fruits basket there and a card from the hotel. Kay flips it over—and sure enough here it is.

11.VI, 12:00 DBL

    Kay‘s heart skips a beat and he quickly hides the card up his sleeve and looks for another one, and sure enough, he finds it in the basket, tucked safely among the fruits. This one is the one. The date of the meeting is also tomorrow, and luckily slightly later. He will have fifteen minutes.
    Kay wills himself to calm down before turning to Cassian and saying in his usual tone, “We’ve got a date, kiddo.”
    He just has to come up with a way to distract Cassian. Slip away for fifteen minutes. Come back. Proceed with his rebel disguise. Kriff. This can’t be happening. Not right now. Although Kay is sure, if it happened later, he would be even more devastated. He should stop liking the kid and caring about him, and do his job. Fulfill his part of the deal. They will let him go. Or even if they don’t, there wouldn’t be a way for them to use him anymore, and he can finally disappear. Go someplace far, far away. To the corporate sector. To the hutts. Anywhere would be good. Anywhere but here.
[nick]Kay Tooesso[/nick][status]what are the odds[/status][icon]https://s7.postimg.cc/akubc07uz/Chiwetel_Ejiofor.jpg[/icon][LZ]<br><center><a href="https://swmedley.rusff.me/viewtopic.php?id=75#p815">IDENTIFICATION CARD</a><br><br><img src="https://forumstatic.ru/files/0018/1a/00/81098.png"><br><b>Kay Tooesso</b>, <br>Alliance intelligence officer</center>[/LZ]

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[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]<b>Cassian Andor</b>, <br>your trouble[/LZ]Cassian sticks to the window just as he wanted to do all this day. He says "Aha," to Kay's words, but never takes his eyes from Coruscant lying beneath and above.
Cassian already did a quick tour through their room. The beds are the softest he has ever felt, and everything is so clean, and a view, or that view. He could spend all his time just looking outside.
Sure, Cassian is not a child. He knows everything he has to, he remembers all stories about the capital planet covered with buildings, roads and countless people. He knows there are lower levels, filled with robbers and gangs. He knows there is a city block for species, because they were not welcomed anywhere else. He knows Coruscant is a dark and dangerous place. Everything nice he shows is nothing but a facade. He wears it like Cassian wears his new clothes - by this time he is comfortable and almost likes it.
But boy, is it a nice facade.
"It's so beautiful," he says and finally looks at Kay. He called him 'kiddo' and used his real tone, so Cassian can be his real self too. "You were right, it is something. It's so... So!" He lacks words but it doesn't really bother him. He makes a valiant effort to breathe and to remember about the mission.
"Am I doing okay? Do I get on your nerves already?"

Отредактировано Cassian Andor (11-03-2019 00:18:29)

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    Cassian is so absorbed by the sights out the window that he barely pays attention to the cards, and Kay sighs very quietly to himself. He must be normal. So this is what he does. They are here on a mission, and Cassian needs to know the way it’s going to go down tomorrow so he doesn’t accidentally make it go sideways. Kay sits down in the armchair and closes his eyes, relaxing. The excitement of getting the card makes him feel suddenly not just tired but completely drained.
    “I am a very patient person,” Kay says. “But you are one annoying teenager when you put your mind to it. Check the room. Be careful and see if any commlinks are rigged, if there are any bugs anywhere.”
    Kay is pretty sure their room is fine, not because he checked it but because there is a card. They might still be watched, but he doubts it. It’s such a covert operation that any surveillance would ruin it. He isn’t sure how exactly they are going to pass him his instructions in just fifteen minutes. If it’s going to be a datachip, a rapid conversation, a datapad with the brief, a piece of paper, a briefcase—there are a million possibilities, and thinking through them makes Kay exhausted. He has to, though. He has to think through every possibility and understand how to act in every scenario.
    It might as well look like Kay fell asleep—his pose relaxed and his eyes closed—but his mind is alert and working at the highest speed. He gives Cassian solid fifteen minutes before speaking again, “Came up with anything?”
[nick]Kay Tooesso[/nick][status]what are the odds[/status][icon]https://s7.postimg.cc/akubc07uz/Chiwetel_Ejiofor.jpg[/icon][LZ]<br><center><a href="https://swmedley.rusff.me/viewtopic.php?id=75#p815">IDENTIFICATION CARD</a><br><br><img src="https://forumstatic.ru/files/0018/1a/00/81098.png"><br><b>Kay Tooesso</b>, <br>Alliance intelligence officer</center>[/LZ]

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[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]<b>Cassian Andor</b>, <br>your trouble[/LZ]He decides he is safe. Kay is patient. And, which is more important, he thinks Cassian can impersonate a proper teenager. It's good, he likes it more this time. Strangely to him to be someone who is not like him at all is easier than to pretend to be a someone with his age, his home planet, even his name. To be someone completely different feels good and refreshing. He likes it a lot. His constant devaluation of everything he sees is a little bit stupid, but Cassian gets it. He is Aach, and Aach hadn't spent his life on a military base. He must be not an easy one to impress.
Cassian thinks about it when he gets to the work and comes to a conclusion that the real Aach would be impressed with Cassian's life. All military stuff, and trainings, and the weapon, and important missions. Maybe he is dreaming of great fights and intelligence missions, but he has to learn everything about business and vegetables. No surprise he is annoying.
It's a funny thought, and Cassian lets it to drift inside his mind while he is looking for bugs. He does his best and checks the room and commlinks thoroughly, but very very quiet not to wake Kay up.
Even when he is dreaming Kay seems calm and collected. As if it's more a reloading than a sleeping. Cassian almost jumps when he learns Kay doesn't sleep.
'It's clean. No bugs, no rigging, nothing. Why would it be? You think the Empire knows who we are, or does it have a habit of tapping random hotel guests?"

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.....“Ah, he thinks he is so good at impersonating a teenager no one could’ve suspected anything on his way here. He thinks he is safe and so he can stop being alert. Even though”—Kay opens his eyes and straightens up in his armchair, looking at Cassian with his usual calmness—“he is right at the heart of the Empire. It deceives him with its sights and its lights, and its friendly people, especially because he has to bottle up his excitement while out there and pretending to be someone else. He thinks there is so much going on here that no one could possibly notice us, just a couple of specks on the face of the ecumenopolis. Remind me, what is the probability of your death on this mission?”
.....Kay tilts his head to his shoulder, watching every move Cassian makes, every twitch of every muscle in his body, in his face—everything. The kid is getting better but he has a long, long way to go. Lying is a skill, and staying alive is a skill too. It takes a lot of cold thinking and being always alert, and calculating your game way ahead. Not just two steps ahead, but ten, fifty steps if the need arises, while still staying flexible and able to adjust to changing circumstances. Cassian will get there for sure. Yet now Kay has to remind him the basic stuff.
.....“Do not for one second think that Coruscant is a safe place either for you, or for me, or for anyone else you know. Always check everything, because it is the only way you can be sure you are safe for now. Your job as an intelligence officer—and I don’t intend it as a pun—is to be intelligent. Intelligence means you remember your past experiences, you plan ahead and you keep your calm in the present. Don’t get paranoid but be alert and always thinking through things. The only person you can trust fully in this job is you. Now. We have a date tomorrow. We will get to the place twenty minutes before the meeting. We will split the ground, you will go around and make sure we are safe, I will do the same on my side. Once we are done, we will meet at the designated spot and get our intel. After that, we will get out and proceed with our pretense-business meetings and sightseeing. Questions?”
[nick]Kay Tooesso[/nick][status]what are the odds[/status][icon]https://s7.postimg.cc/akubc07uz/Chiwetel_Ejiofor.jpg[/icon][LZ]<br><center><a href="https://swmedley.rusff.me/viewtopic.php?id=75#p815">IDENTIFICATION CARD</a><br><br><img src="https://forumstatic.ru/files/0018/1a/00/81098.png"><br><b>Kay Tooesso</b>, <br>Alliance intelligence officer</center>[/LZ]

Отредактировано K-2SO (26-03-2019 00:15:12)

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[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]<b>Cassian Andor</b>, <br>your trouble[/LZ]
In moments like that Kay keeps calling him 'he'. Cassian, who was annoyed by that at first, now starts to notice (after he starts his meetings with the medic he is keeping to notice and discover more with every week) something he was missing before. With that 'he' Kay's dressing down doesn't seem to be personal. He's simply stating everything that can and should be better, and Cassian doesn't feel the urge to explain himself or to argue. He just remembers and decides he can do better than 'he'. He doesn't know if it was Kay's intention from the very beginning. But it works. Cassian becomes more himself and admits — he remembers his numbers pretty well — "It's eighty five on the second one. Lower than the first and the last one, but I still should be careful. I will be."
He pretends he doesn't care and isn't happy with them staying for some time after the mission. They will see more of Coruscant, together, it will be a fantastic mission!
Cassian tries to stay calm and collected. He can ask some questions, with Kay it's always the most important part.
"What if we are not safe tomorrow? If any of us notice something or someone suspicious?"
This is the important questions, but Cassian has another one, and he has to know. "About trusting. I can trust me, but my partner also, Right? This time and in future, whenever I have a partner with me. I trust me, but I also can trust you. And you too should trust me."

Отредактировано Cassian Andor (26-03-2019 00:56:05)

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.....One thing Kay comes to admire about Cassian is how quickly he bounces back from being analyzed, commented and even critiqued. He doesn’t get defensive, instead, he absorbs the knowledge like a sponge, which is why one day he can be a great intelligence officer, and possibly an even greater intelligence officer in command. If he survives, that is. Kay thinks briefly about his own meeting tomorrow and decides it safe for Cassian—given that the kid will stay away and do his part of the job.
.....Whatever the Empire wants Kay for this time, it’s unlikely they want it done here.
.....If anything, the only reason he can think of that the Empire would want to contact him is if it’s time for the endgame. It feels nothing like he thought it would. It doesn’t bring him excitement, it just sticks to him and makes him feel heavy with something. An emotion.
.....Kay snaps out of it. “Then we will skip the meeting and arrange it some other day. That is why we are here for several days instead of just one. It’s a window of opportunity. One day or another we’ll be able to meet,” he says to Cassian, fully concentrated on briefing the kid now. “If you see something odd, remember every detail you can about it so you can retell me what sparked your interest and made you suspicious. Be alert but not paranoid, it’s an Imperial planet, after all, there are bound to be a stormtrooper or two around every corner.”
.....The next question Cassian asks makes Kay fall silent for half a minute. It’s a good question, the thing is, Kay can’t answer it in all honesty. Because Cassian can’t trust him, his allegiance is with the Empire and, kind of egoistically, with himself. However, the kid can’t know this. Kay shifts in his armchair, leans forward, putting elbows on his knees and looking at Cassian with a bit of a harsh spark in his eyes.
.....“I trust myself, but I don’t trust you, kiddo—not entirely. I trust your loyalty to the Rebellion—so far as you didn’t give me any reason not to—but I don’t entirely trust your skillset yet. I always check your loyalty, it’s a habit, really, something you learn over time. Anyone can be a traitor. You never know what can tip the person over the edge. Frankly, you should be especially careful around me. The people on the base have their point, I was an Imperial officer. And there isn’t exactly a way for you to know if I ever stopped being one and it’s not just some complex game the Empire is playing with the Rebellion.”
.....He threads on a very thin line, steps on a quicksand which might be his downfall. Kay keeps perfectly calm, the same as he always has with Cassian. It’s just a lesson in vigilance, nothing more. Nothing less.
.....“If you want one piece of advice, don’t lose your head just because someone was good to you, kiddo. Don’t lose it over love, or familial ties, or camaraderie, or the sense of duty, or anything. Not if you are an intelligence officer.”
[nick]Kay Tooesso[/nick][status]what are the odds[/status][icon]https://s7.postimg.cc/akubc07uz/Chiwetel_Ejiofor.jpg[/icon][LZ]<br><center><a href="https://swmedley.rusff.me/viewtopic.php?id=75#p815">IDENTIFICATION CARD</a><br><br><img src="https://forumstatic.ru/files/0018/1a/00/81098.png"><br><b>Kay Tooesso</b>, <br>Alliance intelligence officer</center>[/LZ]

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Being alert but not paranoid sounds like something Cassian can do. He can't read people as good as Kay does it, but by this time noticing bits of it, making himself to pay attention is almost habitual thing for him. To be truly alert Cassian will have to drop his excitement, but thay have come here to work anyway. And he still has the window view. Cassian looks at the Coruscant outside one last time and collects himself.
"Trusting is not about knowing someone is on your side. It's  about believing. Hoping."
He doesn't really want to argue. Kay is right. Trusting may be good for a rebel, but he wants to be a rebel spy. It's too childish, too naive to value your trust more than the Rebellion. It's maybe good for morale, but very dangerous for survival of the cause.
Cassian nods accepting Kay's advice. He wonders though if Kay thinks people who call him an imp are right.
"You are right. There's no way for me to know if you have friends on the other side. You are too good, and I am too inexperienced. I don't want to live with a constant fear tgat you might turn on me. So I won't. I don't want to be careful about you. I trust you, but not because you were good to me. I just think you deserve it much more than, maybe, any other people back home."
It's longer than he was going to say, and Cassian shifts on his feet uncomfortably.
"I won't trust anyone else and I will be alert. Not paranoid, but alert."
He looks at Kay and almost hates the way he starts to look for signs of Kay lying and being someone else. He just declared his trust and immediately, involuntary doubts it. He  finds nothing, because there are no signs of lies. Not that he is able to see.
"We should probably sleep now."
[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]<b>Cassian Andor</b>, <br>your trouble[/LZ]

Отредактировано Cassian Andor (04-04-2019 02:11:01)

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.....Kay doesn’t comment, doesn’t show any emotion, even though some of Cassian’s words stick with him, linger in the air almost visibly for some time. Why does this kid think he deserves his trust, if not the fact that he was good to him? Kay doesn’t understand the concept of trust that Cassian seems to have. Finally, he decides it’s not important and drops it. They have a big day tomorrow, and they should be prepared and as well-slept as they can get. Kay nods.
.....“You go ahead, I’m going to sit here for a little while and think about tomorrow.”
.....Kay stays up for half an hour longer than Cassian, turning the plan for tomorrow over and over in his head, meticulously thinking through everything that could go wrong. Some of the simulations—that’s how he calls them—run smoothly, others turn out to be difficult to imagine or predict, or both. Cassian discovering his meeting with an Imperial agent. Kay carefully assesses his own feelings about this scenario. After a while he finds himself pondering the idea of escaping the meeting and pretending it didn’t—couldn’t even—happen. What would the Empire do then? He knows, of course. They will stop caring about the agreement and will just proceed with whatever they planned.
.....Kay has no idea if he is still in good standing with the folks up there in the Imperial high command. They might’ve stopped liking him after he blew up a bunch of their ships. And factories. And building. And one prison. Well, two prisons. Well. Nine. Is he nervous? Is this how being nervous feels? How do people deal with it? Kay doesn’t even remember being nervous, ever. He runs his hand over his face as if reloading himself, reinstating his calmness, and gets up from the armchair. He falls asleep immediately as his head touches the pillow.

***

.....The next day they reach the place of meeting half an hour early, and it turns out to be one of the market squares. Everything here is bright and loud, bustling with life more than Uquine could ever hope to, dozens, hundreds of people and aliens circulating through the rows of colored little shops mounted on huge grav-carts. Kay looks around with what might be taken as a sincere curiosity. He uses it to hide his disgust with the place. With the planet.
.....“We have half an hour before the meeting,” he says to Cassian walking next to him along the central row. “It’s a loud place and there are bound to be pickpockets so keep your eyes open. You see anything you’d like to buy, let me know.” Kay leans closer to Cassian and continues, “We should sweep the area, look for anyone who might be watching. You take the left side. Use the code we discussed to let me know if anything.”
.....The code is simple and inconspicuous, no one who might intercept the message on the commlink would understand that it’s not them just chatting about the stuff they’d like to buy. Kay puts his hands together so the sleeves safely cover the vibroknife and smiles pleasantly. He wants this to be over as soon as possible. He doesn’t mention it.
[nick]Kay Tooesso[/nick][status]what are the odds[/status][icon]https://s7.postimg.cc/akubc07uz/Chiwetel_Ejiofor.jpg[/icon][LZ]<br><center><a href="https://swmedley.rusff.me/viewtopic.php?id=75#p815">IDENTIFICATION CARD</a><br><br><img src="https://forumstatic.ru/files/0018/1a/00/81098.png"><br><b>Kay Tooesso</b>, <br>Alliance intelligence officer</center>[/LZ]

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[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]<b>Cassian Andor</b>, <br>your trouble[/LZ]Cassian nods with an impatient look on his face and leaves Kay. The look is real: it's hard to truly like the great and endless planet when Kay's very presence reminds he must ne careful. Cassian takes a deep breath almost drinking air heavy with smells of spices, machine oil, sweat, dirt, danger. He allows himself five more srconds of pure excitement. They say the Coruscant doesn't have a center as planets usually do, they say there is an engine instead of it; it's not true, but Cassian can swear he hears it. There's a sudden stray shadow on the market casted by a flying island, and there's a fountain on the island, the small drops of water glimpsing in the sunlight, turning into a rainbow, evaporating before they fall down.
Cassian gulps and thinks this is the Coruscant, the planet that has everything you can dream of - but that everything is always just a couple levers out of your reach.
With that he turns into an agent. He remains to be excited, but mostly because it gives him an opportunity to look around as much as he can. There's plenty of suspiciously looking people, and he listens to himself very carefully to know if he's being watchful or paranoid. The latter is bad. If he suspects everyone how would he notice a real danger?
Cassian reads how people around him are moving. The market changes onceagain. It was a distraction, a cover - now it's his tool to recognize those who are not really interested in anything but other people here. He spots couple of kinds his age and decides they are pickpocketers, one almost normal man - he disappears, vanishes in a crowd before Cassian can tell what felt wrong with him. But the man was reaching to Kay's part of the place, so if there's anything wrong with him Kay would notice and do something about it.
There's a woman, tall and gorgeous, who is acting as if she is looking for someone she isn't sure is here. She may meat a friend, but her eyes are too sharp, her mouth is too stubbornly shut. Cassian follows her despite the fact he doesn't feel.Any danger from her. He is alarmed only when she is too close to their meeting place. Cassian quickly composes &nd sends a message, and remembers only after that. Tall, blonde, named...
"Why are you following me?" she asks teleporting - or maybe simply coming closer as he wasn't paying enough attention. "I have nothing to steal from my. Fing yourself someone else to rob, boy."
"Seetha," finally remembers Cassian.
The woman stops abruptly and frowns.

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.....Kay doesn’t do much in terms of sightseeing—he never was a type for gawking at the market stalls, or the public around them, or the floating islands, or anything, really. There isn’t a single thing that interests him more than finishing the task at hand but he doesn’t allow any nervousness or anticipation leak into his exterior. It’s been more than ten minutes and he still should have another five before the meeting, so Kay cools himself as much as he can. Nothing in him should betray his true loyalty—wherever it might be—he isn’t so sure anymore, to be honest. And it troubles him.
.....Someone on the left shouts, arguing for the better price, and Kay turns a bit in that direction before turning in another and bumping into a man. The force with which the stranger bumped into him sends him off balance, and Kay has to lean on the nearest counter to keep himself on his feet. The stranger doesn’t even stop. Kay looks after him for a long while before straightening and frowning.
.....It takes him two full minutes to get away from the crowd into a relatively safe corner and read the message which the stranger passed to him in the rudest manner possible. Kay expected it to be more of a meeting, a discussion, something more respectful, at least. Instead it’s—this. Kay reads the message twice, thrice, because he doesn’t want to believe it. They say the plan is in motion, and he is to sabotage the Rebellion base starfighters. They say he has a week to get off the planet. They say his life is his payment and he is not to expect any reward beyond that. If anything, he should be grateful they allow him even this much after what he’s done. They also say, ‘kill the boy while still on Coruscant.’
.....Kill the boy.
.....Kay walks through the market until he finds a good spot to drop the message into the sewers where it will never be found. The Empire wants him to prove his loyalty before it comes for the Rebellion. No. Most likely, the Empire will come for the Rebellion regardless of whether or not he does his part, so they just want him to kill the kid for the sake of killing the kid. The same as wild animals are made to jump the fiery loops. For the spectators’ entertainment. Kay keeps walking around.
[nick]Kay Tooesso[/nick][status]what are the odds[/status][icon]https://s7.postimg.cc/akubc07uz/Chiwetel_Ejiofor.jpg[/icon][LZ]<br><center><a href="https://swmedley.rusff.me/viewtopic.php?id=75#p815">IDENTIFICATION CARD</a><br><br><img src="https://forumstatic.ru/files/0018/1a/00/81098.png"><br><b>Kay Tooesso</b>, <br>Alliance intelligence officer</center>[/LZ]

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"Let's bring you back to your mentor, poor lost little merchant," sais Seetha later, when they go to a meeting point. She smiles and her voice is kind. But then she says "You really should be careful," and she says it in different, quieter and more serious voice.
"I've spotted you," Cassian protests.
"And you couldn't hide it. You don't even know if you have guessed right. Maybe I'm just playing along."
"Maybe I'm playing along."
"They are not desperate enough to use children like that."
Cassian was sure Seetha trusts him too, but suddenly he sees the bigger picture. It's not trust. She simply has calculated he can't be something else but what he claimed to be. Maybe she reads does.
For her it's not about trusting at all, and that sounds like Kay's lesson from a day before. He was right - again. By this point Cassian thinks he might be right about almost everything.
This time he is lucky and this is Seetha. But it doesn't mean he'll always be that lucky. For a moment he tries to reevaluate his position with Seetha being an imp. Cassian really doesn't like the result of that reevaluation, so instead he asks.
"Are we?"
He gets a puzzled look as an answer.
"Desperate," he adds.
Seetha looks at him again. She doesn't sigh, but for a glimpse of a moment she has that resined look at her face. The man who told him about Fest had the same look.
"We would be when we quit the fight and stop using any asset we can. So no, we are not."
Cassian thinks he is not the only one who should learn how to hide his emotions and thoughts. But he only nods.
"Almost there," Seetha says.
He nods again.[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]<b>Cassian Andor</b>, <br>your trouble[/LZ]

Отредактировано Cassian Andor (27-05-2019 14:59:43)

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⠀⠀Maybe he can hide the kid instead of killing him? There is bound to be a way to pull something like that off. He can hide the kid and then send them off track, and send the kid back to base some separate way. Maybe tell him they were compromised—which wouldn’t be lying in the slightest, even though they were kind of compromised from the start, way before this mission—and use it as an argument to break away from him. He’d have to never come back to Rebellion after this. The Empire doesn’t like disobedience.
⠀⠀Kriff. No. It’s a bad plan and he knows it.
⠀⠀It’s especially bad because he is even considering it. He isn’t supposed to have any personal attachments. He managed to do just that during all his time in the Rebellion until the general paired him up with Cassian. Come to think of it, it looks suspiciously like some sort of malevolent strategy to make his overly complicated life harder.
⠀⠀No, this isn’t what he is supposed to be thinking about. The kid is as good as dead. Kay will do as he’s told, and then he will sabotage the starfighters, and then he will leave all of this behind, forever. This is how his story goes. One stupid teenager shouldn’t stand between him and freedom. Kay buys some kind of a fruit juice off one of the stands and drinks it like he would Cortyg brandy. It doesn’t help, of course. It’s just juice.
⠀⠀When Kay stops at the spot they agreed to meet at, he is firmly resigned to his initial plan and devoid of any anxiety or emotion. As usual. The last time they met, Seetha didn’t like it about him—she said he’s too cold, almost like a real Imperial officer. For a moment then Kay thought she was kidding. She wasn’t.
⠀⠀Luckily, they never have time for much suspicion.
⠀⠀Kay sees Seetha and Cassian approaching but does nothing, only watches them walk and talk about something. His hands are clasped together and covered with these ridiculous sleeves, which he finds lucky—this way none of them will see how hard his grip is, and how it is the only thing keeping his thoughts straight right now. He thought seeing the kid alive and well wouldn’t change his resolve—and it doesn’t. It just undermines it a tiny bit. Sometimes even the tiniest of bits is enough.
[nick]Kay Tooesso[/nick][status]what are the odds[/status][icon]https://s7.postimg.cc/akubc07uz/Chiwetel_Ejiofor.jpg[/icon][LZ]<br><center><a href="https://swmedley.rusff.me/viewtopic.php?id=75#p815">IDENTIFICATION CARD</a><br><br><img src="https://forumstatic.ru/files/0018/1a/00/81098.png"><br><b>Kay Tooesso</b>, <br>Alliance intelligence officer</center>[/LZ]

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[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]<b>Cassian Andor</b>, <br>your trouble[/LZ]Seetha doesn't like Kay. It's not something that can be spotted. She hides her emotions, her way of movement doesn't change. But they are close enough, and Cassian almost feels it. How suddenly she shuts down herself somewhere inside.
Cassian, on the contrary, beams. It goes with his character, to get lost on his own, to get himself a real small adventure and a first Coruscantian he has met on his own. But also it's for Kay, for him to see there is someone who's glad to see him. Seetha frowns just a bit.
But in a moment she is calm and even friendly again.
"I've found your boy," she says and extends her hand o greet Kay.
It's only because Cassian stands so close to her he can see a tiny datadisk she is holding between her ring and little fingers. He shifts a little on his feet just to hide it in case anyone is watching.
"Technically I've found you. And asked for help" he says as if he was slightly embarrassed with him needing assistance from her. It works well with his shifting and he thinks he is doing good.
He is doing his part, a small one, yes, but at least he is doing something.
Seetha shrugs.
"Anyway, here he is. Take care, kid."
That sound like true, not her character. Like he is in danger or something, when he is not, he is safe, he is with Kay.
"I will," he promises nonetheless.
There's something wrong with Kay, but Cassian can't say, what exactly seems off about him. He doesn't ask. It probably is not relevant to their mission, and it's clearly not Seetha's business.

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⠀⠀They have never pretended to know each other and they don’t know. She just found the kid in his care, and he is just grateful for it. Kay smiles pleasantly, shakes her hand firmly. “He is a bit of a troublemaker. Sorry for your inconvenience. A token of my gratitude,” he says, pulling a little moneychip out of his sleeve and handing it over. “It should be enough to buy you a good dinner for your troubles.”
⠀⠀Seetha nods curtly and departs without another word. Kay watches her walk and wills himself to relax. A couple of stormtroopers come their way from the other side of the long row of stalls yet they’re not interested in neither him nor Cassian and stop to check one of the merchants’ documents. Kay turns to the kid, not smiling anymore. He takes care of covering his emotions this time, taking cover in his usual calmness as if it was something soothing, something that could resolve all his problems. Especially the one he is looking at.
⠀⠀Kay looks at Cassian longer than he usually would and only notices it when the silent pause becomes overwhelming. “Right,” he says then, snapping out of it. “Shall we get back to our hotel, or you’d like to do more of the sightseeing?”
⠀⠀It could be the last sightseeing Cassian will ever do, so Kay is fully prepared to roll with whatever is the kid’s desire. Even if Cassian decides to go take a look at the Emperor’s palace, whatever he wishes. Kay realizes he only postpones the inevitable yet he isn’t willing to force himself to do otherwise. Besides, it gives him time to think it over again, and again, and again, and Kay is very good with thinking. Hopefully even better than whoever decided to task him with killing a teenager. Definitely better.
[nick]Kay Tooesso[/nick][status]what are the odds[/status][icon]https://s7.postimg.cc/akubc07uz/Chiwetel_Ejiofor.jpg[/icon][LZ]<br><center><a href="https://swmedley.rusff.me/viewtopic.php?id=75#p815">IDENTIFICATION CARD</a><br><br><img src="https://forumstatic.ru/files/0018/1a/00/81098.png"><br><b>Kay Tooesso</b>, <br>Alliance intelligence officer</center>[/LZ]

Отредактировано K-2SO (27-06-2019 14:25:46)

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[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]<b>Cassian Andor</b>, <br>your trouble[/LZ]Everything is fine, Cassian thinks, but then Seetha goes away, and Kay looks at him for a long time. He is serious and calm, as always, but he just looks - stares - and in his mind Cassian qiuckly goes through everything he could have done wrong. He was too carefree, that he knows. He noticed Seetha but missed her aproaching him, because he failed to hide his interest in her.
He should be more careful, that is true, and Cassian decides this time he will remember. But Kay wasn't there to see it and to evaluate his performance. By this time Cassian thinks the only evaluation he would go through would be a simple test - if he is still alive or did he finally manage to get himself killed. So it's probably not that. What then? He looks at Kay, but doesn't get the asnwer, and then something just clicks in Kay, and he is back. It's strange, Cassian thinks, but reminds himself than not everything is about him. Kay certainly has enough bad memories to keep him staring into nothingness for as long as he wants.
Though if it is about Cassian, they weill probably get back to the hotel, so Kay can lay out everything he has done wrong. Instead he leaves the decision to Cassian. At first, he almost don't believe it, he asks, "Really?" and once again, "Really really?"
He asks, trying to choose already. Coruscant in big, it's loud, it's full of all the one can imagine. There's flying islands casting shadown at lower levels, there's machines, and races, and credits, and life, there's so much life.
"Can we... can we go somewhere lower?" he is not Cassian, he is spoiled merchant boy, so he can't really explain out loud, but Cassian is sure Kay would understand him. Coruscant is beautiful, but it's Imperial, and that's mean, that inside it must be rotten. He has seen the outside Coruscant, but he won't pretend it's the only existing side of the planet.

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⠀⠀Cassian asks to go to the lower levels, and for a second Kay can’t believe it. It’s rare that people even remember that there are lower levels—unless they are stuck there or come from them. It’s impossible to imagine a tourist coming to a lower level. It’s a deathtrap, a suicide, a good way to get robbed or worse, and then and there Kay decides he knows exactly the way out of his dilemma. If ‘kill the boy while on Coruscant’ meant they wanted the kid dead, he’ll be as dead as they get on the lower levels. If it meant they wanted him specifically to kill the kid, well, then they must have a way of watching. It would be a pity if they can’t watch.
⠀⠀Kay just sighs, like a spoilt teenager’s frustrated guardian would, and nods, and leads the way to one of the elevators going to the lower levels. Rich clothing and clean faces will give them away immediately, and vultures will come, they always do. Then the only thing Kay has to do is to make sure it’s something Cassian can’t deal with on his own, and he can’t help him with. The deed will be done.
⠀⠀Thinking about it chills Kay to the bone.
⠀⠀The only time he remembers feeling like this about killing someone was the mission that changed his life. Somehow, he doesn’t remember anything like this surrounding his first kill. Nor the one after that, or after that, or any one afterwards. Usually, it was impersonal, he just did his job. Like butchers that cut animals down for their meat. But that one time it was personal, because it was his brother, and this time it is personal as well. Because it’s Cassian.
⠀⠀“Lower levels are dangerous,” Kay says calmly and quietly while they are waiting for the elevator. “Keep your eyes open. We’ll just walk from one elevator to another along the street and get back up. We won’t stay longer, don’t even ask.”
⠀⠀It’s a half an hour long walk, it should be enough. And if it doesn’t work out the way he thinks it will, then, well. Kay tries to shake off the chilling feeling yet it refuses to go away.
[nick]Kay Tooesso[/nick][status]what are the odds[/status][icon]https://s7.postimg.cc/akubc07uz/Chiwetel_Ejiofor.jpg[/icon][LZ]<br><center><a href="https://swmedley.rusff.me/viewtopic.php?id=75#p815">IDENTIFICATION CARD</a><br><br><img src="https://forumstatic.ru/files/0018/1a/00/81098.png"><br><b>Kay Tooesso</b>, <br>Alliance intelligence officer</center>[/LZ]

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[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]<b>Cassian Andor</b>, <br>your trouble[/LZ]"I won't ask," Cassian promises.
At first he thought Kay would change his mind and they won't go at all. He looks like he want to do it now, but sticks to his promise anyway. 
Cassian is serious and collected. The walk ahead of them is short but he knows better than to underestimate it. The less time he has the more he has to see. He doesn't know if it will be dangerous, but touches the vibroknife under his sleeve.
The elevator's mouth opens and swallows them.
"She didn't like you," Cassian says, although there is no way Kay missed it reading people as good as he does.
Cassian tries to read Kay but fails. It's hard, to read someone who stopped care about anything but his missions. Maybe that's why Seetha didn't like him. She just didn't know what to expect. Maybe it was fear, covered with dislike.
No, he shouldn't think about it now. Dark side of the Coruscant awaits for him.
The first thing that strikes him is how dark it is. Dark and dirty, smoke turned into soot covers walls and ceiling, windows and faces. It covers his lungs, Cassian thinks when he suddenly wants to cough. He doesn't, instead he walks. He is still in merchant's clothes ans skin, and it takes an effort not to slouch a bit, not to keep up with fast and nervous pace of walking. He knows it won't hide him, but push him out. And standing out in a place like this is a bad idea.
Cassian doesn't look back at Kay. He knows he must be somewhere close. And he knows he is the one who must be careful, not Kay.

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⠀⠀“No, she didn’t.”
⠀⠀Kay doesn’t see any point in elaborating on their history with Seetha. It’s none of Cassian’s business, and it doesn’t concern their mission, and most importantly, in about half an hour the kid will be dead. Once they leave the elevator, entering the shady—and shaded—lower streets of Coruscant, Kay automatically falls a few steps behind. Cassian seems to be anxious or curious about something, most likely, it’s the streets themselves and the public on them. Kay makes sure to attract attention in that subtle way only piss-rich people do—by just existing in the same space with poor.
⠀⠀Soon enough they get themselves some company.
⠀⠀They prickle on the back of Kay’s neck, the predatory stares, and he makes himself keep walking. His eyes are glued to Cassian in front of him. The kid is fifteen. He doesn’t deserve to die—he isn’t old enough to have made crappy choices that could lead to a crappy death in the puddle of blood on the lower levels of Coruscant. Kay thinks about it as if from afar, as if it’s a holomovie screened in front of his eyes, and not him, here, now, with Cassian.
⠀⠀He makes one step, then another, then none. Kay knows how to vanish when he wants to, even when there are local vultures watching him—he escapes them easily, dropping his clothes in a matter of seconds and emerging in a nondescript attire, meshed together with the local public. He hates himself for always being prepared, he hates he didn’t get enough time with Cassian to pass this wisdom onto him.
⠀⠀He hates how the gang loses him but still tracks the kid, now even brighter in his upper-level clothing, alone. He hates watching them close in on the kid and doing nothing. Yet he has to. He has to make sure the kid is dead.
⠀⠀The inevitability breaks his kriffing heart.
[nick]Kay Tooesso[/nick][status]what are the odds[/status][icon]https://s7.postimg.cc/akubc07uz/Chiwetel_Ejiofor.jpg[/icon][LZ]<br><center><a href="https://swmedley.rusff.me/viewtopic.php?id=75#p815">IDENTIFICATION CARD</a><br><br><img src="https://forumstatic.ru/files/0018/1a/00/81098.png"><br><b>Kay Tooesso</b>, <br>Alliance intelligence officer</center>[/LZ]

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[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]<b>Cassian Andor</b>, <br>your trouble[/LZ]There's five of them, all grow-up, all taller than him. There is a hunting, haunting gleam in their eyes, and Cassian knows he made a mistake. A lot of them, actually. He went down here in this clothes, he has lost Kay, he kept looking around trying to see him instead of paying attention and noticing people who followed him. He took a wrong turn - that was his final one.
A narrow dead end is quiet and empty. Cassian knows he can't run away. He knows he won't win in a fight with any of men. He knows he is alone. Where is Kay, is he safe? No, he'll think about it later. He must be alive and safe to find and help Kay.
One of them, dark eyed, dark haired, comes closer.
"You can take my money," Cassian says, trying to sound properly scared. It's easy - he is scared.
"What's the fun of simply taking the money?"
The man smiles. A couple of his teeth are missing, and his smile looks dark too.
"That's why you came here, right? To have some fun? To visit a lower level zoo?"
He comes closer, and Cassian carefully steps back.
"I'm armed," he says. "I will fight back."
No, here is his final mistake, he thinks. He shouldn't have said that. The hidden knife was his leverage.
But the man stops.
"Then we must make sure no one will interrupt us." He nods, and his people disperses - his friends, his gang, how do they even call themselves? Are people who are not soldiers even able of dispersing? maybe they just part their ways or... No, he is distracted again, and it can start any moment, and his chances are better now, but the man is bigger, older, taller, and...
Cassian misses the moment. The man lashes out, and he is armed too. He is left-handed, that's bad. Cassian dodges clumsily, and a vibroknife cuts mostly the fabric. His left leg hurts too, but the wound must be shallow, the pain is sharp and quick. He can feel the adrenaline pounding in his heart, and he finally can focus. There's nothing but him and the man, and the dead end, that should stay the only dead thing today.
He pulls his vibroknife, glad he tried to do it before. He has it in his hands before the next strike. It would be hard to stab the man, he has longer arms, so he controls a space around him better. Cassian tries to slash him when he sees a good moment. Time would help him, if he is smart and dexterous enough.
He is not. The man is still smiling, but not ever he underestimates Cassian. The clothes - a robe - could be a help, it covers his leg movement, but his leg still hurts, and he is limping, giving up his every attack. The man pushes him sometimes, Cassian hits the wall, falls down, but every time he manages to stand up again. The man is slow, but he chooses to be slow. He is playing, Cassian suddenly understands, when the man still holds a knife but punches him with a fist - his nose cracks too loud and too painful. The man just waits. He is playing like felinxes play with their food.
He knows he doesn't have much time left. Cassian pulls himself together and lashes out. The man catches his hand mid air, smiles one last time and then there is a wet sound. His arm. It's his arm.
It hurts.
He hurts.
Cassian cries out and falls down once again. This time he can't stand up, because he tries to move his hand, but he can't. The wound is deep, and there's blood everywhere. It's his blood. He is going to die. He will die here, on a lower level of the Coruscant, killed by people he wanted to free from the Empire.
He can't look up, but he knows the man is here, standing close to him.
"And now I will take your money, boy, while you are dying," he says and bends down. And Cassian hits his neck with a vibroknife.
Moving - hitting - is painful. Cassian cries out again, and then again when a man's body pins him down. For some time he is just breathing, then he slowly, careful not to faint, wiggles his way from under the body and stands up. The world is swaying. Cassian isn't sure he can walk, but it's not like he has a choice. His left hand is still hanging like a rope. There is a vibroknife in his right one, a grip is white because of the strength of it, or because he is loosing blood.
He has blood on his clothes and barely can walk, but he has to walk to the elevator. He has to find some - any - help before he passes out. So he walks and remembers the lower level of the Coruscant forever. It looks like a blood cloud in front of his eyes. It tastes like foil. It sounds like blood dripping down. And it's cold.
It's so cold.

Отредактировано Cassian Andor (01-07-2019 00:36:45)

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⠀⠀It’s easy to vanish into his surroundings—his clothes are black, his hair is black, even his skin could be called black, yet not as black as some exots have. It suffices to make him invisible to the kid and his assaulter. The four others go away to melt into the crowd and keep an eye out for the police droids. They are scarce here but they do patrol—it’s still a capital, even on lower levels. There is still some semblance of order.
⠀⠀Cassian fights his attacker off. Kay wonders, passively, what the kid thinks happened to himself. He is a smart one, this Cassian Andor, he should be able to put the pieces together sooner or later. He knows a lot. In the hindsight, he knows too much—if he ever gets back to the general with all he knows, and they put their brains together, Kay will never be able to go anywhere near the Rebellion ever again. Not that he’s keen to. They were somewhat good to him, but it doesn’t matter. He wants out of this war, not to die in it for someone else’s ideals—the Emperor’s or Mothma’s, they are all the same. Politicians.
⠀⠀Some sudden movement catches Kay’s eye, and he straightens up a bit. Quickly his eyes search the crowd, but the rest of the gang seems to still look for something elsewhere when Cassian emerges victorious from the dead end. Kay did not plan on that. It was a possibility but too little to consider, and it was his mistake. Yet again, he didn’t plan on four of the gang leaving. If it were four of them against one of him, the kid would’ve been dead. Kay curses under his breath, yet a part of him feels almost relieved and definitely ashamed.
⠀⠀Shame is a new feeling.
⠀⠀Still, he has his job.
⠀⠀Kay moves out of the shadows and across the crowd, follows Cassian a step behind. He is injured, it’s unlikely he’ll put up much of a fight, and Kay has studied him before on multiple occasions. The kid is as good as dead.
⠀⠀He can pretend he just lost him out of his sight, help him, get him back to safety. Let him go.
⠀⠀The kid has to be dead, though.
⠀⠀Key puts his hand on the back of Cassian’s neck, holds on so the kid doesn’t bolt.
⠀⠀“He should’ve killed you,” Kay remarks calmly. Coldly. “I’m surprised you survived.”
⠀⠀He sounds cruel—he always does in situations like these—he sounds like an imperial droid, not human, devoid of any remorse, or affection, or mercy. He has to distance himself from this kill otherwise it would be impossible, and he would fail his job, his agreement.
[nick]Kay Tooesso[/nick][status]what are the odds[/status][icon]https://s7.postimg.cc/akubc07uz/Chiwetel_Ejiofor.jpg[/icon][LZ]<br><center><a href="https://swmedley.rusff.me/viewtopic.php?id=75#p815">IDENTIFICATION CARD</a><br><br><img src="https://forumstatic.ru/files/0018/1a/00/81098.png"><br><b>Kay Tooesso</b>, <br>Alliance intelligence officer</center>[/LZ]

Отредактировано K-2SO (01-07-2019 19:22:22)

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[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]<b>Cassian Andor</b>, <br>your trouble[/LZ]Cassian flinches when he feels someones touch on his neck.
It's Kay.
He should relax now, he will be fine, but he doesn't relax. And he knows he won't be fine. The blood hasn't stopped yet. Cassian tried to use a belt from the knife's halster as a tourniquet but the wound is still oozing, the skin on his hand has sticked to his sleeve. The robe is ruined.
He is ruined yet alive - but he shouldn't be.
Cassian coughs, his throat is suddenly sore and hoarse, and winces when the coughing causes new pain.
"You've taught me well."
He must be glad Kay is fine. But he is hurt, in pain, he can barely stand, and he is so tired. Too tired to care about anything. So he just notices things. The way Kay holds his neck, the way he talks. This clinging feeling that he is going to die. How he doesn't really care, because caring won't help him.
"What happens next?"

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⠀⠀They keep walking, and with every step ’the kid must die’ rings in Kay’s head. He can do this, he knows he can. It would be easy, Cassian is bleeding already. Kay is bigger, taller, stronger, more experienced. It would be almost too easy—this isn’t a task they gave him to prove himself. It’s just a form of torture. Yet Kay wonders if he can sacrifice this last thing to the Empire—will they finally let him go? Will he be free?
⠀⠀Kay has his knife in his hand, he knows the exact spot he has to hit to make Cassian’s death long and painful or short and merciful. The kid is swaying from the blood loss anyway, Kay can feel it, yet he keeps Cassian on track, leads him, pushing his neck forward. His grip isn’t gentle yet it isn’t actively bruising either.
⠀⠀“I have to kill you. Here. Now,” Kay answers in the same calm empty voice.
⠀⠀Kay stops, turns Cassian around, his hand never leaving the kid’s shoulder. What he is about to say isn’t going to change anything, it’s an absolutely useless piece of information. Kay decided Cassian deserves a quick and easy death. The Empire can decide who has to die for him, but they can’t decide the way. Kay looks Cassian in the eyes.
⠀⠀“I am sorry you were unlucky enough to be paired up with me. But I do have my orders.”
⠀⠀He hesitates for a second, wondering if they are watching him, and his eyes dart quickly over Cassian’s shoulder before returning to his face.
[nick]Kay Tooesso[/nick][status]what are the odds[/status][icon]https://s7.postimg.cc/akubc07uz/Chiwetel_Ejiofor.jpg[/icon][LZ]<br><center><a href="https://swmedley.rusff.me/viewtopic.php?id=75#p815">IDENTIFICATION CARD</a><br><br><img src="https://forumstatic.ru/files/0018/1a/00/81098.png"><br><b>Kay Tooesso</b>, <br>Alliance intelligence officer</center>[/LZ]

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[status]odds? what odds?[/status][icon]http://s9.uploads.ru/vxoKZ.jpg[/icon][LZ]<b>Cassian Andor</b>, <br>your trouble[/LZ]How did it happen? How didn't he understand those times Kay pretended he is an imp to test Cassian - he wasn't really pretending? How can he do it? Why didn't Kay killed him on Uquine?
Cassian doesn't know. He walks where Kay leads him, his eyes searching around, trying to find someone, anyone, anything to help. He fails, of course.
He will die. Here. Now.
He knew it, but hearing it shocks him to the point when the world stops. Or it was just Kay. Cassian looks at him, still hearing the words echoing inside his mind.
He is going to die. Now.
He's going to spoil the Rebellion intelligence statistics on second missions. He thinks about it to distract himself, because he is going to die. He feels tears building up in his eyes and raises his right hand to wipe them. His nose throbs when he touches it.
He must say something. What do people say before they die? If he asks Kay not to hurt the general, will he listen?
Cassian wipes tears once again.
"Please, Kay," he finally asks.
He's horrible with the final words.

Отредактировано Cassian Andor (01-07-2019 21:55:00)

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