Built on Hope (Cassian Andor FF)

9. Battle of Fresia

AN: Dedicated to @Majestic-Thorin for the comments and votes! Thank you so much :D I posted an aesthetic I made at the bottom. I'm still experimenting, but it's definitely fun!

Landing on Frellor felt exhilarating to Talia. Her first real act of rebellion was on an infiltration mission, and it included a team! Other physical, real rebels who were trained for battle were present and ready to go. She didn't want to get too optimistic for this mission, but her inner child shouted for calls of justice. After what happened to her on Corellia, she deserved to see the Empire lose something important, whatever it may be.

They had landed near a beach, where all five rebels were waiting. Their tan camouflaged outfits made them stand out against the calm blue look of the ocean, yet blended in with the sand. A soft breeze swept by, causing the fronds on the palm trees to sway softly. The air smelled of sea salt and fish, and almost brought Talia back to her early childhood. She nearly fell into a flashback until the rebels advanced towards them.

Cassian went ahead and spoke to them for a moment. The blank faced rebels appeared to have hard exteriors. They held their guns to their sides, ready for some action. Some of them had cuts, others scars, while many had dirty or calloused hands. After some words had been exchanged, and nervous glances thrown her way, Cassian waved her over. He hadn't told them her identity in order to keep her operation safe, but not knowing who she was made the rebels feel hesitant.

Talia stood among them as the team exchanged ideas and drew a map in the sand for their reference. The rebels kept information as vague as possible at Captain Andor's request. Letting Talia know the full details put everyone in danger. If she got caught later on while at work, the Empire could torture her in attempt to gain knowledge.

Talia knew that wouldn't happen. Let them try... She lost her train of thought when everyone moved towards the freighter. She caught up to Cassian and questioned, "How are we going to get inside the facility?"

Cassian side-glanced at Talia and flexed his jaw. "Find a side entrance to the building. There's a nationalization ceremony taking place on Wayland, so all of the workers are there."

That only left one more question the Captain would choose to answer. Talia sat down in the copilot's chair as she watched the rebels climb down into the cargo hold. "How many Imperials are we anticipating?"

Cassian pushed a few buttons on the console before he sat down. Now that was a good question. How many Imperials get deployed to work on a Star Destroyer? Five, six thousand? That could make up for the vast majority of the Imperials on Fresia. A rough estimate of who was left would be...three hundred at the most. Incom Corporation was an incredible asset to the Empire. Cassian couldn't calculate any more than that when they had a Star Destroyer protecting it. He stopped for a second in thought, then went back to starting up the ship. "It doesn't matter." He made sure the codes had been transmitted from Captain Antilles, and reassured himself when he glanced them over.

Talia grew uneasy and leaned back in her seat. His words hadn't soothed her at all, and created a knot of uncertainty in her chest. She was going to have to come to terms with killing someone. Granted, she couldn't see through the storm troopers' helmets, but this was taking someone's life. Taking them away from their families. Their friends, if they were lucky enough to have any. Maybe there was another way...

She had to protect Cassian no matter what because of the state he was in. He was doing the Rebellion a huge service. Talia would only let the senators down if she could've saved Captain Andor, but didn't.

That's what made her nervous the most.

It didn't take long for them to leave hyperspace and get passed the Empire's security using the transmitted codes. Cassian let out a breath he had been holding once he set the ship down in one of the landing pads across from Incom's facility. He exchanged a glance with Talia, then nodded.