Built on Hope (Cassian Andor FF)

34. Surrounded by Fear

Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Cassian's eyes darted over to the hall. Talia heard the sudden silence of the room and began to run. Closer. Closer. The door closed, as if by magic. He could hear a thud, and Talia on the other side was desperately trying to open it.

Cassian's blaster was already in his hand, as if he reached for it by not even thinking, while his other fished out his communications device. His brown eyes landed on Vader, who stood in the middle of the circle of raised blasters and rebels that nearly sweat in their spots. He held the door shut with the force using one clenched fist.

BOOM!

A deep, overbearing explosion from the closest hangar caused a ripple effect of chaos. The rebels were thrown off balance, hindering their aim. Vader used the force to grab a gun from one of the soldiers and used it against them. One. Two. Three. Rebels dropped like flies. The handcuffs linking his hands did not hinder his aim at all.

General Kota used the force against him, crushing the end of the gun in Vader's hand. The General went for his lightsaber. Vader quickly threw him against the opposite wall as hard as he could and snatched up the lightsaber.

And ignited it.

Everything became an overwhelming sea of events. Wave after wave came the screaming. The screams of pain, agony, and ice cold fear echoed in the room and rose as a chorus. Shivers bolted through Cassian's body and he swallowed hard. He couldn't hear himself think. All he could focus on was the panic. The blood that splattered the walls when Vader crushed the rebels' bodies, causing the bones to protrude in scary ways. Vader hacked at one person at a time. It was precise. Elegant. And all the more terrifying as limbs slid off of the rebels and hit the ground with a sickening plop.

The only thing that brought Cassian out of his haze was the sound of Talia's voice on the other end of the communications line. "Cassian, I'm going to get you out of there!"

His heart leapt into his throat. All of the muscles in his body tensed up harder than before as his heart thudded as strong as the screams around him. He nearly yelled into the device, "No! No! Find the senators. I'll find a way out."

"Cass-"

"Please."

Maybe it was the fear in his voice, or simply the clear tone of worry, but Talia reluctantly agreed. He couldn't lose her this way. Not like this. Not chopped up or mauled into...into whatever was happening in front of him. Cassian glanced around, finally taking a second to find an escape. Time was running very, very low.

And very, very fast.

Vent? No. No windows. No ceiling ducts. Unfortunately, no secret tunnels. Distraction?

Okay.

Distraction.

He could work with that. That's what they needed. A much needed distraction to take Vader's attention off of holding the door shut.

If only it was as simple as it sounded.

A hand touched Cassian's shoulder.

He whipped around, and almost fired at his friend Halron. Cassian exhaled, his nerves standing on the very ends of existence. When did he get here? Was he always here? Cassian had been too focused on Vader to really notice.

Now that was bad.

"Remember that mission we had on Ralltiir?" Halron looked at Cassian, his black eyes wide. Sweat had drenched his red hair and made it stick flat on his skull. Halron held out a smoke grenade.

How could he forget? It was one of the best missions he has ever had. No civilian casualties on a core galactic trade world, the targets' entire building sabotaged, and they managed to steal some information before they left. All they used were smoke grenades, their wits, and a fish.