Star Wars: Rebel Rising(11)
Saw led them down the stone hallway to the long metal table in the common room. Idryssa sat across from him; Jyn sat at the end of the table, tinkering with a data chip she’d extracted from a holocube. She pretended to be uninterested as the adults started talking, but Saw had trained her well, and she analyzed their dialogue carefully. Jyn cut her eyes at Idryssa. She had an honest look about her, clear brown eyes that seemed guileless. She didn’t look like the sort of person who would scrape together a fight against the Empire; she looked like the kind of woman who should be running a farm somewhere with lots of children. Jyn wondered if that was where Idryssa had been since the last time she’d seen her, so long before.
“We’re starting small,” Idryssa said, leaning toward Saw. “Organize a single base of operations, for starts.”
“Bad idea,” Saw said immediately.
Idryssa frowned.
“Look, I’ve been at this a long time,” Saw said. “You have one base, when the Empire hits it, you lose everything.”
“You have one base,” she pointed out.
“No, I don’t,” Saw said.
Jyn’s head shot up. Saw had more than this outpost? Was that where he went sometimes when he left her, to other homes, places where he didn’t have to deal with her?
“There’s been real interest from people high up,” Idryssa continued.
Saw shot her a scathing look. “And you trust them?”
“They’re the ones who got me the information you were asking about.”
Saw waved his hand at her, prompting her to continue. “The Empire’s supply runs have been fewer and more strategic.” She propped her arms on the table, steepling her fingers. “Either they’re done in secrecy and we don’t know about them until too late, or they’re done in public.”
“Supply runs?” Jyn asked. Usually, Saw disapproved of her speaking during strategic conversations, but he had made a point to include her, and she sensed that he wanted her participation.
“For crystals,” Idryssa said. “The Empire is particularly interested in kyber crystals, apparently.”
“Oh!” Jyn feigned surprise.
“There was a small planet in the Sunshi system,” Idryssa continued. “The Empire recently discovered kyber crystals there.”
“What happened?” Jyn asked.
“They hollowed it out.”
The words hung in the air between them, and Jyn tried to picture what it meant to mine a planet to death.
“The last shipment was a huge production,” Idryssa said, turning to Saw. “The Empire literally had a parade before the cargo left the planet.”
“So?” Saw asked.
“That planet had been uninhabited. They brought civilian cruisers from the Core worlds and made a big show of the mining process,” she said. “Alderaan and Chandrila were particularly invited, and the Emperor couldn’t have made it more obvious that he wanted them to see the way the Empire has taken over the mining operations. But part of it, I think, was to ensure that we wouldn’t attack and steal the shipment.”
Saw’s brow furrowed, creasing through the scars on his face. “I don’t see why that would stop you.”
Idryssa laughed bitterly. “I can see what the HoloNet would show on the feeds now. ‘Anarchists Risk Lives of Senators,’” Idryssa said, spreading her hands as if reading a headline. “‘Partisans Embrace Terrorism.’”
“You should,” Saw said simply.
Idryssa blinked at him in obvious shock, then she grew very still. Jyn’s attention shifted from her to him.
“I’ve heard the rumors,” Idryssa said in a low voice. Jyn leaned forward. “But I didn’t want to believe they were true.”
“I do what needs to be done,” Saw said. “And if you want your little ‘coalition’ to work, you’ll do the same.”
“Are you saying we should actually become a terrorist organization? That we should slaughter anyone between us and the Empire?”
“Why not?” Saw asked. “That’s how they’ll spin it anyway. Right, Jyn?”
Idryssa turned and looked at Jyn. Rather than answering him, Jyn touched a button on the holocube. It sprang to life, shooting up the image of an official Imperial media release. The symbol of the Empire spun at the top, followed by a large headline that read “Partisans Embrace Terrorism.” The words below were gibberish, but the signature at the bottom—Lieutenant Colonel Senjax, military correspondent for the Imperial Broadcast—looked real.
“Did you just do that?” Idryssa asked, impressed.
Jyn shrugged. “It wasn’t that hard.”
“Still, though.”
Jyn pointed to the nonsense words under the headline. “Anyone could tell it wasn’t real.”
“Not if you filled that out.” Idryssa stood up and leaned closer. “You have every detail right—the insignia, the signature.” She took the holocube from Jyn and looked even closer. “You even have the serial numbers correct, and the data chip identification code is from an Imperial server file.”
“No, it isn’t,” Jyn said. “I duped it.”
Idryssa blinked. “Impressive.” Across the table, Saw beamed at Jyn.