Star Wars: Rebel Rising(16)
Xosad threw up his slender arms. “Perfectly. You’re a lovely family,” he added.
“Yes, we are,” Jyn said, kicking the back of Xosad’s right knee and making him fall to the ground.
Saw barked a laugh, and despite being knocked down, even Xosad—and his crew—seemed amused by Jyn’s little rebellion.
“You don’t have to worry about him,” Jari whispered to Jyn. He smiled at her pleasantly, but Jyn wasn’t so sure of that.
“So what’s the mission?” Jyn asked loudly, hoping to distract everyone from the tension surrounding her true identity.
Xosad got one of his other crew members, a Twi’lek named Bilder, to lay out the plans. “The Empire has sent a scouting mission to some remote planets in the Western Reaches. They’re using a civilian ship,” he said, and the holodisk showed a CCR -class pinnace. “The Empire has kept all of this very off the records, which of course means it’s something they don’t want us to notice.”
“We did notice, though,” Xosad said, grinning.
“It’s a smaller ship, so the plan is simple enough. We intercept, board, and take the information they’re hiding.” Bilder pointed to the ship’s connection point. “Our ship is compatible to dock with it, and we’ll pose as an undercover Imperial ship delivering additional supplies.”
“That’s where you come in, Jyn,” Saw said. “Think you can forge us what we’ll need to convince them to let us dock?”
Jyn cocked her head. “Shouldn’t be too hard,” she said. “An Imperial manifest and clearance code, yeah?”
Bilder nodded. “With an official document of greeting, if we need it.”
“I can do that.” Jyn felt pride swell within her. She could do that, and easily. She used code replicators often, stockpiling credentials for Saw and his contacts. This would require a little more finesse, but she knew she could handle the challenge.
“Are we meeting up with anyone else?” Jyn asked.
Saw shook his head. “Small operation. If the Empire sees us coming, the ship’ll ghost, or it’ll get more reinforcements. Surprise is going to be our best asset. Xosad says there’s no more than five people aboard the pinnace—two of whom are surveyors and scientists.”
Jyn swallowed, hard. Surveyors and scientists. Just like her parents.
“Reece and his men are exploring a different lead, in the Outer Rim,” Saw added. Jyn had to admit that even though Reece was a jerk, he was still useful. “There’s a factory that seems to be receiving a lot of Imperial shipments. There’s a chance these two missions are connected. Hopefully, we can get some good information.” He shot Xosad a look, and the Twi’lek nodded solemnly.
“Can we be ready in twenty?” Bilder asked. Jyn’s stomach lurched; this was happening so quickly. But she didn’t want to be the weak link on the crew.
As Xosad and his men went back to their ship to prepare, Jyn went to her room. She made sure the scarf Saw had given her covered her chest and the necklace, then she added a knife to her boot, strapped her old blaster to the holster around her right thigh, and secured the truncheons on her back. Her heart raced. She hadn’t left Wrea since Saw had taken her there years before, and her excitement to be included was wrapped up in her readiness to go into space again.
Saw laughed when she walked out of her room. “You’re forging codes, not going into battle.”
Jyn’s eager expression fell, and she turned back to her room. Saw dropped a heavy hand on her shoulder, stopping her. “Better to be prepared,” he said in a low, serious voice.
“Let’s go,” Xosad called from the outpost door. They followed the Twi’lek out to his ship. Saw had Jyn stay in a jump seat in the back with the crew while he went into the cockpit with Xosad. Jyn didn’t like the sensation of sitting in the back with no view outside, the safety harness of the jump seat cutting into her breastbone and shoulders as she lurched around. They couldn’t make the jump into hyperspace without clearing Smuggler’s Run, and Xosad wasn’t a smooth pilot as he navigated the asteroid belt. The shields had to deflect more than one stray rock. Jyn wasn’t ready for the jump when it finally came. Her stomach lurched and she cursed under her breath.
Jari shot her a sympathetic look.
“You can take that off now,” Bilder said, indicating the safety harness. “Even Xosad can’t mess up hyperspace travel.”
“Don’t jinx us,” Jari grumbled.
Jyn undid the safety harness and slid out of the jump seat. Nothing about Xosad’s ship seemed comfortable or friendly. Even the flooring, made of rough metal grating, bit into the soles of her boots.
Saw and Xosad emerged from the cockpit, and everyone moved to the table screwed into the floor in the common area. They each went immediately to a seat, giving Jyn the impression it was old habit. She lingered until everyone else was settled and then slid onto the edge of the bench beside Saw.
It took two more hyperspace jumps and a bit of flying to get to the system in the Western Reaches where they would intercept the Imperial pinnace. Jyn wondered which planet they were near. Saw hadn’t been specific; he’d just said it was an ice world, which had reminded Jyn of a planet she’d been to as a kid with her mother. The memory was foggy; she mostly recalled playing in the crystal-like caves, sliding over the ice.