Star Wars: Rebel Rising(59)

“He’s not your lap dog, trotting after you because you whistle,” Xosad said, his voice low. He clearly had thought he’d made some headway with Hadder, then hoped to recruit Jyn as well. To watch them both dismiss him was a blow to his pride.

“Actually,” Hadder said cheerfully, “I’m quite happy to follow her.”

Jyn smirked at Xosad.

“Such a shame,” the Twi’lek called loudly as they reached the door. Jyn froze. “All that training. You could kill any man in here and yet you just let yourself waste away in this provincial little—”

Jyn didn’t let him finish. She whirled on Xosad, one hand gripping his lekku, pulling down enough that he had to crane his neck, her thumbnail digging into the soft flesh. He flinched, but otherwise didn’t let anyone know she was hurting him. “You talk too much,” she growled. “You always did. The Empire is watching this provincial little planet, you empty-headed moof-milker, and if you think they don’t know exactly who you are and who you’re reporting to, you’re an even bigger fool than I thought.”

She stood up, then flicked his lekku, pushing it off his shoulder. Xosad glowered at her but didn’t respond to her show of disrespect.

Jyn stormed out of the diner, Hadder following at her heels. “You always have such interesting friends,” he commented as she stomped down the sidewalk. “It must be your pleasant personality, the way you’re constantly reaching out to new people with a smile and a laugh.”

Jyn couldn’t help chuckling. Under the light of the three full moons, she grabbed him by his lapel, pulled him closer, and kissed him.

“Oh, my delicate sensibilities,” Hadder muttered, his lips a breath away from hers as she rested her forehead against his. “You are quite the corrupting woman.”

“Shut up, you,” Jyn muttered, pulling him in for another kiss, softer this time, gentle enough to let her pretend she wasn’t afraid.





It started with stormtroopers. Their pure white-and-black uniforms shone sharply against the sleepy little town. They took over the diner. The Chagrian owner—his name, Jyn learned, was Gowayne—tried to protest the loss of his establishment, but then one day he was simply gone.

Dasa, the owner of the refinery, was an older human woman. She and Akshaya started talking. And then more people joined. The foremen, some of the workers.

“Please don’t let them come here,” Jyn begged. “Meet somewhere else. Let them meet. We should go. We have your ship.”

Akshaya kissed Jyn on the forehead. “When the giant stoops down, even ants can win,” she said.

“That makes no sense!” Jyn called after her as Akshaya went into the main room of their house, where the small group of dissenters met. “You realize that, right? That makes no sense!”

Hadder took her out on the planet hopper so they didn’t have to be present while the refinery workers met. Jyn could tell he didn’t like doing it—the only time he ever expressed a reluctance to fly. He wanted to sit by his mother; he wanted to feel like the words they said in secret mattered.

“The Empire thinks they can come in and just buy Dasa’s refinery for almost nothing,” Hadder growled, swiping at the long blue-green grass as he cut a swath through it. “Skuhl can’t be bought.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Jyn muttered.

“Xosad hasn’t left, you know,” Hadder said, shooting Jyn a look.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“He said he had friends. He said they could help.”

Jyn wondered what Xosad’s little rebel group was like. Idryssa had spoken of senators on their side, of larger players who could really make a difference. “I guess we’ll see,” Jyn said.

When they flew back to town that evening, a pair of assault tanks stood on either side of the main street and a walker guarded the spaceport, its two long legs bent backward and the command viewports protruding like eyes from the armor plating. Another walker rumbled toward Akshaya’s hangar. Hadder landed the planet hopper and jumped out. Jyn stayed behind, hooking up her datapad to the mainframe of the ship’s computer. She could hear Hadder’s voice rising in volume; by the time she stepped out of the ship, he was shouting.

“You can’t do that!” he bellowed. He caught sight of Jyn. “They say our ships are grounded.”

“Come on,” Jyn said gently, touching Hadder’s arm.

“If you have an issue with Imperial policy, I can take you to see my commander,” the stormtrooper said, his voice mocking.

Hadder opened his mouth, but Jyn pressed her fingers into his arm. “Come. On,” she repeated, more firmly this time.

He followed her. “I don’t know how you can stand to do it,” he said, hissing angrily. “You could have taken him out. I know you could. You could be fighting back.”

He didn’t say it, but all Jyn heard was, You should be fighting back.

They stopped outside Akshaya’s little house. Jyn stared into Hadder’s eyes, hard, trying to see the things she had lost in them. “You don’t understand,” she said finally.

Hadder let out a huge breath, and all his anger and frustration left with it. “You’re right,” he said simply. “I don’t.”