Scarif survivor AU

[imthepilot]

Bodhi lingered after the briefing, hands behind his back in that stance that had become habit. The stance that hid his prosthetics arm from view. Not that anyone stared any more but some habits were hard to break.

“General Rook?” Mon Mothma didn’t need to look up to know it was him, tidying up the data chips as the rest of the briefing room emptied. “You're wondering why I didn’t assign you to the Endor strike.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He found it strangely comforting, the way she always knew. So, he never needed to ask.

“I have another mission for you and your team.” She gestured him to follow, leading him into a private antechamber. Her expression turned serious as she touches the little data-chip containing the information the Bothans had paid so dearly for. “There was a second message, from an imperial informant.” Her expression tightened, suppressing some deep emotion behind her stateman’s mast.

She pulled up a star map, gesturing to a gas giant orbiting a single star adjustment to Endor’s binary system. “According to this informant, there is an imperial research and development station in the Moddell sector. It’s being used to hold a group of scientists and weapons specialists. Against their will.”

“And you believe this information is credible.” Bodhi asked, his braided hair falling over his shoulder as he leaned in to look at the small speck in the map.

“I do. Yes.”

There was something about her voice, the tamped down strain that made him look at her. There was so much in her eyes, in the tightness of her lips. So much unsaid.

“Your mission, General Rook, is to retrieve the scientists and, our informant. Alive, if at all possible. And then destroy the facility.”

Bodhi nodded slowly, considering. “I’ll need an imperial craft.”

“You’ll have it.” She answered, a little faster than necessary. “A second shuttle has been set aside for this mission. Select your team and brief only those you need to. This mission is of the upmost importance. The Emperor has built a second Death Star. Even if we fail to destroy him, there must never be a third.”

Bodhi accepted the dossiers she had prepared him on the informant. “You have my word.”

He didn’t open the file till he was perched in the pilot’s seat as the other members of Rogue Squad, all Scarif survivors, loaded up. It wasn’t till then he saw the face of the Imperial informant. A holo of a woman, candid and some years out of date. Not a mugshot or a service record scan but the sort of holo someone might carry on their person. A holo of a loved one.

The medic who had saved his life on Eadu. And whose name he now learnt was Rochin. Rochin Mothma.

That was why the commander had such faith in the message.

***

They moved down the corridor at an easy trot, covering doorways and each other as they moved further into the facility.

Getting in had been easy. Easier than it should have been. The facility seemed to be manned by a skeleton crew while the rest of the garrison was elsewhere. On the Death Star perhaps. Or down on the forest moon. Bodhi send up a quiet prayer to the Force for the Princess and Luke’s safety. He’d gotten to know and like them both well. Even if he didn’t have much love for General Solo.

“Cover me.” He called to Melshi as he crossed to the last of the detention block controls. He had to step over a dead trooper, the smell of burnt duroplastic and flesh filling his nostrils. He would suffer for that later. For all of it. He wasn’t past the nightmares, that had become almost a familiar occurrence. Part of the fabric of his scars. But his hands no-longer shook during the fight. Only after.

He gave a triumphant ha as the door locks slammed back, echoingly loud. “Sefla, clear the cells to the left. I’ll take the right. Pao, keep the engines hot, we’re coming your way.”

He shouldered the rifle, concealing a stunner in his flesh and blood palm, just in case this one didn’t want to be rescued. Some of the scientists they’d pulled from other cells were frightened, erratic. Some were so badly mistreated they’d tried to fight off their rescues. And a desperate man could be stronger than he looked. As Bodhi’s blooming black eye could attest.

He opened the door with care, shifting his stance in readiness.

And stopped dead.

Comments

[imthepilot]

Bodhi nods, leading him away from the hall and out onto the forest. "Until your clearance comes through, you won't be allowed to leave the base without supervision. Rules, you understand. But as I currently outrank all but four people here, no-one will object if I assign myself as escort."

It doesn't take long before the winding forest path shields them from view of the base. The further they get from it, the more Bodhi seems to relax. "I'm sorry, Galen. I know this must be hard. It's come as- as a shock."

[galen_erso]

"More than shock," Galen says. "Jyn is dead. My Jyn, my Stardust..."

He reaches for a tree-trunk to steady himself. This new Bodhi, the one who outranks all but four, probably doesn't love him any more, the way his pilot did. Bodhi must have mourned and moved on, and who can blame him?

So Galen tries not to reach for him, not to make things awkward, to postpone the gentle brush-off that would follow.

[imthepilot]

But Bodhi does reach for him, resting a steadying arm on Galen's shoulder. "She fought like a nexus, Galen. She stood up to the most powerful men and women outside the Empire and she called them out as cowards. Because they weren't willing to act. She put them all to shame and they never forgot it. No-one will ever forget what she did. What you did. You both died as heroes."

He huffs softly and withdraws his hands. "I know that no conciliation. And nor am I."

It's been four years. Four hard and long years since they said goodbye.

[galen_erso]

"I don't need you as consolation," Galen says softly. "I'd rather have you as you, and mourn my Jyn..."

He swallows.

"But its been four years, so I understand if you..."

He swallows again

[imthepilot]

"What?" Bodhi asks sharply. "Found someone else to screw around with?" he gives a disgusted little huff and steps away from Galen. "Is that really what you think of me? That I'd just- get over losing you? Loving you?"

[galen_erso]

"Never that," Galen says. "But perhaps you stomped on your heart altogether, because it all hurt too much."

He sighs.

"I love you, Bodhi, so much it swallows everything else. Stars, Bodhi, I love you so much. I never want to take you for granted."

[imthepilot]

Bodhi leans against the trunk of a tree, looking up at the dappled canopy. "I wasn't the one who stomped it." He says softly, almost to himself.

The declaration of love seems to hurt more than help and Bodhi closes his eyes. "I'm not the man you met on Eadu, Galen. I've done things-"

He shakes his head, pushing off the tree. "Come on. There's something I want to show you."

[galen_erso]

Galen nods, and follows. This will take time. But they have that, at least some of it.

"Yes. Show me."

[imthepilot]

Bodhi leads Galen to where several small creeks feed onto pool, ringed by an amphitheater of ancient stone. There had been a large building here once. A structure of some beauty but time and nature had claimed it back.

Bodhi stepped lightly over the stones, reaching confidently for handholds to climb up on face of the seeming ruin.

"The last drop is a bit of a squeeze but it's not to hard a climb."

[galen_erso]

"I'll manage," Galen says.

He hadn't had a chance to climb rocks since Eadu, so despite the fact it's not something to easily forget, he takes his time. But he manages. He does get there.

[imthepilot]

Bodhi doesn't speak but he keeps an eye on Galen, glancing back to check his progress.

After a while, they reach an opening, a gap where a larger stone has fallen sideays.

Bodhi pushes into it, feet first. "Four metres, curve right then another five metres. The drop to get out is only a couple of metres."

He shimmies down into the darkness and out of sight.

[galen_erso]

If following Bodhi into the womb of the planet is what it takes, then Galen will do it. And it's almost instinct now; this was among the first things he learned from Lyra.

[imthepilot]

Bodhi reaches to steady him through, intentionally using his flesh hand more than the other. No-one likes the touch of cold durasteel.

He switches on a small torch. The space is a stone antechamber of some sort, the walls elaborately carved.

"I spent six months on Delta Base. Forced medical leave. I found this place by accident. At least I thought I did." There are signs here and there that someone put time and effort into stabilising it.

Bodhi leads Galen down a corridor, running his flesh hand over the wall absently. He's use to walking this way in the dark.

[galen_erso]

Galen follows him, looking around as he does, drinking it all in.

"This is amazing," he whispers into the echoes. "Who made these?"

[imthepilot]

"No-one knows." Bodhi admits. "No-one knew this was here till I found an entrance."

He leads Galen into a massive dome, gesturing him to wait by the door. The downcast light shows only the floor till he reaches a plinth in the centre of the space. He set the light upright.

And the great curving roof of the dome lights up as the torch-light is picking up and reflected by thousands of crystals. A night's sky of constellations drawn in light.

Mapped out in tiny kyber crystals.

[galen_erso]

"Stars!"

Galen is very, very impressed. Not only is there kyber here, the whole array displays an artistry, and an attention to the heavens that is breathtaking and overwhelming.

Galen has seen crystal caves and kyber caves; he has seen ancient monuments and places if worship, but never has he seen anything where natural structures have been combined with art and the Force to guide a sentient view on the universe.

He has a million questions.

And then he imagines Bodhi finding this by himself, believing Galen to be dead, and how badly he must have wanted to show this to Galen, and how bitterly he must have missed Galen, and how the discovery of this unique beauty must have stomped on Bodhi's heart because he found it without Galen; and it makes his eyes sting.

But now, he is here.

"You have probably compared these constellations to the current night sky to see how old this is?"

Because it is the most obvious thing to do, both for a scientist and a pilot.

[imthepilot]

"I tried." Bodhi admits, leaning on the wall at Galen's side. "They don't match any known star systems I've been able to find." He sighs, dark eyes reflecting the crystal stars above. "Whoever they were, when they looked up they looked into a sky no-one else could see. A universe where things were different. Better maybe."

His voice drops low and broken. "I hoped that's where you were. Where you and Jyn and Lyra could be together."

[galen_erso]

"But I am still here," Galen says, standing beside him and reaching out to touch Bodhi's shoulder. "I am still here, to finally give my work to your side, and then to puzzle out the meaning of this once peace comes. This will be a marvel of the galaxy, but now is still just our personal heavens.'

[imthepilot]

Bodhi flinches. But only because it's that side of his body. And he's always been sensitive about what's left of that arm.

"I've never showed this to anyone. People know about the ruins. There are sites all over the forest. But no-one's ever really looked at them. My team know where to find me if they need me. But they don't come here. This is... my place." And he'd like to keep it that way. "You're the first." And the only person he could share this with.

[galen_erso]

"It's not ours to keep for good," Galen says, softly. "But for now, it is. Do you know if there is any more kyber on this planet? Because if not, it means those people already had interstellar travel, and will be on ancient maps."

[imthepilot]

Something hardens in Bodhi. Something behind his eyes that shuts down. As if he regrets letting Galen see this. See him here.

"Delta Base is a haven for a reason, Galen. It's location is a protected secret. Even the route we took to get here was designed to throw off tracking. I'm not about to compromise this base and everyone on it for a historical excavation."

He strode across the room, snapping off the light and extinguishing the stars.

[galen_erso]

Galen follows him into the darkness.

"Bodhi," he says, softly. "I am talking about peacetime. When we have won. That will happen one day. This war is not forever."

[imthepilot]

"You're assuming either of us live to see peace." Bodhi's voice is bitter in the darkness.

He heads back to the first chamber, soft grey light filtering from the hole they descended through. He hands Galen the torch and offers him a hand up to the lip.

[galen_erso]

"By now, I am prepared to believe it," Galen says, taking the offered hand.

Wondering fleetingly if the droid hand wouldn't be stronger.

[imthepilot]

It is. And significantly so. Something it's taken him some time to master. He braces and slides that hand under Galen's feet, boosting him up towards the ledge.

Waiting till Galen is clear of the first section, he runs at the lip and jumps, pulling himself up by that same hand.

Twilight is falling outside, colouring the light an almost ominous red. The water of the pool is almost black now, the place taking on a forbidding look. A place people could well believe was haunted.