Suspicious Cassian squared off against the man What kind of weapon Tivik glanced around searching for a way out Look I have to go Cassian grabbed him What kind of weapon A planet killer Tivik cringed beneath Cassian's glare That's what he called it Tivik went on to explain that Galen Erso an old friend of Saw Gerrera's had sent the pilot Tivik was angry about the Alliance and how little it had done to help Saw in his fight Saw's right You guys keep talking and stalling and dealing and we're on fumes out there There's spies everywhere Tivik trailed off as he spotted a pair of stormtroopers entering the alley They walked toward Cassian and Tivik demanding to see their scandocs Cassian wasn't about to let anyone take him in He reached into his pocket but instead of producing identification he grabbed his silenced blaster and used it to put a hole straight through each of the stormtroopers Tivik recoiled in horror No What have you done A third stormtrooper appeared at the far end of the alley Rather than charge in to be shot he called for backup Troopers Troopers down Section nine Cassian scanned the alley for a means of escape and spotted spotted some easy handholds he could use to climb out With Tivik's damaged arm though he'd never make it Cassian couldn't leave him there to be captured The man would crack for sure and if he told the Empire what he knew Cassian had no choice He leveled his blaster and shot Tivik 6
dead The stormtrooper stood there stunned and watched the man fall Cassian took advantage of that moment to throw himself against the nearest wall and start climbing He had to move fast or he'd have to shoot himself too 7
CHAPTER 3 JYN HAD resigned herself to prison After running from place to place for so long it was something of a relief to finally be able to stop Besides as far as she could see there was no way out of this one at least not on her own Not yet She was on a work detail riding with a few other hard cases to a site where they'd be set to breaking rocks or shoveling garbage out of a compactor whatever nasty work the Empire needed done They had three stormtroopers in the back of their ride to guard just five prisoners which seemed like overkill overkill but Jyn didn't care to tell the Imperial Prison Service how to do its job The transport ground to a halt and a moment later a magnetic magnetic grenade blew the front door open Blaster fire took down the three troopers fast and an armed man stormed in shouting for Liana Hallik Jyn recognized the name It was the one she'd been using when she was arrested Still she remained quiet It didn't matter The next soldier who came through the door recognized her You want to get out of here the first one said Jyn gave him a hesitant nod and a third soldier moved up and removed her shackles One of her fellow prisoners lifted his own shackled arms and shouted Hey What about me Jyn used the distraction to kick the first soldier in the gut knocking him against the far wall Then she punched out the 8
second soldier and fought past the third one If those fools were going to give her a means to escape she planned to use it but she didn't want to wind up stuck with them Jyn charged for the transport's open door but a large Imperial security droid blocked her way Tall and made of sturdy black metal it stared down at her with glowing eyes Before she could stop it it grabbed her by the collar then threw her hard onto the ground Congratulations it said in a synthetic male voice You are being rescued Please do not resist Jyn decided she would listen to the droid For now 9
