“Tassie, are we ready for takeoff?” Jyn asked from his command chair on the ship. New orders had come in several hours prior and his team had just finished their preparations for their newest mission. It had come as a great surprise to everybody that Adrian’s signal had been found, and their current mission left Jyn conflicted.

  He’d failed Adrian that day at the base when he’d been abducted. His mission had been to ensure Adrian’s safety and instead he’d let the enemy waltz right up to them and take his charge. In the heat of the moment he’d had a choice to make, and he’d chosen Reya over Adrian.

  His surrender at that moment still left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth, months after it had occurred.

  While he’d ensured Reya’s survival by eliminating the immediate threat to her safety — something he was sure Adrian would have approved — that day was a stark reminder that he wasn’t as good a soldier as he’d thought he was. Staying behind to ensure that the rest of the team escaped was the least he could do to atone for his mistakes.

  In that moment, he’d been ready to die for his friends.

  When no gru’ul came bursting through the door to the final room, Jyn had scarcely believed it. It was too good to be true. But the gru’ul had gotten what they’d come for and there had been no reason to stay. In a twisted way, Adrian had saved their lives by agreeing to leave with the gru’ul that day.

  A sacrifice Jyn wouldn’t soon forget.

  He’d seen Adrian’s scars. Hideous though they were, they told a story of pain and misery. And Adrian had willingly returned to such suffering so that Reya could have even the slightest chance at surviving. That single act was one Jyn respected. Because of Adrian’s self-sacrifice, the woman most important to Jyn lived on.

  After months of heavy combat and no news from Adrian, Jyn believed that Adrian had died while in gru’ul custody. He hadn’t told Reya his thoughts on the matter, unwilling to break her heart further. He knew Reya clung to the hope that Adrian survived. Jyn never thought he’d get the chance to make things right.

  Yet, in order to save Adrian, the team had to go on a suicide mission. The odds were not in their favour. Nobody had ever attacked the gru’ul home world before, such folly unthinkable. With gru’ul forces deployed in Verilian space, just leaving the atmosphere and entering hyperspace posed a sizeable risk.

  Even after everything, Jyn wasn’t sure risking everybody’s lives was worth it. It was one life for that of six people — more if the rest of the fleet accompanying them was taken into account. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but Jyn had his orders.

  And he intended to carry them with nothing short of perfection.

  Ava sat in Reya’s old chair, a last-minute addition to the team for the mission. Despite his better sense not to, Jyn questioned Nessah directly for that decision. Under the guise of her perhaps being able to be useful when arriving at the gru’ul home world, Jyn was forced to accept her presence for the mission. In his opinion, they were merely sending Ava to her death to get rid of a problem should the team fail the mission, but he hadn’t dared voice it.

  “Yes, Captain,” Tassie replied firmly. “All that’s left is to wait for air control’s approval to leave.” An alert appeared on her screen. “Which would be right now, apparently,” she quipped.

  “Excellent,” Jyn replied. He did one last check of everybody’s positions and ordered Tassie to take off. All at once, around High Command’s main base, an immense fleet of ships rose into the air. Frigates, scout ships, fighter ships and more all joined Jyn’s team in their mission. While a part of the ships currently on standby would serve only as an escort, the main strike team was nothing to scoff at.

  As one, the ships took to the skies and ascended. Their journey through the atmosphere was the easy part. The moment they arrived in space, they were hounded by a swarm of gru’ul ships. Beor, Kell, Eimir, and Rann all manned the various weapons systems and carefully lined up their shots to take down the enemy.

  One by one, ally ships were hit and exploded, their crews joining the tens of millions of casualties the war had caused. History would not remember their names. Their deeds would go unrecorded for future generations to learn about and admire. One moment they were there.

  The next, they were gone.

  The fleet pushed through the swarm, receiving aid from Cyrix’s ships already in space. Tassie shouted out enemy locations while Jyn kept an eye on the battlefield, relaying orders to Tassie to position the ship out of harm’s way. The others cleared a path and as soon as they were position, Jyn ordered the jump into hyperspace.

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  Tassie gave the countdown and within moments, a familiar unnerving feeling washed over everybody as they transitioned into hyperspace. The crew let loose a sigh of relief. The first part of the mission had been a success. Now came a journey that would last a month, even with the new engines. The gru’ul home world was incredibly far away from Verilia.

  “Good work, everyone,” Jyn said as the tension bled out of him. “Now all that’s left to do is wait until we arrive.” The trip would be long, but not unbearable. There was plenty to do in preparation for the main mission where they would descend onto the gru’ul home world in search of Adrian. All while hoping they weren’t blown to smithereens the moment they arrived.

  “Do you really think Adrian is alive?” Beor asked hesitantly. “It’s been months since we heard anything. If the gru’ul made similar time during their return home, wouldn’t we have picked up the distress signal sooner?”

  “The going theory is that either Adrian was kept in stasis for some time after their arrival,” Jyn said, “or that the comm was somehow damaged while in stasis. Either way, it’s a miracle that we even received a signal at all.”

  “Could this be a trap?” Rann hedged. “Maybe the gru’ul sent the signal out on purpose to lure us to them so they could split us up. Our army has held together while whole, but only a piece of it shouldn’t be a problem for them to handle.”

  Jyn couldn’t reply right away. Rann’s fears were justified, and if he was being honest, he shared them as well. “It might be,” he said finally. He looked around the bridge and saw worried faces. “But does it matter?” he asked them.

  Rann frowned. “Of course it matters,” she said. “We could very well be going to our deaths, all for a trick the enemy used to play mind games with us. Look,” she said frankly, “I like Adrian, don’t get me wrong. But is he worth all of our lives?”

  Nobody could bring themselves to answer. Nobody met Rann’s gaze after she asked such a pointed question.

  “Yes,” Jyn said, speaking up. The surprise on their faces said everything. Since Adrian’s discovery, they’d stopped believing in him. He’d failed as a leader. “Without his decision to go peacefully with the gru’ul,” he continued, “it’s highly probable that we would have been part of the casualties that day at the base. We failed Adrian. We failed Reya. Without his sacrifice, we’d be dead. Part of the countless deaths so far during the war, doomed to be forgotten. We owe it to him to at least try saving him. Even if this mission is based on false hope, we owe him our lives. It’s time we pay him back.”

  Rann was utterly shocked by Jyn’s declaration. “You hate the man,” she stated. “He cost us Reya. The friend we once knew is no more. She’s an entirely different person now. Without him, none of this would have happened. More than that, he took Reya from you,” she said. Jyn made to speak up, but Rann cut him off. “We’re not blind, Jyn. We’ve all seen how you’ve acted since the day we found him. You’ve never trusted the man and you’re jealous he has what you never will. How come you’re so on board with this mission?”

  “I agree with Rann,” Tassie said. “I’m not saying we shouldn’t rescue him,” she added quickly. “I definitely think we should. He’s already suffered so much. He deserves freedom. Deserves to have a life again after everything was taken from him so cruelly. This is our chance to make a difference in his life after all the shit we put him through even after saving him from hell.”

  “I understand your concerns,” Jyn said carefully. “I still have my issues with Adrian. However, I cannot deny that without him we might not even be here today. We shouldn’t have made it out of that base, but we did because of him. That sacrifice, I respect. He may have taken Reya from us — from me — but he made sure she remained with us by going willingly to save her. Maybe it’s not worth dying for Adrian. But when we went back to save Reya from the gru’ul, we took the same risks then as we’re doing now, only this time it’s for Adrian.”

  “That’s,” Rann started, unsure how to respond, “very unlike you. Aren’t you afraid of what might happen to us?” She simply couldn’t fathom the sudden change in Jyn’s behaviour. It made no sense to her. She narrowed her eyes. “Did High Command talk to you again?” she asked pointedly.

  Jyn shook his head. “No,” he said. “I don’t like Adrian. I still maintain we gave him far too many liberties. We let him keep vital secrets that could have helped us during this war. We treat him like a friend when all he’ll ever be is a stranger among us.”

  Rann nodded in agreement. Adrian may be important to Reya, but far less so to her personally. His strange mannerisms and odd skin colour would forever be a stark reminder of what he truly was. Alien.

  Jyn paused for a moment, considering his next words. “But now, we’re at war,” he said. “Things have changed. Is he the reason so many of us are dying as we speak? I believe so. Is he also the reason anything happened to Reya to begin with? Yes. Adrian was a stranger to us — still is — but he saved her. Willingly walked into harm’s way for her.”

  Jyn took a deep breath. “That’s more than I’ve ever done,” he said sadly, the confession stinging him deep in his soul. “If we don’t save him, the gru’ul win. They succeed in their transcendence, and I refuse to let that happen.”

  The others shared uneasy looks, a deafening silence descending upon the group. Their Captain, for all of his many flaws and prejudices, still believed that their mission was vital when they didn’t.

  Even Ava, who barely knew the team, sat in quiet contemplation of his words, reassessing what she knew of him. She tilted her head ever so slightly, resonating with his sense of atonement. She too had harmed Adrian immensely. Perhaps she would finally have a way of making amends. Of making a difference in the life of the man she took everything from.

  Rann held Jyn’s stare, clearly unsettled. Beor shifted uncomfortably where he sat while Tassie gave him a resolute nod. Nobody was certain how much of what he said was simple platitudes to keep morale high, but his next words shook them to their very core.

  “Victory at all costs,” Jyn said somberly. “Even if that cost is us.”