[video]

[candor1]

[He's had plenty of time to toy with this gizmo (all technical terms, thank you mental projection of Kay that's moved back into his brain now that it's not too painful because there's a real Kay again, shush), but still hasn't put himself on it for more than a brief response to Catelyn Stark.

For all his well-[founded?]-honed mistrust of open networks, it has chastened him that he could have found Jyn and Kay much more quickly if he'd used it from the start. For all the research he does, it's unignorable that he's wasting a huge amount of this powerful resource by relegating himself to observer, not participant.

…And there's one or two other imPorts he's learned about that… have caught his attention. He's wondering if he'll catch theirs.

So, network, hello: months after his arrival (albeit a good percent of them spent unconscious): Human. Male. Age hard to tell: either in his thirties-forties or face prematurely hollowed and lined. Hair: dark, cut as if by himself with a tool not meant for such use and no mirror. Eyes: several galaxies' worth. Shirt doesn't look like anything specific to those who wouldn't know the style, instantly recognizable as Corellian to those who would.

Then he smiles—in a way that seems entirely effortless, genuine, and engaged—and some of the agedness falls away. The eyes crinkle and sparkle. He seems approachable and warm. Even the haircut is transformed into seeming less unloved and more boyish. It gives this stranger the face of a friend.

His accent, when he speaks, sounds Hispanic to Earth American ears.]

I was wondering, if you're willing to share—

[on an open network, though that's not necessarily a good barometer of the network itself]

Are you still in the job you were assigned? Yes or no, how is it going for you?

I've read the introductory material on this. I'm wondering about personal experiences.

[He's tried to go beyond the official literature, including as much of the backlog as he could find or slice. Which is also why he doesn't repeat Godric's question (to which the answers were exceedingly helpful—and a few that sent a shiver up his spine. But pull it together, don't apply superstitious thought to the superstitious thoughts: that's what common cosmological models do).


As if in afterthought, and as if with self-conscious awkwardness, he adds]

…and hello. My name's Cassian.

Comments

[prophesiedone]

To protect; to bring peace. [He's so far gone. Look what the Sith have done to him.] Sacrifices are necessary, though they are never easy.

[candor1]

Protect and bring peace to…?

[prophesiedone]

The galaxy as a whole.

[candor1]

[makes a dissatisfied sound]

Do you have less abstract answers?

[prophesiedone]

Not really because it has always been about everyone. Everything. The laws should cover the whole galaxy and be actively enforced. Rebels and their rebellions cannot be tolerated. The safety of all cannot be compromised because they are unhappy.

[candor1]

[using all his discipline to keep his voice even]

And you see no contradiction in what you just said?

[prophesiedone]

It is the way of the Sith. Force and power are the only things we can depend on.

[candor1]

That's not…

[Cassian stops himself. Momentarily mutes the feed. Though also succeeds in gritting back any sound.

Finally, with measured breaths, switches feed back on.]

"Everyone." "The safety of all."

[prophesiedone]

[He waits for Cassian to compose himself, gaze hardening even as his heart screams inside of his chest that this is wrong.]

All of those who are willing to follow and be loyal to the Empire.

[candor1]

[Skips for now the more nuanced reasons. Goes right for the jugular.]

What of those the Empire doesn't give that option?

[prophesiedone]

Who doesn't have that option? Everyone can choose to follow.

[candor1]

Nonhumans were welcome in your Empire?

Because they wouldn't be by my time. Not as full citizens.

[They were only the majority of sentient beings in the galaxy.]

[prophesiedone]

I don't have a problem against nonhumans. Why should they be treated differently?

[The intricacies of the Empire elude him for the time being.]

[candor1]

Because an empire is not a government designed to serve its people. It serves its emperor.

At some time, not long after yours, he will decide nonhumans have no place in his Empire except as slaves. If at all.

Perhaps you might consider, given the costs you accurately listed of rebelling, what sorts of treatment and conditions would drive sentients to do it anyway.



[Why are you trying to reach him, a small voice said scornfully in Cassian's mind. He was satisfied with the genocide of his own people. If that doesn't matter to him, why will any of this.

…because how else to fight…]

[prophesiedone]

That depends on the Emperor, doesn't it.

[He would have been so much better. He will be better. Palpatine - Sidious - must perish. Anakin's tone is terse, agitated that he can do nothing while he is stuck in these backward cities.]

I think he likes setting people against one another.

[The Sith Lord takes perverse pleasure in it.]

I know what I want to do, but something stops me.

[candor1]

Yes. It depends on the emperor.

Shouldn't the fate of everyone and everything in the galaxy be based on more than one person? That can too easily be the wrong person?

[He believes no one could be the right person unilaterally. But some ideas need to be introduced in stages.]

[prophesiedone]

I am the right person. [No, he is completely grounded. Why do you ask?]

[candor1]

[This must be how Kay feels about… almost everyone.

Not that Cassian hasn't felt this way before.

But one has to try.

…Or at least not restart the fight if it's not worth it.

So he bites back the more acerbic response. Shall I write up the Alliance's list of specific grievances for you to address and negotiate? Suspecting it would be far too much grounded reality for this person to grapple with.

Scorn never recruited anyone.

…Is this an attempt at recruitment?

Not to a cause, no. But perhaps to pact of nonaggression. As long as they're here.

…So. Gritty details no good.

However dark the path this man had set himself on, he seemed to have paved it with idealism.

So try the idealistic approach.]

I understand why you want to leave.

For myself, and my friends… I don't think we can. We died in service of the Rebellion. This, impossible as it should be, is a second life.

We would like very much to live it in peace.

[prophesiedone]

[Anakin has let his fear take hold of him. Instead of trusting on an outside power to guide and protect him and his loved ones, he is choosing to take the place of that power himself. The death of his mother, the potential death of Padmé, the loss of his children - twins it would seem - have driven him to the brink of despair and sanity. Palpatine has preyed on that and let the wounds fester.

Oh he cannot blame the man for his choices, but the Sith Lord certainly hasn't helped him get any clarity or healing. However, for right now, he sees no reason to establish an Empire. Luke, his son, is present, but Anakin can protect him without entering into politics. And if Padmé should arrive, he will find a way to alter her fate.

He will save her. There is simply no other option.]

Good luck. [He chortles, very little amusement behind the sound.] I'm not the one you have to worry about. We are in a world filled with heroes and villains.

[candor1]

[I'm not the one you have to worry about. …first: Yavá let that be true. Second: did that mean idiomatically don't worry about me or I know who you should worry about? Third: wht was the balance of keeping an eye on things to make sure one had any control in one's involvement vs. involvement becoming self-fulfilling…

At last, as if generic thanks/agreement, but with the heaviness of realities behind it…]

All worlds are.

[prophesiedone]

There are more here and they have powers and abilities you won't find on a generic planet. [Whether Cassian takes care or not isn't up to him. He is trying to be decent in his own warped way.]

[candor1]

In more varied ways, at least.

[Though Cassian said it in clear agreement. …And decides to take the words in the spirit they were (hopefully, really) given.]

Thank you for the warning.