Part One
Setting: Immediately after the events of the Andor second season finale.
There it was.
The restless foliage obstructed her view, but the light permeated through to shine brightly on her face. There wasn’t much sun on this system. The rain from the previous night was gone but the resulting droplets of water that remained on leaves dripped onto the wet grass. Kleya Marki stared into the light. It was something she rarely did on Coruscant. How could she? She kept her focus forward in the time she was there. And she had been there for so long. Never alone.
Until now.
Luthen never intended to witness the light she was currently seeing. She wanted to believe that he was seeing the sunlight through her eyes now. An extension of their symbiosis with each other. She knew that it wasn’t possible. Luthen Rael would no longer see. She made sure of that. She pushed that out of her mind. She had been well versed in the methods since her childhood.
For the first time in her life, she was without purpose. From the moment she watched the new recruits of the Rebellion running in the jungle for training that morning, she realized that her and Luthen’s mission was over. She was on a different system. A different setting. If she was truly honest with herself, she hadn’t expected either she or Luthen to survive the next stage of the Rebellion. If it hadn’t been for the last message Luthen gave to her to memorize, she may not have left Coruscant willingly. He had to give her one last command to fulfil. She gave it to Cassian. He told it to the leaders of the Rebellion. They didn’t seem to believe him. It didn’t matter. She completed her mission.
There were only a small number of injuries she sustained after the concussion grenade went off in the abandoned safe house on Coruscant. She would live. Cassian told her to rest when she was still in the med center. Vel Sartha told her the same after she brought her in from the rain. Vel was kind enough to allow her to sleep in her tent for the night. Kleya couldn’t rest. In the gallery, there was no rest. There was always something to be done. Any break from her duties meant that the ISP was that much closer to exposing them. There was no ISP here. The gallery was no more. She imagined that all of the art pieces would be confiscated and sold off at an auction. There was nothing left of their equipment. Luthen took care of that.
And she took care of Luthen.
As she had always done in the past, she pushed that memory away, deep within herself. Yet, she couldn’t take her eyes away from the light of Yavin’s sun.
What now?
As if to answer, Vel Sartha appeared at the entrance of the tent.
“Good morning. Are you well rested?”
“I won’t be fully rested for quite some time,” answered Kleya.
“I know the feeling. Want some caf? Or something to eat?”
“Not hungry. And I never liked caf.”
Vel looked exasperated. “Do you have an idea as to what are your next plans, Kleya?”
“Funny, I was just asking myself that just now.”
“So...are you done?”
“I’ve have finished what Luthen and I set out to do.”
Vel edged closer to her. “And we are all here as a result. You could do more here.”
Kleya scoffed. “Nobody here knows me, Vel. The ones who do associate me with Luthen. They put me in the same bad light as him.”
"Make them know you! Shed that image from their minds. Prove to them that you can be trusted.”
“How? I no longer have a mission.”
Vel said, “Maybe it’s time we find you one. Mon Mothma wants to speak to you. The sooner the better.”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Of course you do. It’s why we’re here. The Empire doesn’t give us choices.”
“Where is Mon Mothma?”
“I’ll take you to her.”
Kleya followed Vel through the jungle and passed the supply tents and the mess hall where people were still eating and conversing. They reached the clearing where several Rebels were scurrying about performing their individual tasks. There were several X-Wings and Y-Wing fighters on the landing platform with various mechanics tending to each one of them. Kleya looked up at an ancient Manassi Temple. A thousand-year-old structure was now the base of the Rebellion against an Empire that was merely decades in the making.
Vel took her through the temple where more Rebels were busy. At some point, Kleya noticed a series of comm stations where men were equipped with headsets.
Kleya asked Vel, “What are they listening for?”
Vel turned back to see where Kleya was looking and answered, “Recruits from more systems. Establishing new contacts. Some are from Imperial based systems.”
“They’re not being detected?”
“On our end, no. On their end they have to use code. Remember, you’re not on Coruscant anymore. No ISB towers to interfere. We’re using Chedek fractal signals directly. No cross amping.”
“Meaning they’re more vulnerable on their end.”
“More or less. We can get into that later. The Senator is in here.”
Kleya followed Vel again into a wide-open area offset from the main hangar. In the center was a round flat structure with seats around it. Standing beside it was the figure of Senator Mon Mothma. Her hair was darker now, though she wore the same white gown that Kleya was used to seeing her in. Instantly, she noticed a sadness in Mon’s expression. Kleya had to remind herself that the Senator gave up so much in the last year. Her position. Her family. Her life. Sacrifices. Luthen taught her well.
Mon Mothma smiled at Kleya and said, “Welcome, Kleya, to the Far Moon of Yavin. I trust you are recovering from your injuries.”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
Mon said casually, “I apologize for the noise going on outside. I no longer have an office.”
Kleya shot back, “And I no longer have an art gallery.”
Mon winced at the remark. She proceeded to say with emotion, “You have my condolences for Luthen.”
“Do you? Condolences against your disapproval of him?”
Mon sighed in frustration. She hesitated before she replied, “I admit that Luthen and I had our differences. I was appalled by his actions and ideas.”
“Those are why we’re here now,” Kleya said.
“From what I have noticed over the years, Kleya, is that we are here because of your actions.”
“I only did my part.”
“Nevertheless, we are truly grateful. Come, please sit.” Each of them sat in the chairs that were nearby. Mon continued. “I don’t know if Vel informed you, but Cassian Andor was sent away on a mission this morning. The words that you gave Cassian were part of the cause of the mission.”
“Those were the words that Luthen gave me as well. Wait, I thought Cass had been grounded.”
“New intel changed that. He is on his way to Kafrene to speak with Tivik.”
Kleya’s memory kicked in. “Saw Gerrera contact." She raised an eyebrow. "Good luck in believing him.”
Vel stated, “We think he has something important. It may be connected to what you told Cass. Tivik may be more reliable this time.”
“More reliable than Saw these days, I imagine,” Kleya added.
Vel shook her head. “Saw is in his own rebellion at this point.”
Mon cut in. “Tivik would only speak to Cassian. No radio. Only in person.”
Kleya considered. “Meaning that what he has is sensitive.”
“Our thoughts as well,” replied Mon.
Kleya had a realization. “Cass was under the impression that he wasn’t believed. My words…. Luthen’s words…were not trusted. Cass told you about it last night. You grounded him. You scoffed at the words coming from Luthen.”
“It wasn’t me. Senator Organa felt that Luthen used questionable methods.”
“And you didn’t?”
“I did, but I wanted to believe Cassian first.”
“What verified it?” Kleya watched Mon’s eyes that drifted in Vel’s direction. Kleya glanced at Vel and almost laughed. “You had Vel verify with Cass. Your own personal lie detector.”
Mon started, “How did you—” Vel stopped her with a hand up.
Kleya continued. “Is that what the Rebellion is reduced to? Spying on your own people? It’s more of a military now.”
Mon stated, “It’s not like that, Kleya. You have to look at it from our point of view. Most of the Senators here…former Senators…are used to a political agenda with a certain...authenticity. The soldiers we have training here are common folk trying to live their lives under the Empire. Only a handful resigned directly from the Imperial Academy.”
Vel said, “Cass once told me that when he landed here four years ago, there was a Rebel faction stationed here. There was no structure then. They fought themselves. They killed their own members. They saw Cass as their enemy.” She paused. “When we arrived here years later, there was no trace of them.”
Mon pleaded. “Understand, Kleya, we can’t have that here. We need structure or else there will be chaos.”
Kleya spoke sternly. “Luthen and I had structure, too. We had procedures in place. Without them, it would fail.” She raised her arm in a display. ”This…all of this would all fail if we did not follow our rules. Rules that you have both broken in the past."
“Yes, I understand,” Mothma said. “We don’t have the same risks that you and Luthen endured. We do have our own risks. But at a different cost.” She hesitated before she said, “You don’t have to answer this question, Kleya, if you don’t want to. Where did Luthen obtain the information he gave to you about the connection between Ghorman and Jedha? About this Galen Erso? About this energy project disguised as a superweapon. Who told Luthen?”
Kleya sighed and replied, “We had someone on the inside of ISB. Someone high.”
Mon nodded. “I see. Someone high who risked their life. Someone perhaps with a family. Someone with hopes. Those are all dashed because they were a loose end in Luthen’s mind. He resorted to murder in order to keep our secrets.”
“It was too much of a risk," Kleya shot back. "The source didn’t take all precautions when he gave the information. He didn’t follow our rules. It had to be done.”
“That’s exactly what you said last night about Luthen,” Vel remarked. “You may as well be part of the ISB. You once told me that was what Rebellions do. You’re in a different Rebellion now.”
Kleya winced without reply.
After a moment, Mon stated, “We have a Chandrilan philosopher who said that once you seek out monstrosities long enough, you become a monstrosity yourself. You are not a monster, Kleya. You can show your humanity here.”
Kleya thought hard on Mothma’s words. Kleya had hidden her humanity under her anger for so long. It was as Luthen instructed her to do at a young age. Luthen was no longer here. There was no place to hide her humanity any longer. She had to learn to set it free. Would she recognize it? She showed a small trace of it after Luthen’s demise. She had to contain it again thereafter. How would she release it here on Yavin? Unknown.
Kleya uttered, almost to herself, “I think I’ve lost it. I’ve lost the fight in me.”
Mothma answered in the smoothest voice, “You haven’t lost your fight or your humanity, Kleya. Misplaced, maybe. Don’t misunderstand. What you and Luthen have done over the years is nothing less than miraculous.”
“Luthen’s gone,” she cried.
“Yes, but you’re not. You still have fight in you. There is plenty more to be done. We need you. The Rebellion needs you. There was a specific position that I had in mind for you. It was the reason I wanted Vel to bring you this afternoon.”
“What would I be doing?”
“I believe you are familiar with the comm stations out there.”
Kleya scoffed. “You want me to do grunt work?”
“Not just work. To supervise. Commander Elitch is in charge of the comms now, but I have it on authority that he will be reassigned soon.”
Kleya gave a pause. “I’m not sure if I’m ready yet.”
“Take all the time you need.”
“I’m not sure if I’ll ever be ready.”
Vel asked, “Are you sure about that? I always took you to be someone who was always ready. What would Luthen tell you?”
Kleya imagined Luthen Rael sitting across from her at that moment. She could hear him speak as if he was never gone. She knew what he would say.
tbc Koo
