scruffy happabore herder

1. Landing

It was a cool crisp afternoon when the impact shook the house. Marta stared in the direction of the sound and ran toward it. She could see Jonathan in the distance running toward her.

It was like she was suddenly one of the actors in an Air Disasters re-creation. When she looked cautiously at the metal contraption, it hissed open. She jumped backwards, and Jonathan's arms went around her.

"There are no things like this," Marta whispered, part of her mind befuddled by the strange devices, the rest of her staring at the child inside. It was a baby. A toddler? Hesitantly, Marta pulled away from Jonathan and reached inside. "Heavy for such a tiny thing," Martha said in surprise, ignoring Jonathan's panicked yelp. The baby snuggled against her. "Aren't you sweet like a candy bar," Marta said. "I'm calling you Clark."

"Marta, we can't just—" Jonathan stammered "—name babies we find in fields." He looked at the baby; the baby looked solemnly at him. "We should call someone. In case the kid's hurt."

"We can't just keep him," he added weakly, eyeing the child clinging to Marta. "And you can't name a person after a candy bar."

They couldn't just keep him. It was a long process of looking for missing children matching his description, becoming certified as foster parents, being granted guardianship, and finally adoption. Jonathan had argued Marta out of calling him Clark, and they'd picked Cassian from a baby name web site instead. They never told anyone about the ship hidden under the barn, until Cassian was old enough to know about it.

—

2. Whoosh

Whoosh.

Whoosh.

Whoosh.

Whoosh.

Cassian was used to hearing birds, planes, drones, helicopters, missile launches. Even in Smallville, which was quieter than a lot of places. Over the last few months, the whoosh noise had been bothering him whenever he heard it. It was new, and it gave him a headache. Finally, the next time he heard one and could sneak away, he did.

A satellite. Huh.

Dozens of them.

When he tried to get closer, the headache intensified. He shook his head to clear it and touched down outside the barn back in Smallville.

He needed to know what those satellites were for.

He unearthed the ship that had carried him to Smallville, then paused. Maybe there was a better way to find out what they were. His mother was a member of Congress, after all.

—

3. Crystal

Bodhi held out the phone. "It's unlocked, and it has access to the control systems. Don't turn on the wireless, or let it connect to a cell tower, or anything. There are some photos and screenshots of documents too." He looked at her apologetically. "I'm sorry. It's the most we could get."

"It's all right. Get out of here, and stay safe."

"You too," he said quietly, pretending not to notice her hand gripping the crystal around her neck.

She had snuck it into the Planet's CMS and set it to publish the next day. Somehow, in the middle of the night, she'd been taken from her apartment and woken up in the sleeping compartment of a semi's cab. Her stirring on air mattress had activated a motion censor. An unctuous male voice told her that she had quit her job at the Planet after the shock of having to turn her father and her childhood friend in for mishandling classified information, deciding to explore life in a smaller town—Smallville—and that if she wanted everyone she cared about to stay alive and safe, she had better stick to that story.

She seethed. Everyone had adjusted remarkably rapidly to the idea that she would move to middle America and write puff pieces. And that she would burn sources.

Well, fuck it. She wasn't in jail. She had the means to make a living and a place to live, because whoever had put her in Smallville hadn't been willing to just disappear her. So she could be used as leverage against her father, probably, she thought bitterly.

"Whoever"—it had to have been Krennic. She sunk down to the floor and pulled her knees to her chest. His fucking network of transmission-controlling satellites was still up there, and she was down here, with no one listening and no way to get anyone to listen.

She grabbed a copy of the Smallville weekly she'd picked up and bared her teeth at it. The cover story was a picture of Representative Marta Kent and her son Cassian. Marta, the article said as an aside, enjoyed visiting the farmers markets in the district.

She sat up and grabbed her phone, looking for Marta's local office number. She was supposed to be embedded in farm country? Well, she could act the part, and start networking at the same time.

Fifteen minutes later, she had an appointment to chat with Marta Kent at the weekend farmers market. She slapped the weekly paper down on the table, and started making notes on her phone.

—

4. Coffee

"Ma! You're not going to believe this," he yelled.

"I always believe you, honey," Ma said mildly. "But Ms. Erso just moved here from Metropolis and I'm getting to know my newest hometown constituent."

"I'm only here because it was this or prison," Jyn Erso snapped. "Representative Kent, please just give me a quote about the farmers markets in the district and I'll leave you alone."

Cassian watched his mother's eyebrows rise.

"Oh, honey," she said. "Why don't you let me get you a tea or a coffee from Baze and Chirrut's. I can tell you haven't had enough caffeine yet. Cassian, come with."

He looked imploringly at his mother. He couldn't say this in front of a reporter, even a deranged and discredited one. Especially a deranged and discredited one.

Well, he couldn't say it at the farmers market, either. He followed them, and ended up carrying the drinks container as he followed them, bemused, back to his mother's car.

"Leia Organa tells me you can be trusted," Ma said to Erso. "I have a story for you. Cassian, tell her what you've been keeping under your hat ever since you interrupted our chat."

He looked at her doubtfully, and she nodded at him.

"They activated the satellites," he said finally. "But they aren't fully operational yet. We have a way to disrupt them."

"How do you know?" Erso demanded.

"Ma is a member of Congress. We have sources." He was glad she couldn't hear his heartbeat she way he could hear hers. The sources in this case were him hearing the launches, and Leia Organa agreeing that there was something going on but that she couldn't find out what, even as a member of subcommittees related to defense and space spending. He had been listening for the sound of the satellites activating ever since.

"What's your plan?"

He pressed his lips together.

"You wouldn't have invited me here if you weren't going to tell me what it was." Her eyes narrowed. "Unless you're planning to confine me here. Are you part of it? Are you—"

"No, no," Ma said hurriedly. "We want you to be a witness. To tell the story."

Erso's eyes narrowed. "What story?"

"We have a way to get to orbit and dismantle the satellites," said Cassian, since Ma seemed determined to tell her.

"Oh yeah? How?"

"Come back to the farm with us," said Ma. "We'll show you."

—

5. Splashdown

Jyn wondered why she was doing this. Letting the space alien son of a member of Congress launch her into space. So she could watch and record as he destroyed the satellites that Krennic had installed to limit and control all electronic transmissions.

Because it's the story. Because it's my job. Because it's a way out.

Staring into the black space was fascinating. Watching Cassian Kent fiddling with the satellite was oddly nerve-wracking. It wasn't natural for a person to be in space without a suit, dammit.

It depended on the person, apparently.

Everything seemed fine. It didn't seem unusual that Cassian was moving more slowly as time went on; it was a delicate and difficult task, from what she could see.

But then there was a twin flash of light. One targeted Cassian. The other was headed straight for the ship—the one she was on—and suddenly everything was darkness and fire.

She became aware that she was aware, and then that Cassian was clutching her shoulders and yelling her name. "Jyn! Jyn!"

She groaned. Whatever had happened, she didn't feel great. By the look on Cassian's face, he didn't either.

"We're in a protective bubble I'm using my heat vision to make," he said rapidly. "We aren't going to burn up, or freeze, or anything. But there's a problem. I'm sorry."

"What problem?" Jyn croaked.

"Whatever that satellite hit me with. I can't stop using my powers once I start. I directed us back toward Earth, and we keep picking up speed. I don't know what's going to happen when we get to the ground."

"Oh," said Jyn. "Is that all."

Cassian spluttered. Whatever reaction he'd been expecting, this wasn't it. "I think it's enough!" he hissed.

"Well," said Jyn, "I'm sorry." She grabbed his right shoulder with one hand and fumbled in her shirt for her necklace with the other. She grabbed the crystal tightly, and stabbed him in the left shoulder with it. His eyes rolled back into his head, and they were free-falling.

It was weirdly satisfying for a moment. But she didn't actually want to die right now. She yanked the crystal out of his shoulder and hoped.

When she opened her eyes, she was lying on a beach. Cassian was staring down at her. "What the hell was that?" he demanded.

"I'm not dead, huh," she muttered. "Thanks." She meant it, but he huffed impatiently.

"Asking again, what was—"

"Blue kryptonite," she interrupted, sitting up. "Daughter of a military research scientist, you know? I wore this for years but I never knew what it was until Bodhi Rook came to me with that message. It stops Kryptonian powers. When something isn't working, you unplug it and plug it back in again."

The huffy noise again. "I am not a malfunctioning router!"

"I know," Jyn told him. "I didn't even know if it would work. But it did. And we're alive." She reached for his hand. He let her take it. "And we got a recording of you and the satellite to the ground, before everything blew up. So we have some proof of what Krennic is doing."

He blinked. "We did? We do?"

"We did. Leia Organa has it." She grinned. "No offense, but she has better contacts than your mom. She may be younger, but she's been playing the DC game longer. So with any luck, we've stopped Krennic, my dad and Bodhi will get undisappeared, and—" she hesitated "—I'll get my job back." It seemed smaller than everything else. But her job had brought her here.

Cassian was looking at her. "Back to Metropolis?"

"If I can."

He swallowed. "Do you think—you might visit Smallville sometimes. For a break?" he asked awkwardly.

"That place makes me crazy," she said honestly. "But I never did get to try that coffee your mom mentioned at the farmers market. We could do that."