The second chapter of my RCSS for @oh-nostalgiaa is finally here, even if the artwork I made to go with it is spoiler-ish for a future chapter oops.
Hope it delivers!
Haidoral Prime
Harsh rains had chosen to flood the muggy streets and dense urban clusters of the Mid-Rim world. Mingled with its plastic pollution and industrial waste, the rain brought with it the pungent odour of sulphur and vinegar and Imperial occupation in its late stages.
The camouflage hood over his sniper’s perch gave him little protection from the rain. While it kept his clothes from getting sodden at the back and even his head was relatively dry, water dripped down the opening of the hood from where he watched the entrance of the building ten floors below. Sometimes the rain was swept in his direction by the wind. Lying on his front with his rifle mounted and a consistent ache in his shoulders, the water flooding the rooftop perch from that opening had soaked in through the front of his shirt and made the pain ten times worse.
Cassian was used to long periods in a sniper’s nest, and this was only the end of his first hour. But the bolts of sharp pain that shot up his spine and made his arms unsteady, and made his shoulders feel like they’d been hammered with the barrel of a middle launcher— that part was all new.
The disdain he had for rains of this sort- harsh, battering down with force and winds that repeatedly altered its course- was also new, born from a bad memory in craggy, treacherous Eadu, on a mission that felt like a lifetime ago.
Eighteen months, to be exact. Give or take a few.
Fourteen months since he’d been released from medbay after multiple surgeries and physical therapy sessions that hadn’t fixed much of anything.
Thirteen months since he’d been given clearance to get back into the field, one low-risk op at a time, with a new identity and a rank below.
Cassian looked over his shoulder and down when his comm chirped, a red light blinking from under a stream of muddy water. He scooped it out of the mud, shaking it dry before holding it close to his ear. “What’s the holdup, Rig-Two?”
He breathed evenly through the rush of static. Careless as he’d been with his health in the past, half a dozen spinal implants was more than he was willing to put up with, so the plan, as soon as his job here was done, was to find a sonic and get himself dry before the water got him sick.
“Looks like there won’t be work here,” came the voice of his contact, sounding even more nervous than usual.“The Gov- er, the target has changed location. He’s gone somewhere else.”
Cassian irritably blinked the water out of his eyes. “Elaborate.”
He could imagine the Rhodian- a willing contributor to the rebellion’s cause, family man who wanted to get involved but not too involved, and inside-man in the Imperial system set up on Haidoral- anxiously pacing whatever safe corner he’d found inside the building.
“Montral was here, he landed, but he didn’t come here. According to the office staff here he took some ‘troopers with him and went to Glitter, as aid to Governor Chalis.”
Cassian snagged the hood down, cutting off more light and rain from the outside world. “Glitter?”
“Haidoral Administrative Center One,” the Rodian explained. “It’s what they call it. City a long way from here.”
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