Title: The Compromise
Author: divapilot
Genre: humor
Timeline: Saga (Rogue One) - AU
Characters: Cassian Andor, K2SO

Synopsis: After so many years together, K2SO realizes that he may have to share his captain with... a girl.


Note: This AU obviously assumes that the events of Rogue One ended differently and our heroes survived the events of Scarif. Written in response to the “first line/last line” challenge in the Mini-Games Challenges. I received:

First line: "Are you going to leave me standing here?" Last Line: "I always appreciate a worthy opponent."

As soon as I read the lines, I heard K-2SO’s snarky voice.


***


“Are you going to leave me standing here?” Kaytoo demanded indignantly.

Cassian looked up from his gear bag and glanced over his shoulder. “No. Of course not. You’re coming too.”

The security droid pulled his shoulders back and angled his head, a gesture that Cassian could only interpret as indicating that Kaytoo was in a huff. “Well, I wasn’t sure you wanted me anymore. You seem to have acquired a permanent new addition to our crew, and I thought maybe you changed your mind about having me as your co-pilot.” His long metal legs quickly made up the space between them.

Cassian stood up and straightened his back. He handed the heavier part of the equipment to Kaytoo then swung his gear bag over his own shoulder. “Our crew is as big as I say it is,” Cassian reminded him. “I’m the captain. I make the decisions.”

“And how many times have I had to save you from those decisions? Remember Scarif? How we almost got killed? Good thing I was able to contact the Alliance to send in the support teams to come get us. We would have all been destroyed if I hadn’t.”

Cassian closed his eyes to keep from rolling them. “Yes, yes. I know. And we have thanked you a number of times for that.”

The droid stopped. “‘We’? Which ‘we’ do you mean: the strike team, or you and her?”

“She has a name. It’s Jyn.”

“Whatever,” the droid muttered.

The pair reached the ship and walked up the ramp together. Kaytoo stomped up the metal ramp, and Cassian threw him an admonishing look. “Be quiet,” Cassian said. “Jyn was up late last night patching up our communications system. She’s trying to sleep.” He pointed to an empty space in the cargo bay. “The equipment can go there.”

Kaytoo shuffled over to the spot and placed the heavy piece on the floor, letting it hit with a ringing clang. “Oh, I’m sorry. Too loud?” he asked.

Cassian glared at him. “Kaytoo, I swear, I will wipe whatever memory is left in your metal skull.”

Shaking his head, Cassian made his way down the passageway of the ship to the cockpit as Kaytoo followed close behind.

“Why did you do that?” Kaytoo asked suddenly.

“Do what?”

“You lingered.”

“I what?

“You lingered at the door of the cabin,” Kaytoo said. “You spent an extra 0.57 seconds at the door to your cabin before continuing. Why did you do that? Is it because she’s in there?”

Cassian let out an exasperated sigh. “Kaytoo, so what if I did? Why do you care?” He lowered himself into the captain’s seat, pressed the button to retract the ramp, and began the procedure for take off.

Kaytoo paused at the co-pilot’s seat, and Cassian, frowning, turned to look up at him. “Why aren’t you sitting down?” he asked.

The droid swung his arms expressively, barely missing hitting Cassian in the process. “Look at this!” he complained.

“Look at what?” Cassian countered. “Just get in the seat. We have to get going. We’ll miss the connection to our rendezvous.”

Kaytoo balked. “The seat has been adjusted. It now fits a human of approximately 1.6 meters tall.” His metal head turned to face Cassian, and his voice took on an accusatory tone. “She’s 1.6 meters tall. Has she been sitting here?”

This time Cassian did roll his eyes. “Yes, she sat here. You were deactivated, recharging, and she sat here.”

The droid made an elaborate procedure out of resetting the seat to fit his nearly 2.2 meter frame. “Well, it’s not right. This is my seat. Her seat is back there.” He gestured behind him.

“Back where?” Cassian asked.

“Outside.”

“No.” Cassian turned to face him. He spoke sharply. “Kaytoo, this has got to stop. Jyn is part of this crew now. I will not tolerate your disrespect of her. You need to call her by her name, and you have to understand she isn’t going anywhere.”

Kaytoo folded his frame into the seat and adjusted it to suit himself. He suddenly took an intense interest in preflight protocols, directing his full attention to the panels as he switched the navcomputer to standby and inspected the fuel monitors. Eventually he turned his head back toward Cassian.

“Come to think of it, how often have I been recharging lately?” he asked. “Because I don’t think I was actually recharging. I think you shut me down. I was missing 43.154 minutes of memory last week.” Kaytoo turned to face Cassian.

The captain dragged his hand through his dark wavy hair. “Look, Kaytoo,” he said patiently. “You know that Jyn and I are in love. You know we are a couple. Sometimes a couple in love wants to be alone with each other.” His tone softened and he spoke gently to the droid. “She’s my heart. I can’t live without her. You’re still my best friend, but there is a part of me that belongs to her now. You have to understand that it’s not a competition. I can love both of you.”

“But she’s so disagreeable,” Kaytoo complained.

“Not to me.”

“I just don’t understand why she has to come along on the missions,” Kaytoo said. “It’s always been you and me. Ever since I decided not to strangle you, we have been a team.” He leaned in toward Cassian. “A great team. A team of two, not three.”

“She’s an asset to the team.”

Kaytoo stared at Cassian with his unblinking optical receptors, exhibiting an uncanny expression of disbelief on his metallic face. “How?”

Cassian sighed. “Jyn’s smart. She’s resourceful. She’s brave. And she cares about both of us. No, don’t make that noise. Jyn does care about you, Kaytoo. We both want you with us. But for us to work together, we all need to respect each other.”

The ship shuddered and rose above the ground. Kaytoo flipped the switch to retract the landing struts as Cassian slowly handled the levers that controlled the propulsion. The ship banked slightly and accelerated skyward. The brightness of the atmosphere slipped seamlessly into the dark black of space. Cassian felt the subtle pressure change as the artificial gravity set in.

Kaytoo locked in the navcomputer coordinates. “I fail to see how she can be anything other than an adversary.”

“Listen,” Cassian said. He scratched his stubbly face thoughtfully, then gestured toward Kaytoo. “You were designed to be a security droid. You must know that not all opponents are hostile. Think of it this way. With Jyn around, sometimes she’s going to have my attention and you’re not. Sometimes I’m going to listen to her and not to you. It doesn’t make you any less important to me.” He raised an eyebrow beseechingly. “You know how in your old life, sometimes you had to revise your programming to meet the demands of a more sophisticated scenario?”

Kaytoo paused before answering. “Yes. But what does that have to do with h-- with Jyn?”

Cassian spoke quickly, his accent becoming stronger as he pressed his advantage. “Whenever you had to improvise and adapt, you built new neural connections that made you quicker, stronger. Think of it. Having Jyn here with us might just push you to become better. If you can’t see her as a friend right now, then consider her as someone who challenges you to press beyond your programming. Someone who gives you a new perspective and makes you better in the long run.”

“She’s not leaving. You’re going to have to adjust your programming. We’re a team of three now, and that’s the way it is.” A smile crept slowly to Cassian’s lips. “These are your captain’s orders. Learn to tolerate Jyn. We’ll work on friendship with her later.”

Kaytoo turned to stare out of the viewscreen as he considered this possibility. The droid was silent for a moment. Finally he turned back towards Cassian. “I suppose I could make it work,” Kaytoo conceded. “I appreciate a worthy opponent.”

 

The droid made an elaborate procedure out of resetting the seat to fit his nearly 2.2 meter frame. “Well, it’s not right. This is my seat. Her seat is back there.” He gestured behind him.

“Back where?” Cassian asked.

“Outside.”



Wonderfully in character for each of them, as Cassian persuades Kaytoo to get accustomed to Jyn. Cassian is right; Jyn is an asset, and the fact that he's made room for her in his life in no way decreases his friendship with Kaytoo.


An excellent use of the first and the last lines.

 

Oh, this was delightful! Great choice of characters, here—your first and last lines are JUST SPOT-ON PERFECT for K-2SO and his characteristic brand of snark! I could hear Alan Tudyk’s voice all the way through. And the whole scenario is of course the exact thing that I could see happening in this AU (and folks, it’s only an AU if one wants it to be ). K, who with his security background is sort of accustomed to viewing interpersonal relations in an adversarial manner anyway, would definitely be thrown for a bit of a loop by the burgeoning romance between Cassian and Jyn. But Cassian knows just the right words to reassure him while still telling it how it is. I love that he appeals to K’s own programming toward the end: even though one of Cassian’s points is that his affection for both K and Jyn is not, in fact, a zero-sum, adversarial thing, it turns out that turning it into a “worthy opponent”-type competition is, in fact—perhaps a bit ironically—the way for K to start getting that message. And hey, I could see it resulting in some fun banter and snark with Jyn down the line—2x the banter and snark for the price of one ain’t too shabby! Thanks so much for sharing—always love how you write these characters, and always love your writing in general!

 

Thank you for your response! I can't help it; I still think Jyn/Cassian is one of the best ships in the GFFA. They so perfectly fill in the broken spaces in each other's lives. (Even if they never even kiss in the real canon.) I think Kay would really be taken aback by this interloper!

Thank you! Like I said to @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha , I am so smitten with the whole AU Jyn/Cassian ship. I guess my tragic Shakespearean tendencies are showing!

That first line just had all the indignation and snark that I could see coming from Kaytoo. I can imagine that after being reprogramed to be loyal to Cassian, he would be very confused by Cassian needing anyone else in his life.

Cassian is a man who doesn't waffle; he makes his mind up and commits to it. When he makes the critical decision to not shoot Jyn's father, he understands the consequences (violating a direct order from his superior) and he doesn't waver. He's committed to her now. I would assume he would be the same in love. This is how it is now. And he does have a fondness for Kaytoo, so he would try to explain it in terms Kaytoo could appreciate.

Thank you again. And thank you for this challenge! It was a lot of fun.

Hi Finds! Thanks for the thoughtful response! Honestly, when I'm writing, if I can hear the actor's voice then I'm pretty sure I got it right.

Oh you and I both know that! You have them both surviving and living on a year-long clambake on Scarif; I have then both surviving and traveling the stars together.

Cassian, by his own career, is a good assessor of how to approach people (or droids) and how to convince them to do what he wants. I think he understands what motivates Kaytoo, so he appeals to that. And yes, I bet there would be a LOT of snark when Kaytoo decides he wants to let Jyn in the club too! (Not that he really has a choice...Cassian's the captain here, ya know. )

Thank you all for your kind comments!