Title: The Price of Hope
Author: Divapilot
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Various
Eras: I am going to try to stick with Saga, and Rogue One in particular, if I can. I will tag any entries that are not Saga-PT as appropriate.
Summary: Written in response to the UDC VIII Challenge. I hope to explore the theme of heroism in Rogue One. Yeah. Fifty two times. We shall see.



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Week 1. Together (Galen Erso)

Valor
Ever since he had been young, he had been in love with the eloquence of the equation, the graceful dance of data and statistics. Mathematics was his muse.

Galen saw the world through the eyes of the artist, not one who sketched or painted but one who worked in clean, elegant numbers. Leave the plots of passion, those heroic acts of valor or battlefield bravery to others. The pure light of mathematics shielded him from the chaos of emotion. It was simple. If it could be calculated, it could be designed. If it could be designed, it could be built.

Honor
The men worked late into the night to unlock the hidden riddles of the algorithms. Galen smiled as his best friend sat across the table from him. Galen lifted his steaming mug and sipped, then set his caf aside to turn the datapad to his friend. The other young man frowned in concentration as he examined Galen’s work, then he smiled. They had cracked it. Together. They would share the honor of publishing their work as co-authors.

Galen relaxed as Orson confirmed his calculations. The mysteries of crystallography were theirs, and the galaxy would be the beneficiary of their work.


Sacrifice
The caverns glittered with the reflected light of their glowlamps. Thousands of brilliant minerals dotted the walls and ceilings of the structure.

The young woman at his side turned to him. “The ones further back are even better,” she said. “The entrance isn’t open yet. Getting there is difficult, but it’s worth the sacrifice.”

The glowlamp cast a soft illumination on her face. The cavern was truly beautiful, but her beauty shone more brightly. Lyra smiled at him and his heart thudded. “Are you up for the challenge?” she asked.

“We’ll go together,” Galen said, talking her hand in his.

Defeat
The news swept around the small laboratory on Eadu. The weapon they’d help design – their weapon – had been a tremendous success. One discharge had devastated an entire sector of Jedha. True, there were a few civilian casualties, but the region was rife with terrorists and rebels. And as they say, sometimes you have to destroy the whole forest to eliminate the deadly viper. The engineers celebrated. They had worked together to create this, and now they would receive the glory.

Galen sat silently. His work had been instrumental in this disaster. The Empire’s greatest success marked his most bitter defeat.

Victory
Galen watched those same engineers who just hours before had celebrated the destruction of Jedha. Now they huddled close, fear frozen, as Krennic demanded to know who had sent the signal.

Krennic knew it was Galen. Terrorizing the scientists was simply another way to torture his former friend. What would these men’s pathetic lives matter when Krennic had taken Lyra from him, had exiled him from his daughter, had forced him to kill for the Empire?

But Galen had already embedded his solitary victory in his designs. The elegant mathematics, too advanced for anyone else, would someday deliver his revenge.

 

What a fascinating Polly Pocket Micromachines kind of a characterisation of Galen Erso. This format makes it pretty flattering, too. And one can see what kind of a spectrum of emotion and a rollercoaster his life had been.

Valor - "I'm before the equitation and I'm the answer." Just that, yeah.

Honor - Now, that's a nice inverse, knowing that Orson lacks honour.

Sacrifice - Another...creative attempt. NICE SACRIFICE. But, in a way, bringing child into a life like Galen and Lyra's and knowing what happens to her IS sacrifice. Say, is this canon, from Catalyst, or fanon? Asking because I have not read the book yet.

Defeat - This must be how Einstein felt. Einstein vs. the pilot who threw Enola Gay.

Victory - WOW. First, I love it how the series goes from Orson, a friend, to Krennic, a supervisor and a bumkriffhole. A person who kills people for the heck of it, and KNOWS whose fault it was. So they won't betray him later. FUNNY, THIS IS WHAT TARKIN WILL DO TO HIM. LOL, U FAILED.

My favourite bit in all five drabbles has got to be this:

And then, the beauty of learning new things, finding stuff out...

...followed by the ugly reality of being tricked by a minor manipulator (who will then be tricked by the major manipulator).

Just great.

 

Wow!!!! A series of drabbles to draw a lovely sketch of an interesting man. And so sad to see the devolution of his friendship with Krennic. Ewok Poet's favorite quote is mine, too, although all of them are JUST...WOW...

 

a perfect view in the life of Galen

 

Galen Erso was probably my favourite part of Rouge One (probably due to Mads Mikkelsen being one of my favourite actors). He really shows that heroes in SW don't allways need to be great fighters or pilots.
I really enjoyed your drabbles of Galen they gave a little more insight to him.
Thanks

 

You really wrote him beautiful and Krennic, too! I am still very much under the impression of the texts.

 

Thank you! Galen had a tough life. It isn’t easy being a pacifist when you are the sole owner of the knowledge to make the deadliest weapons.

Valor: You know me, I love me some elegant mathematics. Elegant equations and all that.
Honor: Galen and Orson were once close friends, each of them working together to unlock the scientific and mathematical mysteries. Then greed got in the way.
Sacrifice: this is pure fanon. I am currently reading the novelization of Rogue One, and I probably ought to read Catalyst.
Defeat: “I have become Shiva, the destroyer of worlds.”
Victory: Yes, Orson Krennic went from the friend and colleague, Orson, to the tyrannical director, Krennic. Someone who thinks friendship is a leverage tool, and someone who believes that anybody is expendable. I think that a sense of sadism, perhaps grown out of jealousy, pervaded Krennic’s relationship with Erso. When I saw the movie, the senselessness of murdering the engineers was eye-opening. The only reason why Krennic would have done that would be to torment Galen Erso.

Which brings us back to the naïve statement Galen thinks in the first drabble- if you can design it, you can build it. But some things should never be built, even if you can.
Thank you so much for your reply!

Thank you so much! I appreciate it. Galen is fascinating. In another time period, pre-Imperial, he would have been a celebrated Renaissance man, a respected scholar. But in this militaristic dystopia, he is an unwilling pawn.

Thank you! I’m glad you liked it.

I think most scientists and mathematicians pursue their studies for the sheer excitement and beauty of the knowledge. The science is pure, it’s in the way that that knowledge is applied that becomes evil. The same science that can create a cure for a disease can also design a biological weapon.

Lyra was a geologist, and they met when he was working on the properties of crystals. Their shared enthusiasm for their fields became love. Unlike the shared enthusiasm for crystallography that Orson and Galen had, which turned to jealousy and spitefulness. And as for the end, yes, it came back to the calculations. The one drawback with being the only person in the galaxy who can handle such complex ideas is that nobody can check your work to see what it is you’re really doing there. Galen must have known that he would be eliminated at some point; he would do what he could to destroy the monstrosity he was forced to create.

Aw, thank you!

Thank you! I appreciate you taking the time to read and reply. Glad you liked them.

Thank you for your kind words! I confess I didn’t really know much about any of the actors in Rogue One. I did like the quiet dignity that Mads Mikkelsen brought to this tragic character. There are heroes everywhere in SW, but you have to look. An act of defiance against tyranny takes many forms.

Thank you so much! I’m happy you liked these.


Thank you to all who stopped in to read!

 

Week 2. (Tag = Saga-PT) By Any Other Name (Mon Mothma)

Name
Ironically, she always considered herself a pacifist. Yet as a senator, she couldn’t prevent the Clone Wars from spilling blood throughout the galaxy. People were desperate to trade anything to stop the violence.

When the Emperor offered the iron fist of authoritarianism to clamp shut the blood of war, her exhausted comrades in the senate agreed. They believed they found peace at last. Then the blood flowed again; first the Jedi, then the nonhumans, the protesters, the free thinkers. The blood poured from those who would raise a questioning voice to ask what more suffering in the name of peace.



Title
This girl – thief, forger – could bring truth to the Senate with her father’s testimony. But, they argued, could she – brawler, fighter – be trusted? Would she simply usurp their plan and disappear, taking their hope with her? This mission was of unprecedented importance, and could they trust it to an anarchist? This assailant? A renegade?

The heated exchange continued behind her, and Mon sighed. Yes, Jyn had a criminal background and sordid reputation. But what right did they have to judge her actions? She was their best chance to find Erso. In the end, they all bore the title of rebel.


Number
There were three of them once, Mon recalled; the former queen, the Viceroy, and herself. Their knowing glances became whispered words, which turned into secret meetings. The Empire could not continue its destructive ways, and the three of them pledged to restore democracy, even if it meant igniting a rebellion.

It didn’t take long before their number dropped to two. No clear explanation of how a healthy woman like Padme could suddenly pass away was ever given. She and Bail, the surviving two, knew Padme was somehow a casualty of war. How much longer before death came for them, too?


Date
Nobody assumed the rebellion would win overnight. The Emperor had apparently planned his coup for years, carefully setting up safeguards and systems to ensure his continued reign for decades.

And so the years slipped by. Another Fete Week, another set of Naming Days come and gone. And every year, there came the display of military prowess and nonstop propaganda that accompanied Empire Day.

Mon Motha didn’t bother to observe any of those festivals. She had a war to run. But one day, she hoped she would be there to observe the one date she yearned for the most: Liberation Day.


Legacy
Sometimes she wonders if time will be kind to her in the end. She has given up everything for this cause, in hopes of the return to peace and democracy. These people, bound only by a common desire for freedom, look to her for calm guidance.

How will history remember her? It depends, she muses, on who has the upper hand in the end. Her very existence depends on whether this band of desperate fighters can suppress the flawless workings of the Empire’s deadly designs. In a way, they would decide what her ultimate legacy would be.

Hero.

Traitor.

Forgotten.

 

Superb view of Mon Mothma, one of the nice characters I like

 

Your Mon Mothma is a great, considerate woman. Always thinking of those who fight with her.

 

How did I not manage to catch up with these? They're some of the best R1-related writing I've seen here yet, and they're suffused with the same beauty and pathos that the film was. Galen is kind of a left-brain version of the "artist of the beautiful" in the eponymous story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, in pursuit of ultimate truth and elegance by way of his calculations, blueprints, and crystals (and how fitting that the crystals are the setting for his romance with Lyra ). He's an inverse of the artist in the Hawthorne story, though, in a way: while the Hawthorne character faces devastation when his beautiful, perfect creation is itself destroyed, Galen has to grapple with how destructive his own artwork itself has turned out to be—and yet he manages to use those same elegant equations and calculations to design in the one flaw that will ultimately lead to victory. (Love how "Victory" was framed around the scene with the engineers on Eadu, which I always found particularly wrenching—all those dear old gents have their own "stardusts" out there somewhere, too! )

I like your choice of Mon Mothma for the second group, particularly for the way you explore the very different views of her that we get even from her few film appearances. When she appears in ROTJ, she's the serene, angelic Good Guy leader, though ROTS showed us that she ran grave risks in conspiring with Padmé and Bail found the Rebellion (and it's really interesting to see Padmé's death here from her viewpoint, reminding her that it's a risk all of them run for the cause they've espoused). In Rogue One, though, she's a more adversarial figure who's averse to Jyn's more ragtag approach to rebellion—though, as you show us, reasonable too, because she realizes that Jyn's the ideal person for the mission. And it's great to see the "Legacy" prompt applied to her—that word in the SW universe is so often so closely linked with the Skywalkers or other Force users, but of course they're not the only ones whose actions and choices will have lasting effects on the Galaxy. That bittersweet final word, though—I sure hope to goodness she won't be forgotten!

Mighty fine work, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this will continue—a full 100-drabble group centered around Rogue One is an ambitious project indeed, but from what I see here you are more than capable!

 

Name: I often had this irony coming to my mind when it came to Mon and it makes sense in your drabble. So many pacifists in high positions have to do what they normally wouldn't in the war. Pretty much like everybody else, just with some more folks wanting them dead and some more credits available to them.

Title: She doesn't trust Jyn here just yet and it's kind of heartbreaking. But you got something out of one blank facial expression and sort of...sort of redeemed her.

Number: Well, you will soon be the only one left. Consider yourself lucky. And yes, Padmé was probably the first purely personal and purely political causality of the war, because Yoda survived. And now my heart breaks for Bail...because he'll be gone in no time.

Date: This was played straight and it worked. Holidays of past and future, none of them an actual happy occasion, but still, these beings have one thing that they can still celebrate: their HOPE.

Legacy: This never came to my mind, unlike the topic of "Name" did. Great exploration of could've beens for this woman, and the horror of the Empire crushing the Rebellion.

I echo Findswoman - this is an ambitious, ambitious project.

 

I love these! I related to Galen in particular because sometimes math, science, and the problem-solving inherent in it has been a solace at times for me when life was just too intense. And your series with Mon Mothma gives depth to a character who even in Legends EU never really felt fleshed out. Bravo!

 

Nice drabbles
Mon Mothma is another of these characters who are pretty badass without being great fighters.
I mean she, alongside Bail Organa, was one of the few honest politicians we see in SW and of course she was the political leader of the rebel allliance.
I like how you explore her here, her strong conviction to bring down the empire even if it costs her life and how she cares about her soldiers.
The galaxy needs more leaders like her.

 

Thank you! I’m glad you liked it. Mon Mothma is an interesting person because she is one of the few who was there in the very beginning to actually make it to the end. It was fun to write her.

Thank you! I always saw her as the calm, queen-like presence who walked a thin line between being a leader of the rebel alliance and the senator. She risked so much to lead these people.

Thank you for this really lovely response. I appreciate it. I just re-watched R1 and it is interesting how Galen said that he had to learn to lie to survive. It must have been a wretched life, creating such a monstrosity with the beautiful gifts he had been given. But he did it all for his Stardust, in hopes that the Rebellion would survive and maybe, her with it. The scene with the engineers is heartbreaking – Galen had confessed to sending the message, but Krennic casually kills the engineers anyway. The only reason for killing them was because Krennic knew it would hurt Galen.

Mon Mothma is the figure that, more than anyone, ties R1 to the other films. She has more screen time than Bail, and she is more central to the plot. She is still trying to achieve peace through law and order – hoping that Galen’s voice in the Senate will open people’s eyes to the danger. She is aware of the great danger. She, Padmé and Bail started this, and how soon afterward Padmé mysteriously died. Little does she know that very soon after this event, it will be only her. And Mon Mothma must wonder if it is all worth it – will they succeed? Will they be annihilated? Will she even be remembered at all?

Thanks! That’s the plan, keeping it Rogue One. Thankfully, it’s a pretty big cast with lots of plot elements to explore.

Thank you for the kind response. It is ironic that someone like Mon, who is at heart a pacifist and someone who as a Senator has a deep respect for the law and the proper procedure, would be the leader of a rebellion. Everyone, it seems, in R1 has done something that they wish they could wash their hands of, and for Mon Mothma it has to be the knowledge that her orders send people to their inevitable deaths.

Jyn is trouble, that’s no doubt. She is a complete unknown and she has strong ties to Saw Guerra, who is even too extreme for the Rebel Alliance. But I think Mon Mothma knows the stakes and she is willing to see what happens. Jyn is, ironically, Mon’s best shot at retrieving Galen and finding a political solution to this as opposed to a military one.

That’s it exactly, and I am so glad you caught that. Bail, unknowingly, has only days – if not hours- left to live. The three of them started this rebellion and now only Mon Mothma is left to see it to the end.

I would think they wouldn’t have time to celebrate any holidays, and the idea of Empire Day must be abhorrent to them. So they dream of a Liberation Day to come.

It seemed like at one point the entire thing was falling down around them, people were talking of disbanding and going into hiding. Mon Mothma had to hold the very fabric of the rebellion from splitting apart. The victor gets to decide the role that everyone has played, and that’s the legacy that she will inherit.

Thanks, I’m gonna give it a go.

Thank you! Like Galen, I have a love for mathematics and how graceful and elegant it can be. But sometimes you can get blinded to the application of the pure mathematics, and to see what you created being turned into a monstrosity must have nearly killed Galen. As for Mon Mothma, she is an important character who is too often overlooked. I would love to know her backstory. Thanks for the kind response.

Thank you for your great response. Mon Mothma is the force behind a lot of what gets accomplished. Between her and Bail Organa, they keep the Rebellion’s interests alive in the Senate at such a dangerous cost – Bail’s entire planet pays for his disloyalty to the Empire. Her calmness, her confidence, and her conviction inspire others to follow her lead.

Thank you! I’m glad you liked it. And that actress – amazing. I mean, Jimmy Smits was looking a little …round… and not exactly like the young man he was in ROTS but the actress who played her in the 2005 ROTS is the same woman. She hasn’t aged. It’s uncanny.

Even today we see people willing to throw their civil rights away for the illusion of security. It tells how strong she was to never give up hope that a political solution could be achieved, even as the war raged around her.

Exactly! They are all rebels and traitors to the Empire. What right do they have to judge her?

Yes. They were the three who started it all, but only Mon will survive to see the outcome. I’ve wondered if it were Mon who had been the one with the plans in the end instead of Bail and Leia, would Chandrilla and not Alderaan have been destroyed?

Every year marks another year that the war has gone on. But they have to have a goal, something to work towards, otherwise what is the point?

Thank you! Mon must have had her dark days when it seemed like they were fighting a useless fight. The Empire is not as weak as we often laughingly assume. It was brutal and heartless. Failure was a real possibility for the rebels.

Thank you to everyone who stopped in to read and/or reply.

 

Week 3. Intelligence Officer (Cassian Andor)

Helpless
Cassian gritted his teeth when he saw the informant, Tivik, standing in the alleyway. The man was a coward, useless in a fight, but his inconsistent information had occasionally hit the target. This time, a sling cradled a helpless arm.

Cassian stopped for just a moment to catch his breath, until the sharp smell of ammonia from the housing unit propelled him into the alley and out of the fumes. From Coruscant to Coralag to the Ring of Kafree, he’d spent the last few days racing after a ghost of a rumor, without pause or rest.

This better be good.


Satisfied
Tivik gave fragments of facts, teasing hints of intel. A weapon. A defected pilot. Galen Erso. But Cassian needed more to pull the random pieces into one coherent idea. Then the man’s cowardly streak reasserted itself, and Tivik began to panic. Something about a weapon, something, something. Cassian knew the signs – In another moment, Tivik would bolt. “What kind of weapon?” he repeated.

Time was running out. Cassian jerked the man up against the wall. He dug his fingers into Tivik’s injured arm. Tivik gasped. Satisfied that he now had Tivik’s full attention, Cassian demanded again: “What kind of weapon?”


Enough
Cassian analyzed the facts with laser-fast efficiency, incorporating this new information into what he already knew. In Cassian’s mind, pieces slid and locked into place. Tivek was getting anxious, and Cassian had to extract any useful information now, before Tivek had had enough.

Cassian pressed him harder against the wall. If there was any intelligence to be obtained, the rebellion had to have it first. He needed to know now. “What kind of weapon?” he hissed.

Tivek whispered. “A planet killer.”

Cassian’s blood ran cold. Could the Empire be so brutal? But then, he already knew the answer to that.


Non-stop
The two troopers lay still in the alley, and beyond them came the sound of stomping boots and squawking comm devices. There wasn’t much time. Once in pursuit, the troopers were nonstop.

Cassian surveyed the distance from the alley to the rooftop, calculating how far he would have to climb to safety. Tivek realized Cassian’s intent. “My arm…” he pleaded.

His damaged arm made climbing anything impossible. There was only one way out of the alley and it would soon be flooded with stormtroopers. They had seconds.

“Is it true?” Cassian asked.

The man nodded.

Cassian reached for his gun.


Burn
Loose ends that could lead the Imperials to rebel intelligence need to burn and be destroyed. There can be no trace of what Tivek told Cassian.

It was necessary, Cassian reasoned. It made sense. If they captured Tivek, they’d interrogate him and he would shatter. He would tell them everything that he told Cassian. And on top of it, they would have Cassian’s name, marking him as a primary target. Cassian had no choice.

But still, after all his rationalization, Cassian couldn’t shake the image in his mind of the fear on Tivik’s face right before Cassian pulled the trigger.

 

That was pretty dark.
One of the things I liked about Rouge One is that it made the rebels more grey than the shining heroes they are in the classic movies. A nice drabble, I really felt bad for Tivik at the end. It was rational to kill him but despite being a so called coward he had helped the rebels. He didn't deserved to go out this way. I liked the view in Cassian's mind.

 

I like Cassian, he had to do what he must and kill his informant

 

I am not big on the character, but these drabbles are masterful, so what I can do is nod and clap only. You described his non-compromise attitude perfectly. The last one is a magnificent - I'd say glorious, but that doesn't fit the situation - culmination of the whole set.

 

Ooh, these were wrenching. Chirrut said that "the Force flows darkly around a creature who is about to kill," but one doesn't have to be Force-sensitive to sense that something dark is at work in Cassian's interrogation of Tivik from the start of this group of drabbles. As Ewok Poet says, he simply will not give up—even if it means hounding and ultimately killing a man who is wounded, disabled, and mortally scared. But you still managed to portray that in a way that stopped short of condoning Cassian's violence, and he does have that one very telling pang of remorse at that final trigger-pull moment.

I can only echo Anedon 's observation about the portrayal of the Rebels in Rogue One—they are definitely a more checkered bunch there than in any of the previous films, which of course befits the darker atmosphere of this film. And once again, your drabbles are fitting in perfectly with that atmosphere, even enriching it—so brava once again!

 

I shivered involuntarily when reading this set of drabbles, but it was well done. Cassian sure is an interesting character and by writing what you did, you gave him depths. And by doing so you gave us a precious insight into his motives.

 

It's wierd. Having done my own arc through these five prompts, it adds an extra frisson to see yours.

I really liked how you worded Cassian realising he had but moments to tease every last bit of intelligence from Tivek, before the man panicked, or they were discovered.

Great work with all of them.

 

Thank you! Yes, when you really start to look at it, the characters are very dark. According to the novelization, Cassian has a tendency to categorize the people he kills as either “necessary” kills or “righteous” kills. Tivik definitely falls into the “necessary” category. Had he not been injured, Cassian would have helped him escape. It’s all about survival for Cassian, but he still has a conscience and it bothered him to have to kill Tivik.

Thank you! Cassian is an interesting character. He is a killer but he has a conscience. He didn’t enjoy killing but he saw it as a necessary part of his own survival. It hints at the brutality of his own upbringing, since he said he has been fighting this war since he was six years old. What must he have seen?

Thank you, EP! It’s easy to forget that Cassian, with his good looks and his charm, is a killer. He will not hesitate to eliminate anyone who jeopardizes his plans or his own survival. But there is a conscience there, too, and a sort of self-imposed moral code. He knows that killing Tivik was necessary but it still bothers him. Tivik deserved better.

Thank you for the reply! Cassian is a deceptively dark character. He seems to be haunted by the untold events of his past, a long history of violence and surviving on a knife edge. In a way, his background echoes Jyn’s past with Saw. I think Cassian has placed all his money on the Rebellion and can’t afford to risk anything, including letting Tivik live. He feels bad about killing Tivik, but … he still did it.

Thank you! There aren’t clear good guys/bad guys here. They are so over their heads in this war, both emotionally and in terms of military might. Cassian seems to live in a “kill or be killed” mentality, even though it bothers him. I think he is trying to balance the idealism of the Rebellion with the dirty fact that war kills innocent people, and sometimes he’s the one to pull the trigger.

Thank you! I’m still reading the novel so I don’t know if the author has any hints to Cassian’s upbringing. He seems to have had a rough and violent background; he makes a reference to being in this war since he was a child. He is very good at what he does. How do you explain a man who is a sniper assassin but takes the time to reprogram and imperial droid to be his friend?

Thank you! Your Miami Vice set was similar in that you had the criminal chase and the man who had to make a moral choice. Cassian seems to be always one step away from disaster; he has to rely on his intelligence and instincts to survive, and sometimes that means he has to do heartless things. He knew he had to wring everything out of Tivik, and he couldn’t afford to let the Imperials get to do the same. It was a necessary evil, but it was still a murder, and Cassian feels remorse over it.