Cassian and Jyn turned around to face K2 when he had finished with his transfer with the droid.

"K?" Cassian asked expectantly as K2 swiveled towards them.

"Our optimal route to the data vault places only 89 storm troopers in our path. We will make it no more than 33% of the way before we are killed." He stated matter-of-factly, as if he wasn't confirming our deaths.

Jyn looked at Cassian with dread in her wide eyes.

It was time. Time for a lot of good men to die.

They both glanced down each end of the hallway as Cassian clicked his communicator, raising it to his mouth while speaking quickly, "Talk to me."

A voice crackled through the silver cylinder, obviously out of breath, "Ready. Ready. Standing by."

Cassian hesitated a bit, looking over at Jyn who nodded once, her eyes glistening in her helmet.

He brought the device up to his lips again as he spoke harshly, "Light it up." It beeped as he let the switch go.

He slipped the comlink back into his pocket, and took a deep breath as he looked down at Jyn.

"They had to engage sometime." She told him quietly, as she laid a hand on his arm comfortingly. These were his men, and he was sentencing them to death. He looked down at her with a sudden pang of regret, and she saw it immediately.

She moved her gloved hand to his cheek, knowing there wasn't much that could comfort him.

"This is what they want. They are sacrificing themselves for this mission, to save so many other lives." She stated quietly, her voice muffled by her helmet. "And that is why we cannot fail. Don't let their deaths be in vain."

Cassian placed his hand on hers as he brought it down in front of them, studying it as he held it.

He looked up at her, the anguish gone from his gaze. "I am no stranger to sacrifice and neither are they, but this is more important than anything we have done." He stated, his voice rough. "I-"

He was cut off by the blaring of the alarms resounding throughout the base, signaling the success of their charges. The sound of troops mobilizing could be heard echoing through out the halls.

"Time to go." Cassian stated quickly as he broke his gaze with Jyn, dropping her hand before starting down the hall quickly. K2 and Jyn joined him on either side as they marched down the hall.

They stopped at a four way intersection, allowing a platoon of storm troopers to rush across their path. Jyn stared after them with eyes wide.

"Let's go, Jyn." She blinked as she saw K2 and Cassian already starting away, she sped marched a bit to catch up.

It was a bit overwhelming to have everyone around them mobilizing and running around. They tried to pick up the pace so it wasn't as obvious that they didn't belong.

After a while it seemed that most of the troopers had already left to engage our rebels, so they were left alone as they made their way down the halls. It was a wonder how K2 knew exactly where they were the whole time, Jyn was totally lost with how many twists and turns they had made. This place was a labyrinth.

Finally we reached a closed door that they could assume held the data vault.

Jyn and Cassian stood in front of the door as K2 fiddled with the controls to the door, before getting them to slide open slowly quickly.

The trio casually sauntered through the archway as an Imperial officer looked up at them quizzically.

"Can I help you?" He asked sharply, suspecting that they probably weren't supposed to be in there.

They didn't slow as K2 approached him. "That won't be necessary." He stated as he clouted the man on the head harshly. He crumbled with a thump.

Cassian and Jyn left K2 at the controls as they approached the entrance to the data vault only to see that it required the officer's handprint in order to open.

"Of course.." Jyn muttered as she followed Cassian back to the unconscious lump at K2's feet.

Cassian grabbed the man's arm and pulled him off of the platform so Jyn could get ahold of his other arm.

They slowly dragged his body back towards the key pad.

When they finally reached it, there was a fumbling for a second trying to get a good position to scan the officer's hand.

Jyn and Cassian ended up basically on top of each other, twisted together like a pretzel. Even with the hand pressed on the sensor, nothing happened.

"This is not working K." Cassian grunted loudly as he struggled to keep the body up.

"Right hand." His tone sounded as if it should have been obvious as he continued going through controls, glancing up only briefly.

Cassian grunted above Jyn as they switched the hand that was on the pad.

Immediately the door slid open and an almost completely barren room was revealed with a fairly large window that spanned the entire wall. The room had a panel of controls that lined the entire window which looked over a sharp drop that stretched farther than the eye could see.

Jyn and Cassian stood up, staring out at the large tower of data plans. There must have been thousands.

"The rebel fleet has arrived."

Jyn stood up immediately from her previously hunched position to stare at K2 in shock.

Cassian looked back at Jyn with a surprised smile on his lips as K2 continued.

"There's fighting on the beach. They've locked down the base..." He paused mechanically as he looked up at his two companions. "They've closed the shield gate."

Jyn rushed towards him, worry creased on her face as she asked, "What does that mean?" Though she already seemed to know the answer as K2 stayed silent.

She turned to face Cassian. "We're trapped." She seemed to pose it as a question, but she was merely stating the obvious.

Cassian only gave a slight nod, his expression grave as he held her gaze.

"We could transmit the plans to the rebel fleet." K2 cut in, causing Jyn to break their locked eyes and look up at the robot inquiringly. "We'd have to get a signal out to tell them it's coming." He clarified, seeing the hope slowly seep into her eyes. "It's the size of the data files, that's the problem. They'll never get through. Someone has to take that shield gate down." He finished looking from one to the other.

Cassian pulled out his com as he spoke quickly "Bodhi, Bodhi can you hear me?" When there wasn't a response he tried again, "Bodhie tell me you're out there. Bodhi." Panic had started to flutter in his chest as he stared out the windowed room, as if he could see the pilot. Without Bodhi... how could they-

"I'm okay. I'm standing by. They've started fighting, the base is on lockdown." His voice came through very faint, as if he were whispering.

"I know, listen to me. The rebel fleet is out there." The urgency in his voice seemed to rise as he continued, "You gotta tell them to blow a hole in the shield gate so we can transmit the plans." There was a short pause before they heard a response.

"W-wait I can't- I'm not linked to th-their comms tower. We're not- we're not tied in." He sounded louder now, as if word of the rebel fleet had brought him some hope but doubt cut through.

Cassian sighed as he looked at Jyn while responding, "It's the only way we're getting them outta here. Find a way." He finished, not expecting a response as he turned to K2. "Cover our backs." He said simply as he rushed into the window room.

Jyn moved to follow him, but stopped herself as she looked down at her blaster briefly and turned around, holding it out towards K2. "You'll need this." She said casually.

K2 looked down at her with... surprise? Who could tell when he has no expressions.

"You wanted one right?" She asked, seeing his hesitation as she lifted it towards him.

A metal on metal sound could be heard as he grabbed it from her and studied it carefully. "Your behavior, Jyn Erso, is continually... unexpected." He said as he looked at her with the best look of gratitude that anyone could receive from an Imperial droid.

She gave him a slight smile, but before she could respond Cassian ran back into the room behind her. "Jyn." He called her impatiently. "Come on."

She glanced at K2 one last time before turning and jogging over to follow Cassian.

He walked up to the giant window and gazed up to see how far the tower went.

"This is going to take a while..." He grumbled as he felt Jyn approach from behind.

He heard K2 over the comm, "Schematic back, data tower 2."

Cassian looked at the electronic pad that sat besides him. "How do I find that?" Confusion apparent in his voice.

Jyn approached the screen and watched as K2 flipped through thousands of plans.

"Searching... I can locate the tape, but you'll need to use the handles for extraction." He directed.

Cassian looked at Jyn with wide eyes as he tore off his imp hat quickly and took his place behind the machine.

"What am I supposed to do with this.." he muttered as he touched the handles and moved them gently to see how they moved. They responded with a jolt. He quickly got control and directed the pick up to the spot he wanted.

"Not much harder than piloting a ship." He muttered to no one in particular.

Suddenly he heard the door at the end of their hall begin to slide shut. They turned around in confusion.

"K? What's going on out there?" He asked quietly through the comm.

There was a long pause before K responded, sounded irritated.

"Thanks for blowing my cover." He seemed to mutter as he began controlling the pad again.

Jyn began reading the folders as the scrolled through.

"Hyperspace tracking. Navigational systems." She said, getting impatient.

"Two screens down, structural engineering, open that one." He directed and there was a blast in the background, presumably another storm trooper.

"Project code names... Statusphere, malcumega, hexaroara- who comes up with these?" She interjected before continuing. "War mantle, cluster prism, black saber-" She hesitated a second, Cassian leaning over her shoulder worriedly.

"What is it.." He asked impatiently.

"Stardust..." She trailed off, staring at the name to be sure she had read it correctly. She glanced up at Cassian, "That's it."

"How do you know that?" He asked lowly as he looked over her to see the name for himself.

"I know because it's me." She answered as she continued to glance up at him, he met her gaze with a slight smile forming in his cheek.

He wanted to say something, to ask the significance of the name and perhaps why it brought such a happiness to her eyes that shown bright.

He couldn't help but be distracted by the light for a moment, wishing for just a split second that he could see that light all the time. Perhaps in different world, a better world.

But he couldn't. This was the world they were in, and this was the end.