There's only one rebel I know of who was not involved in the uprising today.  The only one I can be sure isn't dead.

Sagár Dartan.

He's an old, old man, but has hidden, and illegal, cameras set up around the city.

I knock, the triad of knocks that every Fest rebel uses, and he opens the door.

"Cassian!" he rasps.  "I knew ye would come."

I walk in.  "I'm looking for Theron."

"Aye, aye, I knew it, I knew it.  'Ere, Cassian.  Ye can see 'im 'ere."

He's so short that I've almost outgrown him at eight.  We walk over to a screen, which is looping about three minutes of footage.  In the footage, Lac's door is thrown open by two snowtroopers, who disappear for about thirty seconds before reappearing with Theron.  He's kicking, and I can't hear him, but he's probably screaming, too.

And I wasn't there.

"Where did they take him?" I ask, looking away from the footage.

Sagár starts moving through footage so quickly that I don't know how he can see it.

"East, the holding buffer there."

"Thank you!"

"May the Force be with ye!"

"And with you."  The door closes heavily behind me.

In each cardinal direction, there is a section of the base.  There's a prison in each one also, as well as holding buffers, for prisoners captured during an uprising, so they can try them.

Almost everyone ends up guilty.  Unless they accuse someone who the Empire hasn't already captured.  Then they get let free.

I can only hope Theron doesn't tell them about me.

I trust him, right?

Right.

From my hiding spot in the doorway of a nearby house, I formulate a plan.

Or try to.  I am an eight-year-old, after all, and even rebelling for two years can't give you quite enough experience to break your best friend out of a heavily guarded facility.  Speaking of heavily guarded, a patrol marches past, and I pull as far back into the shadows as I possibly can, praying that they don't see me.  Chirrut used to chant something whenever he get threatened while we walked down the crowded and bustling streets of Jedha.  "The Force is with me, I am one with the Force."

I chant that as quietly as I can.

It seems to work.

I still don't have a plan though.  My best idea is to just walk right in there, chanting like Chirrut, but I know that won't work.

What if I were to just bust in there, blaster a'blazing, and get Theron out?

I'd probably be shot.  Most likely within seconds.

I lean out, just a bit, to see if any stormtroopers are near the door.  A hand wraps around my mouth and I try to yell but it's muffled and they're covering my nose and I can't breath and by the Force I'm about to die.

But then my captor pulls me around to face him.  It's Hosmy.

"What do you think you're doing?  Are you trying to get yourself killed?"  If we were anywhere else, he would be yelling.  But since we are right outside of the Imperial base, that's not really a good decision.

I don't say anything, because suddenly my logic of dying in my father's place, and in Lac's, seems stupid, especially because they are already gone and I can't do anything about it.

He sees the tears behind my goggles and sighs.  "I know you want them back.  And I can try to help your friend.  What is his name?"

"Theron," I whisper.

"I'll try to save him.  Now, I'm taking you back to your mother.  She's been in a fit since we realized you were gone."  He pauses.  "Now, Cassian, remember.  When I take you back, you are to remain inside until I bring you news.  Understand?"

I nod.

"Good."

He puts his hand on my shoulder and we walk back home.

Mother scolds me as soon as I'm inside, and Hosmy leaves as quickly as he can.

When he returns the next day, he doesn't bring the good news I had been hoping for.  Instead, he tells me that Theron was executed before he could help, alongside four other rebels, one of whom was Lac's father.

I immediately run to the pantry, one of the two separated rooms, and don't leave until Mother makes me come out to clean up.

Tears have made their streaks across my skin, and even though they wash away, I still feel them burning into my cheeks, reminders of who I've lost.

For the next three years, I am a model citizen.  With no one else to fight with, and without something real to fight for, I've got no way to rebel.

Until I meet Aden.