Art and Archaeology Chapter 2

"The intel checks out," Leia said, setting the datapad aside. "We've dispatched Rogue Squadron to oversee an evacuation of the civilians. And we should be intercepting those shipments within two standard days."

Sabine was standing in the command center in the Rebel base on Hoth, surrounded by the green glow of technical readouts. Two weeks ago, Sabine had obtained information about a Rebel-affiliated planet that was going to be razed by the Empire. She should be proud of herself for helping save so many lives. Instead, all she could think about was that beautiful, frustratingly arrogant young woman who had provided her the information.

Leia motioned to one of the screens. "One of our Fulcrum agents has received another message from an informant, but they insisted that you be the one to make the rendezvous."

"Why me? I barely have any intelligence experience."

"It's the same informant, the one who gave you the intel about the civilians. For security reasons they've chosen to remain anonymous--"

It clicked in Sabine's head. Her. Of course.

"Does it have to be me?" she asked. "I'm not so great at this espionage stuff." The truth was that she hated the way that girl made her feel -- the burning in her cheeks, the feeling like she was being dared to do something out of bounds...and the idea that she might like it if she did.

"Many of our informants will only meet with select Rebel operatives," Leia explained. "They're more trusting of someone if they have a pre-existing relationship."

Words quickly spilled from Sabine's mouth. "Well we don't-- I mean, there's no-- I wouldn't, it's not, there's no relationship per se, I mean we're not even friends--"

A console began to flash. "I'm sorry Sabine, I'm needed in the hangar," Leia said. "The contact expects a meeting within twelve hours."

As Leia moved towards the door, Sabine called out. "Wait! I don't even know where I'm going!"

The princess smiled. "I think you'll enjoy it. Have you ever been to Canto Bight?"

Sabine landed the ship and sat in the cockpit for some time, thinking things through. She'd taken a cargo freighter to Cantonica, as the planet was overflowing with Imperial sympathizers and the Ghost was too recognizable. Canto Bight was an upscale city -- Sabine had been required to pay for parking! -- and her garish Mandalorian armor wouldn't cut it here. Luckily, she'd been provided with a dress. High fashion wasn't exactly her thing.

After styling her hair -- or rather, messing around with it while growling with frustration for a few minutes -- Sabine stepped off the freighter and went towards the casino, trying not to accidentally kill herself while walking in heels. Why in the blazes had Aphra wanted them to meet here?

Entering the casino, Sabine looked around, but couldn't spot Aphra anywhere. Leia had not given her any instructions at all as to what she was supposed to be doing, other than that her contact would be at the casino. It was Aphra, right? Maybe some old friend from Lothal or Mandalore had tried to get in touch? Sabine tried to ignore the little voice in the back of her head that was secretly hoping she'd get to see that devilish smile again.

Almost as soon as that thought entered her mind, the smile she'd been thinking of appeared before her.

"Sabine Wren! How wonderful to see you again!"

Aphra had shouted those words so loudly that despite the chaos of the casino, her voice likely carried across three star systems. Besides the smile, Aphra was almost unrecognizable: she'd ditched the vest, pants, and cap and replaced them with a knee-length gold dress with cut outs at the waistline, suggestively revealing her hips. Her previously messy shoulder-length hair had been replaced with a wig with long bangs and blue highlights. She'd even put on fake eyelashes!

"Can you try not shouting my name to the Emperor himself? And why do you look like you raided your mother's dresser?"

For just a moment, the beaming smile on Aphra's face flickered, just for a second. But Sabine caught it. And then it was back.

"Shut your pretty mouth, sweetheart. I'm the best dressed rogue archaeologist in this place. Now stand over here and look hot while I pretend I have enough credits to--"

"The information, Aphra. You asked for me specifically. I've got a lot of business for the Rebellion I need to get done."

Aphra snickered. "Yeah, lots of Rebel insignias to spray on boxes. Do you ever just get out and have fun?"

"Fun?" Sabine tried to lower her voice. There were ears everywhere. "You realize there's a war going on, right?"

"Of course. How do you think every fat-cat in here got rich? War is good business! And it's never ending, so there's no real hurry."

Sabine shook her head. "This is not a game to me. Just...tell me the intel so I can get out of here."

Aphra looked genuinely disappointed, but Sabine tried to brush it off. Whenever she thought she was getting fond of this girl, Aphra would find a way to ruin it.

"Well, sweetheart, have I got some great news for you!"

It was not great news.

"Let me get this straight," Sabine said, trying to keep her composure as the two women stood out on a quiet side street. "The information is in a sealed vault in some guy's apartment and you want me to break in there? So you don't actually have it?"

"No, no!" Aphra insisted, "I want you to slice in there and then I'll break in and steal it. You've got to pay attention to the nitty-gritty details on these heists."

"Why can't you do this? Can't you slice a door terminal?"

"This guy's an Imperial weapons manufacturer. He's got weapons-grade security. But I have it on good authority the Alliance has override codes for this sector."

Sabine slapped her face with her palm. "I can't use those override codes without giving away that the Alliance was here. Breaking into a private citizen's home on a sovereign planet? Did you think any of this through?!"

Aphra shrugged. "I don't think anything through, sweetheart. That's actually my middle name. Doctor Doesn't-Think-Anything-Through Aphra." There was an awkward pause. "No, it's not. It's Lona."

Sabine thought for a while.

When she looked up from the cobbled streets, Aphra was giving her the most adorable, most sheepish smile, like a baby with a hand in the cookie jar. Sabine felt that burning sensation in her cheeks again.

"Is this your attempt at convincing me?"

"Is it working?"

Karabast, Sabine thought.

The target's apartment was on an upper level of the city. Sabine and Aphra, still in their casino dresses, were examining the door. Reluctantly, Sabine drew a datacard and inserted it into the slot on the door where the owner would, ordinarily, insert his identification. After several tense seconds, the door clicked and opened.

"I swear, Aphra," Sabine whispered, "This better be worth the price I just paid. For your sake."

"Your thinly-veiled threat is kind of turning me on," Aphra whispered back.

They stepped past the threshold into the apartment and, as Aphra had promised, found it empty. Immediately, the archaeologist went to work accessing a wall safe. Sabine noted the lack of windows and other possible breach points in the apartment. Aphra popped open the safe and removed a datacard.

"Here we go. Now we need to rough the place up a bit. The idea is to make it look like you Rebel scum were searching for weapons intel."

As Aphra kicked over a bedside stand, Sabine took the datacard from her hand. "What is this?"

"According to my source? This guy's probes recently ran a scan of the Hoth system. I don't know why, but the source told me that if the Empire examined the data closely, the Rebels would be none too pleased."

Sabine shivered. Getting this intel away from the Empire would avert their eyes, prevent a sneak attack, and buy the Rebels more time at their new base. Aphra didn't know it, but she'd just saved the Alliance's neck.

As Aphra was finishing her ransacking, tearing aside bedsheets and taking paintings off the walls, Sabine noticed a flashing indicator light near the comm interface. "Aphra, what is this?"

Aphra glanced over at her. "It would appear to be some sort of security dev...ohhh."

As soon as the words left her mouth, floodlights appeared through the doorway.

"This is Canto Bight police! Exit the domicile with your hands up!"

"Blast!" Aphra exclaimed. "I have no weapons! Okay, we can still play this off like a robbery--"

But Sabine had already lept into action, drawing a thermal detonator from under her dress. It had been strapped to a special pouch around her thigh. She pressed it against the back wall. During her search of the room, she had determined that this wall, above street level, was also the least structurally reinforced.

She and Aphra ducked behind the bed, and Sabine pressed the small trigger in her hand. KA-BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The resulting hole in the wall was small, but big enough for the pair to slip through. On the other side was a sheer ten foot drop. As both women were trained in this sort of thing, there was no need to state the obvious: drop and roll.

Sabine tossed aside her heels and jumped out of the hole, followed by Aphra. They hit the ground hard, but unharmed. As they raced down the streets, Aphra motioned to Sabine's dress. "You got any other fun toys in there, sweetheart?"

They darted through a side street and found themselves in a back alley, one that was covered in grime. Several homeless youths were sleeping under sheets of crumpled paper. Sabine paused.

"Sabine, come on!" Aphra called, the floodlights from the Canto Bight police closing in. Sabine knew there was nothing the Alliance could do for these kids -- not now, anyway. But she could remind them that there were people out there who were keeping them in their thoughts.

Grabbing a stick from the trash heaps, Sabine drew a Rebel starbird insignia in the dust, and below it, four Aurebesh characters: H O P E.

A brave young woman had once said rebellions were built on hope. Sabine wanted these children to know it too.

She raced after Aphra down the alley.

Several minutes later, the girls had managed to make it back to Aphra's ship, which she had illegally parked on a beach nearby. They were out of breath and their feet were sore, but they were alive. Sabine allowed a moment of euphoria to flow through her.

"You hear that, Canto Bight? You hear that, Empire? You just got played by Sabine Wren and Doctor Aphra!" She made sure to scream it loud enough for the Emperor to hear her.

"Wait, it just occurred to me that I don't know your actual name. I assume Aphra is your family name, right?"

Aphra, still catching her breath, gave a little laugh. "Nope! Aphra is my one and only name. Just a single mysterious name, like Yoda. Do you even know who Yoda was? I don't know what they teach you kids in school anymore."

Sabine giggled. "That's a load of poodoo. You said your middle name was Lona."

Aphra's face went grim, and she spoke seriously. "Ah...but that was just another part of my clever ruse to gain your trust."

There was a silence for a few seconds, and then both of them burst into laughter. Sabine let it all out. It had been a long time since she'd felt like this, like she could just let the weight of the war off her shoulders for a few minutes and trust another being with her genuine emotions.

And it was probably just the adrenaline coursing through her, but that was when some force compelled her to reach out and grab Aphra's cute, stupid face and kiss her.

It felt like it lasted an eternity, pressing her lips against Aphra's and finding herself surprised at how soft they were for someone so rough, and how it seemed like Aphra was genuinely surprised for a moment before she started to return the kiss. Sabine closed her eyes and let go of everything. For that moment, it was just the two of them.

As they slowly pulled away, after ten seconds or maybe ten years, it was only when Aphra gently touched Sabine's hand that she suddenly blushed yet again.

"Chelli," Aphra whispered.

"What?"

"My name. Chelli." Aphra looked away. "Nobody calls me that, though. I don't know why I'm telling you this."

Sabine smiled. "I like it."

There was another long silence. In truth, Sabine had never actually gone "this far" before. Other than smooching boys on Krownest as a kid, this was the first time she'd genuinely kissed another person.

Thankfully, Aphra piped up. "Well, I guess you've gotta get back to your super secret Rebel base," and for a second Sabine considered blurting out "Hoth," but she didn't.

"Yeah...yeah. Thanks. Thank you," she stumbled.

Aphra gave her that cocky smile. "Wow, I'm so great at kissing that I get a thank you! Leave me a review on the holonet, will you?"

"For the information. The Rebellion will find this very valuable."

Aphra gave her a little salute as the ramp to her ship extended. "Until next time, Sabine Wren."

Sabine returned the gesture. "Until next time, Ch...Doctor Aphra."

As she walked back to her own ship, her bare feet bruised and her dress torn, Sabine tried, and failed, to suppress a smile.

Whenever she thought she was getting sick of this girl, Aphra would find a way to win her back.