000 ────────── 9 BBY, ON KIJIMI

 "Well?"

 The irritable voice of Cassian Andor came from the main room of their starship. Eris Krennic rolled her eyes, reaching above her to pull herself up into the room, having been fiddling around with the wiring of the ship in the hull below. "Well," Eris started, sniffling hard from the cold air blowing in from the open door of the ship. "We're likely to freeze through the night." Eris stated, pushing herself off of the hard floor to stand in front of Cassian. His exasperated look would've caused Eris to laugh if they hadn't been in such a miserable situation.

"Through the night?" Cassian gawked, eyes widened in surprise. Eris gave a nod of confirmation before tucking the various tools back into its pack before placing it back in its drawer.

"Yes, Cassian—through the night." Eris answers. Cassian gave a noise of detest as he rubbed his hand down his face. The line between his brows indicated stress—but his sullen expression was a familiarity to Eris.

"You mean to tell me there's no fixing it tonight?"

Eris laughs dejectedly, nodding to the cockpit—the large pane of glass showing a darkening sky. "With what light, Cassian? It'll be fixed first thing in the morning and we'll be out of here after sunrise." Eris reassures, walking to the open hatch and moving down the short ramp into the snowy terrain. The wind was cold and the flakes of snow were a bitter sort of cold—unforgiving and painful against her skin. "I don't even think it's safe to go in this weather. We'll just have to make do for the night." Eris states, tucking her hands underneath her arms before walking back into the ship. Eris spots a irritated Cassian on one of the cots as she closes the door, she sighs. Cassian looks up to Eris—noticing her cheeks had begun to turn a true plum color from the cold. His cold demeanor fell as he pat the spot next to him.

"It's only getting worse out there, Cassian. You'd better hope it'll lighten by morning." Eris informs, shedding her heavy coat. Cassian gives a reluctant nod. Okay yeah, Cassian had a bit of a sour attitude due to the fact they aren't getting to Endor anytime soon. Their plan was to go there on a rumor that there were tons of out of use Imperial starships that they could strip parts from and sell for credits. Sure, Cassian could've made the trip by himself but he didn't know anyone more knowledgeable about ship parts than his best friend, Eris. She was an expert pilot, more intelligent than the crooks that bought the ship parts—she knew when something was valuable and when it wasn't. She never found herself in a scam, and she was a sure slick theive.

"We'll make it to Endor?"

Eris smiled. "Without a doubt. You think I'm going to just leave perfectly good abandoned parts over there? You're sorely mistaken, Andor." Eris teases, nudging him. "Now, any ideas to prevent us from not freezing to death?" Eris asks, standing up from the cot. Cassian looks around the small room of their ship, a little bit at a loss.

"Well, the heat has been busted for Maker knows how long." Cassian informs.

Eris groans. "And you didn't bother to tell me?" She makes her way back to the drawer where she dropped the tools and picked them back up. "Suppose I know what I'm doing." Eris bites, pushing the side paneling of the ship open, exposing the heat and air device.

"What would I do without you?" Cassian jokes, trying to get underneath her skin.

"Freeze, hopefully."

 "Force, I'm surprised we lived through the night." Eris states as soon as their ship touch's down on the green fields of Endor. The two of them had made do through the bitter cold night, huddling together and taking turns watching outside the window for any sort of surprise that was waiting to creep up on them. Neither of them got much rest that night, but, they were excited to land on a warmer planet. Especially Endor. Cassian recalled Eris' eyes were bright as she looked down at the green forests from the cockpit, grinning as she pulled the ship down to land. They geared up with blasters and packs to prepare themselves to carry heavy ship parts. Eris fully intended on getting as much as she could—and Cassian wasn't necessarily looking forward to heaving around a heavy pack full of metal but if it would get them the credits they needed, he didn't really care.

"Cassian, look." Eris said as they walked towards the first ship on the navigational device—a small Imperial carrier ship that Eris would scrap empty, no doubt. Cassian looked in the direction of Eris' finger, looking down the hill. "Odd, aren't they?" Eris asks. Cassian locates what she's talking about—small little brown creatures.

"Very." Cassian agrees, brows furrowing in curiosity. Ewoks. He'd only seen them in little drawings from old travelers. He had no ideas they were so...cute.

"I kind of want to take one home. Think it'll behave?" Eris questions.

Cassian immediately shakes his head, finding they were wielding spears. "No doubt they'd kill you."

After walking for what felt like millennia, the two tired theives came across the ship. Cassian helped as Eris rapidly tore parts from it, even going as far as lifting herself into the ship and taking their food rations and lone weapons. Watching Eris made Cassian a little nostalgic—breaking into old Imperial ships as youths. It almost made him smile a little bit. He remembers how the two of you hide and run from other scrapers, stealing another one's findings to sell for themselves. They were merciless in the terms of finders keepers—they took what they wanted, and sometimes it felt like they never grew out of it.

"Cassian?"

Cassian hummed in response, too busy hunched organizing the scraps while tucking them away in the pack. "There's—Cassian!"

"What?" Cassian barked, suddenly standing straight up looking for Eris.

"Patrol!" Eris called, throwing herself onto the ground from jumping out of the ship. Cassian panicked, taking a hold of his blaster. He grabbed Eris' arm and yanked her up. He pulled the pack on his back and handed the other to her.

"Let's move. They'll blast us to bits." Cassian orders, tugging on her.

"But—" Eris started, but Cassian goes to cut her off. "Wait! Just wait a moment!" Eris says, holding her hand, indicating Cassian to stay.

"What? We have to leave!" Cassian seethes. Eris disappears back into the ship, and Cassian is about to tear his own hair out. Maker, he thinks. "I'm going to leave you here!" Cassian yells.

He can hear the crunch of branches just meters away from the front of the ship. Then, one spots him. "Hey!" A Stormtrooper calls. "Scrapers!" He yells to his company. Cassian darts to the opening of the ship.

"Eris!" He bellows, accented voice dropping with anger. Suddenly, Eris is pushing a rolling droid down the ramp.

"Catch it! Catch it!" Eris screams. It's too late—the droid has Cassian plowed into the plush grass. "Hold on!" Eris yells, mounting a small speeder. It startles Cassian almost as much as the droid did. He wastes no time pushing the droid off of him—stumbling as he lifts the heavy droid onto the speeder with them. 

"What is wrong with you?" Cassian yells as they're speeding through the trees of Endor. "You went back for what—more junk? That was too risky." Cassian scolds, holding onto Eris' waist.

"Thought risk doesn't matter to you, Andor." He can hear from Eris. He rolls his eyes, looking down at the droid. It's purple and white, hints of silver. It's base is a large wheel, and it looks like it has a cone for a head.

Cassian scoffs. "What is this thing and why did we almost die to get it?" Cassian questions. Eris looks over her shoulder for a split moment.

"Are you joking? You know I've always wanted a droid!" Eris scoffs.

"Yeah, but an Imperial one?" He asks.

"It'll make do!"

 Cassian stares at the old droid unit as Eris sits cross legged on the floor, rewiring the droid. His arms are crossed over his chest, a sullen look on his face. Eris knows he's still a little bitter over her stunt earlier, but, she was busting herself with the droid. She was happy to watch as the droid began rolling around her living room, beeping and chirping. "I'm T-O, the companion droid." The droid introduced itself, a robotic voice coming from its voice box.

Eris grinned. "Can I call you Teo?" Eris asks.

The droid chirps. "Teo, my name is Teo. I am your companion droid. What is my masters name?" Teo asks, rolling back and forth.

"Eris, and this is my friend Cassian."

"Eris. Eris. And Cassian. My name is Teo."

Cassian groans. "It's almost worse than B2." He complains, rubbing his face.

Eris snickers. "Don't mind him, Teo. Now, what can you do?" As much as Cassian wanted to remain mad about their risk, they got a lot of parts to sell. It'd be a good amount of money to last them a good amount of time. He was satisfied, and watched calmly as the small droid followed Eris around.

He sighed, leaning back to rest. Eris smiled at the sight.

emma speaks!
woop woop! the prologue is out!! I'm so in love with them already it's not even funny. also, i imagine teo as D-O from the rise of skywalker. just a little guy. i'm so happy with this!!