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With cuffs locked securely around Din's wrists and blasters strapped in both Cara and Zoya's holsters, they move out across the rocky surface of the planet. Cara's long gun bounces against her hip as they walk, the muzzle of it pointed at the ground beside Zoya's boots. Her hair sweeps in bunched waves, curling slightly from the loops of the braid she'd taken out, that ripple in the wind as it caresses the curve of her cheek.
"Do you think they'll buy it?" she asks quietly to Cara.
The ex-shock trooper glances down at her. "They will," she says.
"And if they don't?"
"They will," she repeats, as if trying to speak it into existence. Because, what will they do if the Imperials don't believe them? Neither of the women want to consider what will happen then, but it speaks of spilled blood and bolts burning through their chests, spreading the fiery debris of their heart catapulting through their veins.
Zoya releases a breath, feeling the air tremble as it passes her lips. "They will," she echoes, a beat too late, eyes locked upon the horizon as the tall, foreboding stone arch that marks the entrance to the village rises in the distance. Her fingers catch at the strips of cloth wrapped around her forearm, disguising the numbers stamped black and bold against her skin.
When they're close enough for the Scout troopers at the entrance to see them, but still far enough away to remain out of earshot, Cara says out of the corner of her mouth, without looking down at Zoya, "Ready?"
Zoya runs back through their story in her head and resists the urge to look at Din, feeling a pull in her chest. "If you are."
She knows that there's a reason why Cara had made sure to walk in between them, a reason why she isn't by his side right now, fighting the urge to reach for his hand, to say something to make him laugh. Her instinct to protect him at his most vulnerable—with his hands bound and weapons nowhere in reach—would've had her trying to stand in front of him when they make it to the archway, the moment where it's vital that they stay in character. Zoya's throat bobs as she swallows. She doesn't like feeling like the weak link.
Cara suppresses a smirk as they start to approach the Scout troopers. "I'm always ready."
Her eyes scan what's visible of the small village. Ivory armor catches the sunlight, reflecting off nearly every corner. Zoya scoffs as she remembers what Greef had told them before they arrived. Four troopers my ass. The town is practically swarming with Imperials. She can feel Cara's demeanor shift as she notices the same thing.
