into the chaos! → luke skywalker ✓

bonus chapter: into the imperial security bureau

⋆☆* ✧✰.✦

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MONTHS, Cas could say she was at peace. To be fair, even when she didn't have a galaxy-saving secret to keep she wasn't the type of person to utilize downtime, but she recognized its use of preventing burnout and therefore indulged in it from time to time. This was one of those times—the first since the Battle of Yavin nearly six months earlier. There were no current missions and they were merely waiting for more intel to act on, so she took the time to sit in the common area aboard Home One and kick her feet up with a mystery novel up and running on her datapad. All was quiet, and she could feel herself relaxing for the first time in a long—

"Will you stop that?! Look, I don't know what you two are disagreeing about this time, but—" Luke's voice was cut off by a series of rude beeps from C1-10P, who was having some sort of argument with R2-D2. Apparently, they had all decided to wander into the common room and ruin her downtime. Cas let out a huff and shut off her datapad. Luke spotted her and stopped in his tracks, giving her a sheepish smile. "Oh, hey Cas. I, er, I'm sorry we're disturbing you." Her frustration subsided, as it often did whenever Luke was around.

"It's fine," she told him, forcing a small smile. She nodded toward the droids. "What's gotten into them?" Luke sighed.

"I wish I knew. Artoo was really digging his heels in about something, I think, and Chopper was having none of it." Both droids tried to counter his words at once, but Cas interrupted them.

"Hey!" she shouted at them in the way someone would yell at their pet when they were getting into something they shouldn't be. "Knock it off, now, the both of you. Apologize, agree to disagree, and move on." Her stern tone shocked Luke and the droids. She watched as the droids rotated their domes to look at each other, then they grumbled, said some things (hopefully apologies), and continued on passing through the room, their chatter much quieter and more respectful than before. Luke chuckled.

"Thanks," he said, sitting down across from her. "I've been trying for five minutes."

"They sense your fear," Cas deadpanned, but the corners of her lips soon turned upward, making Luke laugh and in turn making her smile even more. "Why were you on droid-sitting duty, anyway?" He opened his mouth to reply, but their comlinks chimed before he was able to say anything. They exchanged a glance and Cas withdrew hers from her pocket, activating it.

"Captain Tarin, you've got me and Luke."

"Hey you two," said Leia's voice through the link. "Meet me in the command center, there's a mission coming in."

"Copy that, we're on our way." The pair stood and made their way in silence, though Cas nearly pointed out the fact that there was a certain spring in Luke's step. He knew how dangerous and depressing war could be, sure, but he still found each mission to come with some excitement, and honestly she couldn't blame him.

They entered to find Leia standing alongside Admiral Ackbar on the other side of the holotable; the former gave a nod in greeting, which Cas returned before clasping her hands behind her back and awaiting orders. Luke took a glance her way and mimicked her stance, which nearly cracked her straight face.

"Lieutenant Skywalker, Captain Tarin," began Ackbar by way of greeting and starting the briefing simultaneously. He was always one to get straight to the point. "For months we have been attempting to flip a member of the Imperial Security Bureau to our side so we can gather information on their tactics, missions, and what all they know about the Rebellion. We succeeded, but in fear for her life and freedom she refuses to do anything but defect."