A/N: Hello everyone! Great news: I have finished writing this story, so you won't be left alone until the end, and obvivously, I'll come back to it after Episode VIII has aired. ;)
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. I only own my OCs Cas, Tani and Sehr along with the plot of this story.
9. Master Luke
Days streched into a week after the fall of Starkiller Base, and finally came the time for Rey to go in search for the missing Luke Skywalker. Tani's husband.
Tani herself had tried to convince Leia to let her go with, but the general had been adamant: she was too valuable, and the last Jedis should be as scarsely seen together as possible. A third extinction of their Order would not do.
Cas had been privy to the councils two or three times by then, and if she didn't voice her thoughts, they still were strong. If Leia wanted to keep the Jedi safe, why send one of them to find Luke? It made no sense.
But then, she suspected another motive behind all this. Rey was always locked away in the medical bay, and on the day she effectively left, no one but Leia saw her off. Cas wasn't even sure her mother had met her.
There was something strange working on D'Qar, and she wanted to know what.
After she had let it slip during their "non-date" that she was rather ashamed of her performances during the Battle of Starkiller Base, Poe had agreed to teach Cas the ways of piloting an X-wing. It was, allegedly, much different from piloting a speeder.
D'Qar possessed one of the few simulators left in the galaxy. Once, Poe had said, most of them were on Corellia, but by then, they had all been destroyed. To his knowledge, the other two were on Kuat. Not that it mattered.
On the morning after Rey left, Cas went to the simulator for her daily lesson. Poe was an early riser, she had quickly understood, and he preferred to teach her early so the newbies could have their go after her.
That day, she was reliving the Battle of Endor. It was the third time she did that particular simulation, and it was the third time she got bested by a cannon blast a second before she entered the Death Star.
She cursed loud enough to be heard by the entire hangar, and when her instructor chuckled behind her and entered the sim cockpit, she took the sim-helmet off. "I'm rubbish."
"No, you're not," he said with a knowing smile, "you just have to learn how to use those split wings to your best advantage."
Cas was staring in his handsome face, as she had done awfully often lately, and blanked. His dark eyes, his smile, it was far too much. "Show me," she said.
Poe smiled this time, a genuine and innocent smile that sent butterflies to her stomach. He leaned closer and gestured for her to put on the helmet again. She was once again alone in her X-wing, a looming moon that was not one getting closer. Except this time, gentle fingers closed around hers and directed the ship until the bleeding cannon was a memory. It had been a gentle nudge, a change of direction of merely meters, but it had made a difference.
Cas was so happy she ripped the helmet off and threw herself at Poe next to her, arms going around his neck to pull him into a hug. Their position was awkward, but he was embracing her back, laughing that lovely laugh of his.
"Told you, all it needs is love." At his words, Cas pulled away slightly, staring into his eyes until the tension rose between them again. Suddenly the sim-cockpit was small, too small.
Poe's eyes flickered down to her lips and Cas' did the same, and they started leaning in, time standing still, until...
"Don't make out in the simulator!"
Cas yelped and turned sharply to the voice, glaring into Jessika Pava's smirking face as she stood there with a youngling. Poe merely blushed and helped her out of the seat. "Sorry Jess."
"Mmh..." the other woman said knowingly. Cas passed her, annoyed at the interruption when she was finally getting results, but when Poe and her were back in the open of the hangar, they both laughed, and it was as if nothing had happened at all...
"Miss Andé?"
Cas had been making alterations to her X-wing and erupted from under it, face smudged with oil. "What is it?"
"General Organa and General Kenobi would like to see you, Miss. In the com room."
She nodded sharply and wiped her hands, ignoring her face, before she followed the lad out and back into the base.
It had been three weeks now since Rey had left. Cas had had a couple more lessons with Poe until Finn's clearance from the infirmary had pulled them apart a notch. The former Stormtrooper wanted to learn how to pilot as well, except he was starting from scratch. And he trusted no one else to teach him than Poe.
Cas had heard about their peculiar meeting. She had smiled softly when she was told, for it was thus that the greatest friendships were made.
She was surprised to see her Uncle Sehr in the com room. He had been buried under hundreds of books since their arrival, having been appointed Librarian by Leia after their own scholar had died a few months prior. The Gungan acknowledged her presence with a pat on her shoulder and a smile - if amphibians could properly smile, that is.
"Ah, Cas, thank you for coming," Leia said after a moment. She had been standing, and talking, with Tani and another general Cas did not remember the name of. "Who's still missing? Ah, Dameron."
Cas' heart did a flip-flop when said Commander arrived, Finn following, both panting as if they had run to the meeting. He was wearing his uniform, and she had to stop herself from gaping.
"Good, now everyone's there, we can start." Leia had grown more practical than ever, less human, Cas thought, since her husband's death. But then, it would do the same to most people... "We had word from Chewbacca this morning. Rey found Luke Skywalker. They are expected here in a week's time."
"A week?" Finn said. "But...if it took her three weeks to reach him-"
Leia was smirking. "The solar system Luke was hiding in is unpenetrable for radio waves. Or any scanner, for that matter. They found him about a week ago, and could only contact us today."
Finn nodded, having understood. Cas then asked, "What would you have us do, General?" There was an edge of bitterness in her voice, because she really did not want to prepare anything special for the return of a man who had robbed a mother of her child, but anywho...
Leia sighed. "Not much, I only wanted to warn each of you that it is still possible that the First Order catches one or any of our communications and tried something to stop Luke from reaching us."
"A diversion, or an escort?" Poe asked, staring at his hands as if it was the most natural thing to ask.
"That is for you to decide, Commander."
He nodded gravely. "I'll require a squad. Including Cas, if you may."
Tani raised her head, going all protective all of a sudden. "Why?" It brought a smile and a pang of affection to Cas' heart.
"She's Force-sensitive. If we can make Snoke, or that brat Ren for that matter - sorry General - think she is either Rey or Skywalker, then it can give them time. We can go to Yavin, pretend to gather some things at the Temple."
Tani's lips were in a thin line. "It won't work. Cas is strong, but her control over her power is still weak. I'll come." Leia was about to refuse but the Master turned to her, blue eyes filled with determination. "I won't change my mind."
The General nodded. "Then it's decided. Your party will leave for Yavin in four days time. Get everyone ready."
Poe nodded, then launched a small smile to Cas, who answered in kind. She was happy he had required her presence. That meant he trusted her skills as a pilot now, and even more, that he thought her useful to the Resistance...
She was closer to falling in love with the man as she had ever been...
