(A/N)- I am ridiculously excited for this ghgkhjgkjghkj.
So what I did for this week was pair each prompt (visual and written) with a corresponding Sabezra song. So make sure to check out my Tumblr for the other half of my fills. (Especially since a couple of them are directly inspired by the fics.)
LET'S GET DOWN TO IT, I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS FOR AGES! :D
Disclaimer: *snorts* Yeah right.
Day 1: Missions
You're not alone
Together we stand
I'll be by your side
You know I'll take your hand
-"Keep Holding On" by Avril Lavigne
"Captain Syndulla!" he called across the field.
The Twi'lek pilot turned, lekku swishing. "Kallus! Just the man I was looking for actually."
"I heard," he said, coming up to stand in front of her respectfully. The Yavin IV landing platform bustled around them, rife with activity. "What is it you need, Captain?"
Hera dug around in one of the deep pockets of her pants and pulled out a datapad. "I'm assigning you point on the infiltration mission to Telos. There's a large new military installation on the edge of the capitol city that Rebel Command wants us to check out." She handed him the pad. "Your ISB and Imperial protocol knowledge will be a big help."
Kallus scanned the information on the pad, nodding occasionally. Heavily fortified, large buffer zone keeping civilian traffic away from the area... looked to be a black site possibly, in his estimation.
"Who else has been assigned to the mission?" he asked, scrolling through the specs for the turret-mounted laser canons.
"Ezra and Sabine."
He glanced up from the pad. "Really?" he asked in surprise.
Hera shrugged. "They work well together," she said by way of explanation. "Ezra's been in and out of facilities like these dozens of times and Sabine knows more about cracking Imperial security encryption than anyone except maybe Chopper."
"I just meant—" Kallus hastened to explain, "—this operation seems to require quite a bit of delicacy. And those two... well..."
He let himself trail off upon seeing the amused and knowing look in Hera's eyes.
"Then it's a good thing they have a responsible adult along to reign them in," she said, patting his shoulder indulgently.
Kallus's face flattened. "Your confidence in my abilities is humbling, Captain," he drawled. He had heard far too many stories of the explosive escapades of the two youngest Spectres to be very assured of his ability to "reign them in", as Hera put it.
"Hey, they'll surprise you," she told him, putting hands on her hips. "They've become a remarkably effective team."
Kallus tucked the datapad under his arm. "I suppose I'll have to take your word for it," he sighed.
"Good luck," Hera told him. "Extraction will be in twenty-one hours."
He nodded, and as Hera proceeded on her way across the landing platform, took another look at the mission briefing on the pad.
It would be tricky, but if Ezra and Sabine were as up to the task as Hera said they were, they should be able to pull it off.
-SWR-
Kallus already regretted agreeing to this mission.
Not because it was going poorly, oh no, things had been remarkably smooth so far, they had snuck into the facility without a hitch.
No, it was because he was starting to feel much less like a commanding officer in charge of competent juniors and much more like a chaperone accompanying a teenage couple on a very bizarre impromptu date.
"Sabine, I told you, I'm not gonna fit in those vents."
"Well, how else are we going to sneak past the patrols to disable security for the restricted wing?" she asked. "Besides, vent-crawing is your thing."
"Uh, Jedi Apprentice is my 'thing'," he corrected.
"You can have more than one thing," she argued.
"Do you just want to see me contorting my body around and sticking out awkwardly while I try to cram myself into that narrow hole?" He pointed up at the air vent. "Because that's what's going to happen."
The grin she sent him was entirely too cheeky and her tone was vaguely approaching inappropriate. "That is a plus, I'll admit."
Ezra cleared his throat awkwardly, turning his face down with an embarrassed flush. To avoid dealing with that maybe-innuendo he addressed Kallus. "Kallus, what do you think?"
"Stealing an officer's credentials is going to be the easiest way to gain access," he said, relieved to be talking strategy instead of bearing witness to whatever-the-hell this playful bantering was. "There's a refresher station just around this corner; that'll be our best opportunity for catching one off-guard."
Ezra swept a hand out down the hallway. "Sabine, I believe you are the resident expert at surprising people in the 'fresher," he teased.
She snorted, even as she began moving past him. "Come on, that was one time!" she protested.
The two continued arguing as they proceeded down the hallway.
"It was at least two other times."
"No it wasn't!"
"Yeah it was. There was that time right after Skystrike."
"Yeah?"
"And the time you walked in on me after the slime creature on that bog moon."
Sabine grimaced. "Okay, I'll give you that one," she admitted sheepishly.
"Starting to think you're trying to catch me naked," Ezra joked.
"Well you won't sit still long enough for my anatomy studies so what else am I supposed to do?" she quipped back with a smile.
"Focus, you two!" Kallus hissed, incredulous that he was witnessing this. "They're going to hear you!"
The two teens quickly mumbled apologies and fell quiet.
Head reeling slightly, Kallus stepped after them. Maybe he was having hallucinations from sleep deprivation. Yes, that was it.
Because there was no possible way he—a highly decorated ISB officer who'd received actual awards for his investigative work—had missed this development happening between the two Spectres. Sure, he'd noticed them growing more comfortable around each other, more relaxed, but this went beyond those boundaries into comfortable territory. The sort of comfortable Captain Syndulla and Kanan Jarrus had, all casual petnames and lowkey flirting.
Surely he would have seen their obvious growing feelings for each other long before now?
Shaking his head, Kallus tried to concentrate on their mission, but the question niggled at him as a persistent distraction.
Stars help me, he thought.
-SWR-
He'd decided it must have been Sabine's extended absence on Krownest that had flipped their feelings for each other.
Kallus based this decision mostly on how Ezra became noticeably agitated when the Mandalorian had to separate from them to tackle the data cores while they copied from the console computers in another section of the restricted area. The boy oscillated between complete confidence and faith in her abilities and hand-wringing worry over her safety. More than once Kallus observed him closing his eyes to center himself in the Force.
"You think Sabine's okay?" the boy pressed him for probably the third time.
Kallus very valiantly managed to avoid rolling his eyes. "I'm sure she's fine," he said, fingers tapping across the keys as he accessed several secure files. "You've got the datastick ready?"
"Yeah, sure," Ezra said, bending down to insert it.
Kallus began copying the data over, letting the machine whir and chunk as it processed. Ezra stood at his shoulder and watched, calm for the moment, eyes fixed on the screen as it scrolled and flashed.
Abruptly, Ezra's head startled up and he cursed before throwing himself down behind the console. Kallus didn't get a chance to ask, for a sharp, barking, very annoyed voice from the doorway to their left shouted, "Hey!"
"Kriff," Kallus muttered, turning to face the sour-faced officer stalking towards him, blaster raised in suspicion. Kallus slowly raised his hands, thankful he'd thought to wear his old Imperial fatigues for the mission instead of his much-more comfortable Rebel getup. "Is there a problem, Commander?" he addressed the other man.
"You're not authorized to be in this area!" the Imperial snapped.
"You're mistaken," Kallus said, keeping his voice neutral and firm. "This is a Priority Code 54-7."
"Compromised operative?!" the Imperial gasped in alarm. "How bad was the leak?"
"Very bad," Kallus emphasized. "Everything will need to be wiped and purged at once."
Pivoting on his foot, the Imperial rushed off. "I'll set the self-destruct sequence at once!"
"No no that's not—!" Kallus tried to call after him, chagrined, but the man was already running off down the hall. Moments later the lights in the room flashed red and a computerized voice began counting down.
Ezra popped out from his hiding place, checking the progress of their download, and made a face.
"How much longer will it take?" he asked.
"Too long," Kallus said, reaching down and yanking the datastick. "This'll have to do. Come on, we haven't got much—"
"Watch out!" Ezra cried, moving in response to something yet to happen, throwing both himself and Kallus to the side harshly.
The next moment the console exploded, a loud BANG! sounding throughout the facility. The fireball plumed a little too hot and close for Kallus's liking, but as the ringing in his ears cleared and the computerized voice reset, as he checked himself over, he didn't seem to be injured.
As he was picking himself off the floor, carefully avoiding bits of hot metal debris from the console, frantic rapid footsteps sounded from further in, from the direction of the data cores.
It was Sabine of course, her eyes wide and worried, and the moment she spotted them she beelined straight for Ezra.
"You're okay!" she cried. She grabbed his arm and pulled him up on his knees, the next moment clutching his face with her hands in a decidedly intimate fashion, scanning him over. "Thank stars!"
Ezra's face spread with a lazy, teasing grin. "Aw Sabine, you do care."
She let go and punched him in the shoulder. "Shut up!" she laughed, the relief clear as day on her face. "All I hear from the other room are sirens and an explosion that I know isn't mine, of course I come running. I thought you'd blown yourself up you nerfhead!"
"I'm fine too, thanks for asking," Kallus grumbled under his breath.
"Nah, I just wanted to show you my shrapnel art," Ezra kept teasing, as the two got to their feet. He extended a hand over the debris as if presenting a canvas. "What do you think?"
Sabine leaned back on one foot and put a hand to her chin as if she was seriously considering it. "Has potential," she said. "Needs a bit of color though." She snapped her fingers in disappointment. "Ah, I knew I should have brought my paints!"
"Don't worry, next time I'll remind you," Ezra promised.
"If you two are done flirting..." Kallus interrupted. Data stick in hand, he stood stiff-shouldered, feeling an ache in his back from being flung to the floor and the beginnings of a migraine headache pulling at his temple. "The self-destruct sequence being activated will draw a lot of questions and attention this way. We should leave now."
To their credit, the two immediately regained focus.
"Right."
"Agreed."
-SWR-
It wound up being a bit more harrowing getting out than it had been getting in. The self-destruct sequence was shut off halfway through, with half the clandestine operations going up in smoke Sabine was irrationally thrilled about—"Look at the colors!" she gushed, after a particularly spectacular explosion—but they had to fight their way through several patrols of Stormtroopers converging on their location, Kallus suffering through yet more thinly-disguised flirtatious banter between the two teenagers.
Begrudgingly, though, Kallus had to admit that the Jedi padawan and Mandalorian warrior made for a very lethally effective team, coordinating fluidly as they fought their way across the battlefield.
They made it to the extraction point, and held out until the Ghost dropped from the sky. Kallus left Ezra and Sabine excitedly bantering in the cargo hold and wearily dragged himself up the ladder.
"Don't ask," he said in response to Hera's raised eyebrow.
Hera shrugged and turned back to the controls, gunning them out of there as Kallus slumped towards the back in search of something for his growing migraine.
(A/N)- Everyone Can See It, except Kallus would prefer not to, lol.
Stay tuned for the whole week, guys, I'm really happy with some of my work here.
