Through Imperial Eyes

Chapter 8

After she left the Grand Admiral's office, (Y/N) headed straight back to her cabin. She needed some peace and quiet to reflect on everything. If what she believed was right, Lieutenant Lyste wasn't the real traitor, Agent Kallus was. How else could he have missed the fact that they had Ezra Bridger in custody? The only logical explanation she found to his actions was that he didn't want Admiral Thrawn or anyone else on the Chimaera to know they had caught a Jedi so that he could escape more easily.

She continued to think while she prepared for bed as if on autopilot. Why did they let him go and arrested Lyste instead? If she managed to come to that conclusion, she knew her superior had done the same in half the time. Why bother with keeping an innocent man in a cell instead of the real traitor?

"Maybe he wants to lure the rebels in some kind of trap? Or feed them false information through Kallus to lead them away from Lothal?" she reasoned while undressing.

She slid under her covers with a sigh. Whatever Thrawn's plan was, she had to find a way to warn the ISB Agent that his cover was blown. Maybe it could be her chance to get out of the Navy and join the rebels. She could start doing some good and right some of the wrongs that had been done to them in the name of the Empire.

And become a deserter, a traitor just like Kallus. She would become another wanted criminal, running away from the very people she had spent years working with. After listing the pros and cons for way too long, she finally fell asleep.

It took (Y/N) a few days of wandering around in her free time to finally have a chance to talk to Agent Kallus. He was coming to report back from Lothal and she happened to be off-duty. She walked around the corridors between the landing bay and the Grand Admiral's office and headed straight towards him when she finally saw him. Trying her best to make it look like an accident, she collided with him hard enough to make them both fall on the ground.

"What is wrong with you? Don't you have eyes?" Kallus exclaimed angrily.

"I have to talk to you. Meet me back in the storage room in corridor B-7. Tenth floor." she whispered to him while helping him get up. "Did you hear what I said?"

"Yes, Lieutenant." He gave (Y/N) a puzzled look but didn't question her. They both parted ways without another word.

While he was gone, she slowly made her way to their meeting location. She made sure to take plenty of detours, doing her best to throw any potential witness off her scent. It would have been suspicious if she had gone straight to the storage room. During her free time, she had scouted around the ship to find a place secluded enough for the two of them to be able to have a private conversation without being disturbed. She had also taken the liberty of moving a few crates around to obstruct the camera in the corner of the room.

Once (Y/N) finally arrived, she waited for around fifteen minutes before she heard the door slide open. She had feared he would choose not to come, yet here he was, slowly walking around the crates and storage units. He spotted her at the very back of the room and quietly went up to her. His warm brown eyes met hers, a suspicious expression wrinkling his face.

"Good day, Agent Kallus" she whispered. "I'm Lieutenant (Y/N) (L/N). I work alongside Commodore Faro and Grand Admiral Thrawn up on the bridge."

"Nice to meet you" he whispered back, still unsure if he trusted her or not. "Why did you want to talk to me?"

The young woman hesitated for a moment. Was she about to commit treason? Was she ready to become an accomplice to the very rebels they were fighting? She took a sharp breath and looked around one more time, worried that somehow someone could hear them.

"I met with Admiral Thrawn after Ezra Bridger escaped and..."

"Bridger? How do you know about him?" The agent's eyes narrowed. "I never told anyone he was the prisoner."

"Well that's the thing, sir. As I was saying, I was in the Admiral's office right after he escaped and Lieutenant Lyste was put in custody. He had the helmet Bridger used to hide his identity. Thrawn recognized Sabine Wren's painting on it and deduced that it was him you had brought aboard the ship. It got me thinking and I figured something was wrong because if he was able to recognize him..."

"...I should have recognized him too." he finished. "And I should have warned the Chimaera about the prisoner's identity."

"Unless you were actually the rebel sympathizer, yes." (Y/N) concluded with a low voice.

"So you're telling me the Grand Admiral knows I'm actually Fulcrum?" he asked her.

"Fulcrum? I don't have any information about that. I just needed to warn you because I think he might try to come after you or use you to mislead the rebels." the lieutenant answered.

Agent Kallus stayed silent for a long time, clearly measuring the implications of what he had just learned. If his cover was blown, like (Y/N) had reason to believe, he was in danger. He could be arrested, tortured, or worse. He sighed, passing a gloved hand through his hair. After another couple of seconds, he looked back at the young woman waiting anxiously in front of him.

"I can't leave. I can't ask them to come and exfiltrate me again after all the risks they took the last time. I'll have to wait for an opportunity. At least now I know that I have to be even more careful than I already was if you think Thrawn's already caught up with me." He looked around, realizing how long he'd been gone. "I have to leave now, Lieutenant (L/N), but I want to thank you for warning me."

"There's no need. I just thought it was the right thing to do." she quickly answered.

"I'll remember that. Now I must head back to my shuttle."

Just as quietly as he arrived, he left the storage room, leaving (Y/N) alone in the dark. She waited a few minutes as a precaution before leaving, once again taking many detours around the ship to make sure she was safe before finally heading back to her quarters.