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Mon Mothma had never expected to see the three spies so rested as she does now. She watches them off and on throughout the day until lunch rolls around. Usually, no one in intelligence would be able to have a full lunch break, but it's slow today so most head to the mess.
"Andor, Kallus, Tano, may I speak with you a moment?" She barely manages to catch them before they leave.
The three exchange a glance before approaching her.
"Yes, Senator?" Ahsoka asks.
"You three seem very chipper and well-rested today," Mon Mothma smiles, "I'm glad to see you have been taking advantage of some of the mandatory breaks we've been trying to provide."
The three look at each other awkwardly. She'd supposed something like this, because there weren't any mandatory breaks for intelligence personnel, but these three are always so busy that she wouldn't be surprised if they fell for it.
"Uh, yes…" Kallus starts.
Mon Mothma expects someone else to cut him off and tell her the real answer, until she notices the other two eyeing him meaningfully.
Kallus breaks. "That's not why we're rested, Senator. We weren't aware of those mandatory breaks."
"Oh?" She raises her eyebrow and folds her hands expectantly.
Cassian and Ahsoka both fold their arms and glare at Kallus.
"It might be best if you ask Captain Syndulla," Kallus finally replies haltingly.
This satisfies the other two. They turn back to Senator Mothma and smile as if they've done nothing at all but stand there through the conversation.
Mon Mothma smiles at them. "I shall. You're dismissed."
She doesn't have to wait long to get her answers. She locates Hera in a common area having a conversation with multiple rebels from Cassian's crew as well. They are all relaxing until Mon Mothma approaches them.
"Senator," Hera greets, "would you like to join us?"
Mon Mothma nods. "If I may." She sits when Hera nods at the empty seat. "I won't be here long, I just have a question."
Hera and the others exchange looks of curiosity before Rex speaks. "Go ahead."
"The Fulcrum agents…they told me to ask you why they're so well rested."
Zeb nearly chokes on his caf. He wipes his mouth.
Hera grins. "Well, Kallus was willing, he just needed a push in the right direction…"
"Kal?" Zeb watched Kallus squint at him from across the table. There were large bags under Kallus' eyes, he was hunched over, and he'd been on the brink of falling out of his seat all breakfast. At this point, Zeb was convinced the only reason he was still upright was because of Rex, who Kallus kept leaning against as if he were a wall. "You doin' okay?"
Ezra and Sabine snickered to Zeb's left.
Kallus suddenly shook his head and sat up. "Well," he started to stand, "thank you for letting me join-" He cut himself off, glaring at Ezra and Sabine. "What's so amusing, Bridger?"
"Kallus," Hera drew his attention. Zeb punched Ezra in the arm, causing Sabine to snicker more. "You need a break."
"What are you talking about?" Kallus asked.
Zeb groaned, running his hand down his face.
Hera leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. "When was the last time you took a break, or ate something - a real meal instead of living off ration bars?"
"Today. Just now." Kallus replied. He motioned to the bench he'd been sitting on. "This was my break?"
"I got it," Zeb muttered to Kanan, getting up.
Kallus must have been really out of it, because he didn't see Zeb coming or Rex getting up. He probably didn't even know what hit him. It was Rex. Rex hit him. And Zeb caught him when he crumpled toward the ground.
Hera pinched the bridge of her nose. "Rex?"
"Trust me, I've dealt with enough workaholics in my day," Rex assured her.
"I don't doubt that. I just wanted to know why you didn't wait until a less public time?"
"And give him a chance to escape?"
"Yeah, Hera, come on," Kanan chuckled, as if it should have been obvious.
Zeb heaved him up toward his chest. "Alright, where's he goin' this time?"
"This time?" Sabine asked through tears of laughter.
Kanan shrugged. "It's the only way to get him to rest sometimes."
Rex motioned toward the exit of the mess hall. "I've got a plan, and he's the perfect bait for it."
Everyone looked at him. Hera didn't quite like the sound of it, but Zeb was intrigued.. "Alright, let's get a move on before he wakes up, then."
Kanan followed the sound of their movements with a bit of pride as Zeb and Rex hauled Kallus out of the commissary.
"Kanan, my love," Hera started, walking over to hold onto his arm while watching the door close with a tinge of concern. "Is there something I should know? Or…something I should at least keep an eye out for? Like brain damage?"
He shook his head. "Nah, Kallus will be fine. He dealt with worse when he was chasing after us, didn't he?"
"That's true enough…"
"Ahsoka was a little harder to convince…" Hera continues.
Rex shrugs. "But it helps when you have insider information."
Ahsoka had been up for almost 48 hours straight. There was something to be said for constantly being on the run - she definitely had time to get used to long hours. And that was saying nothing of the fact she'd been a child soldier in a war before going on the run. Even Kanan had taken a while to get comfortable sleeping around other people. One thing Ahsoka and Kallus had in common was that neither would sleep when there was work to be done. And so, Rex had become a bit concerned. Clearly this had given rise to his dastardly plan (Ahsoka's and Casssian's words, Kallus used "genius", which no one had expected).
While Kallus' unconscious body was being hauled to his quarters, positioned as close to intelligence as possible, Ahsoka was trying to meditate at her desk. She often told Rex this revived her just as much as - if not more than - sleep did, but he didn't believe it. He'd known her long enough to have heard that excuse before when it was clear she was having nightmares. No one in intelligence was privileged with that knowledge.
General Draven had been in and out, as had what felt like a million other people. Ahsoka had to focus on one thing - something that was constant in the room. She decided to focus her energy on Cassian. He had dozed off at his desk but would wake with a start when someone entered or left the room. Ahsoka figured if she could focus and find peace she may be able to share it with him so that he could get some decent rest. She had tried it before with some of the men in the 501st after her master had taught her this trick and it had worked just fine on them.
Usually it was the time of day that everyone would be in intelligence working on some information or other, but not today. Ahsoka wondered why at first. She decided, after a while, that it was Cassian's fault - and maybe a little of her own fault. She felt the discomfort of everyone when they entered. It disrupted her meditation more than usual.
She sighed and crunched up her nose when someone else entered. She just wanted to meditate, was that too much to ask?
"General."
Her anger dissipated and her muscles relaxed. She opened her eyes to see her oldest friend squatting in front of her. "Rex, is something wrong?"
"Kallus passed out in the commissary."
Ahsoka jumped to her feet, Rex rising to hold her gaze. "What? Is he alright?"
Cassian sat up with a start. "What's happening?!"
Rex raised his eyebrow at Cassian, but answered Ahsoka's question. "He's fine, just exhausted. I don't think he meditates, and he avoids sleeping. I'd say it's been, oh, about a day since he last slept?"
"Are we talking about Kallus?" Cassian asked, more alert than he had a right to be after just waking up.
Rex and Ahsoka nodded.
"We've all been up for the last 96 hours and 23 minutes."
Rex tilted his head.
Ahsoka put her hands on her hips. "Cassian, what are you talking about? We slept before this project started, which was only two days ago."
Cassian held a data pad up above his console screens. The entire data pad screen was covered by a clock "I started a stopwatch when the project began." As they watched, the clock turned to 24 minutes.
Ahsoka blinked. Then she grinned. "I suppose Kallus just can't handle it as well as we can."
"Handle what?" cassian asked. He lowered the data pad and must have caught a glimpse of the screen. "Oh. It's been 96 hours already? Wait. What were we talking about again?"
Rex hummed quietly, but Ahsoka picked it up. He didn't say anything for a long moment, then he finally said, "General, I don't think humans are made to go this long without sleep. Now, maybe Togruta are different," he quickly added when Ahsoka glared at him, "but I think Kallus may really hurt himself if he gets up too soon. He needs a good, long rest."
"Then it sounds like someone needs to watch him."
"Agreed. "
At that exact moment, Hera walked in with Jyn.
"Rex, lift off in five, I've been looking for you everywhere," Hera said as soon as she laid eyes on the Clone captain.
"Wait, are you going on a mission?" Ahsoka asked, confused.
Rex nodded. "Did you forget? The Ghost is off to secure some more information for your project."
Hera shook her head, coming to a stop beside Rex. "Kallus was the one who asked us to go retrieve it. General Draven said he can't run the mission himself because he's spent too much time in intelligence lately. He hoped it would get Kallus to take a break - lot of good that did."
Cassian laughed. "Haha weak." He rested his cheek against the top of his console even as Jyn made her way to his side.
"Anyway…" Hera continued. "Did Rex tell you Kallus won't be in?"
Ahsoka nodded. "Yes. He was saying Kallus passed out. We were just discussing what steps to take to force Kallus to rest, but all we could determine was that someone needs to watch him."
Hera frowned. "Well, we have to take the entire Ghost crew, and Rex, on this mission." She held her chin. "The only other people he's ever allowed anywhere near his quarters are you and Cassian." Hera thought about it for a moment, then met Ahsoka's eyes again. "Could you watch him for us? Make sure he doesn't get up too soon and hurt himself? Just until we get back. I know you're busy with this project too."
Ahsoka glanced at her desk tentatively. She didn't want to leave the project for too long…but the Ghost crew wouldn't be gone for an extended period of time. And Cassian could keep working. "Sure. I'll make sure Kallus gets some sleep." The project would still be there when the Ghost crew got back, she decided. Besides, Kallus' well-being was more important right now.
Rex looked at his communicator. "Right. We better be on our way, Captain," He told Hera. Then he addressed Ahsoka, "Zeb helped me take Kallus to his room. He should be fast asleep on his cot by now. We were going to make Ezra and Sabine watch him before we remembered we had to do this, so we set up the holo-vision and a Dejarik table to keep you entertained."
"Right." She grinned. "Though I don't know what good a Dejarik table will do me, unless Kallus can play Dejarik in his sleep."
"Cassian was surprisingly the easiest to convince," Jyn hums.
"I thought he would have put up more of a fight," Baze comments.
The cold transparisteel top of the console felt nice against Cassian's face. Cassian didn't think he had a fever, but he might have a fever. He suddenly remembered that Kallus had failed at something - he didn't remember what - and he began chuckling about it. The great ISB agent failed a challenge. He laughed again.
"Cassian?"
He had been hyper aware that someone was standing by him, but he didn't care much at the time since he knew Ahsoka was still in the room. Now that she was saying his name though he raised his head to see what was going on - and found that Ahsoka had left. Jyn, Hera, and Rex were all staring at him.
"Can I help you?" He asked.
Rex and Hera looked at each other.
Jyn didn't answer his question, which was fine because he promptly forgot having asked it. "What were you laughing at?"
"Laughing?" Cassian sat up. "When?" He motioned at the console. "I was just working on the project." He held up the data pad. "It's only been 96 hours and 28 minutes."
"Yes," Jyn agreed, glancing at the data pad. "That's what you were laughing about, probably. Kallus and Ahsoka both wanted to keep working, but you said the halfway point might be a good time to take a break."
Cassian seemed unconvinced. He quirked one eyebrow before immediately saying, "No I didn't."
Jyn shrugged at Hera and Rex.
"Cassian, you need a break," Hera took the direct approach, hoping that at least one of the three spies would see reason.
Cassian looked at the data pad again. "What are you talking about? It's only been…" He looked at the data pad again. "...96 hours? Hmm that doesn't seem right."
For a second, there was hope in their hearts that he would agree to take a break now that he knew how long he'd been there. It was dashed to pieces almost immediately.
"I think something is wrong with this data pad, it should have been much longer by now. We would usually have this project done." He looked around. "Where are Ahsoka and Kallus? I am surprised Draven hasn't gone after them for slacking yet."
Rex finally gave up on Hera and Jyn's approaches and tried one of his own. "Draven kicked them out and told them they couldn't step foot in intelligence until tomorrow. He made absolute certain they did not take any data pads with them."
"But we're his best agents!" Cassian sounded offended, jumping to his feet and hitting the top of the console. "He can't sideline two of us!"
Jyn caught on to what she hoped Rex was going for. "Then why don't you take this data pad," she handed Cassian a data pad. "It has all the information for your project and all your access codes. You all should be able to work on the project from anywhere, and I am certain Ahsoka and Kallus will be excited to have you bring work to them."
Cassian needed no more convincing. He grabbed the data pad from Jyn, then grabbed the data pad with the timer on it, and ran out of intelligence.
"Once the seed was planted, all we had to do was wait," Hera finishes.
Mon Mothma nods slowly. "You allowed Andor to take sensitive information out of intelligence, in an attempt to get him to take a break? Wouldn't he just work on that if no one was watching him?"
"Normally, yes," Hera agrees.
Jyn folds her arms. "They were so sleep deprived that they had forgotten to charge any data pads but the one with the timer, and General Draven temporarily deactivated all their access codes so they couldn't get back into intelligence."
"And we gave General Tano the job of watching both him and Kallus," Rex adds. "I contacted her as soon as Cassian left the room."
"I know it apparently worked well enough, but can you explain…how? They are some of the best agents we have - and that includes when it comes to infiltration. They could have just infiltrated the intelligence center and no one would have known. Assuming you did not think to set an armed guard around intelligence as well."
Jyn looks at Hera, and Hera looks at Rex.
"Well," Rex decides he will try to explain it, since the others appeared unwilling to, "Cassian ended up falling asleep as soon as he sat down and found the data pad was dead."
Zeb swirls the caf in his mug. "When we finally checked on 'em again a few hours later, all three of 'em were out cold."