#but mostly Kallus talking to Rex

[murielles-crowsnest]

Last Line Challenge

thanks @coruscantiscribbler for the tag!

One of the WIPs: Haunting A Ghost. I'm not sure about this bit staying in, I only started rolling it around in my head while I was literally low-grade feverish.

"I'm Sorry. That was insensiti-" "DON'T." Rex snapped. "Yeah. I deserve one after that, but I'm sick of hearin' every other word outta your mouth bein' an apology." Aaand there he was again, that blank, incredibly punchable face Rex had been subjected to the entire flight back to Yavin. Not much out of him other thank the "yessirs" when given instructions.

No tags again. I'm le tired.

[nightlight-stardust-and-rain]

SW fanfic idea:

During the war, the Coruscant Guard kind of adopts a street kid, because clearly they don't have any guardian worthy of the name and end up in their custody way too often.

It just so happens that the kid's name is Alexsandr Kallus.

Snippets :

(sadly this doesn't change anything when order 66 rolls in)

Kallus' facial hair in this au is actually a nod to the clones' tendency to have distinct facial hair.

The Guards used to call him Sasha or Sash'ika. (he was pretty small back then)

He began to drink caff because it reminded him of Commander Fox. Even now the smell is a comfort. The first time he drank it he had a flashback to one of the numerous times he helped one of the medics, Cerise, with hiding Fox's caff because the man needed sleep post-haste.

Due to spending quite a bit of time with the aforementioned medic, Kallus actually has some competence in the domain.

When he becomes ISB and gets armor he paints the inside of it with Corrie-red designs. Several of the designs come directly from the clones he was closest to.

When he was a kid, Kallus wanted to join the Coruscant Guard and used to excitedly tell the clones about the way he would paint his armor when he would get it. Said clones were pretty touched and usually refrained from telling him they had no idea if a non-clone was even allowed to join the Guard.

When dressed as a civilian, Kallus leans (both unconsciously and on purpose) towards clothes a distinct shade of red.

When he joins the rebellion, he's actually pretty uneasy around Rex. He reminds Kallus of what happened to his family and the way they lost their free will after order 66. So he avoids Rex for a while until the Ghost crew confronts him about it.

After the truth comes out, Rex slowly begins to think about Kallus as a nephew.

At some points Rex finds a blank set of clone armor and gives it to Kallus, who paints it Corrie-red and wears it diligently. Zeb is just happy his trouble-prone friend finally has some protection.

Clones are an especially sensitive point for Kallus and he often tries to find and de-chip surviving clones while working for Intel. Before he joined the rebels he used to try to put clones in safe posts on peaceful planets, possibly even planets where a surgeon might perform brain surgery if paid enough. After he joins he actively tries to bring clones back to base and de-chip them. Rex is very happy to help. It's their own mission within the missions.

One of the clones Rex and Kallus manage to save end up being one of the captains of the Guard. She and Kallus were pretty close, and there's an emotional reunion involved once she wakes up from surgery.

(there is also a shovel talk involved once she realizes how Zeb looks at their Sasha)

(Captain Amaranth decides to stay with the Rebellion if only to make sure Kallus is safe. She is unfit for active duty due to rather severe PTSD and decides to become one of the base's cooks. She is much more successful at getting Kallus to eat regularly than anyone else)

(she also loves to tell stories about Kallus as a kid. One of her favorites is how he painted flowers on her pauldron when she asked him to help her with the new paint. Kallus later gives her a pauldron with much better drawn flowers)

(everyone has called her mom at some point, but none more so than Kallus. Some recruits actually believe she's Kallus' actual mom)

Rex and Kallus bonding by quietly re-painting their armor together.

Kallus getting to tell stories about his family to the Ghost crew and other friends! He hasn't been able to talk about the clones who mostly raised him since..... Well since he lost them, essentially. So this is good!

He got his work ethic from Fox. Amaranth says that's not a good thing.

(she's right)

At some point he discovers that Vader snapped Fox's neck and let me tell you the sith is lucky he's already dead. (Kallus is also secretly a bit relieved because that's a pretty fast and painless death. At least he didn't suffer too much....)

To counteract the angst of this last one, please imagine some Corrie dumping a sleepy Sasha on top of Fox so that the commander can't move, which ends up with Fox sleeping too (mission accomplished!). Little Alexsandr and Fox napping curled up together on a couch.......

[seth-shitposts]

Post War Kallus HC that nearly make me cry:

🌱🪻🌻🪻🌱

During the war, he started getting into studying plants and taking care of them. Mostly because Rex and AP start gifting him plants and he was not about to let them die. Soon plants became everyone's go to gift for him. Not only did he learn how to take care of them, but he learned how to propagate as well. He still has every plant he'd ever been gifted.

They are in a green house on Lothal, it's a public botanical garden. The mother plants are kept there while babies have been clipped and grown as small variations to gift to his family. [As having kept every plant alive, he also has the ones that Kanan, Ezra, and Gregor gave him as well.] [If ever asked, the man would deny it, but Draven also gave Kallus a plant. The Gardner keeps the general's secret.]

Back when Kallus was learning how to propagate, he did so to every gifted plant, so all the mother plants have a twin. The Lothal botanical garden has a twin on Lira San.

Farming and Gardening is something he unexpectedly found he enjoys.

Post War, his family encourages his idea to visit as many systems throughout the galaxy as possible and help establish agricultural centers and food forests. He studies each planet’s individual flora and fauna, how they support each other and promote healthy growth. He makes customized plans for each planet. Essentially, he creates the role of Galatic Agricultural Ambassador. He also teaches others and learns from others, founding an entire organization of diplomats, educators, gardener/farmers, and agricultural professors who are also GAAs. It's much faster to help others when there's an entire support system working their way throughout the galaxy than if you're by yourself trying to do it single handedly.

🌱🌻🪻🌻🌱

🪛⚙️🔩

Kallus has always had a soft spot for droids and it has never been a secret. He'll make repairs to them, save them from being mistreated, praise them for the work they do, applaud how they seek advancement, and develop themselves further on their own merits.

He can tell them all apart from one another, he picks up on all their individual quirks and mannerisms. He encourages them to pursue their interests and ambitions.

After the war (and even during, when he had the chance to), he would jailbreak any and every imperial droid that crosses from their imperial programming. It got to the point where droids would lead other droids to Kallus specifically for his help. He will also aid and helping them find homes. Some ask for orders or directives. Rather than doling out tasks, he takes the time to explore things with them. Have them interact with others, allow them to shadow him if they wish. Until they feel a pull to something they think they'd enjoy.

It gets to the point where Kallus will cross paths with a droid he doesn't know, hasn't met yet, but they know him. Because droids talk, they gossip. Kallus finds out that he's become a celebrity to droids and Sabine wipl take every opportunity to fluster him over the fact. Kallus adores droids but hadn't been expecting the sentiment to be returned.

On Lira San, he often collaborates with mechanics there on droid construction. He assists in a new area of creation; the perfect blending of nature and tech. Two of his special interests and he's both thrilled and honored to have been asked to assist.

🔩⚙️🪛

📚📚📚

Kallus is the type that once he picks up a book, he finishes it within only a few hours and needs another. He loves to learn just as much as he loves fictional stories. What he enjoys most is listening to Zeb talk about all the things he had been taught in the university back before he chose to join the honorgaurd.

Kallus already had a pretty good idea of smart Zeb is, but he wasn't aware that Zeb has the equivalent of a PhD that had been required for him to join the honor gaurd, and several other "supplemental" layers of additional education standards to qualify as captain. [Kallus realizes a stark difference between the fundamentals and the very foundation of Lasan's Honorgaurd and the Empire's enlistment. Lasan ensured that every level of their gaurds had not just the understanding of battle tactics, but history, interpersonal & Diplomatic skills, courses about how to handle problems and how those problems began in the first place. Maths, sciences, literacy as supplements to every additional level of education. For the honorgaurd, they taught them understanding of the world around them, meanwhile at the Royal Academy, Kallus was solely taught tactics. Trained to push past his physical limits. He accepted extra roles such as mechanics, data analytics, droid programming and any other subject he had thought would've been useful in his role.]

Zeb said that while he did enjoy the opportunity, the life of an academic wasn't for him. The only reason why he had pushed himself so far in the university was to achieve being a leader of a team. To earn it.

Kallus picks up learning a couple new languages and after building up the courage, asked if Zeb would want, if he would be willing to teach Kallus Lasana. And Zeb is absolutely thrilled. Kallus was able to pick it up rather quickly and Zeb joked that he was a bit jealous because he still doesn't have a full grasp of Bacis. Kallus asked if he wanted supplements in some areas; he himself had acted well spoken his first year at the academy by mimicking his peers until he had a better grip of language arts. Zeb agreed and they spent much of their studies together practicing languages.

"Studies" being Kallus seeking Zeb out for conversation, nudging him on topics Kallus knows he enjoys so that Zeb will dump every bit of information about the topic. It had actually been one of the pushing factors Kallus had for building the courage to ask to be taught lasana. What zeb would tell Kallus was merely a fraction of the knowledge he held and Zeb sometimes would have to take longer trying to convey it. However, there were many times when Zeb would be so enraptured by talking about his interests that he would simply get much more passionate and switch over to lasana. And every time Kallus didn't understand a word of what was being said, but he felt such an immense, swallowing joy that took him out as he listened to Zeb in awe, basking in the man’s passion. The one time Zeb had realized he was rambling in his mother tongue, Kallus felt his chest shatter when Zeb opened his mouth to apologize, so the one time Kallus ever cuts Zeb off from speaking was then. When he asked if Zeb could teach him lasana. If Kallus could be allowed to learn such a thing.

By the time Zeb brought Kallus to Lira San, Kallus was fluent in Lasana. [Chava immediately started nagging Zeb about "marrying that boy before someone else snatches him up".] Kallus took any opportunity to visit the libraries on Lira San in his free time. One day, when he was reading, a kit trotted over to him and asked him if he could read a story book aloud. Kallus looked past the kit to see several others watching from around the corner in the sitting area. Kallus set his own book down and happily accepted. It became a monthly routine for him to read to the children at the library.

It didn't take long for them to seek him out for other things, such as running across him tending to the food forests or the botanical garden and ask him questions about what he's doing, what the plants are, what they grow into, "you're making baby plants? How?", "what's a agricultural?" / "what's a ambassador?" , "can I eat this?" , etc etc etc.

📚📚📚

Kallus had been working closely with the agricultural professors and experts of Lira San. He was ecstatic upon Zeb telling him that Lira San has an entire university dedicated to agriculture. And the professors were ecstatic to meet someone with so much new and different knowledge. They were eager to exchange such knowledge and try to convince him to join them on consults and conventions and farmer's markets. He was thrilled to.

And he loved seeing how much more open Zeb was around the other lasat, how his confidence grew. Kallus is in awe to be getting the chance to see Zeb take things on to his truest and fullest potential. He encourages his partner and supports him in every possible way. Sure, Zeb recieved praise and recognition for his battle and warrior capabilities in the rebellion. But only his family ever seemed to see him for every facet of his person. Kallus felt privileged to get to be Zeb’s friend, someone close to him, but he also loathed how Zeb would be treated when it took him extra time to verbalize his thoughts. Kallus loathed how Zeb wasn't called in more on areas he knew Zeb excelled in. And more than anything, Kallus loathed how many times Zeb was talked down to. Kallus would talk Zeb up, remind everyone of just how capable the Captain of the Honorguard is, past his training and strategies. In meetings, Kallus would reference Zeb and ask for a consult from him to be used in, and Hera always backed that. And if it wasn't Kallus asking for a consult, it was Hera, and, eventually, Sabine.

And people learned very quickly not to mistreat Zeb. Kallus sought out to that. At first, they just stopped doing it when Kallus was around. But people liked kallus, to some degree, and people liked Zeb even more, so word always got back to Kallus. Most of the time Kallus wouldn't bother with a physical altercation. He didn't want to cause extra trouble for Hera to have to rectify. He's more than capable of settling a fight with words. But there were a few who didn't catch Kallus’s severity or would insist on doubling down. Kallus never killed anyone, but he wasn't gentle either. As stated; eventually it was understood that no one mistreats Garazeb Orrelios. The same applied to the entire Ghost Crew.

That was then, however. This is now. And now, Kallus feels his heart melt as Zeb grows less and less hesitant, as he grows more and more bold.

[never-ending-fanfic]

For the WIP Ask Game anything to share on ‘Five things the Spectres found out about Kallus and one he told them himself’? I’m always obsessed with Kallus slowly opening up the Ghost crew

Oh thanks for asking! 🩷 And yes, I absolutely do have stuff to share about that! And I agree, Kallus slowly getting closer with the Ghost Crew is something so dear

With this one, it's a 5+1 fic and the main theme is- as the title says- things about Kallus that he keeps to himself and the Ghost Crew uncovers. I have a list of things abut Kallus attached to the crew members

Past- Ezra (it's mostly connected to his backstory as a Sewer Rat/Street Kid in the lower levels on Coruscant- my favourite trope ever)

Guilt- Sabine (I like to think about Sabine and Kallus Being Besties™- and there's such a huge potential too. Kallus and Sabine both being defectors and having similar pasts- at least about academy and the Empire- us just so much to work with! So here Sabine catches Kallus having a quiet panic attack ambecause he spiralled himself down to it with overthinking- she helps him calm down and they talk about defecting from the Empire and the guilt that comes with changing sides)

Overworking- Rex (the clone captain wanders around the base because he can't sleep, he figures he might take a calm, quiet walk at night- and then he sees Kallus sitting on the floor outside of the Intelligence HQ with a datapad and a few pages of reports on flimsi- he asks what he's doing there, since it's already around midnight and he looks like he needs sleep. Kallus says that he needs to work and that Draven literally pushed him out of the room when he was closing it for the night so Kallus just stayed and worked here- Rex rightfully calls it stupid and forces Kallus to have a walk with him- they take a break around the temple and as they sit and watch the base and the nature and the stars Kallus falls asleep on Rex's shoulder- this is also a friendship I cherish in fics, okay? 🩵)

Food- Kanan (when they eat in the mess or on the Ghost and Kallus is with them, Kanan notices something- he might be blind but he's the first one to realise that Kallus barely eats. And so he carries on with an idea already forming in his head and alongside that he realises Kallus never asks for medical help either or any help for that matter. Like he's trying to make himself as little liability as possible. He corners Kallus about that and after a lot of pushing, Kqllus finally breaks out a "I don't want you to waste resources on me". Oh believe me, they're gonna have a long talk)

Birthday- Hera (it's a foreign thing for Kallus to celebrate one's birthday- because the Empire sucks- and so after seeing how strange and out of place he looked when the crew threw a party for Sabine, Hera made a point to look through his file and throw him a party when it's his birthday 💚)

+1 Name- Kallus shares with Zeb (I just NEED Zeb to be the one to hear that, okay? A name is something so important about one's identity amd person and Zeb having shared his name of Bahryn with Kallus is just gonna make a full circle when Kallus shares his name with Zeb)

I love this wip dearly and I might work on it soon, since you already reminded me of its existence 🩷💕🩷

[ahsoka-its-all-of-us]

Here’s a little list of fics I’ve written (keeps getting updated)

I’ve Loved You Always; I Always Will — Rexsoka series, consisting of short stories that can be read as stand-alones, together making up a comprehensive storyline

- Return Of The Jedi – Of Sorts — Ahsoka contacts the 501st for aid in capturing Maul - The Bantha In The Room — Jesse and Rex talk about Ahsoka during the Siege of Mandalore - A Night Of Peace — Rex looks Ahsoka up at night during the Siege of Mandalore - A Dawn Of Hope — A Night Of Peace from Ahsoka’s perspective - Old Flames Not Forgotten — Ahsoka and Rex look up Lux Bonteri - Broken Off — How Rex and Ahsoka lost contact before Rebels (written for Rexsoka Monthly) - Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep — Rex and Ahsoka discuss their own funerals

The Honourable Ones — Kalluzeb series, consisting of short stories out of one overarching storyline

- Heart Of A Rebel — Kallus's life from early childhood until Bahryn - Cold — an exploration of what transpired while Zeb and Kallus had to wait for someone to rescue them from the Geonosian moon - Boosahn Keeraw — Zeb and Kallus meet again on opposite sides during a rebel mission - Indebted — Kallus’s escape from the Chimaera and subsequent introduction to the Rebellion - Always Wondered Why He’d Let Me Live — Zeb helps Kallus address some issues as he joins the Rebellion - Jedi Magic — Kanan breaks a newly defected Kallus out of his Imperial repression (art 🥹) - We’re Not Droids — Rex tells Kallus about the Battle of Umbara, starting an unexpected friendship - A Spark Of Rebellion — Zeb’s oh moment 😈 - Gift Of My Heart — Zeb impulsively gets Kallus a gift - Laughable — Zeb takes Kallus to have dinner with his family, and Kallus realises something - Pain Of The Past — Kallus and Zeb finally talk about Lasan - Don't Look At My Tortured Soul — Zeb finds out a dark secret about Kallus, and something about himself as well - Can't You Hear Me Scream? — Kallus struggles to stay in control of his Imperial indoctrination as a mission with the Ghost takes him behind Imperial lines - From A Twi'lek's Point Of View — Hera reflects on Zeb and Kallus - Charred Heart — Kallus finally breaks - Choices — Rex and Zeb show Kallus the difference between the Rebellion and the Empire. - CT-ISB-021 — Kallus and Rex bond over clone trooper armour. - Domesticated — On a mission Kallus shows what he's capable off and Zeb is gay about it.

Slaves — a ficlet exploring Anakin/Vader’s thoughts about slavery and the clones

Sisi Ni Sawa; A New Way To Go — Kallus muses over something Zeb told him on Bahryn

You Must Have Some Mixed Feelings About Seeing Me — The Zuko/Iroh apology scene, but it's Kallus and Zeb after Zero Hour

For Good — Zeb and Kallus say goodbye before a dangerous mission

Heat Of The Moment — Ahsoka experiences her first heat while stuck with the 501st on a remote moon, and Anakin and Rex have to deal with it

Grand Admiral Thrawn Has Got It Going On — a Thranto song parody

Splitting Suns — A drunken Zeb makes a big mistake, causing Kallus to end their relationship and leave Lira San.

-------------------------

I frequently post sneak peeks of upcoming stories, tagged as #jenny's sneaks

I also tend to produce a lot of character headcanons (most of which I use myself in my stories), tagged as #jenny's headcanons

Everything I post about the new shows is tagged so you know what to avoid if you don’t want any spoilers :)

My non-Star Wars-related WIPs can be found here

Also I’m a professional musician, and, among other things, I like making fun arrangements and transcriptions, which can be found on my music blog @transcriptions-of-unknown-music. Suggestions are welcome, especially for my music box series!

I have no talent for visual art whatsoever, but I do have a deranged RedBubble that’s really mostly a joke. My Kallus Fulcrum symbol is on it, though :3

[kanerallels]

Homeward Bound

(for Kanera Week, based on the prompt "reunion/making up for lost time")

Read on AO3 here!

@kaneraweek

Word Count: 1,828

Tags/Warning: rated G

Summary: Five years after the battle of Yavin, the Empire is defeated above Jakku. It's an important day for all of the galaxy-- but for Kanan Jarrus and Jacen Syndulla, it's especially meaningful.

Kanan was busy making dinner when the call came. He heard the beep of the holocom going off, and didn’t turn from slicing the kajaka roots in front of him. “Kasmir, can you get that?” he called.

The Kalleran, who’d moved to Ryloth with him to take care of Jacen, headed across the room. “Don’t let the steaks burn while I’m gone, or Cham will never let it go,” he warned Kanan. “Your father-in-law is notoriously picky about how well done his steaks are.”

Letting out a snort, Kanan said, “And yet you consist in making them well done. I wonder why that is?”

Kasmir ignored him, which was unsurprising. Kanan was definitely grateful for Kasmir hanging around. However, he had a habit of clashing with Hera’s father. The only thing the two of them could agree on was Jacen, and the fact the kid deserves the best.

As he continued chopping up the kajaka roots, he heard Kasmir whistling as he checked the com. Then he stopped abruptly, and Kanan felt his heart skip a beat.

The only people who called them on that holocom, other than Sabine from time to time, was the New Republic. Which meant there was some kind of news from Hera.

Setting down the knife, he moved towards the door. “Kasmir. What is it?”

“It’s… good news,” Kasmir said, his voice stunned. “Jakku’s been taken. The Imperial fleet has surrendered.”

Feeling shock cut through him, Kanan took a deep breath. “Does that-- you’re saying--”

“She’s coming home,” Kasmir said, the grin in his voice obvious. “The captain’s coming home.”

Kanan could feel a smile spreading across his face. Force. She’s coming back. Finally, she’s coming home. Turning, he managed to keep his voice steady as he called, “Jacen! Come here for a minute!”

The sound of thumping feet caught his ear, and Jacen raced into the room. “Yeah, Dad? What’s up?”

Cham was a few steps behind his grandson, and Kanan felt his curious gaze resting on him. “Is there something wrong?” he asked, his voice wary-- clearly he’d heard the holocom go off as well, and connected the dots.

“No,” Kanan said. “The Empire surrendered.” He could sense the shock radiating from Cham as he turned to Jacen. “Jacen, your mom’s coming home.”

Jacen let out a whoop and launched himself at Kanan. “REALLY?? Really really? Mom’s coming home? For how long?”

“For good, kiddo,” Kanan said, hugging his son tightly. “The fight’s over. She’s not going anywhere once she gets home.”

“YES!!!” Jacen said, wriggling free from Kanan’s grasp to start jumping around the kitchen. “When? When are we going to see her?”

“ETA, three days,” Kasmir said, and Jacen let out another shout of delight.

“Time to start planning the welcome home dinner,” Cham said, his voice satisfied. “Only the best to welcome home our Hera.”

Chuckling, Kanan said, “I guess we’d better start making some calls. The others are going to want to be here for this.”

As Jacen jumped around the kitchen and Cham started planning the dinner out loud and Kasmir made fun of him, Kanan could smell the steaks burning in the other room. But he didn’t care. Hera was coming home.

The next few days slipped by with surprising speed as the four of them made calls and prepared for the welcome home dinner. A message from Hera confirmed her arrival time, which only heightened the excitement.

The guests started arriving the day of-- Kallus and Zeb, of course. Sabine, along with Rex and Ahsoka, bringing stories from the Outer Rim, and even Numa and Gobi, Cham’s seconds in command. The house was filled with people, talking and laughing and helping with dinner. Zeb, Ahsoka, Kasmir and Rex had commandeered the kitchen, with Cham supervising, Numa and Gobi were entertaining Jacen by telling him stories, and Sabine and Kallus were discussing tactics. Everyone was there-- except Kanan and Jacen.

Leaning back on the heels of his hands, Kanan tilted his head up to the sky, enjoying the cool night air as he asked, “Do you see anything yet?”

“Nope,” Jacen reported. He’d managed to convince Kanan that they could wait for Hera up on the roof-- which, admittedly, hadn’t taken much. The only person more excited than Jacen was Kanan, although he didn’t show it as much as his son did.

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath, savoring the thought of Hera, finally home to stay. It had been a long two years, with visits every now and then, but mostly so much time apart. Kanan missed her, aching to hold her in his arms again. Force, it would be so good to have her back.

Next to him, Jacen let out an impatient sigh. “How long is this gonna take?”

“Hang in there, kid,” Kanan said with a grin. “She’ll be here soon. Your mom isn’t late often.”

“How are you so patient?” Jacen grumbled.

Feeling a soft smile crossing his face, Kanan replied, “I’ve spent a lifetime waiting for your mom. I can wait a little longer.”

“Well, I haven’t spent that long, and I don’t want to.”

“Someday, you’ll find someone you’d wait that long for,” Kanan replied absently, running his fingers through his beard. “And you may find you don’t mind as much.”

“Ew,” Jacen muttered, and Kanan laughed.

“You might not want to hear it, but you’ll understand when you get older.”

“I don’t think I want to understand-- THERE!” Jacen jumped to his feet, and Kanan lunged forward, grabbing him by the back of the shirt to prevent him from plummeting off the edge. Disregarding his near-death experience, Jacen said, “It’s Mom! It’s the Ghost!”

Even as he said the words, Kanan could hear the familiar rumble of the Ghost’s engines as it cruised overhead, setting down a little ways away.

“Take it easy, we don’t want you to fall off the roof before you see your mom again,” Kanan said, feeling a similar buzz of excitement going through him even as he spoke. Hera was right there. She was right there, and she was finally home. “Come on-- do you want to take the direct way down?”

“Yes!”

“Okay, hang on.” Grabbing Jacen, he swung the boy up and over one of his shoulders. Jacen let out a shrieking laugh as Kanan called on the Force and jumped from the rooftop, landing lightly next to the door just as Kasmir stepped out. He gave a strangled yelp, clutching his chest.

“Holy-- don’t scare me like that!”

“Sorry,” Kanan said with a grin, depositing Jacen on the ground. His son immediately took off towards where the Ghost was-- Kanan could hear the ramp lowering even from where he stood. The next thing he heard was Jacen shouting for his mom, his voice filled with pure joy. And then he heard her. Hera’s voice. No matter how long he lived, Kanan knew that hearing her voice would always be one of the greatest experiences of his life.

As he started towards them, he heard Hera hugging and kissing Jacen. “Oh, look at you, you’ve gotten so big--”

“Mom, guess what? Sabine says there are planets on the Outer Rim that have swoop bike races, and the bikes have these crazy engines on them,” Jacen said, all but bouncing in place. “And she said they take entrances as young as fifteen, so when I get that old, I wanna go there and beat the record--”

“We’ll talk when you’re older, dear,” Hera said, humor in her voice.

“--and guess what, Uncle Zeb and Uncle Kal are here, and Rex is making dinner, and he said he’d teach me how to use his blasters, and Dad said that Rex is one of the only people he’d want to teach me that, but I have to wait until I’m older but can we please do it now--”

“Hey, what have I told you about that divide and conquer stuff?” Kanan called as he came up to them. “I already gave my answer to that one.”

Jacen let out a disappointed groan, but Kanan felt Hera’s gaze on him and he had only one thing on his mind right now. Closing the distance between them, he pulled Hera into a warm hug. “Welcome home, General Hera,” he whispered.

He felt her let out a soft chuckle. “No general now. I resigned my commission. I’m officially a civilian like everyone else, and very happy about it.”

“Maybe. But you’ll always be my captain,” Kanan said. Leaning back, he let his hands slide down to rest on her hips. “So, what are your plans now that you’re home?”

Placing the palms of her hands against his chest, Hera murmured, “I’ve got a few ideas.” The mischief in her voice brought a grin to Kanan’s face, and he leaned down, catching her lips against his in a kiss. Her hands slipped up and twined around his neck, and Hera pulled herself closer to him, kissing him back with such intensity Kanan almost lost his balance.

The next sound he properly heard was the disapproving beeps of an astromech droid. Hera laughed against his lips, and Kanan shook his head. “I’m still somehow glad you survived, Chop,” he told the droid. “Thanks for taking care of her for me.”

Chopper grumbled something, and Hera smacked him in the arm as she stepped back. “I took care of myself, thanks for noticing, love.”

“Oh, I’m aware,” Kanan said, tugging her forward into his arms again. “But you know those flyboys in the New Republic. One of them might have tried to steal your heart, and then where would we be?”

Hera came willingly into his embrace as she replied, “How can they steal it when you’re taking such good care of it?”

Kanan grinned at that. “Oh, that’s a good one.”

“Isn’t it?”

“I’ll have to remember that.” He was about to kiss her again when a shout came from the house.

“Hey, lovebirds! If you’d like to take a minute for the rest of us, dinner’s about ready,” Kasmir yelled. “And the others would like to see Captain H as well.”

Kanan released a long sigh, and Hera chuckled softly. “Later, dear,” she said.

“Later,” Kanan agreed. Unable to resist, he leaned in and pressed a quick kiss against the side of her jaw, and murmured, “I’m so glad you’re back.”

“Me, too,” she said, her voice a tad breathless, and Kanan grinned.

“Can we have dinner instead of kissing now?” Jacen asked.

Letting out a laugh, Hera said, “Of course, Jacen.” Stepping away from Kanan, she led the way to the house, catching hold of Kanan’s hand as she went. Kanan willingly went after her, letting himself be pulled back into the chaos in the house. Their reunion could continue later. Because now, they had a lifetime for it. Neither of them were going anywhere, and that-- that was more than enough for Kanan.

[sstar-nerd]

I really like talks about how the Ghost crew treat Kallus once he’s fully in the Rebellion and after they trust him but on an individual level and less groupy. Here are my thoughts sorta within my own fanon:

Zeb

Zeb, of coarse, loves him to bits. He asks if Kallus can come along for missions just to spend time with him, checks up on him during his own breaks, and LOVES sparing with him mostly because he doesn’t have to hold back as much.

When he hears distrustful whispers on the base he nips them in the bud in a vain hope that they havn’t reached Kallus’s ears yet. He uses the fact that he’s the one expected to hate Kallus most to his advantage during these arguments to shut them up.

He and Kallus help each other through nightmares and find ways to help with the other’s PTSD.

Chopper

Chopper enjoys Kallus’s company which is a rarity.

He starts doing welfare scans on Kallus just like he does with Hera to make sure they’re both healthy.

Chopper likes that Kallus treats him like the indispensable part of the Rebellion he is instead of like an annoying roadblock. He also takes any disrespect towards Kallus as disrespect towards him (how dare they insult a person he likes he wouldn’t like them if they were as that person described thank you very much) and goes on a shocking spree whenever he catches wind of any disrespectful chatter.

He lets Kallus vent about his frustrations or insecurities to him as he knows that Kallus feels more comfortable around droids and therefore more open than he is with organics.

Chopper and Kallus prank the rest of the crew to a hilarious degree. The best part is that they do it so subtly that no one can possibly know it’s coming. Not even the Jedi.

Hera

Her Mom™️ mode activated as soon as she grabbed that escape pod.

The new base didn’t have enough quarters for people to sleep which was causing chaos and it was giving high command a good excuse to put Kallus in a cell ‘just until we have everything sorted and we can keep an eye on him’ was their lame excuse. Hera said absolutly NOT and dragged him onto the Ghost. All the rooms were taken so he slept in the living quarters until he got an actual room on base but it was much better than a cell.

She keeps tabs on him half so command isn’t nagging him all the time and half because she likes to know how her crew is doing.

She made him a Spectre and requests him for missions whenever she thinks he needs a break from base.

She caught him in the middle of some pretty bad PTSD once. Something that was easily fixable triggered it so she got it fixed and now keeps tabs on all his triggers like she does for the rest of the crew.

Sabine

She surprised him with how warm her welcome was. She is ex-imperial as well and knows how hard it is starting out.

When Hera made him a Spectre Sabine included him in their family portrait in her room (right next to Zeb of coarse).

She and him combine talents to make new weapons. With Kallus’s droid and machine know how and her bomb expertise they are able to make droids who can blow up an area and make way for infiltration. Kallus ensures that the droid has the bare minimum functions (walking, timing mechanism, simple commands) because otherwise he feels like he’s sending in an actual person like how he views Chopper or AP.

Whenever the crew is about to do some family bonding she is the one who goes to get him. Not because the others don’t want to but because she knows the secret spots he hides in when he’s feeling overwhelmed and needs to be away. She knows this is a luxury the Empire didn’t give him and she refuses to snitch on the spots for that exact reason.

She and him share the pain of not being able to go home because of the Empire. Sabine with Mandalore and Kallus with Coruscant both for obvious reasons.

Kanan

Kallus has a very turbulent and stressed aura around him at the beginning. Kanan just takes him aside one day and teaches him how to meditate and it actually helps a ton.

Kanan senses when Kallus is having a not too great time whether that be with work, with people looking down on him, or with high command on his heels. He comes to Kallus’s rescue more often than not what with having the ‘I need him for force related business’ card under his belt.

He recruits Kallus into being another training buddy for Ezra. At first Kallus is reluctant (“Kanan he’s just going to THROW me!”) but decides that Ezra needs training against someone with different battle techniques.

Ezra

He and Kallus have a mutual understanding of ‘If you don’t prank me I won’t prank you’ that developed after several prank wars got out of hand.

Speaking of which, Ezra recruits Kallus into his pranks when he needs a super sneaky element. Like when people would expect Ezra to set up a part of the prank he gets Kallus to do it instead.

Ezra enjoys Kallus as his new training buddy and will ask for him if it’s melee combat. He likes Zeb just fine for melee training but Kallus actively comments during battle about how to improve and Ezra just learns better that way.

Kallus sneaks Ezra any intel that comes up about Lothal. Ezra is grateful for it as Intel had banned him from that side of the base after too much snooping.

Rex

Rex acts as a pillar for Kallus when he first gets to the Rebellion. Rex reasons that if Ahsoka could trust him then he could as well and takes Kallus under his wing.

Rex and Kallus compare stories of their military careers. They find ways to mourn the men they lost along the way together and set up a day where they can just talk about them.

Kallus seeks Rex out when he’s feeling overwhelmed during work and Rex will distract command/Draven for awhile so he can recharge.

Rex sees Kallus, after awhile of getting to know him, as either a really good friend or a younger brother. After Gregor’s death Rex badgers Kallus to wear armor and gets him fitted for some as soon as they report back to Yavin.

[queen-susans-revenge]

Star Wars Rebels Season 3 recaps

“The Last Battle”

I'm up to Chapter Six in @gondalsqueen's accompanying fic, Fade to Red. Just left comments there, and here's the notes I took rewatching the episode. Rex fights old ghosts, bad memories, and some all-too-surviving clankers; Ezra learns some respect for veterans of old wars; and Kanan quietly looks out for both of them. But how will Kanan deal with the memories dredged up here? Well, that's what the fic is for :)

We open on a question from Hera ("You sure you don't need help?") and backhanded reassurance from Kanan: "I'm sure everything will go horribly wrong." (Subtext: As usual. And as usual, they'll handle it.)

Ezra jauntily reassures her that they'll be fine cause they've got Rex the Clone Wars veteran with them. In fact Rex does seem to be falling right back into old patterns, calling Kanan "general" and talking about clankers. They're visiting the wreck of an old transport in hopes of salvaging munitions.

Ezra makes the mistake of saying the old droids don't look very dangerous, and Rex blows up at him. "Rex has been through a lot," Kanan counsels. "Battles leave scars. Some you can't see."

They let the old soldier do the recon and are rewarded with a cache of proton bombs. Unfortunately, some rusting battle droids are also still around! They're still fighting the LAST war. "Roger roger!"

Ezra: "Wait, who's Roger?" Lol.

The Rebels fall into an old ray shield trap and are disabled. Rex starts having flashbacks. The group is hauled before what both Kanan and Rex pretty immediately recognize as a "super tactical droid," a fancy one with three glowing eyes and artsy designs on its chassis. Wookieepedia assures me super tactical droids are a real thing that were first introduced in season 5 of The Clone Wars. Totally forgot about them, but okay, sure, fine, whatever, makes sense. The name is dumb but I buy the concept.

So we got a bunch of our regular stupid droids being led by a Super Tactical Droid (STD? For sure. It's an STD.) It was smart enough to save their little group from the original shutdown command spread after Order 66, and has been pursuing the original mission ever since. Which I guess mostly meant guarding the proton bombs.

And now we have two vets who never quite left the old war in their heads, trying to convince a "clanker" that it is actually over. The STD doesn't care, it's gone full GLaDOS and wants nothing more than to run some war games with authentic vintage Clone Wars soldiers.

Ezra doesn't take the threat seriously and volunteers them all for the scenario: Jedi Rescue. (The STD amusingly notes it's a recurring one.) Zeb is assigned the role of hostage. The terms are agreed: if the Rebels succeed, they get Zeb and the proton bombs. It's not specified what will happen if they lose? I mean death presumably, but nobody seems to feel the need to ask.

Chopper, meanwhile, has so far evaded capture and is VERY SMARTLY working on getting a shuttle operational so the Rebels will have an exit plan when they manage to escape. Chopper is so good! I have to pause the episode because I get a little emotional for a second about Chopper, and how Hera is the only one who could ever possibly deserve him, because she's perfect too.

SNiff. Okay we're moving on. Hera and Sabine are pinned down under fire and Sabine lampshades the fact they won't be able to get to Agamar soon. OH! OH MY HEART! They THEN proceed to have a little conversation about how great Chopper is:

"If Kanan needs help, he'll call us."

"Since when?"

"Fine. If Chopper's over his head, he'll hide and call us."

"That's more believable!"

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 #droidrightsnow

Ooh it's time for a spooky Imperial scene. Kallus is playing a dangerous double-agent game at Governor Pryce's shoulder. Both of them are informed that Chopper's distress signal from Agamar has been intercepted, and Pryce orders the nearest Imperial forces to respond instead. Fun, how will the droids respond to a new faction joining their wargame?

As the scenario begins, Kanan defers to Rex's battlefield experience. Rex counsels a blitz attack to gain surprise. As the droids deploy, Rex calls for "a sword and shield maneuver"--and Kanan knows exactly what he means.

I like this scene because Kanan had so much trouble working with clone troopers again after the trauma of Order 66. But we see here that he has really resolved that. He is able to calmly access his memories, his experience, and use it to TRUST Rex rather than doubt him. This is again showing a Kanan who has really "leveled up" in Jedi wisdom. He knows where he needs to go, and what he needs to do. Sometimes--often in fact!--he knows that the thing to do is to ask someone else what to do.

So he asks Rex, and does what Rex says, and makes sure Ezra does it too. "We block, he fires," he explains to a confused Ezra. The three of them work in sync to defeat an oncoming army of clankers. Action! Inspirational music! Kanan surges forward, slow and steady, but Ezra dashes out front. Rex calls him back. "Ezra! Form it up! We've gotta stay together!" Again underlining that what Ezra needs to learn from Kanan now is not lightsaber shenanigans, but patience and restraint.

We get yet another note in this theme as they get inside the hangar. Ezra wants to charge forward: "The hangar looks clear! Let's go."

But something's off, and Rex the old soldier twigs to it. "Waiiiiit. That's not how it usually goes...The droids usually keep coming, wave after wave."

Kanan trusts Rex's gut. "That tactical droid has had a long time to think about this. And remember, he wants to win."

Rex gets a couple poignant lines of dialog comparing the clone army to the clanker one: both, he says, were programmed to ceaselessly fight. Kanan moves them all along with a clap on Rex's shoulder, and doesn't correct him when Rex calls him "commander."

The inevitable trap is sprung: oh no, destroyers! No way to breach their shields! But Ezra swiftly comes up with a plan. No surprise--it involves Ezra rushing into danger alone. But it's clever, and takes the environment into account, and this time the two vets are inclined not to hold him back but to support the kid as he's deployed. They both counsel him to be quick.

"Ah, the Jedi have split up, as they do 76 percent of the time," STD observes from his command center. Wookieepedia is telling me STD has a name and his name is Kalani. I don't understand this or remember when it was established so I'mma keep calling him STD. But still #droidrightsnow

Chopper makes contact with Ezra, delaying him on the anti-destroyer mission. Now it's Rex's turn to be impulsive and mistrustful! Not knowing what the holdup with Ezra might be, he ignores Kanan and surges forward, only to be immediately gunned down. Kanan takes up a defensive position over his fallen form.

I really like this for Kanan. He's no longer the one out in front doing flashy shit--that's Ezra now. But Kanan is, quietly, the one ensuring the success of all their missions. He compensates for both Ezra and Rex, at different points, and ensures that neither of their worst mistakes become catastrophic. He is the one who holds back until the moment where all hope is almost lost, and then steps forward to stave that moment off.

Meanwhile, Ezra is still very much in it to win it. He completes his part of the plan, and Rex gets up to cough and brag about "generation one armor." Ezra wants to brag too but Rex rounds on him. "That plan was based on timing and execution. And you took too long!"

Ezra protests about Chopper. Rex isn't hearing it. "This is not a game! This is life and death! Every move you make affects the rest of us. If we're gonna survive this, we're gonna do it with strategy! And discipline!"

It was interesting focusing on what Kanan was doing in the background during all this. He was focused on Rex, listening, and he paced forward. Closer. But he let Rex get the whole thing out, and only then went to offer Ezra reassurance and a literal pat on the back. "It's not you. He needs to finish this battle, his way."

"Just like that droid," Ezra murmurs, IN CASE YOU MISSED THE PARALLELS EARLIER.

Ezra and Kanan sandwich Rex protectively as the destroyer droids move in. Kanan calls a maneuver to deal with the shields: "Push and fire! Now!" in a nice callback/mirror of the same moment earlier when it was Rex calling plays that they both remembered. Then they get a lucky break when the old droids' shields overheat.

Rex busts in to the command center, all "Well. Looks like we win!" Ezra gets a very nice moment to shine then, when he blocks Rex from firing on STD and points out that the group didn't cleanly "win" the wargame scenario, due to the overheating shield malfunction.

"If they hadn't, we'd be goners!" Ezra protests, which does two things: a) it shows us that Ezra has learned to respect the threat these old forces represent. He was scoffing at the clankers at the beginning of the ep; he's changed his mind. And b) it allows Ezra to finally fill the role that the Jedi should have, all along, in that old war: not as soldiers, but as peacemakers. Ezra points out that the Clone Wars weren't won by any of the armies that actually fought in it.

And so, although none of them will ever realize it: if the purpose of wargames is to refine strategy, then the final victor in this ultimate scenario is...Padme Amidala. It's her viewpoint that's vindicated in the final analysis. Ezra wins "The Last Battle" through diplomacy.

Helped along by the fact that Imperial forces show up, and everyone suddenly realizes they have a common enemy. So in Act III, our Rebels team up with the antiquated Separatist droids to resist the Empire. Again, Ezra pitches this alliance: and Kanan merely smooths his way, quieting Rex when he would have interrupted and reassuring STD when he seems to falter.

There's a cute moment when Kanan and STD talk strategy: "What about the bombs we came here for?" Kanan asks, to which the droid replies:

"We have no cannon to fire the shells. Otherwise, I would have used them on you."

I just really like the way Freddie Prinze Jr. delivers Kanan's "Oh thanks!" riposte. It's funny, and the old sardonic Kanan is definitely still around.

They come up with a plan to have the droids fire on Kanan and Ezra, who will redirect the bolts with their lightsabers to hit the proton bombs as they're rolled across the hangar. Oh...kay? This feels unserious somehow but sure. The idea is that the droids are not precise in their targeting, and the Jedi are. But Kanan and Ezra could ALSO just shoot at the bombs? It's not like they don't use blasters themselves when they want to attack at range. So I guess we are simply being told that a Jedi can achieve a more rapid, more accurate rate of fire while deflecting a barrage of bolts with their lightsabers than they could using blasters directly. Sure, fine, I buy it, I guess. It's an elegant weapon for a more civilized age, if your idea of elegance involves filling the air with superheated plasma.

Pew pew, explosions, big music, and we get the themes of the episode restated a few more times. Did you GET that Ezra just did what an army of Jedi and the full Senate could not? Rex says he ended the Clone Wars! "Rex, all I did was point out that none of you were meant to win. You couldn't," Ezra says. And then everybody claps! Not literally, but emotionally they do. Okay, okay, it's good that Ezra took the Light Side path here and he deserves to bask in the moment.

STD takes his surviving droids off...somewhere. Ezra has a new respect for Rex's war stories and Rex is delighted to tell more. And Kanan... Kanan just wants to hear about Hera's day. Awww.

[bedlamsbard]

(in response to this post)

This turned out really, really long, so, uh, apologies?  The short version is that the number one rule is that your legacy characters don’t undercut your main cast.

I think Rogue One and Solo pulled it off -- Solo is a weirder case because it’s a prequel story about a main character, but Rogue One’s use of Tarkin, Vader, Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, etc. worked for me because from the beginning they were there to support the original characters in the film and never wavered from that.  Rogue One also benefited from knowing exactly what it was going to do and never wavering from that for an instant.

In terms of the shows, TCW is also not a straightforward case because it was using film characters as its mains and pulling from all over, but in terms of OT characters that appeared in the show, I am pretty happy with how TCW pulled off Chewbacca in Wookiee Hunt (3.22) -- puts him there, uses him well to support the main character of that particular arc (Ahsoka) and the other supporting characters (the other youngling Jedi), but it doesn’t turn into the Chewie episode. Same with Ackbar in the Mon Cala arc in S4: support, not overwhelming, doesn’t waver from the central theme of the arc.  Tarkin’s the other big one, and I’m pretty satisfied with the way he was used in TCW -- he’s always there in reference to the main characters of the arcs he appears in, and not in reference to himself, if that makes sense -- he’s there because having him there specifically makes more sense than it doesn’t.

(Honestly, I think the little philosophical lessons really helped with TCW being able to keep its focus: they have to drive straight towards that and not hesitate about it.  Every time they dropped those (I’m talking about you, Siege of Mandalore), they ran into a problem where they sort of wandered around a bit.)

Maul...I like Maul a lot.  I don’t have that much of a problem with the decision to bring him back into the timeline in TCW (at least you always knew that when George Lucas was doing something he was doing it because he enjoyed it, instead of the current case of “are you doing it for a purpose? for cheap lulz? for the aesthetic? are you setting up a sequel? are you trying to course-correct another piece of canon?”).  I do think Maul got overweighted in S7, and this is partially because they didn’t really have the space to build him up from where he ended in S5.  The Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir comic helps a little, but S7 is such a rapid switch from where he is in S5 (and you do have to assume that most viewers hadn’t read the comic) that he then pulls in too much narrative weight, and that’s because S7 was trying to do something really, really different from what the previous six seasons of TCW were trying to do.

Rebels sometimes pulls it off, sometimes does not.  Since we’re on the topic of Maul already, I am actually fine with Maul in Rebels.  I don’t actually think he was used to his full benefit because they pulled back at the last minute, but Maul in Twilight of the Apprentice? Fine with that. Same with Holocrons of Fate and Visions and Voices. (I’ve got a few other problems with Visions and Voices.)  Maul is always there in relation to the main characters of the show, not in relation to himself and not in relation to a non-Rebels character.  Did it have to be Maul (back in TotA, obvs, not the latter two)?  No, but it makes sense and it works really well thematically with all of the characters present in that episode.  Holocrons and Visions and Voices, same.

Twin Suns, on the other hand, another Maul episode, was a disaster -- beautifully made episode, everyone is in character, it should never have been made.  (I’m currently grumpy about this one specifically because I recently saw an “Ezra shouldn’t have been in Twin Suns” take.)  Yes, Maul and Obi-Wan are both interacting with Ezra, but Ezra in this ep is basically himself the McGuffin.  Neither the actual, thematic, or emotional conflict in the episode revolves around Ezra even if he’s the instigator of that final showdown.  If you can start and end an episode without the show’s main cast (and Rebels differs from TCW in that it did, very specifically, have a main character as well as a main cast), you’ve made a mistake.  Not to mention that Twin Suns takes a bunch of narrative and thematic weight that was set in TotA and earlier in S3 (such as the Maul/Kanan and Maul/Ezra parallels), and then completely ignores it in favor of a confrontation that is not going to be emotionally significant for viewers who are there for the show’s main cast.

Darth Vader mostly works in Rebels -- in S2 in isolation, not as part of the greater Rebels plot arc which is a weird hot mess of deescalating villains season by season (a whole ‘nother thing).  In Siege of Lothal he’s set up in relation to the main cast and that’s who most of his interaction is with.  Same with TotA, though I sometimes think more weight is put on the Vader/Ahsoka duel than should be there in terms of who the main cast are.  Sometimes I think it’s fine as is.  His other brief appearances are fine, since he’s mostly there just to loom and use up the fabric animation budget.

Tarkin really works in Rebels -- this is honestly Rebels’ biggest legacy character success, my gods, his introduction in Call to Action is terrifying.  Did it have to be Tarkin?  No, they could have made an OC and had the same role, but Tarkin here, in this context?  It ups the tension level a thousand percent, we see him ordering around the Imperials in the show (and the execution scene still gives me chills), and the end of Call to Action, when he’s talking to Kanan on the gunship and orders the destruction of the communications tower?  This is easily one of the most terrifying thing Rebels has ever done and to be honest, I’m not sure they ever topped it in terms of sheer presence.  Evacuating the star destroyer in Fire Across the Galaxy? Perfect parallel to ANH.

From S2-S4, Rebels really wavers back and forth on their use of legacy characters and this is true of the show as a whole from that point onwards -- when there’s a legacy character, they tend to be overweighted in terms of the episode and in terms of how much narrative space is given to them rather than to the main cast.  Not all the time (I have issues with the S4 Mandalore arc, but I think Bo-Katan was played fairly well because most of the narrative weight was still on Sabine), but a lot of the time.  The Future of the Force is really bad on this in terms of Ahsoka -- most of the episode is still focused on Kanan and Ezra, but then they’re taken off the board so she can have her dramatic fight scene.  Shroud of Darkness -- I go back and forth.  (I have other issues with Shroud.)  Leia in A Princess on Lothal -- mostly okay, but some weird moments, like using her to rally the Ghost crew into action?

Wedge in The Antilles Extraction -- fine  He’s played in relation to Sabine, his presence in the ep is thematically consistent with everything else they’re doing. Saw Gerrera in both S3 and S4 I really go back and forth on.  I think I’m mostly okay with him in terms of how he’s played in those four episodes, but I also think there are a lot of questions raised in terms of, like, his relationship to the Alliance.  (This goes for his appearance in Jedi Fallen Order as well -- I’m fine with it, it’s not mindblowing, it was nice to see.)  Mon Mothma I go back and forth on and part of this is because I’m not entirely sure what they were doing with the Rebel Alliance -- this same thing is true for Saw Gerrera.  Especially in the back half of S3 (though it appears earlier as well), Rebels is intersecting more and more with the Rebel Alliance in the lead-up to Rogue One and ANH, but I don’t think they were really entirely sure what they wanted to do with that thematically, which is how we get these wildly varying views of the Alliance even from within it, especially in S4.  Which is part of the reason why S4 thematically is A DISASTER.  (y’all I should not have come out of S4 hating the Rebel Alliance and I still can’t tell if they did that on purpose or not?)

I’m not mentioning every legacy character in Rebels here (Cham, Hondo, Madine, C-3PO and R2-D2, Bail Organa), but mostly the ones where they pay major roles.  Rex I think Rebels mostly managed to pull off having as treating him like supporting cast and not overweighting him as character.  -- The clone trio at the beginning of S2 has them in relation to Kanan, Ezra, Kallus and the stormtroopers, etc., not just in relation to themselves.

(I have no idea how to talk about Thrawn in this context because Thrawn isn’t exactly a legacy character from the current canon, but on the other hand he’s a major EU legacy character, so he’s also just a weird god damn case in general that doesn’t really have a parallel in current canon?)

What else we got -- Star Wars Resistance; doesn’t use that many legacy characters but uses the ones it has pretty sparingly.  Poe is always there in relation to Kaz, Leia has a very brief appearance, Phasma and Hux are mostly there because it makes sense for them to be there, same with Kylo Ren.  Resistance has its issues (both thematically and with pacing) but this is not one of them).

Jedi Fallen Order -- Saw was fine; Vader wasn’t overweighted once he showed up.  Battlefront II had its legacy characters almost entirely in context of Iden and Del; they weren’t there just to be there.  (And not being a gamer I’m not one hundred percent certain how those two felt in actual playing, vs. my watching them on YT.)

(I am not terribly familiar with the current canon books and comics because I stopped reading them a while ago.)

Non-canon example from Legends: Han Solo’s appearance in the Wraith Squadron novels.

The short version of this is: if you’re going to use legacy characters, you want them to be there in relation to your main cast. It has to work thematically; they can’t undercut your mains. Their stories, no matter how important to the saga as a whole, should not overwhelm the main cast of your actual show/film/game/whatever. And they definitely should not undercut your mains.  (I think Mando did this fine with Bo-Katan, tbh.)

[x-wing-junkie]

Onward & Upward

Rating:  Teen

Warnings:  None

Tags: Alexsandr Kallus/Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios, Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios, Alexsandr Kallus, Airen Cracken, Hera Syndulla, Original Rebel Alliance Characters

Established Relationship, Kallus gets his own ship, based on a Star Wars Adventures story, probably going to be jossed soon,

Summary:  As the Rebels search for a new home following the assault on Mako-Ta base, Kallus is given a new assignment.

Notes:  Sequel to A Safe Haven!

I fully expect this to be proven wrong as soon as we get more Star Wars Adventures comics with Kallus and his crew in them, but damn it if I didn’t already come up with my own ideas before finding out there would be further stories.

The Lasana, as always, comes from Anath_Tsurugi’s brilliant mind.

Cross posted from AO3 to celebrate 200 followers!

Home One was a busy ship in the days after the Rebellion fled Mako-Ta base.  Their retreat plans had been thrown into disarray by the arrival of Darth Vader.  

Stormtroopers, even Death Troopers, could be handled.  But how could regular Rebel troops hope to last against a Sith Lord?

They hadn’t been able to and they’d lost a lot of men in the trying, General Draven among them.

The Rebellion was in space, all crammed into Fleet ships while the Council debated a new base.

Kallus hoped it was news of such a base that made General Cracken, head of Intelligence, call him to his office, but he couldn’t be sure.

When Kallus entered the tiny office, Cracken – a middle-aged human with graying hair – was poring over a datapad, so Kallus stood by the door until he was acknowledged.

After a few minutes, Cracken looked up.  Kallus saluted and then sat in the chair Cracken indicated.

“Captain Kallus, you’ll forgive me for running late,” Cracken said.  “We’re just waiting for General Syndulla.”

Suddenly, Kallus felt like a child about to be chastised.  He ran through his behavior for the last few months and couldn’t think of any way he’d offended someone.  Ever since the battle of Scarif, he’d been serving as part of the Ghost’s crew, going on raids and scouting locations and other ‘in-the-field’ missions.  It’d been an ideal setup, allowing him the freedom to leave the base frequently and feel like he was making a significant contribution to the Alliance while being able to share a bed and a life with Zeb.

He wouldn’t change anything.

Well, that wasn’t quite true.  He chafed a little under Hera’s leadership – nothing to do with Hera herself, but Kallus had always been in command as an Imperial and he missed having the sort of authority an ISB agent wielded.  He missed being in control of his own actions, his own missions, his own destiny.

A soft knock sounded and Hera slipped into the room.  Kallus returned her smile, covering his nerves easily.

Hera nodded at Cracken and the general cleared his throat.  “Captain, I assume you’re familiar with the Imperial Freighter we captured over Kile II?”

Kallus was indeed familiar with the ship.  Zaarin’s commandos had taken control of it almost bloodlessly.  “Gozanti-class,” he said.  “Looks to be pre-Empire but modified for Imperial service.”

“You’re familiar with that class of ship, I understand.”

Kallus glanced at Hera, but her face betrayed nothing.  “Yes, sir. I often flew or commanded one during my ISB days.”

“That’s what General Syndulla told me.”  Cracken leaned forward on his desk.  “Captain, you’re being reassigned.”

Reassigned?  No!  “Where am I needed, sir?”

“I’m granting you command of our new ship.  You’ll need a crew.  I’ll give you some leeway in selecting them, but you’re being assigned a protocol droid.” Cracken glanced up at Hera, who gave Kallus a soft smile.

“I’m keeping Zeb and Rex,” she said,  “but you can pick almost anyone else.”

Kallus had known, in his gut, that Zeb wouldn’t leave Hera and Jacen anyway, but it hurt to hear he was being separated, even if it did mean his own command again.

“This assignment comes with a promotion,” said Cracken, pulling out a new rank tab.  “Congratulations, Commander Kallus.”

Still trying to digest all the information being thrown at him, Kallus picked up the rank tab and nodded. “Thank you, sir.  What sort of assignments can I expect?”

“You’ll be Fleet command, but most of your missions will come from Intelligence.  I presume you don’t mind picking up the mantle of Fulcrum again?”

“I didn’t ever put it down,” Kallus said.

“Good.  Then you’re dismissed, Commander.  I’ll expect your crew transfer requests by the end of tomorrow.”

Kallus nodded and left in a bit of a daze.  He wandered down to Home One’s main docking bay, where the newly-captured Transport 478 sat.  Mechanics swarmed over it, removing carbon scoring and repainting the yellow and gray accents.

“Nice lookin’ ship, isn’t she?”

“Garazeb,” Kallus said, relief flooding his chest.  “Did Hera tell you?”

“That you’re getting a promotion and a transfer?  Yeah.” Zeb sounded just as enthused as Kallus was.  He turned the conversation back to the ship, obviously a safer topic.  “You know, she needs a new name.  Something Rebellion-y.”

Kallus leaned into Zeb’s side.  “You know what she kind of looks like?”

“Huh?”  Zeb’s eyes narrowed as he peered at the ship. “She’s bigger ‘n the Ghost, that’s for sure.  I dunno what else.”

“The paint job,” Kallus pointed out.  “Yellow on top, gray on bottom.  She looks like that meteorite from Bahryn.  The one that kept us warm.”

“Mostly warm,” Zeb corrected.  He cocked his head.  “You’re right, she does.  So what? Gonna name her the Meteorite?”

“Maybe.  Maybe she needs a different name.  Something the meteorite represented.”  Kallus crossed his arms and thought.  “Something to do with hope, maybe.  Or warmth.”

“Ollirahnd Kasmera,” Zeb said after a few moments’ contemplation.  “Means ‘Glimmer of Hope’.”

“‘Glimmer of Hope’,” Kallus repeated.  He turned it over in his head a few times.  “The Rebellion could use hope right now, I think.”

Zeb wrapped an arm around Kallus’s shoulder.  “You think you can pilot this thing?”

Kallus scowled. “Garazeb, I’ll have you know I’m quite a good pilot.  You just haven’t seen me fly much.”

“Oh?  Better than me, are you?”  Zeb grinned, pressing a kiss to Kallus’s temple.  “I think we should test that.”

Huffing a laugh, Kallus replied, “In the simulators.  I don’t want you crashing my new ship.”

Zeb gasped in feigned offense.  “Alexsandr Kallus, are you implying I can’t fly a ship?”

“I know you’re a decent pilot,” Kallus said.  “But you’re not a really good one.  There’s a reason Hera doesn’t let you fly the Ghost, just the Phantom II.”

Zeb laughed.  “Okay, good point.”

Kallus smiled, but said nothing.  Slowly, his grin fell, becoming something sad and miserable.  “I don’t want this,” he said.  “I want to stay on the Ghost with you.”

“And I’d come with you if Hera’d let me, “ Zeb said.  “But you’re a victim of your own abilities.  You’re too good at this stuff.  They saw you lead the commandos, they know you fly well.”

“I could refuse the promotion and position,” Kallus said.  “Stay with you.”

Zeb stood there for a moment, obviously considering the idea.  “No,” he said finally.  “It’s where you’re needed.  They were gonna split us up sooner or later.”

Kallus felt a jolt. “You’re not saying–”

“No!” Zeb said quickly. “No, I’m not saying we should split up.  I’m just saying it was silly to believe we’d get to stay together the whole time.”

It wasn’t silly, Kallus wanted to argue.  It was everything I was fighting for.  “I suppose you’re right.”

“‘Course I’m right,” Zeb said, giving Kallus’s shoulders a squeeze.  “Come on, it’s dinnertime.”

Zeb slid his arm down Kallus’s back and caught his hand so they could walk together to the mess.

The fare on Home One was not quite as varied as the food on Yavin IV had been, but it was edible and, most importantly, not a nutrient paste, so Kallus was happy with it. He picked out a few spoonfuls of promising-looking dishes and followed Zeb to an empty table.

Their table didn’t stay empty for long.  Hera joined them, as did Zaarin, Kallus’s former roommate.  The talk, of course, was all of Kallus’s promotion.

Hera seemed apologetic. “I’m sorry to see you two split up, but General Cracken was insistent.”

Kallus gave her a small, reassuring smile.  “It’s really okay,” he said, even though it wasn’t.  “It was bound to happen at some point.”

“So who’re you picking for your crew?” Zaarin asked, raking back his shaggy hair from his face.  “You need a commando, right?”

“You want to give up command?” Kallus asked.  “What will Orenth-2 do without you?”

“They’re planning on merging us with Major Lissiri’s unit,” Zaarin said.  “So I’m history either way.  Might as well go out and see the galaxy, not just battlefields.”

Kallus chewed his food, thinking.  Did he really want to work with Zaarin?  The man was a friend and they’d survived living together, but… well, Zaarin could be a bit grating.  “Fine,” he said after a minute.  “I’ll submit your name.”

“Great!”  Zaarin leaned forward.  “Now, if you really want to make me happy, you’ll ask that new elomin in Intelligence, too.  I hear she’s killer with a Kyuzo petar.”

Everyone else at the table sighed.  Zaarin’s penchant for aliens – especially aliens with horns, such as elomin – was well-known.

“Tell you what,” Kallus said.  “If you can tell me her name, right now, I’ll ask her.  But if she’s just ‘the new elomin…’”

“Mikal,” Zaarin answered quickly.  “I do pay attention to that sort of thing, you know.”

“No, we don’t know that,” Zeb laughed.  “Gotta say, I’m surprised.”

Hera grinned, too. “Looks like you’ve got two crew members already, Kallus.”

“Only if Cracken approves all the transfers,” Kallus said.  “So Zaarin, you’re good with explosives and apparently this Mikal is good with melee weapons.  I’m a good ranged shot.  We have a droid.  What are we missing?”

“You want a mechanic,” Hera said.  “Can’t tell you the number of times I’ve found myself wishing we had one.”

“Hey!” Zeb protested. “I do that sort of work!”

Hera smiled.  “You do and you do it well.  But it’d be nice to have you in a turret while someone else works on the shields when they fail.  I don’t want to have to choose where you go.”

Zeb leaned back in his chair.  “Fair enough,” he said.  He turned to Kallus.  “Grab a verpine if you can.  If not, grab Jaci.”

Kallus nodded.  Jaci had never quite bounced back after losing her cousin and both her lovers so close together back on Yavin IV.  Instead she’d thrown herself into her work, quickly becoming the most sought-after of the human mechanics.  Kallus had a fond spot for her; she’d been one of the first people on Yavin to show him kindness.  Perhaps a change would do her well.  “If Daine lets her go,” he agreed.  “Anyone else?”

Hera shrugged.  “We got along with a group of five for a good while before Ezra joined us and I’m sure between you and Zaarin, you can smooth-talk your way out of bad situations one way or another.”

Kallus wasn’t sure if he should be offended or not.  He’d use diplomacy if he could but Zaarin would probably flirt his way out of trouble.

And, knowing the bastard, it would work.

“All right.  I’ll get those names to Cracken.”  Under the table, Kallus reached out for Zeb’s hand, giving it a soft squeeze.

“So does this make us all Fulcrum agents, too?” Zaarin asked.  “‘Cause that’s really good for–”

Hera cleared her throat and Zaarin stopped mid-sentence.  Continuing as if Zaarin hadn’t been about to make a lewd comment, she said, “I think Kallus will be the only Fulcrum agent, although you can talk to General Cracken if you’re truly interested.”

Zaarin laughed.  “No, I’ll let K handle that one.  I was just curious.”

Kallus and Zeb shared a glance and the lasat rolled his eyes.  “I think Kal and I need to go,” Zeb said.  “Got stuff for him to do.”

Cheeks warm with embarrassment, Kallus let himself be dragged off back to the Ghost.

“Garazeb,” Kallus said, casting about for the right words.  “Are you sure you’re all right with me taking this position?  We’ll both be gone so often.”

“But you’re not gone yet,” Zeb reasoned.  “We’ll worry about that when it happens.”  He reached out and pulled Kallus close, into a deep kiss.

Kallus closed his eyes and focused on the kiss: the taste and tang of Zeb, the feel of lips and sharp fangs against his.  They’d gone through so much to get to the point where Zeb felt comfortable kissing him, Kallus hated to do anything to mess that up.

Reaching behind him, he hit the door controls and pulled Zeb back into their cabin.  “Ollirahnd Kasmera,” he murmured, between kisses. “You realize Glimmer of Hope is a terribly sentimental name?”

“So call it the Glimmer.  Or the Kasmera.”  Zeb shrugged. “Better ‘n Glowy Rock That Kept Me Warm.”

Kallus laughed and cupped Zeb’s jaw, running his thumb through the lasat’s bristly beard.  “I do love you, Garazeb,” he said.

Zeb arched his brows. “Now who’s the sentimental one, Alex?”

“Only because you made me so.”

Zeb pushed Kallus back on the bed.  “Guess I rubbed off on you the right way.”

“Something like that,” Kallus laughed again.  

“Tomorrow we’ll get you moved into your new quarters and then break ‘em in properly,” Zeb said.  “But you’re not leaving on that ship yet. We’re still together for tonight. And I have plans for you.”

“Plans?”  Kallus grinned.  “Show me.”

And Zeb did.

Kallus lay there after, wrapped in Zeb’s arms, running his fingers idly through thick purple fur.

Glimmer of Hope, he thought.  The Glimmer.  I can work with that.

He used to think there wasn’t the slightest bit of hope for both of them to make it through the war together, but Zeb’s steady belief in something better had wormed its way into Kallus’s heart.

Thanks to Zeb, he had more than just a glimmer of hope that there was something for them on the other side of this long war.

And that something was worth fighting for.  

Worth living for.

[operahousebookworm]

Odds of Rebels characters showing up in The Mandalorian (as of “The Tragedy”)

Ezra: 98% Ahsoka told him she would find him, and now she’s looking for Thrawn--who was last seen being squidnapped by Ezra. Despite his youth, Ezra would be a logical teacher for Grogu, since the kid’s problem is his attachment to Mando. Ezra experienced how his love and fear for his friends could lead him toward the dark side, before Kanan pulled him back and showed him how to deal. Also, there was a loth-cat in the Princess Mononoke village. Yeah, they could have been just reusing a creature design, but c’mon, that’s not how these guys roll. Since there’s talk about casting for Thrawn (meaning nothing has been filmed with him yet) I’m leaning toward them setting up/teasing this arrival for next season, but it’s almost certainly coming.

Sabine: 70% A Mandalorian, fought with the Darksaber for a while, last seen deciding to look for Ezra. Main wrinkle would be if the epilogue of Rebels takes place after The Mandalorian (which is a distinct possibility but not entirely clear at this point)

Hera: 40% They’ve already got the Twi’lek prosthetics so she wouldn’t be a budget-buster. Also, she and Mando could trade tips for parenting your Force-sensitive child of dubious origin.

Hondo: 35% “Sends you on a dangerous quest intending to keep most/all of the profit for himself” is like his entire deal, also has a soft spot for Ezra (and would probably be happy to see Ahsoka too). Fan-favorite character, but might not translate well to live-action, especially if they can’t work out having Jim Cummings voice him.

Kallus: 20%/Zeb: 15% Zeb would have to be mostly CG which hasn’t really been this show’s thing. Kallus has slightly better odds due to being a regular human, and also the ex-Imperial turned rebel hero would be an interesting addition. Presuming they could find an actor who looks like an Aryan poster boy and sounds like David Oyelowo, that is.

Rex: 2% Just let me keep the hope alive, all right?

[canuckianhawkbi]

SW Rebels headcanons for Pride

disclaimer: these are all just fun ideas I had and aren’t meant to be based in ““fact”” (except Kanera and Kalluzeb obvs) this list is mostly the Spectres and a handful of supporting cast. enjoy!

Kanan Jarrus: Spectre 1 is the only straight member of the Ghost crew. he was a Jedi padawan, which had to have been like going to catholic school (romantic attachment, physical or emotional = The Dark Side™) explaining why he immediately went lightsaber-over-heels for Hera

Hera Syndulla: imo bisexuality is the cultural norm on Ryloth, but between Hera’s Rebellion-first workaholic attitude and her “straight-passing” relationship with Kanan, nobody realizes Spectre 2′s lekku swing both ways

C1-10P: Chopper is a droid, but he and AP-5 are obviously a couple. after a young Jacen saw his uncles Zeb and Kallus affectionately cuddling he set up a cute but hilarious ceremony in which Hera not only led Chop down the “aisle” to the Ghost’s cockpit (Jacen himself following behind as ring-bearer) but also officiated bc she’s ship’s captain, and captains can do such things. the droids were Mr. and Mr. Spectre 3 ever after

Zeb Orrelios: Spectre 4 isn’t usually romanic in public, but he’s a big purple fuzzball for Alexsandr, and a damn sappy drunk

Sabine Wren: before she was Spectre 5, Sabine and Ketsu had a very casual, mostly platonic relationship when it was just the two of them on the Shadow Caster day in and day out, saving each other’s lives on multiple jobs; this only made things more complicated when they had their falling out. Ahsoka privately speculates on why Sabine wants to find Ezra so badly, but politely keeps her opinions to herself

Ezra Bridger: Spectre 6 grew up under the Empire’s (homophobic) reign, and was orphaned at a young age, so he’s never had a serious think about his sexual identity. the show makes it obvious he had the hots for Sabine right away, but that sure doesn’t mean he has to be straight. Jai Kell secretly liked Ezra’s long hair, and thought he was pretty

supporting cast beneath the cut!

Alexsandr Kallus: see Zeb. Kallus had to hide his sexuality from the Empire or risk being demoted out of the ISB, so taking on the role of Fulcrum and eventually defecting to the Alliance was very liberating for him

AP-5: see Chopper. their “rings” were made from the casings of a pair of restraining bolts; AP-5 argued that the metaphor was dubious, at best

Ketsu Onyo: see Sabine. Ketsu isn’t very good at expressing her feelings, so she definitely had the “I’m a lesbiab” conversation with Sabine (S: “take your time” K: “GIRLS!”

Captain Rex: the Kaminoans genetically reduced the Fett clones’ sex drives as much as they could without impacting their capacity for aggression; Rex is ace

Ahsoka Tano: it is entirely possible that Ahsoka could be bi canonically. ironically, even though she grew into adulthood without the Jedi, she became less interested in the idea of romance as she got older imo

Fenn Rau: Rau only ever had one partner, and his commitment to the Protectors and Skull Squadron caused a strain on their relationship, especially at the outbreak of the Clone Wars, which ended the relationship. Rau’s romantic history is a closely guarded secret, though he did confide in Rex once when the captain caught his fellow warrior drinking alone on Rau’s former anniversary

Ursa and Alrich Wren: before Ursa married Alrich and officially became matriarch of Clan Wren, she had a handful of favourite servants of various genders at Wren Stronghold. before he met Ursa, Alrich took a liking to a particular male model at art school, but had no idea why (the poor man thinks he’s straight)

Mart Mattin and Jun Sato: Sato is really Mart’s adoptive father, who married his late biological father long after Mart’s mother died. Mart refers to Sato as his “uncle” for fear that the well-known Rebel commander might come under even greater threat from the Empire if the truth got out. Mart is privately jealous of Sabine, mistakenly thinking that she and Ezra are a couple

the first time Cikatro Vizago and Hondo Ohnaka met was at a bar while they were both very intoxicated, and woke up the next morning with no memory of the night before. Hondo doesn’t like labels or commitment, and Vizago thinks he’s straight, so neither of them have ever talked about it since

the only things Grand Admiral Thrawn loves are art and strategy; he much prefers dominating the galaxy to dominating in the bedroom

[oceanera12]

Fives has the Force (AU edition)

“Ooooh... meteor shower.”  - Hevy (Rookies)

Part 2: Rookies

The Rishi Outpost is… boring. Which is good for Fives. This is something everyone agrees on. Away from Jedi, away from the battles, away from other clones. Fives is hidden away, safe and sound. As such, no one complains, despite how boring and dull the routine becomes.

It also gives Fives time to read through and practice the notes General Shaak Ti left him.

Domino takes turns helping Fives with the exercises. Most of them involve just sitting on the ground and clearing his mind. But even if clones are trained to sit and wait (ambushes, scouting, etc.) just sitting on the ground, eyes closed, and focusing on breathing is so boring.

Of all the Dominos, Droidbait is the one most willing to sit and do nothing. Actually, he grows to enjoy the “meditation” things.

After a week on Rishi, Fives wakes up in a cold sweat, holding in screams and tears. He wakes up Echo in a panic and the next hour is Fives shakily explaining he saw Droidbait get shot, Cutup get eaten by a Rishi eel, and then the Rishi station blow up in a massive fireball with a bunch of droids and Hevy inside.

Echo’s pretty sure it was a nightmare at first. Obviously not fun to watch and concerning. Then Fives has it again a few nights later. And then again. And then he snaps out of one of his “meditation sessions” with it. And now Echo is researching Jedi abilities again and finds something called “Force visions” and he’s just “WELP. This might be a problem.”

Course they can’t tell their commanding officer about it because “clone’s don’t have the Force.”

Also, they don’t know exactly what’s going to happen or how to really prevent it. Or if they even can prevent it. But Force curse it all, they’re going to try and at least be prepared to fight or something!

So Domino is now doing a lot of target practice during their freetime, looking at battle tactics and strategies of invasions of the base, and familiarizing themselves with all weapons and ammunition on the base.

Cutup and Echo team up on researching the Rishi eel’s and also other giant animals looking for ways to kill them. 

Hevy and Fives practice hand to hand almost constantly, getting tips from Sergeant O’Niner who has never seen shinies throw themselves into this much training on a station outpost.

Droidbait throws himself into medical procedures and practices. Some of them he learned on Kamino, but most of them new. 

And unbeknown to all, Fives is trying to lift things with his head. Or at least nudge them. Tripping a droid or edging a grenade closer to it’s target seemed like a good idea. At first, he practiced alone, in his barracks, using a training ball clones used for hand-eye coordination practice. But when he started making progress, he tried tripping anyone who walked by him in the commander center. Sometimes, it worked. But mostly, it didn’t.

It was a month, maybe two later.

Meteor showers happen often on Rishi. About once a week. So Fives doesn’t know exactly why he was on edge. It didn’t help when the sentry didn’t respond to the Sergeant. Droidbait and Nub are ordered to find him.

Out of pure instinct, Fives grabs two blasters and tosses them to Droidbait and Nubs. Nubs looks confused but takes the blaster anyway. Droidbait is immediately on guard.

“DROIDS!”

Twelve Commando Droids vs seven clones (and pretty much zero battle experience on the latter’s account)

Nub goes down almost instantly. Droidbait was able to back up and get towards the command center before getting shot through his arm. He was grabbed by Sergeant O’Niner who threw him back into the room and to cover.

The rest of Domino is able to take out four of the Commando droids before the Sergeant goes down. With that, it’s just Domino. Cutup manages to close the main doors and hardwire it shut. Hevy and Echo carry Droidbait behind the control panel to better cover while Fives readies the emergency supplies the squad had hidden around the base (aka, the backpack of droid poppers and thermal detonators in the ventilation shaft, along with a Z-6 and sniper rifle)

Echo starts working on cutting the all clear signal just as the droids break through doors. Two Commando’s go down instantly from Hevy’s Z-6. The other six began to press in. One manages to get through but is heavily damaged and taken down quickly by Cutup and Droidbait, both covering Echo. The next follow suit. Two more are taken out by droid poppers and some well placed shots.

Three droids remain and Hevy’s gun overheats. Cutup and Fives take the fight to the droids, hand to hand. Droidbait takes a few pot shots here and there. Echo hurries to turn the all clear signal off. 

Everything happens at once.

Droid #1 grabs Fives and throws him clear across the room with a very hard punch. Then the droid pins Cutup to the ground, his arm is snapped in two and then given a few broken ribs for good measure, before the droid reaches for his gun. Droid #2 yanks Echo away from the control panel and throws him across the room. Echo hits his head and falls unconscious. Then Droid #2 finds Droidbait, lifts him by the neck and begins to slowly choke him to death. Droid #3 shoots Hevy through his arm twice, then through the torso, sending the clone to his knees, then to the ground. 

Pushing himself to his feet, Fives finds himself looking at a scene of certain death. He screams, “NO!” and reaches out his hands in desperation, like he can stop it. A shockwave spreads from Fives and it throws all the droids back (think Ezra in Rebels when Zeb is almost killed by Kallus).

Cutup manages to grab his gun in the confusion and shoot his would be killer. Droidbait ignores the pain in his injured arm, grabbing the commando’s head and ripping it from the body with full force (while screaming in pain). Fives is too shocked to recover from what just happened to help Hevy but Echo wakes up just in time to shoot the stupid thing.

No more droids left.

Echo heads to the medbay, leaving Fives to position the three injured Dominos and get Cutup to stay down. The two treat their brothers to the best of their knowledge (Droidbaits the best medic, but he isn’t exactly able to help other than give some friendly advice or things he’d read). 

None of the Domino’s mentions Five’s Force push. Echo doesn’t even ask before he shoots the video surveillance module, effectively destroying all video evidence of the attack.

The radio was destroyed in the fire-fight and the “all-clear signal” button had also been destroyed, leaving it hard-wired at the moment.

Echo and Fives grab a blaster for each injured man, then take the Z-6, sniper rifle, and a few other goodies for themselves. Then they face the door and wait for whatever comes next.

With the radio down, no one receives the call from the inspection team.

When Commander Cody and Captain Rex find a dead deck officer, a few downed Commando droids, and a cut hole in the blast doors, they’re ready for anything. So it’s a bit of surprise to see five shinies (three of them lying on the hard ground, injured but alive, and two of them holding blasters ready).

General’s Skywalker and Kenobi is alerted immediately through the inspection ship’s radio and Rishi is secured in a matter of minutes.

Domino is taken aboard the Resolution, all five being placed in the medbay, despite some protests. Some bacta and rest for a few days fixes the crew right up, ready, and willing, to return to Rishi base. 

Except for one problem:

Rex had asked Echo and Fives to explain what had happened on Rishi. Echo had done most of the talking (as Fives was a terrible liar) and even without the Force visions or powers, the tale had impressed the Captain. 

He had told General Skywalker, who had also been impressed.

Which is how Domino squad finds they are now assigned to the 501st Legion.

Under a famous Jedi General

Around a lot more clones (which translates to eyes and ears)

And in more dangerous situations (in which Fives may or may not do something stupid, whether on accident or on purpose)

...

...

...

None of them can sleep that night.

((Random note that I noticed rewatching Rookies recently: Did anyone else notice when Nub and Droidbait went to look for the deck officer THEY DIDN’T TAKE A BLASTER? Seriously, they just walk down the stairs, come face to face with the Commando droids and yell “DROIDS!” as loud as they can and then they both get shot and die. I mean, I get nothing is supposed to happen on Rishi and they’re all relaxed but TAKE YOUR KRIFFING BLASTER, DANG IT. THEN YOU MIGHT HAVE LIVED LONGER.))

Part 3: https://oceanera12.tumblr.com/post/615352813810302976/fives-has-the-force-au-edition

[kylermalloy]

my Thoughts on rebels

Now I don’t have any hot takes or any controversial opinions to put out here. Rebels is a simple show with a simple plot. There’s not a whole lot to analyze, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to enjoy. Sometimes all you need is a straightforward concept with lovable characters. So let me proceed to squeal about Dave Filoni’s second masterpiece, Rebels.

Spoilers abound!

Before I say anything else...

THEY HAD A BABY I haven’t stopped squealing.

Zeb Okay I’ll start with Zeb, for no particular reason. He was the only main character I hadn’t really heard about or seen much of before I started watching. In the first few scenes with him, I was afraid he’d become his stereotype—the thuggish gorilla who argues all the time, disobeys orders, messes up plans, and borderline betrays his friends. I was so pleasantly surprised when none of that happened. Maybe by virtue of being a kids’ show, these characters don’t have *edgy* or twisted nuances. Zeb is fiercely loyal. He likes smashing heads in and gets grumbly sometimes, but he’s never a hindrance. He’s not just “the muscle”; his ingenuity saves the day on more than one occasion. If anything, his nuances take him the other way—he’s incredibly sensitive and childlike in some ways. Being one of the last of his kind is a major plot point of several episodes, which brings so much depth to him and his psyche. It also informs SO MUCH on his relationship with Kallus. Speaking of...

Kallus I never, ever expected Kallus to be anything more than a season-long plot device. The fact that he stuck around and went through actual character development?? Amazing. The episode where he and Zeb are stranded together is gold. He’s got a sense of honor even as he works for the Empire, sparing the rebels as Zeb spared him. He develops a new set of ideals thanks to our heroes, and he begins to question and regret the things he’s done for the Empire—ethnic cleansing of Zeb’s Lasat people included. And that last scene of them in the epilogue? I’m not gonna lie, it was a bit shippy.

KANERA I know while the show was airing, fans were constantly asking when Kanan and Hera were going to get together. But for me, they seemed to be married from the first episode. Hera calling Kanan “love” and teasing him? Kanan constantly worrying after Hera while simultaneously believing in her ability to do...absolutely everything? Their parenting of Ezra, Sabine, Chopper, and even Zeb? Explicitly referring to them as “the kids” and themselves as “Mom and Dad”? Yeah, they’re married. And let’s not underplay their strengths as individual characters. Kanan—or Caleb—is exactly what you would expect of a Jedi whose training is only halfway complete. He’s cool and awesome, but also riddled with self-doubt and uncertainty. And Hera is the mature voice of reason this merry band of children so desperately needs—except of course when she’s the one rushing headlong into danger, whether to get a fighter prototype or to steal a family heirloom or to save a couple pilots in a suicidally risky move. She’s a perfect blend of mature reason and headstrong determination that makes a true rebel. (Wait a minute...she’s totally Katara! Maybe that’s why I love her so much.)

Now back to them as a couple! Most of the show did nothing to advance their relationship—further reinforcing my headcanon that things were always happening between them behind the scenes. Even though they became official canon in the last season, the appearance of their kid in the epilogue proves I was right—based only on what we saw, there was no time for them to make a baby. Of COURSE there were things going on behind the scenes. 😏 (I found the interview that explains exactly where Jacen came from, and I was equal parts ecstatic and freaked out.)

Did I mention THEY HAD A BABY???

Ezra So apparently there are people in the Star Wars fandom who hate Ezra? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised; Star Wars fans hate everything. Except the OT. If you hate the OT you’re a heathen. I can’t really think of a solid reason why people hate Ezra, except for the fact that he seems to be a Luke Skywalker analog. He’s a poor kid with Force sensitivities who gets adopted by a Jedi and becomes a venerated leader of the Rebellion. He also finds an oddball group of friends he comes to call family but eventually bids them farewell after the death of his mentor. They’re not carbon copies, of course—Luke’s an optimistic idealist; Ezra’s a cynic. Luke whines; Ezra snarks. Luke blows up the Death Star and defeats Vader; Ezra completes a series of far more complicated missions and defeats Inquisitors and Thrawn. Again by virtue of him being the star of a tv show instead of just three feature length movies, he gets a lot more time to have his adventures. Maybe there’s some resentment over him getting more screentime than Luke? Maybe it’s because I’m just Not a Luke Skywalker stan. I like him fine, but I don’t hold him up as some perfect saintlike hero. (I didn’t have any problems with his TLJ characterization.) The people who do need to rewatch the OT they hold so dear. Luke’s a beautiful drama queen and you all should love him for that. But I’m here to talk about Ezra! Listen, this child is a disaster and a half—just like Luke, just like Anakin, just like young Obi-Wan. There is nothing to not like about him—except that he reminds you of your favorite characters but he’s not them.

Clone Wars characters I initially started watching this show solely for the characters I already knew from Clone Wars. Ahsoka Tano has been my girl ever since I started watching Clone Wars, and I didn’t even consider watching Rebels until I knew they had undone her death. (If there was just ONE character they could needlessly save via time travel, they picked the right one.) At any rate, she’s perfect in this show. She’s more grown-up, more mature, but still retains that *young and plucky* spirit. (For the record, I usually hate the *plucky* characters. Somehow, she works for me. Maybe it’s because she doesn’t really do that annoying cocky smirk thing.)

But it’s not just Ahsoka. Rex survived! I’m so glad at least one clone (two? Wolffe?) made it out of the war okay. And he’s great here. His constant snarking with Kanan reminded me so much of his banter with Anakin (and I’m sure it reminded him of that too ;-; ) His presence on Rebels isn’t strictly necessary, narratively speaking, but it’s just a nice tie-in to the world we got used to in Clone Wars. It reminds us that this world with the Empire was once the world of the Republic, and there are still clones out there—even if there’s no place for them in this new order. This of course reinforces the tragic narrative of clones as sentient beings created for nothing but combat. And again, I commend both shows for making me feel that narrative so deeply!

Hondo and Maul were two of my favorite antagonists from Clone Wars, so seeing their multiple appearances here filled me with joy. Hondo cracked me up, as usual, and Maul’s farewell was touching and heartbreaking. I almost wish he were still around! There’s still his duel with Ahsoka in season 7 of Clone Wars... 👀 Honestly what surprised me most about those two were the way they were both presented as protagonists. Hondo especially, and Maul does become an antagonist again. But it really speaks to the way all paradigms in the galaxy have shifted after the Republic became the Empire. In Clone Wars, Hondo was portrayed as an annoying hindrance to our heroes. Now with the Empire as an adversary to our main characters, Hondo is an ally. An untrustworthy one of course, mostly in it for the money, but his interests usually lie with helping our heroes, not hurting them. Besides, nothing tops his relationship with Ezra. Their first meeting had me in fits: “You lied to me?? I KNEW I liked you!” (Also I forgot to mention the running gag of Ezra introducing himself as Jabba the Hutt? Genius. And hilarious, since some people actually believe him at first)

THEY HAD A BABY!!!

Thrawn I need to see this guy again. Whether in a continuation where we learn what happened to him and Ezra, or some other moment in time where we see him younger, rising through the ranks of the Empire full of ambition and ideas. He’s quietly menacing, always confident and meticulous. He does a great job of making the rebels feel helpless in their fight, needling their pressure points and taunting them—but he never makes the conflict personal to him. He always remains detached, just a guy doing his duty. He’s just there to pick up interesting art pieces. I love the way he’s acted—always quiet, cultured, practically whispering. I didn’t know he was voiced by Lars Mikkelson until after I watched, but that was a perfect choice. I found the Inquisitors a little flat as villains (antagonists, whatever) and the other Empire ministers and governors not very threatening. Thrawn was the perfect balance (lol) between interesting and a genuine threat.

MANDALORE For all of Sabine’s merits as a character, I love her most in the Mandalorian arcs. The episode where she comes into her power and wields the darksaber is one of my favorites. She’s not a traditional stern, stoic Mandalorian character. She’s a free spirit, incredibly creative and intellectual. Yet she’s also afraid of her mind and what she could create—for years she created weapons for the Empire to feed her hubris. Maybe that’s why she mainly sticks to painting throughout the series. :) Anyway. I look forward to the follow-up detailing her adventures with Ahsoka.

Chopper I rolled my eyes so hard when I first saw Chopper. Everything from his name to his design screamed “kiddie version of R2D2” and I was fully prepared to hate him. I don’t. He’s just like R2, in that every sentence he says sounds like it’s punctuated with about ten different swearwords. It’s hilarious seeing such a cute character being so surly and even threatening on occasions! Chopper kicks some serious butt. He even comes with a tragic backstory!

Lastly, I don’t think I’ve mentioned...

THEY HAD A BABY AND HE’S ADORABLE

[anathtsurugi]

The Colder the Winter, the Warmer the Spring - A Kalluzeb Fic (Chapter 16)

Words: 192,465

Chapters: 16/25

Rating: E

Pairing(s): Garazeb Orrelios/Alexsandr Kallus (Hera Syndulla/Kanan Jarrus, Ahsoka Tano/Rex)

Summary:

With that, the image widened and Zeb could see that Kallus was holding something in his arms, and as the Lasat inspected the image, he gradually began to realize that it was a baby – a Lasat kit.

"Zeb...help me."

"Oh, karabast."

Excerpt:

"All right. We'll begin with Erily and Ankasha. Rex, do you think you'd be comfortable observing?" Orianne asked him.

"I've- got no problem with it," he started, only partly lying. "Though I'm not sure what help I'm going to be."

"You've been through the removal procedure with your own chip. Even though I'm not removing it, anything you may recognize about the way it behaves might be helpful," she explained, nodding for him to follow her back in the direction of the twins.

Reith and Kar remained at a distance, but Kanan followed after them, observing quietly while the Zabrak woman prepared the cryoprobe from among her equipment.

"You know," he started softly to the Knight, barely hearing Orianne explaining to Ankasha and Erily what was going to happen, "you don't have to stick around for this. It's not gonna be much fun...reliving it all."

"No, it's not. But there are some old friends I owe it to. The men who served with me...under Master Billaba...when they killed her...tried to kill me...I was just a kid," he started to recount, an old wounded heaviness in his voice. "When things were so bad...when I was barely getting by...I found it easier to think they were just evil. That they'd turned on us and weren't truly capable of seeing us as friends. It made what I was going through more bearable."

"Well...you said it yourself. You were just a kid," Rex returned, mind alighting on a memory of Ahsoka back when he'd first known her – no more than a Padawan herself, so certain that there was good and there was evil and that nothing could possibly muddy the two. "Kids don't know any better."

"But I should have," Kanan argued, his voice a hiss of pain. "They were- my friends...all of them...and I just turned my back on all that. Never even occurred to me they could've been forced into it...that their choice was really taken away from them. I saw what these things did to those young Lasat and I just started thinking...Grey...Styles...Mixx...they were...I don't know. Did they have to face that same nothingness? Maybe there was something we could've done to help them...before it was too late," the Jedi struggled to explain his thoughts.

"And if you start thinking like that, where do you stop?" Rex put to him, though he'd be lying if he said something in him didn't ease at hearing Kanan speak this way, especially after hearing the way he'd spoken the word clone like an ugly curse when they'd first met. "I'm pretty sure if you could talk to them now, they wouldn't blame you for any of it. If they forgive you and you forgive them...I think that's enough. If we stay divided against ourselves, then the Empire wins. None of us want that to happen. We've gotta remember who the real enemy is."

Kanan sighed. "You're right. You're right. I've been letting all this get to me."

"Hard not to," Rex said as he watched Orianne fix the probe to Ankasha's temple. "At least we clones were- mostly grown men. These are just kids. To see what's happening to them is rough, but...at least we can help them. Maybe what my brothers and I went through...wasn't all for nothing?"

"It wasn't," Kanan told him. "No matter what- ultimately ended up happening, you guys still did some good for the galaxy."

Rex gave a small, fond laugh at that one, resting an easy hand on the Jedi's shoulder. "Well, thanks for that. Grey and the rest of 'em, I'm sure they'd be damn proud of the man you've become."

"Thanks," Kanan returned quietly. "It means a lot."

Chapter 16: The Only Heaven I’ll Be Sent To...

[oathena11-writes]

Dear Creator letter (for Star Wars rare-pair event)

First off, thank you for writing something for me! I kind of go blank when it comes to filling out those likes and dislikes so here’s me rambling about the kinds of things I like and don’t like to help me figure it out. Any particular specifics do not have to be adhered to, aside from avoiding the DNW and dislikes. 

Prompts

(I’m bad at coming up with ideas for other people to write so hopefully even if I don’t cover all pairings it gives ideas)

QuinObi- Quinlan isn’t a shadow but is a healer

CodyQuinObi- Post war No Order 66, Obi-Wan is at a loss with so much less to focus on, Cody is doing his own thing to discover who he is, but is missing Obi-Wan, Quinlan is worried about Obi-Wan and tries to get him and Cody together (in spite of his own feelings)

Haja/Reva- In Kenobi when she confronts them, they realize they’re soulmates

Any Quinlan pairing- he’s technically still considered a prince on Kiffu. Potential/actual partners find out on accident

QuinObi- Can’t seem to find the right time to get together (long missions, Anakin doesn’t like Quinlan/is insecure about Obi-Wan splitting time, the war etc) until they finally do get to have their first date

Rex/Zeb- Ezra (and Sabine) got them into a tricky situation.

Feral/Quinlan- Quinlan crash lands on Dathomir shortly before Ventress does her tests to pick Savage.

Beru/Owen/Obi- People in town assume, and they end up going with it until it accidentally becomes real

Any Quinlan pairing- Psychometry is another sense; sensory overload and other issues come from it which can make relationships tricky to navigate 

Other Pairings I like (and would not mind seeing)

Kit/Obi

Fox/Quin/Obi

Beru/Owen/Obi/Quin

Padme/Anakin/Rex (as background)

Mace/Plo

Kit/Obi/Quin

Cody/Quin/Mace

Bly/Aayla

Cody/Obi

Ezra/Sabine

Ezra/Luke

Zeb/Kallus

Maul/Cody

Savage/Clone OC

Likes

I like just about any AU aside from ones that don’t take place in the GFFA. Those AUs can be hit or miss so probably better to avoid in an exchange like this.

I love Jedi as family.

I love clones and Jedi helping each other in some way. (such as, Jedi are in a poor position, Clones help them fight the Senate/leave Republic, Jedi help clones find themselves and establish their lives) 

I love angst so long as there’s a happy ending (see: Don Bluth movies)

I like explorations of sexuality and gender, particularly those that explore asexuality and agender identity. (I do hc Quinlan as Agender and Obi-Wan as some variant of sex neutralish asexual) 

Love some autism/adhd hc, particularly ADHD Obi-Wan and ADHD Quinlan. I have ADHD and see myself in both of them.

Pro-Jedi all the way. Individuals are problems, but not the group as a whole and not the Council in the clone wars. They were trying their best and I prefer to look at it from a hopeful perspective than picking apart all their ‘wrong’ choices (assuming those choices are actually ‘wrong’)

I like cloneshipping but more as a background than a main thing. 

I don’t mind bad things like rape/non-con, or torture happening, just not explicitly written. Implied and talked about after is fine. Love that angst and catharsis

Pregnancy and childbirth is always interesting to explore as I have gone through it so I Know things. 

Any characters interacting with kids is just fantastic. 

I love misunderstood characters, insecure characters. Characters that secretly think people would be better off without them. That sort of thing is always fun, and the more they don’t appear like that sort of character, the better (favorite character with this rn is Quinlan)

Healthy communication is best. They can start out unhealthy as long as they work towards healthy. As long as they are trying. And even good partners can make mistakes but they still come together to discuss it eventually. 

Meditations, lightsaber, give me all the Jedi hc. 

Chronic pain, particularly from migraines is always fun to explore.

Soulmate AUs

Time travel AUs

Fix its

Dislikes (Note: I don’t have any triggers, mostly just squicks. Still hard nos for the most part)

I don’t mind implications of sex, fade to black scene but anything explicit? Nope. Do not want to read it. 

Also not fond of sexual attraction playing a part in a large portion of the story (asexual person here does not want to read about that) or characters being sluts/always having sex. (Yes, asexuals can enjoy sex and all; I am married with kids, but I also like seeing restraint especially from a healthy relationship perspective)

I don’t like Anakin portrayed as good if he is in character. Absolutely do not portray him like canon if you are going to write him as good, make him less toxic/angry/etc. Why? Because I see Anakin written like in canon, and all I see is my mom who should never have been a parent. I have no patience for that kind of thing. This does mean I am perfectly okay with Anakin bashing, Falling etc. 

I don’t like canon Jedi characters leaving the Jedi or never being a Jedi. I LOVE the Jedi, so it’s just. Not really fun to read for me especially since a good portion of those come off as not Jedi friendly.

Speaking of. No attachment equals love, the Jedi are a cult, Jedi are emotionless, etc, UNLESS it is presented in a way that shows that the person saying that is wrong/doesn’t know what they’re talking about/malicious etc. Such as it coming from Anakin and everyone else being like ‘uh. no.’

I’m not super fond of clones having their own culture. Especially the Mando clones. It just doesn’t make sense to me that they would come out of Kamino with a set culture, Mando or not, just some norms that come about from being raised the way they were. Maybe a few little things they don’t know the origin of but picked up from trainers or older clones. 

Related, I’m also not fond of the clones have everything figured out so they know what’s best, whether it’s emotions, relationships, health, work-life balance etc. They don’t have the experience to know better than experienced Jedi. And the way such things get written, especially when it comes to medical issues is very... infantilizing and I would never trust those clones again in the Jedi’s shoes (usually Obi-Wan).

I don’t like characters being jerks, even if it’s meant to be joking/teasing. For sensitive people that can be still feel real rather than a joke/teasing so it’s just a no go for me. 

Sith/Dark AU No. Just. No. Characters can temporarily slip up and struggle, but not embrace it. 

Don’t want major character deaths. Fake outs are great, fantastic though. All the angst but happy ending.

The End

Thank you for writing for me and I hope you have a great time creating something you love for me!