#lasat kit

[kalluzeb4later]

Love the thought of 6’11” Zeb and 6’3” Alex giving birth (if that’s a thing Zeb can do) to a son that never passes 5 feet

-

Son: 😡 “what the hell Dads?!”

Alex: 🙄

Zeb: 😓

[and-loth-cat]

i feel important right now

When Ezra comes back

Zeb: Can't believe I'm saying this, but I really missed ya, kid Ezra: I- *is immediately bombarded by five tiny Lasats* ...hello?? Where did all these children come from- Kallus, walking in with eye bags, a huge cup of caf, and no sanity: I ask myself that everyday

[may-be-a-plant]

Imagine Zeb visiting Lira San for the first time, but from the people that live there.

Here's this group of three new lasat, who claim they are from a planet that was destroyed.

The two in the lead look happy, almost expectant as they explain their journey and their history.

And then there is the one just behind them.

His eyes are wide and mouth agape. His ears flick rapidly between amazement and distress. He looks upon the common folk with wonder and as his gaze falls upon the curious kits swarming his feet, his eyes well with tears.

He laughs and cries all at once, and any can tell he's had a long fight with disbelief. He stays for the impromptu celebration at the village center, taking in all he can before he disembarks, stating he will return when it is time.

He is genuine in his words and as he leaves he looks as though a great weight has been lifted from him. As though this is the first time in a long while he's been truly happy.

[primasveraas-writing]

i see a darkness (did you know how much i love you?)

For Susan. I haven’t written for Rebels since you’ve been gone, and I still can’t imagine this community without you.

Words: 769

---

Alex goes quiet, first. Then, Zeb watches the tension hunch his shoulders and notices the way his husband can’t quite look him in the eye. He waits for Alex to tell him, to let the walls down- but then it turns to anger. When Alex speaks to him, it's in a short, clipped tone. His fists clench whenever Zeb enters the room; the thunk of his cane on the floor seems to ring out louder.

Zeb is well-practiced at tolerating his husband’s bad days. Pain seizes his body or a dark cloud overtakes his mind, and Zeb knows he’ll have to pick up the pieces when Kallus finally manages to open up about it.

The anger is different though, especially with a kit in the mix. Their daughter is still in infancy, but surely Alex knows she’s old enough to pick up on the tension between her fathers. Alex flees the room as soon as Zeb enters; various feeble excuses have meant that the three of them have barely been in a room together for the past day. It’s that- not his lover’s coldness, but the way their daughter is put to the side so Alex can stay angry with Zeb- that irritates him too.

On the second day, Zeb decides to confront him. It’s been over a rotation of slammed doors and avoided glances, their child passed wordlessly between them. But the kit is sleeping, safe in her room, when Zeb finds Kallus in their living room. The other man pauses when he enters and moves to leave, but Zeb blocks the entryway.

“Alex. What did I do?”

“What? Nothing.”

Zeb watches Alex’s hand clench around the handle of his cane; his eyes flick to the hall behind Zeb.

“You’re upset with me,” Zeb says, trying to sound casual.

“I’m not, I assure you.”

“I think we’ve been together and married too long for you to lie to me like that, Alexsandr.”

There’s a heavy pause, and Kallus’ jaw twitches. “Fine. Garazeb, I cannot believe you married me.”

“What?!” Zeb sputters. “Are you angry because you- do you want- ?”

“I don’t think it matters what I want. I’ve been- reflecting- these past few days. On our marriage, on the person that I am- and I can’t quite parse out why you married me.”

“I love you,” Zeb says dumbly, like the floor didn’t just fall out from beneath his feet.

“But don’t you get it? That doesn’t make sense, Garazeb. Even if I have redeemed myself,” he scoffs, “in the eyes of the galaxy, I am still the person who devastated Lasan. And now I’m a pretender, living on Lira San, married to you- who am I kidding that I have the right to raise a Lasat? I am an awful person, who has done awful things. There was- there is this darkness inside of me, Zeb, and I’ve tried my best- I really have- to banish it. But it left an impression on me. You don’t have to pretend you don’t see it too.”

“I see you,” Zeb croaks, stepping closer to his lover. “You wouldn’t be here if I didn’t. Alex, if you were still the same person, I- I wouldn't've married you. I wouldn’t be raising a kit with you. And you wouldn’t’ve said yes to either one of those things.” He reaches out to cup Alex’s face, and the other man shudders at the touch. 

“How many times do I hafta say it?” Zeb leans in and presses their foreheads together. “Alexsandr… I forgive you.”

Alex shakes his head. When he speaks, his voice is thick.

“I would never ask that of you.”

“But you want it.” Zeb paws at the back of Kallus’ head, fingers intertwining in his hair. His heart feels sharp and heavy in his chest. “Don’t you?”

“I don’t deserve it,” Alex whispers, barely audible.

“You don’t decide that,” Zeb says, shaking his head. “When will you learn,” he huffs. “That I love you more than you could ever hate yourself? I’ll do whatever it takes to help you see that, Sasha. I’ll tell you as many times as it takes. I love you. I forgive you.”

“I don’t-”

Zeb closes the remaining distance between them and kisses him, soft and slow. Alexsandr freezes at first, then his shoulders slump and he kisses back.

“As many times as it takes,” Zeb repeats. “Trust me, please, when I tell you that I love you.”

Alex closes his eyes, rocking in Zeb’s arms. His breathing is shaky; Zeb feels wetness on the fur of his shoulder where Alex’s head rests.

“I’ll try.”

[nothing-but-flowers88]

Need a Star Wars Rebels next gen show. Jacen Syndulla, Un’Hee, and the lasat kits on an adventure with their new “uncle Ezra”

[renlysbussy]

We didn't see Zeb and Kallus because it's like....really difficult to get 5 Lasat kits all ready to leave the house at the same time

[bookishbrigitta]

BookishBrigitta's domestic Lasat OCs! Here they are on school picture day. Many thanks, @lasat-picrew!

Meet Klavdia Orrelios! This little cutie first appears in my fic Brave Girl, though she is younger in the fic than in the picture.

Klavdia is the spunky, smart kit that Zeb and Alexsandr adopt sometime after Rebels ends. She loves snuggling, exploring, and generally causing headaches for her dads. She also has ectrodactyly and only a thumb and 1 finger on her right hand.

While Klavdia is close to both her parents and, obviously, goes to Zeb for lots of the Lasat stuff, she has a special connection to Alexsandr because of her hand. He has a particular understanding for how it feels to be "different" due to his own problems with his leg and also having different needs as a human. It's not always easy to navigate her physical differences, but with plenty of love and support from her family, she grows every day into a confident, competent young woman.

Meet Klavdia's yet-unnamed baby brother! He has yet to appear in a fic, but I have plans for him.

Baby Boy is Zeb and Alexsandr's biological child (Steve Blum was right when he said Zeb was probably pregnant). I tried to give them what differences I could within what the program supports, though there is a lot of similarity simply because they're both purple. I modeled Baby Boy's face swoops (stripes?) and upright ears after Zeb. He deliberately has a different hair texture from his sister.

I imagine his eyes as a little closer to brown than they appear in the photo, so that they look more like Alexsandr's. He's also short for a Lasat (especially compared to his sister) since he is half-human and Zeb is (according to some sources) of middling-to-shorter height for a Lasat. Finally, being half-human, he has 5 fingers on each hand but only 4 toes on each foot.

[underworldqueen13]

Second part to this post incoming

Kallus sat in the bed nervously drumming his fingers. The doctor pulled ZEb from the room just as he was coming to. Now he was alone listening to the sound of the monitor they connected to him wondering what was going on.

Zeb came back in and closed the door behind him. The look on his face was hard to make out but there was an uneasiness to it.

"Feelin' better Lex?"

He took a seat on the edge of the bed and noticed just how much room his boyfriend took up since the last time he was here. He couldn't stop thinking about the image of kallus getting even bigger and filling up the small bed.

"Not really. What happened? I remember seeing the medic and now I'm in here. "

Zeb's ears drooped slightly. He took a deep breath and placed a reassuring hand on kallus' hand.

"Remember when we had that discussion about settling down and maybe adopting a kit?"

" vividly I warned you I have literally no parenting skills and as it stands can barely care for myself. "

"I was afraid you'd say that. " Zeb muttered defeatedly

"You say that like it's a problem. I'm just not ready for that level of commitment. "

Before Zeb could say anything, the doctor came in carrying a tray of bottles.

"Alright time to go over some prenatal care for you and those babies. You'll have to bear with me because as far as any of my research could find, you might be the first interspecies mate with a lasat that isn't as similar in biological makeup. "

Kallus went white. He wasn't dreaming then. He really was....

"I don't understand how this is possible. I mean humans we...... I mean male humans don't... this is a joke. You're all just making excuses about my weight and having fun."

He looked to Zeb for some level of assurance.

"No joking Lex. Doc says that your scans indicate a non human makeup in your cell structure. Someone in your family wasn't what they seem. Now before we go any further I need to know if you want to keep them? Because if you aren't ready, I won't be angry if you want to-"

"Of course I'm keeping them. They're my children, our children!"

Zeb leaned in for a kiss and practically pulled Kallus into his lap.

"This is sweet but may I continue?"

Kallus stayed wrapped in Zeb's arms listening to everything the doctor could tell him. He wasn't sure he'd be the best parent but he would do the best he could.

[squad-724]

ALL THAT'S STAR WARS MASTERLIST

Hi hello on my Star Wars blog. You can call me Moss or Kosh, and I'm here to deliver all the weird aus I make for this fandom

'*' means I am not proud of the drawing and it's old :>

(+snippet) means there's an additional piece of fanfic to match the artwork

THE BAD BATCH

Hybrid Bad Batch: Clone Force 99 are hybrids of Jango DNA and another sentient species. Trandoshan Hunter, Chiss Tech, Zygerrian Crosshair, Lasat Wrecker, and Diathim Omega -all that's chibi <3 | a peaceful nap | and a Bookmark -original (old) designs* -baby batch sleeping pile* -Baby batch squad photo -Baby Wrecker in Lula onesie -Wrecker's a show off (cadets)* -The Batch all grown up -nap in the sunlight -Crosshair got put in the air jail for scratching pilot seats -S1ep1 screenshot redraw -mission going wrong page 1 -Zygerrian mission going awful -Wrecker's bo-rifle -A nap after Wrecker got blown up -Hunter's chest scars -Crosshair vs the red dot -Tech and his pillow Wrecker -Tech helps Hunter with his molt -Snowy day with Omega and Hunter -Hunter protective over Omega -Crosshair's murder mittens and Wrecker's murder mittens

Mermaid AU: Four mers raised by a fisherman called 99, Lionfish Hunter, octopus Tech, Whale shark Wrecker, eel Crosshair. There are also the betta twins Fives and Echo, and manta ray Omega, but these three the batch meets after being captured by Admiral Rampart Ref Sheets: Tech | Omega | Hunter | Crosshair | Wrecker | Domino Twins and CHIBI BOOKMARK -How does Tech's underside look? -Baby Wrecker and 99 and part 2 (+snippet) -Doctor Nala Se and Omega -Kiddos Tech, Hunter and Crosshair -Wrecker meets Tech -Teens resting and 99 fishing on a warm afternoon -Hunter teaching Omega to swim in open waters -Crosshair in trouble + Mayday finding him -Hemlock and subject 9902 -An unrelated food pic and Hemlock eating it

Centaur Wild West AU: (i'll add explanation later) -Ref sheet for the Batchers -Wrecker vs Zygerrian hunters -Wrecker nad Lula napping

The Bad Batch x Detroit: Become Human: Android Force 99 is a team of four specialized androids that hunt down deviants -Ref photo -Wrecker saves Echo from humans -WR-993 protects TH-992 from bullets -Crosshair CS-994 kills his brother Tech the deviant TH-992 -Crosshair and Tech getting out of the Cyberlife building

Tantiss Batch: Hemlock once visited Kamino before the war, finding himself curious about four defective clones slated for decommissioning, all young and easy to mold. He took them as his side project, transporting the batch to his lab on Tantiss, where he raised them -Kiddos Wrecker and Tech -Wrecker and Tech, their brothers the night after rescue (+ snippet)

Fairy Batch: Fairies are born from normal insect eggs infused with a special elixir, their wings match whatever egg they hatched from Fairies that are born on the same day treat each other like brothers Each fairy picks a job in their community, hunters gathering food, defenders fighting birds and other dangers, and engineers creating new tools and other stuff -Ref sheet for the Batchers -Eepy batchers -Phee finds a surprise in a lab

Coraline AU: Omega and her family arrive at their new house, where she meets her other Brothers with buttons for eyes -Omega and other Tech (+ snippet)

LULA in all the AUs

CLONE WARS

Dragon Jedi AU (Fantasy medieval setting) The United Kingdoms of the Republic own all the dragons on their territory. When the Confederacy of independent Kingdoms began a war against the Republic, the Kingdom of Mandalore provided their soldiers; the princes of the house of Mereel being the leaders. Every battalion was given a dragon to fight alongside them, and during the time spent together the soldiers realised that the creatures were as smart as humans and kept against their will Which one can you pet? ANAKIN Ref sheet | and Fox | in harness | OBI-WAN Ref sheet+ Ahsoka | and Cody | PLO Ref sheet | and Wolfee | AAYLA Ref sheet | and Bly | KIT Ref sheet | and Monnk | MACE Ref sheet | and Ponds | QUINLAN Ref sheet | and Fox | QUI GON Ref sheet | MAUL, ASAJJ, and MOTHER TALZIN Ref sheet other dragons

Mecha AU: Kaminoas created an army of droids for the Republic. 10-15 meters tall, perfect in combat, and have suspiciously advanced AI. It is located in tubes filled with thick, red liquid, which, if not cracked or destroyed, can be transported into a new metal body. Some of the mechas are modified so that the Jedi can pilot them from the inside, with the commander and the general working together. -Rex and Cody* -Anakin and Rex -Blank trooper design

Non-connected Rexwalker drawings

Medically mandated comforting pressure Rexwalker week 2023 Vampire AU Vaderkin exchange: Massive Mer Ani and Rex

[laurelslegacy]

Uhoh…

Mpreg has a title now. However had to insert a Kanan and Zeb scene. Zeb dropping a bomb on Kanan

He almost laughed at the irony one night thinking back on when Kanan first found out:

“Heh” the Jedi grunted, a smirk on his face.

Zeb looked at him annoyed, in his arms was the young girl they had rescued from some slave trader, she was orphaned and the plan was to take her back to her known family. She clung to the large LAsat like he was her life line. “What?”

“I would never thought you’d be good with kids.” Bemusement sparkled in Kanan’s eyes.

Insulted he huffed “Why’s that?!”

“Well that attitude for one. You just seam so…. Not so kid friendly?” Kanan gave an ‘i donno’ shrug of his shoulders trying to put his finger on it.

Zeb gave the human a scowled look for a long time and snorted, looking forward “Was a father once ya know. I know how ta handle kids.”

“Wait- what?” Kanan stopped dead in his tracks. Zeb didn’t stop moving so the Jedi jogged up to his side “Ok buddy you can’t just drop something like that on a guy and keep walking!”

“I can and I did.” His voice was cold as stone.

Kanan put a hand on his forearm and at the side eye from the tall Lasat stated “I’m sorry for your loss.”

Zeb just sighed and kept walking. Silence covered them both, a dark and awkward one. “She was 9. Little spitfire too. I still celebrate her birthday. Well, perhaps celebrate isnt the word for it.” He gave a long sigh.

“What was her name?”

“Allana.”

“Would you… if the chance came, be a father again?” Kanan stepped lightly but curiosity won.

Zeb looked thoughtful for a long time then shook his head “If the Ashla wills it, but by choice? Naw. I’d be an old man b’the time this war is over. Lost one kit ta war, don’t think I can handle it again.”

[never-ending-fanfic]

Rules: In a new post, post the names of all the files in your WIP folder regardless of how non descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet or tell us about it. Then tag as many people as you have WIPs. If you don't write, list your art WIPs!

Thank you for tagging me @seth-shitposts @lost-in-derry @foxxxtransformer123 @mystical-salamander 💛🧡❤️

The Fall of Fulcrum: canon divergence, where Kallus never escapes the Chimaera, instead he's kept prisoner and tortured for months before the Ghost Crew is able to save him + the aftermath (whump, hurt/comfort and sweet angst)

Angel!Kallus: AU where Kallus is not human but rather a forgotten specie- that changes about everything (originally posted for Whumptober, tho the whump part is yet to come)

All my love: Kallus finds a captive Lasat kit in the Empire, breaks her out and flees. Now he's alone with no money, no way to contact the Rebellion, no allies but with a child to look after

Force sensitive Kallus- canon divergence where Kallus is actually Force sensitive, featuring some Sewer Rat Kallus Backstory™, his ISB days and carries onto the Rebellion where he comes to terms with being Force sensitive for the first time.in his life (a bit hurt/comfort)

5+1 culture shock: as the name suggests a 5+1 fic where our newly defected Kallus is faced with rebel life and is impressively lost- thankfully the Ghost crew comes to the rescue (slightly hurt/comfort, a bit of Kallus' backstory)

Five things the Spectres found out about Kallus and one he told them himself: exactly what the title says xd

No pressure tagging: @leftcolornacho @probablynot-john @dominoxsquad @kitepiper @sunatsubu @heart-of-a-rebel16

[swordbladeknight7]

Zeb grooming his kits (for the drawing idea)

Everyone in the Kallus-Orellios household has fur, hair, or, more often than not, both—— so suffice to say a lot of their time together is spent caring for it

The kits featured here are two of Zeb and Kallus’ oldest, Juno (named for Hera/Commander Jun Sato) and Kass (in honor of fellow Fulcrum agent Cassian ‘Kassa’ Andor), but I designed a few more litters worth of human-lasat kiddos while I was at it

[zeb-spectre4]

Jacen was terrible at sneaking up on his uncle but that didn’t stop him from trying.

Slowly…slowly…and…he charged full speed at the Lasat.

@arandomnerdsrp358

Zeb’s ears move as he hears the movement behind him and he smirks. It seems the little Kit wanted to try and sneak up on him again. Zeb waits for Jacen to charge before he turns around catching him. “Nice try.” He chuckles holding Jacen close. “You are getting better at it.”

[seth-shitposts]

Bahryn Festival Day V Challenge

Taking a break between scenes in the next chapter of the Force User Zeb fic.

Anyway here are some headcanons in celebration of @bahrynfestival

-Rex and Kallus are good friends, Kal has a great appreciation to the clone. He gets along with pretty much all the clones. He enjoys camaraderie wherever it happens to bloom, and there's a lot of that with them.

-Once Hera comes to trust Kallus, the two are very quick to become best friends, though it's more reluctant/gun shy from Kallus. Hera sees him and tries to adopt him, as she does with any stray she finds, and ended up with a uno reverse. Kallus very quickly started regularly checking in with her. He used the "if i have to be mindful of how many hours I spend working, so do you, general," card frequently. Their friendship initially began to pick up quickly when Hera sent Kallus out onto base to make good, appropriate use of his spy skill set. Gathering the tea.

-Sometimes Zeb gets stuck in his own head. He'll space out while doing a task for hours, just falling deeper and deeper down the rabbit holes. Kallus catches on to this very early on and keeps coming up with different ways to help pull him out of it. He'll help Zeb with whatever task he's on, he'll become very playful because he knows Zeb will fall into the playfulness like a kit every single time, he'll give Zeb a smooch and Zeb doesn't let him leave until he gets a kiss (human kiss or lasat kiss), Kal will challenge Zeb to a spar and make sure to keep him present and grounded in the fight. He finds new ways of doing this continuously.

-Kallus is one of the few people Chopper doesn't fuck with. Hera laughs about it. No one can tell if Kallus is genuinely unaware of the fact that the droid is a menace or if he's pretending not to know just to fuck with people on base. Almost everyone on base has been mercilessly shocked by the droid at least once.

-Zeb likes to lounge any where he finds comfortable, which is pretty much anywhere. He'll rest or sleep on the most random shit. Ships, buildings, trees, crates, tables, equipment, Kallus so he is unable to move therefore cannot overwork himself and has to sleep.

-kids love Zeb. They will randomly start following him around. Sometimes in groups. One time Zeb was walking through a town and turned back to see 25+ children following him. He has genuinely no idea what to do about this and is very awkward around children. Babies are sometimes scared of him when he's anxious, but once that child becomes mobile, Zeb will be followed by them all.

*drops this one and fucks back off to my writing hole* -Ahsoka was the one who officially recruited Kallus as fulcrum. And no one knew this.

[horatio-fig]

This has lived in my WIP folder for like 3 years but I’ve never done anything with it. Anyway, I wanted to share it coz I like the idea but it’s probably too ambitious for me and I’m terrified of writing stuff with OCs (Also now it doesn’t match with the confirmed Siege of Lasan timeline)

When Kallus defeated the Lasat on Lasan, he gave him the bo-riffle and asked him to protect her. Kallus is super confused until he realised the Lasat was just trying to protect his newborn kit. Kallus can’t bring himself to harm it and he knows his CO’s will just kill the kit, so he hides her in his uniform and smuggles her home with him. That’s when his faith first starts to waver in the Empire. For like, 12 years he’s been keeping this kit hidden in his apartment on Coruscant. He really wants to leave with Zeb when he offers, but declines coz he needs to get home to his daughter. She’s getting bigger and harder to hide and Kallus decides this isn’t working anymore and he needs to defect. He agree’s to be fulcrum for Ahsoka, but only if she can ensure his daughter will go and live with Zeb on the Ghost coz he wants her to be with another lasat. He gives her his unmodified and now untraceable bo-riffle and tells her that she can’t let anyone know he is her father for her own safety. 

Zeb bonds with her immediately. He’d been kind of broody after seeing Hera and Kanan basicly become parents to Sabine and Ezra, so he jumps at the chance to be a father figure for this kit. He teaches her how to use a bo-riffle, teaches her Lasana and old lasat stories, and other little things like how to pilot the phantom. Everyone kind of knows her father won’t return so Zeb starts planning to take her to Lira San with him and raise her as his own, even though he was warned not to get too attached. He kind of doesn’t want her dad to return and take her back, so to cope Zeb has little fantasies that he and the father get along and maybe even become a couple so Zeb can officially become her father. 

[solrika]

Zeb meets his new colleague. Also on AO3.

~

It was a quiet fact that Lasan’s spy network had risen from, and remained closely tied to, its holy folk. Zeb himself had begged for bedtime stories of the whisper masters, brave priests and priestesses who had sent messages along the trees and rivers to save their queendoms from certain ruin. As an adult, he highly doubted that the trees themselves could pass intel. The priests, though… 

And so, when he was summoned to Chava the Wise a week after the invasion, he went with a bit of an idea of just who else might be attending the meeting. 

She met him at the temple gates, imperiously gesturing for him to bend down so she could give him the customary kiss of blessing. 

“Do we really have to?” Zeb asked. It was a long way down. She was just so short. 

“These are dark days,” Chava retorted, “and you need all the blessings you can get.” 

“Well, in that case,” and Zeb folded himself up so she could mutter some words and smack him on the forehead. When she was done, he unfolded again with a small groan. 

Chava smirked up at him. “Getting old already, Captain?” 

Flicking his ears back, Zeb grumbled, “Oh, leave off.” 

Snickering, Chava waved him to follow her through the temple’s grand doors. Zeb followed, pointedly ignoring the reproachful looks of all the junior priestesses around him. Chava had rocked him to bed as a kit; as an adult, he reserved the right to be a little impudent. 

She led him to her own office. Privately, Zeb thought that workroom might be a better word for it, with how many bits and bobs lay scattered about. Sure enough, when he stepped in, there was barely enough room for him and the two other lasats already there. 

“Here’s the boy, Sitith,” Chava announced, and wandered back out with an absent pat to Zeb’s forearm. 

“Sitith?” Zeb repeated.

The lasat occupying the one empty chair raised a hand. “Me. They-them.” They had the thick build and shaggy fur of the polar clans, though most had been clipped short to account for the capital’s warmer weather. “Has Chava told you who I am? No, of course she hasn’t.” With a lopsided smile, they continued, “I’m the current management for all the little birds in the capital. We’ve been keeping an eye on things since the invasion.” 

“Ah.” Zeb eyed them warily, then flicked his gaze to the other, silent lasat standing besides them. “And you?”

“To you, Illeah Hartosse. She-her.” She was wholly unremarkable–a desaturated, dusty rose, faint spots, indeterminate features and average-length fur. “I’ll be the commander for the agents we’re installing in your Guard.” 

Resisting the urge to flick his ears back, Zeb said, “We don’t take the uninitiated.” Glancing at Sitith. “Respectfully.” 

“And we don’t take foreign non-lasats as regents, but here we are.” Sitith spread their hands. “We need to know what’s going on with our new ruler, Orrelios. Your Guards are the best way in.” 

“I–” Zeb switched his tail. There was truth to what they were saying, and a relief in knowing that yes, someone was doing something about this mess the Imperials had brought, but… “Why not just ask us to report back to you?”

Sitith tapped a claw against their datapad. “Would you know what to notice?”

“Me, maybe. Most of the rest… No,” Zeb admitted, as much as he felt like he was betraying his Guards. Most of them had no experience in politics. They didn’t need to; that was the job of the people they protected. But to let someone untested into their ranks… Stalling, he asked Illeah, “Can your people keep up in a fight?” 

Her smile showed all her fangs; Zeb barely kept his hackles from rising in returned threat. “Don’t worry about that, Captain.” 

“The bo-rifles are hard to get used to,” he hedged. “And–picky.” 

“Which is why I gave you Hartosse and her band.” Sitith turned to their datapad; Zeb had a feeling they were already becoming tired with the conversation. 

Illeah stepped in before the silence grew awkward. “We’re all Children of the Bendu. Give us an empty bo-rifle, and we’ll supply the souls.” She opened her hand; something flashed a brilliant blue before she flicked it away into a pocket. “I don’t want to force any of your weapons into a partnership.” 

“Oh.” Zeb blinked, and then, with a sudden bark of relieved laughter, “You could have led with that!”

Illeah grinned back, and this time it felt less like a challenge. “We wanted to let you have your questions.”

“You did,” Sitith muttered, tapping away on their datapad. “Orrelios, Hartosse can give you more details. I need to talk more with Chava. Dismissed.” 

“Quick chat,” Zeb murmured, but followed Illeah out.