#Petty Kallus | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cross-my-heartt · 11 months

Text

Appreciating Rebels Thrawn: Atollon

Okay folks this one is going to be different from my Rewriting Rebels Thrawn series. I wanted to take the time to appreciate this arc because I think it's very in line with what we know about book canon Thrawn.

So this is going to be an analysis of why Atollon works, especially in the sense of what failure looks like for Thrawn, with some teeny tiny scene tweaks and suggestions at the end for how it could be brought even closer to book canon.

So without further ado, let's get into it. (As always, spoilers for the books ahead).

In terms of chronology, we're at a point where Thrawn has recently been promoted and given command of the Seventh Fleet, and been assigned to deal with the rebel threat on Lothal. This is important because it means he's had limited time to handpick and mentor his subordinates. Something that's vital to the success of his convoluted plans.

To put it simply, Thrawn's way of leadership requires trust and competence (both of which he does his damnedest to cultivate in the books). Otherwise his sand castle tactics are likely to fall apart as soon as something minor goes wrong. And a lot of things go wrong at Atollon.

In the books, he's at his most successful when his forces follow his orders to a t. When they trust him to know what he's doing and his officers can keep up with him after working with him long enough and absorbing his teachings.

The best examples of this are Karyn Faro and Eli. And during the Atollon attack, Eli is with the Chiss while Karyn is a later introduction to the franchise that sadly doesn't make an appearance in the show.

All of this to say that Thrawn is now left with Konstantine and Pryce at the helm and, surprise surprise, both of them make huge, costly, stupid mistakes. (Way to go guys.)

There are three major factors to Thrawn's failure:

Konstantine's stupid stunt, resulting in the interdictor's destruction, Ezra's escape and the subsequent arrival of reinforcements

Pryce's handling of Kallus' imprisonment

and the Bendu, ie some serious Deus Ex Machina force shenanigans

And honestly, objectively speaking? None of these are Thrawn's fault. Which is good because after reading about the ridiculous uber talented things he pulls off in the books, we need a damn good reason for him to fail so spectacularly.

Moving on, Konstantine's blunder is the result of him disobeying Thrawn's orders out of pure stupidity. In that moment he's motivated by his own petty ambition, the kind of thing Thrawn doesn't understand (and would have a difficult time foreseeing) because it's not what motivates him.

Pryce's handling of Kallus on the other hand is an emotional reaction. She gets angry, sends Kallus to get killed (something Tharwn would never do because it's a waste of resources) with minimal security and Kallus escapes.

This is again something Tharwn would have a hard time foreseeing because he rarely, if ever, allows emotions to cloud his judgement.

There is also the fact that Pryce is someone Thrawn has to work with not because he wants to but because he has to. She's his political mediator, someone he needs to help him navigate politics and do damage control for his blunders.

Which is a detail I find really neat because it means that a) he can't get rid of her despite her not meeting his standard for competence and b) he's in this position because Pryce dragged him to deal with the rebels on Lothal as part of their deal.

And then we have this moment:

Which is

hands down

MY FAVORITE MOMENT IN THE WHOLE SERIES.

My man is befuddled. He is bamboozled. Baffled. Discombobulated. Stunned. Because for the first time there's been a wrench of such epic proportions thrown into his plans that we see him thwarted in every direction.

This is Thrawn faced with an unknown he couldn't have foreseen or factored into his plans in any way. And I love to see that.

All in all this arc serves to demonstrate how fragile Thrawn's tactics can be. How his plans are not necessarily flawed but their success relies on things going exactly how he needs them to and people doing exactly what he tells them to which isn't always the case.

Back in the Ascendancy his success rate was higher because of the people he worked alongside and the familiarity of his circumstances. Here, he doesn't have that same stable footing and it only makes sense for him to stumble more often as a result.

And this is why I like this arc in general.

Other notable moments are Kallus' 'You talk too much' because yes, Thrawn does indeed talk a lot. He explains, he elaborates, he muses he very much loves including people into these musings and explaining every minor detail of his plans.

Then there is Kallus being present when Thrawn explains how he's found Atollon and for the subsequent battle. Some fics have interpreted that as an necessarily cruel 'making him watch' and 'gloating' moment. Which may very well be the case from Kallus' pov.

But in reality this is a tactic Thrawn often uses in the books: observing his enemies' reactions to things (sometimes events he's gone so far as to fabricate for this very purpose) and using that to extrapolate information. And Kallus' visible reaction to Atollon's location may well have been the final confirmation that Thrawn needed (smh, Yularen would be so disappointed).

I also love the moment where Thrawn cuts Konstantine off and emphasizes the importance of him doing exactly as Thrawn has ordered. Because as we've already said, that's key to the success of his plans. But it also shows that despite Thrawn's difficulty in predicting some people's motivations, he does have a good sense for his subordinates' competence. Part of why he's so good at curating competent crews. And he is not loving Konstantine's vibes here.

As for the things I would (personally!) tweak to bring show and book canon even closer, they're both very minor and have to do with dialogue.

Like Thrawn's line to Kallus:

I do not require glory, only results (this is where I was screaming YES) for my Emperor. (and this is where I was screaming NOOO).

Yes, Thrawn values results over everything. He values results over etiquette (his words to Samakro), he values results over rules and he values results over rewards.

One thing he does struggle with however is convincing Palpatine of his loyalty to the Empire - something that has very real consequences for him in Alliances. That's because Thrawn isn't actually loyal to the Empire. He's loyal to his people first and foremost and when he does try to convince the Emperor, or Vader, of his loyalty it's by arguing that his people's interests coincide with the Empire's.

So this part of his line doesn't sit well with me.

The use of my in 'my Emperor' especially tilts the line towards a personal loyalty to Palpatine which couldn't be further from the truth. Saying 'the Emperor' would be a bit better but I'd remove the Emperor part altogether.

You could argue that he's doing it to create an illusion of loyalty but seeing as he had difficulties doing that with Vader, I don't see why he would bother attempting it with a rebel prisoner.

Thrawn has no trouble lying when it's part of his tactical maneuvering, when it's for the sake of misinformation and positioning an opponent into a trap, but this kind of lie is more in the realm of political manipulation. Currying favor with allies and superiors. And that's an area he notably struggles in.

And finally: 'You misunderstand, Captain. I'm not accepting surrenders at this time. I want you to know failure, utter defeat, and that it is I who delivers it crashing down upon you.'

Again we start off great: Thrawn is blunt and he doesn't hesitate to present his enemies with hard facts, especially when he has them cornered and right where he wants them to. Call it an intimidation tactic or just part of his habit to lay things out.

The next part though, I would cut out completely. Because if there's one thing Tharwn is not, in my opinion, it's gloating. The canon books don't give you the sense that he's a character with a bloated ego or someone who engages in unnecessary comments just for the sake of his own malicious satisfaction. So it's a no for me.

But I'll stop myself here before this becomes too long... or, well, longer. All in all, an amazing arc that gives us great character moments and one I could rewatch many times over.

#thrawn #mitth'raw'nuruodo #grand admiral thrawn #sw rebels #star wars rebels #thrawn books #thrawn trilogy

93 notes · View notes

antianakin · 6 months

Note

I find it really interesting that you don’t like kallus at all bc say what you will about fulcrum or kalluzeb but he’s the first ex-/imperial character that we saw on screen who wasn’t already defected when we met him. Like obvs you’ve got Han and Sabine who started off in the academy and then left bc they realised in wasn’t what they wanted and tala who’s already a mole for the path by the time she’s on screen but most other characters we interact with regularly and significantly either stay imperial or have never been one as far as we know. And I think that watching kallus’ arc play out as he realises that no the empire isn’t worth it actually and it is worse and the rebels he’s fighting and trying to capture are better and are the good guys is just so fascinating to watch. If anakin’s arc in tcw and the prequels is about him getting worse and worse and making all the wrong choices again and again then kallus’s overarching storyline is about learning that actually his choices were wrong and he is the villain and he needs to accept that and try to do better as best he can. Ymmv on how well it was executed (and I do think there are parts that could have been done so much better) but the bare bones are there (and also I do love the interactions he has with kanan and Ezra post defection pre extraction where they’re like “this guy 😤” and are doing things like throwing him through glass screens to cover for him bc hey! They’re helping and they get to be a bit petty about it bc they still don’t like him and he just. Has to put up with it bc he’s on their side now and they are technically helping him)

I don’t know I just think it’s a pretty interesting arc to follow and I do think that however clumsily handled (again ymmv on how clumsily), the idea in his character of “it’s not too late to change and to choose to do better, you can unlearn your prejudice and biases and you can always start trying to do good no matter who you are” is a really important message that feels like Star Wars yk

(Side note: I just wanted to add that I love the anakin salt and the pro Jedi posts. I always pop around your blog when I’ve seen a few too many “he’s misunderstood” takes for my own good and it’s really cathartic to see someone else point out he sucks in new ways I hadn’t yet considered. I also find your Ahsoka takes super interesting bc most other things I see either just straight up do not like her or think she’s perfect where I always fell in the middle of “she’s interesting and narratively seems to be there to point out how anakin could have been if he’d made different choices since their flaws are so similar” ❤️❤️❤️)

This probably should have been split into two asks but I’ve written it all out now and my break is over so I guess it’s going to be one

Hi! I'm glad my blog helps provide you an area to just feel a little bitter sometimes when fandom gets hard, that's exactly why I made it for myself, just an escape when I'm starting to forget why I like this stuff sometimes and I just need to get rid of some of the bitterness.

I'm not against the IDEA of an Imperial character who turns against the Empire, of watching an Imperial character start to learn better and change sides. I promise I'm not!

I just think it shouldn't have been Kallus. I don't personally believe that they had a redemption arc in mind for Kallus when they were writing him in the first season at all. I don't know when the idea first got brought up for the writers, but it doesn't really seem to be one they had in mind in early season 2, either, so it just comes out of NOWHERE in that episode with Zeb where they get stuck in the ice. And the side effect of this lack of set up means that they really were writing Kallus as an irredeemable villain. He led a genocide against Zeb's people, he laughs at Zeb about being a survivor, he uses one of the Lasat's weapons as a trophy he took from that genocide. He turns against one of his own fellow officers at the end of season 1/beginning of season 2 when Tarkin and Vader show up and want someone to answer for their failure on Lothal. He helps lead Tua to her death and SMILES about the whole thing. Tua's death could've been a way to begin that journey, give him a crack in the wall where he feels doubt about what they're doing, but it DOESN'T, it just makes him MORE of a fanatic.

So when you get to that episode with Zeb in the ice, all of the sudden you have to take Kallus at his word that he DIDN'T lead the genocide he's already been saying he led, that he DIDN'T steal the Lasat weapon he already said he stole, that he totally had a sorta sympathetic reason for wanting an entire group of people eliminated from the galaxy, and that he apparently cares about having friends in the Empire. This isn't just a retcon of his backstory, it's a retcon of his CHARACTER. And they have to "all lives matter" the entire situation to do it by having him point out that Zeb judges all Imperials the same (and sees them all as enemies) which is somehow equivalent to Kallus judging an entire SPECIES for the actions of ONE PERSON and choosing to go genocide the entire species as a result. That's not just clumsy, that's OFFENSIVE. This is one of the WORST written episodes of Star Wars I have ever seen, which is saying something since I've seen the Ahsoka show and the Book of Boba Fett and The Mandalorian Season 3.

I think my major issue with Kallus's "arc", beyond the offensiveness of the retcon of his entire character, is that it isn't really an arc at all. It's ONE episode. The next time we even SEE Kallus, he's already willing to help Sabine escape from the Empire and then season 3 goes on to basically tell us he's been acting as a spy most of the season now. We DON'T actually get to see that arc for Kallus, he spends a few hours in the ice with Zeb and that's all it takes to turn him against the Empire really. The few times he shows up in-between don't do a lot to really emphasize a JOURNEY he's going on, he's just already on the side of the rebels and trying to push back against the Empire. And he fucking SUCKS at it, too. They have to come rescue his ass TWICE because he wasn't good enough at being a spy to not get caught and then he has the fucking GALL to think he's thrown off Thrawn and refuses to run when Kanan and Ezra risk their necks to save him which is what directly leads to Chopper Base being discovered. So not only is his redemption "arc" barely there anyway, he's an awful rebel and an awful spy.

This is why I keep arguing that it should've been PRYCE to be the Imperial defector. She isn't introduced to the story until season 3, and so her character is basically a big blank slate. They'd MENTIONED her, but all we knew is that she was the governor of the planet or something and she was gone on Coruscant dealing with stuff. This and the fact that she has an ACTUAL connection to Lothal by being FROM THE PLANET gives her a really really excellent pathway towards turning on the Empire. Maybe she sided with the Empire because she genuinely believed it would help save them from what everyone else suffered by fighting back. Maybe she was promised certain advantages if she sided with the Empire that they could show haven't been kept. Let her CARE about Lothal and its people just enough for her to have a REASON to turn against the Empire and see its truth.

It's one of the other reasons I don't like using Kallus, he's not really emotionally connected to any character but Zeb. Turning Kallus does very little for the main characters Ezra and Kanan. If they were going to turn an Imperial character, which IS a fairly big thing to put into a narrative, I feel like it should've impacted the MAIN characters far more than it actually does. Let Ezra, the person whose story is being told here, be a part of the reason that Imperial character turns. Let that journey away from the Empire be something they're actively WORKING on rather than something that primarily happens off screen in Kallus's head.

I think the only reason they chose Kallus for this was because fans already liked him and they couldn't figure out what else to do with him at this point. He's a basically ineffective villain because he keeps having to lose and the only times he "wins" against the crew is when they LET him win by sacrificing themselves or something. And they were already starting to write him out as an antagonist by including Vader, Tarkin, the Inquisitors, and they might've known they were bringing in Thrawn in season 3 (and maybe that Pryce would finally show up) by the time that ice episode was being written. Kallus was becoming irrelevant, but fans enjoyed him so they had to figure out a way to make him relevant moving forward, and so, quick and dirty redemption "arc" so he can move to the rebel side. You'll notice he barely does anything in season 4, though, once he's moved to the rebellion he's just kinda... there. Irrelevant again because he's not actually good enough at anything to be worth having him DO anything important or interesting to the plot.

A LOT of people seem to think Kallus's "redemption" was really well done and I just can't agree. I think it would've been better to take Kallus a different direction, to really have him just succumb to being evil, to become even MORE of a fanatic for the Empire moving forward, and then just pick someone else to be the defected Imperial character. Or they should've had a redemption arc in mind for Kallus from the beginning. Using Tua's death to start the process of doubt in his mind, or having him be the one the Empire turns on would've both worked. They didn't give themselves enough time to really write him a good redemption arc where the reasons for why he turns on the Empire actually feel in character to what we've been told and shown of him so far.

I think if you just... start in season 3 and act like Kallus has HAD a true redemption arc already by season 3, then those scenes work. The humor of the Rebels crew starting to discover Kallus is on their side now and not entirely trusting that and wanting to punt him through a window IS funny! I, too, would like to throw Kallus through a window several times, even perhaps over a cliff or out an airlock. But those scenes come with the context of having seen the first two seasons and feeling the VERY abrupt 180 his character took without the show doing any of the actual work to make his defection seem realistic or reasonable. Season 3 is fine for Kallus, the scenes are funny, etc. But he wasn't actually redeemed yet and neither season 2 nor season 3 do the work to showcase that journey.

And I think that this is likely one of the reasons we DON'T see very many Imperial redemption stories and most of the Imperial defectors we see are already defected when we meet them. You can count Gorn and Taramyn from Andor in this category, as well. It's HARD to take a character who's been set up as violent, selfish, and cruel, and REALLY do the work necessary to turn them around into someone who would genuinely turn on the Empire and join the Rebellion. It's by no means impossible, but it takes a lot of work and a lot of focus on said character. Most of these shows and stories aren't willing to put in that kind of work because they're focusing on someone else who needs their story told instead, so it's easier to just... have someone who's already changed sides.

All of that being said, there IS a character who we've seen go through this arc that I think was done MILES better than Kallus.

Reva Sevander. An Inquisitor (possibly BY CHOICE unlike all of the others who were presumably captured and broken into it) working for the Empire, who DOES do violent and selfish stuff, but who ultimately leaves that behind by the end of the season. Reva, who obviously was written with that turn in mind, and so her tragedy is BAKED into her character from the moment the show begins (we literally start the ENTIRE SHOW with a flashback of Reva at the Temple when Order 66 starts, and the terror of that night). The twist in her character, that she's doing all of this as a way to get closer to Anakin so she can kill him as vengeance for the Jedi, doesn't feel like it comes out of nowhere. It's just always been there FROM THE BEGINNING. Making her an Inquisitor, something Jedi: Fallen Order and some comic books have fleshed out into people who weren't given much choice in becoming monsters, was an expert choice. Using her to parallel and foil Anakin, someone whose primary storyline is that he was a GOOD person who turned bad and still had good in him, also helps her out.

I'd argue Reva hasn't gone on a full "redemption arc" as yet, she's sort-of barely scratched the surface of it, but she does obviously make the choice to STOP going down the path she's on, to turn away from her anger and vengeance, and leaves behind being an Inquisitor and the darkness she'd succumbed to. The reasons for why she does the things she does MAKE SENSE, they're narratively relevant, they're important to the main character of the story she's in, and the writers didn't wait too long to tell us more about her and her motivations. It's expertly done in my opinion.

So while Kallus might have been the first Imperial defector to show up in mainstream Star Wars, he is not the ONLY Imperial character we have seen to turn against the Empire. And yet Kallus gets praise and accolades for being such a great character with such a great character arc, while Reva got panned and critiqued for being unlikable. I wonder what could be the reason behind that.

So I think you and I have fairly similar feelings on this in that the IDEA of a redeemed Imperial character whose journey towards turning on the Empire is actually shown is a GOOD story to tell (with a very Star Wars style message, as you say), but that the way it was done with Kallus was REALLY badly written. You seem to be leaning towards liking the concept enough that the clumsiness of it is outweighed, whereas I hate the clumsy way it was written so much that my positive feelings towards the concept are outweighed.

And I deserve a good Reva show where we get to follow more of her character post-OWK where she still has to work on herself and figure out who she is now that she's left the darkness behind. Finish the arc she's only just started on.

#star wars #reva #reva sevander #anti kallus #anti aleksander kallus #kallus critical #aleksander kallus critical

33 notes · View notes

tarisilmarwen · 11 months

Text

Rebels Rewatch: "Stealth Strike"

In which, Character Development! and other exciting features.

I mentioned the husband loves Star Wars ships right? This is another one of his favorite episodes, he loooves the Interdictor class.

Always liked this little musical flare at the beginning, already conveys a sense of urgency and danger.

Sato sounds so aggrieved that he has to have Ezra along, lol.

I mean from his perspective Ezra's just an overconfident plucky kid, he hasn't been around Ezra long enough to know how competent the boy is.

Love the staggered Force Theme prelude in the strings there, all broken up and disjointed. Once again Ezra is sensing impending danger.

Still adore the kaleidoscope color effect Rebels uses to mark being forcibly ejected/yanked from hyperspace.

Bbbyyyyyyyy. :((((

Worried Spacefamily be worried.

Hera wisely understands that the best way to infiltrate a top-secret Imperial project is to keep the aliens off the mission lol.

Kanan is being predictably petty about having to work with Rex.

"I sent Ezra... this is the only way." Ouch. I bet Hera is feeling pretty guilty and has thought a lot about this since they learned about it, so you know she's run it through a million times in her head. Probably why Kanan acquiesces to her judgment.

I wanna know the thought process behind the Imps' decision to haul Ezra and Sato in to see Titus. Like, Sato I get, he's the obvious commander of the unit but I wanna know which trooper saw Ezra and was like, "Hmm, he seems Plot Important, I better drag him along too."

Sato still very much Not Impressed with Ezra's posturing.

Hi Brom Titus!

It's hilarious that Ezra's sarcastically used "Jabba the Hutt" so often it's been logged as a known alias of his lololol.

The Giligan Cut between Rex complaining that he'd never wear Stormtrooper armor and Zeb bringing them unconscious troopers to steal the armor from. <3

"I thought it was the same one we used before." LOL. Okay, I gotta stop before I quote every line in this episode.

Can't help it, it's just so fun.

We cut to the shuttle mid-hyperspace and Rex and Kanan are still bickering, but even in the middle of that we get some lovely worried Papa Wolf Kanan hyperfocusing on Ezra as his priority.

I swear it was explained somewhere what the specific codes Rex gives meant but I can't for the life of me remember where now. Pretty sure one of them meant the shuttle was going to explode? Anyway...

Rex seems like he's having just a grand old time. This must feel just like the old days for him.

Lol Kallus getting excited about Ezra's capture and warning Titus "[...]do not underestimate that boy." He knows firsthand how much of a threat and nuisance Ezra can be.

A little variation on the Death Star theme here, kind of appropriate given this is a very similar-feeling kind of infiltration and rescue.

Maybe that's why I like this episode so much, has a lot of A New Hope vibes.

Subtle animation appreciation moment: Chopper's legs jerking as he rolls over the hump in the doorway.

The ANH vibes continue with this turbolift scene, which is just hilarious. From Rex not knowing which button to push to the Imperial officer snarking at our hero duo, it's just... *chef's kiss*

They are a disaster pair and I just love them.

Cut to the troopers that are escorting Ezra to his "secure cell" and I'm sorry, I adore this whole sequence. Ezra being a little hyper-competent badass is my whole jam, okay?

This is so clever. <3333

Ezra makes very short work of his guards, without really hurting them (something that would contrast in S3 after the whole Malachor Loss-Of-Innocence thing) and then immediately shoots his intended rescue party lololol.

I love how smoothly he moves through this whole scene. He's obviously been practicing and of course the Force operates on a principal of "the more at peace and in tune you are with yourself, the greater strength you can channel" so after his whole soul-searching in "Brothers of the Broken Horn" deal he's come to some kind of serenity within himself that lets him be just super awesome here. Love it.

<333333

Chopper immediately rats Ezra out lol.

Kanan reluctant to split up from Ezra, aww.

Subtle animation appreciation moment: The way Ezra raises his hands in aggravation when Kanan and Rex get into it again.

Ezra finally chews the two of them out for all their bickering and takes charge of the mission and you can't even tell me he didn't make Kanan just a smidge proud, with that comment about how, "He takes after Hera sometimes." <3333

No but seriously, fandom of course loves Kanan and Ezra's whole "like my father before me" vibe but let's not forget how it was Hera who first took a shine to him, who saw potential in him, who knew that he wasn't as selfish as he pretended he was, drew out that inner spark of compulsive compassion planted by his parents and has been influencing him on the Rebellion side of things to complement Kanan's Jedi teaching.

Found Family liek woah. :)

Brom Titus looking a little less confident now that the scrawny fifteen-year-old he was specifically cautioned not to underestimate has given them the slip lol.

*cries* He was so TINY!

Very glad Ezra learned binary, it enables hilarious conversations like this.

This is yet another music cue recycled from the Death Star sequence in A New Hope. Like I said, they're really leaning into that this episode.

This little troll I love him so much.

Bit of the "Shenanigans" theme as Chopper rolls up.

Can I just appreciate how well Ezra rolls with blocking shots in zero gravity?

I think Chopper enjoyed all of this a too much lol.

Remember, giving people grief is how Chopper shows affection. :)

Love how they lampshade the terrible vision quality of Stormtrooper helmets.

Sato all ready to square up with this random trooper until he sees it's Kanan.

And his anxious worry over Ezra's welfare is really sweet. Sato does care, he might find Ezra bit aggravating but he's still just a kid in Sato's eyes, someone who was under his protection. (One wonders if Ezra reminds him of Mart a bit.) It's not Sato's fault he's only now learning what a precocious badass Ezra is lol.

This move of Kanan and Rex's is slick.

Lightsaber Naruto run.

I've been told this horn cue is Rex's theme. Makes sense.

Heeeeey remember what I said about Rex's deathseeker tendencies? Yeah.

Subtle animation appreciation moment: The drifting smoke in the hallway from the firefight holy cow. Attention to detail.

"I serve the order you put into place, Captain." Ohhhhhh Imma dent his face in.

*hurts in Order 66 feels*

THEY WERE JUST TOOLS TO PALPATINE, THEY HAD A SINGLE PURPOSE AND HE JUST DISCARDED THEM ONCE IT WAS ACCOMPLISHED.

This Hitchcock Zoom with Kanan as if he's sensing Rex's pain. <33333

Character growth! <33333

Ezra one-manning this hallway with Skill and Confidence. <33333

My gosh look how smooth and effortless this is for him. No wonder Sato was impressed.

Nice to see more classic lightsaber positions creeping into the choreography here.

Ezra being all, "OH HECK NO, THERE WILL BE NO SELF-SACRIFICING TODAY!" over the comms. He's very tired of them doing that lol.

The dolly shots this episode are tight.

Aww Ezra still looks really worried tho.

Don't think about him remembering, "I'll take the next one." and "I'll be right behind you."

Aaaaaaaand Chopper just scored the highest body count on the show, lol. (Up until the finale anyway with the Dome explosion and the purrgil-ening.)

My gosh this show even makes total destruction look pretty.

Yeah, getting a top-secret Interdictor prototype imploded is pretty demotion worthy ha ha.

Love how Kallus is basically perfectly fine assigning all of that chaos to Ezra in particular. XD

KANAN SALUTING REX NOT ONLY AS A SIGN OF FINALLY BURYING THE HATCHET BUT ALSO TAKING UP THE MANTLE OF SOLDIER HE WAS SO RELUCTANT TO AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON.

This is one of the best episodes of the season, no joke. It's fun, it brings the nostalgia without being kitschy, it lets Ezra and Sato have a little bit of nice interaction (underrated relationship, fanficers have let me down), it shows how Ezra's developing in combat, it finishes the whole Rex and Kanan animosity plot, and Chopper murders three whole Imperial cruisers effortlessly.

Love it.

#star wars #star wars rebels #rebels rewatch #liveblog #ezra bridger #agent kallus #space dad and his precious pumpkin child #stan ezra bridger he's great

48 notes · View notes

ashen-sky · 2 years

Text

I think Ascendancy is a good read for anyone that's watched Rebels, because it adds a whole new angle to Thrawn. And I'm going to preface this by saying what he does is still pretty messed up, and I'm sure many of his friends in the Ascendancy would kick his butt if they knew half of what he'd done, so this is in no way me trying to brush it under the rug. Also, spoilers ahead for Ascendancy, and the end of Rebels.

But reading Ascendancy and learning that he joined the empire with the intent to find help against the Grysks makes him so much more interesting.

Because suddenly he's not just some selfish, imperial tyrant who takes art from worlds he destroys in the name of cultural preservation. He's not taking over these worlds because he enjoys it or because he wants to steal their cultures and art, infact I'd venture to say that if he wasn't the reason their cultures were going extinct it would be a somewhat nobel venture (like when Uingali foar Marocsaa gave him his ring in hopes of preserving a piece of the Paccosh).

Suddenly he's Mitth'raw'nurodo, senior captain of the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet, so devoted to his people he'd continously risk his career for their safety. A man who's name literally ends in "guardian" and who was scouted by the patriarch of a family who's emblem represents one of the greatest (if not greatest) sacrifice in the history of the Ascendancy. A captain that even though he pulled insane stunts, his crew trusted him to come out on top.

The man Thoorkai, Ba'kaif, and Lamiov thought could rival the tragic Patriarch in terms of greatness and ability. The man Thrass saw as his brother and entrusted his greatest secret to. The man Ar'alani, Samakro, Ziiara, Ba'kif, and Lamiov were willing to stand with in the face of an insane plan that even if successful would still have terrible repercussions because without their trust there wouldn't have been any more volunteers.

Thrawn that Ar'alani risked her record on after not even knowing him a day.

Thrawn that Thalias chased after because he showed her she still had purpose.

Thrawn that Samakro, a complete stickler for regulations, was willing to risk his career to follow.

We see him engineer plans that will result in as little backlash for his crew as possible, and encourage people around him on multiple occasions.

His actions in Rebels are just him trying to earn favor with the empire for his people, because he's a loyal soldier and his loyalty will always be to the Ascendancy. Even though they exiled him in an act of petty aggression, used him as a scapegoat for their own short comings, he stuck with it and made the best of it for their sake.

So even of you don't read Thrawn, I recommend you pick up Ascendancy because it is still very much the same character, we even see Grand Admiral Thrawn poke through a few times, but he's also more than what Rebels could show us. He was the villain in Rebels, and an amazing one at that, but Ascendancy makes you feel for him. When he's dragged away at the end, you feel for Ezra because we've followed him throughout the series and we know what he's left behind, but through the lens of Ascendancy I've started to notice that he and Ezra are far more alike than Ezra (and maybe even Thrawn) realizes.

Infact, I would say Thrawn and Kallus are fairly alike too. Both Thrawn and Kallus are just following orders to survive, and Thrawn and Ezra are both fighting for the future of their people. Though Thrawn's methods are sometimes more akin to Saw Gerera's methods, didn't Ezra give into the sith holocron in hopes of saving his people? Is that not similar to Thrawn pledging allegiance to the empire?

On another Thrawn and Ezra note, I feel like their relationship is similar to Negan and Carl from the walking dead.

(Is this even completely coherent? I wrote it over a week while finishing Ascendancy)

#anime devil's thoughts #star wars #star wars rebels #thrawn ascendancy #star wars thrawn #thrawn #mitth'raw'nurodo #ezra bridger

70 notes · View notes

solrika · 2 years

Text

Zeb and Kallus fighting in the Sith+Jedi AU.

He knew what he was walking into, but Zeb still had to fight the urge to freeze as he stepped over the threshold. An entire planetary government, huddled nervously in their chairs around an innocuous meeting table, and a smiling Sith settled at its head.

“Ah, Knight Orrelios,” Kallus said, voice smooth as ever. He glanced at the troops behind Zeb, an eyebrow raising. “And friends.”

“Kallus,” Zeb managed, holding out a hand to keep his soldiers behind the shelter of his lightsaber. He didn’t sense any of Kallus’ mercenaries, but better safe than hit by an unexpected blaster bolt. “What are you doing?”

“I’m cutting out rot.” There was an unsettling light to Kallus’ golden eyes, and Zeb had to fight to keep his hackles flat when the Sith rose from his chair. The sound of the legs scraping against the tiled floor was loud in the silence, barely covering the noise of the planetary governor’s anxious swallow. “Burning out infection.”

“Don’t move,” Zeb said flatly, ears swiveling back.

Predictably, Kallus ignored him, sauntering slowly around the table. Zeb could almost taste the fear of the government members, fighting back a shudder of his own as satisfaction pulsed through Kallus’ signature. Pausing behind the planetary governor’s chair, the Sith rested both hands on the hapless man’s shoulders, smile as chilling as the cold air. “You’re a healer, Zeb. You understand, don’t you?”

“You’re going to have to explain,” Zeb said, taking a cautious step forward. “All I see is a petty tyrant.” When Kallus didn’t seem to react, he kept moving, lightsaber tight in his hands.

Rolling his eyes, Kallus retorted, “I don’t want to rule, Orrelios.”

“Then why all of this?” Edging around the table, Zeb tried to read the shifting currents of the Force. Maybe, if he could stall long enough, if he could get Kallus away from his hostages... “Money?”

“No,” the Sith laughed, so familiar and yet so wrong with that frigid note winding through his stormfront signature. “Not this time.”

“So–”

“How do we handle parasites, Garazeb?” Kallus asked brightly. The Force flexed, the barest warning–

–without thinking, Zeb lunged–

–Kallus’ hands moved, almost too fast to follow, and the governor’s life blinked out like a light. A second later, he wrenched himself sideways—

–the smell of burnt hair sizzled into the air, red light flared, and their lightsabers crashed together with a deep hum. Kallus, the bastard, had the nerve to laugh, grinning wildly over their crossed blades. “Too slow.”

“This isn’t a game,” Zeb snarled, disengaging just enough to throw up his offhand blade in a whirling strike. Over his shoulder, he yelled at the frozen officials, “Move!” If he could control the fight, get Kallus far enough from the table that his soldiers had a clear shot–

Ducking under Zeb’s blade, the Sith flicked his own out in a wicked riposte that punched a hole in the trailing edge of Zeb’s sash. Instead of following the movement of Zeb’s flinch, however, he disengaged to strike at the scrambling officials. The red blade swung, pain skittered across Zeb’s shields, another life blinked out—

–Zeb reached out through the Force, took a hold of Kallus’ cape, and yanked.

Later, he’d be amused by the undignified yelp that elicited. Now, lightning crackled in Kallus’ fingers even as he fell–damn his survival instincts–and it was Zeb’s turn to have hair singed off. Even as the scream started in his chest, he reached deep, let the Force wash forwards to soothe the pain and push his muscles through their convulsions. They crashed together, tangled on the floor, someone’s ‘saber scoring right through the tiles.

Zeb’s brain didn’t hold onto much of the grappling, letting his muscle memory do the work while his mind focused on countering the Sith lightning. Frost tickled across the edge of his fur, spread out from every place he and Kallus touched. Dimly, he could hear screaming, sense his troopers trying to line up a shot, feel pain and fear and anger–

–so much anger, welling up like a poisoned spring from Kallus’ mind.

“You could change the galaxy,” the Sith hissed. “You could change everything!”

So many things Zeb wanted to say, and yet all he could manage was, “Not–not like this.”

Mouth twisting in derision, Kallus spat, “Coward.” He contorted, got one foot braced against Zeb’s chest, and when he pushed, it was with the strength of the Force behind his kick.

No matter how often it happened, hitting a wall always hurt. Rattled Zeb’s brain, too, hard enough that he could only stare at the floor and pant for a few precious seconds. By the time he’d rolled himself up onto his knees, his troops had pressed in. Kallus’ signature flickered with irritation as he deflected their bolts, picture-perfect as any training holocron.

Zeb shook himself, hauled himself the rest of the way to standing. “Surrender,” he called, even though he knew it would go unheeded.

Sure enough, Kallus just threw him a scathing glance. The Force bunched, the only warning before a window blew itself out, sending glass scattering across the room. It wouldn’t have harmed the troopers (shielding his eyes, Zeb grudgingly conceded that his Master had a point about the usefulness of armor), but still, their instinctive wince back was all the opening Kallus needed to throw himself outside and to freedom.

Karabast.

#star wars #kalluzeb #star wars fanfic #Jedi and Sith au

37 notes · View notes

mayawakening · 4 months

Text

If there's any one thing that I could see Ezra taking absolute manic joy in and taking advantage of, it's the fact that post-Atollon, Ezra is a higher rank than Kallus.

The only reason Kallus called him 'Commander Bridger' is because of his respect for the chain of command, but he did it through gritted teeth.

Hundred percent see it devolving into childish banter calling each other 'Commander Jabba' and 'Captain Sideburns'.

Any time Ezra tries to pull rank with him, Kallus immediately goes into ultra-petty malicious compliance mode.

Sarcasm abounds with these two 😆

#Hera is so tired of it and wants to demote both of them.#alexsandr kallus #star wars rebels #kallus #star wars kallus #rebel kallus #star wars #agent kallus #kallus my beloved #ezra bridger #Petty Kallus is fun Kallus #Kallus and Ezra

95 notes · View notes

leftcolornacho · 1 year

Text

In one of my posts (which you can find here) I mentioned that I hate Leutienant Lyste on whole another level and somebody (@never-ending-fanfic) asked me directly to make a post about it, so here we go

First of all, to avoid misunderstanding I have to say that I hate all of the Imperials because they're serving a fascist regime, actively participating or even ordering terrorizing civilians all across the galaxy (and that's ofc just a top of an iceberg)

But my feelings towards Lyste are not only that, it's also spite and hatred on almost personal level. What I remembered of him from the episode when he met Princess Leia was my first impression that, not gonna lie, would be hard to change. His superiority complex, how he ordered everyone around and being a Leutienant he acted like he grabbed Emperor's ankle

Later, when Kallus easily manipulated him didn't help with that opinion, even if I felt a little bit of pity for Lyste.

And I am aware that there are plenty of guys like Lyste in imperial army and in every army - Admiral Konstantine, for example, is also one huge piece of an asshole. So why do I hate just Lyste so much? I have no idea but I do, it was kind of accidental

I dislike this man in the same way you can dislike that one schoolmate that you just hate since first day basically without reason but you still trip them up in the corridor and steal their pencils or something. I'm sure if we'd were in high school together we would do shit like this

It's just this level of hatred I feel for this 100% fictional guy - very mundane and petty, maybe even childish

Is it just me or does everyone has that one Imperial that you hate more than others??

#star wars #star wars rebels #rebels #swr #leutienant lyste #lyste #very random thoughts on a fictional guy who wasn't even very relevant to the story #do you have yours most hated imperial?#get one now!#and have a good day everyone

9 notes · View notes

ms-erin-kallus · 10 months

Text

I've Killed a Million Petty Souls, but I Couldn't Kill You

Chapter 10

AO3 link ~ https://archiveofourown.org/works/44541196/chapters/112035802

Once again, a big shout out to @justanothersadperson93 for the beta reading! You're a real one!

The waiting area was small and far too brightly lit for what was necessary. Kallus sat uncomfortably in one of the generic plastic chairs typical of office settings, alone with only his thoughts as he waited with an impatience that grew exponentially with every passing second. There were better things to do with his time than some yearly Imperial mandated physical that was completely useless, at least outwardly.

A person’s physical ailments were almost always overlooked irrespective of what they were; a body was a body to the Empire, regardless of what shape it was in. There were always plenty of menial job positions that needed filling. Mostly because the Empire plowed through stormtroopers like they were a never ending commodity.

Those with severe mental illness were almost encouraged to join both the Imperial navy and, specifically, ISB. It made no sense while also making perfect sense. They were easier to manipulate, especially when medication was involved.

Aliens were barred despite ability or promise. Not specifically on paper, but absolutely in practice.

It was one of the things the rebels did effectively right.

“Agent 021,” a woman barked out into the silent room for no reason other than the fact that she could.

It was impossible to stifle his exacerbated sigh as he stood and made his way to the door where the woman waited for him disgruntled. Apparently he wasn’t the only one that didn’t want to be there.

“State your name,” she said almost robotically as she led him down a long hallway.

“Alexsandr Kallus.”

She looked at the chart and then at him, “spell your first name.”

When she realized that it wasn’t a misspelling he heard her scoff, “okay, then, pretentious.”

Another sigh and Kallus was led into a dark, empty, interrogation like room, I hate this part, he thought as he waited for the unnecessary embarrassment that he swore was just a mental torture tactic to help weed out ‘the weak’.

“State your name,” another voice ordered before he complied. “Designation number?”

“021” he almost snapped at the modulated voice behind the two way mirror. Annoyance was beginning to become an understatement and they hadn’t even started the worst part.

A door to his side whirred open and Kallus closed his eyes as he looked up at the ceiling and shook his head.

Seriously?

A girl, barely twenty he would guess, came into the room with a cart that carried a small monitor and mess of cords just in front of an older man with a clipboard.

“I’ll need you to undress,” she told him shakily. “Completely.”

Kallus complied and he could feel the girl’s nervousness and discomfort radiate from where she stood well behind him. It was done purposefully. Every year ‘patients’ were prepped by the opposite sex. Every year they stayed the same age as said patient grew older. It was humiliating by design.

Another reaction for their records.

With his clothes in a neatly folded pile beside, him the medical ‘professional’ hidden safely behind the mirror ordered again, arms out to your sides. Kallus complied and a red laser scanned him slowly and completely from head to toe.

“Turn around.”

The same happened behind him.

Full biometric scan.

If he were to fully defect, he would be barred from any mission that required him in person. There would be no hiding from the Empire. Ever. They made sure of it.

“Turn to face the mirror,” the voice barked as the girl anxiously wheeled the cart up to him and fumbled with a small bag of leads.

“Have you done this before,” he asked.

“No,” she whispered shakily.

“Take a breath,” he told her quietly enough to not be heard without looking down at her. “They’re watching you too.”

The package in her hand crumpled but he heard her do as suggested before her trembling fingers finally pushed a small sticker onto his skin just below his left rib cage.

It took her a long while, but once she had him hooked up to the monitor she almost ran from the room.

Poor girl.

The old man that had stayed hidden in a far corner took his cue as she left and made a slow, almost predatory circle around him as he scribbled down his information. “Lift your arms,” he ordered as he examined Kallus’ crotch far too long for it to be deemed ‘ethical’ to say the least.

A battery of questions about how he had been feeling physically came from behind the mirror as the old man circled him again.

Disgusted he wanted to yell at them but an outburst would only get him more time with the psychiatrist that would humiliate him next.

They wanted controllable machines and that’s what he had always given them.

“Finished,” the voice told the old man before he set his clipboard down and began to unhook the leads from his cold skin. The old man again took enough time for Kallus to realize his lack of ‘promptness’ probably wasn’t a part of the process and a wave of revulsion washed over him.

If you hit him, it will probably kill the old pervert, he thought to himself as he fought the urge to not end up in the brig for violence that would, again, only get him more time with the next doctor. Not worth the paperwork.

Kallus was beyond mortified, which was their intent. It was literally unnecessary, to anyone with a modicum of a conscience at the very least, and made him wonder what would happen to a civilian under arrest, or even just mere suspicion. If they would do it to him…

The old man sighed, “I guess you can get dressed now,” he told Kallus as he looked him up and down one last time before he begrudgingly turned and pushed the cart out of the room.

Kallus used his hands to cover himself until he knew he was gone.

An obvious mistake, but he didn’t care.

The rebels would never, he wondered, but ultimately knew.

The memory of a nervous woman trapped on a fancy yacht, one that was intimidated by a hostile man with the same intentions, suddenly played through his mind.

You're not any better.

A few minutes later, Kallus was dressed and lying on an uncomfortable couch type piece of furniture that was far too short to accommodate his height as he waited for what would somehow be far more uncomfortable than his ‘physical’.

The lying position was meant to make the patient feel secure and; thus, in practice, make them open up more. At least that was what they were told because ‘vulnerable’ wasn’t remotely close to how he actually felt. If ‘calming’ really was what they were going for then they had failed spectacularly.

Intended comfort wasn’t what he was feeling. Scenario after scenario ran rampant through his field combat trained mind; he sat up.

“Lie down,” the middle aged woman that walked in and sat down silently in front of him snapped. It was unlikely that she would cause a physical altercation with him, at least he didn’t think, but she wouldn’t, however, tell him to lay back down again as a second warning; lest he want said altercation.

There were few things that Imperial medical staffers loved more than restraining subjectively combative patients.

“Designation number?” she asked without looking up from the device in her hands as he slowly slumped back to lying with a glare.

“021.”

Without an introduction of her own she asked, “are you having any symptoms of depression?”

Only all of the time.

“No.”

“Anxiety? Panic attacks?” she asked apathetically.

You have no idea.

“No,” he answered acerbically.

“Feelings of hurting yourself or others?” She ignored his tone.

You’re pushing that already.

“No.”

What felt like an hour, but was actually ten minutes according to the clock above her, came a question he had never been asked in a session before.

“Tell me about your parents.”

Why?

He knew that she noticed his reaction because she began to type furiously on her datapad.

“Why? That has never come up prior,” he told her with more nervousness than he intended.

Fuck.

She huffed loudly as if she was tired of being asked the same question by every other patient, ”new protocol. Answer the question.”

“What exactly do you want to know,” he asked as he tried desperately to use every bit of his training to keep his growing dread in check. It was barely working and he was afraid that he would quickly lose control.

The woman was silent for a moment, “what do you think I should know?”

“I’ve got nothing to tell, it was a quiet, normal childhood,” he lied.

A deafening silence roared through the room and he knew that she could wait him out.

He joked about transferring Rhoan to interrogations, but this woman could probably break the best of them, without really trying.

It’s probably where she came from, he realized before he sighed and resigned himself to where the session was going to go. Regardless of how hard he tried.

Another mark on your file.

“Start with your father,” she told him when she knew that she had bested him.

“He was a dick,” Kallus snapped before he could stop himself. “I mean,” he cleared his throat quietly, “he could’ve been a little better to people.”

The doctor ignored the recovery statement, “I see here that he was also military, looks like… highly ranked in the navy. Is he why you joined?”

Didn’t give me a damn choice. Kallus was more than sure the man would’ve hunted him down for sport had he tried to run away from him. Very healthy relationship.

“Yes.”

“Willfully?” she prodded.

Kallus scoffed unintentionally and the woman pounced.

“Tell me why you joined the military,” she asked and he knew it was a baited question.

“At first, no, I hadn’t planned on a military career. But once I was put into military school, it was the only op-,” he started, “direction, I could go in.”

“Option?” she redirected.

Fuck.

“Are they not synonymous?” he asked carefully.

Her eyes narrowed; she knew which battles to pick. She was good.

“I suppose.” More typing. “What about your mother?” she went on.

Kallus suddenly went numb. It was the only thing he could bare to feel when he was forced to go to the place where he kept her hidden from daily cognition. It was meant to be a simple defense mechanism, but it was far more effective than it should’ve been.

Silence.

“Well?” the doctor asked with cruel disregard.

Oh, I don’t know? I survived, she didn’t and my horrid father blamed me every chance he got until he died himself.

“I didn’t know her. She died in childbirth.”

“And how does that make you feel?” she asked as she scrolled through what he knew were notes that she had already read.

It had always pained him that he never got the chance to meet her. His father refused to bring her up, ever, and her side of the family wasn’t allowed anywhere near him. Years later he found out that an aunt had petitioned the court for custody on the grounds of mistreatment but had been denied.

That tended to happen when a person fought someone with the type of connections he had. Connections were the only thing that could stop their money.

“I see,” she mumbled to herself. “Then who raised you?”

The only person that has ever actually loved me.

“I had a governess until I was four. Then another until I went to boarding school,” he told her as simply as he could, knowing that she was treading into memories that he had spent his entire life repressing and for good reason.

“And you got along with them well?” she asked as she looked right at him.

“Yes, both,” he lied. It was really only the first one.

‘You deserve to be loved,’ her voice screamed at him for the first time in years.

Fresh pain tore through him as the vision of her being dragged away suddenly haunted his mind once more.

“What happened to the first one?” she asked casually as his temper began to flare up at her even more.

“She was fired,” he warned.

His father let him spend his formative years believing that it was his fault. Had I not taken her cookies, she never would’ve chased me.

His agitation went purposefully ignored, “why?”

We were just playing.

“I don’t remember, I was too young, I assume,” he lied again.

‘Get out! I’ll be damned if that boy is coddled!’ he heard his father shout.

The therapist typed for a suspiciously long time. “It says here that you were delayed in speech until four. Do you know why?”

I was terrified of him.

“Again, I don’t know.”

The doctor looked him up and down and conceded, “I see.”

You see my fist across your face?

“So, your father was military, probably gone more than he was there, your mother died before you could form a relationship, and you were raised by strangers. Is this all correct?”

Fuck. You.

“Yes,” Kallus agreed as simply as he could manage. The discomfort caused by the man from the previous testing was becoming a far more pleasant encounter the further she went into his past.

“And now?” she asked.

“What about now?” he replied suspiciously.

“You know exactly what I mean,” she warned with a hint of irritation.

“I don’t have time to dwell on the past.”

The doctor scrolled more.

“Do you have any close acquaintances? Friends, so to say. Within the Empire or personally?”

Kallus had to look at the ceiling and dig his nails into the leather of the sofa to keep himself from literally killing her.

Jovan.

His first real friend in the academy, the one he betrayed because of the blind allegiance that he had let the Empire program into him. Terrified was an understatement when he thought about what might have happened to the man for doing exactly what the Empire was doing, just off the books.

I don’t deserve friends.

“I keep mostly to myself. Don’t really have time for a personal life with my position. It only gets in the way.”

The therapist didn’t move.

He dared not even think of her.

Pushing him away saved Rhoan’s life.

“The Empire comes first. Relationships hinder my full attention from completing my objective of keeping order,” he added hoping that it was enough to sway her.

It obviously was not.

“I don’t have time to dwell on unnecessary things,” he added cautiously.

“I’ll make some then. Tell me about Onderon,” she asked him with an ease that disgusted him and a disregard that infuriated him.

“I know the report is in there and that you read it,” he growled.

If she can somehow drag it out of me, I’m finished.

“Yes, I did. But I need to know how it has affected you in your own words, being in a combat role and all,” she informed him sardonically over the rim of her glasses.

“That was a long time ago,” he almost whispered as an old tightness in his chest that he was far too familiar with began to spread.

“Yes, but you watched every one of your men be killed while you were incapacitated,” she reminded him against his will.

The sound of an explosion suddenly erupted in his ears.

“I need to know how that affected you,” she asked knowingly picking fresh one of myriad scabs that pockmarked his memory.

‘Help! Someone stop him! Please!’ voices shouted through the pounding of his heart in his ears.

“How do you think it did, exactly? I doubt you’ve ever seen combat,” he snarled through gritted teeth. “You would never understand.”

“Make me,” she instructed without looking up at him.

One of his hands unconsciously tightened into a fist that he couldn’t relax and so he was forced to quickly move his other hand to conspicuously to cover it from her view.

“There was an explosion-,”

“Start before that. What were you doing before it happened?” she pushed with a complete disregard for the fact that he obviously didn’t want to relive the worst day of his life, especially with a stranger that didn’t give a damn about his mental well being even though it was her literal job to do so.

Kallus had to use every tactic he had ever learned to steady himself. His childhood was bad enough, but this…

“We went on patrol first thing in the morning-”

“First thing?” She cut him off. “You did absolutely nothing before? Just got up and went?”

It was the biggest regret of his life up to that point.

We skipped chow. They were hungry and preoccupied.

“Yes. There was a scout report. We had to go out immediately,” Kallus informed her matter of factly.

‘Anyone got a ration bar? I’m starving!’ a voice called out loudly, giving away their position.

“I understand,” she said without emotion.

I swear on the stars, he seethed through barely controlled breath.

She knew, “and you blame yourself?”

“Obviously,” he snapped before he could stop himself. “I watched them die, completely incapacitated and defenseless because of it, one by one because they were tired, hungry, and miserable.”

They didn’t stand a chance, he thought as he saw his own huddled body as it sat catatonically in the airlock of a ship he had flown out into random space.

Alone and with intent.

He couldn’t stop himself; she had finally crossed his line. He knew better, but proceeded regardless.

“We had been stuck in that fucking jungle with zero reinforcement or supply drops for days,” he snarled as he shot up. “There was a reason that the citizenry stayed behind those damn walls!”

Alexsandr Kallus suddenly realized that Bahryn wasn’t an isolated event.

“That was years ago. I don’t see the relevance today,” he told her with restraint.

She was either oblivious too, or simply just didn’t care that she was forcing him toward a traumatic response, or it was her intention. “It was your very first mission. That obviously had to have an impact on further assignments.”

No shit. It still does.

“I did the mandated therapy. It’s fine now.”

Why me?

There were twenty other men in his platoon. The one that he was in charge of. The one he was supposed to bring back to camp unharmed.

But he didn’t.

If he ever expected anyone to die, it was him, and it was why he considered desertion for almost a year afterward. The next assignment he was given, far too soon, gave him panic attacks daily. They were going to die too; he knew it was just a matter of time before he got them killed as well,

unless he kept everything in complete order. As long as he could control the situation nothing could go wrong. At least that’s how he learned to cope with it.

The doctor set the datapad in her lap and leaned toward him. “You compartmentalize well, agent. All of these events have their own perfect little segment of your memory. A short term means at self preservation that has gone on for too long.”

“And how do you know that exactly,” he seethed, ready to fight physically regardless that she was a woman and smaller than he.

“Anyone else would’ve broken long ago.”

#hot kallus #star wars rebels #alexsandr kallus #agent kallus #star wars #kallus #rebel kallus #fulcrum #star wars rebels fanfic

5 notes · View notes

darth-memes · 2 years

Text

Achievement unlocked: pissing off a homophobe

Since apparently we don’t get Luke’s character, here is a list of characters we also don’t get. Let’s see how many followers can I lose in one post:

- Leia is bisexual and most likely had a thing with Admiral Holdo.

- Han and Lando are exes

- Speaking of Lando, him and Luke are also exes.

-Finn and Poe are dating.

- Rose is a trans woman.

- Rey is a demiromantic asexual.

- Also is Din. Specifically, biromantic.

- Obi-Wan and Padmé are bisexual, with Anakin being the hetero ally friend.

- Ahsoka is a lesbian.

- Rex is Ace.

- Omega is a trans kid, like Sister.

- Thrawn and Eli Vanto are married, so are Kallus and Zeb by the end of Rebels.

- Hera and Kanan are hetero, BUT are very supportive of their queer adopted kids, Sabine who is lesbian and Ezra who is bisexual.

- Boba is another hetero ally of his dear friend Fennec Shand who is a lesbian.

-Merrin and Ventress are both bisexual.

- And lastly, we can’t forget the ever-lasting marriage between Threepio and Artoo.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.

Just for if we never said anything, this is a safe space for any queer person on this site.

Also that if you disagree with any of the above, no, I don’t think you are a homophobe. I will only think that if you feel the need to be a petty bitch about it in the comments.

#star wars #not memes #honestly #I'm surprised it took this long #but seriously #homphobes piss off

31 notes · View notes

ramblingsofafanatic · 1 year

Text

Humans Are Prone To Petty Illnesses

Summary: Kallus is a workaholic and still not used to the idea of a sick day.

Word Count: 1250

Relationships: Alexsandr Kallus/Garazeb "Zeb" Orrelios

Warnings: None, just a sickfic

Can also be read on AO3 here!

Kallus knew he shouldn't have bothered to try and work at his desk in the office. Especially seeing as he knew Christine just got back from a mission last night. He hoped to get more work done before she showed up and eventually sent him off, but at least this way he could smuggle some work to continue on in his bunk. He wasn’t sick, it was just… allergies.

He makes it back to his room and sits at the little desk he dragged in here after taking out the extra bunk. He figured that another bunk could be dragged back in if someone decided they'd be willing to bunk with him at some point. Until then, he will enjoy the ability to sit at a desk instead of on his bed. Having somewhere else other than where he slept (on the rare occasion he did) to sit in the room with a distinct purpose made it a little less depressing to hide in here all the time.

Zeb comms him saying that the mission went well and that they’ll be getting back tomorrow. He smiles at the thought of seeing Zeb in person again. The ghost crew have been on a series of missions over the last couple weeks that has prevented them from being on base for more than a debrief and a restock of supplies when necessary.

He gets lost in the files after that, his brain on autopilot as he works on unencrypting some files on a possible smuggling operation. He doesn't know how long he's been sitting there, but his back and neck are noticeably sore when he's brought back to the present by a knock on his door. His head feels like it's been stuffed with cotton balls and his throat hurts, but he’s worked through worse.

"Have any of you seen Kal?" Zeb asks as he gets to the intelligence office.

"Not since yesterday morning when I shooed him out of here after finding him next to dead from exhaustion." One of the officers says, Christine if he remembers correctly.

"He working on something big again?" Zeb asks, he doesn't remember hearing about any large intel coming in but it could have happened while the ghost crew was out on their last mission. The officer scoffs at that, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms before replying.

"No, we haven’t gotten anything big in a while, I think he’s just sick and in denial about it. Taking on extra just to prove to himself he’s not sick y’know?" She says.

"He’s probably just used to it, I bet there’s no sick days in the empire." Another officer, Howard, pipes up from his desk a couple rows over.

"What do you want him for anyways?" Another one asks, which gets the attention of everyone else who hasn't tuned in yet.

"He didn’t show up when we landed," Zeb admits bashfully.

“Aw” Another officer that Zeb doesn’t recognize stops as soon as Christine and Zeb send glares his way. He shuts up and goes back to his work. Christine turns back to Zeb.

"He works in his room when he's not here, so you’ll find him there. If you go, can you tell him that by resting I meant in bed and not doing work at his desk? He doesn’t listen when I say it," Christine says.

"I can try, thanks" He says and the two share a knowing look before he leaves to the sound of the gossip starting up behind him and Christine trying to shut it down. Kallus only listens to Zeb a margin more than anyone else on a good day, and Zeb can tell today isn’t going to be a good day.

"Kal? Ya in there?" Zeb asks, tilting his head a little to try and listen to what's going on on the other side of the door. He hears some muttered curses and some scrambling. Before it goes silent, he's starting to think Kallus is going to pretend to not be there when the door opens.

Kallus looks tired. Zeb has to take a second look to ensure that it is in fact Kallus standing in front of him and not someone else. He looks worse than when he was in the empire, which was not something Zeb thought was possible.

Kallus startles at the sound of Zeb’s voice and scrambles to make himself somewhat presentable before opening the door. He’s greeted with the sight of Zeb and Kallus smiles at him. Kallus clears his throat before speaking.

"Zeb, You’re back! You said on the comms you weren’t gonna be back until tomorrow" Kallus says.

"That was yesterday, Kal" Zeb says with a tone Kallus has never heard from him before.

"What?" Kallus says, his whole mind stuttering to a stop. He swears that not that much time has passed since Chirstine kicked him out of the office. He talked to Zeb no more than three hours ago, not 28. Sure there's no windows in here but he hasn't lost that much time to a working daze since he left the Empire.

“Yea, think Chris is right” Zeb says and it takes Kallus a second to clue into what he meant.

“I am not sick” Kallus insists, ignoring the fact that his voice is noticeably sounding congested again. He can’t cough, if he coughs that means he's sick, and he’s not sick.

"You look like shit Kal, you clearly aren't doing good"

"Thanks but I'm fine, no need to concern yourself with such things, now if you don't mind I'm going to get back to work, I've almost cracked this one." Kallus says and steps back from the doorway with intentions of closing the door and returning to work as he said.

"No" Zeb says as he takes a step forward to block the door from closing.

"No?!" Kallus repeats indignantly before going into a coughing fit. Zeb steps into the room and closes the door behind him for some privacy. He knows Kallus doesn't like making a scene or show any ‘weakness’ around others.

“You’re sick.” Zeb states as Kallus’ coughing fit subsides and he slumps down onto his bed.

“I have work to do.” Kallus insists though a yawn. He’s losing the battle quickly. Now that he’s stopped working his body is catching up fast on it’s demands for rest.

“It will be here when you wake up.” Zeb says as he gently pushes Kallus to lay down.

“No it needs to be- just let me- I can do it- “ Kallus tries to argue and fight but Zeb manages to get Kallus standing before stripping him of his outermost layers and shoes. He then manhandles Kallus into laying down and tucks him in. It doesn’t take long after Kallus is settled for him to fall asleep.

“Not sick my ass.” Zeb says as he straightens back up from pulling the blanket over Kallus’ sleeping form. He grabs Kallus’ canteen from his pack by the door and fills it with water from the ‘fresher, placing it on the crate between the desk and the bed. He turns and grabs the datapads Kallus was working on before turning off the lights on his way out. He has a new mission: 1) Give the work to the other intelligence officers - they are more than capable of finishing it and Christine said there isn’t much work being done now; and 2) get some food for when Kallus wakes up.

#kalluzeb

3 notes · View notes