#au rebels

[xxlittle0birdxx]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

‘Why did you join the Empire? You aren’t so young that you don’t remember the Republic.’

Alexsandr snorted and folded his arms over his chest. He suppressed a shiver as the images of his childhood flickered through his mind. Every memory he had was colored with hunger and the fetid chill of Coruscant’s lower levels. ‘The only thing the Republic ever gave me was the backhanded slap of its charity,’ he muttered. The meagre supplemental provisions doled out to the Republic’s indigent barely rounded out their sparse meals before the cursed Clone Wars began. And once the machinery of war creaked to life, those impossibly tiny crumbs became even smaller as the Repiublic’s energies turned toward war.

Rex’s chin dipped in acknowledgement. Crosshair and Gregor had mentioned a few times that Stormtroopers often joined out of a sense of desperation rather than true belief.

[xxlittle0birdxx]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

‘We could just shove him out of the airlock,’ Ezra suggested brightly.

‘Ezra!’ Hera’s head whipped around to glare at him.

He pointed to Chopper. ‘It was his idea.’ Chopper waved his arms at Ezra, blatting that he would shove Ezra out of the airlock for ratting him out.

‘The last thing you need is a higher kill count,’ Sabine told the droid. ‘The Rebellion leaders are going to make Hera reprogram you and wipe your memory. You’re getting a reputation.’

‘What’s wrong with that?’ Ezra patted the top of Chopper’s dome.

The question seemed to stop Sabine in her tracks. ’Nothing…?’ She gave Chopper a thumbs-up. ‘Keep it up.’

‘No one is going to shove Agent Kallus out of an airlock.’ Hera’s lekku twitched so hard, the ends whipped from side to side.

Kanan, more well-versed with those signals than the kids, slashed a finger across his throat. ‘Let’s put a pin in that plan,’ he muttered.

‘What if we could turn him?’ Rex ventured. ‘He could serve as a spy. Be a good man to have on the inside.’

‘Is that even possible?’ Sabine’s nose wrinkled.

‘He wouldn’t be the first Imp to defect,’ Hera told her. ‘But he would be one of the highest-ranking ones.’

‘We could just go to a system with enough of an Imperial presence and drop him off,’ Zeb interjected. ‘Won’t be more than another day or two.’ The whole conversation made him feel twitchy. If they deposited him on some system with a garrison of troops, it would give Zeb an opportunity to smash some bucketheads in the process. He needed to work out some of his frustrations. Might as well put it to good use.

‘Any objections?’ Hera asked. ‘No?’ She fixed Zeb with a glare that brooked no argument. ‘He’s your responsibility while he’s on the ship, Zeb.’

‘Could you not talk about him like he’s some feral tooka that’s gonna piddle on the floor?’ Zeb growled.

The cockpit descended into silence.

[xxlittle0birdxx]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Star Wars: Rebels Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Alexsandr Kallus/Garazeb "Zeb" Orrelios Characters: Alexsandr Kallus, Garazeb "Zeb" Orrelios, Kanan Jarrus, Hera Syndulla, Sabine Wren, Ezra Bridger, CT-7567 | Rex, Ahsoka Tano Additional Tags: Episode: s02e17 The Honorable Ones, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alexsandr Kallus as Fulcrum, Space Family (Star Wars: Rebels), Rebel Alexsandr Kallus, Rebellion Era (Star Wars), Galactic Empire (Star Wars), Alexsandr Kallus Backstory, Planet Bahryn (Star Wars) Summary:

Zeb rescues Kallus from Bahryn.

‘Today’s our lucky day,’ Hera commented, entering coordinates into the navigation computer with unaccustomed leisure. ‘Chop says there isn’t a single Imp ship in sight…’

The atmosphere thinned until the slate grey sky shifted into the velvety black of space. Hera expertly guided the Ghost around the debris that surrounded Geonosis. Zeb’s stomach took an unsettling turn. ‘Hera… Go back,’ Zeb murmured.

‘What?’ Her hand already gripped the hyperspace lever.

‘Go back. Please.’ Zeb’s stomach tied itself into knots. Chopper, the snarky little bastard, was right. No shuttle or frigate lurked just beyond the neighboring moon. Not even one of those odious probe droids he enjoyed destroying with his bare hands. No one was coming for Kallus. This wasn’t the way a warrior should die.

Hera and Kanan exchanged one of those looks. The ones that held an entire conversation in mere seconds. Kanan’s head inclined a mere fraction of an inch. Hera didn’t say anything, but swung the Ghost around and pointed her nose to the spot where they’d met Zeb. He darted to the cargo hold, eschewing the rungs of the ladders in favor of sliding down the rails, then slapped the controls to lower the ramp.

Frigid wind whipped through the hold. Zeb stood at the top of the ramp, ready to dash across the snowy plain. Kanan appeared next to him, arms folded around his torso against the cold. ‘It’s Agent Kallus, isn’t it?’ Kanan sounded as though he had asked Zeb if blue was his favorite color.