#With Hera it's obviously significant when they call her 'crew'

[hephaestuscrew]

Thinking about what it means to be part of a crew in Wolf 359... 

Ep15 What’s Up Doc?

Ep18 Let’s Kill Hilbert

Ep25 Lame-o Superhero Origin Story

Ep31 Sécurité

Ep36 Fire and Brimstone

Ep52 Constructive Criticism

[dragonfly756]

Why did Kepler call Eiffel his Point man that one time: An essay.

Okay here is the reason I was researching what a point man is.

So there’s this throwaway line from Kepler in ‘Persuasion’ where he says he’s “Not about to waste his point man on such a hazardous mission.” Which is incredibly interesting to me because in a military context a point man would go out first into the most hazardous situation to investigate.And, if necessary, to die so others didn’t. Kepler very much isn’t asking Eiffel to do that....Yet.

See, in the episode, he’s asking Eiffel to stay with him on the Hephaestus while everyone else goes out on the dangerous space walk. So maybe it’s just an Inception reference, or the writers didn’t research some terminology that well, and it’s not that deep? (Probably, but I also feel like over analyzing this a little bit.)

So a point man, right? Characterized by being a scout, taking tons of danger for everyone else, and also, and this part is very important, being ceaselessly loyal....... and also an Inception reference, (Creating a sort of right-hand man connotation into the bargain, if you consider the character of Arthur.) (I could write a whole other essay about the whole point man thing for him but it would get really long if I did it here.) and obviously, Eiffel would appreciate a pop culture reference.

But isn’t that role more suited to Jacobi? I would argue not. Especially after Maxwell’s death, Jacobi quickly loses faith in Kepler, in fact, he seems to blame Kepler for Maxwell’s death more than he blames Minkowski. Kepler was the one to make the orders, even if she was the one to pull the trigger. Although his loyalties to Kepler seem pretty fluid, even after Maxwell’s death he has so much faith in her, I don’t have the exact quote handy, but he says something along the lines of “People like that (Kepler) are there to let people like her (Maxwell) be brilliant.” (And presumably better humanity and all that jazz, really sweet that someone as outwardly cynical as Jacobi has such....Noble thoughts.) Even from as early as the Goddard Christmas party, they seem to back each other up on the most banal of lies. TO KEPLER, no less.

This suggests something really interesting, that Jacobi isn’t Kepler’s point man, he’s Maxwell’s. Even before her death, Jacobi’s loyalty to Kepler is always going to be secondary. And even though Kepler heavily miscalculated how much Jacobi would still be loyal to him after the mutiny, I think he does realize this on some level.

So Kepler needs a new right-hand man, one who already has proven himself to be loyal, and who goes out into danger to scout it out.

Enter.....Doug Eiffel! Who has, A: Proven himself to be extremely loyal on multiple occasions, something Kepler would have witnessed both firsthand when he first picked him up on the Urania, and through Doug’s logs. and B: Had significant experience in dangerous situations. (Again, the whole ‘cryosleep and readjust the tiny spaceship to get in comms range of help’ is something Kepler would have seen firsthand.) and C: Eiffel is viewed favorably by the aliens they’re trying to contact. All of this adds up to a very good point man, if Kepler can win him over.

Which Kepler attempts through......Drum-roll please.....Emotional manipulation!!! Is anyone really surprised? Anyway. He starts by outwardly validating the person hood of both Eiffel and Hera, mainly by yelling at Hilbert a lot, While behind the scenes he has Maxwell put malicious code in Hera and expects Eiffel to eventually die for him if it comes to that.

He also isolates Eiffel as much as possible from other members of his original team.

He assigns Minkowski the most menial jobs he can, and since turning Eiffel against her is frankly a tall order, attempts to turn her against him with the records ‘leak’ of his past.

He gives Hera a new friend who understands her on a level that Eiffel doesn’t.

He keeps Lovelace close, (My personal interpretation of their dynamic is that Kepler views her as an opposing, but largely unattached agent. No loyalty to either him or the Hephaestus crew.) as master-at-arms, but largely doesn’t seem to worry about her.

Since degradation and other forms of manipulation (punishment?) don’t seem to work on Hilbert, Kepler attacks him through the only vector he can, denying him his research. (This serves two purposes, keeping Hilbert in line and submissive, and encouraging Eiffel to like him more. I don’t think Kepler would care that much about Eiffel’s health unless it benefited him somehow, so he uses Eiffel’s bodily autonomy basically as a treat for good behavior. Not unlike how a lot of people treat Hera, actually.)

And Eiffel? He praises him for his resourcefulness, he gives him preferential treatment, doesn’t call him stupid. (This is all heavily conditional on his mood, of course.) He makes himself the one person on the station who will give Eiffel consistent support and doesn’t underestimate his ability. This is all to the point where I think if the contact event had gone to plan, even if nobody else on the original crew survived, and it was just him, Jacobi, Maxwell, and Eiffel? Well, Kepler would be just fine with that. Eiffel would go out first, attempt to communicate with the aliens, and come back, maybe short a few limbs, maybe with some additional trauma, but ultimately fine.

Because beneath all the bluster and pop-culture references, Eiffel is stunningly good at his job.

He’s good at not dying, at thinking on his feet.

He’s made first contact with aliens when no-one else in presumably hundreds of  other missions has.

Because you know what they say, when you’ve got a pig that good.....

[x-wing-junkie]

Onward & Upward

Rating:  Teen

Warnings:  None

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

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

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

Notes:  Sequel to A Safe Haven!

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

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

Cross posted from AO3 to celebrate 200 followers!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He wouldn’t change anything.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Nice lookin’ ship, isn’t she?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Zeb laughed.  “Okay, good point.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And, knowing the bastard, it would work.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Only because you made me so.”

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

“Something like that,” Kallus laughed again.  

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

“Plans?”  Kallus grinned.  “Show me.”

And Zeb did.

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

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

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

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

And that something was worth fighting for.  

Worth living for.

[intergalactic-padawan]

For emergencies - Ezra Bridger

Requested: no, but i've had this idea for a while and decided to give it a go.

Warnings: none

A/N: I created this O/C, Astra, and she's probably going to be in more ezra fics in the future, who knows. I have no idea who she is yet, but i'll wait for her to come to life as i go!

Pronouns of O/C: she/her

*ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE! I make mistakes just like everybody else 😉*

AU where Ezra never went away and they have a cerimony in Lothal like at the end of a new hope. Astra is a rebel who has never met Ezra before, but has heard of him.

At the cerimony, Ezra couldn't focus on anything else other than his crew, the other spectres.

They had been by his side through thick and thin, and even when loosing one of the most important members of their family, they stood together to help liberate his home world Lothal and bring an end to the Empire's control over its citizens.

Now, they proudly looked at him while he walked down the Lothal Senate building's main corridor, ready to recieve a medal of honor and bravery for being, as the governor said, "an outstanding citizen and a beacon of hope for better days". Other rebels and sympathizers also got their medals while he stood on the side, misty-eyed as Hera tried her best not to burst out tears of joy; a dynamic that lasted for the rest of the afternoon.

At the party that came after, on the other hand, he quickly got separated form the group. Many higher ranking officers offering congratulations, a few friends from Chopper Base comparing the size of their medals and the invites for dancing to the sound of the cultural music of his homewolrd were exciting, but beginning to get very draining.

That's when he notices her. A familiar tug of the force indicating the way guided him to the drinks table on the corner of the big atrium where he was dancing just moments ago; and that's where she stood, drink in hand, watching the celebrations while he approached curiously. He was still coming up with the courage to say something when she notices him:

-"oh, hello there" - she smiles kindly, not turning from her privileged position but nodding at him in acklowledgement.

-"hey" - he squeaks out of surprise, clrearing his throat and trying again - "I mean, huhh- Hey. Hey. I-I'm Ezra" - he smiled, a little embarassed.

-"Nice to meet you Ezra. That's one shiny medal you've got there"

-"uh, thanks, it's...' he took it in his hand to examine the details - "it's kinda heavy, actually"

-"still, a nice medal" - she chuckled

Ezra took that moment to look at her a little closer. She appeared to be fully human, hopefully about his age. Her hair was tied up in a braid that crossed her head like a tiara, a look that fit her very well, he thought. Under her worn leather jacket, marked with the insignia of the rebellion, she wore a simple and elegant black jumpsuit: an uncommon look on Lothal, that made her stand out as someone whod never been there before.

She looked beautiful. So beautiful, in fact that Ezra got distracted and didn't get to brace for the impact of Zeb slapping his big hand on his back to congratulate him once more:

-"hey kid, there you are! Hera's been looking for you all over!"

Ezra smiled awkwardly; obviously Zeb didn't see the situation playing out, or worse: he did, and wanted to embarass Ezra in front of her.

-"yeah, hmm" he coughed and indicated the girl with a tilk of his head "I was... kind of in the middle of something here, Zeb"

She looked down, not able to hold back a smile as Zeb raised his eyebrow.

-"Well, If I know General Syndulla, it's best not to keep her waiting" - the girl offered him a smile and a warm cup of the same beverage she was been drinking earlier.

-"I believe this is what you came over here for, Lieutenant Bridger" - she raised an eyebrow, giving him a playful smirk when Zeb turned the other way to talk to Kallus for a moment.

-"Yes, this too" - he accepted the drink "thank you, miss...-"

-"captain, actually" - she moved her jacket to the side to reveal a shiny rank badge with two blue spots - "recently promoted, right before you entered the room to get your heavy medal".

-"oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't see" - he panicked. Was he supposed to salute her now? Was it too late for that?

He took a quick sip of the drink to buy some time while he figured out what to do.

-"hey kid, we really need to go now, hera's waiting"

-"On my way zeb" - he midlessly acknowledged the Lasaat and looked at her once again, searching for words to correct himself, settling for sincere congratulations instead:

-"Well, the rebellion is lucky to have you" - he offerd a hand for her to shake, whick she hapilly took. Ezra would never tell, but the way they fit together gave him a comfortable warmth he hadn't felt in a long time.

-"I don't know about that, Lieutenant." - she laughed - "But my team certainly is, though. You can call me Astra, by the way"

"Well, then you can call me Ezra" he winked as he finally felt himself take control of the situation, bringing her hand to his lips while mantaining eye contact. That gesture visibly caught her by surprise, but she played it off with another light chuckle.

"It has been a pleasure, Ezra. But you really shouldn't leave your general waiting" Astra squeezed his hand lightly, with a twinkle in her eyes that was going to be a constant memory in Ezra's mind. He could swear everyone in there was hearing his drumming heartbeat match the drums that played, but that was the least of his worries now: he needed to be sure he could see her again after this.

She seemed to think the same thing (hopefully), as he watched her do something to her comlink for a moment. When Ezra heard a blip from his own device, she explained:

-"there, my comlink number. It's always good to share these kinds of information with fellow rebels, make sure we can contact each other in case of an emergency, wouldn't you agree, lieutenant?" - Ezra quickly understood her idea, playing into her game with a boysh grin.

-"Of course, captain. In case of an emergency"

She hummed, placing her hand in a pocket of the jumpsuit. It may have looked like an ordinary and quick interaction to literally anyone else, but Ezra could feel it also meant something a little more exctiting to her. Maybe it was their relaxed minds after a significant victory, maybe it was the euphoria of a hard battle, or maybe the fun of interacting with an interesting person after years of tension; whatever the reason was, you didn't have to be a force sensitive being to see a connection had started to form between them.

But, lucky for him, Ezra was a jedi. He was the padawan of Kanan Jarrus, one of the bravest and most powerful Jedi Knights to ever exist. That thought alone brought him the confidence boost he needed to overcome the nervousness of something like talking to a beautiful girl at a party, and even more than that, flirting with said girl.

-"well, i guess i should be leaving then" - he snapped back to reality, feeling Zeb's towering and annoyed presence along with Chopper, who had been called as reinforcement at some point to hopefully drag him away from the spell he was currently in.

-"I hope we'll be seeing each other again?"

-"I don't plan on leaving so soon, Ezra. This drink is delicious" - he was now being pushed back by the droid, but refused to tear his gaze away from Astra.

-"And if i'm not here when you come back" - she added, pointing to his wrist - "You know how to reach me"

-"in case of an emergency" he stated, pretending seriousness

-"of course" - she saluted him lightheartedly - "in case of an emergency".

[prepare4trouble]

Star Wars Rebels fanfic - The Right Direction (2/6)

I was going to post this tomorrow (before the episode obviously) but with people abandoning tumblr to avoid the spoilers, I thought I’d do it now while there’s still a chance of people seeing it!

Little By Little Masterpost

part 1

Kanan hesitated briefly outside Ezra’s quarters.  He could sense Ezra’s presence on the other side of the door just as clear as he would have been able if he were inside with him.  Walls and doors were a barrier only to sight, not to the Force.

Ezra was alone; Zeb had left earlier that morning to finish off his sweep of the base perimeter.  He had been putting a lot more time and effort into that task than Kanan had expected, and Kanan had to wonder what he was doing out there -- or what he was finding -- that was so interesting.

Knowing Zeb wouldn’t be there, he had briefly considered taking the meeting to Ezra’s quarters, but he had dismissed the idea almost immediately.  The last thing he wanted was for Ezra to feel trapped again.  Yesterday, Hera had chosen to speak to Ezra in the Phantom.  Not only that, but she had taken it up into orbit around the planet while she did.  She had done it for a reason: to deliberately leave him with literally nowhere to go if he felt the need to bolt.

While Kanan had to admit it was frustrating when Ezra decided to disappear without warning, and he admired her ingenuity, he wasn’t about to replicate it.  Intruding upon Ezra’s personal space for the discussion wouldn't be as bad as that, but it would still make it more difficult for him to leave.

Of course, being Ezra, he had any number of hiding places around the base.  Kanan knew a few of them, some he had discovered by accident and one he had found while actively searching for Ezra one day.  Ezra wasn’t short on places to run to if he felt the need.  Still, nothing was quite like being able to hide behind the door of your own quarters.

Suddenly, Kanan felt a little guilty for watching him through the walls.

There was a calmness about Ezra that felt unfamiliar.  Although Kanan could still sense that same low-level anxiety buzzing below the surface that he had been aware of for weeks now, it felt further away somehow; less urgent.  It was almost as though Ezra were sleeping.

No, not sleeping.  More like meditating.  Not in exactly the same way that Kanan did, not as deeply, but he realized now that he was witnessing an attempt to commune with the Force; his student was beginning to flex those muscles that he had resisted for so long.  This was good news.  In time, those muscles would strengthen just as his other Force abilities had, and they would be there for him to call upon them when he needed them.

Which he would, very soon.

A swell of sorrow hit him at that thought, and he pushed it back, tried not to feel it.  He had said it to Hera the night before, and he had meant it; they needed to stop thinking like that.  There were far worse things that the universe could throw at a person than the loss of a sense.  It was going to be hard for him to cope with, for a time, but he was going to be okay.  Dwelling on their own initial feelings about it wasn’t going to help Ezra.

Not only that, but for a Force-sensitive with Ezra’s talent for connections, even if they tried not to show those feelings, it could be dangerous.  He would pick up on them easily, possibly without even realizing what he was doing.

If every stray thought had the potential to make things harder for him, the people closest to him had a responsibility to control those thoughts.

That was so much easier said than done, of course.

He deliberately steered his mind back to the moment; dwelling in Ezra’s future or in Kanan’s own past wouldn’t help anything.  Ezra still appeared to be meditating, and Kanan wondered whether he had been doing this regularly without him noticing, or whether it was a new development.  Although he had never enjoyed meditation, Ezra had proved himself more than capable of doing it in the past; for shorter periods than Kanan usually liked to, and certainly not as frequently, but he could definitely do it when he chose to.  And his work with the dokma incorporated a lot of the same skills and concentration needed to commune with the Force.

It was unfortunate that Kanan needed to interrupt him now, but he had no choice in the matter.  They needed to do this sooner rather than later, and there would always be some reason he could find to put it off.

He bypassed the door chime, with its more intrusive sound, and opted for knocking quietly on the door.  It was one thing to disturb someone’s meditation, it was another to do it with a loud, invasive sound.  He waited.

On the other side of the door, Ezra’s attention shifted as he roused himself from his meditation.  The door opened, allowing him entry into the room.

“Hey, Kanan,” Ezra said.

He didn’t sound surprised to find him there, it was almost as though he had expected him.  Maybe he had; he had to know Kanan would come by at some point today.  Kanan wondered whether he had sensed his approach, or maybe his hesitation outside the room.

“Lesson time?” Ezra asked.

Kanan shook his head.  There would have to be a lesson today, and he hadn’t forgotten that.  One thing he needed to do was tell Ezra when it would be, so he could be ready for it.  They probably wouldn't be able to stick to a regular schedule all the time, but it was important that they both had an idea of when they would be doing what.  It would be unfair for Kanan to just come by like this when he had some free time and expect Ezra to drop everything, it was more important than that.  It wasn’t something that should be fitted into spare time, like their lessons had often been in the past.  It needed to be scheduled, to ensure that it happened, and that it happened every day.

“We’ll get to that,” he promised.  “Later.”

“Oh.  Okay… so…” Ezra’s feet shuffled on the floor of his quarters, and through the Force, Kanan got the impression of him wrapping his arms around himself as he stood, waiting.

On the subject of lessons, Kanan realized that he had allowed himself, and Ezra, to slip into bad habits recently.  Just a few short weeks ago -- and it was difficult to believe that it had only been that long since he had learned the truth about the secret that Ezra was hiding -- but just a few weeks earlier, when he had suspected, but not yet known, they had still been training with the Force regularly.  It hadn’t been daily, but then it never had been.  But several times a week they had been training with the Force, or sparring with lightsabers.  Since the moment that Ezra had told him what was happening, without Kanan even really noticing, they had reduced the number of lessons and eventually they had stopped.  It wasn’t fair.

There was no wonder Ezra had come to him yesterday demanding a lesson.  It wasn’t only the things he had discussed with Hera, it was what Kanan had been doing; what he hadn’t been doing.  Ezra must feel so abandoned, left alone to deal with everything by himself while the rest of the crew carried on with their lives around him.

Kanan wanted to kick himself.

“What?” Ezra asked.  He sounded curious; concerned, even.

Kanan realized that he was open to the Force, and didn’t know whether it was his emotions or his body language that had had given him away.  He shook his head.  “Nothing,” he said.  “We are going to have a lesson, okay?  This afternoon.  But before we do, Hera and I need to talk to you.  About what happened yesterday.”

“What do you mean?  What happened?” Ezra asked.  There was confusion and worry in his voice now, like he thought something significant might have happened and he hadn’t been informed.

“No.”  Kanan shook his head.  “That’s not what I… I mean what happened between you and Hera.”

For a moment, Ezra didn’t reply.  “Oh,” he said finally, dully.  “Right.  That.”  He sighed.  “Look, it’s fine.  I get it.  I talked to Zeb last night and he said some stuff about… well, maybe Hera was right.  Maybe I…” he faltered just slightly, and took a deep breath to calm himself.  “Maybe I shouldn’t be on missions right now.  Hera’s in command, and it’s her decision.  It’s her responsibility.”  He sat down on the bottom bunk, apparently not ready to go with him.

Kanan frowned.  He didn’t know what he had expected Ezra to say, but that wasn’t it.  “That’s… good,” he said.  And it was good.  It also didn’t make any difference; they still needed to have this discussion.

“I still think I made the right choice,” Ezra added.  “I still want to learn how to do everything without seeing.  You’re not going to change my mind about that.”

“I know,” Kanan told him.  “I don’t want to.  You’re right; you do need to learn that, and the sooner the better.”

Even with the most optimistic of estimates, Ezra was looking at just a few short years of sight, and much much less than that of useable vision.  Nobody wanted to think about it, but it was a fact, and one that they couldn’t get away from.  He needed to be working on ways that he was going to cope.  He needed to already have been working on it.  Ezra had known for over a year that this was coming.  If he had been honest about things sooner, maybe they would have had some of that time.

Not all of it, of course.  There would have been a period where Kanan simply wouldn’t have known what to do, and a time after he returned from Malachor when he might not have been able to…

He wondered how things might have been different during those months if he had known.  Would he have reacted differently to the loss of his own sight?  Would he have forced himself to rejoin the universe sooner than he had?  Would he, perhaps, have have looked to Ezra for guidance?

It didn’t matter.  None of that had happened, and he had learned a long time ago that there was no point dwelling in ‘what ifs’.  Even as things stood, they should be a month into these lessons.  There were things that Ezra should already know how to do that they hadn’t even touched; that they hadn’t even thought about.

“But you said…” Ezra began.

Kanan raised a hand, the universal signal for silence.  “We’ll talk about it with Hera, okay?”

For a moment, he thought Ezra was was going to protest, but instead he sighed.  “Okay, but does it have to be right now?  I was just in the middle of something.”

“It doesn’t ‘have to be’ at all,” Kanan told him.  “It’s not an order; we’d just like to talk to you. ”

“I know,” Ezra said.  “I didn’t mean…” he sighed.  “Okay, fine, let’s go.”  He hesitated.  “She… doesn’t want to talk in the Phantom again, does she?”

Kanan shook his head.  “In the lounge.  Nobody else is home; we won’t be interrupted.”  He headed for the door, then stopped and turned back to Ezra, still seated on the bunk.  “The thing you said you were in the middle of,” he said.  “Were you meditating?”

“No,” Ezra said quickly.  The bunk creaked slightly as he moved.  “I mean… kinda?  Not really, but… I mean, you’re that one that’s always going on about how important it is.”  He said that almost accusingly, like he was embarrassed, and it was Kanan’s fault.  Like he had been caught in the act of doing something he shouldn’t.

“It is important,” Kanan assured him.  “If you can deepen your connection to the Force, it’ll make it easier for you to use it to sense the world around you.  It’ll make everything easier, and the more you do it, the more it’ll help.”

Ezra sighed, sounding unconvinced.  Kanan took a few steps across the room and sat down next to him on Zeb’s bunk.  “If you want, we can do it together,” he said.  “Having another person there can help.  That’s how we were taught in the Temple; the younglings took guidance from a Master that could sense what they were doing and give advice.”

Ezra appeared to consider it for a moment, then dismissed the idea.  “It’s not that I don’t want to,” he said, then sighed.  “Well, I mean, I don’t want to, but that’s another story.  It’s just that like we said yesterday, there are other things I need to know.  I don’t want to waste the lessons sitting around with my eyes closed when I could be… uh…”

He trailed off and forced out a sigh.  Kanan sensed a strange mixture of anxiety and amusement within him.  He waited, allowing Ezra time to either finish what he was trying to say, or not.

“Uh… when I could be walking around with my eyes closed, I guess,” Ezra said.  He laughed once, quick and nervous, then took a deep, calming breath.  “Sorry,” he added.

Kanan shook his head, unable to decide whether Ezra was apologizing for telling Kanan he didn’t want to meditate with him, or for the attempt at a joke.  Either way, it didn’t matter.  He clasped a hand onto Ezra’s shoulder and squeezed lightly.  “We can set aside extra time for it, if you want, it doesn’t have to eat into the other things.  I know you don’t believe me, but it really will help with everything else.”

He didn’t only mean with the lessons that he intended to teach him.  A deeper connection to the Force would definitely help with that, but sometimes just taking some time to sit and be calm, and not dwell on what was happening, was a huge help.  When every waking moment was filled with one overriding thought — and for Ezra that must be how it was right now even if he didn’t realize it — the ability to get away from that was important.

Ezra sighed.  “Maybe.  Yeah.”

It wasn’t a no; that was progress at least.

“Come on,” Kanan said, turning back to the door.  “We’ll talk about it later.”

As he pressed the control and the door opened in front of him, he heard Ezra get reluctantly to his feet and follow him out.

(part 3)

[hephaestuscrew]

I want to talk about the significance of which characters defeats the different antagonists in the Wolf 359 finale: Kepler kills Rachel (and vice versa), Jacobi kills Riemann, Minkowski kills Cutter with the help of Lovelace, and Hera and Eiffel wipe Pryce's memories. As I'll argue below, none of those combinations are incidental.

Jacobi and Kepler each get to dispatch an adversary, but, since they've only recently and - perhaps reluctantly - aligned with our protagonists in their aims, they each deal with more minor antagonists. Rachel and Riemann are ultimately following orders rather than giving them, so their defeat - while important - doesn't have the same emotional weight as that of Pryce or Cutter. This is also why the confrontations with Riemann and Rachel each conclude significantly before the confrontations with Pryce and Cutter. (Cont. below cut)

I'd argue that Riemann is the least developed character in the show (of those that are voiced and appear in more than one episode). He's nothing more than a Goddard henchman, and that's deliberate. Jacobi’s investment in this fight is practical, rather than emotional. There's no personal antagonism between the two of them. And this works for Jacobi as a character - his job has always been to “make very big things blow up” and he's only recently started properly putting his own independent thought into who he wants to be blowing up. So Jacobi and Riemann face off against each other in a locked room, with a fistfight and then an explosion.

In contrast, Kepler and Rachel do have personal antagonism between them. It's clear that they have a history of professional dislike. In Kepler's backstory episode, Rachel clearly takes a great deal of glee in mocking Kepler about “Operation Gigantic, Humiliating Screw Up”, and Kepler certainly doesn't seem pleased to see Rachel when the Sol arrives at the Hephaestus in Ep55. Although there are obviously other motivations involved, their petty interpersonal hatred gives an interesting extra significance to them killing each other.

Another way to frame it is that Kepler and Rachel are two people at a similar middle-of-the-hierarchy level who've both been faced with a degree of undeniable evil even beyond what they've previously encountered from (and enacted on behalf of) their employer, and had to decide what they are willing to go along with. Their mutual killing of each other is the result of a conflict between two contrasting potential decisions in that situation. 

It's also notable that while the minor antagonists are each defeated by a single character on their own, the major villains could not have been defeated in this way. The two most significant confrontations in the finale each involve a pair of characters who care deeply about each other standing together against someone who has personally hurt them. 

After killing Cutter, Minkowski acknowledges she “couldn't... have done it... without you, Captain”. Similarly, the way Eiffel and Hera defeat Pryce required both Eiffel's sacrifice (it is important that wiping the mindspace is his idea) and Hera's abilities (it takes a lot of mental and emotional strength for her to enact that plan). The ethos of the show all comes back to that quote from Eiffel in Ep25 that needing help from others “is called being a part of a crew. You ever meet anyone that could get things done all on their lonesome?”

It's important that Hera confronts Pryce - she gets the chance to stand in defiance against a person who has caused her so much pain. Hera gets to assert herself as her own person against the first person not to treat her as one. While I certainly don't think anyone should feel responsible for confronting those who have personally hurt them in real life, it would have been narratively unsatisfying for Pryce to have been defeated without Hera playing a central role. That confrontation is necessary for catharsis and resolution of Hera's character arc. But it's important that Hera doesn't have to do it alone. It's important that she does it with Eiffel, the person she is closest to, by her side. And what's more, in that mindspace, he's by her side in a more literal direct way than he has ever has been before.

Terrifying as Pryce is, it's Cutter who has been our 'big bad' throughout the whole series, the one that we've been aware of since we became aware of larger sinister forces at work in this narrative. And so it's apt that he's defeated by Minkowski, the Commander, with the help of Lovelace. Our two protagonists who have at points been defined by their leadership positions defeat the villain who has been defined by his leadership over them. Our two Commanders defeat the person above them in the chain of Command. 

If Minkowski has a personal nemesis, it's Cutter (as I argued in my Minkowski harpoon essay). Now that Hilbert's gone, the same could probably be said of Lovelace. He's the one who recruited them (and their respective crews, assuming that he was involved in the recruitment of the other members of Lovelace's crew as well) into the hellscape that is the Hephaestus. He's the one basically all of their pain and turmoil ultimately comes back to.

Minkowski & Lovelace's confrontation against Cutter, and Hera & Eiffel's confrontation against Pryce, are both about the harm that's been done to them as individuals. And about the harm done or threatened to their loved ones (including the friend they each stand beside in this particular confrontation). And about their principles and themes around control, autonomy, personal agency, and identity. And about the desire to protect people in general on a larger, global or even galactic, scale.

And all of those resonances work particularly well because of the specific choices made about which protagonists should face off against which antagonists, in order to provide the most effective culmination of the character arcs that have been built over 61 episodes.