Okay, so you all are awesome! The comments I received from the last chapter sent me down so many little rabbit holes. That being said, this is NOT the last chapter. There will be at least two more chapters. I blame you all with your great comments. I hope this chapter turned out okay. I felt it was a bit choppy, but every time I went to change something, I just stared at the page. So, I give up, and here is it!
Silverfox22 – Thank you! I'm glad you liked chapter six. It was actually quite the struggle for me to write. I was really uncertain about it.
Kunoichi of the Moolit Night – I honestly love writing the Chopper and Kallus sections. They are an odd pairing and it brings me so much delight to have them interact. As for the Rebels seeing the benefit in using Kallus as Rebel propaganda, I agree. I think that they would be far more cautious about it though than the Empire. They would make sure Kallus was a true defector, let him prove himself and then immediately give him the rank of…oh…Captain, maybe? *grins*
Storyteller2899 – HA! Well, you get your wish. The story continues for at least two more chapters after this. I swear, this story has taken on a mind of its own.
Mistress Malica – I'm glad you found the panel approach intriguing. I tried to do some research on what a Rebel Court hearing would look like, but my search kept running around in circles, so I just picked a method of justice that would work for the story. I liked the slight interrogation style it allowed.
Rabbit887 – Oh man, we'd better learn Kallus' name next season. I hope it's good!
Moomkin – I know, right? That part with Kallus saying he would have killed Zeb, that little nugget is what made me start into the whole darn court scene in the first place! So many rabbit holes to fall down. Honestly, this whole section could have been a standalone story, but I just didn't think there would be that much to cover going into it. Shows what I know! Oh yeah, I bought the Thrawn book because you made it sound so good. I'm only a few chapters in so far (I just got it out of the mail), and I'm digging it so far!
Lynn Friedman-kinsey – Thank you! I really was worried about that last chapter. I'm glad people are enjoying it!
XinterestinX – I get what you mean with that chapter. I was really nervous about it, but there was something that felt right as well. It was fascinating taking a man who had spent his life gathering information and working in secret and just having him go 'I'm going to tell you everything.'
Kaytori – As for getting Ezra's testimony, I love it! Keep an eye open for it during the next court session section of the story!
Fire and Ice 01 – I know. That was a hard bit to write! I felt bad for them as well.
Sunburst223 – I'm glad you are enjoying the story!
Guest – Well, you know who you are. You sent me down a wonderful little rabbit hole! Your questions about Lasan pretty much spiraled into this chapter being written. I had no intention of it being so long. It was only going to be the intro to the final chapter, but, eventually, I gave up and let it run its course. I don't think it's quite as fluid as last chapter (I was a bit sick this last week), but I still very much enjoyed exploring the questions you brought up. Thanks!
Chiara Polairix Edelstein – Thank you! I'm totally in fangirl mode as well. I can't wait for season 4!
Cheion – Poor Kallus and Zeb! I absolutely adore their friendship. It is something that just shouldn't have happened and yet it did. As for Chopper, I had no idea writing for the cantankerous little droid would be so delightful!
Dragunz – Yep, I was totally looking at the hair too and missed the rank bar. Captain Kallus has a fabulous ring to it! I hope your theory about his first name is right. Honestly, I'm petrified it will be something that I can't stand…Norbert Kallus….nope, doesn't sound right. I do hope they reveal his name in season 4 though. Oh, it would be such a bummer if they didn't! As for the wait for the next season, yeah, it's driving me bonkers. I'm excited for the season, but I'm really bummed it is the last one, so I kind of want the season to start and not all at the same time. I don't want it to all end! *sobs*
Julia returned with a datapad and a bowl of stew.
"Here," she said, holding the bowl out for Kallus to take, her own meal seemingly absent.
He tried to thank her, but it came out as a tired mumble.
Without prompting, he started to eat. There was no want or hunger driving him. His actions were mechanical. His body needed nourishment and he knew Julia would not allow him to skip the meal. Vaguely, he was aware of the rich, salty flavor of the stew, but the taste kept dulling as his thoughts wandered.
In his peripheral vision, he could see Julia studying her datapad. Every so often, her gaze would dart to his bowl before returning to her reading.
Kallus shrugged. "You know, you can ask me questions while I'm still eating."
"Well, I wasn't sure that would be polite," she replied with a smirk. "Plus, it's not nice to talk with your mouth full–very sloppy. I find it rather disgusting."
And for all he'd been through that day, Kallus still found himself smiling.
Julia was quite adapt at setting people at ease with the slightest of comments. He very much admired that talent.
They remained silent as he ate. Engrossed in the reports she was pouring over on the datapad, Julia's sideways glances to his bowl had stopped completely. Kallus kept thinking about how the situation should have felt incredibly awkward. The old woman's presence should have been an annoyance, but, somehow, it wasn't.
He finished the stew, and, seeing nowhere else to set it, he placed the empty bowl on the floor.
For all the eagerness she'd seemed to hold earlier, Julia gave him only a brief glance before returning her attention to the datapad. After a few long minutes, she turned and set the pad on the cot beside him.
"My apologies," she said, her eyes fixed on Kallus. "I was making sure the reports were in order. If you are not too tired tonight, we would like you to start reviewing our data on the Empire. The material we deem most important is at the top of the list."
He nodded. It made sense that they would want to start mining him for information, but he felt an uncertainty over being granted access to this wealth of Rebel intel.
"You look troubled." Julia said, her tone clearly implying she expected a response.
"I was wondering what this meant," he said, gesturing at the datapad. "Either someone trusts me, or I should learn to get very used to tiny rooms like this."
She seemed to ponder that for a moment, but he could tell, by the faint, tight-lipped smile, she had no answer for him.
He shrugged and looked away. "You have more questions for me?"
A heavy sigh sounded from the old woman and a span of silence followed. Patiently, Kallus waited, knowing Julia was taking this time to carefully consider how to proceed.
"Your reactions today were more intense than I was prepared for. I think they were more intense than you were prepared for as well. I do have questions for you, but…" She trailed off, her voice laced with uncertainty.
"I think I'll fair better here without…" he paused, realizing he was about to say Hera and Zeb watching, but, for all the honesty he was willing to give, he suddenly held back that one truth. "…an audience."
He could feel Julia's eyes on him, assessing him, analyzing his words, his inflections, and his body language.
"Okay," she said at last, "tell me about Lasan,"
Kallus sighed. "I've already told you about Lasan. You were there for…"
"No." Julia cut him off. "You started to tell the panel, but that wasn't the complete story. I want to know why you were sent to Lasan."
"It was supposed to be a peacekeeping mission."
"And what happened that changed that?" she asked.
That question had troubled Kallus since Lasan, but, when he was still with the Empire, he found the answers too conflicting to pursue. Instead, he used the same justification that always arose when Imperial tactics became too unsavory–it was for the good of the Empire. That was all he had to know.
"The units being deployed were told it was a peacekeeping mission," he began, "but I doubt that was what the Empire ever had in mind. The situation on Lasan was far more volatile than we were told, and our mere presence, along with the fact the Empire sent us with a massive arsenal, stirred the Lasat to action. Simply put, those in command had to have known that bloodshed would be the only outcome in sending so many armed troops to the planet."
"How did the fighting start?"
Kallus thought for a moment, before he realized that he wasn't entirely sure. He'd read all the reports on the conflict, but that aspect had remained a point of contention among the officers. "It just did. I had barely arrived on the planet before everything turned…chaotic. Perhaps a Lasat attacked first, or maybe a trooper with a twitchy trigger finger took the first shot. I'm not much sure it matters."
Julia nodded. "Tell me about the battle."
He cringed at the request. Hadn't enough been said already?
"It was as Zeb said it was. I don't know what else you want to hear."
"I want you to tell me what it was like for those units deployed to Lasan," she answered softy.
Psychologically, it was a good line of questioning. He had noted how she had been careful to ask about the battle from his unit's perspective and not just his. Obviously, she was trying to find a way to mitigate his guilt and get him to give an open account of what he had witnessed. Clever.
"There had been a briefing about the layout of the area, but few of us had ever seen Lasan before. A quarter of the troopers had probably never seen a Lasat." Kallus paused, considering what Julia would ask next. "My own encounter with a Lasat, on Onderon, wasn't easing my apprehension of going to the planet, but, I kept reminding myself, this was to be a peacekeeping mission. It was possible that these Lasat were not the same as the one on Onderon. Perhaps, they could be reasoned with."
"Did you try reasoning with them?" Julia asked, and she seemed genuinely startled by Kallus' sharp, joyless laugh.
"No," he answered, "The planet went from tranquil to raging battle in seconds. The Lasat were the most fearsome fighters I have ever encountered. Swift and aggressive, they were blurs of motion plowing through our ranks. They were faster and stronger than us, and they knew the terrain. It became clear that we would not win, and, unless we retreated, I did not believe we would live." Memories of the hopelessness and fear, the struggle to cling to courage under such overwhelming odds surfaced in Kallus' thoughts.
"And why didn't you retreat?"
Kallus shook his head. "Orders were to stay and fight. Transports only came down for the wounded and dying, and even those ships were hard to find. We couldn't retreat, so, as a desperate measure, we started to use the T-7 ion disruptor rifles. Nothing else had been as effective. No other weapon fired with such speed, precision or with such lethal results."
"And the battle turned in your favor," Julia added, "but why were the Lasat all killed? Why didn't the Empire take prisoners?"
"Lasat don't surrender easily," Kallus replied. "In fact, on that battlefield, the Lasat wouldn't surrender at all. Plus, with their strength and rage, they proved too difficult to handle. Orders came down to kill any aggressive Lasat we came across."
Julia frowned. "And from a trooper's view, they all looked aggressive."
"Yes," Kallus replied, his memories dredging up the agonized screams of the dying Lasat. "That pretty much sums it up."
For a moment, they both went silent, and then Julia stepped forward and collected Kallus' empty bowl from the floor.
"Where were you during the end of the battle," she asked, "when the units were clearing their sectors of Lasat?"
"I'd run into a Lasat Honor Guard and we'd been engaged in hand-to-hand combat during the…"
She stopped him. "Why fight an Honor Guard? Why not use the T-7?"
"I didn't have one at that point." He replied. "I'd given it to a trooper. My combat skills were superior to his. I had a better chance of surviving without a weapon than he did."
"So, you fought the Honor Guard and won, and he gave you his bo-rifle. What did you do after that?"
Kallus gave a single huffed laugh. "Not much. It would be difficult to fight to the death with an Honor Guard and come away unscathed. I was in no condition to continue fighting after that."
Julia opened her mouth, as if to ask another question, but she must have changed her mind. Instead, she started toward the door.
"Thank you for answering my questions." She said softly, not turning to face him. "I apologize for any discomfort I may have caused. Now, I will leave you to look over the data and get some rest. There are two guards outside your room. If you need anything, just ask them. I will return in the morning."
And then she was gone.
It was an odd, rather abrupt end to her questioning, and Kallus found himself trying to decipher the meaning behind it, but he found no answer satisfactory. Finally, he gave up and picked up the datapad.
Whether she knew it or not, it had been quite a kindness for Julia to have given him this distraction. After all, he found a great amount of comfort in reading reports and analyzing data, and, currently, he needed all the comfort he could get.
Opening the first report, he immediately began to soak in the information. He corrected a few points of misinformation and added a healthy set of his own notes and suggestions. The second and third reports required more corrections and his notes were, perhaps, preposterously lengthy. It probably would have been easier to have rewritten both reports.
Half way through his perusal of the fourth report, a message blinked across the datapad. It simply read: 'You've done enough work for tonight. Get some rest. –Julia'
Kallus gave a grumble and tried to clear the message from the screen, but the datapad powered off. He considered prying it open and manually rebooting it, but judging by the burn of his eyes and ache in his body, it was getting late. Julia, with her nagging message, was correct. He needed to get some rest.
He set the datapad aside and lay back on the cot. Overly firm, unforgiving and uncomfortable, it felt like an Imperial bunk. It didn't matter though, he knew he was tired enough to sleep just about anywhere.
However, any sleep he found was repeatedly shattered by his confused mind reeling him awake, screaming at him to escape, to get away from…Thrawn? The rebels? He didn't know. Whatever nightmares that shook him from his slumber were lost to him when he awoke.
Heart pounding, shivering in a cold sweat, each time he woke he felt like an absolute fool. He wasn't a child any more. Dreams weren't supposed to bother him that much, and, yet, it kept happening–all night long.
With such trouble sleep, it hadn't been a difficult choice to rise early and ask the guards to take him to get some breakfast and then to the refresher to get cleaned up. Quite frankly, he'd been surprised at how accommodating the guards were, until he saw his reflection in the refresher mirror.
Karabast…
No wonder they were kind. He looked absolutely pitiful.
Glossy, bloodshot eyes stared back at him from his reflection. His face was hauntingly pale, save for the fading yellow and brown bruises and the deep bags under his eyes. He only hoped a hot shower would improve his pallid tone.
He'd been grateful to find the refreshers had water and not just sonic showers. From experience, he knew the warmth and gentle patter of the water would ease his stiffness and aches far more than the sonic shower would.
Though he would've preferred to linger, Kallus was quick with his shower. A base of this size, with this many people, couldn't afford to have anyone draining precious resources for their own indulgence.
After drying off and dressing, he checked his reflection again. A touch of color had returned to his cheeks, but, otherwise, he was still pale–too pale. And, much to his frustration, a couple wisps of hair were now refusing to stay smoothed back. At least, he mused, I'm starting to look the part of a rebel.
After unsuccessfully trying to flatten the wayward strands of hair back into place. Kallus decided there was nothing more that he could do about his appearance, and he had the guard escort him back to his room.
"Weren't there two of you before?" He asked as they made their way down the corridors, but the guard merely shrugged and kept moving.
When they returned to his room, Julia was waiting for him, and she wasn't alone. The man accompanying her was thin, terribly bowlegged, and wore a faded, patched suit. At his side he carried an oversized black bag.
"Good morning," Julia greeted. "This is Doctor Mikos Anor. He is here to look you over."
Kallus grimaced. The missing guard must have gone and reported to Julia that he was looking rather rough this morning.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Doctor Anor," Kallus replied, managing to sound cordial while casting a glare at Julia.
"No, it's probably a surprise to meet me," Anor returned, "Julia has a way of talking me into seeing patients without first conferring with the person, and, judging by that look you just gave her, this visit is no different."
"Mikos," Julia hissed, "we talked about this. He doesn't get a choice this time. It's a court health assessment."
Anor waved her off. "That's what you always say. You could at least tell them I'm coming. How hard is that, to give them a tiny bit of warning?"
Julia turned to Kallus and smiled. "Well, I'll let you get to it then. I'll be back when the examination is finished."
Thankfully, after Julia left, Doctor Anor seemed as eager as Kallus to get the examination over with. As instructed, Kallus stripped off his sweater and pants, and the doctor prodded his ribs and commented about how well they were healing. He assessed the various bruises on Kallus' body, and gave the binder wounds on his wrists a spray of bacta.
It was Kallus' right leg that gave the doctor pause.
"You've injured this leg before?" Anor asked, though it almost seemed to be a statement.
"Yes, I crash landed on an ice moon."
Anor nodded. "That does happen from time to time. And have you injured it any time before that?"
Kallus made a mental tally of all the times he'd nearly been blown up by Sabine's explosives, Force pushed by either Kanan or Ezra, tossed about by Zeb, and crashed speeders or shuttles in his pursuit of the rebels. "Yes, I have. Never as bad as on the ice moon though."
"Well," Anor paused to open his bag and put his bacta spray away. "For now, I think it will probably just need some more time to heal properly. Just avoid ice moons for a while, yeah?"
"Yes," Kallus replied, "of course, thank you."
"Bah, don't go thanking me. It's my job," Anor huffed. "Now, you'd better get dressed before that woman comes storming back in."
There was a light knock at the door and Julia's voice sounded. "Is it alright to come in?"
Years of waking to emergency alarms aboard Imperial ships had given Kallus all the practice he needed in getting dressed at a moment's notice.
"Yes, yes, come in," Anor answered as Kallus finished dressing. "We're all done."
"Did everything go alright?" She asked, stepping into the room.
"His injuries seem to be healing nicely. Besides the leg possibly being an issue–he is in very fit shape." Anor closed his bag with flourish. "Honestly, I'm not sure you really needed me here."
Kallus couldn't have agreed more.
"Well, he is looking a bit pale." Julia's smile faltered. "I was hoping you'd find some insight into that."
Anor groaned and turned to face Kallus. He gave his patient a head to toe glance and then grabbed his bag and started for the door. "He didn't sleep well. The cot is uncomfortable and he's been through a lot lately–probably had nightmares. Really, you could have just asked him."
Julia followed Anor to the door. "But I do so like for you to feel needed." She gave him a quick kiss. "Thank you, Honey. I'll be home late again tonight."
"Yeah, I expected as much." Anor glanced back at Kallus and winked. "Now, don't go falling in love with my wife, okay?"
Julia chuckled and pushed him out the door.
"Old fool doesn't know when to act professional…" she muttered. Turning back to Kallus, she flashed him a cheerful, but strained smile. "Are you ready?"
He nodded, though, truthful, he wasn't sure. As much he wanted to know what the final outcome would be, he was hesitant as well. This decision, to be made by people he'd considered his enemy for so long, would shape the rest of his life.
Julia's voice pulled him from his thoughts. "Let's get this over with then."