When the Hound's Tooth arrived at its destination, it was met by around a hundred people in protective gear. There weren't any Stormtroopers, but the EUA contingent under Baatar's command was standing by. Everyone on the Hound's Tooth was placed inside a bubble-like container as they were carried into the base. A different team, led by Baatar in similar clothing, went to where the captured monster was, and subdued it quickly, letting them restrain it for the team that would study it. "Ahh, this is very interesting," one of the scientists said. "It's so beautiful, pure in its purpose of slaughter and spreading disease. I can't wait to tame it and unleash it and its brethren on the Empire's enemies." The scientist then looked around and saw Bumi and the others who rode on the ship, even the droid, were shocked at what he said. Even under their masks, his colleagues looked rather unnerved.
"When was your last psychiatric evaluation?" the lead scientist asked. "Also, if that is what I think it is, it's uncontrollable." Meanwhile, Bossk explained how the ship was infected to Baatar and an Imperial officer. After hearing the bounty hunter's report, the officer went to the communications suite.
"What will happen to Kassa?" Bumi asked.
"From what you said, I'm guessing he's a pirate," Baatar replied. "Most Imperial captains will just kill him on sight. And that's assuming he hasn't turned into the abomination you captured. A list of fugitives will be made available to you later, for identification."
"What about Srinivasa?" asked Kya, looking at the young Togruta. He was eagerly drinking a glass of water.
"We're getting in touch with the company that owned the spaceliner," Baatar answered. "They should be able to find any family he has, once they look through the passenger list." He then looked at Bumi. "I can arrange for you to contact your wife, if you wish."
"I'm fine, that's unnecessary," Bumi said, refusing to consider he might be dying when his daughter was nowhere in sight. "Izumi has enough problems without me scaring her about nothing." Kya was a bit more cautious, however, and asked when she could contact home.
"About three hours, to set it up," Baatar said. "Rest assured, you'll be back in space in only four days."
"Four?" asked Bossk, looking up from the rogues gallery which Kassa may or may not be in. "The cleaning for biohazards takes three."
"Yes, but you're on Aldhani," Baatar answered. "Three days from now, the planet will pass through an asteroid field. The result will be a beautiful meteor shower...from the ground, but no one can takeoff or land during that time. Don't worry, though, you'll be clean just in time to see it. And all the smelly locals who've come to worship it." Kya was bothered by how dismissive he was toward these locals, wondering how the Empire felt about the native population. Their train of thoughts were interrupted, however, when Bossk found Kassa in the datapad. Or rather, Cassian Andor of Ferrix.
Cassian, or Clem as he was going by, had just finished hearing the plan about how they would rob the Imperial payroll on Aldhani. Normally, he'd have thought it was suicidal, but after escaping that spaceship of horrors, the Kenari man felt ready for anything. Hopefully, those bounty hunters, as that is what they must have been, escaped from the ship before it crashed into the gas giant. At that moment, however, Lt. Gorn said something unexpected.
"Not that it really matters, bringing in a new teammate at the last moment," Gorn began. "We need to abort."
"You're nervous, I get it, so you're making up a reason to-""That's not it at all!" Gorn cut off Cassian. "It's not just the garrison, it's the Bender battalion there, as well." Andor noticed how several of his teammates, specifically Vel, looked rather nervous, but Taramyn seemed almost dismissive.
"Charlatans with simple magic tricks," Taramyn stated. "As was proven with the Jedi, 'the Force' and other illusions are no match for discipline and blasters. I honestly don't know why Palpatine even bothers with Vader."
"I don't know," said Skeen, with Nemik sharing his look of concern. "Karis and I did a job a while ago, to wreck some Imperial bigwig's day and hopefully get him killed. He was saved by the Qoura and Miko who got a ceremony around them on Carida."
"I think it's Korra and Mako," Karis added. "Still, I keep hearing of more and more Imperial soldiers throwing rocks and shooting flames with their minds."
"One of the top NCOs at the base never stops talking about how this 'Avatar' and 'Firebender' saved him and thousands of others," Gorn stated. At that moment, Cinta noticed how 'Clem' seemed completely lost.
"I don't know what you are talking about," he said. "I've been away for a while, so I've never heard of any 'Benders.'"
"They've been gathering a lot of steam, for almost a year," Nemik said, surprised their new teammate hadn't heard of them. "But the first rumors cropped up over a year and a half ago." Cassian Andor cursed how Preox-Morlana censored so much news from the outside galaxy. He listened intently about how the Empire had new troops that could control, or rather 'Bend' the elements to their will.
"So, are they some sort of experiment?" asked Cassian. "A new type of clone?" He remembered how clone troopers executed his adoptive father early in the Empire's reign because they thought he'd tossed a rock at them.
"Apparently, they are from an uncharted world," Gorn answered. "One that worships Darth Vader, given how the ones I've seen call him the 'Father of Understanding' and wear chrome versions of his mask. Their commander, a boy they call colonel, carries a lightsaber and proclaims himself one of Vader's apostles."
"'Boy' is a rather unclear term," Nemik noted, as he'd often been overlooked because of his age. "Is he my age? Younger? The same age as you, despite having a high rank such as colonel?"
"I don't think he's older than twenty-one," Gorn clarified.
"Well, magic or not, he'll be in over his head with us," Cinta said, trying to sound confident.
"Corporal Kimzi loves to regale everyone with tales of what he saw on Maridun," Gorn said, less convinced. "My doubts of this 'Baatar's' ability as an officer notwithstanding, there are hundreds of Benders at the base, and I've seen their powers."
"Regardless, it's too late to back out now," Vel said. "We'll just have to factor them into it. Besides, if they are new, they'll be easier to bluff past with procedural talk." Gorn left shortly after, and Cassian began to listen to them explain the base's layout. Sometime later, he was alone in the woods, relieving himself. After he finished, he felt something strange, as if the grass responded to him. Getting curious, he yanked his hand back, and a massive amount of water ripped out of the ground, forming into an orb of liquid in front of him. Cassian was shocked, what was happening? Then, he remembered: on the Acheron, Kya had applied some sort of liquid to both his arm and his head after he was injured. He thought it was Bacta, but then he remembered how it looked to be floating in her hand. Was she...a Waterbender? And now, he too was a Waterbender? He hoped Kya and her brother had escaped the doomed ship, and that he'd be able to find them, if they managed to pull off this heist.
Sabine was practicing her Firebending in the Western Air Temple courtyard, late in the afternoon. Ezra was close by, practicing his Earthbending, when Meelo called to his sisters that there was a message from their aunt and uncle. The Mandalorian and the Lothalite didn't think much of it, and continued with their training, in full combat armor. While the Stormtrooper gear Ezra wore wasn't as tough as Sabine's Beskar armor, it was still fairly heavy. As a result, when they were done, both of them were rather sweaty. As there weren't any showers at the Western Air Temple yet, the two young Imperials went to one of the communal baths that it possessed.
"You're looking good, Ezra," Sabine smiled to the boy she'd been flirting with for some time, laying back in the hot water. He smiled back, and complimented her in turn, seeing her out of her armor and the jumpsuit underneath.
"So, will you be ready for a swim at one of the local beaches?" asked Ezra, remembering how she was wary of swimming. Between how cold her homeworld Krownest could get, and an accident while training, Sabine was rather wary of swimming in open water.
"Only if you are there," the Mandalorian smiled back. After washing up, Ezra put on his civilian clothes while Sabine changed into a new jumpsuit. Shortly after leaving, however, they ran into Jinora and her boyfriend Kai. Kai was trying to reassure the eldest Airbending sibling, who looked rather worried. Her siblings Ikki and Meelo were close by, also looking upset, with Ezra's cousin Jonah and Jonah's girlfriend Koko saying reassuring things.
"Is something wrong?" Sabine asked her new friends.
"Aunt Kya called," Meelo said. "She and Uncle Bumi are sick!"
"It's not that," Jonah stated. "They aren't sick, but there is a chance they might spread the disease if it isn't handled, now."
"Well, if they spread a sickness, they must have a sickness," Jinora said.
"Not necessarily," Koko spoke up, trying to reassure the Airbender siblings. "There is a phenomenon called Asymptomatic Infection. While the person in question is infected, they don't suffer the effects. The only reason they and those people they saved are being detained, is to make sure they don't spread this disease. Even if they are infected, it shouldn't take long for the doctors to find a way to remove their infection." Ezra, as much as he loved Jonah, noticed how his cousin was rather blunt, forgetting how not everyone was as calm and logical as he was. He was getting better, but after all he went through on Qree and afterward, it would take time to break his walls down. Sometime later, shortly before dinner, Agent Kallus ran in and revealed there was a superior officer coming to the Western Air Temple.
"Some sort of surprise inspection," Ezra concluded, cursing how there wasn't enough time to change into his proper uniform. Hopefully, this guy, whoever he was, would recognize off-duty. The Imperial garrison assembled to meet the shuttle. Everyone was shocked, however, to see Grand Moff Tarkin walk down the ramp.
"Agent Kallus, I take it that you've been maintaining garrison readiness?" the older man stated, before turning to Ezra. "I suppose not, given how this child is lacking his uniform. What is your name and rank?"
"Corporal Ezra Bridger, sir!" he shouted, trying to hide his nervousness.
"Perhaps I should talk to Lord Vader about discipline," the Grand Moff said, showing his distaste for a more relaxed approach. "But where are my manners?" he said, turning toward the Airbender siblings, specifically Jinora, who, as the only Airbending master present, was technically in charge. "I am Wilhuff Tarkin, Grand Moff of the Galactic Empire. A trusted servant of the Emperor, just as Lord Vader is."
"I am Master Jinora, head teacher of this temple," the eldest sibling said. "It is a pleasure to have you as our guest. To what do we owe this honor?"
"I wanted to see if your guardians were performing their tasks adequately," he said. "In addition, I hurt my shoulder, recently. I wished to see if Waterbending healing was as effective as I've been told." With that, Koko, the lead Waterbender present, offered to heal him, which he graciously accepted. So far, Jinora and her siblings were more unnerved by Tarkin than they were by Darth Vader. As Tarkin sat down next to the communal baths, he took off his tunic, and everyone, even several Imperials, gasped at just how many scars were on his back and chest. Kai thought several of them looked like claws from a wild animal. Others looked a little like burns from a blaster, and Meelo thought he saw the mark of a power drill.
"Okay, sir," Koko said, taking her mind off the old scars, and remembering her training as a Waterbender. Tarkin didn't make any sound but he did look like he was enjoying the feeling. After the bruise disappeared, he complimented the young Imperial, before turning to the Airbender siblings and Kai.
"Any scars, yourself?" he asked. Meelo pointed to a small mark on his chin, from when he tripped and fell during his first Air Scooter lesson. Ikki showed an old scar on her right arm, left from a cut made by the mad Waterbender Ming-Hua. Kai showed a slight burn scar on his left side, made when P'Li caused an explosion close to him. "Souvenirs from the terrorists called the Red Lotus, I take it?" Tarkin deduced, before turning to Ezra. "Corporal Bridger, is that a cut under your eye?" Ezra showed the thin scars under his left eye, the mark of some stray shrapnel that would have blinded him if only slightly higher. "Well, it is good to see you aren't lacking for bravery, at least."
"Grand Moff, it's almost in time for dinner," Ikki spoke up, trying to get Ezra out of any further predicament with this superior. "We'd be honored if you would join us."
"As you wish, Lady Ikki," he said, in that strangely classy accent many Imperials had. "I look forward to getting to know you."
Kuvira was training under the eye of Darth Vader when they heard there was a transmission from Baatar. Deciding that her shower could wait, Kuvira joined her master in the communication room. Needless to say, her boyfriend was rather surprised to see her answering his holocall in her gym clothes. After a moment of blushing, he started recounting what had happened with Bumi's party.
"Show me this creature," Vader commanded, to which Baatar did so, displaying a hideous, eyeless abomination with a massive snout, slimy grey skin, and numerous claws. "A Rakghoul," Vader stated, revealing its name. "I haven't seen such a creature in many years. Destroy the specimen, immediately." Baatar was surprised to hear this order, but complied, pressing a button which turned the energy of the force cage against the captive monstrosity, vaporizing it. Vader sent a file to his apprentice on Aldhani, saying it would have all the information necessary, before saying something surprising. "There is a segment of this file that is your eyes, only," the Sith Lord stated. "All else, you can share with your guests."
"As you wish," Baatar affirmed, bowing his head to his master. After it shut off, Vader turned to Kuvira.
"One of the more shameful parts of the Sith's past was a sorcerer named Karness Muur," Vader began. "He was not content to rule over people, but to make everything a beast he could control. The Rakghouls were the ultimate expression of that desire. While Muur was killed long ago by other Sith disgusted with his ambitions, the Rakghouls persist. As does, perhaps, the thing that first created them: the Muur Talisman."
"What is that, master?" Kuvira asked.
"A magical artifact which Karness supposedly bound his soul too, in order to survive bodily death," Vader revealed. "But if that is the case, he is rather miserable, given how I left it and its wearer on an uncharted world, surrounded by asteroids and other navigational hazards, in the aftermath of a failed expedition for lost knowledge. More importantly, it can cast a spell which instantly turns humans, and similar races, into Rakghouls. Provided the individuals within its radius lack Force-Sensitivity."
"What a horrible creation," Kuvira said, horrified by what she heard. "But it doesn't sound like you suspect the talisman to be the cause of this."
"There is a world that should have been abandoned, long ago, were it not for vanity and obsession, that is endemic with Rakghouls," her master revealed. "Perhaps, when the Death Star is completed, we will destroy this cesspool of disease and ruin." Kuvira promised to read more of the file, as soon as she was cleaned up. As she stepped into the shower, she looked forward to seeing Baatar again and wondered how things were going for him.
Bumi looked over the room while Bossk was going over the information about who they met on the Acheron, Kassa, or rather, Cassian Andor. The Trandoshan had spent a lot of time looking up what he could, mostly to preoccupy himself as they awaited the quarantine to end. After contacting home, Kya had spent a lot of time with Srinivasa, trying to console him about what happened to his family. The Lambert family was in a different part of the facility, called Alkenzi, while TC-14 was in storage, deactivated. It was a bit troublesome to Bumi that droids, despite being intelligent creatures, were often treated as just machines.
"Well, I have heard back from Lord Vader," said Baatar, interrupting their thoughts. He opened the door, breaking quarantine, to their shock. "He has identified the abominations that were onboard the Acheron, called Rakghouls. The only way for the Rakghoul plague to be spread is to be infected with fluids containing it, usually spit in whatever wound they made. So, you guys are now in the clear." Bumi breathed a sigh of relief, as none of them had been bitten.
"What about Kassa, or Cassian, as I hear he's called?" Kya asked, remembering how he'd been bitten and she'd treated the bite.
"If he was infected, he'd have been turned in about three to six hours," Baatar said. "It'll probably be a while, though, before we learn for sure. That ship he left on is in no database, and we don't know where he was headed. As for the ship the escape pod came from, I haven't heard back about where it is, yet. If the crewmen are alive, they are going to have to explain why their ship had some Rakghouls on it, that they apparently tried to keep secret."
"Where do the Rakghouls, come from?" asked Kya.
"These Rakghouls probably came from Taris, but if you mean their homeworld, that is unknown, and might be inapplicable," the eldest Beifong sibling said. "They have certainly been around for an extremely long time, but exactly when and how is unknown. Given how they seem to exist for no purpose other than killing and infecting all organic life with the plague that creates more of them, it is often believed they were created as weapons."
"They seem less controllable than clones," Kya mentioned, remembering how Boba Fett came across as a normal person, and what he'd said of the other clones in the galaxy.
"Well, maybe that's why no one knows who created them," Bumi mentioned, before looking at Baatar. "But why do you think they are from Taris?"
"Because it's the only planet with a confirmed Rakghoul population," Baatar replied. He went on to explain how, long ago, Taris was a massive city world, but with enormous social problems, mostly persecution of nonhumans. It was once divided between the Upper, Middle, Lower, and finally, Under Cities, it had grown so tall. Unsurprisingly, the poor were largely confined to the Lower City. "Taris was once the heart of hyperspace travel in that part of the galaxy," Baatar continued. "At some point, for reasons unknown, the Undercity was infested with the Rakghoul plague and was largely abandoned. Sometime after, new hyperlanes were charted, and the galaxy started bypassing Taris. Taris turned to reckless industrialization to keep itself afloat, which poisoned their few sources of home-grown food, leading to a civil war."
"Why are you telling us this?" asked Bossk, annoyed at the reminder of how Humanocentricism was a constant throughout history.
"Because that history is important, today," Baatar answered. "The rebels were defeated, at which point the Tarisian government developed a new idea for handling their criminals. Tarisian justice became one of two things: immediate execution, or banishment to the Undercity, forever. And if those banished to the surface with mutant cannibals managed to have any children, well, they inherited their parents' sentences." That shocked Bumi and his sister, even Bossk was rather surprised. None of them were familiar with such an unforgiving legal code.
"Is that over, now?" asked Bumi.
"Yes, but I'm getting ahead of myself," Baatar answered. "Taris ramped up its industry again, becoming a place with lax safety standards, and a flexible tax code for corporations that wanted to build factories. The Jedi opened a new outpost there, and some people thought things were looking up, at last. But then a Jedi had a bad dream, and convinced his friends they should slaughter their students to stop it from coming true."
"Nice to know Jedi have always been stupid," Bossk quipped, looking at Bumi and Kya's surprise at the reveal.
"Stupid, and corrupt," Baatar added. "The companies, dealing with Taris's astronomical crime rate, were already wondering if the planet was worth the trouble. This, along with the Jedi's patsy managing to escape, destroyed any illusion that the law actually mattered. The corporations which operated the factories abandoned the planet, leading to massive unemployment riots. This, and a war with the dominant Mandalorian faction of the era, left Taris a shadow of its former self, with a crime syndicate the true power on the planet. Shortly afterward, a new war kicked off, led by a rogue Jedi called Malak, who decided that Taris wasn't worth the effort of holding, and had his armada bomb the planet, exterminating the entire population."
"Where does that leave Taris, now?" asked Kya, wondering how recent this all was.
"In the four thousand years since then, there have been a few recolonization projects," Baatar casually stated, surprising Kya and her brother at how long ago this was. "Not sure why, since its mostly a toxic swamp of ruined buildings and cannibalistic monsters. But more recently, there has been a fairly successful reclamation effort. It's dangerous, stupid, and there isn't much reward at the end, given how hyperlanes have largely been rerouted. From what I've heard, they are like countless people I've met back in the Earth Nation: nostalgic fools in love with a myth of past glory, who have no religion or belief outside of that. So, they are willing to do anything they think will help in their dream."
"So, how does what happened on the Acheron affect them?" asked Kya.
"Their senator will need to present herself to the Emperor, and their shipping procedures and spaceport security will need to go under review," Baatar replied. "Something they have tried to avoid for years. Perhaps because they've been building more houses than safeguards against this."
"Well, the Empire could help them in that security, right?" asked Bumi.
"Lord Vader doesn't consider that likely," Baatar said. "After all, Taris is like one of those ugly houses someone tries to fix, only to bankrupt himself because he was too stubborn to give up. Whenever a Tarisian official is asked why they continue, it's always something like 'we've spent too many lives and money to give up now, especially since our goal is in sight!' And like I said, the things that made the galaxy care about Taris disappeared long ago. The Empire won't waste resources on a cult's vanity project, which is all the restoration project is." He then stood up, and explained how, because of the danger of the saliva from Rakghouls, the Hound's Tooth would be quarantined for a while longer.
"Where can we stay, then?" asked Kya, looking at Srinivasa.
"Your little friend can come with you," Baatar answered. "It'll be at this dam, where the main garrison is housed. Just in time for the Eye of Aldhani, as the meteor shower is called."
Jinora had seen her parents host various dignitaries, and knew how to set up the table, accordingly. Her sister and brother were a bit less familiar, but they followed her instructions well. They'd invited their new friends among the Imperial garrison to sit with them, but all of them, even the more fun-loving Ezra and Sabine, had politely declined.
Jinora knew this was probably because Tarkin was sitting there, though whether it was a matter of discipline or simply because they were afraid of the Grand Moff was unclear. The Grand Moff himself was a bit of a strange one. At first, he appeared to be someone the siblings were rather used to: a boring bureaucrat who worshipped procedure and rules. But when he took off his officer uniform, he seemed almost pleased to showcase the scars underneath. His face had only shifted to respectful when he saw they'd been scarred in battle. Tarkin was certainly more than he appeared to be.
"So, uh, where are you from?" Meelo asked the Grand Moff.
"A world called Eriadu," Tarkin answered.
"Is it beautiful?" asked Ikki.
"In a different way than this," the Grand Moff answered. He explained how the Tarkin family, along with the Saresh, Hublin, Harro, and Chu families, had led a massive colonization effort of the planet almost a thousand years ago. "It was first settled millennia earlier, but despite being at the crossroads of not one but two massive hyperlanes, along with many local ones, it was extremely underdeveloped. All the inhabitants did was make jewelry out of mollusks. The Quintad, as my family and the other four are called, saw untapped potential. Why didn't the people before us see the potential the Quintad did?"
"Maybe they were content with what they had, and didn't want to spoil the world they had found," Meelo offered. Tarkin didn't respond initially, instead looking a little bewildered. Meelo, however, had a strange feeling that Tarkin wanted to hurt him for his remark.
"Perhaps," he admitted. "Not that it mattered, as the Quintad transformed Eriadu into what it was always meant to be: the Coruscant of the Outer Rim. A bastion of civilization in the wild Outer Rim, and an industrial giant of immense wealth. There are still a few beaches left for tourists, but aside from the agricultural zones, most of the surface is given over to factories, skyscrapers, and other cityscape. There are a few places where the waste is gathered before being sorted and taken off to another planet, aside from that, there is only a single nature preserve on Eriadu."
"Well, it sounds...interesting," Kai said, noticing how his girlfriend and her siblings were struggling to find the words.
"Of course," Tarkin replied. "It is all beautiful, unnatural order. No natural chaotic disorder, everything is constructed and the way it should be. The Carrion Plateau, as the nature preserve is called, is an object lesson. Nature is chaotic, and dangerous, and you must work to maintain order." The Airbender siblings were reminded of how Zaheer proclaimed the natural order was disorder. Tarkin apparently believed that, too, but unlike Zaheer, he didn't consider 'natural' and 'good' to be the same thing.
"So, what's the Carrion Plateau like?" asked Jinora, wondering why it was given such a threatening name.
"My family has long hunted those grounds, and my uncle Jova is still the head groundskeeper," Wilhuff Tarkin stated. "I went there in the summer, starting when I was thirteen, like all members of my family. Learning to hunt and survive in the chaotic wilderness that my ancestors had worked to subdue, elsewhere."
"Were you in an accident, there?" a sympathetic Ikki asked. "Is that how you got all those scratches?"
"Some of those scars were in battle, or when I was captured and tortured," Wilhuff casually revealed. "Those scratches, as you put them, were from the Carrion Plateau. I was attacked by two large beasts. My uncle reminded me I still had my knife and spear, and that he was waiting until I forced them off." That shocked the Airbender siblings, surprised that Wilhuff went through such an ordeal, and that, apparently, his uncle didn't bother to save him from it. Jinora then registered how apparently, this was a family tradition, which meant the entire Tarkin family went through it. Wilhuff himself didn't seem particularly resentful of what he went through, oddly enough.
"Uh, how did your safari end?" asked Jinora.
"At the center of the preserve is a massive tower of rock, called the Carrion Spike," Tarkin revealed. "That summer, a tribe of Veermoks, or apes as you would call them, had established itself. As was their nature, the strongest fought for the right to lead, and a victor emerged. I killed him to establish myself as the greatest predator of the plateau, scarring the Veermoks into dispersal, so that I could mount his head on my wall. I had learned the final lesson: Fear keeps chaos in line and is quite important to maintaining order." That moment shocked the young Airbenders, who were suddenly more afraid of Tarkin than they were of Vader.
"When I became a young soldier, my Uncle Ranulph led an anti-piracy campaign that I managed to join," Tarkin continued. "He died for the cause, but he succeeded. Afterward, I became a captain, myself, and managed to capture a pirate. As a trial was a waste of time, I locked her and her crew in their disabled ship and gave them a push toward the sun. Their radios were still working, allowing them to call for help...and for me to destroy any allies that might come to her aid. I made sure the entire sector heard their screams in that oven I placed them in, and afterward, piracy dropped significantly for both Eriadu and its neighbors." He then looked at a watch and stood up. "Well, Master Jinora, I thank you for being a good host," he stated, seemingly ignorant of how both the Airbenders, and even some Imperials, looked rather disturbed by what he had said. "I have a meeting to attend, however, and I hope to see you again, soon." As Tarkin's shuttle took off, Jinora thought, if anything, Korra and Mako had underplayed how Tarkin was someone to be wary of.
While Vader trusts his apprentices with history, some of it has been sanitized for the general public to paint the Sith in a better light. Everything I said, including a Jedi secret society murdering their apprentices because of a bad dream, is taken from KOTOR. I could never figure out why anyone would want to recolonize Taris. Even in SWTOR, where they gave a reason, it didn't make much sense.
I thought I would show how the Rebels see Benders. Since every Bender they've seen until now is an Imperial, and how ones they've seen from Elementia worship Darth Vader as a teacher, they are rather at odds with them. Taramyn's skepticism is a nod to how, in ANH, the Force is made out to be a fringe belief, Rebel or Imperial. Corporal Kimzi made an impression, being a grunt who was never fooled or lax at his post, so I made him one of the Imperials Korra helped on Maridun. And yes, Cassian is the first Rebel Bender!
Tarkin came to the Western Air Temple, mostly to get a feel for the Airbenders. I combined Legends and Canon for his backstory. In one comic, he fantasized about stabbing a Navy Trooper to death in a knife fight for mildly questioning him. Given how he frequently prioritizes instilling fear over anything strategically constructive, he doesn't notice how both his own people and Elementals are concerned by his actions, and more importantly, doesn't care.