Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

While reports were always a chore, Agent Kallus had never struggled so much with writing one before. He sat at the desk in his quarters with the soft yellow glow of the meteorite on his shelf providing illumination. It had been a mere day since an independent trader had returned Kallus to the imperial fleet after what felt like an eternity on the frozen moon of Geonosis waiting for his comrades to find him. He had barely even had time to see the medics for treatment of his broken leg. But the Empire like its mission reports as soon as possible with no reprieve given based on circumstances.

And the Circumstances Alexsandr Kallus found himself in right now made things feel insurmountable, like a wall had been erected in his mind and was blocking him from putting and further words to his datapad. He had begun writing the report as per normal, making note of the original plan, how the trap had been laid and how the rebels had been lured to the construction facilities orbiting Geonosis. He wrote of the ambush, how the troops had been broken by the rebels and he had chased down and fought the rebel Garazeb Orelios in single combat.

Kallus reread the report hoping that reminding himself of the events so far would entice the words out of his brain like a Jawa to a stray droid but alas the wall came back up and blocked any progress. Kallus leaned back in his chair letting out a low huff as he rubbed his eyes.

“I have written reports like this dozens of times, why can’t I just say what happened with Zeb on the moon and get on with my day?” he muttered with growing frustration.

“Zeb…”

Kallus jolted upright in his seat. He had just referred to the rebel in the way he would mention a friend offhand in a conversation. He was an agent of the Imperial Security Bureau, it was unbecoming of him to treat a rebel in a friendly manner, even if that rebel had saved his life from some foul beast…

The realisation dawned on Kallus, the reason for the wall, the block to his writing was Zeb and their shared experience. Was he really struggling to decide whether to lie to his superiors about information regarding a rebel cell? Even more so the cell that he had been hunting for the last year and which was becoming and ever-large nuisance for the empire? He felt growing shame at the thought of shirking in his duties to the emperor and tried to remind himself of how important the ISB’s duties were to maintaining peace and security in the empire.

Despite this reminder, agent Kallus still felt a deep conflict inside. Garazeb had helped him to survive on that frigid moon despite the fact that they were enemies and even more surprisingly in spite of Kallus’ prior insinuations that he had been the one to order the extermination of the the Lasat people. Kallus was a hated enemy of Zeb and the greater rebellion, yet Zeb had still refused to leave the man to his fate and had even treated him with an unexpected kindness.

The experience was quite contrary to what the Imperial Academy had drilled into his head from a young age. The idea that rebels were blood thirsty anarchists looking to destroy the peace the emperor had built, with plans to pillage and plunder the galaxies citizens if given half a chance. The academy had taught them that the rebels took no prisoners and butchered all they could get their hands on. Yet now he was unsure of what to think, his treatment by Zeb on the moon a direct contrast to the picture that imperial rhetoric painted for its citizenry.

With a strained huff Kallus brought himself to his feet, wincing as he put weight on his still healing leg. Maybe food and some time with the crew in the mess hall would help clear his head… bring him back to the ‘right’ mindset.

As he wandered the corridors of the vessel, he noted how empty it all suddenly felt, with other crew members barely even glancing in his direction as he passed and the hallways all looking the exact same as one another. Even the troopers he normally served with began to appear hollow, like a facsimile of a person. Golems crafted by the emperor to follow orders above all else even their own lives.

When he overheard the rebels returning for Zeb he heard excitement, joy and relief in their voices, they had been worried for their comrade, spending more than a cycle trying to track the escape pod and find him. Meanwhile the imperial navy had stopped looking the moment an arbitrary time limit had been reached, he had had to wait for an independent trader to happen upon his emergency beacon for rescue. Granted he could have received ‘help’ from the rebels when they picked up Zeb but he assumed that would include imprisonment rather than a ride back to imperial space. But even when he got back to the cruiser the welcome was less than even a whimper, the mouse droids shuttling data across the vessel showed more interest and emotion in his return than Admiral Konstantine had. A man he had worked alongside for the greater part of the year barely acknowledged his return.

Kallus stopped dead in his tracks, feeling a chill come over him as he remembered his return to the imperial fleet. It reminded him of the freezing cold of the moon, perhaps he had been mistaken to turn down Zebs offer. The time spent on the moon had changed Kallus in more ways than he could currently understand.

The thought of Zeb's offer brought him some warmth, feeling like a faint shield over his soul just as the meteorite had been during his time on the moon.
For what may be the first time (outside of covering for the boys on Onderon), Kallus made the decision to lie on an official imperial mission report. Spinning around on his good leg and marching back to his quarters. Only slightly wincing with each step that brough him closer to his room.

Upon his arrival he palmed the meteorite, feeling its warmth against his skin and sat back at his desk. The wall in his mind finally coming down as words began to flow onto the datapad. While Kallus wasn’t sure of his overall opinions of serving the empire further, he was certain he wanted to cover for Zeb, omitting that he had been on the moon with him and that Kallus had let him go free. As far as the empire should be concerned it had all happened exactly as he had just written in the report.

After all, this would only be a one time repayment to Garazeb for his kindness shown… right?

Chapter Text

In the weeks following his ‘incident’ with Zeb, Kallus had buried himself under piles of work, spending every waking moment poring over situation reports for worlds across the sector. Forcing himself deeper and deeper into his work in an attempt to shield himself from his anxious thoughts regarding his ‘truthful’ report and the cracks in his emotional armour.

It was in this time that Kallus discovered reports of a rebel insurgency on the Agri-World of Banuc, situated on the outer edges of the Lothal Sector.

He now stood at the head of a conference room aboard the ISD Relentless, having reading a report and mission plan to bring the world to heel.

“As noted in my prior messaging, I have received startling reports of a growing insurgency on the Agri-World of Banuc. In recent weeks rebels have assaulted and destroyed a major fuel refiner on the world. This has hampered the imperial fleet’s ability to patrol the sector and done untold damage to the planet’s atmosphere.”

“Agent Kallus, could this be the work of your Lothal Rebels?” questioned Admiral Constantine as he glossed over a copy of Kallus’ report on his datapad.

“It does not appear to be admiral, while the use of explosive ordinance to cripple our manufacturing is a common tactic for the rebels of the Ghost. These attacks lack the traditional calling cards of their Mandalorian member. I believe this may be a new rebel force indigenous to the planet.” Kallus explained to the admiral, who appeared to lose interest when it was revealed that this attack was unrelated to their normal rebel prey.

Kallus continued with his presentation, providing further information on the rebel raid’s effects.
“While this attack is unrelated to the Lothal rebels, it still requires our attention as the rebel’s assault on the refinery has resulted in the release of tons of harsh chemicals into Banuc’s atmosphere, chemicals that have begun to cause a chain reaction that is projected to result in acid rain within a few rotations. This catastrophe poses a major risk to both the imperial citizens as well as the food supply chain for the sector.”

He switched over to the next slide and continued, “it was only after the refinery incident that planetary authorities noticed two things, firstly they found evidence of unsanctioned supply runs on the world, likely pirates or other rebels brining in supplies and equipment. Secondly was the discovery of several shipments going missing in the weeks leading up to the attack. Primarily demolition equipment and some blasters”

The admiral raised an eyebrow as he looked up from his report.
“So, you have found a pattern for this attack, what good does this do us after the fact Agent Kallus?”
“Well Admiral, we have a pattern of operation for these rebels and while compiling information on this attack I noticed another recent spike in undeclared traffic in the system, likely more pirate or rebel supply runs. I believe we may be in the early stages of the rebels preparing for another attack.”

“What exactly do you require from me to deal with them?”

Kallus was rocked awake by the sudden jolt of the shuttle hitting the atmosphere. He quickly shook off the last vestiges of sleep, rubbing his eyes as he took in his surroundings aboard the shuttle. He found himself strapped into one of the side benches within the Sentinel Landing Craft’s main compartment, several squads of stormtroopers and logistic personnel filled the remaining seats on either side of the bad. In the centre of the compartment lay pallets of supplies strapped to repulsor sleds that were magnetically locked to the deck.

Kallus released his seats harness and raised it up before climbing to his feet to start the short walk towards the cockpit. He winced as he first put weight on his left leg and felt a sharp sudden pain. He took a moment to regain his stability before moving onwards, it wouldn’t do him any good to show weakness in front of the troopers. As he continued towards the cockpit the pain in his leg transitioned into a low dull ache, he was healed enough to lead the mission and that’s all the empire cared about.

Arriving at the cockpit Kallus shifted his weight to his good leg.

“Pilot, what’s the eta to landfall?”

The co-pilot spun in his seat to look at him, he was younger than Kallus expected, looking like he had just stepped out of the academy. Had the Empire always fielded pilots and crew that looked as though they hadn’t even hit their 18th birthday?

“Sir?”

Kallus realised he had become lost in his thoughts yet again, his mind seemed to wander to ‘oddities’ of the empire lately, he found it a struggle to stop the flow of such thoughts when they crept up. Far easier to just go with the tide rather than fight to ‘swim’ back to his previous state of mind.

“Repeat that trooper, I was momentarily distracted by my comm” Kallus lied, hoping the pilot was naïve enough to believe him. Karabast, he needed to get a grip on his thoughts, his condition was starting to show in front of the troops. He was supposed to be an example to them all.

“We will make our landing site in 5 minutes, well ahead of the forecast storm activity.”

“Good, we have a schedule to keep, don’t want to keep those rebels waiting on their ‘shipment’ now do we Pilot” he replied, spinning on his good foot he marched back to the shuttles main compartment to begin preparations for his trap.

He stood by the repulsor sled and motioned for everyone to rise. “You’ve all been briefed on the mission, get our prize ‘shipment’ moved onto the supply pad and troopers, make sure to conceal yourselves well. We don’t want our rebel’s catching wind of our trap” With that he marched towards the ships main ramp and hit the controls. The ramp hit the ground with a clang and troopers began stomping past the agent, making way towards their positions.

Below on the landing platform stood an Imperial Army officer dressed in standard grey armour and a similarly coloured poncho with several squads from the local garrison at her rear. Kallus swiftly made his way down the ramp and across the pad towards them.

“I’m Agent Kallus, Imperial Security Bureau. We appreciate your assistance in dealing with these rebels.”

The officer peeled back her ponchos hood, revealing short greying hair and burn scars along the left side of her neck and face. The dull colour of the scars suggesting the injuries had been sustained in a far earlier conflict.

“Pleasure to finally meet you, Agent. I am Mara Kest, commander of the Banuc Garrison.”

She held out a hand in greeting. Kallus reached out to greet her but found himself stopping short as he laid eyes on a prosthetic hand awaiting his grip.

“Ahh, not used to seeing veterans of the war are you, Agent?” she chuckled as she bridged the gap and reached the last few inches to shake Kallus’ hand. The handshake was brief but Kallus swore he could feel the heat being sapped from him by the officer’s metal limb.

“You’ll be pleased to know that we have set up number of proximity and motion sensors while we were waiting for you. The Governor wants these rebels handled quickly so they saw fit to provide us with all the spare equipment that could be mustered.”

The officer began pointing to several guard towers as she continued. “If it’s alright with you, I’d like to station some of my troopers in the guard towers, make sure our trap looks as legitimate as possible. They may even come in handy if things go south.”

“I’m glad the governor is taking this issue seriously. Deploy your troopers as you see fit, I’ll have my stormtroopers hidden and ready to pounce when the rebels walk into out trap”

With that the garrison soldiers ran to their set positions to prepare for the ambush.

“So, Agent, that’s how I managed to get off Jabiim and ended up with this reminder of how deadly clankers can be” Kest said while displaying the full extent of her prosthesis. Kallus and the commander were holed up behind some crates and lifting equipment within the fence line of the main supply depot alongside a squad of imperial army troopers. The pair swapping tales of survival to pass the time. Kallus was quite shocked to learn of the events of the Battle of Jabiim, the betrayal by the republic against its own citizen…

The agents mind began to bring up similar actions that he had been involved in, such as the ghastly affair with Tarkin Town… He was quickly shaken from this train of thought by the sudden beeping of his datapad.

“It appears our guests have arrived” Kallus muttered as his training took over and the agent veneer settled over him. A quick glance at his datapad showed that the outermost proximity sensors had activated by a large group, it would only be a minute or so before the rebels would be on top of their ‘prize’ and within his grasp. The pair quickly and quietly manoeuvred from their hiding place into a position with better visibility of the payload, ensuring they remained out of the sight of their inbound guests.

It was less than a minute before the sound of the metal grinding along a duracrete floor filled the air as the rebels forced open the main gate, the sound grating on the agents’ ears and causing a grimace to grow on his face. The commander next to him on the other hand looked as calm as ever, her eyes affixed on the people clambering through the slowly growing gap between the doors.

Kallus held up his hand so that it was visible to the officer and the army troopers but still hidden from the rebels. “Hold off, we want to catch as many as we can with our net” he whispered into his comm unit watching as more and more people clambered into the warehouse and started pulling crates from the pile.

“Damn, it’s just machinery!” yelled one of the rebels yelled as they tossed the crates away, seemingly disinterested in the precious equipment the empire had loaned for the bait.

Kallus’ face showed severe confusion at the outburst as he was certain these rebels would’ve been after equipment and weapons in preparation for what must be a pending attack. He watched as dozens more people of varying heights and species filtered into the room, for a moment he even thought he saw a Jawa.

As the stream of people coming through the gate began to thin, Kallus clenched his fist to signal the springing of their trap. As they revealed themselves to the rebels the area became a cacophony of shouts and yelps as they realised, they had been caught off guard by imperial forces. The crowd immediately became agitated as army and stormtroopers closed in around them, encircling them and leaving them pinned to the mountain of supplies.

“Congratulations on your prize Rebels!” Bellowed Kallus as he addressed the crowd, trying to ignore the strange fact the ‘Jawa’ had run over to another of the rebels and been lifted into their arms…

“Do not resist, you will now be taken into imperial custod…” he continued before Commander Kest interrupted him.

“Sorry Agent, the governor doesn’t have the resources to spare on looking after this rabble of traitors. TROOPERS! OPEN FIRE!”

Kallus jolted forward and tried to countermand but was blocked out by the deafening sound of blaster fire and screams filling the air…

Kallus felt a lump in his throat and a gnawing pit in his stomach as the blaster fire ended. His arms fell limp as he watched the last person fall from blaster fire. He had been hoping to catch rebels, but these? These weren’t rebels were they, now that he had a good look at them, he could see their faces were gaunt, their clothes hanging from their bodies. These people must have been left to starve after the mining accident ruined the atmosphere.

Kallus’ eyes glanced to a spark of white amongst the corpses, By the stars… it was a plush Tooka, a child’s plaything. Kallus felt the pit in his stomach grow with each moment as he realised that never was a Jawa…

These people weren’t trying to betray the empire… The empire… I… betrayed them.

Kallus dropped to his knees as the heavens opened, unleashing a downpour of rain upon him. The rain pinging off his helmet and armour. Over the constant drumbeat of rain, a faint fizzing sound began to be heard. As the agent shakily raised his head, he took in the image of steam rising from the pile of corpses, the acid rain beginning to claim their bodies.

Kallus stayed kneeling, watching the rain pour for a few moments before a stormtrooper marched over to him. “Sir! Are you alright? Did you take a hit? The admiral has called us back to the ship.”

Kallus shook his head slightly, trying to process what the trooper had said to him before pushing himself to his feet and started limping back to the shuttle.

“I’m fine trooper… just an old injury acting up”

Kallus turned as he reached the top of the shuttles boarding ramp, turning to look up the ‘rebels’ once more. The steam had grown and now concealed the majority of the people, the acid rain having soaked them. Kallus slammed the button for the shuttle and dropped his head.

‘Stars… you were right Zeb…’ he mumbled to himself

Something had to change, he couldn’t stay on this path any longer or it would kill him, maybe not physically but it would kill him…

Chapter Text

Kallus let out a sigh as he reviewed yet another report on his datapad. It had been a few weeks since the whole mess on Banuc and he was becoming frustrated with how little progress he had been able to make since then. He resolved to change for the better, try to rebel in his own way and help stop future atrocities, but here he was reviewing and filing reports day after day for the ISB. He has plenty of information he could ‘lose’ to the rebels, a way to help them stop the empire on Lothal, but they’d have no reason to trust him or even believe he wasn’t just trying to trap them.

His plans would go nowhere if he couldn’t find some sort of way to get in the good graces of the local rebels and have them trust him enough to go out on a limb and open communications with him. Ironically, as an ISB agent he was aware that the rebels had underground communications and even know how to find a few of their comm sites, but it wasn’t like he could just walk up to one of the local rebels and say “Hello. Kallus Here! I’d like to help your rebellion” and just expect them to take him in. Stars they’d probably blaster him on the spot instead.

He leant back in his chair and stared at the ceiling, scouring his brain for the answer. How could he build trust and rapport with those that would kill him on sight? He would need to have a captive audience just to open communications with a rebel, but by that point he is just yet another ISB Agent trying to break a rebel, at he assumes that how they would see him. At best extremely wary, at best outright hatred of him.

He dismissed the thought and stood up from his desk, walking over to his office window, starting out at the nighttime skyline of Lothal City. He watched as the evening patrols departed the street level hangars of the Imperial Complex, squads of army soldiers and stormtroopers marched out into the city alongside AT-DP walkers with large lights underslung. He felt the window rumble as patrol gunships took off and began flying their assigned patrol routes.

Before his eyes he could see the imperial occupation continue to grow, patrols reaching out like roots seeking water and nutrients to bring back to the weed growing in the centre of the city. Roots he had tended to, nurturing and guiding their growth as he were but a humble gardener tending to a prized flower they wished to see bloom.

Kallus was ripped from his ruminations by the sudden beeping of his commlink, taking a few moments to bring back his metaphorical mask before reaching for his commlink.

“This is Agent Kallus, go ahead”

A young voice replied from the other end of the commlink.

“Kallus, this is Lieutenant Ledre. Patrols have just brought in another trouble maker.”

“Lieutenant, are you calling to tell me you’ve nabbed another local delinquent or is there a more serious reason you’re calling an ISB Agent?”

He thought the local officers knew better than to call him about trivial matters with local delinquents.

 “I er… Sir! It is believed that they are part of the local rebel group, I would appreciate your assistance in extracting information from them” The Lieutenant replied after a heartbeat. It appeared Kallus’ luck may be changing after all.

“Ill be there shortly Lieutenant.”

He could hear the screams before he had even reached the detention blocks. The blood curdling sound piercing through layers of durasteel walls and now beginning to burrow past the walls Kallus had previously built up around his heart.

He marched onwards, his feet imperceptibly dragging on the floor. Before long the lighting shifted from the stark white of imperial hallways to a dim red glow, a tactic to help encourage their ‘guests’ to talk. He marched further into the darkness of the detention area, the weight on his soul increasing with each step. When he arrived at the interrogation room he raised his arm towards the door controls but stopped mid reach, feeling tightness grow in both his chest and heart, as though his hand was pulling razor wire taught around his heart.

The agent remained still as a statue, the world fading from his view as he got lost in his thoughts once more.  A battle waging inside him, he desperately wanted out of the empire, out of the misery both he and the empire spread across the galaxy. But leaving wouldn’t get the galaxy anywhere, he would just be running and betraying both himself and those that died needlessly on Banuc. He wanted desperately to stop being an instrument of pain and fear; to just run and live a peaceful life, he could live with that right? A peaceful mundane experience where he doesn’t need to care what flags are flying and what ‘security’ is keeping the planet safe.

He could just run, have his peace, couldn’t he? He faltered, tripping on the thread of the thought and feeling it tug on his heart even stronger than when he reached for the door controls. Could he really condemn the galaxy to damnation for personal peace?

“No” he muttered under his breath.

Kallus could not yield, even if it brought him only pain and misery, he knew the galaxy deserved better. He would follow this difficult path to the very end, he would keep playing his role while doing what he could to save people as and where he could. Staying hidden within the empire, gather information to leak to the rebellion. Kallus pushed forward and reached for the door controls, feeling the metaphorical razor wire tear his heart open as he set himself on this path.

Whoosh

The door opened and the stench of burnt flesh filled his nostrils. The Lieutenant perked up and stopped the torture device before turning with a slight smile to greet him.

The pair has been at it for almost an hour, a long scream filled hour. Kallus had hoped the rebel would break, provide them with some sort of information that was convincing enough for the Lieutenant. Something that would let him cart her back to her cell with her life. At least then he could figure a way to sneak her out of here.

While he had committed to do his best to maintain the façade of a dedicated ISB agent, it didn’t mean he wanted to do unnecessary harm to keep up the act. Stars it tore him up to be party to this but he didn’t have much of a choice. It was this or openly rebel himself and lose any advantage he could have given the rebellion.

While this helped to sooth his mind, Kallus had a fleeting worry that he would still be unable to go against the empire. That maybe he was just deluding himself into thinking he would rebel so that he could feel even a miniscule mote of relief that his actions were for the greater good while he kept on serving the empire. Could he really break from the empire and free the rebel before him?

The screams began to die down as the lieutenant pulled back the electro-probe from the torture ‘chair’, pulling Kallus back from his thoughts.

“I’m quite sure the agent is tired of asking you this so ill repeat it. Where are your rebel friends? Give them up and your life will be spared” the lieutenant asked with annoyance creeping into the edges of his voice.

The rebel let out a wet cough before voicing their response in a low and faltering tone. “I’ve already… told you… I don’t know what… you’re talking about”

“We tire of hearing that line rebel” the lieutenant spat back. “We know you are an associate of known rebel Ryder Azadi. We have reports of the two of you meeting on a number of occasions.” He let out a sigh before finishing his question. “Tell us what we want to know and I promise you will go free”

Kallus raised an eyebrow, knowing a labour camp is the only place that prisoners who refuse to talk go (and often even those who do).

There is silence for a moment before the rebel spat blood at the lieutenant.

“Do what you want, I have nothing to tell you!”

Kallus stood for a moment, considering what could be done, he could end the torture here, rotting in a cell was likely preferable to an excruciating death at the hands of the lieutenant. It might even give him a chance to cut her loose, or give her rebel friends a chance to break her out of prison. He wasn’t sure how either he or the local rebels would manage that, but he at least knew that the rebels were capable of achieving the unexpected, especially after his dozen or so run ins with the phoenix group.  

It would run the risk of damaging his reputation since ISB agents were supposed to be ruthless… but then again, he could write it off as an unorthodox interrogation tactic. Claim he wants the prisoner to stew on their injuries, let the long-term pain torture them further.

“Alright, lets get her back to her cell, we can let her injuries rot, see if that motivates her.”

The lieutenant turned to look at him, eyes wide and his jaw agape as he processed the agents’ words.

“No! we can break her! I just need to push harder, put her through more pain” bellowed the lieutenant bellowed as he reactivated the electro-prod, steadily increasing the power past the previous limit. Kallus looked on, stunned stiff as he saw the Imperial Dogma plain as day in the Lieutenant. The wanton disregard for life outside of the imperial ranks and obedient citizenry. How could the empire be so purposely blind to the pain they caused...? Wow could he be so callous against such pain…?

He watched on, wincing as the rebel writhed in the torture device, electricity arcing over her flesh while the interrogator stood there grinning as he dealt out the pain. He wouldn’t be able to save her, would he? The lieutenant’s violence would kill her before he could get his chance… As he watched pain and despair fill the prisoners’ eyes Kallus felt his heart well up, his emotions churning like a reservoir about to break its dam in a storm.

Before the action even registered in his mind Kallus reached for the electro-prod arm and jammed it straight into the interrogators throat. The man looked back at him with surprise dawning on his face before contorting as electricity started flowing through his nervous system.

The lieutenant fell to the floor convulsing and struggling for air as blood flowed from the electro-prod puncturing his neck. Kallus’s mind began to catch up as he watched the man dying on the floor. By the stars… What had he done?

Kallus stared down at the officer’s body, taking in the enormity of his actions. He had finally had enough and stood up to imperial injustice. While he was proud of that, it wasn’t how he had intended to start rebelling, this would be a pain to cover up, by the stars he had screwed up big time. He had wanted to rebel in small ways, leak information to local rebels or something, not skewer a man in his own dungeon….

A loud coughing fit jolted Kallus from his thoughts.

“Stars! I have got to get you out of here…”

Kallus quickly powered down the device, releasing the restraints and providing the rebel with support as she got to her feet. Confusing filling her face the entire time.

“So… what exactly is going on here?” she wondered aloud as she worked to regain her footing.

“I’m not too sure myself honestly… I just couldn’t stand to see him torture yet another person” he replied, chuckling nervously as he began pondering his next steps. The rebel raised an eyebrow at him. ISB agents were a feared symbol of imperial superiority in the galaxy and yet he had just murdered one of his own to save her.

He looked back at the lieutenant’s corpse, his mind scraping together a plan that could get both of them out of here alive. He needed her to get out of here unnoticed while also making it appear like she broke out an incapacitated him.

Stars he was sure if he met Zeb again, the lasat would laugh upon hearing the mess Kallus had managed to get himself into.  For this to work he needed to go out on a limb…

“Okay look, I know I’m the last person you would want to trust but it looks like neither of us have much in the way of options right now.” He knelt down and started rummaging through the lieutenants’ pockets, passing the man’s code cylinder to the rebel. “Take these and get yourself out of here. There's a locker room just down the corridor, you should be able to steal a maintenance uniform and use the disguise to get back to street level.”

As he spoke, he toyed with the lieutenant’s blaster, still uncertain of his decision, but it was his best chance for survival, even if it felt absolutely absurd. He slowly moved his arm outwards, blaster in hand gesturing for the woman to take it from him.  

“I’m going out on a limb here but… I need this to look convincing… I can’t stay undercover if the empire figures out that I’ve let you go willingly. I need you to shoot me…”

Before he could attempt to explain his reasoning further, the rebel grabbed the blaster from his hand and unleashed a stun blast on him. Kallus felt his body go limp as he fell to the ground, the stun turning his limbs into numb jelly.

“never had an imp ask to be shot before…” he heard the rebel mutter as his consciousness faded.