Unsettled/Disillusioned

Chapter 1: the Archaeologist

Call it his former ISB agent's intuition, but for some reason, Kallus couldn't shake the feeling there was something off about the man Ezra had brought to Chopper Base.

"Look, it's Kallus. Hi, Kallus!" Ezra called as Kallus walked by.

"Hi, Kallus," the man waved, and the small droid companion with him whistled pleasantly at him too. The short laugh that escaped Kanan's lips as he turned to the man felt genuine and sweet, in a way that Kallus knew Kanan hadn't felt in a while.

"Hello, Ezra, who's this?" Kallus asked. The man had bright ginger hair, a well-kept beard, and scars on his face, including one that reminded Kallus of the burn on Ezra's cheek and an identification tattoo on the inside of his right wrist. He wore a cape clipped to one shoulder of his short-sleeved hooded jacket and a backpack that looked stuffed. On one hip, he had a blaster in a holster and some kind of charm hanging from it. Curiously, he also had what looked like a lightsaber hilt on the other hip.

"Hi, I'm Cal," the man said, then gestured to the small droid beside him, "and this is BD-1."

Kanan and Ezra, and their new companions were kneeling by the small garden one of the other Phoenix squad members had started. The small droid, painted white, red and blue-grey, with his large lenses that looked like a pair of macrobinoculars, turned back to the plants and started scanning them.

"Kallus, Cal is an old friend of mine," Kanan sat crossed-legged on the ground, relaxed and with an easy smile on his face. "From the Temple."

Cal sat kneeling beside the small droid and turned to Kallus again with a crooked smirk as Kallus tried to work together the pieces: the large lightsaber hilt he wore on one hip, Kanan's familiarity and ease around him and the sense that Kallus had seen the man's scarred face and ginger hair somewhere before.

"You're a Jedi?" Kallus asked.

"A Jedi Knight, yes," Cal nodded.

"Well then, it's an honour to meet you and fight by your side," Kallus offered a hand but Cal waved it away.

"It's nice to meet Kanan's friends but... I have my own path," Cal said softly.

"You're not joining us?" Kallus asked, bewildered.

"I appreciate all the work you do on the front lines, it keeps the Empire's attention away from my own endeavours," he leaned over to Kanan and added playfully, "at least most of the time."

Kanan smiled and pushed Cal away with a light fist pressed to his shoulder.

"We picked him up on Pasaana," Ezra explained.

"I was investigating some ruins with my partner in the desert. A Jedi Master I once knew said he found clarity and peace in an old Temple there," Cal said with a sense of reverence in his voice, one that BD seemed to share as the droid beeped again, "I found an old friend there instead."

"Unfortunately an Imperial patrol almost found us too," Kanan sighed, "we brought Cal's expedition here to wait it out until the heat dies down."

"My own pilot had to split off pretty quick, too," Cal shrugged, "the Mantis will pick us up at some point."

"In the meantime, I'm more than happy to spend some time with you," Kanan said to Cal, "it feels like a lifetime."

"Likewise, Kanan, I almost didn't recognise you. And the, uuh," Cal's hand gestured to his own eyes but then his voice trailed off. "-Sorry."

"It's alright," Kanan assured him, as Cal focused on the painted jaig eyes on his mask, "In any case, I recognised you, could still sense it."

Cal beamed a smile at Kanan that he knew would be felt more than seen.

"Oh, Kallus!" Ezra said, "Commander Sato probably hasn't told you yet, but since you have a spare cot in your quarters, Cal will be bunking with you."

Cal turned to look at Kallus again and he felt trapped in his green eyes. Bright and light, like Ezra's, but he could sense they'd seen a lot of hardship in the past.

"Sorry you have to get 'voluntold' instead of volunteer," Cal said jokingly.

"Not a problem, Cal," Kallus assured him. He knew it was futile to try and hide the unsettling tension that had sprung up in his nerves, the man was a Jedi, they could read his mind. But the man was a Jedi, a friend of Kanan's, even, from before the Empire. He shouldn't have anything to worry about. "Maybe I'll show you around later," Kallus said as he started to break away and continue on his way.

"Looking forward to it," Cal said with a wave, "BD loves exploring."

As the three Jedi turned back to the garden and Cal and BD asked Ezra about the different plants, Kallus was wracking his brain for where he had seen Cal before.