The Honorable Ones

"The Honorable Ones" is the seventeenth episode of the second season of the animated television series Star Wars Rebels. It is the thirty-second episode of the series overall.

The episode, directed by Brad Rau and written by Kevin Hopps, premiered on February 24, 2016 on Disney XD.

In the episode, Zeb Orrelios and Agent Kallus are stranded together on Bahryn, one of the moons of Geonosis. These two bitter enemies are forced to work together in order to survive before the rebels or Imperials find and rescue them. As they do so, they begin to learn more about one another and the causes that they support.

Official description
''Zeb and Agent Kallus find themselves stranded on an ice planet after a failed Imperial ambush of the rebels. With Kallus injured from the escape pod crash, he and Zeb must work together to survive the harsh conditions.''

Ambush
The episode begins with the Ghost crew flying towards an Imperial construction module in the orbit of Geonosis in the hopes of finding information of what weapons the Empire had been building. As Chopper scans for life signs, there are none to be found, even though there are supposed to be billions of life forms on the planet. Ezra Bridger senses through the Force that all life on the planet has been wiped out. As the crew lands on the module, they find out it is a trap set by Agent Kallus. An Imperial astromech droid locks down the doors, trapping the rebels.

Meanwhile, the Ghost comes under attack from several All Terrain Defense Pods hiding in the hangar bay. Trapped, Kanan Jarrus contacts Hera Syndulla and Rex for help and they dispatch Chopper to unlock the doors. Chopper rushes to the control console and attacks the Imperial astromech droid. Following a struggle, he managed to knock out the Imperial droid and unlock the doors. Meanwhile, Garazeb Orrelios and the other rebels fought with Kallus and his stormtroopers. Chopper's efforts allows most of the rebels except Zeb, who is too engrossed with the fight, to flee back to their ship.

Zeb engages Kallus in melee combat as the others prepare to leave the station as Imperial forces began to intercept their escape. Zeb is forced to leave via an escape pod and later meet up with the Ghost as there is no other way out. However, Kallus manages to sneak aboard and start a fight with the Lasat. As the pod launches towards Geonosis, Kallus gets knocked onto the pod's controls, breaking them, which then heads onto one of its moons. The pod crashes into an underground cavern and Kallus breaks his leg in the crash.

Back in space, the Ghost is pursued by several Imperial TIE fighters. In an attempt to shake off their pursuers, Hera flies the ship through one of the Imperial construction modules. Kanan fires on a pursuing TIE fighter, causing it to crash into an AT-DP walker. After fleeing the Imperials, Ezra ordered Chopper to scan for the trajectory of Zeb's escape pod. When Chopper grumbled, Ezra slammed his metal head and told the astromech droid not to be a "sleemo."

Stranded enemies
Zeb finally wakes up and begins to gather supplies left from the crash. Kallus tells that the Empire will find them eventually and that Zeb will be captured, but Zeb tells that was not going to happen. Zeb goes back into the pod to scavenge for supplies and while he is occupied, Kallus reaches for his weapon, but Zeb stops him and takes the weapon to himself. As the night was getting closer, Zeb found a portable heater inside the pod, but it wasn't strong enough to heat them both. Zeb wonders why Geonosis wasn't a desert planet, but Kallus tells him that they were stranded on one of its moons, Bahryn. Zeb heads back inside the pod and finds a transponder, however, it was broken in the crash. Kallus says that if they get it working, the Empire would be able to find them. At the same time they hear a distant roar. Zeb took his chances with the cold and whatever creature was in the cave with them rather than being stuck in an Imperial prison, knowing what happened with Lasat in prisons. Kallus told that Zeb would get a trial, but he had hard time believing that.

At the same time, the Ghost crew continue to search for Zeb while scanning for life forms on the planet, but the scanners still weren't picking up anything. Ezra and Kanan take the Phantom on a sweep of the planet Geonosis but are unable to pick up Zeb's transponder. Rex comments that Zeb has a slim chance of survival. Hera orders the crew to undertake a wider scan of the area before Imperial reinforcements arrive.

Back on the moon, Zeb managed to fix the transponder and make it that it can pick up anyone's signal. Kallus mention that even if the two won't survive, the Empire will live on and continues to stop rebels like Zeb, but Zeb states more life forms get fed up with the Imperials. As they end their conversation, the heater's power cell freezes, leaving the two to be frozen alive. Zeb finds an alternative heat source from a meteorite and hands it over to Kallus. As Kallus is losing hope of survival, Zeb reminds him that the transponder is working. The signal won't be able to pass through the surface, meaning they have to climb their way out. Zeb tries to climb through the icy wall, but is unsuccessful. Zeb tries once again, but still falls down and gets frustrated from Kallus laughing at his failure. As Zeb is about to start a fight with Kallus, the bonzami, the creature they heard earlier finds the two. The bonzami goes after Zeb and he gets pinned down by the creature and barely managed to hold it off, Kallus joined him and together they scared the creature off.

Kallus states that the strongest survive and the weak will perish, to which Zeb asks was that the reason why there is no more life on Geonosis. Kallus says that he had no idea what happened there nor did he ask questions for his sake. Kallus states that they will never get out without his help, but he is no condition of being able to help. He can however say how they can escape the hole they are in. Zeb then picks up Kallus' Bo-Rifle trophy and discovers it is modified for close-quarters combat. He then angrily states that it is not supposed to be kept as a trophy. Kallus then responds that the Lasat warrior he faced back on Lasan gave it to him and that he fought well and died honorably. Zeb then reminds he will never forget what happened on Lasan, but Kallus also states everyone has things they never forget, including Kallus. Years earlier Kallus' first task was to deal with the rebels fighting against the Imperial presence on Onderon. One time he and his unit were ambushed by a Lasat mercenary working for Saw Gerrera. They were caught in an explosion, in which Kallus was knocked aside. Kallus explains that the mercenary slowly walking through the smoke and fire and left no one alive, including the injured that were unable to defend themselves. Zeb then feels regret and says that not every Lasat is the same, to which Kallus compares the Imperials.

After the conversation the two finally decided to head out. However, as they climbed towards the surface, the bonzami came back, this time with help. The two barely managed to escape the hole with their lives and almost being eaten, but they survived. Once they reached the surface, they headed to shelter from the blizzard that just started. As they waited for help to arrive, Kallus says that there wasn't supposed to be a massacre on Lasan, but the Empire wanted to make an example of the planet. He also says it wasn't personal. Zeb says that he has moved on and whatever happened, happened.

After a while the Ghost finally found Zeb. He offered Kallus to come with them as they would treat him fairly, but he rejected the offer and waited for the Imperials to find him. Upon greeting his fellow rebels (apart from Chopper who stayed aboard the ship), Ezra commented that it was freezing. Zeb responded that he had only been here for two seconds. Ezra then replied that two seconds was already "too long" for him. As Kallus headed to his quarters in a Star Destroyer located above Geonosis, he passed Admiral Kassius Konstantine who did not return his greeting. After entering the room, Kallus placed the meteorite Zeb gave to him on a shelf and sat down, possibly thinking of all the things the two spoke while being on the moon and/or the fact that none of the Imperials onboard noted his absence or return and that the Empire therefore lacks comradeship.

Continuity
The events of "The Honorable Ones" mark a turning point for Kallus, culminating in him ultimately becoming a rebel agent under the codename "Fulcrum beginning in the third season of Star Wars Rebels.