1I wanted more on Tseebo, the Rhodian, so, here. Kinda hope he comes back.
Error and Forgiveness
Tseebo grew up on an Outer Rim planet where rule of thumb was look out for yourself. Even with his move to Lothal, for a job programming farming equipment and a chance to not have to look over his shoulder for betrayal. But he still retained the belief one did not risk oneself. Tseebo's new company also helps reprogramming any droids or tech systems that go awry, and that is how he meets Ephraim and his wife, four months pregnant and trying to get their refrigeration and Ice unit cold enough to house the sweet cream treat that Mira needs the nutrients of.
They do not dislike him because he is a non-human, and Tseebo enjoys listening to Mira fuss around the house to her husband's exasperation as she insists on rearranging the furniture again. Tseebo meets Ephraim in the market, when the other is looking for Meiloorun fruit that Mira wants to add to the now frozen sweet cream.
Tseebo can't remember how he ended up back at their place, enjoying the treat, and listening to Mira list the pros and cons of the names she's picked out, for both boy and girl, because she wants the gender to be a surprise.
"I like Ezra, for a boy, what do you think, Tseebo?" Ephraim looks at him, and Tseebo is still in shock at the extremely long list (and their meanings) that Mira has put together. He was unaware at how difficult it was to name an offspring, or that there was over a hundred names meaning the same type of Flower.
"Ezra, what does that one mean?" Tseebo asks, and Mira points to the list.
"Ezra means help, or helper." Mira smiles.
"Tseebo like that name, much better than the Corellian and Alderran names meaning 'Spear Ruler'." Tseebo notes, he is a lifetime learner of 'basic' as his mouth is not quite suited for many words natural Basic speakers find easy, and the J and G sounds in particular are difficult. "Ezra." He tries it out, and likes it.
It soon becomes a weekly thing, Ephraim works at the small shipyard that Lothal has, mostly they repair ships that are damaged, and he specializes in fixing the communications arrays. Mira is a receptionist or secretary for the City Hall, but Mira is also, unfortunately, one of those whose pregnancy is strenuous, and once the so called morning sickness starts, she often is in the fresher unit of their home until afternoon.
So Tseebo starts dropping by to check on Mira when Ephraim's shifts get longer (The Clone Wars do not actually reach Lothal, but their effect is still felt, and refugee ships that come in require more and more help.) And it is on one of those visits that Tseebo is treated to something that someone shifts his own world view, though he doesn't know it.
"Oh!" Mira says, and Tseebo jumps, looking for whatever insect or stray creature that's startled her, only to see her hand on her now obviously protruding belly.
"Mira okay?" Tseebo asks, concerned, childbearing can be dangerous, he's learned, even with the advances made in technology.
"I'm find, Tseebo, our little one just kicked me, that's all." Mira smiles, practically glowing, and Tseebo is baffled. Mira's smile grows even wider, and much to Tseebo's shock she takes his hand and places it on her stomach. Before Tseebo can even react to such a move (and for him, it is borderline intimate) something hits his hand through her stomach. "The little one just started doing this, normally it's at night when I'm trying to sleep." Tseebo has no words, it's so odd, to suddenly realize that there is another life inside Mira, and Tseebo is equal parts intrigued and a little creeped out. Ephraim does not comment on Tseebo touching his wife, and Tseebo decides that he will never understand all the human customs.
Tseebo realizes that he does care about them when he has a horrible scare, when at eight months of Mira's pregnancy, she calls him, and he arrives to find her on the floor, unable to get up. Tseebo knows that falls can hurt the baby, and reschedules several calls because he wants to take Mira to the hospital, despite her protests, though she does get him to take her to the doctor she sees regarding the baby's health. Ephraim sweeps into the waiting room minutes later, and calms Tseebo down enough for the doctor to assure them that the child and mother are fine, it was not a dangerous fall.
It is just barely a month later, that Ephraim calls him, and Tseebo joins him in staring at the little child in the blue and orange blanket with the name 'Bridger, Ezra' stenciled on the side of the incubator. The next event that throws Tseebo's world view is when he's allowed to hold the child, while the holonews announces that the Clone Wars are over and the Republic has become the Empire. Tseebo doesn't give such news a second thought, while Ephraim and Mira are worried, he is staring at the tiny lifeform that is Ezra, and then panicking when the child wakes up and cries. Tseebo's attempts to placate don't work, and Mira has to reassure him that Ezra isn't crying because he doesn't like being held, but because the baby is hungry and needs to eat.
By the time of the first Empire day, little Ezra's birthday, it's clear that the Empire is nothing like the republic, and there are changes being made that don't sound quite right, but are still within the realm of 'reasonable'.
It gets worse from there, and Tseebo does not like it when Mira and Ephraim start decrying the empire when one of the pilots they know reveals disturbing information about the fate of those that disagree with the Empire. Tseebo knows what happens to those that try to fight a stronger opponent without aid, he's seen it on his homeworld, when those who tried to fight the crime bosses were killed or put into slavery, or worse, 'disappeared' with no body found or location ever discovered.
"Tseebo does not fight battles Tseebo knows cannot be won." Tseebo warns his friends, multiple times, trying to get across that their child needs them more than some too dangerous risks against what they all know is a clearly corrupt empire, because he likes little Ezra who will sit on his lap and attempt to learn his home language (all Ezra can manage is 'juice', but the child still tries) and because Tseebo knows that such corruption will either have Ezra killed with his parents, or sold into some horrible situation.
So when Mira and Ephraim are taken, Tseebo waits a day and goes to their house, fearing the worst and then so relieved to find little Ezra curled up in the transmission room, a holo of his parents glowing in front of him. Tseebo recognizes it as one he had taken, only a year or so ago.
"Ezra." Tseebo suddenly has the child in his arms, demanding to know where his parents are. Tseebo has a lump in his throat as he gets the boy to calm down and listen. "Empire has taken them away." He starts, and little Ezra, who is a child and scared says the one thing that leaves Tseebo feeling like he's been shot.
"Why didn't you help them?"
Tseebo can't answer, and Ezra, seven years old yesterday, Tseebo gave him a new helmet since he'd outgrown his old one, is too upset and unable to control his emotions. "You're their friend, friends help," his words trip over each other, and the tirade ends with a with a second shot, "I hate you!"
"Tseebo sorry, Tseebo will find your parents." Tseebo knows nothing of raising a child, but he does know the empire is hiring technicians, and Tseebo helped the Bridgers build their equipment. "Tseebo promise." He adds to the holo.
Little Ezra cries himself to sleep, and Tseebo leaves, he feels bad, but if he is to find his friends then every moment counts. Tseebo will later regret this.
Tseebo learns as much as he can, there are several levels of technicians, but the most interesting are the ones with cybernetics. It takes him longer than he would like to find out the details- the cybernetics can access higher security processors and servers, but to have them implanted means loosing ones individuality. A risk, Tseebo is reluctant to take, because then he cannot find his friends, or tell Ezra. He does find out one crucial detail, though.
Most lower level technicians are given the days surrounding Empire day off, so Tseebo goes to report to Ezra that he knows his parents are being held on planet, but Ezra is not in his house, or the transmission room, and the disk with the holo is still in the machine, but burned out from overuse.
Tseebo finds remains of food containers, all empty, and realizes that Ezra most likely had to leave to find food, and hits his head against the kitchen's refrigeration unit because he should have made sure Ezra had food. There is a reason Tseebo never settled down, as fun as it was to play with and teach Ezra, and that is because Tseebo has always looked out for himself, and had the Bridger's stayed free, they would have completely cured him of that.
So Tseebo looks for Ezra all the days of his leave, and with resignation returns to work. Every Empire Day leave, Tseebo returns to that house, checks the transmission room, and then spends time looking for Ezra. The only good news is that the Empire does not have a file on him, meaning he is of no concern and therefore not in trouble.
It's on Ezra's tenth birthday, the tenth Empire Day, and the imperials are going all out, even giving extra leave time, that Tseebo finds Ezra- stealing food and credits. Tseebo is horrified at this, there are ways for Ezra to make a more legal living, ones with considerable less risk.
Ezra does not take the lecture, or the explanation of what Tseebo does for a living, very well, at all. It hits Tseebo, as Ezra vanishes into shadows, that Ezra thinks Tseebo abandoned him and his parents, or maybe even betrayed them, and that maybe he should have just adopted Ezra instead.
This time, when he returns to work, he looks up adoption processes and discovers that there are laws forbidding non-human species adopting human ones, and so he can't help Ezra at all. (And he hadn't been able to tell Ezra that his parents are on planet, not some off-planet prison.)
Tseebo finally realizes, after another year passes and Ezra is not waiting for him in the transmission room, that all higher level technicians are humans. There is no way for him to work his way up and get the information.
He has no choice but to apply for the cybernetics and gamble with the chance of losing himself. He has no other options, and he has to try, for Ezra and his parents.
He applies for them the same hour he returns from the Eleventh Empire Day.
There is a vetting process. And Tseebo figures out, well, he steals copies of files, now that he is linked to that divisions server, that they are looking for people with already weak wills and minds, that there is a chance for him to retain his sanity.
There is also a subtle brainwashing process hidden in the meetings with the supervisors of this project. For best results, Tseebo learns from a study, the victim must be willing to let the program take over, must believe that releasing their individuality is for the greater good, rather than because they can try and fight the cybernetics and cause glitches.
The twelfth Empire Day, and Ezra is still not back in his home, or anywhere Tseebo can find, Tseebo drinks himself into a stupor in the transmission room, holding the orders to come in and submit himself for surgery, and toasting his most-likely failure and wishing he could say good-bye to Ezra, because that child and the memory of his two friends are the reasons he's doing this foolish and dangerous move when he'd much rather be keeping his head down.
When he goes in, he focuses everything he has on Ezra, on Mira and Ephraim. When he wakes up, he sees a helmet, and his first thought is 'Ezra' and something beeps.
"Passcode installed." His new supervisor (one of several), comments monotone. Tseebo has no idea how, but he does indeed still has his individuality, and even with his mind taking on strange thought patterns- no, computer programming, Tseebo figures out how to subvert and add hidden files- all under the passcodes 'Ezra' and 'Bridger'.
It is tricky, so tricky, Tseebo loses track of time, but finally they move him up through the ranks, he is more productive and therefore more loyal, a product of perfect brainwashing they think, and Tseebo happily reports that he is 19 % above average and so much more capable than they can even dream. Every scrap about Lothal's imperial prisons is taken, hidden in his special files, but the list of prionsers he can access are still relatively low, and Mira and Ephraim simply vanish after their level of threat is put at the highest it can go without warranting execution. There must be another list.
He can't leave for the thirteenth and Fourteenth Empire days, can't send a message to Ezra, but when the 15th finally comes around, Tseebo has his window, a chance to hack the files above his clearance, because Security is lax and no one cares what those with cybernetics do, too busy looking out for themselves to care about some person who is little more than a droid with flesh.
The information is too much, and his secret emergency protocol, made in case the empire ever tried to wipe his device completely, activates.
Tseebo waited a day before going to check on Ezra, but Ezra is not there, and Tseebo breaks down, unaware his chronometer is a little scrambled, and that it is the 15th Empire day, not the day after the seventh. This makes the information overload worse, because Tseebo does not fight it and lets himself be consumed, only holding onto his despair and grieving for little Ezra.
"Tseebo- Ezra Bridger." His protocols activate, but he can't control the information that he says, can't really see past the images of star fighters and artillery and mining rights. "Seven." Erza's age when his parents left, it was used as a secondary code along with his name, but all he can remember is there are alternating flight paths randomized by an algorythim now in his head.
Someone resets his chronometer, he feels relief, Ezra must still be evading the Empire, and "Ezra" is repeated, and all Tseebo can remember is that Ezra should be 15 now, and he has to find Ezra. "Empire day." Another (or the same?) voice says, and Tseebo protocol to search for Ezra is activated, but he can't see past the new data of the newly created prototype and hits a barrier. Someone keeps fiddling and slowly, the worst of the overload is sorted into new files and subroutines.
He's surrounded by people, they keep saying Ezra and someone keeps calling his name, and that's enough for his protocols to start shifting the information, for him to recover more and more of his mind because he has to deliver the information to Ezra, has to earn back Ezra's forgiveness.
And then Ezra is there (some part of him computes that Ezra has been there for a while, a secondary routine that was filing away all new sensory data but he'd been unable to process) and Tseebo can finally tell Ezra of his parents fate and get his forgiveness.
Ezra doesn't want to listen, at 15 he still retains the abandoned seven year-old that is struggling to deal. Tseebo can't process that, however, and grieves as Ezra rejects him, because he needs Ezra to forgive him, needs to tell him, and he's so stuck on that loop that he cannot get out of it. He doesn't even know when Ezra leaves the room, only knowing that at some point, he was left alone and that hurts.
The kind voice, The Twi'lek, he finally registers, keeps talking, and Tseebo, he can't tell what he wants anymore, he wants to escape the loop, but at the same time, he can't tell anyone other than Ezra, that's his mission, his underlying protocol.
'Tseebo!' he remembers the cheerful little boy that would greet him with hugs, that Tseebo wanted to help and protect. 'Juice!' little Ezra holding up the juice bottle. 'I'm scared', and the voice isn't that of the child, but that of the teenager, 'I'm scared to know what happened to my parents.' Tseebo feels the Twi'lek urging him to tell her the truth, and Ezra continues. 'I'm sorry Tseebo, I'm just not ready.' And Tseebo knows, as if Ezra had said it, that he has been forgiven for not doing enough, for making all those mistakes that hurt his Bridgers, who were his only family.
Tseebo cries more, because the little child he wanted to help is now grown up and Tseebo finally has the forgiveness and, finally knows that he cannot make decisions to help Ezra, he doesn't know how to, but the motherly Twi'lek holding him … maybe she'll know how to tell Ezra, when Tseebo cannot.
There, my thoughts on Tseebo's thought processes, and how things changed for him.
"After my Parents were taken, he went to work for the Imperials." Ezra sounds upset about this, and most likely saw it as a betrayal, it also sounds like he found out after Tseebo had worked there for a while.
"What's on his head?" Ezra doesn't know about the implant, meaning he didn't see Tseebo again after he found out Tseebo worked for the imperials.
Tseebo is found in the Bridger's house, in the transmission Room. If he was suffering from information overload, then this was pure instinct, or even a program that let him get to the safest place he knew. When Ezra calls him, he doesn't react to his name right away, but instead to 'Ezra Bridger'. I just shortened it to 'Ezra' as a passcode that Tseebo put in as a safety, so if something did happen, he could complete the objective of giving Ezra news of his parents.
As Tseebo becomes more sane as the episodes goes on, and that seems to be in correlation in how often he's around Ezra and hears Ezra's name. In fact, Tseebo eventually gets to the point where all he can focus on is Ezra and telling Ezra what he's found out.
