Star Wars Republic Commando: Knight of Honor ✓

Chapter 36

Author's Note: If you have any tips writing tips, please feel free to comment.

As always, I continue to hope that I am doing justice to the spirit of Star Wars as well the respective authors and characters from which I borrow. Again, I gratefully accept constructive criticism as a means to help me develop my skills further as a writer.

Mandalorian (Mando'a) words

Buy'ce (BOO-chay, BOO-shay): helmet; Colloquially: pint, bucket

Di'kut (DEE-koot): idiot, useless individual, waste of space (lit. someone who forgets to put their pants on)

Dinii (DEE-nee): lunatic 

Ika (EE-kah): diminutive suffix written as 'ika - also added to a name as a very familiar or childhood form, e.g, Ord'ika - Little Ordo

Ner vod (nair-vohd): "my brother/sister"; colloquially also "my friend"

Shabuir (SHAH-boo-EER): extreme insult - *jerk*, but much stronger

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Chapter 36

I always thought they'd be the ones to survive. They thrived on defiance, and our training sergeant, Gan Pohin, spent more time defending them than was tolerated by the other sergeants. Eventually, everyone on Kamino had dubbed them the "Reject Squad." Even I had thought that they might pull off some defiant miracle here on Tochin and walk out of the ashes of Hazar's wreckage. I regret having felt hope for my rival brothers, and I understand a new pain now, the pain of losing those I considered my family.

Clone Commander, CC-2341, "Tarj" discussing his grief with King Vollan Psach

Tochin Moon III, 786 Days ABG

Mouse popped another raw RubyFruit into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully as he continued the task of getting what was once a speeder's communications station working. After things had settled down with Dusty's revelation about Denon, Les'ika had taken some time away from the group to find something productive to do. Jas, as always, was faithfully by her side, and when the two of them returned, they had brought with them more RubyFruit and a few handfuls of yellow berries that Jas insisted were delicious despite their tartness.

Mouse still wasn't certain what he thought about the kind of devotion that Jas could so easily exhibit for Les'ika, and he didn't like the idea of narrowing his focus down so tightly to just one person. Then again, Mouse usually was a very narrow man by nature, but there was something liberating to him about working one-on-one with machines and weapons as opposed to sentient beings. Confining himself to any one person left him thinking in terms of claustrophobia. At least with the machinery, he could walk away from it and leave it alone for a while without having to worry about whether his inattention was causing concern for his absence.

Putting the rest of the raw RubyFruit into one of his belt pouches, Mouse decided to indulge himself with the remainder of his treats later. He preferred the fruit cooked, especially after Les'ika had spoiled him with it prepared that way, but there wasn't any sense in making a fire in the early evening. If they decided that they would stay in their current position until the morning, then they would work on a creating fire, and he was certain that the princess would keep herself busy cooking their newfound hoard at that time.

Mouse poked his fingers through the scattered pieces of the communications equipment and knew he had postponed fixing the apparatus for as long as he could, realizing that none of them could stop the inevitable. They were men destined for war, and even though Mouse would be happy somewhere doing general repair work, he knew such a life for him would never be. He just hoped that Jas would adjust back to the life of a soldier as quickly as Dusty had after Denon. In fact, now that Mouse thought about it, he was harder on Dusty earlier today than he needed to be. His brother had never let on that anything had happened that night with Cerina Browlin. In fact, Dusty had returned to the apartment his usual self, not some man so changed that he was unrecognizable. Mouse suddenly wondered how hard that must have been for Dusty, to pretend as though he never experienced a night with a woman. It had to be making him insane on some level for having to endure an experience so personal and not have anyone who could relate to his concerns. Mouse silently reasoned that may be enduring the silence Dusty had for so long had been the cause for why his brother had grown increasingly trigger-happy in the last few months.