Star Wars Republic Commando: Knight of Honor ✓

Chapter 37

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

Ba'vodu (BAH-vod-oo): uncle (plural bavodu'e) or aunt (plural bavodu'e)

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)

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

Kama (KAH-ma): belt-spat

Shebs (shebs): backside, rear, buttocks (also rear of buildings etc)

Vode (VOH-day): brother, sisters, comrades

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Chapter 37

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

Out in the distance, the high-pitched hum of a LAAT/i gradually increased in volume, turning the silence into nothing but a vehicle's engine. Jas recognized the whirring sound of the engine as it rose and fell in pitch while the pilot skimmed above the treetops, raising and lowering the LAAT/i to account for the varying height of the trees in the forest.

Arlesse couldn't help looking up into the dark sky, trying to seek out the source of the distant noise. She refused to uncurl her fingers from Jas' just yet, asking, "That's them, isn't it?"

"Yes," he replied sadly. Normally, he would welcome the LAAT/i's engine, grateful to get away from whatever situation he was in and look forward to a rest at the end of the mission. However, this time the sound only served as a countdown to the conclusion of the past few days and an end to the moments that had given him an opportunity to share emotions that most of his clone brothers would never know.

The engine of the LAAT/i had grown increasingly loud now, and Jas was certain that the vehicle had found the open field where the equinine farm was once located. There was a change in pitch as the LAAT/i's repulsors kicked in, and Jas was certain that the pilot was assessing where it was safest to land amongst the debris that Mouse had caused earlier when he set off the thermal detonators on Gunna's ship.

Jas regretfully untangled Les'ika's hand from his and watched her slip away from him as she stood against the tree that they had been hidden behind. She lowered her eyes and stared at the darkness of the ground, her eyes blinking hard against the emotions that wanted to spill through. Her fingers twisted nervously before her as though all her confidence had suddenly been erased.