Star Wars Republic Commando: Knight of Honor ✓

Chapter 58

Author's Note: Thanks again to those few of you who have been keeping with my humble tale. I always appreciate hearing from you and reading your thoughts (good or bad) as to how the story is going. 

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

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

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Chapter 58

The responsibility of the palace guardian is solely for the preservation of the royal bloodline. Many before you have sacrificed everything, including their own lives in order to ensure harm does not befall the royal family. Before taking the same oath that our ancestors had, you must be certain that the time for questions and hesitation is long past. Provided that you are willing to accept the potential that your life may be sacrificed for your leaders, please step forward and recite the oath to your sovereign that will finalize your commencement to a palace guardian.

Excerpt from the palace guardian inauguration ceremony

Tochin Moon III, 87 Days after Order 66

Chora Wsau scrolled through the datapad that contained the latest inventory to be received. It wasn't the kind of job she had been trained to do, but it wasn't difficult and it kept her busy. She had never anticipated that after graduating from months of rigorous physical and mental training and spending years in his Majesty's service that she would end up confined to some flimsi-novel shop. Balancing budget ledgers and maintaining inventories amounted to meaningless work in her eyes, especially when compared to the busy life she once lived as a palace guardian.

Taking a moment to mentally relive her past as a royal bodyguard and soldier, Chora found herself fighting distraction and unable to wholly concentrate on the shipment of flimsi novels that had been delivered to the shop earlier today. She often felt her thoughts reminiscing about the cycle of events that led her to this moment, but today those memories were particularly strong.

Recalling the past, Chora thought about the Separatist scheme that had led to Princess Arlesse's kidnapping nearly a year ago. The original owner of the shop, Norr Hudin, had been tried for conspiring with the Separatists and was imprisoned for the rest of his life. Thorough interrogations and investigations, led by both Davi Saun and herself, had found that Hudin had taken a large sum of credits to assist the mercenary, Qotan Hazar.

 It was tyranny in one of its highest forms, and the jury that had been chosen to hear the case offered no sympathy to Hudin. It was only because of Hudin's aged status that he was not simply executed. The jury had decided that living in prison would do more for Hudin's punishment than being easily executed and sent to his eternal rest sooner.

Chora's brother, Fernin, had then bought the business during the shop's foreclosure period, and he managed to keep it striving despite the previous owner's marred reputation. Under the new management that Fernin provided, the business had boomed because the structure now held an adventurous history and had caused much interest for the people of Tochin.

Davi and Chora had remained in contact after Moff Harkin had disbanded the palace guardians. They decided to make themselves hidden amongst the townspeople, taking on roles that allowed them to blend in with the common folk. While Davi presented himself as a hopeless wanderer who had no idea what to do with his life, he used that to his advantage to study the increasing amount of Imperial off-worlders who came and went through Tochin's main town.