Star Wars Republic Commando: Knight of Honor ✓

Chapter 22

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): a foolish, idiotic, useless individual (severe); context-dependent; can mean jerk, moron, idiot, etc. (sometimes vulgar)

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

--- --- --- --- ---

Chapter 22

We found wreckage belonging to a ship that matched the ownership signatures from the bounty hunter, Qotan Hazar. It was found approximately one hundred and twelve miles west of the Tochin Grand Palace. By the scattering of the pieces and the burned damage it sustained, we can only assume that the ship had broken up upon entering the atmosphere. Sadly, we regret to inform you that there was no sign of survivors. However, the investigation crew did find broken seals from what could have been an escape pod. Unfortunately, the wreckage was too far destroyed to discern exactly how long ago those seals were broken and if an escape pod had been launched recently.

CC-2341, known as "Tarj," reporting to King Vollan Psach and the Republic Liaison, Jedi Knight Paxa Tener

Tochin Moon III, 785 Days ABG

As Jas began exploring the rocky outcrops that surrounded the waterfall, he was able to get his thoughts settled enough to study the land around him. His inspection led him to a naturally created opening in the rock that was large enough to accommodate a human's width with room to spare, but the height was a little tight as Jas and his brothers would have to duck slightly to get inside it. Bringing his Deece before him and turning on his helmet's spotlights, Jas ventured carefully into the cavern he had found, expecting something far worse than a Fangbird to attack him.

Other than a cluster of sparkling, blue moss and some finger-sized insects with more legs than he cared to count, the cavern was absent from any inhabitants. Guided by some instinct he didn't think he had, Jas was concerned about how these creatures might be unpleasant to the princess. Without realizing what he was doing, he simply grabbed at the multi-legged insects and started to gather them in his hands. 

There was luckily only a dozen or so, and he stomped out the nest from where more would emerge. Taking the wiggling creatures out of the cave, he threw them into a nearby bush, mentally warning them that if they dared to return, they would meet the same fate as the nest. To his surprise, the insects skittered into the leaves of the shrubbery, hiding within the safety of the plant, and he wondered why his thoughts and emotions couldn't be so obedient.

Entering into the cave again, Jas once more checked that nothing else had sneaked in while he was outside. Inventorying the approximate six-foot height of the ceiling and the seven-foot width of the walls, Jas caught violet sparkles in the rocky walls. He brought the visor closer to the rock so that he could inspect what was causing the sparkling phenomenon. His hand came forward to touch one of the glittering curves attached to the rock and realized that it was a small shell the size of his fingernail. 

He scratched at the shell, and it fell off the wall into his hand. The creature that had inhabited the shell was long gone, but the translucent violet shell could have been mistaken for an expensive jewel. Jas thought about tossing the shell onto the ground and forgetting about it, but he decided instead to keep it. He pulled a few more off the wall and slipped them into the small pouch on his belt, thinking that if nothing else, they might be suitable barter to use in one of the towns, if they ever got that far any time soon.