Star Wars Republic Commando: Knight of Honor ✓

Chapter 70

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

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

Koytc (koh-TEESH): strong

Ni kar'taylir darasuum gar (nee kar-TILE garh dah-RAH-soom): Colloquial: "I love you."

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

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Chapter 70

...and with a final strike, the knight's sword slain the blood-thirsty beast. News of the victory swept through the village, and the people knew they were safe once again. The king acknowledged the knight's bravery and cunning and allowed his youngest daughter the honor of marrying the knight who had won her heart.

Excerpt from "The Tale of the Blood Beast," from Tochin's Novella of Fable Chronicles

Tochin Moon III, 87 Days after Order 66

Jas had broken the seals on the grate earlier, and Arlesse slowly pushed aside the metal covering before she pulled herself out of the floor's hole. 

She didn't try to stop the shaking in her movements, making certain that Harkin saw she was genuinely scared. She had realized at some point that any of the stormtroopers hiding could simply fire a stun bolt at her or worse, but she had to take that chance. 

She needed to stall Harkin long enough for whatever plan Dusty had told everyone he had. She knew it was crazy of her to even consider her role in this maniacal scheme, but if nothing went right, she wanted the assurance that Jas and her... vode—as that was what they all had become—got away safely. 

Maybe one day, they could try to be together again if this plan failed, but she could not allow Jas to suffer for following his heart and trying to be with her.

Arlesse stood from the floor of the hangar and nervously brushed off some of the dirt from her skirt after she had gotten herself free of the hole. She flinched when she suddenly heard Harkin's voice in a commanding tone she had never heard him use before. "Wait! Hold your fire."

She still had an overwhelming sense of fright, but there was a fraction of relief mixed with it at the fact that Harkin and his stormtroopers had lived up to her expectations by not shooting her on sight.

Arlesse watched the moff move a couple of steps towards her, his hand quickly setting the blaster back in the holster at his side, his gesture showing he meant no hostility. 

Arlesse suddenly had her thoughts flood back to the moments before she had climbed the handholds out of the tunnel. Dusty had called everyone over to a conference, purposefully excluding her. Tarj had convinced Dusty that if she didn't know the plan, she had no need to lie about what she didn't know. 

Arlesse had accepted that concept, and maintained her distance so she couldn't see much or hear what they were discussing while Dusty pointed to specific marks on the floor where Jas had set up the floor plan of the hangar with the items from Dusty's pockets.