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

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

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

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

Chapter 33

I finally got my freedom after ten years on that blasted, miserable Kaminoan hellhole, and they told me I only had about four months to live, and probably one month in relative comfort before they pumped me full of pain meds. All I wanted was to find my sister-in-law who was carrying my brother's child...a child that I don't even know was a son or a daughter, and these doctors insist that I probably would have died long before I even got close to finding them. So, now I'm confined to a bed, living out the last of my days as I watch the malignant cells eating me alive.

Excerpt from Gan Pohin's final message to Crimson, with instructions to be delivered to them only after he has passed away

Tochin Moon III, 786 Days ABG

As they walked deeper into the forest, Arlesse was numb to everything but Jas' touch. She wasn't even aware of the tears that silently lined her cheeks or the way the blanket fell from her shoulders and dragged on the ground behind her. She could only see her father's face and the way he had always been honest with her. There was never a moment when she thought he had lied. Her father had told her that he shared a special relationship with her mother, and Arlesse always believed that Darian loved her father with the same enthusiasm that Vollan loved her. She never once thought that their marriage was nothing more than a political arrangement. The idea that her mother was...inspired by another man sickened her.

Jas saw on his HUD the sight of Les'ika behind him, and it hurt him to see her shattered to a betrayed child. Her tears were not mourning one of his comrades this time but a fantasy she believed was true for her entire life. She looked like a pathetic waif, one of the survivors left behind after the Separatists had destroyed a city. Her clothing was no longer in the splendor of a royal princess, and her wild curls had been without proper care for days, leaving them nothing but a thick mane about her. The blanket she depended on for comfort had fallen off her shoulders, becoming little more than a burden for her to carry.

Jas stopped walking and turned to face her. He took the blanket in his hands and set it onto the ground. Gently he helped her onto the blanket and took a seat beside her. Confirming that they were far enough away from Zech and the others, he opened the seal to his helmet and set it onto the ground next to him.

Taking her hand into his again, Jas spoke softly but with assurance. "Zech will say anything to give the Separatists a chance at your world. He's trying to break you by using your parents' relationship against you. You can't be sure he's even telling the truth."

Arlesse shook her head and wiped one of her cheeks with her sleeve. She glanced at Jas but turned away quickly and decided that the empty patch of dirt on the ground was easier to concentrate her thoughts on instead. "Zech didn't deserve to know my mother. He made her sound..."

Les'ika had paused for a long time and Jas decided to try and fill in the gap. He hoped she wouldn't find his choice of words insulting. "Disgraceful?"

Creasing her forehead at the word, Arlesse finally agreed. "Yes. But, that's not how Papa ever talked about her."

Jas sighed quietly, knowing he was in territory that was far too complicated from what he could ever comprehend. He had no parents to compare between Les'ika's parents and the typical behaviors of parents who were not of royal obligations. All he could do was offer what his gut told him. "Don't let Zech cloud your thoughts, Les'ika. You know your father better than anyone. Do you believe he ever lied to you about your mother?"

Arlesse lifted her eyes from the ground and absorbed herself in Jas' dark irises, seeing nothing but truth in them. It scared her sometimes how he could be so honest, his words nothing but clarity. She thought back to the conversations she had with her father and the multitude of questions she had often asked him. Her father never once shielded his eyes when he talked about her mother. He only spoke about her in high regard, seeming to be proud of her in some way that Arlesse never understood. She had asked her father once if her mother loved him and without faltering he had told her yes.

Silently, Arlesse curled into Jas' chest, leaning her head against the armor plating. She closed her eyes as Jas wrapped his arms around her, shielding her from Zech's words and the deception he tried to plant. She understood now that Jas was right. Arlesse knew her father, and she knew her mother loved him. It was the politics and the games of court that she hated, the very same things her father tried to protect her from experiencing, the very same tricks that Zech now tried to play with her.

"I could seal his mouth shut with bandages from the medkit," Jas whispered softly. "Of course, he might look like some horror holovid character that way."

Arlesse couldn't help the soft giggle that suddenly escaped her. She brought her face up from the armor to look into Jas' eyes. She saw how his dark irises were concerned only with her safety and well-being. Then, the mischievous glint of a boy passed in his eyes, contradicting the experienced soldier he portrayed. It was that boy who made her laugh she realized. He would do anything to make her happy, and it was like looking into a reflection of her own innocence at times.

The boy in Jas' irises submerged again almost as soon as he appeared, and in his place, the compassionate soldier now returned. His voice was soft, as though he was initiating some secret plan. "If I know my vode, Les'ika, they have already made it so that Zech can't talk again until he's in front of a Republic interrogator."

Arlesse saw that he meant his words very seriously. She didn't know exactly how Jas' brothers would silence the baron, but she knew that Crimson had always seemed to be able to find some way to do things without sabotaging their missions. It was hard not to listen to them discussing their shady past when they talked, and she was honestly glad to hear something other than politics or unimportant gossip while in their presence. In fact, she found she particularly enjoyed the stories of their missions and was always amazed by how they had sporadically skirted on the edge of insubordination.

Arlesse wondered if she would have been able to live with the decision of telling these soldiers that she didn't want Zech to be able to hurt her again, and she was glad that she didn't have to make that decision any longer. The last thing she wanted was to feel sympathy for Zech, especially not after everything he had done to her and tried to do to her father.

Jas' helmet suddenly pinged for his attention, and Gath's voice came across with concern, not bothering to hide his anxiety at Jas' sudden departure. "Jas, sitrep."

Jas reached over for his bucket but as he looked to Les'ika, he offered an apology in his eyes for not being able to share the helmet communications with her. "I'll tell him you're feeling better, and I'll see how they handled Zech."

Arlesse nodded as she watched Jas enclose his head in the helmet and become silent to her.

"Les'ika was pretty badly upset," Jas reported. "I've gotten her calmed down, but I think Zech will try more instigation."

"Dusty gave him a tranquilizer...with Mouse's help. As far as Les'ika is concerned, Zech's bruise is from falling onto the ground in the struggle," Gath reported.

Jas immediately understood the unspoken scenario that had taken place after he took Les'ika away from Zech's influence: Without any warning, Mouse decked the baron in the face and Dusty tranq'ed him while he was reeling from the blow.

Without pausing, Gath finished his observations. "I agree that Zech will try to get to her again. But, the good news is that Mouse managed to rip the communications out of Zech's speeder. He's been working on rewiring it and connecting it to a power source after you both left."

Jas was equally relieved and upset to hear the news about potential communications. He knew the sooner Mouse got it working the sooner the mission would come to an end. For as much as that would mean they would no longer be responsible for Zech, it also meant that his time with Les'ika had gone on a virtual timer that was counting down to the end of their...he paused mentally. Would what they were doing even be considered a relationship, or was courtship the right term?

"Are you okay?" Gath now asked.

Jas forced his thoughts back to the moment. What he shared with Les'ika didn't need to be labeled the way civilians did such things. He was just glad to have experienced the emotions they shared and was grateful that she had cared for him so openly. "I'm fine."

Gath's voice conveyed that he knew Jas was anything but fine. He was calm yet apologetic. "You were warned that when the endex is called, you were going to have to leave her."

"Don't worry, I will," Jas defended. After a moment, he added, "We'll be back soon."

Gath heard the communications shut down, and he sighed. He wasn't exactly frustrated with Jas – maybe disappointed with him or maybe happy for him. He couldn't tell which. None of the clones were ever supposed to bond with civilians, especially not romantically, and certainly not bond with any kind of royalty. Jas had obviously drowned himself in his newfound affections, these emotions that the Kaminoans had never planned on them experiencing. He was certain now that Crimson would have been reconditioned if those heartless scientists ever found out that any of their clone creations were trying to feel normal human sentiments.

Dusty put a hand on Gath's shoulder, his words coming through the helmet on the squad's private channel. "Jas isn't being malicious, and I know you're worried about him."

"She's a nice girl," Gath admitted. "Her kindness had done all of us some good, and I won't lie that I'll miss her, too. It's just that Jas will carry her heavier than the rest of us will. Maybe if she just wasn't, you know...royalty."

"Well if the rest of this world's royalty is more like this shabuir than Les'ika, this isn't the place I'd want to spend my retirement," Dusty said, taking his hand from his brother's shoulder.

Gath shifted his attention now over to the once-again unconscious Baron Erle. "Do you think what he said to her was true about her mother and father?"

Dusty looked over Zech and felt his own anger building inside at how the man had so easily torn Les'ika into shreds with just his words. He couldn't imagine the rage that Jas must have felt to see his girlfriend verbally beaten up. Suddenly, Dusty felt himself smirking. He'll have to jab the term "girlfriend" at Jas later and see what kind of reaction he can spark. Getting back to Gath's question, Dusty replied, "I think Zech's only regret is that he got caught as a traitor. He knows how to find the weakness that Les'ika carries, and it didn't matter if he said the truth to her or not. He knows how to get into her head."

"Before Zech awakens, gag him," Gath ordered now. "I'm not going to let him break that girl again."

"Then, I call dibs on it," Mouse answered, briefly looking up from his work on the communications parts around him.

Gath and Dusty would have sworn that Mouse's helmet was smiling in that twisted way of his when he was about to thoroughly enjoy something.

Gath briefly wondered just what they had gotten themselves into by growing so close to Les'ika and if any of them would ever be able to let her go.

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

Quick Author's Note: Did you love that chapter!? I hope you did! Show your support for the author by simply clicking the little VOTE button to the bottom left or top right of your screen! Have a wonderful day!

Votes and Comments/Feedback most enthusiastically welcome!