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

Aru'ela (AH-roo-AY-la): hostile, enemy (adj)

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

Ner vod (nair-vohd): "my brother/sister"; colloquially also "my friend"

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Chapter 46

I think about you every day and hope that you are safe. I know that the war had ended some time ago and I was told it was at the cost of the entire Jedi Order. I haven't heard from you consistently for a few weeks now, and I can't help wondering if you and your brothers survived. My heart aches without knowing what has happened to you, and I worry every moment I receive no reply. I know in one of my previous messages I had told you that we had newcomers settle on Tochin who were assigned here by Emperor Palpatine. They undermine my father's authority and find ways to twist his words against him. Papa and Janelle have shared heated debates with the one who has taken the rank of moff. The new legion of stormtroopers that they provided is not personable either. I'm growing impatient for your response, even a single line of text will...aru'ela.

Princess Arlesse Psach's final comlink transmission to RC-1147 "Jas"

Mandalore, 63 Days After Order 66

Jas paced back and forth over a small section of the main gathering room, replaying the last message in his mind that Les'ika had sent him. The desperation in her words had him far too wound up to consider settling himself onto the accommodating couch or into any of the chairs. Although the room was far from decorated, there was something familiar-seeming and even relaxed about the structure of the housing. It was like the house itself was inviting and warm, openly accepting anyone who had managed to earn the trust of the gatekeeper named Kal Skirata.

Jas thought about this most unusual clan for a moment, and he almost believed that if he wasn't so worried about what had happened to Les'ika, he might be able to consider this place his home as well. Everyone gave the impression that he and Dusty had earned their right to be amongst them. The clan had invited them to every meal and to partake in household activities. Jas had tried a few times over the past couple weeks to enjoy some of the sports recreations that many of his distant brothers were so adept at undertaking. However, Jas was just unable to submerge himself entirely in the entertainment. At one point he had even tried helping with the household chores, but he found that he was just far too restless to keep his concentration on the tasks he was given.

He wasn't intending to dwell so hard on Les'ika's absence and now that he was free from the GAR, the obligation he felt to return to her had been consuming him. He wanted to start their lives together and hated that it had been weeks since he and Dusty had fled the GAR. Jas was growing impatient with his need to be certain that Les'ika had remained safe, especially with the speed at which the Empire seemed to be devouring the galaxy. Upheavals that appeared insignificant in the grand scheme of the universe had sparked the Emperor's wrath, and the Sith Lord had taken no mercy with some of the worlds that had tried to protest the new regime. Even peaceful protests were laid to rest efficiently with many individuals arrested, maimed, or killed. The Emperor was taking no chances with his expectations of the galaxy's citizens, and he was ruling through fear to keep everyone where he wanted them.

Jas looked down to his hand, distracted by his thoughts of Emperor Palpatine as he realized that his fingers had somehow found the braided lock that Les'ika had given him before he departed her world. He didn't remember consciously removing the woven curls from his tunic pocket, and he worried about her even more as his thoughts continued to be concerned about the impact Tochin might receive because of the upheavals taking place throughout the galaxy.

Studying the brown braid as he had so many times before, Jas mentally measured the length of the braid, noting that its size extended from his palm to his fingertips. In the light of the gathering room, reddish highlights seemed to sparkle from the dull coloring. Although the hair was secured tightly in strings, the ends had gotten knotted and twisted, despite the fact that the braid itself was still smooth. Jas ran a bare finger over the woven pattern feeling the soft strands, proof of his meticulous caring for the token that his lady-in-waiting had provided to him as part of her vow that she would be patient and await his return to her.

After a long moment of reliving his memories, Jas finally returned the braid to the pocket of his tunic continuing to await the rest of the clan's assembly in the gathering room. Last night, Jas had told Ordo his almost unbelievable story about falling in love with a princess, and the former Null had promised him that he would get his brothers and father to meet with Jas after the daybreak meal.

Jas breathed slowly now as he thought about his abrupt awakening in the early hours of the day, long before dawn even thought about breaking on the horizon. Between his nightmare of Les'ika's death and hearing Kad's aftermath from experiencing a nightmare of his own, Jas decided that he had needed time alone. He had found solace on a bench outside the Skirata house where he had planned to wait by himself until dawn. However, his solace did not last long as Ordo had joined him at the horribly insane hour. Grateful not to have to suffer through his fears by himself, Jas had told Ordo everything about how he met the princess of Tochin and how he was absolutely certain that she had remained devoted to him. He believed that she was still anticipating the day he would return to her, just as equally as he was looking forward to getting back to her.

Jas thought again about the sheer look of disbelief that was etched on Ordo's face. In hindsight, the retelling of how he had earned a princess' affections would seem like fiction on the surface. However, Ordo was smart and analytical, and he had taken a few moments of silence to simply absorb Jas' tale.

At first, Jas had thought Ordo was trying to decide how best to send Jas to an insane asylum. Then, Ordo had told Jas that he was not blind to the genuine emotion that Jas exhibited, and if not for the pure passion in his eyes when he spoke about Arlesse Psach, Ordo probably would never have believed him. Even still, with Ordo convinced that Jas was both in love with and loved by a princess, Ordo could not hide the brief expression of disbelief on his face.

Jas glanced up at the chronometer on the wall, wondering at what point it would take everyone to begin arriving. Ordo had mentioned last night that he and the Nulls would need to do some research on Tochin to see what had happened there during the last eight months of Jas' time in the war. After they had gathered the data, Ordo had promised that they would analyze what they found to assess any kind of possibility for getting Jas planet-side where he could find his girl and see if she truly had remained as devoted as he had.

Footsteps broke Jas' attention from the chronometer as Dusty entered the room now and sat easily on one of the comfortable chairs. Dusty wore a similar outfit to Jas' as it consisted of a loose tunic and pants as well as boots that were casual but knee-high. The two former commandos both could have passed for common citizens now if it wasn't for the fact that their faces matched that of Jango Fett.

After a brief moment, Jas took notice to the crooked smirk on his brother's face, the telltale sign that he had enjoyed another long evening with one of the many girls he met who lived on a nearby farm. At first, Jas had thought Dusty was settling down with just one of the girls, but over the course of their time on Mandalore, Dusty confessed that he was openly seeing about four different girls from different farms, and he was trying to keep it so that none of them got jealous. Jas studied Dusty's smirk and how it told the usual story that his evening had gone on much longer into the night than an ordinary dinner with a casual conversation.

That got Jas to momentarily stop his sulking, and he put his attention directly to Dusty as his inquisitiveness had been eating at him. His question portrayed his curiosity and came out innocent rather than accusatory. "Don't you ever think about her anymore?"

"Think about who?" Dusty asked as he settled even further into the cushions and picked a small ball of lint off the arm of the chair.

Jas felt taken aback at how easily Dusty seemed to have forgotten all about the woman from the Denon mission who had inspired him to fight the war. Jas wondered how his brother could possibly forget the things he had told him back on Tochin about Cerina Browlin. Sighing, Jas said, "You told me that you fought the war for Cerina and now you've been unable to stay loyal to any one woman for longer than two nights."

Dusty brushed some of his long hair back off his forehead, vowing silently that he was going to get the strands cut eventually. He just hadn't decided how he wanted it cut, and he really wasn't planning to continue with the discipline of a short, military hairstyle. "Cerina's in the past, ner vod, and so is the war."

"Are you suggesting then that I shouldn't find Les'ika?"

"No," Dusty said quickly, nearly laughing. "She's waiting for you. I know she is. The two of you actually make me nauseous with your devotion, and that means you're right for each other. Cerina, unfortunately, was a mission – a passing fancy. I can't even be certain that anything about her was real, and even if I wanted to find her, she's probably off the market by now. Beautiful women like her don't last long. Besides, neither of us bothered to give each other a way to communicate. I doubt she was ever interested in me more than that night anyway."

"But, she kept you alive during the war, even if you didn't have a relationship," Jas muttered softly. "Don't you think you should at least make an effort to see if she's even safe?"

Dusty sighed and put his chin in his hand as his elbow rested on the arm of the chair. "I can't settle down," he finally admitted. "I'm not like you. I'm not meant to have some innocent princess come falling into my life. I decided that maybe I'm just meant to be an explorer, a ship passing by with no destination."

"I still think you should try to find Cerina," Jas told Dusty. "If nothing else, you can finally have an answer to the question of Cerina and her honesty about your involvement. You can't tell me that you haven't been at least curious about what's happened to her."

Dusty crossed his arms over his chest now and sat back against the cushion. "How about we worry about one girl at a time here? Yours has priority."

Jas dropped the argument at that and felt his eyes look at an empty section of the floor. His thoughts shifted quickly back to Les'ika and what could have possibly have happened to her. "Why do you think Tarj never tried to contact us?"

"Don't start that," Dusty warned sitting up straight now. "Skirata and these brothers of ours told you that the communications got changed abruptly and without warning."

Jas looked up again, meeting Dusty's gaze. "You know what I meant."

At that Dusty, pointed an accusing finger at Jas. "I said don't start that. I know in my gut he's still watching over her for you. Tarj wouldn't betray you like that, and if you're even considering that something happened to him, just remember that he had the unfortunate luck of growing up with us. He's smart, clever, and very twisted mentally. You need to stop torturing yourself. Les'ika is as safe as if you were right there with her."

Running his hand through his lengthening hair, Jas breathed out a heavy sigh. He knew Dusty was right, and he knew in his own gut that Tarj wouldn't cross any lines with Les'ika. Jas was just so knotted up sometimes about having not seen her for so long that his own thoughts occasionally got away from him, and it was all he could do to keep his sanity.

Softly, Jas breathed, "It's been over eight months, ner vod."

"I know," Dusty answered quietly, sympathizing for his brother's broken heart. He didn't want to admit it, but just as Les'ika lingered in Jas' heart, Cerina was always lingering in his thoughts. Jas at least had the fortunate luck that Les'ika was able to communicate with him and share her life with him, even if it was through distant letters. Dusty could remember every time that Jas got a message from Les'ika how his brother's face would light up with the most pathetic grin, and how he would take the first opportunity he had to quickly type a message on the comlink back to her.

Dusty also saw how their messages were consistent, equally being sent and received. Sometimes, Jas would even share some of Les'ika's letters with them, especially if she wanted to know how the rest of Crimson was doing and when it would be okay for her to send a package to them. They had very little downtime to receive packages, but occasionally they would remain on leave long enough for one to arrive at their bunker on Coruscant. They could always tell it was from Les'ika, not only because it was loaded with RubyFruit and always contained a handwritten note wishing them well, but also because she was the only one who sent them anything. The other squads rarely received any kind of gifts offering comfort or gratitude, but Crimson had received a few such packages in the eight months after they left Tochin.

Dusty could remember watching the jealousy that some of the other squads exhibited for them whenever one of those packages arrived. Crimson's acceptance in the civilian world had seemed to further reject them from the clones in the GAR, but Crimson was so accustomed to being on their own that it didn't affect them. They happily took the offered gifts from Tochin, sharing the RubyFruit and other delicacies amongst themselves.

Bringing his thoughts away from a past that was bittersweet in a joy that will never be replicated, Dusty wondered if he would have an ounce of the fortitude that Jas carried. He saw how his brother was determined to do whatever it would take to find Les'ika again. Jas knew his life was short and the longer he was denied getting to her, the older he was getting, and Dusty could see it was one of the many reasons why Jas was so on edge over her absence.

Allowing his own thoughts to linger, Dusty knew that he would never admit it, but his seeming lack of interest in Cerina was merely because he was frightened to be rejected by her. The past year had done nothing but remind him about a chance in his life he would never have again. The woman he had known for one night had unknowingly left a mark upon him, a blemish that made him forever hesitant about any woman's intentions. He was beginning to doubt he'd ever find someone like Les'ika, a woman whose kindness and compassion crossed the distant galaxy to touch the man she loved.

Shaking the insanity of the thought away, Dusty came to the conclusion that if everything went well with getting Jas and Les'ika together, he was going to return to Denon. Dusty wasn't entirely certain that Cerina was the right woman for him, but other than Les'ika, Cerina was the only woman who had done something kind for him while he was still a soldier in the GAR. Maybe he owed her the kindness of checking in and making certain that she had remained safe in a galaxy that had quickly turned into a dangerous place to exist.

Ordo and Kal Skirata suddenly entered the gathering room, pulling Jas and Dusty from their silent ruminations. The former Null and the training sergeant each took seats around the low table in the center of the room.

Jas instinctively straightened his posture, an old habit from Kamino as muscle memory took over, nearly forcing him to salute Skirata once again. He realized now that it was going to be hard to stop certain ingrained movements, especially if he would run into any other former sergeants who would invoke memories of his years in training.

Ordo carried on with his task of setting a datapad on the table while Skirata nestled into the seat that was obviously meant for him. The short sergeant sat up straight but looked comfortable, his eyes shifting between the two former commandos, his face revealing nothing about what they had found in their research on Tochin.

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