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

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 67

I'm going with you to that hangar. If Princess Arlesse is with them, I want one last chance to reason with her before you take her by force. I'm prepared to deal with her as a prisoner, but I'm hoping to avoid that scenario because if she becomes a prisoner then nothing about her will ever be the same.

Moff Gillard Harkin's conversation to TK-2857 upon discovering the location of the ship, Galaar Woor

Tochin Moon III, 87 Days after Order 66

Another small break in the darkness was coming up before the group. They were growing accustomed to the tight spacing and the minimum lighting from Jas' buy'ce. While the break in the tunnel was always a welcome sight, there was also the danger that the Imperials had caught onto their plan and had set up posts on the street level to monitor their movements.

Jas turned his head backward, using his buy'ce lights once again as the signal to tell everyone to slow down while they cautiously approached the grate above them. So far, their only visitors had been a few hand-sized rodents that scurried around and a few clusters of crawling insects that had better things to do than get under their feet. For the most part, the rodents seemed to live in the main underground tunnels.

 Occasionally, though, the group of humans had run into a few nests embedded in the miner's tunnels, where the rodents appeared to be finding solace from the larger communities. No one had time to ponder a reason for that, but as long as the majority of the creatures remained in the main tunnels rather than the parallel and intersecting tunnels that the miners had built, then it was one less roadblock they were required to dodge around.

As they approached the opening to the world above them, it indicated that they had come across another intersection and they now needed to determine which pathway to follow.

Jas' buy'ce had been downloaded with a rough, hand-drawn sketch of the underground roadmap. The map had been recorded years ago in a very old flimsi that recounted the exploits of the palace guardians and their triumphs over the years. 

The flimsi was the only known reference to the history of the palace guardians, and Davi Saun was responsible for keeping it securely hidden in order to preserve that sacred history. The only reason Davi had allowed Jas to upload the images of the tunnel system was because of his intent to defend the life of Tochin's last surviving member of the royal family.

Glancing at the map, Jas saw that it was indicating for them to turn left at this intersection, as that was the clearest direction to the docking bay where they had stationed the ship. They had made certain to try and leave the ship away from the main traffic so as not to draw a lot of attention, but within sight enough that it wasn't too obvious that their presence wasn't fully innocent.

With the momentary break, Tarj took the opportunity to squeeze past the group at this intersection. The tunnels didn't allow for more than a person's width, but the intersections always opened up enough so that they could rotate whether he or Dusty would be in the back of the group.

Tarj grabbed his small blaster and prepared it in his hands as he crept into the dusky illumination. He stepped softly around the edge of the light until he was at an angle where he could look upwards safely. 

Although he couldn't see much more than the sky above, he found that if he angled just right, he could catch a glimpse of shadows passing. At this moment, he heard more than saw, the stormtroopers running past, their attention was drawn elsewhere.

Keeping his eyes above, Tarj made a silent motion with one of his hands, the signal for each of the group to slowly and quietly move in the direction that Jas had indicated. Just as Dusty pulled away from the tunnel wall and started stepping into the light, they heard a series of blaster shots above them followed by the sounds of people yelling in confusion.

Dusty stopped where he was, his eyes now facing upwards to try and see something. Although he knew he would see very little to nothing, it was more of an instinctive reaction than coherent thought to look up.

The noises above caused them all to pause and listen closely to what was happening. They needed to assess if the commotion above ground would hinder their escape. After a few moments, footsteps thundered above the grate and everyone instinctively fell back against the darkness of the tunnel walls.

Barely inhaling for fear that the sound of someone's breathing would betray their location they all listened carefully. Within moments, the confusion from the world above became entirely clear.

"I've done nothing!" a man's voice yelled.

"You betrayed the Empire," responded a calm stormtrooper. "Your entire kind are to be executed on sight."

"They're going to kill us all!" a woman shouted frantically.

"Ma'am, our orders are to execute former guardians," the stormtrooper replied, his voice enforcing calm on the mass of citizens they had rounded up. "Everyone else is simply required to undergo an ID check."

The man's voice returned now. "I was a guardian. Your moff forced me..."

There was no further conversation as a blaster bolt ended whatever the man had planned to say next.

"Why are you doing this?" another woman's voice now screamed.

"Sir, these citizens check out," came a stormtrooper's reply.

The cloned men listening in their confines of the tunnel easily picked up on the subtle differences in the voices between the stormtroopers. It at least told them that there were a few squads running around to enforce the bizarre orders that Harkin had demanded.

Arlesse now clutched to Jas' arm, trying to bury her face in his shoulder plate. She hadn't been able to control her gasp at the sound of the blaster firing and she willed herself to remain still, forcing herself to not give away their location.

Despite her efforts, her reaction had put everyone else on edge, fearing that her response to the slaughter above them might have been heard by one of the stormtroopers. Again, a collective breath was held for a few long moments. As they heard the stormtroopers move onto the next group of citizens, and there was no indication of being detected, the former Republic soldiers looked to each other.

"Harkin's growing aggressive," Tarj whispered, being certain that Dusty and Jas were paying particular attention to his words. Out of all of them, Tarj felt he knew Harkin and his tactics best, and he wanted to be certain that his brothers might have to prepare for and possibly convince... Les'ika to not give herself in. Tarj felt his thoughts pause as his brain mentally rolled around the name that Crimson Squad had created for Arlesse. 

He had asked Dusty earlier how they had decided on that for addressing her and was more than surprised to learn that it was Mouse who had brought the concept to light. Tarj had to admit that Jas finishing Mouse's initial thought and combining Arlesse's nickname with the Mando'a word was rather clever, and now Tarj was ready to stop using Arlesse's name to help protect her from the Empire and any other enemies who might be lurking. Addressing the group once again, Tarj concluded his thoughts. "Harkin thinks he'll get Les'ika to surrender by scaring her this way."

Chora brought her gaze to look at the back of the princess' head, sensing that the cloned men were quickly dissolving her true name and identity, as none of them had called her by her given name. She had heard Tarj and the disguised clone, who went by Bhen, discussing how the new name came about, and she had to admit that it was not something she would have even considered. 

Wondering what kind of lifestyle the young princess would live after leaving Tochin and how she would fare with it, Chora felt enormous pity for this Les'ika, as she watched the way the princess clutched to the clone in the Mandalorian armor.

Chora couldn't imagine in such a short amount of time having to deal with her family being executed and her home being stolen from her like Les'ika had, and she wanted to offer something to encourage her to not lose hope. 

However, during Chora's tenure in the guardians' service, she didn't have much direct contact with the royal family. Even though her duties were still important to the safety of the monarchy, crossing paths with the former king or his daughter were rare occurrences.

Chora now wanted to try and breach that separation. She wanted to live up to the final orders her superior officer had given her, and she had to find some way to start opening the lines of communications with a young girl who was even more elusive than Tarj had been. Not certain what else to say besides the obvious, Chora simply fell back on what she knew. Softly, she told the princess, "You can't allow yourself to be intimidated by Harkin's tactics."

Arlesse closed her eyes as she kept her forehead connected to the cool metal of Jas' shoulder plate. Her stomach tightened and twisted in a way that nearly made her sick for having thought Harkin had an ounce of decency. 

She felt her betrayal for Jas building again, the fear that if he had not come for her when he did, that she might be growing affections for a man who would eventually find ways to hurt her emotionally.

After hearing Chora's words, Arlesse took a moment to examine them, realizing that the former guardian had told her what she did simply because it was what a guardian was expected to say to the royal dignitary they were responsible for protecting. Chora was merely doing her job to try and keep Arlesse from being harmed, and Arlesse wasn't certain yet how to approach Chora. 

They never did more than cross paths occasionally, and on those rare moments, Arlesse had merely returned a smile from the guardian as they had moved past each other in the hallways of the palace. And while Arlesse understood that Chora was now trying to be approachable, nothing would change the connection she felt to the cloned men who each had spent their time with her in more personal ways.

Lifting her eyes, Arlesse did not fight her instincts as she brought her irises to Jas instead of Chora. She knew that for as much as Jas would protect her, he would never be anything less than truthful about their chances of escape. She looked to the T-visor on his helmet and felt his hand enclose hers in a grasp that was both gentle yet firm. She could feel in his touch that he had no intentions to turn her over to the Empire, and she thought about the vows she had made to him. 

It started with the promise that took place in the palace hangar right before he was ordered to return to the war. She had told him then that she would wait for him, and Harkin had nearly managed to make her break those words. Then, not more than an hour ago, she had vowed to Jas that they were husband and wife, and now Harkin was trying to pierce that promise as well.

"You know what you left, Les'ika," Jas told her, unable to control the fear that Harkin might just be able to manipulate her in a way he had not predicted. He knew they might have to fight against Harkin's underhanded tactics, and while Jas suppressed the anger he felt within him at how politicians still played games with the woman he loved, he hadn't considered that Harkin would actually kill the people he was expected to govern.

 It just enforced Jas' want to protect Arlesse from everyone who always tried to prey upon her kindness and her innocence, and Jas instantly realized that Harkin's current actions made him so much more dangerous than Zech had been. What Zech tried to kill with nothing but words, Harkin was quickly working to kill with every means he had at his disposal.

Grasping Les'ika's hand more firmly, Jas remembered how he had silently vowed during their time in Zech's presence that he would not allow anyone else to ever shred her apart like that again, and he had no choice but to remain brutally honest about what would happen if Harkin managed to pressure her with this vindictive strategy. Making his voice certain, Jas now said, "You know Harkin's manipulations will never change, even if you go back to him. He holds much power, and he isn't afraid to use it."

"But, they're all suffering because of me, aren't they?" she asked softly, forcing words through her tightening throat. Her fingers now clutched to Jas' hand to the point that she felt the ache in her wrist. She didn't want to give Jas up again, but she didn't know if she could live with the knowledge that she might have prevented this kind of injustice if she had simply returned to a home that was no longer hers.

Jas saw the pain in Les'ika's eyes. He could see how she was battling this decision and how she weighed the consequences of each action she could take. He knew he had no choice now. If his dealings at this moment delayed their escape for longer than they originally intended, he would take that risk. 

He knew Les'ika would not trust anyone else to her decision, and he needed to convince her that her freedom and her happiness would never come from staying here with a man like Harkin.

Using his free hand, Jas reached up and took the buy'ce off his head. While holding it in one hand, he kept a steady grasp on her fingers with the other. His eyes connected to hers, and his voice was quiet, serious. "What do you think Harkin would do to you if he ever found out about your mother?"

Arlesse swallowed hard at that concept, having not fully comprehended the consequences that Darian Psach's genetics might have on her and her future.

Jas saw the impact his words were having, and he had to push one last thought onto Les'ika. He needed her to see everything she would lose if she remained a princess to a world that had nothing left for her.

"You're the only one who can decide what to do, Les'ika," he said gently, "All I can do is tell you what I know, and all I know is that Gan told us family is who we make it be."

Arlesse continued to absorb Jas' words, carefully considering them from every argument he offered. Jas was always brutally honest, and it was one of the traits she had found so attractive about him. His honesty was just one fragment of his character that became the foundation of their connection.

Slowly, she now looked around to the group of people that were risking their lives to help her escape. They had each adopted her in their own ways, much as she had done for them. While Chora was new to her circle, the former guardian was trying to find a place where she fit in, and Tarj seemed to offer Chora that place. The cloned men, though, were without question her family.

Arlesse came to realize that she had always accepted Tarj as her older, protective brother. He was the man who had stood by her side and kept her secrets during the transition to the Empire. Dusty was always her whimsical brother, the man who had a great deal of experience in the galaxy and slowly let snippets of those experiences be known to others.

Jas, though, was nothing she had ever expected to find in a companion, but he was everything she had learned she wanted. He was the only man who had looked beyond her shortcomings and dared to take her from the solitude of her safety. He now had defied his orders and his upbringing as a government-issued soldier to find a way to be with her.

Arlesse had no reason to deny that she chose Jas and had waited months for him. She saw beyond the cloned man, this being that was created by genetics and science, and she could so very clearly see the man inside who was caring and loyal. He didn't want to be with her because it was an order. He had made a decision to be with her, and that was something no one else had ever offered her.

Arlesse knew now that if she walked away from these only people in the galaxy who truly cared about her, she would imprison herself into a life of burden from where she would never escape again.

Without thought, Arlesse's fingers brushed against the pendant on her neck, and any foolish consideration she had for staying on Tochin was suddenly erased. Besides her responsibility to protect defiant clone soldiers and a former palace guardian, she knew she could never trust Harkin to the secret she carried about her mother or the knowledge that Arlesse might harbor a genetic link to pass on Force sensitivity.

Arlesse heard another distant blaster shot from the world above her and now tried to imagine how she would feel if the person who had taken that hit was any of these soldiers surrounding her. While she felt pity for the citizens of her world, she was consumed with heartache and grief over the prospect of Dusty, Tarj, or Jas being the victim of Harkin's sudden insanity.

"Jas, I'm afraid," she finally answered softly as her eyes came back to his dark irises. She shook her head, not sure how to express her sadness and her fear. "I can't lose any of you."

Jas brought his hand from hers to the back of her head and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. His voice was determined, filled with emotion. "We kept you safe once, Les'ika. We'll do it again."

"Besides," Dusty quietly added with a wink, "The Empire has no idea how to deal with trigger-happy psychos raised by Mandalorians."

Tarj brought his eyes from the grate above them and nodded once. "Sounds like the stormtroopers have moved on. Time to get going."

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

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!