Star Wars Republic Commando: Knight of Honor ✓

Chapter 69

Author's Note: Thanks again for all the support and encouragement from everyone who has been reading, voting, and commenting. 

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.

There are no Mandalorian (Mando'a) words in this chapter.

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Chapter 69

...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

Gillard and his personal stormtrooper contingent had spent what seemed like hours in hiding in the hangar with the only off-world ship on Tochin. While his men had barely moved from their positions and were able to hold their bodies quite rigidly where they were, Gillard was just unable to keep still for that long. 

He had shifted his body a number of times since they had arrived, rotating his posture from kneeling to standing to sitting and back again. At one point, TK-2857 had offered to have him escorted back to the palace and that they would see he is updated immediately, but Gillard had insisted that he be present when Arlesse arrived. 

He had reiterated his earlier argument that he needed the opportunity to civilly talk with her and not just capture her like a common criminal.

Looking down at his chronometer, Gillard was surprised to see that he and his squad had not been holding their position in the hangar for as long as he originally thought and that merely forty-five minutes had passed. 

Gillard was surprised by the multitude of thoughts that had passed in so short a time, and he had spent the majority of the wait considering how he would handle Arlesse.

His thoughts had shifted between what kind of instant punishment he would enact on her and if he would be able to even follow-through with such a concept. Ultimately, he had no desire to ever harm her, and he actually managed to understand why she chose to attempt to leave with her clone lover. 

However, her status as a princess and her clone as a deserter were factors that would not go unnoticed in the Empire, and Gillard had decided that upon Arlesse's safe return, he would not delay the inevitable any longer. 

The clone would be killed immediately, Gillard's reason cleanly stating desertion to the Empire and betrayal to the world of Tochin by kidnapping the sole member of Tochin's royalty. In honor of the princess' safe return, he and Arlesse would exchange their marriage vows and partake in the expected celebratory customs that follow the wedding of a Tochin monarch.

One thing Gillard had planned to not enforce, though, was to bring Arlesse into his bedchamber and coerce her into the physical expectations of a wife. A binding legal contract under Imperial law was enough for now, and he felt no reason to reconsider that. 

He knew it would take a long time to win Arlesse over, but without the living influence of her clone to interfere in her emotions, he was certain that Arlesse would eventually come to him of her own free will. 

He realized that it might take quite some time to wholly earn Arlesse's affections, but as long as she was in a union with him, he had a better chance to keep her protected from the Empire's minions and to keep her hidden from any lurking enemies.

Gillard was suddenly startled out of his ruminations as he heard the sound of a grate moving in the center of the room. He noticed that the noise also caught everyone else's attention as well, especially TK-2857. The stormtrooper captain's armor stiffened even straighter beside him, and almost instantly the soldier had steadied his blaster in the direction of whatever was causing the noise.

Gillard was aware of his mêlée shortcomings, as he was far from combat-experienced, but he had plenty of self-defense training and was certain he could hold his own with a blaster, provided he stayed behind cover. 

Gillard didn't need to ask, but he had no doubt that his stormtrooper captain had ordered at least one of his men to keep him covered. It wasn't unexpected to have that kind of protection, but he would have predicted no less from soldiers like those who followed their orders and did their jobs.

Bringing his head slowly around the opposite side of the crate from TK-2857, Gillard took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for a fight. He willed his hands not to shake as the spike of adrenaline shot through his body, almost causing him to feel fumbly.

However, instead of taking a shot at an enemy he expected to see, he saw one lone figure emerging from a hole in the floor of the hangar. He recognized the dirt-streaked wild tresses before he even saw her face, and he knew of only one woman who had such untamed locks. 

Gillard hesitated for a few long moments before he dared to get up from his knees and lean out of the safety of his cover. When no one else followed Arlesse through the opening in the floor, he gradually moved from his position hoping that TK-2857 would not shoot him in the back for doing something so idiotic.

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