STAR WARS
MANDALORIAN
BROTHER LOST
Chapter 2
As the four
vehicles arrived, Ridge was struck again at the antiquated tech he was
seeing. These vehicles clearly had no
repulsors and instead rolled along on soft black rollers that appeared to be
filled with a gas of some sort. Ridge
had heard of such things, but had only rarely seen anything close on any of the
worlds he had visited.
One vehicle took
the lead and pulled up within a few yards of the cockpit view-port. A burly man with short cropped graying hair
stood up and stepped down out of the passenger seat. His face was weathered and tanned as well as
scarred. Ridge knew a seasoned soldier
when he saw one, though he had rarely encountered a soldier that had obviously
lived through numerous campaigns. Most
clone soldiers did not live long enough to ever get gray hair let alone see their
first year out of the academy.
Ridge was
fortunate indeed, since he had far outlasted many of his cadre brothers. He had shown an even greater aptitude than
many of his clan mates for learning and doing it quickly. This ability had saved his shebs more times
than he could count, but had also loaded his heart with guilt. At times he felt an overwhelming sense of
loss and heartache for those many brothers that he was unable to save. He knew it was unreasonable for him to think
such things, but he also knew that his Kaminoan creators had not managed to
breed the humanity out of him. So he
sometimes mulled over his thoughts regarding the brevity of a soldier’s life
and the lack of value the Republic had placed on he and his brothers.
Unknown to
virtually every one of Ridge’s buddies though was that his life was truly
unnatural in comparison to theirs. For Ridge
had a secret. He held a secret that only
an elite few were aware of. One of his
old Mandalorian sergeants had approached him less than six months prior to his
current predicament. This sergeant, Kal
Skirata, had offered him a chance at a real life, a life measured in decades,
not just a few short years.
For you see, the
Mandalorian clones that had mostly been birthed on Kamino had been predestined
with a fatal flaw. In order to create an
army of the vast size that the Republic required and even then on a fast time
line, the clones had to be forced to mature quickly. Oh yes, the clones were bred for war and oh
yes they were compliant, but they could not live long with the accelerated
growth built into them. For those clones
that outlived the fighting that so often ended their struggle for life, they
were doomed for the most part to less than a decade or two of living. And, inside they were just young boys craving
to know what life was really all about beyond the battlefields that they knew
so well.
Kal Skirata, or
Kal Buir, or Papa Kal was a hard fighting, razor edged man that had a soft
heart when it came to “his boys.” Kal
made no bones about how much he despised and hated the Kaminoans for using the
clones so harshly and so often unceremoniously “disposing” of the flawed
ones. He had made it his business to
look out for their needs and rights even after he had walked away from the
Republic in disgust over their treatment of “his” boys.
Kal had set up a
special retreat on the Mandalorian home planet of Mandalore. From that base he had begun waging a private
war on those who would profit from his boys suffering. He had made it his life’s work to search for
a cure that would reverse the accelerated aging process that the clones were
subject to. He eventually succeeded, but
it was a bittersweet victory since Kal was really only able to save a very few
of these men.
Kal had
encountered Ridge on numerous occasions since he had moved quickly through the
ranks to become a special ops fighter with numerous specializations. Kal was called back to the GAR headquarters many
times to either consult with the GAR leaders regarding tactics or how to deal
with the difficult Mandalorian leadership.
Kal was always impressed by Ridge’s neutral attitude towards the GAR and
towards the Jedi. But more than that,
Kal was impressed… no, touched deeply by Ridge’s apparent love for the rest of
his clone brothers. Ridge often spent
time in the infirmary or the rehab centers in his down time, apparently just
playing sabac or swapping war stories with various clones who were out of
action. Kal could see more than your
average clone in Ridge and he wanted to give him a gift. A gift worthy of one who had sacrificed much
and deserved to live something a little closer to a normal life.
A standard week before Ridge had shipped out
on is current mission he had received a care package from Kal. Spicy nerf jerky, a container of candied wara
nuts, and a hypo of something that Ridge was sure could not be what he thought
it was.
There was also a
neatly folded bundle of flimsy with his name written in Mandalorian on the
outside. Ridge had the time later that
night when they were going to be in hyperspace transit to the latest hot
zone. He was brutally tired of all the
killing, especially all of these newly cropping up civilian uprisings. Apparently much of the galaxy’s hard working
under-classes were not as confident and happy that the Jedi had all but been
wiped out. With so many under-armed
people willing to throw themselves in front of his Deece, he was thinking maybe
he had misjudged the Jedi. He still
believed that they were misguided and that often many of them had been
arrogant, but he knew now that they would have sided with the very people he
was being ordered to kill.
Ridge did not want
any more innocent blood on his hands. He
knew he wanted out, but after what had happened to several of his defecting
brothers recently, he was for one of the first times in his life fearful that
he would not live to experience a “normal” life. During his travel to the new combat zone, he
made up his mind to contact Kal. A small
luxury he had been afforded as he rose in rank from Sergeant to Captain, was
that he was assigned his own quarters on most of the Republic’s larger
vessels. This now gave him the chance
that he needed to have privacy to work out his escape plan with little chance
for its discovery. Ridge donned his
helmet and immediately winked out the activation code sequence that would
initiate the secured comm. line to Mandalore.
The line crackled
and popped for a moment and then a clear line came up. Ridge was further shocked at the audacity of
Kal and his boys when he realized that Kal had set this line up with a holo
feed as well. A small picture appeared
in his left eyepiece. Initially, he
could only see what looked like a blank wall of what did not appear to be a
plasti-form field building like the GAR would use. Instead, it appeared to be a wall paneled in
of all things, wood.
A moment later, a
face appeared. A face he knew all too
well. It was his own, but with a few
scars he did not recognize and a mouth that was twisted in a mischievous
half-grin. He was pretty sure who this
fellow brother was and he was amazed since at one time, reports had said that
Fi was mortally wounded and left for dead after one of the battles following
the execution of Order 66.
Fi’s voice came
over loud and clearer than Ridge would ever have imagined considering the
distance that he knew was between them.
Fi said, “Ahh.. Kal had us all wondering if we’d ever hear from
you. Koyiche Rijika!”
Ridge was caught
off guard at the use of his Mando name.
Only Kal had dared use it since a day long ago that he would rather
forget. Ridge had beat other men to
within an inch of their lives since that day for daring to use it again, but now
it felt different. This time it came
with hope attached. “Koyiche Fi! I have little time for this communication Fi. Is Kal there?
Can I speak to him? It’s urgent.”
Fi hesitated, his
face showing that he had news that was not what Ridge wanted to hear. “Ah.. I’m sorry Rij. Kal is offworld on one of his little
missions. He left orders for no one to
contact him unless there was urgent reason to do so. I’m afraid you’re going to have to hang on
there brother.”
“Gone to ground has he? Well, I’ve been waiting this long, so I guess
another campaign or two isn’t any more likely to be the death of me than any of
the previous ones. You barvs seen any
action lately Fi?”
Fi chuckled for a
moment. “Come on Rij, you know I can’t
share our secrets with you until you’ve blown all your bridges behind you. It’d be way too risky for all of us. But, I can tell you that if you were here
with your liberated brothers, you would never be bored. That is unless you want to be. Kal Buir would never keep you from your
dreams. Whatever your heart desires is
all Kal wants for any of us. If you hope
to find a mate and settle somewhere to be a dirt farmer, then he’ll gladly
leave you to yourself.”
Ridge was startled
out of his thoughts on Fi’s words by a warning klaxon now blaring over the com
system in the corridor outside his quarters.
“Sorry to bang out on you Fi, but seems we’ve just reverted and the
locals don’t want us here in the worst way.
Let Kal know I came calling as soon as you can…” Ridge nearly choked on
his next words. “Fi… I want out
brother. My heart is not in this
anymore.”
Fi was quiet for a
moment. Normally very funny and blessed
with a dry wit, he was temporarily lost for words. He knew just how hard it was to leave the
only things you knew. To leave your
brothers and the bond they all shared.
But he knew the other side of that decision was the freedom he now lived
in. There was no turning back.
“Rijika, you hold
strong and watch your back. Don’t lower
your guard and lose focus. We need and
want you here. Even if all you want is
to be left alone. We’ll get your
attention again soon enough and we’ll get you out of there clean. We’ll keep
the nerf steaks hot and leave plenty of warra nuts for you. Koyiche Rijika! Fi out.”
“Koyiche Fi.”
That conversation
seemed so long ago already. The battle
that ensued right after that conversation had been a fateful one. A battle that landed him here, wherever in
the universe here was.
Ridge was startled
out of his thoughts at a loud clanging on the exit hatch. “Nine-Eight, prepare for a boarding
party. Let’s not aggravate these barvs
if we can help it. I have a feeling they
are already just a bit angry about one of their fighters being nothing but
scrap. Go meet them at the hatch and bring
them to meet me in the mess.”
“Certainly Sir.”
Ridge heard the
hatch air lock hiss open in the distance and then voices raised momentarily in
surprise. Or was it alarm? He could hear Nine-Eight raise his voice as
well, but then all of the voices trailed briefly off.
Ridge made his way
back to the small mess area near the center of the ship and only waited a
moment to hear the voices growing louder again.
He sat down at the primary dining table and waited for the boarding
party. They arrived a moment later and He
was surprised to see that the gray haired man was a bit shorter than he had
expected. Ridge barely concealed a grin
at the expressions on the faces of the three boarders. Their eyes were drinking in every detail of his
ship and their mouths nearly hung open from apparent shock at the sight of the
entirely unfamiliar tech.
The gray haired
soldier composed himself quickly and took on a more serious air of authority
and expectation that his commands would not be questioned. He began to speak and Ridge felt an immediate
gut reaction since he had just that voice quality that conveyed authority and
confidence.
He looked directly
at Ridge and said, “Sir, we are confiscating this craft until further notice.”
Ridge felt a rage
boiling up from deep inside. But a voice in his head was whispering to him. He
couldn’t concentrate on what it was saying unless he could calm his spirit. He
took a deep breath and brought up a calming thought. Unnoticed by the boarders,
he used a meditation technique he had picked up from one of the young Jedi
generals that he had served with briefly. Ridge at one time thought this young
Jedi was crazy, but he could not argue with the successful use of this method
for he and his brothers when they were in stressful situations, which was
practically all of the time.
And the voice was
saying that he needed to just remain calm and bide his time. He would get a
chance to break free from these aruetyc soon enough. He still felt uncertain,
but at least he wasn’t about to blow an actuator. Strange though, that voice
brought up feelings of familiarity that he could not shake. Someone he had
known and at one time respected came to mind. But... that was a while ago and
had not ended well. Ridge shook off the thought and tried to focus on “gray hair.”
“Son.” Gray Hair
said. “Are you well? Have you been injured? Should I have a medical officer
check you out?”
“No, I’m fine.” Ridge
said in his best trooper monotone.
“Do you have a
name or a designation, son?” asked Gray Hair.
“My designation is
CT-RDJ-8,” Ridge whispered
“Ok, son.” Gray
Hair said softly. “I think I
understand. We’ll try and take this
slow. For now.”
“No, you don’t
understand,” thought Ridge. “If you
truly did, maybe you’d help me. Maybe
you would mourn for me.”
Ridge’s mind was spinning. It was awash with thoughts and plans for
escape, but it was also leading him toward the slippery slope of
depression. He was finding it
increasingly difficult to see any hope for his escape, since he knew that could
not happen without some help. And, there
was the tough question. From where
exactly could he get help if he had no idea where he was and no idea if anybody
he knew was anywhere close enough to get to him at all. Damned wormhole!
He had always had
his brothers to fall back on. Even if
some of them were killed off in battle, others like them were sent to take
their places. They shared more than just
their genetics, they shared in rituals that had been drilled into them by their
trainers. They bonded them together at
some deeper level, especially the one where they recited the names of all of
their fallen brothers. This ritual was
repeated after returning from every battle.
Some of their trainers were Mandalorian like
his had been. Kal Skirata was a great
trainer and had become like a father to many of “his boys.” Ridge would never forget papa Kal and the
risks he took to make the clones feel like more than just blaster fodder.
With these varied thoughts
swirling through his head and consuming him, Ridge barely noticed the quiet
footsteps that came up behind him. And the gentle hands that placed a field
blanket over his weary shoulders. When he glanced around, he thought he saw the
slight form of a woman ducking around the nearest bulkhead. With the warm
blanket on his shoulders, he began feeling all the stress of the last day
draining from him.
Then he heard a
woman’s voice telling him to stand.
“Let’s make this
easy OK?”
He recognized the
voice. It was the female pilot that had convinced him to land and surrender. He
looked her in the eye and saw sympathy, curiosity, confusion, and something
else he couldn’t quite pin down. What was her name again?
“Sarah?” He said
quietly.
“Yes?” She said
with expectation.
“Why haven’t I
been taken to a cell, or thrown in my ships brig?”
“Well,”
she paused. “To be honest, none of us knows what to make of you. I mean you
come hurtling into our system from who knows where. You take out some of our
defenses and nearly kill one of us, but then you contradict all that we might
think of you and risk your freedom to save one of us. And you do all of that
soldier,” she pauses again, “after we do our level best to vaporize you.”
“Don’t
get us wrong though. We have locked down your ship to the tarmac and we think
that we have disconnected your power sources so that you would at least be
slowed down if you were to try to escape. You are imprisoned here, but if you
show us the same integrity that we saw in the air, you may find yourself with
more freedom than you might have imagined.”
Ridge was truly
puzzled. Back in the Republic, at the very least he would be locked up in
solitary and for his lack of cooperation he would likely be facing torture. In
fact, for his having taken out a key piece of hardware like Deej’s fighter, he
would likely already be dead. The facts were that these people, despite any
hard feelings he might have against them, were already showing themselves to be
of a better caliber than was often found back in his part of the universe.
He made an attempt
to build another bridge. “Sarah, for whatever it’s worth.” He paused, feeling
lonelier than ever. “Thank you for sticking up for me and not letting the heat
of the moment get the best of you.”
“You know, I think
you still have this partially wrong. I mean, don’t you figure you maybe did a
little of the defending your life on your own? I did stick up for you, but you
really did show some real…” She paused too, at a loss for the right word. “You
know the word I would choose is quality. You did something not many of the rest
of us would have ever had the courage to do in the heat of battle.”
Ridge considered
this. “I understand how you might reach that conclusion miss… I mean Sarah. But,
… well if I was not lost and separated from my unit, things might have gone far
differently.”
“Well sir, the
fact is the situation is exactly how you described it and you made the choices
today that you made. And, because you did them, you have a certain amount of
freedom. If I were you, I would enjoy them, but I would not take them for
granted.”
“On a side note, I
would sure feel better about all of this if you had a name. I mean that code of
yours is fine I’m sure if you are a prisoner in hostile company, but I hope
that we might be on friendlier terms than that. If not now, then maybe someday soon.
Ridge was feeling
lonely and Sarah’s speech was fairly convincing, if not completely sincere. He
only had to think for another moment. “OK Sarah. If nothing else, it will make the
conversations easier. You can call me Ridge. Captain Ridge.”
Sarah looked at
him with piercing green eyes.
“Well, Captain
Ridge. We’ll see what the future holds. If you’ll be here for a while, I hope
we can become friends. But, it has been a long day don’t you think? Are you
hungry?”
“I would say
starving Sarah, but that would be an exaggeration. I do have rations in my
locker in the hold,” he said unconvincingly.
“But wouldn’t you
rather have a fresh, hot, home cooked meal?” Sarah said disbelieving him.
“Field rations can’t hold up against that. Right?”
“Well, no. But,
except for a rare special occasion, that’s all I’ve ever known.” Ridge was
feeling hungrier by the minute.
“Then that settles
it!” Sarah said with enthusiasm. “Captain Ridge, you are in for a treat. Our
head cook, Rudy will make you forget about those field rations for sure. For
tonight you’ll need to stay on your ship, so Rudy will be bringing the meal
on board.”
“What about after
today?” Ridge queried.
Ridge sensed Sarah
hesitating.
“We’ll cross that
bridge tomorrow Captain. Let’s just see this day through and let tomorrow’s concerns
be just that,” said Sarah with a slight smile.
So that settled
it. And just a short time later Rudy arrived at Ridge’s ship and brought a
fresh hot meal the like he could not compare to in his short life. According to
Sarah, there were barbecued baby back ribs, (Which at first Ridge refused until
Sarah laughingly explained they were not from human babies, but rather a
creature called a pig) beef steaks, and a sweet fleshed fish called a trout.
There were also fresh vegetables of several varieties including something
called roasted corn on the cob which he especially liked. But the desert was
the crowning jewel of the night. Sarah called it ice cream and said it was made
from frozen cow’s milk, sugar and there was a fruit in this one called peaches.
He could have eaten the entire crock of it, but he tried his best not to be
rude.
Sarah would have
spent the whole night laughing at Ridge’s almost childlike delight in the food
but she didn’t want to embarrass him too much. She also felt a strange sense of
sadness in Ridge. Something in her heart made her realize that there was far
more to this man than just his rough soldier’s exterior and the mystery about
where he had come from. There were many unanswered questions and she was
becoming sure that some of the answers were going to be difficult for more than
just Ridge to talk about.
Sarah was also briefly
baffled about something Captain Ridge said right after Rudy left them with the
food.
Ridge stared
intensely at Rudy when he first entered the ship’s common area. In fact the
stare was so intense that Rudy told Sarah that Ridge made him feel
uncomfortable. Ridge apologized and said that Rudy reminded him of someone that
he had once known. Sarah filed that in the back of her mind to ask him about
later. She sincerely wanted to make Ridge at ease since she felt it would be
easier for him to be interrogated later if he was less stressed.
Unknown to Ridge,
Sarah had continued to battle for him behind the scenes. She had been forced more than once to remind
everyone in charge that Ridge had risked a great deal by agreeing to surrender.
He could have easily taken out all of the fighter craft at their base. She knew
he probably could not survive for very long without refueling or being able to
replenish his stores of missiles and ballistic rounds but he seemed like he
could be resourceful enough to go to ground for an unknown amount of time.
Sarah argued more
and more frequently that befriending this man might provide advantages to them
against their terrible and powerful enemies. If Captain Ridge had been captured
by the enemy, there would be all manner of hell to pay later. And, if word got
back to their enemies that they had gotten their hands on new and formidable
technology like Ridge’s ship boasted, the enemy would be certain to show up
sooner rather than later to rip it from their cold dead hands.
