Unusual for me I know...I updated quicker than normal.

Knight of Honor: Chapter 11

Excerpt:
Jas decided he couldn’t hold back his resentment any longer, and he had to make an effort to face his irritation with Dusty. He kept his voice low so he wouldn’t arouse any of Les’ika’s attention. “How could you do it, Dusty? How could you shut off your communications knowing that the entire Clone Army was depending on you?”

Dusty stopped moving inventory around for a moment and looked to his brother. “It wasn’t that simple…”

That brought a snort from Jas. “Then which head did she hold the blaster to?”

At that, Dusty grabbed Jas by the neck and pinned him against the wall on the outside of the cavern. Mouse immediately mumbled something to them about letting a vode get some rest or he’d gladly shoot both of them.

Dusty kept his voice soft but offered no room for argument. “Get your kriffing, self-righteous head out of your shebs, you di’kut.”

“You could have killed us, all of us!” Jas said, biting down on his rising voice. “And for what?”

Dusty stared hard into his brother’s eyes, and brought an unusual edge to his words. “Stop thinking like a Clone for one damn moment, Jas. You’re allowed to be a man.”

Enjoy! The next chapter probably won't be so quickly updated.

Another update!

Knight of Honor: Chapter 12

Excerpt:
Jas lowered his eyes to the rippling water, watching the reflections of his face and Dusty’s. With the exception of Dusty’s hair that needed a trim and the bruise covering his jaw, he and Jas were identical men. However, only very few others ever realized that clones were not all the same person and that every one of the men in the Clone Army was different, unique in their own way. Only a small fraction of beings ever saw how each of the clones had taken on their own personalities, becoming individuals who shared nothing more than the same face.

“It’s a foolish fantasy, isn’t it?” Jas asked as he shook his head and ran his fingers through his damp, dark hair. “I’ll be dead long before she’s old enough to look old, and I’m not even a registered citizen. She’s a princess…a kriffing princess! How could she think there’s more to me than a disposable flesh droid?”

“Because you’re a good man, Jas. Ba’vodu had done right with you.”

Jas shook his head, utterly confused over a moment that had been so right yet continued to have everything around it be so wrong.

“Nothing in Les’ika’s actions gave the impression that she was fantasizing,” Dusty offered, noting how his brother could not accept this situation easily.

At that, Jas spun toward Dusty, and his need to protect her was clearly evident in his eyes. “You were watching us?”

For anyone who's reading, I hope you continue to enjoy this little tale.

I know, I know. I took forever to update. (See my ramblings in the "I Need My Clan" section for an explanation...)

Anyway, Knight of Honor: Chapter 13 has been updated!

Excerpt:
“Mission orders are to protect the princess and get her home safe,” Gath reiterated.

Jas sighed in frustration, wondering how his brother could not clearly see the consequences. “And, if we follow those outdated orders, she may not have a home to go back to. This is what we do, Gath. This is the kind of mission we’ve been trained to handle.”

“And, we’ve bent our orders so close to insubordination that we’ve practically shattered our armor,” Gath argued. “Without communications, we don’t even know if another squad was already planted to handle those Seps. We might end up killing our own.”

“But, what if you’re wrong, Gath, then what?” Jas asked. He turned his helmeted head to Les’ika and gently lifted one of her hands from her face. He studied her eyes as they shifted from anger and fright to curiosity and concern. Wrapping his fingers around hers, Jas squeezed her hand gently to offer her silent reassurance, selfishly allowing him a second to absorb himself in the blue of her eyes.

Dusty breathed softly. “We only have one chance for this, Gath. I’m not going to take the risk that there’s another squad of ours out there. We all know we were assigned the Tochin mission because it’s out of the way from the real fighting. Reject Squads don’t get real missions, but if we walk away, Tochin might fall under Separatist control, and then we’d really be the Reject Squad.”

Enjoy!