Before - Legends Days Long Gone By (Cassus Fett, Rohlan Dyre, post-Mandalorian Wars, COMPLETE)

On the pastoral farmworld of Concord Dawn, a brown-skinned man sat on the front porch of his farmhouse watching his children play in the yard. His face was clearly a hard one, scarred, grim, with a perpetually furrowed brow, but at the moment it was creased with a smile as the old man watched his sons playing in the yard.

The elder boy perked up at a movement in the wheat fields. "Dad, did you hear that?"

The man nodded. Dad. How the outsiders addressed their fathers, the auretiise...it still hurt, but he hadn't been a Mandalorian for a long, long time. "I did indeed, Gormer. Get inside. I'll check it out."

He stood up; though he was advancing past middle age into his twilight years, he'd yet to let his physique go soft. His dark-skinned body was hard, his muscles the lean ones of a professional soldier rather than the bulky ones that a bodybuilder made for show. The loose fitting, voluminous cloak common to the journeymen farmers of Concord Dawn was drapped over his body. Retrieving a pair of macrobinoculars from their spot on the porch, he waved his sons inside. Then he pressed the 'binocs to his face.

Dead-center in their field of vision loomed an ominous T-visored helmet.

The old man lowered the 'binocs in shock, eyes widening, but quickly recovered and pressed them to his face once more.

The ghost from his past had vanished, the only evidence that it had ever been there the after-sound of a faint whooosh, almost like the jets of---

Before he had time to react, the man in Mandalorian battle armor cannoned into the old man with all the power his jetpack could muster, sending him flying into the wall. The warrior quickly followed up, drawing his sidearm and pointing it at the old man's skull.
Hands in the air, the old man could now appraise his attacker: red armor plates, with spiked silver shoulderplates and a silver helmet to match. An air tube connected the warrior's helmet to an oxygen supply within the armor, a tube the warrior now moved to disconnect as he tugged off his helmet. But the old man didn't need to see the coal-black skin of the warrior's goateed face. The custom armor had been clue enough.

"Rohlan Dyre. You found me at last."

Rohlan's blaster didn't waver. "Too right I did, you hut'uun. You've got a lot to answer for, Cassus Fett."

Visions flashed passed the old man's eyes: gold-plated armor with a white serape, enormous fleets massing beyond the Rim, a brutal assault on a magnificent cityscape, and that mask, the golden mask of the Taung warlord he'd pledged his allegiance and service to, now and for--

"No," he said out loud.

"What do you mean, no?" Rohlan practically spat.

The old man straightened to an unconscious attention. "I mean no. That's not who I am anymore. The Marshal's armor, the Neo-Crusaders, the Resol'Nare, the great Crusade...that's all in the past now. As is that name."

Hard eyes, as hard as the old man's own, bored into his face. "Maybe so, but that doesn't mean you don't recall what you did back then, how you and the Mand'alor let our people be destroyed as the Sith's pawns. I want answers."

"Answers I can't give," said the old man calmly. "I know this isn't what you wanted to hear. You're Rohlan the Questioner, the Mandalorian exile, forever trying to figure out the reasons behind the War, but now--"

"Now I'm an exile no longer," replied the other. "We've a new Mandalore now. New clans. And quite possibly a new crusade. But Mandalore the Preserver knows we can't repeat the mistakes of the past. That's why he sent me here."

A shake of the head. "But those are things meant to stay buried, things I can't say. And some things will forever remain unknown; the answers to those questions were lost when that jetii Revan took Mand'alor's head."

Rohlan's finger tightened on the trigger of his blaster. "Look, Fett---"

The old man raised a finger, a faint tone of warning entering his voice. "Now I'm trying my best to live out my life here in peace, in quiet, in comfort, to raise my children. Not as warriors as you know them, but warriors all the same. I don't appreciate you

 

Interesting story! I like the use of non-standard characters- Mandalorians in the KOTOR era don't get a lot of fic love, and Rohlan is a fascinating character. Too bad we won't be seeing more of him.

I know this story is labeled 'complete,' but I do hope you'll write more stories with Cassus. Keep up the great work!

 

Good story, I really enjoyed the characterization of Fett in this story. It says complete, but no chance of anything more? Shame we won't be seeing Rohlan again though . Good job overall, very nicely written!

 

I enjoyed the perspective of the aged warrior, attempting to live out his remaining days in peace.

 

Unusual choice of a main character... And the story was great. I really liked it, thanks!

 

Unusual plot, I liked it.

Good story.