#republic commando Corr

[mrbubblyurchin]

My thoughts on Imperial Commando and Republic Commando as a whole

RC

So, I started and finished Imperial Commando on an eight hour plane ride last night. This means I am done with the series overall and this will be me going over it and the characters. But let’s discuss my thoughts on this book first

Needless to say, I was disappointed. It’s not that it was bad or anything, it just wasn’t as good as Order 66 in my opinion, and, of course, even though it’s the last book of the series, the series was left incomplete, leaving me a bit disappointed in the end.

The author obviously planned on writing more Republic Commando books after this one, with how the Jusik and Arla plot line was set up, how the age reversing was going, and how Darman planned to kill the Jedi, but obviously, the sequel was never made, and thus, the overall story feels incomplete. But, enough about that. Let’s talk about RC as a whole.

Oh, and I’ll be completely omitting Karen Traviss from this conversation. She as a person has nothing to do with the plot or characters, which are the things I will be judging today. If you have a problem with me talking about the actual book and not ranting about the author who wrote it, then too bad. 

Let’s start off at the beginning. With Omega. Omega Squad was definitely a pleasant surprise for me. I enjoyed each of their characters and liked how most of them found peace in the end. That being said, I do have some notes.

The biggest is Atin. I feel like after Triple Zero he kind of fell into the background besides when he married Laseema in Order 66. (And his relationship with her fell into the background as well) And he felt practically invisible in Imperial Commando. And I get why Niner and Dar were more in focus for that story, but it would’ve been nice to see some Atin. Also, he’s he only OG Omega member who’s POV we never got to see. 

Next up, Niner. Niner got two POV’s in the series, in both the first and last books. And those books were where I enjoyed him the best. Niner was a solid leader for the squad, and was loyal to them through and through, especially in his friendship with Darman. He didn’t fade as much as Atin, but I still wish he had been a little more prevalent throughout the series.

Then we have Fi. Fi is my favorite from the squad still, and I love seeing him whenever he appears. His one liners are great, and to be honest, he’s kind of the opposite of Niner here. He was very prevalent for books 2-4, but fell into the background in the first and last book. He still appeared more than Atin in book 5, but I barely recall even seeing Parja. (Which was sad cuz I loved the two of them together)

The last of the OG Omega, Darman. Dar is definitely a strong character, and he has a very heavy theme of being used, manipulated, and lied to throughout the books. By the Kaminoans, the Jedi, and even Kal, Etain, and Niner at times! His mental resolve to protect Kad at all costs is what is barely keeping him together after Etain died, and while he does resolve to hunt Jedi at the end of the book, it’s a nice full circle moment to see that while Darman thought his one true purpose at the beginning of the series was to be a soldier, he now sees he was destined for a greater one all along. Being a father. 

Next let’s move on to Ordo, Corr, the Jedi, and Mandos. We got a LOT to cover here.

Ordo- Ordo is definitely one of my favorites. Him and Besany are cute and great and I love both of them. I like all the moments he gets throughout the series. However, I do think he was focused on a little too heavily. While I do wish some of the other Nulls like Jaing, Prudii, or Kom’rk had been given some time to shine, I still loved Ordo and I think he’s great. (That being said, I will be omitting the rest of the Nulls because I really only know enough to talk about Mereel and A’den for a couple sentences)

Corr- A really sarcastic, witty, and funny guy that did not deserve what he got. Losing both of his hands was tragic, but, with lost flesh, he gained a new family in Clan Skirata. He was a nice addition to Omega after Fi had to leave, and I liked him a lot. (He and Jilka were pretty cute in book 5)

Etain- So… Etain. I like her, I really do. But sometimes, there are some choices that I cannot get behind. (Like how she purposefully went behind Dar’s back to get pregnant in Triple Zero) But even still, she is a good person, and she just wanted to be a good mother to Kad and live a happy life with Darman, and she didn’t deserve to meet the end she got.

Bardan- An all around solid character. I liked his development from bright eyed Padawan to rugged ex Jedi Mandalorian, and I think his sense of responsibility to Clan Skirata and also to Kad is very important. He made sure to put others before himself no matter the consequences, a quality with several others lack. 

Walon- A hardened Mando bounty Hunter with good intentions at heart. (Probably). I mean, he did save Jilka, lend Kal credits, and he also did try to find Sev. He cares. Even if it is in his own twisted way sometimes. (Still, what he did to Atin was brutal)

Besany- Love her. Since the beginning, she was all about standing up for the clones and their rights. She cared about them as people and not as property, and she saw their differences as well, and what made them unique, and she really does love Ordo, and I think the two of them are very sweet.

Kal- Oh boy. Here we go. I know I’m gonna get hate for this. Here I go. Brace yourselves. If you need tissues to cry, grab them. 

I like Kal Skirata.

…

…

…

Okay. I’ll continue. I am not going to say I agree with him on everything, and I’m not going to pretend he is a saint or anything. But I like his character. He cares about his family, and he does make mistakes. Everybody does. The problem is everybody has gotten so used to pointing out Kal’s every mistake that they refuse to acknowledge anything he did right. And guess what? Kal makes mistakes. He’s flawed. He’s not perfect. And that’s the point. Characters are flawed. People are flawed. They aren’t perfect. And neither is Kal. And HE ADMITS THAT IN BOOK 5. In fact, NY ADMITS IT TOO! She acknowledges that Kal taking over the Nulls and not seeing the similarities to the Jedi taking children is arrogant! She acknowledges that! And Kal acknowledges that and his flaws later in the book! Kal is arrogant, yes, but he sees that! He knows it! So before you go around saying how Kal thinks he is some saint god or whatever. He doesn’t. And there is proof of that in the books.

So, uhh, yeah. Overall, I think the Republic Commando series was good. There were some things that definitely could have been improved upon, but I liked it. I liked the story, and I liked the characters, so yeah.

Thanks for coming to my TEDTalk.

[trashcanmando]

repcomm but make it the 2003 genndy style

i think who's who is pretty obvious for the most part, but i also drew post-501st besany because i firmly believe she chops her hair off, gets a face scar in a bar fight that she started because someone insulted one of her brothers (probably fi), and gets armor (and an axe)

[nocturius8015ficore]

Fi: OYA MANDA!!

I learned my trade from Kal'buir ;^p

[curlygirlybitchachos]

Okay, so I finally get my shit together (and I'm trying to run away from my actual work) and made some nice progress in my embroidery project.

And here we are!

Can we just give Darman and Corr a 5 minutes silent? They turned out son fucking well! I'm so proud of it.

I'm currently working on At in and I feel kinda weird about him, but I think it will work out well.

It's quite relaxing to do only one colour for a period of time. I thought about making an Exel about how many of the helmets I made and how many of them are work in progress.

If you feel it you can add your own ideas, or oc-s helmet.

Thank you for following this project, I will come back soon.

[cienie-isengardu]

Corr was uneasy. It was inevitable. "I just wanted to say something before we go any further."    "Get it off your chest, ner vod" said Atin. "I won't be trying to replace Fi." Corr blurted it out as if he'd been thinking about it for a long time and now wanted to get it over with. "I might wear the armor but I'm not the man, and I'm not going to compete with him. When he's fit, I'm out again, okay?"    Maybe he was being diplomatic, or he might not have realized how bad things were. Darman didn't explain.    "It's okay," said Atin. "I was one of Vau's trainees. Joining this bunch was a bit rough."    "Was not," Niner muttered. He'd never been one for a good laugh, but he tried hard -painfully hard - because morale was the squad sergeant's job as far as he was concerned. "It was Daruvvian champagne all the way."

Republic Commando: True Colors

[marbled-polecat]

My contribution to Republic Commando Week!  Minor characters day

Hehehehe, Corr and Mereel enjoying a little down time. I first heard of this ship after reading fics by kaasknot on AO3 so this is totally inspired but not based on their fic. 

Thanks for putting the everything together @officialrepcomm !!!

***Full Semi-Spicy image is under the cut!!! ***

[canuckianhawkbi]

the Mando polls were fun, so

[chicknstripz]

∘₊✧ [[ Bake me a cake ]] ✧₊∘

Pairing|| GN!Reader X Corr Word Count|| 863 Tags|| Self-Deprecation, Self-esteem & Confidence issues, Disabilities, Fluff & Angst, Domestic Fluff, Slice of life, Suggestive theming, NSFWish. Synopsis|| Corr attempts to make you a cake, but his intrusive thoughts get the better of him 'Don't eat that' prompt for @clonexreaderbingo

The counter is an absolute mess! Flour covers every inch of space, egg is (somehow) splattered on the ceiling, and don’t even get him started on the sink! He despairs every time he looks at the pile of dishes, the shame and guilt eating him from the inside out, but he’s determined to perfect this maker damned recipe! Determined to show he can provide just as well as any other man!

But kriff, are the prosthetics making life difficult! The synth-flesh does not give the same kind of feedback as normal flesh.

He can’t tell if he’s applying the correct amount of pressure to the eggs, the splatter on the ceiling a testament to his struggle. Can’t grip the slick surface of your knives, the cheap synth-flesh not having the correct depth to either the skin or fingerprints to let him grip it properly. The kaminoans only cared that he could hold a gun, he was a soldier not a civilian, so what if he couldn’t cook for himself? He grumbled to himself as he narrowed his eyes, concentrating the whole time as he transferred the pan to the oven.

The consistency of the batter looks right this time, the surface rising in the heat of the oven, and the smell? It’s less eggy and more sweet - his nose flaring as the familiar scent of Uj fills the air. He won’t tell the sergeant that it took him five attempts, can’t even think of the latest failed attempt that still sits behind him on the counter. It’s flat - he knows it - the dense slab making his stomach churn as he starts to clean up his mess. Perhaps if he’s quick he can go to the bakery down the street and beg a worker to tell him what he’s doing wrong?

Alas fortune didn’t favor him.

You walked in the door with a sing-song ‘I’m home’, the sound of which filled him with dread rather than comfort. Not even your smile could appease his worried heart, his eyes watching you close the space between you. In his heart he knows he shouldn’t worry. You’ve never treated him any differently, never seen him as ‘less than’, but as he stands there watching your eyes light up at the sight of the cake? He’d never felt so useless in all his life. All he can think of is some Kaminoan slapping ‘defective’ on his file.

“Smell’s amazing in here, watch’a cooking?”

You speak around your key fob as you relieve yourself of your work satchel, the little quirk making his heart flutter despite his concern.

“Uj cake .... wait ... no! Don’t eat that!”

You’ve broken off a corner before he can stop you, the shameful product slipped between eager lips and chewed on in short order.

“Mmmmmm, that’s so good. The vanilla really adds to it.”

Wait! You liked it? But it was flat and horrible! He looked at the cake, to you, then back to the cake with the distinct feeling that you might be lying to him

“You don’t need to lie to me mesh’la, I’m a grown man - I can handle constructive criticism.”

You give him an odd look, brows furrowed as you lean your hip on the table.

“But I’m not lying. That’s the best cake I’ve had in weeks, like seriously.”

He watches you slip your fingers between your lips, enraptured by the way you clean the sticky coating from your skin. If he thinks hard enough he can remember what that felt like, his jumbled thoughts drifting between aroused and melancholic.

“Really?”

“Yeah really.”

The sensation of your damp fingers touching his face, palms cradling his head as you lean across the table to reassure him, is electrifying. He doesn’t like to use the words ‘touch starved’, hates the implication that he’s missed out on formative experiences, but sometimes? Just sometimes. He feels no better words describe the feelings in his body as he leans into your touch.

“I know you don’t always believe me cyare, but you’re kriffing amazing. The things you do for me? They mean so very much - especially on days like this.”

“Bad shift?”

You shrugged casually, as if what you’d faced was meaningless.

“I wouldn’t say bad, just busy.”

He knows what that’s like, or at least had. It had always been one thing after before he’d started special ops, the number of IEDs outstripping the hours he had to deal with them. Not that special ops was quiet either, but it was a very different beast to front line work and he at least got down time now. He’d had to thank Skirata for that. He’d have never met you if the wiry little chakaar hadn’t hand picked him to be Fi’s replacement.

“Then it’s a good thing there’s plenty more where that came from.”

Corr nods back toward the oven, earning a laugh from you that makes his heart sing with delight.

“There's more? Corr I could kiss you right now!”

“What’s stopping you?”

You continue to laugh as you throw yourself into his arms, the feel of your lips on his the only medicine he needed to cure the ills that plagued him. 

[mrbubblyurchin]

Just finished True Colors

What the heck.

WHAT WAS THAT?

Just to recap:

FI WAS PUT IN A COMA,

CORR REPLACED FI,

ETAIN HAD VENKU/KAD,

DARMAN HELD HIS KID WITHOUT KNOWING IT WAS HIS,

ORDO AND BESANNY ARE CUTE,

THEY WERE SO CLOSE TO GETTING RID OF THE ACCELERATED AGING,

BARD’IKA QUIT THE ORDER,

AND THE NEXT BOOK IS TITLED “ORDER 66”???

I ain’t ready for this.

[imrowanartist]

For the expression challenge: how about Corr in E4?

From marbledpolecat :D

Hi, Marrrr!

Here’s Corr for you! In his commando armor, because he deserves that ^^

[nocturius8015ficore]

Fi: Corr can do lots of cool things with them. Some more useful than other. *I DONT WANT TO KNOW the supposed special options he reserve for the ladies.* Fierfek Mereel, you created a monster, you know that right?

[mandalorianbrainweasel]

Corr gets cornered by some members of his old battalion who are very, very unhappy with his new position.

(warnings for canon typical violence, dehumanization)

It comes out of nowhere.

Corr gets body checked into the alley wall, his head bouncing on the stone and his vision swimming with white and familiar paint. The colour, anyways. None of the markings are familiar. All of the familiar markings are dead and gone, after all.

“This is gonna suck,” he mutters to himself and he thrashes as he’s surrounded. Get out, get away.

“Think you’re too good for us now, huh?” familiar voices jeer. “Hanging out with the karking commandos, now, eh?”

He feels the familiar tug of his prosthetic arms being dragged behind his back and he kicks out, getting one of these idiots in the cod’ hard enough he hears the duraplast crack under his boot. His arms are released, but he can’t bring them forward again, and can’t even pull them apart very far. “The kark did you dumbasses do?” he snarls.

“Well you’re part clanker now anyway, we figured we might as well use something more familiar,” one particularly nasty one says. He vaguely recognizes the shapes of his paint, now that he thinks about it. That guy was already nasty to Corr’s squad before.

“Wired them together,” a more laconic brother drawls.

Well. That’s going to be annoying as hell later.

Then one of them socks him in the stomach.

He doubles over, groaning and winded and wanting to puke. The karking hell.

“Do you really think some idiot like you is going to last in the commandos?” the nasty one asks. “You got three good men killed. They’re just using you.”

“No shit,” Corr wheezes. “Better than rotting away at a desk job though.”

“You should have, for what you did,” another brother half-squeaks. Young, armour still mostly white.

They dragged a shiny into this with them.

Corr rolls his eyes and grunts as another fist lands against his skin.

Someone clears their throat and the CTs go quiet and still, but Corr is just swaying and dizzy. “I don’t think you kids would want me calling one of the Jedi over here, now would you?” a heavily accented voice says. Familiar accent, Corr thinks, but he can’t quite place it except that it’s somewhere near the commandos’ Mandos. “I know High General Zey is only about a block away.”

“Who the hell are you?” the nasty one snarls, spinning around. He sounds scared.

Corr leans back against the brick of the alley. His shoulders hurt from being pulled back.

“A contractor.” There’s a very distinct pause. “Get out of here.”

They run, a thundering noise that shakes Corr up, and when he looks up it’s gold paint. For one long, terrifying moment, he thinks it’s Skirata, but there’s no limp as the Mando comes toward him and the hands on his shoulders are gentle.

“Turn around, let me get you free,” the Mando says, then he curses—unfamiliar words but a familiar tone—when Corr obliges. “Seriously? Wire?”

There’s a rustling, a clicking, then a sharp snap and the tension holding Corr’s arms together is gone. He brings them back around and grimaces, there’s still wire all through the insides of the metal skeleton of his bare prosthetic arms. It’ll take ages to get it all out to prevent it from gumming up the circuitry.

“Come on, ad’ika,” the Mando says, taking him by the shoulders. “Let me get you somewhere safe to check those hits.”

He ends up back in the old safe house, sat on a couch with the Mando taking off his helmet and revealing pale ginger hair and a freckled face, younger than Sergeant Skirata and Vau but older than General Tur-Mukan and Commander Jusik. This Mando’s apparently a medic, or maybe even a doctor, from the bag of tricks he has on him. Eventually, all the wire is gone and bruises and abrasions are treated. No broken bones, thank kark.

The Mando hums as he finishes up, patting his shoulder. “You can rest now,” he says, almost gently, and Corr listens. He falls asleep on the couch and doesn’t wake up until hours later, when a frantic Mereel finally shows up for him.

[cienie-isengardu]

My RepCom Musing: Men in kitchen... or lack of thereof

With more than twenty mouths to feed, meals at Kyrimorut had now acquired an industrial scale. The complex was more than a house. It was yaim-part barracks, part hotel, part married quarters, part farmhouse, the archetypal Mandalorian clan home. They were lucky that Laseema, Atin's Twi'lek wife, had worked in a restaurant and so could manage a kitchen. She knew all the complicated stuff about portion sizes and making sure everything was ready at the same time. Ny was happy to take orders from her.

Imperial Commando: 501st

I’m trying very hard to remember that this paragraph shows us the Ny’s POV but even then this does not put men of the RC series in a good light. I’m sorry but oh so genius NULLs who can create a complicated programs presumably based on mathematical algorithms to steal incredible amount of money from banks and who can pilot a hybrid of space and submarine ship just by reading manual couldn’t figure out how to deal with portion sizes or cooking two things at the same time? Even working together, in pairs or ya know, all the six super soldiers putting their big brain to use? I’m sorry, Mandalorian veterans who are soldiers and part of the army all their lives aren’t capable of going into the kitchen to make a proper meal for their family because 20 people to feed is such a horrible and difficult task? Laseema is awesome, sure, but she didn’t married Atin to be tied to kitchen because men apparently are fucking useless in this homestead. Not to mention she worked as waitress and sex-worker dancer, not as cook which is a huge difference between serving food and preparing it.

And yeah, Ny may just assume the Skirata clan is lucky to have Laseema to take care of things because feeding so many people is hard and she is doing so well, but I think it could be much easier if the men actually deign to come to help. Because when it comes to cooking meals, it is Laseema, Besany, Jilka, Ruu Skirata, Ny (on her own choice to help) and even Arla Fett:

In the kitchen, Vau, Uthan, and Gilamar sat at the table watching the holonews, while Besany and Jilka helped Arla serve up the meals. It was the first time Arla had joined them. She looked lost, but then a kitchen was a chaotic, noisy place after years in a padded cell.

Like, SERIOUSLY? I’m so angry I’m willing to quote all the moments when our female characters are mentioned closely tied to kitchen and cooking just to prove this point.

The only two (three) men I’m willing to give some slack are:

ATIN

Who gutted and most likely scraped the fish scales for Laseema:

Ny was surprised by the rebuke, but Jilka didn't snap back. She went on chopping, eyes fixed on the table. Atin came in carrying a plastoid bowl full of gleaming freshly caught fish.

"Kaminoans eat fish, don't they?" he said, as if he was having second thoughts. "I never asked back in Tipoca. We didn't eat with them."

Laseema picked up a fish by its tail. "Did you gut them properly?"

"Of course I did. And it's going to take me ages to get the smell off my hands."

"You're a darling. Now all I need is some gihaal stock to poach them in."

CORR

Corr poked his head around the kitchen door. Ny wondered if Jilka could tell all the clones apart yet.

"Can I hide in here, please, ladies?" He gave them his best cheeky-boy smile and swaggered in. "The atmosphere's a bit intense out there. Aiwha-bait alert."

"Since when does the kitchen have a FEMALES ONLY sign outside?" Jilka asked. "Make yourself useful, soldier."

Corr winked, took the knife from her hand, and began chopping with surprising speed and skill. The more surprising thing was that she let him.

and

"Who's for more eggs?" Corr yelled over the hubbub. He'd volunteered for kitchen detail with Ny this week, probably to impress Jilka, and Ordo decided it was working. She watched Corr when she thought he wasn't looking. "Make the most of these. The nuna can't keep up with you greedy shab'ikase. It'll be boiled mealgrain until they start laying again."

(and yeah, the first mention of Corr’s help was about him trying to hide in kitchen to avoid a tense atmosphere created by Kal meeting a Kaminoan Jedi survivor of Purge and later, he tried to impress Jilka but he at least was in the kitchen helping ladies)

and honorable mention of WALON VAU:

While Besany wrestled with dough, and Scout and Ruu sliced the haunch of shatual that Mird and Vau had hunted, Ny made igatli from scratch, following a recipe on a datapad propped on the kitchen table.

And yes, Fi, Parja and Corr hunted too and generally all members of the clan clan helped with fishing, but the text at least strongly suggests that Scout and Ruu got not so much as a hunted animal to deal with, but skinned (and gutted?) one so the meat is ready to be portioned for a meal or preserved to eat in the future.

That is. The three men who are apparently reliable. And surprise, surprise none of them is Kal or trained from start Kal’s boys. Geez.

[ladyanidala]

We've got some new additions to the fic today!! :D Go give clan Skirata some love!!

(Oh, and check the end note for a surprise ;) )

[clonecumber]

Three of those character ask things from way back that I realize now I only had posted on Dreamwidth. Whoops.

Etain, Corr, and Kal. As always, mind the tags.

Anonymous: Etain

Ohhhh, that's a toughie. All right, I don't know you anon, but you're asking about a controversial character so...proceed with caution?

First impression : I don't think I had very many strong feelings about Etain, but I remember being in line with Kal's take on the situation regarding her pregnancy. Reading it now, there are aspects to it that I feel are way more complicated than how the narrative (and KT's multi-book gaslighting campaign) present them, so I've eased up on that, but that whole plot is still...Eugh. She wasn't really a preferred character, but I grudgingly tolerated her, I suppose.

Impression now : *drags hands down face* Look, I have done like...so much drafting in my head for months about specific Etain things and this is hard, okay. I nearly don't even want to talk about it without at least three separate whole entire papers to point to in order to flesh this shit out, but I'm going to try. Etain's very complicated, primarily because, from a Doylist perspective, knowing anything about how the Jedi work, so many things about how she's written just. Don't fucking make sense. They really don't make sense. Trying to Watsonian the mess is more than a humble ask game can hold. I'll do my best, but yeesh.

(PS. I've already made a separate post talking about how I feel Etain's badly underutilized as a character as well, so I won't be talking about that much either, but I still hold true: Etain had amazing narrative-relevant talents and I wish that had gone somewhere.)

But, Etain. She's actually pretty similar to Skirata in personality, I think. Not identical, but they have a lot of overlap, specifically in their flaws and way of behaving toward others, though the way they express these behaviors tends to differ. The core seems the same, though. Etain obviously has shittier self-esteem, but I feel like they both have a fear of abandonment/need to be special that drives a lot of their behaviors, but Etain's more aware of it and Skirata really isn't. I also think they're both very driven by heart-over-head, both compassionate but so starry-eyed with the idea of doing good for people that they steamroll the same people they're trying to help, which leads into them both having major problems with boundaries and basic communication skills, and both very prone to "othering" anyone not in their in-crowd, to differing degrees of severity. If I was going to Watsonian Skirata's lashing out at Etain throughout the books, I'd say the reason might be besides Etain being a less conventionally attractive woman, is rather because Etain and Skirata are too similar, and while she's alive Skirata is probably subconsciously reacting to that - always jumping to the worst possible conclusion because he sees himself in her, and Skirata has a very complex relationship with his own flaws. Case: Skirata attacks her for things his own POV will sometimes point out are things he does too, sometimes to the point of seeming confused at himself for why he's reacting so strongly, though this never actually goes anywhere since it neither changes Skirata's behavior toward Etain nor makes him examine himself in any more detail. I do think it says a lot that it's there. It's also an interesting compare and contrast exercise, primarily for the following reason:

Because where Etain's different is that 1) none of the other characters ever let Etain get away with shit, so most of the things she pulls get her called out promptly and severely and 2) Etain actually wants to get better about how she treats people. She struggles sometimes and doesn't always get it right, but she's nearly always willing to listen to criticism and will try to do better come hell or high water, even if she doesn't really know what that looks like and ends up forging determinedly ahead in entirely the wrong direction. The spirit is there. I really, really wish therapy existed in Star Wars, because Etain would really benefit from it.

I also find her conversations with Darman where we get to see her from Darman's POV interesting to read, especially later in the series. Around Darman she's always more confident and secure, and it shows, I think. The neuroticism we see from other outside-in looks at Etain (basically only Ordo and Kal, really) dials down significantly, and without the anxiety you get a young woman who's a little stiff and abrupt, even a little stern, but also surprisingly funny and kind. Someone who maybe doesn't smile often, but man, when they do. I feel like we also got a bit of this during her interactions with Mereel, since I remember her POV chapters with him being much less...self-disparaging. So I mean, at least she had two people in this clan she could relax around.

I like her character quite a bit now, actually, lol.

Favorite moment : Etain saving Niner and Fi from shrapnel in Hard Contact. She took initiative on her own and was so pleased with herself afterward; it was kinda cute.

Idea for a story : Instead of Etain dying to save the trooper, it was Skirata, for any reason. Doesn't really matter. I feel like losing Kal in that hero's journey "Death of the Mentor" sort of way would have had a much more interesting impact on the story afterward and maybe saved it from a bit of its...uncertain floundering in follow-up story lines. But also Ordo and Etain, on-scene, having to deal with that, and then the associated, longer-term fallout. It probably wouldn't be about Etain, but the narrative could ride around on her shoulder while everything was happening, so it would be Etain-centric. The dynamics alone would be interesting.

Unpopular opinion : This is nowhere near comprehensive, but: I don't really think Etain tricked Darman into unprotected sex with the intent to get pregnant. I feel like there is reasonable evidence to suggest Darman and Etain were already having unprotected sex even before Etain came to her decision that she wanted kids with Darman someday, no false pretenses required. And I mean, sure, even if they were, I definitely feel like her thinking about the possibility of pregnancy in the future should have at least prompted her to start a conversation before continuing to have unprotected sex with him, but that's still a far cry from the idea she actively sabotaged agreed-upon birth control measures, which I remember was the predominant belief on the forums back when I first read these books as a kid. (Not even getting into the "but did they even have quality sex education" thing because that's straight up headcanon vs headcanon and that's a nightmare road that I will not touch.)

Favorite relationship : (Sorry, Darman, but) MEREEL. Etain and Mereel's friendship came out of left field, but I actually really, really liked it.

Favorite headcanon : That Etain's intersex. Possibly also trans or questioning.

walonvaus: Corr

Hi! Thank you for your comment, I really appreciate it! Sorry for the wait; I try to do these in the order I receive them and I had one on Tumblr just before yours.

Corr's tricky for me, and separating what I can draw from him in canon from the way kaasknot's fic fleshed him out in my head is hard, lol. I don't think I entirely succeeded. Not least because I'm falling asleep on my keyboard, whoops.

First impression : I do not remember. He sure existed?

Impression now : For a guy KT liked to use as a MadLibs booklet every time she needed a random character to do anything and then shoved off-screen at every opportunity, he sure managed to make himself interesting. His canon personality is a bit all over the place, but just his story in general? There's so much there. I'm still fascinated by the fact that apparently after finishing his training, Corr was still running with the Nulls for awhile. Presumably he was spinning his wheels until they had a placement for him, like what happened when Skirata recalled him from a mission he was in the middle of with Jaing, but instead of planting him back in the barracks the Nulls just...kept him. Which says something, I feel. Corr's just one of those guys who has an entire novel's worth of shit happening, but it's taking place entirely off screen. His life is a series of noodle incidents and he never talks about himself. Ever. And so noodle incidents they will remain.

Favorite moment : During O66 when Kal's trying to deflect Niner by dropping the bomb about the second army and Corr goes straight on point like a hunting hound so that when Niner starts to go, "That's nice, now back to the topic at ha-" Corr does everything short of slamming a hand over Niner's mouth. I think he actually says something like, "Niner, shut up," or something, with the implied, "What second army?"

Which is very rude of Corr, who up until this point has been characterized as being very careful around Omega in a Must Keep Hands And Feet Inside The Vehicle At All Times approach to this new squad thing. On top of being raised as a line trooper with far stricter standards of behavior. Telling his sergeant to shut up has implications coming from Corr that it doesn't coming from, say, Darman or Atin.

And, sure, it's the exact reaction that Kal wanted, which sucks, but at the same time I think it says a lot about Corr's own priorities as a Line Trooper himself, and a bit that it sort of speaks to me of his time running second to the Nulls' own missions. There's still a part of him that thinks like them, and just like they were Shook upon this discovery, so is Corr. That on top of it being a sudden, intense blow to him as one of the demographics most affected by the war, troopers just like him hit the hardest by dent of numbers and being last in line for everything, feeling the lack of support the hardest, who would hear of these reinforcements who exist but aren't being used or might exist and might be used and just...have a hell of a lot of feelings about it all at once. I just like the characters piece here, that he just doesn't have a reason to care about Jilka over the second army, for all the reasons listed above. Niner doesn't fall for it as an all-or-nothing trade, information on Jilka's situation or information on the second army, but if Corr does, he knows which one he picks. And that's a cool show of his priorities. Also probably something I'm overthinking.

Idea for a story : Corr still being treated like part of Omega once he and Atin make it to Mandalore and reunite with Fi. Just. IDK. A bonding activity. Something. Fi being able to talk to Corr about things Fi might still have a hard time trying to explain to Atin, maybe. Like, you know, maybe Corr's been there before or something.

Unpopular opinion : (I don’t think this series really has popular opinions, but we’ll work with what we have:) Corr still doesn't really understand the One True Marriage/Must Be In Want Of A Wife ideal that most of the rest of the characters in the series were raised with, so him having a "girl in every port" is less him deliberately "playing the field" and more his squad trying to sync his behavior through their own cultural lenses.

Really, Corr's just a friendly guy who sometimes has sex with people he likes, with zero expectations on either side or even the real understanding that there should be (which I wonder about anyway, since Star Wars doesn't have a sex before marriage taboo to my understanding, which would be funny if it was just Skirata but I digress). Those "girls" are his friends. That's literally it. He does not get why his squad mates keep chortling amongst each other and ribbing him about this. Or, he does. Intellectually. But he doesn't get it.

Favorite relationship : I really want to say Mereel even though I've been realizing slowly over the course of the last couple weeks that for all there is so much interesting about their potential dynamic, they basically never interact on-screen in the books? H o w.

All the Nulls he's canonically worked with, so Mereel, Kom'rk, and Jaing.

Favorite headcanon : Corr approaches Jilka flirting because he learned it as a defusing tool from Mereel and no one else was working with her to keep her from eventually snapping and, like, stabbing Besany or something. That's his sole motivation originally, and he's halfway winging it. How the relationship plays out after that - especially when it rapidly grows outside Corr's control on account of him not really understanding why using flirting tactics on someone you live with isn't really the best idea, and maybe or maybe not him actually forming a friendship/actual romantic interest in Jilka - varies to me, but my primary interest is in the culture clash potential.

kaasknot: Kal Skirata

Hi!

Juuust a forewarning, since I don't know if you've seen much of my typical rambling, but I have Strong Feelings about Kal Skirata's character, so. Be warned? Also trying to talk about this without dipping into a bit of TMI is impossible. If you don't want to deal with that, skip the first two impressions, please!

First impression : I first read these books up to True Colors (O66 and 501st came out later) all together when I was a young teenager nearly a decade before I'd finally start being able to admit to myself that I had been abused, and I adored Kal Skirata. He was just like my mom, except better.

Impression now : No argument that KT's main strength is her ability to create vivid characters. Kal as a character is incredibly important to me because he's one of the most perfect characterizations of an (unintentionally but still very) emotionally abusive parent I've ever read. And from a meta standpoint, using Kal - a safe fictional character - as a proxy to sort through my own understanding of my own treatment by my own mother was a useful exercise, since the parallels are so stark. The fact Kal doesn't ever do it on purpose is what matters to me too, because it's too easy for people to decide toxic people are that way by some grand calculating plan, deliberately maneuvering everyone around them like expert chess masters for maximum suffering, when really it's usually just because they're damaged, frightened people lashing out and grasping on instinctively, who aren't capable of recognizing the harm they're doing. Like the emotional equivalent of a drowning person latching on to anyone nearby and not realizing when they shove them down under the water. It's the human desire to be liked and appreciated absent the ability to self-reflect and cope in a healthy, productive manner, and an unwillingness to self-correct when their own lacking behaviors are pointed out to them. Kal wants to be a good person. He wants to do right by his kids and be super-dad and all of that. He really, really wants it, and that makes it easy to excuse him, because his intentions are so good. (Except he's also got a bit of a white savior thing going on, but we're not talking about that right now.)

The fact that being seen as that person (so that he can see himself as that person) matters more to him than actually doing the hard work of correcting his behaviors so he can be that person is where he fails. He wants without putting in any actual, productive effort. If it doesn't make him feel better about himself, it scares him, and he does his best to ignore it away and make everyone validate him so he can pretend he never did anything wrong to start with. This man gaslights like he breathes. He uses dramatic shows to "erase" damage he's done without actually taking into account if the person he's trying to "make amends" to actually feels better after he's done (see: Darman). He can spin the narrative of self-improvement, but he wavers at actually walking it. It's human. It's very, very human. It's part of why a lot of my favorite "what ifs" involve Kal learning how he's fucked up, being forced to confront it, and growing better as a person and forming healthier relationships with his family. At this point I've accepted my mom will never do it, but I like to think Kal would.

But most importantly, that whatever else might have happened in Skirata's life to harm him, whatever his intentions were, that doesn't matter. People aren't allowed to hurt you just because they don't mean to, or because they've been hurt themselves.

TMI OVER

Favorite moment : Okay, so after he shakes hands and leaves Altis's ship and realizes he's still contagious with the vaccine-fever and he just looks at his hand in disgust and then mutters something like, "I should have charged you." I laughed.

I really, really like when Kal actually is the put-out old crook dragged kicking and screaming into something approximating morality by his love for six little boys, and I wish he'd been written that way more often, because he talks about himself that way sometimes but too obviously views himself as more-moral-than-thou at literally all times, not helped by KT warping reality around him to always make sure he's the most right and moral character in the series, and I just feel like it's a series of missed opportunities. The put-out old crook Kal we could have had is an icon.

Idea for a story : Sort of brainstorming this for a little while now, but: Time travel. Falin gets dumped on Ordo shortly after being found by Munin but before Munin manages to erase his name, or Ordo travels back and stumbles across little Falin and promptly kidnaps him because Munin is a Hard No. It'd be about breaking the cycle of abuse, Falin/Kal getting a better start after the hell he had to deal with and deserving much better than fucking Munin, and Ordo/the Nulls having the opportunity to recognize Kal's bad treatment through having to parent Falin/realizing where Kal came from and grappling with their own unwillingness to pass those things on, and coming to terms with why they don't want to pass those things on. For obvious reasons, them coming to terms with their own poor treatment and not really being equipped to deal with Falin's trauma, means there would have to be a broader cast to provide support, possibly even take over as Falin's primary caregiver for awhile (good luck getting past a freaked out and protective Ordo, but I have faith in his clan) but that's more detail than I've got so far. Point is the Nulls (especially Ordo) coming face-to-face with Falin.

I'm actually sort of attached to Laseema in particular recognizing aspects of Falin's treatment under Munin and actually being a good point of connection for him. She understands better than anyone else in that house exactly what sort of thing Falin's gone through, I think. At least the losing everything parts, and being taken, and being expected to perform to a new expectation by these strangers you have no power to combat, not even to keep your own name. Human trafficking victim to human trafficking victim. I have an image of Falin nursing a wild bird back to health, and, being Kal still, wanting to keep it forever even once it's healed, and Laseema walking him out into the yard, and talking to him beyond the range of anyone else's hearing, and eventually convincing him to let it go.

Unpopular opinion : *shrugs* Kal's a polarizing character. I love analyzing him and I'm very critical of him and want him to face some hard consequences, which is going to be very unpopular with 50% of fandom and perfectly fine with the other 50%.

Favorite relationship : Vau. They're both shitty old people and their relationship is hilarious. Literally the only character Kal doesn't have any sort of hold on, and they fight like cats and dogs but with the impression that they'll be shoulder-to-shoulder at the pub later or something. Angry, toxic old couple who fight all the time but will back each other up when it comes to fucking with the HOA inspector.

Favorite headcanon : Okay, I erased the BS I invented on the spot that lived here last time. Honestly, I spend so much time focusing on canon!Kal that I don't really have any headcanons I can point to in a snap. He gets his share of attention already. Unless some of my interpretations of his canon actions dip into headcanon territory, this is all I've got.

[countessofbiscuit]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Wars Legends: Republic Commando Series - Karen Traviss, Star Wars - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: RC-5108/8843 | Corr Skirata/RC-8015 | Fi Skirata Characters: RC-5108/8843 | Corr Skirata, RC-8015 | Fi Skirata, Null-11 | Ordo Skirata (mentioned) Additional Tags: Book: Republic Commando: Triple Zero, Missing Scene, References to Omega Squad: Targets, Canon Compatible, First Impressions, First Kiss, Accidental Stimulation, Clonecest, Body Image, Armor Swap

Every base had an armory, and the sleazy penthouse Corr had arrived at was no exception.

There was no quartermaster, and no droids; just a commando in plain clothes named Fi who shuffled Corr into a small room piled high with kit bags, armor, and ammunition boxes, and told him to undress... 

A Fi/Corr treat written for SW Rares 2022 :3