Alright. Just saying, the characters in this story include: Rav Bralor, Kal Skirata, various clone soldiers, and some of my own invention. None of these were listed in the character selection, so just thought I'd let you know here. I've tried to calculate time and ages as best I could, but they may not be totally accurate.

Mandolarian terms: K'uur- hush, ad'ike- literally little sons, but used in general for children, ner vod- my brother, Cuy'val Dar- those who no longer exist esp. the Mandos hired by Fett to train clones, osik'la- horribly wrong, terrible

One other thing: I don't know what Rav Bralor's ship is actually called, or if it's ever mentioned, so I named it Mando'ade- son of Mandalore

and, if you want to know, Kar'tayli's name means love, literally to hold in the heart, and Tal means blood in Mandalorian

The first time I saw Kamino, I was eight years old and my sister, Kar'tayli, was only six. I knew nothing about it-only that Mom had received a mysterious offer from Jango Fett to come to Kamino for a job, on the condition she leave everything behind and tell no one. The job was a secret, but it paid beyond imagination. Refusing to leave Kar'tayli and I behind, Mom packed us all aboard the Mando'ade and we left Mandalore, the only home I'd ever known. At the time I was a bit frightened and none of us ever imagined what awaited us on Kamino.

Deep space en route to Kamino

roughly ten years before Genosis

The drop from hyperspace jolted me awake. Yawning, I untangled myself from my blankets and rolled out of my bunk. Kar'tayli was still asleep, the fingers of her left hand twined tightly in her hair. I left her sleeping and went in search of Mom. She was up in the cockpit, studying instruments and looking tired. I stood in the doorway for several minutes. Mom's silence seemed to be something almost sacred, an unbreakable thing that I shouldn't intrude on. But Mom turned around first and saw me.

"C'mere, Tal," she said gently.

I walked into the cockpit and sat down in the co-pilot's chair. She smiled at me as I looked out the viewport.

"That's Kamino?" I asked, pointing to the blue, fog-shrouded planet in front of us.

"That's it, Tal'ika," she said.

I looked on doubtfully as we entered the atmosphere and encountered nothing but lightning and dark clouds. We broke through the cloud cover with little resistance, the Mando'ade being a strudy ship. When we got clear of the clouds, all I could see was water.

"This is supposed to be our new home?" I asked incredulously. "There's nothing here but a-"

Suddenly, the com unit crackled to life and Mom clamped her hand over my mouth, cutting me off abruptly.

"K'uur! Not a word, Tal'ika. Not a sound," she whispered sternly. I nodded mutely, eyes wide, as she took her hand away and opened the signal.

"This is Kamino ground control to Mando'ade," a silky voice purred. "Please identify."

"This is Rav Bralor in Mando'ade requesting permission to land," Mom called back.

"Code?" the voice requested.

"Ke nu'jurkadir sha Mando'ade." Don't mess with Mandolorians. Briefly, I wondered if the Kaminoans knew what the phrase meant. Probably not, I decided. It must have been some prearranged code from Jango Fett for all the Cuy'val Dar.

There was silence for a moment on the other end as if data files and names were being checked. Then,"Accepted. Permission granted. Sending coordinates now."

"Coordinates received."

"Kamino out."

The com unit fell silent and Mom switched it off. For a moment, there was silence, broken only by the continuous rumble of thunder. Then, she turned to me with a smile. "Well, that was easy," she said. "But from here it gets difficult."

"Mom," I blurted out. "I don't want to stay here! Let's go home. Please," I begged. "Before it's too late."

"Can't Tal'ika," she said gently. "I've already signed Fett's contract, and we're already here. But it'll be okay, son." She ruffled my hair. "It'll turn out for the best, you'll see. Now go wake your sister."

"Okay," I sighed. "But she isn't going to like it either."

I was right; she didn't like it. Kar'tayli hated thunder and the second I woke her, she was crying. It was dark in our room and she was in a strange place, so abruptly woken that at first she was very disoriented. Already being annoyed, I grabbed her by the hand and pulled her out of bed. Hardly giving her the chance to gain her feet, I practically dragged her though the ship's hallways up into the cockpit, where I deposited her unceremoniously in the chair I had previously occupied. Mom glared at me as Kar'tayli whimpered and crawled into her lap.

"Just because you don't like it, Tal, doesn't mean you can take it out on your sister," she said in a low, dangerous voice. "Now go."

I knew there would be more to follow this incident, but I left silently and went back to my bunk. I sat down and drew my blanket across my shoulders, pulling my knees up to my chest and wrapping my arms tightly around them. Hot tears pricked the back of my eyes like so many little knives. Resting my forehead on my updrawn knees, I let them spill over. I was a Mando'ade, and Mando boys didn't cry in front of anyone. But right then, I didn't feel very Mando. I was eight years old, too old to crawl in Mom's lap for comfort, and far from home, from my friends, from everything familiar to me. I had basically just disappeared from the galaxy, so completely that no one knew where I was except my mother and my sister. Because of the circimstances of the move, I hadn't been allowed to bring much of anything with me except a few clothes and my two weapons-a short blaster and my knife. According to Jango's agreement, Kar'tayli and I weren't even supposed to be here. But Mom had refused to leave us behind and was now in the process of smuggling us onto Kamino, a dreary planet where all it had done so far was storm.

Unexpectedly, I felt a hand on my shoulder and my sister's voice in my ear, "Don't cry, ner vod. I'm not mad at you and mom isn't really angry either."

"I wasn't crying," I denied, looking up and wiping my eyes with the heel of my hand. "I was thinking."

Kar'tayli gave me this knowing grin, the kind six-year-olds give you when they know you've just lied to them. There was no trace of her earlier tears on her cheeks and she was bravely enduring the constant thunder in silence. Kar'tayli could bounce between emotions in an instant; I envied her that. I was usually more thoughtful, and though by no means cowardly or hesitant, I was generally more attuned to what was going on.

Just then, Mom walked into the room. "Okay, ad'ike, you must listen closely," she gave me a stern glance. "The Kaminoans cannot, under any circumstances, know that you exist. Just as I am Cuy'val Dar to the rest of the galaxy, so must you be to the Kaminoans. As far as they are concerned, you never have exsisted and never will. We're getting close to the docking bay now, so it is time for you both to hide. Trust me on this ad'ike," she said, noticing Kar'tayli's frightened expression. "In the event that this all goes osik'la, I swear, no harm will come to either of you. Now, we must hurry!"

She grabbed us both by the hand and took us to the ship's cargo hold. Before we left Mandalore, Mom had had special trunks made to stow us both inside. I was quickly secreted into the bottom of her clothes chest, beneath a false floor. My clothes were on top of that, and Mom's clothes were on top of mine. Kar'tayli was bundled into a smaller trunk full of Mom's armor. Her clothes were hidden away with her, covered by an assortment of weapons and armor plates. Once we were both hidden, Mom told us that we must remain still and silent until she gave us the word that we were safe.

Then, the lid to the turnk closed over me with an ominous click. Any small chinks of light that had remained were now gone. I heard my mother's muffled, "Good luck, my children," and then I felt the trunk being shoved back into place in the hold. There were a few footsteps as Mom removed any remaining evidence of Kar'tayli and I from the room. And then, except for the steady thrum of Mando'ade's engines, complete and total silence.

I don't know exactly where this story's headed or how long it will be. Just wanted to post it and see what ya'll think. so, please review.