Empty Days & Sleepless Nights

[Preliat Mantis]

The First Order knew cleanliness, he knew that much. He could at least give them that. But in his opinion, they relied too much on their naval prowess and the Knights of Ren to succeed and get ahead- a fact that may lead to their downfall. Preliat sought to, in a way, circumvent that by leading the clones- his clones. He himself had put a lot of time into one particular clone, an almost perfect genetic copy- [member="Commander Lusk"]. Lusk was only a third of Preliat's age, but had lived nearly twice as much. Seen just about as much war as he did as well. But the bridge had been burnt for quite some time. Preliat had trained him, and thousands of other clones as a part of Garter's program. He was selected as the perfect genetic template, due to a myriad of reasons, as well as beating out the competition. Another woman, Willa Isard, was selected- but he found her bitter and jaded, and not as worthy to be selected as a template. But that was neither here nor there. He had to go back to his boys. The clones were an extension of himself, and his legacy. His legacy had been used, but he was determined to let them have at least a chance at life, some sort of semblance of purpose now. He shared their animosity with the galaxy, though he could never say he was tossed aside the way they were.

But if he was going to get anywhere with the children he had neglected in lieu of his family, he had to first reconcile with Lusk. Lusk wasn't exactly in charge of them by rank, but he had rose to prominence for his prowess, tactical skillset, and leadership. In short- he was becoming better than Preliat. Preliat made his way past the scores of clones on the ship they were on. They were leaving Tatooine, leaving behind the clone's brutal, unkempt, rather appalling shanty town- and headed for sleek metal walls and white armor. Hopefully, the clones could prevent being put into a stormtrooper battalion and lead themselves, and equip themselves- but that was yet another conversation Preliat was willing to have with Lusk.

He made his way to where Lusk was, surrounded by what he assumed leadership within the clone community. They fell silent when they looked upon Preliat, donned in the First Order flightsuit, albeit without the top. He was bulkier than the clones- more time wearing Beskar'kandar armor made his muscles tight like steel chord, and more built- his clone children were leaner, faster than he was- that much he could never doubt. But he could probably still outlast most of them, even in his advancing age.

He ran a hand through his hair, and pulled- by himself, shooing away a clone attempting to grab it for him, a crate marked as food storage. He sighed, before speaking. He looked at the other clones, before turning back to Lusk.

"Is this a better time for that conversation?"

[member="Commander Lusk"]

 

[Commander Lusk]

Preliat was right about the clones around Lusk being leadership. They were all commandos and first generation clones that he had trained so many years ago. Within their little culture there wasn't so much a hierarchy as much as just an order to things, older clones like them were often in charge and made decisions on the behalf of others. It was just the chain of command, and Lusk along with his fellow commandos were by far the oldest and strongest of the bunch. So when Preliat came a knocking a lot of them felt the same feelings towards Preliat, they felt abandoned and forgotten. That the man didn't even bother to drop in and say hello until they were on their last leg facing death in a desert. So besides one clone trying to be nice the others simply looked at him with icy states that he was not welcome here. But then of course Gumball had to ruin that by trying to get Preliat a place to sit.

"God dammit, Gumball. Can't you see we're trying to give him the cold shoulder?" A Mantis Commando with the name tag "Ripcord" said as he sighed afterwards.

"Well excuse me for trying to be polite, Ripcord! I mean the man's our father. Don't you think we should at least hear him out?" Gumball said in protest of the treatment they gave their father.

A nearby Isard commando next to Lusk simply gave a small humorous scoff towards the situation as a whole.

"Pfft, you Mantis clones and your daddy issues are hilarious." The name across this one's armor was "Bottle Cap" and she looked amused by all this.

"Oh fuck off Bottle Cap! Like you have any room to talk about our issues. Just yesterday I found you sucking up to Roach, yeah don't think I didn't se-" And as fast as the fighting started, it stopped.

As Lusk sat there at his own crate he simply raised a single fist in a hand signal to freeze. The other clones with their trained eyes saw it and quickly froze up as their commander was about to speak. That was the sway he held over the entire army. When everyone left them, Lusk was it. He carried them all for years under his leadership, and he cared for them and loved them unconditionally. He was the eldest brother in the family of misfits and outcasts.

"That's enough." Lusk said in a very commanding yet polite tone to his family.

"Listen, Dad. I don't hate you, and I know what happened to you and our family on Mandalore, and for that I am truly sorry. We have all felt the same loss and hurt as you." Lusk then made sure to hurry up and get his point across.

"But we aren't the answer to that pain. We're just as lost and confused and hurting. So before we have this heart to heart I wanted you to know that. You will always be our father, that will never change. I just don't know if we can be your answer." It was better to hear it now than later.

Lusk and the other clones truly did care for Preliat, he was their father and for a lot of the younger gen two clones the man was a myth among them. He was a story that the older clones passed down to them to sometimes even scare them into being better soldiers. Half the gen two clones thought he was ten feet tall and could fly while shooting lasers out his eyes. The other half though he was a demon straight out of hell that would claim the souls of clones who slacked off. While Patricia was viewed as the goddess who gave them life, Preliat was the devil that dispensed of unworthy clones that dared sully his likeness. Generation two clone troopers were still only twelve years old, they were essentially children still.

[member="Preliat Mantis"]

 

[Preliat Mantis]

He couldn't help but smirk at the nature of the clones. They shared more qualities with Preliat than they realized- although they were independent, but they all had a sliver of him in all of them. As far as he knew, his DNA was also mixed with Willa's- and some were more, perfect genetic copies. To him, [member="Commander Lusk"] was inherently a perfect clone- although, he had the unfortunate burden of the rapid aging process. It pained Preliat to know that he would outlive them. But he preferred not to think on it too much. He shot a glare to the Isard commando who spoke up, and she sauntered away, not liking the idea of having to deal with an angry Preliat.


Preliat ran a hand through his hair, looking to Lusk warily."I wasn't looking for any of you to be my answer, or my salvation- I was-"He paused, correcting himself."Am looking to right the wrong I have made."He sighed, looking to all the clones around him. He knew how they felt, knew what they thought of him. Being vulnerable and open, and honest to them would hopefully build the bridge back that he had destroyed by more or less leaving his children to their own devices.

"Yasha asked about you all- when she-"His eyes welled up with tears, before he collected himself."When she was alive. She wanted to meet you all. So I guess I'm doing it for her too."

 

[Commander Lusk]

"You got some nerve trying to guilt trip us by dropping her name. What your family died and now we're supposed to just take you in like nothing ever happened?" Ripcord had a bit of anger in his voice as he spoke to Preliat.

"We suffered that loss every god damn day when you weren't here! Having our family die in our hands! Lusk held Dash in her final moments on Chazwa! We all lost someone that day! So don't you freaking come at us with that cra-" Ripcord was promptly cut off.

"That's enough, Ripcord. You've made your point." Lusk shot an icy glare over to the clone similar to what Preliat had just used on Bottle Cap. The clone got the point and then promptly walked away to go cool off.

"Serves him right for talking that way to dad. Personally I forgive dad, sure he wasn't here the first ten or so years. But he's here now, that has to count for something. I think we should love him unconditionally, we all make mistakes!" There was a bright smile and almost child like laugh coming from the clone commando known as Gumball, as far as mantis clones went he was the freaking opposite of Preliat in every way. A smiling face, a child like sense of wonder, and one bright sparkling eye that wasn't covered by his long girlish hair. Kind of a pretty boy, but behind that bright eye there was a sense of deadliness that belonged to a trained killer.

"Oh my god, Gumball. Shut the $&#% up." Another clone who had yet to speak sighed afterwards, across his chest plate the name "Uno" was written out. Another commando by the looks of his age.

Lusk valued his brothers advice, he truly did. While they all were technically the same person, they all thought differently. That was the beauty of cloning, Preliat could see all he could of been. All the different routes his personality could of gone, it was kind of weird in a way. Though if Preliat had asked Lusk about all the wildly different personalities that were him, Lusk's answer would be to just not think about it. That was probably for the best.

"My brothers speak their minds, and I am inclined to agree with both of them. But before we allow you to right this wrong, I need to ask you something. Are you truly sorry for what you've done? Do you really want to be with us and live among us? Is this truly what you desire?" Lusk said as he gave a nod towards Preliat. He needed to be sure that his father was serious about this, he wasn't going to let his family be hurt again.

[member="Preliat Mantis"]

 

[Preliat Mantis]

His son looked at him the way any man would in his position. The fatherless child- the abandoned boy, the forgotten son. The worth of a man lie usually within his peers, or within his status. What his children said was true- although, Preliat had to argue with Ripcord, but he was turned away- rightly so. Preliat was verging on violence when he mentioned his family. But he also began to understand what the clones had endured in his absence- without his guidance, his leadership, they were aimless puppets in a fruitless, harrowed coup. Nothing but pawns on a chessboard. The Republic played them like a damn fiddle. Preliat aligned himself with the First Order partially to seek vengeance on the Alliance and the idea of the Republic- and in doing so, isolated himself from the Mandalorians.

He ran a hand through his hair, leaning forward on the crate. The various personalities of the clones under him never ceased to amaze him. Personally, it was jarring to see the paths he could've taken- how he could've turned out. He looked up after a long pause at [member="Commander Lusk"], arguably the most 'son-like' of the clones. Lusk was too much like him- although, his mannerisms and speaking habits differed on a level that could make one person tell them apart rather easily.

"Not only is it what I want, Lusk- it's something that I need to do. That I should've been doing."

Preliat stopped and looked at all of his children, looking upon him for guidance in one of the more turbulent times in their young lives. They would require both a leader- Lusk, and a father- himself.

"My apologies will mean nothing without weight to them- which is why I am no longer on Mandalore, nor plan to be- because my place is now with you all."

 

[Commander Lusk]

Lusk knew his father was genuine in his words, and that he truly meant what he was saying. He wanted nothing more than to let someone in and to share this weight he felt. It was pure agony, the betrayal, the abandonment, having to hold up everything and everyone on his shoulders while burying brothers and sisters. It all hurt so very much, and he knew his father could help that. But he couldn't just rush into it, none of them could. Though that didn't mean he wasn't going to give his father a chance at redemption for them, he deserved that much. He raised them to be the people they were today and because of that they had saved countless lives. So this was the least they could do.

"Very well then. Just don't expect any favors from me." Standing up Lusk smiled at his father and gave him a nod of the head.

"But that doesn't mean you're off the hook. You might not be Mandalorian anymore, but a lot of here still follow the culture. Meaning you're gonna have to win a lot of the other clones over with a show of strength." Lusk continued to smile at his father as he stepped forward to stand by his side.

"Gumball. Be a doll and go get Jongo. He's been talking about this moment for a very long time." Lusk chuckled a bit and watched Gumball's face light up in joy as a reaction.

The clone didn't even say anything in response, he simply took off in a dead sprint down the halls of the ship. Where he was going was anyone's guess but it was definitely to find a clone who went by the name of Jongo, and with a name like that one could surmise that he was a particularly scary individual that even Lusk wasn't stupid enough to fight in hand to hand combat.

"So full disclosure. Jongo is more of an experimental Gen Two trooper. Only a good fifteen of his kind were produced from your DNA. They were designed to serve as escorts for VIP targets, but the program was scrapped due to the elevated aggression levels that even the chips couldn't keep in check. So word to wise, he's gonna be a little angry when he sees you. Kind of blames you for being alive and being created as a monster. He's also really sensitive about his looks so try not to stare." Lusk gave his father all the necessary information for what was to come, and in the following seconds of him saying that. There was a deep rumbling coming from down the hall.

A few moments later emerging into the cargo hold was a seven foot monstrosity of a man who was more jacked than Preliat was. The clone had a rather disfigured face that looked like it served as a punching bag for an Olympian boxer. In fact his entire demeanor screamed large scary and very angry.

"YOU!!!" The monster of a clone dressed in boots and utilities pointed a finger over at Preliat and started to charge at him from across the hanger.

"Good luck with that." Lusk gave his father a pat on the shoulder then sat back down on his crate.

[member="Preliat Mantis"]

 

[Preliat Mantis]

To say that Preliat was experienced in warfare- manuever, attrition and non-linear, other operations, was an understatement. He was a subject matter expert on death, a man who had been through enough to understand how to properly engage a variety of enemies. Sith fell at his feet in droves, soldiers were akin to bugs for the most part. The clone, who shared more of his aggression, lacked this experienced, lacked his expertise. All Preliat did was pivot his body, and drove his Beskar-plated leg right into the thigh of the charging clone. To say that the sound of metal meeting flesh was cringe-inducing was an understatement- Preliat hit him hard enough to create noise, a bang in the noisy hangar. The large clone toppled from the impact. A welt had formed already on his leg, and bruising and maybe some light physical therapy. Preliat had never been overly violent or aggressive with his children- but this was an action that could not go unpunished, unanswered.

He looked around the room at the bewildered clones, who fell silent. He turned back to Lusk, narrowing his eyes."One never stops being a Mandalorian, Lusk. I am simply not returning to Mandalore or answering Mand'alor's call."He turned to face the rest of the clones, who were still shocked at the level of violence, and the speed at which he committed it, against one of the stronger clones. Preliat turned and gestured a single finger at Jongo, who was lying on the ground."You all have my aggression, but you lack many things. I seek to rectify that."He turned back to Lusk, and Lusk could glimpse at Preliat like many had before- for what he was. He was a warrior of great caliber and strength, but it didn't lie in his stature, nor his muscles- but his very essence. Preliat's tenacity is what pushed him to victory, what led him to be such a ferocious combatant.

"You all have experienced combat, for the most part. I seek for you all to subject matter experts in it- and the galaxy will be weary of ever coming close to one of you in a hostile manner ever again."

Preliat leaned over and hoisted Jongo, with the aid of another clone, to his feet. He looked back to Lusk.

"A father should never leave his children unattended. I think it's time I came home."

[member="Commander Lusk"]