[TRIPLE ZERO] Chapter 1: Kal couldn't leave. Case closed.

[mamuzzy]

|| Republic Commando: Triple Zero || 2006 || Book series || Military, Sci-fi || 18+ for violence and harrowing themes ||

Maybe it's easier to start the book with the statement that Kamino is an evil place. More precisely, the Republic Commando Universe's Kamino is unambiguously evil. You know it. You feel it. You see it through the protagonists - Kal Skirata, the Omega Squad's the (in)famous training sergeant is finally introduced in person and entered into the line of active protags -, and you feel it through him that this place consumes every last drops of humanity you possess, and challenge your values to the core.

I often see fan takes about how Skirata should have turned his back to this whole operation, say no to Kamino, and leave. Now this is not possible and here is why:

1. We won't have a story. Star Wars credit rolls.

2. Jango Fett wouldn't let Kal Skirata just leave.

Relevant quotes:

Kamino was damp. And damp didn't help his shattered ankle one little bit. No, it was more than damp: it was nothing but storm-whipped sea from pole to pole, and he wished that he'd worked that out before he responded to Jango Fetes offer of a lucrative long-term deployment in a location that his old comrade hadn't exactly specified.

“If you're thinking of leaving, Kal, you knew the deal,” said Jango, and leaned on the rail beside him.

The Kaminoans disappeared from sight. “What do those things want with an army anyway?”

“They don't. And you don't need to know all this right now.” Jango beckoned him to follow.

“Besides, you're already dead, remember?”

“Feels like it,” said Skirata. He was the Cuy'val Dar—literally, “those who no longer exist,” a hundred expert soldiers with a dozen specialties who'd answered Jango's secret summons in exchange for a lot of credits … as long as they were prepared to disappear from the galaxy completely.

Think about that Darth Sidious' whole plan against the Jedi Order stands or fall on this operation. Darth Tyranus went so far to delete everything that can be found about Kamino in the Archives, so you cannot access to information, not even by chance. Jango Fett gathered 100 trainer from all around the galaxy to train the elite of the elites and they will be paid, but with these conditions: they cannot leave the planet. They can't maintain connection with anyone from outside.

From these little morsels of information, I think it can be deducted that if Kal wanted to leave now (or later with the cadet Nulls, because sometimes this is also a discourse often in the fandom), Jango just wouldn't let him. Not just that. Jango Fett would have killed Kal Skirata.

Actually dear ithillia made a good point for me by mentioning how Zam Wessel ended up when Obi-Wan caught her. It is not below Jango Fett to kill his own associates if their presence is more of a liability than benefit.

EDIT: I have found a relevant quote in Hard Contact too

Once he signed up with the Kaminoans, he said, they never let him go home again.

Comments

[ithillia]

ALL OF THIS is very valid and I also hate when I read fandom takes like "Kal could have leave (with bebe Nulls in tow)" "Kal should have sent them to therapy" because that's EXACTLY the point: HE COULD NOT.
Just like you pointed out; this is like a fucking secret military project. The type with shoot-you-on-sight for accidentally being in the wrong place in the wrong time. Like when americans breach into high-security military zones and then make the pikachu face when getting shot at.
Blaming Kal for doing his best in a shit environement is just stupid; he did what he was capable of mentally, emotionally and physically, among terrible circumstances 100% outside of his control.
Kal did what he was able to, then some more, because through the books he proved that he is able to evolve and develop himself for the good of his loved ones.