Mando’a >>> translation >>> Galactic Basic [Aurabesh] >>> translation >>> English

My Name is Mercke Lutso

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I’ve come a long way since that fateful day when my planet was attacked by the Empire. I’ve come a long way since I was thrown into the deserts of Tatooine to fend for myself. I’ve come a long way since I discovered the presence of a Mandalorian cult on Endor. I’ve come a long way since seeing the Galactic Empire’s greatest weapon blown to pieces at the hands of my friends. I’ve come a long way since reuniting myself with my culture. And I’ve come a long way since seeing it grow strong again.

I’ve come a long way indeed.

As I am writing this account of my life, I am reviewing the visual and audio pickups of my helmet systems. I’m reading through old notes, talking to old friends, checking the logs on my ship and in my house. My droid companion has been a remarkable asset in this pursuit, helping me considerably by digging through his records.

So please. Don’t think I have the memory of a supercomputer. My memory is very good, and is something that I pride myself very highly of – but by no means can I remember every word of a conversation that I had thirty years ago.

When I was a boy, growing up in the harsh enviornment of Concord Dawn, I had no idea that I would come such a long way, or live for so long, or do so much.

But you honestly won’t understand a thing I tell you unless you were there with me.

So I’ll start at (or rather, near) the beginning.

I grew up on the distant and somewhat primitive world of Concord Dawn, a dusty planet filled with brown deserts and dry farmland, in the outer rim of the Galaxy. Populated by farmers and peasants, Concord Dawn was controlled by the Journeyman Protectors – an ancient class of Mandalorians devoted to establishing control and safety for their leader.

After the devastating Battle of Galidraan that had happened a year after I was born, the Mandalorian numbers were dwindling signifigantly. Nearly two thirds of our population had been wiped out during the massacre, leaving small and scattered clans on remote planets. We all awaited the day the Mandalorians would once again come to power.

I was a son of Mandalore, a member of the Mandalorian family, and of the human species. Under the established way of Mandalorian living, or Supercommando Codex, as it was called, it was a hard life, but I loved it.

The Lutso family was well known on Concord Dawn. On my mother’s side was a distant relation to the Fetts, and my father came from a long line of veterans among the Mandalorians. He had fought at the Battle of Galidraan a year after my birth, and was one of the few that survived the onsalught.

My mother on the other hand was also a skilled fighter, but she never accepted battle the way my father did. She limited herself to big-game hunts and other homely activites with the clan, and she rarely travelled off-world.

The clan I was part of consisted of ten families, about the size of a typical Corellian city block. Our clan leader was a man named Jandai Orokith, a real monster of a man who had recently been deployed to Kamino to train ARC troopers under Jango Fett. He had returned early for some unknown reason, and it remained so, as it wasn’t anyone’s place to ask him about it.

He was a great man. He taught me everything my father didn’t. Under his guidance I learned alot about firearms and ballistics, which was a good experience for me; and the man was a brilliant survivalist.

Jandai’s son Levinth created a strong friendship with me when we were young. Three years my junior, we were inseperable for most of the time, and in our older years we became unofficial sparring partners, practicing nearly every day. He was a rather competetive spirit…

During my late childhood a series of clashes between the Republic Forces and the Confederacy of Independent Systems (CIS) were occuring, which would eventually lead to something known as the Clone Wars. Being as I was a youngster at the time, I didn’t give a second thought as to what was happening on distant worlds. But in my later years I did some extensive research and learned that these battles would not only shape the future for me, but change the course of Galactic history forever.
But I’m getting ahead of myself here – let me explain.

Near the beginning of the three-year war, a certain Sith Lord named Darth Tyranus hired my distant relative, Jango Fett, for some odd bounty hunting job. Well, after the course of however many weeks Jango gets caught up in a particularly elaborate scheme of this Sith Lord’s, and eventually he becomes the template for a clone army. This army was apparently being constructed to serve the Republic during any times of ciris involving the CIS.
Some of my people left to fight during this conflict – such as Kal Skirata, Ghez Hokan, and Jandai Orokith – but for the most part the Mandalorians stayed away from the war. Why, you ask?
One word – Jedi.
The undeclared enemies of the Mandalorians were, during this time period, numbered in the thousands. They fought on both sides of the conflict, and therefore gererally dismissed the Mandalorians’ interest in any participation.
Now let me explain the signifigance of this, as it was obviously one enough to deter the Mandalorians from combat and therefore quite a peculiarity; the Jedi had been fighting with the Mandalorians for thousands of years for control of the planetary systems of the Galaxy. This superpower tug-of-war eventually led to the Battle of Galidraan, where Jedi forces under Master Dooku fought viciously against the late Mandalore Jaster Mereel’s troops.
The Jedi had slaughtered us at Galidraan and left us for dead. We barely survived, and the Jedi finally gained control over the planetary systems, becoming the peacekeepers and main task force under the Republic.
We never really forgave them for that.

At the end of the Clone Wars, the head of the Republic, Chancellor Palpatine, took righteous and complete control over the Galaxy.
Although unclear in record, from what I can gather Palpatine hated the Jedi with a passion, and slowly but surely used his armies to wipe them out (much to the liking of my people, I’m sure). Like the Mandalorians, they survived, but only barely.
Palpatine eventually transformed the Republic into the Galactic Empire. In the process he dumped his Mandalorian genetics program in favor of newer technology, and created from the old “Clone Troopers”, the Stormtroopers. With them he began to scour the Galaxy and take by force the planetary systems, one by one.

That’s the end of my history lesson…

Kevin Kreger is a photographer, filmmaker, and writer. His contributions to Verivex include science fiction, history, and reflections.Learn more about Kevin Kreger on his website or connect with him on Facebook.