Kal Skirata

"He cared what happened to us. He was one of us, pretty much. Not just there because he couldn't cope with not being in the army anymore, or had to disappear. No, he was a good man."

- RC-1309

Kal Skirata, born Falin Mattran, sometimes called Kal'buir (Mando'a for "Papa Kal") by the clone commandos that he trained, was a Mandalorian instructor for clone commandos in the Grand Army of the Republic. After being orphaned, he was adopted by Munin Skirata. As Skirata grew up, he became the husband of Ilippi Skirata, the father of Tor, Ijaat, and Ruusaan Skirata, and the adopted buir of Omega Squad and some of the Null-class Advanced Recon Commandos. Through RC-1136, one of Omega Squad, and Jedi Knight Etain Tur-Mukan, he was the adopted grandfather of Venku Skirata.

During the Clone Wars, Skirata had a chance of becoming a father again. He decided that he and his new family would have to desert from the Republic army, yet it did not go as they had expected. Now with the newly born Galactic Empire rising, Skirata set out to get two of his clone sons, who have been unwillingly left behind during Order 66, out of Coruscant.

Life as a Mandalorian
"Ke nu'jurkadir sha Mando'ade..."

- Kal Skirata to Qibbu. Don't mess with Mandalorians

Kal Skirata was born Falin Mattran on the planet of Kuat, the son of a Kuat Drive Yards engineer and his wife. When Mattran was around 6 years old, his family had moved to Surcaris because his father was contracted to do some engineering on the KDY warships that were stationed there. War had broken out on Surcaris shorty after the Mattran family had arrived on the planet, and Mattran was orphaned when both of his parents were killed. The only thing Mattran had salvaged from his father's body was a three-sided knife, and because he was alone after his parents died, he trained himself how to use it, eventually getting to the point where he could hit any target he threw the knife at.

After surviving for a year in the war-torn rubble of Surcaris on his own, Mattran was discovered by a Mandalorian named Munin Skirata, who he had promptly attacked with his father's knife. Munin was amused by the attack rather than angry, and decided to adopt Mattran into his Mandalorian clan, renaming him "Kal Skirata", with "Kal" meaning "Knife" in Mando'a.

Skirata later married a non-Mandalorian, Ilippi, with whom he had three children: Tor, Ijaat, and Ruusaan ("Ruu" for short). However, she could not understand his Mandalorian ways or accept his long absences, so she eventually left him, with all 3 children. Early in his career as a mercenary, his ankle was shattered by a Verpine shatter gun due to his failure to follow an order. The injury would later become a grievance for most of his career, only being healed after his adopted clone sons forced him to undergo surgery.

When Jango Fett was recruiting the Cuy'val Dar, Kal was recruited due to Walon Vau's recommendation. He and Jango went back a long way, and had an up and down relationship. Kal was a very aggressive Mandalorian traditionalist and was devoted to the welfare of his troops.

When Ilippi died, Kal's sons tried to find him, to let him know. However, because of the extreme secrecy surrounding the existence of the clone army, he could not contact them and after they couldn't find him to come to their mother's funeral, they parentally divorced him. This was something that was considered a great disgrace among Mandalorians, but Kal felt that it was worth it, for the safety of the clones.

Training clones
"That is the man who taught us all we know"

- Fi Skirata to Jaller Obrim

Eight years before the Battle of Geonosis, Kal was brought to Kamino when he answered Jango Fett's call for clone trainers picked from the Cuy'val Dar. He was disgusted with the Kaminoans' arrogance and indifferent attitude toward the "reconditioning"&mdash;killing&mdash;of clone children who didn't pass quality control standards. He first met the Nulls when the Kaminoan technicians considered them failures that had to be destroyed. Null-11 attempted to defend himself and his brothers by stealing Kal's hold out blaster and aiming at Orun Wa, and though Kal wouldn't have wasted a breath on the Kaminoan scientist, he managed to talk Null-11 down. He became sympathetic to the clones, and took the Nulls under his wing, giving them names and training them personally, instilling Mandalorian heritage and values in them. The Nulls were very fond of Kal, and would only answer to or accept orders from him. He also formed alliances and contacts with many otherCuy'val Dar while there, forming a "closer" relationship with Walon Vau, Tay'haai, Mij Gilamar, and many other formerly "alive" M andalorians.

Shortly after the Battle of Geonosis, when Kal's contract as a Cuy'val Dar was finally over, Kal had to be placed in custody to help calm down the Null ARCs, who were resisting being "chilled down", but he helped on the condition that he would be re-enlisted in the Grand Army of the Republic.

Mission on Coruscant
One year into the war, Skirata teamed up with Delta and Omega Squads, Ordo, Mereel, Walon Vau, and Jedi Generals Etain Tur-Mukan and Bardan Jusik for a classified mission to locate terrorists deep in Coruscant's heart. The object of the mission was to locate and eliminate Separatist terror cells operating on Coruscant.

For the mission, Ordo "borrowed" a large cache of explosives from GAR facilities, and Skirata used contacts within the more seedy areas of Coruscant to set himself up as a man looking to sell the explosives. Once contact had been made with the terror cell, the different teams were given different objectives. Omega and Delta Squads, along with Jusik and Tur-Mukan, tracked the members of the terror cell. Walon Vau served as interrogator for any prisoners taken. Once the exchange took place between Skirata and the terror cells, a strike was made to eliminate all members of the cell.

During the mission, Kal took a liking to Bardan and believed him fit to be his son. Afterward, he also convinced General Zey that clone trooper Corr be allowed to stay with him and train as a commando. It was also during this period that he learned of Etain's pregnancy and told her that he would have to raise the child so that it would grow up in the proper "Mandalorian" way. He also expressed disgust in Etain not even telling Darman that she had conceived, thinking that she had merely "used" him, just like the Republic used its slave army.

The hunt for Ko Sai
A few months after the mission on Coruscant, Kal Skirata, along with Ordo and Mereel, traveled to Kamino to find information on the whereabouts of the missing Kaminoan scientist, Ko Sai. Kal and Ordo were forced to rescue Vau from Mygeeto after he fell into a crevasse after a bank heist at the Dressian Kiolsh Merchant Bank. The goods from the heist were given to Kal by Vau, forcing Kal to change how he thought of Vau and forging a more stable relationship between the two.

After the rescue, Kal formally adopted Ordo according to Mandalorian tradition. Though Kal had been angry at Etain for getting pregnant, he felt guilty afterward for bullying her. He managed to track Ko Sai down and capture her with the help of Mereel after a firefight with a group of Mando'ade who were her bodyguards, something that made Kal believe Mando'ade should stop working for others and work for themselves. After learning of the order to euthanize Fi, Kal and Ordo left for Coruscant, leaving Etain on Mandalore at his home and made a call to Obrim for aid in retrieving Fi.

After the birth of Venku Skirata, Kal offered to let Etain stay on Mandalore with Venku if she left the Jedi Order, something she refused as she felt it would be betraying the other soldiers who served under her. Both he and Etain decided to pick the moment when they would tell Darman about Venku and rented a place for Laseema on Coruscant where he and Venku would stay. After retrieving Fi, Kal officially adopted all members of Omega Squad and the Nulls according to Mandalorian tradition.

Family reunion
Months later, Tor Skirata contacted, via comlink, his father to let him know that he had lost contact with Ruusaan and asked Kal to look for her. During the conversation, Tor said he was sorry for what he and Ijaat did to Kal.

To his surprise, Kal found out that Ruu was arrested for playing as part of the Separatists and was placed in a Republic Detention Center on Pols Anaxes. Kal sent Former clone trooper Fi and Jusik with falsified records to escort Ruu out of the Pols Anaxes facility. Even though his biological sons had disowned him, and his daughter did not talk to him for years, Skirata still protected his biological children, along with those he adopted.

Telling Omega and other plans
Kal Skirata had made many plans and decisions, the first was that he was going to take his adopted sons, and as many clone troopers as decided to come, to desert the Grand Army of the Republic and come live in his secret facility on Mandalore, while he had the best scientists in the galaxy use all the cloning data he could buy or steal (such as from Ko Sai) to create a cure for the rapid-aging of the clone troopers. He told all his Null-Arc sons, but waited to tell Omega Squad because he feared the news would interfere with their concentration during missions. Kal had the Null troopers Mereel and Jiang raising credits for the research materials, and through clever banking they had managed to amass over a trillion credits.

The second thing he had to tell Omega, was that he had told Etain that she was to keep it a secret that Kad was her son, and that RC-1136 Darman was the father. Kad/Venku was able to walk before Darman knew he was the father, and Darman's confusion as to how Kal could have hidden so much from him caused him to have a temporary mental break, punching Kal Skirata repeatedly, knocking out at least one tooth, and leaving Skirata's face broken and bloody, while Kal apologized for what he had done to Darman. Darman felt horrible for striking his father afterwards, and forgave Kal and Etain later, just hoping they also forgave him.

Battle of Coruscant
"Okay, I admit it now. Palpatine's strategically and tactically brilliant. He's spread the GAR so thin that the Seps thought Coruscant was here for taking, and so they roll in&mdash;and bang, he unleashes his second force behind them. He gets them to come to him. Well, at least we know now what he was building that second clone army and all the ships for. Now all we have to do is to get out in one piece. Nice one, Chancellor, you slimeball."

- Kal Skirata, enlightening on Palpatine's motives and getting it all wrong

As Count Dooku and General Grievous waged war on Coruscant, Skirata decided that now was the time to get Dr. Uthan, but not before being reunited with Ruu. She couldn't believe that after all this time, her father had never forgot her. Skirata told her that after the battle was done, Ruu would have the choice to return to Drall or go with the clan.

Carrying out their plan, Skirata, Vau, Bardan, Fi, and Ordo retrieved Dr. Uthan out of the madhouse in Valorum Center, while the other inmates were evacuating. But before they could leave, Bardon went to collect another passenger: Arla Fett, the long lost sister of Jango himself. Skirata was impressed by this discovery.

Order 66
Skirata was still on Coruscant when Supreme Chancellor Palpatine had issued Order 66, the order that tells all clone to turn and eliminate their Jedi officers. It was at that time when Vau had revealed that the Grand Army of the Republic was all planned by Jango Fett to destroy the Jedi Order.

Skirata and Omega went to search for Etain, whom was trying to pass herself off as an innocent bystander, as she made her way to be extracted from Coruscant by Skirata. However, as a couple of Jedi were exposed, the 501st Legion, now under command of Darth Vader, opened fire on them at the Shinarcan Bridge Extension.

During the battle, Etain instinctively tried to stop one of the Jedi from killing a clone trooper by shielding him from a lightsaber strike with her own body. Skirata, along with Omega, witnessed the scene and was angered by her death, so he turned on the Jedi and helped to kill a number of them. Niner broke his spine in the battle and all of the Jedi were either killed or forced to flee. Darman stayed behind to look after Niner and waited for medic to show up.

Captain Obrim was forced to set his blaster for stun after Skirata refused to leave Coruscant immediately, saying that he wouldn't leave without his family. While Skirata was out cold, Ordo carried him to safety with the rest of the clan, including Ruu, and headed out to Mandalore.

Legacy
In 40 ABY, Taun We told Boba Fett that Skirata found and killed Ko Sai and used her data to stop the aging process of at least one clone. This clone would later go on to tell Boba Fett that his father, most likely meaning Kal, had died.

It also appears that Kal had cared for Venku.

Personality
Skirata felt that it was his absolute duty to let the clones of Jango Fett know their Mandalorian legacy; Boba Fett viewed him as a fanatic. When Skirata found out that Etain Tur-Mukan was pregnant with Venku, he was more than willing to take the baby from his mother and even hunt her down, to achieve his goal. He had no qualms about torturing prisoners, and Fett considered him one of the dirtiest fighters.

A complex man, Skirata disliked many of the things that the Kaminoans did to the clones, and was deeply disturbed by the treatment of his "boys". He was able to smuggle in treats and other restricted things for the clones, and wanted them to embrace their Mandalorian heritage. He also hated living on the water world of Kamino, as it made his shattered ankle play up. The Kaminoans also unnerved him, and irritated him with questions about how he felt being "defective". Kal had only ever felt sorry for one Kaminoan; a female who had given birth to a child with green eyes. Due to the fact that the Kaminoan caste system was based around the eye colors of gray, blue and yellow, the child had been labeled as a threat to the Kaminoan's ordered society, and had been exterminated shortly after birth. He also had serious differences with Walon Vau (differences which bordered on outright hatred), as he felt Vau was sadistic toward the clone troopers (a source of contention was when Vau sicced his pet strill, Lord Mirdalan, on a young Ordo).

The armor Skirata wore was colored sand gold.

Behind the scenes


Robert Hendrickson's illustrations of Kal Skirata for Star Wars Insider bear a close resemblance to actor Ed Harris.

Appearances

 * Republic Commando: Hard Contact
 * Omega Squad: Targets
 * Republic Commando: Triple Zero
 * Odds
 * Republic Commando: True Colors
 * Order 66: A Republic Commando Novel
 * Imperial Commando: 501st
 * Bloodlines
 * Sacrifice

Notes and references
Kal Skirata