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 biological father of Tor, Ijaat, and Ruusaan Skirata. He would also become the adopted buir of Omega Squad and the Null-class Advanced Recon Commandos. Through RC-1136 of Omega Squad, and Jedi Knight Etain Tur-Mukan, he was the adopted grandfather of Venku Skirata.

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

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

Falin Mattran was born 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 Falin was orphaned when both of his parents were killed. The only thing he 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 "Blade" in Mando'a.

Skirata later married a non-Mandalorian, Ilippi, with whom he had three children: Tor, Ijaat, and Ruusaan. However, she had trouble dealing with his long absences and refused to allow him to take their eight-year-old sons into battle with him, per Mandalorian tradition. Ilippi eventually left him, taking with her all three 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 fellow Cuy'val Dar, 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 he had now become quite attached to.

Training clones
"I can train them."

- Kal Skirata the first time he sees the Nulls

Eight years before the Battle of Geonosis, Kal was brought to Kamino when he answered Jango Fett's call for trainers for the clones, joining the ranks of the Cuy'val Dar—literally "Those Who No Longer Exist" in the Mandalorian tongue. He was disgusted with the Kaminoans' arrogance and indifferent attitude toward the "reconditioning" (a euphemism that often meant killing) of clone children who didn't pass quality control standards. He first met the Nulls when the Kaminoan technicians considered them failures that would be destroyed. Null-11 attempted to defend himself and his brothers by stealing the hold out blaster Kal kept within his boot, aiming at Kaminoan, Orun Wa. Though Kal cared little for the fate of the Kaminoan scientist, he managed to talk Null-11 down for fear of repercussions toward the boy. He became sympathetic to the clones, and took the Nulls under his wing, giving them names and training them personally, instilling the heritage and values of the Mandalorians in them. The Nulls, in return, were very fond of Kal, and would only answer to or accept orders from him alone. He also formed alliances and contacts with many other Cuy'val Dar while there, forming a "closer" relationship with Walon Vau, Wad'e Tay'haai, Mij Gilamar, Rav Bralor, and many other Mandalorians.

The Clone War Begins
"Ord'ika! Ordo? You've been a naughty boy again, haven't you? Come here..."

- Kal Skirata to the Nulls upon entering the barracks block

With the Battle of Geonosis, Kal's contract as a Cuy'val Dar was finally over. But when the battle was won and the Null ARCs were expected to be put into stasis, they resisted and took control of an entire barracks block. Skirata had to be called in under willing CSF arrest to help calm down the Nulls, but he helped on the condition that he would be re-enlisted in the Grand Army of the Republic and there would be no punishment for the Nulls.

Mission on Coruscant
"Yes, this is where it gets boring. And you know what? You won't be any less dead if you get it wrong. And I really hope Vau schooled you well in this, because I'll be pretty hacked off if you get trigger-happy and blow this op."

- Kal Skirata talking to RC-1138 about the mission

One year into the war, with several recent terrorist attacks on GAR facilities, Skirata assembled a secret black ops team comprised of himself, fellow Cuy'val Dar Walon Vau, clone commando squads Delta and Omega, Null ARCs Ordo and Mereel, and Jedi Generals Etain Tur-Mukan and Bardan Jusik. The team's objective was to locate and eliminate the Separatist terror cells operating on Coruscant.

For the mission, Ordo acquired a large cache of explosives from GAR facilities, and Skirata used some of his criminal 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 ( an injured ordinance disposal trooper who'd been swept up into the team during the investigation) be allowed to stay with him and train as a commando. It was also during this period that he learned of Etain's pregnancy with clone commando Darman and told her that he would raise the child so that it would grow up in the proper "Mandalorian" way. He also expressed disgust in Etain's decision not to tell 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
"If it's the last thing I do, you'll have a full life span. Even if I have to beat that information out of Ko Sai a line at a time."

- Kal Skirata to Ordo

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.

Not long after, Kal and Ordo were forced to rescue Walon Vau from Mygeeto after he fell into a crevasse after a bank heist at the Dressian Kiolsh Merchant Bank. When they managed to recover him aboard their ship, the goods from the heist were given to Kal by Vau, forcing Kal to change how he thought of Vau and forging a more comradely 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, expanding the Clan Skirata.

Besany in trouble
"I don't want to worry you, Kal, but I've started an armed siege at the medcenter. I've got my blaster, and Fi's okay for the time being, but if you've got any advice ... I'd welcome it right now."

- Besany in a message to Kal Skirata

Skirata assigned 2 of his Null adopted sons, Mereel Skirata and Jaing Skirata as "fundraisers" for his research into stopping the clone rapid aging, to give his boys a natural life. Agent Besany Wennen, now Ordo Skirata's new wife, had previously given Kal and the Nulls her access into the national Republic Treasury access codes, so they could research where new clones were coming from to get new cloning research material and to see where the war was going. Upon Jaing's data-mining worm virus being discovered, the Republic Treasury launched a full investigation. The Republic special investigators brought in were Mereel and Jaing, their involvement in the actions that caused the investigations, unbeknownst to the GAR. Jaing and Mereel's investigations revealed no results, and that they would have to check Army databases in addition to treasury databases to see how far this "mystery program" went. The Republic agreed to give the nulls full access to all GAR records.

While the null investigation found nothing, the droid investigation revealed questionable access made by one of Besany's co-workers, Jilka Zan Zentis, who was investigating a government shell company on Besany's request. Besany felt awful that her friend Jilka was imprisoned because of her. Later, a Gurlanin spy told Besany that Jilka was framed, and the actions made on Jilka's terminal were made obvious by the Gurlanins, so the GAR wouldn't see any of Besany or Skirata's sons' actions. Besany was upset her friend was going to prison in her place, but Ordo and Skirata didn't understand why. Skirata ordered Jilka to be broken out of jail, her prison transport hijacked by Ordo and Wad'e Tay'haai.

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 Fi and Bardan Jusik, along with Spar and Sull 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
"I—The Nulls, Vau, and me, we've been getting an escape route together, and a refuge for any man who wants to leave the GAR without a body bag. And we're getting close to finding out how to stop your accelerated aging. It's a whole new life, ad'ike, a long one like any other human's. Are you in? Will you come with me when I say it's time to run?"

- Kal Skirata to Omega Squad, sharing his plans and information

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 Mereel and Jaing 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 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. Ovolot Qail 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
"Now do you see? Do you? I'm sick to death of your sentimental twaddle about Jango betraying us by letting Kamino use his genes. He did it to stop the Jedi. He did it to create an army strong enough to bring them down. You drone on about the injustice of unelected elites, my little working-class hero—well, now they're gone. Yes, it cost our boys' lives, but the Jedi are gone, gone, gone. And they won't be killing Mandalorians again, not for a long time. Maybe never."

- Walon Vau to Kal Skirata on Order 66

Skirata was still on Coruscant when Supreme Chancellor Palpatine had issued Order 66, the order that tells all clones 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. He would later learn that Palpatine was a Sith Lord called Darth Sidious.

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, Jilka and Dr. Uthan, and headed out to Mandalore.

After the battle, almost all of Clan Skirata left Coruscant to move to Kal's secret hide-out Kyrimorut on Mandalore, with the exception of Niner, and Darman. Shortly before Etain's Funeral, Skirata adopted Etain as his daughter, deciding that daughter-in-law wasn't good enough for all she had done for him and his sons.

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 kad.

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). Despite these differences, Vau and Skirata were constant business partners and even friends later on.

Skirata had some issues with the Jedi Generals. He especially hated Jedi Master Quinlan Vos for openly distrusting the clones.

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. Kal Skirata was supposed to have a toy, but the toymakers Hasbro couldn't get a head that met the aesthetic designs that author Karen Traviss envisioned for her character, so the toy head was changed and the figure became Mij Gilamar, which was later added into the Clone Commando books.

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