Grand Army of the Republic: A Star Wars Plan Quest

Grand Army of the Republic: A Star Wars Plan Quest
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Play as Jango Fett as you are put in charge of the secret cloning project that will become the Grand Army of the Republic. Figure how you are going to put together this army in secret and do so without upsetting your demanding Sith bosses too much lest you find yourself a head shorter.
Scientific Differences (Canon/+5 Bonus)
Scientific Differences

"Doctor Desnos", Nala See looked down upon the white haired humanoid and sighed, this conversation had been going on longer than it should have and she had a lot to do. While kaminoan cloning technology was the most advanced in the galaxy, every prime clone was different and she had to investigate some abnormal hormone levels inside the amniotic fluid in the artificial wombs of batch C-56.

Tanasi Desnos growled, visibly upset. "This is ridiculous, the Mandalorian hired me for my expertise with retrovirus modification. How am I supposed to do what I am paid for if you keep standing in my way?"

"I am not trying to." See explained calmly. "This is simply a talk between colleagues and as the chief scientist I am here to focus on the work that we are asked to do by the Mandalorian."

"Is it about safety?" Desnos sat down in one of the blinding white chairs and began swivelling around. "As I was trying to explain, my methods only have an instant rejection rate of around one in ten thousand and long term health effects for one in five thousand."

"Numbers that are unacceptable as low as they are. The clones are genetic copies, they would very likely react similarly to the same treatment, possibly killing whole batches or threatening the long term health of our clones."

"I can work around that." She promised. "Give me embryonic clones to experiment on, let me speed up their growth as fast as I know to observe the long term effects, give me computer calculation time so I can figure out the viral vector with the lowest response rate."

"And you will be given all that and more as needed, as long as you work on modifications within certain boundaries."

Desnos wanted to respond, but Nee cut her off before she could respond.

"Doctor, you are too focused on the soldier part of this project. At the end of the day, we are not creating the ultimate soldier, we are creating a product for the republic. A product has to appeal to their sensibilities. The republic is majority human and related species, they will not react well if the clones are equipped with the kind of modifications you were proposing."

"The human form is so limiting, there are so many species out there suited better for this project."

"The buyer has their reasons." See added and sat down too. "See it as an additional challenge, both to make your retroviral treatments safe for the clones and to keep their outward appearance intact."

"Allright" She sighed. "You do realize this means it will all take longer, right?"

"Yes.", See leaned back. "But we have some time."
 
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Teaching Classes - The Types of Mandalorians (Noncanon/+5)
Teaching Classes (The Types of Mandalorians)

(Jango POV)

"Alright everyone settle down...Settle Down." You said as you looked at the personal lecture hall.

Holding Boba in your arms and then placing him in his cradle, and then looked at your notes.

Alright it's only a class of a dozen or so Gen 1s and a few of the Long Necks looking around to observe your teaching style.

Kaminoans didn't have the same SPIRIT when teaching them about Mandalorians, Jaster had been up front personal and bombastic yet scholarly with plenty of evidence and examples to back up claims.

What kind of teacher would you be if you didn't have primary sources to back up your argument?

"I said SETTLE, or thirty laps in the rain." You barked as they settled.

They now began to settle down, not wanting to get wet in the rain.

"Alright adi'ka, first things first What is a Mandalorian?" You asked as they looked at you and were left to think for over a minute.

Then one raised their hand and you sighed. "No CT-34578, Mandalorian is not the name of the Prime Clone."

"A Mandalorian is a warrior that follows a strict code of conduct in battle and in life , and they come in many different ways of life and conduct." You said.

"Is one way of life in Mandalorian better?" a child said, raising his hand.

Oh...so they were asking that question?

Well, time to give examples.

"Let us start with the Simple way of life. The Simple Warrior. They want nothing more then to fight, die and live well. Raise the Kids well and pass on the knowledge of combat. Most Mandalorians are like this by default, and most of the Clan's have been like this since the End of the Civil War." You said.

"I don't blame them for keeping things simple, a lot of us died in the war and just want to make sure there are enough of us left to pass on everything. It wasn't an easy choice to let the galaxy pass you by, some would call it Cowardice or Apathy...but I like to see it as appreciation in a way, the Galaxy's not going anywhere, so you can afford a few years." You said.

"Sir. I thought we Mandalorains carved war and combat?" A Child called out.

"We do, but we do it on our terms if we can. If not then we fight like hell to get an advantage over it." you said. "No smart person seeks out a war they can't win. Even if we require conflict to grow and change we don't need large scale wars to do it. Simple Spars to bar brawls can sometimes do, I've had my share of both."

"If we get the chance I'll have a few of you meet Kal Skirata, he's a good man."

---------------------------------

"The Second Type of Mandalorian is the Bounty Hunter and Mercenary Type." You said."You will be getting to know them soon enough, given that they wil likely be training and trying to cheat you."

"How do we avoid that?" A Clone said.

"Don't give them the Opportunity." You said. "I'm one of them, so keep that in mind."

-------------------------------------

"The Third Type of Mandalorian is Death Watch." You said.

"What's a Death Watch?" A Clone started.

"Death Watch is an annoying, ill conceived bunch of Terrorists who want to be pirates and act like how we did during all the Times when the Sith were around...MAD, Arrogant and not even worth the Beshkar they wear." You said.

"Tor Vizsla cried like a craven when he got eaten...and I killed a lot of them….I'm sure that if they are going to be coming back, I might send a detachment to deal with them...for good." You mused again remembering back to when you killed Tor, with some satisfaction.

--------------------------------------------

"The Fourth Type of Mandalorian is the New Mandalorians." You said.

"They are all Pacifists who used my Killing of Tor to take power in the Mandalorian Sector after basically hiding from Death Watch and the True Mandalorians while we were killing each other...so they won by doing absolutely nothing except doing some minor assaults and the big attack on Mandalore." You continued.

"Don't be like them, their society won't survive the Death of Satine, I just know it." You finished.

You then looked at the time "Well I've kept you long enough, now back to your training."

--------------------------

AN: Jango Fett, not a good teacher, but an aware one.

Enjoy.
 
Clients and Clientele (Noncanon/+10 Bonus)
Clients and Clientele

(Jango POV)

You held your Caff and quietly looked at the mess of paperwork you had somehow finished.

A Victory for the day was short-lived as another slip came out of the pile of paperwork.

"Hmm." You growled as you picked it up and looked at it.

"Client List and Payments?: Army Production. What the Hell is this?!" You said.

You looked at the List of Names and Planets to see if you recognized any of them and one or two names rang a sort of bell but the rest were...confusing.

"I've never heard half of these names." You said.

That's it, you needed to go up to the top to see the answer to all this madness. Because clearly, the long-necks were withholding information from you that could endanger the final product.

A Product that you considered Mandalorians. Something you respected for what they COULD BE!

So you got onto the Elevator and went to Nala Su and the Prime Minister. It would hopefully enlighten you on their...abilities and previous services to the Galaxy.

If only to calm certain fears and possible objections you have with their possible malpractice.

--------------------------------------

You looked at Nala Su and sighed. "You're not telling me anything?"

"An explanation wouldn't be worth all the trouble you could cause, so it's best to give you access to the files yourself and make your own judgments." She said,

You looked at the Scientist. "Why?"

"Because some of our mistakes are...less apparent than our successes Mr. Fett." She said, "Plus you might find some of life's absurd humor in it."

"Absurd?" You said.

"Some of the failures were stranger than others." She said.

She then left you alone to read the many dozens of Files needed to make your own decisions on the matter.

-------------------------------------------------------

Operation Order:71
Planet of Origin: Abafar

Reason for Order: Security needed for the Mining Guilds stockpiles of Rhydonium fuel, as they had been dealing with threats from the Onaka Cartel and other Hutt-backed Pirate groups wanting a slice of that Rare Fuel source.

The Mining Guild itself supplied transport and Logistics to arm them properly.

Number of Clones Ordered: 2504 Individual Units Produced.

Status of Unit: Dissolved due to Attrition.

AAR: Unit Operated with Mining Guild Support for about seven years before long-term effects of constant battles and raids by pirates forced the Unit to disband.

Make Note of having future Clients supply more powerful weapons to future security assets.


Well, nothing too out of the Ordinary...the Pirates in the Outer Rim were dangerous and unscrupulous, you should know, you were on one of those damned Spice Freighters.

--------------------------------------------------

Operation Order: 97
Planet of Origin: Coruscant


Reason For Order: A Born and Breed enforcer of a Rival to the Hutt Cartel at 000.
Number of Clones Ordered: 1

Status of Unit: Rogue.

AAR: Unit has gone rogue from original orders and deviated, due to Independence streak. Took Control of the Cartel and has gone underground.

Make Note of Independence Streak Dangers.

Addendum: The unit returned to Sight three years ago, and attempted to eliminate agents in the sector.

Unit Elimination AAR: The subject took three Grenades and nearly a thousand bolts to die, at final breath he had lost all but one limb and was blind from shrapnel.

Highly costly from a product standpoint and clearly makes a clear danger of Independent Clones.


------------------------------------------------------

A rare moment of failure they barely had control over, hmm, by Mandalore, this is concerning...but situations like this is unnerving to say the least.

Onto the Next Order.

----------------------------------------------

Order: 175
Planet of Origin: Rattaka

Reason for Order: The Warlord Army needed to subjugate the Planet and kill all rivals. A Simple Reason, weapons and equipment needed to be secured on-site.

Numbers of Clones ordered:800

Status of Unit: Eliminated Before Combat Deployment

AAR: As it turns out, Gas Attacks and Biological weapons are still a grave and serious threat, the fact equipment was needed to be secure on-site was a red flag.

Ban this planet and customers to the List of Places not to sell to.


------------------------------------

Ahh, Chemical and Biological Weapons were nasty. Poor sods, they didn't even have a way to protect themselves...you hope that your men don't have to worry about it.

----------------------------------------------------

Order 350
Planet of Origin: Duxun

Reason for Order: Protection of Personnel to comb for Artifacts from the Mandalorian Wars.

Number of Clones Ordered: 75

Status of Unit: Demobilized (Contract successful)

AAR: A textbook operation of forces deployed in a Security capacity and Protective details. The unit was demobilized and sent into Smaller Security Roles following the Operation, Not deemed a security threat to Kamino's Future.


---------------------------------------------

Order 350
Planet of Origin: Onderon

Reason for Order: Hyper-Space Lane Exploration and Settlement Defence for the Onderon Spacer Guild.

Number of Clones Order: 300

Status of Unit: MIA

AAR: [Redacted by orders of the Prime minister]

Note: We are not even sure what the hell happened. Nor can we explain it.


------------------------------------------------------------------------

Order 352
Planet of Origin:Kamino

Reason for Order: Labor

Number of Clones Ordered:75

Status of Units: Operational

AAR: Unit is following protocol and is in perfect condition.


---------------------------------------------------------------------

Order 500

[Redacted By Order of Prime Minister]


-------------------------------------------------

Hmm, what is this? "Dr. Su."

She came over at your summon as you showed her the File you wanted to see.

"Ahh, the Five Hundredth Clone Order...what was supposed to be a capstone of order success and a Milestone of what we were capable of….turned into our biggest Mistake."She said.

"Explain." You said firmly.

"Tell me, have you heard of the Outer Rim Mercenary Wars? It's not something people have heard about, the Stark Hyperspace war was going on and got all the Publicity at the time." SHe said.

"Our Civil War crossed paths with theirs on occasion, when we were hunting Death Watch, we pulled a few battles in. Wasn't really much to write home about, it was a resource squabble between mercenaries with their own planets. Plus I got put into Slavery at the Time..so news was rare." You said.

"Well it was a clone Army Ordered by a mercenary named Gene, too shall we say create the ultimate Mercenary State and End the Wars." She said.

"And let me guess that made someone upset?" You said. Knowing how this worked partly.

"A quick study, a Soldier by the Name of Jon Doe, didn't want to be commanded by a madman and warred against him almost single-handedly. He built an army and commanded it better than him and destroyed Gene...I can tell you know the name." Nala Su said.

"Big Boss...Hell of a Man became a recluse after the Huk War, the contract went to hell, heard he was killed in some Altercation with Republic Judiciaries." You said. "Shame he's not here...I could have used a Commander like that."

She then looked at the Screen files and sighed.

"I can't get you to work with you per sey." She said.

"Why's that?" You asked.

"Because he's in Cold Storage in our Insurance Vault." She said.

Wait for WHAT!

---------------------------------------

"Ahh… The Insurance Vault. It's what we use to store Collateral. And certain Genetic Samples deemed too Important to lose." She said.

You were still trying to process all of this. "Why did the Prime Minister approve of my Entry into the Vault?"

"You're required to deposit a certain Number of your DNA to the Vault so we can continue Operations in the event you're killed in this early stage of the Armies development." She said.

"Sounds remarkably forward-thinking." You noted.

"Well, we are professionals. We have to think ahead. At least until the Product meets the standards, by our contract we aren't allowed to keep extra DNA once Late Stage production and operations begin." She said.

"Why not keep it?" You noted.

"That would be a breach of contract." She said.

"Ahh, makes sense." You said.

"Well, we are almost here." She said.

The door opened to reveal a tank with a charred man with wires and tubes in him, it was burned near beyond recognition.

But the Missing eye told you everything. "Big Boss…"

"Yes...the Galaxy's greatest Mercenary, in a tube. Brought low by his own Hubris and rage." She said.

"Why is he here?" You asked.

"Because everyone else thinks he's dead and we can use him for later. Especially given the Success his DNA has given us in the past." She said.

"No, I mean why is he in the Tube barely alive in a Coma? WHAT basically killed him?"You said in surprise.

"Oh, his inferior clone all but killed him." She said like relaying a simple game score.

Wait for the...What.

"Order 543...We called them Solid, Liquid and Solidus. He was originally going to use them to start a Mercenary War State in the outer Rim and war with the Republic but Republic Intelligence found trained and used one of the clones who used a flamethrower to all but kill him." She explained.

"You named Three Codenames, witch one did him in?" you asked.

"Solid did, but after the Mission, he ran away to Telos and we lost track of him. And that Mission was about a year to two years ago?" She said. "So the Unit was 14 Standard years old." She said.

Oh...Oh…

"The Greatest Mercenary in the Galaxy, done in by a child who was deemed expendable by everyone." You said.

You had a lot to Digest after all of this.

And a lot to think about.

But you feel like you learned something new and Important today.

"I hope this information helps you make the best possible products possible Jango. And nothing about this conversation leaves this room." Nala Su said as she left you alone with the course and many different decisions to make.

AN: ENJOY!!
 
Mandalorian Women Prefer Armour (Noncanon/+10 Bonus)
"ShinjiGeneral, get into the damn Robotarmor!"
For now, I am just going to leave it be. I might do that if it becomes relevant, but at the moment, it doesn't need to be pinned down and it leaves options open for me and omake writers in the future.

Got inspired to write this by people discussing armoring the Jedi and some of the named clones being female this time around. The clones are notably divergent personality wise thanks to having had more time to interact with one another as biological adults and being more immersed in Mandalorian culture. Final disclaimer, the following was written for maximum comedy over anything else.

— / — / —​

"Cody this is completely unnecessary," Obi-Wan Kenobi told his newly appointed second-in-command. The woman had made it her mission to get him to accept a suit of armor and seemingly not take no for an answer. "My robes are more than enough when it comes to the duties of a Jedi."

"My dress uniform is more than enough for peace delegations as well sir," Cody replied diplomatically. "However it has no place on the battlefield."

"I don't need a suit of armor to deal with blaster-fire, I can do it myself."

"Committing to constant vigilance is an easy way to tire oneself out and even Jedi have physical and mental limits." Cody led them into cabin aboard the Acclamator-class cruiser. Personal quarters, possibly the Commander's own, Obi-Wan deduced after spying a picture featuring Cody – he was fairly certain it was her, she had the same short haircut – and another female clone. "Now sir, if you would please strip."

That caused Obi-Wan to break from his quiet examinations with a start. "I beg your pardon?"

"I need to get your measurements General."

Obi-Wan let out and exasperated sigh. 'This is getting ridiculous.' Obi-Wan didn't want to abuse his newly appointed authority, not for something so petty, but he didn't see any other way out of this...

At the very least not one with his dignity still intact.

"Commander, as your General–"

"No sir."

"I didn't even finish what I had to say."

"General." The clone locked eyes with Obi-Wan. "If I were to follow the order I suspect you were about to give me I would be putting not only you at undue risk but also the lives of those men and women under your command. To do so would be to neglect my duty as a sworn officer of the Grand Army of the Republic. I cannot—I will not, follow any order that would have me do that. Sir."

"I see," said Obi-Wan. Put that way, Obi-Wan really did. He had been trained from childhood to uphold the ways of the Order and to defend the Republic. To protect and to serve were two central pillars of who he was. "Very well, Commander. You win. I will contact the Temple. I am certain that they have my measurements written down... somewhere."

"That would be a waste of time and bandwidth sir." Cody showed off a tape measure in her hand. "I can get your measurements done in minutes. If you would please take off your clothes."

It was in that moment that Obi-Wan distinctly remembered that the dear Commander was a woman. "Well I'm not sure that would be..."

"Not to worry, sir. I'm told I'm rather good with my hands."

"That's not helping, Commander." Despite that Obi-Wan got to disrobing.

"I'll get this done quickly so that the armorers can get you your own suit and jetpack before our next deployment."

"A jetpack? Is that really necessary?" Obi-Wan asked. Flying a starfighter was bad enough, but a jetpack? 'How uncivilized.' "I can use the Force to enhance my movements."

"Does the Force allow for sustained flight?"

Obi-Wan frowned. "Not as far as I'm aware."

"Then you're getting a jetpack and you're going to learn how to use it."

"Joy."

— / — / —​

"Cody!"

The clone commander in question looked up from her data slate she had been reading on hearing her name and found walking beside her, her closest sister and fellow officer.

"Rex," Cody greeted with no small amount of fondness. "What headaches have you come to give me today?"

"You say that but you're still smiling," said Rex with a smile of her own, her braided hair – in contrast to Cody's own pixie cut – swaying gently behind her.

"Maybe I'm just in a good mood." The comment prompted an eye rolling from Rex which in turn prompted a light chuckle from Cody. "How do you like your general?"

"Skywalker?" Rex crossed her arms and made a show of turning her eyes up in thought. "He's loud and a little brash. He tried to hide it but he's got an ego." Rex flashed her sister a toothy grin. "He's practically a Mandalorian."

"Lucky you. He sounds like the type to lead from the front."

Rex nodded excitedly in agreement, the resultant movement causing her braid to bounce about and attracting Cody's attention.

"I'm still against you keeping that," said Cody.

"Isek pulls it off," Rex answered with a huff, no less defensive of her choice since the last time the topic had come up.

Cody directed a pointed look at her sister. "Isek has a cybernetic arm."

Rex gave what started off as an irreverent shrug though it lost its carefree attitude halfway through. "I'll pin it up if it turns out to be too unruly in combat." Meeting Cody's eyes, she added, "Promise, sis."

Cody shook her head. "Well, there's certainly space enough for it in your helmet with how empty that head of yours is."

"Ouch," said Rex with an over-exaggerated wince. "I guess that's why I'm only a captain and you're a commander."

"I'm sure that has nothing to do with you wanting to be in the field more," Cody deadpanned.

"Yup. No ulterior motives here," said Rex, entirely devoid of her earlier somber aura. "So, how about you? Have any trouble with your general?"

"There were some difficulties." Cody let out an exasperated sigh. "General Kenobi was adamantly refusing to be fitted out for a suit of armor. He was of the opinion his Jedi robes were sufficient."

Rex gave Cody a look of surprise having recognized that particular sigh. "He put up that much of a fight?"

"Indeed. I had to go as far as tell him he was putting the rest of us at risk before he agreed to strip."

Rex blinked. "I'm sorry I think I misheard you. Did you just say you made your general strip?"

"That's correct. I wasn't going to be getting accurate measurements while he was in those loose robes of his."

"And things get even better." Rex was rubbing her face. "Why didn't you get one of the guys to do it?"

"I was there and I already had the measuring tape on me. Calling in someone else would have been an unnecessary waste of manpower and time."

"So you told the General to strip to his skivvies. In front of you?"

"Yes," Cody answered without hesitation.

The hand on Rex's face ceased to rub at it having been reassigned the task of performing a facepalm. "Cody, you cannot possibly be this dense."

Cody's response had her turning to face Rex with a singular raised eyebrow. "I don't see what the issue is. We see each other in our underwear all the time."

"That's because we're–" Rex gestured back and forth between herself and Cody. "–family! The General isn't! He's a chaste monk who's likely never felt the touch of a woman!"

"And he's my commanding officer," Cody casually pointed out.

"And he's you're commanding officer!" Rex repeated. Once more she blinked. "Wait... you–?"

"Rex, you really should know better than to make assumptions." Cody smirked. Rex stared in confusion as the unfamiliar expression graced Cody's familiar face. "The General didn't blush nearly enough when I went over him with the tape measure to have been a virgin."

"What." That one word was all Rex managed to get out before her brain ground to a halt and she stopped in place.

"Heh. That'll teach Kenobi not to stonewall me when it comes to his protection," Cody said quietly all the while still sporting her smirk. She walked on leaving Rex behind.

"Wait," Rex muttered, her mind finally rebooting. "You don't get to drop that on me and walk away like that. Cody, get back here! Cody!"

— / — / —​

As an aside it occurred to me while writing this that canon Clone Troopers and Jedi have pretty similar upbringings. Both lack parents, both are trained from childhood to serve, and both grow up sequestered away from the rest of the galaxy. You know I have to wonder if that's part of the reason why we don't see Jedi objecting to clones being used as soldiers. Oh sure the Jedi repeatedly tell clones that they're people but they don't seem all that uncomfortable with clones being created to defend the Republic and I wonder if that's because of their own upbringing making the idea of involuntary service natural to them. They're blinded to the idea that the clones could be slaves because to them being raised to serve the Republic is natural, the Jedi Order doing the same thing with all the galaxy's force sensitives.
 
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Gunrunners and Pacifists Don't Mix (Canon/+15 Bonus)
Wanted to try for something that could pass as a canon omake this time around plus shake off some of that rust my writing hand has accumulated.

Gunrunners and Pacifists Don't Mix

"Girls." Jango Fett shook his head as entered his office the cloners' odd hiccup still fresh on his mind. "Well, at least the boys won't be as awkward around women they get older."

Jango couldn't help but smile at the mental image of a bunch of flustered clones trying to deal with some of the more picturesque Jedi. Jango didn't consider the greater bulk of the clones to be his sons — or now daughters — but that just meant that they were his juniors and it was the duty of any old timer to have fun at the expense of the young bloods.

Expansion was going steadily. Cloning could have gone better but given the circumstances it was understandable that there were going to be delays. Still annoying. The good doctor was making good progress on the genetic improvements and they had finally settled on a curriculum for the verd'ika for when they got old enough to start asking questions like 'where do we come from?' and what is a 'chakaaryc and why is Deathwatch full of them?'

Stepping around his flimsi covered desk, Jango sank into the luxury office chair he had bought specifically with Sith funds and let the stress of the day fade away. Thoughts of working on paperwork were dismissed with a lightly muttered, "Later."
At some point Jango managed to fall asleep, a fact that he was made aware of when he was woken up by the chiming of his office holocomm. Once he was aware of what was happening Jango quickly accepted the call. To the front Jango's desk the life size hologram of a Pantoran man dressed in supercommando armor sprang into existence.

"Jango," greeted the man before taking a single look at Jango and giving him an amused smirk. "You fell asleep didn't you?"

"Roh'j. How'd the talks go?" Jango asked.

"Eh." The Mandalorian on the other side shook his hand 'so-so'. "Not great. I've got good news and bad news."

"Start with the bad news."

"Concordia Crescent Technologies is about get an export ban."

Jango cursed. "Why?"

"Politics, what else?" Roh'j answered. "The New Mandalorians aren't comfortable with the idea of being arms dealers, not that they're going so far as to getting rid of their weapons. They're not that far gone."

"Do we have to go looking for a new supplier?"

"No. Remember that good news I mentioned?" Roh'j paused for Jango to nod. "Well the folks here at Concordian were very excited to hear about our offer and it's more or less convinced them to fight the ban."

"They were going to let it go through?"

"Yeah, according to one of the suits I talked to exports don't account for much in their yearly profits." Roh'j shrugged. "The way she explained it to me it makes sense. Most planetary security forces out there are worried about volume, so when they go shopping for weapons they go with the lowest bidder. Concordian Crescent Technologies isn't that. So when the New Mandalorians started talk about introducing an export ban on Mandalorian arms manufacturers, Concordian didn't pay the bill much attention other than going over it to make sure the Ruling Council wasn't using it as a smoke screen to sneak in something else."

"I can see that," said Jango as he was hit by memories of his days back with Jaster and the rest of the True Mandalorians. How often had they had to settle for lesser equipment? How many times had they had to husband their credits to be able to afford replacement blasters let alone good ones?

"Anyhow I let slip that we would be interested in negotiating for a bigger contract later on. And I also hinted at the possibility of licensing their designs to manufacture locally."

"They didn't need to know that."

"There's some things we can't lie about Jango or would you rather deal with a Mandalorian legal team?"

Jango sighed. "Just try not to tell them everything. Was there anything else?"

"No, that's it for the moment. I'll call when I get more news on the ban."

After saying their goodbyes Jango hung up and sank back into his chair with an annoyed crease of his brow. This was turning out to be a year of complications. Seconds later Jango's comms beeped again. When he accepted the call Jango found himself looking up at the impassive face of Count Dooku. Stifling a groan Jango sat up, making a token effort to appear more presentable. Nothing more though because kriff the Sith.

⁓ / ⁓ / ⁓​

"Good new and bad news," said Roh'j.

"Again," said Jango.

"Again," Roh'j repeated back.

"Bad news first, please."

"We're not getting carbines."

Jango's mind stuttered to a halt before abrubtly kicking into overdrive. Within the former bounty hunter's mind various plans on how to disappear with baby Boba were thought up in an instant and discarded the next. Slowly — in Jango terms at least — his initial panic subsided and the gears in Jango's head shifted away from thinking up ways to escape with his life to how he was going to deal with Concordian Crescent Technologies not being able to supply the army he was growing with a mainline blaster.

Roh'j waited patiently giving Jango all the time he needed to digest the bombshell. When he could see Jango had settled he continued his explanation. "The New Mandalorians got their chunk of flesh and sales of Concordian's GALAAR line is now restricted to offworlders. You can still get some if you come to Concordian's stores on Mandalore but you can only buy so many and definitely not in bulk. Concordian is looking for a way around the new restrictions but it's going to take a while."

"And the good news?" Jango asked with a sinking feeling.

"That's the only thing Concordian's been banned from selling."

"Wait..." Jango stared at Roh'j in confusion. "The GALAARs are the only thing they're banned from selling? Aren't the SHUKURs repeaters?"

"Yeah, I thought it was a little weird too but apparently the Ruling Council reasoned that light repeaters are more likely to be used in defensive situations." Roh'j expression showed how much he really bought into that explanation. "From what I've gathered this whole thing has really been about restricting Concordian's sales of GALAAR-15 carbines. Apparently the things have a knack for showing up on the black market and the New Mandalorians don't like such a distinct product of Mandalore being closely associated with criminal enterprises."

"Then this whole thing was to save face."

"Oh no, not entirely. I got to see part of the debate featuring Duchess Satine and let me tell you that woman was well and truly pissed." Roh'j shook his head. There was a degree of fondness in the Pantoran Mandalorian's gesture. "It's not difficult to see how she managed to beat Deathwatch."

"Good for her," Jango said with a hint of bitterness.

Roh'j audibly coughed. "The first shipment cleared customs a few hours ago and should be on its way. I'll let you know if anything else comes up."

Jango nodded and hung up.

⁓ / ⁓ / ⁓​

Roh'j stood before Jango in the flesh. Rather than calling to make his latest status report the Pantoran had returned to Kamnio, bringing with him a number of blasters fresh from the labs of Concordian Crescent Technologies. Jango's desk was cleared of its usual stacks flimsi — Jango told himself he would get back to dealing with them later — and sitting in their place were said blasters laid out for the Mandalorian to inspect.

"That looks like a bigger SHUKUR-05," said Jango pointing to the heavy repeater at the center of his desk.

"That's because it is." Roh'j sounded amused.

"Huh. Does it work?"

"Mostly. They're still working out the kinks. Apparently there's more to this engineering business than making a blaster bigger and calling it a day. Who would have thought?" Roh'j paused and raised a finger. "But, this big 'un isn't what I wanted to show you. That is." Roh'j pointed to an unfamiliar blaster rifle on the far end of the table.

"And this is?" asked Jango as he examined the rifle. It was a blocky looking thing which thanks to its short stock had a sort of stubby appearance. To the front of its trigger guard was a distinctive circular component and on top of the rifle was an optic.

"This is our loophole." Roh'j gestured for Jango to pick it up. Jango did so and found himself a little surprised by the weapon's surprisingly light weight. "Allow me to introduce to you the WESTAR-M5 blaster rifle."

"WESTAR?" Jango took another look at the blaster in his hands. "This isn't a pistol."

"No, no it's not," Roh'j said with a grin. He began explaining the weapon's features starting by pointing to the fire selector. "Safe, semi-auto, full-auto, and burst fire modes." Roh'j grabbed the butt of the rifle's stock while pressing down on a mechanical button on the stock and pulled extending the stock out before it locked into place. "Fully adjustable shoulder stock." Next, Roh'j poked at the rifle's built in scope. "Variable magnification. And no it doesn't top off at 2x."

"Impressive." Jango shortened the stock before shouldering the rifle and aiming it at the wall. "Not bad at all."

"There's one last thing."

"Oh?"

Roh'j pulled out a small device which Jango quickly realized to be an grenade launcher. "Goes right under the barrel. Like so," Roh'j explained, snapping the device onto the rifle with ease. "As for payload there's the usual suspects but the Concordian rep told me if we're willing to pay for it they'd be able to get us more specialized ammunition."

Jango nodded in approval. The rifle was perfect, if not for one thing. "And what happens when the Duchess finds out?"

"She won't. Concordian is selling the M5 to us exclusively. No one outside of us knows what this even is. The name's certainly not going to give it away."

⁓ / ⁓ / ⁓​

The hologram of Roh'j stood rubbing his face in frustration. "I don't suppose we could just kill her?"

"Roh'j!" Jango snapped.

"Sorry, that was in bad taste." The Pantoran sighed. "I'm just feeling strung out... not that that's any excuse."

"It's good that you recognize that. That last thing anyone needs is to for us to become into another Deathwatch."

Roh'j scoffed. "Well we're not exactly saints not with our pasts let alone the things we've done for this project."

"We may be damned but that's no excuse to be monsters."

"Aye, Mand'alor."

"Knock that off," Jango ordered with a glare. "When can we expect you back?"

"Give me a few weeks to try and work something out here."

⁓ / ⁓ / ⁓​

"So we managed to make a deal to sneak out some blasters under the Duchess's nose. Not much, but this trip hasn't been a complete loss."

"How bad are things?"

"Not as bad as they could be. Concordian's not in as much hot water as they could have been but the way they threw off the heat might not be good for us."

"Wonderful, what did they do?"

"They pointed out that they can't be making blood money because no blood's been spilled." Roh'j made a complicated face. "They made a big point out of the fact that there's been no reports of Mandalorian arms being used in significant numbers in any recent galactic conflict nor have their arms been showing up in the hands of criminals, at least no more than there always have been. They were rather smug about it too. The trouble is the Duchess is a smart cookie. She's seen how much Concordian has been putting out and I'm sure she's noticed that it's been increasing every year. The obvious question she's going to ask is what hole those blasters are disappearing into."

"That..." That was far from good news. While Concordian had deflected a lethal shot it had done so by throwing them in front of the shooter. "Can you stall her investigation?"

"I'd rather not go anywhere near her right now," Roh'j said shaking his head. "If she so much as catches a whiff that something's up she's going to come down hard. I heard she's friends with a Jedi."

That was definitely the kind of attention they couldn't afford. "Understood. Do you need to get offworld?"

"Maybe." Roh'j shrugged. "It might be a good idea but I've been seen enough times coming and going that my disappearing could cause trouble."

"I'll leave it to your discretion then."

"Sure thing." Roh'j paused in thought. "I hate to admit it, but the Duchess, she's been good for Mandalore. I remember when we first arrived to talk with Concordian, you could still see the scars left over from the clan wars. Now though, you can barely see any signs that this place had ever gone through a war. It makes me wonder you know."

'What things might have been like if you had stayed Mand'alor,' went the unasked question.

"If we're lucky the realists on the Ruling Council will step in and have the Duchess back off," said Roh'j. "We've been spending a lot of credits on Concordian and that's been helping fund the reconstruction effort. Not to mention all the spending Concordian's been doing themselves."

"Hopefully. Anything else to report?" Jango asked.

"That's it."

"Alright, stay safe."

"You too Jango."



So according to Wookieepedia WESTARs and GALAARs aren't allowed to be sold outside of Mandalore. Rather than ignoring that bit of trivia I worked that into the export ban that Jango and friends just managed to get in ahead of. Those politics also provided me an excuse, however flimsy, to introduce the WESTAR-M5 as a product of Concordian Crescent Technologies. This omake may or may not have been an elaborate scheme on my part to have said blaster be the primary rifle of the Grand Army of the Republic. Also decided to write Roh'j as a Pantoran foundling because everyone seems to forget Mandalorians are supposed to include more than just humans.

I'm personally a big fan of how Mandalore ended up becoming the producer of small arms for the future Grand Army of the Republic in this quest. The potential butterflies from that one decision alone are wonderful. When the Clone Wars do begin Mandalore will be unable to be a neutral world as it was in canon given how critical it will become to the war effort. The Separatists will want to attack it while the Republic will need to defend it. The various worlds that aligned with Mandalore during the war to stay neutral will have to find some alternative or join a side this time around. Deathwatch will have that much of a harder time to demonize the occupying Republic forces when they identify so heavily as Mandalorians.
 
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Off Brand Armor (Canon/+10 Bonus)
Off Brand Armor

"A Death Watch infiltrator." Jango Fett wore a mixed expression as he was briefed by his chief of security, Juso Visz, a Mirialan woman. Her armor – a genuine Beskar set – currently bore a number of freshly made scorch marks. Her hands meanwhile were stained red with blood.

"I know. We don't get that many anymore." Juso wiped down her bloody gauntlets with a rag handed to her by Jango. "We might not have noticed if not for Gaid." Seeing that Jango wasn't familiar the name Juso explained, "He's one of the kids. Good eyes."

That explained it to Jango. Gaid wasn't a recruited Mandalorian but one of the clones. Or as Juso preferred to call them, the kids. It wasn't the most creative name for them but Jango understood Juso's reluctance in to referring to the younger Mandalorians as clones. There was always something dehumanizing about that manner of address even when it was stated with clear affection.

"How could he tell he wasn't one of us?" Jango waved off Juso's attempt to return the rag who proceeded to toss it into a nearby bin.

"Get this. The bastard's armor was made of plastoid."

"What."

"Right? Not even durasteel. Don't these yahoos know how easy it is to get shot during flight? Anyways, apparently Gaid's a big armor nut and he could tell, just by looking at it, what the armor was made of like that." Juso snapped her fingers. "He knew none of us would wear trash so he started looking for someone to tell. Luckily I happened to be on my way to the mess at the time. Though he barely managed to get a word out before I got shot." Juso pointed to the scorch mark sitting over her heart.

"That's a pretty accurate snap shot."

"Yeah. Pretty stupid too. Beskar's rare, sure, but even duraplast would have taken that shot easy." Juso tapped two additional scorch marks on her chestplate. "I took these when I charged our infiltrator to grab him with my crushgaunts. If I'd known he was wearing something so flimsy I wouldn't have bothered closing the distance."

"I'm guessing he didn't survive."

"I hit him thinking he was wearing proper protective gear. There's a few things we can look into like his equipment but there's not much of the idiot himself left to interrogate."

"Do you have any idea how he managed to sneak into Kamino?"

"I think he hitched a ride on one of the food shipments from Abrion. Specifically the ones that came in the other day. He might have paid someone off or just convinced a freighter captain he was one of us with his armor." Juso shrugged. "It's hard to say at this point and I'll have to be careful in my digging not to spook anyone."

"Make sure to check that he didn't do any damage before you ran into him."

Juso nodded. "I'm off then."

Jango nodded back. "Take care not to be too heavy handed."

"Yeah, yea..." Juso stopped at the door. Her eyes narrowed and she stared hard at Jango. "Motherfucker was that a pun?"

"Maybe."

"Screw you Fett."

Juso left and the door shut leaving Jango all alone in his office and free to ask himself a question that had been nagging at him since Juso had first mentioned it. What kind of self respecting Mandalorian wore plastoid?



This is me trying to make sense of why Death Watch troops consistently go down in one of two shots throughout The Clone Wars. My conclusion is that for a vast majority of their troops their armor is made of plastoid. Only the more elite units as well as those higher up in the organization's hierarchy are provided armor made from more durable materials.
 
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Giftbasket to the Duchess (Noncanon/+10 Bonus)
You joke... but I propose we actually send in a letter very close to this to the woman with an attached fruit basket through a proxy.

I agree with other posters that she is the least of many evils, but I consider her high blood pressure a strategic resource.


You made me do this....


Mandalore.
Sundari Palace.


Satine was marching to her inner chambers with purpose in her steps, she nedded to cool off before she did something she would regret later. She huffed, to say she was annoyed by current situation would be understatment, while no one would be brave enough to say it to her face she know some of the Palace gurads and close advisors that she crossed during walking could feel she was fuming with anger under her calm exterior.

And it looked this state will continue for some time unfortunetly, especially since even thinking about the lawsuit and how it ended made her recal those mocking looks and hidden amusement visible in eyes of the Concordia representatives during the last meeting that ended just half an hour ago. While they had so called neutral looks on their faces and been extremly polite she spend enough time in Core Worlds and around Republic Elite to learn how to read people even when they try to hide their fealings from her.

So she could easly see past their polite exterior and see both their amusement at her losing and smug stisfaction at their victory of the trial. She reflexivly stopped herself from grittting her teath when thinking about that so called "Trial", it was a mocking show of how corruption and money could influnce Republic and its institutions, it was a disgrace!

But couldn't do anything about it for now and she relaxed her face because she relaised she was scowling, it was unbecoming of some of her station to show visible anger even or even especially when those close to her could see it. She scholled her features and took deap breath, she was nearing her destination. The entrance was in sight.

After calmly approaching the entrence to her private rooms she inclned her head in greeting to the Gaurds, only those from her Clan that she was realy close to and had her absolute trust were selected to guard this part of palace.

"My Lady, there is a package wating for you inside" The senior most Guard said.

"Really, from who?" She was curious, normaly any correspondence or packages which were send to her were recived by her staff to be checked and segregated and only those most important, valuable or private reached her personaly. So to something pass the security and selection was unusual.

"We don't know My Lady, it was unfortunetly send anonymously. While normaly we would never allow it inside not knowing who was the sender it already passed positivly the automated security scan and as such it was followed up by opening and manual checking and scanning again by members of the Guard with more precise equipment, its content were found to be nothing eighter suspicious or dangerous and after seeing what exactly was inside and double checking everything again it was decided that while it was unusual there is no danger in delivering it tught we didn't open the letter since it was considered to be a breach of privacy. It is on the table in your main room My Lady, we hope you will like it." He reported with smile.

She raised her eyebrow, that was really surprising turn of events especialy the sugestive behaviour of the Gaurd impling she will like the content. Well since it was deemed safe she could see what this mysterious package was, maybe it will help her not think about that blasted Trial.

"Wery well, good work" Waiting a moment for the Guards to open the reinforced doors(she was pacifist, not an idiot) she entered.

After passing the door and looking inside she indded sees a quite saizable parcel on the table of her main room, hearing the sound of them closing behind her she approched the mystery.

It was quite a packadge the size of a couch made from some from of synthetic material, on the front was small writing 'To Satine Kryze the Duchess of Mandalore from her Biggest Fan, in thanks for all your hard work for better future Mandalore and Galaxy'.

Well wasn't that quite charming? She had a fan, that was nice.

As long it wasn't some kind of weirdo, those were the worst. Even assasins were better because they at least wanted her only dead.

Curious what was inside she got to work opening it.

Few momens later she seen what was inside.

Her Gaurd was right she quite liked it, inside was a big and beautiful bouquet of flowers in all clours of rainbow but tastfuly balanced done to look elegant and not garish, a gigantic package of luxurious sweets(her favorites) and a old fashined sealed paper letter.

It brought a geniuine smile to her face, it was really nice. Especially in a day like this one.

After a quiet moment of enjoing the amazing bouquet(and eating few sweets) she reached for the letter, took it and sat in a plush armchair she used when wanting to relax.

With smile she opened the letter and started reading.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Prime Minister Almec was hurriedly walking in the direcetion of Duchess Kryze private chambers, the news were both urgent and of... delicate matter.

While it would be easier to just send a message it was not advised taking in consideration both the type of news and the Duchess current frayed nerves.

Delivering the news privatly would allow him to... mitigate any outburst and help in calming Satine away from any praying eyes.

With satisfaction he sees his destination at the end of the corridor.

Nearing the door he sees the tense Guards.

Reaching the door and stooping before the Gaurds he opens his mouth to ask for entry when he hears a loud crash of somethign heavy inside followed by bellows of angry screaming mixed with some very... colorfull linguage he didn't suspect the Dushess to know.

Especailly in Huttese.

He slowly closes his mouth and looks closely at the Gurads, he notes their rapidly pailing faces under their helmets combined with visible sweating.

"Is everything alright? I hoped to speek with Duchess if possible."

The nearest Gaurd is wisibly struggling to find words but finally speaks with light croak to his voice.

"I'm afraid it will not be possible Minister. The Duchess recived some... unfortunate news and is currently... occupied, she asked to not disturb her tonight outside of any emergencies."

He took in the words followed by another loud crash inside and even more colorful words, this time in Mando.

Who knew that she could swear with the best(or worst) of them? Adonai would have been proud.

But yes it looked like it would be best to not disturb the Duchess right now.

"Very well, I will contact her in another time. Please infrom the Duchess that I would like to speak with her when she will be aveliable."

After reciving confirmation Almec turned around and not quite run but certainly energiticaly walked in opposite direction.

While walking he tought its quite a good idea to not tell right now Satine that Concordia Crescent Technologies just recived biggest single order for Blasters in their history.





Edit: This is my litle addition to this Quest, this almost exact scene stuck in my head and just didn't leave me alone till I wrote it down.

So I hope it gets Omake status but Apocrypha will be nice to.
 
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Now There Are Two of Them (Canon/+15 Bonus)
Now There Are Two of Them

Duchess Satine Kryze watched from her seat in the gallery as the court brought down its verdict, settling the court case her government had found itself in with MandalMotors and Concordian Crescent Technologies in favor of the two corporations. A muted cheer arose from the benches across from hers. The two companies' legal team seated together at the plaintiff's table got up and shook hands.

"I had hoped it would not end like this," said Satine.

"It might not have if not for the the Corporates involving themselves," said the blond woman seated with Satine. Siri, who insisted that Satine refer to her as Zora for the length of the proceedings, wore a red and leathery jumpsuit, a far cry from her usual manner of dress. "The question now is how do we proceed from here?"

"I do not know." Satine stifled a sigh, settling for a deep breath. "With their victory here it will be much more difficult for me to lean on my status as Duchess to demand cooperation from either MandalMotors or Concordian Technologies."

"Not just them." Siri gestured with her head at the delegation from the Trade Federation seated in the benches on the other side of the room.

The Neimoidians weren't limiting themselves to cheering. They were jeering at the Mandalorian legal team and one of them in particular directed a smug smile at the Duchess. It took all her royal training for Satine to suppress the urge to fire off a death stare at the humanoid slug. It helped that the antics of the Neimoidians were none to popular with anyone else in the courtroom, not even their newfound allies. Satine found herself on the recieving end of more than a few apologetic bows from Mandalorians that were ostensibly her opponents. That she still commanded their respect was the silver lining to this pitch black cloud.

The courtroom was emptied fairly quickly. Outside Satine was met by a pair of her guards, no less threatening without their weapons. Her companion Siri was met by a young man in his late teens whose dark hair was framed by golden highlights.

"Master," the young man greeted Siri, his voice kept low, and with a hint of a bow. "I gather from yours and Duchess Kryze's expression that the trial went as poorly as feared."

The young man fell in by Siri's side while Satine's guards took up positions behind the party of three.

"I am afraid so Ferus. Our investigation has become significantly more difficult with this development," said Siri.

The young Jedi frowned. "Perhaps it is time to reveal the involvement of the Order?"

"The actions of a single knight and her padawan hardly amount to support from the Order. Even if it were, declaring our involvement now would not serve us."

"They would not impede us as they have if they knew a Jedi were involved," Ferus asserted.

"We were witnesses today to a court case that saw the powers of local governments curtailed throughout the Galactic Republic, all because I held similar beliefs in regards to my own authority," stated Satine grimly. "Please, do not go repeating my mistake so quickly."

"Wait I thought this case was against you and the Mandalorian government?"

"It was, but the ruling made here–" Satine's explanation was interrupted by that of a dark haired man with a stern expression and mustache.

"The ruling made here establishes a precedent that could be used to circumvent planetary decision makers."

The Padawan jumped in place. On recovering from his surprise he took a step in front of the Duchess. Satine smiled a little at the sight, it bringing to mind memories of a different young Jedi. Neither she or Siri were concerned. They both recognized the man and Satine knew that had he been a danger he would have been intercepted by her guards well before they could reach her.

"Senator Garm Bel Iblis," Satine greeted the Senator from Corellia. "I hadn't expected to see you here."

"Duchess Kryze. Jedi." Garm Bel Iblis gave the three curt nods. Ferus cringed likely feeling responsible for letting their secret out. "There's a bill in the making in the Senate that I was hoping to talk to you about."

"I believe I have some free time. We can walk and talk if you don't mind the presence of my associates."

"That's fine." He quickly joined the group, walking on Satine's free side. "There is a bill being headed by the Reformists to expand and re-arm the Judicial Forces. In light of your influence and politics I was asked to approach you."

Satine nodded in understanding. "You are here to solicit Mandalore's vote."

"I am here to ask that you do not interfere with the bill."

"Interfere?" Satine raised an eyebrow. "Being a pacifist does not mean I am naive to the dangers of the galaxy. I would not oppose a bill to increase the budget of the Judicial Forces."

"Even if it were supported by the Militarists and Corporates?" Iblis's tone was even.

It took a moment for the implication of that statement to fully set in and when it did the control Satine had been exercising since the trial nearly slipped. Satine's head snapped in Iblis's direction but she slammed shut her mouth before she could say the first thing that passed through her head.

"The reality of politics makes strange bedfellows out of us all Senator. I will not begrudge you for your choice of allies," said Satine taking the time to enunciate each word in an effort to keep from gritting her teeth. "That you thought that my personal feeling would influence me in such matters however, that does insult me."

"You are a Mandalorian, Duchess."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Your people have a cultural predilection towards grudges." Iblis glanced over at an impassive Siri and her bristling padawan. "As I'm sure your Jedi companions will attest to."

"The Mandalorian people have rejected the ways of the past. We no longer idolize violence."

There followed a short lull in the conversation which Satine attempted to try and make use of some Jedi breathing techniques she knew of to calm herself. It was not to be.

"There is a rumor going around that all this was a show, a ploy to publicize Mandalore's arms industry," said Iblis

"That is a ludicrous assertion." Satine made a forceful wave of her hand. The frustration of having her go at meditation interrupted was not helping her mood.

"Rebuilding a devastated world is a costly endeavor. You wouldn't be the first leader to compromise on her ideals for the sake of her people."

"You of all people do not get to accuse me of being a gunrunner, Corellian," Satine snapped. The Duchess started, shocked at her own vitriol and faced away from Iblis.

Before the stalled conversation could be overtaken by tense silence Siri spoke up, "Why are you seeking to re-arm the Judicial Forces, Senator?"

Garm Bel Iblis scrutinized the Jedi.

"The Duchess made a fair point during her first public address," Iblis finally answered. "There are many unaccounted for weapons in the galaxy and many within the Senate are concerned that the Judicial Forces are ill equipped for such a galaxy."

"Do they doubt the abilities of the Jedi?" asked Ferus.

"Not everyone trusts the Jedi. Go far enough out into the Rim and you'll encounter more than a few people that view the Jedi as little more than another enforcer of the Republic that they despise."

"Senator, you haven't switched targets have you?" Siri asked.

The Padawan looked to his master in confusion. Something flashed across Iblis's face.

"I have no idea what you mean, master Jedi. Duchess Kryze, what should I take back to my allies in the Senate?"

"Mandalore will not oppose your bill." Satine sighed. "And Senator, I apologize for my earlier outburst. These have not been an easy few days."

"I am aware Duchess. Please accept my own apology." For the first time since he started speaking there was an emotion mixed in Iblis's words and it was apologetic. "I hope that the rest of your day is less chaotic."

Ferus glared at Senator Iblis until he was out of sight. "What an unpleasant man."

"The determined can very much be," said Siri. "Did you notice Satine, he wanted to provoke you."

"I only picked it up near the end there. I haven't been played like that in a while." Satine weakly shook her head. "I must be getting old."

Siri laid a comforting hand on Satine's shoulder. "He hit you when you were at your lowest. There no shame in defeat in the face of such unfavorable odds."

"Wait, he did that intentionally?" Ferus asked.

"Yes," Satine answered. "Though the why is less obvious."

"Is that why you apologized?" Ferus asked with a frown.

"No. I apologized because it was the right thing to do."

"But he was arrogant and rude! Even if this were some secret test of character it does not excuse the anguish he inflicted upon you, Duchess."

"Hate breeds hate young one," Satine said to the young Jedi with a mixture of sadness and disappointment. "If there was one thing that I learned in bringing peace to Mandalore it is that the greatest obstacle to peace, to reconciliation, is when people makes villains of one another. Everyone has their reasons. Circumstances that have led them to be the person that they are. We must hold people to account, yes, but we must never lose sight that they are people. Otherwise the only peace we will find with those we fight is in death."

"Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering," Ferus quietly repeated the mantra to himself with a troubled expression.

"Thank you," Siri whispered to Satine. "I think he needed to hear that."

Soon the party arrived at the private landing pad outside the courthouse where their shuttlebus was waiting for them. A single robed figure stood next to the craft. Satine knew that it couldn't be a member of the press, she had abused her right as a visiting sovereign to keep them well away from her with the excuse of safety. Whoever it was must have heard their approach and turned in their direction.

Satine's guards stepped up, going from trailing behind to covering her. What apprehension Satine herself felt melted away when she saw the the man pull back his hood revealing a familiar head of blonde hair and and unfamiliar blonde beard. Satine gasped and an unbidden smile blossomed across her face.

"Obi-Wan."


You know what would be better than Obi-Wan and his Mandalorian girlfriend uncovering galactic conspiracies? Obi-Wan's Mandalorian and Jedi girlfriends working together to uncover galactic conspiracies. So yeah, Satine Kryze teaming up with Siri Tachi to figure out the mystery of the missing blasters. Satine was looking into things when she bumped into Siri and what she had was enough to convince the other Obi lover she was onto something. Wrote Iblis as a bit of a dick here, but he's doing that intentionally to get a feel for the Duchess. Iblis isn't quite at the point where he's going 'Palpatine's behind it all' but he clearly never trusted the Chancellor. Palpatine extending his term with the Separatist Crisis and later the Clone Wars just made it obvious to Iblis that Palpatine couldn't be trusted with power. So, right now Iblis is trying to figure out if he might have a possible ally in Mandalore and it's not like the Duchess goes offworld that often so slowly feeling things out is out of the question.

Originally the idea was for the Jedi with Satine to be Obi-Wan because then it would mean exposing Anakin to human relationships but then I checked and Anakin doesn't have the creepy relationship issues at this point in his life. Nope, his problem right now is Ferus Olin who really needs a crash course in not being a dick to other people which the above sort of was. Now I'm not going go so far as to say he bullied Anakin into becoming Darth Vader but the kid definitely didn't help Anakin's socialization issues with other Jedi his age and helped exacerbate Anakin's worst qualities. Spending time with and getting advice from the woman who convinced members of a warrior race engaged in the worst kind of war, i.e. a civil war, to close to literally lay down their guns and sing Baba Yetu will hopefully put him on track to help and get him to stop picking fights with the kid two years younger than him.

If Obi-Wan is the Negotiator, Satine is the Peacemaker. Really the more you think about it the more amazing what Satine pulled off is. Forget the turning the Mandalorians into pacifists, she managed to get the vast majority of people involved in a bloody civil war to build a society together and from the looks of things avoided internal strife like grudges or revenge killings. By the time of the Clone Wars in OTL, Mandalore didn't have any lasting divisions tracing back to the previous conflict. Death Watch doesn't count, they're a band of extremists that funded their own backyard militia and want to overthrow the government. Furthermore the fact that they managed to take over so easily in OTL further proves that Satine must have done a bang up job resolving all those old bad feelings otherwise everyone that historically had beef with Death Watch should have come out of the woodworks guns blazing and Mandalore should have had a civil war well before Bo's defection.
 
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Things are Better? (Canon/+10 Bonus)
Things are Better?

Darth Sidious gazed out into Coruscant's night sky accompanied by his apprentice, whatching the ships and satellites the substitued for the stars blotted out by the planet-wide city's lights.

"Garm Bel Iblis." Sidious was calm as he spoke his newest enemy's name. "How troublesome."

"Shall I dispatch an assassin?" Darth Tyranus asked blandly.

"That will be quite unnecessary. Killing Iblis and his cohorts now would only sow further interest. Better to redirect their attention... elsewhere."

Sidious's answer did not surprise Tyranus. Being a political actor himself, such was the conclusion he had reached himself, and in politics he had no doubts his master outstripped him in skill. Yet, there was a rythm to these things. He was the apprentice and as the apprentice it as much his duty to display subservience as it was to show loyalty.

"What is your plan my lord?"

"Our friend from Corellia wishes to discover where these weapons have disappeared to? Then he shall be given everything he needs to do so." Sidious's mouth broke into a toothy grin. It was not a kind expression. "We shall grant him the authority to direct the Judicial Forces as they conduct inspections of the armories and bankrolls of worlds that the Senate deem suspicious."

Tyranus chuckled. "I am certain the Galactic Senate will be thoughtful in designating which worlds are to be inspected."

"You must be prepared to woo these worlds Tyranus. Garm Bel Iblis has handed us an immense opportunity. We must not waste it."

"Of course my master," Tyranus said with a bow. "I may have something which may help further muddy the waters."

The Count of Serenno pulled from his cloak a holoprojector and clicked it on. On it appeared a young woman with shoulder length hair and dressed in rough clothes. Were it not for the lightsaber held within her hand neither man would have guessed her to be a Jedi.

"This is Jedi Knight Lorana Jinzler sending a distress call to any who would listen. My master, Jorus C'baoth has..." The woman paused, visibly struggling with the words she was about to say. "...has fallen. The colony he helped found has become a twisted reflection of the Jedi Order. A council of force users rules with he at its head. Children are taken from their parents and taught to look down upon those without the gift of the Force. Dissent is dealt with harshly. At first he had people imprisoned but when others spoke up and refused to stand down he..." The Jedi stared at her lightsaber.

Tyranus paused the message there. "She continues on to say that she is leading a resistance against C'baoth and his followers and that she hopes that anyone that hears the message will relay it to the authorities."

"Ah, Jorus." Sidious's eyes twinkled with delight "The hate he exuded after he was denied his precious Outbound Flight by the Senate and his Council was delicious. His colony succeeded then?"

"For a definition of a success as you can see from the message." Tyranus returned the holoprojector to his cloak.

"Quite. Has the message been picked up by anyone else?"

"No my lord. My agents only discovered it because they were specifically there to monitor C'baoth. The master did well in finding a world distant from prying eyes."

Sidious 'hmmed'.

"Revealing the depths to which a Jedi Master like C'baoth has fallen to the rest of the galaxy would be most advantageous," Tyranus continued. "Imagine the trust the Order would lose."

"And the division it would sow within the Jedi's own ranks." Sidious smiled at Tyranus "Well done, my apprentice. Well done indeed. This is much more than I could ever hoped for had I simply allowed the Outbound Flight to occur. At most that would led to a dozen dead Jedi, but this..." Sidious let out an echoing laugh. "This will strike at the very soul of the Jedi!"

"Then, do I have your permission to spread this message?"

"It is granted. Make certain it is heard far and wide." After a moment Sidious mused aloud, "I wonder how many Jedi will die trying to restrain their wayward master."

"C'baoth is strong with the Force. If he has indeed fallen to the Dark Side then he will be an even more formidable foe. I suspect many Jedi sent to bring him to heel will be slaughtered."

"Good. Good. What of this Lorana Jinzler, will she be a problem?"

"No, she is an average example of a Jedi Knight. She is no one of concern to us."

"Very well, you are dismissed Darth Tyranus."

Count Dooku bowed. "Yes, my lord."



There you go, an omake of our two Sith lords dealing with Garm's curveball. Whether it'll pan out in their favor is something we'll have to see.

The big change from OTL is that there was no Outbound Flight here. Thanks to the push to increase funding for the Judicials I mentioned in Satine and Siri's omake the Outbound Flight got the axe and when Palpatine saw how that was pushing C'baoth over to the other side he decided to only have the Jedi Master trailed rather than killed when C'baoth settled for creating a colony in the Outer Rim.
 
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Subcontracting (Canon/+10 Bonus)
Subcontracting

"How do these people keep getting my number?" Jango said to himself aloud.

He had just finished a call with a dug by the name of Fernooda. Despite having been on Kamino for the majority of the past half a decade the man had somehow remembered the Jango from his bounty hunting days and had wanted him specifically for a job. That reeked of a trap or at the very least a suicide mission. It bore looking into.

"It's your own fault for not changing it," snarked MU-12

"Quiet you rust bucket," Jango grumbled at the – admittedly indispensable – housekeeping droid. "Call up Yalla, tell her I've got a job lined up if she's interested."

⁓ / ⁓ / ⁓​

"The Infant of Shaa?"

"You've heard of this thing." Jango saw the flash of recognition that passed over her face.

"Yes," Yalla answered and left it at that.

"Anything I should know about it?"

"No."

'A Force thing then,' noted Jango. Yalla for all her eccentricities only ever clammed up when it came to her homeworld or arcane Force lore. Desnos could coax the latter out of the self-proclaimed witch but no one could manage to get Yalla to speak of the former.

"Fine," said Jango, letting it go. "Do you have any questions?"

"How much am I getting paid?"

⁓ / ⁓ / ⁓​

The bladed edge of Yalla's glaive lay up against the neck of the woman that had snuck up behind her. She had her blaster pointed directed at the Dathomirian's head.

"It would appear you have me at a disadvantage," said Yalla. "You appear to have some inkling of my identity but I have no idea who you are."

"Zam Wesell," said the other woman with a flirty tilt of her head.

Wesell. The name was familiar to Yalla but where was it that she had heard it?

"There something wrong with my face?" Zam asked.

"Would you happen to be familiar with a man by the name of Jango Fett?"

"You know Jango?" Zam sounded pleasantly surprised. Of course that didn't stop her from keeping her blaster trained on Yalla's head.

"I would have to. He subcontracts his work out to me."

"And here I was looking forward to seeing him again. So, where do we go from here?"

Before either of the bounty hunters could take the first strike they were interrupted by the arrival of a giant arthropod.

⁓ / ⁓ / ⁓​

"You're not turning it in?" Zam asked in confusion. She had given up her claim on the Infant of Shaa as thanks after the other woman had saved her life from the supposed guardian of the Infant.

"This is a powerful artifact," said Yalla turning over the oddly shaped idol in her hands. "I can feel the Force radiating off of it. I doubt our employer was being truthful in claiming he was a simple art collector."

"Fernooda lied to us." Zam frowned before letting that drop with a shrug. "That's not that unusual in this line of work."

"The name Infant of Shaa is one that I have heard before in my travels," Yalla mused. Zam raised a skeptical brow and poked at the idol held in the other woman's hand who in turn raised a brow at her behavior. "What I have heard of it suggests it contains enough power to destroy an entire world."

"That's..." Zam froze.

"Impressive, yes."

"I was going to say insane." Zam crossed her arms. "There is no way that's true. But then that doesn't really matter as much as if Fernooda believes the Infant can be used as a weapon."

"Do not insult my prowess as a witch of Dathomir. The Infant is without a doubt an artifact of great power."

"Right. Shit. We can't let the dug get his hands on this."

"I am inclined to agree. The kind of Force disturbance this artifact would cause would be troublesome."

⁓ / ⁓ / ⁓​

Zam grimaced – not that anyone could normally tell while she was in her transitionary state – as her body painfully rearranged itself from looking like the dug that had hired her to her preferred human form.

"We were right," said Zam as she dressed herself, the clothes she had been wearing as a dug ill fitting her human form and having fallen off her. Out the corner of her eyes she caught Yalla watching. "Fernooda is working on behalf of Ashaar Khorda."

"I take it he is a rather infamous man of ill repute," said Yalla.

"He is."

"Wonderful!" Yalla declared. "That means he should have quite the bounty on his head."

Zam couldn't help but chuckle at her partner's enthusiasm.

⁓ / ⁓ / ⁓​

"I would entreat you to either hand over the artifact to myself or return it to the world you took it from."

A bounty hunter, a witch, and a Jedi. Zam knew there was some kind of joke here.

"And would we be paid for our good deed?" Yalla asked the Quermian Jedi Master that had somehow managed to track down the two of them.

"I see no reason why you shouldn't be for preventing a great tragedy," replied Master Yarael Poof.

The tension bled out of Yalla. She moved to rest her glaive on her shoulder. "Then I am happy to be a hero, Jedi."

⁓ / ⁓ / ⁓​

Yalla intercepted the blaster bolt with her Force empowered glaive. At the sight of the seemingly primitive weapon completely absorbing the shot Fernooda became wide eyed. Yalla smirked at the gobsmacked terrorist.

"Wha-how?!" the dug sputtered. He staggered backwards, so shocked that he forgot he could keep shooting at Yalla.

"The Force is a pathway to many abilities that many would consider impossible." Yalla dashed forward and slammed the butt of her glaive into Fernooda's chest.

The dug crumpled, still alive. There was no sense in killing him. Bounties for the dead paid less after all. On the other side of the room Zam had successfully stunned two other additional followers of the rogue Annoo-dat general while a third wearing heavy armor lay dead with smoking blaster wounds, their protection having negated the effects of stun blasts and necessitating the use of lethal shots.

The Jedi Master meanwhile had subdued Ashaar Khorda himself. With that the terrorist's plan to take revenge on the Republic had failed.

⁓ / ⁓ / ⁓​

Returning the Infant of Shaa to Seylott had been easier than either of the two bounty hunters had expected. They had been permitted to approach a larger monument that the locals referred to as the Mother and place the Infant there. Zam noticed Yalla was on alert the whole time – as if expecting some form of retribution – until they were back with their ships.

"It was a pleasure to work with you Zam," Yalla said.

"You weren't that bad either," Zam teased.

Yalla laughed. "It is a shame you like men. Until the next job."

"It's a date then."



Another omake, this time a retelling of an OTL event but with Yalla in place of Jango, with our witch helping Zam Wesell save Coruscant from annihilation.

Once more however things have diverged somewhat. Yalla being a witch was able to recognize the Infant of Shaa for what it was and rather than hand it over to the terrorists she and Zam started hunting them down. They were met and joined by Jedi Master Yarael Poof who managed to track the Infant with his senses, the bounty hunters having decided it was safest in their care.

With them not rushing to stop Ashaar Khorda the three were able to take their time and take down the general at their pleasure. Thanks to that Jedi Master Yarael Poof managed to survive the encounter but so did Ashaar Khorda. For now the latter is in custody but that may change if someone were to find his brand of anti-Republic sentiment useful.
 
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