Chapter 35
716 FNM (22 BBY)
Month 6
Tatooine, Lars Moisture Farm
Tanya Kryze
I sat across from Anakin and Padme. They had just explained how verifying a vision several months old had been worth the risk of bringing an assassination target to the most lawless planet in the galaxy. I rubbed my temples for no particular reason. They could have stayed on Naboo, which is probably the safest planet they could be on, instead of coming to Tatooine of all places to find Anakin's lost mother. Which was a whole other matter I was annoyed with, but I would focus on one bout of insanity at a time.
"So your big plan, as a Jedi, was to risk your charge's life by moving her to one of the most dangerous planets in the entire galaxy."
"To be fair," Anakin said, "Padme suggested we come here." The charge in question proceeded to elbow him. "I said no a few times but she ground me down." Anakin carefully avoided meeting either of our gazes.
I was the picture of composure, I didn't begin muttering under my breath about hormonal teenagers.
We were sitting underground in a farmstead, owned by Anakin's adopted father Cliegg Lars, and his biological mother Shmi. Khae and Kastel were sitting in the courtyard unpacking a couple tents they were going to loan us for the night, since the homestead owners were already full up on visitors thanks to Anakin and Padme.
I had stripped out of my armor so that I could clean it. One of the many tasks that needed doing now that we were safe. So I'm sitting in front of them in my pilot suit, Anakin is wearing Jedi robes, and Padme is wearing some fancy dress probably of Naboo make. It's funny that of the three people inside this room, the only one who actually kind of looks like they fit in is Anakin. The Jedi robes could pass for clothing of locals, if well-made.
The room is a rather interesting affair, it looked like someone had carved out a hole in the ground and then just plastered a roof over it. I don't think I'd ever seen anything like this in my history books, so it must be something created simply because of just how awful the conditions on this planet were. It reminds me a lot like a sand igloo.
I did wonder how they kept this place from being submerged in the sand. Though considering it's underground, I think that with the quantity of sandstorms this planet probably experienced, some big storm should have buried it already, eventually. Given even a small chance of the event occurring over a long enough time horizon, it would happen eventually, and this place would get buried. Perhaps there is some sort of technology around here that I wasn't seeing that prevented that.
My thoughts were interrupted as Padme spoke up. "You don't have to worry about that, Tanya, we were completely safe. No one knows we left Naboo and no one even knew that we left Coruscant."
"That's not true." I said matter of factly before adding, "I figured out that you left Coruscant after talking to Obi-Wan for a moment."
"Well, that's you, Tanya. You always were one for making vast leaps of logic." Padme said, sounding a little bit annoyed with me. Fair, I guess we are both annoyed with each other.
"Fine, I'll let the stupidity of running off to Tatooine drop." I wanted to get on with the good news at the very least. "Anyway, I found out who's trying to kill you. Better yet, I convinced the current bounty hunter assigned to the job to drop it as well as manage to provide his testimony as evidence against his employer, so I say that's a good win on my part."
"Are we sure about that?" Padme said, sounding sarcastic, "I mean you had to run off to Tatooine, the most dangerous planet in the Galaxy, to do it. Was that really the safest option?"
"I know it's your complaint and reference, but yes, it was. I had full control of the situation and enough guards with me to make sure everything would go fine."
Padme gave me a look that said that she was less than amused with my attempt to try and bypass that point before saying, "Yes, I think I was also quite safe, after all I had a Jedi with me." After taking that jab at me, she continued, "Anyway, what do you mean he's no longer going to be coming after me. Who is responsible for this assassination plot?"
At that moment, Ordo, who had been behind me making a cup of tea, stepped forward. I preferred to have coffee, but I needed to get some sleep tonight, so tea it was. Ordo stepped to the table and set a saucer down for me.
Giving him a smile, I said, "Thank you." Only after I sipped, did I answer Padme's question, "The master assassin, I guess you could say, is a bounty hunter. He was trying to subcontract the job off to a friend of his as a favor. We came to an agreement, he will return to Mandalore and turn in the evidence he has in return for favorable treatment." Anakin let out a huff that I ignored. "From there, that evidence will be sent from Mandalore to the Senate. The Senate can do whatever they want with this information. I'm sure they'll be rather annoyed considering who it is."
Preempting the obvious question, I said, "It's your arch-nemesis from the Naboo blockade, Nute Gunray."
"Gunray, really? He's that spiteful? Well, at least we know it's not political and just personal."
I shrugged before saying, "Politics is personal sometimes. After all, you've cost him quite a bit of political capital and from my understanding of the situation you won heavily against him in the courts. He probably thought if he could just kill you, he would have had less to deal with in regard to the courts coming after him."
"Perhaps, but now I'm definitely going to go after him for this." I detected a tinge of anger in her voice. Padme had lost her people in the destruction of her transport ship. I wouldn't hold it against her, I had lost friends, both to enemy action and time in my last life. Losing friends like that did tend to draw out the worst in people.
After I took another sip of my tea, I said, "Well, you do what you have to do, Senator. I've done my job. More than what my job required me to do, hopefully this situation can be handled peacefully from here on out."
"Hopefully," Padme said with a shake of her head and an exasperated sigh. "Now you said something about things going sideways during this whole thing, care to explain what exactly happened?"
I shook my head, saying, "I'm not exactly sure. Some droids showed up in the middle of our meeting with the bounty hunter and attempted to arrest me. I wasn't sure what they were planning to do after they caught me, she seemed unsure herself."
"Why would they do that? And how do they know that you'd be here in the first place?" Anakin asked the same questions that I've been asking myself for the last twelve hours.
I shrugged before saying, "The how is probably not that hard to figure out, I used the Bounty Hunters' Guild contact, specifically a lesser Hutt known as Ziro, to communicate with this bounty hunter. Most likely, someone put a couple clues together and figured out that I must have been the one trying to meet with him. Or the damn slug sold that information to anyone willing to pony up the credits. My presence on Tatooine is likely a worse kept secret than yours. Why were they trying to capture me, specifically? That is a little bit more of a conundrum. However, considering the bounty hunter was under the employ of the former head of the Trade Federation, possibly allies or spies from their partner in this other organization, the Workers' Council of Anteevy found out. Anteevy, that name sounds familiar, but I can't place where I had heard it."
"I can." Ordo said, drawing all eyes to him. He had also stripped down to his pilot suit and was sitting right next to me now, nursing his own saucer with tea.
"Anteevy is an Old Mandalorian planet, just on the outskirts of the modern borders of the Mandalore sector, in the Esuian sub-sector. It's not under direct administration of Mandalore anymore, but it was still under a Mandalorian clan council until a few decades ago. It was used as a prison colony by the Traditional Mandalorians, if someone got too problematic they were sent to the planet to basically work the rest of their lives off. Considering that planet is one of the more densely populated in the sector... well, there were a lot of dissident clans and individuals over the centuries."
He sipped his tea before continuing, "About nineteen years ago, during the end of the Mandalorian Civil War and the Mandalorian Clan Wars, the planet declared independence after a violent rebellion led by a child. The ruling clans were massacred, men, women, and children too. Shipping was stopped and a system-wide blockade was established. Duchess Satine ended the blockade when she came to power, but trade and normalization of relationships was never a priority. No one has bothered with the place for the last two decades. The sub-sector it is in doesn't want to deal with them and the Duchess doesn't want to deal with them either. The Republic would need another thousand years before they even begin to think about what they want to do with them. So it's just there and no one's really interested in figuring out what to do with them."
Padme looked more and more frustrated at Ordo's explanation. Likely from the fact that the Republic taking centuries to make a decision is par for the course, which irritates her idealist sensibilities.
"There is also the fact that, as Ordo said, they are outside the Mandalore sector proper, they didn't get hit with the ban on battle droids like every other planet in the Mandalore sector, so that droid company that tried to kidnap me is technically legal. The Republic is an utter mess when it comes to this sort of thing; if Anteevy rejoined the Mandalorian sector, then previously legal battle droids would suddenly become outlawed for them."
"Uh, can you explain why that is?" Anakin asked, not realizing the daunting quagmire that was sector, subsector, administrative sector and representative sector classification. Explaining it to him would likely just annoy the man, rightfully so, the term sector had been bastardized for the sake of politics for thousands of years. There was no real reason why the regions were drawn up the way they were for the vast majority of cases.
"Long story short, the previous ruler of Mandalore before the Mandalorian Civil War wanted to tax the Hydian Way, the hyperspace lane next to Gargon, again and used a droid army to do it. The Republic didn't like that and thought it was a repeat of the blockade of the Hydian Way, so they brought down the hammer in the form of Judicials and Jedi Order to force him back into compliance. After smashing the Mandalorian droid army as well as the deaths of countless Mandalorians, the Senate banned the Mandalorian sector from ever using battle droids. They then returned to business as usual and washed their hands on the matter leaving the Mandalore sector to rebuild by themselves which resulted in the Mandalorian Civil War a few years later. Now the problem is that they used that exact term, sector, but it applies to a dozen different things. This is actually intentional for the Republic, as they can use whatever definition is the most useful at the time. Since the law was designed specifically to curtail Mandalorian power, any group claiming not to be a part of Mandalore can effectively argue that the law does not apply to them."
"Got it." Anakin nodded. His face conflicted, likely at the disproportionate response of the Republic, and it was pretty disproportionate.
With everyone on the same page, I continued, "That explains who and where these droids came from, but why were they after me exactly?" And my unspoken question was even more concerning, 'And why the hell were they using communist terminology?'
Ordo sipped his tea before saying, "I don't know much, but from what I do understand, their leadership opposes the noble houses that run Mandalore and the Mandalore sector. They blame us for basically everything that ever went wrong."
I let out a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding in at that statement, as that was a socialist thing to do, find someone to blame for everything and then focus everyone's hatred on it. Still didn't explain how they had the communist playbook, but at least I had an idea of what I was dealing with now.
Finally, I said, "Bold move of them to try and kidnap a diplomat, I'm sure that would end well for them." I mused with a joke as I continued, "Now that we understand the situation, I'm sure I can lodge a complaint through the Judicial system and then do something about this Workers' Council."
"I'm sure the Jedi Council would take interest in that. We could probably try to negotiate them down from any future assassination attempts. Diplomacy like this is what the Order does best." Anakin chimed in, causing me to shake my head in exasperation. Depending on whom the Jedi sent, they might even sympathize with a socialist ideology, and this universe lacked my context on just how terrible communists are.
"They can try, though I doubt it'll work. It sounds like these people are well and truly gone off the deep end. I'd rather use Mandalorian institutions to solve this problem rather than rely upon the Republic."
"To be fair, your Highness, that is not exactly your decision to make. I am somewhat obligated to report this to the Council. Since both sides of this conflict are in the Republic, this Workers' Council could request Jedi mediation and we would be obligated to provide it." Anakin said pointedly. He was technically correct. The Jedi Order avoided the Mandalorian sector as much as they could, since Jedi who got involved tended to get a vibroblade between the ribs more often than was worth it. Sometimes purely for bragging rights.
But in this case, the Jedi would receive some guarantees from Satine that we would not harm them. Approaching this situation with the Jedi and the permission from the Workers' Council could be seen as an attractive excuse to expand Jedi influence in the sector from a somewhat safe position. Even if the Jedi did not solve the problem, as long as it did not end in violence, it would move a step towards normalizing Jedi presence in the sector. Normally I would be amicable to the prospect, but not when communists were involved.
"Do you want to explain why you are on Tatooine with Padme to the Council?" I countered, earning a sour look from the Jedi.
"Of course, I don't have to report back to the Council immediately..." We shared a smile.
The Workers' Council might be within the Mandalorian administrative remit the Republic had saddled us with, but it wasn't exactly like I was representing them. I was half tempted to maybe do something as White Silver, but using that identity to attack ideological enemies of mine would not exactly look great for my other identity. White Silver needed to be an example of economic hope, not another warlord settling scores. Granted, if they really were communists then they were a danger to Mandalore's economic future. However, until they did something that was an open provocation, such as an invasion of a planet in the Mandalore sector, White Silver couldn't step in, although I would be keeping a close eye on this organization.
Finishing my tea, I set aside my saucer and leaned back in the chair before finally saying, "That's a concern for tomorrow, tonight I'll just have to try and figure out how we're going to get in contact with the rest of my team and get up on our way back towards Coruscant."
"You are leaving so soon?" Anakin asked, looking across the table to me.
"My mission is accomplished." I simply said, "My objective was to find the assassin, convince him to no longer engage in this particular mission, and get information on who was responsible so that we can all focus on the true enemy of this situation. Considering that my presence here is apparently compromised intelligence, I need to show up somewhere else as quickly as possible." I left out the part where I was also trying to make sure that Mandalore wouldn't get any of the damage from a Mandalorian trying to assassinate a senator, but that was not necessary information for them.
Padme nodded in understanding, "It does seem like you have the situation well in hand. If you wanted to stay around, I'm sure the Lars' wouldn't mind a little extra help around the moisture farm."
I smiled and said, "Although I do sometimes wonder about life as a farmer, I'm not intending to take that up anytime soon." Let alone moisture farming, I had enough sand and sun a lifetime ago in North Africa.
I started to get up when Anakin asked a question that I had not expected, though I probably should have. "You know we'll be going back to Naboo in a couple days. We wouldn't mind a little extra security if you guys want to come along."
Expanding the security team, not something I had considered doing, but technically that's what I've been doing this entire time. I wouldn't mind spending time in a lush vacation home and being attended to by servants. I gave it a thought for a moment and said, "I'll sleep on it, no guarantees if I will agree to this or not."
That said, I finished getting up and brushed my hair back. "Good night, you two." I said, giving a small bow before stepping out.
"Goodnight Tanya." The two called as I left. With Ordo soon following me, grabbing my bag full of armor, I walked up the steps of the entrance way. Outside, I stopped and decided to sit on the seats under the night sky as I cleaned and prepped my armor for another day's use.
Although we were secure, since no one knew where we were, and I hadn't put out a call for the others yet. It was good seeing Ordo follow me up here, carrying his own bag of armor, as he sat down next to me. Intending to do the same, but providing security; another example of just how good of a loyal subordinate he really was.
Tatooine, Lars Moisture Farm
Engiz Ordo
"Wow, this planet's not so bad after all." I said as I stared up at the stars. There's very little population on this planet, so there was very little light pollution to interfere with the damn good view of the night sky here. You could see quite a lot of them up there.
"I think I can agree on that." Tanya said, lying down next to me as we looked up. Over the last half-hour we had cleaned up the armor, removed all scuffs marks, and made sure all systems were functioning as intended. With that job done, technically we should just go back to our tents and start getting ready for a good night's sleep, but even though Tatooine is known for its dust storms and other horrid things, right now it isn't so bad. In fact, it was rather relaxing with the cold desert breeze; we just ended up lying against the warm bricks of the outer wall while looking up at the stars. Thank goodness for modern thermal insulation.
It was a very calming and relaxing environment. The brick and sand were still warm from the day's twin suns, but the air now is starting to be a bit brisk. This is the kind of environment where a person could get used to a quiet life.
It was also probably one of the few and only chances I'd ever had to actually be alone with Tanya in the few years we've been together, since the time we touched helmets. She's always so busy with putting out one fire or trying to light one under someone else's ass that I never actually had any opportunity to discuss that whole thing fully. It was about time to finally do something about that open question.
Taking a deep breath to try and calm every nerve in my body, I asked, "Hey, Tanya, remember a few years ago when we had to dive into an alley?"
From the corner of my eye, I saw her stiffen a bit before she said, "Yes, I remember."
"Good, good. Because there's something you said that's been bothering me for a while, and I just wanted to get a better understanding of what it exactly means. After we had our helmets touched, you said that I was perfectly close. What did you mean by that?"
Tanya and I laid there, looking up at the stars not saying anything for a bit before she finally said, "I meant that you were close enough that I felt quite secure in our safety, that we would be able to get through that situation without having to worry about it."
I blinked a couple of times trying to translate Tanya-speak for a moment before saying, "Do you mean you felt safe near me?"
There was another pause, a rather long one and got me a bit antsy before she finally said, "Yes, if you want to look at it that way. Yes, I feel safe with you here." The next part she said is a little fast as she explained, "I know how reliable you are and that you would have been able to fight by my side if the situation had demanded it."
"Huh. Okay." I said, nodding my head. I turned it to look back up at the sky for a moment before asking, "Do you often feel safe near me?"
There was a weighted pause before she said, "Yes, wherever we go, I know that if you're there I have an ally I can trust."
I stayed silent and continued to look up at the sky as I tried to translate exactly what that meant. It almost sounded like, no, I've been around Tanya for years, she wasn't one to start relationships… Then again, I never saw her in a relationship. I don't recall Vai ever mentioned seeing her in one, and she would have gossiped.
That would be a strange twist of fate, someone who could easily take over an entire planet didn't know how to do people relationship stuff, but maybe that was the trade-off for having that ability. She could conquer a planet but didn't know how to date, not like I am any good at dates either, that is more my siblings' specialty.
It did clear some things up. I had taken her around and showed her Ordo quite a bit. There have been a few opportunities where we've been technically alone, though it never felt right to ask the question that I had just asked. There was always someone within hearing distance or enough context clues that could have led them to finding out what we've been up to before, preventing this exact situation from happening until now. She never really called me out on the fact that I invite her on basically two person dates, without any official stance on the matter. Maybe she didn't see them as dates because of the way her mind worked?
I decided to take a leap of faith. While still looking up at the sky, I lowered my left hand and let it fall on hers, giving it a little bit of a squeeze and seeing how she'd respond. She said nothing, but she squeezed back… Okay my thoughts are saying that maybe there's something here, maybe there's something I can pursue that I had not thought about before. It's not with any definition of how I was going to make the relationship work. It would seem I work very hard to pull it off.
Tatooine, Mos Eisley SpacePort
Count Dooku
This has been an irritating turn of events. I expected to be spending my day preparing for the official signing of the Confederacy of Independent Systems in the next twenty-four hours. I should be resting and enjoying the calm before the inevitable war begins. Because as soon as the paperwork is sent, I need to inform Jango Fett to let the Kaminoans know that the Republic needed those clones and that they needed to contact the Republic to inform them that they are ready for duty.
It might take a while, but I theorize that within a month the war will officially begin, if not sooner it will probably be a little bit later. I imagine some Jedi would be skeptical about using the clones, but they would get used to it in time. Part of the plan ensured the Jedi and Republic would have no other choice.
However, instead of celebrating the conclusion of my time and work at Geonosis, I am here on Tatooine trying to smooth over a diplomatic incident.
One of the factions I had brought in over the years had apparently attempted to arrest someone of interest on this planet. Said arrest had gone as smoothly as could be expected of someone trying to capture a Mandalorian, which meant that it went badly, especially when said victim is my potential future apprentice, Ms. Kryze. So I was not pleased to hear about this, and already had suspicions on who exactly called the hit in. Senator Merrik from Mandalore is proving to be not as secure an ally with every passing year. Not only was he acting too independently, trying to eliminate people he sees as rivals, but he is wasting my assets and my time to do it.
I was not willing to remove him just yet, but there would be a reckoning. Merrik had been chosen for the same reason as most, access, but more importantly, leverage in his personal life. Privileges and extra resources could be revoked as punishment, but doing so would confirm our involvement. Probably safer to leak something to send a message, something public and embarrassing that would not impact his duties. After all, I couldn't prove he was behind it. The Mandalorian woman who was leading the droids had not given me that information, however there was enough circumstantial evidence to satisfy me and back up my suspicions.
Jabba the Hutt contacted me to handle this situation. The Hutts always had an angle and always sought to exploit matters. It would seem Jabba had put two and two together about what was coming and figured that if droids were involved, I was somehow responsible for the mess. Granted I wasn't, but I had enough agency to deal with this situation as it was, the young Mandalorian woman was being packed up with what remains of the droids that she had brought into her ship and sent back to her so-called Workers' Paradise.
The mess on Tatooine turned out to be the easy part. The Hutt representative that contacted me had no problem coordinating the cleanup of the battle droids on Tatooine. The prisoners had been kept in accommodations in town, rather than whatever pit the Hutts called a prison. The straightforwardness made me suspect that whatever schemes the Hutts were involved in did not want attention from the Republic. Why else would they be so eager to contact me and hand everyone over?
The problem lies with the two Mandalorian Royal Guards that I now had in my custody.
Before, when I was a Jedi Knight, I probably would have let them go. They were unimportant to my plans, thus I had no interest in them. The Mandalorians also have their own transportation, so they could depart on their own ship and normally, that was quite alright with me.
Unfortunately, while I had no need for them personally, their presence did provide an opportunity to speak with Ms. Kryze in person. Regretfully, I have never had the opportunity to openly meet with or discuss matters with the outspoken Mandalorian Representative. My previous introduction, some years back when discussing matters with Senator Merrik, hardly counted. In that event, Merrik was obviously intent on suppressing her advancement to preserve his own position, but my interest in her public record and other matters have only escalated over the years.
Actually having a chance to speak to Ms. Kryze may prove enlightening. I did wonder just how well of an apprentice she would actually make. From her reputation, she was outspoken politically, but also shared political views out of step with the Mandalorian sector's view of pacifism. A sign that she could be persuaded to see reason, perhaps, and it would be all the better if we could see eye to eye on things beyond matters of the Force. A true Dark Order would require driven and moral individuals for positions of leadership, after all. Spending time with her would also present me with an opportunity to gauge her true presence in the Force. I did have other options to consider too.
So I decided to have the Mandalorians and their ships sent to Geonosis. The captured Mandalorians are being treated as honored guests, with only limited restrictions on travel. I couldn't allow them to stay on Tatooine to meet up with Ms. Kryze. Too much of a chance that they would group up, grab their ship, and ignore my well-intentioned offer in preference to returning back to the Core. I needed a chance to talk to Ms. Kryze before the galaxy ignited into war, and I would not allow this chance to slip through my grasp.
That is why I am still on Tatooine sitting inside my small ship, waiting for the girl to try and contact one of her two missing guards. The guards had already turned over their communication frequency, after a bit of convincing, ostensibly so I could warn Ms. Kryze of the situation with the Hutts. With the comm frequency I would be able to intercept any messages and be able to talk to her. From there, I could either arrange for her to be transported to Geonosis or coordinate to use a backup meeting site, so we can have our conversation. Either is a possibility, but I am quite interested in seeing which one she would take, as it would tell me my chances of actually getting to meet her.
So there I was, meditating for a rather long time to pass the time with something useful. I didn't know when she would contact her security, but I was willing to wait another twelve hours at least. Past that, I would be forced to abandon Tatooine, I needed to get back to Geonosis and get ready for the signing there. Dealing with the captured Mandalorian Royal Guards would become awkward if I was forced to depart before arranging matters here.
In the midst of my musing, an alert came in, causing me to smile as finally my chance to talk to the girl would be met. Pressing a button to bring up the comm request, though, I found I was mistaken about who I was receiving the message from.
Surprised, I looked at the holographic image of young Obi-Wan Kenobi, a man I had not spoken to for nearly a decade and even before that, we had only spoken once or twice. He once was the student of my Padawan, Qui-Gon Jinn, whose death had put me on my current life path. The events surrounding his death confirmed my fears about the weakness and corruption of the Jedi Order. The assumption that the master of the Sith had been killed seemed foolish to me, considering what little we knew of Qui-Gon's murderer. The fact that they were unwilling to investigate further and pretend that none of this could be something more made it clear that the Jedi were corrupt and of no help to the public. If anything, they have become a hindrance, too much a part of the political machine of the Republic even as they tried to claim they were independent. If they were truly independent, they would be doing something about the Outer Rim's myriad of problems, but instead they accommodated the corrupt interests in the Republic and spoke platitudes rather than solve the problems for the galaxy.
For instance, if a Jedi were to ever bring justice to a slave Lord in Hutt space and free the slaves, you would think that would be perceived as a good thing and celebrated as a victory by the Republic. You would think wrong, of course. The reality of the situation was that even though it is illegal to engage in slavery, as well as the use of a myriad of drugs, the Hutt's paid taxes on slavery in Hutt Space and greased the palms of the local political establishment.
This created a two-fold problem, not only has the Republic become reliant on the income from the Hutts in the form of taxes, but the politicians who are now corrupt after dealing with them would also protect the Hutts and prosecute the Jedi if they ever did anything about it.
And this problem is not just limited to the Hutts, though they were amongst the worst. Many of the corporations I had aligned with the CIS were pulling the same scheme. In fact, if I could, I would draw the Hutts into our confederacy as well. The Hutts had extensive resources that needed to be destroyed or depleted eventually, and their forces would create a more solid frontline for the CIS. When this war is finally won, they would be unable to do as they had been doing before, spreading their corruption to the Republic for the last thousand years. The Hutt Empire or the remnants of one would finally be destroyed in the inevitable second conflict; one that would come out of the death of the Republic and the creation of the Galactic Empire.
But those are plans for the future, and I needed to keep focus on the present. Finally answering the comm request, I said, "Obi-Wan Kenobi, it's been a long time since the Jedi has taken the time to contact me. I'm honored to speak to a Padawan of my Padawan. What is this about, if I may ask?"
"Count Dooku, it's nice to finally get in contact with you, as I've been trying for a couple of days now." He said with a strained smile before continuing, "I've been tracking down an assassin who was involved in an attempt on Senator Amidala's life."
"Really now?" I listened in growing frustration as Obi-Wan proceeded to reveal the Jedi had discovered Jango Fett was responsible for the assassination. The former president of the Trade Federation had really stepped in his honey. I regret recommending Jango Fett to him, but he demanded the best as part of his bargain to join the CIS in exchange for dealing with his senator issue.
Frankly, I didn't care either way about Amidala's life. Yes, she had served her purpose in extending the time available to build up the CIS. However, she is firmly anti-military and anti-war. She would likely be an issue going into the war when it started, and she would certainly oppose the Empire's creation. A minor senator though is not a threat to the plan and I have no concern with eliminating her. It is well worth the price for a secure alliance, thus I had given him the contact for Jango Fett, a bounty hunter who had never failed me on a mission before.
The fact that he had failed this mission either spoke badly of Jango, possibly his age is finally catching up to him, or conversely, spoke well of the man in front of me, who has no doubt been charged with the Senator's protection. I've seen Jango beat four Jedi Knights to death with nothing but his bare hands myself. Thus, if anyone could survive a duel with him, that person is someone I should keep an eye on.
Frowning, I said, "Yes, I did know a Jango Fett from a long time ago. A good man in my opinion that was given a bad hand in life. No, I have not spoken to him for nearly a decade."
"Unfortunate. It looks like another lead goes cold." Obi-Wan said, rubbing his chin. It looks like he's lost in his own thoughts, staring off at a point in the distance, so I interrupted those thoughts with statements of my own.
"I may know of a way to contact him, but I'm a very busy man. I'm having to deal with many situations out here on the Outer Rim."
"Yes, I've heard about your step into politics, not exactly a way to be a Jedi, I would think."
I chuckled at that before saying, "I think I'm behaving exactly as a Jedi should, or at least the older Jedi, the ones before they became servants to the Republic."
"Isn't that what the Jedi have always been?" Obi-Wan asked, brows raised in confusion.
I shook my head and said, "The Jedi have always served the
people and the Republic was a good way to do that for many years, but now the Republic doesn't serve the people. Only the corrupt few at the top of the Republic."
Obi-Wan didn't seem to be refuting that comment, so I am interested in seeing how far this can be pushed. I've always planned to try and bring over as many Jedi as I could to my side of the conflict, and bringing in the Padawan of one of my former Padawan would be a nice thing to do, to honor our friendship at least. Smiling for the first time, I continued, "As I said, at the moment I'm a busy man, although I would like to discuss this and other matters with a fellow Jedi, I must insist on discussing matters in person. If you wish to have a face-to-face conversation on this matter and perhaps see if I can get in contact with this bounty hunter that you're looking for, I will be on Geonosis for the next few days and would not mind holding a meeting with you there."
Obi-Wan seems to think about it for a bit, consulting his droid before saying, "I could make a stop there for a bit, if you have the time for a small conversation on this matter, that is."
"For the Padawan of my Padawan I can make the time." I said with a smile before adding, "Feel free to stop by within a couple of days. Things are, as you might expect, quite busy out here on the Outer Rim, and I can only really guarantee being there for that long."
"I see. We'll next meet on Geonosis then." Obi-Wan said with a nod of agreement, before ending the transmission and leaving me alone in my transport ship to my thoughts.
This was an unexpected development, but it could be a useful opportunity in the long term. Bringing in Obi-Wan is a potential boon that could very well see this war to be more successful than expected. So would the supposed Chosen One, Anakin Skywalker, and the interest my master had in him as a potential recruit is quite obvious.
If he really is the Chosen One, and he is meant to bring balance to the Force, then he would serve well within the New Order we are creating. I suspected he would rise through the ranks to become something more than Jedi and something more than Sith, combining the best of both traditions. It is my personal hope that he would work with us to guide the New Order and to see an end to our millennia long conflict. At least, this is my thoughts on the matter. I'm sure my master has a different opinion altogether. He did always seem to favor the Dark Side too much.
Perhaps in his hubris, he thinks he could turn Anakin fully to the Dark Side. An interesting notion but unlikely to be completely successful, if the prophecy is true he would bring balance and balance meant that they must attain that balance.
Of course, it was always possible that the prophecy was merely ancient Jedi mysticism that had no real bearing on what is happening today. There is a reason that the Jedi Order forbade looking into the future, and it wasn't just because the prophecies tended to be outlandish and hard to understand, it's also because prophecies sometimes would lead a Jedi to the Dark Side. Or merely possessing knowledge of a prophecy would cause people to attempt to fulfill it.
Granted, I myself had never seen it, but my friend Sifo-Dyas had been both blessed and cursed with the ability of prophetic visions, and he had not fallen to the Dark Side. While he did have the idea for the Clone Army that was currently being created, he wanted them in order to try and prevent what was about to happen, the inevitable civil war that would break the Republic and form the Empire. Of course, he probably didn't realize how it would be used when he had his visions.
If the Jedi Order had listened to Sifo-Dyas and commissioned this army openly, they probably would actually have a better chance of surviving what was to come. Instead, he was forced to act on his plans in secret, while the Jedi Order remained in the dark about important events, which just showed the internal rot of the Order. They locked those with prophetic abilities in fear that they would become Darksiders in a special prison on Lola Sayu. In fear of what could be learned by searching the future, they rejected looking into the future to try and deal with issues before they came and instead focused on the now as if by doing so they had doomed themselves.
Shaking my head, I really could not fathom how the Order had fallen so far. We had once been the protectors of the galaxy, now we were nothing but the lapdogs of the government, and because we are lap dogs we had missed our greatest enemy taking control of it.
The Sith would ultimately win this game if the Jedi keeps pretending that there is no opponent operating against them. At the current rate of galactic politics, they would continue pretending right up until the start of the civil war. Possibly some would, even after.
Once the conflict begins, I expect some to begin looking for signs of the Sith again. I had taken steps to ensure they would likely look at the wrong place. My own misdirection went so far as to even recolor my lightsaber; it was now blood-red in color and my assassin wielded red lightsabers as well. Both my political actions and personal actions should work to fool the Jedi into thinking that I am the new Sith master and that this is my new attempt at a Sith Empire. No matter what the official government stance would be on the Confederacy, Democracy or not, they would think of us as the new Sith Empire.
The Jedi Order would fight us with everything they had, assuming that victory against us would restore the status quo and banish the Dark Side to the outer edges of the Galaxy once again. Not realizing that their efforts would only strengthen the Dark Side in the Core and when the time was right, those who had not switched to my side would find that the Core is no longer a friendly place for the Jedi.
Sighing, I was about to get up and stretch my legs for a bit, getting older meant I needed to do some light stretches now and then after meditating to keep my limbs functioning properly. Even though my decade long foray into the Dark Side had shown remarkable improvements in my physical abilities, I still needed to do a little stretch now and again to keep my body in peak condition.
I was in the middle of finishing my stretches when a new message appeared on my holo projector. Wondering if it was perhaps Obi-Wan again, I opened the message request, expecting to see Kenobi again. Unfortunately or fortunately, I was mistaken, as it was a message from the young Representative from Mandalore that I have been waiting for in the first place.
Although she is far from what I expected. When I heard she was on Tatooine, I thought she would have come with a heavy security force and let them handle her protection. Yet, she has remained apart from her retinue and seems far more comfortable with her own protection rather than relying on the protection that her station provides. Instead of the excessive garb or dress popular amongst the Republic's elites, she is armored, sporting a pair of blasters at her sides. Although the color did not transmit very well through the hologram, her armor was definitely a lighter coloration. Smiling once again, I said, "Good evening, Ms. Kryze."
"Count Dooku." The young Representative replied frowning, sounding somewhat confused in tone, but she immediately covered for the lapse and smoothed her features. "You were not who I was expecting to receive this call; a few of my men were supposed to pick up this number."
I nodded in understanding, "Yes, a few of your Royal Guard were responsible for facilitating this comm. Unfortunately, they were arrested by Jabba the Hutt's men and their vehicle was impounded. I paid for them to be transferred to Geonosis, the nearby system that I'm working with, and secured their safety. From what I gathered from the Hutt's, they were rather annoyed at the previous group of Mandalorians who traded here and rather suspicious of your guard being spies. Thus they are no longer allowed on Tatooine, so I offered them a safe haven on Geonosis, at least until we could reach you and regroup."
Mostly a lie of course, but one that I think she would accept, although how far she trusted me would indicate which strategies to attempt in convincing her to our side. I watched her hologram carefully, to see exactly how she accepted it.
She tilted her head and paused for a moment, giving me a look that said she did not believe it entirely, but she finally smiled and said, "Thank you for the aid, Count Dooku. Although I'm afraid that they were my only ride off of Tatooine."
"Not a problem, my dear." I said, "I can arrange a shuttle for you, so you can recover your guardsmen and your vehicle on Geonosis."
"Hmm, why thank you, that's very generous of you Count Dooku. Although I do have to ask why, that seems rather forward of you, we barely knew each other."
An understandable yet interesting reaction. She is not lying as there is a look or tell for when people encounter strangers and are introduced, and the look she was giving is not of first meetings. My very weak read of emotions I was able to detect from the Force was one of wariness rather than surprise or interest. She clearly remembered our brief meeting in Senator Merrik's office, and now she wanted to see what I would do about that. I would have to navigate this conversation carefully.
"We have met briefly before in your senator's office, and you piqued my interest. I'm interested in politics, as you no doubt have heard, and there seem to be few honorable politicians left in the Republic. I'm sure I would find your opinions fascinating and I know a few things that might interest you as well." Might as well flatter her with the truth and confirm her beliefs, I figured. It would show that I could be truthful as well. If she believed that, she might assume I am truthful about other matters. There is also the possibility that she would distrust everything I said and ignore my offer. Early signs of distrust and hostility amongst Mandalorians would be important information as well. But I doubted that would occur, I was holding her guards at my leisure, so she has an incentive to be interested in taking up my offer.
The girl seemed deep in thought and avoided answering immediately. I did not add on to my offer, letting the silence hang, as it would probably seem manipulative. Eventually, she said, "I guess I have no choice but to take you up on your offer. There's a small town called Mos Espa not too far from where I'm currently staying. You can have someone pick me up and three others there. We can have our conversation on Geonosis then, whatever conversation you seem to be aiming for."
"Aiming for? Merely a better future for the people of the galaxy." I said with a smile.
The girl scoffed, "Then I will await your transportation and a proper introduction to you on Geonosis, Count Dooku. My ship and men better be in good condition, that's all I'm going to say on that matter."
I smiled as I said, "They are well taken care of and treated as honored guests. I will ensure you have similarly suitable accommodations prepared for your arrival on Geonosis, as well. A shuttle will be directed to pick you up soon. Have a good evening, Ms. Kryze."
"You too, Count Dooku." She said with tight lips, she stared through the hologram and seemed to be trying to perceive something before the image faded.
Leaning back in my chair, I smiled as this was a fruitful first meeting. I had primarily been focusing on the girl for her Force potential, the ability to possibly see through my Master's illusions could be useful in, well, removing him from his place of power. However, she seemed to have an inner confidence I rarely encountered amongst people today. Most of those I could recall with the same confidence were Mandalorian warriors, in fact. She appears to already have training on how to fight, which would be extremely useful down the line. If I could turn her to my side politically, before training her to the ways of the Force, she could result in a worthy apprentice. She is a member of the Mandalorian nobility, and having someone from that station on my side would make for a good figurehead for the movement of Mandalorians I was gathering.
I would have preferred to have Jango as the leader of that movement, but he seems to be more at ease away from Mandalorian politics. I can sympathize with that, if I didn't have to attend the various meetings between the parasites that make up the Separatist Council, I would stay away from politics as well. Unfortunately, attendance is mandatory; I could not trust those incompetent idiots to their own devices and not ruin the plan. Although I'm sure if I offered Jango enough money, he would take up a general's position within the CIS and I may just do that. We would need more competent commanders, and we still didn't have enough of those around to start.
Gargon, Mandal Hypernautics Tower
Vai-Viktis Vizla
'Well, everything doesn't hurt as much nowadays.' I thought as I laid against Tabi on the bed. We were in one of the private apartments in the Mandal Hypernautics Tower that overlooked the city of Gargon and life had been rather easy the last few days. Easy enough that the Bacta treatment had done its work and I was feeling fully recovered again.
This meant I was free of Skota's opinions on medical and non-medical matters, as well as being able to relax with Tabi in private. Said relaxation is pretty good, the room overlooking the city is a great view is a very nice way to enjoy some freedom, and I'll enjoy it for as long as I can.
Yes, I did have to make a few appearances and pose as White Silver, but the voice modulator that Tanya had in her helmet had been copied and added to my White Silver outfit. So besides maybe a small height difference, you have to be looking very closely to notice, we could pass for each other easily enough.
There wasn't much for me to do, in all honesty. I have the initial plan, which is more of a warning than a plan. I've been sent here to act as White Silver to assemble a company-sized unit of mercenaries to provide the firepower needed to bail Tanya out in an emergency. We also rented out several cargo ships from Mandal Logistics to serve as our transport in case they were needed. Mandal Logistics managed to find a way to connect about a dozen M12-L snub-fighters to the bottom of these cargo ships, allowing them to be used as, I guess, light carriers. At best, it would only be a screen of fifty fighters, but fifty fighter crafts are better than none in an emergency.
Now, granted, I didn't have fifty competent pilots, so far I could only confirm about thirty competent pilots, but I was allowing those thirty to train the rest of the volunteers who were willing to go through the steps of learning how to fly. So we should have enough by the time we're called on, hopefully. We've had a week to train them up, so it wasn't exactly like a miracle is going to be pulled off. Thankfully, the pilot candidates did have some flight experience on bigger ships, so it wasn't like they were starting from nowhere, just getting them to learn how to fly something smaller than a cargo hauler. Honestly, the MSDF is sucking the entire sector dry of merc talent, especially when the various MSDF has been recruiting for several months. Those that joined had to sign a contract to serve for three years, and the ones that are left are those that either didn't make the cut for a SDF or wanted a more exciting job. If things kept up, the Mandalore sector would be uncomfortably quiet and civilized.
Besides that, our new recruits needed standardized gear and enough supplies like food, ammo, and other essentials. So I looked into getting the men who signed up for this little mercenary company, as it was being advertised as such, as uniform of a gear as possible. I didn't have a lot of time, so I had focused mainly on getting as many holes filled as possible. Tanya gave me a list of the miscellaneous equipment the mercenary company would need that I haven't thought of like sleeping bags, training manuals, and socks. She also told me to just give that list to X4 and he'll handle procuring it.
Some of them didn't have pauldrons, some didn't have vambraces, while others didn't even have armor. So I just simply bought a shipment of armor that would have been sent off to be sold to Ryloth to give everyone a complete set. At least all of them have helmets, so no changes were needed there. The armor diverted from Ryloth was noted as being unfinished, still silver and unpainted. We finished it with some identifying white stripes on their armor to signify who they belong to, in case we ran into other Mandalorians.
As for weapons, I bought everyone the new SHUKUR S2 Blasters Rifles from the Vesti Engineering factory in Gargon. Then I organized the troops into squads and had them practice shooting their new blasters in a field outside the city. I tried the new blasters myself and they feel pretty nice. It's fairly balanced, can hold up to 300 shots, 100 shots in Triple Power mode that can knock someone down even with Beskar armor (the guy would probably live if given medical help immediately), and reloading it is fairly simple since the pack is right in front of the trigger. Tabi thought about asking Vesti to just weld two S2s together for double the firepower. He said he can carry the extra weight but I told him to wait for Struc's opinion, so he doesn't get in trouble.
All in all, our mercenary company was a bit ad hoc and quickly put together. I thought that if they were needed, they could probably hold a landing zone long enough to get someone out of a situation. Anything more could be a problem.
That being said, I think it was going to work out. Most of the people I hired had trained with Bo's Rangers over the last few months. They mustered out after deciding that it wasn't for them, as they wanted a more exciting job. The idea that there would be mercenary companies forming on Gargon is already kind of a thing being discussed by the upper echelons of the government, so there are plenty of Mandos that waited until those companies were established before committing to one of them. Several of the gangster clans had already put together their own smaller units to build a core of the mercenary party in case of an emergency.
It helped that there were a few good mercenaries in each of the groups we recruited from that were willing to sign up for mine in a short-term contract. I only gave them three-month contracts, considering I didn't think this would be longer than that, it should work out fine enough. Once their contract expires, I'll let Tanya decide if she wants to sign them up for a longer term contract.
Besides that, Bo wasn't in town as she's off dealing with some sort of major meeting that had nothing to do with Mandel Hypernautics, so the CEO had no idea what she's doing. And she wouldn't be back probably until after this whole fiasco's over, so I'm on my own in deciding on how to run things. And since I have no idea what to do, I turned to Tanya's Silver Codex for ideas. Thankfully, there were a couple copies in every apartment in the building, so I was able to read up again on how to organize the unit as she proposed.
It's also worth mentioning that most of the people who had signed up were former military or had combat experience in one form or another. After I had some basic idea of how the system should be, they filled in the holes themselves, and they operated pretty well on their own. They were training pretty religiously over the last few days with the new armor and blasters I had X4 bought for them.
All in all, I think the plan to have a mercenary company ready to bail Tanya's ass out of the fire if something went wrong is well and truly on the way to working out. So yesterday I had taken the day off to enjoy the sights and sounds of Gargon, like seeing the new hotel which I had not gotten a chance to see. The last time we were here, the construction was still ongoing but nearly done. Now, most of the casino rooms were already furnished and the main amphitheater was completed. I wanted to visit and watch a show of the Gargon Girls, but the hotel site was far outside town, so I couldn't even watch one of their shows with how busy I am. However, I was able to briefly tour the empty amphitheater and casino sections, and I had to admit that it had improved quite a bit since the last time I've been here.
Every show they performed seemed to be getting better and better, which the audience seemed to enjoy more and more. Although they were not the only idols in town anymore, as the leader of the mafia Clan Tracyn has a daughter, Vhet'shere, who enjoyed the shows so much she wanted to compete with them for the hell of it, apparently. She goes by the stage name "V's Here", which is ironic since I have 3 Vs in my name.
I had made time to see one of her shows, since her venue was near the Mandal Hypernautics Tower and I was rather impressed. Vhet'shere and her other idols had managed to make her show slightly more exciting, if anything, but their dancing was still pretty good. Vhet'shere made religious use of mini rocket fireworks and pyrotechnics that she had hidden all over her armor and stage as she performed her own show, probably something the girls could add to their own routine. The rockets were used sparingly, used to emphasize beat drops and the climax of their songs. I would have to tell X4 to do research on the competition, at least, so he could get the dressmakers in on adding mini rockets to the girls' armor. Hopefully the competition would push the girls to put a little bit more show in their step now that this new girl is entering the scene.
But that was for the morning, I would have to leave X4 a message. Right now, I was supposed to be asleep or trying to get back to sleep after being woken up for some damn reason. Maybe because Tabi had moved, maybe because I still had a little bit of pain from getting my pelvis cracked. Either way I was up, tired, and wanting to go back to sleep as the communicator next to me chirped, indicating an active message request.
Rumbling and moaning, I rolled out of the bed into a sitting position and moved my hand to try and get the button that would activate the comm. Took a swing or two, but I finally hit it and as I did Tanya appeared on the floor below me the hologram missing the table as I had apparently knocked it so that it was being projected down there grumbling again I moved it into position, so she was at least at eye level with me, so we could talk.
"Hey Tanya." I said half-awake, half-asleep.
"Hello Vai." Tanya said with a smile before saying, "Remember why I sent you to where you're currently at?"
"Yeah." I managed to say through yawn, trying to brush some sleep out of my eye.
"Well, it seems I'm going to have to ask you to move forward with that plan. Something may have gone absolutely wrong, and I may need your help to extract myself from a rather tenuous situation."
I blinked and slapped my face to wake myself up and said, "What do you need?"
Tanya smiled as she said, "I have a bad feeling about this, I may have stepped into a situation I was not exactly prepared for. Most likely the planet we'll need this help on is called Geonosis, out in the Arkanis sector. Things are becoming unpredictable here, and I would like an alternate route out of this situation if the need arises."
I nodded understanding, I had never heard of Geonosis but I recognized that part of space, it was in the south part of the Outer Rim. Her status as a Representative might work against her there, and it seemed like Tanya is trying to just reinforce how much of a problem she was in. Even though she wasn't really explaining the problem right now, she's contacting me across what should be a heavily encrypted line, but better to be safe than sorry, so I didn't mention details of the plan. After all, we didn't need someone breaking in the encryption and finding Tanya asking White Silver for help, better for her to have asked me, and maybe I then went on to ask White Silver. That degree of separation is good for the long-term safety of this secret identity of who White Silver really was. At least that's how Tanya had explained plausible deniability to me, and I believed her when she said that's how it worked.
Nodding my head, I said, "I can have resources moving towards you in the morning, or I could have them moving in a couple of hours, which would you prefer?" If it was a real emergency she'd ask for it now, if it was only a bit of a worry that something terrible could happen she'd let my men have the chance to get some sleep. It all mattered on what she would say, so I asked and waited for the response.
She nodded before saying, "Let your men get some sleep. This isn't an emergency yet, but I do need you to be ready to pull me out of the fire, understand?"
I nodded my head and said, "I understand. I'll get them up and ready in the morning. Good luck Tanya, see you soon."
"Same." She offered with a smile before the communication ended. And as it did, I felt Tabi's arm wrap around my waist as he came across the bed to sit next to me.
"Things going wildly off track by the sound of it." He said bemused. I nodded as I put my head against his.
"Yeah, but that's Tanya for you. Sure it's not as bad as she's making it sound, but then again last time she went on the warpath," I pointed my hands around the room and continued, "she got herself control of a corporation on a mafia planet."
Tabi chuckled and said, "I wonder if she'll get herself a whole system out of the deal this time."
I laughed at that and kissed his cheek. "Knowing Tanya, that's not impossible."
Mandalore, Sundari Airspace
Jango Fett
Of all the desert worlds I think I have ever come across, Mandalore always had a certain place in my heart amongst them.
Mainly because I actually never really been to Mandalore itself, only heard stories about it from the True Mandalorians that were from there. I was born on Concord Dawn, and I've been pretty much all over the Mandalore sector during the Mandalorian Civil War. However, because Mandalore had never properly taken part in the Civil War, the True Mandalorians had never actually taken any action on the planet.
I needed to raise the Mandalore Space Authority on the communicator to get landing clearance. Time to find out if I had gotten burned.
"Mandalore Space Authority, requesting approach and landing for Slave One". I flipped a switch to enable broadcasting the true transponder code for the ship. There wasn't an immediate response, but scanners didn't detect anything amiss.
Mandalore fascinated me more after I became the Mand'alor of the True Mandalorians. I had never rightfully visited our homeworld, yet was expected to represent it as our leader. The contradiction bothered me back then; I had gotten over it later, only after much of my experiences in the war. After all, that time period in my life had been complex, painful, and a hell of a fight.
Finally, minutes later, the comm panel lit back up with a response. The panel crackled to life with audio, "MSA Approach, Slave One transponder confirmed. Confirm receipt of flight path and landing zone for clearance." The external display swapped to showing a flight path into the heart of Sundari spaceport. I confirmed the flight plan on the pilot's console. The landing auto-pilot indicator turned green, so I let the ship's computer do the rest.
During the Civil War, Mandalore was fortified or occupied by the Traditionalists; the exact distinction depended on who you asked. Since it was the centerpiece of their faction, visiting the planet meant dealing with the Death Watch. The Traditionalists backed and supported the Death Watch, even providing manpower and recruits. And Death Watch spies seemed to reach into every corner of Mandalore, so visiting the planet was just giving them a reason to kill you.
Obeying the space authority that was guiding my ship, I flew into a port on one of the southern sides of the Mandalorian city of Sundari. As far as I'm aware, and I did do checks beforehand, I was not wanted in the Mandalore sector or in Mandalore. My bounty hunting had never really interfered with the planet's political agendas, and I've never really taken any jobs in Mandalorian space after I'd left.
There may be some anti-True Mandalorians out there who still dislike me, but my biggest concern is that they might have tried to put me on some sort of watch list. If that was true, it seems that they probably took me off that list then. Then again, not many people knew I was the exact same Jango who led the True Mandalorians in the end of Civil War. A lot of reports were confused or incorrect; with many claiming that I had died. From what I had been able to establish, the reports fell into three categories: completely wrong, dead wrong, and partially wrong. Many reports were pure nonsense. Those that weren't indicated I was deceased, which was annoying at first but later convenient as a bounty hunter. Impressed a few folks, being dead and all and still doing jobs. Finally, a few did correctly indicate my enslavement, but none went further than that. And enslavement usually meant that they were not coming back.
A mistake that Tor Vizsla probably still regretted in whatever hell he ended up in.
I was bored watching the auto-pilot's approach the spaceport, so I started looking at the landing platforms. I didn't recognize any of the ships on the visible ports, but saw a smaller open space closer to the exterior of the city that I liked the looks of better. Might be able to escape from that platform, but the flight path for the correct platform was deeper in, likely with much better security. Waiting for the right moment, I disabled the auto-pilot as we flew close and took control of the ship and slowly brought the ship into the closer port. Once it came to a stop, I started doing shutdown procedures while the platform moved, allowing me to get up for my seat and crack my neck.
"Boba, stay with the ship for now. Going to make sure this whole situation is as the little Representative claimed before I determine it's safe enough for us, got it?"
"Yes, father." He said with a nod, showing proper respect. I was proud of him.
Smiling, I patted his shoulder as I walked by. Still wearing my armor, I carefully walked across the platform to where three Mandalorian Guards were standing there. A lesser version of Mandalorian armor, looking like a child's toy compared to my own.
Someone that looked like a bureaucrat stepped forward while holding a tablet and said in a bored tone, "Name and ship name please. We'll need a credit chip to pay for your day and any fuel you'll need to leave."
Smiling under my helmet, I said, "Jango Fett, this is Slave One. As for funds," I reached into a pocket and pulled out a few chips before putting them in his hand. "That should cover it and any other expenses.
The man counted the chips before pocketing them, and then scowled at the tablet again in surprise. He quickly scrolled through it again before saying, "You're actually expected. You're actually supposed to land over there." He said, indicating the better looking platform, much closer to Sundari. It looks more like it belonged to the higher class citizens of the city.
"Hmm, is it a problem that I landed here?"
The bureaucrat shrugged before saying, "No, not really. Just noting that that's where the people who are supposed to come meet you are going to be when they arrive. I'll send over a message for them to come over here instead."
I nodded and said, "I guess I'll just find somewhere to wait."
"You can wait in the public transportation booth over there." The bureaucrat said, pointing to a small bench with shade provided by a half roof as well as three walls to protect the person from most of the wind. Nodding, I moved over to the bench as the bureaucrat moved on to other ships.
As I stood next to the bench, I noticed a vending machine right to it. Inside are a bunch of snacks on one side and cans of refrigerated drinks on the other. Since I had nothing else to do, I browsed what's inside. I recognized a few brands when I was with the True Mandalorians, the Shatual jerky and Mealgrain bars were a staple ration during patrols and when food is tight. The jerky is usually dry and tough to chew, but the grain bars are savory and sweet. Jaster said that Mealgrain can be tasty if boiled in a savory broth and seasoned well.
For the drinks, there are some cans of insta-caf, Cassius tea, and some fruit soda. I know the insta-caf would usually taste like dirt mixed in water and I'm not in the mood for a sweet drink, but Cassius tea was usually a luxury during the Civil War. I'm surprised that it now costs five credits when it's usually around two hundred credits a pot. The fact that it's in a can and could last for a while might be the reason for the lowered price. It's probably watered-down too.
Feeling curious, I bought a can of tea and two Mealgrain bars for nostalgia's sake, one for me and one for Boba, before taking a seat at the bench. This was probably the first time I'd ever been to Mandalore, it looked just as awful as some of the Mandalorians I'd worked with had ever described it. Granted the city kind of looked nice but the desert bearing wastelands really show just how far this once lush planet had fallen.
Shaking my head, I leaned back and wondered if the young Representative was true to her word or lying to me. I'd like to hope she was true, as she seemed like a down-to-earth sort. Yes, she was some sort of political wheeler and dealer, but she'd understood that family meant everything to me. No doubt it was a product of research into me and my background, based on the fact that I was a True Mandalorian, but it indicated that at least she was familiar with our practices. And a politician who went out of her way to learn the practices of a faction that lost the Civil War is probably a good politician. A rarity in the galaxy.
Of course, if her statement was true and my sister was alive, I would be able to meet her here. Arla would change a bit of the way I would look at the galaxy from now on. Not only that, I would have to give a definite statement that Gunray had been responsible for ordering the assassination attempt. It would be a hit to my credibility among some that I don't see that often, but others might let it pass as they'll have more important stuff to worry about, like the upcoming Galactic war. The only main issue is that I would lose out on opportunities with the Count in the future.
It's an unfortunate thing, but I doubt he would take kindly to the fact that I had not only failed the mission, but turned in one of his political allies. This could trigger the war that he wanted, so maybe it's not that big of an issue. I know his goal is for the Republic to take action against someone within the CIS, to manufacture a casus belli. Once that happens, he would have his war and it wouldn't matter how it happened, so I suspected it would sooner or later.
Sighing, I tried not to think about the possibilities, so I took off my helmet and took a sip of opened my can of tea. Yep, it's watered down but I can at least taste the tea. Might as well eat that Mealgrain bar while I waited for whoever was going to pick me up.
Writer's note: Well now that was a trip, Ordo making moves, Dooku making political moves, Jango making a move for family, and Vai moving assets about to make an army.
All in all a very moving chapter. Hope everyone enjoys their Holidays at home and I hope everyone has a Happy New Year. The next chapter will be out on the 8th of next year, so I wish you all a good New Year!
Editor's notes:
FallQM: I want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and happy Holidays! Watching this story grow and develop over the year and seeing just how far L4 has come as a writer and more importantly, a storyteller has been inspirational and it has been an absolute pleasure to help out in a small way in bringing this creative vision to life. I also want to thank L4 directly, for the wonderful community he has fostered and for the intriguing stories he wants to tell.
Afforess: Merry Christmas! I have greatly enjoyed first reading L4's stories and later contributing as an amateur editor. Editing PoM has been an educational process because I am not a Star Wars fan and have not seen or read much of the supporting media (I have not watched the Mandalorian yet). I'm a sucker for Tanya-fics and helping L4 get chapters out faster is what drew me in. I hope that all the readers enjoy this chapter and have a great winter holiday!
Warmach1ne: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone. Editing PoM has been a fun time, especially when I could contribute my own ideas into the chapter. It is fun to see you guys get the references and like the ideas I springkled in there that it made being the one doing bulk edits to clean the Speech to Text into something readable worth the effort. The other editors are also great to have as they catch stuff I missed or sentences that could have flowed better. Overall you guys are great and I hope PoM gets to the Sequel Trilogy so we can write a better story for you guy, Happy Holidays and take care.
Edited by: Guardsman Pius, fallqm, elohir locke, Warmach1ne32, Aemon, Afforess
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