Chapter 13
714 FNM (24BBY)
Month 5
Coruscant, Senate Building, Senatorial Office of the Mandalorian Sector
Count Dooku
Asset or threat, asset or threat. What would the Senator of Mandalore turn out to be? It was a shame I had to look at the galaxy in such a way. But I was on a knife's edge, one false step and the game would be over.
The plan was entering the final stages, he just had a few other assets to acquire, before the Separatists could make their intentions known.
And one of these assets that would prove invaluable are the Mandalorians. Not only were their martial prowess something that could come in handy, but the sector itself would prove invaluable for moving troops between some of the potential fronts that may develop in the war to come. The fact that they sat just off a major Trade Lane was also a potentially useful situation.
The only real problem was the pacifist government that had taken root since the last time I have been in the Mandalore Sector. But the pacifist government's nature was to side with the Republic no matter what, and that was a problem. One I'd been working to solve for the last year and a half.
And I thought I'd finally had the situation under control. The Senator of Mandalore was like any other senator, easily corruptible and full of vices. One of the reasons I believed they should be done away with, the political class that allowed so much suffering and pain in the universe had no place in it especially with the way their xeno corporations run everything into the ground. But those corporations will have to wait, they were useful assets for now, after the plan was completed they would be dealt with as the threats they really were.
My thoughts were interrupted as the door banged open as the Senator of Mandalore entered in an annoyed huff. "Stupid child, when will she know to stop making deals like that behind my back ? " He said, moving towards his desk without looking in my direction.
"Problems? Senator Merrik?" I asked from the guest seats I've been waiting in. The senator looked utterly shocked seeing me there. Which was to be expected, I didn't have the luxury of announcing my presence in such meetings this close to the final stage of the plan. Pretty soon trips like this to Coruscant would become a rare, and dangerous affair in reality and not just the possibility that someone might try to assassinate or arrest me.
"No Count Dooku, everything's perfectly fine. Just settled with a new representative who's a bit too eager to make a name for herself." Ah, the perfect politician having to deal with a younger more go-getting politician, a fate I only wished on more politicians. The poor girl, whoever she may be, would end up just as corrupt as the rest but he hoped she caused him enough pain between now and then to make it entertaining.
"Well, as long as it's only a trivial matter there is no reason to talk further on it. We have other less trivial matters to discuss." I said as I took a datapad from my cape and laid it on the table.
Senator Tal Merrik sat down across from me and picked up the tablet. Looking it over before looking up at me and asking, "The Silver Codex? I'm not exactly seeing the issue that would bring you here. This is simply a passing fad, a childish fantasy of what could be."
"It may be a fantasy, but it has disturbed elements of the alliance." The Workers Council of Anteevy had been hounding me about the issues they had with this Codex and King Gokus of Alzar was in no better shape. The only good that had come out of the existence of this Codex was that the planet Shogun had officially signed onto the Alliance. They, up till recently, maintained a neutral stance but the Codex would have seemed to have angered them quite clearly enough that they were willing to drop that stance.
"Not to mention your Death Watch planned on deepening the general anger within the population about the demilitarization of society. From what I understand, this Silver Codex has taken off and is re-militarizing but in a less violent way. If the plan to stage a populous uprising is falling through, I would like to know now rather than find out at a rather inconvenient time such as when we're trying to move forces through your Sector."
Senator Merrik simply waved my concerns off and said, "As much as the Silver Codex appears popular with the public, it is not all encompassing or taking root in the government. The Duchess of Mandalore is still a New Mandalorian, a peaceful pacifist who wants nothing to do with military conflict. There might be a little less upwelling than what we want but Mandalore will fall with a few pushes for the Separatist cause."
"For your sake, I hope you're right. I believe your career will end rather quickly if it turns out, you cannot deliver on your promises." I said, looking at him closely watching for any signs of falsehood. I already had a few senators try and pull the wool over my eyes, promising that they would join the separatist cause but then mysteriously never show up to the meetings or sign off any secret paperwork.
I had already had to deal with them through various assassins and bounty hunters. And the replacements did tend to be more willing. Especially when you leave plenty of implications that it was the Republic doing the removal of threats and not himself of course.
"The situation is well in hand, I'm sure the Silver Codex will be a long forgotten fad by the time the war starts." The senator said matter of factly, catching my interest.
"You believe they'll be at war and they won't let the systems that have signed on leave without the issue?"
"Considering what they did to Mandalore 700 years ago just for trying to create a separate system? Oh yes, the Republic will never let it stand. They'll do something, even if they don't have an army right now they will put one together. I doubt it'll be very successful but they will try."
'Well at least you're a realist.' I thought before saying out loud. "Then let us hope that they prove very incompetent in this war if it comes to that."
Before I could make a move to get up and get on with the rest of my day, I had a dozen meetings like this across Coruscant, a knock came from the door, indicating someone was wanting to come in. There weren't many escape routes from a Senatorial Office so I simply prepared to use a technique that would silence my presence in the Force. On a Force sensitive it wouldn't work but on a mundane person without sensitivity, they would simply not even realize I was there. Of course Senator Merrik would know I was there because he'd just been talking to me. Which was one of those key factors that I need to keep track of when using such abilities.
Waving that he may let the person in, I simply sat there and reached for a glass of water I had poured myself before the senator had arrived.
"Come on in." he called to the door, getting up and heading for his desk.
The door opened when a two young blond girls stepped into the room. Her dress was a typical New Mandalorian style, so most likely the young politician who had been causing Senator Merrik so many issues. This would prove entertaining. I was literally a fly on the wall as he had to deal with a young replacement.
Turning to the senator she said, "Good morning Senator, I wanted to talk to you about the deal with the Ithorians. They reached out to me and said that they may be more willing to work with us on the Mandalore Sector project, if we were to support a few bills that would increase funding to terraforming across the Galaxy."
'Young politicians, so full of hope and dreams, she must think she's doing good or that whatever she does will come to some fruition.' I thought as the girl said "Oh I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?"
My thoughts were immediately sideswiped as the girl looked directly at me. For a moment I thought I may have made a mistake and not done enough to quiet myself in the Force but looking past her I saw the blonde girl all of a sudden looking at me with shock, as if I had just appeared out of thin air. My power worked, the girl was simply Force sensitive, and rather good at seeing through basic illusions if I had to guess.
Senator Merrik simply shrugged and said, "We were having a little discussion. The meeting is almost over. Nothing to worry about, as for your deal with the Ithorians. I can see about supporting a few of their measures, as long as it doesn't affect Mandalore too badly and we get a bit of a knock off on the deal for a few
planets in the Mandalore Sector, we will probably be willing to support this, I'll reach out to them and see if we can work out a final deal on that. Is there anything else you need to talk to me about before I get back to my meeting?"
"No Senator Merrik, I simply wanted to share the news, and keep you apprised of what I'm working on."
"Alright well, I will finish my meeting and then I will see about contacting the Ithorians, you may go." He said indicating that they are dismissed which they dutifully curtsy and left. I sat there for a moment staring after them trying to determine what I was going to do about this situation. But before I could really start my dissection of what just happened, Senator Merrik began to talk.
"That girl is after my job, I suspected as much when I first saw her but this is just more proof."
"She seems very committed to her sector, I don't see exactly why you're sure she's after your job."
"It's simple, she's the niece of the Duchess, no doubt she's been promised my job and is attempting to ensure that when the time comes there's no better candidates. At least that's what I think her initial plan is. I worry that she's going to try and push me out completely before I'm ready for retirement. That's why I've been trying to prevent her from having any major meetings with other senators, stunt her political power growth as it were, so that she does not get any ideas about replacing me before I'm ready to leave."
I nodded but in my own mind I didn't really care. I took in his thoughts but mine were in the other situation if it was more important than the ramblings of a senator worried about losing his job.
The girl had seen through a minor illusion as if it was nothing. That was a definite sign of Force sensitivity, not only that she was a Mandalorian noble no less. She had no training which meant she was relatively
powerful as Force sensitivity goes. I doubted that she'd be able to see through heavier illusions, those that are made by the Sith were far too complex to simply walk in and spot like she had just done. So she was not a threat to the plan, but she could be if I was ever required to do something in the Senatorial building after the war began. Although as an asset she was possibly priceless, someone who could just instantly see through illusions, that could be useful for dealing with Darth Sidious when his time came.
"What is that girl's name?" I asked matter of factly, "Just in case I need to arrange her removal from the board I'd like to know who to send the people after."
The senator gave me a raised eyebrow before saying, "Tanya Kryze, as I said she's the niece of the Duchess and is always protected by at least six Royal Guards as well as her handmaiden. She's probably the most protected asset of Mandalore on the planet so I don't think we'll be removing her from the board anytime soon."
I nodded that was a good point, perhaps after Mandalore had been forced to join the Confederacy I would arrange her kidnapping. A few years of training and suffering would turn her into a proper apprentice. Even if that could not be accomplished during the coming war. My Dark Jedi order, the Fist of the Empire that Sidious promised me, would not take no for an answer in recruitment so I could easily acquire her then.
I'll just have to be patient, see what opportunities the Force would lay before me.
Coruscant, Senate Building, Senatorial Office of the Mandalorian Sector
Tanya Kryze
Sipping my tea, I looked across the table at the representative of Mandal Motors that apparently ran the local branch.
I did not arrange this meeting, in fact I don't think I was the suspected person he wanted to talk to at all. I'd simply checked my schedule and found that Senator Merrick had added it to my schedule through X4. No doubt he was used to meetings with this fellow and was trying to get him to understand that there was nothing he could do or just not deal with him. Either was possible though I leaned towards not wanting to deal with him as the man before me seemed very panicky.
"I'm telling you, if we don't figure out a way to get control of Gorgon, the entire sector is going to be engulfed in the madness of pirate raids. The Hydian Way, and the Republic will be forced to take action." The man said as if he was trying to proclaim, as if you'd been granted some vision of the future.
"A possibility," I said, lowering the cup for my lips, "but Mr…?" I fished for a name because he had basically forced his way into my apartment as soon as he was let in, not even bothering to identify himself in his hurry. All I knew was he was a representative of Mandal Motors and I would at least like something more if we're going to have a civil conversation.
The middle aged man seemed to realize his mistake and said, "Kark of clan Trig, I'm sorry I pushed my way in here. I've just been trying to get a meeting with Senator Merrick for the last 3 months and he's ducked every attempt, so I've been a bit excited to finally have a meeting with anyone representing the government."
I nodded my head as he reached down and picked up the glass of tea X4 had prepared, sipping it a bit trying to calm down by the looks of it.
"Well Senator Merrick is a busy man, I am not surprised that he is not available for every meeting you scheduled. Well I'm here now and I'm willing to hear out the issue that Mandal Motor has with Gorgon, assuming it's more than Mandal Hypernautics.?
"Of course, there's more, it's just that they also happen to be part of the problem." The defensive way he said that told me pretty much everything I needed to know. I thought this was just a simple disagreement that spilled over in some way might as well hear it out though.
"Explain the issue, please." I said attempting to get him to focus on the conversation at hand.
"There's several issues, but we'll start with Gorgon as it's the main one, I assume you're unaware of Gorgon?"
I nodded my agreement as I had not run across this planet too often in my studies. "I think I may have seen one mention of it being conquered during the Crusaders Era, but other than that, I knew nothing."
"Its capital city is overrun by drug dealers and criminal elements from across the Galaxy. Its proximity to the Hydian Way, makes it the perfect place to build a smuggling ring and has been host to a ton of mercenaries and bounty hunters over the years. Those who were not big fans of the rise of the New Mandalorians. The number of ships they're buying from Mandal Motors factories has increased exponentially over the last year, mainly patrol craft fighters but it's quite a bit. So much so we've actually had to double production on Ordo to meet the demands of Gorgon and the Hutt empire."
That raised an eyebrow and I asked "Mandal Motors sells to the Hutt Empire?"
Kark simply shrugged and said, "We'll sell to anyone as long as they have the credits, and the Hutts particularly like small but powerful frigates so they buy a lot, but that's not a concern. What's really concerning is the amount of ships Gorgon is buying, it's almost getting to the point where it could rival some of this production we put for the Hutts and I think they're preparing to build a pirate fleet."
"Okay, I can see some of the strands to this point. They're having you build large amounts of ships for unknown reasons and the planet is run by criminals. Both of those make sense but why do you think they'd go straight to piracy with this fleet and it's not some sort of self-defense force to protect themselves from an operation by the Mandalorian guards to bring Gorgon into compliance with the rest of the sector." I asked
"Oh, I thought of that too and it would make sense except they already have ship production from Mandal Hypernautics that could easily make the fleet of ships needed for a self-defense force. They're our main competitor with the Hutts, but their contributions to the Hutt's arsenal have fallen in recent months. So if the leaders of Gorgon are getting resources from us and their own homegrown shipbuilding company, why do they need such a large fleet? It must be for a pirate fleet."
I all of a sudden understood why Senator Merrick had been ducking this man's meetings. He was a conspiracy theorist with some power in a company trying to peddle it to the politicians out of fear that it might actually be something. Now on one hand it was respectful that he had dug up all this data showing that there was a large influx of ships to the Gorgon sector and was presenting them as evidence. It would be even more respectful if he brought that evidence but I'd ask about that after the meeting. On the other hand he was seeing two things and coming up with whatever he feared the most. It could be a pirate fleet, it could be some sort of illegal racket that he was unaware of, it literally could be anything for why they needed a large amount of ships.
Best I could do was write up what he believed was going on and send it up the chain. As well as his belief to make note of the large number of ships. Although his belief may be wrong, it was still concerning that a system within Gorgon was purchasing so many light vessels.
"You mentioned there were other concerns?" I asked, trying to continue the conversation in order to get everything out of him now so I could make sure such meetings were not frequent.
"Yes, Mandal Hypernautics has stolen more of our designs. There needs to be some sort of recompense on that. The CEO of that company, Bresug Gerr, is becoming a mini despot."
"A mini despot? That's a bold claim. What is the reason you would call him such?"
That got a chuckle out of him at least before he continued, "The Gerr family has been running that company for a long time and when they were forced off of Mandalore after the end of the Clan Wars he took it a little bit harder than most of the exiles. They were rising stars of the traditionalist corporations and they got cut off completely by the New Mandalorians due to their warship designs often having specialty guns just for planetary bombardment. But that's the history, the reality is now he's the seller of a lot of ships into the underworld, I dare say he's probably the richest man on Gorgon and from what I've been able to dig up he acts that way. Buying Mandalorian relics and supposedly he's hired a good percentage of Old Mandalorian traditionalists to work as an impromptu police force for the part of the city he lives in. Don't know if that's true or not but from what I remember of him he was always a bit full of himself so I wouldn't put it past it."
"Is he known for stealing things, this Bresug Gerr? I'm not familiar with his story."
"Yes, out of the four initial designs that were used to found his company, three of them were from Mandal Motor's rejected pool. All they did was add bigger guns to them."
"Rejected by the Traditionalists or Mandal Motors?" I asked as a matter of course.
"Mandal Motors themselves because of design issues, the guns that were originally on them would shake the ship to the point that it was dangerous to the crew. Sure, the original guns made it dangerous enough but they put bigger guns on them. One of the reasons the siege of the Old Capitol went down as easily as it did for the Republic was because they were buying mainly from Mandal Hypernautics. Their ships could hit well above their weight class but they could also blow themselves up."
"So his family and him are known thieves who will take credit for other people's work. That explains why they ended up on Gorgon at least."
"Thieves who are also the traditionalist's favored son. They have a lot of good rep with non-pilots, even though their ships blew themselves up just as often as they blew up their enemies. Presumably their newer designs don't have these issues but I don't trust the data they publish as far as I can throw the tower we're sitting in."
I rubbed my chin as I took that in. So there was an oligarch on the planet of Gorgon taking credit for anything he could get, stealing anything he could get, and building up a fleet of ships, possibly. Yes, Trig believed that Gorgon as a whole was buying those ships but what was the possibility that Garr was buying those ships? Why would an oligarch need a fleet? I didn't like that I would have to mention that as a possibility in the report I'd write up on this.
Nodding my head I finally said, "I will send this up the chain. Let the Duchess and the Senator know of your concerns. You do have evidence of this copyright thievery and ship buildup, correct?" It's the least I could do, if he could supply the evidence.
"Some of it, yes. I can give you the data I've been able to dig up."
No idea if the data was good, not exactly proof of anything, but it would help support any further investigations down the line. "I'll need a copy of that for my report. By the way, why does Mandal Motors have a representative on Coruscant?"
"I'm not really a representative per se, I'm just a salesman. Mandal Motors owns a small showroom, we keep a few of our vessels here, the newer variants and show them off to be sold. Doesn't bring as much money as our other contracts but it's a way to show that Mandal Motors is still a competitive ship building company. Until recently we've mainly just had a bunch of boats designed for helping ships get into dock being sold in the Republic, but the Duchess recently allowed us to start selling cargo ships so we're trying to add that to the market."
"Really?" I said in surprise, I hadn't actually had the chance to offer that idea to Satine. Which meant I didn't need to offer that idea, I smiled as I realized my aunt had come up with it on her own and implemented it.
"Of course, we're still trying to come up with a good cargo vessel, small and fast but at the moment we've taken to using older designs and retrofitting them for cargo needs. The Old Mandalorian Dungeon ship is a big block of iron but it's a big block of iron with plenty of room in it, so it serves as a good long haul transport. For smaller vessels, we've been retrofitting a few Pursuer Class blanks to serve that goal, lot of small time companies enjoy having a small ship to outrun pirates than a big ship that could carry more, so we expect that to sell a lot more than the Dungeon ships, which we're looking into finding a new class name for just because how dungeon ship sounds a bit… eh?"
"Evil." I said, not even sure this was pointing out the obvious.
"Yes that, just need to come up with some other class name and designation. Probably just call it a freight ship but that's for the PR guys to figure out, I'm just a salesman. By the way if you're ever looking for a ship for your own personal use I can give you a great deal at the showroom, being that you're related to Duchess Satine, I could get you 50% off almost any ship in the room, no questions asked."
That felt like a tactic to prevent me from asking why 'just a salesman' was interested in the goings on the Gorgon. But it was working, because that was an intriguing amount of money off of owning a starship. I wasn't enamored with the idea of space flight like I had been with personal flight but I could always learn and even if I couldn't, having the ability to load up a ship and go anywhere in the Galaxy was an intriguing thought for retirement.
"I'll keep that in mind." I said with a smile as I thought about the possibilities.
Coruscant, Bonteri resident
Padme Amidala
"Wait, I thought New Mandalorians believed in pacifism." I asked as I looked over at Tanya, I'd come to another one of Mina's parties and run into the young representative again. Her and her handmaiden seem to be inseparable and with their hair color matching up I suspected that she served a similar purpose to my handmaidens, so I thought I would engage in a little conversation with the Mandalorian girl, again. Most of the senior senators or lower representatives were giving her a wide berth I'd noticed, I suspected it was due to the Mandalorian status and lack of real political power in the Senate. Though a young representative from the Ojoster sector and my friend, Senator Organa, had been talking to her when I joined them.
Our conversation had been meandering to some extent but when the representative from Alderaan mentioned that their self-defense force was being armored with suits from mandalore I had to ask a bit of a question.
Tanya simply smiled and sipped the glass of tea she'd been nursing throughout the conversation before she said, "New Mandalorians do follow a doctrine of pacifism however we are not fools. The Galaxy is a dangerous place and seems to be getting a bit more dangerous with each passing year. Making sure our neighbors have forces they can use as a central self-defense force for the main militia that they would put together. In such a situation it is an important step in not only showing that the Mandalorian government has moved on from our ancient ways, but providing ways for our closest neighbors to defend themselves in case something were to happen in our area of space."
Organa looked at her and said, "That seems reasonable," before looking at me and saying, "you can't exactly hold it against their governments, the Trade Federation kind of proved her point with your planet."
"While true, creating variants of your armor for other systems seems a bit dangerous, considering the amount of weapons I've heard are going to be built into your sets of armor."
Tanya nodded but then said, "This is also true though from what I understand, most of these sets of armor that are being produced have only defensive capabilities or useful features in mind." She held out her vambrace and pressed the button on its side showing a holographic display of what would look like the holonet? she wasn't sure if she never actually visited the holonet. "Communicators, holonet access, GPS, I know some of the variants have energy Shields that can be used from one arm. And that is just the vambraces, I heard that some of the helmets have infrared and night vision equipment built in, a rebreather unit for vacuum activities and more. I suspect finely crafted Mandalorian style armor will take off as the new standard of self-defense force is with enough time."
"Still seems a bit pulling back on the whole pacifist thing to be creating Mandalorian armor." I asked, trying to understand the perspective on this.
"Mandalorian style armor not Mandalorian armor itself." She corrected me, "Beskar is not being used in the creation of these export armors, as it holds too dear a place in our society to be given away or sold. I suspect if someone walked in with a set of Beskar armor to an armorer, they would be able to walk away with six or seven Mandalorian style armors of lesser material. But still, it's a civilian use of our skills. Sure, our armor could be used for war but we are creating them for defense. I believe Naboo has a Master Craftsman ship industry not too dissimilar to the standard we're trying to set up."
I nodded at that, "We do have a small ship building industry and all the ships that come out of it handcrafted. I understand that, I just don't believe we went around selling lesser model versions of the new Naboo Starfighter."
"You should, from what I understand it's probably one of the better models of Starfighter on the market." Tanya said matter of factly.
"I don't know about that, sure there was the issue on Naboo with the Trade Federation but I don't think that's going to be repeated. Peace won out in the end and judiciary forces will not let something like that ever happen again."
"We can hope, but in my opinion it's better to be prepared for the worst, for all we know we could be having a conversation next year about an invasion from extragalactic aliens or flesh eating viruses. This galaxy is a big place and from my reading of history there's a lot of crazy things that happened."
"That's a little bit presumptuous of the worst." Senator Organa said, "I think the greatest threats to the galactic Republic are long behind us. Any issues now, will be settled through diplomacy."
"I hope you're right, but I'm also sure that the senators who ran the Old Republic thought the same thing before the Sith returned a dozen times. And I'm sure that whole business with the Eternal Empire was completely unforeseen."
"The who?" I asked, not familiar with this Eternal Empire she had mentioned.
"Oh, some empire that supposedly came out of the Unknown Regions a couple thousand years ago. The details I was able to dig up in the Mandalorian libraries are minimal to nil, so I don't think it was very long lasting. However they did supposedly conquer the majority of the known Galaxy for a short time. It serves as a good example though of what could go wrong with a policy of outright pacifism, an unknown factor could decide to rear its ugly head somewhere down the line."
"While true," Organa said, he then continued by pointing out, "this is why we have the Judiciary Forces. Though if something were to happen like that, we could rally all the independent sector forces under them."
Tanya nodded her head before she gave her point of view. "Supposedly this is true. However, just 20 years ago there was a conflict where such a situation was put to the test. The Stark Hyperspace War, that conflict may not have involved the Judiciary Forces directly but it shows the issue that is developing. The Sector Forces have not had a real conflict in the last thousand years. They do not know how to conduct a proper military campaign as their doctrines are either outdated or based on doctrines for dealing with pirates and small-time problems that a sector would normally have to deal with."
"I also doubt that the Judiciary Forces are any better. Probably the closest thing some commanders have seen of combat was the bombardment of Mandalore. There might be a few with a good head on their shoulders, but if a conflict or war were to arise, I expect the losses to be great for the first two years purely out of mismanagement. And that's the price we would have to pay for pure uncompromising pacifism. The military expertise needed for self-defense degrades while also you are Ceding the initiative to the bad actors of the Galaxy."
"Is this the official stance of Mandalore?" I asked curious now, wondering if I had been hearing a bunch of misunderstood statements about the so-called New Mandalorians and their pacifist Duchess.
Tanya seems to stop mid sip of her cup before putting it down and then saying, "It is not, this is just my personal opinion from my research on the matter. The Duchess of Mandalore is not a pure pacifist in her own way, she doesn't exactly believe that a dedicated military service is needed. The Judicial Service or the Mandalorian Guard can handle any issues that come up from day to day."
"It is just my simple belief that people who wish to live in Peace and Freedom must be willing to fight for it or they'll have neither."
"So do you believe the Republic should have an Army and Navy?" Senator Organa asked.
"No, no, that seems like a recipe for disaster." she immediately said. "Each sector should definitely have their own Self Defense Force that should be able to work with each other without issue, but to create an overarching military structure just leaves an opportunity for some general to get it in his head that the politicians aren't leading the Galaxy as good as he could be. Said general will then decide, instead of watching the outer reaches of nowhere, he'll take this army that the politicians gave him and travel back to Coruscant to crown himself Emperor."
"Not to mention any military commander in this proposed, let's call it the Republic Galactic Army, would have the need to have a massive industrial complex at their back to maintain and supply the army. This will encourage behaviors that could lead to wars that we don't need. All it would take is one rogue general with a chip on his shoulder about the Hutts and their slavery practices and all of a sudden we have a Republic and Hutt Empire War on our hands and no one wants that, such a conflict would be devastating to the Galaxy."
All of a sudden I was getting a bad feeling, thoughts of a young blonde boy I met on Tatooine coming to mind.
"As I said, sectors should be able to defend themselves. Local forces will not only know the terrain they will have to deal with, but also know what to do to prevent a major war. But for intersector stuff, diplomacy is better, diplomacy is more likely to be a longer lasting solution to prevent a major war would be less likely in the long run."
While I didn't exactly agree with all of her points, I could at least get behind the idea that diplomacy was a better option for the intersystem situations. Organa seemed to think the same as he raised his glass and said, "Then perhaps a toast to the hope that diplomacy is always the best option for intersystem conflicts."
Everyone at the table raised their cups to that and we continued our evening as if the conversation hadn't happened.
Coruscant, Green Singularity Club Entrance
Tanya
"I'm not sure this was such a good idea." I said, feeling somewhat self-conscious as we stood in line. I had worn a lot of things in my life or lives. From the suits of my first life, to the military officers uniform of my second, and I made progress, lots of progress getting used to wearing dresses in this life. This was pushing the envelope a little too far in my opinion. But I should explain how I got myself into this situation before I get into what I had gote myself into.
It had been 5 months since my arrival on Coruscant,Vai and I had come to the realization that we weren't really going to have much else to do but go to political meet and greets and parties. Yes, there were a few meetings I had managed to schedule once and a while and meetings that were shoved on me but that meant out of a 35 day month, you had practically 30 days free.
I of course was fine with this as I could find enjoyment with a good book, Vai on the other hand was not fine with this and was getting a bit of cabin fever. So she had to control, coerce, and thoroughly guilt me into doing something she wanted to do.
As much as I would rather not, I knew having a happy employee was a key to success in any situation so I had finally agreed that we would do what she wanted to do. That had not gone the way I had hoped, as I had assumed that she wanted to go to a gun range. No, I forgot she was a few years older than me and was apparently having the start of a relationship with Tabi Kregg. One of my Royal Guards, not the worst choice out there, as long as they kept everything professional while on the job, it was not a matter to my concern. What turned out to be my concern was he had found out about a part of the Senatorial District that was meant for the youthful Representatives to hang out.
Yes, I had just been tricked into going into a club that the youthful senators of the day considered trendy. Which meant it was most likely going to be close to a rave or punk scene. Which meant my formal dress had to stay on the hooks.
To prepare, Vai had taken me to a clothing shop for a quote unquote wardrobe upgrade. I don't know much about fashion, I probably looked good. All I knew is that I felt ridiculous standing on the side of the street in knee-high boots with thigh high leggings underneath shorts and wearing a long sleeve sweater that showed off a bit of the stomach over a shirt I had been told to wear even though if I took off the sweater it would show off a bit of too much cleavage in my opinion. I was simply glad that I had managed to snag colors in green since that was the only choice in the matter I've been allowed, along with the sunglasses I was wearing. I might be forced to embarrass myself by coming to such a venue but I would at least attempt to hide my shame to any future Representatives that I may have to deal with in the coming days.
"This is a great idea and you need to start being more rebellious." Vai said next to me, wearing a very similar set of clothing only in blue instead of green, leather pants instead of shorts though she had wrapped the sweater around her waist showing off her substantially larger cleavage.
She had her arm around Tabi's arm who was wearing some extremely tight clothing, black pants, a set of combat boots, and a shirt that showed off the muscles he had from his training. Oh and when I say tight I do not mean in the sense of cool or any other colloquialism for modern and trendy, I mean in the sense that I could make out features I would rather not have known about. I could not wait till I got out of my teenage years and my hormones naturalized so I stopped noticing things like that. I had not had to deal with a wandering eye in my last life since the terrible conditions of the front I put myself through had thoroughly stunted hormone production. This life I had avoided that fate though I was now starting to regret it as I forced my eyes from wandering to those two.
"You need to chill out Miss Kryze." Tabi said, smiling in my direction. "You're supposed to be a representative of our people, well not all of our people are nobles or the sort who go to fine dining parties, a lot of us just go to things like this." he said, indicating the club. "I'm sure you won't find a lot of the older folks in favor of these kind of establishments and you won't find them on a lot of the more frontier worlds, the place is more build up like my homeworld Harswee, Ordo and a few of the more interesting places on Mandalore have plenty of clubs like this."
"I'm sure they do but I'm not attending one of those places, this is a club for the political class of the Galaxy."
"Then treat it as training for when you visit one of Mandalore's clubs. I'm sure Ordo here would love to take you to one so you can see how Mandalorians party down." That got a chuckle from me as I don't believe I would ever willingly go to one of these clubs. But outwardly I said, "I'll keep that in mind." For all I knew, something could come up that would require me to visit an establishment like this in the future. The universe was a strange and weird place and it got weirder every day.
Seeing that we were third in line behind a group of, blue skinned girls in costumes that put the ones I had been forced into shame in the amount of how revealing they were, I held up my left wrist to check my messages on my vambrace. Quickly scanning through, I saw nothing of importance other than a message from my captain of the Royal Guard asking where we had gone off to. I simply dispatched a message back saying that I was with two of his subordinates on a late night trip to the Jedi Temple for a conversation with that elder statesman I met a while back. I'd actually done that a couple times since then, he was an interesting fellow to talk to. No, I wondered why he had such an odd speech impediment.
"Wow, what is that?" the blue skinned girl in front of me said, looking back at my vambrace.
"This," I said, "is a…" I was going to say something simple when an idea occurred to me "new product from Mandal Technologies what better way to keep your communication devices and information safely secured but on a nice stylish vambrace locked onto your wrist." Shaking it about to show how secure it was my wrist I said, "This thing will never get lost no matter how wild the dance may get."
"Coooool, Mandal Technologies. I'll have to remember that and look it up later." The blue girl said before she started talking to her friends again. I knew there was a good chance that it would not take off but on the off chance it did, I got more business for Mandalorian companies, I was willing to put up with degrading myself into a spokesperson and talking to a probably high on death sticks political class trust-fund baby. I only would probably save her life since no doubt her parents would demand safety precautions installed on whatever they bought for her.
Sighing, I turned to my quote unquote date Engiz, he was more of my chaperone just to make sure I didn't get into any trouble. I doubted anyone would try to kidnap me for being a princess as I looked like any other average citizen on the street but you never know, when there could be some crazed lunatic who would attempt something and it was not the worst idea in the world to have a little backup in a fight. I can probably handle myself but if the argument was between quality of fighter and numbers I'd rather play with both quality and numbers. He was wearing something a lot more normal than Tabi, just a gray set of pants and coat over a white shirt. I suspected it was the official civilian garb for the Royal Guard though I had no evidence as I'd always seen them in their full uniform.
"So Engiz, how have you been enjoying your stay on Coruscant so far?" I asked, trying to be nice and have a chat with him. Yeah I've been his pen pal for many years and that's how I had learned of many of the forgotten histories of the Galaxy. Such as the brief appearance of the quote unquote "Eternal Empire" that appeared to have only lasted 10 years. It would seem that naming your empire as grandiose as that was a sign that you were not going to last very long, as most of the empires I noted fell apart sooner or later, the more grandiose the name the quicker it fell apart.
"I'm doing well princess." he said very stiltedly as if not sure of something I assumed it was not sure if he should be using my royal title so I responded.
"Tanya, you can just call me Tanya here." We were in a civilian setting and it was better if he didn't use the Royal word while out and about like this could give gangsters ideas.
He smiled and commented, "Thank you Tanya. Yes, it's been alright getting used to the quarters below has been something but there's a lot of resources on this planet to investigate, a lot of books to read and history to learn. During my downtime, I go to the Senatorial Library they have for the public to look through. Got to say, they have a lot better record keeping on some events than I would have suspected."
"Oh?" I asked as we moved forward in the line as the people had us started being let in.
"Yeah, they have actual facts and figures about the losses during the Mandalorian Wars, our records on that whole situation was pretty much nil but they get it down to the unluckiest protocol Droid that walked out of a hanger and was shot during a defensive battle in the early days of the wars. Now it does seem that certain elements of the stories have been removed or censored, not a single reference to Revan.
"Revan?" I asked, a bit amused by the idea that there was someone named after Raven but slightly off.
"Oh, I'll have to get you a bit of our information on that the next time I get a chance, but basically he was a Jedi Knight who stood up against and for the Mandalorians at certain points. It's closely tied to one of Ordo's major historical figures, Canderous Ordo otherwise known as Mandalore the Preserver, so although we don't know as much as we'd like, he had a significant effect on Mandalorian culture around 4,000 years ago. You could see him as the first true obstacle that really put Mandalorians on the route towards where we are today, not some religious horde of barbarian zealots roaming the Galaxy."
"Interesting, I would like to read more about this Revan figure." I said. Simply because who knows what useful information could be found from looking through his history. If he had so thoroughly defeated the Mandalorians that they stopped being the Neo-Crusaders and warmongers, it would be useful to know the why's and how's of that whole situation.
As we approached the door and the uncomfortably loud music he said, "Will do princess."
"Tanya." I corrected with a smile before looking over at Vai and pink hair to see how she handled the whole getting us into the club situation. Vai was looking at me and Engiz with a smile until she saw me looking in her direction and immediately went to work talking with the bouncer to get us in.
Coruscant, Outside Green Singularity
Struc Ordack
When my charge and her handmaiden went out to go shopping earlier today, I was not too concerned. After 5 months with next to nothing to do other than stand guard and follow the princess around, it does eventually get repetitive. Thus when the princess and her handmaiden informed me that they were going to go shopping at the nearby commercial district, I didn't see a reason to refuse. They are going to a location that Senator Merrik allowed the princess to travel to and they are bringing the 2 Royal Guards on escort duty.
Once they were on their way, the rest of the guards and I proceeded to do what we usually do when the Princess is away from the Tower. Spend time in the tower's ready room in full armor waiting for a distress call to spring into action. Your subordinates find ways to spend their time. Skota read holo-books and do a bit of baking in her spare time. Mok watches his holo-vids and tinkers with new tech that he found on the open market. Kastel does some basic calisthenics before ending with a spare against the sparring droid while listening to workout music. I spent my time cleaning and maintaining my armor and weapons.
However after several hours, it was already sundown and they had not returned yet. I had Mok locate Pixie's vambrace and found that the group are currently at a club near the commercial district. Concerned, I sent a message to the princess asking about their whereabouts, while the team entered an escort speeder which Mok had upgraded in his spare time with his connection to Mandal Tech.
I received a reply stating that they were at the Jedi Temple to talk with a senior member there. Of course, the princess's vambrace showed that that was a lie and they were nowhere near the Jedi Temple, so I gave the go ahead to go to the princess's location to make sure nothing happened out of our sight.
"Pixie Actual, spotted entering the club. Mok, have you finished slicing through the club's security cameras?" I asked before I lowered my macroscope.
"I got it, sending the feed to your HUDs now." A moment later, I see the notification on my HUD asking for my permission to open the data packet. After accepting, I was given a fly on the wall view of the club. Mok's facial recognition software, highlighted Pixie Actual, her handmaiden, the Ordo kid, and the walking disciplinary action of a subordinate.
"When this is all over, I swear I am going to give those two
di'kuts a piece of my mind. Maybe then they'll use they're brains instead of their
bevik." I can understand why Skota would be annoyed as the princess went behind our backs to go to a club. If she could not trust her own guards then who could she trust?
We would have likely covered for her if she informed the rest of us. At least all 4 of them are competent enough in hand to hand combat to take care of themselves. We are here just in case of a situation where it's too big for them to handle.
"I wouldn't be too hard on them," Mok commented "it's possible that they merely don't want the senator to know that they are out partying. Plus I did my research on the way here, this is a fairly popular spot for young representatives to mingle in a more informal atmosphere. This would probably just be another forgettable night on Coruscant."
"However, on the off chance this is going to be an eventful night, we will be ready to do our jobs." I interject. "Once this is over though, I think Ordo and Kregg are scheduled for a sparring session tomorrow. Do you think the princess and her handmaiden would like to watch?"
"I'm sure it would keep them entertained at least." Skota commented while Mok chuckled at what would likely be an entertaining afternoon. Kastel kept silent but you get the feeling that he was amused.
A few minutes of silence followed, as everyone watched the camera feed to make sure nothing was amiss. The feed shows Kregg and Vizla teaching the others how to dance on the dance floor. Princess Kryze who was only taught ballroom dances at a young age and Ordo who likely is not the kind of kid who got invited into parties, don't know how to dance. It eventually culminated in two trying to awkwardly dance with each other while their companions watched.
"So I heard the Silver Ranger is going to get another season. Are any of you interested in the show?"
"Not really something I would watch. I'm more of a romantic comedy type of girl." Skota replied absentmindedly as she set her helmet to play music.
"It's alright." Kastel commented whilst watching the feed on his vambrace.
"Watched a few episodes when I babysat my younger cousins, it looked interesting enough." I answered while checking out the surrounding area.
"Thankfully, the show is formatted to be episodic so you don't need to watch all of the episodes in order to enjoy it. If you want we could watch it together, to catch you guys up to the current season. Might as well invite Pixie and her handmaiden and make it a holo party, it's not like there's anything else to do around here."
"I'll ask Pixie about it tomorrow, if she gives the okay, I don't see why not." I answered. Mok is right, other than following Pixie around to various meetings with the Agricorp or the Senate Building, everyone usually stood guard at Mandalorian Tower. A night to watch a holovid series sounds like a nice way to unwind and be entertained, even if it is only for a few nights.
I return my gaze to my view screen to see Pixie Actual and Ordo are done with dancing and are now taking a seat in a partially occupied booth.
"Looks like Pixie and Ordo are just talking, want me to slice Ordo's vambrace to listen in on their conversation?" Mok asked. While it would help keep the stake out interesting, it is a severe breach of privacy. Besides, you doubt Pixie would reveal any confidential information in a club so it's likely just them engaging in small talk.
"Belay that, it's not our job to eavesdrop on our charge. But since we are here, make a list of persons of interest inside the club. Should be a useful cover for Pixie, that she is trying to network in the club and not go on a double date with her bodyguards and handmaiden."
"I'm on it, should take a few minutes."
"Vizla and Kregg are now at the bar and ordering drinks." Skota notified us.
"Fruit Fizz and Photon Fizzle, respectively." Mok mentioned before I could ask.
"Isn't Photon Fizzle alcoholic?" Kastel questioned.
"So long as Kregg drinks in moderation, his Harswee metabolism should break it down fast enough so he doesn't get drunk enough to impair his judgment." Skota informed us. "Well since this is turning out to be a fairly normal outing, I'm going to go get some Nerf Kebabs from down the street, any of you want some?"
"I'll have some Fritzle Fries if they have any." Mok mentioned while his eyes stayed on his view screen.
"I'm good." Kastel answered. "Same." I spoke right after.
"Let me know if anything interesting happened." Skota said before she exited the speeder.
"Best get comfortable, it's gonna be a long night." I said before sipping my canteen.
Writers note: Alright, what we got here, is a bit of politics, a bit for the dark side, a bit of the light bit of Tanya talking with Padme bit Tanya being dragged along to do normal teenagers things, the abusltes horror. Clarifications on her thought process when comes to military, and continuation of the strange nerdy history lesson dynamic between Tanya and Ordo.
I hope everyone enjoys the chapter, let me all know what you think.
Edited by: Warmach1ne32, Markus, Lord Feunoyr
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