"New Mandalorian conflict within the Baltic States"

- Border conflicts

- Guerilla War and Disputed leadership

- Kryze unties the States, affirming one true Mandalorian republic

- Economic Prosperity and Growth as a Nation

"Hey handsome." I hear behind me. "Is anyone sitting there?"

Turning towards the person behind me, I—

Sabine.

Sabine beams at me as she's standing in the row behind me, pointing towards the seat immediately to my left, which I've set my backpack in like I always do.

I like my space.

"What are you doing here?"

Sabine smirks while crouching down. "It's election day here. So Athletics has the day off. Can I sit?"

"Yeah, yeah…" I quickly grab my backpack and set it on the other side of me. "It's election day?"

"Mhmm." Sabine replies while clambering over the seat to plop beside me. "You forgot didn't you."

I was going to go to work like I always do after History of Mandalore.

"Maybe."

Sabine laughs. "Good thing I showed up then. Maybe after this we can go back to your place and work out—are those your notes?"

"Yeah—" I get out just before Sabine grabs the papers and begins reading them.

"You're so organized…this is what your professor will talk about today?" I nod silently, prompting Sabine to glance at me before returning her attention to my notes.

…

"Do you have my beskar?"

Of course.

I nod while reaching into my pocket and pull out the beskar bar to show to her. As soon as she sees it, Sabine's expression softens. "You carry it with you?"

"You told me to keep it safe and not to lose it."

No better way than to keep it on my person.

Sabine's chin wobbles for an instant before she steels herself. "You take everything too literally…Good thing you have me to do some creative thinking…"

Yeah. She's all creative and I'm all literal.

That's what makes us a good team.

"I—" I start, then cut myself off.

I don't need to ask her how she is because I know.

I saw her at lunch like thirty minutes ago in the Underground.

"What?" Sabine asks, eyes not initially moving from my sheets of the presentation to come, broken up by slide.

"I, I'm being awkward." I admit. "I know how you are because I just saw you. Sorry."

Sabine, for whatever reason giggles. "By the gods, what am I gonna do with you…?"

I don't know.

Not having a response, I turn my attention to the front of the class, where our professor is walking up to the front of the class and his podium and begins unloading his bag onto the table beside the podium like always.

Meaning the clicker questions are next.

Without a word to Sabine, I unzip a pocket of my backpack and pull out my clicker just before I hear the vague beeping of the projector beginning to power to life.

"Hello class…" He begins. "You all know the drill, get out your clickers…today we will be discussing the conflicts and political struggles of Mandalore through the 1980's and 1990's…beginning with today's attendance question:

"Who is Satine Kryze?"

A.) Queen of Mandalore

B.) Mandalore's First Lady

C.) Duchess of Mandalore

D.) Prime Minister of Mandalore

C. And D. It's a trick question

Silently, Sabine reaches over and gives me three sharp taps on the knee, pauses, then taps four more times, telling me the answer.

As if I didn't already know it.

I smile at the gesture though, then give her a quick glance. Sabine beams back at me before turning back to give Dr. Foster her attention.

"Three…two…one…" He counts down before the answer appears on the screen. "Trick question! The answer is C and D. Satine Kryze is the Duchess and rightfully, duly elected leader of the nation…of Mandalore."

"—Mandalore should be ruled by Mandalorians and only Mandalorians. That's what it really was about. All those other countries, that we eventually absorbed the Mandalorian portions of many of their populations, what they really wanted was to rule Mandalore." Sabine fully explains as we walk back to my apartment.

"That makes sense." I nod to her. "It's popular sovereignty in a way."

"Now it is." Sabine agrees fiercely. "The Duchess is duly elected every eight years, with options to hold elections every four intervening years."

I know that, we have gone over that in the civics portion of the course.

"I'm just surprised that the Russians didn't try to stick their noses in there."

Sabine scoffs as we continue down this sidewalk. "The Soviet Union had just broken up then, it was mostly the 90's. They could barely hold themselves together, let alone control anyone else. And now they're all about corporate greed, banking interests, and the oil/natural gas industries that heat most of Europe."

Fair.

"—plus people like Hego Damask and the Intergalactic Banking Clans have a lot invested in Moscow and the Kremlin."

"How do you know all of this?" I ask as we take a turn down the sidewalk.

Sabine only gives me a shrug. "Mom and Dad made sure current events were discussed at the dinner table. If we didn't know, we were expected to have questions and learn. They didn't want their kids to grow up not knowing how the world works."

"Hmm. Sounds healthy."

Sounds like me. But in an actually healthy way.

"But getting back on track, the mass pardons of members of Death Watch was probably the most controversial of the Duchess' early decisions. Which of course Dr. Foster didn't mention…"

"You said he wasn't as bad as you thought!" I turn to her.

That went better than I expected it to go!

Sabine begrudgingly replies "yeah, he was alright I guess. I still don't think he's Mandalorian—"

But.

"—but he clearly loves the material and respects it. Which is the least I can ask for."

I drop my head and laugh at her attempt at a compliment. "Tell me how you really feel Sabine."

"Oh whatever…' Sabine gently shoves me as we reach the stairwell to my apartment building.

"Is there anything else you need to do today?"

I know she's spent a lot of time at the Art building working on some project for a class.

Sabine shakes her head. "No, I was going to go to Roski and the studio and pick up my piece. I think I can finish it this weekend and have it done early."

"But it's Wednesday." I point out.

"But next week I have to leave for our Spring trip to Vegas for soccer, then that banquet—OH SHIT! That reminds me!" Sabine abruptly exclaims.

"What?" I ask as we're a flight of stairs away from my apartment.

"I—uhm, I, uhh, need a date to that banquet. And I was hoping you'd be my date. To go with me."

"Yeah." I reply without hesitating. "That sounds great, I'd love to go."

She looks kind of flushed.

Sabine's reply is a smile so big both of her dimples show. "Really? That's…great. I'm so excited. Sorry for springing it on you, I've been meaning to ask but we've both been so busy and I wanted it to be special and at the right time…"

She's babbling.

"A banquet? For what?" I cut off her blathering for her own sake before Sabine looks embarrassed.

"Just a celebration of all sports. It'll be after our trip and football's spring game. Which isn't that next week too?"

"I think so, that Friday or Saturday."

Sabine nods. "Must be a Friday because the banquet's on a Saturday."

"What do you know about it?" I ask as we arrive at my door and I fish out my keys to unlock it.

"Not much, just that it's supposed to be some big social event. You have to dress up and bring a date and buy a table, all that stuff. You get put with people from other sports at your table too, so you have to talk to people. Donors too, but you won't have to do any of that. Jaicey actually was thinking of putting me, and now you, plus she and JJ with Matt."

All people I already know.

"That sounds fun actually." I say as I swing open the door and lead Sabine inside.

Sabine replies "That's what Jaicey said. It's all a social thing. Lots of drinks, food, games, a raffle. Silent auction…she said it was a great time."

Yeah I—WHOA!

Stopping mid step, I windmill my arms around to keep my balance as I try not to step on Mira, who is—

How is she here?! Holy shit MIRA!

"What—oh! Mira!" Sabine exclaims as Mira is playing with one of the toys I keep here for her. At the sound of her name, Mira turns before—

"BABABABABABABA!" She squeals piercingly and starts waving her arms and legs around before I bend down to scoop her up.

"What are you doing here?! You're lucky I didn't throw my backpack at you!"

I was in the process of tossing it aside!

Mira doesn't care one bit and instead is banging away at my collarbone, a massive grin on her face while babbling to me.

Hera would say talking.

"You aren't here alone are you…?" Sabine asks, approaching and causing Mira to turn and say something in Sabine's direction.

"No!" Hera's voice suddenly calls out to us. "I'm in here!"

Hera?!

Depositing Mira with Sabine, I slip past my recliner and start towards my laundry room, where it sounds like Hera's voice came from.

Yup.

"Did I miss a text?"

Hera quickly laughs in response. "No dear, I was just running errands and thought we'd stop by. I thought you were about to go to work."

"Election day, no work today."

"Ahh…" Hera seems to understand. "How are you dear?"

"Good." I absently say, focusing on the fact that Hera's currently loading up my washer. "Hera, you don't have to—"

"I know dear, I just thought I'd put a load in for you." Hera says, pausing at the end to smile at me. "Good to see you. Mira sounded happy too."

"No, I think she's more happy to see Sabine." I joke.

Hera laughs again then hangs her head. "Suuure she is. Speaking of Sabine, I want to talk to her about something."

"Sabine!" I call out over my shoulder.

"Right here." Sabine answers, before I turn.

Oh. She's right behind me.

"Hi dear. How are you?" Hera turns on a dime and smiles at Sabine.

Sabine smiles back while holding an also smiling Mira. "Great. What'd you want to ask me about?"

"Oh, Kanan and I were wondering what your art schedule is looking like. We were thinking about buying something, then thought about talking to you and seeing what your rates were."

Oh.

Sabine blinks a couple of times while Mira squirms slightly, reaching for me. "Oh, uhm, I dunno, my rates are—"

Mira.

Without asking, I scoop Mira up out of Sabine's arms. "—but that was when I was in high school. I can adjust them, you all have been super kind towards me and—"

"No Sabine, we want to pay you fairly for your work. I mean…" Hera gestures to the rest of my apartment, which is slowly being decorated with Sabine's art. "I love your style, and I'm sure it's only getting better."

"Trying." Sabine shrugs, looking a little sheepish.

"We can talk about it tonight over dinner if you'd like. Kanan's at work right now, and I was planning on running a few more errands before then but…"

"We…kind of already have plans for tonight." I wince at Hera.

Sorry.

"Sorry." Sabine smiles for the both of us.

"Oh!" Hera blinks, looking a little taken by surprise. "No problem, no problem at all. Just at some point we'd love to have you over and talk about it."

Sabine raptly nods. "What were you thinking about getting made?"

(Later That Night)

Sabine and Jaicey keep grinding away at their game on the big TV as—

"Get him!" Jaicey snaps as Sabine's vehicle is in the process of making a turn, sparks flying up from its wheels.

"Working on it!"

I laugh to myself, then sip my wine and turn my attention back to JJ's laptop.

I've mostly paid more attention to the laptop that the game tonight.

"—Senator Bail Organa continues his march towards securing the nomination for President opposite Sheev Palpatine. Organa, of…" The audio of the newscaster's voice continues droning on out of the small speakers in JJ's laptop before a new graphic pops up onto the screen.

The graphic, a circular one, clearly indicates that he is rapidly approaching the needed ½ of all pledges delegates in order to secure the nomination on the first round of voting at their convention, which will come this summer.

There's some blank space in the graphic to account for the fact that not all of the primaries have occurred yet. But that will hardly matter if Organa wins tonight.

"—out of nowhere, meteoric rise from Senator Organa. His approach on the campaign trail, which many inside and out of the beltway dismissed as a fantasy, as well as his message of hope and change has taken the American people by storm and given them hope, many say more hope than they have had in years that this country can be turned around again." A different newscaster monologues before the video cuts to a package of interviews.

"Hey." JJ's voice cuts through to me, getting me to turn to him as he lounges next to me on the couch. "Did you see this?"

JJ extends his phone to me, displaying an article.

"Gov. Green of California fires Col. Ruby following UCLA student shooting"

Governor Peter Green fired acting head of the State of California's Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) late Friday, citing "a clear an undeniable failure of procedures and protocols" in the event of the controversial UCLA student shooting which ended tersely with the death of a shooter.

Green declined to elaborate on specifics, only citing the fact that the state's only HRT team was on a retreat halfway across the state when the event occurred.

"As we all look across the nation, events like these unfortunately seem to be on the rise. And Colonel Ruby ignored that fact, as well as compelling research suggesting that the week in which the unfortunate UCLA event occurred is statistically the most likely to have an event such as the one that occurred. We are beyond fortunate to have had outside assistance to prevent the loss of further life. And in an effort to ensure that this doesn't happen again, I am taking firm and decisive action."

The event, which—

That's enough…

I let out a heavy breath while handing JJ's phone back to him. "No. I didn't see that. Thanks."

He fired him.

Green actually did something for once in his life.

"Convenient that it's a news dump the same night as the primary huh. Surely that's not a coincidence…"

"Probably wanted to cover his own ass." I shrug, then drain the rest of my wine glass.

Clown.

"You got that right." JJ agrees. "Shouldn't have even taken this long realistically…"

"They probably wanted to do a full investigation." I throw out as an idea. "They know what they're doing, the Governor and all that. They probably knew what you found out and investigated. They just wanted to make sure the case was bulletproof so they didn't have to pay him."

They didn't have him resign. They didn't transfer him…

They fired him. With cause.

JJ chuckles. "That's a dark use of 'bulletproof'."

"Not what I meant." I roll my eyes while playing with my phone, navigating to my emails.

I probably got emailed on it.

"Pas—Pass!" Sabine yelps.

"I'm—Sabine!"

The ball goes the other way, ending Jaicey's forward momentum as the two of them are forced to scramble back.

"I was wide fucking open!"

Jaicey replies defensively "I thought I had an opening! I was going to feed you, but had to wait and—"

Sabine grumbles "I had them beat…"

"Fight fight fight fight fight…" Matt eggs them on from his position across from Jaicey, causing her to blindly punch out at him.

"No back seat driving."

Sabine adds "Shut up."

Returning my attention to my emails, I load up today's batch and start scanning.

I checked earlier today before Creative Writing. Nothing new then.

Babylon Directive continu—

Intelligence Report: Cayle—

CC: California Gov. Green fires—

Yup.

Guess I should have checked my email again. Oh well.

"—order for dinner—" Jaicey says while passing the controller to Matt, who gets up to replace her.

"Fajitas sound good to me. From our normal place." JJ says to Jaicey.

Sabine adds "Ooh, fajitas do sound good."

"I'll get half if you want to do that." Matt volunteers.

JJ waves his offer off. "Nah, I got it. My treat."

"But—" I start before JJ just frowns at me, silencing me.

If he insists I guess…

"I'll start calling it in. Some Spanish rice, refried beans, chips, guac and queso…" Jaicey muses.

"That sounds great." I confess, causing Jaicey to smile.

"Be right back."

The sound effect that informs everyone that Sabine and Matt's next game is loading in gets their attention, causing them to start trash talking each other.

"I hope you're better than she was." Sabine quips.

Matt replies "I like facilitating more than scoring. I set picks and play defense."

"I'll need your help though up front…If we get decent teammates…"

True.

Sabine's always complaining about how lousy the matchmaking in this game is.

The people they play with are usually 'trash'.

Which seems harsh, but whatever.

"—only four states -Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, and Vermont have remained on the traditional March Super Tuesday date. Which means tonight is likely a winner take all event. Senator Bail Organa of new York's Alderaan District holds a steady, but likely to increase lead over Congressman Sate Prestage. The five term Congressman from Oregon needs to win at least two-thirds of tonight's contests including must wins of California, Ohio, Texas and—"

Damn… So it really looks like Organa's going to win.

On a whim, I flip over to my messages.

Padmé…

I don't think she'll mind if I fire off a quick text of support.

She won't reply, she's probably busy. But she was right.

She bet on Organa before all this started, And everything she predicted as come true.

Matt and Sabine communicate back and forth about their game as I type out my text.

"So, look like you were right after all."

Send.

Hopefully she won't be too upset about that.

I hope I don't bother her. I don't know if I've ever really reached out to her, I know she's insanely busy with her job, not to mention Luke, Leia, Master Skywalker…

"You want more wine?" I ask JJ as I get to my feet and grab my own glass, setting my phone onto the coffee table.

JJ takes a look at his own glass, then shakes his head. "No thanks. Appreciate it man."

"No problem…" I reply while filing into the kitchen.

Over a month of inaction, then three weeks after seeing Palpatine and getting an earful from me, Green finally—

The Force twitches, garnering my attention before I hear "EZRA!"

Oh shit.

Hurriedly, I scramble—

WHOA!

I catch my phone, which is thrown at me by Sabine before I glance at the caller ID.

Padmé Amidala

OH!

"Hello?" I quickly say, tapping the green button and raising the phone to my ear.

"Ezra!" Padmé greets me. "Are you watching?!"

"Kind of. Hi." I answer blankly.

She…called me?!

"Hi!" She giggles as a reply. "Where are you?"

"At a friend's house, watching the coverage, kind of. Some other friends are playing games. What about you?"

"I'm at the DC headquarters for Bail's campaign. Trying to keep track of the latest numbers." Padmé replies while it sounds like behind her, there's thousands of voices all talking at the same time.

"How's it looking?"

"Amazing." Padmé answers, sounding enthusiastic. "Everything is looking like it's breaking our way and—"

A loud noise sounds out on Padmé's end before I hear her ask "Is that it? Did they call it?!"

Wait—

Screams and a general roar sound out over the call before Padmé says "I gotta go! Bye!"

Did they call it?

Did Organa win? It's like 7 PM here, meaning it's 11 PM on the east coast…

Slipping my phone back into my pocket, I grab my wine glass, which is still empty and return to the entertainment room.

"—comfortable to call the race in Ohio for Senator Bail Organa, giving him the needed 1,979 delegates to mathematically clinch the nomination for president, pitting him up against President Sheev Palpatine this November…" JJ's laptop reports.

"Organa won?" Sabine asks, then glances at me.

"Yeah." JJ nods, then peers at me. "That…wasn't who it said it was. Was it?"

"My parents know her. I've met her like twice." I lie. "I just shot her a supportive text, I wasn't expecting a call…"

Holy hell…what a night.