ADAS KALLIG

Thanks to some changes in the management I was able to secure the alliance with mandalorians. There were some hiccups along the way, like Pre Vizsla's betrayal, but a quick example was enough to convince other mandalorians that it was more beneficial for them to work with me than to oppose me. Mandalorians were not complex.

I also decided to support Bo-Katan as she showed honor and loyalty by not joining other mandalorians in trying to arrest me. I should encourage this kind of behavior in my allies, so that they could give a good example to others. It was sad that loyal allies were so rare.

Either way, the Mandalore sector was now loyal to me, the same as Nar Shaddaa and lower classes of many planets in the hutt space. Oh, and Tython, planet of bloodthirsty savages. Can't forget about them.

I now had an industrial and economic backing, some loyal footmen, aggressive brutes and trained elite. What else was needed for my future army?

Well, some force users would be useful. But where to get them?

I was currently meeting with my allies to answer this very question.

"So" I started "any suggestions? I am open for anything" Bo-Katan, Raksh and Leila were present, but I was looking only at Bo-Katan, because let's be real. Why would Raksh, a shaman from an isolated planet and Leila, leader of my underground cult know about any notable force communities?

"I assume Jedi are out of the question?" Bo-Katan asked with a shaky voice. Why was she still stressed? Royal palace was taken almost an hour ago. Maybe she still craved some violence? I guess it shouldn't be out of the question with a mandalorian. "From what I heard, their relationship with your order is rapidly improving"

"No, it wouldn't work" I said, not even trying to entertain the idea"It would take a lot of time without much benefit. At best I would sway some padawans and even then it would take too long to matter on a large scale. Maybe I will do it once, to get a new apprentice, but not for a while. I appreciate the idea, though. Anything else?" Corrupting jedi was fun, but it was a time-consuming process. I wanted some useful, sustainable force.

"It leaves some more obscure cults. I'm afraid it's not my area of expertise. I apologize" She said, slightly afraid. She should relax a little, the danger was over, there were only friends around.

"...my lord, I have an idea" I turned to Leila, who wanted to say something. That was quite surprising, I wouldn't expect her to contribute to this conversation. She was looking at me, waiting for me to allow her to continue. When I nodded, she spoke again "I was able to hear many rumors on Nar Shaddaa, some more believable, some less. The important thing is that I once heard about a secretive community of witches, hiding on Dathomir. I don't know if it's real, but maybe it's worth investigating?" She looked at me questioningly. Well, I like my followers taking initiative.

"Sounds interesting. Bo-Katan, can you check if mandalorians have some information about Dathomir after the meeting?" After I saw Bo-Katan stiffly nodding, I decided to move to other matters.

"There are two more things. First, I need a personal ship. I want something fast and reliable. Could I trust you to find something suitable for me? Of course I will pay for it, don't worry" Bo-Katan nodded again. Hmm, she looked so confident when I first met her, I wonder what changed, Did she feel guilty for overthrowing her sister?

"Then, the last matter," I said, looking at Bo-Katan, "I would like to have one of your mandalorians accompany me. During my career as a sith lord I found out that it's beneficial to have many different people on board. Brainstorms are more interesting that way"

"...I don't know if any of my subordinates would be useful to you. They are loyal of course, but I don't think they would be able to keep up with you" She obviously didn't want to share any of her subordinates with me. Wow, she was a ruler for an hour and she already feels responsible for her subjects. Well, I couldn't blame her. Death Watch was a small group and she probably needed everyone available to keep order on Mandalore. I shouldn't press her, she wasn't my subordinate after all. If she didn't have anyone for me, It wasn't a problem.

"It's not a problem," I said, trying to sound reassuring. Then I had an idea that would allow me to both get a mandalorian follower and help Bo-Katan with her problem in one sweep. "There is someone else who could be passable as my follower though." I looked at her, making her even more nervous "Can I visit your sister?"

I was about to recruit a former mandalore. Such a rare opportunity!

SATINE KRYZE

Failure. She was a failure of the leader.

She was hoping that diplomacy and pacifism would lead to better Mandalore, free from its warmongering past. That mandalorians would be able to change, abandoning their shameful practices in exchange for the future as a treasured member of the galaxy republic. She was now able to see that people weren't able to change that easily.

If she were to be more narrow-minded, she would have blamed Death Watch for everything. But the truth was, she was the one responsible for this whole situation.

Yes, the chaos on Mandalore was the fault of Death Watch. Yes, they were the ones who turned her citizens against her. But these were just symptoms. If she were to be a better leader, this whole situation wouldn't have taken place. She didn't do enough to keep her subjects safe and loyal and now she was paying the price.

But the worst part was that she didn't know what mistake led to this situation. She tried her best to help Mandalore without having to rely on violence, instead negotiating and trading with others. It didn't work.

Was the remilitarization of Mandalore the only way to stop this crisis? Even if it was, returning to the old ways would make her no better than the members of Death Watch, which was out of the question. Doing so would mean spitting on all the people who wished for better Mandalore.

She was in her room, which was now guarded by several death watch members. Bo, who suddenly became the leader of the Death Watch, decided to put her there instead of the holding cell. In truth she would have prefered to stay in prison with her people, but Bo probably assumed it would be safer to separate them from her.

That's why she was now locked in her own room, without any way out. Her guards took anything that could be used for communication, leaving her completely isolated from the outside world. Like a bird in a gilded cage, waiting to die in captivity.

She couldn't even expect any rescue. Most of the population already joined the Death Watch, leaving only some remaining loyalists, too weak to defeat the much better equipped and trained mandalorian group. The Republic wouldn't help either, as it was too focused on fighting separatists to care about Mandalore.

She heard some commotion outside of her room, followed by a familiar voice, saying "Don't be so stressed guys, she is unarmed. She wouldn't be able to hurt me." She recognized it, instantly making her afraid.

Few seconds later the door to her room opened, revealing Darth Imperius, a monstrous sith lord who executed Pre Vizsla. Why would this horrifying man visit her? Did something happen to Bo?

"Hi, good to see you again" said Imperius, as if not noticing her obvious fear. He entered the room and used force to move the table and chairs located in her room to its center, before sitting on one of them. He then waited for her to sit as well. After she did so, afraid of angering him, he continued. "So, you probably wonder why am I here. Mandalore taken, your army scattered, and Bo-Katan taking the throne. Surely there are better things to do than watching a defeated mandalore, right?" Mandalore? Was he visiting her just to mock her? How cruel does someone have to be to ridicule an already defeated enemy? "Wrong, visiting you is quite important to me. Because you see, I am here to recruit you" he said cheerfully.

What?

Her mind stopped in its tracks. What did he just say? Recruit her?

It must have been some sick joke. To come to the personally defeated leader and ask for their loyalty was probably some attempt at humiliating her.

He didn't laugh though. He was looking at her calmly, waiting for her response. She hesitated, unsure what to do in this situation. Eventually she decided to reply, if only to avoid the wrath of the powerful sith lord.

"...Why would you want to recruit me?" She wasn't a fighter, nor was she a member of the Death Watch. She wouldn't be useful to him at all, being an obvious liability.

"I will be blunt. You are a potential problem to my allies, being the leader of the previous regime. Being who you are, someone would try to rescue you sooner or later, whether it would be your followers or members of the republic, it doesn't matter. Their strength wouldn't be huge though, so they would most likely die. They would still be able to cause some trouble to Bo-Katan though, so it would be better for everyone if no one would try doing something like that" He then titled his head in thought

"Well, some self-righteous jedi might come, potentially capable of rescuing you, as they like to do that, but they would be alone against hundreds of mandalorians, so good luck with that"

She thought of one Jedi who could do that, but she rejected that thought. She already burned that bridge long ago.

He was right though. Any rescue attempt would probably end poorly, leading to more unnecessary deaths. She felt hopeless. She didn't have time to think about that for long, as she heard Darth Imperius continue.

"There is also the fact that I think you would be quite useful to me. You are Bo-Katan's sister, for once, so she will surely be happy that her sister is travelling through the galaxy, having various adventures, instead of rotting in cell with silent guards as her only company"

"A hostage then?" It was obvious what Sith's plan was. She was about to be used as a guarantee of Bo's loyalty. She wasn't sure if it would work though. She wasn't close with Bo, not after she decided to join the Death Watch.

"Wow, you are so cynical. Why would I need a hostage? Bo-Katan is my ally. She already knows she shouldn't betray me" Satine shuddered at the memory. Pre Vizsla wasn't a good man, but he didn't deserve to die like that. It was too horrifying.

"But this brings me to my next point. Bo-Katan said you are quite a diplomat. I am now taking a trip though galaxy, trying to negotiate with various groups, so having someone like you would be a huge boon for me" he then thought about something "It also doesn't hurt that you are a mandalorian warlord, meaning you are quite proficient in 'mandalorian diplomacy' as well" She decided to ignore the last part, as it was an obvious ridicule. She thought about the diplomacy part though. Did he want her to work against the republic, convincing people to join a murderous sith lord?

Imperius then looked at her seriously "But it's your decision. You can stay here if you want. I don't want to force you to follow me. So, Satine Kryze, I will give you a choice. Will you join me?" He said, looking at her intently, patiently waiting for her decision. However, despite what he said, she knew she didn't have a choice in this matter.

He already said so, though not directly. If she stayed in the royal palace, many good people would die, one way or another. There was no place in Mandalore for her anymore. She would be a potential threat to both her former subjects and Bo, risking their safety with every second spent in the sector.

She also didn't believe that she wouldn't be a hostage. It would make no sense for him to take her just because of her diplomatic skills. Skills that apparently weren't that good, seeing as she ended imprisoned in her own room. It meant that the moment Bo decided to betray Darth Imperius, she would be dead.

In conclusion, she was given an illusion of choice. Deal was probably already struck between Darth Imperius and Bo, making this recruitment just a formality. They knew she wouldn't be able to refuse when the lives of her subjects were on the line. She also doubted Bo would be able to stop Imperius from taking her. She was obviously as terrified as everyone else in the throne room after seeing Imperius kill Pre Vizsla.

She looked at the wall, defeated. She lost her people, her throne and her freedom. She would become a hostage to some bloodthirsty sith, who would use her to convince others to join his mad crusade. And she couldn't say no, because for all she knew he would just start killing her supporters until she agreed. It was truly hopeless.

"...I will serve you, Darth Imperius" She said, defeated and tired. Could it get any worse?

"Great. I will inform everyone that you are no longer a captive, but my subordinate. I am sure no one will have any problem with that. Also, I noticed that you don't have a beskar armor which is weird. I will tell Bo-Katan to prepare one for you. A mandalorian can't be seen without her armor after all"

Apparently, It could.