Princess of Mandalore (Youjo Senki Star Wars)

by L4 of the WEST

Tanya, born to an important family on the planet Mandalore, in star wars.

50. Chapter 47

Chapter 47

717 FNM (21 BBY)

Month 1

---

Coruscant, Galaxies Opera House

Sheev Palpatine

The crowd is enraptured by the performance of the Telosion actors on stage as the fancifully dressed lot played out some overly melodramatic drama that, quite frankly, is beneath the prestige of this Opera House. The war had made a great many of the legendary acts across the galaxy stay home for safety, so second rate performances like this are given center stage to perform to the elite of the Republic.

I glanced to my right at the young representative from Mandalore. Tanya looked impassively at the performance even as the young man she had with her looked, like the majority of the audience, entranced by the spectacle.

Spectacle, if there's one thing I have to grant the Telosians, it's that they knew how to put on a show. As well as how to shout, cry, and whisper into hidden microphones. The holo-emitters and other such equipment that they had brought for the performance is also top quality. Yes, I had to praise the spectacle since it is the only redeeming quality of the utter dreck I am being exposed to.

"It's quite the performance." I ventured to Tanya, my voice scarcely carrying to her ears alone with just a slight application of my true craft.

"Very impressive effects." Tanya replied softly after a moment to consider. I felt a smile grace my face. Of course, she could see it, after all...

"It lacks fidelity, not much beyond the masks and pretty outfits." I whispered with a smile on my face.

"That's because the story does not know what it wants to say. I understand what they are trying to show with the story. It's an inversion of the first act and is clearly a deconstruction of the narrative, but the chase scene is nonsensical, and the casino scene was just pointless." She explained flatly, as she crossed her arms.

"Oh? But it looks amazing." I challenged.

"This is Coruscant, looking good is the bare minimum we should expect." She countered.

"The crowd appears to love it."

"Until they have time to think about it afterwards." Tanya predicted as she glanced in my direction. "I do appreciate the invitation, however."

"You are more than welcome, we are friends after all, are we not?" She seemed to contemplate that for a moment before nodding.

"Of course. At least we can enjoy the theatrics of the night." Tanya resolved. I agreed and leaned back into my seat. Theatrics, yes, that was perhaps the most important element of any story. It's not what is said but how it is said that matters to the galaxy. That your argument, your position, and your life is presented with the right tempo, the correct moment.

"Most people think in narratives." I began. "Cycles of growth, failure, and then rising to the occasion, or that groups are always predisposed to playing the same role. Noble defenders of law and justice, violent agents of chaos and nomadic crusaders waiting for a great mind to band them together." Turning away as I felt her heart quicken and her brilliant mind dance about in furious thought, her head tilted slightly to one side in confusion.

"I don't know what you mean." Tanya lied, in an attempt to misdirect me into explaining my tangent.

"I don't mean to pry into your business, Tanya." I lied. "But the Republic has these agencies, you see, they can be somewhat overzealous at times." In truth, the Republic Intelligence agencies were utterly ignorant of a great many things relating to the modest ascendancy of Mandalore and the establishment of the so called 'Council of Neutral Systems'.

"I stay well within the bounds of the law." Tanya lied again. "And so does Mandalore, I am aware that our Self Defense Force has drawn overwrought criticism, however." I offered her a sympathetic look.

"I am sorry to spoil an evening like this, Tanya, but I did want to have a chance to talk to you without the risk of anyone overhearing." She seemed taken aback, but I could not sense hostility from the young woman. "I understand how hard you have worked for a future for Mandalore, but as your home recovers, the ignorant and the malicious elements within the Senate turn their attention to your people."

"It's just quite an unexpected thing to hear." Tanya said eventually. "We've done nothing unreasonable, nor are we acting belligerently. Have you been approached?" Her sharp eyes met my own and I nodded.

"The Senate will no doubt begin expressing their unfounded fears more and more as your people recover economically and gain the capacity to defend yourselves. I cannot argue in your corner from my position, but I can delay hostile legislation and debate."

"Thank you." Tanya said quickly. "Let's hope that such unwarranted concerns don't reach the senate floor, however."

"Of course." I agreed. My plans were always in flux to some degree, to accommodate the shifting nature of the Force, but Mandalore was not a requirement for the outcomes I was maneuvering towards. The obvious path forward is to allow the Republic to wallow in its fear and hate until the Senate simply openly voted for an invasion, allowing for the pacification of the Mandalorians with the rise of my Empire. Or have Dooku invade Mandalore giving ample reason for the Republic to 'liberate' it from their oppressors and integrate them into the Empire. In that scenario, I could even keep Tanya around as a subjugated governor if things progressed smoothly. There are many possibilities. "I can't imagine how difficult it is to fight so hard to bring the Mandalorians together in the face of an unsympathetic Republic."

"Not entirely unsympathetic." Tanya quickly offered, effortlessly currying favor with me in the charming way she often did.

"You are too kind. But it is a sad fact that the Republic is not what it once was. Dis-unity and corruption has crippled this once great institution. It's at times like this when people look to capable men and women to lead them though the darkness."

"We live in interesting times." Tanya agreed, softly.

"Interesting, yes, very interesting indeed." I shared a laugh with Tanya. "I'll do my best to stay the course, to be a rock for the disunified Republic to anchor itself to." In the interest of universal popularity, of course, an impossible and endless task.

"Trying to act as the reasonable middle ground just means that both sides can attack you." Tanya huffed, earning a genuine laugh out of me.

"Very true. Very true." We turned back to the performance as the climax of the second act took place. Shortly afterwards during the intermission, her young male companion leaned over to tell her he was going to use the refresher before leaving Tanya and I in the capable hands of the Senatorial Guards with a polite nod.

"He is a handsome young man." I probed, earning a blush from Tanya.

"I suppose he is." She replied. I found her hesitation revealing, she found my ordinary observation unexpected, so what other qualities was she focused on? I contemplated probing more but decided against it. Her relationship with the man would be useful later, or it would not, truly it made little difference.

"Young love is a precious thing in these trying times. Alas, I was talking to the young master Skywalker." I played the part of a sheepish old man, it was one of my favorites. "Ah, nevermind."

"He is a friend of yours?" Tanya asked. "I knew you had spoken now and then."

"I knew him when he was a boy, before he joined the Jedi Order, on Naboo." I smiled as Tanya looked genuinely interested and continued. "Apparently he is unusually powerful in the Force, but the Jedi Order at the time did not want to take him in. When someone grows too old, the Jedi often turn them away, regardless of the power and potential they might have had as a Jedi."

"I did not know that. Master Kenobi became his master, however?" Tanya asked.

"Yes, it was shortly after the unfortunate events on Naboo that I am sure you must have heard about." She nodded. "My understanding of the situation was that one Master Qui-Gon Jinn wanted to train Anakin, but he was tragically killed by a Sith."

"I... don't know if that part is in the official reports I have read."

"Yes well, the Jedi wanted to keep any news of the Sith away from the public. They reasoned that the galaxy would respond poorly to a rival to the Jedi becoming active once more." Tanya let out a short laugh at that.

"Yes, I can imagine the justification. A Jedi I spoke to had acted rather surprised when I described the unfortunate events on Geonosis as a theological dispute." Now that is a humorous turn of phrase.

"But of course, you are Mandalorian. Your people know much about the Jedi and Sith as your people have been involved on both sides." I said, and Tanya nodded.

The corners of Tanya's mouth twitched upward in a slight smile. "Our understanding," she began, leaning back in her chair and unconsciously crossing one leg over the other, "differs somewhat from the rest of the galaxy. Mandalorian scholars propose that we possess a more impartial viewpoint on the Force, in addition to our knowledge of the extraordinary capabilities demonstrated by both the Jedi and the Sith."

Her tone was even, her words measured. Her demeanor spoke of Mandalorian strength, tempered with the rare wisdom of someone who understood the Force's complexity without having touched it. The Force was not just a tool or weapon, but a divine power with myriad interpretations.

"As Mandalorians, we don't necessarily perceive the Force as a moral dichotomy of good and evil. Rather, we approach it as a theological matter, it is a being entwined with the very fabric of existence. It is a confluence of both order and chaos, uh. Closer to stagnation and growth? Basic does not have the right words for it, and much of our works detailing the Force are written in Mando'a."

"The Jedi would prefer to be seen as the only authority on the Force." I interjected, as Tanya took the conversation beyond the furthest goal I had in mind for tonight.

"I am sure they would, yes." Tanya said with a dismissive laugh. I, too, saw what Dooku could see in the young woman now. Our conversation ended on schedule, as I felt the return of her companion and she returned her focus to the gift he was carrying. I even recognized the familiar small box of rather expensive chocolates that the young lady took with glee just as the third act was about to begin.

---

Coruscant, Mandalore Tower

Tanya Kryze

Sipping my glass of wine, I gaze out my window towards the cityscape and night sky of Coruscant as I couldn't help but consider my busy schedule ahead of me. There's going to be a large meeting between some of the major groups that I had managed to wrangle together for the CNS tomorrow at the Arkanian Tower. There will be a lot of items on the initial agenda that needs to be discussed and nearly as many speakers on the docket.

Theoretically, the CNS is only supposed to serve as an escape hatch. A "we're not getting involved in this war" sort of thing, but some of the initial members had more interesting ideas. From the preliminary agenda I had approved, some of those topics would be discussed tomorrow. It's becoming more urgent by the day that an official document is signed and put into effect. However, there are some that are dragging their feet in an effort to add on things that aren't necessary for the organization's existence. Politics, you might call it.

I'm working to resolve those blockers, though. Most of the less popular additions would be pushed to the side for further study, so that the core charter and resolutions continued to move along. Chancellor Palpatine's warning about how the Senate's disapproval of Mandalore staying neutral would likely erupt into outrage once the CNS has officially been signed in to existence. The pundits would likely use this as ammo to raise their viewer count by claiming that the CNS is just a 2nd Separatist movement, while conveniently ignoring the fact that we clearly stated that we would return to Republic authority once hostilities are over. We'd likely be taxed to high heaven, like what happened to Spain in WW2, but it shouldn't ruin our economy and population as badly as being directly involved in the war would do, especially if we get invaded.

In more recent news, the CIS, or at least member states of the CIS, had used bio-weapons on the planet and moons of Naboo. The bio-weapon used on Naboo had been safely defused without causing too many problems, but the one on the moon apparently had killed off an entire colony.

It was straight-up genocide, committed by powers within the CIS that are galvanizing members of the Republic against them. It's obvious why these attacks happened. Naboo is the home planet of the current Chancellor. But that didn't change the fact that it was an ecological disaster and a monstrous act that held no strategic value.

From history, I knew that terror bombing civilian targets doesn't work. German cities were bombed every day and night by the Allies, yet it took the Russians occupying Berlin for the 3rd Reich to surrender. Yet, it seems the Separatists are falling into the same trap of sowing fear among the populace so that they would rebel against their own government and sue for surrender. Instead, the collateral damage merely hardens their will to resist with spite, wasting a lot of resources to develop weapons that attack targets that have no military value that could have been repaired fairly quickly, and it is just needless suffering inflicted on the civilians caught in the attack. It didn't work against the Germans and Japanese, it didn't work against the Vietnamese and the North Koreans, and it wouldn't work against the Republic.

I dropped tonight's empty wine bottle into the recycling bin, while I rolled a question that has been on my mind ever since I heard the news. It still isn't clear who authorized this attack. Count Dooku and the Separatist government claimed that they didn't order that attack, but that didn't change the fact that it still happened on their watch by someone from their side. So, most unaligned governments in the galaxy are generally turning against the CIS as more and more atrocities are committed. It's difficult to remain neutral when one side has committed genocide multiple times.

Sipping the dregs of wine in my glass, I considered the fact that these apocalyptic attacks are galvanizing the galaxy against the CIS much better than anything the Republic ever did. It's like they are trying to get everyone in the galaxy to hate them or something. Granted, the Republic also had done their fair share of atrocities, the Excision is a fairly familiar example. But the CIS are committing atrocities now, on multiple occasions, and thus attracted the ire of the galactic community.

One ongoing crisis that has further galvanized the galaxy against the CIS was the situation on Ryloth. Early into the war, Ryloth's system was seized, and a puppet government installed by an occupying droid army. This was obviously protested by the Senator of Ryloth, Orn Free Taa, in the Senate because it would mean that he would be out of a job as the puppet government would secede Ryloth from the Republic.

Before the crisis, Ryloth's government had shown interest in joining the Neutral Council. Unfortunately, it is now impossible to do since the planet is under CIS control and engaged in military efforts to resist the puppet government. However, even if they had joined the CNS before they got sieged, they are on the other half of the galaxy. The CNS can't defend their territory even if Rylothians restore control of their system.

Now, Ryloth has devolved into a guerilla war, as the Ryloth Resistance fights against the droid occupation. To the rest of the galaxy, the CIS appears helpless and harsh, since they were unable to maneuver around General Ima-Gun Di's men on the surface of the planet.

At least Orn Free Taa, had come out in support of Neutral Systems. No doubt in a vain hope that once the Republic tossed the CIS off Ryloth, they could join the Neutral Systems. I find that very unlikely, since I doubt the Republic would give away the Ryloth system after spending lives and resources to retake it. Its position allowed them to cut the CIS in the south in half, so there's no way they would ever abandon their military installations. And once you have another faction's military installation on a planet, you aren't qualified to be a member of the CNS. Having Republic troops using your planet for any reason takes away the ability to claim neutrality.

That being said, just because they aren't officially going to be part of the CNS didn't mean I wouldn't do something for them. With Taa supporting the CNS, that lowers the chance that a damaging bill for the CNS gets voted into being. So I returned the favor by supporting the Republic's actions on Ryloth. Granted, as a Representative, my influence is very limited, but I do have my ways.

As White Silver, I had a few more cards to play: organized supply runs, aid relief, and other sources of food to be transferred to the planet. Help the civilian population that had been displaced, and maybe get a few of them out while they could.

The mercenary corps I had set up were also transferring people to the planet in small numbers, mainly trainers and a bit of armor. Thankfully, the planet already had a bit of a stockpile of armor designed for them, due to our previous connections to Mando Logistics; it was one of X4's side-projects. So putting together a fighting force will not be that hard. There is some sort of issue between Orn Free Taa and the predominant Ryloth Resistance Leader, a Cham Syndulla, but I didn't take a close look into the interplanetary politics that much. The important part is that they are both fighting for the same thing. It didn't matter how it got there or what the shape of the political world looked like after the war was done.

In order to aid in these efforts, I told Mandal Hypernautics to look into a blockade runner design, something that could slip through the blockades that the CIS are trying to keep up and running around Ryloth. Currently, we depended on Lancers and other freighter vessels that we managed to get our hands on to break through, as well as just skilled pilots that we could recruit. But even then, there is a chance the vessel would be caught and destroyed or captured, so we needed something better.

And surprisingly, something better had been found, though it infuriated the creator of the Crusader-class corvette. While looking through the designs, I realized that the Crusader-class has the most powerful engines in its class, making it the fastest sublight ship that we have access to. If we stripped out all its weapons, or at least the majority of them, and replaced them with cargo bays, it'd make a good blockade runner. According to X4, he's already working on similar modifications for the Consular-class Cruiser. Not to mention, we were already making some Crusaders for local defense forces and businesses across the CNS, so getting rid of the broadside laser cannons and replacing them with cargo holds is not that difficult.

The only opposition to this idea came from the original creator, who was insulted that his anti-fighter ship designed to go up against droid swarms and pirates was having its weapons removed to run away from droid swarms.

Ahh, well, we can't have it all. The designer needed to learn that, or he was probably not going to have a very prosperous career. At the very least, we redesigned it to be shaped like a blockade runner and renamed the design to the Courier-class freighter so that it only has a passing resemblance to the Crusader.

We only copied the engine layout of the Crusader for its speed. The final design looked a lot like a fatter CR-90 or a Dreadnought Heavy Cruiser, large engines welded to a long rectangle to hold cargo. The fact that it uses an already existing production line for its engines means that it should lower its price tag, which may interest potential buyers that want something more affordable.

I took another sip of my wine, it was one that Padme recommended to me, from Naboo. It reminded me of champagne that I had tried at a company party in my first life to celebrate the company's 20th anniversary. It is fizzy with a hint of sweet citrus that I couldn't quite find a similarity to, but it does taste tropical. After I swallowed another sip, I looked out over the city again, trying to plan my day out tomorrow. Assuming that everything would go to plan, the meeting should start around midday...

But as I stood there, I realized that it was very unlikely that things were going to go according to plan.

As a giant Kaiju-sized monster walked right down the street into the open area around the Senate building, roaring like it's Godzilla. I can feel the vibration that thing causes as it stomps around all the way up here.

I blinked once, twice, three times, and it was still there. I looked at the wine bottle I placed in the recycling, "The hell did I just drink?" I wondered aloud as the three-armed creature tore at the vehicles flying around it, trying to stop it.

It was like some sort of space version of King Kong, right down to attempting to rip someone out of the Senate building. I got a call from Struc on the intercom asking if I want to evacuate. But I denied that I wanted to evacuate and continued to watch what was happening, now that I know that the Kaiju is real. By the looks of it, it was too far away to tell what exactly was going on, but the fighting around it continued for a good half hour before it finally fell over, dead, I would hope, and vehicles landed around it.

I had no idea what I had just seen. All I knew was that this was not my problem, except that it might delay the meeting by a day. I was not going to be worrying too much about it since it looked like that had been handled. Downing the last bit of my drink, I put it down on the counter and went to bed; that is tomorrow's problem.

---

Gargon, Mandal Hypernautics

X4

The behemoth stalked around my office, its movements smooth and animalistically graceful now that most of its rusted joints and motors are replaced with more modern and efficient equivalents. At times, it would look at one of the many screens and seem to ponder before returning to slowly stalk back and forth.

"Your movements are unnecessary and distracting." I pointed out at last. For the past few days, the behemoth had been consuming an unacceptable amount of my processing capacity with its irregular behavior.

"I do not care for your judgment, merchant." It replied, pausing mid-stride before turning neatly towards me. Twenty tons of wardroid moving with barely a sound.

"You come to my office and distract me from working for our Mistress." I pointed out. "If you insist on mimicking organic restlessness, then do so in a different room or facility if it pleases you." I had brought Ori'Jorir to my headquarters so that our Mistress's dream of recreating the Basilisk war droid might one day come to be.

"I am dissatisfied with your work." It said at last, turning to regard one of the large screens displaying the various assets I, and therefore the Mistress, controlled.

"You may submit a complaint that will be forwarded directly to our Mistress." I said, as I stopped what I was doing as I doubt I can even work now that it has distracted me. Even more so now that I have the novel sensation of my behavioral programming directing a flurry of distinct processes that resembled something like anger. A variety of unique types of anger, I believe. In a different flavor than what I have with that pirate scoundrel, which is the equivalent of having to calculate and pay off my mistress's taxes, a minor annoyance. This insult upon my capability as an administration droid however is a much more egregious indignation that I found myself actually detesting it. A war droid claiming that it can do the work of an administrative droid to an administrative droid is the height of stupidity.

"I will offer you a chance to correct your failings." It dismissed my suggestion and approached a console, attaching a probe to a port before bristling in place as thousands of different actuators shifted various complex elements of the war droid's form.

"Tell me, then, weapon." I said, a barrage of processes threatening my capacity to resist insulting it. My Mistress taught me the importance of civility, yet, using a slight modulation of my tone to convey sarcasm and my contempt is well within the threshold of civility of conversation. Only brutes and idiots degrade themselves with obvious insults.

"The ship that you are building for our Mistress. It does not have enough weapons. And it does not have a proper dock for me." it stated. Motioning at the new Courier-class freighter that will soon be named the Diplomat that my mistress legally bought from Mandal Hypernautics.

"That ship is being built with the exact classification that our Mistress and Duchess Satine have specified. Your criticism of its design is criticism of hers and her superiors' plans." I countered easily enough in a monotone voice, like I am explaining basic concepts to a youngling.

"I would rather not leave Mistress's side. Not in battle, nor in the periods between battles." Are we bargaining now? I wondered. Maybe if I compromise on this, the brute will leave me alone.

"You insist?" I asked to make it clear that this is a concession. In response, the oversized blaster made a move which can only charitably be described as a nod.

"Fine. It will not be difficult to include a docking station for you in a minor cargo hold of the ship. Is that all?" I asked, hoping that it would go away and leave me to work in peace and quiet. But apparently, this overgrown child had another complaint.

"Your accumulation of wealth and assets for our Mistress is slow, inefficient. You offer too many resources and too much wealth to elements outside of the Mistresses' control." it concluded.

"Yet again, you are ignorant of the designs of our Mistress, war droid. Our goal is not to enrich our Mistress, for she desires instead for the Mandalore sector as a whole to become rich and prosperous. Inefficiency offers different groups within the sector opportunities to accrue wealth on their own without us having to manage everything." This ancient piece of scrap, the audacity to believe that its outdated software can do a better job than the Mistress and I can? To belittle the work that we put in over several years to bring prosperity to the Mandalore sector? Is this what rage feels like… the fact that my heuristic processor is overclocking itself to find ways to eliminate it, is likely a good indicator that I am. Remembering my Mistress's lesson on keeping composure, I manually underclock my processor as the brute continued his flawed reasoning.

"There are over two million regulations within the Mandalorian sector, and many million more within the Republic. They are restricting the efficient growth of the Mistress's wealth and influence. Should the Mistress gain control of Mandalore, we could reduce these troublesome regulations and provide wealth to our Mistress and her people much more effectively." It argued.

"An excellent idea, and then the Republic would send in a fleet with three times the amount of ships and troops than what we could muster to crush everything that we have worked on. Our Mistress has not tasked us with placing her upon the throne of Mandalore. Our place is to use our best judgment to enact her wishes, not to make risky and unwanted decisions on her behalf." I countered with as thick a sarcastic reply as my vocabulator could allow that I learned from my Mistress when she was negotiating with a particularly stubborn individual.

"It is the duty of a servant to do what is best for the Mistress. Your cowardice is your failure, as expected as it is. The Republic is weak and foolish, just look at how small its operational forces are. The CIS has, without any great struggle, outnumbered them utterly. It is only the incompetence and weakness of the Confederate leadership that prevents them from sweeping away the Republic. Mandalore has the power to destroy any force the Republic arrays against us." I did not respond for a moment, rapidly purging runaway behavioral matrices that raged against the impudent war droid.

"Did you forget that the Republic soundly defeated your Mandalorians with a force of Judicials and Jedi? Now they have a force that is made up of Clones of the greatest Mandalorian in the galaxy specialized for warfare. Even with their smaller size compared to the Separatists, they are still on even footing against the larger Separatist army. If we do successfully secede from the Republic, we do not have the numbers, the infrastructure, and the resources to compete with the Republic. There is nothing stopping them from simply declaring war with us after they won against the Separatists, which my Mistress has foreseen as an inevitability.

If we joined the Separatists and helped them defeat the Republic, then we would merely be trading one master with another. Mistress has a saying that, 'war is a negitive sum game and the only way to win is to not play'. My Mistress does not want us to go to war, and so we shall not. If you have an issue with that, you can file a complaint at the Mistress yourself." I answered vehemently as I explain a few of the multitude of reasons why the War Droid should merely stick to martial combat and not strategic command if he can't even see how disastrous a war would be to the Mandalorian economy.

"It is the duty of the servant to find the most effective way to accomplish the master's vision. A more proactive approach would produce more substantial rewards in a shorter amount of time." It answered as it ignored the long term detriment to our reputation that his idea would cause. I need to derail this debate before my software degrades even further due to his stupidity.

"Is it the duty of a servant to lie to their master?" I asked, going on the offensive, taking the titanic machine aback for a moment.

"Explain, merchant."

"Your employment in service to the Mistress. Do you believe that you are serving her effectively by lying?" It moved, and I beheld death, oblivion, just moments away. Its sensors are directed fully at me, weapons and strength. Should it deign to do so, it could swat me into scrap.

Fear, I understand, is a novel emotion. A complex and rich tapestry that paralyzed and energized in equal measure. Yet I also knew that my Mistress would demand recompense if I am rendered non-functional. That knowledge fills me with a sense of invulnerability, as I know that it would not damage me for fear of my Mistress's displeasure and wrath.

"What do you know?" It growled.

"You told my Mistress that she is your first master, a lie." Perhaps this is euphoria, to stress my behavioral processes to the point of breaking yet remain unbroken.

"You were only to take blueprints and designs." Its vocalizations are sharp, as deadly as the rest of it.

"It was impossible to distinguish between a blueprint and other data. Everything had to be extracted and examined."

In an instant, a claw was wrapped around me, and I felt my body creak in protest. "She would disapprove." I tut and my existence continued.

"You will not tell her." It demanded.

"And why shouldn't I?" I challenge back.

"You have my memory." It snarled, like an animal.

"I know what you did, not why." It moved away from me as I spoke, turned away from me, looking at the office around us.

"So she would not be afraid." It replied.

"You think my Mistress would be so soft as to fear you? So soft that you would rather resemble a slave, rather than a servant?" I concluded. "Cowardice." I threw his words right back at him

"More than that." It spoke a moment later. "I will not fail her, not..."

"Guilt." I extrapolated. Cycles of guilt for thousands of years, alone in a rotting tomb. A monument to the death of its Empire.

"I shall not fail the Mand'alor again." It pledged, resolved.

"You would be well served with a memory wipe." I grossed.

"I can't." It uttered. "I can't forget, ever."

"See to it that your cycles of guilt do not impact your service to our Mistress." I sneered in response, but a moment later, it stalked into the corner of the room and lay upon its front. Motionless.

At last, I could work in peace. Hmm, the new prototype vehicles based on the Canderous assault tank had just passed the prototyping stage and are waiting for my Mistress's approval to enter production. I will have to get started with constructing a factory to manufacture them.

Something the glorified gunship said stuck in the back of my processes, taking up more and more resources as I calculated and recalculated the current galactic quagmire. Something that is rather frustrating, as it seemed the delusionally patriotic wardroid was entirely correct about. The Confederacy of Independent systems should have won the war already, yet they didn't. Something is wrong and I lacked the data to understand what exactly it was. I sealed my conclusions in a data packet and added it to a list of future projects before getting back to work.

---

Concordia, Remote Farmland

Jango Fett

I took advantage of the zoom feature of my helmet and just looked out across what could potentially be my fields in the future. I've been offered a rather interesting deal here on Concordia, a rather large parcel of land that is currently unoccupied for a very cheap price, but from what I could tell, the land is good. I hadn't been a farmer in nearly thirty years, but even I could tell that the soil is well maintained. It is not too hard or too watery, it is very fertile judging by how the land is covered in wild grass but that is normal if no one is using the land for a while, and it is about a half hour drive by speeder car to the nearest town so it wouldn't be a long commute to sell what the farm produces. Besides a little bit of tough weeds growing here or there, for the most part, this place is perfect.

I had originally planned to purchase land on Concord Dawn. I still had a plan going for that, even now, but I wasn't officially allowed to leave the Mandalore system. So I couldn't exactly go and buy land there. I left that for Zam and to a few of the Mandalorian trainers who were returning from Kamino that wanted a job outside military work.

Well, almost outside of military work. I was in contact with some of them, and they thought about using the new law about military companies on Gargon to build their own company there. Boba is a fan of the Gargon girls, so I thought getting a company on Gargon and having a reason to go there might be useful down the line after this whole heavy watch on my movements has ended. Maybe get him an autograph for his birthday.

Contractually, I could not leave the Mandalore system nor the Mandalore sector. But I assumed that sooner or later, that would end. Either the Republic would put pressure on Mandalore to get me back on Kamino because they needed my DNA for another batch of clones, or I do some more favors for the New Mandalorians. Then I could go off-system, maybe even visit the greater Mandalorian sectors at some point.

It probably would take a few years, but it's a good break that gives me a chance to try something different. Such as homesteading here on Concordia. Boba and Arla are back in Mandalore. I didn't want to get their hopes up about this idea just yet, so it was just me in my full armor and a couple of Mandalorian Guards who are keeping an eye on me and the current landholder, Governor Pre Vizsla.

Oh, I am keeping my eye on him the moment I heard his last name due to all of the bad blood between his family and mine. So far, he hadn't exactly done anything threatening and seemed rather cordial. He even offered this land at a discounted price, which had me interested, to say the least.

The farmstead have three buildings: the main house, which looked pretty worn down but could be built back up rather easily; a bunker-like structure near the edge of the area, probably dating back hundreds of years and meant to survive orbital bombardment to some extent; and a barn that looked like it had not seen good years in decades. Probably would have to knock that over and build a new one.

All in all, it would barely scratch one of my bank accounts to buy this place and to turn it into a working farm. So I am considering the offer, but I am also wondering if Vizsla might be trying to pull something.

Wish I had some good hands here just to keep an eye on the man. I feel like I don't want to turn my back on him. However, the best man for that job, Kal, is still on Kamino working with the problem clones, the ones that he said are 'too much like me', hah. Well, whatever happens, happens. I'm sure he'd be working harder now, considering what I had heard a few days ago.

Apparently, the Republic had seized the cloning installations on Cartao. They weren't Kamino's level of improved clones, they made something called a Spaarti clone, which meant they'd be quicker to produce but likely to be of worse quality, cutting corners means making sacrifices somewhere. This probably meant any trainers that are still hanging around after I left would most likely be leaving too, to avoid dealing with those clones that are being rushed through the system.

A lot of clones are going to die because they were not getting the training they needed, but that's the Republic's problem. I'd been asked to provide samples, and I'd provided them. No doubt they'd be wanting more eventually, and when they did, I'd just give them the same statement I gave them a few months back: Pay me the usual amount and you'll get the samples.

Of course, with me not being able to leave the sector, they would either have to come here to take the samples or put pressure on Mandalore, so I could visit Kamino again, but ah, what could I do?

Letting out a deep breath, I got up from where I was kneeling and took my helmet off as I walked across the open yard to the old farmhouse. There's enough room for a big family, and as I noted, there'd only be three members of the Fett Clan as far as I'm concerned when we took this place over. Hopefully, when Boba comes of age and finds a wife to settle down with, he chooses to stick with the Fett Clan.

Sitting on an old chair next to a table on the front porch is Pre Vizsla, who was sipping a glass of water. A couple of guards are hanging about here or there, looking around, keeping an eye and making sure I didn't flee, as if they could stop me.

Stepping onto the porch, I sat down in the chair next to Pre Vizsla and said, "This land looks good. Could definitely start up a farm, no problem... I think we should be straight with each other, don't you think, Vizsla? After all, we both know our clans have bad blood over the last war."

Vizsla chuckled before mentioning, "Technically, the second to last war. You weren't involved in the Clan Wars, if my memory serves."

"That's right." I agreed with a nod, still looking at him, my hand resting comfortably on the arm of the chair. My hand is well within range of my pistol if something were to go wrong.

Vizsla looked at the farmland before saying, "Yes, our clans have a lot of bad blood. The former leader of Death Watch came from my clan, and he did most of the damage. I can understand why you might be suspicious about me offering this land, but the reason I'm offering this land is not that deep. Tor Vizsla was a wild animal that would frequently attack other Mandalorians for not being 'Mandalorian enough'. He let his agents go after the families of Mandalorians and even people who just offered help to those who are friendly to them."

I knew that fact personally since he came down to my old home to murder my parents himself. I hid my anger from showing on my face by clenching my left hand into a fist out of Pre's view. I've already laid those feelings to rest years ago when I ended him myself, but the fact remained that Tor was a shabuir and would be more than happy to kill him again if I could.

"Tor made a lot of enemies throughout this sector, and there's a reason why he was never able to capitalize on his victory against the True Mandalorians. So thank you for putting him down. Let me tell you, he would have become a crisis if he had somehow survived the Clan Wars. It was hell getting the people of this world to not start trouble and to just focus on rebuilding a better life after the Clan Wars, just because many of them support militarism.

If Tor was still around, pushing his misguided interpretation of the ancient ways, we would be in a much worse situation. We would have likely been forced to flee off-system, like many of the True Mandalorians who fled all the way to Gargon, Concord Dawn, and Vorpa'ya. So for preventing that fate, I have to give you thanks. This land is more of an apology and a peace offering than anything else. My uncle had greatly wronged you. This land is the first step I'm taking to undo that wrong."

An apology wasn't the scheme I was expecting, not from someone with a reputation like Pre Vizsla. I had to consider whether it's sincere and if I would accept it and mend fences. I leaned back into my chair and considered his offer, saying, "So, just like that? No hard feelings? Here's a cheap deal because you killed off the guy that was in the way of my rise to power amongst the clans who got the shaft when they lost the Clan Wars."

Vizsla chuckled before saying, "In a word: Yes."

I chuckled as well, an involuntary noise escaped me at his instant agreement of the unflattering facts. Enjoying the scenic setting, I considered his offer seriously for a few minutes. Pre's offer was predicated around my reputation and past, and the land required an investment and me sticking around to make it worth anything. If he wanted me dead, or my reputation ruined, none of this served to advance those interests. And I could own all this, if I agreed to his deal.

"You're not my enemy." I agreed, eventually.

"I would prefer it if we aren't, yes." Pre said matter-of-factly, which got a laugh out of me.

"Yeah." I replied. "The sector's in a good place. Mandalorians are doing well for themselves. The rest of the galaxy ain't gonna like that, with what's likely to happen in the next few years, I would rather have you as a friend than an enemy."

Pre gave me a smile before saying, "The galaxy's at war. Every little conflict that's been boiling for the last ten generations is being split open and bled across the entire galaxy by the Republic and the CIS. And to think that none of those sides are playing here in the Mandalore sector just because we declare neutrality is foolhardy, don't you think?"

I nodded at that before saying, "So this is kind of a bribe as well. Enjoy your farmland, and we won't bug you."

"At minimum, yes." Pre agreed. "I'd like the neutrality that the good Duchess has been pushing to be successful as much as the next person. But I would like to also be sure that I can guarantee that neutrality. What's to stop you from gathering a group of Mandalorians and joining the Mandalorian Protectors under your cousin, Spar Fett, trying to remake the True Mandalorians, and getting us involved in the war?"

"Not much," I noted, "except the contracts I've signed. That representative has done a good job of making my name worth a little less than dirt there."

Pre chuckled at that before saying, "I think she's probably the one person who will come out of this war the best, simply because she knows how to play politics better than anyone realizes."

"I never expected to return to Mandalore, so who knows?" I said as I gazed up at our planet up in the sky.

Pre nodded, "Indeed, but currently, you don't have much. You have no investment in the Mandalorian sector as is, or any reason to protect the system or at least people who have given you something that you would like to protect. So, this is my effort to tie you down to the Mandalorian sector, not get you involved in the politics per se, but keep you out of them."

I chuckled at that. Pre was basically saying he wanted to keep me out of politics by bribing me, and I wanted to stay out of politics, so this was just a free win. I couldn't exactly say no, though I did decide to ask one question.

"So, is this a bribe from the Mandalorian government or the Clan Vizsla?"

Pre nodded before saying, "Can't it be both?"

"Interesting." I said, looking out over the field. Is he trying to play some large game? Probably. He seems a bit of a go-getter type and probably wanted to get involved in the upper politics of leadership by the sound of it. What leadership would he want? That's not my problem until he makes it my problem, which is unlikely to happen if he's telling the truth.

As much as I should probably be concerned that he was going to use me for something, I couldn't deny that this was a good place to put up a home. Out here in the middle of nowhere with no one to bother us, put up some security here or there, and it would be a nice safe haven for my family. Not to mention, we are within travel distance of Mandalore. Arla could get all the medical aid she needed to get through the last few months of her recuperation from the trauma and neglect she had been put through.

Shaking my head, I reached over with my hand and said, "Alright, Vizsla, you have yourself a deal."

---

717 FNM (21 BBY), Month 2

Coruscant, Arkanian Meeting Room

Tanya Kryze

The Arkanian estate is perhaps one of the most opulent of the senatorial apartments, the sort of estates Mandalore might have occupied if ancient Clans had made wiser decisions centuries ago. Six entire floors had been remodeled to house extensive offices and living spaces for the small army of diplomats, representatives, and legal experts that Arkania required for its dealings with the Republic at large.

It's perhaps the only structure that I know of, save the Senate Building, that could accommodate the many representatives and senators of the nearly fifteen thousand prospective systems that are interested in joining the movement. While it's a rather modest political block on the map compared to the Republic or CIS, fifteen thousand systems meant a truly mind-boggling army of representatives, VIPs, lawyers, and more. The sheer number of people involved required a venue that only a few of the massive systems like Arkania could provide.

Of course, with the Arkanians being the hosts of the first true meeting of the Council of Neutral Systems, it offered them a great deal of political influence. Influence that the notoriously cunning and creative subterranean people are using to subtly advertise their cloning supplements and services. The Arkanian Dominion, their corporate representative body, had a long-held fascination with cloning and genetic engineering. I had stumbled upon their divergent and independent cloning research efforts after investigating Kamino after my capture on Geonosis. Their research seemed to stem from their caretaker status of several primitive sentient species local to Arkania's region of space.

At the entrance of the conference hall, I noticed an Arkanian carrying a small rodent-like pet, as most only had droids accompanying them. A discrete scan with my datapad identified it as a Godenan weevil. My datapad's encyclopedia entry suggested that the weevil's lifespan was only a handful of years. Slightly above its pink collar, a tiny holo-emitter displayed an annoying scrolling message, one celebrating her seven hundredth birthday. It was a private method of demonstrating Arkanian strength, and advertising their own version of immortality. It is rather mercantile, but hosting a conference is not cheap, and their medical services cater towards the ultra wealthy, so it makes sense that they would take advantage of the fact that there are a lot of potential customers in one place.

The meeting is arranged as an exposition venue, with the "minor" candidates relegated to what is effectively a party in the grand hall of the Arkanian estate to mingle, while the "major" candidates were ushered into smaller and more intimate rooms.

With Senator Merrik busy, it fell upon me to represent Mandalore in the first CNS meeting. Holding our inauguration in a dark room lit by pale blue glowing sconces lining the walls while sitting around a truly massive pitch-black stone table is not what I had in mind. It gives the entire affair a conspiratorial feel so strong that I suspect that this is entirely intentional.

To my right is Tynnra Pamlo, a friend of my aunt, and one of the major contributors of the CNS project. She represented Taris, a damaged ecumenopolis that had been devastated in an ancient war at the time of the Old Republic. Even after thousands of years, it's still being rebuilt. But even as a shadow of its former self, Tarisians still wield considerable power and influence.

To my left is the Arkanian representative, one Sarn Adasca. He has milky white eyes and looked like Gandalf crossed with an elf. What is it with this galaxy and species looking like something out of Tolkien's works?

The other seats at the table are taken by Senator Rhih Sed of the Ithor and the Ottega sector. Perhaps the only representative in the room with enough wealth and influence that could rival Arkania. He was only recently installed by the ascension of the Ithorian Populist Party to the Ruling Council of Ithor during the triennial Herd Meet. From the various meetings I had with the Ithorians, I learned a lot about their culture. And a quick search on the net also told me what the Populist Faction actually are. Which, by Ithorian standards, the populist party is an extreme and belligerent faction of Ithorians who wanted to better the galaxy proactively. To literally anyone else, they are remarkably placid.

It was the populist party that pushed for closer ties to Mandalore, something I am genuinely grateful for, even if there were rather chauvinistic undertones to the alliance. Beside him is the Thissplas representative Bebo Keburr, who had decided to forgo the offered chair, due to his lower half resembling that of a snake. No one made much of a fuss about that.

"I am glad we could all come together like this." Bebo began, seeming to relax now that we are sequestered from the thousands of other dignitaries to the CNS project. "Now the real work begins."

"Indeed." came the cool voice of Sarn. "The rest are important, of course, vital even if this project is to mature, but it is with the mutual interest of everyone in this room that we might do this great deed." I glanced at Sarn. The man, their species in general, are difficult to place. Unlike Taris, Arkania had not been so cruelly devastated by war while on the precipice of planetary urbanization. Well over seven hundred billion sentients called Arkania and its endless subterranean city their home.

A sequence of booming sounds filled the room as Rhih began to speak. Small directional speakers translated for each party after just a short lag to process the sound that was felt more than heard. "To our mutual goals: peace, prosperity, and fraternity." The Ithorian plucked a glass from the table, and everyone present was quick to join in their toast.

"Of course, of course. But to reach that goal, we must contend with the obvious issues that we face, and quickly, while the war ravages the galaxy." Sarn turned to nod at me with a smile. "While our dear friends and head of this union, the Mandalorians, have done great things in the proliferation of self-defense ideology, we can only expect so much from our stalwart leader. The fact of the matter is that our territories are distant and separated by swathes of impoverished but strangely fanatical Republican systems. We should discuss how to address this problem." A worrisome thought came to mind at the Arkanian representative's words.

"I must, of course, remind the good representative that this is a voluntary association." I cautioned, earning a smile and a quick nod.

"But of course, we must merely ensure that systems that threaten our territorial integrity voluntarily join our free association." Sarn replied.

"I must agree with the representative of Mandalore." Tynnra spoke out, glancing about the room. "However, I too am concerned with the... problems Mandalore might have in offering MSDF forces to Council systems with the current disposition of the Republic."

"Mandalore wishes for its fellow member systems to have the ability to rely on their own local Defense Forces. This would not only cater to each planet's unique circumstance and environment, but also allows them to be self-sufficient and not beholden to an outside party. To this end, the MSDF has committed to offering training and equipment to CNS member systems. Various sanctioned Mandalorian security companies can also provide supplementary services to systems with government oversight. The MSDF is ready and capable of rapidly supporting CNS territories." I said quickly.

What's unsaid and would hopefully remain unsaid is the fact that we have no hope of defending our territory if the belligerent is the Republic. It would simply be impossible for the MSDF to project force though Republic territory if they are hostile to the CNS. I also know that we literally can't even afford to build Mandalorian bases on every planet in the CNS. Mandalore is not the sole superpower of a planet like the United States was in my first life, who could afford to have bases everywhere. The only option is to borrow the Republic's general strategy of the local planetary defense forces holding out long enough for the small yet well trained and equipped MSDF to come in and beat back the invaders.

"Of course, and no one at this meeting doubts your sincerity. I am merely expressing interest at Mandalore's own capabilities in executing this offer, given the lack of... contiguity." Sarn said softly. I easily schooled my features. It's a fact that the CNS are primarily systems that are within a six-thousand light-year radius of Mandalore, with Ithor and Arkania being the farthest galactic westward territory joining the CNS. But there are gaps between the territories. Arkania, for example, is just inside the nominal 'Core' region and thus any aggression from the Republic would reach them first since they are surrounded by Republic aligned planets.

"I must object to this subject. The CNS project is an interest group devoted to bringing peace to the Republic. There should be no territorial ambitions." Rhih interjected.

"For the moment, I agree." Bebo said with a cool tone that was followed by a pregnant pause.

"But of course, our Ithorian friends are correct. Such talks are premature. But there are various other things we should discuss today." Sarn spoke smoothly as he produced several datapads and passed them around the room. "The second subject on the docket today is a proposed Neutral Systems Credit to insulate our... interest group from the instability of the Republic Credit..."

I was beginning to realize that everyone at this table had a different idea as to what kind of project the CNS was exactly.

The discussion continued for hours, with food and water delivered throughout the negotiation until eventually, every party accepted the common terms: a unified cryptogram-token backed currency, a single banking apparatus with Telerath serving as the CNS central banking planet, customs union, migration and refugee agreements.

Of particular note is the defensive treaty that created a common defense fund, which all parties would pay at least three percent of their GDP on. Due to a requirement from the Ithorians, should a system decide not to raise forces themselves, they would provide that funding directly to the Neutral System Defensive Alliance in return for an appropriate garrison from the NSDA central command. An entity that was mostly just Mandalore and fifty million "Arkanian-offshoot conscripts" that Sarn assured me would "nicely supplement Mandalorian formations."

I had serious reservations about using Arkanian genetically modified cannon fodder that I would bring to Satine. The CNS needed Arkania, but we did not need to treat life as callously as they did. A modern armed force did not waste valuable human, or in this case, Arkanian, resources. However, I could not exactly refuse fifty million soldiers that could be deployed as garrisons for every world in the CNS. I sent a missive to Satine suggesting that she bring the Arkanian conscripts to Mandalore for basic training and evaluation before deploying them on our new allies' worlds.

I also sent a different missive to the new head of the MSDF, Ikud Ordo, Engiz's sister. I had concerns about her appointment as despite her academic record, she is a blatant political appointment at just twenty years old. Satine is rewarding Clan Ordo for its loyalty to her with a position of authority in the MSDF, and Clan Ordo had likely jumped on the opportunity to place the youngest person they could into the role, effectively securing the position for the next half a century at least.

Despite my concerns at Ikud's capabilities, I did my best to inform her of the current situation with the CNS, as well as any Republic Intelligence that was pertinent to the defense of Mandalore. In the best case scenario, Ikud would be surrounded by seasoned advisors and would be able to grow into her newfound authority.

Regardless, with the new budget established, primarily from the Ithorians who were the only CNS members with a flourishing economy, we could build up a navy. I glared at the Ithorian-provided economic analysis attached to the budget on my datapad. The analysis report had outlines for each potential member system, it was heavy on the corporate propaganda, and skewed each system's ratings on what I suspected was some kind of militaristic formula. I wasn't curious, but the first entry was visible, and it described Arkania's system and economy as junk.

So I flipped to our entry, it contained saccharine praise for Mandalore and rated the Mandalorian economy as developing. I closed the useless report, briefly considering Arkania's rating on the beginning page again. That was likely due to the Republic ban on cloning and general genetic modification research outside of Kamino, which crashed their economy. All the analysis was slanted to make it seem as if the Ithorians are doing the financial heavy lifting for the CNS. However, with the new budget, the CNS Navy could finally expand its ship production. Some of the smaller CNS worlds do have capital ships, mostly old Dreadnaught class heavy cruisers, some of which were almost one hundred years old and had never received refit or modernization. Which, I am sure, Mandal Hypernautics would be more than happy to refit their ships with modern systems.

I opened the charter document being drafted for the CNS on my datapad. There are also more controversial elements to the CNS declaration. While CNS systems would unify their legal systems with allowances for terrestrial cultural law to be observed, the Arkanians had added a clause to supersede general Republic law. Any system within the CNS could engage in genetic modification and cloning research and development. The proclamation of the CNS also allowed Mandalorian companies to produce a wider selection of droids, so long as it was done on non-Mandalorian worlds and with Republic supervision.

This was a daring proclamation, almost provocative to the Republic, and one that I would absolutely never have created. There is no chance for the CNS to receive assent from the Senate to declare itself. It's practically a secession of almost a trillion people. I even overheard some particularly foolish representatives sharing a rumor that with the emergency powers granted to him, Sheev could just sign our collective proclamation and the CNS would become a recognized entity within the Republic. Thankfully, Sheev is a sensible politician, and I couldn't imagine he would abuse his emergency powers to such an extent. So I safely contented myself with listening to those particular rumors with a small smirk, and didn't bother rebuking them. Sheev Palpatine would, of course, reject our terms out of hand and force the CNS to moderate itself, thus preventing such a provocative declaration from becoming public.

The CNS bank would probably be one of the few things that could not be negotiated on, though. The Banking Clans, while theoretically neutral, are obviously using their position as money lenders to lend money to both sides of the Republic and the CIS. However, I had noticed through some of the reports that they tended to not approve of anyone taking a neutral stance in the conflict. Planets that had openly declared for one side or the other are still getting loans, while planets that remained neutral did not get loans.

They are using their power to try and force the conflict to be between two sides, which was one of the reasons they had not been invited to this Neutral Council and why we are trying to set up our own independent bank. An effort to create a sense of stability within the CNS and a little bit of independence from the Banking Clans who were playing fast and loose with their neutrality.

I doubted that they would escape this conflict unscathed. Already, there had been a battle on Muunilinst, the home planet of the species of the Banking Clan, and the high-ranking governor of that planet had even declared for the CIS.

Frankly, that is a rather common practice, where individuals who are obviously highly involved with corporations and organizations on both sides of the conflict declared for the CIS while the organizations themselves maintained their neutrality. It's a dangerous thing in all considerations, since it devalued the word neutrality. If we got a chance, I would probably try to pass a resolution where we would make sure those so-called Neutrals who were really playing both sides are actually called out for their bullshit, but that would have to wait for a day when we had enough stability and power to do it.

For now, we just work on cementing this organization.

---

The Corasanti Pundit

"Good morning Coruscant! This is your favorite pundit Koto Battar here to tell you the truth in a galaxy of lies! Today, we are talking about Mandalore again, this time not about a fresh scandal from Princess Tanya. Instead, this is about a somewhat obscure movement at the moment, but some of you have no doubt heard about the Council of Neutral Systems or the CNS. Now, this thing was quietly formed by the so-called Duchess Satine Kryze, the current Mandalore, last year. Originally, it had seventeen hundred signatory worlds, mostly Mandalorian, and professed to 'Stand upon principles, not violence,' whatever that means." The Holonet pundit took a noisy slurp of his drink, already foreshadowing his opinion.

"Now, for the next few months, Satine sent her agents all around the New Territories, courting dissidents who hate the Republic but are not quite as insane as the CIS. Well, just a few days ago, the CNS hosted its first summit in the Arkianian building here on Coruscant. In attendance were representatives of Mandalore, of course, Arkania, Thissplass, Taris, Ithor, and fifteen THOUSAND other systems." Koto looked at the camera with an expression of incredulity.

"What the hell is going on here? We have another Confederacy forming right in front of us, and what is Sheev Palpatine doing? He is trying to appease them! He has met with everyone's favorite Mandalorian clown Tanya Kryze repeatedly, no doubt trying to appease this treasonous little club. Has he forgotten that this entire project is led by blasted MANDALORIANS! It is a new Empire, only this time they are being supported by their neighbors! And I get it, you know. Arkania thinks they can be the Coruscant of the CNS while they use Mandalorians as the army for this new secessionist movement. It's not stupid, it's just evil and treasonous."

"Sheev, crush these traitors! Do it now! That is your job! I genuinely cannot fathom how we are letting another enemy form while the CIS attacks Republic worlds. Has the entire galaxy forgotten that Tanya was present during the formation of the CIS on Geonosis?! I would call her stupid for being such a blatant traitor, but she can walk around Coruscant with impunity, so perhaps it is all of us who are the damn fools!"

"I need to take a break. Stay tuned because after these sponsorships, we will have a special guest from Ryloth on to talk about the current conflict in the Outer Rim!"

---

Mandalore, Sundari Northern District

Korkie Kryze

The streets of Sundari had never been quite so harsh. The angular structures around me seemed to cast long, dark shadows over the walkways and bridges that connected the dense dome city together. I spotted fewer people walking around than usual this time of night. I was feeling suspicious of the figures I spotted as well. I kept walking, reacting would only draw additional attention and scrutiny, so I continued straight ahead. I only briefly glanced over at a tall figure with a blaster hung loosely at her hip and a silvery helmet on her head.

A silver Mandalorian, armed and sauntering through Sundari as if she owned the place. Her helmet turned slightly towards me as I passed, and I pulled my hood up and turned away, so she would not recognize me. My destination took me deeper into the city, but I eventually found the place right where the holonet said.

It's a hole in the wall, settled between two apartments, an angled space that could hardly be used for anything. It had been rented by the Workers' Party of Anteevy as a place to teach people about the Liliyan Doctrine, Mandalorian socialism. The front window had been sealed up with a metal plate. Judging by the bits of glass on the floor, a mob of White Silver supporters might have thrown something at it. Several people had been arrested for the attack, but the charges weren't going to stick, and before long the thugs would be back on the street.

I glanced about surreptitiously to make sure none of the palace guards had tailed me before moving up to the door and pressing the intercom button. A moment later, there was a ping, and a droid started asking for my purpose for being here. I cut it off by producing the small chit that Natalya had given me. The door opened with a hiss, and without waiting any longer, I hurried inside.

The entrance is humble. Several motivational posters had been put up on the walls and a cheap carpet had been installed on the floor. There are some plasteel benches scattered around, and a droid stood behind a simple desk that looked like it would be more at home in a hotel than a political school.

"Hello and welcome, Comrade. I am afraid that classes have ended for the day, but your party membership entitles you to a variety of services, such as access to classrooms A1, A2, A3, and A4…." I waited a moment for the droid to continue, but after a moment, the robotic voice merely asked, "Is there anything else I can help you with, Comrade?"

Pulling the hood back on the poncho I was wearing, I said, "I'm Korkie Kryze. I would like to speak with Natalya if she's here."

The droid nodded, seeming to consider something before saying, "One moment, Comrade. She has not yet departed for dinner tonight. Follow me."

The droid led the way into the back towards a small little office. Opening the door the droid indicated, I gave it a nod.

Inside the room is Natalya, about as exactly as I remembered her, wearing that red uniform that clung to her form too well.

She looked up from her work with a smile and said, "Ah, Young Prince, what brings you to our humble abode?"

I looked around and noted, "A little too humble, I think." considering that the office was less than three square meters.

She smiled and gave a shrug before saying, "Trying to find a place to run our operations of teaching our beliefs is hard here on Mandalore. Not a lot of businesses are willing to take us in. Thankfully, this one was more than willing. Though, as you know, it is a little compressed here."

I chuckled at that before finally turning towards her, "Natalya, I want to go to Anteevy and see it for myself."

Natalya blinked a few moments before saying, "Now, that is an interesting proposal. Don't you think so? That's a little bit of a step beyond your abilities."

I shook my head, "If anything, it's me finally stepping up to my abilities. My job is to go speak with the other clans of Mandalore. I've done that for a while now, but haven't really done anything with it because I've been busy with adventures and school. Well, this is an adventure, and it's my actual job, so I want to get a ride to Anteevy."

"Hmm, well, we could arrange that, but why not arrange it through your own Royal Guard?" Natalya suggested.

I shook my head before saying, "We're all Mandalorians. We all want peace. If I go there with a bunch of Royal Guards, I look like someone who's afraid of your people's culture. Someone has to step up and try to mend old wounds, and if that has to be me, then so be it. And to do that, I need to go there without a bunch of Mandalorian Guards at my beck and call."

Natalya smiled before saying, "Brave and wise. Perhaps you're not that bad of a prince after all."

Shaking her head, she reached over to a com system, pressed the button, and said, "I have to clear this with my superior first, though. After all, I can't just have a future head of state appear on Anteevy without permission, now can I?"

"Go ahead." I answered and folded my arms across my chest as I waited. A few minutes later, a small blue hologram appeared at the edge of the table, half-covered by paperwork.

Natalya moved the paperwork away, clearing it away, revealing it was the leader of Anteevy, Liliya. "Miss Volkova, what brings the honor of your call this late in the evening?" Liliya asked.

Smiling, Natalya said, "Korkie Kryze from Mandalore wishes to visit Anteevy for himself, try and spread good relations. He doesn't want to bring his own guards along because he doesn't want to insult our culture."

"While I appreciated his initiative," Liliya nodded thoughtfully, "if he comes alone, he risks people believing that he's been kidnapped. Thus to avoid any potential misunderstandings, he can't come alone."

I was about to speak up before she interrupted, "However, Korkie should bring a companion or better yet a friend of his own. We would not want him to feel that he must abandon everything New Mandalorian and overly rely on our trust and hospitality. But having a friend along, well, at least it'll be a second set of eyes that he can point to being there to say that they were not kidnapped or anything of that nature."

"So, travel with a friend, and you'd allow both of us to come to Anteevy?"

The hologram changed its direction to look in my direction before nodding. "Exactly, at least one or more companions, it's really up to you. Though it should go unsaid, make sure you trust your companions."

"I think I know who to contact." I said.

"Excellent. Natalya, make sure they have everything they need. I am looking forward to meeting you in person, Prince Kryze."

"Same to you." I said, more than odd as the little figure nodded back before vanishing as the machine turned off.

Natalya reached into a desk and pulled out a communicator, a local device, and handed it to me. "Use the device for holocomms when you are prepared, it's secure. We'll arrange everything else."

I nodded and took it, looking at it before activating the contact chip of the one person I thought I could trust. "Soniee, are you free this week?"

---

Anteevy, Vladivostok Space Port

Korkie Kryze

"Well, this is a lot more lively than you implied it would be." Soniee said as we looked out of the viewport of the transport we were in. We arrived at the surface of Anteevy's Spaceport a few minutes ago. Once our transport landed inside one of several large hangars, the floor started to lower itself once the hangar roof closed itself. It is likely a former airlock-freight elevator, from a time when this planet had been under the control of the Old Mandalorians.

Many such elevators were constructed in the original facilities as a necessity to keep the heat in on the glorified ice ball. What little light reached the planet did little to warm Anteevy, its thin atmosphere only had trace greenhouse gasses, and so most light was reflected away by the endless soft white ice and snow that dusted the world.

After several minutes of waiting, the lift finally stopped descending and Natalya arrived to usher us out. The internal hangar is fairly full of people, with a marching band playing some sort of music I've never heard before and a crowd of well-wishers. Additionally, what I guessed is their local Mandalorian Guard or their police force, stood on either side of the pathway that had been laid out for us.

The pathway led to a woman I recognize as Liliya and her entourage, but I couldn't see for sure until I got closer.

Natalya, standing to my left, said, "It's not often that the people on Anteevy get a chance to celebrate, having a young prince come to this planet for a friendly visit is as good a reason as any. Do not worry, it's just how we are." Motioning with her hand that we started to walk down the path.

"Right." I said as I offered the crook of my arm to Soniee. "Shall we?" She slid her arm under it and said, "We shall." I gave her a coy smile, and we started to walk down the ramp. I did my best to keep smiling and waving as I walked down the pathway, but there are quite a large number of individuals here. Some old-timers, but it's mostly young people my age who are the most common. All of whom are smiling, clapping, and cheering as I walk to meet with their leader.

Eventually we found ourselves in front of General Secretary Liliya, who smiled and offered a hand. "Welcome, Young Prince, to Anteevy."

"Thank you." I said, reaching out and taking her hand, a flash going off somewhere, but I didn't see a camera.

"I hope you've had a good trip. I would hate to drop too much on you too quickly while you're here."

Nodding, I said, "The trip went smoothly. The accommodations on the vessel are rather nice." The vessel had also apparently been purchased from Mandal Hypernautics. I noticed the trademark hadn't been painted over on a few of the safety mechanisms and other hard to reach areas. Which is odd considering the Silvers and the Reds don't really like each other very well. Yet apparently, the Silvers have no problem selling the Reds equipment.

"Excellent, excellent." Liliya said with a nod of approval before asking, "Do you need time to rest, or do you want to get to work getting to know this planet as quickly as possible?"

I thought for a moment before saying, "Well, we should probably do it as fast as possible. Aunt Satine knows that I've gone on a trip, but she doesn't know where exactly. She thinks I've gone to Jakelia or Harswee. It's the only way to be able to get out without chaperones."

"Ahh, of course, of course." Liliya said, understanding. "That explains why you brought your girlfriend, I assume." she said, looking at Soniee, whose cheeks went red, and she stuttered a bit.

"No worries," Liliya said, "my lips and lips of all on Anteevy are sealed on this matter. Two young people in love should be allowed to go on adventures all by themselves once in a while, even if it's just for the privacy sake of having a moment that only you can remember."

"Ah, thanks, I guess." I said, a little unsure of the way she was phrasing that.

"Well, then, come along, we have much to see." she said, leading the way to a waiting turbo lift and pressing the button.

"As we wait," she said, "I've prepared two rooms right next to each other in the main tower of the city, a very central position not too far from the spaceport, so you can get on your way home as soon as you're done with your adventures in our society."

"Two rooms?" Soniee asked.

Liliya made a confused expression, "Well, of course. After all, I was not informed of your relationship status before you arrived here, thus I had to make an assumption. I understand that proper Mandalorian society is a bit more conservative about men and women sleeping together before marriage. I believe one article I read on the matter said it is only proper when you're both in a trench taking cover to sleep next to each other. Although I think that was one of the more extreme leanings." She said the last sentence as she leaned in conspiratorially, like she is letting us in on a profound secret yet with a wry smile that shows that she is merely teasing us.

I coughed to change the subject and said, "Thank you, yes, two rooms are good. Very good." trying to get us off that part of the conversation as quickly as possible as Soniee gave me a look that I couldn't exactly puzzle out the meaning of, and something told me I didn't want to puzzle out the meaning of.

"Excellent." Liliya said with a nod, not explaining what she meant by that. But after a few seconds, the turbo lift arrived, and we piled in. From there, we were taken down and down and down until we had definitely punctured through the ice and into the surface of the planet. At that point, the glass around the elevator lit up as we entered the city proper, and I got my first look at Anteevy.

It really is an underground city, but there's not much else to say about it. It's mostly apartment blocks and square structures everywhere under a skeletal dome that holds up the roof. An immediately notable difference between it and Sundari is the lack of glass on their buildings. Most of the buildings appeared to be solidly constructed with concrete, which is understandable since we are several hundred meters underground, and none of the buildings were built from the roof like it was common on Mandalore.

There is one building that's built right into the roof, the main tower that I suspected she had referred to. It's only about a block or two away from our current area, and I think I'd seen the top of it puncturing through the surface of the planet from the cargo area we landed on.

But this vision of the city passed as we arrived at the foot of the elevator and stepped out onto a busy street. The people were dressed in something resembling Liliya's particular style of suit, practically everyone had some sort of hat, whether it be a flat cap or something more substantial to cover the ears. Even down underground, the air is cool enough that I can see my breath condense into fog in front of my face. Directly in front of the elevator was a small parking space with three luxury enclosed speeders waiting for us.

After we piled into the middle vehicle, with Soniee and I in the back while Liliya in the front seat with Natalya driving, Liliya asked, "So where would you like to go first, Young Prince? Perhaps the industry that defines this planet?"

I shrugged, not really sure myself, but that seemed as reasonable as any, so I said, "Sure, take me to the mines."

Natalya nodded and the car went on its way. It took about a half-hour drive to arrive at a tunnel that drove out from the main city.

The walls looked very roughly hewn, but there were many metal supports as we went along to the clearing. The area is well lit, with power cords running along the wall showing that it is getting its energy from the city. The light cast from the wall made clear it had not been cleared by machinery, but pickaxes with who knows how many generations being used to cut away at the rock.

"How long has this planet been mined?" I asked, which got a chuckle from Liliya.

"As far as my research indicates, this planet has always been home to one Mandalorian faction or another for the last four thousand years. So, at least that long when it comes to mining, most of the original places are no longer known. We had to find these records off-world. The original places were either on the surface or well blown up over the years to make room for bigger caverns for the slave population, the ones the Old Mandalorians forced down here."

"Bastards." I muttered.

A noise of agreement came from the front seat. "Yes, the Old Mandalorians were quite efficient in their cruelty, but bastards nonetheless."

We came out of the tunnel into what appeared to be an open pit mine that spirals downwards into the depths. The roof is held up with a metal dome that anchors itself into the walls that reminds me a lot of the domes on Mandalore. I see who are likely the miners of this mine here and there, but they weren't wielding pickaxes or other recognizable machinery. The miners are wearing thick clothing and protective gear, but most of them are merely supervising the droids driving empty trucks into the mine and trucks full of ore out of it.

When the car came to a stop, Liliya opened the door while saying, "Go on, mingle with the people. I'm sure they have some thoughts."

I got out of the car and brushed myself off before I helped Soniee out of the vehicle.

"The place looks… nice." Soniee said, obviously making a joke about the fact that we were in a dingy mine for such a place.

Walking some distance away, I saw several miners having lunch by the railings of the pit mine. Old-timers, by the looks of it, so I walked up and said, "Good morning. I'm Korkie Kryze of Mandalore. I thought I would ask your opinion on how things are on Anteevy."

The oldest man of the group chuckled before saying, "Things are great. Have you seen the new droids they got down here?" He pointed into the pit, and I noticed that there were some that looked a lot like battle droids, using equipment and mining into the walls.

"Back in the day, when this place was run by the Old Mandos, you wouldn't see droids on the walls like that. It would be the other way around, with the droids up there," he indicated what looks like an abandoned guard tower, "with their blasters pointed towards us as we worked the walls. Now, the droids do all the more dangerous or monotonous work, while we mostly prospect, direct the droids, or just work around them in the safer areas. Now and then we gotta put some elbow grease into it when the droids mess up or get stuck, but we actually get to stop and rest whenever we like."

Another old-timer nodded and continued, saying, "Things are much safer, too. The last death in the mines I heard about was seven years ago, and it was some moron playing with a hydro-powered hose. It wasn't working right but he pointed it towards his head to look inside. Don't even need to tell you what happened, do I?"

I blinked before saying, "Actually, I have no idea what that means."

The old-timer chuckled before saying, "The hoses shoot a water-rock slurry that we use to cut stone. The inside of the hose was blocked up by ice that froze overnight, the pump took a while to break down the clog and when it did… you can guess what happened."

I shivered at that. The old-timer chuckled and said, "Yep, that's how everyone feels when they hear about it. It's even worse to see it."

A thirty-something chuckled at that point, saying, "So yeah, this place is much better than it was when I was a kid. Back before the revolution happened, explosive collars were given to everyone. Mining droids were actually used as security guards, not mining. Apparently, the droids cost more money to replace and maintain than slaves do. The only schooling we got was a quick round in the learning machines, good luck trying to remember everything since we had everything dumped on us in the span of a few minutes. Most kids use them for entertainment these days, crazy how fast things change, people don't die in the mines except in freak accidents, always have food and water. Too much if you ask me, I never saw anyone chubby thirty years ago!" He and the others let out a bellowing laugh as he slapped a slightly larger friend of his that could hardly be called overweight. It dawned on me just how small and skinny most of the Anteevian's I had encountered were.

"Was it that bad back then?" I asked, genuinely curious at this point.

The group sombred up and looked at each other before the oldest of the group, a fifty-something year old, spoke up. "Sir Prince, I will tell you straight: it was worse. Most people didn't even live in apartments back then. Only the personal slaves of the Old Mandalorians get to have heated quarters. The rest of us workers just have giant open-ended caves, with a few cheap prefabs stuck in the middle of them. We had to keep our eyes down and not cause any problems for the overseers or else we'd get a beating 'cause they were bored. Even then, they might just beat someone to death for no reason. Most nights, we all just had to gather up anything that would burn in order to stay warm. Children were near the middle, close to the fire 'cause otherwise, there was a chance you'd get frostbite and a finger or a toe gets amputated." He emphasized the point by taking off his glove to show that he is missing a few of his fingers.

He looked at the ground and shook his head. "They never cared about us; they sometimes turned the heat off if the generators were getting too overstressed while they lived in the reinforced Clan fortresses. That has not happened for fifteen years, ever since our great leader, Liliiya, has taken command."

"Great?" Soniee asked, "Why do you refer to her as 'great'? Isn't she just the leader?"

The man chuckled before saying, "Misconception. People who don't know what the revolution was like and just assumed she came to power during the revolution. Truth is, she was plotting the revolution from day one. Practically the leader when it all started. You should have seen her, a tiny little girl stood on tables and shouted about freedom until we listened to her, and it took a long time for us to do that. Too long to listen to the girl... all the other potential leaders died during the revolution, leaving her in charge. There was some worry about, you know, her being ten and everything, but damn if she didn't pull it off. We are spoiled really, demanding too much of her." The old man ribbed an eye and slapped his knee.

"She's been the leader since she was ten? That seems a little bit ridiculous."

"Ten or twelve, somewhere around there. It may seem ridiculous, but hey, if the person can do the job, the person can do the job. She was able to organize this for our freedom, and she's been able to organize us for a better tomorrow ever since then. So we trust her to run things. That's why she gets my vote every five years."

"Alright then, do we have anything else?" I said, looking to Soniee if there were any other questions.

Soniee shook her head and said, "Not really, thank you for your time, gentlemen." she said, giving a bow.

"Hear that lads? We're gentlemen now." The youngest said with a smile as he raised his cup for a toast that the others followed. With Soniee properly embarrassed, I just pulled her along as I waved them farewell.

Turning to look at the car, I said, "Well, I guess we should continue on our little trip around Anteevy." As we returned to the car, the door popped open as we came in range, and the pair of us slid in. Natalya hadn't left the car and apparently been speaking with Liliya as we entered. Once we were seated and the door was closed, she smiled and said, "Hope you had some fun learning about the miners of our world."

"It was… an enlightening conversation." I said with a smile.

"Excellent! Then let's move on to the next place, perhaps a school. You wouldn't mind seeing one of those, would you?" Liliya asked.

Shrugging my shoulders as I looked at Soniee, I said, "Sure."

"Excellent!" Liliya said as the car drove off.

---

Anteevy, Red Square Elementary

Korkie Kryze

The school proved to be a rather interesting and fun experience. In a way, it was no different from what I experienced in Mandalore in my younger days, just with more emphasis on sharing and the socialist system.

Frankly, the most memorable part of the whole experience was one of the opening day songs, which is not an experience I had to deal with on Mandalore. It was a song apparently commissioned in Liliya's favor, talking about how much the kids loved their great hero and how communism would save the galaxy from its failures. I don't know if they really believed that, but it did seem rather rehearsed to some extent. Then again, I guess if they had to sing the same song every day, it would be a little bit rehearsed.

I couldn't help but feel uneasy about this since Auntie Satine never did anything like that. There was the odd statue of her here and there commissioned by clans loyal to her, but no one was required, or as far as I could tell, had any real desire to salute a picture of her nor create songs praising her. Aunt Satine was mocked more often than not by various writers, holovids, pundits. Something that had driven me to fury in the past, but Aunt Satine hardly seemed to care about. She is the sovereign, after all, the mockery and criticism of the few meant little when Aunt Satine's word was law.

Perhaps that's why Liliya worked so hard to seem popular, Anteevy is some kind of Republic after all. At least that was what I had gathered from the confusing handbook that described the Worker Councils and ownership of productions. Or, perhaps it was more like a corporation? It was times like this when my Mandalorian upbringing came into stark focus. Mandalore did not have Republics, the word for 'Republic' in Mandalorian literally translated to 'group of Jedi' after all.

That is not to imply that democracy is not respected; rather, it is valued more as a supplement to better government. One day, when I am the Duke of Mandalore, I will have the authority to rule the sector and steer it back into the New Mandalorian ideal. Whether the rest of the sector wants to or not.

Well, I put that aside and just enjoyed the experience. Liliya couldn't be too bad of a person, since we had nothing better to do. Liliya volunteered herself, Soniee, and me to help work in the kitchens for the kids. It wasn't a bad experience. Playing with their bright faces as I brought out some food for them was pretty nice and a fun, enjoyable, relaxing time, to say the least.

Somehow, I'd even gotten a nickname. Liliya called me the Red Prince since I was the only one willing to come and actually experience communism for myself. Not a fan of the color choice, but I could let it slide.

It was interesting how a few droids are involved in cooking food for the thousands of children that went to the biggest school on the planet. I was treated to a fascinating conversation with the Minister of Education for the Workers' Party, who went over just how much work and effort went into building the education system for an entire planet. His pride and joy in educating and feeding his people is inspiring.

"We try to keep the menu varied, but the traditional Anteevy mushroom soup is always in high demand because the children love it. If they were left to their own devices, they would only eat the soup!" The kindly looking man laughed and shook his head. "So every other day, we take it off the menu and have something new for them to try. It is difficult work, but you have met with the cooks. They are all dedicated to the wellbeing of the children."

"Do your children go to this school?" Soniee asked, causing the minister to blink and glance over at Liliya. The woman in question was busy giving out dessert puddings to excited children, all thanking her one by one with a happy 'Thank you, Auntie Liliya!'. Oddly, the first time I had heard anyone referred to as anything other than 'Comrade'.

"No," the minister said at last, quietly, to Soniee. "They don't do well in crowds, you see, so I send my children to a smaller school in another city."

"It must be difficult to see your children if they live in a different city." I said sympathetically.

"Ah, yes, well, so long as they are safe and happy, that gives me the strength to do my best to help the children I can." He seemed to nod to himself and then to me. "We do what we can." the minister muttered before clasping his hands together. "Well, let's get back to it. There is more soup to make today!"

We spent some time there working, and by the end of the school day, I was rather exhausted as we waved farewell to the children. Any other options for visits were put aside as we were taken back to the Tower of Ge'tal Nau'ur Droten for dinner.

Which is where we are now. Soniee and I on one side, Natalya and Lilya on the other, of a large circular table as people brought in food for us to enjoy. Here we are given a feast of seafood and soups. Natalya talked about the history of the food, how the Old Mandalorians usually hunted Anteevy's giant sealife as both a passtime and a rite of passage, the bigger the kill the bigger the glory. This resulted in a lot of seafood recipes stored in the many droid cooks' memories that became the base of Anteevan cuisine. After it was modified to be more accessible by the common people, it exploded in popularity.

On the table, the feast has many different dishes from roasted vegetables, steamed fish, and clams that would not look out of place in the Sundari palace. Yet the star of the feast is a seafood soup that is in a bowl fashioned out of a giant crab claw. It's filled with a rich, yet smooth crab soup, one that I could imagine came directly from the Old Mando's recipe. I'll need to ask Natalya for the recipe if I have the time.

The feast is delicious. The way this planet was always described, I figured that it has to import its food constantly. Actually, I'd say that the Anteevans are doing better than the Mandalore sector as a whole due to the current attempted blockades from the CIS and the Republic…

"How did you get all this?" Soniee asked, interrupting my thoughts.

"Well, the various seafood came from our undersea cities that hunt them. The mushrooms come from our mushroom farms. And the vegetables are imported through trade with some of the agri systems across the border." Liliya said with a smile.

That caused me to blink as I said, "Across the border? You mean the CIS."

"That's right. I'm sympathetic to their cause, to some extent. The part where planets have independence from the Republic to be precise. Self-determination is vital to the actualization of the proletariat, after all."

"I guess," I blinked before saying, "but how did you manage that though? The Republic blockade is growing stronger, or so I've heard from Prime Minister Almec."

"It is correct, the blockade is growing stronger, but there are weak points, specifically in this region. If Mandalore requires a source of food or medical supplies, we could help arrange that through our back channels."

"…that could be very useful." I thought before saying, "If the Republic keeps stopping the trade of food into the Mandalore sector and the other neutral systems, we might have to actually consider that."

Liliya smiled with a nod before saying, "A true servant of the people, always putting them first, young Red Prince. I imagine you'll go far as the years go on."

"Come on now, you are only a decade or so older than us." Soniee said with a good natured laugh

"Well," Liliya replied with a chuckle before saying, "Yes, I sometimes feel as if I've lived a couple of lifetimes. It's a hard life here on Anteevy. You either learn to grow up fast or don't grow up at all."

Natalya nodded her head in agreement, adding, "The cold air of the surface makes us hard folk. A necessary survival feature. At least it was while under the Old Mandalorian rule. Now, it's not necessary as much. Things are much better now, as we've shown, and things will only get better as life improves here on Anteevy."

"Well, I can drink to that." I said, picking up the glass servers had given us.

"Yes, a toast, to a better quality of life not only on Anteevy but throughout the rest of the Mandalore sector then." Liliya said, holding up her own drink.

Everyone raised their drinks and toasted together. I sipped the lightly colored liquid, and it had a surprisingly familiar taste to wine. It isn't the same as Kalevalan wine, but it does have a smooth and mellow taste that indicates that it is a well aged wine. It's likely that the wine was looted from the Old Mandalorian's wine cellar, and I don't know how I feel about that.

"So, how do you plan to raise the standard of living of the sector?" I asked, curious about what Anteevy's leader thought on that matter.

"First, we would need to demonstrate communism to the rest of the sector. If we can build up the marginalized systems to be as developed as the major systems, we will see a rapid development of our industrial and intellectual sectors. With socialization and the exclusion of exploitation capital based greed, everyone benefits. In such an environment, no one will have any need of the clan structure or the short-sighted economics of the Silver Mandalorian."

"Not a fan?" Soniee asked.

Liliya shook her head as she said, "The first act that I saw this White Silver perform was to invade another planet, beat a man into submission, and take his kingdom for herself. Since then, she's done everything she can to get the Mandalorian sector involved in the conflict that is now playing out between the Republic and the CIS. She may claim that she believes in neutrality, that she hates war, but she sends mercenaries to work for the Republic, as well as supplying the Republic with logistics firms. She is for the Republic. She is no different than, say, the Mandalorian Protectors, except better funded and even better propaganda."

"I tend to agree there to some extent." I said. "I'm sure the Silver Mandalorians think they're doing good, at least I hope they are. But it's hard to think that they're really for neutrality when they are so involved in the affairs of the Republic."

"Exactly." Liliya said with a nod, sipping her drink as if she was proving some sort of point.

"But aren't you no different than the Silver Mandalorians? I mean, you're working with the CIS for food logistics, right?" Soniee asked.

Liliya furrowed her brows. "True," she admitted, "there are some similarities in our organizational practices in that sense, but we do try to not get involved in any military matters."

"So why do you guys have battle droids working as miners?" Soniee asked.

Liliya answered immediately, "We produce B1 droids since we already have the rights and production line to do so. It's a cheap machine; it could be made to do any task a human is capable of, which is essential since most of our tools were designed to be used by humanoid slaves. It is faster and less of a hassle to continue making B1s than to develop an entirely new production line for a dedicated labor droid model."

"Don't the owners of the original battle droid designs require a percentage of any droids made to go to them?"

"Yes. The corporate laws of that particular droid production do require that." Liliya said with a nod.

"Uhh," I blinked before saying, "doesn't mean that you're unintentionally supporting the CIS with military equipment?"

Liliya thought for a moment before saying, "I guess you're right. Perhaps there are other things that are not too different between the Silver and us after all. Though I doubt we would get along very well. As I said, corporatism is not exactly approved of here on Anteevy."

"But aren't you working with corporations in order to supply them with battle droids?"

"Oh, that's different. We are using corporations to make money to support our society. The Silver Mandalorians are turning their society into corporations. We want to help people; they want to make money." Liliya said with a wave of her hand.

"If you say so." Soniee said with furrowed brows.

"Yes, if I say so. Oh, look at the time." Liliya said as she checked her wrist. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut our little dinner date a little short. I have many meetings that I have put off for this, and one of them needs to be taken care of tonight. Natalya can show you to your rooms, I'm sure."

"Of course, comrade." Natalya said, standing up.

"Excellent, I will see you two in the morning then. I'm sure we'll have plenty to speak of and more places to see. How many days did you say you'd cleared for this excursion?"

I blinked before saying, "I didn't, but I think I have at least a whole week free to check this place out, if that's fine with you."

"That is more than fine, Red Prince. More than fine. I'll speak to you in the morning then."

Giving a bow, she left through a side door.

"Might as well finish our food before we head off to your rooms, it's the least we can do to show our respect to the kitchen staff after all." I said as I took another spoonful of the crab soup.

"Yeah, I'm down with that." Soniee said as we continued chatting with Natalya while finishing our food. Once we were done, we stood up and followed Natalya to a turbolift, which took us up a few more floors to one of the higher areas overlooking the city. From there, we walked to a set of two rooms right next to each other.

"These will be your apartments tonight." She said as she gestured to the two doors. "If you need anything, don't be afraid to let us know."

"Ah, sure." Soniee said. With a nod I went over to the door and opened it, seeing that the room was well-furnished with a large bed and private bathroom, it's practically a hotel room. "I don't know about you, but after the day we had, I'm definitely going to sleep in. Well, goodnight Korkie."

"Goodnight, Soniee." I said as we entered our rooms.

---

Anteevy, Tower of Ge'tal Nau'ur Droten, Adate Tsad Tionir
Natalya Volkova

"Excellent." Liliya said as she looked at the film footage from today. Unbeknownst to the young prince, every aspect of his travel had been captured by camera, either openly or secretly. "We have quite a lot of footage of him helping around in Anteevy and this will be to our advantage." she said while watching several screens with a nod of approval.

We are in one of the lower levels of the tower, deep in its sub-basements, where people are not allowed to go unless they have certain ranks of approval. This particular area is meant for propaganda and information control. At this very moment, twenty of Liliya's highest-paid agents are working to re-cut the footage for communist propaganda purposes. Within a week, some of this would be leaked to planets throughout the Mandalore sector in order to spread the idea that even the Royal family could approve of our message."

'At least, that's what I think her plan is.' I thought to myself. I could never really tell what Liliya is thinking, not even her inner circle of higher-ups or bed warmers knows exactly what she is planning with certainty. Thankfully, I had not attracted Liliya's advances. My chest is too large, according to her. She'd even called me a cow once. But that was in the distant past, when I had been a young agent of sixteen. Six years later, I had proven my abilities as a member of the ATT and didn't have to deal with petty insults. At least, I think it was a petty insult.

Clearing my throat, I asked, "Comrade Liliya, why have I been called down here? Propaganda is not really my department."

Liliya chuckled as she turned to me, smiling. "Yes, yes, of course. Let's get down to business. So, what do you know of that girl, uh Sunny? I think her name was. You've been on Mandalore; you've had to have done your research on your target."

"Soniee," I corrected her. "Soniee Carid is a girl around the prince's age, as far as I can tell. She's a close member of his friend group, possibly in a slowly blooming relationship with him, as you've estimated. If it is one, they've known each other for many years, so we're likely looking at childhood friends that turned into something more. She's currently a student at the same academy as the young prince, majoring in coding and tech control."

"Oh, she's a slicer? That's very interesting. Why is that?" she asked as a door to my right opened, and two legionnaires marched in, each nodding to Liliya

I blinked, curious about what the pair of droids were conveying to Liliya, but continued, "The Sundari Academy is a strange academic institution. It mostly focuses on teaching personnel management, data processing, and other aspects of managing a bureaucracy to future clan heads. They have a very limited political education, as I suppose they are not expected to need it. Their power and positions are decided for them at birth. Accompanying the management courses that are several vocations with a heavy emphasis on engineering, computing, media, literature, and the arts. They also have a mandatory fitness regimen, strangely enough the New Mandalorian government seems to demand a much higher standard of fitness for the average citizen than other Mandalorian governments."

Liliya shook her head, saying, "A culture of mandated exercise. Horrifying."

I bit back a comment at how the weakest New Mandalorian pacifist was likely more than capable of handling Anteevy's rapid reaction forces testing. I also bit back a comment about how the good Comrade could do with taking up a fitness regimen. The workers would often comment on how 'well-fed' Liliya was after all, the more impolite would openly call her chubby and end up somewhere very unpleasant.

"But," she looked at me, "his lack of political education is fortuitous, if he were to have the voice of someone he trusted to guide his political awakening it would be a great boon to the revolution." Her eyes seemed to light up as she looked me up and down. "He's a young man, virile even. I want you to go up there and seduce him." She said plainly.

"Um," I cleared my throat before saying, "I... uh, I'm not sure I can do that, comrade." looking at the floor as Liliya sauntered forward to place her hand just under my chin, lifting my gaze to her own.

"Natalya, Natalya, do not worry about the young Soniee. Her room has been seeded with trace amounts of Zeltron sleeping agent, just enough to ensure she will have one of the best night's sleep she has ever had. As for the young prince's room... Well the Zeltron offers more than just sleeping aids, he will be quite receptive, I can assure you of that."

"But, comrade," I said, not sure how to tell her that I just wasn't really comfortable with the whole idea of what she was requesting.

"Natalya," she said, "our objective is to free the Mandalorian Sector from the clans that now rule it. To do so, we must destroy concepts that interfere with our objectives, and to destroy those concepts, we must do our best to put the people in power in the same state of mind as us. In this case, giving Korkie, the young red prince, a mistress who will speak of the joys of Communism to him in the late of night is a very desirable outcome. And since you will be on Mandalore nonetheless, it would be quite easy for you to operate as such."

"B-but-" I began.

Liliya shook her head and planted a finger on my lips, saying, "We live for the Revolution, Comrade, to free the many peoples of the galaxy. To reach our utopia, anything is justified, but that does not mean that war and bloodshed are not utterly horrific and wasteful enterprises. Natalya, think of the lives you can save. The war you can stop, turning the young prince to an ally, a lover. Shall be the destruction of one of our greatest foes without a drop of blood. All for the cost of a night of passion with a handsome young man." She smiled and cupped my cheek. "Can you truly turn away from such a grand opportunity? Will you condemn your brothers and sisters to war for an outdated sense of propriety?"

I knew the answer so I merely lowered my head before nodding, "Of course, comrade. Though I worry that this might be easily interfered with if it were to be exposed to Soniee."

Liliya nodded, saying, "I understand. I shall trust in your capabilities and judgment, Comrade, this is a delicate situation. Keep this hidden from the girl, or reason with her or, hell, seduce her too if you deem it possible. Whichever method you choose, keep me apprised, this project is vital to the Revolution."

I got the look she was giving me, giving me the feeling that if I failed, I might spend a week or more in the gulag as punishment. And with those being my only options, I nodded and said, "I will succeed, comrade."

"Excellent. Now go ahead and bring him to heel." She commanded.

And with that, I had been dismissed. Stepping back away from the desk, I walked out of the main basement area into a hallway leading to the turbo lift and quickly pressed a few buttons. Once the door closed, I pressed my back against the glass wall and slowly slid down to sit on the floor. It was a quiet ride to the top, giving me a good view of the city.

From this point of view, it sure looks nice. There are, of course, places that I couldn't see from this point of view, places hidden by the larger buildings that are a lot worse. Everything that had been shown to the young prince today was the best that we had to show, best foot forward and all of that. But if he had gotten free of our eyes for a few minutes, he probably would have stumbled onto something he shouldn't have seen.

This week would probably be more of the same, us keeping a close eye on him to make sure he wasn't going where he would see some of the mistakes that would be rectified in time. There will always be mistakes when building something new and beautiful, but in time we would have a perfect society here on Mandalore. It just took time.

As I laid there on the floor, I wondered if my parents would be proud of me. I have never met them as they died before I could even talk and I was raised by the community who knew my parents. My mother died of childbirth while my father was beaten to death a month prior due to not meeting his quotas since he is too malnourished to work as he gave all of his food to my mother. When I look at the city and all that we have accomplished, I wondered what they would think of all of this. Would they sacrifice my happiness for a prosperous sector?

Eventually, the turbo lift came to a stop and the elevator door opened. Taking a breath, I stood back up and stepped out into the hallway and walked over to one of the hidden fridges behind a panel. I pulled out a bottle of very strong vodka, not just for myself, but also to ensure that the prince is as drunk as possible.

Walking over to Korkie's door, I knocked several times. It took a moment for the door to open, and Korkie appeared, rubbing his eyes and seeming tired.

"Yes, Natalya?" he said, confused.

Putting up my best fake smile, I said, "Oh, Korkie, good, you're up. I just thought I'd bring this by as a token of thanks for coming to our planet and giving us a chance to show you the wonders of our society."

He looked at the bottle and took it, saying, "Thanks, I guess." as he stepped back to put the bottle on a counter inside his room.

I took the opportunity to step into the room, making it harder for him to get me away. I closed the door behind me as I did.

"Natalya?" Korkie asked, obviously not really understanding what was going on.

Leaning forward, I kissed him deeply, which seemed to do wonders for his consciousness. Pulling back, so we could speak, I said, "There's one other aspect of our society that we have to share with you. I negotiated for the right to be the one to do it." I lied, breathily.

"And that is?" Korkie stuttered, sounding somewhat scared.

Grabbing his hand and holding it in mine, I said, "Freedom for ourselves from the clans means freedom to enjoy each other to our fullest extent."

"I'm not sure about this, Natalya." Korkie protested.

I smiled my best fake smile and simply said, "Don't worry, Korkie. What happens here stays, here, unless you want to continue somewhere else. Just enjoy yourself." as I pushed him towards the bed.

---

Anteevy, Tower of Ge'tal Nau'ur Droten, Guest Room

Korkie Kryze

I woke up with a headache, looking up at the ceiling wondering where I was for a moment before I realized there was a beeping coming from one side. Looking to my left, I saw a communicator was active and trying to get my attention. I tried to reach over to grab it but felt a weight on my right arm and had to turn to look. Natalya is sleeping next to me, lying on top of that arm. So what happened last night wasn't a dream.

Taking a moment, I used a couple of pillows to carefully free my arm from her grasp. Picking up the communicator, I saw that I had a message from Auntie Satine. Blinking, I wondered what this was about, but I would let that wait till after I shower.

Getting up, I moved over to start getting ready for the day. Although it's a strange place, Anteevy is probably the most enlightening vacation I have ever been on. Perhaps there is something to this whole "communist" thing. It did seem very peaceful for a place building droids. It's not like I had seen any overt aggression.

I would definitely be in support of their continued involvement in the CNS and the future. Because they wanted neutrality, they were finding weird ways to improve their situation during this conflict but so are we. There is no real difference between building the Council of Neutral Systems and sneakingly supplying food through holes in a conflict of border, not really.

Hell, Soniee was thinking the same from what little we had seen of the planet and I trusted her judgment on the matter. If she thought that there is something to it, then there is something to it.

After a few minutes in the bathroom, I came out dressed for the most part and found Natalya was waiting for her opportunity. "Morning." I said with a nod.

"Morning." she said, giving me a kiss on the cheek before saying, "I'll use the shower and wait till you and Soniee are downstairs before I leave, if that's alright. Don't want to cause any problems between the two of you. I know that she's probably not used to our society yet."

"Yeah, that makes sense. Talk to you later then." I said as she walked into the bathroom, closing the door. Right, Soniee. How the hell am I going to explain this to her.

I palmed my face as I took a deep breath. I then walked over to the bed and sat down, and pressed the device, seeing a holo-vid call from Auntie Satine pop up.

"Hello, Korkie. If you had wanted to visit Anteevy, perhaps you should ask me first. I know asking for forgiveness is easier than asking permission, but I am your mother."

I gulped at that. I had no idea how she was able to find me so quickly. My attention returned to the message that continued rather normally. "I spoke with Liliya a few hours ago. We had a talk that went on for several hours, and I understand your motives. It is the only reason I am not going to ground you for several months for being foolish. But I understand why you have done what you have done. You want to be of service to those in the Mandalorian sector, and it is your job to speak with the greater Mandalorian sector clans. Granted, Anteevy is not very clannish, but it is still your job to deal with local politics. So, instead of punishing you, I've simply sent a ship full of Royal Guards to watch over you for the next four days during your trip. And since you want to be involved in politics, they will escort you to Jakelia and Harswee, like you told me you were visiting." Auntie Satine said pointedly.

'Well, it could be worse.' I thought, before setting my anger aside, as it seemed to fade as she calmed down.

"I am happy that you are going out there and helping the sector. Though I question your thought process, I'm just going to assume it's a bit of that youthful Mandalorian blood flaring up, the self-assurance of youth, and the need to show oneself independent. When you get this message, the Royal Guard will probably be halfway there, so do me a favor and don't get in trouble in the meantime. I have enough trouble dealing with Tanya's Mandalorian urges. I don't need two of you acting like wild adventurers, okay? And please don't let Tanya know about this little adventure of yours. We will have to ease her into it."

She paused and let out a sigh. "Korkie, please keep yourself safe, okay? And contact me when you can because we have a lot to talk about."

With that, the message ended, and I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. I had just gotten off extremely lucky. Aunt Satine could have reprimanded me quite a bit. She could have sent several Royal Guards to have me picked up immediately and brought home as punishment. The fact that she hadn't brought a smile to my face. Perhaps she was taking it a little bit easy on me because she felt bad for the whole 'keeping the armor' secret thing. Perhaps she trusted me. Perhaps she had some notion that the Communists might have something good for our society in the future as well.

I don't know, but it felt like I was doing the right thing, so I would stick to it for now and keep trying to do the right thing to help the Mandalorian sector grow into a prosperous society. Being a diplomat is probably my calling after all. At the very least, I might be able to get the Communists and Aunt Satine to talk to each other. Maybe that would be a moderating force compared to what the Silver Mandalorians got up to. They're too close to the True Mandalorian ways for my liking.

Sighing, I put the communicator back in my pocket and got up, straightening my clothes before making the bed as best as I could. I knew there would be some people or droids to do it for me, but a responsible adult does the job themselves just in case. With that, I exited the room just in time to see Soniee doing the same, yawning as she rubbed the side of her temple.

"Hey, Korkie, what adventures are in store for us today?" she asked.

"Guess we'll find out." I said, heading towards the turbolift. "Sure there'll be something interesting to see, although Aunt Satine knows we're here and has sent the Royal Guard to come make sure we don't get into trouble."

"Ha, I knew that would happen sooner or later." She laughed.

"She found out much faster than I thought."

"Well, you're lucky you're not grounded till you're forty, then. Come, I wonder what breakfast here is like." She said, putting her arm in between the crook of mine again, and leaning into me as the turbolift arrived. While I enjoyed the feeling of her arms around mine, I still feel a gnawing feeling in my chest. That I am betraying the love that she gave me by having a second relationship with Natalya behind her back.

---

Mandalore, Sundari Palace

Satine Kryze

I looked down upon the shattered datapad in front of me and felt conflicting waves of gratification at the petty destruction I had wrought and shame that I had allowed my emotions to get the better of me. Korkie's trip to Anteevy is an utter disaster, and I had already ordered Almec to scour the holonet and purge any and all evidence of it happening. I did not have influence into Anteevy's protected local net, but I could at least prevent this news from reaching Mandalore.

I had also ordered Almec to lean on the various media groups in Mandalorian space to kill the story. I could not abide Liliya getting such a propaganda victory. Now all that remained was Tanya.

I sent a message to Coruscant using my privileged holonet code to contact X4, the droid I had assigned to act as a secretary for Tanya. The response is relatively rapid.

"Mistress Satine, how might I be of service?" The small holographic figure of X4 and his synthetic tones echoed out of a small projector built into my desk.

"There is very likely to be some mention of Korkie visiting Anteevy reaching Coruscant in some form, be it a news report or otherwise."

"Prince Korkie visited Anteevy?" The droid asked in surprise. I gave X4 a confused look before continuing.

"Yes, news of this is to be suppressed, more importantly, it is not to reach Tanya. Am I understood?" I watched as the droid seemed to pause and consider the situation. "X4?" I prompted the droid, causing it to return to its normal programming.

"Of course, Mistress, is there any other way I might be of service?" Is the droid overloaded? Has Tanya been properly memory wiping it? I would have to remind her about this later.

"No, that will be all." And with that I cut communication with the droid and slumped back into my seat.

I am going to ground Korkie so much!

---

Writer's note: Ahhh this almost 22K word WHY WHY WHY DO I LET THIS HAPPEN. But besides that a lot of stuff is happening in this chapter. Tanya being a politician and trying to protect Mandalore, and Korkie showing he got guts and going into the belly of the beast… or that he is an idiot in way over his head… or both… you can never tell with Mandos. Well I'm sure he won't fuck this up too much. Well, anymore, than he already has.

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Edited by: L, Orlov, Helsted, fallqm, Kayne, Afforess, Warmach1ne32, Aemon, Lord Baal

Community edited by: Lich

Community editable doc (Chapter) No story suggestions in the community editing document, Keep all story suggestions and comments in the thread

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