Chapter 6 – Surprising News

The next chapter is finished. In this chapter, senator Corso of Shili learns what has happened on her home planet.

Hope you enjoy.

;-

Coruscant

T'Rani Corso, the senator of Shili, sighed deeply as she sat down in her small apartment on Coruscant. The past few days had been very hard on her. Her beloved home planet was in dire need of supplies because their king hoarded so much for himself. He feasted not like a king, but like an overly greedy Hutt, leaving a large amount of the people in Corvala and beyond without food and more.

That is why she had gone to Coruscant. Her hope was to receive emergency supplies from the Republic Senate so that she would be able to at least help her people slightly. Unfortunately, it had become very clear that some of her friends had been right in their opinion about the Republic, that they were too focused on the war and little else.

Her request for supplies hadn't even made it to the Senate chamber. It had been immediately dismissed as not important enough for the Senators to look over. She had tried it several times again, but the result had been the same.

When her first idea didn't work, she had continued to make individual appointments with either single Senators or small groups of them. She had hoped that she would be able to convince several of them to help her people in their time of need. Sadly, it seemed that many of the senators all felt that the war took precedence over helping the citizens of a neutral system. A number of the senators had made the comment in such a way that she almost felt attacked personally because of it. She had all but given up hope of getting any supplies when she suddenly heard a female voice behind her on her way out of the Senate building.

She had turned around to find the senator of Naboo, Padme Amidala, standing there. The human woman smiled at her and said that she had heard of her predicament with the supplies. She had then proceeded to invite her over to a meeting with several other senators who did care about people more than they did money.

What followed had been a lengthy talk with senators Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, Lux Bonteri and Riyo Chuchi. They did listen to what she wanted to say and they did care about the problems that her people faced. Padmé especially cared, seeing as her people had suffered similarly when the Trade Federation had occupied Naboo.

The end result of the conversation had made her whole week, maybe even more. The group of senators would look into whatever supplies they could find for Shili. T'Rani had been smiling widely when she left senator Amidala's office.

Now she was back in her apartment, hoping to catch up on some of the rest that she had not been getting lately because of her worries. Thankfully, she now had a much better chance of getting supplies for her people. All that she had to do now was think of a way to make sure that that greedy sleemo of a king wouldn't take all of the supplies for himself immediately, claiming some stupid tax for Republic goods.

As she sat on her couch, her holotransmitter suddenly went off. She sat up a little straighter and activated the transmission, the hologram of the head of the palace communications appearing. "Good day, miss Kovani," she greeted her old friend. She, like herself, was one of the few people that had kept their positions after their new king took over.

"Hello Senator Corso," Nika Kovani replied, a hint of a smile tugging at her lips from her friends formal greeting. "I have a little update from the palace for you."

"I see, but can this wait? I was planning on resting up now and prepare for my meeting tomorrow," T'Rani said in return. That, and she didn't want to deal with his nonsense right now.

Nika gave her a slight smile. "Sorry senator, but the queen would really like you to return to Shili," she replied.

"Hmm, well, you can tell him that…" T'Rani paused. "Wait, what did you just say? The queen?" she asked in confusion. She couldn't imagine that any woman would want to marry that pig.

Nika nodded and her smile grew. "Yes T'Rani, the queen," she said with a trace of happiness in her voice. "King Thraken and queen Ashaiya, their youngest daughter was still alive. She revealed herself to us and marched on the palace with the H'Raani M'Kai." She continued to tell her friend about what had happened.

T'Rani was silent as she processed her friend's words. Their 'king' had murdered the royal family and then usurped the throne. But now, after all these years of suffering under him, it had turned out that their youngest daughter was alive. With support from the H'Raani M'Kai, she had taken the throne from him and he was now in prison where he belonged. They had a new queen. It seemed like an impossible dream.

"We… we really have a new queen? His terror is really over?" T'Rani asked her friend, wanting the confirmation.

Nika nodded again. "Yes, we have a new queen and she's just as kind and caring as her mother," she said happily. "She has already made work of undoing his file actions. The palace girls no longer have to dress like prostitutes and they are safe from being molested. She had one of the halls of the palace filled with beds and had all of the homeless people brought in from the streets, so that they no longer had to sleep outside. Numerous other workers of the palace are looking into other things that he stole from the people and finding ways to return them to the people. Everything on Shili is changing for the better. The people are smiling again."

T'Rani could barely believe her montrals. "I… I can hardly believe it. I hoped for so long and now…" she replied, her words failing her in her happiness.

Nika smiled happily. "I know, it's wonderful," she said. "This is the best thing that could have happened to Shili."

T'Rani nodded in agreement. "Yes, you're right. Shili would have collapsed if that animal had been able to continue to do as he pleased," she replied as she wiped away a tear from her eye.

Nika gave her another nod. "Like I said, she's already been very busy. Thanks to her, all of the food and supplies that he had hoarded away in the palace became available again. Under the instruction of the royal guard, it's being delivered to where it's needed most right now. We no longer have any need for supplies from the Republic," she told her friend.

"I see," T'Rani replied with mixed emotions. She was glad for her people of course, relieved that they now had what they needed. There was a bit of annoyance as well, the time she had spent on Coruscant was now wasted in a way, but she quickly pushed those thoughts away, the change on Shili was well worth her trouble. Mostly, she felt anger at that vile usurper, that he had hoarded away such insane amounts of food while others starved. He would get what's coming to him, she would make sure of that.

She turned her attention back to her friend. "So, what does the queen want me to do now?" she asked.

"Well, for starters, she's eager to meet you," Nika answered with a smile. "After that, she wants to see what can be done about renewing the old trade routes and agreements that we used to have with other systems. She will need your knowledge and expertise for that. If we can successfully restore those, Shili will be back on the way to full recovery. Also, she's eager to see your renovation plans."

T'Rani was a little stunned by everything. "Y-yes, of course. I'll go and see the senators I spoke with earlier to tell them about this new development and then I'll make my way back to Shili," she replied quickly. "I'm incredibly eager to meet her as well."

"I'll tell everyone to prepare for your arrival. See you soon T'Rani," Nika told her before the transmission ended.

For a few minutes, T'Rani just stared at the holotransmitter. After all of the years of helplessly watching her people suffer, the fact that they now had a new queen seemed like a dream. Only it wasn't a dream, it really did happen.

She stood up from the couch. There was so much to be done now! Without him and his taxes, the people didn't have to fear losing everything that they had worked for. His insanity would no longer block renovation or expansion projects in the city. His greed would no longer be able to destroy the trade with other systems. There were rid of all of that!

"First things first, I need to thank senator Amidala and the others for their help and inform them that it is no longer needed. After that, I need to pack my things and head back to Shili. I can sleep on the ship." She planned what to do next. Before she left her apartment, she send a note to her pilot to start preparing the ship for departure.

;-

The Senate building

"Please follow me Senator."

T'Rani followed the gold-plated protocol droid into Senator Amidala's office. Senator Padmé Amidala was still with the other senators, apparently discussing some bill that would likely be discussed soon in the Republic senate.

"Excuse me, mistress Padmé, but Senator Corso of Shili is here to see you again," the protocol droid announced.

The senators turned to her in slight surprise. "Thank you Threepio," Senator Amidala replied. The droid gave a slight bow and walked away. "Senator Corso, nice to see you again. What brings you back here so soon? Did you want to see if we have been able to find some supplies for you?"

"It's nice to see you again as well senators," T'Rani replied. "I did come here about the supplies, but not to check on them. Instead, I'm here to tell you that we won't be needing them anymore."

This confused the others in the room quite a bit. "I'm not sure I understand. Did something happen senator?" the Pantoran senator Riyo Chuchi asked.

"Yes, it has," T'Rani replied with a growing smile. "I was contacted by the palace earlier with some very surprising news. We have a new queen now."

"You do?" Padmé asked in surprise. "How did that happen?" From what the Shilian senator had told them before, she had drawn the conclusion that the king of Shili was a man that no one would ever want to marry.

"The youngest daughter of our late king and queen was still alive. She met up with the members of the old royal guard and together they marched on the palace," T'Rani smiled as she said that, but then her smile faded. "From what I was told, it was also revealed that our so called king was behind what happened to the royal family. It wasn't an accident, he murdered them to usurp the throne. But now, he's been taken down and locked up. Their youngest daughter is now our queen and from what I've heard, she's already changing everything on Shili for the better."

"That's fantastic news! Congratulations senator," Bail Organa said. "So this is why don't need the supplies any longer?"

"That's right, senator Organa," T'Rani replied. "Now, everything that he had stolen from the people is being returned. Everything that he took for himself we can now share with the people. No one has to live in fear of losing everything anymore."

"It sounds like fortune is smiling upon Shili. What are you going to do now then?" Padmé asked her.

"I'm heading back to Shili shortly. The queen is eager to meet me and I am just as eager to meet her," T'Rani replied. "She also wants my help in re-opening the trade agreements that we lost because of his greed and look at the renovation plans that I had. There is so much that we can do now."

"That sounds wonderful senator," Mon Mothma said. "We will not keep you then. I'm sure that you are eager to return to Shili."

"I am senator, I really am," T'Rani replied. "I haven't been this optimistic about Shiili's future in years. Thank you again for offering to help Shili, it really means a lot to me, especially after the way some of your colleagues rudely turned me down."

"It was our pleasure senator," Padmé said with a smile. "Unlike some of our fellow senators, we still remember to care for others and help them. May the Force be with you and Shili."

"Thank you senator," T'Rani replied. She bid them goodbye before she returned to her apartment to gather her belongings. From there, she went directly back to the spaceport where her ship was, to travel back to Shili.

;-

Shili

Senator T'Rani Corso could barely contain her excitement as the boarding ramp of her ship lowered. When she left Shili to go to Coruscant, she dreaded how things would be on her return. "How things have changed." She thought with a smile.

The ramp was fully lowered now and her eyes went wide. Waiting for her was a group of the old royal guards standing at attention in full armor. A sight that she had missed more than she was willing to admit.

Her friend Nika Kovani was waiting for her with a big smile on her face. "T'Rani, welcome home," she said happily. "We've all been eagerly awaiting your return."

"It's good to see you as well Nika," T'Rani replied with a smile. "And everyone else as well, I've truly missed this sight," she added as she gestured at the warriors. They all gave her a smile and a salute in return.

"I know what you mean T'Rani, I know what you mean," Nika said as she looked around as well. "Come on, the queen is waiting for you."

T'Rani nodded. "I am eager to see her as well, lead the way my friend," she replied quickly. Nika nodded and began to lead her friend towards the palace gates.

;-

As they walked, T'Rani couldn't help but feel a lot more relieved than she had in a long time. The entire atmosphere in the palace had already changed so much. Everyone they passed was smiling again. The halls were much cleaner and livelier than before. It was such a big change compared to the week before.

A group of palace servants, now dressed in normal clothes again, were bringing a few carts with food to a different hall in the palace. They all smiled when they passed the senator. It made her feel a lot better than the last time she had passed a group of them. Then they were all still forced to wear those ridiculous rags and that vile pig abused them at will. Now, they were all smiling again and it made her very happy.

She felt even better when Nika explained to her that those girls were delivering the food to the people that stayed in another hall of the palace. It did her good to see that their new queen did care for the people that had been left homeless because of the usurper's greed.

After a few minutes of walking they arrived at one of the smaller meeting rooms. The door opened and they walked into the room. T'Rani paused a moment as she looked at the queen. For a brief moment, she swore that she was looking at their late queen Ashaiya Tano. She looked so much like her.

The young woman turned around and smiled when she saw her. She walked up to her. "You must be senator T'Rani Corso," she said in a voice sounding very similar to her mother's.

"Yes, I am milady," T'Rani replied as she bowed. "It really is a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise, it's good to meet you," she replied. "My name is Ahsoka Tano, the new queen of Shili. I'm sure that we'll get along great. I'll be needing your help to make sure that everything goes well for our people."

"I will be very happy to do so," T'Rani said happily. "But, why didn't you call yourself Vashee? That is your families name after all."

Ahsoka nodded. "Yes, you're right, it is," she replied. "It's just that… I've always had my mother's name. For years I've called myself 'Tano', simply because it was the only name I knew. I gave it a bit of thought, but I decided to keep my mother's name. I just feel better that way." She paused and took a deep breath. "My life has been completely turned upside down lately, so I want to at least keep some things the same."

"I see," T'Rani said in return. She could tell that there was more to her words, but she would be able to get her full story later. "It's fine. I'm just very glad that we finally have a new ruler. It's been so hard on everyone."

"I can imagine, watching but being unable to help as people suffer is terrible," Ahsoka replied. "But that is no longer the case here on Shili. We have already made some much needed changes, but we'll need your help to do more."

"I will gladly help you milady," T'Rani said with a smile. "What is it you would like me to do?"

Ahsoka smiled as well. "Well, I heard that you had some renovation plans for the city. Let's take a look at that first," she replied. "After that, I want to see what we can do about restoring the old trade routes that Shili once had. I think that we can use all the supplies we can get."

"It would be my pleasure to help you with that," T'Rani said happily. "Give me a little bit to get everything ready, then I'll be happy to show you the renovation plans I had made."

Ahsoka nodded. "Don't worry, take some time to get settled in first," she replied. "You just rushed back to Shili after all. Come find me when you're all set."

T'Rani nodded as well. "I will, thank you milady. I'll see you later," she said as she gave another bow. She then left the room.

;-

A few hours later

Ahsoka waited on the throne in the large throne room with a smile. At her request, the palace staff had identified the ship that she had travelled to Shili with and she had them invite the captain and the engineer Riyec to the palace. She wanted to give them a proper thanks for bringing her to Shili and looking out for her during the flight. That, and she also had work for them.

T'Rani was good at what she did, Ahsoka definitely gave her that. She had already managed to contact one of the systems that her parents had always had good relations with, one that was ruined because of that usurper, and she had been able to at least reopen their former trade agreements. This meant that there was an assortment of supplies now available to them and she needed a trustworthy and dependable crew to pick them up.

A palace servant walked into the room through the open entrance doors, followed by two older male Togruta. She recognized one of them as the engineer Riyec. Through the Force, she could sense that they were quite confused with being summoned to the palace.

The two of them walked up to her then stopped and bowed when they were a short distance away. "Good day your majesty, my name is Cregan Hardin, captain of the Verminus. This is my crewmember and engineer Riyec Arrayo," the captain introduced them. "What is it that we can do for you?"

Ahsoka smiled at them. "There is a little job that I have for you and your crew captain," she told him. "But first I wanted to thank you."

The confusion was quite visible on their faces. "Thank us? For what, milady? I'm not sure I understand," Cregan replied as he looked at Riyec. He shook his head as well.

She looked at Riyec. "You don't know? I was able to get here safely because of you," she said with a smile. "I'll admit, I probably look a little different now that my skin is back to its original color."

With those words, Riyec's eyes widened. "You were the stowaway we had on board?" he asked in shock. His captain was also startled at his question.

"That's right," Ahsoka replied as she nodded. "I was in a really bad shape. Some horrible things had happened to me and I wasn't sure what was going to happen to me or what I was going to do, but thanks to your help I was able to get to Shili safely. I managed to meet up with Silara Triball and from there, well…" she paused and gestured at the crown she wore and the throne room.

"Well, I can definitely say that it was our pleasure milady," Cregan said as Riyec nodded in agreement. "I wish that you had told us who you where though, we could have done more for you then."

"Thank you for saying that, but back then I didn't even know that I was the heir to the throne," Ahsoka replied. "I lived all my life as a Jedi. I had no idea about who my family was. When I travelled to Shili, I was hoping to find them, but they were already dead. Silara then shocked me with the news that I was the heir and that she wanted me to become the queen of Shili." She shook her head. "I had to give it quite some thought, I'll not pretend to know anything about being a queen, but I couldn't just let the suffering on Shili continue. Speaking of, that's where you come in now."

The two crewmates shared a look. "Of course milady, what can we do for you?" Cregan asked.

Ahsoka smiled at them. "Senator T'Rani Corso has already proven herself to me as a great negotiator. She managed to restore the trade agreement we had with another system, an agreement that was ruined by the greed of that vile usurper, like so many other things," she told them. "Thanks to T'Rani, we have now secured a bunch of much needed supplies. So, I'm in need of a dependable crew to pick them up. Interested?"

Captain Cregan nodded. "Yes milady, the Verminus is at your disposal," he replied. "We're happy to help."

"I'm glad to hear that," Ahsoka said with a smile. "And don't worry, you'll be paid well for this trip. I overheard you saying that you lost a lot of your funding because of the repairs on Coruscant. You'll be helping Shili, so I don't want you to worry about financial troubles."

Both crewmembers looked at each other in shock again. That little fact was definitely true. The repairs had set them back immensely. "T-thank you milady," Cregan replied in surprise. "That will really help us."

"I'm glad to hear that," Ahsoka said as she gestured at someone else in the room. "If you would be so kind, please follow him to one of the communication offices. They'll give you the details on the trip. If you require more fuel or supplies, let someone know and we'll see it taken care off."

Cregan and Riyec both smiled and bowed. "You are very kind milady," Cregan replied. "We will get right on it. Please let us know if you have more jobs that we can help you with. It would be our pleasure."

"I will be sure to do so," Ahsoka said as she nodded. "If everything keeps going well, we might just have more jobs for you soon." The two crewmembers bowed again before they followed the worker out of the throne room.

;-

Ahsoka was sitting on a small balcony that overlooked the garden behind the palace. She was grateful for the fact that the gardens were still fully in bloom and had not been left to rot and die under that usurper's reign.

The caretakers of the garden had continued their work. He had not cared for the gardens at all, so he had never entered them or done anything with them at all. She was glad for that.

Senator T'Rani Corso walked onto the balcony. She quickly found the queen and walked towards her. "Hello milady, may I join you?" she asked.

"Of course, please sit down," Ahsoka replied with a smile as she gestured at the seat next to her. "I found a reliable crew to go and pick up the supplies that you secured for us. They departed about an hour ago, so we should have it all pretty soon."

T'Rani smiled. "That's good to hear milady," she said happily. "Once we have those supplies, we can finally get some of the renovations started. I honestly didn't think that it would ever happen."

Ahsoka chuckled a bit. "I honestly never thought that I would be a queen. Sometimes the strangest and most unexpected things can happen," she replied.

T'Rani looked at her a moment. The tone of her voice did not have a very happy undertone. By now, she knew what had happened to their new queen. She felt so sorry that someone so young and with such an obvious kind heart had to suffer so. "Milady, all of us are with you. We are here for you if you need anything, just let us know," she said kindly.

Ahsoka smiled lightly. "I know, Silara also made that very clear. I've just been through a lot already, then I suddenly learn I'm royalty and now I'm the queen of my homeplanet. I just need some time to process everything," she said as she looked over at the senator. "Oh, and one thing, just call me Ahsoka. It's going to get on my nerves if everyone keeps calling me by such titles."

T'Rani smiled in amusement. "Very well Ahsoka, if that's what you want," she said. "Then please call me T'Rani as well."

"I will," Ahsoka replied. "I'm going to head into the gardens to try and meditate a little. Will I see you later at dinner? It would be nice to get to know you a bit more."

"Of course, I'll see you then," T'Rani said as she gave a slight bow. Ahsoka nodded and left the balcony.

;-

That's the end of this chapter.

Ahsoka has now met the senator and they have already continued their work to restore Shili. There is still much to do, but they are both determined to see everything through.

I'm going to work on a new chapter for my side story The Hunt next. Ahsoka will spend some time with the tribe and Aisha will be preparing for her Akul hunt.

Until next time.