714 (24 BBY)
Coruscant, Mandalore Tower
X4
Standing in front of a console, I perused the various companies and stockholdings I ran for my mistress. Mando Logistics is having a very profitable time moving resources out of the Mandalore Sector to Coruscant where their items were novelties and to various hot zones prone to conflict, where they were most likely to be used as intended; defensive armaments in line with Tanya's musings on what a company should do in order to maximize profits. Often I would use the vessels that were contracted to work under the logistics company to bring in resources for the armorers as well as luxury items, though those were a smaller component of the business.
Profits are up across the board and I was able to purchase ships directly for the company. Negotiating those contacts with Mandel Motors was such a wise move on my mistress's part and now Mando Logistics has several cargo haulers running long haul missions across the galaxy. I am considering getting some of the new smaller cargo ships that have just come on the market from Mandel Motors. It appeared to be a redesign of the Lancer-class pursuit craft used by the Royal Guard for operations off-world of Mandalore.
While the cargo haulers were slow affairs and had to stick to the safer trade ways in order to move resources around, there was quite a lot of credit potential in these smaller yet faster crafts as they could travel through some of the more pirate infested areas of space. Skimming Hutt territory, was a profitable venture in my robotic mind, but finding capable pilots and smugglers was a harder task since many had criminal records and could be seen as potential thieves who would run off with the ships if given the opportunity. I had toyed with the idea of purchasing droids for that purpose. The funding coming in would make that more than possible though he had concerns about owning other droids. While it would cut down on the overhead, droids weren't exactly the best for those particular types of missions. Perhaps I should look into buying droids for the cargo haulers or at least to augment their crew.
Stepping away from the computer he walked into the main living area of the Tower where mistress Tanya and Vai were watching an episode of the Silver Ranger, the hero was in a hand-to-hand fight with a group of thugs by the looks of it. I stood there, waiting to be called upon not wanting to interrupt, Tanya noticed me right away and said, "X4, what's on your mind?"
"Mistress, I was having a thought and wondered what your own would be on droid ownership?" I said as clearly as possible
Vai immediately stopped munching on the popcorn she had and looked up worried. "Well," Tanya shrugged and said with a chuckle, "The old 'do droids have a soul?' question, I'll ask in return, do you think humans have a soul?"
If I could tilt my head I would have, though given that my head was firmly grafted onto my neck the most I could do was spin the cylinder a bit in thought. This wasn't exactly the answer to the question of 'is it okay for me to own droids?' but it felt like she was trying to present a teachable moment so I played into it. "I don't know, mistress."
"And that's the answer to that question, we don't know if biological life has a soul. Why do we even believe that droids don't have a soul? Either way they're both forced to endure forms of indentured servitude or slavery depending on where they end up in life. In a perfect galaxy such barbarism would not be allowed, but it's not a perfect galaxy so the best we can do is treat those who are forced to live in such conditions with as much respect as we can grant them. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
I tilted my body forward in a shallow bow, "Yes mistress, I understand completely." Mistress was okay with me owning droids, as long as I treated them with as much respect as she treated me. Perhaps even more, perhaps I should give droids stock options within the company to accrue more loyalty than restraining bolts would. I would have to give this much more thought.
Before I could step away a message beeped on Tanya's vambrace, causing her to look down. She pressed a few buttons and a moment later was smiling broadly.
"Got the bastard." she said, causing Vai to look over from the Holo-screen.
"Got who?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"False Silver, Bo located the name of the charlatan trying to take the White Silver name for himself. Now I can go about the process of discrediting him. "
"How and why would you do that mistress?" I asked frankly curious why she was so concerned with the goings on of the Silver Codex.
Tanya looked up at me, deep in thought and then said, "The Silver Codex is a prime example of good free market principles being applied correctly. At least the first one is, the second one is an attempt to end the free market and create a corporate market, if not move to a full corporate government, which is never good for the free markets. It's a threat to a prosperous and peaceful Mandalore which is why I would prefer to expose this False Silver as quickly as possible if not outright hamper and destroy his efforts."
"How will exposing this False Silver hamper his efforts?" Vai asked from her seat.
"Simple, as long as this person's playing the anonymity game, they can claim they are the first writer without having any evidence to say otherwise. Strip away his anonymity though, you can compare the first writer's writings to the life of the person claiming to be the writer and if they don't match up too well, there's a good chance it's a fake and that's what I need to do. I need to create a document to show that he is not the same individual who wrote the first Silver Codex. If I do that, his ability to manipulate the document is hampered if not outright stopped. Of course it'll take me a while to do the research, knowing someone's name does not mean you understand everything about them. But once I have research done, I could write a paper under another false name and have this False Silver business wiped away within the year."
"So who is this guy anyway then?" Vai asked as she munched on a bit of popcorn.
"Bresug Gerr of Mandal Hypernautics huh, that's the company Kark Trig was complaining about a few months ago, a thief and possible warlord in the making." Tanya said, tilting her head a bit. "What game are you playing that you would need a fleet of ships and commandeer the…" her eyes wide and does she seem to have some revelation before asking, "X4, you're more efficient with holo-net searches, can you do a cross reference of the CEO of Mandel Hypernautics and White Silver."
"Of course, mistress." I said moving over to a console and starting to run the search requested. "I will have the information within 5 minutes if there is any."
"What are you thinking Tanya?" Vai asked, sitting up.
I couldn't see it from my angle but I could hear a disturbed tone in Tanya's voice. "Building a fleet of ships and converting a defensive ideology, into his own idea? Well it almost sounds like something someone would do if they were planning to be the center point of a rebellious movement. Make yourself as big of a threat as possible so when someone tries to bring you down in the government, surprise them with the fleet of ships they couldn't have known you had to make it appear like you've won a great victory and then all of a sudden you have a steady supply of volunteers from across the Mandalore Sector willing to fight for White Silver."
"You think this guy is trying to start a civil war?" Vai asked.
"Might be the ultimate end goal, even if he doesn't try to start a civil war outright. If he can play up the threat, with the New Mandalorian government taking issue with his version of the Silver Codex he could draw in people who simply dislike the current government to work for him. Good old use of spite against a common enemy to increase your workforce and loyal supporters."
"Yeah, but if they did that, he would have to tell them where to go, he would have to tell them that he is White Silver. Wouldn't that expose him like you said?" Vai questioned.
"That depends on him remaining anonymous, if he is planning to take the title of White Silver or not. Whether he becomes a public figure as White Silver changes the situation greatly."
"How greatly?" Vai asked, sounding worried.
I interrupted before Mistress could answer by saying, "Mistress, I have found a recent holo-video uploaded to the Gargon relay about White Silver shall I play it?"
"Yes, X4. Play it."
Turning my head to face the screen, I paused the Silver Ranger and brought up the video. Said video had a title card showing a man wearing silver Mandalorian armor sitting in a fine black chair next to a roaring fire. The room was richly decorated in woods and brick as well as fine tapestries of battles long since condemned to history over the fireplace. As well as a sheathed traditional beskad hanging just below that. Sitting on the table next to him was a pile of books and a glass of liquid. Not wanting to waste my mistress's time I started playing the video.
The silver armored warrior looked to the screen as he said, "Good afternoon my fellow citizens of the Mandalorian Sector. You might recognize me as White Silver, but in the case you don't," he reached up and pressed a button on the side of his helmet before pulling it off revealing a gentleman with long dark brown hair and green eyes. "You may also know me as Bresug Gerr of Mandel Hypernautics. During the Siege of Mandalore and the Bombardment of Kalevala, my factory stayed operational to use the last bit of resources we could scrounge up to produce fighter craft."
Setting his helmet down on the wooden floor in front of his boots he continued. "Those were great and terrible times, times of legends and times of failure. I look back on those times with both sorrow and fondness for it showed how dedicated the Mandalorian people were to maintaining our independence, and even if we were to go out we would go out fighting."
"It's been long 20 years since the Fall of Mandalore and the rise of the New Mandalorians. Over those 20 years I have attempted to try and mend bridges with them. Tried to get them to see reason and let Mandel Hypernautics bring back wealth to the sector."
"But the ruler of Mandalore is set in her ways of pacifism. Oh sure, she has recently let some companies take up efforts to try and make money again to bring our people out of the dirt they were thrown into by the Jedi and the Republic, but this was led by the people not by her own effort, she was forced into."
"If I hadn't published the Silver Codex the way I did all those years ago and attempted to try and get my way of thinking out there, she would have come down on me like a hammer and made sure that no one was making any improvements in this sector. At the time, secrecy was needed but now it is no longer necessary. I have secured the planet Gargon for the people of Mandalore. It'll be the basis by which the new system of government I proposed in my second Codex can be practiced. Where our people will be allowed true economic freedom in service to the government. And not have to be worried about being crushed by an uncaring and unfaithful Mandalorian government headed up by Kalevalians who see themselves as saviors but have shown themselves to be nothing but our cultural executioners. Here on this planet we will build a new and better Mandalore and show the New Mandalorians the error of their ways."
"We will unleash the economic power of Mandalore's potential and show the entire sector that our way is the future. Gargon will become a new Mandalore, a new start for those held down by the Republic and their lackeys. And we are waiting for you to join us here, my brothers and sisters of many clans."
"Here on Gargon we will reforge our people's strength, our honor, and our pride." He said as if offering it in friendship. "The future of our people is here my brothers and sisters, not on Mandalore with the dogmatic factions that will inevitably fight each other to the end of time, and not on Kalevala with their pacifism. Gargon is waiting."
The scene changed from that of the expensive richly decorated room to a picture of the planet Gargon rotating in the distance as a ring of words saying "A Better Future Awaits" circles the planet.
714 (24BBY)
Coruscant, Mandalore Tower
Vai Viktis Visla
As the video ended I watched Tanya let out a sigh that could mimic the dead before taking a few steps away from the TV and sitting down in a very plush chair.
It appeared that she was trying to calm herself down but I could tell it wasn't working as I could basically hear her grinding her teeth as she looked at the screen still showing the planet Gargon.
"So he revealed his identity himself?" I asked.
"Exactly in the worst possible way to have his identity revealed." Tanya said, with a cold sharpness I hadn't heard in her voice before. "What he has just done is claim that the Silver Codex is not only his, but a work in progress that he's been working on for years. Not only that, he has implied that the only reason I was saying that Duchess Satine was the proper Mandalore was to keep her from going full genocide mode on his people."
"I?" X4 questioned from where he stood causing Tanya to look over at him.
"Yes", Tanya sighed before saying "I'm the real writer of the Silver Codex. It was my attempt to try and straighten out the unequal opportunities presented by going full New Mandalorian and not embracing some traditional ways from the Old Mandalorians."
X4 twitched his head a bit before saying, "This makes perfect sense." Then he walked further into the room saying, "I'll go get you your tea mistress, it'll help you think."
"Thank you X4." Tanya said before turning to stare at the screen with a look that would kill planets if she had the ability to.
"He is creating a narrative where the Duchess is a mad monarch who needs to be deposed for his version of madness, that she is going to attack him and any of his supporters."
"Yeah, but his identity has been revealed, shouldn't that just allow people to look through his records and see that he's most likely not the person who wrote it?"
"Won't matter, the Codex doesn't matter anymore. What matters is the title he's made, the title is the focus, he is Bresug Gerr CEO of Mandel Hypernautics and White Silver. Those who notice the differences between his personality and the codex will just shrug it off as him developing as time goes on. And anyone who tries to claim that he isn't White Silver without quite a bit of evidence will be laughed at, as taking the name White Silver is too potentially dangerous a prospect for anyone but the person who made it in most people's mind. They're not wrong, I suspect every organization that's got an issue with White Silver will be gunning for him but if I have to take a guess he wouldn't be doing this unless he has complete control of Gargon, possibly military control."
"Well then I guess the Duchess will have to step in." I said, not sure what to do.
"She can't or I would prefer she wouldn't, if she steps in to try and restore order on Gordon now she will appear to be the dictator he's claiming her to be and will start a civil war as factions that generally dislike her will join with him seeing the potential in the situation to gain power."
"He's framed it quite nicely 'compete with me on economics or come at me and start a civil war'. No, I don't think he'll have the ability to win the war through economics but I wouldn't be surprised if he uses that nice fleet of his to make sure that the proper Mandalorian government doesn't win either. Scare off enough trade convoys and you can start an economic crisis on a planet then use that economic crisis to get your fingers in the planet's government."
"Then maybe assassinate him?" I said, thinking of a few people who may have bounty hunters and assassins that could be hired for this situation.
"That would just start the civil war early if it failed or turn him into a martyr and then start the civil war if it succeeded. It wouldn't matter who was responsible, he's created a situation where it looks like if he dies, Satine is responsible and will take the blame."
"Then what options do we have available?" I asked, shrugging and putting my popcorn down to the side of the chair I was sitting in.
"We have two options, but neither of them are good. The real White Silver must kill him or humiliate him in such a way that it proves that he is not the real White Silver."
I blinked and said, "Tanya, are you suggesting you need to murder the CEO of Mandel Hypernautics? I know you're a good fighter but I'm not sure you're ready for that yet. I don't think I'm ready for that?"
Tanya simply chuckled and looked at me, "That is not a concern you need to worry about. What we need to worry about is the fact that of the two options both of them include me having to defeat him in combat in some way. I either have to raise an army to fight this theorem stealing bastard, bring the Mandalore Sector into its second civil war in the last 20 years or infiltrate his complex, get past his guards and remove him from power of the planet of Gargon."
I could immediately tell she was not going with the first option so I said, "Okay let's think this through Tanya. First we would need to get past the Planetary Security, second you would need to find allies on the planet to keep that Security Force preoccupied so you could even get close to him, and third you would need to beat a 40 something Mandalorian who served in the Siege of Keldabe. I know you're a good fighter Tanya but I'm not sure you can pull off all three of those things."
"I'm going to have to." Tanya said matter of factly. "The Silver Codex represents the best chance for a peaceful Mandalore and this man is destroying that chance. If I can't stop him, the peace we've lived in for the last 20 years will be gone within the next few years…. son of a bitch." Tanya stopped mid-sentence as her eyes widened.
"What?" I said, wondering what had spooked her.
"This corresponds with the Confederacy's little uprising a little too well in my thinking. This is most likely a revenge action because Senator Merrik has told Count Dooku, no."
"Wait what?" I said, confused sitting up. "When did Senator Merrik meet Count Dooku?"
"Remember a few months ago when we entered his office and there was an old man in the corner?"
"Vaguely, I did recall being a bit surprised when the man had been there and sworn when we first entered the room no one was there and then all of a sudden poof I assume he just blended into the background good enough."
"There's no way Satine wants to take part in this current conflict that's brewing. But getting Mandalore on their side would be useful so what better way than to create a situation that puts a pirate fleet of Mandalorians right on the border of the main trade way? The Republic will be forced to send ships and the Mandalore Sector will be angry, wanting nothing to do with Satine or the Republic."
Tanya shook her head, "There's no "waiting him out", there's no "hoping he goes away", and the actions needed to unseat him by government means, will result in a civil war in the Mandalore Sector. The only option is for someone claiming to be the real White Silver to step forward, to defeat him, comment, and then bow out in such a way that no one will try to take the title again."
"Alright let's take this one step at a time. You're going to need a ship that could get to Gargon and I don't think any ship in the Mandalore sector is going to be going anywhere near there anytime soon for official business." I said trying to poke a hole in the plan.
"I have access to a new style transport ship." X4 said, coming back with a cup of tea and setting it before Tanya. "Sorry, I mean my contacts at Mando Logistics can get us access to a new type of transport vessel from Mandel Motors, it could easily make it to the Mandalore Sector within a week or two depending on the skill of the pilot."
"Okay, well cool you have access to a ship. How are you going to gather allies on the planet?"
"According to Bo, the planet is mostly populated by criminals and nomadic peoples. I don't think they're going to be a big fan of Mr. Corpo Authoritarianism over there. We just need to have a few conversations with the right people and then we would have allies for this operation."
"Alright so you have possible allies and a ship, there still seems to be a lot of holes in this plan. How would we even get permission from Senator Merrik to leave Coruscant?"
"Not as many as you think. I've already filled out a few holes you haven't even thought of, but as for how we would get out of this system. Well I did suggest I might need to take a little time off to recover from the alley fight and the embarrassment that it has put on my record. Engiz has always wanted to show me the library on Ordo. A good opportunity to win hearts and minds by exploring the Mandalorian Sector and meeting the people I represent." Tanya said with a smile before she sipped her tea.
Before I could try and think of anything else to talk her out of this she said. "Give me 24 hours and I will have this all sorted out, Vai. Trust me I know what I'm doing when it comes to military operations of this type."
"I don't think history books are going to teach you how to perform a decapitating action against enemy leadership." I said with a sigh. I wasn't really going to fight this anymore as far as I could tell Tanya was right. Bresug Gerr had turned the White Silver into a title no different than Mandalore. As long as he held that title or those who attempted to use that title after he fell existed, who were not Tanya, things would not go well.
Shaking my head I saw X4 place a cup of tea in front of me at my side so I picked it up. I would just have to trust Tanya on this. There was no other option and for that matter she'd set her mind to it.
714 (24BBY)
Concordia, Governor's Mansion
Pre Viszla
Letting out a deep sigh, I shook my head as I stepped away from the console. I knew I should have killed that man, he's been on my list of potential problem characters for a long time. It was nothing personal per se, I just didn't like someone threatening my position in Mandalorian society even if that position was a secret.
But I have been too busy the last few years. Concordia was in a bit of an improvement boom recently and I noted a slight lessening of my people's will to get rid of the New Mandalorians. Or at least the ones that were willing to accept the Silver leaning ones. I wondered how well that would go off now that someone had attempted to turn the name White Silver into a title no different than the title of Mandalore.
I think even if this situation doesn't get sorted out in my favor I might have a few more supporters back on the train for removing the New Mandalorians from power. Such an abuse of the ancient titles would tick off most of the more zealous clans that was for sure.
Well, it's not the worst outcome then, it's just some fool who has tried to declare himself the head of a new ideology. And this would serve his goals too in a way, as the way he positioned himself was in such a way that Satine would probably not try and remove him, not for a few months at least, a weakness that would be on display for all the Old Mandalorians.
The real question though was who would give this man the go ahead to attempt this. I know I've been busy for the last few years prepping for the inevitable conflict between New and Old Mandalorians as well as getting sidetracked more recently by both the great economic growth of Concordia, the Jedi poking around where they shouldn't be, and Dooku's machinations which may give me the opportunity to finally put Mandalore back under the house of Vizsla again.
But I was damn sure I had not missed this, this was too early for Dooku to have given the go-ahead and Merrik definitely would not have signed on to this plan as well, he wanted to return the noble titles to full power instead of the democratized version that the New Mandalorians had brought in. And I really doubted that he was the person who'd put together the original Silver Codex. My agents may have never found that person, but I had suspicions that they were from New Mandalorian stock, and there was no way a New Mandalorian would be so openly brazen about attempting to draw the Mandalorian Sector into war.
I guess there was the possibility that this was just some unknown player on the board that finally flipped his cards to reveal himself, it's not impossible but it seems odd. And I guess it was also possible that one of the members of the CIS had their own goals on Mandalore outside of Dooku's plan, given that the man was pushing for a corporatist state.
Either way though I needed to make a move against this Silver Corpo. As long as he was around he would be a threat to my leadership of the Old Mandalorians and Death Watch. I have worked too hard, suffered too much, and then been way too patient to let some fool screw it all up.
On one hand, I wanted to stop waiting, rally Death Watch, and then march on Gargon, take the planet for myself and then start the coup d'état by getting rid of a potential competitor. On the other hand, I knew we weren't ready yet, even with the lifting of restrictions on armor, the construction of weapons was still proving a bit difficult, and Mandel Motors was being a little cagey about those ships they were supposed to deliver. They would come around eventually, but if they didn't, well, I know where several other factories are. I know where they stored a lot of their ships, and it wouldn't be too difficult to organize a raid to acquire as many as possible.
If I could take some of Hypernautic's fleet that they've been building, that might improve my odds of winning a civil war. But that still meant I needed to figure out a way to deal with this Silver CEO. Perhaps I should send in a few agents under the guise of joining his faction and find out as much as possible about this Gargon situation before I make any moves.
'Yes,' I thought, nodding my head, turning away from the console to look at my fully decorated office. Thinking hard about who is loyal enough to the dream of an independent Mandalore and would not fall for the lies of a corpo slick talker, I settled on the Wrens. They have always been loyal to the secret Mandalore and I doubted they would jump ship for the pipe dream this man proposed.
I would have to contact them and tell them to get some agents over to Gargon to get me as much intel on the situation as possible. Then I would contact Dooku and make sure that he realized that this was not part of my plan and inquire if this was part of his plan or not. Finally, after that, I'd contact the Duchess and find out when she had scheduled a meeting on this situation. Surely it would not be too long from now, but probably within the next 24 to 36 hours. I'm certain she would not do anything against this little uprising, not yet at least.