715 FNM (23BBY)
Month 1
Serenno, Planetary Palace
Count Dooku
Building this rebellion is likely to be one of the most tedious tasks I have ever done in my life. Finding leadership amongst the various corporations that were not going to act without my assent was the main goal of this whole project. Unfortunately, most of those who rose to become leaders of multi-trillion credit companies did not get to where they are by being passive and following orders. While some of them do, most took more… creative means to reach their position.
By my calculations, the army the Separatists are creating would far outstrip anything the Republic could create. Even with the Republic's access to the clones, the Droid army would still overwhelm them by sheer numbers as well. If I truly wanted to take over the Republic it would not be very hard to accomplish. The forces I would have under my command would be more than enough to take Coruscant in a month. Which of course meant the whole project needed to be conducted in a way that wouldn't reveal this overwhelming advantage to the Republic.
In a sense, I needed to win with one hand behind my back, which should be easy enough. Much of the contract negotiation allowed the various planets and corporations to maintain their own armies as part of the CIS army. This would make it so that though we would have a larger force, internal goals would be the ones that these forces went after.
No doubt the corporations would abuse the army for their own needs, seeding chaos here and there, while clearing the Outer Rim in the first year. Of course it's part of the plan to undermine the CIS and divide our forces. On paper, the CIS were the stronger party. However, the internal divisions and infighting should ensure our forces are frequently defeated and the more mercenary factions will undermine any unintended victories. I planned on ensuring that the blame was laid on the corporations and the aliens as the main reasons for why the CIS fell apart, after the war ended. This way I would appear to have been simply a leader of the enemy force who had been hamstrung by the machinations of his incompetent and corrupt underlings, a possibly unknowing puppet of the corporations. At least that was the story that I most likely would state when the war was over and I have my Fist of the Empire.
Putting such leadership into positions of power is not a difficult task as the corporations already have characters of ill repute leading them that reached their position by taking the initiative through underhanded means. Not much work was required to let them run free and cause trouble for the Republic. I could always declare them criminals and such as the war went on if they did anything too drastic to maintain my status.
Of course there will be forces that go too far, it will inevitably happen with the type of leaders that will be put in charge. However without my guiding hand, nor the support of local authorities, rogue commanders would be unable to muster the forces for any major pushes into the Republic. And the fact of the matter is, the main goal of the CIS is independence, not conquest, meant that most local commanders would be more interested in maintaining the independence of their worlds than leading foreign invasions.
This natural alignment of interests presented a small problem to my plans. In order for the coming war to ramp up, conflict - battles, invasions, plunder, and all, these events, would need to occur between the forces of the CIS and the Republic. This is easily solved thanks to the simple fact that some planets had populations that would choose independence over the Republic and request aid from the CIS.
The CIS was prepared to offer systems with independent inclinations new leadership and aid favorable elements within any systems with their independence. If their people resisted the new masters, then their worlds would devolve into a war zone, which would be in the Republic's interest to prevent, interfere, or reclaim. These conflicts would blood the Republic, and the repeated battles would be the cruel but necessary harsh instruction in warfare needed to build an Empire. The Republic was a corrupted, de-evolved state, crying out for new leadership. With the right push from an external foe, like the CIS, to clear out the decedance and waste, and the introduction of my new Jedi Order, it could be an Empire anew.
Afterwords, I would blood my new Jedi Order on the remains of the CIS and dispense with the charade. It is a simple plan, though there were issues I had a few problems with, I would deal with them as time went on. Since large sectors of my space were once controlled by the Ancient Sith, my master, Darth Sidious, was interested in having the CIS do a little exploration. Since the Republic, by law, could not do that, at least not yet, if I managed to find a few relics and if any of those relics could come in handy for the war, I was allowed to use them. Can't make the war too easy for the Republic as well as a way to weed out the weak.
It all served as the perfect fodder for the Jedi to deal with, they would be misled to believe that the Sith were only present on the CIS side of the conflict. It would be sad to see many of my old friends perish in the coming conflict, but if the Jedi Order is so easily misled, there really was no reason to save the institution. The Order had outlived its usefulness, stagnant in their single minded adherence in only the Light Side of the Force. There needed to be a reset, if my Fist of Empire had to be that reset, then so be it.
Standing up from my desk, I looked at the walls of my home office. Richly decorated with years of work, arranging assets, and determining threats throughout the entire operation. And soon, very soon everything would become clear. The Jedi Order would show itself to be the fools they have become and the war would begin.
I believe it would be within the year though it could be longer. No doubt the recent conflicts on Antar 4 and Ansion, where Separatists uprisings had forced a bit of a riot between Republic forces on the worlds, would be a major talking point for the next year in the Senate. Once their talks are over, there would be an attempt to vote on if they should create a military or not. No doubt tensions would be inflamed further if someone were to contact a bounty hunter or two to take out anti-war leaders. Even a failed assassinationor two would work. This war was already well and truly in motion; it's only a matter of time until the pressure reached its breaking point.
Cracking my neck, I turned to look out the window behind my desk, to get a view of the world. Possibly the last few moments of peace Serenno would have before the conflict finally began. However, I was interrupted with a knock on my door before it was opened.
"My Count, Bariss Zotho is here to see you." Standing in the doorway was my servant, Setti Rankind, an old hand of my family not as old as me of course but he served my brother and was relatively loyal.
"Excellent," I said, "Send her in; also bring in a glass of the best wine we have in the house. She's a guest of interest and should be greeted with pomp and circumstance."
He nodded and a few moments later Bariss Zotho entered the room. She is an Arkanian, a geneticist by trade and some would call her mad scientist, though considering their entire species were known for being mad scientists it was hard not to be.
"Count Dooku, a pleasure to meet you." she said, giving a bit of a bow showing all the due respect that was expected of my station.
"Miss Zotho, good to see you as well. Please take a seat." offering a chair that was sitting across from my desk.
"Thank you my Count." she said as she walked over and sat down across from me. Her three-handed fingers went into her pockets to pull out several data pads and other equipment that no doubt had the information I had hired her for.
A couple months ago, Senator Merrik had sent along information on a particular interest of mine, specifically the list of planets that a certain Mandalorian Representative will be visiting on her tour. She is obviously a girl that is strong with the Force yet did not have any training.
As far as I was concerned there was no other answer for why she had seen through my illusions but there was always a chance that she wasn't and I knew exactly why he had sent that information along. Operations to destabilize the sector were already in motion, and removing her from the game, since she seemed to be poised to take his position, was at the top of his goals.
Not mine though, killing her would do me no good, it would be a waste of a potential resource that I would like to have after the war was over. Which is where this geneticist comes in. She is an expert of genetics of various species across the Galaxy and reliable at keeping secrets. I even considered possibly using her world for the clone project at one point though I abandoned that rather quickly. Arkania is too much of a powder keg on the good days and any secret would have been broken too quickly.
Smiling at the white skinned woman, I asked, "So then I assume the operation I sent you on was successful? Did you get a sample?"
Miss Zotho nodded before saying, "I have the sample, it was a hell of a thing let me tell you but I was eventually able to pull it off, even if I ended up having to run from those barbarians for nearly a week until they gave up."
I smiled for who knows how long, as she complained about the Mandalorians. It is understandable that she would have issues with them considering their sector had been neighbors for the dawn of time. It took so long that Setti was able to serve our wine and I already finished half of my glass before Miss Zotho wind down her tirade to sample the wine to soothe her no doubt parched throat."While that's unfortunate, you survived so I assume you have some of the information I wanted correct?"
"Yes my Lord, I did the checks you wanted me to do and you were correct, she has a high midichlorian count." She handed over the tablet and I looked at it with interest.
Legally speaking the only ones allowed to have information on determining people's midichlorian count were the Jedi. Illegally speaking, the Arkanians were known to keep secrets and if I wanted a job done that only the Jedi are capable of, what with the restriction on technology for identifying midichlorians, you ask an Arkanian. It seems that is correct, this little program appeared to have several different ways of cataloging midichlorians and it is definitely showing that the girl is strong in the Force. If I had to estimate her power, she is as powerful as Qui-Gon Jinn. It is an incredible accomplishment, considering her age and lack of training.
At this particular point I would say even without receiving training, over the next 3 years her powers would not diminish and likely would not for the next 10 years. This means I have plenty of time to prosecute the war and still pick her up as a possible apprentice once the conflict is over.
Miss Zotho was looking over a tablet in her hands as she said, "I must say though, she is an interesting genetic sample even for a crossbreed, she seems to have a very stable sample".
That got my attention. Raising my eyebrow I said, "Crossbreed? Aren't all humans the same breed?"
Bariss shook her head before saying, "Not exactly," before pressing a few buttons and showing a whole graphic projection of what I guess was Tanya's DNA, highlighting several points. Miss Zotho went on to say, "these points here are standard Mandalorian phenotypes, hair color at birth, eye color, facial structure; everything that was to be expected. She does have some gene points that are not Mandalorian, not even from the sector."
For that reason I frown, "Strange, though, not any major concerns." I began, "What sector are those points more closely related to?"
Playing with the pad in front of her, she clicked through a few points before bringing up another DNA strand and saying, "These DNA points mostly match humans of the world of Stewjon."
I sat back in my seat on that one, that particular planet was well located in the mid-southern rim well away from Mandalore. Not an impossible journey but definitely not somewhere you would expect Mandalorian DNA to come from.
Speaking those thoughts out loud I asked, "Hmm, could this DNA have come from several generations back? I know there was a bit of a recalling of dysphoria a thousand years ago."
Miss Zotho shook her head. "Impossible, there is too much DNA for it to have been anything other than the father or mother. which usually, meaning one generation separation between this introduction of this DNA. Even with how many Mandalorian DNA types there is out there, the planets the live on have an affect, genetic will favor certain variants of human for the conditions of the world they live on, and some of this is definitely due to the grasslands of Stewjon and not to a world that's been on its way to a desert planet for the last thousand years."
"While an oddity it is still something that's not necessarily to worry about." I finally said. I haven't given it a few more thoughts. It didn't really matter to me who their father or mother was in the long term. Of those things I was more interested in is the girl herself and her potential as an apprentice.
"You do good work Miss Zotho and I will be more than happy to continue to do business with you in the future." I said standing and giving her my hand.
She stood up and took my hand, saying, "Always a pleasure, Count Dooku. Also, if you do need the girl cloned I'm willing to offer a discount on my prices. Her DNA is a bit of an interesting thing here and I wouldn't mind playing around with what I acquired."
I scoffed at that before saying, "As entertaining as that notion is, everyone knows that you cannot clone someone with high midichlorian counts. The Force abhors duplicates."
"That's what flash cloners and the Jedi say." Miss Zotho said, waving that off with her free hand. "They're just trying to cover up their failures and prevent the cloning of a Jedi army. There's some interesting research out there that implies that if you raise a clone at almost a human life scale 10 years at least to reach the age of 20 that enough deviations will be created between the clone and the original that the Force doesn't actually affect them and cause them to go insane with clone madness."
Taking my hand back from the shake, I pondered her idea. It is an interesting notion she presented but the risk of insanity seems a bit too much for my taste. Though, it is worth noting that anything could happen in the coming wars and my future apprentice may not survive it. If the original was destroyed, well then there was nothing to drive the clones insane, was there.
Nodding my head, I simply said, "Keep the samples in storage. Perhaps in a few years I will have a need for them and we can negotiate a potential deal later."
Coruscant, Mandalorian Tower
Tanya Kyrze
The trip from Mandalore back to Coruscant, only took a week or two this time. The speedy journey was thanks to Aunt Satine since she allowed me to use the space yacht Coronet again. I was always quite impressed with the vessel, its internals, and the way it worked.
It was called a Star Yacht but in reality it's probably closer to a classification of ship that was more at home with what the Titanic had been, that being a Cruise Liner. A fast-moving vessel that could travel the galaxy and bring people from one place to another along with supplies and storage with comfort and amenities for the rich and not so much for those not willing to pay.
I always found it a bit of a surprise that on some of the lower levels. Under several levels of rather mundane activities that most folks would lean towards, was a whole section devoted to gambling.
It reminded me quite a bit of pachinko machines and other Las Vegas games of chance. Whoever had created that particular section had obviously built it to take the people coming in and out of the sector for everything they were worth, although I still wondered why it had been constructed at all. Mandalorians on the whole weren't exactly suckers for gambling. Oh sure there were some who had it bad, throwing away rationality and everything else for their addiction. Yet this was uncommon, ironically, the deeply rooted spiritual beliefs of the average Mandalorian did much to discourage the vice. The strong vein of intellectualism in the sector also deserved some of the credit for dissauding others. Overall, it seemed odd that we would have something like this aboard what could best describe the face of Mandalore as this ship traveled the trade lanes between Mandalore and Coruscant often enough.
But then again, perhaps I was misjudging the Mandalorians' ability to take advantage of others' issues for their own benefit. If a rich benefactor lost a million credits playing games on the ship while traveling to Mandalore, well that wasn't exactly Mandalore's fault since they had done it in what could be best described as international space. Really, this made the prospect of making Gargon an actual casino resort more theoretically possible than I had originally thought of when I had discovered this section of the ship on my first voyage.
Either way, the trip had been rather uneventful and we arrived at Coruscant with minimal attention. Of course, there will always be something going on as more issues develop in the Senate between the systems leaving to form their rival government and the current government.
Technically, this was not my concern; it was the senator's job, but I still kept an eye on it. After all, who knows when it might become my concern. Prince Merrik could be recalled to Mandalore to explain his thoughts on what was happening at any moment. And if he was recalled that would then leave me in charge of the official stance of Mandalore which, as far as I could tell, was that we wanted no part of any war and that Mandalore would vote against any war. Arming ourselves was also on the agenda though I believe. But that topic was something I did not need to worry about. I guess my operations on Gargon did accidentally create a bit of an armed force that could be called upon in an emergency. Only time would tell how that would go, though at the moment Gargon Rangers seemed to be minor additives to the Mandalore Sector Self Defense Force or MSSDF that Satine is creating.
Besides those distant concerns, life is rather easy. After a few meetings with the Ithorian; they were finally planning to send one of their ships to the Mandalore Sector to begin regrowing efforts on two worlds that had been devastated. Both worlds had been ruined during the most recent conflict in history, the Excision. Fortunately, those worlds were both worthless, one was a planet no one cared about, and the other planet was only officially cared about, because it was a former shipyard world. The shipyard world that had served all of the Mandalorian sector was devastated by a bombardment that left the planet covered in swampy ground. Officially, there was no planetary government or larger authority, only scavenger groups of clans that managed to make a living off the ruins. It could even be considered a frontier world under the right circumstances. Though to my understanding, even frontier worlds had some form of government, even if it was just a formalized council of clans.
No doubt I would have to meet with some leadership representatives from that world in the future to discuss how we would go about restoring their world's biosphere to a healthier, functional state.
The swamp world may appear functional, but it was literally just massive flies and mud with reeds. Across the entire planet, that biome wasn't a product of a functioning biosphere, that was a fragile omnisphere. The world's fragility was widely understood and caused much concern, and these fears could easily be realized by taking out one of the few components that worked. Burn the reeds, and the planet dies. Kill the flies, the planet dies. A functional biosphere requires redundancies and other species as much as you needed the founder species. It'll be interesting to see what the result was with the planet once the Ithorians were done with it.
As for the troublemakers in my unit, Vai and Tabby, I had authorized the captain to push some additional work out sessions on the pair. Granted some of these lessons were because of the recent kissing incident. The events in the ballroom were impossible to keep quiet, and well, the tabloids had been inspired. One interesting and positive side effect I had noticed was that the kissing incident had completely obliterated the story of White Silver from the news. Vai had talked briefly after that and as much as I understood that her and mother didn't get along, I made it clear that any behaviors while not under strict orders from me would be met with a response on the level of a magazine smacking her forehead as a disobedient employee she was.
Fact of the matter was that while Vai was not a member of the Royal Guard, she was a component to Tabby's issues. Both of them needed to work off a lot of energy so that they didn't cause me more problems. So, that's where the captain came in. Over the last few weeks he had been working them to the bone and trying to instill in them enough fear so that they gave some forethought before they acted and more importantly would never, ever do anything that would give me cause for a headache again.
How well did the captain succeed? Only time would tell. At the very least, the pair were too tired to get up into any trouble. Although they had tried, when my 17th birthday came up, there had been a suggestion that we go to the club and have a bit of a party. After all, I was only a year away from the drinking age of the Republic. I had, of course, attempted to sidestep the topic at first, but only ended up agreeing only if we made sure that no mistakes happened this time.
And I do say it had been a rather simple but fun experience, the guards that had their wagon out front making sure nothing terrible would happen and could easily drive us back to the tower instead of us having to go looking for our car after we were done partying.
Vai and Tabby were not overly drunk, instead they had shown more moderation, which could be a sign that they'd learned their lesson from the last time. My expectations for the pair that night had been quite low. At the last party we attended, I was forced to assign remedial training for each individual infraction. So, the remedial training for every screw up they had been in so far seemed to be finally working. This is why I prefer to work with an employee on an improvement plan instead of just firing them. After all, if I had just cut that employee that had pushed me in front of a train, I probably would have been dead a few months earlier. That was an unusually morbid thought, so I distracted myself with Vai's latest fashion obsession.
I typically did my best to ignore fashion, so Vai's attempts to get me to "live a little", was by buying me clothing that normally I would never wear, often showing a lot more leg or torso than I was known to do. At the mention of the club, I found that all my "suitable" wardrobe was clothes Vai had "suggested" at one point or another.
Sensing protest was not going to work, I picked the most conversative dress I knew Vai would approve of and focused on the party. So far our conversations had been about rather mundane topics, the new season of Silver Rider had been proposed as a new movie. The movie set location had apparently been forced to move planets several times due to various controversies. As a result, a few of the minor actors had gotten into some tabloid drama of their own, which I sympathized with. It was nice to speculate about other non-planet-shattering events, simply enjoying the company and celebrating my birthday. Someone had even managed to get a chocolate cake, which we had enjoyed quite dearly and near the end. Vai and Tabby invited Ordo and I both to dance on the floor with them and it just sort of happened. Granted, neither one of us were very good at the whole individual dancing thing, but we both apparently knew a waltz that had been imported by the New Mandalorians.
Armed with that shared knowledge of the waltz, Ordo and I were able to at least appear functional on the dance floor, even if most displaying more modern styles of dance. I enjoyed the waltz too, although, I will note my damn hormones keep acting up. Apparently I've been keyed to enjoy being close to someone who appears physically stronger than me, that pesky sensation of feeling safe and content had reared its ugly head. Either way, though, we had a good time and my 17th birthday party was a resounding success. Out of the three I had, that probably was the best I'd had in all my lives.
My first one involved too much studying for school. The second one, had been in the trenches and mud of Russy land. So this life didn't have very strong competition for the title. But that didn't matter, what mattered was that there had been no explosion of information online the day after. The party had not resulted in another media storm and no news was good news. The fading scrutiny meant I could focus on building support with the various political parties, get approval for terraforming of Mandalorian worlds, and other projects for the improvement of Mandalore.
Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tanya Kryze
Another day, another trip to the Jedi Temple. My continued efforts to get the Agricorp Council to sign off on Concordia's status change and remove its protected planet status, had borne fruit that I had not originally set out to pick.
The initial plan for Concordia had been straightforward. Notify Agricorp about the problem with the planet's protected status, namely, that it was not protecting anything and is in fact hurting the planet, and in doing so, start the slow bureaucratic process to update it. Concordia's protected status originally protected endangered native species, some time in the distant past. Native species that were long since extinct in the biosphere collapse. Now the protected status only served to hurt free trade, especially imports of live plants and animals, preventing the free hand of the market from acting in the planet's recovery. The importation of plants and animals was necessary to replace those destroyed in the original destruction, when the Republic's forces had bombarded the world nearly 700 years before. The unexpected fruit, the one that I was currently nurturing, was a bit of an interesting situation.
It would seem that the Jedi Order would use the Agricorp as a sort of dumping ground for initiates who couldn't attract the attention of a master, or were not up for the idea of fighting. Those individuals would instead leave for worlds that would give them basic farm work. They lived their life producing food for the masses, as well as earning a bit of income for the Jedi Order, I'm sure.
Oh and it also seemed that they wanted to build miniature temples. The plans they submitted included accompanying communal and residential complexes, as well as additional agriculture districts. I sensed a bit of politics in the designs, but these temples being overly large or possibly a Jedi boondoggle on those worlds where they set these things up was not a big issue for me. What was interesting was that this was a possible source of manpower for the Mandalorian sector.
The Agricorp was interested in possibly setting up a temple for this group of pacifists or failed Jedi on Concord Dawn, Vorpa'ya or Concordia. Now this was an interesting prospect, the Agricorp was made up of hundreds of individuals, maybe thousands who had experience with plant life throughout the Galaxy, had knowledge of various healing techniques, and for all intents and purposes were meant to help planets that were falling behind economically and technology to give them a leg up. One of the few organizations that had real effects outside the Jedi Order's warrior classes.
Allowing them to build a temple and start farming on one of our worlds could be beneficial in the long run, not only for deepening ties between the Republic and Mandalore, but continuing the process of getting Mandalorians and Jedi to no longer see each other as ancestral enemies. Granted, from my own knowledge most Mandalorians just saw Jedi as ancestral rivals to test their mettle against rather than enemies, but I was sure that this was a one-way street on that matter.
Either way, this was a rare opportunity to improve relations, improved relations meant that Mandalore was less likely to be bombarded by some Republic fleet in the next 20 to 40 years. The only real issues in making this come to be were two fold; 1) What world would be the best planet for such a temple? and 2) Would they accept such an institution? It was obvious why we might have problems getting such an institution created, being that the Jedi still had a stigma as child-stealers in the Mandalore Sector. The shift from Jedi Lords tactics of allowing adults, to a dependency on bringing in children did not sit right with Mandalorians, who, of course, saw family as one of the most important elements of our culture.
Knowing a few things about the Mandalorian Sector, I had managed to move the conversation away from Concordia without raising any suspicion. Yes, Concordia was on the verge of becoming a planet that would be a vast improvement to the agricultural abilities of the sector. However, the main population of Concordia were Mandalorians who either have been banished from the surface of Mandalore after the end of the Clan Wars. Or extreme traditionalists that even other Mandalorians gave the side eye to.
Understandable, considering some of them believed that taking their helmet off in the presence of others no longer made you a Mandalorian. A strange practice, but if that's what they wish to believe then that's what they wish to believe. I had taken some interest in the idea of that whole subculture for a bit, trying to figure out exactly where it came from. My best guess was it was related to the original Mandalores. History implies that 4,000 years ago for some time Mandalorian leaders, like the Mandalore, would never take their helmet off after taking the title, a way to show continuity of them being just the continuation of the Mandalore from before. As if the spirit of the last Mandalore simply inhabited the helmet and would take over the body of the new Mandalore. A weird cultural practice in some forms, but I guess it has some degree of superstitious sense to people who are very traditional and nomadic.
The issue, of course, was the potential possibility that this Agricorp Temple would find Mandalorians with Force ability. If they did, well, they could cause problems. A riot, for example. The imagined Senate hearing and paperwork following that imaginary disaster was already giving me the start of a headache. So Concordia was firmly off the agenda as far as I was concerned.
That left Concord Dawn and Vorpa'ya. I will admit my knowledge of both was minimal at best, but I knew more about Concord Dawn than I know about Vorpa'ya. Concord Dawn was a despotic governorship, often looked down upon by most of the sector for being corrupt. A world you didn't want to make first appearances with and let the foot in the door with the Jedi, if I were to be honest. The chaos and mayhem that could be observed everyday, well, would simply speak ill of Mandalore to any Jedi working on the planet.
The only redeeming factor for Concord Dawn was it was mainly populated by populations that had once been part of the True Mandalorians, who were not as known to hate the Jedi as much as the Traditionalists. But there was no reason to push for Concord Dawn when Vorpa'ya was actually the better option.
Vorpa'ya was the neighboring system to Concord Dawn. It shared many of the similar cultural practices, but had a smaller population, meaning there was less potential for trouble on the planet. Theoretically it was under the rule of Concord Dawn, though, the governor only deployed troops there sparingly; the most recent deployment was when pirates attacked, and the Royal Guard had to intervene to aid them. The recent conflict was another reason why the Agricorp setting up shop there would be more useful for the planet, as it was recently devastated during the small war against pirates.
In a sense, it was the perfect planet for this operation, even if its culture was a bit immature and undetermined to me. The people there wouldn't start problems with the Jedi, they were too spread out. I doubted they would even run into them that often and they wouldn't mind the help in rebuilding their world.
The planet was also a prime example of the nomadic lifestyle still being a major component of the Mandalorian way of life. Concord Dawn was an agri-world devoted to the production of grown food, Vorpa'ya was for the raising of cattle and other popular livestock. It was, as far as records went back, a planet known to be flat. Not a lot of mountains and few oceans, just enough to keep the planet relatively green with large rolling steppes of grass. This actually was a problem in some areas as there was a dust storm that apparently had been going for the last hundred years around the planet. It was primarily in the northern territories of the world which had rendered that area unusable for any agricultural needs, similar to the Unified States' Dust Bowl I read about in their history books from my 2nd life. And while I don't know for sure if the United States in my first life had something similar, it isn't that far-fetched that Being X would be too lazy to make changes before he copied the history prior to magic.
I hadn't actually done this research myself as most of the information about Vorpa'ya was not even in the records kept here on Coruscant. My guard Kor Kastel happened to be from that world and was quite informative on the subject. He had told some interesting tales of how some clans on the planet simply drove their version of space cattle around the world constantly circling it in 10 years never having to actually interact with other Clans because their own schedules would keep them on the entire other side of the world.
For such distance between even the local populations amongst themselves, putting a Jedi Temple there to basically keep some agricultural experts busy and help build up the local economy seemed rather simple. I'm sure I would have to work on negotiations with either whatever local Governor they had or the protector of Concord Dawn, but that was a minor issue in the long term. Negotiations always take time and if you put in the effort, things would work out.
That being said, today's negotiations with the Council had ended rather amicably with a general agreement that I would poke around to find out if the administration of Vorpa'ya would be interested in such an arrangement. And with my general duties completed I could now focus on one of the more interesting aspects of my trips to the Jedi Temple, a relaxing conversation with Master Yoda — it's still the most ridiculous title I think I'd ever heard of. Either way I was sitting in the old rooftop garden that I had had several meetings with the elder Jedi. I suspected he'd come along any moment now, considering he always seemed to find me whenever I entered the temple but what we were talking about today was up in the air. We usually had just a simple conversation about the cultural implications of the Jedi and the Mandalorians in the Galaxy at home.
Of course there was the possibility that Yoda would be interested in the goings on of the Mandalorian Sector. That would be understandable considering the chaos that had been unleashed by False Silver but I'm sure it would only be a passing interest. He tended to not bring politics too heavily into our conversations and was more interested in the cultural implication of politics.
I think I've done a lot to improve inter relationships between Mandalorians and Jedi considering the view I was getting at the moment. It was near the evening of this particular day and thus the sky was starting to turn orange with the onset of night. As I sat on the bench watching the sun slowly lower, I had a look over at one of the Temple guards who kept an eye on non Jedi in the temple and gave him a nod.
Considering he was just willing to allow me to go to this particular bench without a Jedi directly escorting me, I think I've proven myself a loyal friend to the Jedi, which was useful, either that or they were just at least somewhat comfortable with me being around.
Didn't have to say the Jedi Temple Guard was an impressive institution. Their masks would probably be the envy of many Mandalorians within the Royal Guard. And they were the first group I'd seen to wield lightsabers that were not just the single tube configuration. Granted, what they carried around is a double tube but still it was interesting to learn that there were other designs for those laser swords other than just a tube to beat a person over with like it was a bat. Though that wasn't exactly fair.
In my visits I had actually watched some of the younglings, as they called them, practice their bladework. Noting a lot of examples of style that reminded me of kendo and other homegrown styles from Japan. I even saw a few practitioners use styles that looked a bit more European in creation though perhaps that was just a coincidence. A lightsaber is just a sword and there are only so many different ways to wield a sword. Sooner or later the practices will be very similar in one way or another and the best will move to the top.
My thoughts were interrupted as I heard a familiar voice say, "Tanya, good to see you." Turning I saw Anakin Skywalker walking towards me from inside the temple. He was smiling and looked to be in a good mood so I returned the favor.
Smiling, I said, "Padawan Skywalker, good to see you as well. It's been a good long time since we've talked. How have you been? Did anything interesting happen?"
He chuckled at that before saying, "Not as long as you think, we actually just returned from Mandalore a couple weeks ago, during that whole White Silver controversy."
Oh that's interesting, I had mentally noted that Aunt Satine mentioned that some Jedi had been in town during that whole conflict but I simply dropped that little factoid in the back of my mind. Figuring that the chances that it would be someone I knew were near zero.
The fact that it was someone I knew was a bit interesting. Perhaps the Jedi were using me as some sort of tool to train themselves to deal with the Mandalorians. It would make some sense to foster a good relationship with a representative and make sure that one of your Jedi were skilled in dealing with the people of that Sector. A rather intelligent operational scheme really, I had to commend them if I ever got the chance to do so.
Smiling, I simply said, "Oh really? Well how was your time in Mandalore? Besides that bit of chaos that we had to go through."
"Everything was fine, it's kind of a fun experience. The planet was not in the middle of the chaos, unlike most planets we travel to when things go a little bit sideways. And Obi-Wan seems to have a nice time talking to Satine again. Really that was the most un-emergency trip we've taken in a long time. Had the real White Silver not shown up, I'm sure things would have been different but cuz she did it turned out to be more of a vacation."
I chuckled a little bit at the humorous notion that my attempts to prevent a civil war had given a Jedi a vacation. Well if the Mandalorian gods were real and like Being X somewhere in existence, I'm sure they would be chuckling with me at the notion that a Mandalorian had granted their greatest adversary a vacation on their homeworld.
Once that thought had ended though, I simply said, "Yes a lucky thing that White Silver turned out to be a lot more stable than Gerr."
"Stable doesn't seem to cover half of it. That's the kind of person that needs to be in leadership positions. In my mind they saw a problem, took control of the situation, and brought an end to the problem." Anakin said with a smile as he took a seat next to me. "I don't understand why they have to villainize their actions the way they've been doing in the Mandalore sector."
Smiling, I nodded before saying, "Although true I will note that White Silver worked out for the better in this situation, imagine what would have happened if White Silver had been just like Gerr? That's why they need to villainize for White Silver's actions, to dissuade other people from doing the same thing. We got lucky that's all there is to it, it could have easily gone bad and there could be a warlord trying to take over the sector as we speak."
Anakin nodded. I'm not sure though if he understood what I was saying as he then said, "Okay but if she's a strong leader in the sector and does good, why cast a possible villainous net in her direction when it could inspire people to be as good a leader as she is?"
Shaking my head I said, "As I said elements of what she do stands for may be good but, the idea that someone can, without proper representation of the people, gather a military force together to execute a decapitating action against a leadership they disagree with, is not something that any government will ever support simply because if you support it against your enemies your enemies will do the same against you. It's like in an honor duel, if you bring a blaster to a sword fight or just bring multiple people, that invites your enemies to do the same or escalate."
A lesson I had learned the hard way unfortunately. Russy had definitely learned from my own attempts at ending the war as quickly as possible by attacking places of leadership and command structure during the conflict that engulfed the Eastern Front in the last years of the Great War. That was something that I would not want to repeat again, because it'll be a bloody affair.
Thankfully, I think Anakin finally understood nodding his head in a way that I could only hope meant that he got it. "So the problem is that even though she's a good and strong leader, the fact that she went around or above the law to perpetrate this act makes her a problem for the Mandalorian government."
Nodding I said, "Exactly, if White Silver had used more legal means of unseating Gerr, I'm sure the whole situation would be different." Unfortunately, I doubt any legal means can hold up to an army of mercenaries and several dozens of ships pointing down at the planet. All Gerr needed to do to ruin a protest to dethrone him is to send his army to gun down the protesters
"Could White Silver have used some sort of legal means to unseat Gerr?" Anakin asked finding the one chink in the armor of the conversation that I was hoping he wouldn't notice.
I sighed before answering honestly, "No White Silver could not. Theoretically, the New Mandalorian government could not do anything against Gargon. While it may be in the sector, it's not actually a member of the sector. As in, the planet has not sworn fealty to the current ruling government and thus is merely an independent planet that is just inside the area of space called the Mandalore Sector. So if it's taken over by some warlord it's not really the sector's problem even if the warlord had made it quite clear that they plan to ramp up tensions in the sector by invading neighboring planets who have sworn fealty to the ruling government. In short, the Mandalorian government could not take a move unless Gerr actually stepped on a planet that was under our control."
"So basically those in charge of the Mandalorian government are being harsh on White Silver because she could do what they could not."
I sighed while rubbing my forehead before saying, "If you want to look at it that way, yes.," with a bit of pain. "The Mandalorian Government followed the law, so they are obligated to punish those that break them.
"Diplomatically though I think that won't happen in the future. There's been reports that the new leadership of Gargon are interested in deepening ties to the rest of the sector and prosecuting a local hero is not best way to start a working relationship." I hoped to bring that up within this conversation.
Thankfully that was not necessary as another familiar yet older and wiser voice spoke up. "Politics is a deep and complicated game, young one I think we'd all rather not play and much pain is gained from even attempting."
Looking up I saw Master Yoda walking into the courtyard at a steady pace for an old man by the looks of it. With a smile he said, "Welcome back, Representative Kryze. Good to see you too, young Skywalker. Having fun conversations I hope, and nothing too political."
Smiley and I stood up and gave a bit of a curtsy as I have been trained to do when greeting those of elderly status. "Fun conversations are what we usually have, Master Yoda. However, getting a little political is inevitable nowadays, so hopefully we can get off the subject of modern day politics." With that said I retook my seat again.
Nodding his approval Master Yoda sat down in a bench across from us before saying, "Inescapable the politics of this world are, but we must endeavor to try to escape it. Life is much more than politics."
Nodding my head at that statement I was reminded of a question I had meant to ask him the next time I saw him.
"Might be good to avoid politics but I do have something that might be of a political nature though it might be of a cultural nature as well, depending on your point of view, that I wish to discuss with you."
"A question from you is usually interesting, well then tell me."
After clearing my throat I begin, "While on tour in the Mandalorian sector I came across a museum that had certain artifacts that I believe belong to the Jedi Order several thousand years ago, mainly lightsabers and trinkets as it were. They were obviously taken as war booty by the clans from the Jedi of that era and I'm wondering if there is some sort of law or something about returning such items that they are stepping on."
"Hmm," the elder Jedi hummed whilst scratching at his chin in thought before saying, "Jedi trinkets not so much. 4,000 years ago, though interesting, these items would already be well beyond their usefulness. Lightsabers as well as anyone who knew them are long gone. Most lightsabers are burnt with their Jedi when they die and are returned to the Force. The fact that a few have survived this fate and now exist in some museum is nothing too terrible of a fate in the long term of things."
"We tend to focus on the here and now when it comes to relics like those. If those relics belong to Jedi from say 50 years ago, we have interest in recovering them and returning them to their owners in one way or another. However, as old as you're stating, I would tend to believe that no one would care as long as they are treated with respect, in this museum that is."
Nodding my head I said, "From what I saw they were treated with much respect, efforts appear to have been made to track down names of certain Jedi who may have wielded the weapons of the lightsabers. The trinkets tended to just be piled up as examples of Jedi equipment from that era but I think that's more of an opinion of the use of trinkets than desk ornaments for what they are."
Nodding his head the Jedi Master said, "Then I see no problem with this museum keeping these items. Though perhaps, we will establish some sort of meeting between Jedi who are specialized in the libraries and research first. Perhaps they will have issues with it or at least we'll be able to match some names to those lightsabers that have yet to have been found."
'Well that was rather successful.' I thought, not only had I ensured that these items were not some great insult that might upset the Jedi that we have them in our possession, but I also secured a bit of a research agreement between Mandalore and the Jedi on finding out the owners of these weapons. Smiling, I said, "That's good to hear, one of the most important aspects of Mandalorian culture is history, understanding where it came from, and such so being able to reunite an item with its history would be good for cultural as well as diplomatic reasons."
"Making friends is good for both Mandalore and the Jedi I would think, I think even some of your most roguish characters believe that as well considering what information has leaked out about White Silver. Quite impressed I was to hear they were able to unite an entire planet against the forces of corruption that would draw them into war."
That was an odd turn in the conversation. I shrugged it off as Anakin had asked similar questions already.
"They worked within the bounds of Mandalorian culture quite well as well, showing themselves to be a worthy warrior and someone who did not wish to cause war. It reminded me of a conversation I had not long ago, though I can't remember with whom."
Wait what no…
"Quite an intriguing name the White Silver came up with for her opponent. False Silver, calling him quite clearly a false redemption in their culture to dispute them as a potential path to a safe and peace-filled future. A good term, whoever came up with that is a master at understanding the culture of the Mandalorians, while also seeing themselves as part of that culture and how to use it to benefit otherMandalorians. If they didn't make themselves so apparent to be a force for good, I'd be worried that they were something more."
...I realized that someone else might have discovered my secret. I needed to be a lot more careful, if I ever pulled a stunt like that again. Hopefully, I would never have to do that.
Coughing, I just managed to agree and say "Yes, they do seem to have a fine understanding of Mandalorian culture and hopefully they'll stay far away from politics in the future."
Yoda didn't give me a look before nodding, "Quite agree, I do. Terrible thing to work in, politics is." He gave me the friendliest smile before continuing, "Wonder, I do, if White Silver has already accomplished her agenda now after her efforts to unseat False Silver succeeded. Good guidance, strong friendship, I sense as well. Whoever's they speak to must be giving them good advice and mentorship, I think as well."
Yep, Yoda knew. Or at least believed he knew, and was taking credit for pushing me in the right direction, at least that's what I think he was implying.
The fact that I was not being arrested was a good sign. Yoda most likely agreed with what I had done, which was something. Having your operation retroactively sanctioned by a Jedi Master tended to mean you were in the right. At least according to my own research, working with the Jedi tended to work out better for Mandalorians, so I'm going to call this a win…
Well that did bring up a bit of a concern. Would they ask me to do anything else in the future…
Coruscant, Senate Building
Bail Organa
Tonight was supposed to be a simple meeting, we had organized it as part of my new duties as the Chairman of the Loyalist Committee. The Loyalist party meant to try and keep the Republic together as this crisis developed.
Really, this was just one of the many things I've been up to over the last half year, as this crisis seemed to grow heavier and heavier. There was no doubt in my mind we were heading towards something disastrous and very well could see a conflict develop at the rate it was going. To try and get ahead of this coming issue, I have been pushing for Alderaan to build up its relief services, allowing more refugees on our world, as well as the creation of some armaments for the protection of Alderaan, in case the conflicts come uninvited to our doorstep.
Inside, I hoped there would be no war. War was a nasty business, our history proves that more than once, with whole houses being destroyed in them. But, realistically, the possibility that war would spring from these current conflicts was undeniable.
So I was trying to gather as many of the loyalist senators together to try and at least get them talking about the situation. Most senators believe that there could be peace between the two galactic powers. I would love to believe that as well, but history has taught me differently. If there were multiple powers in the Galaxy, that was more than sufficient for a fight to develop. The Hutt's being the exception, but that was only due to the fact that they weren't a proper galactic power; more a collection of cartels that maintain peace in their own space and refuse to actually engage in diplomacy with the Republic.
The Hutt's could get away with this because their particular part of space was off the main trade lanes. Trade lanes do run through their space, but not the major ones, so interacting with them could be avoided and the galaxy just ignores their existence.
The Confederacy was rapidly growing, as one of the more prominent senators and their allies, who collectively had represented a major trade lane, had been convinced to join the CIS. They had convinced the planetary governments, and were now in positions to cause issues in the future. Some of their colleagues were still in denial about the defection.
Parts of the Republic would be cut off from each other, as well as a lot of resources that came from the Outer Rim to the Mid and Core also being cut if a major trade lane joined the Confederacy. Resource allocation, trade lanes, these issues were fertile ground for conflict. These alone would be troubling issues, if they were not being repeated all across the Republic. So many hotspots, and inevitably in some of these places, conflict would spring forth and from conflict would come to war. It's only a matter of when.
It was my hope though that I could at the very least minimize the damage of the war. I have some diplomatic plans and a few goals that could be achieved, but it was better to be prepared for such a conflict than to pretend.
Which was why I, the head of the pro-military faction, was hosting this get-together this evening. We were the host to many senators and representatives to try and find out the prospects for the Republic's future, in addition to observing what factions may be formed in the coming conflict.
Not just the factions that would be leaving the Republic, of course. There would also be factions within the Republic that would see the conflict as an opportunity and would seek their own aims and outcomes.
There is, of course, the Loyalists, whose aims were to bring about a peaceful resolution to this whole crisis, but were prepared to defend the Republic with force in the extreme if necessary.
There were factions belonging to various border worlds and worlds that depend on those resources flowing as they should and any disruption would endanger their livelihood. Each of these border factions were calling for the creation of a military outright. However, none of these blocs were interested in self-defense, but in "correcting" past wrongs and highly dubious resource exploitation. Basically each wanted a private military for their conflict, to kick off a war, not prepare a defense against one. Thankfully most of those factions were minimal and weren't popular. My faction, the Loyalists, tended to actually have the more popular support.
Naboo and their senator lead another significant faction, who represented those seeking a peaceful resolution, without the creation of a military. That had been several interesting conversations, to say the least. Padme seemed to believe that the military itself and its creation would cause the war, even if it was done with a purely defensive mandate. Instead, she had been campaigning against any idea of forming a military.
On one hand, I wanted to disagree with her pacifistic stance as nothing more than idealistic naivete. While, on the other hand, her friend and current rhetorical opponents at today's meeting had made several key observations in the past, statements that explained the issue quite well and supported her logic.
Observations, like 'If you have a military, someone's going to want to use it, especially for their own needs.' In other words, the 'I bought the whole speedometer, I am going to use the whole speedometer.'attitude commonly found on young and rich speeder enthusiasts before they get into a crash. I should know, I was once one of those young speeder enthusiasts before I met Breha. As much as I was in favor of the creation of some sort of defense force for the Republic, I had to concede the point. I had to admit whoever we put in charge of the military would have their own biases, biases that could lead to more conflict.
Frankly, though, I was holding these meetings as a way to keep the party together. The talks often went nowhere and I was still trying to come to some sort of resolution for the Republic. I had started to note a pattern where the attention and focus would end up circling Padme and Tanya's arguments. Padme represents the faction in favor of the no military buildup while Tanya represents a compromise position, in favor of sector military forces. It was a plausible option, in my own opinion, a Republic Self-Defense Force, but often forgotten in the past Senate debates.
I still preferred the creation of a larger and centralized Republic Self-Defense Force, but I could see good ideas when they were presented in front of me. A lot of Tanya's arguments and solutions for the Self-Defense Force defending individual sectors could be applied to the larger, scaled up version of a centralized Self-Defense Force. Letting Padme and Tanya's arguments continue to run their course was still to my benefit so that I could fine-tune my argument for a Republican military when I present them to the senate when the time comes.
Not to mention, it was generally entertaining to watch those two argue. The senator from one of the most peaceful planets in the Mid Rim whose claim to fame was defeating an invading enemy army and capturing the enemy leadership at blaster point, having a theoretical conversation with a representative of one of the most warlike sector of planets in the Outer Rim, a green novice, who'd never seen combat. It was unfortunate that Padme was so firmly entrenched in her position, she would have been an ideal military strategist.
So today's general direction of the conversation took an odd turn. The two were sitting at a long table flanked by various senators and representatives. All of those in attendance were listening to the conversation with interest.
"So Tanya, I recently heard an interesting story. That the Mandalorian sector has started to put together a Self-Defense Force. Is there anything we should be worried about?" Padme said it with such mirth that it was obvious that this was a joke. Only, Tanya didn't join in. She looked a little bit peeved at the joke.
"I assure you, there's nothing to worry about that particular recent development. The government of Mandalore is simply taking a realistic stance on our position in the galaxy right off the Hydian Way, between several CIS strongholds and the Core of the Republic. It's better to have a secure position today than to feel sorry tomorrow, when the invasions begin." Tanya said matter of fact as she swirled a drink in the cup in front of her.
"True, but wasn't the demand for a Self-Defense Force one of the tenants published by that vigilante, White Silver, that stopped an attempt to take over your sector just a few months ago?"
Tanya seemed unfazed by the question and said, "Yes, that is true. Just because a person is a vigilante does not mean they are wrong about certain ideas. I would never hesitate to steal an idea from an adversary. Building a Self-Defense Force in this situation makes sense as it seems very likely that conflict is going to erupt within the next three to two years."
"Alright then, so do you agree with White Silver's statements on the matter of Mandalorians then?" That caused me to lean in, it was an intriguing question to ask and I wonder where Padme was going with this line of questioning.
"The idea of building a Self-Defense Force to protect the sector makes sense. Many of their ideas have made sense in the past, they are minor agents helping in the overall health of the sector. They are doing good in my opinion, so yes in a way I do agree with the general outline of their ideas. As long as it's in service to rebuilding Mandalore."
"Then, what are your thoughts on White Silver's statements about war and the title of Mand'alor? Maybe I misunderstood it, but from my reading of the document, White Silver suggested that the people of Mandalore could give the ability to declare war over to an officially elected Mand'alor, one that all the clans agree is the Mandalore correct?"
Tanya nodded her head in agreement. "Correct, White Silver also made it clear that she considers Duchess Satine as the true Leader of Mandalore. I don't think that's much of a worry when it comes to war, considering Satine is a well known supporter that pacifism is the correct path for Mandalore. Satine is also willing to admit that being able to defend ourselves is a legitimate use of violence as she herself had fought for the unification of our sector, just like you did for your people on Naboo."
Padme nodded her agreement before saying, "But what's to stop another Mandalorian from declaring themselves Mand'alor and having an election that for all intents and purposes is a legitimate election? Then the power to declare war is now in someone else's hands, correct? Doesn't that mean that your Mandalorian Self-Defense Force would have to follow the orders of this unknown person and go to war if they declare it?"
Tanya stopped for a moment before saying, "While yes, White Silver did not in fact do anything to restrict the matters of war beyond declaring that only the Mand'alor can declare it, besides implying that an official Mand'alor has to be elected. Granted, I would assume that most of the clan leaders would continue to support Satine's leadership, since she has done a wonderful job rebuilding the sector in recent years, raising standard of living to that of a Core-world, with public education, universal healthcare, and scholarship programs. So I don't think this is as big of an issue when Duchess Satine has the support of the general public."
"Back to the topic of the title of Mand'alor, the Mand'alor can declare war at any time depending on who's in control of the government? What's to stop this Self-Defense Force and whatever other military forces in the sector to be used in more than a defensive role? This Silver Codex that most of your people have fallen for depends on the good in the state actors in the government?"
'Oof, now that's a good point.' I mentally thought. "It's a well-known fact that most governments in the Galaxy are not immune to corruption in one form or another. If someone were to get into office and get themselves declared the official Mand'alor they could cause quite a bit of problems not to mention, Who declares the clans votes good? What if 25% voted for one Mand'alor, another 30% voted for another, while the rest voted on the other and they all decided the candidates that they didn't vote for are not real Mandalorians unless they had all the votes they needed. As much as that stance might limit the possibility of war with someone like Duchess Satine in office, if something were to happen to her or someone were to refuse to acknowledge her as the Mand'alor and hold their own election, well they could start up their own Mandalorian Civil War wouldn't they?"
Tanya seems to be giving that a lot of thought. Perhaps Padme had raised a legitimate concern that she was actually thinking it through. After some time, she nodded before saying, "These are legitimate concerns to be worried about, however restricting the ability to declare war more than already proposed in Silver Codex would probably infuriate Mandalorians more than actually solving the problem.
It's an obvious fact that a military that could not be deployed without the command of an officer or in this case the Mand'alor would be a slower apparatus. Sometimes you need a strong figure to control the force in question. If that power was to be relinquished to say the Royal Court, debating on what to do when we're being invaded would result in the invasion being successful, not to mention that it would weaken the pillars of Mandalorian culture. Our leader is who we stand by in a moment of conflict, without that our culture loses one of the six pillars that allows it to have existed for the last 5000 years while being in constant conflict with our neighbors."
"Still," Padme said, "the document relies too heavily on people being good State actors and not having their own goals behind it. It could result in a conflict if someone else was to take power."
Tanya simply shrugged and said, "There could be conflict tomorrow and Satine would still be in power. Your concerns are legitimate, I'll give you that, but the issue that seems to be forgotten here is that the culture being created by the proper use of that power can determine the future much more than simply putting down rules.
If someone has the power to declare war and does not use it unless absolutely necessary, that creates a standard. Something that's expected of the next leader and if the next one starts declaring wars willy-nilly, a lot of clans will simply look the other way and not follow.
It does not matter if a person has the power to declare war, it matters how that power is used. If a person never declares war but ensures that the people underneath them have better lives than they would have had if they'd gone to war, then people are going to be more likely to vote for a person who will continue that prospect. The person who declares war and shows that the result of war is the destruction of Mandalore, as it has shown well and truly in the past, was only ever focused on declaring that war. Then people will learn their lesson and never declare such a warmonger a Mand'alor again.
Maybe in the future they'll be some ratification of a constitution to prevent a Mand'alor from declaring war without the consent of the council or maybe stipulations on how much resources could be moved towards a violent conflict without the council's approval, while requiring that approval to move to full war footing. I'm sure Duchess Satine has already considered ways to do that. Duchess Satine is quite up to the challenge of proving that a peaceful Mandalorian is possible be that the system, the sector, or the person she just has issues using the term itself."
That seemed to end the debate as Padme let out a sigh before nodding saying, "Alright, I will let this be for now. Though I do think I'm going to need to schedule some sort of trip out to Mandalore to meet your aunt for myself."
"Interested in seeing how a civilization rebuilt itself after a total collapse of trust in its hierarchy?" Tanya poked with a smile
Padme simply shrugged, "No I'm interested in her opinions on all this going on with the secessionist."
"I'll tell you right now what her opinions are. Though I think you should meet her, I think you two would get along great, but her opinions are quite simple. The Republic is the dominant power in the Galaxy, being part of the Republic ensures that Mandalore will be able to return to a livable world again and watching the Seperatist and the Republic tear each other apart over a conflict as foolish as this is not in our best interests on Mandalore. If trade breaks down between the Outer Rim and the Core, it'll be worlds that are in the Mid Rim or close to it that'll be suffering the most as we will simply become a battleground for the Core and the Outer Rim to fight over."
"And if you become a battleground for this conflict?" I asked, finally having heard quite a bit about this and wanting to get a point of view on what the Mandalorians would do if something like this were to happen.
Tanya simply shrugged and said whilst looking at me with a sense of profound understanding that I didn't often see in her, "We won't let that happen, we'll simply not be a party to a war between the secessionist and the Core. Mandalore has seen enough conflict that it's better for us to not be involved at all at this point and work on bettering ourselves rather than to be drawn into another pointless war that would leave Mandalore more devastated and dead than it already is."
I nodded agreeing with the sentiment quite clearly before saying, "And let us hope that this conflict never arises then and cooler heads will finally prevail before things spin out of control."
Coruscant, Regal Star Caf and Chocolate Shop
Tanya Kryze
Smiling, I gave a curtsy and said, "Chancellor Palpatine, what an honor to meet you again." I was at the particular chocolate store where I'd run into him before. This time it had not been a planned operation but I was not going to waste the opportunity to build relations with the most powerful man in the Republic as I attempted to increase my social status by talking with the chancellor.
The chancellor in question turned with a smile on his face, "Ah young Representative Kryze I think, correct?"
I nodded before saying, "That is correct, Chancellor."
"Always such a delight to see such young faces in politics working to improve their sector. I've been hearing about Mandalore more often recently in the last few months and I think I've heard about the whole Governor Vrox affair years ago."
I try not to show the twinge of pain at that statement, the whole Vrox affair had been a black mark on Mandalore's more recent history. I think that being brought up in the discussion tended to mean we were creating a bit too much chaos out on the Outer Rim. Hopefully it will be forgotten in the ongoing secession crisis, at least that's what I hoped.
Well considering that level of problem, I better respond in the proper way. Smiling, I said, "Hopefully nothing as bad as that has been coming up about my little sector."
Palpatine chuckled and put his hand on my shoulder saying, "Don't worry my young representative, nothing that terrible. Just idle conversations about how things are going with, you know, the unfortunate business going on right now. These conversations will happen with many sectors."
"Yes it's a very unfortunate business, this whole situation is. Hopefully there can be some sort of legal way to end this conflict without a war." I said. Technically speaking, getting in good with Palpatine right now was not the general thing I would do normally.
By all laws in the Senate his two terms as the chancellor were going to be up in a few months, however this secession crisis had resulted in the governments that were still here in suspending the election until after it was handled. This technically meant he is the Chancellor for the foreseeable future in this coming conflict. In my mind, that was not exactly the best move on the Senate's part considering he had overseen the era preceding the secession buildup. It was kind of apparent to me that he's sort of at fault for it all like that one US President before the American Civil War. I don't remember his name as I didn't care that much, but he had an opportunity to deal with the issues that were going to lead to that war and simply refused to do anything because he didn't want to deal with it. He wanted to prove that he could be the president to people who were a thorn in his side during the Mexican American War, I believe.
That being said, if he is still the Chancellor, he is going to be overseeing the conflict that is going to happen. And getting in good with the Chancellor in such a tumultuous time is a nice trump card to have in case of emergency, a 'good to have' resource that could be used to swing things to my favor at an opportune time.
"Very unfortunate, business but I believe that democracy will see us through this era of troubles, give it enough time and they will work out."
I had to bite my tongue to say that it was a bold statement considering he had fully accepted the dissolution of democracy to keep his job. But that was a minor thing since that was the Senate's decision so I guess it's not really his fault in the matter.
"Yes, we can only hope." I did manage to say, nodding my agreement before Palpatine clapped his hands together and said, "Say, I have actually been working on a bit of an initiative to try and ease the tensions with the Outer Rim. A bit of an economic platform, I'm thinking of embracing help to improve the issues that the so-called Separatists have been declaring a major problem. Several meetings I have also scheduled to try and talk with members of the other room that are on the fence of this whole situation. Would you, as a representative, like to join me on several of these meetings? I'm sure that the presence of an Outer Rim power such as Mandalore at such meetings would at least get people to come talk to me. A lot of these separatists won't even bother that much."
A working dinner with the Chancellor, a chance to improve my standing in the government, and a chance to create some sort of friendship with the elder statesman? I would have to be a fool to turn this down. I said with a large bright smile, "I would love to help you with such an attempt to bring peace to the galaxy."