Not original

717 FNM (21 BBY)

Month 1

Mandalore, Sundari Royal Palace

Satine Kryze

I feel that yesterday's reveal was a remarkable success. The launch of the "Armor for Defense" initiative went off without a hitch. Prime Minister Almec had informed me that a significant number of additional special event permits were granted today. Many extra celebrations are going on across Mandalore.

Of course, there aren't celebrations going on across the entire sector. Some are still concerned that allowing armor within the city openly would bring back the bad old days, or that we may be reverting to the Mandalorian barbarians of old, since war is right outside our doorstep.

Apparently, this particular view is strongly felt from my home world of Kalevala. They are currently having their own celebrations in tandem with the ones going on here, yet there has been a bit of a kerfuffle. A group of radical pacifists held a protest in front of a statue of myself, one that was commissioned for me many years ago in Kalevala.

I have watched the reports and had to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. They are claiming that I am the new Mand'alor and that all of this is an attempt to prepare for a Crusade against the Republic.

Apparently, no matter how clear I make it that neutrality is here to stay and that I have no interest in bringing back the old ways, there will always be a few people who won't listen and will just make assumptions based on things they fear in their own mind.

Well, at least the ratings for the documentary on the construction of my armor are doing well. Zenlav, the mayor of Keldabe, had even sent compliments on the style and color of the armor. That was a big thing, considering Keldabe was the former Capital of Mandalore and even after all these years, after the new capital had been created, it still tended to be more of an anti-New Mandalorian holdout. Zenlav is willing to follow my rules, so his clan had never been banished from Mandalore, but they ignored my intent. Keldabe still repaired and used parts of the Great Forge, despite not being able to export its output, and Zenlav had made it quite plain for years that they are not a fan of the anti-armor sentiment.

It seems that both parties, the New Mandalorians and Martial Traditionalists, are on the road to mending bridges. The Mandalore sector needed to be unified in its neutrality to stay out of the war and not join either side. That is the only reason I allowed that menace into our system.

I do not know all that much about the Workers' Council or what their aims are, but I know that they attempted to kidnap Tanya. Yes, they claimed that the individual involved had been punished and it was a rogue operation. But I found that very hard to believe; even with most of their ideology being a confusing mess, it looked a lot like they were simply cutting ties with a failed operation to minimize the blame.

I had concerns that Anteevy might join the CIS, and if they joined the CIS, that would be an open invitation for the CIS to invade the Mandalore sector and install a government friendly to their goals. Already, something similar is going on in the Mon Calamari sector. The CIS had found factions that are friendly to their cause, that had problems with the current ruling party, and supported them in their efforts to take the sector.

I am paying very close attention to that sector, mainly because it's so distant that it's practically cut off from the Republic, to see what would happen as it provides a forecast on what could happen to the Mandalore sector should war break out again. And what is happening there is an outright civil war, hidden in plain sight amongst the hundreds of other civil wars across the galaxy. Several systems, populations that had lived next to each other for thousands of years, are being torn apart by an old ethnic disagreement on who should be in charge of the sector itself.

It's a dark specter of what could happen to the Mandalore sector if it did not maintain its neutrality. Thus, that is why I am willing to play the pacifist with these communists.

I would rather let my own pride be injured than compromise the security of my people and the sector. That being said, I planned to keep an eye on them since I knew very little of their motivations. Frankly, their leader, Liliya, whom I had not expected to show up at all, is giving me an unsettling sensation whenever she is around. There is something wrong with her, yet I just couldn't quite place what that is, which makes me even more uneasy.

I decided to worry about her later as I returned my focus to my meal. I will have to get Prime Minister Almec to send his Mandalorian Secret Service to keep an eye on these communists to see if they are doing anything I should know about.

However, right now, I am in the Royal Palace's dining room, and dinner is being served. Tanya and Korkie are sitting across from each other, and at the other end of the table is my sister, Bo-Katan.

My armor is, of course, not present. As much as I enjoyed showing it off, I had no plans to wear it all day, every day. There is no reason to wear it now, so I am wearing my normal dress. Even Bo is wearing a Gargon Girls t-shirt that she bought at the festival.

Tanya is wearing her usual green dress, and giving Bo's outfit a look of mild disbelief and maybe a bit of envy. It's to be expected; Bo enjoys sports and pants more than tea parties and dresses. Tanya had confided in me in the past that she wears her dresses because of how important public opinion is in maintaining peace for the sector, but that doesn't mean she enjoys wearing them. Meanwhile, Korkie is wearing his usual academy uniform as he still has to oversee the Seeker's Vigil later today, yet he seems the most troubled.

Everyone but Bo appears a bit uneasy, as if everyone has their own problem, and they are all trying to figure out a solution to fix it. Whatever it is, it's about time to try and straighten things out.

Smiling, I asked, "So, how has everyone's day been?"

Bo-Katan smiled back as she looked up from her food, saying, "Pretty good, hung out with an old friend, watched some of the sporting events going on, and handed out some tickets to the Gargon show that I had reserved for some friends."

I nodded at that before saying, "Ah, right, the Gargon girls. I hope you saved a ticket for me. I've been meaning to see their performance in person at least once."

"Not just you." Bo-Katan said as she reached into her dress and pulled out four tickets before placing them on the table. "There's one for each of us. We can go see it anytime we want. They'll have four shows over the next week, and we can go to any one of them."

"Wonderful," I said with a smile before adding, "it will be nice to get out of the palace once in a while. Experience a bit of our culture that I have not explored before, at least I've never heard of such a form of expression here on Mandalore."

Korkie finally coughed and sighed before putting his fork down, saying, "So, are we not going to talk about the armor?"

I raised an eyebrow before responding, "Well, there's nothing stopping us from talking about the armor. I just assumed that no one is interested in discussing that."

"I am very interested in talking about it." Korkie said before shaking his head and adding, "Isn't it a bit provocative to go out there and wear armor? Isn't that kind of abandoning the New Mandalorian way of pacifism?"

I shook my head before saying, "I wouldn't say we're abandoning anything. We're just looking at the current situation and recognizing that building our armor is a form of artistic expression. By denying that we have these capabilities, we are leaving a portion of our culture to be forgotten and abused by those who would use it for their own gains."

Korkie looked at me before saying, "That's a positive way to look at it, I guess. But I'm just sitting here and thinking that to the average Mandalorian who believed in pacifism, the message is confusing. Are you going to abandon pacifism the moment times get tough and it looks like a war might break out? It feels like you hoped that by restoring our armor, those at war will see our strength, be intimidated and avoid our sector. Which kind of makes the pacifism of removing our armor look like it's just something we did when we thought there's going to be peace. And if that principle could be easily abandoned, what else could be easily abandoned?"

I opened my mouth to argue against that, but I closed it; Korkie raised a good point. Not only is it valid, it's almost true. I had been building towards that announcement for some time, and would have announced it whether there is a war or not. However, from the perspective of the average New Mandalorian, this could be a problem, a big problem if the notion that I had simply abandoned my pacifist ways the moment the sector is threatened are to spread.

I was going to say something to counter that statement, but Tanya spoke up first. "There will always be people who view the situation in a negative light; that's just the price of free will." she said with a shake of her head before adding, "There's not much we can do to change their minds. People are going to think whatever they want as sentients, but the important part is that they're allowed to think that, they are allowed to make their own decision, and they are not forced to dig out their old family armor from whatever closet they left it in or go out there and buy new armor to start a Crusade. If they decide not to get armor and not paint it, that's their own decision. As a free society, we are allowed to make our decisions. All this has done is take away a bit of governmental oversight that was, frankly, unneeded and a bit of an overstep, in my opinion."

I frowned at that as I turned to look at her, and she looked back at me sheepishly, knowing that she made a bit of a faux pas. Tanya may have overstepped, but I let it slide since we are trying to have a civil conversation.

"Maybe you're right, but shouldn't we be a bit concerned that this will be used by people as a chance to rearm themselves? I mean, when I was visiting Breshig, I found recent propaganda flyers for Death Watch, not to mention that the group I ran into when I discovered the Relic ship claimed that they were members of Death Watch. With Death Watch actively trying to rebuild its numbers, this would be the prime opportunity for them to do this right under our noses." Korkie said, his concern genuine, and I nodded my head to show that it was a valid concern.

"Prime Minister Almec and his department are already hard at work to track down any such efforts." I said before adding, "But let's be fair; Death Watch were able to produce armor and weapons before I ended this restriction. They were already capable of re-arming themselves before we discovered that they're active again. If I didn't end the restriction on armor, all that I would have done is prevent our own population from having the means to defend themselves if Death Watch attempted to make a move against Mandalore."

Korkie reluctantly nodded after a moment. He sighed before saying, "Still, I worry that we're straying too far away from the New Mandalorian way. I mean, you now have your own set of armor. Aunt Bo-Katan has been known to wear armor most of her life, and Tanya was involved in a fight at that Geonosis visit, at the start of this war a few months ago. I'm just glad that it's only the two of us that don't have armor." he said, looking at Tanya before she coughed into her hand and looked to the side.

"I actually have had armor since I was ten." She finally said after a moment, causing Korkie's jaw to drop in shock.

"What?"

Tanya shrugged before saying, "I was going to be stationed at Coruscant, one of the most dangerous systems in the galaxy, if I went to the wrong sections. Aunt Bo thought that it would be best to get me better trained so that I would be able to defend myself, and armor was part of that needed protection. In fact, I was wearing that armor on Geonosis when things went south, and I probably wouldn't be having this conversation with you if I didn't have my beskar helmet. There is a very noticeable dent on the helmet that would have likely cracked my skull open when the Lancer crash-landed."

"So, I'm the only one in the family without armor?" Korkie said, sounding betrayed as he put his fork down.

"Don't say it like that, kid." Bo-Katan said from her end of the table. "I mean, we can always contact the Kryze armorer, get Zum to have your father's armor reforged for you."

"No!" He said, sounding resolute, before saying something that he immediately seemed to regret. "Someone in this family has to keep the New Mandalorian way alive and not be a hypocrite. You might have viewed the armor as a way to defend yourselves, but the armor is also a symbol of our violence loving past. All this armor makes me feel dirty. Unclean."

"Hey!" Bo-Katan said, sounding very agitated, but I raised my hand, silencing her.

"We're not hypocrites; we're just being realistic." Tanya said before I got a chance to try and smooth over the situation.

"What you call realism is just abandoned pacifism. The moment we feel threatened by the outside world of our sector, what's next? Making war profitable? Better to be the conqueror than the conquered?" Korkie spat, seeming to have not really thought through that argument, though one could say he was making a valid point at the moment. Granted, I would never approve of such a change in philosophy, but he is right. I had changed my philosophy ten years ago. He had grown up with one way of looking at the galaxy, and now the galaxy is changing.

I sighed and said, "Korkie, you make valid points, and if you do not want armor, that is fine. As Tanya said, we all have the freedom of choice, and I don't intend to wear my armor all the time. Maybe I'll bring it out for special occasions or just to show off the beauty that can be created with our craftsmanship. Most of the time, I will be in a formal dress when managing the sector, as you've always known me. But let's be clear, I'm not going to start a crusade against the CIS just because one of their leaders was foolish enough to shoot down Tanya's Lancer after a peaceful conversation, nor am I going to agree to an invasion of the Republic for any random offense. We have abandoned war, but that does not mean we need to abandon personal defense or self-defense. If we had abandoned the ability to defend ourselves, then you would already be dead. Those gator monsters you told me about would have dragged you beneath the waves, and we would never be having this conversation now. There will be forces, both sentient and natural, that will not care if we are pacifistic or warmongering; they will kill us if given the opportunity because it is to their benefit. The armor is merely there to keep us alive in the event we are in danger."

Korkie seemed to deflate a bit before letting out a sigh, saying, "I don't know. It just feels like the galaxy is changing around me, and I have no idea why or where it's going."

"That's how the galaxy works." Tanya said with a shrug, spearing her food with her fork. "It's always changing, and sometimes you need to change to adapt to it. Hopefully, things will change in such a way that we can go back to more pacifistic ways and not even have to consider the notion that we may be invaded by our neighbors simply because we make for a convenient battlefront in whatever prolonged conflict they're trying to unleash on the galaxy. But for now, we just have to accept that this isn't the galaxy we live in, and it's not going to be that way for a few years, at the very least."

Korkie finally nodded before pushing away from the table and saying, "I need some time to think. Can I be dismissed? I'll be in my room?"

I nodded to him and said, "You can go, Korkie. Take all the time you need, and if you need to talk about this, my door is always open. I'm sure your sister would also love to talk about this with you."

"Yeah, I guess." he shook his head as he walked out of the room, looking down at the floor, deep in thought and not looking happy with his thoughts. After a moment, he stepped outside, closing the door, leaving the three of us in the room alone.

I shook my head before saying, "Perhaps we should have brought him in on what was going on a little sooner, not drop this on him."

"We?" Bo-Katan asked at the other end of the table. "What do you mean, we? I was all for bringing everyone in on everything from the beginning. We should have gotten him an armor set ages ago." Tanya nodded along in silent support to Bo's assertion.

I smiled and sighed before shaking my head and saying, "That's not what I meant, but fine. I should have brought him in on this change in policy a long time ago and been more clear about what was going on and what was going through my head. Now I have to deal with hurt feelings and, well..."

"Hurt feelings are the hardest thing to deal with." Tanya said with a nod of understanding before sighing and asking, "Which reminds me, why are the Communists on Mandalore?" She reached for a drink in the glass in front of her.

"The who?" Bo-Katan asked from where she is sitting.

"The people who tried to assassinate me on Tatooine." Tanya said, sounding a bit upset, which is understandable for most people. However, she tended to be quite reserved, even when she was growing up, so it is unusual to see her emote so openly. Assassination attempts are not something that leaves you happy, though even for her, it's still a bit odd.

Nodding my head, I said, "Yes, the Workers' Council. They did happen to show up in the last few moments to take part in the ceremony. I didn't expect them to come to Mandalore, but if they're willing to embrace a common cause of peace in the Mandalore sector, I'm willing to allow them to take part in our ceremonies."

Tanya nodded before saying, "Maybe so, but we need to keep an eye on them. Their ideology allows them to believe in a lot of things that are not true. Not to mention, they are authoritarians through and through. They're not good neighbors, and we have no idea what they are planning."

"How do you know so much about the Communists?" Bo-Katan asked with a raised eyebrow, which is a reasonable question. I barely knew anything about the Workers' Council, and even less about their ideology.

Tanya seemed to pause for a moment before saying, "Their ideology was mentioned once or twice in a book I read. It's a failed ideology that's only ever good for bringing a civilization back from complete destruction, but not progressing any further. It's a parasitical entity that'll drain technology, resources, and motivation from a population of people who are willing to accept being near the top of the food chain in exchange for crushing those beneath them."

"That sounds like every Sith Empire in the history of the Sith." Bo-Katan mentioned.

Tanya nodded her head before saying, "I don't know all that much about the Sith Empire, but yes and no. Sith seem to be evil because they enjoy being evil. Communism is the worst type of evil. The evil that comes from the self-righteous delusion, from the men and women who think and believe they are doing good. They are led by tyrants who are either self-aware about their duplicity and therefore like the Sith, or worse, they are led by zealots blinded by their ideology. A communist will kill millions to achieve success and call it justice."

I shook my head before saying, "Well, I've never really seen these communists take any action against the Mandalore sector, except for that rogue agent of theirs. And though I am not exactly happy about their claims that it was a rogue agent, I am not looking to start a war with them over it either. Politically, it's better for the sector if we all look united, less likely to have someone trying to invade it. Even if I would rather think that this Workers' Council is not part of our sector, they do claim cultural ties with us, and their planet is located quite close to CIS territory. It's better to allow them to peacefully mingle than to give the CIS some casus belli to get involved in Mandalorian affairs."

Tanya looked annoyed before she nodded her head and said, "That is a good point, my Duchess." Tanya must be really mad; she had gone from Aunt Satine to my Duchess. She probably preferred to kick them off the planet, I would guess. I wondered what had upset her so much in the reading of those books that she would banish these people from Mandalore. I would have to try and do some research and see what I could find out about this ideology; after all, if it upset Tanya, there's usually a good reason.

Tanya then said, "Though they appear to be using B1 battle droids, the most produced battle droids utilized by the CIS. They had to have gotten those droids from somewhere; they may already be part of that Confederacy, so they can receive shipments of B1s. We should keep an eye on them in case they stir up any trouble. We don't know what their plans are, and assuming that they are not moving forward with anything that could hurt us is a mistake."

Bo-Katan shrugged at the end of the table, saying, "That sounds a little bit paranoid. After all, we can make the same assumptions about the White Silver." Then she gave a cheeky smile, knowing it's a terrible joke.

I sighed as I looked at her before nodding and saying, "We will definitely be keeping an eye on them too. I don't know what their plans are, and for all we know, they might be connected to Death Watch, the organization that attempted to kill Korkie. Someone had to have supplied them with their weapons and gear, after all. It did not come from the New Mandalorians and I know that White Silver isn't supplying them with weapons either."

Tanya sighed before nodding her head in agreement.

"At the very least, we need to know what kind of power they have at their hands. Perhaps someone should try getting close to them." Bo-Katan said, causing a visible shiver to run up Tanya's back.

"I think we should try to avoid them as best we can. They will be looking for political capital in any way they can get their hands on it. Remember yesterday when the pictures were taken as a commemoration of the agreement to allow armor in Sundari again?"

There had been some pictures, and looking back, I noticed that everyone was wearing some bit of armor except Liliya of the Workers' Council, who seemed to be rather proud about wearing their uniform that had no armor on it.

Nodding my head, Tanya said, "They were the only people not to have armor. Imagine Korkie's assumptions about some new Mandalorians could be right; they might look at her as a possible person who has similar thoughts on armor, that it should not be involved in day-to-day life."

"A bit of a stretch, don't you think?" Bo-Katan asked.

Even I gave a shrug at that before saying, "We will be careful. That's the best we can do right now. Keep an eye on them, we'll see what they're planning, and make our actions based on our intelligence. For now, we have a meal to finish. I think we've had enough conversation about politics, don't you?"

Tanya reluctantly nodded after a bit, and I smiled as the conversation came to an end. We could worry about such situations at a later date; for now, we had a week of celebration to get to. Might as well start by ordering some drinks from the kitchen.

Mandalore, Near Sundari, Outer District

Jango Fett

I smiled as I watched Boba playing one of the games that had been set out by the many concession stands.

It had been four months since my, what could I even call this? Planetary arrest? Forced resettlement? Stuck in one place until people stopped caring about me? Either way, it had been four months since I had taken up residence here. Although it's probably the most boring job I've ever had, at least Boba is enjoying this particular chance to relax and act like a child his age.

It's the quiet life of living in an apartment overlooking a city of Mandalorians who had given up the Mandalorian ways, but having the ability to see my sister again and take care of her is well worth dealing with New Mandos. Not only that, Boba got to experience life in this city which wouldn't be a change, he only ever lived on Kamino. As I've gone to some of the worst dens of scum and villainy for my work.

Oh, I'm sure I'm being followed. I had seen one or two people who looked very familiar every time I went out, most likely members of whatever secret police this government kept around, or plain clothed Royal Guards. Either was possible; perhaps they were the same organization. It's hard to say how the Duchess ran the government without actually talking to her.

I really had no plans to talk to her if I had the chance. It's best not to be seen as getting involved in politics and to stay as far away from that mess as possible. I did approve of what she had done with the planet, though. It actually looked like a livable planet now, not a smoking hellscape as it had been after the Republic had blasted it last time.

I had seen photos of what Mandalore looked like after it had been invaded for the last time by the Republic. I wasn't planning to look into it; it's just that newspapers were celebrating the complete and utter destruction of the old city and most of Mandalore's homeworld culture.

Burned to the ground, from what I understood. I feel it was a bit overblown in the newspapers, but they had been celebrating it nonetheless.

Currently, Boba is in line to play a sharpshooter game of some sort. Hit the targets to gather points, and then you spend those points to get a prize ranging from stuffed animals to toy pieces of armor. But the grand prize appeared to be some sort of toy Basilisk droid.

Where they came up with a design for that, I did not know. Even during the worst part of the civil war, I had never seen one of those droids. All of them had been destroyed long ago, and production methods for them had apparently been lost, so it was very unlikely that they had just copied an actual Basilisk droid and shrunk it down.

Well, most likely not. I guess there's the possibility that with the opening of the Ordo's armory vaults, they might have found a few remnants of a droid or maybe a depiction of it in battle and maybe sold the likeness to someone. I heard that selling recreations of ancient Mandalorian artifacts is something that has been spearheaded a few years ago. And I guess there was always the possibility that someone else had actually found one, but that is extremely unlikely given how long ago the Basilisk was last seen. People are always searching through old battlefields for old weapons to either sell on the open market or use for their own misdeeds. It might be possible that a few are in a rich idiot's vault or something as a trophy to show off, but I doubt they would openly advertise that they paid graverobbers to get that trophy.

Boba is currently third in line, waiting for his turn, and the current kid on it is... well, his parents had obviously failed him and needed to go back to learning how to shoot. Because, to be cruel, the kid is going to be the first one shot when another civil war started, not because he's standing up on his own, but simply because his own side would notice that he is such a terrible shot that he would be the first one over the trenches in order to save ammunition and the lives of people who could actually shoot. Thankfully, the MSDF has their own boot camp and would kick him out before he hurts himself.

All I could do is shake my head as I watched the kid's shameful display and hoped my kid could do better than that. What am I thinking? Of course, I knew my kid could do better than that; he already had a few kills under his belt.

Sighing, I looked around, trying to distract myself by spotting any secret police following us again. None that I knew for sure though I noticed, there is that one woman who I swear is a member of whatever organization that is keeping an eye on me. She's a blonde-haired woman with a hairdo that, well, I don't think any Mandalorian during the Clan Wars or the Civil War would have ever worn. It looked like someone turned her hair into a pillar before grinding it down into a shallow bowl with a belt sander.

If she's a member of the secret police, I had to give it to them; if their plan to stay unnoticed is to be too noticeable that people would not believe they are part of an intelligence organization, then they are a terrible organization. Either that, or they are fully intending to let me know that I am being watched and kept assigning this woman with the most obvious hairdo in the galaxy to follow me whenever I went out.

It's kind of annoying. I kind of wished I wore my armor, so I don't feel naked when someone is watching me, but what could I do? While the Duchess had announced that I could wear armor, mine had a lot of weapons on it. I guess I could just wear the chest plate and helmet, but it wouldn't feel the same.

Shaking my head, I looked to my right. Arla is watching Boba closely next to me while holding onto my arm rather firmly. She tended to do that whenever we went out, simply to try and stay as close as possible to me and maybe to try to remind herself that this is real. I've slowly been weaning her off the drugs and helping her see the world for what it is, and not as a doped-up illusion that she had been left in for the last few years.

Progress in trying to reestablish a firm family bond with my sister had gone rather well. Though we had lived very different lives, me becoming a part of the True Mandalorians and her becoming part of Death Watch, we have some similarities. We both had our lives revolve around the Civil War; we are rather done with the political machinations of the factions trying to control the Mandalorian sector.

Even with the political maneuverings of the current rulership, we are done with all of that bantha shit. The representatives of the Prime Minister of Mandalore had attempted to ask my sister if they could use her for propaganda, basically to try and remind any and all former Death Watch members of how they had betrayed her and used her for the last 20 years.

I wasn't exactly a fan of having her face put out there; that just seemed to be asking for any remnants of Death Watch to come out of hiding and take a shot at her. She apparently held the same opinion, as she had denied the requests, instead saying that she wanted to focus on healing.

Besides, as far as I could tell, Death Watch is nothing but a memory, a dead faction that didn't exist anymore. Though, I'd heard a rumor that someone claimed to be Death Watch and had tried to assault one of the Gargon girls on stage. A hilarious action, considering he apparently got his ass firmly killed.

If Death Watch was so terrible that their average foot soldier could be killed by an idol, that either meant that Death Watch was a joke compared to how it used to be, or the idols are pretty good at their job as former bounty hunters. At least according to Boba, who had done a lot of research on them.

Which made them good role models at least, former bounty hunters finding a job after they'd finished with bounty hunting. Oh, that's a good person to keep an eye on and hold up.

I never thought I'd quit bounty hunting, but apparently I am being forced to, so I might as well approve of the girls my son is somewhat intrigued by.

That's why I got him tickets to tonight's concert. Unfortunately, due to Arla's still somewhat weakened condition, she didn't want to come along, but the two of us should be fine enough.

Cracking my neck, I looked around, trying to establish where the tails were again, when I noticed that the one I knew had been following me, the strange-haired woman, is currently sitting in a corner with her neck hanging backwards that indicated someone had just knocked her out. Or killed her, it's hard to say. It isn't bent enough to be a broken neck, so I guess I'd have to wait and see.

Carefully, my hands slipped into my pocket, grabbing the vibroblade I had hidden away. Couldn't walk around with a sword or gun on Mandalore, but you can always get away with something small and easily concealable.

Arla squeezed my hand and nodded in a direction, causing me to look that way. Another member of the obvious security detail is unconscious. "Someone just took him out." She whispered in a low breath, and I wondered why someone was taking out the security detail. Well, obviously, they didn't want anyone watching, so why didn't they want anyone to watch? If it's a sniper, they would have just gone for a direct kill on me and not knocked out the security detail, which meant someone wanted to meet me.

Who wanted to talk, though? That's the question. Carefully, I kept my eyes on the move, watching for anyone moving in our direction, hoping that whoever this was would not escalate into too terrible of a fight. I didn't have my armor today, and the vibroblade is good, but if they have a gun or anything more substantial, it could get bad real quick.

Those thoughts are interrupted as I felt something poke at my back and a voice said, "Well, hello Jango, long time no see."

The voice is not very familiar, though the way they carried their voice is.

"Zam, so you did survive. Thought for sure I hit you."

The point of the blade did not push further into my back, which told me that they aren't interested in hurting me, at least not yet, as they spoke. "You did hit me, and I spent the next two months in a coma. Two whole months in a coma, on the edge of death. Whatever the hell was in that dart really screwed me up."

"Sorry about that." I said. "If I wasn't under a NDA with the cloners, I would have tried to bail you out. But you know that the Jedi have ways of making people talk, and your connection would lead them to me. I knew it was wrong, but I couldn't take the risk of the Jedi finding out about the clones, and lose custody of Boba. I also doubt you would want the Hutts to come after you in the future once you are released from prison, I picked the safest choice."

"Well that's cold comfort, I'm penniless now. The Jedi reported me dead, and they took all my known assets during the investigation. The only reason I'm not in one of their prison cells is that I faked being unconscious for a week as I recovered and then snuck out, and posed as one of the one-armed Jedi that I had seen come and go from their medical wing. It's lucky that they'd been so assuming that I was never going to wake up that they didn't keep me locked to the bed."

"Fooled the Force?" Arla asked aloud.

"That was lucky." I said with a nod before saying, "Also, it sounds like you got off easy then. Everyone thinks you're dead, and being a changeling, you can…"

"Start over, yeah, I'm well aware of my situation. Had to pick-pocket for a few weeks just to get the money to pay for a ticket here. Although I'm broke, I'm too worried to access the few stockpiles I have because, well, they might still be looking for me. You know how they are; they don't consider someone truly dead unless they haven't touched their funds in ten years."

I nodded before saying, "That's unfortunate, Zam, but there's no reason to hold a blade to my back. I mean, we're friends for the most part."

"Yeah, friends. Friends who tried to kill me." I felt the point repeatedly poke my spine as she said it, and I heard a sigh.

"Listen, I know you have this whole 'a man should work for what he gets' mentality, but let's be fair here. Your attempted assassination of me has left me destitute and unable to find work, so why don't you do what you should have done in the beginning and just give me a loan of some money? You took my life, now give me enough money to start a new one, alright?"

"Hmm," I thought for a moment before finally shrugging and saying, "Alright." I reached into a wallet and pulled out some credits, passing them back and saying, "That's enough money to get you through a week. Contact me when I'm not with my family and not with a blade to my back, and I'll get you half a million credits. That should be enough to start a life here in the Mandalore sector and live comfortably for about a decade. I'm sure you could even buy a farm on Concord Dawn if you wanted to."

There was a pause before Zam said, "Wait, you're actually going to do this? I... I kind of had already psyched myself up to stab you in the back all day."

I looked over towards the first unconscious guard, saying, "I can see that," before continuing, "but you don't need to. I admit I did take your life, but this is not why I'm interested in giving you money. Your screw-up of an operation ultimately led to me finding out that my sister is still alive and reconnecting with my family. That's worth about half a million credits, at least for a Mandalorian. So consider this a finder's fee..." I trailed off meaningfully, then in a more threatening tone continued, "but if you ever try this again, shaking me down for money won't end well for you. I'm repaying the favor I owe you, got it?"

I felt the point of the blade removing itself from my back, and I was finally allowed to turn and look at Zam. She sighed and said, "I've worked with you for how long? I know when to push my luck." as she put the blade away. Since you're the one who got captured by the Jedi when you could have snuck out, you evidently don't, but I kept that to myself.

Then she smiled and turned to Arla, saying, "So, you must be Jango's sister. I'm Zam Wesell, a close friend of your brother." She offered her hand like she had not just been using it to threaten me.

Arla turned and looked at the offered hand, then at me, before nodding and taking the hand.

She said, "I am glad this worked out somewhat peacefully. I was worried that this would turn into a bloody brawl that would leave most of this entire area in chaos. I have three grenades hidden on me because I wasn't sure I could take you on in a fair fight."

"That's probably two fewer grenades than you actually need." I joked, before shaking my head and saying, "But that's beside the point. I have no reason to fight you. I tried to kill you and you got lucky. Now your record is clear as everyone thinks you're dead, and I have no reason to not give you a bit of a finder's fee. Let's let bygones be bygones."

She nodded and said, "Sounds like a deal. By the way, what are you doing on Mandalore anyway? I thought you said you hated this sector."

I replied, "That's right." before saying, "I'm getting paid to stay out of politics."

"That's a sweet deal." she said with a shake of her head before saying, "Any way I can get in on that action?"

"Ha, no… though," a thought played in the back of my mind before saying, "I've been thinking about buying some land in a few places throughout the sector, trying to start up an old family business again, maybe get back to farming. If you don't mind helping me out with that, maybe as a manager, and find some of the land, I'll let you live in the place and let you hide out. You could even pose as me a couple of times so no one knows that you're still around."

Zam thought for a moment before smiling and saying, "Pretend to be Jango Fett and be a farmer? That's hilarious and I'm in. But I don't have two good hands anymore, though." she said, holding up the arm that had been cut by the Jedi, "so, I don't think I'll be able to pull off being you very often."

"I'll get you a prosthetic replacement and plenty of gloves, you'll be fine."

Zam shook her head before saying, "Sounds good, though I do wonder why you're starting up a farming business. It seems to me you should be a prime candidate to be one of the leaders of the CIS or maybe even the Republic. They're taking anyone they can get their hands on."

I chuckled before saying, "Paid to stay out of politics, but also there's a bit of an opportunity I've noticed here."

"I'm all ears," the shapeshifter said before looking out around the city, "but I don't really see an opportunity in this cubed city."

"The sector is the opportunity. Land here is dirt cheap because it's either not very habitable or there's no one really in the market to buy, especially with the war going on. However, Mandalore seems to be turning itself around. Half of this party is about the celebration of one of their planets, a mess that was made seven centuries ago, being terraformed back into something livable, which means it'll start producing food and other resources soon. Not to mention, with the war going on around the sector, anywhere that looks somewhat peaceful is going to be an interesting location for civilians to run to. So the land market is going to go up, both from demand and quality of the soil improving as the years go on."

Zam nodded their head before saying, "An opportunity to sell land and grow influence, yeah, I can see it now."

"Exactly. I haven't exactly figured out where I'm going to start with this, but if you don't mind posing as me, go to Concord Dawn. There's a plot of land I definitely want to buy an old homestead if possible, and any other pieces of land you can find that might be terraformed in the next few years or could go on the market easily enough when there's a larger demand."

Zam nodded their head before saying, "I'm in. In fact, I'm all in. Do you have contacts that could get access to a few stashes of resources I have hidden around the galaxy?"

I raised an eyebrow before saying, "I thought you said you are out of money, that the Hutts are after you because you didn't have a way to pay the debt."

She shrugged before saying, "They are, and I am. That doesn't mean I didn't have a little bit of excess resources stashed away, a ship I'd stolen here, an apartment there, things that you could negotiate the sale of and give us a little bit more capital to work with."

I smiled and nodded before saying, "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

"In fact, I'll give a call to a few friends who are still working for the Republic. See if they want to contribute some money to this idea. They all have a bit more of a tie to the Mandalore sector than I ever did, so they might be interested in helping the sector regrow." I said more to myself, as the thought finally occurred to me. I had been playing with this idea for a while now, but hadn't really given it much thought until an opportunity made itself apparent.

"Until this moment, I am stuck on Mandalore. I couldn't leave. I had to stay here with Arla and Boba and make sure I stayed right out of politics. I could arrange for a few people to work for me, but who could I trust?"

"Well, who better to trust than a changeling who is depending on me not revealing they are still alive to the Hutts and offering them more than enough money to make living easy? I just had to make sure that they gave me all the land deeds to be stored here on Mandalore." Holding out my hand, I said, "Let's shake on it, old friend. To a new business arrangement, one with hopefully less killing."

She nodded and offered her hand, giving it a shake before adding, "And hopefully less backstabbing."

"Hear, hear to that." Arla said with a thumbs up before adding, "So, longtime friend of Jango, right? What was he up to while I was playing dead on Coruscant?"

"You were dead?" Zam asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yep. A former Death Watch assassin, held captive in a Coruscant dungeon and listed as deceased... so I wasn't exactly mentally well. I'm getting better, still have my skills, though." she said with a smile that made me wonder if she knew that she'd just done that in a way that seemed somewhat threatening and ominous. If she did, that was a perfect example of why Zam should not betray me.

Looking at Zam, I noticed that it seemed to have had the desired effect as she nodded and said, "Yeah, well, I can talk about the time we worked for the Jedi or the Jedi Council to save Coruscant?"

"Ooh, sounds interesting." Arla said with a smile.

Mandalore, Sundari Palace, Tanya's Bedroom

Tanya Kryze

Why has my mentality been affected this way? These are questions that sometimes bugged me, but I never really wanted to find the answer for.

After the debate that happened in the dining room, everyone had gone their separate ways; we hadn't had another chance to talk to each other about the conversation that had been started. Mainly because life is life, and everyone has things to do. Satine has to entertain dozens, if not hundreds, of political heads from across the sector. Korkie, of course, has to deal with running the museum ship exhibit. He found the thing, so he should have the honor of showing it off to everyone who wanted to come see it.

As for Bo-Katan, I'm not really sure what she's doing, probably dealing with the idols I would assume. She likely had to schedule more appearances across the sector, as I heard that the first show that happened the night before had been spectacular and sold out to the point that my finances are looking rather good.

In fact, I even joked about trying to find more acts just to have them compete against each other, which I wasn't against. I'd have to talk to Bo-Katan about that and see if she couldn't pull something together. I knew that there was one clan who had finally started to step up and try to compete on Gargon.

Clan Tracyn is apparently stepping up into that position. They are adept at manufacturing old-style slugthrowers and pyrotechnics. This meant that their shows are a potential fire hazard, but at the very least, they are quite exciting. I never got the chance to see it live, but I assumed they are somewhat confident as I only heard good things from their performance. Perhaps making sure they got a little bit of seed money to keep pushing at it would ensure that at least we would have some competition, and nothing creates more economic wealth than competition.

But that's something to think about when I am playing as White Silver. Today, I'm Tanya, and tomorrow, I'm Tanya. In fact, for the whole week, I'd be Tanya, and hopefully will stay as Tanya for the rest of the year. I would rather not get involved in any more shenanigans that required me to put on the silver helm, but life has a way of throwing curveballs at me. I'd worry that Being X is out there getting ready to get me again, but he had been too quiet for too long. There's no way he's just now showing up twenty years into this life. No, this is probably just the inevitable consequences of a terribly designed Republican system, where the Core worlds would abuse the Outer Rim.

Again, I should really focus more on the situation in front of me and less on the theoreticals that are all around me.

Anyway, due to my position as a Representative of Mandalore, I have a responsibility to visit and view the Gargon Girls in concert, primarily because they are supposed to eventually go to Coruscant at some point. There is a plan in the works to try and have a Mandalore expo, showcase a bit of Mandalorian culture on Coruscant. This is in addition to my more personal and discrete cultural exports; my holding companies regularly profited by transferring resources to Coruscant and selling them off.

So there is already some interest, and bringing an actual concert there could be quite a profitable venture. X4's predictions on the profits are actually kind of ridiculous, three times the profit made by the concert on Mandalore, which is now one of the more populated planets in the Mandalore sector. From what had been just over four million people in Mandalore ten years ago, it has now grown to almost ten million. Of course, Coruscant's population is in the trillions which is several magnitudes above what Mandalore has, thus even if only a small fraction are interested, that is still a large amount of potential customers.

The mass urbanization of the planet has also helped out the terraforming, according to the research abstract that I skimmed that the Ithorians had compiled as a detailed scientific report for the government. I was too busy to actually read the nine hundred-page document they had sent, so instead I listened to X4's recorded summary.

If I could pull off this Mandalorian Expo, it would not only be good for my finances and the finances of the Mandalore sector, as it would likely attract investors not only into the sector, but also for the terraforming projects. Since Gargon is now a taxable economy and there is quite a lot of gambling still on Gargon, that could also be used to generate additional income for the Mandalore sector.

But that gets into the main issue with my plan, in that I have to go as a Representative, which means that I have to wear a nice dress and look as fashionable as possible. This used to annoy me a lot more than it did nowadays, and that is the problem. As I finished putting on the dress, I realized how at home I am in it, and that is disconcerting.

After so many years of being female had probably finally eroded away the last holdouts of my masculinity, and looking at myself in the mirror, I could only think one thing: I looked good and a bit cute.

Sighing, I hung my head, brushed off the last bit of fluff that had gotten stuck to my dress while it was in the closet, and turned to walk over to the door leading out of my room. I could spend the day sulking in there, worrying about how Being X had doomed me in my nihilistic fantasies, or I could just get on with it. I would much rather get on with it.

Walking down the passageway, I found myself in the main courtyard, where the others are waiting.

Tabi and Vai are standing next to each other, having a chat. Tabi is wearing a black-colored suit and looked rather suitable, although not as relaxed as he usually did. Of course, Vai is wearing her usual blue dress and looking happy as well, her dress showing off a rather large amount of cleavage compared to my own.

Next to her are Morson and Kastel, who are acting as each other's date for tonight. Although they really aren't in any such relationship between the two and they are just the fifth and sixth wheels on our little trip to the concert.

Morson is wearing a brown and orange dress that Vai had bought for her, which did a good job highlighting her assets. As for Kastel, he is wearing a black suit with various Mandalorian emblems on it. I didn't know if he had it custom-made, but I did notice that it has the Mandalorian iron heart right in the exact place on his chest that I knew he had a tattoo of the Mandalorian symbol, so there is a fifty-fifty chance that it was a custom order. He is either very lucky enough to find that, or he had that custom tailored.

And finally, there is my date for the evening, Engiz Ordo, who is wearing a black-colored suit and smiling as he sees me coming down the passageway.

"Tanya." he said.

"Engiz." I said back in my official voice, giving him a curt nod, trying not to let my cheeks overheat.

Tatooine had been an interesting experience, to say the least. I had not expected what had happened to happen, admitting what had been going through my head since Gargon, but it had happened, and now I couldn't exactly undo it. He knew that I felt safe around him, and well, he's obviously taking that to mean that I am open to starting a relationship with him.

Which... is a difficult thing to wrap my head around. I had never been in a relationship with anyone before. The concept never meant anything in particular to me; not until Being X taunted me, showing me a twisted illusion to remind me of its absence. However, in my last life, the possibility was completely closed off to me. So the whole concept of going out on dates, spending time together, and all that stuff is unusual to me. Upon the question of sexuality, that too is difficult for me to come to a concrete conclusion about. Though, I believe I maintained an appreciation for the Human and near human form in general.

I'm still not exactly sure if I should just shut it down or let it go and see where it leads, but I didn't exactly lose anything by not making a move, so at the moment, I'm not making a move.

Besides, he already served as a good knight in shining armor to prevent other people from trying to start a relationship with me, such as the purple suit-wearing farmer, whatever his name was. I didn't want to lose such an important asset in keeping my life rather uninterrupted by constant marriage proposals.

Smiling, I simply said, "Well, we shouldn't dilly-dally. We have a concert to get to." and started to move towards a waiting hover bus that had been prepared for us. The others followed behind me, and we loaded up, everyone seeming to be engaged in nice chats.

The other Royal Guards aren't part of our party per se; they had tickets, but we didn't need a Royal Guard escort on this night, so I didn't know if they were taking the same tickets as us or if they were going to go another night. Either way, it would just be the six of us tonight in a box overlooking the concert.

It should be a fun time. I hadn't checked what music they'd be playing to keep it a surprise for myself. After all, White Silver gave me access to that information, and I'm supposed to be Tanya tonight and Tanya didn't know.

Relaxing, I leaned slightly against Engiz as we flew over the city, enjoying the calm, peaceful situation around us. Everything seemed content, and the Mandalore sector is still at peace, so I enjoyed the moment.

The ride did not take long before we are deposited in one of the upper areas of the arena. This allowed us to get to the box without running into any of the population who are using the lower parts of the arena.

Engiz spoke with an attendant in a hushed tone for several moments, then turned around and handed me a fancy thermos. I sipped and tasted the sweet caf blend, and enjoyed the smell for a moment, before following him towards our private suite.

We started to make our way towards the box, enjoying the pre-show audio as another band, playing a relaxing and soothing orchestral melody. Voices are slowly drowning out as people yelled at each other, talked to each other, and moved into position down below.

It's a perfectly normal thing to see and do in a major event, and I am just relaxed and enjoying the atmosphere. And then I bumped into a dinosaur-person. This is not the strangest sentient race I had heard of, or else I would have made a poor diplomat.

"Oh, sorry about that." the man said, giving a nod and adding, "Apologies, I sometimes have trouble seeing where I'm going." He said that with a smile, "The central crest sometimes gets in the way." the man said, pointing one of his two fingers at the nearly head-sized crest on his head.

"No, no, my apologies." I said, offering a hand before introducing myself, "Tanya, Tanya Kryze, Representative of Mandalore."

The dinosaur-person nodded, lowered his head, and offered a hand, saying, "Coleman Trebor, Jedi Master of the Order. Nice to meet you, Ms. Kryze. I believe you're a friend of Grand Master Yoda, are you not?"

I nodded before saying, "Yes, I've had some communication with him."

"Yes, he has spoken of you once or twice. A good friend in Mandalore, he refers to you as. He even said I should talk to you when I saw you."

I nodded before asking, "Why should you have seen me?"

Master Trebor smiled before explaining, "Well, it's quite simple. I was sent here to the Mandalore sector four months ago on a fact-finding mission. I've been hearing about the Gargon Girls and thought I could get in contact with them to try and engineer some sort of Jedi-Mandalorian relations committee. I'm a member of the Jedi Council, and I'm primarily in charge of trying to improve Jedi relations with the public. I thought it would be a great way to show the Jedi as improving relations by getting in contact with the Mandalorians who are doing the same from what I've noticed over the last few years and read in the Silver Codex."

He laughed before mentioning, "If I hadn't actually left, I would have been at the Battle of Geonosis, and we probably would have met there." He gave a shoulder shrug before saying, "But that's a tale for another day. Anyway, I was simply told that you're one of the two people to talk to in this sector about trying to improve relations with Mandalore."

I nodded before saying, "Well, you can obviously contact me at any time when I'm on Coruscant. We're actually planning something to try and improve relations as well in a few months. If you wish, we could have a meeting before then and see if we could join together in this operation."

"That would be wonderful." Coleman said with a nod before saying, "Oh, and I should get going. The concert is about to start, and I have to make sure my partner on this operation doesn't get lost. He's wandering around here somewhere."

I looked around before I asked, "Who is the other person you are supposed to meet?"

"Hmm, oh, the fabled White Silver. Getting a meeting with her is even harder than with you, haha!" Coleman laughed before he said, "Oh, there he is!" He waved and caused me to turn to see… Rahm Kota.

I could feel every hair on the back of my neck stand up as Rahm Kota slowly walked by me nonchalantly, giving me a nod before saying, "I cannot understand why you have brought me here. I'm not going to find what I'm looking for at a concert full of New Mandalorians."

"Rahm, not everything is about the military. I'm sure you'll have a chance to find plenty of mercenaries when we get back to Gargon for that army of non-clones you've been planning to form. Besides, we're on Mandalore. How would we have run into anyone important or of political note on Gargon? First place I visit here, and I'm running into the Representative of Mandalore for the Senate." he said, pointing to me and drawing Rahm Kota's attention.

Rahm looked at me, paused for a second, and tilted his head before shaking it and saying, "A representative in the Republic is no different from any other Representative. No offense, Representative."

Sipping from my caf thermos, I barely tasted it as I said, "None taken, Master Jedi." I put on my best smile and while trying to stay as calm as possible. The smell of the warm caf drink is keeping me grounded; it's possibly the only thing preventing my internal freak out from turning into visible panic. I am faced with the prospect of being unmasked in front of the Jedi. If my emotions grew too unstable, even just internally, they could tell with the Force! I took another sip from my thermos, and tried to relax.

Yes, Yoda knew, as well as everyone in this room except for the two Jedi and Morson knew, but that didn't really help me calm down.

Coleman shook his head before saying, "Oh, alright." He gave me a final inscrutable glance and a nod, "Have a good evening, Representative Kryze."

"You as well." I said with a nod as the pair walked past me, and I let out a breath.

I took another big gulp of my drink. "That was close, Engiz." I muttered.

"Too close." Engiz muttered back in agreement. I leaned into his side, while he checked our surroundings again, and I took another drink. He pointed out a specific nearby door and said, "That's our box. Let's get in there and enjoy the show."

Turning, I saw Morson looking after the departing figure of Rahm Kota, so I asked, "Problem?"

"Oh, no, not really. Just, wow, he's an ally of White Silver, and I'm kind of shocked to see him here."

I shrugged before saying, "Lots of people come and go throughout the galaxy. If he's looking for warriors for a non-clone army, this is probably the best place to start. At the very least, we'll get a good officer corps to train up people from across the galaxy."

"Hmm, yeah." Morison said, deep in thought as she finally stepped into the room. Letting out a sigh, I stepped in after them and walked into the next disaster unfolding in front of me.

"Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome, mhi me'dinui an, mhi ba'juri verde?" came the voice of Tabi.

"Yes…" Vai said, as Tabi is down on one knee with a vambrace crafted with what looked like some very high quality beskar in his right hand.