Not original

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anteevy, Vladivostok Space Port

Korkie Kryze

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Two rooms?" Soniee asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Bastards." I muttered.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anteevy, Red Square Elementary

Korkie Kryze

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Not a fan?" Soniee asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Giving a bow, she left through a side door.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Natalya Volkova

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

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

'At least, that's what I think her plan is.' I thought to myself. I could never really tell what Liliya is thinking, not even her inner circle of higher-ups or bed warmers knows exactly what she is planning with certainty. Thankfully, I had not attracted Liliya's advances. My chest is too large, according to her. She'd even called me a cow once. But that was in the distant past, when I had been a young agent

of sixteen. Six years later, I had proven my abilities as a member of the ATT and didn't have to deal with petty insults. At least, I think it was a petty insult.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"B-but-" I began.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Yes, Natalya?" he said, confused.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Korkie Kryze

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"She found out much faster than I thought."

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

Mandalore, Sundari Palace

Satine Kryze

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I am going to ground Korkie so much!