Not original

"Everything working fine with your new components?" I asked as I stepped in, X4 stopping mid-teleportation, in front of my desk.

"Oh, yes, everything is operating at 100% efficiency. This excess speed is quite enjoyable. It allows me to get my work done 5.7% faster, as well as keeping others hard at work as well." X4 said in a way that suggested he was judging Vai's efficiency.

"I'm working, I'm working." She said, defending herself with a wave of her hands towards X4's previous general direction. Vai is still focused on looking through various reports from the sofa seat facing the nearby window. We still haven't gone through all of Merrik's possessions, it's been slow-going, examining everything for potential nasty surprises.

"I'm working as hard as I can. So much stuff was basically hidden from us that Merrik seemed to have kept everything of importance in something other than in his office, because most of these reports have content you've already seen, and I don't see anything here that would imply any connection with any of the troublemakers over the past few months."

"Hmm, I doubt that he had no hand in the troublemaking." I said matter-of-factly as I took a seat next to her, and X4 again teleported in front of us, where he placed two cups of coffee on the table in front of the sofa.

"Thank you, X4." I said, picking up the coffee.

"Happy to be of service, mistress. It's all in another day's work." X4 said before vanishing again after Vai took her cup.

"I am never going to get used to that." she said.

I waved off her concerns, "Well, it doesn't matter if you get used to it. What matters is he's still alive, and more effective this way. By the way, anything of interest in the mail?" I said as I sipped my glass of coffee. Since Gargon isn't the optimum environment for growing coffee, I knew that this caf had to be imported from elsewhere.

My guess would be that this is from Concordia due to it having a light aroma of malted grain with earthy undertones reminiscent of coffee that had been harvested in land that usually grew grain in well irrigated soil.

Vai nodded, "Two things. We got an encrypted message from Bo-Katan that I can't access because it is bio-sealed and will only open for you, and a basic report from the Mandalorian Self-Defense Force. The forces at Taris have been cycled out. Supreme Commander Ordo has returned to Mandalore, and a new Commander for the Taris watch has been placed there. Things seem to be calming down, and war has been averted."

"Good thing it did." I said with a shake of my head. "We owe our lives to those Ithorians. If they hadn't made that move, we'd be in a much worse situation."

"You can say that he's got more balls than some Mandalorians." Vai said rather crassly. I gave her a sharp look for the crude comment. "But it's true." she defended herself, folding her arms under her chest.

I sighed but conceded the point by nodding in agreement, "I agree his actions were courageous and honorable, so much so, I've recommended the creation of a bit of a memorabilia piece for him. The Beskar Peace Prize, a small piece of Mandalorian steel that'll congratulate him for preventing a war." I set down my empty cup of coffee.

"Ha, that is going to be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, but you know what? That sounds like the kind of thing the New Mandalorians would eat up. The stuff your mind comes up with, Tanya." Vai said with a shake of her head, as I sat back, amused.

"Anything else I need to know about?" I asked.

"The situation on Vorpa'ya has not improved." X4 said while refilling my cup with more coffee from a previously unseen container. I stared into the refilling cup, but my mind was counting down the minutes until Engiz would be off his shift and free tonight. I never got to enjoy Gargon's culture the last time I was here as White Silver, so now is a good time to be a tourist with my partner.

X4 resumed and I dragged my attention to his report, "Apparently, whatever plan Concord Dawn had assumed that the Republic would invade Mandalore, and they could ally with the Republic invaders. Without that action, they seem to be more than willing just to maintain hold over half the planet, taking all agricultural output that would have been sold off the market, driving the prices of food across the sector."

"And making Mandalore suffer a bit more." I said, shaking my head. "They're playing a game that's going to end badly. If food prices get too high, people are going to start doing regrettable things, and the consequences will reward smugglers and encourage piracy. The drop in the standard of living will empower radicals, especially the warhawks who only want a military solution. There will be those who side with Concord Dawn as well, and call for us to resolve the situation in their favor."

"Do we know what they want?" Vai asked

I shrugged my shoulders before saying, "Probably the removal of the New Mandalorians from power. They do tend to have a disrespect for my aunt — correction — mother. Still getting used to that."

"There may be a way to lower the probability that some of those consequences will come to pass." X4 suggested.

"Oh, what are you thinking?" I asked.

"I am aware that Mistress desired a new fighter design with requirements that it's not as complex or expensive as the Fang fighter that we are producing for MandalMotors, so that we can market the new fighter for ourselves. I've recently come across a fighter design that could possibly fulfill this function from our own Mandal Hypernautics line of equipment."

"Alright, go on." I asked, leaning back in my chair and taking another sip of my coffee. While the Fang fighter is an amazing fighter, comparable to the famous F-22 Raptor, it is also astronomically expensive to make and maintain due to its complicated rotating wings. I needed something like the F-16, something more affordable yet still effective.

After extensive research and hours of brainstorming with X4, I settled for a non-hyperdrive capable multirole fighter to fill that role. There are a multitude of reasons, but ease of manufacture and a cost saving measure is a prominent one. Not having to install a hyperdrive to each fighter would not only reduce the price tag of our fighters by half, it also allows for the fighters to be smaller and be harder to hit as we don't need the hyperdrive and a separate fuel tank for hypermatter to fuel the hyperdrives.

However, this meant that I needed a carrier for these fighters that is not an incredibly expensive capital ship, like the Sundari, which is equivalent to the United States's Nimitz class carriers. A small tender class vessel, equivalent to Japan's helicopter carriers, would be preferable to support these fighters in remote regions and to grant the MSDF more tactical flexibility without needing a large logistic train to support it. Needing to assemble a carrier task force for every little conflict across the monstrously large and underpopulated CNS space would be a disastrous waste of resources.

"I have found a design that would fit all of Mistress's requirements that was used a very long time ago, using schematics that we have recently acquired from Ori'Jorir."

"A Basilisk War Droid fighter, isn't that illegal?" Vai asked as she took a break from her work to focus on our discussion.

"Technically, battle droids are always illegal. Although there are some loopholes, we are exploiting them to our benefit by redesigning these craft to be more like a piloted fighter craft, so it can be piloted by a single individual. Because there would be a human pilot for this device, it would not count solely as a droid and as a fighter." X4 confirmed.

"Alright, I trust your judgment. If you have some record of a droid craft that could be converted and upgraded into a piloted craft, have at it."

"Thank you, Mistress. However, there is one tiny inconvenience. Since these fighters lack their own independent hyperspace engines, they require a parent craft to travel between sectors. We could retrofit our Lictors with Hangars to house them, or use the Sundari Carrier's hangars for them. However, neither would be an optimal solution due to the limited space of the Lictor, while the Sundari would be better filled with Fang Fighters. Thus, for an alternate solution, I require your permission to purchase the license to produce Gozanti Cruisers from Corellian Engineering Corporation. We determined that the Gozanti Cruiser is the most cost-effective solution that can serve in this role fairly well."

"Aren't there like thousands of those just flying about the galaxy?" Vai asked, to which I nodded my agreement, as that ship is fairly common. It is excellent in both anti-piracy roles, due to its heavy loadouts and dense armor, and anti-smuggling roles thanks to its strong sensor capabilities. Some commanders used them as mobile command outposts rather than fleet flotilla.

"Correct, but for the modifications I would like to play around with, it would be better for us to have the ability to produce them ourselves. Not only would this be cheaper to mass produce, the Gozanti have ample space for hangars, as well as be excellent patrol craft. If our custom designs can improve upon the existing design, I'm sure some would love to be able to purchase them. Especially if we have legal documents granting us authority to sell them and the derivative designs. I predict that traditional Mandalorian branding alone on any platform we produce will give us an edge in the market. General improvements to the platform will compound that."

"Alright, X4, you can experiment with this. You have my approval." I am impressed by the initiative, and X4 let out an affirmative, pleased beep in response to my reply.

"Anything else?" I asked, as I reached for the datapad containing the encrypted message, wondering what secrets it held. I wonder what Bo-Katan wanted to talk to me about.

"Oh, nothing else much occurred to report about. Obi-Wan tried to schedule a meeting with you. I told him you're going to be busy, as per your instructions."

"Thank you, Vai." I said, relieved that she had listened to me and I wouldn't have to deal with that whole mess. I wasn't totally against meeting with Obi-Wan; I just wasn't sure I am ready for father-daughter time yet. With a Jedi, no less. I am still wrapping my head around mother-daughter time being an official thing.

I put further thought of the subject out of my mind as I focused on unlocking the message. To unlock the message, I have to insert my chain code and it would decrypt itself. Looking it over, I blinked and read it from the beginning again. I flipped it sideways to see if it was my imagination, as I could not really understand nor believe what I was reading. I then turned to Vai and said, "Bo-Katan has agreed to marry Pre Vizsla, the governor of Concordia."

Vai's jaw dropped, and the blood seemed to drain from her face in shock. "You're kidding!" she said, obviously shocked at the news.

I paused, turning to Vai and considering her reaction. "Not unless Bo is playing a joke." I said, shaking my head. "She also wants me to plan her wedding. Why do people want me to plan their weddings?"

Vai shrugged. "You're very organized, it's an admirable quality, and you seem like the kind of person that might actually succeed at planning a wedding." She said with a smile, drawing an exasperated sigh for me.

Shaking my head, I turned my gaze back to the message and tried to puzzle out why it existed. What possible reason would Bo-Katan, a known and confirmed bachelor, agree to a marriage? Especially at a time like this? With Pre Viszla of all people? Things were very tense in the Mandalorian sector, and trust is a scarce commodity. But then again, maybe that was the reason.

Was this something Satine had asked Bo-Katan to do? After all, what better way to solidify and confirm alliance between houses and with a marriage? Although, if that was the reason, well, perhaps my eventual nuptials would be on the docket as well. I'd always known that that was a possibility. I'd come to accept it, but there's hoping at least one it would be to someone I was accepting of and willing to live with. I refuse to plan the wedding for my own marriage, thank you very much.