Not original

716 FNM (22 BBY)

Month 8

Coronet, en-route to Coruscant

Tanya Kryze

I blinked and looked away from my datapad and out the window, at the stars streaming by. The life of a galactic politician is usually a nomadic one. Sure, I could stay on Coruscant permanently, but I took my role seriously. As a Representative of the Mandalore Sector, I needed to understand the situation on the ground and I needed to physically visit places to gather the right kind of information. I know from experience that it's easy to be misled with reports and statistics if I've never visited the place personally. I probably should have spent a little bit more time on Mandalore to make sure everything was running smoothly with my operations there. I also wanted to visit and check on Gargon as White Silver, but matters on Coruscant are too pressing to justify an extra stop. Unfortunately, with my main and publicly known Lancer destroyed I would have to take other means of transportation, so I am once again on board the Coronet.

It isn't the worst way to travel, traveling aboard the Coronet is traveling in luxury, but it is not as fast as the Lancer and I rarely desired the luxuries the Coronet provided anyway. I preferred the Lancer's speed, so that I spent less time on the move and more time to get work done. The more I delay doing work, the less time I have to do them. Time crunches are exhausting and a pain to deal with, that it is the result of inefficient use of time or lazy and inconsiderate use of authority that dumps more work than the worker can physically handle. If your time is properly managed, more work could be completed with less time and pressure.

I would have to purchase a replacement Lancer when I had the chance, as well as make sure that all of them are upgraded with better defensive systems so that they wouldn't get shot down so easily. I used to have three of them, but one of them is used by X4 to travel between Gargon and Mandalore and the other is now exclusively for White Silver. Thus, I'll need to purchase 3 new Lancers if I want to have back up or decoy Lancers. But that is a concern for the future, today my concern is with the Republic and the ongoing war.

The Galactic Civil War had been raging for a month and a half by this point. What exactly is going on across all the fronts is still a muddled mess, but from what I could understand, it is in a stalemate. Like the First World War in my first life, but on a galactic scale, with neither side being able to push the other out. The clones are performing excellently on the frontline, as they are capable of taking on many times the number of droids in comparison to how many clone troops are deployed. Granted, deployments of partisan groups from local defense forces and other fighters are also fighting to keep their planets in the Republic. These groups support the clones and auditing the individual battles revealed that they are responsible for a significant number of the actual kills. But for the most part the clones are serving as the main fighting force and that is important.

A visible army kept morale up, even if the messaging is currently a bit mixed. The Senate is only focused on the headlines and battle outcomes. Even with the losses taken at Geonosis, the Senate considered the battle a great victory, as the strategic objective was completed. Sacking an important droid foundry was all they cared about. No one cared about the losses yet. Those would catch up to us, no doubt, but in the meantime, I was much more concerned about the Senate's decision to grant the Jedi the rank of General. The Jedi Order is running the Republic military and they have no idea how to strategize. You do not learn to command an army while on the job. At least throw a few of the Jedi into Officer school first, I know the Republic still has a few military academies for their Judicial Forces.

From what I understood, the general thinking was that if anyone had any combat experience, it would be the Jedi Order. However, their previous combat experiences weren't against armies and by my own reading of reports, they tended to favor warfare that looked like it belonged on the battlefields of Napoleon's Europe. Massive armies fighting openly in pitched battles, fighting at range until they closed distance. At least the droids and clones didn't use swords or bayonets.

I wish I could be harsher on the Jedi leadership, but my role is not that of a military advisor, I'm merely a politician. Overstepping here and pushing for Mandalore's "advice" in military matters while a mere Representative would not only ruin my professional relationship with Senator Merrik, but also anger Duchess Satine and the others who wanted neutrality. So, the most I could do was ensure that those who knew my worth are aware of my opinions.

Sending men and women who only knew how to fight by closing distance with lightsabers to fight a conventional war is an asinine mistake. One that will probably cost the Republic a lot of clone lives and waste all the credits that were spent to grow and educate them. Does the Senate even care about that waste, though? From the rhetoric I saw coming out of the Senate and on the newly organized Republic HoloNet News, they didn't even seem to consider the clones as sentient. That was another thing, the HoloNet News was seized by the Republic, apparently, and now broadcasting... propaganda. I glanced backwards towards the screen on the wall displaying the muted Republic HoloNet News broadcast on the other side of the room.

The broadcasters are discussing Kashyyyk. One of the moons of the planet had been attacked by the CIS with a superweapon called "Dark Reaper." The weapon operated by harvesting the "Force" energy out of matter, whatever that meant. The imagery on display showed a devastated forest moon, but the way the talking heads are describing the event is jarring. I skimmed the subtitles as the news played across the screen. Reading the subtitles and ignoring the audio is an old habit from my first life that I had resumed again.

"General Windu has reported that the superweapon has been destroyed by Jedi forces on the lunar surface, but the Senate is already preparing another appropriations bill for our Grand Army in response. With us is Ignar Ominaz, famous swoop racer and pilot who happened to be racing on Kashyyyk at the time! What did you see of this shocking Dark Reaper attack?" The male Twi'lek newscaster asked the famous guest correspondent, a human in a racing outfit.

"Far out, man. I didn't see no Sith, but like the whole sky on Kashyyyk went dark, and the moon just died. Stars in the daytime sky even, it was freaky." In the background, the news studio is replaced with footage of the attack. The Twi'lek nodded sagely at the inarticulate swoop pilot.

"You heard about it here, from Ominaz no less! Now the Clone Army has secured the planet and orbit, and no doubt they will keep the Separatist monsters at bay! Sith Lord Dooku is on the run from Kashyyyk and the Grand Army of the Republic!"

Ominaz nodded eagerly, "Yeah, the clones are great. I just wish the cloners sold to regular folks, an LA-AT gunship and crew would be just the thing to get my swoop bike to Outer Rim racetracks." The Twi'lek newscaster laughed forcefully at the distasteful joke; I was glad the audio was muted.

I turned away and stopped paying any further attention to the broadcast. Flesh droids, but droids nonetheless. I'm concerned about this, they had already dehumanized AI and droids, now they are dehumanizing literal humans just because they've been created through a test tube. Once you start dehumanizing people, it's hard to walk the rhetoric back.

There isn't even a pretense to try and be impartial; Count Dooku was declared a Sith Lord and traitor to the Republic, as if it were a fact or just sentencing. As far as I knew, he had declared no such thing and was not a Sith. Looks like my predictions about politics affecting the Jedi Council would be put to the test soon. Would they declare him a Sith Lord, like the Senate had? Using a superweapon that could kill a whole moon did not paint a good picture, so Dooku had handed the Jedi a perfect excuse to make the politically expeditious decision now.

This new Republic HoloNet News is not reporting much on any other force other than this "Grand Army of the Republic" either. The irregular units fighting to defend their home planets, even those in direct ground combat with the CIS right now, are glossed over. Instead, there were more cheap insults about the bug-like nature of the Geonosians.

Ideally, the Senate would not be too swayed by the political efforts to denigrate the image of the aliens living in the Outer Rim, but with the way the war was going, that seemed unlikely to change or improve. Before this conflict even really got started, the CIS already invaded planets that they thought are useful to them. Malastare had come under occupation due to its abundant fuel reserves, currently that conflict seemed to be on track for a Republic victory, but that is just a small example as there are other battles going on throughout the Galaxy.

For someone who said they are on the side of doing good, Count Dooku seems to have reached for any weapons within his grasp, no matter how dark or evil their origins. Which I could respect in a fight for survival, but the conflict between the Republic and CIS is more about corruption and trade disputes than survival. Or at least, that is how matters seemed at the start. Now it is turning into a dirty fight, using ancient Sith superweapons against a modern-day population.

The other recent controversy that cast Count Dooku as the villain in the conflict was the Decimator Incident. Personally, my opinion on the matter was that Count Dooku wasn't at fault, but the Senate majority loudly disagreed. What had happened, and the Republic HoloNet news failed to cover or present to its audience, was that the Wookies had a secret military research project to create a powerful land battleship equipped with turbolasers and shields, the 'Decimator', had been discovered by a Hutt spy and sold to the Separatists. We knew this much because the Hutt also sold their information to a Republic agent. After that, everything became a disaster. The technology had been captured and lost to a surprise CIS invasion at the Wookiee's secret facility. The final outcome had been swift - Jedi forces destroyed the captured technology, but lost the secret plans and research in the process.

I had the feeling that there was more to it that had been kept hidden from the public, something that I didn't know. Rather suspicious how agents of the Hutts had learned of this Decimator project and led the CIS to capture it, when the Senate and Jedi seemed to be caught off-guard by the entire affair. The Wookiee's project was entirely legal and squeaky clean, but that was only on the surface. When I investigated the details, at least those I had access to as a Representative, it made no sense. The Wookiees had begun research and development on the military contract for the project only after the passage of the Military Creation Act, earlier this year. They had researched and developed an entire mobile military platform to the prototype stage in only a dozen weeks? The project showed the signs of years of investment, and the large, spread-out project sites across several worlds only reinforced my suspicions.

But as it stood now, the Separatists had used several superweapons in response and had even invaded multiple planets along the border region between them and the Republic.

So far, they thankfully haven't attacked any planets that are claiming neutrality, instead focusing on worlds who declared themselves for the Republic. Hopefully that would spare Mandalore any invasions, but if it didn't, we'd give them a hell of a fight, that's for sure.

That being said, it was quite apparent at this point that the Separatists are not going to be the reasonable or diplomatic party in this conflict for some time. However, by the same token, the Republic wasn't even attempting any diplomacy as it seems that war is the only mutual interest for both sides.

The Separatists adopted the role of revolutionaries and freedom-fighters, trying to spread their revolution as far and wide as they can, which would be good if they were genuine. But there are also corporate interests backing this revolution, ensuring that planets that submitted to the Separatists' Council would become second-class citizens, or feudal vassals.

The Republic is treating the war as a Sith invasion and existential threat. Even though there aren't any Sith currently leading the Separatists. Except maybe Count Dooku, who was seen wielding a red lightsaber, despite originally owning a blue lightsaber during his years as a Jedi Master. The Senate fixated on this detail and then used the accounts from the Jedi that had faced Dooku in combat and survived to justify their declaration and name him a Sith Lord.

How long this war would go is anyone's guess. If it is like the ancient Sith wars, it had the potential to go on for hundreds of years. Those wars had decades where they switched between going hot and cold, but of course, the Galaxy had been a much smaller place and more spread out. Many planets back then weren't charted and didn't care about the galactic community or interstellar trade as long as they were left alone.

Things are different now, planets that suffered under the control of the Sith would call for aid, the Jedi would respond, and conflict would spring up there. The Jedi are obligated to defend any world or peoples that could lodge a request and had valid cause. This meant Sith influence on any world would cause the conflict to expand and open a new front, creating a new battlefield the Jedi must defend. This cycle would only end once one side had defeated the other in totality, no compromise or tolerance is possible.

That was the danger of a conflict between the Jedi and Sith, it would keep growing the longer this went on.

Mainly I hoped we could avoid that kind of conflict, the crimes and horrors I had dug up in my research on the ancient wars between the Jedi and the Sith were often so wild as to be unbelievable. The Rakghoul Plague was one of those Sith horrors I had not given much stock when learning Mandalorian history until recent events. Thousands of years ago, the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders had been advancing on their prize, the ecumenopolis world of Taris, so their armies had conquered the nearby world of Jebble as a staging ground. The frozen colony world of Jebble was mostly a mine and foundry, but after the Rakghoul plague was unleashed on the gathering army, the inhabitants had been transformed into Rakghoul. The details all added up to an unbelievably tall tale, which explained why I had slotted that particular history into the "embellishment" category, one of those confabulations invented by a prideful historian to mask an embarrassing battlefield defeat or some other blunder. Except my occasional quiet questions to Yoda in the past confirmed details and past events, so there was little chance in my mind it was all embellishment.

A straightforward conflict between civilized peoples over resources sounded preferable to the histories of pseudo-religious Jedi-Sith conflicts. In the case of the Rakghoul, the exact creation process was lost to time, but the end result of the plague is the creation of mindless slaves to a Sith artifact. Those that transformed reminded me of fictional zombies from my first life, endlessly infecting others with a scratch, or a bite. The Neo-Crusader Era Mandalorians had no answer for the Rakghoul and resorted to "nuking the planet from orbit". A strategy justifiably given much scorn in all my lives. Today, Jebble is lifeless; abandoned and forgotten by nearly all Mandalorians. I sighed and toyed with the caf in my saucer, blinking briefly in surprise at the stars streaming out the window. Soon, we would be back on Coruscant and I would have to resume my duties as Representative.

Count Dooku had clearly been attempting to convince both Obi-Wan and I to switch sides and join the Separatists before the war began. If he was willing to try and persuade someone as straight-laced as Obi-Wan was, he's probably desperate enough to try and recruit anyone he can from the Jedi Order. The more Jedi he persuaded to switch sides, the greater the chance their organization would be declared a Sith Order. Then this war would expand into a never-ending series of conflicts that kept growing and growing as the years went on.

Letting out a sigh, I reached again for the saucer of caf on the table next to me. I took the drink and enjoyed the smooth flavor of this particular blend.

I'm relaxing in the main viewing area of the ship, it has a large window that faces towards the front, towards the hyperspace we are traveling through. The dimension of hyperspace is fascinating, while the research is still unsettled on the topic, there are persistent rumors about it being dangerous to stare at too long. I doubted staring at something could turn anyone insane, but then again, the Force existed. Anakin had told me that was all nonsense the one time the topic had come up on Tatooine, but then he had started frowning and mentioned dark-siders found hyperspace relaxing. So now I had two reasons not to stare overly long, even if it was very interesting and cool to look at.

"Tanya, you in here?" called a familiar voice, causing me to turn and glance back at Vai entering the room.

"Hello Vai." I said with a smile, beckoning her to sit next to me. Vai had finally put away the White Silver disguise after returning to Gargon. Now that we are returning as a group to Coruscant, I could get back to the normal life of Tanya Kryze and not the abnormal alter-ego I had let myself fall into in the hope of preventing a war. "How are you doing?" I asked.

"Good, just wondering why you wanted to speak to me." She commented.

I played along, tapping my chin dramatically and posing thoughtfully. "Hmm, why did I want to speak to you? It didn't have something to do with something you did on our latest mission. Something that Morson can't stop talking about."

Vai's cheeks turned red, and she deflected my attention with an obvious cough into her fist, "No, I don't know what you're talking about."

I adopted a puzzled look and tone, speaking slowly as to enjoy the new colors on Vai's face. "Strange, she keeps talking about how the White Silver gave her another kiss, a special, elongated one."

"Huh, well, that's a fascinating story."

"Yes," I said, looking her straight in the eye, "What exactly do you think White Silver was thinking with that action?" I probed.

Vai paused and scratched her neck, then finally seemed to compose herself. "Perhaps she was thinking about using Khae as a way to blind people with the dissimilarities between her and her true identity."

I narrowed my eyes and tilted my head, "And what exactly does that mean?"

"It might mean that she is merely pretending to be interested, but she prefers the opposite gender. I imagine sooner or later... when her public identity starts dating, it will be another layer of obfuscation."

I narrowed my eyes, annoyed with her, but the facts are hard to refute. It's frustrating, but I had to admit it is a damn good point. Building a deniable cover required ensuring that the cover had a lot of differences; enough so no one would associate you with the alternative identity. Even if people started thinking that Vai is White Silver, the fact that she hung out a lot with her boyfriend would do a lot to diminish that connection.

Shaking my head, I said, "Fine, but when we meet White Silver again, she will have to apologize to Morson if she doesn't actually have feelings for her." Vai nodded, and before she could respond I leaned forward, "Also, White Silver is not allowed to lead Morson on. She is a friend, not an asset that she can use for her cover. Is that clear?"

"Understood, but what if Khae agrees to be an asset for White Silver's cover?" Vai asked with a mischievous smile.

I glared back. "In that case, we will have a conversation with her on that matter in the future."

Vai nodded and leaned back in her chair, as Ordo joined the two of us and offered her a saucer of caf off a tray. He is the only Royal Guard in the room; Engiz was enough to protect us. Although I do have a deactivator hidden in my sleeve and Vai likely has a vibroknife and blaster pistol under her dress.

Vai snatched the drink with a quick, "Thanks, Ordo". I began to sip at my caf drink again, trying to enjoy the blend.

"By the way... are you Tanya's first kiss?" Vai asked Ordo, who had been reading my datapad over my shoulder. I coughed as my caf went down the wrong pipe, and I saw Ordo's shadow freeze up.

"Knew it!" Vai exclaimed, fist-pumping in celebration, as she sipped her drink.

"Knew what?" I asked as Ordo handed me his handkerchief and I cleaned myself off a bit.

"Tabi mentioned that Engiz was acting a little bit off after the mission to Gargon. He said that Engiz used to be a lot more love drunk, then acted a lot more confident after Gargon. Put together with your comment about Khae not being your first..."

I finished cleaning myself off and said, "Wonderful deduction. Now can you keep that to yourself or are you going to be blabbing it to Morson?"

"I'll keep it to myself if you can meet at least one of my two conditions."

"And they are?" I asked.

"Tell me exactly what happened back then, every detail, or swear to me you'll never do it again. Pick your poison."

I narrowed my eyes at her imposed conditions. "Interesting tactic. What if I lie? How will you tell the difference? You might not get anything out of this scheme."

"Oh I didn't say I don't get anything, I'm sure getting you to lie would be an interesting experience, you're not that good at it."

I raised an eyebrow, I am rather good at lying, otherwise she would know that I was a reincarnate in my third life. But I kept that to myself, instead saying, "It was not a big deal, we were almost found while undercover and had to pose as a couple, making out in an alleyway. It was just that one time."

"That time." Vai emphasized, leaning forward.

Setting my saucer down, I said, "You never asked about later encounters, so you will not be receiving more information. My private life is my own, thank you very much. You don't hear me talking to you about your relationship all the time."

"Oh… so are you saying that if I started talking to you about my relationship with Tabi you'd be more open about your relationship with Engiz?"

"What? No!"

"So you admit you have a relationship with Engiz?!"

"..." I turned back towards the stars flitting by and hyperspace view, it is much more fascinating than this conversation.

Gargon, Mandal Hypernautics Assembly Center

Bo-Katan Kryze

'This is an exciting way to start the day.' I thought as blaster bolts streamed past my position behind the doorway.

Today started like any other day: wake up, do my morning work out, eat breakfast, read reports, prep for a day of training newbies the basics of fighting. But instead, I found myself fighting three Mandalorians of an unknown clan who broke into the library of the Mandal Hypernautics Assembly Center. It is unclear how much they had already stolen and extracted, but the security network flagged the theft of a lot of designs by the time we responded. The upgraded security network also alerted everyone in the facility of the theft, leading to the current situation. So I am hiding behind cover as one of the infiltrators unleashed a torrent of bolts from a handheld rotary blaster cannon, tearing apart everything around me.

My trusty subordinate, Cylah Troa, is crouched beside me and my armored form. She is similarly armored up in her ranger's gear, a mix of silver and brown with a red highlight on her helmet. We were on our way to my office when the alert sounded that there were intruders in the library. When we made it to the library, we joined up with some security guards that were forced to take cover from the rotary blaster fire coming from the library. We exchanged a quick glance before I gestured for her to take half of the men and flank the intruders, while I kept their attention. She nodded, so I took out my pistol and fired a few blasts around the corner.

As I did so, a disheveled man with glasses appeared, clearly distraught by the loud sounds and unruly occupants in his library. "What is going on here!" He then paused, clearly not expecting my pistol and the scene of open warfare before him.

"You're going to destroy priceless records and who knows what information is going to be harmed by your inappropriate barbarism! Savagely uncultured-" I ignored him, the eggheads never react well to their ivory towers being knocked over.

I tilted my head a bit and activated the camera attached to my pistol, so I could get a view around the corner at what we are dealing with. My pistol camera saw three Mandalorians, no obvious clan markings, and their armor is thoroughly tinted a rather strange color of dark red. Two of them are still busy, apparently still trying to steal as many records as possible.

I observed the situation from behind cover as the heavy set Mandalorian wielding the rotary blaster cannon stood guard over the doorway. Two smaller figures are somewhat visible, obviously slicing into the archives and busy downloading information from the library wall, likely searching for more designs of some sort. What their exact motives are, I couldn't say for certain. Maybe they are pirates or mercenaries hired for some corporate espionage. Maybe they are after the plans for the Sundari-class freighter or perhaps one of the fighter designs we sold. It is possible they simply wanted everything. Whatever the case may be, nothing good would come from this if they succeeded.

Hopefully, we could capture one of them so that I could interrogate them to find out who ordered this operation. Whether Mandal Motors is behind this or if some other company had hired Mandalorian mercenaries to steal from us, it had to be Mandalorian, though. Their armor design has some peculiarities that are consistent with the Supercommando style, but it also has additional features, such as those thick pilot suits to keep the wearer as warm as possible. This detail could indicate that they are local muscle, as foreigners were often unfamiliar with Gargon's climate. The "mild" temperatures the weather forecasts gave to tourists are deceptive as Gargon is quite cool, often chilly and wet, year-round. But it didn't make sense for another local organization to attack Mandal Hypernautics.

Our activities are aimed at improving the overall economy and quality of life on Gargon and we're broadly popular. Besides, the hotel under construction was finally completed and had its ribbon-cutting ceremony only a few weeks ago. The numbers of guests are still low, but the live shows and concerts were drawing a significant number of people, especially those interested in seeing the Gargon Girls. No, they must be someone from off-world or a Gargon corporation we didn't already know about.

There is a beep on my comms, I picked up the message and asked, "In position?"

"Yes ma'am. We've sealed off all entrances and exits to the library. They are not getting out without a fight."

Judging by the earlier blaster fire, the window for talking is over.

"Your call, boss. We're waiting for the signal." Whoops, I had been thinking aloud again. Well, whatever, she's my aide, so it was fine.

"Got it, on my mark. Go." No point in negotiating with these invaders, just going to give away information to the enemy.

At my signal, there were several explosions from different sources up ahead before the shooting started up again. My instinct was to jump out and confront the adversaries head on, guns blazing. However, that rotary blaster cannon posed an actual risk to me, I wasn't ready to gamble my beskar armor against it. So instead, I poked my pistol around the corner.

Currently, said rotary blaster cannon is being wielded by the big guy, who was distracted by the earlier explosions and aimed it towards the west side of the room. I used the distraction to shoot a few blaster shots at it. The bolts melt the main body of the blaster cannon causing it to crackle and pop. Its wielder, the big thief, turned in my general direction and tossed the now ruined gun like it was a log at me before running inside the library. I dodged the cannon by rolling forwards under it as two security guards used the walking fire tactic I taught them months ago to both shoot and walk past me, unleashing blaster fire into the main door into the Library. The big guy retreated inside the room before closing the door. Once the door was shut, they sprinted forwards to take breaching positions beside the Library door.

It took me a moment to stand back up and sprint to the doorway myself. Once I was in position, I opened the door and put my pistol around the corner again to see what the situation inside is like.

The room is a wreck. Most of the digital displays and servers were shot to hell, thankfully there is an emergency backup facility off-site that backs up all of Hypernautics' data, so nothing would be lost. Even if something had been lost before the backup, we might also be able to recover it off the thieves' equipment, as they won't need it anymore.

The three thieves are in the center of the room, firing back to back. It's a good strategy to keep the various entry points suppressed but it is a doomed one. With them out in the open with no cover, I said, "On my mark, spray them down. Mark!" With the signal sent, I breached the room along with every guard as everyone popped out cover, and gunned down the thieves in a shower of bolts from all sides. All three of the thieves are knocked to the ground by the overwhelming impact of a dozen S2 SHUKURs at high impact mode.

While you doubt any blaster can penetrate beskar armor, the high impact mode can deliver enough kinetic energy to cause internal hemorrhaging and a couple dozen shots from that would pummel anyone to death. A few of the security guards that were hit in the initial breach are now being evac-ed to the infirmary, their beskar armor might have saved their lives, but they'll still need to spend a few days in the infirmary.

However, there is something strange about the thieves' armor. I stepped closer to get a better look and knelt down in front of one of the bodies before pushing it over. These aren't blaster marks, they are blaster burns that bore a hole through their armor. Their armors aren't made of beskar at all, they are just some knock-offs. Made of Plasteel, perhaps?

Troa walked over to me and looked down at the bodies, confused. "That's odd, no self-respecting Mandalorian would ever wear plasteel. Not even the most impoverished local nomads would degrade themselves that much."

I nodded my head in agreement and said, "Yeah, there's something off here. Probably someone wanted to frame the theft from some local Mandalorians."

Troa paced around the armor, examining the damage more closely, inspecting other angles. "Either that or they're very cheap, but that makes no sense either. From what I saw, they acted like they expected their armor to hold up a bit better than it did."

I raised an eyebrow at that, asking the obvious question, "Could they have thought their armor was better than it was?" Or maybe the SHUKUR is something they didn't think they needed to worry about.

"Yeah," Troa nodded her head, "that sounds about right." She stopped and pointed at a few of the blaster burns on the other side of the armor, "Any idiot wearing beskar'gam for the first time would probably think they are blaster-proof." Even I thought I was blaster-proof when I first put on my beskar'gam before my trainer knocked the youthful arrogance out of me.

That just raised more questions, though, too many questions for my liking. Whoever these thieves are, they are obviously expendable and were given plasteel armor so that they won't have any identifiable markings.

I got up and brushed myself off before saying, "Have the armor and weapons sent to a local armorer we trust. I doubt they would find anything, but might as well check to see if they could find out where they came from, otherwise scan their chain code before throwing their bodies in a pit somewhere and setting them on fire."

Troa nodded, then gave a salute before giving out orders to the security forces. In a moment, she turned them to work, picking up the bodies and taking them out of the library.

"God damn barbarians." came the hysterical voice of the librarian as he stumbled into the room and fell to his knees, theatrically raising balled up fists to the sky. "It's ruined!" After that declaration, the man seemed to collapse in on himself.

Shaking my head at this drama, I walked over to him and slapped him upside his head, getting him to focus on me.

"There's a backup, stop being such a weakling. Now do me a favor," I pointed towards the machinery and equipment the thieves left behind. "Search that gear and find out exactly what they were looking for. I want a report about it on my desk by tomorrow morning. Got that?"

The librarian sighed before nodding his head, despondently, but he showed enough signs of listening as he stumbled over to the equipment.

The librarian wasn't the only one who is going to have to suffer writing a report tonight. Many of Hypernautics' most important designs and documents are kept in the archives here. I would have to send my niece a message about all of this. I had to get more evidence and a better explanation first, though.

Breshig, Excavation Site

Zoll "Tom" Bresh

Six months, that is how long it took. Six months to not only discover the location, but also clear it out of local flora and fauna. Six months to recover the lost warship, a Kandosii-class ship of unusual size that was lost to time and nature. Also, we finally found the name of this ancient vessel from its own database, the Darasuum'orar. We were still working to weld up all leaks we could find, and from there then pump out the water.

This is the largest project I have ever undertaken, but we took our time to do it right. We carefully and steadily cleaned it out. Once it was airtight and all the water inside of it had been pumped out, the warship is slowly lifted to the surface with some flotation devices to prevent the ship from tipping over to its side on the surface. It is now bobbing calmly on the surface of the swamp.

I often caught myself just staring at the enormous hull. A glorious example of the former majesty of the Mandalorian Empire, so close I can reach out and touch it. Its metal is aged green with time and covered with swamp-life, but the internals we had discovered and restored are strong. There is an easy explanation for the warship's survival, in that it was just that well-built and the quality showed.

Theoretically, this is probably one of the strongest warships in the Mandalore sector due to its beskar hull. It was a ship-building design that had long since been abandoned due to the scarcity of beskar as the Galaxy grew bigger. Most of the weapon systems on board are outdated junk, but the beskar they were made of is recoverable if we melt it down.

The Prince of Mandalore wanted the ship sent off to Mandalore as a museum. That is alright in my opinion, as there are too many factions trying to get their hands on this literally priceless piece of Mandalorian history. I would prefer to find it a berth somewhere on Mandalore and have it restored and shown off at the capital. The old beauty deserved to spend its retirement in peace; either a carefully maintained museum or as a show for the kids.

The Ithorians had concerns, of course. They are helping to terraform Breshig, though they were a bit alarmed by us disturbing the biosphere, since a natural habitat had developed aboard the ship. The Ithorians took their time studying the wildlife, even though it delayed us in clearing the ship and preparing it for transport. I didn't really mind, but some of the crew had complained about having to rely on the kindness of the Ithorians, who were all about maintaining the natural order of the world.

They had been upset when we had continued to clear the ship despite them only documenting the life forms of the upper decks. Although I'm pretty sure what convinced them not to push us harder was the potential expense in trying to recreate or rehouse the life in a similar beskar-contained environment; the beskar alone would bankrupt the sector! Once they finished, we could deport the last of the lizards out of the ship and just let the last of the water pour out into the sea.

But of course to get there they needed to get the ship airworthy. Right now, it is merely seaworthy yet a little bit unbalanced as it was never meant to ride on the surface. But the lower decks still being flooded acted as a sort of ballast to the voidcraft.

Thankfully, most of the water on Breshig is stagnant and doesn't move around a lot. There are rivers and abundant underwater currents, but never major waves on the surface as Breshig doesn't have a moon to create tides. While we have attached flotation devices and outriggers to stabilize the craft on the surface of the water, having to deal with surface waves or choppy water would have been a nightmare. Anything that could flip the thing upside down or destabilize it would have been a massive problem to everyone inside.

While the smooth surface of Breshig and calm weather provided an easy platform to work off, the engines of the warship are a problem. Rust, mud, and all kinds of particulates have gotten into them over the centuries underwater. Flushing them out is turning into a slog. High-powered hoses are used in several stages, cleaning out individual engine components. However, even with this multi-stage process, parts of the engines are completely ruined and would need disassembly. Only then could the engineers and their Ithorian counterparts reference the known designs and working parts to rebuild the broken engine components. I wasn't even sure that the engines would even work after the repairs, we hadn't even cleared the water out of all of them yet.

The fact of the matter was, if this ship were to get space-borne again, we should try taking the ship to the shipyards at Kalevala before retiring it on Mandalore. They have the facilities to be able to clean up the engines or replace them entirely, such repairs would prove very difficult on Breshig's surface.

I also wanted to outfit the ship with some kind of modern weapon system. An old warship like this needs weapons, it would be a shame that such a fine ship hull is left defenseless, especially at a time in history like now. I didn't want the old girl to fight any battles for Mandalore, but it is a practical matter. Mandalore didn't have many allies, and the warship is practically a sitting duck for the likes of the Trade Federation. A few guns could change or deter that possibility, in my mind. .

If I am being honest, the weapon system is not, strictly speaking, part of the original mission or project scope. However, with recent events in the Republic, I suspected the addition would be overlooked, or at least, approved without too much commentary. Okay, maybe even that was a bit of hopeless optimism, but a man can dream. I dreamed of the day that my homeworld would be fixed; full of cities filled with Mandalorians, full of life to practically bursting. For as long as I could remember, Breshig had been a doomed planet where only lost wonders could be found. Now, things are changing and the possibility of my dreams didn't seem so hopeless.

Mandalore seemed to be experiencing a revitalization, and I would not miss my chance to be a part of restoring this old beauty for the galaxy. The Mandalorian Prince did not seem to appreciate much of the revitalization and was uneasy even discussing the topic as it was Mandalorian armorers, Mandalorian fighters, and Mandalorian weapons which are at new heights. However, I'm confused by his unease; this is a good thing, we always needed to train and be prepared as Mandalorians. I would also have to give my thanks to his sister, Ms. Kryze, the younger Kryze Representative, of course. Her knowledge of Mandalorian history would be preserved and used for its fullest potential, and that is a blessing. Something that would see the galaxy better off, and a small down payment on rolling back the centuries of decline of Mandalore.

My daydreams were interrupted by a knife blade's sinking into the wooden structure next to my face. I turned in shock, causing me to face towards the blade's owner. "Hello Crikey."

"Zoll Tom Bresh." Crikey's loud voice announced my full name, as she stomped over from a considerable distance away. She sounded more annoyed than usual. "Mind explaining to me why I found out today that they are prepping your ship for an exploration job?"

I managed to avoid flinching, but Crikey had ears and eyes everywhere. Somehow she figured out I was planning to move forward with the Prince's exploration of that missing ship now that the Kandosii-class battleship was on its way to being restored.

Sighing, I admitted my plans, perhaps she would not be interested if she knew what the mission entailed. "Well it's quite simple Tarri, I owe the Prince of Mandalore a favor. I'm supposed to help him search for a second ship, 'The Seeker's Vigil,' a mystery ship supposedly full of relics. Its last known location is an asteroid belt nearby." I sold the story as owing the Prince a favor, but the fact of the matter was that the Prince likely wouldn't have ever become aware of the ship and its location if not for my involvement. I just didn't need Crikey to go when she is perfectly safe here, on Breshig. Who knows what kind of traps and other risks we will find aboard such a relic ship, if we even find it.

"Right, so why are you doing it in secret and not telling me? I want to go with you." She moved towards me, so I reflexively covered my throat with a hand before I realized she had only recovered her knife.

Shaking my head, I played the fool. "I forgot, didn't know you wanted to go..." I mumbled, but didn't protest any further. Trying to argue against her coming would have ended poorly, might as well just give up now.

"Sure you did," she backhanded my left shoulder quite hard, even through the plate of armor there. "Well then, since I know now what exactly the plan is, Tom, I remembered some extra details about this lost ship. Its last known location was an asteroid base that served as a dockyard during the wars. How are we planning to get aboard such a base, and how are we planning to find this dockyard?"

I soothed and rubbed the sore left side of my neck, "That dockyard was already found, it's all about gathering the resources for the expedition at this point. I believe the young Prince is already gathering some Royal Guards to support the operation, in addition to some researchers to investigate the information and relics we recover. My role is to provide the ships and resources for the expedition. I have already acquired my own ship, and one other that will help with the support operation."

"Hmm, better hope that that little ship in the asteroid base still functions. And if it's still even there."

"Always hoping for the best, yes." I agreed with a nod. "It's been in space for who knows how long. Besides having cold engines, it probably isn't in a better condition than this old gal." As I indicated towards the battleship that is floating about a hundred yards away from the impromptu dock that had been built over the last few months. At least while underwater, the ship was not exposed to micro meteorites, electromagnetic storms, and other exotic phenomena.

The scaffolding and dock construction are on top of poles driven into a shallow section of what used to be large dry docks, three to be exact. They were probably built on top of the ruins of an administration building, judging by the dock design and layout. At one point in time, the dock administration would have employed hundreds of workers, along with this massive dockyard as well.

Of course now it is just a ruin, but it is history that is being rebuilt on top of. I had to wonder what those buildings would look like after the terraforming was done. The Ithorians had promised the terraforming would shrink the sea level and cause the water to recede, but would it be enough? So much of the land had been submerged for so long, Breshig would be different and altered by the passage of time.

Crikey looked ready to punch me again for just staring off at the ship and dock, so I refocused on the conversation and what she had last said. "Even if we find the ship non-functional, we can tug it from the abandoned asteroid base. From there we set course for Mandalore and arrive in orbit. We can let the good folks on Mandalore deal with finding out what's useful and still functional aboard. I'm sure the Prince will be very interested in the ancient history buried in its records. I know I'm quite excited to find out what's in there, that's for sure."

Crikey shrugged, seeming to not be interested. "Whatever. Make sure you do not try to leave me behind again. Or else. I am going to be there to make sure you don't get yourself killed."

I chuckled at that threat, "I prefer that outcome as well.", I admitted, trying to defuse the tension. It's not like I could overpower Tarri, she would just win any fight, and I'd be so bruised afterwards that I would require her assistance to recover, let alone go on an expedition. So I just had to accept it.

I was about to say something more when there was a loud clanging noise followed by the sound of something powering up.

Confused, I looked around before I looked at the ship. That's where the noise was coming from, and with some wonder I watched the back engines light up and slowly but steadily lift itself out of the water.

"What in the blazes?!" I yelled, leaning over on the railing that overlooked where this project had been underway. I thought the engine was shot, they couldn't get it working earlier.

Crikey gave a guttural laugh. "That's what you thought, that's what everyone thought, but then last night the chief engineered a way. Specifically, they found a bypass to a secondary engine that was in relatively good condition that could be used to ignite the main engine. So he sent me over here to let you know, but you also spilled the beans on your damn project that you were trying to hide from me, so I had to make a choice of which would be the one I talked about first."

So it was my fault, is that what she is dancing around? I glared at her, but let it pass as I got a better look at the engines. This is a good moment, an old war horse is returning to her sky; I have to enjoy it as it is, at this moment. Not worry about needling from Crikey.

Coruscant, Senate Building

Tal Merrik

Sitting in the Mandalorian sector's senate seat is quite the experience. To watch the conversations go back and forth over the last decade. I wouldn't have imagined that I'd see Senators declaring themselves for an open war in the galaxy, but here we are. Votes are being passed at breakneck speed. Many factions and worlds are signaling their loyalty through their votes. Their desire to outdo one another made them all the louder in their claims that the CIS is an evil organization that must be defeated at all costs.

Currently, there is some arguing about how systems should not be allowed to go neutral in this conflict. Granted, I could see why neutral fence sitters are a problem. If you have no idea whether a sector will support you or not, then you could not plan the war effectively. But even so, I had no say on Mandalore's standing in this conflict and how it should handle it. At least not yet.

No, I was told by Duchess Satine that we must proclaim ourselves neutral, and so I had. As well as about a thousand other systems in the region around Mandalore.

This borderline region represented a neutral block that wanted nothing to do with the war. And I will admit that it seemed to be rather successful, since it contained nearly an entire sub-sector worth of systems.

However, there is no chance this temporary neutral zone would last. These systems did not have any large militaries of their own, so they would be forced to pick a side eventually, or that decision be made for them by one of the two factions. The factions would push those neutral systems to make a choice to either stay with the Republic and join the war or join the CIS. If we waited for the neutrals to slowly fall away, Mandalore would eventually be left standing alone against the victor of this conflict. So, we will have to join the war sooner or later. Duchess Satine is too weak to make the choice herself; so the decision would be made the very moment after the change of leadership in Mandalore.

Duchess Satine's declaration of neutrality is in line with what I expected. The Mandalorian people would come to hate it in time, and when they do, they would rise up against her. I personally suspected Pre would take over as he is still a strong faction with control of Death Watch. But there are other smaller important factions, so my choice on who to back is as of yet, undecided.

As long as I played my cards right, I would maintain my seat either in the Republic or the CIS. As far as I could tell, this whole war is a win-win for me. Personally, I preferred the CIS, they have a lot more freedom and a lot more chances for opportunity.

Oh sure, the CIS Parliament claimed that the Separatists are leaving due to the abusive trade relationship with the Core worlds and widespread corruption in the Republic. They aren't wrong, but from what I could see of the Corporate Alliance and Banking Clans of the CIS, they aren't any different. The same corruption existed on a widespread scale in the Separatists, except it was legalized and formalized within the government's rules.

The massive list of corporations on their security council are no doubt only voting with only their financial interests in mind. There is no doubt that they would adopt the same corrupt practices that led the Republic astray. I think that they are probably on their way to being the most corrupt parts of the CIS Parliament. Corporate authorities amongst the Separatists eagerly adopted formal rules for "lobbying" in the CIS; they are more than willing to exchange money for local systems' votes, all to ensure corporate interests are secure. It would be just like the Republic, only this time more centralized in the Outer Rim.

Without the shackles of the Republic on them, a leader like Pre would no doubt be interested in expanding borders again. Mandalore is a Mid Rim sector, but the adjacent sectors and Outer Rim are only sparsely explored and settled for the most part. I could easily imagine Pre building a new Mandalorian Empire, especially if the CIS granted him a charter acknowledging his authority within its territory. Only a lack of resources and the threat of another Excision keep the New Mandalorians in power. A reborn Mandalorian Empire would be the force necessary to truly reform the galaxy.

The Corporate Sector is rather odd, too. Unlike the rest of the Corporate Systems and Banking Clans, they decided to stay loyal to the Republic. Even though they are in the Outer Rim, in fact, they are on the exact opposite end of the Outer Rim. I wonder why they were doing that. Are they possibly playing both sides? Are they just waiting for the war to be over before switching to the CIS? The Corporate Sector is almost completely surrounded, now the only free approach is from the extragalactic side, the sector could be considered de facto blockaded, no captain is crazy enough to hyperjump that far out of the galaxy and back to make a route. So I doubted the Republic would be getting any trade through the CIS to the Corporate sector soon. While the war is going on, they could be ignored, though that is a bit of a risk to keep at the back of the CIS's mind.

Whatever is going on with the Corporate Sector is not my concern however. I'm sure they came up with their own neutrality clause as many systems that didn't want anything to do with this conflict, like what the Mandalore Sector is doing.

It would be interesting to see how that played out, as I doubted the Republic would keep those systems that wish to stay neutral. Neutrality gave systems the possibility that they could switch sides. There had been a lot of frustrated Senators and upset factions when I had declared Mandalore's neutrality, so I know the Republic is looking into ways to crack down on the whole concept. I'm sure the Republic would eventually force all the neutrals who tried to stay on the fence to choose a side.

Sheev Palpatine is now an iconoclast, dictating a new strategy for the galaxy, originally I doubted he would rise to the occasion. However, he had already managed to force a confrontation with the Trade Federation, trying to make them pick a side. Palpatine declared Nute Gunray a criminal and paved the legal path for the Grand Army of the Republic to invade and conquer Geonosis. The Trade Federation blinked, cutting ties with Gunray in order to continue to do business within the Republic. No one in the Senate is fooled, though, this declaration is widely understood amongst my colleagues to be a stalling tactic. No doubt, the Trade Federation needed more time to replace the lost droids and retrofit ships to make up for those destroyed on Geonosis.

Meanwhile, the Trade Federation's Senators are voting with the neutral bloc. No doubt that would be rejected and stamped out soon. Foreign interference from an enemy state would not be tolerated in warfare and when that happened, the real fun would begin. Plenty of systems would be forced to make uncomfortable decisions once the Trade Federations goods and services are no longer available in the Republic. And plenty more systems are internally split on the issue to remain in the Republic, so this is very much a war between brothers and sisters, a conflict and opportunity for the ages.

Sighing, I shook my head, docked my repulsorpod against the wall, and stepped back from the podium. Exiting the pod, I looked around and moved towards a seat in one of the side bars. There is no reason for me to be that interested in the current conversations, my response from the last few days had been for neutrality with only the occasional voting here or there, in a few cases where someone tried to discuss ending the war. So my participation is reduced to voting in favor of every ceasefire measure, despite fully expecting the war to continue much longer.

All of this is for keeping up appearances and all that, but the fact of the matter was I have no interest in this. I just wanted the day to be over, so I could get back to my apartment and enjoy myself.

I had to try and find out what the hell happened with Anteevy and the Workers' Council. They were supposed to get rid of the problem that threatened my Senate seat. From what I could gather, that hadn't happened, so I had one of my guards slip away in the night and I am blaming him for a leak of information. Hopefully no one would look too closely into why it happened.

Maybe I'd been a little too bold, choosing an untested partner like Anteevy. The Workers' Council had obviously failed, and working with them is probably a bad idea going forward. Any and all contact with them after this point would just confirm the mistake, so I had to investigate other avenues. I had one of my agents in Death Watch contact any interested parties I could use, perhaps an assassin from Shogun. Worst case, I could look towards darker paths, I'm certain the Hutts could solve my problem for the right price.

Well, there would be plenty of opportunities now or in the future to create chaos. At least, that's what I'd seen during the Mandalorian Civil War and the Clan Wars. Plenty of chaos would be created as the galactic war spun out of control, and she had already gotten tangled with the CIS once. Perhaps a case of mistaken (or not-so-mistaken) identity would result in the CIS bombing of one of her ships; I only needed to make sure that I had no fingers in that particular pot when it happened.

Of course, I could just wait and allow events to unfold. Sooner or later, Pre would stand up to Duchess Satine. When Pre confronted Duchess Satine, Pre would move Mandalore's Senate seat from the Senate of the Republic to the CIS Parliament. After we switched sides, I would have enough justification to fire Tanya.

However, a dark worry in the back of my mind suggested Pre might decide to keep Tanya around, afterward. She is young, impressionable, and showed a link between the last government and its successor, so that could be useful. In that case, her presence would still be a menace to my seat in the Senate. So taking action of my own and not relying on Pre's favor and rationality is preferable. I could only trust myself when it came to political action on a galactic scale.

One of the Jedi guards passed nearby overhead in a repulsorpod, and I stifled a grimace. Several other Senators didn't bother to hide their own unease, while some looked on appreciatively. Palpatine might be strong in some ways, but I resented him allowing the Jedi to install "guards" in the Senate after Amidala's insistence.

If only Tanya had been a typical royal heiress. As a fellow royal, I was all too aware that the noble heights are filled with the most spectacular fools. If she had been like those, then I could have just ignored her or have her sent away. Instead, she negotiated a complex terraforming project with the normally standoffish Ithorians and then somehow even managed to make the Jedi and Vorpa'yans play nice.

How she managed that I would never know, and how that had not blown up in her face yet still perplexed me further. I would have figured that selling Mandalorian territory to foreign colonizers would have put many people against her. Instead, the site Tanya chose had met no real resistance, despite the fact they are building a miniature Jedi Temple! And no one in the Mandalorian sector seemed to give a damn.

The more I considered it, the more confused I was. I consider myself clever, I should be able to unravel this apparent mystery and contradiction. So, I began tuning out my dull colleagues' speech on the necessity of a ceasefire, instead focusing on the puppet strings I could imagine in my mind's eye, hovering above the Princess. Unbidden, the mental image included a lightsaber in the background. Is some third party, like the Jedi, controlling her as a puppet to control the whole Mandalorian Sector?

None of Tanya's actions made sense on their own. Why would she care about terraforming, especially when it undermined the domed-cities of Mandalore? After all, Tanya Kryze is a New Mandalorian, one raised in the safety and comfort of Sundari. How did she have such a good understanding of the minutiae of the culture throughout the Mandalore sector? The Jedi are typically clueless about Mandalore, so possibly the third party isn't the Jedi at all, but a faction closer to home. Her Aunt Bo-Katan, perhaps? I recall hearing of Bo-Katan training Tanya, but that didn't seem like a sufficient explanation.

I blinked as I sat forward, another, more dangerous thought occurring to me. Bo-Katan is still a member of Death Watch if I wasn't mistaken, I had spotted her departing backside in a recent meeting. However, she wasn't wearing Pre's colors, which was what I noted at the time. I knew Duchess Satine had welcomed Bo-Katan back into her household nearly a decade ago... but now, today, Duchess Satine was making me vote for ceasefire after ceasefire in this farce of a Senate. Satine might not know Bo's true leanings.

At that realization, everything started falling into place. It was horrifying how easily mysterious events made sense; if Bo-Katan wasn't in Pre's camp, but was still part of the Martial Traditionalists political bloc, then Tanya is Bo's agent, her new path to power as Tanya's advisor. All of Tanya's actions as a Representative, the Ithorians, the Jedi, the "diplomatic meeting with Dooku" on Geonosis, it's all starting to make sense now. Tanya's actions are overtures to the other factions and major foreign powers, raising her standing in her future bid for Mand'alor. I am training a potential Mand'alor, and Tanya isn't going to be the one who wants a more moderate Republic, but rather a more militaristic and Mandalorian Republic.

What better agent for Bo-Katan than a Representative from Mandalore to the Senate, she had all the access but none of the responsibility. Now my only question is whether this was Bo-Katan's design or is Tanya acting independently to support Bo? Hmmm... Either way, they would become a problem once my political usefulness had been exhausted, so I had to discard my previous idea of allowing events to unfold naturally. I needed to move up Tanya's assassination a bit further. So many possible enemies, so little time.

Shaking my head, I realized I had missed several speeches. I checked the side display, the few topics I had missed and the following agendas are nothing of note. Good, I hadn't missed anything important. So I quickly put down votes in favor of the upcoming neutral legislation and stood up, walking outside the Senate to get a break. The Senate's voting reforms are one of the things that had been added over the last few years to speed things up, if someone really didn't care about the whole event they could cast their vote before the voting really began.

Stretching my shoulders, I walked around the Senate building, heading towards the central entrance and the carport. I wasn't needed for this process really right now, and the Senate is just green lighting everything that would be going on for the next few months while they tried to figure out how to fight a war and probably failed at it. Hopefully the CIS did something spectacular too, so that the Republic couldn't win this war. Such an event might be the push Pre needed to encourage him to do the right thing. Pre's time for a confrontation with Satine is no doubt right around the corner, and I too would need to have a response prepared.

Raxus Secundus, Dooku Estate

Count Dooku

I blinked as the hulking frame of the alien rested on the offered seat, nearly causing the wooden structure to protest and shift under his weight. I am unfamiliar with this creature, all I knew is his name. Durge is what he called himself. His name and that he wished to serve the CIS. Why would he want to do that would have to be determined, but I figured a little conversation with this creature couldn't hurt. That and the CIS needed any weapon it could find to resist the Jedi's corruption, so I had allowed him into my sanctum.

The appearance of Durge is a bit odd to say the least, his body is completely covered in armor and stood a good head or two taller than me. Part-cyborg, if not completely mechanical, it is hard to tell. The armor looked like it was covered in weapons, so perhaps he was a former bounty hunter. He is definitely not one I'd ever heard of, but I am willing to hear them out, considering their offer. "So Mr. Durge, I understand you wished to serve the CIS, can I have an understanding of why you wish to fight for us? We have plenty of resources for employing mercenaries such as yourself, if money is your main motivation."

The mercenary chuckled and gave a deep frown before saying, "I've been squared away for a long time. My understanding of the recent galactic situation is not the best, I understand that, but I have a certain series of goals. Goals that align with your current campaign, it's not so much money, but I could always use a little money after being buried underground for a thousand years. After all that time, the bankers just assume that you're dead and steal all the money you've carefully saved away."

I'm blinked at that, tilting my head. Timescales that large would make certain plans more complicated, for certain. "A thousand years, are you trying to tell me you are older than the Ruuson Reformation?"

"Never heard of that, last landmark I recall... I was serving in, what was at the time called, the New Sith Wars, but I wasn't really in it for that Force nonsense. We had the misfortune of sharing similar enemies; the same enemies I'm interested in dealing with in this war, in fact."

I narrowed my eyes at that, if the Republic and the Jedi were not his enemies, then who are his enemies? "If you are not enemies with the Jedi, then what enemies are you interested in fighting in this war?"

The creature made another grinding, laughing noise, its face hidden behind the metal mask. "The Mandalorians to be more exact. I've heard rumors that these clones are a copy of some sort of former Mandalorian warlord."

"Why are you after the Mandalorians?" I asked, quite curious at this point, though having someone who wanted to go after the clones specifically would be a strange yet useful asset. Antagonizing the Mandalorians, that is a little less useful to my plan as I had my own designs for them. I am not so flush with weapons I could afford to dispose of one for a little backlash, and anyway, the Mandalorians I cared about are made of sterner stuff.

The creature chuckled in its raspy mechanical way, before saying, "Simple, I had a friend and they killed him." At this point, the mechanical creature leaned towards Dooku, slight traces of smoke emanating from his mouth and noseport, and whispered in a low monotone that had my Force Senses warn me of his malice, "And so I swore a blood oath to eliminate their culture from the galaxy."

Then Durge lurched backwards to his previous position and resumed his previous volume, "Was doing a pretty damn good job of it too... I guess they got lucky, they trapped me in a couple dozen feet of cement. Took a few lifetimes to work myself free from it, especially considering they buried that under another pile of rubble."

I nodded, silent, my mind still whirling through the incredible possibilities this monstrosity presented.

There would be battlefronts that are nowhere near the Mandalorian sector, so sending Durge off to those places could be quite advantageous. If Senator Merrick proved to be... insufficient to the CIS, well, I wouldn't mind sending this creature as motivation. Especially after the way he had used my own assets within Mandalorian space without my permission. Truly, there are possibilities here, especially given that the Jedi tended to avoid Mandalorians to reduce potential conflicts, as a general rule.

I hummed before saying, "A man who's hard to kill and has gone toe-to-toe with some of the greatest warriors of their time. I've heard what the Sith and the Jedi are capable of in those wars. A thousand years ago, the most average sword fighter would beat the top ten fighters of today." The big brute chuckled, and I paused to gauge his reaction. I didn't want to promise too much, or anything really, to this ancient monster. Better to stick to flattery and generous gifts of 'knowledge', as apparently it worked the same then as now.

Durge replied, "I don't know about that, I haven't had a chance to fight the Jedi of this era. I will say that it was a rather flashy show whenever we fought. I was always amused that they assumed stabbing me through the chest would kill me, that joke never gets old. The last time their lightsaber got stuck in me, I beat the hell out of them until they died."

I nodded before I said, "I would be willing to engage in your services, though I am concerned by your blood vendetta against the Mandalorian people, they're not the barbarians they were a thousand years ago. I assume you've heard of the New Mandalorians? Many Mandalorians have adopted pacifism and follow the Republic's beliefs now, whatever faction or peoples that wronged you in the past are most certainly defunct by now."

Durge laughed at that final statement. "Mandalorians are always divided. If these New Mandalorians are different enough, I will spare them." Then the monster gave a loud mechanical cough. "It's just hilarious thinking that the line of the galaxy's greatest warriors have become pacifist, I couldn't have come up with a greater insult to their lineage myself." The monster laughed deeply again at that.

"I think you will find them quite different than you expect." I noted, with a nod, "But for now I think I will agree to hire your services. We do need a man on Muunilinst. While you are there, perhaps you can convince those bankers to give back the money you had a thousand years ago. You will be protecting them this time around... for my services." I smiled at the thought of this monster and the bankers butting heads.

"Hmm, perhaps you're right, getting my money back and getting paid to kill these knock-off Mandalorians that have been created for the Republic, that sounds like a good time." He laughed again, and I privately suspected it would not be such a good time. No doubt, the bankers would just purchase their own monster to defend themselves in response, and the Jedi are no threat to be laughed off. However, it would be nice for both those enemies to have to deal with an unexpected surprise, instead of the other way around. I had too many surprises this year regarding Mandalore already, let's see how they like it.