Chapter 5

Tanya Kryze

Mandalore,

Keeping the armor secret was easier than I would have suspected, Aunt Satine only asked for the barest information about what we got up to while at the old estate, I didn't even need to lie. She asked what we had been up to and I told her that it had basically been a museum tour, looking at a lot of the wall paintings, and hearing stories about why they existed. It was what we mostly did, so that was no lie. I simply neglected to mention the grand robbery we did in the middle section of the painting tour.

I did feel a bit bad about the fact I had stolen from my aunt like that, but having a full set of Beskar armor was something I could not deny, it would increase my survivability if things ever hit the fan. And with Mandalorian history being a series of wars and civil wars, mix that with an over-aggressive warrior spirit and the New Mandalorian's pacifism ideology, with what could be best called radical pacifism, well chances of something popping off were greater than them not.

After the brief meeting in her study I headed up to my room wondering if I should bring up my worries to my aunt, she was in a way my superior, but I was simply a kid, to her eye most likely, Satine didn't need to know my worries if she even cared. She was the leader of the radical movement, and a planetary system, technically a sector, since there were no other governments represented in the Republic Senate in the region besides Kalevala.

Taking a seat at my desk in my room I pulled up my pad and started going over the political situation of the region. I had recently been going over how exactly our government was represented in the Republic, as part of my extracurricular school in electives. Being that I was marked to join the senatorial delegation to the Republic, I figured I needed to understand what exactly that would mean and what I would be expected to do. From my research it looked like I was nothing but a jumped-up secretary for the first decade, if I stayed longer, I might cast votes when the Senator was not well or in the system, and maybe work out diplomatic action with other delegations.

Not a terrible position, it sounded rather peaceful really, and a better place to be if things popped off on Mandalore. But not exactly a quick and easy path to retirement. At the moment though that could be ignored. In my last life, I thought I would have a nice peaceful retirement, after the war, and although it was peaceful… I never got over the combat high.

I didn't like to think about that life very much, mainly because a lot of it was muddled, but what I did remember, I didn't like what I saw. I was addicted to war, most likely years of abusing spellcraft to stimulate chemical production in my brain had allowed my second existence to become blind to that addiction. Or perhaps my loyal subordinates and friends had allowed me to not worry about what that chemical cocktail was doing to my perception of the world.

Though whatever happened in that life may be somewhat mysterious to me, I was glad I didn't have magic in this universe. Things were simpler without it, and frankly, I was not sure I could trust myself that I would not become addicted to magic-fueled combat in this life if it was here. Though I did somewhat miss those loyal subordinates, finding people you can trust in the world who would go to hell for you. Perhaps I should see about finding myself someone like that in this life. Thoughts for another time in the future I decided.

But back on the subject, the senatorial delegation was led by Prince Tal Merrik Senator of Kalevala, not Mandalore, Mandalore did not have a senator, no Mandalorian sector planet had a senator, Except Kalevala, and they only got one by embracing New Mandalorian culture over the older one.

This was a massive carrot and stick approach to diplomacy, having access to the new Republic senates gave you access to the galactic trade network. Without it, planets in the Mandalorian sector had to depend on themselves, their neighbors, and systems near their sector. This massively incentivized planets in the Mandalorian sector to fall in line with the New Mandalorians, due to the recent history of the sector.

The Mandalorian sector was nothing special when it came to what it produced; it's greatest assistance was its people and warrior tradition, but that was also why that was their greatest folly. Before I was born, the system was finishing up their second Civil War in as many decades, The Mandalorian Civil War, raged for nearly 20 years across the sector, ideological war between a group called Deathwatch who wanted to return to the ancient ways of total war to fix the sector's problems and the True Mandalorians who correctly diagnosed that the strength of the sector is that, they had wished to organize mercenary companies from what I had been able to dig up. The conflict ended with both sides destroying each other's leadership to the point that the current ruling party at the time, the Martial Traditionalists, were able to hang on to control.

There were interesting side rumors about what exactly happened to both factions at the end of that war, including slavery, and Jedi, but it sounded like crazy conspiracy theories to me. The only thing I could confirm was that the True Mandalorians had gone into exile outside the sector, while Deathwatch shriveled up on the vine and neither mattered in sector politics.

What mattered was the sector had been in a bad way, and when martial Traditionalist under Governor Vrox attempted to seize wealth from the Mandalore sector at the barrel of a gun for rebuilding efforts on the planet Mandalore, the whole sector exploded into the Clan Wars. Leaving an opening for the Republic to take a battle fleet into the Mandalorian solar system and destroy the old capital of Mandalore, Keldabe. This Chaos was what finally put the martial Traditionalists out of business and without their firm hand on the sector, the clan fought clan for resources, wealth, and glory. Which ended a few years later with my aunt joining the New Mandalorians in political alliances. The whole sector needed to be rebuilt, and the New Mandalorian senatorial delegation represented an inroad from planets of the sector to the rest of the galaxy.

The importance to me may not be too much but to the sector, it was a massive value. I did not doubt, I would come across a situation where someone would attempt to bribe me in some way. Not only would I be the niece of the ruler of Mandalore, but I would also have the ear of the senator, and being that I will be 16 when I arrive at the senate, no doubt they would assume I will be an easy mark to fulfill their objectives. Either by one of the planets in my sector asking me to speak up for them in the discussion, or interstellar business wishing to set up shop.

I would need to be careful dealing with the sharks that swam in the senatorial building. No doubt, a few would be good at economics and would have nothing but the best intentions for themselves. But as a representative for Mandalore, I would need to tread carefully with whatever meeting I had while there. Factions across the Mandalorian sector could take any mistake I made as justification for assassination, and I wanted to live a good long life. Longer than the one I had in my last life, which was one of the reasons I made sure to eat a good diet in this life. Even now while working hard, I had the chef bring up a nutritious meal for me to pick while I worked.

But back on the subject, considering there were organizations like the Trade Federation in the galaxy out there I would need to tread carefully with non-Mandalorians as well. Two years ago they attempted to force their will on the planet with blockade and an invasion when that failed. I didn't want to accidentally unleash an interstellar version of an East Indies Trading Company on my homeworld, that was sure to get a bounty on my head.

Sitting at my desk as I read up on the history of the Naboo crisis and the taxation of Free trade zones that precipitated that whole affair, I wondered if I should attempt to get out of politics now. They seemed to be a dangerous and dirty game as the best of time, and to be thrown to the shark as I was going to be in 6 years, well I understood military combat better than dealing with politics. Though there wasn't much for it really, if I attempted to get out of politics now Satine could take that implication that Bo Katan was attempting to subvert me to her cause and it was working. Which meant I would lose out on the training and gear I needed to survive if the political job fell through.

I was not a genius, but I am good at getting the job done, and the fact of the matter was I needed a political job to get to a safe and quiet life. So I would stick with what my aunt wanted for me for now. And who knows, maybe an opportunity for the very safe post in the Senate would open up, they would have to let in a few other Mandalorian worlds at some point.

708 FNM (30 BBY)

Satine Kryze

Mandalore, orbit

Sitting back in my chair, I checked the clock above my fireplace. The afternoon sunlight came through the glass windows bringing a rich light to my office. And telling me the day was going to be turning to night soon. It had been a few days since I let Tanya go with Bo to the old estate. And in that time I had been thinking, perhaps too much, about what Bo had told her. I knew my interpretation of the end of the Clan Wars was a bit biased, I have had several clans try to murder me after all, but Bo had her own pro-old ways bias, and perhaps I should take a more active role in proving a counterpoint.

It won't hurt after all, and it will give me an excuse to spend more time with Tanya, something I have been robbed of by my work. She was a growing girl and needed a mother figure in her life, and Bo… well I rather her not take on that role if I could help it. Besides, I had the golden opportunity to bring up a talk with her.

Before me was a list of potential handmaidens that I had got together, all from clans I knew were loyal and would work well, all about her age. Handmaidens were not something from Mandalorian culture, it had been used by some of the clans on Kalevala but not on our own, to any real effect. It was something New Mandalorian had brought with them when they adopted ideas from the more peaceful factions around the galaxy, such as Alderaan and Naboo. However, I believed it could be imported for many issues in this situation. It would allow Tanya to have friends who could attain the same training as her and be there for her, to keep an eye on Bo.

Hopefully, it would work out on the first try but there are more options, and Tanya from what I heard from Korkie didn't have any friends at school. Finding a friend she could count on could be an important way to make sure she felt satisfied in life, maybe she loses interest in old ways if she had someone to be there for her more than I could.

Either way, I used a call button to have a member of the staff sent up to Tanya's room, I wasn't going to choose one for I let her make that choice, and while that was happening maybe I could talk to her for a bit find out what she was thinking about what she learned from Bo.

As I was sorting the list of girls into some sensible order, I heard a knock on my door.

"Come in" I called with a smile as Tanya opened the door and walked into the room. She was wearing a simple dress today. I really needed to take her shopping, she seemed to only ever pick out the plainest of clothing, granted she didn't need some extraordinary attire around the palaces, but still, her lack of color just set the wrong tone. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail, her short blond hair going down the back of her neck before terminating at her shoulders.

"Tanya takes a seat," I said with a smile waving my hand to the chair in front of my desk. "I'm looking into hiring a Handmaiden for you and I thought I'd let you have the final say on the matter."

"A Handmaiden? Like the one that helped the queen of Naboo 2 years ago?" Tanya said as she walked across the tile floor of the room.

I tilted my head at that, I hadn't known she heard about that situation, the event had been big news but not really on Mandalore. I had to know about it because the Mandalore sector was in the free trade zones and there was always the possibility that the trade federation could try something like what they attempted on Naboo in our region. A small possibility, it was small enough that could safely be ignored by the majority of the population. "Yes, kind of like them, where did you hear about that situation?'

"I'm reading up on current affairs for when I'm sent to be a member of the Mandalore delegation," she said, taking the seat in front of me. "I like reading about current affairs, and comparing it to stuff in history books, I feel like it gives me perspective."

I tilled my head then asked, "And is that why you like to learn about Old Mandalorian? ways for the perspective?" had I allowed some massive misunderstanding to take root here? Had her worries about the future and past caused her to make rash decisions about how Tanya should be taught?

Tanya seemed to freeze up as if she felt she made some mistake, then carefully said, "Yes, and no. Having perspective on Old Mandalorian culture is important for understanding where we are and where we are going, but I also like training with Bo. I don't get out much, and it's nice to get exercise."

I nodded my head to her points. I knew she spent too much time in the palace grounds, so perhaps I overreacted to the idea that she wanted to learn about the Old Mandalorians. But this might be alright, in the long run getting her some self-defense training would be for the best. "How has your time with Bo-Katan given you any perspective on Old Mandalorians? Anything you would like to share?

Tanya bit her lip before she said "May I speak freely about that matter Duchess?"

My eyebrow perked at that. I had gone from Aunt to Duchess in the course of this conversation. That was interesting, perhaps she had been giving this a lot of thought and was worried about what I might think as her aunt? I had done something simpler with my father back before the Clan Wars. Nodding my head I said, "Yes, feel free, I'm interested in hearing what the youth thinks about the world they're growing up in."

Tanya smiled at that then sighed and said "The History of Mandalore is civil war, someone will obtain power for the time, bring an age of peace such with the Clan Awaud or Clan Ordo, but over time, they will lose power, when that happens a civil war of some scale will break out, and all old rivalries and grudges will come to the fore. It seems like an inevitable cycle, and I don't think complete rejection of the old way and the embracing of pacifism will prevent it from happening."

I nodded her thought echoing my own on the matter really, I put up a good face and stayed true to the New Mandalorian ways, but I could see that most of the Mandalorian sector just tolerated my rule, for one reason or another. "I have thought the same from time to time, though the fact of the matter is there is no clear road to bring peace to our sector of space. If there were, the other clans you mentioned would have figured it out long before we got a chance at it."

"True, true, but perhaps the answer to the problem is not a top-down one answer solution, as they have all tried before," Tanya said

"Hmm go on?" I was intrigued by the idea though I doubted Tanya would come up with something I never thought about before.

"The Old Mandalorian mindset is one that depends heavily on the ability to defend oneself, yes there is rampant militarism and era of war based on the belief that they have a divine right to conquer, a 'the strong should control the weak' perspective, but, this mindset has been tempered by the last 10,000 years of survival on the clan-based level. If someone were to unite the Mandalorian clans, they could be a great military force, but it is because of said clans that this is true. And it is this power of the clans that which both reasons attempt to top-down a rule, can not work and why the Old Mandalorian will persist well into the next 10,000 years. If the rulers of Mandalore lose the support of enough Mandalorians, civil war is inevitable, and being that any faction on Mandalore can call on support throughout the sector for resources any conflict will be prolonged unless leadership takes drastic action, that thought will lead to rest of clans breaking with said lead Mandalore leadership in most cases through our history."

I nodded along a bit surprised by how well thought out Tanya's argument was, most of what she said were issues that had even plagued my rule, keeping the clan who are loyal happy was key to maintaining peace in the Mandalorian sector. Those that didn't, I was not above sending the Royal Guard to deal with situations off-world, and on Mandalore well, the Mandalorian Guard were issued Baskar shields for a reason.

"There are two outcomes than for any civil war that happens, weakened rulership or new rulership. So, the outcome to avoid civil war as long as possible is that the New Mandalorian idea is integrated into the culture of Old Mandalorians. The problem of course is, New Mandalorians step too heavily on the toes of the Old Mandalorians in their pursuit for peace. New Mandalorian peace at the cost of disarmament will never be accepted in that environment, with 10,000 years of history to point to for instances of why weapons must be maintained. They will simply look at the attempt as foolhardy at best or foreign occupation at worst. That is the outcome of a top-down approach."

"And the bottom-up approach?" I asked, sitting back in my seat as I listened to her. She seemed fearful of that outcome, was she concerned the most about that possibility? I needed to spend more time with her, find out what she was thinking more than I was.

"The primmest example of bottom-up movement succeeding is the Supercommando codex." She said sheepishly, my eyebrows raised a bit at the mention of the old document, it's been a decade since I even had to think about that work, and the so-called True Mandalorian moment. The only True Mandalorian I knew was, Tanya Keldau, and she had not talked about her life before joining our clan. "Though the movement ultimately failed in the civil war, elements of their doctrine have influenced later works throughout the sector. House Ordo has implemented it heavily into their planetary defenses force training, Clan Eldar has taken several implementations from the codex when it comes to dealing with Mercenary companies they operate outside of the Mandalore sector, Clan Rook made a section on bounty hunting mandatory reading for any of their clan that takes up that trade."

Clan Eldar and Rook were clans that were part of the greater House of Kryze and though I knew they were only loyal to my reign due to family tiles, I gave them a bit of a freehand as long as they stayed loyal, House Ordo, on the other hand, was a Major power in the sector, and an Old One, their loyalty was something that was assured as they tended to be the more easy-going Mandalorian in the sector. I noted how Tanya had chosen her examples well, they were loyal and respectful of the New Mandalorian way. Which was another one of the reasons I allowed them to get away with being a bit more militarized than what was allowed in the Mandalorian system.

"Tanya, do you believe that the Supercommando Codex is more long-lasting than the New Mandalorian way?" I asked, trying to come to an understanding of why that text had come to her mind.

"Yes, but not because it's better than the New Mandalorian way." She said so matter of fact I was forced to sit forward in my chair, wanting to hear her reasoning on this subject. "The Codex is more long-lasting because it does not reject what makes a Mandalorian, a Mandalorian. It reinterprets, for the modern world. It takes the old Code of Honors, and instead of blindly following it, takes the meaning at the base of the older work and recontextualizes that meaning for the time. It provides a different view that the average Mandalorian can read, understand, and make up their own mind about. I don't know if it will be longer-lasting than older interpretations but it has made a definitive mark, and showed the way to deal with the issue of the clans."

"You think we need our own version of the SuperCommando Codex, something that uses the old codes of honors but interpreted from a New Mandalorian perspective?" I asked to see the logic in the argument she was presenting.

Tanya for her part simply nodded. "Rejecting the waring ways of the Ancient Mandalorians is a step toward making peace, but by rejecting everything we simple isolate ourselves amongst all the other clans, and we can't force them to take our ways, so the best tool for this job, is to find what we're willing to accept in our fellow Mandalorians, and to propagate that."

I sat back thinking, the option she presented was intriguing, to say the least, but I wasn't sure how one would go about implementing such an idea. I would need time to consider, and maybe bring this up at the next council to get their opinion on this matter, off the book of course. Bringing up the subject of fighting, among the New Mandalorians could be just as dangerous as old commandos under the right situation. And what Tanya was talking about in that situation.

"You have given me a lot to think about Tanya." I said to try to put a cap on that conversation, for now, I would have to talk to her more on this at another time, she seemed far more intelligent than I had been told. And perhaps take her shopping as well. If she had done all this research into possible ways to prolong the New Mandalorian rule and ways to make it more long-lasting, she deserved a treat.

"But it's time to get back on the subject of what I called you down here for." I handed her a list of names and faces. "These girls are potential handmaidens that several clans had put forward when I mentioned this prospect so they already meet my standards. It's really up to you on who you choose, though whoever it is you will spend a lot of time with and will most likely lead any other handmaiden you take on, so I hope you can become friends with her."

Tanya nodded and took the tablet looking it over rather quickly before, her mouth curled in a smile, "This one will do.'' She said with such assurity in her choice I didn't feel the need to question the little time she took as she handed the tablet back to me. Looking down I saw a little blonde-haired girl with a smile no older than Tanya I guessed, a strange name most Mandalorians only had surname and first name. This girl had a middle one, perhaps she had been adopted into the clan? Hard to tell. "Alright I will let Clan Vizla know that Vai-Viktis has been chosen.'' Pre Vizsla would be smug for a few days, he had suggested Vizla join my search after all.

708 FNM (30 BBY)

Korkie Kryze

Mandalore, orbit

"You really need to get more sun, Tanya." Lagos Rook said as she walked at the front of their little group through the Sundari Grand Mall of Mandalore. It was a nice bright day, and I thought it would be a great idea to make good on an idea I had to bring Tanya along with my friend on one of our trips to the arcade, here at the mall. Sure that wouldn't totally solve the issues of how pale she was, but along with some window shopping we had planned I promised to use my allowance to buy her whatever ice cream she wanted at Soft Serve Mandalore 35.

My attempt so far had gone over well, she agreed to leave the house with me and my friends, though she did seem rather disinterested in everything we looked at as we walked by. While girls were taken by everything nick nack and dresses we passed, she just ignored them and seemed to be rather bored.

Well, she seemed bored, till Lagos had mentioned her paleness, now she was looking at Lagos with an upturned eyebrow as said. "I don't believe I'm that pale, I do get out in the sun when necessary, and I'm not much paler than you?" She wasn't wrong, the two of them could pass for sisters from distances both having blond hair, blue eyes, and ponytails.

"Tanya, there are ghosts and there are people, and you are dangerously close to ghost looking, heck, if I didn't know you I think you were some recent convert from those cults on Concordia who finally took off her helmet," Lagos said, shaking her head as she turned to face the group, walking backwards.

"Do you have to say things that mean Lagos?" Soniee Carid said as she held her computer pad close to her side. "She needs a little sun sure but most of the population of the dome does." she offered a reassuring smile in Tanya's direction.

"True but the point stands she needs to get out more. Korkie, invite her more often or I'll accuse you of being a bad brother to her." Lagos said, shaking her fist in my general direction."Will do," I said, rolling my eyes. I planned on doing that anyway, before asking "as long as you promise not to use the opportunity to turn Tanya into your personal doll for cute clothes."

"No promises!" Lagos said, stopping her fist-shaking to point at me. "A girl that is sheltered needs to hang out with us and dress in cute things, you're a bad influence on her! Look how plain she dresses! Only bad brothers would stop me!" she said pointing at the guy shirt and pants Tanya was wearing.

"Actually I think a good brother would stick up for his sister's personal freedom to make her own choices on such matters," Tanya spoke up from where she walked and gave me a smile.

I smiled back and gave her thumbs up "That they do, Tanya I got your back on this."

"Oh my Ha'rangir will you three knock it off, I get very few chances away from studying to get out here and hang out with you guys, I'm not going to spend any more of that time sitting around waiting for you three girls to play dress up. If you want to set something up, go ask Duchess Satine to take her out on your own time." Amis Tenau said shaking his head at the girls before he walked by them heading into the game center

"Hmm, not a bad idea," Lagos said while Tanya stared daggers into his back.

Shaking my own head I walked up next to Tanya and pointed to the towered ice cream shop that was part of the arcade. "Want to get the ice cream now, so we don't have to worry about forgetting later?"

"Sure that sounds reasonable." She said before turning her back on Lagos and heading into the shop to look at the choices.

Before I followed her in I walked over to Lagos and said "Take a bit easy on Tanya, she just doesn't get that kinda stuff."

"If she doesn't get how girly stuff works that's a problem." Lagos shot back.

"Not what I meant," I said with an annoyed sigh before heading into the shop.

Tanya was already looking through the options but stopped in front of the dark brown-colored section of the 35 ice cream offered this month. Looking over her shoulder I noticed she was looking at some chocolate coffee concoction which was not for me "Not that one, Coffee will stunt your growth."

Tanya seemed to twitch and freeze up for a moment before she turned toward me and said. "I thought you said, whatever ice cream I like?"

"Within reason, Satine doesn't let me have coffee. I'm not going to let you have coffee."

"It's coffee-flavored, not coffee itself" She offered to try to find the loophole I assumed.

"How much caffeine is listed in the ingredients," I asked as I folded my arms over my chess.

She looked back at the little paper with ingredients before saying "35%"

"1% means it is not just flavoring so that's a no. If you want a chocolate option that is fine, just no coffee."

"Fine, then I'll take a double scoop of this one," she said pointing to the one next to the coffee flavor. The one in question was a chocolate thing called a five-flavored concussion from off-world.

"Alright get a table for the others, I'll pay for it," I said shaking my head, the chocolates were more expensive than coffee options but she already got me. Couldn't exactly say no now after saying no to coffee.

By the time I and the others were done getting our ice creams, five minutes had passed and we found Tanya by one of the windows sitting in her chair looking dreamily out the window at one of the attractions near the back of the arcade.

Sitting the bowl down in front of her I took a seat and was about to ask what the plan was on today when Lagos noted what Tanya was looking at. "Hey Tanya, do you want to do that Lazer tag attraction?"

Tanya's head moved quickly towered Lagos and her eyebrow raised as she picked up her spoon to take a bite of the ice cream. "Perhaps".

"Well, I will be willing to pay for a game or two, if you are willing to accept a little trip to the clothes section of the mall with me and Soniee sometime this week."

Tanya took the spoon of ice cream into her mouth and seemed to enjoy it greatly before opening her eyes and saying "Your terms are acceptable.