chapter 11

714 FNM (24BBY)

Month 1

Coruscant

Tanya Kryze

"Quite an impressive view." I said to Vai as I looked out the window of my apartment. We had arrived in the middle of the night or day, I wasn't sure, 9 hours ago dead tired and immediately just found our way to our sleeping quarters. So taking stock of our quarters and where we'd be living for who knows how long, have not occurred the night before.

Now that I was fully awake, I was quite enjoying the view. We were in a tower of sorts that was just outside of the Senatorial District, the second to top floor. As a result, I had a good view of the main Senatorial Complex. The strange rounded building reminded me more of a UFO from the fifties than any governmental building I'd ever seen in my lives.

It was quite an impressive building and if I moved to the other side of the tower I could just barely see what was called the Jedi Temple. It itself was also impressive and reminded me of a mix of a ziggurat and the Hagia Sophia.

"Yeah, quite impressive." Vai said from behind me sounding rather unimpressed as she helped me get my dress on. This one was not as fancy as some of the ones I've been stuck wearing over the years. But it was just tough enough that letting Vai handle the back of it was more practical than trying to figure it out myself, which would waste too much time.

I was not one to let a day go to waste after all. And so, even though this was my first day in the capital of the Republic, I had already scheduled a meeting with someone I thought could help with issues related to Mandalore.

Mainly hoping to speed up the terraforming process. Why no one had reached out to this group yet? I have a few educated guesses on that. A lot of time had been spent researching on the trip here, so I had prepared for this meeting as much as I could.. But that was later today, right now I could afford to enjoy myself for a bit.

"You don't sound too enthused." I said as a matter of course, always wanting to know what my employees were thinking after all.

"Have you gotten a chance to look over the rules the Senator of Mandalore has so graciously left on our table?"

"No, I really have not." I said. I haven't even left my room yet since arriving. So it was understandable I might have missed this.

The Mandalorian Embassy Tower, I guess? Or is it just an apartment complex owned by the Mandalorian government? I wasn't sure yet, I would have to look into the details when I got the chance, is broken up into several sections. The top floor is the Senatorial Suite, where the Senator of Mandalore worked and lived.

The floor I was on, is the Visiting Diplomat Suite. Even if I was going to be more than visiting, it was not a bad place as there are two bedrooms, one for me one for Vai. There was a kitchenette and a living area that was combined into the main area of the apartment. And an outer hallway for the elevators to the floor above below where I was assuming we had two Royal guards waiting.

Beneath this suite are a set of rooms for even more diplomats though some of them were now being used by my Royal Guards. I had not been down there yet so I didn't know the layouts of that particular floor.

"We are not allowed to go too far down into Coruscant, or explore too far away from the senatorial district." Vai said matter-of-factly before continuing. "I don't know about you but I thought we'd get a chance to at least explore more of this city than just the fancy pants areas."

I chuckled at that, "I had never really thought about exploring more of this economic world. Oh sure, I was somewhat tempted to see how life had developed on a planet devoid of natural environments. But the fact of the matter was even I could see why these rules were in place."

The rules are most likely in place because outside of those areas crime becomes high enough that it is risky for people to wander around if they look too wealthy.

"We're Mandalorians, we can take a little fist-fight." Vai said showing a bit of the war mania that all Mandalorians seem to suffer from. Better to explain the idea of diplomatic repercussions I thought.

"Yes, while we're Mandalorians who'd win any fist-fights, that could cause a scandal. As representatives of Mandalore, we may have immunity in certain laws or just general bias in our actions. This could cause diplomatic problems if we were to get in a fight and win it. Because if anyone is severely injured and they try to get the law to hold us responsible for it, the law may decide that because we're Representatives we are above it and that can cause hatred, mistrust, and a whole bunch of other minor things we just don't want to deal with."

"No doubt in a year or so the restrictions will loosen once he feels that we are not going to cause an international incident. Then we can explore to our heart's content."

This seemed to have had the desired effect as she smiled and nodded starting to work on getting my hair in the long braid that it becomes so standard. I was half convinced Satine had pushed for this length of hair as it became a little bit troubling to wear the Mandalorian helmet with it.

Not an impossible task, but well any loose item that someone can grab onto is not something you want hanging from your head. Thankfully, I didn't plan to get in range of anyone who could grab my hair so it was not a major concern.

Looking out the window I stared at the Senatorial Building with many thoughts running through my head. I have been trying to put together exactly how everything works since stepping off the ship here. The current Republic was based on a representative government based around a thousand or so sectors.

From what I dug up this system is not always been like this, a thousand years ago when the Old Republic was falling apart, each planet had had its own representative. A much fairer system when you think about it but had been even more deadlocked than this current government tended to be. But as part of the Russan Reformation, the system has been changed to one representative per sector. Now, what qualified as a sector depended on a whole bunch of gerrymandering.

But the reality of the situation was if a planet was wealthy enough and had enough support it could determine what a sector was. This had the effect of turning each sector into a mini-empire under the republic.

Some of them were more liberal than others and some of them were just outright corporations masquerading as governments. To the point that there was something called the Corporate Sector, a section of space that had been given to corporations to give them an actual vote in the Senate. I found that terrifying and intriguing at the same time and my research into it had not improved my mood on the situation. They were trying to terraform a bunch of planets and produce a lot of materials at the end of the Hydian Way. And on the face of it, it was good that trade would go directly by my homeworld. The problem was, as things tended to be, there were rumors that the planets they had terraformed had once been inhabited by other species that were forced out.

Details were slim but it was concerning as it showed these corporations were taking that sector to be theirs literally and doing everything they could to make sure they maintain control. Of course, that's to be expected but that meant any planets that were eventually terraformed and populated would be highly controlled by those corporations. I wouldn't be surprised if in 10 years I heard rumors about company scrips being used out there instead of Republic credits.

The main issue though was not just this Corporate Sector and the possible genocide. It was a very chilling precedent that could be implemented in any sector when you thought about it. I figured if you looked too deeply into some of the Sectors I might find similar situations developing where the local major power was putting in conditions to make sure they stayed in power. Mandalore didn't have this problem, per se, since it was a mix of people who want nothing to do with the Republic and people who wanted the Republic simply for the trade provided and didn't care about the government as a whole.

Fact of the matter was, they're pretending that we were the only warmongers and conquerors out there, which is a bit of a joke. Given enough time I'm sure some local sector Lord would decide they'd like to have two sectors under their control.

And considering the bumbling attempt at the invasion and puppet state creation the Trade Federation had tried, maybe some were already beginning to think it was possible.

I would have to keep an eye on such reports to make sure that nothing was coming in Mandalore's direction. Not to say that I cared for anyone in particular on the planet. I just knew that if I screwed up enough, that Mandalore was going to get invaded. Well, the Mandalore Diaspora was already large I wouldn't be surprised if a clan was willing to lose one of their members to launch an assassination attempt on someone who let their planet be taken over by some other sector.

Family was everything in the Mandalorian Sector and if you screwed someone's family you could expect to be treated very harshly.

Whatever thought I was about to have was interrupted as Vai finished braiding my hair, allowing me to walk around the room again. I took a few steps to get a little movement in my legs since I'd been standing a little too long before I asked.

"Has the Senator sent down anything other than the note about staying in the senatorial district?" I asked clearing my neck of any creeks.

"Nothing major," she responded, "I checked my communicator before I entered." She held up her arm which had a Mandalorian vambrace, similar to the style I was wearing. It was more style than armor, but having a communication system at my touch at all times was preferable to not having one.

"All he had sent down was that he would be in meetings with several political factions for most of the day. Along with a senatorial conference about some new drug they want to regulate more tightly."

"Well, you better find something for us to do sooner or later. Boredom will lead to troubles somehow." I said matter of fact before I move towards the door out of my room pressing the button to open it.

Standing at the door was my Droid X4. It appeared it had been about ready to knock on the door when I happened to beat it to the punch.

"Mistress Kryze, a Jedi Master, and Padawan learner are at the front door." The robot said in his very proper tone.

That was unexpected. I had no idea why members of the pseudo-religious cult would be knocking at my door. But then again, maybe this was some sort of standard greeting after all, what was the Mandalorian culture but at their own pseudo-religion. Perhaps there was some deep respect or long-lasting acknowledgment of each other's rivalry.

Whatever it was, I couldn't exactly say no so I smiled and said, "Let the Jedi Master in, we'll meet him in the main area." I turned to look to Vai and noticed a look of great concern but I simply shrugged and said, "If a space wizard wants to talk to you, you're supposed to get it out of the way as fast as possible. I was told they are known to be subtle and quick to anger." Vai give me a look that told me she had no idea what I was saying but I couldn't resist quoting Tolkien. If you are ever presented with the opportunity to quote the man, you do not pass it up. Even if that opportunity happened to be in front of alternate history Tolkien, still wasn't sure if I should have done that.

Showing no concern for the matter though I stepped into the living room area and waited for our guests. I thought about taking a seat while I waited for them to arrive but I figured standing would be the proper way to greet them. Vai for her part stepped into the kitchen and started making drinks which would come in handy for diffusing any situations I may get myself into I figured.

After a few moments, X4 led two men into the living area. One is an auburn-haired man looking to be in his late twenties and sporting a rather impressive beard. I had to admit beards would never be my style in my first life as they were too much maintenance but he seemed to make it work.

The other was a younger lad somewhere around my age I've believed maybe older though he could pass for younger. Either way, he had sandy blonde hair with some sort of miniature braid coming out the back right.

They were both wearing brown robes over what looked to be some sort of easy-going clothing that gave them a full range of motion. And strapped to their belts were a silver tube of some kind. Some sort of communicator maybe? I thought at first before I thought hit me. Was that the light sword I'd heard about? That was rather concerning that they were just allowed to walk around in a diplomatic area armed though considering my Royal Guards did not raise the fuss so I would have to assume this was just some sort of standard practice. For now, I'll ask later just to be sure and maybe have rules put down about bringing plasma-powered swords into a diplomat's Chambers.

"Mistress Kryze, may I present to you Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padawan learner Anakin Skywalker."

Smiling I bowed my head and said, "Nice to meet you Master Kenobi and Padawan Skywalker." What a ridiculous name, what's next? Starkiller?

Coruscant

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Today was a fine day. Nothing special, nothing hectic, and I had looked forward to a relaxing day of training his young Padawan. Of course, plans never work out exactly how they were designed.

Earlier today I'd been called up to a meeting with Master Yoda and Master Windu to have a little chat, about something unusual that had popped up. There were reports of something called the Silver Codex, another addition to the Old Mandalorian ideology. This had sparked interest for the High Council as there was concern about another Mandalorian Civil War on the horizon.

It was a minimal concern, mostly motivated by how the last time a difference in ideology had divided the sector in question. So getting a handle on the situation and an understanding of who had created it and why was now of interest to the Jedi Council.

Why this involve me? Well, that came down to a bit of bad luck. In my youth I had helped protect the current leader of the Mandalorian people and, as it currently stood I had the most hours in the Mandalorian Sector. For lack of a better candidate, I was deemed the Mandalorian expert. That alone would have sealed my fate and added 'looking into this Silver Codex' onto my plate of duties.

But there were two other reasons that had made me the perfect candidate for this mission. I knew the representative of Mandalore had been sent from the sector to be trained as a possible senator in the future. This representative had apparently been raised by my old… friend Duchess Satine, which means I could easily make acquaintance with her as simply an old friend checking up on another old friend's protege. The fact that Anakin and this representative were also about the same age meant that useful friendships could be created between the two.

It was a bit underhanded but this was a situation where we needed to have an understanding of what could possibly go wrong. And what was motivating this possible regression from the peaceful ways the New Mandalorians have been embracing, to this more middle-of-the-road philosophy that I had been informed about.

I only had a few moments of the Codex in question, and though it did seem to whitewash some of the Mandalorian's more egregious acts in the past, the general point did not seem too be much of a regression to their old warmonger ways.

Either way though, I was not particularly a fan of this mission. Dealing with politics and such was never my forte and dealing with politicians was, well I preferred any other situation in most cases.

But as a Jedi I had a duty, so I had found out where this new representative was staying and gotten myself and Anakin a ride there. From our arrival at the landing area, we had taken an elevator up.

We had a small little chit-chat about prior events he was still getting over the death of Master Yaddle and the whole mess that it's sprung from that. Frankly, I was hoping this would be a mission for much later. Anakin needed time to recover mentally from that business. But after the elevator chimed, we had stepped up to the doors, greeted the Mandalorian Royal Guards, and announced ourselves to the Droid who spoke to us on the comms. We've been left to wait for a moment but eventually, have been let in.

I don't know what I was expecting when I had entered the room, perhaps a standard noble child who would look down at us from on high for being simple public servants. But that was not exactly what I saw.

The young woman standing behind a chair looking in my general direction hair auburn with blue eyes and a face that reminded me distinctly of Satine at that age. It was almost uncanny really, and it took me out of what I had expected to say allowing the girl in question to take initiative.

"Good morning Master Kenobi, it's an honor to meet one of your order." She said giving a little curtsy before rising up and asking. "Though I'm not sure why we are having this meeting, I'm simply a student to the senator here."

I smiled at that, the way she talked showed a lot of humbleness and I could respect that. "Good morning, Lady Kryze." I said giving a bow noting that Anakin did the same before I continue. "I'm not here to speak to the senator and this is not official business. I'm an old friend of Duchess Satine and I thought it would be improper of me not to meet with her family to offer my services and help them get settled on Coruscant.

Tanya smiled before she said, "Well there's nothing I particularly need help with but I would not turn down an opportunity to enjoy a cup of teawith guests." she said, nodding to another young girl about her age with blonde hair and blue eyes.

Oddly, I noticed the girl had been looking between me and her with a rather stunned look on her face wondering what that was about, but it's not my concern. "I would gladly be your guest for a cup of Tea." I said, stepping forward towards the chairs in the center of the room and she can did the same.

"Then that settled then, a good cup of teato help get to know each other better." Tanya said before taking a step in sitting down in the chair across from me. The girl, I assumed Tanya's handmaiden, soon came over with four cups of Tea, setting one down in front of each of us before taking a seat on Tanya's left.

I was about to take a sip of the drink when Anakin spoke up as he looked at some sort of tablet on the table. "Hey, what's this Silver Codex?"

My eyebrow went rather high as he picked up the tablets allowing me to see that yes it was a version of the Silver Codex. You know some of the word choices appear different maybe a variant of some kind. This operation might be a lot easier than I thought.

Looking over to Tanya I noticed her eyebrow was raised as well as she looked at Anakin before she said. "Oh that, that's some sort of local doctrine that's being proposed in the Mandalore Sector. A way of looking at the old codes in order for self-defense instead of the old aggressive ways."

"Really now? I thought Satine was thoroughly against any form of militarization." I asked stroking my beard.

"Oh, she is, however she's willing to let people experiment with this doctrine since it prioritizes self-defense over aggressiveness. There are elementary disagreements with such doctrines, like arguments for a self-defense force, but she acknowledges that an individual should be able to defend themselves if something were to occur."

I nodded before saying, "A minimal level of acceptability then, is it becoming a standard in the government then? Is that why you have this particular document?"

Tanya put down your cup and stroked her chin before responding, "No, no it's not a standard of the government. I just have an interest in keeping up with the goings-on of our culture. There are several variants of this Silver Codex now and I believe that some of them are attempts by people with similar goals to push the idea of allowing militarization for self-defense. Most notably the most recent version you're holding there has a bit too many clean edges to it and pushes the idea of self-defense contractors a bit harder than earlier versions. Most likely MandelMotors or some other company that produces ships sees an opportunity to try and make a little money off this Codex."

Anakin spoke up, "Isn't that a little wrong to let a corporation try and influence politics."

Tanya gave him a look that seemed to pity him. "All corporations are pushing politics, all politics pushing corporations. But as long as those corporations are following the rules of society they work in, I doubt anyone cares what games they play. And as long as they stay downwind of culture and not try to create or influence it, I don't think most will even raise an eyebrow about trying to push something that was already fairly popular." She said before taking a sip of her teathen she stopped. "Kenobi, that's where I recognize the name, my aunt spoke of you once as a Padawan who helped her during the Clan Wars, correct?"

"Guilty as charged," I said fairly bemused that my name had been brought up at one point in this girl's life. "I hope the stories that were told were nothing too terrible."

Tanya shook her head now before continuing, "They were nice adventure tales in my youth, no doubt exaggerated but they did paint you in a good light."

"Well, that's fairly good to hear. It's been nearly 17 years since I have last seen Satine and we didn't exactly leave on the best of terms." I said before leaning back in the chair and brushing my beard try not to remember the argument.

"Right," Anakin was looking between me and Tanya for some reason as he said that before he continued "so this Silver Codex What exactly is the goal of it?" I was glad I had not given Anakin access to the Silver Codex or the full information on this mission. His natural curiosity was allowing doing the job that was required on his own.

Tanya moved back into her chair and rubbed her chin before she said. "But what is the goal of any code? To create societal rules that everyone can agree on that will maximize the potential of that society. Yes, the Mandalorians of the past were warmongers but this Codex is presenting, even handing out points, in favor of an idea of self-defense, aggressive self-defense but that's self-defense nonetheless. Protect one's family, clan, and people, the Silver Codex appears to want to go back to these core tenants of what Mandalorians are. It's obviously brought about to by the business from 8 years ago with the Trade Federation, that whole attempt on Naboo pointed out the flaw in strict pacifism for everyone. Just because you are unarmed doesn't mean the people you think are your friends won't arm themselves and attempt invasion."

"That's not exactly a common occurrence," I said, "most situations like that are worked out diplomatically long before an invasion happens."

"But an invasion did happen." Tanya said without seeming much care for my point. "And once one party shows that they're willing to push the envelope it means they're willing to push the envelope further. Mandalore is considered one of the systems that the Trade Federation and other corporations had a preference for the free trade market. Now that the Free Trade Act is over and they're being taxed at a similar rate to the core systems, it is not outside the possibility of such attempts continuing. Perhaps more covertly in the future, in order to prevent Jedi interference."

As much as I hate to admit it that was a fairly consistent point, if something were to happen that prevented the Jedi from trying to mediate the situation, an invasion could happen.

"Why is it that Jedi do get involved in such matters anyway?" Tanya asked interrupting my thoughts.

"It's part of our code," Anakin said, "the Jedi have always sought to secure peace in the galaxy."

Tanya nodded her head before saying, "There's something like three to four million planets with life on it perhaps more. How many Jedi are there?"

I saw her point instantly and shrugged with a side before saying "Not that many."

"I see, you can see my point then. It's not that the idea of pacifism is wrong or that we don't trust the Jedi to try and mediate these things. The fact of the matter is, there's always going to be more things happening in the Galaxy than there probably are Jedi to handle it. And local matters sometimes will not make it to your notice. Were you aware there was a pirate invasion of a system inside the Mandalore Sector?"

"I was not.'' I said, raising an eyebrow. "Do I need to bring this matter to the Council's attention?"

"It's being handled locally, the Royal Guard and the local police forces are being dispatched to deal with it and it should be handled. Well, it would be brought up to the Senate if it doesn't, which would be the normal way such a matter would come to your Council's notice I believe."

I nodded she was not wrong she was very smart for her age. Before I could try and continue the conversation though, the handmaiden leaned over in whispered something in Tanya's ear. "I'm afraid we're going to have to call it early. I have a meeting later today that is going to require some prep work I hope you don't mind?"

"Not at all." I said. Standing up putting my glass down on the table with Anakin doing the same. Giving a bow I said, "This was a very fruitful conversation representative Kryze."

"Yes, I believe it was," Tanya said taking a stand as well. "Feel free to visit but please try to schedule these visits in the future. I would rather have more time to talk than having to cut our discussion short due to poor timing.

"I shall keep that in mind." I said before stepping around the chair and nodding before saying, "goodbye, and may the force be with you."

The Droid showed us out and we found our way the be elevator quick enough. Pressing the button to the landing pad I took a breath and said, "Well that was an interesting conversation."

"Quite," Anakin said seeming lost in thought.

Coruscant

Tanya Kryze

History was a wonderful tool, the answer to a lot of problems could be found if you look deep enough into it. Finding enough data, you would come to understand many fields even if you were not an expert.

And this is what led me to my current guest, representative Dehp Nhoow of Ithorian. Their species was interesting. I'd only ever run across a few near-humans species till now. Twi'leks, which were from what I understand one of the second most common species after humans and one with horns that I had never really gotten the name of. Mandalore was not a cosmopolitan world and as far as I can tell neither are the other systems in the Mandalorian Sector, so what species were, there were the ones that had been there for the longest time.

The Ithorians we're not native to Mandalorian Sector. They are from the Mid Rim and they never had dealings with Mandalorians per se. However, they had dealt with the aftermath of the Mandalorian Wars several thousand years ago.

You see the Ithorians were terraformers and skilled ones at that. Their aid could be very valuable in reversing the damage done to Mandalore. The problem, of course, was well, Mandalore.

Sitting across from Nhoow I sipped some of the teaX4 had ready for me, as I listen to him talk about all the planets that his people had terraformed in their existence.

It was quite more than what I would have imagined was possible, but they had made it a cultural practice in a way. From what I dug up two of the continents on their homeworld were never touched by intelligent life, the rest had been slowly abandoned over the years as they created floating cities to let the biosphere of the planet mature without them.

This was a truly alien concept for me. The fact that they were truly an alien sight was even more so. With having a noticeable hump in their long neck with their eyes separated by a bridge and two mouths filled with what I could best describe as barbs I heard described were inside whale's mouths to filter out plankton. The Alien in question couldn't directly talk to me, in fact, I have to rely on a translator unit that was connected to its body.

If I were a lesser business person, I might have stared but I knew how to keep my eyes on the objective and not on the hammerhead in front of me.

"Oh, but if I speak too much." Nhoow said as though he was finishing his conversation. "What does a Mandalorian care about the wonders of mother nature in the jungle?"

Was that a cue that they had an idea of what I was interested in? Well, I was not about to pass up the offer. "Quite a lot, in fact, Mandalore used to be a jungle from what I've been able to dig up. Millennia ago it was a lush and verdant world, not so much today. As well as many planets within the Mandalore Sector, something my aunt really wishes to undo."

"Yes, the New Mandalorian government has attempted to come to us once or twice about our efforts. We have passed their interests along to the Merchantate. So far they have not taken the offer up."

Merchantate we're in essence the leaders of the herdship. They were after all the descendants of a non-predator species so it was not a surprise that they considered moving through space as a herd. These leaders also were the ones who came up with the deals for terraforming.

"Yes I've been looking into that, I think I understand why. It's a bad investment is it not? You're waiting to see if the New Mandalorians succeed in their efforts of bringing about a more peaceful government before attempting to offer your services."

"Well, you're very straightforward" The Ithorian said looking at me the robotic voice hiding away his opinions on my take.

"Being direct is sometimes necessary for the completion of a task, and beating around the bush seems foolhardy when we are discussing how my planet doesn't have any bushes."

I had elicited a chuckle, at least I think it was a chuckle robotic tones definitely reminded me of one. "That is true, well as I've said we would only be able to present the contract to the Merchantate, and as you said, Mandalore is a bad investment right now as long as the stains of the old are still there.

"True, true." I said nodding before I came back with another fact. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but there's a common idea among your people that to take a life you must be willing to replace it with two new ones?"

They looked at me and then nodded before saying, "Yes this is the way. "

There were two ways I could attack it from here, one was rather too aggressive pointing out that their aid to The Republic over the last century resulted in the Mandalorian Excision which would mean that they were semi-responsible for the death of Mandalore. But I don't think I needed to be that aggressive the fact that he knew exactly where I was going made me believe that he already knew that as a possibility so there was another way to take this one that was more of a middle ground but gave them a way to tell it to themselves that this was their own idea.

"Mandalore is of course dying or near dead and we would love to bring it back. There are many planets like that, Kalavela, Ordo, they are planets of massive Mandalorian populations but are also damaged greatly. There are also planets with no populations, planets that could support life if given the opportunity, but have no life on them to support."

Nhoow leaned forward, intrigued by where I was going and that's was exactly where I wanted him. "What if we were willing to pay for some of these empty planets? Planets that are not Mandalorian and have no population on them, planets your herdship could use as rest stops? Places to refill your stock of terraforming creatures and animals. A place on the Outer Rim which would allow you to expand your ability to help terraform places outside the Mid Rim?"

The Ithorian leaned back, seeming to be deep in thought. I took a sip of my teawhile I wait for what I guess was a deep reflection until he finally spoke. "That is an intriguing proposal and would be more favorable to the Merchantate while also would conform with the law of life given to us by Mother Jungle. Though I must ask, if such a contract were to be signed. What is to stop the Mandalorians from breaking it and settling those planets that we have been allowed to terraform to our wishes?

"Locally, the Mandalorian Guard would deploy patrol ships to make sure nothing untoward is going on. Internationally, we do have the planet of Concordia assigned the status of a preserve. Unfortunately, Concordia is not suitable for preserving the animals that are meant to be preserved. Since they have long since gone extinct and have to be replaced with cousins from Mandalore. We could move this status of preserve to any planets that you decide would be good for your terraforming operations."

"It won't stop everything, but as long as the New Mandalorian government is in control, the deal will be upheld."

"And because the New Mandalorian government will be seen as turning Mandalore green again, they have a more likely chance of being in control," Nhoow said

"A truthful statement." I responded non-plussed before continuing. "Additionally, another truthful statement is your Law of Life does not conflict with the Mandalorian Code. And it would be very possible for some Mandalorians to take up this Law of Life as a sub-section to the Old Codes. Culture always have a very unique and interesting way of intermixing over time and a good working relationship always imparts a chance of cultural infusion."

I couldn't tell if the Nhoow was smiling but the way the eyes seem to blink, and I think it was. "Representative Kryze, I think we will have a very long and good working relationship."

"I hope we do." I said.

"I will send your words back to Ithor, no guarantees of course but I do say your ideas will be attractive to some."

"Why thank you," I said with a smile, "hopefully this will be the start of a beautiful friendship between our two peoples in a way that has not flowered before."

"Yes hopefully." He said. Oh, it would take a long time for this to come to fruition now, I know this already. The Ithorian were a slow species to act, mixed with patience, even at their fastest, I figured we wouldn't get a full response for 2 years. And then it may take another five after that before a ship actually made its way over to our worlds. The process has to start somewhere though and that's why I made this priority number one as it would not only deal with the Mandalore terraforming issue, but the Concordia issue Pre had brought to my attention. Only time would tell though she would work out.

Month 2

Coruscant

Tanya Kryze

It had been a month since my arrival on Coruscant and I have started to settle in. By that I mean I was learning more about how my life would generally be for the next few years. Senator Merrik took care of most of the actual diplomacy. My attempts at conversations were noted by him and had been rewarded with a few extra credits in my bank account. Noticed, but otherwise ignored.

The senator seem to always be busy and didn't seem to care too much for checking on what I was up to, which was fine by me. As long as I followed what rules he left behind and I didn't cause him any trouble. I figured we could have a reasonable working relationship.

Besides that, most of my time was spent learning about the culture of the senatorial delegation. As I had figured it was a meeting place of the rich and powerful, who are not the controllers of planets son's daughters cousins brothers. Oh, there were a few actually elected representatives but they were far fewer than an actual democracy would require.

If anything, this whole situation kind of reminded me of a Holy Roman Empire with every center simply being a prince-elector. Sure, there were similarities to the UN, but more closely resembles a representative government

Of course, I'm sure if I ever took the position of senator I would find more differences or had more time to investigate I would come to a different conclusion, but at the moment this is what I thought.

I did, however, notice a few things over the month. In meetings with various representatives from the local area of the Outer Rim that was part of the Republic, at least among humans, short hair was a preferred style. A perfect excuse to cut my hair to something shoulder length. I'd also attempted to go back to blonde with some local hair dye. As my handmaiden was meant to be able to switch out with me at a distance, it was better that we both had similar hairs for public meetings. And I was not so self-centered as to demand she change her hair color.

The other major thing was finding out that young representatives of senators were often sent to, 'get to know each other' meetings if they happen to be around the same year. I assumed it was some way of fostering community amongst the newly incoming senators and for them to network. And networking is something I was very good at doing.

So I stuffed myself in a fashionable dress, this one having a high back collar, and got into this little senatorial ball. Getting allies for myself and Mandalore was a good use of my time I figured.

Unfortunately, there weren't that many representatives who were coming in this year. You'd think with 2000 senators representing 2,000 sectors, give or take, there would be a lot. But from what I'd seen there were only about a dozen and all of them were more interested in talking with the Corporation Representatives who had shown up.

Which had left me and Vai on the edges of the party by ourselves observing. No, this could be considered social isolationism possibly resultant of the Mandalorian Iron Heart making it quite clear who I represented. But I was not worried about that, as I was able to gather quite a bit of info from just being at the edges of the party seeing which groups clicked and which groups didn't. Made a note of how certain sectors in the far north had the representatives hanging out with certain sectors from the far south. It looked like the Outer and Mid Rim was having a bit of an issue with the Central Regions of the Galaxy. I wondered if this was related to what Senator Merrik had told me about a bit of rabble-rousing.

If it was, I would have to make a note to do more research on what this whole situation was about to find out if this was a problem for Mandalore and myself. After all, Mandalore was considered an Outer Rim sector but it was also right on the key passageway between what was really the Outer Rim, the Mid, and Central areas of space. Not exactly the greatest position to be in if something were to kick off.

Whatever thoughts I was going to have were broken up as a person stepped over next to me and said, "Hi." With a rather cheerful tone.

Not one to turn away a friendly face I said, "Hello."

The woman, barely that, she was only a few years older than me, smiled and said "You must be that new representative for Mandalore that people are talking about."

"They are?" I said perplexed, before saying, "I hope it's good things."

"I think so? they're just a little bit scared of the Bracers."

"Oh," I said looking down at them wondering if that little deal I'd worked out with MandoTech had come to bite me in the ass after all. "They shouldn't be these are purely decorational, with a

communicator on the side." I responded by turning one towards her and hitting a button allowing the communication system to pop on.

"Impressive" the woman said looking at the device, before looking back at me and doing a bit of a curtsy before saying "Senator Amidala of Naboo."

"Representative Kryze of Mandalore," I said giving her curtsy as well. Before the name similarity hit me. "Amidala… wasn't that the name of the Queen a few years ago during that whole blockade scandal?"

Amidala seem to chuckle nervously before saying, "Yes, that was me."

"Really now?" I said considering my situation. For years now I had been pointing to that incident as a reason why armament was a good thing. So logically I should get along well with her, at least in public I had no idea what her official stance on things was so getting too tied to her might be a problem. There was nothing wrong with creating a friendship with the young senator. "You know, I was amazed reading about that when I was younger. It was very inspiring what you did, you could almost say I would not be a member of the Senate now if you hadn't taken that stand for Naboo.

The smile I received was proof that no matter what world, flattery will get you everything. "Really it's kind of an honor to think that I've inspired the next generation of senators through simply sticking what I believed was right."

"The Senate was being slow to act and you made the right choice at that moment, you would either free your people or stop their suffering by returning to Naboo. A noble sacrifice that accomplishes your goals just as much as a victory in that situation so the Senate would have been forced to move faster. Being a member of the government who cares about their people is always going to be the right choice."

Padme smiled and said, "I don't know about that, but I knew what I need to do was right. And that was all that really mattered at the moment."

I nodded my head sagely, even though I was realizing real quick that that had been an impetuous move and not one that was thought out correctly. I may have accidentally romanticized the situation a bit. I had assumed she had had a good strategic head. From the sound of it, it was just luck, blind dumb luck. Perhaps there have been others involved in the situation that had a better strategy in mind. I heard there was a representative from the Gunguns with her at the time who had been given full representative status after the blockade; perhaps it was his strategy. Well, rewarding those who help you succeed was a good idea to have around. Before I had the opportunity to investigate further though our conversation was interrupted.

"Wow, I haven't seen an Iron Heart at one of these parties before." A man said stepping, towards the pair of us, looking at my dress. "Thought, you know, Mandalorians were all against the past and trying to kill it."

I raised an eyebrow as I looked him over trying to figure out where I'd seen him before it was not coming to my head quickly. "That's a misunderstanding of the doctrine," I simply said, "reality is more complex than harder to understand. If you want a simplistic take though, no. It is coming back into style though."

"That's good I enjoy hearing that it's becoming more peaceful back there, but my memories of the sector are rather nightmarish. Oh, but where're my manners, Threir Satre, Holo Star." He gave the most cheesy winning smile I'd ever seen but at that moment I couldn't remember very much to say anything, as my heart was doing palpitations. "I'm a common guest of senator Mina Bonteri. Apparently, she enjoys my show and I never turn down an opportunity to mingle with folks."

Threir Satre was standing in front of me, the Silver Ranger. On one hand, I have become somewhat of a fan of his show they reminded me of a mix of the Lone Ranger, which I am sure I picked up and enjoyed in my second life, and Super Sentai stuff which had been a favorite of my childhood in the first life. On the other hand, the man was chiseled to the point that it didn't matter that I had been a man in my first life you had to stare when he got shirtless, and female hormones did not help the situation.

This resulted in me coughing and trying to clear my head memories. Getting control of myself I said, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Satre, I'm Tanya Kryze, I've actually seen your show, it's quite good."

"Really now? You're a fan of my work, little miss?"

Clearing my throat to try and keep control I said, "Yes, I dare say it's one of my favorite source of entertainment."

"Well then, may I see your "Ms. Tanya?" he asked". gently and I, without thinking just offered it before I had a moment to try and complain he had pulled out what appeared to be some sort of permanent marker and written his name on the underside of my van brace. "Always willing to support my fans." He said tapping my shoulder before looking at his watch. "Kriff, look at the time. Well, I have to be moving on. Perhaps we'll see each other at the next party." He said starting to walk away.

"Perhaps," I said, staring at the name written on the underside of my vambrace. On one front, I should be annoyed because this interfered with my contract with MandoTech. On the other hand, a famous actor's signature would be worth something someday so this was a good investment. I would need to order a new set from MandoTech, that was just the only thing for it.

Before I could really get myself back into reality. Vai came over to look down at my wrist and the vambrace saying, "Lagos and Soniee are never going to believe this."