chapter 13 Pt 2

Coruscant, Bonteri resident

Padme Amidala

"Wait, I thought New Mandalorians believed in pacifism." I asked as I looked over at Tanya, I'd come to another one of Mina's parties and run into the young representative again. Her and her handmaiden seem to be inseparable and with their hair color matching up I suspected that she served a similar purpose to my handmaidens, so I thought I would engage in a little conversation with the Mandalorian girl, again. Most of the senior senators or lower representatives were giving her a wide berth I'd noticed, I suspected it was due to the Mandalorian status and lack of real political power in the Senate. Though a young representative from the Ojoster sector and my friend, Senator Organa, had been talking to her when I joined them.

Our conversation had been meandering to some extent but when the representative from Alderaan mentioned that their self-defense force was being armored with suits from mandalore I had to ask a bit of a question.

Tanya simply smiled and sipped the glass of tea she'd been nursing throughout the conversation before she said, "New Mandalorians do follow a doctrine of pacifism however we are not fools. The Galaxy is a dangerous place and seems to be getting a bit more dangerous with each passing year. Making sure our neighbors have forces they can use as a central self-defense force for the main militia that they would put together. In such a situation it is an important step in not only showing that the Mandalorian government has moved on from our ancient ways, but providing ways for our closest neighbors to defend themselves in case something were to happen in our area of space."

Organa looked at her and said, "That seems reasonable," before looking at me and saying, "you can't exactly hold it against their governments, the Trade Federation kind of proved her point with your planet."

"While true, creating variants of your armor for other systems seems a bit dangerous, considering the amount of weapons I've heard are going to be built into your sets of armor."

Tanya nodded but then said, "This is also true though from what I understand, most of these sets of armor that are being produced have only defensive capabilities or useful features in mind." She held out her vambrace and pressed the button on its side showing a holographic display of what would look like the holonet? she wasn't sure if she never actually visited the holonet. "Communicators, holonet access, GPS, I know some of the variants have energy Shields that can be used from one arm. And that is just the vambraces, I heard that some of the helmets have infrared and night vision equipment built in, a rebreather unit for vacuum activities and more. I suspect finely crafted Mandalorian style armor will take off as the new standard of self-defense force is with enough time."

"Still seems a bit pulling back on the whole pacifist thing to be creating Mandalorian armor." I asked, trying to understand the perspective on this.

"Mandalorian style armor not Mandalorian armor itself." She corrected me, "Beskar is not being used in the creation of these export armors, as it holds too dear a place in our society to be given away or sold. I suspect if someone walked in with a set of Beskar armor to an armorer, they would be able to walk away with six or seven Mandalorian style armors of lesser material. But still, it's a civilian use of our skills. Sure, our armor could be used for war but we are creating them for defense. I believe Naboo has a Master Craftsman ship industry not too dissimilar to the standard we're trying to set up."

I nodded at that, "We do have a small ship building industry and all the ships that come out of it handcrafted. I understand that, I just don't believe we went around selling lesser model versions of the new Naboo Starfighter."

"You should, from what I understand it's probably one of the better models of Starfighter on the market." Tanya said matter of factly.

"I don't know about that, sure there was the issue on Naboo with the Trade Federation but I don't think that's going to be repeated. Peace won out in the end and judiciary forces will not let something like that ever happen again."

"We can hope, but in my opinion it's better to be prepared for the worst, for all we know we could be having a conversation next year about an invasion from extragalactic aliens or flesh eating viruses. This galaxy is a big place and from my reading of history there's a lot of crazy things that happened."

"That's a little bit presumptuous of the worst." Senator Organa said, "I think the greatest threats to the galactic Republic are long behind us. Any issues now, will be settled through diplomacy."

"I hope you're right, but I'm also sure that the senators who ran the Old Republic thought the same thing before the Sith returned a dozen times. And I'm sure that whole business with the Eternal Empire was completely unforeseen."

"The who?" I asked, not familiar with this Eternal Empire she had mentioned.

"Oh, some empire that supposedly came out of the Unknown Regions a couple thousand years ago. The details I was able to dig up in the Mandalorian libraries are minimal to nil, so I don't think it was very long lasting. However they did supposedly conquer the majority of the known Galaxy for a short time. It serves as a good example though of what could go wrong with a policy of outright pacifism, an unknown factor could decide to rear its ugly head somewhere down the line."

"While true," Organa said, he then continued by pointing out, "this is why we have the Judiciary Forces. Though if something were to happen like that, we could rally all the independent sector forces under them."

Tanya nodded her head before she gave her point of view. "Supposedly this is true. However, just 20 years ago there was a conflict where such a situation was put to the test. The Stark Hyperspace War, that conflict may not have involved the Judiciary Forces directly but it shows the issue that is developing. The Sector Forces have not had a real conflict in the last thousand years. They do not know how to conduct a proper military campaign as their doctrines are either outdated or based on doctrines for dealing with pirates and small-time problems that a sector would normally have to deal with."

"I also doubt that the Judiciary Forces are any better. Probably the closest thing some commanders have seen of combat was the bombardment of Mandalore. There might be a few with a good head on their shoulders, but if a conflict or war were to arise, I expect the losses to be great for the first two years purely out of mismanagement. And that's the price we would have to pay for pure uncompromising pacifism. The military expertise needed for self-defense degrades while also you are Ceding the initiative to the bad actors of the Galaxy."

"Is this the official stance of Mandalore?" I asked curious now, wondering if I had been hearing a bunch of misunderstood statements about the so-called New Mandalorians and their pacifist Duchess.

Tanya seems to stop mid sip of her cup before putting it down and then saying, "It is not, this is just my personal opinion from my research on the matter. The Duchess of Mandalore is not a pure pacifist in her own way, she doesn't exactly believe that a dedicated military service is needed. The Judicial Service or the Mandalorian Guard can handle any issues that come up from day to day."

"It is just my simple belief that people who wish to live in Peace and Freedom must be willing to fight for it or they'll have neither."

"So do you believe the Republic should have an Army and Navy?" Senator Organa asked.

"No, no, that seems like a recipe for disaster." she immediately said. "Each sector should definitely have their own Self Defense Force that should be able to work with each other without issue, but to create an overarching military structure just leaves an opportunity for some general to get it in his head that the politicians aren't leading the Galaxy as good as he could be. Said general will then decide, instead of watching the outer reaches of nowhere, he'll take this army that the politicians gave him and travel back to Coruscant to crown himself Emperor."

"Not to mention any military commander in this proposed, let's call it the Republic Galactic Army, would have the need to have a massive industrial complex at their back to maintain and supply the army. This will encourage behaviors that could lead to wars that we don't need. All it would take is one rogue general with a chip on his shoulder about the Hutts and their slavery practices and all of a sudden we have a Republic and Hutt Empire War on our hands and no one wants that, such a conflict would be devastating to the Galaxy."

All of a sudden I was getting a bad feeling, thoughts of a young blonde boy I met on Tatooine coming to mind.

"As I said, sectors should be able to defend themselves. Local forces will not only know the terrain they will have to deal with, but also know what to do to prevent a major war. But for intersector stuff, diplomacy is better, diplomacy is more likely to be a longer lasting solution to prevent a major war would be less likely in the long run."

While I didn't exactly agree with all of her points, I could at least get behind the idea that diplomacy was a better option for the intersystem situations. Organa seemed to think the same as he raised his glass and said, "Then perhaps a toast to the hope that diplomacy is always the best option for intersystem conflicts."

Everyone at the table raised their cups to that and we continued our evening as if the conversation hadn't happened.

Coruscant, Green Singularity Club Entrance

Tanya

"I'm not sure this was such a good idea." I said, feeling somewhat self-conscious as we stood in line. I had worn a lot of things in my life or lives. From the suits of my first life, to the military officers uniform of my second, and I made progress, lots of progress getting used to wearing dresses in this life. This was pushing the envelope a little too far in my opinion. But I should explain how I got myself into this situation before I get into what I had gote myself into.

It had been 5 months since my arrival on Coruscant,Vai and I had come to the realization that we weren't really going to have much else to do but go to political meet and greets and parties. Yes, there were a few meetings I had managed to schedule once and a while and meetings that were shoved on me but that meant out of a 35 day month, you had practically 30 days free.

I of course was fine with this as I could find enjoyment with a good book, Vai on the other hand was not fine with this and was getting a bit of cabin fever. So she had to control, coerce, and thoroughly guilt me into doing something she wanted to do.

As much as I would rather not, I knew having a happy employee was a key to success in any situation so I had finally agreed that we would do what she wanted to do. That had not gone the way I had hoped, as I had assumed that she wanted to go to a gun range. No, I forgot she was a few years older than me and was apparently having the start of a relationship with Tabi Kregg. One of my Royal Guards, not the worst choice out there, as long as they kept everything professional while on the job, it was not a matter to my concern. What turned out to be my concern was he had found out about a part of the Senatorial District that was meant for the youthful Representatives to hang out.

Yes, I had just been tricked into going into a club that the youthful senators of the day considered trendy. Which meant it was most likely going to be close to a rave or punk scene. Which meant my formal dress had to stay on the hooks.

To prepare, Vai had taken me to a clothing shop for a quote unquote wardrobe upgrade. I don't know much about fashion, I probably looked good. All I knew is that I felt ridiculous standing on the side of the street in knee-high boots with thigh high leggings underneath shorts and wearing a long sleeve sweater that showed off a bit of the stomach over a shirt I had been told to wear even though if I took off the sweater it would show off a bit of too much cleavage in my opinion. I was simply glad that I had managed to snag colors in green since that was the only choice in the matter I've been allowed, along with the sunglasses I was wearing. I might be forced to embarrass myself by coming to such a venue but I would at least attempt to hide my shame to any future Representatives that I may have to deal with in the coming days.

"This is a great idea and you need to start being more rebellious." Vai said next to me, wearing a very similar set of clothing only in blue instead of green, leather pants instead of shorts though she had wrapped the sweater around her waist showing off her substantially larger cleavage.

She had her arm around Tabi's arm who was wearing some extremely tight clothing, black pants, a set of combat boots, and a shirt that showed off the muscles he had from his training. Oh and when I say tight I do not mean in the sense of cool or any other colloquialism for modern and trendy, I mean in the sense that I could make out features I would rather not have known about. I could not wait till I got out of my teenage years and my hormones naturalized so I stopped noticing things like that. I had not had to deal with a wandering eye in my last life since the terrible conditions of the front I put myself through had thoroughly stunted hormone production. This life I had avoided that fate though I was now starting to regret it as I forced my eyes from wandering to those two.

"You need to chill out Miss Kryze." Tabi said, smiling in my direction. "You're supposed to be a representative of our people, well not all of our people are nobles or the sort who go to fine dining parties, a lot of us just go to things like this." he said, indicating the club. "I'm sure you won't find a lot of the older folks in favor of these kind of establishments and you won't find them on a lot of the more frontier worlds, the place is more build up like my homeworld Harswee, Ordo and a few of the more interesting places on Mandalore have plenty of clubs like this."

"I'm sure they do but I'm not attending one of those places, this is a club for the political class of the Galaxy."

"Then treat it as training for when you visit one of Mandalore's clubs. I'm sure Ordo here would love to take you to one so you can see how Mandalorians party down." That got a chuckle from me as I don't believe I would ever willingly go to one of these clubs. But outwardly I said, "I'll keep that in mind." For all I knew, something could come up that would require me to visit an establishment like this in the future. The universe was a strange and weird place and it got weirder every day.

Seeing that we were third in line behind a group of, blue skinned girls in costumes that put the ones I had been forced into shame in the amount of how revealing they were, I held up my left wrist to check my messages on my vambrace. Quickly scanning through, I saw nothing of importance other than a message from my captain of the Royal Guard asking where we had gone off to. I simply dispatched a message back saying that I was with two of his subordinates on a late night trip to the Jedi Temple for a conversation with that elder statesman I met a while back. I'd actually done that a couple times since then, he was an interesting fellow to talk to. No, I wondered why he had such an odd speech impediment.

"Wow, what is that?" the blue skinned girl in front of me said, looking back at my vambrace.

"This," I said, "is a…" I was going to say something simple when an idea occurred to me "new product from Mandal Technologies what better way to keep your communication devices and information safely secured but on a nice stylish vambrace locked onto your wrist." Shaking it about to show how secure it was my wrist I said, "This thing will never get lost no matter how wild the dance may get."

"Coooool, Mandal Technologies. I'll have to remember that and look it up later." The blue girl said before she started talking to her friends again. I knew there was a good chance that it would not take off but on the off chance it did, I got more business for Mandalorian companies, I was willing to put up with degrading myself into a spokesperson and talking to a probably high on death sticks political class trust-fund baby. I only would probably save her life since no doubt her parents would demand safety precautions installed on whatever they bought for her.

Sighing, I turned to my quote unquote date Engiz, he was more of my chaperone just to make sure I didn't get into any trouble. I doubted anyone would try to kidnap me for being a princess as I looked like any other average citizen on the street but you never know, when there could be some crazed lunatic who would attempt something and it was not the worst idea in the world to have a little backup in a fight. I can probably handle myself but if the argument was between quality of fighter and numbers I'd rather play with both quality and numbers. He was wearing something a lot more normal than Tabi, just a gray set of pants and coat over a white shirt. I suspected it was the official civilian garb for the Royal Guard though I had no evidence as I'd always seen them in their full uniform.

"So Engiz, how have you been enjoying your stay on Coruscant so far?" I asked, trying to be nice and have a chat with him. Yeah I've been his pen pal for many years and that's how I had learned of many of the forgotten histories of the Galaxy. Such as the brief appearance of the quote unquote "Eternal Empire" that appeared to have only lasted 10 years. It would seem that naming your empire as grandiose as that was a sign that you were not going to last very long, as most of the empires I noted fell apart sooner or later, the more grandiose the name the quicker it fell apart.

"I'm doing well princess." he said very stiltedly as if not sure of something I assumed it was not sure if he should be using my royal title so I responded.

"Tanya, you can just call me Tanya here." We were in a civilian setting and it was better if he didn't use the Royal word while out and about like this could give gangsters ideas.

He smiled and commented, "Thank you Tanya. Yes, it's been alright getting used to the quarters below has been something but there's a lot of resources on this planet to investigate, a lot of books to read and history to learn. During my downtime, I go to the Senatorial Library they have for the public to look through. Got to say, they have a lot better record keeping on some events than I would have suspected."

"Oh?" I asked as we moved forward in the line as the people had us started being let in.

"Yeah, they have actual facts and figures about the losses during the Mandalorian Wars, our records on that whole situation was pretty much nil but they get it down to the unluckiest protocol Droid that walked out of a hanger and was shot during a defensive battle in the early days of the wars. Now it does seem that certain elements of the stories have been removed or censored, not a single reference to Revan.

"Revan?" I asked, a bit amused by the idea that there was someone named after Raven but slightly off.

"Oh, I'll have to get you a bit of our information on that the next time I get a chance, but basically he was a Jedi Knight who stood up against and for the Mandalorians at certain points. It's closely tied to one of Ordo's major historical figures, Canderous Ordo otherwise known as Mandalore the Preserver, so although we don't know as much as we'd like, he had a significant effect on Mandalorian culture around 4,000 years ago. You could see him as the first true obstacle that really put Mandalorians on the route towards where we are today, not some religious horde of barbarian zealots roaming the Galaxy."

"Interesting, I would like to read more about this Revan figure." I said. Simply because who knows what useful information could be found from looking through his history. If he had so thoroughly defeated the Mandalorians that they stopped being the Neo-Crusaders and warmongers, it would be useful to know the why's and how's of that whole situation.

As we approached the door and the uncomfortably loud music he said, "Will do princess."

"Tanya." I corrected with a smile before looking over at Vai and pink hair to see how she handled the whole getting us into the club situation. Vai was looking at me and Engiz with a smile until she saw me looking in her direction and immediately went to work talking with the bouncer to get us in.

Coruscant, Outside Green Singularity

Struc Ordack

When my charge and her handmaiden went out to go shopping earlier today, I was not too concerned. After 5 months with next to nothing to do other than stand guard and follow the princess around, it does eventually get repetitive. Thus when the princess and her handmaiden informed me that they were going to go shopping at the nearby commercial district, I didn't see a reason to refuse. They are going to a location that Senator Merrik allowed the princess to travel to and they are bringing the 2 Royal Guards on escort duty.

Once they were on their way, the rest of the guards and I proceeded to do what we usually do when the Princess is away from the Tower. Spend time in the tower's ready room in full armor waiting for a distress call to spring into action. Your subordinates find ways to spend their time. Skota read holo-books and do a bit of baking in her spare time. Mok watches his holo-vids and tinkers with new tech that he found on the open market. Kastel does some basic calisthenics before ending with a spare against the sparring droid while listening to workout music. I spent my time cleaning and maintaining my armor and weapons.

However after several hours, it was already sundown and they had not returned yet. I had Mok locate Pixie's vambrace and found that the group are currently at a club near the commercial district. Concerned, I sent a message to the princess asking about their whereabouts, while the team entered an escort speeder which Mok had upgraded in his spare time with his connection to Mandal Tech.

I received a reply stating that they were at the Jedi Temple to talk with a senior member there. Of course, the princess's vambrace showed that that was a lie and they were nowhere near the Jedi Temple, so I gave the go ahead to go to the princess's location to make sure nothing happened out of our sight.

"Pixie Actual, spotted entering the club. Mok, have you finished slicing through the club's security cameras?" I asked before I lowered my macroscope.

"I got it, sending the feed to your HUDs now." A moment later, I see the notification on my HUD asking for my permission to open the data packet. After accepting, I was given a fly on the wall view of the club. Mok's facial recognition software, highlighted Pixie Actual, her handmaiden, the Ordo kid, and the walking disciplinary action of a subordinate.

"When this is all over, I swear I am going to give those two di'kuts a piece of my mind. Maybe then they'll use they're brains instead of their bevik." I can understand why Skota would be annoyed as the princess went behind our backs to go to a club. If she could not trust her own guards then who could she trust?

We would have likely covered for her if she informed the rest of us. At least all 4 of them are competent enough in hand to hand combat to take care of themselves. We are here just in case of a situation where it's too big for them to handle.

"I wouldn't be too hard on them," Mok commented "it's possible that they merely don't want the senator to know that they are out partying. Plus I did my research on the way here, this is a fairly popular spot for young representatives to mingle in a more informal atmosphere. This would probably just be another forgettable night on Coruscant."

"However, on the off chance this is going to be an eventful night, we will be ready to do our jobs." I interject. "Once this is over though, I think Ordo and Kregg are scheduled for a sparring session tomorrow. Do you think the princess and her handmaiden would like to watch?"

"I'm sure it would keep them entertained at least." Skota commented while Mok chuckled at what would likely be an entertaining afternoon. Kastel kept silent but you get the feeling that he was amused.

A few minutes of silence followed, as everyone watched the camera feed to make sure nothing was amiss. The feed shows Kregg and Vizla teaching the others how to dance on the dance floor. Princess Kryze who was only taught ballroom dances at a young age and Ordo who likely is not the kind of kid who got invited into parties, don't know how to dance. It eventually culminated in two trying to awkwardly dance with each other while their companions watched.

"So I heard the Silver Ranger is going to get another season. Are any of you interested in the show?"

"Not really something I would watch. I'm more of a romantic comedy type of girl." Skota replied absentmindedly as she set her helmet to play music.

"It's alright." Kastel commented whilst watching the feed on his vambrace.

"Watched a few episodes when I babysat my younger cousins, it looked interesting enough." I answered while checking out the surrounding area.

"Thankfully, the show is formatted to be episodic so you don't need to watch all of the episodes in order to enjoy it. If you want we could watch it together, to catch you guys up to the current season. Might as well invite Pixie and her handmaiden and make it a holo party, it's not like there's anything else to do around here."

"I'll ask Pixie about it tomorrow, if she gives the okay, I don't see why not." I answered. Mok is right, other than following Pixie around to various meetings with the Agricorp or the Senate Building, everyone usually stood guard at Mandalorian Tower. A night to watch a holovid series sounds like a nice way to unwind and be entertained, even if it is only for a few nights.

I return my gaze to my view screen to see Pixie Actual and Ordo are done with dancing and are now taking a seat in a partially occupied booth.

"Looks like Pixie and Ordo are just talking, want me to slice Ordo's vambrace to listen in on their conversation?" Mok asked. While it would help keep the stake out interesting, it is a severe breach of privacy. Besides, you doubt Pixie would reveal any confidential information in a club so it's likely just them engaging in small talk.

"Belay that, it's not our job to eavesdrop on our charge. But since we are here, make a list of persons of interest inside the club. Should be a useful cover for Pixie, that she is trying to network in the club and not go on a double date with her bodyguards and handmaiden."

"I'm on it, should take a few minutes."

"Vizla and Kregg are now at the bar and ordering drinks." Skota notified us.

"Fruit Fizz and Photon Fizzle, respectively." Mok mentioned before I could ask.

"Isn't Photon Fizzle alcoholic?" Kastel questioned.

"So long as Kregg drinks in moderation, his Harswee metabolism should break it down fast enough so he doesn't get drunk enough to impair his judgment." Skota informed us. "Well since this is turning out to be a fairly normal outing, I'm going to go get some Nerf Kebabs from down the street, any of you want some?"

"I'll have some Fritzle Fries if they have any." Mok mentioned while his eyes stayed on his view screen.

"I'm good." Kastel answered. "Same." I spoke right after.

"Let me know if anything interesting happened." Skota said before she exited the speeder.

"Best get comfortable, it's gonna be a long night." I said before sipping my canteen.