Chapter 8

Mandalore, Sundari, Royal Palace

Satine Kryze

I smiled as I watched Tanya from a distance interacting with others her own age. It was her 13th birthday and though it didn't have as much meaning as it did with the Old Mandalorians, it was still a special day. And the dress I had commissioned for her looked gorgeous on her.

Besides celebrating her birthday, the main goal of today was to get her interacting with more children of other clans who supported my reign. In order to preserve the peace, it is best for everyone that our children are friendly with each other and it was hoped that this friendship would go onto their adult lives, ensuring that the peace would go on for another generation, maybe more.

At the moment, Tanya was having what looked to be having a lovely chat with a dark-haired boy with glasses that I am trying to place who he is. I swear I'd seen him before but I couldn't recall the exact location. That was until one of my guests came up beside me.

"Well those two seem to be getting along quite well. Was half sure little Engiz was making it up that he met your ward before, I guess he has a better eye for details than I do." The dark-haired and bearded man said as he stood next to me.

Turning to the familiar man I smiled and said "Patriarch Raz, it's been too long since I've seen you."

The patriarch of Clan Ordo and the governor of the planet Ordo simply smiled and chuckled, "Yes, well running a planet is not as busy as running a sector, but I imagine you would understand the complexities as well as anyone."

I nodded my agreement asking "So I can assume that Engiz is a member of your house? How does he know of Tanya?"

The older man shrugged before he continued "My late sister's boy, she got wrapped up as a Die Hard True Mandalorian even after the majority of them had fled the sector. After she passed I took him in, to make sure he had a good life. As for how he knows Tanya, I'm not particularly sure, all I know is a few years ago he seemed to become enthralled by her after I visited Mandalore on a business trip. I assume they must have met at one of the malls I dropped him off at to keep him entertained."

"The wonders of the Mandalore Mall, we never had anything like that when we were younger. If you can bring two people together who would never have met each other otherwise that's a vast improvement over how things used to be." I said with a smile. In the old days, clan rivalries were used heavily by the military traditionalists. If clans couldn't unite against them, the better for their own rule, so preventing the possibility of something like an Ordo and a Kryze becoming friends, was one of their main goals.

"That I can agree on, the Mandalorian Sector would do well to have more interconnected families with friendships and such. Divided as we were, we are easily played against each other, something our history teaches us the enemies of Mandalore will always do." He said as he looked across the ballroom at Tanya and Engiz. A large group of young adults had started to form around the two so it was hard to see them but they all seemed to be having a good time chatting. I could recognize a few other clan symbols embedded in some of the dresses and suits Varad, Carid, Gedyc as well as a few from my own political house Eldar and Rook.

"Mandalore doesn't have many enemies, I would believe." I said, noting his rather daring assumption to bring something like this up to the leader of the most pacifist faction in Mandalore's history. But he got some leeway when it came to making such statements as Clan Ordo had long been different compared to the other clans, more willing to work with the Republic and find peaceful solutions.

"Aye, that is true. But things seem to be changing outside the Mandalorian Sector. Feels like we're trying to become more peaceful and stable while the rest of the Galaxy is trying to fall apart sometimes." The patriarch of Clan Ordo said matter of factly before he continued, "And if you don't mind me being a bit more daring than normal, I would say I believe you have a similar opinion or at least are considering the possibility. After all, why would you have ended the official banishment of Mandalorians outside of the sector that were not willing to comply with New Mandalorian policies."

Ah yes that. Officially, 13 years ago I had banished a traditionalist to the Moon of Concordia, this had also been followed up by a less enforceable order that technically banished anyone who was refusing to lay down arms after the Clan Wars to outside the sector. I had recently rescinded both because of my talks with Tanya, she had made good points over the years on how having a resource of, as you like to call them, action fueled heroes could be used for non-military means.

Politically ending the official banishment didn't cost me anything, New Mandalorians fear the rise of militarism but I was not inviting the Old Mandalorian's back, I was simply allowing them to visit their families who had decided the other way around. Besides a few local Mayors raising a fuss about the potential of arms movements, I hadn't seen anything outright dangerous happen and the Mandalorian Police Force had not found any evidence of shipments of arms to the planet. So as it stood, it was not a massive change in policy, just a slight amendment. Nothing that should be looked too deeply into it but I could see how others could mistake my actions for something else.

"The Clan Wars and the Civil War were a terrible time in our history, in order to bring peace certain actions had to be taken to stabilize the sector. We now have that peace and stabilization so those actions can be brought back." I said giving the official statement I had given a hundred times on the whole situation.

"Of course Duchess. However I would simply say if you study our history, whenever the Galaxy enters a period of chaos, as it seems to be going towards now, there's usually some Mastermind behind it. Those masterminds now tend to enjoy Mandalore being aligned with their goals, I simply say that if we want peace you may need to be ready to defend it as Ordo has done for centuries." The patriarch said presenting a theory I had heard from him before. He was a believer in a galactic rhyme, as it were, that things tended to echo each other more than most people like to admit. I wasn't exactly enthralled with such ideas but I could understand where he was coming from and being prepared is why our planets still remain firmly in our hands after taking hold of it nearly 4,000 years ago.

"I will keep that in mind Raz." more out of politeness than actual worry of some Grand conspiracy going on in the dark corners of the universe. Ordo had been divided in the Mandalorian Civil War but was a firm supporter of myself during the Clan Wars so I saw no reason to anger their patriarch by discounting his theories outright.

"That is all I ask." he said with a smile as he swished a liquid around in his cup before giving it a sip, "Which reminds me, is Governor Vizsla coming to this little party? I was kind of hoping to have a discussion on the matter of trade between our two planets. I've heard that the new trees growing on Concordia are some of the strongest in the sector and I was wondering if we could use some of their lumber for housing developments on Ordo."

"I'm afraid I don't think he'll be showing up tonight or anytime in the next week or two. I've given him time off after the recent tragedy he experienced." I said, shaking my head at the memories of the situation.

"Tragedy? Last I heard he was expecting a child, his first born son, did something go wrong?"

"The son was born, healthy and happy but there was some sort of complication and Oori did not survive." I hadn't had an opportunity to ask any more details than that and frankly I didn't want to. It was a sad story and you didn't need to know the details, you just needed to be there for the person going through the problems. Pre seems to have a different opinion in mind, preferring to stay away from Mandalore for the past week. Everyone deals with tragedy differently, I suppose. Locking yourself inside a Castle Fortress on an entirely different planet seemed like a mistake to me.

The patriarch of Clan Ordo shook his head, "Damn, Oori was such a nice lass." Whatever other thoughts he had he simply shook his head and kept himself before he said. "Well, best not to focus on such news today, I'll have to look into sending my regards another time." before he looked at me and nodded "Take care Satine."

"Take care Raz." I said, responding and kind as he started to walk away.

Mandalore, Sundari, Royal Palace

Satine Kryze

Sitting at my desk I heard a knock from the door to my office. It had been several days since Tanya's 13th birthday and life had gone back to it's normal standard of excitement.

Which meant a lot of paperwork and dealing with local matters. So when someone knocked on my door I was more than willing to entertain whoever it was though I already suspected I knew who was about to step through my door.

"Come in Tanya." I called hoping I wasn't about to make a slight fool of myself. I was rewarded with the brunette girl stepping through the door with a computer pad in her hand and a smile on her face. She was back in her normal fancy garb that she preferred. Today she was wearing a simple green top and long skirt. She had stopped wearing beige and tan color clothing a long time ago preferring instead the color green ever since she became enamored with some of the more cultural elements of Mandalorian culture such as the color theory.

I suspected she grasped the importance of color theory far more than most people and that's why she chose colors that indicated a willingness for guarding or protecting peace. Which was a very Noble cause and something I wholeheartedly support.

"Good morning Duchess," Tanya said with her standard formal way of addressing people. I'm not sure where she'd pick that up but it seemed to have stuck over the years, intended to be a sign she is willing to discuss something important. If she just wanted to have a light chat she would go use my name, if she wanted to have a chat about the fundamentals of mandalorian society it was always Duchess. Well today I wasn't exactly interested in discussing business but I would humor her eventually.

"Good morning, Tanya. Please take a seat." I said, indicating the chair in front of my desk. Nodding, the brunette haired girl walked over and took a seat laying the pad across her lap as she did. "We haven't had much time to talk since your birthday night and I wanted to ask you something."

"Ask away." Tanya said with a smile.

"Do you know that boy with glasses and dark hair at the party? it's just that you seem to be getting on very well and his guardian mentioned that you two have met before and I couldn't figure out when that could have happened."

Tanya took a moment before saying in a careful tone, "Ah Engiz, yes we've met a few years ago at laser tag, we happened to share a lot of hobbies in common, when it comes to historical research, apparently there's an entire section of the planet of Ordo dedicated to museums, located far away from population centers as possible in case of any outbreaks of conflicts."

"Really? I didn't know that," I said. I only ever visited Ordo once years ago and that particular situation had been a little too tense for a lovely trip to what sounded like a city built of museums.

"The Ordo seem to be a clan who have taken the idea that if you do not know your history you are doomed to repeat it to heart, which is a respectful stance to take in my opinion. Engiz and I had a very long and fruitful conversation about the nature of historical cyclicals cycles in Mandalorian history. And it was during that part of the conversation where he brought up the museum section of his planet and he even offered to show it to me if I ever visited Ordo." Tanya explained.

"Would you like to visit Ordo?" I asked this question instead of the one I was wanting to ask because I doubt I would get an answer for the one I did want. Tanya seemed quite taken by this Engiz. Perhaps it was nothing, just her natural state of not being open with others resulting in you looking this way or perhaps she found a new friend, and if so I suspect that she'd be a bit embarrassed to admit it so I asked a question that was a lot easier for her to answer.

Tanya took a moment to think before she finally said "Perhaps someday I would like to visit the museums. The knowledge contained there could be useful for what I've been working on recently."

"Oh yes, your secret document you've been working on. Are you ever going to show me what you've been working on?" Tanya had been working on the general ideas of whatever this was for a while now but I only really learned about it in the last 6 months. Most of its content was unknown to me though I suspected it was filled with examples such as the entertainment industry's use of former Mandalorian warriors that Tanya had expounded on many years before.

"Actually yes." Tanya said, holding up the pad and then placing it on my desk. Picking it up I started to peruse it.

"It is a lengthy document but the core of the argument presented is a way of viewing Mandalorian history in a defensive manner in order to create a doctrine that would be acceptable to both pacifists and warriors."

Tanya explained as I began looking through a section about the components of the Resol'nare and how they could be reinterpreted for the modern day.

"A self-defense force that is constitutionally prevented from leaving the planet?" I said skeptical while reading the section on self-defense. "I can see the logic here, this would give a way for warriors who are out of work to find work again. I'm not sure how this would be passed by the Royal Council though.

"As I've explained, there is a slight purity spiral with the upper echelons of our society and the only way to break something like this would be to distribute this amongst regular folks who would then pressure the upper echelons which would result in people asking you for a self-defense force with such restrictions instead of you mandating it." Tanya said matter of factly.

"Wouldn't it be seen as mandated just by having this document distributed with your name on it?" I pointed out only to have Tanya shrug.

"If the idea fails it's best to have our names nowhere near it so I've gone ahead and created a false identity for the author if you check the top." She said,

Going to the top I read the author's name which I just skipped over the first time. "White Silver?" I asked questionly.

"In color theorem, white is the representation of purity, silver is the representation of 'search for redemption'. Pure redemption seemed thematic and worked as a workable false name. I've also run it from the perspective of an Old Mandalorian in order to throw off exactly who had created this document."

I nodded my head and looked further down the document. Skipping past all the other elements of the Resol'nare. Rather lengthy section on the economic benefits of letting armorers create armor on contracts for other planets self-defense forces, as well as a section on turning old fortresses into museums, which raised my eyebrow.

"Are you sure turning fortresses into museums will be accepted amongst the older mandalorians? I'm quite sure that would be seen as a way of disarming their fortresses and bringing down readiness level."

Tanya leaned back and put her hand on her chin, in a way that reminded me of someone I once knew, appearing to be thinking of the best way to explain her point. "A fortress with a museum is still a fortress, it just has a section where the civilian population are allowed to look around. I would argue that if anything it would bring preparedness levels up as many of the fortresses are broken down and falling apart without the funding to support and maintain them. With a proper museum selling knick knacks and charging for visits, the funding would roll in and allow various sections to be rebuilt and restored even if they're not fully functional, it's still something better than it was."

I nodded in agreement as there was some solid logic in that idea, "Is this the final version of the document or are you still working on it? "

"I suspect I'll have it completed in 4 months, at that time we'll need to find someone reliable to produce a couple copies and get it distributed to places where the idea could be spread around. From there we just simply wait and see what happens, at worst it's a failed venture that costs us nothing but time, best case scenario is that the ideas take off enough that some of these reforms are proposed to you and you can help them move it along into a favorable position. "

Nodding my head I handed the computer back and said "I think you have something here Tanya, at the bare minimum the idea of creating a constitution to restrict war making capabilities might be more favorable than leaving it to the council."

"This also creates a favorable situation with the Jedi." Tanya said matter of factly.

"Oh, how so?" I asked out of curiosity.

"From my research the Jedi and the Mandalorians have had run-ins whenever Mandalorians have gone overly aggressive, however, whenever Mandalorians and Jedi work together for defensive situations it usually works out well in the Mandolorian's favor, creating a doctrine based around being a defensive power will insure that we are always on the Jedi's side, at least in most conflicts."

"That makes sense," I said before continuing by asking "Have you created a name for this document yet?"

Tanya shook her head and said "Not particularly, better to let the reader base create their own name from it than trying to force the name on a document like this. It will be seen as a way to force your point of view toward others and we don't want that, we want this to be seen as a real rational argument for a defensive stance. Let the readers come up with their own name. I'm sure they'll settle on something fine." She said, waved off the idea of naming it.

711 FNM (27BBY)

Month 3

Mandalore, Sundari

Tanya Kryze

I'm starting to suspect that I'm cursed, things seem to be going well for my life. I was learning to fly again, I had stashed the armor I had in a safe position, my role as assistant in the Senate is coming up soon, everything seemed to be working out perfectly.

What you meant, of course, is that life decided to throw a few curve balls my way. The one that was annoying me the most today was how chained I was to my brother's social group.

I had gone along with Vai on another one of the trips to the mall that had become quite frequent. Hey the chance at laser tag was worth dealing with the two girls trying to find cute dresses to stuff me into you. And I had to admit, over the years, they had found a few clothes that I found reasonably tolerable of that worked fine as casual wear and made me look less out of place among the higher society of Mandalore.

But today my torturous dressing up and vengeful laser tag would not take place. Today my torture would include karaoke. I might have been told in my last life that I was a good singer, of course being forced to take part in orphanage choir tended to result in such matters, so when Soniee challenged us to a Sing-Off under an assumption that she would win, obviously as recompense for her defeats in the laser tag arena, I really had no other option but to agree to it.

Oh sure, normally I would not take part in such behavior but Soniee was the kind of person who annoyed me and so I had left my better judgment of the situation at the door and agreed.

I have been concerned about Vai participation in this two on two Sing-Off thing Soniee had suggested and dragged Lagos into as well. But those concerns were unfounded as she apparently was a good singer as well, and working together we had managed to come out on top three out of four times who had been originally two out of three but Soniee had refused her first failure and attempted to change it near the end.

Well, that did not go well for her and as a result I and Vai had been rewarded with some of the most expensive ice creams you could get from Soft Serve Mandalore 35. Not caffeine unfortunately, there was still an embargo on that until I turned 16, at least I hoped it was only 16, even though this body had not been exposed to the wonders of caffeine, I still remembered and was a bit prickly about the fact that I had not had one in nearly 13 years with three more to go.

But that wasn't exactly what was annoying me, no what was annoying me was that both Soniee and Lagos had both agreed that I must really like singing and that I should carry on into a full career. That was a hard no, I doubted that Mandalore could achieve anything close to the Idol industry of Japan but on the off chance it could, I did not want to be worked to the bone for this job.

The problem was it wasn't just those two, my brother Korkie, had also suggested that if I was to go to become a professional singer, I should look into other prospects. And worst of all Vai had betrayed me and agreed with the growing consensus. I had a perfectly safe job waiting for me in 3 years at the Senate. Why in the world would I want to leave the potential incoming leverage I could achieve through that position for a singing career.

I finally managed to get the other teens to drop the idea by saying I would consider it enough that they either believed me or gave up.

But it left me rather annoyed and frustrated as I tried to enjoy what was left on my ice cream. Hoping that I could get through the rest of the day without any other incidents.

Amis Tenau had to speak up the "So anyone check out that SuperCommando Codex version 2 that's been going around online." I just barely prevented myself from biting down in shock on the metal spoon.

The document I created had only been released for about 2 weeks. There was no way they were talking about my little test project right?

Best to let the others talk for now. I'm not going to get too emotional about anything they say about it.

"Why would you read that trash?" Korkie said, wounding me a bit, "SuperCommando Codex is just another failed ideology, one that's probably responsible for our mother's death. Auntie Satine has the right of it when it comes to how we should deal with the militarist."

That somewhat stung. I didn't realize he was so deeply trapped down the purity spiral of ideology. If he knew that Satine had okayed the distribution of the document, his head would probably explode.

"That's a little harsh man." before shrugging, not sure what to say after that apparently.

Looking around I quickly noted that the other two were not calling them out on being a little bit thick headed as well. This would not do, fact of the matter was unless Satine married and had children Korkie was the next in line to rule mandalore and as I would probably be the Senator by then, we would need to have a working relationship and he would need to be able to think for himself and not depend on doctrine laid down by wrathful Satine at the end of the Clan Wars.

Which meant there was really only one step I could take in this matter and that was to push that thick headedness of his.

"I took a look at it, there's some sound logic buried in it about becoming a more defensive focused force in the universe and less of an expanding force. Nothing in it is exactly at odds with Satine's goals." I said matter of factly.

There was a brief moment of quiet before Korkie said "If its reference is the SuperCommando Codex, it's at odds with Satine' goals".

"It references it in a capacity that it might be useful for Mandalorians outside of the Mandalorian sector, not for the Mandalorians within the sector." I said taking a spoon of ice cream to my mouth. "Having a Code of Honor is nothing terrible or anti-peaceful, it just means having a set of rules that you will obey and follow. Those rules can be effective in you're social status and allows you to maybe one day reenter the Mandalorian sector without having to worry about being hunted down by other Mandalorians for committing mass murder, genocide, or any other monstrous crimes that military minded people can get up to once left to stew in their barbarianism."

"The Codex is barbarism, it is simply another one of the old ways that led to the destruction of Mandalore." Korkie shot back apparently not well informed of the history of the situation.

My eyebrow raised, I said "Last I checked the SuperCommando Codex was created on Concord Dawn, and most of the fighting about it compared it to the Deathwatch Doctrine that took place outside the Mandalorian system. Though I agree that militarism left unchecked led to the destruction of much of Mandalore's surface, let us at least be honest here the True Mandalorians were not involved; that was the failures of the military traditionalists."

"Military Traditionalist, True Mandalorian, Deathwatch, they're all the same thing." Korkie said, crossing his arms.

"You are aware that our mother was a True Mandalorian before marrying our father, right?" I asked, designed to poke a hole in that little line of logic he just threw out.

Though the reaction I got was not one I expected as Korkie sat up. "Wait what, that's not true, who told you that nonsense."

"Bo-Katan, she's mentioned it once or twice during our conversations on family history." I said taking another spoon of ice cream to my lips.

"That's not true, there's no way-"

"And our grandfather wasn't exactly a peacenik either, he was called the Warlord of Kalevala for a reason, but that reason was about protecting what little peace there was in the Mandalorian sector on Kalevala. A defensive Force, if you will, using military power for the betterment of the sector." Finally Korky seemed to be thinking so it was time to strike the final blow to the thickheadedness he had been showing.

"Mandalorian history is complex, there are a lot of villains but they're also a few heroes. But to throw all the heroes out with the villains would simply be foolhardy and asking for trouble down the line. That's most likely why Satine ended the official banishment to Concordia of the Military Traditionalists."

Korkie sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead before then saying "This is getting a little too political, we should be having fun and I'm talking about stuff like this." I shrugged and nodded my agreement feeling I had completed the task I'd set out at the very least he was thinking about it and hopefully Satine would be able to push him the rest of the way into being more logical about the situation.

But that was something for another time right now I had a bowl of ice cream to finish.

711 FNM (27BBY)

Month 5

Concordia, 5 miles away from Bo-Katan Training ground

Vai-Viktis Vizla

Poking at a fire with a stick I wondered why exactly we were out here. In the three years I've known Tanya I've come to understand a lot of aspects of her. She was dedicated to being the best at whatever she chose to set her mind to be and seemed to want to have a variety of skills in case of emergency.

That being said I didn't see why we were roughing it on a 3 day trip through the hills around the training area with nothing but our armored jetpacks and blasters that were permanently set to stun as our only companions.

We had sleeping bags and tents but there was no other modern technology, which seemed odd to me. Tanya may be focused on improving herself but when she had the option for technology she seemed to always go for the technology. There were devices we could use to heat our camp that wouldn't have weighed too much but she decided to bring only a fire starter kit. And so the list of equipment went, there were modern technologies that would work better but Tanya had chosen a set of equipment that was light and would take up less room while also being more primitive.

It was frankly out of character and finally it just annoyed me enough that I had to ask. "So why didn't we bring any modern equipment?"

Tanya simply shrugged tilted her head to the side and shrugged, she was currently looking up at the sky using the function of the helmets for magnification as a telescope so she could look at the stars at least that's what she told me, "More technology you carry around, the more points of failure, as well more energy emissions you put out, which if we are being tracked in the woods you don't want to do, and finally having knowledge of how to do something the old way is important if something were to break."

"So we're out here learning to survive without technology because you like having backup plans." I asked just trying to confirm my understanding.

"Well that about sums it up, yeah." Tanya said with a very relaxed tone.

"So is that why you made the sequel to the SuperCommando code?" I asked.

I had been suspecting it for a while now, but really had no proof. Watching Tanya immediately freeze up was as good a sign as any in the direction that I suspected.

Tanya remained quiet for a moment before she shrugged "Figures you'd figure that out, I did bounce some of the ideas off of you."

"Ah ha I knew it! So spill it, why did you make it?" I asked.

"I made that thing because the current system is set up for failure when the road map to success is frankly right there and it just needed to be pointed out. I understand there are parties who do not like the New Mandalorians or my aunt Satine and that those factions will grow in power as the years go on unless something is done to stem the anti-military pacifism of the New Mandalorians as well as present a reasonable and open economy for the Old Mandalorians. That document is simply my first attempt and I'll probably release another down the line, maybe under a different name, maybe under the same name, just to keep the target off our backs."

"Huh." was really all I could say to this, she was spot on with her identification of the situation she didn't even know that I was technically spying on her for said other party. So her general idea of creating a better economic situation for people to prosper by pulling back on the Extreme pacifism of the New Mandalorians sounded perfectly fine to me. So fine I will probably be keeping this little conversation to myself and not letting my mother know. Her take on new codex had been dumb and reactionary. No that probably had mainly been because Tanya had taken a shot at the founding documents of Deathwatch in her codex.

After some time though I did come up with something to ask. "So you don't plan to try and take control of any organization that pops out of the reading of your codex?"

It was a simple but understandable question: every other leader who has ever written up a document like that had taken control and ended up claiming the role of Mandalore at one point or another and I was a bit curious if she had similar plans.

"Nah, I am perfectly fine with going to the Senate, it should be a safe enough career move. And those that read that document and started their own movement could be leaderless for a better chance at democracy to come out of it if there's no strong man leader leading it." Tanya said, waving off the idea.

Well that was good, at least I wasn't destined to be around some megalomaniac trying to take over the galaxy, though I did find it funny that she thought the Senate would be the safer option in her future. "Sure you'd rather not try singing, I think that'd be a lot safer than the Senate."

That at least got a chuckle out of her, "I'm sure it's not that bad, and besides if it does turn out to be something I can't handle, being known as a person who left the Senate to start a singing career is a good way to start such careers with positive buzz. So the option will remain open as a backup plan."

I laughed at the idea of a failed political career turning into a successful singing career but wasn't a terrible plan and I was game, would probably tick my mother off quite a bit.