Capítulo 10: Chapter 9
Concordia, Bo-Katan's Training ground
Bo-Katan Kryze
I smiled as I watched my niece and her handmaiden duke it out today in a full-contact spar. They often trained together in their off time, so they knew how each other would strike, and it created an interesting ballet of violence to watch.
It had been two years since Tanya's 13th birthday, and since then, I had gone in hard on making sure she understood how to fly a jetpack and could handle herself in an unarmed fight. Back then, I might have been exaggerating to Satine that Tanya was sent by the Kad Ha'rangir. Now, I might be starting to believe that maybe it wasn't as big of an exaggeration as I thought.
As demonstrated when Tanya deflected a right cross, before grabbing Vai's wrist to put it in a wristlock, pulling her closer so Tanya could knee her abdomen, and then finishing it off with a hip throw into the sparring mat. The little Vizla is using the Vizsla style of fighting, which focuses on aggression and using every part of their body as a weapon, with knees, elbows, and even the head being used to deliver blow after blow to their enemies until they can't fight anymore. This makes her the perfect sparring partner for Tanya who is being taught with the Kryze style of combat.
I had always known that Tanya was talented in the art of war when she field stripped her blaster when she hadn't seen one before. However, it became much more apparent when I was teaching her the various weaknesses of the humanoid body as well as the various joint locks and throws in the Kryze style of martial art, which focuses on targeting weak points like the abdomen, knees, face, and neck for a quick and efficient finish. Tanya absorbed my knowledge like a sponge absorbing water and put my lessons to use very quickly.
Vai also hadn't been idle during training. After getting countered and joint locked multiple times, she is now more prepared to adapt whenever her attack is blocked so she can transition to defense or launch a new attack to force Tanya to abandon her counter. Tanya, by contrast, is now more willing to pry open any openings she sees after Vai learned to cover and minimize her openings. Tanya is using the fact that she is wearing armor to power through blows to deliver her own retaliation. The saying of Beskar sharpening Beskar is very evident here as both improved by leap and bounds.
I am confident that Tanya will be more than capable of defending herself by the time she is sent to Coruscant. If anyone decides that she would be an easy target, they will be in for a big surprise. From my understanding of the Senate, which was barely anything, weapons were not permitted on the premises, even though I'm not sure how armor would class. Wait, Mandalorian armor was often portrayed as a weapon in its own right, even when you do not factor in the built-in flamethrowers, gauntlet shields, or knee-mounted rockets so that is probably a no go on the armor.
There is a whole tactic named after the Old Capitol, Keldabe Kiss, also known as a helmeted headbutt. Technically you could also use the name for the non-head-butt kiss often shared between lovers who didn't want to take their helmets off in a war zone. It was all about the proper amount of force used to determine which was which.
For instance, the headbutt Tanya just received looks like it hurt quite a bit. So that was not a sign of affection between those two. That was just beating the kriff out of each other. But Tanya seemed to take that in stride; she only staggered back a few steps. Vai continued the offensive with a flurry of punches until Tanya counters by grabbing Vai's left hand, that overextended from delivering a punch, to hold her in place before Tanya launches a sidekick that slams into Vai's left hip, that pushes Vai back a several paces. Giving Tanya the space she needed to reform her defense and take a breather.
Both combatants eyed each other as they stood there, likely to think up their next plan of attack. At some signal only heard by the two of them, they charged right back into the action. Vai feinted with a right hook but instead went for a left cross, while Tanya intended to block Vai's right hook and deliver a gut punch simultaneously. Tanya's attack landed first, while Vai's attack missed by a small margin as Tanya got inside Vai's guard. Taking advantage of the close proximity, Tanya launched a rising knee into Vai's ribs and simultaneously she also delivered a devastating elbow strike at the top of Vai's helmet.
Before Tanya could deliver another series of attacks, Vai charged forward into Tanya and lifted her up before slamming her down into the mat. Recovering quickly, Tanya quickly rolled out of the way of a stomp to her torso before needing to roll even further away to dodge Vai's snap kick to her torso. After getting back to her feet, Tanya is greeted with Vai continuing the offensive.
I was proud of what I was seeing. Tanya was shaping up to be a damn good fighter. Although she isn't as devoted to the Old Ways, I had noted over the time I trained her that she enjoyed fighting, she enjoyed flying, but she also seemed to enjoy the political parties that Satine brought her to. And from what I had seen, she seemed just as capable of being polite and courteous as any other New Mandalorian.
She was shaping up to be kind of the best of both worlds and that intrigued me. With so many people choosing sides in the shadows, it was kind of a refreshing take to see someone decide to take neither in the light.
And it appears to be rubbing off on my sister a bit. Three years ago, she ended the banishment to Concordia. Now they weren't paying to get people back on the planet, but it was now an option for them to return to Mandalore. A few people had taken up the offer, others had stayed simply because Concordia was in a better condition than Mandalore, and that was just a simple fact.
Two years ago, through the consent of the council, the embargo on armors had been dropped. There were still restrictions, but those restrictions were that armor could only be built for defensive reasons, mounted missiles, and flamethrowers were still strictly illegal since those are still considered weapons. It was a massive change in the official stance of the leader of the New Mandalorians.
And I'd expected more screaming and outrage from the New Mandalorians, while that had happened, besides that one rally on Kalevala which was mainly old men and women from the pre-Clan Wars era walking around with signs, the political backlash had been minimal.
At least from the New Mandalorians, the Old Mandalorians have an even stranger backlash, one that I wasn't really a fan of. Pre Vizsla the so-called Secret Mandalore have been organizing people for nearly a decade at this point. What he was organizing them for varies depending on the year but it mainly seems to just be helping the Old Mandalorians acclimate to Concordia and survive.
But when my sister's stance started to soften on the Old Way, he had made a few statements that were quite pointed that this was an attempt to drive a wedge between the Old Clans so they could be broken apart and easily dealt with in some final climactic battle.
That had raised my eyebrow a bit and a few other people's as well, so a lot of people still bought into the idea that someday they would need to fight against Satine and her faithless in order to preserve the existence of Mandalorian culture. The idea that she would soften her approach sounded a little far-fetched and to her sounded like an attempt to keep control of the Older Clans that had voted for him to be Mandalore. Nothing I really changed, a large portion of the Clans still saw him as their leader during these tough times but the Clans that voted for Satine were interested in seeing where this situation would develop.
Most of those clans were old friends, people she fought with during the Clan Wars after her father had died, so it was understandable they would still side with her. Really, she didn't want to be leading any of the clans, she liked to fight, but ruling was something else entirely. The only reason she put her name into the political ring all those years ago was simply because of what she'd seen during the Clan Wars.
When someone had family on both sides of a conflict, there was a better chance the family would survive. If things ever got so bad that the cold conflict exploded into a real war, her plan was to try and secure Satine and exile her over outright murder.
And with 30% of the Old Clans supporting me I had a good feeling she could pull it off. At the very least whoever was in command of the Old Clans when the conflict burst into flames they would have to listen to her a little bit.
But now the situation was changing, it was thanks to that Silver Codex that had been propagated a few years back. The name on the codex was obviously fake so no one knew who was behind it.
However, without knowing who this unknown Mandalorian was, there wasn't much anyone could do about it other than making assumptions about why the document had been written. And the documents that were presented were intriguing for a lot of people on both sides.
There are a lot of good ideas in this document, ways of seeing the situation that had not been presented by many of the current political houses. New Mando houses were always pushing for conformity with pacification. Old Mandos were either hiding their opinions or getting themselves banished from Mandalore for demanding outright militarization again.
But the recontextualization of the military as a defensive force for good? That was something both sides could tolerate. It gave the Old Houses a way of working out their military backgrounds and passing down their traditions whilst giving the New Houses an easy out on the military question since they were all presented as a defensive measure.
The argument being something like 'The Royal Guard is a defensive measure for the Duchess, the police force is a defensive measure against smugglers, why not have a defensive force against something like the Trade Federation?'
So far, that particular argument in the document, one for a Self-Defense Force, had not taken off completely. But the notion of having the ability to fend for themselves against an invasion like that was acceptable. Mix that middle of the line strategy with Tanya's own refusal to choose one side or the other way of living. I had kind of hoped that maybe there was some way for both factions to coexist in peace.
Time would tell after all, oh I knew for sure Zum was happy with the way things were going. He didn't have to steal scrap and nearly broken weapons from abandoned bunkers and fortresses anymore to sell to the highest bidder. The moment he heard he could officially make armor on Mandalore again he'd shown up asking if he could have the first floor of the old mining complex I use for a training grounds.
And I wasn't exactly going to say no, since we were old friends and he was willing to work on the armor I'd liberated from Satine. Since then he's gone a bit overboard rebuilding his armor business. Most of his pieces were handcrafted from what hidden cache of Beskar he had hidden over the years. What few non-beskar items he produced for the non-mando market he had his droids mass produce helmets and armor from plasteel. Who was he selling that stuff to? I wasn't really going to ask but he seemed happy to be working without having to travel the system.
My thoughts were interrupted as Vai got the upper hand. Tanya attacked with a right hook, Vai blocked with her left arm whilst punching Tanya in her helmet with her right cross. This stunned Tanya long enough for Visla to crouch low to the ground, put Tanya on her knees by elbowing her thigh, before finishing the combo by delivering a rising knee directly into Tanya's helmet, leaving her sprawled on the sparring mat. After it was clear that Tanya couldn't continue, I decided to call the match over.
"Alright, alright that's enough. Vai wins this round." I called, taking a step forward as I winced a little bit at seeing that, a knee to the helmet is never fun to be on the receiving end. You are thankful Mando armor has a nice cushioning under-layer to absorb blows like that. Otherwise Tanya may need a visit to the hospital that you can't hide from Satine.
The Vai followed Tanya's lead and collapsed on the mat too, taking a moment to catch their breath I assume. They eventually pulled off their helmets and smiled weakly at each other. It was good to see them being friends even after that brutal match.
Walking up to them, I said, "Not a bad fight. I think you need to improve your stamina and to keep calm under pressure Tanya. You were getting noticeably slower after 8 minutes in, and when you get tired, you get sloppier. You counter less and attack more often even when Vai has a rock-solid defense."
Tanya chuckled at that as if that was something she had expected. "Sorry, auntie Bo, I'll try and keep it a clearer head next time though. That is difficult when your head is ringing and out of breath. "
Vai simply shrugged and said "Maybe don't leave an opening on your head next time, princess." Applying a gentle ribbing.
Tanya smiled, and shrugged, "If that's how we're playing it, expect me to do the same."
"As any true Mandalorian should, our armor gives us advantages in close quarters fights and we should always be willing to use those advantages whenever you are in said fights. Shooting an enemy from a distance is preferable to getting in close but if they do get in close you'll want that fight over quickly, especially if they have any weapons that could get around your armor and cause more damage than a little burnt skin." I said trying to turn this into a teaching moment and probably failing admirably.
The two girls seemed to take it in stride and nodded their agreement, so I'll take that as someone working.
713 FNM (25BBY)
Month 9
Mandalore, Sundari, Royal Palace
Satine Kryze
As I entered the Royal Hall, I saw my three closest advisors already deep in conversation.
Governor Pre Vizsla, Prime minister Almec, and Deputy Minister Jerec were standing instead of sitting. Apparently, the staff had not yet brought in the chairs that I usually had brought in for my bi-monthly meetings.
"Good afternoon, gentlemen." I said as I walked over to the three. It was responded to with a chorus of respectful "Duchess's."
"Seems the staff is behind schedule today, but we'll just have to make do. Is there anything major that needs to be brought up?" I said looking at the three. I would need to find out what had happened with the staff. Ever since the head of staff, Laerthurt Spurd quit last year I have been having some trouble finding a competent and trust-worthy replacement to handle his duties.
Deputy Minister Jerec spoke up for saying "There was a bit of a kerfuffle last night during the anti-militarism protest, about 50 people waving banners for Kalevala Independence but nothing too serious."
"Why is that their second protest in 2 years? I would have expected more." I said, frankly a little shocked by how little there were in the way of reactionaries to my attempts to quell any issues in the future. Then again we were just letting them protest and allowing them to have their say. It wasn't like I was pushing for the idea of a self-defense force for the system. If I did that I was sure I'd hear something a bit more loud and angry from the protesters.
"Most folks tend to agree that having the ability to defend ourselves against outside threats is a reasonable statement. Lots of folks like to point out that there seems to be some apologizing going around when it comes to the early days of Mandalore but that's more of an ethical debate that has nothing to do with the general idea of self-defense." Jerec suggested before continuing, "Frankly I believe that if we keep all militarization too minimal and simply prosecute anyone who openly calls for full militarization and return to the old days while building up weapon caches, we should be able to keep a stable situation on Kalevala."
Prime minister Almec nodded at his agreement before he said "I'll put a little bit more work on the Mandalorian Guard but they should be able to do it. Honestly, that police organization has been getting a bit too lax these last few years. They could use the work to keep them sharp and prevent corruptible forces taking root. That reminds me, Jerec have you been getting any reach outs from MandalMotors? "
Jerec raised an eyebrow before he said "Yes in fact, I have MandalMotors reached out about renting space at our Kalevala Spaceworks but they were turned down."
"That's good, they seem a little too active recently for my liking." Almec said
"Is there something you're concerned about with MandalMotors?" I asked out of curiosity. MandelMotors was formerly headquartered in the Old Capital of Mandalore, Keldabe, before that City had been turned into rubble a decade before. Ever since then, they had gone on from producing large warships to producing light ships, mostly shuttles and such. I knew that they weren't mainly manufacturing in Mandalore though, there were several other spaceports in the sector that they worked out of.
"They came to me a while back with a new design transport ship with the capabilities of a heavy fighter. I think they thought we might be militarizing and saw an opportunity to try and get in on the ground floor. I turned them down, of course but without that move I was wondering if they were trying anything elsewhere in the system." Almec answered.
"Kalevala Spaceworks has the facilities to build something much larger than a heavy fighter. That's where the new fleet of yachts is being created. Perhaps they want to try and get back into the warship business." Jerec suggested.
This was an interesting situation, and if it was ten years ago, I would have come down hard on MandalMotors immediately, but now. "Mandalore will not be producing any weapons of war on any large scale.'' I made it clear right after the bat. But taking a breath, I then said, "However, if they wish to design a new cargo freighter that could be armed in an emergency, we would be willing to talk to them on this. The Trade Federation has already proven that it is a reasonable stance to take, and protecting ourselves from pirates or other threats is a reasonable stance. No, we will never buy any of these ships officially for Mandalore, but I have heard Ordo is in the market for such a vessel."
"So, in essence, we stayed true to our policy of pacifism by selling ships that could be equipped with guns to our allies, not the worst plan in the world and would bring in a neat profit. MandalMotors used to bring in 50% of the income for the Mandalorian sector, now it barely makes 5%. The ships they made were some of the best ever created in the Outer Rim, and some of them are still in service. There's still a lot of goodwill towards their products, and if they're allowed to produce something in Mandalore, that might at least bump their income for us to 10%." Pre said, rubbing his chin, "We'll also be bringing back jobs that were lost by the dissolution of the warship market. I know the plan was to have yachts fill that niche in the market of jobs but let's be serious here, at current production rate, they'll be only six yachts completed by the end of 710. A lot of rich people would buy those yachts as a sign of prestige, but if we built light freighters, the more middle-class market would be open to purchase from us and provide a more stable source of revenue."
"So we'll play ball with MandalMotors, to keep an eye on them to make sure they don't go too gun-happy with their designs," Almec said.
"As long as they can produce ships that are reasonable that can have non-military use as their main goal, we will be willing to talk with them. That is the bare minimum. We won't be rewarding them with any major contracts, just telling them what would be acceptable to be constructed in this system." I suggested.
That seemed to lead to a couple of nods of agreement before Pre spoke up. "What about Mandal Hypernautics? What should we do if they come knocking?"
"Tell them no. While MandalMotors at least dabbled in civilian industry, Mandel Hypernautics did not." They had been a competitor for MandalMotors before the Mandalorian Civil War and had been driven off-world when they sided with Deathwatch. Nowadays, they're mainly headquartered out of the Mandalorian Sector on the world of Gargon. One of the places outside the reach of my authority as it was too remote and isolated. Not to mention it had been run by gangsters and mercenaries for the last decade and a half.
"Anything else major I should know about?" I asked, curious about the state of things in the Mandalorian Sector.
Jerec shrugged and started to list off the major issues in the Sector that were always brought up at these kinds of meetings. "Mandallia is refusing communication like always. Althir is still asking to be recognized as not part of the Mandalorian Sector by the Republic. Harswee and Jakelia are in general in support of the new lighter touch we are taking with the Old Mandalorians. Krownest acknowledges our existence, which is better than it was last year when they still refuse to even say anything other than that Mandalore was occupied by anyone other than the Dead. Ordo is… Ordo, besides sending general support our way, they have endeavored to try and create trade between the Mandalore system on their own. The only real major thing going on is The governor of Concord Dawn had to send their Journeyman Protectors off-world to deal with an attempted Pirate invasion of, Vorpa'ya."
"That's not good. A significant portion of our food supplies come from those two planets, has the situation been resolved?"
"At the moment? Yes, though they do admit they would like some additional support to make the job easier and safer. I believe we do have a charter that allows the Royal Guard to be dispatched when an issue could affect food supplies coming into Mandalore. If you don't mind, I will assign a company to be sent to support their Journeyman Protectors."
I had to think about this. Getting involved in sector politics in such a way was not normally something I did with the Royal Guard. However, this did represent a step in creating a constitutional charter on the use of the military. Showing that the Royal Guard could be employed as a defensive force off-world as long as they were called upon for support by the world in question, could be used to justify the idea that such military endeavors were possible without resulting in full-scale war economy. An example like that wouldn't immediately change everyone's mind, but it would be something to be pointed at over the years.
Finally, I nod in approval, "Yes, that is acceptable, however make sure the Royal Guard members chosen for this operation are some of the best we have. I don't want to accidentally start some sort of war because one Royal Guard insulted a Journeyman Protector."
Jerec nodded his agreement.
"Anything else we need to discuss that has to do with the matters of inter-sector politics?"
"Depends if you consider some of the Mandalorians who are outside our sector something to worry about?" Pre Vizsla said.
"Normally no, but since you brought them up, what has got you so concerned, Governor?" I asked, "you never seem to bring such subjects up normally."
"That Silver Codex has had an interesting effect outside our sector. The Council of Mandalorian Workers from Anteevy denounce it as being anti-revolutionary."
"Wait, those crazy ice worlders? They care about what happens in the Mandalorian Sector? I thought they were too busy building droids for the highest bidder."
"Apparently they still do. I'm not very familiar with what goes on in that system. But their entire economy is built around building more resources together in case of a war. And they were somewhat competitive for contracts with the Mandalorian Traditionalist before everything went to hell. Honestly, I think they are just worried that Mandalore is going to start producing weapons again, which will cut into their margins.
"Should we be worried about them taking any action against Mandalore?" I asked.
"On their own? No, but there are other factions that could support them that have their own reasons to have issues with us changing how we do things."
"Continue," I said, curious what factions of Mandalorians might try to interfere in my sector.
"King Gokus of Alzar, technically they are not Mandalorian in culture. But they were conquered by Mandalorians a long time ago and still see us as sort of brothers. The king's been making statements that could be seen as efforts to justify him taking over his sector. Again, on his own, he doesn't have the military capacity to pull this off, but I can see him supporting rebel groups to undermine our rule.
And support could be found on Shogun, the Shogun of Shogun. Yes I know there is something weird with that planet, has officially denounced the Silver Codex as heresy and anti-war. Thankfully Shogun is on the other side of the Galaxy from the other two, but they have the manpower to support the other two if they were to make a move."
Prime Minister Almec shook his head and muttered, "Are there any Mandalorian factions outside our sector that don't hate us? We get enough of this inside our sector."
Pre shrugged, "Depends on what you consider Mandalorian, Tetrarch. Anarak IV has not said anything for or against us but that's mainly because they're fiercely independent and just want to stay out of all conflicts. They don't even have a senator representing them in the Republic. They just exist on their own terms.
And well, Cathar is its own mess of tribal councils. It is not a united power but something like 40% of the population consider themselves Mandalorian. Some of them might like us, some of them might hate us, I don't really know, they're too busy with their own clan rivalries to care about what happens off their planet. Even if they somehow did, you'd need to make an official statement asking them about it. In the end, it would be against us though, there are a lot of deep scars from the Mandalorian Wars that they still remember, and that would influence their opinion about us."
I breathed in and took a deep breath. Just because things needed to be going well in the Mandalorian Sector didn't mean everything was going well, and this reminded me there were other factions out there that had personal issues with what happens in Mandalore. But it sounded like everything was stable as is.
"So," I began, "unless there is something that would majorly destabilize the Mandalorian Sector, we should be clear from those other three factions then?"
"As long as everything is stable, the New Mandalorian rule is safe," Pre said.
"Then there is nothing major to worry about. We've been in this situation for nearly ten years, and we've held on well enough. I think things are even improving now. There might be a few factions paying more attention to what's going on now, but hopefully, with the support of the Sector, we can keep these Rabble Rousers out of our system.
There are a trio of nods from my counsel as they agreed with my assessment.
Mandalore, Sundari, Royal Palace
Tanya Kryze
Understanding the diplomatic situation of Mandalore was a complex and very thoroughly enlightening experience. But to understand the diplomatic situation, one must understand its history and trade networks.
The Neo Crusaders had basically screwed every generation that came after them that had common sense. With their rampant genocides mixed with conquering nearly half of the known Galaxy at the time, had basically burnt all goodwill that could be applied within the local region.
As a result, Mandalore was isolated even as it joined up with the Republic. When you see what trade networks are available from the Republic, you would find that most of them came from the southern end of the Galaxy. Areas that had been relatively untouched by the Neo Crusaders or their touch was so light that the memories of whatever atrocities they committed had fallen into history.
It almost felt like we were a pariah state, but at least a pariah state that had superweapons and was actually deserving of such fear and repulsion. New Mandalorians had been in charge for nearly 15 years at this point, and yet everyone was still acting like any day now, the Military Traditionionalist would flip over the board at the Senate and declare that the Mandalorian Empire was back.
Ah, the Simpsons, I wonder if they got any better after my death. Probably not, though. They had been trending downward long before I was hit by the train.
It didn't help that our relations with the Galactic Peacekeepers i.e., the Jedi, were strained at best. Mandalorians and Jedi did not get along. Why did we not get along? I'm still trying to figure that out. Lots and lots of research had told me that the Jedi were basically a Monastic order devoted to the Force and the capabilities it gave them.
It sounded like they were praying to some sort of being for powers and getting them, but I would withhold my fear and consternation until I got an actual Jedi in front of me to talk to. Besides that, they didn't seem to see the Mandalorians as an existential threat. They had helped with several Mandalorian issues over the centuries. Seems the only reason the two tended to fight was that Mandalorians of the time were on a warpath or sought the Jedi as they were considered the ultimate warrior, a space wizard, and one that they could prove their worth against if you could beat them that is. While the Jedi saw the Mandalorians as barbarians and warmongers for most of their history. They weren't wrong, but there were moments where they had come to aligned goals.
Apparently, Clan Ordo had played a large role in improving relations. At least that is what my pen pal from Ordo said. Engiz Ordo had a good head on his shoulders and had obviously seen that having good relations with me was an excellent chance to improve relations between our two planets in the future and he offered his services as a minor historian to me. He had even invited me to his homeworld a couple of times to see some of the more delicate and secretive documents they had.
I will note I was intrigued several times, but my training schedule did not allow for many vacations off-world, and the few that I did have are usually within the Mandalorian System. So I had turned him down, for now. Though I figured I'd have a chance to officially visit once I took part in the senatorial delegation to the Republic. Sooner or later, I would build up vacation time, and if there's one thing about vacation time that seemed universal across multiple universes, it was either use it or lose it.
But back on to the matter of Jedi, as far as I could tell, wherever the Jedi went the Galaxy usually followed. They were an important key element in maintaining the peace, and if you crossed the Jedi, you usually did not survive long. The Sith though, is apparently an offshoot of the Jedi, though the answer if that was true or not seems to be muddled through history. I was leaning towards it being an offshoot as that would make sense to me that an organization would expel remnants of itself that didn't fit the mold that they were trying to craft. They have since attacked the Old Republic several times, and the Jedi had been there to blunt attack each time. Till the Jedi ultimately won.
How they won this little competition between wizards, I was unaware of the full details. But for the last thousand years, the Sith appeared to have been dead, so I would assume it required the Jedi to pull a little genocide.
Just because their order acts like they're faithful and good doesn't mean they aren't above atrocities. They had been involved in the Mandalorian Excision 700 years ago that had basically destroyed all heavy industry within the Mandalorian Sector. There were apparently several planets that used to be massive ship construction yards rendered so inhospitable they were either lifeless balls of dirt with no air or toxic poisonous swamps.
That doesn't happen unless a concerted effort to remove a problem is undertaken. For beings who had been granted magical powers, I am sure they were abusing it for their own ends. Not that I wouldn't, I just would prefer not to be the usual target of said abuse.
I briefly wondered if there was some way to gain use of these Force Powers, though from what I could understand, you had to be born with it. And the only ones who apparently had access to the technology to check if you have those abilities are the Jedi themselves, sneaky little behavior there. What's the best way to make sure no competing organization comes into existence but make sure the only way to find out you have those powers is through your organization?
Not to mention their policy about taking them young was concerning. If you were to believe Zum's stories about the Jedi, they often traveled around the Galaxy looking for infants to steal. Now I doubt they actually stole them but to be honest, taking kids from their parents at a young age was not a healthy act for anyone involved. And I could see why the Mandalorians who put family as one of the main tenets of their culture would take issue and probably keep the Jedi out of their system.
Though I do wonder how long that practice had been in place. At least a thousand years ago, there were a few Mandalorian Jedi. There was a brief period of peace before the fall of the Old Republic allowed such a weird concept to come to be.
But anyways, whenever the Mandalorians were on the side of the Jedi, and their peacekeeping operations, things usually turned out well for them. There are often references and texts from the Jedi about how the Force was rewarding them for making the right choice and punishing them for making the wrong choice. When those things happened, I didn't put much thought into it as that seemed a lot like karma and I just did not want to believe in karma as that was hippie bullcrap. More likely acting as peacekeepers resulted in less stress in the area allowing for more trading of resources to the barbarian warlords being more acceptable in the initial period after such an event.
That being said the stigma was so high now we needed any amount of goodwill, so if we could find some way to get that goodwill that would be very helpful.
The problem was that Mandalore was not a major roadway. A surprising thing considering they have had an empire at one point you would assume that they would have created some sort of direct road leading through their territory to Mandalore but it would seem that the way hyper lanes were explored and created was not enforced in the region of Mandalore or it had been destroyed long ago.
In essence we were a small town a mile away from the freeway on both sides, there was no reason to go through our territory and no reason to stay. The only people who cared about the Mandalorian Sector were other mandalorians.
We weren't even a good holdover place between those two major thoroughways as there were pathways connecting them both to the north and south of us on most galactic maps.
Most trade came from the Corporate Sectors, an experiment in how far you could push corporations before they broke the rules of human dignity. And you're either using roads much closer to the Corporate Sector which leads into Hutt Space, a gangster-filled crime den, or the Core Worlds which were where most people wanted to be, the economic power of the Galaxy came from the core. Mandalore was Mid Rim to Outer Rim, we weren't important to the Galaxy.
That's not to say we didn't get our fair share of trade coming through, but the solution I think could be rectified in the coming years, was the Sector becoming a safe place to park.
It was just off to being a route that someone could take a stop to rest at but it was also just far enough off the road that if a pirate was daring enough, they could raid cargo that were manned by humans while passing by. This is why droids were often used for said freighters as they didn't need to pull off the road to stop at Mandalore for rest, they could just continue on to their destination.
Funny enough there was kind of a cure for this situation that I could think of, but it would not fly with the cultural environment of Mandalore. Las Vegas was never going to pass as a model for the rebuilding of Mandalore. Both the Old and the New would absolutely scream their heads off at that idea.
But the main point was that Mandalore had to be turned into some sort of stop for galactic trade. There had to be some sort of reason, otherwise anything we did inside the sector would stay inside the sector.
Mandalore used to have a large shipping industry. Maybe I should try poking at that subject with Duchess Satine. I knew they were using the old shipyards for the yacht project but they could easily be converted for cargo vessels. Maybe a sort of freighter repair stop, while their ship is being maintained, they could partake in Mandalore's other activities or the local cuisine. Another idea to run by Duchess Satine.
So much to do and so little time. It was only four months till my 16th birthday. Besides another dastardly party being prepared, I was to have another dress fit for the event.
I was spending most of my days studying the region in depth. Granted, I wouldn't need to know too much. The Senator and Prince Tal Merrik would be the leader of the delegation, and at least for the first few years I was just going to be there to learn. But I was fairly intrigued by how botched the whole Mandalorian situation was by the Republic.
The New Mandalorians were a great way to bring the Mandalorians into the Senate and make them more part of the galactic community, but they had basically been put in power after the Old Mandalorians had been conquered and then left to their own devices.
It frankly reminded me how lucky Japan was that there had been another threat right around the corner after the US defeated us in World War II. Although the Marshall Plan had been primarily to aid their allies in Europe, Japan had been aided quite a bit by it and that was due to the simple factor that there was a bigger threat waiting around the corner with the Soviet Union.
If the Republic had done more than just open markets and tried to contribute to the rebuilding efforts of Mandalore, the whole sector would be in a better condition than it had been before the Clan Wars, maybe even the civil war.
I wondered if there was a way to see that investment capital find its way to Mandalore without causing too many issues for both parties. That was something I would have to see about when I got to the Senate. I could study the history of every system and sector but the fact of the matter was until I spoke to the senators there and their corporate interests, to wine and dine them, I wouldn't know what was possible and what wasn't. Since the Senate was a fickle thing, making up its mind depending on whatever issue moved its heart the best at the time.
Only time would tell if I'd be able to move its heart in the general direction of goodwill for Mandalore. Getting out of the sector would be good for my own survival, on the off chance that someone who was not aligned with my opinions ever figured out I was the creator of the Silver Codex, it would be good to have contacts outside of Mandalore. Sure I had gotten the go-ahead from Satine but I was no fool. If things got really bad it would be better to cut ties of some political ward than to protect them.
Thankfully everything was proceeding as I had hoped and the middle ground was winning in the long term. All that's left is to see how long that would last before a new issue popped up.
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