章 15: Chapter 13
714 FNM (24BBY)
Month 5
Coruscant, Senate Building, Senatorial Office of the Mandalorian Sector
Count Dooku
Asset or threat, asset or threat. What would the Senator of Mandalore turn out to be? It was a shame I had to look at the galaxy in such a way. But I was on a knife's edge, one false step and the game would be over.
The plan was entering the final stages, he just had a few other assets to acquire, before the Separatists could make their intentions known.
And one of these assets that would prove invaluable are the Mandalorians. Not only were their martial prowess something that could come in handy, but the sector itself would prove invaluable for moving troops between some of the potential fronts that may develop in the war to come. The fact that they sat just off a major Trade Lane was also a potentially useful situation.
The only real problem was the pacifist government that had taken root since the last time I have been in the Mandalore Sector. But the pacifist government's nature was to side with the Republic no matter what, and that was a problem. One I'd been working to solve for the last year and a half.
And I thought I'd finally had the situation under control. The Senator of Mandalore was like any other senator, easily corruptible and full of vices. One of the reasons I believed they should be done away with, the political class that allowed so much suffering and pain in the universe had no place in it especially with the way their xeno corporations run everything into the ground. But those corporations will have to wait, they were useful assets for now, after the plan was completed they would be dealt with as the threats they really were.
My thoughts were interrupted as the door banged open as the Senator of Mandalore entered in an annoyed huff. "Stupid child, when will she know to stop making deals like that behind my back ? " He said, moving towards his desk without looking in my direction.
"Problems? Senator Merrik?" I asked from the guest seats I've been waiting in. The senator looked utterly shocked seeing me there. Which was to be expected, I didn't have the luxury of announcing my presence in such meetings this close to the final stage of the plan. Pretty soon trips like this to Coruscant would become a rare, and dangerous affair in reality and not just the possibility that someone might try to assassinate or arrest me.
"No Count Dooku, everything's perfectly fine. Just settled with a new representative who's a bit too eager to make a name for herself." Ah, the perfect politician having to deal with a younger more go-getting politician, a fate I only wished on more politicians. The poor girl, whoever she may be, would end up just as corrupt as the rest but he hoped she caused him enough pain between now and then to make it entertaining.
"Well, as long as it's only a trivial matter there is no reason to talk further on it. We have other less trivial matters to discuss." I said as I took a datapad from my cape and laid it on the table.
Senator Tal Merrik sat down across from me and picked up the tablet. Looking it over before looking up at me and asking, "The Silver Codex? I'm not exactly seeing the issue that would bring you here. This is simply a passing fad, a childish fantasy of what could be."
"It may be a fantasy, but it has disturbed elements of the alliance." The Workers Council of Anteevy had been hounding me about the issues they had with this Codex and King Gokus of Alzar was in no better shape. The only good that had come out of the existence of this Codex was that the planet Shogun had officially signed onto the Alliance. They, up till recently, maintained a neutral stance but the Codex would have seemed to have angered them quite clearly enough that they were willing to drop that stance.
"Not to mention your Death Watch planned on deepening the general anger within the population about the demilitarization of society. From what I understand, this Silver Codex has taken off and is re-militarizing but in a less violent way. If the plan to stage a populous uprising is falling through, I would like to know now rather than find out at a rather inconvenient time such as when we're trying to move forces through your Sector."
Senator Merrik simply waved my concerns off and said, "As much as the Silver Codex appears popular with the public, it is not all encompassing or taking root in the government. The Duchess of Mandalore is still a New Mandalorian, a peaceful pacifist who wants nothing to do with military conflict. There might be a little less upwelling than what we want but Mandalore will fall with a few pushes for the Separatist cause."
"For your sake, I hope you're right. I believe your career will end rather quickly if it turns out, you cannot deliver on your promises." I said, looking at him closely watching for any signs of falsehood. I already had a few senators try and pull the wool over my eyes, promising that they would join the separatist cause but then mysteriously never show up to the meetings or sign off any secret paperwork.
I had already had to deal with them through various assassins and bounty hunters. And the replacements did tend to be more willing. Especially when you leave plenty of implications that it was the Republic doing the removal of threats and not himself of course.
"The situation is well in hand, I'm sure the Silver Codex will be a long forgotten fad by the time the war starts." The senator said matter of factly, catching my interest.
"You believe they'll be at war and they won't let the systems that have signed on leave without the issue?"
"Considering what they did to Mandalore 700 years ago just for trying to create a separate system? Oh yes, the Republic will never let it stand. They'll do something, even if they don't have an army right now they will put one together. I doubt it'll be very successful but they will try."
'Well at least you're a realist.' I thought before saying out loud. "Then let us hope that they prove very incompetent in this war if it comes to that."
Before I could make a move to get up and get on with the rest of my day, I had a dozen meetings like this across Coruscant, a knock came from the door, indicating someone was wanting to come in. There weren't many escape routes from a Senatorial Office so I simply prepared to use a technique that would silence my presence in the Force. On a Force sensitive it wouldn't work but on a mundane person without sensitivity, they would simply not even realize I was there. Of course Senator Merrik would know I was there because he'd just been talking to me. Which was one of those key factors that I need to keep track of when using such abilities.
Waving that he may let the person in, I simply sat there and reached for a glass of water I had poured myself before the senator had arrived.
"Come on in." he called to the door, getting up and heading for his desk.
The door opened when a two young blond girls stepped into the room. Her dress was a typical New Mandalorian style, so most likely the young politician who had been causing Senator Merrik so many issues. This would prove entertaining. I was literally a fly on the wall as he had to deal with a young replacement.
Turning to the senator she said, "Good morning Senator, I wanted to talk to you about the deal with the Ithorians. They reached out to me and said that they may be more willing to work with us on the Mandalore Sector project, if we were to support a few bills that would increase funding to terraforming across the Galaxy."
'Young politicians, so full of hope and dreams, she must think she's doing good or that whatever she does will come to some fruition.' I thought as the girl said "Oh I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?"
My thoughts were immediately sideswiped as the girl looked directly at me. For a moment I thought I may have made a mistake and not done enough to quiet myself in the Force but looking past her I saw the blonde girl all of a sudden looking at me with shock, as if I had just appeared out of thin air. My power worked, the girl was simply Force sensitive, and rather good at seeing through basic illusions if I had to guess.
Senator Merrik simply shrugged and said, "We were having a little discussion. The meeting is almost over. Nothing to worry about, as for your deal with the Ithorians. I can see about supporting a few of their measures, as long as it doesn't affect Mandalore too badly and we get a bit of a knock off on the deal for a few planets in the Mandalore Sector, we will probably be willing to support this, I'll reach out to them and see if we can work out a final deal on that. Is there anything else you need to talk to me about before I get back to my meeting?"
"No Senator Merrik, I simply wanted to share the news, and keep you apprised of what I'm working on."
"Alright well, I will finish my meeting and then I will see about contacting the Ithorians, you may go." He said indicating that they are dismissed which they dutifully curtsy and left. I sat there for a moment staring after them trying to determine what I was going to do about this situation. But before I could really start my dissection of what just happened, Senator Merrik began to talk.
"That girl is after my job, I suspected as much when I first saw her but this is just more proof."
"She seems very committed to her sector, I don't see exactly why you're sure she's after your job."
"It's simple, she's the niece of the Duchess, no doubt she's been promised my job and is attempting to ensure that when the time comes there's no better candidates. At least that's what I think her initial plan is. I worry that she's going to try and push me out completely before I'm ready for retirement. That's why I've been trying to prevent her from having any major meetings with other senators, stunt her political power growth as it were, so that she does not get any ideas about replacing me before I'm ready to leave."
I nodded but in my own mind I didn't really care. I took in his thoughts but mine were in the other situation if it was more important than the ramblings of a senator worried about losing his job.
The girl had seen through a minor illusion as if it was nothing. That was a definite sign of Force sensitivity, not only that she was a Mandalorian noble no less. She had no training which meant she was relatively powerful as Force sensitivity goes. I doubted that she'd be able to see through heavier illusions, those that are made by the Sith were far too complex to simply walk in and spot like she had just done. So she was not a threat to the plan, but she could be if I was ever required to do something in the Senatorial building after the war began. Although as an asset she was possibly priceless, someone who could just instantly see through illusions, that could be useful for dealing with Darth Sidious when his time came.
"What is that girl's name?" I asked matter of factly, "Just in case I need to arrange her removal from the board I'd like to know who to send the people after."
The senator gave me a raised eyebrow before saying, "Tanya Kryze, as I said she's the niece of the Duchess and is always protected by at least six Royal Guards as well as her handmaiden. She's probably the most protected asset of Mandalore on the planet so I don't think we'll be removing her from the board anytime soon."
I nodded that was a good point, perhaps after Mandalore had been forced to join the Confederacy I would arrange her kidnapping. A few years of training and suffering would turn her into a proper apprentice. Even if that could not be accomplished during the coming war. My Dark Jedi order, the Fist of the Empire that Sidious promised me, would not take no for an answer in recruitment so I could easily acquire her then.
I'll just have to be patient, see what opportunities the Force would lay before me.
Coruscant, Senate Building, Senatorial Office of the Mandalorian Sector
Tanya Kryze
Sipping my tea, I looked across the table at the representative of Mandal Motors that apparently ran the local branch.
I did not arrange this meeting, in fact I don't think I was the suspected person he wanted to talk to at all. I'd simply checked my schedule and found that Senator Merrick had added it to my schedule through X4. No doubt he was used to meetings with this fellow and was trying to get him to understand that there was nothing he could do or just not deal with him. Either was possible though I leaned towards not wanting to deal with him as the man before me seemed very panicky.
"I'm telling you, if we don't figure out a way to get control of Gorgon, the entire sector is going to be engulfed in the madness of pirate raids. The Hydian Way, and the Republic will be forced to take action." The man said as if he was trying to proclaim, as if you'd been granted some vision of the future.
"A possibility," I said, lowering the cup for my lips, "but Mr…?" I fished for a name because he had basically forced his way into my apartment as soon as he was let in, not even bothering to identify himself in his hurry. All I knew was he was a representative of Mandal Motors and I would at least like something more if we're going to have a civil conversation.
The middle aged man seemed to realize his mistake and said, "Kark of clan Trig, I'm sorry I pushed my way in here. I've just been trying to get a meeting with Senator Merrick for the last 3 months and he's ducked every attempt, so I've been a bit excited to finally have a meeting with anyone representing the government."
I nodded my head as he reached down and picked up the glass of tea X4 had prepared, sipping it a bit trying to calm down by the looks of it.
"Well Senator Merrick is a busy man, I am not surprised that he is not available for every meeting you scheduled. Well I'm here now and I'm willing to hear out the issue that Mandal Motor has with Gorgon, assuming it's more than Mandal Hypernautics.?
"Of course, there's more, it's just that they also happen to be part of the problem." The defensive way he said that told me pretty much everything I needed to know. I thought this was just a simple disagreement that spilled over in some way might as well hear it out though.
"Explain the issue, please." I said attempting to get him to focus on the conversation at hand.
"There's several issues, but we'll start with Gorgon as it's the main one, I assume you're unaware of Gorgon?"
I nodded my agreement as I had not run across this planet too often in my studies. "I think I may have seen one mention of it being conquered during the Crusaders Era, but other than that, I knew nothing."
"Its capital city is overrun by drug dealers and criminal elements from across the Galaxy. Its proximity to the Hydian Way, makes it the perfect place to build a smuggling ring and has been host to a ton of mercenaries and bounty hunters over the years. Those who were not big fans of the rise of the New Mandalorians. The number of ships they're buying from Mandal Motors factories has increased exponentially over the last year, mainly patrol craft fighters but it's quite a bit. So much so we've actually had to double production on Ordo to meet the demands of Gorgon and the Hutt empire."
That raised an eyebrow and I asked "Mandal Motors sells to the Hutt Empire?"
Kark simply shrugged and said, "We'll sell to anyone as long as they have the credits, and the Hutts particularly like small but powerful frigates so they buy a lot, but that's not a concern. What's really concerning is the amount of ships Gorgon is buying, it's almost getting to the point where it could rival some of this production we put for the Hutts and I think they're preparing to build a pirate fleet."
"Okay, I can see some of the strands to this point. They're having you build large amounts of ships for unknown reasons and the planet is run by criminals. Both of those make sense but why do you think they'd go straight to piracy with this fleet and it's not some sort of self-defense force to protect themselves from an operation by the Mandalorian guards to bring Gorgon into compliance with the rest of the sector." I asked
"Oh, I thought of that too and it would make sense except they already have ship production from Mandal Hypernautics that could easily make the fleet of ships needed for a self-defense force. They're our main competitor with the Hutts, but their contributions to the Hutt's arsenal have fallen in recent months. So if the leaders of Gorgon are getting resources from us and their own homegrown shipbuilding company, why do they need such a large fleet? It must be for a pirate fleet."
I all of a sudden understood why Senator Merrick had been ducking this man's meetings. He was a conspiracy theorist with some power in a company trying to peddle it to the politicians out of fear that it might actually be something. Now on one hand it was respectful that he had dug up all this data showing that there was a large influx of ships to the Gorgon sector and was presenting them as evidence. It would be even more respectful if he brought that evidence but I'd ask about that after the meeting. On the other hand he was seeing two things and coming up with whatever he feared the most. It could be a pirate fleet, it could be some sort of illegal racket that he was unaware of, it literally could be anything for why they needed a large amount of ships.
Best I could do was write up what he believed was going on and send it up the chain. As well as his belief to make note of the large number of ships. Although his belief may be wrong, it was still concerning that a system within Gorgon was purchasing so many light vessels.
"You mentioned there were other concerns?" I asked, trying to continue the conversation in order to get everything out of him now so I could make sure such meetings were not frequent.
"Yes, Mandal Hypernautics has stolen more of our designs. There needs to be some sort of recompense on that. The CEO of that company, Bresug Gerr, is becoming a mini despot."
"A mini despot? That's a bold claim. What is the reason you would call him such?"
That got a chuckle out of him at least before he continued, "The Gerr family has been running that company for a long time and when they were forced off of Mandalore after the end of the Clan Wars he took it a little bit harder than most of the exiles. They were rising stars of the traditionalist corporations and they got cut off completely by the New Mandalorians due to their warship designs often having specialty guns just for planetary bombardment. But that's the history, the reality is now he's the seller of a lot of ships into the underworld, I dare say he's probably the richest man on Gorgon and from what I've been able to dig up he acts that way. Buying Mandalorian relics and supposedly he's hired a good percentage of Old Mandalorian traditionalists to work as an impromptu police force for the part of the city he lives in. Don't know if that's true or not but from what I remember of him he was always a bit full of himself so I wouldn't put it past it."
"Is he known for stealing things, this Bresug Gerr? I'm not familiar with his story."
"Yes, out of the four initial designs that were used to found his company, three of them were from Mandal Motor's rejected pool. All they did was add bigger guns to them."
"Rejected by the Traditionalists or Mandal Motors?" I asked as a matter of course.
"Mandal Motors themselves because of design issues, the guns that were originally on them would shake the ship to the point that it was dangerous to the crew. Sure, the original guns made it dangerous enough but they put bigger guns on them. One of the reasons the siege of the Old Capitol went down as easily as it did for the Republic was because they were buying mainly from Mandal Hypernautics. Their ships could hit well above their weight class but they could also blow themselves up."
"So his family and him are known thieves who will take credit for other people's work. That explains why they ended up on Gorgon at least."
"Thieves who are also the traditionalist's favored son. They have a lot of good rep with non-pilots, even though their ships blew themselves up just as often as they blew up their enemies. Presumably their newer designs don't have these issues but I don't trust the data they publish as far as I can throw the tower we're sitting in."
I rubbed my chin as I took that in. So there was an oligarch on the planet of Gorgon taking credit for anything he could get, stealing anything he could get, and building up a fleet of ships, possibly. Yes, Trig believed that Gorgon as a whole was buying those ships but what was the possibility that Garr was buying those ships? Why would an oligarch need a fleet? I didn't like that I would have to mention that as a possibility in the report I'd write up on this.
Nodding my head I finally said, "I will send this up the chain. Let the Duchess and the Senator know of your concerns. You do have evidence of this copyright thievery and ship buildup, correct?" It's the least I could do, if he could supply the evidence.
"Some of it, yes. I can give you the data I've been able to dig up."
No idea if the data was good, not exactly proof of anything, but it would help support any further investigations down the line. "I'll need a copy of that for my report. By the way, why does Mandal Motors have a representative on Coruscant?"
"I'm not really a representative per se, I'm just a salesman. Mandal Motors owns a small showroom, we keep a few of our vessels here, the newer variants and show them off to be sold. Doesn't bring as much money as our other contracts but it's a way to show that Mandal Motors is still a competitive ship building company. Until recently we've mainly just had a bunch of boats designed for helping ships get into dock being sold in the Republic, but the Duchess recently allowed us to start selling cargo ships so we're trying to add that to the market."
"Really?" I said in surprise, I hadn't actually had the chance to offer that idea to Satine. Which meant I didn't need to offer that idea, I smiled as I realized my aunt had come up with it on her own and implemented it.
"Of course, we're still trying to come up with a good cargo vessel, small and fast but at the moment we've taken to using older designs and retrofitting them for cargo needs. The Old Mandalorian Dungeon ship is a big block of iron but it's a big block of iron with plenty of room in it, so it serves as a good long haul transport. For smaller vessels, we've been retrofitting a few Pursuer Class blanks to serve that goal, lot of small time companies enjoy having a small ship to outrun pirates than a big ship that could carry more, so we expect that to sell a lot more than the Dungeon ships, which we're looking into finding a new class name for just because how dungeon ship sounds a bit… eh?"
"Evil." I said, not even sure this was pointing out the obvious.
"Yes that, just need to come up with some other class name and designation. Probably just call it a freight ship but that's for the PR guys to figure out, I'm just a salesman. By the way if you're ever looking for a ship for your own personal use I can give you a great deal at the showroom, being that you're related to Duchess Satine, I could get you 50% off almost any ship in the room, no questions asked."
That felt like a tactic to prevent me from asking why 'just a salesman' was interested in the goings on the Gorgon. But it was working, because that was an intriguing amount of money off of owning a starship. I wasn't enamored with the idea of space flight like I had been with personal flight but I could always learn and even if I couldn't, having the ability to load up a ship and go anywhere in the Galaxy was an intriguing thought for retirement.
"I'll keep that in mind." I said with a smile as I thought about the possibilities.
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