718 FNM (20 BBY) Month 1
Gargon, Lorenga Industrial Park, Loading Dock Two
Chop'aa Notimo
Sitting atop my Basilisk droid, I gazed across the numerous docked freighters being loaded with plunder, basking in the plan coming together. We were almost ready to depart with our ill-gotten gains of war trophies and heavy machinery.
Alongside the loot were the people. Workers were being loaded up as well onto each freighter, mostly to give to the Dentari to be ransomed in the future, but also to prevent spiteful enemies from just destroying the freighters.
The most prized of our ill-gotten gains were the finished Crusader and Dungeon class corvettes that had been remodeled into cargo freighters, each being loaded up with everything we 'liberated' from the Republic sympathizers. It was a shame they'd had their weapon systems, and most of everything else that made them useful war ships, gutted but they would make for a fine addition to the Dentari's fleet nonetheless once we re-arm them.
Speaking of warships, the strike force at the Space Port boasted of capturing several freighters and even two Republic Acclamators. While those sent to the Gargon Shipyards only managed to capture a pair of Gozantis and Crusaders from the local crimelords before being forced to retreat in the face of reinforcements.
Many ships were scuttled in the fighting to prevent their capture. They'd need months of repair before they were spaceworthy again, which at least fulfilled the objective of weakening White Silver.
We also found that Mandal Hypernautics had developed a new model of Gozanti cruisers, specifically designed to carry a flight of snub fighters on the bottom gantries. Very useful, maybe I could sell it to the Separatists for them to copy.
There were several of these modified Gozantis in the Lorenga Industrial Park, unfortunately only one was capable of using its hyperdrive without breaking apart in transit but one more ship was always worth grabbing if it was free. Now we just had to refuel our captured vessels so that we could make our escape.
Tann's plan had gone well, and her prediction that there would be an arsenal here was a boon for us all. Ever since White Silver's takeover, Gargon had turned into an economic and military powerhouse in the sector. While not a Mandalorian, she understood our culture enough to exploit it. It made sense that she'd been put in charge of the Dentari Enclave and would probably have to face Mandalorians of all stripes soon.
My only disappointment was the lack of Fang Fighters that Hypernautics were rumoured to be producing them here. All we'd found were some experimental armored vehicles as well as a production run of their newest blasters. Either they didn't exist or they are hidden far from the city.
"Bossa! Bossa!" My second in command, a gungan named Kleef shouted from below.
"What is it?" I barked as he waddled over.
"Bossa! White Silver hasa been spotted by tha outer guard'a with'a bombad tank. They'sa she'sa will be 'ere!"
I stood up in the stirrups of my war beast. Officially, this was just a raid, a smash and grab, steal as much as possible, and break what we couldn't steal. While I would love nothing more than to defeat White Silver and take Gargon as my personal property by right of conquest, the mission came first. If I failed, it would make me a laughing stock, a vainglorious failure too blinded by greed to follow a plan. I would be deemed as unreliable. I'd also be a dead man walking. No, when I face White Silver, it would be on my terms.
"Call the freighters, tell them to take off before she gets here." I ordered as I leaned forward for my helmet. This droid was not as well developed as an actual Basilisk, but she served me well in the last few months that I'd had her, "Kleef, recall the men, were going to stall-"
The front gates to the loading dock exploded. I twisted in my harness, expecting to see one of those light tanks that Silver is manufacturing. Instead a large assault tank emerged from the smoke. Its twin-barreled mass driver cannons fired into a freighter's engine baffles. Secondary explosions rippled through the ship as the freighter crashed to the ground.
"Finally! I was getting bored!" I said, leaning forward into my basilisk as Kleef watched the assault vehicle trundle towards us with dawning dread.
"This'a not goin' to plan." He declared with rightful worry before grabbing his heavy blaster off his back and falling back into the maze of crates.
"Why not? This is the conclusion to a wonderful raid!" I cackled, adding, "Kleef get the rest of our men together and get them out of here. I'll hold off the White Silver."
Kleef raised a hand "Okie-dey Boss man! I'mma just not get meesa killed." Smart Gungan. I pulled on the control yoke and brought myself face to face with the heavy assault vehicle.
Only a moment of preparation passed between the two of us as I launched myself forward. The guns of the heavy assault craft fired, and I dodged and weaved around the first volley. I felt the shockwave as a fuel container exploded from the stray shots.
The second volley winged my Basilisk's shoulder, ripping off an armor plate, and causing me to spin out of control into a factory building but I kept moving, we jumped and landed on the front glacis of the tank. My clawed hands grabbed both barrels of the tank and forced them up and away before trying to bend them to inoperability. The metal bent slowly until both barrels were in an X formation, rendering the forward guns useless. It was now safely disarmed.
But more heavy tanks were coming through the gateway. I could see light tanks and pirate infantry moving forward, some of them had the state of mind to shoot at me even. Blasts pinged off my armor, my droid automatically flinched out of the way of the light laser fire of the tanks, craters blossoming into existence in the ferrocrete around me.
My gatling blasters rose up, unleashing a hail of fire into the exposed infantry and tanks. The tanks remained unharmed but their infantry scattered and died as they were torn up by the hail of blasts.
I cackled diabolically, "Is this the best you can muster, White Silver?" I taunted.
"No." A deep mechanical voice said from above.
I dodged aside as something crashed to the ground right where I had been.
I skittered across the ferrocrete pavement and twisted myself back upright to see my attacker. I'd only narrowly avoided being pancaked into the ground, and as the dust cleared I could scarcely believe my eyes.
That was a thing of beauty. I'd hardly believe someone would go through the effort of iterating on a Basilisk War Droid's design, so far no one else had bothered making a better one after thousands of years. But that was a Mark II if I ever laid eyes upon it. The creature stood up to its full height, standing on top of the heavy tank.
A small holographic image popped into view with the White Silver's likeness, "I don't know who the hell you are, but you've messed with the wrong mandalorian. You've attacked my company, and my planet, so now you get to face me, and my Ori'Jorir. You should feel honored."
"Pfah! They're just driving a cheap knockoff, not a true Basilisk." The White Silver's own Basilisk grumbled, its Gatling blaster gun rattling to life as it prepared to unleash heat toward me. Big Bear was written in large letters across its front.
I had no time for a terrible quip.
The White Silver stepped off the tank, the machine heaving on its anti-gravity suspension field as she did so and it began to fly away.
She began to fire and I dodged aside.
"We'll see about that." I finally said, looking towards the rooftops, where my men had taken overwatch, "Now!" They all rose up simultaneously and threw down magnetic grenades onto the towering war droid.
With the volume of grenades, I expected it to go off and shatter the whole Mark II in one glorious blast, hopefully killing the troublesome meddler.
It was not to be. Some sort of electrical blast erupted across its hull and the rippling explosions came with distinctly less force than what should have been. Barrelling out of the smoke came the real White Silver, pistols drawn mid flight as she smashed into me feet first.
We both skittered on the ground, blaster bolts firing from her as she tried to get a shot off on my body.
I brought my polearm around, trying to slash her in half. With that we separated and distance opened up between us both. I pushed forward again as she drew her second pistol, and made a savage lunge. She dodged underneath the attack and fired a shot, slagging my leg armor. It sizzled painfully, though the armor did its job.
As our combat continued, Big Bear was rushing into combat with my own Basilisk. The two of them clashed, fists to fists, blades to blades, trying to rip into each other. As much as it chagrined me, mine was not doing very well, its primitive and ancient mind no match for its descendent benefiting from thousands of years of robotic advancement. Not only was Silver's more fluid and capable, it was smarter too. Big Bear suplexed my Basilisk over its back before jamming a blade through its chest armor.
I refocused on my fight, White Silver continued to unleash gun fire in my general direction, and I was forced to block each shot with hardly room for counterplay. For every step forward I took, she took one back, staying just out of reach as I swung. If I could connect, I could cut her in two. Her armor was only commando-style under armor with anti-blaster weave, and my blade was sharp.
But that was a big 'if'.
My savior came in the form of Kleef on his gunship. Kleef hung out the side with a mounted blaster turret, firing bolts at Silver, forcing her to activate her jetpack and jump out of the way.
I looked back to my war droid, only to see it had definitively lost its bout with Big Bear. He was holding the mouth of my droid open and forced its own turret down. I just caught the look as it flashed and burned a hole end to end of my war droid and it collapsed dead. As if to insult the memory of its opponent, Big Bear ripped the head off my Basilisk and threw it at Kleef's gunship. It pinged harmlessly off armor, but I took this as a sign that it was time to go.
My warrior heart would love to see this through… but I had a contract to fulfill.
Activating my own jetpack I rocketed up and took Kleef's hand to join him on his gunship. I looked down at White Silver and removed my helmet, showing my face as a sign of respect, "Well, White Silver, I will give you this. I'm impressed. May we face each-"
I ducked aside as Silver's blaster bolt narrowly missed my head by a centimeter. Thankfully, the drop bay door slid closed, and the transport sped away from the fighting below.
Pre Vizsla
Who would have thought that so many years ago, when I reinvigorated the Death Watch, I would be using it to try and find a lost princess? I thought for sure I'd be attempting to take the throne of Mandalore for myself.
How things have twisted in unusual ways. I'd expected to be branded a terrorist, at least that part of my expectations had not been underwhelmed. Being branded as a folk hero, though, was an unexpected boon and one that was helping with this operation.
The situation was simple. The princess of Mandalore had been kidnapped by forces connected to the Dentari Enclave. Now, I had my suspicions that they might not be acting entirely independently, but they were the sacrificial lamb nonetheless. I doubted they would take the princess into CIS space if they were truly responsible.
Too much risk of political machinations turning against them. Not to mention CIS intelligence and security was a sieve, Jedi seemed to learn about key facts with inconvenient speed. So, it could be assumed that Tanya was in Dentari Enclave space, or at least nearby.
So, what was Mandalore to do? If we were to play by the rules set by the New Order's interpretation of the Constitution, Mandalore could not send forces into Dentari Enclave space for a military occupation. The presence of non-Mandalorian or Council of Neutral Systems forces was against the rules.
These were rules that were being stretched thin by the occupation of Dathomir, I noted. Granted, I understood that Dathomir had welcomed the occupation to prove they were not complicit and were on the road to joining the CNS proper. Politics, how tiresome.
This meant it was left to non-CNS, or Mandalorian self-defense forces, to investigate and deal with the Dentari Enclave.
I'd already heard rumors of Royal Guard retirees buying up ships to go hunting, and I had no doubt that the former prime minister of Mandalore, who had done his best to poison the well of my victory, was sending his own Mandalorian Secret Service into the area to search. There were various other groups putting out bounties or simply taking it upon themselves to engage in hostilities against the Dentari Enclave, as was deserved by their actions.
The only group that hadn't made a declarative action in this situation was White Silver, which might seem odd to those who didn't know who White Silver was.
Considering White Silver and Tanya were one and the same, it made sense that the organization would be slow to move, as their leader was not on the field to give orders.
As for myself, I had two ways of helping in this situation. In my public role, I had encouraged the population to do their best to find Tanya without breaking the law. After all, I was running for government. I couldn't exactly have people grabbing random members of the CIS and torturing them.
That would not be a good look, by any stretch of the imagination.
In my private role, as the leader of Death Watch, I had another option I was running. The Maelstrom, the mighty Battlecruiser we had captured nearly a year ago, it had been activated and filled with as many Death Watch Commandos as I could gather. It arrived at Zanbar within hours of the news of Tanya's disappearance, and from there setting out for deeper into the galactic south.
The destination, Garis IV, a planet on the border of the Dentari Enclave that was somewhat friendly to Mandalorians in general and within strike range of Thrustera. Other Death Watch forces had been recalled, those still loyal to me, and given the same order. Make for Garis IV.
The gathering forces would then strike out, hitting Thrustera as well as other planets within the Dentari Enclave, gathering as much information and loot as possible, because, well, they were fair game now.
This raid should secure me the assets necessary to solidify their loyalty to me. If we found Tanya, that would be a massive boon for Death Watch within Mandalorian space as well, perhaps enough for formal recognition. If we return her to her mother, and perhaps we could shake off the "terrorist" moniker, or at least continue to degrade the notion that we were the bad guys, to the point that we might become an unofficial military wing, like White Silver had become.
Now that I think about it... I would need to be more careful of Tanya after this.
She had been playing a game at a higher level than I expected someone of her nature to play. Who knows how deep her plans went? I may be able to pull off my victory and take the prime ministership, just one step away from the throne. If anything were to go wrong, or if Satine became too overburdened by the throne and wished to retire early, it would be easy for me to step in.
Tanya was a legitimate threat to that. But she wasn't someone I could consider getting rid of, as she was simply too popular at this time. Our goals may even align. Getting rid of an ally who seeks the same goal is foolish, even if they are a potential obstacle to your ascension. Flexibility, a mandalorian's motto.
Plus, my wife would kill me if I even thought I was responsible for something like that. As for my wife, she had been freed from her imprisonment and was on her way to Gargon now, to negotiate with the White Silver in aiding the search for Tanya. More likely, she would take over the operation and pose as White Silver herself. But I wasn't going to stress too much about that. More help would be useful.
I looked out the viewscreen of my gauntlet heavy fighter. I would arrive at the Garis IV system soon enough, where I would play the role of Death Watch leader for the next few weeks to set things on the right path before going back to being a politician on Mandalore. So far, no one had stepped up to take Almec's place in the vote, so I'd have to see if I'd be needed as badly as I suspected. Only time will tell.
What really drew my ire was Concord Dawn.
Concord Dawn was harboring my enemies, members of Death Watch going rogue and forming their own orders. Various names had been thrown out, indicating they had not yet united, Blood Watch, Ghost Watch, and so on. These were organizations more inclined to return to our founders' promise of criminal warlords instead of the Mandalorian warlords I was aiming for. They were an ideological threat, pure and simple.
Concord Dawn was within jumping distance of Garis IV. With most of their Journeyman Protectors off-world, causing problems on Vorpa'ya, they were exposed. Now was the best time to strike. Concord Dawn had made itself a problem for the Mandalorian sector and had become a rogue state, threatening civil war. If I could deal with Concord Dawn, I would have a stronghold to use within Mandalorian space to continue operations against the Dentari Enclave.
Remove the threats to my control of Death Watch, save Tanya, legitimize Death Watch, and become the prime minister, this could be a very good year for the old Mandalorians.
With a thump-thump, my ship exited hyperspace, and I began autodocking procedures with the Maelstrom.
I opened a message from my staff left on Concordia. It was a news packet with the latest information. I read through the files quickly, figuring there might be something important about the ongoing search for Tanya.
Well, there was something important to know, but it wasn't about Tanya.
Someone had attacked Gargon. Someone had raided Gargon for everything they could and then headed for the Dentari Enclave, according to the reports.
Someone was out there causing trouble. And someone was posing as the White Silver and leading an operation to drive this unknown individual off Gargon.
Now… How best to use it?
Vai
"That dirty, flea bitten, bastard. I'm going to track him down and strangle him when I get the goddamn chance." I darkly muttered as I looked out of the window of the Mandal Hypernautics Tower. The remnants of the invaders had been pushed out of Mandal Hypernautics airspace, and we were taking stock of how much had been lost and how many had died in the fighting.
It wasn't looking great, but it wasn't looking terrible either. Most of the more interesting projects were kept out of the city. They had tried to steal some of the light carriers under construction, but by some miracle, X4 had kept those under tighter security. As far as we could tell, they only managed to break into two and fly off with them. They hadn't even grabbed their fighters that went with them, because those were kept elsewhere outside the city.
Chop'aa had run off with the GAR ships and gear and a lot of Mandal Hypernautics produced guns and fighters and some tanks, but for the most part we resecured the city and had only minor damages to deal with.
The only good thing was that we had managed to push them out, and they fled. But now I had a new problem, I had just learned about Tanya's kidnapping.
Now, I had to figure out where she was. I was not privy to any information where she may have gone. The only evidence I could think of was the fact that it seemed rather too convenient to stage an attack on Gargon at the exact same time you lose the Princess of Mandalore. Could that red giant Mandalorian be involved? It's possible, and that was probably my best bet for trying to track down Tanya. I should gather as much equipment and supplies as possible and chase that bastard. But then again, what if he wasn't? What if that was a ploy to prevent me from going in the right direction? What if it was just a coincidence, or an opportunistic raid by a third party.
I smashed my fist down on the wooden table. What was I going to do? How was I going to help Tanya?
"White Silver." Came a voice over my shoulder, Tabby was getting in his own Silver Guard armor as he approached. He saluted, "We've a call coming in from the Mandalore system. Shall I delay them?"
I shook my head, "Let me guess. Satine's calling to have us join efforts with her to try and locate Tanya? We'll do it. I've just got to figure out what we're going to do about Mr. Chop'aa and his thieving, dirty, criminal ass first." I snapped, "Do you think he's involved with it?!"
I started to turn my head away, but Tabby shook his head, "No, it's not from Satine."
I growled but sat down at the comfy seat meant for Tanya whenever she played the role of White Silver.
Tabby moved to the other end and pressed the receiver. A holographic projection appeared of the Death Watch's leader. Pre Vizla. Most didn't know it was him behind that mask, but I did. For the first time, I was glad that I was wearing my helmet, because my facial expression showed a slight edge of fear and anxiety. If there was anyone to cause worry, it was him calling the White Silver at this hour.
"Well, now, this is unexpected, I thought White Silver would be too busy considering the situation with Tanya Kryze." He hummed, the slightly accented voice of Pre Vizsla poking through, though he seemed to let it creep in more to hide that fact.
I took on an air of nonchalance, "I may be a busy person, but a surprise call is always something I'll take, especially with someone like you."
Pre Vizsla made a noise before saying, "Let's not play games then. You probably have an idea why I'm calling, so I'll just make it clear. Whoever has kidnapped Tanya has attacked Mandalore, and I will hunt them down. It. Was not. Me. I figure you have a similar opinion on this matter, and it also wasn't you. If our two forces work together, I'm sure we can quickly locate these terrorists and bring our beloved Princess home. Our resources are considerable, and together we'd be a force the Dentari could not withstand."
"I'm sure they are, Vizsla." I sneered, slipping up out of annoyance.
Pre tilted his head, amusement glittering in his visor, "Oh, now that makes sense."
I blinked hard in confusion, but I didn't move a muscle otherwise, unsure how he could know I was me in this disguise. Then the blood drained from my face as I realized what that statement meant.
He knew who the White Silver was. The only way he could guess that I was the White Silver is if he knew Tanya was White Silver. How long had he known? I'd have to warn her when I talk to her next and let her know who the Death Watch leader was because there was no way this was not going to come back to bite me in the ass if I didn't.
I focused on the conversation with the little blue hologram, "Gargon was attacked by a rogue Mandalorian warrior in the employ of the CIS. I believe most likely this is not just a random coincidence, but that this happened at the exact same time the princess of Mandalore was kidnapped in a coordinated effort to cripple us."
Pre Vizsla nodded his head, "It lines up. Alzar has been overrun by a military coup causing more chaos along the Mandalorian border, trying to absorb our resources and stretch us thin, I would guess."
"They're doing a good job of it," I admitted, "I was about to send forces to chase after this coward and his Gungan. There's a good chance he may know where Tanya was taken or at least give us an idea of how far this conspiracy goes. I don't know how many forces I can dispatch in your direction, but I will endeavor to try to send you some forces for your own expedition."
Pre's smile was so smug I wished I could deck the bastard, "At this moment, my forces and I are en-route to Concord Dawn. I believe they are involved in some way. They've caused the most trouble for the sector in the last year and have most likely been providing aid to the criminal network run by Lorka Gedyc. Plus, an attack on Concord Dawn will force them to pull their men off of Vorpa'ya, which will free up the MSDF troops there to help with the other fires."
"You could start a war in the Mandalore sector if you're not careful." I cautioned.
"Oh, I'm sure it'll start some fighting, but I don't think it'll start a war. Death Watch, remember, we're not a supported organization of the government of Mandalore. We're hunted, by you. So, what is Concord Dawn going to do? Call up Mandalore to fight for them? Not after their actions last year. So, now, without getting concessions, that might be more than enough reason for us to leave the planet in the first place."
I shook my head before saying, "All right, well, I'm going to trust you on this one. This better lead to Tanya's being found. Otherwise, I'm going to take a particularly anti-Death Watch stance in the future."
"Noted, White Silver. We'll shake that tree and see what falls out of that hive of scum and villainy." The hologram then cut out.
Khae Morson
"Move it, princess." The B1 battle droid demanded as it shoved me along the corridor. How long had we been here? It was impossible to tell at this point.
We'd been denied a normal sleep schedule, denied the ability to keep track of hours, and frankly, there was no real way for us to figure it out. All I knew was this was the sixth time I was stumbling down this hallway with Tanya. Escorted by a pair of battle droids after being put through a nightmarish scenario.
I didn't know for sure what the blue bitch was trying to do. Maybe she was trying to break our spirits, train us, turn us into some sort of sleeper cells. I wasn't really understanding what the whole plan was. Maybe that was the point. All I knew was that everything hurt, and if it weren't for Tanya, I probably would have fallen to the ground by now as the droids kept pushing us down the hallway, making sure we stayed on their mechanical schedule of pain and suffering.
We came to the familiar door, and one of the droids stepped in front of us, pressing a button to open it and signaling the two droids behind us to shove us through, which they did rather gleefully.
The pair of us landed heavily inside the cell, faces on the ground, as we heard another droid complain. "Be careful with these two."
"Oh yeah? And what are they going to do? They don't have any weapons."
The droid go his answer when Morson let out a war cry and attempted to charge the two war droids, only for them to activate the cell's ray shield.
"Well, that could have gone better," I said, trying to get up and found my legs refusing to listen. Tanya appeared to be in a similar condition, and she started to crawl over to the lower bunk and pulled herself up into it so that she was not sitting on the hard floor. I did the same, sitting next to her, leaning against her as she leaned against me.
"I haven't really studied the dark side too much." Tanya admitted, shaking her head, "I'm not a big fan of this whole magical Jedi thing. It's not my business, but if I had to guess, I'd say that it doesn't matter what state we're in as long as we don't succumb. I don't know what she's thinking, but trying to force us to draw on the dark side may lead to some assumption that we'd be indebted to it in some way. Maybe she just wants to commit suicide. I'm in control of my faculties, and I'm not going to let some dark energy control me."
I nodded in agreement with her resolute words, "We just have to hold out. White Silver will come to save us. She always does."
I noticed Tanya twitch at that, but she let out a deep sigh, "Yeah, yeah, she will. As soon as she learns we're in danger, she'll come. So how's your faith holding up? Not really sure."
"Well, she found us on Geonosis. I'm sure she'll find us wherever we end up." I replied confidently.
Tanya shrugged, "She had a little help there. I may have passed along some things."
My eyebrows raised in surprise, saying, "I didn't realize you had connections that way."
"Umm-hmm," Tanya nodded, "there's a lot of things you don't know, probably for the best for both of us. Anything we know that these people can scrape out of our heads is bad for everyone else, as far as I'm concerned."
"Yeah." I agreed, "Did they do the same thing that they did to me? Use some sort of magic to try and force you to relive the worst moment of your life?"
Tanya bit her lip, "They tried to. I kind of kept it away by focusing on something else. I tried to keep them from seeing what I was seeing. I don't want them learing something to use against me."
I nodded, having had a similar situation. I smiled weakly, "I don't know if you want to share, but they kept trying to put me in the worst moment. Well, the worst moment was in the arena on Gargon, tied to a wooden pole and about to be executed. The only problem for them is that the moment after that was pretty damn awesome. White Silver saved me that day. That's why I know she'll save us now. She'll bring Manda Fury with her, crush these evil space wizards, and stop their plots."
Tanya coughed while still leaning against me and replied, "I'm sure she will, eventually. But this isn't like the arena on Gargon. She can't just sneak in with the guards, pretending to be a follower of that idiot Gerr, and wait for the right moment to make her appearance."
I blinked twice as her words settled in the back of my mind. I slowly turned toward her and said, "How did you know she posed as one of the guards?"
Tanya stiffened next to me and she tilted her head enough to look at me with one eye and lied, "You must have said it another time."
I hadn't. In fact, I think this was the first time I've ever talked about Gargon with Tanya. I said nothing in reply.
Tanya groaned, her eyes glanced off to one corner, and I followed her gaze, spotting a camera. At first, I didn't understand, but then things started clicking.
Tanya didn't want to talk about this now, in front of the camera. But why? It's not like she had some big secret to reveal- unless she did.
Other things started to rapidly click into place. She did have quite a bit of money. She did have similar ships. She had connections to White Silver that seemed anomalous. Oh… Oh no. My eyes went wide as I realized Tanya was White Silver.
I wasn't sure how to take this. On one hand, my savior was trapped in the same room with me, tortured as much as I was, which meant she wasn't coming to rescue me.
However, it didn't make sense. Tanya had been in a similar situation before, in my analysis I'd seen her there. She couldn't be White Silver unless Vai hadn't been with us. No, Vai couldn't be White Silver, could she? Could both of them be White Silver? To differ suspicion. Was one of them the originator, or did they both work on this plan together? How deep did this go? Who else knew? Trying to gain some mental control over the chaos in my mind, I tried to identify one thing.
Vai would be mad about all this. The one mission she takes off from being Tanya's bodyguard, and Tanya gets captured.
"White Silver will find us." Tanya mumbled, "She'll probably come looking for me with Manda Fury at her back."
I kept repeating the words I'd used to describe White Silver. "Oh, Manda." White Silver was very Tanya working together. White Silver was the daughter of the Duchess of Mandalore... I was in a room with White Silver.
There were a lot of things running through my mind, a lot of confusion, and I really didn't know what to do. The only thing I knew for certain was that this was a moment I wouldn't be able to get back, so I better take my chance at it.
Reaching my arm out, I put it around Tanya's shoulder and drew her closer. I put my forehead to hers and said, "Thank you for being so strong."
She looked at me, confused for a moment. There was something cute about it, so I leaned in and gave her a kiss on the lips, taking my shot while I had the chance.
Yes, I was aware that she and Vai had something going on, but this was the White Silver. This was my chance, and I was going to take it, even if things fell apart later on. I would have this moment to hold on to.
Heck, knowing that White Silver was so close gave me more strength to try and hold out because if anyone was one half of White Silver, the other half was coming. I held her close in a bit of possessive selfishness. Vai would get us out of this, and she'd burn this entire ship to the ground to do it, maybe the CIS entirely if she was on the warpath. They certainly made a powerful enemy for dubious strategic gain.
And who knows, maybe this was my chance to win Tanya over. I heard she had affairs with the fairer sex before. Hell she was with Vai. She wasn't exactly stopping me as I gave her a kiss. I think she seemed to be coming closer to me. Then again, we were both beat up pretty bad and had just experienced the most excruciating pain of our lives. Maybe she just wanted something to hold on, like I did, to build our walls of defense against the torture that was to come.
Tanya broke the kiss first, "Well, that was nice, but I think I'm going to pass out now." Before conking right out.
I wasn't exactly sure what to do. I attempted to stand up, but my legs were still gelatin. Finally, I decided to make another move, sliding into the same bed where she was, just laying parallel to her. We were just sharing warmth, that's all, as I wrapped my arm around her.
Maybe I imagined this, but I thought she might have snuggled in closer to me. Or maybe not. Either way, I slowly passed out as well. There was more pain and suffering in the morning to deal with, but right now, things were as fine as they were going to get.
Tan'nya
Tanya moved onto the stage. She looked weak. From the way that Master Dooku had described her, I had expected something more menacing, maybe taller. Really, I saw no difference between her and any other human. She was just a weakling that played at being strong.
Her potential was wasted by years of forced neglect. She could, as my master said, have been a powerful force wielder, but it was obvious that that had passed her by. Oh well, here was my chance to prove otherwise.
I was no fool, I understood my place. If I failed, I could be thrown away as easily as any other minion created for this war. Hell, there was already a replacement being grown, and one that was more fully human, more like the original Tanya. If I had the chance, I would destroy that to secure my existence. I knew my master, he would not give me that chance. Instead he gave me another, beating Tanya was a small step in that matter.
The girl was wearing nothing but a Mandalorian pilot suit. Her armor had been stripped from her. While I was wearing my Jedi robes, although I carefully dropped the white robe to the ground behind me.
Tanya stepped forward onto the platform, and a battle droid handed her a practice saber. She looked at it numbly before grasping it in one hand.
"That's a two-handed weapon, girl." Sev'rance called from where she was sitting to her right, watching, waiting to see how the first fight would go. Tanya had been through nearly a week of enforced training and mental work, trying to make her turn to the dark side or be like us. How well she was doing was debatable. I could feel hate inside her, but strangely enough, it felt cold, an analytical type of hate, not the emotional kind. It was old, and dark, and deep. It was… Not hate. Not apathy, not hope, hate, but not hate. It did not have the right taste as that pure emotion.
It was strange if you ask me. Sev'rance thought this was a step in the right direction. We needed to fan that analytical hate until it turned red hot, and that would be the step to move her to the dark side. The trick was fanning it to overwhelm her, but not kill her in the process. Hence why my lightsaber was in training mode. Pulling it from my side, I took a combat stance, pressing a button and igniting my yellow blade.
Sev'rance was not a fan of the color red. She preferred yellow for her sabers, and as her student, I had been instructed to use yellow as well. I had been using a red lightsaber when I was training under Dooku, but it was lost during the fight on Kamino.
I was curious about the stance Tanya would take as she held the lightsaber. She obviously didn't know how to use it correctly, and perhaps she'd cause herself more pain and misery that way.
But she had some understanding of sword fighting as she pressed the button and then took a stance. Although I had to tilt my head as I saw it, one foot forward, one foot back, saber in front, her other hand behind her back, a fencing stance for a smaller, more nimble blade.
That was not a Mandalorian fighting style. I had been preparing for this day for years now, the day I got to prove I was better than Tanya. So seeing her use a stance that was not common amongst the Jedi or Mandalorian training manuals was intriguing.
It was almost... nostalgic? Is that what I felt from her?
I closed the distance between us in an eyeblink, using the Force to push myself faster than fast, hopefully, her eyes could keep track. Bringing my saber down to try and slash at her forehead, she needed a good scar anyway, it would be a better way to tell us apart.
She darted forward, eagerness bled off her as she sought to engage in a close-up fight. Something she had done before and was predictable, however impressive her ability to propel her movements in the force was. I arrested my momentum and caught her blade and pushed it aside with my own, the weak training weapon buzzing from the excited contact.
I was forced to mirror her footwork and backstep, as she pressed forward to drive the hilt of her blade into my face but accomplished little more than a twirl, with little room to accomplish anything meaningful in the clash I abandoned it, dancing backward as she did the same.
It was a heartbeat before we moved again. She lunged, left palm facing the ceiling and the tip of the training blade directed at my heart, knees bent in perfect form. It was inappropriate for the weapon at hand, too long and the hilt was unbalanced for the work she sought from it, but I was forced to dart back to avoid the attack all the same, my own slash coming too slow be of any use.
Jumping forward, I attempted to slash at her again, only for her to back up, using her blade sparingly to knock mine off course and keep her distance. She was slippery, fast, and more annoying than anything, accurate with that weapon.
I attempted to slash at her arm, only for her to finally make an attack, ducking low and slashing my thigh, causing me to go down to one knee. I felt heat on the back of my neck as she stood behind me.
"How very useless." She hissed from behind me, and I felt the cold fury flow from my core. I turned, ignoring the fact that she moved the blade to sizzle against my neck, and brought my hand into a motion, forcing her off her feet into a Force choke. I took delight in how her eyes bulged in shock as I overpowered her resistance to my crushing will and her defenses in the force crumbled. I held her there for half a minute before I felt Tann's influence press against my neck, an indication to stop I presume.
I released my hold and felt a wave of fatigue pass over me, something I refused to show as I stood up at attention. Already Tanya had grown in power considerably, her mastery of the force growing to challenge my own at an unacceptable rate.
"But is it?" Tann asked, as Tanya fell to her knees, choking on the ground. Before she had a chance to recover, I brought my blade along her back, burning through the pilot suit and leaving a burn mark but electing little more than a grunt of discomfort from her.
Severance stood up from her chair and stepped into the arena, looking down at Tanya, who was making general sounds of pain, "This was an acceptable performance from the both of you. But you still have a lot to learn before you can earn your freedom."
Tanya rolled onto her side, glaring at the Chiss.
Tann directed two battle droids to pick her up and drag Tanya back to her room as she said, "Reset the arena, prepare for the other Neophyte."
I raised an eyebrow before saying, "Why are we playing with that handmaiden? She probably won't be as useful as Tanya."
"Perhaps, but I know someone like Tanya. She embodies her subordinates as a true general does. The knowledge that her handmaiden is being put through the same torture as her will have a psychological effect on Tanya. She failed to protect them, and now they must suffer too. She may break unexpectedly just to try and save her friend, her property, her subordinate, from being abused. This will strengthen her resolve in the dark side of the force." She looked down on me and I checked my anger as Tann said, "In simple terms, go even harder on the handmaiden, then you would go on Tanya, you are forbidden from maiming the Princess but I care not about her attendant."
"I am ready and obedient, I will do as ordered, my master."
Severance nodded before adding, "Besides that, the handmaiden has potency in the force, more than a normal Padawan, and we'll need to expand our catalog of force sensitive agents while we can if we are to win this war.
"Of course, master." I drolled as two droids hauled the struggling handmaiden through a door. I was reminded of fire and smoke, an endless, hopeless war and the few reserves of mages fighting for our glorious Empire.
It would be different this time, I would have more authority, more power... I would not lose them again. I retook my position as she was shoved onto the arena floor, and a commando droid approached with the training saber that Tanya had just dropped.