(draft) Chapter 34

Tanya was familiar with the usual faces who were all present for the leadership meeting, though there were a few notable additions. Included in Duke Harrad’s entourage was his Minister of Defence, and his Chief Admiral. After being introduced, they faded into the background, occasionally raising their hands to type something out, probably advice for their Lord. Duchess Satine sat with a handful of armored Mandalorians, looking utterly out of place in her Mid Rim styled robes. 

The most significant new addition to the group was Duke Podu Struthend, of Botajef. He was a small man, and quite young compared to the other heads of state. The top of his head only came up to Dooku’s shoulders, but he had a cunning glint in his narrow eyes that combined with the soft smirk on his lips, and his slightly hunched posture gave the impression of an opportunist. He was dressed in Mid Rim styled robes as well, though Tanya could make out the faint crease in his robes where his blaster was kept, no doubt. Compared to Duchess Satine, he gave the impression of a much more dangerous ally.

He wasn’t even here to join the Outer Rim Alliance, but the opening negotiations with Dooku had proceeded smoothly, and clearly offered him something he wanted. If Tan’ya had to guess, his primary interest was the Salin corridor. If he could wrestle some kind of control over Phindar and the Demetras Sector from the pirates that roamed it, the benefits to him would be enormous. It also helped that the Trade Federation was a great threat to Podu. Phindar’s shipyards had been shrinking in relevance for decades as a result of competition with the Corporate Sector, and business was so bad for the planet that half of its orbital stations were apparently mothballed.

He definitely didn’t seem like a trustworthy ally, but at the very least he was motivated to help for this occasion.

Of course, her father stood out among the others. Dooku’s impressive height, the obvious power and control in his movements, the deep rumble of his voice, and aura of regality had him directing the meeting effortlessly. He was a Count addressing mostly Dukes, but none seemed to chaff that he was clearly in charge.

On the table now was Tan’ya and Asajj’s initial plans for the invasion of Phindar, and the scouting report that had informed it. The report bore a mix of good news and bad. 

The obvious good news was that the report came back at all, and that they were able to park their ship on Phindar without any questions asked. The Coruscanti registration drew no attention, and the two pilots were easily able to slip into the local drinking holes to gather information from the pirates berthed there. The scouts even located the enemy base, and were able to get a pretty good idea of the enemy’s numbers and positions, just from doing a few inconspicuous fly overs.

The bad news was that the pirates were obviously operating well beyond the capacity of Serenno and the New Temple to defeat, at this point. According to the report, they had more than thirty warships, utterly dwarfing Phindar’s own pitiful fleet. The pirates were docked at Deep Space Demolition and Removals, which was apparently a registered business. No doubt it was a front for the Black Sun.

Even with the two captured Coronas bolstering her fleet, Tan’ya saw no chance of defeating the enemy with just Serenno’s resources. The New Temple as well didn’t have a fleet of warships of its own, only a wing of long range starfighters thanks to Mr Hego. The only way Serenno was going to defeat this enemy was by calling on the rest of the Outer Rim Reform Alliance, which was now apparently its formal name.

Duchess Satine had been chosen to make the formal announcement, along with providing a list of members. Apparently they were planning to organize an internal leadership election with a citizens vote for member worlds to elect their own representatives. 

This was all well and good, Tan’ya fully agreed that the Republic was in dire need of reform, but it left her feeling slightly underwhelmed as she looked at the list of allies they could currently draw upon. Currently, it seemed that the Duke of Botajef was willing to allow the invasion to happen, but was not willing to commit his own forces to it. That left the Duke of Raxus, the Duchess of Mandalore, the Count of Serenno, and the New Temple. Between them they had a slight edge in numbers over the Black Sun fleet. With five cruisers provided by Serenno, twenty from Raxus, and the long range fighters from the New Temple, they may have a good shot at defeating the enemy in open space, but there were a few wild cards to consider in the situation as well. 

For one, it wasn’t clear which side the Phindar Home Fleet would lean to, or if it would just sit the battle out. With just four battle cruisers to call upon, Phindar wouldn’t be able to fight a war on its own, but by throwing its weight into the battle at a crucial moment, they could decide the victor. 

The second wild card was the Mandalorian mercenaries now seated beside Duchess Satine. Her own government came about as a result of a radical pacifist revolution, and its current ruling class was composed of radical ideologues. They found the idea of any kind of standing army completely repugnant. Officially, Satine had no support to offer. Unofficially, she had security contracts with a handful of outlying Mandalorian clans, who were her planet’s only official security force at this moment in time. These clans didn’t like each other, and none of them were willing to overthrow Satine lest the others attack them next. None of them liked Satine, but none of them were as afraid of her as they were of each other. The whole situation seemed like a powder keg primed to blow, of the kind that only deranged idealistic revolutionaries and an ancient honor-warrior culture could possibly create. For now, the Mandalorian clans had at least provided ten warships to act as a mercenary fleet, though they were a mess of different makes, models. Not to mention that each had their own chain of command, and half of them couldn’t work together because their grandparents stole a piece of beskar from each other, or some such nonsense.

Tan’ya’s temples swelled with the beginnings of a headache from just trying to sort it all out.

The third wildcard was the Sith. Tan’ya stared at the holopad in her hand, thinking about the information Asajj had shared with her. Apparently, she’d persuaded the Jedi Quinlan Vos to talk with her, and according to him the Black Sun leadership had been eliminated completely. The entire crime syndicate had been taken over by the same Sith Assassin that had killed Sifo Dyas. With a press of her thumb, the recording of the assassin was projected, captured from the inside of Naboo’s own royal transport, as he ruthlessly cut down all who stood in his path until he came up against Padawan Kenobi. 

This was the man who killed Sifo Dyas. The details of the event were even more confusing. According to Vos, the most likely explanation was that Sifo had suspected the assassin was coming, and had planted a bomb in his own ship. The Sith had survived the explosion, but was severely injured, and had been in bad shape when he went to assassinate Queen Amidala, which was why Padawan Kenobi had been able to defeat him. The next assassin sent for Amidala had been a known mercenary. 

The obvious conclusion to draw was that the Sith were actually very low on numbers and personnel. That would explain how they were able to evade Jedi detection for so long. Somehow this small faction had been able to convince Chancellor Palpatine to swap sides from the triumvirate of Dooku, Damask and Sifo, though to what ends still weren’t clear. Of course, Tan’ya had her own suspicions. The most simple explanation was that Palpatine had seen the benefits of allying with the serious powers of the Trade Federation and the Hutts as more beneficial then Hego and his collection of minor Outer Rim sectors.

Though Tan’ya still didn’t see how such diverse groups as the Fed, the Hutts, the Sith and the Chancellor wouldn’t have divergent goals. Perhaps they sensed a weakening of the Republic, as Sifo and Hego did, and sought to expand their power into the vacuum. Maybe. Or maybe Being X had offered power to them, uniting a powerful alliance against Tan’ya and her family out of sheer spite.

The latter definitely seemed more likely.

“This is all very interesting.” Duke Podu said aloud, when it came to his turn to discuss the plans. “But military matters are far from my own expertise, I doubt I have much to suggest to someone with your military record, Count.” He nodded respectfully. “But assuming this all goes to plan, I want to know what we intend to do with Phindar afterwards? We’ll need Senate approval to redraw sector boundaries, which of course we will not have.