3/09/7957 C.R.C

  Mandalore

  En-route to Sundari Palace

  Three ships traveled through Hyperspace, all of them en route to the planet of Mandalore.

  The first ship to arrive at its destination and enter real space over Mandalore's orbit was the Purgill-Class Star Cruiser, Le Rapace, currently carrying myself and Athena.

  If Athena's name isn't familiar, she was the Tactical Droid formerly known as TD-60, who had arrived on Telos all those months ago near the beginning of my new life. Since then, she had gained a PM and undergone quite a few dramatic modifications to her frame. While Athena still at least somewhat resembled a Tactical Droid in silhouette, some of her new changes had actually made her additionally look sort of like an owl, surprisingly enough. She gained four-fingered hands that were closer to talons, a beaked vocoder, larger optics, and a head that could do a full 360 rotation. She had also taken upon wearing a coat commissioned from Ghorman over her frame.

  Athena's face included some shifting parts and a pair of plumicorn-like antennas on the top of her helm that reacted to her speech as well as showing her emotional state. Athena also had her frame upgraded with HK-based servos to allow for stronger and more fluid movement, a great departure from the comparatively clunky movement of her stock servos, along with completely replacing her legs. In fact her new legs kind of remind me of Arcee's legs from TF Prime, just minus any motorcycle parts, that is. She still kept the baseball helmet-looking design around her head though, but it's a bit more armored to keep her processor safe.

  Anyways, after Athena's PM fully formed I found out that she was, to my great amusement, a complete Tsundere.

  At first she was always aloof around everyone else, including me, but she eventually warmed up to all of us after a month or two. She's pretty friendly once you get to know her, but her cold and aloof attitude is actually necessary for dealing with negotiations. Though I have come to find out that as much as she tries to hide it, she absolutely loves to be praised and appreciated for her work.

  In regards to what she does now, Athena has since taken control and has served as the head of diplomacy and negotiations for the 104th Star Wreckers after her success on Telos, and also her handling of an incident on Orto Plutonia a few months back. Her official title was actually coined by herself, being the Star Negotiator. In accordance with her new role, Athena had also installed a protocol droid vocabulator into her processor, giving her the ability to speak and understand numerous languages for her position, just in case we encounter anyone that doesn't speak basic or binary. Which, in this galaxy, was obviously very likely.

  "What do you think about these new Trinitaurs from the reports, Athena?" I asked to fill the silence while we stood in my office on the ship.

  The white and pale blue former Tactical Droid hummed as she tapped away on her datapad, before she looked over at me.

  "If the information presented is to be believed, they'll be a good successor to the commandeered LAATs we have. Even if they don't fully measure up to them in some aspects." She replied. "Though my concerns may be quelled by the MandalMotors demonstration tomorrow, according to our schedule."

  I smiled. "I think they may surprise you. After all, the prototype that the Marauders received is one hell of a ship for a personal vessel."

  The next ship to pop into real-space was the Harbinger's Greed II.

  Since the original Harbinger's Greed was destroyed during the Mandalore Incident, a brand-new Recuscant brought into the fleet after Kamino, which unfortunately lacked a name, was christened the Harbinger's Greed II. After that, it was simply a matter of gifting it to Omen for him to use as his personal vessel whenever he wished. He was quite happy that he had his own ship now, even if it wasn't his original ship. I also told him that I would've given him the original ship if it weren't currently in multiple pieces in the Mandalorian desert, and in response he told me not to worry about it, because he always had the memories of his time on that ship, along with pretty much all of the original crew to work the new ship.

  A call then came in on my desk, and when I accepted, Omen himself appeared in front of it, briefly saluting me.

  "General Blitzkrieg." He greeted.

  "Admiral Omen." I replied with a smile. "It's good to see you again. I know you've been busy while I've been dealing with all the politics that have been going on."

  Omen chuckled. "Better you than me, sir. I'm a military mech, not a political one."

  I let out a light scoff. "Neither am I. Was Lona behind you?"

  He nodded. "She should be appearing soon, we left as they finished loading up her ship."

  "I'll see you both on the surface, then." I replied before ending the call.

  I nodded at Athena, and the two of us left my office.

  And finally, a few minutes later, the last and largest ship of the three arrived.

  The Telosian Pride, a DH-Omni Support Ship that Lona and TVEC had claimed as a mobile base. Thanks to the ship, we were able to test new technology with the utmost secrecy and privacy, well away from anything sensitive on Telos itself. For example, Project Midnight, the development of which is nearing completion on the mobile facility. The Telosian Pride's modifications included additional hull mass and support for the connecting structure between the two halves of the ship, as well as stronger shields and sensor equipment.

  Lona had received the ship upon her promotion to Chief Engineer of the 104th, but she never really did anything with the vessel, and mostly stayed aboard the Finest Hour, until the Star Wrecker's five month absence from the war began. Once we were all entrenched away in the border of "civilized" space, Lona and her engineering buddies descended upon the Telosian Pride, eventually modifying it into the vessel that now entered Mandalorian space just a few moments ago.

  Athena, our guards, Captain Ransack, and I quickly headed towards our shuttle in Le Rapace's hangar that would transport us down to the city of Sundari on Mandalore's surface. By the time we made it on board, Osprey was already performing system checks on one of my personal shuttles. The ship being the heavily modified Stealthpede Command Ship I used back on Saleucami, which has since been named the Talon. Two of my Magnaguards who had pilot training were also starting up their own in order to serve as our escort to Sundari.

  After takeoff was completed, the Talon launched out of the hangar and followed a route that Osprey had transmitted to Omen and Lona's ships. Before reaching the atmosphere their vessels would link up with our formation as an extra precaution.

  I've been looking forward to hanging out with Omen and Lona in person again.

  With the planning and subsequent Battle of Kamino as well as General Grevious' stay on Telos, it's been roughly a month since our tight-knit three-person group had last spent time together that wasn't a business meeting or a war debrief through a Holo-Transmission. Luckily for us, Grevious had to reluctantly give up his crusade regarding the possible Jedi on Telos IV around five days ago, but that was only after Dooku had to first chew him out about wasting time on such a meaningless pursuit. Kinda my fault since the "Jedi" was ensured to be off-world as soon as he hung up on me, but whatever.

  Kraken, who had been reprogrammed as soon as we left the Serenno system, came in clutch during that instance, thanks to his secret job as a spy for the Count. He managed to give false intel to Dooku that no such force user existed on the planet. His conclusion to the report and diagnosis sent to the Count was that the cybernetic General had been experiencing extreme paranoia after being cooped up and away from the frontlines for too long. Thus, after being reluctantly gifted with his new frame to eventually change to, Grievous was once more unleashed upon the Republic, leaving Ventress on Telos to recuperate at an unfortunately slow pace, due to her injuries being too sensitive to be healed by Bacta.

  In any case, while there will be important meetings that we'd have to attend on Mandalore, there will also be well suited breaks provided for our group in regards to the amenities that the Kryze sisters had arranged.

  "General, the transports from the Harbinger's Greed II and the Telosian Pride have linked in formation with us. ETA to landing is ten minutes." Osprey reported over my comm as the Talon hurtled through space.

  "Roger, Osprey." I replied.

  While waiting on the ship to reach Sundari, my thoughts began to drift as I stared out at the Mandalorian desert below.

  The last five months, while they may have spent in exile, were very productive for me. Numerous facilities, listening outposts, and fortresses were secretly created in the wild areas of the Outer Rim, some of which were even on planets and moons without a breathable atmosphere. Some worlds we had secret bases on included the likes of Lanupa, Neka, Ajan Kloss, and dozens of other planets and moons. Some of these worlds had also added quite a bit to our war treasury, like the aforementioned Lanupa. On that planet, while a survey team was scanning a mountain range to see if it could become a secret factory, they stumbled upon a hidden underground structure that had a room of literal pirate treasure from some ancient pirate named Tak Rennod. Pirate treasure which netted us quite a bit of credits, a number which was still climbing past the hundred million credit mark. While the Hutts are a disgusting species, they are definitely the best to throw these pointless shiny bits at and take their credits from them.

  I even found an old High Republic-Era lightsaber, which was covered with white and gold plating, the plasma blade itself being a shimmering gold in color. I ended up adding it to my personal collection of art and artifacts in my manor on Telos.

  But I digress.

  My takeover of the Techno Union is actually going rather well, especially now that the TVEC has joined. MandalMotors is also in the process of joining as well, but that won't be finalized for a while. Surprisingly, no one has sounded any alarm to the wider Separatist Council about the strange happenings going on with the top brass of the Techno Union. I do know that Wat Tambor suspects something is going on with so many sentients turning up dead or replaced in upper management of the Techno Union. But my best guess is that he's too arrogant to ask Dooku for help about it or even inform the man.

  That extreme arrogance is pretty much what I expected from the sentient that created my original frame.

  I glanced out at the surface of Mandalore, and I smiled when I noticed that the forests at the poles looked a bit healthier.

  The terraforming of Mandalore back into the garden world it once was, was apparently going well. Terraforming tech has existed as far back as the Rakatan Empire from what I remember, but I have a feeling nothing around today would be able to hold a match to what they had. As it is, Telos IV, Mandalore, and another planet I've started working on wouldn't see real visible from orbit results until around ten to twenty years in the future. But I have tasked some of the TVEC, both on Telos and here on their new branch on Mandalore, into investigating new, more efficient ways of terraforming, to hasten the process from the fifty-year time frame that was given for the full habitability of Telos. Completely unsurprisingly, those that were selected for the project delved into it with an amazing amount of enthusiasm and zeal.

  I'm expecting results to hopefully cross my desk by the next month, especially since I have a few survey teams searching for Rakatan tech to hasten the process.

  From our right flank, a squadron of smaller Starfighters blasted through the cloud cover and flew alongside us.

  One of my eye ridges rose up a bit. These must be the new fighters that I've been hearing so much about from Bo.

  "This is the Mandalorian Planetary Security Force." One of the ships hailed. "Please state your ship name and clearance codes."

  "Message received, over. Transmitting clearance codes, now." Osprey replied.

  As Osprey handled the communications with the patrol squadron, I got a good look at the new Starfighters through one of the viewports.

  I was quite surprised to see what kind of ships they were. I didn't know that MandalMotors had already created the this early. But then again, without having to hide the more militaristic ships due to Satine's policies and without being neutered by a galaxy-wide Empire, the Mandalorian engineers had quite a lot of breathing room and freedom to create to their heart's desire. Plus, I hadn't been back to Mandalore for nearly six months, so things would've obviously changed.

  "Clearance Codes received and confirmed, please follow us to Landing Zone 7. Su'cuy 104th Star Wreckers! Welcome to Mandalore!" The Mandalorian Pilot eventually replied.

  To my surprise, a whole squadron of the newly developed Fang Fighters linked up with us. Together, they escorted our convoy the rest of the way down to the surface, where I could see that Sundari's dome was almost completely fixed.

  "Escort on final approach, enjoy your time here, Star Wreckers." The same pilot said, before the whole squadron peeled off from the convoy.

  "I think they wanted to make a good first impression." I remarked, before turning to Athena. "What do you think?"

  "I think those fighters are quite the sight to see for a formerly pacifistic planet." The former Tactical Droid replied.

  "Try not to get into another planet consuming fight while we're here, General." Osprey joked.

  "Ha ha, very funny." I responded sarcastically.

  "I'm afraid this no laughing matter, General. You do indeed have such a track record, after all." Athena replied curtly with a smirk audible in her voice.

  "Hmph, traitors, all around me." I joked as we walked to the exit ramp.

  Our convoy set down at a landing pad that was already partly occupied by a and a . As Osprey powered down the shuttle, Ransack and my other guards checked over their equipment and began exiting the ship to secure the perimeter. After getting the all clear, Osprey, Athena, and I stepped outside to see all of the activity happening around the spaceport.

  There was another security perimeter besides ours that was set up by the law enforcement of Mandalore ahead of our arrival, which consisted of several parked Police speeders being accompanied by Mandalorian Police Officers -with actual blasters- and a few KX-Security Droids. Looks like Bo and Satine are really making sure I'm not attacked again the next time I come to the planet. It was also quite ironic seeing the droids who would have become a symbol for the Empire and helped contribute to the Fall of Mandalore in Canon now being used in the service and defense of this planet's people, as well as being used in escorting a CIS officer.

  The KX-Series Security Droids were initially started many months ago as an attempt to recreate the Imperial Enforcer Droids, but the TVEC realized they were a little too inexperienced in that specific field of Droid Smithing. Despite that, the initial testing process for the KX proved to be very promising. Around that time, I was just starting my secret takeover of the Techno Union, leading me to reach out to the initial creators of the KXs in Canon, Arakyd Industries.

  Arakyd ended up being one of my more… peaceful takeovers after pulling out my signature strategic business and political ploy, promising to restore the environment of the heavily polluted home planet of the company, Vulpter, in exchange for them to privately align with my growing faction within the CIS, as well as to collaborate in business dealings with TVEC. After all the details were hashed out, it turned out most of the ground work for the KX was almost already completed, in fact I was quite surprised to find the droid was initially created for the Confederacy as opposed to the Imperials.

  After the two companies put their combined minds and workforces together, the security droid project was completed in almost no time at all. There were, however, some differences to their appearance in canon Star Wars, like having more filled out limbs, a more expressive face, on top of having an entirely different paint job and color scheme other than black with a few white highlights. Something else the team included in their new design were additional lights on the droid's face that react to them speaking or when they show emotion. The purpose being to humanize them more to civilians to better gain trust when operating as law enforcement, given their somewhat intimidating size of seven feet, eight inches in height.

  So far the Droids have been stationed on Telos, Pantora, Saleucami, Mandalore, Concordia, Vulpter, and a few were sprinkled around the various secret Star Wrecker bases throughout the Outer Rim. Once I'm properly in control of the Techno Union, I hope to increase that number to all CIS aligned planets in the galaxy. But that requires a bit more planning.

  As I stepped off the ship, Ransack quickly followed behind me as we stepped foot onto the Planet of Warriors and Hunters. While exiting, my optics started tracking my companions, with Omen being the next one out of his personal transport while being accompanied by his own guards. After our optics met, I gave Omen a respectful nod while receiving one back from him. A few seconds later I finally saw Lona stepping out of her Maxillipede shuttle along with her cohorts of TVEC engineers frantically, but also excitingly, following along after the Head Engineer.

  Once our groups were reunited I noticed that two of the Mandalorian Officers and one of the KX Security Droids carrying a riot shield started making their way over to greet us from the security perimeter. By their demeanor and the badges, I made an educated guess they were far up the chain of command of Mandalore's Security Force.

  Some irregular movement on one of the backs of the officers drew my gaze towards them in particular, and a small smile formed on my face when I realized that one of the officers was carrying a BD Explorer Droid on her shoulder.

  I'd heard that MandalMotors had purchased the manufacturer of the BD, Behold-Urwar Droid Concepts, a few months back, and that the Droid had grown extremely popular on Mandalore. It's seen massive use from Law Enforcement, to the Army, to the growing Bounty Hunting scene, the industrial sectors, Beskar armor smiths, and even in the civilian market as a household Droid.

  Now, you'd think that after everything that happened almost seven months ago, anti-droid sentiment would be at an absolute peak on Mandalore. But surprisingly, there was merely a period of skepticism on the part of people who saw everything that went down at Sundari Maximum Security. But after the government was reorganized and droids became more commonplace, anti-droid sentiment went through the floor, with hundreds of Mandalorians now at the very least owning one droid, and the general opinion towards them has drastically improved.

  And what naysayers were left had quickly become rather unpopular once the restoration project started bearing fruit around Sundari's domed walls and the forests at the poles.

  "Welcome to Sundari, General Blitzkrieg." The officer without the BD unit replied first, once they finished making their way to us. "I'm Police Chief Rhun Jus, this is Captain Nokaa Crenniss and her BD unit Beeper, and the tall and metal missy is Lieutenant Khaos. I assure you General, despite the name she is anything but."

  He then chuckled at his own comment with the presumed purpose of trying to lighten the tension. Though it seemed Captain Crenniss was not appreciative of her superior's attempted comedy judging by the glint of her eyes and her face's microexpressions. Lieutenant Khaos, on the other hand, didn't even bother holding back an optic roll.

  The police chief cleared his throat awkwardly. "Ahem. Well, thanks to the accurate size report, we were able to source adequate transport for all of you." He said, before turning halfway and gesturing towards the city. "If you'll follow us?"

  "Of course, Chief Jus." I replied.

  The group followed the officers to the transports, which were essentially large air speeders, but armored, and upon entering them, quite luxurious on the inside. Lona and I got into one, while Omen and the guards got into another, and the rest of the group got into the last one.

  "Mandalor Kryze and her sister are expecting you, General, I won't keep you any longer." The chief said before stepping off and letting the door close.

  As soon as it closed, I slumped into a chair with a sigh and closed my optics.

  "Finally, some peace." I almost groaned.

  But my peace was interrupted when a mass landed on my lap and arms wrapped around my neck. I opened my optics once more to see Lona hugging me, which I immediately reciprocated.

  "I did agree to give you a hug once we had finally gotten back together, didn't I?" I queried.

  "Yes you did." Lona murmured into my shoulder, before she settled into the couch beside me.

  "Are you alright?" I asked.

  "Blitz... I may have told a little bit of a lie when you sent me that message last week." She quietly said.

  I frowned. "...You were on the surface, weren't you?"

  She tightened her hold on my neck. "I was." She admitted. "I thought you were just asking if I was somewhere private, since the ship is protected, so I went to the TVEC headquarters. I can't even fathom how terrified I was when you told me that Grievous was hunting for me."

  "You got back onto the ship as soon as you could though, right?"

  She nodded. "Of course. I took the first transport up to the Finest Hour after the call ended as soon as I could. It didn't help that it felt like Grievous was suddenly at every corner and inside every building searching for me. He even stopped me at one point after recognizing my rank in the Wreckers for an interrogation about Jedi activity." I flinched and tightened my own hold on her. "I'm fine though! I'm fine! Thank the force I had given my lightsaber to one of the Engineering B1s earlier that day for safekeeping while I was shopping on the surface."

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  "And I am glad for that. Remind me to personally gift that B1 with an upgrade or something."

  Lona giggled. "I think Stella may faint if you personally give her a gift."

  I raised an eye ridge. "Why?"

  Lona finally broke her hug and scooted to the far end of the couch, draping her legs over my lap. "From what I understand, and given that I've been feeling multiple presences in the force growing all around me from the crew, I believe Stella has a crush on you."

  I blinked. "One of my subordinates has a crush on me?"

  Lona looked at me incredulously, before she started laughing. The next entire minute was nothing but Lona laughing, calming herself, taking one look at my face which was slowly going from confusion to deadpan, then bursting back out into laughter.

  "Blitz-" She finally said, cutting herself off with one last wheeze. "Force, you are dense sometimes!" She shook her head with a smile. "A lot of the mechs and femmes in the Star Wreckers have a crush on you. Kriff, I think a lot of the men and women on Telos are the same! You were nominated as the most eligible bachelor on the planet, and the only reason you didn't win was because you were off dealing with Dooku. Have you really not noticed that?"

  After shaking my head, Lona started giggling again and covered her eyes with one arm, leaving me with my cooling fans kicking on to vent the blush building up in me.

  What in the absolute fuck!? They're actually infatuated with me!? Droids I can understand, but even the organics too? Actually, scratch that, I know how degenerate sentients can become to think otherwise.

  I briefly remembered that there was a pair of Twi'lek's on Telos, one guy and one girl, both of them a shade of purple that was very easy on the optics, who both sent me rather... smoldering looks at one point, and my cooling fans kicked up a notch before I was able to shake the thought away.

  Fuck.

  "Alright then… moving on." I started before she let out a snort, but then I glared at her. "Moving. On." She raised her hands up in surrender but was still smiling, and I finally huffed, exhaling a puff of heated mist. "Anyway. What have you been up to lately, Lona?"

  She hummed. "Well, obviously I've been working on Project Midnight, Project Warrior, Project Goliath, and Project Albatross. I think Midnight, Goliath, and Albatross might come online relatively soon-ish. Warrior is still way off, since we're still working out how to reformat walker legs to carry that much weight."

  "I'm not expecting results from Warrior for at least as long as Midnight's entire timeframe. Changing that much on a walker will be much more time consuming."

  She sighed. "Yeah… But the results from Midnight are very promising. And since they're being built from the ground up instead of modified from existing designs, their frames are much more efficient. Plus the experience gained from the KX collaboration is helping Midnight just like Warrior is being helped by those old Mandalorian War Droid designs."

  "That's good to hear." I tilted my head. "I hope the Kryze sisters enjoy the gift I'm giving them. It is based on one of those old designs, after all."

  And just getting some of the designs was quite the hassle. It was paperwork hell trying to get authorization for the designs initially, but I was able to get them thanks to my reputation, and eventually I was able to have them fabricated in a custom order and shipped to La Rapace.

  The driver of the transport then spoke up from the small PA system.

  "We're landing at Sundari Palace now, sir." The driver reported.

  The shuttle shook slightly as it landed, and Lona and I shared a glance.

  "Once more unto the breach." I muttered.

  "Let's hope you don't come back needing another frame switch." Lona joked.

  I lightly bonked her on the head as I stood up. "Don't jinx it you gremlin."

  "G-Gremlin!" Lona squawked as I walked to the exit and opened it.

  I quietly snickered to myself as Lona punched me in the arm with a slightly force-enhanced fist. We walked out of the transport into the parking lot of the palace. While waiting on the other two transports to park, I looked around at the city.

  The Tector-class Star Destroyer that had slammed through Sundari's dome and landed near the prison was slowly being broken apart, with an entire fourth of it from the top down missing. I could already see that some of its turbolasers were salvaged and remembered that there were new anti-ship turrets near the landing pads. They must have repurposed them into defensive weaponry. The rest of the ship, however, was visibly becoming less of a Star Destroyer as massive hull-cutting lasers were portioning massive sections of the Tector, while hundreds of organic shipbreakers crawled all over it as well, rendering the chunks down to the supporting skeleton of the ship, and taking that too.

  "The shipbreakers work fast, General Blitzkrieg." A familiar voice remarked from behind me. "Especially since they've only been working on disassembling that ship for the last month."

  I turned around to see Satine, in a fashionable, yet utilitarian outfit. It didn't look like something a royal would wear for fancy events, but one closer to something that they'd wear if they were expecting a fight to break out.

  "They do indeed." I replied. "I believe that droid shipbreakers are the only ones faster. But we do not need to sleep like organics do, just the occasional maintenance and recharge once a week. I'd imagine the people want to see their Capital restored after the attack, regardless it is quite impressive what they have achieved." I bowed. "A pleasure to meet you again, Senator Satine Kryze."

  She waved off my bow. "Please, I may be a Kryze, but I am not the Mandalor. And as much as I may... dislike the old ways, I can see that people are happier now than they were when I ruled."

  "You took my advice then?" I queried as the other two transports landed.

  She nodded. "I have. The therapist has made a definite improvement on me." Her eyes became slightly misty before she blinked. "It's even improved my relationship with Bo. Our relationship is still strained at times, but it's slowly starting to feel like we are actually sisters once again."

  I smiled as the rest of the group disembarked from their transports. "That is very good to hear, Satine. The lessened workload helps as well, doesn't it?"

  "It does." By that point, the group had gathered, and Satine drew herself up into a more formal posture. "Welcome to Mandalore. I am Senator Satine Kryze. Please, follow me."

  With Satine in the lead, we walked into the palace. As we walked to the throne room, I noticed that the blaster burns from the battle all those months ago were still there on the walls, as were the glancing swipes from the lightsabers. As the doors to the throne room opened, I saw even more of them, and I glanced at Satine questioningly, but before she could speak, someone else did.

  "It was decided that the echoes of the battle that took place here almost seven months ago would remain, as a memorial for those who lost their lives in the Battle of Mandalore." Bo-Katan remarked from the throne that she was casually lounging on. "I hope that's not too morbid for your sensibilities?"

  "The marks of the past tell stories no matter where they lie." I replied as I stepped up to the dais and bowed. "A pleasure to meet you properly this time, Mandalor Bo-Katan Kryze."

  I stood up and amusedly realized I was eye-level with Bo even when she was sitting on her raised throne. The new Mandalor waved me off as she stood up and walked up to me, holding out her hand.

  "It's good to properly meet you as well, General Blitzkrieg." Bo replied as we shook hands, before her eyes glided over to the rest of the group. "And who are the rest of the people that came with you?"

  "Ah." I gestured at Omen. "This is Omen, the Admiral of the 104th. He obviously leads the fleet while I am busy with other things." I then waved my hand at Lona and the group from the TVEC. "And this is Lona Hys, my Chief Engineer. She keeps everything running, and also helps devise new weapons and vehicles with her subordinates in the TVEC. The B1 painted white with blue accents is Osprey, my personal pilot and one of the Star Wrecker's best, the HK unit is Captain Ransack, my personal guard, and the non-standard Tactical Droid is Athena, our primary negotiator. "

  She nodded at the group. "Good to meet you all." She gestured to her left and right. "To my right is Ursa Wren and Rook Kast, some of my top military officers, and to my left is my sister Satine and Prime Minister Almec. Now, I'm sure that many of you are tired after traveling all the way to Mandalore, so we'll begin the demonstrations tomorrow."

  I nodded in agreement. "Perfectly acceptable, Mandalor Kryze."

  With the introductions out of the way, the group splintered into two distinct small groups, me, Omen, Lona, and Athena in one, and Osprey, Ransack, the other Magnaguards, and the TVEC workers in the other.

  "Please, follow me." Satine politely said.

  The woman then led us towards a side entrance, while the other group were led to the opposite side. The next few hallways were as pristine as expected, but there were noticeable changes that revealed the old nature of the palace's former days as a fortress. I noted quite a few of them as we made our way through them, but only bothered to file them away as potential places to fight in if Mandalore was ever fully invaded.

  "This is probably going to be the most high-class place I've ever slept in." Lona muttered from beside me. "You?"

  "The same, in this life and the last." I quietly replied.

  Satine eventually led us to a large set of double doors, which opened after a small TT-8L/Y7 gatekeeper poked out and looked at all of us for a moment. The doors opened, and I blinked a few times in mild confusion.

  'Huh. I'm drawing parallels to the Gryffindor common room for some reason.' I thought as we walked in.

  "Welcome to the Clan room. Bo and I thought that you would prefer to stick together, especially after your last visit. So, these rooms were refurbished for your use." Satine explained. "I hope they are to your liking?"

  "They are perfect for us, Lady Kryze." I replied. "We'll be fine from here."

  "Very well. I shall see you all tomorrow then."

  With that, Satine ducked her head a bit, then left, closing the doors behind her. As the rest of our group were heading towards their rooms, Lona waltzed over and flopped down on a large couch in my room, instantly letting out a loud sigh.

  "Holy kriff." She groaned.

  "Comfy?" I asked as I looked down at her upside down.

  "Definitely." Lona replied contently.

  Before I could respond, someone knocked on my door, and when I opened it, I stood to the side to let Omen join us.

  "Omen, I figured you would want to relax after all the travel you've done." I commented.

  "My apologies, General. I do not want to complicate our rest period, but there is something we must discuss." Omen interceded. "Foerost."

  "The ancient shipyards?" I queried.

  "What about Foerost?" Lona asked.

  "The planet was one of the very first supporters of the CIS and as a result, it has been blockaded by the Republic ever since the war began. I sent blockade runners to get some communications set up under Blitz's orders, and I've just gotten the first reports from them today." Omen explained.

  "Very well, what have you got?" I asked.

  Omen sat down on a chair and crossed his legs, gesturing to the other chair. After a moment of staring blankly at the chair not made for my unique shape, I shrugged, then focused on my Hud for a moment and navigated until I found what I needed. A series of mechanical noises suddenly emanated from my back, and my wings folded up a bit and froze. I reached back and undid a few latches, and the entire assembly popped off my back.

  "You can do that?" Omen asked.

  I nodded as I placed the assembly down next to my chair, then sat down myself. "Yep. It's more for maintenance, or if they're damaged in battle, or if a new version is created for me, actually. But I can disconnect the Starlight from my back pretty easily. It's no more difficult than how it was in my previous frame. It's actually how I got the idea of the Symbiot units." I gestured in his direction. "Now, what's this about Foerost?"

  "Right. Admiral Dua Ningo has received my communications." Omen began. "But the Sullustan Admiral is old, and like many prideful old organics, with age comes complacency and arrogance. He believes that he'll be able to break through the blockade easily with his fleet of Bulwarks he's creating, a design of ship I believe would be a great addition to the Star Wreckers."

  "Old age can sometimes bring out the worst in people." I shrugged, remembering some of the more… senile members of my old world's governments. "What's this about Bulwarks?"

  "They're a thousand meter long vessel with exceptional ramming capabilities for their size. Apparently there's a Mark Two version in the works that takes the ship up to two thousand, five hundred meters. That one, I believe, will serve the Star Wreckers even better than the Mark One Bulwarks."

  As I listened to Omen's report, I fell into an old habit of mine and stroked my chin, then paused when I felt smooth metal instead of the short beard I'd had as a human.

  ...I wonder if I could do the bundle of frayed and braided wires that Sentinel Prime and Hound had in the Bayverse?

  Eh, probably best not to try that. It might look goofy on me.

  "And when does Dua Ningo expect to break through the Republic blockade of Foerost?" I asked.

  Omen shrugged. "He believes he could break out of the blockade in two months or earlier. Depends on how the blockade looks at that point, according to him."

  I sighed and shook my head. "With my luck, he'll be attempting a breakout in under two months, with our reinforcements not ready yet. My main concern is the Republic being spooked whether Dua Ningo's fleet succeeds in the breakout or not, as Foerost is only a jump away from Coruscant. Either way, sending their whole fleet to glass the planet may somehow become their only option due to their fear of Foerost's massive shipyards."

  Omen half-nodded. "It's possible, given how impatient the man seemed during our brief conversation."

  I sighed again, and Lona reached over and patted me on the shoulder.

  "I think it's inevitable at this point that that's going to happen, Blitz." Lona commented, before leaning back and stretching. "I'm going to bed. You two can do what you want, but my fleshy self needs sleep."

  "Good night, Lona." I said, leaning back slightly as her arms wrapped around my neck again.

  Lona hugged me tightly. "Good night, Blitz, Omen."

  Lona walked off to her temporary room, and I let out a puff of mist as I leaned back for a moment, staring at the ceiling.

  Things were starting to change even more, as I expected. I probably won't be able to rely on my metaknowledge after another four or five months, at this rate. And definitely not after my current projects are completed. Not gonna lie, not knowing what's ahead in the future both excites and terrifies me. But, either things will go well, or they won't. Either way, tomorrow is another day.

  "I think I'll follow Lona's example and take some time to recharge. What about you?" I asked as I stood up.

  "I will do the same." Omen replied as he stood up as well. "Sleeping is still a very new experience for me."

  "I bet it is, after not sleeping for over thirty years. I'll see you in the morning, then. Good night, Omen."

  "Good night, General."

  I walked to my room, grabbing my wings as I went.

  I set them down next to my bed, then eased myself onto the plush mattress, cycling myself down into sleep mode to properly rest.

  I had a pretty long day ahead of me.

  —

  Illum

  ???

  On the icy world of Illum, a small group of droids trekked through a raging blizzard.

  Snow howled across the frozen wastes, burying tracks within seconds, wiping all traces of life and movement as if the world itself wished to remain untouched. For organic life, this would have been suicide. But the marching figures cutting through the blizzard were no organics. They were droids.

  The droids looked similar to B2s, but they were 9 feet tall, their paneling was painted snow white, they were significantly stronger than a stock B2, and they didn't have any wrist blasters equipped, meaning they had to carry their weapons in their hands. Their large feet, which doubled as snow shoes and magnetomic gription boots, sank marginally into the white powder as they marched through the nearly blinding snowstorm.

  One of them extended his neck upward, segmented plating rising like a periscope. His head rotated slowly, scanning through the haze. After a few seconds, he hissed and retracted back into his armored body to avoid frost damage.

  "Hrrrmmm. This storm… it gets worse every kilometer, da?" The muttered in a unique accent.

  "Da." Another answered. "Feels like the sky itself wants to kill us."

  "I calculate visibility at three-point-two percent." A third reported. "Perfect weather for ambush, comrades."

  "Ha! Let the Republic dogs try!" The second laughed. "The snow is ally for us, not enemy."

  "Bah, tell that to joints in left leg." The fourth grumbled. "I feel icicles forming in places icicles should not form."

  That earned static-laced chuckles across their commline.

  "Maybe if you stop the complaining, you do not freeze to death, da?"

  "Says the one who steps in same hole three times-"

  "Shut mouth. I promise you, pain without end."

  "Quiet, comrades." Their leader ordered. "We're getting close. It is only matter of time, now."

  The Snow Droid Captain leading them had been having his symbiot, an ID6 Seeker Droid, scanning the environment whenever it was warmed up enough. The little droid had returned and hovered in front of the captain, who quickly opened his chest cavity and let the little droid in, before quickly closing back up to keep his internal temperature from dropping. The captain paused as the droid connected to his processor and fed him the report.

  "Hmmm. The cavern is close. Seeker saw the Jedi leaving. Quickly now." The captain ordered.

  The group resumed their trek, eventually climbing a snowbank where they spotted the Jedi transport. They crouched among the rocks like frozen statues, silent and motionless, invisible beneath the wrath of the blizzard.

  Ahead, through the white haze, the Jedi transport stood on the outskirts of the ice temple. Its engines hissed steam across the ice as the rear ramp lowered, and robed figures emerged from an entrance in the massive ice wall. Jedi Masters and Padawans shielding their faces from the biting wind as they guided the younglings, fresh from the trials within the caves.

  Their silhouettes were blurred by wind and snow, but the visibility was better with the massive wall of ice close by. They could see that some of them were limping. Some had frostbite on their hands. Some… looked changed. Hardened by what they found beneath the ice.

  "Look at them… so proud, these children." One of the snow droids remarked. "Thinking they passed trial."

  "Trial is not over." Another replied curtly. "Galaxy will give second trial. More final one."

  "We wait until they leave, then we find alternative entrance. Keep them off our trail that way." The Captain ordered.

  The Jedi transport soon began its ascent. Snow peeled away beneath its thrusters, engines glowing as it climbed through cloud cover and vanished. No one moved for a full minute. Then the Captain finally spoke.

  "Move." He ordered.

  They descended the ridge and approached the ice temple, keeping low and quiet, remaining as shadows within the shadows. But instead of walking through the main entrance, the Captain raised his fist to stop the group, then pointed toward the north. Almost hidden from their sensors was a crack in the wall just big enough for all of them to enter.

  "There." He said. "Alternative path for us."

  He ejected Seeker, the little droid quickly flying in and scanning everything in sight, before speeding back out and entering his chest cavity again.

  "Dangerous… but traversable." The captain mused. "Jedi do not use it. Means we do."

  With that, they all clambered inside. The tunnel grew colder and the air felt thinner. Ice cracked under their steps but never broke. Their weight was perfectly distributed, their limbs calculated for each movement over the eternally frozen water. The storm faded behind them until the world was no longer wind, nor ice…

  …but light.

  The cavern opened like the throat of a giant beast, a vast chasm, pulsing softly with blue-white veins of kyber, running like arteries through stone and ice. Pillars of the precious crystal stretched from floor to ceiling, some thicker than starfighter hulls, and each and every single one hummed faintly… the crystals alive in a way, within the Force.

  "Astounding…" One whispered. "This… It is almost like this is holy place."

  "No." the Captain corrected. "This is arsenal."

  The ID6 Seeker flew from his chest with a sharp chirp, scanning the chamber while the squad unpacked tools and gear. Crates hit the ice. Fusion cutters powered on. Survey spikes were driven into the ground, each one piercing the serenity of the cave with a metallic clang. The kyber crystals reacted. Their glow dimmed a little, as if they were slowly realizing what was to come.

  "Captain!" One Snow Droid called, crouching at the edge of a crystal vein. "Primary cluster branches deep. Minimal structural collapse risk if we harvest carefully."

  "Good." The Captain nodded, already deploying laser guides. "Mark cutting zone. Prepare the drills and call the Chameleons. Keep thermal vents within safe levels. No cracking allowed."

  "Are we ready?" Another asked.

  "We are. Activate laser cutters!" The Captain barked. "But remain cautious. Jedi interference must stay minimal!"

  The other Snow Droids nodded, then began working in perfect coordination.

  The drills powered up and began to dig into the ice. Quiet echoes shook the cavern as cracks began to form in the ice where they started digging.

  "The Republic won't know what hit them." The Captain chuckled. "Project Arclight will be their undoing."