113

A Young Girl’s War Between the Stars

113

33 BBY/967 GSC. Serenno.

I raised an eyebrow at the restaurant Mina had brought us to. It was in the top floor of one of the towers of Serenno City, looking out over the city from a wraparound transparisteel wall and providing an excellent view of the surrounding city and countryside outside of it. Given the way everyone including the wait staff were dressed, the decor, the location, and the general atmosphere I was fairly confident in assessing this as one of the more high end places in the city—perhaps on the planet. They were the kind of place that had living staff as opposed to droids to show off that they could afford it, and because they were more personable than a droid.

If we were on Earth, I would expect a search result to return five yen signs under the description’s price field.

Mina just walked right in like she owned the place. The greeter smiled and bowed over her datapad. “Senator Bonteri, lovely to see you again! Right this way!”

We were led to a table towards the outside of the circular room, against the transparent wall. The greeter handed us actual, printed paper menus. There were no prices listed and all of the portions looked small and very artistic on their plates—expensive, in other words. “What can I get for you and your guest?”

“Tanya Mereel, the Mand’alor. She’s a colleague in the Senate,” Mina answered as I pulled off my armored gloves and dropped them on the table along with my helmet, before taking a seat. Looking to me, she asked, “What do you think? Nabooian blossom wine?”

Looking over the menu, I eventually settled on space sushi. “Day drinking?”

“Just a little,” Mina smiled.

“I’ll have the local sushi plate with a pot of green tea and a small bottle of cold sweet sake,” I answered. “I’ve had enough blossom wine to last me quite a while.”

“I imagine,” Mina chuckled. “Sushi as well, with the blossom wine.”

The greeter smiled and nodded, not bothering to write anything down. “We’ll have them right out!”

She quickly hurried away and I felt Mina’s attention focus on me. She apparently decided to start things off light as she really looked at me, giving me the full up and down, as much as she could with the table in the way. “My, you’ve grown nicely since the last time we spoke. I’ve done some reading up on your people, but I wasn’t aware they matured that quickly.”

I chuckled quietly, shaking my head. “We do mature faster than the human baseline, but not this fast. No, I was involved in an unfortunate… temporal-spatial incident, the details of which are classified. To make a long story short, I spent four years locked away from the rest of the universe on a little island all by myself and when I stepped outside again, barely a minute had passed for everyone else.”

“That’s terrible,” Mina murmured, reaching out and taking my hand in hers—her skin warm and soft against my own as she squeezed it. “It must have been terribly lonely.”

“Not really,” I shook my head. “I spent the time reading and training. I look at it as a very productive vacation.”

The woman across from me covered her mouth with her free hand as she laughed. “Ah, I had almost forgotten how refreshingly straightforward you are.”

Mina leaned forward in her seat, resting her elbow on the table and her chin in her palm. The movement had the effect of pushing her chest up and out a bit, and given the cut on the top it revealed a hint of dark pink areola, as the hand holding mine shifted and her fingers slowly began to stroke the top of my hand in a very intimate and familiar gesture—far beyond what I would consider normal between female friends or even flirting. It was the sort of touch that even I, someone with very little in the way of intimate experience, could immediately identify as something shared between lovers. Blinking, I raised an eyebrow as Mina’s smile became warmer and the sexual attraction I’d felt from her grew.

Am… am I being seduced?! By a married woman?

I knew Mina was a bit older, perhaps in her late twenties to early thirties given the age of her son, but she clearly had taken advantage of the advanced anti-aging medical treatments available on Coruscant during her time as a Republic Senator and didn’t look a day over twenty. The silver in her red hair was just highlights to draw the eye. Her body, which the dresses she’d worn both times I’d met her now showed off to fantastic effect, was trim and athletic but the signs of a mature woman and mother were there if one knew where to look. Her facial shape, the shape of her eyes and style of her eyebrows, combined with the cut of her hair to give her a perpetually angry look—feisty and wild. And yet, her attitude and how she presented herself were anything but.

In other words, she was very easy on the eyes. Different and attractive in her own way, separate from Obi, Satine, Cindy, or Aylin.

No, no, no! I’m not a homewrecker!

My mind protested.

My libido, on the other hand, knew exactly what it wanted and Mina’s teasing had roused it to attention.

I opened my mouth to protest, only for the woman’s gaze to grow serious for just a moment as I felt a flash of… warning from her, before the bedroom eyes returned. “I’m sorry to say that I’ve lured you here under false pretenses, dear,” Mina murmured, as her fingers continued stroking my hand. “I hope you don’t mind, but I needed to get you away from the others. I have a favor I’d like to ask of you, if you would hear a friend out?”

Mina’s green eyes cut to the side, focused on something—or rather someone else—before returning quickly to me. I opened myself up, pushing away the distraction of my rising libido as I scanned the room. More than a few people were paying attention to us, but the one in the direction Mina had indicated was especially attentive.

So we’re being watched and this is… an act? If so, it’s a good one. To be able to intentionally project her emotions like that just to be able to communicate with me wordlessly would take some practice and dedication. Interesting. Very interesting~. Is it a spy? Do I need to contact Xana and get Confederate Intelligence on this? I need to know. And I really should thank Mina for this opportunity to plug a leak so close to the Senate.

The more I thought about it, the more I found myself appreciating the trouble she had gone to for whatever this was. I had already intended to hear her out, but now I was convinced to play along and see where this went.

Turning my hand over, I seized Mina’s, lacing our fingers together as I leaned forward and put on the smile that made people melt—as opposed to the other smile. I didn’t want to run her off, after all.

“You have my attention~” I purred, putting just a bit of Force into my voice as I projected arousal and loosened my grip on my pheromones just a little—enough to convince anyone listening that I was genuinely interested in whatever sexual overture Mina was pretending at.

Mina sucked in a ragged breath and I saw her nipples harden, standing out beneath her dress as I felt her body tremble minutely where I held her hand, and her arousal hit the ceiling. I’d have to apologize to her for catching her in the blast zone later, when we got some privacy.

A waitress arrived and, seeing the intimate atmosphere, placed our drinks and food on the table and left quickly. Mina picked up her glass of wine and took a quick sip as I stared into her eyes, holding her gaze even as I scanned the room with my senses and took several photographs for later, to track down whoever this spy was.

Finally, Mina set her glass down and spoke. “Do you remember the night we met, when you saved my son? I’ve never properly thanked you for that, but I’d like to.”

“There was no need to thank me, Mina,” I shook my head. “That is not a debt I’ll hold over you.”

The woman’s lips curled in amusement. “Oh? You’ll hold others over me, then?”

“Don’t we all?”

“True,” she mused, before her smile fell, along with her jovial mood. She squeezed my hand a little tighter as she picked up her chopsticks with her free hand. “You remember the conversation we had that night?”

Thinking back on it, I nodded, even as I realized that this was likely the reason for her calling me out. “I do. What about it?”

She swallowed, hesitating for just a moment, before steeling her resolve. “The time you spoke of is here.” I raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to explicitly say it. “Stationary sensors within the system reported a buildup of forces before those sensors were destroyed. One behind our third planet, Fillata—a toxic world incapable of supporting life. Those were determined to be Trade Federation forces, consisting of a large number of Lucrehulks and smaller support ships. A ship was sent to reconnoiter and before they were destroyed, they managed to transmit a scan of the planet, showing the Trade Federation have begun to set up a droid foundry. The second fleet has set up behind Morvolo, our fourth planet—a barren hunk of ice. Our people approached this one much more cautiously and got a better look. It’s much larger than the Trade Federation fleet, but our analysts don’t believe they have the ground component the Trade Federation have, or the advantage in numbers of fighters. They’ve dusted off some oldPraetors, Procurators, Dreadnaughts, and many others. Our recon pilot reported that it looked like a floating museum out there.”

“…So the Republic and the Trade Federation both have come for Onderon,” I cut to the heart of the matter, and Mina nodded.

“Yes. Just as you said they would.”

Nodding, I used my free hand to pick up my chopsticks and ate as I thought. Mina took the opportunity to do so as well, giving me some time to contemplate the bombshell she’d just dropped on me.

Huge fleet buildup around Onderon from both the Republic and Tradies. This looks like a big push on both their parts. The Republic want it because a Confederate aligned Onderon is a danger, given how close they are to Kuat and KDY. Likewise, the Tradies want it because of how close it is to Kuat and KDY, so they can launch an attack to cripple part of the Republic supply chain.

…The smart thing to do here is not to go in with force right off the bat, but to play them off of each other. Once one side is aware of the other, they’ll be forced to engage or lose Onderon to the enemy. In the meantime, we quietly move forces in behind their lines, wait for them to weaken each other, then clear the board.

Except… why the old ships? The Republic have more modern ships. Could it be some kind of feint? Or are they simply not willing to commit new ships to the attack, when there’s a risk that we’ll respond?

Think! What use would the Republic have for an ice planet and a bunch of old ships? What would they gain?

…No. What would I do with an ice planet and a bunch of old ships?

Swallowing my bite of sushi, I washed it down with a swallow of tea before asking, “Is there an asteroid field in the Onderon system?”

“No,” Mina denied. “Not even a cloud or belt around the system.”

Glancing up from my plate, I asked, “What would happen if there were some sort of ecological disaster on Onderon? Say… a bombardment of comets made mostly of ice hitting the planet and causing a flood?”

Mina stared, her eyes going wide. “That, no, that’s not possible—”

“What’s the haul capacity on a Praetor’s tractor beam?”

The woman’s ardor cooled significantly at that and she looked away, thinking. Finally, she said, “We would have to evacuate.”

I nodded slowly. “And in the wake of your people abandoning the planet, it and the system would be free for anyone to come along and just stake a claim. After all, there would be little of value left. A nearly bloodless annexation.”

“That’s terrifying. Who would even consider such a thing?” she asked, squeezing my hand tighter.

I sent her a mirthless smile. “Me.”

Mina sent me a confused look. “What?”

“It’s not about taking the planet. It’s about denying it to the enemy and stationing a defensive fleet to make sure no one comes to use the area as a staging ground. If I wanted to force the local population to move and had access to some very large, mothballed or aging battle ships just sitting around, and a local ice planet? Blasting chunks off and throwing them at the target planet wouldn’t be hard at all, and with enough volume and mass, there would be little they could do about it. Alternately, if the chunks were small enough, they might not even show up on scanners. Just a constant stream of ice flakes shot at your planet, melting as soon as they hit atmosphere, before slowly cooling and turning into global rains. This reeks of Tarkin.”

“Who?” Mina asked, picking up her glass and taking a sip.

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“A captain in the Republic Navy, though perhaps he’s been promoted since. He taught at the Anaxes War College. This sort of outside the box thinking is exactly what he encouraged from his class. I may have suggested some thought exercises and hypothetical scenarios for asymmetrical space warfare that, if discovered by an enemy, would definitely be classified as war crimes after the fact but which technically aren’t war crimes yet because no one has done them. I did not mean for them to be taken seriously. It was meant to teach the difference between knowingly committing a war crime, and doing something perfectly legal at the time that would later be labeled as one.”

The redhead sighed. “How certain are you that they would try drowning Onderon instead of taking it in an occupation?”

“I’m not,” I admitted. “It’s just a theory. A plausible one, but low probability. It’s much more likely they intend to use the older ships to bully your planet into open surrender and to rejoin the Republic. A capital ship is a capital ship, regardless of how old she is. Her cannons are theoretically still good. They could engage in some orbital bombardment and force a surrender inside of a few weeks to months, if they didn’t care about optics. Which, given the Republic views themselves as in the right and the government of Onderon as treasonous secessionists, they wouldn’t. But if you’ve already spotted them, then it won’t be long before both sides begin hostilities.”

“I thought as much,” Mina nodded in agreement. “That’s why I came to you. You have the ear of Suzerain Dooku.”

“I’ll speak to him about it, but it would probably be best if you brought it up to the Senate,” I suggested.

Mina winced. “That is where things get murky.”

“How so?”

The woman sighed, before bringing her free hand down and starting to stroke the back of my hand again. “While the Confederacy has done a good deal to make the Senate honest and accountable, there will always be backroom deals and trading of favors at a minimum.”

“We expected as much,” I nodded.

“I have some other friends in the Senate who are willing to stand in support of Onderon on the issue, but I believe your support would tip the balance and convince others who would otherwise vote against action out of fear to instead vote for it. I need your help, Tanya.” Rolling my hand over, she brought it to her lips. “Let me show you how convincing I can be…”

The woman’s lips found my wrist and I choked down the lewd noise that threatened to escape my throat as lips, tongue, and teeth briefly worked at the sensitive spot. Mina smiled, giggling against my skin, before standing and pulling me to my feet. I barely remembered to grab my helmet and gloves as she pressed herself into my side and pulled me from the restaurant to the elevator.

As soon as we were inside, I started to say something, only for her to lean in and press her lips to mine—her mouth opening and her tongue darting out to tease my own. The kiss was hot and needy, and when she broke it I found myself momentarily at a loss—torn between reason and libido. Her lips found my neck and kissed me there, nipping at even more sensitive flesh, before she breathed a quiet. “Shh. They’re listening.”

That cooled my ardor a bit, and I leaned in, returning the favor as I teased her ear. “Who?”

“Not here. My place.”

“Fine,” I agreed.

The elevator opened and we made our way outside, hailing a droid controlled speeder. It was a short ride that passed quickly as I spent the time going over the scans taken from the restaurant and confirming who Mina was looking at as a senator with ties to the Commerce Guild. That, and working through a quick mental exercise to try and calm myself and clear my head.

The cab dropped us off at Mina’s home and she took me inside, leading me by the hand to a sitting room and directing me to a couch. She sat down beside me and sighed.

“I apologize for the deception. A proxy for the Corporate Alliance bought the building recently and my security team tells me they’ve installed recording devices all over the place. That senator was with the Commerce Guild. Both of them are willing to stand with Onderon, but only if I convince you, and not if we favor one over the other.”

I nodded. “Then the kiss and all of that was part of the act.”

The redhead sent me a saucy little smile. “Perhaps I did it just because I wanted to,” she teased. Shaking her head, she continued, “Things like that are just how the game is played. Since the Confederacy outlawed bribery, insider trading, and the usual methods of political graft and are actually enforcing it—which I’m happy for, by the way!” she was quick to add, and I nodded. She continued, “Since joining, we’ve had to start trading in less directly monetary favors. Information. Votes for votes. Support for support. Convincing a friend to do something as a favor to someone else. I haven’t yet resorted to sexual favors, nor do I intend to, but… That little show will allow me to provide the excuse, when someone asks, that I have a preference for who I trade those favors with.”

“What about your husband?” I asked, curious.

Mina sighed and shook her head. “It’s a political marriage of convenience. I’d like to say we’re friends, but it doesn’t go further than that. He has his mistress and I see to my own needs. Between me being in the Senate and him being an officer in the military, we don’t see each other often. Sometimes on holidays if we can work out the time to give Lux time with both of his parents that day. We haven’t actually acted as husband and wife in the bedroom since Lux was conceived, and we’re both happier that way. And it’s not that we have anything against each other, it’s just that we don’t see each other in a romantic light. As long as there’s no big scandal one way or the other, neither of us cares who the other spends our time with.”

“I see. So this way, you can eliminate half of the Senate requesting sexual favors on the basis of preferring women?”

Mina laughed, shifting closer and resting herself against my side. “No, dear. This way I can eliminate all of the Senate on the basis of you.” I raised an eyebrow and she continued, putting on a vocal affect as though she were apologizing, “Oh, I’m so sorry. I’d like to enjoy your company, I really would. But Tanya is a very possessive woman and she knows how to use that lightsaber. For your safety, we can’t.”

“…You’re using the threat of me to scare off other politicians demanding future sexual favors?” I asked, and Mina nodded.

“Mhmm.”

“I’m not sure if I should be flattered, amused, or annoyed.” Sighing, I allowed myself to relax where I sat and dropped my head back on the couch. “I just wish you’d warned me ahead of time. I would have probably agreed.”

Mina shifted where she sat, straddling my lap. Absently, I mused that sitting on my armor couldn’t actually be comfortable for her, but she didn’t seem bothered in the slightest.

Reaching up, her soft hands stroked my cheeks as she leaned in, a smile on her lips as she brought them to mine again. “But it was fun watching you get all flustered and worked up,” she breathed into my mouth, her lips brushing my own as she spoke. “And maybe I wouldn’t mind being friends in that way. You’re young, sexy, fit, and a Zeltron. I’m still young myself! Perhaps I want to see if the rumors are true.” She kissed me again, before adding, “Or perhaps I’m lonely and want to enjoy the company of someone who won’t lie to me or misuse me, when I can. Maybe it’s both.” Smirking, she added, “Or I could just enjoy seeing the unflappable Mandalore Mereel flustered. It’s very cute.”

My eyes narrowed and I reached up, grabbing her by the hips. Mina’s eyes fluttered at the contact and she bit her lip. “You know where to find me. Eleven-hundred tonight. Now, enough. What else can you tell me that you couldn’t before?”

Mina pouted, before shifting to sit up properly. Reaching down, she took my hands in hers and worked my gloves off, before lacing our fingers together. Only then did she speak. “The various factions and interests represented on the Senate have eyes and ears everywhere. Everyone is still feeling out where everyone else stands. Part of the reason for the move to Raxus Secundus is to ease restrictions on purchasing land and buildings, and to make it easier to evade Confederate Intelligence. If it doesn’t directly involve Dooku, they’re going to care significantly less that we’re all spying on each other—as long as we’re willing to share everything with them. They’re basically outsourcing some of their information gathering to us that way.”

“Of course they are,” I muttered. And, in a sort of twisted logic, I could see the usefulness of it. After all, with everyone watching everyone else so closely, and given the laws in place, they were all looking for any chance to get one over on each other—so the moment anything truly illicit or illegal came up, it would be used to trigger those clauses within the law. This much spying would, ironically, keep them more honest.

There was little we could do about trading favors, unfortunately. That was just how things were done in any civilized society. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours was universal.

“Then there’s the fact that they were watching to see if you were amenable to being approached. To see if you would trade favors and play the game, or if you were going to be just as straight laced as Suzerain Dooku.”

“Ah. Of course. They were letting you feel me out,” I murmured, and Mina nodded. “Looking for a way to leverage me against Master Dooku then, I take it.”

“Exactly. Perhaps not maliciously, but definitely to see if it were even possible in the first place.”

“So if I do this favor for you, I can expect more of them to ask for such favors in the future. And if I refuse, it’s showing favoritism. Which, considering your work today to visibly stake a claim and paint us as lovers, would make sense—but would also potentially cause issues later down the line and lend credence to any accusations of favoritism. And if I attempted to deny them, it would then invalidate the entire ruse…” I sighed, reaching up and rubbing my forehead. “I dislike this.”

Mina laughed. “Welcome to politics, love.”

“I’ve lost my standing as a neutral party.”

The redhead sent me an amused smile. “Don’t blame me for that. You did that yourself, when you went haring off to the defense of Naboo at the request of their pretty young queen. There have been accusations thrown about already, behind closed doors. Your dealings with Satine and Obi-Wan are common knowledge at this point. There are multiple senators who assume, given your nature as a Zeltron, that you are grooming young Padme as a future lover to feed your insatiable lust—”

“‘Insatiable lust?!’” I repeated incredulously, while Mina smirked and started to continue. Then, the rest of her statement registered and I pulled a face. “And I would never! She’s a child!”

“Oh yes! Quite insatiable. And whileyou and I know that, some of those rumors are even worse and suggest that you’re not waiting.”

My eye twitched. “What lying slime dared spread that filth?” I growled quietly, “Ooh, we’re going to have a housecleaning…”

“I can’t say who started it because I don’t know. However, given the known proclivities among the less scrupulous of the Republic Senate—many, but not all, of whom died during that terror attack by the Sith—everyone is watching everyone else to see if anyone abuses their power to try it now.” My hands clenched into fists and Mina’s hands worked to gently unclench them. “As Padme’s friend and mentor, I took it upon myself to see you and put those nasty rumors to rest myself. And in so doing, I discovered that your tastes fell towards more mature women and found myself ensnared by your natural seductive charminto your harem of beautiful lesbian lovers—”

A frustrated noise escaped my throat as my voice rose, and I felt my blood pressure climbing as my eye and trigger finger both began to twitch. “I don’t have a—! Where are you getting this?! It sounds like a trashy holodrama!”

Mina giggled, nodding. “Exactly! And the other senators will eat it up.”

“Ugh,” I groaned, the sound drawn out. “I hate that it sounds plausible. Are they just that gullible, or that bored and horny?Do none of them have nothing better to do than gossip about their colleagues’ love lives?!”

“A little of one, a little of the other. And it’s precisely because they’re so busy that the most entertaining thing in their day is each other,” Mina pointed out.

Reaching out, I poked her in the chest. “It’s going to look like you slept with me to convince me to help you.”

“Yes,” Mina confirmed with a nod. With a teasing smile, she added, “Little do they know, I would do that just for fun.”

“And it’s going to look like I not just bent the rules to keep the Senate from wasting time making a decision about this, it’s going to look like I did it just for you.”

Mina nodded again. “I’m sorry. But it really does need to happen and I can’t risk waiting for them to make up their minds if we put it to a vote.”

I groaned quietly again. “The worst part is, I agree with you. We can’t lose Onderon, and we can’t waste time fucking around waiting for the Senate to vote. We have to act now. Fine. Fine! I’ll do it. But you owe me.” Shifting my hips, and getting a raised eyebrow from Mina, I pulled out my holocom. Selecting Master Dooku’s contact information, I quickly put in the call. It picked up after only two rings.

“Ah, Tanya. Good afternoon,” Master Dooku smiled from the other side.

Mina raised an eyebrow, silently mouthing, ‘Already?’

“You as well,” I nodded, ignoring her for now.

“I was just sitting down with Jenza and the children for lunch, if you’d care to join us?”

Shaking my head, I answered, “I’m in a lunch meeting myself, I’m afraid. I’ve been speaking with Senator Bonteri.”

“Ah,” Dooku murmured, nodding once. “This is business, then.” Sitting up straighter, he gestured for me to continue. “Tell me what concerns young Mina has voiced.”

“Sensors in the Onderon system have picked up a large buildup of Trade Federation and Republic forces. Neither seems aware of the other yet. She’s requested that we send a fleet presence and intervene on Onderon’s behalf.”

“Mm,” Dooku murmured, reaching up to stroke his beard. “Onderon already has a Confederate system patrol fleet and the Senate would not approve a preemptive action, let alone sending fleet elements to stand opposed to the Republic as it could be seen as an act of aggression. However, they have no say over how naval training drills are conducted. You should organize an emergency training exercise—call it preparation for a simulated invasion. It’s unfortunate, but I’m sure some paperwork somewhere could get lost in the shuffle or sent out to multiple groups, resulting in a much larger presence for such an exercise than we would have normally sent. But such a thing will help us refine our system for sending out such orders in the future, and I’m sure that a large force will only lead to a more thorough and educational exercise.”

“Understood. I’ll send out the request for a training mission today. It would be a shame if the Republic or Trade Federation were to attack Onderon while we were conducting drills in the system, but our forces would be obligated to respond immediately without waiting for confirmation from the Senate,” I smiled, already working through the legal justification for an immediate retaliatory strike.

Ahh~ it’s so nice working with a fellow professional and competent leadership! We get so much more done this way, and so much faster.

“I would ask that you see to it personally. Onderon is strategically important, not just for its position and its shipyard, but for what it symbolizes here and now. A planet we hold within contested space and against both the Republic and the Federation at the same time. The Confederacy cannot allow Onderon to fall. Especially not this early into the war.”

“Agreed. I’ll get it done,” I nodded. We said our goodbyes and I hung up.

Mina stared at me from where she sat. After a moment, she admitted, “I didn’t expect you to act so quickly or without definite terms on what you expected going forward. You have, once again, taken me by surprise Tanya.”

“Good,” I sent her an amused smile, before lifting her off of my lap. “Now, we should be getting back. I have calls to place on the way. We can continue this conversation later.”

“Yes. I have much to think about before then,” Mina murmured as we stood and headed outside to hail another speeder. Sighing, she reached out and took my hand. This time, the emotions I felt from her were regretful and apologetic. “You are a true friend, Tanya. I apologize—”

“Don’t,” I shook my head. “I see the necessity of it and now that it’s done, I can make use of it. If you want to make up for it, I could use the help of a friend who knows the Senate as well as you do.”

Mina smiled. “Whatever you need, you only have to ask.”