Serenno
Imperial Moff Palace (formerly Dooku's Palace)
Tanya Zsinj
Ten days following the battle of Dathomir immediately following the end of the meeting.
As she marched down the corridors, she thought about how she could postpone this meeting even longer. Sadly, nothing that wouldn't drastically weaken her position came to mind. So, onwards, she marched down the halls, noting that her mother Seraph and Torrin were the only ones following in her wake, along with her current bodyguard detail.
As she walked along the hallways, she realized that she would need to slow down because although Torrin, with his longer stride, could keep up with her, Seraph was starting to fall even further behind even if she was speed walking. Deciding that having an Imperial general show up to a meeting looking disheveled just because Tanya wanted to save a few minutes was not worth it, Tanya slowed her pace to allow her mother to catch up. She reduced her pace to an average walking speed. If someone asked her why she did it, she would say it was because she thought it was funny when Torrin tripped up. After all, he picked up too much speed and was unprepared for the sudden deacceleration.
Seraph began snickering after Torrin went face first and began sliding across the newly waxed floors. As they came to a stop to allow him to gather himself and stand back up, Tanya even found herself trying not to laugh while he got back and dusted himself off. She managed to hold it up till he took his crushed hat and put it back on his head, which immediately collapsed on his head.
"Well, Torrin, did you have a nice fall? I think your hat wishes you hadn't," She thought. She saw his red face become even redder as her laughter spread throughout the halls, even if no one could ever have imagined it had come from the daughter of Zsinj.
"You set me up for that fall, Tanya, and you may deny it, but I know that you just wanted to see my fabulous butt up in the air. No matter your denials." At this point, Seraph, who had managed not to break out into laughter and had just been snickering, started laughing as well, as Tanya began to sputter denials, with her face becoming even more red than Torrin's.
As she walked past the other two, Seraph said, "Come along, you two. Tanya still needs to get to her meeting with Serreno's Regent."
The meeting with the governor had gone about as well as Tanya could hope for, which was shit. The Regent of Serrenno, now that it was official that Tanya's father was dead instead of just hiding at his secret base, was already pushing for Tanya to establish a proper form of governance to rule over her rapidly destabilizing empire. He even suggested that she allow Bron Dooku to return to Serrenno and that it might make her empire more stable if she were to marry Bron Dooku and take Dooku's last name. She entertained the idea of allowing Dooku to return to Serrenno only if he would swear loyalty to her. Still, she would refuse to allow anyone to choose her fate.
She understood that the empire would start splitting apart without the Iron Fist and her father if she could not start performing course corrections. She sent her diplomats out to meet with the various groups that made up her Empire to convince them to renew their loyalty to her. If those diplomats were followed by a Star Destroyer and multiple battalions of Raptors, the leadership would likely make the right choice.
At this point, she just wanted to return to her room and relax for a few hours, but she still needed to meet with Borsk's representative, so she dismissed Seraph and headed to her office with Torrin. Upon arriving at her office, she ordered her bodyguards to wait outside and went inside. Taking a seat, she waited for the Bothan spy to arrive. As he was escorted in by one of Torrin's associates, Tanya reflected that Trisk Desiv was very average looking for a bothan, only standing up to her shoulders; he dressed in unassuming clothes that, on second glance, were armored underneath while his fur starting to turn grey was the only indication of his age.
Walking up to her without waiting for anything else, he immediately took a seat across from her at the open chair, pulled out his briefcase, and dropping all pretext, began speaking, "Now that you have taken over control of your father's empire, Borsk is willing to renegotiate our different deals but would like to know what you could have that he would want when it would be more beneficial just to wait for the other factions to tear apart your empire unless you would like to negotiate a surrender in which case you would be given all the dignity that your position necessitates.
Snorting at the bold attitude, Tanya knew that deep down he was right and that if she survived to the end of the year, she would need to turn her enemies against her. "Well, Mr. Desiv, it's simple: if my empire were to fall and the republic would do nothing, Mon Cala would be able to break the cordon that is keeping them separated from the rest of the New Republic and with the full support of Mon Cala behind his back the rise of Supreme Commander Ackbar would complete and Borsk would never have the chance to consolidate his power to the point he could run for head of state whenever Mon Mothma dies and the Republic becomes a Republic. When Mon Mothma dies, Princess Leia will become the new head of state."
"So, you say, but there is nothing you could offer us that would make us decide to help you anymore now that your superstar destroyer and father are dead. Not even counting that we can't stop Ackbar from launching his attack against you when you are such a tempting target. No, we no longer need you or your people."
Pausing to allow his smirk to grow, Tanya said, " It's simple, Mr. Desiv. If the bothans are willing to keep Ackbar from attacking, not only will I give you all of the inside plans of Kuat Shipyards, but I will also give you the codes that my father kept in reserve that will allow you to shutdown the automated defense systems of Kuat and the early warning systems."
Watching Desiv's smirk drop into a gobsmacked expression, Tanya knew she had him. "You see when my father made his attack and stole the Razor Kiss from Kuat, he managed to burn so many bridges that Kuat of Kuat denied any ships from my father or my new empire from docking and repairing at the shipyards. So, I have no reason to come to their defense at all. If you do this and promise to keep Ackbar from launching any assault until my empire is stabilized, I will give you these codes and plans. However, you should know that these codes will become outdated in 20 days, so you have a time limit. I believe that for a true republic to exist and not the military Junta you currently have, the skills and intelligence of Bothawui will be required. So let me help you make that possible. And who knows, maybe I'll have the knowledge that you so desperately need to invade other imperial worlds like Anaxes."
Taking a second to consider the implications of what she was giving him, Desiv stood up and offered his hand to Tanya. "Well, Empress Zsinj, I believe this will continue to be a very profitable relationship. I will need to inform Borsk of everything that has occurred today, but I think he will be excited to continue working with you.
After he left, Tanya looked over to Torrin. "They will have to give this to Ackbar if they want a chance to pull off the attack, but we need to ensure that even if they succeed, it will be a hollow victory. Do you still have agents on Ackbar's ship?"
Quick on the uptake, Torrin responded, "You want me to have them leak the attack plans to the Empire and Greater Maldrood to ensure every side shows up and that they will hopefully destroy each other's fleet while damaging Kuat in the process? Understood. She will keep her ear out when the plan is made."
Hapes
Fountain Palace, Hapes
Imperial Ambassador LCDR Zeta Traal
16 days following the battle of Dathomir
As Zeta waited in one of the many guest rooms near the central Court at the fountain palace, she again reviewed her notes and the plan she had discussed with Tanya before leaving Serenno 5 days ago.
Everything Tanya had come up with flew in the face of all logic and common practice for the diplomatic corps even before the Galactic Republic became the Empire. It required giving up so much for a slight chance to stick it to the New Republic. It went in the face of everything she learned while being a part of the Imperial diplomatic corp. Most of that was arguing from a position of absolute strength and trying to convince the different planets that rebellion and freedom were not worth the death of most of their citizens and the enslavement of the rest.
Now, she had to figure out some way to convince the Hapes Consortium that joining the New Republic was a terrible idea, especially after the humiliating defeat that Tanya had managed to hand to them. She did not include that the Crown Prince, who was already a lapdog for the false ideals of the New Republic, had taken a Dathomir witch as his future wife.
The only saving grace is that the Queen Mother had not turned over the reigns of power to her son. If Tanya was right, she could be nudged to remove her son from the picture and choose someone more worthy. But she was getting ahead of herself.
That was not why she was here, so she settled down by turning to the holoprojector, which depicted the events of the Royal Court. She prepared to study her opponent, Princess Leia, when she came to negotiate with the Royal Court. She had no hope of being as charismatic as the Princess, but she could convince the Hapans to side with her by following the plan. It doesn't matter how charismatic you are if the people you are against give that much of a better deal. That's why she had the best deal no one else would provide the Hapans.
Once all the pleasantries and normal court functions were out of the way, the Speaker of the Court, not even having to raise a hand or swing a gavel, began to speak, and the entire Court came to immediate Silence. With her melodic voice, she began, "Now that all the pleasantries and traditions are complete, we will begin the court's session with two major groups that have come to us today to discuss possible treaties with our great civilization, both the New Republic and the Zsinj empire have sent diplomats to discuss with us new ways we can show the greatness of the Hapan Society to the rest of the galaxy."
With a pause to allow the applause of the nobles of the court time to calm down, She began to speak again, "Unfortunately, the New Republic had to recall Princess Leia to return to Coruscant due to extenuating circumstances.
They instead sent another ambassador. Please welcome Rorsk Krorriamo, who wishes to discuss the future of our great nations."
Everyone started clapping till they saw who the New Republic had picked as the Ambassador to Hapes. As the young Alderaanian male swaggered to the podium to address the Court, all clapping stopped. Traal couldn't believe her luck. The New Republic was sure that with a friendly crown prince and Dathomiri Witch being the next Queen Mother, they could get away with snubbing the Hapes Consortium by sending a male to the Royal courts. She could pull this off. She didn't even need to pay attention to this fop, which talked about the glories of the New Republic and how the Hapans needed the New Republic to help protect themselves. It was pretty impressive how he managed to push probably every single woman's buttons in the Court within one speech and never realized how everyone was inches away from killing him. If he made it off the planet, She would be surprised.
Before the court could descend into anarchy and everyone in the Court murders the young noble, the Speaker brought her gavel against her stand to break everyone out of their rage-induced moment. Krorriamo spoke again, "I know you all are excited to discuss what great things the New Republic can do for your quaint worlds, but I must retire. It was a long flight."
With that, he bowed and walked away and out of the room before being dismissed. Once he had left the room, Zeta was at least optimistic that she could never mess it up to the level he did. Struggling to keep her face neutral as the hologram cut out, she sat and waited for the call for her to come forward and meet the Royal Court.
Her job just got easier, but it is much more complicated now. This also explains why Tanya beat into her head that she should show humility when talking to the Hapans. Hearing a knock, she saw a Hapan royal guard entering her room. "Excuse me, LCDR Traal. The Royal Court is ready to listen to your request now."
Standing up, she made to follow the guard and, knowing that any information she tried to probe from the guard would probably be false, reported to the Queen Mother, so she kept quiet during the walk. Walking through the doors, once she heard the announcement from the Speaker, she was not even granted the same clapping that Krorriamo had received, just Silence. Walking up to the podium was the most terrifying thing she had ever done, but she was a professional and there to do her job.
Coming to the podium and speaking into the mic she was given, she began the speech she had practiced many times before arrival: "Good Morning, Esteemed nobles of the Hapes Consortium. My name is Zeta Traal. I am the chosen ambassador for my leader, Tanyz Zsinj, to come to your beautiful world and hopefully foster a deal that will benefit both sides. As such, I can offer multiple things to sweeten a nonaggression pact and a trade agreement.
We do not want you to join our Empire. The Hapans have done fantastic for thousands of years and do not need outsiders meddling in their affairs and changing what has worked."
Reaching out the case that had already been allowed by the Hapan government after they scoured it to enable Tanya to make her point herself, she looked up at the Speaker.
She asked, "I have a message from my leader that can explain what she wants to provide to sweeten the deal and allow our two people to reach a peaceful and beneficial agreement. May I?" The Speaker glanced at the Queen Mother's balcony, and Ta'a Chume nodded, saying she should allow Traal to continue and play the message.
Fountain Palace
Queen Mother's Balcony
Ta'a Chume
When she had heard who the young warlord was planning to send as a diplomat to the Fountain Palace, she wasn't sure if she should be insulted that she sent a failed imperial diplomat from when the Empire was strong or if she should laugh at how desperate the young warlord was. Still, she had managed to trick her son, so she might have managed to surprise her. Considering that working with Zsinj would snub her son and his love of the New Republic even more, she made sure to push suggestions that allowing Princess Leia to return to the Fountain Palace and act as a diplomat for the New Republic to try to convince the nobles like she promised her son she would violate the promise that Tanya Zsinj extracted from the Princess at the battle of Dathomir. If the top diplomat couldn't keep her word, how could the Hapes consortium trust anything the New Republic promised? Of course, she didn't expect them to send someone so incompetent, especially from the same world as Princess Leia. But after allowing the diplomat to display the holoprojector and activate it, she sat back and waited to see what Tanya had in store for her. Looking down, the Projector activated, and a massive hologram of Tanya Zsinj wearing raptor armor appeared.
"Greetings, Honored Ladies of the Hapes Consortium. I know that just recently, we were in conflict and that the Empire before this had been violating your sovereignty multiple times, but I intend to change this between our nations. Unlike the New Republic, we never intend to have you join us or fight our battles for us; instead, we wish to come together and trade as equal nations.
To help facilitate this and to show the belief that we are equals, I have had my diplomat bring a gift. Within this Projector are the plans and schematics to make the current turbo lasers that the Empire uses. With this, the Hapes consortium will not have to bargain from a position of weakness. I offer these schematics freely whether you decide to trade with us."
Ta'a Chume struggled to maintain her composure, unlike every other noble in the Court who collectively had their jaws drop simultaneously.
Serrano
Imperial Moff's Palace
Tanya Zsinj
16 days following the battle of Dathomir
Tanya sat in her office going over more reports of different groups protesting her banning slavery and ordering the release of indentured servants. The number of people opposed her actions was depressingly higher than she had thought possible. The only positive news was that the Raptors only had to remove ten captains in the imperial navy; of those, only two had controlled star destroyers. So she still controlled the fleet, and with all of the recruits that Torrin was bringing to bear, she would have a significant advantage in the coming battles. With the worst being over, she began going over the outreach program Torrin had started to contact the Smuggler's Alliance and also to get her in contact with Garm bel Ilbis to see if she could convince the former senator of Corellia and possibly the most dangerous ground commander ever seen that he should make Corellia independent so that it could be free from the Republic and hopefully stay isolated just like the Unifed States kept trying to do in her old world. It never worked out, but if she didn't poke the bear and stayed cordial to Corellia, it would hopefully keep them away from the republic, at least openly.
Ten hours later, as her stomach began to growl, she decided to take a break and get something to eat to start focusing again. Standing up, she signaled her guards to get the food from the kitchen. She decided to eat in one of the studies today. It was a smaller study that had been Count Dooku's private study. Others reported feeling cold and that the shadows were much more extensive than they had any right to be. However, it felt like a nice, relaxing, warm blanket to her. She could relax, read a book, and decompress with just the perfect amount of coziness. The other benefit to the study was that she wouldn't be bothered unless necessary because of the aura of dread that others felt. Even her father had avoided the place like the plague.
Unluckily for her, today, it seemed that her sanctuary would be breached by truly grave news if it was just some random ensign ordered to give her the information. The man standing at attention looked about, ready to break down and start crying, thinking of all the horrible things she would do to him for giving her bad news.
Seeking to dispel that, she stood out of her chair, which may have had the opposite effect since he got ready to bolt. "At Ease Ensign, what information do you have for me? And don't worry—even if the news is terrible, I don't shoot the messenger."
"YES, MA'AM, well… I have news from the Mandalorian delegation that was to open diplomatic ties with the current Mandalore Fenn Shysa, along with a message from the leader of the Corporate Sector Authority that they have broadcasted across the Empire. Ma'am, I respectfully request you allow me to leave these with you and return to my post."
She decided to allow the man to return to his post, knowing that he would probably suffer a heart attack if she forced him to stay while she reviewed the information. "Very well ensigned. Place the documents and holo recorder on the desk, and you will be dismissed."
Raising an eyebrow, she watched as he placed the materials on the desk and ran out of the study, clearly panicking. Deciding the news must be extremely dire, she first watched the Corporate Sector Authority Holo Message.
The message booted up to show the newest ExO, which was the first sign that something had gone wrong from her point of view. It meant the ExO her father had put in charge must have been removed from office following his death.
"Greetings, my Fellow members of the CSA; though we have served the Empire faithfully throughout our years with our companies and the variety of fantastic products we have offered, the Empire continued to take advantage of us and hurt our shareholders. This oppression and the stripping of the hard-earned money we earned has prevented us from reaching new heights. This culminated when Warlord Zsinj illegally invaded our territory and forced us at blaster point to serve his false empire. During his time in power, our stocks fell by 13 percent. Not to be outdone by her Father, the First thing Tanya Zsinj did was declare slavery illegal. How dare she take away our human capital. Why, with the losses from this alone, we could lose an additional 20 percent. She just wants to tear down our corporations and put us under the heel of a jack-booted military. I say no more; the CSA declares full independence from the Zsinj Empire. We will no longer deal with her as our lord or master but as a customer, if she so chooses."
As she listened to the speech, she got more and more livid. Even though she knew that this was a possibility, the way they treated people and the words they used seemed to drive her further and further into rage. How could people reach their full potential when forced to be slaves their whole life? Deciding she needed to vent or she might hunt down the ensign after all, she picked up a holo recorder with that smug, smarmy corporate asshole's face on it. She threw it at a wall, which proceeded to go through the wall into the next room and beyond before she heard something break behind the wall.
After pacing around and discovering that the false wall she had put a hole in led to a tunnel, she decided to sit back down and read the Mandalorian reports. At least that couldn't be as awful as the CSA independence.
Thirty minutes later, she decided that maybe the CSA independence was not as bad as she had thought. What had been a simple mission like the Hapan mission that she sent Traal on, where she instructed the diplomat Cpt. Hagan to hand over the beskar steel and try to arrange with the Mandalorians so that they could purchase their vessels while guaranteeing their independence had gone wrong. According to the report, it had initially gone well. Maybe a truce or nonaggression agreement could have been reached when the armor of the late Bo' Katan Kryze and Sabine Wren had been brought out to be turned over. Mandalore had become livid, asking what the delegation had done to the Mandalorians after informing them that it was her who had killed them. Mandalore declared that no peace treaty could be completed and that all Mandalorians would do everything to destroy the Zsinj Empire after Hagan had attempted to argue that it was a time of war and that it shouldn't matter that two honorless warriors had died when they decided to kidnap a young girl. Who then turned the tables on them and their erstwhile allies, leading to their deaths. Fenn Shysa ordered Cpt. Hagan would be arrested, and the rest of the delegation only escaped because of the raptor commandos she had sent out with them.
Feeling all the energy leave her body as the cozy study turned more sinister, Tanya decided that she understood why others avoided it. Deciding that she wouldn't be able to focus at all, she got up and returned to her room. Deciding it wasn't worth taking off her cybernetics, she plopped onto her bed and fell into a hopefully dreamless sleep.
Serrano
Imperial Moff's Palace
Tanya Zsinj
17 days following the battle of Dathomir
Waking up early in the morning was always accessible and enjoyable for Tanya. Still, with how everything else had been going and the constant bad news of everything falling apart streaming into her office, it was getting more complex every morning. Finishing up her daily routine with her third cup of steaming hot Caf, she saw a new message from Zeta Traal regarding the Hapans and the ongoing negotiations. Knowing that the best she could hope for was for the Hapans to sell equipment on the side to the New Republic, and the worst being them declaring war on her empire, she also braced herself for more bad news. And she turned on the holo message.
When Zeta Traal appeared on the projector for a second, Tanya believed that the message was fake due to the smile she had never seen on Traal's face the entire time she had known her. It was only when she spoke the code phrase that Tanya had taught her in Germanian that Tanya was willing to listen, not turn off the hologram, and order the raptors to hunt down the people who faked the message and feed them to a plasma drive feet first.
"Greetings, Tanya. The Hapans loved your idea and, with my expert negotiating tactics, have decided that they wish to create a non-aggression pact with us while opening exclusive trading agreements immediately."
At this point, She realized she would need to get more Caf and call in the cleaners after she spat her Caf across the wall. "It fucking worked?"