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Chapter 28 by Caesar25 Caesar25

What's next?

Name Pre minister of war

Lana (giving him your hand): Stand up Pre! You are not going to die today!

Pre (frustrated): What? Do you refuse my request?! Am I a joke to you?! You won't let me die honourably?!

Lana: No, that's not about that! You may have lost the challenge, but you are still the second strongest Mandalorian here.

Pre: But our way dictates, that, you must...

Lana: Some of our ways have been outdated through the millennia!

Leader of the Children of the Watch: You can't change the ways! They are older than most of our clans themselves!

Lana: We need to evolve. I won't be changing many of them, but some must be reformed.

Leader of Clan Varad: I don't know... This has given us the basic traditions of our lives... If we abandon one, how long are we going to remain true Mandalorians? I suggest you kill the one who lost their honour by being defeated in the challenge! This is the way!

Bo-Katan: Hey, if you want to get him killed Varad, come and fight me first! If I win you'll shut your big mouth for good!

Leader of Clan Varad: Gladly, I'm still itching for a fight! But you won't be much of a challenge, unfortunately!

Lana: Enough! No more infighting! Pre Vizsla has been leading Clan Vizsla and its vassal clans of House Vizsla for many years now! Has he not proven himself time and time again? Nobody could best him in a duel or in leadership before this day. He has lived up to our code and upheld our ways with honour. Such honour cannot be lost in a single defeat. I, as Mandalore, will not kill such a valuable kin of mine! Instead, I offer him a chance to redeem himself and continue to serve his people with the best of his abilities. His abilities as... A minister of war, in the new ruling council of Mandalore!

Pre (thinking): A... minister of war...?

Leader of Clan Dar'Manda (laughing): As a what?! We don't have ministers, we need only one Mandalore to lead us! Or are we going to pay taxes too to upkeep a government?!

Leader of Clan Fett: Hmm... Naming an opponent your high ranking underling... Unorthodox... Pragmatic, but greatly unorthodox.

Lana: He would remain the leader of Clan Vizsla and he would be my advisor on military matters. He would oversee the combat training and military organization of the clans. As a start.

Bo-Katan: Clan Kryze and I support this decision!

Ursa: Clan Wren as well!

Paz: As Clan Vizsla!

Tiber: As a former vassal of Pre Vizsla, Clan Saxon also stands by it.

Leader of Clan Ha'rangir: My clan has no reason to object, we obey the command of Mandalore!

Leader of the Children of the Watch: Fools! Such decisions will ruin our culture and traditions!

Leader of Clan Fett: I see no point in arguing with some moderate reforms of our society anyway. If Mandalore wants it, so be it.

Pre: Lana, I... I wasn't foreseeing this... I... I accept. I will be the general of our people, but I also have one condition.

Lana: Yes?

Pre: I am going to demand a new challenge for the title of Mandalore in the future. But that one will be final and fatal for one of us.

Lana: This condition I can accept. I would accept any challengers for the title, but I will not be making exceptions again. The next challenger who loses will pay with their lives for failure! We don't want everybody to keep challenging me all day, do we? Besides, I have a plan to keep the clans united beyond just one person who's called Mandalore. I am going to organise a government, where the heads of all the major clans will have oversight of different branches of government. But that's to be decided later on.

Satine: That's nice and all, having new ministers and all, but have you forgotten I am still the ruling duchess of the planet?! Only I can name ministers of Mandalore, I am the legitimate ruler here with the legitimate government behind me! However, I wonder, how far will you get with people like Pre Vizsla in your government, people who are murderers of children and agitators of aggression! So far I could not have imagined I would have wished for anyone's ****, but having seen you spearing him, I must admit, I felt troubled. And this says a lot about him.

Pre (sarcastically): Always a pleasure to talk to you, "your highness"!

Lana: Don't insult him, he's been following and living up to his own code of honour. That is a respectable thing, even if you don't agree with all his actions or motives.

Satine: True, that much I can respect in him. What happens now Lana? I am the Duchess of Mandalore, you are Mandalore itself, how do we proceed from here? Are you going to execute me? Will you prove to your new followers how iron fisted you can be when it comes to opposition to your power or will you show mercy to everybody who's a threat? Will you follow in Pre's tyrannical footsteps or do you intend to be something else?

Lana: Satine, this does not have to end that way. Enough blood has been spilled!

Obi-Wan: Listen to her, Satine! Your throne is not worth as much to throw your life away!

Satine: Obi-Wan, this is something you cannot understand. I have worked my whole life to bring prosperity and stability to this planet. I have sacrificed so much in order to keep things that way! Mandalore is my home, my life! If I cannot lead it any further, I would rather die along with it! Nobody will brand me a coward, for escaping with my life instead of falling with my home, that's for certain.

Lana: I see.

Satine: So, are you ready to have a duchess's blood on your hands?

Obi-Wan: Lana, I beg of you, consider your next action very, very carefully... Don't do anything we won't be able to revert later... Enough damage has been done for both sides! You know I cannot let you hurt her!

Lana (thinking): Damn her, I really don't feel like becoming an executioner the hour I became Mandalore, but what choice do I have? The Mandalorians demand action against a failed monarch, yet, by killing her I'll certainly alienate all those who supported her on Mandalore. She did make the planet thrive economically, if not militarily... I wish we could combine the two.

What's next?

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