• An addendum to Rule 3 regarding fan-translated works of things such as Web Novels has been made. Please see here for details.
  • We've issued a clarification on our policy on AI-generated work.
  • Our mod selection process has completed. Please welcome our new moderators.
  • Due to issues with external spam filters, QQ is currently unable to send any mail to Microsoft E-mail addresses. This includes any account at live.com, hotmail.com or msn.com. Signing up to the forum with one of these addresses will result in your verification E-mail never arriving. For best results, please use a different E-mail provider for your QQ address.
  • For prospective new members, a word of warning: don't use common names like Dennis, Simon, or Kenny if you decide to create an account. Spammers have used them all before you and gotten those names flagged in the anti-spam databases. Your account registration will be rejected because of it.
  • Since it has happened MULTIPLE times now, I want to be very clear about this. You do not get to abandon an account and create a new one. You do not get to pass an account to someone else and create a new one. If you do so anyway, you will be banned for creating sockpuppets.
  • Due to the actions of particularly persistent spammers and trolls, we will be banning disposable email addresses from today onward.
  • The rules regarding NSFW links have been updated. See here for details.

Governor's Gambit - Star Wars SI into Imperial Governor

The next hour is spent doing preliminary organization. The basic idea is that Thorne and Darna will co-lead the three organizations, with Thorne only being present in meetings through Darna's earpiece, feeding her intel and helping make decisions without revealing himself.
And that's how you end up in charge of your own Illuminati.
 
Between this and the Guild... Minda is just going to end up the capital of its own outer rim polity within the decade.

When Imperial authority inevitably dies with Palpatine, every world in the region is going to be looking one place and one place only for its leadership.
 
As we both turned to the Agent, he did something unexpected.

He drew his blaster pistol.

Before anyone could react, it was trained at Darna's head. My brain was sluggish, so my own hand had only started to move to my panic button, while Mugwuffin sprang up, hackles raised, teeth bared.

"Do not move, Vice-Governor." He states calmly, though his eyes flicker about the room, scanning it.

"You have 3 seconds to explain what the hell it is your doing before I press this button and security storms in here, Thorne." I grind out, my body a little too tired for a fear response at the moment.
Nice to see everyone is calm (or tired) enough to not start blasting.
My mind is racing a million miles an hour, but I catch the slim cartridge. Grabbing my PDA, I shut it off and disconnect the memory core. Grabbing a spare from my desk (yes I keep spare tech parts in my desk, I don't want to waste time with repair technicians) I slot it in, then plug in the cartridge.
Las knowing how to do minor electronic repair to avoid filing more reports and interacting with bureaucracy is so him.
"Why haven't you already reported this to the ISB, Agent?" I ask, staring him down. I'm scared shitless, sure, but I have to project confidence. If Myr'thos was here, they would call me a coward for doing anything else.

Unfortunately, they were out at the gaming cafe here on Imperial Island. Their mmo clan had a raid apparently, and the cafe is within a mile so it works.
Poor Sith missing the juicy inner court intrigue. Then again, they probably had to deal with enough of that back in the Sith Empire, so maybe it's a blessing.
He takes a deep breath, as if to steady himself. "Minda, however, has proven to be exceptionally different, stable, happy. You, Governor Mola, have proven yourself to be a true Imperial, and because of that I believed it better to report this betrayal to you, as the ISB would certainly use this as an excuse to rip this place apart with their schemes."
Yes Las is a true Imperial. He only has a Rebel sympathizer, an agent of a foreign power, a scion from a clan that probably contains ex-Separatists, and a non-(Galactic) Imperial force user in key parts of his government. Truly the Imperial way.
Huh. Honestly, leave it to the ISB to be so shit one of their agents thinks some random ass backwater Governor is a better option. Truly, an agency worthy of the Empire.
At least the ISB don't have Thorne running drug deals in back alleys like the ZB division. Dear Force that "let's make a criminal syndicate" operation probably disillusioned hundreds of ISB agents.
Darna, somehow, started an information web of ex-rebels and such, then expanded into a slave-ring busting syndicate, then decided that, on top of all that, she needed a secret fucking kill team!?
To be fair, Darna could probably have gotten away with everything up until she overstretched with the kill team. Maybe be able to play it off as being within the Guild's remit. It is when the Empire finds out you have a team of trained assassins at your beck and call with zero Imperial oversight that the Empire gets twitchy.
If the ISB, hell, the Empire at large finds out about this? I'm cooked. Well and truly dead on the goddamn ground.

But if I kill Darna here, which I really don't want to do because, putting the secret shit aside, she's pretty cool. And then all the orgs go to ground and I get assassinated in like a month, tops.
Las treating both sides like rabid dogs when they both state they really like him.
"Both of you want Minda safe. Both of you want to build a better system. I don't see why you can't work together on this."
The funny part is, Las is technically correct. As long as HAVEN has not targeted overt Imperial operations and kept their overt espionage strikes to Hutt and other criminal syndicate space, it can be argued they haven't broken any laws or acted against the Empire within Imperial space. They have even helped enforce Guild laws within Guild space. "Promoting" these "Pro-Imperial" "vigilantes" should be within Las' remit.
Looking into Darna's eyes, I soften my eyes a tad. "You've been overworking yourself. This would help, big time. You deserve it."
Las was already on Darna's case about overworking before finding out about the extra organizations, so it makes this argument more believable.
"Hmmm…I see the benefits, and it seems the only way forward for us right now." A sigh escapes her body before she puts out a hand to Thorne.

"I can't tell how well this'll go, but it seems we have some things in common." He grabs her hand in response, and they shake like professionals as his gun is returned to its holster.

"It will be a difficult process, but I believe this could be a fruitful partnership." Is his response, voice returning to his usual deadpan.
And this is the point Darna crosses the point of no return. She could have gone back over to the Rebels at any point before this and been welcomed warmly, especially if she brought Imperial secrets with her. That opportunity is gone.

Anyone who works alongside the ISB willingly is going to be persona non grata in the Rebel Alliance at best, much less any form of the New Republic when it forms. Hope Darna likes Imperial fashion, she's going to be wearing it for a long time to come.
Its only when they've both left that I fully collapse onto my office sofa. It's nearly 3 in the morning, and the hot chocolate I made at the meetings starts is cold now.
Las managed to restructure the entire intelligence landscape of Minda and the Guild at large. All in 3 hours while dead tired.
 
Last edited:
Mugwuffin lays to my side, her warmth comforting, and I can't help but fall asleep.

My dreams are not peaceful.
Damn that was a tense moment but it works out well.

I had to reread the bit where Thorne says the ISB sucks… my brain went Wut??????
😆

Looking forward to the next one ;)
 
Between this and the Guild... Minda is just going to end up the capital of its own outer rim polity within the decade.

When Imperial authority inevitably dies with Palpatine, every world in the region is going to be looking one place and one place only for its leadership.
Don't forget that by then he will also have loyal Sith, and the Rebellion also thinks well of him now, so pretty much every remaining power structure in the empire including the rebellion will be looking to him. Also screws up any Palpatine revival plans since there will be no imperial remnants fight and weaken what would otherwise be the New Republic, and he also will already have a better run intelligence service already in place that likely would include assets from Palpatine that have flipped, so a lot more of Palpatine's hidden assets will be found. There is also a high chance that some of Palpy's secret facilities will be found, so the revival may be prevented at all (I am not assuming the now canon Disney revival of Palpatine either, Palpy used Sidious's experiments on clones as a base to use clone bodies to revive himself in Legends as well, and the Legends revival mechanism just make more sense than current canon (which is true for a lot of things in Legends if you ignore the Vong debacle).
 
Ok, I have had enough of this, I need to know... is the Sith Bodygaurd a 'Male' or a 'Female'? It's triggering me something fierce, and it's starting to pass me off.
Myr'thos ain't neither. They're just Myr'thos. I considered giving them a gender, but just got lazy so now they have none. This will be expanded on in an upcoming Myr'thos Interlude
 
We can only hope that the emperor doesn't find out about this treason.
Thankfully in under a year he should be getting kidnapped over Coruscant by a Grand Admiral trying to do a coup along with one of his Hands. So he should be busy trying to put down that resulting Imperial splinter government on the opposite side of the galaxy from Minda. At least if the TIE Fighter games are in this timeline.
 
Last edited:
Huh, thorn choosing Minda over wider empire and his... Ugh, colleagues is probably too strong word, acquentenses in EBI... Lars really projects aura of common sense around him , isn't he?

Though, if we would be entirely honest here, shouldn't thorn as an agent of a galaxy spanning empire have an network of spies on his own? Like surely agents allowed to have a net of concerned citizens around their assigned area , or a kill squad of bodyguards to follow them on missions like inquisitors in warhammer, or something?

I cant believe that high ranking agents dont have that. Even if it isn't officially'allowed' i bet they have a network of 'friends' who listen and look in a couple of planets around their asighned sector or just in building they are working.

If this thorn isn't having that, than maybe his 'friends' in buro sabotaging his efforts in order to earn promotion themselves. Maybe he even tried to make a network of informants, but failed because those higher ranking agents snatched them?

Again, the less successful he is, the less chances he has for promotion, meaning his rivals own chances improving. That would make an ISB a pit of vipers constantly fighting themselves... Does anyone knows canon? How close it to the truth?

Regardless, that would explain why he wishes to 'join' into Lars and CO, if he has no future in ISB and it's toxic environment, why not to seek elsewhere? The fact that there is existing net of informants that he can take for himself and found his own little spy agency whe he would be in charge is too tempting.

Regardless, just my ranting. Thank you for the chapter.
 
Omake: Awakening Instincts of a Self Sustaining System New
Omake: Awakening Instincts of a Self Sustaining System

POV: Mayor Klabaago, Segi Orchards, Ugea, Minda System

Tidying the last of the day's paperwork into neat piles was always a nice way to end the workday. A meditative practice Klabaago took up from his days as an accountant. One the carried him through his term as Segi Orchards' mayor.

The small town had grown on him during his five year term. He had moved here to get away from his family's squabbling over wealth and status despite what any proper Squalris was expected to do. Unfortunately to the vocal disappointment of his mother-in-law, Klabaago was as far from proper example of his species as he could be.

He didn't want status or to wear fancy clothes. Preferring to instead spend his time on background, but important work for keeping things running. Klabaago was happy enough when things would run smoothly without anyone raising a bother or praise. A work philosophy he continued during his term as mayor.

"Mayor, are you still in today? We have someone requesting to meet you directly. They even used your name."

Well that is unusual. Not Klabaago's secretary asking if he was still in. She was good enough at her job, but she tended to lose track of his whereabouts after an hour or two of him doing paperwork. No the real strange part was someone requesting him by name.

People often told Klabaago that he "has the stage presence of a mouse droid". There have been times when he has had to reintroduce himself as the mayor to kids, and also the adults of his small town. One time he gave a speech only to have to convince an attending reporter for a school holonews site that he was the mayor a few minutes afterwards. As such people tended to send messages to "the mayor's office" rather than to himself.

"I just finished today's paperwork. Why don't you send them up then pack it in for the evening. It is getting around closing time and I am sure I can handle this on my own."

Whatever it is must be pretty urgent to not have to wait until the next council meeting. Mediating those was always nice since his council members were so passionate about their work. They got so engaged sometimes they forgot he was even there. He only had to cast the tie breaking vote a couple of times in the past five years since they usually came to a majority agreement on their own.

Local councils truly made running things easier. Klabaago heard how on other worlds everything is run out of the Governor's office and enforced by stormtroopers. That just seemed like a silly way to do things. How do they meet everyone's needs to keep the interest groups with influence happy? Not even Governor Las can handle everything in one central office. Klabaago's ruminating was interrupted by the sharply dressed woman entering his office.

"Mayor Klabaago I presume. I am Official Tailo. It is nice to finally put a face to the name. The photo that was sent along with your reports to the Nexus City government was lost in the Holonet. We only had a generic image to put as an alternative."

The Nexus City? This must be bigger than Klabaago thought. Last time he had to interact directly with Roxatory was when he purchased of a used emergency firespeeder for the fire department. They had gotten a new model, but the old one worked just fine even with the tractor beam having reduced range due to age and wear. He fidgeted with his dull grey tie on his beige suit, his favorite color combination, to calm his nerves.

"Welcome, welcome! Can I put anything on the kettle for you? I have tea, cocoa, caf?"

Normally it would not be the mayor's job to do the brewing. However Klabaago enjoyed the smell of his favorite fermented milk tea permeating office as he worked. Plus it prevented any awkward conversations when someone forgot his order.

"Just cocoa will be fine. You have been doing well for yourself as mayor. Especially considering the "irregularities" around your election."

The Officer's words sent a chill down Klabaago's spine. He knew he did not do anything wrong during the election, but the impossibility that he would actually win never left his mind. Why shouldn't Official Tailo be suspicious?

Klabaago was the last candidate to announce his campaign when the Governor began Ugea's first Imperial local elections. He only began running after his wife came home in tears after being mocked because of him at their last family get together. Winning was never his intention, he had hoped the prestige having run a political campaign, even an unsuccessful one, would get his wife's sisters of her back. He had no expectation of winning.

"It truly was a bit of an upset, wasn't it? I still pray for my opponents on occasion, given what happened to them."

Imagine Klabaago's surprise when the other two candidates were taken off the ballot right before voting day, resulting in him winning by default. He thought it was a prank call when they informed him. During the debates the audience didn't even look up from their PADs when he espoused about all those statistics and demographics he spent late nights reviewing with his wife.

One candidate got involved in a speeder accident involving the largest amount of spilled Shaak milk in Ugean history. The injuries he sustained from the lactational torrent were too severe for him to continue his campaign. Made all the worse by his species being lactose intolerant.

What happened to the other candidate was positively banal compared to that. She took a well paying job in the private sector in another system and dropped out of the running. Last he had heard she was in a scandal when two of her Twilek paramours burst into a charity dinner she was attending with her family to complain about custody disputes.

"Yes it was sad to hear what occurred. Anyway, I have come to inform you that your candidacy for the position of Temporary Administrator of the world of Blamordt has been approved."

What? But he doesn't even remember applying for such a position! He doesn't even know such a position existed!

"I don't understand mis-Official Tailo. I don't remember filing for anything like that."

Did his wife apply for him without his knowledge? Sure his term as Mayor is coming to an end, but Klabaago wasn't intending to keep climbing the political ladder. He planned to go back to some accounting work for office supply companies now that he has some experience on the other end of the filing. Maybe finally get to reading that 2,000 page holobook on the history of holocommunication infrastructure in the Pallis Sector. The tabling system they used when he paged through it was so intriguing.

"I am afraid the matter was and is out of your hands sir. The previous Governor of Blamordt passed away last month choking on fried buckwheat. Unfortunately due to the ongoing Offensive, personnel transfers and reassignments from the Coreward direction have been deemed low priority.

As such, the Moff has made a request for any excess or outgoing administrative personnel to be automatically applied to fill in those temporary personnel gaps. Your name was eventually selected for this position."

Klabaago's mind reeled from the upheaval of his retirement plans the galaxy had decided to throw his way. Sure he swore the oaths when he assumed the mayoral office, but he didn't assume the "upholding the duty to the Empire" meant the Empire could send him off wherever they pleased. He was pushing his upper fifties, by the void!

"Surely there are others more qualified, Official Tailo. I am not sure my health could handle being blasted off to a whole other world for Emperor knows how long."

Tailo's features softened at his remarks. Perhaps he reminded her of her father or an uncle. Maybe he could get out of this after all. Sadly what came next dashed those hopes.

"Worry not Mayor. Blamordt is a minor agriworld. Barely larger than Seigi Orchards in population. A person of your caliber will be able to adjust just fine. We will even be sending you some highly educated staff along to assist you with the more complicated tasks outside your expertise.

Even then, we are not asking you to act like a Governor, that is for the bureaucracy back at the Core to approve and determine. We just need you to keep things running until this nasty business with the Rebels is dealt with and the permanent replacement can relieve you so you can come back home."

That…that is less arduous than Klabaago was expecting. The planet sounds small enough that he should be able to handle the politics and flimsiwork. Local councils rarely differ no matter the planet you are on, right? It make take putting in a few extra hours at the beginning, maybe hosting a barbecue or two to get to know the movers and shakers in the community.

As long as those assistants and locals can handle stuff like space and foreign relations, it should be fine. Klabaago isn't afraid to admit he was never the greatest diplomat. Not like he has much of a choice. He may have won an election, but this was still the Empire.

"Alright. As long as it isn't too long. I guess I can process the petitions, make some speeches, and make sure everything is filed in triplicate. Just hope my wife isn't too upset about the move."

Maybe he can swing it as an extended vacation. They hadn't taken one of those together in a while. A working vacation for him, but not for her at least. She can see some sights, take some holos, find something exotic to bring back home. Who knows, maybe she'll be the one brag at the next family gathering!

——

POV: Official Kala Tailo

"Report Official, has the recruitment been successful?"

Official Kala Tailo listened to the monotone of her handler with a bored expression. Her handler was monitoring several deliveries of "promotion notices" so that things could run smoothly. This was the last such report they needed to deliver.

"Mayor Klabaago was shocked, but reluctantly amenable to the transfer. We are ready to move on to phase three and begin preparing staff for assistance and "policy reviews" on Blamordt."

The true goal of the Mindan government in volunteering for these personnel transfers was to install pro-Mindan administrators into these temporary positions. The hope was that these administrators (and their accompanying staff) could lay the foundation for Mindan style reforms on these worlds and cultivate the lower branches of government so that they more palatable to their standards.

They may not be able to make much progress with the way the Offensive was turning. However a dozen sympathetic native bureaucrats along with some "gifted" staff left behind to assist with the transition should be sufficient to lay the groundwork, even if the new Governor should prove uncooperative. Should the new incoming Governor crack down too hard, well a report to the Guild over such discrimination against their own workers will at minimum be able to isolate the problem.

"Excellent. Klabaago was the ideal candidate for this program. Inoffensive enough not to attract attention from the wider Empire, and competent enough to handle the flimsiwork to give our staff room to operate."

Inoffensive certainly described Klabaago to an almost supernatural degree. Despite attending an average of 58 public events a year, every constituent they contacted could not say with certainty the Mayor's gender, species, or number of limbs. People who remembered often said the mayor's speeches have the qualities of "background noise", "elevator music", and "those sounds adults make in children's media in place of talking".

Despite Klabaago's inability to generate any recognition from the public, he was firmly one of the hardest working public officials in his region. The man had prefect attendance and stayed the whole work day every day (according to his sign in logs on the database). Never once taking a sick or vacation day without months notice in advance. Mainly works quietly in his office and only contacts others when their expertise is needed for as long as they are needed. It is to the point even his secretary struggles to tell if Klabaago is even in his office.

It shows in how successful his admistration has been. An 85% passage rate for millages. Opening a new school building and renovating other one up to the new standards. The installation of a sewer line through the town. The integration of the 962 new immigrants without a noticeable dip in services or housing, including several Fefze artist swarms and an emancipated Slith who has gone on to be a fairly successful Guild mercenary. The repaving and maintenance of roads has been to an acceptable degree with minimal complaints from drivers and only two brown outs during a period of rapid utility expansion.

"With this, we should be able to spread the Mindan form of government even further. For the good of the people under more inefficient systems, and for the survival of our way of life."

And that was the crux of matters. The realization most Mindan bureaucrats and officials came to after working long enough. The realization that Minda does things differently than the rest of the Empire. That they are an outlier.

Two systems under one Governor is an outlier, one that is easy to crush by those that disapprove of its methods. Leaving us all dead or destitute. However, a governmental system that has been spread across the whole sector is not so easily dismissed and expunged. The Empire will be encouraged to overlook "minor deviations of policy" in order to focus on more pressing issues like the Rebellion. Edin proved our governmental system could be supplanted into new worlds, albeit with overly forceful methods.

Now was the time for a more subtle approach. The Guild is already handling the private sector and making inroads into the public. With this assistance from the inside, the sector's bureaucracy can be taken further in the right direction. One free of the corruption and malaise that so often plagued it.

"May the wheels of bureaucracy run smoothly."

"May the wheels of bureaucracy run smoothly, Official."

——

Looking back at how Minda's government is set up made me realize something. Mayors are elected for 5 year terms to handle local issues. This system was introduced around 3-2BBY. It probably resulted in Ugea having the highest (effective) low level administrators per capita in the sector.

We are in the period where a lot of those initial elected officials are nearing the end of their terms. Given the chaos of the Galactic Civil War, I don't think the Empire is going to let competent administrators retire in these dire times. The bureaucracy of Minda's government are just "interpreting" those transfer requests from the top in a certain way based on their history and precedent.

Mayor Klabaago is the textbook example of quiet, but effective governance. If the people that made textbooks could remember him, that is. Fun fact: Squalris characters in the RPG get +2 to their charisma stat. Klabaago's charisma would be in the negative.

Crossposted on SB and SV
 
At least the ISB don't have Thorne running drug deals in back alleys like the ZB division. Dear Force that "let's make a criminal syndicate" operation probably disillusioned hundreds of ISB agents.
The Venn diagram of "drug smugglers/dealers/manufacturers" and "intelligence agents" is not a full fledged circle, but it is closer to an oval than two circles. This commonly results in the agencies becoming more focused on profitable drugs and murder, with those with ethical concerns quickly being purged or taking back over and purging the neo-cartel portion... unfortunately, intelligence agents aren't famed for their strong ethical values.
 
Myr'thos ain't neither. They're just Myr'thos. I considered giving them a gender, but just got lazy so now they have none. This will be expanded on in an upcoming Myr'thos Interlude
Eh, just wait, they'll be riled if its anything like the MMO's and gaming culture I know, the topic of gamergirls/E-girls not existing will pop up in no time. Then we'll get the truth; leading to them developing a following/cult as an 'Sith Larping' E-girl; becoming a master manipulator not.asmon/Piratecynical; or having a Kylo Ren ragefest as the holonets new lol cow.

and based on war thunder, we have to be careful they don't share specs on our tech, while proving their not a virgin by sharing pics of their (masters) Sith Empire sex Dungeon.
 
Last edited:
Eh, just wait, they'll be riled if its anything like the MMO's and gaming culture I know, the topic of gamergirls/E-girls not existing will pop up in no time. Then we'll get the truth; leading to them developing a following/cult as an 'Sith Larping' E-girl; becoming a master manipulator not.asmon/Piratecynical; or having a Kylo Ren ragefest as the holonets new lol cow.

and based on war thunder, we have to be careful they don't share specs on our tech, while proving their not a virgin by sharing pics of their (masters) Sith Empire sex Dungeon.
You know, a War Thunder type holonet thing would be hilarious.

While Thrawn is gone, Vader probably would hear about it and mess around before, likely, spilling the beans on a LOT of things just because he couldn't help himself there being the tech head that he's been since he could crawl
 
You know, a War Thunder type holonet thing would be hilarious.

While Thrawn is gone, Vader probably would hear about it and mess around before, likely, spilling the beans on a LOT of things just because he couldn't help himself there being the tech head that he's been since he could crawl
🤣 and Anakin would be even worse...

He already loves talking about his tech and tinkering, has no off switch, and impossible to reign in; imagine how bad it would be if he ever came across forums like reddit?

I think his only saving grace would be that because he does all his strategies on the fly, the only thing he'd be leaking is the things Palps tells him, revealing over time how Chancellor Palpatine is controlling the clone wars.
 
Last edited:

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top