Mandalore's Greatest City

[Orn'om]

Keldabe - Two Days After Ra Took Power
Remains of MandalMotors Tower

Zeke moved through the rubble clad in his red and grey beskar'gam. He only wore it because small skirmishes still broke out near by between the Old Guard and the Death Watch, sometimes scavengers. A Mandalorian LAAT flew overhead, tossing up dirt and debris making him cover his face instinctively despite his helmet. He grunted in displeasure and slid down the small hill that led into what he could only assume had been Gil Skirata's personal workshop. It had been picked clean by scavengers or Death Watch, possibly both.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Maria. Dorn had hired her, probably to spy on the spineless Mandalorian, as if he needed to be spied on. She was a capable warrior, and an even better secretary. Zeke nodded in response and groaned as he moved a chunk of debris the size of a Wookiee. Of course he wanted to do this. It was one of Gil's biggest projects and even if the two never hit it off, he was a better CEO than Dorn was. At least Gil could handle design paperwork and enjoyed going to the tech meetings. Dorn was more obsessed with Gil's Shriek-Hawks and Ra's personal crusade to bring "honor and glory" to the Mandalorians, whatever that meant.

Zeke owed the old man this much at least.

With another groan he pushed over a desk revealing a small hatch. With a hiss the hatch released its seal when Zeke tugged on the handle. Gil had always loved Keldabe, but he loved the Kelita River more. The ancient barriers that had kept stupid people safe from falling to their death from Keldabe and into the winding river had been destroyed and the Kelita River had swelled overtaking Little Keldabe and even most of Old Keldabe. Now instead of a natural moat Keldabe was more like an island in a vast lake. Beach front property basically. While MandalMotors would always call Keldabe its home and would help it rebuild, Gil and now Zeke had other plans.

He would build Mandalore's greatest city.

 

[Orn'om]

Padelfia City - A Week Later
MandalMotors Financial Building

The city smelled of fish and salt, something he guessed some loved. It made it feel like a paradise beach getaway while at the same time giving the allusion that they were on a backwater planet. Maria glanced at him and nudged him in the ribs as he stared out of the window staring at the sun's distorted reflection in the ocean.

"Huh? What? Well listen, I hear what you're saying," he didn't hear what they were saying, in fact he had no idea who had just been speaking but it was probably the Mon Cal by the way his big bulbous eyes were glaring at him, or was that how he always looked, it didn't matter. "But Dorn has already Okayed the project and I'll be meeting with the Mandalore's second in a few days to iron out the final details. I understand you're afraid of putting so many of your eggs in one basket, but Mandalore is growing and so are its companies."

"That isn't the issue here Zeke. We hired you to keep MandalMotors in check. Now it seems like MandalMotors is keeping you in check." He wasn't wrong. "And this project...On top of rebuilding Mandalore...Where do you think all this money is coming from?"

"Dorn has already allocated about 35% of Gilamar Skirata's funds into the company and this project specifically." He wondered how the old man had amassed such a fortune. He supposed war was a very lucrative business. Every week they were finding new accounts in off world banks with hundreds of thousands if not millions of credits in each one. "And if we need more than Dorn is willing to shell out from that account then there is always the Banking Clans, the Hutts-"

"The HUTTS?!" He felt the spit from here despite the hologram projector that was making this meeting possible. The Aqualish was obviously mad and he could tell from the looks he was getting none were too happy about that proposition.

 

[Orn'om]

"Okay, maybe the Hutts weren't the best to ask for credits but-"

"You've already taken a loan from them?! Zeke, this is too much you need to understand who you're-"

A blaster bolt flew through the hologram. Zeke flinched and tried to recover by facepalming. The other members of the meeting were no where to be seen. Eventually they came back into view, likely having jumped from their chairs on instinct. Maria had a face on that told him he should just let her speak.

"This is non-negotiable. Dorn Skirata has already made it so if we cannot get your signatures here I will personally see to it you can never hold a pen again."
"I don't really think that's the best-" A blaster bolt landed next to Zeke's boot, cutting him off.
"And you stay quiet. Spineless."

Needless to say the console in front of them pinged several times as signatures came through.

 

[Orn'om]

"Why did you do that?!" The smell of fried fish and grilled Ukai filled his nostrils as they walked through the narrow street market. Before they had relegated themselves to the outermost, touristy domes of the city. Now with the outer domes under reconstruction after the Civil War they had moved deeper in and closer to the core domes.

"It got results didn't it?" Maria flipped her knife in her hand as she walked, chewing on a grilled Ukai tentacle. The results weren't his problem. He was more worried about the image of MandalMotors. What did it say about a company that threatened its stock holders with brute Mercenary force? Maybe it said something about the the totalitarian state of the new Mandalorians under Ra. Most warriors felt empowered by Ra's strength of will to do whatever they wanted as long as they felt it would further Ra's goals, whatever those were.

He chewed on those thoughts as they walked and before he knew it they were at the MandalRail station.

 

[Orn'om]

The trip from Padelfia to Sundari was a long one. As his shuttle flew towards the imposing domes of the new Mandalorian capitol several Purudii fighters pulled up beside it. The long MandalMotors Star Yacht pulled into the Sundari spaceport which just a few weeks ago had been a battleground. Debris still littered the floor of the hangar his shuttle landed in.

The Mandalorian Empire was intensely focused on rebuilding Mandalore. Even from the hangar he could hear the sound of drills and plasma cutters and hammers from all around. With Maria close behind he moved towards his next meeting.

 

[Orn'om]

"Next."

"Hi, I'm-" The Sullustan sighed and cut Zeke off.

"I already know who you are, go on through." He wasn't exactly sure what to call this place. Above the door to the long hallway he was about to enter was a mythosaur with several gears running through the design. It was an engineering guild of some sort, owned by the people and thus by extension, the Mand'alor. They had been the largest force tackling the rebuilding process of Mandalore and today he was meeting with the head of this guild.

 

[Orn'om]

"You want me to do what?"

He expected this.

The hologram spun slightly in the air, a map of Keldabe. The fort city had always been surrounded by the Kelita river, then only a bend creating a natural moat of sorts. Now however after Mia's assault and the resulting Civil War the city was an island in what had become the Kelita lake. Water levels had risen past the old barriers and breached the city walls washing away homes and mines in Little Keldabe and much of Old Keldabe, the historical part of the city.

"I want to make a city, a massive place of business and manufacturing and connect it to Keldabe with a land bridge." The Rodian blinked dumbfounded. A beach city on the newly formed lake and a bridge reconnecting Keldabe to the land. It was a risky idea considering how many business had left Mandalore after the Monroe incident but the payout would be huge to both Mandalore and MandalMotors, which by extension meant a better equipped Mandalorian Empire. He could see the Rodian understood what this meant, but the credits it would take...

"I already have most of the credits-"

"You just want our people to work for free."

"I-Well, for a time it would be necessary. We need this, Mandalore NEEDS this."

 

[Orn'om]

The Mandalorians agreed to work with him on this. At least, one of the largest Building Guilds on the planet had, which was all he needed honestly. For now he would fly back up to MandalMotors shipyards. They were the only place where he could get a good night, or rather a weeks worth of sleep without the constant noise of construction.

As the deep inky blackness of space raced up to meet him he fell into a well deserved, content sleep.