Chapter Text
It had been years since the end of the Mandalorian clan wars. Years since her parents had died in battle, since she'd started working in a factory, since she'd started planning.
Tanya needed money. Not just to survive, but to move forward. She'd found herself in a new galaxy, with new rules, and new expectations.
And so, she'd made a plan. A plan to start her own mercenary company, in light of the tumultuous galaxy she found herself In.
Her eyes rapidly moved through the crowd in front of her. The moon where the Old Mandalorians were exiled was filled with poverty, and she was no exception, for she was poor, but she, contrary to many here, had initiative.
"Mandalorians!!" Her voice rang out, catching the attention of the various Mandalorians that came here specifically to hear her. Prior to today, she performed a propaganda campaign at the slums of Concordia, Mandalor's moon. Catching the interest of a few, that now waited here for what she had to say.
Tanya's eyes traveled again through the crowd, enjoying the silence and the sensation of authority. So similar to her second life, when she was a person of authority inside a military hierarchy. In this short time, she also analyzed the crowd.
The Mandalorians were equipped with what they had inherited from their forebears, some of them were young, inexperienced and probably hoping for a good adventure. Some others were old, experienced and probably hoping for enough money to be able to live comfortably… or have a good fight.
She spied a crumpled pamphlet in the hand of one of the young ones in the front row. She knew the contents by heart, she wrote them after all.
For honor, for glory,
And, of course, for credits.
Warriors wanted
Restore your honor through battle.
Regain your life by wealth.
Carry the past into the future, and forge a new Mandalore henceforth.
Tanya Von Degurechaff.
A parody of her recruitment notice of the 601st Organizing Committee. Although, looking at the crowd of fifty or so curious onlookers, the effect was greatly diminished. A special kind of shame fills Tanya, failing to achieve with intent what she once did by catastrophic accident. Then again, the circumstances are different.
All of them had three things in common: They were Old Mandalorians who still held onto their pride, they had good armor and enough weapons, making them able to wage combat at any moment, and last of all, and the most important thing. All of them were poor as rats.
"All of the armor you wear," She said, pointing to each of them individually, "Where did you get it? Did you buy it? Steal it? Craft it with your own hands?" All the various Mandalorians said nothing, and so she continued, "Of course not. It was your parents gear, and from them, it went to you. You're all too honorable to have stolen it, and too poor to have bought it. None of you know how to work the metal; if you did, you wouldn't be here."
Like the rest of them, she inherited armor and weapons. She wasn't lucky enough to have inherited spaceships or starfighters, which would have been very useful. But, to her privilege, she inherited a sword made of beskar. Something that catches everyone's attention -And was probably the main reason so many of them stayed once they realized she was only an adolescent- Although some thought it was an imitation.
"And why are you here? Because you want to hear me? Because you are enjoying the view of this beautiful square? Of course not, you are here for only one reason. Because you are poor."
Tanya took a deep breath of air.
"Have you ever thought about why we are in poverty?"
"Because we lost the war!" Some one shouted, "Because of the fucking New Mandalorians!" Another Mandalorian shouted. Their answers… were correct. But Tanya didn't want them to center on that, but in them being poor, and that she had the solution to it.
"No!" Tanya shouted, "We are in poverty for we, through centuries, only centered on fighting; not for our interests, nor for a reasonable cause to the rest of the galaxy. But for our tradition and our culture. Our natural tendency to war doomed our planets and our Empire. Being forced now to be subjects of the Republic. I can only imagine how great an Empire we would have if we used our skills in warfare to gain money in the galaxy instead of fighting against the galaxy. This has been proven through how many of the best bounty hunters in the galaxy are Mandalorians."
"Sadly! Not all of us can afford to be bounty hunters, for we would require a spaceship which most don't have, and the possibility of dying alone on a mission. It is for that reason that I propose to you this idea, to create a private military company! An association between those who are interested in this idea, so we can work together in order to gain money, improve our company and most importantly, share the money we gain through the contracts we complete!"
The crowd in front of Tanya looked at each other, unknowing if she was being serious or not. She was shorter than almost all of them, enough so that none of them believed she would be worth anything in combat... although the gold in her armor took their interest, for it meant that she had a vengeance against someone. Her weapons were clean and well maintained, but the myriad scars they bore indicated that they were far older than she was, and had seen battle even before she was born. Some left the square, thinking that it was stupid, while others more curious stayed. In the end, twenty remained.
More than she expected.
"Do you have a spaceship so we can travel and complete these tasks? And how are we supposed to share the money of one bounty between many men? " Asked one man, his voice having an older edge to it and he wore heavy beskar armor, his helmet sitting on the ground beside where he sat. He carried nothing but a rotatory gun leaned against his shoulder, and a bag strapped to his back, likely filled with all of the worldly possessions and equipment he might have had. He had probably been homeless, with nothing better to do.
Tanya felt joy for someone who had actually shown interest in her proposal. If she answered every question correctly, she predicted that the ones that stayed would sign the contract and join her PMC.
"It is true, the credits that we would gain for fulfilling a bounty would be nothing and would not be able to be shared between more than two people. But! I do not intend to work as a bounty hunter, but as a security provider. The private military company we would create would fulfill the task that the Republic has failed to do. Protect the interest of the ones with enough money to pay for our service. Following a bastard through half the galaxy is not worth our time, but protecting a settlement or a business for some months is. For they would have a lot of money and more than willing to use us for their protection. I already have a contract ready, and if enough of you join me, I will sign and we will immediately start to relocate towards our new place of employment."
The old man noticed how Tanya didn't answer whether she had a spaceship or not. Nevertheless, he was satisfied with her words, so he opted for giving her a nod of approval.
Tanya smiled. It would be foolish to even think of using a PMC as a group of bounty hunters. The real deal was in protecting places and territories. It mattered not who was writing her paychecks; a spice dealer? A nobleman? A dictator? As long as they had the money to pay her for extended periods of time she would accept the contract. And most importantly, ensure that her client's will would be fulfilled.
Another man raised his voice, for his tone of voice one could see that he was young, lacking the usual wear in the voice of older men.
"How are we going to be paid?"
"Depends on the contracts we sign.There won't stable economy if we don´t do a
good job. Our capacity to reclaim a salary is strongly attached to how effective we are in our work and how much reputation we gain."
"And you're the one who's gonna lead us, girly?" Asked a skeptical man. He was somewhat between the first two men, probably around thirty years old, probably closer to forty.
"While it might not seem like it, I have studied economics, which makes me a person more than capable of handling the taxes and accountability of this company, without counting that I have already created it and I am, according to the papers, in charge of it. But if my experience in business management doesn't please you, then I will say this. I have been trained since I was five years old to be a warrior, to kill my enemies and I am not a new soldier. I have already killed, I have seen the blood on my hands, the suffering in my enemy's eyes and heard his voice begging for mercy. And I felt the pleasure of battle, the adrenaline of putting my life at risk. I am a person that might look inexperienced. But I can assure you that I have killed more than some of you may have"
When she said that, the Mandalorians that remained in the square looked nervous. The golden eyes of Tanya and her gold-blonde hair looked beautiful and elegant, as they normally would on a woman her age... But the face she had showed them the most pure truth, like what she said was impossible to debate. Like she killed hundreds and did not care even a little of the lives she took. The younger ones felt uncomfortable, while the older ones gained some respect for her. For she had the same aura that many war veterans have. And that aura was impossible to fake.
For them, to enter this private company was a risk to take, one many had to take, for they had no money, no house, and lived through charity money. A disgrace to their honor.
"Do you have a first destination in mind?" Asked another of the Mandalorians. Ignoring the fact that Tanya already said she had a contract ready to be signed.
"Yes, a nobleman has contacted me for a mission to protect his agriculture properties. If we do it correctly each one of you will gain at least a thousand credits per month."
The Mandalorians looked to each other, and in the end, they needed the money.
"I'm in," Said the old man, followed by the rest. Tanya nodded with satisfaction and brought out of her back a tablet, writing something in there she rapidly showed it to everyone else.
"I will need everyone to fill a contract with your names, age, where you were born, your closest family member if you have one together with their contacts. In the contract you will read all your rights and obligations."
When the first Mandalorian -the oldest one- took the tablet he started to read its contents. It was not like many other contracts that he had seen, that had around a hundred pages worth of rules that most of the time he ignored reading. Instead it was a soft read of two pages, with another two pages for him to fill information. Carefully reading the contract he frowned. The contract made sure to establish which were her responsibilities and which were the employee's responsibilities. The only thing that wasn't about responsibilities was how the money would be shared. 25% extra if you owned a spaceship and used it on the PMC's behalf, a permanent position as a bureaucrat in the PMC if you get crippled while participating in the PMC's activities and a bonus 100 credits for every confirmed kill in combat.
It was not the best deal, nor was it a bad deal. Just another of the trillion deals done in the galaxy.
"So much risk, so little benefit." Said the Old Mandalorian.
"If you want to keep living from charity then don't sign the contract. As we advance and obtain more money the contract will be modified to show the new realities we achieve. But the reality right now is that we all are poor bastards that will have to live from charity or almost-slavery work in a factory. The only path to success is having good luck or risking what you have in a safe manner to obtain more. I am offering here a collaboration of all those present under an organization in order to gain money. Killing equals money, and if you are such a cowards that you don't want to participate in this just because you fear some risk then I doubt you would make a good group of soldiers"
Tanya was offending them on purpose. Bait them into signing the contract. And as the old man started to fill the contract she smiled. The Mandalorians were stubborn, heated most of the time and most importantly, proud. Not like they were stupid, just proud enough to fall into such stupid traps.
"Welcome to the Mandalorian Military Company!" Tanya screamed as the twenty Mandalorians slowly filled the contract.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tanya entered the spaceship that one of the members of the PMC had. It was… old, neglected and looked so ridiculous that she felt that if ever the MMC was associated with this spaceship she would lose all possible respect in the market forever.
The Amphibious Interstellar Assault Transport / Infantry was a relic, a spaceship with obesity, a ridiculous looking military spaceship. But it was good enough for now. Capacity for 50 people and with enough floor space for the twenty-one members of the MMC. They wouldn't sleep well, but that was not a problem for Tanya.
The Old Mandalorian named Matti whistled as he entered the spaceship.
"Beautiful wife you have here," He said, "What's her name?"
The very young Mandalorian named Murti frowned at the question.
"Her name is Perpetual."
As the rest of the members of the MMC entered the spaceship, Tanya passed her eyes over everyone present. Five heavy armored, ten basic armored and five light armored. Every one of them was equipped with a jetpack. The mobility that the jetpack granted would help her to have very fast and maneuverable units. But she had more heavies than she would have liked. Ideally, a squad of ten soldiers would have only one machine gunner and one light infantry, so to balance it out she'd need around 40 foot soldiers for her five heavies and light infantry. Eight basic armor would act as the main infantry, with the officer probably being from those ranks, the heavy armored acting as the machine gunner of the squad and the light armored acting as the recon element of the squad.
If it wasn't for her absolute and desperate need of manpower, she would have rejected the heavy armored ones, but beggars can't be choosers.
"Perpetual, beautiful name," Said Tanya, absolutely not caring for how the spaceship was named. "I assume that today we will celebrate its two century birthday?"
The Mandalorians present laughed at the joke.
"No amount of insult to my spaceship will change the fact that you will pay me 25% more than the rest."
The rest of Mandalorians shut up as he enjoyed this small victory.
"Sadly the salary isn't going to be great, 250 extra credits not going to solve your life." Said Matti to Murti.
"No, but it is going to be a little bit more than everyone else, so I am good with it. Anyway, Lady Tanya?"
"Call me Tanya, what is it?"
"I want to make sure that the spaceship's replenishment, both in fuel, ammunition and any needed resource comes from the MMC expenses, and not my personal expenses. For my salary wouldnt cover for how expensive some things are"
Tanya laughed, her golden hair bobbing as she laughed strongly. Her golden eyes never stopped to see directly into Murti's eyes, threatening him indirectly.
"Maybe when we finish our first contract I will, for now you will have to carry all the expenses on your side"
"Then I will say this to everyone here, you are forbidden to use anything of the Perpetual. You can stay here, but you cannot use its food dispenser, neither the water dispenser or anything in general!"
Murti tried to show dominance, but all the Mandalorians looked at him like he was an idiot that didn't know how to share properly. Even so, he held his glare without wavering, even against the older ones. At least until he heard one of the Mandalorians take off his private parts protection, and start to piss inside the spaceship.
"What the fuck are you doing?!"
"You said it, we can't use anything on the spaceship. I wanted to take a piss but I guess I can't use the bathroom"
"For the love of…! Fine, you can use the bathroom! But just that!"
For a moment Tanya thought about if this was a good idea. Murti of course had the right to declare who can use the things on his spaceship and how they can use it. But this would inevitably lead to fights between the members. She sighed at the idea of having to deal with all the fights constantly.
She really hoped that this business wasn't doomed to fail because the Mandalorians were undisciplined. She was used to war, killing, death. But she will never get used to incompetence and disorganization.
"Hey, Murti, I will share half the expenses of all the food and water used. Share with the rest. We are going to be comrades, and between comrades there shouldn't be such a thing as constant fights."
Murti sighed, being forced to accept Tanya's deal by the pressure of his Mandalorians comrades.
"Fine."
Tanya nodded, walking between the troops as they were preparing their equipment. Murti left the cargo room, going to the cockpit.
"Since the start of our culture we have always understood the relevance of having a leader in an organization…" Started Tanya, looking to her Mandalorians soldiers that returned the sight.
"I am your leader, I understand that you sometimes might feel my orders are not adequate to the situation, or that you want to be left alone all the time except for the combat situation. But it doesn't matter, since the moment you entered the company you signed that you will follow my leadership. And I have the right to punish you for not following my rules. First of all, I will not tolerate any fighting between the members. If there is a problem, come to me and I will resolve the situation. Understood?"
Most of them hummed as a way to show that they were alright with that.
"Fine, I will slowly give you the rules and logic of our company as the situations appear. I am sorry for not having all the rules from the start but as you all understand, I didn't want to write a hundred page contract, for it would be unappealing for the start of this company."
Trying to bring discipline here was going to be a nightmare, Tanya thought.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The noble gazed from his terrace and saw how an old and chunky spaceship entered the atmosphere, he didn't expect anything and yet he felt somehow disappointed. The spaceship landed near his mansion and he sighed. Turning around and leaving the terrace.
Tanya looked at the mansion; it was gaudy as sin and big as hell. Her client was clearly very rich and she felt a little bit betrayed that she sold her service for so low, but there were no take backs. For now she had to protect this place, or wherever his client wanted, for the next six months. A total of 100,000 credits per month.
She also felt a little bit surprised that this place needed protection. It looked peaceful around here, almost idyllic, and nothing like a live battlefield.
As she approached the mansion, she saw how the nobleman she contacted came from the open doors. She noticed how he used droid servants to open the doors. She liked the droids but at the same time despised them. A thing of competition, why would any businessman pay a good salary to a worker if his work could be replaced by a droid? She really suffered this in those years working in the factory.
"Esteemed client!" Tanya said as she reached a distance good enough for starting a conversation. Her Mandalorian armor was off-gold and with the cloudless sky, the sun made her armor shine. For combat missions she would have to paint it for camouflage. But for day to day having the gold color on her armor gave her a more serious attitude. Or she thought it that way.
"Tanya Von Degurechaff, a strange name for a Mandalorian I have to say."
"It's just a professional alias," Tanya said with a smile.
"Oh, I see, there is no problem in hiding your identity, but is it necessary with your clients?"
"I take great care to protect my privacy at any and all times. My name will be protected until the day I die, if I have it my way."
The nobleman nodded. He looked old and skinny, but from what she could he had mechanical implants all over his body.
"Do you want us to start preparing a possible defense of your house? I can see very good spots in place for a planned defense."
The man negated with a movement of his head. Tanya was a bit surprised her contractor wouldn't want her to protect his home.
"I want you to protect my properties, and the best way to do it is to take out the ones that are putting my properties in danger. I expect you to take six months to handle the rebel group that is trying to destroy my properties."
This was still manageable, Tanya thought to herself, and it was true that the contract was of six months. But she still found it a little bit troublesome that he did not inform her beforehand.
"I can understand that, and will rapidly start the job. Do you have any information about this rebel group?"
"Yes, they are some peasants that bought a few guns and are going around burning down my farms. They apparently live in a forest south from here. But that's just a rumor. Hope you can handle it with that."
Tanya nodded.
"Sure thing."
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Two weeks have passed since she began to work on taking down this rebel group. Murti did recon flights through the forest all the day but he didn't find anything and her patrols were likewise fruitless. Everytime the rebels started an attack on one of the plantations the patrols would mobilize and scare them off before any damage was done.
She was not achieving anything in her mission so far. Only scaring the rebels.
One one hand, she could continue this state of affairs through the duration of her contract. Slowly but surely gaining information on the rebel cells and then rounding them all up in a swift operation. But in doing so, she'd destroy any chance of building the reputation of the MMC as a terrifyingly effective company. They were Mandalorians, the best of the best.
"This cannot continue on this way…"
Of course the contract thought that it would take six months to take care of the rebels. But no progress in two weeks was harming the possible reputation of the MMC. Who would take the PMC seriously if they cannot take out a middling rebel group made of farmers.
"Matti to HQ,'' sounded through the internal communications of Tanyas helmet.
"Here HQ, what is it?"
"We have a prisoner, he tried to run away but he broke his leg due to an accident, we are moving to HQ with the prisoner to interrogate him."
Finally something! Tanya thought to herself. No matter what she will make the unlucky bastard talk.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Five squads of four Mandalorians slowly advanced through the forest, each one distanced a hundred meters from each other, with Tanya leading Squad One. Forming a circle that was slowly closing in. The Mandaloarians, instead of having their usual colors, had a green like camouflage that made it so that from far away they cannot be correctly distinguished. Tanya's golden armor was also covered in green-like camouflage. Her rifle also was painted in that color.
It took only five hours of torture to make the farmer tell them everything. Tanya waited for hours until it was 2 am to start the atack.
"Stop, group three have reached an obstacle."
The five groups stopped their advance, Tanya awaited as some hundred meters away a group of Mandalorians disarmed the traps that were put to alarm against any possible incoming enemy. As they approached the base these types of traps were more and more common.
"Remember the orders, stay in silence."
"Whatever you say young one," Said one of the Mandalorians with a laugh. Tanya frowned and gritted her teeth. Their helmets made sure that any sound they made couldn't be heard outside. So closing the comms she insulted him. She reopened comms and looked forward, not seeing any type of patrol.
"Group three, are you done?"
"Give us a second… yes… and we're done."
Tanya nodded and continued the advance. The Mandalorian helmets had many uses, night vision, detecting any type of signature needed, including an aim assist. Really, the advantages of technology were great.
After half an hour, they finally reached their target. They had to stop twelve times to clear traps but they finally were in front of the base. A hole dug into the mountain, likely an old mining shaft. The intelligence she extracted from their guest revealed this was the only entrance and exit, the other exit ways were purposely collapsed by the rebels to avoid being surrounded.
Sure, she couldn't flank them, so there was some logic to it. But there was nothing stopping her from collapsing this entry too, and simply camp outside once they dug themselves out or died suffocated.
Well, just about what she could expect from peasants rebels. Idiotic.
"Kill the two guards with discretion, then slowly advance."
Blaster shots were much much quieter than any weapon she used in her second life. So a stealth operation was possible even without special gas for the weapons.
The sound of the rotatory guns firing took Tanya by surprise.
"Golden Leader to all the groups, what the fuck was that!"
She couldn't end the phrase when three continuous laser beams destroyed the guards, cutting them in half and destroying the door behind.
"This is supposed to be a stealth mission!" Tanya screamed.
"Young girl, you do things your way, but this is how Mandalorians handle things!"
Tanya´s inner rage overwhelmed her as she saw how three of the five groups she created started to charge toward the entrance to the base. Some other guards exited and tried to retaliate, but their weapons were useless against Mandalor armor and the farmers' bodies were cut in half the moment a rotatory gun had them in sight.
"Group three and one, advance now!"
Tanya mentally made note that group three and one were the ones to wait for her orders. At the very least, this would serve as a reference for the future. As for the unruly children of squads two, four and five…
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tanya sighed as she sat on one of the base chairs, the entire base was cleaned in twelve hours. What she thought was a small base, in reality, was an entire underground base with more than four-hundred rebel farmers… all of them are dead now.
Four hundred dead farmers, and for what? Was it really worth it to rebel against your boss, just to die like a mouse in a fox den?
"Tanya," Matti called as he approached.
"Yes Matti?" She asked, Matti's heavy armor was blue in color, he was the heavy armored one in the group three, who had followed her orders. So he had her trust to some degree.
"We found the rebel leader, but he killed himself before we could capture him."
I could try to investigate the reason for them to rebel. But honestly? I didn't care, they decided to fight against a man with enough money to pay me. Did they have a good reason to rebel? Stupid. Your life was more important than any theoretical just cause.
"Good, tell all the men that they can loot anything that's worth some money, but remind them that a quarter of what they loot is mine."
Matti nodded and left her, starting to communicate with the rest of the company. Maybe if she felt herself needing a right hand he could be a possible option.
It was too early to think of a right hand. But it would be stupid of her to not start catching an eye on who is of trust and who is not. She was a human resources manager and she needed to manage those resources. Put the ones intelligent and that follow orders in leadership positions, but the ones that follow orders under the orders of the first ones and put the ones that don't follow orders in dangerous missions until they die and they are no longer her problem.
She needed to think who was worth keeping and who was dispensable.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tanya entered the noble's palace. It was luxurious, full of expensive things she personally didn't find interesting. The carpet was of the best quality and ten statues decorated the entrance. She arrived at the dining room, where the nobleman was eating a meal as ostentatious as the rest of his mansion.
"Esteemed client, as I reported to you yesterday, the rebel base has been eradicated."
The nobleman nodded.
"I hope you find the rebels that escaped soon."
Tanya tilted her head a little bit. As if she didn't understand what he said.
"Esteemed client, we have exterminated them all, there are no survivors left."
Perhaps mop up operations would be necessary with a more dangerous force. But these rebels turned out to be scum lower than scum. Poorly equipped and with shoddy leadership, outstanding only in their ability to escape after their raids. Tanya had destroyed their base, killed their leader and seized their weapons, any survivors by mere happenstance of being out of the base at the time would simply have to give up and thank their luck they survived.
For all intents and purposes, the rebel 'menace' was over and dealt with.
The nobleman looked shocked as he looked at Tanya. Another PMC said to him that it would take six months to clear out the rebel base and it would cost him half a million credits per month. Of course he preferred to pay for a new PMC than for the experienced PMC. And when he heard that the new PMC was made of Mandalorians he didn't doubt. Cheaper and probably of better combat capacities. A bargain.
"That's impossible," He said, "Another PMC ensured me that it would take six months."
"That speaks of our talent and of their mediocrity, but we can continue our six month contract in case you still feel that your properties are in danger."
The noble man took his right hand to his chin. He was relatively ugly and bald, but still he wasn't a person that someone would look at with disgust. Just the standard, not beautiful person.
"You will stay here the rest of the month, in case there are no more attacks, you can leave."
Tanya nodded, turning around and leaving the eating room. With the nobleman worried for something she has yet to discover.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since the MMC attacked the rebel base, no more attacks from the rebels happened. Showing that the MMC completely annihilated them and that the nobleman interests were now safe from any damage. Expected to be completed in six months, and instead completed in one.
Tanya´s smile was from ear to ear, her first mission was a complete success and now she awaited the payment from the nobleman. They were in the same room they were a mere fortnight ago.
In front of Tanya, the nobleman had a protocol droid by his side, the payment would be a transfer from the Dulian bank to the Mandalorian Bank. In which Tanya registered the MMC as a PMC and she had to pay the 20% of what the MMC gained in its activities. She could really make some legal games to not pay a single credit in taxes but no. A company had to pay its taxes correctly to avoid problems and she didn't want any problems.
Fucking taxes, Tanya thought to herself.
"The transfer has been completed," said the protocol droid. Tanya took up her tablet, reading the transfer, but she raised her eyebrow when she saw the number. It was only a hundred thousand credits.
"Sir, the contract said that you would pay six hundred thousand credits."
"For six months work."
"Which we completed in one month, no, in two weeks, but you didn't trust us, forcing us to stay two weeks more."
"Still, the payment in the contract said that it would be a payment per month."
"And the contract said that after I finished this job you would pay me the six hundred thousand credits."
"Yes, for each month."
Tanya gritted her teeth, and made some quick mental calculations. She had to pay one hundred bonus credits for each kill their troops did, and from the around four hundred dead rebels, more than three hundred fifty were from her troops. Thirty-five thousand credits on bonus payments, twenty thousand on monthly salary, one thousand on paying the spaceship expenses and finally the twenty five percent extra for Murti… that would leave her with around thirty-five thousand credits… if she counted the taxes… she had to pay twenty thousand credits…
Fifteen thousand credits of benefit…
Maybe the tax collectors could fuck her. But she wouldn't allow a nobleman to fuck her. More when the contract has been finished and she no longer needs to respect him as her client.
"Sir, we completed a job estimated to take six months in two weeks, and in our presence none of your properties were either attacked or damaged. You should be paying us more than the accorded six hundred thousand credits. But I am a generous person, so I will leave in peace if you just settle with me the six hundred thousand credits.''
Tanya smiled at the nobleman while putting her blaster pistol on the table.
The nobleman gulped.
"Are you threatening me?"
"No, I am not, I am just trying to reach something of an accord," She said, with a continuing smile. She then threw to the middle of the table a holo-projector that showed the image of a man that was being held prisoner, around him were three Mandalorians including Tanya.
"Tell us where the base is," Said the feminine voice of Tanya. The rebel didn't talk, and in a second the hologram showed how Tanya took off one of the nails of the rebel, who screamed like a pig.
The nobleman gulped again, as the protocol droid got surprised by the violence.
"I hope you can enjoy with me the five hours record of how we handled the interrogation of the rebel… while we continue to discuss the payment."
The nobleman looked at the smile of Tanya, her body language. She was a complete psychopath, she would torture him for pleasure and then kill him. She was a fucking monster, of that he was sure.
"I don't think that will be needed…"
Tanya slowly moved her hand to the pistol.
"I insist, we will see this video together, and then we will discuss payment."
The nobleman panicked as he realized that he had no option to refuse her.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matti was smoking while looking at the mansion, for five and a half hours Tanya stayed inside. He was starting to worry about his boss being kidnapped when he calmed himself. Maybe she was a young girl. But she was still Mandalorian.
Fifteen minutes later, the doors finally opened, the golden armor of Tanya shining as the sun of the sunset bathed her in the light. When she finally reached the group, the twenty Mandalorians looked with expectation.
Tanya put both of her hands on her hip. Matti was more than sure that she had a smug face under that helmet. Mandalorian young girls were usually very arrogant. But in their defense mandalorian young males were too brutish and problematic. What was worse? an arrogant adolescent or a brutish and problematic adolescent?
"Well, we finished this contract before it was expected in our contract. This has caused a difficult situation but we have finally come to an agreement. Today the MMC has gained six hundred thousand credits. It is for this great benefit and the great work done by group one and three that I have decided to double their salaries this month."
The members of the three groups excluded from the benefit started to show disappointment, and started to demand the double salary benefit for themselves too.
Tanya shut them up by taking out her blaster pistol and shooting to the sky.
"From now on, the best performing groups will receive double their esteemed salary. And for public knowledge, what I value more is discipline. So if you want to aim for the double salary, maybe you should try to follow orders as I say them, not as you want to interpret them."
The Mandalorians excluded from the double payment were angry, but the ones that received the double salary rapidly sided with her, doing a balance of forces.
"Then, if you stop bitching around, I will be searching in the holonet for new contracts while you all prepare everything to leave this planet. I will trust Murti that the Perpetual is ready?"
"It is."
Tanya nodded and looked around, the Mandalorians were not moving. Some were disappointed by being excluded from the double salary and others happy for getting this extra money. But Tanya, used to military discipline, found herself disappointed when she saw that they were not taking her order as the 203rd would.
"What the fuck are you all waiting for? Prepare to leave the planet! The faster we work the faster your salaries will increase! Come on! This is the goddamn MMC and we one day are going to be one of the best mercenary companies. So start acting like one to achieve that objective!"
Half the mercenaries shouted in aprovation for that sentence while the other half shutted up. But all of them started to move their asses at the same moment Tanya shouted.
Maybe she was young, but she had leadership skills , Matti thought to himself, as he packed his personal belongings to travel again to their second job.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tanya and Murti were in the cockpit, Murti piloting the spaceship and Tanya checking the holonet to see if there was a person asking for the services of a mercenary company. Sadly for her, most of the possible clients were Hutts and she knew the rumors about them, she didn't want to do anything illegal with this company, so it was better to not get associated with them.
"Lady Tanya."
"Is just Tanya, and if you want to be formal you can call me von Degurechaff."
Murti gulped.
"Von Degurechaff… You are young. Why start a PMC instead of studying or finding a normal job… like working in an office or something, if you don't find a job in any of our planets surely you could find a job in any of the corporations out there."
"And live as a low wage worker my entire life? Gaining a salary of fifteen hundred credits per month? It took me one month to gain six hundred thousand credits with this job, you instead propose me to gain fifteen hundred per month. Is this really what you are asking me?"
"You said you have studies. You could probably find a job that would give be even ten thousand credits per month"
"Ten thousand per month, one hundred twenty per year, it would take me five years to gain what I gained in one month. I have the studies, but my studies are not from an official educational system."
Murti turned his head to look Tanya directly in the eyes, as if he didn't believe what she said.
"How many years have you studied in school?"
"Zero, the clan taught me everything. I wanted to have a normal education like everyone else but they claimed it was "corrupted" and that they would teach me "the way". My clan was a very old one, living in an era that no longer exists with ideals stupid as they sound. But they raised me, fed me, and even if I left the clan, I owe them respect."
Murti couldn't believe what he heard. Even Old Mandalorians sent their young ones to schools. What type of radical clan she lived in? O wait, he heard of them, those fanaticals of the Way of the Mandalore. Was she also one? No, she wasn't, she abandoned the clan and doesn't care to not take off her helmet. Still, probably she was more radical than most of the Mandalorians considering from which clan she comes. But then, one question assaulted him. Towards who she had vengeance, to wear the golden paint in her armor.
"So, to recapitulate, I would need to study fifteen years of my life without gaining any income to be able to work in the best possible scenario gain ten thousand credits a month in a office job… or start to work now and gain fifteen hundred credits a month working like a slave… or I can keep leading this company and gaining six hundred thousand credits a month, of course, it will not be always like this. This has just been a lucky hit. But in one lucky hit I gained what it would take me years to gain. So the answer is… if I wanted to retire and have a comfortable life at the age of thirty. My best option is this…"
"And when you retire, who will you give this company?"
"To the one most fitting for the role of leader, someone that can understand the economy and war so he can put in good use this company. But there is still a lot of time for that so I wouldn't worry about it." She smiled, making herself comfortable in the chair.
"I will now expand the crew… and I was thinking of buying a spaceship for the Company… But I guess for the last thing I will need to wait some time, why buy a cheap spaceship now when I can buy a better one in the future…"
Murti nodded, silence took place for ten minutes as they finally were in space. At that moment Tanya made a small laugh.
"I think I also enjoy the war, the battle, the killing and the strategy…"
Murti looked at her again, the computer was calculating the hyperspace travel and he had nothing to do for now so he just focused on hearing Tanya.
"A classic Mandalorian I see," Murti said with a laugh.
"More than cultural heritage I believe this is an acquired taste of mine… War is scary but also entertaining. It is like an emotional yet dangerous sport that also requires the intelligence of a chess game."
I am more twisted than I thought, thought Tanya.
"I sadly will never get used to war," Whispered Murti.
Now it was for Tanya to get surprised.
"A young male Mandalorian scared of war?"
"I have always been a coward, and the only reason I can do this job is because this armor can give me certainty of my survival."
Tanya was again surprised by this man's honesty For she would never declare her weakness so openly.
"Then why do this job? To go with me to kill some bastards for money?"
"Because I am poor."
Tanya laughed so loudly at this that Murti knew for sure that the rest of the company heard her.
"I like you Murti, honest and with a good head up there. I am glad to hear that you are not a war maniac like… me."
"I honestly thought that you would hate me for my cowardice and honesty."
"You and I are not so different, and I will not criticize you for something I can understand well."
Murti nodded.
"Thanks for the conversation."
"It's nothing," Answered Tanya, closing her eyes and laying herself in the chair, trying to get comfortable and be able to sleep.
"Wake me up if there is any incident or something."
Murti nodded, pressing the button of Hyperspace jump, seeing how the black space disappeared, making him enter in the blue and empty hyperspace.
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Thanks to Bloody Monarchist, Rocketmice, Commander Fang and KeyOfVoid for editing.
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