AN :
if we hit 150 power stones in 24h, there will be an extra chapter ;)
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( 32 BBY )
Tan'ya found Serenno's current royal guard to be competent, but rather unimpressive as a whole. Numbering at around five hundred men, they were recruited mostly from Coruscant's various security services, many of whom had worked with her father before he left the order.
To a man they were all past their physical prime, some with muscle turning to fat, but most of them had real combat experience, which was invaluable. Though they viewed their new role here on Serenno as something of a semi-retirement, they were steely eyed, quick on the draw and professional.
Around a hundred of them were stationed at the Palace, guarding the royal family, another hundred were in the capital protecting the Advisory, and the bulk were off-world at the New Temple, acting as guards for the fledgling branch of the Jedi Order.
They were armored with common plastoid plating that was cheap and would stop shrapnel or slugs, but wouldn't be very effective against a blaster. For weapons they just used DC-15S blaster carbines, an easily available model that even sold on the civilian markets of many worlds. To deal with the language barrier between them and the local population, the unit was issued a number of protocol droids, whom they could call on their wrist mounted communicators if the situation demanded.
The current head of the Serenno Royal Guard was an ex-soldier, one Colonel Gon Seith, who was in his fifties and a former officer in the Senate Guard. Sifo and Tan'ya went to meet him in the palace's barracks, positioned just underground. He even recognised Sifo when they met, firmly shaking his hand, before giving a friendly, if gratingly condescending smile to the small child that accompanied the Jedi Master.
"Princess." He tilted his head slightly, before looking back to Sifo. "She's awfully young to be a padawan, isn't she?"
"I'm not a padawan, yet." Tan'ya answered for herself. "But nevertheless they let me out of the Temple every now and then so that Mother won't harass my Father too much."
Gon let out a sharp bark of laughter. "Well, you know what they say? Happy wife, happy life. It's why you Jedi don't usually get married, just can't stand being happy."
"How's Margo doing these days?" Sifo asked him.
"Eh, she was worried about moving to the Outer Rim, but it's been peaceful since we arrived, and the pay's not as good as bloody Coruscant, but it helps that half of it doesn't have to be sunken into rent, either."
"And the children?"
"Well, they weren't happy about the move, either. You know how it goes, all their friends are on Coruscant, that's where the holovids get made and all the best bands are. How are they ever going to become big stars out here in the Rim?"
"Have they at least settled in?" Sifo asked.
"Well, the oldest wants to go back to university on Coruscant, which seems like a great way to spend the rest of her life in debt and for me to pay that bloody rent for the next half a decade or so, and the younger two are having some trouble fitting in at school. They're offworlders, with funny accents, you know?"
"There are universities here on Serenno." Tan'ya pointed out. "Ones that I'm sure would be easier for your daughter to get into."
"Not the point." Gon replied. "Coruscant's the center of the universe, don't you know? If you want to be a politician, a corporate leader, a lawyer, an actor, the contacts you'll make on that bloody planet will serve you better than any amount of education will.
Teta might have a better history department, Mon Cal and Corellia might have better engineering and astrogation schools, and hell, I'm sure the Feds can give you a fine education in the Corporate Sector, but the ambitious will always gather on Coruscant."
Nodding along to the lecture with a sad expression on his face, Sifo added, "Even among the Jedi there are some who try to advance to the rank of Master without leaving the Temple on Coruscant. If someone wants a seat in one of the towers, their chances of getting it are better by being around and among the people who make those decisions, then by fulfilling their duties."
"Ambitious Jedi, who'd have thought it?" Gon laughed. "You lot always seemed so perfect and sexless to me." He considered Tan'ya. "But then I suppose I know your father. If ever there was an ambitious Jedi, it was him." He smiled fondly. "What about you, girl? Got any grand plans for the future?"
"Oh, I wouldn't call them grand." Tan'ya said. "My dream is to provide competent and stable leadership for my people, leading into a prosperous future." She smiled. "Speaking of which, we're here to reform my future royal guard."
"Yes, I've heard rumblings." He looked over to Sifo. "Ten thousand men, that's quite the expansion. That can be done easily enough, plenty of mercenaries in the Galaxy, but you want to draw from this world and this world alone? That gets a bit trickier."
"Well, the advantage is that they won't have divided loyalties, and hopefully won't be drawn away by a more promising paycheck." Sifo explained. "We're looking for men loyal to the Count, and the Count alone."
"I understand the importance of that, I do." Gon nodded. "But the language gap alone would make it a right pain in the ass to train them."
Sifo nodded. "We had planned for that. We'll have to include more protocol droids to work as tutors, and add Outer Rim Basic to the curriculum."
Gon blinked. "Basic? You're teaching them Basic, not Standard?"
"No, of course not." Tan'ya answered, smiling. "They will be required to pass an Outer Rim Basic test in order to be eligible for the Royal Guard. You and your men will be the ones who need the extra training."
Gon's expression changed as he thought that through. "Can be hard to teach old dogs new tricks. Some of my men are gonna drop out just from that."
"And I imagine more will drop out when they find out about the new fitness standard they'll have to meet." Her smile widening. "The new Royal Guard will be truly elite, professionals benefiting from the veterency you and your men have to share with them, but make no mistake. This is no longer going to be a nice, semi-retirement for Coruscant Security's veterans, but a prestigious post of honored warriors, earned through blood, sweat, and tears."
Gon held Tan'ya's gaze, looking at her directly and in a slightly mystified voice said, "What kind of a little girl are you?"
"An ambitious one, apparently."
...
Before it could grow again, the Royal Guard had to shrink. Most of the older security officers simply didn't have it in them to rise to the new fitness standards, and ended up retiring on a generous pension, or accepting a new role as a trainer rather than a soldier.
Some of them went back to Coruscant, a few had some harsh words for Gon, but in the end Tan'ya was left with about two hundred and fifty royal guards, most of whom were in their mid to late thirties. A lot of them seemed to enjoy the training program, shedding pounds and getting, 'Back into the swing of things.'
After that it was time to fill out the ranks again.
The new Serenoan recruits Tan'ya brought in came from the rapidly expanding planetary militia. Anyone could apply for the Royal Guard, as long as they could pass a spoken test for Basic, and any who couldn't were offered the chance to take language courses to get them to that level.
After that they had to pass a grueling fitness and aptitude exam that Tan'ya personally designed based on her experiences from the Great War. Applicants had to hike through jungles and mountains while completing difficult stress tests, being deprived of sleep, and having their mental abilities pushed and prodded constantly by the older guards with a battery of questionnaires and psychological warfare techniques.
Those that passed this finally got a chance to really start training, which was when Tan'ya finally took the kid gloves off.
Of course she wanted these men to be loyal to her, so she led them through their training personally. Being force enhanced, she could easily keep pace with or just ahead of the young adults, and was glad to get a chance to really exercise her flabby princess body.
With the aid of Gon, she and Sifo had devised a two year training course that would cover everything they might need to know, from marksmanship, equipment maintenance, explosive handling, coded communication, and combat exercises with a particular emphasis on urban warfare.
While training was ongoing, Sifo and Tan'ya began to look into ways to improve the arms and armor of the men.
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