Fountain Palace

[Janus Vhett]

The Fountain Palace, also known as the Castle of Per'Agthra was the premier royal residence of the Queen Mothers who ruled the Hapes Consortium. Situated on Hapes itself, this centuries-old fortress-palace served as an ancient symbol of royal authority for the monarchy: other royal residences such as Reef Fortress were places where the Queen Mothers stayed, but Per'agthra was the home of the Hapan monarchy.

Even after Queen Mother Ta'a Chume opened the borders of the Hapes Star Cluster to outsiders in 8 ABY, contact was scarce, and this, coupled with traditional Hapan secrecy, may be responsible for some uncertainty regarding the exact location of the palace. While most sources suggest that Per'Agthra stood on the crags overlooking the capital city of Ta'a Chume'Dan, New Republic Intelligence reports said that this was in fact Star Home, outwardly an exact copy of the castle, but in reality a hyperspace-capable cruiser.

Whatever the exact truth, the existence of Star Home attested to the importance of Per'Agthra to both the family of the Mothers, and the state ceremonial of Hapan political life. The Fountain Palace remained as a private residence for the court, while a second, identical castle served as a public proxy, enabling the Mothers to hold court amid the iconic towers and turrets of their ancestral seat when they visited the other worlds of the Cluster—or even, on rare diplomatic visits, foreign capitals like Coruscant.

The Hall of Masters, Royal Residence, Queen Mother's Special Salon, Royal Bedchamber, Queen's Drawing Room, and Royal Hangar were all rooms in the Palace.

[Queen Mother Shadow Fire]

Shadow was gently pulling a brush through her long, thick, wavy, and shiny brown colored hair as she looked at herself in the mirror. She was wearing simple, yet elegant, white silk gown that complimented her tanned skin and deep blue eyes. She stood up, her hair fell to her waist. She was beautiful in the traditional Hapan way, and yet, she had managed to escape the curse of being blind in darkness. She could easily protect herself, she knew how to wield lightsabers, blasters and the Force in such a way that she didn't need body guards, but she did not complain, it never hurt to have extra sets of eyes and ears about.

[Janus Vhett]

*Jana Winters walked up behind Shadow smiling.*


"I have to admit it is amazing how the Hapans have been able to stay out of the war breaking apart the galaxy. Is it your great leadership or just luck?"

*She said as she made her smile wider. She most likely was the only one who talked to the Queen Mother that way. Any Hapan would never even dare to speak to Shadow if it at all might seem out of place at all.*

[Queen Mother Shadow Fire]

Shadow happily replied as she turned to face Jana,"It helps that my word is Law. I saw no point in entering a pointless war. Unless any of the planets are attacked directly, the enemy will be crushed swiftly, as is done with pirates." Although Jana was 14 years older than her, she was one of the few Shadow got along with easily.

[Janus Vhett]

*Jana laughed lightly.*

"It is a shame you left the Jedi order. With nether of use there I am sure there is a lot less character there."

*She then sighed.*

"The Hapan fleet is vast though if you were to pick a side it would turn the war clearly in favor of who ever you picked."

[Queen Mother Shadow Fire]

Shadow replied,"I could not fulfill my duties of Queen Mother properly while being in the Order. I know the fleet is vast, I just want to keep everything together. After all, I just managed to piece everything good and properly back together, I don't want anything splitting apart."

[Janus Vhett]

*Jana nods.*

"I understand that yet, with hundreds of Hapan Battle Dragons you can surely form a fleet to assist in combating the Empire. If the Alliance falls the Mandalorians can only last for so long them the Empire will come here."

[Queen Mother Shadow Fire]

Shadow nodded, and spoke again,"Yet, if it comes to having to fight, I know not to help first. Should I help the Jedi since I am a former Master, or should I help the Mandalorians first?"

[Janus Vhett]

*Jana groaned at that question. She was really not sure how to reply, she always would be loyal to the Jedi yet her husband and son were Mandos. Sadly she would simply have to fall back on history.*

"The Mandalorians, in crisis their has been a strong allaince before and this will not infringe on your customs. As we both know the Jedi are known to force their ways onto their allies. It is the best option for your people."

[Queen Mother Shadow Fire]

Shadow spoke,"You pose a fair point, yet I made the Jedi fully aware to not force anything onto the Hapans, as they know better than to cross the line, and they know of Hapes's history with the Order. As I know there are Force Sensetive Younglings in the Consortium, if there is something I myself cannot teach them, as you fully know that one of my greatest pleasures lays in teaching, I send them off to Coruscant, but they must return once a week to the Consortium. Any infringement of the agreement will involve swift punishment for the Jedi involved in not following the terms of the agreement to the very letter. They know better than to test somebody who has a Jedi Academy in the Consortium."

[Janus Vhett]

"You hold great strength yet remember that was with the former Grand Master who had recently died. They are worried over loosing the war not keeping to your rules. Plus maybe it is time for the Consortium to expand. Not that you need to yet for you can. Hapans are the only ones who have remained strong as the war broke out, everyone else is weak I suggest you take advantage of this while you can."

[Queen Mother Shadow Fire]

Shadow spoke,"One thing is for sure, the way you point this out, war is now seeming inevitable, but I will not kill unnecessarily like the Empire is doing. They are killing the innocent for no good reason. If I expand, I do not want to seem like the Empire, who has caused great pain to everybody. That is one of my great worries. Besides, I have that rule in place is because I know that with family members being in the Order, families do not often see some members for a good long while, creating unneeded worry for all. This way, families can stay together."

[Janus Vhett]

*Jana thought for a few moments before replying, she fully understood the worries. Shadow had to put her people first and war was never something anyone willingly did unless they were foolish like the Empire.*

"You speak wise words. However if you take imperial worlds you will be helping those who live their by allowing them to have more freedom. If anything else I feel assisting planets break free of imperial bonds should be a goal. Whether it be economic support or military. You can also fun revolts. "

[Queen Mother Shadow Fire]

Shadow spoke,"Some battles I know that even with the full might of the military behind me, there are some batttles I cannot fight alone. I have strong alliances with the Wookiees, the Twi'leks, and the Mon Calamiri. Wookiees because they are good warriors and traditional friends of the Jedi, current and former Jedi. Example include late non Jedi Chewbacca, and his nephew, Lowbacca, who is a Jedi. The Twi'leks because I am friends with their clan leaders, and many of their people are Jedi. For example, look at late Jedi Aayla Secura. As for the Mon Calamiri, they have a powerful navy that even I know that our navy stands no chance against. They have always been brilliant ship builders and tacticians, just look at the late Admiral Ackbar, Rebel Alliance leader. I feel I should put this to a vote though, it is the democratic way, and I do not want to seem like the past Empire rules, who never voted on anything, they always did what they wanted." Her mind was going into leader mode now. She spoke again,"If the vote goes through, I will call leaders of our allies to Hapes so we can decide how to properly attack, for I know their strategies are different from ours, and we all may very well learn from how they do things, and so we can add strategies to our books for later usage. When this all starts, I will recall all Hapan Jedi, Younglings and otherwise, back home to help defend."

[Janus Vhett]

*Jana paused much longer this time. With though Dac has restored it naval operations and it is great ally against the Empire they still felt the blunt of the Genocide on Dac. *

"The Wookiees and the Twi'leks want revenge on an imperial like us all and have the means to fight yet, I would rather have the Mon Calamari take up more a defensive stance. There numbers are still very low and we not loose the great gift they give to the galaxy."


*She took a breath and went on.*

"Yet it shows why we must fight! While I respect your wish to be democratic remember what a Empire control galaxy means."

[Queen Mother Shadow Fire]

Shadow nodded thoughtfully, and replied,"That's true. I still remember the history books saying that many Mon Calamiri were wiped out during the Imperial-Sith War. Ok, if everything goes through, the Mon Calamiri are the defensive position. We must protect the Wookiees though, they have exceptionally valuable hyper space lanes that could ruin us if the Empire through some miracle for them, managed to capture Kashyyyk. I was originally thinking of enlisting the Hutts, but I don't trust them. My original thought was because no fool ever tried to invade Hutt Space before. The Hutts, like the Wookiees, have very valuable hyper space lanes."

[Janus Vhett]

"Yes and to send out fleets to protect systems you not joining the war simply protecting interests so in that I would not delay."

*Jana then thought over the idea of seeking the Hutt's help. It was possible.*

"What if we were to work on gaining control over Nar Shaddaa? Not with military just set up a presence it can be fall back base, as the moon of the Nal Hutta we can't be any more in the center of Hutt space then that meaning the Empire would never dare to strike against it. "

[Queen Mother Shadow Fire]

"I'm glad you also see the value of the help of the Hutts. It is possible to have the help of the Hutts, they helped the Republic during the Clone Wars, theres no reason why they won't help now. We've had no prior contact, uch less offending the Hutts, we present to threat to them. In this case, I shall send fleets protecting the Mon Calamiri, Kashyyyk, and Ryloth... Any others I missed?" asked Shadow.

[Janus Vhett]

"Yes and no."

*Jana said grimly.*

"While the Mandalorians have yet to confirm there current state I feel like we need each others help. Tion can push for an allaince yet I fear you may have to go with unpopular actions to form such a alliance. "

[Queen Mother Shadow Fire]

Shadow spoke, nodding,"When you point it out that way, you are right. We'll need all the help we can get in pushing back the Empire. I am thinking of other people, perhaps the Witches of Dathomir, then again, maybe not, I hear it is a Sith-Imperial World. There are the Witches of Dathomir, and there are the Nightsisters. The Nightsisters are Sith to the Witches as Sith are to Jedi."

[Janus Vhett]

"Yes the more allies the better. Those regions worry me though, none know who the new leader of the Sith is they are no hidden like the Chiss and their powers can be in the most most unlikely places yet the Witches have potential be a good ally. "


*Jana said and became to pace.*

[Queen Mother Shadow Fire]

Shadow spoke,"A former Witch of Dathormir was Queen Mother many, many years ago. Teneniel Djo, her name was. Isolder married her, which made her Queen Mother. I think our past history should help, if it comes to asking the Witches for help. The Witches have good relations with the Jedi."

[Janus Vhett]

"Plans must be made to head to Dathormir then. Yet it presents the issue that we have to get there. While it may not be imperial it is deep in imperial space."

[Queen Mother Shadow Fire]

"With it being so deep in Imperial Space, anybody that is not Empire friendly'll be attacked on sight. And that is our problem." replied Shadow.

[Janus Vhett]

*She nods in agreement.*

"I am sure there was to appear imperial. Considering the resources available to us. "

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