Authoress's Notes: This story takes place within a few weeks of the end of the Yuuzhan Vong War. It is the sixth Star Wars story I have written, and is not a sequel to any of the others. It is sort of a prequel to
Tahiri in Bondage
and
Alema Rar Visits Hapes.
I hope you read all of my stories anyway, and enjoy them. Please leave me feedback, public or via email. ahandcuffgirl(at)yahoo(dot)com
Star Wars: Hapan Crown Jewels
The Yuuzhan Vong War is over. The young Queen Mother of the Hapes Consortium, Jedi Knight Tenel Ka Djo, has led her people through the war. The Hapan people's memories are short, however. Soon afterwards, their long-standing hatred of the Jedi rises to the surface again. The Queen exacerbates the situation by attempting to introduce unpopular policies, like equality for men and non-humans, to the Consortium.
However, the young Queen has realized at least some of her foolish mistakes, and wants to make amends. That's how Jedi Knight Tenel Ka Djo, Queen Mother of the Hapes Consortium, learned of the complete set of Hapan Crown Jewels.
It all started after the Queen made a public speech, and for the third time in a row, was met with boos, and widespread apathy. Her latest polls showed that she had a job approval rating of less than thirty-five percent! The unhappy Queen immediately called her most trusted advisors to a meeting, and then proceeded to keep us there for hours.
"I led them through the war!" the Queen shouted from the head of the table. "They would all be yorik-coral-implanted slaves, or dead if it wasn't for me!"
We all looked at each other in joined misery. How many times had we had to listen similar complaints? No ruler has ever been popular while trying to change a society. We gave her the same advice we had been giving her.
"Be less of a Jedi and outsider, and more Hapan."
"Stop wearing that Dathomir lizard-hide and dress more like a Hapan Queen."
"Don't try for immediate equality for men and non-humans, work on it in stages."
The Ducha that gave last bit of advice got some hard looks from the rest of us. No intelligent Hapan woman really wants men to have equality. Give them equality and then they'd think they were as important as women!
This time though, the Queen seemed to seriously consider our advice. At least about being more of a Hapan.
Luckily, we knew of a way for the Queen to prove to her people that she had fully embraced the Hapan customs.
"Your Majesty, you could begin making public speeches wearing the Hapan Crown Jewels," we explained to her. "That would greatly increase your popularity."
And as a bonus, convince you to drop those silly notions of equality for men.
After we explained to her that the crown she had been wearing was only part of the Crown Jewels, the Queen demanded to know why she hadn't been told about this by us, or her mother.
This part was tricky. Throughout the history of the Consortium, less than half of the Queen Mothers had worn the complete Crown Jewels. Most of the Queen Mothers only wore the crown itself. Of the half that did wear the complete set, most of them only wore it once or twice their entire reign.
Well, there were a few who seemed to appear in the Crown Jewels practically every week, but Tenel Ka Djo was a trained Jedi Knight, so we were sure she wouldn't be like that. Just a few public appearances would increase her popularity. Then perhaps once a year or so for a few years after that to remind her people how dedicated she is to the Hapan way of life.
The reason that the current Queen Mother hadn't been told about the Crown Jewels from her mother was simply that her mother hadn't been told about them herself. The elder Queen, a foreigner who married the Crown Prince Isolder, never showed any desire to embrace the Hapan culture, so was never informed of one of the Consortium's most important customs.
Since Tenel Ka was interested, we were happy to explain to her the significance of the Hapan Crown Jewels.
The Crown Jewels serve to remind all Hapans of first group of Humans that colonized the Hapes Cluster, the Lorell Raiders. The mostly male pirate group kidnapped women, kept them in shackles, and generally did dreadful things to them, at least at first. Eventually the kidnapped women and their captors formed a bond, and when the Jedi ambushed the Raiders and wiped them out, the women of Hapes formed their own government, led by themselves of course.
We happily escorted the Queen to the Royal vaults, where the Crown Jewels were kept. Of course she had been to the vaults a few times, but amongst all the other treasures of the Consortium, the Crown Jewels were easy to miss. In fact, they were in a display case, which was hidden in a stack of identical display cases.
As the Ducha responsible for the vaults, I of course knew exactly which display case. It took two of us to lift the heavy case. Together, we carefully pulled it out so the Queen could see the complete set of Hapan Crown Jewels for the first time.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
"Hey, those are slave shackles!" Tenel Ka announced in puzzlement when she saw the supposed Crown Jewels.
"Well, not quite, Your Majesty," Ducha Mai'ggi replied. "These are hand forged, from Mandalorian beskar ore," she explained, wondering if she even knew what beskar was.
"What's belskar ore?" the Queen asked as she gazed at the gleaming, gem encrusted Crown Jewels.
Ducha Mai'ggi smiled slightly before responding. "Beskar," she corrected her Queen politely. "It is only found on the planet Mandalore of course. However, the Mandalorians haven't exported it for several thousand years. The beskar you see before you was traded for by the Lorell Raiders. It is nearly as valuable as the larger rainbow gems in your crown, Your Majesty."
Tenel Ka licked her lips as she kept gazing at the Crown Jewels. The attendants that accompanied her to the Royal vaults were her most trusted allies. She sensed that they all believed what they had told her of the Crown Jewels. The thought of wearing the shacklesโ