"I hate it when they do that...." Varcanna grumbled, Naosha and Trazu chuckling as the red scaled Trandoshan got the color in her face back after the start she just recieved when the stealth fighters appeared out of no where.

"So...." Trazu started to say, eyeing his mother as he doubled checked to insure his lightsaber and sword were still firmly attached to his belt. "Why did you need me to come along? Obviously not for the Jedi bit as Lavality covers that end."

"You need the diplomatic experience." Naosha said simply, checking to make sure her own blaster was fully charged and carefully concealed.

"Mother...Varcanna is the one that will be taking your place on the Elder Council...not me."

"True, but you will be taking your father's place as head of the Clan." Naosha replied. "And he has to do some politics stuff as well since he's a member of the Lesser Council."

"Great....politics....my favorite passtime..." Trazu grumbled.

~Good day 'Hunter's Way'!~ A familiar voice suddenly crackled over the comm line. ~From the looks of your escort it seems are dear Speaker-Above-All is on a mission.~

"Your assumption is correct Vice Admiral Tiosk." Naosha replied, looking out the viewport and spotting the Rynok Destroyer Bloodfang in the distance. "But what that mission is I can't discuss...especially over an unsecure line!"

~Oh I know that Councilor. I was just wondering if you needed any additional escort.~

"I believe we are fine Vice Admiral." Varcanna replied. "Lavality seems to have us well covered."

~Very well....just thought I'd check.~ Tiosk replied. ~After all...you know how much trouble seems to find you whenever you meet up with Lavality.~

"TIOSK!" Naosha yelled.

~Oops....that was over a open line wasn't it?~ His tone was full of mischief however.

Naosha was obviously about to give Tiosk a piece of her mind, no doubt with a few colorful phrases in the mix, but Trazu interupted before she could start. "Vice Admiral, we apprecate your offer, but your asistance is not required at this time. Further more we will have to have a...discussion...on proper open commline etiquette when we return."

~My apologies, Lord Trazu.~ It was hard to tell without seeing his face whether he was being sincere or not. ~I will lieve you to your mission. If you require any fire power however, just call.~ The line went dead then.

"That....ferfieking....little....nerf ass...." Naosha growled between her teeth. "Now everyone in skagging comm range knows of my 'bad luck'."

"Well...look at it this way mother." Varcanna glanced at Trazu. "We now know Trazu is fully capable of being a true politician." She gave him a wink.

Trazu growled at his sister, but she just grinned at him. With a sigh he turned back toward Naosha. "At any rate, mother you should forget about Tiosk right now and concentrate on whatever it is Lavality summoned you here for. We can't have you going in looking like you're ready to kill the first person you see...."

"He did only fairly recently got back onto flying status after all." Varcanna reminded her. "He's probably just over eager to have some action."

"For his sake that better be the 'only' reason...." Naosha snarled sorrowly, before taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down. After a few moments she was almost back to 'normal' mood. "How long until we arrive?" She asked.

"Not long at all." Varcanna said, looking out her viewport at the large ship ahead. "A few minutes, no more."

"Good...the sooner we get this over with....the less likely I'll be....tempting fate...." Naosha said with a sigh.

Lavality kept her eyes glued to the two approuching shuttles; both where Lamba's but one was more modified than the other.

"Our guests have arrived," Lavality spoke quietly as they observed both shuttle's are their wings folded upward and their landing gears extracted. Within moments both were on the deck and their engines were silent.

The landing ramp on the Kashyyyk shuttle slowly descended toward the ground; two Wookiee guards exited the shuttle carrying bowcasters, both neither seemed the least bit concerned about the Trandoshan shuttle. Then Tzhali appeared, his fur kept.

To Tzhali's side was a protocal droid, while Lavality could understand Tzhali and Tzhali could understand her the use of a protocal droid was standard. The wookiee approuched Lavality, the Grand Admiral gave a curt bow to the Chieftain. "Welcome Chieftain Tzhali, I hope your trip was fine," she said.

The protocal droid listened as Tzhali spoke in his native language. "It was fine, though I wish your escorts wouldn't scare my pilots by decloaking off our bow," the droid said flatly.

"Ah, I'll make sure to talk to them about that," Lavaity said before noticing the landing ramp on Hunters Way now descending.

Bridge, Revanche

"Odd," reported an bridge crewman, "one of the Serendivius shuttles was broadcasting some personal remarks on an open line."

"Anything important," questioned Captain Clancy, "and by that, I mean anything I should inform the Rear-Admiral about?"

"I don't think so sir," replied the communication's technician, "Just some intergroup remarks made by a junior diplomat."

Clancy nodded. "Well, just to make sure, have them permanently recorded and stored, and possibly sent to CSIS for analysis."

"Sir?"

"You never know. There could be something potentially interesting or coded in there."

"Yes sir."


Revanche Hangar Bay

The two shuttles touched down; their ramps opening to disembark their passengers. Confederation soldiers snapped to attention and clicked their bootheels; a sound which slightly reverberated throughout the cavernous bay. The battleship and its crew had seen many different dignitaries and honor guards, but it had never seen beings quite like the Wookiee guards which came down the ramp of the Kashyyyk shuttle. Several of the Kirkanians glanced at each other with looks of curiousity and fear. Standing next to Lavality, Fyre silently saluted Tzhali, watching as the Hunter's Way members began to disembark from their ship.

"Trazu."

"Yes mother?" Trazu replied looking back at his mother as they prepared to disembark.

"You may want to hide that." Naosha said, pointing at his lightsaber.

"Why?" He asked curiously. "I'm not shy about my status, especially to non-T'Doshok."

"I'm aware of that son, but we are meeting people we are uncertain of their motives or how they feel about Jedi for that matter. Plus, the fact thatyou have a corbanis sword may lead them to think you hunt Jedi: our people are known to keep trophies and your saber could be regarded as such."

"Not to mention 'Jedi' is not a profession most, if not all, of the galaxy would consider our people capable of being." Varcanna added.

"Then it's time we show other's that we can be." Trazu said stubbornly. "We are in the midst of trying to change our galaxy wide image remember?" He turned and descended the ramp. Naosha sighed and started after him.

The first thing she saw was the impressive honor guard their hosts assembled for them, then the guard Tzhali brought with him. It made her feel a little inaditque for a moment, wishing she had brought some K'Satikur warriors along, but she remembered that Trazu and his Jedi mock up would probably trump all of that. Provided they don't assume he's still a hatchling first.... She thought with a faint smile. Unfortunately the fact he wasn't even five feet tall would bring wrong first impressions for the rest of his life.

"Admiral Lavality." She heard Trazu said to their friend with a respectful bow. "Good to see you again. Lady Asri sends her regards and wishes she could be here to see you, but someone needed to stay behind to watch the little terrors." Naosha noticed his grin and couldn't help but giggle a bit herself.

"Tzhali." She said to her old friend, allowing Trazu to greet Lavality for her. Plus it was an act to show their hosts that dispite the well known hatred between their two races, the Trandoshans and Wookiess were trying to change that. "It's been a long time since I've seen you." Then she caught a whiff of his current 'scent'. "Erm...why do you..." She took one look at his scowl then glanced at Lavality, whom had a mischievous glint in her eye she hadn't noticed before when she looked Tzhali's way. "Nevermind I think I have an idea. Don't worry...your secret is safe with me." She leaned a bit closer. "You know Tiosk would have a field day if he found out...."

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Trazu eyeing their hosts honor guard, with a look on his face she knew all too well. "Don't think our hosts guard are currently under permission to speak Trazu." She told him. "So I seriously doubt any height jokes will be coming from them. " Then she addressed the man that was standing next to Lavality. "I apologize for seeming to be so informal." She said with a slight bow. "I am Elder Councilor Naosha, current Speaker-Above-All for our people. This." She gestured to Trazu, whom gave a respective nod. "Is my son Trazu, hire to K'Satikur Clan and one of our best warriors." She was tempted to make comment on his height, but figured her explanation of him being one of the warriors would help keep any 'short' comments from forthcoming.

Lavality smiles and glances over toward Tzhali; the wookiee wears an annoyed expression when his eyes meet Lavality, but the expression quickly changes to one of feigned thanks for what she had given him.

"I wish the good Lady could be here; there's much I'd like to talk to her about, but it's understandable that her presence couldn't be here," Lavality said, giving a curteous bow to Trazu before turning her attention to Naosha and what she had just heard.

Commander Fyre cordially saluted and greeted the newcomers. The man's blue eyes brightly tracked the Wookies and the Trandoshans, noting their bearing and customs. The younger Kashan officer strode up to the Grand Admiral and the assembled aliens.

"If you would please follow me, the Rear Admiral would like to meet you in his quarters for talks..."

Fyre led the group through cleared corridors and several turbolifts to the Corise's quarters. As the Supreme Commanding Officer of the Confederation Defence Forces, the younger Lucerne was obliged to accept a rather large complex of rooms, almost the size of a small house. But he rarely used any of them, save for his bedroom and a small, library alcove. A heavy duty blast door slid open in front of the entourage, revealing the central room of the man's quarters. Light-coloured marble encased the room from the floor to ceiling. On the walls, various works of art depicted naturalistic scenes from the worlds of the Confederation; from the forests of Kashan to the sands of Valinor to the underwater deep of Baralou. Several tables and chairs of a hardwood from Cularin lay ordered across the floor. Near one of them, the Rear-Admiral stood, his sapphire blue eyes gazing upon the newcomers. He stiffly nodded.

"Welcome to Revanche, esteemed guests. Please, take a chair, and let us discuss the situation at hand regarding the Manogeten and your future. Excuse me, Grand Admiral, have you explained the situation to them regarding the use of Confederation forces against the Manogeten?"

Lavality nodded and took a seat; she waited until Naosha, Tzhali and Trazu were seated before speaking up.

"As the wookiee's are aware, the Manogetens inhabit one of their moons. From there they launch raids onto Kashyyyk, gathering fellow wookiee's for use as slave labor. While the Trandoshan's have been very successful in stopping their slavers," she said, then added in a very low tone, "espically one 'particuler' Trandoshan," she then switched back to her full voice.

"As I'm sure you two know; we can't commit to any sort of action against planets under your control. In this case, the moon that the Manogetens habit is under the jurisdiction of the wookiee's. While my organization can place operatives and send special op's teams onto the moon to collect information, we aren't allowed to take action," she said.

Lavality sighed. "Further more, I have four marine transports in system that but that's not enough marines to take over the base - let alone be able to break through their defensive walls," she added.

"To that end; in order to get the help of the Confederates, I'm moving for an alliance between the Serendivus and the Confederates. In order to accomplish this, I need your authorization," Lavality said.

Tzhali rubbed his chin, then spoke to the droid next to him. "You're in charge of your organization, I can understand why you would need our permission in order to assault a moon or planet in this system, but why for forming an alliance with another?" he asked.

Lavality mentally shook her head. I guess Tzhali's forgotten that under normal diplomatic law because I'm inhabit their area of space, if I join an alliance it could have a negative, or positive, impact on their cultures... she said, and was about to say just that before Naosha spoke up.

"You seem to forget Tzhali, old friend." Naosha said. "That all three of our 'governments' joined under the Coalition about the same time. Also about the same time our three governments formed an alligence with each other, an alligence that makes us practically a coalition of planets of our own."

"We have gotten in the habit of not doing major things without at least informing the other two members of our alligence." Trazu added. "Since we all joined under the Coalition as an allied force, it is only logical that if one of us decides to leave the Coalition for another it would prudent to ask permission of the other two."

"As it stands." Naosha said, picking up where Trazu stopped. "The Elder Council is having second thoughts about Coalition as of late due to their recent activities and I predict a call for a vote to secede from it will come soon. On my peoples end, I see foresee no problem with the Serendivus offically leaving the Coalition and joining the Confederates.

"Whether or not we will follow suit is uncertain at this point." Naosha continued. "From what little I know about your organization...." She looked directly at the Confederate leader. "You are much more active militarily correct? I ask because as it stands the T'Doshok military is unable to provide much support in conflicts, as we are still recovering from our near civil war during the major part of our governments....goal adjustments."

"A transition from one of war and slave trade to one of peace and defence." Trazu explained. "A transition that unfortunately many Clans are not happy about and we are constantly on the look out signs of possible rebellion. Such wrinkles will take time to smooth out."

"But we were not invited here for us to vent our current woes." Naosha said with a faint smile. "But do let it be known that we will aid our allies and potential allies however we can. I am sure Vice Admiral Tiosk would be happy to assist in getting rid of that base.

"He acts like a fool and gets under just about everyone's scales." Naosha growled faintly, not having forgotten his little jab at her earlier. "But he is our best ship commander and is well loved by his subordanates."

"People tend to 'forget' how annoying he can be once they see him in combat." Trazu said with a smirk.

The Rear-Admiral nodded at Naosha.

"We do maintain a reasonably powerful military, not by choice, but by necessity. There are many out that would take away our freedom, or rob our citizens. Neither which we can permit. The Empire has once tried to conquer a memberstate, and has failed, so we must be ever vigiliant."

He thoughtfully leaned back in his chair.

"Most of the Confederation's military experience has been against pirates and other unreputables like what you are encountering," stated the Kashan man slowly, "I think that we would be particularly well-suited to dealing with this slave trade. But of course, you may want to know about the Confederation. I have taken the liberty of filling a few of these datapads with the most basic information of the Confederation."

Datapad

Lavality smiled weakly. "Annoying as he may be, he's put many of my captains to shame. If your commander was open to requests, he'd have a list ten kilometers long with people wanting to be his apprentice," she smirked.

Clearing her throat she glanced at a picture on the wall. "It is true that the Coalition hasn't been holding up to their part of the alliance. Sadly, we found that out the hard way just a few weeks ago when one of our trading convoy's was attacked in their space by a group of pirates. The convoy had sent out a distress signal after it's escorts were destroyed," she said and then lowered her voice to a mere whisper. "Knew I should've outfitted that convoy with a new carrier," she grumbled.

"By the time a response came, which is a freaking day late," she growled. "The convoy was all but destroyed, innocent men, woman and children were apart of the convoy heading to a trading outpost to relieve the current crew," she sighed. "That stressed out relations, and even to this point none of their ambassadors have returned my requests," she said.

Tzhali shook his head then glanced at the protocal droid. "I was wondering what happened to one of my officers when he failed to return two weeks ago, I thought perhaps he had found a fabulous Trandoshan female and ran off her, no disrespect present company of course, though I guess I was wrong," he growled. The droid not bothering to mimic the sound.

Lavality smiled sheepishly. "Sorry Tzhali, didn't mean-" she said before the wookiee raised his furry paw.

"That's alright, I'm almost certain that report is somewhere in my endless amount of monthly reports," he smiled.

Lavality sighed and then put on a serious face, she pushed her back against the chair and a took from her glass of water. "Rear Admiral, one of my most pressing concerns right now is the TNO. What is the likelyhood that The New Order may come here?" she asked, her arms folded over her chest.

Both of her officers glanced nervously at her, they too were curious about that as well, but more so because of the current operations in the area. I didn't think the admiral would ask that question, though considering our current military streangth and the lack of Coalition support, I guess it's only natural for her to ask, Savieve told herself.