A fleet of Galactic Alliance Star Destroyers dropped out of hyperspace light-years from the capital of the Hapes Consortium. Immediately, the flagship of the fleet, the Admiral Ackbar, received a hailing from the other end.
"Put it on," Admiral Nek Bwua'tu ordered.
A holographic projection of Queen Mother Tenel Ka Djo appeared before the seated Bothan. "Admiral Bwua'tu," she said, "may I speak to Chief of State A'Kla?"
Bwua'tu nodded. "You may, Your Highness." He looked off to the side and waved in a figure unseen from the other end of the projection.
Soon, the thin Caamasi frame of Galactic Alliance Chief of State Releqy A'Kla stepped before Bwua'tu, prompting Tenel Ka to smile at her diplomatically.
"Chief A'Kla," Her Majesty said, "you are just in time for the negotiations to start. I allow you to take a shuttle down so that you may land on top of the Royal Palace."
"Thank you, Your Majesty," A'Kla said before the holoprojector signal was cut off from the other end. The Chief of State then turned away and left the bridge of the Ackbar to head for its hangar bay, two light-skinned, human male bodyguards escorting her along the way.
Minutes later, the shuttle carrying the Chief left the Ackbar's hangar bay and headed down for Hapes. Not much longer, it parked on top of the recently-rebuilt Royal Palace before cycling its engines off.
The landing ramp opened up, allowing A'Kla and her guards to disembark from the shuttle to be met by Tenel Ka and her own entourage of guards personally.
"Your Majesty," A'Kla nodded respectfully.
"Chief of State," Tenel Ka returned with equal respect. "Shall we head down to the throne room to begin this discussion?"
Before A'Kla could return the formality to answer with a definite "yes," she suddenly looked off to the side with grave concern. Barely a second later, one of the Queen Mother's guards fired her blaster straight into the Caamasi's chest.
Just as A'Kla collapsed back to the ground, Tenel Ka had already unhooked, activated, and chopped off the arm of the treacherous guard in one swift second before the Alliance guards could even react to what was going on.
A'Kla's murderer stumbled back in pain from the burning dismemberment and tripped over the ledge of the roof behind her. She screamed as she fell to her death below.
A'Kla's guards knelt near the body of their leader and looked back up with justified shock and betrayal in their eyes. "You did this!" one of them accused, pointing directly at Tenel Ka, who still had her activated lightsaber in hand.
As one, both Alliance guards brandished their lightsabers and attempted to fire. But they were instantly gunned down by in a split second by Tenel Ka's remaining guard.
"Why did you not set your blaster to stun?" Tenel Ka asked.
"There was no time, My Queen," the guard responded. "I apologize."
"You will be reprimanded later," Tenel Ka stated. "For now, the Alliance must be informed of the assassination and the circumstances behind it. War must be averted between our governments."
Before the guard could acknowledge the Queen Mother's words, they instantly looked up to the sky in response to the flash of orange-yellow light encompassing them. There, they saw Battle Dragons firing and destroying the Alliance Star Destroyers there.
"I did not order that!" Tenel Ka exclaimed to the guard. Hurriedly deactivating and hooking her lightsaber back to her belt, she took out and activated her commlink. "Captain Hegran, what do you think you are doing?!"
"The Galactic Alliance must die, Your Majesty!" Hegran exclaimed from the other end. "We can crush them and take all of their territory! We can rule this galaxy, as Hapes has always had the right to do!"
"You are disobeying my authority, Captain!" Tenel Ka nearly shouted. "Stand down, and I promise that you will not be executed for this war crime!"
"You think this is a war crime now, Your Majesty!" Hegran proclaimed. "But when all the war vessels of the Galactic Alliance hang burning over Coruscant, ripe for Hapes to claim, you will see that your rule will be greater over the rest of the galaxy, beyond the Transitory Mists!" The sound of a blaster then went off.
"Captain?" Tenel Ka asked. "Hegran?"
"This is Commander Gebbam, Your Highness," another feminine voice responded over the comm. "Captain Hegran has just committed suicide. I am taking formal control of the fleet right now."
"Very well," Tenel Ka replied. "Call off the attack against the Alliance fleet right now, Commander. War cannot be furthered between our governments."
"It is too late, Your Majesty," Gebbam stated. "The entire Alliance fleet in the system has already been destroyed."
Tenel Ka ground her teeth before staring hopelessly off into space. "Then war cannot be stopped."
.
In the middle of an empty system, Grand Master Jaden Korr, the last of Luke Skywalker's Jedi Order, sighed as he read the news on his datapad in the cockpit of the Hapan shuttle he named Recovery. The death of Galactic Alliance Chief of State Releqy A'Kla and the defeat of the Alliance fleet in the Hapes system had been reported by a message sent out by a crew member aboard one of the fleet's vessels prior to their destruction. So, for the third time since Wynn Dorvan had been voted out of office, another election was being held for the position of Chief of State.
The top contenders to be nominated this time were Senator Luet Wuul of Sullust, Senator Triebakk of Kashyyyk, and Senator Fyor Rodan of Commenor, who came out of retirement since Gerila Shesh was voted out. And with the Alliance public crying out for war against the Consortium, it seemed that the vote of no confidence against Shesh was all for naught, as Rodan may very well replace A'Kla considering that he was the most militaristic between himself, Wuul, and Triebakk.
Turning his datapad off and hooking it back to his belt, Jaden began programming the coordinates for his next jump into hyperspace. Before he could do so, however, the familiar red-painted form of the Star Destroyer Errant Venture appeared before him, dropping out of where he was just about to head through.
Immediately, the Recovery lurched, and then began heading toward the Venture of its own volition.
Tractor beam, Jaden thought ruefully. He then began setting up a transmission to speak to the Venture. Once he heard an activation beep, he asked, "Am I speaking to Captain Terrik?"
"This is Captain Horn," the voice of Mirax Terrik Horn came back. Jaden noted that she sounded like she was on the verge of shouting at him. "You have my complete attention, Grand Master Korr." From the way she said "Grand Master," it was almost as if it were a curse.
Jaden raised a brow. "What happened to your father, Captain?"
"He died of a heart attack after hearing that his grandchildren died, Korr," Mirax replied, her tone rising in hostility. "Which is why I'm reeling you in, just so you know."
Oh, I can see where this is going, Jaden thought. He could easily take an escape pod to make a run from the Recovery, but that wouldn't do; the Venture would just capture that, too, and in the middle of an empty system, there was nowhere that a hyperdrive-less escape pod could take him anywhere anyway. "If you want to kill me for what happened to your children and your father, Captain-"
"Oh, I have no intention of killing you, Korr," Mirax interrupted, allowing the scorn to come through this time. "I reserve that fate to the bastard who actually murdered my children. You, I'll just torture for leading Valin and Jysella to their deaths."
"You're not the only to have lost loved ones against Darth Plagueis, Horn," Jaden argued. "And torturing me won't bring your children back."
"No, but it'll certainly make me feel better," Mirax replied just as the Recovery was forcefully docked and parked in the Venture's hangar bay. She then cut off the line.
And by then, Jaden lost his connection to the Force.
Ysalamari, no doubt, Jaden figured. At least Horn knows who she's dealing with.