Chapter 6

'Looking back at how the Skywalker family and their Solo offshoot slash other half operate, it shouldn't surprise any of you that Anakin Skywalker would insist just as much on personally escorting his wife as she did on going there in the first place. Carrying as she was her third child, the worries expressed by her husband are even more understandable. At the same time her participation would turn out to be critical.

On the Imperial side, well, in the unlikely case any of you have paid attention during last month's lecture you should know the names involved.

Neither side could be aware that the events would have a massive impact on the galaxy decades later.'

Professor Tycho Deran, lecturing on Galactic History at the University of Alderaan, 163 AJE

"Do you still think it's cold in hyperspace?"

Anakin looked away from the viewport and down at his wife, nestled against him as she was, her head resting on his chest.

"Sitting here like this? No." he said. And it was true. Even then it hadn't really been about warmth, though he'd only understood that years and years later. That day on the Naboo cruiser racing away from the Force-forsaken sandpit that was Tatooine, it had been about being lonely and the unknown. The former he was no longer, and the latter he could and would face with his family and friends at his side. It still occasionally struck him as odd and amazing that he could openly be with his wife and children, even after all this time.

He shook the unusually philosophical thought aside and kissed the top of Padmé's head. "I love you, Angel."

"I know." she replied, placing a hand over where their child was kicking. "I didn't mean it like that though. I'm not a Force user, but it's obvious."

She nestled just that tiny bit tighter towards him. Companionable silence ensued as both Skywalkers watched the lights of hyperspace fly by.

Until a knock on the hatch of their cabin broke the moment. Anakin glanced at his chrono and saw that seven hours had passed since the last navigation check, so they had to be close to the point where they were to meet the Chiss. He reached out in the Force.

"You okay with Obi-Wan coming in?"

"Of course."

She sat up on the couch and re-arranged herself to be a bit more presentable than her current 'bed-hair' while Anakin got up to unlock the hatch. Obi-Wan never stepped inside, instead he just stuck his head through the hatch.

"We're about to drop out of hyperspace, and Captain Taraan requested your presence on the bridge."

The Alderaani held command of the ship and the two platoons of the Republic Army's finest until they were deployed somewhere, so it was best to do so now. Even though the fleet was minuscule compared to what it had been before the disbandment and what the Emperor could field, it nevertheless held it's traditions very dear. All too many of the sentients that crewed the ships had lost much, so held on tight to whatever was left. The Jedi could relate.

"We'll be right up."

Up on the bridge Taraan was stalking back and forth the port and starboard viewports. "General, Senator." he said and nodded respectfully.

As the ship dropped out of lightspeed it was greeted by... nothing at all. Not that this was unexpected, as this had been a part of the arrangements. Expecting a species as reclusive as the Chiss to be as open about diplomacy and meeting foreigners as most of the core species were, or at least had been before the Empire. But no one minded.

"So we wait." Anakin sighed and stepped over to where one of the sensor consoles was currently not occupied. The space surrounding them was as amazingly empty as it felt in the Force, but that didn't preclude some pre-positioned sensor pod from communicating the presence of a Republic ship back to it's Chiss masters. Arranging this meet had been difficult enough given that there was no direct communications channel, but eventually this approach had been agreed upon, though it hat been a pre-condition for any meeting put forward by the Chiss response to Padmé's initial message, and accepted by the Republic response to that. What had caused quite a stir was that the Chiss had also remarked on the presence of an Imperial delegation with the same goal, securing an agreement with the Ascendancy. That more than anything had made it imperative that the Republic's best diplomat was there in person.

And they waited for three hours. When the Chiss finally appeared it was by way of a cruiser-sized vessel and three frigates about the size of the Another Chance. As soon as they had dropped out of hyperspace the largest Chiss ship launched a shuttle. No direct communication was attempted until the shuttle was about to enter a range at which a turbolaser could hope to land a hit.

"They're using the Galactic Universal Ermergency Channel, Captain." the officer at the communications console reported, "They request permission to dock and deliver a liaison officer."

Taraan nodded to indicate his permission for the shuttle to dock.

Meanwhile Padmé rose from where she had been sitting on an empty seat next to the hatch for the last twenty minutes with a slight huff. "That's my call then."

She and Captain Taraan disappeared through the hatch, leaving Anakin and Obi-Wan behind. Both studied the Chiss ships through the forward viewports. They all had a certain look about them that would appeal to Kuat designers, but they had a certain way about them that appealed to the two Jedi, reminding them of times from before the war. Five years ago Obi-Wan would have reminded Anakin not to be worried, that his wife was perfectly safe, but his erstwhile Padawan was more worried about his own actions. He worried about not having put his foot down when Padmé had insisted on coming, but instead about his younger daughter, though Anakin wasn't yet aware of this part.

The older Jedi also knew that there was no other way but returning to Weitun to make him let go of his worries. What made this different from the last time Padmé had been pregnant was that Anakin didn't let these worries rule him. Even though he hated thinking about it Obi-Wan couldn't help but compare this much more grown up and, well, adult Anakin before him now to that dark, twisted future that his old Master had told him about. Qui-Gon had been spare about the details, but nothing could be further from the incarnation of evil Anakin would have been. No, instead he was a man who doted on his family like any normal father would but at the same time was enough of a Jedi to know that sometimes risks had to be taken and sacrifices to be made. It amazed him still that Anakin kept refusing a seat on the council, claiming that he didn't feel worthy of such a seat even though he was just that, much more so than he had been back when he had almost demanded it. As a compromise Obi-Wan had resolved to approach the council about Anakin being more fully recognized as a Jedi Master without the seat, something that was more than deserved.

"I don't sense any deception." Anakin said, pulling Obi-Wan back into the here and now. Anakin was probably referring to the Chiss envoy now on his way to the bridge. "Their envoy at least seems to be genuine in his intentions."

"We know little about the Chiss, so that's something at least."

The Captain stepped through the hatch first, followed by a tall figure in a dark blue and gold uniform, with a face that was handsome in spite of the blue skin and the piercing red eyes. He looked around the bridge as if the bridge crew, studiously focused on their task and displaying the picture of professionalism without being ordered to do so, wasn't what he had expected. Anakin chanced a quick glance at his wife as she stepped through the hatch, and Obi-Wan could almost hear the silent exchange.

"Captain Reen, these are Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, representing the Jedi Order on our mission."

The Chiss considered this before turning back to Padmé. "Who speaks for your people? The Jedi or the Republic?"

"The Jedi Orders serves the Republic, as we all do."

He seemed to accept that, and it seemed that Padmé, ever the diplomat, had already established herself as the leader of their group. Which was entirely accurate but probably not something anyone unfamiliar with the Old Republic or the new one. Force, even [I]inside[/I] the Republic there had been little, if any knowledge about the Jedi Order beyond rumours and tall tales.

"Very well. Be informed, the Imperial delegation is already in transit and will arrive about the same time we do. The Chiss Defence Forces will guarantee the peace between both your delegations, enforced in an equal measure against the both of you. We will not tolerate any violence."

"Understood." Padmé continued and nodded. She unconsciously placed a hand on her very much expanded mid-section, obviously thinking about the potential dangers to her children.

Taraan stepped aside and pointed out the navigation console. "Captain, if you would be so kind and set in the course?"

Reen stepped over to the rating sitting at the console and barked out a course. The young woman worriedly glanced at her own Captain who nodded. She typed the course into the computer and waited for further instructions.

"Once we reach the system, we will be met by a further escort force. If your ship is capable of landing on a planet, you will be escorted to a suitable landing pad, if not, the same will be provided for any shuttle you dispatch. You will not deviate from this course, you will not exceed the speed set for it and you will not attempt any HyperNet communications."

"Of course. How long will the transit take?" Taraan asked.

"About two days."

The various leaders of the Republic delegation exchanged a few looks before Padmé shrugged and nodded.

"Then allow me to send a message to our base to inform them that we have met up with you. They are expecting us."

Reen allowed himself a thin but still genuine smile. "Of course, Captain."

Obi-Wan knew that they had just passed the first test. He wasn't quite sure if it had been their acceptance of the terms without protest, the evident leadership by the good Senator-in-exile or anything inbetween, but it seemed that there was more to this Chiss Captain than met the eye. To him it seemed as if the man almost transformed in front of his eyes. Not that it went all that far, but he turned from an ice-planet into someone merely having a climate similar to Weitun's northern regions.

This was confirmed as the Another Chance took up her place in the middle of the Chiss formation and began her trip ever deeper into the unknown regions.

tbc

To anyone I haven't replied to:So, so sorry. RL hasn't been kind to my activities...