Chapter 8

Padmé found herself staring at her Imperial counterpart across a conference table large enough that you could almost play Limmie on it, a sport that had become insanely popular on Weitun lately, with fans that included the former Senator from Naboo and her family.

The Imperial Ambassador was not what the Diplomatic Service seemed to consist of nowadays. She hadn't heard the name Kaylak in that regard before, but given that she had been out of the loop for years now and that the Empire had cleaned house there even more than most of the Senate Bureaucracy, she wasn't surprised. Judging by his age, he'd probably one of the up and coming youngish officials that had hitched their flag to the Empire when it had become clear that there was not going to be a serious attempt to unseat the then-freshly self-declared Emperor. She couldn't fault him for that since she probably would have acted the same had she been in his position. Once more a pang of pain ran through her as her thoughts drifted to her family. It had to have been strong enough for Anakin to feel it. He was sitting next to her and quickly squeezed her lower arm with his fleshhand, taking care to stay under the table. Thankful for this gesture of support, she looked at him and nodded for a second.

As small as the exchange had been, it probably hadn't escaped Kaylak. The man was a consummate professional. When they had first exchanged words across the table, she'd half expected to hear the sort of stock rhetoric that most Imperial officials used in any sort of conversation that was connected to the Republic. They had all decided to let the small things slide, so when they had been referred to as the "Alliance Delegation" nothing had happened. The term was a misnomer, as formally there was no alliance and the groups aligned with the Republic were part of the military command structure, but the term had been making the rounds among the population of the settled parts of the Galaxy. All in all, it was probably as far as Kaylak could go without openly recognizing the Republic's legitimacy.

Right at this moment it wasn't the thing they were discussing anyway. The Chiss were at least attempting to play by the rules of the Galactic Core, but something in her made her want to get to the point. They had spent the last four hours since convening in her for the first time earlier this morning doing nothing but trying to convince that both of their groups had a legitimate interest in reaching an agreement with the Ascendancy and that they were sincere in their offers. No details on either had been stated yet, but she had the distinct impression that the Empire was going to ask them a whole lot more than the 'leave us alone and we leave you alone' that was a simplified version of what she was going to offer them. Unless someone discovered a way to break space-time, there was no way that the Republic would ever be able to match the Empire on even terms in anything but the extremely long-term. Part of her saw this as nothing more than a challenge to overcome, yet another part was all too aware that how she overcame this would make or break this mission. Luckily she had the best negotiator the Republic had to offer by her side.

Silence reigned in the room. When the two Chiss functionaries, probably mid-level officials in whatever passed for their diplomatic service, had left the two delegations alone with the exceptions of six stone-faced guards that were obviously there to keep the two groups of outsiders from bringing their war to this station. None of the humans in the room had spoken a single word to each other, on her side at least in part because they had nothing to say to their mortal enemies and in part because the events of the war had already created enough bad blood between the two sides that simple and mundane small-talk was not a possibility. Instead they were content to stare each other down, to say that the situation was awkward was akin to saying that

This persisted until the Chiss representatives returned. They stated that the members of the Government that were tasked with conducting the negotiations would be arriving shortly, but that there would be a slight delay due to unforeseen complications. The didn't go into any more detail than that, but this could conceivably have been anything, and by the way they said this, ît didn't look like there was anything more than that to it.

When she voiced her agreement to waiting some more, her daughter decided that she was hungry. The growl of her stomach was just loud enough for Anakin and Obi Wan to hear, making both of them smile. She never found out if they had heard it or not, but at this moment, the two Chiss officials also announced that they had ordered some refreshments to be brought up while they waited, so minutes later, Padmé was gorging herself on what were little more than basic Chiss staple foods that were compatible with full-human physiology and that had been fancied up for the occasion. Luckily water was the one constant of humanoid life in the galaxy.

It was nothing special, but it appeared that the little one was satisfied for the moment, which was a good thing, because at that moment the door opened and a pair of Chiss walked in. They both cut a fare more impressive figure than the other officials she'd seen so far, wearing what she now knew to be the uniform of the Chiss military. She wasn't sure in how far certain things applied to the Chiss, but there was enough of a resemblance there to tell her that those two had to be fairly closely related. As was wont for at least those Chiss that she'd met so far, they were both of the tall and handsome type, but their skin was of a slightly different shade than the two officials that she'd dealt with so far and that seemed to have disappeared at some point.

Both delegations quickly seated themselves again and then, finally, it began.

The woman spoke first, while the man sat down at the head of the table. "My core-name is Vereen, and this is Inasan. We are here to represent the Chiss Ascendancy towards both your interests. Now, we recognize that both your... groups are at war with another, but there will not by any fighting until you have left our territory, which is extensive. Our fleet will guarantee that." She paused and looked at each of the present humans in turn. "Against anyone. And no matter what we have concluded here." The emphasis was obvious. "I hope you understand that."

Once more she looked all of them in the eyes.

"Of course." Padmé said, likely beating her Imperial counterpart to the punch by mere seconds. "The Galactic Republic follows the rules of Diplomacy."

It was what she had left unsaid, and Kaylak smiled and nodded, not taking the jab personal.

"So does the Galactic Empire. We will of course abide by this as the Ascendancy requests."

"Good." Vereen said with a not and sat down next to Inasan. "We know who all of you are, so there will be no need for introductions. We also know that all of you are interested in reaching some sort of agreement with us. We will meet separately with both your delegations at the same time and you will present us with your requests. After that, we will consider them and give you our first, initial response."

She paused again and showed emotion for the first time since entering the room. "After all, we are merely servants of our Governent and do not have the power to decide something that could influence the future of the Ascendancy in such a way."

The man spoke for the first time. "We wanted to meet with both your groups because we wanted you to know this: Whatever we decide, the Ascendancy intends to fully remain neutral in your conflict. Legitimacy or lack of same is not the matter at hand and will not have any influence on what we decide. We will merely recommend what is best four the Ascendancy, our planet and our people. Nothing else matters to us."

Something about the way he had said that made Padmé sit up and take notice. She made a mental note to ask the either of the Jedi if they'd felt something, but that would have to wait. Was it the intonation of the words that had not been quite right or was it the strange way in which they had glanced at each other for a fraction of a second before the man had spoken? She didn't know, but resolved to remain on her toes for more things like that, not knowing how much that would come to aid them in the near future.

"Now, to more administrative matters. Both your groups will have free reign on this station, with the exceptions of the control centre, the main power plant, sensor and weapons systems and lastly the sections where each other's quarters are located. There will be no exceptions except by invitation and moves of any sort towards the other delegation will mean an immediate expelling of your delegation from Chiss space."

He smiled next, which to Padmé looked positively odd for a species where she hadn't seen anyone really express emotions. The Chiss were near-human, so she was aware that they could show emotions on an intellectual level, but actually see them do so after endless hours of faces that would make the Clone-trainers on Weitun proud it was... well, odd and strange. What happened next, she would remember for the rest of her life. The two Chiss looked at one another and suddenly the Jedi in the room were as if someone had tried to electrocute them. Padmé was looking away, but she was attuned enough to her husband to tell by the way his hand subtly shifted in hers that he had sensed something powerful in the Force. Before she could do anything, the Chiss spoke again.

"But before we will receive your petitions there is something we wish to tell you about. There is the matter of the Outbound Flight and the survivors."

That had certainly thrown the thermal detonator among the herd.

Padmé was only aware of the project through Anakin's small part in it, but it had fascinated her, and she'd done her research on it with the same meticulous care she approached all her projects with. With all the time that had passed since then she'd always assumed that there had been no...

"Wait... survivors?"

She had spoken first of all the non-Chiss in the room, but she could see she'd beaten the Imperial Ambassador by maybe a second or two, closely followed by the Admiral.

The two Chiss looked at one another, clearly anticipating a long day.

"So what you are telling us is that you had no idea that the mission had transgressed into our territory?"

"We do."

Kaylak spoke up next before anyone of the Republic delegation had the chance to do so. Interrupting like this was proper, but he had to get his side in before the rebels could.

"While I don't doubt that Senator Amidala had no personal knowledge about the Outbound Flight," he said while managing to imply the exact opposite, "the point stands that the ship did knowingly violate your space, against strictest orders from the highest leadership. All in keeping with the traditions of the Senate."

Too much of the background behind that awful, awful mission was unknown and lost to the Republic delegation, so there wasn't much they could say. Except for one thing.

"For what it's worth, Master C'baoth was not representative of the Jedi Council, not then and certainly not now." Obi Wan interjected, knowing that it wouldn't help much, if at all. "The methods he used certainly were not either."

"At this time we are not here to pass judgement on the mission. As far as the Ascendancy is concerned, you are all at fault. What we wish to do instead is to resolve the matter once and for all."

Yes, there was that.

"The colony was discovered only by accident, and had our... border patrols not stumbled across it, the matter may have gone entirely unmentioned. Everyone else involved has been dealt with."

The finality with which she spoke made it obvious that the fate of those people had probably not been good.

"We considered the matter ended, but the colony's existence is a fact. One we wish to remove once and for all."

To Padmé this explained why the Chiss weren't all that fond of Force users and wished the Republic had a Diplomatic Corps that consisted of more than herself, Obi Wan and a few talented amateurs from among the population that still needed training and experience. She glanced at the two Jedi in the room, and both of them nodded. Time to take a leap.

"Any of the survivors who wish to join the Republic are welcome to do so, Force users or not."

She had chosen those words deliberately as they had boxed the Imps into a corner. If they accepted this statement, it gave her position some credibility and forced Kaylak to acknowledge the Republic as an actual thing, even if one that was in rebellion, and if he insisted that all the survivors be handed over to the Empire, it exposed the shadier side of Palpatine's rule and generally made the Ambassador do something that in her estimation was not something he liked.

Vereen nodded towards her. "Do you object?"

Kaylak shot her a sardonic grin and raised his hands in semi-defeat. "None."

Padmé on the other hand grinned and squeezed Anakin's hand under the table.

Score one for the Republic.

tbc

Especially the second half was insanely hard to write for some reason, to the point where I couldn't bring myself to try for weeks.