Chapter 1

In the dead of space, approaching the planet Borderion flew a large crusier flying at sublight speed. The sublight engines roared as the Alliance cruiser began its approach on the looming green planet. The Expansionist Region planet was bearing the unknowing future of the Galactic Alliance government.

"This is Galactic Alliance cruiser Belkadan requesting permission to land."

The voice replied quickly to the official government cruiser. "Belkadan, this is Bor City Central Command. Requesting the nature of your trip?"

The Alliance naval officer on the cruiser end of the comm was flabbergasted. He had been under the impression that the proper authorities had been informed of their arrival. "I am sorry Bor City, I don't think I am at liberty to divulge our business here. May we please enter the atmosphere?"

"I am sorry, Belkadan," the scratchy voice from Bor City replied, "standard planet procedure. All vessels entering Borderion must divulge their accompaniment and intent on our planet."

The naval officer scrunched his nose in annoyance. Other people were supposed to deal with this, not him. "I understand Bor City, but I am afraid I am not authorized to give you that information."

Bor City responded with the same frustration in his voice, "Then get me someone who is."

The officer sighed and said into the comm system, "Standby."

The officer stood up and climbed the small set of steps that led to the main section of the bridge. He reluctantly adopted a formal military stance and saluted the commander of the ship. "Captain Neall, the city is requesting to know the nature of our visit on the people on board."

The old captain raised a gray eyebrow. A member of the Alliance Navy for twenty three standard years, the captain had little patience for…well, most things.

"And why do they need to know that?" Neall asked roughly.

The officer wiped off a bit of spit that Neall had accidently launched towards him, "Well, sir, they say it is standard policy. Intended to ward off smugglers, if I were to guess."

"Karking bureaucrats, what do you need me for?"

"Er, sir, I don't have permission to tell them the nature of our arrival."

Neall moved his hand to his mustache and then to his chest. He ripped off one of the medals he wore under his commander's jacket and threw it at the officer's head. It nestled in the officer's hair as if it belonged there for a moment, and then dropped to hit him on the bridge of his nose. "There, you have permission."

The officer rubbed the red spot that had formed where the medal hit his forehead. "The truth, sir?"

The officer was already heading back to the comm station when Neall began to look for another medal to throw at him.

"Bor City? This is Alliance Cruiser Belkadan reporting accompaniment and purpose."

"Belkadan, this is Bor City. We are receiving."

"Belkadan is currently sporting a crew of seven hundred and twenty five men, as well as thirty two passengers unarmed."

"Can you identify the passengers?"

"Transmitting now."

After a long pause, Bor City gasped and responded, "You're carrying the entire GA Advisory Council?"

Knowing there was no point in denying the truth now that the city had a list of the passengers, the officer wearily confirmed the query.

"Right, then. Is your ship currently armed?"

The officer glanced towards the commander again before responding, "Alliance ships are always armed."

"We are going to have to ask you to shut down your weapons system."

"Excuse, me but that is unacceptable."

"I'm sorry sir, its standard—"

"Policy, right. Standby again." The officer looked up to Neall and decided against asking for permission to disarm. Instead, the officer leaned to his right to a fellow, younger officer and said, "Order just came to disarm the weapons systems."

"Yes, sir. Shall I inform the captain?"

"Yes, please do. After you've shut down the weapons systems."

The officer turned back to his station. "Bor City, we have disarmed the weapons systems."

In the corner of his eye, the Alliance officer could see the younger office being subjected to one of Captain Neall's galaxy-famous one-sided screaming matches.

"Understood Belkadan. Lastly, you intent in Bor City?"

The officer bit his lip and then resolved to expound upon their purpose. The whole galaxy would know in a matter of standard hours, anyway. "We've come for Senator Hirim Tam. He's just been appointed as the Alliance's newest Chief of State. So may we dock?"

The Bor City official didn't bother restrained his gasp. "Are you headed for our city now?"

"Yes, the governmental district."

"Docking Bay 121, Jan Spaceport. And please extend our sincerest congratulations to the Senator—excuse me, Chief of State Tam."

"Thank you, Bor City, I will make sure to do that." Although the officer spoke in his normal voice, he rolled his eyes while severing the connection with the city. "Captain, we're clear for landing."

"Good," Captain Neall spat, "take us into the atmosphere."

Neall brought the comlink around his wrist up to his mouth, "Senators? We will be touching down on the surface in approximately one half hour."

The message was received in the rear of the cruiser, in a lounge specifically created for ambassadorial relations. In this lounge sat six life forms. One of these life forms, an elderly Caamasi tapped the comm station that Neall's report had just come though in response. He then closed the transmission and waved to one of his fellow senators, "Please, send for my nurse."

"Is there something wrong, Senator A'datac?" asked a human Senator from New Alderaan.

"The trip has been longer than I had expected, Senator Antilles." responded A'datac. "I am afraid this old heart isn't one for long voyages these days."

"Of course, Senator." Antilles said, loyal to wise old Caamasi. Antilles stood up and promptly exited the room.

A'datac rested his head against the white pillows that lined the couches of the room. His couch was one of four, all put together to form a square in the center of the room. Farther towards the wall, were several armchairs, occupied by four Senators. One of these senators, a female human with fair hair and even fairer skin, leaned over her white armchair to an aide. She whispered smothering in his ear and the aide promptly exited the room.

"I've sent for Senator Farr." announced the female senator.

"Where has he been?" asked another human female, this one with dark hair and a regal splendor about her.

"In his quarters, Athos." The fair haired senator said her colleague;s name through gritted teeth. The fair haired one, Surrentria Kaal of Fondor, had little love for her Courscanti counterpart, Senator Athos.

"Ugh, I still do not know what a thing like him is doing in the Advisory Council." groaned Athos, twirling a small credit chip between her fingers.

Feigning ignorance, Kaal asked in her nicest voice, "Why, Senator, whatever do you mean?"

In what Kaal perceived as the most pretentious Coruscanti accent, Athos responded "Oh, cut it, Kaal. You know just as well as I do that a member of his species has no business being here."

Kaal was about to answer when the doors reopened to show the very man they were talking about. Standing at two meters tall, the senator from Rodia had purplish skin and a slopping forehead that created a show over dark sacks under his small eyes. His eyes stood up like bats and his black hair, longer than most of his species, cascaded past his shoulders and down to the center of his back. An almost abnormality for his species, Farr's face was mostly unmarred, the only detectable mark being his crooked nose. He wore long, deep red robes that, although perhaps partially meant to convey his position, covered the scars that lined most of his body.

"Are we here?" asked the Yuuzhan Vong male, the Yuuzhan Vong accent in him was diminished greatly by a Core World affection.

"Yes," said Kaal with a genuinely kind voice, "Captain Neall just sent us the message. We will be arriving on the surface in about a half hour."

Farr looked like he was about to speak once more when the entire ship shuttered and a large groaning sound came from somewhere below. All the senators were rocked roughly. Those not already sitting down, fell to the floor. Farr was the only one who didn't fall, his body attuned to all types of discomfort, ranging from mild disturbances to the white-hot, searing pain.

Farr's eye sacks bulged in momentary confusion and then he briskly walked to the couches in the center of the room. Leaning over A'datac, who seemed to be nursing a small quiver in his hands, Farr pressed down on the comm station and asked, "Captain Neall? This is Senator Farr. What just happened?"

Back on the bridge, Captain Neall had just finished barking (not to mention spitting) orders to his subordinates.

"Senators, we are under attack!"

Farr responded calmly, "Who is attacking us?"

Neall leaned over to the men other men on the deck below him, "Strad! Do we have identification on the attackers?"

The officer named Strad wiped the captain's spit off of his face and replied, "Captain, we are being assaulted by a twelve Lamed-class starfighters; a full squadron, sir."

A second wave of destruction hit the ship. Neall clutched the railing next to him as the ship groaned.

"Kriff!" Neall spat.

"Do you have any starfighters in the hold?" said Farr across the comlink again.

"Senator, this is a cruiser meant for diplomacy. The only weapons we have are the ones that the ship provides."

"I understand. Then why are these weapons not being used against the hostiles?" Farr asked.

"We're trying." Neall said. He turned again to his crew and, as any officer would, relayed the question to those who he could torment, "Why are our weapons not being used against the hostiles."

"Sir," the officer that had been talking with the city stood up from his station "we've disabled our weapons systems."

"What?!" Neall face turned a deep red color. "Why the kriff did we do that?"

Another shutter ripped through the cruiser. This one was significantly stronger than the first and the scorching of the hull could be heard above their heads. "Erm, Bor City asked us to."

"And you complied?" Neall said, entering into a dangerous rage. His nostrils began to flare and his face changed from red to an unsightly purple color.

"Yes, sir, you told me to." Weakly holding up the medal that had been thrown at his head, he stammered, "Remember? You, um, you gave me that authority to—"

Neall's look of rage was enough to shut the officer up. Neall turned off the comlink with Kaal and pocketed the device. He stepped down to the deck the officers were operating the ship on. Neall clenched his fists behind his back and leaned in close to the officer's face. Neall moved until his mustache brushed the officer's nose and then in a whisper said, "How long will it take to restart the weapons system?"

"Er, ten minutes, sir?"

"Make it five." Neall pushed the officer aside, and took control of the officer's station.

"Bor City, this is Captain Rik Neall of the Belkadan. We have fallen under attack by unknown instigators!"

"We are very sorry to hear that, Belkadan."

A larger yet explosion detonated above the ship. The shields over the hull waved momentarily before restoring themselves again. The hull of the ship had already suffered several direct hits and the ship was wining under the damage.

"Sorry?! We're under attack in your system and all you stoopa sleemos have to say is you're karking sorry to hear it?!" exclaimed Neall.

"Would you rather us not be sorry to hear it?"

"You better get a squad of fighters up here and fast!"

"I am sorry, but we cannot mobilize a squadron that fast."

If it were possible for Neall face to grow a deeper color of purple, it did. "Then get me someone who CAN." The last word left the station wet with his spit.

"Understood. Transferring you now."

Neall looked around at his surrounding officers, as if expecting them to give him all the answers. None of them any response, however one officer on the far side of the bridge gave a small shrug and nod back at Neall. Neall back a mental note to have the officer demoted later. The captain turned back to the station and asked, "Transferring? Transferring to whom-?"

A new, younger voice came through, "This is Jedi Reej Grottl."

Surprised, and also slightly exasperated, Neall responded, "Good to see you Jedi, this is Captain Neall of Galactic Alliance Navy; we could use some help up here. We-" the ship rocked sharply to the left, and Neall was thrown onto the floor. Neall hauled himself up and could nearly swear he heard snickering coming from the Jedi. "We are being attacked by an unknown fighter squadron and our weapons systems are offline. We need assistance."

"Can you offer us a reason why?" asked Grottl.

Neall grasped the station as another attack came. The pauses between the attacks were getting shorter. "What do you mean a reason?"

"Can you offer us…payment for our services?"

"Payment?!" Because Neall's face could not humanly turn another color, his eyes simply flared with rage. "Jedi Grottl, as a captain of the Galactic Alliance Navy, I order you to assist us against these hostiles."

"The Jedi are allies of the Galactic Alliance, not subservient to it."

"But—!" The captain could no longer choke out an argument through his strained neck. We'll pay you whatever you want, just get up here."

Grottl let out a satisfied snort and said, "We will be up within three minutes. I advise you give try diverting all non-essential power to the shields."

Although he wanted to say that it was his ship, and he would do as he liked, Neall settled for saying, "I will," he added through gritted teeth, "thank you."

Neall severed communications. He turned to the officers standing around listening and barked, "You heard the Jedi! Divert all power to shields!"

"Yes, sir." rang a chorus of voices.

Neall ran over to the officer he had thrown a medal. "Have you brought our weapons online yet?"

The officer was in the process of walking back to the station Neall had taken over. "Three of the ventral turbolasers and one of the dorsal turbolasers are online."

The cruiser shook under the pressure of another attack. Neall looked out the viewport and could not see the distinctive blue color turbolasers of the modern GA firing.

"Then why aren't they firing?" Neall said, spitting over the back of the officers head.

"Sir, our targeting system isn't online yet."

"Why not?"

"I-I don't—" the officer stammered, "that's just how our weapons systems work, I can't—"

Neall shut the officer up with the backside of his hand. He wiped his hand down his face and said through his hand, "What about the manual turrets?"

"We've sent men down to them, but it will take a couple minutes to get them on as well."

"Captain Neall?" the voice of Reej Grottl came through the comm station. "We are about to engage the enemy."

Neall felt a small weight being lifted off of his shoulders, only to be brought down again by a loud crashing noise right above his head. "Get on it, Jedi!"

Through the bridge viewport, the officers of the Belkadan could see three of the green and white lined Zayin-class starfighter most common to the Jedi. The three fighters were shaped like the hilt of lightsaber, as the Jedi were fond of remarking, with two pairs of wings extending out from the ship and then turned ninety degrees to face forward of the craft. One of pairs of the wings was down by the nose of the ship and the other pair at the very tip of the other end of the starfighter. The Jedi split up and started to pick off the attackers. Neall was amazed by the maneuvering of the Jedi. They seemed to be able to avoid the enemy's attacks before they made them.

And just as soon as it began, the enemy fighters disappeared and Grottl's voice came over the comm saying, "We've defeated your attackers."

Neall said some of the words he most dreaded saying. "Thank you, Jedi."

"We will escort you down to the planet."

"Yes. Thank you. Did you get a positive identification on the attackers?"

"No, Captain. However, judging from their outdated and obviously worn stafighters, I'd venture to guess that they were pirates." Grottl let out another snort, "One of them was even using a Predator II -class."

"Pirates? That would attack a fully equipped Alliance cruiser over a populated Expansion Region world?" asked Neall doubtfully.

"You guess is as good as mine, Captain."

"Fine." Neall switched off the comm. He hated working with Jedi. They put themselves above everyone else, knowing that no one could say otherwise of else. The navy books said that the Jedi were once different, selfless and helpful. But Neall had never seen it in his lifetime, and never expected to.

"Set course for the surface."

"Senator Hirim Tam, on behalf of Coruscant, the Advisory Council, the Senate, and the citizens of the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, we appoint you to the position of Chief of State of the Galactic Alliance."

Across the galaxy, the Holonet feed of the new Chief of State was being screened. After the major upheaval caused by the previous chief's assassination, Hydan Trell, many were uplifted, or at least satiated, by the newest appointment.

Coming off a long speech about the importance of the cooperation and stability within the Senate and the military, Tam finally reached the end of the speech someone else had written. "And finally, citizens of the Galactic Alliance, I assure you that with my appointment, I will continue the age of peace and prosperity for the galaxy. And to my constituents, I thank you for your aid in this appointment. I will not let you down."

Within the government building of Borderion, those privileged enough to have been in attendance clapped a thunderous applause. Tam gave a modest bow to those seated below him and he exited into another part of the building through a side door.

Walking down a series of winding hallways, Tam took out a handkerchief from his breast pocket and wiped a few droplets of sweat off of his forehead. His large figure was enraptured in regal clothing that, while expensive, was entirely too hot for the Borderion summer. Followed closely behind by the members of the Advisory Council and several armed guards from the Belkadan, Tam walked with something akin to glee down the hallways.

"Senator Athos," the dark-haired senator walked briskly up to Tam's side, "are we prepared to depart for Coruscant?"

"Presently. I assume most of your possessions are in your apartment on Coruscant?"

"Yes, my wife will be able to bring anything left in my home here."

"Good. Captain Neall," The captain, who was farther down the hall, leading the Chief's entourage, turned to Athos, "we will be departing shortly. Is the ship ready?"

"Yes, Senator."

"And have the weapons been resorted?"

"To full capacity, Senator."

"Good."

Neall turned back around and continued walking. Under his breath, but still loud enough for those close by to hear, Neall muttered, "Who was the idiot who implemented those outrageous demands in Central Command?"

"I believe that idiot was me." interjected the newest Chief of State.

Neall ears went red and he began to babble apologies to Tam when from behind Tam's entourage a loud voice came, "Chief of State Tam, congratulations on your appointment."

The men behind Tam moved to the sides of the wall and allowed the owner of the voice to pass through.

"Ah, the son of Scorpio Grottl, right?' said Tam.

"Reej Grottl, yes." said Grottl. He had brown hair, with bangs falling down to his eyebrows and the hair on his back tied into a braid, and his chin moved to form a point below his outrageously prominent cheekbones. The Jedi, flanked by two Quarren Jedi, moved forward to shake the Chief's hand. After they broke the handshake, the Jedi moved both hands to behind his back and asked, "Now, about our payment—"

Tam stopped dead in his tracks. "I'm sorry, payment?"

"Yes, for services rendered to the Belkadan. Did Captain Neall not inform you?"

Tam turned bewildered to Neall. "Captain?"

Neall bowed his head, not wanting to make eye contact with the Chief, and even more so the Jedi. "We came under attack above the planet. The Jedi aided us."

Tam scrunched his nose and turned to the Jedi. "You will get your credits. I'll have it transferred to your account when we get to Coruscant."

"And how do we know you will keep that promise?"

Tam looked at the Jedi for a long moment. He looked a lot like his father, Scorpio, with whom Tam had a rather nasty run in with several years earlier. Tam held no love for any Grottls, or indeed any Jedi. "Fine. Captain Neall?"

"Right. You," Neall turned to one of his officers, coincidently the same officer he had thrown a medal at above the planet, and pointed to him, "get these Jedi their credits."

The officer nodded and escorted the three Jedi away in the opposite direction of Tam's entourage.

"And, Jedi Grottl?" Tam added.

"Yes, Chief Tam?"

"Tell your father, Scorpio that I haven't forgotten about Cato Neimoidia," Tam said darkly, warning the brash Jedi, "nor have I forgotten your father's debt to me."

Reej shot the Chief a glance that might have been perceived as threatening, had Reej not quickly downplayed it with a cool smile. "I will be sure to inform him."

Athos scoffed as they continued their journey down the halls, "Jedi."

"My father told me tales of the Jedi of old. Said they were heroes, but now…" Tam paused and pursed his lips. "These are not the same Jedi as they once were."