Disclaimer: I never have, and never will own Star Wars.
An alarm went off in the cockpit of the Republic cruiser; the sensors had picked up a ship coming into the system. Mace went to the console.
"It's the cruiser you're waiting for," he said to Inhered.
"Right, I'll get ready to go. It might not stay long; ships have been arriving and leaving since I got here. I don't want to miss it." He spoke in a cheery way- he was looking forward to this mission. Despite the fact that it was very short notice and he had not had long to prepare, it was more exciting than trade agreements.
He walked the corridors to the hanger as fast as he could without making it look like he was too excited, because that wasn't very Jedi. His ship had been ready for several hours now, so he only had the pre-flight checks to do. This didn't take long for a trained Jedi pilot and he was soon on his way. Getting out was a lot easier than getting into the cramped hanger.
As soon as he was clear of the asteroids he switched on the heads-up-display and got a long range sensor lock on the cruiser. The fighter's sensors had been modified by Jedi engineers so as not to set off any alarms on ships they were scanning- most large ships had scan alert systems and the Jedi liked to be discrete.
As he approached the cruiser at a 'casual' speed, he watched as a supply ship entered the main bay of the huge ship. He knew he hadn't long before it would be refueled and ready to jump again, so he sped up. As soon as he was within weapons range of the cruiser a red warning light flashed. They had a weapons lock on his ship. Not more than a second later the blue comm light flashed. He had known that he would not have to contact them because the Federation was paranoid enough to do that for him. He grinned and pushed the blue light.
"Who are you, and why are you flying towards our ship?" a slimy voice filtered through the speaker. "We don't pick up hitchhikers!"
"Deactivate your weapons and lower your shields," Inhered started. "This is Inhered Arios of the Jedi and Ambassador to the Chancellor, and I am coming aboard." He knew not to give away to much information in case they decided to run. He was too far from his hyperdrive ring to follow.
"We are so sorry; how could we deny an ambassador?" said the slimy voice of the Neimoidian. "You may land immediately."
The red alarm light went out and he made his way in. As he got closer he was contacted by a technician on the cruiser and was told to land, not in the main hanger, but in Hanger Twenty Four. It was odd for them to send an ambassador to a minor hanger, but he sensed nothing. There must have been a good reason for it.
When he entered the hanger there was a group of Neimoidians standing together discussing something. He landed and got out his small ship. As he did so, the group of Neimoidians slowly made their way over to great him.
"Greetings, Jedi," said the first one, "The captain sends his apologies that he can't be here to greet you himself as he has other thing to attend to. He is a very busy man."
Inhered was laughing inside his head. How could anyone call a Neimoidian a 'man'?
"I understand that he has many things to do, he has a hard job, and I thank you for the warm welcome," he replied in a slightly sarcastic tone, which the aliens didn't pick up on. "If only it were under better circumstances. I am here to enquire about your recent visit to Coruscant."
"You will need to take that up with the captain."
"That is fine with me. Where will I find him?"
"He is busy, I can send you to a conference room to wait."
"Will he be long?"
"Shouldn't be."
"Fine then, I will wait."
A droid took him down a few long corridors to the aforementioned room. There was a large transparasteel window at the end of the room and Inhered stood at it and looked out. He waited for about twenty standard minuets and was about to go and find someone when the door opened.
"Sorry for keeping you."
"That's ok. I want to ask you about your recent visit to Coruscant. What was your reason for it?"
The Neimoidian started to sweat a bit- well, a bit more than normal. Neimoidians were always moist.
"Umm… we were there on business… for the Viceroy…umm…" He trailed off and Inhered picked up the thread.
"What business?" asked Inhered. "Did you know it was illegal to enter the orbit of Coruscant unscheduled?"
"Umm… yes but, umm… it was, umm… important, yes important." The Neimoidian was getting quite nervous now. How would he deliver the crate to the Viceroy if he got arrested for a small crime like this?
"What is it that is so important that you have to break the law?" Inhered continued, taking note of the increasing nervousness of the Neimoidian. He was hiding something and Inhered wasn't going to leave before he unveiled the truth.
"I, umm… can't tell you. It's, umm… classified."
"Well then, you will have to take me to the Viceroy. Is he on the planet?"
"No, we are just here to refuel. He is on Bestine."
"Then I will come with you to Bestine, just after I contact the Jedi Council."
"I'm not sure if we… well actually, yes ok."
When they finished the exchange of words, Inhered went back to the hanger and to his ship, where he opened a comm channel to Mace's ship. He informed him of how the mission was going and that the Federation was obviously hiding something, as always. Mace approved his next move and they closed the channel.
A/N – Wow that's the most I've ever written, lol. Hope you all are enjoying it, keep checking for updates, chapter 7 should be on its way soon.
Oh and one more thing… please review