Lord Darth Yoda - I mean, as always, you nailed it. You (hopefully) still aren't going to see the twist coming, but you've got a thematic sense of what is coming down the pipeline.

Bodare2 - Yeah it's nice and peaceful (for now!). Sascha has spent a lot of time getting shot at and being bludgeoned in the first too books, its time to write a somewhat more peaceful story (for now...)

A/N - For those of you that don't know, Tiplee is a canon character (she appears in a couple of episodes of season 6 of The Clone Wars.) For those of you looking for a reference about how she looks - just google Tiplee and you'll find some pictures (I'd post a link, but they won't let me...grrr...)

Anyways. Shorter chapter tonight, but they all can't be 4,000 word thrillers (I mean, they could, I guess.)

Please enjoy the next chapter!

Chapter 17: Negotiations

If the Ubrorans had been trying to score points with the Jedi by offering them use of this house, Sascha Whitestar was more than happy to let them. Usually on his first night on a new world he slept restlessly, trying to get used to a new bed, new sounds and new stresses. He hadn't had that problem this time. The bed in his room had been so comfortable that it had been hard to drag himself out of it this morning. It sure beat his barely padded bedroll back in the Jedi Temple.

That had been one thing. Even better was the food that had been delivered to their doorstep in the morning for breakfast. Fresh fruits and grains had been delivered in a container that sealed their freshness, along with jugs of fruit juice that were kept at the perfect serving temperature until they were poured. It seemed that the Ubrorans had paid attention to what each had eaten at the banquet last night and created a profile for each of them, so that the food that they delivered this morning was configured to their particular palette. While he shouldn't have been influenced by any of this, after all he was supposed to be above such material desires, he found himself hoping that the negotiations would drag on for a couple weeks so that he could be doted on for a while longer. It was nice to be appreciated for once, instead of being shot at.

After their breakfast, the four Jedi came together and meditated, taking advantage of the warm sunlight filtering through the large bay window of their temporary home. This was such a nice world; he thought as he let his mind drift in meditation. He could detect very few instances of dark emotions, there was little fear, anger or malice on Ubrora. This was a place where a Jedi could be a peace, not having to keep his guard up every second, fearful that there could be someone lurking around the corner with evil intentions. It was almost a vacation.

Compounding the feeling that this was a vacation was being able to spend time with Nara. Though he was still ticked off that he had 'lost' to her in that simulated sparring session last night, Nara had been uncharacteristically gracious afterward. Usually Nara would try to rub her victories in his face – teasingly of course, but last night after they had gotten home, she had demonstrated to him the correct defence to technique that she had used to beat him last night.

While he knew that Aurine hadn't warmed up completely to their friendship, and it was because Nara was female and relatively attractive, he didn't really care. For one, while he thought Nara was reasonably cute he hadn't ever found himself actually attracted to her. He hoped he never would find her attractive, to be honest. He enjoyed their friendship, their banter and the fact that their friendship was just easy. Sometimes he thought it would have been easier if Nara was a guy. Or ugly. Either or.

After their meditation, Tiplee gathered the other Jedi together at the kitchen table, "I hope everyone enjoyed that meal that was delivered for us today, for it will be the last."

"Last?" he blurted, "Why! This was the best breakfast I've had outside of Master Alicka's blumfruit muffins." Master Alicka's blumfruit muffins were something of a legend around the Temple. Whenever the Jedi Master made her muffins, Jedi who enjoyed her creations lined up outside the kitchens to be the first to get them, fresh from the ovens. In line, it was common to find Jedi Masters lined up behind seven year old Initiates. The muffins were for all to be enjoyed, regardless of age and experience. Sascha didn't know if there was such a thing as 'Force Cooking' but if there was, Master Alicka was the undisputed master of the technique.

The Rishati evaluated him coolly, "We are supposed to be impartial negotiators, Padawan Whitestar, and we cannot be impartial if we continue to accept these gifts."

He tried to keep the disappointment out of his face but knew that his emotions permeated the Force as well. He understood why Tiplee was taking these actions, he just didn't want to bow to her logic.

His Master spoke up, "We'll send you and Nara to the market after today's negotiation to buy foodstuffs."

"How will we pay for anything? I'm not sure Republic credits will be accepted."

The two Jedi Knights shared a conspiratorial glance, "We've obtained some Ubroran currency, and in exchange, you two Padawans will wear a camera and broadcast for at least ten hours over the next week. I assured the advertisers that you'd give them a good show."

The two Padawans slumped in their seats and Sascha sighed deeply, "Nara, I've decided that we Padawans need a union so we don't get taken advantage of like this, do you want to join?"

Nara put a delicate purple finger on her chin, "Do I get to be the president?"

He sighed again, "Alright forget the whole thing. Union abolished."

"Are you done joking around, Padawans?" asked Tiplee.

Sascha straightened, rebuked, "Yes, Master Tiplee."

Tiplee smirked, showing that she was not offended by his frivolity, "Do you have a problem going to market and buying foodstuffs for us? One of us will accompany you two if you wish. However we thought that you would enjoy the freedom."

Nara answered, "I think Sascha and I were more concerned about wearing cameras for ten hours. Personally, I'm uneasy with the idea of being on display."

"I think its good training," said Tiplee. "When we are on other worlds we are never sure when we are being filmed for nefarious purposes or otherwise. Here we will at least always know that we are being watched."

"I think that makes sense, Master Tiplee," Sascha said. "But I think we are under the impression that you'd like us to put on a 'show' for the Ubrorans. I don't know what you want us to do? We could spar with each other I guess. But...the rest of what we do here will be tied to the negotiations and I don't think you'll want that recorded."

"I'm leaving you two to be creative with it," said Tiplee. The Rishati held up a hand, "I'm not expecting either of you to start broadcasting right away, but please do think of ideas for educational and entertaining programming."

The two Padawans shared a look and shrugged, "We'll talk about it when we have time," said Nara.

The Rishati nodded, "Very well. The status of the negotiations is this; even before we made planetfall, I sent off a proposed treaty to the Ubroran President, and judging by his speech last, I think it's gone over pretty well. Yet, because I just sent off something of a bland treaty, I'd expect that there will be lots of details to go over and lots of little points to haggle out. So Padawans, I want you to be silent in the meeting. If you feel that you have to make a comment, type it on your datapads and send it to Aurine. She will be filtering the information to me."

"It's just as exciting as it sounds," Aurine said dryly.

Tiplee gave her counterpart an arch look, "Do I have to rebuke you as well?"

Chastened, Aurine looked down and adjusted her belt, but said nothing.

Amused at her aura of authority, Tiplee looked bemused, "Am I really that scary?"

"I believe we are just trying to give you the appropriate amount of respect," said Nara.

Tiplee smiled and nodded, "Diplomatic answer, my apprentice. Moving on to more important matters, today, I expect we will receive a list of complaints and issues with the treaty that we sent them. Hopefully there won't be too many so we can move into the second stage of this mission, which is to confirm that everything is up to Republic standards."

Aurine spoke next, "The only other thing that has to be mentioned is that we told the Ubrorans that they cannot record or broadcast any part of these negotiations. I suspect that they were very unhappy about that, and I expect to hear about it from them. As for how this relates to you – I want you two to make sure that no one is sneaking in a look at our negotiations."

Sascha felt himself frowning, "And how are we supposed to detect this? The Ubrorans aren't at the forefront of technology, but their recording devices and cameras are pretty modern looking – that means they are quite small...we won't be able to see them"

"It's best if you used the Force to try to detect anyone trying to be subversive. I think that sort of emotion will stand out," said Tiplee. "If you have any suspicions, please direct them to Aurine."

Well, it wasn't much of an assignment, thought Sascha, but at least it was an assignment. "We'll be vigilant, Master Tiplee."

"Any other questions?" asked Tiplee asked the three other Jedi.

There were none.

The negotiations were being held at the Capital building, a tall, impressive looking structure that was one of the few buildings in the city of Bontha that was taller than a few stories. Because the Capital building was not that far away from their temporary home, Tiplee decided that they would walk to their meeting as a way of demonstrating that the Jedi were 'of the people.' While that sounded like pointless propaganda, Tiplee was a respected diplomat, and she reminded everyone that in politics, appearances were not unimportant.

Though they attracted their fair share of stares, the Jedi made their way unmolested to the Capital building. While it would have an oddly colourful building on Coruscant, it would not have stood out very much. On Ubrora, it was about as impressive a structure as he'd seen on the planet. About ten stories high with small, ceremonial parapets on the top, the building was painted yellow and red in a dazzling pattern that made it seem like something out of a post-modern art project. In his opinion it was a bit too much...but no one asked him.

At the entrance, the group of four Jedi e were greeted by an aide to the President, who greeted them perfunctorily before escorting them to a nice looking boardroom on the 6th floor. Sascha was amused to find that there were little placards laid out for each of them. His read 'Sascha Whitestar' with 'Jedi Padawan,' and 'Assistant to the Chief Negotiator' written underneath it. He held it up to his Master, "When we are done, can I keep this?"

Aurine smiled faintly as she took her seat, "No."

"You are so mean, Master," he remarked playfully as he slid into his seat beside her. The Jedi were arrayed with the two Jedi Knights in the middle, flanked by their apprentices.

The Jedi waited patiently for their counterparts to arrive, and they waited in perfect silence, as Tiplee had commanded. Ten minutes later, and with the boardroom door remaining firmly closed, Sascha was wondering if the Ubrorans had forgotten about this meeting or if they were playing some sort of game with the Jedi. Maybe this was the way Ubrorans played politics? Who knew.

A few moments later, while he had been daydreaming about...well…girls (specifically Remona Starflare, star of Coruscant Nights, a show about a bunch of young detectives solving crimes), a gaggle of Ubrorans came through the door, with President Mollek the last of the bunch. The Ubroran President took the seat opposite of the Jedi delegation, and started up immediately, "Apologies for the delay, Master Jedi, but we were just putting the finishing touches on our rebuttal to your proposal. I have an annotated copy of the treaty with our comments, which I'm sure you'd like to look over. We have many…concerns that need to be addressed before we can sign a treaty that brings us into the Republic."

Many concerns? Sascha had thought that this would be a pretty open and shut negotiation. Tiplee though, reacted as if the news was expected, "We are more than happy to customize our treaty to meet the needs of Ubrora within certain limits," replied Tiplee smoothly. "We will need some time to look over your concerns."

"Of course," said the President, rising to his feet, "We will let you use the antechamber so that you can conference amongst yourselves. I hope for more productive conversations later." And just like that the delegation of Ubrorans rose and exited, no more than two minutes after they had entered.

Sascha wasn't exactly sure what happened, but he wasn't about to voice his concern until they were in a less public setting. The Jedi filed in to the indicated antechamber, which was decorated with colourful paintings as well as a matte black table to use, complete with datapad chargers.

As the door closed behind them, Tiplee muttered under her breath, "Tactics. I had not known the Ubrorans were such canny masters of political theatre."

"I'm not sure I catch your meaning, Master Tiplee," said Aurine.

"You don't? Padawan, explain it to her."

Nara sighed, "The Ubrorans have been playing the public perception game. They've made these grand showings of being polite and deferential hosts. Even last night, President Mollek seemed to be indicating that the deal was close. That must be what the public thinks at least. Yet, we come here today and he presents us with a list of complaints, and it must be a long list otherwise he just would have talked through them. Now, if there are delays to ratifying the treaty, the public will assume it is from our intransigence, because Mollek has been seen as 'Pro'-deal, the opposition can only come from us, or someone from the Republic. This is especially true as it is known as we were the ones who demanded the meetings not being recorded. Why would we do that if we had nothing to hide?"

Sascha was surprised by the keen insight from Nara, but he realized that he should not have been. Nara was apprenticed to a diplomat; it should not have been surprising that she had picked up some of her Master's diplomatic savvy. Plus, the Togruta was no idiot either. He had been along on some mediation conferences with his Master over the past few months, but nothing as high level as this…and Master Brynar's idea of negotiation was generally trying to make both sides realize how idiotic they were being, nothing at all like this.

"I…don't get the point of all this, Masters," he said, "Can the Ubrorans really expect to get better terms with these political games? Aren't we really just mediating between the Ubrorans and the Republic?"

The Rishati fielded his question, "Our goal is to present the Senate with a treaty that can be passed and that provides a healthy start to a relationship between the Republic and Ubrora. If we make a mistake, overlook something or concede too much, the relationship between the two could be strained, and all this negotiation will be pointless."

Fine, whatever, this is above my pay grade, he thought to himself.

"We should get started on their rebuttal," said Aurine.

"Yes, I want to give our reply as fast as possible and make them think that we haven't been taken by surprise. You all have the document?" asked Tiplee. Aurine, Nara and Sascha nodded. Tiplee pointed to her datapad, "Okay. Divide it into quarters, I'll take the first quarter, Aurine take the second, Nara take the third, and Sascha take the last quarter. Highlight anything you think is worthy of consideration. Talk to me if you have any concerns." Tiplee paused to see if there were any questions, "Okay, let's get working."

Sascha got to work immediately, reading over the comments that the Ubrorans had made. Sometimes they were just asking for clarification on a point, and others they were asking for something to be changed. By the way that the Ubrorans were referring to other treaties negotiated by planets as they entered the Republic, Sascha assumed that their hosts had paid a rather good law firm to analyze the treaty that the Jedi had sent to them. Of course with the relative riches of the planet, they could have afforded one of the top law firms in the galaxy – who had probably had everything from legal analysis droids to a team of highly paid lawyers compose the document. And to compose their reply...there were four Jedi, with half of them being minors, in a legal sense.

As he scrolled down his section of the list, Sascha snorted out loud on seeing the next annotation, the Ubrorans wanted to strike the provision that gave the Jedi the right to take any Force sensitive child born on Ubrora. Such provisions were found across the Republic, and it would be a warm day on Hoth before the Jedi let such a provision be done away with. Otherwise keeping the flow of Force sensitive children to the Jedi Order would be even harder than it currently was.

An hour went by quite quickly, but a little after that hour, all four Jedi had completed their task and uploaded their findings to Tiplee, who worked with Aurine to figure out which of the changes the Jedi could acquiesce to and which ones would have to be negotiated. While they did that, he and Nara composed a message to the headquarters of the Republic Diplomatic Corps, giving them an update as to the negotiations and giving them a copy of the Ubroran's reply. The diplomatic corps would provide support and opinion on what provisions could be changed, and how, though ultimately the decisions rested with Tiplee.

After both tasks were done, the Jedi marched back into the boardroom, more than a little surprised to see only one young Ubroran waiting for them. Tiplee, calm as ever, spoke, "Excuse me, could you go and tell President Mollek that we are ready to continue with the negotiations."

The single Ubroran stood from his chair, "I'm sorry, President Mollek is off visiting Wingke and he won't be back until very late tonight."

Sascha heard his Master quietly curse under her breath, but Tiplee remained unperturbed, "Then we will talk tomorrow. We will be here at the same time as today."

"The President's schedule is very busy this week, I'm not sure if he can meet you at that time," the aide stammered.

"He will either meet with us tomorrow, or we will be leaving Ubrora. Make that crystal clear to President Mollek. Our time is valuable and I do not enjoy being trifled with." Tiplee's tone could have frozen a river of lava on Mustafar. Sascha was pretty sure he got a chill just from standing nearby.

The aide stiffened, and his tail puffed out from its usual size, which Sascha suspected was probably a sign of nervousness, a defence instinct from millennia past, "I will inform him of what you said," the aide managed to say before quickly exiting the room.

"Well, if that doesn't get their attention, nothing will," Aurine said dryly.

"We may as well return to the house," Tiplee said, sounding weary, "Perhaps if we prepare enough, we might not get blindsided tomorrow."