"...I see," the Chancellor said, with a nod. "You're certain?"

"Fairly sure," Mara Skywalker replied. "They declared that… there would be no peace with us while we continued to make use of our foul technology, and that we were all infidels as we did not believe in their gods."

She rolled her arm, wincing. "I lost a few of my men and women getting out of that."

The Chancellor frowned.

"I understand your loss, Mara," she said. "Are you injured?"

"Not seriously," Mara replied. "Do you have further need of me? I haven't seen my husband or our son in weeks."

"I'm… afraid we'll need you for a bit longer, Mara," Grand Master Windu said. "You're the one with the most experience with these aliens. The future has been clouded recently… any insight you can give is valuable, even if they are strangely invisible to the Force."

"All right," Mara conceded, leaning back, and frowned.

While Mara thought, Chancellor Mothma turned her attention to the others present in the meeting.

"Admiral Pellaeon?" she said. "The status of the Fleet?"

"Could be better," Pellaeon said, unflinchingly. "The active squadrons are ready, but it's going to take a few months to activate the Reserve. That's partly training time for the new recruits we'd need. It would go faster if we called up all the Clone pensioners, though."

"We are certainly going to call up the pensioners," Mothma answered. "Unless, that is, the Senate is entirely worse than it has been throughout my entire tenure… the Hutt Wars were less clear-cut than this, by far."

She glanced up at Mara. "Speaking of which, Mara – do you have any information about their ships?"

"Their ships…" Mara repeated, closing her eyes and focusing.

Everyone present knew what she was doing. It was an old Jedi trick, paying more attention to her own memory, focusing on it as precisely as she could and allowing her to gain information she hadn't noticed at the time.

"Their fighters are odd," she said. "No shields, but our shots didn't connect when they should have done – the laser blasts arced."

"You were firing?" Fey'lya asked.

"They shot first, if you're wondering," Mara replied, dryly. "Firing high temperature objects, stronger than our own fighter guns, and the shields had trouble with the projectiles but I was able to shoot them down as they came in. There was… I think there's some kind of gravity effect involved, but I don't have enough information to be sure. But the reports are true – all their technology that we saw is organic."

"Organic spacecraft?" Pellaeon said.

"Coral, I think," Mara replied. "Thinking about it now, it looks right, and there was far too much variance within the same squadron for it to be a ship class manufactured in ways we're used to. As for their larger vessels…"

She went silent again, thinking. "They had several different sizes of ships, and some of them were as much as ten kilometres in diameter – roughly disc shaped. I didn't get more information than that."

"Then we're dealing with a sizeable fleet threat," Pellaeon said. "Chancellor, this is going to mean more than just a mobilization of the Reserve."

"I understand," Mothma agreed, heavily. "And if they have come to invade, they are going to be trying to invade our worlds as well."

She looked up at the final member of the cabinet. "Marshal?"

Marshal Harek – CC-11380 – nodded to her in reply.

"You're asking about mobilization, I take it?" he asked, continuing as soon as Mothma had confirmed it. "The recall of pensioned clones is technically a volunteer matter, but all indications I've ever seen are that we'll get back functionally all of them. With ten years of reserve status after a five year career, that means we're looking at… call it seventeen million, after allowing for losses during service over the last fifteen years."

"Not exactly enough to fight an intergalactic war," Pellaeon said. "If that is what's going on."

"You don't need to tell me that," Harek replied. "It's what we've got among the regular army, though. Chancellor, it is my professional opinion that some kind of nat-born mobilization is needed… if these aliens are targeting the Jedi, then a lot of our manpower is going to be needed keeping them safe."

"I agree with you," Mothma agreed. "I do not want to enact conscription. Indeed, I would like to be able to offer all currently serving clones the option of terminating their contracts early. The system is set up with the understanding that clones serve five years in something close to peace."

"Chancellor… my brothers would see it as an insult," Harek replied, quietly. "As a formal announcement, anyway. I'll see about making it quietly known, and there might be a few hundred who take it up, but I wouldn't expect more than that."

Mothma nodded, and was silent for a long moment.

"Master Windu?" she asked.

"The Jedi will protect the Republic," the old Jedi replied. "That has always been the deal."

"I know," Mothma said, quietly. "But I remember a time you were nearly destroyed by it."

"If the loss of the Jedi leads to the survival of the Republic, it's worth it," Mara declared. "I certainly hope it wouldn't, but… how could we place so few sapients over so many worlds?"

Mothma met Mara's gaze, then closed her eyes in understanding.

"Very well, then," she said. "Minister Fey'lya? Do you see any issues that would result with a prompt shift to a war footing?"

The bothan frowned, ears twitching as he thought.

"Have we considered the old droid armies?" he asked.

"You're not suggesting we fight alongside a droid army, are you?" Harek said.

"He has a point," Mara volunteered. "If you didn't see it… you don't realize how much these aliens hate droids."

Harek made to reply, then stopped himself.

"...I guess," he conceded, reluctantly. "It just doesn't feel right, clones fighting alongside droids."

He glanced at Fey'lya. "And I know you're planning on using this to get gratitude from the great merchant houses."

"We need as many troops as possible, as quickly as possible," Fey'lya said. "We are all part of the Republic… it has been long enough that the high leadership of the great merchant houses was not even born during the Separatist Crisis."

"And you didn't deny it," Harek said, then sighed. "Well, Master Windu – Chancellor – it's up to you. I'm just a simple soldier."

"Hardly that, Marshal," Windu replied, quietly. "I understand your reluctance. In truth, I feel it myself… but this is a war to defend the Republic. If there are measures we will be forced into by war, then if a droid army is the worst I will count myself a happy man."

"All right," Mothma decided. "I believe I have a sense of what we will be doing… Borsk, if you could draft a declaration of war and the mobilization acts? Gilad, Marshal, any groundwork you need before the official mobilization – please, begin as soon as possible."

She sighed. "Master Jedi…"

"I'll have members of the Jedi Council discuss things with the shipbuilding houses," Windu said. "While there are limits, Chancellor… we are at your service."

"Thank you," Mon Mothma nodded. "And Mara… you should go and see your husband and son. It's the least I can offer you."

AN:

No Palpy and the Vong turn up on schedule. It's not great for them.