CHAPTER NINETEEN




By the time the /Jade Sabre/ reached Coruscant, Anakin Solo was glad to
be off the ship. Even though the /Sabre/ was a fairly large shuttle at
sixty meters, it was still a cramped ship with not that much room to
exercise save the training deck. Anakin had, of course, spent quite a
lot of time on the training deck in the past three days, sparring
against the other three Jedi on board. Master Coureran had been the most
helpful, teaching him a number of Old Republic saber fighting techniques.

Anakin stood up from the acceleration couch and put his belt back on,
lightsaber dangling from it. Then he walked over to the /Jade Sabre/'s
landing ramp and followed his uncle Luke, his aunt Mara, and Master
Coureran out to the surface of the landing platform.

"Where are we going first?" he asked. Luke had been forced to close the
Praxeum on Coruscant since its rent was too high to be sustained without
support from the Senate. Rooftop space had always been at a premium on
Coruscant since time immemorial. It remained at a premium even after
Coruscant bore the scars of both the Clone Wars and the Galactic Civil War.

"Directly to the Senate building," Luke answered without pause as he
flagged a hovertaxi.

Mercifully, the ride to the Senate was short, Anakin reflected. As they
debarked the taxi, they were met by a number of New Republic guards, who
indicated for them to leave their lightsabers behind. Anakin gave one of
the guards a puzzled look and wondered if it would be permissible to
suggest to the trooper that there would be no harm in a Jedi carrying
his lightsaber.

Luke noticed his frown and turned to face him. "Anakin, we're not in an
enemy state. Do as the guards say."

"Okay." Anakin shrugged and put his lightsaber into the locker provided.
He eventually decided that the new restrictions must have been because
of Fey'lya's manipulations.

Several minutes and umpteen security checks later, the four Jedi walked
into the Senate rotunda proper.

"I was actually expecting it to be larger," Master Coureran remarked in
a slightly surprised tone as they exited a turbolift. "How many seats
does the Senate have now?"

Anakin watched his uncle think for several seconds while they walked to
their assigned booth. "About seven hundred and fifty," Luke replied.
"One for each sector. The sectors themselves are always changing with
each new representative." Anakin had been told that in the early days of
the New Republic, the Senate had been composed of representatives from
every planet. That had soon proved quite impractical however, as there
were millions of planets in the galaxy, and the Republic had gone back
to the sector representatives.

At the moment, the Senate was busy deliberating on what Anakin guessed
to be an agricultural matter somewhere in the Mid Rim. Apparently there
was a dispute over the food distribution rights from a multi-world
farming consortium... He sighed and leaned back into the seat as he
waited for the discussions to end.

Mercifully, it only took the Senate another half-hour to finish. "The
Senate will now recognize Jedi Master Dellen Coureran," Borsk Fey'lya
announced from the central podium with a slight hint of distaste. There
were scattered cries of 'Boo' and some attempts at applause.

Dellen came to his feet and walked to the front of the booth, checking
the mic briefly before speaking. "Representatives of the New Republic."
He looked around the chamber as his voice echoed from the cavernous
walls. "As some of you may no doubt know already, exactly sixty years
ago this month a ship commissioned by the Supreme Chancellor of the
Republic left the shipyards of Yaga Minor on a historic voyage."

The chamber was filled with murmurs as some delegations tried to figure
out what the Jedi Master was talking about.

"This ship was the /Ny'lith Boro/, the core vessel of the Outbound
Flight Project. In addition to carrying six Jedi Masters, it had a crew
of over two hundred Republic Navy personnel, scientists, and diplomats."

The murmuring grew louder as Dellen continued. "As the Senate's history
databanks no doubt tell you, the Outbound Flight was ambushed one week
after leaving Yaga Minor on its maiden flight into the Unknown Regions.
For sixty years it has been thought to be destroyed. However," Dellen
reached down and activated the holorecording. A gigantic holographic
representation of the Milky Way galaxy appeared, floating in the center
of the chamber as it slowly spun about its axis. "I bring news that the
Outbound Flight survived that ambush. It escaped through a cosmic
disruption, a wormhole, and as I speak is in negotiations with a human
government located in the galaxy you see before you."

Dellen looked about the chamber again, which had exploded into
discussion. He raised his voice just enough to be heard over the Senate.
"But I have not come before you to give you a history lesson, even if I
am a historian. The fact is that the Outbound Flight is trapped in that
galaxy with a jury-rigged hyperdrive. Without your help, Senators, that
crew of two hundred Republic citizens will be trapped there forever. I
have come before you to ask the Republic to send a ship with supplies
and replacement parts so the /Ny'lith Boro/ can be repaired and return
to our galaxy."

Across the chamber, the representative of the Sluis Van sector came to
his feet. "It is my understanding that humans originated in this galaxy.
How, then, can there be a human government in another galaxy so far away?"

"Actually," Dellen said calmly, "there is no proof that humans evolved
in this galaxy. The early history of the Republic indicates that humans
spread throughout the galaxy from the Core. Corellia was one system with
a long history of human occupation, but the Corellian system is
artificial and has no indications of human evolution on any of its
planets. The same goes for all the other planets of the early Republic."

The Sluis Van senator snorted. "You speak of the 'Alien Origin' theory.
There is no more indication that we came from some other galaxy than
there is that we came from this galaxy, Jedi."

"I am willing to leave this discussion to the biologists," Dellen
replied. "The fact is that the Outbound Flight discovered human
civilization in another galaxy, and is now negotiating with that
government as per its mandate. If the negotiations are successful, the
Republic will have a foothold in their galaxy and we can, perhaps,
settle the debate over the origins of humanity once and for all."

"And under whose authority is the Outbound Flight negotiating this
agreement?" the Sluis Van senator retorted. "The Old Republic that it
left is no more. This Republic is a different republic. The Outbound
Flight has no more authority to negotiate a binding agreement between
their government and ours than the Imperial remnant has to negotiate an
agreement between some power in the Unknown Regions and the New Republic."

Dellen nodded slowly. "In that event, I will amend my request and ask
that in addition to the supply ship, the /New/ Republic send a team of
negotiators to officially open talks with the other government."

Shouting erupted in the Senate, and the communications system was shut
off for several minutes until the atmosphere in the chamber cooled down.
"Senators," Fey'lya's voice echoed, "we have a request standing. Who
will make a motion to send the supply ship that the Jedi have requested?"

A Senator from a planet that Anakin had never seen before made the
motion, and it was seconded by yet another senator he'd never seen. The
issue was then voted on, and Anakin watched the results interestedly.

"The nays have it, I am afraid," Fey'lya announced with what Anakin
thought was just the barest hint of a smile. "We will not provide a
supply ship to bring the Jedi of the Outbound Flight back. However, if
the Jedi wish to supply their own ship, I am willing to make a motion to
send negotiators to this other galaxy. Who will second the motion?"

The senator from the Hapes Cluster seconded the motion, which was then
promptly voted on.

"The ayes have it," Fey'lya announced, turning his attention to the
Jedi. "/Masters/ Coureran and Skywalker, we will provide diplomats if
necessary but finding a ship is left up to you. We thank you for your time."

"How does he expect us to supply a ship?" Anakin said with youthful
outrage as they walked from the booth. "First he cuts our support, then
he wants us to provide our own supply ship?"

Mara sighed and patted Anakin on the shoulder. "I was actually expecting
it to be worse," she said.

As they continued walking through the halls of the Senate building,
approaching the entrance they'd come in from, Anakin heard the sound of
running feet behind them and turned around.

"Sir?" It was a young Senatorial aide, not much older than he was.
"Which one of you is Master Dellen?"

"I am," Dellen said as he stopped. "What seems to be the matter?"

The young man collected himself, but he was still breathing hard from
running. "I'm Senator Sal-Solo's assistant. The Senator would like to
speak to you regarding your request. If you could follow me...?"

"Senator /Sal-Solo/?" Anakin asked in confusion. "Thrackan Sal-Solo?"

"Yes," Mara whispered into Anakin's ear. "He was released from prison
two years ago on the provision that he help the Republic understand how
Centerpoint works. After doing that, he went and ran for the Corellian
sector's Senate representative."

They continued following the aide until they reached the Corellian
Senate office. The aide disappeared inside momentarily, then re-emerged.
"He'll see you now."

As Anakin stepped into Sal-Solo's office, his cousin came to his feet.
"Master Coureran, Master Skywalker. Welcome to my office. I'm afraid
it's not that spacious, but room is rather short here." Thrackan turned
to Mara and Anakin and nodded. "Miss Jade, a pleasure meeting you once
again."

"It's Mrs. Skywalker now," Mara replied coldly.

Thrackan looked between Mara and Luke in surprise. "Well,
congratulations then. I'm afraid I was out of the loop for a few years,
as you probably know."

"I'm aware of it."

Sal-Solo ignored the tone of Mara's reply and instead walked over to
Anakin. "The last time I saw you, cousin, you were only... what, seven?"

Anakin nodded without smiling. Sal-Solo's appearance had not changed
much since the Centerpoint Station crisis, save for his hair becoming
almost all gray. By the same token, Anakin's opinion of his cousin had
also not changed much. He still remembered all too well being trapped
inside the Drall planetary repulsor and having Sal-Solo trying to kill
them when they escaped in the /Millennium Falcon/.

"To think that was ten years ago already..."

"Spare me," Anakin snapped. "You didn't call us in here just to get all
mushy and reminiscent."

Thrackan jerked back as if he'd burned his hand, but regained his
composure moments later. "No, I didn't." he said slowly. "But in the
eight years I spent in the Dorthus Tal prison on Saccoria, I came to
realize my errors. Revenge means nothing to me now, even if it motivated
me to do what I did all those years ago. Don't you see? I'm a changed man."

"I'm sure you are," Anakin said with just enough sarcasm to imply he was
thinking "/Can we get on with it/?"

"Well, you're right. On to business..." Thrackan turned back to face
Dellen. "Master Coureran, I understand you're a Corellian."

"Saccoria, actually."

"Ah. Close. The Corellian Engineering representative guessed from your
name that you were Corellian. He told me to let you know that he was
offering to sponsor a supply mission. It'll be completely private. CEC
will provide you with several freighters, supplies, and an escort, and
CorSec will provide the crews. Are you interested?"

"What's the catch?" Dellen said, his face plain.

"There is none," Sal-Solo replied. "We're always willing to help fellow
Corellians. Additionally, CEC has been waiting on the Republic forever
for a real trial of their new /Vigorous-/class Star Cruiser. The CEC
representative thought this would be a good chance to highlight the new
ship's features and perhaps convince the Republic that it's a worthwhile
design."

Dellen allowed a wan smile to cross his face. "And at the same time,
Corellia has a chance to gain more influence. Thank you, Senator."

"That's quite true, influence does have much to do with politics,"
Thrackan admitted with a sigh. "Regardless, we are willing to provide
you with this at no cost. Since the rest of the Senate was fairly
hostile to your proposal, I would suggest you take it."

"Where is the CEC representative? I would like to meet him personally,"
Dellen replied.

"I can arrange that," Thrackan said. "If you would follow me, please."



* * *



The chamber that the Republic-Federation negotiations were held in was
an unassuming room aboard Earth Spacedock, contained deep within the
station to preclude the possibility of any meetings being interrupted by
an attack. They had chosen Spacedock specifically for its neutral
location as a midway point between the Republic ship and Earth, and the
fact that being a space station it was by definition immobile.

Currently, only half of the seats at the conference table in the center
of the chamber were filled. The other half were empty, awaiting the
return of the diplomats they had been assigned to. In keeping with the
fact that the talks were unilateral, the table's seating had been split
down the middle. One side was for the Republic diplomats and the other
side was occupied by the Federation diplomats.

Jorus C'baoth sighed as he waited for the Federation diplomats to talk
amongst themselves. It had been a long week, with the fleshing out of
minutiae on both sides as they strove to reach a comfortable middle
ground. In another week or so the negotiations could begin in earnest,
but at the moment it appeared that the Federation still wasn't quite
sure what to make of the news of a human civilization from another galaxy.

Add to the fuss the fact that one of the Federation diplomats had been
discovered dead at his home the previous week, and C'baoth had resigned
himself to a very long and maybe not so boring summit. He knew from
experience that not all Jedi were suited to being diplomats. Some were
young and brash, not quite having grasped the nuances and meaning of the
Jedi Code. Others were inelegant with words.

C'baoth considered diplomacy a fine art that one got better at with
time, akin to how a fine liquor ages. In his own galaxy he had assisted
in the mediation of the Duinuogwuin-Gotal conflict in addition to
numerous others several years before the departure of the Outbound
Flight. These were perhaps his most ambitious diplomatic talks yet, but
comparatively easy to what he had done before.

"We've come to a decision regarding foodstocks," one of the Federation
diplomats said after some time. "I have been informed to tell you that
the Federation will provide, as a favor, shipments of food for your
ship's crew until the conclusion of negotiations."

"I would like to express my crew's gratitude," C'baoth said quite
truthfully. While the food rations aboard the Bulk Cruiser had been
designed to last for hundreds of years, they had only been scheduled to
run on a short flight through the Unknown Regions when they had been
intercepted. As a result, the ship had not been fully stocked and in the
past week they had begun to run critically short of rations. "If there
is anything reasonable we can provide in turn--"

Loud beeping from the commlink in a pocket of C'baoth's robes
interrupted him. Looking nonplussed, he reached down and picked it up.
"Yes?"

"Helsani here." C'baoth had appointed Master Jostein Helsani as the Jedi
adviser to Outbound Flight Security, so whatever this was it had to do
with the ship. "We've arrested a crewman who was snooping around
Computer Operations. I need to talk to you in person about him."

"I'll be right over," he said before switching the commlink off and
stuffing it back in his pocket. "If you'll excuse me," C'baoth said to
the Federation diplomats, "there seems to be a pressing matter on my
ship I need to attend to."



After a short shuttle flight to the Bulk Cruiser and a quick walk to the
brig, C'baoth found himself looking at a fairly typical young man with
straight brown hair, who obstinately refused to say anything.

"He tried to commit suicide earlier," Helsani explained. "There was a
small implant under his tongue that would have released poison through
his system. We barely managed to prevent him from using it."

"Good work," C'baoth said absently. "What's the crewman's name?"

Helsani looked down at the datapad he was carrying. "Well, according to
the ship's roster his name is Kelras Dargont. However, we took a blood
sample earlier and it doesn't match the sample in the crew roster."

C'baoth said nothing for a time, instead lost deep in thought. "Someone
had to have a way of tracking us," he said. "Either that, or they knew
our flight plan, which outside the Jedi Order only Chancellor Palpatine
knew. So perhaps this man was their informant." C'baoth turned toward
the prisoner and keyed the intercom. "How long have you been aboard this
ship?"

Dargont answered him with a glare but no words.

"As I said," Helsani remarked, "he hasn't said anything. We've attempted
to persuade him, but he seems to be very well-trained."

C'baoth studied the man for several more minutes. He couldn't see
anything wrong with his appearance. "Have you thought about looking into
his mind?"

"The possibility has come up, but I'd prefer not to unless there is no
other option."

He nodded. The Jedi Order frowned on using the Force to intrude into
another being's mind unless it was absolutely necessary. There had been
cases in the distant past of particularly sensitive beings who had been
interrogated by Jedi and went insane, or lost memories, as a result. The
Jedi had refined their techniques since then but the risk always loomed
over them.

"I must return to the conference," C'baoth finally said. "Keep me informed."