OOC: 3,300. Good work so far guys.



"Commodore."

A harsh light penetrated Joren's room, waking him up with a jolt. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked up. There was a woman silhouetted in the doorway, one of the only human's on the ship.

"Natalie? What time is it?"

"It is time to wake up." She said, extending a hand to help the young commodore out of his bed. They entered the office, and Joren smiled as he noticed a steaming hot cup of stem tea sitting on the desk.

Natalie handed it too him as he slumped in his chair.

"The others have arrived. The Tholatin group, then the New Rebellion, and then the Azgaurds. The Azgaurds are here."

Joren looked up.

"Here? On the Pride of Calamari?"

"Yes."

He smiled weakly and took a sip of his tea.

"You look tired."

"When you have the fate of a nation hanging over your head, you may be tired too."

"Oh come on. Do you really think they would vote a human into office? How would that look to the rest of the galaxy, a human leading the Calmarian race."

"I don't want to lead. I only want to guide them on the right path."

"And you think they will let a human do that?"

"You make it sound like they are biased."

"Some are."

Joren was about to respond when the comm system crackled.

"Commodore Arden, the last Coalition forces have arrived...and sir...the Azgaurds are getting slightly annoyed."

"I am on my way." He gave Natalie a brave smile and then stood, and entered the aft portion of the bridge.

"This is Commodore Joren Arden of the Mon Calamari Republic vessel Pride of Calamari. I welcome you, and I thank you all for being able to come on short notice. My orders are to escort you to the meeting at Foamwander City on Mon Calamari, hence the slightly exessive force. Please lock your navicomputers to the Pride of Calamari and we will guide you past the perimeter defenses. Let us get under way. Arden out."


Joren then turned to the helm officer.

"Prepare a course to Mon Calamari, and as soon as the other vesseles acknowledge, you may engage."

"Yes sir."

Joren then took another sip of his tea and entered the conference room, where the Azgaurds had been taken. Natalie, his aide, followed close behind.

He had never met an Azgaurd warrior before, and knew next to nothing about them. Mon Cal Intelligence files on them were always slightly spotty when it came to the secretive species. He knew that they were highly capable warriors that had successfully resisted the Yuuzhan Vong during the first invasion, other than that, he knew nothing.

But he had been briefed about who exactly he would meet.

"Grand Lord Regrad. I am Commodore Joren Arden." He held his tea in his left hand as he extending his right to the large warrior.

In all his finery, Regrad looked like an ancient tribal chieftan. This was an ancient custom, much favored at times of negotiation. His huge arm extended warmly from a billowing cloak, and they shook hands.

"Joren, I have heard so much about you. You are welcome amongst us. We are pleased this meeting has been called and we wish to begin soon."

He once again drew his hand within the folds of his cloak, and seated himself. One of his guards, the tallest and in fiery red armour stepped forwards. He gave Joren a datapad and stepped back.

"That datapad contains our defence codes and security information. It is extreemly important and as such we wish you to keep hold of it, as it may be needed."

The Azguard leader then reached into his robes and removed a glass orb. Suspended within it was a beam of light.

"These orbs are rare, and very percious to us. Please, if you may, look into the orb."

Afew moments of silence and he returned it to his robes. "Just another of our strange little rituals. Now tell me, where is it we go next, Commodore?"

Jan smiled as Joren's voice came across the com unit.

"Have we received the co-ordinates?"

"Yep."

"Excellent."

"This is Jan Dondana, my vessels have received the co-ordinates and we are ready to depart."

The fleet sped up to 30 MGLT, to make the run for hyperspace. Now all the had to do was wait for the Tholatins and Azguards to acknowlegde that they had the co-ordinates, and then wait for the helm officer to engage the drive on the Pride of Calamari.

OOC: Don't know what the orb is or does, but i'll wing it.


Joren took the datapad with the Azgaurd defense codes and security arrangements with some surprise, but decided it was best not to upset his very large guests. He skimmed through the scrolling list of text, and then carefully handed it back to Natalie, who took it from him.


He then looked dubiously at the orb, but again, the mental image of an offended Azgaurd High Lord did not sit too well with him. He took the orb and looked into it intently, as instructed.


Then a very strange thing happened, he was no longer in the pristine white-blue conference room of the Pride of Calamari.

Instead he was standing in a spotless white room, a huge room that seemed to go on forever. He was still dressed in his dark grey commodore's attire, however. He looked around, disoriented, at first, untill he realized he wasn't falling, but it was difficult to maintain his balance because all he could see was white.

"Welcome, Commodore Joren Arden of the Mon Calamari Republican Navy." A voice said from behind him. He spun around to see a large Azgaurdian, dressed in a blue and white ceremonial garb.

"Who are you?"

"Joren Arden, son of Kendon Arden, son of Masirus Arden."

Joren raised an eyebrow at the Azgaurd. But he found he could not speak, it was if sombody, or something was denying him use of his mouth.

"Born on Corellia, twenty three years ago, by your standard linear existance. Born into a wealthy family, son to Kendon and Valeri, their first child. You had hopes of attending the Caridan military academy, and become a tactician for the Empire. But the invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong cut your ambitions short, and you were forced to go into hiding. After the invasion, you entered the Mon Calamari Tactical School, and became the only human to complete the course."

Joren glared at the Azgaurdian, and found he could speak once more.

"Why are you telling me this?" He demanded.

"Why is your existance needed?" The Azgaurd asked.

Joren frowned.

"I live to serve." He stated simply.

"You live to conquer."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I have observed that every person who has looked into the orb has secret desires, secret dreams, secret hopes. You have those. But you are different."

Joren frowned.

"How?"

Instead of answering, the Azgaurd guestured to something behind Joren. He turned around to see Natalie happily smiling at him. She smiled at first, but then her face took a look of agony, she fell to her knees, her head in her hands. She was in great pain.

"Stop this!" Joren bellowed, going over to Natalie's crumpled form and kneeling next to her.

"You care a great deal for this one." The Azgaurd God-thing said thoughtfully.

"Yes." Joren said, as the image of Natalia dissapeared.

"Why don't you tell her how you feel?"

"Because my work would get in the way of our relationship, I would just end up hurting her." He said.

"You see? That is how you are different from the others. You hold secret hopes, Natalia is a prime example. But you also wish to help her, protect her, and do what needs to be done, despite your secret hopes and desires."

"What is the meaning of this?" Joren asked, standing up and turning to face the Azgaurd.

"It means that you are different, Joren Arden, son of Kendon."

The Azgaurd Prophet smiled.

"You pass the test."




Joren looked up from the orb, again disoriented. He was back in the blue-white conference room, with the Azgaurds and Natalie.

"What just happened?" He asked.

A sudden jolt and the comm system crackling interuppted them.

"Commodore, we have just entered hyperspace with the rest of the Coalition forces. Our projected ETA is one hour, eight minutes."

"Understood."

Joren let his breath out, and managed to force a smile for the guests.

"A very interesting artifact. Very disconcerting."

He shook his head to clear any aftereffects of the orb. And again looked back up at Regrad.

"We will be arriving at Mon Calamari within two hours. My aide,"

He guestured to Natalie.

"Will show you to your staterooms." He said.

OOC: It was approved.

Kamon nodded to Malaya that it was ok. He understood fully what she was saying. The vessel kept full speed up with the NR fleet. SHe didn't want to be left behind.

Kamon looked up in time to see Eric acknowledge the coordinates. Kamon nodded to him and he ordered the helmsman to engage the hyperdrive along with the rest of the coalition forces.

"Sit tight Malaya. I dunno how long of a flight this will be."

Regrad stood in his state-room. Humans were indeed amazing creatures. He was indeed a prophet, the messenger of Yunos the Sun-god in this time. And the artefact was one of the few stones touched by the light of Yunos, imbued with his light and purity. It could indeed do many things, like see the souls of others.

But for now he placed his findings in the back of his mind; there were greater things to do. He sat there in thought, about what it was he would try to do at this meeting they were heading to.

Unity. It was needed for survival. Their peoples' future hinged on their cooperation. He needed to talk to them about that. It was one thing to work together, it was another to be one. They would stand together or fall alone.

And there were others. The evil of the empire clouded the galaxy and peoples' conciouses. People were so busy defending themselves they lost sight of what was important in life: Freedom, justice, and equality for their fellow beings. They had to work to convince those people to work together against injustice, against the empire that clouded them.

That was the most important goal in his mind.

Jan looked up, startled as a crew member came over.

"Sir, the fighters have all docked onboard the Defender Gunship."

Jan was a bit surprised by this, as he had never ordered it, but it was a good idea, because the flight to Mon Calamari would take a while, which would be taxing to the pilots of the fighters, as they wouldn't have real refreshers to work with.

"I see."

After the aide left he turned to his the Captain of Haven and his XO.

"Which of you two gave that order?"

"Not me."

"I wasn't me either."

"Sir, I did."

Jan turned around, once again surprised. It was his communications officer.

"Who the hell gave you permission to do that? Your going to have refresher duty fo-" started the XO.

Jan quickly held up his hand.

"Wait, let the Ensign explain himself. So, why did you order this, despite the fact that none of your superiors gave you the order to, or the permission to?" asked Jan, curiously, not in an accusing voice. He like officers that could think for themselves.

"I did it because the flight will be long, and it is very taxing on the fighter pilots, being in the small cramped cockpit."

"You speak from experience, don't you?"

"Yes. I was once an X-wing pilot, the communication specialist for my squadron, but I didn't like it much, because too many of my friends died, so I transferred out to Fleet, and became a communications officer."

"What is your name son?"

"Galden, Kit Galden."

"Well Ensign Galden, you have just been promoted to Lieutenant. I like your reasoning, and I like officers that can think for themselves as well. Do you know anythign about commanding a vessel?"

"A bit sir. I was a temporary XO once on another vessel, because the captain was sick. We didn't actually go into battle, but I did get the experience."

"Did you like being an XO?"

"Yes sir."

"In that case, after this is over, if you wish, apply to be transferred to the next available spot in an XO position, you will go far in my navy."

"Thank you sir."

The newly promoted Lieutenant saluted and then went back to his duties. The XO and Captain just stood there speachless.

"Well, I'm off to my quarters, to reflect on a few things. Captain, you have the bridge. If we are pulled out of hyperspace prematurely, or there is any sign of anything wrong, call me, I will come to the bridge. Also, give me a five minute warning before we come out of hyperspace above Mon Calamari, I want to be on the bridge when we revert."

"Yes sir."

Jan walked off the bridge, leaving behind a slightly confused Captain and a more confused XO.

They are both graduates of the old school thinkers, who rely on all their orders to come from the top. Even if I didn't have enough info on a situation to properly analyze it, they would still follow my orders, even if they had to die trying it. That Lieutenant Galden would make a better commander then either of them. He would do exceptionally well in charge of smaller ships, because to be a good pilot you have to have situational awareness, which he probably does, and a good captain also has to have it.

Regrad lay in his room, in a light doze. He thought of what was happening right now. His fleet was shooting off in hyperspace, and soon all would be at Mon Calamari.

Once they were here, they would go to Mon Calamari's surface and there conduct a meeting, wherein the Coalition would decide what it was they were going to do.

That was at least the idea. But he could sense great anxiety about this meeting; all these great figures and leaders concentrated in one spot was dangerous. He had not the force, but anyone could feel it, tingling in the air.

If this meeting was sucsessful, there would be a true coalition, candles in the darkness of the galaxy combined to create a blaze of what was good. It was of utter most importance that this meeting go ahead as planned. But sitting here, on someone elses' ship, he could only pray.

"Commodore, we have arrived." Natalie's voice said through the comm.

Joren put down the stack of papers he had been looking at on his desk.

"Understood."

He took another sip from his glass of stem tea. He had been up all night long, studying the Azgaurd's defense network and manifest. They had some very unusual technology. Moving mountains, defensive gods, mech suits. All very perplexing.


Their ships were another matter however, still very strange, but he knew them to be effective.

A jolt throughout the ship made him look out the viewport. The blue-white world of Mon Calamari had taken up the entire veiw.

He took his stem tea and headed out to the bridge. The grey Azgaurds were already there, as was Natalie.

"Report." He said.

The operations officer looked up at him.

"The Coalition forces have safely arrived with us, and Admiral Amer says that the meeting is ready and we ae to come down at any time."

"Sir." The communications officer suddenly said, "We are getting a communication from Calamari. It is the Senate sir."

Joren stiffened.

"Go on." He said.

"Sir, the Senate has just adjourned. Senator Milova is issueing a speech, fleet wide. They say that the Senate has voted."

Joren froze.

"Lets hear it, shipwide."

The imposing voice of Senator Milova suddenly broke through the speakers. It had a slight echo to it, and Joren knew that the entire crew of the Pride of Calamari would hear it, along with the rest of the Mon Calamarian Republic.

"Citizens of Mon Calamari Republic, esteemed representatives of the Coalition, soldiers of the Republic. It is my pleasure to inform you that the Mon Calmarian senate has voted on a new Chief of State. As you all know, the runners for this honorable title were myself, Master General Jesmin Ragabag, and Commodore Joren Arden. On the eve of these peace talks, and the sad loss of Emperor Teebo, it is privilage of announcing your new Chief of State."

"Joren Arden."

Things went from normal, to slow motion. Joren stood there, on the bridge of the mightiest warship in the Mon Calamari fleet, a human, holding a cup of tea. He looked down into the cup as he slumped down into the command chair.

He first looked at Natalie, who was beaming at him. Then to the Azgaurds, who stood tall on his left. He last looked around the bridge, at the shocked Calmarian and Quarren faces. He saw anger, happiness and skepticisim. He vauguely heard Milova drone on about honors and privilages. And the good Senator did not forget his manners, and duely congradulated Joren.

Joren felt no happiness, merely shock. A human, leading a alien dominated government. He knew the people of the Mon Calamari Republic favored him, and he knew that he had done some senators a favor or two. But not on this scale...


Things went back to normal and Joren carefully set his cup on the arm of the chair. He sat there for a long moment, staring at the floor and gathering his thoughts. After a moment he stood and walked to the forward viewport of the bridge. As he passed each crewman, he was saluted.


"...and I wish nothing but wisdom and comfort on our new Cheif of State..." Milova droned.

Joren stared out into the stars, and then at the planet. He felet a hand on his shoulder, and he turned back to look into Natalie's eyes.

"Let's go Joren." She said.

He nodded, and with the Azgaurds following, he headed for the hangar bays.





The ramp of the shuttle decended and Joren lofted a brow as he saw the honor guard's flanking the shuttle and the ramp. With Natalie, Regrad, and the other Azgaurd's he walked down the ramp, past the gaurds. Each guard saluted him as he strode past. On his left and right, The Tholatin, and Rebellion shuttles had also landed. Jan and Kamon stood side by side ahead of Joren, untill the new Chief of State walked up to them.

Joren extended a hand to both of them.

"Things seem to be shaping up quite unexpectedly." He said to the both of them.

Kamon smiled and nodded. Directly behind him and a little to his left stood Malaya. She watched the man intently as Kamon shook his hand. Malaya would help with the formation of the new group.

"Yes, it would seem so. Congratulations on your appointment to your knew position, Joren. It would seem that things are looking well for you."

He nodded to Malaya that everything was fine and she relaxed a little. It was her first mission so she was somewhat tense. Kamon didn't mind though. His four RPGC guards had flanked him.

"Do you expect the negotiations to be hectic or calm? It would seem that with the people involved it would not be too harsh. I've brought a good friend and diplomat with me to assist."

He pointed to Malaya and introduced her to Joren. She was young, he could see that Joren noticed, but seemed to be well suited for her position. Age did not matter, after all, as Princess Leia had been young while in the senate.