Csilla

The small force of ships emerged from hyperspace some distance from the ice-covered planet that had once been the capital of the Chiss Empire.

The true Chiss Empire, Shaedolah mused silently as he watched the traffic lanes part ahead of the arrowhead bow of the Star Destroyer, making way for the incoming vessel. Not the mockery that Nelix Galdra put together out here.

The name rang an irritating bell in his head. An overbearing Sith Apprentice, a newly-promoted Knight at best, who had rebuilt the Trade Federation only to see it collapse again, far faster this time, and moved on to nearly break Chiss culture, before being driven out by his own idiocy.

He smiled. Nelix - Xilen's whereabouts these days were unknown, but it seemed likely that he would resurface once more in the coming months and upset the galaxy again before simply... vanishing.

Trying to find the man was like tracking a puff of smoke in a hall of mirrors, with the lights turned off.

Shaedolah became aware that the ship's Captain, a man called Raymend, was looking at him, obviously awaiting orders. The Yuuzhan Vong shook his head, a smile forming on his untattered lips.

The ships had advanced slowly, shields down and weapons offline, transmitting no ID codes. There were no markings on their hulls, only a deep, near black paint on all surfaces.

Shaedolash depressed the key before him, activating his hololink to the surface, the Imperial headquarters, and spoke in perfectly accented Basic. The voice held the accent of someone from the upper rungs of Thyferran Society - one of the members of the Bacta Cartel.

After exchanging the usual pleasentries with the duty officer of the Empire, he said, "I wish an audience with the regional commander of the Imperial Armed Forces. I am in search of information, and it is said the Chiss Library of Csilla is second to none."

There was a pause, that was simply standard operating procedure, and the Vong waited for someone with the authority to grant him landing.

<hr>

OOC: Manifest

Victory Mark III Class Star Destroyer Narasil
Twilight Class Stealth Gunship (Uncloaked)
Twilight Class Stealth Gunship (Uncloaked)
Twilight Class Stealth Gunship (Uncloaked)
Twilight Class Stealth Gunship (Uncloaked)

OOC: Before a reply, can I just ask what group you're from?

It's an HDE RP intending to gather information on the location of Zonama Sekot... and no more OOC in the IC forum. :P ;)

The transmission link was cut.

Colonel Jaeder listened to the transmission frowning, mouthing to the nearby Major, They wish to land? Who the frell are they?

He was summoned from the massive excavations going on around the old Chiss capital city.

The Major just shrugged sending the signal to the Imperial forces onworld. A blanket signal escaped bearing no discernable destination.

The comm officer who had been chatting pleasantries with newcomer spoke, "His name is Shaedolah Rar. He expressed some surprise at not finding as much ice on this world as he originally expected. He was also equally surprised to see the Empire... I think he was expecting to find remnants of the Chiss Empire here."

The Major bared his teeth in a grin at the thought.

Hardly.

He turned to the comm. officer. "Open a holochannel".

He tried to study the image that had made the transmission in the few seconds the return link was established.

Yuuzhan Vong. A cultivated voice for a Vong.


He took a deep breath.

"This is Colonel Jaeder, Commanding the Imperial Expeditionary Forces in this system.

An audience will be granted upon confirmation of your flag.

Please comply."



The transmission ended awaiting the intruder's response.

"Either they represent something larger than themselves or they represent nothing." the Major murmured.

"Are the Shrouds out there?"

"If they are they are not acknowledging."


The Colonel nodded.


"You think Vong can read Csillian?" the Major commented.

Jaeder shrugged. "If he's talking with the use of a translator creature, then it would translate spoken words. Understanding of written languages is something else altogether."

He motioned the others to silence. The Vong was responding.



OOC:

6 Shrouds (cloaked)

The Yuuzhan Vong waited patiently aboard the flagship, the rythmic tapping of his fingers on the arm of his command chair meerly something to keep his mind, and body, occupied.

His eyes travelled across the bridge of the Star Destroyer, past the crew pits an to the viewports outside. The ice world of Csilla had long been a fable, a legendary place guarded by the elusive, and often violent, Chiss.

Only a few non-Chiss had been welcomed to the planet before the New Republic overran it, including the infamous Baron Soontir Fell, former commander of the Empire's vaunted 181st TIE Inrtceptor sqaudron.

Shaedolah wondered briefly if the Baron was still down there.

The Vong's thoughts were interupted as the com signal picked up again, and a different voice, evidently that of a man used to being in command, spoke.

"...this is Colonel Jaeder, Commanding the Imperial Expeditionary Forces in this system..."

"...an audience will be granted upon confirmation of your flag..."

"...please comply..."

A smile crept onto the lips of the Vong, and he nodded.

"I should very much appreciate an audience, Colonel Jaeder." He said, bowing his head slightly in respect of the Imperial officer. "We have much to talk about, I am sure."

Out of sight, the Major's eyes rose slightly.

Colonel Jaeder politely smiled at the transmission.

"I look forward to hearing what you have to say... upon confirmation of your flag."

The Yuuzhan Vong blinked, looking at the man and nodding. Evidently, his grasp of Basic was not as secure as he had thought.

He nodded politely, "We hail from the Holy Demosthesian Empire, Colonel. Our home port is that of Sluis Van."

He waited. If the Imperial Officer knew his holdings, he would see that LFX Industrial still held the shipyard world. The Vong smiled slightly.

All was going according to plan.

Sluis Van?

A little off the beaten path aren't we?


"I look forward to receiving your shuttle. An honor guard will be arriving.." Colonel Jaeder had the communications officer send coordinates to the multiplex spaceport that served as a base of sorts. ".. to meet you and escort you to an appropriate anteroom, before being received by my officers and I. Please instruct your ships to hold their posture and assume standard orbit along these coordinates."

At his nod, the Major instructed the communications officer to relay an appropriate orbital vector.

"I look forward to meeting you.." the Colonel paused. "What is your name?"


The Major was already relaying commands into his private link with the garrision commanders and to make sure the approach vector to the assigned platform would be unobstructed. As the representative from Sluis Van answered, the Major walked into another room and instructed the scanning officers to keep their eyes peeled.

"Last thing we need is some damn celestial body striking one of their gunboats. Maintain a track of their positions as well as their approach.

Remember, how well they respond to the instructions will indicate the level of their competence as warriors." The Major felt a tad odd quoting the 4th Rule of General Ming's Advanced Class on Military Techniques and Observation.

"...I look forward to meeting you... What is your name...?"

Shaedolah paused, smiling thinly. The man, naturally, knew who he was. Someone would have relayed that information to the officer in charge by now.

No... this was a sort of offering, a show of repsect, perhaps? Or an effort to better know this visiter... better understand him, even?

The Vong warrior analyized all this in an instant, and, satisfied with his results, gave the man his name.

"Shaedolah Rar, Commander of the Black Fleet, Ebony Justice Division."

He paused for a moment, allowing that to register with the Imperial below, and gave a nod to one of the officers on his bridge.

"Our shuttle shall dispatch shortly... the battle group will take up orbit as requested."

He gave the man a small smile.

"I look forward to meeting you..."