Lumier nodded and hit the ships engines, the engine started up but then died and slowly shut down

"What the......", she said trying to figure out, "Damn!", she said and flew out of her seat and ran to the back of the ship, she skidded on the ground and flew under what appeared to be a normal engine block, she threw open the hatch and switched a few wires around. The ship shook violantly

"Lumier hurry up! We have incoming", Yelled someone from the cockpit, she changed more of the wires and the engine lite up she used her hands and flew out from under the block and toward the cockpit and jumped into the seat, she hit the launch key and the shuttle rose its wings came out and stabalized and the ship rose into the air, its rockets firing

Lumier glanced at the sensor display, several laser blasts flew past them, "Tail cannons online... tracking... targetting... firing", she said and smiled when she saw several burning fighters fly past them and explode

She then got on the com's, "This is shuttle Tiderium to Flagship 'Triton' ", she said waiting for a response

--

Kasandra was pacing back and forth

"Ma'am, I'm getting a com's from shuttle Triderium", The com's officer said

Kasandra shot a look at her, "Patch it through"

"This is shuttle Trideruim to Flagship Triton"

"Tell them we read them load and clear, and to transmite there clearance code, once thats complete.. and if there allie's then have them proceed to docking base 2", Kasandra said

"And there not friendlys", The com officer said

"Blow them up", Kasandra said gesturing to two guards, the guards nodded and followed her off the bridge

--

Lumier waited there nervously, "Come on come on...", she said

"We read you loud and clear Shuttle Triderium, please transmite you're clearance code", came the reply

"Roger, transmiting clearance code", she said and looked over at the co-pilot who nodded and left the cockpit, Lumier watched as the co-pilot walked off the bridge she then pressed a button that closed the door

"Geez, she acts as if she has some secret to protect", The co-pilot said with a hint of annoyance in his voice

Tzhali chuckled a bit, "She does, its called a high level clearance, not even I know her code and if anyone was to find out.... they would have to die", he said

The co-pilot moaned

Lumier's hand danced across the console with lightning speed, she knew her code so well that it only took 5 seconds for her type it in

She waited for awhile then got the confirmation message, she moved her hand over the console and opened the door, "Ok you can come back in", she said

The co-pilot nodded and took his postion

He glanced at her and noticed that she was more focused on her flying than him being there

The shuttle flew through space and toward the docking bay

As Lumier lined up the shuttle several lasers flew past the shuttlecraft and brased the shields of cap ship, another laser blast hit the wing of the shuttle, the shuttle spun 180 degree's and was now flying backwards toward the hanger bay

"Everyone! Brace for emergency landing!", Lumier yelled

--

The flight officer ran across the hanger bay, her eyes focused on the incoming shuttle

"Move those fighters out of the way!", She yelled to some flight members, "Get a tractor beam on that shuttle!", she yelled over the com line

A small device extended from the ceiling and pointed outward toward the shuttle. The beam extended and the shuttle began to slow down then slowly came into the hanger bay and was soon lowered to the ground.

Lumier shook her head, "gotta love flight officer Merendez, she really knows her stuff", She said and walked out of the cockpit, "Ok, where safly aboard Tzhali", she said

Tzhali nodded and pressed the doors control's, the door opened and the camp lowered onto the ground

Merandez stood there, several marines where with her. They lowered there weapons when they saw the captain, "Sorry about the rough re'entry captain", she said with a hint of a smile

"Why is it...everytime I fly something like this happens?" Naosha grumbled as she fought to keep her last meal down in her stomach where it belonged.

Silliss chuckled mildly. "How many times have you flown?" He asked.

"Twice."

The warrior chuckled again. "A bit of a premature judgment don't you think ma'dam?"

Naosha gave him a look. "Considering I've nearly gotten killed both times I do think so." She said sharply. Silliss simply shrugged at that, though he felt she was exaggerating just a tad. He knew about the first ship she flew in, which was Varcanna's ship Hunters Way. A modified T4 Lambda Class shuttle, Hunters Way was faster and far more agile then it looked. Varcanna often just had the ship curse at a Lambda's normal speed just to throw off would be pirates when she put the ship at full speed. The fact she never bothered to paint the ship other then the standard white added to this deception. It was the willing sneakiness on Varcanna's part that he liked in the female, though he kept that to himself.

"Trissan is going to end up in a cage too..." Naosha grumbled soarly, rubbing her bandaged leg.

"You shouldn't be to harsh on the lad ma'dam." Silliss said. "If it wasn't for him, we might not have found out about the explosives in time...or about the fact that the ships pilot wasn't exactly friendly to us or to our Wookiee friend." He poked her in the ribs. "Besides...who was it that went out by herself without any protection?"

Naosha winced at that. "I know what I did...or didn't do in this case...and what it nearly cost us all..."

"We'll need to have the ships medic give a proper look at that."

"I am fine Silliss...I don't need a medic."

"If you still had your regeneration abilities I wouldn't be insisting on it."

Naosha growled softly, folding her arms and looking sulky. He was right, being middle aged now she did not have the regeneration abilities her kind possessed: if she was to lose a limb now...it would stay lost.

They watched as Tzhali opened the ships door and lowered the ramp. Predictably, Trissan made a beeline for it the moment he saw it. Not only was no one able to stop him, but he tripped and ended up rolling head over heel down the ramp. The young trandoshan landed at Merandez's feet, a bit dizzy but otherwise unhurt. The flight officer and her guards all had jumped back, more out of surprise then anything else.

"Trissan...you trouble maker..." Naosha groaned as she limped down the ramp, Silliss right behind her. "Please forgive my grandson...he has not yet learned not to run up, or should I say 'roll up' to strangers."


***

Back on Trandosha's surface, Besk was cursing his double bad luck. Not only did Naosha and her kids get away, but the team he had sent to the old temple found nothing but a few pieces of abandoned equipment the remainder of the rebel group left behind. If he had been acting under Hyossk's orders he would be expecting rather nasty retribution for his failure. However he was acting on his own here, and the only one who would punish him would be himself...provided Hyossk didn't find out about this: Besk had no intention of letting the Elder Councilor know either.

Where Naosha and her group would have gone he could only guess. No doubt they were on the Wookiee's flagship by now. Would they be taken to Kashyyyk? A part of him doubted it, but he wasn't going to eliminate that possibility. Finding Rissonik and his half of the group will likely prove to be just as difficult to location, despite them still being on the planet. He had no doubts that they had scattered and could be anywhere and everywhere. The danger of this was that being scattered like that would allow them to gain support even faster. However...against them was the fact that without any organization or a base of operations, it would be difficult for them to strike out at the government. Plus with Naosha off planet she couldn't guide them herself very easily.

This would provide Besk and his allies time to find as many members as possible and 'remove' them perminately.

Only a minor set back... Besk thought, a sly grin forming on his muzzle. This spliting of their forces could very well be their downfall.

Merendez and her marines just looked at each other for a second before laughing, when they stopped laughing Merendez waved her hand in the air, "Its quite alright, to be honest we havn't had this much humor in quite some time", she said and looked at the condition of the ship, "I take it Lumier was flying?"

"Ha ha ha", Lumier said coming down the ramp

Merendez put her arm around Lumiers neck and they both walked off, talking to each other and occationaly laughing

"Those two", Kasandra said with a sigh, "I'm still surprised high command put them on the same ship"

"You're right", Tzhali said walking up to the Fleet Officer, "But those two do bring some humor to us all"

"You mean like the time lumier was flying that fighter and she had to make an emergency landing, and instead of landing rightside up she landed upside down", Kasandra said with a bit of a chuckle

"As much as I would like to think about the good old days we have other things we have to worry about", Tzhali said and looked at Naosha

Kasandra nodded, and glanced at Trissan. "She brought some children with her, if she wants we can take them over to the nursury sir", she said

"Thats completely up to her, luckily the only children on board are Human, not wookie. So her kids shouldn't have any problem, and if any the nurse's will keep things in line", Tzhali said and handed a waiting marine his rifle

The marine looked at the rifle and noticed something that Tzhali hadn't, "Sir.. did you know this rifle is useless?"

"What do you mean useless?", Tzhali asked

The marine gestured toward the two deep holes in the rifle, ironicly those two holes where in a postion that the rifle was in when he was firing on the enemie, the postion of the rifle had saved his life.

"Man, talk about a stroke of luck", Tzhali said and then gestured toward the other marines to get back to there stations

"Kasandra, set a course for Kashyyyk but make no mension of use having any Trandoshans aboard", Tzhali said

"Why not sir?", Kasandra asked, confused

"Just do it fleet officer", He said

"Yes Sir", Kasandra said while saluting, she then took off

He sighed and looked around, the hanger was a bussel of activity, fighters being moved back into position, other fighters returning to base, others being rearmed and refueled. He then looked at Naosha's elite guard, they where on ship but he knew that even though they had several meters of armor between them and the enemie it still did not compare to being on the ground where her group would be more effective

He walked over to Naosha, and then glanced down at her grandson, "If you want. My men can take you're children to the nursury", he said, "Hmmm but then again, this one", he said and gestured toward Trissan, "Might be better off staying with you", he said, "Please come. There's much we need to discuss", he said and gestured for her to follow him

Several marines stood there watching him, there guns not really trained on them but more like watching. "So then, command was right", a marine whispered to his companion

"Command said Tzhali had a weak spot for Trandoshans, thats why they assigned him a rather small fleet .... however with this evidence we can have him thrown in prison", Another marine said

"No, quite frankly I say we should just end his life... and take over the ship, humans and other races are all over this ship and I personaly find it disgusting", Another marine said in disgust

"Then its settled, let the security detail know .. that we'll start when the 3rd shift get's into motion", the lead marine said

Tzhali's eye's where glowed on the marines, the marines didn't even notice it... nor did it even notice that Tzhali had heard everything. However so that they wouldn't know they had been made, he decided to just keep on walking

Naosha had a couple of the warriors go with her three granddaughters to the nursery, as a precaution mainly, while she, Trissan and Silliss started to follow Tzhali.

"What should we have the rest of our group do?" Silliss asked her.

"Best we keep them in the hanger bay for now, until we can arrange for temporary quarters." Naosha said as she scooped up Trissan to prevent him from getting into any more trouble today.

As they passed the marines Silliss also heard...and understood...their conversation. Like Tzhali he pretended he didn't hear them and kept walking, but made a mental note to tell Tzhali the moment it was safe to do so. Once out of their line of sight he subconsicously he felt for the vibrolance that was strapped to his back: he had a feeling he'll be using it soon.

Naosha had noticed Silliss' movement and knew what it meant: that he suspected...or knew...something was wrong. Not again.... She thought, fighting to keep her expession from revealing her fear.

Soon they entered a room that obviously served as a briefing room. At first Silliss thought it would be safe to reveal what he had overheard before to Tzhali and almost did, until he saw the two Marines that were already inside.

Putting guards in a briefing room I can understand if it was some top secret meeting... He thought. But guards for a casual meeting? Either he is extremely paranoid or those guards are in leage with the ones in the hanger bay...

He kept his mouth shut, not wanting to reveal his suspisions just yet, but resolved to be on his guard. Oh how his instincts were screaming...

Tzhali's eyes darted at both the guards, and narrowed a bit. What are two guards doing in here?, he thought to himself and took his seat

The others did the same, he reached for his pistol and placed it on the table and moved over to a pad and pressed a few keys. The door locked, and a screen came down, revealing Kashyyyk and its surrounding planets

He began to explain what they where going to do, that they where heading to Kashyyyk to talk in a more 'safe' enviroment, that was when a marine walked over and placed some tea, or rather what Tzhali thought was tea on the table. He looked at it, then glared at the marine

"Where's the usual server?", He asked

"Ummm sick sir, I took her place", the marine said

"Unlikely, she's never sick", Tzhali said

"How do you know?", The marine asked getting a bit nervous

"Cause andriods CAN'T get sick", he said and grabed his pistol and aimed it at the marines neck, the other marine drew his rifle but was shot dead before he even fired a shot, Tzhali's other hand held a second, unseen pistol that had been trained on the other guard without anyone knowing it

"Tell me, why?", Tzhali said in a calm tone

"Why what?", The marine said feeling the cold steel of the pistol against his neck

"Why poison our drinks?", Tzhali said

"Ho.... how did you...", The marine said

"You think wookies sense of smell is bad?", Tzhali said and chuckled a bit, "Not likely you underestimate us", he said and pushed the pistol even deeper into the marines neck, "Now.. tell me..."

"No", The marine said, the marine knew that Tzhali would never kill a human, expically since it was against there orders to do so unless under due cause... however there was a flaw in that order, it only extended to Wookies and other humans.. not to Trandoshans

Tzhali sighed and looked over the table at Silliss, "I'm sure you're itching to try something here.. want to interrogate him yourself?", He said

Naosha could only moan 'not again', her head in her hands. Trissan was just staring wide eyed at it all, frozen in place. Silliss on the other hand stood up, a broad grin forming on his face revealing his many sharp teeth as he drew his vibrolance out of it's holder.

The guards eyes went very wide indeed as Silliss approached him, his lance leading. "Now...in my clan our warriors are trained on how to take a lot of pain without even flinching..." Silliss said cooly. "We are an honorable clan...we usually kill our enemies quickly. But to those that show disloyality to their leader..." He let the statement hang a moment before continuing. "We put in a lot of pain before finishing them off.

"Now...." He put the tip of the lance right up against the guard's throat, causing a small bead of blood to form. "we Trandoshans can normally take a lot of punishment without the kind of training my clan provides...how long do you think you can last?"

A distinctive odor suddenly filled the air as the guard literally @#%$ in his pants: Silliss knew the guard got the 'point'.

"Now that we have come to an understanding...how about filling us in on your little poisioning plot. Hmmm?"

The guard was silent for a moment, then let it spill all out. Detailing how many of the marines were plotting to stage a coup at the start of the 3rd shift because they felt Tzhali was a traitor to his people for being 'soft' toward Trandoshans.

"And here you are...a human...telling us this. Did you know I personally over heard one of the other marines state that he found it disgusting that humans were on board? Oh...he was a Wookiee by the way..."

"Wha..."

"That's right...they want you off the ship too, they are likely only letting you in on the fun because there aren't enough Wookiees that side with them to pull it off."

"But...but..."

"Oh shut up and take a nap will you...." With that Silliss rotated his lance around and smashed the blunt end of it against his head, rendering him unconscious. "Looks like it may not be best for us to go to your homeworld at this moment..." Silliss said to Tzhali. "At least...not until we take care of this mutiny first."

"Even then..." Naosha said with a deep sigh. "With your own government not exactly trusting you it may not be safe." At that moment Naosha felt like she wanted to find the deepest bunker with the thickest walls and just seal herself in for some number of years...

Tzhali sighed, "One problem at a time", he said to himself and opened a com with Kasandra and Lumier, and told them what they had discovered.

Lumier sighed and so did Kasandra, "You two know what to do, pull everyone from 2nd and 3rd shifts and have 1st shift, which is all wookies, take over. Interrogate everyone and... to hell with our orders in regard to humans", he said and closed the channal, he then sat down and an R2 unit rolled over to the dead wookies body and slowly pulled it out of the room

"Now, shall we get back to bussiness?", Tzhali said, while waiting for the answer he scaned every part of the ship and increase's security in all the important places, which included the nursury and several quarters

Naosha nodded, taking a moment to clear her mind of the current 'problems' around them as Silliss took his set again. "We don't intend to be dependant on your protection for very long. Only long enough to find a planet to set up base on to continue our movement...and possibly as a new home if it comes to that.

"My long term goal is to set up a society were Trandoshans and Wookiees can live and work together in harmony. But to even being to go that route we need to get past a lot of bad blood on both our ends. For so long we have hated and killed each other and with new and powerful factons rising in this galaxy likely eyeing our worlds for conquest, we need to be ready to repell them if we are to keep our independance...however we can't do that if we are constantly at each other's throats.

"Ultimately it may not be possible to change both of our societies as a whole to be accepting toward each other: such hatred is deeply ingrained and not easily uprooted and removed. However, if we can get a few from each said to set aside their differences to learn to work together...it would be a start. Including the group I've brought with me...we have nearly a thousand willing to try."

"We need to actually survive our respective governments attempts to stop us first of course." Silliss put in, reminding everyone of the newly revealed planned coup on that very ship. "If you need my warriors to temporarly take over some likely newly vacated positions just let me know."

Tzhali thought about Silliss words, then nodded. "If need be.. that would be appriated, most of the ships crew is humans, only about 40% is wookie and there's a good reason for that but I won't say right now", he said

"Once we get everything settled on this ship, we can head to Kashyyyk where someone I know will help find a suitable planet. However under no circomstances must you reveal yourself to anyone outside the ship who might come aboard", Tzhali said and looked at Silliss, "That includs you're guards if it comes to us needing them"

The door opened and Lumier came in, she had her rifle still on her shoulder. "We've locked down 2nd and 3rd shifts and there currectly under going interrigations, however if you're planing on heading to you're homeworld then I would suggest we... 'fake' some damage to the ship, damage around the interrogation rooms and other area's just so that no one finds out", She said

He thought about it, lieing the last thing he wanted to do but he knew he would have to if it ment staying in command... and also finding the Trandoshan's a home, "Very well.. do the best you can to simulate some battle damage"

The screen came on, and Kasandra was there. "You won't need to Simulate any damage, sensor's are picking up 6 incoming Trandoshan ships. I don't know how they found us sir, but there here.. and closing fast", She said

"Can we use our orbital guns?", Tzhali asked

"Unless you have someone on board who's a dead shot, I don't see how we can hit them", Kasandra said with a shrug, "Shall I order our fighters to launch?"

"No, it'll be suicide.. and besides you said it yourself, there closing on us fast, our hyperdrives are still under repairs so we couldn't escape even if we wanted to.. however, there might be a way", Tzhali said and got up and walked over to another console, he typed in a few commands and noticed that Kasandra was looking at something to her left, "Can you do it ?", he asked

Kasandra nervously replied, "Y... yes sir... but... what about the Nursury? Those cords place it very near there", she said

"We've done this multiple times before Kasandra, if it was any other fleet offier I would be nervous, but since its YOU, it shouldn't be to much trouble at all", Tzhali said, smiling. The smile was resuring to her. She saluted then the channal switched off

"Looks like someone on board either fired off a message.. or someone on that planet managed to get a message off, either way looks like we'll have some fun", He said and looked at Silliss, "You're men are probably itching for some action, if you want some action then head on down to deck 4, aft coridor its near the Nursury. Thats where they'll be once they get there ships close by", he said and got up, "Once this battle is over we'll continue", he walked out of the room.

Tzhali was walking down the Corridor leading to the equipment bay, he ran his furry hand over his face. "I wasn't expecting this much trouble, that Trandoshan female must be a very important figure for them to send 6 ships, and the fact that there not firing but are taking up boarding positions proves that they want something on this ship", He said, "They want her, or her grandchildren.. they'll have to fight"

"Besk..." Naosha muttered after Tzhali left the room.

"Who?" Silliss muttered.

"Besk...a former member of the Clan. He was the one that shot at me just before we took off. He must have been the one that told those ship where we are." Naosha explained. "Riss told me he works as a free lance mercinary now and has a lot of connections..."

"Obviously." Silliss grumbled. "Ma'dam...best you stay in here while I get our warriors. I'll have two of them come here as a precaution just in case the invading force gets this far...though I doubt that would happen." Silliss said with a grin. "With his security forces effectively cut by two thirds right now he'll need all the help he can get."

Naosha nodded and hugged Trissan tightly as the warrior left the room. The guard Silliss had knocked out earlier was starting to come too, so she took a chair and bashed him over the head, knocking him out again. She then relieved the newly unconscious guard of his pistol and moved to the corner furtherest away from the door...and wondered just why human extrectment had to smell so bad...

...

Silliss ran to the hanger bay where the rest of the group was waiting.

"Cumo with mo!" He called to them in Clan dialect. "Thoro is u buttlo seen te bo hud!"

All of the nearly thirty warriors cheered, most of them having been itching for some real action ever since the fire fight back down on the surface. Silliss lead them to the corridor Tzhali told him about, leaving two warriors at the briefing room on the way, and after a quick look at what would be the battleground he had his warriors take up ambush positions. The two guards that had been assigned to guard Naosha's three granddaughters were told to stay in the nursery and to evacuate the kids if things started to go badly. Silliss doubted it would...but he couldn't take any chances, not with the next generation's lives at stake.

After everyone was ready, all they could do was wait...