Jan landed Rover on the Military Docking Bay. Jesmin was already there. There were also 9 Sentinel Shuttles and 12 Defiance Hover Units.

"I have 54 Engineers, and 672 Troops here, onboard the Defiance Hover Units and the Sentinels. I hope that will be enough."

"Hopefully it will be. This is Mirax, my secretary, who is also training to be a diplomate. I decided to bring her along, so that she could see the forming of the new peace treaty. Do you need a ride up to Angel?"

"No thank you, I will be travelling with my troops. I will see you onboard Angle."

"I hate to correct you, but you actually won't. I am travelling onboard Rover, so I can help teach Mirax more stuff about being a diplomate. She is also debating if she will enter Intelligence, so I am helping her with that."

"I understand. Until a later date then."

"Yes, until then."

Jesmin walked off and board one of the Defiance Hover Units. A few moments later all the Sentinel Shuttles and Defiance Hover Units rose into the air. Jan and Erisi quickly boarded Rover again, and launched into space. When they were in orbit, and had met Angel, Jan opened a communications line with them."

"What is the status on Angel and the fleet?"

"We are at full operational capacity. We have two squads of XJ X-wings, based onboard the Defender Gunships. We also have two squads of A-wings and two squads of K-wings, not onboard any ship. The Defiances are all in place, and the Sentinel Shuttles are ready to go. Will you be meeting with us?"

"No. I am going to fly the Rover there myself, it has been to long since I did that."

"I understand."

The fleet vanished into hyperspace, on route to Bimmisaari. Once they were in hyperspace, and the ship was on auto-pilot, Mirax quickly left, to go to the bunks. Jan waited for a bit, just to check the timing, and then followed her. When he arrived Mirax was leaning back on her pillow, wearing only a bra that did up on the front and a thong, with a very suggestive look on her face. When Jan entered, she stood up, and walked over to him. Then she started to kiss him passionately. Jan broke the kiss, but then kissed her right earlobe. Mirax leaned back, and Jan traced his mouth down to the hollow of her throat. Then she put her hands on his chest, and pushed him onto the bed. She quickly hopped ontop of him, and started to unbutton his shirt. Meanwhile Jan's hands moved forward, and unclapsed Mirax's bra. Then he slowly pulled it off, and his hands moved down to her thong, while her own hands moved onto his pants...

Ten hours later Jan woke up. Mirax was still asleep, her head and chest on his own chest. He slowly moved her off him, and then got dressed. He walked up to the cockpit. It wouldn't be long before they came out of hyperspace at Bimmisaari. He quickyl walked back and woke up Mirax.

"Mirax, it's time to wake up, we are going to be comeing out of hyperspace soon."

"I understand. Pass my my clothes please."

"Sure thing. Then I have to go to the cockpit, to handle the reversion."

Jan quickly passed Mirax her clothes, and then walked up to the cockpit. Five minute later, when Mirax had arrived, an alarm sounded. Jan slowly brought the ship back into realspace. He immediately call Angel

"Scan the system, I want to know about any developements. Do we have any enemies on sensors? Broadcast of IFF codes. Tell the planet that we are here, responding to their distress call. Tell all Defiance Hover Units to release their magnetic grapples.

"The Stopper has sutained severe damage to it's ventral axis section, including one gravity well completely..." The sensor ensign trailed off, apparently double-checking some readings. Joren waited patiently behind him, looking over his shoulder.

"Sir...if these readings are correct... the gravwell generators have been removed. They are completely gone. The domes have been hollowed out and the equipment taken." The ensign said, rechecking his readings again.

Joren's brow furrowed, "Removed?"

"Yes."

Malor scowled visibly, looking from side to side, almost as if he was searching for someone to blame, "So now we have Slavers, Smugglers, and Pirates on our hands?" He asked.

Joren nodded, "It looks that way."

Malor scowled again and stalked off, towards the communications station.

Joren leaned down towards the sensor console, "Continue your studies, ensign. Inform me if anything comes up." He said.

The ensign nodded and Joren called Malor over, "Captain. Organize salvage teams, and search parties. If there are any survivors, we must get them out of there. I will call any nearby GC ships to tow her back to Mon Calamari." Joren said. Malor nodded and stalked off.

Joren headed for his own little office, to contact a tow ship.





"The two Defender-class Gunships have taken up flanking positions on either side of the Stopper, sir. " Joren heard Malor say as thw two Coalition vessels locked tractor beams onto the larger Interdictor cruiser and began to tow it out of the Rodian system.

"What is the status ofd the survivors?" Joren asked.

"There are only thirty-eight. They report that most of the crew was captured by the slavers/pirates. The executive officer was among the survivors." Malor said.

"Good. I'd like to speak with him." Joren said.

Malor nodded and led him down to the recovery ward, a branch if the Orcid's sickbay. Commander Heffner, the Stopper's XO, was laying on a bed, his arms across his chest. Joren walked nup to stand next to the bed, Natalie and Malor hoverned nearby.

"Commander Heffner." He said.

The man, who had appeared to have been sleeping,, sat up a bit, and made a small attempt at saluting the Fleet Admiral. Joren smiled and saluted back.

"What happened, Heffner?" Joren asked.

"We were on routine patrol, when we were pulled out of hyperspace. It was another interdictor cruiser, Corellian manufacture. A CC-7400 or something like that. They had a much larger ship with them. It looked like a modified Kaloth Battlecruiser, but I cannot be sure. They attacked, damaging my ship...then boarded. The Tears of the Gods[//i] tried to fight back, but they were boarded as well. The pirates captured most of the Sto's crew and then left. The only ones that remained were the few of us who decided to fight them off." Heffner said.

"Did they make off with the Tears of the Gods?" Joren asked.

"I think so, yes. We placed a tracer on their big ship. The locater is on thew Stopper." Heffner said.

"I will have it retreived, and we'll get our people back." Joren said.

Heffner nodded, and then drifted off into unconciousness. Joren headed for the door. He had a Rodian to visit.





"You are leaving already?" Grand Protector Chattza asked, incredulous.

"Yes. We have located our ship, and the captive crew of it. We need to rescue them." Joren explained.

"I see. Will you be leaving any ships behind to protect your newest member world?" Chattza asked.

"Yes, actually. Two Victory-Class Star Destroyers are on their way. They will be placed in defense of Rodia." Joren said,

"Ah good. We recently received word from the Outer-Rim Sovereignty ambassador. They have located their ship as well, I beleive."

"That is good news. Maybe the Sovereignty and the Galactic Coalition can cooperate." Joren said. Chattza merely smiled.

"Well. Please hold of your departure untill the two Coalition ships get here. If you would..."

"Of course. I still need to speak with the Ambassador."

"Of course."

President Xander Griff scowled at the planet, and the ships coming up at his Outer-Rim Sovereignty task force.

He had been pursuing rogue Admiral Sarn, of the ORS Second Sentinel Brigade. The Admiral had been in charge of protecting the increasingly hostile Kathol Sector, untill the entire sector rose up and declared their independance of Sovereign rule. Sarn and his ships joined the confederates, and launched attacks against ORS holdings in the Kathol sector, quickly quelling all resistance.

Sarn had made the stupid mistake three weeks ago of attacking the Sovereign holdings at the planet Ison. The Military Overseer of the Ison system promptly responded by launching a staunch defense of the world and called for backup. Griff, growing increasingly agitated at Sarn, arrived with a task force of three Star Destroyers and eight Birds of Prey to fight off Sarn. The Admiral had lost two of his frigates and then retreated. Griff and his forces had been pursuing the rogue ever since, hopping from one star system to another, methodically tracking the traitors.

After three weeks, they had finally cornered Sarn and his forces at the former Mon Calamari Republic planet Bimmisaari. Now, Griff watched as Sarn, and the last surviving ships rose up from orbit of Bimmisaari and began to engage the Sovereign forces.

"Sir, the enemy forces are coming in. Full speed." Admiral Keyan, Griff's battle coordinator for this task force, said.

"Good. Have the Birds decloak and form up in pattern twelve-beta. The Star Destroyers are to deploy in standard wedge formation. All starfighters are to be launched and deploy in screen formation." Griff said.

Keyan began to relay the orders to the induvidual ships and their commanders. Griff stood and walked to the forward viewport to watch the battle unfold.

Sarn had somehow managed to convince his whole fleet, the Sovereignty Second Sentinel Brigade to join forces with the Kathol Sector (newly named the 'Kathol Protectorate') and fight the 'oppressive'' rule of President Griff. The Kathol Sector had launched a propaganda smear campaign against Griff, trying to discredit him, and the Vice-President Marth Meer.

The Kathol Sector had issued a declaration of independance and launched minor assaults on Sovereignty holdings. Sarn was merely one of those. He was a traitor, and would be dealt with justly and rightly so.

"Open a channel to the traitors." Griff said, as the first shoyts were being exchanged between the two rival forces.

"Channel open." The Communications officer said.

"Attention, Kathol Protectorate forces. This is President Xander Griff. Stop your assault and surrender your vessels. If you obey this directive, you will not be executed as traiters. It is rumored that some of you may have been forces, againt your will to rebel against the Sovereignty. End this fighting, I don't want to kill any of my own." He said.

Griff heard an angry voice respond. He recognized it as Admiral Sarn, "Griff. Why don't YOU just leave us alone, and stand down. We are merely defending ourselves here. You are killing us all, when we came here to rest and repair our ships, and tend our wounded." Sarn said.

"But it was you who launched the first attack on Ison. I will not let that go unpunished, which is the reason we have chased you here." Griff returned.

Sarn's response was launching his starfighters, and redoubling the Kathol Forces offensive push. Griff gave several orders to Keyan, trying to corner the rebel forces.

"Sir, the Bimm government is hailing us. They sound frantic." The communications officer said.

Griff nodded, "Put them through." He said.

A frantic high-pitched Bimm voice suddenly filled the bridge speakers, "This is Prime Minister Teral of the Bimmisaari government, please state your intentions."

Griff leaned forward, "This is President Griff of the Outer-Rim Sovereignty. This is an internal matter and does not involved the Bimm government." He said carefully.

"We are sending up defensive fighters. I suggest you back off, and leave the system." The Prime Minister said, nervously.

Griff shook his head, "I reccomend against sending defensive ships. We have not harmed a single Bimm, nor do we intend to. We are dealing with rogue elements of our military. Please do not give involved." He said.

"I must protest!"

"Save it." Griff said, cutting the transmission.

He looked over at Keyan, who was intently studying sensor readings, "The Bimms are sending up fighters that match our statistics of the Mon Calamari 'MC-10' starfighters. They are presumably remnants of Mon Calamari defenses on the world." He said.

Griff sighed, "Withdrawl. I will not involve the Bimms. Back off for now." He said.

A minute later, the Sovereignty forces retreated, followed closely by Sarn's.
Keyan nodded and began relaying the orders.

Jan say numerous ORS ships in front of him. It seemed that they were having a confrontation, but he did not know if this was just a war game, or and actually situation. Either way he didn't want to find out. He quickly flew Rover to Angel and landed. He ran up to the bridge, Mirax beside him.

"Sir, we have incoming fighters from the planets. Statistics lead us to believe that they are MC-10 Starfighters left over from the Mon Calamari Republic garrison."

"I understand. I wonder how they managed to survive the Imperial assault that broke apart the Mon Calamari Republic? And who is piloting those starfighters? The Bimms are a peaceful people, they would not pilot starfighters capable of killing people and destroying things. Oh well that is not important. Hail the planet, inform them that we are here, answering their distress call."

"Yes sir. The ORS ships are withdrawing away from the planets."

"I see."

"Sir, Prime Minister Teral is answering our hail."

"Excellent."

"Galactic Coalition Forces, this is Prime Minister Teral, who am I talking to?"

"This is Fleet Admiral Jan Dondana. I came here to answer your distress call."

"Yes. We had the problem of an unknown ORS fleet arriving in our system. They did not answer any hails. Then another ORS fleet arrived, and just answered that it was an internal conflict. I was talking to one President Griff. They seemed to have a confrontation. I also heard something called the Kathol Protectorate mentioned in intercepted messages."

That was interesting news. The Kathol Protectorate was an unknown factor as far as Jan knew. They had shown up not so long ago, and had declared war on the Outer-Rim Sovereignity.

"I see. We will try to defend you. I do not think the second Outer-Rim Sovereignity fleet menas you any harm. In fact, can you give me a channel to President Griff?"

"I am transmitting his channel."

"Thank you. I will call you back soon."

"All right. The next time you call I have something very important to talk to you about."

"Ok."

Jan signed off, and then turn to his communications officer.

"Lieutenant, we have the file, right?"

"Yes."

"Good, then hail President Griff."

"Yes sir."

"President Griff, this is Fleet Admiral Jan Dondana of the Galactic Coalition. Bimmisaari is under the protection of the Galactic Coalition. Might I ask you intentions in this system? If it is to deal with the other ORS fleet, as I suspect, thanks to information I gained from the Prime Minister, the Galactic Coalition may be willing to help, depending on the reason for why you are following them."

He turned to the Lieutenant and signalled him to mute it, but to record everything.

"Open a communications line with Prime Minister Teral."

"Prime Minister, this is Jan Dondana. You wanted to discuss something important with me?"

"Excellent. The important matter was that Bimmisaari wishes to join the Galactic Coalition. We feel that it is time for us to join you, and therefore earn your protection."

Jan looked at Mirax, and caught her eye. She understood what he meant. Her training as a diplomat started now. She walked over, so that she could input ideas.

"The Galactic Coalition would be happy to have Bimmisaari join us. Please come onboard to sign the papers."

The prime minsiter came onboard and signed the papers. Bimmisaari had joined the Galactic Coalition.

Griff ignored the Coalition admiral's transmission. As President of the Sovereignty, he had made it clear that ORS would keep a position of neutrality and non-interference. He was already too involved with these Coalition types just by being here. He needed to get out of here, and go back to his little corner of the galaxy.

"Sir, I have another contact, coming about on a course of three-eight-zero mark four." Keyan reported.

"A Coalition vessel?" He asked.

"Yes sir. But I do not think it want's to help the Coalition." Keyan said, pointing to the ship, which was rapidly filling up the forward viewscreens.

A Victory-class Star Destroyer.

Griff frowned, "Well, well, well. Scan it. I think you will find that it is the Tears of the Gods." He said to Keyan.

The other nodded, "It does match the information Arden gave us."

"Send a brief text message to Dondana, informing them of our find. All ships, open fire on the Victory now, Ion only." He said to Keyan, even now the captured Coalition vessel was opening fire on two Birds of Prey, which returned the fire in blue-white blasts.

The vessel Griff was standing on, the Restoration came about and opened up with its numerous ion cannons as well. All Sovereignty forces converged on the small Star Destroyer.

"Sir!" Keyan suddenly said to Griff, who was leaning over the sensor console. Griff stood and jogged over to were Keyan sat.

"It is one of the Birds of Prey, the Avatar Six. She is listing, and the Tears of the Gods is attacking her. The Bird will succumb if we don't get it some support."

Griff nodded, "Do it then." He said simply.

One of the Sovereign Star Destroyers shifted position and placed itself between the damaged Bird and the oncoming Victory-class Star Destroyer.

Soon, the captured Coalition ship stopped, dead in space as hundreds, perhaps over a thousand, ion blasts pummeled the ship.

"Send assault teams and secure the vessel." Griff said, "And then return it to the Coalition. Also get a tow line on that Bird and get her back to Bakura." Griff said.

Keyan nodded.

Calmarian Senator Milova smiled at Joren in holographic form.

"I just got done with speaking to the Sovereignty ambassador, here, in Foamwander City. He says that an Sovereignty task forces was spotted at Bimmisaari." The Calmarian Senator said.

Joren frowned, "At Bimmisaari?" He asked, confused.

"Yes. Isn't that where you are headed?" Milova asked.

"Yes, actually. We have tracked the Tears of the Gods to Bimmisaari." He said.

"Why would the Sovereignty be interested in Bimmisaari at all?" Milova asked, seemingly to no one.

"I have no idea. The Sovereignty representative I spoke to back at Rodia mentioned nothing about Bimmisaari. Merely that they had found what they were looking for." Joren said.

"Well, I suggest that you be on your guard, Admiral. We wouldn't want anything to happen to you."

The Calmarian at the other end of the commline signed off. Joren sat there for a moment, deep in thought. Something the way Milova had said that...

He didn't let it bother him. The comm system suddenly chimed and a voice filled through the room's speakers.

"Admiral Arden to the bridge." It said. Joren stood and quickly made his way to the bridge.

"Report." He said, as soon as he arrived.

"We will be dropping out of hyperspace in a few seconds." His XO, Kresh, reported.

"Good. Once we have reverted, scan the area. Be on the lookout, we may get more than we bargained for." He said.

Kresh gave him a confused look, but when the dropped out of hyperspace a second later, he did as ordered.

"Evasives!" Kresh shouted suddenly, "Outer Rim Sovereignty forces in-system." He said.

Joren surveryed the scene. A large task force of ORS ships were maing their way toward the Coalition forces. Joren began to issue battle orders, preparing for a fight.

"They are not charging weapons. They are preparing for a hyperspace jump. And sir...the Tears of the Gods is holding position alongside Coalition vessels. It appears to be Admiral Dondana's task force."

Joren breathed a sigh of relief.





"You were defeated?" Milova asked, again in hologram form.

"Yes. Scorpion must have a leak somewhere." Admiral Sarn said.

"No Project Scorpion has no leak.. You were incompetant."

Sarn scowled at the Calmarian. Milova ignored him.

"Nevertheless, we must continue as planned. We must get rif of Arden. Only then can I cross out the names of the Coalition high leaders, one by one. We can easily take control of this government."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing, at the moment. Just get back to the Kathol sector, and contact me at our usual time."

"Very well."