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[Chancellor Dewa Lanadi]

During the senate's recess the chancellor accompanied the Remunzian senator to the Remunzian Embassy — which is conveniently located inside the senate building.

After they arrive in the senator's offices, the chancellor sits down on part of the long couch formed by mossy stones that have been artfully clustered together. She motions for the Remunzian senator to sit down as well.

"I take it this reaction must have come as somewhat of a shock?", she asks after Salixa sits down.

[Senator Salixa of the Silver Forests of Remunzia]

The Remunzian senator brushed her hand over the mossy stone a moment, an automatic gesture to make sure no small animals would accidentally be sat upon - it wasn't as unlikely as one might think.

"I don't understand..." she looked to the chancellor "When we discussed this meeting, our government agreed they would explain they were committed to peace. I don't understand why they would suddenly make such a turn and take a new position!"

She looked away for a moment "Maybe they thought it would be better to keep up the ruse... I can't think of any other reason why they would say such a thing."

After fidgeting with her skirt for a moment to make sure it fell right, she looked back to the chancellor "They probably just took the ruse too far. We are against slavery, but the words in that message were threatening... I... I don't think I support them..."

The green-haired Senator seemed to feel guilty for saying it, but she meant what she said.

[Chancellor Dewa Lanadi]

"I do not think you need to feel guilty over not agreeing with the statement that appeared to come from your government."

"I am sure that your government would have informed you if they decided to take the ruse this far. But more to the point, I do not truly believe that it actually came from your government."

The chancellor looks around for a moment to take in the uniquely decorated office. This moment of pause offered the Remunzian senator a moment to think, and to react if she wanted.

[Senator Salixa of the Silver Forests of Remunzia]

"I don't understand..." Senator Salixa looked confused at the Chancellor.

The office was designed to look like a natural setting, the couch made of stone with soft moss to sit on. Along the walls and by the glass windows were planters filled with greenery, and the Chancellor was reasonably sure that there were various animals hiding between the plants, some of them even flying or crawling about the room. It was like living in the tropical section of a zoo, honestly, except that it was more temperate.

"Do you think this is all some sort of... joke...? Some... hacker breaking into communications...? Weren't there... security codes and such...?"

The Senator seemed to think that made some sense, though she wasn't quite sure how anyone would pull that off. Then again, she wasn't quite sure how the holonet communication technology worked on a fundamental level - after all, she was a politician, not a technician, so she couldn't exclude the possibility.

[Chancellor Dewa Lanadi]

"This is in no way a joke.", the chancellor replied with a tone of voice that left no trace of doubt about how extremely unfunny this joke would be, and how extremely amny problems the would-be joke hacker would have.

"Do you remember the holomail I sent you, where I pointed out the power disparity between the Silver Forests of Remunzia and the Slave Rebellion? In it I strongly adviced against negotiations without involving the ministry of foreign affairs. I did not do so out of spite, or to create problems.

I warned you because the Slave Rebellion is capable of sending large numbers of soldiers and military vessels to the Stellaria Argentum system. And in opening talks with them, you gave them the option of assessing your military strengths and weaknesses.

Having done so, and probably convincing some of the members of your government to cooperate in ending slavery, they have now taken matters into their own hands, and have invaded the Silver Forests of Remunzia to use it as a beachhead from which to launch an attack on the Union."

[Senator Salixa of the Silver Forests of Remunzia]

The senator looked more confused than before

"I don't understand... do you think our leaders accidentally insulted the Slave Rebellion? Why would they be angry with us... we've only been trying to aid them in their cause! I don't understand what they would accomplish by turning the negotiations like that..."

[Chancellor Dewa Lanadi]

"They are angry with you for the very same reason your were angry with the Astrians and the Hiocans."

"Together with the Astrians and the Hiocans, you tried to end slavery through discussion in the Senate. I understand that the Remunzians refused to resolve the matter through compromise, and left their companions when they were found to be willing to compromise? In fact, you opted to go for politically and legally more aggressive methods to resolve the issue."

"The same has happened now. You tried to connect with the Slave Rebellion to continue your fight against slavery. And they were probably not in agreement that their goals would be met simply by talking. So, they left their companions for the moment — the Remunzians — and opted for more aggressive methods to resolve the issue."

The chancellor looks at a small flying creature passing by.

"Not really a suprise, considering the history of the Slave Rebellion up till now. They have been at war with the Hutt Families for years now. A bloody, and violent war over literally the same matter as the one for which you invited them to bring their delegation to the Silver Forests.", the way the chancellor said delegation made it clear that she wanted to use a different word, but toned it down for the mental state of the remunzian senator.

[Senator Salixa of the Silver Forests of Remunzia]

"But that doesn't make any sense!" she looked a bit desperate, as if convincing the Chancellor that this act was in fact irrational and overly aggressive would somehow convince the Slave Rebellion to release her homeworld.

"We weren't in disagreement about the plans at all! In fact, it was -their- plan to bring their fleets into the Stellaria Argentum system so that they could do their theatre display and give a show of fear to the slaver nations, and we followed their plan almost exactly as they wanted! Even at the very start they said we'd present the ruse in the Senate and that's exactly what we did!"

She looked at the Chancellor "Why would they be angry with us if we did everything they asked? Do you think they changed their plans or maybe we misunderstood their plan or...?"

[Chancellor Dewa Lanadi]

"You did what?!"

The chancellor replied too loud, and with an undertone of anger.

"Ahum.", she said, visibly calming herself by smoothing out her dress.

"Are saying that the Slave Rebellion asked you if they could bring their fleets into Union territory, and you said yes?"

[Senator Salixa of the Silver Forests of Remunzia]

The senator looked a bit confused and taken aback by the reaction of the Chancellor.

"Just to scare the Veolians and the Deominians." she explained, as if this clarified everything. To her, it did, even. "They promised they would not use any violence and would keep all their weapon systems offline - our government insisted on that!" she clarified. "Nobody would get hurt, everyone in the meeting agreed on that."

She looked down a moment, taking a deep breath, or at least as deep as her corset would allow.

"Nobody could have predicted that the Slave Rebellion would suddenly become angered while we were following their plan exactly as it had been agreed." she argued

[Chancellor Dewa Lanadi]

The chancellor remained silent for a while, stunned by both the actual admission of inviting in foreign military forces, as well as the last statement by Salixa.

"It did not occur to anyone in your government that a superpower, a superpower that has literally been fighting a blood, violent and brutal war over the matter of slavery, can lie about their intentions?"

[Senator Salixa of the Silver Forests of Remunzia]

"Why would they lie to us, we are their allies! We were helping them to accomplish their goals! It is not our fault if the slave rebellion betrayed our trust - we told them from the get go that we did not want to participate in any violence and they agreed."

she looked down

"... if they did take our homeworld and are here to attack other members of the Union... then we made a really big mistake... We... we never wanted this to escalate into violence, you have to believe that!"

she looked up at the Chancellor

[Chancellor Dewa Lanadi]

"I believe that your intentions were peaceful. But the situation we are in right now will escalate into violence. There is simply no way to stop that anymore."

"This was going to become violent the moment the Silver Forests of Remunzia agreed to allow Slave Rebellion fleets into the Stellaria Argentum system...", the chancellor remarked off-handedly as she quickly thought through several scenarios.

"First things first. Senator Salixa, in my official capacity as chancellor I hereby acknowledge that as of now, you are the only representative of the legal government of the Silver Forests of Remunzia. As such, all decisions with regards to the Silver Forests of Remunzia fall on your shoulders, and yours alone.

I strongly urge you not to communicate with your homeworld over any supposedly secure channel. It is clear that the Slave Rebellion has taken control of your homeworld, and intends to use the Stellaria Argentum system as a beachhead to attack the Union. Any communnications from the Stellaria Argentum system are suspect, and are assumed to originate from enemies of the Union."

You will have to stay available at all times. As you are the only Remunzian authority available, you will be crucial in the upcoming votes."

"Any questions so far?"

[Senator Salixa of the Silver Forests of Remunzia]

Senator Salixa nodded a little bit unsure. She seemed to be rather shocked that things had developed in this direction.

"I... I understand..." she didn't really seem comfortable with the idea of getting all the responsibility tossed onto her shoulders though

"Would you be willing to advise me about what to do until this has all been settled...? You seem to know a lot about the things the Slave Rebellion does - more than anyone here anyway..." she motioned around. None of the animals in the room seemed to be much aware of anything, though in this case she probably referred to the people in the embassy. "And I don't really know what to do..."

[Chancellor Dewa Lanadi]

"Of course I am willing to advise you. That's what friends are for, after all."

"Now, on to the second important thing. You will have to tell me as much as you know about the Slave Rebellion, what plan they proposed, and how many fleets and armies they positioned in the Stellaria Argentum system. Do not leave anything out, as anything might be important."

[Senator Salixa of the Silver Forests of Remunzia]

"I am really grateful for your help, Chancellor." she nodded "And I am certain my people will be as well."

Senator Salixa seemed to let out a sigh of relief, albeit a short one no doubt due in part to her corset.

"I've already explained the plans. They'd bring in their fleets into our system and we'd make a show, but then the communications failed and it got a little bit confusion, so we don't really have any significant information on their current plans..."

she pondered a moment

"All we really have is the environmental report, but I don't see how that is going to help..."

[Chancellor Dewa Lanadi]

"We'll have to make do with the environmental report then. Maybe we can infer something from what we find in there...", the chancellor kept up hope that someone, somewhere in the Remunzian government had found something worth mentioning that actually mattered.

[Senator Salixa of the Silver Forests of Remunzia]

The Senator stood and shuffled over to a rock, sliding it aside to reveal a hidden container with various datapads. She browsed through them like they were an card-based database from eons past, picking out a green one and handing it over to the chancellor.

The environmental report was quite extensive - it opened on a list of the Slave Rebellion fleets, listing each ship with a detailed profile of its energy usage, marking where in the ship energy usage was highest, detailing structural flaws which might pose a danger of creating space debris or worse causing leakage of environmentally damaging materials if hit by micro-meteors and registering the details of ship shielding to prevent such occurrences. It also listed power and resource requirements, number of people on board, oxygen, food and water usage, hyperspace signatures (and the impact on the hyperspace environment) and lists of the amounts of dangerous materials on board such as explosive materials and blaster gasses.

"Like I said..." the Senator explained "Its just information about the possible environmental impact of the ships. The Slave Rebellion ships are pretty... old and scrounged together, so there was a lot of worry the ships might break down and cause a spill disaster or something like that, so all the focus was on that, and we didn't really look at the military perspective..." she admitted guiltfully, looking down.

[Chancellor Dewa Lanadi]

The chancellor looks over the information, amazed at the level of detail and wishing that her own informants were capable of this level of intelligence gathering.

"This...", she started, not finding the words to express her mood, "...is very impressive."

"It seems that you paid more attention to the military perspective than I gave you get credit for. This is effectively a list of all military vulnerabilities of the deployed fleets, at a detailed ship-by-ship level. How did you even get all this information this detailed?"

The chancellor made sure to immediately copy the whole report to her own data pad, making sure that the information would not be lost whon senator Salixa decided that the datapad had to be reused for important military notes...

[Senator Salixa of the Silver Forests of Remunzia]

"Remunzia takes the environment very seriously" the Remunzian senator explained. "And the ships in their fleet sort of looked like they could potentially be a hazard..."

She looked at the Chancellor a bit unsure, as if she was about to reveal another piece of embarrassing information

"But since the people in the Slave Rebellion are poor, and we didn't want to offend them by imposing our environmental standards upon them... so while they were gathering up, we decided to secretly make a detailed analysis of their ships so our containment and clean-up crews would be ready in case of an accident."

The way she was talking about it, it was as if the Remunzians had prepared for one of the members of the Slave Rebellion delegation to pee their pants by making sure there were janitors and clean underwear available.

[Chancellor Dewa Lanadi]

The chancellor was a bit surprised that the Remunzians actually had the cunning to secretly analyse the whole of the Slave Rebellion force.

"These containment and clean-up crews... Do they also carry equipment to prevent violence?"

[Senator Salixa of the Silver Forests of Remunzia]

"Not really... we do have some security forces to help enforce environmental regulations... some their bigger ships are equipped with ion projectors and tractor beams to keep vessels out of exclusion zones - area's where they are not allowed to go to spare the environment there...

Some of the containment crews have stun weapons and such because they double as security forces..."

she looked apologetic.

"Our people oppose violence in all forms... so I don't think they can really form a serious fleet or army that can stand up to the Slave Rebellion..."

[Chancellor Dewa Lanadi]

"Well, it couldn't hurt to ask."

"Then on to the final important thing: special enforcement.

As you know, a motion of special enforcement may not be made on the territory of any Union member without the permission of that nation. In this case, I advise you to give permission for such a motion. If you do, we can ask the Jedi to intervene as well, hopefully limiting the loss of life this war will create.

I plan on moving for Special Enforcement in the senate the moment we have non-circumstantial evidence that the Union is at war, and I urge you to second that motion. Not only will this create clarity about the permission granted by the Silver Forests of Remunzia to enact special enforcement in their territory, it also allows us to move on with the vote immediately."

"Do you agree with me on this?"

[Senator Salixa of the Silver Forests of Remunzia]

"I really want to do anything I can to contain all of this and resolve it as peacefully as possible..." the Senator nodded "If you think that sending in the Jedi is the best way to do it, our people will accept it..."

Just as she was speaking those words when the Jedi sent to protect the Senator entered.

"I should probably talk to my people... they might be upset about this whole thing..." she noted.

[Chancellor Dewa Lanadi]

"I think it might be best if you only tell them that everything will be fine. If you go into details, they might communicate those to their loved ones in Stellaria Argentum, and those messages will be intercepted by the Slave Rebellion... So if you must talk to your people here in the embassy, make sure to tell them nothing detailed. And certainly nothing about the environmental report."