Chapter 20: Chapter 20 – Negotiations
Harry Potter, The Jedi That Would Not Die
Chapter 20 – Negotiations
Back on the moon of Alaris Prime Hermione and Chewbacca were on a high cliff several dozen miles away from the Wookiee colony. The cliff they were crouched on had a good view of the surrounding countryside and in particular the outer most edge of the Trade Federations expansion.
There was a distinct line in the landscape where heavy foliage changed to barren earth, crawling with droids cutting down trees, operating heavy machinery, excavating deep trenches, collecting samples and operating huge barges transporting aforementioned resources back to their base beyond the horizon for shipping off world.
"Quick hide!" hissed Hermione as she, with some effort, pulled the wookiee down behind the cliff edge as a pair of droids flew a short distance in front of them on a patrol.
As they poked their heads back up above the cliff they once again looked down upon the freshly cleared ground. As well as the resource collecting equipment there was also several tanks, squads of droids and fighter droids ready to respond to any threat.
"You say that everything we are currently looking at was excavated within the last few days?" she asked, to which Chewbacca confirmed. She then turned and typed that into the pad that she had brought with her. "Taking into account their current expansion rate and that as the circumference of the extraction site will increase every day which should thin out the amount of vehicles available per square mile, also assuming that they have already deployed their full arsenal of extraction equipment and vehicles and that they, for the time being, won't bring any more in, if they continue along this trajectory they will reach the colony within...four months."
"Nnngggaaarrrrrruuuummm."
"Yes, as you say that is assuming that they even out their resources, if they concentrate their efforts on this trajectory then they will reach the colony with a week if not sooner. Thankfully they do not know where the colony is," she remarked before a thoughtful look crossed her face and she turned to Chewbacca. "Actually, it that why you had your communications system off when I arrived, to make sure that the Trade Federation could not find you?"
"Gggrrrruuuu."
"Very clever, it stops them trying any sneaky tactics to get you ousted before we arrived."
Another pair of droids flew passed them but at a greater distance.
"We should get back; we need to prepare for the coming talks tomorrow."
The following day Master Coleman arrived to the conference room early for the talks, some refreshments had already been laid out for him. As expected he was the only one attending from the ship, the Wookiees and Hermione would be transmitting in from the colony and the Trade Federation and Trandoshans were presumably at different positions on the planet or elsewhere as they were transmitting in separately.
"We are receiving the first signals Ambassador," the protocol droid in the room explained as a pair of holograms appeared sequentially on one side of the table displaying two neimoidians.
"Master Coleman," greeted Captain Dofine. "Allow me to introduce the Viceroy of the Trade Federation, Nute Gunray."
"Viceroy," bowed Coleman. "I did not expect to see the leader of the Trade Federation at these negotiations?"
"Master Jedi," he returned. "The Trade Federation considers the resources of this moon as extremely valuable and I am here to assist Captain Dofine and the Trandoshans should they need my expertise, but I am currently on Coruscant and assisting our Senator in the Galactic Senate, I hope you will forgive me but I do not expect to be available at all times during these talks."
"Of course Viceroy, being on the Jedi High Council often causes me to have several simultaneous calls on my time as well, an important man like yourself who runs a Republic wide organisation must have even more calls on his time."
"I'm glad you understand my predicament Master Jedi," replied the Viceroy, Coleman observed that he had the same sort of superior tone when he smiled as the Naboo Senator that young Harry distrusted, which instantly put the Jedi Master's keen diplomatic senses on high alert, he might not have the same feelings about the Senator as his padawans best friend did but the less well hidden tone that the Viceroy used practically shouted to the experienced diplomat that he was supremely confident of victory and that he had something up his sleeve that he thought would help him win.
"Honoured Sirs," interrupted the protocol droid. "We have two more incoming signals."
As the droid pushed a button on the tables holo-projector four more holograms appeared, a tall reptilian trandoshan beside the Captain and on the other side of the table appeared his apprentice and a pair of wookiees, one older and shorter with broad shoulders and the other taller and thinner but much more imposing because of the additional height.
The trandoshan and the wookiees growled upon seeing each other.
"Honourable representatives of the Trade Federation and the Trandoshans, Master," bowed his apprentice. "Allow me to introduce to you Chieftain Attichitcuk and Master Chewbacca of the Wookiee Colony. I am Jedi Padawan Learner Hermione Granger of the Jedi Order, apprenticed to Jedi Master Coleman Trebor of the Jedi High Council."
"Honourable Wookiee representatives," bowed the Captain. "I am Captain Lushros Dofine, Captain of this vessel. Allow me to introduce Viceroy Nute Gunray, leader of the Trade Federation and Commander Kras'dohk representing the Trandoshan's interests on this moon."
"Now that we have all been introduced, I would like to clarify the various positions of the interested parties," began Coleman. "The Wookiees have Senate approval to colonise this moon. I'm assuming that the Trade Federation got permission from the Trandoshans to harvest resources from the moon?"
"Correct," came the tall reptiles reply.
"In exchange for the permission," continued Dofine. "The Trade Federation is giving twenty five percent of the value of all resources gathered to Trandosha and Kras'dohk has been put in charge of all our droids conducting the harvesting operations on the surface."
"I would just like to add for the record," interrupted Gunray. "That as our agreement with Trandosha precedes the approval for colonisation, that our operation is perfectly legal."
"It could be argued Viceroy," pointed out Hermione. "That this operations legality is questionable due to the fact that during the negotiations that concluded in the Wookiees being granted permission to colonize, neither the Trade Federation nor the Trandoshans saw fit to tell the colonisation committee that such an operation was already underway on this moon which might have affected the outcome."
"That's not illegal," countered the Viceroy.
"No, but it does not reflect well on either party, that they deliberately concealed that information from the Senate and the committee set up to approve or deny permission," explained Hermione.
The Viceroy sent a slight scowl at Hermione for a brief second.
"But regardless, I think we can all agree that the Wookiees are entitled by Galactic Senate approval to have a colony on this moon."
"Agreed," replied the Captain and the Commander sequentially.
"And as the Trade Federation base here precedes the treaty it too is not illegal."
"Gggnnnnrreeeeerrrr."
"Agreed," translated the droid.
"Very well," nodded Coleman. "Now that we have that established we have to determine how to proceed."
"May I bring up a point for consideration before we continue down that path?" asked Hermione, turning her head as she spoke so as to get the permission from everyone who all nodded with varying degrees of speed and apprehension. "Thank you. As my Master and I entered the system we were told by the droid operating the communications system for the Trade Federation vessel that Alaris Prime was off-limits to non Trade Federation ships. As it has just been stated that both the Trade Federation and the Trandoshans were aware that the Wookiees had Senate approval to colonise, this blockade is illegal-"
"One ship is hardly a blockade," replied the Captain quickly.
"How would you describe preventing the passage of ships passing to and from this moon?" asked Hermione.
"Security of course," he replied. "The equipment we have on the surface for extracting the resources is expensive and we do not want it being put at risk by not providing it adequate security both from the creatures of the moon and outside interests."
"Why not just prevent any vessel from approaching your base?" asked Coleman, inwardly he was very pleased, his apprentice was acquitting herself very well.
"That would not prevent anyone landing a ship away from our base from approaching on foot."
"Did you not consider a shield generator to protect your base?"
"That would not protect the convoys of transports coming to and from the base and in order to protect against the gundarks and other various creatures on the planet as well as from space based threats we would have to use combined particle and ray shields which would have to be shut down every time a transport wanted to pass through it."
"Regardless," continued Hermione. "You were planning on preventing other ships from approaching the moon and although, after conferring with the honourable wookiee representatives, they had stated that they have not yet tried to send any ships through the blockade and as you did eventually permit our diplomatic ship to pass you have not as of yet done anything illegal on this front, but if however any Wookiee or Republic vessel is prevented from landing that will count as illegally blockading this moon."
"As a sign of good faith I shall rescind the instruction to stop approaching ships from landing," replied the Viceroy after a brief pause, Coleman guessed that he was beginning to develop a dislike for his clever young apprentice.
" rrrrruuuuummmmnnn."
"And as a sign of our good faith," translated the droid, "The Wookiees will let our protests at this illegal blockade drop and will not bring them to the attentions of the Senate."
Coleman watched the reactions on the faces of his apprentice and the Viceroy at the translation. The Viceroy's smile dropped and the corner of his apprentices mouth curled up slightly as she also watched the Viceroy's reaction.
Very clever Hermione, he thought to himself, realising that she had been responsible for the Wookiees reply. Get the Trade Federation to remove the blockade and instantly remove their advantage of good faith by countering it with one from the Wookiees.
"I'm sure you will also be willing to not resume jamming communications signals emanating from the planet as soon as this conference suspends for the evening?" added Hermione.
"Of course," added the Viceroy slower.
"Now that is sorted," continued Coleman. "We should move on to discuss how all parties can co-exist on the planet and what rights and resources each side is entitled to. Shall we begin by...
As the holograms finally terminated for the day, Hermione and the wookiees sat back in their seats and made various signs of relief and exhaustion that they had been struggling to contain for the last few hours.
"Chewie, if we meet again after this mission, please remind me never to do negotiations via holo-conference ever again," she groaned, rubbing her closed eyes. "Staring at the same partially transparent faintly flickering blue images for eight hours with only one break has completely ruined my eyes."
Chewbacca groaned in agreement.
"Yes, I think we will all sleep well this evening," she nodded.
The indicator on the holo-projector blinked indicating someone was trying to contact them.
"Oh," she groaned, resisting the urge to say more as Attichitcuk touched the control panel, accepting the incoming transmission, which formed into an image of Coleman. "Master," she greeted, sitting up straighter and trying not to look as exhausted as she felt, she would not have thought it possible to feel so mentally exhausted.
#Hermione, Chieftain Attichitcuk, Master Chewbacca, I just wanted to congratulate the three of you, the negotiations today went very well.#
"Is it customary for most negotiations to go on this long in a single sitting Master?"
#Sometimes Padawan,# he replied. #It depends on who the relevant parties are. The Trade Federation, as you no doubt worked out, are masters of negotiation. The extended length of this sessions was to try to wear us out so that we are not as up to negotiating tomorrow, and also no doubt to try to make the wookiees lose patience and become less clear in their thinking which I'm sure won't be successful. You did very well today Hermione and you raised many good points on behalf of the Wookiees, I'm proud of you.#
"Thank you Master," she blushed slightly, before looking back up at the hologram. "Master, did you not find it strange that the Federation was willing to concede so much ground, both diplomatically and physically so early in the talks?"
#I did indeed Hermione, it is most unusual. Willingly conceding fifty percent of the moon's surface area seems remarkably generous for them. I was expecting somewhere closer to a seventy thirty split in their favour, and then only after talking them down. They obviously have something or are aware of something that we are not aware of.#
"Could it be that they are after something specific on this moon and that they hope to gain specific areas in their fifty percent that contain whatever that resource is?"
#It is a good theory Hermione and it was also my current line of thought. I have requested a complete scan of the moon's surface ready for the next round of talks, it should help us try to work out what it is the Trade Federation are after from what few areas they requested today, I suggest we all get some rest, tomorrow will be just as long.#
"Goodnight Master."
"Rrrrrrggggguu."
#Goodnight Hermione, Chieftain Attichitcuk, Master Chewbacca.#
As the communication ended Hermione rolled herself to her feet.
"If you'll excuse me, I need to head back to the shuttle to get something to eat, transmit an encrypted update back to the Temple and then turn in early, I shall be back first thing tomorrow."
The wookiees nodded as she almost staggered out of the room and down the stairs, right now she wished she had had the foresight to bring the encoding chip from the shuttle with her so she did not have to go back to the shuttle to send the update. She knew that she should try to appear less tired and more the image of a calm and collected Jedi as she left but both the wookiees knew how tired they all were and were not about to judge her for it, especially given her young age. She would much rather have spent several hours doing that horrible exercise that Master Yaddle suggested she try to improve her Force control whereby she does a one handed handstand and then uses the Force to hold several objects in a precarious stack whilst also using her Force Healing abilities to dull the headache she gets from the rush of blood to her head and the pain from balancing on one arm for so long.
She was just exiting the main trunk onto one of the branches when a sentry horn sounded. Instantly snapping back into her jedi training, she jumped from one branch to another to move around the outside of the huge tree until she could see the sentry position and the cause of the alarm.
Looking down she was able to see the wookiee leaving his raised sentry post just as it was barrelled into by several gundarks.
She sensed a presence behind her before feeling the vibrations of Chewbacca jumping around the tree to get to her position.
"What on Earth are gundarks doing here!" she exclaimed, just as a second sentry further around the circumference of the colony gave out a cry as the howls and growls of other gundarks followed those of the first. "They are coming from multiple directions, that's not possible, gundarks don't operate in groups that large and they can't coordinate attacks on this scale."
"Nnnngggggrrrr."
"You're right," she acknowledged drawing her lightsaber. "This isn't the time."
She began leaping down the sloped tree to where several wookiee warriors were fighting against a group of club armed gundarks. Using her Jedi powers to steady her as she very quickly descended the tree, landing amidst a group of three gundarks she decapitated the first who had pinned a wookiee on his back before spinning around and Force Pushing two in mid leap.
The wookiees sent her thank you growls before turning back to the fight as Chewbacca landed beside her after using a rope around the branch to reach the ground quicker. Together they charged a group of gundarks that were trying to claw their way into one of the smaller tree dwellings. Unlike the first time Hermione had faced them, this time is was much easier as although the numbers were greater they were not all focused on her so she did not have to fend off so many simultaneous attacks. The pair rapidly dispatched the group but they just kept on coming out of the jungle, forcing their way over and around the incomplete colony defences.
"There are too many, we need to call for help," she concluded, ducking into a corner behind some supply crates with the wookiee guarding the way while she turned to her comlink. "Master...Master do you read me?...Master Coleman...I can't get through we must be being jammed again. He's too far away for me to contact him mentally, we're on our own."
"Yes Captain?" enquired Coleman accepting the incoming call that had disturbed his meditation.
"Please excuse the interruption Master Jedi, I have just been contacted by our Trandoshan friends, they ask that we delay the next round of talks, apparently they are having some issues with gundarks on the surface."
"Of course," nodded Coleman. "I shall let the Wookiees know."
"The Trandoshans have already taken the liberty of letting them know, apparently they were not that happy about them contacting them directly or the delay but you apprentice accepted the situation a little more gracefully and asked them to let them known when we are going to resume."
"Very well, thank you Captain," he replied, terminating the communication. Before turning back to the room and frowning, it seemed quite odd that the Trandoshans would contact the Wookiees directly considering their dislike for each other. He would have to call Hermione in the morning, it was getting late and he could tell how tiring the talks had been for her despite her efforts to hide it.
Turning back to his bunk he sank down onto it and after a short period of meditation allowed himself to drift off to sleep.
"Get that barricade back in position, don't make any gaps they can get through!" shouted Hermione down at the wookiees pushing the large packing crates she and a few other wookiees were standing on were moved back into position.
Since the attack began several hours ago hundreds and hundreds of gundarks had appeared out of the jungle, all moving in their direction and all intent on killing them all. They had managed to force most of them back beyond the colonies outer wall and had built barricades as high as they could with the available materials to keep them out, but gundarks were annoyingly quite good at climbing and had managed to get over the barricade, forcing Hermione and many of the other wookiees to take up defensive positions on top of the crates to prevent any more gundarks from climbing over while other took sniper positions in the trees of their colony and took out as many as they could. Hermione knew she alone had had to kill several dozen, either with her lightsaber or by using her wand to cast a myriad of Force powers and spells ranging from dousing them all in jets of water to firing ropes at them to bind their limbs to even setting them alight when she realised that most of the attempted non harmful spells she was using were ultimately proving futile.
She was brought back to reality when Chewbacca, who was about ten meters to her left, suddenly had two gundarks to deal with simultaneously as they managed to scale the barricade. One lunged at him who Chewbacca managed to grab a hold of turning it into a wrestling match while the other tried to take advantage of the distraction and jumped for the wookiees undefended back.
"Oh no you don't," growled Hermione, throwing her hand forward so that the creature spun in mid air and changed direction before rolling to a stop beside the struggling pair.
Hermione charged at the creature as it got back to its feet, looking around for the source of its fall. As it saw Hermione it charged and leaped, bringing its club to bear. Swinging out with her lightsaber as she jinxed left she removed the swinging arm and the other on that side of its body causing it to stumble as it landed and without those arms to grip its momentum carried it back over the side of the defences to fall back upon its growling, howling, clawing, thumping brethren trying unsuccessfully to penetrate the wall.
Glancing over briefly she saw the fallen pile of gundarks climbing to their feet, briefly scuffle with each other before resuming their attack on the barricade, thank goodness the crates were built strongly or they would already have broken through.
Her senses then alerted her to danger behind her. Spinning around she rapidly brought her lightsaber to bare, but too late as her eyes widened in realisation as Chewbacca and the gundark he had been struggling staggered her way and in less than a second they all found themselves falling over the top of the wall down towards the hordes of gundarks.
She barely had time to think as they fell towards the ground, only just casting a quick cushioning charm as they fell on top of the gundarks beneath them. Her landing was distinctly uncomfortable as she landed hard on top of a gundark who collapsed to the floor in surprise, the speed of her casting reflected in the effectiveness of her charm but it at least prevented her receiving any serious injuries.
She did not even get through her first line of thought of relief when Chewbacca and the gundark landed, the former coming down hard upon her and two of the gundarks around her. All the air was forced from her lungs as she got crushed between the falling wookiee and the gundark beneath her and pain exploded from her shoulder at the same time as she heard a snapping sound, the shock of the sudden pain causing her to scream.
Her Jedi training went straight out of the window as she could not stop herself crying out at the pain and the desperate need to get the extremely heavy wookiee off of her, which thankfully he did quickly as he rolled and fired a shot into the gundark that had fallen with them, killing it instantly.
The pain dulled somewhat as he moved and she recovered her senses enough to know she could not afford to stay where she was any longer; so gritting her teeth she rolled herself onto her side before being forced to roll back to where she was when, as she tried to move her left arm to support herself her shoulder flared in greater pain again causing her to pull her arm back firmly against her which caused her a brief amount of relief as the pain subsided slightly. She did not have the chance to think more on her pain as the gundarks around them started getting back to their feet and advancing on them.
Throwing her good arm out to one side she sent a Force Push at the gundarks on that side, knocking them into the gundarks behind them and knocking them all off their feet again, giving her a chance to swing her legs around in such a way as to get her into a kneeling position allowing her to could climb to her feet whilst moving her left arm as little as possible.
She moved just in time as Chewie was about to get overwhelmed by the other gundarks she had not knocked down during her fall and rapidly fired a stunner at the first one who collapsed to the floor causing those following to trip over it creating a gundark pileup.
"Quickly," she gasped, pulling on Chewbacca's arm as he began aiming at the next creature, ignoring her words. Tugging on his arm again she pulled him hard enough to unbalance him slightly causing him to look around at her. "Chewie, we can't face these odds without help, they will quickly recover and overwhelm us if we don't find cover now."
"Nnnnggggaaaarrrrr."
"We cannot scale the wall fast enough, and they can't let us in without risking the base, we must retreat to the jungle and try and get back in later."
After growling for a second the wookiee reluctantly snarled in annoyance before turning and following her into the jungle.
AUHTOR'S NOTE: Only a short message this time, my author's essays are becoming notes again as someone has complained at the length of them falsely inflating the word count of this story, not that I know of anyone who really cares about that but I will try and say less in these notes, don't forget to continue to send in your suggestions for missions and plot ideas.
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