The Bridge:

Commander Genfore is talking to General Bel Iblis.  "So the shuttle had the wives but not the men we wanted?"

{That's correct, Commander.  It seems that the shuttle was being piloted by remote control.  The women claim that their husbands took a different shuttle and said that they would meet in deep space and transfer over to the Diktat's private shuttle, which the women were on when they were captured.}

"So, we lost them."

{It appears so.  Now Corellia is in leaderless, for the time being.  I'd like you and your people to stay to help with the negotiations between the leading factions.}

"We'd be honored, sir," Genfore replies, "How long will your task force be remaining in the system?  We may have the talent to help, but I doubt Liberty has the manpower.  At the least, I've lost two security personnel.  May I request a transfer of replacement personnel from your command since we're to remain here?"

{We will be staying for quite some time, actually, and we will provide any assistance that the Ambassadors deem necessary.  I’ll authorize the transfer of replacements to your command as soon as possible.  Please have your security officer contact Lt. Netjor at his convenience.  Bel Iblis out.}

“Defiance, comm, this is Liberty,” the Commander says, "I understand that Mr. Dashwood and Ghaloon are aboard the Defiance.  Please ask them to contact me as soon as possible.  Also, notify me the moment that Ambassador Justinian is recovered enough for me to speak to her briefly." 

{Acknowledged, Liberty.  Will do.}

“Comm, put me on the Guardian’s frequency.”

“Done Commander,” Utinsha responds.

"Good shooting, Guardians!  Rest up; when the Defiance leaves, it'll be back to patrol duty for the lot of you." 

“Captain,” Genfore says as he turns to his Executive Officer, “Secure from General Quarters.  I’ll be in my cabin.  Please send me the department reports as soon as they come in.”

“Yes, sir,” Nadur responds, “Any special orders for the crew?”

“Not at this time, Captain.”  Genfore turns and leaves the bridge.
Defiance Hanger:

The shuttle carrying the Ambassador docks with the Defiance and an emergency medical team rushes into the shuttle as soon as the landing ramp is down.  They place Ambassador Justinian on a grav-sled and rush her to sickbay.  Tehl follows close behind with Ghaloon trailing.  When they reach the corridor, Ghaloon stops, as if something just occurred to him, and then he heads off in another direction.

Defiance Sickbay:

Tehl sits in a waiting area as crewmen rush back and forth.  A doctor comes out, looks around and heads over to him.

“Mr. Dashwood,” he says, “I’m Dr. Junaf.  We’ve got the Ambassador stabilized and she’s resting.”

“Can I see her?”

“Yes, but I’m afraid she won’t be conscious for several hours.  It appears that she’s suffered several stun blasts in the past day and her system needs time to heal.  She should be awake in about 6 to 8 hours.”

The doctor then takes Tehl back into the sickbay, to where the Ambassador is.  She is lying in a bed with a nutrient IV in her arm and an oxygen tube running under her nose.  She looks to be sleeping peacefully.

Tehl looks up and realizes something.  He turns to the doctor and asks, “Where’s Ghaloon?”

Defiance Bridge:

Ghaloon strides towards the bridge and is stopped by some security personnel.

“Excuse me, sir,” one of the guards says, “may I ask your business on the bridge.”

“I’m with the Liberty Diplomatic Detachment and I would like to speak with the General.”

Ghaloon produces his ID and hands it to the guard.  The guard swipes it through a reader and hands it back.

“Very good, sir.  You may proceed.”

The doors open and Ghaloon hears the end of the General’s conversation with Commander Genfore.

{So, we lost them.}

“It appears so.  Now Corellia is in leaderless, for the time being.  I'd like you and your people to stay to help with the negotiations between the leading factions.”

{We'd be honored, sir," Genfore replies, "How long will your task force be remaining in the system?  We may have the talent to help, but I doubt Liberty has the manpower.  At the least, I've lost two security personnel.  May I request a transfer of replacement personnel from your command since we're to remain here?}

“We will be staying for quite some time, actually, and we will provide any assistance that the Ambassadors deem necessary.  I’ll authorize the transfer of replacements to your command as soon as possible.  Please have your security officer contact Lt. Netjor at his convenience.  Bel Iblis out.”

“Commander,” Bel Iblis says turning to a Calamari female, “Please inform me of any change.  I’ll be in my quarters.”

“Very good, sir,” she replies, “Secure from general quarters.  Lt. Hranzia, you have the con.”

Several of the officers leave and the bridge quiets down.  A comm specialist comes over to Ghaloon.

“Pardon me, sir,” he says, “but would you be Ghaloon?”

“Yes, I’m Ghaloon.”

“Commander Genfore would like you to contact him as soon as the Ambassador is able to speak with him.”

“Thank you.”

Ghaloon turns to the Lieutenant.  “Excuse me, Lieutenant, but who have we lost?”

“The Diktat and his top aides.”

“What do we know beyond that they are missing?" Ghaloon asks. 

“Nothing much,” the Lieutenant responds, “The parade crowd started panicking when the transmission from Dashwood came through and may of the ships in port left before we jumped into the system.  There's no way of knowing if they were on any of them or if they just went to ground somewhere.”
"Can we scan the dark side of the planet for escaping vessels?"

“We're in the process of doing that but, as I said, many of them escaped before we got here.”

“I know.  You can't scan what isn't there,” Ghaloon replies,  “Just please let me know what you find out.  We'll consider that square one and use that as a building block for square 2.  Fair enough?  If it makes you feel any better, if they left as you were coming in, it's my fault.  I didn't tell anyone to look for them while I was worrying about not being hit or any of my team getting hit or especially the ambassador being hit.”  Ghaloon shrugs his shoulders.  “Lessons learned for the next run.  Please help me catch them, if they haven't left the system, yet.”

“It wasn't your fault.  You were on a mission and the mission was a success.  You didn't have the time to worry about anything else at the time but you got the message off as soon as you could.  Not your fault that we missed them.”

Tehl, having come in during the middle of Ghaloon’s speech, pulls him aside.  "Look, no one is perfect - you can't be dealt a perfect hand every game. The important thing is that the ambassador is back. We can catch the Diktat and his cronies - if not, the important thing is that they are on the run now."

Turning to Lt. Hranzia, "Didn't I hear you say that the shuttle that the wives were captured in was supposed to meet up with the Diktat's shuttle? Are we monitoring that area? Has anyone checked out the shuttle to see if there were secondary coordinates?"

“We checked out the shuttle, but its nav computer was wiped clean when the X-Wing's lasers ionized the hyperdrive.  We don't have any idea where they were heading for.”

“Would it be possible to figure out where they were heading from the vector they were on when the shuttle was disabled?” Ghaloon asks.

"They are being questioned now, but it looks like they were supposed to make a set of jumps and then meet up with the others in deep space. Not too promising."

“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Tehl says.  Tehl then turns to Ghaloon.  “I think we should contact Zedd and see if he has anything for us on this.”

Tehl pulls out his comlink and dials Zedd’s frequency but gets no answer.  Ghaloon and the comm officer try but they also get nothing.

“I’m not getting anything, sir,” the comm officer says, “His link may be down or switched off.”

“Thanks anyway,” Ghaloon says, “I think that’s all we can do for now.”

“I need to write my report up, anyway,” says Tehl.

 “I’ll have the comm keep trying,” Lt. Hranzia says, “and we’ll contact you when we get through.”

“Lt. Hranzia,” Ghaloon says, “I appreciate your assistance in this, but it appears that three knew we were close and plans beeline upon the first sign of trouble. I would say that they are gone. If there is ever anything I can do to help you, just let me know and I'll do what I can in return for helping me. Thank you.”

Ghaloon shakes the Lieutenant’s hand.  “I hope to work with you again sometime,” Ghaloon says as he follows Tehl out of the door.

Ghaloon looks over Tehl’s shoulder as he’s typing on his datapad. “Ah, receive is ie not ei,” Ghaloon says.  He got away and there is nothing we can do about it. After you get done with that, you want to go run around the gym and bounce off a few walls? I'll teach you some better jumping techniques and some acrobatics if you like. Seeing as how Justinian is probably going to be out for another 4 hours. It would be a good way to waste time without being in anyone's way.”

They head off towards the ship’s gymnasium.

Commander’s Quarters:

{Forty, Izek, to my office, immediately for debriefing, and a solid reaming out!!!!} comes over the intercom.

"Lt. Runaar,” Genfore says into his comlink, “would you quietly look into that.  Guardian Lead doesn't sound amused at all.  I think I need some intel. before I debrief him." 

Guardian Ready Room:

Lt. Amzenki and FO Korona are seated at the Lieutenant’s desk.  The light on the recorder is on, signaling that this conversation is on the record.

“Izek,” Amzenki starts, “I’d like you to tell me why you were not in your X-Wing during the parade.”

“Sir,” Korona responds, “I was in my X-Wing.”

“Don’t lie to me Izek, I know you weren’t.”

“But I was sir.”

Amzenki switches off the recorder.  “Now, tell me why you weren’t there.”

“Sir, I needed to be out helping the Ambassador, not flying in some parade.  Gate was able to handle everything.  I didn’t know we’d be going into combat.”

“Izek, you must understand, there is a balance to all things.  You were not in your X-Wing and, that upset this balance.  It was because of that that I was shot.  Now, if I ever catch you doing anything like this again, I’ll have your hide.  Dismissed.”

Korona leaves and Forty rolls in and plugs himself into the desk’s computer.

“If you EVER pull something like that again, I will see to it that you become scrap parts for garbage disposals...Got it?” Amzenki yells at the droid.

Bleep Tweeet chort <long readout> snit warble chirp 

[The surface mission required an astromech droid, and I was the best qualified to go.  R2-M2 was qualified for X-wing missions.  Projections for the appearance of a full wing of TIE craft to compromise the fly-by (a simple maneuver I might add) was approximately 424248323:1.  I didn't disobey any direct orders, just prepared to do so.  

Furthermore, the decision to take on an armed shuttle and getting damaged was the pilot's decision, not the astromech's.  So, what is the real problem here?]
  
“THERE IS A BALANCE TO ALL THINGS IN THE UNIVERSE, AND A SET ORDER, WHEN YOU ARE NOT IN YOU R PREDESTINED SPOT, GETTING CARBON SCORING IN THE X-WING, YOU 
SCREW UP THAT BALANCE.  I AM STILL YOU COMMANDING OFFICER, AND I DEMAND AT LEAST THAT MUCH RESPECT!!!  Ah hem, now, the next time you pull such a stunt, your memory will be wiped and you will be in charge of the trash compactors on the Death Star, or better yet, you can feed the critter that lives there.  Am I clear?”

beep tweedle chirp?
 
 [I see.  Is there anything else?  I need to go start repairs, and add your new kill marks as well.]

Forty rolls out leaving the Lieutenant sputtering.

Amzenki switches on his computer and types a quick message to the Commander:

To:	Commander Emdig Genfore, Commanding Officer, NRS Liberty II
From:	Lieutenant Zir Amzenki, Guardian Leader

Commander Genfore, if it is all the same to you, I would like to administer Flight Officer Izek's (sorry couldn't remember the last name) punishment for dereliction of duty and the likes.  I think you will find what I have in mind suitable.  
				Lt. Amzenki

Dashwood’s Report:

To: Ambassador Fluur Justinian
Subject: Status report

Summary of Action:
After the kidnapping incident of Ambassador Fluur Justinian at the hotel by 
unknown forces, the security team escorted the diplomatic
detachment back on board the Liberty.  Ambassador Harkonan started
applying pressure through the normal channels for the Corellian
government to investigate and return the ambassador to the Liberty.

I decided to start an investigation on the ground.  I recruited
Ghaloon as co-investigator, 'leich the wookiee as driver, and
protocol droid Rex to translate the wookiee language.  Since I was
aware that the astromech droid 4T had prior service with CorSec, and
since the Liberty’s own astromech droids could serve as pilot backups
on board the x-wings, I arranged for the engineering droid M2 to
temporarily replace 4T.

Given that this was a diplomatic investigation, and time was of the
essence, I neglected to inform the Liberty command structure of my
intentions prior to the beginning of the investigation.  However, as
this was a diplomatic mission, and the personnel involved were all
diplomatic team members, this courtesy is not required.

I informed Ambassador Harkonan as to my intentions, and then took the
team planetside.  Ghaloon's ability greatly assisted in the
determination of the location of the kidnapped ambassador.  4T also
was critical to the investigation by providing a local CorSec
contact, who provided the team with a safehouse.

After the investigation had revealed the location of the ambassador,
I decided to affect a rescue.  The CorSec contact (who for now will
remain nameless, as per NR Order 34-552.3 - "Providing Unnecessary
Background Information on Contacts") provided us with two
sensor-equipped speeders, stun-only blasters and a backup team.

At this point, the CO of the Liberty and the security team on the
ground were informed of our intentions.  (See attached audio file 1
for copy of message)

The rescue team ran into resistance from an Imperial Stormtrooper
detachment on the ground.  Lt. Izek Korona of the NR military
provided timely assistance in bypassing these guards.  Ghaloon,
myself, 'leich and the CorSec contact entered the building and
extracted the ambassador.

The rescue team was then pursued by Imperial TIE fighters.  4T the
droid was again vital in allowing the video footage of the TIE's to
be broadcast via the tri-vid.  (See attachment 2, video)  At this
point, General Bel Iblis announced his presence, and pickup of the
rescue team was coordinated between the Liberty's shuttle and the
General's shuttle.

The Ambassador was taken aboard the Defiance for medical treatment
from injuries sustained during the rescue.

Recommendations:
1) Ghaloon be awarded the New Republic Freedom Medal for his
essential services during the investigation/rescue.

2) 'leich be awarded a letter of thanks to be put into his service
record.

3) Lt. Korona be given the thanks of the NR diplomatic corps for his
part in the action.

4) The astromech droid 4T be given an appropriate award.

Current Assessment:
The video broadcast by 4T showing the Imperial involvement with the
kidnappers caused the Diktat and several other top Corellian
officials to quickly depart the planetary system.

A new government is needed by the people of Corellia.  The Defiance
fleet can provide the necessary observers to allow fair, unbiased
elections in the next few weeks.

An interim government is needed to rule from now until the election
to assure an orderly transfer of power.  I recommend a council
selected from one member of each of the rival factions to rule as
executive committee.

Tehl Dashwood, Senior Diplomatic Aide, New Republic Diplomatic Corps

Attachments:
1) Audio recording of informing NR military of rescue intent
2) Video recording of Imperial TIE fighters chasing NR personnel

CC:
Cmdr Genfore, NR Ship Liberty II
Ghaloon, NR Diplomatic Corps

X-Wing Maintenance:

<Forty, via com-message>

Sir,

Repairing Guardian 1 within two days requires facilities and parts beyond the capacity of the Liberty II.  Facilities of the required level are available upon the Defiance, Dantooine, and Peacemaker, which are also currently in the Corellia system.

R2-4T out

To: R2-4T (Astromech droid attached to Guardian Leader)
From: Flight Officer Garan Hecta (Guardian Four)
CC: Lieutenant Zir Amzenki (Guardian Leader)
Re: Guardian One Maintenance Request

Forty,
I received your request to have the Lt.'s X-Wing transferred to another ship in the fleet for repair.  I have been in contact with the repair crews on the Defiance and they do have enough space and parts to allow for this.  However, a formal request was never made and they cannot help us out otherwise.  Please have the request routed to Lt. Hutnor Karden, Star Fighter Maintenance Supervisor, NRS Defiance.

Garan

To: Flight Officer Garan Hecta
From:  R2-4T
CC:  Lt. Amzenki
 
Re:  Guardian 1
 
Forms filed with Lt. Amzenki for his authorization and filing with M2-PO military protocol droid.)  Request modified to include getting a temporary replacement X-wing for the Lt.'s use while Guardian 1 is on Defiance assuming repairs to be made there.
 
R2-4T

Dashwood and Ghaloon:

After the report is written and the work out complete, Tehl and Ghaloon are walking down the hallway when something occurs to Ghaloon.

“Tehl,” Ghaloon says, stopping, “didn’t the Commander say something about the Diktat offering to take him to his bunker for protection?”

“You mean in the summary he sent out?”

“Yeah.  Do you think there’s a secret bunker where he could be hiding?”

“You’re right,” Tehl says as his comlink beeps.

“Dashwood here.”

{Sir, this is the bridge.  I have Officer Zedd Zolander on the line for you.}

“Put him on,” Tehl says, “Zedd, this is Tehl.”

{What can I do for you, Tehl?}

“Zedd, the Diktat told Commander Genfore quote, "Let me take you to my bunker" unquote.  Think you can come up with a location?”

{I can try, but I'm a bit tied up at the moment.  See if you can get Forty on it.  He should be able to check some things out.}

“I'm working on getting 4T out of a meeting to see if he found any property owned by the Dummy Corp that we didn't look into, but getting him out of the meeting he is in is proving beyond my ability.  I think someone is just a little pissed and he will get to me sooner or later.”

{Well, I'll put my people on it, but I can't spare too many of them.  We're trying to avoid fighting a civil war down here and it doesn't look to be going too well.}

“What can you think of as a "safe house" for Diktat. I certainly hope he didn't mean the place we went into. 30 black and whites didn't exactly prove to be a very good bunker.  *snaps fingers* darn.”

{Hey, if it wasn't for your friend in the speeder, I don't think we would have gotten out of there.  I just hope there aren't more of them on Corellia.  Listen, I've got to go, but I'll be in touch when I get any information for you.  Zedd Out.}

Tehl and Ghaloon look at each other and then start running down the corridor towards the bridge.  When they get there, they find Lt. Hranzia coming off duty.

“Lt,” says Ghaloon, “do we have any scan records previous to your wings engaging the eyeballs?  I'm hoping we can get a fix on where they were based out of and where they are based out of there will be more
impies.”

“Comm, Liberty please,” Ghaloon says, “Liberty, Ghaloon here.  Do we have scan records that we can use to show where the eyeballs came from?  I sense that we haven't purged this world of impies and the good remnants of CorSec will have their hands full with imperial caused riots.  If I can get a fix on their base, we can do something about that imperial assistance.  Please coordinate with the defiance scanner team to get the best possible data and location.  Thank you.”

As Ghaloon is getting a confirmation from the Liberty, Tehl leaves the bridge, and hurries down to sickbay.  The ambassador is still unconscious, or looks to be with the 30-second glance that Tehl gives 
her.  Nodding, and scribbling into his datapad, Tehl runs back to the bridge.
"Lieutenant,” Tehl says as he returns, “the Ambassador has asked me to start setting up a New Republic Embassy on Corellia to deal with the new government.  There is a bit of unrest down there right now.  I'd like to go to the surface now, if that's not too much problem.  I'll need about 100 marines, 20 or so technicians to help set up, about 10 for a coordination staff, and a shuttle or two at my disposal.  I think we can have this all straightened out in about a week or so.  Since we're going potentially be a target, some fighters overhead would be nice as well."

"You'll probably need your supervisor's ok on this, but you might want to get the ball rolling."

Tehl opens a channel to the Liberty on his comlink.

"Dashwood to Liberty.  Ambassador Justinian has asked me to set up a New Republic Embassy on Corellia.  To accomplish this, I will need some of your resources - especially the 4T droid.  I would appreciate if you would detach him to my team for a week or so."

"Lieutenant, I'd like to be on the surface in 4 hours."

"Well, I can't help you there, sir. You'll have to see our Security Chief, Lt. Aniria Netjor, and out Flight Operations Chief, Captain Grancia Mital.  They should be able to help you with everything."

"I'll see if I can clear it with the XO, but you need to talk to the others yourself, sir."

"Thank you very much Lieutenant."  

Tehl and Ghaloon leave the bridge and head for the Security Office.

The Commander’s Quarters:

{Commander, this is Nadur.}

“Yes Captain?”

{We’ve received a message from Dashwood, and I think you should hear it.”

“Go ahead Captain.”

{{Dashwood to Liberty.  Ambassador Justinian has asked me to set up a New Republic Embassy on                  Corellia.  To accomplish this, I will need some of your resources - especially the 4T droid.  I would                   appreciate if you would detach him to my team for a week or so.}}

“Captain, Contact the Defiance and ask, now that the Ambassador is recovering, if I might speak to                 her.”

{One moment, sir. … Sir, the Defiance medical officer says the Ambassador has not regained consciousness yet.”

“Please get me Dashwood, Captain.”

{Yes, sir.  Sir, there is also a communication from the General that he would like you and your senior officers to attend a dinner on the Defiance tonight at 1900.  What shall I tell him, sir?}

“I will communicate with him myself, thank you Captain.”

“Ambassador Harkonan,” Genfore says into his comm, “I’d like to see you in my office.”

{Acknowledged, Commander.  I will be there momentarily.}

The Executive Officer:

“Well,” Ghaloon says, “We’ve got the Security Officer’s approval and a grudging acceptance from the Flight Officer.  Now we just have one more to go.”

“Yeah,” Tehl says, “but he’s the hard one.

Captain Mitun is a middle aged human male that has seen more action than he wants to remember.  He looks up at Tehl and Ghaloon as they walk in.

"Gentlemen," he says, "Lt. Hranzia has informed me of your intentions and I have talked to our security and flight officers about it as well.  I must say, you've got guts.  But, I don't think I'm convinced about the necessity of this mission.  Please, tell me why I should authorize this."

"Captain,” says Tehl, “ Right now the situation on Corellia is quite volatile.  Various factions are struggling to gain the upper hand in the power vacuum that exists.  The ambassador and I believe having a New Republic presence on the ground will allow us to react quickly to diffuse situations that may arise between the factions.  An embassy would be a perfect place to conduct negotiations between the factions to iron out first an interim government, and also a timetable for elections.  Also, the embassy can be an observation area to protect against further Imperial activity."

"Since we have the resources available, it would be almost criminal to do nothing in this case.  It is in the best interests of the New Republic for you to authorize this."

"You are forgetting the political implications of this, Mr. Dashwood.  The Corellian System, while providing many of the Alliance's greatest heroes, has never asked to become part of the Civil War, or the New Republic.  We cannot be seen to be forcing our opinions on an independent nation in turmoil.  If we landed troops and set up an 'embassy,' we'd be doing the same thing that the Imperials did to many planets during the New Order.  The Senate would be in an uproar over that action.  The entire purpose of this fleet entering into Corellian space was to ensure the safe return of our Ambassador, which we have done, and to apprehend the perpetrator for extradition to a New Republic court, which we are in the process of doing.  I cannot allow our resources to be used for anything more than this."

“Then, Captain,” Ghaloon says, “what about a mission, with about 12 guards and some technicians, to find out who is responsible for the kidnapping?  I believe that would be less intrusive and would allow us to operate freely on the ground.”

"That would be much more acceptable.  I'd be willing to authorize a detachment for that purpose.  I'll let you have 15 of our ground security troops, 5 technicians from our engineering department, and 5 office workers from our crew.  Also, I'd like Lt. Hranzia to accompany you as our liaison.  I think you'll find them all waiting in landing bay alpha, along with the two shuttles that will take you to the surface."

He sits back and smiles, "You see, I can be reasonable."

“Also, sir,” Tehl says, “We would like to borrow an X-Wing to replace the one of ours that is disabled.  And, if at all possible, I’d like to have our X-Wing repaired in your bay.”

"Have your flight leader contact Lt. Karden with the request and I'll authorize a replacement X-Wing until the repairs are complete."

“Thank you, sir,” Tehl says as his comlink beeps, “Excuse me.”

“Dashwood here.”

{Mr. Dashwood, the Commander would like to speak with you.  Please return to the Liberty at once.  Also, your request for the use of the droid R2-4T has been approved.”