The Rebel Faction

The Wookiee had started to reply, but suddenly the line had gone dead. Naosha looked back at Rissonik with a puzzled look on her face.

"Looks like the fleet finally detected the Wookiee ship..." Rissonik said with a shrug.

"And we have no way to help them...not without ships of our own..." Naosha said with a sigh.

"It may be of interest, Councilor Naosha, to know that we were getting two signals." One of the engineers said.

"Two signals?"

The engineer nodded. "Yes, one from in orbit...the other coming from the ground to the east, not far from here."

"And a Destroyers communication abilities wouldn't have been knocked out like that so suddenly. " Rissonik said. "So it must have been ground based equipment that was knocked out."

Another nod. "The last signal we got when the Wookiee was suddenly cut off was the ground one."

"And they may need help." Naosha said. "Riss?"

Rissonik was one step ahead of her, getting the coordinates from one of the other engineers. Before she knew it, he had disappeared back down to the lower levels.

"Great...if they start talking again I don't have a translator to translate for me..." She muttered.

***

His adrenilen pumping he quickly found where most of the K'Satikur warriors were hanging out. There Silliss was doing one of his training sessions with Trissan.

"Silliss...I need you, four other K'Satikur warriors and ten warriors to go to these coordinates to assist some potential alllies." He said, handing him the sheet with the cooridinates.

"Sha'tor...This is very close to us..." Silliss said, his eyes widdening. "Have we been detected here?"

"No idea, I just know that you need to go out there and kill any Trandoshan that is at those coordinates. Under no circumstances will you attack non-trandoshans..." He glared at the other K'Satikur warriors, who backed away a step. "Understood?"

"Yes Sha'tor!" Came the reply in unison.

Quickly they moblized and were soon off, Trissan looking a bit disappointed at his training being cut short today.

"Don't worry..." Rissonik picked Trissan up. "He'll be back soon enough to continue your training."

(ooc: Bro the warriors (including Silliss) are all NPCs but I would like you to contact me on MSN first before you reply)

“Aye, Sha’tor Rissonik, mate to Councilor Naosha, had requested we come assist you.” Silliss replied. “No doubt to prove to you we mean what we say in regards to changing our old ways.” He glanced back at the rest of his fellow warriors both behind and beside him. Some of them were shifting anxiously, the adrenalin from the short fight making them wanting more targets to slay and they undoubtedly wanted to attack these Wookiees. Years of propaganda against the Wookiees and old grudges were very hard to erase. Fortunately, Rissonik’s stern order was holding: a testament of the warriors loyalty to their Sha’tor. He then looked over at their ruined communications equipment. “If you are in need to communicate with your ship, I am sure Councilor Naosha will not mind you using our equipment back at the hideout. We can escort you there, if you wish to do so, it is not far from here.”

“I will net lod ear onomios right inte ear hindeat!” One of the lower ranking males growled in Clan Dialect. He found Silliss’ vibrolance right at his throat split second later.

“The Wookiees are our enemies no longer…” Silliss hissed threateningly, speaking in Basic so the Wookiees would understand what was going on. “Instead they are potential allies to our cause.” He lowered his lance and the male rubbed his throat. “Be thankful you are not yet a K’Satikur warrior…or else I would have been forced to slay you where you stood for disloyalty to our Sha’tor.” Other warriors in the group nodded in agreement.

“I apologize for that little outburst…” Silliss said, turning back once again to the Wookiees. “Old grudges are hard to erase…”

***

“What do you mean you lost the signal!?” Besk roared at the Dosh seated at the comm., who cowered slightly from the heavily battle scarred Trandoshan.

Besk had been having his contacts scan the airwaves the moment the Wookiee ship had been detected in their airspace. He knew Naosha would likely hear about such ship and try to get in contact with it, for she would think the Wookiees may help them. While how willing the Wookiees would be to help her is in question, Besk wasn’t going to take any chances. After all…it was that fool Hyossk’s idea to recall their fleet that lead the Wookiees to their planet in the first place: someone needed to clean up after that mess.

He had promptly informed the fleet that they had been followed and all sources indicated they were currently engaged with the Wookiee ship. A shuttle from the ship had been detected landing on the surface as well and a force was immediately dispatched to be rid of it and the occupants. The signal they had detected had come from not only the shuttle and the ship, but from some unknown location on the ground. He knew that signal had to have originated from this so-called ‘Separatist Movement’ and had the Communications official start tracing it…but apparently the signal was cut off before the trace could be completed.

“We…lost it sir…” The now nervous Dosh said. “And we are detecting no further signals.”

Besk seethed, mentally cursing at this lost opportunity. “Keep and ear out then…in case there is another signal.” Besk growled, bad temperedly as he turned abruptly to leave the room. He barely heard the ‘Yes sir’ before the door closed behind him.

As he mounted his speeder bike, he made a split second decision to check out the shuttle location himself…

(ooc: Besk won’t arrive until after you leave that area…)

Sillis had the warriors form a loose circle around the Wookiees, himself and the other four K’Satikur warriors being the closest to them, as they made their way back to the old temple. The trip was made in silence, the warriors keeping their senses alert for troops from the opposition.

When they reached the temple the Trandoshans that were outside, mostly non-Clan members that were supporters of the rebellion, stared at them in shock. A few raised their weapons, but the stern looks from the warriors encircling their guests quickly made them change their mind.

Rissonik was waiting for them inside the temple and Siliss gave the proper greeting to him.

“Not a warrior lost.” Rissonik said, looking over the returned warriors. “And no serious injuries…a testament to our Clan’s skills.”

“The opponents were hardly worth the numbers you sent out Sha’tor.” Silliss said with a faint smile.

“I did not want to take any chances.” Rissonik said grimly.

“Understood Sha’tor.” Silliss said, then his expression turned serious. “I hope you are not insulted…their communications equipment was destroyed during the fight so I….”

Rissonik was already shaking his head. “I am not insulted at all Silliss, in fact I am glad you brought them here. It would be easier for Naosha to speak to them unhindered and with little risk.” He approached the Wookiees then, the warriors parting for him. Being only six feet tall, the older Trandoshan had to look up at them. “Greetings, I am Rissonik, Sha’tor of the K’Satikur Clan.” He said with a polite bow. “I understand you may want to get in contact with your ship post haste, so if you’ll follow me, I will lead you to where we keep are communications equipment. Councilor Naosha herself should still be there.”

***

He was both dismayed and extremely disappointed. Besk was at the scene of the battle, where Silliss and the Wookiees had been not so long ago and all he found was the dead bodies of the troops that had been sent out here…and ruined communications equipment.

At least…that’s all that he found on a first glance. A seasoned warrior and hunter like himself could see things a novice would miss. He could smell the foulness of Wookiees having been here and the shed fur he found here and there on the ground only made their presence even more telling. But what was more intriguing…was the fact that most of those that had been slain were killed by melee weapons and very quickly. There was only one Clan that could kill that quickly and effectively with such weapons…a Clan he was once a member off.

They were here…. Besk thought, a low growl emitting from his throat. But this was also a bit of good news to him: the only way members of the K’Satikur Clan could arrive in time to help the Wookiees was if they were stationed very close by. A quick look and he found their tracks, leading to a old ruin on the horizon.

“So that’s where you are hiding…” Besk said with a faint chuckle. “You’re days are numbered…”

Besk hopped back on his speeder and started toward the structure. It would be stupid to go right up to the structure he knew, but he wanted to get close enough to get an idea of how fortified they were: such information would be invaluable to the forces that would be tasked to take them out….

Rissonik had dismissed all the warriors in the escort save for two K’Satikur Warriors, Silliss being one of them, for the trek through the temple. As a courtesy he warned the Wookiees of any low ceilings where they may bump their heads: since the temple was built for those of Trandoshan height in mind the often taller Wookiees would have to stoop in some passages even if the temple was in good shape. In it’s current state there were areas where Rissonik had to bend down slightly to pass through himself.

Soon they had reached the top most level of the temple, where Naosha was indeed still standing. She looked over at Rissonik when he entered and looked to be about to say something when she spotted the Wookiees. With a startled yelp she jumped back, her blue eyes going wide with fear.

“It’s ok Naosha. They won’t hurt you.” Rissonik said soothingly in Dosh, approaching her and putting one arm around her.

“I’ve…never seen a Wookiee in person before…” Naosha said timidly. “I never knew they were so…big.”

Rissonik chuckled good-naturedly. “You really shouldn’t have kept yourself holed up in the Council building all these years.” He steered her closer to their guests. “This lovely Dosh is Councilor Naosha.” He said in Basic, addressing the Wookiees. “Unfortunately she never bothered to learn how to comprehend your language…” No sooner had the words had left his mouth he found himself slightly doubled over as Naosha elbowed him in the ribs.

“Smart Alec” Naosha grumbled in Dosh, her timidness having left her as quickly as it had appeared. The other Trandoshans in the room snickered quietly. “So he’ll need to translate for me.” She added in Basic. “I welcome you to our little hideout. I hope this meeting will mean the start of a new allegiance between our two races, for a better future for both our races.”

“Their communications equipment was destroyed, they need to borrow ours to contact their ship.” Rissonik pointed out before Naosha went into full politician mode.

“It may be of interest to them then…that we have determined that two of the Trandoshan fleet has engaged their ship.” Naosha said grimly. “You don’t know how much I wish I could send some help up there…but we currently do not have any support from the Clans that are in possession of military ships.”

Besk stopped his speeder about 100 meters from the ruins, his red eyes scanning the complex for signs of life. He could see tracks, a lot of them very fresh and the trail he had spotted back on the battlefield had indeed lead to here. Other then the tracks, there were no signs of life he could see, but he knew the diavents would be smart enough not to mill around outside the compound.

He turned to leave, having gotten enough information from the visual scan, but a sound made him look back. It took him a moment to spot the source: something was moving about on one of ledges of the ruined temple. After a moments scutiny he realized it was a Trandoshan child...no more then two years ago.

Using their own kids as shields... He guessed, disgusted. But then he realised some of the features on this kid looked familiar. Yellow ochre scales...pale yellow eyes...wasn't that what one of his contacts said that one of Naosha's grandkids looked like?

His frown turned into a malicious smile: it was an opportunaty to strike at Naosha where it would hurt the most. Still smiling, he lifed his rifle and took aim...

...

Trissan crawled about on the ledge, not fearing the height he was at and obivous to the danger. He had slipped away from his caretakers to explore a bit on his own...and away from his annoying sisters. In a since he was feeling a bit lost, not having seen his brother Silonik in many days and was trying to find him. It was more out of the desire to finally defeat his brother then out of worry for his safety however.

His weight dislodged a stone, nearly sending him over the edge but he caught himself in time. Looking down he followed the stone as it bounced against the other ledges below and finally crash to the ground. Laughing, he pushed another stone down and watched it's descent as well and had looked up to find another when he spotted the Trandoshan off in the distance.

Trissan stared at him, not recognizing him as someone he knew: was he a friend? His time spent with Silliss and the other warriors however...was telling him otherwise. He had been around weapons long enough to recognize the one this one was holding...and that he was pointing it at him. He felt a new emotion then...fear...and he froze in place, whimpering softly.

***

Mainwhile inside the temple...

After Rissonik translated their conversation Naosha nodded, understand the hesitance the Wookiee had with aiding a long time enemy.

"It well be hard for all of us to forget old grudges." She said calmly. "Especially those that are well into adulthood. Far easier it is for the young to change their ways. But the very fact that a few adults, such as myself, you and Rissonik, are able to open their minds and see past the hatred, means there is a chance at forming a lasting alliance between our two races."

One of the Trandoshans at the comm unit looked over at the small group. "Sir, just got word from the radar crew that four more Republic destroyers have come into Trandosha airspace and one of the Trandoshan ships has been destroyed."

Rissonik, looking back at the Trandoshan, nodded. "How many more Trandoshan ships are there?" He asked.

"Three." Was the reply.

Rissonik nodded again. "Looks like you were correct about your ship sending a distress signal...and it had been answered by your allies." He said, addressing the Wookiees. "Hopefully...no more Trandoshan ships join in..."