The Rebel Faction

"Why is it...everytime I fly something like this happens?" Naosha grumbled as she fought to keep her last meal down in her stomach where it belonged.

Silliss chuckled mildly. "How many times have you flown?" He asked.

"Twice."

The warrior chuckled again. "A bit of a premature judgment don't you think ma'dam?"

Naosha gave him a look. "Considering I've nearly gotten killed both times I do think so." She said sharply. Silliss simply shrugged at that, though he felt she was exaggerating just a tad. He knew about the first ship she flew in, which was Varcanna's ship Hunters Way. A modified T4 Lambda Class shuttle, Hunters Way was faster and far more agile then it looked. Varcanna often just had the ship curse at a Lambda's normal speed just to throw off would be pirates when she put the ship at full speed. The fact she never bothered to paint the ship other then the standard white added to this deception. It was the willing sneakiness on Varcanna's part that he liked in the female, though he kept that to himself.

"Trissan is going to end up in a cage too..." Naosha grumbled soarly, rubbing her bandaged leg.

"You shouldn't be to harsh on the lad ma'dam." Silliss said. "If it wasn't for him, we might not have found out about the explosives in time...or about the fact that the ships pilot wasn't exactly friendly to us or to our Wookiee friend." He poked her in the ribs. "Besides...who was it that went out by herself without any protection?"

Naosha winced at that. "I know what I did...or didn't do in this case...and what it nearly cost us all..."

"We'll need to have the ships medic give a proper look at that."

"I am fine Silliss...I don't need a medic."

"If you still had your regeneration abilities I wouldn't be insisting on it."

Naosha growled softly, folding her arms and looking sulky. He was right, being middle aged now she did not have the regeneration abilities her kind possessed: if she was to lose a limb now...it would stay lost.

They watched as Tzhali opened the ships door and lowered the ramp. Predictably, Trissan made a beeline for it the moment he saw it. Not only was no one able to stop him, but he tripped and ended up rolling head over heel down the ramp. The young trandoshan landed at Merandez's feet, a bit dizzy but otherwise unhurt. The flight officer and her guards all had jumped back, more out of surprise then anything else.

"Trissan...you trouble maker..." Naosha groaned as she limped down the ramp, Silliss right behind her. "Please forgive my grandson...he has not yet learned not to run up, or should I say 'roll up' to strangers."


***

Back on Trandosha's surface, Besk was cursing his double bad luck. Not only did Naosha and her kids get away, but the team he had sent to the old temple found nothing but a few pieces of abandoned equipment the remainder of the rebel group left behind. If he had been acting under Hyossk's orders he would be expecting rather nasty retribution for his failure. However he was acting on his own here, and the only one who would punish him would be himself...provided Hyossk didn't find out about this: Besk had no intention of letting the Elder Councilor know either.

Where Naosha and her group would have gone he could only guess. No doubt they were on the Wookiee's flagship by now. Would they be taken to Kashyyyk? A part of him doubted it, but he wasn't going to eliminate that possibility. Finding Rissonik and his half of the group will likely prove to be just as difficult to location, despite them still being on the planet. He had no doubts that they had scattered and could be anywhere and everywhere. The danger of this was that being scattered like that would allow them to gain support even faster. However...against them was the fact that without any organization or a base of operations, it would be difficult for them to strike out at the government. Plus with Naosha off planet she couldn't guide them herself very easily.

This would provide Besk and his allies time to find as many members as possible and 'remove' them perminately.

Only a minor set back... Besk thought, a sly grin forming on his muzzle. This spliting of their forces could very well be their downfall.

Naosha had a couple of the warriors go with her three granddaughters to the nursery, as a precaution mainly, while she, Trissan and Silliss started to follow Tzhali.

"What should we have the rest of our group do?" Silliss asked her.

"Best we keep them in the hanger bay for now, until we can arrange for temporary quarters." Naosha said as she scooped up Trissan to prevent him from getting into any more trouble today.

As they passed the marines Silliss also heard...and understood...their conversation. Like Tzhali he pretended he didn't hear them and kept walking, but made a mental note to tell Tzhali the moment it was safe to do so. Once out of their line of sight he subconsicously he felt for the vibrolance that was strapped to his back: he had a feeling he'll be using it soon.

Naosha had noticed Silliss' movement and knew what it meant: that he suspected...or knew...something was wrong. Not again.... She thought, fighting to keep her expession from revealing her fear.

Soon they entered a room that obviously served as a briefing room. At first Silliss thought it would be safe to reveal what he had overheard before to Tzhali and almost did, until he saw the two Marines that were already inside.

Putting guards in a briefing room I can understand if it was some top secret meeting... He thought. But guards for a casual meeting? Either he is extremely paranoid or those guards are in leage with the ones in the hanger bay...

He kept his mouth shut, not wanting to reveal his suspisions just yet, but resolved to be on his guard. Oh how his instincts were screaming...

Naosha could only moan 'not again', her head in her hands. Trissan was just staring wide eyed at it all, frozen in place. Silliss on the other hand stood up, a broad grin forming on his face revealing his many sharp teeth as he drew his vibrolance out of it's holder.

The guards eyes went very wide indeed as Silliss approached him, his lance leading. "Now...in my clan our warriors are trained on how to take a lot of pain without even flinching..." Silliss said cooly. "We are an honorable clan...we usually kill our enemies quickly. But to those that show disloyality to their leader..." He let the statement hang a moment before continuing. "We put in a lot of pain before finishing them off.

"Now...." He put the tip of the lance right up against the guard's throat, causing a small bead of blood to form. "we Trandoshans can normally take a lot of punishment without the kind of training my clan provides...how long do you think you can last?"

A distinctive odor suddenly filled the air as the guard literally @#%$ in his pants: Silliss knew the guard got the 'point'.

"Now that we have come to an understanding...how about filling us in on your little poisioning plot. Hmmm?"

The guard was silent for a moment, then let it spill all out. Detailing how many of the marines were plotting to stage a coup at the start of the 3rd shift because they felt Tzhali was a traitor to his people for being 'soft' toward Trandoshans.

"And here you are...a human...telling us this. Did you know I personally over heard one of the other marines state that he found it disgusting that humans were on board? Oh...he was a Wookiee by the way..."

"Wha..."

"That's right...they want you off the ship too, they are likely only letting you in on the fun because there aren't enough Wookiees that side with them to pull it off."

"But...but..."

"Oh shut up and take a nap will you...." With that Silliss rotated his lance around and smashed the blunt end of it against his head, rendering him unconscious. "Looks like it may not be best for us to go to your homeworld at this moment..." Silliss said to Tzhali. "At least...not until we take care of this mutiny first."

"Even then..." Naosha said with a deep sigh. "With your own government not exactly trusting you it may not be safe." At that moment Naosha felt like she wanted to find the deepest bunker with the thickest walls and just seal herself in for some number of years...

Naosha nodded, taking a moment to clear her mind of the current 'problems' around them as Silliss took his set again. "We don't intend to be dependant on your protection for very long. Only long enough to find a planet to set up base on to continue our movement...and possibly as a new home if it comes to that.

"My long term goal is to set up a society were Trandoshans and Wookiees can live and work together in harmony. But to even being to go that route we need to get past a lot of bad blood on both our ends. For so long we have hated and killed each other and with new and powerful factons rising in this galaxy likely eyeing our worlds for conquest, we need to be ready to repell them if we are to keep our independance...however we can't do that if we are constantly at each other's throats.

"Ultimately it may not be possible to change both of our societies as a whole to be accepting toward each other: such hatred is deeply ingrained and not easily uprooted and removed. However, if we can get a few from each said to set aside their differences to learn to work together...it would be a start. Including the group I've brought with me...we have nearly a thousand willing to try."

"We need to actually survive our respective governments attempts to stop us first of course." Silliss put in, reminding everyone of the newly revealed planned coup on that very ship. "If you need my warriors to temporarly take over some likely newly vacated positions just let me know."

"Besk..." Naosha muttered after Tzhali left the room.

"Who?" Silliss muttered.

"Besk...a former member of the Clan. He was the one that shot at me just before we took off. He must have been the one that told those ship where we are." Naosha explained. "Riss told me he works as a free lance mercinary now and has a lot of connections..."

"Obviously." Silliss grumbled. "Ma'dam...best you stay in here while I get our warriors. I'll have two of them come here as a precaution just in case the invading force gets this far...though I doubt that would happen." Silliss said with a grin. "With his security forces effectively cut by two thirds right now he'll need all the help he can get."

Naosha nodded and hugged Trissan tightly as the warrior left the room. The guard Silliss had knocked out earlier was starting to come too, so she took a chair and bashed him over the head, knocking him out again. She then relieved the newly unconscious guard of his pistol and moved to the corner furtherest away from the door...and wondered just why human extrectment had to smell so bad...

...

Silliss ran to the hanger bay where the rest of the group was waiting.

"Cumo with mo!" He called to them in Clan dialect. "Thoro is u buttlo seen te bo hud!"

All of the nearly thirty warriors cheered, most of them having been itching for some real action ever since the fire fight back down on the surface. Silliss lead them to the corridor Tzhali told him about, leaving two warriors at the briefing room on the way, and after a quick look at what would be the battleground he had his warriors take up ambush positions. The two guards that had been assigned to guard Naosha's three granddaughters were told to stay in the nursery and to evacuate the kids if things started to go badly. Silliss doubted it would...but he couldn't take any chances, not with the next generation's lives at stake.

After everyone was ready, all they could do was wait...