[center]~| Day 4, 11:30 GST |~
~| On Alderaan |~[/center]
The signing of the Treaty of Coruscant was a humiliation for the republic and the Jedi Order. But with the Empire holding Coruscant hostage and threatening its destruction, they had no choice. Sure, they knew the Sith could not literally destroy the planet, no existing weapon could, but they could readily ravage it and render it uninhabitable. A persistent and well-directed fleet could easily exterminate every lifeform and obliterate all structures upon its surface. Thousands of years of history could be erased in a matter of hours and days. That alone, was reason enough for the republic to sign the treaty. The fact that they were hard pressed to resist the Sith advance on other fronts in the galaxy was another.

The Jedi in particular could not comfortably stomach the treaty’s harsh terms, but they had no choice. Not if they wanted to see the countless billions of souls on Coruscant survive. It was with all those thoughts in mind that the representatives of the republic and the Jedi order signed the treaty, creating what everyone knew would be an uneasy peace with the Sith Empire.

[center]~| Nearly one day earlier (Day 3, 14:30 GST) |~
~| Aboard the Memory of Coruscant |~[/center]

The ship hadn’t been out of hyperspace more than a couple of minutes when the signal to clear the aft hangar floor came in, indicating that someone was coming in for a landing. At a velocity well above regulation, the small fighter/bomber shot through the hangar shield, practically slamming into the deck, then screeching across the floor in a slight arc, with bright sparks flying out where the metal of the landing gear ground against the floor. But no matter how chaotic and haphazard the entry seemed, the ship rotated just the right way, coming to a halt right in the middle of one of the designated parking zones.

The moment it stopped moving, the canopy opened up and a someone who could only be a Jedi leapt out, landing several meters away. In the eerie silence following his ship’s landing, the sound of his boots hitting the deck seemed almost deafening. Despite his robes covering much of his body, there was no doubt in the eyes of any observer that he wore armor underneath. At the same time, the hangar technicians returned to the deck, continuing their work, even as a few others started working on the Jedi’s ship, checking it for damage and preparing it to be raised up into the docking racks.

He habitually kept his hood up, leaving his face in shadows. When he got to the doorway between the hangar and the rest of the ship, he grabbed a nearby crewmember. “Where are Jedi Masters Novan and Tetsu?”

The crewmember, a Corellian human in her mid-twenties, seemed a bit off-kilter, perhaps by his brusque tone and not exactly subtle landing. “Umm… Try Jedi meditation chambers. Top of the central tower. They might be there.”

“Thank you. May the Force be with you.” He politely said to her, then let her go on her way. He did not hesitate in finding his way to the nearest eligible turbolift. Though he had not before been aboard the recently renamed [i]Memory of Coruscant[/i], he’d been on numerous Thrantas before, and he knew the modifications made to this one well. Once he got to the top of that turbolift, he went to the next one, leading up to the Jedi meditation room and sparring chamber.

“Masters Tetsu and Novan.” He bowed respectfully to them. Though he rarely dealt much with the rest of the Order directly, they did hold higher rank than him, no matter how influential he’d been in getting this ship refitted for this mission. He did not know them very well, but had heard nothing but good things about them both.

“Coruscant will soon be ours once more. The Order's best negotiators will get the best out of this bad situation. We have all heard of the destruction the Sith unleashed upon that world, about how they destroyed the Jedi Temple. I have sensed that there is more to this. Have you sensed the same in your meditations? What say you to checking that out?”