Nar Shaddaa - Rebel Alliance Headquarters

[Qessax Jal Todda]

3 Weeks ago

 

In a private chamber, Agent Qessax sat down on a makeshift blanket on the hard durasteel floor. In the center of the room, a small astromech sat and waited, its radio dish out and about awaiting the incoming signal that had been scheduled a day ago. 

Qessax took a deep breath and straightened his black suit out again and brushed . A nervous tick that he had long ago gave up on trying to remove. Meetings like this always made him do this. Meetings that involved the future and with important people. People like admirals, representatives of local governments, and public celebrities who’s words could change his entire career with little effort. 
And meetings that involved his family. 

The astromech beeped a series of whistles. While Qessax still struggled to understand the binary codes of droids, he knew a confirmation when he heard it. The signal was coming through. The others were ready. 

Agent Qessax gave an approving nod. 

Blue translucent images filled the room as the astromech operated its cameras and signal receivers. Several masculine figures, also sitting on rugs, filled the edges of the room in an expansive circle. Each one dressed in dirty and moist robes that helped protect them from the hot sun and thick rain in dark jungles. Some had armor over their robes, others less. Their faces were easily recognisable to Qesssax’s own. While there were differences between them and the Intelligence Agent, they way their tusks jutted from their faces identified them all as brothers. 

At the head of the circle, one male sat above the others. Dressed with more hand-crafted bone jewelry and donning a large cloak that draped like a cape of old, worn with holes and burns from many battles and raids. On either side and behind, his three wives stood, holding a mixture of spears, blasters, and swords.  

“Great Chief” Qessax bowed his head to his father, and then nodded towards the female on the chief’s left who used a spear to hold herself up. His aging mother. 
Battle-scarred, the chief was intimidating to behold. Even as he smiled in pleasant greetings, his purely charismatic and brutal power were there to be witnessed. 
“It is good to hear from you son. But why do you wear your mask here? Is this meeting not as private as I demanded?” 

Qessax reached up and felt the bone mask that covered his face. Despite being away from home for so long, it still felt wet with the dew of the jungles of Kalee. 

 

“It is private. Only I and our family can see each other. I speak to you not as your son, but as a warhunter. This is a kurultai.”

The others murmured to each other. One by one, each of his brothers put on their own masks, their paint outlines visible even in the hologram images. Whenever someone invoked the right of kurultai, it was customary to wear a mask, even if only family members were involved. Even the great chief, a progressive and a reformist, put on his own mask.

“The war here in the stars still progress. But there is a great opportunity for Kalee that is about to happen. One that will help move us into the sunlight of battle.”

There was a moment of silence. Each of the family members looked at Qessax with what he hoped were looks of curiosity. Qessax took another breath. 

“A great raid will happen soon, and the enemy will have great numbers. The chief I am under is wanting as many ships as he can get. He and the alliance will look favorably on those who provide their support.” 

“A bold request” The chief noted. “Ships are rarer than Thorilide. They and speeders are our wealth. ” 

The others nodded in agreement. Qessax knew this wasn’t going to be an easy sell. 

“Indeed. But Great Chief, if we can emerge into the sun of the galaxy, there will be more ships for us in the future. So many ships that we could blind the sun from Kalee”

The chief was silent for a bit, then turned to each of his wives, hearing their council. His mother was especially persistent, his movements much more lively then the others, despite being so old. 

Finally, the chief turned back to Qessax.

“I can provide the Sand Hunter. No more than that.”

Qessax’s heart sank. “Great chief, the alliance needs everything they can get. One ship will not shine brightly in the battle…”

The chief held up his hand, silencing his son.  “I cannot send more. I must have enough here to protect the tribes, not just from each other, but also raiders from off world. And I have nothing to barter with the other tribes under me to enlist their help. 

Qessax took a hard swallow. 

“I and my unmarried brothers can offer exclusive marriages.”

This brought on a great deal of murmuring. What Qessax offered was harsh to say the least. But it also had weight. As children of the great chief, offering themselves to marry only those from one specific tribe meant that those tribes would have more power in future generations. 

The chief looked around. “Are you willing to offer this? A lifetime of marriages to only one tribe, and only of those whom their chief allows you to marry? To have only sons and daughters from one tribe and to forsake your offspring to potential weakness?” 

Qessax’s unmarried brothers nodded. The chief sighed and looked at his youngest son. “Very well. I will see what I can do. But there is one other thing I will demand from your chief. If they want our help, I will need something from them eventually.”

Qessax breathed a sigh of relief. He knew what was coming up. 

 

Today

 

Unmasked but still straightening his uniform under his field armor, Agent Qessax’s boots thumped on the hard floor as he made his way to the command bridge. A few people gave him an odd stare or two. Qessax tried to ignore them, mostly used to them by now. Kaleesh were a rather rare sight in the military, let alone one in the black suit of intelligence. 

After being away from his home for so long, Qessax figured his senses would’ve been dulled by now. There was no hunting, no threats of random attacks. But the opposite had happened. Qessax noticed each stare. Each sudden breathing that a human officer would have at seeing a barbaric kaleesh for the first time in uniform. Even now, his senses operated like a hunter, with the Admiral as a target. 

Spotting him, the kaleesh approached and stopped with a salute. 

“Admiral Kolchak” 

The intelligence officer’s hand slipped behind and pulled out a small datapad from next to his bone mask. A slight smile starting to break through, despite his best efforts. A smile from a Kaleesh always made people nervous, especially humans. However, Kolchak was a man who had dealt with Kaleesh before.  “It seems that the chief of the Todda tribe was able to acquire more than he promised. Each of the tribes are sending one of their corvettes out here as we speak. ”

No simple feat Qessax added silently as he held the pad out to the admiral.

“His first born is leading them. Though the Great Chief does have a request Admiral”

[Qessax Jal Todda]

“The request of the admiral is an in-person visit to Kalee” Qessax stated simply. Knowing that this was an odd request, Qessax decided to expound. 

 

“The people of Kalee still have older traditions. Meetings there known as grand kurultai occur, and function like elections or crowning ceremonies, much like the empress had to go through. In these Kurultai, a matter of physical appearance is a vote of confidence, and the opposite for those who do not show.” 

 

“The Great Chief requests that you, or someone of equal or greater rank, to notify him of a date that you can be there in person. A Grand Kurultai will occur on that date and the presence of someone from the Alliance of a rank chief, or in this case, admiral, will go a long way helping unite the Kalee people under one banner. I would volunteer for this task, but on Kalee I would only be considered the rank of Warhunter, as would any other with the rank of Captain.”

 

Having believed he had stated enough, Agent Qessax stood at attention. What his father, and by proxy himself, was requesting was no small thing, and he knew it. A vote of confidence in the Great Chief meant that the Alliance and the Republic were picking a side in what was, all things considered, a local planetary affair. But, as noted in the data pad, not all of the tribes were sending ships. The more conservative tribes, the ones who were aligned against Qessax’s father, would refuse to help outsiders and hold back. Most likely these tribes would try to leverage this moment of weakened defenses to their advantage.  

 

In other words, the people of Kalee were making a choice in who they supported, and a majority of them, though not necessarily the most powerful at the moment, were making the choice to support the Alliance. The request was simple: The Alliance would support Qessax's father politically.  

[Qessax Jal Todda]

Qessax couldn’t help but grin slightly, revealing the tips of canine teeth at the admiral’s words. His own heart soared slightly in relief and pride. What the admiral promised was no little thing, and he greatly appreciated it. 

 

“Yes sir.” the Intelligence Agent gave another salute and stepped away. His oldest brother would be arriving soon hopefully. The admiral had given him an order, and he intended to make Kolchak happy. 

 

Agent Qessax didn’t get 10 steps away before he saw the Imperial Knight. While not unfamiliar with the Knights, Qessax couldn’t help but stop and observe her. It was a rare sight for him, who was so busy dealing with humans, that the Miraluka always made him curious. And the way she carried herself was more then just in an official way. 

 

And the scroll, Qessax noted, couldn’t be no small thing. His time with the Imperials taught him only important things were carried on paper anymore. 

Her words only confirmed it. Qessax returned to attention at these words to the Admiral. This was not just an ordinary day. This was a promotion. In his culture, this was more then an ordinary promotion. Qessax had mentioned that Kolchak would’ve been a chief in the eyes of the  Kaleesh’s. But this…

 

This would’ve been the equivalent to Great Chief in waiting. 

 

Qessax watched, beaming a little in pride. This was a great moment, and he was here to witness it. 

[Qessax Jal Todda]

“Vith such promotion, ze stakes have changed.  I vill require associates outside ze Imperial hierarchy. Loyal guardsmen to ztand in ze gap.”

 

Agent Qessax nodded. “Roger roger” he replied. He understood completely. 

 

Before he could reply further, klaxon alarms sounded out as ships began to exit hyperspace. 

 

“Damn…” the Agent cursed, recognising that the ships that had arrived were not those of his people. 

 

The Sith had begun to arrive. 

 

“Sir, ill get into communication with my brother. I’ll make sure he knows what to do.” Qessax notified the Grand Moff. With that, he turn and ran towards the communications center. 

 

One of the astromechs was waiting for the agent. An incoming message for the only person the Kaleesh wanted to communicate with. Qessax sighed and donned his mask. He knew his brother was a bit more of a traditionalist then his father wanted him to be. If Qessax didn’t wear his war mask, he would never hear the end of it, nor get his brother to listen at all. 

 

The image that popped up was what he expected. Dressed in a mixture of padded robes, bone and metal armor, and a ceremonial bone mask, the Chief’s son stood waiting. 

 

“About time Qessax.” he sneered. Behind his mask, it was obvious he was annoyed, but not terribly so. 

 

“You’re running late brother” Qessax noted. 

 

The warrior shrugged. “Blame our father. He wanted to try something new with the crew and that made us take longer. But we will be arriving shortly.”

 

“Good. The Sith have already arrived. When you get here, move to these coordinates I’m sending you. I’m sure you will be happy with these tactics you’ll be performing, but remember, protection is your primary goal. “

 

His brother nodded, if a bit smugly. “Ah, so its one of those battles then. They are the raiders, and we are the protectors.” The Kaleesh warrior snorted. “Fine, but anything we can salvage we are taking back with us”

 

Qessax sighed. Now wasn’t the time for arguing. “Fine, just keep your comm on my channel so i can give you guidance.” 

 

The two brothers nodded and the signal went dark. Hopefully, the Kaleesh forces would arrive very soon.