Tarma~

Tarma rushed out of the Council building as quickly as his old legs could carry him while he simultaneously started pulling up old contacts and their current addresses on his comm-pad. Being a man of war, Tarma realized that there was no need to be high-strung over something that may not even be a threat, but he still needed to move with urgency as there was a swiftly closing deadline before him. Looking through his list of contacts he thought about the type of people he would need in his delegation.

After a fair amount of consideration, he decided he needed to call in a member of the Zenni who was proficient in making friendly ties as well a Kitanjo, as they were typically far more sly than they had any right to be, perfect for ensuring successful negotiations. He needed one more however, he needed one who could possibly engage one of these possibly gigantic Terrans in melee combat effectively in case the negotiations go bad. He pondered on the best candidate when it hit him a Sithis! Their long muscular bodies should be able to wrap around the extending limbs of the Terran giving enough time to draw a weapon and kill the Terran. Tarma had just the Sithis in mind.

Tarma linked into his comm-pad and scrolled his first choice for the Zenni. Ambassador Alaina was currently serving as the Zenni to Armanas Ambassador on his homeworld. Seeing as she was already a tried and true Ambassador, she should be able to serve as a good bridge to the Terran people. His comm-pad rang a few times before a sultry voice answered the other line. "Councilor Tarma? What's the occasion?"

Tarma entered his waiting ship and answered in a crisp tone, "I need you. Effective immediately you are to prepare to leave with me aboard my ship. The High Council has given me the right to conscript any citizens deemed necessary to the mission at hand. You will hereby be instated as a member of my delegation to the newly discovered Terran species."

Alaina yipped in surprise and started wagging her tail and shuffling, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe the Tarma said he needs me!" she said as she squealed excitedly before choking at the realization that she just said that aloud. Her tail stopped dead, her happy shuffle froze solid and she managed to flush red through her soft white fur as she responded in the quietest voice she could manage. "Ok. I'll be ready asap...sorry," she said as she hung up. "OH FUCK! I really just messed up with the Tarma oh nononono I need to figure out how to present myself well when he gets here..."

She let out a gasp so sharp it could cut a diamond, "I forgot to even ask him what this mission is... How do I prepare...FUCK!"

After the call ended Tarma stared at the comm-pad in confusion wondering what had even just happened. Shaking off the odd conversation he started the ship and input coordinates to his homeworld, Dirt. While the ship flew out of Avalon's gravity well on autopilot he pulled up the list of contacts once more and searched for a suitable Kitanjo. After a cursory search, he found a Kitanjo that fit the bill pretty well rather nearby the ambassadorial building on his world.

Tarma called up Saren, the Kitanjo lawyer who was a specialist in cases involving non Kitanjo species. His comm-pad rang once before Saren answered with a "To what do I owe the pleasure of being contacted by a well-known war hero and the current High councilor for the entire Armanas species?" he said with a sly, yet somewhat concerned tone.

"The Galactic Compact has need of your skills Saren. The fate of the entire Compact may rest upon our shoulders and the deadline for war is fast approaching. I will need you to examine this species and whatever legal documents they may bring forth. You will hereby be instated as a member of my delegation to the newly discovered Terran species. You have 11 hours to prepare yourself for pickup. I will be landing in the street in front of your house so you need not worry about traveling."

Saren's heart started pounding and one question popped up in his head. "How bad is it Tarma? How bad is it that they have you recruiting regular people?" he asked shakily.

Tarma went silent for a moment before he replied, "I... I truly do not know. The Terrans could be anywhere between our greatest allies going forward or they could easily exterminate the entire Compact. Right now... It all depends on us. So please, make sure you are ready to go immediately, we have no time."

Saren dropped to his knees before quietly replying, "Yes, sir..." and hanging up. After taking a moment to catch his breath he called his family just in case.

Tarma spun up the hyperdrive and let the engines loose quickly reaching 5000C. With the destination set and not much left for him to do over the next few hours he opened the contacts and scrolled to the Sithis who used to serve in his squad. Upon seeing the old but familiar name on his comm-pad his gaze drifted to one of the old and unused lockers lining his ship that held the same name. In a moment of reminiscence, he muttered, "Hope you're alright, Sliv..." He decided to tidy up Slivs old gear before dropping out of hyperspace.

Hours later his ship dropped out of hyperspace above a beautiful Gaia world and angled itself towards the Zenni embassy. As soon as Tarma dropped out of hyperspace he called his old friend, Sliv. The comm-pad rang for what seemed like an eternity before Sliv picked up. "Tarma, what a surprise. I know this can't be about my offer to come help me with my mercenary work. So, what do you need of me, old friend? Take it there are some badass space monsters that need a daring and dashing hero to defeat?" he said in a soft, lighthearted tone.

Tarma looked towards the inky black space with a look of sadness. "I need your help, and I need it now. You're the only being I trust at my back for this. I won't lie, you would possibly have to attempt restraining a being that is likely incredibly large... perhaps even five feet tall. If the negotiations go bad I will have to hope that the two of us are enough to fight our way out of their ship while protecting the two civilians... Well... if these negotiations fail, we will likely all die anyway but I would rather die fighting."

Sliv's jaw dropped. Tarma didn't crack. Tarma didn't let emotions like fear and sadness reach the exterior. "I will head to your home now, Tarma. It's only a few minutes out of I really rush," he said as he hurriedly grabbed all of his current gear and headed to his ship.

Tarma stared at the comm-pad for a moment as he composed himself. "Goddess, I'm losing my touch... I..." he cut himself off with a heavy sigh before shaking his head and replacing the dejected expression on his face with his normal, resolute one.

Tarma gunned his engines to full speed, ignoring the traffic laws of his home. It had taken him 11 hours to cross the distance between the high council and his home, and he had a time limit. He was a man on a mission and he didn't, no, he couldn't fail.

First up on the list was Alaina, he used his High Council codes to clear air traffic to the Zenni embassy while he went several times faster than what was legal. Tarma sighted the landing pad and brought his ship as close as he could at max speed before cutting the engines and pulling a full 180 then re-engaging the engines on full to slow as quickly as possible.

Alaina was standing in the doorway to the embassy when she saw Tarma's ship coming in hot, way too hot. She felt her heart start racing as she watched him pull closer and closer still obviously gunning it. The closer he got the more terrified she became, the more her mind raced over the worst possible outcomes. Then she saw it, the engines weren't alight any longer, and his nose went up and all the way around before she saw the purple fire of the main engines kick back on to full blast emitting gouts of flame at least three feet in length as he started rapidly slowing.

Yet still, her heart kept racing faster as he couldn't possibly slow enough with how close he had come. She saw him pass his designated landing pad coming ever closer to the doorway, time seemed to slow as she realized she might die. Only another 40 feet until he made contact with her face. 30 feet and he had slowed considerably, 20 feet and she started to feel the air warm around her. 15 feet and the engines had cut off leaving just the airbrakes and maneuvering thrusters between her living and her becoming a smear on the wall. At 10 feet the door opened and a ramp dropped that extended out another 3 feet as he came to a stop, ramp inches from her toes. She looked inside to see Tarma smiling at her. "Get in, we've got a galaxy to save," only one word came to her mind as she climbed into his ship. "moist".

Tarma waited for the second that her paw crossed the ramps safe line before closing the ramp and softly setting off so that she could safely get into her seat at his side. "Set your stuff into the storage cabinet labeled 03, that is for you," he said evenly, as though he hadn't just pulled an actually insane and incredibly dangerous maneuver.

Alaina just nodded her head trying not to let her emotions show, she was actually going on a real adventure with one of the biggest badasses the galaxy had ever seen. He was a little old but that just made him seem mature to her. It helped that he was her childhood hero.

After she set her stuff down she made her way to her seat and nervously looked at Tarma, she was really doing this. She had fantasized about this for so long. She resolved herself to attempt some small talk with Tarma at first after she sat down. She hoped he hadn't noticed her legs shaking. As soon as she sat down and buckled up she looked over to Tarma to ask him about the mission when her stomach flew up into her chest.

Tarma was a patient man, he noticed the shaking in her legs, poor girl must be nervous about the mission. Well, there will be plenty of time to explain as we are on our way to the Terrans. He waited until she was thoroughly secured into her seat before slapping the throttle to full and lighting every single available speed warning for the next mile while he cleared air traffic again to reach Saren without causing a scene. Tarma noticed that Alaina had dug her claws into the armrests as far as she could, holding on as if her life depended on it.

Saren said goodbye to his family as though it may be his last time doing so. He was giving them all hugs when he heard the speed warnings ringing and the sound dampeners drowning out a sonic boom until it was barely audible. He looked to the sky and saw that Tarma's ship was screaming toward his neighborhood. Tarma angled the ship towards the street in front of Sarens house and started slowing so he could drop between the homes without damaging any private property.

Saren turned to his family once more and waved goodbye before stepping forward unto the breach calmly and coolly so as not to worry his two kids further. He stepped out onto the street just as the ramp was lowered in front of him with a small ding into the pavement. Saren took a moment to steel himself before stepping up into the ship with purpose.

Tarma gently brought his ship down into the street and awaited the slender lawyer. He turned to see the hesitation in the old Kitan's eyes a moment before he saw them narrow. "Good, you have prepared yourself for this mission well, haven't you Saren?" he said with a hint of approval.

Saren looked Tarma in the eyes and just nodded. Tarma smiled and pointed to a cabinet labeled 04, "That one is yours now. get situated, we are going to have to move very soon. it will take us over a day before we can make it to the sector the Terrans were last sighted in. We only have six to complete our mission and get word back to the council. With that being said, as long as the Terrans haven't moved their ship for some strange reason we won't have too hard of a time with the deadline... More than likely will have to spend a significant amount of time searching for another Terran vessel."

Finally, Tarma gunned it towards his own home where his only living battle brother awaited him.

Sliv coiled into a standing position as he awaited his brother in arms. Then he saw it, Tarma was coming in hot to the open landing strip that was just outside Tarma's home. Sliv watched on as nostalgic memories, both good, and bad welled up inside of him as Tarma performed a Skikt maneuver, cutting the engines and flipping before re-engaging the engines at full thrust. Sliv knew that Tarma would successfully land inches from him. He had pulled it off every single time during the war with the Razeri alliance.

Tarma pulled within inches of his old friend Sliv, ramp down, watching as Sliv expertly wasted no time in getting aboard the ship, wordlessly setting his equipment into the cabinet marked 02 and coiling around the seat behind Alaina.

Tarma lifted off and angled towards the sky before letting loose the engines and screaming towards the stars. With no fanfare, the hastily assembled crew was now headed to save the entirety of the Galactic Compact. Alaina finally asked through clenched teeth and immense g forces, "What the hell even is our mission? What are we doing?"

Tarma broke the atmosphere and engaged the hyperdrive as he set course for the Terran sector. Tarma looked to his crew as the ship entered hyperspace and finally told them of their mission. "We are to establish diplomatic relations with a race of technologically ascendant giants who may or may not want to eat us. If we do not complete this task peacefully within the next six days the council will send in an armada to our last known location and start a war with said giants whom we frankly have little hope to fight against, this will likely result in the loss of all life within the entirety of the Galactic compact," he said without a hint of emotion.

Alaina and Saren both let their jaws drop to the floor. Saren gained enough control over his jaw to ask, "What? That's not just bad Tarma! That's literally catastrophic. You have surpassed my every damn expectation in just how bad it could really be." he said with his voice cracking.

Tarma looked at the two and shrugged. "Well, let's hope it doesn't come to that. It's why I picked you two after all. Alaina is for creating friendly ties and you, Saren is there to make sure they don't do anything underhanded, you are clever enough to hopefully see through any deceit. We need you both."

Alaina looked at Sliv, "What's his job?"

Tarma looked at Sliv and cracked a small nostalgia-ridden smile. "Kicking ass."