Private Where Interests Meet

[Tavo Halor]

OFFICE OF THE CHANCELLOR // ENVOY FIELD RECORD
TAVO HALOR​

LOCATION Deep Space, Iron Covenant Territory ⟡ OBJECTIVE Diplomatic Overture​

The coordinates supplied by the Iron Covenant placed the meeting somewhere in deep space, away from any planetary territory. Tavo had expected as much after reading through the latest material on the Covenant. Their government travelled with its people, so there had been little reason to expect a conventional diplomatic venue.

The Republic shuttle reverted to realspace close to the position they had been given.

Tavo had moved forward for the approach some time earlier, leaving the actual flying to the pilot while he watched the handful of vessels resolve against the dark beyond the viewport. The navigation display identified the Gra'tua Dral among them, and he recognised the name. The warship had appeared more than once in the reports from Humbarine, though the difference between seeing it reduced to a line in a briefing file and sitting opposite it in open space was considerable.

His attention lingered on the hull as they approached. It was long and broad through the forward section, narrowing toward a heavier concentration of superstructure aft, with armour plating layered across the surface in uneven sections. The metal carried years of scoring and discolouration, darker seams marking places where panels had been replaced or reinforced. Warm light showed through recesses along the flanks, catching against exposed machinery. Broad fins and projecting structures broke up the silhouette, while the repairs drew his eye more readily than whatever the original lines of the vessel might once have been.

It looked well-used; and for a warship, that told him far more than polish would have.

"We are being hailed, sir," the pilot said, her helmet comm buzzing. She pressed several controls on the flight panel. "Sending codes now."

Tavo nodded. His datapad rested across one knee, the last of the material from the Chancellor's office already downloaded. The promised manifest had arrived before they crossed into the region, along with the Republic's current brief on the Mandalorian Empire. He had spent enough of the journey reading both and closed the screen as the shuttle's communications panel came alive a second time.

Clearance followed shortly afterward.

The pilot glanced toward him. "We've been given a landing assignment."

Tavo looked once more toward the Covenant ships before rising from the seat.

"All right. Take us in."

He remained forward during the approach while the pilot closed the distance, keeping closely to the assigned path. The Gra'tua Dral steadily filled the viewport until the shuttle passed into one of the warship's hangar bays.

The landing gear met the deck with a slight shift beneath his feet.

"Power us down," Tavo said as he stood, glancing once toward the shield controls. "No reason to look nervous."

The pilot acknowledged him and began the post-flight sequence.

Tavo crossed back through the shuttle corridor while the engine noise faded behind him. In the passenger compartment, he straightened the front of his jacket almost absently, checked the charge on his datapad, then returned it to his hand.

He had brought no entourage with him. The flight crew would remain aboard unless needed, and Tavo carried nothing beyond the datapad.

A change in the light above the hatch signalled that the compartment had equalised.

He waited for the ramp to lower, then stepped out onto the Gra'tua Dral...

TAGS
Romul Saxon ​

HOUSE HALOR // SERVICE • DISCIPLINE • UNDERSTANDING

 

[Romul Saxon]

W A R M A S T E R
Iron Covenant Deep Space

TRANQUILITY​

Tag: Tavo Halor | Feydrik Munin

Upon landing, the craft would be received by an honor guard of Saxon commandos to escort the envoy. Even without a complete picture of the Mythos Fleet's strength, a couple of escort ships surrounding the Gra'tua Dral would not seem to be the extent of the Mandalorian forces, based on whatever information had come out of the battles of Humbarine and Abregado-Rae. Since the Iron Covenant had laid siege to various worlds in the Core and the conference of Bilbringi, the Mythos Fleet was more dispersed and mobile than ever.

Tavo would be led to a conference room, the same one where a Padawan had been received before the war had begun in earnest. The room was spartan, the central feature the holotable that sat in the center; otherwise, it was sparsely decorated except for the boar insignia of Clan Saxon and the mythosaur skull.

"Welcome, envoy," Romul rumbled as blast doors slid open to admit the Republic ambassador and his Mandalorian escort. The Old Boar was not one for lengthy political particulars. "You may speak."

 

[Feydrik Munin]

​

Feydrik entered behind Romul- and removed his helmet, gingerly setting it on the table, looking at it's recently polished and cleaned metal before looking up at the envoy. Then, down, scanning, sizing him up.

He stopped at his shoes.

He liked his shoes. Feydrik took a seat near Romul, folded his hands neatly over each other, and leaned forward slightly. He was eager to hear what the envoy had to say. As well as to ask him later where he got his lovely shoes....

 

[Tavo Halor]

OFFICE OF THE CHANCELLOR // ENVOY FIELD RECORD
TAVO HALOR​

LOCATION Deep Space, Iron Covenant Territory ⟡ OBJECTIVE Diplomatic Overture​

The escort had given Tavo ample opportunity to take in the interior of the Gra'tua Dral on the way from the hangar. It was an impressive vessel. By the time the blast doors opened onto the conference room, his attention had shifted from the ship to the people waiting inside.

Romul Saxon was easy enough to recognise from the briefing material. Tavo's eyes lingered on the mythosaur skull. Then a second Mandalorian entered, removing his helmet, before taking a seat nearby. That individual's attention travelled over Tavo in turn, pausing noticeably lower before returning upward. Tavo caught it, though whatever interest his shoes had earned would remain unexplained for the time being.

On Romul's word, the floor was opened to him.

"Warmaster." Tavo inclined his head slightly. "Thank you for receiving me."

He set his datapad down within easy reach without opening it.

"Chancellor Vexx sent me because Humbarine gave the Republic reason to think there may be useful ground between our governments that neither of us has tested yet."

His attention moved briefly between the two Mandalorians.

"I haven't come with a particular arrangement already decided for you. I'm authorised to explore where our interests overlap, and to make preliminary agreements if we find something worth pursuing."

Tavo extended his hands, palms up, toward the two warriors opposite him.

"Before I start telling you what the Republic thinks the Covenant needs, I'd rather hear it from you. What would make this conversation worth your time?"

TAGS
Romul Saxon • Feydrik Munin ​

HOUSE HALOR // SERVICE • DISCIPLINE • UNDERSTANDING

 

[Romul Saxon]

W A R M A S T E R
Iron Covenant Deep Space

TRANQUILITY​

Tag: Tavo Halor | Feydrik Munin

Diplomatic overtures from the High Republic. It was only four years ago, but Romul could remember when the Mandalorian Enclave had gone to war with the Galactic Alliance over a trifling matter. Yet the Iron Covenant was not the Enclave, nor was the High Republic the Alliance. Times changed; strategic priorities shifted.

Romul was unwilling to admit it, but the Iron Covenant's position was more precarious than he wished it. The High Republic had probably come to the same conclusion. The Sith threat had grown beyond management. They sat behind their Black Wall while their agents had taken over the Core of the galaxy. Lest all free peoples unite against their darkness, the galaxy would soon be subsumed.

The Iron Covenant's fight had become no longer one of justice; it was now a matter of survival.

Romul looked over at Munin, whose gaze seemed fixated on the man's feet, before returning to Halor. "There is little we want for," Romul rumbled, "beyond the death of the Sith. Can your Republic provide this?"

 

[Feydrik Munin]

​

"Destruction, Warmaster. Sir." Feydrik leaned forward at the waist, his hands resting on the table.

"Death comes for us all. We want to destroy the Sith. The Republic must then be committed to... total war." He raised his head up only slightly. "Every facet of Mandalorian society is built around war. Our shipyards, our ammunition makers, our armorsmiths, from the people that farm the land to the people that pull the trigger, every Mandalorian and person on a Mandalorian world serves our war machine. We know no peace and we know no end to war. And-" He leaned forward and spoke once more, to emphasize his point.

"We rather like it that way."

He locked eyes with the envoy.

"The entirety of the Republic must commit to this idea. Your people become weapons, your worlds become factories, your society becomes less about Kings, Princes, Senators, and more about who can make what for the war. My Warmaster, my liege, my Commander, is right. There is only one goal that the Iron Covenant seeks. But that puts you at odds with much of the galaxy. We can survive this war, we always have, and always will. The Sith only manage to find the measure of our resolve. The Mandalorian Empire will do much the same, from our reports."

He folded his hands.

"So, envoy, I ask you, are you ready to plunge your Republic into total war to achieve victory?"

 

[Tavo Halor]

OFFICE OF THE CHANCELLOR // ENVOY FIELD RECORD
TAVO HALOR​

LOCATION Deep Space, Iron Covenant Territory ⟡ OBJECTIVE Diplomatic Overture​

Tavo lowered his hands as the second Mandalorian finished, then directed his answer back to Romul.

"No one in this room can guarantee how a war will end, Warmaster. What I can tell you is whether the Republic is prepared to fight it."

Tavo lifted his chin slightly, his hands settling at the small of his back in an old military habit.

"We are. If the campaign calls for us to strike first, we will. We are prepared to carry the war into Sith territory and take back worlds they have seized. We aren't going to spend it sitting behind our borders while the Sith decide where every battle happens."

His attention moved to the Mandalorian beside Romul.

"What you're describing beyond that is how Mandalorians organise themselves for war. The Republic isn't built that way. We can commit ourselves to this fight without turning every citizen into a weapon or organising civilian life around it."

Tavo met the other man's eyes.

"If what the Covenant needs to know is whether we'll take the fight to the Sith, then you have your answer. But if none of that matters unless the Republic remakes itself first, I'd rather know that now."

TAGS
Romul Saxon • Feydrik Munin ​

HOUSE HALOR // SERVICE • DISCIPLINE • UNDERSTANDING