Azariah had just woken up after an entire night of arguing over whether we should jump into the blade held at their throats whilst hoping for the best or to placate the one holding it. She wished that there were actually some ancient gods who could come through and by some miracle resolve this current crisis, but she knew better than to hope for something like that.

She mentally took stock of what out of the myriad things she needed to do, was the most important. She needed to do everything in her power to ensure that Tarma was able to complete his mission before the rest of the council let fear take them. At the same time, she needed to build the defensive armada and conscript the necessary forces without allowing any of the Razeri alliance to see the massive and sudden spike in military buildup.

She glanced at her work desk and sighed heavily. With her and several other Councilors running damage control one would think that the work might lessen but somehow she seemed to get buried in more and more of it. Azariah stormed through the corridors of the resplendent building. She was heading for the office of Rezla, the Sithis High Councilor. She soon stood in front of the door to Rezla's office. Before she even opened the door she could hear the tireless shuffling of paper, keystrokes, and the muffled grumbling of the discontent Councilor.

Azariah knocked on the door to the office which immediately opened as if she'd been expected. She looked towards the lanky Sithis woman whose eyes seemed to droop with exhaustion." You haven't slept yet have you?"

Rezla let out a hissing laugh, "No, I have not. How could I sleep while the lives of all of our people may be at stake? I have made so many calls and put so many things into motion it makes me wonder what we have been doing for the last fifty years. Yet still, I have many more calls, many more proposals to file away, and many more fires to put out. So what did you need?"

Azariah sighed, "First, I will help you with the efforts you have already put forth, then I will need your help in trying to set up a task force to rescue Tarma and his crew should things with the 'Terrans' go south. We cannot abandon him, as much as I made a show of it last night."

Rezla stopped her work momentarily and gave Azariah a thankful look, "You can get started on the fires that need putting out then. The Rasen, Rantari, Yambi, and Ketti are absolutely losing their collective minds. Their Councilors are panicking and that panic has run down the line in their species as a rumor after rumor gets spread about the destruction of the compact. If the fires aren't put out we will have riots and anarchy on some worlds where the home species are a little more... Excitable." she said, flicking her tail out in annoyance causing a crack to resound through the office.

Azariah quickly set to work helping Rezla with her workload while she questioned her on the people who should go into the task force. An hour later they had managed to work out the details.

Mizan was one of the few Fellis that was comfortable leaving the Empire of Felid kind. The council had chosen her to lead this mission because her people were renowned for being magnificent spies. She was extremely stealthy and persuasive. She could handle herself well in a fight, to top it all off.

The council had given her a task force consisting of two Sithis who are also renowned experts in stealth, one Askari who were infamous for their innate ability to see things at positively ridiculous distances and for their renowned religious bloodlust, and finally, one Yambi as they were the premier escape artists of the galaxy with the Fellis holding second.

She stood in front of the small crew in their top-of-the-line ship and began her speech."The mission we've been passed down is to find the Terran warship that the Atteni had run off to, from there our goal is to silently observe the situation with Tarma. If his mission fails we need to attempt an extract for him and his crew alongside locating and rescuing the Atteni VIPs who had willingly boarded the possible death trap. Now, I would like to discuss the specific jobs you will each have. We have to ensure this mission is as clean as possible."

The hastily assembled crew grumbled their assent. Mizan let out an irritated sigh and singled out the two Sithis. "Ren, Sven, If we infiltrate I need the both of you to find those Atteni and bring them to the rendevous as silently as possible. It will just be the two of you, so please, don't try any heroics. If the Terrans have them secured just leave."

She glanced down at the Yambi who was peacefully floating in a glass tank of water. "Alai, your job will be much simpler. You will go through whatever ventilation systems they use and give us real-time data on enemy movements."

The brown and white feathered Askari looked towards Mizan with eyes that betrayed his fanatical disposition. She gave him a conflicted look before finally deciding on his position. "Vella... I know your religion is... odd. In regards to that, strap on your combat gear as soon as we arrive and you will be deployed to either send the Terrans to the veil, or you will be sent there. Either way, you win."

Vella gave him a predatory grin that made his steel-plated beak gleam in the light from the ship. "But of course. I would be all too happy to send off a giant or two for my battle brothers and sisters before I am sent to the veil myself."

A look of deep concern flashed across Mizan's face, "Allllrighty then... Well. That settles it..."

She moved past her crew and signaled the start of the mission. The hastily assembled crew might have lacked cohesion but they were all veterans so they quickly sprung into action. They immediately loaded the ship, performed their checks, and assumed their posts. In the span of a minute, the crew was ready to take off.