Anabeth: New Beginnings

Chapter 2: Meeting The Minis

It was late in the night, but Ana still couldn't sleep. She had sat down with Ahsoka, Obi-Wan, Anakin, Satine and Padmè until late in the evening, discussing a way to introduce the babies to the Council and most importantly, Windu.

She had wanted to assure them that she'd be able to keep Windu's nerves at bay, but truthfuly, she kew she couldn't promise anything. She hoped they'd have Depa on their side, as it would make her job a lot easier.

And additionally, the meeting with Bo and the Sepratists was in the morning which didn't put her nerves at ease any more. She badly wanted this to be the time the Sepratists would actually agree, knowing there were still hundreds of Jedi out in the galaxy, waiting for the go ahead to travel home.

In the early morning, Ana got up before most of the the Temple, heading over to the Senate as always. Organa had asked her to come early to discuss some final points for the meeting. Thankfully, everyone else arrived shortly after her and the meeting began.

Throughout the entire talk, Ana basicly just sat in the corner, taking notes for Windu every now and then. It was like any of the other six meetings before then. The Sepratists asked many questions about Mandalore's relations to both them and the Republic and then went on to ask what securities they'd have to offer if they became the neutral ground for peace talks.

Bo handled the questions with ease, purposefully leaving out any details involving the fact that she'd pass oversight of the talks off to Satine, as she hadn't officially been made Senator yet.

As lunch time approached, both sides took a quick break to discuss among themselves, giving Bo and Ana the opportunity to exchange a quick word in the hallway. "You did great" Ana assured her. "Let's hope the Sepratists thought so too" Bo replied, looking towards the door of the meeting room in anticipation.

"Why did you offer to be the neutral ground for this anyway? I mean you only barely averted another civil war like a month ago, what are you trying to prove?" Ana asked. "I'm trying to show the galaxy that Mandalore is back stronger than ever, and that we will not be part of either the Republic or the Sepratists.

We want to have good relations with them of course, but we are independent and can keep up with them" Bo explained. "Wow, that's a big agenda". "Think it's realistic?" Bo asked a little sceptical about it herself. "If the Sepratists trust you to be a neutral ground, then yes, definitely" Ana assured her.

The two of them were soon called back inside as the call with the Sepratists resumed. As expected, the Republic was ready to acccept Mandalore as their neutral ground. Ana held her breath as the Sepratists declared they'd acccept them too.

It took everything of her not to start cheering right then and there as they still had to discuss details. But after another two hours they finally had it all settled. They had agreed to meet on Mandalore in three days and surprisingly signed the deescalation treaty, officialy agreeing to pull back their troops from the front lines.

Additionally, Bo had managed to push through the Jedi as a supervising neutral party, even though the Sepratists were a little sceptial, and had made it clear that the soon to be named Mandalorian Senator would be leading the talks and not her. Further terms were the no weapons rule for both parties and a limit to a six Senator commitee for each of them.

When the transmission was finally shut off for good, the whole room broke out into cheers as Bo and Organa made their way towards Ana. "That was long overdue" Organa commented. "I agree. I can't wait to tell Windu that he can start pulling our troups from the front lines. He has been waiting for this for ages. I bet he already has a plan ready for this" Ana replied.

"Tell him to set up a Jedi delegation to travel to Mandalore with Lady Bo-Katan and her delagtion in two days as well. Seen as you are going to play a neutral part in all of this, I don't think you should travel with us". "I will make sure it's done" Ana assured him.