Senator Vanden was at his spacious viewport with his hands casually in his trouser pockets. He wore a small, functional but not unseemly headset and nodded on occasion, clearly listening to someone on the other end of the line. He glanced pleasantly, if somewhat distractedly, at Meeva and Mical, nodding to them in greeting. "Yes. That's the one, thank you," he said into the microphone on his headset, "Please send the deposition to my datapad, if you will. And the readout also, yes. Thanks again, Sal. Sure thing." He removed the headset and set it down on his desk as he rounded it on his way to shake hands with Senator Crion. "Mical," he said cordially, "Good to see you. Please, come in. Come in." He looked over his shoulder, briefly, wondering where the Senator's fabled security detail was, but his gaze came to rest instead on Meeva, who was looking to him.

"Will you need me after all, Senator?" she asked.

"No," Vanden answered her kindly, "Go or you'll miss your date. I'll see you tomorrow." She smiled, nodded to both men, turned, and then receded through the door. "Please, do have a seat," Vanden said to Mical with a gesture to one of the chairs before them as he returned to his desk and leaned upon it, facing his guest. His office was a modest one, compared to most others; it was decorated in mostly earthy, green hues, adorned with a combination of Gungan pottery and pastoral paintings of Naboo. With a pair of ferns in the office and a hanging plant in the waiting room, it seemed much more alive than the grey confines of Coruscant visible through the viewport. Outside, at the base of the viewport, was a device that Vanden had contrived himself—a shallow trough, filled with water, with a mirror at the bottom that reflected rippling sunlight into the office. It had been assembled for him by an artisan from Theed. Crion would note, also, that an air conditioner kept the room pleasantly cool.

"What can I do for you?" Vanden asked Crion as the latter was seated in one of the chairs, upholstered in a fine, forest green.

The Minister of State was a very powerful position; it presided over many of the New Republic's foreign and domestic affairs and could, potentially, have a great deal of influence on the issues that Vanden hoped to advance in the Senate. With respect to foreign affairs, it seemed that Crion was largely in support of the peace with the Remnant. This was good. Another issue which concerned the Senator from Naboo and was particularly on his mind of late were regulations to protect fragile environments and ecosystems on New Republic worlds—strict regulations, sometimes against the wishes of certain Republic worlds, such as Eriadu, that polluted their environment with reckless abandon. It would be a fight to get it through the Senate, and lately, it seemed, Senator Crion had stayed away from the most contentious issues. He wouldn't tell this to Crion now, but Vanden had no doubt that how the Senator voted, or did not vote, on this forthcoming environmental bill would significantly influence his perception of the man's suitability to be Minister of State.

He had, however, a more immediate concern as to Crion's style of leadership. "Well," he said after a moment's consideration, "I always say that anyone who can succeed in Tapani politics must be very good at statecraft. You and I are agreed on most issues, I believe, including the Jedi. I wonder, though; what of the Jedi summit on Ossus? There was some enthusiasm for this idea, as I recall, but it seems not to have happened. I would certainly like to see this concluded as soon as possible, and concluded successfully, before I'd feel comfortable introducing such a resolution."