[Legacy Of The Force] - 05(101)

“Sergeant Wirut will accompany you to pack an overnight bag,” Jacen said. “We’ll take you out as discreetly as possible.”

“Secretly? Oh, I see …”

“No, sir, you’re not going to disappear and turn up floating facedown in some sewer. This will be conducted legally and openly.”

Omas stared impassively into Jacen’s face and then looked past him at the two troopers. Jacen could feel the man’s fear even though he looked perfectly at ease. “Sergeant, I do keep a bag packed for eventualities,” Omas said, almost smiling. “If you don’t trust me not to blow my brains out in the bedroom, by all means go to the fifth door on the left and pick it up for me. It’s in the first closet as you enter the room. Tan leather holdall.”

There was nothing worse than a dignified detainee. Jacen knew that within twenty-four hours the barracks and the CSF bar would be full of the gossip about how magnificently brave Omas had been. Wirut disappeared into the bedroom while Limm stood guard.

Omas stepped a little closer to Jacen, his face centimeters away, so close that his breath brushed Jacen’s skin like a hand.

“You obnoxious, power-crazed, ludicrous little jerk,” he said sweetly, with the smile of an indulgent grandfather. “You had Gejjen killed, too, didn’t you?”

Jacen waited for him to spit in his face and still smile, but Omas conducted himself impeccably as he left. Wirut walked behind him, blaster visible but not jammed into the Chief of State’s back, and Jacen led the way. It was the longest, most awkward turbolift descent that Jacen could imagine. When they reached the lobby, the security guard stared for a moment, put down his holozine, and stood up.

“Sir? What’s happening?”

“Would you water the plants while I’m away, please?” Omas said pleasantly. “I’m afraid I’m under arrest.”

There was a second GAG transport waiting outside. Wirut and Limm ushered Omas into it, then watched it speed away to GAG HQ. Jacen found that his hands were shaking. It was an effort to take out his comlink.

“Admiral, it’s done,” he said. “Time for a public announcement.”

Wirut pushed back his visor and wiped his face with his glove. “That,” he said, “was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Next time, sir, can I volunteer for snatching heavily armed Wookiee psychopaths? It’d be a lot easier on my nerves.”

Wirut and Limm joked, but the arrest had crossed an emotional line for them, and it showed. Jacen climbed into the speeder beside them and took a long route through the canyons of buildings, checking for signs that Coruscant, the heart of galactic democracy, had undergone a silent, bloodless, and thoroughly civilized military coup.

Outside government buildings and bank headquarters, small groups of GA ground forces stood guard. It looked like no more than the routine public order precautions for festival nights, except the uniforms were not the blue of CSF.

“Weird,” said Limm.

“Poor old Jori.” Wirut sighed. “Poor kid. He was so keen to live up to his granddad.”

Jacen rubbed his eyes and realized he was in for another very long day. And the sun wasn’t even up yet.

“I won’t forget that,” he said. “I never will.”





chapter thirteen


SENATE BUILDING


Trading on the ISE was suspended in the early hours of this morning when Acting Chief of State Admiral Cha Niathal declared temporary martial law following the shock arrest of Cal Omas. A statement is expected in the Senate within the hour. Meanwhile, other galactic financial centers report brisk trading. KDY “A” shares closed fifty point three credits up on yesterday, and both MandalMotors and Roche Industries ended the day up more than thirty credits.

—Market News: business headlines

Senator G’Sil glanced at the holocams that transmitted Senate debates to every office, restaurant, and public area in the Senate Building, then shook his head, eyes closed for a moment.

“Full house,” he said. “You’d better have a good speech ready, Cha. A really good one.”

Niathal adjusted her uniform and prepared to go out onto the

Chief of State’s platform to address the Senate. Things weren’t playing out quite as she’d imagined, but then battles never did, and the political arena was as prone to the fog of war as any fleet engagement. Jacen Solo, whom she expected to see strutting around the Senate, was keeping a low profile. But she’d see about that. If she was going to be shoved out front to tap-dance for his coup, she’d make sure he was visibly part of their double act. She wasn’t taking responsibility for this on her own.