[Legacy Of The Force] - 05(102)
“It’s temporary, it’s for the duration of the war, and no ordinary citizens will notice an adverse impact on their lives,” she said, rehearsing her key messages. “Play a bit of Omas’s clandestine meeting footage, wave around the news on Mandalore and Roche, and everyone nods and says, yes indeed, Admiral, we live in dangerous times, please do look after us as an interim government while the Chief of State’s office is thoroughly investigated.”
“I like Jacen,” G’Sil said, suddenly very quiet. “But is he reliable these days?”
“Reliable for what?”
“I would never have authorized the Gejjen business. It was … extreme.”
“It’s done. Corellia is wobbling a little, because their assorted lunatic fringes have given us a massive bonus by claiming they did it. Bothawui has been brought up short, because they probably think we did it but can’t believe we had the nerve, andwell, I never thought I’d live to say this, but those ghastly little Mandalorian savages have been wonderfully helpful.”
“Cha, I don’t want to worry you, but have you noticed they’re rearming? With Verpine tech, too?”
“I certainly have. Best news of the week.”
“They must teach you something at staff college that’s beyond us lesser mortals.”
Niathal checked the chrono. She had ten minutes to psych herself up into appearing as a safe pair of hands, reluctant to take the burden of the reins of state and anxious to hand them back as soon as the current unpleasant business was over. Yes, she meant that, too. She wanted the Chief of State’s post, but she wanted a genuine mandate to do it; and there was no better way to achieve that than to show she
could be a responsible leader in this most extreme of situations. When she finally ran for office, the electorate would know her by her deeds.
As long as I can keep Jacen on a choke chain, of course, and, he doesn’t ruin it for me. If he gets out of hand … well, there’s always Fett.
“Have you ever kept nuna?” she asked.
“Not in the apartment …”
“I’m told they tend to form rival groups within the flock, and they can get very territorial. Squabbles break out. Now, let wild bursas into the coop, and it’s bedlamthey go into a killing frenzy, grab as many nuna to eat later as they can, and escape. They don’t care which group they eat. That’s your Mandalorians.”
“It’s a lovely analogy, but it’s lost on me.”
“Forget strategy. Mandalorians don’t care who wins. They just want to eat, drink, fight, and maintain their self-image.”
G’Sil gave her a long, wary stare. “You’re the Supreme Commander. I assume you can assess a military risk.”
“You want my assessment? Fett has no intention of expanding his small sphere of influence. Mandalorians might have been a mighty empire a few millennia ago, but they can’t handle the difficult business of running a modern, complex democracy. They know it, so they just want to live their primitive warrior fantasy and revel in their reputation.”
“Which is earned.”
“I accept that they’re phenomenal soldiers.”
“They kicked out the Empire and the Yuuzhan Vong, without any help from us.”
“That still doesn’t mean they want to dominate the galaxy. There are fewer than three million of them on Mandalore now, and they don’t have anything like a government structure that could organize them well enough to take over the GA or the Confederation. They’ll always be the bursa let loose among nuna. They’re opportunistic feeders.”
“But Fett’s a smart, smart man. Forget the Wookiee braids.”
“He wants to see Jacen Solo fall a long way,” Niathal said.
“I don’t buy fostering galactic chaos just to get back at one man, even if it’s Jacen.”
“No, we’ve created our own chaos. Fett’s just the distraction act.” Two minutes to go: Niathal sipped a glass of water and rolled her head to loosen her neck. There was nothing worse than a strained voice caused by tight muscles. She needed to sound relaxed, regretful, but authoritative. “As long as he plays bogeyman, the GA holds together, because the smaller planets are scared the Mandalorians will be back and they’ll cling to us for protection.”
“Or rush to the Confederation …”
“Not if the Confederation buys Fett’s arms, and we don’t. We can rob him of his neutrality, or at least the appearance of it.”
G’Sil continued to look at her as if she’d arrived from beyond the Outer Rim. He was taking this coupand she was happy to call it that in privateremarkably well. Given his position, she’d expected him to want a piece of the action.