“Well, there’s no need for the anarchists to overthrow the government now, is there?” said the delegate from Haruun Kal. “You got there first …”
“With that in mind,” Niathal continued, “I intend to ask Colonel Jacen Solo to act as joint Chief of State with me. A matter of checks and balances, so that the temporary power doesn’t rest with one person, and one can subject the other to scrutiny.”
She let the comment from Haruun Kal pass. Nobody else picked up on it. By failing to invoke the full range of emergency restrictions she now had the right to impose, she felt she’d sent out a clear message that this really was a case of an embarrassed and reluctant military being hauled in to mind the shop because the civilian head of state had been a very naughty boy. It seemed to have worked. Either the Senate was collectively terrified, or it was 90 percent convinced, 10 percent wary.
She would settle for either.
G’Sil followed her back to her office. She sat down and felt the relief flood her.
“Next?” said G’Sil, and poured two cups of caf from the dispenser. “We have a breathing space while the Senators panic about their share prices and the Corellian administration flounders like beached daggerts.”
“Reopen the stock exchange,” she said. “I need to see the finance secretary at some point today to arrange for Treasury intervention if the market panics again. I’m bringing Alliance Intel under GAG command, and assigning Captain Girdun to that”
“Oh, classic”
“and I want Omas’s office sealed until further notice.”
G’Sil looked mildly surprised. “You’re not moving in there?”
“I’m not, and neither is Jacen. It smacks of enthusiasm for power rather than necessary duty. We seal it as it stands, which is best practice in terms of allowing CSF to preserve a potential crime scene.” She tapped the internal comm code for Senate Building Maintenance into her desk keypad. “And nobody fights over whose chair it is.”
G’Sil finally gave way to the smile that was trying to cross his face. “And what an elegant way to neutralize Jacen, should he hanker after power. Give it to him to start with.”
Ton don’t need to know we did a deal. “I don’t like having opposing forces approaching from the rear, G’vli. I like them where I can see them.”
“That’s the first time I’ve heard you refer to Jacen as … opposing.”
“We want the same outcomes,” she said carefully, aware of how ephemeral alliances were in this game. “Order, stability, and peace. I don’t care for his methods, that’s all. Once I manage to teach him that putting citizens in camps and killing prisoners is not the done thing, we’ll get on just fine.”
“You have to see the Jedi Council, too.”
“I’ll see Skywalker later, but not the rest of the armed mystics …”
Niathal paused and sent a message to Luke that she wanted to continue the good working relationship he’d had with Omas, and that he would be welcome for an informal discussion. She’d remain cautious, though, because they seemed to represent a third and unelected power, neither civilian nor military, and every time she looked at Jacen Solo she saw just what Jedi could turn into.
“This has been surprisingly civilized,” G’Sil said. “The business of the chamber is going on as usual. No riots, no protests, no counterrevolution.”
“It isn’t lunchtime yet.”
“Nevertheless, this is remarkable.”
“And we have a war going on. Even if the Corellians are spinning their wheels at the moment, Bothawui isn’t. I have crews out there on the front line.”
It was simply a statement of fact. She still wore a uniform, and whatever her ambitions the service ethic was very nearly coded into her genes by now. She really did have a war to win and people to bring home alive.
“Oh, you’re good,” G’Sil said, misreading her totally. “You’re very good. Stang, I might even vote for you on the strength of today’s showing.”
That was the only way Niathal wanted to remain in this postby election; it made it much easier to hang on to it than being a dictator. She was also an officer who liked her moral lines, her rules of engagement, completely clear.
Within those, though, she believed in taking the battle to the enemy and pressing home every advantage.
“I look forward to it,” she said.
JEDI COUNCIL CHAMBER
It had been a long night, and the morning’s news left Luke reeling. He looked at Mara across the Chamber, noted that her injuries were largely healed, and wondered when she was going to be ready to talk to him about what was making her grind her teeth in her sleep.