GALACTIC ALLIANCE GUARD BRIEFING ROOM, GAG HQ, CORUSCANT
Ben was glad to be back among people he trusted. The sea of black uniforms might have been a sinister sight to
some people, but to him they felt like a brotherhoodlike family. He was in that rare position of being young enough to be treated like one of the troopers despite his officer status, and he liked that. The sense of camaraderie and the knowledge that everyone watched everyone else’s back was both comforting and thrilling.
He settled into a seat on the end of a row in the briefing room. A trooper called Almak nudged him.
“Nice vacation? Glad you could fit us into your busy schedule, sir.”
“Couldn’t wait to get back.”
“You didn’t miss much,” Almak said. “Been a bit quieter. I thunk we’ve broken the back of the Corellian networks.”
“I always miss the good stuff.”
A couple of the other troopers in the row in front turned in their seats and joined in. “We’ll find some excitement for you.”
“Or some filing …”
” ‘Freshers need a good clean. Here’s a toothbrush.”
Ben grinned and lobbed a pellet of flimsi at them. It was good to be part of a team. It was good to have friends. They didn’t see him as Son of Skywalker, Jedi to be feared. He was just Ben, and they looked out for him as they always seemed to for young officers they liked.
And they never asked him where he’d been. Everything was on a need-to-know basis.
But the spate of bombings seemed to be over for the time being. It was just a case of working out who to keep an eye on and round up next. Corellians, Bothans … and now Fondorians.
Captain Lon Shevu strode onto the dais at the front of the room, looking as committed as ever, but Ben felt the reluctance and misgivings in him. He could sense it in a few of the other troopers, too, generally the ones who’d been in the CSF. Jacen followed Shevu and got instant undivided attention. Jacen could do that: Ben wasn’t sure if he envied him or not. It was interesting that he seemed to enjoy being the focus for ordinary beings but chose to hide himself from Force-sensitives. It was as if he only wanted to be seen by the mundane world.
I have to learn how to do that. Mom says I did it as a little kid, but that was by instinct, like babies swimming. I want to learn how to do it like Jacen does.
“Brief for the next forty-eight hours, ladies and gentlemen,” said Jacen. “We’re moving into a different phase. The priority now is to look for professionalsConfederation intelligence agents. Now, normally we’d leave that to our colleagues in Alliance Intel, but seeing as we’ve got all their best operatives” Applause and laughter interrupted him. He paused with a big grin and picked up again. “seeing as we got the pick of the litter, we’ll be helping them out. We’ll also be providing close protection for Chief Omas and key ministers, to relieve CSF, and monitoring for them. Results of interrogation suggest we might be looking at more targeted and professional assassination attemptsas in government agents, not just disgruntled amateurs and bounty hunters.”
A hand was raised at the front. Ben couldn’t see who it was. “What’s monitoring in this context, sir?”
Jacen flashed a holoimage onto the screen behind him. It showed a diagram of the various routes by which GA ministers could be reached, physically or virtually: offices, home addresses, private clubs, routes to the Senate, comlinks. “Like this,” he said.
“Are we Mowed to tap Senators’ comlinks, sir?” asked Shevu.
“Under the Emergency Measures Act, we’re authorized to carry out any surveillance to prevent acts of violence against ministers of state and visiting allies.”
Shevu’s face was unreadable, but Ben felt the sharp unhappiness in him. Now, there was a guy who knew how to conceal what he was thinking. Ben wondered if that was a more useful skill than hiding in the Force.
Tapping Senators’ comlinks didn’t seem to bother anyone else at the briefing. Ben couldn’t see the problem, either. It made sense, for their own protection. Jacen tasked squads to their roles, and there was discussion about supplies.
“Draw up a wish list,” Jacen said, beaming. “I think we’ve eased the supply situation. Or we will have, by the end of this week.”
There was a ripple of laughter. “Did you persuade them to see things your way, sir?”
“Oh, I just made sure the flimsi was in order …”
There was more laughter and a ripple of applause. For a moment, Ben felt a conspiratorial closeness between Jacen and the troopers. It was genuine: Jacen wasn’t doing his charisma act to persuade people to do what he wanted, although he was very good at that. He enjoyed the company of his troops, and they enjoyed his. There was a sense of shared danger and that the rest of the world wasn’t part of all this. Ben took mental notes about the art of effortless leadership.