Republic's armed forces--not one! The societor has forbidden it."
"And I hope that will be an example to other rulers," Nil Spaar said.
"But there is a great fleet poised to invade our territory, and they do
not seem to have been left wanting by your absence."
"Oh, that fleet is nothing but bluster," Ourn said dismissively. "The
Princess hasn't the will to use it, or the support to do so."
"I find her a strong and canny dictator," Nil Spaar said. "I cannot
believe that she would make empty threats."
"If you could hear the speakers denouncing her daily in the Senate, you
would know how weak she is.
There has been a challenge to her right to lead the New Republic. Why,
there is even talk that she will be recalled."
"I am more concerned whether the fleet that threatens us will be
recalled," said Nil Spaar. "You will understand that I can't look past
that."
"But what about your promise? What about the favors I have done
you?"
"We have a debt to the Paqwepori, it is true--but others in my
government question whether we can trust an ally of Leia Organa Solo--"
"I would have denounced her myself, if the chairman would only have let
me--" "--and still others believe that we must keep Queen of the
Valkyries for ourselves, to help us in our defense against the fleets
and armies Leia is raising against us.
Truly, I do not see how we can deliver the ship to you in such
circumstances."
The consul's face had fallen farther with every word. "This is
horrendous--unthinkable!" he sputtered.
"Is there nothing you can do?"
Nil Spaar flicked his cheek in the Paqwepori gesture of resignation.
"Perhaps it would be possible--but no. I am embarrassed to ask for
more when a debt already exists."
"Ask! Please, ask! Is there some way I can help resolve this?"
"I thought only that if you could give me the means to persuade the
others--if I could give them sufficient reason to trust you--to know
that you are as honorable as I know you to be--" "Yes, of course--but
what will do that? Are you asking me to leave Coruscant? Are you
asking us to leave the New Republic?"
"No, no---by no means. Just continue to be a friend to us there," Nil
Spaar said. "Keep your eyes and ears open to the machinations of she
who afflicts us. Provide us with an unbiased report of her actions.
Give us the information we need to keep this confrontation from
spinning out of control. That's the only way we can keep our promise
to you. That will be all the proof they need of your loyalty."
"Of course," Ourn said. "Of course! I would have done so anyway. In
fact, my first reason for contacting you was to tell you about Leia's
newest abuse of her power. Even her friends are shocked by this--she
came back from holiday and granted membership to more than twenty new
systems, completely bypassing the established protocols--" "No," Leia
said emphatically, brushing past Nanaod Engh as though he were a street
beggar. "I don't want to call a cabinet meeting. I have nothing to
tell them yet. The Defense Council hasn't met yet. The viceroy hasn't
shown his hand yet."
Engh appealed to Behn-kihl-nahm with his eyes.
"Will you talk to her, Chairman?"
"Leia--you don't have to have answers for them yet," Behn-kihl-nahm
said. "Just let them see you. Just let them see you taking command.
A government is an organism--and this one has taken two shocks
substantial enough to disrupt its systems."
"I'm sorry, but all that can't depend on me. There's a reason for
having a cabinet, and the reason is so I don't have to concern myself
with all those 'systems." So let the ministers deal with their
responsibilities, and I'll deal with the things that only the chief of
state can."
"But you need to tell them that, and show them that you're present,
aware, and active," said Behn-kihl-nahm.
kingdoms before you know it, all looking to their councils over in the
Senate instead of to you. To a degree, that's already happened."
"There's a great deal of governing which has nothing to do with
Koornacht, the Defense Council, black fleets, and matters of state,"
Engh said. "Perhaps the ministers and their staffs should not need
reassuring, but they do."
"And I don't need to be hung by my heels and questioned for four
hours."
"That won't happen," Engh said. "It will be your meeting, not
theirs.
Thank them for the work they've been doing. Call for their reports.
Acknowledge the difficult times ahead. Ask them to remain diligent in
discharging their responsibilities. Promise to tell them more when you
can. Let them know that they are making it possible for you to do your
job."
"They should know all that without being told," Leia protested. "Why
does it require a pep talk from me?
My stars, during the Rebellion, our pilots got in their fighters
knowing they were outnumbered five to one and worse with less
hand-holding than this."
"That was a different place and a different time," Behn-kihl-nahm said
simply. "Leia--you have never served anywhere in government except at
the top. Please trust those of us who are better acquainted with the
view from the bottom to advise you in this."
Sighing, Leia looked to the first administrator.
"When do you suggest we do this, then? This afternoon?"
"Oh, no--that would put the stamp of an emergency on it, which is the
last thing you want. No, all you need do this afternoon is give the
usual three-day notice. That will start sending the message you want
heard. For the rest, three days from now is soon enough."
"All right. Three days, then," Leia said grudgingly.
"Will one of you tell Alole on your way out?"
The first full cabinet meeting of the new era went surprisingly
smoothly. Minister of State Mokka Falanthas showed signs--noticeable
but not overt--of still being disgruntled over Leia's violation of his
turf, but he kept those feelings out of his words when he reported on
the work of the diplomatic corps. But the rest of them, Leia was
forced to admit, did seem to relish the return to normalcy.
Even better, Leia was able to hold the meeting down to two hours,
giving her a chance to get some real work done before meeting Han for
lunch. But she didn't quite manage to escape cleanly--Nanaod E ngh
followed her out of the council hall and down the corridor toward the
turbolifts.
"Do you have some time now, Princess?" Engh asked. "There's something
I'd like to bring up that wasn't appropriate for that venue."
"I was planning on taking a slow second look at some new material that
came in from General A'baht overnight," Leia said. "I'm going before
the Defense Council on the first, you know."
"Yes, I do."
"Well, you have from here to my office door to convince me that
whatever this is is more important than that."
"I think perhaps this is pa
rt of that, Princess," said Engh. "Has
Alole been showing you any of the traffic from the ministry
channels?"
"I don't understand. She screens it all and shows me the dispatches
and inquiries I need to handle. You know that."
"I'm sorry--I meant the public lines. The tallies from the
message-handling droids that handle the unad-dressed comments, the
abstracts from the general call logs--that sort of thing? Or perhaps
you've taken a peek in there yourself."
"No," Leia said, calling for the lift. "Why would I?"
"Well--to get an idea how this all is being taken on the outside, off
Coruscant, away from the government.
To see how people are reacting to the news."
"Go on," Leia said as the lift arrived.
"This matter of the new members, for example--perfectly within your
powers under the Charter," Engh said, following her into the car.
"Everyone here knows the new members had to agree to observe the
Charter like any other member, and that what was done was done not only
for a legitimate reason, but a noble one."
"I'd like to think that none of that needs explaining," said Leia as
the doors knifed closed. "Except perhaps to Minister Falanthas."
"That's a matter of professional turf and personal style, which I'm
sure you two will work out in time," Engh said. "But out in the
capitals, there's a great deal of concern about recent events--talk of
your having exceeded your authority, of special privileges being
granted, and of your acting on a whim, even rashly."
"Are you talking about the home governments?"
"The home governments themselves in some cases, the technocrats in
others. And not only the techno-crats-this reaches nearly every
quarter. Much of what's coming in from individual citizens on the
public lines is critical--often crudely and ignorantly, but there it
is."
"And you think I should be reading this?" Leia said wryly. "Look,
Nanaod--I don't understand why you're calling my attention to this.
I'm unhappy with the situation, so why would I be surprised if others
are? What's there to do about it?"
"Well, we've been talking about this downstairs for several days now,"
Engh said. "The emerging consensus is that all of that mess is the
result of our not having prepared the New Republic for what was coming,
and not moving fast enough to educate them after the fact.
I'd like to put a couple of staff members on the problem full-time,
preferably in consultation with someone in your office--I was thinking
that Tarrick would be the best suited."
The turbolift eased to a stop, and the doors flashed open on fifteen.
"What do you propose to have them doing?"
"Why, to plan a program to buff up your public image a bit. I like to
think that it's mostly a matter of getting the word out--informing
rather than influencing.
We might want to think about making you a bit more available to the
grids, not only the big ones based here, but the regional and local
nets--" "Now you want me to give interviews? What next?
Preside over spaceport openings? Endorse a line of little Leia
dolls?
Let myself be recorded dancing for Han in a Huttese slave-girl
costume?"
"Now, Leia, no one is suggesting--" "You'd get there, eventually. And
that's not what I'm here to do," Leia said firmly. "What's more, I'd
be deeply discouraged to discover that you can take someone who's shown
terrible judgment and get people to support her just because she has a
nice smile. I earned whatever criticism's aimed at me right now, and
I'm going to try to earn back the respect I've lost--not replace it
with something false."
"That's not what we're talking about, Leia," Engh said. "We're talking
about taking your case not just to the Senate, but to the people the
senators represent.
We're talking about combating misinformation and mis-impressions before
they take hold firmly enough to be mistaken for the truth. Leia, this
can only strengthen your hand."
They were closing in on the presidential suite. "Am I supposed to do
the right thing, Nanaod, or the popular thing? Where's the line
between wanting to be understood and wanting to be liked?" She stopped
and faced him, blocking him from coming further. "How does it help me
provide the leadership everyone expects from me if there's a little man
standing behind me whispering that the people aren't ready yet to go
where I know we have to? Don't make it any harder than it is,
Nanaod.
Because I have to tell you, it's hard enough already."
"All I want is to give you all the tools you need to be successful,"
Engh said. "Your public image is one of them."
"Except it needs rehabilitation."
"In some circles--where you haven't been well served by gossip, rumor,
and the news. This isn't about fogging the air with lies, Leia--it's
about clearing away the fog that others create."
"Mon Mothma never had to resort to image strategists, and she led us
through harder times than these," Leia said. "No. I'm not
interested."
"Will you think about it? Perhaps if you sampled what's coming in,
you'd understand why we're concerned---" "I understand," Leia said. "I
just don't want that kind of help. And I have work to do now."
Engh did not press the point further, but Leia had trouble leaving the
conversation behind when she entered her office. Hours later, still
burning over it, she repeated much of the exchange to Han when he
joined her with the children for lunch at the indoor waterfall
cascade.
She expected his sympathy, but Han's face acquired an uncomfortable
expression as she talked.
"What? What is it?"
"Nothing. It's nothing--go on, I'm listening."
"No, I know that look," Leia insisted. "It's your 'I'm not going to
say this because it'll just make things worse'
trying-to-bite-your-tongue look. Except you always have to let me see
how hard you're working to be nice. I don't know how you ever won a
single hand of sabacc with that face."
"Just like I know that speech," Han said, his mouth twisting into a
wry, crooked grin. "That's your 'I'm going to poke at him until he's
just mad enough to blurt out what he's thinking' speech. And it
doesn't work anymore."
"So why don't you just tell me, before we're both worn out from
wrestling?"
"It really doesn't mean anything--" "Why don't you skip the
cushioning-the-blow part this time, too?"
"Women," Han sniffed in mock indignation. "They always want you to
tell them what you're thinking, but whatever you say is wrong."
"As long as you understand the ground rules."
"Oh, yeah. What's scary is watching Jaina figure them out, too." Han
sighed. "A couple of days ago I heard from an old smuggling buddy
who's settled down to the straight life out on Fokask. Haven't had any
contact with him in years."
"So why now?"
"He sent me a copy of a commentary and half a dozen letters from The
Fokask Ba
nner, which I guess is what passes for a newsgrid out there.
The title on the commentary was something like 'Does Princess Crave
Lost Crown?"" "Mmm. What did it have to say?"
"Aw, I didn't read it that closely--why would I want to?" Her eyes
prodded him gently. "Something about how they'd always thought of you
as a steward of the best Old Republic values, but now you were starting
to look like a fan of an even older idea, the divine right of
monarchs--whatever that means. I probably got it at least partly
wrong. You can read it yourself, if you really want."
"And what did your friend have to say?"
Han pursed his lips and avoided her eyes, clearly looking for a way to
not answer.
"Just tell me."
"Well--he didn't have much to say, actually. After the last of the
letters from the Banner, he just added a short note. 'Is there
something in the water there on Coruscant?
She seemed like such a nice girl."" Han shrugged. "It doesn't mean
anything, except that now I have to kill him."
"No, you don't."
He nodded, deadpan. "Do. Insulted my girl. Have to kill all of