"The New Rebellion (Kristine Rusch)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rusch Kristine Kathryn)

The arguments rose around her, so loud that one voice would quickly cover
another.
"... decide who's in charge now that..." "... never would have allowed
such chaos..." "... glad we're here. The New Republic can't afford such lax...
" She didn't need to hear more than a few snatches of conversation to know
what was happening. Here, at least among the junior senators, the blame for
the destruction of the Senate Hall was going to fall on her government. She
shouldn't have listened to Han. She should have been up and around the day of
the explosion. Two days away had allowed this situation to get out of hand.
Leia took a vagnerian canape and ate it quickly, hoping its sweetness
would give her energy she still lacked. The doctors said she needed time to
recover, that she had nearly died, but she had made it through serious wounds
before. This time, she suspected, part of the problem was her attitude.
She wiped her hands on her pants-she wore a loose, flowing pair that
resembled a skirt, with a blouse over them, deciding to be dressy but
comfortable at this meeting-and stepped into the crowd of junior senators.
Their conversation ceased. She smiled at them, as if she had heard
nothing, and clapped her hands for attention.
"I want to thank you all for coming on such short notice," she said. "We
are currently preparing the ballroom as a temporary home for the Senate, but
it won't be completed until tomorrow. In the meantime, I thought we would hold
this informal meeting. I wanted to get you all up-to-date on the
investigation." "What investigation?" asked R'yet Coome, the junior senator
from Exodeen. His voice, filtered through his six sets of teeth, sounded so
much like that of his colleague, M'yet Luure, that Leia started. It was even a
question that M'yet would have asked.
She glanced at R'yet as he preened his six arms against his side. If she
hadn't known M'yet was dead, she would have thought she was speaking to him.
"We've had an investigation running simultaneously with the rescue
effort," she said. "The rescue effort took top priority for a day. We had to
make certain-" Her voice broke.
"We had to make certain that no one else was trapped in the rubble," said
ChoFi, one of the senators who had been with her since the beginning of the
New Republic. He stood just behind her, his seven-foot length protecting
instead of dwarfing her.
She nodded, grateful for his support. She hadn't seen him when she came
in. He must have been eavesdropping, as she had been.
"You should have taken the precautions up front," R'yet said. "I don't
know how I'll tell the people of Exodeen that one of their most beloved
figures is dead." "We have the best security of any place in the Republic,"
Leia said. "Obviously, it wasn't good enough." "Obviously," R'yet said.
Meido, vibroblade-thin, his crimson face covered with tiny white lines,
put a two-fingered hand on R'yet's first arm. Leia was astonished that Meido
knew Exodeenian etiquette. A touch on the first arm was a signal to stop
speaking. A touch on the second would have been a challenge to fight.
"The Chief of State has had a difficult week," Meido said.
"As have we all," some senator in the back said.
Meido ignored him. "We must give her the benefit of any doubt. Of course,
we had to see if anyone remained in the ruins of the Hall. Now the
investigation can begin in earnest." His support made Leia suspicious. Meido