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

believed, as Leia did, that the former Imperials would destroy the Senate.
Kerrithrarr's hair stood on end, and when he noticed Leia, he shook his head
in despair.
Leia checked her results against the page's. Then the droid confirmed
their numbers. "By a clear majority," Leia said, "the measure to provide for
an independent investigation passes." The junior senators cheered while the
rest of the room looked on in astonishment. Leia picked up a wooden cup and
pounded it on the buffet table as she called for order. As the room quieted,
she said, "I realize that we are not meeting in the Hall. Due to the informal
setting, I will let this breech of etiquette pass. In the future, though, any
senator showing undue partisanship will be expelled from the room and his vote
will not be counted. This rule is in the Senatorial bylaws. I suggest you read
them." Her voice echoed back to her, and she could hear the thread of anger
below it. Usually she prided herself on her restraint, but her patience was
wearing thin. Didn't these so-called leaders understand the effects of their
actions? Didn't they know that this kind of partisanship would divide the
Republic?
Faces were turned to hers expectantly. She nodded toward them. "Since it
was your idea to have an independent investigation, Senator Meido, I would
like you to compile the team. We will need the names of the investigators for
our records." Meido smiled. His teeth were pale pink against his crimson skin.
"Gladly, President." She didn't like his expression. It made her feel
vulnerable. It made her feel as if she had walked into a trap.
"Tomorrow we will meet in the ballroom at the normal time. Until then, we
are adjourned." Leia pounded on the buffet table. As she did, the conversation
rose around her. The junior senators were pounding one another on the back and
laughing.
ChoFi was staring at the list. "You know," he said so softly that only
Leia and Senator Gno could hear, "their report won't be the same." "I know,"
Leia said. "But I had no real choice. I couldn't appoint one of our people to
pick the investigative team. They outmaneuvered me. If I had been thinking
when I came in-" "It's not your fault, Leia," ChoFi' said. "If they didn't
approach you on that issue, they would have done so on another. You were
running the Senate as it used to be instead of as it is. It is no longer a
uniform body. Now we have factions." "I don't like it," Gno said.
"Like it or not," ChoFi said, "the factions exist and we have to live
with them." "I will not live with them," Gno said. "This is how the Empire
took over the last time. Small disagreements became major. Major disagreements
were ignored, until the government was so factionalized it didn't work at all.
" "That won't happen here," ChoFi said.
Gno smiled. "I used to believe that, all those years ago." Leia picked up
the voting record, wincing at the pain in her hands. "We can't be afraid of
change, Senator," she said to Gno. "We have to remember that there is one
major difference between then and now. They don't have a leader like
Palpatine." "At least not yet," Gno said.


Sunlight poured through a hole in the collapsing roof of the Senate Hall.
Against the sky, the black-clawed hand of a construction droid awaited orders
to remove the rubble and rebuild.