Watching his back comes as a second nature. It's uncanny it doesn't bother him anymore.
Father doesn't answer. Nobody does at RT. Devin should be there — should've been there more than two days ago. Can mean anything.
No news about Father, either. No surprise here — he did kind of disappear from public attention back in 14. But when the news hit, they will hit good.
The Joint Commission hearing isn't as bad as he expected. It's mostly moments of silence and eulogies. One is missing though — Arlos Trome tells him after the session's over.
"Master Rfanzo died, and nobody even mentioned him," she says.
Weird how much it affects Alnam.
"He died? No way. How?"
"Getting people from under debris." She takes a puff of her regular-sized cigarette; not like the ones Ormi smokes. "He died, and not a word to honor him."
"Shit. He was a good man."
"Yeah. Even if he wasn't, I mean... Drives me mad."
"I know. Me too, yeah."
"Skywalker gets all the praise, but other Jedi don't?"
"I guess they just didn't like Master Rfanzo too much. Too outspoken, from what I've seen of him."
"So many good people dead, and we still have to deal with this shit. With the clones! They saved us, saved this fucking planet, didn't they? I loathe to think how we will repay them when the war is over."
The war is all but over. It is back to the phase where you don't have to worry about it too much, although now they all do. It's still going, and Alnam can't help but think it's how it should stay, because when it's over in earnest, they will have to deal with the clones in some capacity other than gathering three times a year or four times a year and looking very seriously at each other. Yes, the war can go on.
Alnam checks his comlink on the flight home. No new messages. Did I really do this? Did I really send him after my father? What good can it do?
Some, maybe, he thinks angrily. Most likely, Father's not there. There'll be no way for Devin to track him down. No way he left a note on the table. So Devin will come after me.
Or—
No ors. He's not a man to target your family.
And yet you said fuck it, he's expendable.
Maybe he'll expend me. It's fair.
Of course it's not. Alnam hasn't done fair for a long time.
This is the only way I can tell him. The only way I can confess my crime.
The consensus among Alnam is that Devin will not come back. That he'll disappear, fall into obscurity somewhere on the edges of the known space — just like the war. Somewhere that he will cause no trouble being while also not causing the trouble of his demise.
He really has no reason to come after me. Well, sure, he does, but he won't. It will fuck him up. The realization. He'll run from me when he learns. I mean, how long would it take him to come back to Coruscant? He'd be here already. He knows where I live, but he's not here.
Still, he waits for a minute outside his apartment. Doesn't pull the blaster out — never ends well when he does. He gets inside. Thinks back to how happy he was when Ven told him they dropped the stunning case. It seemed important back then. Too bad Father came knocking — not on doors, but doors out — just a few days later.
It's pretty early. He could go be with his family, but not after the things he's done.
Three days later, the Senate passes Dibasi's castrated act. The Sector Governance Decree, they now call it. No voting — it's deemed important enough for the Chancellor to just declare it passed. The Loyalist Committee throws together a protest right on the Avenue of the Core Founders. The whole five people who look like they smell really poor — so who knows, maybe it's just sympathizers. Three have holosigns:
No to abuse of power, no to WAR!
We don't want moffs!
Alnam's favorite:
Palpatine, give us back our Senate!
The guy holding it must be at least two hundred kilos.
A bunch of Humans appear half an hour later on the opposite side of the Avenue. Each got COMPOR written on his forehead. If the Loyalist Five look like they smell of felinx piss and obesity, these fucks must reek of cheap alcohol, synthetic drugs, and motor oil. The news anchor has such a gung-ho look-at-our-boys reaction to them, Alnam switches the channel.
This is pretty cool, check it out: a live interview with the Supreme Chancellor. Taking it is some very near-Human lady; Alnam can't remember the exact species.
"It is true," the Chancellor says. "But I have nothing to say for it other than what I have said repeatedly on this account: I simply have no time for a married life. To anyone who does not believe me, I say this: become a supreme chancellor and see for yourself. I will be glad to be proven wrong."
"Why?"
"Because it would mean I am succeeded by a far more capable man or woman than me."
"Your opponents often bring your family up when they try to criticize you. A lot of our viewers want to know what is the deal with your first name. During your first election, there were some hit pieces about it, if I'm not mistaken?"
"There was indeed some speculation about why I don't have a first name. I lost my family at a rather young age, and since then, I have seen myself more a continuation of my family's aspirations and ideas than a man of my own. I forewent my given name as I try to embody House Palpatine."
"It amazes me how openly you talk about it."
"I talk openly about everything the Republic Intelligence does not prohibit," Palpatine smiles.
The notion of how seething all the Loyalists must be at this interview is actually capable of putting a smile on Alnam's face as well. Nevertheless, he changes the channel.
Some analytics on CHV. An old guy looking like a mummy of a prophet has a ton to say about the Decree:
"And you see, the current events are nothing but a counter reaction of the and by the Republic egregore. No matter how hard some people may deny it, their fate is to be sucked into this collective will and collective desire simply by the virtue of being part of the Republic, being her citizens. The common will of the Republic, her aitura, her demand-will, in the words of Cadelliad, is aimed at growing stronger. The Second of the Third attack was not an attack on a planet, or people, or a government — it was an attack on this common will which represents a danger, a critical danger to the Separatist Alliance because our ways of life are incompatible. If you look at—"
Alnam switches the channel again.