Entry Forty-Nine – Days after Geonosis, Three Hundred Thirty-Three
It has been a very busy three weeks, but perhaps the happiest of all those spent during this war so far. Vaccine trials are proceeding and though there have been some minor setbacks all signs point to clear success. The vaccine works! It blocks infestation by the MISCAF fungus with ninety-eight percent efficacy. Side effects are mild and temporary and adaptability across a range of species has been proven. We're currently running trials on every target species on Coruscant with a population above five hundred million. Several refined production models are already in process.
In other good news, it turns out an unexpected solution to the production issue does exist. I owe Morne so much. I never asked, but he went to the various government unions and guilds and got all their managers to support a demand for vaccination by all personnel – everyone employed throughout the vast bureaucracy that is the Municipal Authority. That mandate accounted for tens of millions of doses all on its own, more than enough to kickstart industrial production and shame the Senate into support for mass vaccination. It is quite cunning, if a rather underhanded method. Manipulating the bureaucracy in this way is something I would never have thought to attempt. I'll always be grateful.
I do wish the Municipal Authority's lead management had not insisted on throwing a celebratory gala over the matter. All politics, of course, an excuse for the various factions to express themselves and for the Senators and lead administrators to display their wealth. I had to give a speech as the guest of honor, it was so embarrassing. Thankfully I don't think anyone in the audience was really paying much attention. Likewise that Jedi are not expected to dress differently for public events, and I was therefore spared the entire couture enterprise that seems to afflict this sort of thing.
Then again, it might have been nice to wear a flashy dress, just once.
I am already trying to forget how utterly dashing Morne looked in his perfectly starched dress blues, or how absolutely stunning Lia was in a pale gown on his arm. Jealousy is unbecoming of a Jedi.
That does not make me immune to it.
Truly, I am happy for them, I am, but it hurts, and that pain strikes far deeper than watching middle-aged and older men of at least two dozen species fawn over Dr. Risis like drunk college students while she shamelessly flirted in return. Of course she means nothing by it, her species lacks committed mating bonds of any kind and has no word for love. It's almost amusing to watch her manipulate the rich and powerful so easily, though I cannot help but wish, just a little, that I could hold attention with such effortless ease.
Mr. Logas made it to this event, an occurrence that does not surprise me in the least, though he was most certainly not on the guest list. I caught his eyes on me at several points, and he actually asked me to dance during the later hours. I declined, of course, Jedi do not let men drag them onto the dance floor at political functions, but it is a curious thing. Is he just trying to manipulate me for information? Or is he actually, somehow, interested? He's not nearly as handsome as Morne, and far too pale, but still...what a strange prospect.
For now I will have to be content with the money and support. Matters stand poised on the cusp of completion. The defeat of a disease nearly realized. Satisfaction enough in these times of war.