When Leia stepped into the New Republic Senate Chamber for the first time since before that ill-fated presidential debate two weeks ago, she was greeted by bedlam. Niuk Niuv was at the podium, trying to call everyone to order, but nobody seemed to be listened to the boisterous little Sullustan. Borsk Fey'lya stood behind his seat, hunched close in conversation with Porolo Miatamia. Celch Dravvad was glancing in aggravation at the mobile holo-cams they kept flitting around him while Pwoe looked downright dejected at his lack of attention. There was also a flurry of holo-cams around Elegos A'kla, who sat calmly in his seat his hand long-fingered hands folded in his lap, doing an admirable job of ignoring it all. As she stood in the entryway Leia had to scan the crowd a little more to spot her other reliable allies; Cal Omas, Avan Beruss, Tolik Yar, Trieebakk, and the others were all surrounded by their diplomatic staff having last-minute talks, though Avan did lift up his head and catch her eyes from the far side of the cavernous legislative chamber.
As for Leia, she'd been desperate trying to fend off advice from Nanaod Engh for the better part of the past hour, and even as she got ready to step toward the podium her Chief of Staff wasn't ready to let her off the hook.
"I know the situation has gotten drastic, Madam President, but I still believe we can spin this to our advantage," her Chief of Staff was saying.
She gave him a reluctant sidelong glance. "What kind of advantage? Syne has declared martial law on Bavinyar. It's a complete defiance of the rule of law and the democratic charter of the New Republic."
"Yes, but we still have people on the ground," Engh insisted.
That they did; some diplomatic staff, one Jedi, and two of her most senior officials. She'd spoken with Bennie and Gavrisom after her arrival on Coruscant, where they'd reported that they were perfectly safe but under effective house arrest until further notice. It had all made Leia burn with shame; she'd felt a real personal bond with Jadesei Syne, and what's more, she should have been able to read the woman's intentions with the Force. Instead she'd let empathy blind her judgment and had ended up humiliated.
She couldn't even bring herself to think about what this all meant for the election, but as she looked out across the chamber again she saw that Borsk Fey'lya seemed to bristle with confidence. It was enough to make her sick.
"Borsk was right," she muttered under her breath. "All this damned time. He was right."
Engh stared. "Madam President… They're going to expect you to make a statement. What are you going to do?"
"The situation's changed, Nanaod. We have to change too."
That was when Miatamia moved to take his seat while Fey'lya went for the podium. Apparently that was what was needed to call the senate to order, because people finally seemed to notice that Niuk Niuv had been banging his gavel on the podium and calling for quiet for the past ten minutes.
"Madam President," Nanaod hissed, "If you were going to change policy I really with you'd have told me more than five minutes before you make your speech!"
He was angry, and he was right to be angry, but Leia was too tired to care. She put a hand on his shoulder and said, "I'm sorry, Nanaod, but this is what I have to do."
"What about Fey'lya?"
"Let Borsk do what Borsk does," Leia said, though deep down she was dreading whatever was to come out of the Bothan's mouth.
Niuk Niuv took his seat as Fey'lya gripped the sides of the podium with both paws. Almost every single holo-cam floating in the arena clustered as close as it good, and Fey'lya did an admirable job of ignoring them. Even as their spot-lights shined in his creamy-furred face he pretended to look past them, at all the senators waiting for him to speak.
"That we are here today is a tragedy," Fey'lya began. "I wish I could say that we are blameless victims, but in truth, I hold now as I did two weeks ago that this criss on Bavinyar could have been handled better. I will not lay blame on my august colleagues, Ponc Gavrisom and Behn-Kihl-Nahm, who even now are held as hostage by a hostile regime. No, they are victims in this, as much as the innocent Cerean civilians killed on Maressa, Shaldonia, and Lemurya in acts of brazen terrorism.
"I will only say this. All of those victims are victims because of New Republic policy based on the belief, noble but misguided, that the Bavinyar Independence League, Jadesei Syne, and the Bavinyar Defense Force can be reasoned with as rational political actors. They have by now proven themselves to be what I have said they are all along: a unified front advancing the agenda of radical human supremacy on Bavinyar."
That sent ripples through the crowd. Leia felt her heart sink as she saw so many non-humans senators bob their heads in agreement. Fey'lya went on, "Though they claim to detest the Empire, it seems as though the Bavinyari humans have learned well from their former oppressors. I know some in this august body might even find sympathy with them because of their history of being downtrodden by the Empire, but alas, so often the bullied becomes the bully, and a misguided sense of sympathy for these human supremacists has stayed our hand for too long and allowed Syne and the BIL to seize control of Bavinyar's democratic institutions.
"Now we must say no more. Now we must stand up for the right of Cereans on Bavinyar, the rights of all species in a galaxy still tainted by the rotten hierarchies of the Empire. Today we will vote as we should have voted a week ago. We will vote to dismantle this system of lingering oppression on Bavinyar and anywhere else we can." The clamor of the crowd was rising again, and Fey'lya smacked a paw on the podium for emphasis. "We must vote now! We must vote in favor of military intervention, no matter the cost, because to do otherwise would be to betray our founding principles and leave one more system under the yoke of human supremacists!"
The senate's clamor seemed to near a breaking point. Fey'lya stepped back, satisfied, and tilted his head just enough to pass a sidelong look at Leia.
She knew that nothing she could have done would have kept the abject rage off her face.
"Madam President," Engh touched her shoulder, "We need to talk about your response. We can delay the vote, delay your speech-"
"No, Nanaod. We're doing this right now."
"But- But Leia! Wait!"
She pushed away from him and walked out across the long walkway toward the center dais where the ministers were seated. The senators, so loud a second ago, fell into a hush- awkward or reverential, she couldn't tell- as they watched her approach.
Fey'lya politely stepped aside when Leia reached the podium, avoiding eye contact as he settled down in his seat. Leia raised her head and looked out at the vast array of assembled senators, thousands of them. She'd addressed the senate too many times to count but it felt so different this time. She felt such a heavy weight on her shoulders, one she could only compare with what she'd felt when she told this august body that she planned to send troops into the Koornacht Cluster to stop the Yevetha. In that she'd not only been declaring war, she'd been drawing what she thought then was a straight line to her husband's death.
Now it was Bennie and Gavrisom she stood to lose. Despite it, there seemed no other choice.
She said, "I have recently arrived from Bavinyar, where the situation has spiraled dangerously out of control in the short time I've been gone." She took a deep breath. "I have come here today to endorse Minister Fey'lya's call for military intervention in Bavinyar."
Chatter rose in the chamber. She spoke over it, loud and firm. "I do not make this decision lightly. As you know, I have been against military intervention thus far because I was afraid it would escalate a situation that could have been controlled. I believed that was the right choice then and I believe, still, that I made the right decisions at the time, based on the information available to me."
She swallowed, took a breath.
"However, these recent events cannot be excused and cannot be tolerated." She fixed her eyes on the holo-cams arrayed like a necklace of spotlights in front of her. "I say to Jadesei Syne, legal prime minister of Bavinyar, that you have taken illegal actions that defy the core principles of the New Republic. You still have a chance to rectify the situation and return power to civilian hands. If you have not taken steps to disarm the situation before New Republic forces arrive at Bavinyar, there will be consequences.
"I will also say that if any harm comes to New Republic government personnel presently on Bavinyar, those consequences will be severe. The New Republic does not bow to intimidation or to threats. The New Republic will do whatever it takes to preserve the rule of law and the success of democracy on all its member worlds.
"I urge Prime Minister Syne to remember what she sees here today. The future of your world is in your hands, as it has been since the start of this crisis. This is your last opportunity to chose wisely."
With that, Leia stepped away from the podium. The senate broke out into frenzied chatter again, but Leia hardly paid it attention. When she took her seat next to Behn-Kihl-Nahm's empty chair, she closed her eyes and felt all the energy drain from her.
She didn't know how long it took Niuk Niuv to calm the senators enough to actually hold the vote. She barely paid attention to the final tally and did not bother to see which way her allies and enemies voted. In the end, it didn't matter. The motion, Borsk Fey'lya's motion authorizing military intervention, passed with more than a two-thirds majority.
When the whole thing was done, Leia got up and left the senate chamber without a word. Nanaod Engh tried to corner her the moment she stepped out of view, but she had a secret weapon of her own. Her husband swooped in, interposing himself between Leia and her chief of staff, and hurried her down the back hallways to the senate chamber, into the private tunnels that connected the legislative building with the old Imperial Palace.
"That was brave, what you did in there," Han told her as he squeezed her shoulder.
"It wasn't brave. It was the only thing I could do."
"Well, it's what the Syne lady deserves, the way she played you."
"Han, she didn't play me." Leia stopped him in the middle of the empty corridor. She put both hands on his arms and said, "This wasn't like Nil Spaar. She was honestly conflicted."
"Yeah, well, look how her conflict ended up. I just hope she's not stupid enough to harm Bennie or Puffers."
"They have Tresk with them. A Jedi can keep them safe," Leia said, though she couldn't exactly believe it.
"I hope you're right, sweetheart." Han put his hands on her waist. "What are you going to do now?"
Leia gave a long, long sigh. "Something else I should have done when this whole mess started."
"Like what?"
"Han, Bavinyar has always buckled against authority. Those human settlers didn't even like the Old Republic. They came to that planet just to get away from anyone else's authority. It was stupid to just assume they'd buckle under it, especially after what the Empire did to them."
"Yeah, maybe." Han being Han, he still had a soft spot for rugged individualist types, so long as they didn't do anything to hurt his family, which these ones had. "What's your point?"
"Han, the Imperial admiral who put down the original Bavinyari revolt after the Clone Wars was Octavian Grant."
Han's face settled into a scowl. "You're going to Rathalay?"
"I think his perspective could be... valuable. Especially since we're heading for a military confrontation."
"Okay, maybe, but why you gotta go yourself? Why not send Jan Ors or one of the other spooks you have keeping an eye on him?"
"This is something I have to do in person, Han."
"How long has it been since you last saw him?"
"Not long enough," she shuddered slightly, "But I think I have to do it."
"Well, okay then. When are we going."
Of course it would be we. Suppressing a tired smile, she said, "We'll take off before the end of the day. There's one more person I need to talk to first."
When the call came, Etahn A'baht was ready. Already in his general's uniform, he left immediately for Imperial Palace, and on arrival he was ushered up to the Chief of State's office.
The last time he'd come here had been at the start of the Bavinyar crisis, and even then some weary knowledge had settled in his gut that it might come to this. He found Leia Organa Solo seated behind her desk, hands clasped tight in front of her. He greeted her with a salute, and she bid him at easy with a tiny nod.
"Thank you for coming promptly, General."
"What are your orders, Madam?"
"I want you to take a naval contingent to Bavinyar. If Jadesei Syne does not release our personnel, relax the state of martial law, and present herself for negoti-ations, you are authorized to take military action."
"Action with what goal, Madam?"
"Removing Syne from office."
"And who, then, takes her place?"
"At the moment, I'd prefer to place Behn-Kihl-Nahm as temporary Prime Minister. If he is not able, I'm afraid we'll have to appoint you as military governor until a civilian power structure can be established."
"Madam, how large of a contingent am I authorized to bring?"
"As much as you need. I believe NRDF already has a full profile of the Bavinyar Defense Force's military capabilities. I hope you won't have to fight them all, but you must be prepared to."
"I understand that, Madam. A threat should never be made unless you're ready to follow through on it."
He wondered if he'd told her that during the Yevethan crisis. Jadesei Syne was not Nil Spaar and the Bavinyar crisis was a far different one, but in the end, it seemed like they'd both come to the same damned place in the end.
It was a grim thought; grimmer still was the idea of facing his former subordinate in combat.
"May I ask a question, Madam?"
"Go ahead."
"Should I attempt to meet personally with Syne before beginning military manuevers?"
"I think you should." Organa Solo nodded. "Frankly, General, your past history with her is one of the reasons I chose you for this mission."
Another, he supposed, was that he was not human. Given the way Borsk Fey'lya had chosen to miscast this mess as a racial conflict in his senate speech- which was now dominating the news-nets- Organa Solo had a very careful political line to walk.
Everything about this mission made him sick. Worst of all was the fact that he'd known it was coming since he first met Organa Solo in this office two weeks ago.
"I'm going to leave the planning and execution of this mission to you," Organa Solo told him. "Given the peacetime status of the military, you should be able to muster whatever ships you need."
"I'll need time to decide. How long do I have?"
"I'm afraid I can't spare more than a day with this. There's no telling how much worse the situation on Bavinyar will get. We can't afford to wait any more.
He'd been expecting that, just as he'd been expecting this job, which was why he could say, "I'll have my preliminary plan on your desk by the end of the day."
"I appreciate that, General, but please give your report to Minister Miatamia. He'll relay it to me. I'll do my best to review it, but I trust your judgment."
"Are you going to be going somewhere, Madam?"
"I'll be leaving Coruscant within two hours."
"To Bavinyar?"
"No," she shook her head gravely. "I'm leaving that in your capable hands. I'll be going to Rathalay."
A'baht fought a frown; Rathalay was out-of-the-way and mostly known as a low-key vacation planet.
Then he remembered.
"Ah. Grand Admiral Grant."
"The same. I'd ask you to come with me, but we don't have the time for it."
"Please fill me in on any… recommendations you can glean from Grant."
She nodded, very grave. "I will, General. I will."
In the aftermath of the senate vote, the Chief of State had made herself nearly impossible to track down. She was- understandably- hiding from the clamoring press, but even, it seemed from her own staff as well. After failing to harangue her location from Nanaod Engh, Avan Beruss finally turned to his wife, who contacted some of her co-workers in NRDF and ascertained that Leia had slipped into her office and summoned Etahn A'baht for a high-level meeting.
Avan knew she'd turn away any more callers at her office, but he detached a member of his security detail to keep him informed of the Chief of State's movements. As soon as A'baht left, Leia was in motion again, this time heading down to one of the secure hangar bays used by Senators for private access to the government complex.
Avan made his way to the hangar complex as fast as he could, and he was just barely able to intercept Leia before she boarded a sleek, anonymous shuttlecraft that would take her off-planet.
"Princess!" he called, walking briskly across the landing pad as her guards moved to intercept.
Leia paused at the base of the boarding ramp, then sighed and said, "Let him approach. It's all right."
Avan slipped through her guards and trotted up to her. "Princess," he said, "I want you to know that I cast a vote in favor of intervention, like you said, but-"
A sad smile set on her face. "You were taken by surprise, were you?"
"All of us were," Avan said. "Senator Omas was confused. So was Triebaak. Tolik Yar was angry-"
"Tolik's always angry," Leia said, still smiling, still sad. "What about Elegos?"
Avan sighed. "Senator A'kla… Is too hard to read."
Leia laughed without pleasure. "I'm sure it's not what he wanted either, but Elegos can take any disappointment with aplomb."
Avan stared into her sad eyes and wished he knew what to say. He'd known Leia since they were both children, and while they weren't as close now as they'd been back when she'd played in the Beruss family estate, he still felt crushed by the feeling that he'd let down a close friend when she'd needed it the most.
He'd planned on asking her, with restrained anger, why she'd decided to reverse her position; of course, the answer was clear, and as he looked in her eyes he realized there was no point in raising the question.
So instead he said, "What should we do now?"
He could see in her eyes she understood. We meant all her allies, everyone in the Senate who'd resisted Fey'lya's attempts to cast himself as some political savior. And by now he meant everything going forward: after the Bavinyar crisis was over, after the election, after the galaxy had moved into a new and frightening place with Fey'lya at its helm.
She placed a hand on his shoulder. "We have to keep doing what we've been doing all along, Avan. We have to believe in democracy. We have to believe in the Republic and all it stands for, no matter how hard it can be. And we have to believe we're not alone."
In her eyes, in her voice, he knew she was struggling to believe that as much as he was. And he knew that belief was the only thing either of them had left.
"Where are you going now, Leia?"
She seemed to hesitate, undecided not on whether to tell him but on how to phrase it. Finally, she said, "I'm going to ask for advice on how to solve the Bavinyar crisis."
"From whom?"
"Someone I'd really rather not talk to. Don't worry about me, Avan. This won't be a long trip. And I'll be back… before the end."
She pulled him close and wrapped her arms around his shoulders in a tight hug. Then she joined her guards and marching up the ramp. Avan retreated to the edge of the landing pad and stayed there to watch her shuttle rise on gusts of warm air and sail away into the red gleam of a waning Coruscant day. He traced her ship's glowing thrust-trail as it receded to nothing. She said she'd be coming back and he believed her, but he knew, deep down, that the Republic would never be blessed with her wise leadership again.
Somehow, some way, he'd have to survive without her.