DRIVING THE CRAZIES
Chapter 3
(Han)
Thank gods this wasn't a trip to the outer rim. I'd have killed everyone on board save for Chewie and my wife. Leia would have killed me had I decided that this was the right time for a proper fistfight - or not. She was as aggravated as I was by the end of the flight.
Leia stays at the consular houses on many of her trips but this time, we're all at a fine hotel, the ones I've gotten used to. I've slept in some of the rankest flophouses in the galaxy, so I appreciate the luxuries that the best hotels offer and while Leia goes and suffers through negotiations and planning and trying to resolve the assassination of the prime minister, I'm enjoying 5000 holochannels, an incredibly comfortable bed, a shower that has plenty of room for Leia and me, and a spa tub with jets. Not to mention room service. I really like room service, and I call down for two Alderaanian ales and some assorted snacks. I don't care that it's only 1000. Where I'm from, that's beer o'clock.
It's great to have twenty channels of smashball. I can watch any game I want, but I do have a soft spot for my horrible Drednoughts. They play later in the day. Tatooine Glop Monsters are playing right now. Luke's team isn't much better than mine, but when they play the Corellian Drednoughts, they usually win. This causes him to gloat. Luke was a bit intense when he was a new Jedi, but time and sex have humanized him. And he whines a lot less. Thank you, Mara Jade.
My breakfast has been delivered. The atmosphere in Lorell's capital city is what you'd expect from a city in lockdown: simmering terror threatening to explode into something featuring deadly weapons and blood. I think I've had my fill of both. I hope Leia can work her magic on this one before it gets any uglier.
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(Leia)
We're meeting with the high council. So far, there's been a lot of shouting and not much in the way of negotiations. For the last few minutes I consider Han's main method of negotiating: shoot first. It would at least be quieter.
Finally, tempers take a break or maybe everyone's just tired of shouting.
"Nolo was going to make the utilities all owned by the planetary government," the Lorellian Minister of State says. Sadly, the near human is my opposite number and his attitude is even worse than mine. "We believe private industry can do it better."
"The Galactic High Council allows that to be governed by each planet so long as they comply with the law as written for the galaxy." We have provisions to prevent price gouging, which was commonplace during the Imperial reign. There are also authorizations for assistance for the elderly or disabled if they are below the poverty line for that particular planet.
Economic growth is going to be a major factor. The Empire kept the entire war machine going at full throttle, and now we have about half the galaxy experiencing unemployment levels that could threaten the existence of the GFFA. The tax base is nonexistent in many worlds. And exacerbating that is the fact that the treasury was burned into the ground during the war.
Han's solution is another week long drunk for the entire galaxy. I'm starting to wonder if he's got something there.
"Reg Nolo was completely corrupt!" one of the council members declares.
"He was not!" screams another one who belonged to the same political party as Nolo.
"He steals from the rich!" Dom Colvanino declares loudly. Dom is a millionaire a hundred times over.
"Why? Because he was going to raise taxes seven percent on those worth over five million per year?" I shoot back at him. The extremely wealthy don't pay their fair share on Lorell. They did before the Empire, but that's been a while. They have a burgeoning under class and a small but blindingly wealthy upper class. The small portion of the population that is wealthy owns sixty percent of the planet's wealth. I consider this a problem.
"You grew up rich," Dom retorts back to me.
"And Alderaan had a completely progressive system of taxation." If you had more on Alderaan, you paid more. "Everyone benefited. We had almost no poverty and nearly full employment."
"So you take from those who earned it?" Dom shoots back.
"Dom, I know that you live on your family's credits and that all of your business ventures have failed. Now let's get real!" I give him my 'I've had enough of you bastards' look.
Amazingly, he shuts up, although he lacks the ability to be shamed.
We spend six hours in much the same way - shouting, disagreeing, and making little progress. I feel a major throbbing in my temples. We decide we'll break for two hours. About the only thing we've accomplished is that for now, we'll consider the assassination of Nolo to be a police matter, not a military one, and that planetary security has, for now, complete jurisdiction. Some of the council members and the delegation disagree, but Mon Mothma managed to convince them that this way made more sense. Mon and I do actually agree on many things. And I learned the withering stare from her.
I head back to the room Han and I are staying in. I walk in and he's sound asleep, the holovision still on to one of the smashball channels, and two empty ale bottles. I lie down as quietly as possible so to not disturb him, but he senses I'm there, anyway.
"How's it going, sweetheart?" he asks me in a groggy manner.
"It could be worse. It could also be a lot better."
He lazily drapes an arm across me, a gesture that feels so incredibly natural to me. Since the first night we slept together, this is his normal position.
"Did we pack any Zopran?" I ask him.
"I didn't."
"Then we didn't."
"We have some on the Falcon."
"No, it'll be fine. I just need to close my eyes and relax for a few."
Han sits up in bed. "Maybe I can help." He places his hands on my shoulders and begins massaging them. "That working for you?"
I feel myself melting. "Why do you think I stay with you?" I tease him.
"And here I thought it was my warmth, charm and personality."
"Let's not get carried away now, shall we? But you do give good massage. But you need to do me a favor."
"Which is?"
"If I come back here and demand that you shoot everyone, talk me down."
"How about I shoot 'em?"
"That could work, too."