Bail Organa was a calm, even-tempered man. He didn’t worry without reason.
The hushed room fell completely silent as the speaker’s pod rose to the center of the room, all lights swiveling to refocus on that spot. Grand Moff Tarkin stood there in his olive-green uniform, a figure as narrow and sharp as the blade of the Rhindon Sword. His image on the pod’s console screen revealed a thin smile on his face—the most ominous sign of all.
“Esteemed senators.” His thin voice rang throughout the chamber, and Leia didn’t think that was just the amplification droids at work. This man knew how to project his authority without seeming even to move. “You will remember the terrible incident but a few weeks ago, when insurgents attempted to compromise an Imperial medical frigate. As paltry an effort as it was, it nonetheless represents an egregious disrespect for the law of the Empire, and for Emperor Palpatine himself.”
Paltry? Taking a whole medical frigate? Leia tried to call to mind the sheer size of the enormous Imperial Starfleet; its ships were so numerous, so titanic, so populated with millions upon millions of officers that it was hard for a human mind to truly comprehend it. Maybe losing one frigate didn’t matter so much.
No. It mattered. Otherwise Tarkin wouldn’t be so determinedly pretending it didn’t.
Tarkin had a prim smile, one that looked as though it knew it didn’t belong on his face. “A thorough investigation revealed that the instigators of this action came from within the government of the planet Christophsis, which has received untold riches from this Empire in order to rebuild from its devastation in the Clone Wars. These leaders chose to reward our generosity with rank ingratitude.”
Bail Organa’s hands closed into fists in his lap. Following her father’s gaze, Leia saw that the Christophsis senatorial pod remained empty.
“Therefore, we have made an example of these leaders—I should say, former leaders. While the ex-senators and territorial supervisors have been jailed for terms of four years or more, the prime minister has been tried, convicted, and executed for treason. Furthermore, his home city of Tophen—found to be the center of this activity—has already been pacified.” That meant hundreds of thousands dead, if not millions. The shock numbed Leia to her fingertips. Tarkin raised an eyebrow, as if he could hear the cries of protest silent within every person in that assembly. “It is hoped that this action, drastic though it is, has served to quell the radical elements at work on Christophsis, to restore the planet to order, and to deliver a message to all those who would threaten the peace our Emperor has given us: we stand here now, always, and forevermore. No matter what else may come, the Empire will endure.”
A few senators from Coruscant and Glee Anselm began to applaud wholeheartedly. Others joined in almost immediately, Bail Organa among them. Although Kier stared at his viceroy clapping for an eternal Empire, Leia understood and put her hands together too.
The recorders would be focusing on every pod, every person. Anyone who failed to show the appropriate enthusiasm for Palpatine’s latest outrage would become a likely target in the future.
Tyranny turns us into liars, she thought, hating herself even as she applauded. Leia looked sideways to see her father smiling sadly at her. He felt exactly the same, she knew, and she couldn’t be angry with him any longer. Although he continued clapping, Bail turned back to Tarkin with his chin held high, his gaze unblinking, in a silent show of defiance.
Her attention shifted over to Kier, who wasn’t clapping. No doubt he didn’t yet understand the full political ramifications of this moment. Maybe he saw her and her father as hypocrites.
Worrying about what he’d make of her didn’t trouble Leia as much as the way he stared at her father. Kier didn’t appear admiring, intimidated, or confused.
He appeared…angry.
When he’d first learned of the plans against the Empire, he’d said her parents were endangering their world through their involvement. This news proved his point. What happened on Christophsis could happen on Alderaan, any day, any moment.
“We should return to Alderaan for a few days,” Bail Organa said after the session, as all around them other senators walked back to their offices in various states of ill-concealed anger and shock. “I have business to conduct there, and besides—I’ve missed your mother very much.” Translation: I have to talk to your mother about what happened on Christophsis.
Leia wanted to be home as well, safe within the palace walls, hopefully discussing this openly with her parents. She was also aware of an urge to burrow deep into her own bed, beneath the covers, which was embarrassingly childish but would feel so good. “When will we leave?”
“As soon as the Polestar can be readied.” Bail turned to Kier, who was walking silently slightly to the side of father and daughter. “You’re very welcome to return with us, Mr. Domadi. There’s more than enough room aboard.”
“It’s an honor to be invited, sir. I accept.”
Leia’s heart leapt at the thought of spending still more time with Kier, at least until she realized that they’d have her father as a chaperone. Even worse, her dad’s presence would keep her from discussing Christophsis openly with Kier—and Kier’s presence would keep her from discussing it openly with her dad. Bail’s generous offer to his daughter’s friend had bought all three of them several hours of strained conversation about absolutely any subject other than the one they all had foremost on their minds.
She sighed. Conspiracies were harder than they looked.
The Organa family didn’t speak of Christophsis until dinnertime, when they dined alone on the terrace. As soon as the last human attendant left, leaving behind only a few servitor droids, Breha uttered a swear word Leia had never heard from her mother’s lips before, then added, “How could they do it?”
“You know how.” Bail shut his eyes briefly, and his fingers closed around the handle of his dinner knife as if he might soon have to use it as a weapon. “Palpatine’s maintained his stranglehold on this galaxy for nearly two decades. An entire generation has grown up with no memory of the Republic and no idea of what true freedom would look like. Perhaps he thinks he doesn’t need to respect even the last vestiges of self-rule our worlds have.”