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“Can we talk business?”

“Yes. Particularly if it will help.”

“Have you heard any recent, I’m not sure what to call them, rumblings among naval personnel suggesting that I’m not being tough enough on enemies of the state?”

Clearly not disturbed by, or not recognizing, any resemblance between his dinner and a recent topic of conversation, Bwua’tu speared a well-grilled cephalopod on the tines of his fork and popped it into his mouth, chewing as he considered his answer. “Yes,” he finally told her. “In the last few months, there has been more grumbling. About the Jedi especially. Colonel Solo, Pellaeon’s killer, and most recently about the crazy Jedi.”

“And what do you think?”

“I think that some sort of special-interest group is keeping those flames burning high. I don’t object to the Jedi being brought in line, you know that, but I don’t believe that they’re as far out of line as the grumblers are saying. I think they’re basically a beneficial force with the Alliance’s interests at heart.”

“But whatever the reason for the grumbling, if it continues to grow, it could damage this administration’s efficiency.”

“Conceivably.”

“Niathal’s death was a tragedy. But speaking pragmatically, it also deprives us of the relief of pressure that her trial—and eventual acquittal—would have offered. I’m going to need to take some very visible steps to do that. To reassure the grumblers.”

Bwua’tu offered her a noncommittal grunt.

“You don’t think so?”

“I don’t have the sense of what it takes to ride herd over a huge, mostly civilian government, and simultaneously over different departments of the armed forces, the way you do. The way you’ve learned to since you became Chief of State. I hear grumbling, my thought is to tell them to pipe down and do their jobs. Are you contemplating a move on the Jedi?”

It took some of Daala’s considerable self-discipline to refrain from twitching. Again Bwua’tu seemed to have peered into her thoughts. Of course, he was a master military strategist, her superior in that capacity, but it was still unsettling. “Yes.”

“I recommend against it.”

“Why?”

“I think there’s a risk of alienating them, as Colonel Solo did. We want the Jedi to be a well-integrated Alliance resource. Too much pressure, too much overt action, runs the risk of turning them into a completely uncooperative element.”

“You wouldn’t offer that advice about, say, an elite military unit.”

He shook his head. “No, I wouldn’t. But then, commandos don’t usually have super powers or a tradition that goes back to the very beginnings of the Old Republic.”

“But it’s commandos the civilian population should admire and respect. More than they do the Jedi.” She frowned, considering.

Bwua’tu grinned again. “You’re going to use the Mandos, aren’t you? To send against the Jedi!”

Daala’s voice turned sharp, as if Bwua’tu’s mind-reading exercises had been meant to hurt her feelings. “Now, cut that out.”

“If you wish.”

Finally, she smiled at him. “Sorry. I’m just touchy. Are you staying tonight?”

“If the invitation’s open.”

“You know it is.”

JEDI TEMPLE, CORUSCANT

Kyp Durron swept into the Masters’ Council Chamber, moving so fast that his robes gapped open at the front and swirled around his feet like a cloak. He didn’t hate being late, but he did hate people thinking he was lazy. At such times, speed was called for.

As he entered the Chamber and began to make his way toward his designated chair, he saw that a hologram of Jaden Korr, a live hypercomm transmission, was in the process of addressing the assembly. Korr, a man of Coruscant and onetime apprentice of Kyle Katarn, was far too serious for Kyp’s taste, but had conducted a long and impressive career as a Jedi Knight.

Korr was saying, “… evidence is not overwhelming, but it is growing, and continues to point to a resurgence by the Black Sun. And there are odd elements to it, such as graffiti found in garbage dumped by the hijacked ships, graffiti that suggests the existence of some sort of cult … one that venerates Xizor.”

That drew some murmurs from the assembled Jedi. Prince Xizor,