Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 04_ Backlash - Aaron Allston [94]
“I have one. See-Threepio.” It pained Han to say those words, but he’d rather keep any government-appointed military attaché out of his business.
“Ah, your protocol droid. Of course.” Daala glanced toward her assistant. “Dorvan has prepared a small briefing sheet that outlines what I’m willing to offer.”
Dorvan withdrew a single sheet of handwritten flimsi from his tunic pocket. “There are no identifying marks, of course. Should it fall into the media’s hands—”
“It won’t,” Leia said, plucking the sheet from his grip. “We’ve handled delicate negotiations before.”
“Good,” Daala said. “Let Dorvan know if you need any resources to aid your efforts. And please send me a daily update on your progress.”
The words sounded like a dismissal, so Han rose, as did Leia. Uncomfortably aware of his renewed responsibilities, Han threw Daala a sloppy salute, one suited to a wildly popular scoundrel, and turned for the door.
He and Leia did not speak until they reached the main exit and emerged into sunlight. “So … what the blazes?”
Leia shook her head. “She’s in trouble. She needs to make it look like she’s looking for a solution.”
“Is she?” Han asked.
“I guess we’ll know after we read this,” Leia said, flicking the flimsi Dorvan had given her. “Either way, though, we stay out of jail and she makes herself look a little less unreasonable.”
They angled toward the Falcon. It was shut up tight, but still had security troopers posted around it. “Is this something we can actually pull off?”
“Maybe. All I can say is, it’s better to be out here trying than in prison not trying.”
OFFICES OF CHIEF OF STATE DAALA, SENATE
BUILDING, CORUSCANT
AN HOUR LATER, DORVAN REENTERED DAALA’S OFFICE. AT HER GESTURE, he sat.
She took a moment to look up from her monitor and the formwork she was handling. “What?”
“The story about the Solos has hit the press and the news sources already have polls in the field to gauge the public reaction.”
“I’m … I’m shocked, Wynn.”
He ignored her sarcasm. “In preparation for this meeting, and for other events that would involve the press, I recently set up some checks and monitors of news sources and public feedback sources. One of those checks and balances involves minute examinations of daily and hourly planetary net archives.”
Daala fully turned away from her monitor to look at him. “That’s a nontrivial expense for your office. And I know I didn’t authorize it.”
“I didn’t go through my office. Or yours. I called in some favors.”
“And in an hour you’ve found out something?”
“Nothing substantial. But I have determined that press releases about you, when the news sources auto-disassemble and restructure them before having newswriters work on them for stories, are being filtered and massaged in a pretty consistent fashion. Consistent regardless of news service … or even the news service’s political orientations and alliances.”
“I actually have next to no understanding of what you just said.”
He sighed. “All right. We issue a press release. It goes out over the planetary net and is part of low-priority packets fired offworld on the HoloNet. Every news service gets it. A computer program breaks it down, does an interpretation of its official language, runs a check against keywords for relevant recent and historical events, and splits the results up so that a live copywriter can rewrite and reformat it into the story a newsreader will deliver during the regular broadcast news.”
“I love it when a man can translate gibberish into Basic. Well done.”
“In the case of the press release about the Solos volunteering to resolve issues between the Galactic Alliance government and the Jedi Order, the following changes and adaptations are being made to the story in every news source we’ve sampled.” He began counting on his fingers. “One. The Solos didn’t offer this service. Chief of State Daala asked for their help. Two, news sources hostile to you tend to use the word hapless to describe you at this point, while those ostensibly friendly to you use the word embattled.”
Daala