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“I think you will find her someone you can work with,” he said. Padnel seemed to jerk from his stunned reverie. He looked at Dorvan sharply, then nodded.

“I certainly hope you are right,” he said. Although Padnel, like Dorvan, was not one to stand on ceremony, their arrival had been noticed, and now beings were beginning to come up to them. Dorvan hung back, letting the interim Chief of State precede him. He snagged a glass of sparkling blumfruit juice and sipped on it while his eyes scanned the room.

In one corner, Kameron Suldar was holding forth to a rapt audience comprising the members of his subcommittee and several other junior Senators. His hearty laugh could be heard over the buzz of chatter, and Dorvan shook his head slightly. Elsewhere, Wuul and his allies chatted pleasantly, seeming quite at ease. Scattered around were other duos and trios made up of representatives of nearly every planet in the Alliance.

Behind Dorvan came a sudden genteel hubbub, and he knew that Roki Kem had arrived. He turned around.

Tall but slightly built, she was at once even more impressive and pleasant in person. The holocams had not done justice to the true hue of her blue skin, nor captured the sheen of her blue-green hair adorned with ribbons of every color. Roki moved with a fluid grace that reminded Dorvan of a dancer, and her smile fairly lit up her face as she greeted those who—unusual for seasoned politicians—clustered around her, eager for her attention.

“Please, please,” she said in her dulcet voice, “thank you so very much for welcoming me. I am truly honored to be here, but we are all equals now, surely! That is what my people fought for, after all.” Her face darkened slightly as blood rose to her cheeks, and she ducked her head almost shyly even as she reached to shake every hand extended to her.

Her eyes, large and green and luminous, wandered to Dorvan, and her smile grew. “Excuse me for just a moment, please,” she said, gently maneuvering her way through the crowd toward him. “Wynn Dorvan. How good to finally meet you!”

He was a trifle surprised to be so singled out, but he accepted both the hands she held out to him. “Senator Rokari Kem,” he said. “You have the distinction of being the easiest-to-accept Senator in our recent application process.”

She beamed at him as if he had told her she was the most beautiful, intelligent, and wonderful being in the universe. “I am so pleased!” she said. “I am grateful to be able to serve my people in this new capacity. The dream of belonging to the Galactic Alliance has been a cherished one for my world. Thank you for permitting it to come true.”

He inclined his head. “You made it easy for us, ma’am. Would that all of the decisions were as agreeable. Please, let me introduce you to our interim Chief of State, Padnel Ovin. He, too, comes from a race of oppressed beings. I think the two of you will get along splendidly.”

Lord Ivaar Workan watched as Roki Kem swept into the room. She was, without a doubt, charming and charismatic. Also without a doubt, her entire history attested to a deeply rooted love for her people and an integrity that had seldom been seen outside a holodrama. And as he saw how many beings turned to watch her, approach her, or otherwise seem heartened by her arrival, he realized this weed in the Sith garden had to be eliminated before it took root.

He would enjoy it, he mused. Would he get to kill her? Terrify and taunt her before taking her life? Or would it be sweeter to slowly discredit her, watch her pain as the public that so doted on her eventually turned to despising her? The latter, preferably. Workan did not like bodies; they were inconvenient and attracted attention.

His mind was already concocting several trumped-up scandals with which to smear the admittedly lovely Roki Kem when he noticed she was moving in his direction. He smiled warmly. As his hand closed around her three-fingered one, he suppressed a shudder. Suddenly she didn’t look quite so lovely to him.

Nonetheless her smile was entrancing. “Senator Kameron Suldar, I believe?