Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 08_ Ascension - Christie Golden [25]
Other familiar faces greeted him. Former GA Chief of State and Princess Leia Organa Solo, Jedi Knight, subbing for Saba Sebatyne. The always cheerful and astute Senator from Kuat, Haydnat Treen, the third member of the “triumvirate” currently governing the Galactic Alliance. Representing the active military were the steady and reliable Gavin Darklighter, commander of the Galactic Alliance Marines; General Merratt Jaxton, large, square-jawed, square-bodied Chief of Starfighter Command; Admiral Sallinor Parova, acting naval commander in Admiral Bwua’tu’s continued absence, and Bwua’tu’s Bith aide-de-camp Rynog Asokaji, who was always either here taking notes for his comatose boss or else at his bedside.
Present also for the first time in a long while was the recently recalled chief of staff of the GA Army, General Stavin Thaal, so tall and powerfully built that one might have mistaken him for a Chev. With his physique and sheer size, buzz-cropped gray hair, tanned skin, and watery, intense blue eyes, he would have been striking even without the thick scar that ran the length of his entire throat. Some years earlier, an assassin had slashed Thaal’s neck, leaving him alive but unable to speak with his own voice. Now a deep, cold droid voice issued from a device implanted in his throat when he had anything to say. It was unnerving, and Dorvan rather suspected that Thaal enjoyed the reaction he got.
Also in attendance were two well-known figures serving in a thus-far purely advisory capacity: Tycho Celchu and Carlist Rieekan. Both men had white hair, although General Rieekan had several years on the other man. Both had even temperaments and were known for thinking things through before speaking. And both were unquestioningly devoted to the Galactic Alliance, as well as having good connections with the Jedi.
All in all, it was a selection of decent beings. Dorvan nodded at those assembled, taking off his coat—gently so as not to disturb the sleeping chitlik—and hanging it on the back of his chair. He nodded his thanks to Desha as she brought him a cup of caf.
“Thank you all for attending,” he said. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this.”
A ripple of amusement went around the room. “No, we really do,” Dorvan said, completely serious. “The frequency of these so-called emergency meetings needs to slow dramatically.”
“Well, they’d hardly be called emergency meetings if we could predict them, now would they?” said Treen.
“If everything is an emergency, then nothing becomes an emergency. The Galactic Alliance is beyond being spread extremely thin, and I am most uncomfortable with that thought. We must prioritize, or else something that will turn out to be the most important thing of all will never be noticed.”
There was unhappy murmuring. “Well, then,” said Jaxton, “what do you propose we do?”
“We focus,” Dorvan said. “And we get down to business right now.” He thought he saw a small smile curve Leia’s lips. Whether it was approval or amusement, he didn’t know. He liked and respected Jedi Solo, and valued her input and support. While Dorvan was well aware that she was present largely because of her connection with the Jedi, he was nonetheless grateful that he had someone to consult who had been in the same position in which he now found himself. Nothing against Saba Sebatyne, but there had been moments when her unfamiliarity with politics—and politicians—had frustrated all three parties involved.
Dorvan reached for the pile of ’pads Desha had neatly arranged at his seat, took a bracing pull of unsweetened caf, and picked up the first one.
“Today,” he said, “we have fourteen different worlds applying for membership in the Galactic Alliance. Let’s begin with B’nish and its representative to the Senate, Kameron Suldar.”
B’nish was one of those planets that, like something kept on the highest shelf of a seldom-opened cabinet, was there, but was not particularly noticed or thought about