Star Wars_ The Dark Lord Trilogy - James Luceno [216]
Obi-Wan nodded. Perfectly logical. Everyone would agree.
Except Anakin. He leaned forward, red climbing his cheeks. “He wasn’t so successful the last time he met Grievous!”
“Anakin—” Obi-Wan began.
“No offense, my Master. I am only stating a fact.”
“Oh no, not at all. You’re quite right. But I have a feel for how he fights now—and for how he runs away. I am certain I can catch him.”
“Master—”
“And you, my young friend, have duties here on Coruscant. Extremely important duties, that require your full attention,” Obi-Wan reminded him. “Am I being clear?”
Anakin didn’t answer. He sank back into his chair and turned away.
“Obi-Wan, my choice is,” Yoda said.
Ki-Adi-Mundi’s image nodded. “I concur. Let’s put it to a vote.”
Mace Windu counted nods. “Six in favor.”
He waited, looking at Anakin. “Further comment?”
Anakin only stared at the wall.
After a moment, Mace shrugged.
“It is unanimous.”
Senator Chi Eekway accepted a tube of Aqualish hoi-broth from C-3PO’s refeshment tray. “I am very grateful to be included here,” she said, her dewlaps jiggling as she tilted her blue head in a gesture around Padmé’s living room at the gathering of Senators. “I speak directly only for my own sector, of course, but I can tell you that many Senators are becoming very nervous indeed. You may not know that the new governors are arriving with full regiments of clone troops—what they call security forces. We all have begun to wonder if these regiments are intended to protect us from the Separatists … or to protect the governors from us.”
Padmé looked up from the document reader in her hand. “I have … reliable information … that General Grievous has been located, and that the Jedi are already moving against his position. The war may be over in a matter of days.”
“But what then?” Bail Organa leaned forward, elbows to knees, fingers laced together. “How do we make Palpatine withdraw his governors? How do we stop him from garrisoning troops in all our systems?”
“We don’t have to make him do anything,” Padmé said reasonably. “The Senate granted him executive powers only for the duration of the emergency—”
“Yet it is only Palpatine himself who has the authority to declare when the emergency is over,” Bail countered. “How do we make him surrender power back to the Senate?”
Chi Eekway shifted backward. “There are many who are willing to do just that,” she said. “Not just my own people. Many Senators. We are ready to make him surrender power.”
Padmé snapped the document reader closed. She looked from Senator to Senator expressionlessly. “Would anyone care for further refreshment?”
“Senator Amidala,” Eekway said, “I fear you don’t understand—”
“Senator Eekway. Another hoi-broth?”
“No, that’s—”
“Very well, then.” She looked up at C-3PO. “Threepio, that will be all. Please tell Moteé and Ellé that they are dismissed for the day, then you are free to power down for a while.”
“Thank you, Mistress,” Threepio replied. “Though I must say, this discussion has been most stimu—”
“Threepio.” Padmé’s tone went a trace extra firm. “That will be all.”
“Yes, Mistress. Of course. I quite understand.” The droid turned stiffly and shuffled out of the room.
As soon as 3PO was safely out of earshot, Padmé brandished the document reader as though it were a weapon. “This is a very dangerous step. We cannot let this turn into another war.”
“That’s the last thing any of us wants,” Bail said with a disapproving look at Senator Eekway. “Alderaan has no armed forces; we don’t even have a planetary defense system. A political solution is our only option.”
“Which is the purpose of this petition,” Mon Mothma said, laying her soft hand over Padmé’s. “We’re hoping that a show of solidarity within the Senate might stop Palpatine from further subverting the Constitution, that’s all. With the signatures of