Star Wars_ The Dark Lord Trilogy - James Luceno [224]
Anakin had watched him closely throughout the meeting. Fang Zar had something on his mind, that was certain—something that he did not seem willing to say.
Nee Alavar and Malé-Dee he could dismiss as threats; the two stood together—perhaps needing each other for moral support—and neither had said anything at all. And then, of course, there was Padmé.
Glowing in her Senatorial regalia, the painted perfection of her face luminous as all four of Coruscant’s moons together, not a single hair out of place in her elaborate coif—
Speaking in her Politician Voice, and wearing her Politician Look.
Padmé did the talking. Anakin had a sickening suspicion that this was all her idea.
“We are not attempting to delegitimize your government,” she was saying. “That’s why we’re here. If we were trying to organize an opposition—if we sought to impose our requests as demands—we would hardly bring them before you in this fashion. This petition has been signed by two thousand Senators, Chancellor. We ask only that you instruct your governors not to interfere with the legitimate business of the Senate, and that you open peace talks with the Separatists. We seek only to end the war, and bring peace and stability back to our homeworlds. Surely you can understand this.”
“I understand a great many things,” Palpatine said.
“This system of governors you have created is very troubling—it seems that you are imposing military controls even on loyalist systems.”
“Your reservations are noted, Senator Amidala. I assure you that the Republic governors are intended only to make your systems safer—by coordinating planetary defense forces, and ensuring that neighboring systems mesh into cooperative units, and bringing production facilities up to speed in service to the war effort. That’s all. They will in no way compete with the duties and prerogatives—with the power—of the Senate.”
Something in the odd emphasis he put on the word power made Anakin think Palpatine was speaking more for Anakin’s benefit than for Padmé’s.
All those who gain power are afraid to lose it
“May I take it, then,” Padmé said, “that there will be no further amendments to the Constitution?”
“My dear Senator, what has the Constitution to do with this? I thought we were discussing ending the war. Once the Separatists have been defeated, then we can start talking about the Constitution again. Must I remind you that the extraordinary powers granted to my office by the Senate are only in force for the duration of the emergency? Once the war ends, they expire automatically.”
“And your governors? Will they ‘expire,’ too?”
“They are not my governors, my lady, they are the Republic’s,” Palpatine replied imperturbably. “The fate of their positions will be in the hands of the Senate, where it belongs.”
Padmé did not seem reassured. “And peace talks? Will you offer a cease-fire? Have you even tried a diplomatic resolution to the war?”
“You must trust me to do the right thing,” he said. “That is, after all, why I am here.”
Fang Zar roused himself. “But surely—”
“I have said I will do what is right,” Palpatine said, a testy edge sharpening his voice. He rose, drawing himself up to his full height, then inclining his head with an air of finality. “And that should be enough for your … committee.”
His tone said: Don’t let the door crunch you on the way out.
Padmé’s mouth compressed into a thin, grim line. “On behalf of the Delegation of the Two Thousand,” she said with tight-drawn formality, “I thank you, Chancellor.”
“And I thank you, Senator Amidala, and your friends—” Palpatine lifted the document reader containing the petition. “—for bringing