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It only took a few moments to get the system set up. Time enough for each senator to think of a response.

“The question we are putting to the vote is this: Should we have an independent investigation team? Your vocal response must be ‘yes,’ ‘no,’ or ‘abstain.’ ” She took a deep breath, then called on the first senator.

Both she and the page recorded the vote as it occurred. A protocol droid also listened, double-checking the tally. She had expected the vote to go in her favor. At the least, she expected to break the tie on a close vote. But as she ran through the list, skipping the missing and the dead, she realized that her voting block, which had been the majority, was now in the minority. Most of the uninjured were the junior senators. The senior senators, those with long ties to the Republic, had somehow received the brunt of the blast.

By the end of the list, Leia’s throat was dry and her eyes burned. Her shoulders were stiff from tension. Fifteen senators voted against the independent investigation. Fifteen. The rest abstained or voted in favor. The measure won by an overwhelming majority.

Across the room, she met Kerrithrarr’s gaze. The Wookiee senator believed, as Leia did, that the former Imperials would destroy the Senate. Kerrithrarr’s hair stood on end, and when he noticed Leia, he shook his head in despair.

Leia checked her results against the page’s. Then the droid confirmed their numbers. “By a clear majority,” Leia said, “the measure to provide for an independent investigation passes.”

The junior senators cheered while the rest of the room looked on in astonishment. Leia picked up a wooden cup and pounded it on the buffet table as she called for order. As the room quieted, she said, “I realize that we are not meeting in the Hall. Due to the informal setting, I will let this breech of etiquette pass. In the future, though, any senator showing undue partisanship will be expelled from the room and his vote will not be counted. This rule is in the Senatorial bylaws. I suggest you read them.”

Her voice echoed back to her, and she could hear the thread of anger below it. Usually she prided herself on her restraint, but her patience was wearing thin. Didn’t these so-called leaders understand the effects of their actions? Didn’t they know that this kind of partisanship would divide the Republic?

Faces were turned to hers expectantly. She nodded toward them. “Since it was your idea to have an independent investigation, Senator Meido, I would like you to compile the team. We will need the names of the investigators for our records.”

Meido smiled. His teeth were pale pink against his crimson skin. “Gladly, President.”

She didn’t like his expression. It made her feel vulnerable. It made her feel as if she had walked into a trap.

“Tomorrow we will meet in the ballroom at the normal time. Until then, we are adjourned.” Leia pounded on the buffet table. As she did, the conversation rose around her. The junior senators were pounding one another on the back and laughing.

ChoFï was staring at the list. “You know,” he said so softly that only Leia and Senator Gno could hear, “their report won’t be the same.”

“I know,” Leia said. “But I had no real choice. I couldn’t appoint one of our people to pick the investigative team. They outmaneuvered me. If I had been thinking when I came in—”

“It’s not your fault, Leia,” ChoFï said. “If they didn’t approach you on that issue, they would have done so on another. You were running the Senate as it used to be instead of as it is. It is no longer a uniform body. Now we have factions.”

“I don’t like it,” Gno said.

“Like it or not,” ChoFï said, “the factions exist and we have to live with them.”

“I will not live with them,” Gno said. “This is how the Empire took over the last time. Small disagreements became major. Major disagreements were ignored, until the government was so factionalized it didn’t work at all.”

“That won’t happen here,” ChoFï said.

Gno smiled. “I used to believe that, all those years ago.”

Leia picked up the voting record, wincing