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.A small smile crossed her face."Han Solo, you've held a commissioned rank in the New Republic armed forces.""Uh-oh.""The privileges and rights of which carryover into the Galactic Alliance.And in times of Alliance crisis, which this is, the Chief of State, as commander in chief of the armed forces, can return retired officers, even those not in the reserves, to active duty."Han sank back into his chair and covered his eyes with his hand."Don't say it.""Sorry, but I must.I'm returning you to the rank of general and assigning you the responsibility of searching for a reasonable solution to our mutual problem.Unless you'd like to formally resign your commission, which I will take as a sign that you don't want this assignment or the clemency that comes with it, in which case I will have to execute the arrest warrant."Dorvan cleared his throat."We realize that you don't care for the public at large to know that you have ethics and would in fact try to fulfill your duty to the Galactic Alliance here.So the exact terms of this deal won't be revealed.Just an announcement that former Chief of State, Jedi Leia Solo, and Alliance hero and scoundrel Han Solo are making an effort to resolve the disputes between the government and the Jedi."Han peered at his wife."Did he say scoundrel? ""He did.""It's gotta be wildly popular scoundrel or it's no deal.""So recorded, so noted." Daala looked between them."So do we have a deal?""I don't see how, in good conscience, we can refuse." Leia leaned forward to extend a hand."It's a deal."Daala shook it, then shook Han's."General, you'll need an aide.""I have one.See-Threepio." It pained Han to say those words, but he'd rather keep any government-appointed military attaché out of his business."Ah, your protocol droid.Of course." Daala glanced toward her assistant."Dorvan has prepared a small briefing sheet that outlines what I'm willing to offer."Dorvan withdrew a single sheet of handwritten flimsi from his tunic pocket."There are no identifying marks, of course.Should it fall into the media's hands—""It won't," Leia said, plucking the sheet from his grip."We've handled delicate negotiations before.""Good," Daala said."Let Dorvan know if you need any resources to aid your efforts.And please send me a daily update on your progress."The words sounded like a dismissal, so Han rose, as did Leia.Uncomfortably aware of his renewed responsibilities, Han threw Daala a sloppy salute, one suited to a wildly popular scoundrel, and turned for the door.He and Leia did not speak until they reached the main exit and emerged into sunlight."So…what the blazes?"Leia shook her head."She's in trouble.She needs to make it look like she's looking for a solution."" Is she?" Han asked."I guess we'll know after we read this," Leia said, flicking the flimsi Dorvan had given her."Either way, though, we stay out of jail and she makes herself look a little less unreasonable."They angled toward the Falcon.It was shut up tight, but still had security troopers posted around it."Is this something we can actually pull off?""Maybe.All I can say is, it's better to be out here trying than in prison not trying."CHAPTER TWENTYOFFICES OF CHIEF OF STATE DAALA, SENATE BUILDING, CORUSCANTAn hour later, Dorvan reentered Daala's office.At her gesture, he sat.She took a moment to look up from her monitor and the formwork she was handling."What?""The story about the Solos has hit the press and the news sources already have polls in the field to gauge the public reaction.""I'm…I'm shocked, Wynn."He ignored her sarcasm."In preparation for this meeting, and for other events that would involve the press, I recently set up some checks and monitors of news sources and public feedback sources.One of those checks and balances involves minute examinations of daily and hourly planetary net archives."Daala fully turned away from her monitor to look at him."That's a nontrivial expense for your office.And I know I didn't authorize it.""I didn't go through my office.Or yours.I called in some favors.""And in an hour you've found out something?""Nothing substantial.But I have determined that press releases about you, when the news sources auto-disassemble and restructure them before having news writers work on them for stories, are being filtered and massaged in a pretty consistent fashion.Consistent regardless of news service…or even the news service's political orientations and alliances.""I actually have next to no understanding of what you just said."He sighed."All right.We issue a press release.It goes out over the planetary net and is part of low-priority packets fired offworld on the HoloNet.Every news service gets it.A computer program breaks it down, does an interpretation of its official language, runs a check against keywords for relevant recent and historical events, and splits the results up so that a live copywriter can rewrite and reformat it into the story a newsreader will deliver during the regular broadcast news.""I love it when a man can translate gibberish into Basic.Well done.""In the case of the press release about the Solos volunteering to resolve issues between the Galactic Alliance government and the Jedi Order, the following changes and adaptations are being made to the story in every news source we've sampled." He began counting on his fingers."One.The Solos didn't offer this service.Chief of State Daala asked for their help.Two, news sources hostile to you tend to use the word hapless to describe you at this point, while those ostensibly friendly to you use the word embattled."Daala frowned."Consistently,""Consistently.Three, the phrase former Chief of State is removed from the description of Leia Solo, replaced by Jedi Knight.Four, Han Solo—""Did you actually use the phrase wildly popular scoundrel for him?""Of course.Part of the agreement.But it appears as a quote from the subminister for trade with Corellia.'Most people know Han Solo as a wildly popular scoundrel, but he's actually a savvy, tough negotiator.' As I was about to say, though, that paragraph gets dropped from the story, replaced by a summary of Solo's exploits in combating evil political leaders such as Palpatine.Five, while we didn't make any reference to the Solos'relationship with Jacen Solo, we knew we didn't have to, that the press would add that detail.But they haven't.""So.Solos anti-government, Solos Jedi, Solos good.Daala hapless, Daala evil, Daala bad."Dorvan nodded."That's it.You translate gibberish to Basic very well
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