Judgement Lapse

by Marinché. Part 1 of 2.

The Senate was in uproar over the most recent corruption allegations against the Supreme Chancellor.

Serin Tuey came up from the Records department where she had been working all morning to find that all activity had stopped in Talson's office as everyone crowded around the screens, watching the progress of the scandal in the latest newsflash. 'What's happened?' she asked her friend Isan as she pushed to the front of the crush to get a good view. It showed Senator Elgreve waving aside frantic reporters as he made his way out of the Chamber. 'Elgreve's setting himself up for Chancellor!' Isan said excitedly. He was shushed by the others, and Serin had to pick up the rest from the half finished report. The current scandal had just been intensified by the Nargish Senator Elgreve, who had made a speech questioning the Chancellor's judgement in letting his aides open themselves up to these new accusations. There was no implication of wrong-doing but the message was clear: Elgreve was widely regarded as one of the leading contenders for Valorum's job should it fall vacant, and this was his first step in a campaign to that end.

Serin had heard enough. She backed her way out of the crowd and dumped her work on her desk, she had a report to research for Talson with a deadline of tomorrow morning, and she couldn't afford to take too much time out. She made for the drinks dispenser while everyone else was occupied with the news, then suddenly felt her skin begin to crawl. She turned her head as the door of Talson's audience chamber opened, and the Senator emerged with a tall brown-robed Roona. The woman's attitude was assured, even regal, and her power seemed almost to shimmer about her as she made her farewells and walked to the lift, visible to no one but Serin. It was this rather than the robes which told Serin that the Roona was a Jedi, and going by the bright patterns in the force she was obviously very strong indeed. Serin crushed her jealousy and made her way back to the desk with her drink, then slumped back in her chair and closed her eyes and tried very hard not to think about what she had just seen. She had needed this break. She could still see the data on fishing quotas dancing behind her closed eyelids. It wouldn't have been so bad if it had been something interesting, but she guessed that was too much to ask for in this office.

She listened to the news from across the room, which was still discussing Senator Elgreve. The surprising thing was how popular he was proving to be. The report was commenting on how he had emerged as a serious threat to the Chancellor due to his recent success in the resolution of the Dacoina crisis, and with the publicity attendant on his upcoming Sluis Van Bill. He had received encouragement from all sides of the Senate, although the influential Senator Palpatine from Naboo had attempted to calm the situation by stating unequivocally that Valorum enjoyed his full support and would continue to do so for the foreseeable future. He had added that the constant speculation over the Chancellor's fate was disrupting both the corruption inquiry and the normal process of government. This call to reason had been seconded by Senators Lano and Amery Esken...

'I don't believe Elgreve's doing this!' Isan wandered over to join Serin as the news finished, and he sat down now in a nearby chair, determined to talk about the scandal, as was the rest of the office; very loudly. 'He's blind with ambition. I thought he was too worried about the Sluis Van Bill for any of this rubbish, but no, nothing is too important to throw away for the smallest hint of a chance at Valorum.'

'He's got nothing to worry about,' Serin said. 'They'll love him for it. You know how our distinguished senators thrive on stabbing each other in the back.'

Isan was indignant and disgusted. 'What gives him the right? The Senate's reputation still hasn't recovered from last time.'

Serin understood his disgust. It was obvious that Valorum had done nothing wrong, and yet government would be paralysed for a week while this scandal played out, the latest in a long line of small crises that never quite seemed to go away. The important matters would be postponed once more and the protests from the galaxy at large would escalate as the Republic continued to fray at the edges. And yet...

'Oh, I don't know,' she said, sitting up and taking a drink. 'I rather like unstable times. They lead to opportunity.' She smiled, her dark eyes intent, her expression filled with her customary calm, slightly amused irony.

Isan shook his head in resignation. 'You're as bad as he is. Is that what you're going to advise Talson? Somehow I don't think he'd agree with you.'

It was true, Serin was good at finding the advantage in any situation. It was why she was good at her job. She briefly considered how Talson should handle this crisis. Elgreve might make large inroads into Valorum's power base, but she really couldn't see him as Supreme Chancellor in the near future, and Talson needed both Valorum and Palpatine's support a lot sooner than that. 'He should probably stay with Valorum,' she said regretfully. 'The risk might be fun, but Talson really doesn't have the kind of personality to take advantage of a situation like this.'

Isan grinned at her choice of phrase. They both knew that Talson was a coward, for whom acting effectively in a time of crisis was almost impossible. 'He was meeting with a Jedi this morning,' he commented. 'the riots at Trinn must have started up again.' Serin began to speak, then suddenly became aware that Talson's first secretary, Ros, was converging on her position with an official-looking data card held high. She bit back a curse at the thought of the report she had to finish and said to Isan, 'You'd better watch out. Ros is coming. Now.'

Isan had been desperately trying to avoid their immediate boss for the last day or so, late on an assignment. He jumped up and glanced wildly around the crowded office without seeing her, but took Serin's advice and bolted. Serin wished she could do the same, but Ros had already seen her and it just wasn't worth it. She was still on parole after their last little 'misunderstanding,' and right now she could do without any more trouble. A couple of moments later Ros acknowledged her with irritated relief, and placed the data card on her desk. 'I'm glad I caught you. We need to track down Orley, and its communicator is switched off- these amendments have to be approved by mid-day. Do you mind?'

'No, of course not,' Serin said neutrally, trying hard to disguise how much she hated Ros for the enjoyment she got out of this kind of thing. Despite the fact that Ros thought she was sending her on a frantic, wearisome chase, Serin was sure she would not have to search far, and that made it a lot easier to stay polite. Senator Orley was just leaving Chamber right now. She knew it.

'That's good. I really don't need to tell you how important this is.' Ros smiled falsely and purposely moved off in the direction in which Isan had fled.

Just what she needed, Serin thought, pathetic errands to fill up her morning. She was continually frustrated and amazed at how slow her progress was in this place. She was regularly advising Talson in Chamber on both policy and gossip and had even saved its sorry skin on a couple of eventful occasions, and yet no matter her achievements, her lack of age and experience meant that she still spent most of her time in Records and caught up in administration that no one else could be bothered with. She grabbed the data card and swept out of the room with all the dignity and force of wasted talent, then only just avoided slamming into her employer as he stood chatting in the corridor with another aide. She apologised, holding back a grin at the spectacle she had just made of herself and the tall green humanoid broke off his conversation to say, 'Serin, I'm going to need your opinions on this Elgreve affair before the strategy meeting tomorrow. Once you finish that report, arrange a time to discuss this,' before returning to his chat on the impossibilities of his job during this current period of madness.

It was just like him to rank his pet fishing quota amendment over planning his public position on the destabilisation of the Chancellor. As she waited for the lift, Serin wondered idly about conditions in Elgreve's camp. Right now they'd all be engaged in strategic planning to seize the foremost job in the galaxy, while she was stuck here collecting tardy signatures on second-rate policy documents, and researching fish catch sizes on outer-rim worlds for an incompetent fool with delusions of adequacy. Stop being so impatient, she told herself. The possibilities were endless in this place. Give it a couple more years, and who knew what could happen?

She caught up with Orley in one of the large circular concourses off the Senate Chamber. It was crowded with senators leaving the chamber, pausing to gossip with eachother and gathering in small excited groups to discuss the morning's debate. There was only one topic of conversation of course, and it all centred on the increasingly popular Senator Elgreve who stood off to one side near the bright windows that offered a stunning view of the city, deep in discussion with Senator Palpatine. Palpatine was another of the potential contenders for Valorum's job, and he was arguing animatedly with the fat Narg, who was currently listening to him in an attitude of grave consideration.

I bet he's not very happy with Elgreve's little move, Serin thought maliciously, as she gave the data card to Senator Orley to examine. Eager to get back to its discussion with a group of ET's who were waiting with barely concealed impatience, Orley gave the card a cursory scan and nodded to the young human as it entered its signature with a flourish. 'Very good,' it said to her, clicking its mandibles as it spoke. 'Please inform Talson that he has my full approval on the amendments.'

'Yes, sir,' said Serin, and it turned back to its restive audience and began to expound again on the arrogance prevalent in politics today. Serin felt like asking it if it even knew what it had just signed, but she wisely left without comment, needing to get back to her report.

'I fail to see why that should have any relevance,' she heard Elgreve exclaim loudly as she walked past, then he lowered his tone and began to gesticulate wildly with his tentacles, something he only did when he got emotional about his subject.

She was half way to the exit when she felt it. A disturbance in the force that crackled with muted energy like static. It was subtle and ingenious and bright with contained strength, it made her skin crawl and her first incredulous thought was: Jedi! They would dare to use the force in this place! She stopped dead and looked around her. But I haven't seen...

It was not a Jedi. With shock she realised that the feel of it was different, it was something completely outside her experience and she did not know what it was. She turned slowly and looked across the concourse at the corner she had just passed, where Elgreve was standing silent in the sunlight with his head down and his tentacles limp by his sides, and Palpatine was watching his companion with keen, inquiring interest, as if waiting for the Narg to respond to his argument.

Palpatine was responsible for this. The moment she realised this he looked up and gazed directly at her, and the world seemed to lurch and narrow down to that single focus of contact, and she took an involuntary step back because he recognised her awareness and knew what she had just sensed, and the expression in his eyes was dark and cold and very, very dangerous.

Gathering her strength, she tore herself away from the link and made her escape through the crowds to the door. She tried not to walk too fast so she didn't attract attention but she had to grip her hands together to stop them shaking despite her best efforts at calm. Behind her, Elgreve began talking rapidly again as though nothing at all had happened.

Back down in the Records Department, Serin was not surprisingly unable to concentrate on her report. She had done her best to make herself completely uncontactable for the afternoon, she had found a corner in the back of one of the smaller, more inaccessible rooms, turned off her com-unit, and then she just sat there, staring at the wall and thinking about what she had seen. She had got that sinking feeling which went with the knowledge that she had just done something very foolish indeed. Whatever the explanation for what had just happened outside the Senate Chamber, using the force on senators could not be good, and she knew that she could be in deep trouble for revealing herself to Palpatine in the way she had. She considered her options. Really there were none. She could get out now, run away very fast, abandon her work and all her plans and never find out what was going on, but this was intolerable, of course. She had to stay and find out what would happen next. Her curiosity demanded nothing less. She did not even consider telling anyone else what she had seen. Her little 'talent' was not public knowledge, and besides, the memory of Palpatine's expression kept coming back to haunt her.

Less than five minutes later she looked up to see a tall man in a dark aides robe standing over her desk. He identified himself as being from Palpatine's office, and told her the Senator wished to see her as soon as possible. Preferably immediately. He hoped this wouldn't inconvenience her, but it was rather important.

Serin hesitated for half a second, then she nodded in acceptance and calmly gathered her work together. Her outward appearance gave no sign of her fear and turmoil and careening curiosity; for this summons had come way too soon. He had tracked her down too fast, he must not want her to talk. It was the worst case scenario then. She had stumbled upon something very nasty indeed.

She was taken across the complex to Palpatine's quarters, and left alone in a small reception room which contained only a couple of chairs and a news screen. She spent the next few minutes on the edge of panic, lost in frantic speculation and worry about her fate. She had discovered a Jedi plot. It was the testing of a brand new mind power, no, it was the revenge of a temple reject... Finally she realised what she was doing, and made a conscious effort to calm herself down. She distracted herself with thoughts of ambition instead. This might not be a good situation, but there were definitely possibilities here. People aimed and schemed for opportunities to get themselves noticed by the powerful, and here it had happened to her by accident. But really she needed more information before she decided on what she was going to do. She needed to find out what the senator was doing with force potential, for a start.

Serin considered what she knew about Palpatine. He was an ally of Talson's, but then it seemed that he was allied with half the Senate, his reputation was excellent and he was almost as widely tipped as Elgreve or Bail Antilles for the Chancellorship when Valorum finally stepped down. There were the rumours of course, but she dismissed these out of hand; people generally made up gossip when there was none to be had and it was well known that he steered clear of the popular bribery-and-expenses related games that even the more honest senators sometimes dabbled in. He would definitely be a good person to work for. Feeling a lot more confident and relaxed, Serin settled down to wait. She was very careful not to even think about the report waiting for her back in the Records department. She could only deal with so much at any one time.

Two hours later she was still waiting, and trying even harder not to think about her report. Something on the news screen caught her attention and she looked up to see Elgreve in yet another scandal development. In a surprise move, Elgreve had withdrawn his criticisms of the Supreme Chancellor, calling them 'ill-advised', and apologising for any distress or unwarranted speculation he may have caused. He also stated for the record that Valorum had his full support and would continue to do so for the foreseeable future. The press were going wild. Serin groaned and stared out into space, all her worries crashing back in on her as if they had never gone away. Maybe she should have run after all.