"Law is the key stone of society" COMPLETE

[Tiberius Anar]

Lucius Harkin was the Chief Counsel to the Chancellor of the Empire. It may seem oxymoronic to the reader that such an autocratic state as the Galactic Empire, founded as it was upon the strength of arms of the military, should have any need for something so mundane as a lawyer. Trust me when I say that this was not the case.

The Empire, for all its faults- and it had many- was about law and order. The New Order had been created for the very purpose of preserving order and the law on which society depended for its structure. It was even created by a law. This was why Lucius Harkin, Chief Counsel to the Chancellor of the Empire, was making his way to the office of that august personage.

He wore the black robes favoured by officials on the Chancellor’s staff. They were cut short, swishing down to just below his knees because Harkin felt he had good calves and liked to show them off. To that end he affected stockings and buckled shoes. Everyone has their little foibles.

He carried a folder under his arm. His grey hair- worn long at the back in a vain effort to disguise its relentless retreat towards the back of his skull- flowed slightly as his movement disturbed the air through which he passed.

He came to the reception area outside the Chancellor’s Office. Plush seats and low tables were scattered about on the left of the entrance arch. On the right was the desk of the Diary Secretary whose task was to register callers and keep a record of the comings and goings so that the Chancellor would know exactly who had been when and why.

Harkin gave his name and explained- for the benefit of the oily youth behind the desk- that he was indeed the Chief Counsel and that he had appointment and no thank you he would not like anything to drink nor would he like a magazine. With a sniff Harkin took a seat facing the desk holding his brief case in his lap. With a sniff the Diary Secretary returned to reading the day’s news- he had nothing better to do.

They sat there in an indifferent silence for three minutes and sixteen seconds.

[Tiberius Anar]

The doors to the Office opened with the suddeness exhibited by Imperial doors. The languid figure of Qunitus Varrus stood in the doorway.

"His Excellency will see you now, Doctor Harkin."

Harkin rose and, brief case in hand, made for the door. The diary secretary noted the time and went back to his reading.

The Chancellor's office was decorated in a style of understated elegance. Unlike his subordinates in the Council of Ministers, Tiberius Anar felt no need for ostentatious displays of wealth or power. He did not cover his floor in hand woven rugs from distant Prakis, nor did he hand his walls with the guady daubs of overpaid artists from Sethel IV. The office of Tiberius Anar had been decorated with care. The items in the room were clearly valuable but not because they were jewel encrusted or brightly coloured. Instead they were pieces of quality. The room oozed power and taste in equal measure.

Harkin strode into the room, mustering all his confidence and intoned, "Your Excellency," whilst inclining his head towards the man behind the desk facing the double doors.

[Tiberius Anar]

Tiberius Anar looked up from the papers in front of him, "Ah, Harkin. Take a seat."

Harkin hesitated, not entirely sure where he was supposed to sit himself. Varrus, being the excellent secretary that he was remedied the the problem with a look that took in the seats before the desk and the lawyer at the same time. Anar seemed not to have noticed this, his eyes having returned to his work.

After a few seconds the Chancellor laid aside the document he was studying and focused his eyes upon his Chief Counsel.

"You have be summoned to this Office on very few occasions, Harkin," Anar invariably addressed such functionaries by their surnames, "This is a great shame because the Movement is based upon respect for and the enforcement of the law. As such you and your department should have had a more direct role in the movement than has been the case.

"Given the new circumstances under which we must now operate, your role will grow in importance. We no longer have His Majesty to rule on the meaning of the Law. Someone else must assume that function. It is in that regard that you are here today."

Anar finished speaking and regarded the lawyer with his cold blue eyes. Harkin got the feeling that he ought to say something. What could he say? What would not sound pathetic or presumptuous? Was he about to become the government's legal expert? Was he merely being asked to review a paper? Was he being told that he was not adequate for this new, expanded role? He groped around for something suitable. Something vague but gracious. The best he could manage was:

"I serve at Your Excellency's pleasure. What would you have me do?"

[Tiberius Anar]

It was not Anar who responded, but Varras.

"His Excellency feels that there are important questions that need to be answered in order to avoid a creeping paralysis of the central government, an extention of the administrative atrophy that has already afflicted certain sections of the government and to prevent the fragmentation of the Empire that will inevitably result from a deepening of the crisis."

It was a perfect bit of government-speak. Plenty of words to hide the true meaning of this conversation from the unitiated, but enough of a theme to it that the initiated could understand. Despite his relative obscurity within the Administration, Harkin had learned to understand this way of speaking. He had not, however, mastered speaking it himself, which is why he said:

"You want me to tell you who is in charge of the Empire?"

[Tiberius Anar]

Varus looked rather shocked by this bit of plain speaking and Harkin shot a nervous glance at Anar, sitting behind the desk, to see how the Chancellor had reacted. To Harkin's surprise a thin smile was on Anar's lips.

"You have it in one, Sir," the politician said, "We need to know the legal situation before we can proceed. So far luck has carried us so far, but sooner or later someone will question the authority of this Office to issue directives to the organs of the state. At that time we will need where we stand and, if this Office is not in authority, we will need to know which Office is and how, if necessary, to fill it to the Empire's advantage.

Harkin considered this and one question ran through his mind:

Who will decide what is to the Empire's advantage?

He had a sneaking suspicion that he knew, as he looked at the thin, white haired man shilloetted against the sunset red sky of Coruscant, just who would be doing the deciding

[Tiberius Anar]

"You understand the importance of your task, Doctor?"

Varrus had led Harkin out of the Chancellor's office to his own. They were standing in the emptiness of that room now. Varrus had not even offered the lawyer a seat.

Unlike the Chancellor's office, which had spoken of power, the Private Secretary's office spoke of efficiency. There was little in the room besides the essentials of a government official's work- desk, chairs, data terminal, shelves of data books- these were the main features of the room. It was likely that the seats were uncomfortable anyway, Harkin consoled himself.

"Harkin?"

"Oh, forgive me," the little lawyer realised that he had not been paying attention to his host's question. A quick mental replay told him what to say.

"Of course."

"And the need for secrecy?"

"Secrecy?" Harkin had not, in fact, considered that there would be a need for secrecy.

"Yes. You understand that there are those who, if they were to discover that you were undertaking this task, would seek to influence its outcome in order to benefit themselves."

"Such as, whom?"

"Certain individuals in the heirarchy. And the rebels of course."

"Ah, I see."

"Do you?" Varrus regarded Harkin with his passionless eyes, it was like looking into the inner workings of a calculating machine.

"Yes."

"Good."

[Tiberius Anar]

Harkin remembered a time when he had been on the Staff of the Senate Juduciary Committee. Only five years after being called to the bar, he had given up litigation in favour of political staff work and had found himself caught up in the chaos of a major legal review.

That had been only a few months into the life of the Empire, when the Senate had instituted a wholesale review of statute law. The objective had been to arrange it so that nothing contradicted Fundamental Law. What he was doing now was a little like that. But only a little.

There was the same sense of bewilderment. The same sense of desperation. The challenge seemed beyond mere mortal capacity, as it had all those years ago- but the resources were not the same.

Instead of a team of hundreds- including paralegals, interns, secretaries and lawyers- to do the job Harkin had ten. And, instead of a year, he had, at best, a month.

His desk was littered with legal texts. His mind was clogged with facts. His stomach was lined with caffine and his progress had been pretty minimal.

Actually, he had found the solution already. It was actually very simple. All that was needed was...

But no, it wasn't simple. Well it was, but making it happen would not be. That was the real problem. Not who, but how?

[Tiberius Anar]

"I beg your pardon." Qunitus Varro's eyebrows were raised in an expression of mild surprise that was directed at Harkin.

"I said we need to reconstitute the Senate."

Varro lowered his cup of coffee, placing it on the saucer with a small click. He mulled the statement over for a moment and then said, blandly, "I see."

"Do you?"asked Harkin. His cup sat untouched on the coffee table between them.

"Yes," Varro said reaching out to retrieve his cup again. He took a small sip of coffee and then observed with bureaucratic stoicism, "This could be a problem."

[Tiberius Anar]

Three weeks later...

"This is really most impressive, Harkin."

"Thank you, Your Excellency."

They were back in the Chancellor's office- Anar, Harkin and Varrus. On the desk in front of him, Anar had Harkin's final report, stored in a single encrypted data card. It was a mere twenty screens long (if one did not include the appendices) and yet its value was immense.

"You have done very well indeed, Doctor Harkin," agreed Varrus, "And you say that you did it all with only a handful of staff?"

"Yes," replied Harkin rather smugly.

"We shall want their names, of course," said Anar.

"What for?" asked Harkin, a little quickly.

"So that we can put commendations in their files."

"Ah, I see." Harkin's face fell just a little. So he would be sharing the credit. How disappointing.

"Naturally you will get the gundark's share of the credit," said Anar reading the man like a book, "As the man who put this together and led the team that is only fair. But your staff should get some small reward for their services, don't you think?"

"Of course, Your Excellency. As you say, some small reward is owing to them."

"As for your own reward," Varrus said in silky tones, "His Excellency thought that you would enjoy a break from your work."

"Yes, you have been working very hard for the last month or so," said Anar, "So I thought you would like to take a sabbatical. Do some academic work in a nice quiet place."

"His Excellency has spoken to the President of the Brober Law School. They have agreed to give you a readership in their trade law department. The requirments for teaching and research are supposed to be quite minimal."

"That is most kind of you, Your Excellency, thank you."

"I take it, then that you, accept?" asked Anar carefully.

"Of course, Your Excellency. How could I not?"

"Indeed. Well, in that case, you have some packing to do."

After Harkin had withdrawn, Anar rose and walked to the windows behind his desk. He looked out over the city.

"He's gone, Your Excellency," reported his secretary with a chuckle, "Very happy, too."

"I should expect so," said Anar with a thin smile at the city world beyond the windows, "See to it that mine is the only copy of that report. Have Harkin's staff disbanded, send them off to out of the way places. Let's not allow this information too wide a circulation."

"At once, Your Excellency."

"Oh, and Quintus," said Anar turning back towards his subordinate.

"Yes, Excellency?"

"Put a team on Harkin. We wouldn't want anything to happen to him would we?"

"No, Your Excellency, we wouldn't."

COMPLETE