COUNTERPLAY: Active play undertaken in response to an opponent's imitative, creating threats of one's own rather than simply absorbing the pressure.
"We can't complain that you've been ignored by the press," Lucian greeted Verity before she'd even shrugged out of her coat. It had been two days since word leaked that Senator Stuyveris' office was contemplating a motion to censure
Aurelian Veruna
over what she called his misdeeds.
"What'd they say?" Verity asked as she hung up her coat by the door. She glanced into the outer office, then shut the door when she was satisfied there was no one within earshot.
"They're not too polite," Lucian said. "The Naboo establishment press, especially."
"They say I'm a -- " Verity began, falling short before she reached a suitably insulting term.
Lucian gave her a deadpan look as he followed her to the desk. "Well -- yes," he said, slapping down the more sensationalist headlines on the table once Verity had settled herself. "They've pulled you to pieces, in five different dailies. The Star: STUYVERIS TO FORCE CONFRONTATION. The Evening Trumpet: RALLY TO THE KING. And my favorite: The Theed Bulletin:
STUFF IT, STUYVERIS," said Lucian, gesturing to what accompanied the headline: a photo of Verity so unflattering that it had to have been doctored, beside a stylized hand giving her a
highly offensive hand gesture.
"My favorite too," Verity said thoughtfully.
"Have any serious publications weighed in?"
"The Beacon calls on you to put your money where your mouth is," Lucian said, offering her the paper. "It's an unsigned editorial. Let's see here... 'Stuyveris may be strident, aggressive, and argumentative, but she seems to be the only prominent senator willing to think the unthinkable and say the unsayable about Aurelian Veruna. If this is just noise for gamesmanship, then shame on her. Time to put up or shut up, Verity.'"
Verity's eyebrows lifted at this.
"I should so hate to disappoint the editorial board at the Beacon." She stood and went to the caff on the sideboard and poured two cups, one for each of them. She fixed them the way they liked and brought them back to the desk.
"Any feedback from Senate colleagues so far?"
"They're playing it close to the chest so far," Lucian said. "Although the delegation from Plooriod III have unanimously signed on to a strongly worded letter alleging that any attempt to censure the King would be conduct unbecoming a Senator and that you can look forward to being referred to Senate Ethics if you do not immediately and publicly denounce what is, they say, clearly a malicious rumor you started to discredit Veruna." He looked up from the message memo. "Shall I dignify that with a response?"
"You could tell them how admiring I am of Plooriod III's intestinal fortitude, but -- it's a little early in the day for that much sarcasm." Verity took a sip of her coffee. "See if you can get me a few minutes with Sarn and Lex and Ayumi," she said after a moment.
"To be clear, this will happen. If Sarn hates it and Lex hates it and Ayumi hates it, it will happen. If the Chancellor calls me a damned fool, it will happen, for all the reasons we've talked about. But I am interested in their views. Put up or shut up, right?"
"You hate shutting up," Lucian observed, and was rewarded with a sly smile.
Another gulp of coffee and Verity glanced at her wristwatch, then rose.
"Morning motions in ten. What do I need to know? Let's go around the world."
