Upon entering the room Leia looked up from her notes, searching for Amalia.

Not surprisingly, Amalia was not hard to locate. She had isolated herself from the main commotion of the room. Though she now looked like the rest of the people in the room, all who were in either dress uniforms or other formal wear, she looked still out of place, and uncomfortable.

An Intel operative came up to Leia bearing her lightsaber and a small holdout blaster, both in custom made holsters that would allow them to be concealed under her dress. She waved him off.

"We'll take care of that later."

Leia made her way over to Amalia and greeted her with a smile, though it turned into a momentary frown of concentration as she seemed to think of something, and typed it in on the datapad.

But just as quickly she looked back up.

"Sorry, just found out I have to give a blasted 'welcome' speech, so now I have to find something to say.

Uhm, anyways, so how are you doing? Not too eh... smothered, I hope?"

"Come on, we're to be off soon..." Riker, now in a neatly pressed white dress uniform, came up to them and gestured to the door. Leia looked behind her, and found the weapon toting Intel operative, two specially uniformed soldiers that were to be her honor guard(though they really were her two usual bodyguards this time around), and two more soldiers openly bearing locked and loaded blaster rifles.

She nodded to the Intel operative and took the saber and blaster from him. She saw that Amalia had just been handed a similar outfitting.

"I guess we're ready" she announced to Riker, and they were lead out to a large landspeeder. Leia, Amalia, Riker, the two bodyguards, and the two soldiers all climbed in and were seated, and then the speeder was on it's way...

As the speeder made its way to it's set destination Amalia spoke not a word to anyone, unless of course addressed to. She had not exactly yet become used to this new experience, well, it was new to Amalia anyhow.

While during the ride Amalia would often either look down at her gloves or look out the speeder, watching the scenery as they went by it all.

Leia sat with her concentration mostly placed on the datapad, typing in something or other when she remembered or thought of soemthing she wanted to say or use for her welcoming speech.

Truth be told though, Amalia was not only quiet because of the new experience but also of the situation at hand.

After all, this was not suppsoed to be just some party, peoples lives were also considered to be at stake. It wasn't as if Amalia was not used to such a thing, it was something that went with her job. She served the glaxay, doing her best to uphold peace and justice. She protected the weak and innocent, and the strong.

Yet for some reason, she seemed so unprepared for it all right now. She knew she could not dwell on it all for long, she would be at her job in no time at all, as soon as they set foot at that party...

There would be no looking back then. Her concentration would belong to her duty. Though she would try to have a good time, and she would smile, she would let it be just a party. However, inside of herself, she would notice every little detail about the people, she would look, watch and observe, with fine observation, very fine. Every second of every minute. Yet she would be part of the crowd, looking for something or someone that might stand out from the rest of the crowd.

She watched Leia thoughtfully for a moment as she typed something out yet again, her thoughts drawing toward Leia.

Good luck with your speech....I'll be watching.

She watched as Leia took a moment to look up from her work. Amalia saw the look upon Leia's face, and she was sure that Leia saw the look upon her face as well....

Leia's 'look' turned into a hint of a smile however, and then she averted her gaze.

It was not long before the speeder came to a stop in front of a grand staircase, made completely out of white marble. They had arrived at their destination.

The first two people out of the speeder were Leia's bodyguards, of course. Leia was next, followed by Amalia and Riker, and the rest piled out after them.

Even as they ascended the staircase the group split, Leia was left with her two guards and Amalia went with Riker and the other two soldiers to start their 'mingling'.

Leia gave a last glance in Amalia's direction, then pulled her eyes away to focus on the group of people that was set to assault her at the top of the staircase. She recognized most of them as her usual entourage. The senate's Inner Council members were almost all there(she noted a few missing faces) as well as some very well known old Alliance hero faces.

And so, Leia went to 'work'...




Half an hour later, she found herself standing behind a podium on a raised dais, which was in a rather grand audience chamber. She glanced down at her notes, then nodded to a man nearby, indicating she ready to begin her speech.

Leia looked around, studying the large crowd of expectant faces. She found she was gripping the sides of the podium so hard her knuckles were turning white, and she forced herself to relax. She reached out with the Force, searching, probing...

The sheer variety and amount of emotions running through the Force made it hard for her to sort through and distinguish individual voices out of the mass. As this was a gathering of politicians, not all of the thoughts were nice happy ones, they were pessimistic, devious, cunning, and other things of the sort. However, that was typical, and not all politicians were like that.

However now it was proving to be a hinderance to her goal. She would not be able to get a feel for any possible terrorists this way.

She was drawn back into a more physically attentive state as the hall quieted.

"Well, first of all, I would like to thank you all for coming here tonight, and..."

Leia's roaming gaze had landed on a man near the front, who was looking at her...

...wrong...

Despite an extreme attempt from the part of her that maintained her usually never failing self control, Leia trailed off momentarily.

The man knew she was looking directly at him, and as she trailed off he seemed to grow very antsy...

She cleared her throat, partially for cover, and partially to try and get rid of the lump that was forming in the back of her throat. Without missing another beat, she resumed her speech.

Such a faulter was extremely unusual for Leia, and her audience: full of highly attuned eyes and ears, knew this. They seemed to grow uncomfortable as well, though by the end of the speech they had settled again, for there had been no further lapses in composure on Leia's part, and nothing bad had happened after the one that she had experienced.

As Leia ended her speech, her gaze sought out the troubling man again, and she tried to find a connection with Amalia through the Force.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Amalia, check that one, there's something... wrong... about him.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

Amalia silently wondered to herself how Leia could smile, but then, maybe Leia was not as worried about the speech she would be giving as Amalia was. She wished Leia did not have to give the speech at all, given the situation.


Amalia stood thoughtfully for a moment, letting her eyes sweep casually over everyone, a small smile inching its way across her lips as she continued to look around for a moment or two more and then went on her way to 'mingle'. However, not before catching Leia's quick glance, and then only after did she move on.

Amalia had not really managed to really observe anyone just yet, there were too many people moving about. However, a half hour later, Amalia seemed to find her opening to observe, though rather discretely, as Leia's speech began.

Amalia too found herself reaching out with the force, though she was not using her force abilities to their full potential. She had no right really to read anyone's thoughts, just to read them, but this was for a specific purpose. It was part of her observing, something she needed to do.

What she found in some was not surprising, but in others, very surprising, though it never showed upon her face. She never expected to find such negative thoughts among people. Well, Amalia called them nagative thoughts because they were not exactly good thoughts either.

She drew away from everyones thoughts, not at all wishing to continue with that kind of observing. She had only gone about doing that for a minute, but it was enough for her. She turned her attention back to Leia for the time being as she began her speech.

"Well, first of all, I would like to thank you all for coming here tonight, and..."

She paused, why had she paused? She watched her carefully, watched as Leia's gaze stopped roaming about the crowd to fall upon someone...

Though it did not show on Leia's face, Amalia knew something was wrong. Amalia had never seen Leia slip up, though she did not exactly attend these type of high functions, but she knew well enough to know that Leia's faulter did not happen just because.

She was starring for a bit to long at whoever was up there near her, Amalia had seen. Her gaze feel away from Leia and onto the someone for just a moment or so as Leia continued on with her speech.

As Leia's speech ended Amalia watched as Leia's gaze fell onto the man once again, Leia's thoughts connecting with her at that instant. She replied back.

I hadn't noticed, what, with your trailing off and all.....I'm on it...

She glanced around, looking for Riker, she found him near by. She carefully looked toward Leia and then back at him. He seemed to get the hint, for he followed Leia's gaze and then onto the man that Leia looked upon.

Mostly everyone had stood up now, applauding Leia's speech, Amalia's opening. Amalia slowly inched her way toward the front, though slowly yet casually, so as not to be noticed by on lookers.

She did not stop directly in front, but close enough so that she could better keep an eye on the man. She could not nothing yet however, but watch him.

She did not solely keep her concentration placed on the man though as she scanned the room again. She had made Riker aware of the man and she was sure the other two soldiers knew now as well. There was nothing much more she could do, except continue to observe and wait....

OOC: Sorry, but it's your plot and we did not discuss it much. I don't want to get ahead, not without really knowing what I'm doing.

OOC: I know, sorry about that. I've been looking for you, but you haven't been on. I may just have to break down and PM you, lol...


Leia let out a ragged breath and stepped away from the podium, her two bodyguards falling into step behind her as she descended the stairs off of the dais.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> And the real fun hadn't even started yet...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

Now it was Leia's turn to 'mingle'. She was handed a wine glass from a nearby server.

She was obliged by the usual weird political dictorates to consume the beverage, but her stomach roiled at the very thought of food, especially alcohol, being put in it. She pretended to take a sip instead.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Ugh. Why now, of all times?<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

She put an amiable look on her face as she was approached by a young looking senator from.... uh... she had no idea where. But at any rate, she was about to find out. He led her over to a larger circle of conversing people.

...But she was stopped halfway by an extremely familiar voice, that said an extremely familiar phrase...

"My my, Princess Leia, there you are! I've been looking all over for you!"

Her eyes widened and she whirled to face the figure of a prissy golden protocol droid hurrying ponderously over to her.

"Threepio?"

"I don't believe my designated design number has changed..."

Leia cut him off. "Why are you here, and how'd you get here?"

"Master Luke sent me. He kept saying something about 'motor mouth' but I did not see that to be a reason to send me away, after all, my mouth is comprised of..."

"Alright, quiet." Leia said automatically, deciding to question him later. She turned back to the man who was now waiting patiently.

"Sorry about the interruption. Come on, Threepio."

And Leia followed the man off to 'mingle', the golden droid toddling along behind her now.

If there was ever a time when Amalia did not fit in, it was now. She was supposed to be mingling, but she knew she wasn't doing a very good job of it.

Everytime someone would approach her, Amalia would smile, make casual conversation, and then, and then well, conversation just did not become conversation anymore as some form or another of politics seemed to creep into each and every bit of conversation she had had or was having. When this happened, Amalia would just politely excuse herself, heading off somewhere else to mingle. It did not seem to bother any of the people she spoke with, they immediately left her and walked on, addressing the next and newest person close to him or her.

Though it never seemed to show on the outside, Amalia had a bad feeling, a very bad feeling. She had scanned the room on several instances, looking for Leia, but she could not find her. She figured that Leia had just gone off to mingle with the crowd. Though that still didn't help the situation any, knowing she had that nagging feeling, that bad feeling.

I catch on quickly my foot!

She began to regret that she had told Leia that. These were not at all her people. Did she even have People?! No, it was more like this simply just was not her thing. These people...well, to put it better, they where all white sheep and she was well...she was the black one, the only black one.

ok, so they're not sheep, people, but at the moment, I'd feel a lot better if I was one...at least people would know to leave me well enough alone because I did not belong.

Oh yeah, great way of thinking, but when did Amalia ever think clearly in an odd situation such as this. Well, she suddenly got to stop at thinking as her eyes spotted the man from earlier, the one that was looking at Leia wrong.

Amalia was watching this man intensely now, for some reason or another, he had caught her eye again.

Geez, like it would kill that man to smile...

Amalia would have rolled her eyes if she could have.

She continued to watch him, but not just him, to other men as well, there were two of them. They appeared to be following the man without a smile.

Makes you just want to reach out and hug him...

Truth was, he was giving Amalia the creeps. Everything about him said that this man just wasn't right, and neither were the men that were...following him.

They kept glancing at the man, he was obviously some sort of leader to these two men from what Amalia could tell.

Something is not right here.....nor with Leia...

She closed her eyes for just a split second and then opened them again as she reached out with the force, searching for Leia. She was ok, yet not. Amalia couldn't tell what, yet it was still somewhat disturbing to her. She did not communicate with Leia via the force, but kept close tabs on her through the force nonetheless.

I have a feeling this party will be livining up really soon, and I don't mean that in a good way...

She still saw Riker near by, he too was watching the man, but she doubted he noticed the two men following the other man, they weren't being obvious, yet somehow Amalia could tell that all three were working together.

All around her she could hear people discussing things that she knew nothing about....

This is like learning the alphabet, only harder....

Amalia continued to keep the three men within her sights as she desperately tried to drown out conversations that only made her lost and confused...

Leia was still meandering around in the group of politicians she had been introduced earlier when she noticed that both of her bodyguards had tensed, and one was beginning to press close to her.

She first noted in what direction their concern was aimed at.

Whatever it was, it was behind her.

She started a slow, wandering circle to get turned around without being too suspicious to the possible threat.

Immediately behind where she had been earlier three men stood conversing. Two of the men were extremely bulky, swathed in thick ceremonial robes.

Ok, so they looked fat and innocent(well, as innocent as a politician could be). By chance one of them happened to look over in her direction while she was still ooking their way. Catching her eye, he smiled disarmingly and nodded to her, then turned away.

The next time Leia looked back, which wasn't too long after, the thin, lean one had dissapeared...

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> uh oh...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

Too late. Something hard and cold was suddenly rammed into the small of her back, and the man who had done the dissapearing act slipped an arm tightly around her waist and pressed close to whisper in her ear.

"Don't make any sudden moves, don't scream, just act normal, and you won't get hurt."

Leia's stomach knotted.

"Yeah, like nobody is going to notice..." She retorted.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Where did my bodyguards go...?<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> She wondered with a touch of worry. Apparently they had been taken out. That meant these guys meant business, and knew what they were doing...

The object dug hard into her back.

"Shut up."

She looked around, the other two men he had been talking to had dissapeared.

"You don't intend to blow us up, you intend to take hostages!" Leia suddenly snapped, and began to wriggle, realizing what was about to take place in a few moments.

"Shut up!" the man spit at her, and the blaster barrel pressed against her back dug painfully into her spine.

Too late, those around had noticed them. But the man didn't seemed worried, it was already too late.

All over the room, blasters suddenly fired at the ceiling, sending the party into utter chaos...

A crazed Bothan slammed into Leia and her attacker just then, separating them. Leia went flying one way, the attacker the opposite.

Leia vaulted back to her feet.

Her lightsaber was in her hands.

The real party had just begun...

OOC: Now you've got me lost...

IC: I have a bad feeling about this...

Funny how that phrase was used among many. Yet it was usually always right on target.

That bad feeling was soon confirmed by the sound of blaster fire.

uh....

Amalia stood there for a split second or two, looking rather dumbfounded as she thought of where her lightsaber and blaster were. It had only taking her a second or two though, panic had a way of making any person go into a duh type of mode. Those two seconds were two seconds she wished she would have had as one of the lasers made direct contact with her right upper arm.

She retrieved her lightsaber with quick accuracy, though the slight pain she felt quite evident as her face twisted up for a moment. Her teeth clenched together, she cursed under her breath.

Her mind lingered on Leia for a moment as the blasters continued to be fired, shooting every different direction.

The paniced politicians didn't seem to help matters any.

Everyone seemed to be running about. Crying out, yelling, screaming, lots of people waving their arms about. Yet not one of them seemed to want to help, more concerned with getting out and to a safe place.

Amalia really didn't like it when things got difficult. Her thoughts made that evident, but her face was as focused as ever.

Move it! Frell! It's like wookiees all over the place, only worse!

Was it worse? People weren't exactly getting their arms ripped out of their sockets, but then again, they weren't exactly under peaceful situations either.

She tried to quiet her nerves by letting the force run through her. If she was going to be of any help here, she needed the force to help guide her. Things were much to messy for her not to use the force.

She scanned the room quickly, looking for where the blast fire was being fired from, several different men. She focused on them, deflecting waht shots they sent her way back toward them.

She found Riker among the crowd, calm as ever, he appeared to be helping people escape.

No good for what she needed. She wanted others helping her, to stop this.

Her mind drew back to Leia once more, where was she? She want reassurance that the Jedi Master was safe. Well, as safe as could be, given the circumstances.

She reached out with the force, this time reaching for Leia.

Where are you???

That was all she could do, no more time could be spent searching for Leia. She had to focuse on the matter at hand. Stopping what was going on.

Someone was behind her, someone she didn't want behind her...

Here goes nothing...

She turned around, quickly seeing that it was one of the men she had seen earlier, blaster in hand.

She used the handle of her saber to knock at the man's blaster, enhancing her stength via the force, the blaster flew out of his hand.

This caught him off guard for a moment, Amalia took the time to kick the man in a place where no man longed to ever be kicked. He stumbled forward, a painful expression crossing his face, yet no sound seemed to escape his lips.

She side stepped just as he stepped forward. She gave him one quick blow to the head, using the end of her saber to do so, of course during this time period her saber had been off.

He fell to the floor, unconscious for the time being, but who knew for how long...

One down....and....

Well she cared not to find out how many more left. She continued on, trying to locate another man, knowing that her next encounter might not be the same as the last...

OOC: Ya, I know I didn't explain very well...

Basically the bad guys were all interspersed in the crowd, and they simultaneously tried to kidnap Leia and take control of the crowd to take hostages. However, things are not going as they had planned... Leia got free of her initial attackers, and the crowd is proving more difficult to subdue than they had anticipated. Therefore everything has fallen into utter chaos, and the NR has a chance to take control of the situation by 'disposing' of the terrorists in the crowd. The terrorists are easy to spot, for they have guns, and are now wearing black cloth masks.





The man who had attacked Leia earlier was on his feet now, and was mad. He brought his blaster to bear on her and unleashed a volley of searing red energy bolts. Leia deflected the barrage with her lightsaber, making sure not to hit anybody, and then leapt at the man. Flipping her saber to a horizontal position, she clenched both hands around the hilt and smashed it into the man's chin. His jaw snapped shut and his head snapped back. Stunned, he backpedaled, his blaster rifle lowering away from Leia. Leia snatched his hand blaster out of his holster as he stumbled, noted that it was set on 'stun', and then fired it into his torso. He collapsed into an unconscious heap.

Leia suddenly felt the soft brush of Amalia's force probe.... she felt pain there, though it seemed dulled, and more immediately, concern.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Don't worry about me, Amalia, I'll be fine. Just take care....<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

Leia had to cut off her thought to concentrate on the current situation on her hands.

Lightsaber in one hand and blaster in the other, Leia ran into the thick of the confusion and tackled a nearby terrorist who was collecting a hostage group from behind. She put a stun bolt in him, too, and continued on.

The terrorist leader was still on the dais, hiding behind the podium having a shootout with a cluster of guards who had taken shelter in the stairwell to the dais. Leia hopped up onto a long banquet table(the only clear route that would take her in the direction of the dais) and began to run down it's length. Terrorists instantly spotted her and opened fire. Leia awkwardly began to block blaster bolts while continuing to dance and dodge her way down the table.

But she was also given a good view of the situation. From what she saw there couldn't have been any more than twenty terrorists or so to begin with, and their numbers were now dwindling as they were dealt with by the security forces and a few of the more strong willed politicians.

The terrorists all seemed to be making their way to the podium, where they were clustering and regrouping. Leia was almost to the end of the table(which meant she was almost to the podium), when two terrorists dove up onto the table and tackled her at the knees.

Leia managed to stay on her feet only a few seconds more before she lost her footing on the slick table top and fell flat on her back, her head bouncing wickedly off of the solid surface.

Her vision faded for only a heartbeat with the impact, but that miniscule time was enough for the two terrorists to pin her down on the table top.

She realized that she could escape from them relatively easily any time she wished, but she decided to wait and see if maybe the shooting would stop for at least a moment now that they had her....

Amalia seemed just about invisible now as the terrorists hurried passed by her. The terrorists' had been so eager before to make sure that she didn't live to see another day. Now though? Now they were intent on heading elsewhere.

To where, well, Amalia was not exactly sure yet. She did follow pursuit however, though in a very discreet manner.

Her danger sense, her disturbing feelings within the force, seemed to tingle in the back of her mind as she unsuspectingly inched her way toward where Leia and the terrorists were.

There was still much movement going on, though some of the shooting had appeared to die down. If it had not been for the large amount of movement and everyone continuing to still be in chaos, Amalia would have most likely not even had begun to partake in the sort of action among the company she now found herself in.

The company being the terrorists she had so willingly wished to get away from that she now found herself heading towards.

Amalia could just barely make out Leia's figure as she ducked down low, hiding behind chairs and anything she could think of so as not to be spotted as she crept slowly along her way, and hopefully out of view.

She'd long gone passed Leia's table now, making her way toward one of the very large white pole structures that were conveniently placed near every corner of the room. The corner Amalia happened to be moving to seemed to be strangely unoccupied, except for the occasional political person crouching up in fright, trying to make their way cautiously toward security personnel.

Amalia angled herself just right, trying to find a suitable angle to where she could see Leia without being spotted by any of the terrorists, a rather difficult task if one thought about it. Two or three times during the time she was watching she would have to change positions because someone happened to look her way. No one seemed to give her location away, or at least if any of the good guys saw her, they were darn careful not to show it.

She did her best to take in the whole scene as two terrorists made their position away from the podium and toward Leia, tackling the Jedi. Leia fell flat on her back, her head bobbing a bit as she did so. Amalia considered that not a very good sign, it meant that Leia had obviously been disoriented, she came to this newly found conclusion by way of observation, seeing that the two terrorists had a very firm grip upon Leia as they pinned her down onto the table top.

Now it seemed this only made Amalia draw to more silent conclusions. Leia was what and who these terrorists wanted. Now all that was left to be done was to figure out the how come and what for, that and to hopefully come out of all of this alive and well. She would be sure to see that justice did prevail, no matter what she had to do to get it done....