her. "My bodyguards will go to my quarters first. They will sweep every inch
of the rooms, every appliance, every wall and floor to remove hidden
listening devices or assassination tools. The remaining guards will be with
me at every moment. They will provide my food and drink from our own
supplies to ensure against any possibility of poisoning."
Leia was appalled at his insinuation. She stopped herself from insisting
that Furgan's actions were not necessary, since that would no doubt play
directly into his hands. Instead, she showed him a small indulgent smile.
"Of course, if such things make you feel more comfortable. ..."
"In the meantime," Furgan said, "I would like an immediate tour of the
Imperial Palace. Arrange one. I came on a pilgrimage to see my Emperor's
home and to pay my respects."
Leia hesitated. "We hadn't planned on--' Furgan held up a hand. Beside him
the stormtroopers snapped even more stiffly to attention. The ambassador
took one step closer to Leia, as if trying to look intimidating.
"Nevertheless, you will arrange it."
That afternoon Mon Mothma stood in the dimmed audience chamber, waiting at
the base of the holoprojector's controls. Though she had a thousand other
duties to attend to, Carida seemed the likeliest flash point of resistance
to New Republic stability. She had made it clear to Leia that she considered
her sacrifice of time an investment to avert a possible war.
Without moving Mon Mothma seemed to fill the room with her quiet, commanding
presence. Leia never ceased admiring her subtle but undeniable power, which
Mon Mothma managed to exhibit even without Jedi training.
Leia followed Ambassador Furgan as he strode down the ramp to the base of
the holoprojector. Grumpy, he looked behind him to where his stormtrooper
bodyguards waited at the entrance to the chamber. Furgan had refused to
leave them behind, and Mon Mothma had refused to let even disarmed Imperial
stormtroopers near her. The power play had been brief and sharp, but in the
end Mon Mothma allowed the stormtroopers to wait within sight of the
ambassador, though outside the chamber.
But she had also won a seemingly minor concession. Mon Mothma required the
stormtroopers to remove their helmets while they remained in her presence.
The soldiers stood unmasked, holding the skull-like helmets under their
arms, revealed to be humans, young cadets dressed in armor but with their
anonymity taken away.
"Stand right there, Ambassador Furgan," she said without formally greeting
him. "I would like to show you something."
The holoprojector shimmered, and the known galaxy filled the room, billions
of star-specks flung in swirling arms throughout the enclosed chamber. The
lights automatically dimmed as the sea-spray of stars came into focus. At
the doorway the stormtroopers craned their necks to stare up at the huge
image. On the chamber floor both Mon Mothma and Ambassador Furgan seemed
insignificant.
"This is our galaxy," Mon Mothma said. "We have meticulously plotted every
recorded system. These stars"--she waved her hand, and a wash of blue
spangled across the arms of the galaxy--"have already sworn their allegiance
to the New Republic. Others have remained neutral, though not unfriendly to
our cause." A sprinkling of green appeared among the stars.
"The darkened area is what remains of the Ssi-Ruuk Imperium." She indicated
a splotch covering a portion of one spiral arm. "We have not yet fully
explored their worlds, though it has been seven years since Imperial and
Alliance forces joined hands at Bakura to drive out the invaders.
"Finally," Mon Mothma said, "we know of these systems that still remain
loyal to the fallen Empire." A much smaller splash of red dusted the image,
concentrated primarily toward the galactic core, from which the resurrected
Emperor had launched his forces. "As you can see, your support is dwindling
rapidly."
Furgan did not seem impressed. "Anyone can paint dots on a map."
Inwardly outraged, Leia marveled at the quiet way Mon Mothma handled the
situation. Her voice did not grow louder; she merely looked at him with her
calm, deep eyes. "You are welcome to speak to any of the ambassadors from
these worlds to confirm their allegiances."
"Ambassadors can be bribed as easily as colors can be changed on a
projection map."
This time Mon Mothma's voice grew just a bit brittle. "There are no bribes
that can change the facts, Ambassador Furgan."
"If that is the case, then sometimes the facts themselves must be changed."
Leia could not keep herself from rolling her eyes. In a way this was
amusing, but it seemed like a waste of time. Furgan was as unchangeable as a
man frozen in carbonite.
The entire planetary surface of Coruscant had been covered with layer upon
layer of buildings, rebuilt, demolished, and rebuilt again. Galactic
governments changed over the millennia, but Coruscant had always been the
center of politics.
The complex construction patterns and towering metal and transparisteel
pinnacles made weather difficult to predict. Occasionally, unexpected storms
coalesced out of water evaporating from millions of exhaust vents,
condensing and rising from the skyscraper forests, making small squalls that
dumped rain down upon the hard surfaces of the buildings.
As the various diplomats gathered in the Skydome Botanical Gardens for
Ambassador Furgan's reception, a sudden flurry of raindrops pattered down on
the transparent panes, masking the bright curtains of Coruscant's aurora.
In the distance, near the horizon, the rebuilt Imperial Palace stood like a
cobbled-together cathedral and pyramid, showing signs of many different
eras. Leia had not wanted Furgan's reception to be held in any place that
recalled the fallen Emperor's opulence and grandeur.
The Skydome Botanical Gardens rested on the level roof of an isolated
skyscraper. Constructed by an Old Republic philanthropist who had grown rich
by establishing the Galactic News Service, the giant terrarium was a
carefully tended place with compartmentalized environments to house and
display otherwise extinct or exotic flora from various systems in the
galaxy.
Leia arrived with Threepio and her two children in tow just as the rain
began to fall against the transparent ceiling. As Leia stepped through the
door, she held herself defensively, her justifications on the tip of her
tongue. She knew the presence of the twins might cause a stir at a stuffy
diplomatic reception, but she did not care.
Throughout the day Furgan had pushed her around, complaining, demanding,
acting generally rude. Leia had given up all of her time with the twins to
be with the ambassador, and she decided that it was no longer worth the
misery. She might be an important Cabinet member in the New Republic, but
she was also a mother, still trying to adapt to the new demands on her time.
In her quarters while changing clothes for the reception, Leia had felt her
simmering resentment come to a boil. If she was going to be gone all the
tim
e anyway, she might as well have left Jacen and Jaina with Winter!
Besides, Threepio accompanied them, and he was a protocol droid. He could
watch the twins and also help out with the fine points of the reception and
translation if need be.
Since Han had disappeared, she was worried to the point of nausea much of
the time. Luke and Lando had sent no word yet. She needed to have some
stable point in her life. Leia almost hoped someone would challenge her
about bringing the twins, so she could lash out.
When she passed through the door, Furgan's stormtrooper goons stopped her.
The still-helmetless stormtroopers looked uncomfortable at meeting her eye
to eye, but they stood firmly in her path. Behind them an equal number of
New Republic guards stood at attention, watching the stormtroopers.
"What is the problem"--she glanced at the stormtrooper's insignia and
deliberately misread it--"Lieutenant?"
"Captain," he corrected. "We're checking everyone. A precaution against
assassins."
"Assassins?" she said, deciding to be amused rather than upset. "I see."
One of the stormtroopers removed a handheld scanner and played it over
Leia's body, testing for hidden weapons. Leia icily submitted to the scan.
"This is for the ambassador's safety," he said. He looked disapprovingly at
Jacen and Jaina. "We weren't informed there would be children attending."
"Are you afraid one of them is going to murder Ambassador Furgan?" Leia
stared at the man's naked, pale face, scowling until he flinched. "That
doesn't say much for your skills as a bodyguard, does it, Captain?" His
flustered fidgeting was worth any amount of inconvenience he might cause
her, Leia thought.
"Just routine precautions." The captain scanned Jacen and Jaina, showing
visible discomfort at having to do so. When his task was complete, he still
refused to move aside.
Leia crossed her arms over her chest. "Now what?"
"Your droid, Minister," the captain said. "We need to run a complete systems
check. He could have assassin droid programming."
"Me, sir?" Threepio said. "Oh, my! You can't be serious."
Leia rolled her eyes at the mere thought of the prissy protocol droid being
an assassin.
"And how long will this complete systems check take?"
"Not long." The captain took a different scanner that trailed disconnected
leads.
"Mistress Leia, I object!" Threepio's voice carried an edge of panic. "If
you will recall, I have been maliciously reprogrammed in the past! I never
want to trust a strange probe again."
Leia spoke to the droid but let her gaze bore into the stormtrooper
captain's eyes. "Let him do it Threepio. And if your programming is altered
in the slightest, this man will be responsible for a galactic incident that
could well lead to war--a war in which his own home system of Carida would
be the prime target for the combined forces of the New Republic."
"I will be very careful, Minister," the stormtrooper said.
"Indeed, sir, you will!" Threepio insisted.
When they finally managed to get through to the reception area, the rainfall
dwindled to a trickle. People wandered along the tour-paths to observe the
brilliant and bizarre shapes of alien plant life. As the guests stepped
through force-field environmental barriers, the humidity and temperature
changed drastically to provide proper growing conditions for various types
of plants. Tiny placards displayed scientific names written in a dozen
different alphabets.
Holding their mother's hands, Jacen and Jaina stared with amazement at the
people garbed in diplomatic finery, the exotic plants from distant worlds.
In a bright desert scenario at the center of the chamber, a monstrously
large tentacle-cactus served hors d'oeuvres, waving its thick stalks back
and forth and displaying tiny sandwiches, fruit slices, sausages, and
pastries stuck on its long spines. Guests snatched snacks from the spines
whenever the tentacle-cactus waved in their direction.
Stocky Ambassador Furgan seemed the center of attention, but everyone looked
at him from the corners of their eyes rather than speaking to him directly.
Feeling her political obligations, Leia sighed and walked toward him, the
children trotting beside her.
Furgan fixed his gaze on the twins and drained the drink he was holding. She
watched as he held the empty glass to a pump flask at his right hip. Furgan
depressed the button and squirted himself a new drink of honey-greenish
liquid. Of course, she thought, anyone paranoid about poisons would bring
his own supply. He wore an identical flask on his left hip.
"So, Minister Organa Solo, these are the famous Jedi twins? Jacen and Jaina,
I believe you named them? Don't you have a third child as well, named
Anakin?"
Leia blinked, unnerved that Furgan knew so much about her family. "Yes, the
baby is elsewhere--safe and protected." She knew he could not possibly have
uncovered the location of the sheltered planet, but a mother's instinct
magnified her fear.
Furgan patted Jaina on the head. "I hope you protect these two as well. It
would be a shame for such sweet children to become political pawns."
"They are very safe," Leia said, suddenly feeling helpless. Keeping an eye
on the ambassador, she turned the twins around. "You two take Threepio and
go play now."
"It will be a very educational experience for them, Mistress Leia," Threepio
said, bustling the children off to look at the plant exhibits.
Furgan continued his conversation with Leia. "If you want my opinion, it's
too bad the Emperor didn't manage to wipe out all of the Jedi. Incomplete
tasks always end up causing trouble."
"And why are you so afraid of the Jedi Knights?" Leia said. Though she
disliked this line of conversation, she might glean some information from
Furgan.
The ambassador took a long sip from his drink. "My feeling is that with our
sophisticated technology, we should not cringe in fear of sorcery and
bizarre mental powers that belong only to a few random individuals. It seems
elitist. Jedi Knights? They were like strongmen for a weak old government."
Leia took up the debate. "The Emperor whom you revere so much was very
powerful in the Force, as was Darth Vader. How are they so different?"
"The Emperor is entitled to special powers," Furgan said, as if stating the
obvious. "After all, he's the Emperor. And Vader turned out to be a traitor
in the end. As I understand it, he was the one who actually killed the
Emperor. All the more reason to outlaw such powers."
Leia knew he must have seen Luke's widely broadcast speech to the Council.
"Nevertheless, the Jedi have managed to survive, and the entire order of
Jedi Knights will be restored. My brother will see to that. Within a few
years the new Jedi Knights will fill the same role as the old, as protectors
of the Republic."
"Too bad," Furgan said, turning away to seek other conversation, but no one
seemed to want to talk to him.
Threepio lost track of the twins almost immediately, when they decided to
play hide-and-seek among the flora exhibits, crawling under guardrails too
low for Threepio to manage, then chasing each other around areas marked DO
NOT ENTER. When the droid called for them to come back, Jacen and Jaina
developed a selective hearing difficulty and continued to dash away.
He chased them through a grove of mucus trees that dripped yellow pollinated
ooze all over his polished body shell; but at least the slime left a trail
of footprints for him to follow. Threepio wailed in dismay when he saw the
small footprints leading directly into the "Carnivorous Plants" area.
"Oh, my!" he said, imagining bloodthirsty shrubs already digesting pieces of
the small children. Before he could sound an all-out alarm, though, Threepio
heard Jacen's high-pitched giggles, joined by his sister's laughter. Using
directional locators, Threepio bustled back to the center of the exhibit.
Sitting in the middle of the giant tentacle-cactus, the twins played with
the waving fronds, oblivious to the thorns. Somehow they had blithely eased
their way past the dagger-like points and made a pillow out of the central
mass of fine new bristles.
"Master Jacen and Mistress Jaina, come out of there this instant!" Threepio
said in a stern voice. "I must insist!" Instead, Jaina giggled and waved to
him.
In a tizzy Threepio wondered how he could rescue the children from the great
plant without dislodging any of the hors d'oeuvres.
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