Blaster bolts ring out from several people in the crowd. Oh, no, secret killers again?
Leia uses the Force to push Mon Mothma behind her, out of the lines of fire. She then ignites her blue training saber, then uses the Force to jam the blasters, one at a time, then pulls them to her hand, while deflecting the blaster bolts that were shot by the assassins. Anakin and Luke deal with one of the blaster wielding assassins, to make it easier on Leia.
The assassin who Luke and Anakin are dealing with yells in anger, "Long live the Empire!", then turns his blaster on himself, which spews bits of him everywhere.
After the assassins are dealt with, Leia sends a message to Luke via the Force. We are going to need to talk about a plan for dealing with this sort of problem later. I'm still hosting the party at the Alderaanian Embassy, as it's just Senators and high level aides, and some family members, with no press passes or member of the public passes, like this one has.
Luke sends back, Sounds good to me.
Leia sends back, The force isn't giving me any danger signs, so I think it's safer. Luke quickly uses the Force to query Anakin and Ahsoka. Their reply is that it's safe.
Luke sends back, Everyone thinks it's safe, my sister.
Leia gracefully walks over to Mon Mothma, who ended up tripping on a speaker box system when she was pushed back to get her out of the danger zone of Leia's lightsaber, and after using the Force to help her up says, "Sorry about that. Had to get you out of the way of my lightsaber."
Mon Mothma reassures Leia, "It's okay. I'm fine. I really don't want to get in the way of your glowing blue blade of death, even though you only carry a training saber."
"Oh, good! That makes my job a lot easier. I think it's safe now." Mon and Leia walk together, back to the podium.
Leia whispers to Mon, "I used to like the whole 'highest level Alliance personnel dances with highest level Imperial defector' policy that we did to help show the galaxy that we were trying to help reunite it, as a gesture towards reunification. Now, giving who defected, and that you aren't attending all the parties, I'm not a fan of it anymore. I used it to try to set you up with Madine, although that never worked. But at least you'll be stuck dancing with him sometimes."
Mon whispers back, "I know you were trying to set me up with Madine, you know. I understand your issues with the policy."
Mon gives Leia a second medal. This golden medal has three crowns on it, with several symbols on it. The scroll on it represents law and her bills dedicated to supporting a free galaxy, the wheat stalk represents her diplomatic aid, and the crown represents her leadership. Leia pins this one herself on her dress and smiles.
Leia gives her acceptance speech, and Mon and Leia stick around on stage, as Mon reads the next few awards.
"Sorry for the disruption of the assassins. Our Jedi politician here says it should be safe. Note to Senators: should is not a certainty that it will be safe, so please do still be next, and last award of the night is for best performance from a first year Senator. This one goes to Winter Organa, for her work on the Loyalist Committee, and her skill in the Senate. Winter was an Intel Agent for Alderaanian Intelligence, as well as at many major battles. She was also Leia's lead aide in the Imperial Senate, which made it easier for her to spy for Alderaanian Intelligence." Winter walks up, her white hair in a crown braid, and wearing a emerald tiara with a green dress. The sisters hug, then Leia puts the medal around her sister's neck.
Leia whispers into her sister's ear, "Winter, did you hear the news from Mon!"
Winter replies, "Yes, I'm so happy about the news."
Leia whispers back, "Me too!"
"Now that we have all the awards done, it's time for the dances. Remember: the first and second dances are the medal recipients and whoever they want to dance with. The first dance is traditionally a figure of the opposite gender, who is important in the Senator's life or, in very occasional cases, former Senators. Some senators do it with their spouses, others will pick someone else, like a family member. It's a big honor to be chosen, so please behave yourselves. The second dance is traditionally with their Senate mentor. The third dance is all the Senators at the ball with medals with whoever they want to dance with. Then, on dance four, is when everyone can dance."
Leia sends a message through the Force to Ahsoka, saying, I can't dance with Luke or Han, as they don't know how to do the traditional waltz number, and I would have to announce my engagement to Han, if I danced with Han, and if I danced with Luke, I'd have to explain why me and Luke broke up, as well as that we aren't dating anymore. General Rieekan isn't at the ball, so I can't dance with him… Chewbacca, well it just wouldn't work, you know, and Tycho is Winter's boyfriend, and stealing him for a dance… It just wouldn't work for this…
Ahsoka replies, Skyguy knows how to dance the waltz. We needed to learn on this one undercover mission. It was a complete failure, as Skyguy can't be subtle enough, just like it was obvious to me that he was dating Senator Amidala.
Leia sends back, So, I guess I'm stuck dancing with Anakin. Let's hope this goes well. May the Force be with us…
She discreetly uses her comlink to call Han, explaining why she's not dancing with him this dance and is instead dancing with her biological father, who happened to wreck the galaxy under orders from Emperor Palpatine. He understands and approves, as it gets the Imperial defector farther away from him, and makes him avoid be stuck dancing, which he can't do very well.
Anakin walks over to Leia, and says, "I'm so proud of you. You did great tonight. Thanks for letting me dance with you, my daughter." The golden lighting system, hidden in between dark, smooth wooden panels, spotlights each medal recipient in turn. When it spotlights Leia and Anakin, they do their best to make their dancing even better then it had been, which is still pretty good.
Leia says, with a hint of a smile on her beautiful face, "You're welcome. It was a much better alternative then explaining why Luke and I stopped dating right after Endor." The music starts, and all the Senators that had just gotten medals starts dancing. Leia uses the Force to remind Anakin what to do next. As the song ends, after a few minutes, Anakin walks off to the bar, to get a free drink. Mon Mothma walks over and dances with Leia.
Mon says quietly, "Leia. You've become a better Senator then I thought you could be, when I first met you, all those years ago… Remember that day, when you came up and asked me for candy, then tried to make me get you candy as crown princess of Alderaan? You were pretty little, so it's okay if you don't remember."
Leia says, "Yep, I still remember." Mon saw Leia do something that she hadn't seen much of since the mission to Scarif. Ever since that mission, Leia didn't smile much, as it was hard for her to be happy, as she saw her home world of Alderaan blown up by an Imperial super weapon. For the Alderaanian people in charge of making the 'God Save the Queen' music video recently, they mostly used old footage from before Alderaan's destruction, as it was much easier to get an image of Leia smiling. Leia was smiling again, at last.
For the next dance, Leia dances gracefully with Padme. As the songs ends, Leia sees Han walking back from the desert table, and she walks over to him.
Han says, "Honey, the deserts are really good. Here's one." He hands Leia a cookie. Leia quickly eats the cookie, then kisses Han.
"Thanks. What area of the desert table are they at?" The two hug.
"By the big kriffing cake with the blue glowing frosting. I know you aren't the biggest fan of glowing blue frosting, my dear, so I grabbed you a chocolate cookie. Leia, I saw the assassins trying to kill you. You need better security then what you currently have. Is it safe for me and Chewie to come?"
"I'll have to see, considering who just defected today. The party at the Embassy, likely yes, but it's formal, so if you don't want to, that's fine. The Jedi Temple, no. I don't think it's safe enough for you to be around him." Leia knew that Han would know what him she meant.
"I don't want to deal with him if I can help it, either, my darling." The two discreetly kiss.
Anakin walks over to where he can see Borsk, now that Anakin has finished his drink, and uses the Force to hold his drink down. The annoying Bothan is confused about why he can't pick up his drink. Anakin slips a photo of him with a small holocam, and sends it to Leia.
Leia replies, This is great. Good work!
Anakin replies, Thanks!
Anakin then messages Ahsoka with the Force saying, Snips, we will not need you to mess with Borsk's drink. I did it already.
Ahsoka sends back along their bond, Thanks Skyguy!
Author's Note: I'm trying to wrap up this party plotline, but we may not have new updates for a while. I have through Chapter 10 written and want to write some more chapter first. Thanks to all of my readers, and please review.