2,
She tried not to look back too often, she tried not to look back for too long. But whenever she did so, there was a red-armored stormtrooper following her from a safe distance. She couldn't tell, of course, whether it was truly the same person coming after her, or was, in fact, a larger unit of the Coruscant guard after her. Some moments, she felt so.
As a member of the Imperial Senate, she could not stop or run away. She wished she could just get lost in the crowd below, but if special ops troopers were really tracking her, she knew that would only endanger the civilians without the slightest benefit for her own safety. No, all she could do was to pray and hope she can make it to the ship before the red demon would catch up with her.
The red-armored man suddenly turned to the left, pretending not to be following her at all. She knew better than to feel safer, but she took the nearest stairs to the right, hoping to disappear on a lower level. She quickly activated her wrist radio and told her fellow Chandrilans to prepare for a take-off. She would be along in a minute.
"Is something wrong, Mon?"
"Possibly."
She just ended transmission when she realized the corridor in front of her was blocked by a middle-size transport that just docked moments ago. Several creatures disembarked it, mostly female Twi'leks and Zeltrons. By their enthusiastic chatting, she guessed they arrived to the Ambassadorial Sector to make money as dancer group. Either way, they completely ignored her.
Annoyed by the small delay, she was almost running when her way was finally free again – only to almost collide with the red-armored trooper.
"Senator Mon Mothma?"
"I am."
There were so many people around her, yet so few to even seem to notice. If anything, they were trying to get away from them as fast as possible.
"Senator. Director Armand Isard wanted this parcel to be placed on your spaceship. I would be honored if you would do me the favor, as I need to be present at an Inquisitorius conference just half an hour from now."
With that, he handed a small box over to her. He stood perfectly calm, his face hidden behind red polymer. Of course he would not let her leave without opening the box right there. Clearly, it had either some poison in it, or an explosive. If the latter, she wondered for a second if his armor would protect him as it went, or was he going to die in service of the Empire. Elite troopers were known to be conditioned to extreme loyalty.
"Perhaps it would be better for both of us if..."
"Hurry."
It was an unusually stiff, commanding tone. She had no way out.
Her second guess was true: a detonator was under the lid, flat enough that it would have passed most security scans. Now that it was uncovered and identified by the corridor's automated survelliance system, however, all the alarms went off in one kilometer radius.
So much about leaving in a minute, she wondered. But as she looked around, she found the red-armored troop had already disappeared in the turmoil.
Gone to the Inquisitorius conference, eh?
As much as she was shaken by the realization that Armand Isard wanted her murdered, it was somewhat reassuring to know that there were apt spies everywhere... even where the Director of Imperial Intelligence would expect the least.
