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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 forcefield 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