Kitty stared at the figures bathed in the shadows, and quietly crept forward. Halting, she took in a deep breath of the tropical air, and silently drew her vibrodagger. The Jensaarai infiltrator grimly smiled. How to go about this? Do I use Force Light, or do I blindfight them? Heck, the last time I blindfought someone was at the Academy with Adrian; before we were Jensaarai. Blindfighting would be a challenge…blindfighting it is. Hawk checked herself and entered into Jensaarai meditation. Eyes closed, the woman began to breathe deeply; letting a flood of oxygen enter her lungs while simultaneously focusing on the strands of the Force. The strings coalesced into a braid, binding her essence to Force. Lowering her center of gravity by slightly hunching over, the woman assumed the standard posture of the Jensaarai’s Shadow Arts. Her chest rhythmically rose up and down like the tides of an ocean. And from a dead standstill, broke into a near silent sprint. A panicked voice shouted from the shadows. Frak. They’ve seen me.

As she entered the shadows, the woman perceived a blaster rifle slowly aligning itself to fire at her torso. The Jensaarai twisted sharply to the side, minimizing her profile while quickly grasping the barrel of the rifle. She yanked forward, and the Neo-Grissmath assassin stumbled behind it, stubbornly refusing to yield his weapon. Kitty slammed the pommel of the phrik dagger into the approaching man’s skull. He let out a groan of pain, wavered, and crashed into the ground unconscious.

“She got Carson!”

The pseudo redhead’s head swiveled to face the voice. Her free hand surged forward to the man, releasing a semi-blind Force push. The man let out a grunt as he was lightly knocked into the face of a wall. She lunged. With a quick lower snap kick to the man’s knee, the assassin half capsized towards the ground. Forcefully, the woman reached out with her left hand, grabbed the man’s head, and jerked into her right elbow. The man moaned and collapsed to the ground; unconscious like his other comrade. Now where are the others? I can feel them…their fear, their anger. Kitty hesitated. Now is perhaps the time to test my prowess with the Mystery of Ether. She raised her voice.

“I see you. You’re all alone…”

Hawk felt their emotions pique and fluctuate. One of the men became gripped with nervous ness, almost terror. He didn’t move. The other one’s mind rippled with emotions like a brewing storm. Hawk felt out his presence more clearly, and grabbed hold of one of the emotions: anger. This she focused on; the desperation of the vanquished slowly seeped into the man and to his anger. Subtly, Hawk twisted this, until desperate anger dominated the man’s mind. He roared out a challenge, and blindly charged the woman. She felt his impending approach and swung an uppercut. It connected with the man’s jaw. Combined with the momentum of the man’s charge, the assassin dropped and awkwardly skidded on the pavement, letting out a series of moans before slipping into unconsciousness. A timid voice emanated from the darkness.

“Please…please don’t hurt me.”

She nodded out of habit. “Very well, get into the light where I can see you. Once you’re there, put your hands on your head, and sit down. You have my word that I nor anyone else will hurt you.”

The sole surviving assassin wandered out into the light, and for once, the Jensaarai had a clear view of her opponents. He looked from side to side and dropped a rifle to clatter on the street. Slowly, the man knelt to the ground, resting his hands on his head. His head turned back to the shadows.

“That’s fine,” reported the woman, “stay like that. No sudden movements though, I’m coming out of the darkness now…you have nothing…well…nothing from me to worry about.”

“What will happen to me?”

Kitty emerged from the shadows and sheathed her weapon.

“Imprisonment by the capitol police for attempted assassination. You’ll have a trial most likely, and be given a sentence. And that could range from a decade or so in prison, maybe even less than that, to a full life term.”

“Less…less than that?”

She nodded. “You had intent, but I will write an amendum stating that you were clearly the most reasonable one to stop so far this night. That and good behavior could get you out in time.”

“No death sentence?”

She barked an amused laugh. “The Confederation does not believe in the death sentence except for rather extreme cases, which after tonight, your’s won’t be. If we did, we could be killing an innocent man. And that is by far a greater evil than keeping an guilty person locked up in jail.”

Couples twirled in pairs across the ball room, in nearly complete harmony with the Alderaanian music. Rapture swept over the dancers; whether they were husbands and wives, or rising Confederate debutantes and solemn Durren councilors. As the vestiges of the last reel faded underneath the storm of talking, the dancers parted off the floor. The Rear-Admiral guided Christina to a refreshment table set up near the edges of the room. He flashed an uncharacteristically brazen smile at the woman.

“I have to say, it’s been quite a while since I’ve danced like that.”

Thorn snatched a glass of punch from the table and politely smiled. “I bet. When was the last time you danced?”

“That is a good question,” noted the officer, “I cannot for the life of me remember. The last one I can remember was before I entered the Kashan Defence Academy.”

“A decade ago at the very best?” said Thorn, wryly smiling, “I could tell that you hadn’t danced in a while, but I would have maybe guessed it was a year or two at most. How can a person like you not have time or occasion to dance? You have been on diplomatic ventures since then.”

Corise frowned, leaning against the table, “Twofold. One not having a dance partner. Two, not having an occasion to dance. Sure, I attend these diplomatic functions from time to time, but definitely not long enough to partake in any of its revelry. And if I did, I would always have to worry that the woman would be interested in me for other reasons.”

“Wealth and money?” questioned the Pro-Consul.

The Kashan man silently nodded slowly. “Look ourselves. We have things that most people dream of. Power and wealth, and yet they do not bring me happiness. What is the point in devoting one’s life to such ends if you cannot even enjoy life’s simplest pleasures because of it?”

Christina took a sip of her punch. “I have myself questions like that. Whenever I wonder what it would be like to be with someone. But then I realize that becoming a public figure means giving yourself up for the greater good. I may not be happy in life, but my actions will make the lives of others better. We may not have happiness, but we are given wealth, honour, and power in return.”

He snorted in derision. “Hardly a fair trade.”

“I imagine it was worse for the Jedi, or even for our own these days,” replied the woman, “I think that Adrian gets neither fame nor fortune for what he does. And yet he seems to do it with some devotion.”

“If optimism and compassion did not inhabit youth, the galaxy would cease to exist,” replied the officer, “I myself think he will share in our predicament when he gets older.”

“Perhaps,” mused the woman, “speaking of the Jensaarai, how are they doing? Along with CSIS, I mean, for their operation?”

“Well,” replied the man, grasping a cup of the punch, “considering that no-one has been killed or harmed yet.”

“That we know off.”

The younger Lucerne nodded in agreement. “We could ask Ravenna. From what I understand, he has been communicating, mentally, with Hawk during this operation.”

She nodded. As the air of an Alderaanian waltz began to float across the room, the couple quietly slid across the room to the ersatz blonde man. Adrian stiffly nodded and started to bow. Christina rested a hand on his shoulder and shook her head. Confusion rippled across the Jensaarai’s face.

“It isn’t necessary,” explained the woman, “much though we appreciate your show of respect. I must admit, that I’m rather worried about our outside situation.”

Ravenna sagely nodded. “I am as well, though probably for not the same reasons you are. You can relax though; Kitty herself has gotten at least two dozen of them and their leader, Calfan, and other CSIS teams have been doing fairly well. I’d guess that eighty percent of them have been captured. No-one has penetrated into the hall itself, or if they have, they’re exceptionally good at hiding their thoughts or feelings.”

Corise leaned his head back. “Is this the first time Hawk has done something like this alone?”

Adrian hesitated. “Yeah, as far as I know. She’s doing well…but still…if she screws up, no-one will be there really to take of her.”

Christina frowned. “She’s operating solo?”

“An interesting decision,” considered Lucerne, “it poses more risks to her life, but it also ensures the secrecy of the Order.”

“I think she actually wants to prove herself,” added Adrian, “which worries me more-Ambassador sir.”

The Kashan couple spun about to face a graying man dressed in an elaborately embroidered suit. A stylized brass badge pinned just above his heart identified him as part of the Royal retinue. Corise respectfully saluted the man, who bowed in turn.

“Advisor Kaal,” fumbled the woman, “it’s a pleasure to see you again.”

Traest nodded. “I hope it will be a pleasure to see you too. Tell me, what news of the assassins?”

“Sir,” replied the Rear-Admiral, “we have roughly eighty in custody, including Calfan himself. The others are being pursued now by our security and intelligence service. Our sensors show that no-one has managed to penetrate into the grounds.”

Kaal slightly rocked back and forth on his heels. “Sensors can be fooled.”

The younger Lucerne nodded. “They can, but with our thermal, sonic, and cameras have not detected anything out of the ordinary. That says that they either have not entered the grounds, or that they have an extremely advanced stealth suit. In which case, we should have been attacked already.”

Traest cocked his head to the side. “You realize that this means that we will request an extradition of those men for attempted murder.”

“Extradition?” mused the Pro-Consul, “The Council just signed a treaty bringing in both Durren and Strennen into the Confederation about an hour ago. It will be an internal affair…”

“What?”

“The Head Councilor was worried about possibly being assassinated before he could complete the Council’s mission. So instead of signing the treaty tomorrow as planned. He and the other councilors signed it tonight; hence an assassination wouldn’t foil their mission. In any case, the treaty’s signing will be announced tomorrow afternoon to the public. So as of right now, both you and the assassins have been Confederation citizens for an hour now. I realize that you are concerned about the Prince, and desire justice on those that would threaten him. And they will mostly likely be tried in your system with federal advisors. But there is a chance that they will be tried here, since this is the only place we know where they violated laws.”

Kaal rolled his head to the other side. “The assassins need to be made an example of on Durren, in order to prevent any more attempts on the Prince’s life. And they need to be interrogated.”

“That’s already being done,” announced Adrian quietly, “and I know that Swenson is on his way to visit their leader on Strennen. Some of the assassin’s apparently knew tooo much.”

“Who is Swenson?” questioned Kaal.

“An elite intelligence operative,” explained Lucerne, “he only reports to me and a few others. You can rest assured, the ring leader is as good as captured if Swenson is on his tail.”