It was already late into the evening when Amelia finally arrived back at the Palace. Too tired after the long walk to actually do anything, she changed into her nightgown and decided that for once, she was going to have an early night. She'd go to the Queen and explain her absence in the morning.

However, it seemed like as soon as she'd laid her head on the pillow and drifted off to sleep, she was woken again, by something. Grumbling and muttering curses under her breath, she sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, then looked about to see what had woken her. At first, she couldn't find anything. But then she realised.

An alarm was sounding from somewhere, people were shouting and running past her door, and it sounded like a real panic had set in!

"What on earth?!" she gasped, jumping from the bed and grabbing her nightgown and hold-out blaster. Quickly pulling on the gown, she ran to the door, blaster in hand, and peered out.

A Palace guard was running past, and she called out to him.

"What's going on?"

"There's been a break in! Security breach!" he called back, skidding to a halt on the slippery floor.

"Is the Queen alright? Has anyone checked on her?" Amelia gasped as she closed her door behind her, and fell into step beside the guard.

"No, miss...not yet. I was just on my way to do so..."

"Idiot!" she cried angrily. "That should have been the first thing you did! What if she's been killed?! Or worse?!"

Breaking away from him, she sprinted down the long corridors until she came to the Queen's room, where she rung the door chime.

"My lady...it's me! Amelia!"

After several agonisingly long seconds, the door was opened to reveal the Queen, wearing her own decorated nightgown and looking petrified. She quickly let Amelia in, before closing and locking the door. Amelia ran to the balcony of the room and checked the entire area for any signs of trouble. Then she shut and locked those doors too, before turning back to the Queen.

"I heard the alarm, Verle. Are you alright?" she asked softly, although her heart was still pounding in her chest from the mad dash through the Palace.

"Yes...I'm fine," The Queen nodded after a moment. "I'm so glad you are here though...I kept thinking I could hear things outside...seeing things in the shadows. It's the Darkells...I know it is. It has to be. They've finally summoned up the courage to make a move against me."

"You can't know that for sure," Amelia replied. But even as she said it, she found herself glancing towards the balcony again. She was sure she'd seen a figure standing out there. The Queen must have seen it too, because she suddenly tensed. Stepping forwards and trying to act bolder than she felt, she walked out onto the balcony, pistol raised - ready.

And found herself staring down the barrel of a second pistol. A momentary flicker of panic crossed her face before she realised who the owner of the blaster was and let out a sigh of relief.

"My god, you scared me," she exclaimed as her security guard friend Ruune stepped from the shadows. "What are you doing here?"
"Same as you, I presume," Ruune replied as he walked back inside with her. "I was checking on Her Majesty." With that, he bowed to the Queen. "The palace is secure, My Lady...no sign of the intruders. Whoever it was, they're long gone."

"Thank you Captain," the Queen replied, sounding relieved. "Secure the Palace, and do not let anyone in or out, without triple checking who they are, first."

"Yes, My Lady," Ruune bowed his head to her, then left the room, pulling out his comm-link as he did so. Once the door was closed, the Queen turned back to Amelia.

"It's not safe here. Whoever it was could try again at any time. And the next time, they might just succeed. This isn't the first time the Palace has been broken into, after all. I'm just glad no-one was killed this time. But we can't stay here. I'll get in contact with Senator Naberrie and see what she would advise, although I'm suspecting an official leave of absence will be necessary whilst an enquiry is carried out. How do you fancy another trip to Coruscant?"

"When do we leave?" Amelia grinned, pulling her robes a little tighter about herself, and tucking her blaster away in a pocket.
......................
Less than a few hours later, the Queen's Royal Starship took off from the hangars, heading for Coruscant once more...but this time it was not the Queen sitting in the Throne of the ship - it was Amelia...finally living up to her role as decoy.

The real Queen was in a second, smaller ship that followed not far behind, but not close enough to look like it was anything to do with the Royal Starship. It had been Amelia's idea to play the decoy, because as she'd reminded the Queen - the Darkells wouldn't settle with just raiding the Palace every now and then. If they were serious, they'd take every given opportunity.

And an attack out in deep space where there would be no witnesses was always a possibility.