Nothing But Dust
By Kamiana Weyrwoman
Gone.
The chamber was in uproar and panic. Delegates ran in any and all
directions, frantically, and futilely, trying to avoid the fate that had
befallen one of their number just mere moments before.
The burst of light arcing from one of the observation galleries. That was
all the warning they had gotten. Why hadn't she sensed it? Why hadn't she
known?
Maybe he could delude himself that she had died painlessly, but he knew
that wasn't the case. Not if the blood-freezing scream that had ripped
through the air after the shot hit her had been any indication. Not if
the
expression of horror and pain on her face as her body disintegrated atom
by
atom was any indication.
He wanted to die. He couldn't live without her. Caught up in sudden
movement of delegates desperate to escape from what had been a peaceful
conference until minutes ago, he couldn't return to where she'd been
standing. The last place where she'd been standing.
There was nothing left of her. Nothing but dust.
Han Solo barely managed to let out a half-choked sob before the tide of
delegates swept him away.
New Republic News Article (abridged):
In the early hours of the morning, Coruscant time, yesterday, at the
Jenuaay Trade Conference, President Leia Organa Solo was assassinated.
The
conference, taking place on the planet of Mwezi, was to negotiate an
agreement which would supply the New Republic with small fighter craft,
manufactured on the planet's second moon.
The assassin has not yet been found by New Republic armed forces, however,
a spokesman has said that the investigators will not cease until they have
caught the individual, or individuals responsible.
The sympathies of the New Republic people go out to all her family.