Vision of the future

'Everyone stay sharp,' Karrde's calmer voice said. 'We caught them by surprise this time. They know what to expect now.'

Shada nodded silent agreement, taking a quick look at her tactical display. The four remaining Corsairs had pulled back, pacing the Wild Karrde but clearly not overly anxious to engage it again. Karrde, meanwhile, had the freighter burning hard through space toward the distant gas giant around which the Kathol Republic's capital world of Dayark revolved. 'My guess is that they'll try their ion cannon next,' she said. 'Can we handle that?'

'Easily,' Karrde assured her. 'Certainly ion cannon that small. Here they come.' Breaking into pairs, the four Corsairs shot over and under the Wild Karrde, blasting away at full power with their ion cannon. Shada fired off a quick burst, catching one of them glancingly across the top quarter before both ships disappeared behind the Wild Karrde's bulk. 'Spotter?' she called.

'You took out his ion cannon,' Chal confirmed. 'Balig, you've knocked out his rear deflector—'

[They attack again,] H'sishi's snarl cut him off. Shada glanced at the tactical and swung her turbolaser around toward where the nearest Corsair should appear...

The attacker swung around the Wild Karrde's hull, its lasers blazing uselessly away at the freighter's thick armor. Shada and Balig fired back, the twin turbolaser blasts catching him squarely across the bow and shattering him in a brilliant flash of light—

And with a deafening thunderclap something slammed straight through Shada's transparisteel bubble.

'I'm hit!' Shada gasped, fighting against the sudden tearing pain in her right chest and shoulder. All around her a cold wind whistled as the air rushed through the shattered bubble. Her right hand was useless; with her left hand she dug at her restraints, wondering distantly if she would be able to get loose and out of the bay before the vacuum took her. Perhaps now, at last, it was all finally over... The wind was starting to diminish by the time she got the top restraint off. A bad sign. She shifted her hand to the lower strap, her vision starting to waver...

And with a second thud, more felt than really heard, the bubble and stars vanished into a plate of gray metal.

She blinked; but even as her oxygen-starved brain tried to figure it out, there was an ear-popping rush of air into the bay, and suddenly strange hands were snapping off the last of her restraints.

'We've got her!' a voice shouted uncomfortably loud in her ear. 'But she's been hit. Get Annowiskri down here, fast.'

'Already here,' a second voice came in from Shada's other side. There was a tingle of something in her arm...

She came to slowly, or at least slowly for a Mistryl. For a moment she remained lying quietly, her eyes closed, as she assessed the situation and her own physical condition. Her right chest and arm felt vaguely numb, and her scalp itched like it always did after a session in a bacta tank, but aside from that she felt reasonably fine. From the soft sound of breathing she could tell she wasn't alone; from the lack of background engine or machinery sounds it seemed the Wild Karrde had made it through to Dayark.

So it wasn't the end yet, and life remained before her. A pity. Taking a deep but quiet breath, she opened her eyes.

She was lying on one of the three beds in the Wild Karrde's medical bay. Seated across the room, staring meditatively off into space, was Karrde. 'I take it we won?' Shada asked. Karrde jerked slightly, his gaze coming back to her. 'Yes, we won quite handily,' he said. 'How are you feeling?'

'Not too bad,' she said, moving her right arm experimentally. Aside from some stiffness and the numbness she'd already noted, it didn't seem too bad, at least as long as she didn't try to move it too far in any direction. 'Arm needs a little more work.'

'Yes, Annowiskri tells me you'll need at least one more session in the bacta tank,' Karrde said. 'I had you pulled out so that you could accompany me on a short walk outside the ship. If you're interested, that is.'

'Of course I'm interested,' Shada said. 'Where on Dayark are we?'

'The main spaceport of the capital city Rytal Prime,' Karrde said. 'We put down about two hours ago.'

Shada frowned. 'And you're just going out now? I thought we were in a hurry.'

'We are,' Karrde said. 'But we had to play host first to a small group of inspectors. They spent over an hour going through the ship with the proverbial flat-edge sifter. Ostensibly searching for contraband.'

'I hope you watched them closely.'

'Very closely,' Karrde assured her. 'At any rate, they've gone now, and Pormfil and Odonnl are making arrangements to get the ship repaired. In the meantime, the Kathol Republic military commander would like to have a word with us.'