Part 37 (2/2)

-followed by a tall, slender woman dressed in a dark gray combat jumpsuit.

”Don't bother,” the woman said quietly. ”I'm here.”

CHAPTER 22.

Their reactions, as reactions went, were quick and efficient. At the same time, Shada had to admit, they were oddly comic to watch.

The shock of the unexpected voice behind him sent Calrissian jumping half a meter into the air, his gunhand getting momentarily tangled in his cloak before he could haul his blaster free. The Noghri's blaster, unsurprisingly, was already out and trained on her, with Solo's not very far behind. Karrde didn't jump nearly as far as Calrissian bad; but instead of going for a weapon himself, he merely took a long step to the side to give Solo and the Noghri a clear field of fire. A smart move, but no more th an Shada would have expected from someone of his reputation.

Councilor Organa Solo, in contrast to the others, didn't move at all.

Shada didn't move, either, She stood where she was, hands hanging empty at her sides, wondering distantly if the vaunted and probably overrated Noghri combat reflexes would make it more or less likely the guard would overreact to her unexpected appearance by gunning her down.

She almost hoped he would. In many ways, it would be the simplest way to end things.

But the Noghri didn't fire. Neither did Solo nor Calrissian; and with a vague sort of half regret Shada knew she wasn't going to get to go out the easy way.

It was Organa Solo who broke the brittle silence. ”Who are you?” she asked, her voice as serene as her face.

”My name is Shada D'ukal,” Shada said. ”I'm not here to hurt any of you.”

Organa Solo nodded. ”I know.”

Solo threw her a quick sideways glance. ”You do?”

”My danger sense would have reacted otherwise,” Organa Solo told him. ”Long before she arrived in this room.”

”What did you do to the guard on the roof?” the Noghri snarled.

”I taught him not to be carelessly compa.s.sionate,” Shada said. ”He's not hurt, except possibly his pride.”

There was a quiet mewing of alien language from a comlink attached to the Noghri's collar.

”Gharakh?” Organa Solo murmured.

”He is unhurt,” the Noghri said. His blaster was still aimed at Shada, but his eyes seemed fractionally less baleful. ”They are freeing him from his restraints.”

There was a whisper of movement from the corridor behind Shada. She started to turn her head&mdash ”Stand where you are,” a Noghri voice ordered from behind her. ”Lift your arms.”

Shada did as instructed, holding her arms out to the sides as alien hands flitted across her body, wondering where this other group had been hiding. To have sneaked up behind her in what bad seemed to be a dead-end corridor&mdash She smiled to herself. Of course: they'd come from the roof, following her route down the safety line and in through the bedroom window.

And they'd done so with a speed and efficiency that rivaled the best the Mistryl could have offered. Perhaps the Noghri weren't as overrated as she'd thought.

A minute later the probing hands were gone, taking her hip pack and climbing harness with them. ”Sit down,” the Noghri standing next to Organa Solo ordered, gesturing toward one of the chairs in the conversation circle. ”Keep your hands where they can be seen.”

”Don't you trust your searchers?” Shada asked, sitting down in the indicated chair. ”Or your mistress, for that matter? Councilor Organa Solo already told you I wasn't here to hurt anyone.”

The Noghri's eyes seemed to blaze. ”Why are you here?” Organa Solo asked calmly before the alien could speak.

”I wanted to talk to you,” Shada told her, settling her forearms along the chair's armrests. ”This was the only way I could do it.”

She'd expected an outraged denial, or at the very least a snort of derision. But the other woman merely lifted her eyebrows slightly.

Solo was less of a disappointment. ”What's that supposed to mean?” he demanded. His blaster, Shada noted, was in his lap, no longer pointed directly at her. But he still had a grip on it.

”It means that unless you're someone with power or money, the corridors of the high and mighty are closed to you,” Shada told him, not particularly caring whether she sounded bitter or not. ”I've been trying to call for the past three days, and no one would put me through. So much for the great and wonderful New Republic, friend of all the common people.”

”So what, you never heard of leaving a message?” Solo growled.

”A message that said what?” Shada countered. ”That a n.o.body with no credentials or status wanted to talk to a great and glorious High Councilor? It would have been tossed out with the next clearing wipe.”

”You're talking with me now,” Organa Solo said mildly. ”What is it you want to say?”

Shada focused on her, the carefully rehea.r.s.ed words seeming to stick in her throat Words that would slice through her last ties to the Mistryl, and her people, and her life. ”I want to join you,” she said, her voice sounding hollow and distant in her ears. ”I want to join the New Republic.”

For a painfully long moment the only sound in the room was the thudding of her own heart in her throat. It was, predictably, Solo who broke the silence. ”You what?” he asked.

”I want to join the New Republic,” Shada repeated. The second time wasn't any easier than the first. ”I have a number of abilities you'll find useful: combat and surveillance, escort and security-”

”Why are you asking us about this?” Solo interrupted, sounding bewildered. ”The New Republic has recruitment centers all over Coruscant.”

”I don't think you fully appreciate the situation here, Solo,” Karrde spoke up before Shada could reply. ”Shada hasn't just walked in off the street-or rather, dangled in off the roof. She's chief bodyguard for our smuggler friend Mazzic.”

A ripple of surprise ran across the others' faces. ”Former bodyguard,” Shada corrected. ”I resigned three weeks ago.”

Karrde c.o.c.ked an eyebrow. ”Your idea?”

Shada felt her throat tighten. ”Not entirely.”

”I don't see what difference it makes where she came from,” Solo persisted. We're still none of us in the business of hiring.”

”Han's right, Shada,” Organa Solo said, her eyes studying Shada's face with an uncomfortable intensity. Had those Jedi techniques pulled the secret Mistryl connection from her mind? ”There's really nothing we can do for you.”

”I'm not asking for charity,” Shada bit out. ”Frankly, you need me more than I need you.

Especially with Thrawn on the loose again-”

”What do you know about Thrawn?” Solo asked sharply.

”I was in the back room just now,” Shada said. She glanced over at Karrde, caught the sudden tightening of his expression. ”Calrissian implied be was back.”

She looked back at Organa Solo. ”I also know about the Caamas Doc.u.ment,” she told the other woman. ”And I know that the only way you're going to get out of the mess you're in is to get hold of an intact copy of it.”

<script>