Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance by Sean Williams Page B

about you?
The Annexation, I mean. "

    "I
was there, although I don't remember it clearly. I was too young. My
parents slipped me into a shuttle and got me offworld before the
worst of it hit. The shuttle took me to Abregado-rae, where a host
family adopted me. They had taken on a lot of kids after the Treaty
of Coruscant, but there was always space for another. It was a
madhouse. "

    "What
happened to your parents?"

    "They
died in prison on Kiffex. "

    "I'm
sorry, " he said.

    "Don't
be. It's just more ancient history. What about yours?"

    "Dead,
too-from a vacuum seal accident on a Fresian shuttle, though, nothing
to do with the Annexation. "

    They
walked in silence for a while again, he looking fixedly ahead and she
down at her booted feet. She felt the usual mixture of relief and
sorrow whenever the matter of her parents' sacrifice came up. She
hadn't known it at the time, but she had worked out later how much
her narrow escape had cost them. With Imperial warships crowding
their home planet, they must have bribed an Imperial gunner to
overlook an escaping shuttle, plus the shuttle pilot and who knew how
many spaceport guards? They had given up everything, just to save
her.

    And
how had she repaid them?

    "I
have to go to Hutta, " he finally said.

    "Why?"

    "One
of the cartels has discovered something. I need to find out what it
is. "

    "Is
this connected to that Mandalorian?"

    "Seems
so. But he's off Coruscant now and won't be bothering you again. "

    "Are
you sure he won't come back?"

    "As
sure as I can be. "

    "Well,
that's something, " she said with more satisfaction than she
actually felt. Now that she had accomplished everything she'd set out
to do that day, she could reasonably retreat to her sanctuary in the
old districts and go back to doing what she did best. The trouble
was, she wasn't quite ready to cast free of Shigar Konshi. He
reminded her of what it was like to be given a new mission:
objectives, resources, constraints, deadlines. She missed the days
when everything was sharply defined and unambiguous.

    "Ever
been to Hutta before?" she asked him.

    "No.
Not the surface. "

    "It's
vile and dangerous. I was there on a covert op two years ago. Very
nearly didn't get out again. "

    "You've
done covert work?"

    "More
than I care to think about. " She hadn't told him about special
forces and the Blackstars. As far as Shigar knew, she was just an
ordinary trooper, taking a temporary break from duty.

    "What
about slicing?" he asked her, visibly picking up. "Do they
teach you that kind of thing, too?"

    "The
basics. I learned a whole lot more from a girl called Kixi when I
arrived here. Now I could do it in my sleep. "

    "And
you're familiar with some of the rougher gangs that run around the
underworld. You'd even pass for one of them, with a bit of a wash. "

    "Hey,
watch it. " She threw a punch at his shoulder, which he dodged
with surprising ease.

    He
stopped walking, not joking around at all, and they stood facing each
other.

    "You
could come with me, " he said, as though the idea had just
occurred to him. "To Hutta, I mean. "

    "I
thought you'd never ask, " she said.

    He
didn't laugh. "I'm serious. You just implied I'd need a guide
there, and I could certainly use the help. It's a big job. "

    "Will
you tell me what we'd be looking for? I don't like being left in the
dark, ever. "

    "I
don't know what it is myself. Not yet. I know as little about it as
you do. "

    "Well...
" She pretended to think about it, although she'd worked out her
answer while he had been asking about her covert ops qualifications,
just like he had been wanting to ask her ever since he finished
talking with his Master. That was what he'd had trouble spitting out
this whole time. She could see it perfectly now. He didn't want to
ask her outright for fear of putting her on the defensive. And maybe
he imagined that she didn't want to ask him for fear of looking
desperate. This way, it looked like they were coming up with the