“I suppose that depends on whether any of them still remembers who we are,” Shada said, a deep sense of sadness flowing into her. A sadness that felt as if it had been collecting around her heart for a long, long time. “The Mistryl that I joined twenty-two years ago was an honorable clan of warriors fighting to preserve what was left of our people. Honorable warriors don’t knowingly deal in murder. I would hope at least some of the Eleven remember that.”
“Maybe the Eleven have changed.” Karoly looked away across the dark rooftops of the city. “Maybe the Mistryl have changed.”
“Maybe they have,” Shada said. “But I haven’t.” She studied her friend. “But then, neither have you.”
Karoly looked back at her. “Really. I’d like to know what I said to give you that impression.”
“It’s not what you said,” Shada told her. “It’s what you did. After I kicked your blaster away, when you pulled that knife on me.”
“Pulling a knife convinced you I was on your side?”
“Yes,” Shada said. “You still have my blaster.” Karoly put her hand to her side. “Yes, I suppose I do. I imagine you want it back.”
Shada shrugged. “It might be harder to explain what happened here if you still have it when you get back to Emberlene.”
“Point,” Karoly conceded. She flicked her wrist, and the blaster sailed in a flat arc to drop neatly into Shada’s waiting hand. “Speaking of Emberlene, I’d stay away from there if I were you. For that matter, I’d stay away from any other Mistryl, period. For the next ten years, if you can manage it.”
“I won’t need to hide that long,” Shada said, sliding the blaster back into its holster. “Looks like the galaxy is coming to a boil again over this Caamas thing. The Eleven will soon have more important things than me to think about.”
Karoly spat something. “Caamas. Caamas, and Alderaan, and even that mudwater Noghri planet Honoghr. It almost makes me laugh sometimes when I think about which worlds get cried over.”
“Being bitter about it won’t help,” Shada said.
“So what will?” Karoly retorted. “At least being bitter proves you’re not dead yet.”
“Perhaps,” Shada said. “If that’s what you’re willing to settle for.”
“I suppose you’ve found something better?”
“I don’t know,” Shada said. “There has to be something, though.” She pointed to a small rectangular shedlike structure on the far side of the skylight “That the exit over there?”
“One of them,” Karoly said. “If you don’t mind taking a chance on running into the Kubaz and his pals on the way down.”
Shada smiled tightly. “They’ll make room for me.”
Almost unwillingly, Karoly smiled back. “I’m sure they will.” The smile faded. “But understand this, Shada. Whatever I did here, I did it for-well, the reasons are complicated. But if the Eleven send me after you …”
“I understand,” Shada nodded. “I’ll try not to put you in this position again.”
“Never mind me,” Karoly said. “You just be careful of you.” She cocked her head slightly. “You have any idea what you’re going to do?”
Shada looked up at the stars. “As a matter of fact,” she said quietly, “I do.”
***
“Hold still, please, sir,” the Emdee droid said in its deep voice, its mechanical fingers wielding the probe with microscopic precision as he lined it up. “I expect this to be the final pass.”
“Good,” Luke said, taking a deep breath and cultivating his patience. He’d been sitting here for nearly half an hour now, but it was almost over.
The droid eased the probe into Luke’s right ear, with a sensation that oscillated between an itch and a tickle. Luke braced himself; and then, with a loud slurping sound it was over.
“Thank you, sir,” the Emdee said, lowering the probe into the reclamation container beside him and discharging a final few drops of bacta into it. “I again apologize for the time and inconvenience this has caused you.”
“That’s all right,” Luke assured him, sliding off the table and rubbing the last vestige of the itch/tickle away with a fingertip. “I know it’s easy to say there’ll never be another bacta shortage like the one during the war. It’s not always so easy to believe it.”
“I was with this facility during that time,” the Emdee said gravely. “We could not afford to buy the black market bacta, even if it had been available to us. I saw many die who could have been saved.”