Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone in the Star Wars universe. If I did there would be a lot more of Talon and Shada!

A.N. Okay, excuse time! I'm aware that I haven't updated in over a year! I had started writing the next chapter but then the pen drive it was on got broke and everything went downhill from there. It's a wee bit difficult to get motivated after that. And my mate, CrazyPyroMan, borrowed my Hand of Thrawn books in September. He's at university so I won't get Vision of the Future back until next month. Depressing!

Anyways, I decided to get started writing again! Thanks to everyone whose reviewed so far! I'd be grateful to hear everyone else's thoughts and comments!

Enjoy!

Part One: Fireworks Display

Shada D'ukal was lying in her bunk, staring at the metal ceiling of her quarters in the Wild Karrde, not as a three year old girl, but as a thirty-eight year old woman. A storm was raging over Coruscant and the thunder echoed throughout the ship. It was this storm that had prompted her long buried memories to rise to the surface of her sleeping mind.

Another rattle of thunder made her flinch involuntarily and curl deeper into her blankets. Forcing her muscles to relax, she mentally sighed. Only children were scared of storms, she told herself even though she knew it was a blatant lie. She was too old to hide under the blankets until it went away.

Her subconsciousness disagreed.

Every time she tried to burrow in to the world of peaceful sleep, another crash, louder than the previous, would startle her back out again.

Shada D'ukal was not a woman who liked to be frightened. If anyone knew of her secret fear the reputation she had gained on the Wild Karrde would most likely be shot down in flames. So with no feasible way of getting any sleep that didn't involve the use of drugs or ear plugs, she decided to do some work.

Work was how Shada had kept her mind from wandering back to that night when she worked with Mazzic. And the job description Karrde had given her compared to that of Mazzic's was exceedingly more interesting. She and Karrde were to meet another of his numerous contacts tomorrow to inform his that Karrde's organisation was going legit- not a prospect that many of his former contacts had taken well. Shada hoped that by learning enough about the man form Karrde's extensive collection of information they could disclose the information in a way that would avoid unnecessary bloodshed.

Not that that had worked the last time...

But first she needed something to clear her mind from sleep and dreams.

All she had wanted was a nice warm mug of kaff from the mess hall. It had seemed like such a simple task at the time. Nothing that she would need a weapon for. Working with Karrde was leaving her too complacent.

How she found herself on the Bridge, she would blame on curiosity mixed with paranoia.

It was the middle of the night and with the ship docked there was no reason for any member of the crew, exhausted from pushing the ship to meet contacts, to be on the Bridge. There was no reason at all for the hallways to be lit with a silvery glow coming from the Bridge. No reason at all.

That was why Shada was so concerned to discover that there was indeed someone on the Bridge, or, rather, standing on the lowered boarding ramp just outside the aforementioned room.

So here she was, attempting to hide in shadows whilst wearing a white robe (once again, she blamed complacency) and catch a glimpse of the person who, she assumed, was on guard duty for his companions. It was certainly a plausible scenario- that a group of Karrde's numerous enemies would attempt to raid the ship whilst it was docked.

And then there was the matter of the crew.

Admittedly, she hadn't been officially apart of Karrde's crew for a very long time, but she had been welcomed into the close knit group like an old friend in a way she had never experienced with her eight years working with Mazzic and his crew. And, whether she liked it or not, they weren't just Karrde's people anymore. They were her people too.

And that was the problem, really. There was a big red button placed less than three feet away from her that would alert the crew to intruders. But, of course, that would also alert the intruders to the fact that their presence there was no longer a secret and then, naturally, they would attack the first person they saw. Sure, she could take them out, but she couldn't guarantee that the rest of the crew could if they were attacked unawares.

Well, she thought, she could always go through the ship and take them on one at a time starting with the man in front of her.

There was another rumble of thunder followed by a flash of lightening that illuminated the man's figure. He was tall, much taller than her, with a well toned, muscular and really, quite handsome body. Nevertheless, he looked quite agile for his size.

No problem. She had taken on worse and come out of it unscathed.

Just as she moved forward to attack there was another crash and lightening lit up the profile of the man just a little more. She stopped and relaxed as she recognised the man's face. Talon Karrde.

His shirt was soaked and clinging to his chest as he stared up at the sky, seemingly unaware of the storm that surrounded him. Shada frowned at the sight- didn't he realise that he was going to catch his death if he stayed out there all night?

She walked towards the ramp, calling out to make her presence known, "You know, I'd appreciate it if I didn't have to meet the rest of your contacts alone, just because you've gotten the flu from standing in the rain all night."

Karrde turned and smiled at his second-in-command as she pulled her white robe tighter to guard herself from the ice cold rain that was pelting down around them.

"Shada," he greeted her, "have you ever witnessed a fireworks display?"

An odd question, but then, thought Shada, she was getting used to those. Karrde rarely asked any question directly. With him, everything took time and he could usually worm information one wasn't particularly inclined to give, out of a person without them ever realising the significance of what they had disclosed.

Shada would have liked to have thought that she was getting rather good at answering these sorts of questions, but she wasn't inclined to delude herself. "Not that I remember," she replied hesitantly. "Perhaps when I was very young." Fireworks were for celebratory occasions, something her home world had precious few of.

Karrde placed a hand on the small of her back, guiding her closer to himself. "Watch," he said, pointing up, "how the sky fills with light. It always reminds me of fireworks," he stated as lightening filled the sky once again. Something in the distance exploded and Shada's muscles tensed up. Once again she had to force them to relax and she was sure that the man beside her had just gained another bit of information from her without her consent.

"It makes me think," she began dryly, "of the natural laws of physics."

Talon looked at her inquiringly, as thunder rolled through the atmosphere.

"I'm sure it states somewhere in that oversized data library of yours that electricity is attracted to metal." She flinched again as the lightening struck something much closer to them. There was a bang as it exploded, emitting white hot sparks.

"You're point being," Karrde began, almost sheepishly, "that standing on a metal boarding ramp in the middle of a lightening storm might not be the best idea. Point taken," he concluded in a pitch slightly higher than was normal. "And with the storm so close," he guided Shada back up the ramp, "it might just be a good time to head back inside."

When the boarding ramp was closed and they were once again safe with the ship's shields up, the pair stood in the bridge, dripping wet, neither sure what to say. Shada had no business to ask for her boss's real reason for being up at this ungodly hour- that was, if the fireworks excuse was indeed an excuse, she wasn't entirely sure- and he had probably had at least an inkling of her fear of storms. Her behaviour had more than likely given her away.

And so Shada was left pondering what on earth to say. That was, until she was hit in the face with an emergency blanket Karrde had retrieved from one of the overhead lockers. Shada looked at it, then up at Karrde blankly.

Karrde, who was wrapping a similar blanket around himself, mimicked, "I'd appreciate it if I didn't have to meet the rest of my contacts alone, just because you've gotten the flu from standing in the rain all night."

For the first time that night, Shada realised that she was shivering. She was soaked through and the only thing covering her modesty was the thickness of the robe which was letting the water from it form puddles at her feet. She wrapped the blanket around herself gratefully. As she clutched it to herself she found Karrde's hand on her back once again.

"My dear Shada, if you're not in a rush to get back to bed, would you care to accompany me to the mess hall for a mug of kaff?"

She nodded the affirmative all the while thinking wryly that a mug of kaff was all she had wanted in the first place.

A.N. You know, I was supposed to finish the story with this chapter but I don't think it worked! Still another part to go…

You know, the first time I wrote this bit it only lasted two hundred words… What happened?

Right, anyway! I swear that I'll update sooner next time! Please review and promote the Karrde and Shada love! I have a C2 dedicated to them now! The Smuggler and the Shadowguard! Please take a look!

Enough shameless promoting! Please review!

Sweetdeath04